Lost and Then Found

by dragonpony111

Chapter 2: A Fragile Filly

“That is a fine name Cheerilee. Now I’ll be off filling out the filly’s records for the hospital, you can stay the night if you wish but I please ask you don’t go inside the nursery and disturb the sleeping foals.”

Cheerilee then returned to the large window to watch over her new daughter. Tears rolled down Cheerilee’s eyes seeing her in that horrible condition, still struggling to breathe even hooked up to a machine. Cheerilee wanted nothing more than to hold her filly close and to be there for her, but she knew what the nurse had said was true so she walked back to the waiting room and fell asleep on one of the couches. The morning light from the sunrise filled the waiting room of the hospital and woke up Cheerilee who had a rough night of sleeping from worrying about her filly. Nurse Redheart looked up from her desk and noticed Cheerilee waking up. Nurse Redheart then told her:

“Good morning Cheerilee I have some good news and bad news for you, which would you prefer first?”

“The good news please.”

“Well the good news is Charity made it through the night; I honestly thought that would be a long shot. Also from our tests it seems she is barely a month old.”

“Then what’s the bad news?”

“Plain and simple she can’t breathe right on her own as her lungs are filled with fluid and she has pneumonia. She has also been without food for so long anything we tried feeding her she instantly threw up; I’m assuming she hasn’t been properly fed since birth. We have a long battle ahead of us to make her healthy again. Even though you are adopting her she probably won’t go home with you for at least a couple months.”

Time was no issue for Cheerilee; she would wait as long as it took to take Charity home with her. For the first few days Cheerilee still wasn’t allowed close contact with the filly as the baby pony was still very sickly and fragile. Though after only two weeks the filly gained a healthy amount of weight and her ribs were less visible than before, but she still looked too skinny even for a foal. As time went on Cheerilee’s happiest moments were when she was there for certain milestones of her filly’s life. After three weeks at the hospital one day Cheerilee had been holding Charity in her arms and rocked back and forth in a rocking chair, when she heard her filly say “Mommy, Hungry.” Coming in Charity already spoke the word “Mama” but she said that around almost anypony; these two words were the first words Charity was able to form specifically for her mother. Cheerilee wept a few tears of joy and brought Charity’s bottle to her lips, allowing her filly to drink the formula. Cheerilee had hoped directly caring for a newborn foal would kick her body into a more mother like state but alas she never produced any milk and had to feed her filly formula out of the bottle.

Charity’s body was severely physically weakened from her ordeal and even when she was about to leave the hospital with her mother nearly three full months after arriving, she shad just mastered the art of sitting up while still struggling to crawl. The staff had assured Cheerilee that Charity would eventually walk but that daily physical therapy was crucial to obtaining that goal. A few days before the date Cheerilee was told she could take Charity home, she readied her house for the new arrival, foal proofing the rooms. Cheerilee wasn’t open about her adopted daughter but she never tried to hide the fact either. Many of her friends saw Cheerilee at the hospital with Charity and just assumed that Cheerilee was donating her time to help take care of the foals there. When Cheerilee went shopping for a crib she ran into Twilight at the furniture store. Twilight greeted her and asked:

“Why hello there Cheerilee, what brings you in here today? Spike recently has been having bouts of restless claw syndrome in his sleep and pretty much shredded his bed, so I’m here to get him a new one, one that’s more durable hopefully.”

“Greetings Twilight. I’m here to buy a foal crib actually.”

“Are you expecting Cheerilee? Oh that’s so wonderful… Wait a minute; I thought after that love potion fiasco you said you weren’t looking for a special somepony. What’s the deal?”

“Oh well actually Twilight a few months back I found an abandoned filly here in Ponyville and turned her into the hospital. I was so taken by her that I ended up adopting her. Unfortunately she was incredibly ill so she had to stay there, but I can finally take her home this Friday.”

“That explains why I always saw you there when I was visiting Rainbow Dash when she hurt her wing. Well I’m excited for you and glad that she is going to be okay. I spend most of my time in the library so I’ll be more than happy to foal sit for you.”

“Thank you Twilight, that is so kind of you.”

Later that day after setting up the crib Cheerilee had finally finished turning her guest room into her filly’s new room and was ready to bring her daughter home. Then Friday finally came. Cheerilee arrived at the hospital at four p.m. like the staff told her and found Nurse Readheart already waiting for her in the lobby with Charity at her side. Nurse Redheart greeted Cheerilee with a pleasant smile and said:

“The day has finally come hasn't it Cheerilee? After some final tests this morning we are sure Charity is healthy enough to go home with you, but she will still need regular visits here to make sure her health keeps improving.”

“That’s wonderful! I think this is the happiest moment in my life so far.”

As soon as Charity saw her mother enter the lobby she sat up and started crawling to Cheerilee, struggling intensely. Charity then attempted to stand for her first time on all four legs but her weak muscles gave out underneath her and she collapsed onto the floor flat on her stomach. Charity then started to cry as she was just trying to be with her mother. Upon seeing this Cheerilee rushes over to help her daughter and placed her in a new saddlebag she bought that was designed to hold a foal.

“There there Charity, mommy has got you, you did great and have no reason to cry.”

Before leaving Nurse Redheart handed a Cheerilee a large envelope and said it contained some papers she was sure Cheerilee would find important.

Author's Note:

Didn't really know where to end this chapter so my apologies if it seems abrupt.

Comments

[Eighth Note]

I thought this was already completed

[dragonpony111]

2273915

Nope more to come!

[Ginva]

I can't wait for the next chapter! Though if I am typing this and I'm not exploding or popping out of existence that means I'm waiting! I guess I can wait. This story is really fun to read so carry on. Also this formatting is evil.

[Jonny Bench]

So pwecious!

[Bronycommander]

Whoever leaved her to die will pay