//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Parks and Revelations // Story: Lost and Then Found // by dragonpony111 //------------------------------// It was another nice day at Ponyville park, it was sunny and warm but the occasional breeze made the air feel just right, "Down Mommy. Want down!" They hadn't been there for barely a minute and already Charity wanted to be put back on the ground, mainly to show off her new skill of walking on her own. Cheerilee didn't allow her though as she wanted to make it to their bench first like always; it was the perfect place to sit for Cheerilee as it was on a small hill giving her a good view of the whole park to watch Charity. As soon as she reached the bench and sat down, Charity struggled her way out of the saddlebag and tried to land on the bench as well, but the filly missed her mark slightly and tumbled down onto the ground. "See Charity? This is why you still need to let me help you, or you will injure yourself my fragile little filly." "Yes. Mommy." Charity answered in a saddened tone as she struggled to stand up, looking down with a frown on her face. "Thank you Charity, you can go play now." The filly perked up and turned around, and began walking towards a field of flowers nearby. Besides her home this was Charity's favorite place in all of Ponyville, as she marveled at the wide spectrum of colors the flowers held, and the waves that seemed to flow over them as the wind blew. Walking through the flowers for her first time Charity giggled as some of the taller ones tickled her belly and snout. The filly didn't really have a sense of direction at the moment as she was just randomly walking about enjoying all the colors and scents of the flowers. She stopped when she happened upon a small bunch of flowers the same color as her, they were a bright orange with white rims around the petals. Charity quickly picks them with her mouth and returned to Cheerilee as quickly as her weak legs let her. She then tried to set them on the bench next to her mother but she was still too small, so she just looked up at her mother, mouth full of flowers, muffling a few words to get her attention. "Why yes Charity, those are very pretty flowers, they look just like you. We should take them home and plant them." Charity's eyes lit up at that statement but then all of a sudden she let out a cute little sneeze causing her to drop the flowers, and for the first time her horn let out a spark of magic, that ended up hitting and burning the flowers she was carrying. As Charity watched the flowers burn to ashes she begins to tear up, and whimpers: "What happened? Mommy? Flowers go away. Flowers not like me?" "No sweetie. Your magic is just coming in, that's all. It means you are growing up into a big pony" Charity immediately stops crying and a look of excitement fills her face as she exclaims: "Really Mommy. I'm a big pony now?" "No not quite yet Charity, but you are on your way. Now go back to playing and I'll help you find more of those flowers on our way home." Turning around Charity noticed two earth ponies chasing each other in her field of flowers, and she decides to meet them. Being the show off that she is Charity puts forth her best effort to make her walk look normal, as she still thinks walking is a big deal for young ponies. "He-Hello. I'm Charity." The two earth ponies, a green colt and a blue filly, stop their chasing to greet charity. The filly speaks up first: "Hi Charity. My name is Sprinter, and this is my brother Dasher. Would you like to play with us?" "Yes. Play what?" The colt steps forward begins talking: "Why tag of course! The greatest game in all of Equestria!" "What's tag?" "You've never heard of tag? Well you just run around chasing other ponies if you are it and try to touch them. If you do then they become it and you run from them." "Oh, um, okay... I can't run." "What why?" "My legs. Are special. I just learned to walk." "But you are not even a baby pony and you just learned to walk, not even run? Are you slow or someth-ooof." Charity was beginning to cry at the colt's unintentionally mean words but the filly stepped in and gave her brother a good buck to his side. "You're glowing personality strikes again Dasher, nice job!." After finishing her sarcastic sentence the earth filly walked over to Charity to comfort her, and to apologize for her brother's stupid remarks. "it's okay Charity, my brother didn't mean what he said. He is just so dumb sometimes. If you want you can..." The earth filly's sentence is cut off as the sound of a stallion's strong voice pierces the air. "Dasher! Sprinter! Come here, we are going home now!" "Sorry we gotta go. Better hurry back before my daddy gets mad at us. We come here to play often though so I hope I get to see you again." The two earth ponies then run off, impressing Charity with their speed, leaving her with a puzzling question in her mind. "Da-Daddy?" Charity thought to herself, what could a daddy be? That stallion sounded like a parent, like her mommy, but only he was male instead. She was really confused at this. The little orange filly knew that mares had foals but didn't know stallions were involved at all. Charity eventually gave up trying to figure out what a daddy was, and decided to look for more of those flowers she found earlier. Later on Cheerilee walked over to her daughter, as it was time to go home. "But, but, Mommy! I didn't find the flowers." "It's alright sweetie, I'll keep an eye out for them on our way home, now get into your bag." Cheerilee then kneeled down to let Charity climb into the saddlebag, and then started their walk back home. After about a few minutes Charity remember what she was thinking earlier and asked Cheerilee: "Mommy? What's a daddy?" "A what?" Cheerilee was caught off guard by the question. She knew one day she would have to explain to Charity that she is adopted, and that her real parents are out in the world somewhere, but she expected that conversation to happen much later on. "A daddy. What's a daddy?" "Why where did you hear that word my Charity?" "A filly I met in the park. A stallion was calling her. She said it was her daddy. What's a daddy? Please mommy." Cheerilee decides to reveal at least some of the truth and sets Charity down in front of her. "Well Charity, a foal takes two ponies to be made, a mare and a stallion who love each other very much, the mare is the mommy and the stallion is the daddy." "So I have a daddy?" "Yes Charity." "Where's daddy? I want to see him." "I'm sorry sweetie but daddy isn't with us anymore, he went far away." "NO! I WANT DADDY! WHY IS DADDY GONE?" Charity then started crying uncontrollably and nothing Cheerilee did calmed her down, so she just placed her back in the saddlebag and returned to walking home. The whole way Charity sobbed: "I want daddy!"