Falling Petals

by BronyWriter

Falling Petals

Twilight stared silently down at Cheerilee. She had begun crying again, and was leaning against the doorframe, her back to Twilight. Twilight put a hoof on Cheerilee's shoulder. "You know they would never say that to you, right? They love you, Cheerilee."

Cheerilee sniffled and wiped her eyes with a foreleg. "I know that, but it didn't seem like it at the time." Cheerilee glumly looked over to the schoolhouse. "It's strange. I think that when I was on the floor..." Cheerilee's ear twitched. "You know... I thought that I heard some voice speaking to me, saying that I had failed them and that I wasn't a fit teacher."

Twilight scooted closer to Cheerilee and put a hoof over her shoulders. "That's Discord for you, I'm afraid. But you don't have to worry; he's gone now."

"I know," Cheerilee muttered.

Twilight gave Cheerilee a comforting smile and nuzzled her shoulder. "The foals miss you, you know. Every day that I sub for you they ask if you're better yet. They really want you back."

"I know," said Cheerilee quietly. She sighed and stood up. "And I want to be back, I really do. I want things to go back to the way before... that."

"It wasn't them saying that to you, Cheerilee," said Twilight. "You're a great teacher; one of the best that I've ever known." Twilight chuckled lightly. "I should have been so lucky to have a mare like you teaching me when I was their age."

Cheerilee sighed and shook her head. "I would have been back the day after the incident, I really would have. It's just that..." Cheerilee lightly groaned and shook her head. "I keep looking at them whenever I see them pass by my house, and I'm always scared that if I go back, I'm going to blow up at them for the most minor of offenses. Whatever was pretending to be Dinky said that she thought that she could have trusted me after I got mad." Cheerilee folded her ears against her head and her gaze trailed to the ground. "I don't know if I can trust me."

"Cheerilee, you can trust yourself!" Twilight motioned over to the schoolhouse. "If you need more time to recover from what you endured, I understand. You know that Princess Celestia and I set up therapy for the ponies who endured Discord, right?" Cheerilee slowly nodded, prompting a warm smile from Twilight. "You can come to that as often as you like. We're here for you, Cheerilee. Whatever you need, don't hesitate to ask."

Cheerilee stared silently at the horizon as Twilight's words registered in her brain. Twilight gave her a comforting nuzzle, and Cheerilee slowly closed her eyes. "I can try," she said quietly. "I think that I can try to go back to teach tomorrow and see if that helps me at all."

Twilight widened her smile and gave Cheerilee a squeeze. "If you need me to be with you, I can certainly help you through it."

Cheerilee gently leaned in on Twilight's shoulder. "Thank you, Twilight," she whispered. "I... I would love to go back to teaching my students again."

Cheerilee sat in silence and let the cool breeze flow through her mane. It almost reminded of her of when she was a filly and her mother would comb her mane after a hard day. It comforted her. It told her that everything would be okay, and the she wouldn't fail her real students. She poked at the grass with her hoof and looked over at her garden. The sight of the weeds that had overtaken some of the flowers caused her stomach to clench, but she could fix it just as she could regain her courage. Cheerilee's gaze flickered over to the schoolhouse. Twilight's kind, encouraging words did make it seem less intimidating. Yes there were no students there, but it seemed like a warm, inviting place again. If she could go back, the students would smile and enjoy learning as they did before the madness.

The bell from the clock tower echoed throughout the land. It was seven o'clock. School would be starting for everypony in a mere twelve hours. Cheerilee stood up and faced the schoolhouse. "I have to do it for all of us, Twilight. Helping the foals, well, it's my special talent, after all." A small smile played at Cheerilee's lips for the first time in a long time. "They're a wonderful group of students, and I could not be more honored or privileged to teach them."

Twilight stood up and put a hoof on Cheerilee's shoulder. "I think that you know what you have to do, then."

Cheerilee glanced back at Twilight. "I have to get ready for class."

* * * *

The crow of the rooster roused Cheerilee from her slumber, and she immediately shot out of bed with a large grin on her face. After a quick shower and breakfast, Cheerilee put her fresh lesson plans that she had spent all of last night on in her saddlebag. She slung it over her shoulder and trotted out the door.

The crisp morning air washed over her. It felt refreshing, and Cheerilee took a deep breath to calm the last traces of her nerves before walking towards the schoolhouse.

The schoolfoals were already being dropped off at the school when Cheerilee came near it. A small smile crossed her face, and she reached the schoolhouse. The foals all squealed in delight as she walked up, and Sweetie Belle even came up to wrap her forelegs around her in a crushing hug.

"You're back!" She squeed. "We missed you so much, Ms. Cheerilee!"

Cheerilee chuckled softly and patted Sweetie Belle's head. "I missed you too. I'm thrilled to be back here." Cheerilee motioned over to the schoolhouse. "Let's get started for the day, shall we?"

The foals practically bounced into the schoolhouse and took their seats. Cheerilee stood in front of the classroom and placed her lesson plans folder on her desk.

"Do you wanna go to Sugarcube Corner after school, Silver Spoon?"

Cheerilee's ear flickered and she turned her head to look at Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara who seemed to just be having a normal pre-class conversation. Yes that's what Diamond Tiara had said the day Discord had taken over, but it surely must have been a coincidence. She took a deep breath and pulled out her math lesson plan. "Just a coincidence, Cheerilee," she muttered. "Keep calm."

She forced a smile on her face and began passing out worksheets for her students. "Okay, class. Today we are going to start off by learning long division. It is the opposite of multiplication, so I think that studying how it is different is a good place to start."

