Second Chances II: Love and Courage

by Hero541

Rating: mature
Tags: Sad, Romance, Original Character, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Filthy Rich, Profanity, Sex, DJ P0N-3, Human, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 52437

Josh and Vinyl have been together almost a year now, and things couldn't be better. However, soon the two lovers will have to deal with issues that neither are prepared for. Can their relationship survive in this world, where bigotry still lives

Josh Daniels and Vinyl Scratch have been together in Equestria for almost a year now, and things couldn't be more perfect for these two lovers. Their friends are all right there for them, they tour all around the land and perform for the masses of fans they now have. What could possibly go wrong? Josh and Vinyl, however, are going to learn that not everything is perfect, and their relationship will be put to the test to see if it can survive bigotry and intolerance in a land all about love and harmony.

Image by: Matackable

Published 2013-01-09 12:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2013-03-20 00:40:05 UTC

Chapter 2: Showtime

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 2: Showtime

Josh wandered around the stage setup the next day, making sure everything was as it should be for their performance tomorrow. He walked over to the soundboard and began checking to make sure everything was still set up as it should be.

“Which one of you wired this?” he called, making everypony stop what they were doing.

“Uh… I d-did, sir.” said a green unicorn mare with a black mane, raising her hoof hesitantly.

All eyes fell on her as Josh stood to address the problem.

“Come on over here for a second.” he said, smiling and gesturing for her to come closer, “I wanna show you something.”

The unicorn pressed her ears flat against her skull and walked over to Josh, mentally cringing at whatever mistake she could have made. As she approached, Josh saw she was pretty apprehensive, so he knelt down and spoke softly.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“E-Emerald.” she stammered.

“Well, Emerald, you’ve done a pretty good job wiring the board here.” he began, standing up and looking to the device, “But, you messed up a little.”

“What did I do wrong?” asked Emerald, jumping up on her hind legs and looking at the wires.

“This wire here is supposed to go in that port as opposed to the one you have it in.” said Josh , pointing to each wire in question, “We don’t need these ports for anything. They aren’t hooked up to any of the equipment anyway.”

“Oh.” said Emerald, blushing a little at her mistake, “Sorry.”

“It’s not a big deal, Emerald.” said Josh turning and smiling at her, “This is why I come in and check everything before the show, so we can fix mistakes like this.”

Emerald smiled back at Josh, relieved that he wasn’t too upset. As she went to fixing the board, six ponies made their way up to see Josh.

“Joshie!” yelled the pink pony, running up and launching herself at the human.

Before Josh had any time to react, she collided with him, sitting on her haunches atop of his chest as he hit the ground.

“Hey P-Pinkie Pie.” said Josh, struggling to breathe from both the weight of the pony atop his chest as well as the impact from hitting the ground.

Pinkie smiled down at Josh as the other five ponies made their way up the stage. A bright pink aura surrounded Pinkie and lifted her off Josh, placing her next to the other ponies.

“Thanks, Twilight.” said Josh, rubbing the back of his head.

“How are you, darling?” asked the white unicorn, walking up and hugging her friend as he lay on the ground.

“Well enough.” he said, returning her hug and standing up, “Just doing some last minute checks before it’s time to rehearse for tomorrow.”

“When’re you guys gonna do that?” asked a cyan pegasus with a long, rainbow colored mane.

“Whenever Vinyl gets here.” he replied.

“Where is that mare, anyway?” asked an orange earth pony in a brown Stetson, Applejack.

“She’s in the back taking a nap.” said Josh, rolling his eyes a little, “She likes to be nice and rested before we start rehearsing.”

“Ah can hardly blame her.” said the earth pony, “Ah’ve seen you two durin’ your rehearsals. Ya’ll can get into it and go pretty crazy. Wouldn’t wanna be tired for that.”

“I suppose…” said Josh.

“What time should we show up tomorrow?” asked the yellow pegasus, Fluttershy.

“Probably around 7 or so.” said Josh, “Just show the guys at the front your passes and they’ll let you all back here so you can join us onstage.”

“I’m so excited! I should throw a party before the show! Then I can throw a party after the show! Maybe I’ll just make the whole entire thing just one big huge fantastical crazy party!” shouted Pinkie, attracting attention from all around.

“Maybe we’d better leave that up to Josh and Vinyl.” said the purple unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, “It is their show after all.”

Pinkie hung her head a little at Twilight’s words. Josh laughed a little at her sudden change in expression.

“Tell you what, Pinks,” he began, kneeling down and patting her on the head, “After the show, you can be in charge of the after-party. How’s that sound?”

Pinkie smiled wide, the squeaky noise sounding as she did so. Josh smiled back, ignoring the annoying sound that seemed to plague him everywhere he went.

“Ah thought ya’ll had somepony else who planned that kinda stuff.” whispered Applejack into Josh’s ear as Pinkie began to ramble all about her plans to the gathered ponies.

“I think I can pull some strings for that.” he whispered back, “After all, who am I to keep Pinkie from throwing a party?”

Applejack chuckled a little as Vinyl walked out from backstage, yawning as she did so.

“You ready for rehearsal, baby?” she asked as she walked towards her coltfriend.

“Sure. Did you sleep well?” he asked, kneeling down and giving her a kiss.

“Well enough.” she replied, smiling at him, “I’m ready to go crazy now though.”

“We’ll just head out then.” said Twilight, looking to the white unicorn examining the curtains, “Come on, Rarity.”

“I can’t believe they’re using a black curtain for this!” she exclaimed, looking at the fabric in disgust, “It totally doesn’t match the overall color scheme.”

Everypony said their goodbyes and left Josh and Vinyl to rehearse for tomorrow.

“It’s so awesome that we’ve got friends like them to come and support us.” said Vinyl, taking her place at the board.

“Yeah.” said Josh simply, grabbing his headphones and preparing to get to work, “You ready?”

Vinyl smiled devilishly at him and nodded. Josh smiled back and pressed a few buttons, beginning the music and allowing the two producers to become lost in the hypnotic beat.

*****

Ponies in the crowd screamed and danced as Josh and Vinyl stood onstage, both rocking and moving to the beat they were making. Behind them, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Twilight were also all losing themselves in the music. Off to the side, Princess Celestia merely stood along with her sister, Princess Luna, both of them smiling at the crowd all enjoying the music.

Josh felt wave after wave of ecstasy hit him as the beat flowed through his very soul, causing him to lose himself. Next to him, Vinyl had a wide smile on her face as she turned knobs and moved sliders, manipulating the music to her heart’s content. Both of them were completely entranced at this point, feeling the drop come closer and closer as the song built up. Josh threw his hands up on the air, gesturing for more from the crowd. The bass drop came, and he threw his hands down in perfect time, feeling another wave of pleasure overtake his mind.

The song ended and Josh looked to Vinyl. Both were smiling and drenched in sweat, both also thinking about how far they had come in less than a year. They embraced on the stage before Josh pulled over the microphone to address the still ecstatic crowd.

“Thank you, Canterlot!” he yelled, peering out and seeing a few ponies on the backs of others, all cheering and going crazy, “You guys have been absolutely incredible tonight. Thank you so much for allowing us to perform here tonight.”

Vinyl walked up next to Josh, moving her sunglasses so they were perched on her forehead just above her horn.

“And, of course, thank you to my lovely marefriend here, DJ Pon-3!” he said, making the crowd roar in response.

Vinyl blushed a little, but still waved to the assembled ponies, making them erupt in ecstatic cheers once more. Josh looked out once more and waved as well, hearing the sound of cheers and stomping hooves all around. As he stood there, Vinyl at his side, the crowd began to chant, “Kiss her! Kiss her!” He looked to Vinyl, both of them smiling.

“We’ve gotta please the crowd.” he said over the din as Vinyl jumped up on her hind legs and put her forelegs on his chest.

“Don’t mind if I do.” she replied, drawing him into a long, passionate kiss that made the crowd erupt once more.

They broke apart after several seconds and waved once more before heading backstage.

“That was so awesome!” said Rainbow Dash, beaming at Josh and Vinyl as she floated up to them, a few glow rings around her neck and one in her hair.

“Ah’ve gotta say, that was pretty great.” said Applejack, who had some glow sticks on her hooves and hat.

“Absolutely wonderful, darling. You both were.” said Rarity, smiling and hugging both Josh and Vinyl.

“Where’d Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie go?” asked Twilight, looking all around for their friends.

As they looked, somepony on the stage yelled, “STAGE DIVE! WHEEE!”

Everypony and Josh all peered out to the crowd and saw the familiar forms of a yellow pegasus with a long pink mane and the premier party pony of Equestria floating along the top of the crowd. Pinkie was wearing her signature “Rave party dress” and had made a similar one for Fluttershy, except it was blue and pink instead. Josh and the others all laughed as they watched the two mares bob up and down in the crowd. The human felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around.

“Hello there, Josh.” said Princess Celestia, smiling at Josh.

“Hey, Princess.” said Josh, bowing a little to the alicorn, “What’d you think of the show?”

“That was a fantastic show!” she exclaimed, beaming at Josh, “You may have just made me a fan of this, what’s it called, dubstep.”

“I’m flattered to hear you say that, Princess.”

The two stared at each other for awhile longer before Vinyl rushed up to Josh and jumped into his arms. Josh caught her and leaned in, giving her a kiss. She smiled at him as they broke apart, wrapping her forelegs around his neck and holding him close.

“You two can stay in the castle suite for another night, if you’d like.” said Celestia, smiling at the two producers.

“I won’t complain about that.” said Josh, setting Vinyl back down on the ground.

Celestia nodded and said goodbye to Josh and Vinyl, heading back to her castle. Human and unicorn looked back at each other, adrenaline still flowing through their veins from their recent performance.

“They’re wanting us to go out and sign some more autographs, babe.” said Vinyl, gesturing back to the stage.

“I think we can manage that.” said Josh, smiling and making his way back towards the crowd.

He thought all about the past year of his life. He’d given up everything he had back home, yet he couldn’t possibly ask for anything to make him happier. Here, he was madly in love with someone, had friends who genuinely cared about him, and could still live out his passion as a producer. Nothing in the entire universe could be better. Everything was perfect, and he couldn’t think of a single thing that could change that.

Chapter 3: Back In Ponyville

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 3: Back In Ponyville

The cleanup for the show in Canterlot had taken a little longer than he had hoped, but after two days, Josh had finally gotten everything back to Ponyville. He stood on the train station platform, watching as a few unicorns offloaded the sound equipment.

“Careful with that board.” he said, pointing to the soundboard in a yellow unicorn stallion’s magical grip, “It’s already been banged into a wall once. I’d prefer we not have to have that happen again.”

“Couldn’t we just teleport all this stuff back to your studio?” asked one mare who had just set down a mixer.

“Afraid I don’t trust teleportation, otherwise we would.” said Josh simply, “Don’t worry though. Applejack and Twilight are gonna drop by and help move all this stuff back. You’re all off the hook once it’s all out of the train.”

His words made them work a little faster, and in no time at all, every piece of equipment they used in the Canterlot show was on the train platform. Just as they finished, Applejack pulled up one of her larger apple carts, setting it next to the platform so Twilight could set it all in the back.

“Howdy, Josh.” she said, waving to a few of the unicorns at they departed, “Is this everything we’re takin’ back to your place?”

“Yup.” Josh peered around, “Where’s Twilight?”

“Ah don’t know.” said Applejack, loosening herself from the cart and looking all around for the purple unicorn, “She was right behind me when Ah last checked.”

Almost on cue, Twilight ran up to the two of them, panting and sweating. She stopped just short of Josh and Applejack, collapsing to the ground.

“Sorry… I’m… late.” she panted, peering up at Josh and Applejack from the ground.

“Where’d ya go?” asked Applejack, walking over to help Twilight up.

“I… forgot to… grab the… instruction manual… for the… equipment…” she replied, still struggling for air.

“You don’t need that, Twi.” said Josh, smiling at the unicorn sympathetically, “Vinyl and I are gonna get everything set up once we get back to the house. I just need you to help load and offload it all.”

Twilight just stared at Josh, her mouth agape. The human smiled sheepishly back at Twilight and shrugged.

“Speakin’ of which, where’s Vinyl anyway?” asked Applejack, breaking the now awkward silence that had settled.

“She’s back at the house right now.” he replied, “I got up earlier than here this morning, and I didn’t want to disturb her. She’ll help offload all this once we get it back to our house.”

“Works for me.” said Applejack, “So, what’re we movin’ first?”

“Just get as much as you can in the back.” replied Josh, walking over and grabbing his own controller and soundboard, “Twi, you okay to help out?”

Twilight still had her mouth open in shock as Josh addressed her. Upon hearing his voice, she snapped back to reality, shaking her head.

“Oh. Yeah, I’m alright.”

Together, Josh and Twilight loaded everything in the back of the cart in only twenty minutes. Applejack hooked herself up to the cart once they were ready and together, the three friends made their way back across town towards Josh and Vinyl’s home. Along the way, Josh talked about the next show they were supposed to do in Las Pegasus in two weeks.

“I’ve only been to Las Pegasus once.” said Twilight, “My mom and dad took my brother and I there once when we were little.”

“We did a show there not too long ago.” said Josh, thinking back to the event, “Vinyl ended up drinking a little too much before the show and got kinda drunk.”

Both Twilight and Applejack burst out laughing at that. They both knew full well how technical the job was that Josh and Vinyl did, and the idea of the unicorn trying to work a soundboard drunk was unbelievably hilarious to them.

“Surprisingly, she wasn’t that bad.” finished Josh, earning another loud roar of laughter from the two ponies.

“H-how did she use the board or mixer?” asked Twilight, wiping a tear from her eye.

“That’s a mystery I have yet to solve.” said Josh as his home came into view.

Vinyl, who had heard the approaching cart, stood outside with Sweetie Belle, both of them smiling at Josh and the others as they approached.

“Hey there, sexy.” she said, walking out to Josh and jumping up on her hind legs to give him a kiss.

“Hey sweetheart.” said Josh, hugging Vinyl and feeling a tug on his pants leg, “And hello to you, my other sweetheart.”

Vinyl jumped down from her coltfriend and allowed him to bend down and pick up Sweetie Belle. She giggled loudly as Josh cradled her and tickled her little white belly. The cream colored unicorn mare smiled at the cute sight. Josh would make an unbelievable father she thought.

“What brings you around here, Sweets?” asked Josh, placing the little white filly back on the ground.

“I came over to see if you were here because I wanted to ask you something,” she began, almost jumping up and down with excitement, “but Vinyl said you were at the train station getting all your stuff.”

“She was gonna go get you, but I told her she ought to wait for you here.” finished Vinyl, making her way over to the cart to help offload its contents, “So, I helped her with her magic a little.”

“That’s awesome! Can you show me what you learned so far?”

Sweetie Belle nodded, then turned to a small rock nearby and closed her eyes in concentration. Her horn was enveloped in a jade colored aura as she focused on the rock. It took a little while, but eventually the rock was surrounded in the same aura and began to levitate a few inches off the ground.

“That’s amazing, Sweets!” exclaimed Josh as Sweetie broke her concentration, “You’re really making progress.”

Sweetie Belle beamed up at Josh, who knelt down and patted her head.

“So, Sweetie,” said Vinyl, setting a speaker down nearby and turning to address the unicorn filly, “do you want to ask Joshie your question now?”

“Oh. Yeah!” she replied, remembering the original reason for her visit, “We’re having show and tell tomorrow at school, and I was wondering if you’d wanna be what I bring in to show everypony!”

“Well, I don’t know Sweets.” said Josh, looking back to the cart full of equipment, “We’ve got a lot of stuff to do with all this.”

Sweetie suddenly changed her face to be the most adorable thing in all of Equestria. Her lower lip trembled in a pouty way and her eyes became huge. It was a look that Josh had failed to ignore the first time Apple Bloom had used it on him, and he still fell for its cuteness every time. He looked to Vinyl, who simply smiled back at him.

“I’d love to, Sweetie Belle.” he finally said, unable to resist the little filly any longer, “I’ll be there bright and early, just for you.”

“Yay!” said Sweetie, bouncing up and down around Josh like Pinkie Pie would have, “Thank you, Joshie!”

“Anything for you, Sweets.” he said, chuckling a little as she encircled him once more.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then.” she called, bouncing off in the direction of Carousel Boutique and waving to Josh behind her.

“That’s hardly fair.” said Josh, walking over to help Vinyl and Twilight offload the cart.

“What’s that?” asked Vinyl, picking up a mixer.

“She knows I can’t resist that face. It’s just too goddamn adorable.”

“I couldn’t resist it either.”

“She used it on you?”

“Yup. Once she got here and I said you weren’t here.” she replied, setting the mixer down, “I couldn’t fight that look, so I invited her in and helped her with her magic.”

“That’s real sweet of you, baby.” said Josh, placing his own controller down before walking over to Vinyl to hold her, “She’s a fast learner. Just like you were.”

Vinyl blushed at that, remembering back to when Josh first started helping her become a successful producer. She remembered their first “date” they ever went on to the lake. She remembered the first time he helped her make her own solo mix, which also lead to their first kiss…

“I guess I just rubbed off on her a little.” she replied, a little short of breath at the memories flooding her mind.

Josh smiled at her blush and leaned to kiss her once more.

“I love you so much, Vinyl.” he said as they broke apart, “I don’t know what I’d ever do without you anymore.”

“I love you too, Josh.” she replied, nuzzling his neck as they held each other.

After a few moments of standing there, Josh broke the silence.

“We’d probably better get this stuff back into the studio.”

“If you insist.” Vinyl chuckled, jumping down from her coltfriend and grabbing several things in her magic to take inside.

Chapter 4: Show and Tell

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 4: Show and Tell

Josh passed through Ponyville on his way to the schoolhouse and Sweetie Belle, being greeted by all kinds of ponies as he walked. Almost all the ponies in Ponyville knew him by now, and they were consistently friendly to him. Much like Vinyl, the fact he was a completely different species than all of them didn’t seem to be an issue in the slightest. They always would wave to him, or stop and chat, always asking about how he and Vinyl were doing or about where their next tour stop was. Another plus was that they almost never asked for autographs, most of them already having one anyway.

Josh passed by Sugarcube Corner and smelled the sweet scent of Pinkie Pie’s breakfast cookies. Maybe she made a batch without coffee in them he thought, remembering back to when he first tried one of them. Caffeine didn’t agree with his body at all, and his friends all learned that when he made the mistake of eating one of her cookies containing coffee. Pinkie had felt awful about giving him something that would hurt him like that, so she developed a special recipe that tasted the same, but it didn’t have any coffee in it. Josh loved those cookies, and would stock up on them whenever he could.

This was one of the reasons he’d left as early as he did. He made his way towards the confectionary shop and stepped inside, the bell ringing as he did so. Almost immediately, Pinkie Pie rushed out from the kitchen and stood at the counter, awaiting her first customer.

“Hello and welcome to… Oh. Hey Joshie!” she said, abandoning her usual shop greeting as soon as she saw the human.

“Morning, Pinks.” he said, smiling at the ever exuberant pony behind the counter, “How’re you doing?”

“I’m fantastic!” she began, bouncing in place, “When I got up this morning, I couldn’t find Gummy, so I got really worried. Then, I remembered he likes to crawl under my bed, but when I checked he wasn’t there…”

Josh simply smiled down at Pinkie as she continued her rant about her toothless baby alligator. Occasionally, he’d throw in a nod of the head or a, “that’s interesting” to at least keep up the illusion that he was still following what the pink pony was saying.

“… so, I ended up finding him in the kitchen, hidden in a mixing bowl behind a tin of oatmeal. Isn’t that crazy?” she finished after about ten minutes.

“That’s incredible, Pinkie.” Josh said, trying to feign interest in the story.

“Oopsie. I got so into my story, I forgot to take your order!” she realized, taking out her pencil and notepad, “What can I get you, Joshie?”

“I’ll have two of your breakfast cookies and a glass of milk.” he said, pulling out his bag of bits, “And, could I get a box of those sent home as well? Vinyl’s taken a liking to them too, and I wanna surprise her a little.”

“I can do that!” said Pinkie, opening up the cash register, “That’ll be 14 bits please!”

Josh handed over 14 little gold coins from his bag and watched as Pinkie ran into the back and returned with two cookies and a glass of milk on a platter. She laid it on the counter and smiled back at Josh, who thanked her and picked up the plate so he could go sit elsewhere and eat his breakfast.

“My, those look good.” said a familiar voice next to the human as he took a seat at a nearby table in the shop.

Josh looked and saw the Ponyville schoolteacher, Miss Cheerilee.

“Fancy meeting you here this morning.” he said, standing back up before kneeling to give her a quick hug, “I was headed on my way to the schoolhouse today anyway.”

“Oh really? Why’s that?” asked the mulberry mare.

“Sweets wants to show me off to all her friends for show and tell today.” he replied, smiling at the thought of Sweetie Belle hopping up and down around him yesterday.

“Oh. I remember her mentioning that at some point.” said Cheerilee, putting a hoof to her chin, “I’ll bet she’s very excited.”

“Like you wouldn’t believe.”

“Well, I’m just here to grab my morning coffee.” said Cheerilee, pointing towards the counter, “How about after I’m done here, you join me and we go to the schoolhouse together?”

“Works for me.”

With that, Cheerilee headed for the counter, paid for her coffee, and came back to sit with Josh. Together, the two sat and talked for awhile, Cheerilee about her coltfriend, Big Macintosh, and Josh about Vinyl.

“Have you and Vinyl thought about having a foal together?” asked Cheerilee, making Josh put his half-eaten cookie down and think.

“Well, it’s crossed our minds before…” he trailed off, thinking about that conversation.

Indeed, he and Vinyl had talked about maybe having a child together. Vinyl was all for it, and Josh was as well, so, they said together, what was stopping them? The answer to that question was simple and readily apparent: their jobs. They didn’t want to have their child raised by a foalsitter while they were off to all corners of Equestria performing. However, they also couldn’t have the foal travel with them everywhere, in case an emergency came up and they needed to be in Ponyville. Maybe some other time he thought.

“Well, Celestia knows I’ve tried to convince Big Mac.” said Cheerilee, rolling her eyes.

“Really?” asked Josh through a mouthful of cookie, “What’s holdin’ you back?”

“He says that with our jobs, we’d have to get a full time foalsitter for the baby, and we’d hardly ever see it.” she said, taking a sip of her coffee.

“That can be a bit of a problem.” said Josh, Vinyl crossing his mind.

“Yes, it can.” continued Cheerilee, her voice becoming stern, “However, that doesn’t mean it has to be a constant roadblock.”

Josh simply nodded in agreement, finishing his cookie and milk as he did so.

“You all ready to go?” asked Cheerilee, taking one final swig of her coffee.

“Sure.”

Together, Josh and Cheerilee gave their empty containers to Pinkie and thanked the pink pony for the treats.

“No problem, guys!” she said, waving them off, “I’ll deliver those cookies to your house right now, Joshie.”

Josh thanked her once more, then followed Cheerilee back out the door as Pinkie disappeared into the back. Together, Josh and Cheerilee made their way through town, talking about the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Cheerilee told Josh all about their talent show performance the year before, a story which, by the end of it, Josh could hardly breathe for laughing so hard.

“S-so they s-smashed the entire stage?” he asked, a mirthful tear falling from his eye.

“Yes. They did.” Cheerilee said, frowning at the memory, “I thought they were going to kill themselves. Thank Celestia they didn’t get hurt in all that. They certainly could have used you just then to help them.”

“I can only do so much, Cheery.” he said, regaining his composure enough to talk once more, “You’ve gotta have the potential for me to be able to work with. I can tell you for a fact that the only one of them capable of performing onstage like that would be Sweets.”

“Oh well…” sighed Cheerilee.

They talked for a little while longer till the schoolhouse came into view. A few foals were standing outside, awaiting Cheerilee. Josh saw Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom among the group and made his way towards them while Cheerilee opened up the school.

“Joshie!” they all squealed in excitement, running up and jumping on Josh, who had knelt down to greet them.

He felt all three of them wrap their tiny hooves around his body, embracing him tightly. Josh smiled and returned their gesture.

“I’m so excited for my turn now!” said Sweetie Belle, jumping down from Josh and peering up at him with her beautiful, jade colored eyes.

“You’re gonna do great, Sweets.” he said, patting her head, “Now, I think you girls had better get inside so you’re not late for class.”

All three nodded at him and made their way inside the schoolhouse. Josh jumped up, wiping some dust off his pants as he did so. Turning, he saw Cheerilee standing in the doorway smiling at him.

“There’s a nice seat in the back for you to wait.” she said, watching as he made his way towards the schoolhouse door.

“Thanks, Cheery.” he said, making his way into the schoolhouse.

As he walked in, he saw foals all around, playing, chatting, and just being kids in general. A few of them noticed him and waved to him or ran up to talk to him. They would always comment on how big he was compared to them, or how their parents always talked about he and Vinyl and how cute they were together. All the while, Josh would just smile down at them and respond if they ever asked him any questions. Even when he was back home, he always had a fondness for kids, a trait which paid off here in Equestria.

“Alright, class,” said Cheerilee, taking her spot at the front of the room, “it’s time to get started with show and tell. If you’ll all take your seats, we can begin.”

Every foal rushed to their seat while Josh took a place at the back of the room. They all listened to Cheerilee explain how show and tell was going to work, a few of the kids occasionally looking back to Josh, who would smile and wave at them. After her explanation, Cheerilee chose the first student, and show and tell was underway.

Josh sat in the back patiently, watching each foal come up and present whatever they had brought to show. Scootaloo had brought in her scooter, and explained how she did some tricks. Apple Bloom brought in a small Stetson hat she had been given by Applejack and talked about how she always wore it when she helped outside. Dinky Hooves, Derpy’s ever-adorable unicorn daughter, brought in a mail badge she had gotten from her mother and talked about how her mom delivered the mail to everypony in Ponyville. After about an hour, Cheerilee called on Sweetie Belle, who hopped up from her chair excitedly.

“Come on, Joshie.” she said, taking her place at the head of the room.

Josh got up and made his way forward, all eyes following him as he approached the front. He stood next to his favorite little filly, smiling down at her as he did so.

“Okay, Sweetie Belle. Tell us about who you’ve brought in today.” said Cheerilee, sitting behind her desk and smiling at the excited little unicorn.

