Schoolhouse Library - Twilee Talesby The1RyuChaptersA Lonely Pair of SoulsFinding PeacePlanning AheadShutter TeaReferendumA Striking FirstA Lonely Pair of SoulsA lonely Pair of Hearts The buzzer rang and the blue unicorn stallion sitting across from Cheerilee shakily got to his hooves and swayed uncoordinatedly as he made his way to the next table. Cheerilee sighed at that, resting her face against her hoof and leaned against it, the foreleg held erect by her elbow resting on the table. Her lamenting thoughts of coming to the Sugarcube Corner’s speed dating night pausing as another pony sat down in the chair across from her. Looking up her head jumped back and her eyes shot wide, “Twilight Sparkle?” “Cheerilee?” “W-what are you doing here?” Cheerilee face flushed with embarrassment and she sat up a little straighter. “Oh well…” Twilight broke eye contact with Cheerilee at that question, not even convincingly becoming distracted by something on the table. “Rarity! Ya, Rarity been bugging me to get out more, so here I am.” Twilight sounded like Apple Bloom claiming Wenona had eaten her homework, but she pushed that thought aside and clarified. “No I mean, why did you move tables? The fil… the other speed date nights are on different… well nights. Tonight the mares are supposed to stay at their tables and the stallions are supposed to move around.” “Really?” Twilight looked confused, “But well, the stallion kind of lost consciousness in the middle of his last sentence. I asked Pinkie Pie what we should do but she said it was my turn to switch tables anyway.” Cheerilee frowned at that for a moment before a smile cracked the grim look and she gave a little giggle, “I think she’s playing a prank on you Twilight.” “It would seem so,” Twilight gave a laughed as well, “What should we do?” “Nothing,” Cheerilee waved a hoof at the question. “I need a break from these stallions away way.” “Oh?” Twilight asked in a curious way that reminded Cheerilee of her students. “Have you been to one of these events before?” Cheerlie nodded, “Yes and it’s always the same. The first couple of bucks are too nervous to talk straight and after that they’re all too drunk to talk straight.” Cheerilee face fell as she looked off to one side lost in memories, none of the good apparently. Cheerilee gave her head a little sake, Twilight’s eyes fallowing her shifting mane, and cast away the memories. The she flashed her new ‘date’ a smile and asked, “So what bring you here Twilight?” Confusion spread over Twilight’s face, “I-I already told you…” “Mmhmm,” Cheerilee interrupted, nodding with a smile, then she gave her a knowing smile. “Now tell me the truth.” Twilight face turned a deeper purple and her eyes dropped back down. That was the same look Princess Celestia gave her when she told a white lie, and the truth swiftly fallowed. “Well I don’t know, I guess I’m just a bit lonely” Twilight began in a quiet voice. “I used to the fine with being by myself for days or even weeks on end, or well just Spike and I anyway. Then I met the girls and I was so happy, I hadn’t realized that the pain I felt sometimes was loneliness, I always just ignored it. “But recently I started feeling lonely again, and this time I couldn’t ignore it.” Twilight gave a frustrated growl and, still looking down, didn’t see the concerned look spread across Cheerilee’s face. “Having friends is supposed to make you feel less lonely, and they did, but I just wanted something… more.” Cheerilee reached across the table and placed her hoof on Twilight’s causing her to look up and meet Cheerilee’s eyes. “I know how you feel. I might have been,” Cheerilee paused to clear her throat, “Much more social then you when I was younger, but it’s the same for me now. I have friends and all my students but at the end of the day I want somepony to be there just for me.” Cheerilee chuckled to herself, “It sounds kind of greedy of me huh?” “Well statistically speaking it would be illogical for us not to try dating.” Twilight tried to assure Cheerilee Hearing it worded in such a way Cheerilee couldn’t help but start giggling. Twilight gave her a confused look. The buzzer rang again and Twilight rose to head back to her table, a curious look spreading across her face as she turned to see Cheerilee standing up as well. “The stallions are just going to go downhill from here,” Cheerilee explained, then adding quietly. “They really should stop selling drinks at these events.” “Why don’t we go find something else to do, or we could even just head back to the library and find a few good books to read.” Cheerilee suggested. Twilight ears perked up at that and she trotted eagerly up to Cheerilee, “Well the Library is normally closed this late, but I think I can make an exception for you.” “Glad to hear it, do you have a good romance section?” Cheerilee asked leading them out of Sugarcube Corner. “Better then I’d ever admit to the girls,” Twilight admitted with a grim fallowing next to Cheerilee. As they trotted out onto the street Pinkie Pie, dress in a winged toga, slowly lowered herself down into the entrance from the ceiling by a rope tied around her midsection. Bringing up a pink bow and an arrow with a heart shaped tip she aimed it at Twilight’s flank, spoke in a low voice, “Forever!” and let the arrow fly. Twilight cried out in shock when the arrow stabbed into her rump with all the pain of a pin prick, “PINKIE!” Author's Note This Story was written with the prompt: Alone. I sort of twisted the definition around, but I think it still works. This wasn't the first story for this project I wrote, but I thought it was a good one to open with. Finding PeaceFinding Peace Chapter Tag: Alternate Universe “Die filthy mud pony!” Cheerilee heard the blue unicorn cry and hesitated before peeking out of her hiding place. Electricity arched from the unicorn’s horn and struck the brown earth pony charging towards him. The strike caused the earth pony to whence and stumble a bit, but failed to stop his charge. Whipping his spear around the earth pony struck the unicorn’s horn with a loud crack. The unicorn stumbled to the ground his eyes squeezed painfully shut. As the earth pony loomed over the unicorn, Cheerilee saw herself in the same position only beneath her was a lavender mare who looked far too young to be on the battlefield. A blood rage that had felled two other unicorns only minutes before suddenly disappeared and Cheerilee could not bring herself to strike. The earth pony buck felt no such hesitation. “What are we going to do?” asked Twilight as she knelt beside Cheerilee, peeking out at the same scene. The memory of her pleas to have Cheerilee release, and the heavy-hoofed reminder of her dead brother silencing her, fading from her mind. Cheerilee frowned at Twilight, the way a teacher might to a student who had just said something thoughtless. Twilight gave a sheepish grim realizing that she might have very well alerted the fighting ponies to their presents. If there were anything that might get the two groups of ponies to stop killing one another, it would be to capture a pair of traitors. “Why…” Twilight struggled to find the words to ask the chained Cheerilee why she hadn’t killed her and let herself be captured, but the thick lump in her throat forced her to swallow back the words. “I tired of the fighting I guess,” Cheerilee sighed, understanding Twilight’s confusion without explanation. “The war leaves you feeling drained after a while, you see,” Cheerilee explained in an instructional tone. “You should quiet while you can.” “I don’t really want to fight at all but…” Twilight trailed off looking away from Cheerilee uncertainly. “I see,” Cheerilee nodded remembering the other unicorn’s words about Shining Armor. “This all stopped being about gem mines and rock farms a long time ago. Now it’s just about blood.” There was a sudden flash of light and the chains fell away from Cheerilee’s body. She looked a Twilight in shock, her protests perishing at the fierce look in Twilight’s eyes. “Not any more, not for us,” “Stop it, she saved my life,” insisted Cheerilee as the pair of earth ponies held Twilight down and a third approached to finished her with his spear. “It’s probably just some unicorn trick,” replied the stallion, a