Second Chances II: Love and Courage

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 16: Visiting Hours

Rainbow Dash and Twilight sat outside Josh’s holding cell, the unicorn being the only one to make conversation with the human. Upon their arrival at the jail, Josh informed them all about what has happened over the course of the last two days. He explained the situation with Rose Blossom, how he’d suspected Filthy Rich to have a hoof in it, only to have those suspicions confirmed when he’d attended the stallion’s speech that morning. When he told them about Filthy insulting Vinyl and his own reaction, both ponies took on looks of indignation at the scenario.

“And you didn’t try to challenge the charges he brought against you?” asked Twilight, unable to hide the anger in her voice at Filthy’s actions.

“What’s the point?” asked Josh, looking between Twilight and Rainbow, “I know exactly what I did. I can hardly claim self-defense in this case. He never attacked me.”

“But… he…” Twilight stammered, unable to deny the truth in Josh’s statement.

“Believe me. I don’t wanna be here.” said Josh, forcing Twilight to return her gaze to the human, “If I had my way, I’d probably have killed Filthy for what he said. If you think I’m in deep shit now, imagine how much worse it could be.”

Twilight again said nothing, merely pondering his words. Rainbow sat on her haunches, her hooves crossed in front of her chest in a somewhat defiant pose. She couldn’t believe all this was happening right now. Her best friend was in jail for doing the right thing, the one thing anypony would do for the pony they loved most. She felt a rage build up in her chest as she thought about what she would do to Filthy Rich if she ever got her hooves on him…

“So,” said Twilight at last, breaking the silence, “what’re you going to do now?”

“Just sit here and await whatever judgment comes my way.” he replied simply, staring at the lavender mare, “Not much I can do, is there?”

“I suppose…” said Twilight, trailing off and putting a hoof to her chin in contemplation, “Wait! I know what we can do!”

Josh and Rainbow both jumped a little at the unicorn’s sudden outburst. She wore a huge smile on her face, a sign that she had just thought of, what was in her mind, a brilliant plan.

“What’s that?”

“I could send a letter to the princess!” exclaimed Twilight, throwing her hooves in the air triumphantly, “All I’ve gotta do is go get Spike and have him write it all down. Hold on a sec…”

“No.” said Josh simply.

“Wh-what?” said Twilight, turning slowly back to the human in the cell, “Why not?”

“Twilight, think about it.” said Josh, looking skeptically towards the lavender mare, “If Filthy knows all about me, he must know that Celestia brought me here. He said that someone in the royal court told him all about how I got here and what I’d done before then.”

“B-but…” said Twilight, stumbling heavily over her words, “She can help!”

“I’m aware of what she can do, Twi. However, if Filthy managed to turn this entire town against me in a day and make me seem like a monster, then imagine what he could do to Celestia if he revealed the truth, that she was the one who brought me here.”

“Princess Celestia is the most respected pony in all of Equestria!” said Twilight, shocked at Josh’s words, “Filthy may be a good speaker, but he’d have no such luck being able to manipulate anypony here to believe she’s bad!”

“You so sure about that?” asked Josh, raising an eyebrow.

Twilight gave him a glare of resolution.

“Twi, if he reveals that truth of how I got here, wouldn’t that make her seem like a traitor to her own subjects?”

Twilight was about to protest, but stopped suddenly, her eyes growing wide as she thought about his words.

“B-but… the princess would never steer us wrong… everypony knows that…” she stammered, trying so hard to refute his words.

“I know for a fact that ponies here are very trusting of her. They love her as much as I love Vinyl. Some even more.”

Josh paused to allow his point to sink in a little to Twilight’s mind.

“However, they’re not so trusting that she could just change their minds with a single word. There’s no explanation she can give as to why she brought me here that justifies anything.”

Twilight continued to try and refute him, but to no avail. She knew better than almost anypony how much the princess was questioned sometimes in how she ran the kingdom. Unable to say anything more to Josh, she simply looked to him with watery, violet eyes.

“It’s not bucking fair!” shouted Rainbow suddenly, slamming her hoof into the hard ground.

Both Josh and Twilight jumped at the outburst, looking to their colorful friend. Rainbow wore an angry look on her face, unable to control herself anymore.

“It’s not fair at all!” she shouted again, rushing up to the bars of the holding cell and placing her hooves on them, staring at Josh, “You didn’t do anything wrong! You didn’t ask to be treated like this!”

“Rainbow,” said Josh, his voice softening as he looked to the enraged mare, “I shouldn’t have lashed out like that…”

“YES! YOU DAMN WELL SHOULD HAVE!” screamed Rainbow, causing a guard to poke his head around the corner to see what the commotion was, “You were doing what any good and decent pony would have done! You were doing the right thing! It’s n-not y-your fault!”

Rainbow’s voice cracked and began to shake as tears poured from her face. Josh took quick notice of this and stood, making his way towards the bars.

“It’s n-not f-fair…” Rainbow continued to mumble as Josh knelt and grabbed her hooves in his hands, holding them gently.

The pegasus looked up to his smiling face, tears matting the fur on her own.

“It’ll all be okay, Rainbow.” he said, staring into her rose colored orbs with his own blue ones, “I promise. It’ll be fine.”

Rainbow just stared at him for a while longer, unable to believe he was so calm about this whole thing. Finally, she collapsed and lay there, sobbing and pounding the ground, continuing to say over and over again, “It’s not fair…”. At this sad sight, Josh reached his hand through the bars and began to stroke her mane gently, Twilight also rubbing her back as tears fell from her own eyes. Together, the three simply sat there, each one absorbed in their own thoughts, worried about what the future may hold.

*****

Idle chatter sounded from downstairs in Octavia’s house as the gray mare chatted with Pinkie Pie and Applejack. However, Vinyl heard none of it as she lay in her old bed, staring at the spot where her coltfriend should be laying. All day since he’d been taken away, she’d cried nonstop. Unable to bear being downstairs with anypony anymore, she had retreated up to her old bedroom, where she had continued to cry.

She set her hoof on the spot next to her, envisioning her love laying there and looking back at her, a huge smile on her face as he stroked her mane and told her how much he loved her. Tears began to flow once more as the vision faded and she was left in her dark and empty room, alone and scared. Sadness which had filled her heart all day returned with full force as she continued to stare at the empty spot.

He’d said that everything would be alright, but how could she believe that when everything right now was so wrong? He was in a jail cell, all alone himself, probably as uncertain for the future as she was. Nothing could be more wrong right now, and Vinyl just couldn’t bring herself to think that it truly would all be alright. Then, she heard his voice in her head, speaking words from long ago:

“You know I’d never steer you wrong, right?”

He’s spoken those words to her almost a year ago, when he’d first helped her make that mix the night before the show. He’d managed to fill her heart with confidence with just that simple phrase. If I trusted him then, I’ve got no excuse not to trust him now she thought. After what seemed like an eternity, Vinyl finally managed to slip into unconsciousness, heading to a world of uneasy dreams, praying that by morning, she’d awaken to Josh’s loving embrace once more.