• Published 16th Nov 2013
  • 3,009 Views, 170 Comments

Old Friends - GrassAndClouds2



A wild day ensues after a former friend of Cheerilee's arrives in Ponyville, seeking to redress an old grievance from their college days. Lunaverse story.

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Romance

Notary gritted her teeth as she pursued Cheerilee. Her wagon was surprisingly heavy, so it was much harder to move than Cheerilee’s scooter. As such, even though Notary had more stamina than her slender frame might indicate, she wasn’t able to catch up.

What’s making this cart so heavy? she wondered. A simple wooden frame shouldn’t be this hard to move...

As she took a corner and continued pursuing Cheerilee, she began to check around in the cart's cabinets. One cabinet held confetti, one held colorful hats, and one held a miniature oven that seemed to be full of ribbons. That pony I borrowed this from possesses a lot of party supplies. Why would any pony need this much confetti? Or hats? Or... are those cannons?

Indeed, mounted in the wagon were a few big cannons.

This vehicle has artillery? Was that pink pony some kind of party pirate? mused Notary. She stuck a hoof into one of the canons, and found it filled with a sticky, wet, and sweet substance -- cake batter, from the taste of it. Maybe in Ponyville they throw parties by having somepony arrive with this wagon and fire cake and other desserts at ponies. This is an... interesting town.

But that didn’t matter. She had canons now, and, thanks to her studies, she was reasonably proficient in their use. She gauged the distance and the wind, tilted the canon at just the range angle so the azimuth was correct, and then began to fire.

I received perfect scores in physics. This is nothing more than a simple trajectory problem. I won’t miss! she thought.

***

“Well!” said Rarity, walking along the street with a smile. “You’ve certainly outdone yourself today, Rarity. You truly look beautiful! Not a hair out of place, not a single snag in your coat, and the sheen in your tail is divine! Today, I--”

“Hi Rarity! Bye Rarity!” yelled Cheerilee as she dashed past.

“Why, hello,” began Rarity before she was hit in the face with a cannonball-sized chunk of cake batter.

“I apologize!” called a white-coated mare in a Rushian-accented voice as she zipped past.

Rarity stared as they went, slowly shaking the dripping cake batter from her face and eyes. She happened to catch her reflection in a nearby shop window, and she gasped. Her mane -- messy! Her coat -- in disarray! Her tail -- frazzled!

This meant...

She had an excuse to go back to the spa!

With a whinny of pleasure, Rarity ran off.

***

Cheerilee threw herself low on the scooter as the next blast of cake batter soared right over her head and smacked into the street in front of her.

She’ll hit me sooner or later! And Pinkie’s cake batter is extra syrupy and gooey, so I’ll get stuck even worse than with the taffy! I have to get out of her line of sight!

She realized that she was almost at Golden Oaks Library. She took a hard right turn at the next corner, dodged another cake bullet as she passed in front of the flower trio (who went skittering away in fright as the cake blasted a crater into the Ponyville street), and then skidded to a halt just outside of the library. “Twilight! Twilight! Help!”

The front half of the library door opened, and a brightly-smiling Twilight poked her head out. "Hi Cheerilee! What's up? Want me to show you where the pedagogy section is again?"

“Not right now!” Cheerilee dove through the upper portion of the door, landing on the library floor. “Just let me hide in the basement! Distract my crazy wife until she goes away confused!”

“Um, okay...”

No sooner had Cheerilee ducked down inside the basement than the library door banged open. “Where... where is she?” gasped a panting Notary. “Where is Blackcherry?”

“Oh. Uh... sorry. I can’t help you.” Cheerilee winced. Twilight was not a good dissembler. “I’m in the middle of a project. Solving very important problems.”

“What problems?” asked the suspicious Rushian.

“Well... uh... I was just going to look up the population of several major Equestrian cities for a survey! You know, Trottingham, Vancolter, Bitse, Fillydelphia, Manehattan. But I--”

Notary quickly rattled off five numbers.

“...oh. You, um, have a good memory.”

