PyraohXBlaze - Oh, the situation is still evolving, don't you worry.

DragonLovingBrony - Lol its cool. All of them... he's going to save all of the races.

KingChaotixX7 - Of course! This story is going to grow and evolve in all kinds of fun and interesting ways.

bronyman78 - Nope, I'm totally for serials :P

Guest - Had to happen sometime ;) I'm glad you decided to read mine then :D And you might find the answer to that question sooner than you think... I actually stopped trying to plan things more than a chapter or two (sometimes not even that far) a long time ago; the twists and turns it's taken are usually just as much a surprise to me as they are to you guys. As for the goo ponies... I've seen them here and there, mostly in drawings.

xel101 - Yup, all of the mysteries...

TurnupGrain43 - Lol we'll have to see about all of that.

SquirtlePWN - Hopefully it'll get even more intriguing ;)

shadows being - Yup. That's part of the meaning behind his cutie mark. There's only two so far, at least in this fic.

CreeperTamer20 - Wait... did you write almost this same thing as the Guest above? Also; I kind of am a writer :P

PBJFanFiction - Yeees goo ponies :P Sure thing, I'll give them a read when I find some spare time. (There's got to be some around here somewhere...)

centaurus2 - That's because you're a smart cookie. They could have been ordered to attack intruders...

Lord of darkness the 1st - Doesn't it just?

ShadowfireAngel - Le gasp! How could you do such a thing?! :P

coldshadow 92 - Well, your wait is over.

UnknownHero55 - Yeah, they really don't know when to give up. I got the idea from a few drawings I saw online awhile ago, and thought they were neat.

Nothing.0 - It just might get more intense soon too ;)

Mikalzilla - Hmm...

Arkraiththeepicbrony - Lol in the words of the Broker: I can't tell if you're joking or not.

Kyguy - Could be interesting...

Ponified Bacon Boss - Well, it could have been to remind folks that they were a thing in the story... Kind of like Sunny Town and Spring Leaf.

Zero the Warrior of Chaos - Might not be a bad idea...

DragonLord RyuKizoku - Who said anything about Pokemon? :P

Nostalgia Cop - I think staying out of the fire is a good life rule in general...

A/N - Howdy everypony! Thanks to you all for all the congratulations on reaching 100 chapters! I wanted to thank you all individually, but I didn't want to seem repetitive. Just remember; I would never have made it this far without all of you! You're all awesome, and I love writing this story for you. Here's to another 100 chapters of A Second Chance! As always, don't forget to follow/favorite, review, and most importantly; enjoy!

Ruby, Spring Leaf and I were standing back in the chamber with the crystalline orb, with the goo pony mare, who we had learned was named 'Isabel', standing next to me. The thought had occurred to me of how strange her name was compared to any other pony name I had heard, but I merely dismissed it as a result of the voluntary seclusion from the rest of pony-kind she had told us that her people imposed on themselves in order to avoid conflict with them, afraid as they were that the ponies would view them as being the same as the changelings.

"I… I'm sorry, I just don't know what this thing actually does…" She let out a deep sigh before turning back to face us. "I guess we should have known not to trust them, but we were so desperate for help…" As she finished speaking, she turned back to the strange artifact.

I walked up and placed a hand on her unexpectedly firm shoulder, surprised that there wasn't any sort of slimy residue; she was pliable and soft, and almost felt like Jell-O that had set and formed a skin, while at the same time, she was firm and warm, like balloon filled with warm water.

It was a truly strange combination of sensations, though she was by by no means unpleasant to the touch. "It's ok, Isabel; we all make mistakes, especially when we're desperate. But I'm sure Princess Celestia and Princess Luna would be more than willing to forgive you for your mistakes and help you with your plight."

She glanced to me and nodded. "I'm sure they will too; from what you've told me, they sound like very kind, caring rulers." She glanced to the artifact one last time before turning back to us again. "For now though, we should go speak to this 'Twilight Sparkle' you talked about. From what you mentioned, she sounds like just the pony to figure out what this thing is and what it's doing."

I nodded. "Agreed." I turned, and when I noticed the ghostly ponies behind me, a thought came to mind. "You know, I've never thought to ask; can you two even go into Ponyville? I mean, most mythology about ghosts where I'm from states that they can't go beyond certain areas where they haunt."

