Second Chances II: Love and Courage

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 25: Everything Will Be Alright

Princess Celestia and Luna stood before Filthy, looking down at him with disgusted looks on their faces. An eerie silence filled the entire courtroom as the two regal alicorns stared down the hateful stallion. Twilight held a look on her face of absolute excitement at her brilliant plan to involve Celestia and Luna in this whole scenario.

“My dear princesses,” said Filthy calmly, dropping to his knees and bowing towards the princesses, “You’re certainly the last ponies I’d have expected to see here.”

“I’m sad to say we never showed up earlier to stop all this nonsense!” said Celestia sternly, not taking her eyes off Filthy’s form, “This is a travesty of our justice system!”

“My dear princess,” said Filthy, finally standing once more, “as I’m sure you’re aware, he...”

“I am aware, Filthy Rich.” she snapped, her voice cold and hard, “And though I don’t condone Josh’s actions, I prefer yours even less.”

The princess began to pace back and forth, her voice becoming more and more angry with each word. Luna simply stared at her sister, obviously doing her best to hold her own tongue.

“I’ve been watching the events that have unfolded here in Ponyville for the last few weeks, and I’m disgusted by what I’ve seen!” she said after a brief silence, “How can you possibly spread such hate here, in a land where love and tolerance rule above all? Never have I seen such callous action by anypony in all my years of ruling this land!”

Josh watched intently as the princess paced back and forth even more, her ivory face beginning to turn red as she became more and more flustered. Never before had he seen Celestia angry, and he made a mental note to never do anything to piss her off.

“You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Filthy Rich!” she said before turning to the crowd, “You all ought to be ashamed of yourselves! Allowing such hatred and fear into your own hearts against a creature who has been nothing but loving and compassionate to you and your children!”

The entire room seemed to cringe at her words, all except for the few up front behind Josh, Rainbow, Rarity, and all his other friends who supported him so much through all this. Celestia turned back to Filthy whose face never lost its simple look in all the time she had been speaking.

“You should consider yourself a very lucky stallion that I’m a benevolent ruler, otherwise I’d have sent you to the moon long ago for spreading such hatred and lies in this kingdom!” she said, venom dripping from each word she spoke.

Celestia finally stopped her pacing and stood before the stallion, breathing heavily. Filthy’s expression remained as he spoke his next words.

“You said you’ve been watching us all this time, my dear princess?” he asked nonchalantly, continuing his own pacing.

“Indeed I have! Both Luna and I have known about this for a long time.”

“Is that all you’ve known for a long time?” inquired Filthy, stopping for a second to look into the eyes of the princess once more.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I think you know what I mean.” said Filthy matter of factly, a small smirk forming on his face, “I mean that you’ve known the truth for a long time as well, but your little ‘experiment’ you’ve been performing here has prevented you from telling it.”

The red hue that had taken over Celestia’s face drained quickly at his words. Her violet eyes went wide and she looked to Luna who had the same shocked expression on her face as her solar sister.

“Th-the truth?” she stuttered, almost every hint of rage she had possessed previously now gone.

Filthy’s smirk widened into an almost evil smile upon hearing her stutter.

“I find it interesting how almost everypony here simply accepted Josh the moment he stepped into town.” he continued, pacing once more, his smile never faltering, “You all just took him in without question and treated him as if he were one of us. Not one of you, it seems, even wondered how he got here to begin with. Clearly, he wasn’t from around here, and there aren’t any others like him in all of Equestria, so where could he possibly have come from? Would you happen to know, princess?”

Celestia opened and closed her mouth in shock and the room that once cringed in fear of her now listened intently to what Filthy had to say next. Luna stepped forward to speak for her suddenly mute sister.

“How dare you speak in such a manner towards your princess!” said the night alicorn, glaring hard at Filthy as he turned his attention towards her, “If she did know anything about how he got here, what difference would it make?”

“You’re one to talk, Luna.” replied Filthy, returning her glare in equal measure, “After all, I know that you were in on this whole project just as much as she was!”

Luna took a step back and adopted the same look as Celestia. Filthy’s smile widened even more at the sight of the two speechless alicorns.

“My friends, this little devil’s spawn didn’t just show up here by accident!” he shouted to the room, pointing a hoof at Josh, who suddenly felt the butterflies in his stomach completely lose their minds, “His coming was the result of divine intervention, and you’re looking at the two deity’s who executed an impulsive and dangerous plan!”

