Caballeron's Prize

Miss Cheerilee stood next to the doctor as the train behind them released a puff of smoke. It was early morning at the Ponyville station and everypony but the teachers were very low energy. Not much chatter filling the air as Applebloom, Scootaloo and the Sweetie all stood with thier heads dipped low in exhaustion. Applebloom especially as she nudged her shoulder on Scootaloo's. "I made your stupid potion. Zecora agreed this is your worst idea yet." She grumbled, subtly opening her bag to show a small pink vial on the inside.

"Wow. It looks way less intense than last time." Scootaloo blinked. The rest of the class begun boarding as Cheerilee gleamed in excitement, with Caballeron looking rather disinterested, clearly not used to the early morning as all he craved at the moment was another cup of coffee.

Applebloom stepped in line as Scootaloo followed. "Well it's less of a love potion and more of a love suggestion. Zecora and I brought down the dose so he's more susceptible to Cheerilees advances. Oh good morning Doctor!" She turned with a gleaming smile at the older stallion who she approached, standing outside the staircase onto the train.

"Ah, good morning Applebloom. I took a quick look at everyponies assignments this morning and I must say you have quite the talent for history. You even corrected me on one of my questions." He glanced over Sweetie who's pupils shrank at the realization she must've done the same thing after copying Applebloom's answers. "You can do extra credit on the ride to the desert." He frowned, making Sweetie shrink where she stood as his attention fell on Scootaloo. His face softened up with an almost pitying look. "I hope your excavating skills can make up for your lack of completing your assignment."

The pegasus turned away embarrassed as Silver Spoon and Tiara snickered to themselves as they passed them to board the bus. "Sorry Sir."

"Doctor."

"Doctor." She gulped, looking up to see a half smirk on him as she rushed on the train with a blush, leaving Applebloom and Sweetie in the dust. He blinked rather surprised with a questioning look to the other two, only given a small giggle from Sweetie Belle as the the two disappeared into the train.

"Well you seem to get along with the students really well." Cheerilee smirked, appearing next to the scruffy stallion. "So will you be sitting with me on the trip? Or better yet... Sharing a hotel room on the overnight?" She blinked rapidly, suggesting her desire for the two of them to get closer. He put a hoof on the first step on the train, with an uncomfortable glance. "Tempting as it is Cheerilee, I'm sure you'll find a whole assortment of stallions at Appleoosa. It'd be better If I get my own room." With that he followed the class onto the train, leaving her to settle down the class in the car.

Unlike the main trains this cabin had more private rooms with walls in between the seats, with a sliding doorway which Cheerlie hadn't anticipated but the class was ecstatic about, each group of friends taking a compartment. Silver and Tiara disappearing in the back, Button Mash distracted by a video game strapped to his neck looking down as he was dragged into one by Snips and Snails, Twist and a few others gossiping while taking another middle compartment and the cutie mark crusaders finishing by sitting in the front compartment. "Oh gosh. This is rather chaotic." Cheerilee followed the doctor into the cabin as they stood in the hall. "Do you think you could sit with the crusaders? They'll cause trouble somehow if left alone and they seem to listen to you more. I have to keep an eye on Snips and Snails."

"I suppose." He sighed, letting her pass to her booth as he opened the sliding door into the crusaders seating area. Scootaloo and Sweetie blinked as Applebloom took up the whole area across from them, already asleep in the cushiony sleep.

"Oh, are you sitting with us Doc?" Sweetie snickered, glancing over at Scootaloo with a nudge.

"Cheerilee tells me you three cause trouble when you're together. So she asked me to." He explained, trotting inside and putting his bag over the storage rack above before glancing at the sleeping filly in his spot. "Hmm. Sweetie, could you bring Applebloom to Tiara and Silvers room? There should be plenty of space in there." He asked, making her look at Scootaloo who pleaded at her with her eyes not to go.

"Sure! Is it alright if I stay in there to talk with them before coming back?" She grinned, making Scootaloo's head sink in her hooves.

"Of course, take your time. We have a long ride ahead." He chuckled, taking out a thermos from his bag with a folder. "I have to grade papers anyway and could use the extra space." He hummed, happily dismissing Cheerilee's request for him to watch them all as he gave a look at Scootaloo, who actively looked out the window at the unmoving landscape to keep from making eye contact. "Scootaloo has to finish her assignment anyway."

"Yes sir!" Sweetie hopped up and lowered to carry Applebloom passed out on her back. "C'mon Applebloom. Let's go annoy Tiara with your snoring." She grunted, taking her out of the room before slamming the door with her rear hoof, leaving the two alone with the sounds of her classmates muffled in the distance. Scootaloo didn't say a word as her new teacher sat across from her, taking out her assignment and folding out the nearby table against the trains interior to put his thermos and assignments on.

