Cheerilee finds a new friend in Tempest. And maybe something more.
Thanks to a somewhat unconventional and definitely unprecedented intervention from Princess Twilight herself, an unexpected change in Cheerilee’s schedule allows her to make a new friend. After a somewhat awkward (and drunken) encounter, though, Cheerilee finds herself alone once more. The lonely heart inside her chest longs for the friendship she had formed with Tempest. And maybe... something else?
Written for Nailah’s Shipping Contest. I was assigned Tempest Shadow and Cheerilee, and this spawned. It was also originally concepted during the Quills and Sofa’s Speedwriting Cheerilee Contest where the prompt was “Patience”.
Perhaps ‘strange’ would be the most fitting word for this mare. Yes, Cheerilee knew that had to be it. Strange. It rolled off her tongue nicely, the syllables finding their way around her mouth. It went from the front of her mouth by her teeth, to the back of her throat, and back to her teeth again. Strange.
Standing in front of her was a large mare. She was almost as tall as Princess Luna, which made Cheerilee a bit uneasy, but she smiled nonetheless. Something that she had always been so insistent on teaching her classroom of foals was the importance of patience.
And by golly, was she running short of it.
“Tempest, was it?” Cheerilee asked. She wasn’t sure why she asked, though. She couldn’t ever forget her sudden arrival at the Festival of Friendship. No, it wasn’t really an arrival, was it? More of an interruption. An interjection. An invasion? She chided herself for even thinking of it that way, even if it was true.
Tempest nodded. She looked rather… well, strange, Cheerilee thought. Once, the schoolteacher would have thought the larger mare imposing, and certainly threatening, but now? Now she seemed like an awkward school filly.
Cheerilee held back a snicker. Instead, she kept on her ‘teacher face’, as she often called it. “Well, err, Tempest, I do wonder what brings you to the school at this time. I was just finishing up marking, but you’re welcome to ask me anything once I’m done, just give me a moment, okay?”
“Uh, okay,” Tempest muttered.
Cheerilee gave her a weak smile then looked down at the paper on her desk. It was Scootaloo’s. Funnily enough, she had chosen to write about the patience she learned from being friends with Sweetie Belle. Cheerilee smirked, knowing that Scootaloo could be more of a hoofful than Sweetie Belle most of the time. But really, those three – The Cutie Mark Crusaders, as they called themselves – were really something…
“Special?” Tempest offered.
Cheerilee nodded, then blinked and looked up. Did… did Tempest just read her mind. “What?”
Tempest chuckled curtly. “You were talking to yourself. I take it you’re not used to having company?”
Ouch. Cheerilee coughed and shrugged. She couldn’t deny it. “I guess not,” she admitted. “I usually stay late after school here, then I go home and drink some wine.” Cheerilee laughed. It was a short laugh, but a laugh nonetheless. “Maybe I’ll go on some date with a stallion on the weekend, but clearly that never works out.”
Tempest stared at her. Cheerilee winced, noting that she had just rambled on and on to somepony who didn’t ask for it. That and they didn’t really know each other. Cheerilee was just so stupid sometimes.
“I’ve never even been on a date,” Tempest muttered, although it wasn’t a sad mutter. “World domination doesn’t really leave time for that, right?”
Cheerilee giggled at Tempest’s comment. When Tempest looked at her with a puzzled look, though, Cheerilee turned her giggle into a forced cough that sounded more like a choke in hindsight.
“Right, uh…” Tempest trailed off. It was then that Cheerilee noticed that the mare had been looking over her shoulder. “Patience is spelled wrong here.” The dark warm purple shadow pointed at the page. “It’s spelt ‘pait-ence’ instead of ‘pa-tience.”
“Oh, I didn’t notice.” Cheerilee blinked at the page and picked up a pen in her mouth. She circled the word swiftly and set the pen down. Her mind was fuzzy. She could always mark tomorrow – after all, it was Friday. “You know, I think Scootaloo might be dyslexic. She always makes these kinds of errors, and I know she’s smarter than that.”
“Really?”
“Yes,” Cheerilee responded. “I’ll have to speak to her about it. In the meantime, I think I’m done for the night.” She stacked the papers neatly in a pile, leaving Scootaloo’s on the top. “So what is it that you wanted, Tempest?”
Tempest shuffled her hooves and stood up. “Well, I was having trouble adjusting on my travels, I mean, so much has changed since I’ve been gone with… him.” Tempest cringed and looked down. “So I came back to ask Princess Twilight for advice.”
Cheerilee turned to Tempest and frowned. “What did she say?”
Tempest took a step back, leaving room for Cheerilee to make her way to the other side of her desk. “She actually told me to come to you. Said something about how you’re good at making everypony feel welcome, and that you could teach me something.”
Teach her something? “Like history?” Cheerilee grimaced. It’s not that she didn’t like teaching other ponies, but she would have preferred to keep her free time to herself just this once.
The tall unicorn looked away. “I guess? She didn’t tell me how you could help. She just mentioned that you could.”
