A Second Chance

by Meteorite Shower

Chapter 8

The small farm cottage lay quiet for the night; its residents all gone off to bed, ready for the next day of work on the farm, as always. Except for one pony.

Meteorite lied still in her bed, staring at the darkened ceiling, her mind using it as a canvas to organise her thoughts. That day had been a whirlwind of emotions and experiences, and it was finally catching up with her, now she had time to think to herself. Only, she didn't quite know what to make of it.

She shifted slightly, and turned to look at Flo, already asleep in her bed on the opposite side of their room. She had a content smile on her face, as she peacefully slumbered on her side, hooves under her pillow. But that wasn't anything new. Still, Meteorite smiled for a brief second before turning back to the ceiling, remembering the evening earlier.

"Heeey," Meteorite called out as she entered the cottage, "I'm back!" She made her way towards the dining area where Flo and Silverfire, a light grey stallion, were sitting and talking. Flo turned to face Meteorite, smiling widely and waving.

"Meteorite! Oh my gosh, you have to tell me everythi-" Flo hushed as her eyes grew wide as she took a proper look at Meteorite. She next spoke with a quiet awe. "What happened to your mane?"

Meteorite snickered, as she overdramatically flicked her mane with a grin. "Rarity gave me a do-over after lunch! Isn't it amazing?"

"You look a million times better!" Flo said excitedly, before turning to Silverfire, "Silverfire! Doesn't she look way better?"

The redheaded stallion glanced between the two mares, unsure how to respond. "Uh… yeah! Sure does!" He rubbed his neck, unsure if that was enough. "Uh, you look… rad."

Meteorite giggled, before smiling warmly. "Thank you. I feel 'rad'."

Flo beamed at Meteorite. "Ooh, today must've been just heavenly! You get to see and wear the latest fashion, you get a makeover…" she sighed wistfully, "I'm giddy just thinking about it… too bad it had to end."

Meteorite gave an abashed smile. "Heh, uh, well, actually… Rarity kinda asked me to… come back next week…"

Flo gaped at Meteorite. "WHAAAAT?" she said incredulously, as she stood up suddenly, forehooves on the table. "You're kidding me!"

"Nope!" Meteorite responded, unable to stop herself from grinning. Flo's face scrunched up as she fumed cutely.

"I'm so jealous of you right now."

Meteorite blinked away the memory, perturbed as her inner cynic started voicing doubts she had tried to forget over the years. She turned over onto her side, facing the wall.

Why had Rarity wanted her back? Was it simply to finish up today's leftovers? In that case, why not tomorrow? Meteorite frowned. She didn't really have a good answer. Maybe Rarity was busy with other things? She didn't know. Maybe that's all it really was.

But that's not what's bothering you, is it? the voice inside her pointed out. Meteorite bit her lip. She didn't want to think about it, but she couldn't ignore it anymore.

Things were going too well.

She tossed over to her other side, inclining her head to stare out the open window between the two beds. She stared into the night sky, at the stars, at the space in between.

She had dropped the attempts to rile up the author a few years back, simply because it wasn't getting her anywhere, and there was absolutely no inclination of any kind of response in return. Meteorite finally gave up and decided to accept life as a pony, if only to save her sanity. It took some time to adjust, but she eventually started enjoying herself more once she stopped being scared of people judging her and her actions simply by virtue of being an OC.

But fears never truly go away, do they?

She desperately wanted to just accept the fact that she had managed to score a way to spend time with Rarity, a way that was perfectly innocent with no ulterior motive by some 'hidden' third party.

But of course it'd be perfectly innocent, wouldn't it?

Meteorite let out a sigh that threatened to turn into a sob, but she maintained her composure. A few moments passed as she gritted her teeth, and sat up in bed. A quick glance told her Flo was still asleep before she quietly stepped down out of bed and sitting in front of the window. She folded her forelegs on the windowsill, her snout nuzzled against them as she stargazed.

Was there someone behind the scenes directing this? Of course, by 'someone', she naturally meant herself as the author. But it had been years. So much time had gone by; what she once firmly had believed to be the absolute truth, had slowly turned surreal with each passing day. It just didn't seem plausible anymore that she had been dumped into this world, only to be immediately forgotten until years later, just to be obviously paired up with Rarity.

Meteorite snorted. Well. It was totally plausible to be immediately forgotten. After all, previously she had never finished writing any kind of story ever. Why should she be any different?

Still… why now? Why put things into motion now? She thought back on the past six years in Equestria. Nothing about her time there suggested that now would be a good time to just ignore canon and throw her and Rarity together.

