[}—–{ Lessons of Lost Love }–—{]
Coffee, Small Talk and Past Scars
“Nooooooooooooooo!” The three screams of the fillies behind them, while normally a sign of impending doom towards any unknowing pony that was unfortunate to stray into their path, brought a small little giggle bubbling up through Cheerilee’s chest. Walking alongside Cheerilee, Big Macintosh let out a hearty chuckle as well, throwing her another mischievous wink before glancing back to see the three fillies staring desperately at them with looks of sheer terror on their faces. Playing the deception further, Big Macintosh stepped just a few inches closer to the teacher, prompting another round of screaming from the distraught troublemakers behind them.
“Ah, music to my ears.” Cheerilee smiled at Big Mac before turning back to stare at the horizon that they were so-poetically walking into. “Those three always get into trouble somehow. Just the other day the three tried jumping from the roof of the schoolhouse screaming something about 'base jumping Cutie Marks'! I can't help but think I should have listened to my dad when he told me to go into music." The purple mare sighed wearily before continuing. “I suppose I was going to be their target of mischief someday.”
“Eeyup.” Always the stallion of a few words, Big Macintosh nodded in time with his trademark phrase.
“I still can’t believe that they thought we would have been some kind of perfect couple.” Cheerilee had to hide the blush that rose to her face, disguising it with a few coughs as well as brushing a hoof through her mane. "Not that you aren't a completely eligable stallion though."
Big Mac let out another of his gentle, rumbling chuckles, easing the embarrassed pony's discomfort. “Ah still cain’t believe that they thought I would be the one for you. Not sayin’ that you aren’t a good mare or nothin’, Miss Cheerilee.” The red stallion’s face burned crimson as he realized that he accidentally insulted Cheerilee.
A few moments of silence brewed, within which Big Macintosh saw the rest of his life flash before his eyes. After the visions had reached well into his forties, Cheerilee broke the silence that hung in the air between them, except in the kind of voice that every stallion dreads to hear from a mare: quiet. "Big Mac?”
“Eeyup?” His voice quavered and his shoulders tensed as he awaited the dreaded words to fall.
“Would you like to go get some coffee?” Cheerilee turned away to fight the blush that rose once again to paint her face as Big Mac looked over to her with an incredulous look. "W-w-well, I mean, it’s awfully late. And you probably have to go fix whatever damage those three fillies did when they were doing your chores. S-so I figured you-“ Cheerilee’s words sputtered into incoherency as the composure of a teacher shattered with embarrassment.
Big Macintosh, sensing the teacher’s obvious discomfort, decided to bring an end her red-faced suffering. “Eeyup.”
After a slightly lengthy walk back into Ponyville, which was quite the distance from the Apple Family’s livelihood, the two ponies found themselves at the door of a garishly pink coffee shop with its name spelled out in equally vomit-inducing mauve. Big Macintosh turned to Cheerilee and raised an eyebrow. To her credit, the purple mare blushed a brighter pink than the shop. “It-it’s not normally so pink. The owner just likes to… spruce things up a bit for days like today.” After a hanging moment of silence, Big Macintosh shrugged and trotted forward to pull open the door for Cheerilee. “Oh my, thank you Big Mac.”
Letting the door swing shut behind him after he walked in behind the mare, Big Macintosh was assaulted with an explosion of bright color. Ah’ve never seen so much pink in mah life. That was all the crimson stallion had time to think before another kind of explosion happened right in front of him.
“Oh my, look at these two dearies!” A hoof, coming from a pony dressed in pink whose face looked like it had been bombarded with make-up, grabbed onto Big Mac’s face and pressed it up against Cheerilee’s cheek, which had been shoved towards him with the mare’s other hoof. “Just two regular lovebirds on a date.” Suddenly the force that pressed him up against the teacher disappeared as the sunshine-yellow mare let go of the two ponies and hugged herself excitedly. “Aren’t you two just the cutest couple I’ve ever seen?!”
