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// Story: Out of the Book Club
// Chapter: Chapter 2: Cherilee and Drearily
// Author: ThatOneYellowPony
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You didn’t have to tell Cherilee twice that Earth Pony Kindergarten sucked. She was so excited on her first day (she was just like her big sister now!) that she brought the teacher a big, round, granny smith apple. Nopony else did this, which put the purple little pony first in the teacher’s heart. School, as many know, comprises of three groups: pupils, teachers, and pets. Cherilee fell into the pet category, which was quite lonely. You see; pets and teachers get along great, teachers and pupils pretend to get along, but pupils and pets just plain don’t get along outright and in the open.
Naturally, Cherilee grew fond of teachers. She didn’t understand the ones who would pass out worksheets and retreat behind their desks. Especially since children held such great potential, a belief she held even then. Teachers were amazing! They could instill passion, nurture talent! If it weren’t for a few magnificent teachers, how would she have gotten into reading at all? Or teaching itself?
It seemed to her that teachers were respected. In school they’d talk about her behind her back, but never the teacher. What she didn’t realize is that students insult teachers where they certainly can’t hear, but would insult teachers’ pets where they probably can’t hear. And how would Cherilee, super glued to her teachers straight through to graduation, have possibly known?
A consequence of her punishing lack of friends meant she never really learned how to have fun, something that may not have been true anymore.
Today was a Monday, and her school children were filing in miserably. Scootaloo had brought Daring Dos with her, as did Sweetie Belle. Sweetie was almost caught up in the series by now but Scootaloo hated reading so much she could only get through maybe a paragraph at a time. She figured that since school with Ms. Cherilee was so boring, she’d have nothing to distract her from reading up on Rainbow Dash’s favorite hero: Daring! Apple Bloom, who’d never heard of Daring Do decided to support Scootaloo’s effort to prove how cool she was to her surrogate older sister by reading some too.
When everypony sat down, Cherilee, who was quite bubbly, bounded over her desk and smiled at her classroom.
“Good Monday Morning Everypony! Let’s get right to it: open your science texts to page one hundred twelve!”
Everypony who remembered their textbooks flipped lazily to the page, which was filled with many boring astrological diagrams. Below each were long blocks of text which seemed utterly designed to sap them of their childhoods.
When everypony was ready and attentive, Cherilee, who’d been barely containing a wild fit of giggles, burst out laughing.
The school fillies looked about, trying to see whatever funny thing it was they were missing. A few young colts who had already been laying down their heads to sleep were jolted upright in their desks.
“Oh come on! Nopony wants to learn about this! Let’s take the day off! Twist, pull out the board games from the back shelf!” said Cherilee.
At first everypony was still, and then a few dared to believe that their teacher had really just given them a day of seven-up-hoofs-up, monopoly, and battleship, and cheered loudly. Schoolponies vaulted over desks, Twist pulled out the heavy games with hardly any effort, and the day of play begun. Scootaloo shrugged and tossed her Daring Do aside, eagerly challenging Featherweight to a game of battleship.
Cheerilee smiled as everypony threw aside their yellowed textbooks. She sat behind her desk and watched all her little ponies laugh and play, enjoying the childhood she wish she’d spent better.
######
Still not really wanting to see her old Book Buddy that Monday afternoon, Dash was instead spending her time with little Scootaloo, her surrogate little sister, who’d just gotten off of school.
“I’m just saying I used to be into Romance but then I realized that was totally lame! Now I only read Daring Do just like you!!” Scootaloo, trying to redeem herself from an earlier blunder. Even though the two of them were sisters so to speak, Scootaloo still found it necessary to prove her worth.
“How many Darings have you read” asked Dash. The two of them were walking along one of the park’s dirt paths.
“All of them!” Scootaloo lied. She’d tried the very first Daring Do in between battleship games, but the words were fuzzy and her eyes strained, but glasses were totally un-cool, so instead she planned to get plot summaries from Sweetie Belle.
But then a voice came from over the hill, a voice Rainbow really didn’t want to hear.
