KyuubiMakai009 (Ch102) - Hmm... well, who knows what the future holds? You may yet get your chance. And Buh-Bye, Markiplier. :P
KyuubiMakai009 (Ch100) - Find out next time, on Ponybal- I mean, A Second Chance!
Harmonia000 - Lol. That's what you get when you author updates on a regular schedule. :D
Hunter Shorette - *Hugs back* Thanks for that. :D I feel like I could have as well, but that whole deal with her being reformed just seems so overdone and cliche to me.
PyraohXBlaze - Well, here's the next update. ;) It does, but I don't plan to move it into other seasons. The sequel, however...
Guest - Lol. That's right; I'm their true God! (I do dictate all of their actions, after all. ;) )
SquirtlePWN - Don't worry, my friend; the answers to all these questions and more await you in the coming chapters.
denis.d2505 - Thank you for your kind words. :D We'll have to wait and see, won't we? Is her horn a mere trinket, or is there something more to it...?
DragonLovingBrony - Lol I think I'll pass; I'm not that vain, after all. I do thank you for all of your praise though.
xel101 - Well, 'packed full o' feels' seems to be pretty standard for my chapters, at least according to you guys. ;)
KillerWoW (Ch102) - Lol I have. And don't worry; there are plenty of others who catch my mistakes for me.
ShadowfireAngel - Lol yeah... I can't think of any way I would want to die, whether in her position or not...
coldshadow 92 - Heh heh... I bet you can't... :P
Mikalzilla - Hmm... he might be... but then again, who's to say that this wasn't his plan all along?
KillerWoW - (Ch101) - That you will...
Kyguy - And it's not over yet...
ZyphMLP - I have in the past as well, but I know that not everyone is comfortable with that kind of thing. I don't actually; Blazing Sun was the first OC I ever created, which is why I use him. I guess I never really thought about creating an OC that was meant to be an analog for myself...
shadows being - YEah, I could see her doing that too. And that wasn't Falathiel; That was Aerith protecting Twilight from NM's torture.
DragonLord RyuKizoku - (Lol and ponies even...) Nope... pesky villians
UnknownHero55 - Lol lucky you; our power was giong in and out for a few days. Guess that's what we get for living in a relatively rural area.
AntiVillian1 - Perhaps...
PBJFanFiction - Uh oh... But, how are you writing if you blowed up? Well, it kinda worked...
TurnupGrain43 - Lol that she did. But then again, who doesn't? ;)
Leeton Osaki - Wow... almost half a million words in a day is impressive...
chipmunkfanatic - Yeah, it was nice to see them all again, as well as how dark the world could have been without the mane six as friends. If a mind-controlled slave army and a village of ponies being (as far as we can tell) slaughtered doesn't cement MLP as a show that's not just for kids, I don't know what will.
Lord of darkness the 1st - Good; that means I'm doing a good job. :D
Nostalgia Cop - Hmm... could be.
Lonewolf4709 - Hmm... it's possible... though, if that does end up happening, who says the good guys would be the ones bringing her back?
centaurus2 - Lol yup, that's the thing ;)
A/N - Howdy everypony! Man, that last chapter was a real rollercoaster, wasn't it? And speaking of that last chapter, I can't believe I forgot to mention this; It was posted on the two year anniversary of A Second Chance! Nature gave me an excuse to post it on that particular day, and I didn't even mention it... what's even up with that? Anyway, not much new to report here, so I hope you all like the new chapter. As always, don't forget to follow/favorite, review, and most importantly; enjoy!
The walk through the forest was made in a nearly deafening silence, even with my two ghostly companions walking with me.
I looked up through the canopy occasionally to try to gauge how much sunlight was left, but each time, I found the canopy to be too thick to allow enough light through to tell for sure. Spring Leaf's translucent head was on a swivel as we walked, her ears twitching as she listened for sounds of danger. As we walked, I trickled healing magic into my injured ribs, trying to fix more of the damage that the drone disguised as Zecora had done to me and to keep the pain at bay.
Just as I was about to mention that it felt like we'd been walking for too long, I began to notice a strange, eerie tension in the air, and I somehow knew that it meant that we were getting close. I glanced over as Spring Leaf's eyes and ears both focused forward, the spectral mare likely somehow feeling the sensation as well.
We walked for another few hundred meters before the trees thinned, and a familiar clearing came into sight, a small number of houses dotting the landscape of the nearly circular clearing. I turned to my two companions as we stopped just inside the treeline. "Ok, I want you two to stay here for now; I'm going to try to sneak through the place and get to Mitta without the others seeing me."
