Nothing more so encapsulates the meaning of life than spending time with the ones you love.
This, Twilight Sparkle knew. And as the cool night air wrapped her in a gentle embrace she let her thoughts mingle with the subject. She was, just now, perhaps a tad too daintily skipping to see the one she loved so much. The sky was the perfect setting for a romance. Picturesque, even. The stars that filled the heavens looked like millions of lanterns wandering a dark and mysterious sea. And the moon, well, it was full.
Perfect.
Trees waved softly to greet her. Twilight’s hooves beat against the well-trodden path with nearly inaudible clacks as she skipped merrily onward, she herself waving back to the trees. She caught herself doing such. Twilight thought this silly and stopped waving, but her warm smile never did fade.
She passed the gazebo, the gardens, the occasional thatch-roofed house. Everything was painted in an eerie blue glow, yet it seemed amiable. This was a familiar trip for Twilight Sparkle, you see. She had been travelling this dusty, ancient path for a year now. A full year. In fact, it was a year to this very day. And that’s why this day was so important.
This day was just a memory waiting to unfold.
Twilight carried with her a small package. It was neatly wrapped, and glittered in the soft moonlight. What was hidden inside the package was a secret only she knew. It would soon be unveiled, as she so neared her destination, and so she practiced her smile for when the moment came. Twilight knew she was never good with spontaneity, and practice made perfect, and so there she was shining in the moonlight, beaming a smile that combatted the friendly glow of the night.
Her destination was up ahead on the left. There it rest on the crest of the hill. The lights inside of the building were still on at this hour, making the quaint schoolhouse appear a beacon of white light.
Twilight increased her speed.
Up the hill she went, up the battered and beaten path, which had been made so by the young hooves of the schoolchildren that had walked the same road. She was ecstatic. Her enlightened state was perhaps over-enthusiastic. But Twilight always had troubles with acting, and so she could not hide it.
Up to the front door she went, where she stopped, checked her breath, checked her appearance, checked that the box was in order, double checked everything, then rechecked her breath for the final time. Satisfied that everything was to her liking, she whisked the door open, where she was met by a lovely light.
The schoolhouse was small, seated roughly thirty or so students. It wasn’t overly difficult to find her marefriend, Cheerilee, sitting, back turned, at her desk in the front of the room. Twilight, now grinning rather awkwardly, stepped in.
“You heard me come in, of that I have no doubt,” Twilight said, for she knew Cheerilee had the ears of a bat. She was a teacher, after all.
“Yes, I did,” Cheerilee responded rather despondently, and quickly.
Twilight tried to dispose of her stupid grin, but failed sadly. She approached the desk with subtle hoofsteps. “Are you... ready to go?” Twilight asked. “You’ve been cooped up in here for so long. I can’t imagine you’d still be working.”
“I’m not working.”
Twilight noticed that her lover had not yet turned to her. This was peculiar behavior. Cheerilee was normally the first smile to light up a room. It didn’t take a genius to understand that something was wrong. Unfortunately, Twilight was a genius, and so she completely misread the signs.
“I got you something!” Twilight cried, elated. “It’s... it’s nothing special, but, you know...” She set the gift down on the desk.
Finally, Cheerilee turned to face her visitor; she looked to the gift, which instantly appealed to her eye, yet failed to solicit the appropriate response. “Thank you, Twilight,” she said as she half-smiled and wiped away a tear that hadn’t the chance to fall.
Now, Twilight knew something was wrong. Her mood immediately dropped.
“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked. “Don’t you know what day it is? Did you forget something? Because I honestly don’t mind, as long as-”
“I know it’s our anniversary, Twilight,” Cheerilee interrupted. “I know. I didn’t forget. How could I?”
Twilight frowned. “Then what could it be? What’s bothering you?”
Cheerilee said nothing. Instead, she turned away, and gingerly slid a piece of paper Twilight’s direction. Cheerilee first hesitated to let go. With a sigh she released it, and from there she continued to sulk over a yet to be determined problem.
