Strange Tales from the Bedroom

In spite of Spearmint’s concerns, the weather cooperated and nearly everyday for the week leading up the contest had strong, well-formed waves that Soarin could use to teach Cheerilee more about surfing. She learned quickly as she could. Once she had learned how to not wipe out every time she hopped on the board, Soarin began to instruct her how to do some basic tricks, and he wasn’t alone in doing so. While most of the ponies besides Breezy remained aloof and cool towards her, all of them made an effort to teach her something or rather about surfing, giving her tips and what not.

Cheerilee wasn’t a fool; most of what they were teaching her was very basic, and it was doubtful she was going to turn any heads pulling off some sort of amazing move on the board. By some unspoken consensus, the idea was just to get her into the position where her surfing and score wouldn’t drag the average down lower than it needed to be. The tricks were so basic she couldn’t mess them up and lose points, and Cheerilee was fine with that.

By the time the next week rolled around, Breezy was spending less and less time with the team; as a weathermare, Breezy had to make regular trips out over the western ocean to where the storm was constructed. Most natural storms were destroyed before they came anywhere near Equestria, so only planned storms like this one were allowed to exist. However, incorporating wild weather systems into them made them more potent, and according to Breezy, the storm was going to be the highlight of the century. When she was around, and they weren’t surfing, Breezy certainly liked to go on about her work, and most of it Cheerilee didn’t really understand. Things like moving air pockets around or shifting ocean currents were out of her league.

However, it was a bit off putting when the only friendly face in the whole group was Soarin when his doppelganger wasn’t there. Cheerilee wasn’t sure what to make of Gravenstein, sometimes she suspected the applepony was just naturally grumpy, and even if he was trying to be nice to you he’d probably do with a scowl on his face. And unlike the other ponies on the team, Gravenstein actually seemed to be a hard worker, or at the very least went to work everyday, so he wasn’t there as often as Soarin.

Soarin, on the other hoof, was a nice as ever, and surprisingly unconcerned about his chances at winning, even with the possibility of a party with Spitfire. Cheerilee had never followed the Wonderbolts as closely as her pegasus friends, but even she knew Spitfire was kind of a big deal. Still, Soarin was confident that however helpful meeting Spitfire was to his eventual goal of joining the Wonderbolts, he would get in eventually. Cheerilee couldn’t help worrying that if they did lose, it might hurt her friendship with the stallion—especially if it was her fault.

As the week wore on, the beaches started to become more and more crowded with surfers. Most of them didn’t have access to a beach house like Soarin did, and it wasn’t long before surfers from all over Las Pegasus and beyond started setting up tents or renting hotel rooms and generally filling up the beach in advance of the storm. Most of the ponies, despite being the competition, were actually quite friendly, and Cheerilee enjoyed talking to them, despite Celestia Lite’s insistence that they keep their distance from the ‘kooks’. Most of them didn’t surf enough to really have a great deal of experience it seemed, and the news of Spitfire was drawing in Pegasi from all over Equestria even if they had never surfed before.

Finally, on the eve before the storm was due to hit, the eight of them gathered at Soarin’s beach house again in order to have one last meal together. It wasn’t particularly memorable, and Cheerilee could tell that everypony was pretty nervous. Even Soarin and Breezy were starting to show signs of worry over the competition the next day, and it didn’t really surprise Cheerilee when most of them, minus Pillow, struggled to get to sleep. Of course, it didn’t help any that it was difficult to sleep in a room full of strangers, or that Pillow snored loud enough to wake the dead.

Even though the surge caused by the offshore storm, the day of the tournament was surprisingly cloud-free and warm, with the sun shining brightly and strongly. Out over the ocean, however, Cheerilee could see a cloudy dark line near the horizon. The storm itself was moving slowly towards the shoreline, but Breezy assured them it wouldn’t hit Las Pegasus until that evening, and be mostly gone by the time tomorrow rolled around.

Overnight, a small pavilion had popped up on the beach, complete with a judges’ table and a banner proclaiming all the sponsors and contributors to the contest. Most of the cash had probably gone into the prize pool, which Cheerilee understood was several thousand bits. It also featured a rather expensive sound system. The judges themselves hadn’t yet arrived but the sound system was playing a rather heavy, pulsing beat in their absence.

“Well, this is it.” Celestia Lite said, as they walked towards the smaller booth set up beside the stage to register. All of them were carrying their boards on their backs, although Cheerilee was still having trouble mastering that skill. It was harder to keep it from sliding off without wings or magic. Hot Coffee managed somehow, so it wasn’t impossible. Maybe one day.

“Yup,” Soarin nodded as he stepped ahead of the group and turned around to face them, letting his board down onto the sand before continuing. “I know we all want to win today, but you know what? Even if we lose, we’ll still have this—” Soarin gestured with his hoof pointing to himself and every other pony on the team. “—friendship and—”

“Are you serious Soarin?” Spearmint cut the pegasus off, as she levitated her own board off her back and onto the sand beside her. Like every pony’s board in the group—except Cheerilee’s— it had a stylized version of her cutie mark against a mostly white background, if one ignored the wavy lines of blue and pink. It was some sort of stringed instrument. Maybe a harp or something. “Where do you get this stuff?”

Soarin frowned and gave Spearmint a disgruntled look. “Look, all I’m saying is, I want you guys to have fun, and don’t worry if we lose. It’s only a contest.”

“Sweet filly Luna,” Pillow swore—he had been swearing by somepony named Luna all week, and Cheerilee still didn’t know what he meant by it. Perhaps that’s what Thestrals called Celestia? Why would they have a separate name for the Princess? Cheerilee had been afraid to ask. “I thought you wanted to win?”

“I do,” Soarin said, before shrugging with his wings. “You guys go get signed up, I’ll be along in a second.” Before Cheerilee dropped her gaze, Soarin caught it, and indicated he wanted her to stay a bit longer.

None of the other ponies noticed that she didn’t leave with them, which was fine with Cheerilee, although it did make her realize how little she fit in with the group. She’d probably always be an outsider, even if they won first place today. Soarin watched them go then stepped up closer to Cheerilee, with a small smile.

“That goes double for you, Cheerilee,” Soarin’s smile grew a bit wider. “I know you’ve been working hard and I’m super proud of you. Don’t worry about today, just have fun.” Then he kissed her.