delight grim on his face as he raised his spear. “Best to just kill her now.” Suddenly Cheerilee’s body slammed into the soldier’s knocking him to the ground as she shouted, “Twilight run!” The stunned soldiers holding her down couldn’t stop Twilight as she disappear out of their hooves in a flash of light. She reappeared next to Cheerilee as the lead earth pony got back to his hooves, and threw her hooves around Cheerilee’s neck clutching her close. Then they were gone in another flash of light. The dripping of water echoed through the cave, its source not illuminated by the glow of Twilight’s horn. “We should be safe here for now,” Cheerilee breathed out a tense sigh and slumped against the ground. Twilight laid down next to her, watching her intently. “We’ll rest a few hours then keep heading north, after that… maybe the Gryphon kingdoms…” “Earth ponies and unicorns are just going to keep killing one another,” Twilight noted sadly. Cheerilee was struck by the comment. She thought she should be mad at her companion’s lack of focus on their own survival, but instead she just nodded and looked down sadly. “I keep thinking of a quote of Starswril the Bearded. ‘Peace can start with the actions of just one pony,’” Twilight deepened her voice when she said the quote causing them both to chuckle despite the situation. “Two ponies would have a better chance than one.” Cheerilee looked over at Twilight for several long silent moments, images of dozens of battles and countless dead ponies passed before her eyes. She locked eyes with Twilight, “That’s… That would be very difficult, even with two ponies.” Twilight start to lean closer to Cheerilee as she allowed the light of her horn to fade, “I think anything worth doing is always hard… and scary if you have to do it alone.” The light continued to dim until the pair were little more than silhouettes. Cheerilee’s form began to lean toward Twilight’s before the light disappeared completely. Author's Note The random prompt for this one was Peace. I had an idea about writing about their married life, finding peace despite the hecticness kids and careers, but this one seemed better to me. Planning AheadPlanning Ahead “Cheerilee I think it’s time we have… sex” Cheerilee’s fork dropped from her hoof and clattered to the plate loudly. The patrons around the table the two mares were sitting at looked over with various levels of curiosity and contempt. But as Cheerilee started at her date in stunned silence most decided that the disturbance was at an end and went back to their meals. “W-what?” Cheerilee stammered, as Twilight fidgeted in her seat, starring down at the table, her cheeks a little darker. It wasn’t that Cheerilee didn’t like the idea of going to bed with the beautiful young mare across from her. In fact she had been dropping plenty of hits that she would have liked to enjoy that benefit of dating when they made things official two weeks ago. When Twilight didn’t respond to her signals Cheerilee guessed she wasn’t ready, or too inexperienced to understand the subtle hints. Now Cheerilee was wondering if Twilight had picked up on her signals and this was a reaction to her feeling pressured by Cheerilee. Cheerilee gave Twilight a soft smile and gently placed a hoof on Twilight’s, “You don’t have to say it like that Sweetie,” Cheerilee reassured her. “We’ll get around to… that when you feel ready, no pressure.” “Oh yay I know,” Twilight nodded letting out a nervous chuckle. “But this is just the ideal time and we shouldn’t miss it.” Cheerilee tilted her head, a confused looked coming over her face, “Ideal? Ideal for what?” “For our dating timeline of course,” said Twilight, reaching down into her bag and pulling out a notebook. “I’ve done lots of research and it says the ideal time to have sex for the first time is near the four month mark.” Cheerilee smiled lovingly at this. It was so like Twilight to try and schedule and organize something she was so nervous about, and Twilight had to be the most virginal young adult mare Cheerilee had ever met. It made her very cute at times. “Twilight,” Cheerilee started in a gentle tone, “You can’t schedule something like that.” “Not easily,” Twilight agreed, a proud look spread across her face. “But after a lot of research I found the most ideal times for everything. Becoming exclusive, physically intimate, family introduction, saying ‘I love you’, fist vacation, discussing kids, moving in together, and getting married. Then I charted them out on a relationship timeline.” Twilight cringed a little as she stunned look on Cheerilee’s face turned to anger, and she didn’t feel much better when it became calm, a smile spreading across it. She realized had done something wrong, but this situation had never come up in her research. “You know Twilight, I think we’ll wait a month before we become, physically intimate.” “But,” Twilight stammered looking down at her notes, “That’s when we’re supposed to meet each other’s family. I can’t do that with my parents near-by.” “Two months then,” Cheerilee countered her offer, unable to help enjoying watching the presumptuous mare across from her squirm. “But-but,” Twilight looked back and forth from the notebook to Cheerilee. “Do you want to make it three months,” Cheerilee asked in a warning tone. Twilight struggled to find something to say, but just slumped in her chair and gave a weak, “No ma’am.” Cheerilee’s smile brightened at Twilight resignation, but there was one more thing she needed to do to make sure Twilight knew where they stood. “Oh and Twilight,” Twilight looked up nervously, “I love you.” Twilight gave a last pleading glanced down at the useless notebook clutched in her hooves, then met Cheerilee’s eyes and gave a resigned but completely honest. “I love you too.” Author's Note The random prompt for this one was presumptuous. I knew right off that Twilight had to be the presumptuous one in this scenario and it was going to have something to do with progression of their relationship. One Google search later and I had all the material I needed. Shutter TeaShutter Tea By The1Ryu Cheerilee shivered noticeably as she and Twilight slowly made their way through the palace. Twilight gave her a sympathetic look and a quick nuzzle which caused her to jump a little at the sudden contact, before she steadied herself with a deep breath and nuzzle her marefriend back. “You don’t need to be nervous Cheerilee,” Twilight assured her, “Princess Celestia really down to earth.” Twilight paused then snickered at her unintentional joke. “And she really excited to meet you.” Cheerilee managed a little glare at Twilight for the joke, but it quickly gave way to her nervousness. “I know love, I know. But this isn’t just one of your friends or an old acquaintance, Princess Celestia has to be one of the most important ponies in your life.” “You weren’t this nervous when you met my parents,” Twilight countered gently, then put a hoof to her muzzle. “Actually I don’t think you were nervous at all.” “I met lots of parents in my life,” Cheerilee thought back to all the student related and non-student related parental meetings she had attended. “And they weren’t the immortal ruler of all of pony-kind.” “Well not all of pony-kind,” A gentle and softly mischievous voice spoke up from behind them. The pair turned to see the tall regal form for Princess Celestia standing behind them, a soft smile on her lips. “There are some pony communities in the lands beyond Equestria’s boarders, the least of which not being the Crystal Empire.” “Princess!” A smile spread over Twilight’s face as she quickly moved to give her mentor a hug, which Celestia happily returned gazing down at her student. “I thought you were meeting us in the tea room?” “Well I was running a little late,” Celestia admitted softly, “I’m just glad to know you didn’t find it empty and think I had forgotten. Now are you going to introduce me to your lovely mare friend.” Their eyes fell upon Cherrilee, the color of the schoolteacher’s cheeks turned a deep purple and she quickly bowed her head nearly to the ground. “I-it’s a pleasure to meet you Your Highness!” Celestia gave the mare a sympathetic look, as Twilight gave a quiet exasperated sigh at this not unexpected reaction. She