It had taken almost twenty minutes to get Cheerilee anything remotely resembling functional again. After a half dozen assurances that no, this was not a dream, Cheerilee respectfully requested Professor Clear send a message back to the Princess thanking her for the opportunity and confirming Cheerilee would be delighted to see her on Monday.

Philomena had fluttered around Cheerilee for a bit before vanishing with the unique brand of phoenix magic Sunset still didn’t fully understand. She’d never seen another phoenix teleport, but they were rare enough that she’d only seen one other. Celestia also liked keeping details on phoenixes a bit mysterious. Probably to add to Philomena’s mystique, something of which Sunset was sure Celestia’s pet wholeheartedly approved.

Meanwhile, Cheerilee had simply been mesmerized by the mythical bird.

Finally, as the sun began to slip toward the horizon, Sunset realized if she didn’t get going soon, she’d be late for her evening study with the Princess. Professor Clear had also mentioned there were a few things for her to do before heading home for the weekend. Still, Sunset had offered to have tea—in a proper teahouse—with Cheerilee tomorrow morning.

Cheerilee had readily agreed, while insisting on paying tomorrow in addition to walking Sunset to Canterlot Castle tonight.

As they headed for the door, Professor Clear spoke up. “Miss Shimmer, a moment of your time, please? Cheerilee, I promise I won’t keep your friend for long.”

Cheerilee still had a silly grin on her face and just nodded happily. It looked like she was still trying to process the revelations Professor Clear had delivered.

The moment Cheerilee had closed the door, Crystal Clear was on her hooves and coming around the desk. The professor stopped in front of Sunset with a strange expression she couldn’t quite identify. Sunset took a step back, her ears going flat against her head.

After studying Sunset for what felt like hours, Professor Clear reached out a hoof. Sunset gingerly took the outstretched hoof, and the professor shook it passionately.

“Thank you, Sunset,” Crystal Clear said, her voice earnest, almost as if she were fighting back tears. “I had no idea Cheerilee was having such doubts. Maybe I’m getting rusty in my old age to have missed it. You really are a different pony than the one I accepted all those years ago.”

“It was nothing.” Sunset swallowed. “I just… I know what’s it’s like to doubt yourself. I recently realized almost everything I had been doing was for the wrong reasons. When I saw Cheerilee had the same doubts… but there was no basis for them, well, I knew me just telling her that wouldn’t do much good.”

“You were right.” Crystal Clear nodded. “Everypony has times when we need a third party to say something important into our lives. A messenger of truth, if you will. Cheerilee has driven herself very hard to get to this point, but I’m worried about her. I’m worried without support, she’ll burn out. There’s only so much we can do for her.”

Sunset frowned. “If you’re asking what I think you’re asking… you have to know I’m probably the worst choice you can make…”

“You contacted the most powerful being in Equestria to help a pony in need without any thought to what you would gain from it, Sunset.” Crystal Clear beamed at her. “That’s called generosity. And that’s called kindness. Those are traits you once lacked. I think you’re starting to find them. I think you’re finally on the right road.”

“Maybe.” Sunset dug at the carpet a little, unable to meet the professor’s eyes. “But if that’s the case, I’m only at the start of that road.”

“It is a long road,” Crystal Clear said, her warm smile never fading. “But it is a great deal easier if you do not walk it alone.”

Sunset nodded and chewed her bottom lip a bit. “Thank you, Professor.”

“You are quite welcome, Sunset.”

With that, Sunset left and met Cheerilee in the hall outside the professor’s office. To her surprise, Cheerilee had her book out again. She closed it and slipped it into a saddlebag, trying surreptitiously to wipe the tears from her eyes while doing so.

This time, Sunset was pretty sure they were tears of joy, if Cheerilee’s smile was any indication.

Sunset grinned. “I’m sorry, but I still can’t see how you can find Grading on a Bell Curve to be that emotional.”

