Miss Cheerilee lives in the most interesting town in Equestria, and the incredible events unfolding all around her have left her feeling unremarkable in comparison. As fate would have it, however, what’s been missing in her life all along turns out to be yet another epic, history-making heroine …
An entry for the 2022 Crackship Contest (https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/976293/crackship-contest-2022-jan-06-mar-03)
This fic takes place after the conclusion of the present-day FiM storyline, but before the ‘distant finale’ era of the epilogue.
Chapters (2)
Cute story.
Woo! Glad to see it up.
I had a blast pre-reading this!
Crackship? Eh… something different with two characters I rarely get to read about (and complete!).
Why not
Dayum, that was SMOOTH.
There's crackship and then there is unique pairing.
You might have written this for a crack ship competition, but really, you wrote the development so well for such a short story, I can't help but feel it is not one. It is a genuine romantic fic with a unique pairing I had't think about before. But now that I have, it makes so much sense.
I am a shipper of all kinds, but I never really had a headcanon favorite ship for Cheerilee... until I read this. Great job, Cheerilee x Somnambula has officially entered my headcanon, and this story has entered my favorites shelf.
Signing out,
VShuffler42
Very good
Welp, I lose. This hits every emotional aspect of the genre perfectly.
This STILL makes me laugh out loud whenever I read it. Poor Cheerilee's just a smitten disaster
Lol, that ending line. This was really pleasant to read.
I'm not so sure this qualifies as a crack ship. Unique? Yes. Crack ship? Maybe. Either way, this was really well written and fleshed out for only being two chapters long. This ship actually makes sense on many levels.
Well done! 
Haha, lesbian horses
This soo needs a fic to carry on this story. It could be so cute. And who wouldntt wanna see a couple messs ups caused by old customs
aww, calling wondering if you're living up to your potential "hindgazing" is just so wonderfully pony, i absolutely love it augh
augh, Lyra is such a blabbermouth!
it definitely did stand out to me that Twilight started an entire school in Ponyville without ever involving the town's one teacher, haha! love that i'm getting to see the other side of that oversight
oof! great connection to make. just a side-effect of the show kind of forgetting about Cheerilee in the later seasons, augh!
ahaha what a fantastic first impression
aww, good thing civilization has had such common touchstones for millennia!
that it's natural for a teacher to be considered important enough to have house staff... this really says a lot about society! also, Somnambula not realizing that indoor plumbing has automated away the need to move water around, fun touch!
society...
i do love how inconsistent Equestrian technology is! i can totally believe iceboxes existing alongside refrigerators in homes, why not?
oof, love that deflated sag. poor Cheerilee!
haha, i'd have that reaction too
hahaha, i love this. so Lyra!
i will never not want to be reminded that LyraBon are married now it makes me so happy
aww, that is a good point! i mean, would it be too far off to even call Cheerilee the Element of Teaching?
a pony without clothes on? how scandalous!
hehehe gottem
definitely something that should've been more explored! really makes you think
it just struck me that it's specifically the cities of the American mid-Atlantic that get ponified! and it's always fun to see these cities mentioned. it feels like they should be more important in the show's setting than they are!
aww, it is worth thinking about how different things were in the past to better appreciate our modern world of plenty
augh, i love this moment of connection! and a nice way to call back to the hindgazing earlier in the chapter
adorable slapstick
oof
hahaha, too real! love these three mini-scenes of Cheerilee being down bad, and understandably so
hehehe, love it! augh, Secret Agent Bon Bon really is the best
whew
hahaha, this is top tier romantic comedy
i admit, this took me a second. clever!
i mean, i remember how Ponyville reacted to Zecora... but i guess they're better now about that kind of thing!
oh noooooo
auaugh
so beautiful...
ah, love how this comes full circle at the end!
this was a very adorable tale! augh, it makes me feel bad even at myself for not really thinking about Cheerilee much, dismissing her even in my mind as a character without much interesting to say about. especially as the scope of the show widened to Equestria-threatening villains and resurrected mythical founders! even within Ponyville, we have secret agents and world travellers, making Cheerilee feel small even among her fellow background ponies. with the background pony-heavy cast, this was a fun exploration of this world through the eyes of a pony who is not at the center of it, and a wonderfully fluffy and comforting bit of wish-fulfillment. and of course i just loved how perfect Somnambula's lines and actions were to fluster Cheerilee throughout, so fun! thank you for it!
11240279
Your detailed comments are sincerely appreciated! So glad that so many of my little touches and cute moments landed well!
For your kind efforts, I offer a little easter egg no one has mentioned spotting yet: As a nod to Somnambula, the title and the chapter headers are all riffs on quotes about hope. "Hope Springs Eternal" from Alexander Pope, "Hope is Grief's Best Music", author unknown, and "Hope is a Waking Dream" from Aristotle.
this might be the most well-written crackship i';ve seen on this whole site! the fandom headcanon references, cheerilee being berry punch's cousin makes perfect sense given their near-identical color palettes, cheerilee's gripes about the school of friendship being nonsensical bullcrap are completely justifued, and cheerilee crushing hard on Somnambula is adorable. the fact you managed to write a story about a pony who's name i can't even remember how to spell and made her so likeable is awesome. i even liked the quotes about hope in the titles referencing Somnambula's stick from the comics
It means more presents at birthdays and hearths warming.