//------------------------------//
// Chapter 32: Lesson Learned 
// Story: Personas of Harmony 
// by EricStarstorm 
//------------------------------//

	A few days passed. It seemed jarring and very strange for things to go back to normal so suddenly after what had happened, but it wasn't much different from how things usually worked out after the group's operations--even if it was on a larger scale. No progress could be made in the case until Bright Side's guilt was confirmed, and so far, he hadn't woken up from his comatose state yet. The general consensus was that this was for the best, as it would give them some time to relax before they had to wrap everything up.

Spike woke up suddenly, flailing around in his basket. Eventually, he fell out and rolled a short length across the floor, stopping just short of the stairwell. Twilight looked over her shoulder from her book, her eyes half-lidded. "Morning, sleepyhead," she said.

Spike lifted his head, then lowered it again, pressing his face flat against the floor. "Ugh...why didn't you wake me up?"

"I figured you needed your rest. You were up pretty late last night trying to clean up that spot on the floor."

"But what about my morning chores?"

"Owlowiscious did them for you."

As if on cue, Owlowiscious lifted Spike from the ground and put him down on his feet, then flew over to his perch beside Twilight's desk. Spike smiled at him. "Thanks, man. I guess I owe you double now."

Owlowiscious blinked. "Hoo?"

"...Yeah, I'm not gonna start that this morning."

A spark of mirth flashed in Owlowiscious's eye, but it was gone as soon as it had come.

"Don't worry about owing him anything. At least not today." Twilight smiled. "You just take the day off and relax. Okay?"

Spike raised an eyebrow. "...Are you sure about that? Last time you gave me the day off...well, we both know how that turned out."

"Oh, be reasonable. What's the worst that could happen?"

"Are you not remembering the Timberwolves, Twi? Because there were Timberwolves."

"Spike, if I see you so much as lift the duster, so help me Celestia, I'm going to chain you to your basket."

Spike's eyes widened, and he took a step back. "Okay, okay! Geez!" He relaxed, and a smile spread across his face. "So does that mean I can go to Rarity's place?"

"As long as you stay out of trouble, you can go wherever you want. Just be back before sundown."

Spike managed to put a lid on his excitement and jokingly bowed to Twilight. "As you wish, madam." He turned around and ran down the stairs. However, he was only gone for a moment before he came back up the stairs. "Cheerilee's at the door."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Really? Did she say what she wanted?"

"No, just that she wanted to talk to you."

After considering it for a moment, Twilight stood up. "Well, okay. It seems a bit weird that she's here on a school day, though..."

Spike ran back down the stairs, and this time, Twilight wasn't far behind. In spite of her confusion, she smiled warmly as she saw Cheerilee standing just beyond the threshold. "Come on in, Miss Cheerilee," she said.

Cheerilee snapped to attention. "Oh, um...sorry, but..." She cleared her throat. "I came here to ask if you could drop by the schoolhouse."

"Huh?"

"Well...the students are really in an uproar today. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle have been telling everypony that you and your friends saved their lives!" A smile spread across Cheerilee's face. "So I called their sisters down to confirm it, and they said that it was all true...I can't deny that it happened after that. Between this and how quickly the children grew to like you as a substitute teacher, I was hoping that you could...talk to them, maybe."

Twilight couldn't stop her left eye from twitching. "They...uh...told you about that?"

"Well, yes. It was just what the class needed to brighten up this dreary Monday, too!"

Twilight wasn't sure how to respond to this. She had thought about the group's little secret getting out, of course, but never that someone close would spill the beans. She exchanged glances with Spike, and he appeared to be concerned. Maybe that was a good idea.

"Twilight?"

Twilight cleared her throat. "Oh, I would love to talk to the girls," she said. "I have a few choice words for them..."





The second the door of the schoolhouse opened, silence immediately fell over the fillies and colts who had been so animatedly talking to one another up to this point. Though not even one of them showed it, their anticipation was palpable. Cheerilee poked her head in first, looking around at the little ones as a few of them deflated slightly.

