Chapter 15 (The Final Chapter)
Lance felt his heart sink down to the very pit of his stomach, he had a feeling that something terrible had just happened.
“Lance, are you okay?” Fluttershy asked. The purple glow from Twilight’s horn was the only thing casting light in the cave, Lance looked at Fluttershy and she looked a little worried.
“I’m fine” Lance told her, but something told him that they had to hurry. The cave seemed to stretch on forever and it was like they were moving in slow motion. The cave looked really unstable and Lance didn’t trust it. They soon came to a wide open part of the cave. Twilight’s horn lit the entire cave up in a deep purple, there was a large pool of water that separated one side of the cave from the other, stalagmites and stalactites covered the cave, the floor was soaking wet and Rarity was quick to start complaining about getting her hooves wet. The cave stretched on around a corner but they couldn’t see beyond that.
“Well Twilight, where you reckon we should go from here?” Applejack asked. They each looked around but there didn’t seem to be any immediate clue as to which way the fillies went, or even if they were down here.
“Well, the way I see it, we have two options.” Said Twilight. ”We can cross this fallen stalactite here to get to the other side of this pool or check and see what’s around that corner.”
“Ooo Ooo, what if we split up into search parties?” Pinkie suggested, bouncing up and down.
Trust Pinkie to come up with the idea of search “Parties”. Lance thought to himself.
“That’s a great idea Pinkie,” Agreed Twilight. “But we’ll need to think about how we should split up.”
“Well, I happen to have a lantern from the barn with me.” Applejack reached into her saddlebags and pulled out a lantern. Applejack gave the lantern a few taps and the fireflies inside began flying around, casting a light that mixed with Twilight’s to give a lighter glow.
“Alright then. Applejack, you can go with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Head around that corner and see what you can find.”
“Why don’t I take the lantern and just go alone? I can fly through this cave in a dash!” Rainbow boasted.
“Because we don’t know what’s around that corner.” Twilight answered. ”And remember what happened to you in Ghastly Gorge?” Rainbow Dash turned away from Twilight. She remembered that she got hit by a rock during an avalanche and it crushed her wing. No pony was there to help her and if it wasn’t for Tank, her pet tortoise, coming to her rescue she could have been trapped down there.
“Twilight’s right.” Said Rarity. “We should at least try and stay in groups.”
“Alright then,” said Applejack, taking the lantern in her mouth. “le’s ho.” She mumbled as the three ponies headed off around the corner. The remaining four walked across the stalactite bridge over to the other side. Fluttershy watched Lance as he crossed over. He was more determined now and wasn’t letting his leg slow him down anymore, or his headache. Once on the other side he walked right up to a tunnel opening just to the side. It looked very narrow and a tight fit, but no doubt the fillies would have most likely gone this way.
“Twilight, can you shine your light down here?” Lance asked. Twilight moved over and looked down the tunnel. It was indeed narrow but if they travelled one pony at a time, they could fit.
“Ugh, you can’t expect me to go down there. Those walls might leave a mark on my beautiful coat.” Rarity whined. Lance looked at her then said,
“Well, it’s not too late to catch up with the others. If you don’t mind going back to the wet and icky side again?” Rarity wanted to say something, but thought against it. Instead she lit up her horn and entered the tunnel first. Her horn glowed white and Lance was surprised to see that not only was she able to fit without touching the walls, but was also cleaning them of dust and grime with her magic as she went past. Lance turned to Fluttershy.
“Is she always like that?” Fluttershy smiled and nodded her head. Twilight motioned to Lance and Fluttershy to follow Rarity, Twilight followed behind them using her horn to light up all the space between them. After a few short minutes of walking in silence, Twilight called forward to Lance.
“So, umm, Lance. How are you enjoying Ponyville?” Lance thought that Twilight was just making small talk to try and take their minds off the dreariness of the cave.
“Ponyville is really nice. Made a few friends, everypony else seems to fear me.”
“Well, try not to take that too personally. Before I came to Ponyville, the citizens would hide in their houses and lock the doors when Zecora came to town.”
