"Teach Me Goodness"
by Posh
First published
Cheerilee bids farewell to her friends and students before going back to school in Fillydelphia.
On the last day of school before summer vacation, Cheerilee informs her students that she's going to pursue her doctorate in Fillydelphia, and won't be returning as their teacher in the fall. Her friends and students alike spend her last night in Ponyville bidding farewell and showing their appreciation for her, each in their own unique way.
But one student, in particular, has a hard time coping.
Originally written for the Writeoff Association's July 2016 prompt* and published under the title Bonitatem Doce Me, this story has been revised, rewritten, and expanded from its previous version. Featured on EqD on 8/9/16. Also featured in the Royale Canteloupe Liberty.
*which it won!
Out For Summer, Out Forever
Author's Notes:
This begins the revised version of my entry for the Writeoff Association's July 2016 FiM short story contest. Certain scenes have been expanded, or rewritten entirely. If you read both versions, you'll no doubt come across some of those changes. Make a drinking game out of spotting them all!
Summer vacation. The words had been on every pair of lips in the schoolhouse all month.
Across the classroom, foals whiled away the school year, chatting and signing yearbooks and every so often glancing at the clock, watching the seconds tick steadily away. Five minutes were all that remained, five minutes that could not pass quickly enough.
Cheerilee watched the clock with a sense of dread proportional to the students' excitement.
The last day of the semester was half the length of a regular school day, and little more than a formality. All tests had been graded and passed back; all final papers were read and marked up and returned. There was little to do that hadn't already been done, so Cheerilee assigned an in-class essay on the students' summer vacation plans that she had no intention of grading or returning, gave the foals a few extra minutes of recess, and allowed them to spend what time remained signing yearbooks and chatting and simply being the bright-eyed, precocious children she'd come to know and love.
She spent those last few minutes navigating the rows of desks, unnoticed, etching every detail of the day in her memory. A powerful sense of regret filled her. Moving forward in her life meant leaving behind what she'd built for herself in Ponyville. She'd come to terms with that a while ago. But saying goodbye to her students... That hurt too much to contemplate.
So she put it off, and kept putting it off, until the day came when they would gather under the same roof for the last time, and she knew she could put it off no longer.
Cheerilee walked to the front of the classroom and savored the view for a few more precious seconds before speaking.
"Settle down, everypony! If I could have your attention for the last few minutes of class?"
The chatter took a few seconds to die down, but one by one, her students dutifully gave Cheerilee their undivided attention. Their shining faces and barely restrained excitement brought a smile of her own to Cheerilee's lips.
"Thank you all for being here today. I know that showing up for a half-day on the last day before vacation can seem a little pointless, but it gives us all a little more time to spend together. And years from now, when you look back, you'll realize how important it is to cherish every second of time you have with the ones you love." Her smile dimmed as her students' brightened. "Before you all leave, I have a final announcement to make."
"Oh no! You're goin' to jail, aren'tcha?!" Apple Bloom's question left her looking and sounding distressed in equal measure. "You can't go to jail! Fight the law, Miss Cheerilee; you can win!"
Somepony else picked up the cry, and it carried across the room from one mouth to the next. Before long, all of her little ponies were pounding their hooves on their desks and chanting "Fight! The! Law! Fight! The! Law!"
Cheerilee's hoof met her forehead, but behind it, she was smiling. "I'm afraid it's nothing quite so colorful as that," she called over the chant. It died down gradually. "Rather, it's... it's, ah..."
The students, as one, leaned forward, listening with baited breath.
They think I'm drawing it out for suspense, don't they? Otherwise, this would be unbearably humiliating.
In a way, it already was. For years, Cheerilee had been a rock in front of the classroom, the very picture of stability and confidence. Now she was hemming and hawing and stammering like a nervous first-year TA.
Just say it, damn you; just get it all out there.
"Ammoofin!"
She spat the words out at last in an abrupt burst of air, an incomprehensible jumble that made her students' noses scrunch in confusion. Cursing herself, she took a deep breath, and tried again in a slower, more measured cadence.
"I am moving. To Fillydelphia." A beat passed, and she repeated herself, her calm and confidence once again ringing in her voice. "I'm moving to Fillydelphia."
She waited patiently while her students absorbed the news, each one reacting in their own way. Rumble looked stricken; his jaw hung open. Twist took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. Apple Bloom slumped; her ears flattened against her head, and Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle exchanged a glance. Silver Spoon leaned toward Diamond Tiara to whisper something in her ear. Diamond Tiara gave no reply; she did nothing, said nothing. Her unfocused gaze drifted to the front of the room, looking past Cheerilee.
Then came the questions. Her little ponies all jockeyed with one another to be heard, and their questions emerged in a torrent of rushed, inquisitive babbling.
"Why are you moving? Are you quitting being a teacher?"
"Did you win the lottery and decide to retire?"
"Was it us? Are you moving because you don't like us anymore?"
Cheerilee held up a hoof, signaling for quiet, and let the furor die down again before she continued speaking.
"First of all, no, I'm not going to quit teaching. Second, I'm not leaving on account of anypony. This is my own decision." She drew courage from that reminder, and let it carry her as she continued. "I've decided to pursue a doctorate at the University of Fillydelphia."
The scrunchy, confused noses returned, joined by the gentle hum of eighteen foals murmuring confusedly to one another.
"You're becoming a doctor?" asked Rumble. "But how can you be a doctor and a teacher? Are you gonna be a teacher to other doctors? Teaching 'em how to drain abscesses, and do liver transplants and amputations? Stuff like that?"
"Don't be a creepy weirdo, Rumble," snapped Silver Spoon. "She isn't studying to be a medical doctor. Having your doctorate just means that you're the most educated you can possibly be in your field. Which, for her, is teaching." She beamed at Cheerilee. "Right?"
"Something like that, Silver Spoon. Although that was an unnecessarily rude way to speak to your classmate." Cheerilee's face grew stern as she chastised the filly.
Silver Spoon, thus chastened, mumbled an apology to Rumble, who shrugged blithely. "I am a creepy weirdo. She's just callin' it like she sees it."
A fit of giggles came over the class. Cheerilee let it run its course before signaling for quiet again.
"I know this comes as a surprise to everypony," Cheerilee continued. "The truth is that I've wanted to do this for a while. But I kept putting it off, because I..." Her motherly smile returned. "Well, I'm quite happy here. I love my life in Ponyville; I love my friends, and I love my students. But I came to a point in my life where I realized that, if I didn't do this now, I probably never would."
She was perfectly happy and comfortable. In fact, she would be perfectly content to live and die as Ponyville's schoolteacher. But there would always be that little part of her that would nag and nag, that lingering regret at reaching to the sky and stopping just short if she didn't.
It was all said and done, anyway; she found a nice little apartment adjacent to the campus in Fillydelphia during a visit over the spring break; her house had sold with little fanfare in a private transaction without going on the market; what little she owned that would fit in the apartment was already shipped to her new home, and what wouldn't was in storage. It was difficult, and she had to force herself not to stop and turn around at times, but everything was in motion now. She couldn't go back even if she truly wanted to.
Snips waved his hoof in the air. "When are you leaving?"
She'd been waiting for that question. It didn't make hearing it any easier. "On the first train to Fillydelphia tomorrow morning." Cheerilee swallowed. "At seven sharp."
At that, the class erupted in cries of remorse and disbelief. The Cutie Mark Crusaders turned and huddled close to one another, sneaking glances back at their teacher. Silver Spoon morosely twisted a lock of hair around her hoof. Diamond Tiara continued to stare at nothing.
"I'm sorry for not telling you sooner." Cheerilee raised her voice this time, speaking over the class. "You deserved to know that you wouldn't be seeing me when you came back from vacation, and you deserved to hear it a long time ago. But I didn't want to spend our last few months together with that hanging over our heads."
I couldn't come to work every morning and look you all in the eye with that sense of finality between us.
"There's going to be a little get-together for me at Sugarcube Corner tonight. Anypony who wants to come out and say goodbye is more than welcome. Otherwise..."
The class fell silent and listened, rapt.
"I want you to know that my years as your teacher have been the best of my life, and I wouldn't trade them for anything. Thank you for making my life so—"
The bell cut her off, filling the room with its hideous ring. Cheerilee slumped over, shaking her head with a sardonic chuckle.
There's a lesson in here about procrastination.
"The party starts tonight at seven-thirty," she called as the students shuffled away from their desks, all traces of excitement and glee gone. "I hope to see some of you there!"
Silver Spoon said something to Diamond Tiara again, and again received no response. With a worried look at her friend, Silver Spoon left the schoolhouse along with the other foals, heading off into their first summer afternoon.
Diamond Tiara didn't move from her desk, and Cheerilee felt a mounting concern of her own. "You know, it's a beautiful day outside," she ventured, keeping her voice sweet. "I'm sure you don't want to spend any more of it than necessary cooped up in this old schoolhouse."
Diamond Tiara folder her forelegs tightly together on her desk. Her eyes found Cheerilee for the first time since the announcement.
"You're really just gonna go?"
Cheerilee had expected some of her students to take the news harder than others. She hadn't expected that Diamond Tiara, of all ponies, would be one of them. Throughout her time as Diamond Tiara's teacher, she reached out to her just as much as she would any other filly under her charge, but she seldom saw Diamond Tiara reaching back. She thought about her many memories of the filly: Diamond Tiara with her perfect grades, Diamond Tiara raising funds for the school, Diamond Tiara chairing the yearbook committee...
Diamond Tiara harassing Apple Bloom, Diamond Tiara pouting in detention, Diamond Tiara muckraking on the whole town...
But she hadn't seen that filly in her classroom for a long time, and she didn't see her now. Nor did she see the cheerful, gregarious Diamond Tiara who'd been showing up to her class since losing the school election to Pipsqueak. The sullen filly she saw at the desk was very different from any iteration of Diamond Tiara she'd heretofore met.
Cheerilee sighed. "I'm afraid so."
Diamond Tiara rested her chin on her folded hooves. "But you're gonna keep being a teacher?"
"I am. Teaching is my passion, my calling. And, not to put too fine a point on it, my destiny." The flowers on her flank were proof positive of that. "I won't ever stop teaching, or wanting to be a teacher. Think of my doctorate as..." She trotted down the aisle to Diamond Tiara's desk as she tried to put it into words.
"As a way for me to be a better teacher. To be recognized by my fellow teachers. To learn from them, and help them learn from me. To help all teachers, everywhere, be better at what they do. Because fillies like you deserve it."
Cheerilee arrived at Diamond Tiara's desk, her shadow falling upon the filly's face. Diamond Tiara watched her impassively, sunk up to her chin in her forelegs.
"Is there anything you'd like to tell me?" She put on her most encouraging smile and spoke as kindly as she could.
All for naught. "I'm fine," said Diamond Tiara, with a familiar, supercilious tone. She ripped her gaze away from Cheerilee, shoved away from her desk, and trotted out the door.
Cheerilee followed her to the door and watched her leave, leaning her hoof against the frame. Perhaps she'll come around. Maybe I'll see her at the party tonight, and we can clear the air. She didn't want to part with any of her students on poor terms. But that might be unavoidable now. I should have told them sooner; I shouldn't have kept the truth from them.
Keeping the news of her departure quiet was something of a task in itself. Luckily, Cheerilee was fairly unassuming, and few took notice of her activities outside of the schoolhouse, of the wagons that came and went from her home, laden with possessions and furniture, of the fact that she hadn't invited anypony over in more than a month. The lack of any real estate signage on her property didn't hurt either. A few ponies knew – the Mayor, who needed to find a replacement, other ponies she was close to, and of course, Pinkie Pie had to know if she was to plan the farewell party. But all in all, Cheerilee wanted to keep her exit from Ponyville as quiet as possible, all to avoid drawing the attention of her students and forcing herself into confronting the reality that she was leaving them behind.
That meant hitting them with it all at once, though, with little time to prepare themselves emotionally. It hit her all at once, too. The emotions were overpowering; it took everything in her not to start crying right there in front of everypony.
Time enough for that on the train, or in Fillydelphia. I want to hold on to my happiness for as long as possible.
But her grip on that was tenuous. She wondered who was faring worse with this news – herself, or her students.
Cheerilee let the thought go for the nonce, shut the door to the schoolhouse, and trotted to the front of the empty classroom, sighing. Beneath her desk was a cardboard box that she'd smuggled in when she arrived early in the morning to prep for the day. It had sat there, out of sight and out of mind; if the students saw it, there'd be questions, and if Cheerilee so much as glanced at it, her careful composure might've broken. The box was another one of those things she wanted to put off for as long as possible, to not think about until she absolutely had to.
Of course, now, she didn't have any excuse not to.
Cheerilee pulled the box from under the table, and glanced over the desk that had seen so many duties for so many years – lectern, dinner table, even pillow and bed on occasion. She ran her hoof over its surface, badly in need of a new coat of varnish, and smiled fondly at the faded coffee rings, and the faint furrows dug into the wood by pens and pencils scribbling harder than necessary on thin, cheap paper.
