The rest of the week passed in a whirlwind of activity. Between teaching her students and mentoring her guest, Cheerilee barely had a minute to spare, but it all came easily. Effortlessly.
On Wednesday, she introduced Somnambula to some other Pegasi, and a quick ascent in a borrowed hot-air balloon let her stay close by on a brief early-evening trip to Cloudsdale.
“Incredible,” Somnambula said as she took in the weightless, dusk-lit spires and columns. “To think that moisture is so plentiful that a whole city could be carved from the clouds!
Cloud Kicker, a local weather-smith, blushed purple on her lilac cheeks. “Aww, we do our best. It’s only possible thanks to this neat process we set up to force funnel-clouds over lakes at ground level.”
“Oh! Tell me more!” Somnambula flapped her wings quicker in excitement.
With her eyes locked on that sincere, almost foalish wonder, Cheerilee mistakenly leaned on the balloon’s burner pulley and sent herself lurching skyward.
• • • • •
On Thursday, the town’s Unicorns offered insights of their own. Somnambula flitted around the interior of a clocktower, and tracked the motions of pulleys and gears and springs.
She posed for a photograph portrait, and beckoned Cheerilee to join her. Once the flash went off and the plate was processed, the picture showed Somnambula’s dazzled eyes looking out at the viewer. Cheerilee’s, meanwhile, looked at Somnambula.
They visited a jewelcrafter, whose modern tools and magical techniques allowed for intricate and delicate works unlike any the Pillar had seen in her time.
“Oh, look!” Cheerilee said. “This amethyst pendant is the same colour as your eyes!” She brushed a hoof over the purple stone caged in a fine web of platinum wire.
“Then perhaps you should wear it, since I already have two of my own,” Somnambula said coyly, and batted her eyelashes.
Cheerilee tried to force another chuckle, but only a strained wheeze came out.
• • • • •
On Friday, a tour of the surrounding Earth Pony farmland showed lush, well-irrigated bounty that stretched out like an emerald ocean, out beyond the horizon.
“A lot of this land belongs to the Apple clan, but there’s more than enough space to go-” Cheerilee trailed off when she saw tears shining in Somnambula’s amethyst eyes. “... Are you okay?”
Somnambula nodded. “I’m sorry. Such plenty … it’s all a bit … overwhelming. In my homeland, the plants can only be coaxed to grow so lushly very close to the river delta. Here, it seems to go on forever. It’s beautiful …”
Cheerilee took in the sight of the graceful Pegasus standing at the crest of a hill, with the vast pastoral view laid out behind her and a gentle breeze rippling her sheer linen dress.
“Yeah … it r-really is …”
• • • • •
With the end of another school week, the pair toured the town at large, and let this or that building or business or landmark steer the ongoing lessons and conversation.
As they neared the market, Somnambula caught sight of the bookshop, and galloped ahead to explore what was on offer. Cheerilee left her to it, and opted for the candy shop across the street.
She effortlessly weaved through the weekend market-district crowds with her head and tail bobbing and a meandering hummed tune riding her every breath. When she breezed into the shop, the Earth Pony proprietor called her out in an instant.
“So …! Who’s the lucky Pony?”
The teacher popped from her reverie with a flick of her ears. “Huh…? What do you mean, Bonnie?”
Bon-Bon stopped polishing her glass countertop and raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? Just look at you. Expression, carriage, gait, even your tone of voice. You’re ABSOLUTELY infatuated with somepony.”
“I see.” Cheerilee offered a raised eyebrow right back. “Do ALL candy-makers have such refined social observation and profiling skills?”
Bon-Bon cleared her throat. “...Yes.”
After a short pause, Cheerilee let out a playful chuckle. “All right, all right. There, ah, there MAY be somepony new in my life. But it’s not like that! She’s just a student.” Cheerilee tensed and then added: “An ADULT student.” She heaved a sigh. “And I don’t know if she’s- gosh, I don’t even know if I’M …”
“Hay.” Bon-Bon offered the calm, confident smile that so often helped pull her sometimes-scattered wife back down to earth. “Listen. Let me share a top secret … candy-maker … technique with you, hmm?” She gestured Cheerilee forward and leaned over the counter conspiratorially.
