Adventures of a "Schoolteacher"

by VashTheStampede

Chapter II

Miss Cheerilee hastily leaned to the right, pressing her flank against the frame of her door.

“Why, whatever do you mean, Rumble? Were you staring at my flank?” Cheerilee felt bad for putting him on the spot like this, but her secret couldn’t get out.

“I… I… no! I’m sorry Miss Cheerilee! Please don’t hate me!” Rumble’s mouth hung open, his eyes widened in terror that he’d irreparably damaged his relationship with his teacher. As he began to back away, Cheerilee reached over and pulled him into a hug.

“I’m sorry Rumble. I just… did you have a question for me?” She released the small colt and stood back up. He merely gulped and nodded, turning and pulling a textbook from his saddlebag.

“A question on homework, huh?” He shook his head vigorously, then set the book down, and opened it to a page with a large double-spread image of the heroes of the War of Pony Ascension. Cheerilee swallowed, hoping to Celestia that the slate colt in front of her wasn’t going to do what she thought he was.

He did.

His hoof slowly traced a line from where it rested to the face of a mare in the picture.

“Miss Cheerilee… is… is that you?” he asked, timidly.

Cheerilee leaned down to close the book, and in an instant realized her mistake. As she moved, she was no longer pressing the sticker against her flank, and it fell to the ground with a smack. Both ponies stopped moving entirely and stared at the piece of plastic lying on the ground, before Rumble’s young eyes found their way back to his teacher’s flank. Instead of the three smiling flowers that he knew were supposed to be there, he found a black circle with two lines crossing through it, with a red dot at the center.

“It… it is you… you’re… you’re the Hero of Equestria! You fought wit-” Cheerilee covered the small colt’s mouth with a hoof, indicating she wanted him to be silent.

Cheerilee sighed. For one pony, at least, her cover was blown.

“Rumble… why don’t you come inside,” Cheerilee said. It wasn’t a question, it wasn’t a suggestion, it was an instruction.

She stepped aside and allowed him entry to her home, immediately feeling shame for her sister’s lifestyle. Picking up the vinyl sticker, she placed it on the counter between a couple of bottles. Feeling no need to hide it any longer, she twisted her neck and removed the sticker from her other flank as well. Rumble stared in horror, as though he’d just seen a pony tear her own flesh off. Cheerilee smiled softly, and hoofed him one of the stickers.

“It’s just a piece of plastic designed to cover something up. It’s not actually my real skin or fur or anything,” she giggled, “but I won’t be needing them anymore. Can I get you anything to drink? I’ve got apple juice, milk, and water… well, that’s not all I have but I don’t think my sister would like you drinking any of her stuff, and besides, that wouldn’t be legal.”

“Some apple juice sounds delicious, thank you Miss Cheerilee. But why don’t you need these anymore?” Rumble asked.

“Because I’ll be leaving now. This is the ninth town in the twelve years since the war. Every time… I’ve tried to hide who I am. I want nothing more than to live a normal life. But every time I’ve been found out… I’ve left. I don’t want everypony to know who I am. I want nothing more than to be ‘Miss Cheerilee the Schoolteacher.’ Every time ponies find out that I was what they all call a ‘war hero,’” Cheerilee said with a sigh. She began to trot away from him, to get some apple juice from the fridge.

“Then why don’t you stay? I won’t tell anypony, I promise! See, you can just put these back on and go back to being Miss Cheerilee!” Rumble pressed the sticker he was holding to Cheerilee’s flank. It only half-stuck, and was upside down. Cheerilee laughed, but it was a mirthless laugh, one lacking any of her namesake cheer.

“It’s not that simple, Rumble. If even one pony knows… certainly more will find out. It’s just bound to happen. I’m sorry, but maybe Twilight Sparkle can take over as your teacher.”

“No! I don’t want her to be my teacher! I want you to be my teacher!” Cheerilee was still pouring the apple juice, but abruptly stopped when she heard the distress in his voice. It almost sounded like… he was crying. She turned around, and sure enough, he was. “I… I love you, Miss Cheerilee! Not… not like Thunderlane loves Flitter, but like… like I’d love my mother…” Cheerilee’s heart was wrenched from her chest as she looked at Rumble, the small colt’s eyes screwed shut, tears falling openly on her floor. “I never… I never knew my mother, did you know that? She died when I was really little… and when… when I started going to school, you were so nice, so happy, so friendly… I thought that you were what I’d want my mother to be like… so… I guess…” Rumble couldn’t keep talking anymore. His irregular breathing broke into ragged sobs, his knees giving out. Before he hit the floor, though, something caught him – the soft, purple forelegs of his teacher. She pulled the small Pegasus into a hug, doing her best to comfort him.

