The school bell rang as colts and fillies flooded into the schoolhouse, desperate to avoid being marked tardy.
Cheerilee sat behind her desk with attendance sheet present; there was a small portrait of each student next to each blank check box. When she first entered college, she began second-guessing what her Cutie Mark represented and took a few art classes. While they had been fun, she ultimately realized it wasn’t for her as she pursued her teaching degree. But, she still enjoyed drawing from time to time.
Apple Bloom was sitting between Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. Cheerilee remembered a year ago, little Apple Bloom was quite distraught about not having a Cutie Mark before forming that club with the other two. While she was pleased that they were getting along, she wished that they thought most of their ideas through a bit more carefully before acting on them.
After marking Apple Bloom present, she looked towards Sweetie Belle. Given what close friends their sisters were, she found it a bit peculiar that she and Apple Bloom had never interacted all that much before Diamond Tiara’s cute-ceañera. Still, she supposed the fact they were getting along now was really all that mattered.
Scootaloo was a filly that she couldn’t help, but feel sorry for. For whatever reason, she didn’t seem to be able to manage anything but a small hover for a few moments, while most Pegasi learned to fly when they were foals. In fact, she once overheard a snide comment from Diamond Tiara about the Cake’s colt being a better flier than her with him just being a newborn before Cheerilee reprimanded her. Fortunately, however she seemed to be quite athletic in other endeavors, like with that scooter she was usually riding on.
Diamond Tiara, where to begin with that girl? She was definitely a spoiled brat, Cheerilee had to speak to her father personally, several times on account of her frequent misbehavior and only once in a blue moon did she ever actually seem to get punished for her actions. Cheerilee knew girls like Diamond Tiara, she had been targeted by them all throughout her school years and wondered if Filthy Rich was truly unaware of her attitude, just didn’t care, or was afraid to face the reality of the way his daughter acted. Frequently she had emphasized that he had to work on turning his daughter around before it was too late.
Silver Spoon’s family was about as wealthy as the Rich’s, only she was a lot more subtle. Sadly, she seemed more content to follow Diamond Tiara’s example than make an attempt to forge her own path. Which felt like quite a shame as both girls showed great intelligence on all of their test scores.
Snips and Snails were the opposite; they were the class clowns and any trouble that they cause both inside the classroom and out seemed to be mostly accidental, for the most part anyway.
Twist, the young filly with the lisp seemed to be more excited about class than any of her peers, which both pleased and amazed Cheerilee as a lot of students who got their Cutie Marks would tend to develop the attitude of ‘I already know what my special talent is, why is anything else important?’
There was also the quiet, but enthusiastically inquisitive Featherweight, whom she had to have a few talks with on respecting others personal privacy when she caught him snooping around the drawers of her desk.
Pipsqueak, the young colt from Trottingham seemed to be adapting to Ponyville quite well, but Cheerilee told him that if he ever ran into any difficulties he shouldn’t hesitate to come talk to her.
As she marked down the rest of the students as present, she cantered over to the back of the room as the students perked up, seeing her wheel the projector to the front of the classroom.
“Now class, I want you to pay attention as we have a very important lesson today.” She announced as the presentation started.
“Today we are going to be talking about magic.” She began as the projection showed the word ‘MAGIC’ accompanied with bolts and stars Cheerilee had drawn.
“Now, I realize that some of you may already be aware of what magic is.” She continued, looking towards Snips and Snails.
The image switched to a shrugging pony with a question mark above its head.
“But, did you know that magic isn’t just exclusive to Unicorns?” she asked.
“Ooh! Ooh!” Twist raised her hoof enthusiastically.
“Yes, Twist?”
“Each kind of pony hath their own thpethal kind of magic.” She replied.
“That’s right!”
“Know-it-all,” Diamond Tiara grumbled to Silver Spoon.
The image switched to a drawing of a Unicorn.
“Unicorn magic is typically the kind we think of when hearing the word, they are also the most adept at using it of the three pony races.” Cheerilee continued. “Usually a Unicorn’s magic will more or less be limited to focusing on their special talent…”
“Like my big sister?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Exactly,” Cheerilee agreed. “But, there are also rarer Unicorns who’s special talent is magic, such as Starswirl the Beard, that Trixie,” she gritted her teeth at the memory of her return and the humiliations they had all endured during her thankfully, brief reign.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie” Snails corrected her.
“Thank you, Snails.” She replied through gritted teeth. The fact that those two could stay so devoted to her with all she had put them through amazed her. But then again, they weren’t the ones who were forced to eat dog food in front of a crowd before being forced to fetch a tennis ball. Possessed by dark magic or not, her contempt for Trixie remained; it didn’t seem like she was ever going to stop having those nightmares.
“As well as our very own local librarian; Twilight Sparkle.” She finished brightly.
‘Thank Celestia for her.’