“Thank you. Now, tell me where Blackcherry is. I saw her enter this building.”

“Wait!” said Twilight, her footsteps following the Rushian's, presumably to stop her. “I also need, uh, to finish reading about the Count of Monte Cob-o--”

“The protagonist gets revenge on the ponies who betrayed him and sent him to prison, and all the good ponies marry and live happily ever after,” said Notary. “Where is Blackcherry?”

“Uh -- I have to look up the average precipitation of the Mild West!”

Notary gave a number.

“The average number of trees in a maple forest?”

Another number.

“The size of Equestria? The number of nobles, including heirs and relatives? The number of carpenters?”

Three more numbers.

“The -- the average airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?”

“That’s -- wait." Notary was silent for a few moments, and Cheerilee began to smile. At last, her wife said, "An Equestrian swallow, or from around Amblerja? They fly at very different speeds.”

“Equestrian, of course -- after a good meal and a full night’s sleep!” said Twilight. “And wearing a hat.”

Cheerilee cautiously inched open the door to see that Notary was looking at Twilight, who looked weirdly happy at having finally managed to stump the Rushian. The schoolteacher began to creep out.

“No,” said Twilight, listening to Notary giving a number. “I think you're neglecting drag coefficients and relativistic effects. You see..."

Cheerilee approached the door. Home free! she thought. And then she stepped on a creaky board.

Notary turned. "Stop!"

Oh no! And Cheerilee raced out the door, hopped on her scooter and was gone. Notary chased after her.

Twilight watched them go, blinking a few times in confusion. "Um... thanks for stopping by?"

***

Cheerilee was feeling the burn from rushing around town all day. I need to get to a safe place and hole up. Maybe somewhere outside of town... one of the outlying farms. Yeah, doesn't Applejack have a few outbuildings? And the Farmer's Union farms have sheds. Just get out of town, hide in the fields, and wait for her to leave. Or get Winona to chase her off.

She changed course again. If I go by Trixie's house, I can get into a few tight alleys where I might be able to shake her for a little bit. Then go straight out of town. And then...

She saw Featherweight out of the corner of her eye. The foal seemed to be looking for something, but he quickly ducked away.

Huh. Well, Featherweight's usually good. I'm sure he's not up to anything ridiculous. Now, I just need to get past Trixie's house without getting hit by cake, and then I should be out of danger!

***

Trixie was dropping onto her sofa with a melodramatic sigh. "Worst. Day. Ever," she told Pokey.

"Worse than the day the Tyrant Sun came back?"

"Well--"

"Or the day Philomena tried burning down Ponyville? Or parasprites almost ate Ponyville? Or Zecora used alcohol to wreck Ponyville? Or when the nobles decided not to fix it? Or--"

"Pokey!" Trixie threw her hat at him, and managed to land it on his overly large horn. That better not poke through it. "I am your boss. When I say I've had a bad day, it's your job to comfort me, ask what happened, and fetch me a cookie and a glass of bourbon."

"...I'll check, but I'm pretty sure that's not actually the point of my job." Pokey chuckled. "Still, curiosity is getting the better of me. What happened?"

"Remember that awesome new spell I came up with to link doors?" Trixie levitated a bottle of bourbon to her from her desk. "Well, I might have slightly misplaced the mayor with it."

Pokey blinked. "That, um. Sounds serious."

"I was able to use the residual energy from the spell to track her position relative to wherever she wound up." Trixie's horn glowed, and a purple outline of a pony appeared in the air. It was walking around in what could only be described as an annoyed manner. "She's moving around enough that she's obviously not imprisoned or trapped anywhere, and she's moving slowly enough that she's not running away from anything, so she's not in danger. But I still have to find her global position and get her back soon, or Luna will probably blame me for it."

"Imagine that."

Trixie shook her head. "Like I said, this sucks. What else could possibly go wrong--"

A blast of cake smashed through her window and pounded into her desk, spattering her paperwork with egg, flour, and high-quality sugar.

Trixie was silent. Pokey giggled.

"I'm finding the mayor from under my bed," announced Trixie at last.

