//------------------------------//
// Ms. Cheerilee 
// Story: It Can't Be Taught 
// by RunicTreetops 
//------------------------------//

A yawn escapes from a purple-pink mare as she crawls out of bed, her eyes still half-lidded in response to the sunlight pouring through her window. She stretches a bit as her hooves hit the creaky wooden floor, a painful-sounding snap coming from her back as she does so. She slowly makes her way across the room, each hoofstep echoing through the mostly empty house. A slight groan can be heard as she enters the bathroom across the hall before lazily brushing her messy mane out of her face. Right now, she feels exhausted and downright miserable.

This is a normal morning for Ms. Cheerilee, Ponyville's resident elementary school teacher. She's known for always greeting everypony with a smile, and she is a well-respected member of the community. However, as far as she's concerned, that's only because nopony can see her when she's like this. It takes a lot of effort to always be presentable and "in a good mood," but if she wants to be a role model for Ponyville's colts and fillies, she's gotta do what she's gotta do.

She yawns again as she exits the bathroom and makes her way to the kitchen, immediately getting to work on brewing a fresh pot of coffee. Without the sweet nectar known as caffeine, there is little doubt that she wouldn't make it through a school day. As the water heats up, she trots out of the kitchen and into the connected dining room. She starts to reach for her bag, but as she does so, she notices some mail being pushed through the slot in her door. With a sigh, she bends over to pick it all up. Let's see... bill, bill, junk, bill, junk, the morning paper, bill, junk. Great.

Still not entirely awake, Cheerilee tosses the junk into a nearby trash can (which appears to have not been emptied in weeks) before setting the bills down on her table, adding them to an ever-growing pile. With that out of the way, she reaches for her bag yet again, double-checking that she has everything she needs for the day. As far as she can tell she's good to go, and with a familiar-sounding ding coming from the kitchen, a smile finally makes its way to her face.

Cheerilee pours herself a cup and sits down at the table after deciding to skip breakfast today. Taking a sip of her coffee, she uses her free hoof to grab the paper. The "Equestria Daily" never misses a beat, even if there hasn't been much news lately. Her eyes calmly skim over the massive headline, which reads "Aliens in Ponyville: Fact or Fiction?!" Cheerilee scoffs as she reads the sensational article. 

They're not technically wrong. An alien did, in fact, arrive in Ponyville a few days ago. Nopony knows how it got there, not even the alien itself. However, it does appear to speak the same language as them, and as far as they can tell, it bears them no ill-will. The town's librarian, Twilight Sparkle, took on the responsibility of taking care of it and learning about it. If she weren't Princess Celestia's student and one of the mares responsible for saving Equestria a couple of times over now, Cheerilee imagines there would have been a bit more kickback surrounding her decision to do so. For her part, though, Cheerilee doesn't really care either way.

Heck, she doesn't have time to care. No matter what anypony says, teaching is an extremely strenuous and time-consuming job. If she worried about every little thing that Twilight and her friends got up to, she'd never get anything done. 

Speaking of, it's about time that she got going.





"And that, students, is how magical researchers and inventors came together to create the practice we know today as enchanting, which is vital to many of our modern technologies!"

Cheerilee, now looking as picture-perfect as ever, looks out over her class. She continues to smile a warm smile at her students, even as she realizes that none of them are paying attention. Most students, like Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara, are clearly looking in another direction or doodling in their notebooks. Some, like Scootaloo, are asleep at their desks. The most attentive student is Twist, and even she has eyes that appear to be glazed over.

"Are there any questions?" Cheerilee scans the classroom. Either none of the students even registered that she asked a question, or none of them care to answer. Her smile wavering ever-so-slightly, she calls out to the sleeping Scootaloo. "Scootaloo!"

"Huh?!"

Scootaloo shoots awake, the fear in her eyes prompting a few nearby students to giggle.

"Were you listening?"

"Er... o-of course I was, Ms. Cheerilee! It's just... e-everypony knows all of that stuff already, hehe!"

"Oh? Then I suppose you'll pass today's pop quiz with flying colors!"

The class collectively groans as Cheerilee produces a stack of papers from behind her desk. She promptly passes them around and asks the students to get going. They do so, each and every one now awake and anxiously filling in the blanks. Cheerilee withholds a sigh and glances out a nearby window. The Ponyville schoolhouse isn't very big. It's well-maintained, sure, but there isn't a whole lot of space. Thankfully there's plenty of room outside for the children to play, but even the playground equipment is old and falling apart. For how much the school board loves to breathe down her neck, they sure don't do a whole lot to actually help the school's funding... nor her paycheck.

After ten minutes pass, the bell begins to ring, signalling the start of recess.

"Leave your quizzes on your desks, they will be graded when you come back in!"

Without any hesitation or even a sound of acknowledgement, the students all race out of the building, eager to be anywhere but in class. Finally alone, Cheerilee lets out that sigh she had been holding in. She slowly forces herself to walk from the front of the room towards the students' desks, methodically picking up each and every quiz and sorting them in alphabetical order. This would likely be time consuming if it weren't for how much practice she gets doing it every single day.

It only takes her about five minutes to grade the quizzes. As she suspected, even her top-performing students like Silver Spoon and Twist did poorly. She rubs her temple in frustration, making sure to smooth out her coat afterwards so as to not make it obvious that she was upset. This poor performance has been a trend over the last few months. In fact, everything has just been on a bit of a downward spiral. The students don't have the excitement for learning that they used to, and their attentiveness and grades are both hurting because of it. Meanwhile, this is causing Cheerilee to lose passion for her job that she has loved for so many years. That, combined with her nonstop exhaustion as of late, has made the Ponyville Schoolhouse a place where nopony is happy.