Spring Leaf's worried expression was telling. "But… what if something goes wrong? Can't those things turn you into one of them or something if they touch you?"
I shook my head. "I don't think so; Mitta gave me a hug when she was in her undead form, so if it's possible at all, I don't think it works just by touch. And besides, I've dealt with these things before; they may be on the fast side, but they're not the smartest bunch, and they go down pretty easily, so I shouldn't have much problem if I do get caught."
The stocky, green mare nodded reluctantly. "Well… alright, if you really think it's a good idea. But, if we hear anything, we'll come galloping, ok?"
"Thanks, Spring Leaf; I wouldn't have it any other way." After resisting the urge to pat her incorporeal shoulder, I turned and slowly made my way towards the town, keeping my eyes peeled for any signs of movement and any places to hide should I actually see someone.
I was fairly close to the nearest building before I started hearing voices coming from somewhere nearby. "Can you believe Grey Hoof still hasn't let Mitta out of her house after that human showed up? He must be really miffed at her." The voice was that of a stallion, but I had no idea who amongst the townsponies it could belong to.
Nearly immediately after the stallion finished speaking, a mare's voice spoke up. "Well, after what he did to us, can you really blame him for being that mad? I mean, he attacked us out of the blue! Talk about unfriendly. All we wanted to do was make it so he could join our village."
Deciding not to dwell on the voices, which seemed to be coming from inside the house I was crouched behind, I moved quietly to the next, making my way through the town as the light from Celestia's sun faded. I knew what the darkness meant for the cursed village, and I was determined to be in and out again before the sun finished setting. With that objective in mind, I headed towards Mitta's house as quickly as I could, trying to avoid detection as best I could.
Soon enough, I found myself outside of her house, watching from a nearby hay pile for any signs of a guard around the small hut. After several minutes of silence, I decided to take the risk, since I hadn't seen hide nor hair of anypony even coming near her hut since I'd taken my position around the far side of the large hay pile, shielding me from the sight of the area around Mitta's hut as well as the rest of the town.
Being careful to avoid any errant twigs or other debris that could give away my position, I slowly crept up to the strangely intact window of the hut and peeked in. Mitta was sitting inside the unlit hut, hunched over and staring at the wall somewhere between window and the fireplace, facing away from the ancient hearth. I couldn't blame her for that though, as Ruby's tiny remains were likely still buried within the ancient ashes and dust of the dilapidated fireplace.
After deciding not to try to get her attention just yet, I moved to the door, looking for any obvious locks that might need to be dealt with. Finding none, I placed my hand on the aged and rotting wood, and pushed on the door.
The door swung open several centimeters before stopping, seeming to catch on something. I thought for an instant that It might be some sort of chain lock, but that was quickly dashed when I felt a sharp tug on my leg, followed by sudden vertigo. By the time my head had cleared, I had figured out what had happened; the thing that the door had caught on was the release for a foot snare that I hadn't seen when I first approached the door.
I looked up toward my trapped foot, and noticed why I had failed to spot what should have been an obvious trap; the wire I was suspended by was thin, and all but invisible in the dim light. I groaned quietly in annoyance and reached up towards my foot, attempting to reach the wire so that I could free myself from its grasp before I was discovered in my current, vulnerable state.
"Well well well… Look who we have here…" I recognized the voice of the speaker; it was Grey Hoof. "I have to say, I never would have thought I'd see you here again."
I growled and spun to face him as best I could. "Why are you treating Mitta like this? Haven't you lot already done enough to her?" I couldn't say I was thrilled to be looking at the monstrous, pathetic excuse of a stallion's decayed face again.
The already decaying stallion seemed to have been taken aback by my accusation. "We haven't done anything to her, Blake. At least, not until now. I mean, everything was fine until she tried to hide you from us, and then you had to go and use that weird weapon on us."
The rapping of something hard on glass got my attention, and I looked over my shoulder as best I could, to see Mitta pounding on the window, crimson eyes wide with shock and fright. I gave her the best comforting look I could, and turned back to Grey Hoof. "What did you expect?! You wanted to kill me and trap me in this town! Didn't you think that I would try to resist that?"
Grey hoof shook the grotesque remains of his head, droplets of ichor dripping from his rotting flesh. "You still don't get it Blake; we want you to be happy, here with us."