“The Zebra? Why?” Lance asked.
“The same reason they fear you. They just don’t understand that not everything here in the Everfree Forest is a monster.”
“Twilight dear,” Rarity called from the front. “Not everything we Ponyville Ponies fear is because we don’t understand. I mean, look at Pinkie’s ‘Pinkie Sense’. We don’t understand that, but we don’t fear it and even rely on it at times.” Twilight laughed.
“You’ve got me there Rarity, but Lance, don’t take it to heart. You’re obviously a kind pony who cares about his sister a lot, just keep being yourself and sooner or later the rest of the town will come around.” Lance nodded and kept walking down the tunnel, Rarity doing a miraculous job of tidying the tunnel and keeping herself spotless, they reached a part were the tunnel got bigger and then it split off into two separate paths.
“Well, we could split up again.”
“Do- do we have to?” Fluttershy asked, sounding a little scared.
“I think that we should so we can find the girls faster.” Said Lance. “Since both Twilight and Rarity, can cast a light, I think it’s a no brainer that you two should lead down the separate paths.” Twilight nodded in agreement.
“Okay, Fluttershy you can travel with Rarity. Lance, you’re with me.”
“Will you be okay Lance?” Fluttershy asked, worried about his leg.
“A little thing like this won’t keep me slowed down for long. I can rest it when I get back home.” Fluttershy looked away then back to him.
“If you find Cherry, please don’t be mad at her.” Lance had a thousand reasons to be upset with Cherry right now, but he’d do his best to keep a level head, even if this headache was making it hard for him. The four ponies split into groups of two and headed down their respective paths. Fluttershy with Rarity in the lead took the left, and Lance with Twilight ahead took the right. With the bright white glow of Rarity’s horn gone, the tunnel was bathed in a deep purple. Walking along the path they noticed a lot of loose rocks scattered about the tunnel, recently fallen it seemed.
“What you suppose happened here?” Asked Lance.
“I dunno, but we better be careful. This cave is really old and the Diamond Dogs used them for digging for gems before they went up to the mountains.”
“Diamond Dogs?”
“Big dogs that dig tunnels under the ground. They live in caves like these, until they harvest all the gems of course. This one has been abandoned for years.”
“Wait, these Diamond Dogs made these tunnels?” Lance looked around, and saw that the tunnel walls had large scratch marks in them. The height of the tunnel was proceeding upwards, Twilights light only dimly lit it up. “It doesn’t look safe.”
“Diamond Dogs don’t really care about safety. They just greedily hunt after the gems in the walls.”
It must take an awful lot of strength to just dig through these walls. Lance thought.
There was a slight shaking from ahead of them, Lance and Twilight stopped as the rumbling was growing louder, coming towards them. The ceiling above was shaking a few rocks loose, Lance had to jump out the way and into the wall as one came down next to him. The rumbling sounded like an earthquake but only the roof was shaking. Twilight shouted to Lance to get close, he quickly moved towards her, unaware of what she was hoping to accomplish, then he saw a large section of the ceiling over her break away from the rest of the tunnel, Lance had no time to think, he charged into Twilight, knocking her down onto her side. Twilight looked up at Lance just as she saw the large rock land right where he was stood.
“Lance!” Twilight shouted. The rumbling continued and Twilight finished her spell. A bright purple sheet of magic fired out her horn in all directions, covering the walls in a protective shield, preventing any further rocks from falling. It wrapped around the walls all the way down the tunnel to keep them intact and prevent the tunnel from collapsing. Twilight ran to where the large bolder had landed. “Oh no, Lance! Lance!”
“I’m okay!” Lance stepped around from the other side of the boulder, limping on his bad leg again. ”It missed me by a hair. I might have hurt my leg through getting to you quickly to push you out the way. Are you alright? I’m sorry if I hurt you. I just reacted.” Twilight looked relieved that he hadn’t become a Pony Pancake.
“Am I okay? Lance, you almost got yourself killed saving me.” Lance smiled and rubbed the back of his neck.
