• Member Since 17th May, 2012
  • offline last seen February 29th

BlueBastard


Supercharging at MAXIMUM LEVELS!

Sequels1

T

Cheerilee knows two things: she's an earth pony and she loves being a teacher at Ponyville Elementary. Nevermind the fact her mother was a pegasus and both her father and older brother are unicorns, the latter of whom just got married to an earth pony with a better teaching job than Cheerilee. It doesn't bother her, because she just loves being unable to find a higher paying job than what she has now. Really. She isn't that serious when she absentmindedly wonders if being a unicorn would improve her job prospects.

So with all that in mind, she isn't happy at all when she wakes up to discover she has spontaneously turned into a pegasus, a change that goes far deeper than just sticking wings on her back. And the trials she has to go through as a result of her new status will make her call into question just who she is and what she really wants out of life.

Rated Teen for references to alcohol and minor sexual humor.

Credit for the Cheerilee vector used for the cover image goes to J-Brony

*Featured 7/18/14 and 7/19/14*

Chapters (1)
Comments ( 63 )

Faved even before reading because you're underrated as fuck

that chapter title.... my sides XD:rainbowlaugh:

She got a cutie mark in adulthood, she gets her wings in her late 20s - Cheerilee is just an all-around late-bloomer.

I find it odd that she was so upset at having wings. I would think the first thing Cheerilee would do after finding out they were legit would be seeing her mother and asking about being a pegasus. She could take a week off of school with the change, and it would also show them how much they needed her.

I mean if I were given functional wings, the last thing I would do is ask to give them back.

I liked it, and it's always nice to see Cheerilee get more love like she deserves.
fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/013/0/0/smilee_by_comeha-d72145b.png?wrap=true

4711123

Hey, thanks!:rainbowkiss:


4711341
Seriously, he's not involved!:twilightsheepish:


4711386
Like the CMC?:twistnerd:


4711891
True, but let's be fair here; much of the show's appeal comes from ponies just wigging the heck out over the smallest things. And here, the idea was that Cheerilee is so used to how she has come to define her life that becoming a different kind of pony has completely thrown her into a state of disarray.


4712573
Indeed! It seems you're the one who is responsible for doubling the number of groups this story is now part of, so thanks for that help in spreading the CheeriLove!:pinkiehappy:

4711891 but what if everyone around her thought she was always a pegasus?

Okay that was an awesome story

Another great story from the Brilliant Blue Bastard.

Okay, I know this has nothing to do with your story, but OMG YOUR AVATAR IS AWESOME XD!

Until her problem was fixed, I was kinda jealous of cheerilee gaining wings, silly, I know.

This is actually a really good slice of life story. Well done.

4712658

True, disarray yes. But running to your mother is a very good move when panicked thusly. She might have even done that WITHOUT notifying anypony if she were panicked enough.

4712740

4712943

4713020

4714037

Thanks, guys!:yay:

4713635
Who is Cheerikee?:derpytongue2:


4713712
Well, I mean it's not like I made Cheerilee an alicorn, right?:trixieshiftright:


4714128
Well, look at it this way; would her mother really understand Cheerilee's problem of having magically changed pony sub-species such that everything Cheerilee was used to as a ground-based pony almost universally no longer applied? The only pony in town who happened to have gained wings after spending her entire life on the ground is Twilight Sparkle, so with that in mind along with the idea Cheerilee wanted to know what the heck had happened to her in the first place, the local royal egghead was her first choice to see on the matter.

Plus, while Cheerilee is very bright and intelligent, she isn't perfect when it comes to making decisions once in a while. I mean, was the best picture she could have shown to her class for when she got her cutie mark the one where her 80's clothing tastes are on full display, or that Diamond Tiara was even remotely a good option to be the first replacement editor on the Foal Free Press? Those were decisions she made while not under duress, but in this story she's having to deal with suddenly having her entire biology changed overnight even though, as pointed out towards the end of the story, she unconsciously defined herself by how others defined her, so becoming a pegasus for seemingly no reason throws her way off her usual bearings and thus she's trying to pick up the pieces with early warning signs of CMFIS setting in as a result. And of course, ponies act anything but rationally when CMFIS starts to affect them.

