//------------------------------// // Part 10 // Story: Silent Ponyville: Reunion // by Chapter 17 //------------------------------// Silent Ponyville: Reunion After closing time. Part 10 ------ "Esteemed guests, we have come together today to bear witness to the marriage of Lance Strongshy, and Posey Blossom. With the legal requirements of Equestrian law having been met, and with the license for their marriage being present, I ask now if each party is here before me today of their own will and accord." The elderly judge pony turned toward Lance, who was dressed in the finest tuxedo he could afford to rent, "Do you, Lance Strongshy, come to this union of your own free will and intend to be faithful in marriage to Posey Blossom, as long as you both shall live?" "I do." Now the judge turned to Posey, who was clothed in a custom wedding dress that they had gotten at a discount from a long time customer who happened to be a tailor and dressmaker. It was a very practical garment, but with small flora themed touches here and there that really made it all hers, and she treasured it, "Do you, Posey Blossom, come to this union of your own free will and intend to be faithful in marriage to Lance Strongshy, as long as you both shall live?" "I do." "And who presents Posey Blossom to be married to Lance Strongshy?" "I do." Posey's stepfather answered from his spot beside her before retreating from the center of attention. The judge turned back to address the small group of assembled family and friends of the couple, "The betrothed shall now recite the official vows as offered by Equestrian law." Lance and Posey looked at one another, happier than they had ever been as Lance went first, "I, Lance Strongshy, do take you, Posey Blossom, to be my lawfully wedded wife. I promise from this day forward to be your faithful husband, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, as long as I shall live." "I, Posey Blossom, do take you, Lance Strongshy, to be my lawfully wedded husband. I promise from this day forward to be your faithful wife, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, as long as I shall live." Posey said in return. "The betrothed shall now seal their vow of marriage with the wedding bracelet." The judge instructed. Lance turned to a unicorn standing off to his side that he had selected as his best stallion. In accordance with procedure the aforementioned unicorn presented the hoof bracelet that Lance had given Posey that fateful day upon the rooftop. As Lance took it from him, Posey extended her hoof so that he could bestow upon her that cherished symbol of love all over again. "In pledge of the vow of marriage made between us, I offer you this bracelet. Let it be to you and to me, and to all the world, the symbol of the covenant of marriage we have accepted." Lance said as he slipped the bracelet back onto her hoof once more. The judge smiled and began to address the wedding guests, "We have come together in this place and have heard the willingness of Lance Strongshy and Posey Blossom to be joined in marriage. They have come of their free will and in our hearing have made a covenant of faithfulness. They have given and received a ring as the seal of their promises. Therefore, by the power vested in me by Princess Celestia I pronounce that they are husband and wife, and declare their certificate of marriage both valid and legally binding. You may now kiss the-" Posey committed a slight breach of etiquette by taking the initiative before he could finish and pulling Lance into a passionate kiss. "...groom." He said after a chuckle. The wedding guests cheered and stomped their hooves in applause. ------ He couldn't focus. His garbled mental screaming of demand managed to get his eyes partially open but they couldn't focus. All he saw was a darkened blur as things moved slowly around him. Wait, he was moving? Yes...something was dragging him. Something had him by his good back leg! Lance tried to kick in self defense but all that resulted was a feeble movement of his leg, and even that small effort was enough to exhaust him back into the blackness... ------ Their wedding ceremony had been as modest as the bracelet that adorned Posey's hoof. The two of them had a few years full of nights spent together, promises made and kept to one another, hardships endured side by side, and an ever rising, joyous devotion to each other that showed no sign of abating. Neither of them needed an elaborate, expensive ceremony to make that devotion and love they felt deep down in their hearts any more real; the words and will were enough. Regardless, they had made a few cuts in their budget for the few months that were to follow and had scraped together a decent amount of spare bits without having to dip into their savings, for they had the needs of other ponies besides themselves to consider. Manehatten was quite the lonely place, an odd fact considering that it was one of the most populated cities in Equestria. Lance had found out first hoof how easily one could find themselves isolated and alone even amongst a gigantic crowd of ponies before fate had knocked him off his cloud right into Posey's life. Since then the two of them had made a small but very close circle of friends that they held very dear, and they were not about to let them go without a proper party at the reception after said friends had given up a chunk of their time just to witness the newly wedded couple's special day! The only thing they had not provided themselves was the venue for the reception, which had been a real worry since their apartment was too small to hold a proper party and they wouldn't have enough