Second Chances

Second Chances
By Hero541
Chapter 6: I’m Sorry

“Sweetie Belle! I’m home, dear. And I have a guest with me!”

Josh plodded along behind Rarity, the over-eager unicorn pulling him inside her home, almost causing him to hit his head on the way in. He looked around as Rarity busied herself with something in another room. The main room he stood in was filled with mannequins in the shape of ponies, as well as shelves filled with all different colors of fabric. A large chest stood in the corner, three diamonds gracing it’s lid. He walked over to it and lifted it to peer inside. It was filled to the brim with gems of all shapes and sizes, a sight that made Josh’s jaws almost hit the floor.

“Where’d you get all these gems?” he asked, picking up a large red one to examine it more closely.

“I found them, of course.” she replied, trotting into the room once more and levitating some thread and a needle towards her with her magic, “It’s part of my special talent. That’s why I have three diamonds as my cutie mark.”

“Cutie mark?” Josh inquired, placing the gem back in the box and closing the lid, “What’s a cutie mark?”

Rarity looked at him, confused.

“You don’t have one?” she said, pointing to her left flank where, sure enough, three blue diamonds stood out amongst her pure white fur.

“People in my world call those tattoos.” he said, walking over to a nearby couch and sitting down, “I’ve never been one to want to get one though.”

“Ooohhh. How fascinating!” Rarity exclaimed, placing her thread and needle down on a nearby table, “How does one get a tattoo?”

“Well, how’d you get your… cutie mark?”

“I had to discover my talent and purpose in life before I could get mine.” she said, crawling up on the couch next to him and sitting on her haunches, “That’s what a cutie mark is. It’s a representation of what we’re supposed to do in life.”

“Interesting.” said Josh, looking to the unicorn’s flank once again, “In my world, tattoos are just something someone can get. Some of them have a kind of sentimental value, but others are just the result of a drunken mistake made one night.”

Josh smiled a little as he said that, thinking about his agent, Liam, and the tattoo he has that they’re never supposed to mention.

“That is truly fascinating.” said Rarity, looking off into the distance, allowing the idea of a tattoo to sink into her purple-maned head, “Oh, Sweetie Belle. Come meet our guest.”

Josh looked towards the staircase and saw a little white unicorn filly round the corner. Her mane and tail were curly and poofy, a vibrant and beautiful mix of pink and purple swirls. She looked towards Josh, her jade green eyes shining with excitement at the prospect of meeting someone new.

“Josh,” said Rarity, getting down and sauntering over to her sister, “this is my little sister, Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle, this is Josh. He’ll be staying with us for a little while.”

Sweetie Belle walked up to the large human seated on the couch, jumped up, and stuck out her little white hoof for him to shake it. He smiled at the little filly, and grabbed her hoof, as he had done with Apple Bloom that morning, and gently shook it.

“It’s nice to meet you, Josh.” exclaimed Sweetie Belle, jumping down and turning to face the human once more, “Maybe later I can bring over Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, and you can meet them too!”

“Now, Sweetie,” said Rarity, “I’m sure Josh would simply like some peace and quiet while he’s here.”

“They can be quiet!” Sweetie said, turning to her sister, “We Crusaders can be as quiet as a mouse. Hey, maybe we can get our cutie marks in that!”

With that, Sweetie Belle dashed out the front door, slamming it hard on the way out. Rarity winced a little as the sound rang throughout the boutique. Josh just continued smiling, a little glad to have seen such a cute little creature.

“Sorry about that,” said Rarity, picking up her needle and thread as well as a pair of red reading glasses, “Sweetie and her friends mean the best, but sometimes they can be a little overeager.”

“That’s fine.” Josh said, continuing to smile, “I had a little brother who was the same way. We were all that age once before, right?”

“I suppose.” Rarity chuckled, glad to see Josh didn’t mind her little sister.

As Josh sat on the couch, he felt a pang of guilt hit him. These ponies were unbelievably accepting of him, more so than any human he knew. Without question, they took him in, fed him, and gave him a place to stay and be safe. And yet, with all they had done for him already, all he had done so far was treat them like shit. Especially Twilight… Josh strode towards the door, opening it and ducking down.

“Where are you going, dear?”

“I kinda owe someone an apology.” he said, feeling guilt tugging away at his heart.

Rarity simply stared at him, then nodded, smiling, and turned back to her work.

