//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Angelswift // by Nevel //------------------------------// The school bell rang, meaning it was time for recess. Cherry hated it. Everyday when she went outside, the two bullies were waiting for her to go and play on something. Cherry always waited her turn, and when she finally got onto something, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon would come over and tell her to get off of it. Saying it was their turn. Always calling her a 'Crybaby' or 'Loser'. Their favourite taunt was 'Blank flank', making fun of her for not having a cutie mark. For not being special. Today's recess, she went outside and sat on the steps in front of the school house. She didn't want to even try to have a turn on the swings or anything. The laughter of the other fillies and colts made her feel worse. How could they all be so happy when life was so horrible? Her brother had been a shining light to her. He would always have been there when she needed him most. But here, she felt so alone, so vulnerable. This last week had been horrible but last night, had been the worst. - - - Cherry had another horrible day at school. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon made a habit of making sure that Cherry was always as miserable as possible. Since the first day of school she had always gone home, ran into the bedroom and stayed there. Lance tried everything to cheer her up but she was just too distant. He asked Cheerilee one day after school if she'd noticed anything was wrong. Cherry had told neither her brother or Miss Cheerilee what happened during recess. Diamond Tiara even threatened that if Cherry told the teacher or anyone, they would make her life a whole lot worse. So, Cherry never told anypony anything. She bottled it up as best she could and just avoided the fillies any way possible. Then last night, Lance came home with a gift for Cherry. It wasn't her birthday or anything, but when Lance saw Pinkie Pie that day and she became curious about what he had been up to, he told her about the present he'd gotten for Cherry. Pinkie then insisted she wrap it up for him. Lance wanted to say that it wasn't necessary, but it was almost impossible to tell her 'No' when it came to parties and presents. She had it wrapped up in a red box with a yellow ribbon on top, she told him to make sure that Cherry was the one to open it. Lance thanked Pinkie and brought the larger then necessary box back home. Later that day he had picked up his sister from school but as always, she seemed distant and unresponsive. Lance asked her questions like 'How was school?' and 'You wanna talk about it?' but he would only get one word responses like 'Fine' and 'No'. Lance asked if she was mad at him and she shook her head, but only slightly. Lance really hoped that the present waiting for her at home cheered her up. Once they got home, Cherry had once again thrown her saddlebags down and ran right for the bedroom. What was going on at that school? He planed on talking to Cheerilee again if this continued. It hurt so much to see her this way. Lance hoped that the present he brought for her might cheer her up. He carried it into the bedroom and placed it onto the bed, where Cherry was laying down, facing the wall away from her brother. “Cherry, I know you've had a hard week, but I want you to know that I'm still here for you. You're the most precious pony in my life and I'll do anything to make you happy. So I got you a little something.” Cherry looked over her shoulder slowly and saw the present. It was almost as big as she was. But instead of getting excited, she turned back to the wall. “Cherry, come on. It's something that I know you'll love.” She didn't move. Lance didn't know what to do. “Aren't you even curious?” Still nothing. “Look, here I'll show you, it's-” Lance had removed the ribbon and then... POP! WHIZZ! “SURPRISE!!” THUD! The lid had exploded off the box. Balloons, confetti and streamers flew out across the room. Pinkie Pie had popped out of the box, right into Lance's face, causing him to fall backwards off the bed, hitting the floor hard. Cherry had jumped up to look over as all this happened. Pinkie jumped out the box looking at Lance in disappointment. “Tsk tsk, Lancie. I told you to let Cherry open the box!” Lance's heart was pounding. He hadn't jumped so hard in his life. Pinkie then turned around to see Cherry on the bed, covered in confetti. “Hey, Cherry! I heard you were blue, but you're all kinds of colours now!” Pinkie giggled and Cherry looked at herself confused. She was covered in blue, yellow, red, orange, purple and lots of other coloured confetti, and even a piece of purple streamer in her mane. Cherry then for the first time that week giggled at herself, and then Pinkie laughed with her, which made her laugh, which made Pinkie laugh harder. Soon they were both rolling on the bed holding their sides, and kicking their legs. Lance got up off the floor rubbing the back of his head. How'd she fit in that box? NO! WHEN DID SHE GET IN IT!? Those questions faded immediately as Lance saw Cherry and Pinkie, rolling on the bed, laughing. This warmed his heart immensely. Cherry had been so depressed all week and was glad to see she was back to normal. After they had calmed down, Lance showed Cherry the gifts he got her. It was all kinds of gardening equipment, including some seeds so she could grow a few flowers of her own. She had jumped into Lance and given him a huge hug, knocking him backwards onto the bed. They spent the rest of the afternoon out in the garden. Pinkie even decided to stay and help. She mostly spent it messing around though, using the hoe as some kind of weapon and pretending to be fighting invisible monsters. This made Cherry laugh, so Lance didn't mind her wacky antics so much this time. They had cleared out most of the weeds, pulled out the thorns and thistles and made everything look much tidier. Cherry had been focused on one area in particular, where the single white Calla Lilly grew, it was drooping closer to the weeds below, and Cherry had so many times tried to clear out the weeds, but they all grew back quickly during the night. She now had better tools to help her, she cleared out every weed, right down to the root. She had just pulled out the last root when Lance came over to her. “I think we're done for today. The sun is setting and it's starting to get a bit cold.” “Okay, I'll just do one last thing.” Cherry said, as she moved a few tools over towards the bag they all