“Everypony,” she began, “this is my friend Josh.”

Every foal simply stared at Josh, who waved to the little crowd before him.

“Josh came here last year and lived with my sister, Rarity, for a little while.” she continued.

As she did so, a little pink pegasus filly in the back raised her hoof high in the air.

“Cotton Cloudy,” said Cheerilee, taking notice of the foal, “we’re supposed to save our questions for after the presentation.”

Cotton Cloudy lowered her hoof and blushed, a little pouty that she didn’t get her question answered. Josh simply smiled at her and all the other foals, who were obviously holding back on asking their own questions.

“I’ll answer any questions you might have after Sweetie Belle’s done talking, okay?” he announced to the room, “Does that sound good?”

Every foal nodded in agreement, to which Josh smiled down at Sweetie Belle and nodded, allowing her to continue. She talked all about how he’d taught Vinyl how to make music like him and how they’d put on a big concert last year. A huge smile spread across her face when she talked about how Josh had taken her up on the stage and let her dance around and have fun with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo while Josh and Vinyl performed. She finished by telling about how he’d left Equestria to return home, but had come back because he missed everypony.

“And that’s everything about my friend, Joshie.” she finished.

Every foal cheered and clapped their hooves. Josh bent down and picked up Sweetie Belle, placing her on his back so her hind legs rested on his shoulders and her rump sat on his neck. She wrapped her forelegs around his head to stabilize herself, a wide smile on her face.

“Any questions?” she asked from her perch.

Almost as soon as the words left her mouth, a torrent of questions burst from every foal. Everything from, “Can you play some music for us?” to, “Are you and Vinyl gonna get married?” was asked, and Josh stood there patiently, answering every question.

After a few minutes, the questions began to die down, and Josh placed Sweetie Belle back on the ground.

“One more, then we’ll have to move on.” said Cheerilee, looking all around for any more raised hooves, “Diamond Tiara, what’s your question for Josh?”

“Why are you here?” asked a little pink filly in front, who had a tiny diamond encrusted tiara perched on her purple and white mane.

“Well…” said Josh, thinking about how to answer that, “I’m here because I wanted to stay here.”

“My father says you don’t belong here.” said the little filly, glaring at Josh, “He says that Equestria is only supposed to be for ponies and other creatures that were here before.”

Josh was taken aback by the comments Diamond Tiara made. Nopony had ever had a problem with him before. At least, not any he could think of.

“Well, your father is entitled to his own opinions,” he began, trying to quell the sudden anger he felt rising in his chest, “but I’ve never even met him. He doesn’t really know me, so I hardly think he has the right to judge me outright.”

“He says he doesn’t have to know you to know you don’t belong here.” she continued, pointing an emphatic hoof at Josh, “Your relationship with Vinyl Scratch is wrong! Only ponies should be together.”

“Diamond Tiara!” said Cheerilee, speaking up before Josh had the chance to, “That’s quite enough! Josh is our guest, and you must…”

Josh raised a hand, stopping Cheerilee mid-sentence.

“Perhaps, Diamond Tiara,” he began, somehow managing to keep his voice level with the anger flooding him, “your father should be a big boy and come to me with these issues rather than spouting his hate speech for his own kid to repeat. That would be a nice alternative to what we’re doing right now, wouldn’t you agree?”

“How dare you!” shouted the filly, standing up and glaring daggers at Josh, “My father is one of the most respected ponies in this pathetic town! He’s three times the stallion you’ll ever be!”

Josh was about to respond when Cheerilee spoke up once more.

“Diamond Tiara! That’s enough.” she said, rising from her desk and glaring at the filly, “For this, you will stay in for lunch and recess. I’ll also be telling your father about your behavior and we’ll have a conference to discuss this little issue.”

She looked to Josh, concern etched across her face.

“I-I’m so sorry about this, Josh.” she began, “I’m sorry you have to deal with this. And here, of all places.”

Josh said nothing, instead looking down to Sweetie Belle. She stared back up at him, her little eyes beginning to water as he looked to her, a saddened expression painting her face at Diamond Tiara’s words towards her friend. Josh’s heart broke at her sad expression, and he bent down and hugged her. Every foal in the room was completely silent, save for Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, who had jumped up from their own seats and joined Josh and Sweetie Belle in the hug.

“Say whatever you want, Diamond Tiara.” said Josh after awhile, releasing the three fillies and sending them back to their seats, “But, don’t go around and spew your father’s hate speech. Or, at least have the decency to not say it in front of my friends.”

Diamond Tiara looked as if she wanted to continue her tirade, but stopped herself. Josh turned to Cheerilee.

“That conference you’re gonna have with her father. When are you gonna do that?”

“Probably some time later today.” replied the teacher, “Why?”

“I think I have a few things I need to say to him myself.” said Josh simply.

Cheerilee nodded, then thanked Josh for coming in. Josh made his way out of the schoolhouse, still unable to believe that somepony here was bigoted towards him. Well he thought as he made his way back across town towards his home I guess it’s not perfect anywhere.

Chapter 5: A Nice Little Chat

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 5: A Nice Little Chat

Josh and Vinyl sat in the now empty classroom with Cheerilee. Vinyl was silently seething with anger at what Diamond Tiara had said about her coltfriend, while Josh was taking a much more stoic approach to the whole thing. When he told her about the conference Cheerilee would hold to talk to Diamond Tiara's father, she insisted on showing up herself. She had claimed it would be to keep Josh level if things got heated, but the human had a feeling he'd be the one who had to keep her off both the filly and her father in that kind of scenario.

"Where is he?" asked Cheerilee, looking to the clock on the wall, "He's usually more poignant than this."

"He'll come." said Josh, looking to the door, "I insulted him. If he has any kind of pride, he'll show up."

As soon as the words left the human's mouth, the door opened and Diamond Tiara sauntered in. Behind her was a brown stallion with a black slicked back mane. Around his neck was a collar from a business suit complete with a red tie that had a dollar sign on it. He wore a stern look as he entered the schoolhouse.

"Filthy Rich," said Cheerilee, standing to greet the stallion, "I'm glad you could make it. Please, take a seat."

Filthy Rich sat on his haunches in front of Cheerilee's desk, his daughter next to him. Cheerilee returned to her seat and looked towards Josh and Vinyl nearby before speaking.

"Mr. Rich," she began, placing her hooves together in front of her on her desk, "We had a bit of an... issue with Diamond Tiara today."

"What exactly happened?" he asked, peering down at his daughter, "I only got her side of the story."

"One of our students brought Josh here in for her show and tell project." said Cheerilee, gesturing to Josh, "Everything was going fairly well till I called on your daughter to ask her question. She then proceeded to mention how you've been saying that Josh doesn't deserve to be here and be in a relationship with Vinyl Scratch."

"Well, I apologize for any sort of disturbance she may have caused in your class, Miss Cheerilee." he said, scowling at his daughter, "I should watch what I say around her a little more. It's a well known fact that children can be quite... easily influenced."

"Well, I appreciate your apology," said the teacher, glancing uneasily towards Josh once more, "however, I must admit, I'm sort of disturbed that you would say such things around her. Is that what you really feel about Josh?"

Filthy said nothing to that, instead looking to Josh, who glared back at him.

"I'm afraid that is how I feel." he replied simply, looking back to Cheerilee.

"What did I ever do to you?" asked Josh finally, unable to remain quiet anymore.

"Not a thing." said Filthy, looking back to the human, "However, I am entitled to my own opinions."

"That may be true," said Josh, standing up and walking over to the stallion, "but you barely even know me! How can you say that I don't belong here?"

"Equestria was founded by ponies, for ponies." said Filthy, standing as well and glaring up at Josh, "Any other creatures that happen to be here are simply a coincidence."

"You worthless bigot!" shouted Vinyl from her seat, jumping up and standing next to her coltfriend, "Just because Josh isn't a pony, you think he doesn't have the right to be happy?"

"I never said that." he replied, glancing at the enraged unicorn, "He's more than entitled to happiness. In his own world, where he can't taint the purity of ours."

"So that's it." said Josh, continuing to glare at Filthy as anger rose up in his chest, "You think I'm some kind of pockmark here?"

"I know for a fact that the princess chose you for some kind of divine experiment she concocted." replied Filthy, "To take somepony whose life was so far down the tubes and see if the 'magic of friendship' could change them."

"How could you possibly know that?" asked Josh, now worried about what this stallion might know.

"I have powerful connections even in the royal court." he replied, smirking at Josh, "They overheard the princesses talking about bringing somepony from another world here for their test." he looked to Vinyl, "Do you have any idea of the things he did before he came here, my dear?"

"Of course I do!" she spat, venom coating her words, "Josh told me everything. How could I judge him for something he did before he met me that he hasn't done since?"

"If I recall, didn't he just up and abandon you one day?"

Vinyl was taken aback, remembering the day Josh left Equestria and her in tears. She remembered the feeling of hopelessness she'd had as she cried that entire day, thinking she was never going to see the one thing she loved more than anything in the world.

"He came back, didn't he?" she shot back, "He loved me too much to stay gone for long."

"That may be true," said Filthy, pacing back and forth in front of Josh and Vinyl now, "but how long till he tires of you once again and he decides to leave once more?"

"How dare you!" shouted Josh, advancing on the stallion, "I love Vinyl more than anything! Who're you to say that I'd ever leave her again?"

Josh stood over the stallion now, glaring down at him. Though Josh was three feet taller than him and probably outweighed him by about 50 pounds, Filthy didn't flinch at his sudden movement towards him. Instead, he smirked back up at the human.

"You may be able to intimidate everpony else here with your size," he said, glaring into Josh's eyes, "but don't plan on me being one of those whose scared of you."

"You ought to be." said Josh simply.

"If you say so."

"Filthy," said Cheerilee, drawing the attention of both Josh and the stallion, "I would appreciate it if you not say such things around Diamond Tiara again. If she hears it, more than likely, she will repeat it here."

"I'm most sorry for that, Miss Cheerilee." he said once more, "I'll make sure to watch myself more closely."

"What about us?" said Josh, watching as Filthy turned to leave, "You're not gonna apologize to us for spreading hate speech about me?"

Filthy turned back to Josh, another smirk on his face.

"I'm sorry you were so smitten with this place that you decided to pretend you're one of us and stick around here."

Vinyl prepared to launch herself at Filthy, rage consuming her every thought. Josh grabbed her as she began her advance, however, holding her back.

"Lemme go, Josh!" she shouted, trying to wriggle her way out of his grasp without hurting him, "This jackass needs to be taught a lesson!"

"Vinyl, baby," said Josh, struggling to contain his enraged marefriend, "calm down. It's not gonna do us any good to attack him."

"How can you just stand there and do nothing?!" shouted Vinyl, her voice beginning to shake as tears formed in her eyes.

"Because it's not worth it." replied Josh, finally letting her go as Filthy made his way out the door with Diamond Tiara in tow.

Vinyl turned back to look at Josh, tears in her eyes. Josh held out his arms wide, inviting her to come into their comforting grasp. She shook her head and turned back to the door, rushing out as she began to cry. Josh felt his heart sink as he watched her cream colored form angrily sprinting away from him and the schoolhouse.

"Are you gonna be alright, Josh?" asked Cheerilee finally as Josh got up from the floor.

"Eventually." he replied, preparing to follow Vinyl out the door, "But, I don't know about Vinyl."

"I'm so sorry, Josh." said the teacher, stepping out from behind her desk and approaching the human, "You deserve better than to have to deal with all this."

"I know." he said, heading out the door.

He had to get home soon. Vinyl would undoubtedly be upset a him for his seeming lack of care for what Filthy said to them, and he needed to be there to comfort her. That, and he had a show to prepare for in two weeks.

Chapter 6: Guilty Consciences (Mature)

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 6: Guilty Consciences

Josh stood in the production studio, his headphones to one ear as he began to manipulate the music. Vinyl was still upset with him for not doing anything to Filthy for what he said. She avoided him once he got home, choosing to lock herself in the bedroom and take a nap. Josh knew her well enough by now to know that nothing he said or did right now would help her feel any better. He simply told her that he loved her and then headed to the studio to begin getting the set list ready for the show in Los Pegasus.

He worked with a little less vigor than normal, his mind distracted by thoughts of his angry marefriend upstairs in the bedroom. What was I supposed to do? he thought, trying and failing to focus on the music Punch him in the face and accomplish nothing? Josh was never the one to be violent with anyone, even back home. He knew better than any that violence accomplished nothing except to make someone seem like a jackass.

“Goddamn.” he finally said, unable to continue and turning off all the equipment, “I can’t do this right now.”

Slowly, he made his way back up the stairs and onto the main floor. Maybe Vinyl’s feeling better he thought, praying that he was right. Unfortunately, his prayers were in vain. The house was still as silent and uneasy as it had been before he headed down into the studio. Sighing with a mix of exhaustion and exasperation, he sat in his chair next to the fireplace and buried his face in his hands.

As he sat there, a knock came from the front door.

“It’s open.” called Josh simply, not lifting his head from his hands.

A second later, the door opened and a gray mare wearing a pink bowtie around her neck walked in, nudging the door shut as she entered the home.

“Good evening, Josh.” she said, trying to sound cheerful and bouncy, “How’re you?”

Josh simply looked up at her, his face completely blank. The smile the mare was wearing vanished at his gaze.

“I heard about what happened from Cheery.” she said, jumping up on the nearby couch and laying down so her head was close to his chair, “Vinyl’s still upset?”

“Just a little.” said Josh, sitting back and sighing, “What would you have done, Tavi?”

The mare put a hoof to her chin in contemplation.

“Probably the same as you.” replied Octavia.

Josh said nothing once more. At least someone around here’s on my side.

“What was Vinyl expecting you to do? Just lash out and hit him or something?” she asked, breaking the silence that had fallen.

“I guess.” replied Josh, thinking back to Vinyl preparing to rush Filthy and do God-knows-what, “That’s certainly what she aimed to do at the time.”

“Cheery told me you held her back.”

“I had to! She was gonna tear him to shreds!”

Octavia shrank a little as Josh raised his voice slightly. Josh immediately took notice of this and calmed himself down.

“I’m not gonna let her get arrested because she beat the living shit out of some guy.” he said, Octavia returning to her normal state, “Even if he is biased towards me, that’s no reason for me to just let her loose on him. And it’s certainly no reason for me to take him down myself.”

“I’m proud of you, Josh.” said the gray cellist, placing a hoof on his hand, “However, I’m not sure how you can still be so cool about this.”

“I’ve had many a person in my life tell me how much they hate me.” he said, thinking back to his life at home, “If I just punched everyone who I had a disagreement with, there’d be a lot of people on earth who have a black eye or a broken nose right now.”

“Maybe you ought to let me take him on.” joked the mare, causing Josh to chuckle as the memory of his first encounter with Octavia came to his mind.

He had upset Vinyl by upstaging her at her own show, and then received a visit from a very upset Octavia the next morning. She had rushed right into Rarity’s home, shot down the stairs to her dining room, and punched Josh right in the jaw.

“Maybe.” replied Josh, smiling a little at Octavia.

“I never did apologize for that first time we met…” she trailed off, her ears flattening against her skull.

“You have no reason to be sorry.” said Josh, “You were defending your friend. I can’t say I’d have done the same, but that doesn’t mean you were in the wrong.”

“I’m still sorry at least.” she said, staring at Josh with her beautiful violet eyes.

“I accept your apology, Tavi.”

Octavia smiled at the human, who returned her look. The gray mare’s smile faltered though as her eyes were drawn to the top of the stairs behind Josh. Josh noticed her gaze and turned to see what she was looking at. Vinyl was slowly making her way down the stairs, her crimson-magenta eyes red and puffy. She cautiously made her way into the living room, her ears pressed flat against her head.

“Hello, Vinyl dear.” said Octavia, smiling sweetly at her friend as she approached.

Vinyl simply looked to her, a sad expression painting her face. Octavia took that as her cue to leave and allow Josh and Vinyl to talk.

“I’ll see you later, Josh.” she said, crawling down from the couch and heading for the door.

“See ya, Tavi.” he said as she exited the house.

The house became filled with an uneasy silence, neither Josh nor Vinyl looking at each other. The pony made her way to the couch where Octavia had once been and lay down the same way the gray mare had, though she avoided looking at her coltfriend. They simply sat there, both trying their best to phrase what they wanted to say next.

“I’m sorry.” they both said at the same time, breaking the long silent streak that had taken hold.

“You first.” said Vinyl, peering at Josh from behind her blue mane.

“No, you first.” he replied.

Again, silence fell hard. They merely glanced at each other cautiously, till both noticed the other’s glance and they locked eyes for the first time in hours.

“I’m sorry, Vinyl.” said Josh finally, staring deep into his marefriend’s eyes and placing a hand on her hoof as it rested on the arm of the couch, “I should have done something about Filthy. If not for me, then at least for you.”

Vinyl’s eyes began to tear up once more as she looked at Josh. Guilt covered her face as she watched him.

“No. You were fine.” she said, placing her other hoof over his hand, “You were doing the right thing by not knocking him out and holding me back from doing the same. Hurting him right in front of his kid would have hardly been the right thing to do in this case.”

The two lovers simply stared at each other awhile longer, glad they were at least speaking to one another again.

“J-Josh,” said Vinyl, her voice shaking as she addressed him, “y-you still love me, r-right?”

“Baby, of course.” he said, rising from his chair and kneeling in front of Vinyl on the couch, “Why would you think I don’t love you anymore?”

“I… I don’t know.” she said, looking away from him for a second, “I just know you value that nopony here judges you like that. I just was so worried that if…”

Josh placed his hand on her chin and pulled her head so she was looking him in the eyes. He smiled sweetly at her, causing her to do the same.

“Vinyl,” he began, staring into her eyes, “one guy being a jackass isn’t ever going to make me leave you. I don’t care what Filthy Rich may think of me. Nothing he says or does could ever make me stop loving you.”

Vinyl smiled wider at his words. Slowly, she reached out a hoof and caressed his cheek lovingly.

“I love you so much, Josh.” she said, her eyes beginning to tear up once again, “I was just so worried I’d lose you. I don’t ever wanna be without you again.”

Josh placed his hands on her cheeks, leaned in, and passionately kissed Vinyl, probing her mouth with his tongue and feeling her melt into him. She wrapped her hooves around his neck and kissed him back. They soon broke, smiling lovingly at each other.

“You’ll never have to worry about that, baby.” he said, placing his forehead against her own.

Vinyl smiled at him, holding him as close as she possibly could. Josh returned to kissing her, this time more vigorously. She eagerly returned his affection, feeling herself become aroused as his hand travelled to her flank. All she wanted was to be close to him, and what better a time than now, when they were so happy to be around each other once more?

Josh broke the kiss slowly, beginning to plant smaller kisses all over her neck, making his way down her chest and to her stomach. Vinyl felt a tingle in her loins as he began to approach her marehood. She placed her hooves on his head, aching for him to reach her nethers and make her feel wave after wave of ecstasy. Normally, Josh would have teased the mare and made his return trip back to her mouth, but he wanted to show her the love she deserved. Vinyl received her wish as Josh’s tongue entered her aching marehood, making her lose all ability to think.

She moaned with pleasure as his tongue swirled around inside her, causing her mind to melt. He wrapped his arms around her flanks, burying his mouth even deeper into her lips, causing her to squeak and moan with delight. She could feel herself getting closer and closer to the edge. With one final moan of pleasure, her body convulsed, and she finally released, splashing Josh’s face with her juices.

The human looked up from his vantage point and saw a huge smile cover his marefriend’s face. Wiping her juices from his face, he returned to her mouth and kissed her like never before. She clumsily undid his shorts with her hooves as their mouths were connected, exposing his erect member. She backed off from the kiss and dived onto his erection, swirling her tongue on the top and causing Josh to now moan with pleasure.

“Ya like that, big boy?” she asked, smiling up at him.

As he nodded his head, she descended once more onto his throbbing member, beginning to envelope the piece of flesh in her mouth. Her head moved back and forth over its length, causing Josh to moan with pleasure himself. Once she felt he was ready, she removed her mouth from his appendage and lay back down on the couch, spreading her hind legs apart wide, preparing for what was to come next. Josh descended on his lover, inserting his member slowly into her marehood. She gave a small squeak as she felt him enter her.

The human began to thrust into his lover, slow at first, but picking up speed as he felt more comfortable. Vinyl continued to moan and cry out as wave after wave of pleasure flooded her body. Josh felt her insides tighten around his appendage as he began to thrust faster and harder. She continued to cry out in ecstasy, feeling herself near the edge once again. Josh also was nearing his limit and felt something make its way through his body. With one final ecstatic cry from Vinyl, they finished simultaneously, both feeling the other do so.

Josh lay down behind his marefriend, his body and mind exhausted from the day’s events. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly, never wanting to let her go. Together, they lay there, feeling the love between them grow one thousandfold.

“I love you, Joshie.” said Vinyl, drifting off to sleep in his warm embrace.

Josh smiled and gave her one last sweet little kiss on her neck before he felt himself being overtaken by the force of sleep. They both fell into their own peaceful dreams, huge smiles on their faces at knowing they had each other. As far as they were concerned, that was all they needed right now.

Chapter 6: Guilty Consciences (Clean)

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 6: Guilty Consciences

Josh stood in the production studio, his headphones to one ear as he began to manipulate the music. Vinyl was still upset with him for not doing anything to Filthy for what he said. She avoided him once he got home, choosing to lock herself in the bedroom and take a nap. Josh knew her well enough by now to know that nothing he said or did right now would help her feel any better. He simply told her that he loved her and then headed to the studio to begin getting the set list ready for the show in Las Pegasus.

He worked with a little less vigor than normal, his mind distracted by thoughts of his angry marefriend upstairs in the bedroom. What was I supposed to do? he thought, trying and failing to focus on the music Punch him in the face and accomplish nothing? Josh was never the one to be violent with anyone, even back home. He knew better than any that violence accomplished nothing except to make someone seem like a jackass.

“Goddamn.” he finally said, unable to continue and turning off all the equipment, “I can’t do this right now.”

Slowly, he made his way back up the stairs and onto the main floor. Maybe Vinyl’s feeling better he thought, praying that he was right. Unfortunately, his prayers were in vain. The house was still as silent and uneasy as it had been before he headed down into the studio. Sighing with a mix of exhaustion and exasperation, he sat in his chair next to the fireplace and buried his face in his hands.

As he sat there, a knock came from the front door.

“It’s open.” called Josh simply, not lifting his head from his hands.

A second later, the door opened and a gray mare wearing a pink bowtie around her neck walked in, nudging the door shut as she entered the home.

“Good evening, Josh.” she said, trying to sound cheerful and bouncy, “How’re you?”

Josh simply looked up at her, his face completely blank. The smile the mare was wearing vanished at his gaze.

“I heard about what happened from Cheery.” she said, jumping up on the nearby couch and laying down so her head was close to his chair, “Vinyl’s still upset?”

“Just a little.” said Josh, sitting back and sighing, “What would you have done, Tavi?”

The mare put a hoof to her chin in contemplation.

“Probably the same as you.” replied Octavia.

Josh said nothing once more. At least someone around here’s on my side.

“What was Vinyl expecting you to do? Just lash out and hit him or something?” she asked, breaking the silence that had fallen.

“I guess.” replied Josh, thinking back to Vinyl preparing to rush Filthy and do God-knows-what, “That’s certainly what she aimed to do at the time.”

“Cheery told me you held her back.”

“I had to! She was gonna tear him to shreds!”

Octavia shrank a little as Josh raised his voice slightly. Josh immediately took notice of this and calmed himself down.

“I’m not gonna let her get arrested because she beat the living shit out of some guy.” he said, Octavia returning to her normal state, “Even if he is biased towards me, that’s no reason for me to just let her loose on him. And it’s certainly no reason for me to take him down myself.”

“I’m proud of you, Josh.” said the gray cellist, placing a hoof on his hand, “However, I’m not sure how you can still be so cool about this.”

“I’ve had many a person in my life tell me how much they hate me.” he said, thinking back to his life at home, “If I just punched everyone who I had a disagreement with, there’d be a lot of people on earth who have a black eye or a broken nose right now.”

“Maybe you ought to let me take him on.” joked the mare, causing Josh to chuckle as the memory of his first encounter with Octavia came to his mind.

He had upset Vinyl by upstaging her at her own show, and then received a visit from a very upset Octavia the next morning. She had rushed right into Rarity’s home, shot down the stairs to her dining room, and punched Josh right in the jaw.

“Maybe.” replied Josh, smiling a little at Octavia.

“I never did apologize for that first time we met…” she trailed off, her ears flattening against her skull.

“You have no reason to be sorry.” said Josh, “You were defending your friend. I can’t say I’d have done the same, but that doesn’t mean you were in the wrong.”

“I’m still sorry at least.” she said, staring at Josh with her beautiful violet eyes.

“I accept your apology, Tavi.”

Octavia smiled at the human, who returned her look. The gray mare’s smile faltered though as her eyes were drawn to the top of the stairs behind Josh. Josh noticed her gaze and turned to see what she was looking at. Vinyl was slowly making her way down the stairs, her crimson-magenta eyes red and puffy. She cautiously made her way into the living room, her ears pressed flat against her head.

“Hello, Vinyl dear.” said Octavia, smiling sweetly at her friend as she approached.

Vinyl simply looked to her, a sad expression painting her face. Octavia took that as her cue to leave and allow Josh and Vinyl to talk.

“I’ll see you later, Josh.” she said, crawling down from the couch and heading for the door.

“See ya, Tavi.” he said as she exited the house.

The house became filled with an uneasy silence, neither Josh nor Vinyl looking at each other. The pony made her way to the couch where Octavia had once been and lay down the same way the gray mare had, though she avoided looking at her coltfriend. They simply sat there, both trying their best to phrase what they wanted to say next.

“I’m sorry.” they both said at the same time, breaking the long silent streak that had taken hold.

“You first.” said Vinyl, peering at Josh from behind her blue mane.

“No, you first.” he replied.

Again, silence fell hard. They merely glanced at each other cautiously, till both noticed the other’s glance and they locked eyes for the first time in hours.

“I’m sorry, Vinyl.” said Josh finally, staring deep into his marefriend’s eyes and placing a hand on her hoof as it rested on the arm of the couch, “I should have done something about Filthy. If not for me, then at least for you.”

