//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: The Cutie Mark Crusaders Strike Again! // Story: Lost and Then Found // by dragonpony111 //------------------------------// The instant Sweetie Belle saw the small filly being carried by Cheerilee she abandoned Scootaloo and Applebloom to go meet her. Sweetie Belle ran right up to the two talking mares and interrupted their conversation, somewhat rudely, to ask: “Wow Miss Cheerilee! I never knew you had a filly! What’s her name?” “Well Rarity… uh, huh, what… oh hello there Sweetie Belle. Her name is Charity, I adopted her shortly before summer ended and school began.” “Awwwwwwww. That is so sweet Cheerilee and she looks so precious, can she play with us?” “Well that is why I brought her here Sweetie Belle, as Rarity organized this play date with you and your friends. Here I’ll walk her over to the lake; she can barely crawl let alone stand or walk yet.” “Oh um… but why is that Miss Cheerilee? She looks way older than a newborn and us ponies can mmmmpphhh.” Rarity shoved her hoof into Sweetie Belle’s mouth and said: “That’s enough with the questions Sweetie, I’ll explain to you later in private.” Cheerilee and Sweetie Belle then walked back to the other Cutie Mark Crusaders who were watching the whole time. Cheerilee then placed Charity on the grass and said: “Hello girls. This is my filly Charity, she is here to play with you all, she is fragile so please be gentle with her. Sweetie Belle can introduce you.” Cheerilee then walked back and sat on the bench with Rarity to continue their conversation. Charity just sat there with a confused look on her face as this was her first time interacting with other ponies besides her mother or the hospital staff. Scootaloo was the first to speak up: “Wow cool we might have a new member for the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” “Well ah reckon her flank is blank enough.” “Umm hold on guys, we have to be really careful with her, Cheerilee said she can’t even stand up or walk yet.” “Well that’s lame, what pony can’t even walk? She isn’t that young.” Though still not a great speaker yet, Charity understood most of what ponies said now and felt really ashamed of herself. Charity then began crying loudly with tears running down her face. Sweetie Belle then yelled: “Oh nice job Scootaloo, way to be insensitive.” “Yeah Scootaloo, and with that thought ah reckon its lame you can’t even fly! Though ah wouldn’t be surprised since chickens can’t fly.” Hearing that made Scootaloo instantly understand what she had done and she immediately starts apologizing to the pony as best as she could, which surprisingly did work. After Charity calmed down Scootaloo chose her words carefully and then asked: “Well now what? What can we play that a filly who ca… who is still really young can also play?” The three fillies pondered their thoughts while Charity took notice of the water and crawled over to it. Charity then shoved herself off the small ledge and splashed into the lake. Applebloom noticed the foal swimming and came up with an idea: “Hey girls take a gander over there, the foal is swimmin’. I reckon we try for our swimming cutie marks!” The two other ponies enthusiastically agree with her and they all go jumping into the lake, with Scootaloo using her wings to hover in the air for a moment before cannonballing in. Cheerilee and Rarity heard the splash and turned their attention to the lake to see all the ponies swimming. Cheerilee shouted at the Cutie Mark Crusaders: “Girls! Please be careful with Charity, and don’t let her swim out of shallow water.” The three ponies shout back okay in unison and return to earning their swimming cutie marks. Charity happily paddled about in the water that was shallow enough so that her hooves would touch the floor. Charity hated taking baths still but always loved any form of water deep enough for her to swim or stand up in. Cheerilee noticed as well and paid Applejack to build a shallow pool in her backyard, which she took Charity to daily for exercise. Charity was always somewhat of an attention grabber and liked to show off in any way she could. To get the CMC’s attention Charity swam over to some slightly shallower water and stood up saying: “Look. Stand.” The three ponies notice with both Applebloom and Sweetie Belle going awwwww but Scootaloo scoffs: “Big deal. Let me know when she can stand on clouds, and then I’ll be impress… OW!” Applebloom gave Scootaloo a good elbow to her stomach and reminded her to watch what she said again. Scootaloo then jumped onto Applebloom and knocked her into the water and the three ponies went back to playing around. Charity then got bored and decided to go swimming out into deeper water, as in her pool at home it was always shallow enough to stand in. Charity nearly makes it to the middle of the lake before without warning her leg muscles tire out and she struggles to stay afloat. Charity stars frantically flailing around and cries out: “Mommy! Mommy! Help! MOMMY! He*gurgling sounds*” Charity was then too tired to stay afloat any longer and she managed to take one more breath before sinking underwater. Cheerilee didn’t hear the word help clearly and thought that Charity was just showing her mother how good at swimming she was, so she just waved back and said: “Mommy is so proud of you honey!” Cheeilee’s pride quickly turns into panic when she sees her daughter sink below the surface of the water and not return after a few seconds. She quickly jumps up from the bench while frantically shouting “Oh no!” and gallops over to the side of the lake. Rarity startled by Cheerilee’s outburst follows close behind her and asks what is wrong. Cheerilee explained what she saw her filly do but then just stood there frozen not knowing what to do. Rarity understood the gravity of the situation and jumped into the lake, knowing it would ruin her new sundress she just designed. Rarity swam out to the middle of the lake and dove down, not resurfacing for several seconds. The CMC noticed all of the commotion and swam over to Cheerilee to see what all the fuss was about.