Spring Leaf looked back at herself. "Well… I don't know if I'd call it 'haunting', but I do know that there's something that keeps me from leaving the Everfree. I tried it once because I wanted to watch over you and your family, but I just… couldn't leave. I'm not sure if it was some kind of force, or a compulsion or what."

Ruby grinned and hopped up and down, waving a hoof in the air. "Ooh! Ooh! I can go there! I visited you a few times before!" I quirked an eyebrow at the enthusiastic little spectre. "I um… I didn't let you see me though… You were… busy." She added with a blush.

I facepalmed as the implication set in, and chills ran down my spine at the thought of a filly, even a ghost filly, catching me in the act with one of my marefriends. "Well, at least we know you can follow me… How about you Isabel?" I asked, turning to the translucent pink pony." Do you have any reasons why you can't come into town with me?"

Isabel looked me in the eyes for a moment, an uncertain look in her own. "I… technically, no; but… I'm not sure how I would handle being around so many ponies. We were always taught that anyone who isn't a goo pony like us would try to use us or hurt us. I guess they were right, at least in part." Her head hung as she finished, as though she were ashamed of trusting the cultists.

She looked up as I cupped her chin and gently brought her gaze up to meet mine. "Hey, don't even worry about it; you were misinformed and desperate, and what your people did was something that just about anyone else would have done in your situation." Her looked brightened as I spoke. "Now, why don't we head to Ponyville, and I'll tell you a bit more about the place and the ponies that live there? Maybe that'll put your mind at ease a bit."

The gooey pink mare nodded and smiled. "Thank you Blake; that sounds like a good idea." With that behind us, we made our way out of the ruined palace and back towards Ponyville through the Everfree.

When we reached the edge of the forest, Spring Leaf turned to me. "I'll wait here for you; I can't go past this point, so you go do what you need to do, and then I'll go with you to this Sunny Town so you can help Mitta."

Ruby grinned in front of me. "Yeah! Mitta's waited a long time for this! I bet she'll be so happy to see you again!"

With a small chuckle at her enthusiasm, I looked towards my house. "Ok Spring, I'll be back as soon as I can. Even if it gets dark out, I'm going to go help her today." Ruby grinned and dashed towards my home, her ethereal body fading from sight as she did so.

I took a step towards the edge of the forest, but was stopped by a translucent, pink hoof on my shoulder. "Blake… wait." I turned and regarded her. "There's something you should know…" She looked away, shame once again evident on her face.

My hand went to her shoulder comfortingly as I looked her in the eye. "It's ok, Isabel, you can tell me; I won't get angry at you for it."

She took a deep breath, though if she actually needed it or if there was some other reason for the gesture, I didn't know. "When I… threatened your family… The Followers of the Moon told me that they planned to follow through with any threats I made once you were gone. I… I never planned to tell them about it, but since you're still here, I'm not sure what's going to happen." She looked to me with a truly remorseful expression. "But, if they do try something… I want you to know that I'll do everything I can to help stop them, even if it means staying up at night to guard your house."

Spring Leaf snorted behind us. "And that didn't tip you off that they were the bad guys?!"

Isabel's ears folded back, and she hung her head in shame. "I'm sorry, ok? We ran out of food a while ago, and they promised to use magic to make more fruit to feed me and my kin if I helped them get rid of Equestria's Knight-Defender. They… they told me he was a bad stallion that had murdered their Lady." She sighed, and looked back up to us. "I didn't want to believe that she was as bad as the rumors said, but something in Blake's eyes told me he wasn't lying when he told me what she wanted to do. That's why I decided to trust him."

The accusatory glare lessened on Spring Leaf's face. "Fine! But if you betray him, you'll have me to deal with!" She made a shooing gesture with her hoof. "Now go on before I change my mind about letting you go with him."

The three of us turned and left the forest, leaving Spring Leaf to wait, and hopefully cool down while we talked to Twilight. "Your friend seems very protective of you." Isabel commented right about the time my house came into sight. "I didn't think ghosts could get angry like that."

I chuckled at the remark. "Yeah… can't really blame her though; after over five millennia of being forced into servitude guarding an ancient, ruined temple as an undead monster, I'd be pretty grumpy too."

Ruby and I both stopped when we noticed Isabel wasn't following us. "Wh-what do you mean?"