After some thought—and a sudden need to leave the cramped schoolhouse—Cheerilee turned to Tempest. Perhaps she was too quick to judge. Perhaps Tempest could even be a good friend. The poor mare needed one, at least. “Are you free right now? My date cancelled on me yesterday, so I’ve got the rest of the evening free. I can start your lessons then,” she suggested.
Much to Cheerilee’s surprise, Tempest actually looked shocked. And perhaps a bit nervous as she nodded weakly. Really, she wasn’t that scary. At least, not anymore. “Sure, I don’t have anything going on anyway,” Tempest agreed.
Cheerilee smiled a genuine smile and packed up her saddlebag. She made sure to slide a history book that Twilight had given her many months ago in it and slid it over her neck. “We can head back to my place if you want. It’s not too far from here, and it’s quiet.” She was hoping to spend her evening doing something else at her place but plans changed. That was alright, though. She was actually starting to look forward to it. “It’s a bit too dark to read outside unless you’d rather head to somewhere more public.”
Tempest followed along as Cheerilee trotted to the entrance of the schoolhouse. “Not at all, I don’t mind. Whatever is best for you is great,” she assured her. “And thank you. I know you must be busy with your job, so it means a lot to me to make a new… err... Friend?”
She sounded unsure, which made Cheerilee giggle. She definitely was a strange mare. But she was glad that Tempest could become a new friend. After some patience—which seemed to be the word of the day—Tempest seemed rather… decent. “Of course! It really is my pleasure to help you out. We can make this a weekly thing if you’d like.”
Cheerilee closed the door behind her and locked it with a key. Tempest squeaked and bounced slightly. “That would be great if it’s not a problem for you.”
Yes, she was definitely strange. With a warm grin, Cheerilee started on the path back to her house. “Not at all. I look forward to it.”
Tempest followed Cheerilee in step. The unicorn looked around Ponyville as they walked. Cheerilee noticed her attempt at remaining expressionless, but after years of teaching foals of all ages, she knew how to spot the hints of excitement on Tempest’s face. Her eyes almost seemed to sparkle as she eyed the hints of nightlife in Ponyville.
Cheerilee took the opportunity to appreciate the beauty of her own hometown as well. She had always taken it for granted, but through new eyes, it must be lovely to look at. And it was; the lights slowly turning on to contrast the increasingly dark sky, the colours of the twilight, the faint chatter of ponies getting ready for a weekend of fun. It was quite beautiful, she had to admit.
“So, have you always lived here?”
Tempest’s question admittedly caught Cheerilee off guard. She guessed she had gotten busy reminiscing as she gazed at the ever-familiar rooftops of Ponyville. “Yes,” she murmured dreamily before clearing her throat and speaking up. “Ponyvillian born and raised. I’ve only ever traveled outside of Ponyville, but not long enough to consider moving away.”
Tempest nodded. Her gait faltered for a moment before she took an awkward long step to keep in pace with Cheerilee. “I used to live in a little town like this, too.” She paused, and Cheerilee considered that she might have not wanted to continue. Before she could offer a segue to a seemingly less uncomfortable conversation, Tempest sighed and looked at Cheerilee. “I left because everypony thought I was too scary after I was attacked by an Ursa Minor.”
Cheerilee grimaced. Her ears lay flat on her head. Flashbacks of the havoc an Ursa Minor wreaked on Ponyville just a few years ago entered her mind. The destruction, the risk. She shivered. Tempest got that first-hoof. “I’m so sorry,” she offered. What else could she say?
“It’s okay. It doesn’t really… matter anymore.”
Tempest’s hesitation led Cheerilee to believe that wasn’t entirely true. After all, she had avoided making any new friends for most of her life. Cheerilee knew from experience that when foals were ostracized, they tended to recluse if they were bothered by it. But Tempest wasn’t a foal. She shook her head at herself and offered Tempest a smile. “It’s okay to still feel bad about it. Often, things that happen to us when we’re young stick with us for the rest of our lives. But what’s important is that you’re moving past it and attempting to get better.”
Silence. Cheerilee blinked and looked away. She had told herself that Tempest wasn’t a foal, but there she was treating her like one. Cheerilee kept walking until she noticed the sound of her own hoofsteps were the only ones echoing off the house exteriors. With a frown, she stopped and turned around. Tempest stood a few hoof lengths behind her with an expression that Cheerilee couldn’t quite read.
Then, Tempest’s lips turned up into a smile. “You’re right,” she whispered. “I never thought I needed to hear that but… Well, it’s silly, but I think I did. Thank you.”
A slack-jawed Cheerilee watched as Tempest began walking back to her. She swallowed dryly and bit her lip. “Y-you’re welcome.”
They had somehow arrived right at the doorstep of her home. How strange.
It was almost too pleasing, Cheerilee thought. She hadn’t gotten to teach ‘modern’ history to her foals yet, mainly because most of them directly lived through it, and it was a nice break to truly teach something she knew first-hoof to somepony who didn’t know it.