Cheerilee had almost finished passing them all out when she heard Scootaloo quietly groaning behind her. "Seriously, who cares about stupid division problems?"

Cheerilee's ear flicked again, and she began blinking rapidly. The remaining worksheets fell from the hoof she had been balancing them on, and she began taking several deep breaths. Calm down, Cheerilee. Calm down. It's okay.

Cheerilee cleared her throat and turned back to Scootaloo. "I don't see it that way, Scootaloo. Every job requires some math."

Scootaloo flattened her ears at being caught, but a hint of a frown played at her lips. "Sorry, Ms. Cheerilee. I don't get it, though. I can add and subtract; why do I need to do more than that?"

Cheerilee's legs began shaking, and she squeezed her eyes shut. "Because... there will be times when multiplying and dividing will be the quicker way to go. I promise you that it's very simple."

"Okay," Scootaloo muttered. "Sorry, Ms. Cheerilee."

Cheerilee flashed Scootaloo a forced smile and picked the worksheets back up. "It's... it's okay, Scootaloo. When I was your age I didn't like them either." Cheerilee finished handing out the worksheets, and walked back up to the front of the class. "Oh, right." Cheerilee motioned over to her desk. "I forgot to collect homework. Twilight told me that she assigned a worksheet. Uh, Snips, if you could collect them and put them on my desk, I would appreciate that."

The students reached into their respective saddlebags and began pulling their worksheets out as Snails came around and collected them. As he did, Cheerilee sat down at her desk and leaned her head against one of her forelegs. The day was starting well enough aside from the small coincidences. Surely that was all they were. It's not like she was still living that nightmare that she had to go through that day when Discord took over the town.

She shook her head and glanced up at her class. She frowned when she saw that one of her students didn't turn in her homework: Dinky. Cheerilee bit her lip, but forced herself to stand up and walk over to Dinky.

"Dinky, did you do your homework last night?"

Dinky averted her gaze and flattened her ears. "I'm sorry, Ms. Cheerilee. I couldn't do it last night."

"Was it..." Cheerilee began blinking rapidly and taking shallow breaths. "Was it because your mother was in the hospital because of her eyes?"

Dinky raised her head and frowned. "Uh... yeah. How did you know that?"

Cheerilee whimpered and began backing away from Dinky. "No," she whispered. "No... i-it isn't..."

Dinky raised an eyebrow and cocked her head. "Mommy's fine, Ms. Cheerilee. I just couldn't do my homework because she was sick and I had to help her."

"Oh Celestia, please no!" Cheerilee hit the wall and collapsed onto her haunches. The first traces of tears filled her eyes, and her stomach tied itself into knots. What's worse was the fact that Twilight hadn't shown up, despite the fact that she had promised to help. Cheerilee was all on her own in front of the students. It was Apple Bloom that spoke up first.

"Uh, Ms. Cheerilee... are you okay?"

Cheerilee chanced a one-eyed glance at the foals and saw that they were all staring at her, unblinking. She whimpered and covered her head in her forelegs. "Don't do that to me," she mewled. "Don't look at me like that!"

"Look at you like what, Ms. Cheerilee?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Just... please don't..."

Finally Cheerilee began to sob on the floor as the memories of what had happened that day forced themselves into her mind. The foals were muttering something to each other, something that sounded remarkably like condemnation. With a final whimper, Cheerilee pushed herself to her hooves and bolted out the door. She ran past Twilight who was saying something about being late. It didn't matter. It was a mistake to try again, she realized that now. She would only keep getting scared by remembering that day. The foals would likely be so confused that they wouldn't want a scaredy-pony like her as a teacher anyway.

She had failed them.

All she could do now was run.

Comments

[Skeeter The Lurker]

Complete.

You marked it complete.

Why must I feel the need to call bullshit?

~Skeeter The Lurker

[Immortan Joe]

2985610 You think you're punny huh? You think you're so punny with that short description and shit... Well I'll tell you this, son. You have just walked into a whole lot of likes coming from me, pal... dick

[BronyWriter]

3004217 Because Cheerilee is now broken.

What more do I really need to say? Is a sequel possible? I suppose so, but unlikely.

[BronyWriter]

3004238 Uh...

[Immortan Joe]

3004247 Lol I'm just messing with you, pal.

[BronyWriter]

3004255 Yes. I know.

[Skeeter The Lurker]

3004239

That's just a hell of an ending.

And a bit of a let down, too. But, if you say it's complete... Then, it's complete.

~Skeeter The Lurker

[BronyWriter]

3004264 I had hoped it wouldn't be, but I always planned to end it with her snapping. Not Cheerilee's Garden snapping, but showing how deep her mental scars ran.

[PhycoKrusk]

... that, that's all?

...

I feel strangely betrayed.

[BronyWriter]

3004276 How so?

[John The Dragon]

Short and dark: I like it.

[Skeeter The Lurker]

3004270

I can see that, but, I think the execution of it could have been done a touch better.

A good story, all in all. Just lacking a decent end.

~Skeeter The Lurker

[Biker_Dash]

Wow... I feel sad for Miss Cheerilee

[GoldFishPony]

There is a bit of discontinuity from here and the first chapter

Chapter 1:

"Look... I've come by because Applejack told me that you've sent a substitute to class for the past week and, well, we're all worried about you."

This one:

"The foals miss you, you know. Every day that I sub for you they ask if you're better yet. They really want you back."

It could be done on purpose, but I don't think Twilight needs Applejack to tell her something might be wrong with Cheerilee if she is the one subbing.

[GespenstKAF]

3049771 There could've been several substitutes rotating, and Twilight being one of them.

[ThatClosetBrony]

5408368 But then he would have seen his failure, as well.