started towards her marefriend but Celestia’s long steps carried her to Cheerilee first, “No need to be so formal my little pony not when you are my guest and, more importantly, my dear Twilight’s special somepony.” Cheerilee stood up at that and with a much slighter bow of her head said, “Yes Y- Princess Celestia.” “Good,” Celestia gave her a pleased nod and the trio made their way to the tea room. There a hot pot of tea and a small assortment of snacks awaited them. Twilight and Celestia fell easily into conversation on a number of topics, new and old, having enjoyed many such teatime conversations. Cheerilee soon found that she felt more like a third wheel then the reason for their visit. Several moments of silent envy passed and soon she was even too embarrassed to pick up her cup watching the two unicorns manipulate theirs with magic. Noticing Cheerilee’s quiet and slightly dejected expression Celestia silently chastised herself for getting carried away with Twilight. It had been a while since she and Twilight had last gotten together and they had easily forgotten about their guest in their attempt to catch-up with one another. “So Cheerilee, Twilight tells me you’re the Ponyville school teacher.” Celestia began hoping to draw the mare into the conversation, but the nervous earth pony simply nodded in the affirmative; Celestia was not deterred. “Twilight was always and is such a keen student it’s no wonder she’d end up finding a pretty teacher to settle down with. Thought it makes me wonder what kind of… un-studently thoughts she had about her teachers,” Celestia chuckled. Twilight nearly spit out her tea at the princess’ suggestion and went into a coughing fit for a moment before croaking out a shocked, “Princess!” Celestia made little attempt to hide her giggle behind her hoof, Cheerilee did a much better job when Celestia’s comment suddenly reminded her of some of the more… playful things Twilight had said when they were together, especially after a bit of wine to relax her. “Oh Twilight, I’m just teasing,” Celestia said doing little to reassure her student, but turned the conversation back to Cheerilee. “Come now Cheerilee tell me about your students.” “Oh well they’re a good lot of fillies and colts. Not that can’t be a hoofful at times,” Cheerilee paused to let out a giggle. “Just the other day two colts in my class, Snips and Snails, painted their faces green and pretend to be sick to get an extension on an essay I assigned them.” Celestia joined Cheerilee’s giggling, “Oh my, that is funny, but actually you know Twilight did something just like that, except she used a color changing spell and it took weeks for it to wear off.” Twilight choked on another mouthful of tea and again went into a coughing fit at that comment, the two other mares cooed sympathetically at her plight until she was able to breathe again. “Princess… I… That…” Her face became even more flushed then it had when she had been choking on her tea as she tried desperately to find something to say. “I’m surprised that Twilight of all ponies would let a school project be left unfinished.” Cheerilee commented partly to save her marefriend from more rambling and partly to watch her squirm a little more. “Oh it was finished, she just didn’t know how to get the twenty-five hundred word essay she had written, down to the requested thousand words. Twilight can take things a little too seriously.” Both Celestia and Cheerilee giggled at that and Twilight silently decided not to sip any more tea while they were talking. By then end of the visit Twilight’s mane stuck every direction it shouldn’t and she had developed a chronic shutter. “I’m sorry love, we were just teasing,” Cheerilee said giving her marefriend a reassuring nuzzle which caused the jittery mare to jump back. “You two are never allowed in the same room ever again.” Twilight swore with exasperation. “Oh,” Cheerilee gave her a curious look, “That might be difficult since Celestia invited us back again next month.” Twilight just shuttered at that thought. Author's Note After long break I should start regular updates, no promises though. This story's prompt: Cringe. Started back before the pause and not very happy with it. ReferendumReferendum Twilight jumped and her wings springing up in surprise at the echoing sound of a hoof beating against the front door of her castle, it was a sound she didn’t expect to hear for several more hours. The young princess crept towards the door with concern spread across her features, the isolation spell placed over the crystal structure should have kept away all reporters and other curious bodies until after the voting was finished. That thought and the sense that the spell was still active allowed Twilight to brush aside some of her fears. Perhaps it was just the mailmare, the vote would not stop the mail after all. The knock came again and Twilight called out that she was coming. There was no Spike to get the door for her today. He and all of her friends were still out campaigning on her behalf, down to the very last moment, even though Equestrian law had ended her own campaigning a week prior to the day of the vote. “Oh Cheerilee, hello.” A smile spread across Twilight’s face as she pulled open the door and saw the deep pink schoolteacher standing on her doorstep. The schools had been closed for the vote, not that the fillies and colts could participate in the voting of course, but it was deemed important enough for them to remain with their family for the day. “Hi, I…” Cheerilee started nervously and paused as if she had lost her words. She looked back to the street and Twilight followed her gaze, watching the ponies pass by not giving the crystal tree or the important figure that now peer out from its front door a single glance. Looking back to Twilight, Cheerilee continued. “Thought you could use some company, today.” Twilight smiled and gave Cheerilee an eager nod pushing the door open and stepping back to give the teacher room to enter. “Of course. I didn’t expect to see anyone until afterwards. I was trying to read but for the first time in my life I couldn’t concentrate.” Twilight gave a hollow chuckle knowing that would sound silly to anyone who knew her. “I wouldn’t be able to read with all this going on around me,” Cheerilee answered sympathetically. Stepping in she looked up at the wide cavernous entry hall, the shining crystal halls stinging her eyes until she had to look down. “Sorry that can take some getting used to,” Twilight apologized shutting the door and moving to her friend’s side. “This is the first time you’ve been in the castle isn’t it. Oh, I’m so sorry I can’t believe I’ve never invited you over.” Cheerilee blinked the spots out of her eyes and answered in a reassuring tone. “I’ve brought the children over for school tours before, Spike always does a great job as a tour guide, but I must have spent my time watching the children and not the walls.” “That’s hardly the same,” Twilight countered giving herself a disapproving frown. “Well as you can see there’s no Spike today so I’ll have to be your tour guide,” Twilight said her frown turning to a smile as she trotted down the hall Cheerilee in tow. “I guess you didn’t care too much about the vote hmm. I had to put up a spell so that any pony with the vote too much on their mind wouldn’t notice the castle, so you must not have been thinking of it.” Twilight said flashing Cheerilee a smile to show such a thing didn’t upset her. A guilty look spread over Cheerilee’s face anyway and she looked down unable to maintain eye contact with the alicorn, “No it’s not that.” “It’s ok I don’t mind.” Twilight stopping at the entrance to the throne room to reassure her. “I voted first thing, I even camped out to be first in line, it was so silly.” The guilty look on Cheerilee’s face deepened. “You worked so hard on your campaign.” Twilight stepped in to embrace her friend wrapping her hooves around her withers, “It’s really ok if you didn’t vote for me, I don’t care.” “Then why did you try so hard to stay!” Cheerilee suddenly pushed back from Twilight embrace and glared angrily at the alicorn with wet eyes. Twilight wings popped up in surprise at the outburst, Cheerilee hadn’t meant to shout, but now was forced