Tempest sat across from her on the other side of the round table in Cheerilee’s living room. The unicorn shook her head and placed a hoof on her forehead. “Wait, so you mean that Nightmare Moon, Discord, and the Changeling Invasion all happened within the same span of three years?”
Cheerilee glanced at the recent history book that Twilight had given her with a tiny smile. They hadn’t even gone through everything yet. She nodded almost apologetically. “Yes, we’ve had a busy set of years here. Perhaps we should cover the rest next week so you can really process this.”
“The rest? There’s more?” Tempest frowned. “I really missed a lot, didn’t I?”
Well, that sure was one way to put it. Cheerilee smiled a little. “Yes, you did,” she admitted. “It’s okay, though. There may be a lot, but it usually gets resolved in something I can explain in roughly twenty minutes, give or take.”
Tempest blinked, then rested her chin on the table. “I wish I had been here,” she muttered. “I can’t believe I was so stupid.”
The air thickened like glue. Cheerilee felt her body stick to the ground, but she pushed through it and reached across to put a hoof on Tempest’s. “We all make mistakes, Tempest. You’re here now, right?”
Tempest smiled. It seemed genuine, at least, which made Cheerilee smile too. She gazed at Tempest, who looked back at her. After a moment of staring, both mares cleared their throats and looked away. Cheerilee retracted her hoof and pulled the book back to her side of the table in one motion.
“Okay, well, I suppose we’re done here for tonight,” the school teacher said with a wary smile. “It was a pleasure to spend time with you, Tempest. I hope I was able to help.” Although she couldn’t really understand why giving Tempest one-on-one lessons would help, she wouldn’t dare question Twilight.
With a nod, Tempest responded, “No, it was my pleasure, really. I appreciate it, Cheerilee.”
The conversation died out, but Tempest remained. Cheerilee found a point of interest in a particularly dark corner of her house to stare at and contemplate. How long would Tempest need to meet with her? It’s not that she didn’t enjoy it. In fact, she found herself having a lot more fun than she thought she would. Tempest was surprisingly good company... if a bit awkward. As a teacher, though, she knew how to deal with awkward ponies. After all, she worked in a classroom full of little foals.
Cheerilee giggled a bit. She wondered what Tempest was like as a filly. Did she have many friends? Did she have any friends? The unicorn seemed nice, Cheerilee had to admit, but she definitely lacked some kind of social development. That much, she could tell. There had to be a reason that Twilight told Tempest to come to her, right? It’s not like it would be hard for any pony with a decent amount of intelligence and a pair of working eyes to explain recent events.
Maybe Twilight wanted Cheerilee to help Tempest make friends. The more she thought about it, though, the less silly it seemed. Perhaps it was true in some way. Cheerilee found herself wanting to actually be friends with Tempest. Were they friends already? They had just spent a whole evening together, after all. Is that what made ponies friends? She knew how to help ponies make friends, and she used to have a lot of friends herself, but as she grew…
She shook her head. Tempest was her friend, or if she wasn’t already, they certainly could be. She turned to Tempest, who was flipping through her notes, quill in mouth. Cheerilee smiled. “Tempest, I have a question.”
Tempest raised her head and gazed at Cheerilee with upturned eyebrows. “Yes?”
She felt silly. She wasn’t a foal anymore, but how else was one supposed to make friends? “Would you like to stay a bit longer? I have a bottle of wine, and I’d love to share it with a friend,” she offered, although it came out more like something a nervous schoolfilly would say on her first day of class. What if Tempest didn’t like wine? What if she hated wine? What if she was a recovering alcoholic and Cheerilee was just being outright—
“Sure!” Tempest eagerly agreed, before ducking her head with darkened cheeks. “That’d be nice. I haven’t had a drink in a while, especially not with a friend.” The unicorn raised a hoof to her chin. “Actually, I think the last time I had a drink with somepony else was after we invaded Klugetown. Although it wasn’t anything as fancy as wine; it was some cat’s moonshine.”
Cheerilee blinked. For a moment, she had forgotten about Tempest’s past. “Oh, yes,” she stammered, “I would think that it’d be… nice, though?”
Tempest sighed and shook her head. “No, it was awful. I’m extremely grateful to Princess Twilight and her friends.”
Now that was something they could agree on. “Who isn’t? After everything they’ve done for Equestria?”Cheerilee looked back at her book and stood up, making her way to the kitchen where her wine rack stood. “Do you like red wine, or white?”
“Any is fine,” Tempest replied from the table still.
Cheerilee turned to pick a bottle of red wine up between her teeth, then looked at the wine glasses in the sink. She frowned as she realized that she didn’t have enough clean glasses for the both of them, and decided she could just use a mug for herself. She walked back to the table and set down the bottle, then turned back around.
“Hey, I can help if you want,” Tempest called out to her, stopping Cheerilee in her tracks. “I’m a unicorn, remember?”
Cheerilee turned back to look at Tempest. Her gaze drifted toward her broken horn as she grimaced. “Are you… sure?”
