My Brave Pony Starfleet Magic: Season IV

by DakariKingMykan

Episode 5: Teacher's Threat

Despite the many dangers occurring, just as was promised, society continued on United Equestria, and just as adults continued to work, the children went to school.

Today, Cheerilee had a special announcement to make. “Class, as you know this is the point this month where I name student of the month. Every month, a student gets special award for having shown outstanding progress in homework, tests, and assignments, and that also entitles them to this…” she stepped aside to reveal a simple, small star-trophy on her desk, along with three others exactly the same. Sweetie Belle raised her hand and asked “Um… Ms. Cheerilee. How come there are four of them?”

Cheerilee smiled proudly “Well, because normally I only give out one of these every month, but this month, four students in this class have all done outstandingly well, I decided to award them all with a trophy, and that’s why I am pleased to give these awards to… the Cutie Mark Crusaders.”

The Crusaders gasped in sudden shock, but their smiles soon widened, and almost everyone in the class cheered and applauded for them… everyone except Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, both of them were far from pleased. Nevertheless, the crusaders all approached the front of the class to accept their good-student trophies, and Cheerliee allowed them to say a few words.

Diamond Tiara was so frustrated and annoyed by all the attention that the girls were getting, that she took out her nail file and started to file her fingernails, and blowing on them. The noises were so loud that they distracted the girls giving their acceptance speeches, and they got tongue-tied a few times. Silber Spoon couldn’t help but chuckle at them.

Finally, the girls had reached their limits and angrily demanded that Diamond stop filing her nails. Even Cheerilee had lost her patience and confiscated the file from Diamond, scolding “Diamond Tiara, not only have I specifically told you NOT to bring your nail-file to school three times this week, but you have also been very disrespectful to your classmates.”

“But Ms. Cheerilee…”

“No buts!” Cheerilee snapped, and she locked the file into her desk. “As punishment, you are forbidden from going to recess for one entire week. Instead, you will stay right here in class and do work and chores.”

Diamond gasped in shock, and Silver Spoon thought Cheerilee was not being fair at all. Both their angers spiked when their teacher turned back to the crusaders and said kindly “Girls, you may continue your speech first thing tomorrow morning with no further interruptions.”

The bell rang for recess, and everyone except Diamond was permitted to go outside. All she could do was watch miserably as the children played about, and how angry she was at the crusaders for humiliating her.

Silver Spoon hated seeing her from the window, and was just as angry, especially seeing as how several of the students were fawning over the crusaders and their trophies. “Those are really neat.” said Snails.

“Yeah, yeah, I wish I had one of those.” added Snips.

“Well if you want, we can help you out sometime.” said Sweetie Belle.

Applebloom nodded “Eeyup, helpin’ is what we Cutie Mark Crusaders are for, even if we don’t have cutie marks yet.”

Scootaloo and DD then said part of a verse their gang had made up…

“Through rain, or snow, or sleet, or shine…”

“The CMC will help you fine.”

That’s when all four girls broke out into a hip hop song, wearing cool shades, and everyone else joined in the song as well.

Everyone began to hip-hop and dance to the groovy music, and the girls danced together while the others all chanted to the song…

By the end of the day, the students had gathered up their things to leave for home, but Diamond Tiara was still complaining and being rude. She and Silver Spoon stopped the crusaders along their path. “Just thought I’d say thanks… for getting me in trouble!” she snarled.

“It wasn’t our fault. You’re the one who broke the rules.” sneered Scootaloo.

Diamond gritted her teeth in fury, but Silver Spoon spoke “This is over yet, you trouble-makers. We’ll get you back for this! Just you wait!” then they walked off in a huff, at the same time, Applejack, Rarity and Buddy Rose came along. “Wow! Someone must’ve had a bad apple today.” said Applejack.

The girls explained what had happened, and the grownups thought that sounded funny. “Well, it sounds like you girls had a good day.” Buddy said.

“We couldn’t be more proud of you all.” added Rarity. She really seemed in good spirit after having her cutie mark and magic stolen a few days ago.

The girls felt flattered, “But really we owe it to Ms. Cheerilee.” said DD “She’s the greatest teacher in the whole universe.” added Applebloom.

“Yeah, I hope nothing bad ever happens to her.” said Sweetie, but she was soon about to eat those words!