“Well… It’s what I’m supposed to do, right?” Lance looked back at his cutie mark. A shield. His dream was to be a Royal Guard, but right now he needed to find his sister. Without her, he had no dream.
“I’ve cast a protection spell over this tunnel but it won’t hold forever.” Said Twilight. The spell made the entire tunnel glow a faint purple, it wasn’t very bright and it didn’t light up the tunnel, but atleast they could see how deep the tunnel went.
“Wait, what about Fluttershy? And Rarity?” Lance asked worriedly.
“The spell should have coved the entire tunnel, even their side. That’s why it took me a while to cast it. My brother is much more experienced with casting a shield that can cover an entire city, but mine will only hold for a short time.“
“Then we should move fast.” Lance took a step forward and then fell to a sitting position as he put weight on his back leg, Twilight stepped forward leaned down by Lance.
“We NEED to get you to a hospital. There’s no telling what injuries you’ve caused yourself.” Twilight said, worried. Lance stood up again.
“Sorry, I’m not -ugh- leaving without my sister.” Lance stepped forward, carefully moving his leg. The ground was now covered in rocks, large and small, and they were making it hard for him to navigate without tripping. Suddenly Lance felt his leg become much lighter. Twilight had cast a levitation spell on his leg so he wouldn’t have to stand on it.
“If you’re going to be stubborn about this, then that’s the most I can do, you should be able to move faster now.”
“Thanks Twilight.” Lance could indeed move faster but felt really awkward having Twilight telekinetically carry his leg for him. They careful made their way down the tunnel and reached a slope going down, it wasn’t steep so lance had no trouble reaching the bottom. Upon reaching it though, they were met with a dead end. A huge pile of rocks prevented anypony from going any further.
“I guess we have to turn back. Maybe the others had better luck.” Twilight and Lance turned and headed back up the slope. Lance looked back at the wall and then stopped. “Lance? We have to hurry, that spell won’t hold much longer.”
“Twilight, you said the spell goes to the end of the tunnel, but it’s going beyond that rock wall.” Twilight saw what Lance meant, the protective spell was indeed going beyond the wall as if there was more to the tunnel.
“Wait, you don’t think that-?” Lance headed back down to the wall, Twilight still using her magic to carry his leg and he listened carefully trying to hear something beyond the wall. He was sure he could hear something. Crying. Very faint crying.
“They’re behind here! Cherry, are you in there?!” Lance started digging his way past the wall, moving the rocks. “Hold on girls! We’re getting you out of there!” Lance’s shouts carried up through the rest of the tunnel, Twilight was worried about the spell losing power shortly and began using her telekinesis to lift the heaviest rocks. They made a hole at the top of the wall and then the rest fell down causing Lance to jump back. He then climbed over the rocks and into the room. He could see the three fillies crowded together in the room, but he couldn’t see Cherry. Twilight climbed over and lit the room up with her horn. Lance could now see the fillies faces, their eyes shining brightly from tears. There was Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and… Lance’s heart froze cold.
“CHERRY!” Lance scrambled to get to his little sister but couldn’t move his back leg. “Twilight! Let me go!” Twilight’s stuttered something then pointed her horn at Lance’s leg. The levitation spell faded and Lance landed on it hard. He didn’t care, he moved as quickly as he could, ignoring the pain. Cherry was lying on her front, motionless, the other fillies were lying around her and Lance found a gap between them to get to his sister. “Cherry! Cherry, can you hear me? Oh Celestia, SOMEPONY HELP!”
The fillies were taking in ragged breaths, Twilight stood frozen far back. Lance grabbed his sister’s hoof in his own, she seemed so small and so cold. She wasn’t moving.
“Cherry! Please… You have to wake up, you hear me? You can’t… CHERRY!” Lance felt so alone, helpless, his sister was in desperate need of help and her brother couldn’t save her, he didn’t know anyway to help her. “Cherry! Open your eyes… P-please!” She didn’t respond. His entire world was crumbling around him.