Big Macintosh stepped forward at the word couple, asserting himself over the mare who was practically gushing exuberance. “Ma’am, Ah’m gonna have to-“
However much asserting the crimson stallion was able to do; it wasn’t enough to stop the owner from interrupting him. “Oh, I know what you want dearie! Don’t you worry, I have just the table for you two lovebirds!” Despite their protests, Big Mac and Cheerilee were soon seated at one of the most “Hearts and Hooves Day”-esque tables that Equestria itself had ever known. “Now, I will be your captain on the ship to love today.” The mare positively beamed at the two crushed against each other on the smaller-than-normal bench. “I’m also known as Tea Cozy.”
A voice called out from the back of the shop, prompting the make-up clad pony to jerk up in surprise before turning back to them with an excited smile. “I’ll leave you two lovebirds to find out what you’d like to drink. Be back soon!” As the mare’s singsong voice disappeared into the general din that hovered about the store, Big Macintosh and Cheerilee both let out a weary sigh that they had been holding in.
After their shared sigh, the pink-maned teacher shot a smile at the crimson stallion that was pressed up against her, though to his credit he was taking great care not to get too close. “So, how has your day been going?” At Big Macintosh’s incredulous look, she decided to elaborate. “What I meant was, before we were almost married due to the effects of a love potion.” Cheerilee couldn’t help but blush a little at the prospect but the change in her facial temperature was missed by the stallion next to her.
Big Macintosh gave a small, wistful smile at the recent memory. “Nothin’ too bad, jus’ some normal chores ‘round the town that some ponies needed doin’.” A moment of silence passed awkwardly before Big Macintosh decided to break it. “What about you? Ah’m sure a day of a teacher would be a mite more interesting than a farmer’s.”
“Well, not as much as you would think.” Cheerilee shrugged nonchalantly. “Today was a shortened day due to the…er… holiday.” Big Macintosh chuckled as she gestured helplessly to the absolute wall of pink that assaulted their eyes in every direction.
“Eeyup.”
“And, well, after the school day let out I… um… went back home.” Cheerilee finished her story lamely, and with a hint of something more being left unsaid. Before Big Macintosh could inquire as to what was plaguing the teacher’s mind, their ever-annoying server decided to make yet another appearance.
“Why, hello dearies!” Cheerilee and Big Mac both had to suppress a sigh as the violently yellow mare jumped up beside their table. “Have you two lovebirds decided on what you want to drink?”
In the corner of his vision, Big Mac could see the brightest blush he’d ever seen on Cheerilee’s face beginning to form. Enough was enough. Standing up slowly, so as to not cause the entire restaurant to panic about a stallion gone mad, Big Macintosh fixed Tea Cozy with a firm stare. “Ma’am, Ah understand that you’re just doin’ your job, but me and Miss Cheerilee right here are comin’ to this fancy place as friends,” Tea Cozy flinched at the stress that he placed on the word, “and Ah would appreciate it if you would stop callin’ us things we ain’t.”
The poor waitress had looked as if somepony had slapped her with a trout that they had produced out of nowhere. “Oh, um, yes, well.” After a few seconds of sputtering like that, Tea Cozy had finally regained her composure, though it was a shaky one and, thankfully, not one gushing romance like it had been. “W-w-well, have you two lo-friends decided on what to drink?”
Big Macintosh sat back down on the other side of the table from Cheerilee as the latter ordered them both medium cups of coffee. After the shaken waitress had departed, Cheerilee flashed a grateful smile at the stallion across the table. “Thank you, Big Mac, she’s not normally like that but it’s the holiday and all.”
“Eeyup.” A moment of silence passed between them, within which the waitress returned with their drinks and departed without another word. “Say, Miss Cheerilee, why is it that a nice mare like yourself doesn’t have any Special Somepony?” Big Mac looked up from his coffee to see the mare across the table from him staring deeply into her own. “Miss Cheerilee?”
“Hmm? What?” The teacher tore her gaze away from the black liquid that occupied her cup and looked around with an air of confusion, like a dreamer coming out of a nice sleep. “Oh, I don’t know. I guess I never found anypony to be that special to me.” Cheerilee sighed into her coffee and took a swig of the warm drink, enjoying the wave of heat that it spread along her body.
