INGENman - And the Night loved every second of it. ;)

centaurus2 - I'm glad you enjoyed it. I thought so too; if you think about it, he would've had to have lived for at least a few thousand years in order for the timeline that the show presents to match up.

KillerWoW - I was worried that it would suck, so I'm glad to see it didn't.

HeadBangingBrony - Wow... that was an awesome review! To be honest, I don't think I did anything differently from any other chapter, at least as far as editing goes.

DragonLovingBrony - Thanks. Don't worry, if I do repost it, I'll be sure to send you a PM.

Kyguy - Oh, there will be other OCs in the future, though I'm not sure about having them as major characters (save for a few that I already have planned)

UnknownHero55 - Why thank you good sir. While I must admit I've read my fair share of fics that are better than my own (in my opinion at least), it's still nice to hear that you enjoy my story.

A/N - Hey there everypony! Here we are with another chapter of A Second Chance. I'm glad to hear that so many of you enjoyed that little scene between Luna and Blake last chapter; to be honest, that was my very first time even attempting to write any sort of erotic litrature, so I'm glad to know I didn't totally suck at it. I'd like to say thank you to everyone for continuing to support me in your reviews and by enjoying my story; I know I've said it before, but I never expected it to be as big or as well liked as it is, so thank you all. As always, don't forget to follow/favorite, review, and most importantly; enjoy!

The train ride was calm and uneventful, giving me plenty of time to think. I began worrying about what might happen when I finally got back to Ponyville. One of the main concerns floating around in my mind was if and how I should tell Twilight, AJ, and Derpy about what Luna and I had done the previous night. I knew I should trust them to understand, especially since we were all a part of a herd together, but there was a part of my mind that just wouldn't accept that.

My heart began racing as the train pulled into the Ponyville station, and a small part of my mind began panicking and telling me to just stay on the train and get off at the next stop. I shook my head to banish those thoughts, reminding myself just who I was dealing with: Applejack, who trusted me enough to tell me the truth about what happened to her parents. Twilight, who cared for me enough to risk entering my mind and bore witness to my darkest nightmare in order to save me. Derpy, who had not only been my first friend here, but had stayed by my side when Blueblood issued his challenge and even during the chaos that ensued with Nightmare Moon.

My heart-rate slowed and I stood up, grabbing my suitcase and disembarked the train. I kept my gaze fixed on the wood planks of the platform, still deep in thought. I was so deep in fact, that I didn't notice the group of ponies standing right in front of me until one of them blew a paper party horn right in front of me.

I looked up in shock as the pony shouted. "Welcome back Blakey!"

I wrapped Pinkie in a hug, causing her to giggle uncontrollably, which is surprisingly easy to do with her. I looked around as I set her down to see everypony I knew, and even a few that I didn't, standing on the platform with huge smiles on their faces. There was a banner hanging above them that read "WELCOME BACK HERO OF CANTERLOT!" I cocked an eyebrow. "Was all this really necessary?" I asked Twilight, who was trotting up to me.

"Well, we all thought it was a bit much, but-" Twilight started.

"But I thought it was a splendid idea to welcome a real live hero in such a fashion." The mayor said, interrupting Twilight as she too trotted up.

"Well, I can appreciate that, but to be honest, I'm not really big on fanfare and the like."

"That's what we told 'er!" Applejack's voice rang out from amongst the crowd.

Twilight giggled. "We did, but the mayor 'convinced' Pinkie that throwing this welcome home party would be a great idea."

I chuckled. "Let me guess, all she had to say was 'party' to convince her?"

Pinkie bounced up to us from wherever she had gone. "Of course! Who ever heard of a party being a bad idea?! Now come on; let's all head on over to Sugarcube corner so we can really get this party started!"

There was a loud chorus of agreement from the gathered crowd, and not wanting to disappoint, I gave a subtle nod. There was an even louder round of cheering as I found myself suddenly swept off my feet and carried by several ponies towards the colorful confectionary.

Pinkie was, of course, the one to burst through the doors of the sweet shop, quickly zipping about and ensuring all her party favors were in order. She somehow finished in only a few seconds, zipping back over to the group right the time my feet touched the floor.

