Cheerilee had been walking down the streets of Ponyville late at night to go home, only because she stayed late at the schoolhouse getting ready for a new year of teaching. The air was unusually chilly for a summer night and the thick cloud cover blocked all of the light from the stars and moon, making everything even darker. She was by herself carrying her saddlebag she takes with her to and from the schoolhouse every day, stuffed to the brim with various papers. All of the shops are closed and the streets are void of any other ponies. As Cheerilee strolls along the sidewalk she notices a faint sound as she passes by an alleyway. At first she thought it was the wind or something to that effect, but when she stopped to listen every few seconds the sound repeated, weak as it was. Cheerilee decided to investigate the origins of the sound and entered the dark alleyway. As she walked further in the sound became a bit stronger and echoed as it bounced off of the brick walls; until Cheerilee could in fact determine it was the sound of a distressed foal. Cheerilee frantically looked around knocking over boxes and trash but found nothing so she called out:
“Hello? Anypony here? I wish to help you?
After that Cheerilee could distinctly hear the direction the sound came from and followed it to a dumpster at the dead end of the alleyway. Cheerilee then slowly opened the lid not knowing what to expect and peered inside. As she does so it was too dark to see inside but she heard a weak and labored voice say:
“Ma… muh…?”
The voice then turned into a few seconds of weakened crying before falling completely silent. Cheerliee couldn’t see one bit inside so she reached in with both of her hooves and felt around until she touched what felt like a body, but it was cold and boney. Cheerilee quickly pulled the body to see it was in fact a terribly small and malnourished unicorn filly. The filly’s coat was a dirty but bright orange and her mane was the same color as ivory but was incredibly dirty as well. Cheerilee quickly held the filly close to her body to attempt to warm it and noticed that its only movements were infrequent labored breaths that sounded like weezing. Cheerilee quickly rushed back to the side walk and looked around for another pony while shouting for help, but her efforts were in vain as no pony appeared to be around. Next the filly had coughed a few times and the coughs sounded really painful for the filly. Cheerilee knew that most important thing to do now was to make it to the hospital as fast as her legs could carry her there. Cheerilee without a second thought emptied out the saddlebag and gently placed the filly inside it; then she started running… and she ran… and she ran… and she ran… all the way to Ponyville General, with the condition of the poor filly giving her the strength she needed to make it all the way without collapsing from exhaustion. Upon bursting into the otherwise quiet emergency room, Cheerilee found and then told Nurse Redheart:
“Gasp… Gasp… Gasp… Please Nurse Redheart… Gasp… Take this filly… Gasp… I found her in… Gasp… Really bad shape!”
Nurse Redheart has an appalling look on her face when she sees the skinny almost lifeless filly in Cheerilee’s arms and responds:
“Oh my Cheerilee this filly really is in a rough condition. I’ll have our staff get to her right away!”
Nurse Redheart quickly took the filly from Cheerilee who then immediately went to a chair and sat down to catch her breath. Cheerilee had so many thoughts running through her mind as she waited for an update on the filly. Mainly she blamed herself for staying late at work, thinking the filly would have been in a better condition if Cheerilee had found her sooner. About ten minutes had passed by before Nurse Redheart walks back into the waiting area and tells Cheerilee what is happening with the filly.
“I have some news on the filly you brought in Cheerilee.” Said Nurse Redheart
Cheerilee quickly gets up and frantically asks:
“How is she Nurse? Was I too late?”
With a comforting look on her face Nurse Redheart answers back:
“The filly looks like she will pull through; you brought her in just in the nick of time. Thank Celestia you found her when you did.”
Cheerilee lets out a massive sigh of relief and collects her composure before she asked:
“Where is the filly? Can I see her now?”
“She will be in the nursery soon when she is done in intensive care. I’ll come get you as soon as she is you have my word.”
Nurse Redheart walked back down the hallway while Cheerilee starts to feel happier knowing she saved that filly’s life. The next passing minutes seemed to drag on forever as Cheerilee anxiously waited to see the filly again. Eventually after what felt like an eternity the nurse returned and told Cheerilee:
“We have her in the nursery now; we gave her a warm bath and now the filly is sleeping. We have her on a breath mask as she seems to be having trouble breathing on her own for now. Just follow me and I’ll take you right to her.”
