Watching the clock I sat there on my couch counting the minuets trying to work out exactly what I was going to say to Rumble. The world seemed to be a different place. More had happened over the weekend than had happened to me since Chase had walked back into my life. I regretted that more than anything. I should have faced this back then. I should have listened to her. If I had I done that the two of would have been married my now. I wouldn't just be waiting on Rumble to get home I might have been waiting on a foal of my own. Shaking my head I knew I didn't need to focus on what could have been. Right now I needed to focus on breaking the news to Rumble.
"I'm glad your finally going to nip this in the bud, son." Said a hoarse voice from off to my left. Turning to him I gave him a weak smile. The light gray coated old pegasus sat on the end of the couch opposite of me. The lines that crossed his face looked like trenches and they might as well could have been. Grandpa Cloudstorm was a veteran, every scar and wrinkle he had come by honestly in his years of service to the crown.
"I should have listened to you," I admitted.
He laughed and held out a hoof,
"It isn't your nature to listen to anypony."
"Your right. I don't listen to anypony. I'm too darn stubborn." I muttered.
The clinking of dishes alerted me to the approach of my grandma. Making her way to the living room she sat the patter down that she had been carrying on my coffee table. She offered me a warm smile and then a cup of tea,
"One cube of sugar and no cream is how you used to drink it. I assumed you still did if not let me know so I'll know the next time."
Taking the cup I took a sip and then set it down on the little saucer and looked her over. Grandma was a cyan coated mare with a silver mane. Unlike grandpa she had aged remarkably well, the only wrinkles that adorned her face were the spiderlike lines falling away from the corners of her eyes.
"You remembered," I said with a happy smile.
With the tip of a primary she poked me on the nose and winked,
"Your granny is many things, forgetful isn't one of them."
Sitting between me and grandpa she let out a pleased sigh. Looking at them I could help but feel guilty. This was the first time they had visited in almost three years. The reason for them not visiting was me. After dad died they wanted me and Rumble to move in with them. I was dumb and I made the decision to strike out on my own with my little brother in tow. They never tried to take Rumble from me even though they could have at anytime. It would have been better for him. I had to live with the fact that I had done them wrong and I done Rumble wrong.
After this past weekend I wanted to do better. I had a long road of ahead of me and I was scared to death of it. They weren't the only grandparents that I pushed away. I also broke contact with mom's dad Grandpa Silverwing and now it was too late to really get to know him. He was laid up in a retirement home in Cloudsdale with advanced stage Alzheimare's. Despite that I was going to visit him as soon as I could.
"So, where are you going?" asked grandpa between sips of tea.
"Chase is taking me to a mental health facility in Canterlot tomorrow morning," I answered noticing how bad saying that tasted.
"Why haven't you married that mare yet?" asked grandma with a raised eyebrow.
That question caused me to swallow my tea sending the hot liquid down the wrong path and I began to cough. After my little coughing fit I struggled to speak,
"Its... ugh... complicated."
"Complicated?"
"Yeah, complicated."
"Its not nice to make a lady wait!" said grandpa as he gave me a hard look.
If there was anything I wasn't going to talk about right now it was my love life. After the weekends shenanigans that was the last thing I wanted to talk about. What happened between me and Chase was nice though particularly the second go around.
"Well?" asked Grandma. I was just about to spout out some lame excuses as to why I hadn't already asked Chase to marry me when I was saved by the opening of the door. Rumble didn't even register the three ponies that were sitting on the couch as he came in. It wasn't until he had shut the door and turned around to walk back to his room that his face light up in recognition.
"GRANDMA! GRANDPA!" he squealed as he ran to them. The tool elderly ponies pulled him up between them each taking turns hugging him and in grandma's case kissing him. It was heart warming to see him like that. Caught up in the moment all blushes and full of joy. Feeling tears start to well in my eyes I turned away from them. I wasn't allowed a moments piece as a wing wrapped around my shoulder and pulled me towards them. I found myself laying across all of their laps and looking up at all six pairs of smiling eyes I felt at home. And yet I also felt like I didn't belong.
The didn't hold me there too long before I was allowed to get up. Rumble was still full of excitement but as his mind made connections he had to start asking questions and it was the start of a very awkward moment.
"So why are you here?" asked Rumble.
"Me and Grandpa are going to be staying with you for a couple of weeks." said Grandma as she reach out and stroked his cheek.
"That's awesome!" he squeaked, "Did you hear that Laney! Their going to be staying for a..."