“Are you kidding I love Lenard Cohoof! Especially A Thousand Kisses Deep!” said Twilight Sparkle, as she and Cherilee’s heads popped over the hill.
Rainbow’s wings sprung open, ready to fly her out of there, but the two ponies coming towards them had already spotted her.
“Hello Ms. Cherilee!” Said Scootaloo, regretting how goody-two-shoes she sounded.
“Oh, hello Scootaloo, and Rainbow Dash too! Twilight Sparkle’s told me all about you!” said Cherilee, twirling her tail when she noticed she rhymed.
“Yeah, hi” said Rainbow, pawing at the dirt.
Twilight swallowed slowly, choosing her words are carefully as she could.
“Cheery and I were actually just heading over to get some ice cream, our treat if you’d like to come. I miss you”
That last sentence was for Dash, referring to the last time they saw one another, during a fight they’d had last weekend. Dash wondered if Twilight had told Cherilee about that. She supposed not, as Cherilee’s small smile made her look oblivious.
“Sure! Me and my girlfriends love to get ice cream!” said Scootaloo, her tail doing a delightful twirl as well.
“You can go if you want Scoots, but I’m just going to head home” said Rainbow, ignoring Scootaloo’s cringe of horror. Twilight closed her eyes and was silent.
“Nonsense! Everypony loves ice cream!” said Cherilee with a flick of the hoof.
Rainbow rolled her eyes, which made Cherilee frown.
“Ugh, fine: I’ll get a chocolate, but then I’m going home, I’ve got seats to the Wonderbolts tomorrow morning and I’ve gotta get up before Celestia cracks the dawn.”
“I’m getting a chocolate too! I love chocolate! My absolute favorite!”
“I think Cheery and I are just going to get our usual Strawberry Delight to share.”
Sharing drinks? That’s the kind of things best friends did. It bothered Dash that Twilight was welcoming this new pony in so quick. It took time before Dash and Twi connected. For a long time, Twilight would read in her library, and Dash would do awesome things awesomely. Then came Daring Do, and suddenly the pair of them had something special, and it was like they each had a brand new best friend. It was sacred, even.
“Well okay then,” said Cherilee, who wasn’t quite sure if she liked Rainbow all that much “It’s just as well, Sparkily and I were just discussing going to a Leonard Cohoof concert tonight”
######
How many times can these ponies giggle while they slurp up strawberry? Thought Rainbow, while Scootaloo alternated from choking down her least favorite flavor of ice cream, and discussing Daring as though she knew something about her.
“You seem to have an awful lot of time to read Daring Do, Scootaloo. How are you coming along on that novel Twilight said she’d given you?” asked Cherilee
“Huh? Oh I um” stammered Scootaloo
“You know, Saddle Up? You must be doing a lot of reading, with that novel study on Bridge to Equestithia due soon” said Cherilee. Her voice sounded pleasant, but hid the sharp sting of judgment traditionally used by teachers and mothers.
“Ummm” said Scootaloo, making a mental note never to hang out with a teacher again, even if Rainbow Dash was there.
“Exactly, there’s nothing wrong with pulp fiction, but it’s important to read the serious stuff too” said Cherilee, innocently enough.
Twilight started chewing the end of her straw. Daring Do was almost insulted in front of Rainbow Dash, which just shouldn’t be done.
“Don’t listen to her Scoots” said Dash, also innocently “Daring’s the best”
“But she should be reading different things, Rainbow” said Cherilee “There’s a whole world of literary joy out there, I spend half my time teaching, just trying to get the children to sample some. Sometimes it’s very hard, especially when there are adults out there who refuse to give reading a try.”
“Yeah, yeah” said Dash. “I gave reading a chance. I love Daring Do. I read her all the time ‘cause she’s the best there is, and Twi does too!”
Cherilee considered for a moment telling Dash about how Twilight had been complaining, not but a few hours ago, that Daring’s mainstream popularity had grown disproportionately to its quality. She decided against this.
“I suppose there is something to be said for action in literature” she said instead.