***

Meanwhile, on Sweet Apple Acres, two earth ponies were returning home with a small bag of surplus apples and a large bag of bits.

“Ah’m tellin’ ya, Big Mac, those apples ain’t right! Ain’t no reason anypony should pickle an apple! Ya wanna pickle somethin’, pickle a pickle!” said Applejack. “That’s why they call ‘em pickles!”

“Actually, they’re cucumbers before they’re pickles,” said Big Macintosh.

“Whatever. But ya don’t pickle apples. There oughta be a law!” Applejack kicked a rock out of her way. “Just imagine if that was somepony’s first apple. They’d swear off apples fer life!”

Big Macintosh thought for a moment. “Well, Ah liked it.”

“Oh, ya’d eat anythin’. Ya’d eat yar own head if ya could.”

Big Macintosh smiled, then stuck his tongue out and carefully licked the tip of his nose. “Ah don’t know, AJ. Ah don’t taste that good.”

Applejack looked at him -- and then dissolved into laughter.

“Feel a little better?” asked Big Macintosh.

“Yeah, sure.” Applejack smiled. “Ah guess Ah just put so much care inta apples, Ah don’t get it when Ah taste some that don’t make no sense.”

“It’s what they like in Moscolt,” said Big Macintosh. “Ah’m sure Apple Trust Moscolt would find our apples too sweet.”

“Ah guess...”

“Applejack!”

The two earth ponies turned to see Cheerilee speeding towards them on a scooter.

“Hide me!” she gasped, and then dashed into a barn and slammed the door behind her.

Applejack looked at Big Macintosh. “Should we be worried about that?”

“Eyup.”

A party wagon rolled up, with a tired-looking white-coated mare on top. “Hello again,” she said. “Did my wife come by?”

The two ponies paused.

“Wife?” asked Applejack.

“Yes.” Notary looked suspiciously at the barn. “I am looking for my wife. Is she here?”

“Er...” said Applejack.

“Because I have some things to say to her. About why, if you promise your wife that you will annul your marriage, you actually do it.”

“Uh,” said Applejack.

“And why you should not dismiss the first promise you make to your wife to cheat on her. With a stallion.” Her eyes flashed. “So I am looking for her. Have you seen her?”

Applejack looked at her for a long moment.

And then she said, “Big Mac, ya know how ya told ma Ah gotta learn when Ah can do things maself an' when Ah need help?”

“Eyup?”

“Ah think this is one of those times Ah need help.”

Big Macintosh looked at Notary’s expression. It was an expression that said ‘I will tear down this barn if I have to.’ “...Eyup.”

The two Apple siblings stepped between Cheerilee and the barn. Applejack looked as stern as she could. "Now, Miss--"


Notary saw an open window about halfway up the barn. Darting around the Apples with surprising speed, and climbing up some conveniently placed hay bales, she hopped inside. “Now I have you!”

Applejack and Big Macintosh looked at each other. "Uh," said Applejack. "Ah--"

From inside the barn came a few cries. The cows mooed. The pigs squealed. The poultry began to squawk uproariously.

“Hah!” Cheerilee yelled. “Can’t catch me now!”

And then she jumped from the highest window, a half-dozen chickens tied to her with lengths of hay. The chickens flapped and slowed her fall, and she landed softly to the ground. She quickly untied the chickens, then ran to recover the scooter. “Bye Applejack! I’ll be by later to pick up some apples!”

“Get back here!” Notary burst through the barn door on the back of a gigantic pig. “I’m going to get you!”

“Ma’am!” said Big Macintosh, in a slightly louder voice. “We can’t allow ya ta hurt Cheerilee. She's a dear friend of ours, an' this whole town.”

“What can you do about it?” snapped Notary.

The pig looked at Applejack, who nodded slightly, and then it gave a mighty heave. Notary went flying into the nearest mud puddle.

Cheerilee took advantage of the opportunity to speed away.

***

Beebop carefully manipulated the equipment until everything was perfect, and then began to play back the record.