I growled at the stallion, and summoned my magic, preparing to sever the wire holding me aloft. "No! You don't get it, Grey Hoof! I am happy! I have two little fillies waiting for me back in Ponyville, who I love with all my heart, and a herd of wonderful mares that mean more to me than anything else in this world!" I severed the wire with my magic and rotated my body, landing, albeit far from gracefully, on my feet. "I'm even engaged to be married to one of them. You might know her; Princess Luna Solaris, the very mare who put you under this curse to begin with."
There was a myriad of gasps among the small, gathering crowd of decaying ponies. Grey Hoof's expression, such that it was, didn't change. "Blake, you're deluded; Nopony in their right mind would court somepony who isn't a pony."
It was my turn to shake my head. "You're wrong Grey hoof. It may have been like that once upon a time, but times have changed; ponies get their cutie marks, and no one is afraid, because we know them for what they truly are; symbols of one's greatest talent." I dismissed my left pauldron as ponies in the small crowd started to murmur, and rolled up my sleeve. "And you know what else? I've got my cutie mark too." I finished rolling up my sleeve as I finished speaking and displayed the mark proudly.
Grey Hoof yelped and took a step back. "You see! Even he has it! He'll infect us all if we don't do something!"
Another pony, whom I had never met, much like the rest of the town, stepped up. "But… what if what he's saying is true? Did we really do that terrible thing to an innocent filly for nothing?" The voice was undoubtedly a mare's, though I'd never have known from looking at her decayed form.
Grey Hoof's mangled, rotting face twisted, forming what I could only imagine to be a scowl. "That's what he wants you to think! Don't you see; he's shown us his curse, and now he's trying to infect us all!"
The decomposed mare turned her head to face me, crimson, glowing eyes studying me. "If he really wanted to spread the curse, then why is he just standing there?"
Grey Hoof didn't back down from my stern gaze. "Isn't it obvious? He wants to lure us into a false sense of security so he can infect us while we aren't looking!"
I shook my head in disgust. "How many more ponies are going to have to lose their lives and suffer because of your willful ignorance, Grey Hoof? This isn't a curse! It's a blessing, and a wonderful thing to receive! There's even a special party dedicated to celebrating when a filly or colt gets theirs."
The mare, much to Grey Hoof's disbelief, took a tentative step towards me. "You said those marks represent a talent… what does yours mean?" The tinge of genuine curiosity in her haunting, unnatural voice was off-putting, but I brushed that aside.
"Don't talk to him! That's what he wants!" Grey Hoof shouted as he grabbed the mare and yanked her back. "Didn't I just tell you he's trying to trick you?!"
I growled, and rested my hand on Falathiel's hilt. "I think you're the only one here who's fooled, Grey Hoof! You've fooled yourself into believing this lie so completely that you can't even see the truth anymore." My grip tightened on the sentient sword's hilt, and I could feel her silently urging me to follow through with the action as her blade began to slip from her sheathe. "You're nothing more than a deluded zealot, and your misguided paranoia has ruined the lives of far too many ponies already!"
The leader of the Sunny Town ponies took an aggressive stance against me. "You'll never understand! That mark is-" Falathiel sang though the air, cleaving his head clean from his shoulders and cutting him off in mid-sentence.
My eyes went wide, as the severed head and body alike burst into silvery flames, with Grey Hoof's mouth opening wide in a silent scream. "My Blade is enchanted against unholy terrors such as this. I can't guarantee that Luna's magic won't revive him later, but he will remember the bite of my blade."
The mare from before, who seemed to be the spokespony for the more rational amongst them, looked from Grey Hoof's burning remains to me. "Why did you…?"
I shook my head. "Because he will never learn; he would have kept spewing that vitriol and convinced you all to commit some other horrible act." I turned and grabbed the handle of Mitta's door once more, forcefully slamming it forwards, destroying the simple trigger that had been set up for the tripwire and allowing it to swing open the rest of the way.
Mitta shot forth from the dilapidated hut, and wrapped her forelegs around my waist. "Blake! I'm so glad you're ok!" She looked up to me, worry clear in her glowing eyes. "But, why did you come back? I told you never to come back here…"
She looked away, and I dismissed my left gauntlet, running my fingers through the scraggly remains of her faded, crimson mane. "Because I made you a promise. I'm only sorry it took me this long to make it back here to keep it."
She looked back up to me, worry replaced by curiosity. "Wh-what promise?"
The warm smile I gave her seemed to put her somewhat more at ease. "To get you out of here, of course… I have something that can break the curse on you."
