The next few days were quiet. Rumble and Cheerilee didn’t talk to one another as much as they had been before. He seemed to revert back to his old self, being the quiet and reserved student who wasn’t as social as he should be. Cheerilee, even though it pained her to see this, kept her emotions in check and tried to stay as normal as she could. She tried to get Rumble to stay after so they could talk, but he always had an excuse whether it be his brother having the flu or having to help Sweetie Belle with her homework. She knew something was wrong, but also thought him having some space to himself was the best solution. Until he was ready to talk, they would both have to live their normal lives and keep things hidden.

‘Now, lets see...’ Cheerilee thought. ‘She used proper grammar, but missed a punctuation.’ Her pen made a mark. ‘The examples are adequate, granted I basically gave them to her’ She writes a small note on the side next to the paragraph. ‘Hmm...What grade do I give you Scootaloo?’ Cheerilee tapped her pen to the table as she pondered what to give the girl.

“I think she deserves an A if you ask me,” a voice interjected from behind. Cheerilee’s train of thought was broken as she jumped back in surprise.

“God are you trying to give me a heart attack!?” Cheerilee asked, as her guest made her way around the desk. She sat on a desk in the front, giggling, as Cheerilee rolled her eyes and got back to work.

“You really need to lighten up sis.”

“And you really need to mature a little Berry.” The younger sibling giggled a little more, her violet hair swinging behind her, long and unkempt. “Did you need something?”

“What? I can’t stop in and say hi?” she asked in mock sadness.

Cheerilee sighed, “Look, I’m just busy and don’t have time for messing around.” Cheerilee looked up, noticing Berry’s casual apparel -- a pair of jeans and a dark red t shirt, showing off her chest a little bit. No doubt she had just come from her shift at the bar, she always tried to look for the customers, though she never took it too far. Her high top sneakers Converse swung in the air as Berry leaned back a bit to get comfortable.

“You ok?” Berry asked in concern. “Work got you down?”

Cheerilee sighed as she put her pen down, “Yeah, stress of this and some other things.” She rubbed her eyes, trying to make herself wake up.

“Why would it be that bad? Aren't the kids almost done with school?”

“Well, yes. Though, the last few assignments are always a bit...tedious,” Cheerilee lied, not knowing if Berry could be trusted with the real reason.

“Uh huh...want to tell me the real reason?”

'Crap, I forgot she was that good,' Cheerilee thought to herself. Her sister wasn’t an easy girl to trick, and Cheerilee wasn’t the best at lying either. Berry got up and walked to her Sister’s desk, leaning forward with her hands on the table.

“Cheer, I’m a bartender.” She smiled proudly. “I think I can tell when someones BS-ing me.”

“Look,” Cheerilee began, “There are just things in my life right now that are not only physically draining, but just take away from me altogether. I just need a little time to think is all.”

“So work to make the problem go away?”

“If it helps, it helps.” Cheerilee looked back towards the paper, before finally putting an B+ on the paper in front of her, causing Berry to shoot her an annoyed gaze. “What? The girl’s getting better at the very least.”

Berry got up from the desk and walked around to her sisters chair, extending an arm towards her. “Come on, you’re taking a break.” Cheerilee looked at her, confused. “My sister isn’t burying herself in work to ignore a problem.”

Cheerilee thought about it for a moment, before smiling and taking her hand. “What do you suggest then?” She asked as she stood up.

“Want to walk and talk? It doesn’t even have to be about the problem if you’d like”

“That sounds perfect”

The park was mostly empty, most people had gone home by this time as the sun began to set off in the distance. The trees that blocked the sun’s final rays almost seemed to shine a mix of green and orange. The two sisters walked along the park’s path, looking out at the scene, not wanting to ruin it with words just yet. After about five minutes, Berry made the first comment.

“You really do need to stop working so much Cheer.”

“Easy for you to say dear.” Cheerilee looked over and saw Berry’’s glare. “I’m not saying you don’t work sis, I’m just saying that its harder for me to just drop work.”

“Even though I can’t argue that, I still think its bad.”

“Why can’t I have my way of coping and you have yours?” Cheerilee asked in mock annoyance.

“Well,” Berry smiled, “my way involves a glass of pinot grigio and friends.”