The protective spell was beginning to weaken, but no pony noticed. Lance ever so gently picked up his little sister into a hug, he sat with her and held her tight. The fillies in the room were crying silently.
“You can’t be gone. You just can’t. You know how I know? Because of our garden. Your flowers are growing Cherry, their growing. And your favourite too… the Calla-Lillie… it’s okay. So I know that you’re gonna be okay.”
The tunnel shook slightly, but no pony moved.
“I-I’m sorry. Cherry I’m sorry! I'm a horrible brother.”
Lance could feel the tears sting his eyes as they began to run down his face, his little sister held in his embrace, not moving.
Cherry… Y-you remember when you was little, I told you that I’d always be there for you. Well, I’m never going to leave you again. I Promise… I’m n-never going to leave you ever again… W-we’re going t-to go to see Canterlot. You remember? I… I promised to take you. We were going to see the princesses. Celestia, Luna. But you have to wake up!... C-Cherry!... Please!” Lance held her close to his chest, his tears falling into her mane. She didn’t deserve this.
Please Celestia, take me instead, don’t punish her for what I’ve done.
Lance felt a hoof rest upon his neck. He ignored it. He didn’t care which pony it was. They could try and convince him to leave all they wanted but he’d never leave his sister again, not even now. He saw images of Cherry going back in years, Cherry smiling, running around the house, when he would hold her while she slept, when they hid under the covers and watched the Wonderbolts together, the time he taught her to write, her first steps, her first word, the day she was born and he saw her being held by their mother. He couldn’t take it, he couldn’t go on without her.
I’m sorry!
“Big brother.” The words echoed off like in a far off dream. Lance couldn’t believe this was the end. He’d never got to tell her… “You’re hurting me”
Lance pulled back and looked down to see Cherry’s bright hazel eyes staring back at him.
“Cherry!” Lance held back nothing, his heart exploded in his chest and a flood of tears broke out. “Cherry! I-I… I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I love you so much! Please don’t ever leave me!” Only the sound of Lance’s crying filled the cave at his point,
“I promise.” Cherry said weakly.
The cave shook violently. Twilight snapped to her senses then ran into the room, grabbed the three fillies in her telekinesis and lifted them onto her back.
“Lance! We have to get out now!” The protection field around the cave wall looked like it was beginning to crack like glass. Lance looked down at his sister.
“Can you hold onto me?” She nodded and Lance lifted her onto his back. She wrapped her fore-legs around his neck and held on. Lance stood up strong on all four of his legs. Nothing was going to stop him from protecting his sister now. The tunnel was still shaking hard as Lance ran forward with Twilight ahead of him, his leg was burning from pain but he ignored it completely and kept going, he ran up the slope, down the long tunnel, with all the lose rocks threatening to trip him up, but he never slowed down. They reached the fork in the tunnel and saw Fluttershy and Rarity standing there. Lance shouted ahead for them to get out the tunnel and they turned on the spot than started running for the exit.
Lance, with Cherry Blossom on his back, was right behind Twilight with the three other fillies, she was getting tired but pushed herself. There was a sound of repeated breaking glass from behind them, Lance looked back and saw the protection spell shatter along the tunnel, followed by rocks falling and the tunnel beginning to collapse. His leg was starting to give in but he wasn’t going to. He’d never let his sister down again. The spell shattered over his head, Lance and Cherry closed their eyes as it fell in shards around them. Lance looked forward and saw the end of the tunnel, Fluttershy and Rarity were already out and Twilight was just ahead of him. The tunnel began collapsing around his ears, Twilight was out but Lance wasn’t going to make it. He jumped forwards, sliding as he hit the floor, just as the tunnel collapsed.
“Lance! Cherry! Are you both okay?” Fluttershy asked, leaning down next to them. Lance turned to look back at his sister on his back. Cherry slowly opened he eyes and then looked down at her big brother. She then threw herself into a hug around his neck.
“Big brother! I was so scared!” She started crying softly into his neck.
“I know, I was pretty scared too.” Lance chuckled. Cherry then pulled out the hug wiping her eyes.