I wonder if the new teacher will ask for a replacement. She chuckled. Hay, I wonder if it's not too late to have this shipped to Fillydelphia. Mayor Mare, knowing her, would deduct the cost of shipping from her last paycheck. Which isn't what I'd call substantial anyway.
She sighed again. "Okay. Maybe not."
Littered about the surface of the desk was an assortment of personal effects, paraphernalia that had accumulated over the years. They had become part of the classroom scenery after a while, things she took for granted, things she barely noticed unless she had need to. But as she looked them over, the memories came burbling back to the surface of her mind. The mug she scalded herself with as she ran hurriedly to work last month, an hour late getting out of bed and farther behind schedule than she cared to be.
Why is this still here? Cheerilee, you slob.
The dog-eared and annotated copy of Flourish Prose's poetry that a wingless Twilight Sparkle gifted to her after the talent show.
Three? Four years ago? How long ago was that, even?
A bridal veil that Big McIntosh gave her as a gag gift last Hearts and Hooves Day, draped over the foam head of a ponnequin.
Right on this spot and in front of the whole class, no less. They couldn't stop laughing; I couldn't stop blushing; I punched him in the shoulder, and he laughed it off, and Apple Bloom looked at the two of us and shouted "Sweetie, Scoots, it's happenin' again!"
A shiny red wax apple that Apple Bloom had given her on her very first day as a student.
Diamond Tiara accused her of trying to be teacher's pet, but sure enough, the next day, she came to class with an apple of her own – bigger, shinier, redder, and edible to boot. Except it had a worm in it. I played it off like I didn't mind, but Diamond looked crestfallen – humiliated, really – with everypony but Silver Spoon laughing at her expense. And Apple Bloom said "Next time, buy from Sweet Apple Acres!"
No, the truth was that those things weren't just accumulated paraphernalia, nor part of the classroom scenery. They represented moments in her life that would never come again. Her gaze wandered over the desk, searing the sight of her organized mess into her mind's eye, until her vision blurred and she had to sniff to keep her nose from running.
Carefully, one by one, she packed her memories into the box.
Leave Nothing Unspoken
The steady rhythm of the electronic beat pounded in Cheerilee's ears as she finished signing the yearbook, writing her signature with a flourish and dotting her "i" with a doodle of a smiling flower. Cheerilee dropped the pencil from her mouth; the pink shimmer of an alicorn princess's magic caught it and tucked it back behind her ear, meticulously combing her mane over it to make it as unobtrusive as possible.
"All done, Featherweight," she said, beaming at the diminutive pegasus. "Thank you for the memories."
"Thank you, Miss Cheerilee!" Featherweight hopped up, fluttering his little wings to bring himself to eye level with Cheerilee, and wrapped his rail-thin forelegs around her neck. Cheerilee returned his embrace with a nuzzle. "You're the best teacher there ever was!"
"Oh, come now; I'm sure there are better."
"No. There aren't." Featherweight pulled back and fluttered to the floor. Looking at her, quite serious, he said, "There's you, and nopony else."
Cheerilee's only reply to his earnest, childish absolutism was a watery smile. A conga line headed by Pinkie Pie passed by then, and Featherweight was caught in its undulating wake; he waved one last time at Cheerilee before the conga line slithered away.
The party's turnout had an ebb and flow to it. Well-wishers came, lingered, and went; ponies she was closer to stuck around longer. A few had been there since nearly the beginning of the night. In particular, Twilight Sparkle was among the first to come calling and spent most of the night in Cheerilee's company while Spike tried his hand at Pinkie's party games. But there was never a point where Sugarcube Corner felt empty, or lifeless. For everypony who went out the door, another two came in, wanting a chance to bid farewell to their town's beloved schoolteacher, a fixture in the community for so long. It warmed her to know that she was so loved by so many.
What warmed her more were the students. She hoped that some would show up; she hadn't expected nearly as many as actually did. They came in groups and bunches, yearbooks clutched in their mouths, and begged their teacher's autograph. Cheerilee signed them all, and gladly, taking time out of her party to write a personalized farewell to each of them. There were hugs, and tears, and expressions of love and gratitude, and more than once, Cheerilee had to remind herself that it was too late to simply drop everything and remain their teacher forever.
But damn, her mouth was sore from all the writing.
Cheerilee kneaded her cheek. "You know," she remarked to the alicorn standing beside her, "not one of them asked me to sign their yearbooks this morning. Which isn't unusual, really. But here, now?" She worked her jaw from side-to-side. "Fourteen yearbooks in an hour. An hour! I haven't written that much in so short a time since college!"
Although I suppose I should get used to it again, or else invest in a typewriter.
Twilight Sparkle, who had taken it upon herself to organize the crowd of students and keep Cheerilee hydrated between signings, giggled. "You'd probably be less sore if you didn't take the time to write such detailed messages to them." A glass of punch floated beside her head, and she sipped a little of the purple mixture.
"Probably not," said Cheerilee. "But then, what's even the point? I'm saying goodbye to them, Twilight; I can't just write 'have a good summer' eighteen times."
"I suppose." Twilight sighed. "That kind of dedication is admirable, Cheerilee. It's gonna be hard finding somepony who can match it. Speaking of, how's the search for the new teacher coming along?"
Cheerilee shrugged. "The Mayor showed me the shortlist of candidates, and I gave my input on all of them; she'll probably interview them before the month is out. But I have no direct say in it. Truth be told, they'd all make capable teachers, but none of them were really my first choice."
"Really?" Twilight drained her glass of punch. "Who was?"
"Oh, y'know. You." Cheerilee winked.
Twilight's eyes flew open in surprise. Thankfully, downing her punch before asking the question precluded the possibility of a spit-take.
"M-me? Why me?!"
"Why not? You'd be a wonderful teacher. The foals like you; you're empathetic, and you're smart as a whip." She grinned. "And I've seen you lecture before – both academically and as a hobby. Take it from a pro; you're a natural."
Twilight blushed.
"That was a passing fancy, though," Cheerilee continued. "You have your duties as Princess, after all. I mean, what, am I gonna ask you to abdicate and live on a schoolteacher's salary for the rest of your life?" Cheerilee closed her eyes and laughed, but stopped when she realized Twilight wasn't laughing with her. She looked, and saw contemplation on the princess's face.
"You're... you're not seriously thinking of doing that now, are you?" Cheerilee asked.
"What?" Twilight blinked. "No, of course not. Just..." She tapped her hooves together. "Maybe… taking a little time off to get credentialed, is all..."
Cheerilee chuckled and pulled Twilight in for a hug. "You know, I'm really going to miss you, Twilight. It's been a joy getting to know you."
"You too, Cheerilee." Twilight returned the embrace. "You'll stay in touch, right?"
"Of course! And you had better visit." Cheerilee pulled away, holding Twilight at length with her hooves, and thumped her left wing gently. "Now that you've got these big ol' things to carry you back and forth, you don't have an excuse not to."
"Well, there's that," said Twilight with a conspiratorial grin. "And I can do it at the crown's expense."
"Why, Princess Twilight!" said Cheerilee with a scandalized gasp. "Such gross abuse of royal authority and taxpayer money!" She scowled condemningly, and held it for precisely three seconds before both the teacher and the princess collapsed into mutual laughter.
The bell at the door jingled, making Cheerilee's ears perk. She turned, and her smile widened at the sight of the latest arrival. "Diamond Tiara!" she called with a jaunty wave. "You made it! And..." She took note of the mare standing over her, looking down her nose at everypony in the room.
"And you've brought your mother! How wonderful!"
Internally, she sighed. Oh, yes. How wonderful.
"Yes, well," said Spoiled Rich, marching across the room toward Cheerilee with her daughter trudging along beside her. "We're holding a wine tasting in our private cellar tonight, but Diamond Tiara felt her presence was required here, for some reason, and insisted somepony escort her. Filthy demurred, and our butler Cummerbund is still on vacation in Las Pegasus with his brother, Wood-something-or-other." She scoffed. "And the rest of our household staff has their hooves full waiting on our guests. So, apparently, the task had to fall to me." She frowned at her daughter. "Surely you must realize how self-centered you are acting right now."
"Yes, mother," mumbled Diamond Tiara. She gave Cheerilee the briefest of glances before returning her eyes to the floor.
Spoiled nodded. "Naturally, I can't stay, as I am expected back posthaste. Diamond Tiara, you'll be alright making your way home by yourself, I trust?"
"Yes, mother," mumbled Diamond Tiara again. Her voice remained robotic as she gave the same canned answer to her mother.
"Splendid." Spoiled beckoned at Twilight Sparkle. "Now, Princess Twilight, be a dear and take Diamond Tiara. I'd like to say a few words to Ms. Cheerilee."
Twilight looked taken aback, but did as she was bid, drawing a wing around Diamond Tiara and leading her away toward the snack table. She leaned into Cheerilee's ear as she passed. "Just give a signal if you need me to rescue you."
"Such a helpful young mare," Spoiled remarked. "So down-to-earth and easy to speak to. One almost forgets that she was given her crown instead of being properly born into it." She clicked her tongue. "The peasant princess. What is this world coming to?"
Cheerilee felt a moment of pity for her successor. Perhaps I should have left a note of warning…
Spoiled turned back to Cheerilee. "Now, I am given to understand that you're moving to Fillydelphia, yes? To pursue an education?"
"Uh, y-yes." Cheerilee smiled. "A doctorate, actually."
"You know, I attended the University of Fillydelphia myself, back in my youth."
"Did you? What was your major?"
"Undeclared. Four years running."
"I... wasn't aware that you could graduate undeclared."
"There is much and more that you're not aware of; no doubt that's why you're going back to school." The corners of Spoiled's mouth lifted slightly.
Cheerilee maintained her polite facade with an effort.
"In any case, I wish you all the joy of it. I hope that whoever takes over your job may prove just as... adequate... as you." Spoiled sniffed and turned to the door. "Goodbye, Ms. Cheerilee."
Spoiled Rich left without sparing her daughter a word, or indeed, even a glance. Diamond Tiara didn't seem to notice; she kept her eyes on a cup of punch balanced on one of her hooves, sipping from a straw while Twilight spoke to her.
Cheerilee crossed to the snack table; Twilight saw her coming and backed away with a word of farewell to Diamond Tiara. The princess and the teacher exchanged a look of exasperation as they passed one another.
The notion of telling Twilight about Spoiled Rich's title for her crossed Cheerilee's mind briefly before being discarded.
"I'm glad you could make it!" Cheerilee said to Diamond Tiara. "Did you bring your yearbook?"
"Mm-mm." Diamond Tiara sipped again.
"Oh. That's..." Diamond Tiara's atypical lifelessness sapped a little of Cheerilee's enthusiasm; the cheerful smile she wore for Diamond's benefit started to wane at the corners of her mouth. "I ask because your classmates all brought theirs. I'd have been happy to sign yours for you."
"That's okay."
"Do you want me to write something down for you anyway? You could always tape it to one of the pages of your book. I'm sure Pinkie Pie has something to write on somewhere around here."
"No, thank you." The last remnants of punch slurped through the straw, and Diamond Tiara discarded it in a wastebin to her left without looking.
Cheerilee bit her lip. "Diamond, is everything alright?"
"Fine."
"Are you sure?" Cheerilee knelt and reached out to the filly. Diamond Tiara started to pull away, but stopped, and let Cheerilee's hoof rest on her shoulder. "I can tell that something's bothering you. If there's anything you need to talk about, or something you need to say to me, you know that you can tell me. Okay? So please, don't hold anything back."
Diamond Tiara squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. She looked at Cheerilee, and her mouth opened slightly. "Miss Cheerilee... the thing is, I..."
Cheerilee offered the same encouraging, motherly smile she'd plied Diamond Tiara with that morning. "Yes?"
"I..." Diamond Tiara trembled, and slowly closed her mouth. Her lower lip quivered. She glanced away. "Coming here was a mistake."
"I'm sorry?" Cheerilee leaned closer. "Could you repeat—"
"Never mind. It doesn't matter." Diamond Tiara brushed Cheerilee's hoof off her shoulder.
Cheerilee's eyes followed Diamond Tiara as she quickly retreated into a throng of happily chatting ponies. "Diamond—"
"Enjoy your party," Diamond Tiara snapped. "The punch is great." The filly vanished into the crowd.
Diamond...
The jingle of the door drew Cheerilee's gaze to Sugarcube Corner's entrance. Applejack sauntered inside, grinning. Beside her was Rarity with a similarly chipper, yet simultaneously more subdued, expression. Both wore saddlebags over their flanks.
"Cheerilee, you ol' so-and-so," said Applejack. "Thought you could slither on outta here without gettin' a proper Apple family goodbye?"
"In point of fact, Applejack, I believe that's what the party is for," Rarity pointed out.
"Aw, that's a town goodbye. Totally diff'rent from an Apple family goodbye. Apple family goodbyes got a lot more present-givin' involved!" Applejack went in for a hug, but stopped when she saw the look on Cheerilee's face.