Tempest’s gaze followed Cheerilee’s before dropping back down with a slow blink and a sigh. “Right, I forgot about that,” she mumbled. With a confident smile, she looked back up to Cheerilee. “But yes, I can do it, don’t worry.”
Cheerilee took a tentative step back to the table before walking back entirely. She sat back down carefully as she watched Tempest’s horn spark to life with a light blue glow. It was definitely different from other unicorn’s horns, but the more Cheerilee looked, the more she was intrigued.
Until it stopped glowing and instead two glasses sat on the table. Cheerilee looked at them, head cocked. “I only had one clean glass.”
Tempest smirked. “I know, it’s a little trick I picked up on my years away. Quick cleaning spell,” she explained.
“That’s actually pretty amazing,” Cheerilee gaped. She looked at the two glasses in front of her. It had been a while since she shared a drink with somepony else. Usually, she drank on her own. It was an easy way to push down the disappointments of her failed attempts at love. This time, however, she knew it wouldn’t be the same. That brought a smile to her face. “I’m glad you’re here, Tempest. Really, I am.”
Tempest lifted the bottle of wine with her magic and popped the cork out. “Me too,” she responded as she poured wine into both glasses. “I’m having… fun. We should do this more often.”
The teacher took her glass between her hooves and blushed. “Yes, I think so too.” She looked down at the dark liquid and sniffed. She waited for Tempest to finish pouring her own glass before she shared a smile with her new friend and took a coordinated sip of her wine.
Cheerilee wasn’t sure exactly how she got herself into this situation. Her mind was a blur, and every time she tried to remember, her head pulsed. She felt dizzy, and it certainly didn’t help that there was a certain dark purple unicorn on top of her.
Wait, what?
Cheerilee held in a gasp. She had surely allowed this to happen, but as her mind cleared up more and more, she found herself more and more confused. Tempest, she realized, was not only on top of her but their faces were smushed together in what Cheerilee could only describe as something her classroom of foals would definitely stick their tongues out at.
The worst part was… she wasn’t doing anything about it. Cheerilee felt herself tensing up, which in turn seemed to cause Tempest to slow down. Afraid of what would happen if she stopped, Cheerilee forced herself to relax again. She put a hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder and pushed upwards, following through so their faces never broke apart, other than for a quick inhale.
Cheerilee shut her eyes, focusing on the mare that enveloped her. With a newfound sense of confidence, Cheerilee switched their positioning so that she was on top of the larger unicorn. Tempest’s lips quirked into a smile as Cheerilee pushed her down.
She wasn’t sure exactly what she was doing, but whatever it was, Cheerilee liked it. And it seemed that Tempest did too. After a moment, Cheerilee retreated, panting for breath. She gazed down at Tempest, who stared with wide eyes and a heaving chest. Cheerilee giggled and sat back on the couch, allowing Tempest to do the same. The unicorn hesitated before following suit. A quick glance around revealed the open bottle of scotch on the coffee table next to the couch.
Ah, so that’s how we got here, Cheerilee decided. The tips of her ears burned red, though she couldn’t tell if it was from the inebriation or if it was thanks to the… whatever it was that just happened.
Tempest found a spot on the ground to look at as Cheerilee’s gaze fell on her’s. “I… I’d never done that before,” the unicorn whispered shakily.
Despite her large size, Cheerilee thought that Tempest looked rather small. Cheerilee smiled, her embarrassment slowly ebbing away as she realized that it was probably even weirder for the other mare. And, well, if Tempest had never done that, then she wouldn’t know how rusty Cheerilee really was… “Really? It didn’t seem like it,” she found herself teasing.
Tempest’s ears went rigid as she looked up at Cheerilee. She opened her mouth, but no words came out. Instead, she bit her lip and looked away. “I’m sorry. I know you’re not supposed to do that with somepony who’s drunk.”
Cheerilee would agree, but judging from the empty bottle of scotch, it seemed they were both drunk. Still, it seemed Tempest was still in need of learning a few rules. “You’re right,” she agreed. Tempest’s frown deepened, so Cheerilee reached across and moved Tempest's head so she’d face her. “But I don’t think you were exactly in the right state of being either,” she pointed out.
Tempest smiled and leaned into Cheerilee’s hoof a bit before tensing and sitting up straight. “I…” She sighed and inched backward. “This was a mistake, I shouldn’t have done this.”
As Tempest scrambled to get her hooves on the ground, Cheerilee watched, completely dumbstruck at the complete reversal in Tempest’s mood. Something in her heart twinged. “What?”
Tempest’s slow walk farther away from Cheerilee slowed to a stop. She didn’t turn around to speak. “I’m sorry, I just… This shouldn’t have happened. I can’t…”
Her voice trailed away into nothingness, and before Cheerilee could even process what had just happened, Tempest was already gone. Cheerilee looked helplessly at the bottle on her coffee table and the shot glasses next to it. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for as her gaze landed on the bottle of wine still open on the dining table in the next room.
All she could do was cry.
