Second Chance

by Cxcd

05 - Settle

It was early in the morning of the next day. The royal chefs from the royal kitchen had dispersed both breakfast and dinner for the two royal sisters. They both sat at the end of a long table in an impressively decorated hallway with banners and stain glass windows wherever one looked.

“It just doesn’t make sense.” Princess Celestia, at one end of the table, said. Princess Luna, sitting at the other end, was in the middle of scooping up a bowl of soup for her dinner meal. She was in the middle of blowing on the spoon held in her magic to cool it down when she directed her attention at her sister. Celestia was enjoying a pile of waffles, doused in luxurious syrup that was worth more than the average pony’s annual salary. Unfortunately, the waffles hadn’t seen much action since she had sat down. Instead, Celestia stewed, her thoughts drifting through hundreds of fictitious scenarios that only added to her already growing anxiety.

“Pray tell us?” Luna asked, pushing the spoon into her mouth and eating between words. She swallowed, letting the spoon clink to the bottom of the bowl as she looked up. “Art thou speaking of the fabled humans once more?”

“Indeed, sister.” Celestia levitated her fork upwards in her golden magic, only to idly poke at the waffles instead of eating them. “I worry for them.”

“What for?” Luna asked.

“There were four humans.” Celestia responded, letting her fork relax in the sludgy underside of the damp waffles, having absorbed most of it’s syrup. “The spell that the Flame Family used was meant to use the energy from a fourth source. A forth pony. Instead, it targeted four humans from across the barrier separating our dimensions. It targeted four. Not three. On an entire planet with seven billion humans, it targeted a carriage with four.” She sighed. “Why didn’t the spell pluck three humans at complete random? Why not-” Celestia stared at her waffles and let out a reflexive snort. It was not loud enough to be picked up by most ponies. Unfortunately for her, Luna was not most ponies.

“One doth phrase these questions like one knows said answer.”

“...maybe.” Celestia looked up at her sister, who was still patiently waiting. Celestia sighed, and looked up at the colossal stained glass window to her left, looking at the raising sun, which was struggling without the aid of it’s owner. “I have… a theory. A mere theory, but a theory none the less.” Celestia’s gaze hardened as she looked back at her sister. “You know of soul-magic, correct?”

“Magic in which is highly illegal, regulated, and banished?” Luna straightened up in her chair, her eyes quickly flashing a worried look. “Magic in which must never, ever be used in any circumstance? The magic that bounds the dimensions we reside in and the very ponies inhabiting said dimension? Thee mean that magic?”

“Yes, sister.” Celestia frowned gravely.

“You don’t mean…”

“I do mean.” Celestia once more cast her gazze out the windows. “I do believe the spell used soul-magic. Which could explain why only a mere three Unicorns were able to cast it and break the barriers of our world. That sort of magic feeds off of death. That could also explain why the spell targeted the four humans. Four is more than three, and if they were already going to die that day…” She bit her lip. “When I forced the spell to backfire, the human souls, which were already going to be used for the spell, instead found themselves inside of the now lifeless vessels of Mr. Blazer and his family.”

“The fourth human.” Luna said, looking down at the floor in contemplation. “He could’ve merged with all three of the ponies!”

“Exactly.” Celestia let a small smile grace her lips for a quarter second, before her expression fell back to being grave. “Although, in a thousand years of studying, no pony could ever predict exactly what could happen to a simple levitation spell when it backfires, much less a complex spell utilizing soul magic.” She flickered her eyelids as she looked up. “Nonetheless, later in the day, I will want to speak with these three humans. Do some… soul-searching.”

“Are you-” Luna huffed. “Did you just make a pun?!”

“No.”

“Sister…?”

“Yes.” She nodded sheepishly. Luna thought for a moment, before shrugging and going back to scooping up her soup, leaving Celestia to dwell on the matter for a moment longer. Celestia still felt a strange hole bubbling in her stomach, and it wasn’t from not eating. Instead, it was more a feeling as if she was missing something. Something incredibly obvious and in her face.

“Then so be it.” Celestia whispered to herself, pushing the plate away. “I have decided to talk to the humans now.” She announced. Luna barely even acknowledged her sister as she trotted away, destined to go talk to the new inhabitants of Equestria.