Applejack frowned. "Somethin' the matter?"
Cheerilee sighed and stood. "One of my students is taking the news pretty hard. I wish she would talk to me about it, but every time I try to engage her, she just... shuts down. It's frustrating."
And heartbreaking. To a teacher like her, one who strove to embody empathy for her students, that was a particularly stinging slap in the face. I brought this on myself; I should never have been so selfish. I should have said something to them sooner.
"Diamond Tiara, right? Sweetie Belle said something about her looking off after class this morning." A note of concern underscored Rarity's elegantly accented voice. "Do you need to speak with her? We can always catch up with you after."
"I don't know. I think..." Cheerilee frowned. "I think she needs a little space right now. Maybe later tonight I can get her to open up." It was then that she noticed that neither Applejack nor Rarity had brought their requisite plus-one. "Where are your sisters, by the way? I was hoping I'd see them tonight, but they haven't been in at all.
Neither has Scootaloo, come to think of it, even after Rainbow Dash came and went.
"Oh, uh..." Applejack exchanged a look with Rarity. "We're, um..."
"We're not supposed to tell you," Rarity supplied. "If they could be here, they would be, I'm sure, but they've their hooves full with some project or other."
Cheerilee was quite familiar with the Cutie Mark Crusaders' projects. One in particular had adorned her bedroom wall at home for some time, and would have made it into her apartment if only she had space enough for a vast, sparkly pink heart. It went away into storage, sadly, but Cheerilee took comfort from knowing that it would surely brighten up the place.
"But we wanted to stop by on our own accord, and bid farewell face-to-face," said Rarity. "After everything you've done for our sisters, it seems only fitting."
"She's got the right of it," said Applejack. "That, and it wouldn't be right to send y'all off without somethin' good t'remember us by. So..." Applejack reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a jug of cider, which Cheerilee accepted and cradled in her foreleg. A sketch of Granny Smith grinned at her on the label.
"That right there?" Applejack pointed at the bottle, smirking. "That's the good stuff, Cheerilee. Makes what Filthy and Spoiled Rich serve at their wine-tastin' shindigs look like expired grape juice."
"Applejack, I'm…" Cheerilee shook her head. "This must cost… I can't accept—"
"Never you mind that," said Applejack, holding up her hoof. "I could give you a hunnerd bottles o'that same cider; it wouldn't come close to payin' back what we owe you. For everythin' you've done for Apple Bloom, an' for bein' a friend to us all. You take that, and you take my gratitude, an' that'll be the end of it. Y'hear?"
Cheerilee, at a loss for words, could only tuck the bottle under her foreleg and nod her thanks to Applejack.
Rarity stepped forward and cleared her throat. "As for moi, well, my first thought was to put together something for you to wear – an outfit, a dress, a kicky beret – but on such short notice, I simply didn't have the time to do you justice. So instead, I went in a very different direction altogether. I'm sure it's something you'll appreciate."
Rather than reach into the bag, as Applejack did, she simply undid the strap holding it in place and set it on the floor in front of Cheerilee. Cheerilee peered inside and looked up at Rarity with confusion. "Gemstones? Don't you kind of… need these?"
"They're not just any gemstones, Cheerilee," said Rarity with feigned indignation. "There's history behind these – shared history! Do you remember when we were fillies, and I made those costumes for your performance?"
"I remember being the sparkliest sunflower that ever swayed on a stage," said Cheerilee with a nostalgic chuckle. "That was how you got your cutie mark, right? You found those gemstones and used them to decorate our—" Her eyes widened as she realized precisely what was in the bag.
Rarity smiled knowingly. "The very last of the vintage. As a reminder of days gone by."
Blinking back tears, and once more at a loss for words, Cheerilee set the cider bottle beside the bag of gemstones and pulled both mares into an embrace.
"I think she liked mine more," Rarity whispered teasingly to Applejack.
Cheerilee glanced at Applejack's face in time to see her roll her eyes, and found herself laughing her tears away.
The summer night's air was crisp and warm, but a welcome contrast to the stifling heat of the party inside. Cheerilee sighed with relief as she emerged, and she sat on the front steps to Sugarcube Corner, gazing up at the night sky.
So many stars.
Owing, of course, to the relative lack of light pollution in Ponyville. There wouldn't be many nights like that in Fillydelphia. Fillydelphia was bright, and brilliant, a city that never slept. Instead of shining in the sky, the stars shone in the street.
"I'm going to miss that sky," Cheerilee softly mused.
"So don't go," a broken voice croaked from beside the stairs.
Diamond Tiara sat beneath one of Sugarcube Corner's front windows, her back against a chunk of gingerbread facade. Her cheeks were stained with dried tears, and her eyes, staring out into the night and focused on nothing in particular, were red from crying.
"Diamond? What are you doing out here by yourself?" Cheerilee hopped off of the stairs and sat beside the filly. Giving somepony space when they needed it was all well and good, but sitting by oneself and crying out in the open called for some kind of intervention.
But Diamond Tiara said nothing in reply
"Do you mind if I stay with you a while?"
Again, no spoken reply, but this time, she gave the barest shake of her head.
Cheerilee, encouraged, settled beside Diamond Tiara, the muted beat of the music inside still pulsing in her ears. "A lot of ponies are worried about you, you know. Rarity, Applejack. Your friend Sweetie Belle."
Me.
"I know I already asked before, but... would you like to talk about whatever's on your mind? You know that you can tell me anything."
Diamond Tiara looked away, shutting her eyes. She shook her head.
"Okay. We don't need to talk; we can just sit here, if you'd like. Maybe the company will make you feel better."
"Nothing's gonna make me feel better."
"Well, that can't be true." Cheerilee smiled. "You have a lot of love in your life. A lot of friends, good friends, who I know want to see you happy. And, of course, it's summer vacation. You must have plans."
Diamond Tiara's shoulders shook, once, with a silent sob. "You haven't read the essays from this morning, have you?"
Nervous prickles crept up Cheerilee's spine at the question. "No, not yet. I was saving them for tonight." She forced a chuckle, mirth that she didn't really feel. "Silly me. I suppose if I had, I wouldn't need to ask, would I?"
Diamond Tiara held her silence for a moment longer before answering in a voice bereft of enthusiasm. "The Neighchelles. My parents own a villa by the beach. We're leaving next week and staying for a month."
"Oh, the Neighchelles!" Cheerilee said, pressing her hooves together and projecting as much false cheer as she possibly could. "I've never been, but I hear they're lovely this time of year. Well, there you go! You'll come home happy from that, I'm sure."
"No. I won't." Diamond Tiara wiped her eyes and looked up at Cheerilee. "You won't be here when I come home."
Cheerilee's smile failed to withstand the remark, and fell to pieces. "Diamond, sweetheart…"
The door to Sugarcube Corner burst open so loudly and suddenly that Cheerilee and Diamond Tiara both jumped. Pinkie Pie emerged, balancing on her back a cake frosted to look like a smiling flower. "Oh doctor~!" she sang. "Time for you to make the first incision! Ya geddit?!"
Cheerilee made eye contact with Pinkie and drew her hoof across her own neck rapidly, shaking her head.
Pinkie blinked, glanced at Diamond Tiara, blinked again. She grinned sheepishly and backed inside, cake and all.
Cheerilee turned back to the filly. "Diamond, I know how difficult farewells can be. I know I haven't made it very easy on you, either." She dug her hoof into the dirt nervously.
I should have told you all so much sooner.
"But you know that it isn't going to be goodbye forever, right? I'll come back and visit as often as I can... and you and I can always write to each other in the meanwhile."
"But you still won't be here." Diamond Tiara rose to her hooves, glared furiously at Cheerilee through gleaming eyes. "How do you not get it? I don't want you to visit; I don't want you to write. I want you to stay here. " Tears ran down her face freely. "I thought you cared more than that, that if anypony could possibly understand, it'd be you!"
"Diamond, I don't... What should I under—"
"But I was wrong. You don't care enough to stay; you don't even care enough to read what I wrote! You're gonna take off to the big, beautiful city, and leave me alone with ponies who don't know, and don't care, and don't understand, and don't wanna understand, and some... some stranger for my teacher!" She shrieked the rest of her sentence at the top of her voice, and Cheerilee flattened her ears reflexively to shield herself from the volume.
For the first time since she started teaching, Cheerilee found herself at a loss for what to say to a distraught little foal. All she could do was reach a trembling hoof toward Diamond Tiara.
The filly batted it away spitefully. "Forget it. Just forget it and leave me alone." Her voice was thick with sadness, and her words came out in a sandpapery rasp, her throat still recovering from the twin strains of screaming and sobbing. "I'm not your problem anymore." Diamond Tiara wheeled around and galloped into the night, down the road that would take her home.
Cheerilee watched her go, the fragile sense of happiness she'd been clinging to now shredded beyond hope of mending.
Twilight Sparkle was at her side. She didn't know when she'd gotten there, or for how long she'd been there. Drawn by Diamond's yelling, no doubt. The alicorn watched Diamond Tiara pass gradually out of sight, biting her lip with concern.
"I'll make sure she gets home safe," she said, patting Cheerilee on the withers. "You go back inside. This is your night, remember. Try to enjoy it?" With a sad smile, she spread her wings and ascended.
Alone, outside, Cheerilee looked searchingly at the sky.
"I don't look forward to vacations. I used to. But I don't anymore."
Cheerilee lay alone in an empty house, her fireplace gently warming her flank, its flickering glow brightening the barren living room enough for her to read the stack of essays. Her body cast a long shadow, a black smear that stretched across the floorboards and rose high against the far wall, looming over her as though in judgment.
The house was sold, and empty, and all her furniture was long since shipped away; the trappings of home were no longer there to afford Cheerilee the benefit of their comfort. Her cupboards and ice box were empty as well, their contents donated to local charities. She'd received more than a few offers of hospitality from ponies at the party who were aghast at the idea of Cheerilee spending her last night in Ponyville in those conditions, but she'd declined each one of them politely. She wanted to spend her last night in Ponyville in her own home, under her own roof, cherishing another moment that would never come again.
Even if the empty space no longer felt like home.
But it wasn't so bad. She had the thermos of tea that Pinkie brewed to warm her belly, and the fire in the hearth to warm her skin, the parting gifts from her friends packed in her saddlebags, a stack of student essays to peruse, and a plush bedroll beneath her body. The spartan conditions reminded her of college, although no dormitory mattress was ever half as comfy as her bedroll.
Rumble's essay had been at the top of the stack, for some reason, despite the fact that he sat at the back of the room, and she skimmed it briefly (apparently his brother was going to buy him a lawnmower, which might be the most pointless thing to give to a pegasus who lived in a cloud house) before sifting through the rest of them to find Diamond Tiara's. Her name jumped out at her, halfway down in the pile, in the filly's neat, instantly recognizable mouthwriting. The prose was elementary, in the characteristic voice of an uncertain young writer, but the sentiment behind every last word was heartfelt, and real, and cut Cheerilee to the bone.
"My parents own a villa in the Neighchelles. We go there sometimes in the spring and summer. It's pretty there, real tropical and warm, with nice beaches and fruity drinks and air that smells like salt. The Neighchelles are nice. But I already know I'm not going to have fun.
"Let me tell you exactly what's going to happen on my vacation. My mom is going to treat the workers at the house like dirt. She's going to be rude and demeanding demanding demeaning to waiters and refuse to give them tips. She's going to control everything that everypony does and insist that everything be done her way, and she's going to have a fit if it isn't.
"My daddy is going to spend the whole time ignoring all the rude and horrible things mom says and does. He loves her very much, and he thinks the best way to make her happy is to let her do whatever she wants, even if it means she's a horrible brat all the time.
Do you see where I get
Do you see why I'm the way that I
And unless they want something from me, they're going to ignore me and leave me alone. And I'm gonna spend a month all alone on a tropical beach with nopony to talk to and nopony to share it with and nopony who cares. And at the very end my daddy will throw money at me until I tell him I love him, and we'll go home, and everything we did on vacation will happen again at home."
The first page ended, and Cheerilee flipped it onto its back, hooves shaking. She breathed slowly and took a sip from her thermos to steady herself.
"Do you know what's really funny? That was all just normal to me for a really long time. I always thought that was how you were supposed to act towards other ponies. Waiters and workers and butlers and stuff. And even friends and family and teachers too. I thought it was normal to just be horrible, and that everypony else was weak and wrong for being nice. I guess I just grew up and realized that it wasn't everypony else with the problem. It was me. It was always just me. I learned that lesson at school. From my friends and my classmates. And my teacher too. You've all taught me the way to be better, and I'm much happier with you. But I can't exactly take you all with me on vacation, can I?
"So I'm not really excited to go on vacation because I know I won't be happy there. I'll be with my parents, but really, I'll just be alone. But when I come home, I'll have my friends again. I don't think everypony will ever really like me a hundred percent. I don't think they all forgive me for how I used to treat them and I probably don't deserve it anyway. But at least I'll have Silver Spoon, and Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. And when I come back to school, I'll have you too, Miss Cheerilee.
