Cheerilee had just opened the letter from the mayor's office, the letter that ended her life. Cheerilee hadn't gotten out of bed for three days afterward. She told her friends who came calling that it was due to her feeling a little ill, in truth she was feeling ill, but it was no physical ill. She had been retired since she had personally been putting off her retirement until she couldn't do the job anymore, the mayor's office had finally taken the decision out of her hands.
Cheerilee had a short laugh at the coincidence in that. Mayor Mare had been forcibly retired herself a few years ago. Though in her case it came in a form of everyone in Ponyville refusing to vote for her so that she'd finally get the message she should relax and take some vacations for once in her life. But Cheerilee had, perhaps foolishly, never thought it could happen to her. Now it had happened to her, and she was not handling it well.
Cherilee couldn't help but feel that this was piling on at a time she didn't need piling on, she just had a letter from the filly of one of her old students as well. One of her favorite students in all her time of teaching, Crimson Spark had been lost on an expedition up in the mountains as he lead off a group of yeti's to allow the rest of his expedition to escape from the mountains with their lives.
Cheerilee, finally, on the night of the third day, pulled herself out of bed. She had had plenty of people concerned for her well being. Friends, their families, the many, many students she'd taught over the years, at least those who'd stayed in Ponyville. She had just graduated Applejack's youngest grandfoal last year, she taught two entire generations of ponies in Ponyville, for some three but those habits were uncommon.
Cheerilee hadn't ever had planned on a family, she had never had a particular interest in one. As cliche as she thought it sounded, she didn't have one, two, or five foals, she had hundreds. She smiled and shook her head slightly, oh goodness, five foals, but she supposed a farm was the place for large families. She still had plenty of friends who came to see her, all her old friends, and a few from the younger generations. She glanced up at her half grayed hair with a small snort, younger generations indeed.
Cheerilee walked outside, it was the dead of night. She walked the deserted streets, smiling as she remembered all the past events, all the dates, weddings, parties, chance meetings, jokes, breakups, and even outright fights that had happened over the years. The thing that now struck her about them is they were almost never about her. With few exceptions, she had been a bystander, the watcher as things happened around her. At the time, that had been fine with her, she enjoyed watching others have the spotlight.
Cheerilee stared into the dark mirror that night had turned the fountains still waters into. Now she somewhat doubted her past choices. She now had nothing, nothing at all. She had no family to speak of, she was an only child and her parents had passed on years ago. She never married, she had no stallion, and as such she had no foals to take care of, though even if she did they'd have been grown and had their own lives by now, though the side effect of having no foals, was she didn't have any grandfoals, or great grandfoals either.
Cheerilee had friends, yes, they came to make sure she wasn't dying, but few had time to spare to spend with her. Applejack was still working the farm, as determined as ever. Twilight was off doing something magical with Starlight Glimmer discovering new spells or some other unicorn thing. Fluttershy had her animal hospital up and running, and despite being full of fine, caring ponies, none quite had her touch with the animals. Rarity wasn't even in Ponyville most the time, she still 'lived' in the town, but she was constantly taking a chariot from one city to the other. Pinkie Pie had a whole chain of parties she still organized. And Rainbow Dash, well everyone knew where she was, she wasn't the fastest anymore, but she still spent almost all her time training new Wonderbolts, she had made that her life, like Cheerilee had made teaching her own.
Cheerilee continued to walk through Ponyville, until she came to the new school building. About two decades old now it had four rooms in it, and she had two other teachers to help her with the increased number of students. She walked over to the statue that had been built in front of it, at her suggestion they went with the great writer Free Quill, one of his quotes along with his name at the base of the statue. "Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." Cheerilee used to like that quote, now she simply sighed after reading it. She was no writer, and she had done nothing worth writing about.
Cheerilee shook her head, she was just depressing herself now, maybe she should just go home and go back to sleep. Tomorrow she'd figure out something to do, she wasn't sure what, but something. Maybe she could start a tutoring service for anypony who was falling behind. She might consider adopting a foal, but she was too old to be chasing young foals around really. Or perhaps she could try now and find some romance, it was too late for true romance she assumed, but some stallion might be lonely, after his mare passed, and they could pass their lives in personable companionship until they too moved on...
Cheerilee had just turned to return to her house, accompanied only by her dark thoughts, when her head shot straight up int he air, her eyes going wide. The old school bell? Why was it ringing now? She frowned, it wasn't ringing for a good reason, that was for sure, had to be some young pranksters. She wasn't about to let some young hooligans mess with her old school house, no matter if it wasn't used anymore, it was still one of the most precious places in her heart, and she had made sure that it was looked after through the years, more out of old habits than anything else.
Cheerilee came to a stop outside of the schoolhouse, it looked completely deserted, and when she opened the door it was. She sighed and walked in, closing the door behind her. It must have been her imagination, but still, she felt a bit better in her old school house. She had plenty of good memories of students in the new building, but she supposed her heart would always be in this old school house. She sat behind her old teacher's desk that had been left here, looking up, seeing the bell above her, reminding her, they had removed the clapper when the schoolhouse was decommissioned, it really must have just been her imagination that the bell rung.