“No, I-I thought I was never going to see you again. I’m so sorry I never came home!” Cherry looked at Fluttershy. “And I’m sorry to you too Fluttershy. If I just let you take me home in the first place, none of this would have happened.” Fluttershy smiled gently at Cherry.
“That’s okay sweetie, I’m just glad you’re alright.” Lance lifted himself up halfway before falling down a little. Fluttershy leaned down and helped him to stand up. “Are you okay, maybe you should let me-“ Lance raised a hoof to her.
“That’s okay Fluttershy, I’ll be fine.” Lance held himself up, while his sister rested on his back with her head against his neck. Lance leaned back and gently rested his head on hers. The other three Crusaders had gotten down from Twilight’s back and Sweetie Belle was with Rarity joined in a hug. The other two Crusaders were smiling at Lance and Cherry, seeing that everything worked out for their friend.
“Come on Cherry.” Said Lance. ”Let’s go home. There’s something you have to see.” They crossed over the pool and saw Applejack and Rainbow Dash waiting on the other side after coming back from around the corner. Applebloom immediately ran over to her sister and jumped into her and knocking her down with a hug. Applejack looked like she wanted to yell at her sister, but after getting bowled over, she just laughed and rubbed a hoof in the filly’s mane. Fluttershy was fussing over Scootaloo and her head injury, but she was refusing any first aid and saying she was fine. Rainbow Dash landed next to Lance, Cherry and Twilight, Twilight asked where Pinkie Pie was. Rainbow just said that she’d disappeared shortly after they heard the tunnel collapse.
“I’m sorry for everything.” Cherry whispered to Lance.
“No Cherry. You’ve got nothing to be sorry for. This has been my fault.”
“But-” Lance cut her off.
“Listen, let’s just forget this whole thing ever happened, okay? Or else we’ll both be apologising forever.” Lance turned to face his sister on his back, he smiled at her and she returned it with an added hug. The group of ponies all left the cave together and made their way out of the Everfree Forest just before sundown. Lance and Cherry said their “Thank you’s” and “Goodbye’s” to everypony before they left and returned to their house. After today, the only things they were gonna do was, wash, eat, then sleep until morning. Lance opened the door and was immediately hit with an explosion of confetti, streamers and a very loud pink pony!
“SURPRISE!”
Lance fell backwards in shock once again, but he was surprised when he was caught by Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.
“Huh? What?” Lance looked confused. Flutterguy giggled at Lance.
“After you left, Rainbow Dash quickly told us that Pinkie had a surprise waiting for you.”
“A surprise-“
“PARTY!” Pinkie blew into a party horn and then loads of ponies from Ponyville came out of every room cheering and celebrating, Pinkie then placed a pair of party hats on both Lance and Cherry. Everypony travelled out into the front garden carrying a table with drinks and snacks. There were balloons, lights, cake and Lance saw so many of his friends, Doctor Whooves, Derpy, Cheerilee, Mr and Mrs Cake with the twins and lots of other ponies he’d barely had the time to meet.
“Pinkie! What is all this for?” Lance called out as loud music started to play.
“It’s a ‘Surprise, welcome home, everything turned out great, garden party’!” The party was already in full swing, with many ponies drinking and having fun.
“Pinkie, look, this is nice of you and all, but Cherry and I just wanna-“ Pinkie spoke over Lance.
“I know you wanna get to the party, I mean who doesn’t? I certainly wouldn’t wanna be held up at my own party they’re just so much fun, and who wouldn’t have…“ Pinkie Pie kept talking as Lance walked away from her. She had stopped paying attention to him ages ago anyway and with his bad leg, drumming headache and all over aching body, he just couldn’t deal with a party. They stepped inside the house and headed into the living room, Lance and Cherry sat on the sofa and could hear the noise of the party coming through the window. Lance stayed by Cherry’s side, nothing in the world would separate him from her now. They said nothing to each other as they both rested, slowly the fatigue was getting to him, but he didn’t mind, he’d let it take him, he was with his sister now and he always would be.