"This is so stupid. I can't believe I'm just babbling like this on something that's just supposed to be busywork. But you asked. :)"
Cheerilee reread the last page again and again, her vision blurring more and more with every pass. I should have read this before the party. I could have talked to her about it, and things might have been different. I could have... I should have...
Tears slid down her face and dripped onto the paper.
I should have told you all so much sooner.
Cheerilee drew the essay to her chest and clutched it close, crumpling it against her coat. The warmth of the fire gave her no comfort as she wept through the night, for Diamond, for her students, for the life she was leaving behind.
Bonitatem Doce Me
Cheerilee stepped into the biting chill of the early morning and inhaled deeply, savoring the sensation of clean, cool air filling her nose. The morning smelled like apples and flowers, like sugary sweetness and fresh baked bread. The morning smelled like Ponyville.
The morning smelled like home. She might have shed a tear or two if she hadn't run her tear ducts dry overnight.
She pulled the door to her house shut, letting her hoof linger on the knob. With a sad shake of her head, she stepped off her front stoop for the final time.
The train wouldn't even arrive at the station for another hour; per her idiom, Cheerilee was out and about early. She had time enough to wander through the morning mist and privately bid farewell to the familiar streets and sights of home. A pair of saddlebags, holding books and mementos, gemstones and cider, a pink thermos and a hankie and her students' last essays, were slung over her back, along with her trusty bedroll. Everything else, furniture and formal wear, all and sundry, was already shipped away to Fillydelphia, and awaited her at her new home.
When she knew she could put it off no longer, Cheerilee made her way to the station. What few ponies were taking the early train alongside her waited inside, hiding behind books and magazines and newspapers, and keeping the morning at bay with steaming cups of coffee or cocoa. Cheerilee decided to wait alone on the platform, to keep filling her lungs with Ponyville air for as long as she could.
She wasn't expecting to have company.
It was a pleasant surprise when she saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders sitting on the platform, fast asleep and huddled beneath their Crusader capes. Apple Bloom was in the center, snoring, with Scootaloo on her left and Sweetie Belle on her right, leaning their heads and bodies against one another for comfort. Beside Sweetie Belle was a rolled-up banner, and in front of Apple Bloom was a little rectangular box, done up with a ribbon in a neatly tied bow.
A fuzzy warmth blossomed in Cheerilee's chest as she realized that the box and ribbon matched her coat and mane. She watched the three fillies sleep, wondering what the last few years would have been like without the constant presence of the Cutie Mark Crusaders in the classroom.
Very dull indeed, no doubt. She would spend the rest of her life teaching, but she knew she would never meet another trio like them.
By and by, Scootaloo yawned, stretched out her limbs, and smacked her lips. She blinked and opened her eyes halfway, but when she caught sight of Cheerilee, they widened in an instant. She shook both her friends awake, leaning over Apple Bloom's neck to get to Sweetie Belle.
"Girls! She's here; wake up! She's here!"
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stirred, saw their teacher, and shot to attention. The three lined up shoulder-to-shoulder like cadets out for muster.
Cheerilee smirked at the show of discipline. "How long have you three been waiting here?"
"Since five in the mornin'," Apple Bloom said casually.
"But it wasn't a big deal; we were up all night anyway," Sweetie Belle added.
"I can smell colors!" Scootaloo chirped.
Cheerilee bowed her head and hid her mouth with a hoof to hide her snickering.
"We're real sorry we missed your party," said Apple Bloom. The others nodded their agreement. "We decided that a special teacher like you deserved a special send-off, so we spent all night puttin' together some tokens of our appreciation!" She elbowed Sweetie Belle. "That's your cue, dictionary girl!"
"Oh, right." Sweetie Belle's horn shimmered; the banner lifted into the air and unfurled over the three fillies' heads. On either end of the banner, a trio of flowers smiled down at Cheerilee. Running between them was a message in big capital letters, coated with so much pink glitter that Cheerilee had to squint in order to read it properly.
"FAREWELL TO THEE, MISS CHEERILEE"
Cheerilee, once more touched beyond the telling of it, shook her head. "Girls, this is wonderful, but you didn't have to go to all this trouble for me. Just having the chance to say goodbye to you would have been enough."
"We didn't wanna do jus' enough, though," said Apple Bloom. "You'd never settle for jus' enough, with us or anypony else. That's what makes you best teacher ever!"
"I came up with the words on the banner," said Sweetie Belle smugly. "And I painted the flowers. It was my idea to make them look like your cutie mark."
"And I did the lettering!" Scootaloo added, pressing a hoof to her chest. "Can you tell?"
"It certainly matches your aesthetic, Scootaloo."
Judging by the blindingly thick coat of glitter...
"We're glad you like it," said Apple Bloom. "But don't thank us jus' yet, 'cuz that ain't all we got for ya." At once, the fillies stepped backward, the banner floating with them, leaving the box where it sat. They looked down at it together and grinned.
Cheerilee stepped forward and took the ribbon in her mouth. She pulled, undoing the delicately tied knot, and lifted the box's lid. Her breath hitched when she glimpsed what was inside: the bolt of maroon fabric, and the yellow filly silhouette inside the crudely stitched blue chevron.
Sweetie Belle cleared her throat in a manner that reminded Cheerilee painfully of Rarity. "We, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, in recognition of your many contributions to our education—"
"And to helpin' us find our special talents!" Apple Bloom chimed in.
"Yeah, that too." Sweetie Belle gave Apple Bloom a miffed look before continuing. "Do hereby confer upon you, Cheerilee, the title of Honorary Crusader, now and for all time. And as a symbol of your new status..."
Her magic pulled the cape from the box and draped it across Cheerilee's body, cinching its ends around her neck. The fabric was smooth and soft, velvety, and warded away the chill of the morning.
"We bequeath unto you this cape." Sweetie Belle's voice broke, and she wiped at her eyes. "May you wear it forever with pride."
"And may you never forget us," Scootaloo added quietly.
Cheerilee knelt and opened her forelegs wide. The fillies rushed into her embrace, and squeezed against their former teacher.
"I couldn't forget you three if I wanted to. Being your teacher and watching you grow up has been a privilege. No – a blessing." Cheerilee pulled them closer, tighter. "And I am so, so happy that you found one another."
They lingered in the embrace, even as the train that would take Cheerilee away churned up to the station and the conductor opened the passenger car's door. The passengers inside the station filed out, bearing their coffee and their newspapers, and boarded, one after another.
"I'm afraid that's my cue, girls. The train'll be departing in just a few minutes." Cheerilee squeezed her students one last time before releasing them. "Thank you for everything." She gave each one a last, lingering smile, and turned to board the train.
"Miss Cheerilee?"
The familiar voice made Cheerilee stop, halfway inside the car, and turn. Her heart skipped.
Diamond Tiara stood in the station's doorway, lathered in sweat and panting, one hoof braced against the frame for support. She trotted toward Cheerilee, who disembarked and met Diamond Tiara halfway.
"Miss Cheerilee..." Diamond Tiara sucked down a deep breath to steady herself, and looked the schoolteacher in the eye. "Do you have a minute before you go?"
"I... yes, of course. Several." She turned to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who watched the two of them, sympathy and curiosity playing across their faces intermittently. "Would you three give us a moment?"
In unison, they nodded, and moved to the other end of the platform, trying very hard all the while to look as though they weren't eavesdropping.
Cheerilee sat on the platform and drew Diamond Tiara closer with a hoof. The filly looked down.
"I'm sorry for last night. How I talked to you and all."
"You were upset."
"That's not a good excuse." Diamond's voice was sharp, and she cringed self-consciously at it. After taking a shaky, calming breath, she continued speaking more softly. "I should be better than that. I shouldn't take things out on anypony else. Especially not you." She blinked rapidly and glanced away.
"It's alright, Diamond," Cheerilee insisted. "You didn't mean what you said; I know that. It was a lapse. And after reading your essay..."
"You really... you read it, huh?" At Cheerliee's nod, Diamond Tiara chuckled hollowly. "You gave us busywork, and I poured my guts out. Stupid of me."
"Not at all. Not stupid at all. It... it made me understand you a little bit better, I think."
"Well..." Diamond Tiara sniffled. "There's some stuff I didn't put in there, you know. I wanted to tell you last night, but when I tried putting it in words, I froze up, or... well, you were there; you remember."
"Do you think you can do it now?"
"I don't know." She breathed deeply again and looked back at Cheerilee. "But I don't want to let you go without even giving it a try."
In her peripheral vision, Cheerilee saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders giving up all pretenses of not spying on the two of them. They watched the pupil and the teacher intently, occasionally stealing glances at one another, and at the door to the train behind them.
"I mean, it's like..." Diamond Tiara shuffled and tapped her hooves on the floorboards. "You've seen how my parents are. They love their money, and they love their image, and they love me, of course. The thing is, I don't really know how high on that scale I am. You know? And I don't know if they love me for me, because I'm their daughter, or if I'm just, like... an accessory to them. Something you show off to other ponies, and then put away when you don't need it anymore. And that's how it's been all my life. They don't know who I really am inside, and I don't think they're really interested in finding out.
"But you're... different. Always trying to show me I could be better, even when I was just horrible to everypony. You were always patient and kind; you never gave up on me. I always appreciated that. I'm sorry I never told you that until now."
"Diamond..."
Diamond Tiara held up her hoof. "I'm almost done. Just... before I lose my nerve." Her voice started to crack and strain, and her eyes watered. "I wanted to grow up into somepony who would make you proud. It hurts knowing that now, you won't see me do that, and that's why I was so upset. Because I thought you'd always be here for me, and I wanted you to be, and... and, um..." A shuddering breath ran through Diamond Tiara's body.
Cheerilee placed her hooves on the filly's shoulders and mustered her most nurturing smile. "Go on."
Diamond Tiara seemed to steel herself then, squaring her shoulders, looking Cheerilee dead-on, and plucking up whatever courage she could. But when she spoke, it was in a jumbled mess of words spoken too quickly, in a voice that threatened to break on every syllable.
"I wish I had a pony like you for a mom."
And that was it for Diamond Tiara's composure. Her shoulders sank as her courage failed, and she fell to pieces in Cheerilee's embrace, weeping without care or shame as her erstwhile teacher held her.
"Diamond Tiara, listen. I need you to hear this, okay?" She nuzzled her face against Diamond Tiara's, drying her tears with her own coat. The Cutie Mark Crusaders left the sidelines and slowly drew closer to them.
"I don't need to be here and watch you to know that you're going to be a wonderful mare," said Cheerilee. She ran her hoof through the filly's mane, from the top of her head down to the curls hanging over her withers. "You're already well on your way to being just that."
"You... y-you mean it?"
"From the bottom of my heart. You've grown up so much, changed so much, just the way I always knew you could, and you've made me so proud. And I know you're going to keep growing, and keep changing, and you're going to keep making me proud. Do you wanna know how I know that?"
She pulled away from Diamond Tiara and tilted her chin up with her hoof. Looking into those puffy red eyes, Cheerilee said "Because you're Diamond Tiara, passionate and competent and strong." She smiled. "You've always been all those things. Even when you were a little devil child."
Diamond Tiara giggled, making a little string of snot drop from the tip of her nose, dangling in the air. She giggled even harder at that.
Cheerilee reached into her saddlebag and pulled out her hankie. She offered it to Diamond Tiara, who accepted it, wiped her nose, and blew a wet little puff of air into it. When she was finished, she sighed, folded it into a square, and offered it back to Cheerilee.
She smiled, and pressed it back into Diamond Tiara's hoof.
"You always had the goods to make it in life," Cheerilee continued. "Luck, and grit, and sass, all in abundance. All you were ever missing were things like kindness, and generosity, and leadership and courage – all the things I've seen from you since you lost that student election. Diamond Tiara's always been one heck of a girl. But when I look at her now, I know in my heart that she's going to grow up into a truly wonderful mare."
"She ain't the only one who thinks so, neither." Apple Bloom edged closer to Diamond Tiara, flanked by Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.
"It hurts a lot, I know," said Sweetie Belle, looking downcast. "We're all feeling it."
"But us three, we have each other, and now, you have us too." Scootaloo draped a hoof around the back of Diamond Tiara's neck. "We're here for you."
The Cutie Mark Crusaders nodded, resolutely, as one.
The conductor stepped out of the train car, glanced at his watch, then at Cheerilee. He coughed, jerked his head toward the car's interior, and headed back inside.
"Now, I'm afraid that really is my cue," said Cheerilee with a sad smile. She pulled her four students together for one last quick hug, and boarded the train. The seat nearest the exit was unoccupied, and she sat facing the platform through the window. The lovable bundle of energy, wit, and headache-inducing scheming that called itself the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and the whirlwind of sass named Diamond Tiara, stood together, shoulder-to-shoulder. Scootaloo's hoof was still around Diamond Tiara, who composed herself enough to stand tall, chest out and chin up. The tears still ran down her face unabated, but through them shone a smile brighter than any diamond.
