KillerWoW - That she does, though what will come of it? I've heard of it, but haven't had a chance to play it.

jason - Why thank you. You'll just have to wait and see why he was able to pull out things that should have been under his armor ;)

xel101 - I honestly haven't fully decided what I'm going to do with Ruby.

Guest - Thanks :D Your wait is over, cause here's the new chapter. I will keep that in mind.

RattPitt - He certainly was, though I won't spoil what she meant for you. I like Zecora too, I kinda wish she and Luna both got more screen time.

Darksroid17 - Lol nice. Well, it's time for the next episode of A Second Chance Z!

HYBRID BATTLESHIP INFINITY210 - Lol yup... Luna...

DragonLord RyuKizoku - You'll just hafta wait and see :P

Kyguy - What indeed...

Mallory Shadowielder - That we will ;) It was definitely a good game.

DragonLovingBrony - How indeed? You'll just have to wait and see ;)

chipmunkfanatic - Hmm... interesting is certaingly one way to describe what's coming...

A/N - Howdy everypony! I hope you all had a good week, I know mine was certainly interesting. We're coming up on the one year anniversary of A Second Chance! I'm excited, it hardly feels like it's been a whole year already! I'll keep things short this week so you can get straight to the good stuff ;) As always, don't forget to follow/favorite, review, and most importantly; enjoy!

As soon as I had finished writing the letter and gave it to Spike, I grabbed my permanent train ticket and left the library for the station. I knew from past trips that there was an early run to Canterlot, but I would need to hurry if I was going to make it.

As I made my way through the empty town, I thought back to Sunny Town and what happened there. My heart ached for poor Ruby and her painful fate, but I was glad she seemed to be none the worse for wear for it, despite being a ghost. I remembered Mitta and the other townsponies, and how they had all changed when the sun went down.

I boarded one of the cars up towards the engine and handed the conductor my ticket, which he actually tried to tear the stub off of by reflex, but the little ticket was fortunately too tough for that. The conductor looked down at the ticket and his eyes widened as he realized what he'd almost done. He promptly apologized and handed me my ticket before trotting off in embarrassment.

I took a seat on one of the benches and made myself as comfortable as I could for the two hour long trip to the Capitol city of Equestria. My mind again turned back to Sunny Town's residents and their predicament. For all save Mitta, their fate seemed well deserved, though they didn't seem to see it as a curse. As I started to unwind, my mind turned to Luna, who had placed the curse on them in the first place. While I couldn't blame her for being outraged at them for their terrible crimes, I had to wonder if that was the right thing to do.

It didn't seem fair to me for Mitta to be forced through that, even though she had nothing to do with what happened beyond not being able to stop it. As my mind flitted between the townsponies and Luna, I found it drifting through the memories I'd made with her. Eventually, I thought back to the night she had had me demonstrate my gun to her and the others. I was content to let my mind continue to wander through those happy memories, but it seemed to… stop, like there was something important about this memory in particular.

I closed my eyes and let myself remember in more detail. I remembered the magical force field she had placed over the clearing; she, Celestia and the girls standing in one corner, watching intently as they waited for something to happen. I remembered the ground begin to split as Luna conjured her illusions, and then the flash and sound of my gun as I took down each of those same illusions. Then I remembered the final illusory zombie, one that seemed forlorn and didn't attack me. It had a faded crimson mane and a … grey… coat… I sat bolt upright on the bench as the realization hit me. Those illusions were the residents of Sunny Town!

As the shock of the revelation wore off, I thought back more clearly. If Luna had placed that curse on Sunny Town, then it stood to reason that she would still remember what they looked like with the long memory that she and her sister held. I looked out the window of the train car to see the Canterlot station fast approaching. I had been so lost in my thoughts that the train had entered the city without me even realizing it. I began stretching my muscles and popping various joints to loosen myself up for the walk to the palace.

The train coasted to a stop and ponies began flooding off the train. Once the tsunami of pony bodies calmed down, I grabbed my helmet and made my own way off the train, maneuvering the bulky kite shield fastened to my arm through the narrow doorway and squinting in the now too-bright sunlight.

I turned and started towards the palace when I heard a pony clear their throat behind me. I turned around and saw a very familiar face waiting for me with her characteristic smile. "Hello Blake, I'm glad to see you unharmed. Come, let's return to the palace and you can tell me of your… 'adventure', as well as where you found that beautiful armor."

I chuckled and wrapped the mare in a warm hug, careful not to accidentally hurt her with the armor. "The only mare in all of Equestria that can look me in the eye while on all fours. Not that I'm not glad to see you Celly, but you didn't have to come all the way out here to meet me personally."

