“That’s all for today, class! You’re free to go!”
For most of her students, it was greeted with sighs of relief and cheers, because on a warm summer afternoon such as this, it was anything but a welcoming study environment. Too many eyes were drawn to the windows, with thoughts of relaxation and play. As the rest of the class filed out, however, Cheerilee noted three stragglers remaining at their desks. While other students occupied the last hours of class by sleeping or daydreaming, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo had spent the time quietly passing notes back and forth. Being ever the optimist, she decided to let it slide, on the hopes it was at least related to the lecture, but now all three of them were huddled together and clearly plotting something.
The teacher made her way over to the three excited fillies, and prompted them, “Girls, I need to lock up the schoolhouse! You’ll have to make your way back home now!”
Apple Bloom took that as her queue to respond, “Oh gosh, we’re real sorry Miss Cheerilee, but we’re just plannin’ our campout!”
Scootaloo was next to interject, “Don’t even bother! An old pony like Miss Cheerilee doesn’t know anything about what it’s like to be a filly. She’s totally out of touch!”
Smiling knowingly, the magenta mare offered a comforting grin, “Oh, I think I know all about being a filly. I was one myself, after all.”
In response, Scootaloo just rolled her eyes, “Yeah, I bet you spent your whole childhood reading books and being a star student. I’m talking about having FUN!”
At this point, Sweetie Belle took the opportunity to interject, “Hey! I bet Miss Cheerilee knows all about fun! I bet she’d come with us on our campout, too!” At this suggestion, Scootloo and Apple Bloom both found mischievous grins plastered across their faces, and quickly urged her, “Yeah, Miss Cheerilee! You’ve got to come if you want to prove you’re fun!”
With a sigh, Cheerilee offered an apologetic smile, “I’m sorry girls, but I’m too busy today. I have a lot of responsibilities now that I’m an adult. Playing and camp outs are for children without responsibilities. Enjoy your time while it lasts!”
With that, the little orange filly exploded, “I knew it! She is no fun! C’mon girls!” and without further exchange, they left the schoolhouse. Lacking the energy to retort further, Cheerilee just sighed and closed the door. After a few minutes packing up papers she needed to grade, she locked up and set a course for her house at a steady trot. After dropping her saddlebags at the door, though, she couldn’t help but hear the words of the fillies echoing in her heard. After thinking for a moment, she lit up with a new idea, “I know how to show them that you can have a good time and learn while doing it! I’ll just need a book…”
Quickly locking her house, she made her way across town to the library. She was well-familiar with the two inhabitants there, so she concluded she would have little issue finding what she needed. Before she had scarcely laid a hoof on the door, however, she heard familiar giggling, and turned to see her three troublesome students headed out for their campout. This would not normally be a concern, but she noticed that the fillies were headed for the Everfree Forest. Troubled, Cheerilee surrendered the doorknob and quietly followed the trio, wanting to make sure they stayed out of trouble.
Following just out of earshot, the teacher was unsure what her three protégés were discussing as they skipped along the path, now on a certain course for the overgrowth. Troubled, she began to speed her pace, hoping to catch the three before they made the cover of the woods. It almost seemed as though that the more she sped up, the faster the girls went in their excitement to begin their camping trip, and by the time Cheerilee was able to breach the first trees, they were nowhere in sight. The teacher began the scour the ground for tracks, but could find nothing because of all of the odd foliage covering the ground. Even brushing aside the blue flowers, she wasn’t able to find any tracks, or even trampled petals, so she resigned herself to the realization that they must’ve taken a different route. While she was worried about the fillies, the mare realized there was little one pony could do to find three fillies in the forest, and decided to enlist help.
First would be Rarity, Sweetie Belle’s sister, who lived in town. Cheerilee made her way to the Carousel Boutique and knocked on the door, and after some prompting, was welcomed in by Rarity.
