//------------------------------// // Slow Recovery // Story: Eternal Love, Life, and Death // by Fiction Quill //------------------------------// The meeting was adjourned, until later for when the princesses check on Lance's recovery. Twilight on the other hand followed Lance to his room so she could ask him more questions. Lance couldn't help but find Twilight's curiosity adorable and Lance would be lying if he said he didn't find her cute, but there is no way he would tell her that. After all she is a pony and he is a human, it could never work. Not to mention he plans on going back to his dimension if the princesses can find a way, but there is no rush. First things first, Lance has to focus on recovering so he can go and capture Roman. Although, he can't just go out and blindly search for the psycho. Lance has to wait until there are some good leads of another strange bipedal creature in Equestria. Lance and Twilight both reached his room and entered. Lance wanted to continue to walk around but Twilight wasn't having it. "Come on Twilight. Just a little bit more walking?" Twilight giggled and shook her head. "I don't think so mister. If you want to be ready to perform your duties as a royal guard then you need to be fully healed and you can't heal very well if you are constantly walking around. Your body needs rest and time to recover." Lance sighed in defeat. "Fine you win princess." Twilight gave him an annoyed look. "What did I say about calling me princess?" Lance chuckles. "What did I say about calling me mister?" Twilight folded her ears back and blushed out of embarrassment. "Sorry." Lance laughs and shakes his head. "It's alright Twilight, I’m just teasing you." Both Lance and Twilight share a good laugh as they both sat down on the bed. "Courageous and funny? Some girl has to feel pretty lucky to be your special somepony." Lance chuckles and shakes his head, but then sighs. "Well in my dimension we call it a special someone and to be honest, I don't have anybody special waiting for me back home." Twilight frowns. "Why not? You are strong, courageous, funny, and well mannered. How can you not have someone special waiting for you?" Lance rubs the back of his head. "Let's just say I have had some bad experiences and leave it at that, plus I’m sure that since they couldn't find me and Roman after the hospital exploded that they are just going to mark both of us down as dead." Twilight gasped. "Wait you mean the WHOLE hospital exploded?! I know you said there was an explosion but you never mentioned the entire building exploded! Did the patients and doctors get out in time?!" Lance sighed as he started to weep lightly. “They didn't have to worry about the explosion because they were all killed by Roman before me and my partner had arrived." Twilight gasped. "What about the children? Were there any children inside?" Lance nodded as he clenched his hands into fists tightly. "Yes there was and he killed them just as he killed the adults. Man, woman, or child. It doesn't matter to him he will kill anybody in his path." Twilight's blood began to boil to the surface. "What a monster! He has to be stopped!" Lance nodded again. "Trust me Twilight, I plan to stop him, even if I have to use deadly force." Twilight nodded. "I really don't agree with that kind of method, but if that's what it will take to stop him then I understand." Lance nods in agreement. "I don't like it either, but he killed a lot of innocent people and will also kill a lot of innocent ponies if he isn't stopped. I tried to stop him without bloodshed and... well you know the results." Twilight sighed. "I know, I just wish there was another way. By the way what happened to your partner?" Lance cringed at the mention of Roy. "I don't know. Probably died in the explosion." Lance lied. "I am so sorry to hear that Lance." Lance sighed. "It's not your fault Twilight." Twilight stared rubbing a hoof on Lances back comfortingly. "So, do you have any friends waiting for you back home?" That did it. Lance couldn't hold back his tears anymore as he clung to Twilight and cried in her mane. Twilight wrapped her hooves around Lance and held him tightly as she began to cry softly with him. She didn't know why either of them was crying but she suddenly felt the urge to cry with him. When Lance finally calmed down he and Twilight let go of each other. "Thank you Twilight, I feel much better." Twilight smiled comfortingly at Lance. "You’re welcome. So, do you feel like answering my question?" Lance sighed "I guess I have some friends but not much. The closest friend I had was someone named Roy." This peaked Twilight's curiosity, thinking it might be a friendship problem. "Really? What happened? Did you two have a fight or something?" There was a long pause before Lance finally decided to answer. "No. He’s dead." Tears started flowing from Lance's eyes once more. Twilight gasped. "Why?! What happened?!" Lance shook his head. "I would rather not talk about it. Only thing I can say is that he died a few days ago." Twilight put her hoof to her muzzle as she started to think. Until she put the pieces together. "Roy was your partner that died on the day you were transported here wasn't he?" Lance looked at Twilight shocked, but then turned to looked at the ground. "Yes, he was." Twilight sighed. "I thought you said you didn't know what happened to him." Lance sighed this time. "I won’t lie, I actually do know how he died but I can't talk about it. It’s too painful to talk about." Twilight nodded "I understand. Just, from now on be truthful and honest with us. If it’s too difficult for you to talk about something then tell us. Don't lie to us about the truth. I understand that it can be painful but I really don't like it when somepony lies." Lance sighs in understanding "I understand, I’m sorry Twilight." Twilight smiles. "It's alright I’m not mad, I just want you to be honest with us. I think I should let you get some rest now. We will talk more when you are ready." But before Twilight could leave Lance pulled her into a tight hug. "Thank you Twilight for everything." Once