Corvus YT (Ch65) - Lol is that all you want to do to Pinkie...?

CorvusYT (ch64) - Lol I just can't seem to keep her in Equestria...

Fusion Blitz (Ch61) - O.O wow... I don't know what to say to that other than; Don't worry, this story ain't gonna end anytime soon broheim!

CorvusYT (Ch48) - Take care with your words... talk like that could end in your banishment

Hey Luna? Would you mind not threatening my readers... and maybe taking Pinkie back to Equestria with you?

CorvusYT (Ch41) - Lol I guess you already have your answer by now...

Guest - I've actually thought of it, but none of the other nicknames felt right to me

PSYCHOPATH - Lol that's certainly an interesting theory...

PyraohXBlaze - Lol I know right? I wouldn't mind having an otter either ;) I actually am doing better; never went to the hospital though, so I don't know what actually happened.

Ponified Bacon Boss - It's no shorter than any other chapter :P It's not fake, I just don't seem to ever have time to get started. I do want to get at least one written up this year, no idea when though.

Fusion Blitz - No prob, I've had my fair share of crappy birthdays. I do plan to include her and the other characters I haven't included much lately, though that won't be until after this story arc...

xel101 - Lol you do, do you? I bet you won't see what's coming next ;)

Kyguy - :O Well that's no good... Lol I'll have to see if I can wring a few more drops outta ya ;)

KillerWoW - I've thought about posting this story there as well, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. What's the name of your story? I'll keep an eye out for it

HeadBangingBrony - It's actually not that hard; I mostly come up with it on the spot, it feels more natural to me that way. Zecora's actually one of my favorite characters, and one of my favorite things about her is her rhyming, so I like to make sure it feels right to me

Mikalzilla - Oh, he enjoys a drink every once in awhile, but he's not keen on trying Equestria's equivalent of Everclear (180 proof is 90% alcohol)

HYBRID BATTLESHIP INFINITY210 - Lol well here you go (even if it's a bit later than usual)

A/N - Howdy everypony! We're back with another chapter of A Second Chance! I'll keep things short this week since I'm so late updating (sorry about that by the way); suffice it to say that today got very busy and very stressful very quickly. As always, don't forget to follow/favorite, review, and most importantly; enjoy!

The first night was surprisingly peaceful, as were the second and third days. Even still, I was glad that I had managed to figure out the missive spell well enough to send letters back and forth to Luna, but I was also glad that her letters weren't my only company way out here; I loved reading her letters and hearing about what new adventures Scootaloo and her friends had gotten into, or how Derpy had somehow managed to once again set a pot of water on fire, but I couldn't help but feel unnerved in this oppressive place. Twilight and Applejack obviously felt the same way I did, but the company of the other two seemed to calm each of us down.

After another full day of walking, only broken by a run-in with a familiar cockatrice, which ended with me scaring the thing off much the same way I had before, we made camp for the third night. As I had come to expect, Twilight asked the same question she had the past two nights. "Come on Blake… tell us a ghost story from Earth."

I let out a sigh as I settled into a relatively comfortable spot between the girls as the three of us basked in the warmth of the small fire. "Ok, ok fine… just remember; you asked for it."

There was an odd 'whoosh' sound, and I was suddenly aware of the lack of warm bodies around me. I kicked on my aurasight and noticed that both girls were now sitting across from me, leaning in as they obviously gave me all their attention. "Heh heh… scary stories 're always better from across tha fire Sugarcube."

I gave them a small shrug and dismissed my spell again. "Suit yourself." I took a small moment to figure out exactly what I was going to tell them before leaning in closer to add tension. "This legend is the latest of countless others that span both the globe and recorded history… no one knows where or when it began, but one thing is for sure; the creatures in the legend could very possibly exist… they may even be roaming these very woods as we speak…"

Twilight and AJ both gulped so loud I could hear them over the crackle of the fire. "Wh-what are they?" Twi's voice was shaky, but she was doing a good job of pushing it back.