Vinyl’s eyes began to tear up once more as she looked at Josh. Guilt covered her face as she watched him.

“No. You were fine.” she said, placing her other hoof over his hand, “You were doing the right thing by not knocking him out and holding me back from doing the same. Hurting him right in front of his kid would have hardly been the right thing to do in this case.”

The two lovers simply stared at each other awhile longer, glad they were at least speaking to one another again.

“J-Josh,” said Vinyl, her voice shaking as she addressed him, “y-you still love me, r-right?”

“Baby, of course.” he said, rising from his chair and kneeling in front of Vinyl on the couch, “Why would you think I don’t love you anymore?”

“I… I don’t know.” she said, looking away from him for a second, “I just know you value that nopony here judges you like that. I just was so worried that if…”

Josh placed his hand on her chin and pulled her head so she was looking him in the eyes. He smiled sweetly at her, causing her to do the same.

“Vinyl,” he began, staring into her eyes, “one guy being a jackass isn’t ever going to make me leave you. I don’t care what Filthy Rich may think of me. Nothing he says or does could ever make me stop loving you.”

Vinyl smiled wider at his words. Slowly, she reached out a hoof and caressed his cheek lovingly.

“I love you so much, Josh.” she said, her eyes beginning to tear up once again, “I was just so worried I’d lose you. I don’t ever wanna be without you again.”

Josh placed his hands on her cheeks, leaned in, and passionately kissed Vinyl, probing her mouth with his tongue and feeling her melt into him. She wrapped her hooves around his neck and kissed him back. They soon broke, smiling at each other lovingly.

“You’ll never have to worry about that, baby.” he said, placing his forehead against her own.

Vinyl smiled at him, holding him as close as she possibly could. Josh returned to kissing her, this time more vigorously. She eagerly returned his affection, feeling herself become aroused as his hand travelled to her flank. All she wanted was to be close to him, and what better a time than now, when they were so happy to be around each other once more?

*****

Josh lay down behind his marefriend, his body and mind exhausted from the day’s events as well as their recent lovemaking. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly, never wanting to let her go. Together, they lay there, feeling the love between them grow one thousandfold.

“I love you, Joshie.” said Vinyl, drifting off to sleep in his warm embrace.

Josh smiled and gave her one last sweet little kiss on her neck before he felt himself being overtaken by the force of sleep. They both fell into their own peaceful dreams, huge smiles on their faces at knowing they had each other. As far as they were concerned, that was all they needed right now.

Chapter 7: Las Pegasus, Here We Come

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 7: Las Pegasus, Here We Come

Life for Josh and Vinyl returned to normal pretty quickly. They almost immediately made the transition back into production, getting their setlist ready for the next show. Over the course of the next two weeks, Octavia or one of their other friends would stop by and see how they were doing, all of them glad that the situation with Filthy Rich didn’t tear apart the two lovers. As was before, neither Josh or Vinyl saw or heard anything about the bigoted stallion, a fact they both rejoiced in.

Josh and Vinyl were now on a train, headed for Las Pegasus and their next show. Vinyl lay her head on her coltfriend’s chest, sleeping peacefully as he stroked her mane. The human peered out the window, trying and failing to not think about Filthy Rich and the things he said to Josh and Vinyl.

"I'm sorry you were so smitten with this place that you decided to pretend you're one of us and stick around here."

Those words haunted Josh for some reason. I’m hardly pretending to be anyone he thought as he watched the scenery speed past his train car Why is he the only one who has a problem with me? Vinyl stirred in her sleep a little, readjusting her head on Josh’s chest. The human peered down at the beautiful unicorn. She knew he wasn’t pretending to be anything.

After several hours, they arrived in Las Pegasus and found their crew awaiting them there.

“You the guys who’re supposed to move all our stuff to the pavilion?” asked Josh as he stepped off the train, Vinyl close behind him.

“Yes sir!” said the leader, an orange unicorn mare, “We’ll take all your equipment to the stage and get it set up for you so you two can relax till the show.”

“Good.” said Vinyl, smiling and yawning, “I think we could use a day or two to ourselves.”

“Just make sure you get it set up properly.” said Josh, watching as several unicorns made their way onto the train to offload their equipment, “I’ll come by the day before and inspect everything. I don’t wanna have to lecture anybody on how to wire the speakers.”

The unicorn mare saluted before heading off to help her peers. Josh turned to Vinyl, who smiled up at him with tired eyes.

“You get a good rest?” he asked, smirking at her as she yawned once more.

“We’ve been so busy the last few days.” she replied, “Sleep is hard to come by when you’re producing as much as we are.”

“You wanna go find a hotel so you can relax for a bit?”

“We can…”

Josh smiled at his tired marefriend. She’s unbelievably cute when she’s tired like that he thought, watching as her head dipped and she began to nod off. She caught herself just in time, jerking her head back up before it began to sink again. Josh looked around and saw a nice hotel nearby they could stay at for a little while.

“Come here, sleepyhead.” he said, kneeling down and grabbing her under her forelegs before hoisting her up and holding her close.

She wrapped her forelegs around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder as he placed his hands under her rump and made his way to the hotel. Vinyl wasn’t too heavy, though she also was no Sweetie Belle, which made it a little awkward to hold her as he walked. However, he had no trouble carrying her to the hotel and getting a room for her to stay in. The concierge at the desk, a gray pegasus stallion, smiled at him as he walked in.

“Welcome to the Equestria Grand Hotel.” he whispered upon seeing the tall human carrying a sleeping unicorn, “I’ll just get you a room key.”

The stallion stepped back and took a key from the rack before handing it to a bellhop nearby.

“If you want to upgrade at any point, just let me know when she’s awake.” he said before resuming his duties.

Josh nodded and thanked the stallion before following the bellhop back to he and Vinyl’s room. As they entered, Josh placed his sleeping marefriend onto the bed, pulling back the covers so they covered her sleeping form.

“Thank you, baby…” she mumbled before turning over and resuming her sleep.

Josh smiled before turning back to the bellhop and giving her a nice tip. The bellhop thanked him and returned back to the front desk to await further command.

“Sleep tight, my sweet little pony.” Josh whispered, kissing her on the top of her head before turning and heading back out the door.

He went to the front desk and paid for four nights in the hotel. The concierge thanked him and asked if there was anything else they could to for him.

“Actually, I kinda left our luggage at the train station…” he said, wincing a little at the sudden realization.

“Not to worry, sir.” said the clerk, waving his hoof dismissively, “They won’t just throw out your things there. As long as you give us the name your tags are under on the bags, we can send somepony out to go get them and take them to your room for you.”

Josh felt relief wash over him as he gave the concierge the name and watched a few bellhop’s leave to go get the bags.

“And, make sure their careful when they go in.” he said, making for the door, “Vinyl’s still asleep in the room.”

“I’ll make sure they don’t make a sound, sir.” the concierge said, smiling at Josh.

Josh nodded, then made for the door. He wanted to go and see the pavilion they’d be playing at in a few days. Maybe after that, he’d hit up a bar and get a drink or something. Just so long as he got back to Vinyl at some point...

*****

Vinyl awoke in the hotel room, still drowsy from her four and a half hour nap she’d just taken. As she looked around, Josh was nowhere to be found. She grimaced a little, hoping he’d have stuck around. What’s he gonna do while I’m asleep though? she mused as she rose from the bed and stretched Just sit there and watch me? Looking to her left, she saw all their luggage set neatly next to the bed.

She made her way out to the lobby of the hotel and looked around. Its walls were adorned with all sorts of beautiful art and photographs, and Vinyl couldn’t help but notice a poster behind a glass case. As she approached it, she smiled as she recognized it as one of their tour posters. After she finished admiring the poster, she walked up to the front desk and the concierge behind it.

“Excuse me,” she said, gaining his attention, “but did you happen to see a tall guy on two legs come through here recently?”

“Actually, he left about four hours ago.” replied the concierge, turning to face Vinyl, “Said something about maybe getting a drink.”

It’s not like Josh to be gone this long she thought. Vinyl thanked the concierge before heading back to her room. She wondered what happened to make Josh stay out so long, praying that everything was alright. As she entered her room, a bellhop rushed in behind her, panting heavily.

“M-Miss… Scratch…” he said through frantic breaths, “You… have a message… in the front lobby…”

Vinyl rushed to the front lobby, hoping that whatever it could be, it wasn’t anything bad involving her coltfriend. As she entered, the concierge called her over and handed her a message.

“This arrived a few minutes ago.” he said, before turning back to his work.

Vinyl unrolled the message. It was in Josh’s handwriting. She slowly began to read.

Vinyl,
I kinda need your help. It’s nothing too big, but I sort of dropped the ball here. Don’t panic or be too upset with me, but I may have lost all our money to get home. Just come to the Casino del Caballo and help me out. If there’s anyone who I need right now, it’s you. I love you.
Josh

Vinyl dropped the letter and let out an exasperated sigh.

“I warned him about gambling last time we were here.” she said, making her way out the door and heading to the Casino del Caballo.

Chapter 8: The Art of Messing Up

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 8: The Art of Messing Up

Josh had made his way to a nearby bar not too far from the pavilion they would be performing at, and was now sipping on a gin and tonic and talking to some other ponies in the bar. Almost as soon as he’d walked into the building, ponies rushed up to him and asked for photos and autographs. Josh happily obliged, signing anything he was handed and posing for a few photos here and there. When he was finally able to approach the bar, ponies began to buy him drinks and talk to him about the show in a few days.

“I always love being on that stage and seeing people going as crazy as me and enjoying themselves.” he told a tan colored mare with a curly pink and blue mane, “It at least tells me I’m doing my job right.”

The mare simply nodded and looked to her friend, a teal colored unicorn who was staring intently at Josh with a dreamy look on her face. Josh looked at his watch and gasped as he realized what time it was.

“Excuse me, ladies.” he said, standing and preparing to leave, “I’ve gotta be going now. My marefriend’s back at the hotel, and I wanna make sure I get back there to be with her for a while.”

“We’ll see you at your show tomorrow, Xploshun.” said the tan mare, winking at Josh.

“Thanks again for the drinks.” he said, smiling and returning her wink, “What were your names again?”

“I’m Bon Bon.” said the tan mare, gesturing to herself, then to her unicorn friend, “And this is Lyra.”

“Well, Lyra and Bon Bon,” said Josh, bowing a little and causing them both to giggle, “I bid you both adieus. Have a nice evening.”

Lyra and Bon Bon waved to him as he turned to leave. Josh had only been gone for an hour or so, but he still wanted to make sure he was there to be with Vinyl when she got up. He stepped outside, seeing the warm Equestrian sun beam down on him. He began to make his way through the rather large city that was Las Pegasus. It wasn’t much unlike the city of Las Vegas he knew of back home.

Casino’s and restaurants lined the streets all down the main thoroughfare, their lights twinkling a little even in the daylight. Josh had never even been inside a casino in his life, not even when he’d made a stop in Vegas on his tour. He wasn’t much for gambling. To him, one could simply pull a dollar out of their pocket and light it on fire and achieve the same effect as gambling. However, deep down, he had always wanted to try the slot machines…

Josh passed by a rather small casino with a giant sign that read “Casino del Caballo”. As he peered up at the sign, a blue stallion rushed out, his saddlebags filled with bits and a huge smile on his face. Josh watched as the stallion made his way down the street before he turned back to the casino. I really shouldn’t… he thought, biting his lip I need to get back to Vinyl. He looked to his watch once more, then back at the casino, wondering whether or not it would be worth it…

“Fuck it. I’ve got time.”

He made his way into the casino and looked around. It was much larger inside than it appeared to be outside. Josh saw mares and stallions of all kinds sitting or standing at tables all around, most thoroughly enjoying themselves, or at least they appeared to be doing so. Every now and then, a casino employee would walk past, most of the time carrying a tray laden with drinks or food of some kind. Unsure of what to do, Josh simply stood there for awhile, watching the ponies on the main floor as they continued to gamble.

“Can I help you sir?” asked a voice nearby which made Josh jump a little.

He turned to see a bright pink mare with a straight green mane and tail wearing a red and white vest smiling up at him as he stood there.

“Uh…” he stalled, looking between the mare and the other ponies in the main hall, “I’m not so sure what I’m doing here.”

“This is your first time in our lovely establishment?” she asked, her eyes beginning to twinkle a little.

“It’s kinda my first time at any sort of casino…” said Josh, scratching the back of his head nervously.

“Well, not to worry.” said the mare, turning and beginning to gesture all around the casino with her hoof, “We here at Casino del Caballo are more than willing to help you have a good time. What kind of games interest you exactly?”

“I’ve always kinda wanted to use the slot machines…” he said, glancing around once more.

“An excellent choice!” said the mare, heading off towards the floor, “Those are some of my favorites as well. Our slot machines are located over here. Feel free to use them to your little-er… large heart’s content.”

Josh followed the mare, passing by all sorts of tables and other setups on the floor. Eventually, he saw the familiar cabinets of a few slot machines, and the pink mare stopped and looked back at him, smiling once more.

“Here you are, sir.” she said, gesturing to the machines, “If you need anything at all, don’t be afraid to ask one of our staff, or come and get me and I’ll assist you in any way I can.”

“Thanks.” said Josh simply, beginning to make his way towards the machines, “What was your name?”

“Oh! Silly me, I almost forgot.” said the pink mare, facehoofing a little, “My name is Lilac. I’ll be around if you need anything. Have a nice time!”

Josh thanked Lilac as she walked away. He turned back to the bright machine, almost being blinded by its bright lights all around. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his bag of bits, grabbing one out and preparing to gamble for the first time. He slid the little gold coin into the machine’s coin slot and pulled the arm, making the barrels inside begin to spin around. They spun for what seemed like an eternity, before finally settling on their final marks.

Three in a row. Josh smiled wide as bits began to pour out of the machine below his legs. That wasn’t so bad he thought, scooping up a few of the gold coins and pocketing them That was actually kinda fun! I wonder if I can do that again?

*****

“So, from there you lost 2,000 bits?” asked Vinyl, glaring at Josh as he stood in the entryway and talked to his marefriend.

“Pretty much…” he said, feeling himself shrink a little as she glared at him, “I figured I could win all of it back at some point, but I just kept losing more and more. It wasn’t till I reached in my pocket and realized I didn’t have anymore bits that I had to send a message to you.”

“Why’d you get me out here?” she asked, her voice beginning to rise a little from her anger at Josh’s stupidity, “You know I don’t gamble!”

“I just need you to help me out.” he said, falling on his knees and taking a pleading position, “I’ve got nothing left to use. We’ve gotta get back our money somehow.”

“Aren’t we here to get paid?” asked Vinyl, raising an eyebrow, “Our shows aren’t free you know.”

“Babe, we don’t get the money for another week after the show!” exclaimed Josh, “We can’t afford to stay here another week! This place is expensive.”

“I told you to get us roundtrip tickets for the train!” said Vinyl, pointing her hoof at Josh and scowling heavily, “That way we could leave as soon as the show was done!”

“I thought we might wanna stay for another day or two after.” said Josh meekly, beginning to lose all hope.

Vinyl sighed and facehoofed. She glared at Josh from behind her hoof, unable to believe her coltfriend’s stupidity. She wasn’t a gambler, but she knew that the worst thing that could happen to somepony when they gambled for the first time was to win big. It built a false sense of confidence, and the casino would feed off that confidence like hungry timberwolves till they got every bit of money they could from the victim.

“I don’t know what you think I’ll be able to do here.” she finally said, lowering her hoof so she could glare at Josh once more, “What do you expect? That I can just use my charm and good looks to get the money back? This is a casino. They exist to simply take all your money and then laugh at you when you lose it all. They’re not gonna take any pity on us, especially not when they know what we do for a living.”

Josh’s head hung low, shame painting his every feature. He couldn’t believe he’d allowed himself to do something this stupid. Now, here he was, groveling at his marefriend’s hooves, praying that she could help him. At this point, it all seemed so hopeless.

“I’m… more sorry than you’ll ever know.” he finally said, gathering the courage to look at Vinyl once more, “I can’t believe I let myself get caught up in something like this…”

Vinyl’s look softened a little at Josh’s words. She knew he was normally better than that, and that he’d just allowed his curiosity to get the better of him. Plus, she did recall the last time they were in Las Pegasus and she got drunk right before the show…

“Do you have anything left?” she asked, trying her best to sound more comforting.

Josh reached into his pocket and pulled out a single bit. Vinyl grabbed it in her magic and made her way over to a roulette table. As she walked up, the manager of the table began to call out for bets.

“And, my beautiful friend,” he said, addressing Vinyl as she approached, the bit in her magic, “What’ll your bet be?”

“I’ll take…” said Vinyl, peering up at the board showing the last few rolls, “33 black please.”

“You know, the odds of hitting that right now aren’t too good.” said the manager, raising an eyebrow as Vinyl presented the coin to him, “You sure you wanna place that?”

“What’s the payout?” she asked.

“About 2,000 bits.”

“I’ll take it then.” said Vinyl, floating the coin closer to the stallion.

He shrugged and grabbed the coin in his teeth before spinning the wheel and throwing the ball into the riding slot. Josh walked up and stood behind Vinyl, both of them watching the ball roll with bated breath. After what seemed like forever, the ball began to slow and settle in a pocket.

“Looks like… 33 black!” called the manager.

Josh and Vinyl jumped for joy, the human grabbing his marefriend and spinning around, making her back legs flail about. The manager smiled at them both and congratulated the two, handing over two colored chips.

“You sure you don’t wanna double up on that?” he asked, gesturing back to the table, “You’ve got quite the luck over here.”

Vinyl looked between the chips and the table, contemplating his words. However, before she had the chance to lay down another bet, Josh reached under her belly and hoisted her up on his shoulder, carrying her away from the table. Thank God she’s lucky he thought as they approached the payout counter Otherwise we’d have been pretty well fucked.

Chapter 9: Foalsitting and Flowers

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 9: Foalsitting and Flowers

Josh and Vinyl’s show in Las Pegasus had gone very well, considering they’d almost completely lost all their money at that casino. Vinyl forgave Josh fairly quickly after that fiasco, saying that it truly was hard to resist the temptation to gamble sometimes. She did also say, however, that if he ever did anything like that again, she’d make him sleep on the couch for a year. Josh happily agreed to those terms, simply glad that she wasn’t too horribly upset by what had happened.

A week after the show, Josh simply sat in the house, a book in his hands. He didn’t really have much to do today. They didn’t have a show for awhile now, and Vinyl was away at Octavia’s house for the day. The human didn’t normally like to read, but Rainbow Dash had managed to talk him into starting up the Daring Do series, saying that it was one of the greatest stories ever. Josh agreed, asking her which one was the best to start with, to which she took him to the library and tried to convince Twilight to allow him to check out every single book in the series.

As Josh was finishing a particular passage in which Daring Do escapes the clutches of the evil Ahuizotl once more, he heard a knock at the door.

“It’s open.” he called, not taking his eyes off the book.

The door soon opened and an excited little voice called his name.

“Joshie!”

Josh looked over his book and saw a little white unicorn filly run inside the house. A wide smile came across his face as Sweetie Belle rushed up to him, jumping up onto his lap.

“Hey there, Sweets!” he said excitedly, setting the book on the table next to his chair and hugging the tiny unicorn, “How’s my favorite little filly today?”

“I’m really good!” she said, giggling as Josh tickled her warm, white belly.

Josh was so distracted with playing with Sweetie Belle on his lap, that he never saw Rarity even enter the room. She didn’t mind though, as she stood there, a huge smile on her face as the tall human cradled her sister in his arms.

“Hello, darling.” she finally said after awhile, causing Josh to finally take notice of her.

“Hey there, Rares.” he said, placing Sweetie back on his lap, “How’re you?”

“I’m quite well, actually.” said Rarity, making her way over to the nearby couch and taking a seat, “Just rather tired is all.”

“You been getting a lot of orders and stuff?” asked Josh, stroking Sweetie Belle’s mane.

“Like you wouldn’t believe.” said the white mare, rather dramatically, “But, it always gets like this when the Gala comes around.”

“Is that really coming up so soon?” inquired Josh, trying to think back to when he’d last heard about it.

“It’s still quite a ways away.” said Rarity, mentally checking the date herself, “However, most ponies like to get their requests for gowns and other things like that in very early.”

“Hmm.” grunted Josh, “So, what can I do for you two lovely mares today?”

Rarity blushed a little at his compliment, turning away so as to not show the bright red bleeding through her white coat.

“Yes, well…” she said, clearing her throat, “I have to head out to Canterlot today. I need to get some more of my special fabrics for some particular orders. And, since Sweetie Belle here doesn’t have school today, I was wondering if you’d like to foalsit her for a day. I’d go to our parents, but they’re not in town today, and everypony else has been busy so far who I’ve asked.”

Josh looked down to Sweetie Belle, who looked back up at him, her eyes shining with excitement.

“Well, I don’t know…” he teased, smiling at the little filly and running a hand across her back, “What do you think Sweets? Would you wanna spend a day with me?”

Sweetie Belle nearly started jumping up and down on his lap in excitement.

“Of course I would!” she said excitedly, eliciting a huge smile from both Josh and Rarity, “Why wouldn’t I ever wanna spend a day with you?”

“Well, that settles it then.” said Josh, cradling Sweetie once more in his arms and standing up, “I guess you’ll be stuck with me today.”

Sweetie giggled loudly as Josh began to play with her some more, lifting her up from under her tiny forelegs and lightly tossing her into the air. Rarity almost told Josh to not do that to the little filly, afraid that he might drop her. However, she quickly stopped herself when she saw how much fun the two were having.

“I guess I’ll be off then.” she said, turning and making her way towards the door, “Have a good day you two. And behave yourselves!”

“Bye, Rarity!” called Sweetie as Josh placed her back on the ground.

“So,” said Josh, looking all around for some king of idea as to what to do with Sweetie Belle, “what do you wanna do first, Sweets?”

Sweetie Belle placed a little marshmallow hoof to her chin, contemplating her next move. She opened her mouth to suggest something, but was quickly cut off as a loud rumble came from her little stomach. She smiled sheepishly at Josh, the usual squeaky noise sounding.

“Maybe we ought to get you some lunch first.” he suggested, smiling and making his way to the door, “Come on. We’ll go to Sugarcube Corner.”

Sweetie Belle happily took her place next to Josh as he exited the house, making for the confectionary. As they made their way, Sweetie Belle began talking all about some of the things she’d been doing with the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“So,” she continued, taking a breath after explaining some new plan the three had concocted, “we were wondering if you’d teach us how to make music like you some time.”

Josh stifled a laugh at her words. He truly loved the CMC, their playful nature and curious minds always intrigued him. However, he knew they could be pretty overzealous from time to time. More than once, he’d seen the disaster that had occurred from one of their failed attempts at a scheme, most of which ended in property damage of some kind. He loved the fact that they had taken a liking to his music, but he also valued the fact that his equipment was still functioning at this moment in time.

“Maybe…” he said, hesitating a little as he thought about what three fillies could possibly do to his and Vinyl’s setup, “I’ll think about it.”

Sweetie Belle beamed at his words, continuing to trot alongside her favorite human. After awhile of more walking, the sweets shop known as Sugarcube Corner came into view.

“Come on, Joshie!” called Sweetie, rushing towards the establishment.

“You head on inside, Sweets.” he replied, noticing a nearby flower stall, “Tell Pinkie that I’ll be in shortly. I’ve got something to do real quick.”

Sweetie nodded, making her way to Sugarcube Corner as Josh turned and headed for the flower stall. As he approached, a tan colored mare with a long, straight, bright red mane and tail popped up and smiled at him.

“Afternoon, Roseluck.” he said warmly, beginning to examine all the flowers at her beautiful stall.

“Hey there, Josh.” she said, continuing to smile at him, “Can I get you anything today?”

“I’m looking to have a really big bouquet made for mine and Vinyl’s first anniversary.” he said, looking to the mare, “You think you can help me out there?”

“Of course!” replied Roseluck excitedly, “What all are you looking for exactly?”

“Well, her favorite flowers are roses…” said Josh, thinking about what would be best to put into the bouquet, “How many different colors of roses do you have?”

“As many as you could imagine.” said Roseluck, beaming at Josh.

“Then I’ll take one of each.” he replied, pulling out a sack of bits to pay the mare.

“Don’t worry about paying me right now.” said Roseluck, waving her hoof upon seeing his money, “I still haven’t even gotten all the flowers cut or anything like that. Once I have it ready for you, you can pay me.”

Josh smiled as Roseluck winked at him.

“Thanks for this.” he said.

“Anything for you and Vinyl.” replied Roseluck, continuing to smile at Josh, “I almost wish I could have a special somepony like you…”

“I’m not all that special.”

“Obviously you are.” said Roseluck, busying herself with some nearby flower pots, “Otherwise, why else would she be with you?”

“Good point.”

“Oh! I almost forgot.” said the mare, facehoofing a little, “When would you like this delivered?”

Josh thought for a second, knowing that he and Vinyl would be on the road again by the time their actual anniversary came around.

“How about… two weeks from now?” he said, causing Roseluck to nod and pull out a pencil and pad to write down the information.

“I’m assuming you’ll probably want a card to go along with it too?” she said through the pencil in her mouth.

“Sure.” said Josh, watching her write something else down.

“What do you want it to say?”

“Uh…” Josh said, wondering what would be best to put on the card.

“Joshie!”

He looked behind him and saw both Pinkie and Sweetie Belle standing at the entrance to Sugarcube Corner.

“Tell you what, Roseluck,” he said, turning and making for the sweets shop, “I’ll send you a message with Spike or somebody like that.”

Roseluck merely nodded, placing her pencil away once more and waving to Josh as he made for Sugarcube Corner.

“Have a good day, Josh!” she called as he made his way.

Josh simply turned back for a second and waved to her, before continuing towards Sweetie and Pinkie Pie. He knew that he and Vinyl’s anniversary was a ways off, but he was more than willing to give her a gift like that early. Besides, Vinyl didn’t always have the best memory. And what better way to jog it than with a huge bouquet of her favorite flowers?

Chapter 10: Houston...

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 10: Houston…

Josh and Sweetie Belle sat in Sugarcube Corner, their lunch now finished and listening to Pinkie Pie talk. He knew Rarity would kill him for it later, but he’d decided to spoil the little filly and get her a nice big ice cream cone. She sat there, ice cream all over her muzzle and a huge smile on her face. Pinkie was ranting on about a recent trip she’d taken to the spa with Fluttershy in Rarity’s absence.

