It Is Recommendsday, My Dudes #29 · 6:34pm Oct 6th, 2021

Did you know yesterday was World Teachers Day? I had no idea when I started this blog post, but it's apparently a thing! And well timed, given today's subject.

Today we start with the legend Posh and the stupendous "Teach Me Goodness".

It's the last minutes of the last day of school before summer - and Miss Cheerilee drops a bomb of an announcement. She's headed to get her doctorate in education from the University of Fillydelphia. Which means that she's leaving as Ponyville's schoolteacher. Some of her students take it better than others. Diamond Tiara takes it worst of all.

While not my favorite of Posh's works (that honor goes elsewhere), it's a beautiful piece for a number of reasons. One of the bigger narrative shortfalls of the G4 run was how Diamond Tiara just sort of vanished after her redemptive episode. There was still so much more to tell and to do with her, and this story picks up nicely with that. It particularly drives home that her redemption wasn't just the Crusaders - it was Silver Spoon and Cheerilee and the rest of the class that built the framework and set the stage for the final catalyst.

But the strength, really, is leaning into the surrogate parent aspect of modern teaching. Diamond's family situation is crap, and she's latched into the one authority figure in her life for guidance. And now that figure is leaving without even a day's notice. It sells the inter-relationship well, digs the claws in hard and then twists in a delightfully painful way. Total top notch stuff.

E"Teach Me Goodness"

Cheerilee bids farewell to her friends and students before going back to school in Fillydelphia.

Posh · 22k words · 297 6 · 3.1k views

And to counterbalance the bittersweet joy, we have Cheerilee being a complete badass.

Mrs. Robinson's Stand by Wishywish is, on the surface, quite the opposite kind of tale.

Canterlot has fallen to the Storm King's army. The Guard has been swept aside, the Princesses are incapacitated or missing, and the city is on lock-down. All except a single pocket of resistance - a lone schoolteacher defending her students.

I admit it: I am a massive sucker for the 'valiant but hopeless last stand' trope. It's one of my absolute favorites and gets me every time. So seeing Cheerilee face down my third favorite unicorn Tempest Shadow? That's a real treat.

She can't win. She knows it. It's never a question. She fights anyway, because there's a dozen foals behind her.

That situation is part of why this works. Cheerilee knows from second one that she can't win - she just doesn't let it stop her. It's raw, stubborn bravery and dedication. There's no Mary Sue here, no miraculous deus ex machina. The action's present, but the story is really about Cheerilee's heart and how much she believes and cares.

Did I mention I love this trope?

TMrs. Robinson's Stand

Tempest Shadow, commander of the northern armies and mistress of her own name, has subdued the capital of the world's largest nation without a single casualty on either side. One obstacle remains. This is a tale of the pillar that would not fall.

WishyWish · 8k words · 334 9 · 4.5k views

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