---

“You’re not my DAD!”

“In this body, I am!”

“You’re like, four years old in that body!”

“I’m eight in this body, you weirdo!”

Abigail was sitting at the dinner table, head on hoof as she picked at a salad in front of her. Surprisingly, it tasted almost nothing like a salad she would expect from Earth. She wasn’t exactly sure whether or not it was because the salad was prepared by some of the most royal chefs on the entire planet, or if her taste buds had been changed. After all, with a new body, nothing was no longer a given.

Abigail’s friends sat in the living room, bickering back and forth. Honestly, it was kind of cute to see two ponies, the height of a car tire, argue back and forth with each other over completely menial things that meant nothing at the end of the day.

The princesses didn’t seem to know what to do with the three ponies after they were discharged from the hospital. So, for the moment, they generously let the trio live in one of their pent-house suites. It was basically a large and luxurious apartment, but instead of boring beige walls, they were made from marble and glass. Oh, and the ceiling was three stories high. Surprisingly, it didn’t seem to echo.

The three had rather quickly picked up walking. It was almost like second nature to them, and after getting advice from the castle’s physical therapist last night, progress was quick. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean they didn’t share their fair share of face-planting moments in which one hoof would get tripped up and send a pony flying to the ground. At the very least, they were all together, and they could all suffer equally.

“Hey.” Abigail said, plopping her fork into her salad and turning around to face the two small ponies. (she still really didn’t understand how hooves worked,) “You guys don’t have it so bad.”

“Oh, it’s a competition now?” Charles shouted. “Look at me! I can barely reach the tip of my horn with this stubby little body!” To demonstrate, Charles, the gray Unicorn, reached his hoof up and tried to tap the appendage. True to his word, the tip of his hoof barely reached. However, Abigail wasn’t exactly staring at his hoof. Rather, she was staring at his shoulder, and the strange, un-earthly like way it disconnected from the rest of his body. She blinked as he set his hoof down. “See? It’s so annoying-”

“Do that again.” Abigail commanded.

“What?” Charles asked, slightly offended at the mere thought of listening to a pony like her. “Excuse me?”

“Do it again.” Abigail stood up and trotted towards him, dodging a couch on the way over. Charles leaned away as she sat down next to him. “I wanna feel…” She lightly laid her hooves on Charles’s withers, pushing the frog of her hooves into his back muscles. “Do it again.”

“Fine.” Charles, fighting against Abigail, reached his hoof up and tapped the top of his horn.

“Woah. That’s… really weird, actually.”

“What’s going on?” Leo asked. He had been relatively quiet for the commotion, but now his interest was peaked, trotting towards them.

“Put your hoof here.” Abigail commanded. Leo did as he was told, resting his own slightly less stubby hoof onto Charles’s back. “Do it again, Charles.” And lo, like he was told, he tapped his horn.

“Aw, what the hell?” Leo pulled his hoof away. “Aw, do I do that, too? E-e-ew!” Leo shivered violently as he stood up quickly, trotting away.

“Can someone please explain to me what the hell’s going on?” Charles demanded, thrashing his black hoof onto the carpet below.

“It’s like your bone moves out of it’s socket!” Abigail tried to explain. Charles responded by staring at her like she had grown a second head. Which, in this universe, might honestly happen. “A normal pony- from our Earth- could never touch it’s own head. Pony’s skeleton isn’t built like that. Neither should they here. But we can…” Abigail experimented by doing the same thing she commanded Charles to do seconds prior, tapping her own horn. “It’s like our muscles move out of the way, and the bone like, moves!”

“Well…” Leo shuffled on the carpet. “We are aliens, guys. Things are gonna be weird.”

“You don’t understand- it’s like the bone socket is moving. Or, like, the shoulder itself. The connecting tissue. It’s like…”

“What you ponies are describing is what we call hyper extending.” A new voice said. All three ponies jumped at once, quickly whipping their heads towards the entrance. Standing in all of her regal glory was the Princess of the Sun. “It’s a movement most species have, in which the muscle deforms and the bone stretches, so creatures that look like they can’t, can.”