Cheerilee pressed a hoof against the window. The train whistled and churned forward; the fillies ran the length of the platform after it, their last farewells inaudible through the glass.
Then they were gone, along with the rest of Ponyville. Cheerilee leaned against the window, feeling the cool glass against her cheek, and closed her eyes contentedly. Hours and miles away, Fillydelphia and the next chapter of her life loomed, huge and intimidating. Behind her was Ponyville, and all the chapters of her life up 'til that moment.
That life, her old life, and all the possibilities it held, was gone. But the memories, the moments she cherished, the smiles and hugs and parting words, the friends she made and the students she loved, remained locked away in Cheerilee's heart.
The train churned forward, toward Fillydelphia, and the future.
It was neither as grand as what one might find in Manehattan, nor as opulent as the towering manses of Canterlot, but compared to the rustic look and feel of the rest of Ponyville, the Rich household may as well have been the royal palace. More importantly, though, it was Diamond Tiara's home, for better and for worse. And, for better and for worse, she'd returned after twenty-five days of overseas vacation that couldn't have passed quickly enough.
The chauffeur held the door to the carriage open. Diamond Tiara gathered her saddlebags and hopped back onto the familiar earthen street. After so many days of crunching sand beneath her hooves, standing on solid, continental earth was a palpable relief. Her mother and father exited from the other side, and circled around the front of the carriage.
"A dreadful mess, an inexcusable mess," Spoiled was saying. The rant had begun an hour ago; Diamond Tiara had checked out after twenty minutes and hadn't bothered to check back in until just then. Spoiled Rich's rants were cyclical, and often covered the same points multiple times. One could make a game of tuning out and tuning back in at the same beat, as Diamond Tiara often did.
"To think that the house would be in such a state upon our arrival. No good china, no good throw pillows, and only three different varieties of coconut water in the icebox?" She tugged the collar of her five hundred bit coat closer around her neck. Sweat beaded on her face and ran down in rivulets. "There are no excuses, Filthy, none whatsoever. "
She would likely be more comfortable without the coat, which she insisted on bringing to their warm, tropical beach house in defiance of common sense. But Spoiled Rich was the rare pony who truly understood that personal sacrifices needed to be made so the riff-raff in the Neighchelles as well as in Ponyville would know precisely how much wealthier their social betters were than them.
Personally, Diamond had declined to pack a coat for the trip.
"Aw, come now, dear. It won't happen again."
"It ought not." Spoiled sniffed. "Because if it does, then next year, I'm going to have to spend half of our vacation hiring new staff, and that will be a realm of tedium unto itself! One goes on vacation to avoid the drudgery of firing and hiring new subordinates; one expects one's staff to function as a well-oiled machine without one's constant vigilance. Do you understand me?"
Filthy scratched his temple idly, frowning. "Well... perhaps a new head butler for the villa, if nothing else."
"If nothing else. Do please see to it, dear." She strode toward the front door of the house, clicking her tongue. "Come along, Diamond Tiara."
"Yes, mother," she sighed, trotting after her.
The door to the house opened inward, and out stepped Cummerbund, white-maned and gray-coated, smartly dressed in a dinner jacket. "Sir, Madame." To Diamond, he inclined his head. "Little Madame."
"Cummerbund," said Diamond sweetly.
Cummerbund flashed her a subtle wink before looking back at Spoiled. "You are a welcome sight, Madame. May I be so bold as to inquire about your trip?"
"Oh, it was a nightmare, Cummerbund," groaned Spoiled, doffing her coat and draping it over the floor. Cummerbund stooped and retrieved it, and hung it on a nearby peg. "Bad enough that the Neighchelles are always crawling with diamond dogs at this time of year, I had to deal with surly staff and incompetent servers on top of everything else!" She whirled on him. "Why, just the other night, this humdrum hayseed of a waitress had the gall to spill half a bottle of champagne on my favorite chiffon dress. You know the one, the aqua one, with the plunging neckline? Half a bottle! Ruining it utterly!"
"It was a flute, not a bottle," muttered Diamond, "and you walked into her." Spoiled made a point of ignoring wait staff unless they were immediately needed, and didn't take note of the hapless mare (barely more than a filly, really) until they collided. It didn't help that Spoiled's cognitive and motor functions weren't exactly firing on full after downing half a dozen glasses of the same bubbly, not that that stopped her from chewing out the weeping young lady in front of the whole dining room and demanding that the manager fire her on the spot.
And Daddy just sat there munching his eggplant parm...
"Flute, bottle or cask, it makes no difference. She ought to have known better, and she ought to have been fired. Damn that manager," growled Spoiled. "I tell you, that's one establishment that shan't be sucking up any more of the Rich family's hard-won bits."
Behind her, Filthy strode in, an easy grin on his face. "Couldn't have said it better myself, dear." He nodded to Cummerbund, and made for the elegant curved staircase. "'Scuse me, Cummerbund; gonna take a bath, freshen up for tonight."
"Tonight?" Diamond tilted her head. "We have plans tonight? I-I was kind of thinking, you know, there's that carnival, and tonight's the last night it's in town, and maybe Silver Spoon and me could—"
"I made arrangements to dine with Jet Set and Upper Crust at Chez Prance on the night we returned home from vacation," said Spoiled, glaring down at her daughter superciliously. The fold of her double chin creased into a second frown. "Your presence is expected. And it's 'Silver Spoon and I.' Goodness, no wonder that provincial schoolmarm lost her job."
Diamond's nostrils flared reflexively, an unladylike gesture of ire. "Yes, mother, Silver Spoon and I, mother."
"Splendid," said Spoiled, oblivious to her daughter's anger. "Wash and dress and be ready in three hours. Now, the journey home has left me rather fatigued, so I believe that I will retire for a nap. Fetch the luggage from the carriage and stow it away, Cummerbund." Spoiled made her way to the stairs, following after her husband.
Cummerbund nodded and pivoted toward the front door.
Diamond followed after him. "Would you like some help with the bags?"
Spoiled tittered, an ugly little nasal sound. "Diamond," she said patronizingly. "The help fetches the luggage."
"Well, mother," said Diamond, turning to glare at Spoiled. "Perhaps I would like to help 'the help,' mother. If that's alright with you, of course, mother."
Spoiled's eyes widened. "Diamond, you... that is a highly inappropriate way to speak to..."
Diamond's gaze hardened.
Spoiled blinked, glanced from side-to-side, and coughed primly into her hoof. "Yes, well... at least you're not moping anymore." She harrumphed and resumed her march.
Cummerbund smiled a leathery smile at Diamond Tiara. "That's a beneficent gesture, Little Madame, but I am quite comfortable retrieving the luggage myself. It is what I'm paid for, after all."
"I can at least get my own bag." Diamond followed the butler out to the carriage, where the chauffeur had already lain out the considerable pile of suitcases and bags that her parents had insisted on lugging with them on vacation. Diamond found the pink suitcase emblazoned with her cutie mark, and hefted it into her back, balancing it expertly between her two saddlebags.
Cummerbund did the same with two of Spoiled's, while still finding room underneath his foreleg for one of Filthy's. "Did you enjoy yourself on vacation, Little Madame?"
What a thing to ask. Cummerbund knew the family as well as anypony. Surely he could guess.
It was business as usual. Mother yelled at waitresses; daddy pretended not to notice; mother gossiped with other snobby gossips; daddy stayed out all night at the cantina; mother dragged me to spas and forbade me from speaking; daddy shoved piles of bits into my hooves every other night like that was supposed to make it all okay... stuff we could just as easily have stayed home and done.
Then again, it had its ups as well as its downs. Leaving half her spending money on the table for that poor waitress, by way of an apology for her mother, and the look of relief on the young mare's face when she saw. Buying souvenirs for Silver and the others. That cute blonde towel boy...
She blushed. Maybe I should leave that part out.
"To be honest? It was about what I thought it'd be. But I can't say I had a bad time." Diamond Tiara shrugged, shifting the suitcase on her back. "What about you? You went on vacation too, right? At the start of the month? I never asked how it went."
Cummerbund blinked, evidently startled that his Little Madame would remember, newfound change of heart or no. "Las Pegasus, you mean! It was quite nice, actually; the hotel was lovely, the staff helpful and friendly. And I hadn't seen my brother Woodhouse in so long, you know. A wonderful experience. Over too quickly, really." A wan look crossed his tired features. "And, at our age, we're not likely to have too many more like it, if you understand my meaning."
"I'm glad you had a good time with your brother. I'd love to hear more about it. Maybe tonight, after dinner?"
The corners of Cummerbund's eyes glimmered faintly. "I shall prepare cocoa for two."
Diamond beamed at him, and headed back into the house, her luggage swaying with every step she took.
"Miss Diamond, wait! I almost forgot!" Cummerbund, laden with luggage and looking no worse for wear, called out to her from the door. Diamond paused, mid-step, and waited for him to continue.
"A letter arrived for you while you were away. You'll find it unopened on your writing table in your bedroom."
A smile fluttered across Diamond Tiara's lips. "Thank you, Cummerbund."
She barely felt the weight of the luggage on her back as she bounded up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Diamond Tiara flew into her room and kicked the door shut behind her, shrugged off her suitcase and saddlebags, and darted to her desk, trembling with anticipation. The envelope sat where Cummerbund had left it, a thin white rectangle in the center of her desk. Her smile widened when she saw the return address.
P.O. Box 1138
1701 University Ave.
Unit D
Fillydelphia
She ripped the envelope open with her hooves and drew from it a glossy photograph of a smiling, pink-maned mare in a maroon-colored cape, decorated with a golden filly against a blue backdrop. She leaned against a brick sign with silver letters. "University of Fillydelphia," they read.
Diamond Tiara flipped the photograph over, and saw a mouthwritten message.
"Bonitatem et disciplinam et scientiam doce me"
("Teach me goodness and discipline and knowledge" – The motto of the University of Fillydelphia!)
Forever yours, forever proud,
"Miss" Cheerilee
P.S. – I'm sure this won't get to you before you leave on your vacation, so when you return, please write back to me. I want to hear all about it!
Diamond Tiara hadn't cried since that morning on the train station, when she fell apart and was held and comforted by the mare who smiled up at her from the photograph. Lonely as she was on her vacation, she couldn't bring herself to shed any tears – what would even be the point?
But she cried then. She cried, and she laughed, and tears dripped onto the photograph; she wiped her eyes and laughed some more, and when she'd laughed and cried herself dry, she reached under her desk for a notepad and a pen. Uncapping it, she slid the pen into her mouth, and started composing her reply.
Dear "Miss" Cheerilee
So a funny thing happened at the village we were staying at. I was at this swimming pool, and I needed a towel, and who should bring it to me but...
Diamond Tiara paused for a moment, laying her pen across her letter. She stared at what she'd written, at her perfectly pedi'd pink hooves, and smiled softly.
"You know what, Miss Cheerilee?" she murmured to the empty room. "I think you did okay."
With a shake of her head and a last, wistful laugh, Diamond Tiara picked up her pen and started composing once more.
(Original Story) Bonitatem Doce Me
Author's Notes:
8/2/16
This is the original version of "Teach Me Goodness," submitted under the title Bonitatem Doce Me for the Writeoff Association's July 2016 FiM short story contest. It has been preserved in all its crapulence for those of you who wish to, uh, enjoy it.
Original Author's Note
This was my entry for the July 2016 FiM short story write-off. It, to my genuine shock, won, against many other stories which I thought were far better.
I've made a few minor edits, mostly for proofreading (as well as fixing two tiny continuity snarls resulting from errors in editing), but for the most part, this is identical to what I submitted to the competition, for better or for worse. At some point, I'll go back and revise it more thoroughly based on the feedback that I got, and submit that as the SUPER SPECIAL AWESOME REVISED SPECIAL EDITION WITH DEWBACKS AND DIGITALLY RESTORED JABBA THE HUTT, but the reception it got was positive enough that I feel comfortable posting it as-is.
The title of the story comes from the motto of the real-world College of Mount Vernon.
Summer vacation. The words had been on every pair of lips in the schoolhouse all month.
Across the classroom, foals whiled away the school year, chatting and signing yearbooks and every so often glancing at the clock, watching the seconds tick steadily away. Five minutes were all that remained, five minutes that could not pass quickly enough.
Cheerilee watched the clock with a sense of dread proportional to the students' excitement.
The last day of the semester was half the length of a regular school day, and little more than a formality. All tests had been graded and passed back; all final papers were read and marked up and returned. There was little to do that hadn't already been done, so Cheerilee assigned an in-class essay on the students' summer vacation plans that she had no intention of grading or returning, gave the foals a few extra minutes of recess, and allowed them to spend what time remained signing yearbooks and chatting and simply being the bright-eyed, precocious children she'd come to know and love.