Lance let go Twilight's face was flushed and she was fidgeting a little. "Y-Your welcome Lance. Well, I need to be going so you can rest and I have some important reading to do so I will see you later." Twilight immediately dashed out the room and closed the door behind her with her magic, leaving Lance in a confused state. He immediately shrugged it off and decided to walk around the room for a few minutes. Twilight ran to her personal library, her face still flushed and heart beating rapidly. Twilight hadn't felt like this before, except when she was around a certain blue haired pegasus in Cadence’s royal guard but these feelings with Lance felt stronger than they did with Flash Sentry. Twilight decided to try and do some reading to get her mind off of the matter. Twilight didn't understand why she was having these emotions. She hardly even knew him, then again she hardly knew Flash and also got feelings for him just as quickly. Twilight shook her head violently, attempting to forget about the subject as she turned back to her books. As Twilight was reading books of Starswirl the Bearded, Spike walked into the Library. "Hey Twilight. What are you up to?" Spike’s sudden entry startled Twilight causing her to jump slightly but then sigh in relief. “O-Oh Spike! It’s just you. Nothing just reading some more books on Starswirl." Spike chuckled. "You are always reading about Starswirl. So how was Lance doing? Did he make it back to his room alright?" Twilight got flustered again at the mention of Lance, instantly bringing back those feelings she had. "Y-Yes he did Spike! Lance is doing just fine! Still Recovering!" Spike gave Twilight a puzzled look. "You okay Twilight? You seem a bit off." Twilight started to break out into a nervous sweat. "O-Of course I am! Why wouldn't I be?" Spike start to scratch his chin as he examined Twilight's nervous behaviour. "Well you seem a bit flustered. What’s going on?" Twilight's eyes began to dart back and forth trying to think of a way out of this conversation. Twilight sighed and hung her head realizing she can't hide it forever and she knew she could confide in her number one assistant without any worries. "Spike, can you keep a secret?" Spike playfully scoffed. "Of course I can Twilight." Twilight glared at Spike. "Spike! This is serious! You can't tell anyone and I mean not ANYONE! Not the princesses! Not our friends, that includes Rarity! And especially not Lance!" Spike's attitude changed from a playful one to a serious and understanding one. "Alright Twilight. If it means that much to you then I promise that I won’t tell anyone, not even Rarity." Twilight's glare intensified "Pinkie Promise?" Spike sighed and gestured the Pinkie Promise. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Twilight sighed in relief as her glare changed to an appreciative smile. "Thank you Spike. Well you see.. I think I might have feelings for Lance." Spike eyes widened with shock. "Are you serious?! Wait. What about Flash Sentry? I thought you had a crush on him." Twilight shook her head. "I did Spike but thing is Flash lives in the Crystal Empire as one of Cadence's royal guard. I live here in Ponyville doing my duties as the Princess of Friendship and it’s not like I can move my castle or the map." Spike started tapping his claw to his chin. "Hmm good point. But Lance plans on returning to his dimension after he is done with his business here." Twilight sighed "I know Spike but you heard what the princesses said. There is no guarantee that they can send him back and even if they can it will probably take a LONG time. What if he changes he mind before then?" Spike sat down by Twilight. "Another good point but still, I don't want you getting your hopes up thinking you will be able to be with him. What if he doesn't like ponies in that way? I’m not trying to get you to change your mind. I just don't want to see you get hurt." Twilight smiled and pulled spike into a hug. "I know Spike and thank you for worrying. I still haven't decided what to do about it yet. I just needed someone to talk to before it drove me crazy." Spike smiled "That's what I’m here for Twilight." They both shared a hug before Twilight went back to her reading. Lance was laying in his bed, resting from his walk around the room. Lance knew he couldn't push himself too much. If he did he wouldn't recover as quickly and the sooner he recovers, the sooner he can really start exercising. Lance stretched as he began to wonder what he was going to do when he came face to face with Roman. Roman. Every time he hears that name it gets his blood boiling. Lance was wondering what Roman was up to right now. Deep in a familiar cave in the frozen wasteland of the crystal empire, Roman was sitting by a much brighter fire that was created by his new partner Sombre. Sombre appeared out of the shadows with an impatient look on his face. "So Roman when are you going to fulfill your end of the bargain?" Roman looked at Sombre with an unamused glare. "Trust me Sombre, if I could, I would, but that will have to wait until I am fully healed. These may not be fatal wounds but they can still jeopardize the plan if I don't rest and let them heal." Sombre took a close look at the injuries caused by Lance's gun and sighed. "You are right. With these injuries it will definitely make things difficult unless you are fully recovered. My apologies for trying to rush you." Roman sighed "It's alright. If we want this plan to work there can't be any mistakes. Which reminds me, does it matter how I deal with any obstacles in my way?" Sombre shook his head. "As long as you don't kill any of the subjects of the Empire, no." an Evil smirk immediately appeared on Roman's face. "So the subjects are off limits but the rulers are free game?" Sombre realized what his intentions were and adopted an evil smile of his own. "Yes, you may do what you want with the Princess of Love and her husband." Roman began to chuckle maniacally. "I think I am going to enjoy this." Echoes could be heard throughout the caves of both Sombre and Roman laughing evilly and maniacally.