The image then changed to a Pegasus pushing a cloud.
“Pegasi have both the ability of flight and to manipulate the weather,” she explained. “This allows them to create rain for crops here in Equestria.”
“Like Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo blurted out, her wings buzzing excitedly.
“Yeah, too bad you’ll never get to experience that Blank Flank!” Diamond Tiara laughed as Silver Spoon joined in.
They stopped as soon as they caught Cheerilee glaring at them.
“Diamond Tiara, I would like to see you after class.”
“As I was saying,” she continued. “Pegasi are also physically the second strongest and athletic of the three races, which is quite useful when dealing with severe weather.”
The slide switched to a drawing of an Earth pony bucking a tree with another image of a flower circled.
“Earth Ponies are the strongest of the three races, this makes them quite skilled at heavy-lifting and getting fruit down from trees.”
“Just like my big brother and sister!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.
“And that’s not all; as the name suggests, Earth Ponies are more attuned to the Earth than others, leading to them being more skilled with growing things like flowers and vegetables.”
“But, wait…” Scootaloo frowned. “What about ponies like Princess Luna and Celestia?”
“That’s a very good question and I’m glad you asked.”
The slide changed once more to reveal an Alicorn with a crescent moon in the upper left corner and a sun in the upper right.
“Finally, there are Alicorns which have the physical traits of all three races; long and slender, yet powerful legs of an Earth Pony, the wings of a Pegasus, and the horn and magical ability of a Unicorn.” Cheerilee continued. “Although, Alicorns are far rarer and more powerful, enough so that they can control celestial objects like the sun and the moon just like our princesses.”
“Um, Miss Cheerilee?” Pipsqueak asked uncertainly, raising a hoof. “You’re forgetting one…”
Cheerilee blinked.
“I am?”
“What about Princess Luna’s royal guards?” he elaborated. “What kind of ponies are they?”
She had actually completely forgotten about Luna’s guards and hadn’t made a slide for them.
“That’s…a bit more complicated.” Cheerilee replied, sheepishly. “Very little is actually publicly known about them, so I’m afraid that there isn’t too much that I can tell you. However, they do make up the majority of Princess Luna’s guard as Pipsqueak pointed out. They have wings like Pegasi and can also fly like them; only theirs are like bats and have slits for eyes.”
“Despite their intimidating appearance, however they are not evil, but their appearance is believed to be influenced by the fact that they came from deep mountain caves. As a result of their origin and bat-like appearance lead to them to be called ‘Bat Ponies’. Otherwise, they seem to share the same basic traits as other Pegasi.” She concluded.
Sweetie Belle looked at Scootaloo uncertainly before shakily raising her hoof.
“Miss Cheerilee, could a Pegasus turn into a Bat Pony?”
“No,” she replied, chuckling. “As far as science is concerned, the Bat Ponies have always had these physical traits; any changes that might occur would probably be magical. But, those are the kinds of ridiculous ideas that sell horror movie tickets. No Pegasus could just suddenly turn into a Bat Pony and it almost certainly couldn’t happen overnight. I’d stake my teaching career on it.” She laughed.
“Well, that concludes our lesson for today.” She finished, switching off the projector before heading back behind her desk as the students brought out their lunches.
Cheerilee took out a sheet of paper from her desk drawer before putting a pencil in her mouth and writing a letter to Diamond Tiara’s father, after several pages the bell rang for recess as she began folding it and placing it in an envelope.
“Diamond Tiara,” she called out as the pink filly began scampering out the door. “We have something we need to discuss, remember?”
Diamond Tiara sighed as she rolled her eyes in annoyance before slowly making her way up to Cheerilee’s desk.
“I don’t get what the big deal is.” She grumbled. “I just pointed out she couldn’t fly.”
“No,” Cheerilee retorted. “You pointed out both her disability and the fact that she doesn’t have a Cutie Mark to mock and offend her, neither of which are first time offences for you.”
Diamond Tiara merely rolled her eyes again.
“You’ve been making fun of the Cutie Mark Crusaders and their lack of Cutie Marks for some time now, how would you have felt if another filly called you a ‘Blank Flank’ back before you had your Cutie Mark?” she asked.
“Not good, but it didn’t happen so…” Diamond Tiara was cut off as Cheerilee continued.
“And making fun of Scootaloo because she can’t fly? A physical handicap!? I know you don’t like her, but to sink that low just to make her feel bad about something she has no control over?”
“It’s not that bad!” Diamond Tiara protested. “I mean, she could still make tons of Bits in a freak show.”
For a moment Cheerilee just sat there, mouth agape, completely gob smacked at how callous this girl was and given her age, it also set quite a disturbing precedent.
“Diamond, what if you were in an accident-let’s say you were in a cart and it toppled over and you broke a few of your legs?” she proposed as a hypothetical scenario.