I gave her a devilish grin. "Oh come now Twilight… that would be telling…" Everything grew eerily silent, save for the crackling of the fire, as if the entire forest was listening to the tale I was about to tell. "This particular tale begins as many from my world do; a young man is standing outside of a large, abandoned building, a derelict from a bygone era that has been all but forgotten. Those few who do remember it claim it to be haunted, a claim which has made it a sort of macabre attraction for local youth to prove their bravery to their peers by staying in the building overnight… alone…"

Both mares gulped. "Th-that don't seem like a bright thing ta do…"

I chuckled, which came out slightly more sinister than I'd intended. "These are teenagers we're talking about… they're not well known for making good decisions. This teen proved that point wonderfully; you see, his sole reason for going into the dilapidated industrial derelict now looming over him was to win a bet his friends had made with him. Not wanting to seem like a coward to his friends, he took his first step into the building, doing his level best not to look scared; though the truth was that he could feel something in the aged stones… some unnamed malice that made his skin crawl and his hair stand on end. Be it through true bravery, stupidity, or some combination of the two, the young man pressed on, further into the building, nearly jumping out of his skin at every shadow and the creaks and groans of the ancient, rusting machinery that still called the place home."

"Wh-why would he s-stay in a place like that…?"

I shrugged. "Like I said; he had something to prove to his friends."

Both of the girls went back to listening quietly, and I continued. "Things seemed to be going fairly well for the boy at first; aside from the creepy vibe he got from the place, nothing seemed to be out of order. Feeling bolder by the minute, the young man decided to explore the place further, hoping to find something interesting to occupy his mind and help the night pass more quickly. Over time, he explored the entire building, using the small flashlight his friends agreed to allow him to bring to light his way once the sun had gone down. They weren't complete idiots after all; they knew he could get seriously hurt in a place like that if he couldn't see where he was going. By the time his watch chimed out midnight, he had explored the entire building, save for a single, locked door that appeared to hold a stairwell that only went down."

Wh-what did he d-do then?" Twilight's breath was slightly shaky, which was odd since nothing had really happened yet.

"Well, the smart thing to have done would have been to leave well enough alone, since doors are generally locked for a reason; but as I said before, teenagers tend to not do the smart thing, especially when their standing with their peers are involved. Instead, he decided to see what was beyond the door and down the stairwell, and to do that, he needed to remove the padlock holding the door shut. It didn't take him long to find a length of sturdy pipe to use among the discarded industrial debris, and he set to work removing the flimsy lock, making quick work of it with the heavy pipe."

One of the two gulped. "What was at tha bottom? D-did he find some horrible monster?"

"Once the boy had descended the concrete stairs, he found himself on one end of a large storage room, full of things one would never expect to see in a manufacturing facility; his light shone over paintings and tapestries, statues and sculptures, and just about every other piece of artwork you could imagine. The teen could only guess that the building had been a front for some kind of mob activity, as was fairly common in the era the building had been used. He was about to leave the storage area alone and head back into the main part or the building when something caught his eye; a set of four statues, all of which were of humans, all with short, curly hair and wings. The feature of these statues that caught his eye the most, however, was that every single statue was covering its face, as if it were crying."

I could practically hear the two trembling now. "W-why would they be crying though?"

"The boy didn't know, and that's why it caught his eye; statues of angels weren't all that uncommon, but statues of angels that were weeping… that was something he'd never heard of before. He approached the statues, wanting to get a better look at them, and when he was close enough, he reached out and brushed his fingers against the cold, stone skin of one of the angels. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and so he turned to inspect some of the other art that cluttered the basement of the building."

"Ah think Ah'd 'a got tha heck outta there…" It was an odd sentiment coming from my normally brave farm filly.

"Y-yeah… me too… I-I don't think I would've gone in there in the first place…"

I paused for a moment and let them calm down a bit so I could continue. "That might have been the smart thing to do… the young man turned to leave once he had finished looking at the other art in the room, but stopped cold when the beam of his flashlight shined on the group of statues again; three of the four statues were staring directly at him over their fingers, fingers now tipped with sharpened nails… the fourth… was missing entirely…"

The two yelped and I heard hooves clacking together. I flicked my aurasight on for a moment and noticed that the two were hugging the other tightly, hooves clicking together as they shivered. "Wh-what tha hay?! Statues ain't s'posed ta move!"

