Second Chances II: Love and Courage

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 18: Explanations

Over the course of the next few days, Josh’s friends came to visit him in jail. It always warmed his heart to see Twilight or Rainbow or Pinkie come in and talk to him, doing their best to almost pretend that he wasn’t in a jail cell. Even Derpy and her lovely daughter, Dinky, came in to see him, assuring him that they never would subscribe to Filthy’s little ideals and that they still trusted Josh completely. He heartily thanked them for their continued support of him and Vinyl through this time.

Right now, he sat in his cell, Octavia outside, the two sitting in an uneasy silence. They simply stared at each other, neither one able to find any words to say.

“How is she?” Josh finally asked, not taking his eyes off Octavia.

“She… misses you so much.” said Octavia, her voice unsteady as she thought back to her unicorn friend, “When I went in to check on her last night, she was mumbling your name in her sleep.”

Josh said nothing to that, instead allowing his gaze to fall to the floor. He felt a lump form in his throat as he imagined Vinyl, alone and scared each night, reaching out for him in her dreams, only to grab empty air when she awoke. Every night he had spent in his cell so far had been miserable without her to be there for him. It didn’t help that she hadn’t come and visited him while he was locked up either…

“I miss her too.” he said lamely, unable to find the proper words he wanted to say.

Octavia placed her hooves on the bars of his cell, a concerned look painting her face.

“I’ve been trying to get her to come and visit you.” she said, causing Josh to look back up at her, “You must be absolutely miserable, not being able to see her…”

“Don’t force her to come and see me.” he said, “If she doesn’t wanna come and see me like this, she shouldn’t have to.”

“But…”

“No buts, Tavi.”

Octavia lowered herself back to the ground, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. Once again, silence fell between the human and mare, both absorbed in their own thoughts. Neither one truly knew what to say, not wanting to exacerbate an already bad situation.

“Do you believe it?” asked the mare, the look of concern never fading from her face.

“Believe what?”

“That everything will be alright?”

Josh glanced up at Octavia, who continued to stare at him with her big violet eyes. All this time, Josh had been saying that everything was going to be alright, that soon, it would all work itself out. He’d never questioned that statement in this time, and saw no reason not to believe that everything would be alright.

“Of course I do, Tavi.” he replied, a small smile forming on his lips.

“How can you be so sure?” she asked, placing her hooves on the bars and continuing to stare at him, “Everything right now is just so wrong… What makes you think that it’ll all be alright when it couldn’t be worse now?”

Josh’s smile widened and he rose from his bed, walking over to the bars and standing before Octavia.

“I just have faith, Tavi.” he said, reaching out a hand and caressing her slick, black mane, “Every storm dissipates eventually. This one’s no different. You just have to believe that it’ll all work itself out in due time.”

Octavia looked up at him with watery eyes, unable to believe that he could remain so confident in times such as these. A small smile formed on her own face as she locked eyes with him.

“I’ll hold you to your word on that.” she said, backing up a little, still smiling at him, “You know that.”

Josh was about to respond when the door next to his cell opened and a guard walked in.

“He’s right here, ma’am.” he said, gesturing for whoever was following him.

“Thank you, sir.” said a female voice, causing the guard to nod as she entered.

In walked Rarity, her beautiful violet mane glistening, even in the low lights of the jail. Behind her trailed a little white unicorn filly, a scared look painting her face. Josh simply stared at Sweetie Belle as she entered, unable to believe that she was really standing and looking at him in a jail cell. Rarity turned to face Josh, her eyes showing extreme exhaustion, completely belying her usual regal appearance.

“Josh,” she said, moving out of the way a little to expose her little sister hiding behind her flank, “I brought Sweetie Belle in with me today. I figured you two ought to discuss the situation here so she can understand all this.”

Josh said nothing to that, finding himself unable to take his eyes off the beautiful filly. She avoided looking at him as she nervously approached, her ears pinned flat to her head. The human instinctively knelt to talk to her, wishing so much right now that he could just reach out and scoop her up in his arms and hold her.

“Hey there, Sweets.” he said, drawing her attention only slightly, “How’s my favorite little filly today?”

