Opportunity of a Lifetime

Chapter 58: Crossing The Line

Dusk is walking through one on the main streets of Ponyville, looking for the local school. Before he left the orchard, he had asked Big Mac if he could give him directions to the school building from Sweet Apple Acres. He smiles as he sees the light red building in the distance, just a few hundred metres away from the main area of the town.

He had chosen to leave the farm early, so he would still have the drive and motivation to say what he is about to say to the teacher. He knows that she would need to arrive at the schoolhouse early, to better plan what she would choose to do for the day. One thing that he had neglected to consider though, is the time that she would arrive at. At the current moment, it is about 7:00am, and he thinks that class would start at around 8:30am - 9:00am.

He only just realizes this, when he could only see a few to the town’s residents setting up their individual markets. He could see the orange mane of Carrot Top setting up shop in the middle of the marketplace.

He could also make out Ditzy ‘Derpy’ Doo in the distance, carrying a heavy looking saddlebag, filled with letters and packages alike.

Other than the market ponies, and Ditzy, there is nopony else in the town. ‘Well, I hope that I get lucky then.’ He walks up the the closed school door, and knocks.

…

…

…

“Who is it?” ‘Thank Celestia. She’s here.’

“My name’s Dusk, I came here so I could talk to you about Big Mac.” He shows the slightest bit of sympathy in his voice, not only for his red friend, but also for Cheerilee. He knows that she seems to share the same feelings for Mac, but will not go any further than that, for some unknown reason. He intends to find out why.

The door opens for Dusk, and he lets himself into the building. Inside, there are twelve different desks for the students of her class. Each desk is surprisingly clean... if you count out the one with drawings of Rainbow Dash on it. ‘Somepony has a fan.’

Cheerilee has sat down behind her own desk, which had two separate piles of papers on them. The larger pile consisted of unmarked tests that the school fillies, and colts have completed. The smaller pile consists of marked tests.

The mare in question looks a tad stressed out about something. Her two tone pink mane is a little bit messier than it should be, and she has small bags under her green eyes. He could see that she didn’t get a good night’s rest. He couldn’t see her cutie mark from his angle. (And he wouldn’t randomly look over the desk to take a quick glimpse of her flank...)

She asks the first question, “Is this going to be about if Big Mac and I?”

He nods, “Of course. Now I cannot say I know everything about him, but I’ve seen what he was like an hour ago. He really likes you; he has turned down numerous mares just so he could be with you instead.” He needed to get his point across for his plan to work.

This didn’t do anything good to her composure, she has a saddened look on the face. “I know... I know all that he has done to be with me, and I respect that but I...” She stops talking midway through her sentence.

“But I what?” He waits expectantly.

“But I... I... just can’t.” She didn’t want to talk about this particular subject anymore.

‘This is getting nowhere.’

*annoyed sigh* “Okay then, how ‘bout we talk about a slightly different subject now. What do you consider him as? Associate? Friend? Acquaintance? Companion?”

“Well... we have been friends for quite a while now, and I’ll admit that we have gotten quite close to each other. As much as I want this to happen, I just can’t. I know that it hurts him...” Her mood darkens, and he knew that the only obstacle that he’ll need to cross, is her reluctance. If only she would tell him what happened.

Two familiar words enter his mind at this moment, two important words. ‘Repressed Memory.’

‘Should I do this to her?’

“So let me ask you this, do you want to hurt Big Mac’s feelings, because you are doing a great job so far.” As much as he hated to become a cruel pony, he felt that he had to, so he could get the point across.

“No! I... I don’t...”

‘I’m so, so sorry Cheerilee.’

“You told me yourself, you want this to happen, and yet you still refuse.” He was going on the total offensive, but he changes his tone with his last question. “Now, tell me what stopping

you from being with Big Mac.”

She didn’t answer his question, since she has her head in her hooves in tears. She is reliving the very moments of her cursed memories. Dusk is angry at himself for forcing her to do this, but he had to put aside his self-loathing and try and calm her down. His bottom lip was trembling, and he wasn’t too far from a breakdown himself. He hated to cause somepony pain like this...