After not a small amount of fussing over trying to fit her for a dress, Cheerilee was finally able to communicate to Rarity that Sweetie had gone into the woods for a campout, but she was surprised to find Rarity unconcerned.
“Oh, darling, you should have said something sooner! There’s simply nothing to worry about. They’re not so much ‘camping out’ as ‘sleeping over’. They’re staying with that odd zebra that lives out in the woods. A bit of a ghastly place if you ask me, but I’m not terribly worried: she has proven to be a reasonable steward in the past, and I fear I haven’t done my best of giving her the benefit of the doubt! I simply had to let Sweetie go.”
Cheerilee raised a brow, “You’re letting Sweetie go camping because you feel guilty?”
With an incriminating grin, Rarity responded, “Well, perhaps I was also motivated by a need to finish a rather large order without any distractions. Still, you simply must give Zecora the benefit of the doubt. Really, it’s none of your business anyway. I hate to be so coarse, but even as a filly when we were back in school, you rarely knew how to cut loose. Remember you took your role in that silly school play so seriously? Let the girls have some fun. Some little girls actually like fun.”
“Wait, you mean the play you were literally sobbing over because you thought the costumes weren’t sparkly enough?”
“I think you’re remembering incorrectly, darling, now if you’ll be a dear, I’ve got to work on this order. So if you please?”
Resignedly, Cheerilee made her way out of the shop and headed home. As much as it went against her nature to let her students wander in the forest, Rarity was right: it wasn’t her business to butt in. Having had enough excitement for the day, she flipped off the lights immediately when she arrived home and threw herself onto her bed, perhaps the only remnant of her crazy middle years: a water bed that sloshed back and forth in response to her bombastic entrance. Deciding to grade the papers tomorrow, she relaxed and quickly willed herself to sleep.
That night, her dreams were plagued by turmoil. An infernal ticking noise filled her ears, and she fruitlessly looked for refuge in a land of endless plateaus and shadows. She wandered for what seemed like miles, but to no avail. She could feel the life being sapped from her body with each step, and she felt hopeless. However, suddenly a ray of light pierced the cloudy heavens and struck the ground not far away. The mare made her way to the contact point, and she found a golden-rimmed mirror. Gazing inside, she gasped, surprised to see the reflection of a much younger pony, before it cracked and she awoke with a start.
It was morning, but still dark out. With a groan, Cheerilee decided to get a head-start on her work before the sun could come up. She attempted to roll out of bed, but after a full rotation, she had not reached the edge. Confused, she rolled again, and again, before falling off the bed in a tangle of blankets. Shakily, she worked her way up, but found the whole room out of perspective in the dark. Everything seemed too high. Groggily, she worked her way over to the counter where she left her papers, but was surprised to find it above her head. She stood up on her hind hooves and muttered to herself, “What in Celestia’s name is going on here?”
Half serious, she indulged the little voice of worry at the back of her head and sought out a mirror after turning on the lights, and was horrified to find that she was about a head shorter than when she had went to sleep yesterday. Turning to get the full view of her body, she couldn’t help but think she looked like a little filly. More specifically, she appeared young enough to be in her own class.
Cheerilee was certainly an optimist, but even she was not unflappable, and a shriek escaped her before she started to panic. What happened to her? Would she be able to get back to normal? Who would watch her class? She spent most of the morning pacing her house and worrying and stumbling over her now incorrectly proportioned legs until it was well into the day. By noon, she remembered that Twilight Sparkle, the inhabitant of the library, and an expert magician in her own right, would probably have a solution, so she quickly locked up her house and headed for the library.
The mare-turned-filly was not halfway to her destination, however, before she felt a large hoof on her shoulder, and was spun-around by a light brown police stallion dressed in blue, giving her a stern look.
“Er, is there a problem, officer?” she attempted, cringing at how high her voice had become.
Giving an annoyed glare, he shot back, “I think we both know you’re playing truant today, little miss. How about we get you back to class? I’m sure Miss Cheerilee would like you to grace her with your presence for the lesson.”