to look at the offending limbs with blurry vision. “Like this.” Twilight’s eyes drooped to the floor as she neatly folded her wings back to her sides. There was silence for several seconds before words broke the air again. “Because I was expected to.” “You had to have some choice,” Cheerilee sniffed and wiped at the tears in her eyes. “About this, about us.” Twilight tongue died at the memories she shared with the deep pink mare. A friendship that had grown from a love of book, learning, and teaching. A friendship that had grown into a budding flower not yet ready to bloom. She looked up at the chandelier made from the roots of her library to the crystals that held memories of the Golden Oaks Library and saw none of those memories reflected in any. Her eyes paused on the image of her and her friends in a group hug after Celestia had given Twilight her friendship report assignment. “I had one.” Cheerilee eyes followed Twilight and she too saw the image held in the crystal. “It wasn’t said outright, but if I had made a different choice…” Their eyes met and Cheerilee knew what loss that different choice could have meant for them as well. She moved next to Twilight and sat down next to her pressing up against her side ignoring the feel of feather to fulfill her desire to be close to the former unicorn. “I guess we can’t go backward, no matter how much we may want to.” Twilight leaned against Cheerilee as well basking in her warmth. “No, but things can still change in the future.” “Will we be able to do what we want to or will we always have to do what others expect us to do?” Thoughts of never before consider large red stallion played through her mind. “I don’t know love, I don’t know,” Twilight answered, but, as ponies outside voted on whether the young unicorn turned alicorn would keep her station as princess, Twilight leaned down and place a gentle kiss on the side of Cheerilee’s mouth. Author's Note Prompt: Referendum As you might have been able to tell from my stories, especially this one, I don't like the Alicorn thing in my Twilee fics. This one basically summarized my what if for the series cannon. I doubt there will be another one with Twilicorn in it. A Striking FirstTwilight took slow careful steps as she moved along the dirt roads of Ponyville on her way to the post office, still new to the town she had only ever seen the building once but was fairly sure she could find her way there again. After all, it was a small town. Her friends would all eventually comment that they thought she didn't need to use the postal services with Spike's ability to send letters instantaneously with his dragon fire. Sadly that only worked to send mail to Celestia, letters to her brother or parents had to be sent the normal way. What was worse was that today she needed to send letters to both, she was long overdue on her correspondence and if they didn't go out today then Twilight would start receiving rather guilt inducing letters asking why she hadn't sent any news and blah, blah-blah, blah ba! And of course this had to be a day that Spike had to go and sneak out, she could not have possibly given him such an inconvenient day off, to bother Rarity or something. And of course, she was right in the middle of important research on limited historical accounts of pony and kirin societal interactions, research she just couldn't stop for such a minor task. So here she was walking slowly through Ponyville a book held in her magic trying to find the post office while continuing her research. Sure she might have been able to get there faster if she wasn't reading, but the thought of halting her research of even a second sent a cold shiver down her spine. Besides being outside had its advantages, the light was great for reading, and she was just getting to a really fascinating chapter of her book. "Oof!" The sound of the air suddenly being forced from her lungs, Twilight registered the sound a moment before she felt the force of the object strike her chest. Warm and firm, that was what described the object that struck her chest. It didn't have a lot of force, but it did have a steady momentum forcing Twilight back before it halted. "Oh no!" Oddly Twilight didn't hear the voice until the face had appeared before her swinging into view as it tossed her book away casting it aside with a strike of a cerise cheek. Suddenly Twilight was staring into a pair of wide green eyes filled with surprise and concern. What an odd combination, Twilight thought between wondering why her chest was so tight and who was banging a drum so close to her head it felt like each beat was reverberating out of her ears. "Are you all right?" There was the sound of that voice, reverberating with the same concern that was in the wide green eyes. Or rather eye as the other was shut as a hoof rubbed against that side of the face. "Oh!" Twilight suddenly gasped the world coming back into focus and the sounds of the town rushing into her ears. "Oh no are you ok? I'm so, so sorry I shouldn't have been reading while I was walking but, I was doing research and I had to go to the post office because my BBBFF won't stop bugging me until I send him a letter and I really do miss him I'm just really busy." Cheerilee failed to stifle a small tittering laugh at Twilight rushed and deep explanation, "Umm, ok. But it wasn't your fault I wasn't watching where I was going either. I was rummaging through my bag." Cheerilee turned to gesture back at her saddlebags which were stuffed with scrolls of paper. "I was sure I'd forgotten my grocery list at the school and Celestia knows what I'll end up with if I don't have it. I'm Cheerilee by the way." She turned back to Twilight a warm friendly smile greeting the unicorn. "Oh hi, it's nice to meet you, I'm..." Twilight face suddenly fell, what the hell was her name? Cheerilee, no that was the other mare's name, but Twilight couldn't think of anything else. Then she remembers, her mother, she was named after her mother who was... "Twilight!" "Twilight?" Cherrilee's smile fell to concern worry playing in her eyes. "Sparkle, Twilight Sparkle that's it, yep." The sudden urge to teleport away came over Twilight, luckily the complicated formula for the spell was beyond her abilities at the moment. She could only think of simple things like cerise coat, pink mane, green eyes, Cheerilee, and etc. "Are you sure you're ok? You're very red maybe you have a fever," Cheerilee asked. Twilight's response came out as little more than a squeak as Cheerilee pressed her forehead against the side of Twilight's horn. "Hmm, you don't feel too hot, oh sorry." Cheerilee pulled back embarrassment playing across her face as she gave a shy smile and rubbed the back of her head. "Occupational habit, schoolteacher." Suddenly, long buried imagings of Celestia resurfaced in Twilight's mind though her beloved mentor was suddenly replaced by a cerise mare with green eyes. Twilight's face began to glow red and a much older instinct kicked in. "Well it was nice meeting you, we should go on a date sometime, bye!" Twilight vaguely wondered if the string of words she'd just spoken summed up to anything coherent, but right now she was too busy running in a direction to think of anything else. As Twilight disappeared into the streets of Ponyville Cheerilee gave a small titter of laughter. She couldn't deny the mare was cute, she would probably keep this one. Author's Note Prompt: Strike Possibly how the two first met in the series, I really like this one. I decided to do something different with the prompts from here on out. I would like you guys to submit prompts to me in the comments. I'll make a blog post listing both prompts and who sent them in. You can send as many as you like, though no repeats of previous prompts. Single word only, please. I want you all to try and stump me with a prompt I cannot write a story for. If you can I'll write a double length story with a plot of your choosing, 2-3000 words. Rules: -The word must be one I can find a definition for on my own. -The word cannot be explicitly sexual in nature, as per the rating of the story. -Prompts are done mostly fist come first serve, but I won't use a prompt from the same commenter's twice in a row, unless there are no other commenters on my list I think that's all, good luck to everyone who plays.