Meteorite shifted a bit. Maybe… Maybe there was a time skip? Maybe… the story was just, 'Meteorite bamfs into Equestria, FEW YEARS LATER, oh hey, it's Rarity'? Meteorite frowned. No, that didn't seem right. Besides, things happened. There was Twilight becoming a princess, there was the new castle… Tirek's attack… apparently the changelings have all become good as well... It didn't make sense for a time skip to happen and have all these things skipped over.

Also, these did not seem like the things she'd write about. These were most likely episode focuses, naturally, but that raised another issue. Either this really was Equestria, and these things were going to happen regardless, or she was inside her own story, and what happened in Equestria was being fed back into this version of Equestria for authenticity.

She… really couldn't see herself keeping up that kind of ruse for all this time. She wasn't even sure what kind of story that'd be. Certainly not anything entertaining. She rolled her eyes at distant memories of certain fanfics she read that were just carbon copies of TV episodes but 'oh hey, my OC is in this scene too'. She was certain she would never become one of those writers, even as a joke.

Meteorite sat still for a while, continuing to ponder her existence. Eventually, she stretched her forelegs out, idly staring blankly at them for a moment, before shaking her head and climbing back into bed.

Maybe I'm just being paranoid, she told herself, settling back in under the covers. Yeah… so what if I'm getting closer to Rarity? It's my life, I'm allowed to. She yawned, closing her eyes. Besides… she thought sleepily, when have I ever finished anything? If this was a story, I guarantee this'll be as far as it'll go.

With that final thought for the night, Meteorite fell asleep with a small smile on her face, content that she had overcome her existential quandary, if just for tonight.

---

Back in Ponyville, in a certain boutique, a certain unicorn was having their own internal crisis.

Rarity had been laying in her bed for a while now, her eye mask firmly in place, but she couldn't shake off the creeping uneasiness she had been feeling all night. She tossed back and forth a few times, grumbling in frustration.

"Why. Can't. I. Sleep?!" she growled to herself, before sitting up and angrily removing her eye mask with her magic. She blinked a few times, her eyes readjusting to the dimly lit room. She squinted at her eye mask in front of her, and with a huff, tossed it onto her nightstand. It clearly was not helping.

After a few moments of deliberating what to do, Rarity slid out of her bed, making sure to neatly put the quilt back afterwards, and slipped a nightrobe on. She caught herself yawning, but she knew she wasn't going to get to sleep anytime soon. Locating a candle, she lifted it up in front of her and lit it, as she made her way out of her bedroom and quietly walked downstairs.

The candlelight cast familiar shadows against the boutique walls as Rarity headed for her kitchen, focused only on one thing. A good cup of tea was what she needed. Tea always helped calm you down.

Upon entering the kitchen, Rarity set the candleholder down on the nearby counter as she located her tea box. Lifting it up, she noticed something off about it and shook it slightly. When it failed to produce any noise, she tipped it upside down, its lid flying open but producing nothing else. Rarity sighed. That's right; she had gone through the last of her tea that morning.

Rarity sat down, frowning at the empty tea box resting on the counter. She had gone through a lot of tea lately. Too much tea. Rarity looked around the rest of the kitchen pointlessly, resigned to the fact there was nothing she could do. She'd simply have to buy more tea tomorrow.

On her way back out, through the main area of the boutique, the candlelight briefly reflected off the mirrored staging area, catching Rarity's eye. She paused midstep, swallowing as her eyes danced over the area, almost afraid to rest her gaze on any part of it for more than one second at a time. She sharply turned her head away and shakily focused on heading back up to her room.

Once inside her room again, Rarity raised the candle to her face to blow out the flame, but hesitated. She looked down, thinking, before glancing off to the side at her vanity. With careful steps, she walked over and sat down in front of it, placing the candle down nearby.

She stared into the mirror, her mane in a rare wild state that comes from sleeping, or at least, attempts to sleep. Her thoughts turned towards earlier today working on Meteorite's mane, and immediately regretted it. She looked aside in distaste, almost as if the mirror had betrayed her. But it was too late, and Rarity knew she had to face facts.

She was actively avoiding thinking about Meteorite.

It wasn't that she didn't like her, oh no, Meteorite was quite lovely! But… Rarity wasn't sure how she felt about her. Any feelings she had, she… didn't know if she could trust any of them.

She looked back at the mirror, a stern glare looking back at her. She continued glaring, drawing herself up, as if daring her reflection to break eye contact first.

"I am Rarity," she uttered softly, yet assertive. Her reflection showed no signs of disagreement, but Rarity turned away regardless, and huffed.

This was all that Alexandra's fault.