Cheerilee trotted forward and obligingly craned her neck to lead with one ear.
The mare’s voice dropped to a breathless whisper. “What you need to do is …” All at once she was shouting at full volume. “...TALK TO HER!”
“Ahgh!” Cheerilee staggered back until her rump bumped into a free-standing gumball machine. The thing toppled, and Cheerilee scrambled to keep it upright with moves somewhere between pratfall and solo ballroom dance. “It’s … not that simple!” She cradled the fallen machine in a deep tango-dip.
“Pretty sure it is,” Bon-Bon countered from behind the counter. “Lyra sat next to me on a park bench every day for something like two weeks before she worked up the courage to try talking to me. And the next DAY after she did, we were dating.”
The tall, top-heavy dispenser refused to stay upright. Cheerilee reared up to brace its wobbling. “That’s different. This is a legendary heroine we’re talking about! Who am I to just …? And what if she…?”
“And what if she doesn’t?” Bon-Bon stepped out from behind the counter and trotted up to nudge the machine back upright with one gentle tap of a sand-coloured hoof. “Give it a try, Cheer. Somnambula seems like a really nice mare.”
Cheerilee frowned. “Did Lyra tell you about her? Or do you keep tabs on all the VIPs who come to Ponyville?”
“Candy-maker trade secret.” That calm, subtly playful smile flashed out again. “Also, she’s right behind you!”
Somnambula hovered into the doorway with a blocky paper parcel hugged to her chest. “They had an atlas, and an encyclopedia, AND an herbal!” she exclaimed in delight.
“Wonderful!” Cheerilee turned - careful to avoid the gumball machine this time - and then nodded back over her shoulder. “I was just getting some sweets from Bon-Bon, here. Would you like to try one?” She went back to the counter, hastily picked out a box of sugared preserved-fruit chews, and traded it for a few coins from her saddlebags.
As soon as Cheerilee held out the box, Somnambula happily nodded and plucked one up with her lips, and then Cheerilee did likewise. Somnambula hummed in approval as she chewed. “Mmm…!” She swallowed. “Is this a date?”
Cheerilee choked on her candy. Bon-Bon smirked.
Once she finished coughing and panting, Cheerilee looked down into the candy box for answers. “I’m … not sure. I’ve never had one like this before.”
“Sounds tricky!” Bon-Bon piped up from the counter. “Maybe you should talk about it!” Her finely honed candy-maker reflexes helped her duck Cheerilee’s thrown candy box.
• • • • •
A few minutes later, Cheerilee led Somnambula on a casual trot through the pond-side park. They stopped on one of the bridges over the meandering creek, and pony-watched for a while.
“I’ve told you so much already about how things changed in a thousand years,” she said as a trio of foals chased a ball and then piled into a giggling tumble down a small hill, “but I wanted to ask - what stands out to YOU? Apart from inventions, have Ponies changed? Do we still seem familiar to you?”
“As I said the other day, you are less afraid. I have heard of Princess Twilight’s exploits. They rival any heroic adventures from my time. These have been dark days, full of peril. And yet …” Somnambula watched the youths playing. Their smiling caretakers approached the group at a casual walk.
“Maybe we’re just used to all the chaos at this point?” Cheerilee replied with a small chuckle. “History never seems as epic when you’re in the middle of it. I’m sure we’re not any braver than Ponies from your era.”
The Pegasus smiled. “Perhaps you’re right.”
Cheerilee looked down at her reflection in the little brook, and took a slow, deep breath. She gave her other self a resolute nod, and then turned to face her guest. “Hay, um … there’s something else.” She could barely be heard over the happy park-goers. She tried to speak up. “I … I need to tell you-”
At the base of the little hill, the two stallions laughed with the trio of gleeful foals, and then shared an affectionate neck-nuzzle with each other.
And Somnambula frowned.