“Ah have two sisters, Miss Cheerilee, Ah can tell when a pony isn’t answering a question with the truth.” A few seconds ticked by before a now-embarrassed Big Macintosh continued. “Ah’m sorry, Miss Cheerilee, Ah don’t mean to pry. If ya don’ want to talk with me, Ah understand. Ain’t my business, after all.”
“No, no, that’s all right. It’s just that… well, some things in the past are a little hard to think about.” Cheerilee stared deeply into her coffee and eventually took a sip, looking up at Big Mac after she had finished her contemplation. “Have you ever done something that you knew was bad but you wanted to do it anyway?”
“Eeyup. When Ah was just a colt, Ah went climbin’ the apple trees to get the best apples that didn’t want to fall down at mah kicks.” Big Mac chuckled at the memory of his younger self. “Granny Smith nearly blew her top when she saw me climbin’ those trees. Ah couldn’t hear right for a week after she got through yellin’ at me.”
“Well, for me it was a little more serious than just climbing a tree I wasn’t supposed to.” Cheerilee smiled wistfully as her eyes turned inward to peer into her past. “For me, it was loving somepony that I shouldn’t have.”
Cheerilee walked down the street, smiling all the way. Tonight she was off to go meet with her special somepony for a nice night out on the town with all of her friends along for the ride. “Oh, I’m so excited!” Her wavy hair bounced as her every skip brought her that much closer to where she was meeting with them all.
The streets of Manehatten were brightly lit and packed with ponies off to have a good time, just like it always was. “Ah, there’s the place!” They had all agreed to go out to a bowling alley earlier that week, and Cheerilee bounced inside to see all of her friends already waiting for her at one of the lanes down at the far end of the building.
Obviously the owner didn’t want such a wild group disturbing the rest of his customers. Cheerilee, however, didn’t think of this as she trotted over to her friends while scanning their faces for the familiar one of her coltfriend. One of her friends threw his arm over her shoulder and led her into the group, smirking at her as she looked around in confusion. “Relax, Cheers, he’s not here yet.”
Another of her friends, Scarlet Scare, pushed forward and sniffed angrily. “Late as usual.” Cheerilee was on the verge of retorting vehemently until the colt who had his hoof around her shoulders laughed good-naturedly.
“Relax, Scarlet, he’s probably just-“
“Hey, get your hooves of my gal!” Every last one of the ponies in the group turned to see a brown stallion with a dark, greasy mane standing up on the staircase that led down to the lanes. “Sorry for being late, I had some business that needed attending to.” The stallion held out his hoof to Cheerilee and smiled. “C’mer Cheerie.”
The purple mare broke free of her friend’s grasp and practically galloped over to her colt friend. “It’s so nice to see you again, Richey.” Behind her, the group of ponies all made goo-goo eyes and kissy faces at the embracing couple. “Ready for some fun?”
“Fun? I’m always game for that.” Filthy Rich flashed a smile at the rest of the ponies that were around them, minus the faces that the had been making at the two. "Say, let’s make it a little more interesting.” Turning around to open the saddlebag at his side, Filthy produced a bag of jingling coins to clink on the table. “How about we make it a competition? The team with the most points gets the bag of bits.” The rest of the ponies eyed the bag with eyes filled with wonder. Half of them hadn’t seen so many of the golden coins in one place at once before. “Of course, everypony else has to put in some money towards the pot.”
“What?!” Scarlet stepped forward again. “That’s crazy. Why would we bet money on a simple game of bowling? It’s always money with you isn’t it Filthy?” The red unicorn jabbed an accusing hoof at the brown stallion, whose face darkened at the use of his unsavory name.
“Aw cmon, Scarlet, he’s just looking to make it more fun for us.” The stallion that had quieted her protests before threw his hoof over her shoulder casually. “What’s a few bits for the sake of fun? Besides, if we win then we get the gold.”
Scarlet brushed away the hoof angrily and stalked away. “If you want to waste your money, fine, but count me out.” The unicorn called it over to her shoulder as she made her way out into the street. The rest of the group turned to look at the pony whose comforting hoof had been shoved away.