“Ok, why is your way better than mine?”

“Cheerilee, lets look at it this way.” The two sisters stopped at a large fountain, the centerpiece being of the two princesses of the land, Celestia and Luna. “My ways include being with others and having fun. Your ways are doing more stressful things to make the other stressful things less relevant.”

Cheerilee looked over at her. “Well, I have friends Berry. I just find being alone and keeping myself occupied helps more. Besides, what kind of person would I be if I just did things with people because I was upset?”

“I know they’d be a person who cared for you.”

Cheerilee stopped and looked at her reflection in the water, the image being rippled as the fountain continued to run. “Person who cared...” a faint blush appeared on her face as she said this.

Berry noticed this and got next to her sister, grinning. “It’s a boy isn’t it?”

Cheerilee turned bright red as she shot a look of confusion at her, “W-What?”

“Don’t lie Cheerilee.” she said in a devilish voice, “I told you I could read people, and you’re about as easy as a kid's book.” Berry laughed as Cheerilee tried to look as confused as possible.

“I-I really dunno --”

“You’re face is also as red as a tomato, if that's not an easy giveaway.” Cheerilee looked back at the water and saw the image of a blushing, frazzled woman.

“Uhh...I-Its allergies deary, t-that's all.” Berry continued to stare at her sister, the smile still on her face. “You’re not going to stop are you?” Berry shook her head. Cheerilee sighed and sat on the edge of the fountain, looking away from Berry.

Berry reached into her pocket and pulled out a coin, “You need to stop trying to hide things too. Its not good for a person.”

“Are bartender’s suppose to be psychiatrists too?”

“Only the good ones.” She tossed it into the fountain, before sitting down next to her sister. “Look, what's up? Is the guy bad or something?”

“No...” Cheerilee looked the other way.

“Is he violent?”

“No, h-he...”

“Is it a girl?”

“He’s a student...”

Berry leaned back, her eyes wide open as she tried to comprehend what she just heard. She wasn’t as shocked as she should be, it was more worry than anything else. She knew how much her sister love to teach, and the consequences of this could stop that forever. The two sat in silence for a while, the youngest still trying to find something to say.

“W-Who is he?” she finally asked.

‘Its Rumble, Thunderlane’s brother. You know him right?” Berry nodded. “Me and him had always had a sort of relationship. I always helped him with the bullies and socializing. That lead to us talking a lot, and in just became normal for us to converse about everyday things. I started to consider him a close friend, someone I could talk to. One day, after we got stuck in the schoolhouse because of a storm, he came out and expressed how he felt to me. Normally, it would be a ‘sorry, but it could never happen’ but...this was different.” Cheerilee looked up at the clouds, before continuing, “I felt something change as he said that. I thought of him as something more than a friend...it just took him to help me realize that.”

Berry sat there, taking in her sister’s words. She could see that Cheerilee did truly care for this boy, but still worried.

“Cheerilee,” she began, “You do realize you could lose your job over this right? Hell, you could lose your license and never teach again if they catch you.”

“I know that, but...”

“But what? Sis, this isn’t something you’d usually do! You’re smart, you think about consequences, haven't you even consider-”

“I don’t care Berry!” Cheerilee’s dramatic tone change made her sister jump back. “I just don’t! I love to teach, its something I’ve always loved! But, this...this is something that I feel right doing!”

“Feel right doing?” Berry moved back to her side as she wrapped an arm around Cheerilee. “Sis...you really feel that much for him?”

Cheerilee nodded, “More than I’ve felt for someone in a while.”

Berry then stood up, bringing her sister with her and pulling the both of them into a hug. “Sis,” she began, “I think you're crazy for doing this, and I normally wouldn’t help someone with this sort of problem. But if something happens, my door is open for both of you.” Berry pulled back for a moment, looking Cheerilee dead in the eye. “But remember, I’m not supporting this sort of thing fully. And if you hurt him Cheer, I will have no regrets turning you in.” Berry’s voice almost scared Cheerilee, but she knew her sister was right.

“Fine,” Cheerilee gave Berry a small kiss on the cheek, “Thank you sis...maybe you don’t need to mature as much as I thought.”

“Ok...how about that one?”

