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// Matthew Harris 
// Story: Second Chance 
// by Subject 19 
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Late at night in the Everfree Forest, a gray coated unicorn carrying a brown saddlebag wandered aimlessly through. He had a thick black mane and dark blue eyes. On his flank he had a sword and a shield as a cutie mark. His name was Matthew Harris. Not many ponies in Equestria even knew who he was or had heard of him, but those who did knew hardly anything about him. All anyone really knew about him was that he was strong both physically and magically, and that he always had frown on his face. After walking through the forest for a few hours, Matthew finally saw what appeared to be a town in the distance.
“I suppose I can spend a night or two there to rest,” he thought out loud, his voice deep and smooth.
He continued onwards and headed into the town to search for a place to stay the night. Since the gray pony had no money, he decided to sleep in the park, where the ground would at least be easier to sleep on than in the Everfree Forest.  Settling himself up against a large tree, Matthew quickly fell asleep, getting some much needed rest.
When Matthew woke up, he was greeted with the sun beating down on his face. It was a warm summer day and there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. Matthew slowly got up, his back sore from leaning up against a hard tree all throughout the night. Just as he stood up however, he heard a soft grumbling in his stomach. ‘Looks like I’m going to have to find some food around here,’ he thought. ‘Maybe they have an open market where I can hopefully swipe me a breakfast and not get caught.’
Matthew managed to navigate his way into the center of town where he found just what he was looking for. He swiped some apples while nopony was looking using his magic and put them in his saddlebag while he continued to walk past all of the other stands. Just as he made it through the market area, a pink pony started bouncing towards Matthew.
“Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie!” the pony loudly introduced. “What’s your name?”
Matthew’s usual frown deepened significantly, showing his immediate annoyance with the pink pony. “Matthew Harris,” he bitterly replied, hoping his tone would encourage Pinkie to leave him alone.
“You must be new in town because I know I’ve never seen you before!” Pinkie said in her usual energetic voice. Matthew sighed realizing that she probably wasn’t going to leave him alone. “Are you moving in to Ponyville? Oh that would be so cool, and then we could be friends and tell stories about each other!”
“Listen twerp, I might be staying here for good, I might not be. And just to be perfectly clear with you, I will never be your friend,” Matthew hissed, his patience completely gone.
“Well I’m going to be your friend whether you like it or not,” Pinkie said confidently.
Now Matthew had finally had enough. He grabbed the party pony by the neck with both his hooves and pulled her face up to his. “Now listen, and listen good, because I don’t believe in repeating myself. You leave me alone. I don’t want anything to do with you,” he explained, his voice filled with rage and annoyance. “Do I make myself clear?”
The pony happily shook her head up and down before Matthew released her and continued on his way through town, back to the park he had slept in the night before. He sat down in the shade of a tree and started to eat the apples out of his saddlebag. Once he was finished eating, he shut his eyes and simply relaxed in the cool shade.
“Commander, you can’t die! This empire needs you!” a voice shouted.
“It’s too late, I’m afraid. I will not be making it back home, Raven,” Matthew said.
“Sir, don’t do this. We can still get you out of there!” Raven protested.
Matthew sighed, knowing that this was the end. “You’re a good man, Raven. I wish you the best of luck for the task ahead of you.” With those final words, a bright flash enveloped Matthew before everything turned dark.
Matthew’s eyes shot open only to see the same pink mare from earlier sitting right in front of him.
“What do you want now, twerp?” Matthew asked impatiently.
“I saw you were having a bad dream so I decided to come over and see if there was anything I could do for you!” Pinkie explained.
“It wasn’t a bad dream; it was just a memory of a life I once lived.”
After hearing what Matthew had just said, Pinkie started jumping up and down in excitement. “Oh, you mean you’ve lived more than one life? That sounds so super duper fun! What was it like? Did you have fun?”
Matthew immediately regretted saying anything about his dream to Pinkie. However, he knew just by looking at the mare that it would be pointless to attempt to withhold information from her. Information like his dream. “If I tell you will you promise to be quiet at least while I talk and not ask any questions?”
“Sure,” Pinkie replied quickly shaking her head up and down.
“I was once the commander of a very proud and powerful empire. Before I died, we were at war with a group of planets who called themselves the Federation of Separatist Planets,” Pinkie just silently listened to Matthew tell his story, showing genuine interest. “To make a long story short, I died trying to protect my empire and its people. Then I woke up here in this body. I don’t know how or why this happened, but I think some supreme being has given me another chance to live a life I couldn't have as the commander of my empire. I've been wandering this land ever since I woke up here, searching for a new purpose in life.” Matthew let out a heavy sigh. “That’s my story so far.”
“Do you have any idea what your new purpose is?”
“No.”
“Hmm.” Pinkie put a hoof under her chin as she tried to think of way to help Matthew find a purpose. “I know!” she shouted, jumping into the air. “I’ll take you to my friend Twilight! She’s super duper smart. I’m sure she could help you.”
“Fine,” the gray pony sighed.