She returned my hug for a moment before we separated. "Nonsense. My sister wasn't the only one worried about you, you know." She turned and bade me to follow her into the waiting carriage she had no doubt ridden here in. Once we were inside, she continued. "When Twilight sent word to me that you'd been foalnapped, I was ready to send the entirety of my guard across Equestria to search for you. Luna convinced me to allow herself and the Element Bearers to coordinate your rescue."

"I figured she might have gone out to look personally. She really has a way with weaving the stars too; I could somehow see the promise written into them that she would search for me and make my captors pay for taking me. Oh! Speaking of which, I left the six stallions responsible tied up where they took me."

Celestia quirked an eyebrow. "I was wondering about that. Where exactly did they take you?"

I nudged her lightly. "You're gonna love this; they took me to the old castle in the Everfree. That's where I ran across the armor too."

Her eyes widened. "Was it perhaps… resting in a secret room beneath the castle… behind a bookshelf and a stone door with an orb set into it?"

"Y-yeah… How did you know?"

She gasped. "You are very lucky indeed Blake Marshall! This armor is not even supposed to exist! My father told me he destroyed it when the humans vanished. It was created as a gift, to be given to a champion among your race. They all disappeared before he could present the armor to their king, and my father claimed to have destroyed it in his despair at losing such friends and allies."

I looked down at the armor. "Well, it looks like he changed his mind. Though I wonder why he'd lie to you like that?"

"I do not know…" We shifted as the carriage came to a stop. "It would appear we have arrived at the palace. Come, we should contact Luna and inform her that you are well." I followed her into the palace and up to her private study.

Luna

I awoke with a start, as I had not even realized I had fallen asleep. I looked around to see that I was on the bed of one of the two rooms that had been provided us by Braeburn's hospitality. The last thing I could remember was pacing the room, anxiously awaiting the dawn that we might continue our search for my beloved. I noted that the blanket of my nighttime still hung in the air through the window of the room, meaning I had not missed my appointed time for lowering the moon, but also that it was still too early to begin searching.

I got up from the uncomfortable bed and stretched my stiff body. I nearly tripped over something lying in the middle of the floor. "Of all the… who would leave… something…?" I paused as I realized that I had not tripped on a something, but a somepony. It was Miss Applejack, whom I had shared the room with; lying on the floor, covered in a thin sheet and curled in a ball.

I wrapped her in my magic and gently moved her to the bed and covered her with the more substantial blanket. She shifted and settled into the mattress, no doubt a great improvement over the hard wooden floor of the Inn.

I left the room, quietly opening and closing the door to avoid waking my temporary roommate. I went to the door across from our own and raised my hoof to knock when a rather raucous sound coming from within. Placing my ear to the door, the sound clarified into somepony snoring. By the stars… surely that cannot be Miss Rarity…

I opened the door and stole a look inside to see that the sound was coming from Rainbow Dash, who was illuminated by the relatively dim candlelight coming from the hallway. Noting that both mares were still sleeping, I closed the door again and made my way to the ground floor to find the area deserted, save for an elderly stallion manning the desk.

The wizened stallion looked up from the piece of wood he had been whittling idly. "Oh, howdy Princess! There somethin' Ah c'n do ya fer?" I could tell his thick accent would quickly grow tiresome.

"No, I am fine, thank you. I merely wish to enjoy the calm of my night until it is time for my sister to raise the sun."

He shrugged and returned to his whittling. "Suit yerself. If'n ya need anythin', Ah'll be right here."

I passed through the swinging doors that served as the entrance to the Inn and stepped into the cool night air. A slight breeze ruffled my starry mane and I turned to the east to see the beginnings of the dawn peeking over the horizon. "Never have I been so glad to see the sunrise." I put a hoof to my mouth as soon as the words had left my muzzle. "That did not come out at all as I had meant it too."

I spread my wings and took flight into the pre-dawn sky, alighting on the winds and allowing my body to carry me as my mind wandered to thoughts of better times… and what I would do when we found my love and those times returned.

I noticed my sister's sun peek above the horizon, and I cast the spell to send my moon below the horizon, bringing the night to the other half of our world as their day drew to a close.

I began idly scanning the darkened ground below, waiting for the time when we could resume our search. I sighed, frustrated at all the waiting I was forced to endure while my love was in danger. After far too long, the first rays of the sun's light burst forth from behind the distant mountains that ringed the badlands far to the east and lit up the land below.

I veered back towards the sleepy frontier town and back to the Inn. My slippered hooves touched down with only a whisper of sound and I hastily entered the Inn and made my way up the small flight of stairs with the intent of awakening the others. The instant I reached the top of the stairs however, a familiar tickle began in the back of my mind. I knew this sensation to be my sister attempting to contact me via the telepathy spell she had used when Blake confessed his feelings for me to her.

Knowing the amount of effort to establish such a connection at this distance, I reasoned the matter to be important and allowed my own magic to flow into the link, establishing a connection with my sister. I gasped and froze with my hoof half raised to knock on the door to the room Rainbow Dash and Rarity had shared as my sister's vision was superimposed over my own.