A Lonely Pair of SoulsA lonely Pair of Hearts The buzzer rang and the blue unicorn stallion sitting across from Cheerilee shakily got to his hooves and swayed uncoordinatedly as he made his way to the next table. Cheerilee sighed at that, resting her face against her hoof and leaned against it, the foreleg held erect by her elbow resting on the table. Her lamenting thoughts of coming to the Sugarcube Corner’s speed dating night pausing as another pony sat down in the chair across from her. Looking up her head jumped back and her eyes shot wide, “Twilight Sparkle?” “Cheerilee?” “W-what are you doing here?” Cheerilee face flushed with embarrassment and she sat up a little straighter. “Oh well…” Twilight broke eye contact with Cheerilee at that question, not even convincingly becoming distracted by something on the table. “Rarity! Ya, Rarity been bugging me to get out more, so here I am.” Twilight sounded like Apple Bloom claiming Wenona had eaten her homework, but she pushed that thought aside and clarified. “No I mean, why did you move tables? The fil… the other speed date nights are on different… well nights. Tonight the mares are supposed to stay at their tables and the stallions are supposed to move around.” “Really?” Twilight looked confused, “But well, the stallion kind of lost consciousness in the middle of his last sentence. I asked Pinkie Pie what we should do but she said it was my turn to switch tables anyway.” Cheerilee frowned at that for a moment before a smile cracked the grim look and she gave a little giggle, “I think she’s playing a prank on you Twilight.” “It would seem so,” Twilight gave a laughed as well, “What should we do?” “Nothing,” Cheerilee waved a hoof at the question. “I need a break from these stallions away way.” “Oh?” Twilight asked in a curious way that reminded Cheerilee of her students. “Have you been to one of these events before?” Cheerlie nodded, “Yes and it’s always the same. The first couple of bucks are too nervous to talk straight and after that they’re all too drunk to talk straight.” Cheerilee face fell as she looked off to one side lost in memories, none of the good apparently. Cheerilee gave her head a little sake, Twilight’s eyes fallowing her shifting mane, and cast away the memories. The she flashed her new ‘date’ a smile and asked, “So what bring you here Twilight?” Confusion spread over Twilight’s face, “I-I already told you…” “Mmhmm,” Cheerilee interrupted, nodding with a smile, then she gave her a knowing smile. “Now tell me the truth.” Twilight face turned a deeper purple and her eyes dropped back down. That was the same look Princess Celestia gave her when she told a white lie, and the truth swiftly fallowed. “Well I don’t know, I guess I’m just a bit lonely” Twilight began in a quiet voice. “I used to the fine with being by myself for days or even weeks on end, or well just Spike and I anyway. Then I met the girls and I was so happy, I hadn’t realized that the pain I felt sometimes was loneliness, I always just ignored it. “But recently I started feeling lonely again, and this time I couldn’t ignore it.” Twilight gave a frustrated growl and, still looking down, didn’t see the concerned look spread across Cheerilee’s face. “Having friends is supposed to make you feel less lonely, and they did, but I just wanted something… more.” Cheerilee reached across the table and placed her hoof on Twilight’s causing her to look up and meet Cheerilee’s eyes. “I know how you feel. I might have been,” Cheerilee paused to clear her throat, “Much more social then you when I was younger, but it’s the same for me now. I have friends and all my students but at the end of the day I want somepony to be there just for me.” Cheerilee chuckled to herself, “It sounds kind of greedy of me huh?” “Well statistically speaking it would be illogical for us not to try dating.” Twilight tried to assure Cheerilee Hearing it worded in such a way Cheerilee couldn’t help but start giggling. Twilight gave her a confused look. The buzzer rang again and Twilight rose to head back to her table, a curious look spreading across her face as she turned to see Cheerilee standing up as well. “The stallions are just going to go downhill from here,” Cheerilee explained, then adding quietly. “They really should stop selling drinks at these events.” “Why don’t we go find something else to do, or we could even just head back to the library and find a few good books to read.” Cheerilee suggested. Twilight ears perked up at that and she trotted eagerly up to Cheerilee, “Well the Library is normally closed this late, but I think I can make an exception for you.” “Glad to hear it, do you have a good romance section?” Cheerilee asked leading them out of Sugarcube Corner. “Better then I’d ever admit to the girls,” Twilight admitted with a grim fallowing next to Cheerilee. As they trotted out onto the street Pinkie Pie, dress in a winged toga, slowly lowered herself down into the entrance from the ceiling by a rope tied around her midsection. Bringing up a pink bow and an arrow with a heart shaped tip she aimed it at Twilight’s flank, spoke in a low voice, “Forever!” and let the arrow fly. Twilight cried out in shock when the arrow stabbed into her rump with all the pain of a pin prick, “PINKIE!” Author's Note This Story was written with the prompt: Alone. I sort of twisted the definition around, but I think it still works. This wasn't the first story for this project I wrote, but I thought it was a good one to open with.
Finding PeaceFinding Peace Chapter Tag: Alternate Universe “Die filthy mud pony!” Cheerilee heard the blue unicorn cry and hesitated before peeking out of her hiding place. Electricity arched from the unicorn’s horn and struck the brown earth pony charging towards him. The strike caused the earth pony to whence and stumble a bit, but failed to stop his charge. Whipping his spear around the earth pony struck the unicorn’s horn with a loud crack. The unicorn stumbled to the ground his eyes squeezed painfully shut. As the earth pony loomed over the unicorn, Cheerilee saw herself in the same position only beneath her was a lavender mare who looked far too young to be on the battlefield. A blood rage that had felled two other unicorns only minutes before suddenly disappeared and Cheerilee could not bring herself to strike. The earth pony buck felt no such hesitation. “What are we going to do?” asked Twilight as she knelt beside Cheerilee, peeking out at the same scene. The memory of her pleas to have Cheerilee release, and the heavy-hoofed reminder of her dead brother silencing her, fading from her mind. Cheerilee frowned at Twilight, the way a teacher might to a student who had just said something thoughtless. Twilight gave a sheepish grim realizing that she might have very well alerted the fighting ponies to their presents. If there were anything that might get the two groups of ponies to stop killing one another, it would be to capture a pair of traitors. “Why…” Twilight struggled to find the words to ask the chained Cheerilee why she hadn’t killed her and let herself be captured, but the thick lump in her throat forced her to swallow back the words. “I tired of the fighting I guess,” Cheerilee sighed, understanding Twilight’s confusion without explanation. “The war leaves you feeling drained after a while, you see,” Cheerilee explained in an instructional tone. “You should quiet while you can.” “I don’t really want to fight at all but…” Twilight trailed off looking away from Cheerilee uncertainly. “I see,” Cheerilee nodded remembering the other unicorn’s words about Shining Armor. “This all stopped being about gem mines and rock farms a long time ago. Now it’s just about blood.” There was a sudden flash of light and the chains fell away from Cheerilee’s body. She looked a Twilight in shock, her protests perishing at the fierce look in Twilight’s eyes. “Not any more, not for us,” “Stop it, she saved my life,” insisted Cheerilee as the pair of earth ponies held Twilight down and a third approached to finished her with his spear. “It’s probably just some unicorn trick,” replied the stallion, a delight grim on his face as he raised his spear. “Best to just