bits to rent someplace. Fortunately the friend that Lance had chosen as his best stallion from the university had been leasing a house in the suburbs at the edge of town to live in while attending, and he had been all too happy to let them hold the reception in his spacious back yard. It proved the perfect place for it, allowing everypony to enjoy the clear skies and warm sun of one of that year's last late summer days before autumn would come rolling in, and removing them for a time from the constant background noise of the busy city environment. "Thank you so much...Ranseur was it?" Posey asked, having met many of Lance's friends for the first time that day and still attaching names to faces in her mind. "Yes, Ranseur K. Mandeus, though my friends just call me Mannie." He explained with a friendly smile as he shook her hoof. He was a cerulean coated unicorn with a short pumpkin colored mane and tail with eyes to match. He stood only a bit shorter than Lance, had a slightly stockier build than him, and had the symbol of a cane with a set of bird wings on the top adorning his flank. "Oh, would you mind? That name's a lot easier to remember." Posey said with a slightly embarrassed look on her face. "Not a problem." Mannie replied with a nod. "Thanks, I still can't believe I never met my husband's best stallion before the wedding rehearsals." She mused before taking another bite of her salad as the three sat there at the table conversing. "You can blame him for that, we're both a shoe in to graduate magna cum laude but we're still competing over valedictorian and I've had my nose in books or quills on paper in every bit of spare time I can manage." "Don't think I'm going to make it easier on you just because you let us use your yard." Lance quipped with a smirk. "Wouldn't dream of it!" Mannie shot back, "I have to say though your husband is bloody brilliant, I don't know what sort of eldritch entity he made a deal with for the ability but he's been matching me and my constant studying while still doing weather duty." Posey blushed and turned back to smile adoringly at her newly declared husband, "Yeah...he kind of is." "But despite these obvious dealings with nefarious forces I still intend to give the ending speech at our graduation, I mean no offense but to go home after being outdone academically by a pegasus of all ponies...why, I'd never hear the end of it!" Mannie lamented before levitating a cup of tea to his lips and taking a sip. "Try growing up in Cloudsdale after you find out you want to be a doctor instead of a guard or racepony." Lance replied dryly. "Or a gardener." Posey added with no added moisture. Mannie's teacup briefly went into free fall before his magic caught it once again and he swallowed his tea awkwardly, "Haha...ha...right...um...wow...so...yeah..." Lance and Posey both snickered as their friend played the part of the metaphorical fish flopping about on deck after being yanked from the water with hook in mouth before Lance gave him a reprieve, "It's fine Mannie, lighten up, it's a party." He cleared his throat and set his tea down, "Sorry all the same. Anyway, how much did your infernal contract cost?" He joked, thankful for the topic shift after having committed such a faux pas. "Oh nothing much, just a monthly offering of a still beating dragon's heart. Didn't you know I also manage to fit fighting dragons to the death with a giant sword gripped in my teeth into my schedule?" Lance replied as Posey giggled and took another bite of her salad. "Your dental bills must be disastrous then, one swing of that thing would rip half your teeth out at best!" Mannie pointed out. "Nonsense, if you wrapped the handle with the right material it could be very teeth friendly." "It's not a question of what the handle is wrapped in when a pony's teeth grips it, it's force to resistance ratio! A weapon of that weight can not be swung without consequence while gripped in normal enamel teeth, it's just not-" "Sweetie, there you are!" Posey's stepfather trotted to their table with her mother at his side, interrupting the argument that had been getting a bit silly. "Hi Mom, hi Dad, I was wondering when you were going to make it to the reception!" Posey said as she stood up and gave her father a hug. "Consider us fashionably late. I confess I was a bit worried when you wouldn't let me fund the ceremony and reception for you, but this has turned out quite alright." He admitted while looking around at the proceedings and giving a satisfied nod of the head. Her mother didn't seem quite as bright about the situation, seeming to notice several details she found quite unsettling. "This was something we wanted to do ourselves, it wasn't just me being stubborn. So don't worry Dad, if we really do need money for an emergency I'll ask for it, but we've got this covered just fine." Posey assured him. "That's my girl." Her father replied warmly, "See honeybun? Everything turned out fine." "Hrmph...I suppose for a shotgun wedding it could have been worse." Her mother blurted out thoughtlessly. Lance's eyes went wide, Mannie dropped his teacup outright, every guest in ear shot suddenly went silent, and Posey's ears turned downward in surprise and alarm. "But...but I never told-" Posey began to stutter out but was interrupted. "Oh please, I didn't have you so long ago that I've forgotten yet. It's the right time of year and all of a sudden you two are going through all of this right out of the blue? I had my suspicion for a while but now I come here and the usual glass of tequila sunrise you've had at every party I remember attending with you is missing, not to mention the empty salad bowls