Soon, Cheerilee finished that last of her work at the school, and then locked up. She did some shopping at the grocery market before setting off for home. The sun was setting and she knew she wasn’t supposed to be wandering the streets alone at night, as were Princess Luna’s curfew orders during war.

She was halfway home and was walking up to a simple small footbridge across a river, when suddenly she heard a noise from behind. She turned round, but no one was there. She sighed in relief, but she turned to face forward and found The Phantom of Magic staring at her. “Nice night isn’t it?” he hissed.

Cheerilee screamed, and ran for her life, dropping her groceries everywhere. “HELP!!” she cried “POLICE!! STARFLEET!!” but the phantom already caught up with her and appeared in front of her again. She tried to run another way, but he popped up in front of her again. “You’ll find that escape is quite impossible.” he hissed at her. Cheerilee tried to run again, but was paralyzed on the spot but the phantom’s powers. “So, you want to do it the hard way? It really doesn’t matter to me. In the end, I’ll get what I want.” He moved forward ready to take Cheerilee’s cutie mark and power that came with it…

A whole series of lights flashed on him. “Freeze!!” shouted Lightning. He was standing with an entire squad of space alicorns who had no cutie marks. “You are completely surrounded! Put your hands in the air!”

The phantom didn’t seem the least bit scared and chuckled softly. “Put my hands… in the air? Like this…?!” he raised his hands and sent out a swarm of energy pulses in all directions hitting all the fighters, giving him the chance to run off with the paralyzed Cheerilee. “After him!” shouted Lightning, and a massive chase began!

With so many officers scattered about, the phantom found it very difficult to get away. Everywhere he went more officers popped out or dropped down from the sky. A couple even burst through the manhole covers in the streets. “This is getting annoying!” the phantom growled. He had no choice but to quickly absorb what power he could from Cheerilee.

Her cutie mark glowed brightly from under her skirt, and vanished. “I have no further use for you now!” snarled the phantom, and he threw her hard, sending her crashing head first into a wall. Dyno and Myte saw it and ran over to help her, sending the other officers to go after the phantom.

“Cheerilee…! Come on, Chica, wake up.” cried Dyno.

“It’s no good, she’s out cold.” added Myte “We better get her to the hospital.”

Cheerilee was soon resting in the hospital. Dr. Penny confirmed that she had concussion and wouldn’t be waking up too soon. “Right now she really needs to rest.” said Penny “I don’t know when she’ll wake up though. She was hit pretty hard.”

The twins felt horrible for Cheerilee. Then, Lightning Starla and Krysta came in, all of them looking grim and frustrated. “He got away again.” Lightning hated to say.

The twins felt even worse and apologized, feeling they should had stuck with the chase. “No, boys, you did the right thing for Cheerilee.” said Starla. Lightning agreed, but he still felt frustrated. “Several other ponies also got their magic and cutie marks stolen. How is this guy doing all this?”

“URGGH!!” growled Krysta “I promise you, if I ever get my hands on him… why I’ll…”

“Take it easy Krysta.” Penny said “Things are already bad enough, and keep in mind, this is a hospital. Try to keep quiet.”

“Sorry.” said Krysta “I just wish we knew where this guy was operating from.”

“We all do, and we’ll find him.” said Dyno. His brother agreed “Si, we will, even if we have to search the entire planet inch by inch. Right, Lightning?”

Lightning nodded, but in the meantime, while the search for the phantom was mandatory, the school board would have to find someone to take Cheerilee’s place as a substitute at the school. Though Lightning was a licensed teacher, he would be far too busy with his duties and was needed in the search to help out this time.

“I’m also a member of the school council.” said Penny “I’ll talk to them and have them send someone down at once.”

“Thanks Penny.” said Lightning, and then he and all the others left to get back on their night patrol in case the phantom struck again.

Meanwhile, Cadance and Shining Armor were almost ready to call it a night. They were making sure all their guards were posted around the New Crystal Empire in case the phantom decided to strike there next.

Cadance was really tired, she hadn’t been sleeping well due to being plagued by that nightmare that kept repeating itself over and over every time she fell asleep. She drifted off into a soft sleep while on her throne, and had the nightmare again where she was scolded by those voices calling her bad luck and showing her all the disasters she had suffered.

