I had forgotten how wonderful it was to have a significant other in my life. I never really had any serious girlfriends back on Earth, especially since I was taken to Equestria before I could ask my best friend out on a date, so this was frankly new territory for me. I'm old enough that marriage is certainly a possibility, and the same for her. She's only nine months older than I am.
But like I was thinking earlier, that's a little ways away. We just finished up our first date, after all. I'm currently walking her home after our time in the park together. We got takeout dinner and ate it at the park while watching the stars come out. We laid back on the grass and she snuggled up next to me, draping her foreleg over my chest.
We reach the front door of her house and stop just outside of it. She smiles widely at me and begins rocking back and forth on her hooves in the stereotypical manner of a girlfriend waiting for her boyfriend to kiss her after the first date. I have to admit, I'm a little wary of that. I didn't expect that she wanted something like that.
"I had a great time today, TD," Cheerilee says, taking a half step towards me. "I'm glad you worked up the nerve to ask me out."
I chuckle quietly and nod. "Yes, so am I. We have to do this again very, very soon, yeah?"
"Oh, very soon, TD." She's getting really close now. "Before the week is out for sure." She smirks and looks in the direction of town. "Though we may want to figure out what the Crusaders are up to before we think about a second date."
"Can't argue with that," I say, rubbing the back of my neck. During the walk back to her house I've decided that I should go with "nervous." Better to chide oneself for being cautious where they're concerned then curse oneself for being overly optimistic. "If I know them, though, they'll put their elaborate plan into action soon enough."
"Yes, I suppose so. Until then..."
Cheerilee puts a hoof on my shoulder and pushes down, which I take as a signal to get down on my knees and hug her, which I am more than happy to do. We hug for a few moments before I break away.
And then she leans in and kisses me full on the mouth.
No I'm not teasing this time like I was with Twilight, whom I have never kissed and I'm not sure why those rumors are circulating, Cheerilee really is kissing me. I'm not really sure how to react to that right now. My brain is completely numb. I mean, yeah, she is my marefriend and that's what dating couples do, but there's the whole species thing...
Before I can think of what to do, Cheerilee breaks the kiss off and looks into my eyes, a blank expression on her face. "TD?"
"Er..." I blink once. "Yeah?"
"Was that any good for you?"
Oh geez, now I really don't know what to say. I mean, she is a pony, so no, not really. Not that I've had much experience with kissing, particularly recently, but I--
"Because it wasn't for me." She gently clears her throat and raises a foreleg to wipe her mouth. "Not that you're a bad kisser! It's just that... I guess... physically, you're not like a pony."
"Er..."
"Oh well, I guess..." Cheerilee shrugs and takes a half step back. "We can just cut that part out of our relationship then."
"Er..."
Still trying to figure out what all just happened. I wipe my own mouth with the back of my hand and slowly nod. "Yes. Yeah, I think that's fine. We can stick to hugging, I guess."
"Yeah." Cheerilee shrugs again. "I guess next date when we go back to one of our places and start doing it we can just close our eyes and pretend."
That one clicks in my brain right away. My eyes nearly bulge out of my head. "Wait... what?!"
"Well goodnight, TD." Before I can say anything else, Cheerilee opens the door to her house and walks inside, leaving a highly bewildered TD standing on her porch wondering if maybe I haven't completely misinterpreted the physical aspects of our relationships, and if so, how long she's been hoping that I'll ask her out for this very reason. I'm not standing on her porch for very long before she opens the door again, poking her head out of her house with a deadpan expression on her face. "I am, of course, kidding, TD."
"Oh..." I blink twice and take a deep breath. "Of course." I shake my head to clear it as my brain starts to re-boot from the major shock it just went through. "Yeah, of course. Ha ha. Joking."
"Goodnight, TD."
"Goodnight, Cheerilee."
Cheerilee gives an amused shake of her head and closes the door behind her.
So that happened. I can't believe that I was just out-snarked by my marefriend. The whole snark thing is my gig. I roll my eyes and begin walking away from her house towards Fluttershy's to pick up Oswald. I can at least talk to him about all of the weird things that happened today, though I'm not sure how much advice he'll be able to give. He can't talk and doesn't have a girlfriend. I chance a glance back at Cheerilee's house to see that Cheerilee has pulled the curtains back on one of her front windows and is lying in front of it with a very self satisfied smirk on her face.
Man, I picked the weirdest one, didn't I? Figures. Though I honestly wouldn't have it any other way. I certainly wouldn't want a stick in the mud. I'd want a marefriend that I could banter with. Besides, it's not like I didn't make crude jokes with my friends back on Earth. I scoff at Cheerilee and make a show of rolling my eyes before turning around and heading back to Fluttershy's to pick up Oswald.