stacked six high next to your spot at the table." "What?" Posey looked back to see that her mother was correct about the stack of bowls, and that she hadn't even realized she'd been eating so much, "Oh...wow..." She muttered, blushing with embarrassment. Before she could react any further her mother stormed past her straight over to Lance, "How could you be so utterly irresponsible as to let this happen?! I might have been able to overlook this shoddy wedding you forced on a mare who deserves so much more, but then you go and all but guarantee her financial ruin just because you couldn't keep yourself off of her long enough to properly plan you reckless cad!" After every sentence he made an attempt to open his mouth and defend himself but was cut off by the start of the next, making it impossible for him to get a word in edgewise. Posey's expression had been turning from one of shock to indignation and then to outright anger as the verbal whipping had continued, "Mother, you stay away from him, we're talking, us, don't drag him into this!" "Why not? He's the reason you're-" "No he's not! For your information we planned this 'shoddy wedding' together, didn't you just hear me talking to Dad about it?!" Posey advanced while speaking and then placed herself between her mother and Lance, forcing her to step away from the table. "How do you know that's true hrm? You're probably just too infatuated with your puppy love to see how he's been emotionally manipulating you!" Her mother replied, talking down to her as though she were still a foal. "Living together for four years and then getting married with a foal on the way isn't puppy love! It's...love! Why is this suddenly a problem anyway?! You said you'd let us live our lives and now here you are on my wedding day making a fuss about it?! You should just be happy that we're happy and that you're going to be a grandmother!" The perturbed bride chastised as she forced her mother further away from the table. "I'll have you know I am ecstatic that my little girl is going to be a mother, but that just makes choosing the right husband all the more important and Lance does not have enough to offer." Her voice remained firm and determined but had lost some of its volume. "How can you even say that after all he's done? What more can he possibly do? He already wears himself down to the bone studying and working, and you know what he did when we found out I was pregnant? He proposed to me! He stayed! Lance did the exact opposite of what you almost convinced me every colt who wasn't rich would do! I was so lucky to meet him mother, I didn't have to...have to..." Posey stopped speaking for a moment as a light bulb went off in her head, and it only took moments for her to find her voice again. It came out in a happy yet spiteful laugh. "And what is so funny?" Her mother asked with a raised eyebrow. "That's it isn't it? That's been it this whole time! I don't have to suffer like you did and it just chaps your flank doesn't it?! I get to be with who I wanted to be with and you're jealous! I'm just, I'm just laughing because Lance and I have been worried sick about how you'd handle the news, and it seems so silly now to have worried about what a mare who's low enough to resent her own daughter's love life thinks!" Posey explained before another laughing fit overtook her. The joyous response made her mother's face fall, betraying a deep sadness that seemed to protest the accusation as she backed away a step. But she said nothing. She made no effort to refute the claim, and that spoke volumes more than the look on her face. A scan of the crowd of friends revealed not a single sympathetic face amongst them. Even when she turned to her husband all she saw in his eyes was pity, as though she were only now realizing something he had known about her all along. She closed her eyes for a moment to compose herself and then looked past her daughter at Lance, "Lance, you're no longer welcome in our household." "Yeah what else is new..." Lance muttered under his breath. "And Posey...enjoy the rest of your special day...but I think I'll be going for now." She continued before turning to leave. Posey wiped a laughter induced tear from her eye and managed to stop giggling, "No, nonono, you don't get to just reject my husband like that and walk away. We're together now, so if he's not welcome, I'm not welcome either." Her mother stopped and looked back in response to the threat. But she saw no conflict in Posey at all. She was standing there smiling, perfectly willing to reject her own mother in favor of her husband if it was necessary. Posey didn't need her anymore. ... "You know you're always welcome sweetie." She offered forlornly, and then took the final steps through the gate to the side of Mannie's house. A chorus of cheers, congratulations and questions regarding the date of a baby shower followed her departure as the mood immediately lightened. Lance got to his hooves to go stand beside her... ------ His legs moved. Slowly and sorely but they moved. His muted appreciation for his newly reacquired ability was cut short by the realization that he was awake...or some form of consciousness that slightly resembled being awake in any case. Lance forced his eyes open and found nary a thing to look at that wasn't shrouded entirely in darkness. Such a lack of light had long since ceased to surprise him. With some effort he managed to lift his head off of the soft floor. Wait...what? His head had been on something soft but it certainly had not been the floor. He hoped it was just a pillow. He really, really hoped it was just a pillow. Given his recent experiences