On the forehead. But still! Cheerilee was so surprised she barely managed to stammer out a reply before Soarin trotted off down the beach towards the team. As he went, Cheerilee found herself inadvertently studying the stallion’s flanks—they certainly were muscular and well toned and, well… Cheerilee found herself blushing even harder. She closed her eyes and counted to ten. It wasn’t as if it meant anything, it was just a kiss, and on the forehead. And she wasn’t even interested in him, in that way. Right?

Cheerilee shook her head and started down the beach. It was just a kiss—and she had a tournament to win at that. She’d figure it out later. Assuming there was something to figure out.

**

The rules were simple; each pony had a number, which he or she wore over her flanks. When called, they paddled out and did their best to catch a wave, then perform tricks for a score. It sounded simple on paper, but it was a great deal more chaotic than Cheerilee had first imagined.

Firstly, most of the surfers hopped into the water even if it wasn’t their turn, so they wouldn’t have to take the time get used to the water when it was their turn, and secondly, despite being organised into teams, they didn’t go in order. It seemed to Cheerilee that the names were completely random, but there was likely some sort of incomprehensible logic behind whose turn it was. It made keeping track of who had what score difficult, although Cheerilee did her best.

Celestia Lite went first on her black board with a golden fleur de lis on it, followed by Hot Coffee. His board had some sort of leafy thing on it that make Cheerilee think of classical Equestrian society for some reason, but she wasn’t sure why. Both ponies did well or at least well from Cheerilee’s perspective. It wasn’t easy to see them while bobbing up and down just off shore.

Soarin followed those two, and in Cheerilee’s opinion, he did the best show of any pony yet. As an earth pony, she didn’t really have much in the way of special features like wings or magic, but Soarin used his wings to great advantage during his stunts. It seemed somewhat unfair that Cheerilee wouldn’t be able to do something similar, but she wasn’t too bothered by it. Pillows and Breezy did similar tricks, but not as well as Soarin had—but of course they were going after him, so naturally that coloured her opinion of their tricks.

While Gravenstein hadn’t been practicing as much as the others, the stallion seemed to know what he was doing when his turn came up, and did some things that Cheerilee suspected she was years away from doing, like riding the very lip of the wave back and forth until finally bailing.

That left only Spearmint and herself, and Cheerilee was first.

A week’s worth of paddling still hadn’t gotten her to the point where it wasn’t boring or exhausting, but at least she wasn’t totally out of breath anymore by the time she got out far enough to catch a wave. Unlike her first day, there were many potential swells to choose from, most of which were significantly larger than she had practised on. Cheerilee bit her lip and did her best.

She managed to get up onto her board without falling over, which was good, and for a brief moment, she just rode the wave as it pushed its way toward shore. It was still an incredible feeling and Cheerilee couldn’t help but take a moment to just drink it in. Then she shook her head and started to do some tricks. They were, naturally, very basic. She mostly just slid down the front of the wave in a serpentine motion, before drifting back up towards the top.

Most of the surfers so far had done something much more amazing, like flips or grabbing air, but Cheerilee was certain she’d just end up with a lung full of sea water if she tried those. However, she needed something to wow the judges, or at least get her score up a bit more. Therefore, she tried doing the trick again, this time with much more severe turns.

Naturally, she screwed it up.

Halfway down the wave, she turned too sharply, and before Cheerilee knew what was happening, the whole board spun around like a top. Somehow, Cheerilee kept her balance and managed to keep it under control, although by the time she pulled out of it her heart was pounding like a drum. She was more than willing to just ride the wave the rest of the way into shore, before bailing and jumping into the water before she was thrown up onto the beach.

The crowd cheered for her, sort of. It certainly wasn’t as loud as they had been for the other ponies, but Cheerilee was more interested in her score. Looking towards the judge’s stand, she briefly saw a 6.5 formed out of illusionary magic before they vanished as they got ready to watch the next surfer. Cheerilee sighed; it wasn’t particularly good at all. With her score, they had an average of 8.7, below what Cheerilee suspected the top team had.

Reluctantly, Cheerilee let herself wash ashore. Once a pony had his or her turn, they were gathering up on the beach to warm up in the sun, and Soarin and his friends were no exception. It was difficult approaching them, and not simply because her legs felt like jelly. She had let them all down, especially Soarin.

“Sorry guys,” Cheerilee said wearily as she sat down on a piece of driftwood next to a shivering Celestia Lite. Apparently, her long legged body wasn’t very good at retaining heat.

“What for?” Pillow asked, sounding excited, and for once, not particularly tired. “We’re winning!”

“We are?” Cheerilee blinked in surprise. Their score wasn’t good enough, was it?

“We’re in the top three,” Soarin corrected, although he had a huge grin on his face. “You did great Cheers!”

“I nearly went for a wash,” Cheerilee shook her mane and began running her hoof through it. Without the kinks in it, it was actually quite long. Maybe she should see about getting it cut. “That spin was an accident you know.”

“But it looked bucking awesome and you pulled it off, that’s what counts,” Celestia Lite said, patting Cheerilee on the leg. “You did good, Cheerilee.”

Before Cheerilee could respond—if these ponies were going to be friendly with her, she’d have to learn their names—Spearmint’s number was called. Everypony on the team turned to watch the green mare paddle out to where the waves were forming—Breezy produced a pair of binoculars and they passed them around the group so they could all watch.

By the time Spearmint was ready to catch a wave, the whole group was waiting anxiously, even Cheerilee. None of them talked, and she risked a glance at Soarin. He looked unusually focused and serious. Everything was riding on Spearmint.

Spearmint caught the wave without much of a problem, and within moments, she was performing a number of tricks, such as standing on the very tip of the board and balancing on her hind legs. Spearmint was surprisingly good at it, even though most ponies Cheerilee knew would have just fallen over when trying to assume such a position. She used her magic too, causing trails of sparkles to appear behind the board, leaving a glittering trail in the water.

Then, without warning, a smaller, secondary wave arose up in front of the wave Spearmint was riding and merged with it it. At first Cheerilee didn’t think anything was wrong, then her board twisted laterally and Spearmint fell off, into the water.