She woke up in a startle to find she was all by herself, but she was really getting nervous. Her husband came in and looked pretty beat “Well…” he said while stretching out “Time to hit the old hay, you coming?”

His wife just sat there not even blinking her eyes.

“Cadance…?”

No response!

He tapped her and she shrieked softly, making him jump back. “Whoa-hoa! Are you okay?

Cadance tried to get a hold of herself, insisting she was okay, yet as they walked off to be together, one of the many suits of armor toppled over and fell on top of Shining Armor, just missing Cadance. “Are you okay?” she asked. Her husband was fine, but he was very annoyed. “I thought I had asked the carpenters to reinforce these pedestals. It seems like more and more accidents are happening around here.”

Cadance began to have a sick feeling in her stomach-- All that week, ever she first starting having the nightmares, strange unfortunate accidents had been happening around the palace, and everywhere she went…

The first morning she woke up, she and Shining Armor had just climbed out of bed, only for the ceiling to collapse right on their bed, just missing them.

They then visited the magic kindergarten in town to participate in a school charity, and to spend time with little children. While Cadance was playing catch with some kids, a big hole suddenly appeared in the ground, without explanation, and one of the kids got hurt, just a small bruise, but that was when Cadance started to feel worried.

The bad luck only worsened as she and her husband tried to have a romantic dinner on the terrace, one night, and their food suddenly burst into flames, and the cork on the champagne bottle suddenly popped off, hitting Shining Armor in the head…

…He still had a small bruise where it hit him.

Cadance was starting to think these were no mere coincidences, and neither did Shining Armor. “I think someone’s pulling these sick jokes on us.”

Cadance thought that was possible, but she really wasn’t sure. There was no proof as of yet, no one had been seen snooping around the palace.

“You are bad luck, Princess.”

“You will bring harm to your loved ones.”

Those haunting voices were beginning to plague her even while she was awake, making her think it wasn’t ordinary magic, but a curse, and she was starting to feel that maybe she-- No! She couldn’t believe it! She wouldn’t believe it!

“Cadance…?”

She jumped again, making him jump again too. “Cadance, what’s wrong?”

“Wrong? Nothing’s wrong?”

Her husband really wasn’t sure. He had noted her behavior patterns over the past few days. At first he thought she was just exhausted from all this extra work and duties, what with the Dark King and the phantom out there, but now he wasn’t so sure.

The next morning came, and the crusaders were on their way to school, they like all their schoolmates were well aware of what happened to Cheerilee, and many of them were very upset, but none as much as the girls were.

“That phantom creep!” growled Applebloom “If I ever find out who he is under that mask…”

“Easy, Applebloom…” said DD “What chance would we have against that big guy? We’d probably end up like Ms. Cheerilee.”

The others agreed, and thought maybe of giving their substitute teacher a chance, whoever that would be. They were about to find out when the automatic bell rang, and the students all began to head into the classroom.

The girls were last in line, but Sweetie forgot her knapsack. She rushed back to get it, and was in such a hurry to rush back that she bumped right into a tall stallion. He looked a bit like the U.E Games Inspector, Ms. Harshwhinny; orange in color with a blonde mane, but he seemed rather serious and stern looking. “I’m very sorry.” Sweetie said innocently. The stallion gazed down at her with a strange look either forgiving or not forgiving her.

Soon, all the students were inside, and chattering away as the stallion came into the school. “Silence!” he shouted sternly. The students made not a sound after that and just kept their eyes on him as he approached the desk and gazed out at everyone, rather coldly.

“Good. That’s much better.

I am Harry Harshwhinny; Mr. Harshwhinny to you; it’s written on the board, and yes, for those of you wondering I am related to U.E Games Inspector, she is my elder sister, but that is not the point. In the absence of Ms. Cheerilee, I will be running this class. You are to obey me at all times. Understood?”

All the students nodded, some were nervous and had a sick feeling in their tummies. “Very good, I like that.” said Mr. Harshwhinny, and it quickly became obvious that he meant business and was a tight-fisted hand to the grindstone. He intended to whip the class into better shape and a model of discipline.

He immediately lay down a set of new rules he expected the children to all follow "...without questioning!" he said, almost threateningly. His rules were very harsh and strict.