What sounded was a series of banging, booming sounds with a heavy beat and a lot of energy. Beebop grinned as she continued listening, making sure the music had been recorded from the other records perfectly. This mix disk had to be perfect, after all.

“Hey kiddo!” said Vinyl Scratch, walking through the door with a hay pizza and some oat soda. “Want a snack?”

Beebop shook her head. “No time! I’ve got to get this done really really fast!”

“What’s it for?” asked Vinyl, hopping onto a cushion and guzzling a long gulp of soda straight from the bottle.

“Miss Cheerilee’s wife is mad at her, so I need to come up with some really romantic tunes to get them together!” Beebop grinned as she carefully removed the record and tucked it into a sleeve. “This is GONNA BE AWESOME!” she yelled.

Vinyl chuckled. “How are you picking out romantic songs?”

Beebop grinned. “Well, romance has ENERGY! And PASSION! And... and FUN! So I’m picking the most energetic and passionate and fun music!” She put a new record on, and a rapid wubstep song began blasting out. “Perfect! Miss Cheerilee will love this!”

“Awesome!” said Vinyl. “How’d you come up with this idea, anyway?”

“Well, Miss Cheerilee always says we should do what we’re passionate about to make others happy! And I love music! And I want to make her happy! After that, it was easy--”

Featherweight ran into the studio. “Scootaloo says we have to get everything together! Miss Cheerilee and Miss Notary are heading back into town!”

“Right!” Beebop grabbed the record and hopped off the table. “Vinyl? May I borrow one of your record players, please?”

“Sure thing, kiddo. I’ll set up a speaker too, if you want.” Vinyl grinned. “Give ‘em romance so strong it knocks their hooves off!”

Beebop blinked.

“...that was a metaphor.”

“You’re sure it won’t actually knock their hooves off? That sounds like it could hurt.”

“Yes. Yes, I’m sure.”

***

Cheerilee skidded into the center of town, then found she could go no further -- she was too tired to move even another inch. The teacher bent over the appropriated scooter, gasping for breath.

Maybe this wasn’t a good idea...

“Blackcherry! I have you now!”

Cheerilee turned to see Notary, looking just as tired as she, slowly sliding into the town square on Pinkie’s (now slightly battered) party wagon. Sweat, and a little mud, streamed down her face, but her gaze was still strong and sure. “You won’t get away!”

Cheerilee heard distant hoofsteps approaching, probably Applejack's and Big Macintosh's, but she knew they wouldn't reach her in time. “But Natalia--”

“WAIT!”

The voice was high pitched and squeaky, yet still incredibly loud. Both mares turned to see Sweetie Belle at the head of a large group of foals.

“You can’t fight each other!” said Scootaloo. “You’re married!”

Notary blinked. “Who are they?”

Cheerilee sighed to herself. Uh oh. “My students.”

“...why are they getting involved in our dispute?”

“They’re an... involved bunch.” Cheerilee turned towards her class and put her best smile on. “Now, class, this is an adult matter. I--”

“But Miss Cheerilee!” protested Scootaloo. “We couldn’t let you to be mad at each other. So we set up the perfect date!”

Cheerilee and Notary looked at each other, than the orange foal. “What?” managed Cheerilee, though she dreaded the answer.

“Here!” Scootaloo pointed at a large picnic cloth. It had been set up with heart-shaped plates and pots, jeweled glasses and silverware, and what looked like chocolate covered apples. Next to it was a speaker, helpfully labeled ‘FOR ROMANTIC MUSIC.’

“See? We’re all sure if you just have a fun date, you’ll fall in love again!” said Scootaloo.

Notary blinked. “We were never in--”

“Come on!” The foals hurried forward and dragged the two earth ponies to the picnic blanket. “See how nice this is?”

Notary opened her mouth to say something, but Apple Bloom quickly shoved an apple into it before she could. Notary chewed for a moment, then spat it out with widened eyes. "This tastes like paint! And mustard!"

Cheerilee examined the apples, even licking one. "Uh--"

"Are your students trying to poison me?!"