kill her now.” Suddenly Cheerilee’s body slammed into the soldier’s knocking him to the ground as she shouted, “Twilight run!” The stunned soldiers holding her down couldn’t stop Twilight as she disappear out of their hooves in a flash of light. She reappeared next to Cheerilee as the lead earth pony got back to his hooves, and threw her hooves around Cheerilee’s neck clutching her close. Then they were gone in another flash of light. The dripping of water echoed through the cave, its source not illuminated by the glow of Twilight’s horn. “We should be safe here for now,” Cheerilee breathed out a tense sigh and slumped against the ground. Twilight laid down next to her, watching her intently. “We’ll rest a few hours then keep heading north, after that… maybe the Gryphon kingdoms…” “Earth ponies and unicorns are just going to keep killing one another,” Twilight noted sadly. Cheerilee was struck by the comment. She thought she should be mad at her companion’s lack of focus on their own survival, but instead she just nodded and looked down sadly. “I keep thinking of a quote of Starswril the Bearded. ‘Peace can start with the actions of just one pony,’” Twilight deepened her voice when she said the quote causing them both to chuckle despite the situation. “Two ponies would have a better chance than one.” Cheerilee looked over at Twilight for several long silent moments, images of dozens of battles and countless dead ponies passed before her eyes. She locked eyes with Twilight, “That’s… That would be very difficult, even with two ponies.” Twilight start to lean closer to Cheerilee as she allowed the light of her horn to fade, “I think anything worth doing is always hard… and scary if you have to do it alone.” The light continued to dim until the pair were little more than silhouettes. Cheerilee’s form began to lean toward Twilight’s before the light disappeared completely. Author's Note The random prompt for this one was Peace. I had an idea about writing about their married life, finding peace despite the hecticness kids and careers, but this one seemed better to me.
Planning AheadPlanning Ahead “Cheerilee I think it’s time we have… sex” Cheerilee’s fork dropped from her hoof and clattered to the plate loudly. The patrons around the table the two mares were sitting at looked over with various levels of curiosity and contempt. But as Cheerilee started at her date in stunned silence most decided that the disturbance was at an end and went back to their meals. “W-what?” Cheerilee stammered, as Twilight fidgeted in her seat, starring down at the table, her cheeks a little darker. It wasn’t that Cheerilee didn’t like the idea of going to bed with the beautiful young mare across from her. In fact she had been dropping plenty of hits that she would have liked to enjoy that benefit of dating when they made things official two weeks ago. When Twilight didn’t respond to her signals Cheerilee guessed she wasn’t ready, or too inexperienced to understand the subtle hints. Now Cheerilee was wondering if Twilight had picked up on her signals and this was a reaction to her feeling pressured by Cheerilee. Cheerilee gave Twilight a soft smile and gently placed a hoof on Twilight’s, “You don’t have to say it like that Sweetie,” Cheerilee reassured her. “We’ll get around to… that when you feel ready, no pressure.” “Oh yay I know,” Twilight nodded letting out a nervous chuckle. “But this is just the ideal time and we shouldn’t miss it.” Cheerilee tilted her head, a confused looked coming over her face, “Ideal? Ideal for what?” “For our dating timeline of course,” said Twilight, reaching down into her bag and pulling out a notebook. “I’ve done lots of research and it says the ideal time to have sex for the first time is near the four month mark.” Cheerilee smiled lovingly at this. It was so like Twilight to try and schedule and organize something she was so nervous about, and Twilight had to be the most virginal young adult mare Cheerilee had ever met. It made her very cute at times. “Twilight,” Cheerilee started in a gentle tone, “You can’t schedule something like that.” “Not easily,” Twilight agreed, a proud look spread across her face. “But after a lot of research I found the most ideal times for everything. Becoming exclusive, physically intimate, family introduction, saying ‘I love you’, fist vacation, discussing kids, moving in together, and getting married. Then I charted them out on a relationship timeline.” Twilight cringed a little as she stunned look on Cheerilee’s face turned to anger, and she didn’t feel much better when it became calm, a smile spreading across it. She realized had done something wrong, but this situation had never come up in her research. “You know Twilight, I think we’ll wait a month before we become, physically intimate.” “But,” Twilight stammered looking down at her notes, “That’s when we’re supposed to meet each other’s family. I can’t do that with my parents near-by.” “Two months then,” Cheerilee countered her offer, unable to help enjoying watching the presumptuous mare across from her squirm. “But-but,” Twilight looked back and forth from the notebook to Cheerilee. “Do you want to make it three months,” Cheerilee asked in a warning tone. Twilight struggled to find something to say, but just slumped in her chair and gave a weak, “No ma’am.” Cheerilee’s smile brightened at Twilight resignation, but there was one more thing she needed to do to make sure Twilight knew where they stood. “Oh and Twilight,” Twilight looked up nervously, “I love you.” Twilight gave a last pleading glanced down at the useless notebook clutched in her hooves, then met Cheerilee’s eyes and gave a resigned but completely honest. “I love you too.” Author's Note The random prompt for this one was presumptuous. I knew right off that Twilight had to be the presumptuous one in this scenario and it was going to have something to do with progression of their relationship. One Google search later and I had all the material I needed.
Shutter TeaShutter Tea By The1Ryu Cheerilee shivered noticeably as she and Twilight slowly made their way through the palace. Twilight gave her a sympathetic look and a quick nuzzle which caused her to jump a little at the sudden contact, before she steadied herself with a deep breath and nuzzle her marefriend back. “You don’t need to be nervous Cheerilee,” Twilight assured her, “Princess Celestia really down to earth.” Twilight paused then snickered at her unintentional joke. “And she really excited to meet you.” Cheerilee managed a little glare at Twilight for the joke, but it quickly gave way to her nervousness. “I know love, I know. But this isn’t just one of your friends or an old acquaintance, Princess Celestia has to be one of the most important ponies in your life.” “You weren’t this nervous when you met my parents,” Twilight countered gently, then put a hoof to her muzzle. “Actually I don’t think you were nervous at all.” “I met lots of parents in my life,” Cheerilee thought back to all the student related and non-student related parental meetings she had attended. “And they weren’t the immortal ruler of all of pony-kind.” “Well not all of pony-kind,” A gentle and softly mischievous voice spoke up from behind them. The pair turned to see the tall regal form for Princess Celestia standing behind them, a soft smile on her lips. “There are some pony communities in the lands beyond Equestria’s boarders, the least of which not being the Crystal Empire.” “Princess!” A smile spread over Twilight’s face as she quickly moved to give her mentor a hug, which Celestia happily returned gazing down at her student. “I thought you were meeting us in the tea room?” “Well I was running a little late,” Celestia admitted softly, “I’m just glad to know you didn’t find it empty and think I had forgotten. Now are you going to introduce me to your lovely mare friend.” Their eyes fell upon Cherrilee, the color of the schoolteacher’s cheeks turned a deep purple and she quickly bowed her head nearly to the ground. “I-it’s a pleasure to meet you Your Highness!” Celestia gave the mare a sympathetic look, as Twilight gave a quiet exasperated sigh at this not unexpected reaction. She started towards her marefriend but Celestia’s long steps carried her