“Make yourself comfortable.” Charles rolled his eyes.

“What do you mean, the bone stretches?” Leo asked. “Bones don’t stretch.”

“Yes, they do…” Celestia paused, taking in a breath as she became aware of exactly what Leo had just asked. “I’m… sorry, come again? Bones don’t stretch?”

“No. They don’t.” This time, Abigail responded, hopping onto the crystal white sofa and crossing her hooves. “Bones are meant to be hard and rigid, for the skeletal structure. Bone’s don’t stretch.”

“Carne is for the skeletal structure.” Celestia explained, suddenly finding herself intensely curious at the former humans. “Carne is what holds the structure of a creature together. Bones are for support, yes, but also for extending. It’s programmed into our movements.” To demonstrate, Celestia reached backwards and grabbed her tail, a motion which, even for the extremely tall Alicorn, would’ve been impossible. “I can’t command my leg to stretch, but I can do movements which demonstrate it.” She cocked her head to the side. “How do humans reach hard to reach spots without stretching?”

“We don’t-” Leo tried to explain.

“Bones don’t stretch!” Charles yelled.

“I literally have no idea what a carne is.” Abigail gawked, reassessing her entire life. “We just- we’re built to reach everywhere! We don’t have a need for stretchy bones, because humans already can reach everywhere!”

“Fascinating…” Celestia smiled. “Tell me more!”

“Well-” Leo almost started.

“First of all, why are you here?” Abigail interrupted, making Leo shoot Abigail a dirty look. “I don’t mean to be rude, but you are a busy princess. I doubt you’d want to waste your time talking to humans about stretchy bones and whatever the hell carne is.”

“Right.” Celestia felt herself slightly deflate at the humans blatantly wanting to get to the point. But, a moment later, she forced herself to straighten her spine, and go into full Princess-mode. “About your friend, Andrew.” She started. This garnered the attention of the three human-ponies, making them sit up straighter and unintentionally perk their ears. “I have a leading theory on why he is not present with you ponies now.”

Celestia walked around the sofa, circling the group as if they were prey. Which was strange, as none of the human-ponies felt as if she was intentionally trying to be intimidating.

“As you know, the carriage in which you were traveling by had four people in it. When it crashed, I believe the spell the Flame family was casting latched onto you four, and dragged you back. Unfortunately, when I forced the spell to backfire, it caused the first three souls to latch onto the available three ponies.” She stopped her circling, a hard stare as she observed the ponies in front of her. “I have a theory that Andrew is still with us. Either split between you three, or inhabiting a single body.”

“Really?!” Abigail almost shouted, standing up from her chair as quickly as her uncertain and new hooves could carry her. “Scan me!”

“Of course.” Celestia nodded, lowering her head to the tip of Abigail’s new horn. Abigail was stunned, and momentarily shocked, thinking that ice cubes had spawned and ran down the length of her neck. The sensation was weird, something right out of a dream. However, as quickly as it came, it vanished, and Celestia took a step back. Unfortunately, she didn’t look very happy.

“Unfortunately, he does not reside in Abigail.” She said solemnly. Abigail saddened, evident by her falling features.

“My turn!” Charles quickly stepped up, pushing Abigail out of the way. Abigail wasn’t pushed out of the way, however, and simply relented her position. The tiny foal would never be able to put up enough force to move her out of the way, with his tiny body.

Once again, Celestia lowered her horn. And just like last time, Abigail was able to directly observe the effect. It was like something straight out of halo, his body illuminating like it suddenly had a strange force field activate around him. And, just the same as her, it vanished. Once more, Celestia looked down with a frown that told Charles everything he had to know. With a reserved, sad nod, he backed away, letting the last pony approach Celestia.

Celestia tapped her horn to Leo. He shivered as the feeling dripped down his neck, torso, and finally legs. And, just like the other two, Celestia pulled away with a sad look.

“I’m… sorry.” She said slowly and genuinely. “I… was very confident in my theory. Perhaps too confident. For the time being, I believe Andrew to be… gone.”

All three ponies looked at one another with pained expressions. They had, for the first time, realized exactly what she meant. Andrew was gone gone. As in, not coming back. And if their memory served them correctly, the accident in which brought all of them to Equestria was an aggressive accident which they had all agreed upon was more that enough to kill a person.

