//------------------------------//
// Cheerilee 
// Story: Ripples 
// by BronyWriter 
//------------------------------//

The sun rose over the horizon, illuminating all of the land and bringing forth the day. The bright rays acted as an alarm clock for the local schoolteacher, Miss Cheerilee, and her eyes fluttered open as a smile spread across her face. It was morning, and that meant only a few more hours until school started! Oh how she looked forward to see those smiling happy students. What was better was the fact that she was the one that was lucky enough to teach them!

With the grin still on her face, she hopped out of bed and began getting ready for school. After taking care of her hygiene needs and breakfast, Cheerilee slung her saddlebag over her shoulder and exited her modest cottage. She stopped to check on her garden for a brief moment before heading into town to reach the schoolhouse. 

When she entered the town proper, the first thing she noticed was that the townsponies weren't the smiling, happy ponies that she was used to seeing early in the morning. Indeed, the ponies all seemed to be conversing with each other, whispering about some unknown issue that had caught their attention. A few of them looked... scared. Cheerilee frowned, but quickly decided that it wasn't her business unless it affected one of her students. A small town like Ponyville was frequently gossiping about everything. If it wasn't her business, she would stay out of it. 

Still... some of them looked... scared, something that was unusual for mere gossip. 

Cheerilee shook her head and ignored them.She would deal with it if it directly affected her and not a moment sooner. Besides, she would probably hear all about it soon enough. 

Within a few short moments, Cheerilee's school appeared in the distance and she quickened her pace, eager to begin setting up for the children. She reached it with a grin, the gossiping ponies forgotten, and reached into her saddlebag to get the key for the schoolhouse. She went to go unlock the door, but was surprised to find that it was already unlocked, and even cracked open slightly. With a frown, she tentatively pushed the door open. "Hello?" 

"Ah you're here, Cheerilee. Good." 

Cheerilee breathed a sigh of relief and pushed the door open the rest of the way. She knew that voice. She entered the schoolhouse and smiled when she saw the county superintendent sitting at her desk. "Superintendent, what a pleasant surprise," she greeted. "I didn't expect to see you here."

The superintendent stared blankly at her for a second, as if scrutinizing her with an x-ray machine. Despite the fact that she knew this stallion and was aware that he had no ill intent, something about the way he stared at her unnerved her. Finally he sighed and shook his head. "You really don't know what happened, do you?"

Cheerilee cocked her head. "Know about what?" 

The superintendent groaned and put his head in his hooves, further unnerving the schoolteacher. "You don't know about what happened last night?"

"I'm afraid not," Cheerilee admitted. "If it's what the citizens are all gossiping about today, well, if it isn't my business I tend to stay away from all of that."

"It is your business," The superintendent informed her. "In fact, I've come here today to tell you that you need to discuss the matter with your students. The official stance of the school board is that an authority figure, namely you, has to tell them what happened, to dispel any rumors and make sure that they have somepony to talk to if they're scared." 

"Superintendent, I must ask that you please just tell me what's going on!" Cheerilee took a few steps forward and placed her hoof on the desk. "I cannot discuss matters I have not heard about."

The superintendent slowly nodded and reached into his nearby saddlebag to pull out a few papers. "Last night, all six Elements of Harmony and one of your students..." The superintendent examined the documents in front of him. "Er... Sweetie Belle, I believe her name is, were arrested. The charge was conspiracy to commit murder."

Cheerilee's eyes widened and she let out a gasp. She stumbled back as her brain tried to process the news. "That's... that's impossible," she whispered. "That can't be right. I know them, I know all seven of them very well. None of them are capable of something like that, there must be a mistake!"

"For six of them it was," the superintendent explained. "Five of the Elements and Sweetie Belle were released and cleared of all charges."

"What about the sixth Element? Who was considered guilty?"

"The Element that was found guilty of all charges was the one named Rarity." Cheerilee let out another gasp but the superintendent continued on. "She murdered ponies, Cheerilee. She was a serial killer. They executed her not long after her arrest."

Cheerilee' whimpered and burst into tears, collapsing onto her haunches. "T-There must b-be some kind of mistake!" she sobbed. "Rarity a-and I w-were foalhood friends! S-She wouldn't harm a fly!"