Cheerilee laughed, and they headed down the stairs. It wasn’t until they had finally left the school grounds and entered into the twilight of Canterlot itself that she spoke again.

“Why?”

“You looked like you needed a friend,” Sunset admitted. “And because… I’m starting to wonder if all the stuff I’ve gone through, the mistakes I made… well, maybe the reason I went through all that was so I could help other ponies.”

Cheerilee blinked at her a few times as they passed under a lamppost. “That’s a much more mature attitude than I expected from you.”

“I don’t know.” Sunset shrugged. “I’m not any good at this friendship thing. Tartarus, I’m barely qualified to even talk to other ponies. But I need to try. I have a feeling I’ll screw up a lot while doing it.”

“Well, you didn’t screw up today,” Cheerilee said. “I don’t know if I’ll take Professor Clear up on her offer or not. I have this little dream about a classic red schoolhouse on a grassy hill somewhere. Maybe back home in Ponyville.”

“Whatever you decide, I’m sure you’ll be great at it.”

Cheerilee smiled. “You know, for the first time, I think I can actually believe it when somepony says that.”

“I’m glad. It sucks to have that little voice in your head.” Sunset rubbed the back of her head.

Now if I could only get rid of my little voice...

“So there’s a great new coffee and teahouse on Galloping Gateway called The First Cup,” Sunset said. “I think you’ll—”

“Um… Sunset?”

“What?”

Sunset turned to look at Cheerilee, which was precisely the wrong thing to do. Because when she had rubbed the back of her head, it had once again loosened the architecture holding the massive construction supporting her mane. So, of course, that single turn was enough to get it to wrap under her hooves.

She went down in a heap and with a groan.

Cheerilee’s laughter exploded up and down the street.

“I swear, I’m going to throttle Moon Dancer,” Sunset muttered as Cheerilee knelt to help her get untangled. “I’ll bet she did this on purpose.”

“Who’s Moon Dancer?” Cheerilee asked as she did some quick work with her hooves and reinforced the construct on the back of Sunset’s head.

“Oh, just one of the few friends I’ve managed to make,” Sunset said as she slowly began to move forward. At this point, she was convinced her mane was out to get her.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, you’ve just made one more.”

Sunset smiled—making sure not to do anything to loosen the pins in her mane—and turned to Cheerilee.

“Thank you. That actually means a lot.”

“After all,” Cheerilee said with a twinkle in her eye. “Anypony who could do that to your mane and get away with it either has to be a very close friend or a very close enemy.”

“Oh, yeah,” Sunset said, rolling her eyes. “Moon Dancer’s going to love you.”

Author's Notes:

Thank you for taking the time to read "Grading on a Bell Curve." I do hope you've enjoyed the beginning of Sunset's friendship with everypony's favorite school teacher, Cheerilee.

I've written up a little follow-up/retrospective piece you can find on my FiMFiction Blog here, if you're curious about the development of this story. In addition, you'll find more Star Trek: The Next Generation references than you can shake a stick at!*

At this point, I'm well past a dozen different short story synopses for this particular timeline, which I may actually have a name for soon! I suspect in the end, you'll have a full novel's worth of stories about Sunset and her friends before the penultimate novel of the series is released.

And yes, I do enjoy planting story hooks pretty much everywhere. Why do you ask?

See you in the blog or for the next story "How Not to Use Your Royal Prerogative!"

*Claim may not be valid depending on size and quality of stick at hoof in your local area.

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Wavelengths Timeline Master Guide: Light Version | Dark Version
Stories set in the Wavelengths Timeline in chronological order:

Origins Arc
The Alchemy of Chemistry
Bards of the Badlands
Grading on a Bell Curve
Habits of the Equestrian Phoenix
How Not To Use Your Royal Prerogative

Applications Arc
The Application of Unified Harmony Magics
Princess Celestia: A Brief History
The Cloudsdale Report

Dreamers Arc
Tactics of Snowbound Unicorns
A Study in Chaos Theory

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If you come across any errors, please let me know by PM!