Cheerilee wasn’t sure where the rest of her weekend had gone. She found herself unsure of a lot of things as of recently. One minute, she was making a new friend, and the next, she was… kissing her. She snorted. How stupid of her. She always found a way to ruin things. Always.
“Um, Miss Cheerilee? Are we going to get our papers back this week?”
Cheerilee snapped her attention back. Right, she was in school. Definitely not a stranger to ‘faking it’, she forced the same everyday smile back on her face. “Yes, Sweetie Belle. I’ve almost finished marking them, I just got a bit… busy this weekend.” She cringed at herself, but the foals seemed none the wiser.
Sweetie Belle put her hoof down and smiled eagerly. “Okay! I just want Rarity to know I’m doing well so she would stop being mad at me for spilling paint all over her fabric.”
Although she was unsure of what that had to do with an assignment, Cheerilee nodded in agreement. Sometimes, it was best to just go along with things. Especially when the universe seemed to be against you and made no sense.
She felt the hair on her back rising, so Cheerilee took a deep breath just like her old therapist once taught her. She was doing better, so she decided to stop going. But sometimes… sometimes she wished she hadn’t.
With a sigh, Cheerilee turned back to the blackboard and rubbed a hoof on her temple. It was so sunny outside. Definitely not good for a headache. Maybe she shouldn’t have finished the rest of the wine. Maybe she shouldn’t have popped open her celebratory bottle of bourbon. There was nothing to celebrate, after all.
In any case, she had a job to do. She looked at the blackboard and smirked in amusement at the lesson from Friday she had left up. Patience. She shook her head and rubbed the chalk off. A quick glance at her lesson plan reminded her with a guilty twinge of what her new lesson would be. A rather new addition to the curriculum, Princess Twilight suggested that friendship be added as an extensive part of the school foal’s learning plan. That day’s lesson was like salt on a fresh wound.
“Today’s class will be a continuation of our studies of friendship! Who can tell me what else makes friendship so great?”
As expected, all three Cutie Mark Crusaders were the first to raise their hooves. Cheerilee waited for a moment to see if anypony else would raise a hoof, but instead, every foal turned to look at the three excitable fillies. Cheerilee smiled and nodded. “Yes, Cutie Mark Crusaders?”
Scootaloo stood up, followed by Sweetie Belle, and finally Apple Bloom. Scootaloo cleared her throat. “Well, you see, Miss Cheerilee, friendship is great because when you have friends, you always have somepony to fall back on!”
“Somepony to laugh with!” Sweetie Belle added.
“And somepony to keep ya smart,” Apple Bloom spoke. “That’s what my sister always told me, at least.”
After a three-way hoof bump, the three fillies sat down. Nopony in the class was the least bit taken aback, especially not Cheerilee. She simply nodded. “Yes, those are all great points, girls. A friend will always be there for you – for the good and the bad,” she explained. “Now, I’m sure all you little ponies already know that. I’ve seen the amazing friendships blooming right here in this very classroom! But did you know that even true friends have disagreements?”
Everypony slowly nodded. Of course, they’d know that, it must have happened to them at some point. Shrugging that off, Cheerilee continued. “But how many of you have ever gotten into an argument with somepony and then allowed it to get in the way of your friendship?”
Again, as expected, hooves started slowly rising in the air, with a few embarrassed smiles and giggles to match. Diamond Tiara was the last to raise her hoof, but after a glance around she did so slowly, with a blush to match her meek expression. Cheerilee nodded slowly.
“That’s right. Since we’re all very different ponies, we can’t stop all disagreements from happening. That doesn’t mean we can’t work hard to keep our friendships intact though,” Cheerilee pointed out with a wince. “How can we do that?”
Pipsqueak raised a hoof. “Oh, I know Miss Cheerilee!” He waved his hoof in the air, begging to be picked.
Cheerilee clicked her tongue amicably. “Oh alright, Pip. What do you think?”
Pipsqueak smiled eagerly and put his hoof back down. “Well, whenever I’m feeling upset at my friends, I always talk to them about it. I think that’s what we should do!”
Cheerilee certainly had to give her class credit. They were a lot more knowledgeable than most of her previous classes. She once again nodded. “That’s right Pip! And that idea of talking out our problems is something known as communication,” she revealed with a twitching smile. Cheerilee sighed inwardly and picked up a piece of chalk in her mouth, ignoring the dusty taste of it. For the first time in her adult life, she found herself wishing she had magic as she wrote the word on the chalkboard.
“Who here thinks they should be better at communicating their feelings?” When nopony raised their hand and instead looked around warily, Cheerilee raised her own hoof. “I know I sure do.” The class was silent for a moment before hooves reached into the air. Cheerilee breathed deeply. Maybe we can learn together.
Patience. Communication. Those were two key elements of friendship. Cheerilee taught that. But the difference between knowing to teach and knowing to do were two very different things. Even as a teacher, Cheerilee was always learning.
She wasn’t sure how she would fix things, but she knew she had to. How many times would she find herself unsure of something? It seemed more likely day in and day out. Her first stint with a mare, and it ended up like that. She should have done something different. Said something different. She should have just sent Tempest home after they finished the lesson. Maybe then, they could still be friends.
