Second Chances

Second Chances
By Hero541
Chapter 25: I Didn’t Mean To Hurt You

Rarity slowly made her way back into the boutique, the fur on her cheeks matted from her own tears. She couldn’t believe he was gone. He was really gone. What was she going to tell Sweetie Belle?

“Hey Rarity,” said the filly, walking out of the back room, a confused look on her face, “Where’s Josh? I went to look for him this morning and he wasn’t in his room.”

Rarity felt her heart skip a beat. There was no way to do this that wouldn’t devastate her little sister, and she knew it. It didn’t help that she was losing her own composure as well.

“Well, Sweetie,” she began, her voice shaking, “Josh has… gone home.”

“Gone home?” asked Sweetie Belle, cocking her head in confusion, “Is he gonna come back and visit at least? I still wanna see him.”

“I’m afraid that’s not going to be possible, Sweetie.” said Rarity, her voice breaking.

“W-why?” asked Sweetie, her eyed starting to water.

“He… his world is far away from ours. It’s not like he could j-just walk back here. We don’t even know how he got here to begin with.”

“B-but… d-doesn’t he love us anymore?”

Rarity lost it at that and scooped up Sweetie in her forelegs, collapsing to the ground and holding her sister close.

“H-he still loves us, Sweetie. H-he said to tell you that he l-loves you very much, and he’s s-sorry he didn’t say goodbye.”

“I… I… I want my Joshie back!” yelled Sweetie Belle, quivering in Rarity’s embrace as she held the filly close, “I w-want him to h-hold me and p-play with me again!”

“I’m so sorry Sweetie. I… I want him back too. I really really do.”

The two sisters just sat on the floor, crying and holding each other, both wanting their human to come back. Sweetie Belle eventually sobbed herself to sleep, and Rarity, who was already exhausted, joined her on the floor. As Rarity drifted off, she prayed and hoped that a miracle would occur that would bring Josh back to them.

*****

Princess Celestia walked through the castle grounds, headed for the sculpture garden. She had allowed the unicorn Vinyl Scratch to stay in the castle for awhile, mostly because there was no way she could make a trip back to Ponyville in her distraught state. Twilight and the others had left earlier that morning, allowing the princess some time to look into what could have made Josh change his mind so quickly. Something seemed amiss to the regal alicorn about this whole thing.

Josh had been so happy in Equestria. What could have possibly made him want to leave behind all the ponies he’s come to love more than anything? Celestia remembered that he and Vinyl had been in the sculpture garden yesterday, and she knew full well what lurked in that very garden. She made her way to the draconequis statue to have a word with the spirit of chaos.

“Discord!” she shouted as she approached the hodgepodge creature, “You and I need to have a word.”

“About what, my dear Celestia?” asked Discord.

“The human Josh Daniels came to me this morning, saying he wanted to go home. However, I know full well that he was happy here, and had no inkling to leave before today. Did you have something to do with this?”

“So, the guy took my advice. Good.” he sneered, “Glad I could help him out.”

“You told him to go home?”

“I merely gave him a little push in the right direction. You can’t honestly tell me that you agreed with him being here, Celestia. That man has spread more chaos in his own world than even I have here!”

“That’s hardly relevant, Discord.” said Celestia, glaring at the statue before her, “Nopony besides you, my sister, and I know what he’s done in his past, and you know full well that he hasn’t done the same thing here.”

“But how long before he would have done it again, Celestia? You should know better than anypony that old habits die hard.”

“He’d found love! The unicorn, Vinyl Scratch, was the love of his life, and you convinced him that he didn’t deserve her love!”

“He doesn’t deserve it. A creature like that, trying so hard to erase his mistakes and make a new name for himself. He can lie to himself and everypony around, but eventually they’ll all know the truth of what he was. I know you do, Celestia.”

“And yet, he changed. Despite all the wrong he’d done at home, all the people he’d hurt and the cynicism he’d learned from his actions, he still changed here. He found somepony to love him, no matter what, and he’d found a wonderful group of friends who cared for him.”

“Disgusting. Friendship is magic, right? What a sickening thought.”

With that, Celestia turned around, headed back to the castle.

“Where’re you going, my dear princess?”

“Back to the castle. I have a unicorn to console, and an explanation to give her.”

“Do you think for a second that she’ll listen to you right now?”

“Yes, she will.” said Celestia, not looking back to the draconequis, “And I know one thing more: Everypony, no matter what they’ve done or who they were before, deserves a second chance.”