Exasperated, she tried to form a response, “But-but, I AM Cheerilee!” – though she fully realized how ridiculous the statement sounded from a little filly. Unsurprisingly, the officer was unimpressed, and quickly took hold of the little mare’s shoulder and started pushing her to her own classroom.
With little adieu, she was shoved into the schoolhouse and the door slammed behind her. The eyes of all of her chatting students, which had been taking advantage of the teacher’s absence, turned to her at once. Embarrassed, she didn’t know what to say. Looking as she did, she realized her former pupils would look upon her as a peer, not an authority, and she would have to come up with an excuse quickly. Fortunately, most of her work was done for her. Apple Bloom exclaimed, “Are you a new student?” Sheepishly, she acknowledged the yellow filly’s statement, and the class circled her prying answers out of her.
“What’s your name?” inquired Snails.
“Err… Flower… Bloom?” the purple equine offered, giving the name of one of her fellow students from her first time in school.
“That explains your cutie mark!” added Snips.
With a condescending frown, Diamond Tiara added, “What kind of cutie mark is that, anyway? Gardening? How pathetic. Listen up, Flower Bloom: I’m the boss around here, so don’t get in my way!” Giving her best menacing look, Silver Spoon tried to back her up.
“I’ll… keep that in mind,” Cheerilee responded. She was surprised at how tactless the pink filly was without an adult around. She had never realized just how much of an ego Diamond Tiara possessed.
Sweetie Belle took the chance to comment, “Your mane and coat look just like our teacher Miss Cheerilee’s! Are you related?” Before she could get any further, however, she was cut off by Scootaloo, who interjected, “Come ON, Sweetie Belle. Nopony is colored like their relatives! Frankly, the fact that both you and Rarity are white is freaky.”
At this point, the class began to devolve into several arguments about familial appearances and patterns, which gave the would-be-teacher time to slip away to the door. She was just a few steps outside when she heard Apple Bloom call, “Wait up!”
She turned to see the three Crusaders behind her, proudly stating, “If you want to cut class, that’s fine, but let us come with you! You look like the kind of pony who knows how to have fun!” Unable to resist the dramatic irony of the situation, the little magenta filly cocked her eyebrows and gave a smirk before saying, “Sure, let’s go!”
A few minutes later, and she was leading the Crusaders into a dance club. She didn’t want to waste any time, so she planned to make her escape after the Crusaders had absorbed themselves into the music. It was still early afternoon, so the club was abandoned, with no ponies at all except the bartender, looking bored. Cheerilee quickly took to the floor, and started putting on all her old moves from back when she was enjoying the ‘wild’ period of her life, and she was genuinely enjoying herself for a few moments before she looked up and noticed none of the Crusaders had joined her. Scootaloo was the first to break, stating flatly, “You really think dancing is fun? Guess we were wrong. You ARE boring.”
More than a little hurt, Cheerilee shot back, “Well, then what do YOU think is fun?” The Crusaders traded knowing glances, then Scootaloo casually trotted over, closing the distance, and before she could say a word, the orange filly had slapped her, exclaiming “Tag! You’re it!” before all three of them bolted out the door.
The diminished mare gave a tired sigh and trotted outside. The Crusaders were waiting outside with large grins, each a safe distance away in case she broke into a sprint, but she chased none of them, electing to walk toward the library instead.
“What’re you doing?! Don’t you want to have fun with us?”
“I’m sorry you three, but I don’t have time for it right now. Besides, isn’t tag a little bit childish?”