She had to try, though. She couldn’t just leave it as is; that would make her a hypocrite. Cheerilee knew she had to fix things. And who else was a better pony to ask than the very Princess of Friendship? The earth pony stood in front of the large crystalline doors of the castle that graced Ponyville with its presence. She knew Twilight was in town; she had made sure to tell all her friends about her visit. Cheerilee was pleased to know that included her, even though the two book enthusiasts often talked.
Cheerilee wanted to scream. Instead, she smiled and knocked on the door with a hoof. She hoped that Twilight was in the castle, even though it was a long shot. Her knock hung in the air for a few moments. Cheerilee almost turned back when the door glowed magenta and opened. Twilight smiled as she realized who was standing at her door.
“Ah, Cheerilee! It’s so good to see you!” Twilight greeted her with a wave of her hoof and trotted forward to give the mare a hug.
Despite herself, Cheerilee returned the smile and the friendly gesture. “It’s great to see you too, Twilight,” she started. Both mares separated, then trotted together into the castle. “I’m afraid I’m not only here to catch up, though.”
Twilight turned to face Cheerilee and gave her a wary smile. Her horn glowed magenta as the large doors shut beside her. “I know. You want to talk about Tempest, right?”
Cheerilee tilted her head. “How did you know?”
“Tempest came to talk to me yesterday,” the alicorn explained.
Oh, yes that would do it. Cheerilee looked away, her ears pinning themselves to her head. She looked at her reflection on the crystalline floor. She was blushing, but the frown held sturdy on her face. “I see.”
Twilight motioned for Cheerilee to follow her into the sitting room, where they sat together. “She told me what happened. I… can’t say I was expecting to hear it, to be honest. I didn’t even know you liked mares,” Twilight admitted.
Cheerilee’s eyes widened. “I don’t! Or, at least, I thought I didn’t.” She frowned and pawed at the long crystal couch with her front hooves. “I’m not so sure anymore.”
A lavender hoof rested softly on Cheerilee’s shoulder. The deep magenta mare looked up to see Twilight giving her a comforting smile. “I understand, trust me. Although, for me, it was different in the way that I thought I would never like anypony.” The alicorn slowly let her gaze drift to the wall on their left. A framed picture of the bearers of the Elements hung from the wall. Twilight smiled fondly. “I think you just need to figure out what you want Tempest to be to you.”
Cheerilee swallowed dryly, despite her friend’s subtle show of affection for her fellow element bearers. What did she even want? She was eager to have a new friend, and maybe she regretted allowing what had transpired to even happen, but she’d be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy it – at least before Tempest left. There was one thing that Twilight seemed to not be considering, though. “What if Tempest wants nothing to do with me?” Cheerilee squeaked out the question, sounding once again like a yearling. “I wouldn’t blame her. Maybe she doesn’t even… like mares.”
Twilight hesitated before speaking. “I know she doesn’t want to lose you, Cheerilee. She really just needs a friend.” Twilight shifted in her seat. “I think you do, too. Not that I’m saying you have no friends, but I think it’d be to your benefit to have a friend like Tempest. Just as much as it’d benefit her.”
Cheerilee hoped Twilight had a point. She hoped she was right. She hoped that Tempest wouldn’t want to lose her. But after what happened, she couldn’t possibly blame her. Still, though… “I suppose you’re right,” Cheerilee found herself saying. “Do you know where she is? I think we should talk.”
“She might be at Sugarcube Corner. She really likes their cupcakes.”
Cheerilee found it within herself to smile at that. “That’s cute.”
“Cute?” Twilight raised a teasing eyebrow and grinned at the school teacher, who blushed furiously.
Without a word, Cheerilee turned around and made her way for the exit. Twilight’s giggles bounced off the castle walls as Cheerilee pushed the heavy crystal doors open.
“Cheerilee, wait,” Twilight called out through her giggles before Cheerilee could leave.
Cheerilee paused with a hoof on the door. The light breeze blew her mane sideways as she turned to look at her friend. “Yes?”
Twilight trotted up to Cheerilee and took a sharp breath. “I just… I wanted you to know that I asked Tempest to go see you.”
She recalled Tempest telling her that when they first properly met. Cheerilee gave a small smile. “I know.”
“But I also wanted you to see her,” Twilight added. “I know I haven’t been around much anymore since my coronation, but from what I remember, you always spent a lot of time by yourself.” The alicorn gazed at Cheerilee as if waiting for some kind of response.
Cheerilee grimaced. Twilight wanted confirmation, which she could, unfortunately, provide. She nodded slowly, refusing to make eye contact with the alicorn, who put a soft hoof on her head in a somewhat awkward head pat.
“You’re both in need of somepony to be there for you. I know you two are very different,” Twilight leaned forward to give Cheerilee a reassuring nuzzle, “but you both need somepony, and I can tell you could be great friends.”