Cheerilee eagerly followed Nurse Redheart down the hallway and after a few turns the nurse had brought her to the large rectangular window that looked into the nursery. Nurse Redheart pointed out the filly and said:
“There she is Cheerilee, in the crib on the far left, sound asleep.”
Cheerilee just stands there staring through the window at the fragile filly who was now contently sleeping and wrapped tight in a warm blanket. Cheerilee teared up slightly and then she asked:
“Can I go in and see her? I want to be with her.”
Nurse Redheart answered her with:
“I’m sorry Cheerilee but what the filly needs the most right now is her sleep. Besides, I have some questions and paperwork for you since you are the one who brought her in and we have no clue who the parents are.”
Nurse Redheart leads Cheerilee to a small office type room and pulls out some papers and a writing quill. Nurse Redheart then began to inquire:
“So you found the filly completely abandoned with nopony else around?”
“Yes that is correct.”
“I see, now if you could just fill out these short forms we can get the process started for sending the filly to the orphanage when her condition improves enough.”
“Wait… I know I’m not responsible for her… but I want to be! I would like to adopt her myself if that’s possible.”
“Why isn’t that a lovely idea. No problem Cheerilee! You’ll have to fill out some more paperwork and get it approved by the mayor, but that shouldn’t be an issue. To start do you have any ideas for naming her? That way I can start her hospital records.”
Cheerilee hadn’t thought that far into it yet as her only current thought was hoping to raise that filly as her own daughter. After pondering her thoughts for a few moments Cheerilee said:
“I felt so good being able to help her, I’m naming her Charity.”
“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.
Cheerilee then happily trotted home carrying her new daughter Charity, who was happy to be with her mother and seemed to enjoy bouncing along in the saddlebag. Cheerilee was stopped along the way by some of her friends who wanted to be in the know about the filly Cheerilee was carrying. After a long trip made longer by repeating the story so many times, Cheerilee and Charity were at home and finally a family. The first thing Cheerilee does when she enters her house is open up the envelope the nurse had given her. Cheerilee pulls out the various papers and goes through them to find the approved adoption papers from the mayor and Charity’s birth certificate which listed an estimated birth date. Not long after coming home Charity cried “Mommy, Hungry.” So Cheerilee set her down on the dining table and warmed up a bottle of formula. After Charity finished the bottle she let out a small burp and drifted off to sleep in her mother’s arms.
Cheerilee then took her to the crib and tucked her in. Cheerilee looked down at her filly while stroking her short but soft mane and gave her a kiss. Cheerilee herself then let out a yawn and decided to take a nap on her couch. She walked out of Charity’s room and quietly closed the door, leaving it cracked open just in case; then Cheerilee walked over to her couch and quickly drifted off to sleep after lying down. Cheerilee’s sleep wasn’t a pleasant one though because after an hour she had a terrible nightmare. Cheerilee was reliving that night she found the filly, but everything around her seemed scarier and darker. Looking to the front and back it seemed like the dark street went on forever with no change in scenery. Cheerilee kept walking as the wind made a frightening howl and somehow she was able to feel cold. Then suddenly Cheerilee could hear the ear piercing sounds of Charity crying. She quickly turned around to see that dark alleyway again but the dumpster at the end seemed terribly far away. Cheerilee shouted “I’m coming Charity, mommy is here.” and galloped as fast as she could but seemed to not be making any progress as she wasn’t getting closer. As she is running the sound of Charity’s cries stopped and she finally makes it to the dumpster. Cheerilee immediately opened it only to find it was empty. Cheerilee quickly woke up from the sound of shouting NO! in her sleep with a cold sweat and the worst feeling inside of her.