Cheerilee looked back down at the desks of the students, left unattended all these years, but suddenly they were attended. She nearly choked in shock as she saw ponies sitting behind them, but not foals like their previous inhabitants, full grown ponies, mares and stallions were sitting in attendance of her. She was torn between being upset at a small hoard of ponies invading her schoolhouse in the middle of the night or just baffled by the event, she ended up on baffled. "I'm... Sorry, what is going on here?"
Cherilee watched as one of the stallions in the front row slide out from behind the desk, though really he could have simply walked over it, and approach her. "Hello Miss Cheerilee, it's Crimson Spark."
Cheerilee gasped, and protested, "You can't be Crimson Sp..." She realized that he did indeed look like Crimson Spark... She leaned to the side and saw his cutey mark, blinking as she looked at him, it was Crimson Spark. "So you are... I've missed you Crimson Spark but you can't be here you..."
Cheerilee fell silent as Crimson Spark too over the sentence. "I died up in the mountains, yes Miss Cheerilee, I came here to thank you. You were at my flank that day Miss Cherilee, it was something you taught me, a poem by Crown's Grace, "any pony's death diminishes me, because I am involved in ponykind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee."
Cheerilee's eyes shifted as another pony came up to them, a unicorn smiling happily. "Aqua Lilly, I died in Manehattan Miss Cheerilee. I was researching cures for the cutiepox. I was exposed to raw magic and contracted it myself. I kept remembering a poem you taught us, by a poet name Walker, "I would be true, for there are those who trust me; I would be pure, for there are those who care; I would be strong, for there is much to suffer; I would be brave, for there is much to dare." Something that I never forgot, something that you gave to me."
Cheerilee watched a third mare walk up, this time Cherilee beat her to the first word. "Gold Bow!" The blue mare nodded, smiling and Cherilee's eyes watered slightly. "You were the first..."
Cheerilee let out a single tear as the other pony started to speak. "The first to die, yes Miss Cheerilee. I was in Canterlot during the Storm King's invasion."
Cheerilee nodded, remembering. "You held off two of his soldiers as a dozen other ponies fled."
Cheerilee noticed a medal hung around Gold Bow's neck as she lifted her head slightly. "I was posthumously awarded the Equestrian Medal Of Valor. I brought it to show you because in part it's your medal too, you taught me the meaning of courage."
Cheerilee blinked and looked around the room. "Absolutely incredible..." As she walked around the room, all her past students gave her similar stories, they all had learned many things from her, that had made changes in their lives that she wouldn't have ever dream that she had made such an impact upon her students, apparently she had taught much more than math, history, and concrete subjects.
Cheerilee looked back as she head Golden Bow speak again. "We have to go now, Miss Cheerilee. We just wanted to thank you. To let you know that we will be forever grateful, and know that each of us will always carry with us something that you gave us."
Cheerilee wasn't sure why, but she walked over and sat behind her desk as she watched all the other ponies return to their own desks, sitting, and smiling at her, she smiled in return, before she again heard the old school bell, she took a second to glance up at the still bell, before looking back down, and smiling sadly this time, as she was once again, alone in the old school room.
Cheerilee yawned slightly, laying down and resting her head on her hooves. She had been giving herself, and her students too little credit. Perhaps she hadn't written any stories, and she hadn't done anything for a story to be written about, but she did play some small part in the lives of others who would have their stories written, and perhaps, by that measure, she too had made her contribution to the stories that would be written of Equestria in the ages to come. She closed her eyes, having found a peace she couldn't have imagined three days ago.
Cheerilee was not at home the next day to meet her past student, after enlisting a few of Cheerilee's other friends to search they managed to find her. At least, her body, was in the old school house of Ponyville, behind her desk like she had spent so many years in the past. No one could explain why she came all the way out to the old school house, and the doctors couldn't explain exactly what was the cause of death, neither could any of them explain the smile now eternally on her lips.
Author's Note
Ok, I apparently lied to myself when I thought I was just ever going to publish one fanfic, but in keeping with my habits, it's still a weird one! And yes, every paragraph begins with Cheerilee, it just kind of happened on the first two and I though "Oh what the heck! It's a theme now!
Since a bunch of these quotes (and this idea) were mutated from other places here comes some citations.
The first quote, "Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." Is actually by Benjamin Franklin.
The second quote is a slightly adapted "any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee." By John Donne
The third quote is "I would be true, for there are those who trust me; I would be pure, for there are those who care; I would be strong, for there is much to suffer; I would be brave, for there is much to dare." By Howard A. Walter.
This entire story was very much inspired by the Twilight Zone episode "The Changing Of The Guard."
Last note, in case any of you don't know, here in the US "Passed" is a euphemism for having died. "Passed on."
