//------------------------------// // "Righteous?" // Story: Gut Instinct // by wayward_pony //------------------------------// "Righteous?" With the bird in the past, this was the part Cheerilee dreaded almost most of all... she knew the officers were going to grill her, but not this badly. She took one last sip from her tea, finishing it off before setting the mug down firmly on the table in front of her. She would get through this. "So you let three foals wander from the site while you were eating lunch? That seems kind of irresponsible." "We were all eating lunch!" The Officer against the boutique wall rolled his eyes. "Just answer the question please, Mrs. Cheerilee." "Yes, I do let them 'wander around' a little whenever we're eating outside, but they were in my sight! Maybe twenty feet away, a straight line in front of me." The Officer nearest Cheerilee passed her a paper. "That's just a warning," he said, with a smile. "You did have your eyes on all of them, after all, but you shouldn't let foals wander around in a strange place." The teacher blinked twice. "Right outside of Ponyville? Where many of them come on their own time?" The officers looked to each other and shrugged. "So you got up and walked over, turning your back on your class while the three were having a disagreement about... of all things, color?" "Again, just twenty feet..." The Officer checked something on his paper. "I'll take that as a yes." Cheerilee stared at him. "Everything was perfectly in my control. Besides, I can't keep my students regimented like you all probably had to be at the Academy. Then they'd really be acting up every time I turn my back. As a teacher, you have to let foals explore their surroundings a little." "Duly noted," said the Officer against the wall, clearly not taking notes. "So, from what you're describing, you gave some pretty good instructions, seeing how you never had to drill for something like this... but, you injured a filly trying to make room for the two others. Broke her tail. TWICE." "She was going to be fine!" "Doesn't sound like she's fine to me," said the Officer in front of Cheerilee. "Quite the opposite." "Sounds like potential nerve damage..." The Officer against the wall stretched, revealing his two, massive white wings. "Do you have any idea how important a pegasus's tail is for flight?" "Of course I do. I'm a teacher!" "We use it to help us steer in all directions, gauge our speed and slow down, and to help with-" "Enough!" the seated Officer grumbled, putting a hoof up to silence his partner. "Well, hopefully Scootaloo will be able to fly okay when she gets older." "That may never happen..." Cheerilee sighed. "She's got under-developed wings. We can only hope and be as encouraging as, well... we can be." The officers nodded, passing Cheerilee a pink paper. "Fair enough. Two breaks, two citations. Violence against a foal. That's a pretty serious offense, but seeing as you had 'no choice' in the matter we're going to go easy and just give you a fine." Cheerilee gritted her teeth. "I really didn't want to hurt her." "None of that matters. What matters is that you did hurt her." "Very badly, might I add." Cheerilee let out another, more labored sigh. She was going to have to let this go. "Alright, f-fine. What else did you want to know?" "Well, we know you watched your class disperse when you entered Ponyville, you're going to be fined for that, too... just one more question. Why would you try to help the student who looked less injured? ... that's Dinky, right?" Cheerilee nodded, taking in deep, silent breaths. "Why wouldn't you help the other one? Um..." "Snails," said the Officer against the wall. "Yes, Snails. Why didn't you help Snails, who was probably deafened seeing how you described him as..." He checked his notes. "Bleeding from the ears?" Cheerilee's silent breathing had become visible, her chest rapidly rising and falling. Her lower lip quivered, images of the horrific moment flashing through her mind... she had not seen it take Snails, but she she knew it had, and she knew it would. Images of the fear in Dinky's eyes played again and again. "I-it happened so fast," Cheerilee finally whimpered, setting her head on the table. "I just helped one of my students." She looked up, fresh tears in her eyes. "She looked right at me... do you have any idea what it feels like to have somepony so small and helpless look up at you and say please help me with just her eyes? I-I just dove... I wanted to make it all go away. I wanted to protect her." The two officers remained stone-faced. "Sounds like you made a mistake and let your emotions get in the way of your work, but I can understand why you did what you did." They each looked at each other and nodded. "Mrs. Cheerilee, I'm afraid we've got no choice but to place you on Administrative leave. You're pending investigation." Cheerilee's heart slowed down. In just seconds she felt achy and sick, as thought the entire day had come crashing down on her. "No... I-I didn't do anything wrong!" The officers smiled, the standing one glancing over the seated one's shoulder as he scribbled something down. "Consider it a paid vacation!" said the Officer against the Boutique. "It even comes right out of your accumulated time." "Trust us. We just want to make sure you're competent enough to lead around our class... they are the most precious resource to us, after all. We wouldn't want to lose another one because you couldn't make a proper decision when the need arises. Here." He passed her a paper, this time yellow. "Take this home. We know where you live... if in three weeks you are determined not to be dangerous to Ponyville's foals, I won't come to visit you,. If I do, I'm giving you another paper, which... depending on what we decide after you see Doctor Stable for a lengthy evaluation, might mean indefinite leave for you. You'll probably get an okay in the mail, but we want to be sure. Do you understand?" Cheerilee snatched the paper as the Officer passed it to her. She held it in two hooves, reading it closely... her forelegs shaking, wrinkling the note. "I would take good care of that if I were you," said the standing Officer. "Put it some place safe... if you can't produce that note when asked, that'll say a lot about how accountable of a mare you are. We give out no copies, as we trust you, Mrs. Cheerilee. We believe in you." The Officer passed her one final note. Negligence charges for letting her foals go. "You may go now." Cheerilee got up, taking the small hoofful of pink and yellow papers the officers had given her. None of the fines were important, it was a few Bits she could easily pay. Cheerilee had no pony to spend money on... just her kids to watch grow. Her lip quivered. What these fines meant was more important than anything else. She looked up at the officers, wanting to express her frustrations in some way... tell them off, tell them they were terrible ponies for what they had just done... but she knew a lot about how the Equestrian system of law worked. She knew that, if she did that after they had gone easy on her... maybe she wouldn't be so lucky next time, if she ever had to see them again.