//------------------------------// // Dunder by Ed L Wice // Story: Love is Learning: Twirilee Group Collab // by caveman0803 //------------------------------// Dunder by Ed L Wice It was a bit of a shock when the thought hit me, when I returned home, that there was now a pony (well, a former-pony) that would now be writing me about the lessons of friendship that she learned in a far off, yet so similar, world. I couldn’t believe the irony (as ponies have come to misuse the word) of the situation. It occurred to me very quickly that I had no Idea how to teach others. Sure I had much MUCH experience being a student, but when I had tried with Rainbow, my lack of teaching ability had shown in astronomical quantities. And even though that situation turned out well in the end, it wasn’t as if Sunset Shimmer was going to come out and say her personal learning style directly, or by accident, like with Dash. So, it was soon after my arrival home that I decided it would be best to educate myself in education. But, though I looked through every book in my newly-acquired Royal Library, I could find no single book on the topic. There were certainly many on how to help a reader that had a specific learning style, but as far as learning another persons or, even then, teaching a student, I was at a loss. “Well,” I sighed to myself (as autocommunication had become a rather persistent habit of mine) “I guess the next best thing to do would be to ask the source directly.” Turning to look at one of the many calendars that lined the wall of the library (hey, a girl can never be too prepared), I quickly found the one that kept schedule of the Royal Events. I sighed inwardly, no matter how long I have these wings, I don’t think I’ll ever be quite used to the bureaucracy and politics of it all. Princess Celestia would be booked for the next week with a Royal Summit of some Canterlot nobles. She had given me a choice of whether or not I would participate, but I decided against it. So, that means I needed a different, more local source of teaching. My face suddenly felt very hot, and my cheeks began to flush. “T-that means…” I suppose it was fitting (for several reasons) that it was Hearts and Hooves day that I decided to visit the Ponyville Schoolhouse. I felt… I don’t quite know how to put it… shocked? delighted? scared? some mixture of all three I suppose. It was certainly a duty of mine to the girls at Canterlot High to learn as much as I could about teaching them lessons, but even so, that didn’t stop my footsteps from being heavy and slow. I groaned quietly to myself, making sure it was low enough for nopony other than myself to hear. “You had to pick her, didn’t you?” I mumbled to myself, “There are all sorts of pretty mares all over ponyville, but noooo, you had to develop a crush for the school teacher of all ponies. She even has a coltfriend already, but you still have to be the idiot you are...” Despite myself, I kept walking. As I approached the cozy-looking red building, I began to pick up something...unusual. A very distinct smell, or, I suppose two smells. One was very familiar, given my residence in ponyville: Cider, though it made little sense for there to be cider this late into winter. The second smell was one I had less acquaintance with, but definitely one I knew and would sometimes smell on the breath of wobbly nobles in Celestia’s court: Dunder. When I opened the Door, I was met with what I can only describe as the most absurd sight my eyes have ever beheld (and I’ve fought Discord!). The maroon-coated school teacher, Ms. Cheerilee, was standing atop one of her student’s desks. I could hear her humming blissfully to herself as she danced loosely from left to right. I couldn’t help but notice the glass bottle in her hoof. “CHEERILEE!” I shouted, well alarmed by the situation, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” Apparently my voice was enough of a distraction for her to lose her step, since the next thing I saw was her falling off the desk. I feared the worst for a moment, but was relieved (well, somewhat relieved and somewhat scared in a different way) to hear her suddenly explode in uproarious laughter. When I walked over to her, she was standing, albeit a bit wobbly, as if her fall had never happened. “Heeeeey, Tw’ight!” She slurred out, the bottle in her hoof obviously wasn’t her first, “You wanna drin’?” She extended the bottle toward me. “Cheerilee what’s going on? Why are you…? Why?” I struggled to find the right words. Apparently the message got to her anyway, since her face immediately went from the extreme high to the extreme low as her eyelids drooped down and her smile faded in a fraction of a second. “You do know what today is, don’t you?” Her voice suddenly became clear as she lost her slur. (I had heard of someone “sobering up” in sad situations, but this was uncanny). Cheerilee sighed, “I act well enough in front of my students, but…but I…” Her eyes watered up. “I’m so alone…” she finished quietly, before falling on to her haunches in tears. I was shocked “I thought you were with Big Macintosh…” I said, recalling the fiasco from last year. She sighed, “Oh, Mac is sweet, but he… isn’t exactly my type…” “What? How so?” I asked. “He’s a he…” she answered, matter-of-factly. “Wait, you mean…?” She nodded. , “Well, you know…” I began. (What the hell am I doing?) “I-if that’s really the problem...a-and i-if it will keep you off the bottle…” She tilted her head up to gaze at me with starry, sad, but hopeful eyes. My face flushed again as I continued my stuttering attempt at confidence. I coughed, cleared my throat and said as steadily as possible, “Will you be my very special somepony?” I immediately turned away fearing the worst. Then there was silence. The sound of her standing up. My heart swelled as I felt the amazing sensation of her kissing my cheek. “Yes,” she said, “Yes I will.”