//------------------------------// // Part I/Broken Spirits // Story: Angels and Demons 3: Winds of Destiny // by lunabrony //------------------------------// Proud oaks surrounded the Ponyville Schoolhouse. Swing sets and play pens were filled with cheery fillies and colts as the classes were enjoying a small recess. Cheerilee was still the teacher there, although a bit older, and at the moment she stood aside from the happy little ponies with a much smaller group. Each species would get special classes to encourage their natural traits. For the three pegasi in the class a special instructor came from Cloudsdale. Canterlot had an elderly unicorn who came by to give magical instructions. And Cheerilee worked with the earth ponies. "You don't have to rush at it." Cheerilee instructed with kindness, as three fillies were moving between the trees. They were supposed to find seedlings that could be used for replanting trees. "Don't be afraid to sniff the soil, sometimes you learn the smell be-" Her instruction was interrupted by Thyme, who pulled up another seedling adding to her already impressive dozen. The firstborn of Silver Key and Angel Wing was in this class, and her hooves were soiled with dirt. Her name was Sarah, and she had found one seed. Exactly one. And that was only because Thyme had been moving in that general direction, and she had left several pock marks and holes to get it up. Cheerilee, who was about the kindest pony in the world, hadn't remarked on the seedling having gotten badly damaged in the process, but had urged her to find more. She trotted up next to Sarah, tapping the soil with the hoof a little. "Don't worry you're getting warmer. You don't have to rush it, Sarah. Just take all the time you need to do it. This isn't a competition." Even Peppermint was pulling seeds up now. And she was the slow learner. Sarah was not normally one to get easily discouraged. She excelled at her schoolwork. As far as paperwork, exams and reports went, she was in the top percentile. But field work was approximately 40% of their quarterly grade, and she worried if she didn't figure this out, she'd be held back again. It was already embarrassing enough that she was one year older than all the others, made even more humilating by her apparent lack of ability. Sarah scrunched her nose with renewed concentration, and dug her hooves into the ground. "I got one! I got one!" She exclaimed. She pulled backward as hard as she could, and a huge root pulled free of the soil, sending her tumbling backwards. Cheerilee brushed it off, it had gotten a little mangled. "I think we can plant this, we'll be starting our lesson on planting in a few weeks. All the oaks around you were planted by this school." Sarah was fairly weak for an earth pony, she didn't have the endurance that her peers had. "You'll get credit," Cheerilee assured her, seeming to pick up on her train of thought. Peppermint gave Sarah an encouraging smile. "There's nothing to it, I'll show you Sarah. Don't worry." They had gotten used to her name. It was new ponies who reacted with a mild confusion to it. Silver had told her the name had special meaning to him, but had never told her why. "I just wish I knew where they were," Sarah said, but Cheerilee gracefully sent her off. "Its not always equally easy for all ponies," the teacher said. Sarah knew that Cheerilee was only trying to make her feel better, and sat her rump in the grass, sighing. "It's not fair, how come I can't do it? I was out here for hours last week and the only thing I found was an antler." Sarah prided herself on that moment, none of the class had ever seen a deer before, although a few wandered out of the Everfree Forest now and again during the night. For a few short minutes, she wasn't Sarah the pony who couldn't use the soil, but Sarah who'd found something incredible. She wanted that again. "I try, Miss Cheerilee, I really do." She insisted. "I know you do, and you're making it hard for yourself. There's a seedling, and you can be there to dig with the others." She said as she bagged Sarah's spoil of the day. There was a bright flash near the entrance of the school. A creamy white pony of a special kind appeared near the entrance, looking around for a bit. It was a daily spectacle, even though her classmates had gotten used to it. The alicorn who didn't want to be a princess was here. At least she wasn't wearing her hospital uniform, this time she came plain, wings folded against her body. The bell rang, recess was over. "Alright my little ponies, Jaunt will teach you Equestrian History now, I'll be in there soon." It was obvious that Cheerilee wanted a talk with Sarah's mother. "Hi Sarah, I'll be waiting outside the class when you get back," her mom said, nudging her daughter towards the door. "Remember to wash your hooves before you go into the classroom!" Cheerilee called towards the stampede of equines racing for the schoolhouse. Sarah wanted very much to sneak around and hear what they were talking about, but knew she couldn't be late for class. Being a role model had a delicate balance with being sneaky. She approached the history teacher, asked to use the restroom, and promised to be back in a minute. There wasn't any reason why they wouldn't let her, she was a good student. But she was also a child, and children were often mischievous. She hurried around the small building, squeezing into one of the few empty classrooms to try and catch a snippet of the conversation through an open window. The schoolhouse had once only been a single room, but had expanded to accommodate the growing numbers of colts and fillies. The Ponyville School had such a wonderful energy to it. Watching young fillies and colts with no cares in the world, seeking to find what talents they had and learning useful lessons about Equestria, playing with each other and being encouraged