A beat passed. “I’m certain you’d know best,” Cheerilee admitted. “After all, you are the Princess of Friendship.” She smiled at her long-time friend. While they never spent as much time together as Cheerilee would have wanted to, the times they did spend together reading and learning were more than enough. “I just hope that it’s not too late. For friendship or… or whatever else.”
Twilight sighed and gave Cheerilee a weak grin. “Trust me, it’s never too late for a friendship or for ‘whatever else’. Just ask any of my friends, they could tell you about either-or.” With a wink, Twilight gestured toward the door. “I recommend you try to smooth things out now. Let me know what happens, okay?”
Cheerilee nodded. Nervousness bubbled deep in her core, but she forced a smile on her face nonetheless. “Of course, Princess.”
The two mares exchanged a nod before Cheerilee trotted back out the castle’s doors. The school teacher kept her gaze forward as she made her way to her destination. She knew the coming meeting could only go one of two ways. She just hoped it’d be okay.
Sugarcube Corner was undoubtedly one of Cheerilee’s favourite places to go. The warmth, the delicious smell, and the friendly ponies who worked there were all reasons to go. It just seemed there was one extra reason to go this time. Whether or not it was a positive squarely depended on how the interaction would go.
Knowing this, Cheerilee took a deep breath and walked through the door of the confectionary. Instantly, Tempest’s dark shape stuck out like a sore hoof. She was surrounded by mugs of what Cheerilee could only assume was hot chocolate and had papers scattered across the table she took up. She didn’t seem to notice Cheerilee entering.
How should she approach this, though? Should she just take a seat in front of Tempest? Should she order something to drink and pretend to not have noticed her until the last moment? Maybe she should just leave and try again some other time. What would she tell her students to do in this situation? Probably to just get it over with and apologize, then talk it out. It always seemed to be easy when she said it, but she never thought about how hard it would actually be.
As Cheerilee stood deep in thought at the entrance of Sugarcube Corner, she frowned. Somepony bumped into her from behind, and with a quick apology to Lily Valley and a shake of her head, Cheerilee decided to move further into the store. She looked at Tempest, who was still looking down onto her papers with a passive frown on her face. Cheerilee clenched her jaw and took a step toward her. Now or never, she decided.
Cheerilee opened her mouth to say something. A greeting. Anything. Nothing came out. She just gawked at Tempest, who finally looked up at her. Cheerilee shut her jaw and instead tried a smile.
Tempest returned the smile, although a bit warily. “Hello, Cheerilee,” she greeted. She seemed like she was going to say more, but nothing more followed.
Now she had to say something. Cheerilee took a deep breath and cautiously eyed Tempest. “Good afternoon, Tempest.” She glanced at the table, noting that there was an empty seat on the other side. “Do you mind if I sit down?”
Tempest reached out and swiped all her papers closer to her and shook her head. “Uh, no, it’s fine. You can sit.”
Tentatively, Cheerilee sat down. She looked at the papers now being piled neatly in front of Tempest with sparks of blue magic. She squinted at them and realized they were the notes that Tempest took during their first history lesson. The defeat of Nightmare Moon, the comeback of Discord, Lord of Chaos, and the defeat of Queen Chrysalis and her Changeling army in Canterlot. Or at least, the first defeat of Chrysalis.
Cheerilee held her breath. Tempest’s notes were exactly what she would expect from a pony such as her; neat and orderly. But all ponies were capable of doodling on the margins, she figured, as she noticed the little drawings Tempest would add of whatever it was that Cheerilee was talking about.
She had almost forgotten that Tempest herself was sitting right in front of her until she cleared her throat. Cheerilee’s head snapped up in surprise at the noise. Tempest held a hoof to her mouth awkwardly. “So, did you… want to talk?” the unicorn asked as she looked off to the side.
“Yes,” Cheerilee drew out. “If you’re okay with that, of course.” The school teacher smiled warily. She didn’t want to force Tempest into talking to her, especially if she didn’t want to. But the way the aubergine unicorn was acting, well Cheerilee thought it safe to assume that she wanted to talk.
Tempest moved her stack of notes to the side, leaving the table clear between her and Cheerilee, save for a cup of what smelled like coffee. Cheerilee observed the steam coming off of the top and wondered if Tempest had just gotten there as well, but decided that she had probably just gotten the drink recently.
The more that she stared at the mug, the more Cheerilee wished she was speaking. Although, the more she wished she was speaking, the more time she spent not speaking, and the more her will to speak started to disappear. It was a brutal cycle of wanting to speak, but being too afraid to speak, which she thought was sort of funny in a sad way since her job consisted of her having to speak to several ponies a day, often many at once. Why couldn’t she just speak?!
“Are you okay?”
Cheerilee’s mind clicked back into the moment, and she saw Tempest gazing at her with curious blue-green eyes. Oh, sweet Celestia, she had pretty eyes. Why hadn’t Cheerilee noticed that before?
Focus, Cheerilee!
Cheerilee shook her head violently to try to get herself away from her distracted state of mind. Tempest seemed to take that the wrong way as her face drooped into worry. “Oh, you’re not okay?”
