Cheerilee, preparing students for the future

Have an early preview of part of the first chapter of Quantum Leap Forward, my new Cheerilee fic where she gets brought into the future from right after Twilight taking over from Celestia and Luna to the point of time shown in the series finale. Preview happens before the hijinks ensue.

Having completed her checklist, she consulted the clock. There was still a good hour before the students should start arriving to school for the day. She was an early riser, and liked to get ready for the day we'll before the students arrived. 

Honestly, though, there wasn't much to do today. The younger students had today off, so she only had to deal with her soon-to-be graduating class. This day came every year, and it always left her a little wistful. Today, her graduating class shared what they wanted to do when they left her. Some would move on to further education, others would go straight into apprenticeships or jobs, and there were always some who were still undecided what route they wanted to take. 

This year's class was one of the most notable that would be moving on. Eight of her foals were moving on to be young mares and stallions, the largest single class she'd had since she started teaching at this single-room schoolhouse. Among those graduating were also the students who had made the last few years most interesting, the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Somehow, she felt disappointed that next year she would not be subject to the mischief and chaos they sometimes brought into her class.

Glancing down at the cragadile repellent, she giggled to herself. Some of the mischief she wouldn't miss.

Sitting down at her desk, she pulled over the papers the graduating students had turned in yesterday. These were their early reports on what they wanted to do with themselves right after leaving her. She'd deliberately refused to look at a single one of those papers yesterday, fearful she would get melancholy for the remainder of the day after thinking about how they'd all be gone soon, but it couldn't be put off any longer.

After a brief delay, to pour herself a mug of ginger tea from her thermos, she picked up the first paper and began reading it.

Dear Miss Cheerilee,

I've decided that when I graduate I want to go and work for Miss Bon Bon at her candy shop. I'm really good at making my peppermint sticks, but Miss Bon Bon can teach me how to make lots of other candies! I want to learn from her so when I grow up I can have a candy shop of my very own, and sell candies to all the ponies and other creatures in Ponyville! Can you help introduce me to Miss Bon Bon and help me get a job with her? I'd like that very much.

Twist

She smiled after reading the paper. This was something along the lines of what she'd expected from Twist, and given Twist's cutie-mark and talents it seemed like a career path that she would be very successful at. Helping set up an interview with Bon Bon wasn't going to be a problem. Various ponies around Ponyville always casually inquired about whether any of her students seemed ideal to come work with them, and Bon Bon was among them. Twist's name had long ago come up in those conversations, and Bon Bon had already strongly hinted that she was eager for some additional help at her shop, especially since she wanted the opportunity to spend time with her new wife-- who did help at the shop, but was not really talented at candy-making. Lyra was actually a disaster in the kitchen by what Bon Bon had frazzledly described, and she kept her wife to the cash register when her wife insisted on 'helping'.

Satisfied that she would have no trouble helping Twist, she moved onto the next paper. This one was from Silver Spoon.

Dear Miss Cheerilee,

I have thought long and hard about what I want to do after graduating, I really have, but I just don't know! I don't know what is with all this pressure to have a plan for what to do anyway. I know Diamond is planning on going to a business school all the way off in Manehatten, and leaving me here. I don't know if I should ask my parents to send me there too, or if I should get a job apprenticed with my parents' silver company, or if I should do something else. It's just all changing so fast, and I don't want it too. Does that mean I'm going to be a failure? It's not fair. This is too much! I'm sorry, but I don't know what to do. 

Silver Spoon

She frowned and shook her head. There was always at least one student who felt this way when graduation was looming. It was a little surprising to be hearing this from Silver Spoon, who was normally a very calm filly, but it made a certain amount of sense. Reading these types of papers every year always stung a little, as it made her feel like she had failed the student in some way. She had to remind herself and those students every year that not everypony was the same, and that some sometimes needed a little more time to figure things out. The business school in Manehatten seemed like the ideal choice for the filly, for multiple reasons, but if Silver Spoon really didn't feel drawn to that it was best to find out why. It was clear she would need a little more personal attention in the final days of school, and possibly a parent-teacher conference to discuss the filly's worries and concerns.

She set that paper aside in a separate spot than Twist's, noting this new stack as students she needed to give extra attention to. That being done, she grabbed the next paper in line, which happened to be Diamond Tiara's.

Miss Cheerilee,

My dad has always said that he wants to pass his business on to me when I'm old enough. Barnyard Bargains has gotten much bigger in the last few years, with new branches opening in places like Manehatten, Trottingham, and there's suppose to be a new branch opening soon in Appleloosa. It's a big responsibility, taking that over, and I want to make sure I do a good job.

I'm really good at getting ponies to do what I want, but that doesn't mean I know the right thing to make them do. I thought it would be a good idea to go to the business school in Manehatten, so I could learn all about the right things to do with a big business. I told my parents, and they both seemed very proud of me; even my mother, and she never seems proud of me. But when I told Silver Spoon she acted all upset about it. 

I think it is the right thing for me to do, but I don't want Silver mad at me. I don't even know why she got mad, but it hurts. Now I don't know what I'm supposed to do, because I don't want to lose my best friend. 

I need advice.

Yours humbly,
Diamond Tiara

Her eyebrows rose as she re-read the paper over again. Maybe she needed to get in touch with Starlight Glimmer about these two fillies, because this seemed like a friendship problem. As a teacher she did what she could to help with these problems where she could, but with the futures of her students in the balance she wanted to make sure she was giving them the best help she could give. The fact that there was a literal School of Friendship available meant that she had extra help she could call on. Surely Starlight Glimmer, as the principal of that school, would be able to offer some additional aid. 

She placed Diamond Tiara's paper on top of Silver Spoon's and continued onto the next paper.

Hi Miss Cheerilee!

We decided to write out paper together, because we all have the same goals. The Cutie Mark Crusaders are a team, and we are planning on staying a team! 

This part is me, Applebloom. I'm going to keep learning about potions from Zecora as I have time. I really want to get good at them. Both Zecora and Twilight said I have a natural talent for them, but I need a lot more practice and understanding to really be a potion master.

Hi again, this part is Sweetie Belle. I really want to get better at singing and learning about theater and stuff like that. Rarity said she could hire me personal tutors for those things. 

And this part is Scootaloo. I'm going to keep practicing tricks with my scooter, and I thought I'd learn more about all kinds of other sports and things.

This part is all of us, but it is Sweetie Belle writing, because I have nicer writing. We are always going to be helping ponies with their cutie marks, that's not going to change. We thought it would be a good idea for us all to become teachers at the School of Friendship. We talked to Starlight about it, and she agreed we could be tutors, but she wants us to get more experience and learn more stuff before she'll give us actual teaching jobs. 

So, we all talked about it, and we thought it would be a great idea if we apprenticed under YOU! You're the best teacher we ever had, so you can teach us how to be good teachers too. 

Cutie Mark Crusaders Apprentice Teachers Yay!

Tea spewed out of her mouth onto the paper, and she hastily wiped it off with the side of her leg. They weren't serious, were they? Yes, she was going to miss them not being in her class anymore, but was she prepared to deal with them for the four years (or more) that an apprenticeship entailed? Taking on a single apprentice would be doable, one Crusader apprentice probably so, but three at once, and those apprentices being the Cutie Mark Crusaders? A sudden desire to drink something stronger than ginger tea grew within her at the thought.