4714279

Im still watching you:trixieshiftleft::trixieshiftright::trixieshiftleft::derpytongue2:

4714286
You are? You aren't showing up on my "watched by" list:rainbowhuh:


:trollestia:

4714359

Not in that way silly:derpytongue2:

“Hey, Cheers, just writing to say thanks for the gift basket of chocolates you sent! Dusty and I are going to come back as giant balls of fur with hooved limbs once our honeymoon in Hoofalulu finishes up! Giant, well-tanned balls of fur, of course, but when the skies are cloudless as they’ve been since we’ve gotten here, you can’t escape being sun-bleached, can you?

How exactly does one tan with a fur coat?

I am very confused and concerned by the bit where Apple Bloom seems to be defending Diamond Tiara. One would think she would just sit back and enjoy the show.

Aside from that and a few other things, which I'll mention below, I enjoyed this story. The comedy tag was misleading because humor wasn't a major focus, but it was an interesting character piece. While it initially appeared that the conflict would be based around Cheerilee's transformation—which would be fun but shallow—finding that it was actually about her inner turmoil and self-doubt was a nice surprise. I think the resolution of that conflict might be a little too quick and tidy for something of that nature, but it was a satisfying conclusion, nonetheless.

On the down side, it contains LUS, exposition dumping, and a nasty case of saidism abuse. If you clean up those issues (maybe remove some adverbs too) and have an experienced proofreader sweep it for punctuation and grammar errors, this could have a shot at getting approved by EqD and/or TRG.

You magnificent Bastard.

4714559
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4715146
I had Apple Bloom say that more out of personal curiosity more than any attempt to defend Diamond, but I can see how it could be seen that way. I might change it to be Silver Spoon at some point so that line isn't as OOC as you suggest it is.

I'm also glad that you enjoyed it enough that you were willing to go into detail in your comment! As for the quick resolution, I actually didn't want it to come across as too reliant on the two OC's coming in and basically fixing everything like a deus ex machina, they're really there just to get Cheerilee to start understanding what's causing all her problems and how she can fix them simply by defining herself by her own standards and not those of others. Plus, this is ponies, aren't resolutions usually slightly too clean and tidy by the end of an episode anyway?:rainbowwild:

As for the more technical aspects, I actually don't see the big deal about light use of LUS (in massive quantities yes, it's bad, but denying one's self from using a major defining detail of a character such as what color they are to the point you can never, ever use the color to refer to the character is sort of a needless limitation as long as it isn't the author's main crutch, which I would like to think is not the case for me here). I will agree about being a bit heavy on the exposition and in a later revision I'll see if I can't trim it down, and at the same time I'll deal with the "saidism" too.

EDIT: Oh, wait, "Saidism" is when the word "said" is not used in every single instance somepony talks as opposed to colorful adjectives and verbs that convey the manner of their speech and action better? I'm sorry, but I fail to see how that is supposed to be an improvement in any way, as having to say "said" over and over and over even in cases where more can be accomplished by not using it as that avoids widespread issues of "telling and not showing" (I.E. "she said in a whisper" vs "she whispered"). Not to mention that also comes across as feeling flat in the presentation of dialogue...which is apparently also something to be avoided as EqD's omnibus doesn't like "flat writing" even though that's apparently what they want with "saidism". The whole thing comes across as being a Catch-22 type paradox, because one will be problematic if the other isn't.

4715242
Why thank you!:eeyup:

I like the social tension.

Discord probably should've asked if she wanted to take some time with the wings and then let her choose.

Because wings are awesome. Just ask :rainbowdetermined2:

4714559
When it said Sun bleached, I assumed that they were referring to the way that pigments and colors fade in the sun. That would mean that tanning was related to being in the sun and getting lighter instead of darker.

Therefore ponies who are outside more would have a pastel, soft colour instead of being a deeper, richer colour. Ponies who spend more time outside are likely to be more fit and healthy, so being a more pastel colour would indicate a healthy lifestyle. Similarly, naturally pastel ponies would appear more healthy as well.

I know of examples in real life where dark furred animals change colour in the sun, look up rusting black cats on Google.

Cheerilee wakes up and is like: Dafuq is this sh*t?!

Wow. Blaming the person for not being happy enough is of the exact opposite of how an intervention's suppsoed to go... :facehoof:

4714279

I mean, was the best picture she could have shown to her class for when she got her cutie mark the one where her 80's clothing tastes are on full display, or that Diamond Tiara was even remotely a good option to be the first replacement editor on the Foal Free Press?