“No!” Cheerilee yelped. “I mean, yes! I mean…” Cheerilee clamped her jaw shut. She needed to calm down. Her heart raced as she took a deep breath and slowed everything down. Finally, she closed her eyes and spoke clearly. “I’m fine. I just wanted to say I was sorry.”
Much to Cheerilee’s surprise, Tempest laughed. She laughed a short, quiet laugh, but it was a laugh. Or more of a chuckle, really. A giggle? No, it wasn’t a giggle, maybe a chortle, or a guffaw. Thinking back to the noise Tempest had made only moments prior, Cheerilee decided that it was more of a chuckle. “What’s so funny?” Cheerilee wondered.
Tempest put her hoof on the table and shook her head with a grin still plastered on her face. “You came here to apologize when I was the one being so rude,” Tempest explained, still holding back a laugh. “I get it, we both made a mistake”—Cheerilee frowned a little—“but you weren’t the one who ran off without even trying to talk it out. That’s… not what friends do, Cheerilee.” Tempest’s face hardened into one more apologetic. “I’m the one who should be sorry.
“We were drunk, and I knew that. I don’t even know why I let it escalate like that. I guess I was just so excited to have someone try to help me.” Tempest sighed and looked Cheerilee right in the eyes. “I was excited to have a friend, and I guess I was so scared of losing you over something like that that I ran away from you.”
Cheerilee grimaced, although not from being upset. “It’s okay, Tempest,” she assured her. “I understand. It was probably… quite a strange situation,” Cheerilee coughed. “I just hope that we can be friends again.”
“Oh, Cheerilee,” Tempest smiled, “we never stopped being friends. I apologize if I made it seem that way. I just needed some time to… think.”
The hesitation in Tempest’s voice raised Cheerilee’s curiosity. “Think?”
Tempest looked at the ceiling of Sugarcube Corner, her cheeks flushing a bit. “I... Princess Twilight’s friends once taught me what it takes to be a good friend. Honesty was one of the things I learned, so I’ll be honest.”
Cheerilee’s heart fluttered a bit. Whether it was nerves or something else, she didn’t really know. “You can tell me anything, Tempest. That’s what friends are for.”
The unicorn nodded but didn’t say anything for a moment. At first, Cheerilee thought that Tempest had changed her mind, but just as she was about to make sure that Tempest was okay, the pony in question cleared her throat. “So, I guess you want to know why I ran away like that. I mean, um, other than shock.” She blushed as she fumbled her words. “Wait, let me try again.”
Cheerilee’s heart managed to slow down to a more manageable pace as she smiled. “Take your time.”
“Right. So, look, I was just surprised. I mean,” Tempest gazed into her still steaming cup of coffee, “last time I had a drink was alone in my office on an airship. Then, all of a sudden I was… kissing this pretty mare.”
Cheerilee lit up like a lightbulb at a carnival. “P-pretty?”
Tempest took a long sip of her coffee and nodded with her eyes shut. She held the cup up with blue magic so that Cheerilee could barely see her face. “Well, I thought so…”
It wasn’t an odd descriptor, and Cheerilee knew that. She often thought that about her own mare friends and had been on the receiving end of the compliment more times than she could count, but the sheer fact that it was Tempest who said it suddenly turned her into a blubbering fool.
“Getting back to the point, I was scared to mess it up, Cheerilee. I was… I liked what was happening. And sure, I was drunk and I don’t really remember what led up to that, but I liked it.” Tempest glanced at Cheerilee with furrowed eyebrows and a tiny frown. “I was just… afraid you wouldn’t like me after the fact.”
Sugarcube Corner was always full of ponies making friendly conversation and enjoying delicious treats. The bustling shop, often made louder by Pinkie Pie herself, seemed as quiet as a mouse compared to what Tempest was saying. Cheerilee was good at helping foals resolve problems in their interpony relationships, but that was always platonic stuff. She couldn’t know what to do when… whatever was happening to her was happening to her.
So she did the next best thing. She mirrored Tempest and took a leaf from Applejack’s book. “I liked it too. I thought that maybe we could have…” Cheerilee bit her lip, wondering how she could phrase what she wanted to say without sounding foalish. “Maybe we could have been something else. More than friends.”
She almost wanted to facehoof, but Tempest surprisingly revealed no emotion, so Cheerilee continued. “I know it would have been much too quick, but at the time that’s what I wanted.” Please tell me that’s what you wanted too.
Tempest nodded every so slightly. “I don’t know much about any of this, but if being more than friends means more of that while we’re not drunk, I don’t think I’d complain.”
Jubilation filled Cheerilee, if only slightly, which still seemed like a massive increase considering. “Well, then we’re on the same page! But I think we should start over again and do it right, even if it’s a little bit slower.”
The maroon unicorn’s eyes softened in relief. “Well, I’ve got a lot of pait-ence,” she said with a smile as Cheerilee giggled at the callback to their first meeting. “And for you, my friend, I’ve got all the time in the world.”
