//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: Angelswift // by Nevel //------------------------------// The long weekend passed slowly. Fluttershy was with Cherry all Saturday until Lance got home late that night. He was forced to work overtime to make up for all the time he’d lost coming in late. Lance had explained to his boss about Cherry, but he was cold hearted and didn’t care. Saying that Lance should have just dropped Cherry off at the hospital then came straight to work. It took all of Lance’s self-control to not buck Post Pony Pete in his face. The Sunday was pretty uneventful. Lance setup one of Pinkie Pie’s board games on the bed and he played that with Cherry, but after a while, they both grew bored of it. Cherry asked if they could go outside, but Lance wasn’t sure if she could stand. Lance tried to help Cherry get up but it caused her too much pain, so instead, Lance just carried her on his back as they went outside into the sunshine. It was a beautiful day, with nothing to do but to just enjoy it. Lance turned to have a quick look at the flowerbed under the window. None of the new flower seeds were growing and the Calla Lilly was still crushed into the dirt. Lance felt Cherry bury her face into his neck, as she too must have taken a look. She was still upset with what had happened that day. He walked away quickly, not wanting to linger at the spot. They spent the rest of the day just looking at all the animals, the trees and even taking the time to go see Fluttershy. She wasn’t too happy about Cherry being out of bed, but the filly had wanted to stop by, just to let her know how she was doing. They stayed with Fluttershy for the rest of the day. Fluttershy was acting all motherly towards Cherry and looking after her sprained hoof. At the end of it, Fluttershy had said that Cherry should probably stay off school on Monday, but she absolutely refused. She was finally enjoying school and really wanted to see her friend Scootaloo. Cherry, determined to show she was okay, stood up on her bad leg and though she did tremble, she held herself up for a moment before both Lance and Fluttershy caught her as she started to fall. They smiled at each other than Lance told Cherry that she could go to school the next day, but only if she promised, not stand on her bad hoof again, until then. Monday morning, Lance helped Cherry slowly walk around the house. She said she was fine over and over, but Lance wasn’t too sure. He made Cherry keep the bandage on, even at school. Lance had spoken to Cheerilee about it and she swore she’d make sure that Cherry didn’t over exert herself. While Lance was talking to Cheerilee, Cherry had limped over to Scootaloo who was waiting by the classroom door. “Hi, Scootaloo.” Cherry called. Scootaloo looked at Cherry. “Hey!” Scootaloo looked down at Cherry’s bandaged hoof. “Are you alright?” “Yeah, I’m fine.” Said Cherry. Scootaloo could see in her eyes that that wasn’t completely true and felt a knot in her chest. “Cherry… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have forced you to go on my scooter. It was a really bad idea.” Scootaloo kept looking at the ground. She was terrible at apologies. “Oh that’s okay. It was an accident.” Cherry just smiled at her friend. She could have been hurt a lot worse and she still would have forgiven her. Scootaloo was her first friend and she wasn’t going to let anything get between them. “Hey, Scootaloo!” Cherry and Scootaloo turned as they heard two other fillies running up to them. A white unicorn and a yellow earth pony. “Applebloom! Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo looked happy as her friends arrived. “You two feeling better now?” “Yep,” Said the yellow one with the large pink bow in her red mane. “Mah big sister wanted to keep me in for the rest of the weekend, even though I told ‘er that I felt fine.” She had a thick southern accent, Cherry noticed. “Same for me.” Said the white unicorn with the pink and purple curly mane. “Rarity would barely let me leave the room, let alone go outside. She didn’t want me conta- contain-… getting germs on her dresses. I would have just gone home if mum and dad weren’t on another vacation.” “So, what’s goin’ on? Who’s your new friend?” Applebloom asked. Scootaloo turned to Cherry realising she had shied away from the other two. “This is Cherry Blossom. You remember? She just started school last week.