My surprise was not due to the superimposition, as I had experienced it several times in the past; rather, it was caused by the image I was seeing through her eyes. It was that of my love, clad in a beautiful set of armor while standing in the middle of my sister's study and waving at her, and by extension, me, with a cheeky grin on his face.

A smile spread across my own face. "I should have known he would find a way to overcome this on his own…"

I rapped lightly on the door and waited for an answer. When none came, I knocked again, louder. This time when no answer came, I opened the door. When I stepped into the room, I quickly noticed that the bed Rarity had slept in and sleeping bag that Rainbow Dash had used were both empty. I trotted over to the lavatory to see the door still open and the room dark. Hmm… They must have left while I was on my flight in order to get an early start. I cannot say I blame them…

I left the empty room and returned to the one I shared with Miss Applejack, to find her still sleeping peacefully in the bed. I gently shook the mare into wakefulness. "Hmm… Wha…?" She groaned and stretched. "Izzit time ta wake up already?" She rubbed an eye with a hoof.

"Yes, I am afraid it is indeed. Though I bear good news; it would seem as though that wonderful stallion of ours has evaded his captors and is currently with my sister at the palace in Canterlot."

She practically sprang out of the bed in her excitement, though went tumbling to the floor when her hooves became tangled in the sheets. "Oof… Ah uh… Ah meant ta do that…" Picking herself up, she untangled herself from the offending linens and tossed them onto the bed. "Ok, so all we need ta do is wake up Rainbow Dash and Rare."

I cleared my throat. "There would seem to be a problem with that plan; they are already awake, and I do not know where they might have gone… and guessing from your statement, I do not believe you do either." She shook her head. "Then I suppose we should look for them and inform them that we may return home. It would be best if you were to inform your cousin first in case he knows where they may be. I shall take to the air and search from there."

Rainbow Dash

"Come on Rarity, hurry it up!" I swear this mare's slower than FluttershyI flapped in place by a rock while I waited for her to get a move on. "For crying out loud! We've been out here for a whole ten minutes and I can still see the town from here!"

"Well I would, if somepony didn't insist on darting about everyplace as fast as she can."

I groaned. "It's not my fault you weren't born with wings!" Little miss prissy-flank gave me a dirty look. "Hey, I know! Why don't you use that wing spell thingy Twilight used on you that one time we went to Cloudsdale?"

"That would be a good idea, Rainbow Dash, if I could cast that spell. I'm afraid I don't know it, and even if I did, I doubt my magic is strong enough to handle such an advanced spell."

She finally caught up to me and I took off, flying up and looking around while she looked on the ground for any sign of a secret door or something. While I was looping around, I noticed a black dot heading towards us from the town. I stopped and squinted, but I couldn't see it yet. Once the dot got closer, I figured out who it was.

I swooped down and landed behind Rarity. I must've scared her, 'cause she jumped about a mile in the air; it was awesome. "Hey Rare, Princess Luna's coming." She was busy gasping and holding her chest, but she looked where I was pointing.

"Oh thank Celestia… perhaps now we can get some proper coordination instead of bumbling around in this icky, dirty place!" I just rolled my eyes.

Princess Luna flared her wings and landed softer than even I could manage. Guess she got that from over a thousand years of practice. She trotted up to us. "Greetings to the both of you."

"Heya Princess, what's up?"

Rarity glared at me. "Rainbow Dash! That's no way to address royalty!"

Princess Luna held up a hoof. "It is quite alright; as I have stated in the past, I would prefer to be addressed more casually, especially by those I consider friends. Anyway, I have come to inform you that we are calling off the search and returning to Canterlot."

I had to pick Rarity's jaw up off the ground for her. "Wh-why Princess? Has something happened to Blake? Please tell me he's alright!" Man, she gets all melodramatic about everything, doesn't she?

"Do not worry, dear Blake is just fine. In fact, he is waiting for us at the palace as we speak."

Rare put a hoof to her chest. "Well that's a relief. Though, if you don't mind me asking… how do you know he's at the palace at the moment?"

The Princess sighed, probably just as ready to get moving and see Blake as I was. "It is a spell my sister and I were taught long ago, it allows us to communicate telepathically. It is not a common spell among unicorns because of the exponential magical strain over distance. Now come, we should make haste; we have yet to collect Twilight and the others and inform them of the news."

Blake

The aura around Celestia's horn winked off. "There, my sister now knows you are safe and sound. It's up to her to collect everypony and head back here." She opened her beautiful, magenta eyes and gave me a warm smile. "Now, since we have some time on our hooves, why don't you tell me everything that happened during your… 'adventure'?"

