BONUS CHAPTER
Coping
A grey and rainy day greeted Cheerilee and I as we left the house and began our walk to the cemetery. Three weeks had passed since Turner's death, and the town was still reeling from the shock. I held an umbrella over the two of us as we trudged through town, nodding in reply to the various greetings we got.
The ominous gates of the cemetery cast an imposing shadow over the ground, creaking slightly in an unseen breeze. Without a word Cheerilee and I passed through them and walked along the path, observing the other mourners visiting the graves of friends and relatives long since departed.
One mourner in particular caught our attention — a mint-green unicorn mare who was sitting next to Turner's grave. Her moving mouth told us that she was talking to him, and as we approached our footsteps startled her and she turned around with a gasp.
"Oh." She said after recovering from the shock. "Hi, Geo. Hi, Cheerilee. I was just... I'll leave you to talk to him in peace."
She started to walked away, but Cheerilee and I both reached out and grabbed one of her hind legs each.
"No, Lyra." Cheerilee shook her head. "Stay with us. You have just as much a right to be here as we do, if not more."
Lyra nodded and we let her go, allowing her to come back and sit with us. There was a moment of silence before she began sniffling, which soon escalated into full-blown crying.
"I was going to be his special somepony!" She wailed. "We were going to be so happy together! Why did he have to die?! Why does the world have to be so cruel?"
Cheerilee looked crestfallen at Lyra's words and put a forehoof on her back, rubbing it gently.
"I'm sorry, Lyra." She said. "But if it's any consolation, he died a hero. He didn't have to help Geo and I, but he did. And for that, the two of us will be eternally grateful. I felt like his death was my fault, but Geo convinced me that it wasn't."
"He's right." Lyra snorted. "It's not your fault, Cheerilee. It's mine." We looked at her in shock and she sighed. "When he found you, did he mention the fact that it was me who had talked some sense into him regarding his feelings about you two being together?"
"He did, as it happens." I replied. "But I don't see how that—"
"Not only did I convince him that you two belonged together," Lyra interrupted, "I also told him to find you and tell you that he would support you, lest you spend your date worrying that he was up to something. If I hadn't have done that... he'd still be here."
"And we wouldn't." I said bluntly, causing Lyra to look at me in confusion. "Think about it, Lyra, if you hadn't have told him to find us, that timberwolf probably would have killed us both. So whether you told him or not, somepony was going to die that night." I sighed. "And maybe it should have been me."
The fact that Cheerilee slapped me expressed her displeasure at these words far more than the scowl on her face ever could.
"How can you think like that?" She hissed. "If you had died instead of Turner then, yes, he and Lyra would have been able to get together. But I would have been the one left heartbroken, just like you would have had I died instead!"
I rubbed my face as Lyra spoke up again.
"So basically," she said, "there is no escaping the fact that this event would have left one of us happy and another devastated?" Cheerilee nodded and Lyra sighed again. "See what I mean when I ask why the world has to be so cruel?"
I pulled Lyra in for a hug, much to her surprise.
"You may think that this is your fault, Lyra, but I'm going to tell you exactly what I told Cheerilee when she thought the same thing." I said sternly. "Fate works in mysterious ways. Nopony can say what will happen, or indeed when it will happen. That is why we must live our lives to their fullest potential, as I'm sure Turner would have wanted. We must look to the future, but we must always remember the past."
I was looking into her eyes as I spoke, and now watched closely for her reaction. She mouthed the words 'look to the future' a couple of times, before a smile crossed her lips and she nodded.
"You're right, Geo." She murmured. "I should remember him, but at the same time I should move on with my life." She chuckled. "You certainly have a way with words."
"That's what I told him as well." Cheerilee giggled. "And... we've decided that, when the time comes, our first child is going to be named after Turner."
"I'm sure he'd appreciate that." Lyra smiled. "Thank you."
We sat in contented silence for a moment, looking at Turner's gravestone. The smooth marble reflected the sunlight now peeking through the clouds, casting an almost angelic glow which cut through the murky cemetery.
"So, Lyra," I said hesitantly, "are you okay now?" She nodded. "So you're going to stop blaming yourself for what happened?"
"I am." She replied. "Instead, I am going to live my life as Turner would have expected me to. And I'll be sure to tell him all about it when I see him in the afterlife."
"That's good to hear." Cheerilee said. "But always remember that you are more than welcome to come and talk to us if you need to."
Lyra nodded and we sat in silence again, the three of us united in our appreciation of Time Turner.