//------------------------------// // Act III: An Unappealing Revelation // Story: The Literary Appeal // by HiddenBrony //------------------------------// “F-f-f-f-f-f-Fleur!?” Cheerilee balked, her hoof raised in shock as she leaned on her back legs. The leggy unicorn looked down at her with raised eyebrows, her lips slowly curling into a smile. “Well if it isn’t my old Cheerleader,” Fleur looked her over, sniffing the air around Cheerilee with more interest than the schoolteacher was comfortable with. However, at least the tone of her voice was about as friendly as one could expect from someone born and bred in Canterlot. “It’s been ever so long.” “Yes,” for Cheerilee, never would have been too soon, “It has been a while. Are you still modeling in Canterlot?” Cheerilee asked, feigning civility. “That must be tiring work.” Fleur laughed airily, swishing her hoof through the remark. “Oh, it is, not that you’d ever know the perils of modeling.” She stepped aside, opening up the avenue for Cheerilee to walk into the Boutique. “How’s the whole, you know, teaching thing? It is a far cry from what I was expecting you to do with your life.” Cheerilee tensed up, her body was unprepared to the verbal slap. But she spent more than enough time in the mountain city to not be knocked flat by a quick left hook. "I was studying it between dating you and you shaking up with my mother," Cheerilee quipped, but she sharply drew a quick breath in. A solid jab, but Fleur remained relaxed. "Which is, of course... ancient history." Releasing all the air out of her lungs, she eyes Fleur intensely for a moment. Fleur made as if to respond, but Cheerilee continued, "Three months off a year on a salaried wage hasn’t been too awful," she said, stepping forward. Ponyville style, she allowed herself to think. If they were to fight with words, then Cheerilee wasn't above fighting a little dirty. Fleur wasn't prepared for this, and one hoof leaned back. “I love the foals as if they were my own.” Unrelenting positive honesty, At least that much was true, Cheerilee argued. Fleur's face twisted into a myriad of different expressions as the verbal onslaught continued, but settled on something... threateningly neutral. “Ugh, I hated school.” Cheerilee was somehow very much reminded of her mother. Fleur continued, heading down the single stair from Rarity's boutique. "I'm glad you're very much... over what happened in the past. I can't say I wouldn't be. Must be all this... country air." The lack of an apology for her actions was deafening. Cheerilee's ears were ringing. "I couldn't stand teaching. Those old schoolhouses are much too stuffy for a mare like myself." Cheerilee broke eye contact. "I’m glad I could get by on my modeling.” Striking a pose, Fleur De Lis winked seductively at Cheerilee, making sure she got a good look at her flank. Cheerilee remained unenthused. She still held her ground. "Still though, I am quite happy to see you." "You are?" All Fleur got in return was an eyebrow raised to it's highest point. An Everest of eyebrows, it shared its cold disposition. "Of course! We may not have parted ways the way I wished, but I never meant to hurt you. We weren't destined to be together, Cheerleader." Cheerilee sharply looked towards the ground. The constant nicknames were getting a little old, all told. "You just happened to catch me at the wrong time." Cheerilee breathed in sharply. Again. Alright. We'll call it a draw. This was probably the closest she was going to get to an apology, Cheerilee figured. "Water under the bridge, Fleur." More like a rapid. White water. Over one of those old-timey looking rope bridges? You know, the ones in movies where you know someone has to fall. Cheerilee was too kind to imagine Fleur falling into those waters. The ones under the bridge. Far too nice. However, one wouldn't be too far to guess that Cheerilee was currently imagining herself being the type of pony who would imagine that. “Well, it was nice–” Cheerilee tasted bile but managed to choke it down, “–to see you again, Fleur.” Cheerilee walked through the threshold, knowing full well the unicorn had failed to return the pleasantry. At least each of them got to tell the truth at least once. She figured. Fleur turned back, waving goodbye to her ex. "Ta-ta~!" Cheerilee rolled her eyes. She could hear the tilde. It was the equivalent to a bully 'accidentally' bumping into the smaller pony in a hallway. Closing the door with her back hoof, Cheerilee looked around Carousel Boutique. Nostalgia washed over her, in more ways than one. Being poisoned was the most recent memory, but for their credit, the local construction crews did a good job of covering up the property damage she caused. “Cheerilee!” came a familiar voice, belonging to the one and only Rarity. “How unexpected!” she said, the second alabaster unicorn descending a few steps and greeting her old friend with a warm smile. “It is so good to see you, darling!” Cheerilee returned the smile with ease, “And you, Rarity.” It felt good to actually mean that this time. “I’ve always meant to swing by here, and yet… well, time gets away from us all.” Cheerilee couldn’t keep her eyes off the scores of drawing that lined the walls, each one representing some beauteous creation Rarity had created perfectly for some pony. “Oh, don’t I know it. I’ve got eight custom orders from Canterlot alone and I…” Rarity trailed off, shaking her head. “Apologies, Cheerilee. I just had a very demanding customer who