The superintendent sadly shook his head. "I'm sorry, but Princess Celestia herself confirmed it." The superintendent got up from behind the desk and sympathetically put a hoof on her shoulder. "If you were foalhood friends, then I can't imagine how hard this must be for you to hear. However, I do have to ask that you be strong for your students. They look up to you, Cheerilee, they need ponies like you to help them through this hard time. You don't have to tell them any details, just the bare basics of what happened and that they can approach you to talk to you about it." 

"I don't know if I can," she whimpered. "How am I supposed to tell ten year olds what a serial killer is, and that a pony that they all know was one?" 

The superintendent motioned over to the desk. "We have an official statement that I put on your desk. Just follow that and move on." The stallion shook his head sadly and walked over to his saddlebag. "We have a psychologist that we've set up if you or any of your students want to talk about this. I'll leave her card on the desk." The superintendent slung his saddlebag over his shoulder. "Well, I suppose that you have to get school going for the day. I'm... I'm sorry."

The superintendent walked out of the schoolhouse, leaving Cheerilee sitting in shock on the floor. 

Rarity was a serial killer. She was a serial killer, and now she was dead. "No," Cheerilee whispered to herself. "T-That doesn't make any sense! I knew her; sh-she wasn't a bad mare!" Cheerilee wiped her eyes and leaned against one of the desks. "We were friends." 

As Cheerilee thought more on it, a singular idea entered her mind, overpowering the rest. They had drifted apart over the years. Cheerilee's mouth dropped open slightly as she recalled her friend becoming more and more distant, even while they were in school together. Did she... did she break away because she was killing?

Cheerilee whimpered and put her head in her hooves as the realization of it all hit her like a brick. She did her best to hold back her tears, but she lost the battle with her emotions and began sobbing there on the floor. "Rarity," she sobbed. "Why didn't you let me help you? We were friends, I could have helped you!"

As the schoolteacher continued sobbing on the floor, her ears picked up on the sound on the foals coming, being dropped off by their parents. They knew the routine, and they knew that they had recess for ten minutes before school started. She had ten minutes before she had to shatter the innocence of her students in a way that would preserve as much of it as possible. There would be rumors, whispers that they would hear. It had happened not more than a few blocks from a few of them. 

Ten minutes wasn't enough. It wasn't enough to mentally prepare herself for what was about to happen, but it came and went before she could register it. She only barely managed to sit behind her desk in time for the children to come filing into the room, chattering excitedly with each other. She forces a smile on her face and she did her best to happily return the greetings that her students gave her, but even they could tell that something was wrong. 

When the class had settled into their seats, Cheerilee took a few shaky breaths and stood up. "Good morning, class," she said weakly. 

Now, normally the class responded to her morning greeting with one of their own, but the class was silent. None of them said a word or even moved. They just stared at her, wondering what the matter was. 

Cheerilee sighed and glanced down at the paper the superintendent had left on her desk. It was only about a paragraph in length and the most politically correct thing she had ever seen, but maybe in this instance that wasn't so bad. She took a deep breath and turned back to her class. "Before we begin, I have something very important I'd like to talk to you about. Something very bad happened a few days ago, and I'm here to tell you what."

"Is it about Miss Rarity?" asked Twist. "I heard that she was arrested." Twist's ears flatted. "My daddy didn't tell me why, though."

"Well my daddy did," said Diamond Tiara snootily. "Turns out that Miss Rarity was a serial killer!"

Silence reigned once more in the classroom as the students processed the information. Most of them had contemplative looks on their faces, but Diamond Tiara seemed quite pleased with herself for relaying the information. Cheerilee would have guessed that Silver Spoon would have thought so too, but she was as quiet as the rest of them. 

Finally the silent atmosphere was broken when Dinky slowly raised her hoof. Cheerilee took a deep breath. "Yes, Dinky?"

"Uh, Miss Cheerilee... what's a serial killer?" 

