Chapter 10
Saturday morning, Cheerilee was in Trottingham. She sat at a small café across from a fashion shop in the downtown area.
Trottingham was considerably larger than Ponyville. It was no Manehattan, but there was at least more than one store to buy clothing. This particular place, however, had called attention to itself.
Half a sandwich sat on a plate in front of Cheerilee. The rest of it was carefully hidden in her saddlebags, and a few crumbs were sprinkled around. She had made sure to order something she didn’t like, just so the smell wouldn’t be so distracting.
To remain inconspicuous, Rarity had fixed the lavender mare up with a beret and an ensemble that made her resemble a trendy artist. Of course, Cheerilee had her sunglasses on.
She looked up from the book that she’d been pretending to read. The reason she’d staked out the shop was because Photo Finish was known to frequent the business. Whether it was the real fashion photographer or not remained to be seen.
However, as Cheerilee looked down the street, a familiar face unexpectedly showed itself. Sapphire Shores? This was a surprising development. The singer and two ponies that Cheerilee took to be bodyguards strode into the shop.
The teacher sat for a moment, debating what to do. It was hard to believe in coincidences when they showed up so blatantly. She left some money on the table and walked away from the café. Cheerilee’s route took her down the block and circled around behind the fashion shop. She wondered if she could slip in the back door and perhaps overhear what was going on inside.
As Cheerilee approached the door, the building exploded.
It was not a massive fiery blast. Instead, the shop came tumbling almost straight down with little collateral damage to the buildings next to it. The exactness of it had to have been a carefully planned event, and had not been carried out by amateurs. I don’t know what idiot ordered that book on precision demolition for an elementary school, thought Cheerilee, but I’m glad I read it before throwing it away.
She looked down in pain. A shard of wood, probably from a supporting beam or something, had stabbed through her lower stomach, neatly pinning her to the building next door. Cheerilee managed to extricate herself, gritting her teeth against the agony. She didn’t really know if the “stake through the heart” story was true about vampires, but this was too close for comfort.
Once free, Cheerilee took a deep breath, recovering for a moment. Her ears were ringing from the blast, and she looked around, making sure nopony would sneak up on her while she was injured.
Once she felt well enough to walk, Cheerilee started into the rubble of the building without fear. After all, it couldn’t explode twice.
Torn scraps of cloth from the shop’s wares were everywhere. Building materials lay haphazardly, and dust filled the air. Cheerilee looked around, sensing something was missing, but not immediately sure of what.
A pair of saddlebags lay in the corner. They had been ruined in the explosion, and Cheerilee wondered who owned them. Then it struck her. Where were the bodies? She gave the building a quick once-over, but didn’t discover any ponies or even any parts of ponies.
As her hearing began to return, Cheerilee heard a siren in the distance. It was her cue to leave. She walked out what used to be the rear door of the building. A few blocks away, she caught sight of a carriage that was slowly rolling away. It was of the stagecoach design. Two ponies sat on the roof in a defensive posture. They were the bodyguards that had accompanied Sapphire Shores into the building.
Had the singer tried to make it look like she’d been killed? Cheerilee didn’t know, but decided that she was going to find out. She crossed the street quickly, finding herself in a back alley that ran behind the row of buildings and parallel to the main road. She broke into a gallop that quickly ate up the distance. She caught glimpses of the carriage through the gaps between buildings. It was headed out of town, towards the swamps.
Cheerilee put on a burst of speed and ducked out from behind the buildings, catching up to the carriage. The two guards were looking ahead for threats and didn’t notice her climb on the back. She hung there out of sight for a few minutes until she was sure the carriage was far enough out of Trottingham that no innocent bystanders were around.
She climbed onto the roof and addressed the guards. “Why did that building explode?”
Surprised, the two stallions turned around. Without answering her question, they attacked. Cheerilee swatted aside a kick from the first pony and demanded, “Is Sapphire Shores trying to fake her own death?”
All she got in reply was another blow aimed at her head. Well, I tried, thought Cheerilee. She ducked inside the kick and bit deeply into the stallion’s upper leg. He screamed in pain, and tried to shake her loose.
The ponies pulling the carriage couldn’t turn far enough in their harnesses to see what was going on, but at the sound of the scream they picked up the pace. Cheerilee gave the stallion she was biting a push, and he tumbled over the side of the carriage, falling beneath the wheels.
She turned to the other guard, who looked at her in horror. Cheerilee glanced down, realizing she still had the other stallion’s leg clenched in her teeth. The torn end dribbled blood.
The mare took a step forward. The guard moved away, all the way to the edge of the roof. Cheerilee tossed her head and the hoof attached to the ripped-off leg smacked him in the face. He tumbled backwards off the moving carriage and slammed into a tree beside the road.
Cheerilee spit out the appendage and looked over the side of the vehicle. She kicked the lock off the door and swung down from the roof into the interior of the carriage. It was time to have another chat with Sapphire Shores.