claimed she had to have a dress done up this moment.” Rarity sighed, but she seemed content. “Offered plenty of bits for it to be done on the spot. That dress was just a proof-of-concept for a much higher priority customer, but I already have the measurements. I'll just... miss it dearly. It wasn't really done, you see. It was supposed to be a deep huckleberry color, too. Speaking of measurements, though,” Rarity winked at Cheerilee, a playful smile on her lips, “You’d have liked hers. She had amazing legs.” “I know,” Cheerilee deadpanned. “They were nicer in college, though.” She shot a commanding smirk back at the fashionista, who giggled like a schoolfilly. “Well well!” Rarity started, “I should have known you’d have seen the best Canterlot had to offer already.” However, as she spoke, the words started to hang in her throat. “Oh… oh my, was she…?” Cheerilee knew Rarity would know of her previous marefriends and the… problems they presented with her mother. And Fleur De Lis was the first. She nodded, Rarity putting a hoof on her old friend’s shoulder. “Oh no! Well, I am dreadfully sorry, Cheerilee,” Rarity put her head against her friend, sharing in her grief. “I can’t imagine what I’d have done in your hooves.” Rarity removed herself and trotted over to the dress, looking it over with quickening disinterest. “Honestly I can’t see how you even handle yourself with the pony. ” “Fleur?” Cheerilee ventured, raising an eyebrow. Rarity smiled and shook her head. “Your mother. She’s the definition of a harlot.” As soon as the words left her mouth, Rarity slammed a hoof over her mouth in terror. Cheerilee felt her eyebrows skyrocket off her face in surprise. More on that later. “Oh my! That was candid! I’m sorry, it really isn’t my place—” “I called her a succubus the other night,” Cheerilee interrupted, placing a hoof on Rarity’s haunch. “Although that was rather unladylike.” Rarity’s face turned red as she only offered a smile, refusing to look Cheerilee in the face. “So, yes! Right. Well, I am still woefully sorry. I shall not live it down anytime soon, of that you have my word, but,” Rarity put a hoof to her forehead as if trying to reach into her brain to find what she needed to say. She couldn’t rightly trust her own mind after that performance. “I suppose you’ve come over for a reason?” Cheerilee nodded. “It’s not very nice of me to say that I probably wouldn’t have come here if I didn’t have a reason.” Rarity brushed the comment away. “We’re busy mares, you and I. I’m afraid I am in as much fault as you.” Beckoning Cheerilee to follow her, the two friends made their way through the Boutique, Cheerilee pausing only briefly to look over scattered papers of new designs. Picking one up, she noticed a logo for Fancy Pants’ personal line. “Now, tell me what you’re here for, Cheerilee.” “Hm?” Cheerilee started, as if only partially hearing what Rarity said. Dropping the paper, she realized she had forgotten why she had come. “Oh, um… Twilight?” Rarity smiled, her shoulders dropping slightly as she nodded. “Ah, yes. I was prepared for this.” She, of course, was the only one who was in this trilogy of mares saying other mares names in accusatory fashions. Also, Cheerilee's eyebrows? You remember, from earlier? Rocketed off her face and such. Man, that was something. I don't have anything more to say on that, actually, but I said I would and here we are. It's nice here. Pull up a chair and help yourself to a cupcake, why don't you? ----- The selection of sweets and treats at Sugar Cube Corner made Fancy Pants feel like sprinkles. “My my, these cakes look… delectable. I simply must have a taste of… is that souffle? My word, cloud cupcakes!” It was ungentlemanly of him to drool, so Fancy Pants deftly removed his monocle and stuffed it into his jacket so it need not be witness to such juvenile acts. As he perused the selection which included a small stage labeled “The Equestrian Nation of Sugar,” Fancy missed the part where the impossibly pink pony leaped over the double doors that lead from the kitchen and up to the counter. Pinkie Pie watched him put his nose against the glass separating him from the treats, and even push his cheek against the glass to get an even better look at the gathered treats. The stage held treats of every shape and size and color, each seemingly hailing from another part of Equestria. There were Cloudsdale Cloud Cupcakes, Hoofington Hazelnut Honeybuns, Trottingham Toasted Truffles, Great Griffon Ganaches and... Ponyville’s Prized Pinkie Pie? Fancy Pants stopped himself as the mare stuck her head into the display and helped herself to one of the representatives from Las Pegasus. “MMmmph, Lemon pudding!” Retracting herself from the caged exhibit with a solid pop, Pinkie Pie reappeared from behind the counter with the ambassadors from Saddle Arabia stuck to her teeth. “Hi there Mr. Fanciest of Pantsiest! What brings you around here? The party doesn’t start for a couple of hours - unless you’re here for the before party?” “Ah, no, I don’t believe so." He paused. "Good heavens, do you have those?” Looking around, there didn’t seem to be that much set up for a party of any caliber. “Far be it from me to step on the fetlocks of any local customs.” “No!” Beaming, that was that from Pinkie Pie. “Oh, do you want something sweet to eat while you’re on your feet?” Stepping down from the counter, Pinkie gestured to just about every sugary thing they had. “You’re welcome to sit down, but not many sweet things