A stallion's voice suddenly rang out from the small crowd. "The Mark! Look at the mark he has! Grey Hoof was right; he's going to infect us all!" The sudden outburst caused me to glance to my left shoulder, which was now glowing dimly. The mare from before, the only other pony who had so far spoken up, took a step back from me. "He's already got Mitta; we can't let him get us too!"
The unnamed mare looked between me and the crowd, which seemed to be murmuring in agreement with the stallion's statement. Eventually, she speaks again. "Gladstone! We can't get the curse mark, remember? This form protects us from it."
A stallion amongst the group steps forward. "That isn't stopping him from trying, is it, Three Leaf?" His was the same as the voice that had spoken a moment ago, and had riled the crowd once more. "We can't just let him leave and infect others as he pleases! We have to stop this, now!"
The townsponies roared in agreement, and, save for Three Leaf, charged forward. Mitta jumped in front of me, in an attempt to stop the flood, but I knew too well that she was no match for them. Before the half-dozen or so zombified ponies even reached us, I called on my magic, and doing as Cadance had taught me, sent out a shockwave of magical force. The force was enough to halt them in their tracks and send them tumbling back a few paces without affecting Three Leaf or Mitta, who both stood there, bewildered.
I was left breathing hard by the effort, the effect made worse by how much of my magical reserves I'd already expended in the ruined castle just over an hour before. I noticed through my peripheral vision that the glow on my exposed left shoulder had grown brighter, and it didn't take long for the others to notice.
The curiosity in Three Leaf's gaze wasn't lost on me. "You wanted to know what my mark means? It signifies that I'm a protector; I will do anything I can to help someone who's in danger, even at my own expense." I turned and gestured to Mitta. "It glowed before because Mitta was in trouble, and I was, and still am, intent on helping her. It's glowing brighter now because the two of you were in harm's way when the others charged at me."
Gladstone, not to be outdone, spoke up. "He's still lying! Just look at what he did to Grey Hoof!"
Three Leaf, seeming to have finally had enough, growled; it was a guttural, unearthly sound that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. "ENOUGH!" Her shout was enough to make the rest of the gathered zombie ponies cringe. "Don't you get it yet?! He isn't here to hurt us; if he'd wanted to, he could've already done it. You all remember that weird device he used last time, don't you? Well think about it; what's stopping him from just using it again?"
Another zombie pony, intact enough that I could identify it as a stallion, took a step forward. "Hey, yeah; she's right!"
A zombified mare clung to him, apprehension in her voice as she whispered. "Roneo… don't encourage her…"
The zombie ponies all started arguing quietly among themselves as the three of us watched on. I knew that this would likely be my best chance to free Mitta, but something about doing it in such a hurry seemed wrong to me, and so I stayed my ground, watching the quiet argument as it unfolded.
Three Leaf walked back to me, and regarded me for a moment. "Listen… Blake was it? You were right… Mitta doesn't deserve this curse, but… after what we did to that poor filly, we do… I think you should take her and leave while they're distracted, and go far away from here so you can do whatever you need to do to free her in peace. I'll do what I can to slow the others down, but if you're going to do it, you've got to hurry."
"I don't think that will be necessary…" The voice belonged to Gladstone. Three Leaf whirled around to face him, but he held up a hoof for silence before she could speak. "We heard you talking, and we think you're right; this place would be better off without Mitta. She's been nothing but trouble for us for some time, so just take her and go, and don't ever let us catch you coming back here again." The decayed stallion's voice was colder than I would have expected, even from a zombie pony, and I knew that if I did return, things wouldn't end well, one way or another.
I nodded and leaned down, picking up the bewildered mare carefully before turning to leave. "Wait…" Three Leaf's quiet plea caused me to stop for a moment. I looked back to see crimson tears streaking down her rotting face. "I… I'm sorry…. For what we did to poor Ruby. Please, if you see Princess Luna, would you tell her that she did the right thing?"
There was a chorus of gasps among the rest of the townsponies. "Three Leaf! How could you even say something like that?!" The voice was once again Gladstone's, whom I was beginning to believe was Grey Hoof's second-in-command.
Not wanting to interfere any longer, I summoned my wings and took flight with Mitta still firmly in my grasp, veering towards Ponyville once I had gained enough altitude to clear the trees. I could feel all eyes on me until I disappeared from sight of the cursed village in the Everfree.
