Chapter 2: The second chance
Darkness, that’s all the figure can see. No light, no warmth, nothing. He wondered if this is what death feels like. To him it feels like it’s all over, the pain he has suffered and the hard times he has been through were over. But part of him is telling himself it’s wrong, he wanted to live life to the fullest, to get married, have children, see his children have children, and die of old age, that was the life he wanted, but now that he is dead he couldn’t have the life he wanted.
…
Suddenly, a bright light appeared from nowhere and blinded the figure, it felt nice and warm. Then the figure realized that the light is telling him it’s not his time to go but to have a second chance at life, he wanted to take that chance to live again and start fresh.
With no time to waste the figure went towards the light and everything went white.
…
His vision was coming back, that’s a good start as he blinked a few times to regain it faster and saw a white ceiling. The figure stood up from what ever he was laying on and looked around to see where he was. What he saw was a white clean room, the first thing he saw was a mirror. He remembered when he first woke up last night and tried to stand up he felt weird and decided to worry about it later, now was the time to find out. As he moved to the mirror to see what was wrong with himself he suddenly fell down, he looked to see what caused him to fall down and saw a bed. He didn’t realize he was laying on a bed the entire time.
“How clumsy of me.” He said with a hint of embarrassment in his voice.
He continued to head towards the mirror by dragging himself on the floor; it was the only way to get to the mirror for he still doesn’t know what was wrong with him.
As the figure finally made it to the mirror he couldn’t believe what he saw.
“This is not what I had in mind for a second chance.” The figure said.
In the mirror he saw himself changed into the form of a horse, his coat a pure white, his eyes were the same brown color as they were, and his hair is also the same black color but it mysteriously grew longer and it was messy, what shocked him the most was that he has a tail that is also the same color as his hair that is just as messy. He still couldn’t believe what he was seeing but he tried not to panic as he still continued to discover his new body. As the figure was looking at his new form he saw two identical symbols on his flank, it had the letter “A” at the center with two tomahawks underneath the letter crossing each other like crossbones.
“I really hope I am not hallucinating.” The figure said.
Suddenly
*creek*
“Oh! You’re awake!”
The figure turned around where the voice came from, which sounded female. As he turned around he saw another horse that was like himself whose coat is also pure white, her hair is tied into a bun and her tail was long. The color of her hair and tail is pink and her eyes were a light blue. She also had symbols on her flank, but it was different than his, the symbols are a red cross at the center and four pink hearts were at the corner of the cross. She also wore a hat that has the same symbols on her flank.
She spoke.
“Wha-what are you doing out of the bed!”
The female horse ran up to the figure to check if his injuries had opened. The figure didn’t respond, he just stared at the horse in shock as she checked his wounds. It talked! At first he wanted to panic, but he decided to remain calm, he didn’t want to make things worse.
He replied calmly.
“M-my apologies, I did not know where I was.”
“Well then,” she said. “One thing for sure you’re in the hospital, and pegasi like you always end up here when you do dangerous stunts to improve your flight skills.”
“Pardon?” The figure said with shock in his voice.” Pegasi? Stunts? Flights?”
“That’s right” she said. "Didn't you notice your wings? What kind of pony are you that doesn’t know he has
Wings?”
The figure was shocked even more. Wings!? Horses don’t have wings!
Do they?
The figure turned around to face the mirror and what she said was true. He does have wings! He panicked as his wings flapped uncontrollably, but quickly stood still trying to not make things worse.
“What’s wrong, are you alright!?” said the female. “You look like as if you never had knew you had wings!”
It’s true. The figure never knew he had wings when he woke up, now he has to explain what was wrong with him. He hated lying to others but it was the only way to not make the female hor-pony to think he is crazy. So he decided to tell the truth and lie at the same time.
“W-well, to be honest I did notice them but I never knew how to use them…”
The female pony was shocked; this pegasus doesn't know how to fly!
“Wha-what!? You knew you had wing but never knew how to fly!?”
She fell for the “lie”, now it was time for the “truth and the lie”.
“Yes that is the truth, I knew I had these “wings” but I was never taught how to use them due to the fact I was the only one with them.”