Lance wasn’t sure at what point he had fallen asleep, or how long he slept, but the crack of the door and the loudness of the party woke him up. Lance and Cherry looked over towards the living room door as Rainbow Dash flew inside.
“Hey Lance, you might wanna come outside, somepony wants to talk to you.”
Without a word Lance stood up slowly, his body still aching and his leg feeling like it was going to fall off, begging for rest. Cherry walked beside her brother as the three of them headed outside. Everypony was still partying and Lance noticed a few other ponies had joined in the celebration, most of which were ponies that had at one time called him a cursed pony. Rainbow led Lance and Cherry over to Twilight who was talking to a rather large stallion. He had a pure white coat, and a long messy mane with blue stripes of many different shades running along it. His cutie mark was very similar to twilight’s, but he had a shield on it as well.
“Ah! There you are.” Twilight called out to Lance then turned back to the stallion. “Shining, I’d like you to meet Lance Angelswift and his little sister, Cherry Blossom. Lance, Cherry, this is my brother, Shining Armour.”
“Hi. P-Pleasure to meet you.” Said Lance with the headache fighting against his manners. Cherry said nothing and stayed hidden behind her brother, Lance had hoped she was passed that stage by now.
“Hey there.” The stallion said casually. “So, Twily told me about your heroics in the cave today?”
Heroics, what? Lance couldn’t really think straight.
The cave felt like forever ago. Noticing Lance’s confusing, Twilight laughed.
“When you saved my life, from that fallen boulder.”
“Oh. Oh yeah! No, that was nothing, anypony would have done the same.” Lance said, dismissing it.
“Yeah? Well, you DID do it,“ Shining Armour said. “And that’s what’s important, and no good deed goes unrewarded.” Lance shook his head.
“Reward? No no, I just-“ Lance started, but was cut off.
“Twilight and I have been talking. And I thiiink I can help you out.”
“Help me?” Lance asked confused.
“Well, yeah.”
“Don’t you know who this is?” Twilight smiled at Lance, enjoying that he was getting confussed. “This is Shining Armour, Captain of the Royal Guard in Canterlot.” It took a moment for Lance to register this information. Then he looked at Shining Armour in realisation.
“S-S-Sir!” Lance’s body froze and grew rigid as he saluted the Captain. Shining Armour laughed at Lance.
“At ease solider.” Shining laughed again. “You ain’t a cadet of the guard. Well… not yet at least.” Lance lowered his hoof.
“What? What are…?” Lance could barely get a sentence out his hanging open mouth. The music died down but Lance barely noticed, nor that everypony was now looking at them.
“Lance Angelswift. As Captain of the Royal Guard, for saving the life of not just my sister but also for aiding in the safe rescue of four young ponies, I would like to extend a personal invitation to you, to join the Royal Guard Academy in Canterlot, where you shall be trained and become a cadet of the Royal Guard.”
Everypony began cheering loudly and Pinkie was firing off her Party Cannon, raining confetti everywhere.
“You’ll be moved to Canterlot with your family of course, where you’ll live and have access to the finest education for your sister and the best healthcare available.” Lance couldn’t believe it, he was really going to be a Royal Guard. His dream was going to come true.
This is the happiest moment of my-
Lance turned back to face Cherry, in the entire crowd of ponies, she was the only one not smiling.
Wait, what’s wrong?
As if reading Cherry’s mind, he knew what she was thinking. Lance’s expression turned blank as he turned back to face Shining Armour.
“Thank you very much, Sir.”
Shining Armour smiled at Lance.
“But I must decline.”
The crowd stopped their celebrating, many gasping. Even Pinkie stopped in mid bounce and fell to the floor.
“Decline?” Questioned Shining. “But Twilight told me this was your dream.”
“It is. Well… you’ve offered me exactly what I thought I always wanted, but the best advice can often come from where you least expect it. When I first got my cutie mark, it was from standing up for another pony against bullies. I thought then that my destiny was to be a guard. But it isn’t. Post Pony Pete told me that you can’t be anything else other than what your cutie mark says you have to be, but that’s not true. Your cutie mark only means what your special talent is. My talent isn’t to be a guard, it’s to protect. You can be anything you want in this world.