"Welcome home Blake! We all sure missed you! Mister and misses Cake wanted you to try some new flavors of cake pops they thought up since the last batch I brought you; but that can wait for some other time. Right now it's time to PAR-TAY!" She fired off almost faster than I could follow.

As Pinkie finished her declaration, an almost literal ton of confetti, streamers and balloons began raining down from the ceiling, seemingly out of nowhere as the phonograph in the corner kicked on of its own accord. Almost as soon as that happened, most of the ponies in the group dispersed to enjoy the party, with only a few staying near me.

I looked to Twilight. "So, how have things been since I was away?"

She smiled. "Pretty boring actually; not a lot happened while you were in Canterlot… at least not here."

"Ah sure coulda used yer help 'round tha farm though." AJ's southern twang sounded from next to me. "Y'all were right 'bout tha barn too; she collapsed just a few days ago, thankfully nopony was hurt neither."

I patted her back lightly. "I'm glad to hear that… that no one was hurt I mean; sucks about the barn though. When do you think you'll have it rebuilt?"

She sighed. "Ah dunno… Ah ain't sure we c'n afford somethin' like that; we get by, but apple farmin' don't exactly rake in tha big bits."

I scratched the scraggly beard coating my chin before snapping my fingers. "I know! I'm supposed to be getting quite a few bits from an incident that happened in Canterlot before the party; I could use some of that to help rebuild the barn. I could even draw up blueprints for a better one if you wanted."

AJ smiled and shook her head. "Ah couldn't let y'all do that Sugarcube, this here's a family problem."

I crossed my arms and turned away from the country mare with a 'HHMPH!' of mock indignation. "And here I thought we practically were family, being in a relationship and all…" I smirked inside as I practically heard Applejack's jaw hit the floor as she realized what she'd implied. Before she could say anything though, I turned around and wrapped her in a hug, which she was too stunned to return. "It's ok AJ, I know you didn't mean it like that; my offer still stands though."

I stood up and looked around the room. "Now, where are those three adorable little fillies?"

I heard muffled giggling from above me and looked up just in time to see what looked like a Japanese party ball overhead shift. "Twitchy tail! Twitchy tail!" I heard Pinkie shout from elsewhere in the room an instant before the ball popped open and the three giggling fillies came tumbling out, unceremoniously landing on me and carrying me to the ground with the unexpected assault of cuteness.

"Howdy Blake! We were startin' ta think y'all 'd never come back!" Applebloom exclaimed.

"We heard about what happened; we're all really glad you're ok!" Sweetie Belle squeaked.

"Didja think of any new ideas to get our cutie marks?" Scootaloo had a big grin on her face, but something told me it was just her putting on a brave face.

I wrapped the fillies up in a hug and stood back up as they giggled in my arms. I could only hope to one day figure out why picking them up never failed to make them giggle like that. "So, how long were you waiting for me in there?"

"Not long." Sweetie Belle chirped. "We hid in there once everypony left to greet you and bring you back here."

"I see… and what would you have done if I hadn't stood under that ball?"

The three gave me big, toothy grins. "Actually… we may have had a hoof in that." Twilight said behind me.

I turned around to see a blush and a sheepish grin on Twilight's face, and a big, toothy grin mirroring the three fillies' on AJ's. "Well, that explains it. Though speaking of which, how did you know when I'd be coming back?"

Twilight straightened up and giggled. "That was easy; Princess Celestia sent me a letter last night saying you were all healed up and would be leaving in the morning."

"What's tha matter, just had ta spend one last night with yer marefriend?" Applejack asked in an obviously teasing tone.

I chuckled nervously. Guess there's no better time to tell them than now… "Heh heh, about that… Luna and I may have…" I stopped to cover the three fillies' ears as best I could, receiving a small chorus of complaints. "Luna and I… may have made things… official, if you catch my drift."

Both mares' jaws hit the floor. I cringed for a verbal, and possibly physical, lashing that never came. I saw a light twinkle in AJ's eye as she tossed her hat up in the air. "Hoo Doggy! It's about time y'all got to it! Ah thought it'd never happen!"