"Goodness, you all have really been looking forward to this," Cheerilee said.

"She isn't here, is she?" someone asked.

"Well, now, I never said that."

Cheerilee stepped aside, and Twilight walked into the room, Spike on her back. They were instantly bombarded with cheers. Twilight flinched, both out of surprise and a sheer need to cover her ears; Spike, meanwhile, smiled brightly and took a bow.

"Settle down, now!" Cheerilee exclaimed, stomping her hoof a few times to get the students' fickle attention. "I'm sure you all have a great deal of questions, but you've all been taught manners, and I expect you to exercise them."

"Oh, I'll answer questions," Twilight said. She shot Apple Bloom a look. "I just have to talk to you three first."

The entire class turned towards the Crusaders. Twilight's expression must have been darker than she had intended, because the three fillies exchanged worried glances. Sweetie Belle spoke up after a moment of awkward silence. "Uhh, sure," she said. "We can talk outside."

Twilight put Spike on the ground beside Cheerilee. "Go ahead and get things started, Spike. I won't be long."

"You got it!" Spike replied.

Twilight waited for the Crusaders to exit the schoolhouse before stepping outside, shutting the door behind her. The Crusaders all wore nearly identical sheepish grins.

"We can totally explain," Scootaloo said.

Twilight raised her hoof. "No, none of that." She took a deep breath and softened her expression, which in turn seemed to relax the girls somewhat. "I just need you to answer one question for me. How much did you tell them?"

"Oh, we didn't say anything to give your big secret away," Sweetie Belle said.

Apple Bloom shot up her hoof, smiling. "Yeah! We told 'em that we wandered into the Everfree Forest again, and y'all ended up savin' us from a dragon."

"A...dragon?" Twilight asked.

The girls nodded.

"But why? Why did you tell them anything at all?"

"Elementary, my dear Twilight!" Scootaloo exclaimed, suddenly taking on a much more confident posture. "We gave it a lot of thought yesterday...about how this is all supposed to be kept under wraps."

"And you've done way more for the town than the guards ever could!" Sweetie Belle chimed in.

"So...while we probably won't get ya the recognition ya deserve in the end...we thought we'd at least make some ponies appreciate ya," Apple Bloom said.

"Of course, we wanted to get you all in on it," Scootaloo said. "But, well, the others gave you more credit, and you've subbed here already."

"Cheerilee told me about that part," Twilight replied. "But...that's really the whole reason?"

The Crusaders nodded. Their expressions sang with joy and anticipation as they awaited Twilight's response.

"...I...don't really know what to say..."

"Then just leave it to us!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed.

"This is your moment, Twi," Scootaloo said reassuringly. "You've earned some respect, I'd say."

"It ain't just about us, either! Y'all saved everypony!" Apple Bloom added.

Twilight was still uncertain about the whole thing, but there was no undoing what the girls had done. She smiled. "All right, then. I suppose that talking to your class for an hour or two isn't going to hurt anything."

Time slowed to a standstill as the sound of shattering glass reverberated in Twilight's mind. A Fool tarot card appeared in her mind's eye, obscuring the image of the beaming Crusaders in front of her. "You have created a bond that cannot be broken...these everlasting bonds shall be your eyes to see the truth. We bestow upon you the ability to harness the power of the Fool Arcana."

After this image faded, everything resumed, and Twilight found herself being slowly pushed towards the schoolhouse door. She rolled her eyes facetiously and opened the door with her magic.

"For the millionth time, his name is BAHAMUT!" Spike exclaimed. "Not Baja--"

Spike stopped himself suddenly as he saw Twilight and the Crusaders reenter the room. Awkward silence hung in the air as some of the students stared at him and others stared at the newcomers. Eventually, Spike laughed sheepishly and took a few steps back.

Twilight cleared her throat. "I'd just like to preface this by clearing something up." She smiled slyly at Spike for a brief moment before speaking again. "His name was totally Baja Blast."

"I KNEW it!" Silver Spoon yelled. Spike smacked himself on the forehead.