“So, then, they asked me why I’d eaten the mud mask they’d put on my face.” she said, rolling her eyes a little, “I told them that it smelled a lot like the cake batter we use here at the shop.”

“I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess it didn’t taste like cake batter though.” said Josh, noticing that the filly had finished her ice cream and grabbing some napkins from nearby to attempt to clean the remnants off Sweetie Belle’s face.

“It didn’t.” said Pinkie simply, a dreamy expression crossing her face, “But, I just used my imagination to make it taste like cake batter! It was delicious!”

Sweetie Belle, who had begun to squirm as Josh attempted to clean her face, stopped her movements and just stared blankly at the pink party pony. Josh himself had also stopped what he was doing and did the same towards Pinkie who had a huge smile on her pink face.

“I’d love to live in your head for about ten minutes, Pinks.” he said, continuing his previous efforts to clean the filly.

“I have a lot of fun.” replied Pinkie, beaming at Josh and Sweetie Belle once more.

“I’ll bet.”

Mrs. Cake came trotting out of the back of the store, a tray of cupcakes balanced on her tail. She smiled at Josh and Sweetie as they came into her field of vision.

“Can I get you anything else?” she asked, holding back a chuckle as Josh continued to attempt to clean Sweetie Belle’s muzzle.

“I think we’re good… For God’s sake, Sweets!” he said, struggling to contain the squirming filly, “I’ve gotta clean off your face! If your sister comes back and sees you with ice cream all over, she’s gonna murder me.”

Sweetie continued to shift and squirm as Josh tried to clean her off still. The human was becoming more and more frustrated with the filly, but he knew how to make her cooperate.

“If I don’t clean off your face, we can’t go to the park and play.” he said.

Sweetie turned to him, her eyes wide and fearful. Josh smiled as she suddenly stopped squirming and allowed him to finish cleaning her off.

“… There!” he said, leaning back and examining her once again pure white muzzle, “All clean. That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Sweetie shook her head and jumped down from her chair, turning to look back at Josh.

“Can we go to the park now?” she asked excitedly, beginning to jump up and down.

“Sure thing.” said Josh, rising and making for the door, “Thanks for the food, guys. It was really great!”

“No problem, deary.” said Mrs. Cake, waving to the two as they exited the shop, “Have a great day!”

“See you later, Joshie!” exclaimed Pinkie, waving ecstatically at Josh as he headed out the door.

As Josh and Sweetie made their way through town, ponies here and there would wave to them, all smiling warmly. Josh returned each gesture with one of his own, always happy to see a few smiling faces wherever he went. In no time at all, he and Sweetie had arrived at the school playground where a few other foals were playing with their parents or siblings. Josh even saw Derpy Hooves and her absolutely adorable daughter, Dinky, playing tag nearby.

“Come on, Joshie!” called Sweetie Belle, rushing onto the swings and waiting for a push, “I wanna swing first."

Josh happily complied, taking his place behind the little filly on the swing. He began to push her, sending her higher and higher with each small shove. Soon, she was giggling loudly as she ascended to the highest point possible on the tiny swing set. After a few minutes of this, Sweetie jumped down from the swings and headed towards the slide. She slid down a few times, Josh waiting at the bottom to catch her each time and raising her high into the air every time she returned to his embrace.

After that, they headed to the field and joined Derpy and Dinky’s game of tag. Both fillies giggled uncontrollably every time Josh would chase after them. The human himself was having an unbelievably fun time playing around with these two little ponies. He’d not felt this free since he was a kid their ages. However, he soon got tired and walked over to the nearby bench that Derpy had begun to occupy once Josh had arrived.

“These kids will wear you out pretty quick, huh?” asked the wall-eyed pegasus, watching as her daughter and Sweetie Belle continued to play around some more.

“Yeah…” said Josh, panting a little as he did the same as the pegasus, “They certainly do make life… a lot better though.”

“Every day with my little muffin is always a blessing.” replied the gray mare, a huge smile on her face, “And I’m sure you think the same about little Sweetie Belle there.”

“I love Sweets like she was my own.” said Josh, a wide smile spreading across his face as he heard the filly giggle loudly once more.

“Are you gonna have one of your own?” asked Derpy, turning to look at Josh with her good eye.

“We’ve… thought about it.”

“Well, I’m sure you’d make an excellent father.” said Derpy, her smile now directed at Josh, “If you’re so great at making Sweetie Belle there happy, I could only imagine how well a child of your own would be taken care of.”

Josh said nothing to this, instead choosing to look to Derpy and return her smile. As he did so, he felt a slight tug on his pant leg and looked down.

“Excuse me, sir…” said a little tan and brown speckled colt, “I saw you and Sweetie Belle and Dinky playing over here…”

“Hey there, Pip.” said Josh, reaching down and ruffling the little colt’s mane a little, “Yeah, we were playing over here. You wanna play with them too?”

Pipsqueak just nodded, looking to the ground more than at Josh. The human smiled and stood up before reaching down and picking up the colt much like he would Sweetie Belle.

“Sure,” he replied, smiling down at Pip in his arms, “you’re more than welcome to play with us as much as you want.”

Pip smiled wide as Josh placed the colt up on his back, allowing his back legs to dangle over the human’s shoulders. Josh waved back to Derpy and made his way over to Dinky and Sweetie. Together, the three ponies and human played some more, each one having an unbelievable amount of fun. Josh laughed and enjoyed himself immensely with the three young ponies. He had just gotten on his hands and knees and allowed them to climb on his back when he heard a voice call across the park.

“Pipsqueak!” called a pink mare, rushing over to Josh and the three ponies. Her bright green mane fluttered wildly behind her and she looked panicked as she approached the human and his companions.

“Hey there, Rose Blossom.” said Josh, smiling widely as the mare reached them.

Rose Blossom didn’t reply to Josh, instead looking to her colt with panic in her eyes.

“It’s time to go, Pip.” she said, reaching up to Josh’s back and grabbing her son by the scruff of his neck with her teeth.

“But mom!” he protested as she set him back on the ground, “We were having so much fun!”

Rose Blossom turned Pip around and pushed his little rump along.

“I know you were having fun.” she replied sternly, glancing back over her shoulder at Josh, “However, there’s no need to associate with somepony like that.”

Josh was taken aback by Rose Blossom’s words. What the hell was that for? he thought, setting Sweetie and Dinky back on the ground. He rose and followed after the mare, a mixture of confusion and anger overtaking his mind.

“Rose Blossom,” he called, catching up to her and Pip, “why can’t Pip stay and play with us for awhile longer?”

At first, Rose Blossom ignored him, continuing to make her way through the park at a more frantic pace. Josh, now annoyed with the mare’s actions, had to fight the urge to yell at her.

“What did I ever do to you?” he asked, anger beginning to seep into his words.

Rose Blossom stopped her movements and turned to face the human, peering up into his face.

“It’s not what you’ve done,” she said, beginning to glare at the human, “it’s what you’re going to do. I don’t want my little Pip to get hurt by you.”

Josh had nothing to say to that. He simply stood and stared at Rose Blossom as she made her way out of the park. His mouth hung slightly agape, unable to believe what he’d just heard. How could she think I’d ever hurt Pip? he mused, her words echoing through his head.

“J-Joshie?” asked a small voice behind him.

Josh’s trance was broken and he turned to see Sweetie Belle standing behind him, her ears flat against her skull as he peered down at her.

“W-why did she say you were gonna hurt P-Pip?” she stammered, slowly inching forward, a look of fear and sadness overtaking her face.

Josh knelt down in front of Sweetie Belle, laying as close to the ground as he possibly could to seem less intimidating. He reached out a hand towards the filly, who looked at it cautiously. When Josh noticed this, his heart almost broke. Please don’t let Sweets be scared of me again he thought, feeling a wave of sadness overtake him.

“Sweetie…” he said softly, laying down on the grass in front of her and peering up into her watery jade eyes, “I… I don’t know why she said that…”

“Y-you’re not gonna hurt me, are you?”

At those words, the dam burst, and Josh began to cry. His favorite little filly, the one thing besides Vinyl that he loved most, was afraid he’d hurt her. He felt his heart shatter as she continued to stare at him and lay his head on the grass, unable to look at Sweetie Belle’s beautiful face. As he did so, he felt her tiny hooves wrap around his arm and squeeze tightly.

“D-don’t cry, Joshie.” said the filly through her own tears, “I-I didn’t m-mean to make you s-sad. P-please don’t cry…”

Josh looked up to her and saw her bury her little face in his shoulder. Slowly, he scooped up the tiny pony and began to rock her gently as she cried with him.

“Sweetie Belle,” said Josh, staring through his blurry vision to the little filly in his arms, “I love you so much. I’d never hurt you.”

Sweetie wiped her beautiful eyes with a little marshmallow hoof and looked up to Josh once more.

“I l-love you too.” she replied, reaching up and wrapping her forelegs around his neck.

Josh allowed her to cry into his own shoulder for a few minutes. Rose Blossom was long gone by now, and so were Derpy and Dinky. As Josh sat there, holding Sweetie close and rubbing her little white back, he began to wonder what had come over Rose Blossom to make her act like that. She’d always been so loving towards him, even helping him set up some dates for he and Vinyl. What makes her think I’m dangerous all of a sudden? he thought, feeling a nagging thought in the back of his head as to who might be responsible for this.

Chapter 11: Root of the Problem

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 11: Root of the Problem

Josh, Sweetie Belle, Vinyl, and Rarity all sat in Josh and Vinyl’s home, the filly asleep curled up on the human’s lap. After the incident in the park with Rose Blossom, neither Josh nor Sweetie had any urge to continue to play. Instead, they returned to Josh’s home, where both instead sulked for awhile. They weren’t upset at each other, however. The two were just so depressed by what had happened that day.

Vinyl sat on the nearby sofa along with Rarity, her eyes locked on Sweetie’s sleeping form, watching the tiny white body rise and fall with each breath. When she arrived home and heard about what happened from Josh, she had become extremely upset. She had known Rose Blossom for years, and the mare was always unbelievably welcoming of Josh. To think that she could change so suddenly, without a single bit of warning, it was insane.

Rarity, upon returning from Canterlot after a long day of buying supplies, immediately went to Josh and Vinyl’s home to grab Sweetie Belle. However, when she arrived at the house and found out about what had happened, she decided to stay there for a bit and help console her sister. It blew her mind that Rose Blossom would act like that as well. However, that was completely eclipsed by the mere thought that anypony would act like that towards Josh. Never in all her years in Ponyville had she ever heard of somepony being so bigoted.

All four ponies sat in a rather uncomfortable silence, all knowing what they wanted to say, but none wanting to say it. Josh looked to his marefriend on the couch, her sad eyes peering into his own.

“Are we gonna talk about all this or not?” she asked, a slight twinge of annoyance in her voice, “We can’t just let it sit here and fester.”

Josh nodded. Slowly and carefully, he scooped Sweetie Belle up in his arms and took her into the nearby guest bedroom, laying her down on the bed and giving her a small kiss on the forehead before exiting and shutting the door. He made his way back into the living room and took his place in his chair once more, still silent as ever.

“Can I just start by asking what the fuck Rose Blossom’s problem is?” asked Vinyl, jumping down from the couch and pacing about, her voice beginning to rise a little.

“If I knew, I’d be more than happy to tell you, Vinyl.” said Josh simply, watching his marefriend pace.

“Darling,” said Rarity, her ears pressed against her head and hesitation filling her voice, “I must admit, I’m wondering the same thing myself. What in all of Equestria could make somepony like that be so afraid of you so suddenly?”

“Again, if I knew, I’d tell you.”

Nopony said anything for a little while after that, all of them simply continuing to stew over their own thoughts.

“What’re the odds that this has something to do with Filthy Rich?” asked Vinyl finally after what seemed like an eternity of silence.

Josh thought about that possibility. He hadn’t heard anything about the bigoted stallion in quite awhile, a fact he’d reveled in.

“Filthy Rich?” asked Rarity, cocking her head to the side in confusion, “Certainly he’s not an instigator in all this? I know he can be fairly opinionated, but he’s never been one to simply speak his mind about something like that.”

“Didn’t Octavia or Sweetie Belle ever tell you about what happened at the school after Diamond Tiara insulted Josh?” asked Vinyl, raising an eyebrow to the indigo-maned unicorn.

Rarity shook her head, looking confusedly between Josh and Vinyl.

“I had noticed that Sweetie seemed rather down when she came home from school one day,” she said, “but she never mentioned anything that had happened.”

Josh and Vinyl glanced at each other, silently debating who would tell the story. Eventually, Josh started it off by telling about what happened at the schoolhouse during show and tell. After that, Vinyl explained what happened at the conference Cheerilee had held, how Filthy had openly insulted them both and Josh held her back from attacking the stallion. As she listened, Rarity’s expression changed from that of shock and confusion, to one of indignation at Filthy’s words.

“How can somepony be so bigoted to another?” she finally said as Vinyl finished her explanation, “He doesn’t even know you!”

“He doesn’t have to know me to not like me, Rares.” said Josh, looking to the white unicorn, “Racism isn’t based off who you know.”

“That’s not any excuse!” Rarity almost shouted, putting a hoof to her mouth as soon as she finished speaking.

Josh looked to the spare bedroom as an eerie silence fell, listening for the sound of Sweetie Belle waking up. Thankfully, that sound never came.

“Again, he doesn’t need any excuse.” said Josh, easing up once more.

“He also doesn’t have to be like that!” said Vinyl, trying her best to keep her voice in check, “You’ve not done anything to him at all!”

“I’m sure he’s well aware of that, and he doesn’t give a shit.” said Josh simply, not moving from his chair.

“What I want to know is why he’s so bold all of a sudden.” said Rarity, standing and joining Vinyl in her pacing, “You say he claims to know all about your past life away from here. If he’s known about it for as long as it seems he has, then why would he sit on it for so long?”

Josh thought about that for a second. It did indeed seem rather sudden that Filthy would go and begin to spread his knowledge of Josh’s past life to everypony in Ponyville. Why hadn’t the stallion gone out and did this sooner? Josh could think of no reason why, instead choosing to believe that the incident with Diamond Tiara had spurred him to become more bold.

“That doesn’t matter.” said Vinyl, stopping her pacing and glancing between Josh and Rarity, “What’s important is that we stop his little rampage before he corrupts anypony else here. I’m not gonna have any more speaking against my coltfriend.”

Josh looked to Vinyl and smiled a little inwardly. She’s so cute when she gets upset like that he thought I’m so lucky to have someone like her there for me in all this. As Josh was about to reply to her statement, a knock sounded from the door. Josh raised an eyebrow in confusion, knowing that they’d already received the mail that day. Perhaps Derpy had forgotten a letter or two.

“I’ll get it, dear.” said Rarity, striding over and opening the door wide. As she glanced around, she noticed the only thing out of place: a bright green flyer plastered against the wall. Removing it, she made her way back into the house, beginning to read it as she entered.

“What is it, Rarity?” asked Vinyl, moving over to the other mare and glancing over the paper with her.

Neither pony said a thing as they read. The only indication of any kind they gave was the shifting of their expressions, from confused to angry. Josh noticed this and rose quickly to see the flyer. As he made his way over to the two mares, Vinyl’s eyes began to fill with angry tears and she turned away, not wanting to continue staring at the paper. Josh reached out and grabbed the flyer, glancing it over.

Dear Follow Equestrians,
For some time now, we’ve had a creature in our midst who claims to be harmless and friendly. This creature lives among us, attempting to blend into our society, even going so far as to claim to be in love with one of us. We have simply accepted the fact that this creature is here, some of us even embracing it and taking it in with open forelegs.
I know the truth of this monstrosity, however, and I’m willing to share my knowledge with all of you. If you come to City Hall tomorrow, I’ll be more than willing to spread what I know to all of you. Together, we can keep Equestria safe, should this creature ever decide to turn on us. Always remember my friends, this is a land made by ponies, for ponies, and I intend to keep it that way.
Sincerely, your trusted friend,
Filthy Rich

Josh finished reading and looked to both Vinyl and Rarity. The two mares simply stared at him, both with watery and angry eyes. Looking at them, Josh just wished everything could go back to normal, back to the way it had been before all this shit had happened. However, he knew full well that there was no way that could happen now.

“I guess we’re headed to city hall tomorrow.” he said, placing the flyer down and heading into the guest bedroom to check on Sweetie Belle, leaving Rarity and Vinyl to simply stare at one another.

Chapter 13: Boiling Over

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 13: Boiling Over

Josh sat in the living room of he and Vinyl’s house along with Rarity, Fluttershy, Vinyl, and Octavia. After Filthy had finished his speech, Josh and the others had left city hall as quickly as possible, wanting to simply avoid everypony there. Thankfully, they’d managed to get out without being spotted and made for the house. They were relatively safe for now, though everypony knew it would only be a matter of time till the storm hit them all.

“What’re you going to do?” asked Octavia, looking to Josh and Vinyl, both of whom were situated on the couch, “I hardly think you can stay here for long now!”

“Perhaps you ought to come and stay with me.” suggested Rarity, “I could keep you both safe till you’re able to formulate what you’re going to do next.”

Neither Josh or Vinyl said anything to that, unable to find any words to say that seemed even remotely appropriate for the situation. Vinyl had been crying the whole way back to their house, and was continuing to do so. She couldn’t believe what Filthy had just done, how he’d so quickly managed to turn the entirety of Ponyville against the love of her life. The one thing she feared more than anything was losing Josh again. How could somepony be so hateful? she thought, leaning against Josh and sobbing into his chest I can’t lose him over something like this…

Josh simply stroked his marefriend’s mane, trying his absolute best to comfort her while his own mind raced. In one single day, Filthy Rich had managed to turn the town that had once accepted and loved the human so much against him. Josh never thought that such hatred and bigotry could even exist in a place like this, where love and tolerance was put above all else. The only thing that permeated his thoughts now was what he was going to do. He couldn’t just leave behind the life he had here, but it was quickly seeming like he didn’t have much of a choice in that matter if he wanted any sort of peace.

“Thanks, Rares.” he finally said, looking towards the white unicorn, “We’ll keep that in mind.”

“You d-don’t think he’ll send those ponies here, d-do you?” asked Fluttershy, shaking as she thought about an angry mob heading towards the house.

“I doubt it, Shy.” said Josh, turning his gaze towards the timid pegasus and trying to sound comforting, “Filthy may hate me, but I severely doubt he’d be willing to start any sort of violence against me.”

“He is determined to force you out of Ponyville though.” said Octavia, “How else could he achieve something like that without the use of force?”

“He’ll find a way.” said Josh, his words dripping with venom as he thought about the stallion.

They all sat in silence once again, everypony simply listening to Vinyl sniffle and cry into Josh’s chest. None of them could comprehend what had just happened today. The one thing they all thought about was what could possibly happen to Josh and Vinyl now that the human was one of the most hated beings in all of Ponyville. Like Vinyl, they had all been unbelievably sad when he’d left the first time, and the last thing they wanted was to lose him again. He was a best friend to all of them, and they loved him almost as much as Vinyl did.

“I just want you to know,” said Octavia, causing both Josh and Vinyl to peer at her, “that when things take a turn for the worse, we’re more than willing to go down with you as well.”

Rarity and Fluttershy nodded in agreement. Josh simply gave Octavia a stunned look.

“Tavi,” he said, unable to hide the shock in his voice at her words, “you can’t do that. It’s me he hates, not you guys! You all have lives here of your own and responsibilities here to attend to!”

“That may be true, darling.” said Rarity, standing and approaching the human on the couch, “However, you mean more to us all than we can ever say. Even if all of this town abandons you, you can count on us to never leave you behind. That includes taking the fall with you as well if we have to.”

Josh felt a lump form in his throat as he looked at the smiling unicorn mare who had tears forming in her own eyes. He couldn’t believe how loyal his friends all were to him. They were willing to abandon their own lives here to help he and Vinyl if things went too far south. A smile came across his face as he looked to them all.

“Th-thank you, guys.” he said, warmly smiling at all of them, his voice shaking,“That means a lot. It really does.”

Octavia, Fluttershy, and Rarity all embraced the now crying human and his marefriend on the couch, tears falling from their own eyes as they did so. Josh felt a warmth spread through his body as they all held him. Suddenly, a knock sounded at the door and they all looked towards it.

“Oh dear…” said Octavia, “Let’s hope that’s not something bad…”

The mares all broke away from Josh, allowing him to rise and make for the door. As much as he didn’t want to answer it, he knew there was no way around it. He couldn’t just sit and hide forever from his problems. He turned to face the ponies behind him.

“We’re right here if you need us, darling.” said Rarity, taking a step forwards.

Josh nodded and turned back to the door. Slowly, he reached out for the handle, mentally preparing himself for whatever would be behind its wooden exterior. He threw it open and looked down to see Filthy Rich standing there, a smug smile on his face.

“What the fuck are you doing here, you piece of shit?!” yelled Vinyl from inside, jumping down from the couch and rushing towards the stallion.

“Vinyl, no!” said Octavia, tackling her friend to the ground and holding her as she struggled to get free of the gray cellist's weight.

“If I get my hooves on you…” screamed the unicorn, fresh tears of anger flowing from her crimson-magenta eyes as she squirmed and struggled under the weight of Octavia.

“You’ll do what?” asked Filthy, smirking at the unicorn before turning back to Josh and giving him a glare full of malice.

The two simply stared at one another for awhile, not saying anything, simply trying to intimidate one another. Josh felt a heated rage build up in his chest as he stared down at Filthy Rich. This was the stallion who had ruined him, who had turned an entire town against him.

“What’re you doing standing on my doorstep?” asked Josh finally, not taking his glare off the stallion, “You here to gloat?”

“I believe that’s in order.” said Filthy, “I assume you’ve heard about my little speech earlier then?”

“We were there!” called Vinyl, still struggling under Octavia, “We heard every single word you said! H-how can you be s-so hateful?”

“How can you be so blind?” asked Filthy, looking past Josh and into the house to the gathered ponies all around, “You all accept him as if he were one of us, as if he’s just like the rest of us. Well, now you know the truth of what he was, of all the others he hurt in his own world.”

“We always knew!” said Rarity, struggling to hold herself back from Filthy as well, “He told us long ago!”

“And you still stand by him?”

“We’ll always stand by him.” said Fluttershy, rather boldly, her body crouched as if she was going to pounce on Filthy.

“Then you’re no better than him.”

Josh felt the sudden urge to reach out and choke the stallion, to take him down and hurt him. He held back, however, knowing that the only thing violence would do was make him look worse. Filthy looked back at Josh, his usual smirk returning.

“I’ve made it my mission to get you out of this town.” he said, “I’ll be damned if you’ll be allowed to stay here and pollute us with the cynicism and impurities of your world.”

Josh continued to glare at Filthy, getting closer and closer to attacking the pony.

“Get off my doorstep.” he finally said, turning and beginning to walk away.

“It may be yours now,” called Filthy after him, “but soon, you’ll be gone from here. Maybe, if I can manage it, I’ll get your little slut of a marefriend thrown out along with your sorry ass.”

What happened next was so fast, nopony had any time to process it. Josh turned and grabbed Filthy by the throat, lifting him up off the ground and slamming him into the nearby wall.

“YOU COCKSUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!” he screamed, watching as the stallion reached his hooves up to try and break Josh’s grip, “HOW DARE YOU! I OUGHT TO BREAK YOU LIKE A FUCKING TWIG!”

“Josh!” yelled Octavia and Rarity in unison, forgetting about Vinyl and rushing to the human.

“Put him down!” called Octavia, reaching Josh’s side and attempting to get him to drop Filthy.

Josh didn’t hear her. In his rage, his ears became deaf to the world all around. All he could see and hear was the struggling gasps of Filthy Rich as he held the stallion against the wall by his throat. Just as Filthy began to turn a nasty shade of blue, Josh’s angry trance was broken by Vinyl’s voice.

“Baby!” she called, running in front of him and looking into his blue eyes, her own filled with tears, “Put him down. Please…”

Josh’s resolve broke at the sight of his marefriend‘s sad face. In a flash, his grip loosened around Filthy’s neck, and he fell to the ground, unable to believe what he had just done. Vinyl looked at him, fear filling her eyes.

“I… I…” stammered Josh, unable to look away from Vinyl’s tear stained face.

Rarity and Octavia looked to Josh, the same expression of fear in their own eyes at the human’s sudden act of violence. Fluttershy had hidden behind the couch and was crying heavily. Vinyl walked forward and wrapped her forelegs around Josh, holding him close as he began to cry into her fur. Nopony moved an inch now, except for Filthy Rich, who slowly stood and rubbed his throat, still gasping for air.

“Y-you just m-made the biggest mistake of your l-life.” he stammered, his eyes shining with malice.

“GET OUT NOW!” shouted Octavia, standing in between Filthy and Josh and Vinyl, “Otherwise, Josh choking you will be the last thing you’ll have to worry about!”

“If you thought you were in deep shit before, it’s gonna get a whole lot worse for you.” said the stallion, turning and quickly making his way out the door, “I’ll see to it that you pay for this in the worst way possible!”

Filthy rushed off, leaving Vinyl holding the shuddering and crying form of her coltfriend, rubbing his back and crying heavily herself. Rarity, Octavia, and Fluttershy all stood around the somber couple. They all wondered what would happen now, knowing that whatever came next, it wouldn’t be good. Filthy Rich would make sure of that.

Chapter 14: Going Peacefully

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 14: Going Peacefully

Vinyl lay on the couch once again with Josh, her head on the human’s lap as he slowly stroked her mane. Fluttershy, Rarity, and Octavia all sat around the living room, shooting concerned glances between the human on the couch and the front door. Josh himself noticed nothing at all besides the feeling of his marefriend’s soft mane on his palm. He simply stared straight ahead, still unable to believe what he had done to Filthy only an hour ago.

Nopony said a single word as they all sat there. Each one was too engrossed in their own thoughts to speak anyway. Fluttershy, Rarity, and Octavia all were wondering what would happen to Josh now after this, each knowing that whatever was to come next, it wouldn’t be good. Vinyl’s mind kept replaying the moment Josh attacked Filthy over and over again, causing her to tear up once more. Josh, meanwhile, kept hearing Filthy’s words in his head, each time they played causing him to become more and more angry at the stallion.

