Goodbye, Miss Cheerilee

by Talon and Thorn

Where you least expect it

Pen had tried to call again last night, he’d somehow gotten the telephone number of the hotel she was staying in, he’d left half a dozen notes asking her to contact him. She wasn’t being fair to him she knew, he deserved an answer, she only wished she had one to give him. Maybe her lack of an answer was the answer, if she truly loved him wouldn't she have just said yes? But what if she ended up like Cheerilee, the old mare seemed to have done everything, but here she was at the end, alone. But was fear of being alone really the best foundation to build a relationship on? Maybe it was all most ponies had? She tried to push her maudlin thoughts aside as she entered the hospital again. It had only been a few days since her first visit but she was already treated as part of the furniture, she nodded to Carrot Heart as she passed. When she got to Cheerilee’s room she was surprised to find it almost full of ponies of all ages from young foals to an elderly mare easily Cheerilee’s age.

“Ah, Ghost, nice to see you again,” said Cheerilee cheerfully. “This is Carrot Top,” she gestured to the old mare who nodded, her bright orange hair bouncing, despite her age her mane still looked stunning, ”And this is a chunk of her family.” She gestured at the other ponies who all nodded, or waived, or gave some greeting.

“I hope Cheerilee has been treating you properly, and not making too much up,” said Carrot Top.

“She’s been very interesting,” said Ghost politely, and entirely truthfully, she hadn’t expected to get so engrossed in Cheerilee’s tales. “Maybe you could add some of your own perspective to the book?”

The old mare’s face hardened. “I’m afraid I only gave interviews to one writer and... well I haven't see him for a while, although I’m sure we’ll meet again, sooner or later. Anyway I better be off and let you get on with your work,” she turned to the bed, “I’ll see you again tomorrow Cheer.”

“I can’t wait,” said Cheerilee sitting up with effort and hugging the other mare. “How else would I get all the best gossip in town?”

Nodding as they passed the crowd of ponies slowly snaked out of the room leaving Ghost and Cheerilee alone.

“Now we’d gotten to your writing career,” said Ghost opening her note book.

“I never really thought of it as a career, more a hobby.”

“A very profitable and successful hobby.”

“Well summer holidays were always a bit of a drag so rather than just lie about at home counting my fish I decided to go away on holiday, and something exciting always seemed to happened. I used to tell my stories to the kids and my friends, and they suggested I write them down. I sent them off to be published, and to my surprise they were popular.”

“Your mix of travel guide and adventure story was quite ground breaking at the time,” agreed Ghost, certainly her tutors at colleague had spent a lot of time dissecting their structure and success.

“I was just writing what I knew, anyway it was while I was away on one of my trips that I met the closest I ever got to a special somepony...”

---

This trip to Naqah seemed to be going better than her last one, thought Cheerilee as she sipped at the potent coffee a camel servant had just passed her and flipped through this morning’s newspaper. No sign of any god like spirits, magical armies or deserts of glass this time. Her days hadn’t been entirely uneventful, she had spotted a certain Dr Ritter at the Bazaar yesterday. She and her friends had had several run in with him in the past and she decided to follow him, while mentally composing a section of her next book on proper haggling protocol in this culture, she might be in her fifth decade of life but she could still multi task. She had followed the ‘archaeologist’ back to his rooms in the city and had spied a certain magical looking statue that she was certain shouldn’t be in his hooves. It had been child’s play to pick the buildings lock, sneak inside and take the artefact, after all she’d had plenty of practice. The statue was now safely stored in her saddlebags and she was trying to decide whether to return it to the equestrian embassy, the Naqah government, a local museum, or if it would look good on her mantelpiece at home when she glanced up at the door and saw Ritter himself enter. How had he tracked her back here?! Some spell on the statue? She cursed, she should have been more careful. She slumped down in her seat and covered her face with the newspaper, maybe he wouldn’t notice her.

To Cheerilee’s surprise the treasure hunter and two burly thugs, a minotaur and a zebra, walked straight past her and instead focused on another guest. Peaking over her paper she frowned as the minotaur used one meaty fist to hold the brown coated stallion in his seat while Ritter sat down opposite him. Cheerilee saw a flash as Ritter produced a small crossbow and held it under the table pointing at his opponent who didn’t seem very distressed, he instead leaned forwards and picked up a cup of coffee from the table and took a sip seeming to savour the flavour. Now that Cheerilee could get a look at him she was rather impressed, he was tall and slim, and although she guessed from the slight greying of his messy yellow and white mane he probably wasn’t much younger that her, his boyish features and thin framed glasses made him look a decade or more her junior. The look was rather spoiled by the thin scraggly beard on his chin, but you couldn’t have everything. Despite the oppressive climate he wore a knitted cardigan. Intrigued she tried to slowly move closer to overhear the conversation.

“And just after the Icon of Isolante goes missing from my personal villa I find that you are in town, return it to me immediately!” hissed Ritter.

