"Treetops"
Cheerilee let out a sigh, listening to the pops and cracks as she stretched out her lower back. The field trip was finally coming to a close.
While the sun had been hot and her bones were stiff, she was glad to see the smiling faces of her students... she was also glad to soon be on the way back to school.
They had gone to see Cherry Berry's Balloon exhibit, something she'd done many times before. They walked outside of Ponyville to see the aeronaut float high in the air. Cheerilee had to shout at a few of her pegasus students to keep on the ground and give the balloons enough space... she could see them getting burned or colliding with the darn thing and falling... maybe even breaking a leg.
It would be just my luck.
The balloons were a sight to see, though... red, orange, green, purple, blue; some big and some small, each high in the sky, majestic and huge, one at a time floating weightlessly. Cherry Berry knew so much about them, and even with her knowledge, Cheerilee heard a new fact every now and again. That kept her from getting too bored.
Now was it time for lunch. They sat at picnic tables -- old, faded, and quite familiar to Cheerilee -- out for any pony who liked the peace and quiet of being outside Ponyville. Peace and quiet..., Cherilee thought. She sighed again. A little food and rest would do her some good.
Her students were always so well-behaved by this point, many of them growing tired as well. The class had done a substantial amount of walking to see the balloons and to keep up with Cherry Berry's lecture over the big megaphone. The only students who seemed to have any energy left were Dinky Hooves, Snails, and Scootaloo. It was hard to believe Snails wasn't tired yet, he was always so slow and easy to confuse, but today... for some reason, the hot air balloons really excited him. Might've found his calling. Cheerilee chuckled at the thought.
She noticed the three of them had finished their lunches and were already getting up. It was an outside meal, so recess went along with it... provided the students didn't wander out of view. She watched them carefully, eating her salad but not looking at it. She could easily count all her students, but her eyes were open for anything that might need attention.
Ever-vigilant... I really should get an aide.
The three walked in to a nearby field of flowers, maybe twenty feet from the furthest table. The ground was flat, trees belonging to the Everfree Forest a couple hundred yards off to the far right. This was the perfect place to bring a group of students. The meadow stretched forever, the sky was clear, almost pure -- Rainbow Dash had done an exceptional job of cleaning up the clouds today. Cherilee thought she could see for miles.
The sound of crows could be heard off in the distance, even over the students. There was a group of birds above the treeline. They all scattered.
Must be a territorial dispute, Cherilee thought, looking at her students in the field. She laughed. Hopefully I won't have to deal with that disharmony here!
Dinky, Snails, and Scootaloo all appeared to be getting along just fine.... though Scootaloo seemed to be scowling at Snails, saying something in either a frustrated or angry voice. It was typical of Snails to annoy his fellow students, though Dinky's mouth moved more sympathetically.
Cherilee pushed herself off the bench.
Maybe I should intervene... or at least see what's up.
She walked slowly towards the group while the three argued amongst themselves. When she got close Scootaloo glanced in her direction, then all three turned around.
"What seems to be the problem?"
"It's these flowers!" exclaimed Scootaloo, pointing at the ground and scowling. "Me and Dinky keep calling them green but Snails keeps insisting they're blue!"
"They are blue, Scootaloo!" Snails protested with a determined scowl. He wasn't ready to back down.
Cheerilee took a breath.
"Okay. Let me see," she said, looking at the ground where Scootaloo was pointing.
Most of the flowers in the patch were yellow, save a few pink ones found around the edges, and some green by Scootaloo's hoof. Cheerilee looked up at Snails and bit her lip.
Poor thing must be color-blind. It's surprising no pony ever noticed, though... his mane is practically aquamarine!
"Well, Snails, you're probably not seeing things..." she calmly began. The slow unicorn already began to look triumphant, despite her subtle hesitation. She cut him short. "They are green, though... it's possible you might be color-blind."
The yellow colt stared at his teacher, attempting to process what she had just said.
"Um, uh... Color-what now?"
"Color-blind," Cheerilee repeated, slowly. "It means your eyes don't have certain color-receptors. Some ponies are just born that way."
"I'm sorry, Miss Cheerilee."
The teacher rolled her eyes... but her voice was sympathetic:
"It's not your fault, Snails. It just happens."
"You know, my dad says that a lot when we have these types of problems and I'm starting to wonder if maybe he's just saying that just so I don't have hurt feelings."
Snails, you may be right.
"Oh, I know a couple of really, um... respectable ponies with this same problem, Snails. Anyway, I'm sure your father loves you! I'll talk to him later, if you'd like."
Snails nodded rapidly.
The two then exchanged awkward glances.... awkward even for Snails. The student smiled and Cheerilee smiled right back.
* * *
Cheerilee looked over her students one final time... at least they no longer looked angry. She was getting ready to turn back towards the tables when she was stopped by Dinky, who was looking off into the skies.
"Hey, what's that?"