“No, it’s way too big for her. She wouldn’t want something that would add a ton of weight to her neck”

Rumble groaned as Thunderlane continued to look at the various necklaces and various jewelry behind the glass counter. He had brought him here in order for them to talk a little bit, seeing as how Rumble had been a bit more quiet as of late.

“Remind me again why I’m helping you with necklace shopping?” Rumble asked in slight annoyance.

“Because I can’t ask Dash,or else it wouldn’t be a surprise. Plus I don’t want her friends to know.”

“You don’t trust her friends?”

“No, I do trust them. I just don’t know if Rainbow’s let on about our relationship yet.”

“Oh, I see.” Rumble looked back at the jewelry case, thinking about a few things. His mind inevitably went to Cheerilee, who he thought would look nice in a few of these pieces. He especially like one of the gold chains on display that showed three smiling flowers.

“If it makes you feel better,” Thunderlane began, shaking Rumble out of his thoughts, “I also did this for you.”

“Me? Why?” Rumble asked as the two of them moved over to another case.

“Because dude, you seem really distant as of late. More so than I’ve seen before.”

“O-Oh.” Rumble looked away in embarrassment, “Its fine dude, just have some things on my mind.”

“Like what? Jobs? Friends?” Thunderlane jabbed his arm “Girls?” Chuckling a bit as Rumble hide the faint blush on his face.

Please don’t let him have seen, please don’t let him have seen. Rumble thought to himself.

“Seriously though, what’s up?”

Rumble had been a bit distant from everyone lately, and it was because of the night he had with Cheerilee. Ever since then, he’s been scared to even look at her. He still loved her, but some of the things he did during that night made him become...scared of himself. He was so rough with her, and thats just not the kind of man he was. But when he was with her, Rumble couldn’t hold back, even going so far as to finish inside of her. Sure, she asked for it, but he didn’t even question what he was doing. The more Rumble thought about it, the more nervous he got that he could hurt Cheerilee or someone.

“Its just...I don’t know.” Rumble lied, he couldn’t tell his brother, he’d flip.

“Dude, I’m your brother, you can tell me things man.” Thunderlane sighed. “Not ready huh?”

Rumble nodded. ‘Hey bro’ he thought ‘I’m in a relationship with my teacher who I think I might hurt when we have sex, what do I do?’ Rumble laughed a little at that knowing he couldn’t say something like that to his bro.

“Well, remember I’m here for you alright?” Thunderlane wrapped a shoulder around his bro. “You may almost be an adult, but your still my little bro”

Rumble smiled at that, “Thanks man.” He thought for a second. “Well, maybe you can help me with something”

Thunderlane smiled, “Shoot”

“Well, I have a friend, and he’s worried that he may have hurt someone. But he’s too scared to talk to that person out of fear. He liked that person, but doesn’t know what to do. And he can’t talk to anyone about it. What should he do?”

“Well, he told you about it apparently.” Thunderlane smiled as Rumble’s face turned red out of embarrassment. “Your ‘friend’ should talk the person straight on. Hiding never solves anything in my opinion.”

“And what about him being scared?”

“Being scared is a part of life Rumble. It’s what makes people who they are. They either hide and cower, and let things go by in life. Or they stand up to the fear, fight it and experience things that can shape them for the better.”

Rumble thought about it for a moment and realized he was right. Rumble needed to talk to Cheerilee in order to fix this. Hiding would only make the both of them feel bad.

“Thanks Thunder, you’re smart when you need to be.” Rumble said with a chuckle

“I try.” He gently punched Rumble on the shoulder.

Rumble looked back down and pointed at the glass.”Hey, Dash would look nice in that one”

Thunderlane looked down and saw the necklace, it was a small silver necklace with a center piece that pictured a storm cloud shooting out a lightning bolt of rainbow. “That's not bad actually.” Thunderlane high fived his brother. “You know, you're better at this than I thought.”

They laughed at that as the two purchased the necklace and left the store, even though Rumble’s mind was still on Cheerilee.

Author's Note

Not dead yet.

Just had to write through many annoyances, such as writer's block, anger, boredom, etc
It's shorter, yes. but why drag it on and make it have to fit the rest of the chapters, that's stupid to me.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed, more to come....sometimes, no dates when. HOPEFULLY soon.