Her hooves felt like lead weights. Tears streaked the fur of her cheeks. The cold winter air stung, her lungs burning as she heaved in heavy sobs. With what little energy she had remaining, she climbed the steps of the porch.

Three steps. It might well have been three thousand.

The mare staggered towards the front door. Raising a hoof that might well have been made of stone, she knocked.

“Cheerilee!”

That golden mane, that grey coat. Those piercing golden eyes. Cheerilee fell forward, and clung to Ditzy as if she were the last drop of water in a desert, the last bubble of oxygen in a drowning ocean. Like a dam at breaking point, she collapsed under a flood of tears.

The gentle arm of her best friend pulled her in from the night cold.

The kettle whistled as it came to the boil. Ditzy Doo moved about the kitchen finishing the tea.

Cheerilee sat silently at the small dining table in the cottage. Ditzy returned with two delicate cups balanced upon a tea-tray between her wings. She carefully slid the tray to the table, and nudged a steaming cup towards her guest, which Cheerilee accepted with thanks.

Cheerilee took a sip and placed the mug back on the table in front of her. “Thank you. This is wonderful.”

Cheerilee smiled weakly, staring intently at swirling liquid in her cup. Ditzy tried to return her smile, but the look of heartache etched across her friends face made it difficult. Instead, she opted to reach across the table, and take Cheerilee’s hoof in her own.

“Cheery, what’s the matter? What’s happened?”

Cheerilee continued to sit in silence.

“Cheery, please. Talk to me.”

“It’s okay.” Cheerilee shook her head. “Where’s Dinky?”

“Dinky is staying at the Boutique tonight. The girls are having a Cutie Mark Crusaders sleepover.” Ditzy would not relent, something had happened to her friend and she would to help. “But Cheery, you’re changing the subject. Something is the matter. I am your friend. You can talk to me. You can trust me!”

“You can’t promise that!” Cheerilee slumped. “I just can’t tell you. I don’t want you to hate me too.”

“Cheery,” Ditzy whispered. “Please, trust me. You mean so much to me. I will always be your friend. Don’t ever doubt that.”

“You can’t promise that, Ditzy.” Ditzy noticed a familiar bitterness she’d heard before in her friends voice. “You might not feel the same way if you knew…”

“Nothing will ever change our friendship.”

“I was such a fool. I did something stupid,” Cheerilee sobbed. “I… I kissed somepony I shouldn’t have.

“I was finishing cleaning out the blackboard dusters when I heard somepony at the door of the classroom. I turned to see who was there. Y…You remember, last year I told you there was somepony I liked?”

Ditzy nodded, remembering the awkward conversation they’d had at the cafe. At the time, she’d tried to guess who it was, but as Big Mac and Caramel were the only stallions they knew in common, she had not been able to work out whom it was.

“Well, they were standing at the door. They were looking for Scootaloo.”

‘Ahh.’ Ditzy started to understand; having feelings for one of her students parents would be an awkward situation indeed.

“I told them everypony had already left. They were about to leave, but I stopped them.

“I asked them if they wanted to go for a coffee.

“We were having a wonderful time. It had been a long time since we’ve seen each other. As a member of the Wonderbolts, they weren’t around often. They wanted to see Scootaloo before they left again.”

Ditzy thought back. It was true, she had never met either of Scootaloo’s parents. Apparently her father was a military stallion.

“I had a good idea where Scootaloo would be, so we walked to the park together.

“I finally plucked up the courage to confess. I told… her… I’d liked her for a long time, I’d just never had the courage to let her know.”

Ditzy smiled as she admired her friend. She was in awe of her bravery. She’d been afraid to confess her feelings to Big Mac, and had only made a move after he had practically hung an “I love you” banner from her doorstep–

Wait… what?

“And I stupidly kissed her,” Cheerilee started sobbing again. “I just– I just got so caught up in the moment. I kissed her.

“She was so angry. She yelled at me, then flew away.”

“She?” Ditzy finally gave voice to her confusion. “You kissed Scootaloo’s mom?”

Cheerilee slumped in her chair. “It was Rainbow Dash.”

Cheerilee could hardly breathe. She stared into her now empty mug, waiting for the inevitable. Ditzy wouldn’t be the first friend she’d lost because of this secret. Her parents had disowned her because of it. Nearly every friend she'd made at her university had abandoned her when they found out. When she decided to move to Ponyville, she had sworn to herself she would keep it secret. Nopony could know.

‘And what a fine job I’ve done of that. The park! Of all the places I could choose to make a fool of myself, it was one of the most public places in all of Ponyville. I might as well have published it in a Gabby Gums column.’