“ Scootaloo beckoned Cherry back over to them. “Cherry, this is Applebloom and Sweetie Belle.” “Hello.” Said Sweetie Belle, looking slightly less awkward then how Cherry felt. “Hey there!” Applebloom seemed a lot more enthusiastic about meeting somepony new. She reached out to shake hooves but then stopped as she saw the bandaged hoof of Cherry’s. “What happened to ya leg?” Cherry lifted it up a little higher. “Oh, on the weekend I had an accident. Just a mild sprain.” Cherry smiled at Scootaloo who returned it weakly. “Cherry!” Lance called out to his sister. She slow walked over to him and Cheerilee. “I’ve gotta go now, but if your hoof hurts too much, you tell Miss Cheerilee and she’ll arrange to have either me or Fluttershy come and take you home. Okay?” Lance gave his sister a serious look. He didn’t want her to be there today but she was very insistent and he would do anything to make her happy. “Okay. I’ll be careful on it.” Cherry said, honestly. Lance gave her a quick nuzzle, then whispered quietly to her. “I love you, sis.” “I love you too, big brother.” She whispered back. Lance gave a nod to Cheerilee as he left, taking one more look at Cherry. She returned to her friends and Lance was glad to see that she was finally getting on well with other fillies. He just hoped that there wouldn’t be any more accidents. * * * The week passed quickly for Cherry. Her hoof had fully healed and she had made two extra friends. The four fillies laughed and played every recess, playing on the swings, spinning on the roundabout, sliding down the slide. She couldn’t have been happier. Or so she thought. Scootaloo said that she, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had plans for the weekend and wanted Cherry to come along with them. Cherry was super excited about this. Her friends had always talked about their adventures, trying to find their cutie marks. Now she was going to be a part of one. The weekend couldn’t have come quickly enough. Saturday morning, Cherry was jumping around the house. Through the week, Lance had managed to buy some new furniture for the house along with other items they had needed. Cherry was bouncing on their new sofa. “-And they said they have their own clubhouse, and I’m gonna get to see it!” Cherry had been repeating herself for the last hour. Lance and Cherry had finished cleaning up around the house, and she was now waiting for her friends to come over and pick her up. Just as Cherry had started to tell the story of how Applebloom tried baking cupcakes to get her cutie mark for the third time, there was a knock at the door. “That’s them!” Cherry jumped off the sofa and ran for the door. “Cherry, wait!” Lance called after her, but she was already opening the door. Lance heard the voices of two fillies at the door and Lance breathed a sigh of relief. They had been here for weeks already, but he was still nervous about opening the door, not knowing what pony could be on the other side. Lance looked out into the hall and saw her friends Scootaloo and a white unicorn. Guessing from Cherry's stories, the white unicorn was Sweetie Belle. “So you ready to go?” Said Scootaloo. “You bet!” Cherry turned to Lance. “I’ll be back later.” Cherry jumped out the door but Lance stopped her getting any further. “Hold on, Cherry! Do you know when you’ll be home? I’ve got to go to work, remember?” “Don’t worry, I’ll go right to Fluttershy’s if you’re not here when I get back.” Cherry had become a lot more confident after meeting her friends. He just hoped she wasn’t becoming reckless. “Well just make sure that you don’t do anything like last time. You could easily hurt yourself again.” Lance warned her. Cherry’s friends stood next to her. “Don’t worry Mr. Angelswift.” Said Sweetie Belle “We’ll make sure she’ll be okay.” Scootaloo just looked down at the grass. Her friends still didn’t know it was her fault Cherry got hurt last time. But Scootaloo would make it up to her today. She had something special planned. “Well, just make sure you’re not out too long. And if I’m not home, make sure you get to Fluttershy’s but not too late. Okay?” Cherry nodded then turned to run off with her friends. Scootaloo didn’t have her scooter today, so they all traveled to Sweet Apple Acers on hoof, where they would meet up with Applebloom. Cherry was confused when they didn’t go to the farm house itself, but instead headed to an area of the farm, far in the back, away from anypony else. “Where are we going?” Cherry asked. “You’ll see. We’re almost there.