For the first, she probably looked like that in all the pictures from that time. It was the style after all. And for the latter one, yes, DT was remotely a good option. She did manage to greatly increase the paper's popularity and did a pretty good job at inspiring those working for her to work hard (even before going too far with that little blackmail thing). The failure wasn't in choosing DT, but rather in Cheerilee's failure to keep an eye on the students she is supposed to be nurturing/mentoring, so that she could provide proper guidance. A "needs of the story" bit of incompetence on Cheerilee's part.

Of course, maybe that happened because she was busy freaking out about having wings at the time ;)

4716305 I wanted to see Rainbow find out and squee.

#RainbowSquee :rainbowkiss:

dragonequis

*draconequus

From draconic -- dragon and equus -- horse

Very good story, though I would have thought she would also have been saddened by the thought that she never flew.

I love your story. I actually felt the emotion put in this story. I LOVED IT!:heart::heart:

isn't Discord a draconequus, not a draconequis? I've always figured it's the former based on phonetics and such, but.

or Celestia help us Applejack has turned into some kind of shapeshifting wolf monster or-“

Ooooh, the self-references! :rainbowlaugh:

Initially, upon learning the obvious fact half of her back had actually been altered as needed to accommodate the muscular additions for the wings, she’d freaked out yet again,

yknow, in all fairness to Cheerilee, learning that not only have you gotten knew appendages but that said growths magically rearranged your own spinal anatomy would make me freak out, too.

But then I'd realize I had wings and be like "OMG I CAN FLY!!:rainbowkiss::rainbowkiss:"

...Well, that'd be my reaction, but idk if Cheerilee would feel that way, too. Makes me jelly of Aloe and Lotus's massages, though.

On the bright side, all she had to do tomorrow was return the cart to the Apples for Pinkie, and then she could relax at home to sort this pegasus thing out.

This definitely sounds like it's tempting fate.

Plus, for some reason she felt wearing a raincoat would come in handy; she just wasn’t sure why.

:pinkiegasp: I don't remember Pinkie predicting a giant raindrop falling!

“Yeah, it’s like I said earlier! Even though I’m not on the weather team, pegasi have a natural barometric sense for the weather! I’m guessing Dash and her crew forgot to tell the newspaper about the planned rainstorm today!”

Oh, well, that works, too.

I like my idea of Cheerilee having a nascent Pinkie Sense (Cheery Sense?) better, though.:rainbowlaugh:

Hmm, I wonder if Discord knew that was going to happen. Maybe he did.:trollestia: (They need a Discord emote, seriously.)

Good little story, BB. I'd love to see a follow-up to this if you ever feel up to it.

Oh, and I forgot to ask, but who's M. A. Larson?:rainbowhuh:

4718885 Then again, we don't have a literal disease for not following along close enough to your cutie mark, so yeah.

4730116

M. A. Larson was the writer for several episodes of the show, most famously as the cited writer for "Magical Mystery Cure" which Twilight gets alicorned. So everybody jokingly accuses him for changing Twilight to such a degree and that he's involved in any case where somepony gets wings.

4730160 Ah, okay, I geddit now.:raritywink:

:pinkiegasp: IT'S STILL LARSON'S FAAULLLT!:raritycry:

Cheerilee blinked, trying to formulate words to say in response to her siblings having swapped species.

So now their incest couples?

4731916

Uh, no, they're not incestuous. Dusty is only Cheerilee's sister-in-law.

4731960 oh ok.thanks for clearing that up!

Lovely story all around, nice to see some deeper exploration of Cheerilee's character instead of just being the local teacher.

Very cute and fun but feels too rushed in pots to really have as much emphasis. Still a very solid fic.:pinkiesmile:

4740821

too rushed in pots

Huh? I don't understand, what do the flower pots have to do with anything?:rainbowhuh:

4747119 The flowers are everything obviously! It's the same as the whale and Zaphod.

(I meant spots. This is what I get for commenting when doped up on cold meds.:rainbowlaugh:)

Ehhhhh, the wingboner jokes are overplayed IMO.

Well Pinkie just betrayed a friend's trust. Which means something-something-something FOREVER!
What the hell, Pinkie?

Great story.

4757479
Ah, but she didn't pinkie promise, and quite honestly Pinkie probably would have thought that if everypony knew that Cheerilee was a pegasus, she wouldn't need to keep it a secret. She was only doing what she thought was right.

And thanks!:pinkiehappy:

Well, that was entertaining.
I could really feel the sympathy being projected onto Cheerilee's situation.
Kudos.

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