Turning, Cheerilee put a hoof above her eyes and slowly scanned the horizon. Coming from the forest she saw a bird... barely recognizable above the treeline. What made it stand out was how low it was flying... when it didn't flap it looked almost still, silently gliding. Cheerilee knew from its size in comparison to the canopy it was much larger than two picnic tables combined... and the closer it came, the more it seemed to speed up.
"Oh, my..." Cheerilee rubbed her eyes, squinting. "That looks like it's coming here."
Even from this distance, distorted by Celestia's sun, the teacher could make out that it was a black bird. Pitch black. She had read about large predatory birds emerging from the Everfree Forest, ones that hadn't been seen in hundreds of years... yet, despite this being passed off as just a myth, she was already getting an unsettling feeling in her belly. This bird was huge and headed in their direction. She looked back over her shoulder.
"Dinky, Scootaloo, Snails. I want you to go back to the group right now." The three stayed where they were as Cheerilee studied the horizon carefully. She glanced back a second time. "Um, hello? Did you hear me?"
The teacher's tone was no longer warm and tired, but stern... Dinky heard a tiny bit of fear behind it. She nodded, nudging both the others along with her head.
"Come on guys," she said, calmly. "Let's go."
The bird continued on its path. Cheerilee picked up a rock... not taking her eyes off the approaching threat.
Now that it was close -- maybe six hundred feet -- the bird began to speed up, aggressively flapping its wings. Cheerilee could hear its wings generating enough force to snap the branches of the trees below. Unlike most predators, it stayed mostly silent... stealthy. Cheerilee felt a bead of sweat trickle down her cheek.
She tightened her grip on the rock. The creature's flight was much too swift for her to hope to land a hit... besides, what was her hope of scaring it off? Holding on to her rock, Cheerilee instead turned around and saw the three were still ten feet from the nearest table.
"Move!" she exclaimed. "Everypony, get under your tables right now!" Most of the students, confused and in their own world, didn't immediately register the urgency of their teacher's order. "Do it! Do it now!"
Scrambling, the students did as they were told. She ran to protect Dinky, Snails, and Scootaloo. The problem was, now that the undersides of the tables were full of young ponies, there was hardly any room, except at the very end... the mostly empty table where she had first been seated, alone.
I just need ten seconds.
A shriek filled the air... a cutting sound that chills bones, similar to the sound of scraping broken glass against a chalkboard. All three of the little ones began to scream.
"Keep moving!"
The light grew dim as Cheerilee turned around and flung her rock at the black horror she now realized was larger than her own apartment. She saw its electric crimson eyes without pupils, its plumage so dark she wouldn't know whether or not she had struck it... but it certainly wasn't going anywhere. Up close and terrifying, she could at least identify it from its eyes, and by the swirls of yellow know its intention. It was hungry, but she knew she was safe... as were most of her students. However for one brief moment she was still frozen in horror. This thing wanted magic.
The bird circled and circled, generating winds strong enough to blow away her student's food and tip over benches. They all screamed now. Cheerilee glanced back to see Scootaloo wiggling under the table, blocking the other two from going under.
"No!" she cried, grabbing the little pegasus by the tail and pulling as hard as she could.
The little filly screamed in pain. The teacher was sure she had dislocated something, but it was not important. Scootaloo would be safe. She turned to Dinky.
"Get under the table now, both of yo-"
Everything went black.
* * *
There was a colossal crash. Little did she know they were all flying through the air -- table, too -- as the giant bird picked up and threw everything at the very end where they had been seated.
When Cheerilee opened her eyes again everything looked fuzzy... she lay on the ground, staring at an unconscious Scootaloo. That is she hoped Scootaloo was unconscious. Cheerilee looked around, unable to hear anything clearly yet. She tried to take a breath and found she couldn't. The impact had knocked the wind out of her.
Snails and Dinky were both on their hooves, wobbling and clearly in shock. Cheerilee saw the black bird in the skies a couple hundred feet up circle around and head towards them. She had seconds.
Getting up was painful... the teacher felt a sharp crack in her sternum as she rose. Whether hitting the ground had broken ribs or not was unimportant. She had students to protect. The two were ten feet apart, Snails drooling, bleeding from the ears; Dinky with a black eye and bloody nose. The filly looked right at her, alert and in tears. Cheerilee got to her hooves. The teacher focused on one target and made the dive. She felt herself connect with the tiny warm body, closing herself into a ball, praying this would all be over soon. The bird shrieked again, deafening and distorted... but Cheerilee knew it might not be there for very long now.
She opened her eyes again and looked down to see Dinky still in her hooves. She looked up, knowing already Scootaloo was still there. Snails, however... was gone. The bird had taken him. Looking up, Cheerilee could see they were just a shrinking speck on the horizon, its shriek now no louder than one of Fluttershy's whimpers.
Cheerilee took a breath. All was silent.