came in. “Okay then, I'm gonna head inside and make us a few drinks. Pinkie! Would you like one?” Pinkie was doing a hoof-stand, just a little way away, where the grass had been cut down. “Sure!” Pinkie called back, while still being upside down. Lance laughed quietly to himself and then went inside. Cherry looked around and saw the watering can by the door. It was half full of water already and she brought it over to the Calla Lilly. The watering can was too big for her and the water inside made it heavier then she'd expected. She lifted it up in her teeth struggling, then poured a few drops over the flower. That wouldn't be enough, so she tipped it a little more and then the shift of weight caused it to slide in her mouth. It caught one of her teeth and it caused her a lot of pain, making her drop the watering can. She held her mouth screwing up her face. Trying to block out the pain. She opened her eyes and they widened in horror. “No...” She gave a short sob and then she began crying loudly. Instantly Pinkie stopped what she was doing and Lance came out outside. He ran over to Cherry looking to see what was wrong. Lance then saw the watering can lying in the newly cleared flower bed. Lance picked it up gently and moved it to the side. The Calla Lilly laid squashed into the now soggy flowerbed where all the water had spilled out. Cherry cried harder now, saying repeatedly to herself 'I killed it! I killed it!' Lance held her tight, telling her that everything would be okay and that she could just grow more. But that didn't help at all. They had spent the rest of that night playing board games. Pinkie's attempt at cheering Cherry up. It didn't work, no matter how many times they let her win, she just couldn't stop thinking about what she had done. In her mind, she didn't deserve to have her own garden. - - - She sat on the school house steps, feeling numb. Then Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon walked over to her. Cherry didn't care though. “Hey!” Diamond Tiara called out to her. “I heard my daddy say that your living near the Everfree Forest!” Cherry didn't look at either of them. “Oh my. It is true! Hahaha. How's a crybaby like you not get eaten by those monsters?” “She, like, probably just cries and they think she's not even worth a single bite.” Silver Spoon jeered. “Or maybe she is a monster!” “She sure smells like a monster!” “When was the last time you took a bath?” “Maybe that's why they don't eat her?” “Yeah, Smelly Cherry!” They both laughed and then sang “Smelly Cherry! Smelly Cherry!” Cherry expected their insults to cause her to cry, but she had no more tears to shed. This was the worst week of her life and she just wanted to be done with it. Go home. Lock herself away and never come out again. Suddenly there was a noise of a loud scrapping on the floor. She looked up and saw a cloud of dust covering the pair of bullies. Cherry saw an orange pegasus filly on a blue scooter was between herself and the two bullies. “Hey! You two wanna gang up and pick on somepony, how about you pick on us now it's two on two!” The orange pegasus looked determined as if she was ready so a fight. “Ugh! You got dust all over me! I'm telling the teacher!” Diamond Tiara whined. “Go ahead.” Dared the orange pegasus. “In fact, while your at it, maybe we'll come with you and tell Miss Cheerilee exactly what you were doing to her.” She gave a nod towards Cherry. Diamond Tiara thought about it then gave a dirty look to the pegasus. “This isn't over!” Diamond Tiara threatened and then turned and left with Silver Spoon. The pegasus filly exhaled a breath she was holding while staring down the bullies. She then turned to face Cherry. “Are you okay?” She asked her. Cherry nodded and then stood up as the pegasus climbed off the scooter. “Names Scootaloo.” She extended a hoof to Cherry. “I- I'm Cherry Blossom” Cherry shook hooves with the pegasus. “I've gotta admit, been seeing you in class, but not so much during recess.” Cherry had been trying to keep to herself, so she could avoid Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. “Hey, you wanna go play on the See Saw?” Cherry couldn't find the words, she still wasn't feeling up to playing any games or anything. “Come on, it'll be fun.” Scootaloo rode over to the See Saw on her scooter and Cherry slowly made her way over. They both climbed on and Cherry took a moment to get comfortable. “You ready?” Cherry had seen the other ponies playing on the See Saw. You just had to kick your hooves off the ground and go up. Cherry started. She kicked off the ground and went up into the air a little bit and then found herself falling a lot faster as Scootaloo kicked off the ground. The pink filly then kicked her hoof off the ground again, going up higher then last time. Scootaloo kicked and went up into the air. Cherry was starting to enjoy herself, then the orange pegasus called over to her. “You ready for this?!” Cherry was confused as to what she meant. “Ready for what?” She asked. Scootaloo then tucked her legs in and then bucked the ground causing Cherry to fall much faster. She screamed and only just managed to hold on. The See Saw bumped as it hit the bottom and she wasn't ready to kick off. They lost a lot of momentum and Scootaloo called out to her. “Come on! Keep up!” Cherry regained her balance as she went back up into the air. “O-okay!” She said back, a little scared. She was ready for Scootaloo this time. She bucked off the ground and even used her wings it get a little extra speed. Cherry screamed again but just managed to kick off the ground. They picked up speed, going up and down on the See Saw. She kept screaming as she went down at super speeds and then began laughing as she went flying into the air. They kept this up until the school bell rang, ending recess, but Cherry didn't hear it. She couldn't hear anything. It was like the rest of the world stopped existing beyond the See Saw. Scootaloo then began to slow it down and Cherry was still laughing as they came to a stop. “That's enough, Girls. Class has started you know?” They both looked over and saw Miss Cheerilee standing in the class doorway. Cherry looked around and saw that they were the only two fillies left in the playground. “Sorry, Miss Cheerilee!” Said Scootaloo as they both climbed off the See Saw. They ran into the classroom and Cherry couldn't help but notice the kind smile on her teachers face, which put a bigger smile on her own. All her troubles were forgotten, and now Cherry couldn't wait for the next recess to begin.