//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 // Story: Angelswift // by Nevel //------------------------------// It was late at night. Lance was standing in the shower, looking up at the shower head as the tiny droplets of water splashed onto his face. The water stung his eyes with each drop but he ignored it. His hind leg was hurting a lot and he struggled to remain standing on it. His entire body was screaming in protest after the events of today. He had been through so much. Pushing his body to its limit, running across Ponyville and though the Everfree Forest, then crossing a swamp, escaping from a giant hydra and nearly drowning. That was only the physical toll he had taken. His heart had suffered a lot worse. After getting home, he found that Cherry was in the bedroom, crying her eyes out. - - - “Cherry, please listen to me.” Lance was trying to talk his sister into coming out of the bedroom, but she was having none of it. Each time he would open the door, she would slam against it, keeping him out. “Leave me alone! I don’t wanna talk to you!” Cherry had refused to speak to her brother or let him speak to her. “Please, you have to understand-“ “I don’t have to anything! You’re a horrible pony!” Cherry shouted at her brother. He’d threatened to take her out of school and forbid her from seeing her friends ever again. “Cherry! I didn’t-“ “GO AWAY!” She screamed one last time. Lance hung his head low and walked into the living room. He sat on the sofa, unaware of how dirty he was getting it. His strength was drained. He felt numb. The events of the day were still haunting him. After what felt like forever he looked up out the window, and saw the sun was getting lower in the sky. He was hungry and he knew Cherry must be too. He stood up and walked to the kitchen to make some dinner for the both of them. - - - Lance had stood in the shower for so long that his hooves were getting pruney. He took down a bottle of shampoo and then began to wash himself with it, cleaning off all the stains in his ivory coloured coat. The water at his hooves quickly turned brown from the swamp stains and other dirt he’d gotten from the forest. The mud was dried in, but took minimal effort to scrub out. Lance winced as he started to wash his hind leg. He took a closer look at it, after wiping away all the mud and stains. Lance saw that the teeth marks were all flat. The hydra’s fangs must have missed him when he was caught by it, or the hydra was a smart beast and didn’t sink it’s fangs into him, in case it bit off his whole leg. The thought scared him, that such a monster could really be that smart. After washing the rest of his body, he used the shampoo in his hair. He closed his eyes as the suds ran down his face. He saw his sisters face again in his mind. The dinner couldn’t have gone worse. - - - Cherry was sitting at the table with her dinner in front of her, untouched. Lance had made a salad for them both but the pink filly just stared at it, like it was poison. “If you don’t want a salad, I can make-“ Cherry huffed as her brother tried to talk to her. It had taken a lot of effort to make Cherry come out of her room, but in the end she only did it to get him to stop talking. She was now giving him the silent treatment. She must have been hungry, but any food prepared by Lance, she was not going to touch. Cherry got up from the table and went straight for the cupboard where all the sweets were kept. “Cherry. You should eat your salad before-“ Cherry slammed the cupboard door and had a box that had a lot of muffins in it. She ignored her brother and sat at the table with them. Lance was starting to get fed up with her bad attitude now. “Cherry, if you want sweets, you’ve gotta eat-“ The filly pushed the salad away from her with a lot of force, sliding it half way across the table. She then took the string off the box and went to lift the lid up. Lance put a hoof on it. “Cherry! That has got to-“ She knocked his hoof away and then he used his other foreleg to pull the whole box from her. She screamed, bucked the chair out from underneath her and turned to her brother. “You can’t make me do everything you want, Lance! I’m not your slave!” Lance was taken aback for a moment. She had never called him by his name before. “N-Now you listen here!” Lance began, getting down from the table. “NO!” Cherry shouted. Her anger was building to a boil. “I’m sick of you!” “Hey! I’m trying-“ “I don’t give a flying feather what you’re trying to do!” “Watch your language!” Lance shouted back! “I don’t care! You’ve ruined my life! I wish I didn’t have a brother! I HATE YOU!” Lance felt like a dagger had pieced his heart. Cherry ran out the room and slammed the bedroom door. Lance heard a scrapping noise coming from the room, like she was moving furniture to block to door. Lance ran to the bedroom door and pressed hard against it. It wouldn’t move. “Cherry!” Lance pushed at the door a little harder. Whatever was blocking the door wasn’t too heavy, but he was hurting all over, had a pounding headache and this whole day had left him exhausted. “Cherry Blossom! Open this door, right now! You hear me?” She didn’t reply. Lance gave the door a few more shoves and then one mighty push. The door swung open enough for him to get inside. Cherry, somehow, had pushed the bedside cabinet to the door. He would have thought it was too heavy to move it from the bed to the door so quickly, unless she had slowly moved it to the door while she was in there earlier. Lance then looked up and saw the open window. His sister was nowhere to be seen in the room. He jumped up to the window and looked around. In the distance Lance could just see the pink filly running off into the distance. She was running away towards Fluttershy’s house. - - - Lance stepped out of the shower and wiped his face on a