//------------------------------// // Light at the End of the Tunnel (Edited 9/16/18) // Story: Equestria Louds: Of Secrets And Superstitions // by EquineAvenger //------------------------------// The Loud family had contacted the people they had sold Lincoln’s furniture to, the Watsons and the Petersons. Aside from offering money, the desperate family also had to explain why they needed the furniture back. Needless to say, both couples weren’t very happy with the family’s deeds and made them pay more than what they bought the furniture for. They also got out some boxes containing more of Lincoln’s stuff from storage. Back at the house, some of the sisters were trying to move Lincoln’s bed and dresser up the stairs and in the right positions in his room. Lori, Lynn, Lucy, and Luna were struggling to move Lincoln’s bed back into its right position. Leni, Lola, Lana, and Luan were trying to do the same with his dresser. Lisa was instructing both teams to make sure they symmetrically perfect. “A little to the left,” Lisa instructed the bed team. “Okay.” Then she turned to the dresser team. “A little more to the right. Perfect.” “I don’t remember Lincoln’s stuff being this heavy,” Lynn said cracking her back. “They seemed a lot lighter when Dad was helping us,” Lucy pointed out. “He couldn’t help us this time because of his 'recent injuries',” Luna said. “Yeah, I still can’t believe both the Watsons and the Petersons kicked Dad in the… uh… you know,” Lana reminded them with a tone of uneasiness in her voice. The other sisters cringed at the memory of it. Meanwhile, down in the living room, Lynn Sr. was lying on the coach letting out painful groans as he held an ice pack on his aching groin with his wife, Rita, and baby Lily were sitting next to him doing whatever they could to comfort him and ease his pain. After confessing to the Watsons and the Petersons about how they’d recently treated their son, both couples let Lynn Sr. know exactly what they thought of him in a way he’d never forget. “You doin’ okay, Pops?” Luna asked as she and the rest of her sisters came downstairs. “I’ve been better,” Lynn Sr. answered in a painful more high-pitched tone. “Well maybe when this is all over, we should all go do some mini-golf and hit a couple balls!” Luan jokingly suggested letting out some giggles. “Get it?” The rest of the family stared at her with unamused expressions on their faces. “Sorry, too soon.” Then everyone heard the phone ring. “Hello, Rita Loud speaking,” Rita answered it. “Hello Rita Loud, this is the Sunny Canyon Retirement Home,” the voice on the phone said. “Your father, Albert, has requested the presence of you and your family immediately.” “We’ll be right over,” Rita said hanging up the phone. “Kids, that was the Sunny Canyon Retirement Home, they said Pop-Pop wants to see us all.” “Can someone else drive Vanzilla? I don’t think I’m up for it,” Lynn Sr. painfully asked holding his groin area. The family soon arrived at the Sunny Canyon Retirement Home. They all entered through the main entrance and approached the front desk. “Hello, I’m Rita Loud,” Rita told the nurse at the front desk. “I received a call saying that my father, Albert, wanted to see me and my family.” “Wait here, I’ll go get him,” the nurse said leaving the desk to get Albert. Eventually she returned with the elderly man they were here to see. Albert was big and burly. His hair was white and greatly resembled the style of his grandson, Lincoln’s, hair. He also had an anchor tattoo on his right forearm. Usually the family were always happy to see their matriarch’s father and he was usually happy to see them. But instead of a warm greeting smile, Albert had a very sad look on his face. “Is something wrong, Dad?” a concerned Rita asked her father noticing the look he had on his face. “Well now that I see you, something is definitely wrong,” Albert answered observing his family. “It appears we’re missing someone.” The family knew he was talking about Lincoln. Despite his poor eyesight, he could still tell that Lincoln wasn’t among the group. Out of all his grandchildren, Lincoln was Albert’s favorite. Lincoln always loved visiting and having fun with him. The boy was able to do lots of things with his grandfather that neither his sisters, his mother, or even his father were interested in. “Come over here,” Albert said leading his family over to an area where some of his elderly friends were sitting. He walked over to a small table where his laptop was sitting, he opened the device up and turned it on. “I recently found a rather disturbing message Lincoln