Everypony groaned, including many of the crowd. Wiping out like that was one of the worst things that could happen, especially since it couldn’t be passed off as something Spearmint intended to do. That’s why so much of her training the prior week had been making sure Cheerilee wouldn’t wipe out. Cheerilee looked up and over at the judge’s bench, and within seconds a devastating score of one appear with a pop in the empty area in front of the judge’s table. That brought their score down to something like 7.7, which was far too low to win the contest, even if they didn’t come in last.

Some small part of her felt vindicated; they had lost, it was true, but Cheerilee wasn’t the reason for that loss. Sure, she hadn’t done amazing, but she had done well enough, whereas the so-called seasoned surfer who had scoffed at her and mocked the idea that she’d be anything but a loser, had been the one to wipe out and cost them the tournament. It was petty, but she wanted to stick her tongue out at the soaked mare as she slowly hauled herself out of the water and walked towards them.

Then she looked over at Soarin and the other ponies. All of them were grim and defeated looking, with Soarin’s face buried in his hooves. He wasn’t crying, but still. The justified feeling in Cheerilee’s chest died silently. Maybe she hadn’t brought the group down, but they were no less devastated by the loss—and it wasn’t very nice to have those thoughts, even if these ponies weren’t her friends.

Not much anypony could do about it now.

**

In the end, they came in fourth. It was actually good, at least from Cheerilee’s standpoint when one considered Cheerilee had no idea what the hay she was doing, and Spearmint had taken a bath. It certainly wasn’t first place, and even before the ponies were leaving the beach, the winning team was crowding around Spitfire and chatting with her excitedly. They watched them for a while, before breaking up and heading their own ways.

Spearmint had apologized, and as far as Cheerilee could tell Soarin’s friends—Soarin included—weren’t particularly angry at the mare. Yet, angry or not, the team had spent the rest of the contest mostly silent, and when they split up, they didn’t really say much to one another besides goodbye.

Gravenstein left too, apparently because he had to get out to some farm his family owned just outside of town. He didn’t work on it normally, but with the storm coming they needed every set of hooves they could get to secure the trees, or something. The earth pony didn’t really explain it in any detail, and Cheerilee was only half listening anyway.

By the time Cheerilee and Soarin made it back to the beach house, it was late afternoon. The storm had moved much closer to shore after the contest had ended, and the skies were starting to turn dark, especially since the sun was setting behind the storm now. She was concerned at first, given that the waves would probably just get more aggressive and stronger as the time went on, but when she asked Soarin had explained that most of the shoreline, including what was outside the beach house were protected with magically enhanced shore breaks, and the worst they’d get was a bit of extra sea spray.

Once her fears laid to rest, Soarin however trotted off to his bedroom, leaving Cheerilee alone with her thoughts.

After she washed herself up, and got the salt and sand out of her coat, Cheerilee listened to the wind for while, before deciding she ought to check on Soarin. First she made a cup of hot chocolate each, since it seemed like an appropriate drink, given the weather, and then balanced the tray on her back as she headed deeper into the house to Soarin’s bedroom. Despite having been there nearly a week, she hadn’t seen the inside of the stallion’s room yet, or Gravenstein’s for that matter.

Gingerly, she tapped on the door, trying to keep the tray on her back from sliding off and ruining Soarin’s carpet. Some ponies just seemed to be naturals at the skill, but clearly she wasn’t one of them.

She only had to wait a moment before she heard movement inside the room and the door opened, revealing a slightly red-eyed Soarin. Had he been crying? Cheerilee forced herself to smile—she didn’t want to embarrass the stallion needlessly, he probably didn’t know it was obvious.

“Hi Cheers,” Soarin returned the smile weakly. “is everything okay? You’re not still scared about the storm are you?”

“I’m fine,” Cheerilee lied. Truthfully, the sound of the storm outside was more than a bit off-putting, and it had started to rain fat, heavy drops while she had been finishing up the hot chocolate. They didn’t really have these sorts of intense storms in Ponyville. “May I come in? I made hot chocolate.”

Soarin hesitated for a moment, before nodding and gesturing with his hoof as he pushed the door the rest of the way open.

Cheerilee’s first impression of the room was that it was extremely blue, although after a second she realized part of it was because almost every inch of the walls were covered in posters depicting various Wonderbolts—including Spitfire—in dramatic poses or otherwise doing some sort of airborne stunt.  The surfaces of the room, like Soarin’s desk, were covered in similar items, such as framed and signed photographs of certain Wonderbolts, although Cheerilee had no idea what their names were. At least he didn’t have ‘Wonderbolt’ bedsheets or something. Part of Cheerilee suspected it was probably for the best that Soarin didn’t have to go to a party with Spitfire—he’d probably be a bit off putting meeting a Wonderbolt in person.

As she stepped over the threshold, Soarin grabbed the tray with his teeth and took it over to his desk, where he shoved some of the photographs and papers off to the side to make room. Cheerilee noted with a frown that several of the photographs were on their faces, rather than upright—sending a tinge of guilt of her spine. It wasn’t right for her to judge Soarin because he was a big fan of the Wonderbolts, they clearly meant a lot to him.

 As Soarin hopped on the bed with one of the mugs, Cheerilee took a seat at Soarin’s desk facing the stallion. As she sat down, she suddenly realized she was essentially alone in an empty house with Soarin, in his bedroom—she had to take a hasty sip to cover her blush, but by the time, she lowered her mug she had it under control.

“How… are you doing?” Cheerilee asked; her special talent certainly wasn’t in being a psychologist, and she wasn’t completely sure how to approach this situation.

“I’m fine, I guess.” Soarin sighed heavily and stared into his mug, not taking any sips. “I wish we had won.”

“I wish we had won too, Soarin.” She really did, if only because it was starting to be painful seeing her friend like this. “We didn’t do too badly. I mean,” Cheerilee shrugged, “fourth is a lot better than I ever expected us to get. Well, with me on the team.”

“No, we didn’t.” Soarin gave Cheerilee a weak smile that was only a pale shadow of his normal grins. “We’re all proud of you, I’m proud of you.”

“I hope you’re not angry at…” Cheerilee frowned as she realized she still didn’t know the mare’s name. She really had to get on top of that. “…her. I know she messed up, but…”

“Nah, I don’t blame Lyra,” Soarin shook his head, “We’ve all made mistakes like that. It could have been me.”