"Y-yeah! A-and, where d-did the f-fourth one g-go…?"

I plastered the most evil, sinister smile I could muster on my face. "Well… our hero wasn't about to stick around and find out why those statues had moved. Instead, he bolted straight past them, glancing over his shoulder to make sure they weren't going to follow him. To his dismay, the three statues had turned and were still facing him, arms outstretched like they were trying to grab him. He turned back around to continue running towards the stairwell, but was stopped by something that would haunt him to the end of his days; the fourth statue stood between him and the stairwell, the only exit he knew of from this hellish basement. Its arms were raised as though it were about to lunge at him, the fingernails were long and sharp, like claws, and its face was twisted into a menacing snarl, needle-like fangs ready to tear into his tender flesh."

"G-get outta there kid! Them monsters're gonna get ya!" I almost laughed at AJ's outburst.

"Oh, he ran past it alright, doing his best to stay out of the reach of those wickedly sharp claws the statue bore. He never once took his eyes of the creature, and quickly noticed that it hadn't even twitched since he'd laid eyes on it. However… as he passed it, his light shone back, and his heart all but stopped in his chest as he realized that the other three statues were now much closer to him, all wearing much the same demonic visage as the one that had tried to keep him from escaping up the stairs."

"Wh-what h-happened to them…? Wh-why did they s-stop ch-chasing him?" Twilight was obviously terrified, but if she wanted me to stop, there wasn't a hint of it in her voice.

"All the boy could do was stare at the statue-creatures, his curiosity overriding his terror; why indeed had they stopped moving? Then it happened; he couldn't resist the temptation anymore… and blinked!" The girls yelped in terror. "In that single instant, all four of the beings were on him, the one closest to him had even grabbed the fabric of his shirt, holding it in an iron grip. Not wanting to be dinner for the vicious-looking monsters, he pulled himself free, tearing his shirt and leaving a chunk of it in the stone angel's grasp…"

"B-but h-how… I-I don't…" Poor Twilight; if only she knew what was coming…

I paused again and waited for the clacking of hooves to quiet down a bit. "Our hero wasn't about to wait around a second time to find out; he made a beeline for the stairs and then the exit. He thought he was home-free when the faint glow of the city lights beyond the glass of the front doors came into view, and the thought of freedom gave his tired body and terrified mind an extra kick. Just as he felt the cold metal of the door's handle against his palm, he also felt an even colder hand grip his shoulder."

"NO! He was so close! Why couldn't that monster just let him go?!"

"That thought flash through the young man's mind as well, but he tried to escape anyway. He was shocked to find that the creature practically let him go when he struggled to free himself, bolting through the front door and out into the parking lot where his friends were supposed to be waiting."

AJ let out a loud gulp and the clacking sound increased. "Th-there weren't nopony out there… were there?"

I shook my head. "No, the parking lot was deserted. Something about his surroundings seemed very off, but he couldn't place what it was. The teen brushed that thought from his mind though and started for home, wanting nothing more than to put the terrifying night behind him. In fact, he half-convinced himself that it had been some elaborate prank cooked up by his friends."

"W-well… was it?" Twilight sounded like she was calming down, probably having convinced herself that it was actually a prank.

"The hope was there, even after he saw many unfamiliar sights all along his route home; buildings that shouldn't have been there, and a lack of buildings that should have been. He truly couldn't understand what had happened when he arrived home… or where his home should have been… instead, there was an entirely different house standing in its place…"

"I-I don't understand… what happened to him…?"

"He asked himself the same question; what's going on here? Everything about this place is wrong… That was when he noticed a newspaper rolled up at his feet. He picked it up, on the off chance that he might figure out just what was going on. He opened it up and started looking for anything out of the ordinary… and that was when he noticed the date…" I gave another short pause for dramatic effect. "Everything seemed to stop for him as he read the numbers over and over, hoping it was all part of some sick joke his friends had played on him. The date on the paper read April sixteenth, nineteen forty six… sixty six years to the day before he had entered the building and run into the monsters that lurked inside."

