What If: My Second Life

CHAPTER 10: Nothin' But Voice

Under a tree, on a full moon. Would be romantic if it wasn't two dudes talking.

Jace was leaning against the tree, hands in his pockets. His hair was tossled gently by a cold night wind. He had a piece of hay in his mouth that he had picked up from a pile. He was standing right next to Coal, who had gotten over his crying and was now looking down, just shaking his head.

“Honestly man, I feel like the whole world is falling in all around me...I had to go and blab to myself about all this personal shit...” He shook his head and closed his eyes forcefully, fighting back the urge to scream at the top of his lungs.

He looked over at Jace, who was now also looking down, his chest was heaving, and small chuckles could be heard. “What the FUCK IS SO FUNNY?!” Coal yelled, pushing off of the tree and staring right at his 'friend.' Jace looked up, a grin on his face.

“Dude, do you hear yourself? You sound like you did in middle school.. Seriously man, you need to calm the hell down. All you did was talk about them, not like you raped them or anything..” Jace did have a point.

“B-But.. AJ sounded so mad Jace! She actually scared me a bit...” Coal sighed and looked up at the sky. “It's like...I don't know them anymore. I'm seeing these girls in a while new light...”

Jace nodded. “I know how you feel man...” He put a hand on Coal's shoulder. “Hey...Common.. Things will get better. Just gotta loosen up a bit, get a bit of work in ya and just stay calm. The girls know what they're doing! They have the intellect of humans remember..It's not like they don't have a way to reason.”

“Yeah. I guess your right. Thanks Jace...Your a good friend man.” Coal looked him right in the face and smiled.

Jace held his fist out. “What are friends for man?” Coal connected his fist with Jace's and they both shared a manly hug. Not some sissy soft long hug, no, a GODDAMN BRO HUG.

They both decided to head back to the party, Jace had a little surprise lined up.

* * * *

"Applejack calm down!" Twilight exclaimed. "What is wrong with Coal being attracted to us?"

All of them stopped fuming and looked at Twilight suggestively.

"What do ya mean 'what is wrong' with it!? He has been huggen us and rubbin on us ever since he got here! Ah bet he has been harboring a lot more dirty stuff in mind than that too!"

Twilight shook her head. "Even if he has been; he has still been an amazing friend. He forgave Big Mac for trying to kill him didn't he?"

"Well yeah, but..."

"No buts! Coal has been kind and respectful to all of us! Yes he has been rather huggy, but he never once tried to take advantage of any of us; right?"

All the girls looked down and nodded.

"Now I told you all about that not so you would get mad and hate him! I knew about it since day one and it hasn't bothered me. I for one am going to continue to be his friend! I won't force you girls to still like or trust him after this, but....I think you'll be losing a good friend if you don't."

The girls looked at each other, and then they looked back down solemnly.

Applejack was the first to respond this time. "Yer right Twi'. It doesn't matter if Coal thinks we're purty or not. He has been ah really good friend.....Ah feel bad now. Ah shouldn't of turned on him like that."

"You're right darling. I don't know why I was bothered by him looking at me. If anything I should be flattered! I can turn the heads of males even of a different species!" The girls gave Rarity a deadpanned expression. Rarity cleared her throat and said: "Oh yes well I mean...we all can turn the heads of.....OH! You all know what I mean!" Rarity looked off flustered.

They all laughed a little at their friend’s expense.

"Hey don't worry about it Rarity!" Dash voiced. "But I guess that means we should be a little more sensitive with Coal. I kinda teased him trying to scare him the other day, and ended up on top of him. Looking back...that probably put him in a weird position." That was something Coal had told Jace and filled him in on. He didn't really think anything of it though.

Pinkie started bouncing again. "Yay! Coal likes ponies too! He seems nice; maybe I should ask him to help me bake cupcakes sometime."

The others gawked at Pinkie; who just kept giggling.

"Do...do you like Coal...like that Pinkie? If you don't mind my asking....you don't have to answer....if you don't want to." Fluttershy said timidly.

"I don't know silly! I just met him a few hours ago, but I don't see any reason not to get to know him better! Who knows; maybe I will like him more."

The girls finished talking amongst themselves and went back to join the party.

"Ah feel like ah need to apologize to Coal now. Ah can't believe how angry Ah got...Ah don't even know why now." Applejack stated rather drearily.

"Don't worry about it AJ! If Coal can forgive Big Mac for hurting Jace the way he did; then Coal could probably forgive you for being put off by his feelings for us." Dash replied in high spirits.

"Could ya'll not bring that up anymore? Ah still feel bad enough about it as is."

The girls nodded and made a mental note not to mention it again.

They got to looking for Coal, but quickly found that he wasn't there. They started asking ponies if they had seen him and one such pony said they saw him leave the library with Jace about thirty minutes ago. They hadn't seen him since. This concerned the girls, but they didn't know why.

They quickly left the party and stepped outside. It was nearly winter in Equestria and the nights were pretty cold. Twilight was worried that Coal may get sick being out in this weather in his current condition. They started asking each other; 'Why would they leave like that?'

They started searching around town and quickly started to worry more as an almost freezing gust of air whipped through their manes. They picked up their pace starting to fear the worst.