Josh was never one to be violent, not even back home. As far as he was concerned, violence served no purpose in this world, only achieving the effect of making someone look stupid. The human prided himself on always managing to maintain a cool enough head to not attack someone, no matter how badly they might speak of him. However, when Filthy called Vinyl a slut, that had been just enough to set Josh over the edge. He had acted on an instinct he didn’t even know he possessed to protect Vinyl’s name and pride.

“What now?” asked Fluttershy after an hour of silence.

Nopony replied, all thinking about what was going to happen next. None of them were sure as to exactly what that was, but they all dreaded it.

“I guess we’ll just have to see.” said Josh, causing almost everypony to jump at his voice.

“More than likely, he’ll have you arrested.” said Rarity, looking to the human.

“That’s the least of my worries.” said Josh simply, causing Vinyl to look up at him for the first time in an hour, “It’s better than the alternative.”

“No! It’s not!” said Vinyl, standing up on the couch and looking at Josh, fear and indignation in her eyes, “You don’t deserve to be treated like this!”

“What would you suggest I do then?” asked Josh, his voice eerily calm as he peered into Vinyl’s eyes, “Do you think I should fight back again? That’s what’s gonna land me in this oncoming shit storm already.”

“Why not fight back?!” screamed Vinyl, tears streaming from her eyes as she yelled at Josh, “Do you think that anypony out there who he’s turned against you is gonna be merciful and just?! They’re not! They’re gonna do everything they can to take you down, just like him!”

The other three mares just stared at Josh and Vinyl on the couch. The human simply sat there with the same calm, blank look he’d had for the past hour, staring at Vinyl. The unicorn mare was shaking violently as anger and sadness overtook her.

“D-don’t you care about us anymore?!” she shrieked, her voice unsteady as she continued to sob, “Don’t you love me enough to fight back?”

For the first time, Josh's expression changed. He couldn't believe what he had just heard from Vinyl, the one mare in all of Equestria he'd give his very life for if he needed to. How could she ever think I don't love her?

“Vinyl, I love you more than anything.” said Josh, unable to keep the shock of hearing his marefriend’s words out of his own voice, “However, you saw what fighting back got me, got us. It’s bad enough that he took this town and made it hate me. Now, he can use this little incident as grounds for recruiting more ponies against me. I have no choice here but to go peacefully and simply hope for the best.”

Vinyl opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying so hard to find her voice.

“I… I…” she stammered, unable to refute his words, “I d-don’t wanna l-lose you again!”

The beautiful unicorn collapsed on the couch once more, her hooves over her eyes and her ears flat against her skull. Her entire body heaved as she sobbed, unable to think about anything now but how she could possibly go on without him. As she cried, Josh reached over and gently pulled her onto his lap, wrapping his long arms around her body and holding her as closely as he could. Vinyl laid her head on his shoulder and returned his embrace, holding him tightly and never wanting to let him go.

“I l-love you so so much!” she sobbed, feeling Josh gently rub her back, “I c-can’t live without you! You m-mean everything to me!”

Josh continued to rub Vinyl’s back, allowing himself to begin to cry as well. He loved this mare more than anything in all of Equestria. He didn’t want to lose her either, and he was determined to stay with her through whatever may happen, even if he was forced out of Ponyville. Upon looking at all the other ponies in the room, he saw they were all crying as well, each one moved by the sad sight before them.

A knock came from the door once more, causing everypony to look at it again. Vinyl lifted her head, looking at the entryway with fear in her eyes, silently praying that it wasn’t what she thought it could be. Octavia rose and made for the door, stopping right in front of it and looking back to Josh, concern and fear in her eyes. Josh nodded to her, signaling that it was alright for her to open it. Slowly, hesitantly, she opened it up and peered at who stood before her.

“Hello, Octavia.” said Mayor Mare, a rather somber expression on her face as she looked around, “Is he here?”

Tears welled up in Octavia’s eyes as she looked behind the mayor. Two unicorns wearing blue police uniforms stood behind her, both wearing expressions similar to the mayor.

“Please…” begged Octavia quietly, “Please be gentle with him…”

“I don’t want to do this, for the record.” said Mayor Mare, “Filthy’s just doing this out of his own hatred for Josh.”

Octavia stepped aside and allowed the mayor and two officers into the house. Upon seeing her fears realized, Vinyl jumped up and stood in front of Josh, crouching and attempting to defend him.

“NO!” she shouted, glaring at the mayor and two officers, “I’m not gonna let you take him away! He didn’t do anything wrong! He was defending me!”

“Vinyl, please…” said Mayor, her eyes beginning to tear up as she looked to the upset mare.

“NO! You can’t take him! I love him! I’ll fight you if I have to! I-“

Vinyl was cut off at Josh knelt behind her and turned her around to face him. He simply stared into her beautiful eyes, trying his best to convey that it was alright and that she didn’t have to worry.

“Vinyl, it’s okay.” he said.

“N-no… I d-don’t want you t-to go! P-please d-don’t go!” she said, her eyes begging Josh not to leave, “What am I g-gonna do without you here?! I c-can’t be without you!”

Josh wrapped his arms around Vinyl once more, pulling her in close for another embrace. She sobbed heavily as he stroked her mane, gently shushing her and occasionally planting a small kiss on her head.

“It’s all gonna be alright, baby.” he said, feeling her heave as she cried, “I promise that everything’ll be fine soon enough.”

He pulled away from her slightly before leaning back in and planting his lips to hers, kissing her passionately. She raised her hooves to his face, pulling him into the kiss even more. Together, they sat on the floor, relishing the feeling of being so close to each other and living in the moment. Neither one knew what the future would hold for them at this very moment, and they wanted desperately to not think about it. After what seemed like a most blissful eternity, they broke apart and pressed their heads together.

“Always remember, Vinyl,” said Josh, reaching up and stroking his marefriend’s cheek, “they can take me away from you, but they can never make me stop loving you. Never ever forget that, okay?”

Vinyl nodded slowly, tears still flowing from her eyes. All around them, the other ponies were shedding tears of their own, each one unbelievably moved by the touching scene before their eyes.

“You c-can’t make this easy, can you?” asked the mayor, removing her glasses momentarily to wipe a tear from her eye.

Josh looked to her, a small smile gracing his face. After kissing Vinyl on the forehead one more time, he slowly rose and turned to the tan mare.

“I’m ready to go, if you’re ready to take me.” he said, raising his arms out to his sides slightly.

The mayor looked behind her to the two police ponies and nodded. Hesitantly, they walked behind Josh and activated their magic, forcing his hands behind his back and locking them together at the wrists.

“I have to read you your rights now.” said the mayor, “Is that alright?”

“You’re arresting me for assaulting another pony, and yet you ask me if it’s alright to read me my rights?” asked Josh, a little smirk coming across his face as he analyzed the irony.

“I just want to know if there’s anything you’d like to say to any of the others here before I do.”

Josh turned to Octavia, seeing her violet eyes filled with tears.

“Tavi,” he said, causing her to look at him, “take care of Vinyl for me. Keep her at your house, and don’t tell anyone besides our friends that she’s there.”

Octavia nodded as Josh looked to Rarity and Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy, Rarity, go tell our friends about what’s happened.” he said, watching them both nod, “And Rares?”

“Y-yes, darling?”

Josh hesitated a little, “… tell Sweetie Belle that I’m sorry I did this and that I love her.”

“Josh…” said Rarity, her voice beginning to shake as she cried.

Josh looked back to the mayor and nodded.

The mayor sighed, “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney…”

Josh never listened to the mayor’s words as he looked to Vinyl once more. The mare simply looked up at him, an unbelievably sad expression on her face. I love you so much, Vinyl he thought as they locked eyes I’m so sorry about this…

“Josh!” said the mayor, jolting the human out of his reverie, “Are you listening to me?”

“Sorry…” said Josh, turning his attention back to the tan mare, “What was the question?”

“I asked if you understand these rights as I’ve read them to you.”

“I do.” he simply replied.

“Very well then.” said the mayor, looking to the police ponies, “Gentlecolts, please take him outside and prepare to move him to a holding cell.”

The two officers complied, gently moving Josh out the door of his home. The mayor turned back to Octavia and Vinyl.

“I… I’m so sorry about this.” she said, looking deep into Vinyl’s eyes, “I really don’t want to do this. Believe me.”

With that, she turned and left, closing the door behind her. Vinyl collapsed to the floor once again, crying harder than ever as she realized that he was truly gone. Octavia walked over to console her friend, only to find herself crying just as much as the unicorn. Neither one of them could understand how it had ever come to this, how a place that had once been so loving and accepting could just turn in an instant like that, and against somepony who they loved dearly. Together, the two mares simply sat there and cried, praying with all their might that Josh's promise would come to fruition, that everything truly would be alright.

Chapter 15: Breaking the News

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 15: Breaking the News

Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Spike were all in the library, the rainbow pegasus engrossed in another Daring Do book while the unicorn and her assistant continued to sort a box of new books onto the shelves. The only dialogue between anypony was the occasional question from Spike as to where a book went. Everypony was too caught up in their own activities to do or say much. However, that silence and serenity was broken as somepony began to frantically knock on the front door to the library.

“Coming!” said Twilight, cheerily strolling to the door and opening it.

There stood Rarity and Fluttershy, both with puffy red eyes and looks of deep sadness painting their faces. Twilight, who had a wide smile on her own face as she’d answered the door quickly dropped that look and gained one of concern for her friends.

“Are you girls okay?” she asked, causing Rainbow to look up from her book for the first time in hours.

“Something’s happened, Twilight.” said Rarity, tears beginning to form in her eyes once more, “Something w-with… Josh.”

“What’s happened?” asked Rainbow, setting her book down and floating towards the door to join Twilight, “Is he okay?”

“F-Filthy Rich… he’s…” stammered Rarity, unable to find her voice as she began to cry again, Fluttershy doing the same next to her, “He spoke at town hall this morning…”

“I remember getting a flyer for that yesterday.” said Twilight, looking to her left and seeing the paper she’d seen plastered on her door the night before, “But, what does that have to do with Josh?”

“It… It was a rally against Josh…” said Fluttershy, now beginning to shake from the force of her own crying.

“What the buck?” said Rainbow, her eyes growing wide, “Why would he do that? What’s all this about?”

“Maybe you two ought to come inside.” said Twilight, moving aside to allow the two mares to enter.

Almost immediately, they delved into that entire day and what had happened, from the rally that morning, to when Filthy showed up at Josh and Vinyl’s home and insulted the human and his marefriend. Fluttershy, at that point, very quickly lost the ability to form a coherent sentence as she wailed, making Rarity have to finish the tale.

“The m-mayor came to the house and arrested him not even an hour later.” she said, trying her best to comfort the crying pegasus next to her.

Rainbow and Twilight sat in stunned silence for awhile, both unable to believe what they had just heard.

“B-but… Josh is never violent…” said Twilight, watching as Rarity broke down next to Fluttershy.

Rainbow, meanwhile, simply sat there, a feeling of anger washing through her. Josh was one of her best friends. She loved him like a brother, the two having spent many a night together at the local pub, or just hanging around for a day to be around one another for awhile. She couldn’t believe that somepony could be so bigoted towards her friend that they’d turn an entire town against him and then have him arrested for doing the right thing and defending his marefriend after she’d been insulted. After a few minutes, she rose from her sitting position and made her way to the door.

“Where’re you going, Rainbow?” asked Twilight, rising herself and following the colorful mare.

“I’m gonna go see Josh.” she said simply, not stopping to look back at her friend, “Then I’m gonna go give Filthy Rich a piece of my mind. And maybe my back hooves…”

“Do you wanna end up in jail like him?” asked Twilight, grabbing Rainbow’s tail in her magic and pulling lightly on it to stop her friend, “You can’t just go out and attack Filthy Rich! Especially now, when he’s got the entire town of Ponyville on his side.”

Rainbow turned around to face Twilight, rage burning in her eyes.

“What do you suggest we do then?” she yelled, unable to control her anger any longer, “Just let him sit in there and rot? Let Filthy just take everypony here who loved Josh and turn them against him? He hasn’t done anything wrong, Twilight! He doesn’t deserve this!”

“I know, Rainbow.” said Twilight, tears beginning to well up in her violet eyes, “It’s not right. I agree with you there. However, that’s no excuse for us to just rush out there and do something brash like that! We have to be there to support Josh and Vinyl through this, and it’ll be kinda hard to do that if we’re in jail too. Or worse.”

Rainbow opened and closed her mouth, unable to find anything to refute Twilight’s words. Finally, she lowered her head and gave in, feeling a wave of hopelessness fill her heart.

“What do we do then?” she asked, not looking to Twilight.

“Rarity and Fluttershy can stay here.” said the unicorn, turning back to her still sobbing friends, “You and I are gonna go visit him in jail. If there’s one thing he needs right now, it’s his friends.”

“What about Vinyl?” asked Spike, watching the whole scene from atop a shelf, “I can’t imagine she’s taking this real well herself…”

“I’ll send out Pinkie and Applejack to visit her.” said Twilight, glancing to the dragon.

“S-she’s at Octavia’s house.” said Rarity, able to calm down just enough to speak, “Josh had her g-go there to stay safe.”

“I’ll let them know.”

With that, Twilight and Rainbow made their way out of the library, both heading for the local jail. Neither one could yet comprehend the situation at hoof, how this had all come about, or how it could possibly end. However, that didn’t matter now. What was important was that their friends were taken care of now.

*****

Josh sat in a very small holding cell in Ponyville jail, his head in his hands and a feeling of sadness and exhaustion filling his body. He’d only been in here for about two hours so far, and yet he was already longing to see Vinyl again, to hold her and let her know that everything was gonna be alright. The sight of her tear stained face haunted his vision as he sat there, making his already sad feelings intensify. He never noticed the guard standing outside his cell watching him, a concerned look on his face.

“This your first time in trouble here?” he asked, startling Josh a little.

“Wha… Yeah.” said Josh simply, looking towards the blue uniformed pony.

“Hmm. I figured.” replied the guard, pacing back and forth in front of Josh’s cell, “I know it can seem kinda scary at first to be here. However, I can assure you that we were given strict orders by the mayor to make sure you were treated fairly, and I’m gonna see to it that we do just that.”

“Thanks.” said Josh, returning his head to his hands.

An uncomfortable silence fell as Josh just sat there. The guard continued his slow pacing, his hooves making a loud echoing sound all around the room as he walked. Josh honestly found the sound rather annoying, but realized he wasn’t in much of a position to ask the pony to stop.

“Ya know,” said the guard finally, stopping his pacing, “I may have to uphold the law around here, but I can’t blame you for what you did.”

Josh looked up again to the pony, seeing a smile cross his face.

“I can’t stand Filthy Rich.” he said, resuming his pacing, “He thinks that just because he’s a high roller here in Ponyville that his word is law. More than once, I’ve heard about him trying to pay off one of my officers to save a friend of his, or throwing somepony under the bus when they had nothing to do with anything that happened. Such a scumbag.”

Josh chuckled at those words. He sat back a little on the tiny bed he was sitting on, watching the officer pace once more.

“Glad I’m not the only one around here who doesn’t agree with him.” said the human.

“Believe me. You and I are hardly alone here.”

“I do wanna know how he managed to turn everyone against me if he’s so unpopular.” said Josh, remembering back to Filthy’s speech to the crowd at city hall.

“He’s an excellent speaker.” said the guard, stopping his pacing again and frowning a little, “Not to mention that most ponies here are afraid of him. He’s not afraid to step on as many ponies as he needs to in order to achieve his goals.”

“That can’t be legal.” said Josh, crossing his arms and staring at the officer.

“A lot of it isn’t.” he said simply, continuing to frown, “We can never get any sort of evidence against him though, and most ponies won’t speak up against him for fear that they’ll be sued out of town.”

“He’s pretty damn cutthroat, isn’t he?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe.”

As the officer finished his sentence, another guard cantered up to him and saluted before speaking.

“Warden, sir,” he said, dropping his salute, “there are some ponies here to see Josh. Should I tell them that visiting hours are over?”

The guard looked to Josh and smiled, “No. Let them back to see him.” he said, causing Josh to smile, “And they can stay as long as they like.”

“Yes sir.”

The guard turned and made his way back towards the entrance as Warden turned back to Josh, his smile still present.

“Thanks.” said the human, feeling a little of his sadness dissipate as he thought about his friends’ smiling faces.

“Not a problem.” said Warden, turning and preparing to leave as Twilight and Rainbow made their way up to Josh’s holding cell.

Chapter 16: Visiting Hours

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.

Chapter 17: The Master Plan

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 17: The Master Plan

Mayor Mare sat in her office, a few stacks of papers on her desk that she was avoiding signing. The events from earlier that day still plagued her mind, causing her great sadness. She knew just how much Josh and Vinyl loved each other, and she always made it a point to greet the two cheerily if they ever came by her in town. The last thing she’d ever want to have to do is take one from the other, leaving them both in a somewhat perpetual state of loneliness. However, that was just what she’d done today, and she was feeling unbelievably guilty now as visions of the two lovers apart and sad beyond belief flooded her mind.

Her reverie was broken as the door flew open and Filthy Rich sauntered in. Mayor felt a rage build in her chest as she saw the pompous stallion make his way in. If not for him, she wouldn’t have had to do what she did today and spread so much sadness.

“I see you arrested him.” said Filthy, making his way up to her desk, a smirk on his face.

“That doesn’t mean I did it willingly.” replied Mayor, glaring daggers at Filthy over her desk.

“Don’t tell me you’re on his side too, Mayor.” groaned Filthy, his smirk vanishing almost immediately, “How can you tolerate such a vile and impure creature in our world? Didn’t you hear what I had to say this morning?”

“I heard you loud and clear, Filthy.” she said, slamming her hooves on her desk, her glare intensifying, “However, he hasn’t done anything like what you said in the entire time he’s been here! What makes you so confident in your assertion that he’d make the same mistakes here?”

“Old habits die hard, my dear mayor.” said Filthy, beginning to pace back and forth as he addressed the mayor, “Just because he hasn’t done it yet doesn’t mean he won’t ever do it again. He has a cynical and angry heart, one set there by years of living the way he has. What would stop him from committing the same sins here?”

“He has a conscience, Filthy!” shouted Mayor, now almost on top of her desk as she yelled at the stallion, “You make him seem like he’s no better than a common animal! Like he’d turn on us at any second! What proof do you have to support your claims? I’d love to see some.”

Filthy just stared at the mayor for a few seconds, his smirk returning as they locked eyes.

“My dear Mayor Mare,” he began, giving her an icy stare to combat her heated one, “I have all the proof I need in the voice of a very trusted and reliable source in Canterlot. All I’d have to do is bring them up and have them explain exactly the same thing they did to me.”

“And just who is that source, Filthy? Please, enlighten me as to who informed you on all this.”

“Now now, Mayor.” said Filthy, closing his eyes and shaking his head a little, his smirk still present, “I can’t just go and tell you that. I promised the utmost anonymity to this individual, and I’m determined to keep that promise. For the moment.”

Mayor simply stared at Filthy, unable to believe how hateful and evil he had become towards somepony like Josh, who almost everypony in Ponyville loved. However, her curiosity had been piqued as to who this mystery informant to Filthy might be. She sat back in her chair once more, not taking her eyes off the stallion before her.

“Fine.” she finally said, crossing her hooves in front of her chest, “Why’d you come to my office today then? To gloat or something?”

“I wouldn’t dream of doing anything like that, Mayor.” said Filthy, resuming his pacing, “I merely came to at least check and make sure you’d actually done your job and arrested that idiot who assaulted me.”

“Well, you know full well that I did now.” she replied, venom dripping from her words as she spoke, “Now, leave my office.”

“Of course.”

Filthy turned and made for the door, another smirk gracing his lips as he reached it. He turned back to the mayor, a glint of malice in his eye as he looked to the tan mare once more.

“Of course, I’m sure you know that I’ll be taking him to court over this.” he said, causing Mayor to peer up at him again.

“I’m not a moron, Filthy.” she said, her glare returning to its full force, “Of course you will. I also know that you’ll use this little incident today as grounds to recruit more ponies against Josh, and maybe even Vinyl.”

“Vinyl shall be spared the full force of my plan.” he replied, “She is still a pony, after all. Even if she is living with that scum…”

“And what exactly is your plan, if I may ask?”

Filthy grew a huge smile and an almost giddy gleam appeared in his eyes at her words.

“I’m glad you asked.” he said, clearing his throat before continuing, “Initially, I just wanted him out of Ponyville…”

“Even if you manage to force him out of Ponyville, that’s not gonna take him away from Vinyl or his friends.” said Mayor, cutting off the stallion.

“I’m well aware of that.” replied Filthy, shooting Mayor Mare a glare for interrupting him, “I know for a fact that even if I manage to get him out of this town, she’ll still follow him. Like a dog always returns to his master, so she’ll follow him wherever he goes.”

Filthy paused for a second, gathering his thoughts while the mayor continued to stare at him.

“What is your plan, Filthy?” she asked again, standing once more to address him.

“You’ll see in due time, Mayor.” he simply said, turning and preparing to leave again, “You’ll see.”

Before Mayor could say anything more, Filthy had left out the door, leaving the tan mare alone with her thoughts and his words. She sat back down, pondering many things. Who told him all about Josh’s past? Why would they tell him? What could they possibly gain from Josh being persecuted this harshly? As she sat and thought some more, a chill ran down her spine as she thought about what Filthy could possibly be planning to do now. Undoubtedly, he’d try to get the human out of Ponyville, an act that he had just admitted would accomplish little in his books. Mayor felt a storm about to brew in this whole scenario that would not only break hearts, but possibly ruin lives. And the worst part is, I can’t do anything to stop it…

Chapter 18: Explanations

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.

Chapter 19: Why so Hateful?

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 19: Why so Hateful?

Twilight and Pinkie made their way through the town of Ponyville, both on their way to visit Josh in jail. Pinkie, as usual, was bouncing along the road, though admittedly with less vigor than usual. The minute Twilight had gotten to her and told her about what had happened to Josh, she didn’t hesitate for a second, grabbing Applejack and checking on Vinyl and Octavia to see how they were coping. She had to resist the urge to cry her own eyes out when she’d arrived at the house that night and seen the forlorn expressions that both ponies had on their faces. It was there that she made a silent vow to herself to do anything and everything she could to help both Josh and Vinyl through this situation. Right now, that consisted of her taking a few of her breakfast cookies to the human.

Twilight had also vowed to help the best she could. To do so, she had begun to study Equestrian law, knowing that Josh would need somepony to represent him when he undoubtedly would have to go to court. She’d been up all night perusing her law books, jotting down all kinds of notes and having Spike quiz her before he went to bed. In only one night, she’d managed to get a good enough grasp on what she needed to say to give Josh a chance in the courtroom. However, she still didn’t know if it’d be enough…

“I hope Joshie’s had a good day so far.” said Pinkie suddenly, stopping her bouncing as they rounded a corner and passed the marketplace.

“Rarity and Sweetie Belle stopped by to see him earlier this morning. I’m sure that alone helped brighten his day.” Twilight said, waving a little to Roseluck as she passed her stall.

“What do you think about all this, Twilight?” Pinkie asked, stopping for a second as she spoke.

Twilight stopped in her own tracks and turned back to Pinkie. The lavender unicorn's emotions weren't readily visible throughout this whole thing so far, but she made it very clear that she was very upset by what had happened. Like the others, she didn't think it was fair that Josh was being so heavily discriminated by the population when it was more than apparent that he had never hurt anypony there or anywhere, save for Filthy Rich, who more than deserved what he got.

"I think that Josh is too good to have everypony hate him so much like this." she said, resuming her walk, Pinkie trailing behind her, "However, I also think he sort of did the right thing by going to jail without a fight."

"Why would you think that's the right thing for him to do?!" shouted Pinkie, attracting unwanted attention from all around.

"Well," began Twilight, putting a hoof to her chin as she thought about what she wanted to say, "he acknowledges the fact that him attacking Filthy like that was wrong, even if he was defending Vinyl. He's going through this whole thing with a peaceful mindset, which can benefit him in the long run if he can prove to the ponies here that Filthy's just been spouting hot air the entire time."

"But, he hasn't." said Pinkie, "We know that. Josh told us all about his past when he got back, remember? He said that was the whole reason he'd left in the first place."

Twilight thought back to that day, which seemed like an eternity ago. Josh had sat them all down after he'd returned to Equestria and explained why he'd left. He'd said that he feared the truth of his past getting out to them and making them lose their faith in him. Twilight and the others were at first a little shocked by what he told them, mostly by the cynicism and anger which filled his heart. However, they still embraced him, knowing in their heart of hearts that he wouldn't do what he'd done before.

"Filthy may know about Josh's past," replied Twilight, frowning at the thought of Filthy Rich, "but he forgets that Josh has never done anything like what he'd done before since he's been here. It's all speculation. I don't understand why ponies are so quick to go to his side on this whole thing..."

"Filthy's making Josh seem like an animal, like he's always gonna be that bad." said Pinkie, continuing to trail behind Twilight as the two ponies made their way to the jailhouse, "It may just be speculation, but he's also drawing on when Josh attacked him. That alone'll probably get ponies to follow his mindset."

Twilight stopped once more and turned to Pinkie, not expecting to hear such intelligent analysis from her friend, even if the unicorn was already aware of what Pinkie had just elaborated on.

"What?" asked Pinkie incredulously as Twilight stared at her.

The unicorn shook her head and continued her walk once more, eager to get to the jailhouse and see Josh and make sure he was alright.

"I just wish there was something we could do." said Pinkie, "Maybe we ought to try and get Vinyl here to see him. I'm sure that'll cheer the both of them up at least a little. I can only imagine how lonely they both must be..."

"Vinyl probably doesn't want to see Josh like this." Twilight pointed out, rounding the corner and entering the town square.

"Why not?" said the party pony, her voice high and somewhat angry, "Doesn't she love him enough to come and make sure he's okay?"

"Of course she does!" replied Twilight, unable to keep the shock at Pinkie's words out of her voice, "She's in a lot of pain right now, more pain than you or I could believe. She's without the love of her life and probably depressed beyond all belief. She'll go see him when she feels the time is right, I'm sure."