We walked back to her, and I patted her on the shoulder. "It's kind of a long story. Why don't we take care of this business with that artifact first? I promise I'll tell you all about it after that, when we have proper time." She nodded her approval, and we continued down the path towards my home.

The gooey mare stopped in her tracks when she realized that we weren't passing the mansion-like house. "Th-this is where you live?!"

Ruby grinned up at her. "Sure is! This place is big too! I explored it the first time I tried to visit him, and it took me over an hour to see it all!"

Isabel blinked in disbelief. "That's… incredible. How did two mares, even princesses, ever build a home like this?"

I shook my head. "It doesn't work like that here; the princesses paid a group of ponies called 'contractors' to build the house, and they're the ones that built it."

"Yeah, but they used the drawings you made to build it, didn't they?" Ruby asked, hopping up and down excitedly.

The three of us walked up the steps to my home as she spoke. "That's right Ruby; this house is my own design, but other ponies built it for me." I turned to Isabel as speaking to the little ghost filly brought a thought to mind. "You know, Isabel, you didn't seem all that disturbed by Ruby and Spring Leaf; do your kind know something about ghosts already?"

She nodded immediately, almost as though she had anticipated the question. "We do actually. We goo ponies can see spectrums of light that most beings on this world can't. I'm not sure why that is, but it's very useful to us. In fact, there are old tales of our ancestors interacting with spirits and convincing them to spy on other races or tribes that we thought might be trying to attack us. Those ghost spies saved us from destruction more than once. It also helps us identify one another quickly when we're disguised."

"When who's disguised? Did you help another changeling, Blake?" Isabel froze as Twilight's voice floated up to us from downstairs.

With a gesture to my companions to wait where they were, I walked towards the stairs. I opened the door, which had been slightly ajar, the rest of the way and saw Twilight and Derpy trotting up the stairs, towels wrapped around their manes and bodies, confirming my suspicion that they were just coming up from using the hot tub.

The pair stopped as they caught sight of me. "Did everything go well? Did you find out what was causing those strange lights?"

Looking briefly back to Isabel and Ruby, I turned to her and cleared my throat. "Sort of. I found somepony who can help us, but she and her people need our help too." I placed a hand on either of my studious marefriend's shoulders as the pair crested the stairs. "I have to warn you though; I don't think she's like any other pony you've met before."

Her bright, mulberry eyes widened. "A new type of pony! Is she a sea pony? Or maybe one of those siren ponies I've read about… ooh! Or mayb- MMPH!" Derpy stopped her mid-sentence with a hoof as she pointed to Isabel with the other. Twilight followed her gaze as Derpy removed her hoof, allowing Twilight to speak again, her eyes widening further as she caught sight of the gelatinous pink mare. "Wow… I… I've never seen a pony like you before…"

Derpy giggled next to her. "Well, he did kind of tell you that you hadn't…"

The two of us watched as Twilight trotted slowly over to Isabel, holding out a hoof to her. Isabel tentatively returned the gesture, touching her own soft hoof to Twilight's. Twilight stood there for several seconds, a dumbstruck expression on her face.

Isabel blushed. "Hello… my name is Isabel. My kind call ourselves 'goo ponies'."

Twilight blinked as her senses returned to her. "Th-this is incredible! I've never even heard of a goo pony before!"

I chuckled and walked over to the pair. "And considering that this mare has read just about every book there is, that's saying something."

Twilight darted around our unique guest while I took a seat to watch, knowing that I wouldn't be able to get her to stop; the best choice in a situation like this one was to allow her to exhaust herself and her curiosity before trying to get her to move on to another topic.

It took nearly ten minutes for Twilight to exhaust all of her options for studying Isabel, short of hooking her up to a variety of machines to run tests on her. I noticed the glint in her eye as she slowed her movements and questions, which Isabel had been very patient in answering, telling me that she would do exactly that if I allowed her to.

Sensing that it was time to step in, I stood up from the couch, carefully untangling myself from Derpy's grasp, and placed a hand on the panting mare's shoulder. "Ok, Twilight, I think that's enough for now. Besides, I brought her here for a reason, remember?"

She looked up to me, studying my features for a moment, then blinked rapidly. "O-oh yeah… I forgot about that." She turned to Isabel and bowed her head slightly. "Sorry."