-Students would speak only spoken to
-No one was to leave their seat without permission
-No whispering to one another, and no passing of notes
-Tests and assignments handed in with a single erase mark would be instantly failed
-Sloppy spelling, punctuations, would also get failing grades.
-Cheating would not be tolerated
“...And we shall also have no lunch, or recess for one entire week.” he added. The students were horrified and would have protested, but seeing his stern eyes and the way he gazed at them all tapping his foot expecting them to stay silent really worked wonders. “Now then, I think I have made myself quite clear. Let’s see how well you understand. For your first lesson today, you will write down the rules that I have just given you.” he paused a second “…NOW!!” he suddenly shouted and pounded on his desk. The students quickly got down to writing as they were told.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon didn’t whisper to one another, but both happened upon the same idea to get back at the crusaders for the other day. Diamond scribbled something on a small sheet of paper, and while Hashwhinny wasn't looking, she softly managed to slide it over to near Applebloom’s desk.

It was only then, after hearing the sound of the paper slide, did he turn and notice it. “Ms. Applebloom! What is that?”

“What’s what, Mr. Hashwhinny?”

“Down beneath your seat there.” He crossed up and picked up the folded paper, unfolding to reveal a sloppy drawn picture of him looking angry and below it was a slogan that said “We’ve had better teachers than Mr. Harsh-Whiner; by Applebloom.”

“Is this your idea of a joke, young filly?” he asked softly yet sternly. Applebloom tried to protest, but he wouldn’t hear of it. “Hold out your hand.”

“My hand…?”

“Yes, your hand!”

Applebloom nervously stretched out her hand, and Mr. Hashwhinny gently took it; only to them swat the palm twice with his ruler. Many of the other students gasped softly in shock. “Keep your eyes on your own papers!” shouted Harshwhinny. The students hastily got back to their writing. “As for you…” he said to Applebloom “Since writing slogans seems to be more your thing, perhaps I have a few other hundred things you could write… after school!”

Applebloom gulped hard, and at the end of the day, she was put to work writing “I will not write dirty slogans about my teacher” a few hundred times on the blackboards, while all the other students packed up and were ready to leave. “See you tomorrow, Applebloom.” Diamond Tiara mocked as she and Silver Spoon left while laughing. The other crusaders felt awful and wanted to talk to Applebloom, but Hashwhinny wouldn’t let them “While she is in detention, she is forbidden from speaking or interacting. Go home now.”

The girls softly exchanged looks with one another. “GO!!” shouted Hashwhinny, and they ran out of the school fast before they got into any more trouble. Poor Applebloom could only sigh in dismay as she kept on writing her lines under the watchful stern eyes of her teacher. “I hope this teaches you a lesson. I also don’t tolerate troublemakers.” he said.

Applebloom said nothing.

It was very late when she finally got home. “And he just swat you?” asked Applejack “How could he do that to you?”

“He wouldn’t even give me a chance to explain.” said Applebloom “Now I gotta do all this homework too.”

“I really don’t like him.” said DD.

“Well, it sounds to me like maybe you girls got off on the wrong foot with Mr. Harshwhinny.” said Buddy Rose.

“Eeyup.” agreed Big Mac “I’m sure he didn’t mean to swat ya. Thems against the rules these days. Anyhoo, he’s still brand new. Maybe if y’all just work hard, maybe he’ll see ya as smarties.”

“Do you really think so?” asked Applebloom.

“We know so.” said Applejack “But listen, if anythin’ else goes wrong, you come talk about it with us, ya hear?”

The girls agreed, and continued with their homework.

Meanwhile, Mr. Harswhinny was out to dinner, with Diamond Tiara and her father, Filthy Rich, at Diamond’s request, which her father allowed as a chance to meet the new teacher. “I want to thank you again for allowing me to have supper with you.” Harshwhinny said “In all that's happened today, I lost track of the time.”

“Well, I’m glad to have met you, Mr. Harshwhinny.” said Filthy Rich.

“I’m especially glad you’re my teacher now.” said Diamond “Can’t say for those troublemakers, the cutie mark crusaders.”

“Really, Diamond-- that’s no way to talk at the table.” sneered her father. “No, wait a minute, sir…” said Hashwhinny “Troublemakers" you say?”