“Shh… shh… it’s ok, Rumble. It’s ok… you don’t need to cry. Can you promise me one thing, though?” He nodded. “Don’t tell anypony. If you can keep this a secret, I’ll stay. But it has to stay a secret, ok?” He nodded again, still with his face buried in her chest. Cheerilee smiled at the little colt. She really did like him. However, by the time he’d finished crying, and gone over his story with Cheerilee (which, despite being very well-written, was a rather thinly veiled fantasy about Cheerilee being Rumble’s mother), and then had dinner as well, it was fairly late. The sun had gone down, and Cheerilee didn’t really want to see him go home alone in the dark. Something seemed to be nagging at him, too. Before Cheerilee could offer, Rumble began to speak.

“Miss Cheerilee…? Umm… Thunderlane is at Flitter’s house tonight… and Cloud Chaser’s away in Manehattan, visiting family… and… I don’t really want to stay home alone…”

“Your brother leaves you alone at night?”

“Yeah, pretty often. Cloud Chaser comes over sometimes, but not every time.”

“That’s not ok, Rumble. He’s your guardian, since your parents… if you don’t want him to leave you alone, he can’t. But seeing as that’s not an option tonight… do you want to spend the night here? My sister won’t be home until much later, but she won’t mind. Come on, I’ve got an extra bed I can sleep on.”

“Oh, no, Miss Cheerilee. I couldn’t impose on you like that. It’s ok.”

“No, it isn’t. You can spend the night here. I’ll talk to your brother tomorrow.” What’s this? Am I… I’m already starting to act like a mother. Maybe I should have had a foal years ago… but back then…

“Are you sure, Miss Cheerilee? Well then at least let me sleep in the small bed, it wouldn’t be fair.”

“No, you’ll sleep in my bed. That’s final,” Cheerilee said, sternly.

“And you’ll sleep in your bed,” Rumble said with just as much stubbornness in his voice.

“Fine, if you insist, then we can share,” Cheerilee said, after only a moment’s internal debate. He’s eight. It’s innocent enough… this won’t help those rumors but I don’t care. He needs someone who will actually take care of him, unlike his deadbeat brother.

Rumble’s eyes lit up and his wings fluffed a little, before settling back down.

“Oh thank you so much Miss Cheerilee! You’re the best teacher ever!” The little stallion said, rushing over and hugging the mare.

After another half-hour, both ponies had showered and made the other preparations for going to bed, and were lying next to each other under the sheets. Cheerilee lay on her back, unable to decide what the appropriate level of physical contact would be, and wondered if perhaps this hadn’t been the wisest decision. Just as she was about to get out of bed and relocate to the collapsible cot, Rumble rolled over and snuggled up against her foreleg.

“Thank you so much, Miss Cheerilee. Goodnight,” he emphasized the genuine quality of his words with a quick squeeze of her leg.

Cheerilee smiled. “Goodnight, Rumble. Sleep tight.”

***

Cheerilee had always been a light sleeper. This fact, combined with her sister’s lifestyle, meant she rarely got a full night of sleep. As usual, she awoke in the middle of the night when the door downstairs closed. Making the correct assumption it was her sister from the irregular hoofsteps she heard, Cheerilee closed her eyes to go back to sleep. Rumble, shockingly, was in the exact same position he’d put himself hours ago, wrapped around Cheerilee’s foreleg. Just as she was drifting off again, he began to mumble in his sleep.

“nnn… love you… mommy…”

She couldn’t know the actual content of the small colt’s dreams, but she didn’t need to. Her eyes welled with tears, and she rolled over onto her side to curl around him. Content that the child was adequately and safely enveloped in her legs and tail, Cheerilee fell back asleep.

Maybe I can stay here after all…

Comments

[kingtiger666]

You know, I read a book kinda like this once. It was about one of the flag-raisers from Iwo Jima who spent his whole life staying as far out of the public eye as he could. The question here is: Is this Flags Of Our Ponies or Letters From Generic Conflict #24?

[totallynotabrony]

I am entirely okay with Cheerilee as a badass.

[totallynotabrony]

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