I gaped at her reaction, not able to form a coherent response. She smirked devilishly at me. "What? Did y'all think we'd be mad at ya fer warmin' up t' one o' yer sweethearts?"

I sighed and made to respond, but Twilight beat me to it. "Well, considering that herding isn't exactly common practice where Blake's from, it only makes sense that he'd think something like that."

Applejack thought for a moment and nodded. "Ah 'spose yer right Twilight, like usual." She turned to me. "Sorry fer givin' ya a hard time, Ah was just tryin' ta break the tension is all."

I felt three small forms squirming in my arms, reminding me that I was still holding the three fillies. "What tha heck're y'all talkin' about?" Applebloom's voice rang out, causing Twilight, AJ and myself to freeze in our tracks.

Scootaloo's ears perked up. "EWW! They're talkin' about kissing stuff!" This got a chorus of 'eww's from the other two as well.

And suddenly; Pinkie Pie! "Hiya Blakey! I hope you're enjoying your party! Is it as good as your first one? OH! Mister Cake just finished a batch of those peanut butter fudge no-bakes you showed us; does anypony wanna try one?" She fired off at the speed of Pinkie.

I let the girls down and let them be distracted with the promise of sugary goodness, glad to be avoiding that conversation for the moment. "Well, that was convenient." Twilight sighed in relief. "I'm not sure I'm ready to give that talk just yet, especially not to those three."

"Ah hear ya Twi… Ah don't think Ah'll ever be ready fer that."

"I get the feeling you'd probably kill the first colt 'Bloom came home with AJ." Twilight began giggling while I chuckled at the thought.

She looked at me weirdly for a moment before bursting out into laughter. "Yeah, Ah prob'ly would… Let's just hope Granny Smith don't feel the same way 'bout you." She said in a serious tone.

That killed the laughter pretty quick. "Yeah… that'd be bad… Though somehow I get the feeling she wouldn't be like that. I'm pretty sure she knows you're a big mare now and you're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself." I said reassuringly.

"Yeah! I mean, look at how well you've raised Applebloom so far. Besides, you already told her about you and Blake… didn't you?"

Applejack pawed at the ground. "Ah might'a… left that part out…"

Twilight facehoofed. 'You're gonna have to tell her some time Applejack."

She sighed. "Ah know… Ah guess Ah'm just worried she won't approve a me datin' somepony who… well, ain't a pony."

"Hiya Blake!" Derpy suddenly chimed in, seemingly oblivious to our conversation. "There's somepony I'd like you to meet."

She turned around and stepped aside, revealing a little unicorn filly that had been hiding behind her. The filly had a purplish-grey coat with eyes and a mane much the same color as Derpy's, save for her mane having a second, lighter tone of blonde to it. The little filly looked nervously at me. "H-hi… I'm Dinky…"

Derpy smiled up at me. "She's my little sister. Our parents travel a lot, so I take care of her."

I knelt down and patted her on the head. "Hiya Dinky, I'm Blake. Y'know, your sister's a really good friend of mine; maybe we could be friends too?"

She brightened up and gave me a big toothy grin. "I'd like that! Then you, me and Derpy could do all kinds of stuff together!"

As she began bouncing around excitedly, probably thinking about all the fun things we could do together, I noticed she didn't have a cutie mark. "Hey Dinky, wanna know a secret?" She stopped mid-bounce and shot over to me, leaving a small dust cloud in her wake. I pulled her in close to whisper in her ear. "I don't have a cutie mark either.

She gasped. "Really?! But you're a grown up!"

Yup, no cutie mark for me; but, I'm part of this great group that's dedicated to finding their special talents and getting their cutie marks."

She gasped again. "You're a Cutie Mark Crusader?! That's so awesome!"

I chuckled at her enthusiasm. "Yup. And you wanna know what else?" She stopped and nodded. "You can be one too."

I watched as her excitement rose to the point I was afraid she might actually explode before she let out the most adorable little *squee!* I'd ever heard. "That'd be so awesome! I've always wanted to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" She dashed up and hugged my leg. "Thanks Blake, you're the best!"

I watched as she dashed off and disappeared into the crowd, probably too excited to realize that her big sister was still right here.