Diamond nodded, and made up a whole network of lies saying how the crusaders were rotten girls who always were causing her trouble and grief when all she wanted to do was try her best and be a good student. “Ms. Cheerilee often complained about all the headaches she used to get when dealing with them.” she lied.

“Hmm… I see...” said Harshwhinny.

Filthy Rich was not certain Diamond was being sincere.

The next day, most of the students had arrived at school, keeping well out of trouble, and silent as mice as Mr. Harshwhinny watched them over as he got them down to their math problems, and keeping his eyes on the crusaders.

Snips came in very late!

“Snips!” snapped Harshwhinny “You missed your spelling test!”

“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help it.” Snips said innocently, but Harshwhinny was unmoved, and ordered him to the front where he swatted his hand twice “Maybe that will teach you to be late!” he growled, but Snips acted as if he hadn’t felt anything. "I was only late becuase I had to stop at the doctor's so I could get a new inhaler for my asthma." he showed him the not e from his parents and his doctor to prove me.

Still unmoved, Harshwhinny glared deeply at the note, and then at the young colt, “Take your seat!” he sneered softly.

Sweetie Belle felt sorry for Snips and gaze at him as he crossed over to his desk.

“Sweetie Belle!” growled Harshwhinny “Since your eyes seem to be averted, perhaps I have other things for you to gaze at!” he slammed the dictionary right down on her desk and told to copy the entire A-section. “Whatever work you miss in class today you’ll have for homework!”

Sweetie Belle resisted any urges to argue, but DD and Scootaloo were starting to lose their patience with this creep, but he noticed them gawking at him. “Is something, troubling you ladies?”

“No sir, nothing.” said Scootaloo. DD shook her head.

Harshwhinny looked madder than ever “You’ll find I have a very low tolerance for liars.” he sneered “Both of you will stay after school! Are there any other objections?!”

Not a single student in the class responded or even looked up from their papers not wanting to get into more trouble, but Diamond and Silver Spoon were really getting a kick out of seeing the crusaders getting picked on, and they had both been secretly plotting for one final stunt that was sure to push Harshwhinny overboard, but it would have to wait until the next day so they could work without being seen.

After school it was a grueling time for Scootaloo and DD, and they were late going home. Buddy Rose and Applejack were still baffled by all this, and were thinking of maybe talking to Mr. Harshwhinny.

Even Rarity agreed when she and Spike saw them on pre-dawn patrol the next day. Spike rode on Rarity’s back as she flew across the skies.

“My parents told me that Sweetie Belle was still doing homework, when it was way past her bedtime.” she told the others “When she said why, she said Mr. Harshwhinny…”

“…Again with Harshwhinny?” snapped Applejack “Somethin’ ain’t right here.”

“Gee, makes me feel glad I don’t go to that school.” said Spike “Maybe we should do something right now?”

“We can’t, Spike.” said Buddy Rose “You know the Starfleet code: We don’t deal with minor domestic situations unless it really calls for it, and we haven’t any factual proof anyway to interrogate Mr. Harshwhinny, just judging from what the girls say isn’t enough. I know it sounds crazy, but it's the law.”

“Besides, we’re on strict duty.” added Applejack “We’re supposed to be on the lookout for the Dark King and his goons, not to mention that crazy phantom slinkin’ about. That’s much more important right now.”

Spike understood, but really they all were still feeling uneasy about the girls at school. They hoped things wouldn’t get any worse for them.

…But really, things were about to get really bad!

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had snuck to school early that day. They saw Mr. Harshwhinny place down his briefcase to unlock the school doors. Keeping well out of sight, the girls chewed some gooey gum, and then stuck little wads of it to the side of the briefcase. Silver Spoon even painted a few splotches of nail polish on the side of the case as well. Harshwhinny remained completely unaware and picked up his briefcase, not seeing the defaced side and just set it down on his desk, defaced side down.

The naughty fillies snickered wickedly.

Soon, all the students arrived, including the crusaders. “Golly, you look real beat, Sweetie Belle.” said Applebloom. Sweetie gave a huge yawn “Working late. You wouldn’t believe how much homework I had.”

“Um… yeah we do, we saw you yesterday.” said Scootaloo.

DD felt it really hard to hold her face steady. All she could think about was Harshwhinny and the way he was treating them all like troublemakers. “I’m telling you, somebody ought to use that ruler and give him a swatting!” she grumbled. The others urged her to calm down, not wanting to get into any more trouble.