The two walked in silence for a bit longer after that, all their attention focused on their friends. As they approached the town center, the two ponies saw a rather large crowd gathered nearby.

“What in the hay’s that all about?” asked Pinkie, gravitating towards the ponies, Twilight following behind her.

As they reached the crowd, they began to hear somepony talking very loudly to the rest of the assembly.

“So, to those of you who have taken up the cause so far, I thank you greatly.” said the voice, a rather gruff one with a slight southern drawl, “For the rest of you, the ones who have doubted my words and have continued to say I have no evidence here, listen well.”

Twilight’s horn glowed and she grabbed Pinkie’s hoof, teleporting them both to the head of the crowd. As soon as she was able to see again, Twilight felt anger burn in her chest at who she saw was speaking. Filthy Rich stood at the center of the crowd, a smug smile on his face as he noticed the two ponies pop out of nowhere.

“That heathen sits in a jail cell right now for assaulting me, all because I said something that he didn’t like.” he continued, not acknowledging Pinkie or Twilight, “So, for those of you who have been doubting, do so no more. I have seen with my own two eyes what he can do when enraged, and I…”

“Why don’t you tell everypony exactly why he attacked you!” shouted Pinkie suddenly, dropping the box of cookies she had been carrying on her back and rushing up to Filthy.

The stallion just stared at her for a second, a blank expression on his face. Soon, however, he smiled once more, silently accepting the challenge posed to him by the angry pink party pony.

“I’ve already made it known why he did so.” he replied, glaring at Pinkie, “I feel no need to repeat myself, Pinkamena.”

“You bucking liar!” she shouted, Twilight rushing up behind her friend to help restrain her should she make a move on Filthy, “Tell them all how you called her a slut!”

An audible gasp was heard from the crowd at those words. Pinkie smiled a little, believing herself to have won this argument and completely shot down Filthy Rich. However, the stallion merely wore a blank expression as he continued to address the crowd.

“It is true.” he said, no trace of fear or trepidation in his voice as he spoke, “I did say some harsh words to her, as anypony else would when they become angry.”

Filthy looked back at Pinkie, his smug smile back once again, “However, she is a traitor to her own kind!”, he said, his eyes becoming wild as he spoke to the crowd again, "She lives and even fornicates with this abomination, one who, I might like to remind you all, seems to have little compunction when it comes to hurting somepony who says something he doesn't like."

More murmuring could be heard from the crowd as Filthy addressed them. Twilight stepped forward this time, her own anger coming to a boil.

“If somepony insults Vinyl like that, right in front of him, then they should expect him to lash out!” she shouted, getting up in Filthy’s face and glaring daggers at him.

“Perhaps if I actually attacked her that would be a different story.” he replied, returning her glare with full force, “However, I made no move to attempt to hurt her, or even him. There is no law saying that he can defend her like that from my words. And you are a traitor as well to support him!”

In an instant, Twilight’s ears flattened against her skull as Filthy yelled those words at her, advancing upon her and making her back off. Pinkie stepped in front of Twilight, ready to defend her should she have to. However, Filthy’s advance was short lived before he turned back and addressed the crowd once more.

“These ponies have been corrupted by that monster!” he shouted, pointing to Pinkie and Twilight next to him, “They want to do the same as Vinyl and pretend that he’s a friend, that he’s one of us, and that he deserves to be here with the rest of us.”

“He does!” shouted Pinkie, but Filthy never heard her as he continued his tirade against Josh.

“He deserves no better than the filthy Diamond Dogs who dwell beneath our very hooves! He is a threat and you are naive and idiotic to think that he's not dangerous to us all after what he did to me, whether you believe he was justified or not!”

The crowd continued their murmuring, most of them nodding their heads in agreement of Filthy’s words. He smiled as he continued.

“This is a world by ponies, for ponies.” he said, “It is all of our jobs to keep it safe from the likes of him, and I’ll be damned if we fail at that now.”

The crowd had begun to cheer, stomping their hooves and shouting their approval at Filthy’s words. Pinkie and Twilight could only watch as everypony who had once loved Josh so much turn on him and want to force him from the place he called home.

“H-how c-can you be so hateful to him?” shouted Pinkie at Filthy Rich over the noise of the crowd.

"I'm doing my civic duty, my dear." said Filthy, turning back to the crowd to bask in their glorious cheers at his words.

Twilight grabbed Pinkie again and teleported the two of them away from the now angry mob. As they popped back nearby, they immediately made for the jailhouse, needing to tell Josh all about what they had just seen. Both couldn't believe how quickly everypony had just turned on their friend, a guy who was once so loved in this town. Even Twilight and the others now would undoubtedly be targeted just like Josh had. Or worse thought Twilight as she ran alongside Pinkie, heading for the jailhouse they may target Vinyl too...

Chapter 20: Frustration and Friends

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 20: Frustration and Friends

Josh was in his cell, a book in is hands as he continued to read more of the Daring Do series. His day had been pretty good so far, especially after seeing Sweetie Belle that morning. She never failed to make him happier, even now when he was sitting behind the iron bars of a small jail cell with almost nothing to do all day. Another smile crossed his face as he thought of her once more, seeing her little face light up after he promised to take her to the park after he got out. Whenever that may be…

Suddenly, he heard frantic voices from outside the nearby door and put his book down so he could investigate a little. Listening intently, he recognized the voices as Twilight and Pinkie, both of whom he knew had said they were going to visit him at some point that day. However, they sounded winded, even a little panicked. Both were talking extremely fast, most likely asking the guard if he could open the door so they could see their friend. Eventually, the voices stopped, being replaced with the sound of hoofsteps on the hard concrete floor. Soon, the door opened and both Pinkie and Twilight rushed in as fast as they could, stopping right in front of Josh’s cell, peering up at the human with eyes full of concern and fear.

“You two look awful.” said Josh, taking a seat back on the cot once more, “What’s wrong?”

Almost immediately, Twilight began to describe to Josh what she and Pinkie had just seen. She told how Filthy was already beginning to recruit ponies against the human using not only his previous statements, but also the moment in which Josh attacked him after insulting Vinyl. Pinkie told how they tried to turn the tide against the hateful stallion by pointing that out, only to have him brush it off and continue his rant. All through their frantic explanation, Josh just sat there, knowing in his mind that this would have to happen sooner or later.

“He’s out of control, Josh!” shouted Twilight upon finishing the final part of the story, “All he’s doing is spreading hate now!”

Josh looked up at Twilight and Pinkie, both of whom were watching him with fear and sadness in their eyes.

“So what?” asked Josh unenthusiastically, dropping his gaze back to the ground.

Pinkie’s jaw fell and Twilight’s eyes grew wide with surprise.

“What do you mean ‘so what’?!” she yelled, throwing her hooves into the air at his words, “Aren’t you gonna try and do something about this?!”

“Like what, Twi?” asked Josh, standing and peering down at the lavender unicorn with a blank stare, “I’m sitting in a jail cell. Even if I wanted to do something right now, there’s no way I could. I’ll just have to wait till the trial starts and I have the chance to speak.”

Twilight’s mouth was agape as she stared back at Josh, unable to believe he could be so lax about this horrible situation. She pounded the bars of his cell and stared at the ground, tears falling to the floor from the force of her movements.

“It’s just not fair!” she shouted.

Josh, who had turned away before she spoke, now turned back to look at her weeping form. He felt anger fill his body at those words, the only words he ever heard anymore, the ones that made him feel worse every time they were said.

“For fucks sake!” he shouted, causing Twilight to jump and stumble backwards, “I already know it’s not fair!”

Both Twilight and Pinkie looked up at the now enraged human, their ears pressed against their heads as he continued to yell. Neither one could have expected such an outburst from somepony who seemed so calm all the time, even being imprisoned like this.

“I don’t need to hear anymore that it’s not fair!” he continued, beginning to pace as his anger rose, “I didn’t ask for this, Twi! I didn’t ask to go to bed lonely and sad every night, only to wake up in the morning and continue to be that way! If I wanted that, I’d just go home and live there again!”

Pinkie and Twilight sat still stunned, watching as Josh’s pacing slowed and his shoulders began to slump.

“Every time I turn around, it just seems like things are getting worse and worse… I… I feel so helpless…”
Josh felt tears of frustration and loneliness from the last few days fill his eyes, “I-I just wish I could see her again… just once…”

He trailed off, his mind filling with sadness and a feeling of emptiness. His marefriend, who he loved more than words could say, who he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, still hadn’t come to see him. He knelt down as tears began to flow from his blue eyes, falling to the concrete floor. In that moment, Josh truly began to wonder if everything truly would be alright.

“Josh… I d-didn’t mean to…” said Twilight, finally able to find her tongue as she looked to her grief stricken friend in his cell.

“I l-love her so much… ” he said, sobbing hard as he thought about Vinyl, out there, alone and scared, not knowing what the next day will bring for her and the love of her life, “I’m so s-scared I’ll lose her because of all this… I c-can’t live without her…”

Josh leaned forward and placed his head against the bars of his cell, continuing to cry, his eyes shut tight as tears flowed freely and his body heaved. As he knelt there, he heard hoofsteps, and soon felt someone rubbing his back gently. Opening his eyes, he saw Twilight’s hooves in front of his cell. Glancing up, he stared into her face, her own eyes leaking heavily as she smiled at him. Pinkie stood next to her, also smiling wide at Josh as he looked to them both.

“I’m sorry, Josh…” said Twilight, wiping a tear from her eye with a lavender hoof, “I know this has to be unbelievably hard on you. You’re unbelievably brave to be here right now though.”

“How’d you figure that?”

“You didn’t run away from what you did.” said Twilight, her smile widening as she addressed her friend, “You were more than willing to face the consequences for your own actions. I can’t think of many others who would have done the same as you if they were in this situation.”

“Even in here, you manage to make us happy and as hopeful as you are.” interjected Pinkie, her own eyes beginning to well up with tears as she looked to her human friend, “Every day we come in, you always at least pretend to be happy, and that fills everypony up with more hope than you can possibly know. Just ask Sweetie Belle, I’m sure.”

Josh thought about earlier that day, holding the sweet little filly and making her smile, making her feel good again. It warmed his heart to see her then, just as loving towards him as always.

“You know, Vinyl’s not the only one out here who misses you.” Twilight said, breaking Josh from his reverie, “We all do too. It’s not the same without you running around Ponyville, visiting us all.”

“Yeah!” Pinkie exclaimed, throwing her hooves in the air, a smile in her face, “And, when you get out, I’m gonna throw you the biggest party you’ve ever seen! There’ll be cake and ice cream and punch and dancing and games and…”

Josh smiled as Pinkie rambled on and on about her plans for this grand party. He glanced between the two ponies before him, unbelievably happy to have them in his life. Just like when he was getting over his drug addiction, he knew that this situation wouldn’t be easy to overcome, and there would be much more misery along the way. However, he knew that as long as he had his friends by his side, helping and guiding him through it all, everything really would be alright, no matter the outcome.

Without warning, Josh reached his arms through the bars of his cell and gently grabbed the two mares, pulling them into an awkward, but still comforting hug. Together, the three of them sat there for several seconds, relishing in the feeling of the sudden embrace.

“Am I interrupting anything?” asked a voice from nearby.

Josh released the two ponies and looked to the door, watching as Mayor Mare walked in, her eyes watery. She smiled wide at the three of them as she entered, the door closing slowly behind her.

“Hello, Mayor.” said Josh, rising back up to take his seat on the cot in his cell, “We were just… talking is all.”

The mayor’s smile widened as she peered at the other two mares in there with her. They returned her look happily.

“I just came to talk to you about your preliminary hearing.” she said, turning her gaze back towards the human, “It’s set for tomorrow.”

“Will Filthy Rich be there?” asked Josh, praying that he wouldn’t be.

“Unfortunately, yes. He will be.” said the mayor, her expression souring a little, “However, I’ll do my best to get him to keep his tongue in check. Just because he’s wealthy and provides a lot for this town doesn’t mean he can say whatever he wants in my courtroom.”

Josh felt little relief from that statement. If only you could make him stop recruiting this entire town against me he thought Maybe then we can be getting somewere.

“I came to ask you something very important…” the mayor continued, trailing off a little as she spoke.

“What would that be?”

“Well, I’m not sure how it works where you’re from, but here, it may be wise for you to have an attorney of some kind.” she said apprehensively.

“To be honest with you, getting a lawyer wasn’t exactly the first thing I thought about doing when I came here.” replied Josh, not taking his eyes off the tan mare.

Her ears flattened against her skull at his words, “Well, we can always appoint somepony to you, if you’d like…”

“There’ll be no need for that, Mayor.” said Twilight suddenly, sticking her chest out in pride.

Everypony in the room looked at her.

“Why’s that, Twi?” asked Josh, raising his eyebrow at her a little.

“Because, I spent all night studying the law in cases like this.” she said proudly, beaming at her friend, “I can’t guarantee that we’d win, but I think I know enough to give us a fighting chance!”

Josh thought about this for a minute. He knew how intelligent Twilight was and how quickly he could learn complicated things, like law. However, he still felt a little uneasy about taking her on as his attorney, no matter how much she thought she had learned.

“I don’t know, Twilight…” he said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, “I trust that you know what you’re doing, but I somehow doubt that you can learn something like that in a night.”

“I don’t think I need to remind you that there are probably few lawyers right now who would be willing to represent you.” she said flatly.

Josh let her words sink in. She had a point. Any other lawyer now may not want to represent him, believing it would most likely be a lost cause. And it’s not like Josh could just represent himself in a court of law, let alone having to deal with a jury that was most likely very biased towards him…

“Well, I suppose I don’t have any choice, do I?” he finally said, smiling a little at Twilight.

She beamed back at him, “I guess not.”

“I guess it’s settled then.” said Mayor, glancing between Josh and Twilight, “Twilight here will represent you in your hearing tomorrow.”

Josh nodded to the mayor before looking back towards Twilight who was still beaming with pride and happiness.

“Well,” said Mayor, turning and making for the door, “I guess I’ll head out now. Undoubtedly, you two may want to meet for a while so you can plan out what you’ll do next. Pinkie, come along.”

The pink pony nodded, before turning to Josh and peering at him through the bars.

“Good luck, Joshie.” she said, smiling wide at him, “No matter what happens, know that we’ll always love you.”

“Thanks, Pinks.” he said, kneeling in front of the bars again and reaching through to hug the pink party pony, “I love you too.”

She tried her best to squeeze him tightly before releasing and making her way out the door. Josh and Twilight watched them leave before turning to look at one another once more.

“So,” said Josh, sitting on the ground in front of the bars, “What’re we gonna do first?”

Chapter 21: The Hearing

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 21: The Hearing

Josh and Twilight stood side by side in front of the doors to city hall. Only about a week ago, the human had set foot in here and seen the beginning of Filthy’s campaign to discredit him and have him forced from his home and the mare he loved the most. He looked down to the lavender unicorn next to him who had done her mane up in a bun in the back, feeling butterflies raging in his stomach. Twilight glanced up at him and, upon seeing his face full of nervousness, smiled at him.

“You worried?” asked, trying her best to seem comforting.

“Just a little…” replied Josh, trying and failing to return her smile.

“It’ll all be just fine, I promise.” said Twilight, placing her hoof on his arm, trying to comfort him.

Behind Josh stood two police unicorns, both having a rather loose grip on the human’s wrists behind his back with their magic. Together, the three ponies and human stood there, not one saying a single thing as they awaited the opening of the doors to city hall. Thought after thought frantically raced through Josh’s head as he stood there. He wondered what could possibly await him behind those doors, what kind of bearing this would have on this whole situation. Maybe, with any luck, some of this shit’ll get cleared up now…

After what seemed like a silent eternity, the doors opened, and the four beings began to make their way inside. The area looked much different from the last time Josh had been there. At the head of the rotunda, where the stage would have been, sat a judges bench and a witness box. Row after row of benches for the audience lined the walls, making a narrow pathway leading up to the front. Situated right in front of the judges bench was the seats for the defense and the plaintiff, and sitting there was the one thing in all of Equestria that Josh hated more than Discord himself.

“Well well,” said the pompous stallion, turning and glaring at Josh, a smirk painting his face, “you showed up after all.”

“Didn’t really have much of a choice on that, now did I?” said Josh taking his seat at the defense’s place.

“I suppose you didn’t.” said Filthy, sneering at the human.

“Filthy!” called a voice from behind the judges bench, “Watch your tongue.”

Mayor Mare stepped out and took her place at the judge’s seat, glancing back and forth between the ponies and human before her.

“We were just exchanging some idle banter, your honor.” said Filthy, glancing up to her.

“Let it be just that then.” she said, glaring at the stallion, “In my courtroom, you will be civil to Josh, whether you like him or not.”

“Understood."

Mayor shuffled around a few papers on her desk, which Josh could tell was more for looks than anything else. After a few minutes of perusing the documents, she adjusted her glasses on her muzzle and looked down to Josh and Filthy.

“This hearing, as your both aware, I’m sure, is to bring forth the case of Mr. Filthy Rich vs Mr. Josh Daniels.” she said flatly, “Josh, will you please approach the bench?”

Josh complied, rising and making his way over to the bench, Twilight joining him as he took his place. He stood before Mayor Mare perched high above him. She smiled slightly as she peered down at him.

“Josh Daniels,” she began, not breaking eye contact with the human as she addressed him, “you have been charged with second-degree battery. How do you plead to this charge.”

“Mr. Daniels pleads guilty, your honor.” said Twilight.

“And, I believe you have agreed to a plea deal?”

“Ye-“

“No.”

Twilight glanced up at Josh, unable to hide the shocked expression that came over her face.

“We agreed to a plea deal!” she said, her eyes widening as she looked to the human, “You said so yourself!”

“Was that recorded?” asked Josh, turning towards the lavender mare.

“Uh… no… But, that doesn’t mean-“

“Then, as far as anyone here knows, I never agreed to it at all.” he said flatly, turning back to the mayor, “I’m not taking a plea deal.”

“May I ask why?” said Mayor, glancing over the top of her glasses towards the human below her.

“I’m not gonna give him anything else to possibly use to recruit more ponies against me.” he said, pointing towards Filthy Rich, “If I take a plea deal, it’ll seem like I’m trying to weasel my way out of this whole scenario. You guys gave me a pretty cushy offer, and I’m not willing to take advantage of it if it means that he’ll just make more ponies hate me.”

All eyes traveled to Filthy Rich, who had a rather uncomfortable look on his face.

“What?” he said, his voice high and incredulous.

“I’m sure you’re aware, Josh, that there isn’t a law of any kind protecting what you did.” said Mayor, a look of concern on her face.

Josh turned back to her, “I’m aware.”

“You may want to reconsider that decision, Josh.” said Mayor, “I’m not sure what penalties are like in your world for something like this, but I can assure you that a jail cell is the least of your worries, especially since you are foreign.”

“I’m not going to reconsider.” said Josh, staring into the mayor’s eyes, “I’m not taking the deal. I didn’t do what I did to protect myself, and even if I was protecting myself, there was no threat to my life. I did what I did to protect Vinyl’s honor. I’m sure you’d have done the same for somebody you love.”

“Very well then…” said the mayor hesitantly, readjusting her glasses again.

Josh looked down at Twilight who gave him a look that could wilt a plant. The human silently apologized to her, before looking back up to the mayor for further instruction.

“You two may take your seats again.” she said.

Josh and Twilight turned and made for their places, the unicorn leaning in and whispering to her friend as soon as they took a seat.

“Why did you agree to the deal yesterday if you were just gonna refuse it here?”

“I kinda did it so… so you’d… uh… stop talking…”

Twilight huffed a little before turning back to face forward, her hooves crossed over her chest in protest. The day before, when they had met to discuss what they would do at the hearing, Twilight had babbled on and on about all kinds of legal stuff that Josh didn’t understand. The whole time, he just would either agree or disagree with what she posed, based on whether or not it sounded remotely interesting to him. Not the best strategy in hindsight…

“So, your honor,” said Filthy, rising and addressing the mayor, “if he’s already admitted his guilt, and refused to take a plea deal, a foolish move by the way,” he glared at Josh for a moment, “then why are we here?”

“A preliminary hearing is a requirement in Equestrian law, Filthy.” she replied flatly, “We’re here to get the facts straightened out.”

“The facts were already supposed to be taken care of!” said Filthy, raising his hooves in the air and scowling, “I was told the investigative teams talked to every pony who was present that day!”

“The facts for the trial are taken care of.” replied Mayor, glaring down at Filthy, “However, there are a few facts that I’d like to clear up right now that don’t really pertain to the case.”

“And what would that be?”

“Why have you begun this little crusade against Josh all of a sudden?” she asked, pointing a hoof at the human, “You have claimed before that you’ve had this information about his past for some time. Why is it just now you’re beginning this as opposed to when you first discovered it?”

Filthy’s usual smirk returned, along with a malicious glint in his eyes.

“My dear mayor,” he began, staring at her with an icy gaze, “I had to have time to plan out my next move. And believe me, I had ample time to do so.”

“So you always planned on starting this at this exact time?” said Twilight, jumping up and glaring at the stallion.

Josh put a hand on her purple chest, causing her to look to him.

“Just keep calm, okay?”

“But…”

Josh gave her a hard look, causing her to flatten her ears against her head and sit back down.

“I never had an exact time to begin this, to be honest.” said Filthy, turning his gaze towards the human and unicorn across from him, “Opportunity has a funny way of knocking sometimes.”

Twilight was about to say something more when Josh gave her another hard look. She held her words as her eyes met his, seeing the urgency in his gaze.

“You know, Filthy,” said Mayor, drawing the attention of the stallion back to her bench, “I can’t understand how you can be so spiteful to somepony who hasn’t done anything to you or your family. I just don’t see any logic in what you’re saying. It’s all just hate speech at this point.”

“And likewise, Mayor Mare, I don’t see how you can be alright with this!” said Filthy, pointing a hoof at the mayor, “How can you just so blindly trust a creature like this? What if the first thing he had done when he got here was hurt somepony?”

“Well, it wasn’t, Filthy.” Mayor replied, smirking a little herself at the stallion, “Josh has done nothing but abide by the law since arriving in Ponyville, as far as I know.”

Josh thought back to when he first was in Ponyville, more specifically, when he visited Twilight for the first time. He had yelled at her and called her “fucking useless”, an act which he quickly felt remorse for after being taken in by Rarity.

“But it very easily could have been.” replied Filthy, his gaze narrowing as he glared at the mayor.

“That’s all speculation!” shouted Twilight, pointing a hoof at Filthy and glaring, “That has no bearing on this case!”

“Tell that to the jury.”

“You mean the jury of ponies that you’ve undoubtedly turned against me by now?” asked Josh, speaking for the first time in what seemed like forever.

Filthy just smiled devilishly at the human, “I had to do something to give myself a bit of an advantage.”

Josh had to resist the urge to leap out of his seat and choke the stallion again. If not for Filthy, life for Josh could be just like it was before, and he could be happily living in Ponyville with the love of his life and his friends. But, this hateful pony obviously wouldn’t ever allow that, not even if Princess Celestia herself tried to protect Josh.

“Well, unfortunately for me, I can’t bar you from continuing your little rallies.” said Mayor, “However, I can punish you for inciting a riot.”

“Just send the bill then.” said Filthy, his tone smug and condescending.

“I guess there’s not much more we can do here, I’m afraid.” said Mayor, her voice full of frustration and exhaustion, “Court is adjourned. Josh, your trial date will be set by tomorrow. I’ll make sure to stop by and let you know when it is.”

Josh nodded and rose from his seat, placing his arms behind his back so the guards could bind him with their magic. Filthy made his way out with haste, a move that surprised the human. Probably has another rally against me to get to.

“Josh.” said Mayor, causing the human to look at her.

“Yes?”

“I’m… sorry I couldn’t do more for you here. I really am.”

Josh said nothing, instead choosing to nod towards her before turning back to Twilight.

“Thanks for all your help, Twi.” he said, kneeling in front of her and smiling, “I couldn’t do this without you.”

The lavender mare responded by walking forward and wrapping her hooves around the human’s neck, hugging him tightly. Josh wished he could reach out and return her embrace, show her the same sort of love she was showing him. After a few minutes, she broke the hug and stepped back from her friend, her eyes becoming watery.

“Have a good night, okay?” she said, a smile forming on her face.

“I’ll try my best.”

With that, Josh rose and was guided by the two guards behind him towards the doors. His heart felt as heavy as ever as he stepped out into the fading Ponyville daylight. Slowly, the human made his way back to the jailhouse, and what would probably be another lonely and restless night.

*****

Josh stepped inside the jailhouse and was immediately greeted by Warden, who was smiling at him.

“How’d it go?” he asked, walking up to the human.

“About as well as you can imagine.” said the forlorn human, grimacing a little.

“I see…”

Warden just stood there for a moment, looking up at Josh with his eyes full of concern. The two of them had become rather close in the time that Josh had been in the jailhouse. The pony would stop by every day and chat with Josh at least a little, keeping him informed on everything that was occurring on Ponyville. If Josh had to admit it, it was nice to have somepony like Warden to talk to every day, somepony who wasn’t always telling him that it wasn’t fair and that Josh deserved better.

“Well, let’s get you back to your cell so you can rest for the night then, I suppose.” said Warden, turning and making for the door that led to the entry desk area.

Josh nodded, making his way behind the stallion. As he approached the door, he heard muffled arguing from beyond. It was a mare, and she seemed to be on the verge of tears as she addressed the stallion at the desk who opened and closed the door.

“What the hell’s going on in here?” said Warden in an annoyed tone, quickly opening the door and making his way inside.

Josh and the other two guards remained outside as Warden entered and began to talk to the mare. They couldn’t hear too well what was being said, but they heard enough to get an idea for what the problem was.

“Where is he then if he’s not here?!”

“I’ve told you, he’s at his hearing!”

“What’s the issue here? Why are you in here yelling at my guards, ma’am?”

“I wanna see my coltfriend! I haven’t seen him since he was put in here! I need to see him!”

“Just hold on a second.” said Warden, “Whose your coltfriend?”

“How can you not know! Do you even know who I am?!”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“It’s Josh! Josh Daniels!”

