"I'm sorry, Cheerilee, but I'm afraid I can't do it."
Those words were spoken by Twilight to Cheerilee, who had gathered the courage to go ask her to come read a story to her fillies and colts at the school.
After all, it was one thing to ask a prestigious unicorn.
It was another to ask the Princess of Friendship herself.
"Well, I guess I'm not surprised you'd say no. I mean, being a princess must mean you're extremely busy."
"And it really makes me sad that I have to say no, too," Twilight looked at the ceiling with a melancholic look. "Reading stories to the young were one of my favorite parts of the year; I love those little children."
Cheerilee giggled.
"When they weren't pulling your mane and tail, right?"
Twilight flashed a smile.
"That was all in good fun."
The mares shared a little laugh, which was followed by Twilight getting an idea.
"But, you know, there's somebody who could take my place."
Cheerilee raised an eyebrow.
"Really? Who?"
Twilight smiled wider.
"An old friend of mine."
Cheerilee walked to a large house in Canterlot, while taking some time to appreciate the scenery.
To think I'd ever get to meet a friend of one of the princesses. I mean, I know her friends in Ponyville: Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack, but I've never seen her Canterlot friends.
Cheerilee frowned as soon as she reached the door.
In fact, how many friends did Twilight have before coming to Ponyville and meeting me? I should ask her next time I see her.
Cheerilee knocked the door, and a certain yellow unicorn mare answered soon after.
"Um, hello," Cheerilee greeted, lightly waving her hoof. "Would you happen to be Moondancer?"
The unicorn's eyes widened.
"I am, but how do you know-"
Then she lowered her eyelids.
"Twilight told you about me, didn't she?"
Cheerilee smiled.
"Yes! You see, I'm Cheerilee-"
"The teacher at Ponyville's school, right?" Moondancer interjected, tilting her head. "Twilight has mentioned you before, but what do you want with me?"
"Yeah, right, you see, today's the day I usually ask Twilight to read a story to my students, but since she became the princess of friendship, she no longer has the spare time to do it."
"So, she suggested you to have me act as her replacement, so you wouldn't have to cancel the reading."
Cheerilee's smile morphed into a frown.
"Well, yeah, but if you don't want to do it, I'll understand. I just ask you to think about it."
Moondancer hummed...
"I'm not very good at social situations, the fillies and colts could end up overwhelming me."
"Twilight was pretty much the same when she started, but she got the hang of it pretty quickly. I'm sure if you give it a shot, you could end up liking it."
Moondancer hummed once more, before she closed the door, giving Cheerilee the signal that maybe she wasn't up for it.
And so, with the apparent confirmation Moondancer couldn't take Twilight's place, Cheerilee left Canterlot, hoping she could find another pony to take the job.
Hours later, at the school, the story reading hour neared closer and closer, and even after asking Twilight's helpers, Cheerilee still had nobody to do the reading.
Applejack? Was too busy farming apples.
Rarity? Busy making dresses.
Fluttershy? She was free, but the reason she couldn't do it was pretty obvious.
Pinkie Pie? The students were already pretty energetic, add Pinkie into the mix and the school would be history!
Rainbow Dash? She didn't really seem like the type to take a pause and read something.
Spike? Somehow, the idea of a baby, dragon or not, reading to a bunch of fillies and colts felt kinda backwards.
So, it seemed like Cheerilee would have to be the one to carry out the reading, lest it be cancelled...
That is, until a certain someone entered through the front door.
"Moondancer!"
"Hello, Cheerilee," Moondancer greeted as she levitated a book with her magic. "I hope I'm not too late for the book reading, especially since you never really told me when it would happen."
Cheerilee scratched the back of her head.
"Well, I was kinda in a hurry to get a replacement, and you did close the door on me, so I thought you weren't going to do it."
"That was the plan, but then I thought about how sad those everybody would be if it was cancelled, and how Twilight would never let me hear the end of it, so I looked for an appropriate picture book, and devised a little opening act before I came here."
Cheerilee was both interested and kinda concerned with the "opening act" part.
"What do you mean by, " opening act"?"
"To put it simply, before reading a story, I want to let the young ones know I'm not "Yellow Sparkle."
With that said, Cheerilee lead Moondancer to the classroom, where they were greeted by the curious stares from the students.
"Okay, my little ponies, this is Moondancer. She'll be replacing Twilight Sparkle as the story reader for today."