She spent those last few minutes navigating the rows of desks, unnoticed, etching every detail of the day in her memory. A powerful sense of regret filled her. Moving forward in her life meant leaving behind what she'd built for herself in Ponyville. She'd come to terms with that a while ago. But saying goodbye to her students... That hurt too much to contemplate.
So she put it off, and kept putting it off, until the day came when they would gather under the same roof for the last time, and she knew she could put it off no longer.
Cheerilee walked to the front of the classroom and savored the view for a few more precious seconds before speaking.
"Settle down, everypony! If I could have your attention for the last few minutes of class?"
The chatter took a few seconds to die down, but one by one, her students dutifully gave Cheerilee their undivided attention. Their shining faces and barely restrained excitement brought a smile of her own to Cheerilee's face.
"Thank you all for being here today. I know that showing up for a half-day on the last day before vacation can seem a little pointless, but it gives us all a little more time to spend together. Years from now, when you look back on today, you'll realize how special those moments were." Her smile dimmed as her students' brightened. "Before you all leave, I have a final announcement to make."
"Oh no! You're goin' to jail, aren'tcha?!" Apple Bloom's question had her looking distressed. "You can't go to jail! Fight the law, Miss Cheerilee; you can win!"
Somepony else picked up the cry, and it carried across the room from one mouth to the next. Before long, all of her little ponies were pounding their hooves on their desks and chanting "Fight! The! Law! Fight! The! Law!"
Cheerilee's hoof met her forehead, but behind it, she was smiling. "I'm afraid it's nothing quite so colorful as that," she called over the chant. It died down gradually. "Rather, it's..."
She hesitated. For years, Cheerilee had been a rock in front of the classroom, the very picture of stability and confidence. Now she was stammering and shuffling her hooves like a nervous TA.
Just say it, damn you; just get it all out there.
"I'm moving." She spat the words out at last in an abrupt burst of air. In a slower, more measured cadence, she continued. "To Fillydelphia."
She waited patiently while her students absorbed the news, each one reacting in their own way. Rumble looked stricken; his jaw hung open. Twist took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. Apple Bloom's ears wilted against her head, and Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle exchanged a glance. Silver Spoon leaned toward Diamond Tiara to whisper something in her ear. Diamond Tiara gave no reply; she did nothing, said nothing. Her unfocused gaze drifted to the front of the room, looking past Cheerilee.
Then came the questions, an incoherent torrent of rushed, inquisitive babbling, ponies all jockeying with one another to be heard.
"Why are you moving? Are you quitting being a teacher?"
"Did you win the lottery and decide to retire?"
"Was it us? Are you moving because you don't like us anymore?"
Cheerilee held up a hoof, signaling for quiet, and let the furor die down again before she continued speaking.
"First of all, no, I'm not going to quit teaching. Second, I'm not leaving on account of anypony. This is my own decision." She drew courage from that reminder, and spoke with growing confidence. "I've decided to pursue a doctorate at the University of Fillydelphia."
That caused more than a few scrunchy, confused noses.
"You're becoming a doctor?" asked Rumble. "But how can you be a doctor and a teacher? Are you gonna be a teacher to other doctors? Teaching 'em how to do liver transplants and amputations and drain abscesses? Stuff like that?"
"Don't be a creepy weirdo, Rumble," snapped Silver Spoon. "She isn't studying to be a medical doctor. Having your doctorate just means that you're the most educated you can possibly be in your field. Which, for her, is teaching." She beamed at Cheerilee. "Right?"
"Something like that, Silver Spoon. Although that was an unnecessarily rude way to speak to your classmate." Cheerilee's face grew stern as she chastised the filly.
Silver Spoon, thus chastened, mumbled an apology to Rumble, who shrugged blithely. "I am a creepy weirdo. She's just callin' it like she sees it."
A fit of giggles came over the class. Cheerilee let it run its course before signaling for quiet again.
"I know this comes as a surprise to everypony," Cheerilee continued. "The truth is that I've wanted to do this for a while. But I kept putting it off, because I..." Her motherly smile returned. "Well, I'm quite happy here. I love my life in Ponyville; I love my friends, and I love my students. But I came to a point in my life where I realized that, if I didn't do this now, I probably never would."
She was perfectly happy and comfortable. In fact, she would be perfectly content to live and die as Ponyville's schoolteacher. But there would always be that little part of her that would nag and nag, that lingering regret at reaching to the sky and stopping just short if she didn't.
It was all said and done, anyway; she found a nice little apartment adjacent to the campus in Fillydelphia during a visit over the spring break; her house had sold with little fanfare; what little she owned that would fit in the apartment was already shipped to her new home, and what wouldn't was in storage. It was difficult, and she had to force herself not to stop and turn around at times, but everything was in motion now. She couldn't go back even if she truly wanted to.
Snips waved his hoof in the air. "When are you leaving?"
She'd been waiting for that question. It didn't make hearing it any easier. "On the first train to Fillydelphia tomorrow morning," she said hesitantly. "At seven sharp."
At that, the class erupted in cries of remorse and disbelief. The Cutie Mark Crusaders turned and huddled close to one another, sneaking glances back at their teacher. Silver Spoon morosely twisted a lock of hair around her hoof. Diamond Tiara continued to stare at nothing.
"I'm sorry for not telling you sooner." Cheerilee raised her voice this time, speaking over the class. "You deserved to know that you wouldn't be seeing me when you came back from vacation, and you deserved to hear it a long time ago. But I didn't want to spend our last few months together with that hanging over our heads."
I couldn't come to work every morning and look you all in the eye with that sense of finality between us.
"There's going to be a little get-together for me at Sugarcube Corner tonight. Anypony who wants to come out and say goodbye is more than welcome. Otherwise..."
The class fell silent and listened, rapt.
"I want you to know that my years as your teacher have been the best of my life, and I wouldn't trade them for anything. Thank you for making my life so—"
The bell cut her off, filling the room with its hideous ring. Cheerilee slumped over, shaking her head with a sardonic chuckle.
There's a lesson in here about procrastination.
"The party starts tonight at seven-thirty," she called as the students shuffled away from their desks, all traces of excitement and glee gone. "I hope to see some of you there!"
Silver Spoon said something to Diamond Tiara again, and again received no response. With a worried look at her friend, Silver Spoon left the schoolhouse along with the other foals, heading off into their first summer afternoon.
Diamond Tiara didn't move from her desk, and Cheerilee felt a mounting concern of her own. "You know, it's a beautiful day outside," she ventured, keeping her voice sweet. "I'm sure you don't want to spend any more of it than necessary cooped up in this old schoolhouse."
Diamond Tiara folder her forelegs tightly together on her desk. Her eyes found Cheerilee for the first time since the announcement.
"You're really just gonna go?"
Cheerilee had expected some of her students to take the news harder than others. She hadn't expected that Diamond Tiara, of all ponies, would be one of them. Throughout her time as Diamond Tiara's teacher, she reached out to her just as much as she would any other filly under her charge, but she seldom saw Diamond Tiara reaching back. She thought about her many memories of the filly: Diamond Tiara with her perfect grades, Diamond Tiara raising funds for the school, Diamond Tiara chairing the yearbook committee...
Diamond Tiara harassing Apple Bloom, Diamond Tiara pouting in detention, Diamond Tiara muckraking on the whole town...
But she hadn't seen that filly in her classroom for a long time, and she didn't see her now. Nor did she see the cheerful, gregarious Diamond Tiara who'd been showing up to her class since losing the school election to Pipsqueak. The wan, depressed filly she saw at the desk was very different from any iteration of Diamond Tiara she'd heretofore met.
Cheerilee sighed. "I'm afraid so."
Diamond Tiara rested her chin on her folded hooves. "But you're gonna keep being a teacher?"
"I am. Teaching is my passion, my calling. And, not to put too fine a point on it, my destiny" Cheerilee glanced at the flowers on her flank. "I won't ever stop teaching, or wanting to be a teacher. Think of my doctorate as..." She trotted down the aisle to Diamond Tiara's desk as she tried to put it into words. "As a way for me to be a better teacher. To be recognized by my fellow teachers. To learn from them, and help them learn from me. To help all teachers, everywhere, be better at what they do. Because fillies like you deserve it."
Cheerilee arrived at Diamond Tiara's desk, her shadow falling upon the filly's face. Diamond Tiara watched her impassively, sunk up to her chin in her forelegs.
"Is there something you'd like to talk about?" She put on her most encouraging smile and spoke as kindly as she could.
All for naught. "I'm fine," said Diamond Tiara, with a supercilious tone that Cheerilee hadn't heard from her in a very long time. She ripped her gaze away from Cheerilee, shoved away from her desk, and trotted out the door.
Cheerilee watched her leave, a perplexed look on her face. This behavior was new, and troubling, and something she neither expected nor was prepared for from her.
Perhaps she'll come around. Maybe I'll see her at the party tonight, and we can clear the air. She didn't want to part with any of her students on poor terms. But that might be unavoidable now. I should have told them sooner; I shouldn't have kept the truth from them.
Keeping the news of her departure quiet was something of a task in itself. Luckily, Cheerilee was fairly unassuming, and few took notice of her activities outside of the schoolhouse, of the wagons that came and went from her home, laden with possessions and furniture. She quietly found a buyer for her home without officially putting it on the market, to avoid attracting attention with real estate signage A few ponies knew – the Mayor, who needed to find a replacement, other ponies she was close to, and of course, Pinkie Pie had to know if she was to plan the farewell party. But all in all, Cheerilee wanted to keep her exit from Ponyville as quiet as possible, all to avoid drawing the attention of her students and forcing herself into confronting the reality that she was leaving them behind.
That meant hitting them with it all at once, though, with little time to prepare themselves emotionally. It hit her all at once, too. The emotions were overpowering; it took everything in her not to start crying in the empty schoolhouse.
Time enough for that on the train, or in Fillydelphia. I want to hold on to my happiness for as long as possible.
She wondered who was faring worse with this news – herself, or her students.
The steady rhythm of the electronic beat pounded in Cheerilee's ears as she finished signing the yearbook, writing her signature with a flourish and dotting her "i" with a doodle of a smiling flower. Cheerilee dropped the pencil from her mouth; the pink shimmer of an alicorn princess's magic caught it and tucked it back behind her ear, meticulously combing her mane over it to make it as unobtrusive as possible.
"All done, Featherweight," she said, beaming at the diminutive pegasus. "Thank you for the memories."
"Thank you, Miss Cheerilee!" Featherweight hopped up, fluttering his little wings to bring himself to eye level with Cheerilee, and wrapped his rail-thin forelegs around her neck. Cheerilee returned his embrace with a nuzzle. "You're the best teacher there ever was!"
"Maybe not the best. But top ten material? Definitely."
Featherweight pulled back and fluttered to the floor, and waved one last time before a passing conga line headed by Pinkie Pie swept him up in its undulating wake.
The party's turnout had an ebb and flow to it. Well-wishers came, lingered, and went; ponies she was closer to stuck around longer. A few had been there since nearly the beginning of the night. In particular, Twilight Sparkle was among the first to come calling and spent most of the night in Cheerilee's company while Spike tried his hand at Pinkie's party games. But there was never a point where Sugarcube Corner felt empty, or lifeless. For everypony who went out the door, another two came in, wanting a chance to bid farewell to their town's beloved schoolteacher, a fixture in the community for so long. It warmed her to know that she was so loved by so many.
What warmed her more were the students. She hoped that some would show up; she hadn't expected nearly as many as actually did. They came in groups and bunches, yearbooks clutched in their mouths, and begged their teacher's autograph. Cheerilee signed them all, and gladly, taking time out of her party to write a personalized farewell to each of them. There were hugs, and tears, and expressions of love and gratitude, and more than once, Cheerilee had to remind herself that it was too late to simply drop everything and remain their teacher forever.
But damn, her mouth was sore from all the writing.
Cheerilee kneaded her cheek. "You know," she remarked to the alicorn standing beside her, "not one of them asked me to sign their yearbooks this morning. Which isn't unusual, really. But now?" She worked her jaw from side-to-side. "Fourteen yearbooks in an hour. An hour! I haven't written that much in so short a time since college!"
Although I suppose I should get used to it again, or else invest in a typewriter.
Twilight Sparkle, who had taken it upon herself to organize the crowd of students and keep Cheerilee hydrated between signings, giggled. "You'd probably be less sore if you didn't take the time to write such detailed messages to them." A glass of punch floated beside her head, and she sipped a little of the purple mixture.
"Probably not," said Cheerilee. "But then, what's even the point? I'm saying goodbye to them, Twilight; I can't just write 'have a good summer' eighteen times."
"I suppose." Twilight sighed. "That kind of dedication is admirable, Cheerilee. It's gonna be hard finding somepony who can match it. Speaking of, how's the search for the new teacher coming along?"
Cheerilee shrugged. "I have no direct say in it. The Mayor showed me the shortlist of candidates, and I gave my input on all of them; she'll probably interview them before the month is out. Truth be told, they'd all make capable teachers, but none of them were really my first choice."