The female responded. “You were the only one!? What about your family!? Your parents!?”
“I never had any siblings, as for my mother and father…well…”
The female pony understood what the pony was about to say and decided to end the conversation.
“You don’t have to say no more, I understand.”
The female smiled as she tried not to bring up any painful memories back to the pegasus.
“How about we get up from the floor and head back to the bed shall we Mr. …”
“Connor, my name is Connor Kenway.”
The female pony responded back. “Connor, that’s a nice name for a pegasus like you. My name is Redheart.”
“Redheart,” Said Connor. “That’s a nice name for a.... pony such as yourself.”
Redheart blushed slightly after hearing the comment Connor gave her. “Y-you flatter me Mr. Connor, but let’s get you back to the bed shall we?”
She helped Connor get up from the floor and headed toward the bed until…
“Wait!” Connor shouted. “The child! Where’s the child!”
“Child? Replied Redheart “Oh! You mean the filly that was with you when the mare dropped you off here!”
“Mare?”
Suddenly Connor remembered the voice he heard when he tried to look for a doctor.
Connor asked Readheart a question.
“Redheart, do you know the name of the “mare” that put me and the uh…filly here?”
“Of course, her name is-
*creek*
“Hello? Are the pegasus and the filly I saved in this room?”
“Cheerilee!” said Redheart. “We were just talking about you!”
“We? Said Cherilee as she looked at a certain white pegasi, she walked towards him and spoke. “Oh its you! You’re the one who asked for help at my front door.”
Connor replied back.
“Yes, I was the one who asked for help that night and I thank you for helping me and the filly Cheerilee.”
Cheerilee smiled from his comment and replied back.
“You’re very welcome Mr.…?”
“Connor, my name is Connor Kenway.
“Connor,” Said Cheerilee “I am glad I was able to help.”
Redheart spoke into the conversation.
“Well I am glad the two of you are getting along, but shall we look for the filly’s room?”
Both Connor and Cheerilee nodded.
“Excellent!” Said Redheart. “But first we must get Mr. Connor here a wheelchair.”
“Wheelchair?” Connor said with confusion in his voice. He didn’t know what a “wheelchair” is, but what ever it is he needs it, for he still doesn’t know how to walk in his new form.
…
Moments later after getting Connor a “wheelchair”, Redheart leads Cheerilee to the fillies’ room as she pushed Connors wheelchair to look for the room as well. After minutes looking for the room they went inside and saw the filly sitting up on the bed, the fillies coat is orange, its hair and tail’s color is purple and is also messy like Connors, and it has two small wings on her back. It was a pegasi like Connor, but it is female.
Redheart spoke to the filly pegasi as the three walked/rolled to the filly’s bed.
“Hello little one, how are you feeling?”
The filly responded back.
“Ok I guess…”
The filly’s response sounded sad, Redheart spoke back to check what was wrong with the filly.
“Is everything alright? What’s wrong?”
“Who brought me here? Who saved me, and why?
Redheart was shocked by the filly’s words.
“W-what do you mean?”
“Why was I saved! I was fine where I was!”
Suddenly
“No you weren’t! You were running a fever! I had to get you help!”
Connor shouted at the orange filly pegasi.
“You’re the one who saved me?” said the filly pegasi. “Why?”
“I do not understand its sound like as if you didn’t want to be rescued that night.”
The filly responded back quickly.
“No, no that’s not it! It’s just that eveypony that sees me on the streets alone completely ignores me, they don’t ask me questions like: Are you all aright? Why are you alone? Or is everything ok?”
This shocked everypony in the room, how could somepony ignore a filly that’s all alone by herself and not ask her if she’s alright!
Cheerilee spoke to the filly.
“What about your parents?”
“I am an orphan; I don’t have any parents…”
This shocks everypony again this filly doesn’t have any parents!
Redheart spoke next.
“What about the orphanage, surely you can be adopted there.”
“I ran away from the orphanage, no pony wanted to adopt me and one by one everypony was being adopted by great parents. I couldn’t handle it anymore, so I ran away and never went back. I've been living on my own ever since.
