The school was quieter than usual. There had been no announcement made. Newspapers hadn’t picked up the story yet. Everypony saw the empty seat in the classroom, though. The rumors started first, but by the afternoon the truth had taken over.
Note had apparently been the victim of a terrible accident in the park. The stone arch had fallen on him. It was unknown what he was doing there at such a late hour.
Cheerilee kept her mouth shut. Not only was she not supposed to know anything about the incident, but if she joined the discussion she might fall into an even deeper pit of guilt than she was already in.
She should have gone to Note’s parents instead of agreeing to meet him. She should have never showed up at the park. She should have done more to protect her student. It was very easy to accept the whole blame by herself.
Even Princess Luna was not much help in convincing Cheerilee that there was nothing she could have done.
“Suppose you didn’t show up and Crosscut killed Note for failing to get you to meet him?” said the Princess. “Suppose you convinced Note’s parents that he had a problem and Crosscut killed the entire family?”
“Pleasant thoughts,” muttered Cheerilee.
“You can’t let his death hold you back,” advised Luna. “What would Note want you to do?”
“He’d want me to go after Crosscut,” answered the schoolteacher. She sighed. “I suppose that would bring me some closure, too.”
“I’m sensing a ‘but’,” said Luna.
Cheerilee didn’t meet the Princess’ look. “I don’t think I can do this. Not only is Crosscut a stallion, he’s a unicorn. On top of that, I did some checking of old public business records. He's hidden his trail, but I think he might be upwards of two hundred and fifty years old. It feels like pure luck that he decided to leave after the arch came down instead of fighting.”
Luna was silent for a moment. Finally, she said, “I trust your judgement, Cheerilee. If you don’t think it’s possible, we’ll have to come up with another way of handling him. I’ll contact Shining Armor and see if he can get a team put together.”
Cheerilee had worked with the Royal Guard before. While they were more than competent, they didn’t have anything like her capabilities. In battle with an experienced unicorn vampire, some of them would probably die.
“You’ve done a good job, Cheerilee,” said Luna. “Without you, we wouldn’t have discovered the culprit behind the murders.”
“Thank you, Princess,” replied the schoolteacher, listlessly.
Luna, realizing her attempt at reassurance had failed, tried a different approach. “Now that you’re finished, would you like a different assignment? It’s not essential that you stay in Fillydelphia.”
“I’ll think about it,” said Cheerilee. “I need a few days to take stock of things.”
“Take as much time as you need,” replied Luna. She said goodbye.
Cheerilee put her head down. She wanted to cry. It had been so long since she’d actually bawled over something, that she wasn’t sure if she remembered how.
Having a good cry was supposed to help with emotions, though. Could she somehow force it? Cheerilee tried. As her eyes moistened, it seemed like it was working. Then she realized that it was blood coming out of her tear ducts. After that, she really wanted to cry.
▼▼
There was talk of a memorial ceremony at school. Note’s parents were understandably devastated, and were holding the funeral as quickly as possible, probably to speed the grief process. Cheerilee felt terrible for them, although her perspective of his death was decidedly different.
Services for Note would be the next day. Cheerilee had already made plans to attend. Her presence would be relatively meaningless to most, but she felt compelled to go.
The students were fairly docile after the death of a classmate, and Cheerilee was able to remain almost detached from her teaching that day. She knew spending time alone with her current thoughts wasn’t good for her mental health, but could find no way to pull herself out of it. Her students were not supposed to be involved with her other job in any way. Alone at home that evening, Cheerilee looked at the holes she’d punched in the walls looking for mice. Now that the killer was identified, she could take time to go hunting properly. Maybe Princess Luna would put her on dangerous animal control duty, something she could actually handle.
Cheerilee snorted, angry with herself. She hadn’t been careful enough, and Crosscut found out who she was, using one of her students against her. She hadn’t been strong or fast enough to fight him or save Note.
The mare stormed out the door as the sun set. It might take all night, but she was hungry and something was going to die.
▼▼
At school, Cheerilee noticed that the young mare named Golden Ring hadn’t come to class. The teacher hadn’t been provided with any notice of absence. Perhaps the student’s parents had forgotten to contact the school.
Cheerilee didn't think that Golden was romantically involved with Note, as she never seemed interested when he tried to talk to her. Maybe she'd been wrong and the female student had taken a day off in the wake of Note's passing.
Any hope for a reasonable explanation went out the window when Blossom visited Cheerilee at lunchtime. The other mare looked shaken up, and she stammered slightly as she told Cheerilee the news. “They found Golden. She’s dead.”
“That’s terrible! What happened?” Cheerilee had a sinking feeling.
“They said it looked like an animal attack, something with sharp teeth.” Blossom gasped. “Can you imagine? Here in the city?”
While Cheerilee knew there were a few wild animals that fit the description - including the pack of stray dogs she had demolished in her anger the previous night - there was only one suspect in her mind. She shuddered at the thought that Crosscut might be picking off her students one by one.
“Are you okay?” asked Blossom. “You look a little...intense.”
“It’s, um, the injustice of it,” replied Cheerilee. “Two young victims of circumstance in only a few days.”
“Well, mind over matter, I suppose,” said Blossom. “It’s all we can do.”
Cheerilee nodded and the other teacher left. The lavender mare put her head down on her desk. There were no excuses now. She had to stop Crosscut before another student died.
The schoolteacher was still unsure of her abilities, and knew that finding the vampire wouldn’t be easy. The situation was desperate, however, and she would somehow have to find a way. Never in her life had she ever felt such dread.
In the afternoon, Cheerilee composed herself and went to Note’s funeral. The mare she recognized as his mother looked as if she had been crying nonstop for the past few days. His father looked stoic, but Cheerilee sensed his expression was as fragile as eggshells. The schoolteacher introduced herself. She told the two grieving ponies that their son had been a good student, which was true. She told them that she couldn’t imagine what they must be going through, which was not.
Cheerilee moved along with the crowd of visitors. The polished wood coffin at the head of the room was closed, and for good reason. The memory of Note’s broken body was still fresh enough in Cheerilee’s mind.
The lavender mare returned home that evening with a growing sense of hopelessness. She had no idea where to start looking for Crosscut, and there was also no way to protect all of her students at once. She was glad that the Royal Guard was coming, but much could happen before they arrived.
Well, there was nothing to do with a hard task except get started. Cheerilee stepped out into the growing darkness. With no real idea where to begin, she started off at Timber Construction. The building was closed and no lights showed. The mare stood out front for a while.
“Come out here!” she shouted. There was no response.
Cheerilee wasn’t about to go inside after Crosscut, if he was even in the building. When her challenge went unanswered, she turned to go.
The rest of Cheerilee’s night was spent wandering the streets aimlessly. She hoped to run across a common criminal, somepony she could actually defeat. None presented themselves, however.
As the moon dipped low and the sun made ready to rise, Cheerilee found herself at the cemetery where Note had been buried only hours before. She walked through the gates, head swiveling to look for his headstone.
The piece of marble in front of a new grave was highly polished, but conservative. The time between birth and death dates would forever be painfully short. Cheerilee noticed the fresh earth in front of the stone was rather lumpy. She used a hoof to in an attempt to smooth it out. The first scoop of dirt upturned a sliver of wood with varnish on one side.
The mare paused a moment in surprise, and then began to dig in earnest. Throwing out more pieces of debris, she finally reached the bottom of the hole. The coffin was splintered and broken, and Note was nowhere to be found.