When Cheerilee fully woke up and regained her senses she could hear that Charity was actually crying and weezing at the same time. It seemed that her asthma flared up again which made it nearly impossible for her to breathe. Cheerilee instantly ran over to the box that contained of all Charity’s medicine, which the hospital had given her the day before taking Charity. Cheerilee frantically rummaged through it and finally found Charity’s inhaler. Then the panicked mother ran back to her filly who was gasping for air and quickly cradled her. She then brought the inhaler up to Charity’s mouth and waited for Charity to attempt an inhale before she puffed it. Cheerilee did this two more times and eventually Charity regained her breath and calmed her crying somewhat, to more of a sobbing. Cheerilee then softly spoke to her daughter:
“You gave me quite a scare there Charity, but everything is fine now, please relax and cheer up, for me at least?”
*sniff* *sniff* “Mommy” *sniff* “Sorry”
“No no! Don’t be sorry my precious! You can do no wrong by me, you did the greatest thing for me just by coming into my life, and all I want is to see you happy.”
Cheerilee then draped Charity over her shoulder and patted her back while walking around. Cheerilee was also excited to hear a new word from her filly, who was speaking more but only single words still lacking any form of sentence structure. The word sorry though meant even more to Cheerilee as now she knew her daughter could better understand what her mother was saying. After about five minutes Charity stopped sobbing altogether and just quietly held onto her mother. Cheerilee noticed that now her daughter’s face was soaked in tears and decided to give her filly a bath. This would be the first one Cheerilee herself is giving her daughter as the staff at the hospital always did it. Cheerilee drew her daughter a bath making sure the warm water wasn’t too hot and gently placed her filly in the tub. At first Charity resented getting wet like always but then really enjoyed the water as her own buoyancy made standing up a possibility for her. Cheerilee’s heart sank as she saw the look of pride and accomplishment on her daughters face as she stood in the water, with her legs still trembling though. Charity then exclaimed:
“Look. Mommy. Stand. STAND!”
Charity was happily standing there on her own for the first time and excited to show her mother what she can finally do. The joyous moment soon ended for Charity as her leg muscles quickly tired and she sank into the water, making a splash. Charity then sat up and looked at her mother with dissapointed eyes prompting Cheerilee to comfort her and say:
“Let’s turn that frown upside down. I’m so proud of you Charity for how far you have come along. I know you’ll walk on your eventually, but we must take our time.”
As the weeks passed by Charity’s health improved greatly in every aspect except with her muscles, as she could still only stand when in water. On one of her visits with Charity to the foal doctor Cheerilee voiced her concerns to the doctor who then inspected Charity, feeling her muscles. The doctor has a worried look on his face and tells Cheerilee:
“Well Cheerilee, Charity should at least be able to stand and take a few steps on her own by now. After checking her legs the muscles there are still soft and limp; it seems she was deprived of crucial nutrients for too long as a newborn foal. I still have hope that her legs will fully develop, but to be honest and realistic with you, we are possibly looking at wheelchair bound pony.”
After hearing those discomforting words Cheerilee turned to her daughter and gave her a false smile. Wheelchair or not Cheerilee would love her the same but it crushed her heart knowing her filly might not ever be able to walk like or play with other ponies. Upon leaving the hospital Cheerilee promised herself and to her daughter that she would never give up on Charity, that she will make sure Charity walks one day, whether that be in two weeks or five years. Later that day Cheerilee brought Charity to the lake where she scheduled a play date with Rarity as the unicorn was looking after the cutie mark crusaders. Upon arriving at the lake the CMC were attempting to earn their fishing cutie marks while Rarity was shading herself on a nearby bench. She noticed Cheerilee approaching carrying Charity and welcomes her:
“Hello there Cheerilee my darling, and pleased to meet you Charity. What an exquisite name, has the same ring to it as mine I would say. So how are you and your filly doing my darling?”
“Well enough I think Rarity, but I just had a visit with the foal doctor today, there is some unsettling news.”
“Oh my! What’s seems to be the matter my dear Cheerilee?”
“As you know Rarity, my filly has had her issues trying to walk. After examining her again today the doctor was expecting much more progress by now, and concluded that Charity just might never be able to walk.”
“Oh how dreaaaadfull! I do hope you and Charity can make it past this hurdle.”
“Uggh this is sooo boring, not a single nibble all day. See anything yet Applebloom?”
“Nope Sweetie Belle, your flank is as blank as ever.”
“Oh would you pipe down you two you are scaring away the fish.”