"No, Natalia--" But Beebop hit the speaker, and the rest of Cheerilee’s response was lost in a blast of wubstep.

Notary put her hooves over her ears. “Your students are crazy!” she yelled at Cheerilee.

“Don’t insult my students!” yelled Cheerilee.

“You are also crazy!”

Cheerilee frowned. “I’m not the one who spent all day chasing somepony over Ponyville!”

“I am not the one who cheated on her wife within hours of marriage that was her idea in the first place!”

“I’m not...”

***

Snips and Snails looked down from the top of a nearby building. Snails slowly shook his head. “See? That plan didn’t work. Now they’re just yelling.”

Indeed, Notary and Cheerilee seemed to be mostly screaming at each other, while the foals looked at them in various states of dismay. Notary slammed a hoof down, knocking the apples and place settings about, and sending a few foals running after them in a futile effort to save the picnic.

“Fortunately, the Great Snailsini has a plan!” He waved at Snips. “Help me get this on top of them!”

The two had spent the afternoon putting together two gigantic balls of stickyness. Held together by glue, tape, taffee, and every other sticky thing they could find, they were confident no pony could escape its clutches. Such gluiness could easily stick the two wives together and force them to reconcile.

“What happens once they love each other again?” asked Snips, as they pushed the balls near the edge. “How do we unstick them?”

Snails paused, just as the ball went over the edge. “Oh. Thinking about that would have been a good idea.”

***

Notarystood on her hind legs to throw the punch in Cheerilee's face, but then something heavy fell on her back and rolled away... dragging her with it. And then things got very confusing.

When the world stopped spinning, she realized that she was stuck in some gooey mess, more or less facing Cheerilee, also stuck. And the foals -- now including two odd-looking unicorns -- had surrounded them.

“Blackcherry?” asked Notary. “What’s going on?”

“I have no idea.”

Snails grinned. “See, Scootaloo? They’re already talking nicely again! We told you our idea was better!”

Scootaloo frowned. “What idea? You just dropped two sticky balls off a roof!"

"Two balls?" asked Alula. "Where did the other one go?"

***

Trixie sighed. "Thanks for the short notice, Windowpane. Looks great." She rapped a hoof on the freshly-replaced window a few times to test it. "But why'd you bring two windows over?"

"Oh, I was talking to Pinkie," said the friendly glazier. "She seemed to think you'd need two today."

"Oh, come on. Even I've never needed a window replaced twice in one day--"

A large sticky ball bounced through the window, shattering it and spattering over the carpet.

"...I'm going back under my bed, where things make sense," announced Trixie, before going invisible and hurrying upstairs.

Windowpane shrugged. Vacation in Prance, here I come! And he once again began to fix the window.

***

Scootaloo was frowning. "You still disobeyed orders, Snips and Snails!. That's insubordination!”

“Wait, why do you get to give us orders?” asked Snips.

A pony with a tiara on her head seemed about ready to protest that the orange pony was doing the green unicorn a favor by giving him orders, but refrained at the last moment.

“Siccing your foals on me? That was your strategy?” demanded Notary.

“I didn’t sic them! They just did it on their own!”

“They are foals. Do you honestly think they would all work together on an overcomplicated plan with dubious prospects of success for no apparent reason?”

“Yes.”

“Um..." said a new voice. "What’s going on?”

A gray pony in a mailmare’s outfit, with a young purple foal riding on her back, had just floated down and landed, the two Apple siblings running up behind them. The gray pony looked at the two earth ponies in the sticky ball. “What happened to you?”

“My students,” said Cheerilee.

The mailmare nodded. “Oh. Should I distribute all the parent-teacher notices again?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Ditzy smiled. "Look on the bright side. You've sent out so many this year, you qualify for a volume discount on stamps!"

"...yippee."

The purple foal looked between the two adults. “So... um... now that you’re... uh, stuck there... maybe you could talk out your problems?”

“There is nothing to talk out,” hissed Notary.

“But there has to be!” Dinky’s eyes were wide. “Wives should love each other! That's why I got my Momma! She's the lovingest Momma in all the world, and she can help you love each other like you should!”