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about, I didn’t even know you were in town. You know me, always after new experiences, I thought Naqah might be a nice place for a holiday, away from the beaten track,” replied the stranger calmly. “Of course if I did know you were here I would have dropped in.”

“Don’t play the fool with me! Return what you’ve stolen or there will be consequences,” he gestured with the crossbow. “I could kill you now and search your room.”

“Well that would cause rather a mess wouldn’t it? I wouldn’t want to get blood in this rather fine coffee, did you know the beans are only ground once they’ve passed through the digestive system of a rodent of some kind?” The zebra henchman screwed up his nuzzle in disgust. “Well yes, it doesn’t sound very appetizing, but really the flavour is most unique.”

“Stop prattling and tell me what you did with my statue!” cried Ritter.

Cheerilee decided things had gone too far, and that she didn’t want to know anything more about the coffee she’d been drinking since she arrived in town. Thinking quickly she rolled up her newspaper and sliding up from her chair poked Ritter in the flank with it.

“Drop the crossbow!” she hissed enjoying watching Ritter jump and the recognition in his eyes as he turned his head to get a look at her. “Ah ha, no sudden moves, just put down the bow or I’ll put a bolt right through you.”

“I should have known you weren’t working alone,” said Ritter scowling as he carefully placed the weapon on the table in front of him.

“Sorry but I’ve never seen this ravishing beauty before,” said the brown unicorn, “I’m sure I would have remembered.”

Despite herself Cheerilee felt a blush glow on her cheeks. “Anyway,” she said clearing her throat, “The two of us are going to walk out the door now and you and your friends are going to stay here unless you like having holes in you, believe me, only Changelings can pull off that look.” She nodded to the stranger who shrugged and started to get to his hooves as she backed away from Ritter.

“Boss!” cried the Minotaur, Cheerilee cursed, she hadn’t been paying attention and he had managed to get alongside her and had a clear line of sight to what she had, or rather didn’t have in her hoof. “That’s not a...”

Suddenly the unknown stallion grabbed the coffee in his aura and swung it at the minotaur who staggered back with a cry trying to shield his face from the boiling liquid. Quick as lightning the stallion leapt to his hooves. Ritter turned towards Cheerilee with a growl and she reacted instinctively slapping him across the face with the rolled up newspaper, surprised he staggered back onto the table which shattered and he slumped to the floor. Feeling the Zebra reach out to grab her Cheerilee dropped her weight to one side while grabbing his hoof with her own, overbalanced the Zebra flew over Cheerilee’s head and crashed into a group of Camels sitting at another table.

“Come on!” yelled Cheerilee at the brown stallion who was standing there blinking stupidly, she grabbed him by the hoof and started to drag him out onto the street. “This way!” she cried pulling him down the main road.

“I’m sorry I’ve got you into this miss, I’ll do my best to keep you safe,” said the stranger.

“You’ll keep me safe!” exclaimed Cheerilee. “Who just took out two of the bad guys in there?”

“I had the situation under control, there was no need for you to put yourself in danger.”

“Well you know when I see a cute guy being hassled by some thugs I like to step in.”

“But you could get hurt!”

“Could, but that’s part of the fun.”

He laughed. “I like you,” he said.

Grinning Cheerilee gestured for him to follow him down a side road.

“No wait,” said the stallion, “This way,” he pointed to a back alley. “I found a shortcut while wandering the city last night!”

For a moment Cheerilee tried to weigh up her options then shrugged and followed the stranger, she wasn’t one to shy away from new experiences. “Who are you anyway?” she cried, “How did Ritter know you?”

“I’m Trenderhoof, we’ve bumped into each other on occasion.”

“I’m Cheerilee,” replied Cheerilee, then paused for a moment frowning.

“I’ve read your books!” they both cried at once.

“They’re shallow and uninspired,” said Cheerilee scowling, “You just follow the latest trends without really thinking for yourself.”

“Well you’re far behind the times, I mean your book on Nulpar, everyponies been there!” replied Trenderhoof loudly.

“Well at least I actually do research! Your last book was full of factual errors!”

“Well I don’t make up what happens to me!”

“Every word in my books is true!”

“Talentless Hack!”

“Soulless Hipster!”

The two of them snorted at each other standing with their muzzles only an inch or two apart. Some primitive part of Cheerilee reported that he smelled good and maybe she could do with being an inch or two closer to him. They were interrupted by a cry as Ritter and his minions spotted them and started to pursue.

“Run now, argue later!” yelled Cheerilee grabbing Trenderhoof’s surprisingly muscular arm and dragging him down the street he’d previously indicated.

---

“So what happened then?” asked Ghost.