“ Said Scootaloo. “You’re gonna love it.” About a minute later, they came to a tree house. It looked like it was in better condition than when Cherry and her brother first came to their own home. Scootaloo pointed up to it. “Cherry Blossom! Welcome to the Cutie Mark Crusaders Clubhouse!” Cherry thought it looked really cool, and then saw Applebloom was sitting at the window. At the sight of her friends, she ran over to the door and opened it. “Hey! What took ya’ll so long?” Said Applebloom. “I’ been waitin’ ‘ere for like 20 minutes.” “Sorry” Called up Scootaloo. “Cherry hasn’t seen your farm before so we were looking around.” The three fillies walked up a ramp into the clubhouse. Inside was a Rainbow Dash plush toy, a picture of Rainbow Dash flying through space, leaving a rainbow trail behind her, and on the wall were two maps. One was hand drawn, with pictures of the different buildings on it, each having an X through them. Next to it was a hand drawn map of what Cherry guessed was the Everfree Forest. “What are those for?” Cherry asked. “There maps I drew.” Scootaloo said. “The left one is all the places we’ve tired crusading for our cutie marks and had no luck.” Every area on that map had an X on it. “The other is a map of the Everfree forest and here is where we’ll be crusading next!” Scootaloo tapped a certain part of the map. She was indicating a cave with a red circle around it. “We were thinking about being Cutie Mark Crusader Cave Explorers! And we want YOU to come with us?” Cherry looked behind her, expecting Scootaloo to be pointing at somepony else. “Wait, you want me?” Cherry asked, surprised. “But I’m not allowed in the forest alone!” “But you won’t be alone.” Scootaloo pointed out. “Yeah, you’ll be with us” Said Sweetie Belle. “’An we reckon that together we’ll defiantly discover our special talents!” Applebloom added. Cherry wasn’t sure about all this. But she really wasn’t going into the forest alone, so it should be okay. “So, you in?” Scootaloo asked. Cherry stood frozen, thinking about it. But there didn’t seem to be much to think about, the forest was scary, sure. But it was day time now and last time she was alone in the dark. This time she would be with her three best friends. “I’m in” Cherry said as she nodded. The other three fillies cheered and did a triple hoof bump. Cherry was shaking all over, but not from fear. From excitement. * * * The four fillies stood on the edge of the Everfree forest. Scootaloo ahead of the other three. “You sure we don’t need the map?” Sweetie Belle asked. Scootaloo shook her head. “Na, I memorised it last weekend. I’ve already seen the cave. I just…” She stopped mid-sentence. She remembered the large bat that flew out of it and she had run off screaming. “You ran off like a chicken, didn’ ya!” Applebloom teased, as she saw Scootaloo’s face. “I did not!” She retorted. The two began to argue as Cherry stepped forward. She began having flashbacks of before when she first stood on the edge of the forest. The wind pushing her in, the sounds of the trees, groaning. It seemed like the forest was alive in a much different way than the rest of Ponyville. She felt a chill run down her spine. She could hear the forest calling her back in. “Hey, Y’all alright?” Cherry snapped back to reality. Applebloom was next to Cherry and the other two fillies by her side, looking concerned. “Ya shouldn’ go into the forest without us.” Cherry noticed she had walked far forwards, away from her friends. She was in the shadow of the forest. It was much colder here. It was like the sun had disappeared and left nothing but the cold night behind. “Cherry? Is everything okay?” Scootaloo sounded worried, because Cherry was looking ill. “Umm…” Sweetie belle spoke up. “Maybe we should leave this for another day?” “What?!” Scootaloo shouted. “But this is our big day! We gotta-“ Scootaloo never finished her sentence. At that point a cyan pegasus flew over the four fillies. “Uh oh.” said Sweetie Belle under her breath, as Rainbow Dash landed next to them. “Hey squirts. What’s going on