Becoming utterly bored Sweetie Belle dropped her fishing pole and noticed Cheerilee talking to Rarity.
The instant Sweetie Belle saw the small filly being carried by Cheerilee she abandoned Scootaloo and Applebloom to go meet her. Sweetie Belle ran right up to the two talking mares and interrupted their conversation, somewhat rudely, to ask:
“Wow Miss Cheerilee! I never knew you had a filly! What’s her name?”
“Well Rarity… uh, huh, what… oh hello there Sweetie Belle. Her name is Charity, I adopted her shortly before summer ended and school began.”
“Awwwwwwww. That is so sweet Cheerilee and she looks so precious, can she play with us?”
“Well that is why I brought her here Sweetie Belle, as Rarity organized this play date with you and your friends. Here I’ll walk her over to the lake; she can barely crawl let alone stand or walk yet.”
“Oh um… but why is that Miss Cheerilee? She looks way older than a newborn and us ponies can mmmmpphhh.”
Rarity shoved her hoof into Sweetie Belle’s mouth and said:
“That’s enough with the questions Sweetie, I’ll explain to you later in private.”
Cheerilee and Sweetie Belle then walked back to the other Cutie Mark Crusaders who were watching the whole time. Cheerilee then placed Charity on the grass and said:
“Hello girls. This is my filly Charity, she is here to play with you all, she is fragile so please be gentle with her. Sweetie Belle can introduce you.”
Cheerilee then walked back and sat on the bench with Rarity to continue their conversation. Charity just sat there with a confused look on her face as this was her first time interacting with other ponies besides her mother or the hospital staff. Scootaloo was the first to speak up:
“Wow cool we might have a new member for the Cutie Mark Crusaders!”
“Well ah reckon her flank is blank enough.”
“Umm hold on guys, we have to be really careful with her, Cheerilee said she can’t even stand up or walk yet.”
“Well that’s lame, what pony can’t even walk? She isn’t that young.”
Though still not a great speaker yet, Charity understood most of what ponies said now and felt really ashamed of herself. Charity then began crying loudly with tears running down her face. Sweetie Belle then yelled:
“Oh nice job Scootaloo, way to be insensitive.”
“Yeah Scootaloo, and with that thought ah reckon its lame you can’t even fly! Though ah wouldn’t be surprised since chickens can’t fly.”
Hearing that made Scootaloo instantly understand what she had done and she immediately starts apologizing to the pony as best as she could, which surprisingly did work. After Charity calmed down Scootaloo chose her words carefully and then asked:
“Well now what? What can we play that a filly who ca… who is still really young can also play?”
The three fillies pondered their thoughts while Charity took notice of the water and crawled over to it. Charity then shoved herself off the small ledge and splashed into the lake. Applebloom noticed the foal swimming and came up with an idea:
“Hey girls take a gander over there, the foal is swimmin’. I reckon we try for our swimming cutie marks!”
The two other ponies enthusiastically agree with her and they all go jumping into the lake, with Scootaloo using her wings to hover in the air for a moment before cannonballing in. Cheerilee and Rarity heard the splash and turned their attention to the lake to see all the ponies swimming. Cheerilee shouted at the Cutie Mark Crusaders:
“Girls! Please be careful with Charity, and don’t let her swim out of shallow water.”
The three ponies shout back okay in unison and return to earning their swimming cutie marks. Charity happily paddled about in the water that was shallow enough so that her hooves would touch the floor. Charity hated taking baths still but always loved any form of water deep enough for her to swim or stand up in. Cheerilee noticed as well and paid Applejack to build a shallow pool in her backyard, which she took Charity to daily for exercise. Charity was always somewhat of an attention grabber and liked to show off in any way she could. To get the CMC’s attention Charity swam over to some slightly shallower water and stood up saying:
“Look. Stand.”
The three ponies notice with both Applebloom and Sweetie Belle going awwwww but Scootaloo scoffs:
“Big deal. Let me know when she can stand on clouds, and then I’ll be impress… OW!”