towel. Looking up, he saw a blurry refection of himself behind tiny droplets of water on the mirror. Wiping away the condensation, he saw a pair of eyes staring back at him. But they weren’t his eyes. They were all dark, bloodshot, red and puffy. They were his father’s eyes. The eyes of a heartless monster, that didn’t deserve any kind of love or friendship. Am I becoming just like him? Lance wiped the rest of the mirror and saw his full face. He was clean now, back to his normal colour. His mane was dripping wet as was his coat, but at least he looked better. He proceeded to towel himself off, and slowly he found himself falling asleep on his hooves. He’d have to go to bed immediately after he finished drying himself off. Lance looked back into the mirror, staring directly into his own eyes. What have I done? Have I lost her forever? Will she ever forgive me? Lance put a hoof on the mirror and looked away. How can I even look at myself in the mirror again? - - - Lance banged on the door to Fluttershy’s cottage. She didn’t answer immediately and Lance could hear Cherry inside begging her to please not answer the door. Everything went quiet for a moment longer, than the door opened slowly. The yellow Pegasus stood at the door, looking worried. She tried not to make eye contact with lance, looking everywhere, but at him. “H-Hello.” She said quietly. “Fluttershy, I’ve come here to get my sister!” Lance spoke a little more harshly then he may have intended, but it was hard for him right now to keep his emotions in check. “Oh, okay then. She’s-“ Fluttershy stopped mid-sentence, feeling something kick her hoof. The little white rabbit had an angry look on its face and shook it’s head at Fluttershy. “Oh, I mean, err, no. She’s not here.” “Fluttershy,” Lance pressed. “I know that Cherry is here, I heard her before you opened the door.” Fluttershy looked down at the ground defeated. She went to step back, but again, the rabbit kicked her harder than before. “Please Mr. Angelswift. Cherry is really upset right now. Maybe-“ Lance cut her off. “Sorry but this is between me and her. Her attitude today has been completely off the walls. She went into the forest, against my rules. I told her not to go in there. She ignored me! She needs to learn what she’s done is wrong!” Lance was shouting into the house, at Cherry who was hiding in the back room. “Yes, she told me a little of what happened, but I really think you’re handling this the wrong way.” Lance was getting annoyed. More advice about how he should behave. They didn’t know what he had been through or how hard he worked! “I’ll handle this in my own way and I’ll let no one tell me, otherwise!” Lance took a step forward. “Now see here!” Fluttershy looked directly at Lance and stared right into his eyes. He froze. He felt like he was unable to move or even talk. She seemed to stare directly into his soul. “If you think for a moment that you’re entering this house to take away this small frightened little girl, you’re completely mistaken young pony!” Lance had never seen Fluttershy like this. It was like she had grown twice as tall and he had shrank to the size of a mouse. “Now you think about everything that’s happened today, and you think hard!” He sat down, at a loss for words. All his anger was gone, replaced with fear and sadness. Fluttershy broke eye contact with Lance and then stepped outside with him, closing the door half way. “I- I’m…” Lance didn’t know what to say. It was like he was looking down on himself, seeing everything he had said through the whole day. He was Cherry’s big brother and should be there to protect her. Not control her. She had done wrong, but not as bad as Lance was making it out to be. She was smart enough to avoid the swamp. He was the one who crossed it like a foal. He had made an extremely harsh and unfair punishment for Cherry, and he knew it. He shouldn’t have acted the way he did. “I think you should let Cherry Blossom stay with me tonight.” Fluttershy said, in her most gentle voice. “You’ve both been through a lot together and I think maybe you just need some space for a while.” Lance looked up at Fluttershy realising how pathetic he must look, covered head to hoof in dirt, sitting on the floor. She just looked down on him and smiled. “You should go home, have a wash and get a good night’s rest.” “But Cherry-“ “I’ll look after Cherry and I’ll make sure she’s back home tomorrow. I’m sure you’ll both feel better then.” Lance just looked at the Pegasus and then nodded his head. He stood up, groaning in pain. Fluttershy looked worried about him, but before she could say anything, he asked her for a favour. “Please tell her I’m sorry, and that I still love her.” - - - Lance walked into the bedroom and looked around. The cabinet was still in the middle of the room and the window was wide open, letting in a draft. He went over and closed the window. Lance looked out into the night. The moon was up high in the sky at this point and Lance could barely keep his eyes open. He closed the curtains and fell onto the bed, noticing how quiet it was in the house. He felt so lonely without his sister, but after the way he had behaved today, he didn’t deserve to be anywhere close to her. He wanted so badly to tell her he was sorry. He’d taken all his anger out on her, and had even yelled at Fluttershy. That was a step too far. She was completely innocent in all of this. What kind of pony had Lance become? He had a lot to make up for tomorrow. Slowly, his eyes closed and immediately he fell into a dreamless sleep. * * * Cherry was sitting on Fluttershy’s sofa with a cup of hot coco in her hooves. She was just staring at it, watching as the steam drifted upwards in a wavy fashion. She wanted to drink it, but just couldn’t find the strength to lift the mug any higher. She couldn’t stop thinking about what