The room shared a collective gasp at these last words, and Josh felt his heart drop. Luna and Celestia said nothing at that, instead both mouthing silently as the room began to erupt into jabbering.

“That’s right, my friends.” continued Filthy over the din of the room, “The two rulers we devote our lives to brought this monstrosity here as some sort of sick and twisted experiment they cooked up!”

“N-no! Please, listen to me!” shouted Celestia, finally finding her tongue as the room began to shout at her and her sister, “We didn’t do it to bring harm! It was to see if he could be changed!”

“You brought him here knowing full well what he was!” yelled Filthy, pointing an emphatic hoof at the princess, “You knew he was a liar, a cheater, a hopeless alcoholic and drug addict! You knew he could be dangerous to us all should he get out of hoof, and yet you still brought him here without even consulting your own followers! How selfish can one pony be?!”

Now, the din in the room was a full scale uproar as ponies from all over shouted indignantly at the princesses, saying things like, “We were tricked!”, “How could you endanger us like this?”, “Our own rulers betrayed us!”. Filthy’s smug look still persisted as Princess Celestia began to shrink away from the crowd that was now enraged.

“There’s no way you could know all that!” said Luna, advancing on the stallion once more, struggling to control her rage.

“Well, I did learn it all straight from the best source I possibly could, princess.”

“Who?!” she shouted, her voice beginning to echo as she became more and more enraged, “Who told you all this?! Tell me, and I’ll see to it that they are banished to the moon for all eternity!”

“Now princess,” said Filthy, his voice smug and condescending, “I don’t think you’d want to go back there, now would you?”

Luna’s expression changed almost in an instant. Her mouth hung open and her eyes were wide.

“Luna!” shouted Celestia over the crowd, “You told him all this?! How could you?!”

“I n-never spoke to anypony about your plan to bring Josh here! I swear!” replied Luna, tears beginning to prick her eyelids.

“You really ought to watch yourself when you’re complaining in the statue garden.” Filthy interjected, causing both princesses to look at him, “You never know who might be there when you are too.”

Josh, who had been motionless the entire time, now turned to look at Twilight. Her mane was completely disheveled and her mouth hung open. Clearly, she couldn’t believe that her own plan had backfired so drastically. Not only could the princesses not save Josh from his punishment, they may not be able to save themselves from their own enraged subjects. Josh felt a hoof tap him on the shoulder and he turned to see Vinyl behind him, her eyes beginning to water as she looked to her lover.

“Josh!” she shouted over the crowd towards him, “I’m s-scared!”

“I know, baby.” said the human, reaching out with his freed hands and grabbing her face, pulling her closer to himself, “It’s going to be alright though, I promise.”

“You see, my friends!” shouted Filthy, causing Josh to turn back to the front of the courtroom, “Even our own rulers side with him, this dangerous and vile creature! Justice must be served!”

He turned back to the princesses, “I think you two know better than anypony how the justice system works here in Equestria.” he said, causing them both to glance down at him, fear and shock painting their normally regal faces.

Filthy got on the desk nearby and addressed the crowd once more.

“What should be done with this wretch?!” he asked the enraged crowd.

Several ponies from all around shouted, “Get him out of Ponyville!” Filthy smiled at their exuberance as the others all shouted in agreement.

“Good suggestion.” he said, before turning and looking to the human, absolute malice filling his eyes, “But I’ve got a better one.”

He turned back to the crowd, basking in his moment of enraged glory that he had conjured up, “I say we force him out of Equestria itself! Send him home, where he can never plague this world again!”

The crowd exploded into cheers and shouts of agreement. Filthy turned to the princesses once more.

“What’ll it be, ladies?”

“NO!” shouted Vinyl, jumping up and vaulting over the bar to stand before the princesses, “YOU CAN’T TAKE HIM! I LOVE HIM! PLEASE, DON’T SEND HIM AWAY, PLEASE! I BEG OF YOU!”

Josh was up as soon as he saw Vinyl in front of the princesses. He knelt next to her and held her close as she began to sob into his shoulder. Gently, he stroked her mane and back, looking up at the princesses the whole time.

“Please, don’t do this!” he said, trying his absolute best to console his marefriend and love of his life, “You don’t have to send me away! Please! Don’t do it!”

“They must obey the will of their subjects, or risk a conflict they’re not prepared to take on!” shouted Filthy as the crowd began to chant “Send him away!”