I told her everything, from Filthy Rich's 'accusation,' clear up until I got back to the library. She listened silently through the entire tale, barely even twitching as she lay on her big pillow on the floor. When I finally finished, she stood and walked to the balcony while I followed. "That was quite an adventure you had." She turned back to me when she reached the balcony's double-doors. "I know the town you speak of… I thought it lost and its inhabitants claimed by the Everfree. When my sister and I heard of that poor foal's murder, we were both obviously distressed. She seemed to take the news particularly hard however, and flew off into the night to unleash her wroth on the inhabitants, though I never knew exactly what she had done…" We walked through the doors and onto the balcony.

I leaned against the balcony's stone railing. "Yeah… Though I don't know how much of a curse it is, seeing as the only pony that seems to be suffering because of it is the only one who had nothing to do with… what happened."

Celestia 'Hmm'ed as she stood next to me. "I wish there were something I could do, but unfortunately, since Luna was the one who placed the curse, only she can break it. I could try to talk her into reversing it, though I doubt my words would do more than fall on deaf ears." She glanced over to me. "You however… you hold much sway with her; if anypony could convince her to reverse the curse, even if only on the mare you spoke of, then it would be you."

I watched as the sun climbed higher into the sky, lighting up the city sprawled out at the foot of the palace. "I don't know… I mean, I want to free Mitta from that living Hell, but at the same time I'm afraid that if she knows the town still exists, she might do something even worse. I know she's not inherently violent, but what happened was truly terrible."

Celestia sighed and her gaze swept out across the city. "I fear you may have a point. Though she has been a changed mare since Nightmare Moon was expelled from her psyche, I do not know what she would do if she discovered Sunny Town's continued existence. Perhaps it would be best to allow things to calm down before mentioning it to her." Her stomach chose that moment to make its displeasure heard. A pink blush dusted her pale cheeks. "It would appear that in the excitement, I have forgotten to eat anything; shall we head to the dining hall and have the cooks prepare a meal?"

My stomach growled even louder than Celestia's had. "Heh heh… sounds like you won't hear me complaining. All I've had to eat in the past day or so is a tiny little salad and a bowl of stew…"

Celestia giggled and turned to the doors to her study. "Well, if that's all you've eaten, then we must get the cooks to prepare a wonderful meal."

"Aw c'mon Celly, you know you don't have to do that for me." She wreathed the door to the hall in her magic and turned back to me.

She had a serious look on her face, but I caught the glint of mischief in her eye. "I will not have my future knight starved and malnourished. Either you can come along quietly, or I can drag you down there and stuff you until you're healthy again with my bare hooves."

I couldn't hold back my cheeky grin "But Celly… bears don't have hooves…"

The mare of the sun half giggled, half groaned. "Oh, very punny… now march mister!" She began gently pushing me with a slippered hoof.

The sound I was making as we began walking down the hall was a strange cross between a chuckle and a giggle. "Alright, alright, you're the boss." My mind turned serious. "Though I have to wonder… what do you plan to do about the stallions in the Everfree castle?"

Her own laughter ceased. "That is simple; when my sister returns, I shall lead a squad of guardsponies into the ruin and ascertain exactly what it is they wished to accomplish and why. After that, they shall be held accountable for their actions to the fullest extent of Equestrian law."

"I see. There was one stallion there that seemed out of place, goes by the name Filthy Rich; you might want to look into him before you pass judgment on him." She cocked an eyebrow questioningly. "I dunno how to explain it, but something felt… off about him. He's an earth pony, but I thought I could feel magic coming off of him."

We arrived at the dining hall. Celestia opened the door and motioned me to enter first. I walked in and took a seat next to her usual spot at the head of the table. She surprised me when she sat in the chair next to me instead of in the ornate throne-like seat I had expected her to. She grabbed a bell in her magic and rung it, its light tinkling was actually rather pleasant.

She wrapped a wing around me. "There's no need to feel nervous Blake." I looked over to see a reassuring, genuine smile. "I must confess… during the time we have spent together, I have come to see you as a friend, somepony beyond my sister that I can confide in. There has not been a being in well over a millennia that I can honestly say that about, and I simply wish to eat a meal with you as such."

The kitchen servants promptly began bringing out covered trays of food, though some of them faltered and nearly tripped over their own hooves as they saw their princess, their goddess, casually throwing a wing around me, someone at least a few of them most likely believed to be a commoner. Fortunately, none of them gave voice to their thoughts, promptly taking positions along the walls of the dining hall as soon as they had delivered their heavenly-smelling cargo.

One of the servants, a unicorn, remained and began lifting the lids from the trays with his magic. Several of the dishes billowed steam as he removed the polished, silver covers. When he had finished his task, he took his own place next to his comrades. Celestia and I began digging into the scrumptious meal in earnest, ignoring the whispered voices of the kitchen staff.