The students cheerfully greeted "Hi, Miss Moondancer!" in unison, waving their hooves.
"Hello, little ones," Moondancer replied. "Now, could you please turn off the lights and close the windows?"
Cheerilee raised an eyebrow.
"Trust me, it's part of the opening act."
The little ponies obliged, and once the classroom was as dark as could be, Moondancer went to the reader spot, facing the young horses.
She followed this by making her horn glow as she performed a couple of dance moves.
They weren't exactly flashy or elaborate, but at least they weren't to the level of Twilight's dancing.
Eventually, Moondancer spun three times, each time shooting a little magic sphere that exploded into a star, followed by Moondancer giving the finishing touch of a pair of large orbs, with one of them landing in place while the other clashed with it, shattering it into a crescent shape that, along with the stars, iluminated the classroom.
Both Cheerilee and the students were left astonished by what they saw.
"There we go, now that I've set up the atmosphere," Moondancer sat down and opened the book. "How about we begin with the story?"
The students eagerly nodded, and Cheerilee smiled with approval.
"Eons ago, the ponies and dragons combined their forces, creating the first ever Draconequus..."
One very interesting story that would take several million words to get through later, the rest of the school day went by like normal, until the little ponies trotted back home, leaving Moondancer and Cheerilee alone to talk.
"What you did was just... Wow!" Cheerilee spoke. "That's the first time the classroom has actually changed for story reading time!"
"Well, the story I told did benefit for a change of scenery, so I can't say it was purely aesthetic," Moondancer rested her cheek on her hoof. "At the very least, your students seemed to enjoy it."
"Yeah, hehe, they certainly did."
A moment of silence passed, before Moondancer grabbed her book and went to the exit.
"Well, I gotta go: There are a couple topics I'd like to study, so I'll go get those done-"
"Moondancer, wait!"
The unicorn stopped on her tracks and turned to face Cheerilee, who simply smiled.
"Thanks."
Moondancer returned the smile, nodded, and left.
Several days had passed since the story reading, and it was now a weekend, meaning Moondancer could study in peace with nobody to bother her.
At least, that's what she thought before she heard someone knocking on her door.
The unicorn walked to it, opened it, and got a pleasant surprise when she saw Cheerilee standing outside.
"Oh hi, Cheerilee. Is there something you want?"
"Yes: I've come to ask you to become our new story reader."
Moondancer blinked twice, prompting Cheerilee to explain.
"Twilight obviously can't do it anymore, and after that impressive display you did, the students have been " Moondancer this," and Moondancer that" since then. So, I thought, if you don't mind, why not become our new story reader, and let those little ponies see you once every month?"
Moondancer thought about it, and smiled.
"Well, it felt good reading the story to someone who'd listen, and doing this once a month doesn't sound so bad..."
Moondancer nodded with a smile.
"Alright, I'm in!"
"Fantastic!" Cheerilee clapped her hooves together. "Now, before I leave you alone: Would you mind if the students pick the book for the next reading?"
Moondancer's smile quickly turned into a frown.
"Let me guess, you brought them with you?"
Almost as if on cue, Cheerilee's students barged into the house and began snooping around, all while Moondancer raised an unamused eyebrow at Cheerilee.
"I'm really sorry about this, but as soon as I told them I was going to pay you a visit, they invited themselves."
Moondancer smiled and patted Cheerilee's back.
"It's okay, I'm not going to blame you for it."
Cheerilee and Moondancer exchanged smiles, before they turned to look at the energetic youngsters.
"But, I'd appreciate it if you helped me stop your students from destroying my house."
"Of course, consider it done."
The mares nodded, and trotted with determination at the energetic fillies and colts, ready to protect Moondancer's home.
Author's Note
Wow, first author's notes ever! Yay!
Anyway, the inspiration for this little story was a Touhou Project doujin titled "Read Me a Story, Mrs. Patchy," which has a similar premise: Patchouli Knowledge, touhou's equivalent to Twilight and Moondancer, is asked to read a story to children from the school of Keine, touhou's Cheerilee... Sort of.
Check it out if you can, it's pretty good.
Also, the reason this is an alternate universe is because in this story, Cheerilee had a friendship with Twilight, and maybe the rest of the main mares, while in canon the closest interaction I can think of that they had was in the talent show episode, and I think that was more them being in a scene together rather than having any relationship
My memory's kinda fuzzy, you see.
But anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this little one-shot.
Draxonos135 is flying off now.