"Really?" Twilight drained her glass of punch. "Who was?"
"Oh, you know. You." Cheerilee winked.
Twilight's eyes flew open in surprise. Thankfully, downing her punch before asking the question precluded the possibility of a spit-take.
"M-me? Why me?!"
"Why not? You'd be a wonderful teacher. The foals like you; you're empathetic, and you're smart as a whip." She grinned. "And I've seen you lecture before – both academically and as a hobby. Take it from a pro; you're a natural."
Twilight blushed.
"That was a passing fancy, though," Cheerilee continued. "You have your duties as Princess, after all. I mean, what, am I gonna ask you to abdicate and live on a schoolteacher's salary for the rest of your life?" Cheerilee closed her eyes and laughed, but stopped when she realized Twilight wasn't laughing with her. She looked, and saw contemplation on the princess's face.
"You're... you're not seriously thinking of doing that now, are you?" Cheerilee asked.
"What?" Twilight blinked. "No, of course not. Just..." She tapped her hooves together. "Maybe… taking a little time off to get credentialed, is all..."
Cheerilee chuckled and pulled Twilight in for a hug. "You know, I'm really going to miss you, Twilight. It's been a joy getting to know you."
"You too, Cheerilee." Twilight returned the embrace. "You'll stay in touch, right?"
"Of course! And you had better visit." Cheerilee pulled away, holding Twilight at length with her hooves, and thumped her left wing gently. "Now that you've got these big ol' things to carry you back and forth, you don't have an excuse not to."
"Well, there's that," said Twilight with a conspiratorial grin. "And I can do it at the crown's expense."
"Why, Princess Twilight!" said Cheerilee with a scandalized gasp. "Such gross abuse of royal authority and taxpayer money!" She scowled condemningly, and held it for precisely three seconds before both the teacher and the princess collapsed into mutual laughter.
The bell at the door jingled, making Cheerilee's ears perk. She turned, and her smile widened at the sight of the latest arrival. "Diamond Tiara!" she called, waving at her erstwhile student. "You made it! And..." She took note of the mare standing over her, looking down her nose at everypony in the room.
"And you've brought your mother! How wonderful!"
Internally, she sighed. How wonderful.
"Yes, well," said Spoiled Rich, marching across the room toward Cheerilee with her daughter trudging along beside her. "We're holding a wine tasting in our private cellar tonight, but Diamond Tiara felt her presence was required here, for some reason, and insisted somepony escort her. Filthy demurred, and our butler Cummerbund is still on vacation in Las Pegasus with his brother, Wood-something-or-other." She scoffed. "And the rest of our household staff has their hooves full waiting on our guests. So, apparently, the task had to fall to me." She frowned at her daughter. "Surely you must realize how self-centered you are acting right now."
"Yes, mother," mumbled Diamond Tiara. She gave Cheerilee the briefest of glances before returning her eyes to the floor.
Spoiled nodded. "Naturally, I can't stay, as I am expected back posthaste. Diamond Tiara, you'll be alright making your way home by yourself, I trust?"
"Yes, mother," mumbled Diamond Tiara again. Her voice remained robotic as she gave the same canned answer to her mother.
"Splendid." Spoiled beckoned at Twilight Sparkle. "Now, Princess Twilight, be a dear and take Diamond Tiara. I'd like to say a few words to Ms. Cheerilee."
Twilight looked taken aback, but did as she was bid, drawing a wing around Diamond Tiara and leading her away toward the snack table. She leaned into Cheerilee's ear as she passed. "Just give a signal if you need me to rescue you."
"Such a helpful young mare," Spoiled remarked. "So down-to-earth and easy to speak to. One almost forgets that she was given her crown instead of being properly born into it." She clicked her tongue. "The peasant princess. What is this world coming to?"
Cheerilee felt a moment of pity for her successor. Perhaps I should leave a note of warning…
Spoiled turned back to Cheerilee. "Now, I am given to understand that you're moving to Fillydelphia, yes? To pursue an education?"
"Uh, y-yes." Cheerilee smiled. "A doctorate, actually."
"You know, I attended the University of Fillydelphia myself, back in my youth."
"Did you? What was your major?"
"Undeclared. Four years running."
"I... wasn't aware that you could graduate undeclared."
"There is much and more that you're not aware of; no doubt that's why you're going back to school." The corners of Spoiled's mouth lifted slightly.
Cheerilee maintained her polite facade with an effort.
"In any case, I wish you all the joy of it. I hope that whoever takes over your job may prove just as... adequate... as you." Spoiled sniffed and turned to the door. "Goodbye, Ms. Cheerilee."
Spoiled Rich left without sparing her daughter a word, or indeed, even a glance. Diamond Tiara didn't seem to notice; she kept her eyes on a cup of punch balanced on one of her hooves, sipping from a straw while Twilight spoke to her.
Cheerilee crossed to the snack table; Twilight saw her coming and backed away with a word of farewell to Diamond Tiara. The princess and the teacher exchanged a look of exasperation as they passed one another.
The notion of telling Twilight about Spoiled Rich's title for her crossed Cheerilee's mind briefly before being discarded.
"I'm glad you could make it!" Cheerilee said brightly to Diamond Tiara. "Did you bring your yearbook?"
"Mm-mm." Diamond Tiara sipped again.
"Oh. That's... I ask because your classmates all brought theirs. I'd have been happy to sign yours for you."
"That's okay."
"Do you want me to write something down for you anyway? You could always tape it to one of the pages of your book. I'm sure Pinkie Pie has something to write on somewhere around here."
"No, thank you." The last remnants of punch slurped through the straw, and Diamond Tiara discarded it in a wastebin to her left without looking.
Cheerilee bit her lip. "Diamond, is everything alright?"
"Fine."
"Are you sure?" Cheerilee knelt and reached out to the filly. Diamond Tiara started to pull away, but stopped, and let Cheerilee's hoof rest on her shoulder. "I can tell that something's bothering you. If there's something you need to talk about, or something you need to say to me, I'm here to listen. Okay? So please, don't hold anything back."
Diamond Tiara squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. She looked at Cheerilee. "Ms. Cheerilee... the thing is—"
The door jingled again, and Cheerilee looked up in time to see Applejack sauntering over, grinning. Beside her was Rarity, a more subdued smile on her face. Both wore saddlebags over their flanks.
"Cheerilee, you ol' so-and-so," said Applejack. "Thought you could slither on outta here without gettin' a proper Apple family goodbye?"
"In point of fact, Applejack, I believe that's what the party is for," Rarity pointed out.
"Aw, that's a town goodbye. Totally diff'rent from an Apple family goodbye. Apple family goodbyes got a lot more present-givin' involved!" Applejack went in for a hug, acknowledging Diamond Tiara with a quick "hiya, DT; good t'see ya."
Cheerilee watched the filly's face fall. She patted Applejack back twice before disengaging. "Thank you for coming," she said hastily, "and I'm very glad to see you. But Diamond Tiara and I were just—"
"Forget it. It's nothing." Diamond Tiara shot Cheerilee a haughty glare and quickly stole away.
Rarity watched the filly go, an eyebrow raised. "Is she quite alright?"
"I don't know." Cheerilee frowned. "She's taking this awfully hard, I think, and she hasn't been very forthcoming when I've asked."
I should have said something sooner.
It was then that she noticed that neither Applejack nor Rarity had brought their requisite plus-one. "Where are your sisters, by the way? I was hoping I'd see them tonight, but they haven't been in at all.
Neither has Scootaloo, come to think of it, even after Rainbow Dash came and went.
"Oh, uh..." Applejack exchanged a look with Rarity. "We're, um..."
"We're not supposed to tell you," Rarity supplied. "If they could be here, they would be, I'm sure, but they've their hooves full with some project or other."
Cheerilee was quite familiar with the Cutie Mark Crusaders' projects. One in particular had adorned her bedroom wall at home for some time, and would have made it into her apartment if only she had space enough for a vast, sparkly pink heart. It went away into storage, sadly, but Cheerilee took comfort from knowing that it would surely brighten up the place.
"But we wanted to stop by on our own accord, and bid farewell face-to-face," said Rarity. "After everything you've done for our sisters, it seems only fitting."
"She's got the right of it," said Applejack. "That, and it wouldn't be right to send y'all off without somethin' good t'remember us by. So..." Applejack reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a jug of cider, which Cheerilee accepted and cradled in her foreleg. A sketch of Granny Smith grinned at her on the label.
"That right there?" Applejack pointed at the bottle, smirking. "That's the good stuff, Cheerilee. Makes what Filthy and Spoiled Rich serve at their wine-tastin' shindigs look like expired grape juice."
"Applejack, I'm…" Cheerilee shook her head. "This must cost… I can't accept—"
"Never you mind that," said Applejack, holding up her hoof. "I could give you a hunnerd bottles o'that same cider; it wouldn't come close to payin' back what we owe you. For everythin' you've done for Apple Bloom, an' for bein' a friend to us all. You take that, and you take my gratitude, an' that'll be the end of it. Y'hear?"
Cheerilee, at a loss for words, could only tuck the bottle under her foreleg and nod her thanks to Applejack.
Rarity cleared her throat. "As for me, well, my first thought was to put together something for you to wear – an outfit, a dress, a kicky beret – but on such short notice, I simply didn't have the time to do you justice. So instead, I went in a very different direction altogether. I'm sure it's something you'll appreciate."
Rather than reach into the bag, as Applejack did, she simply undid the strap holding it in place and set it on the floor in front of Cheerilee. Cheerilee peered inside and looked up at Rarity with confusion. "Gemstones? Don't you kind of… need these?"
"They're not just any gemstones, Cheerilee," said Rarity with feigned indignation. "There's history behind these – shared history! Do you remember when we were fillies, and I made those costumes for your performance?"
"I remember being the sparkliest sunflower that ever swayed on a stage," said Cheerilee with a nostalgic chuckle. "That was how you got your cutie mark, right? You found those gemstones and used them to decorate our––" Her eyes widened as she realized precisely what was in the bag.
Rarity smiled knowingly. "The very last of the vintage. As a reminder of days gone by."
Blinking back tears, and once more at a loss for words, Cheerilee set the cider bottle beside the bag of gemstones and pulled both mares into an embrace.
"I think she liked mine more," Rarity whispered teasingly to Applejack.
Cheerilee glanced at Applejack's face in time to see her roll her eyes, and found herself laughing her tears away.
The summer night's air was crisp and warm, but a welcome contrast to the stifling heat of the party inside. Cheerilee sighed with relief as she emerged, and she sat on the front steps to Sugarcube Corner, gazing up at the night sky.
So many stars.
Owing, of course, to the relative lack of light pollution in Ponyville. There wouldn't be many nights like that in Fillydelphia. Fillydelphia was bright, and brilliant, a city that never slept. Instead of shining in the sky, the stars shone in the street.
"I'm going to miss that sky," Cheerilee softly mused.
"So don't go," came a muffled voice from beside the stairs.
Diamond Tiara sat beneath one of Sugarcube Corner's front windows, her back against a chunk of gingerbread facade. Her cheeks were stained with dried tears, and her eyes were red from crying.
"Diamond? What are you doing out here by yourself?" Cheerilee hopped off of the stairs and sat beside the filly.
Diamond Tiara said nothing.
"Do you mind if I sit with you a while?"
Again, no spoken reply, but she gave the barest shake of her head.
Cheerilee settled beside Diamond Tiara, the muted beat of the music inside still pulsing in her ears. "I'm sorry we were interrupted before," she said. "I didn't mean to ignore you. Do you want to finish saying what you wanted to say?"
Diamond Tiara looked away, shutting her eyes. She shook her head.
"Okay. We don't need to talk; we can just sit here, if you'd like. Maybe the company will make you feel better."
"Nothing's gonna make me feel better."
"Well, that can't be true." Cheerilee smiled. "You have a lot of love in your life. A lot of friends, good friends, who I know want to see you happy. And, of course, it's summer vacation. You must have plans."
"The Neighchelles." Diamond Tiara's voice was utterly unenthusiastic. "My parents own a villa by the beach. We're leaving next week and staying for a month."
"Oh, the Neighchelles!" Cheerilee said, pressing her hooves together. "I've never been, but I hear they're lovely this time of year. Well, there you go! You'll come home smiling from that, I'm sure."
"No. I won't." Diamond Tiara wiped her eyes and looked up at Cheerilee. "Because you'll still be gone."
Cheerilee's smile failed to withstand the remark, and fell to pieces. "Diamond, sweetheart…"
The door to Sugarcube Corner burst open so loudly and suddenly that Cheerilee and Diamond Tiara both jumped. Pinkie Pie emerged, balancing on her back a cake frosted to look like a smiling flower. "Oh doctor~!" she sang. "Time for you to make the first incision! Ya geddit?!"
Cheerilee made eye contact with Pinkie and drew her hoof across her own neck rapidly, shaking her head.
Pinkie blinked, glanced at Diamond Tiara, blinked again. She grinned sheepishly and backed inside, cake and all.