“I wish it had been me, really,” Cheerilee said softly, “I mean, not that I wanted to mess up, but if somepony was going to screw up, I wish it had been me.”

“Why?”

“I’m already an outsider,” Cheerilee took a sip to gather her thoughts. “If I had screwed up, then I’d still be an outsider; it’s easy for me to take the fall. Less chance of ruined friendships and all that.”

“You mustn’t think that, Cheerilee,” Soarin said, frowning at her. “We’ve been through a lot together, and it’s only really me who had a horse in the race, so to speak. The others wanted to win, but I guess I didn’t realize how much it all meant to me…”

Cheerilee hmm’d as she glanced over at the overturned pictures on Soarin’s desk. After a moment’s hesitation she picked one up and put it back upright, revealing it was indeed a signed picture of Spitfire. “You know this isn’t the end of the world, right?” Cheerilee asked, flinching as she realized her voice sounded a bit harsh, “I mean, I’ve seen you fly, you’re great at it.” She added hastily. “I’m sure you’ll get a chance to strut yourself eventually.”

“Will I? Or maybe I’ll just keep missing chances.”

“You will, I know it,” Cheerilee put as much firmness as she dared into her voice. “You’ll be a Wonderbolt one day, I’m sure.”

“Maybe.” Soarin finally took a sip of his hot chocolate, and blinked in surprise. “It’s good!”

Before Cheerilee could respond, the whole house suddenly shook as the skies outside Soarin’s window flashed white and the thunder crashed over the house. It was much, much louder than anything Cheerilee had experienced back home, and she wasn’t too ashamed to admit she jumped a bit. It helped Soarin did too.

Both ponies stared at one another for a brief moment, before the power suddenly went out. It was still late afternoon, and the clouds weren’t so thick that the sun didn’t get through them a bit, but it still plunged the bedroom and the rest of the house into twilight.

“Crap,” Soarin’s voice came from the bed, and Cheerilee saw the stallion’s head silhouetted against the window as he looked out. “The storm must have taken out one of the main stations. Nothing we can do, I guess.”

Her eyes slowly adjusted to the new darkness. Once they did, actually wasn’t that bad, but it’d be night soon enough and Cheerilee shuddered to think what it’d be like without any lights at all. Hopefully Soarin and Gravenstein had some candles, but knowing her luck they wouldn’t.

Soarin sat back down onto his bed with a grunt and judging from the sipping noise, took another drink of the hot chocolate. Cheerilee wished she had taken the time to prepare something more substantial when she had had the chance. Oh well, she thought, as she listened to the thunder crack and the winds howl. At least you’ve got a roof over your head.

“Can I ask you a question, Cheers?” Soarin said, breaking the relative silence in the room. He didn’t wait for a response. “What does your cutie mark mean? I mean, I know that’s kind of personal, but usually I can guess…”

Cheerilee blushed and glanced at her flank, where her three-smiling-flowers cutie mark was just visible in the light streaming in through the window. She considered what to say about it—and more importantly, whether to tell the truth or not. Cheerilee had come to Las Pegasus in hopes of reinventing herself as a different pony, it wasn’t that she disliked her cutie mark or what it represented, but at the same time she wasn’t sure it was really something she wanted to do. She mentally sighed to herself. There wasn’t much point in lying, she supposed.

“Teaching,” Cheerilee shifted slightly so Soarin could see more of her flank. “You know, growing students, making them happy, that sort of thing…”

“Cutie-marks aren’t usually that metaphorical,” Soarin’s voice carried a hint of uncertainty. “Are you—”

“Of course I’m sure,” Cheerilee snapped indignantly. “If you must know I was helping my friend with her math homework when it appeared.”

“Sorry,” Soarin sighed, “I didn’t mean to insult you.” The stallion’s voice trailed off for a moment before returning with another question. “Why aren’t you at university, getting a degree or whatever you need to be a teacher, then?”

“I’m not really sure I want to be a teacher,” Cheerilee rubbed her face with her hoof, and wondered where she had put her mug. She could use a drink of something about now. “I mean, I like teaching, but every teacher I’ve met was this worn out, dried husk of a pony. There’s no joy in it for them, even though it’s their special talent.”

“Just because a pony is good at something doesn’t mean it’s not hard work,” Soarin pointed out, slurping at his drink noisily. “I’m a fast flier, but I still have to go out and train myself.” Soarin paused for a second, and in the darkness, Cheerilee watched him tilt his head slightly as he thought about something. “Besides, I bet those ponies were only good at teaching, not good at teaching and making their students happy at the same time.”

 Cheerilee frowned, she hadn’t considered that before. When she thought back to all the ponies who had taught her over the years in Ponyville, thinking about their cutie-marks, she realized all of them had things like A pluses or pencils or chalkboards—one of the few ponies who didn’t, the science teacher who taught her throughout high school in physics, had a atom cutie mark. He had always seemed cheerful and upbeat about teaching. Maybe Soarin was right, maybe she didn’t have to lose herself to follow her talent. She did enjoy being a teacher.

“Can I ask you a question too?” Cheerilee said after a moment. Unlike Soarin she waited for the stallion to nod—only to realize at the last moment he had already answered her question about his cutie mark. She blurted out the first thing that came to mind; “What did that kiss this morning mean?”

Soarin opened her mouth to reply, but suddenly the lights flicked back on.. That’s when she noticed Soarin was blushing hard, and that made Cheerilee blush along with him.

“It meant good luck,” Soarin said finally, in a tone of voice that made Cheerilee suspect he was lying. “For, you know, the contest.”

“You didn’t kiss any of the other mares…” Despite herself, she smirked, “Or stallions.”

“I, er, well…” Soarin’s blush deepened, “Oh fine, I like you.”

“’Like’ me?”

“You know what I mean!” Soarin buried his face in his hooves, which only made Cheerilee feel her blush burn hotter—luckily, she was able to find her mug again and cover it with a sip. “It’s been nice to get to know somepony who’s like you. Someone real.”

“’Someone real’?” Cheerilee repeated, cocking her eyebrow, “Do you normally date fantasies or something, Soarin?”

“Ha ha,” Soarin faked a laugh as he glared at her, before launching into an explanation. “I’m sure you’ve probably figured out by now that most of the mares I’ve been with haven’t really been much more than a one night stand or so.”