“Lunch will be ready soon, dear. I hope you’ll make it back in time for that.” she said, as Josh walked out the door and several rolls of fabric levitated towards her.

*****

Twilight sat in her room upstairs in the library, still crying a little. Nopony had ever yelled at her like that before, let alone call her “fucking useless”.

“Come on, Twilight.” said Spike through the door, gently knocking on it, “I know you’re upset by what that guy said, but you can’t just close down the library because you’re sad.”

Twilight didn’t answer him. It wasn’t just that he had yelled at her and called her useless. Somepony needed her help, and she couldn’t do anything to help them. Maybe she was useless…

“Who’s knocking now!” yelled Spike, storming down the stairs towards the front door, “Can’t they read that the library’s closed?”

Twilight heard the sound of the door opening, and what sounded like muffled arguing between Spike and their visitor. She couldn’t hear too well, but the voice did sound terribly familiar.

“I’m not here to cause trouble.”

“That’s weird, cause you kinda did already.”

“I was out of line. I know that.”

“Yeah, just a little.”

“Be as hostile as you want, Scaly. I’m just here to see Twilight.”

“What for? Didn’t you say she was useless?”

“I did. But people say a lot of things when they’re angry. I didn’t mean to be that way.”

As Josh finished his last sentence, he looked up to the staircase to see a little purple head poke around the corner. Instantly, a wave of guilt washed over him as he saw her violet eyes were puffy and red. She trotted a little further down, fear and trepidation in her face as she looked towards the human.

“Twilight, I…” he trailed off, unsure how best to phrase what he wanted to say, “I was… out of line. I had no right to yell at you like that. It’s not your fault that you don’t know how to send me home. And you’re definitely not useless.”

She simply looked towards Josh, the human now staring at the ground in shame, his hands behind his back.

“You really hurt me.” she said, walking down to stand in front of him, “What you said, it hurt a lot.”

Josh knelt down so as to seem less intimidating.

“I know… I just… I’m frustrated, ya know? How would you feel if you were just dropped in some world where you didn’t know anything, including how you got here, and then found out you can’t go home yet?”

“Not the best…” she replied, rubbing her forelegs together nervously.

“That doesn’t mean what you did was right!” called Spike, running in front of Twilight.

“I’m not saying that.” said Josh.

“Then what are you saying?” asked the baby dragon, glaring at Josh.

“I guess… that I’m…” he stalled, “sorry.”

He hung his head, not looking at the dragon or pony before him. Suddenly, he heard hoofsteps approach him, and felt something wrap around his back. When he looked up, all he could see was Twilight’s indigo, purple, and pink mane flowing down the unicorn’s back and he felt her hooves wrap around him and squeeze a little. He hesitantly returned the unexpected embrace, wrapping his arms around her soft, lavender body and giving a gentle squeeze before releasing quickly.

“You’re a good guy.” said Twilight, finally breaking the hug, and stepping back, a smile on her face, “And, you’re very brave to have come here and apologize to me.”

Josh felt his heart melt a little as he stared into those big, purple eyes. Twilight smiled back at him as he stood up to leave.

“Well, I’m glad I got that out of the way.” he said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

“I promise, Josh.” said Twilight, walking towards one of her bookshelves, “I’ll do everything in my power to find you a way home. No matter what it takes.”

Josh smiled at Twilight, a little surprised she had forgiven him so quickly, much less agree to still help him. He nodded, then looked to Spike, who had his arms crossed in protest.

“And I’m sorry to you too, Spike.” he said, “I shouldn’t have used that kind of language around you.”

Spike looked up to Josh, his gaze softening a little at the sight of the human.

“Aww, it’s okay.” he said, giving Josh’s leg a little punch, “Like I said, it’s not like I haven’t heard it before.”

Both of them looked to Twilight once more, who smiled, the squeaky noise sounding.

“Am I the only one who can hear that noise or something?” inquired Josh, looking all around for its source.

“What noise?”

Josh shrugged. Maybe he was going crazy. He turned to leave, ducking down and heading out the door. He felt good, glad that both Twilight and Spike had been so forgiving. He put his hand in his pockets, feeling his iPod in one, and a small plastic baggie in the other. At first he was a little shocked the baggie was still there, convinced that that skank had probably taken it after he passed out. However, he smiled and pulled the baggie out, examining its powdery white contents.

“Well,” he said, smiling a little, “looks like I can still enjoy myself a little while I’m here.”