The dark-blue pegasus shrugged nonchalantly, used to the rejection. “No problem, we’ll just play without her. It makes us evened out anyway.”
The rest of the ponies that remained all tossed in a few bits each, establishing the pot for their little competition. “All right then,” Filthy Rich hoisted a bowling ball in his hooves and smiled at Cheerilee, who returned the smile with one of her own, “let’s get this started!"
As the night pressed on and the pins fell to the continuous onslaught of the hardened spheres smashing into them over and over again, Cheerilee shared her team’s groans at the failed attempts at bowling as well as the cheers at every strike or spare. “Hey, Cheerie, it’s your go.” Filthy Rich poked her with a hoof and smiled.
“B-b-but I can’t bowl!” Cheerilee remained where she had been seated, that is, until the brown stallion pulled her up from the sofa. “Please, Richey, I can’t!”
“Sure you can, Cheerie, just push the ball down the lane and hit the pins. It’s easy.” With one last push, Filthy sent Cheerilee out onto the lacquered wood along with a bright pink bowling ball. “Don’t worry about it, hun, we’re in the lead anyway.” Cheerilee nodded and shakily picked up the bowling ball with her hooves, trembling at the sheer weight of the sporting equipment. She stared uneasily down the lane to where the ten pins stood, white and pristine, waiting to be knocked down. “C’mon, Cheerie, we don’t have all night.” She gasped and started forward only to slip and fall onto her flank, sending the ball rolling straight into the gutter.
Heat rose to her face as laughter from the other team as well as the groans from her own reached her ears. Just then the timer rang, signaling the end of their reserved time to bowl. The ponies all crowded around the scoreboards, staring up at the teams’ scores. “Oh no!” Another wave of embarrassment washed over Cheerilee as she stared up at the two scores. 100………101 "We… lost?”
The blue stallion from before let out a hearty laugh. “Well, I guess we won this one!” His hoof reached down to scoop up the bits and the bag of money that had been sitting on the center table. “Cmon guys, let’s get this all divied up. Thanks for the cash, Filthy.” The rest of the group all left in ones and twos, the victors laughing and joking while the losers tending to their hurt pride.
Cheerilee walked over to the brown stallion who was still staring in disbelief at the shining numbers that represented their scores. “Richey? Are you okay?” She gently put her hoof on his shoulder. “Richey?”
“It’s all your fault.” The stallion’s voice was soft at first, merely a whisper, until it came back as a roar. “IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!”
“And after that he stormed out of the place, leaving me standing there with a heavy ball in my hand and a knife in my heart.” Cheerilee sighed and finished off the rest of her coffee, which had grown cold over the course of her story. “You know, some of my friends had told me that Filthy wasn’t any good, that I shouldn’t stay with him… that he didn’t care.” Wiping a hoof across her teary eyes, Cheerilee let out another sigh. “Sometimes I wish I had listened to them instead of fighting with them about it. Would have saved myself a lot of heartbreak that way.”
Big Macintosh sat silent for a moment as Cheerilee did the same. “Ah wish Ah could offer you some sort of comfort, Miss Cheerilee, but Ah’m afraid Ah cain’t.”
The purple mare shook her head and gave the stallion a watery smile. “That’s okay, Big Mac, being here is enough for me.” Another awkward moment of silence passed between the two, within which Cheerilee took the opportunity to glance out of the window. “Oh no! It’s late!” Standing up with the suddenness of her statement, Cheerilee tossed a few bits onto the table. “Sorry I have to run, but I’ve got to get ready for school tomorrow!” Just as she reached the door, Cheerilee turned to smile at the red stallion who had listened to her woes of the past. “Thanks for spending today with me, Big Mac, I’ll tell you the rest of the story another day.”
As the door swung shut, Big Macintosh was left alone in an empty shop, save for the few waitresses making their way around the tables to clean up the café. Smiling to himself, the farmer sipped at his coffee that had also grown cold. “Thank you, Miss Cheerilee, for spending it with me.”