I heard sniffling coming from across the fire. "N…no… that… that's so… so evil…"

Applejack cleared her throat several times. "Wh… what did he do…?"

I shrugged. "Most say he eventually accepted what happened to him and lived his life the best her could. He transcribed everything he'd been through and had it all read with his will, so his family might know what happened to him." I took a deep breath. "He never got to see his true family again… he died just days before his younger self went into the abandoned factory, but he never revealed himself to them… at least, not while he was alive…"

"Why would them critters do that ta him though?" I couldn't tell if AJ was more afraid or angry.

I let out a sigh. "No one really knows… some who have seen them and lived to tell the tale claim they do it out of malice… while others think they somehow feed off of it… consuming the energy created by their victim's absence from their own timeline… no one can really say for sure why they do such a horrible thing…"

"Then… why didn't they keep chasing him when he was looking at them? It doesn't make any sense…"

"Who can say Twilight? Maybe they get some kind of sick pleasure out of messing with their victim's minds… or maybe it's some weird quirk of their physiology, like a defense mechanism… it's a legend; if they really do exist, no one's ever studied one."

Twilight gulped and I heard a rustling sound as she got up from the fire. "Well, I think I'm good on ghost stories… forever…"

AJ chuckled and I heard her get up as well. "Ah hear ya Sugarcube… Ah don't think Ah'll be sleepin' much tonight…"

I laughed as well. "Aww c'mon girls… that was practically a bedtime story… Just wait till you hear about Freddy Krueger."

"NO THANK YOU!" The simultaneous response practically toppled me off the log I was sitting on.

A minute or so later, I heard the clattering of what was obviously cookware from where the tent had been pitched. "Ah think some tasty vittles'll get our minds offa that 'weepin' angel' business. At least fer now…"

I decided to take some time to continue drawing up plans for Pabu's new playground while Twilight and Applejack went to work cooking dinner. I had tried to convince them the first night to at least let me help, but the duo of stubborn mares wouldn't hear of it. I knew they were just doing it to be helpful, but it wasn't easy to keep the feelings of uselessness it brought about at bay. "Whatcha doin Sugarcube?"

I started as AJ's voice right next to my ear brought me back to reality. "OH! I'm um, drawing up plans for a pond for Pabu."

She let out a soft chuckle and I felt her lean against me. "That's mighty sweet o' ya Hon… but… how come Ah c'n see yer drawin'? Isn't this ink s'posed ta be invisible 'r somethin'?"

I dipped my quill in said ink again and continued working. "That's because I asked Lulu to send a non-invisible version of that ink too, that way I could send messages to ponies that can't see the invisible stuff… that and I wanted to be able to reread the letters Luna and I have been sharing once I get my sight back without having to use this spell… which I will be all too glad to be rid of, by the way."

"That makes a heap o' sense… so, while Twi finishes cookin' fer us, why don't y'all tell me more 'bout this here pond yer planning…"

I shrugged, feeling her weight shift against my shoulder. "There's not much to tell at this point; it's pretty much just a hole in the ground with water in it. I mean, I do plan to add a little slide, and an island with a comfy mat over top of a shale slab for him to sun himself on, plus a few other things I think he'll like, but I haven't gotten around to any of that yet."

"Well, what's that there?"

She moved her hoof and I looked where she had been pointing. "Oh. That's a doghouse for Aurora; I also have plans to add a doggy door to next to the sliding doors in the back, that way she can come and go as she pleases without having to ask us to let her in and out… with plans to expand as she gets older that is…"

"Ah still don't know if Ah trust a timberwolf… pup 'r not… but, Ah do trust you… just don't expect me ta trust it 'round Applebloom fer awhile."

There was a sudden yet quiet chime from out of nowhere. "Soup's on everypony!"

Applejack chuckled as she moved off of me to get herself some food. "That's mah line ya varmint!"

"Well, you weren't over here to say it, so there." I could just see Twilight sticking her tongue out at AJ in my mind.