He took a sip before placing a textbook and her half finished paper in front of her, catching her attention as he pulled out his own answer sheet and the other assignments. "I'm sure you know your dear Rainbow Dash visited me yesterday." He opened up, making her silent treatment cut.

"Yeah, she told me she put the fear of Celestia into you when she came back." She retorted, snickering before being cut off by the sight of a pencil in Caballerons maw, leaning in. Was he? Oh he was offering the pencil. She blushed lightly as her lips took the other side. Her face went redder as she felt his warm breath heat her muzzle, quickly taking the pencil and clearing her throat awkwardly. "Oh uhrm. Fanks." She placed it down, hitting herself in her head at thanking him for making her do her assignment when she could be hanging out with her friends. Sweetie was gonna pay one day for leaving her with him.

"Went about as well as our chat did. Accusations, mistrust, the usual." He chuckled, taking out his own pencil and making marks on the first assignment. She looked over him as he worked curiously, too tired to restart the argument. He seemed so deep in thought, almost like a guitar player focusing on his music. She felt a tingle in her body as quickly as she erased it, making her look down and open her textbook to where she was last, reading over the text. She was relieved as the train begun moving, feeling the calming vibrations under her as they took off to there next location.

Some time passed as she worked, occasionally glancing up at Applebloom's bag to make sure the vial wasn't showing. The scratches of thier utensils being the only sounds in the room as time passed, sometimes followed by sips from his coffee as they worked. "Why do you not like us copying each other if the answers are already in the book?" She asked suddenly, putting her pencil down as he glanced up with a surprised look, thinking she'd closed herself off.

"It's about having the intuition to look in the right place to find the right answer. Applebloom is leagues ahead of you all at this skill. If you don't mind my honesty." He explained, taking out Applebloom's sheet, which had an A+ on it and Sweetie's, which was given a D. "If enough ponies lazily just cheated off each other, it would only be a matter of time before it becomes misinformation from the lack of curiosity." He smiled, gazing back up at her. "That's a historians worst nightmare."

She gave a light nod, understanding a bit as her pencil wrote down on her last question. He noticed a large shape in the corner as she lifted the paper, smiling widely with the sheet in her mouth as he saw she drew a giant dragon with the most screwed up eyes and limbs over the questionnaire. "Howsh it rook Bocter?"

He blinked in disbelief before bursting out laughing, almost knocking over his coffee as he hit his hoof on the desk. It was genuine, not the maniacal laugh Scootaloo was unaware of in his past as he grabbed it and wiped a tear from his eye, putting it in the pile with the drawing face up. "Wonderful. I'll cherish it forever." He snickered, sighing before putting his things away. "I need something cold to drink how about you? I'll go buy something in the other car." He asked. The mood shifted more wholesomely as he took out some bits.

"Oh could I get some apple iced tea?" She asked, getting nod in reply as he lifted himself up and exiting the booth.

Scootaloo noticed he had left his precious thermos in the room. Her eyes drifting to the vial as she felt a light sweat go down her brow. Was it too early? Once he drank it the first pony he made eye contact with would become his love obsession. Or at least the start of... She could call Cheerilee over to sit with him somehow. Scoots didn't really have a plan for this, only wanting to find an opportunity but he really didn't seem all that bad. She didn't feel awful sitting across from him. Was he really planning something or actually throwing in the towel?

She decided to use the restroom before he got back, it was too early and Cheerilee wasn't nearby.

She returned to find her older company quietly reading yet another book quietly. Maybe she could've stopped by where Sweetie Belle was for a bit but could already see he went out of his way to bring her the bottled tea. She opened the bottle easily and took a sip before glancing at Applebloom's knapsack.

Empty.

In panic she glanced over at the smirking stallion calmly seated across from her. "I-I..."

Her loins felt a heat she could only recognize from the loneliest nights by herself in her room. The world seemed to become less important than the stallion in front of her as the pupils in her eyes grew at the sight of him, shuttering to herself as she tried to fight the feeling. "Keep yourself quiet, mi amor. You don't want me to think less of you hm?" He spoke. She felt her heart tighten in her chest as he slowly moved to the door, sliding it shut before closing in on her. His nose almost touching hers so she could feel his intoxicating breath. "Tell me the rules for this potion you meant to give me. Or I'll have to tell Cheerilee about your little prank backfiring."

"Nononono don't tell her!" She begged, grinding in her seat at the feeling of power he radiated in the situation, almost drooling. "It stays until the clock strikes noon, and if we keep eye contact. It lasts forever~" She said, rolling it off her tongue as the idea alone made her slide in her seat from the excitement.

"And you want that, don't you?" He breathed, letting his nose press on hers as she felt his lips rub along hers as he spoke.

"Yes, forever..." She panted, feeling her head press into the cushiony head rest behind her as his snout leaned her against it.

"Then you and I will run away together with nopony to stop us, but only if you follow my instructions closely."