The rest of the meet-up passed mostly in silence. Not from hostility, but from a general lack of common ground between Cherilee and Dash, save for their relationship with Twilight. Twilight didn’t want to talk to Dash about the Wonderbolts, as that would push Cherilee out of the conversation, nor did she want to talk to Cherilee about the Leonard Cohoof concert, which would push away Dash. Instead she talked about nothing, as there seemed to be nothing similar between Dash and Cherilee. Weather? No. Animals? Not really. The Grand Galloping Gala? Absolutely not. Royal gossip? Hardly.
Scootaloo, clever enough to feel the tension, tried to spark a few conversations (usually with stories about her doing awesome things awesomely just like Rainbow Dash does), but the silence remained until Twilight and Cherilee had to leave for their concert.
######
“Those two have it in for me” mumbled Dash as she leafed through book after book, judging them by their covers. She was trying to find a book with something cool on the front, like a decapitation or pirate ships.
“It’s getting late” said Scootaloo, who was lying on the library floor “Why isn’t Spike home?”
“Probably because he’s at that Cohoof concert too.” said Dash with great loathing.
Despite the fact that she had a Wonderbolts thing on tomorrow, she and Scootaloo had snuck into Twilight’s tree house library. She thought that if she spent the whole night reading books, Twilight would see how much of a literary egghead she’d become, and she’d stop wasting her time with Cherilee. She wasn’t a real friend.
“I’m getting a little”-she yawned-“tired here” said Scootaloo, eyes fluttering.
Sure enough, she passed out like a light.
Dash frowned, it was indeed getting late. She would have to stop being so picky and just read the book she happened to have in hoof. It was a particularly massive text with yellow pages. She opened it up and began to read:
A, A (ä) n. pl. a’s, A’s or As, aes, (äz) 1 The first letter of the English alphabet: from Phoenician aleph, through the Hebrew aleph, Greek alpha, and Roman A. 2 Any sound of the letter a. See ALPHABET. –symbol 1 Primacy in class or order: grade A beef 2 A substitute for the numeral 1: Section A. 3 Music. a One of a series of tones, the sixth in the natural diatonic scale of C, or the first note in the related minor scale. B a standard for tuning instruments: the pitch of this tone. C the written note representing this tone. D the scale built upon A. 3 Chem. Argon (Symbol A)
WHAT WAS THIS WRITTEN IN?! HIEROGLYPHS?!
She blinked and returned “A-K” to the shelf from whence it came. She stopped. The world was quiet here, and everything was so beyond her. She stood there, feeling small among the towering shelves, and thought about how out of place she felt. This was the den of a pony who loved stories. Who dedicated hours to learning the worlds’ secrets. This pony only needed some tea (green leaves, lump of sugar, dab of honey), a sleeping bag, a single candle, and a new hardcover to have a great night. Over there at that table, now taking the role of prodigy, she’d write letters about her studies, which she’d send to the Princess. But here too, she’d write to her parents, whose beloved child was studying abroad, or to her brother, separated from her by miles, but who seemed to be right there. Did she and Dash even live in the same world? Perhaps Twilight and hers brief overlap of interest was a mistake. A hiccup from the universe.
She listened to Scootaloo snore for some time before opening a new book at random, tucking her hooves under her belly, and beginning to read. Not, as she had done with “A-K”, out of jealousy, but because she didn’t want to lose this mare, who felt so near and so far.
######
When Twilight returned to her home the next morning, she found the door irresponsibly ajar.
“Hello? Anypony home? Spike is that you? I thought you said you were going to Sweet Apple Acres,”
There was no answer. Slowly the unicorn walked in, almost tripping over a little orange filly.
“Huh? Sis…no please sis don’t go…” she mumbled as Twilight woke her up “What, wait, huh? Did I get anything read?”
“I don’t know, what are you doing here? Don’t you have school?”
“Not for an hour. Rainbow Dash was supposed to wake me at ten too.” said Scootaloo getting to her hooves “Or at least I think she said she would”
“Rainbow’s here? Will you help me find her?”
The pair of them searched the tree house, but neither could find Rainbow Dash until Twilight gave up and went to her room, where Dash was drooling on her pillow. She’d made it halfway through Animal Farm before passing out.