Applebloom gave Scootaloo a good elbow to her stomach and reminded her to watch what she said again. Scootaloo then jumped onto Applebloom and knocked her into the water and the three ponies went back to playing around. Charity then got bored and decided to go swimming out into deeper water, as in her pool at home it was always shallow enough to stand in. Charity nearly makes it to the middle of the lake before without warning her leg muscles tire out and she struggles to stay afloat. Charity stars frantically flailing around and cries out:
“Mommy! Mommy! Help! MOMMY! He*gurgling sounds*”
Charity was then too tired to stay afloat any longer and she managed to take one more breath before sinking underwater. Cheerilee didn’t hear the word help clearly and thought that Charity was just showing her mother how good at swimming she was, so she just waved back and said:
“Mommy is so proud of you honey!”
Cheeilee’s pride quickly turns into panic when she sees her daughter sink below the surface of the water and not return after a few seconds. She quickly jumps up from the bench while frantically shouting “Oh no!” and gallops over to the side of the lake. Rarity startled by Cheerilee’s outburst follows close behind her and asks what is wrong. Cheerilee explained what she saw her filly do but then just stood there frozen not knowing what to do. Rarity understood the gravity of the situation and jumped into the lake, knowing it would ruin her new sundress she just designed. Rarity swam out to the middle of the lake and dove down, not resurfacing for several seconds. The CMC noticed all of the commotion and swam over to Cheerilee to see what all the fuss was about.
“Miss Cheerilee, what in tarnations is all the commotion about?”
“Yeah, and why did my sister jump into the lake with her new dress on.”
“Come on Rarity please find her, we’ve been… Oh. Girls! Why weren't you watching Charity like I asked!?”
“What do you mean? She is swimming in the shallow end right over there!”
Scootaloo pointed to where Charity had been swimming but her arm turned limp as she turned around and noticed Charity had disappeared. Seconds later all of the ponies notice a purple glow in the middle of the lake right before Rarity resurfaced floating Charity with her magic. Rarity then swam back to the shore and returned the filly to Cheerilee who could not have been more worried. After she coughed up a small amount of water Charity was breathing again though also weezing, bringing a huge sigh of relief to Cheerilee. The mother quickly dumped out her saddlebag and found Charity’s inhaler, and quickly gave Charity some puffs from it. Rarity climbed back onto dry land took some heavy breaths as she calmed down herself.
“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you so much Rarity! I would have died myself if I lost my precious little Charity. Though I am sorry you had to ruin your dress.”
Rarity then looked down at the beautiful new yellow sundress she was wearing, which was dripping wet and wrinkled. She almost let out a few tears from the recent crime against fashion but then returned her look to Cheerilee and smiled saying:
“It was no problem at all Cheerilee my darling! I’m sure you would have done the same for my Sweetie Belle. Besides I can easily make another dress, but we can never replace our foals can we? Now let’s go home Sweetie Belle, you and your friends have some explaining to do!”
From then on Charity was deathly afraid of any amount of water larger than a drinking glass. This posed a large problem for the filly and her mother as she was making real progress with standing and walking in the pool. The fear almost completely consumed Charity as even bath time was a hassle; as Cheerilee tried to wash her filly who constantly flailed around and kicked in the water. Though the daily struggle with her mom must have exercised her muscles enough as about a month after the near drowning Charity could finally stand, while leaning against a wall though. From then on the filly finally started developing her leg muscles at a healthy rate; while at first she could only take a step or two, as time went on Charity would walk down an entire hallway, with her mother right at her side in case she were to fall. The amount of progress Charity was making made Cheerilee feel safe enough to finally replace her crib with a real bed. This was an amazing day for Charity, as she took it as a reward for working so hard on walking.
One Saturday morning though Cheerilee’s efforts had paid off. Charity was the first to wake up as usual, as her mother put her to bed so early every night, but this morning was different. Charity had felt a surge of energy, more specifically in her legs, and was determined to do the seemingly impossible. She then shoved herself off of her bed, and tumbled onto the soft carpeted floor. The little filly struggled immensely as she stood up on all four of her legs. Her first few steps were awkward as her body was shaking so much, but she managed to find her balance and then began her walk to her mother’s room. Charity eventually made it to the side of her mother’s bed and called out to her. Cheerilee rubbed her eyes after she awoke to see her filly standing there all on her own.