They did wish their elder relatives would help them, but they also knew they were far too busy with patrols, and they knew the codes just as much. Plus, Mr. Harshwhinny was very harsh, but he hadn’t done anything extremely bad… yet!

“I still miss Ms. Cheerilee.” Said Sweetie Belle, and the other girls agreed, and all decided to go visit her in the hospital after school, even though she was still unconscious.

The girls were so lost in their chatting; they didn’t see Diamond and Silver sneakily slip some things into their knapsacks that the girls didn’t see or feel at all.

The two naughty fillies could hardly wait for class to start!

Soon, the students gathered into the classroom, set their knapsacks down, and Mr. Harshwhinny shut the door. “Students, pencils and papers ready.” he told them, and then he reached to pick up his briefcase off his desk, only to find it stuck with wads of gum, and defaced with nail polish.

Some of the students just couldn’t help but laugh, it was just too funny to see, but Harshwhinny looked ready to crush his briefcase in his bare hands. “You think the defacing of my property is funny? WELL I DON’T!!!” he shouted, silencing the laughing. Then, something caught his attention. He could see way back at the knapsacks in the back of the room, preferable the crusader’s packs.

He crossed over and found packs of the same gum, and bottles of the same nail polish that was splattered on his briefcase, inside the crusaders packs. The girls were speechless, and didn’t understand it, but Harshwhinny turned angrily to glare at them. “Ladies… you are expelled! Go home!”

The girls tried to protest that they did nothing, but Harshwhinny ordered them angrily to leave “OUT, NOW!!”

Diamond and Silver sniggered softly, believing they had finally won, but DD clenched her fists furiously, having taken enough of all this abuse, and stood up from her desk and sneered “We’re not going anywhere!”

Now all the other students had looks of shock on their face, and Harshwhinny was quivering softly in anger. “You troublemakers have caused me enough grief!” he grumbled as he softly approached her, but DD stood her grounds. “Get out of my school!” Harshwhinny growled.

“Maybe it’s YOU who should leave!” snarled DD. The other students all gasped in horror. “SILENCE!!” shouted Harshwhinny. “I’ve taken about all I can from you, young filly! I give you and your trouble making friends this last chance!”

“DD, stop!” cried Applebloom, “Don’t push him anymore!” added Scootaloo, but DD refused to move and continued to glare Harshwhinny down as if they were cowboys waiting to draw. Mr. Harshwhinny had taken enough of this, and he stomped over towards the broom closet and returned wielding a broom in a threatening way. “You have ten seconds to get out of my sight… or so help me… I’ll…!”

“Wait a minute!” snapped a voice by the door, and there stood DD’s cousin and he didn’t seem a bit pleased. Harshwhinny felt his stomach churn. “M-M-Major… Buddy Rose…” he said calmly “What… brings you here?” Buddy Rose just glared at the awful teacher, and said calmly “I was passing by on my rounds, and I heard you shouting. It’s a good thing I came when I did.”

Harshwhinny tried to cover for his actions, insisting “I’m having… a rather small problem at the moment.” but Buddy didn’t believe him one bit, he had seen and heard enough. “Children, I want you all to go home, right now. That’s a Starfleet order.”

Under Starfleet laws, the children had to obey, and. Harshwhinny could do nothing. After all the children left, Harshwhinny spoke furiously to Buddy. “Major! This is completely intolerable! I am going to report to the authorities about your interference here!”

“I’m sure they’d love to hear it, and about how you’ve obvious abused your authority,not to mention your students.”

“When I see a problem child I will discipline them however I choose!”

“Mr. Harshwhinny, I think it’s YOU, the teacher who is the problem here, and not the child!”

“HOW DARE YOU--!!” shouted Harshwhinny as he tried to grab him, but Buddy swiftly grabbed him by the collar and held him hard up against the wall, striking fear in his eyes. “I could arrest you right here and now for attempting to assault an officer, but I'll see you here after school... with the board of Councillors! We'll see what they think."

He left him go gently before leaving the abusive teacher alone in the empty classroom.

Exactly after school hours, the school was loaded with members of the school board; Applejack, Rarity, Spike, and Buddy Rose were all there too as witnesses, along with Dr. Penny who was on the council.