Every scrap of Cheerilee's composure and will to be strong for her students was crushed when a foal as pure and innocent as Dinky asked that question. Tears began streaming down her face and she collapsed onto her haunches. She tried to hold back sobs, but one still made it out every few seconds despite her efforts. "I'm sorry," she whimpered. "I wanted to be strong for you."

"Were you friends with Miss Rarity, Miss Cheerilee?" asked Silver Spoon. 

Cheerilee sniffled and wiped her eyes with a hoof before nodding. "Yes. I was. I was her first friend when we went to school together." Cheerilee cleared her throat and forced herself to her hooves. "To answer your question, Dinky, Rarity hurt a lot of ponies so bad that they died."

Dinky's eyes widened and she looked around at her classmates then back to Cheerilee as if expecting somepony to explain it to her. The fear in her eyes was unmistakable. "W-Why would she do that?"

"I don't know, Dinky," Cheerilee whispered. "I think that she was a sad mare with bad feelings that made her do it."

"Was she a bad pony, Miss Cheerilee?" asked Snips. "If you hurt ponies like that then you're a bad pony."

"Oh she didn't just hurt them," Diamond Tiara giggled. "My daddy said that she cut off their skins and hung them on the walls of her basement! He has a friend in the guard who said so." 

Dinky's fearful expression increased as her mind tried to register what she was hearing. She looked helplessly at Cheerilee and tried not to cry. "Is that right, Miss Cheerilee?"

"Dinky, please don't think about things like that," Cheerilee insisted. "It isn't going to help you at all if you do." 

"But Miss Cheerilee, it's right, isn't it?" Diamond Tiara pointed out. "I mean, should we just ignore stuff like that?"

"Yes, Diamond Tiara, yes we should!" said Cheerilee angrily. "Nopony needs to know that. Not you nor I or anypony else! I will not tolerate that kind of conversation in my classroom!" 

Diamond Tiara flinched back, unused to such a harsh tone from the good-natured schoolteacher. Cheerilee forced the angry glare off of her face and was about to tell her class to begin work for the day, but Twist raised her hoof, cutting off Cheerilee's attempts to move on. "Uh, Miss Cheerilee, I heard that Sweetie Belle was arrested with Rarity too. If they killed Miss Rarity, did they kill Sweetie Belle too? Did she hurt ponies like that?"

"No, Twist," Cheerilee assured her. "Sweetie Belle is okay, and she didn't hurt ponies. She didn't do the things that her sister did."

It's quite remarkable how easy somepony's limited composure can slip, especially in stressful situations. Cheerilee had been fighting to control her emotions ever since the foals had come into the classroom, and for the most part she had done a good job. She had begun breaking down, but she resolved to be strong for her students. 

That was all ruined by one simple chuckle, and three simple words from Diamond Tiara. 

"Heh, not yet, anyway."

With those words, the even tempered schoolteacher snapped. She ran up to Diamond Tiara's desk and slammed her front hooves on it. "HOW DARE YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT ABOUT ONE OF MY STUDENTS YOU ROTTEN BRAT!" she screamed. 

Diamond Tiara's eyes widened and she began crying as she was bombarded by the wrath of her teacher. 

"IF YOU EVER SAY THAT AGAIN I WILL MAKE SURE THAT YOU NEVER COME BACK TO MY SCHOOL, IS THAT CLEAR YOU..."

Instantly the her words and actions registered in Cheerilee's mind and her wrath subsided. "Oh my, I..." Cheerilee collapsed onto her haunches and began sobbing her eyes out. All traces of composure and strength for the benefit of her students had evaporated, and her students were left seeing a mare whose world had been shaken to the core by one of the worst events imaginable. "Diamond Tiara I'm sorry!" she whimpered. "I'm sorry that I did that to you!"

At the sound of her name, Diamond Tiara came to her senses and ran sobbing out of the schoolhouse, leaving her weeping teacher and a dozen frightened foals left. Cheerilee continued sobbing, but she looked up at her students and managed one watery sentence. "I... I'm sorry," she mewled. "Y-You can all go home for the day."

Slowly and silently the schoolfoals filed out of the building, leaving Cheerilee sitting in the front of the room. When the last foal had left, Cheerilee curled up into a ball on the ground and began loudly sobbing.