Upon hearing those words, Josh’s world came crashing all around him. Did she just say… my name? Is that…

“Warden!” he called, praying that the stallion would answer him, “Open the-“

Josh didn’t even have time to finish his sentence as the door flew open and his jaw nearly hit the ground. Standing before him was a beautiful cream colored unicorn mare with a shaggy blue mane and tail. Her eyes were a gorgeous crimson-magenta color, and they showed nothing but shock as she looked towards the human. As their eyes met, both Josh and Vinyl felt the world around them fall away. Neither one could believe what they were seeing, and yet, they knew full well what it was.

“H-hey.” said the human lamely, unable to find his tongue at this moment.

“Hi.” responded the mare, her mouth agape as she stared into Josh’s eyes.

“How’re you?”

At those words, Vinyl’s eyes began to fill up with tears. A huge smile came over her face and she began to laugh loudly. Without warning, she ran at the human who instinctively fell to his knees. Vinyl leapt into his arms, which he hadn’t even noticed had been released from their magical bonds. Together, the human and unicorn shared a long, loving, and passionate kiss, holding each other close as tears of joy fell from their eyes.

“I’m s-so sorry!” wailed the unicorn upon breaking the kiss, burying her head in Josh’s chest and sobbing, “I s-should have c-come and seen you b-before. I’ve b-been so lonely…”

Josh gently stroked her mane as he held her close, carefully shushing her as she lay in his arms

“It’s okay, baby. It’s all okay.” he said, feeling her soft fur beneath his hands, pulling her in tighter as they sat there, “You’re here now. That’s what counts.”

Together, the two lovers sat there, praying that this moment could last forever. They had each other yet again, and both were determined to never ever be separated like that again. Warden and all the other watched the loving sight with watery eyes. However, Josh and Vinyl never noticed any others there. All they needed was one another, and all the worries and fears they had before seemed to melt away as they kissed each other one more time.

Chapter 22: The Best Night in a Long Time (Mature)

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 22: The Best Night in a Long Time

As the two lovers sat and held one another, Warden stepped up behind Josh, a huge smile painting his face as he looked to the beautiful and moving scene. He placed a hoof on the human’s shoulder, causing him to look up at the stallion, tears in his eyes.

“Well,” said Warden, still smiling as Josh released Vinyl so she could stand up properly, “looks like she showed up after all.”

Josh looked back to his marefriend, whose eyes were still leaking heavily, a huge smile on her own face. The human reached out and wiped a few tears from her face, the unicorn covering his hand with her own hoof and continuing to smile at Josh.

“Guards, leave us for a bit.” said Warden.

“Sir…” said one of them, glancing at the other guards as he stepped up, “Are you sure?”

“Quite.” replied Warden, making for the door and opening it up so they could leave, “I’ll let you all know when we’re done in here and what our next move will be.”

The three guards glanced at one another before making their way out of the area. Once they were all gone, Warden closed the door and locked it before turning back to the human and unicorn.

“I was wondering when you’d show up here.” said Warden, nodding to Vinyl as she took her place next to Josh, who had wrapped an arm around her again, “This one talks a lot about you. I could really tell he missed seeing you.”

“Well, I missed seeing him even more.” she responded, nuzzling her human’s neck and giving him a light peck on the cheek.

“The question now is what I’m gonna do with the two of you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Josh, sharing a confused look with Vinyl.

“Well, it’s been so long since you've seen one another, and I don’t think it’s right for you to have to catch up between the bars of a jail cell.”

Warden smiled as Josh became even more confused.

“You see, I know what it’s like to be away from your very special somepony for a long time.” began Warden, glancing between the human and pony before him, “I also know how incredible it is to see them again. It lifts your spirit like nothing else in the world, and, for that moment at least, you want nothing more than to be with them, even if only for a second.”

“I still don’t understand…” said Vinyl, placing her hoof on her chin as she thought about Warden’s words.

“I’m gonna ensure that you two get that moment to be together.” said Warden, making his way over to the door leading to the cell block and opening it, “The guards will be instructed to stay away from your cell tonight so you two can spend some… quality time together.”

“You can’t legally do that, can you?” asked Josh, standing up and making his way over to the stallion, “If Filthy finds out you did this, you could lose your job!”

“Josh,” said Warden, turning to face the human, a smirk covering his face, “my guards aren’t going to know a thing. They don’t question my orders, and even if they did, there’s no way any of them would tell Filthy a thing about this. They can’t stand him either, remember?”

Josh’s expression changed from one of concern to a wide smile. He knelt down and embraced the unicorn stallion he had become so close to over the course of the last week.

“I can’t ever thank you enough for this, Warden.” said Josh as he released the guard and stepped back, a lump forming in his throat as he felt Vinyl walk up and wrap her forelegs around his abdomen from behind, “Neither one of us can.”

“Not a problem, my friend.”

With that, Warden opened up the door to the cell block and stepped through, gesturing for the other two to follow him.

“First of all, I’ll take you two to the mess hall. What’s a good date without a nice dinner, after all?”

Josh smiled before turning back to Vinyl, who continued to beam up at him, her beautiful eyes sparkling in the lights all around.

“Well, it’s not exactly the kind of date I’d had in mind for us…”

“It’s perfect, baby.” replied the unicorn, giving her coltfriend a sultry smile as she jumped down from her standing position.

Together the two of them made their way past Warden and into the cell block hall. Josh still couldn’t believe that he was finally seeing Vinyl again for the first time in a week. He also couldn’t believe how Warden was being so generous to he and his marefriend, going out of his way to make sure their night was the best it possibly could be. Just when things seem to be at their worst thought the human as he followed Warden, Vinyl alongside him it gets a little bit better.

*****

Josh and Vinyl lay next to one another inside Josh’s cell. Warden had gone completely out of his way to make sure that the two of them had a great night, probably the best night in a long time for either of them. First, they had a delicious candlelit dinner in the mess hall, followed by a movie played on the wall with a magical projector. To ensure the two of them a certain amount of privacy, Warden had them stay in Josh’s cell, enlarging the cot inside so the two of them could fit in it together and ordering the guards to stay away from it. Now, they simply lay there, holding one another and relishing the feeling of being together once more.

“You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to see you, Josh.” said Vinyl, staring deep into her coltfriend’s blue eyes as she lay next to him.

“You have no idea how much I wanted you to come and see me.” replied Josh, lightly kissing Vinyl’s forehead, just to the right of her horn.

“We’ve both been pretty miserable, I suppose.” said the unicorn, her eyes beginning to water a little, “If I had trouble sleeping without you, I can only imagine how hard it must have been on your end…”

“It was definitely tough.”

“How did you manage?” she asked.

“I have no idea how, Vinyl.” he said, caressing her mane gently, “But, that doesn’t matter now.”

“How do you figure that?”

“Because we’re together again. Albeit in a jail cell, but nonetheless, still together.”

Vinyl smiled and leaned in to kiss Josh, who met her halfway and pressed his lips to hers. They melted into one another almost immediately, the unicorn wrapping her forelegs around Josh’s neck. In one swift motion, she rolled over and onto Josh’s chest, pinning him on his back on the cot.

“I’ve waited so long to be able to hold you again, and I’m not gonna waste a single moment of this wonderful night I’ve got with you.” she said, propping herself up on his chest a little and giving him a sultry look.

“You’ve got something in mind then?” asked Josh, a smirk covering his face.

“I’m gonna show you just how much I’ve missed you.”

With that, Vinyl’s lips met his once more, and the two kissed fiercely, their tongues sliding all around in one another’s mouths. Josh felt his mind begin to shut down a little as his marefriend passionately prodded his mouth with her own tongue. After a while, they broke the kiss, only to have Vinyl gently kiss all over Josh’s neck, slowly making her way down his chest. Using her magic, she removed his shirt and continued her actions, nipping and kissing all over the human’s smooth chest. She slowly made her way down to his stomach before looking back up at him and smiling wide.

Using her magic once more, she undid his pants and slid them off, exposing his member, which was filling up with blood fast and becoming more erect. Her horn glowed as she grabbed his erection and began to slide her tongue across it, starting at the base of the shaft and making her way up to the tip. Josh felt a wave of pleasure course through his body as her smooth tongue made contact against his appendage. After a few more licks, she pressed her lips to the tip and swirled her tongue on it, causing Josh to let out a moan of pleasure. Vinyl smiled upon hearing his sounds, relishing every moment of her actions.

Soon, she dove onto his erection, bobbing her head up and down the entire shaft. Josh felt another few waves of pure ecstasy overtake him as her tongue swirled all over his member. He reached out and gently placed his hand on the back of her head, feeling her soft mane on his palm. Vinyl continued to pleasure him for a little while longer before stopping and making her return trip up to his mouth, kissing his body all the way. She locked lips with him once more, and Josh could feel her juices beginning to flow against his leg.

They broke once more and Vinyl propped herself up a little, continuing to smile at Josh. Carefully, she positioned her wet marehood over his tip, feeling it begin to make its way past her lips and entering her interior. She gasped in pleasure as she lowered onto it completely, waves of ecstasy now flooding her body as her walls tightened around Josh’s appendage. The unicorn placed her hooves onto his chest and, after kissing him once more, began to move her hips back and forth across his crotch. Vinyl began to lose her train of thought as she felt surge after surge of pleasure course through her body.

Conversely, Josh’s mind began to numb as he felt her insides tighten around him more and more. Vinyl began to pant and moan as she felt him moving inside her, stimulating her like she’d never known. After a little while, she abandoned her original motion and removed her hooves from his chest, instead balancing on his appendage, pushing herself up and down on him. Josh began to buck his hips along with her motions, making her moan louder and longer as both were being pushed to the edge.

“J-Josh!” she called out through her moans, “I-I’m g-gonna…”

Almost without warning, she cried with one loud, long moan, climaxing hard and fast, her back arching. Josh could feel himself also nearing the edge, and knew it would only be a matter of time till he hit his peak. The human let out a moan of his own as he exploded inside his marefriend, filling her with his seed. Upon his climax, the cream colored unicorn collapsed on his chest, panting heavily. The two lay there for a few minutes, both panting hard and exhausted, but also unbelievably happy.

“That was the most incredible thing I’ve ever experienced.” said Vinyl, removing his member from her insides and continuing to lay on his chest.

“It was pretty freakin’ great.” replied Josh, gently stroking Vinyl’s mane once more.

“I love you so much, Josh.” said Vinyl, scooting further up onto her lover’s chest, nuzzling his neck and planting a few kisses while also wrapping her forelegs around his midsection, “Whether you’re in a jail cell, or at home with me, I’ll always love you and be there for you.”

“Even if the entirety of Ponyville hates me?”

“I don’t give a flying feather about what they think.” she said, “Because nothing they say or do can make me stop loving you.”

Josh said nothing to that, instead gently kissing Vinyl’s head once more. A smile came across his face as he held her close, savoring the feeling of her soft and warm fur against his bare skin. Together, the two of them lay there for a while longer, occasionally sharing a kiss, till they both drifted off to sleep. For the first time in a very long time, they both felt complete and happy, and, as far as they were both concerned, nothing in all of Equestria could take that away from them.

Chapter 22: The Best Night in a Long Time (Clean)

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 22: The Best Night in a Long Time

As the two lovers sat and held one another, Warden stepped up behind Josh, a huge smile painting his face as he looked to the beautiful and moving scene. He placed a hoof on the human’s shoulder, causing him to look up at the stallion, tears in his eyes.

“Well,” said Warden, still smiling as Josh released Vinyl so she could stand up properly, “looks like she showed up after all.”

Josh looked back to his marefriend, whose eyes were still leaking heavily, a huge smile on her own face. The human reached out and wiped a few tears from her face, the unicorn covering his hand with her own hoof and continuing to smile at Josh.

“Guards, leave us for a bit.” said Warden.

“Sir…” said one of them, glancing at the other guards as he stepped up, “Are you sure?”

“Quite.” replied Warden, making for the door and opening it up so they could leave, “I’ll let you all know when we’re done in here and what out next move will be.”

The three guards glanced at one another before making their way out of the area. Once they were all gone, Warden closed the door and locked it before turning back to the human and unicorn.

“I was wondering when you’d show up here.” said Warden, nodding to Vinyl as she took her place next to Josh, who had wrapped an arm around her again, “This one talks a lot about you. I could really tell he missed seeing you.”

“Well, I missed seeing him even more.” she responded, nuzzling her human’s neck and giving him a light peck on the cheek.

“The question now is what I’m gonna do with the two of you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Josh, sharing a confused look with Vinyl.

“Well, it’s been so long since you two have seen one another, and I don’t think it’s right for you to have to catch up between the bars of a jail cell.”

Warden smiled as Josh became even more confused.

“You see, I know what it’s like to be away from your very special somepony for a long time.” began Warden, glancing between the human and pony before him, “I also know how incredible it is to see them again. It lifts your spirit like nothing else in the world, and, for that moment at least, you want nothing more than to be with them, even if only for a second.”

“I still don’t understand…” said Vinyl, placing her hoof on her chin as she thought about Warden’s words.

“I’m gonna ensure that you two get that moment to be together.” said Warden, making his way over to the door leading to the cell block and opening it, “The guards will be instructed to stay away from your cell tonight so you two can spend some… quality time together.”

“You can’t legally do that, can you?” asked Josh, standing up and making his way over to the stallion, “If Filthy finds out you did this, you could lose your job!”

“Josh,” said Warden, turning to face the human, a smirk covering his face, “my guards aren’t going to know a thing. They don’t question my orders, and even if they did, there’s no way any of them would tell Filthy a thing about this. They can’t stand him either, remember?”

Josh’s expression changed from one of concern to a wide smile. He knelt down and embraced the unicorn stallion he had become so close to over the course of the last week.

“I can’t ever thank you enough for this, Warden.” said Josh as he released the guard and stepped back, a lump forming in his throat as he felt Vinyl walk up and wrap her forelegs around his abdomen from behind, “Neither one of us can.”

“Not a problem, my friend.”

With that, Warden opened up the door to the cell block and stepped through, gesturing for the other two to follow him.

“First of all, I’ll take you two to the mess hall. What’s a good date without a nice dinner, after all?”

Josh smiled before turning back to Vinyl, who continued to beam up at him, her beautiful eyes sparkling in the lights all around.

“Well, it’s not exactly the kind of date I’d had in mind for us…”

“It’s perfect, baby.” replied the unicorn, giving her coltfriend a sultry smile as she jumped down from her standing position.

Together the two of them made their way past Warden and into the cell block hall. Josh still couldn’t believe that he was finally seeing Vinyl again for the first time in a week. He also couldn’t believe how Warden was being so generous to he and his marefriend, going out of his way to make sure their night was the best it possibly could be. Just when things seem to be at their worst thought the human as he followed Warden, Vinyl alongside him it gets a little bit better.

*****

Josh and Vinyl lay next to one another inside Josh’s cell. Warden had gone completely out of his way to make sure that the two of them had a great night, probably the best night in a long time for either of them. First, they had a delicious candlelit dinner in the mess hall, followed by a movie played on the wall with a magical projector. To ensure the two of them a certain amount of privacy, Warden had them stay in Josh’s cell, enlarging the cot inside so the two of them could fit in it together and ordering the guards to stay away from it. Now, they simply lay there, holding one another and relishing the feeling of being together once more.

“You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to see you, Josh.” said Vinyl, staring deep into her coltfriend’s blue eyes as she lay next to him.

“You have no idea how much I wanted you to come and see me.” replied Josh, lightly kissing Vinyl’s forehead, just to the right of her horn.

“We’ve both been pretty miserable, I suppose.” said the unicorn, her eyes beginning to water a little, “If I had trouble sleeping without you, I can only imagine how hard it must have been for you…”

“It was definitely tough.”

“How did you manage?” she asked.

“I have no idea how, Vinyl.” he said, caressing her mane gently, “But, that doesn’t matter now.”

“How do you figure that?”

“Because we’re together now. Albeit in a jail cell, but nonetheless, still together.”

Vinyl smiled and leaned in to kiss Josh, who met her halfway and pressed his lips to hers. They melted into one another almost immediately, the unicorn wrapping her forelegs around Josh’s neck. In one swift motion, she rolled over and onto Josh’s chest, pinning him on his back on the cot.

“I’ve waited so long to be able to hold you again, and I’m not gonna waste a single moment of this wonderful night I’ve got with you.” she said, propping herself up on his chest a little and giving him a sultry look.

“You’ve got something in mind then?” asked Josh, a smirk covering his face.

“I’m gonna show you just how much I’ve missed you.”

*****

“That was the most incredible thing I’ve ever experienced.” said Vinyl, removing his member from her insides and continuing to lay on his chest.

“It was pretty freakin’ great.” replied Josh, gently stroking Vinyl’s mane once more.

“I love you so much, Josh.” said Vinyl, scooting further up onto her lover’s chest, nuzzling his neck and planting a few kisses while also wrapping her forelegs around his midsection, “Whether you’re in a jail cell, or at home with me, I’ll always love you and be there for you.”

“Even if the entirety of Ponyville hates me?”

“I don’t give a flying feather about what they think.” she said, “Because nothing they say or do can make me stop loving you.”

Josh said nothing to that, instead gently kissing Vinyl’s head once more. A smile came across his face as he held her close, savoring the feeling of her soft and warm fur against his bare skin. Together, the two of them lay there for a while longer, occasionally sharing a kiss, till they both drifted off to sleep. For the first time in a very long time, they both felt complete and happy, and, as far as they were both concerned, nothing in all of Equestria could take that away from them.

Chapter 23: Don't Back Down

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 23: Don’t Back Down

Vinyl sat outside Josh’s cell three days later, chatting idly with her human lover. Since their night together, both were completely inseparable again, Vinyl even managing to stay overnight once thanks to Warden providing a cot for her. The morning after their special night, when Warden came in to check on them, he couldn’t help but smile and chuckle a little to himself upon seeing them pressed so closely together in their sleep. He told Josh that even though he loved his own wife like nothing else in all of Equestria, he couldn’t ever sleep that closely to her.
Vinyl was finishing up telling Josh all about what she and Octavia had been up to in his absence when the door creaked open and three little fillies ran in, accompanied by Applejack and Rarity.

“Hey Joshie!” called the Cutie Mark Crusaders, rushing up to his cell and beaming up at him.

“Hey there girls.” he said happily, kneeling down and reaching through the bars of his cell, gently rubbing each filly’s soft mane, “How’re you three?”

“We’re great!” said Scootaloo excitedly, fluttering her wings.

“Well, hey there, Vinyl.” said Applejack, smiling at the cream colored unicorn, “Ah didn’t know you were out and about now.”

Rarity lightly kicked the orange farm pony who yelped and glared at her.

“What the hay was that for?”

“That was highly inappropriate to say!” retorted Rarity, returning Applejack’s glare, “You make it seem as if she’s some sort of overly depressed shut in.”

Applejack was about to respond when Vinyl just giggled a little. Both mares looked to the unicorn, who simply smiled at them.

“It’s alright, Rares.” she said, her smile never faltering, “I understand what AJ means. Yeah, I was a bit of a shut in for a while there.”

“Why didn’t you come to see Joshie before?” asked Apple Bloom, cocking her head in confusion.

“Well, Apple Bloom,” began Vinyl, turning her attention towards the three fillies, “I was very depressed and lonely without Josh. I didn’t come to check on him because I didn’t want to see him suffer through the same pain I was dealing with.”

She looked towards her human, her smile widening and her eyes twinkling, “But, I realized that the reason I was so lonely was because I was without him. I love him more than words can say, and that alone made me want to get out and make him feel better.”

She looked back to the three Crusaders, who were all smiling widely at her. Josh looked to his mare, feeling a warmth rise in his chest. A huge smile creeped across his face that rivaled her own. I love you too, Vinyl.

“Makes sense to me.” said Sweetie Belle, turning back to Josh and continuing to beam up at him.

“Sweetie,” said Rarity, drawing the attention of the filly, “didn’t you three have something for our friend here?”

“Oh!” exclaimed Sweetie, looking to the other two Crusaders before pulling a large sheet of paper from her saddlebag and unfolding it.

The three fillies held it in their mouths and presented it to their human friend. On the paper was a rather crude drawing depicting Josh and Vinyl standing side by side, huge smiles on their faces, along with the Cutie Mark Crusaders surrounding them. On the top of the drawing was a line of text saying “Josh and Vinyl”.

“We made it for you when we were at school today!” said Scootaloo, her wings fluttering excitedly again, “Do you like it?”

Josh knelt down in front of the fillies, his eyes beginning to well up and water a little as he looked at the picture again. It always amazed him how the innocence of these three little girls could put things in perspective for him. No matter what, no matter where he was, whether it was out there or in a jail cell, they would always love him unconditionally, just like Vinyl. Their care for him was unbiased and genuine, never faltering for even the most minuscule amount of time. At that moment, Josh couldn't help but wish to be able to hold the three Crusaders closely and return their love in full measure.

“It’s wonderful, girls.” he finally said, wiping his eyes a little as he felt a lump form in his throat, “Thank you so much.”

Vinyl walked up behind the three fillies and extended her forelegs around them all, wrapping them up in a close embrace and lightly kissing each one of them on the forehead.

“Thank you very much for helping take care of my Joshie, girls.” she said as they turned around and continued to hug the mare, “It means more than I can ever say.”

“You’re welcome, Vinyl.” they all said, releasing their grip on her and continuing to smile up at the unicorn.

Josh heard a few small sniffles from nearby and looked over to the other two mares to see them both beginning to cry. Applejack had removed her hat and was wiping a few tears from her face as she looked upon the touching scene. Rarity had a wide smile on as she looked to her sister and her friends before managing a glance at Josh. As everypony relished the moment, the door leading out of the cell block opened and all eyes flew to it. The expressions of happiness that were all around vanished as soon as a figure made his way inside, quickly being replaced with anger and indignation.

Filthy Rich sauntered in, his usual smug look in place and seeming as strong as ever. Behind him trailed Warden, who glanced apologetically at the human in the cell.

“You!” shouted Rarity, glaring hard at the stallion, “What the buck are you doing here?!”

“Now now, Rarity,” said Filthy, his expression never changing as he looked towards the ivory unicorn mare, “is that any way to speak in front of children like these three?”

“Says the damn hate monger in this town!” retorted Applejack, advancing towards Filthy slightly, “Besides, they’re bound to hear it eventually.”

“Around you, I would imagine so.” said Filthy, his smirk never dropping.

“What’s that s’posed to mean?!” yelled the farm pony, removing her hat as her ears flattened against her head.

“Applejack.” said Josh simply, drawing the attention of the mare, “Don’t.”

“B-but...” said AJ, turning to the human.

Her words died in her throat as she looked into his eyes. They weren't angry, but were extremely serious, and caused the farm pony to abandon her quarrel with Filthy almost right away. She placed her hat back on her head and made for the door.

“Come on, Rares.” she said as she made her way out, “Grab the kids and let’s get outta here.”

“Josh...” Rarity began, looking towards her friend to see what he would say or do.

“It’s alright, Rarity.” he said, his gaze softening a little, “Just leave us for a little bit. I don’t know what’ll go down right now, but I do know that the girls don’t need to be subjected to this.”

Rarity continued to stare at the human for a while longer before lightly nodding and gesturing for the three fillies to follow her.

“Hold up.” said Apple Bloom, rolling up the drawing and grabbing it in her mouth, “Here you go, Joshie. Keep it.”

Josh smiled and took the paper, patting Apple Bloom on the head as she turned around to look at Filthy.

“Ah don’t know why you hate him so much,” she said, causing Filthy to raise his eyebrows a little, “but for as badly as you’ll ever treat him, we’ll love him that much more.”

With that, the yellow filly followed her sister and friends out of the door, leaving just Filthy, Josh, and Vinyl alone in the cell block.

“Well,” began Filthy, scratching the back of his neck uncertainly, “That was... unexpected.”

“Don’t jerk me around.” said Josh, glaring down at the stallion, “What’re you doing here?”

“You like to get right down to business, don’t you?” said Filthy, his smirk returning, “I like that. Probably the one thing about you that I’ve ever liked.”

“You fucking jackass!” shouted Vinyl, advancing on the stallion, her ears pinned back and a look of complete rage on her cream colored face, “Because of you, my coltfriend has been gone from me for a week, and we’ve both been completely miserable! How dare you show your fucking face around here after all that!”

“It’s hardly my fault that he decided to attack me like that, now is it?” replied Filthy, prompting a small lunge from Vinyl, “And if you dare to do the same as him, I’ll see to it that you both end up in that cell.”

“Don’t give me even more of an incentive.” she snarled back at him.

Filthy didn’t even flinch at her statement, instead turning to look at the human.

“I’ve come to have a pleasant little chat with you.” he said, taking a seat in front of the iron bars and staring at Josh, “After all, we didn’t have much time to really speak to one another at the hearing, now did we?”

Josh continued to stare at the stallion, prompting him to continue. He did just that, smirking the whole time.

“As you’re well aware, almost this entire town has begun to see things my way regarding you.” he began, standing and beginning to pace back and forth, “A lot of them were once your closest friends and neighbors.”

“If this is just gonna be a session for you to remind me of all this shit, then you can make for the door right now.” said Josh, his glare intensifying.

“Very well then.” said Filthy, stopping his pacing and returning his gaze towards Josh, “I’ll get more to the point.”

Filthy continued his pacing once more, “The justice system in Equestria is based on popular support in the case of the defendant.” he said, “A jury can make a decision, but if the general population doesn’t agree with it, then it can be overturned.”

Filthy looked back to Josh and smirked again, “And I wouldn’t much count on you being able to gain a lot of support right now.”

“It’d help if you’d stop forcing such hate on everypony here!” snapped Vinyl, causing Filthy to look to her once more.

“I may have... interfered a little in this matter.” he said, waving a hoof dismissively, “However, I by no means forced anypony to turn on him. They made the choice freely and willingly based on the evidence I presented to them.”

“You have no evidence!” said Vinyl, intensifying her angry glare towards him, “It’s all hearsay!”

“I have more evidence than you can hope to know.” replied Filthy, returning the mare’s glare in full measure.

Vinyl was about to retort when she felt a hand on her back. She turned to see Josh looking down at her, a small smile on his face. The unicorn looked into his bright blue eyes, seeing concern for her etched into them. She sat once more and allowed Josh to speak.

“Did you just come down here to tell me that my situation’s hopeless?” he asked, “Because if that’ the case, I already know and you’ve wasted your obviously precious time.”