“So… what now?” Abigail asked. “I mean… we’re here, for now, but… what comes next?”

“Next?” Celestia asked. “Well, finding a way back home for you three is going to be a long process. One that I’m sure we can figure out. But, none the less, it is going to take some time. Until then, I believe you should all get settled into Equestria.”

“Settled? Like… settled settled?” Abigail asked with concern. “Because- no offense, Princess, but I’d really rather not get used to using hooves unless I have to.”

“There’s always a chance this doesn’t work out, right?” Leo asked. “I mean, there’s always a chance the scientists don’t find us a way home, right?”

“Let’s…not think like that for now.” Celestia gave a nervous laugh. “Never say never. Never is forever, and I’ve had bad experiences with forever.” Her smile quickly fell, however, with a saddened expression. “And… before I go, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for Andrew. If there was more that I could do, I would. If it doesn’t hurt, could you maybe tell me more about him?”

“Yeah. Of course.” Abigail let out a slow sigh. “Andrew was…”

“A bad day away from bat-shit insane?” Charles suggested.

“Hey!” Leo yelled with an angry glare. “Andrew wasn’t a psychopath, or anything! He was just… troubled.”

“Troubled, you say?” Celestia asked.

“Well- We’ve never asked him directly, but we’ve always had a group understanding that Andrew went through… some things.” Abigail said warily, as if Andrew himself was listening just around the corner. “He was always kinda ornery, I guess. Like every day was a bad day for him. We think it had something to do with his family. I mean, he never talked about them. Even when we asked.”

“Hm.” Celestia frown deepened. “Have you ever considered that Andrew may have… crashed on purpose?”

“What?!” Leo shouted.

“No! No, no, no! He would never do something like that!” Abigail yelled. “Never! I mean- he was always down, right? B-But he wouldn’t go as far as to take his own life, let alone ours!”

“It’s important to consider all possibilities.” Celestia said calmly. “At this point in time, it is impossible to tell whether or not the crash was an accident or not, whether it be by Andrew’s hooves, or the Flame Family’s.”

Abigail frowned. As did Leo. Charles was listening deeply, resting his head against a nearby pillow and watching.

---

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but your son, Andrew, was involved in a high-speed car accident.”

The previously bright and sunny sky suddenly seemed to darken as she listened to his words. She didn’t say anything, nor let a single feature of her face shift in any meaningful way as she blankly stared past the officer.

This was supposed to be a relaxing afternoon, and she was planning on spending it relaxing on the front porch of her home, watching the cars drive by the neighborhood. Instead, the officer took in a deep sigh, taking his hat off and holding it to his chest.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but your son, along with the three other passengers in the vehicle…” He bit down on his tongue. “...didn’t make it.”

This time, the woman’s jaw clenched as she kept staring straight ahead, barely a perceivable flicker of her eyelid.

“It was instantaneous. They didn’t feel a single thing, and it was over quick. Andrew, along with the three other passengers, were the only fatalities in the crash.” The officer put his hat back on. “His remains will be brought to the local funeral home, and you can decide what to do from that point.” The officer took one step backwards down the path. “I am very sorry for your loss.” He added weakly, before turning around and walking back down the path.

The silence was immense. No longer were there cars driving by. No longer were their bird chirping in the trees.

Not a soul said a thing.

Except for, of course, a small human indoors. With tears streaming down her face, silently sobbing, she turned tail and ran for her bedroom. The moment she crossed the door, she flopped into her bed, and cried into her pillow. Her sobs were racking, yet quiet in fear of the man sleeping just a few rooms over. She peeked an eye out, looking at a portrait propped up on her night stand.

The portrait depicted her with Andrew. She was holding up a LEGO rocket she had helped him build, and Andrew was giving the camera a thumbs up, as his other hand was politely placed on her shoulder in a reassuring gesture.

Now? He was gone. He had already fled, with a promise to return one day with a stable life to whisk her away from this family. But now, the unbelievable had happened. He wasn’t just far away, he was forever gone.

Megan’s cries rejuvenated as she buried her face into her pillow once more.