“Look Mommy. I stand. I stand. See Mommy?”
“Yes Charity you are standing… you are standing? YOU ARE STANDING!”
Cheerilee then quickly sprang up from her bed to congratulate her daughter. All of their hard work together had finally paid off, proving wrong the opinions of all the doctors who said it would never happen. Charity was cheerfully walking around in a small circle to show her mother the walking she could now do.
“Look Mommy. I walk. Proud Mommy?”
“Yes Charity! Mommy is so very proud of you!”
Cheerilee nuzzled her daughter, stroked her mane, and gave her the largest smile.
“Well honey, since we are both awake now, let’s have breakfast?”
“Yes Mommy. Food good.”
When Cheerilee moved Charity from the bottle to solid foods, her filly became the pickiest eater, rejecting most mashed foal food, preferring fruit mostly, with her favorite being zap apples. Cheerilee then made her daughter some toast covered in zap apple jam as a reward. She then lifted Charity up and set her into her high chair.
“No Mommy! Big chair! Big chair!”
“I’m sorry Charity but you still aren't ready yet, and I can’t have you falling off.”
Charity just sat there pouting until her eyes lit up as her mother returned with her favorite food. As usual Charity made a mess of eating, leaving her face, plate, the floor around her chair, and somehow her mane covered in crumbs and jam. After Cheerilee cleaned her up she asked Charity:
“So what will we do today Charity? How about going to the park, does that sound nice?”
“Yes Mommy. Park Fun. Let’s go.”
As much as she protested Cheerilee didn’t let Charity walk with her to the park, for fear of her filly straining her muscles, so she made Charity ride in the saddlebag as usual. As they entered the park Charity took a nice long inhale to enjoy the pure and sweet smelling air. For some reason the air in the park was especially soothing to Charity’s weakened lungs, and allowed for her to fully breathe easily without her inhaler; also she never had any asthma attacks at the park, which let Cheerilee be more at ease.
It was another nice day at Ponyville park, it was sunny and warm but the occasional breeze made the air feel just right,
"Down Mommy. Want down!"
They hadn't been there for barely a minute and already Charity wanted to be put back on the ground, mainly to show off her new skill of walking on her own. Cheerilee didn't allow her though as she wanted to make it to their bench first like always; it was the perfect place to sit for Cheerilee as it was on a small hill giving her a good view of the whole park to watch Charity. As soon as she reached the bench and sat down, Charity struggled her way out of the saddlebag and tried to land on the bench as well, but the filly missed her mark slightly and tumbled down onto the ground.
"See Charity? This is why you still need to let me help you, or you will injure yourself my fragile little filly."
"Yes. Mommy."
Charity answered in a saddened tone as she struggled to stand up, looking down with a frown on her face.
"Thank you Charity, you can go play now."
The filly perked up and turned around, and began walking towards a field of flowers nearby. Besides her home this was Charity's favorite place in all of Ponyville, as she marveled at the wide spectrum of colors the flowers held, and the waves that seemed to flow over them as the wind blew. Walking through the flowers for her first time Charity giggled as some of the taller ones tickled her belly and snout. The filly didn't really have a sense of direction at the moment as she was just randomly walking about enjoying all the colors and scents of the flowers. She stopped when she happened upon a small bunch of flowers the same color as her, they were a bright orange with white rims around the petals. Charity quickly picks them with her mouth and returned to Cheerilee as quickly as her weak legs let her.
She then tried to set them on the bench next to her mother but she was still too small, so she just looked up at her mother, mouth full of flowers, muffling a few words to get her attention.
"Why yes Charity, those are very pretty flowers, they look just like you. We should take them home and plant them."
Charity's eyes lit up at that statement but then all of a sudden she let out a cute little sneeze causing her to drop the flowers, and for the first time her horn let out a spark of magic, that ended up hitting and burning the flowers she was carrying. As Charity watched the flowers burn to ashes she begins to tear up, and whimpers:
"What happened? Mommy? Flowers go away. Flowers not like me?"
"No sweetie. Your magic is just coming in, that's all. It means you are growing up into a big pony"
Charity immediately stops crying and a look of excitement fills her face as she exclaims:
"Really Mommy. I'm a big pony now?"