his mind could probably conjure up many thousands of other horrible things it could be, but for the sake of sanity he settled on it just being a pillow for the time being. Looking around proved even more difficult than lifting his head had been, and though the one detail about the room he was able to discern was certainly interesting it still left him quite clueless. It was a skylight, a small round hole in the ceiling that let in some of the fog filtered light from outside. There must have been matching, aligned holes going up through each floor and the roof, though he never remembered seeing anything of the sort. While it was true he hadn't been on this side of the wall during his ascent, he hadn't seen it during his descent into sheer madness afterward either. But given that the layout of the entire building had been altered nothing was really out of the question anymore. He let his head down on the soft object he dearly hoped was a pillow and felt immediate relief at not having to support the weight of his own head. Lance was getting better...he could move a little more but if just looking around had been that difficult he wasn't going to entertain getting up and walking around just yet. He closed his eyes and allowed sleep to begin overtaking him again. Never in a million years would he have seen himself voluntarily going back to sleep in such a place, but in his condition he doubted he could even outpace one of the drowning mares, so whether or not he was awake if they found him mattered little. ------ Somepony was crying. He jerked fully awake after recognizing the noise. His hooves felt around in the dark and discovered there was nary a wife to be found in the bed beside him. With a groan he rolled out of bed and onto his hooves, his body pleasantly sore from certain traditional wedding night activities that had gone on a good while longer than he had dared to dream. His still tired muscles stretched a bit as he trotted down the hall into the living room to see what was the matter. "Posey? Are you okay?" She was lying on the couch facing away from him with her hoof on top of a closed binder, obviously having closed it when she heard him coming, "I'm...I'm fine Lance...you can go back to bed." Lance could tell she made a visible effort to not look at him as he stood there doubting her reply. It was a battle she would not win though, and soon enough she turned to look at him with a poorly faked smile and eyes once again red from weeping. He didn't say one word more, instead simply walking over, lying down on the couch across from her with the binder between them, and gently coaxing her hoof off and opening it as her face regressed back to its depressed, teary state. It was her old family photo album. Lance placed a spare hoof atop of hers as he flipped through the pages slowly, watching her grow bit by bit from the foal of years past, to the little filly of earliest memories, to the young mare awkwardly transitioning to adulthood, and finally to the mare whose garden he had nearly wrecked four years prior. There were many other faces besides hers, but only two that showed up nearly as often. They both looked like the very definition of content and happiness being there with their daughter. As the years wore on from photo to photo that image of their familial elation did not erode even the slightest bit. It was a book filled with memories of a happy family that had lived together in exquisite harmony for over two decades, all thanks to a mother who had set her own emotional needs aside for the good of her daughter, even with a broken heart that would have chained many a pony in despair. "She...she used to be my hero you know..." She said before sniffing and wiping her eyes, "But you know how that goes...you grow up thinking these big ponies around you are all perfect...they know everything, they'll always save you and on and on. Then you grow up..." "And it never feels like you did...like you're still some little foal who doesn't have any idea what the hay is going on even though you're grown up proper." Lance interjected. Posey nodded, looking down at the last full page of photographs, these particular pictures taken as a keepsake of when she had moved away. "Then it hits you...those ponies who used to be your heroes have been in the exact same boat this whole time. Just as...clueless and flawed as you." She continued. ... "I don't think I handled things well Lance." "You handled things like they needed to be handled." He assured her, closing the photo album and setting it on the floor before scooting forward and wrapping his hooves around her. She gave another sad sniff before returning the embrace and nuzzling her face against his neck. "No...I just got some idea in my head and then rubbed my success in Mom's face and rejected her...how is that handling it well?" Posey countered fairly reasonably. Lance spent a moment trying to think of something encouraging to say but had to concede that she had cornered him. "Okay so...maybe it could've been handled a bit better-" She shivered and let out another sob, hugging him tighter. "-BUT, but, Posey, you still did the right thing. You stood up for yourself...you stood up for me." He said quickly before she could hate herself any more thoroughly, but he had the distinct feeling that it didn't do any good as she was still clinging to him just as tightly. He sighed and stroked her mane gently, "I guess that doesn't make it hurt any less though does it?" Lance felt her shake her head in response. "I'm...I'm sorry I got between you two, for what it's wort-" He found himself with his head quite suddenly grasped firmly but carefully