Mitta looked up to me with her glowing eyes, which for some reason, I didn't find unnerving like I had the others. "Wh-why are you doing this? Didn't you hear Three Leaf? We deserve what Princess Luna did to us…"
I shook my head as I flew, doing my best to shield the undead mare from the cold, not even knowing if she could feel it or not. "No, they deserveto be cursed; you couldn't have done anything to stop them without risking your own life to do it, and not everypony can do that."
She looked away. "But… you do it… you even have a… a cutie mark for it…"
A heavy sigh escaped my lips as memories flashed through my mind. "That's because a lot of very bad things happened in my life, things I was powerless to stop, and I've been doing everything I can to make sure that if something like that happens again, that I won't be powerless."
Mitta looked up to me once more, curiosity burning in her eyes. "What happened to you? How could it have been so bad?"
I heaved another sigh, and looked to the forest below. "My father was a very abusive man, both to me and my sister…" She remained quiet as I composed myself. "The things he did to us were nothing short of torture, and I was always powerless to do anything. One day, he went too far… he… he tied my sister and I up in the woods after tricking us into going out there with him, and he… he…"
"Blake? What is it? If it's too painful, please, don't bring it up; I don't want you to hurt."
Steeling myself against the memories, I pressed on. "It's ok, Mitta; these are memories I've lived with for a long time, I just haven't thought about them for some time." I took another deep breath to steady myself. "He tied us up in the woods, and forced me to watch as he beat my sister to death in front of me." I didn't have the heart to tell her about what had happened before that.
The cursed mare in my grasp gasped as I finished. "That's so terrible! How could anypony be so cruel?!"
It was at this time that Ponyville came into sight, and so I started descending for a landing just outside of the back door to my home. "I really wish I knew, Mitta. It wasn't all that different from what the ponies of your village did, so if you're appalled by that, then that just further proves that you don't deserve this curse."
Mitta looked ahead as I slowed and came in for a gentle landing, my damaged ribs complaining at the slight jarring of the impact. I set her on her hooves, and reached behind my back, wrapping my fingers loosely around the hilt of the enchanted dagger.
The zombified mare turned and looked at me a moment later, and I knelt down to eye-level with her. "Do… do you live here?"
I nodded. "I do. This place was built by the princesses, just for me. Listen, Mitta; there's something I need you to know before anything else happens." She regarded me with a curious expression. Not wanting to delay it, I slid the dagger out of its sheath and presented it to her in a slow, controlled movement. "This is what Luna gave me to break the curse with. I'm going to level with you; I don't know what's going to happen if you decide to let me use this to free you… and this is your decision; if you don't want to do this, well, we'll figure something else out."
She looked at the dagger for a long moment, the glow in her eyes shifting as she studied the small blade. Eventually, she looked up to me again. Blake, you've helped me more than once, and you've proven that you're a good stallion by making a friend of Ruby and getting me away from the others… If you think this is what's best for me… then I trust you." She let out a deep, slow sigh. "But, before we do, I have a favor to ask. There's a place in the Everfree; it doesn't look like much, but it's special to me… I'd like to be there when it happens."
I nodded and stood. "Alright, Mitta. It would be a terrible thing of me to deny you that. Come on, I'll fly us there."
She stood up and I picked her up, dismissing my armor and cradling her to me gently. When she was situated, I took flight, and she directed me to the spot in question.
If I hadn't been specifically looking for it, I never would have seen the small dent in the forest canopy caused by the small pond Mitta had told me was there. Fortunately, the canopy was just thin enough at the spot to allow me to land on the bank of the pool. I could instantly see why Mitta had wanted to come here; there were some sort of crystal formations in the bed of the pond that were glowing faintly, tinging the surprisingly clear water a peaceful teal color.
The beauty of the little sanctuary even seemed to diminish Mitta's appearance, making her seem more like an actual pony instead of a decaying, cursed soul. "It's so beautiful here… and it's hardly changed at all." She remarked after looking around for a moment. She turned to me, a peaceful look in her eyes. "Ok… I'm ready…"
I nodded and knelt down, beckoning her closer. When she was close enough, I wrapped my arm around her, and she responded in kind, wrapping her forelegs around me in a friendly hug.
I slipped the dagger from its sheath once more, and rested its tip against her side, the sharp edge kissing the rotten skin between her ribs. "Thank you, Blake… for everything." She whispered into my ear.
With one, deep breath to steady myself, I made my move. Without another word, lest I lose my nerve, I slid the dagger home, the blade easily piercing her flesh and plunging straight into her heart.
I felt hot tears run down my cheeks as the friend I had tried so hard to save clutched me tightly for a moment before going limp, slumping lifelessly against me.