Ditzy flapped her wings gently and fluttered over to Cheerilee, pulling the mare into a hug. She felt Cheerilee stiffen into the embrace. Ditzy rubbed her cheek affectionately against Cheerilee’s. “I’m so sorry, Cheery.”

“You– you don’t hate me?”

Ditzy released her friend, and turned Cheerilee around to face her. “Of course not. I promised nothing would change our friendship.”

Ditzy woke the next morning, Cheerilee huddled next to her. She had comforted the mare for most of the night. Between her fear of being abandoned by her friend, and the embarrassment of what had happened, she had been near inconsolable.

“Come on sleepy head,” Ditzy nudged Cheerilee awake. “Time to get up. Lets have some breakfast.”

Ditzy moved about the kitchen with an elegance that amazed Cheerilee. She’d seen the mare grow in confidence over the last year. Not long ago she would trip, fall or crash into something if someone was watching; now Ditzy moved about the kitchen with grace. She listened to Ditzy sing as she cooked.

“♪Little cranberry, cranberry, cranberry of mine.

In the garden of strawberries, little raspberry, raspberry of mine.♫”

Cheerilee felt a small twinge of jealousy that Big Mac had won the mares heart.

“♪Ah, under the apple tree, the green one,

Lay me down to sleep,

Oh-swing, sway, Oh-swing, sway,

Lay me down to sleep.♫”

Ditzy poured two bowls of warm porridge, and brought them to the table. She then went back to the pantry and returned with a small jar of honey.

“Big Mac should be here soon.” Ditzy smiled. “You should join us today.”

“Thank you,” Cheerilee answered, “but I think I’d prefer go home. I think I’d like to just curl up with a book and hide.”

Big Mac arrived as the mares were cleaning the breakfast dishes. He insisted, as had Ditzy, that Cheerilee should join them. They had planned a picnic in the park where they were meeting Applebloom and Dinky.

At the mention of the park, Cheerilee frantically declined. Had Big Mac not been standing in the doorway, Cheerilee would have been out the door faster than– well, faster than somepony. She eyed the open window, but decided that she’d already made enough of an embarrassment of herself in the past twenty four hours.

“What’s the matter, Cheerilee?” Big Mac asked. Behind her, he noticed Ditzy shaking her head.

“I just had a bad night,” she answered quietly.

“All the more reason to join us in the park.” Big Mac stood there with a stoic, sage-like expression, as if his words were wisdom for the ages. Ditzy smacked her hoof to her face.

The remainder of Cheerilee’s weekend had been uneventful. This was perhaps due to her having locked her door, closed her windows, and ignored the insistent knocking at her door. If she had to guess, it was either Big Mac or Ditzy, or the both of them. She had steadfastly refused to open the door, or even acknowledge that she was home.

By the time Monday came, she was happy to have something else occupy her thoughts. Teaching such a rambunctious group of foals would not let her mind time to linger; so when class started she enthusiastically dove into the day's lessons.

The lesson’s were going well; the two normal instigators of trouble, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were oddly quiet in the morning. They had laughed between themselves, but their normal antagonising of the other students was pleasantly absent. Without those two creating problems the morning went by smoothly.

Cheerilee was hurrying to finish her daffodil sandwich when the bell rang. She hadn’t gotten overly a lot of grading done on the weekend, as a consequence, she had to grade assignments while she ate. As the bell rang, students poured back into the class, returning to their seats.

The entire class seemed to be on edge. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were throwing dirty looks at Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, both of whom sat there with smirks across their muzzles. Sweetie Belle and Dinky were looking downtrodden. Cheerilee blew out sharply at the fringe of her mane. No doubt something had happened while she had been grading the assignments. So much for a nice, peaceful day.

“Truffle?” Cheerilee called to the grey colt sitting in the front row. “Would you hand these back?”

“Yes ma’am,” Truffle answered, collecting the stack of assignments off of Cheerilee’s desk. Cheerilee couldn’t help but notice the foal avoiding her eyes. Normally Truffle was eager to help his teacher, but today he seemed to avoid her gaze. He shuffled between the desks placing the papers on each student's desk. While they were distracted reading their grades, Cheerilee began writing on the board.

When everyone had their papers, Cheerilee spoke up. “I would like to take some time going over this assignment, a few of you had trouble in a few spots.”

Cheerilee spent the hour covering most of the more common grammatical mistakes. For the most part, the students remained silent. It was beginning to unnerve the teacher.

“Does anypony have questions?”

“Excuse me, Miss Cheerilee.” Diamond Tiara put on her sweetest voice. “I have something I would like to share with the class.”

“No!”

Cheerilee was taken aback by the shouts of four fillies. Scootaloo was holding a book, ready to throw, as Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Dinky Doo struggled to keep the orange pegasus in check.

“Scootaloo,” Cheerilee barked, “put that book down now and return to your seat!”