* * * *
Saturdays are awesome.
For me they mean my day off, which means sleeping in and doing whatever I want for the entire day as opposed to just a small fraction of it. It tends to mean hanging out with Cheerilee in the evening after she's finished grading everything for the week, as we both have work on Friday and she's spending the evening preparing on Sunday. If I know her, and two or three years of this being our ritual I'd think I do, she'll want to hang out later.
I was too tired after picking up Oswald to do any confessing to him, but he did regard me with a suspicious look when I got him from Fluttershy. Not sure what that was all about, but it's not like I had anything to hide. Sure Cheerilee and I wanted to take the release of the knowledge of our relationship slowly, but aside from that I didn't really have anything to hide. I mean, it's not like we're ashamed of it or anything.
Well, maybe the kiss. Ponies don't need to know about that. I didn't even mention it in passing to Oswald or Fluttershy.
I sit up in bed and notice that Oswald is still sleeping, perched on my backpack with his head under his wing as per usual. Some things just do not change, and that's how he always slept on my journey around the world. I glance over at my bedside clock and see that it is about half past eleven. Nice. Slept way in. Still, I have to get up and do something with my day. Cheerilee probably won't be done with her work until sometime in the evening, so I have most of the day to myself.
As I'm pondering that marvelous fact, I hear three loud knocks on my door. I frown and get out of bed, throwing on yesterday's clothes so that I can answer. I walk over to the door and open it and see, to my surprise, Big Macintosh standing on the other side of my door. Odd. I'm not sure why, but I didn't even know he knew where I lived. I tilted my head in a greeting nod.
"'Sup."
He returned the nod. "'H'lo."
"What can I do for you?"
Big Mac blinked once and took a single, calculated breath. "Didn't mean ta be eavesdroppin' none, but Ah walked by mah sister's clubhouse 'n her 'n her friends were discussin' what ta do 'bout you 'n Ms. Cheerilee. How you two 'r special someponies now."
"Oh... er..." I uneasily scratch the back of my neck and bite my lip. A vague tidbit pops up in the back of my mind. Something that Cheerilee said at some point in the distant past but seems really, really relevant right now. Her and Big Mac are exes. Now he found out that we're dating and now a stallion as big as I am and a hundred times stronger is on my doorstep.
"Look... yeah, we're dating now." I do my best to put on a brave face. He hasn't even said anything and already he's freaking me out. "What of it? We love each other. We've been best friends for years now and we realized that it was... uh..." I shrug. "Something more, I guess."
"Ah ain't denyin' that," Big Mac says with an unnerving evenness. "Ah only came ta say one thing."
Oh boy, here we go.
"Now, Ms. Cheerilee and Ah are good friends too. We did have a brief period where Ah courted her, even after the love poison, but it didn't work out as you can see." Big Mac takes a step towards me and I take a step back on instinct. His eyes narrow and I know this isn't going to be good. "Ah still love Ms. Cheerilee like a friend. If you break her heart or hurt her in any way Ah'll snap you right the eff star, star, star in half. Ya got that?"
Oy. One of these speeches. I had been foolish to not expect one. Having said that, it's not like I could expect one from Cheerilee's parents. As a matter of fact, I've never expected anything from her parents. She doesn't talk about them. I should know as her best friend. I've asked once or twice and she just changes the subject. She doesn't have any siblings that I know of either, so it seems that Big Mac has taken it upon himself to give me the "you'd better not" speech.
Well, okay, then.
I clear my throat and recover the step to establish a little more dominance in the conversation. "Look, Cheerilee and I love each other, and I would never hurt her. Besides, I know that ponies like Rarity would kill me if I hurt her."
"Well Ms. Rarity can get in the Celestia dee star, star, star e dee line if'n you hurt Ms. Cheerilee, 'cause Ah'm gonna get to ya first!" Big Mac snaps with more than a little sharpness to his voice. "Ah know y'all ain't a bad guy, even if ya've had some pretty bad stuff happen to ya, but don't you dare hurt Ms. Cheerilee. She's a real good mare. One of the most down-ta-earth ponies Ah've ever met." Big Mac's expression hardens into a glare and he pokes me in the chest with his massive hoof. "You treat her right."
"I will, I promise!" I say, stumbling backwards a tad from the force of his poke. "Sheesh, you'd think I was out to break her heart from the way you're talking to me, dude!"
"Ah never said that," he says, his expression returning to the careful neutral that it always was. "Just treat her right and we'll be good." With that, he gives me another nod. "Good talkin' to ya."
And he just walks away without another word. I guess he said everything that he needed to say and made me sufficiently terrified. Well, I am pretty terrified. A little annoyed too, if you want the truth of the matter. I mean, nobody likes getting that speech.