between two hooves that made it impossible not to look right into her eyes. She had apparently snapped out of it just to scold him, "Lance, no, I don't ever want to hear you apologize for that to anyone, she shoved you into that position, you got it?" He nodded. "Good." She said before releasing him. Lance had succeeded in so much as Posey didn't seem to be crying anymore. Instead, the sudden burst of almost angry energy fizzled into nothing, leaving the both of them awkwardly without words for a few moments. Her eyes slowly drifted down and to the photo album lying on the floor. He followed her gaze, and a thought that would more adequately cheer her up found its way through his mind. "Look...that album right there still has a lot of pages yet. I don't know how many more photos there will be of your mother in there. I hope she comes around, and I hope there are plenty more added, but I don't know for certain if that will happen. What I do know for certain is that the three of us-" His hoof brushed along the side of her belly, causing her to look back, "-are going to fill it with our own happy memories, and when this one is full we'll buy another and fill that one too." It worked tremendously well. As she looked back and thought about the little life growing inside of her the guilt and uncertainty that had roused her from sleep and forced her from her bed melted away in a warm tide of deep love and pride. Even if her mother never talked to her again she still had a family, so everything was alright. Substantially better than alright even. Glorious, perhaps. She looked back to him with tears that had once again been turned from bitter to sweet and kissed him lovingly, pulling him back into another tight embrace as it lingered and deepened. Husband and wife didn't know how much time they spent in that one kiss but they both silently wished it could have lasted longer as they parted lips for lack of air. A certain thought passed her mind as they lay there, foreheads touching as they caught their breath, but the tired look in her husband's eyes made her push it aside...for now, "Come on, let's get back to bed, it's cold out here." She suggested with a serene smile. "Lead the way." Lance said as he got up and put the photo album on the small table in front of their couch. He still looked like a pony that had been woken up in the middle of the night and needed to get back to bed, but the fatigue on his face did little to mask the sense of fulfillment that healing his wife's heart had instilled. She proceeded down the hallway with a yawn, starting to feel the need for a good warm bed herself, "Hope you're not still sore in the morning." "Oh?" "Yeah." She looked back at him with a half lidded grin, "I'm not done with you yet." ------ His eyes were open. Okay, he was still alive. Alive was good. He could work with alive. Appreciative at not having been feasted upon in his sleep, the battered pony that was now a fraction of the pegasus he used to be found it substantially easier to lift his head and look around than last he had awoken. The room was still predictably dark, lit only by the skylight he had hazy memories of spotting before. He found his hooves were now substantially more mobile as well, allowing him to reach up and confirm that the soft object beneath his head was in fact just a pillow, and a very clean smelling one at that. Lance must have still been in the pristine version of the apartment complex, he could think of no other place where one might find something so free of grime and rust. There would prove to be little time for him to enjoy this tiny blessing though. "Oh thank goodness!" He froze. Hoof steps rushed to his side and stopped, mindful that he was injured. As he lie there stock still with his eyes wide open staring straight at the opposite wall the hoof steps circled around him while somepony inspected him. "How do you feel? I...used the first aid kit in your bag. I'm no doctor but I think I did an okay job patching up what I could." He had woken up...right? "I had to use up all the bandages and disinfectant, but the bleeding's stopped..." She sniffed at his wrapped but still grievously wounded back leg, "And nothing smells off, like you told me it would if it was infected." This was obviously another memory. But when had this ever happened? "I kept checking your forehead while you were asleep, and it doesn't feel like you're running a temperature either." She stepped into the sight line he had been maintaining with the wall. The pegasus mare before him stood just slightly taller than an average pony, with a cream colored coat, a chest length purple mane, and a trio of purple flowers upon each of her flanks. She wore a plain blue saddle with built in bags at her sides. Her violet eyes looked back at him, the concern that had moments ago been quelled by his awakening beginning to mount all over again as he remained still and silent. "...Lance? Are you alright?" This had to have happened sometime in the past. He just needed to remember it. "Lance?" When though? When?! "Lance please..." Had he been this mute back then as well? Had this even happened in his past in the first place? "Please...just say something." She begged, her eyes beginning to shine with tears of worry. He never remembered ignoring her like this. His memory still worked right didn't it? "Lance..." She placed a fore hoof on his, being careful to not get anywhere near the bandaged cut. Oh goddess he'd actually felt that... ... "Posey?" He'd actually said that...he'd heard himself say that... She sighed with relief, "Oh good, for a minute there I thought maybe you hit your head or something." His