Turning to Diamond Tiara, she whispered, “I will not allow you to interrupt class to bully your school friends. No you may not share whatever you have with the class.”

A malicious grin spread across Diamond Tiara’s muzzle, as she pulled from her bag a copy of the Canterlot Times and unrolled it. “Oh, they’ve already seen it.”

Cheerilee looked down in horror at the page before her. Her most embarrassing moment, caught on film, and printed for all of Equestria to see.

Loyalty Questioned

Whilst visiting Ponyville last Friday, decorated Wonderbolt First Lieutenant Rainbow Dash was seen on a date with local school teacher, Cheerilee. The pair were spotted by local freelance photographer Shutter Speed. The Canterlot Times have reached out to the Wonderbolts regarding this flagrant public violation of the controversial Silent Wings policy, but Major General Storm Fury declined to comment. More pictures page 6.

“Why?” Cheerilee looked at Diamond Tiara, hurt etched across her face.

“The Foal Free Press, that’s why!” Diamond Tiara sneered, loud enough that only Cheerilee could hear.

Cheerilee snatched up the newspaper, and walked back to her desk. Diamond Tiara was a handful, but she could not believe one of her students could be so vindictive.

“Open your mathematics books to page sixty two, and solve problems one through to twelve.”

As the afternoon went by, the class continued to work silently. Or at least, Cheerilee was aware, were pretending to work silently. She had shut the newspaper away in her desk, and stared absent–mindedly at the lesson plan in front of her. The words blurred before her eyes, she could feel her cheeks becoming moist. She desperately hoped that none of the foals had noticed. Looking to the clock, she was glad to see there was only twenty minutes to go.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were whispering to each other and laughing obnoxiously. Cheerilee chose to ignore them until a high-pitched shriek filled the air.

Cheerilee looked up to see what had happened, four different foal horns we lit, glowing with their owners aura. Many angry eyes turned towards Diamond Tiara. And for the second time in almost a year she found Diamond Tiara soaking wet, Cheerilee’s glass conspicuously missing from her desk.

“Mr Rich, if I might have a word?” Cheerilee asked the tan stallion. Filthy Rich was consoling his daughter.

“Go play outside sweetie, while Daddy talks to your teacher,” Rich told his daughter.

“I would advise against that,” Cheerilee gestured towards four fillies, two of which were glaring at Diamond Tiara with more venom in their eyes than a manticore tail. Cheerilee did not want to spend any more time in the presence of the small pink and grey monster, but she still had a duty of care regardless of the desire to leave the filly at the mercy of the Crusaders.

“Ms Cheerilee,” Filthy spoke, an undercurrent of anger in his voice. “I am becoming tired of the constant harrassment my daughter has received at this school. What type of teacher would–”

Cheerilee cut him off, pulling the paper out of the drawer she had kept it in.

“Were you aware your daughter brought this in today?”

He looked down at the paper. He was certain it was his, as it had gone missing earlier that morning.

“Were you aware she shared this with all of the foals in the play yard?”

Cheerilee’s voice broke, she felt herself on the verge of tears. “And were you aware she shared this with me, in front of the entire class?”

“Wh–what?” Filthy managed to stammer.

“Were you aware of her plan to humiliate me in front of all the students?”

“My daughter would never–”

“She admitted it herself! All because I took away her job as editor. And I only did that after she was blackmailing other students!

“You ask me what kind of teacher I am? Well I ask you, what kind of Father are you?” Cheerilee could not stop herself shaking. “You have raised a vindictive monster! And you dare criticize me?”

Filthy Rich turned to his daughter. “Is it true?” he asked, barely more than a whisper.

“Daddy–” Diamond Tiara whined.

“Is it true?”

“She’s a filly–fooler!” Diamond Tiara spat with disgust. “Mother says they are–”

“Diamond Tiara!” Her father shouted at the top of his lungs. “You do not speak that way about your teacher.”

“But Mother says–”

“You will apologise to Ms Cheerilee,” he glowered at his daughter. “Now.”

Diamond Tiara looked nervously at her father. It was a rare sight to see his animosity directed toward her. His cheeks were flushed with barely contained anger. Today had not gone as planned. Her mother was supposed to pick her up, not her father. And her father was supposed to agree with her.

“Why should I say sorry to an abomina–”

Tiara’s words were cut short with a sharp pain on her flank. Her father stood above her, hoof raised.

“Never say that again! We will talk about this when we get home.”

The stallion and his daughter made their way to the door. Filthy Rich turned, his face etched with both anger, and sorrow. “Ms Cheerilee, I will talk to my daughter… and my wife… about her behavior today.”

“And for what little it may be worth,” he sighed, “I am deeply sorry.”