“Well the two of us ended up hiding out in a back street hotel for a few nights while Ritter combed the city for us. I won't go into too much detail, but when you write up that section you might want to try some of the following adjectives ferocious, violent, convulsive and multiple, you might also want to stop foals from reading it.” Cheerilee grinned her eyes a little unfocused. “I thought it was going to be a one off thing, like so many before him. Once we’d dealt with Ritter and stopped the statue from destroying the city he was off. He was always so keen on finding new things, going to new places, but we bumped into each other again and again, I think he might have been stalking me, I was certainly following him l. He agreed to visit Ponyville so we could collaborate on a book and said the place was ‘charmingly rustic’ that he might even consider settling down there, then...” she trailed off.

“Then what?” asked Ghost.

“Then Pansy’s Spirit happened.”

Ghost frowned, she thought she’d heard of that, some sort of airship crash on its way to Canterlot, it had happened before she was born but it had been a big thing, there had been no survivors. “Oh.”

“Yes, he was on his way back from a coronation up in the Griffin lands. I... I was going to ask him something important when he got back but he was gone.” A single tear dripped from the old mare’s face.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” she rubbed her eye, “It was a long long time ago now, we had some good times. I don’t know if he ever really could settle down, maybe he would have moved on eventually, but we did have some good times,” she whispered.

“You stopped writing your books,” noted Ghost trying to move the conversation on, it was an uncomfortable reminder than Pen might not wait for ever, that she would have to give him an answer sooner or later.

“I stopped traveling for a bit, I stopped doing everything for a bit, but I had some good friends and I still had my students,” she perked up a bit. “I threw myself into my work, of course by then Ponyville was growing, they started up the new school, decided my little schoolhouse wasn’t needed any more, that I should move onwards and upwards. Maybe they were right,” she shrugged, “But those bigger schools are so impersonal, they wanted to close me down but I dug in my heels, called in some favours. I had saved Equestria a few times and I was personal friends with the province’s ruler, not to mention the princesses, all four of them, so I managed to keep the place open, it’s still going now,” she glowed a bit with pride. “Of course I couldn’t fight all the changes,” she scowled, “Time moved on and I stayed the same, but things became more about numbers, tests for tests sake, each pupil changed from a living breathing unique beautiful little pony to a collection of scores, sucked in by the educational system chewed up and spat out!” Cheerilee was becoming quite animate, waving her hooves around in anger, suddenly she was wracked by a cough, then another. Alarmed Ghost rushed forwards, she glanced at the medical equipment, surely there was some way to summon help?

“What do I...” she cried.

Cheerilee's coughing fit subsided and she waved a reassuring hoof at the writer. “Don’t fuss,” she croaked breathing heavily. Ghost helped her reach for a glass of water on the sideboard and she took a long drink. “I fought against the changes, but I was seen as a fossil. I was past retirement date by then anyway, eventually I was told to change to the new ways or get out. So I got out. There was a bit of a kerfuffle, a petition to keep me on but I was having trouble keeping going as it was, age catches up with us all, eventually. Of course they couldn’t keep me away from my kids, as much as they might pretend they hated school, there were some who kept coming around asking for help, extra tuition,” she smiled. “My special little foals. Turns out next year’s test scores were the worst on record for Ponyville, apart from the ones I helped,” she grinned, “Course it was mostly a new teacher finding his place but still it got picked up by some bigwig in the Night Court, Cliff Posey, came down here to lead an investigation in person, we got talking, handsome stallion he is. Took me on as an advisor got some changes put through, got back to treating the little ponies as ponies rather than just points on a graph. I still help with the school and Cliff visits occasionally as well.” She let out a yawn. “Sorry I’m a bit tired, maybe we can finish this up tomorrow?”

Ghost looked down at her note pad, she hadn’t noticed she had almost filled it up, she’d been so engrossed in the old pony’s story. “Yes, I think that will be a good idea.”

“I hope you’ve got an answer to whatever’s been bothering you these last few days.”

Ghost considered what to tell her for a moment, it was her own business but she did feel close to the bed ridden pony after listening to so much of her life story. “My boyfriend, Pencil Pusher, he asked me to marry him and I... I don’t know,” she admitted.

“Do you love him?” asked Cheerilee.

“I think so, but do I love him enough? I’ve only known him about a year, what if it’s a bad idea?” She wrung her hooves for a moment.

“I’ve done lots of stupid things over the years, never been married, well not properly. I think I turned out alright, it’s not for everypony, but it is for someponies, my friends Lyra and Bon Bon, Carrot Top and Written, Ditzy and Mac, Heavy and Notary, all two parts of a greater whole, but not for everypony. I can’t tell you the answer, only you can.”

Was marriage for her, thought Ghost, Cheerilee seemed happy with her life but would she? She considered for a moment, then made her decision.

“I should be off,” she stood up quickly, “I have a phone call to make, urgently.”

“Good filly,” muttered Cheerilee as the younger mare rushed from the room.

Author's Note:

Every day I'm Shipping! I don't think I've seen Trenderlee before.

Comments are always welcome.

Comments

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Trenderlee? Not bad. Sucks he died, though. :(