“I gathered.” Cheerilee nodded, taking another sip. It wasn’t as if that was all that unusual.

“It was nice,” the stallion repeated, looking uncomfortable again as he anger died away. “So… sorry.”

“Sorry? For what?” Cheerilee asked, a moment before her brain caught up to her mouth and answered the question for her. “Oh—no Soarin, it’s okay. I mean, I like you too. You’re nice, and kind, and strong, and urm,” Cheerilee blushed hard.

It helped that Soarin was sexy; few ponies truly let themselves go, but Soarin’s body, when Cheerilee allowed herself the freedom to look at it, was something else, full of strong muscles and raw power. In addition, his wings looked good too, although as an Earth pony she really wasn’t the best judge of that, she supposed. Cheerilee felt herself blush harder. She had been doing her best to avoid thinking about Soarin that way, though, simply because he was her friend—and she didn’t think he was attracted to her anyway. He certainly never hit on her.

“I’m not upset about the kiss, Soarin.” Cheerilee said finally, breaking the awkward silence between them.

“Good…” Soarin smiled weakly. “Good.” He looked as if he was thinking about something before standing up, “so you won’t mind if I did this…?”

Soarin crossed the space between them and leaned in, kissing Cheerilee on her lips. She was so surprised, it took her a moment to return the kiss, parting her lips and pushing her tongue into Soarin’s mouth.

It could have only been a moment before they broke apart, but It felt like it had lasted forever. Cheerilee panted as if she had just ran up and down a flight of stairs, and stared at the stallion as he panted too, only a few inches from her face. “Only if you don’t mind if I do—” Cheerilee stood up and pushed Soarin backwards, towards his bed. He hadn’t been expecting it and he tripped, sitting down on his rump just short of the mattress. “—this!” Not waiting for him to respond, Cheerilee pushed herself against the stallion until he fell backwards onto the bed. She snuggled close to the stallion as she kissed him again.

When they broke again, Cheerilee moaned softly. Soarin wasn’t her first, but it had been a long time since she had been with someone special—and Soarin certainly felt special.

As Cheerilee panted, Soarin leaned up with his mouth and nipped at her collarbone, where her neck met her chest, and she felt a wave of pleasure ripple through her, making her tail twitch slightly. She did her best to keep herself from flagging though, she didn’t want to seem easy, although as Soarin continued to nibble along her neck and press up against her, she started to lose sight of why.

Already Cheerilee could feel Soarin’s… physical… interest in her growing, pressing against her belly. She nickered as she buried her nose into Soarin’s mane—it was quite long, and smelled like a mix of lavender and ginger, although it carried a hint of the ocean’s salty spray with it too. Instinctively, Cheerilee kissed him along his hairline and up to his ear, where she nipped it.

“Mmm, Soarin…” Cheerilee whispered, or perhaps she groaned, into his ear. Beneath her, Soarin froze suddenly, before pulling his mouth away from her neck and staring up at her.

“Yeah?”

Cheerilee closed her eyes and giggled at the uncertain tone in his voice. If he was worried he was being too forward, it was a bit late now.

“Fuck me, please.” She leaned down and punctured her words with small kisses on his nose, before Soarin shifted his head and they kissed.

Soarin muttered something that Cheerilee didn’t catch, but before she could ask about it Soarin hugged her close and the two of them rolled in the bed, so Cheerilee was now on the bottom. Flicking his wings, Soarin stood up on the bed, snorting gustily. He stood over her for a moment, just looking her over, and Cheerilee took the chance to glance at Soarin’s cock. It was fully erect now, and while it wasn’t the largest she had ever seen, it had a certain beauty to it, the way the skin marbled around its base, and swayed with the beat of his heart.

Cheerilee didn’t need to be asked, she flicked her tail aside for her stallion, and met his eyes.

“Like what you see?” Soarin smirked playfully.

“I don’t want to see it,” Cheerilee reached up and wrapped her hooves around the pegasus, pulling him down. “I want to feel it.”

He certainly didn’t need to be told twice; as they kissed, Soarin pressed up against her, poking and prodding rather clumsily with the blunt head of the cock, before finding its way home.

Cheerilee gasped around the kiss as Soarin pushed inside of her, her eyes rolling back into her head; she felt herself quiver with pleasure. With a grunt, she stretched her hind legs a bit further apart, hooking her ankles into the crooks of Soarin’s legs for leverage.

It took her a moment to adjust to the sensation, and before she could, Soarin started to pull back out, leaving her feeling empty as his cock’s head slithered against her walls. Whining, she wiggled her hips and tried to force herself back onto him, but before she could really make any progress, Soarin thrust back in.

The sudden change of movement caused her to cry out something, Cheerilee wasn’t sure what she said, really, and before she could really dwell on it Soarin was pulling back again. Over and over, Cheerilee found herself alternating between groaning lustfully, to just tossing her head back against Soarin’s pillows or kissing him outright.

Soarin slowly stepped up the pace, never pausing more than half a second, and as Cheerilee’s body started to rock with each of Soarin’s down strokes, she felt a powerful sensation growing in her loins.

She had been with stallions before, but she had never felt what she was feeling now, but she also wasn’t exactly in the right state of mind to think about it, or question it. All she could do was moan for more and more. And the feeling only grew. It felt like she was reaching for something, just beyond the next…

Before Cheerilee could think any more, the sensation crashed over her, like a wave when she fell off her board, it made her body shake and her body clamp down on Soarin’s member, squeezing it and adding to her own pleasure. Closing her eyes tight, Cheerilee leaned in against Soarin and moaned into his chest fur, letting the sensation play out. Finally, after what felt like days, Cheerilee felt her body start to relax, although she still felt warm and… euphoric.

Then, as she was getting her wits about her again, she felt Soarin cum deep inside her, his hot seed splashing against her walls in great spurts, causing her to shudder with pleasure. It felt so good, and Cheerilee didn’t want it to stop, even though it wasn’t nearly as intense as what she had just experienced. All good things had to come to an end, and after a couple of good spurts, Soarin panted and collapsed against her.

He actually wasn’t that heavy, which was probably because he was a pegasus, so Cheerilee didn’t mind as she nuzzled and kissed her lover’s neck and cheeks while he recovered. After a moment’s thought, Cheerilee realized she must have come too—that was certainly a first. She let out a little, stupid sounding giggle, which finally seemed to rouse Soarin out of his dazed state.