"Hey Blake!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she dashed over to where we were. "How come you're over here being a big wallflower? This is your party after all! C'mon, get out here and mingle!" I didn't really have the ability to protest, seeing as she was literally dragging me out into the crowd of ponies.

I looked to my marefriends for help, but they just giggled and waved as I was unceremoniously dragged off. "C'mon, Pinkie put a lot of work into this party, the least you could do is get out here and talk to ponies." I was drumming my fingers on the floor as I was being dragged. "I might be able to do that if you let go of my leg so I can, you know, stand."

She looked back and studied my leg in her grasp for a moment before letting go and tucking her forehooves behind her back. "Heh heh… whoops."

I groaned in annoyance as I got to my feet. "Don't worry about it. So, what have you been up to? I didn't see as much of you while I was in the hospital."

She looked down at the floor. "Yeah… sorry about that. I… kinda took things personal when you got hurt, like I failed somehow and it was my fault it happened."

I put a hand on her shoulder. "Dash, don't worry about that. No one could have seen that coming. Besides, you weren't the only one there; she got the best of us all."

She sighed and looked into my eyes. "Yeah, but you were the only one who got hurt because of it. I wanted to make sure that didn't happen again so I… I've been training lately, making sure I was ready if something else came up. That's why I haven't been up to visit as often."

I gave her a small smile. "I know how you feel Dash, believe me; that's why I rushed her myself, I couldn't stand the thought of any of you getting hurt. I wasn't thinking about the fate of Equestria, I was thinking about the fate of the mares I care about most."

"Yeah, but…"

"No buts Dash; it was my own decision, so you've got absolutely nothing to feel guilty about."

"Alright, you win; I'll let up on the training."

I gave her a playful smirk. "Atta girl. Besides, if you spend all your time training to protect everypony, how will you train to be a Wonderbolt?"

"Yeah! I can't give up on my dream!" She zipped off to who-knows-where, leaving me to mingle with my other friends and possibly even make some new ones.

I spied a pony who was three different shades of purple; light purple for her coat, a sort of pastel purple for her mane, and eyes that almost matched her mane. If I remembered correctly, her name was Berry Punch. Deciding to get to know some of the townsfolk I hadn't really gotten a chance to yet, I started weaving though various small groups of ponies.

Around halfway there, I noticed she was talking to another pony. This one had a khaki coat and pink-striped cobalt mane. Her eyes were a very bright crystal blue. Not wanting to interrupt their conversation, I started to turn around to find another pony to talk to, but stopped when I felt a tapping on my side. "Pardon me…" Came a vaguely familiar voice with a highbrow British accent. "I wanted to apologize for my previous actions." I turned to see that it was the cellist from the party in Canterlot.

She rubbed a foreleg nervously. "You'll have to… no, that's not right… What I said was… oh crumbs, why is this so hard?"

I patted her on the shoulder. "It's ok, I understand. But if you really feel you need to apologize to me, I won't stop you."

She gave me a small smile of relief. "Thank you, but you're right; I feel I really must apologize for what I said… All you did was try to help me, and I treated you like… like… well, like I did, and there's no excuse for that. Looking back on it now, I feel… ashamed of the way I treated you, especially since you were hurt while trying to save my stubborn flank." She took a deep breath. "I will admit, that cello meant quite a lot to me, but I didn't even consider at the time that I would have lost so much more than that if you hadn't stopped me."

"Hey! I remember you!" Derpy's voice suddenly rang above the crowd. She flew up and landed less than gracefully between us. "You're that mare that gave Blake a hard time for trying to help you!"

I let out an exasperated sigh. "Derpy, it's fine, she was in the middle of apologizing for what was said, so there's no need to get all protective."

She looked back to me with her crossed eyes. "How can you accept her apology? You got hurt really badly because of her!"

I suppressed a growl. "No Derpy, I got hurt really badly because of a decision I made to not just stand around. There's nopony to blame for that but me." She winced at the force of my voice. "I think I've had enough partying for one night." I turned and walked right out the front door of Sugarcube Corner without another word, oblivious to the fact that everypony had stopped whatever they were doing and were now staring at me.

