After descending the mountain, Cheerilee turned and looked back through the trees towards the peak. What had happened there was not a pleasant memory and she decided that she would do her best not to think about it again.
On the opposite horizon, the moon was slowly rising. It looked like it would be especially bright that night. Cheerilee preferred more darkness because it would keep her from being seen. She could see regardless.
Her hunger prodded Cheerilee onwards. She had never hunted in the mountains of Canterlot before, but figured there had to be something out there she could catch.
There was a faint flutter of feathered wings. Cheerilee glanced up and spotted Princess Luna descending towards her.
The earth pony sank into a bow. “Princess, what a surprise! I’m sorry that I’m not looking my best at the moment.”
“That is a very minor concern,” said Luna. “I observed you leaving the Garden Party early, and I most certainly did not schedule that fireworks display.” She smiled. “You did a very good job.”
Cheerilee flushed. Such praise directly from the Princess! “Do you know what that thing was?” she asked.
Luna frowned. “Unfortunately, no. Some kind of weapon intended to maim or kill, obviously.”
“Who would do such a thing?” wondered Cheerilee. “Do you think it could have been…?”
“I admit, Valiant is a tempting suspect,” said the Princess as if she’d read Cheerilee’s mind. “But remember, he was at the party and in danger, too. I also doubt that he would use magical weapons.”
As Luna spoke, Cheerilee found herself fascinated with the Princess’ throat. She looked at the ground quickly. “So, was Sapphire Shores the target, or just at the wrong place at the wrong time?” she asked.
“So far, it’s uncertain,” answered the royal pony. “She will have to be interrogated. I trust you to manage it in a discrete manner.”
“Yes, Princess.” Cheerilee nodded. She still didn’t meet Luna’s eyes, afraid of what might happen if she didn’t keep a tight rein on her hunger.
“Are you feeling well?” asked Luna, taking a step forward. “Were you injured?”
Cheerilee took several steps backwards. “Uh, yes I was, Princess. I’m fine now, don’t worry.”
“Very well,” said Luna. “Take care of yourself, Cheerilee. You have already done Equestria a great service, but I fear that more trouble may loom on the horizon. There will be another letter arriving for you soon.”
The Princess flapped her wings and soared back to the castle. Cheerilee took a moment to remove her sunglasses and ruined dress. They would only slow her down. She turned to the forested mountains and let her instincts take over.
None of the fillies and colts that arrived at school Monday morning had any idea what their teacher had been through that weekend.
Cheerilee sat at her desk. Her face showed no indication that she’d been caught in an explosion, nearly attacked one of the Princesses, and slaughtered a cougar.
To be fair, the big cat had attacked her first. There were few animals that were hostile to ponies on sight, but maybe it had felt threatened by the lavender mare. She had been running feverishly through the woods with her fangs out. It hadn’t been a short fight, either. Cheerilee absently rubbed her side as she thought of it. The claw marks had faded, but the memory of the sharp pain lingered on.
She had intended to wear her new mane styling left over from the party, just to try something different, but the mass of blood caked in it had spoiled that plan. It was probably just as well. The more ponies that considered her to be “just boring old Cheerilee the schoolteacher,” the better.
All the foals had done their homework. Cheerilee decided to cut the mythology lesson short. They were supposed to be talking about literature, not her life.
“What other genres of fiction do you like?” she asked the class.
“Action!” said Snips.
“Mystery!” put in Snails.
“Romance!” chorused Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.
Cheerilee did a mental facehoof. This wasn’t as bad as talking about mythological monsters, but still not very comfortable. She wished there wasn’t so much action and mystery in her life. As for romance…well, that was out of the question.
At the end of the day, Cheerilee dismissed the class. It looked like a few of them had been inspired by the lesson to head over to the library to search for interesting books.
“Here, Ms. Cheerilee,” said Twist, laying a peppermint stick on her desk.
“Thank you very much,” the teacher said.
Twist hung around for a moment. “Aren’t you going to try it?”
“I’m sure it’s very good,” said Cheerilee. “I’ll save it for later.”
The young filly smiled and walked away. When she had left the room, Cheerilee scooped the candy into the wastebasket. Aside from blood and maybe water, there was nothing that could pass her lips without making her sick. The agony of it was, she could still taste and smell just as well as before. She wanted to eat the peppermint. It was sure to be delicious. Her body wouldn’t let her.
Twist might be getting suspicious. The student had brought her famous hoof-made candies to share several times. Cheerilee wondered if she should inform the filly that she was allergic, and tell her that she’d been accepting the peppermints to keep from hurting her feelings. It seemed like a mean thing to do, but she certainly couldn’t tell her the real reason.
It troubled Cheerilee that lying had become almost second nature to her. Granted, it served a serious purpose, but it clearly was not a healthy habit to have.
Cheerilee trotted back to her house with her usual load of homework. She found a plain envelope in the mailbox when she got there. Going inside, she sat down at the table to read the letter. The language was informal and short, as if it had been written in a great hurry.
Sapphire Shores may know something about what happened at the party. Enclosed is a ticket and a backstage pass to her concert in Trottingham on Wednesday night.
Cheerilee had heard that the popular concert was completely sold out and didn’t know how a ticket had been obtained only two days before the event. Princess Luna had her ways, apparently.
There were no instructions to tell Cheerilee exactly how she was supposed to find out what Sapphire knew. The mare sighed and left the letter sitting on her kitchen table. She had to go see Rarity.
Over at the boutique, the white unicorn was aghast at the damage to the dress. “How in the world did you manage this?” She shook her head. “Never mind, I don’t want to know.”
“Sorry,” said Cheerilee.
“It’s no trouble,” said Rarity, waving a hoof. “The dress was paid for, after all. In fact, the Princess has a tab open for you in case a need arises in the future.”
“Oh, um, well, I’m going to the Sapphire Shores concert in a few days,” said Cheerilee.
Rarity smiled. “Let me see what I can do.”
Later that evening, Cheerilee returned to her house. The idea of slipping into another disguise was strangely comforting. As long as she could pretend to be another pony, it made her second job a little more bearable. Rarity had reviewed a few options with her, and said a completed outfit should be ready soon.
The schoolteacher returned to the pile of papers that she needed to grade, briefly allowing herself to forget everything that had happened in the past few days. She plowed into the work with enthusiasm. For just a moment, her life felt normal.