Lance looked back to his sister.
“And I want to be the protector of my little sister. That’s why I can’t take any job that might separate my sister from her friends.”
Lance wrapped a hoof around his sister’s neck.
“Besides, looking after this one is a full time job.”
Shining armour smiled and nodded at Lance in understanding. The crowd began applauding and then cheering again, stomping their hooves in approval as Lance and Cherry shared a hug in the middle of their garden. The other three crusaders ran in and Lance took a step back as they jumped onto their friend.
“We were so worried.”
“We thought you were leaving.”
“Your big brother is so cool.”
Lance let the fillies be, Shining Armour and Twilight were beaming at the scene before them.
“Umm, Lance.” Lance turned around to see Fluttershy. “I’m err… I’m really glad you choose to stay.”
“Well, Cherry and I have made such great friends here, I doubt we could ever leave.” Lance smiled at Fluttershy and she shyly smiled back. The moon was getting high up in the sky and Pinkie Pie had just started setting off fireworks lighting up the beautiful night.
***
Two Months Later
***
It was a Saturday afternoon. Lance was in the kitchen washing up the plates after serving lunch for four very hyper and hungry fillies. He was looking out the window on the beautiful clear summer blue sky. The letter box clanged on the front door and then Lance saw Derpy in her mail uniform flying off, she saw Lance in the window and then waved at hoof at him. The grey mare took the job after The Doctor had to leave town for a while, apparently he does that often. Lance had quit his job at the post office a few weeks back after he and Cherry had started up a home business of selling flowers. It didn’t bring in as much money as being a mail pony, but it meant he got to spend a lot more time with his sister.
There was a single flower on the windowsill, the first white Calla-Lilly that had been with the house since before they moved into their home. Lance dried his hooves off and then went to check on the mail. He’d gotten three letters, but not a single one was addressed to him. Lance just laughed about it. This was perfectly fine by him because this was a great way to keep in touch with friends when he’d take them their letters. Lance opened the door and stepped outside, a small white picket fence surrounded the front of the house and the garden that he and Cherry (Mostly Cherry) had grown was in full bloom. All kinds of colourful flowers decorated the front garden, the grass was a deep green and along with a coat of yellow paint for the house it made their home look just as inviting as many of the other homes in Ponyville. The warm sun shined on his face and made him think that today was going to be perfect.
There was a scream from behind the house and Lance immediately looked around. He ran around to the back. The back garden was much larger, since it stretched all the way to the Everfree Forest and they had turned it into where they grew their flowers for selling. Cherry always had it well kept and Lance built the fence to keep the animals out. Lance saw Scootaloo, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle in the middle of the garden and they were surrounding Cherry Blossom. Lance had a flashback of the cave from months and dashed forwards.
“What’s happened? Cherry!? Are you…?” The other fillies turned around to Lance and made room, Cherry had a huge smile on her face.
“I did it big brother! Look!” Cherry called out gleefully. Lance looked where she was indicating as saw it. A brand new cutie mark had appeared on her flank, it was still sparking gently. The cutie mark looked just like the exact same Calla-Lilly that was on the windowsill of their kitchen.
“Cherry! That’s… That’s…” Lance was at a loss for words.
“That’s so great!” Said Sweetie Belle.
“Yeah! But I don’t get it.” Said Scootaloo, throwing down a hoe. “How come we didn’t get a cutie mark too? We’ve been at this all day.”
“Ma’be ‘cause of the fact that yah made a bigger mess then you did help.” Applebloom pointed to the side of the garden when where Scootaloo had been digging, it seemed like it had been attacked by a diamond dog digging for gems rather than a tiny pony with a hoe.
“Cherry, I’m so proud of you!” Lance said as Cherry beamed with pride. “You know what this calls for?”