“Au contraire, my friend,” said Filthy, looking up at the human, “I’ve come to you with a proposal that may save you a lot of time and trouble.”

Josh said nothing, instead simply nodding to Filthy to continue.

“I’ll drop the charges, I’ll let you go free, I’ll even tell the mobs to calm down and not lay a single hoof on you. I’ll do all this for you, but only under one condition.”

“What condition?” asked Josh, beginning to perk up a little at Filthy’s words.

A devilish grin came over Filthy’s face as he spoke once more.

“If I do this for you, you have to leave Ponyville forever. And she can’t go with you.”

He pointed a hoof to Vinyl, who immediately burst at hearing his words.

“How dare you!” she screamed, doing her absolute best to not lunge at the stallion, “You fucking bastard! What’s your fucking problem?! Do you really think Josh would just leave me like that?!”

She turned back to her human, tears in her eyes as she pressed her hooves against the bars of his cell.

“You won’t leave me again, will you?”

Josh felt his heart sink at her words and her expression. Gently he knelt before her and reached his hand through the bars, stroking her mane as tears fell freely from her eyes.

“I’m never gonna lose you again, Vinyl.” he said, gently lifting her chin so she could look him in the eyes, “I promised you that when I came back, and I intend to keep it, no matter what, okay?”

She pressed a hoof to his hand on her cheek, a small smile forming on her face. Josh looked back up to Filthy, glaring heavily at him once more.

“Let me explain something to you, Filthy.” he began, having a hard time controlling his voice from his anger at the stallion, “I don’t know if you know how love works, so I’ll give you a little introduction here. When you love someone, truly love someone with all your heart, you’ll do anything for them, and no bribe or empty promise like the one you brought to me today can ever make you want to leave them. This mare means more to me than I can ever hope to say, and if I have to stay in a jail cell just to stay around her, then I’ll do it for the rest of my life, no questions asked.”

Josh knelt down to console Vinyl once more, his gaze never breaking from the pompous pony who had landed him in there.

“So, now that I’ve established that fact,” he said continuing to stroke Vinyl’s mane, “you can take your proposal for me and shove it firmly up your tight ass. I’m not taking any deal if it means I can’t be with her.”

“You are the biggest idiot in all of Equestria!” said Filthy, stamping his hooves angrily, “How in the name of Celestia can you be so dense?!”

“Don’t you have a family of your own?” asked Josh, “A wife and daughter? Wouldn’t you make the same choice for them? Or are you such a spiteful fuck that you’d throw them away if you had the chance to escape from trouble?”

“That... I... That’s irrelevant!” spluttered Filthy, his smirk finally dropping and his anger boiling over, “This isn’t about me, you jackass! It’s about you and the possibility for you to have a future outside this damn cell!”

“Fucking drop it!” shouted Vinyl, turning back to Filthy as tears continued to flow freely, “He said he’s not taking your bullshit deal! Now get the fuck outta here, before I make you leave.”

Filthy just huffed and turned around, storming out the door. Before he made his way out, he turned back to the two lovers.

“You’ll regret this action. Both of you will.” he sneered, before turning back around and heading back out.

Warden followed close behind, winking at Josh as he closed the door. The human looked down to his still crying marefriend and reached both his arms all the way through, holding her as closely as he could, gently shushing her as she continued to cry.

“It’s alright now, baby.” he whispered to her, “It’s alright.”

“J-Josh?” she said, lifting her head up a little and sniffling, looking at her lover with watery, swollen eyes, “W-why d-does he hate you s-so much? Why?!”

She buried her head in his arms as best she could once more.

“I don’t know, baby.” he replied, stroking her mane and back once again, “but nothing he could ever do or say would make me want to leave you behind. Not even if it means I’ll get out of here.”

“I love you so much, Joshie.” she said, looking up again and wiping her tears away, “Always know that. No matter what happens, I’ll never stop loving you. You’re my whole world.”

“I love you too, Vinyl. And that’ll never ever change.”

Together, the two just sat there, Josh still managing to awkwardly hold his marefriend through the bars of his cell. The human thought all about Filthy, and what he had said when he was there. Do your worst, you spiteful fuck he thought, anger building up in his chest at the thought of the stallion Because no matter what you throw at me, I’ll be ready for it.

Chapter 24: Trial and Error

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 24: Trial and Error

Josh stood in front of the doors leading out of the jailhouse. His hands were locked in place behind his back by two unicorn guards and Warden stood at his side, casting an occasional glance to the human. The day for his trial had finally arrived, and outside could be heard what was probably the entire town of Ponyville all gathered there, some yelling insults and slandering the human, while others attempted to defend him.

“Sounds pretty crazy out there.” said Warden, his ears pinned back a little as he turned his attention towards Josh.

Josh said nothing, the butterflies in his stomach stealing his words to say. He felt himself beginning to sweat nervously and almost every muscle in his body seemed to tense up as he stood there. Though he’d said all along that he wasn’t afraid of this day coming, he dropped that facade almost as quickly as he’d ever said it once he realized the magnitude of this whole situation. Just don’t lose your shit he thought silently to himself Stay calm and just tell yourself that it’ll all be okay.

“Just so you know, Josh,” said Warden, removing his hat and looking up at the human who had turned his attention to the pony, “no matter what happens today, it’s been an honor to have you in my jail.”

Josh smiled a little at the stallion who he’d managed to become fast friends with.

“And it’s been an honor to be held here, I suppose.” he replied, eliciting a similar smile from Warden.

“You’re ready to move then?” asked the pony, replacing his hat once more.

Josh nodded and Warden turned back to all the other officers behind the human.

“Listen up!” he shouted, “He is to remain safe at all times! I don’t wanna see anypony lay a single hoof on him unless it’s one of his friends or his marefriend! Keep him protected no matter what, understand?”

Once he received a unanimous call of “Yes sir.” from the other officers, he turned back to the door.

“Here goes nothing.”

Light poured in from the open doorway as well as the shouts from all around as the ponies gathered continued their cacophony. As quickly as they could, the officers and Warden began to usher Josh out of the jailhouse, making a beeline for the town hall nearby. Ponies from almost every direction were shouting at the human as he made his way, most telling him that he was a monster and a menace to their society. The human hardly noticed any of it, doing his best to focus on what was directly in front of him rather than the noise surrounding him. The one time he did look up at all, he saw Derpy floating there, waving to him and blowing a small kiss his way, her askew eyes filled with tears.

Warden busied himself with giving orders to his officers, who so far had done a good job of keeping Josh safe. Occasionally, he’d sneak a glance towards his human friend only to see his full attention focused on what was directly in front of him.

“Somepony get up there and open up the damn doors!” shouted Warden as they made their final approach towards the city hall, prompting a guard from behind to worm his way up to the front and make for the large, oaken doors of the building. After what seemed like an eternity of walking past the huge crowd of gathered ponies, Josh and his escort managed to make their way inside the hall.

“Josh!” called a voice from ahead as the doors closed again, and Josh looked up to see his friends all at the front.

Pinkie rushed back to him, followed by Rainbow, Applejack, and Twilight. The four ponies all stopped short of their friend and stood there, looking up at him with concern in their eyes.

“How’re ya’ll doin’, Sugarcube?” asked Applejack, her green eyes not breaking their gaze from his blue ones.

“I’ve seen better days, AJ.” he responded, “However, not too bad, considering the circumstances.”

“Well, no matter what happens, we’ll be there for you.” said Rainbow, smiling wide at Josh as her magenta eyes began to water.

“Thanks, Rainbow.” he said, prompting her to float forward and wrap her hooves around him in a tight embrace.

“Now, Rainbow,” called a voice from behind the polychromatic mare, “it’s hardly fair for anypony but his marefriend to hug him first when he gets here.”

As Rainbow broke contact with her friend, Josh saw Octavia and Vinyl begin to make their way up, both with big smiles on their faces. The gray cellist stopped next to the other mares, allowing Vinyl to continue her walk towards her lover. Josh knelt on the ground in front of her as she reached him, allowing her to wrap her hooves around his neck and hold him closely.

“Everything’ll be alright, won’t it?” she asked, her voice surprisingly steady.

Josh felt a warmth fill his body that he hadn’t felt all day as she held him. He wished that the guards could let his hands free again so he could return her gesture, but he digressed to simply kiss her neck lightly.

“Of course it will, babe.” he said, looking deep into her eyes as she drew away from him a little, “After all, when was the last time I ever lied to you about something like that?”

She smiled and leaned in once more, pressing her lips to his and kissing him passionately. Josh felt her hooves on the back of his head, pulling him even deeper into the kiss and filling his body with the warm feeling once more.

“Now now, that’s enough of that, I think.”

The two lovers broke apart and looked up to the front once again where the voice had come from. Filthy Rich stood there, as smug as ever, staring at the pony and human on the ground.

“You won’t allow them one moment to be happy, will you?” asked Octavia, glaring daggers at the stallion.

“Think what you will, Octavia.” said Filthy, returning her gesture with equal measure, “It’s all irrelevant anyway. This trial has nothing to do with happiness. This is about rendering judgement on him for what he did to me.”

“Bullshit!” shouted Rainbow, flying towards the stallion and getting in his face, “This is nothing more than an excuse for you to turn this into even more of a show than it already is!”

“Says the queen of cheap theatrics herself.” replied Filthy, not even flinching as the polychromatic pony faced him down, “I may have been a little... overzealous in the past few weeks regarding this whole scenario, but that is no more relevant than their happiness. This is about sorting out the law, and that’s what I intend to do today, whether that relies on me ‘making a show of this’ or not.”

“Uh... guys,” said Warden, causing everypony to look his way, “It’s time to let them in here. You all may wanna take your places as fast as possible.”

Josh nodded and stood back up, looking down to Vinyl and smiling a little. Together, the two walked side by side down the aisle, only breaking apart once the unicorn had to allow Josh to take his place at the defendant’s table next to Twilight, who smiled at him and shuffled around some papers.

“I’ve got everything I think we’ll need to take this,” she said, whispering into his ear, “but in case things get a little dicey, I’ve got a backup plan.”

“And what exactly would that be?” asked Josh as Warden prepared to open the doors.

“You’ll see.”

Once Warden was finished giving orders to a few other guards, he opened the doors and ponies began to flood the hall. In no time at all, over one hundred others had filled the building, each one chatting amongst themselves as they awaited the beginning of the trial.

Warden closed the doors once more as the area was filled to capacity and made his way up towards the front. As he did so, the jury box filled up as well, several of its members glaring at Josh. After Warden reached the judges bench, he turned around and addressed the now silent crowd.

“In the case of Mr. Filthy Rich vs Mr. Josh Daniels, court is now in session.” he said in a very authoritative tone, “All rise for the honorable Judge Mayor Mare presiding.”

Everypony and Josh stood as Mayor Mare entered from behind the judges bench and took her place. Once she had been situated, she allowed the crowd to take their seats once more and glanced between Filthy and Josh.

“Well, gentlecolts,” she began, looking at them both with tired eyes, “it looks like this is finally it. Josh, since you are the defendant, your council may speak first.”

Twilight thanked the Mayor and took her place at the front of the assembly, clearing her throat and looking out amongst the crowd.

“My friends and neighbors,” she began, pacing back and forth as she addressed them all, “we are here today to decide the fate of my client, Josh, who many of you have known and loved for almost a year now.”

She glanced towards the human who merely nodded at her and smiled a little.

“He has been a friend and confidant to some of you, many times going out of his way to ensure that you were taken care of.” she continued, “Many of you here, I know, have witnessed how kind and caring her can be. This prompts a question to arise in my head that desperately needs an answer: what changed?”

The crowd began to murmur a little upon hearing those words, some crossing their hooves in defiance, while others simply got guilty looks in their faces.

“Filthy Rich here states things about Josh’s past, which even he has admitted are undeniably true, but what difference does that make really? Josh hasn’t committed acts like that since he’s been here, and the only reason he attacked Mr. Rich at all is because he was provoked. All of you should know and recognize by now that Josh has never shown any sort of violent tendency before that, even when upset or angry at somepony.”

The crowds muttering began to grow in volume slightly as Twilight finished her short speech.

“So, though he has admitted his guilt in this matter of attacking another pony, please remember that Josh is truly a kind hearted soul, and therefore not deserving of the hatred and intolerance that has been forced upon you all by Mr. Rich.”

Twilight widened her smile and trotted back to her seat, taking her place once again and looking over to Filthy Rich.

“Thank you, Ms. Sparkle.” said Mayor, turning her attention to Filthy Rich, “It’s your turn now, Filthy.”

The stallion replaced his usual smug smile and rose slowly, making his way towards the front to begin his speech. As he made his way up, several ponies clapped their hooves together, prompting a few glares from Rainbow Dash and Applejack up front. After a short while, Filthy took his place and began his speech, occasionally hazarding a malicious glance towards the human.

“Very well said, Ms. Sparkle.” he began, making a bowing motion in her direction, “I believe you may have managed to gain the upperhoof just now with that little speech there. However, you seem to have omitted one little detail from all that, one which can make a huge difference in this battle of words.”

“And what would that be, Mr. Rich?” asked Mayor, her head propped up on her hoof.

“I have forced no hatred onto anypony.”

Twilight swallowed hard upon hearing that, and Josh thought he saw her lavender fur turn a few shades whiter.

“The only thing I have done is present the evidence I have gathered to the lovely ponies of this town and allowed them to make their own decisions. After all, we don’t live under some sort of dictatorship.”

“All you’ve done is make him look like a monster!” shouted Pinkie who was being restrained by Octavia and Fluttershy so she didn’t rush the stallion up front, “And you landed him in jail and took him away from Vinyl and us and...”

“Mayor Mare, you may want to consider getting your courtroom under control here.” said Filthy, turning to the Mayor as the pink pony continued her tirade, “Unless you want absolute anarchy.”

“You’re hardly one to tell me to get things under control here!” she replied, her words dripping with venom, “All you’ve done out there is try and incite a riot against one creature who hasn’t done anything to you!”

“I never once told anypony to riot!” responded Filthy, his voice high and incredulous, “You all are missing the point here! I have done nothing more than showed the ponies of this lovely town who this creature truly is, how vile, cynical, and cruel he once was and has the potential to be once mroe. I did Ponyville a service greater than almost any in its history! I have no control over what they all do once they’ve been informed!”

Pinkie continued to shout at Filthy, who in turn was going back and forth with the mayor. As they all went on, more and more ponies began to join in, some shouting that Filthy was right, that they were never told to do anything to Josh or Vinyl, while others simply began shouting merely because everypony else was. Josh covered his ears as the noise became too much for him to have to handle. Goddamn! he thought, glancing around to see the chaos that now filled the room Somebody needs to get this fucking train wreck under control!

As the noise continued, Twilight activated her magic discreetly.

“ENOUGH!” shouted a loud, authoritative female voice, which silence everypony at once.

Josh removed his hands from his ears and looked all around for the source. As he scanned the room, the doors at the back flew opened and in walked two very tall ponies. One had a beautiful ivory coat and wings, a large sun shaped cutie mark gracing her regal flank. The other was a deep, intoxicating indigo with a white crescent moon on her own flank. Both had long, beautiful manes that flowed in a non existent wind.

“Filthy Rich!” said Princess Celestia, making her way up to the front of the courtroom, her sister, Luna, by her side, “We need to talk.”

Twilight clapped her hooves together next to Josh, who looked towards her.

“Was this your backup plan?” he whispered to her as the princesses passed by him.

“How’d you guess?” she asked, giggling a little.

Josh turned his attention forward once more. Not a single word was said as the two princesses of Equestria stood before Filthy Rich, glaring down at the stallion. Josh watched the regal alicorns with a mixed feeling he just couldn’t shake. I hope this all works out, Twi he thought as silence permeated every corner of the room.

Chapter 25: Everything Will Be Alright

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.

Chapter 1: Everything Is Perfect

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 1: Everything Is Perfect

Josh awoke slowly. He’d been having the weirdest dreams last night, and was surprised he’d even gotten to sleep at all. As he rolled over, he came face to face with a white unicorn mare whose shaggy blue mane fell all around her pillow. Her eyes were closed and her cream colored chest rose and fell with each silent breath. The human smiled at the beautiful sight.

Slowly, he raised his hand and began to stroke the beautiful blue mane of the unicorn, causing her to stir in her sleep, a wide smile spreading across her face. Eventually, she inched forward and threw her forelegs around the human, holding him tightly. Josh knew she was playing around, so he began to plant small kisses all around her neck and chest.

“Josh… stop it… that tickles…” she moaned, giggling a little as he moved around her body.

After a few minutes of this, the unicorn finally opened her eyes, her beautiful crimson-magenta eyes, and looked at her lover.

“Morning, beautiful.” said Josh, laying and facing his mare, “You sleep well last night, Vinyl?”

“Mhm.” she mumbled, moving in close and nuzzling his neck as he threw his arms around her, “No thanks to you.”

“It’s hardly my fault you decided to get freaky last night.” said Josh, causing Vinyl to giggle once more.

Vinyl stopped nuzzling Josh and backed off, smiling widely at him. Slowly, they moved in and kissed each other lovingly. Even now, after almost a year, the action still made Josh’s heart soar like nothing else.

“We’ve gotta get up, don’t we?” asked Vinyl as they broke the kiss.

“Fraid so…” said Josh, still holding his marefriend close.

“Aww… I wanna stay in bed with you, baby.” she silently whined, planting another small kiss on his lips.

“I’d love to stay in bed all day too.” said Josh, caressing his marefriend’s mane once more, “But, we’ve got a show in Canterlot in two days, and we’ll have to head out today if we wanna get everything set up. I know for a fact you don’t wanna miss that.”

Vinyl’s eyes lit up at his words.

“Is that code for you saying we’ll get to spend two days wandering around Canterlot while our crew sets up everything for us?” she asked, smirking at him.

“Interpret it however you want, babe.” he said, returning her smirk.

Vinyl smiled and kissed Josh once more, feeling sparks fly in her chest as their lips made contact. Slowly, she rose from the bed, hitting the floor and yawning wide. Josh watched from his laying position as she walked towards the bathroom, his head propped on an arm.

“You have got the best ass in all of Equestria, you know that?” he said, watching her swaying flank as she made her way across the room.

“You’re not too bad yourself, you know.” she replied over her shoulder, smiling coyly at her coltfriend.

“My ass can’t even compare to yours, babe.” he replied, rolling out of bed and standing up.

“If you say so.” replied Vinyl, heading in the bathroom door, “Just try and keep an eye on the board instead of my flank when we're performing, okay?”

Josh saluted to her, making her giggle once more. That giggle was one of the most beautiful sounds Josh got to hear now. He’d been in Equestria with Vinyl just two months short of a year now, and he couldn’t be happier. Because of his show they’d done last year, their popularity as dubstep producers had spread quickly. After he’d returned to be with Vinyl, it wasn’t long till more and more ponies from all over the kingdom began to come and ask them to perform at their venues.

And perform they did, everywhere from Las Pegasus to Fillydelphia. Even Cloudsdale had asked them to come perform, but they’d turned it down because Josh didn’t truly trust the structural soundness of clouds, even if Twilight had used her magic to enchant the producers and their equipment. As one could imagine, Josh and Vinyl were making pretty decent money, enough for them to be able to move Vinyl out of Octavia’s house and Josh out of Rarity’s boutique, and buy a nice house in Ponyville. Both of them missed the sight of their respective friends each morning, but they never had to worry about one of them questioning their occasional… late night activities, whatever those may be.

Josh put on his robe and headed downstairs to begin making breakfast and to fetch the mail. As he stepped out the door and checked the mail slot, he saw it was empty. Dammit he thought Why hasn’t Derpy delivered here yet? We’re closer than anyone else on her goddamn route!

As he finished his thought, a gray pegasus mare made her way towards him. When she landed, she was panting hard.

“Hard morning Derpy?” asked Josh, watching the pegasus place her wing in her mailbag and produce several letters.

“I… r-ran into the-the weather team on my… way.” she said, handing the mail to Josh, “S-sorry about being… late.”

Josh smiled at the wall-eyed pegasus before him. He couldn’t stay upset at her for something as minimal as this.

“Hold on, Derps. I’ll go get you a glass of water real quick.”

“Thanks, Josh. I think I’ll be alright though.”

“You sure?” asked Josh, trying his best to be friendly, “I can just go get one really quick. In fact, I think I have an extra water bottle from one of our shows last week I can give you.”

“Well…” said Derpy, placing a hoof on her chin in contemplation, “I really shouldn’t… I’m only supposed to accept gifts on Hearth’s Warming Eve.”

“They shouldn’t trouble you for coming back with a little cheap water bottle.” replied Josh, “I’ll be right back. Just stay here for a second.”

Derpy nodded as Josh turned and headed back inside. He went straight for the kitchen and opened a cupboard. Grabbing a water bottle, he quickly filled it and took it outside to the mailmare.

“Here you go, Derps.” he said, handing it to her and smiling, “Enjoy!”

“Thanks Josh.” she said, placing the bottle in her bag, “I really appreciate this.”

Josh nodded as Derpy took off to continue her mail route. Making his way back into the kitchen, he saw Vinyl descending the stairs, a towel in her magical grip as she dried her hair.

“Derpy bring the mail?” she asked simply, her voice slightly muffled by the fabric of the towel.

“Yeah. I haven’t opened it yet though. It looks like this one’s from your mother.” he said, holding up a postcard with a picture of Las Pegasus on it.

“What’s she doing in Las Pegasus?” she asked, throwing her towel in a nearby hamper and grabbing the card, “She hates gambling.”

“Beats me.” said Josh, pulling out a frying pan from underneath the stove, “I know they’ve got a helluva buffet there.”

“Speaking of a buffet, I’m starving.” said Vinyl, walking over to the fridge and grabbing a box of eggs.

“Well, we’d better eat quick. Our train to Canterlot leaves earlier than normal this morning.”

“How early is early, if I might ask?”

“About… an hour from now.”

*****

Josh and Vinyl wandered around the market square in Canterlot, the unicorn practically giddy as she walked around her home. Josh always knew how much Vinyl loved Canterlot, and he even relished any opportunity he got to visit that sparkling city. Even if their first trip there hadn’t ended quite as he’d expected…

“Ooh. Look over there, baby!” said Vinyl, rushing over to a small theme park nearby, “Do we have some time to play around here?”

“I don’t see why we wouldn’t.” said Josh, eyeing the theme park, “But, I don’t think I’ll be able to do most of this.”

“Why?”

Josh simply stared down at Vinyl, whom he stood about three feet taller than. She smiled sheepishly at his gaze, realizing her mistake. A noise like a squeaky toy being squeezed sounded.

“I’ve been in Equestria for almost a year,” he began, looking all around for the source of the noise, “and I still have no idea what that goddamn noise is!”

“What noise, babe?”

Josh said nothing, knowing there was no way he could begin to explain it to Vinyl.

“Don’t worry about it.” he said, making his way into the theme park, “C’mon. Let’s just enjoy ourselves a little. You in?”

Vinyl smiled wide and followed her coltfriend into the theme park, glad to be able to spend a day with him like this.

*****

Josh and Vinyl lay in bed that night, thinking back on all the fun they’d had that day. Josh had been right that he couldn’t do most of the things that were in the park, but he still enjoyed watching her have a great time. Vinyl rode almost all the rides in the park throughout the day, all the while trying to convince the ride manager to allow Josh to come with her. All they had to do was look at the tall human once before they would burst out laughing at the idea of him trying to squeeze into the small car for the ride. It never bothered Josh however, mostly because he knew better than them that he had no chance of fitting.

All the while they were there, ponies all over began to recognize them and ran up, asking for autographs and photos. Vinyl was beginning to get used to all the attention, though her magic still shook with excitement as she tried to sign whatever they asked her to. After they were done in the park, the two lovers made their way to Vinyl’s favorite café in downtown Canterlot, where they had lunch and talked about the show in two days. There again, they were met with dozens of fans, all eager and excited to see their idols.

Now, they lay in their bed in the castle suite, having capped off a wonderful day by passionately making love to one another. Vinyl laid her head on Josh’s chest, her forelegs wrapped around her lover, her eyes closed as she listened to his soft heartbeat. Josh stroked her beautiful blue mane, occasionally massaging her ear and earning a soft moan of contentment from the unicorn.

“Baby, thank you for today.” said Vinyl, raising her head and looking into Josh’s blue eyes, “I’ve never had so much fun in all my life.”

“Anything for you, Vinyl.” replied Josh, smiling at his marefriend, “I’m glad you had a good time.”

“I had an awesome time! Even if you couldn’t ride those rides with me, it was still a lot of fun.”

“Hey, Vinyl.” said Josh, sitting up a little, “Can I talk to you about something? It’s kinda been bugging me.”

“What’s wrong, Josh?” she asked, rising off his chest and looking at him with concern painting her face.

“Well…” said Josh, trying to find a good way to phrase what he wanted to say, “I know that we’re… Well, we’re pretty different.”

“Well, yeah. I knew that.” she replied, raising an eyebrow in confusion, “What’s the problem there?”

“The fact I’m a human and you’re a pony… does that bother you, even a little?” he asked.

Vinyl just stared at him, a blank look on his face. Wow thought Josh, internally facepalming, way to kill the mood, jackass.

“Where’s this coming from?” asked Vinyl finally, breaking the silence after awhile.

“I’ve just been thinking about it today.” he replied, scratching the back of his neck nervously, “At the theme park. I know you really wanted me to ride those rides with you, and you know I would have. I just… did that embarrass you at all?”

“Of course not.” she said, smiling at him, “I should have known you couldn’t have done a lot of that. I wasn’t embarrassed, and it doesn’t matter to me that you’re a human at all. I’d love you no matter if you were human, pony, or even griffin.”

Josh smiled, glad he hadn’t screwed anything up with his question. He grabbed Vinyl’s neck and pulled her into himself, kissing her passionately. She smiled and pulled him closer, probing his mouth with her tongue and feeling herself melt into his embrace.

“I love you too, Vinyl.” he said once they broke, pressing his forehead against hers just below her horn.

Together, they lay in bed, relishing the feeling of their warm bodies pressed against each other. As they held one another, both thought how much they loved the other, and how nothing in all the world could make them happier than to be together. Slowly, they drifted off to sleep, still in each other’s embrace and both still very much in love.

Chapter 12: Fanning the Flames

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.