Soarin snorted at her, as if to ask what was so funny, before rolling off Cheerilee onto the bed beside her, their hindquarters still awkwardly entangled, even though Cheerilee could feel her lover’s cock already softening and pulling out of her. Part of her wanted to pout and continue to pleasure herself, but she was sure she wouldn’t have to wait too long.

“I—um,” Soarin smiled crookedly, and let his voice die, as Cheerilee snuggled up against him. For a while, the two of them just listened to the sound of the wind and rain and thunder. The main body of the storm seemed to have moved off while they were making love, which was good because Cheerilee wasn’t particularly fond of the way the house rattled as the lightning broke overhead.

With her head lying against Soarin’s chest, listening to his heartbeat, she felt somewhat drowsy, but that only reminded her that it was only late afternoon, not the middle of the night. Cheerilee frowned; they really should have planned this better. There wasn’t anything they could do about it now, of course.

Eventually, Soarin had to get up and use the washroom, and Cheerilee decided she couldn’t lay around on Soarin’s bed the rest of the night, especially since neither of them had eaten anything since breakfast. After losing, none of them had felt particularly interested in eating.

It felt particularly scandalous to trot into Soarin’s kitchen, still smelling and looking like she had just been rolling in the hay, but that hardly mattered since Soarin was the only other pony home. Gravenstein had told them outright that he wouldn’t be back until at least the morning, and frankly, Cheerilee didn’t really care if he found out—almost everypony had already assumed they were sleeping together.

By the time Soarin finally made his way down to the kitchen, Cheerilee was already putting together a salad for the two of them—during one of her breaks not surfing over the week, she had gotten the two stallions to fill out their pantry a bit more with more diverse foodstuffs. Soarin nuzzled her neck before sitting down, and despite herself, Cheerilee blushed.

They ate in relative silence, not really talking about anything substantial, which gave Cheerilee time to think.

I think I’ve made a mistake. Cheerilee sighed mentally as she finished her salad. How was she going to fix— Cheerilee’s line of thought broke off as Soarin coughed raggedly, as if a leaf had gone down the wrong way.

“I don’t know if you know this,” Soarin wheezed out after a moment, “but you generally shouldn’t say that to a stallion you just had sex with.” Cheerilee blinked and realized she must have spoken aloud. Before she could explain, Soarin continued, “I know it’s all kind of sudden but—”

Cheerilee cut him off with her hoof. “I wasn’t talking about that, I was talking about—” She grasped mentally, trying to figure out how to put her thoughts into words. “—coming here to Las Pegasus, trying to reinvent myself.”

“You mean… about being a teacher?” Soarin asked, sounding and looked relieved. Cheerilee quirked an eyebrow at the stallion; did most of his dates end in them telling him it had been a mistake? She shook her head—it didn’t matter.

“Yes.” Cheerilee idly flicked at the last remains of her salad at the bottom of her bowl. “For someone who spends most of his time surfing and can’t hold down a job, you give pretty good advice.”

“Ouch,” Soarin mimed taking a bullet, before straightening up and finishing his own salad. “So you’re going to go back to…”

“Ponyville.”

“Ponyville? I think Lyra grew up there,” Soarin added as an aside before continuing his original thought; “you’re going to go back to Ponyville?”

“No, well, yes,” Cheerilee shook her head, “if I’m going to teach, I’ll have to go to university, and Ponyville doesn’t have one. But I’ll probably end up teaching there, if I can.” Pausing, Cheerilee let out a long sigh. She hadn’t really thought about her hometown for most of her time here, and now that she did, she suddenly felt homesick. She had many friends there—better and truer friends than Soarin’s entourage, at least.

“I was kind of… hoping you’d be around, at least for a little bit,” Soarin sighed, his grin slipping. “I mean, you know…”

Cheerilee chuckled, “I’m not going to grab my bags and pack them right this instant!” It wouldn’t be until next fall that she’d be accepted, and knowing her luck it’d probably be too late anyway… not to mention her lack of money. She flicked her tail and glanced at Soarin; was he falling in love with me? She found him attractive, to be sure, and she did like him, but Cheerilee just couldn’t imagine herself spending the rest of the life with him.

“Besides,” Cheerilee added, “aren’t you going to be trying to get into the Wonderbolts?”

“I… yeah I suppose,” Soarin nodded, then smiled again—although a bit nervously, in Cheerilee’s estimation. “I guess I was getting ahead of myself.”

“Uh huh,” Cheerilee commented, as she got up to put the bowls into the sink. As she dropped them into the sink, the whole house suddenly rattled, and the lights flickered once, twice, then finally went out completely. She hadn’t checked the time, but given how dark it was inside the house and outside, it must be after the sunset. Of course, she hadn’t bothered to get out any candles or anything when the power was back on. As she sighed, the rain outside started to beat an even more violent tattoo against the window panes and roof—Cheerilee suspected they probably weren’t going to get lucky and have the power come back again.

“I guess we should go to bed,” Soarin commented, sounding a wee bit hopeful. As Cheerilee turned around, she could only barely see him through the gloom.

“Uh huh,” Cheerilee repeated, as she stepped around the kitchen island and up to Soarin. The pegasus obviously knew his house better than her; as he led her back to the bedroom, he wrapped his wing around her body and pulled her close so their flanks were touching—it was an unusual sensation, being held like that, sort of like a fluffy hug, but it felt nice nevertheless.

The whole house was creaking and the rain didn’t seem to be letting up one bit, but despite that, when they finally got around to sleeping, Cheerilee found herself at relaxing easily in Soarin’s arms.

**

When Breezy had explained the storm to Cheerilee, she had stressed that having the thing roll through Las Pegasus wasn’t nearly as dangerous as it sounded. Firstly, the storm center wouldn’t pass directly through the city, and secondly most of the structures around the city, whether they were made of clouds or steel, were hardened against the worst the storm could throw at them, both with unicorn and pegasus magics, and simply because they were built strong. The final line of defence, Breezy had explained, was also the first—namely the weather pegasi who guided the storm and controlled its path.

Evidently, something had gone horribly wrong.