All he could do, is to stroke a hoof down her back in the vain attempt to cease the calamity. “Please forgive me Cheerilee, I didn’t want this to happen.”

---------- (Three minutes later)

She had gained enough composure to be able to think straight again. She is a wreck... and so is Dusk. He had completely shattered one of the ‘rules’ in his moral code, and there was no other option for him, except to be angry with himself. Cheerilee hasn’t stopped crying, much to his dismay. While the intensity of her breakdown isn’t as horrible as it was a few minutes ago, it’s still pretty bad.

He felt that he needed to find out what he had started to make her get like this, since she reacted even worse than he did when he relived his memory at Fluttershy’s cottage.

“Do you think that you could tell me what happened in the memory?” He quietly asks.

“...yes.”

He couldn’t help but to feel bad for her, since she now needed to recall the memory that made her break down like this. “You don’t need to tell me, if you don’t want to.” He almost didn’t want to hear what happened to her. Almost.

“I-I know, but I have to do this.” She wipes away any stray tears before starting. “I used to be married to a wonderful pegasus. His name was Blitzkrieg; he was a Germane high-ranking royal guard. He was quiet, but he was also really affectionate to me.” She manages a small smile before continuing.

“He was wonderful, if he was forced to go away on an assignment, he would send me back a letter with a gift for every week he was away.” Her smile turns back into a look of sadness, “But on the second week of one of his assignments, nothing ever came. No present, no note, just nothing.”

Dusk felt like he knew what was going to happen. There were three different scenarios in his head, and none of them were good. He felt guilty for making her remember this, since he knew how much the memory of Cloudie and Blizzard had hurt him.

“Naturally, I was worried about what could have happened to him, and so I waited another week. There was n-nothing that week either, or the week after. Then, a few days later, somepony knocked on the door of my home. It was an guard who often went on assignments with B-Blitz. H-He said that that m-my Blitzy, was k-killed by a pack of wolves...” She starts to tear up, as she remembers that very moment of her life.

Before he could offer some kind of help for her, he is slapped across the side of the face by the teacher. She is bucking mad at him, “Why did you do it Dusk?! Why did you make me relive the worst moment of my life? What was the point?!”

“...I ...don’t even know anymore.” He is having a guilt trip of a lifetime. He just wanted to curl up into a ball and die. “I... didn’t know that Blitzkrieg is the reason you refused to be with Macintosh.” He could feel his willpower shatter into a million different pieces.

“He isn’t the main reason, it’s what happened afterwards.”

‘Afterwards...’ He didn’t want to hear anymore of this memory, but he has already gone too far to stop.

“...I was pregnant.”

“WHAT?!” He went pale after hearing that. He had the feeling of lightheadedness, before collapsing to the ground in an unconscious heap.

He wakes up on the floor of the school building, forgetting how he had gotten there in the first place. He drags himself off the floor, and onto his hooves, which catches the attention of Cheerilee, who had calmed down considerably than she was a few moments ago. (?) He notices the tissue box on her desk, and the amount of tissues in the nearby bin.

“Oh thank Celestia that you’re alright now Dusk, I was really worried about you.” She has a relieved smile on her muzzle.

“...?” His confused expression says everything.

“You fainted after I told you about... my pregnancy. You’ve were unconscious for about 10 minutes.” She is still a bit edgy about the subject of her pregnancy, but he didn’t want to get her any more upset than she was before.

He starts to talk about something a little bit less depressive than he did before. “I didn’t know that you had a foal Cheerilee. How old is he/she?”

Her renewed, happy demeanor turns back into her former state, as she looks straight down to the ground. Dusk instantly worries, but is also confused why she became sad after such a simple question.

“What wrong? Are you okay?”

“Dusk... I’ve never had a foal... I had a miscarriage during the pregnancy.”

‘...you poor mare.’

Author’s Note: I feel terrible for writing this chapter.