//------------------------------//
// A Striking First 
// Story: Schoolhouse Library - Twilee Tales 
// by The1Ryu 
//------------------------------//

Twilight took slow careful steps as she moved along the dirt roads of Ponyville on her way to the post office, still new to the town she had only ever seen the building once but was fairly sure she could find her way there again.  After all, it was a small town.  Her friends would all eventually comment that they thought she didn't need to use the postal services with Spike's ability to send letters instantaneously with his dragon fire.  Sadly that only worked to send mail to Celestia, letters to her brother or parents had to be sent the normal way.  

What was worse was that today she needed to send letters to both, she was long overdue on her correspondence and if they didn't go out today then Twilight would start receiving rather guilt inducing letters asking why she hadn't sent any news and blah, blah-blah, blah ba!

And of course this had to be a day that Spike had to go and sneak out, she could not have possibly given him such an inconvenient day off, to bother Rarity or something.  And of course, she was right in the middle of important research on limited historical accounts of pony and kirin societal interactions, research she just couldn't stop for such a minor task.  

So here she was walking slowly through Ponyville a book held in her magic trying to find the post office while continuing her research.  Sure she might have been able to get there faster if she wasn't reading, but the thought of halting her research of even a second sent a cold shiver down her spine.  Besides being outside had its advantages, the light was great for reading, and she was just getting to a really fascinating chapter of her book.  

"Oof!" The sound of the air suddenly being forced from her lungs, Twilight registered the sound a moment before she felt the force of the object strike her chest.  Warm and firm, that was what described the object that struck her chest.  It didn't have a lot of force, but it did have a steady momentum forcing Twilight back before it halted.  

"Oh no!"  Oddly Twilight didn't hear the voice until the face had appeared before her swinging into view as it tossed her book away casting it aside with a strike of a cerise cheek.  Suddenly Twilight was staring into a pair of wide green eyes filled with surprise and concern.  What an odd combination, Twilight thought between wondering why her chest was so tight and who was banging a drum so close to her head it felt like each beat was reverberating out of her ears.  

"Are you all right?" There was the sound of that voice, reverberating with the same concern that was in the wide green eyes.  Or rather eye as the other was shut as a hoof rubbed against that side of the face. 

"Oh!" Twilight suddenly gasped the world coming back into focus and the sounds of the town rushing into her ears.  "Oh no are you ok?  I'm so, so sorry I shouldn't have been reading while I was walking but, I was doing research and I had to go to the post office because my BBBFF won't stop bugging me until I send him a letter and I really do miss him I'm just really busy."  

Cheerilee failed to stifle a small tittering laugh at Twilight rushed and deep explanation, "Umm, ok.  But it wasn't your fault I wasn't watching where I was going either.  I was rummaging through my bag."  Cheerilee turned to gesture back at her saddlebags which were stuffed with scrolls of paper.  "I was sure I'd forgotten my grocery list at the school and Celestia knows what I'll end up with if I don't have it.  I'm Cheerilee by the way."  She turned back to Twilight a warm friendly smile greeting the unicorn.

"Oh hi, it's nice to meet you, I'm..." Twilight face suddenly fell, what the hell was her name?  Cheerilee, no that was the other mare's name, but Twilight couldn't think of anything else.  Then she remembers, her mother, she was named after her mother who was... "Twilight!"  

"Twilight?" Cherrilee's smile fell to concern worry playing in her eyes.  

"Sparkle, Twilight Sparkle that's it, yep."  The sudden urge to teleport away came over Twilight, luckily the complicated formula for the spell was beyond her abilities at the moment.  She could only think of simple things like cerise coat, pink mane, green eyes, Cheerilee, and etc.

"Are you sure you're ok?  You're very red maybe you have a fever," Cheerilee asked.  Twilight's response came out as little more than a squeak as Cheerilee pressed her forehead against the side of Twilight's horn.  

"Hmm, you don't feel too hot, oh sorry."  Cheerilee pulled back embarrassment playing across her face as she gave a shy smile and rubbed the back of her head.  "Occupational habit, schoolteacher."  

Suddenly, long buried imagings of Celestia resurfaced in Twilight's mind though her beloved mentor was suddenly replaced by a cerise mare with green eyes.   Twilight's face began to glow red and a much older instinct kicked in.  

"Well it was nice meeting you, we should go on a date sometime, bye!"  Twilight vaguely wondered if the string of words she'd just spoken summed up to anything coherent, but right now she was too busy running in a direction to think of anything else.  

As Twilight disappeared into the streets of Ponyville Cheerilee gave a small titter of laughter.  She couldn't deny the mare was cute, she would probably keep this one.