brain suddenly cleared whatever obstacle had been keeping it from talking to his legs all this time, and within moments he found himself backed against the wall in terror, heedless of the intense pain of his chewed up leg protesting his actions. "Wait! Don't do that you'll rip something open! What's wrong?!" She followed him, not quite yet making the mental link that his reaction was to her being there at all. He cowered back against the wall even more. She had responded. He had spoken from something other than the script of his memory and she had responded in a fashion just as improvised. What. "You're not here...that's impossible!" He said to himself more than anypony. Now she was even more confused, "What? Why?" "Because you're..." He stopped, letting himself back down into a sitting position. Even if he was still asleep, even if this was a dream, saying what he was about to say to a pony that appeared to be his wife was still proving intensely difficult. He looked down and let out a tense breath before looking up again, "You're...you're dead." ... "...what?" Her expression was blank. "...you're dead Posey." ... It was her turn to slump shell shocked to the floor. Her mouth wordlessly opened and closed a few times before she managed to speak again, "I'm...dead." Lance didn't want to say it again, so he simply let the statement stand. This wasn't a memory, so that meant it was obviously a dream he was bound to wake up from any second now. "It's weird...a few hours ago I would've just called you silly for saying that. I don't feel dead at all...and I don't remember dying, but then that's not something somepony would remember doing is it?" Any second now. "And nothing that's happened since I woke up outside makes any sense either. I didn't feel sick anymore, and this saddle and a lantern were just lying there like somepony had left them specifically for me." He wasn't waking up. "I don't know how I got here or where this even is. I've never been to this town in my life. So why did I find Manehatten Heights here? I might not know where this is but I do know it's not Manehatten." Why wasn't he waking up? "And when I came into our old apartment here it looked exactly like it did before we even started packing up to move to Cloudsdale, as though we'd never left." Why aren't I waking up?! "Even you're not quite right. I mean besides...you know," She brought her eyes back up to look at him and made a gesture of her hoof to indicate the bloodied bandages all over his body, "You look older than I remember you." Wake up! Wake up! Wake up for buck's sake! "I don't know if that does mean I'm dead right now, but I guess if it were true, nothing making sense would sort of make a bit more sense...Lance?" He was biting his foreleg again, just above the wrist joint. His teeth applied more and more pressure as it continually failed to wake him. "Hey, stop! What are you doing?" She started stepping closer. He didn't reply this time. Talking to it in the first place had been a mistake. It looked and sounded just like her, but that was impossible even for this place. He had to be asleep. He had to wake up. "Lance stop it!" She was heading toward him at a canter now. A normal bite wouldn't do it. He needed something that hurt more, and as that thought passed through his head his eyes came to rest on the blood stained bandage covering the cut on his foreleg the drowning mare in the hallway had given him. It still throbbed painfully beneath the dressing...a bite right on it would be excruciating. He opened his mouth again. "I said stop!" Lance was briefly pressed against the wall as she bumped into him, throwing her forelegs around him before their weight re-centered and he was left standing there more dumbstruck than ever. The inclination to hurt himself so that he could wake up vanished all at once. He stood still in her grip. "Are you done now? What the hay were you trying to do to yourself?! You're a doctor for Celestia's sake you're supposed to know better!" She scolded as she held onto him tightly, still worried that he might continue his bid for self harm. But her worry was misplaced. He was practically paralyzed. There was nothing he could do to stop the deluge of a thousand tiny memories all coming back at once now that she was holding him. The feel of her coat, the sound of her breathing, her familiar scent, it was all exactly as he remembered, the sensory memories reaching deep into his mind and linking to countless bits of history that he had kept sealed for oh so long. Few of them were of any real objective significance at all, but they were a gospel to him all the same. "...Lance?" She prodded as she relinquished her grip a bit. He persisted in not saying a word. Instead he silently leaned his head downward and gently pressed his ear to her chest. She smiled and let one of her forelegs back to the ground, using the other to cradle his head, "Yeah...that works alright again." She was right. He heard her heartbeat clear as day. It was strong and healthy, untouched by the ravages of the mysterious disease nopony had ever been able to diagnose. His head rose again, and he looked her right in those same beautiful violet eyes that he had looked into while pledging his entire being to her all those many years ago. He couldn't fight it anymore. It took five more seconds before something deep inside of him shattered. Lance hugged her as tight as his battered, exhausted body could manage. Still mindful of his injuries, she was a deal more careful when returning the gesture as a restrained sob shook him, "I've been gone a while...haven't I?" "You have no idea." He managed to choke out in reply.