After the foals finally left the schoolhouse that day, Twilight took Cheerilee's offer to walk back to the library with her and Spike. The sun was beginning to lower beneath the mountains and the treetops, painting part of the sky a lovely shade of pink. If one paid enough attention, they would see Rainbow Dash and a few other weather ponies positioning wispy cirrus clouds in one corner of the sky, casting shadows beyond the retreating sunlight and spreading columns of light across the vast emptiness above.

"That really dragged on longer than I planned for it to," Cheerilee said, noticing Twilight's upward gaze. "I'm very sorry if I derailed your plans for the day..."

Twilight tore her eyes away from the picturesque sunset to smile at the other pony. "It's no problem. The past few days have actually been kind of boring for me. It was a nice change of pace."

"Speak for yourself," Spike muttered. "I would've just stayed home if I knew they were just gonna badger me with--"

Twilight smacked Spike on the back of the head, bending one of his spines. He straightened it out and glared at her, but he stopped talking anyway. "Sorry," Twilight said. "The whole 'Bahamut' thing is a sensitive subject for him."

Cheerilee didn't respond. The trip resumed without conversation for a few minutes. Twilight's ears twitched when she heard Cheerilee's hoofsteps slowing down. She turned around, and Spike did as well after noticing that both of them had stopped.

"Is everything okay?" Twilight asked.

"Um...well, yes..." Cheerilee smiled. "I'm just...trying to figure out how best to thank you, see."

Spike shrugged. "Well, we did sorta give you a day off, but that's not really that big of a deal, is it?"

"No, it's not that..." The schoolteacher cleared her throat and averted her eyes. "Today just...reminded me of an old lesson. Something that I had forgotten."

Twilight titled her head. "And what's that?"

Cheerilee's eyes glossed over slightly. Twilight could practically see the memories flashing through her mind. "Back when I was a young filly, I had a close friend. He was old enough to be my grandfather, but he still made plenty of time to teach me everything he knew...about teaching other ponies, ironically." A smirk flashed across her features. "It seemed as if he was a bottomless pit of little nuggets of wisdom. He always told me how important it was that there were always teachers around, come Tartarus or high water. That there was always somepony around capable of being a leader and a guide, without the corruption of a politician or the cynicism of a general..." Her eyes suddenly looked just a bit heavier. "When I visited my mother in Fillydelphia, I found out that he...passed...a few years after I left."

"I'm...sorry for your loss," Twilight said.

"Don't be...I've come to terms with it." Cheerilee's smile grew brighter. "Today, I was reminded of his last lesson to me..." She cleared her throat and tried to make herself look imposing, as if taking on the image of her mentor. "'Cheerilee, the only way you'll ever be a good teacher is if you're comfortable with the way you lead your troops! Always lead them at your own pace, in your own way, or the only place you'll be leading them to is confusion.'" Her posture returned to its normal state. "I...forgot that for a while. I let my fears that I wasn't good enough consume me, and I lost sight of why I became a teacher in the first place...and I have you to thank for showing me the light. From this point on, I'm not going to second-guess myself. If I need to teach the foals a different way, then that's something we'll work out as a class, but for now, I'm going to continue giving them the smiles and joy that they so deserve!"

Twilight couldn't help but smile, but she felt that nothing more needed to be said. For the second time that day, time stopped around her, and the image of the Temperance card appeared before her.

"You have created a bond that cannot be broken...these everlasting bonds shall be your eyes to see the truth. We bestow upon you the ability to harness the power of the Temperance Arcana."

Time resumed after that, and Cheerilee trotted up to Twilight's side again. "Sorry I rambled on like that...it's getting late. Let's go, shall we?"

"Yeah...I think I've had enough fun for one day," Twilight replied.

As the two mares started walking again, Spike hopped onto Twilight's back. "Yeah, same here! I'm beat."

"Don't fall asleep before we eat dinner, Spike!"

The three talked about different things as they walked, slowly but surely whittling away at the time and distance to the library.