Yes, she had said that she wouldn't be involved, but Rarity couldn't help but wonder. Her goal was to put the two ponies together, and things were going well. Who could say that Alexandra wasn't hovering around, unseen by all, playing matchmaker? How could Rarity even tell if what she was feeling were her own true feelings?

Rarity frowned as she bit her lip. Alexandra did say she wouldn't change anything about her, and she genuinely seemed to care about her, especially if Meteorite was anything to judge by. But how could she prove that her thoughts and actions were her own? She put her hoof on her chin, deep in thought.

I'd… have to do something unpredictable. Something nopony would think I'd do… right?

Rarity cocked her head slightly as she mulled this over. Eventually, she sat up straight and faced the mirror, clearing her throat.

"I think dresses are ugly and stupid!" she rattled off quickly, before reflexively clamping both forehooves over her mouth in shock. Taking a moment to recollect her wits, she lowered her hooves and took a deep breath before trying again.

"I only sell dresses for the money!" Rarity managed to blurt out before cringing horribly.

Shaking off the dirtiness of her words, Rarity was somewhat satisfied with the results, but couldn't shake the feeling this wasn't enough. She frowned at herself.

This isn't working. It needs to be more than mere lies. She flumped her head against her hoof, wincing slightly. It… has to be something nopony would want me to do.

She stared at her reflection, her head resting against her hoof, hoping an idea would spring forth. She sighed, when her eyes slowly fell towards her hoof in the mirror. Pulling her hoof away from her face, she stared at it, her brow furrowing as she contemplated her next move. Glancing up at her reflection, she suddenly raised her hoof and slapped herself in the face.

The slap stung, but Rarity knew she had moved her head with the slap and softened the blow. No, it had to be a real slap. She steadied herself, and stared at her reflection once more, daring herself to not move an inch as she readied her hoof for another attempt.

Rarity yelped as the slap connected, and she instinctively felt like crying, but she forced herself to remain strong through the pain. She shut her eyes tightly, waiting for the sting to subside. She rubbed her cheek softly.

"Well, I hope you're satisfied," she told herself, feeling miserable.

She sniffed, and opened her eyes to look back at her reflection.

"This was a dumb idea," she whined. Still, she couldn't help but feel relieved by the results. It may have been a dumb idea, but at least it was her dumb idea.

Rarity fell silent for a while, thinking things over. Shaking her head slightly, she got up from her vanity and carried the candle over to her bed, placing it down on the nightstand, while picking up her eye mask in the process. Putting it on, but not yet over her eyes, she got back into bed, and turned to the candle. She paused for a moment, before blowing out the flame and settling back down to sleep.

Maybe she'd pass on buying more tea tomorrow.

Comments

[PresentPerfect]

This story has no right to work as well as it does.

[Emperor]

Ha! Rarity trying to prove she's not being controlled by her creator by acting as out-of-character as she possibly can. Little does she know that there are entire stories where that's all the author does

[Bicyclette]

Things were going too well.

i would also be wondering this myself

It just didn't seem plausible anymore that she had been dumped into this world, only to be immediately forgotten until years later, just to be obviously paired up with Rarity.

or would it make perfect sense, and an even better story, breaking with conventions of the genre and exploring themes of abandonment and purpose?

She… really couldn't see herself keeping up that kind of ruse for all this time. She wasn't even sure what kind of story that'd be. Certainly not anything entertaining. She rolled her eyes at distant memories of certain fanfics she read that were just carbon copies of TV episodes but 'oh hey, my OC is in this scene too'. She was certain she would never become one of those writers, even as a joke.

love the meta-ness

Besides… she thought sleepily, when have I ever finished anything? If this was a story, I guarantee this'll be as far as it'll go.

ooh, self-burn! those are rare

"Why. Can't. I. Sleep?!" she growled to herself, before sitting up and angrily removing her eye mask with her magic. She blinked a few times, her eyes readjusting to the dimly lit room. She squinted at her eye mask in front of her, and with a huff, tossed it onto her nightstand. It clearly was not helping.

love the huff, i can hear it in my head so clearly

"I am Rarity," she uttered softly, yet assertive. Her reflection showed no signs of disagreement, but Rarity turned away regardless, and huffed.

This was all that Alexandra's fault.

so true to both, and the huff again! she is so good at huffing

"I only sell dresses for the money!" Rarity managed to blurt out before cringing horribly.

oof! i can feel that cringe myself

The slap stung, but Rarity knew she had moved her head with the slap and softened the blow. No, it had to be a real slap. She steadied herself, and stared at her reflection once more, daring herself to not move an inch as she readied her hoof for another attempt.

just imagining Sweetie Belle witnessing this and just sadly shaking her head