“A PARTY!” Pinkie Pie popped up from under Lance, causing him to jump and land on his back. His heart was doing flips in his chest as everypony around him laughed and then he joined in too.
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good chapter I hope your doing a sequel
917030
I... I'm happy that you would ask for that, but i really cannot think of anyway to write a sequel to this. Yes i left a few holes in the story. The father for example. but no. Thank you for your support through this, but i really have no plans at this time for a sequel.
917044 or a prequel?
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, I LOVE IT.
TEN OUT OF TEN HEARTS FOR YOU NEV
917094
A Prequel?
That sounds very possible... Oh no
Stop! My mind is crafting the story line already based on flash back from the story. 
No promises
at this time i really really just wanna take a break and catch up on my reading... maybe learn to improve my own writing for next time. N-Not that that's a promise there wll be one 
917183 aha my idea of planting stories in your brain worked
brilliance 
Thanks for a good read!
Keep up the good work.
917619
Thank you for reading, i'm glad you enjoyed it :)
Win! Win! Win!
So much Win!
sad it ended.
but the fic is really great. :)
919315
Thank you very much
I'm sad it's over too because I really enjoyed writing it.
917044 Maybe you could make a extra chapter to fill in those holes.
920992
What holes? I don't know what you- AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Yeah, there are a few things that i left out, but to fill them would require a total rework of the story. plus i don't think there's anything that's really worth filling in. Let's just chop it down to the inexperience of a first time writer :)
921583 Hey man, I can understand. I'm also a first time writer.
It's sad it's finished, cause it's a great story.
I would've loved to see more chemistry between Lance and Fluttershy, but that's not what the story's about. 
Those last three chapters were the best of the story, and if you're not planning a sequel, then I'd be happy to read anything else you've worked on.
926231
Thank you. :) I'm really upset that it's ended too, and as for my other stuff, I've really not done any other writing. However there is one last thing i have for this story. One final piece of content that i had cut from the story because at the time, my brain couldn't think what to put.
Keep watching, Bonus content coming soon :)
2000958
Well we do have to take into account that he was seriously overreacting. At that moment, he just snapped.
A good story and I am looking forward to reading your other works. I also loved the Doctor mention.
2610332
Thank you very much.
Glad you enjoyed it.
Good story you wrote here.
3290084 Thank you :) I'm very proud and surprised with how well it turned out
Hmm. Kinda formulaic conflict between Lance and Cherry, which wouldn't be too bad except that Cherry doesn't seem to quite realize how very stupid she was, and Lance doesn't address it further either; "you almost died so that's all the punishment you need for getting yourself and your friends into trouble like that" may or may not be a reasonable approach. And then just declining the guard position without attempting to e.g. move Cherry again seems weird. "It's great to give up your dream for your family randomly if they might find it a little more convenient"?
Wasn't terrible, but could have been a lot better.
8067411 Yeah, this was all written before they stopped being snot nosed brats whom I wanted to send to Pinkamena's basement... Which I totally never made fan art of. *shifty eyes*
4922657
I honestly thought the same. One of my biggest gripes with several stories like these is that they seem to mostly ignore what caused the problem to begin with. Finding Nemo for instance is the biggest example to the crime of not acknowledging that the young one clearly did wrong and he didn't even get so much as a slap on the wrist for his actions (let alone address his reckless actions). One could make the argument that their ordeal is punishment enough but we aren't shown that the lesson was learned. This story unfortunately falls the same way.
(To the Author)
Don't get me wrong, I like the story but I'm afraid that the ending could have been handled better (at least an acknowledgement of what she did wrong). What do I mean by this? Take away the rescue scene at the end and tell me how could the conflict between the two of them be resolved. This ending feels as though it chooses to ignore everything he sacrificed for her and yet he's the one in the wrong for simply yelling at her. Yes, it takes two to tangle but where is the lesson on her end? I know she learned that in the cave but she needs to tell him that instead of just "I'm sorry."
Sorry if I'm bantering about. It's just I like this story but why is it only the brother getting flak for what he did wrong and the sister gets a free pass?