Yeah, I couldn't resist flipping him off with my right ring finger when his back was turned. It's the same idea, but it's not quite flipping him off.
So there.
Having said all of that, I don't like the fact that he said that he overheard the Crusaders talking about it. If they were talking about it when they were, say, running through town when a large portion of the townsponies were out and about for Hearts and Hooves Day then somepony likely heard it, and in this town, stuff like that spreads like wildfire. The human from another dimension is dating the schoolteacher? Wow, that would even get back to Princess Celestia, I'll bet. Well, I'm sure it will get back to her anyway, but we'll just have to see where this all goes.
* * * *
I decide to spend most of the day inside just hanging out with Oswald. Not because I'm nervous that if I go out I'll be accosted by dozens of ponies begging to know details of my relationship with Cheerilee. Why would you think that? Don't be silly. It's just that I had a long day yesterday and want a little peace and quiet today before I go hang out with Cheerilee today. That's all.
Not because I'm surprised that Rarity hasn't already been by my house begging to know how it went.
Big Mac sure came by in a hurry.
Oy.
Well, five o' clock comes, and I figure that that's as good a time as any to come out of my house. Cheerilee and I usually meet somewhere in town, usually Sugarcube Corner, as it's one of the places that usually has stuff that I can eat, and we just hang out together. There's no indication that that would change just because we're dating, so I take a deep breath, get dressed for reals this time, and walk out the door into the wolves' den.
Well, I wasn't immediately accosted by a throng of ponies demanding to know if Cheerilee and I had made out yet, so that's good. Maybe they were all just at dinner or something. I walk through town towards Sugarcube Corner where I assume we'll meet to decide what to do on our second date and see that everything looks pretty normal overall. The streets are a little emptier than usual, but again, it's dinnertime.
I start approaching Sugarcube Corner and smile when I see that Cheerilee is already there waiting for me. She sees me and Oswald coming and smiles. She walks over to us, and I kneel down for a hug.
"Hey, TD. How's my new boyfriend doing?"
I chuckle and rub her back for a second before standing up. "Doing well. Spent the day doing absolutely nothing of consequence as is befitting a good Saturday. Yourself?"
"Oh, same old same old." She turns around and we begin walking towards Sugarcube Corner. "I had my students write a one page paper on some local wildlife they saw around here, so I was grading those."
"Some good stuff?"
She shrugs. "Same old, if I have to be honest. When you teach the same assignment for ten years in the same town there really isn't much that your students do that surprises you."
"SURPRISE!!!"
Eff star star star!!!
I open the door to Sugarcube Corner and see, to my total, well, surprise, that it's decked out in party decorations, complete with a large banner hung from the ceiling saying "TD and Cheerilee." Underneath said banner are a grinning Cutie Mark Crusaders and Pinkie Pie.
So this is what they were planning. I admit, I expected something a little more... explosive than a Pinkie Pie party. There's even some restraint shown in the guest list. The Mane Six are all there, obviously, as well as the Crusaders and a few other townsponies like Lyra and Bon Bon and such. You know, friends of ours. All of them are grinning eagerly at us, waiting for our reaction.
I gently clear my throat and look over at the Crusaders. "So you told... everyone, then?"
Sweetie Belle nervously chuckles and looks down at the ground. "Well, not exactly."
"See, we wanted to do something awesome for you two now that you're very special somepony and human," said Scootaloo.
"So we were talkin' 'bout it on our way to the clubhouse and it seems that..." Apple Bloom copies Sweetie Belle's look. "We weren't exactly quiet enough. Some ponies kinda... heard us."
I quietly sigh and look down at Cheerilee who is giving the Crusaders a blank stare. "Well, there you go, I guess. I suppose it spread like wildfire from there?" The Crusaders nodded in unison. "Such is the nature of this town, I suppose." I shrug and walk further into Sugarcube Corner so that I can close the door. "Well, if there's a party for us we might as well enjoy it. It does look pretty fun."
A smile finds its way to Cheerilee's face and she nods. "Yes, it really does." She leans in close to me. "Just as long as there isn't 'Spin the Bottle.'"
"Doesn't look like it," I whisper back.
Well, the party breaks out after that with the ponies all coming around to congratulate us on our relationship. Most of them are saying how they've seen this coming for years now, which is vaguely amusing, I suppose. Cheerilee is taken by Lyra and Bon Bon to a corner of the shop for what I assume is gossip of some sort, leaving me and Oswald to get some food. I walk over to the food table and take a cupcake helpfully labeled "hay free." It leaves me unprepared for the pink mass that pops up beside me, the wide smile still on her face.
"Heya, TD!" Pinkie chirps. "Were ya surprised?! Were ya?!"