Cheerilee and Soarin had awoken to find that power hadn’t been restored, although the storm itself had passed on. With little else to do, the two of them had ventured out into the blustery morning to check on the damage to Soarin’s beach house. Some minor damage was to be expected, but when they looked towards the city, it was clear “minor damage” wasn’t what the storm had delivered.

While most of the non-cloud buildings looked intact, besides what looked like some smashed windows, many of the cloud structures that enveloped their tops missing. At first Cheerilee thought, to her horror, that whole sections of the city had just been destroyed, but when she looked closer she realized that while some chunks of the cloudscape had been ripped out, most of it was floating lower to the ground, gray and heavy looking, as if filled with rain. Pegasi didn’t make domestic clouds for rain, though, and as Cheerilee watched for a moment, several of them flickered with internal lightning.

Turning her head east, Cheerilee could see a thicker and dark portion of the sky, where the storm probably was now.

“That’s not good,” Soarin’s voice sounded equal parts uncertain and fearful. Giving himself a shake, he turned to Cheerilee. “I need to go check on everypony.”

“Okay,” With that much damage, some pony might have gotten seriously hurt—such as Gravenstein or Breezy. Most of their teammates had made plans to take shelter, of course, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t hurt. “I’ll be fine here, just be careful out there.” Cheerilee paused for a moment before giving the stallion a hug and a kiss on his cheek. It was unlikely that he was in any real danger, of course, but she didn’t like the look of those stormy clouds.

Cheerilee watched him fly off for a moment, before turning back to the beach house. Unlike the city behind her, the beach house had fared relatively well. The messiest problem was the seaweed and other jetsam that the waves had thrown up onto the beach and onto Soarin’s patio. The wave breaks might have robbed the waves of their ability flood the beachfront, but they hadn’t stopped them from making a smelly mess.

Since it was the biggest job, she left it for the last, and focused more on checking the roof for damaged shingles or ripped siding, but the building had fared very well.

Cleaning took Cheerilee several hours, and by the time she was done she was stinky and sweaty—the air was particularly humid despite the fact that the storm had just passed through, and it didn’t make her any more comfortable. Eventually, however, she finished, and after a quick shower in the darkness of the washroom, Cheerilee fixed herself something to eat.

Then she spent the rest of the day waiting. Neither Soarin nor Gravenstein had left her a key to use, and she didn’t really want to go out exploring anyway. She’d probably just get in the way, and Soarin was expecting her to be here when he got back. However, staring at the ceiling wasn’t exactly the most interesting thing she could be doing, and she didn’t really feel tired enough to nap—sleeping in Soarin’s bed after a week of sleeping on the sofa had done wonders for her. Eventually she ended up poking around the house looking for something to read.

Neither stallion appeared to be a big reader—or at last neither of them seemed particularly inclined to display their books out in any of the public areas of the house—Gravenstein’s room, in Cheerilee’s mind, was of limits, so she ended up looking in Soarin’s room.

Without somepony to distract her, and with daylight streaming in the window, it was much easier to search the room more completely—it didn’t really surprise her to find Soarin wasn’t a big reader, and what he did have were mostly comprised of magazines heavily featuring the Wonderbolts or similar sports groups. Eventually, however, she managed to find a smallish stack of adventure novels, called Daring Do. They weren’t exactly the best literature she had ever read, but they did pass the time.

Finally, just when Cheerilee was starting to feel hungry again, Gravenstein returned home.

“Bloody fine mess out there,” Gravenstein grumbled, as he stomped his hooves on the rug in front of the kitchen door to knock the mud off them, “Is Soarin home yet?”

“No,” Cheerilee shook her head as she put down her book—she had already read this one, and news was far more interesting. “What happened with the storm?”

“Oh some idiot pegasus probably screwed up the equations or something,” Gravenstein shrugged and sat down opposite Cheerilee, running his hoof through his mane. “We’ll be pretty blessed by the Princess if nopony was killed, that’s all I can say.”

Cheerilee blinked in surprise; she had never heard of a pony killed by a storm before—but then, she had never experienced a storm this powerful either. “Does that happen? Ponies getting killed, I mean?”

“Of course,” Gravenstein looked at her as if she was an idiot. “Not often, but it can happen, especially with a hurricane this strong.”

“Hurricane?” Cheerilee remembered Breezy calling it that, but she wasn’t sure what she had meant by it.

“You know, spins around? Has a calm spot in the middle? You must have heard the eye pass over.”

“Uh,” Cheerilee tried to remember if she had. She couldn’t remember any sudden calmness, but it wasn’t as if she had been paying attention to the storm either—not with Soarin in the bed with her. The memory of the night before made Cheerilee blush, and decided it was probably best to change the topic. “How did your farm do?”

“Fine,” Gravenstein said, stretching a bit and cracking his neck. “Better than most—mom’s a unicorn, so when we realized it was going south she put up a shield with her magic that kept the worst of it at bay. She’s dead tired now, of course, but fine.”

“I see,” Cheerilee chewed her lip, and wondered how to continue the conversation—thankfully, she was saved from doing so when two large objects fell out of the sky and slammed into the patio with a loud thump.

Both Gravenstein and herself jumped in surprise, and it took her a moment to realize that both objects were actually pegasi, and one of them was Soarin. The other was a yellow mare with a fiery orange mane and tail—Cheerilee thought she looked familiar, but the only face she could place on the mare was—

“Celestia’s saggy tits!” Gravenstein swore, leaping to his hooves. “That’s Spitfire!”

Cheerilee didn’t get a chance to reply before Soarin opened the door, laughing at something Spitfire had said. Cheerilee felt an irrational surge of jealousy towards the other mare; had Soarin spent his whole day with this mare, rather than her? The envy quickly turned to embarrassment when Soarin trotted over to her and kissed her on her nose—in front of Gravenstein. The other stallion let out an annoyed snort, and out of the corner of her eyes, Cheerilee saw him roll his eyes.

“This is the mare I was telling you about,” Soarin said, turning back to Spitfire, who was standing in the doorway with a smirk on her face. She struck Cheerilee as a particularly arrogant pony—but one who had earned the right to be that way. “And this is my best friend and roommate.” Soarin added, nodding towards Gravenstein. “Cheerilee, Gravy, meet the spectacular Spitfire!”