to Cheerilee first, “No need to be so formal my little pony not when you are my guest and, more importantly, my dear Twilight’s special somepony.” Cheerilee stood up at that and with a much slighter bow of her head said, “Yes Y- Princess Celestia.” “Good,” Celestia gave her a pleased nod and the trio made their way to the tea room. There a hot pot of tea and a small assortment of snacks awaited them. Twilight and Celestia fell easily into conversation on a number of topics, new and old, having enjoyed many such teatime conversations. Cheerilee soon found that she felt more like a third wheel then the reason for their visit. Several moments of silent envy passed and soon she was even too embarrassed to pick up her cup watching the two unicorns manipulate theirs with magic. Noticing Cheerilee’s quiet and slightly dejected expression Celestia silently chastised herself for getting carried away with Twilight. It had been a while since she and Twilight had last gotten together and they had easily forgotten about their guest in their attempt to catch-up with one another. “So Cheerilee, Twilight tells me you’re the Ponyville school teacher.” Celestia began hoping to draw the mare into the conversation, but the nervous earth pony simply nodded in the affirmative; Celestia was not deterred. “Twilight was always and is such a keen student it’s no wonder she’d end up finding a pretty teacher to settle down with. Thought it makes me wonder what kind of… un-studently thoughts she had about her teachers,” Celestia chuckled. Twilight nearly spit out her tea at the princess’ suggestion and went into a coughing fit for a moment before croaking out a shocked, “Princess!” Celestia made little attempt to hide her giggle behind her hoof, Cheerilee did a much better job when Celestia’s comment suddenly reminded her of some of the more… playful things Twilight had said when they were together, especially after a bit of wine to relax her. “Oh Twilight, I’m just teasing,” Celestia said doing little to reassure her student, but turned the conversation back to Cheerilee. “Come now Cheerilee tell me about your students.” “Oh well they’re a good lot of fillies and colts. Not that can’t be a hoofful at times,” Cheerilee paused to let out a giggle. “Just the other day two colts in my class, Snips and Snails, painted their faces green and pretend to be sick to get an extension on an essay I assigned them.” Celestia joined Cheerilee’s giggling, “Oh my, that is funny, but actually you know Twilight did something just like that, except she used a color changing spell and it took weeks for it to wear off.” Twilight choked on another mouthful of tea and again went into a coughing fit at that comment, the two other mares cooed sympathetically at her plight until she was able to breathe again. “Princess… I… That…” Her face became even more flushed then it had when she had been choking on her tea as she tried desperately to find something to say. “I’m surprised that Twilight of all ponies would let a school project be left unfinished.” Cheerilee commented partly to save her marefriend from more rambling and partly to watch her squirm a little more. “Oh it was finished, she just didn’t know how to get the twenty-five hundred word essay she had written, down to the requested thousand words. Twilight can take things a little too seriously.” Both Celestia and Cheerilee giggled at that and Twilight silently decided not to sip any more tea while they were talking. By then end of the visit Twilight’s mane stuck every direction it shouldn’t and she had developed a chronic shutter. “I’m sorry love, we were just teasing,” Cheerilee said giving her marefriend a reassuring nuzzle which caused the jittery mare to jump back. “You two are never allowed in the same room ever again.” Twilight swore with exasperation. “Oh,” Cheerilee gave her a curious look, “That might be difficult since Celestia invited us back again next month.” Twilight just shuttered at that thought. Author's Note After long break I should start regular updates, no promises though. This story's prompt: Cringe. Started back before the pause and not very happy with it.
ReferendumReferendum Twilight jumped and her wings springing up in surprise at the echoing sound of a hoof beating against the front door of her castle, it was a sound she didn’t expect to hear for several more hours. The young princess crept towards the door with concern spread across her features, the isolation spell placed over the crystal structure should have kept away all reporters and other curious bodies until after the voting was finished. That thought and the sense that the spell was still active allowed Twilight to brush aside some of her fears. Perhaps it was just the mailmare, the vote would not stop the mail after all. The knock came again and Twilight called out that she was coming. There was no Spike to get the door for her today. He and all of her friends were still out campaigning on her behalf, down to the very last moment, even though Equestrian law had ended her own campaigning a week prior to the day of the vote. “Oh Cheerilee, hello.” A smile spread across Twilight’s face as she pulled open the door and saw the deep pink schoolteacher standing on her doorstep. The schools had been closed for the vote, not that the fillies and colts could participate in the voting of course, but it was deemed important enough for them to remain with their family for the day. “Hi, I…” Cheerilee started nervously and paused as if she had lost her words. She looked back to the street and Twilight followed her gaze, watching the ponies pass by not giving the crystal tree or the important figure that now peer out from its front door a single glance. Looking back to Twilight, Cheerilee continued. “Thought you could use some company, today.” Twilight smiled and gave Cheerilee an eager nod pushing the door open and stepping back to give the teacher room to enter. “Of course. I didn’t expect to see anyone until afterwards. I was trying to read but for the first time in my life I couldn’t concentrate.” Twilight gave a hollow chuckle knowing that would sound silly to anyone who knew her. “I wouldn’t be able to read with all this going on around me,” Cheerilee answered sympathetically. Stepping in she looked up at the wide cavernous entry hall, the shining crystal halls stinging her eyes until she had to look down. “Sorry that can take some getting used to,” Twilight apologized shutting the door and moving to her friend’s side. “This is the first time you’ve been in the castle isn’t it. Oh, I’m so sorry I can’t believe I’ve never invited you over.” Cheerilee blinked the spots out of her eyes and answered in a reassuring tone. “I’ve brought the children over for school tours before, Spike always does a great job as a tour guide, but I must have spent my time watching the children and not the walls.” “That’s hardly the same,” Twilight countered giving herself a disapproving frown. “Well as you can see there’s no Spike today so I’ll have to be your tour guide,” Twilight said her frown turning to a smile as she trotted down the hall Cheerilee in tow. “I guess you didn’t care too much about the vote hmm. I had to put up a spell so that any pony with the vote too much on their mind wouldn’t notice the castle, so you must not have been thinking of it.” Twilight said flashing Cheerilee a smile to show such a thing didn’t upset her. A guilty look spread over Cheerilee’s face anyway and she looked down unable to maintain eye contact with the alicorn, “No it’s not that.” “It’s ok I don’t mind.” Twilight stopping at the entrance to the throne room to reassure her. “I voted first thing, I even camped out to be first in line, it was so silly.” The guilty look on Cheerilee’s face deepened. “You worked so hard on your campaign.” Twilight stepped in to embrace her friend wrapping her hooves around her withers, “It’s really ok if you didn’t vote for me, I don’t care.” “Then why did you try so hard to stay!” Cheerilee suddenly pushed back from Twilight embrace and glared angrily at the alicorn with wet eyes. Twilight wings popped up in surprise at the outburst, Cheerilee hadn’t meant to shout, but now was forced to look at the offending limbs with blurry vision. “Like this.” Twilight’s