Cheerilee's Normal Day

by PseudoBob Delightus

Chapter 7 - Dashie04

Author's Note:

This chapter was written by Dashie04, who only knew about chapter 6.

“The library,” Cheerilee deadpanned, galloping after Twilight. Into her view came a large building, windows covering every surface, with thousands of books visible simply from the ground.

“Not just any library,” Twilight declared. “The royal library. If there’s anything that’ll reveal to us what this creature is, it’ll be ancient history.”

“Are you absolutely sure?” Cheerilee asked. “This’ll reveal the true nature of that infected changeling?”

“Yes!” Twilight shouted, quite unbefitting of a library, even an unentered one. “Well, no, not entirely, but it’s as good as a place as any. We’re going to comb this place as much as we can.”

“But—“

“The parents… that is an issue but I’ll trust Shining Armor and Discord on that one.”

“You’re trusting Discord.” Cheerilee pointed out.

“Desperate times,” Twilight whispered.

The two ventured into the library. Cheerliee looked around at the mountains of books that surrounded her. Large lexicons littered the shelves, organized neatly by name.

“We want ancient history, because frankly I have heard of nothing that matches the description of this infection in modern times.”

Cheerilee nodded, and followed Twilight to the ancient history section. The pristine paperbacks soon gave way to dusty tomes, marked with names so old nopony could remember the who, what, or why. Various discussions about medicine, science, and history even older than ancient, penned by prodigious ponies of old, lined the shelves— kept in as remarkable a state as something older than Celestia could be.

“I’ll take the left, you get the right,” Twilight whispered, flapping up to start combing the shelves. “We need to figure this out… and fast.”

Cheerliee immediately started throwing books aside, glancing at their titles to determine whether or not they were valuable. Some were written in languages she didn’t understand but the key words: infection, child, changeling, among others, were conspicuously absent. She didn’t bother looking through and determining the alphabetical order, she needed answers. With every single one coming up blank, her desperation grew deeper, only enhancing her frenzied mood.

Meanwhile, Twilight calmly looked through her side of the aisle. Putting books back carefully. The two contrasting styles proved not only entertaining for the ponies watching— likely drawn by the thump of leather on carpet— but created a choir of controlled chaos that would make Discord blush.

The two continued searching, one silent and one shaking, for another few minutes. Then, amongst the countless covers carelessly crashing, was a single shout.

“I found it!”

Everypony who might’ve been watching, stopped. Silence rushed over the library in a second.

“What is it?” Twilight asked, not even bothering to control her voice.

“Infection: A Curious Case,” Cheerilee declared, “by Heir Apparent.”

“Can we be sure?” Twilight asked, once again, with no respect to the setting.

“No…” Cheerilee admitted, “but we can hope.”

The two looked intently into the book as Cheerilee cracked open the cover. After a long and ambling foreword, they found exactly what they were looking for.

“…No cure is known for this disease of pure darkness. However, coltlike wonder keeps it at bay.”

“You were right…” Cheerilee muttered, dumbstruck.

“Childlike wonder…” Twilight added. She looked up at the high ceilings, clearly drafting up something in her head.

“So,” Twilight began. “Let’s review…

“First, this is a disease of pure darkness. Whatever infected that changeling is sinister and needs to be taken care of immediately. Secondly, it very well might be infectious, whatever this disease was, it had enough cases to have a book written on it. Third, childlike wonder is known as a deterrent, whatever you did was greater than that, it was complete obliteration. Finally, it used to be eradicated, until now…”

Twilight trailed off on an ominous note. She flipped a few more flimsy pages, stained by coffee and ink. “This could mean serious danger for me and the kingdom. As the newly-appointed Queen of Equestria this is something that requires urgent attention.”

“Or else…?” Cheerliee trembled. She hoped that the answer wouldn’t be what she thought it was.

“This could mean disaster for the entirety of Equestria!” Her voice echoed throughout the library, alarming all within earshot. She flew over and planted her two front hooves squarely on Cheerilee’s shoulders, a frenzied look in her eye. “We need to tell the others immediately.”

Cheerliee nodded quickly, sharply. She then looked at her feet.

“Oh. The books…”

“No time!” Twilight casted a spell and every displaced book was put neatly on the shelf. Maybe not where it belonged, but that wasn’t her problem.

Twilight started on a full-force fly back outdoors, forcing Cheerilee to catch up with a graceless gallop. In no time, the two were at the door, a little worse for wear. But, with the adrenaline coursing through their veins, the two eventually started on the path back to the concert hall, where the changeling had vanished with the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Before they could make it though, Discord appeared directly in front of them. Two ponies fell to his side as he held up a stop sign, a command— which in Twilight and Cheerliee’s state— they immediately followed.

Donning a construction vest and a hardhat, Discord glared at the two tearful ponies.

“My class!” Cheerliee shouted. “Please tell me they’re alright!”

“They’re fine. We have more pressing matters at hand,” Discord said.

With a snap, a tear in the fabric of dimensions opened up, a look into the dream world.

Shining Armor glanced up, groaning. “Discord! No wonton teleporting… my head hurts.”

“Sorry Shiny but this had to be done,” Discord muttered, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly.

“Are the Cutie Mark Crusaders alright?” Twilight called, voice straining like a songbird with strep throat.

“Good news and bad news there,” Discord said, summoning a scroll and reading glasses. As he adjusted the glasses, he asked “What’d you like first?”

“The good news please!” Cheerliee called.

“Good news: The Cutie Mark Crusaders are fine.”

The two ponies looked up hopefully, hoping that was the last of it.

“The bad news…”

Discord summoned another scroll, which unrolled and touched the ground, rolling on for infinity, as far as Twilight could see.

“The bad news: Our connection is shaky, Luna won’t wake up and…”

Three familiar faces scrolled through the dimensional rift, darkness convulsing all around. Luna winced in her sleep, a sleep deep enough that she wasn’t even bothered when her body unceremoniously dropped like a sack of potatoes from the teleport.

“…The three pipsqueaks are a little worse for wear.”

Comments

[Dashie04]

Everypony who might’ve been watching, stopped.

Classic Dashie04 nonsensical line.

Am proud of this chapter though, even though I was barely awake when writing it. It's the energy an exquisite corpse deserves.