My face was held in a grimace and I could tell by the way he trailed off that he had noticed.
"What's... what's wrong?" he asked his voice breaking.
Climbing off the couch I reached out and pulled him into a hug and then let him go. With a sigh I told him,
"They are going to be looking after you here for a while."
"Why can't you look after me?"
"I can't right now. I'm going to see a doctor in Canterlot. Rumble I'm sick." I said with the straightest possible face I could muster. I watched as tears well up in his eyes and his wings droop. He then rushed forward and wrapped me in a hug and started to squall. Rubbing his back I sat there with him wrapped around my neck.
"Please tell me your not sick like moma was?" he pleaded in my ear. Hearing that I sat back on my haunches and wrapped my hooves around him. Tears started to flow down my cheeks.
"No Rumble. Celestia No." I murmured. Looking up at our grandparents I could see this was hard for them too. After a moment Rumble let go and backed up.
"If you not sick like moma. Why can't you just go to the hospital here in Ponyville?" he asked as he rubbed his hoof across his snotty nose.
"The Ponyville hospital doesn't have the kind of Doctor I need to see. My sickness is a head sickness and head sicknesses need head doctors." I tried to explain.
"So your like Screwloose?" he concluded.
"No, I don't have what she has; what I have causes me to be sad. Really sad. Its what me and Chase used to fight about."
"Oh, so its not bad."
Giving him a weak smile,
"No, it isn't bad and I'll only be away a few weeks."
"I'll hold you too it, Lane." he said trying to act strong.
I had never traveled by train before. Watching the scenery pass by I wanted to fly. I had never been to Canterlot either, it was never a place that I really wanted to see. Dad took Rumble once but I didn't go. And now here I was going to place that I never cared to see to get a problem checked out that I was having trouble believing I even had. My friends believe that I had a problem and I was going for them.
Looking away from the window I looked down at Chase's head laying gently in my lap. She was sound asleep. With a hoof I stroked her mane smiling while I did so. What I done do deserve a friend like her. She tried the hardest of all of them to make me happy. And when she realized that I wasn't going to change she left me alone to find out for myself that I had a problem. When she came back she was different. She was harder but under that hard exterior I knew that the Chase I knew was still there. She didn't show it often but I knew. I also knew that I was the reason she changed and I hated myself for it.
We arrived in Canterlot around midnight and we headed out to find a hotel to crash in for the night. The old city looked nothing like Ponyville it didn't even look like Cloudsdale. The streets stretched out looking like they would go on forever. I wanted to go and grab a drink but Chase wouldn't let me. We finally found ourselves a hotel, some dump called The Hare's Hearth. It was cheap and that all we cared about. It's not like we were staying long. Chase was just staying in Canterlot to see me committed and then she was heading back to Ponyville. Dash had only given her a couple days off to make sure I got the help I needed. I was out on sick leave. I thought back to Dash's words,
"Thunderlane you take as long as you need. If you take any short cuts or comeback here still bucked up in the head I'll send you back the hospital with a few more injures for you to have to pay for, you got that!"
Walking up to the counter to talk to the hotel clerk who looked half asleep,
"Do you have any rooms available?"
Lazily he blinked and then looked down to his books,
"Yeah, one bed or two" he asked looking at the two of us.
"Tw-" I began to say before Chase covered my mouth up with a hoof.
"Just one!" she said. Blushing at the thought of sharing a bed with her I almost started to protest when she gave me a hard look.
"We shared a bed long before we started sleeping together. Besides a single bed is cheaper." she said flatly. Rolling my eyes I followed suit.
We were escorted to our room and the two of us made a bee line for the bed. Sliding under the covers I looked over at Chase who had her back turned to me. After shutting off the lights I got nice and comfortable and just as I dosed off she rolled over. Opening my eyes I saw that she was looking at me. I noticed that she was biting her bottom lip. In the dim light I could tell she wanted to say something,
"What is it Chase?"
"I'm sorry that I left you." she said.
I didn't know how to take that. Reaching over I wrapped my hoof around hers. Looking down at our hooves she smiled.
"I'm no where near as classy or sophisticated as Rarity. And I'm not adokrable like Blossomforth. I'm just me and its hard to find a pony who likes me for who I am. I'm not a lady and I'm kind of slob. But, after this if you want to I would like to give us another chance."
I squeezed her hoof and then pulled her closer. She laid her head on my chest and sighed,
"How do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"How do you make me feel like a mare."
I sighed and then squeezed her hoof again,
"Being around you brings out my stronger qualities so I guess we just even out."