Second Chances II: Love and Courage

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 12: Fanning the Flames

Rarity, Vinyl, Fluttershy, and Josh all made their way into the town hall, the three ponies extremely hesitant as the human trailed in behind them. Josh knew it couldn’t be a good idea to be here, especially considering what he figured this must all be about. The flyer didn’t mention him at all, a fact which helped him a little as a few ponies waved to him and said hello. However, he knew it would only be a matter of time that they would stop being so friendly to him.

“Girls,” he said, drawing the attention of the three ponies he was with, “we need to talk for a second.”

Josh made his way over to a rather secluded corner, the three mares following him. As he reached a place where he found they were unable to be overheard, he knelt down to address the ponies.

“I want your word that no matter what he says or does up there, you won’t lash out at him or anything.” he said, looking between the three of them.

Fluttershy and Rarity nodded, while Vinyl simply sat on her haunches and crossed her forelegs in protest.

“I can’t promise you that.” she said, frowning heavily.

“Vinyl,” said Josh, reaching out to his marefriend, “I just want to make sure we don’t do anything we’ll regret.”

“What’ll I regret more?” she asked, backing away from his embrace, “Just sitting there and allowing him to turn everypony against you, or clocking him in his fucking jaw and taking him down?”

“The first option keeps you out of trouble.” said Josh, gently grabbing her chin and turning her head so she could look in his eyes, “I don’t care if anybody here doesn’t like me. Filthy can turn all of Equestria against me for all I care. But, as long as I have you and our friends, that’s all I need.”

Vinyl just gave him a blank stare, unable to respond to him. Tears began to well up in her eyes, and she moved in closer to him, allowing him to wrap his arms around her beautiful, cream colored body. She laid her head on his shoulder and softly cried, the human gently rubbing her back.

“I love you so much, Josh.” she said from her position on his shoulder, tears flowing from her eyes and landing on his shirt, “I don’t wanna ever lose you because of this…”

“I promise, Vinyl,” said Josh, pulling away a little and placing his hands on her face, smiling sweetly at her, “that’s the last thing you have to worry about.”

She placed her hoof on his left hand, moving in close again to receive a kiss from her lover. Fluttershy and Rarity’s eyes were beginning to glaze over a little at the loving sight. As the four stood there, the lights in the area dimmed and everypony took a seat. Josh and the three ponies remained where they were, not wanting to attract too much attention when things would undoubtedly get heated.

Several pegasi from above positioned two spotlights on a podium in the center of the stage. As they did so, Filthy Rich walked out from behind a curtain and trotted across the stage, taking his place behind the podium and smiling at the gathered crowd.

“Friends, neighbors, all of you gathered here today, lend me your ears for awhile.” he began, walking from behind the podium and pacing back and forth, “I’m here today to address a problem in our fair town of Ponyville. It is a rather large problem, both figuratively and literally, and one that I feel must be dealt with. A creature has come into our midst that threatens the purity and peacefulness of our society. Many of you, I’m sure, can see this creature making its way throughout the day. You probably take some time out of your day to greet this creature, to make it feel at home here.”

“I’m here to tell you that friendliness like that towards this creature is wrong.” continued Filthy, stomping a hoof on the ground, “We shouldn’t welcome it here. It is a threat to us all, though it claims to be here in the name of peace. We allow our children to associate with it, without a second thought as to what would happen if it decided it didn’t want to be so friendly anymore.”

Josh could feel Vinyl squirming and shifting as she sat next to him. He could tell she was really holding back just running up to the stage and attacking Filthy Rich as he talked. The human reached out his hand and grabbed her hoof, causing her to look up at him with angry tears in her eyes. Josh smiled sweetly at her, reaching his other hand out and wiping a tear from her eye.

“I’m sure you’re all wondering to yourselves, ‘What has this creature done that’s so bad, Filthy? If it’s peaceful now, wouldn’t it stay that way?’ I’m here to tell you, friends, exactly why this creature could be harmful.”

Filthy cleared his throat and peered out to the crowd. Everypony gathered was eagerly awaiting his next words. Even Fluttershy and Rarity, who both knew Josh’s secrets and about his past, found themselves drawn to Filthy as he spoke. The cocky stallion smirked from the reaction he was getting as he continued.

“This creature is a liar, a cheater, even a philanderer. It gladly stepped on those below it without a single thought, and took great joy in achieving its own goals for self-gratification.”

Josh listened to Filthy ramble on about all the things he’d done, how he’d been addicted to drugs, how he always abandoned those who he got close to. With each word, memories of the past he’d attempted to suppress came shooting through his own mind once more. Images of crying girls, dejected faces of those he’d stepped over on his way to the top. Every scene that played out caused him great sadness and pain, most of all the image of Vinyl’s tear stained face when he’d left Equestria the first time…

“So, you see,” said Filthy, finishing his listing of wrongs, “this creature may claim to be genuine and sincere, but it’s all a ruse. If it has hurt others before, whose to say it wouldn’t do the same here, or even that it already hasn’t?”

Several ponies looked to each other, fear on their face. Filthy simply smiled even wider at their fearful reactions.

“I’m sure that by now, you’re all wondering exactly what this creature is that I’m talking about.” he said, focusing the attention back on himself, “Well, as I’ve said before, you more than likely have met him. Hell, you may even be friends with him.”

Vinyl right now was shaking violently, both from the force of her anger at Filthy’s words and the fact that she was crying once more. Josh had all but given up trying to console her and was now just preparing to contain her should she decide to rush onto the stage and assault Filthy Rich. Fluttershy and Rarity kept their eyes on Josh, watching his reaction carefully.

“This creature is not a griffon, or a dragon, or anything like that.” continued Filthy, his pacing resuming, “It’s not even from our world. We don’t know where it’s from, but that’s hardly relevant. This creature, for all of you who’ve been wondering, is none other than the human, Josh Daniels!”

At those words, almost every pony in the room let out a huge gasp of surprise. Soon afterwards, they began to talk amongst themselves, some saying that it couldn’t be true, while others said they never did trust the human. Vinyl was now almost sobbing with anger as Filthy continued his rant.

“I can assure you all that what I’ve said here today is very true.” said Filthy, “The human you all claim to love and trust so much is playing you all for fools! You’ve taken him in and accepted him without question, without the truth. And now that you know the truth, I say we band together against him! For the protection and purity of our race, for the safety of our children, we must force him out of Ponyville!”

At that, the crowd burst out, cheering and stomping their hooves. They all seemed to forget that the human was still sitting behind them, his heart dropping as he listened to their cheering voices. Rarity and Fluttershy looked to Josh once more, unable to believe their ears and eyes as they saw the crowd gather against their friend. Josh placed his arm around Vinyl, pulling her in close and allowing her to continue to cry on his lap as Filthy took a bow and walked off the stage, having just completely turned the entirety of Ponyville against the human.