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// Chapter 5: A Breath Of Fresh Air 
// Story: Lost and Then Found 
// by dragonpony111 
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“Miss Cheerilee, what in tarnations is all the commotion about?”

“Yeah, and why did my sister jump into the lake with her new dress on.”

“Come on Rarity please find her, we’ve been… Oh. Girls! Why weren't you watching Charity like I asked!?”

“What do you mean? She is swimming in the shallow end right over there!”

Scootaloo pointed to where Charity had been swimming but her arm turned limp as she turned around and noticed Charity had disappeared. Seconds later all of the ponies notice a purple glow in the middle of the lake right before Rarity resurfaced floating Charity with her magic. Rarity then swam back to the shore and returned the filly to Cheerilee who could not have been more worried. After she coughed up a small amount of water Charity was breathing again though also weezing, bringing a huge sigh of relief to Cheerilee. The mother quickly dumped out her saddlebag and found Charity’s inhaler, and quickly gave Charity some puffs from it. Rarity climbed back onto dry land took some heavy breaths as she calmed down herself.

“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you so much Rarity! I would have died myself if I lost my precious little Charity. Though I am sorry you had to ruin your dress.”

Rarity then looked down at the beautiful new yellow sundress she was wearing, which was dripping wet and wrinkled. She almost let out a few tears from the recent crime against fashion but then returned her look to Cheerilee and smiled saying:

“It was no problem at all Cheerilee my darling! I’m sure you would have done the same for my Sweetie Belle. Besides I can easily make another dress, but we can never replace our foals can we?  Now let’s go home Sweetie Belle, you and your friends have some explaining to do!”

From then on Charity was deathly afraid of any amount of water larger than a drinking glass. This posed a large problem for the filly and her mother as she was making real progress with standing and walking in the pool. The fear almost completely consumed Charity as even bath time was a hassle; as Cheerilee tried to wash her filly who constantly flailed around and kicked in the water. Though the daily struggle with her mom must have exercised her muscles enough as about a month after the near drowning Charity could finally stand, while leaning against a wall though. From then on the filly finally started developing her leg muscles at a healthy rate; while at first she could only take a step or two, as time went on Charity would walk down an entire hallway, with her mother right at her side in case she were to fall. The amount of progress Charity was making made Cheerilee feel safe enough to finally replace her crib with a real bed. This was an amazing day for Charity, as she took it as a reward for working so hard on walking.

One Saturday morning though Cheerilee’s efforts had paid off. Charity was the first to wake up as usual, as her mother put her to bed so early every night, but this morning was different. Charity had felt a surge of energy, more specifically in her legs, and was determined to do the seemingly impossible. She then shoved herself off of her bed, and tumbled onto the soft carpeted floor. The little filly struggled immensely as she stood up on all four of her legs. Her first few steps were awkward as her body was shaking so much, but she managed to find her balance and then began her walk to her mother’s room. Charity eventually made it to the side of her mother’s bed and called out to her. Cheerilee rubbed her eyes after she awoke to see her filly standing there all on her own.

“Look Mommy. I stand. I stand. See Mommy?”

“Yes Charity you are standing… you are standing? YOU ARE STANDING!”

Cheerilee then quickly sprang up from her bed to congratulate her daughter. All of their hard work together had finally paid off, proving wrong the opinions of all the doctors who said it would never happen. Charity was cheerfully walking around in a small circle to show her mother the walking she could now do.

“Look Mommy. I walk. Proud Mommy?”

“Yes Charity! Mommy is so very proud of you!”

Cheerilee nuzzled her daughter, stroked her mane, and gave her the largest smile.

“Well honey, since we are both awake now, let’s have breakfast?”

“Yes Mommy. Food good.”

When Cheerilee moved Charity from the bottle to solid foods, her filly became the pickiest eater, rejecting most mashed foal food, preferring fruit mostly, with her favorite being zap apples. Cheerilee then made her daughter some toast covered in zap apple jam as a reward. She then lifted Charity up and set her into her high chair.

“No Mommy! Big chair! Big chair!”

“I’m sorry Charity but you still aren't ready yet, and I can’t have you falling off.”

Charity just sat there pouting until her eyes lit up as her mother returned with her favorite food. As usual Charity made a mess of eating, leaving her face, plate, the floor around her chair, and somehow her mane covered in crumbs and jam. After Cheerilee cleaned her up she asked Charity:

“So what will we do today Charity? How about going to the park, does that sound nice?”

“Yes Mommy. Park Fun. Let’s go.”

As much as she protested Cheerilee didn’t let Charity walk with her to the park, for fear of her filly straining her muscles, so she made Charity ride in the saddlebag as usual. As they entered the park Charity took a nice long inhale to enjoy the pure and sweet smelling air. For some reason the air in the park was especially soothing to Charity’s weakened lungs, and allowed for her to fully breathe easily without her inhaler; also she never had any asthma attacks at the park, which let Cheerilee be more at ease.