“Yeah!” said Scootaloo. “Parents should love each other!”

“We are not parents!” said Notary. “To be a parent, a stallion has to be involved in some way!”

"Really? How?" Sweetie Belle blinked. "I asked my sister, but she won't tell me until I'm older."

Cheerilee sighed. “Class... I appreciate your concern, but this is an issue that Miss Notary and I have to work out on our own. And I thought I told you not to find me any new love interests.”

“We’re not!” said Sweetie Belle. “We’re helping you get back with a previous love interest!” She beamed.

I think I need to start teaching them about what rules-lawyering is and why ponies shouldn’t do it, thought Cheerilee.

“And you aren’t working it out!” continued Dinky. “You’re just running around!”

“That’s because she was chasing me!” said Cheerilee.

“That’s because you wouldn't stop!” said Notary.

“Well, now nopony’s chasing anypony or not-stopping,” said Dinky, in a satisfied voice. “So now you can work things out! ...right?”

"Yeah!" said Apple Bloom, before her siblings shushed her.

Ditzy paused for a moment, then looked at Cheerilee and Notary. “Would it help if we went somewhere more private?”

“There is nothing to discuss!” said Notary, in an exasperated voice. “I trusted you, Blackcherry. I had never been to a party before. I had never drunk to excess. You promised you would look out for me and protect me. That nothing bad would happen. And now I find out that you lied, that you married me and pretended you had canceled it, and for all these years you kept it a secret. Was any of it honest?” She frowned. “What if I had married another pony, Blackcherry? What if they found out and thought I had another mare on the side? This could have seriously hurt my life -- but you did not care, because all that mattered to you was the party and the fun. I did not trust many ponies. But I trusted you. And you let me down, you lied, and--”

“I didn’t lie!” protested Cheerilee. “I was just... I...”

She paused, and then the words burst out of her: “You never smiled! You were never happy! And I wanted you to be happy just once, because I liked you and I knew how hard you worked! And you had so much fun at Summer Sun, and I was so happy to see you happy I didn’t want to make you upset again! And I just... went along with things, and I forgot all about the marriage! I’d have signed the papers any time you asked! I just didn’t want to make you unhappy again, so soon after Summer Sun, when I saw you really smile for the first time. And then time passed and I forgot.”

The two were silent for a moment.

“Natalia,” said Cheerilee. “I’m... sorry. I should have been more careful, I shouldn’t have led us into that marriage parlor and bingo hall in the first place. And I should have gotten the papers filed, or told you when I didn’t.”

Notary sighed. “...I was not aware you were working so hard to make me happy. I thought... I thought it was just another party for you, that I was just tagging along. I apologize for my lack of understanding. And, in the end, I suppose no harm was done...”

The foals all leaned closer.

“I am sorry,” said Notary, at last. “For chasing you today, and for not considering your own motives.”

“Forgiven?” asked Cheerilee, a small smile on her face.

“Forgiven.”

There was a moment of silence. And then the foals all went, “AWWWW!”

And Scootaloo, with a big bright smile, yelled, “NOW KISS!”

The two started and turned to the foals. “Kiss?” repeated an incredulous Notary. “We cannot kiss!”

“Why not?” challenged Sweetie Belle. “Aren’t you two married?”

“We’re... stuck in a sticky ball,” said Cheerilee, lamely. “Can’t move a muscle.”

“Besides,” said Notary, “When have we ever really kissed?”

“What?” said Cheerilee. “What about when...”

***

“Aha!” said Ogre, the chief of security at the mansion. “I knew there were two ponies lurking who shouldn’t be!”

Cheerilee smiled at him, undaunted. This was another place Notary and Cheerilee had broken into in order to right a wrong -- in this case, to recover the money that one of the university bullies was extracting from the weaker students. This was, however, the first time they’d been caught. Cheerilee supposed she shouldn’t have had such gassy soda at dinner. The guards hadn’t seen either of them, but they’d definitely heard Cheerilee’s burps.