My head began to clear up a little as I walked out into the warm mid-afternoon sunlight. I had lost track of my time here, not bothering to look at a calendar, but I could tell by the relatively cool temperature Fall would be coming up soon. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen."

I looked over to the raven-haired grey cellist. "It's not your fault; she was just trying to protect me, a lot of my loved ones have been like that since the attack on Canterlot." She let out a small 'hmm' that told me she wasn't entirely convinced. "So, if I may ask, what brings you to Ponyville Miss…"

She gasped. "Oh my! Where are my manners?! My name is Octavia, Octavia Melody."

"Well it's good to meet you Miss Melody." I offered my hand, which she took and daintily shook.

She smiled as she shook my hand. "I'm glad to see you're not upset with me."

I waved a hand dismissively. "Life's taught me not to hold grudges; besides, you sought me out and apologized, didn't you?"

"Oh dear! I didn't answer your question, did I? I actually came to Ponyville to get away from Canterlot… too much hustle and bustle you know. I didn't learn that you lived here until I heard about a welcoming home party for 'The Hero Who Bested Nightmare Moon.'"

"And naturally, that could have only meant me… unless someone else beat her while I was in the hospital."

"Precisely." She said with a nod. "I also heard about your Knighting ceremony. You're quite lucky you know; you'll be the first Knight since before Princess Luna's banishment."

"Yeah, I know. I'm still nervous though; I wasn't lying when I said I wasn't a big fan of fanfare. I just want to live a quiet, peaceful, boring life for a change."

"If that's true, then why did you accept?"

I shrugged. "It's simple really; Luna and I started dating, but because of some ancient, obscure law, I had to become nobility in order for us to be able to keep dating." There was an audible thud behind me.

"… Luna's consort… can't believe I insulted… tar… feathers…" She babbled as she lay on the ground, twitching.

"Whelp, she's broken… guess I oughta find out where she lives so I can take her home."

"Dude, that's easy, she's crashin' at my place!" The voice of Ponyville's resident DJ said from behind me. Seriously, can I not have ten seconds without a pony sneaking up on me? Vinyl trotted up to us. "Dude, how'd you break her?"

"Long story short, she thinks she insulted Princess Luna's consort."

"Heh heh… Yup, that'd do it. Poor Tavi's been a bit edgy since Canterlot." Vinyl started poking the poor mare. C'mon, let's get her back to my place and get her set up on the couch."

"Sounds good to me." I said with a shrug. "Hey Vinyl, you talk like you know her, is she an old friend or something?"

A light blush dusted Vinyl's cheeks. "You could say that." She looked around. "Look, im gonna tell you this because I trust you… Tavi and I were friends once upon a time, but her family decided to move to Canterlot awhile back. Let's just say that before she left, we both found out that we're not as into mares as we thought we were."

"… That's… actually kinda hot." I began feeling blood rush to more than just my face.

"Do humans do stuff like that?" I could tell what she was trying to do.

"Most do; we call it 'experimenting', and most people just see it as a normal part of growing up."

"'Most?'" She asked with an eyebrow quirked above her signature shades.

"Yeah, some people don't feel the need to for whatever reason, and others won't accept it, usually because of religious beliefs. It's pretty sick, but it's not unheard of for parents to kill their children over petty stuff like that." I could see Vinyl's dumbfounded expression through her shades. "Yeah, it's pretty messed up; but unfortunately, that's human society.

Vinyl just shook her head and sighed. "I'm glad ponies aren't like that. C'mon, let's get Tavi to my house so she's not lying in the dirt all day."

After helping Vinyl carry Octavia back to her house, I excused myself and headed back to the library. It was still relatively early, but I was fairly tired after everything that had happened today and I wanted nothing more at the moment than to take an actual shower. I looked to my left to see Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo playing with a certain unicorn filly. The sight warmed my heart and brought a smile to my face.

I returned to the library, thankfully without incident, and headed up the stairs before getting into the shower. Man it feels good to be home…

Thinking myself alone, I walked out of the bathroom, my only cover being the towel that I was currently drying my overly long hair with. I realized I wasn't as alone as I thought I was when I heard a gasp.