her brother said. The look in his eyes. He had become a different pony and she hated him for it. Fluttershy was sitting next to her, just watching. The pink filly hadn’t said much since Lance had left. Only nodding and shaking her head when Fluttershy asked her questions. Cherry wanted so little, and asked for less. Friends. Family. Had she lost both in just one day? “Is something wrong with your coco?” Fluttershy asked gently. Cherry just shook her head and then forced herself to sip from the cup. It tasted nice. She felt the warmth of it spread all the way down in her belly. ”If you want anything, you only have to ask. Okay?” The little earth pony nodded her head. She took another sip from the coco and then looked over to the far wall. A small mouse was carrying a tiny piece of cheese in its mouth and it was taking it to a hole in the wall. Another smaller mouse came out the hole and ran to the other mouse. The mouse with the cheese bit a chunk of it off, which it gave to the smaller mouse. The two sat next to each other, eating the cheese together. Cherry thought of her brother and everything they had been through together. Since she was born, Lance was her only friend. Her guardian. Her teacher. Her family. He taught her so much and gave everything for her. How could he take it all away in a heartbeat? Why couldn't her life be better at home? “What you thinking about?” Fluttershy asked the little filly. Cherry looked up at Fluttershy. Her gentle face wore a concerned and caring look. Cherry looked back at her coco. “My mommy.” The yellow Pegasus looked more closely at Cherry. She’d never talked about her mother before, and Lance certainly never spoke about their past. Fluttershy waited for Cherry to continue, but she didn’t. “So, what’s your mommy like?” Fluttershy asked. The small filly said nothing for a while, and then took a few sips of her coco before answering. “She…” Fluttershy thought that Cherry wasn’t going to say anything more. But what came next, Fluttershy wasn’t ready to hear. “She died just after I was born. I never met her.” Fluttershy gasped then moved closer to the filly. “Oh no, That’s just awful. I’m so sorry.” Cherry kept looking down at the carpet, then she took another drink from the coco, slowly reaching the bottom of the cup. “Lance said I look just like her. Only her mane was longer than mine. She was sweet and kind. She did everything that anypony asked of her. My father wasn’t horrible to her. At least he wasn't until he started to drink, Lance told me. She saw the good in him and wanted to help him get better. She was a caring pony and helped look after so many other ponies. She’d spend all her time working, helping the sick and the elderly.” Cherry’s voice began to crack. “She was loved by everypony, and jus- just w-wanted to help-” She dropped the coco on the floor and buried her face in her hooves. Fluttershy ignored the coco spill and just wrapped the filly in a hug. “Shhhh, It’s okay.” Cherry had tears in her eyes, but didn’t want to start crying too hard. “W-why did she h-have to die?” Cherry sniffed, as she looked up to Fluttershy. “I’m sorry sweetie. I really am. But your brother loves you very much and-“ Cherry fought and pulled out of the hug, folding her forelegs. Fluttershy leaned back to away from the filly. “He’s not my brother!” Cherry started sulking and sat looking away from Fluttershy, They sat in silence for a minute. Cherry then saw the coco spilled on the floor and looked ashamed. “I- I’m sorry about the coco.” The pink earth pony said as she looked back at Fluttershy. “Oh, that’s okay. It was an accident. Now, it’s very late and I think you should go to bed.” “But I-“ “No but’s,” Fluttershy said with a smile. ”Come on, you’ll feel better in the morning. I promise.” Fluttershy led the way up the stairs, with Cherry following closely behind her. They entered Fluttershy’s bedroom and the yellow Pegasus pulled back the sheets on the bed. She tilted her head towards the bed while looking at Cherry, telling her to climb in. The bed was much higher than her own and the filly had to jump up to climb in. Fluttershy gave her a gentle nudge to stop her falling backwards off the bed, since it was a lot fluffier then what she was used to. Cherry laid down in the bed and realised just how fluffy it really was. Was the mattress made out of the softest feathers? Maybe this was what it was like to sleep in the clouds. Fluttershy was a Pegasus, so maybe the bed really was made using clouds? Cherry wanted to ask the kind pony this question but she felt sleep sneaking up on her. Fluttershy covered Cherry with the blanket and she had never felt so comfortable. “You have a pleasant sleep now and wonderful dreams. Okay? And I’ll speak to you in the morning.” Cherry didn’t respond. She looked like she had already fallen asleep. She laid there, completely at ease. Fluttershy turned towards the door and then heard Cherry call her. “Fluttershy…” Cherry was looking at Fluttershy, like she wanted to say something, but she was having trouble finding the words. “Yes, Cherry? You want something?” Cherry shook her head. “I…” Cherry closed her eyes, no longer looking at Fluttershy. “I wish you could have been my mom.” The room was silent, the only noises were those of the animals outside, the chickens making a few clucking noises. Cherry held her breath, feeling stupid. She heard the sounds of hoofsteps on the floor coming towards her. Cherry was afraid to open her eyes. Was Fluttershy mad at her? Did she think she was stupid for saying that? She felt Fluttershy gently nuzzle against the side of her head. “I’ll always be here for you, when you need me.” Fluttershy whispered. Cherry’s emotions got the better of her. She could feel the tears stinging her eyes. Fluttershy stayed with the little filly that night, until she fell asleep.