here?” “Hey, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo jumped over to her hero. “We’re going to-“ “ZECORA’S HOUSE!” Applebloom shouted, jumping in front of Scootaloo. “Err, Y-Yeah! We’re going for umm… for tea!” Sweetie Belle added. Rainbow Dash looked disbelieving at them “Ah, ha. And I suppose your sisters know about this?” “Yeh! Applejack knows that I’m always visiting Zecora’s. It’s just a straight path to her hut.” Applebloom was a much better liar then her sister, any day. But was she good enough to fool Rainbow Dash? “Well, you four-“ Rainbow looked between the four fillies and then saw the pink filly, Cherry. “Hey there. I remember you. How’s the hoof?” Cherry had been in a world of her own. She then looked up at Rainbow Dash. “Huh? Oh, yeah! I’m much better now, thanks to you.” Cherry said. Rainbow Dash puffed out her chest, trying to look heroic. “Hey, don’t sweat it. I’m always there when anypony needs me.” She then jumped into the air and flew around, behind them. “I’ve gotta get going. You four look after yourselves and stick to the path!” She then flew off towards Ponyville, leaving the four fillies behind. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle let out a sigh of relief. “Why’d you two lie like that?” Scootaloo asked. “Because mah sister said I wasn’t allowed in the forest unless it was to see Zecora.” Applebloom said. “And Rarity would kill me if she knew I was anywhere near this place.” Cherry looked at the two of them. “So you’re not allowed in here either?” “No. But we’re still gonna go.” Said Applebloom. “Yeah! And if we get our cutie marks, it’ll all be worth it!” Sweetie Belle said. Cherry nodded, she’d never really thought about her cutie mark too much, because she’d always had worse troubles. Now that that was all behind her, she really wanted to focus on her cutie mark. “So, are we ready to get our cutie marks, girls?” Said Scootaloo. The other three chanted ‘Yeah!’ in unison than the four hoof bumped together, before running into the forest. * * * It was coming up for the late afternoon and Lance had just one more package to deliver. He stood before Ponyville Library, laughing a little seeing as the library was, ironically, a giant tree. He knocked on the door and a moment later it began to glow purple before swinging open. A purple unicorn stood before him. “Hello” She said. “Good afternoon Ms.” Lance spoke politely. “I have a package for a Miss Twilight Sparkle.” The Mare smiled back at him. “Yes, that’s me” Lance then reached into his bags and pulled out the package along with a few letters. The package looked an awful lot like a book. “Oh, thank you.” Twilight wrapped them all in her magic and levitated them by her side. Lance then pulled out a clipboard and a quill, Twilight again used her magic to lift the quill and signed for the package. “There you go.” Lance put the clipboard and quill away again. “Thank you, Miss Sparkle.” “That’s quite alright. Have a pleasant evening.” Twilight took a step back inside and was about to close the door, when Lance had a thought. “Umm… Miss Sparkle?” Twilight looked back up to him. At first she thought maybe he had forgotten something. “I was err... Do you have any books on First Aid for Earth Ponies here?” Twilight smiled. “I’m sure we have something like that. Please, come inside.” Twilight gave him room to enter the library and he stepped inside, nodding his thanks to Twilight. The inside of the library looked a lot larger on the inside then from the outside. Shelves and shelves of books lined the walls. Twilight closed the door with her magic and went up to a section of a wall. Lance followed behind her. “Here are all of our books on medicines and treatments. You should find what you’re looking for here. I’ll be back in a moment. Have a look and I’ll be with you soon.” Twilight headed over to a table in the back and began un-wrapping her package. Lance looked at all the books. There were so many and he didn’t have a clue what he was exactly looking for. Reading the spines of the books, he soon came to a white one. ‘Nurse Redhearts, First Aid guide: Accidents at Home.’ Lance took it down and read the contents page. There was a lot of useful information here. From broken bones to respiration. Lance saw one of the contents was related to how to identify and treat sprains. Lance knew this book would be perfect and headed over to Twilight. Lance was about to say something, then the door opened up quickly and a cyan pegasus flew inside. “Hey Twilight! You get that-“ Rainbow Dash stopped mid-sentence, then saw Lance in his mail pony uniform, then to Twilight unwrapping a new book. “YES!” She flew across the room and stared excitedly at the book, resisting the urge to snatch it. Twilight laughed under her breath then floated it to Rainbow Dash. Lance looked at the book as it flew to the pegasus. ‘Daring Do and the Forgotten Island’? He’d never heard of Daring Do before, but if somepony like Rainbow Dash liked it, then it had to be good. She just didn’t look like the reading type. Guess you can’t judge a book by its cover. Lance thought about what he just said to himself and face-hoof’d from the horrible pun. “Are you okay?” Twilight was looking at Lance. “Huh? Oh. Yes, I... Could I take out this book please?” Lance indicated the First Aid book he was holding. The book glowed purple and then floated alongside Twilight. “Of course, please come this way.” Lance followed Twilight to a large book that was on another desk. They walked past Rainbow Dash who was now sitting on the stairs, already reading the brand new book. She seemed enthralled by it. “So, what’s this book for?” Twilight asked. “Thinking of a career change?” “What? Become a doctor? No, I wouldn’t be able to do anything like that.” “It was just a joke.” Twilight smiled at him. “Ohh, right. Sorry. But really, I wanna be a Knight of the Royal Guard.” Lance stood tall and puffed out his chest. Rainbow Dash laughed in the background and Lance turned to look at her. “Yeah right. You’ll have to bulk up if you wanna be a Royal Guard!” She never took her eyes off the book she was reading. “Maybe you should carry some heavier parcels.” “Rainbow!” Twilight frowned at her friend. “Sorry about that.” She apologised to Lance. “She gets a bit rude when she’s reading.” Lance thought about what Rainbow said all the same. He wasn’t a very strong pony. He’d have to train hard to become a Royal Guard. “So what’s your name?” Twilight asked. “Lance. Lance Angelswift.” Twilight made a note in her book. “And you live, where?” Lance hadn’t expected this. He hesitated. He didn’t want the librarian to think he was a cursed monster like a few other irrational ponies. “He lives in the weird haunted house by the Everfree Forest.” Rainbow blurted out. She had a smile on her face the whole time. Either from the book or that she was enjoying teasing Lance. Lance had frozen where he stood. Twilight looked from Lance to Rainbow Dash and back again. “Is… that true?” Twilight asked. Lance nodded his head, expecting the worst. He was about to say that there was nothing wrong with the house when Twilight simply made a note in the book and then floated the First Aid book over to him. He was surprised that she was still going to let him take it. “Wait? You’re still okay with me taking the book?” Lance questioned. “Of course.” Twilight nodded. “Why wouldn’t I be?” “Well, most of the other ponies in town get scared of me when I say I’m living by the Everfree Forest.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “Please. I don’t believe in any of their superstitious non-sense. There are no such things as ghosts and curses. It’s all make-believe.” Lance breathed a sigh of relief. “So you don’t think the forest is dangerous then?” Lance took the book and placed it in his saddle bags. He smiled at her and then his smile fell as her voice took a serious tone. “Oh no. The forest is very dangerous. There are all kinds of creatures in there. Like Manticores and Timberwolves. I’ve even seen a dragon in there.” Lance couldn’t believe this. A dragon in a forest? “I’d stay outta there if I was you.” Said Twilight. “Or at the very least, stay on the path.” “Yeah, that’s what I said to your sister, earlier.” Lance and Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash. “What?” Lance was confused. “Oh, I saw her and her friends heading into the Everfree Forest, and I told them-“ “YOU WHAT!?” Lance shouted. “WHEN?!” “Just before I came here, but it’s cool. Their heading to-“ Rainbow didn’t finish her sentence. Lance immediately bolted out the door and galloped as fast as he could to the Everfree Forest. He didn’t even hear Twilight calling after him. Cherry! Please be okay!