The Life and Times of a Substitue Teacher

Chapter 8: Cheerilee's Unexpected Return

After you quickly went back out to Appleloosa to find Scootaloo's scooter, you returned to find everyone but Luna asleep. You tried to sneak in past her, but apparently she was able to pick up the tiny bit of magical energy that was on you from the teleporting.

"Welcome back, did you manage to find the scooter?" Luna asked as you passed through the kitchen door.

"Uh, yeah, I found it" you responded confusedly, "How did you know I was here?"

"I felt your presence, and the magical energy that was around you"

"Oh yeah, I forgot you would be able to pick up on that," you said as you set the scooter down against the wall, "What are you still doing up?"

"Well, being in control of the moon makes you become nocturnal" Luna responded.

"You know you didn't need to answer that, it was a pretty dumb question after all" you said as you sat next to her.

"It's quite alright, I've heard sillier questions before"

"Oh, okay"

Awkward silence sat in the room for the next few minutes. You occasionally looked at Luna to see what she was doing, and there were a few times when you found her doing the same. Both of you knew why things were so awkward, but no one wanted to bring it up. Suddenly there was a knock on the door, which gave you an excuse to break the silence.

"I'll go get it" you said as you got up.

You made your way over to the door, and you opened it, now noticing that it was very early in the morning. You had expected to see Derpy standing there with a letter from Cheerilee, but instead you were greeted by Cheerilee herself.

"Um, hi, I thought you were still in Las Pegasus" you said when she smiled at you.

"I was supposed to be, but something happened that got the wedding called off" she responded in her usual cheerful voice.

"What happened?"

"The groom ran away after his bachelor party"

"Wow"

"Yeah, so I came back here so I could get away from the constant whining"

"Can I say one thing about the groom?" you asked Cheerilee as you let her into your house.

"Sure, why not? It's not like it's going to hurt anyone"

"Okay, then I'm just going to say this: He was a dick biscuit"

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After you welcomed Cheerilee into your house she told you more about what happened, and then was comforted by Luna. You had made yourself and Cheerilee some coffee, along with some tea for Luna seeing as she had to go to sleep in a little while. Just as everyone had finished off their respective drinks you saw Celestia and the Crusaders make their way down the stairs.

"Good morning" you said cheerfully.

"Morning" Celestia mumbled.

"Is everything all right princess?"

"Of course, it's just that these young fillies are quite the hoofful"

"Sorry princess, we didn't mean to be so noisy"

"It's quite all right, it's normal for fillies your age" Celestia said, now back to her usual self, "Did anything happen last night Silver?"

"Well other than finding Scootaloo, having a very awkward moment with your sister, and Cheerilee suddenly coming back, not really"

"Miss Cheerilee's back?!" Applebloom shouted happily.

"Yes, she's in the living room"

The three fillies suddenly ran towards your living room, and tell they had very quickly overwhelmed Cheerilee. You were about to go help her, but you were stopped by Celestia.

"Can we talk?" Celestia asked.

"Of course princess"

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"She what?!" you shouted, "How is that even possible?!"

"She is still a girl you know, and she can still fall in love with a stallion like any other girl" Celestia responded calmly.

"But I'm just a simple Unicorn, I'm no prince!"

"I think that's why she fell for you in the first place"

"What are you two talking about?"

Scootaloo's appearance caused you and Celestia jump. You hoped she hadn't heard the entire conversation, but thankfully Celestia came up with a plan, or so you thought.

"We were talking about nothing young one, now please, run back to your friends" Celestia said.

"Um, princess, they just left, I was coming to tell Silver that Miss Cheerilee wanted to talk to him about something" Scootaloo replied while pushing you towards the door. After she managed to get you into the living room you saw that Cheerilee was sitting alone, so you guessed that Luna had gone to bed at some point.

"You wanted to see me?" you asked as you sat down.

"Yes, I was wondering if you could take Scootaloo in" she said in a somewhat sad way.

"I already have, that's why she's here" you replied, but judging by her reaction, that's not what she had meant.

"I meant, could you adopt her?"

"Like how? As a parent, or as a sibling?" you asked, now concerned that your relationship with Scootaloo would be forced to change dramatically.

"I would prefer as a parent, then she would have someone to call dad" Cheerilee answered.

"But who would deal with her, um," you coughed quietly, "girl problems?"

"I'm not sure," she responded, "If you can't find anyone to settle down with before that, then I'd be okay with helping her"

"Okay, fine, but is she okay with this?"

"Of course I am!" Scootaloo shouted, now standing behind you. When she got there you had no clue, but now you had to go and make it official, Scootaloo was your daughter.

"Oh, and one more thing Silver" Cheerilee said.

"What?"

"Can you still teach for me until the end of the month?"

"Um, sure, but can I ask why?"

"I need sometime to recover from what happened in Las Pegasus"

"Fair enough, hopefully the rest of your vacation goes well"

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"So your a dad now, eh?" Whooves said while tossing back a mug of cider.

"I guess," you replied while staring into your own mug, "I'm not sure what that means though"

"Don't worry about, I know she'll love it" Big Mac said while he put his hoof on your shoulder.

"How can you be sure?"

"Well, considering she yelled happily about it to my sister and Sweetie Belle earlier today"

"You have a point, but what am I supposed to do about her mother figure?"

"Well, didn't you say princess Luna had a thing for you?" Whooves said after he ordered himself another mug.

"She's a princess, I'm sure she had better things to do than date some random stallion and help him raise his adopted daughter!"

"Don't worry, from what I heard she would love to help you out"

"Oh hey Shining, what are you doing here?"

"Not much, just came to talk to you on Luna's behalf" Shining Armor said as he flagged down a waitress.

"What does she want?" you asked.

"Well, for one, she wants to see you in Canterlot tomorrow," he said, interrupted by the waitress he had called over, "and two, she would love to help you with Scootaloo"

"Um, I can't go to Canterlot tomorrow, sorry" you replied, now feeling very embarrassed.

"How come?"

"I have to teach tomorrow, I'm only here because I wanted to talk to these two" you answered while making motions towards Doctor Whooves and Big Mac.

"I thought Cheerilee was back though?" Big Mac asked.

"She is, but she wants to let me teach until the end of the month so she can recover from the wedding disaster" you replied while handing Whooves your drink.

"Well that sucks, she really wanted to see you" Shining said before downing his drink, "Well, I have to get back to Canterlot or Cadance is going to kill me"

"See ya" you said just before he teleported away.

"I'm going to ask you three to leave" a waitress suddenly said.

"Why?" you asked, but it suddenly became pretty obvious why. Doctor Whooves was running around yelling something about a big blue box that could travel through time and space, all while occasionally asking people if they've seen his assistant.

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"Sorry about that guys, I didn't realize how much cider I had before I got really drunk" Whooves said as you and Big Mac pulled his head out of the river.

"No worries, we weren't drinking anyways" Big Mac said as he started walking towards the farm, "Well, see you guys another time"

"Yeah, I'm going home too" Whooves said as he started stumbling his way towards his house.

Since you had no one to talk to anymore, you started to head home, but were stopped by a pair of royal guards. "Um, can I help you?" you asked as they forced you to stop where you were. They never answered you, and they didn't need to, as you looked up to see princess Luna flying towards you. "Good evening princess" you said as she softly landed.

"Why are you unable to come to Canterlot tomorrow?" she asked.

"Because I have to teach tomorrow princess, I have no choice in the matter" you responded calmly.

"Fine, then I'm staying here" she said as she turned around.

"Are you sure princess? I could always go to Canterlot another day" you said as you ran up to her side.

"Yes, I'm sure, now lets go"

"As you wish..."