“We’re not lurking!” said Cheerilee. “We were just looking for a romantic spot, and we got lost!”

“Oh yeah?” the guard laughed. “You two don’t look romantically involved.”

“Blackcherry, what are you doing?” whispered Notary. “I have a smoke bomb--”

Cheerilee grabbed Notary. “Oh yeah? If we weren’t involved, would we do this?” And she embraced Notary and kissed her tightly.

Notary stiffened, but seemed to go along with it, and Cheerilee smiled to herself as she ran her hooves along Notary’s body. No mare knew more about passion and love than she did. She knew it had to be a very convincing scene.

“...uh,” said the guard, looking more confused than anything. “What?”

“Hey!” Another guard ran up. “What’s going on?”

The first one turned. “Found these two, but then they started kissing.”

“What? Why?”

“How should I know? I--” He turned back, but both mares had vanished into the shadows.

Later, once the money was recovered, Cheerilee had turned to Notary. “By the way?”

“Yes?”

“You’re a terrible kisser. Three out of ten at most.”

Notary blinked. “...what?”

“Seriously. No technique, no form... didn’t know what to do with your tongue... and I think your eyelashes got tangled in mine.” Cheerilee smiled. “You still want to learn every useful skill, right? I know some ponies who can teach you how to kiss. They have a lot of experience.”

Notary stared at her. “And on that note, I am taking a shower.”

“What, I can’t critique your skills? You told me my lockpicking needed work!”

“Well, it did!”

“Hmph.” But Cheerilee smiled as her roommate left. “Eh. I bet I could get her up to a five, at least, with a little practice...”

***

Cheerilee paused. “Okay, good point.”

“Do you love each other again?” asked Apple Bloom, eyes big.

“Did you make up?” asked Sweetie Belle.

Ditzy frowned. “Foals... please give them some space. I’m sure all of your parents wouldn’t want you harassing them...”

“But we have to know!” said Scootaloo. “We have to know if we saved their relationship!”

Cheerilee was slowly pulling herself out of the sticky ball. “...I’ll tell you in class,” she said at last. Her head was swimming. She needed a drink. “Okay?”

“But... can’t you tell us now?” asked Apple Bloom. “We worked real real hard on the date!”

“And the sticky ball!” said Snips.

“We knew you’d want us to work hard to help ponies we like -- like you!” said Featherweight.

“And to put a lot of thought into it!” said Apple Bloom.

“And to focus on all the little details to make everything just right!” added Diamond Tiara.

“And to do what we’re PASSIONATE ABOUT!” yelled Beebop.

Cheerilee managed to get her other legs free, and tumbled back to the ground. Despite everything, she could not help but be touched by the obvious effort her class had expended on this. “Our... relationship is better than it was,” she said. That’s true... she’s no longer trying to chase me down...

It was enough for the foals. “YAAAAY!” they screamed, running around and hugging and high-hoofing each other. “Yay!”

“Alright,” said Ditzy. “Now, I think Miss Cheerilee and Miss Notary want some time alone, so...”

“Got it, Miss Doo!” Scootaloo began to lead the foals away. “Glad you’re back together with your wife, Miss Cheerilee! You should let us help plan your second honeymoon!”

“Yay!” said the foals again, and left - Scootaloo grabbing her scooter out of the sticky ball as she ran by .

Notary tugged herself out of the sticky ball. “...just to clarify, those foals are taught by you, yes?”

“...they might be odd sometimes, but I still care for them,” said Cheerilee, simply. “Now... after that, I need a drink.”

“I’ll join you.”

As Cheerilee considered her response, her gaze fell to a ribbon on the ground; Sweetie Belle, probably, had been scattering them all over the place on the picnic cloth. She picked it up and made a note to return it to her. It was a nice ribbon, bright and grassy-green, and--

Wait. Grassy green... Her eyes widened -- she remembered, now, why Notary’s address had struck her as odd.

“Good!” she said, at last. “I’d love to share a drink with an old friend like you.”

Notary bowed her head.

“We can catch up... talk about old times,” said Cheerilee.

And more recent ones as well...