I kicked on my aurasight and chuckled as I watched a small bowl and plate hover towards me, suspended in a magical field. "Now now girls… if there's going to be any fighting… it's gonna be over me…" I only just managed to dodge what looked like a cucumber slice that came whizzing towards my head. "You'll never win a fight over me with aim like that!"

We roughhoused and played around with each other for some time after we'd all finished eating the surprisingly tasty rice dish and salad Twilight had made us; forgetting, if only for a moment, just where we were and how dangerous our quest could be.

"Ah still think y'all were a little hard on that cockatrice earlier Sugarcube…" We were all lying in the tent now, getting ready for sleep.

I cocked my head to the side quizzically. "How so? I left for a bathroom break, and when I came back, he had Twilight already petrified, and you weren't far behind her… if you ask me, he's lucky I let him walk away at all…"

AJ sighed. "Well yeah, but did ya hafta use yer knife ta scare 'im like that?"

"I could have used my gun, if that makes you feel any better."

I didn't have my aurasight on, but I could still feel Applejack's deadpan. "It don't… Ah get it might come in useful back where y'all're from, but Ah just don't think ya need somethin' like that here…"

I heard Twilight rustling on my other side. "I beg to differ Applejack; it may be dangerous, but his firearm has saved his life on at least two separate occasions, and could have saved him from some of the terrible injuries he's received on others."

Applejack sighed again, sounding more reserved. "Ah hear where yer comin' from Twi, it's just… Ah gotta think about Applebloom; what if she gets ahold o' that thing? She could hurt one of 'er friends… or worse…"

I rolled over and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to worry about that AJ; I had Luna enchant it so that only I can use it, if anyone else even tries, it'll lock itself up so that I have to cast an unlock spell on it before it can be used again. Besides, I doubt anypony without magic would be able to use it anyway; it wasn't exactly designed to be used with hooves after all…"

I felt Applejack relax a bit under my hand. "Thanks Sugarcube… Ah actually feel better now…"

"Anytime AJ, I know how worrying about something so dangerous can be, so I totally understand where you're coming from on this… anyway, I think we should all settle in for the night; we've got a long trek ahead of again tomorrow."

I heard Twilight rustle around again, and felt her magical pressure pushing against my mind. "Actually… according to the map, we'll be arriving at the temple sometime tomorrow afternoon… if we keep up a good pace that is."

"Well Ah hope we find a stream 'r somethin' soon; Ah may not mind gettin' dirty, but that don't mean Ah don't like bein' clean too…"

"Hmm… I thought we wouldn't be reaching it till the day after tomorrow… what changed?"

Twilight rustled again, and I felt her magic shift somewhat. "Well… nothing really, it just looks like we've been covering more ground every day than we thought… I guess that's because the forest has been oddly forgiving on our trip."

Applejack hissed. "SHH! Don't say that Twi! You'll jinx us! Next thing ya know, the whole camp'll be surrounded by manticores 'r somethin'!"

I rolled over and kissed my sweet southern belle on the nose. "I don't think it'll be that bad AJ; besides, the three of us can handle just about anything this forest can throw at us."

Twilight gulped behind me. "What about dragons, or an Ursa?"

I chuckled and rolled over onto my back, folding my hands behind my head. "Heh heh… I did say 'almost', didn't I?"

The conversation lulled quickly, and it wasn't long before I heard Applejack's light snoring as she cuddled up next to me as best she could in her sleeping bag. Twilight on the other hand, had set up her bag on the other side of the tent, as she had every night since we'd been here. I knew she was afraid that if she snuggled up to me that I might see it as an unwelcome gesture, but in reality, that couldn't have been farther from the truth. With a flick of my wrist, I wreathed her bag in my magic and slowly dragged it, and her, over to my free side.

Twilight yelped slightly at the sudden movement, but she seemed to quickly catch on to what was happening, not putting up a fight at all when I wrapped my arm around her. She didn't move for several seconds, probably confused at just what was happening, but that didn't last, as she threw her hoof across my chest and snuggled tightly against me, and I felt one weight in my chest lift, only to be replaced by another as I realized just how badly she'd been hurting the entire time we'd been apart.

I leaned in and kissed her lightly on the forehead. "I love you Twilight Sparkle…"