Sweetie didn’t respond right away, instead looking back to her sister. Rarity nudged her little rump slightly, causing her to look back at Josh, her jade eyes wide and slightly watery.

“J-Joshie,” she said shakily, the look of fear never faltering, “why are you in jail? I thought only bad ponies went to jail…”

Josh almost cried as he looked at the nervous filly. If there was one pony in all of Equestria he could ever love more than Vinyl, it would be the filly standing before his cell. She was like a daughter to him, a little pony he cherished more than almost anything. To see her looking at him with fear in her eyes hurt his heart like never before.

“Well, Sweetie,” he began, glancing up at Rarity and Octavia before focusing back on the filly, “ponies who do bad things do go to jail, yes. That doesn’t mean they’re bad though.”

“S-so why are you here?”

“I… did a bad thing to another pony.” he said, knowing he wouldn’t be able to avoid telling her that, “But, I did a bad thing for a good reason.”

“What do you mean?” asked Sweetie, cocking her head in confusion.

“Well… uh…” Josh stammered, looking to Rarity and Octavia for any kind of support.

All he got from the two mares was shrugs. That made him sigh and turn his attention back to Sweetie Belle, praying he could explain this whole thing to her.

“The pony I did a bad thing to said something very mean about Vinyl in front of me.” he began, “What he said made her very sad, and I don’t like seeing her sad, so I… did a bad thing.”

“I thought you said you’d never hurt anypony…” she said, tears beginning to well up in her eyes as she looked to the tall human.

“Sweetie…” Josh said softly, feeling his heart break as the filly began to cry in front of him.

Reaching through the bars, he gently stroked her mane, doing his absolute best to calm her down. Sweetie, who had covered her eyes once she began to cry, removed her hooves from her face and peered up at Josh, a few tears trailing down her cheeks. Josh smiled warmly at her.

“I know what I did was wrong, Sweets.” he said, continuing to lovingly stroke her beautiful hair, “That’s why I came here without a fight.”

“Josh did what he did because he loves Vinyl very much.” added Rarity from behind Sweetie.

“I’d do it for anyone I love, whether it’s your sister, or Twilight, or you.”

Sweetie glanced up at Josh, tears still in her eyes as he rubbed her head.

“I l-love you too, Joshie.” she said, a small smile forming on her face.

Josh beamed down at her, glad that she understood a little more now. Most of all, he was glad that she still loved him. Sweetie turned to the guard standing next to the door who had been observing the scene with a neutral look on his face.

“Can I go in there with him?” she asked, her eyes becoming wide, “I wanna cuddle for a minute.”

The guard looked down at Sweetie, finding it hard to resist her cute face. However, as he was about to speak, Josh reached through the bars once more and picked up Sweetie Belle under her tiny forelegs, being very careful so as to not drop her. He held the filly up to his eye level, hearing her giggle as she rose higher and higher. She held out her hooves, almost as if waiting for a hug from her favorite human that more than likely would not come. Josh continued to beam at her as he held her.

“Tell you what, Sweets.” he said, pulling her a little closer to himself, “Once I get out of here, the first thing we’ll do is I’ll take you to the park. We can play and have fun all day then. How does that sound?”

“That sounds like a great idea!” shouted the filly, her smile widening.

“Okay then.” said Josh, placing her back on the ground, “It’s a date.”

Rarity beamed at Josh, glad that he had known just what to say to help calm down Sweetie Belle and make her feel better.

“Well,” she said, looking down at her little sister, “we’d best get you off to school then, I suppose.”

“Okay. Bye Joshie! I’ll stop by and see you after school!”

Josh waved to the filly as she made her way out the door. Rarity stopped and turned back to the human, a few tears in her own eyes.

“Thank you for this, Josh.” she said, smiling warmly at him, “I couldn’t have explained this whole thing all by myself, and she’s been so worried about you.”

“Glad I could help, Rares.” he replied, staring into her blue eyes and returning her smile.

Rarity nodded to Josh, before turning and making her way out the door. Silence fell once more as Josh sat back down on his cell bed, Octavia continuing to stare at him. She was astounded at how Josh had been able to do what he’d just done, and from behind the bars of a jail cell no less. If that’s not an indication that everything will be alright eventually, I don’t know what is she thought as she smiled wide at the human.