I snort and look over at Cheerilee who is giggling with her friends. "In hindsight I shouldn't have been, but I most certainly was, yes."
"Awesome!" Pinkie giggles and nudges my side with her hoof. "You and Cheerilee make such a cute couple! Just don't go too fast with the physical stuff, okay? My Pinkie Sense told me that you two were locking usta for a bit there, and on the first date, too!" Pinkie's smile turns sly. "Oh, TD, you really know how to make the mares swoon."
Of course she'd know. I finish the bite of cupcake I had taken and glance around the confectionery. "Er, so Pinkie, about me and Cheerilee kissing, could you keep that to yourself? We kind of want to keep that private."
Pinkie draws a hoof over her lips in a "zipper motion" and vigorously nods. "No problem, TD. You're right. How often you lip lock and with what level of passion is your business entirely."
She's teasing, TD. You just have to keep reminding yourself that she's poking fun at you.
"Well Ah think that it's wonderful that Cheers is finally with someone that Ah think is gonna be real good fer her," Applejack says as she walks over. She stops next to Pinkie Pie and her eyes narrow, reminding me of a certain red stallion I talked to earlier today. "Though if you break her heart Ah'm gonna--"
"I know," I say, holding up a hand. "You're gonna snap me right the eff star, star, star in half."
Applejack shrugs. "Ah was gonna use dashes."
"Huh?" Rainbow Dash walks over next to Applejack, her head tilted slightly. "You were gonna use me for what?"
"Er... no, sugarcube, Ah was just threatenin' ta kill TD."
Rainbow Dash's eyes widen and she flares out her wings. "What?! Why would you do that?!"
"Fer breakin' Cheerilee's heart, or--"
"You already broke Cheerilee's heart?" Rainbow Dash scoffs and shakes her head incredulously at me. "Seriously, dude, you could at least wait until after the party."
"I didn't break Cheerilee's heart!" I insist. "Applejack was just letting me know what would happen if I did ever break Cheerilee's heart."
"Oooohhhh." Rainbow Dash nods and folds her wings back at her sides. "That makes a lot more sense." And just like that her eyes narrow. "Though she has a point. If you hurt Cheerilee I'm going to snap you right the eff Applejack, Applejack, Applejack in half!"
Oh for goodness sakes.
* * * *
Not gonna lie, the party was pretty fun. I think that was because of the smaller guest list, though. I know Pinkie Pie has been known to invite all of Ponyville to her parties, but it was just friends. Cheerilee and I didn't get as much time as I would like to talk to each other, and that was a bit of a downer on the evening. We had kind of planned it for us, you know? Still, it was good to get it all out of the way. Our relationship was completely public now, so we didn't have to worry about any of that being a problem.
Eventually the party ends and the guests start to leave. It's nighttime now, which is unfortunate, but the day isn't one hundred percent over yet. Cheerilee and I are tired, but I'll be darned if I'm going to let that get in the way with spending at least a little quality time with her. Currently we're both at the doorway of a now closed Sugarcube Corner.
"We had a great time today, Pinkie," Cheerilee says with a smile. "Thank you again for the party."
Pinkie waves her hoof at us. "No problem at all, you lovebirds. You go do whatever it is you want to do now. I'll clean up." She begins waving goodbye at us so fast her hoof is a blur. "See you two later!"
"See you," I reply.
With that we leave. The second the door closed behind us our smiles fade and our shoulders slump. Yeah, Pinkie parties are fun and all, but boy do they just drain you, especially if they're four and a half hours like that one was. I turn my attention to Cheerilee, whose expression is completely blank, but I can see the exhaustion in her face. "So what did you think of all of that? Our relationship being so publicly stated?"
Cheerilee sighs quietly and shrugs. "I don't know. We never really decided to hide it, did we? Besides, you were holding my hoof in an outdoor restaurant on Hearts and Hooves Day. They were just celebrating us, so it's not like I can be mad at them."
"Having said that, it was a shock and a touch invasive," I mutter.
"Yes, I suppose it was." She clicks her tongue and shakes her head. "But it's over now and it was fun. There's no need to be mad at them, I think."
"Yeah, I agree." A slight grimace crosses my face and I tap my finger against my side. "Having said that, I was looking forward to some time with just the two of us."
"Well we could still go do something." Cheerilee's smirk that I've come to love so much crosses her face and she looks up at me. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
I return her smirk and nod. "I think so."
* * * *
Twenty minutes later I've dropped off Oswald at Manderley and Cheerilee and I are going out on a proper second date. We walk up to the box office and are both quite glad that we're just about to make the next showing. I stop in front of the ticket booth and nod in greeting to the teen working behind it.
"Hello. Two for the next showing of Killer Cyborg from the Future!"