was a world of difference to Angel's childhood. Strict separation, duties and hard training had been her yoke. Here ponies were free to be themselves to their hearts content. Cheerilee had wanted to talk to her in private, a parent meeting. She always did them on a pony to pony basis. "I'm glad to see you, Angel," The teacher said kindly, while she was walking over to some trees where the earth ponies had obviously been going through some exercises. She felt the vitality of the trees around her, and could almost sense the roots burrowed into the ground. "You have a wonderful daughter, she works very hard." She began. "And she's very bright for a filly her age. However, I'm starting to get concerned about her ability to keep up with the others in the earth pony classes." Back inside, Sarah cursed her luck. They were moving away from the window, and she couldn't quite make out what they were saying. She slipped out the door, trying to slowly follow them. She was tired of the deception, everyone always told her 'Good job, Sarah. You're doing great, Sarah.' But she was beginning to feel like they were talking down to her. She tried her hardest, but her hardest never seemed to be good enough. Angel stood with Cheerilee, listening to her concerns. She had absolutely nothing but love and faith in her foal. "My daughter has always been a little slower than most children when it comes to ability, I regret to admit that she has shown no spectacular talent in any given field as of yet." This was a time when most children at the very least had found one or two things they excelled at. "Her intelligence is impressive, so there's no signs of cognitive delay." She said gently. "I've been encouraging her with all sorts of things at home, I don't have it in me to hold her back again." Cheerilee nodded. "And I don't want her to be held back, that wouldn't help her. She's developing a good bonding with other fillies, and holding her back would isolate her. But its something I noticed today that alarmed me." They went over where the students had dug for seedlings, and Cheerilee explained what they had done. "Usually, when an earth pony searches for a seedling they'll go at it like this," she imitated one of her pupils, walking around, hoofs searching across the ground, sniffing occasionally. Angel could easily follow what she was doing, it was how she would have attacked the problem herself. "And if I dug down here I'd find one. Your daughter did it like this." She walked around a bit, jabbing hoofs into a prospective area, lifting the soil and prospecting a little into the mulch, walking over to another area. There were indeed a lot of tell tale pock marks. Cheerilee came back, her ears lowered and her voice as well. "I'm afraid I've only seen this when a unicorn tries to do this task. I sometimes do that to show pegasi and unicorns that there are things they can't do. She's simply not sensing it." At birth the doctor had noticed her lack of weight for an earth pony, she had filled out quite a bit as she grew up and had made up for it with extra exercise, but this was different. Sarah had stopped in her tracks. She'd heard enough, and ran back inside the building before she was seen, having already surpassed a believable leave of absence to the restroom. She made her way back to the History lesson, and planted herself in the back of the room. Outside, Angel looked increasingly concerned. "She doesn't sense the soil at all? So she's not a unicorn, a pegasus, OR an earth pony?" She sounded upset. "Next you'll tell me that she'll never get a cutie mark." She stamped her hoof. "She's my daughter and I love her, I don't care what kind of pony she is. She just... needs some extra help. Maybe a lot of extra help. But I'll quit my job to give it to her if that's what it takes." Cheerilee looked touched. "I'll help her as much as I can, and I'll encourage her, but you might have to consider getting her tested at Canterlot. If she really doesn't have the ability, then it doesn't make sense to try to teach her to do it in that way. I don't teach pegasi how to flap their wings. She can still learn botany, and growing skills, and she can learn to hunt for herbs and things where her strengths can be used. Her eyesight is just fine, I'll teach her by her abilities." She said. "The grade for the physical classes that teaches her about being an earth pony can be wavered if there's legitimate reasons. She'll pass and her grades will be reflected by how she does on papers, and the other assignments I give her. We encourage our pupils strengths and help their weaknesses." Angel proceeded gently. "I will of course not tell her of our conversation here, but may I pull her out of school for the day? Perhaps the encouragement we give her just needs a mothers touch," She offered. "She's my daughter, damn it, I love her more than words can ever explain. Silver has tried to teach her magic, to no avail. I have tried to teach her aerial navigation, which failed even worse. We need to stop thinking about what she can't do, and focus on what she can." "I agree. There's a lot of things she's good at." Cheerilee was on the same wavelength as Angel. "She's well ahead in her history teachings, so I don't think it would hurt, as long as it doesn't become a habit." She reminded. "She tries very hard, and she succeeds a lot more than she thinks. Despite all the shortcomings of not being able to innately sense the soil, she still found two seedlings. Most unicorns and pegasi give up at the task once they realize that they can't sense these things like their earth pony mates can." "Let me take her home." Angel said gently. "I'll wait here for her to be properly dismissed. Even a broken clock still gets the time right twice a day." She said confidently. "My Sarah is smart and resilient, if there is anything she can do, I swear to you, we'll find it."