"No not quite yet Charity, but you are on your way. Now go back to playing and I'll help you find more of those flowers on our way home."
Turning around Charity noticed two earth ponies chasing each other in her field of flowers, and she decides to meet them. Being the show off that she is Charity puts forth her best effort to make her walk look normal, as she still thinks walking is a big deal for young ponies.
"He-Hello. I'm Charity."
The two earth ponies, a green colt and a blue filly, stop their chasing to greet charity. The filly speaks up first:
"Hi Charity. My name is Sprinter, and this is my brother Dasher. Would you like to play with us?"
"Yes. Play what?"
The colt steps forward begins talking:
"Why tag of course! The greatest game in all of Equestria!"
"What's tag?"
"You've never heard of tag? Well you just run around chasing other ponies if you are it and try to touch them. If you do then they become it and you run from them."
"Oh, um, okay... I can't run."
"What why?"
"My legs. Are special. I just learned to walk."
"But you are not even a baby pony and you just learned to walk, not even run? Are you slow or someth-ooof."
Charity was beginning to cry at the colt's unintentionally mean words but the filly stepped in and gave her brother a good buck to his side.
"You're glowing personality strikes again Dasher, nice job!."
After finishing her sarcastic sentence the earth filly walked over to Charity to comfort her, and to apologize for her brother's stupid remarks.
"it's okay Charity, my brother didn't mean what he said. He is just so dumb sometimes. If you want you can..."
The earth filly's sentence is cut off as the sound of a stallion's strong voice pierces the air.
"Dasher! Sprinter! Come here, we are going home now!"
"Sorry we gotta go. Better hurry back before my daddy gets mad at us. We come here to play often though so I hope I get to see you again."
The two earth ponies then run off, impressing Charity with their speed, leaving her with a puzzling question in her mind.
"Da-Daddy?"
Charity thought to herself, what could a daddy be? That stallion sounded like a parent, like her mommy, but only he was male instead. She was really confused at this. The little orange filly knew that mares had foals but didn't know stallions were involved at all. Charity eventually gave up trying to figure out what a daddy was, and decided to look for more of those flowers she found earlier. Later on Cheerilee walked over to her daughter, as it was time to go home.
"But, but, Mommy! I didn't find the flowers."
"It's alright sweetie, I'll keep an eye out for them on our way home, now get into your bag."
Cheerilee then kneeled down to let Charity climb into the saddlebag, and then started their walk back home. After about a few minutes Charity remember what she was thinking earlier and asked Cheerilee:
"Mommy? What's a daddy?"
"A what?"
Cheerilee was caught off guard by the question. She knew one day she would have to explain to Charity that she is adopted, and that her real parents are out in the world somewhere, but she expected that conversation to happen much later on.
"A daddy. What's a daddy?"
"Why where did you hear that word my Charity?"
"A filly I met in the park. A stallion was calling her. She said it was her daddy. What's a daddy? Please mommy."
Cheerilee decides to reveal at least some of the truth and sets Charity down in front of her.
"Well Charity, a foal takes two ponies to be made, a mare and a stallion who love each other very much, the mare is the mommy and the stallion is the daddy."
"So I have a daddy?"
"Yes Charity."
"Where's daddy? I want to see him."
"I'm sorry sweetie but daddy isn't with us anymore, he went far away."
"NO! I WANT DADDY! WHY IS DADDY GONE?"
Charity then started crying uncontrollably and nothing Cheerilee did calmed her down, so she just placed her back in the saddlebag and returned to walking home. The whole way Charity sobbed:
Even after the pair of ponies finally made it home Charity was still crying on about where her daddy was. Her coat was stained with tears and her faced turned crimson red from the bout of crying. Cheerilee tried everything she could think of to console her daughter, but nothing seemed to calm the situation. The mother did the only thing she could do at this point and offered Charity to tell her about her daddy.
*Charity sniffs as she finishes crying* "Really mommy? You'll tell me where daddy is?"
"Yes my little one just settle down and I'll say what there is to say. You see Charity I found you on a very special day. I found you by yourself as a tiny foal. You were all on your own and..."