Apple Bloom was quick to close the gap, circling up in front of Cheerilee and stopping her in her tracks, “What’re you calling childish? We’re children, after all! It’s okay to cut loose and have a little fun. You don’t have to be so strung up! Do you think you’re—“
The little yellow earth pony was surprised to be cut off by an impact, and she looked down to see a magenta leg attached to the hoof that had struck her in the chest. “You’re it,” Cheerilee responded gleefully, before sprinting off. Laughing at the ruse, Apple Bloom chased after her, and they spent the better part of an hour playing. By the end, though, Cheerilee realized she needed to ditch the trio, and suggested they switch to hide ‘n’ seek. To buy herself more time, she exploited her knowledge of her students’ weaknesses, and suggested the fillies count to seventy in multiples of seven, instead of simply counting to ten, and took off as Sweetie Belle stumbled over which multiple comes after fourteen.
With no further interruptions, the Cheerilee hammered on the library’s door, and quickly elicited a response from Twilight, who opened the door in confusion. “Erhm, can I help you?”
“Twilight! You have to help me! It’s me, Cheerilee! I woke up today, and I’m the size of one of my own students! I think I must be cursed, or it’s some bad karma for secretly following my students into the woods yesterday!”
Though first surprised, Twilight gave a knowing nod after Cheerilee finished her tale. “Curses involved with the Everfree Forest? I think I know just the solution for this.” She ushered the now-little earth pony inside and set about searching the bookshelves. “We’re looking for a book called Supernaturals. It should be in the magical remedies section, but this is a library, so depending on if someone returned it recently, they may have put it in the wrong place. SPIKE! Can you check the checkout log while we get started looking?”
Little rummaging was required before the dragon responded with worry in his voice. “Twilight, I think someone checked it out… and hasn’t returned it yet. Also, it may be slightly overdue.”
“OVERDUE?! Nopony gets away with that in MY library! We’ll get that book back and return it to its rightful place if it kills us!”
With a word in edgewise, Cheerilee snuck in, “You mean we’ll use it to get me back to normal, right, Twilight?”
“Err… right. That first. You’re right. Who has the book, Spike?”
“I don’t recognize the name, Twilight, but based on the spelling, it looks like one of the ponies that runs the spa that Rarity likes so much.”
“That would make sense. I remember them asking Zecora for the recipe. That’s a good starting point: I bet they already have a brew cooked up!”
Arriving at the spa, Cheerilee was disappointed further. “It’s closed today? But I need to get back to my class. They’ve already missed one day!”
Ever perseverant, Twilight suggested that she retrieve the book on her own later, because there was an alternate source for a cure. “We’ll have to go see Zecora. That’s where we were cured when we were afflicted with Poison Joke. Then again… the Everfree Forest is a pretty dangerous place to take a foal.”
“That’s why I tried to stop the girls from going in at all.”
Awkwardly, Twilight gave a sheepish response, “Actually, I meant you.”
“Well you can’t just leave me behind, Twilight.”
“Alright, but stay close and listen to me, I don’t want you getting into trouble.”
“TWILIGHT SPARKLE! I’m not really a little girl.”
“Sorry! Sorry. We’ll just be careful.”
They made their way into the woods, which was a surprisingly uneventful journey, aside from Twilight indicating the mysterious blue flowers that she suspected were afflicting Cheerilee, which she acknowledged. When they arrived at Zecora’s hut, however, they were disappointed to find it empty.
“Oh no… Zecora must have gone to find herbs for her potions. If the door is locked, we won’t even be able to borrow her book,” Twilight practically moaned in worry.
To their surprise, the door to the hut swung open after her statement, and in the doorway they found the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
“Hiya Twilight, we were just comin’ over to Zecora’s to help her clean up after ourselves from partying last night on our campout,” Apple Bloom began, before being followed by a chorus of, “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS: HUT CLEANERS!”
Scootaloo’s line of contention was more aggressive, though. She scrutinized Cheerilee and remarked, “What are YOU doing here, Flower Bloom? You already ditched us once.”
Twilight suppressed a giggle and whispered, “Flower Bloom?” before getting a glare from Cheerilee.
“Well, we were just stopping by to look for Zecora. Little ‘Flower Bloom’ here needs her help.”