Isabel giggled. "It's alright; I'm something of a truth-seeker myself, something I believe you would call a 'scientist', among my own people. I believe that is why I was chosen to guard the artifact; I would be able to spot any changes in its behavior better than most of my brethren because I had plenty of time and inclination to study it." She sighed and rubbed a leg with a forehoof. "Too bad I never figured out what it did, or what exactly it was meant for."

Twilight's ears perked up at the mention of an 'artifact'. "What do you mean 'artifact'? what did it look like?"

After a quick glance from me, seeking a confirmation to tell her, Isabel proceeded to explain the strange shape of the crystalline orb and the kaleidoscope of lights that it emitted. When she finished, Twilight put a hoof to her chin and stared at the floor in thought.

After several minutes, she looked up to me. "I have no idea what that thing could be being used for, or even what it does! Would you take me to it so I can look at it up close?"

I nodded to her. "Sure thing, Twilight; that was actually kind of the idea to begin with."

She nods in understanding before looking around the room. "Hey, where did that little filly go?"

There was a sudden giggle from between Twilight's front hooves. "I'm right here!" Twilight yelped as she looked down and saw Ruby's glowing yellow eyes and grey snout peering out at her from the floorboards. "I'm a ghost! Isn't that cool?"

The purple mare gulped and took a step back. "Th-there's no such thing! I-I don't believe in ghosts!" Ruby's eyes dimmed as she clutched at her chest and fell over. Twilight's eyes widened and she rushed to the spectral filly's side. "Ohmygosh! What's wrong?!"

"I… you… you said you don't believe in ghosts…" She wheezed. "Whenever somepony says that… a ghost disappears..." Her point was emphasized by the fact that she began to fade away.

The poor mare was in a near panic at this point. "Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh! What can I do?!" She pranced around the room on tip-hooves with a distraught expression.

Ruby reached out a little grey hoof to her. "Y-you have to… believe… in ghosts…" Her gasps were coming shorter and shorter.

Twilight dashed over to her. "I do! I do believe in ghosts! Just please, please be ok!"

Ruby's body faded back into existence, and her eyes brightened. She climbed to her ethereal hooves and grinned. "Gotcha!" I burst out laughing as Twilight's jaw dropped to the floor.

"B-Blake?! You were in on that?!"

My laughter died down to a chuckle, and I shook my head. "No. I did know where she was going with that though."

If looks could kill, then Twilight would have murdered me ten times over with the glare she gave me. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!" She shrieked.

I suddenly felt a little bad for allowing Ruby to go through with the prank. "I'm sorry Twilight… like I said; I knew it was just a prank, and I didn't see any harm in it."

She growled at me. "'Didn't see any harm'?! Blake, I thought she was dying!"

I walked slowly over to her and wrapped her in a gentle hug, which she neither accepted nor rejected; she merely stood there. "I am sorry Twilight. You're right; it was a dumb joke, and-" I stopped as I felt her quaking in my grasp.

I heard a sound coming from her, but it didn't sound like sobbing; it was different than that. I pulled back from the hug and saw her face contorting in a familiar way, and it became clear what was going on; Twilight Sparkle had just pranked me. "Bah-hahaha!" She chortled. "I got you, Blake Marshall! After all the pranks you pulled on me, I finally got you back!" I slumped to the floor on my backside, staring in disbelief as the purple unicorn rolled around on the floor before me, holding her sides in mirth.

Eventually, she calmed down and climbed back to her hooves. "That felt… good…" She panted as she caught her breath from the laughing fit. "Now I see… why you do it so much… that was a lot of fun." She had a huge grin plastered on her face as she spoke.

I looked to Isabel and Ruby, the former of the two looked less than pleased, while the latter had just as huge of a grin as Twilight's on her face. "Hee hee! I've never had somepony pull a prank off of one of my pranks before!"

With a roll of my eyes, I made my way back to my feet. "Anyway, if we're all done pranking one another, we should get going; I doubt that artifact's just sitting there doing nothing."

Twilight nodded and turned towards the stairs. "You're right. Let me just get a few things, and I'll be right back down." The three of us were only waiting for around five minutes before Twilight came trotting back down the stairs, saddlebags full to capacity with only she knew what. She gave us a warm smile as we stood up. "Ok, I'm ready to go when you are."

