//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: A Second Chance 
// by Meteorite Shower 
//------------------------------//

"No, Rarity.  I'm not Twilight."

Alexandra briefly rubbed her temple before lining up her eyes to meet those of the unicorn before her, who was rapidly growing concerned with every second.

"I'm… just a fan, Rarity," she said softly, "I'm… someone who sees this world of yours from their world, and well, I liked it so much I wanted to write about it.  About the ponies who live here.  About… whatever."

Rarity's eyes darted back and forth, trying to make sense of what she was being told, before she drooped her head slightly.

"So…" she began, her gaze not focused on anything, "you're writing whatever you want about… Ponyville?  About the ponies here?"  Her head snapped up, pupils dilated, "About me?!"

Alexandra paused, leaning away slightly in fear.  Oh no, she's having a mental breakdown. She glanced around briefly. What do I do?  Should I… just restart?  There's no saving this… No saving Rari-…

She looked into Rarity's eyes, seeing the fear and panic welling up inside.  She frowned, gritted her teeth, and knelt down on the ground to be at eye level with Rarity, and placed her hands on Rarity's shoulders.

"Rarity.  Listen to me. You are you.  I cannot change that.  Even if I wanted to, the fact remains that then I wouldn't be writing about you.  You are and always will be Rarity, the most kindest and generous of all ponies, and I'll be damned if I change a single thing about you!"

There was a notable silence as Rarity blinked a few times, her body relaxing and her pupils returned somewhat back to normal.  She adjusted her position on her couch, visibly embarrassed.

"I'm… sorry darling.  I'm not really sure what came over me."

Alexandra continued frowning, crossing her arms. "It's okay…" she muttered.  "I blame myself mostly.  I worried so much about you having a panic attack that I think I inadvertently talked myself into influencing you into having one."

Rarity reeled back slightly.  "So you did do something to me?"

Alexandra sighed. "Not on purpose."  She drummed her fingers lightly on her arm. "Look, I'm not going to pretend I'm a great writer, but I do what I can to… well, not change anything." She pointed to the streets. "All I want to do is just write about Meteorite and her interactions with the world as it is. What's the point of that if I'm just going to alter the world anyway?"

Rarity glanced thoughtfully at the street beside them, still frozen outside the interaction pocket surrounding her and Alexandra.

"I take it Meteorite knows… who you are, and what you're capable of?"

Alexandra stifled a laugh. "Well, yeah." Her eyes widened, and a panicked tone settled into her voice.  "Uhhh, I mean-"

Rarity looked back at her, eyebrow arched.  Alexandra's shoulders sagged.

"Oh, what the hell.  I'm in this deep anyway.  Meteorite's…"  Alexandra stopped herself, mulling over how to proceed.  "Okay, look.  About-" she mentally counted off on her fingers, "-six years ago, six years holy hell," she shook her head, "anyway, six years ago, I had a curious moment about your world, where I said to myself, 'hey, what if I woke up one day here in Equestria and I was a pony all of a sudden? How crazy would that be?! I wonder how I'd react to that!'" Alexandra waved her hand toward the street with a small flourish, "And so… Meteorite."

Rarity frowned in confusion.  "Wait, darling.  Are you saying… that you're Meteorite?"

Alexandra shrugged with exaggeration.  "Ennnh… yes and no.  I mean, yes, we are technically the same person.  Pony.  Whatever. But!  Like I said, it's been six years.  I've been continuing living my own life in my world, whereas Meteorite… basically had to start a new life here in Equestria."

Rarity's face was aghast.  "Oh my, that's… that's… dreadful!  I had no idea!"

Alexandra rubbed the back of her head.  "Yeah… well, Meteorite doesn't exactly want anyone to know."

Rarity frowned slightly.  "Why not?"

Alexandra sucked in some air.  "Well… take your little episode just now as the main reason."  Rarity blinked as realization dawned on her.

"She doesn't want anypony to panic?"

Alexandra nodded.  "Meteorite knows she's in a world she used to view as a fictional world, even without remembering her meetings with me.  She's terrified of how ponies will react to finding out the truth… like how I was with you just now." 

Rarity put her hoof on her chin, deep in thought. "I see…"  She looked at Alexandra.  "Can't you just do what you did earlier and calm everypony down?"

Alexandra sighed.  "That'd be interfering.  I… don't want to do that.  Heck, it's bad enough I've been having myself here talking to you this much!  This was supposed to be about Meteorite, yet I've had more screen time than her so far!"  Alexandra gestured to herself, before blinking a couple times and then she slowly buried her face in her hands. "Oh lord, I've written myself into the same story twice.  Why do I even bother?"

There was an uncomfortable silence as Rarity watched Alexandra wallow silently in despair.  She carefully leaned forward and patted Alexandra lightly on the shoulder.

"Um, there there, darling.  There there."

Alexandra remained silent for a moment, before suddenly getting up, surprising Rarity in the process. She dusted herself off.

"Okay, enough of that; I'm over it now."

"A-Already?"

Alexandra shrugged, putting her hands on her hips.  "Well. I've had a week just now. Besides, it was mostly just a gag." She looked over at Rarity. "Sorry if I worried you."

Rarity nodded slightly, still concerned.  "You did, I must admit."

Alexandra stared in thought, before turning her attention to the streets.  "Well," she barely muttered, "that's just one more thing I messed up, I guess.  Sorry."

"It's alright, darling.  No harm done."