Cheerilee turned back to the filly. "Diamond, I know how difficult farewells can be. I know I haven't made it very easy on you, either." She dug her hoof into the dirt nervously.
I should have told you all so much sooner.
"But you know that it isn't going to be goodbye forever, right? I'll come back and visit as often as I can... and you and I can always write to each other in the meanwhile."
"But you still won't be here." Diamond Tiara rose to her hooves, glared furiously at Cheerilee through gleaming eyes. "I don't want you to visit; I don't want you to write. I want you to stay here. Don't you get it?!" Tears ran down her face freely. "Don't you know that we need you here? Don't you know that I need you?!"
"Diamond..." Cheerilee reached a trembling hoof toward her.
The filly batted it away spitefully. "You know what? Forget it. Just forget it and leave me alone. I'm not your problem anymore." Diamond Tiara galloped into the night, down the road that would take her home.
Cheerilee watched her go, ears wilting against her head.
Twilight Sparkle appeared at her side. She watched Diamond Tiara pass gradually out of sight. "I'll make sure she gets home safe," she said, patting Cheerilee on the shoulder. "You go back inside. This is your night, remember. Try to enjoy it?" With a sad smile, she spread her wings and ascended, leaving Cheerilee alone, all traces of festivity gone.
Alone, outside Sugarcube Corner, Cheerilee looked searchingly at the sky.
She didn't sleep that night. Instead, she stayed up reading her students' last essays, smiling fondly at their wishes for the summer. She came to Diamond Tiara's and set it aside, the pain too near for her to read it.
On the train. I'll read it on the train.
When morning came, Cheerilee was out the door an hour early, and spent her final moments in Ponyville wandering through the morning mist, privately bidding farewell to the familiar sights and locales of home. A pair of saddlebags, holding books and mementoes, gemstones and cider, and her students' last essays, were slung over her back. Everything else, furniture and formal wear, all and sundry, were already shipped away to Fillydelphia, and awaited her at her new home.
When the clock struck a quarter to seven, when she knew she could put it off no longer, Cheerilee made her way to the station. What few ponies were taking the early train alongside her waited inside, hiding behind books and magazines and newspapers, and keeping the morning cold at bay with steaming cups of coffee or cocoa. Cheerilee decided to wait alone on the platform, to fill her lungs with fresh Ponyville air for as long as she could.
She wasn't expecting to have company. It was a pleasant surprise when she saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders on the platform, huddled beneath their Crusader capes and leaning their bodies against one another, sound asleep. Beside Scootaloo was a rolled-up banner, and sitting between the three of them was a little rectangular box, done up with a ribbon in a neatly tied bow. Warmth blossomed in Cheerilee's chest as she realized that the box and ribbon matched her coat and mane. She walked up to them and watched them sleep, wondering what the last few years would have been like without the constant presence of the Cutie Mark Crusaders in the classroom.
Very dull indeed, no doubt. She would spend the rest of her life teaching, but she knew she would never meet another trio like them.
By and by, Scootaloo yawned, stretched out her limbs, and smacked her lips. Her eyelids fluttered open halfway, but when she caught sight of Cheerilee, they shot open. She shook both her friends awake. "Girls! She's here; wake up! She's here!"
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stirred, saw their teacher, and shot to attention. The three lined up shoulder-to-shoulder like cadets out for muster.
Cheerilee smirked at the show of discipline. "How long have you three been waiting here?"
"Since five in the mornin'," Apple Bloom said casually.
"But it wasn't a big deal; we were up all night anyway," Sweetie Belle added.
"I can smell colors!" Scootaloo chirped.
Cheerilee bowed her head and hid her mouth with a hoof to hide her snickering.
"We're real sorry we missed your party," said Apple Bloom. The others nodded their agreement. "We decided that a special teacher like you deserved a special send-off, so we spent all night puttin' together some tokens of our appreciation!" She elbowed Sweetie Belle. "That's your cue, dictionary girl!"
"Oh, right." Sweetie Belle's horn shimmered; the banner beside Scootaloo lifted into the air and unfurled over the three fillies' heads. On either end of the banner, a trio of flowers smiled down at Cheerilee. Running between them was a message in big capital letters, coated with so much pink glitter that she had to squint in order to read it properly.
"FAREWELL TO THEE, MISS CHEERILEE"
Cheerilee, once more touched beyond the telling of it, shook her head. "Girls, this is wonderful, but you didn't have to go to all this trouble for me. Just seeing you and saying goodbye would have been enough."
"We didn't wanna do jus' enough, though," said Apple Bloom. "You'd never settle for jus' enough, with us or anypony else. That's what makes you best teacher ever!"
"I came up with the words on the banner," said Sweetie Belle smugly. "And I painted the flowers. It was my idea to make them look like your cutie mark."
"And I did the lettering!" Scootaloo added, pressing a hoof to her chest. "Can you tell?"
"It certainly matches your aesthetic, Scootaloo," she said with a smile.
Judging by the blindingly thick coat of glitter...
"We're glad you like it," said Apple Bloom. "But don't thank us jus' yet, 'cuz that ain't all we got for ya." At once, the fillies stepped backward, the banner floating with them, leaving the box where it sat. They looked down at it together and grinned.
Cheerilee stepped forward and took the ribbon in her mouth. She pulled, undoing the delicately tied knot, and lifted the box's lid. Her breath hitched when she glimpsed what was inside: the bolt of maroon fabric, and the yellow filly silhouette inside the crudely stitched blue chevron.
Sweetie Belle cleared her throat in a manner that reminded Cheerilee painfully of Rarity. "We, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, in recognition of your many contributions to our education—"
"And to helpin' us find our special talents!" Apple Bloom chimed in.
"Yeah, that too." Sweetie Belle gave Apple Bloom a miffed look before continuing. "Do hereby confer upon you, Cheerilee, the title of Honorary Crusader, now and for all time. And as a symbol of your new status..."
Her magic pulled the cape from the box and draped it across Cheerilee's body, cinching its ends around her neck. The fabric was smooth and soft, velvety, and warded away the chill of the morning.
"We bequeath unto you this cape." Sweetie Belle's voice broke, and she wiped at her eyes. "May you wear it forever with pride."
"And may you never forget us," Scootaloo added quietly.
Cheerilee knelt and opened her forelegs wide. The fillies rushed into her embrace, and squeezed against their former teacher.
"I couldn't forget you three if I wanted to. Being your teacher and watching you grow up has been a privilege. No – a blessing." Cheerilee pulled them closer, tighter. "And I am so, so happy that you found one another."
They lingered in the embrace, even as the train that would take Cheerilee away churned up to the station and the conductor opened the passenger car's door. The passengers inside the station filed out, bearing their coffee and their newspapers, and boarded, one after another.
"I'm afraid that's my cue, girls." Cheerilee squeezed her students one last time before releasing them. "Thank you for everything." She pulled away, gave each one a last, lingering smile, and turned to board the train.
"Miss Cheerilee!" Scootaloo's voice chimed frantically. "Wait!"
Cheerilee stopped, halfway inside the car, and turned. Her heart skipped.
Diamond Tiara stood in the station's doorway, panting, an envelope in her mouth. She trotted toward Cheerilee, who disembarked and closed the rest of the distance between them, meeting halfway. Diamond Tiara set the envelope on the floor in front of her Cheerilee, pulled away when the older mare reached out toward her, and passed back inside the station without a word.
"Gosh." Apple Bloom rubbed the back of her neck. "She's really takin' this hard, ain't she?"
"She is." Cheerilee stooped to pick up the envelope and dropped it into her saddlebag. "She's going to need her friends more than ever, I'm afraid. I think she'll want her space, too, and you should respect that. But if she reaches out to you, be there for her. Will you do that?"
The Cutie Mark Crusaders nodded, resolutely, as one.
The conductor stepped out of the train car, glanced at his watch, then at Cheerilee. He coughed, jerked his head toward the car's interior, and headed back inside.
"Now, I'm afraid that really is my cue," said Cheerilee with a sad smile. She pulled her students together for one last quick hug, and boarded the train. The seat nearest the exit was unoccupied, and she sat facing the platform through the window. The lovable bundle of energy, wit, and headache-inducing scheming that called itself the Cutie Mark Crusaders stared back at her, waving and calling out to her.
Cheerilee pressed a hoof against the window and smiled back at them.
The train whistled and churned forward; the Crusaders ran the length of the platform after it, their last farewells inaudible through the glass.
Then they were gone, along with the rest of Ponyville.
Cheerilee set her saddlebags down beside her and pulled the cape closer, wondering how long she could justify keeping it on before it became socially unacceptable to do so. She reached her head into her saddlebag and sought the envelope Diamond Tiara had given her; she found and withdrew it, tore it open with her teeth, and shook out a piece of paper into her hooves – a letter, folded three times, in Diamond Tiara's impeccable (and instantly recognizable) penmanship. It was written in the simplistic, uncertain voice of a young writer, but its heartfelt contents brought tears back to Cheerilee's eyes as she read.
Dear Miss Cheerilee,
I'm sorry for being mean to you. I was sad, and I couldn't think of the right words, and everything came out all wrong. So instead I'm writing them down, and I hope I can get it right this time.
You've seen how my parents are. My daddy loves me, but he can't show it without spending money. My mom loves me, but she loves her image too, and I don't know which one she loves more. Neither of them have ever tried to get to know the pony I really am inside. Neither of them has ever tried to help me be the pony that I want to be.
I know I haven't always been a good student. I get good grades, but I didn't have many real friends for a really long time because I allenated alienated almost everypony my age. I still don't think that they all really like me. I think they're afraid of me, and I think that I deserve it.
But you're different. You've always been patient with me, even when I was rude and bratty and mean to everypony. You've believed in me and been there for me and tried to make me a better pony. I couldn't always show it, but I always appreciated it. Even when it seemed like I didn't.
The next sentence was hastily scribbled out, just barely legible beneath layers of scratches.
I wish I had a mom more like you.
You were so good to me, and I just wanted to make you proud. I wanted you to see me grow up into the mare you believed I could be. And it hurts knowing that you never will now. That's why I yelled at you. Again, I'm really sorry.
I hope you have fun in Fillydelphia. I hope you can become a doctor, and I hope that I can see you again someday. I promise I will never forget you. Please don't ever forget me.
-Diamond Tiara
Cheerilee folded the letter back and clutched it to her chest. She finally let the tears come freely, ignoring the stares from the other passengers as she wept for her student.
The train rolled steadily, on and on, toward Fillydelphia, toward the future.
"Diamond Tiara," sniffed Spoiled Rich, "I have had quite enough of your moping. You haven't left the house in a week. The neighbors have started to talk."
"Sorry, mother," mumbled Diamond Tiara. She lay on her bed, belly flat against the mattress, her forelegs hugging her pillow.
"I certainly hope you won't take this attitude with you on vacation," Spoiled continued. "Bad enough that the Neighchelles will be crawling with diamond dogs at this time of year. I don't want to deal with a sulking daughter on top of all the other unpleasantness."
"Yes, mother."
There was a knock at the door; Diamond Tiara heard hoofsteps, then Cummerbund's voice. "Letter for Madame Diamond."
Confused, Diamond Tiara stirred and rolled over to see Cummerbund standing in the doorway, a letter resting on an upturned hoof like a silver platter.
Spoiled looked skeptically at her daughter. "Who would be sending you a letter?"
Diamond Tiara, having no answer, just shook her head.
Spoiled harrumphed. "Never mind, then. I suggest you finish packing and then get ready for tonight. Jet Set and Upper Crust are meeting us at Chez Prance tonight. Dress up and be on your best behavior. No more of this moribundity. Are we clear?"
"Yes, mother." Diamond Tiara hopped off her bed and walked to Cummerbund. He lowered his hoof to her face and she took the envelope in her mouth.
With a last, haughty look, Spoiled left the room, and Cummerbund quietly closed the door behind them.
Diamond Tiara took the envelope to her desk and carefully opened it with her hooves. Lifting the flap, she drew out the contents – and let out a small gasp of surprise.
It was a glossy photograph of a smiling, pink-maned mare in a maroon-colored cape, decorated with a golden filly against a blue backdrop. She leaned against a brick sign with silver letters. "University of Fillydelphia," they read.
Trembling, Diamond Tiara flipped the photograph over, and saw a message in Cheerilee's mouthwriting.
"Bonitatem et disciplinam et scientiam doce me"
("Teach me goodness and discipline and knowledge" – The motto of the University of Fillydelphia!)
Forever yours, forever proud,
"Miss" Cheerilee
P.S. - Have fun on your trip, and please write back to me when you get home. I can't wait to read all about it!
Diamond Tiara stared at the message for a long, long time, blinking back tears. And, gradually, to her surprise, a little giggle built in her chest. She laughed, and shook her head, and pushed away from the desk, and laughed some more.
Then she reached under her bed, pulled out a suitcase, and opened it up.
"Alright, Diamond Tiara" she said to herself. "You heard the lady."