left me. I thought maybe you should see and hopefully help clear a few things up.” He turned the laptop screen toward his family and played the message. An image of Lincoln sitting on the floor in his empty room facing the camera with a sad look on his face appeared. “Hi Pop-Pop,” the boy said. “It’s me, Lincoln. I hope you’re doing good. Me unfortunately, not so good. The last couple weeks have been an absolute nightmare. First, Lynn forces me to attend one of her baseball games, then when her team lost she blamed the whole thing on me and called me bad luck. Then she started telling everyone else and made the entire family think I’m bad luck, even Mom and Dad. Soon everyone started excluding me from family activities and even kicked me out of the house. But I can’t really put all the blame on her for that, I kinda brought it on myself too. I really wanted some alone time to myself so I played along with the accusations. Boy, did it all come back to bite me. I snuck into another of Lynn’s baseball games and disguised myself as a squirrel mascot to prove that I wasn’t bad luck. It looked like it worked but then everyone started forcing me to wear the squirrel costume to bring them good luck. Well, I just can’t take it anymore, being called bad luck or good luck. It’s like they don’t even see me as a member of the family or even a human being anymore. So starting tonight, I’m running away from home. Please don’t worry or try to look for me, I… I…” For a moment, Lincoln stopped talking to wipe a single tear from his right eye. “I just want you to know that wherever I am, I’m fine and I will always know that you are one of the people that will always and truly love me for who I am. And that I love you too. Goodbye.” With that, the message was over. “Please tell me most of that was exaggerated,” Albert said with a stern and worried tone. “Because I really hope it is.” The other elders sitting in the area were also waiting with judging looks for the family to give a reasonable answer. Unfortunately, all his family could give him were nervous and guilty looks that told him everything he needed to know. “Wow!” Albert exclaimed with the same amount of shock and disbelief Lincoln had when he confronted his parents that terrible night. “So much for family.” “Dad,” a nervous Rita tried to talk with her father. “I know how bad this looks and I don’t have any excuses for it.” “Disowning Lincoln, your own son, just because you all thought he was bad luck?! Are you serious?” Albert said in a soft tone but almost at a complete loss for words. “I’m sorry Dad,” Rita apologized shedding a few tears. “I… I don’t know what I was thinking.” “It was my fault, Pop-Pop,” Lynn Jr. spoke up in defense of her mother. “I… I was so upset at losing my game and… and… I’m sorry.” “Don’t apologize to me, I’m not the one you called bad luck and turned everyone against,” Albert told his granddaughter. Although he was very upset, he tried his best to sound as gentle and understanding as possible. “Junior, I know you love to win, but there’s more to being a great athlete than winning all the time and relying on silly superstitions.” “Like what?” Lynn asked. “I’m afraid that’s something you’re going to have to figure out for yourself, Junior,” Albert told her. Then he turned to his son-in-law with a slightly cross expression on his face. “As for you, Senior. This is going to leave quite a dent in our relationship. Just when I had finally begun to like you.” Lynn Sr. lowered his head in shame and sighed. He and Albert had their issues in the past, but it seemed as if they’d finally put all that aside and built a good relationship between them. Until this happened. “I don’t blame you, Albert. I let a ridiculous superstition turn me and my family into crazy people. I still can’t believe I tried to push away my own son. What kind of father am I?! But I promise I’ll do everything I can to make things righ- AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Before Lynn Sr. could finish what he was saying, an elderly woman quietly walked up to him unnoticed and struck him in his personal area with her cane. The Loud family patriarch fell to his knees clutching his injured crotch. “OH, THAT’S JUST NOT FAIR!” “Serves you right,” the old lady spat. “Jill!” an appalled Albert scolded the elderly assailant. “They’re MY family, I can handle things myself!” Although he was upset with his son-in-law, he didn’t think he deserved that. With that out of the way, Albert turned his attention back to his family to take care of the more serious business. “I’m very disappointed in