Twilight glanced down at the paper. Her brow furrowed. Leaning in closer, she could see what had been paining her marefriend. On the paper, a crude and terribly inaccurate drawing had been made. One of Cheerilee. It featured her strolling through a park, and apparently the maker of the piece did not want the viewer to miss that Cheerilee was slightly... bigger, in size. This was made painstakingly obvious by the barely legible hoofwriting scribbled into the left corner, which read “Cheerilee is fat and stupid”, granted the spelling of the phrase was horribly off.
“This is bothering you?” Twilight asked. “I don’t understand. Why are you so down and out over a false caricature of yourself?”
“Those are my kindergarteners,” Cheerilee replied and gulped loudly. It was obvious she was still trying to hold back tears. “They... they don’t like me.”
“That... happens?” Twilight tried to find the appropriate thing to say. “They’re young. They can’t quite comprehend the repercussions of their actions. You shouldn’t let it get to you...”
Twilight rounded the desk to a quietly sobbing Cheerilee. There, she put a hoof around her, gently, lovingly. She pressed her cheek into her mane. Twilight then kissed her marefriend softly on the crown of her head.
“This is a good day, a great day, even,” Twilight said. “It should be spent with a smile and me wrapping my hooves around you.”
Cheerilee merely shook her head. “Twilight, do you know how I got my cutie mark?”
Twilight thought about this. “Of course,” she said, “I stare at it every day. I should know.”
This induced a faint smile from Cheerilee. Twilight hoped it might; it was the smoothest thing she had ever said in her life.
“No, no,” Cheerilee said, again shaking her head miserably, her smiling faltering. “My students, got me this mark, Twilight,” she said. “I got this mark because of my love for students, for my love of watching them grow, watching them learn.” She felt fresh tears begin to form. “If they hate me... then what am I?”
Twilight again kissed her. “You’re everything to me,” she said.
“I know you mean well,” Cheerilee said as she stroked Twilight’s hoof that rested across her shoulder, “but you aren’t helping this, love.”
Twilight drew back. Swiftly, she turned Cheerilee in her chair to face her. There, they gazed into each other’s eyes, a familiar sight, and a welcome one.
“Listen to me,” Twilight said. “Like I said, they are young. They don’t understand.” She caressed the side of Cheerilee’s face. “You gotta mix it up a bit. You can get them to love you as I do, you have the ability. You can’t treat the younger ones like you do the older ones. You’ve got to be spontaneous! You’ve got to be witty and funny!” She kissed her.
Cheerilee forced a smile. “You’re terrible at those things!”
“Right,” Twi admitted. “But you aren’t.”
Another kiss.
They parted. Twilight smiled, and for the first time since she had walked through the door, Cheerilee, too, smiled.
“Guess what’s in the box,” Twilight whispered sensually into Cheerilee’s ear.
Cheerilee held back her tears. “Something that’ll make my student’s love me?”
Twilight’s grin spread even wider as she looked back into her lover’s eyes. “Close,” she said.
Cheerilee chuckled. “Twilight, it’s been a rough day. I... I’m sorry for this. You don’t need this on our anniversary.”
“No?” Twilight responded. “It gives me a real good reason to hold you.” Twi draped her hooves over Cheerilee, and the teacher affectionately returned the embrace.
“You know? You are helping after all, Twilight Sparkle.”
“They’ll come around, I promise you,” Twilight said. “They’ll love you as much as I do. They won’t have any reason to dislike you. You will have made it entirely impossible for them to do so!” She paused a moment before adding, this meaningfully, “I love you.”
Cheerilee kissed Twilight on the cheek. “I love you, too.”
There was no more time for tears now. Today was supposed to be memorable. Today was supposed to be great. It marked their one year anniversary, a year chalked full of joy and love. It was a special day that they were to share with each other. It was a day to remember for the rest of their lives. And this was only the beginning.
Twilight smirked devilishly. “Want to open your gift?”
Cheerilee put a hoof to Twilight’s lips. “I believe you owe me dinner first, Twilight Sparkle,” she said.
Both smiled lovingly.
The two then walked out of the schoolhouse, hoof in hoof, a fanciful gift riding atop twilight’s back. They walked away from worries and troubles. They walked away from crude pictures and rude jokes. What they had now, was this moment. What they had now, was each other.
The light went out in the schoolhouse. This marked a new beginning for the both of them. This was welcomed. Everything was going to be all right, just so long as they had one another.
Author's Note
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