Mr. Harshwhinny stated his case: “I can make children into model students, but only if I am able to ensure their total attention, even if sometimes I must use harsh discipline.”

“Mr. Harshwhinny…” said the chairman pony “Major Buddy Rose insists that he caught you threatening his young cousin with a broomstick, which we find to be appalling, and extremely unorthodox.”

Hashwhinny explained, again, the situations that led to that, of him expelling the girls and their refusal to obey him.

Applejack, Rarity and Spike had only just learned of this, and were appalled to hear it. “Objection…!” Spike said raising his hand. “Second that!” added Rarity, but the chairman banged his gavel telling them to keep quiet and not to raise their voices.

“I would like to say somethin’, if I may?” said Applejack.

“Very well, Captain.” said the chairman.

Applejack presented a folder containing old test papers, assignments, and other things her sister and the girls worked on together, which Applebloom kept as memorials. All the tests had good scores, smiling stickers, gold stars. Then she approached Harshwhinny asking him “Why’d you expel the girls?”

Harshwhinny sighed “As I had clearly stated before, Captain Applejack, the girls were nothing but trouble since the day I came here. They were disobedient, lacking attention, and were caught defacing my property.” he referred to his briefcase.

“I would like to object to this.” said Buddy Rose.

Mr. Harshwhinny was starting to lose his patience “All these objections-- I am not on trial here!”

“Sit down, Mr. Harshwhinny.” snapped the chairman. “No one is on trial here, we are merely questioning you."

Harshwhinny complied and took his seat calmly.

"Go ahead, Major Buddy Rose.”

Buddy Rose held up a small folder containing reports from Cheerilee. As DD’s legal guardian and caregiver, he was given reports from Cheerilee. He read from one of them which stated as he quoted: “Daphne Dill is an extraordinary student along with the other girls. Though they do have their faults, and unintentionally have caused and gotten into trouble, they have learned from their mistakes and continue to astound me with their etiquette and hard work. I even dare say that out of all my students I deem them favorable.”

This report also helped him vouch for the girls for defacing the briefcase, seeing as all four of them knew better than to chew gum in school, and neither of them had ever worn nail polish before, even their fingernails were clear in class which Harshwhinny failed to notice, or care about for that matter. Still, he didn’t seem very interested. “Must we listen to all this? I am only concerned with the girls’ actions and behavior since I have been their teacher.” He was starting to sound desperate, but finally, Rarity asked to speak up. “Oh, not another one, this has gone far enough!” Harshwhinny groaned, but the chairman allowed Rarity to speak as was her rights.

“I would like to inquire the council…” Rarity said “Dr. Penny, when discussing matters of whom to hire as teacher, what made you decide to choose Mr. Harshwhinny.”

Penny stood up and answered “We had seen his resume…” she held it up, revealing it to be very long. “We had seen he had taught at many, many schools. I suppose we did take it at face value.”

Harshwhinny was starting to sweat, and dabbing his head with a hankie. Rarity approached him and had another question ask “Might I ask you, sir… why is your resume so incredibly long?”

By this time, Harshwhinny began to stammer as he spoke, “I… I’ve had many offers, one after another. I’m… a very busy pony.”

“I see. Then might I inquire why you left your last position?”

“I was… well… satisfied with the job I had done, and… as I said I had many demands.”

“One final question…”

“Honestly! How long do you intend to bully and badger me like this?!”

“I am doing no such thing!” snarled Rarity “I merely wish to inquire one final thing. Why is every date from each of your employments closer to each other by a matter of days? Surely you couldn’t have possibly done that much of a job so quickly.”

Harshwhinny bolted up right and snarled in her face “Are you am implying I am liar, and that I have made false statements?!”

“Mr. Hashwhinny!” snapped the chairman, but before he could say more, there was a knock at the door, and everyone could see from the window that it was none other than Ms. Harshwhinny. “No...!” pepped Mr. Harshwhinny as his sister came into the room. “Do forgive my intrusion.” she said.

When asked what she was doing here, Spike stood up and said how he wrote a letter to her earlier that day, and Ms. Harswhinny nodded. “Normally it is unethical of me to just abandon my duties as Games Inspector, but when I heard that my brother was involved, I came straight here.”