"What if they ran off?" Dash asked

"Why would they do that though?" Twilight asked lifting her head from a bush.

"What if he heard us talking....." Fluttershy asked looking horrified.

The girls all went pale.

"Oh no...." Twilight was starting to hyperventilate. "He has a hard time trusting any pony as it is....if he heard us.....oh Celestia...."

Applejack looked at Twilight with tears starting to pool in her eyes. "It's all mah fault! Ah bet he heard all those horrible things Ah said! He hates us now cause ah me! Ah just know it!" Applejack hung her head fighting back guilt.

"We don't know that darling! We may just be blowing this whole thing out of proportion! They could of just gone out for some air. We don't know what the weather is like where is from, maybe they like the cold." Rarity stated trying to reassure Applejack.

Applejack looked up at her and nodded.

"You know what!? I'm tired of this lazy search! I'm taking this to max speed! I'm going to find them in ten seconds flat!" Dash yelled before taking off leaving large smoke flash in her wake.

The others decided it was best to get back to the party. When they got back Twilight decided it was still going to be a party to get them back into high spirits.

Dash burst in through the front door panting not five minutes later. "I found them! Come on! Lets go!"

The girls quickly ran after Dash who had already started leading them towards the Everfree Forest. They ran past Fluttershy's cottage and quickly stopped at the edge of the forest when they heard singing.

* * * *

Before the two had started to talk, they both sang a song that was dear to their hearts. It was called Ghosts n Stuff. A song by Deadmau5. They used to sing it all the time when they were having problems. It reminded them what they were going to overcome in life.

“Take it back when she knows that your doing it riiiight.....'Cause everybody else knows what they're taking toniiiiiiiiight...” The two started to sing in harmony at this point. “But IIIIIIIIIIII just wanna play it riiiigggght....Weeeeee are gonna get there toniiiiiiiight...” The girls all looked at each other and Coal sighed after they sang that little part.

“They know everything now Jace... they know my feelings...my weaknesses...they know my shame..” Coal closed his eyes and looked to the ground. He sighed again and looked back up at the moon. He had a look of anger on his face that the girls had never seen. What the girls heard next...both shocked and scared them.

"Why in the name of almighty God am I such a worthless little bitch!?" Coal yelled out. "Why do I always fuck everything up!? Why can't I ever do anything right!?" Coal put his hand on the trunk to keep his balance from in the tree. Coal put his free hand on the top of his head and started yelling. He didn't yell words. He just yelled out until he coughed and choked.

The girls were shaking. They had never seen such a display of emotion. Their fears were realized. Coal had heared them; this they believed. If only they knew that he had heard all of it. Then their hearts may have been calmed, but for now; they could only stare and wait silently.

Jace looked up at him and sighed. “Your NOT a worthless bitch Coal! If you were, you wouldn't have me as a friend..” Jace could see the tears running down Coal's cheeks. “Coal honestly, it hurts me to see you act like this... You have so much that you have going for you right now and your too blind to see it! We have a chance to start anew Coal! Don't you understand this?! Think of it like going back to Highschool... Without all that depression you had. Highschool is a new start in your life, just like now! Your only twenty years old.. You can accomplish more here in twenty years than you could on Earth.. I know I sure can anyway. I already have.” He looked down, now depressed himself.

The girls took in some hope that Jace was there to cheer up his friend. They were to afraid to confront Coal. When they heard him starting to scream again, they all headed back to the library. They trusted that Jace would make Coal feel better.

* * * *

As the two friends walked back into the library, they were greeted warmly, and Jace retired to the DJ booth. He grabbed a mic and looked over at Coal. “Alright everypony, what me and Coal want to do is do a little thing we've done a lot in our world. We would need the help of Vinyl since, we can't go high enough in pitch.” Thankfully they had three mics there. Jace tossed one to Coal and he promptly turned it on.

“Fair warning, I'm not that good at singing but, I'm decent.” Coal got small laughs and cheers for him to do his best. Jace was telling Vinyl the lyrics to the song they were going to do and she nodded, understanding.

“This is going to be a voiced version of some techno songs, me and Coal did this for months and actually won some money at a show we did back in school.” THAT was a huge highlight in their lives.

The song started out slowly, having a melody sung by the boys that sent some ponies crazy. As Vinyl started to sing, the crowd cheered out at the amount of skill in this. As her part was nearing an end, Jace had transitioned them do a different song, Vinyl joining in with a beat and doing the higher parts of it. It was Moar Ghosts n Stuff. As they neared going around the second time, Jace hopped up on a table and ponies crowded around it. He sang that same melody he and Coal sang in the forest, Coal son joining in and hopping on the table with him, putting his arm around him and singing his heart out with his best friend. As they got through the melody, they dropped the mics and ponies cheered all around, some whistling for them. The two took a bow and Jace offered a hand to Vinyl who gladly took his hand and got up on the table with them.

Best.Night.Ever.

Author's Note: I couldn't have a depressing chapter in today without ending on a good note. HA GET IT?! I'm horrible.. See ya'll tomorrow! I'm off to read Coal's new chapter! Toodles~