Excited once again, the Crusaders formed mischievous grins. Sweetie Belle attempted her most innocent voice and said, “We’ll tell you where Zecora went if you finish our game of hide ‘n’ seek. You never took a turn counting!”
Exhausted, the little magenta mare tried, “You can’t be serious,” but only got a series of stoic nods, so she caved and acquiesced. As Cheerilee began to count her sevens (at the insistence of an indignant Sweetie Belle), Twilight gave a bemused laugh and took a seat in the hut to await the end of the game.
While a new filly might have difficulty in finding the Crusaders, Cheerilee was able to apply her knowledge of her students once again. Remembering Sweetie’s constant resistance to her sister’s clean obsession, she was able to locate the unicorn in the nearby swampy water. Searching the skies for the flier-wannabe Scootaloo, she found the pegasus filly in a tree. When it came to Apple Bloom she was stumped, quite literally, surrendering to the stump-top “base” after circling the hut several times. Thoughtfully examining the ground, the magenta mare remembered the soft, moist ground left hoofprints, and she quickly located the set that belonged to Apple Bloom, though they disappeared onto firm grassland after about fifty feet. She was surprised to find, however, a second set returning back to the stump that stopped abruptly halfway with no explanation. Headed over to investigate, Cheerilee bent down to examine the tracks and slammed her face directly into Apple Bloom’s side, causing her to topple.
With a disappointed whine, Apple Bloom remarked, “I thought if I used some of Zecora’s chameleon elixir, you’d have to stay and play with us longer.”
Ever the adult at heart, Cheerilee gave a sigh and said, “Apple Bloom, I appreciate that you like to play with me, but you need to tell me where Zecora went.”
“That’s the thing. We were stalling you because we’re not sure where she is right now--“ Apple Bloom started before cut off by another exasperated exclamation by their old teacher, who laid down on the ground, ears back and hooves over her eyes. “I’m never getting back to normal, am I?”
Not a moment too soon, a voice rang out into the clearing. “Do not fill your face with gloom, / I have returned, Flower Bloom. / I have brought all the herbs with me you see, / to restore you to Miss Cheerilee.”
With surprise, Cheerilee looked up to see Zecora returned with all the herbs necessary to brew an antidote to Poison Joke. She looked with confusion to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who were all laughing.
“Miss Cheerilee, you couldn’t possibly expect us to not recognize you!” Apple Bloom began.
“Yeah, especially when it was you that taught us that no two ponies have the same cutie mark,” finished Scootaloo.
With a big smile, Sweetie Belle said, “We figured out pretty soon that you had probably fallen into Poison Joke, but we wanted to play with you! When you disappeared, we came here and asked Zecora to start working on a cure!”
With more than one sigh of relief, the antidote was quickly brewed, and before the day was out, Cheerilee stood once again at her full height.
The next morning, the class at the schoolhouse was all in a ruckus. “Who does that Flower Bloom think she is, to leave early her first day, then skip her second? She better not think she gets better treatment than us!” Diamond Tiara clamored. Cheerilee just smiled and offered, “I think Flower Bloom had to move back home, after all.”
There was a series of exaggerated cries from the front row: the Crusaders. Apple Bloom remarked amusedly, “Awww, but we were just gettin’ to be good friends!”
Scootaloo added, “Yeah, she really knows how to have fun! Not like YOU at all, Miss Cheerilee!” – a statement to which Sweetie Belle responded with a knowing glance, “I don’t know, I still think they had a lot in common.”
Taking command of her class, most of which were confused by the last few statements, Cheerilee gave a little smile and said, “Well, I’m sure she enjoyed playing with you too, girls, but some ponies have a lot of responsibilities. Maybe she can come and visit again someday, when her school isn’t so busy.”
With that, Cheerilee broke into her lesson for the day, and the Crusaders began plotting how to slip their teacher some flowers to cause the return of “Flower Bloom”.