Alexandra allowed herself a small smile for a few seconds, before thinking some more. "Not to you.  I've… messed things up for Meteorite though. That's…  That's why I have to start over again.  I can't let her go on and think that my mistake was her fault."

Rarity lowered her head as well as her voice.  "What did you do?"

Alexandra's shoulders sagged.  "I let myself get talked into something by… well, myself."  She turned to face Rarity.  "Meteorite wanted… to be less nervous, and I obliged.  I thought it'd be a fun writing exercise, but all I did was let her say whatever popped into her head and now she's… she's…" Alexandra paused, her voice starting to waver.  She took a few deep breaths to calm down before continuing. "And now, either she thinks she's an idiot for not thinking, or she… hates me for messing things up." She looked down, feeling ashamed. After a moment, Rarity released the breath she didn't realise she was holding.

"And that's why you have to reset things," Rarity stated quietly.  Alexandra nodded.  Rarity sat there in silence, going over everything she's heard that day. She spoke again, still in a hush.

"I won't remember any of this, will I?"

"No…" Alexandra said, shaking her head slowly, "sorry."

Rarity held her chin in her hoof as she thought.  The next time she spoke, it was in a loud and clear manner.

"In that case, may I ask you a question?  Before you put everything the way it was, I mean.  It has been troubling me today, and in fact, is the reason why I was out here at all.  If it can be answered, surely you can."

Alexandra looked up, mildly surprised by the request.  "Uh… sure?  Yeah, go ahead."

Rarity sat up straight and looked Alexandra in the eye.  "Meteorite said some things to me earlier.  I'm… not sure what she wanted, but I definitely got the feeling it wasn't just polite conversation.  So… I ask of you, what did Meteorite want with me, exactly?"

Alexandra froze as her eyes widened, and a hint of a blush appeared on her cheeks.

"Oh. That."

Alexandra glanced off to the side, her mind racing with thoughts.

"W-  Well. Y'see, um.  The thing with that is-" Alexandra hesitated, lightly biting her thumb.  She turned back to face Rarity, with a helpless expression.  "Y'know…  i-it's not really my place to tell…"

There was silence between the two, before Rarity ever so slightly sighed in defeat.  "Yes… of course.  You are quite right, my dear."  Her head and gaze dropped. "I was wrong to even ask."

Alexandra felt a lump in her throat.  Closing her eyes, she sighed as she carefully walked up to Rarity.  She gestured to the couch.  "May I?" she asked softly.

Rarity looked up, surprised.  "Oh!  C-Certainly," she said as she shuffled off to the side.  Alexandra smiled slightly as she sat down on Rarity's couch carefully, smoothing out her skirt as she did so.  She sat there thinking for a few moments, as Rarity watched her.

"Y'know…" Alexandra said, not looking at Rarity, "when I first heard about Equestria, about you, and your circle of friends… Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie, etcetera… I liked you all.  I still do."  She bowed her head slightly and laid her hands in her lap. "But… one pony started to shine above the rest.  She... started to grow on me.  She was kind, thoughtful… hard-working," a smile formed on her lips, "she was funny, although… probably not intentionally most of the time, but… I liked her.  I could see she was a pony that worked hard to reach her dreams, but she put others before her.  I respected that about her.  I… cared about her, and her goals."

Alexandra looked at Rarity, meeting her eyes. Rarity stayed quiet, but was paying full attention.  Alexandra continued.

"I mean, I still feel the same way now, but…" she bit her lower lip in thought, "I guess back then, my feelings were a lot… stronger?  I mean, nowadays, it probably helped that we're in separate realities," she said softly with a slight grin.  She faced away from Rarity, lost in thought again.  "But anyway.  That was about six or seven years ago.  Around that time… that's… when I threw Meteorite into Equestria."  She frowned.  "I… I didn't even consider it until it happened.  Back then, I was like, 'Oh hah, Meteorite is probably gonna have a crush!  Haha, that'll be funny to see,'" Alexandra swallowed.  "Except it wasn't.  Oh, at first, it was 'adorable', seeing the crush develop and Meteorite trying to deal with it.  But now…"

Alexandra dropped her head, shamefully.  "Now… it's been six years.  And the crush… is now unrequited love.  And every time I see Meteorite like that… it hurts.  It hurts, and I keep wanting to help her, even though I told myself I wouldn't interfere."

She stopped, before realising she was shaking.  She took a few steady deep breaths, trying to calm down.  She looked over to her left, her sad eyes meeting Rarity's.  Rarity swallowed, carefully considering what she was about to say.

"She's… in love with me?"

Rarity didn't need to ask; she had picked up on it, but she had told herself she had to be mistaken, that she was being conceited to even think that.  Nevertheless, it still was a shock when Alexandra nodded.

"For how long," Rarity murmured, "six years? I… I had no idea."

Alexandra sighed and leaned back.  "Well.  No. You wouldn't."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's just say… this isn't the first time Meteorite has tried to confess her feelings to you."

"It's…"  Rarity's eyes darted back and forth, "You've… you've reset before."

"Yup," Alexandra sat back up, looking at Rarity. "Although.  First time I've ended up having a discussion with you though."

Rarity was still unsettled.  "How… how many times have… you…"

"Not that many," Alexandra admitted, getting up and taking a few steps, her hands behind her back.  "Most of the time it's just a passing idea in my head, but regardless… no matter however I think Meteorite should go about telling you, it's always the same thing that stops anything further from happening…"

"W-What is it?" Rarity asked in a low whisper.

Alexandra slowly turned around, a sad smile on her face.

"I can't force you to love someone."