“I would rest in the hospital for a few weeks and then they would get better.” She replied, nonchalantly.
“Yes, but what if they were hurt so bad that they didn’t?” Cheerilee pressed. “What if the doctor’s told you that you would never be able to walk again? And all of the other fillies and colts made fun of you because you were different?”
“Th-That would never happen!” she protested. “My daddy would still love me and Silver Spoon would still be my best friend!”
“Maybe,” Cheerilee agreed, unsure of the Silver Spoon part. “But, that doesn’t sound like it would be very fun, does it? That’s how bad Scootaloo feels when you make fun of her for not being able to fly and its how all of the Crusaders feel when you make fun of them for not having their Cutie Marks.”
“I’d still have Silver Spoon as my friend…” she repeated, Cheerilee was unsure if she was still trying to convince her or herself.
“Are you sure?” Cheerilee pressed.
“Yeah!” Diamond replied. “She always hangs out with me and when I’m sick she sends me cards saying that she hopes I feel better!”
“Well that’s very sweet of her, but do you do the same?” she challenged.
“Well, no-but…”
“I’m trying to teach you empathy, Diamond Tiara.” Cheerilee cut her off. “Do you know what that means?”
She shook her head.
“It means that you understand and share the way others feel.” She explained. “You may not realize it now, but I’m trying to help you.”
Cheerilee slid the envelope towards Diamond Tiara.
“Do you know what this is?” she asked.
“A letter?” Diamond responded, apathetically.
“A letter to your father to be exact.” Cheerilee corrected her.
Diamond Tiara’s ears flattened as her eyes shrunk to pinpricks and her heart rate increased dramatically.
“A letter to my daddy…?” she repeated in horror as closer inspection revealed the name ‘Filthy Rich’ written on the envelope.
“I won’t send this to him on the condition that you apologize to Scootaloo and promise not to harass her with this ‘flightless’ business ever again, or I will bring it to your father personally to ensure that he gets this one as I still have a few choice words about your behavior I don’t feel can adequately be expressed on paper. Do you understand?”
Diamond Tiara nodded weakly.
“Good, now go apologize to Scootaloo and enjoy what’s left of your recess.”
As soon as Diamond Tiara shakily made her way outside, Cheerilee let out a deep sigh. She didn’t like to be confrontational with her students, but she feared the way that girl was going to turn out if drastic action wasn’t taken to improve her attitude. As busy as Filthy Rich was, she was confident that he would drop everything if he realized just how frequent this alarming behavior was being exhibited by his daughter.
Finally, the bell rang signaling the end of recess and that the students could all go home. Today had felt so much longer than every other, but then again, the days always seemed to drag on when dealing with Diamond Tiara acting up. Surprisingly, Scootaloo ran up to her.
“Did Diamond Tiara apologize to you?” she asked.
“Yeah, she didn’t mean it, but whatever…” Scootaloo replied.
“I know it’s hard to ignore when she say things like that,” Cheerilee commented. “But, it really is best if you try to ignore her because your negative reaction is what she’s counting on.”
“I guess…”
“Unfortunately, there are a lot of Diamond Tiara’s in the world and very rarely will they ever get punished.” She continued. “I know it isn’t fair and it’s not what you want to hear, but it’s true-and that’s why I want you to learn how to deal with it now.”
Scootaloo grimaced.
“But, if it’s any consolation-if she ever says anything like that to you again, let me know and I’ll send a letter to her father about her behavior.”
“So?” she retorted irritably. “Even if he gets it, he probably won’t do anything about it!”
“What about on Family Appreciation Day?” Cheerilee countered.
“That’s just because his business counts on Granny Smith and her farm! If he wasn’t afraid of losing money, he probably wouldn’t have done anything about it!” Scootaloo continued with tears of frustration forming in her eyes.
“Even when he did punish her, it didn’t change anything!”
“Maybe not.” Cheerilee agreed. “But, you have something she doesn’t; you have two close friends who care about you.”
“But, she has Silver Spoon…” Scootaloo pointed out.
“For how long? How long until Silver Spoon realizes that Diamond Tiara isn’t as good a friend as she is? Until she decides that she no longer wants to be friends with such a mean, selfish girl?” Cheerilee asked.
“When that happens, Diamond Tiara will be all alone and she’ll regret not being nicer to everyone just because of petty differences from her.”
Scootaloo looked up at her.
“And maybe, hopefully, she’ll make an effort to change for the better-especially if you girls are there for her.”
“Why would we do that?” Scootaloo asked, confused.
“Because you’re not like her, you and the other Crusaders feel sorry for others and you care about them-I’m not saying you have to do anything-but, I really believe it might help her change her ways.”
“Maybe…” Scootaloo replied uncertainly, before getting on her scooter and putting her helmet on as Cheerilee returned to the schoolhouse to lock up.