The pony of pop flattened herself against the opposite wall of the carriage’s cabin as Cheerilee appeared, blood smeared on her face.
“Again? Who are you?” the singer demanded.
“You’re not in any position to be asking questions.” The lavender mare glared at her. “Start talking.”
“I’m a citizen! I have rights!” Sapphire insisted.
Cheerilee shrugged. “I think it’s pretty clear that I’m not the pony you should be complaining to. Now, are you going to make this easy, or am I going to have to force it out of you?”
Sapphire’s mouth dropped open. “I…” she managed.
The carriage suddenly slowed, coming to a halt almost instantaneously. Cheerilee, standing near the door, was tossed off her feet and ended up on the other side of the cabin. Sapphire Shores took the opportunity to make a break for it.
The schoolteacher sighed as she picked herself up. She didn’t want to torture the singer for information, but if Cheerilee had to run her down that was probably what it would lead to. She jumped out of the carriage.
Outside, Cheerilee was surprised to find a small group of Royal Guards holding the ponies pulling the carriage at spearpoint. Shining Armor had Sapphire Shores on the ground and was putting hoofcuffs on her. He looked up and handed the task off to one of his subordinates.
“That’s a bad injury you’ve got there,” he said, quickly shepherding Cheerilee off towards the rear of the carriage and out of sight from the rest. He gave her a handkerchief to wipe the blood from her face.
“I’m not actually hurt,” she told him.
Shining nodded. “It’s easier to pretend than it is to explain the truth. Just go with it.” He took the handkerchief and carefully dabbed a bit of blood back on her face to simulate a wound.
“How did you find me?” Cheerilee asked.
“After the explosion, we just followed the bodies.” Shining shrugged. He may or may not have been joking.
“So what happens now?” asked the mare.
“We’re going to give Ms. Sapphire Shores a proper interrogation.” Shining shrugged. “No offense to your methods, but we have more practice.”
“What should I be doing now?” asked Cheerilee.
“Stay around Trottingham,” Shining told her. “We’ll find a job for you.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.024 seconds
Total duration
1,047 users online
2,204,953 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
first and she is getting nasty
SA isn't real... It's all a fake to get her away from Cheerilee. Just calling it now
This Cheerilee is a fake. She's not that awesome.
LOVE IT!!!
LOVE THE PACE OF THE UPDATES!!!
I wonder how long it'll be before she decides to see if Twist tastes like peppermint.
Grievous harm with a body... er, part of one. Awesome.
The Chase Is Better Than The Catch - Motörhead
676123 ...... people like you make this sight great
i thought Cheerilee was illiterate
677101
We've explained this previously. Retcon
25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lil18vKP8X1qgxl3ko1_400.png
fucking brutal
Cheerilee's badassery list:
BECOMING BADASS... Part 1: Success
BECOMING BADASS... Part 2: Success
BECOMING AWESOME BADASS... Part 1: In Progress(1 of 4)
BECOMING AWESOME BADASS... Part 2:
BECOMING EPIC BADASS... Part 1:
BECOMING EPIC BADASS... Part 2:
BECOMING LEGENDARY BADASS... Part 1:
BECOMING LEGENDARY BADASS... Part 2:
BECOMING AWESOME LEGENDARY EPIC BADASS... Part 1:
BECOMING AWESOME LEGENDARY EPIC BADASS... Part 2:
Figting cheap cannon fodder(aka: Bodyguards) doesn't count for badass achivement at this point
Where`s da new chapter?
The Night Shift has updated!
Inbox
x
Fimfiction admin@fimfiction.net
3:13 PM (0 minutes ago)
to me
Dear ExtraExtrapie,
The fanfic you are tracking called 'The Night Shift' has just updated!
Click here to go and see it.
680854
Five minutes, I promise
WAIT WAIT WAIT
wasn't Cheerilee's secred in A Dream that she couldn't read and isn't this a sequel of sorts to A Dream.....
683871
i think it is a spin off of the other fics
*sigh* i have to get off for tonight
but i shall read more when i get on again!!!
Ah... Now I feel kinda bad for those guards. It seems that the "Expendable Extras" aspect of adventure is starting to catch up to this fic.
I'm not entirely sure what colour you think lavender is, but Cherilee is pink. o.o
I am rather darkly reminded of several real life terrorist bombs, which were in fact designed to do exactly that - a small blast to injure people and draw inpolice/paramedics, then a larger blast to kill the first responders.
2445634
Cheerilee
vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp-gameloft/images/4/44/Cheerilee_vector.png/revision/latest?cb=20140103085651
#D8B2D1, "Pink Lavender"
colors.findthedata.com/sites/default/files/2307/media/images/t2/Pink_Lavender_1395396.png
Close enough, right?
But her MANE definitely is pink.
3483510
That.. that's just... no just no I can't BEGIN to describe such disgust I'm feeling right now.