“’Spectacular’ eh?” Spitfire snorted, “is that what the newspapers are calling me now?” Spitfire stepped forward and stretched out her hoof to Cheerilee, who shook it, before doing the same to Gravenstein. “Pleased to meet the two of you.”

“It’s an honour to meet you, madam,” Gravenstein replied, smiling crookedly, “I should say my name’s Gravenstein though.”

“An Apple, I take it?” Spitfire asked, cocking her eyebrow. Cheerilee frowned as Gravenstein nodded; she didn’t realize he was related to the Apples back home. “Seems to be one in every town.”

“If I knew Soarin was going to be bringing somepony like you home, I would have made something to eat,” Cheerilee said, putting on her best smile. And cleaned myself up, she thought to herself. Her mane could certainly use a good combing—and her coat too. Then again, neither Spitfire or Soarin looked particularly well groomed either. “How did, uh, you two meet?”

“After I checked in with everypony—they’re fine, if you’re wondering Cheers—I thought I should help some of the crews trying to drain the clouds,” Soarin explained, waving his wing tip around absentmindedly as he talked. “Which is where I ran into Spitfire.”

“It’s partly my fault that this storm got out of control,” Spitfire said, shaking her head, “since I was supervising it—I’m just glad no pony was hurt. With Soarin’s help we should have the city cleaned up in no time.”

“What about the power?” Cheerilee asked, and Gravenstein eyed her—it was light enough out that neither of them needed the lights yet, and he probably hadn’t realized the power had gone out. “The food in the fridge will be going bad soon, if it hasn’t already.”

“It’ll be back soon, I promise.” Spitfire turned to Soarin, “I’ve got to get going though, I’ve got to get a report ready to send back to Canterlot. I’ll see you around, Soarin.” Spitfire turned towards the door before smiling at the three of them, “It was a pleasure meeting all of you too—” Before Cheerilee could blink, she was gone, flying through the door frame and up into the sky with a speed that rivalled Soarin.

“I can’t believe you met Spitfire!” The tone of Gravenstein’s voice made Cheerilee want to giggle—he sounded like a little colt, rather than a mature stallion. “That was awesome!”

“I know, right?” If anything, Soarin’s grin grew a little bit wider. “And here’s the best part—she wants me to try out for the Wonderbolts!”

“Really?” Cheerilee asked in surprise—she hadn't meant to sound so sceptical, so she hastily added; “that’s wonderful!”

“That’s amazing Soarin,” Gravenstein said, looking and sounding a bit in awe, “I guess you didn’t need to win that tournament after all.”

“Yeah, Lyra will be pleased—I think she’s been beating herself up over wiping out on us.” Soaring sat down at the kitchen island with a groan, and Cheerilee sat down beside him. After a second, he wrapped his wing around her—causing Gravenstein to quirk his eyebrow at them, although he didn’t say anything.

“When will this be?” Before Soarin could answer her question, the lights suddenly flicked back on, and the refrigerator started to hum as its power returned. With the power back, somepony probably should get to work on something for the three of them to eat, but she didn’t particularly feel like getting up just yet.

“Well, that’s the thing—” Soarin smiled apologetically, “—once Spitfire’s done here, she’ll be returning to Cloudsdale, and she wants me to go with her…”

“I see,” Cheerilee frowned. That meant Soarin would be leaving relatively soon. Even thought the damage was extensive, she doubted Spitfire was going to be hanging around for much longer. Probably no more than a week. Cheerilee sighed—she didn’t expect their relationship to last particularly long, but she didn’t expect it to end so quickly either.

Soarin seemed to sense her mood, and his cheerful smile slid off his face. “I suppose I could wait for a bit…”

“Wait?” Gravenstein repeated, glancing from Soarin to Cheerilee, “what are you talking about?”

“Can you give us a moment, Gravenstein?” Cheerilee asked, fixing the yellow stallion in a stare. He stared back for a moment, before rolling his eyes and getting up from the island and trotting into the other room. Once he was gone, Cheerilee turned to Soarin. “I think you should go, I mean, neither of us expected this to be a long term thing.”

“I know, but I’m not sure I want to…” Soarin waved his hoof, searching for words, “…just leave either. It’s one thing when I don’t really know a mare but—”

Cheerilee cut him off with her hoof, “you’ve said it yourself, Soarin, when an opportunity comes knocking, you go for it. I can’t say I won’t miss you, of course, but don’t let that hold you back.” Cheerilee smiled wryly, “It’s not as if we’ve known each other particularly long.”

“Well…” Soarin sighed, “I guess you’re right, Cheers. Perhaps we’ll meet again in a few years.”

“I’m certain we will.” Cheerilee smiled and kissed Soarin on his cheek. “Eventually.”

**

“…we ended up dating, sort of, for the next two weeks until Spitfire was satisfied with the repairs,” Cheerilee said, taking another sip of her third glass of water since beginning the story. She didn’t think she had talked so long in all her life—even when she was teaching. Normally some colt or filly asking a question or making some snide comment would interrupt her. Big Mac had spent the entire time mostly silent, just listening to her speak. Of course, he was normally like that, so she doubted it was because she was that great of a storyteller. “We exchanged a few letters, but I haven’t heard from him in years.”

“That’s quite the story, Miss Cheerilee,” Big Mac commented after it was clear she wasn’t about to add any more to it. Big Mac paused for a second, and frowned slightly. “Does that mean Soarin is—?”

“Yeah,” Cheerilee said quickly with a nod, “he is…”

She could tell Big Mac wanted to ask more, but then he flicked his ears dismissively and avoided the topic. “Well, I wish I had something like that to share.”

“Oh come on,” Cheerilee laughed, as she set her glass aside and curled up next to the big stallion—she wondered what Gravenstein would say if he knew she was dating his relation. “You must have something like that—I know I’m not the first mare you’ve been with, and I can only imagine you’ve got some unusual stories under your saddle.”

“Well,” Big Mac said slowly, drawing the word out as he thought, “I suppose—but it’s kind of embarrassin’, you understand.”

“You don’t have to tell me, Big Mac.” Cheerilee pointed out, nuzzling his neck.

“Nah, fair is fair,” He said resolutely, “’sides, I doubt you’d find it embarrassin’ for the same reasons I do.”

Cheerilee nodded before laying her head back down on Big Mac’s chest, and waited for him to continue.

“Ya see, a couple of years back….