rhyme with sit.” “Paradoxically one would need to be fit to sit. ‘Less the maiden find it rude to spit in the pit!” Fancy delivered. “I dare say there isn’t anything particularly sweet about any of those words," he reasoned. "I suppose I was just caught in the moment. Those rhymes were rather daft.” Pinkie beamed, placing her hoof on her chin. “Pit’s are at the center of a lot of sweet things!” Pinkie nodded at nothing in particular and browsed her stock as she continued to speak. “Cherries, peaches… apples have pits too! Applejack call’s ‘em cores though, but it’s not like anypony notices – Ponies around here eat apples in one big—” Throwing a large pastry into the air, Pinkie punctuated her point by opening her mouth wide and letting the entire sweet treat fall into her mouth. Chewing on it loudly, but at least with her mouth firmly closed, she destroyed it within moments and swallowed. “Bite!” “I… see,” Fancy said, his eyes fixed to Pinkie’s mouth. A view partially blocked by a gigantic tongue which protruded from it, licking up any loose crumbs which escaped her initial onslaught. “Tell me, Pinkie, and I hope you don’t mind me being too forward in asking, but about your friend Twilight Sparkle–” “Best pony!” Pinkie sang, giggling to herself in some sort of in-joke. “Sorry, a song I once sang about her about the gala! Oh, Mr. Fancy Pants, I didn’t see you at the Grand Galloping Gala! That was over a season ago, now!” Indeed, it had been about four seasons. Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring, now summer was at its hottest again. Truly, no other meaning could be gleaned from her words. “Yes, well, I couldn’t attend due to… well that’s really off the topic.” Fancy ahemed loudly. He paused briefly, before launching into his questions again. “Is there anything about Twilight Sparkle that would suggest a certain level of deviance?” “Deviance?” Pinkie Pie echoed, her ears shooting back. “Well, I dunno about deviancy. She’s a bit crazy, and when she gets talking you can’t really begin to quiet her, not like I mind though." Fancy Pants could cut the irony with his horn. "Oh, and when she gets passionate about something there is no way in stopping her. She just zero to goes. Oh and one time she turned a frog into an orange I mean what was that about?” Fancy Pants raised a hoof up to quiet Pinkie, but she just kept going on about weird situations and other, weirder situations. Twilight following her while in a wheelchair? Twilight Sparkle enchanting the entire town to love a doll? “F-f-f-Fascinating…” Fancy breathed. Pinkie brushed her hair to one side and leaned on the counter. “Yeah, she’s a little deviant, but in the best way.” Pinkie’s eyes crossed as they found an errant crumb sticking to the very edge of her mane. Her tongue shot out like a snake, wrapping itself around her hair and nearly tugging it right into her mouth. Her mane escaped at the last moment, flipping out of her mouth like a wet noodle and sticking to her forehead. “Also she like, spearheaded our group of friends into saving Equestria a couple times. It was totally fun!” “I may have heard of that.” Fancy Pants put a hoof to his head. “Yeah, it’s weird having a pony that can just really take your voice away sometimes and just command an entire conversation or meeting or anything! Have you ever met a pony like that Mr. Pants?” Fancy Pants deadpanned. “I can’t say I haven’t had the experience, Miss Pie.” “That’s a shame! You big city ponies sure do like to talk and use big words. Twilight likes big words but she uses smaller ones when she needs to but it’s all super polite these days. Not like the old days. Oh man, I could tell you stories of what Twilight would say—” “That’s quite alright!” Fancy Pants put a hoof on the counter, pointing towards several pastries. “I think I’ve made up my mind on an order and really must be going. Do you have anything with huckleberries in them?" Pinkie's face fell. She shook her head sadly. "Nope, we had a big order of those sent with the Apple family earlier today." Fancy Pants nodded his head understandably, knowing the ebb and flow of the local fruit industry. "Quite alright then, if not those then... I’ll have… I’ll have some of those.” “Those?” Pinkie said, following his hoof. “Oh, Duh! Of course! Peach and Cherry cobbler right away!” Quick as a flash, she disappeared behind the counter, and after some serious rustling and a pink tail appearing on opposite sides of the counter than the mane it was supposedly attached to, Pinkie Pie reappeared in front of Fancy Pants with a bag hanging from her mouth. “Thttll bhe eight beets!” Fancy quickly got the bits out and paid for his pastries, magicking the bag from Pinkie as he bid her good day. “Thank you for the time and the conversation, miss! You’ve helped me quite a bit!” Pinkie smiled. "And you helped me with eight!" She scooped up the money and placed it in the register as Fancy made his way out. As he went through the door, his expression soured only somewhat. "Oh Celestia what have you gotten me into?” he mumbled under his breath. Pinkie Pie turned her head sideways as Fancy Pants trotted out of the store, putting a hoof to her cheek as she leaned on it. “Sheesh! Some ponies sure to talk a lot, huh Gummy? And I was forced to try to rhyme bit with eight! Did I say bait? Or did I say 'eht'?” The odd, toothless gator poked his nose out of her mane, open and snapped his jaws, and retreated back into her mane. Suppose that was answer enough.