“This is absolutely not the world I left behind,” Somnambula said gravely. “In the time of my forebears, when our future hung in the balance, such unions were deemed forbidden. Obscene.” She noticed Cheerilee’s mid-sentence freeze, and her frown flowed to a look of concern. “Ah, but my apologies. You were saying?”
Cheerilee took a quick, sharp breath and swallowed hard. A lump in her throat dropped down into her stomach. “It’s … it’s nothing. Never mind.” She took off at a brisk trot. “Let’s go. I think the marsh-grass is giving me a-allergies.” She sniffled, eyes stinging.
The walk toward home was silent for a minute, and then two, before Somnambula spread her wings and swooped in a high arc to alight blocking Cheerilee’s path. “Please,” she said with a raised hoof. “What is the matter?”
“I told you, it’s nothing.” Cheerilee sucked in another half-hissed breath, as if she could pull back feelings as easily as air. When that failed, she stopped trotting. “I’m … just not sure I can keep doing this with you. I’m sorry.”
Somnambula gasped. “If I have somehow offended you, then please, accept my-”
“It’s not you…!” Cheerilee snapped. “It’s ME, okay?” She hung her head. “It’s me.”
“I don’t understand.”
Cheerilee kept her eyes downcast so the words would come. “You’re … amazing. You’re wise, and idealistic, and gentle, and beautiful, and even though you’re from the age of legends everything is a wonder to you.” Cheerilee felt her cheeks burn and her eyes well up. Her dark hide wouldn’t be enough to hide behind this time. “You’ve made me remember everything I love about teaching, and you didn’t even try. And I repaid you by … getting all stupid-eyed for you!”
A smooth pinion touched a trailing tear on Cheerilee’s cheek. “I am sorry … ‘getting all …?’”
Cheerilee finally looked up. “I LIKE you, okay?” Her bottom lip trembled. “I really like you! You make me feel like a giddy filly!” She looked aside. The tears flowed freely now. “I keep trying to focus on lessons, but every time I look at you, you’re all I can think about. All of my friends pushed me to tell you, but now that I have I can SEE how ridiculous I’m being. You’re a Pillar of Equestria, and older than the Royal Pony Sisters. Your time was different, and you were a legend in it. And I’m here, acting like I could EVER even TRY to live up to all that. Like you’d just change who and what you are on my account …” She sniffled again, struggling to get her breathing under control.
Somnambula put a hoof to Cheerilee’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry …”
“I know!” Cheerilee’s shoulders heaved. “Of course you are! Because even with all that you’re still this understanding, together, incredible mare, and I’m … I’m just …!” A shiver ran through her. “For Celestia’s sake, who am I to-”
Both front hooves cupped Cheerilee’s warm, tear-streaked cheeks. Somnambula stared deep into the Earth Pony’s pained, glowpaz-coloured eyes.
“You are Cheerilee the Teacher.” The Pillar of Hope leaned in and cut off any chance to reply with a firm, deep kiss.
Cheerilee’s eyes shot wide, and then fluttered closed, and then shot wide all over again. She drew back, breathless, and stumbled to stay upright. “B-But I thought you just said … you’re sorry … and in your time … such …?”
“I am, and they were,” Somnambula said with a nod. “I am sorry I ever made you feel so inadequate, when you have helped me find my way in this grand new world. And yes, in my time, such attitudes were the way of things … but they were never MY way.”
She reached out with hooves and wings to pull Cheerilee into a close embrace. “In my heart, I never gave up hope that someday Ponykind would rise above our fears, and accept love in all its forms. Your warmth and kindness helped that hope to flourish.” She leaned to offer cloud-soft kisses to Cheerilee’s neck and cheek, delicately over her shining eyes, and then down for another kiss, this time salted with tears. Cheerilee sobbed and laughed and kissed back, urgently. Gratefully. Passionately. Somnambula spread her wings, and they both hovered off the ground, alone together in a world of their own.
Across the pond, Berry Punch and her foal paused their stroll at the sight of the pair.
“Whoa,” said the little filly. “What happened?”
Berry smiled and nodded. “Looks like my cousin’s dreaming bigger after all.”
That earned a pause, and a frown. “What does that even MEAN?”
THE END