The ponies were shocked even more by this. This filly ran away from the orphanage because she was never adopted and was now living all alone.
Connor was surprise by the filly’s story; he has been in a similar situation as the filly but much more brutal. He put his hoof on her shoulder and spoke to her.
“What is your name little one?”
The filly responded.
“Scootaloo.”
“Scootaloo, my name is Connor and I have been in the same situation as you but different.”
The filly Pegasus was confused, what did he mean by different situation? She replied back.
“What do you mean by “same situation but different?”
“I was an orphan like you.”
Scootaloo was shocked and so was Cheerilee and Redheart, they never knew Connor was an orphan. The male pegasus continued to speak about his past, but mixed it with some truth and lies.
“It all happened when I was your age, I was playing hide and seek with my friends in the wood away from my village. As we were playing I fell asleep while hiding in a spot that no o-pony will ever find me, as I woke up I realized it was late and I had to go home.”
Suddenly his voice stuttered.
As I got to the village...it was on fire…I ran inside to find my mother…but…it was too late…I couldn’t save her…I’ll never forget the words she told me that day…Be strong she said…that’s what I did as I grew up…and I’ll stay strong until it is my time to leave this world.
After hearing about Connors past nopony could believe what he had been through. His home was burnt down and he lost his mother at the same time. Anypony at such a young age would be mentally unstable, but not Connor. He stood strong just as his mother told him. But there were a few things that were bothering the three female ponies, such as what started the fire? Where was his father? And how did he move on from such a horrible event?
Cheerilee was the first to speak.
“Did anypony know what caused the fire?”
“No, they say it was an accident, other said that it was an attack by a rival village, but we never knew.’
Redheart was the next to speak.
“What about your father?”
“I…I never met my father…”
Lastly, Scootaloo spoke.
“What did you do after that?”
“I left the village when I grew older, as I left I went on a journey to find a place to start a new life but instead I was thrown into an adventure of a life time.”
The three ponies were surprised by Connors story even more. The villagers from his home never knew what caused the fire, he grew up without a father, and when his mother died he left his village to seek a new life.
Connor really hated lying, the story he had told to Redheart, Cheeirlee, and Scootaloo was both a lie and the truth. He didn’t want to tell them the whole story and what really happened, for they are good people, or ponies actually. The truth can never be told. Connor can tell that these ponies have never seen violence, war, and death, he has seen them all and it’s the reason he can’t tell them. Perhaps one day he will tell them the truth about his past and what he has done when he has gained their trust, or better yet time will know when he can truly tell them his whole story.
Suddenly Cheeirlee broke his train of thought when she spoke.
“Well, I am glad I could come and visit you both Mr. Connor and little Scootaloo, as well as getting getting to know you both but I have to go."
Connor nodded and replied back to Cheeirlee.
“I am glad you were able to take some of your time to visit us as well, perhaps we can get to know you more as well some day?”
Cheeirlee smiled at Connor.
“Of course, I would like to know more about you as well someday!”
With that said she left.
Redheart spoke next.
“Well then I’m glad we could visit and got know each other, but I’m afraid I must get Mr. Connor here back to his room and let little Scootaloo rest, mostly you Connor.”
“M-me?” said Connor.
“That’s right,” said Redheart. “Tomorrow we need to run some test on you to see if that wound on your stomach still has any vital damage to you and to teach you how to fly since you told me earlier today that you don't know how.”
Scootaloo interrupted.
“Wait, you can’t fly!?”
Connor slightly blushed in embarrassment and replied back.
“It’s a long story, perhaps next time.”
“Aw…”
Redheart continue to speak where she left off.
“Anyway, Connor has a busy day tomorrow so my suggestion is for you to rest.”
Connor let out a deep breath and replied back.
“Very well, some sleep sounds good at the moment.”
*Grumble*
His stomach growled.
Connor blushed as he rubs the back of his head with his hoof.
“Perhaps some food would be best before I rest…”
Both Redheart and Scootaloo laughed at Connors situation.
As for Connor he knows that tomorrow will be a very busy day, and very different.
Completely different in his second chance at life.
To be continued …