all of you. Especially you, Rita. I thought I raised you better than that.” Rita bowed her head in shame. “That being said, I don’t believe you’re bad people. You’re all capable of being the big happy family you wish to be. But don’t throw it all away because of some phony baloney.” “I understand, Dad,” Rita said. “We promise we will find Lincoln and make things right.” Then the matriarch engaged in a warm hug with her father. “I know you will,” Albert said in a warm loving tone to his daughter. Back home, the once noisy and chaotic house was now as quite as a grave. Things really weren’t looking good for the Louds. First, their only son has had enough of their mistreatment and runs away. Then, his closest friends threaten to call the Child Services on them if they don’t find him. And now, their beloved grandfather was ashamed of them. The miserable family was trying to think of a way to find their missing boy and make amends to him. Unfortunately, they weren’t having much success. Rita had been calling the families of a few of Lincoln’s friends but no one knew where he was. “Okay, thank you Mr. Spokes. Just let us know if you find anything,” Rita said hanging up the phone, then started sobbing. Her husband put his arms around her in an attempt to comfort her. “Oh Lynn, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do.” “Neither do I,” he sobbed back. Over in Mr. Grouse’s house, the grouchy old neighbor was sitting down at his table about to have the lasagna Lincoln gave him. But he couldn’t help but overhear the sad commotion going over at his neighbor's house. The sounds of Rita and Lynn’s sobbing and the memory of the angry things Lincoln had said to him that night made him lose his appetite out of guilt. The old man put his utensils down and picked up the tupperware in front of him as he got up from his seat. Back in the Loud house, the gloominess was interrupted by a knocking at the front door. Leni answered it and was surprised to see it was Mr. Grouse holding a rectangular-shaped tupperware in his hands. “Mr. Grouse, what are you doing here?” Leni asked. “I couldn’t in good conscience let this go on any longer,” the old man said. Then he walked over to Lynn Sr. and handed him the tupperware of lasagna. “Here’s your lasagna back. Lincoln gave it to me the night he ran away so I wouldn’t tell you where he went.” “You saw him?” Lana asked surprised. “Where did he go?” Lola asked anxiously. “Down that way,” Mr. Grouse pointed them in the direction Lincoln went. “Why are you helping us?” Luan asked curiously. “To prove him wrong.” “To prove him wrong about what?” Lucy asked. “That I’m not just a grouchy old man that doesn’t care about anyone but himself,” Mr. Grouse remorsefully explained. “Besides, Lincoln’s actually a really good kid. He deserves to give his family a second chance. No one should be without their family.” “Thank you so much,” a tearful Rita gratefully hugged the old man, who was at first surprised but put on a warm smile. “Is there anything we can do to repay you?” Lynn Sr. asked. “Just don’t let anything like this happen again,” Mr. Grouse said. “And tell Lincoln I’m sorry for not caring about what he was going through.” “Will do,” Luna happily agreed giving him a thumbs up. A few minutes later, the Louds had packed some things and were loading up Vanzilla in preparation for their search for Lincoln. Eventually, they were all seated in Vanzilla ready to take off with new determination. “Alright Louds,” Lynn Sr. said ready at the wheel. “You all ready?” “Yeah!” his wife and daughters agreed. “And so is Charles,” Lana said holding the family dog in her lap. “He wants to help find Lincoln too. With his nose, we’re sure to find him.” The dog gave a few barks in agreement. “Alright everyone,” Lynn Sr. announced. “It’s time to put Operation Find Lincoln And Apologize To Him For Weeks Of Cruel And Emotional Abuse Due To Stupid Superstitions And Think Of A Shorter Nickname For This Operation into action!” “YEAH!” the family excitedly shouted. “Alright, let’s hit the road!” Lynn Sr. said ready for action. “YEAH!” A moment later, Leni had grabbed one of Lynn Jr.’s baseball bats, gotten out of the van, and was hitting the road with it. “Like, take that! And this! And that! Had enough yet?!” she happily said while hitting the asphalt. “Like, how am I doing, guys?” The rest of the family was sitting in the car staring wide-eyed at her in disbelief. Then they all, including Lily and Charles, slapped their foreheads and groaned in annoyance at the stupidity of the second oldest sister. “We’re doomed,” Lisa said.