As soon as Cheerilee mentioned Charity was found alone her daughter interrupted her with all sorts of questions why. Cheerilee finally broke down and explained that Charity has real parents somewhere who might not be the nicest ponies. Charity began to cry again as she realized her mommy and daddy didn't want her, but Cheerilee quickly reassured her that maybe her mom was just in a bad situation, and that her daddy could be looking for her this very moment. Charity calmed down a bit because of her mom's kind words and also because she had become tired of crying so much. Cheerilee continued on to explain how this doesn't mean she loves Charity any less and that Charity is no less special than any other pony for this matter. What was a originally a short explanation to calm her daughter quickly turned into over an hour long conversation about the important things in life. The sun was beginning to set and the light inside the house was starting to fade so Cheerilee told her daughter:
"Well I think that's plenty of talking for now sweetie. How about we get washed up for dinner?"
"Okay mommy. Thanks for answering my questions. I think I'll be okay, and maybe tomorrow we can go looking for mommy and daddy?"
"Umm... sure Charity we can try looking but lets not get too excited too soon. Now go clean your coat and mane and I'll get started making some delicious food."
"Yay! Okay mommy!"
Charity trotted off to go wash up and Cheerilee started making daffodil and wildflower sandwiches. Upon her returned Charity climbed on top of a normal chair instead of climbing into her special high chair.
"Please mommy can I sit like a big pony now? You even said today I'm turning into a big pony!"
"But it's still not safe to... I mean you could still hurt..."
" Plllleeeeeaaaassssseee mommy?"
"Oh alright I guess. Just be very careful and keep your balance."
Her daughter's face lit up with joy and Cheerilee hadn't seen this much excitement in Charity since the day she able to walk on her own. Her little orange filly bounced with joy in her "big pony" chair as she anxiously awaited for dinner to be served. Charity thoroughly enjoyed her new found freedom from the high chair as it restricted her movement, and made her feel like a baby pony. When her mother finally came over and put her plate on the table Charity almost lost her balance when she reached for the scrumptious looking sandwich. She managed to catch herself on the edge of the table but she was shaking heavily as she struggled to maintain her posture.
"Mommy some help please."
"Don't worry Charity mommy is here I got you. There there everything is alright now."
Cheerilee had rushed over in an instant and pushed the chair closer for Charity. She then went over to her spot at the table and the two began to eat. Charity tried to get some more questions about her real mommy and daddy in during the meal but Cheerilee kept telling her she learned enough for today. Once all the food was finished Cheerilee began cleaning up and made Charity go off to brush her teeth and get ready for bed. After putting away the dishes Cheerilee thought it was awfully quiet in the house so she walked over to her daughter's room to check on her. The day at the park must have tuckered her out because Charity was already sound asleep in her bed. This usually required reading her a bedtime story along with multiple requests from her mother to please get some sleep. A cold draft of air rushed through the room and Charity shivered as she laid on her bed. Cheerilee brought the blanket over her and better tucked the little filly into bed. It felt great to get the truth about Charity's parents off of her chest, but Cheerilee knew this only meant Charity would eventually want to get to the bottom of it all, but not even Cheerilee was sure she was ready to know all the answers. With a final goodnight kiss on her forehead Cheerilee left her daughter to sleep peacefully as she went off to her own room to rest as well.
After several hours of sleep had passed by. Charity started having a nightmare about some of the things her mom told her. She didn't know where she was, but it was dark, scary, and Charity felt lost and alone. These were feelings she wasn't used to because Cheerilee was always there to comfort her but not this time. Charity ran around aimlessly in the darkness as she called out for her mommy who never responded. She could only hear an evil pony laughing off in the distance. The voice kept mocking her telling Charity to give up and go away as nobody wants her not even her own parents. Charity kept crying out that wasn't true and that her mommy definitely wanted her. All of a sudden Charity's running led her to a dead end with a big trash dumpster. A mysterious force then grabbed a hold of her as that same mocking voice said she should be thrown out like yesterday's trash since nobody wants her. The lid opened up and the mysterious force let go of Charity causing her to fall into dumpster. She is now falling down farther and faster with each passing moment into what seems like a bottomless pit.