By this time, all Mr. Harshwhinny could do was snarl and vent steam. “How dare you!” he growled “How dare all of you! I came here to teach your children, to make them better ponies, and now you tell me what I do isn’t good enough, so you bring my sister here to further talk me down to size!”

“Mr. Hashwhinny, please understand…” said the chairman.

“I already understand!” snapped Harshwhinny “All these suspicions, all these interrogations. I can make your children better, but only if I am given a free hand to teach them as I see fit!

There must be order,

there must routine, rules!!

I MUST… HAVE… ORDER…!! I MUST HAVE CONTROL!!”

Finally, he had blown himself out. He was shaking in emotional stress, and softly sagged down into his seat resting his head, face-down in his arms on a desk. Everyone in the room gazed sorrowfully at him with hints of pity in their eyes, but no one said anything.

Ms. Harshwhinny approached her shaken brother, and placed her hand on his back softly stroking him. “I can’t begin to apologize for all this trouble.” she said to everyone else, “You’ll have to excuse my brother; you are no doubt aware that he is not well.”

Still no one said anything, but kept eye the shaken pony so pitifully.

Mr. Hashwhinny slowly got up to his feet, accepting his inevitable place. He sadly walked over to the door, and picked up his briefcase. He took one last look at the crowd and said “...I will turn in my resignation in the morning.”

Then he was gone, and Ms. Harswhinny followed him out and promised to help her brother get the help he needed for his power-hunger.

That night, the girls visited Cheerilee in the hospital, and were very happy to see she was awake. They even brought her flowers. “Oh, girls, they’re lovely.” she said.

“We’re so glad you’re better, Ms. Cheerilee.” said Sweetie Belle “And we’re really sorry you got attacked.”

“Oh, it’s not your fault girls.” Cheerilee said, and she peeked under her bed sheets at her blank flank. She really didn’t like no longer having her cutie mark, but she knew she’d have to be brave to get better. Even though she was awake now, the doctors said she still needed plenty of rest before she could go back to school.

The girls felt sad she still couldn’t come back, and they also felt a little sorry for Mr. Harshwhinny, having heard of what happened. Cheerilee was both baffled by the council letting such a pony teach and bully her students, but also felt sorry for him and his condition.

“But… who’s gonna be our teacher now?” asked Applebloom.

They all wondered that.

Nevertheless, the next day, the children were off to school again wondering who their new teacher would be. Diamond and Silver were disappointed that Mr. Harshwhinny left, but even more upset that they didn’t get the crusaders expelled.

Still, when they all entered the school when the bell rang, were they ever surprised…!

“Good morning, children.” said Lightning.

“Commander Lightning Dawn?” cried Sctooaloo.

Lightning smiled at them all, and before anyone could ask, he explained how he had managed to find just a little bit of time within his extremely busy schedule to teach the children, considering the little fiasco over the past few days, and as he was a licensed teacher. “Trust me, I can handle this.” he assured them. “Now everyone, take your seats please, and we’ll get started with our math.”

Having had Lightning as their substitute before, the children knew they could trust him, but still, Diamond and Silver were outraged, and while Lightning was writing down math problems on one of the side boards, with his back facing the students, Silver Spoon crumpled up a paper ball and threw it right at DD’s head. “Ow! Hey!” she snapped, other crusaders saw it this time. “Silver!” snapped Sweetie Belle.

“Quiet, please.” Lightning said calmly.

“But commander, Silver Spoon just threw that paper at DD.” snapped Applebloom.

“No, I didn’t.” Silver Spoon lied.

“She really didn’t.” added Diamond Tiara.

“Yes you did!” snarled Sweetie.

“Ahem!” Lightning said “Go stand in the corner…Silver Spoon.”

“Me? But I didn’t do anything.”

Lightning turned to glare at her deeply, but spoke softly. “Silver Spoon, don’t make things worse by lying to me. I know you did it…” he pointed to the floor at the shadows of the students caused by the sun shining through the window. “I saw out of the corner of my eye, and I saw you throw that ball of paper at DD’s head.”

“But… I…”

“No, buts, Silver. Now are you going to go stand in the corner, or do you want a week of detention to go with it?”

Resisting any urge to argue, Silver Spoon got up and went to stand in the corner. She felt really humiliated, and Diamond felt outraged, but the crusaders felt relieved that things were getting back to normal.

(Promo)

)