eyes drooped to the floor as she neatly folded her wings back to her sides. There was silence for several seconds before words broke the air again. “Because I was expected to.” “You had to have some choice,” Cheerilee sniffed and wiped at the tears in her eyes. “About this, about us.” Twilight tongue died at the memories she shared with the deep pink mare. A friendship that had grown from a love of book, learning, and teaching. A friendship that had grown into a budding flower not yet ready to bloom. She looked up at the chandelier made from the roots of her library to the crystals that held memories of the Golden Oaks Library and saw none of those memories reflected in any. Her eyes paused on the image of her and her friends in a group hug after Celestia had given Twilight her friendship report assignment. “I had one.” Cheerilee eyes followed Twilight and she too saw the image held in the crystal. “It wasn’t said outright, but if I had made a different choice…” Their eyes met and Cheerilee knew what loss that different choice could have meant for them as well. She moved next to Twilight and sat down next to her pressing up against her side ignoring the feel of feather to fulfill her desire to be close to the former unicorn. “I guess we can’t go backward, no matter how much we may want to.” Twilight leaned against Cheerilee as well basking in her warmth. “No, but things can still change in the future.” “Will we be able to do what we want to or will we always have to do what others expect us to do?” Thoughts of never before consider large red stallion played through her mind. “I don’t know love, I don’t know,” Twilight answered, but, as ponies outside voted on whether the young unicorn turned alicorn would keep her station as princess, Twilight leaned down and place a gentle kiss on the side of Cheerilee’s mouth. Author's Note Prompt: Referendum As you might have been able to tell from my stories, especially this one, I don't like the Alicorn thing in my Twilee fics. This one basically summarized my what if for the series cannon. I doubt there will be another one with Twilicorn in it.
A Striking FirstTwilight took slow careful steps as she moved along the dirt roads of Ponyville on her way to the post office, still new to the town she had only ever seen the building once but was fairly sure she could find her way there again. After all, it was a small town. Her friends would all eventually comment that they thought she didn't need to use the postal services with Spike's ability to send letters instantaneously with his dragon fire. Sadly that only worked to send mail to Celestia, letters to her brother or parents had to be sent the normal way. What was worse was that today she needed to send letters to both, she was long overdue on her correspondence and if they didn't go out today then Twilight would start receiving rather guilt inducing letters asking why she hadn't sent any news and blah, blah-blah, blah ba! And of course this had to be a day that Spike had to go and sneak out, she could not have possibly given him such an inconvenient day off, to bother Rarity or something. And of course, she was right in the middle of important research on limited historical accounts of pony and kirin societal interactions, research she just couldn't stop for such a minor task. So here she was walking slowly through Ponyville a book held in her magic trying to find the post office while continuing her research. Sure she might have been able to get there faster if she wasn't reading, but the thought of halting her research of even a second sent a cold shiver down her spine. Besides being outside had its advantages, the light was great for reading, and she was just getting to a really fascinating chapter of her book. "Oof!" The sound of the air suddenly being forced from her lungs, Twilight registered the sound a moment before she felt the force of the object strike her chest. Warm and firm, that was what described the object that struck her chest. It didn't have a lot of force, but it did have a steady momentum forcing Twilight back before it halted. "Oh no!" Oddly Twilight didn't hear the voice until the face had appeared before her swinging into view as it tossed her book away casting it aside with a strike of a cerise cheek. Suddenly Twilight was staring into a pair of wide green eyes filled with surprise and concern. What an odd combination, Twilight thought between wondering why her chest was so tight and who was banging a drum so close to her head it felt like each beat was reverberating out of her ears. "Are you all right?" There was the sound of that voice, reverberating with the same concern that was in the wide green eyes. Or rather eye as the other was shut as a hoof rubbed against that side of the face. "Oh!" Twilight suddenly gasped the world coming back into focus and the sounds of the town rushing into her ears. "Oh no are you ok? I'm so, so sorry I shouldn't have been reading while I was walking but, I was doing research and I had to go to the post office because my BBBFF won't stop bugging me until I send him a letter and I really do miss him I'm just really busy." Cheerilee failed to stifle a small tittering laugh at Twilight rushed and deep explanation, "Umm, ok. But it wasn't your fault I wasn't watching where I was going either. I was rummaging through my bag." Cheerilee turned to gesture back at her saddlebags which were stuffed with scrolls of paper. "I was sure I'd forgotten my grocery list at the school and Celestia knows what I'll end up with if I don't have it. I'm Cheerilee by the way." She turned back to Twilight a warm friendly smile greeting the unicorn. "Oh hi, it's nice to meet you, I'm..." Twilight face suddenly fell, what the hell was her name? Cheerilee, no that was the other mare's name, but Twilight couldn't think of anything else. Then she remembers, her mother, she was named after her mother who was... "Twilight!" "Twilight?" Cherrilee's smile fell to concern worry playing in her eyes. "Sparkle, Twilight Sparkle that's it, yep." The sudden urge to teleport away came over Twilight, luckily the complicated formula for the spell was beyond her abilities at the moment. She could only think of simple things like cerise coat, pink mane, green eyes, Cheerilee, and etc. "Are you sure you're ok? You're very red maybe you have a fever," Cheerilee asked. Twilight's response came out as little more than a squeak as Cheerilee pressed her forehead against the side of Twilight's horn. "Hmm, you don't feel too hot, oh sorry." Cheerilee pulled back embarrassment playing across her face as she gave a shy smile and rubbed the back of her head. "Occupational habit, schoolteacher." Suddenly, long buried imagings of Celestia resurfaced in Twilight's mind though her beloved mentor was suddenly replaced by a cerise mare with green eyes. Twilight's face began to glow red and a much older instinct kicked in. "Well it was nice meeting you, we should go on a date sometime, bye!" Twilight vaguely wondered if the string of words she'd just spoken summed up to anything coherent, but right now she was too busy running in a direction to think of anything else. As Twilight disappeared into the streets of Ponyville Cheerilee gave a small titter of laughter. She couldn't deny the mare was cute, she would probably keep this one. Author's Note Prompt: Strike Possibly how the two first met in the series, I really like this one. I decided to do something different with the prompts from here on out. I would like you guys to submit prompts to me in the comments. I'll make a blog post listing both prompts and who sent them in. You can send as many as you like, though no repeats of previous prompts. Single word only, please. I want you all to try and stump me with a prompt I cannot write a story for. If you can I'll write a double length story with a plot of your choosing, 2-3000 words. Rules: -The word must be one I can find a definition for on my own. -The word cannot be explicitly sexual in nature, as per the rating of the story. -Prompts are done mostly fist come first serve, but I won't use a prompt from the same commenter's twice in a row, unless there are no other commenters on my list I think that's all, good luck to everyone who plays.