Cheerilee looks through the window yet again, carefully watching the students as they enjoy the fair weather. This is the time of day when the students are at their happiest. Smiling students are why she does this job, after all. And yet, even recess isn't a true escape from her growing worries. 

On the far side of the playground, she can see Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon circling Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. Although she is too far away to hear what they are saying, it's clear that they're teasing the three. Cheerilee isn't stupid, nor is she ignorant to the plights of her students. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are bullies, through and through. For a brief moment, Cheerilee considers marching outside and putting a stop to all of it. However, she can barely take one shaky step before she stops herself. With a deep breath and a heavy heart, she sits back down at her desk, hoping that recess passes quickly for those poor fillies. 

If it wasn't for that stuck-up little so-and-so from the school board, Spoiled Rich, she wouldn't think twice about putting Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon in their place. However, as it stands, her hooves are tied. She can't deny a direct order from the school board lest she lose her job, and with Spoiled Rich being Diamond Tiara's mother (and more than willing to use a threat or two to get what she wants), Cheerilee finds herself stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Thankfully for her, the bell finally rings. She quickly calls the students back inside, knowing full well that those two fillies wouldn't dare continue their bullying in front of her. Not even Spoiled Rich could defend her daughter being a bully in the middle of class.

Now, if only she could get these students to pay attention.





Snips and Snails finally exit the schoolhouse and close the door behind them, leaving Cheerilee alone once again at the end of the school day. The sun will begin setting soon, and it's about time for her to head home as well. She takes a deep breath and attempts to collect her thoughts before reaching for her bag.

One more day down.

However, as Cheerilee opens the door to exit her place of work, she jumps at the unexpected sight that greets her. On the other side of the door is none other than Twilight Sparkle, the unicorn librarian from the Golden Oak Library. Her hoof is lifted in the air as though she was just about to knock on the door when Cheerilee opened it, and they both look at each other with wide eyes.

"O-oh! Good afternoon, Twilight."

"Good afternoon, Ms. Cheerilee. Erm, am I interrupting something?"

"Not at all, I was just about to head home for the day. What can I help you with?"

"Well... oh, how do I put this?" Cheerilee tilts her head as Twilight brings a hoof to her chin, carefully considering her words before she tries to speak again. "Are you aware of the creature that appeared in town the other day?"

Cheerilee opens her mouth to speak, but briefly hesitates. That was not what she was expecting to hear.

"Y-yes, I suppose so. I only know what I've read in the papers, though."

"Well, the long and short of it is, his name is Anon. He is a creature called a 'human,' and we have no idea how he got here."

"Okay, I'm following so far."

"I got Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to help me, but we still can't figure out where he came from or how to send him back. We're loath to admit it, but right now, it looks like there's nothing we can do for him."

"That's terrible!"

"I know. Thankfully, he's a really nice guy. He's just a bit... well, confused. Our ways of doing things are completely foreign to him, after all."

"Um, Twilight?"

"Yes?"

"Not that I don't sympathize, but what does this have to do with me?"

"Well, about that..." Twilight fiddles for a moment, rubbing her right hoof over her left leg as she breaks eye contact with Cheerilee. "Princess Celestia advised me to find somepony who might be... you know... willing to act as his mentor?"

"Mentor? Like, you want me to take him on as a student?"

"Not exactly." Twilight takes a deep breath before looking at Cheerilee again, the anxiety clear on her face. "Anon is an adult, after all. It would be strange to put him in a classroom full of children. Still, he doesn't even know some of the basic fundamentals of Equestria, like the differences between the ponykinds or how the country was founded. It's going to be hard for him to become self-sufficient if he doesn't get a firm grasp on how things work around here. So, we were hoping you might be able to act as a sort of guide for him after school hours end. You know, give him a lesson or two, show him around, that sort of thing?"

"I'm... flattered that you would consider me for this, but why me specifically?"

"You're the only teacher in Ponyville. On top of that, you're a darn good one. It might be simple, but I think that's a sound enough reason to make you a prime candidate for this. I'd do it myself, but I have a tendency to... er... get lost in the weeds, as it were."

"Hm."

Cheerilee thinks to herself for a moment. The agreeable mare in her that's passionate about teaching wants her to say yes. She knows that it's probably the right thing to do, but lately, she's had her hooves full on a normal schedule. How could she hope to do what she's already doing and act as some alien's mentor figure?!

"Did I mention that Princess Celestia offered financial compensation?" Cheerilee's ears immediately perk up. "We know it wouldn't exactly be the easiest task in the world, so we thought-"

"I'll do it."

"H-huh?"

"I said I'll do it. I'd be happy to help. Plus, I'm sure it'll be interesting trying to teach an alien, hmhm!"

"Oh. Oh! Yes, right! Good! I'm glad to hear that!" Twilight looks extremely relieved, and Cheerilee realizes that Twilight didn't have a backup plan had she said no. "I can bring him here after school ends tomorrow, if that's okay with you."

"Sure, Twilight." Cheerilee nods and gives the unicorn a smile. "I'm looking forward to it."

"Great!" Twilight vigorously shakes Cheerilee's hoof before turning around. "I need to get back to the library, we're still sorting out his living situation. I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Goodbye, Twilight!"

Cheerilee waves as Twilight begins to trot away. Once she is out of earshot, a deep sigh escapes the tired teacher. She really, really doesn't want to teach some alien guy during her off hours, but she also desperately needs the money. After double-checking that her saddlebag is secured to her body, she slowly makes her way back home, dreading what the next day might bring.