Celestia looked down to the human, a great sadness filling her face. As her gaze hovered on his form, a single tear rolled down her cheek before hitting the floor.

“I’m so sorry, Josh. To the both of you.” she said.

Her horn began to glow, and Vinyl was forced away from the human, who soon became trapped in a swirling ball of golden light.

“NO!!” shouted Vinyl as she struggled to get away from the princess’s magical grip, “LET ME GO! JOSHIE! NO NO NO!”

“VINYL!” he shouted, trying to force his way out of the swirling sphere of light.

Through the light he saw Rainbow, Pinkie, Rarity, and Octavia all rush forward, the pegasus trying to force her way into the sphere to help Josh. A blue aura covered her body and she was restrained just like Vinyl. The other three mares all stood there and simply watched as the ball of light expanded, then finally shrank and popped out of existence. When it disappeared, Josh was gone. The roar of the crowd was so loud that it drowned out the cries of Vinyl as she looked to where her love had stood only seconds ago. She collapsed to the floor and began to sob uncontrollably.

The others all gathered around her, each one crying as well. As they all lay there, mourning the loss of their friend, realization came crashing down on them all like a ton of bricks. Josh was gone, just like that. And the worse part about it was that this time, they would most likely never see him again for as long as they lived. Nopony in the room saw Celestia rush out, tears trailing down her own face as she made her way to her chariot, Luna following close behind.

*****

It was a peaceful time at the little farm owned by Otis and Martha. The old farmer sat outside the house on the porch, watching as the sun began to go down. He smiled as he looked over the large expanse of land he owned, seeing the sunset turn the entire area a beautiful shade of gold. All was calm and peaceful as it could possibly be.

Suddenly, a bright flash of light caught Otis’s eyes and he turned just in time to notice a large golden sphere hovering above the tall grass nearby. As quickly as it had appeared, it dissipated and Otis immediately stood up to go investigate.

“Martha!” shouted Otis into the house, grabbing his shotgun from nearby, “Something’s going on in the field! I’m gonna go check it out!”

Otis didn’t wait for a reply, instead making his way off the porch and heading out towards where he had seen the sphere. As he approached the area, he heard someone begin to frantically yell something. He stopped as he recognized the voice.

“Josh?”

*****

Josh landed hard on the ground as the light dissipated all around him once more. Despite his aching back, he sat up quickly and looked all around, praying it had all been some sort of elaborate joke and that he was still in Equestria.

“Vinyl!” he shouted, looking all around for any sign of his mare, “Tavi! Pinkie! Rainbow! Where are you?!”

He stood up and glanced all around, wanting so badly to believe that this was still his home.

“Josh!” called a voice from nearby.

The human quickly turned towards the source of the voice and felt his hopes come crashing down. Running towards him through the tall grass was a man, an old farmer that he recognized from long ago. All Josh could do was simply stare at the man as he made his way out to where the human had landed. Tears filled his eyes as he realized the horrible, shocking truth.

“Josh!” said Otis, breathing hard as he finally reached the music producer, “How’d ya’ll get out here again?”

Josh said nothing. Instead, he sank to his knees once more, tears falling freely from his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” asked Otis, moving forward to help steady the now distraught human.

“Otis...” said Josh, his voice shaking as he knelt there, reality washing over his sad form, “I... I l-lost her... I l-lost V-Vinyl...”

His body heaved and he began to openly sob on the ground, pounding the dirt with his fist as he sat there. Otis stood over him, watching Josh completely lose himself to sadness and the realization that he had lost the absolute love of his life.

“I’m s-so sorry, Vinyl...” he wailed, repeating it over and over as his tears fell to the soft earth, “I’m so so sorry... I l-love you so much, Vinyl... I'm sorry..."

All Otis could do was stand and watch as the producer he had met almost a year ago completely fall apart in front of him. Slowly, he knelt down and placed a hand on the young man's shoulder.

"Let's get you back to the house, Josh." he said softly, his eyes full of concern for the human.

Josh barely heard him as he sat there, his vision blurry and his mind full of anguish. After several minutes, the misery he was in as well as the journey back to earth took their toll on the man, and he fell into a state of unconsciousness. As he slipped away, he still heard Vinyl's desperate pleading with the princesses to not take him away, to let him stay. Josh's dreams that night would be plagued by that voice, and the sadness and desperation that came with it.