Ruby hopped around excitedly. "Yeah! You can meet Spring Leaf on the way too!" I couldn't help but feel a pang in my heart for the little ghost filly; she reminded me of my own girls, and her tragic end didn't sit right with me at all.

The four of us left the house and headed back towards the forest, walking along the same route we had taken when we'd left the forest not that long ago; in fact, mine and Isabel's prints were still in the snow. Twilight shivered next to me as she watched Ruby prance around the white landscape. "It kind of creeps me out that she doesn't leave any hoofprints."

I chuckled at the sentiment, having felt something similar the first time I had met her. "Yeah, it takes a little getting used to, doesn't it?"

The purple unicorn nodded. "It does." She paused for a moment. "Hey Blake? Ruby mentioned somepony named 'Spring Leaf' earlier; that name sounds familiar, is it one of the Kokello?"

There was a pause before I answered; it had been some time since I'd even thought about those tribal ponies, save for a brief flashback when Luna and I had found Shimmer in the Everfree, garbed in one of their dresses, half-starved and freezing. "She's not, though she has something to do with them in a roundabout sort of way." I looked towards the forest, scanning for the green mare against the white and brown background, though not expecting to find her since she couldn't maintain her form like Ruby could. "She was one of the shadow-bones ponies that Quickhoof and I fought inside the temple. After I freed her soul from its bondage, she felt like she owed me, and couldn't move on."

Our small group lapsed back into silence as we walked, and as we approached the edge of the forest, I caught a hint of movement; I only just caught the olive green of Spring Leaf's coat as she walked to the side, hidden behind a small copse of trees. I had no way of knowing if this was intentional, or if she was simply pacing around waiting for us and hadn't noticed our approach. Twilight seemed to have missed the flash of movement, but I could see by the scrutinizing gaze that Isabel had directed towards the trees that she had not.

As we stepped up to the line of trees marking the stark edge of the forest, I saw the flash of green reappear, though this time, Spring Leaf held her position, watching us as we entered the forest. Twilight had her head down, her brow furrowed in thought as she mumbled to herself, and so she missed the olive green mare standing nearly straight in front of her.

"Is this that egghead you said you were gonna bring?"

Twilight grumbled. "Rainbow Dash! How many times do I have… to tell you… Oh, you're not Rainbow Dash…"

Spring Leaf chuckled and grinned. "Nope. But from the sound of it, I think she and I would get along just great."

"Twilight, this is Spring Leaf; Spring Leaf, this is Twilight Sparkle." I gestured from one to another as I introduced the two.

The two exchanged quick pleasantries, and the five of us made our way back through the forest once again, headed towards the old, ruined castle nestled deep inside it.

Our spectral, green guardian jumped into an offensive stance at every noise we heard, from faint growls in the distance to the rustle of leaves as a rabbit or squirrel passed through the brush. Twilight looked up to me as she did this for the hundredth time. "Is she ok?"

That made me chuckle even as Spring Leaf gave Twilight an unamused look. "Like I said; she couldn't cross over because she felt so strongly that she needed to repay me for setting her free from that Hell, and she thought the best way to do that was to protect me. She's just taking her job very seriously." Spring Leaf rolled her eyes and continued scanning the forest for danger.

Eventually, we made it to the ruins, and led Twilight to the room containing the strange artifact. She shivered as we entered the room with the hidden doorways. "I don't like this place; there's a strange feeling in the air."

Almost as soon as she mentioned it, I felt it too; it was like the entire room around us was trying to make us afraid of something, though there wasn't anything to be afraid of. I looked around the room as the feeling settled in, my heart fighting back a nameless dread. "Yeah, I feel it too… and it feels… familiar."

Twilight trotted up to the orb, and began pulling scientific-looking instruments from her saddlebags and used her magic to power them up. "Alright, let's see what this thing does; I don't want to be here any longer than I have to."

After cycling through nearly every instrument in her bags, Twilight turned to us. "I just don't get it… this thing isn't reacting to any of my instruments… it's like it doesn't want me to figure out what it's doing."

Before any of us could say anything to her, laughter filled the air; mad, cackling laughter that made my hair stand on end. The menacing laugh had a familiar feel to it, almost like…

"Hahaha! I can tell you exactly what that artifact is doing, little meddler; it is powering my return!"

Twilight's eyes were as wide as my own at the sight of the figure before us. "Nightmare Moon…" Twilight breathed, her voice laced with fear.