//------------------------------//
// Bending the Rules 
// Story: It Can't Be Taught 
// by RunicTreetops 
//------------------------------//

Cheerilee's day off was better than she could have ever imagined. At one point she got out of bed to make herself some food, and she spent a little bit of time cleaning up before settling down with a book she hadn't had time to read in months. It was a slow, relaxing day, something that she hadn't had in a long, long time.

Then, when the following day came around, she had energy to spare. It's true that her class was still as unenthusiastic as ever, and she still felt herself becoming more and more drained as the day went on. However, when it came time to act as Anon's mentor again, she found herself not hating it as much as she had been. Yes, he was still acting like a douchebag, with a quip or a sarcastic remark prepared for seemingly every little thing she said. And yet, she didn't feel any hostile intent from his words. In fact, she caught herself responding to his strange sense of cynicism in kind, which seemed to humor him. Sure enough, by the time he went home, she didn't feel tired at all. How strange.

Thus, the next several weeks continued just like this. Yes, she is still exhausted. Yes, her life is still looking quite bleak. But there can be no doubt that she is, at the very least, happier. And now, she finds herself teaching Anon in the late afternoon once again.

"And that's how the Pillars of Equestria banished the three sirens to another dimension, never to be seen again!"

"By Equestria, you mean."

"I... huh?"

"So, they threw the sirens into another dimension. What about the creatures living over there? How did they deal with the sirens?"

"Well, I... I suppose I never really questioned that."

"That's how you ponies are, isn't it? Out of sight, out of mind."

"HAH! I think I'd be better off if you left my mind whenever you weren't around."

"Ohoho! You think about me that often?"

Cheerilee blushes just a tad and looks away from Anon.

"As if!"

"Not my fault I'm so irresistible."

"You know what? I'm assigning you homework!"

"H-homework?"

"That's right!" Cheerilee looks back at Anon, the blush not quite gone from her face, but a confident smile still breaking through it. She quickly grabs some paper from a nearby cabinet and begins furiously writing. "Here!" She slams the paper down in front of Anon, who looks at it with trepidation. "A scavenger hunt!"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me! A scavenger hunt!" Cheerilee points to the first item on the freshly written list. "An Apoca Bloom, a copy of 'Chromeo and Mareiet,' and a necklace of jade!"

"Why?"

"All items that we have been covering in class, which you would know if you pay attention as much as you claim to." Cheerilee tilts her head back a bit and attempts to look down at Anon, but fails miserably due to how tall he is even when sitting down. "Surely a task like this isn't too much for a 'grown man' like you, hmm?"

Anon grumbles something beneath his breath before grabbing the piece of paper and crumpling it in his hand as an act of defiance.

"Oh, I'll get your stupid project done. Heck, I'll get it done tonight."

"I look forward to seeing you try."

The two lean in extremely close in an attempt to intimidate the other, but they both stop when their noses are barely an inch apart. They both decide to turn away as their cheeks turn red.

"I'll see ya tomorrow, Lee."

"That's Ms. Cheerilee to you!" Anon sticks one hand in the air again as he exits the schoolhouse, not able to hear Cheerilee mumble beneath her breath. "In here, at least."

As Cheerilee takes a moment to regain her composure and collect her belongings, she suddenly freezes. According to EEA regulations, she isn't allowed to give out projects like that anymore. Especially not on a whim! 

Oh no. Oooooooooooooh no no no no no no. This is bad. REALLY bad. She can't defy the EEA! What if somepony finds out?! She could lose her job! She could lose her income! She could be exposed for-

Cheerilee purposefully slams her head against a wall, forcing her thoughts to stop. It hurts. A lot. But at least her head is quiet. Closing her eyes, she takes a deep breath.

Anon's education isn't being handled through the EEA. Nopony is going to say anything. She's going to be fine. She's going to be fine. She's going to be fine.

...Yeah. She's going to be fine. 

With a resolute nod to no one in particular, she finally grabs her bag and heads home, surprisingly eager to see how Anon does.





As Cheerilee's students return to the schoolhouse after another typical recess, they're caught off guard by the dark expression on their teacher's face. She sits at her desk, resting her chin on her folded hooves as she silently watches them enter. A stack of papers sits before her, and every single student knows darn well what those papers are.

"Class." The students takes their seats, each and every one too terrified to say a word. "Do you mind telling me why not a single one of you passed this month's test?" The schoolhouse is silent, the room full of terrified, guilty looking children all waiting for anyone else to say something. "Anypony?"

Finally, Scootaloo of all ponies manages to break the silence.

"...S-sorry, Ms. Cheerilee. It's just... learning about foreign cultures is so boring. It's hard to remember all that stuff!"

"I promise you, it is not 'boring,' it is one of the most important lessons for you to learn here! What if you run into a creature different than yourself, and they need your help? What will you do?"

"Uhh... help them?"

"And if you don't understand what they're saying, or what they need?"

"If I can't understand them, why are they asking me for help?"

"Scootaloo, that isn't the point! What if... you know, if you were to... ugh!"

The students all flinch as Cheerilee's head hits her desk. About as soon as that happens, she picks herself back up again, trying desperately to play it cool.

"Ms. Cheerilee?"

"It's fine! Everything is fine!" Cheerilee takes a very deep breath to calm herself down before speaking again. "Anyhow, let's move on. Perhaps you'll actually retain the lecture this time."





The door to the schoolhouse flings open. Cheerilee picks her head off of her desk to see Anon arrive shortly after her last student departed. He makes no effort to close the door behind him as he enters, opting instead to let it close on its own as he appears to be carrying something.

"Got the shit you asked for."

Anon haphazardly dumps a glowing white flower, a book, and a necklace adorned with little green gemstones onto Cheerilee's desk.

"...Huh."

"Told you I'd get 'em."

"And how did you?"

"Got help from Zecora, got help from Twilight, and got help from Rarity. In that order."

"Don't you think that's cheating?"

"Wasn't the whole point of our little mentorship bullshit to teach me how to acclimate myself to Equestria? That's exactly what I'm doing, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is, but... but... huh."

Cheerilee trails off, her eyes losing focus. However, the exhaustion in her face seems to lessen just a little bit. Anon raises an eyebrow.

"What's wrong with you? You might be old, but you shouldn't be ready for the glue factory yet."

"..."

"...Lee?"

"Wha?!"

Cheerilee suddenly snaps back to the present, as if she only just remembered that Anon is there.

"You good?"

Anon's teasing takes a slight turn towards genuine concern.

"Y-yes, I'm fine."

"...Come on. Spill it."

"Hm?"

"There's something on your mind. Out with it."

"It's really none of your-"

"Just shut up and tell me."

"..." Cheerilee stares at Anon for a moment or two before sighing. "You need to learn to give up."

"I was thinking the same thing about you."

Cheerilee chuckles.

"It's just... I wish I could teach my students the same way I teach you."

"Hmm?"

"You just... you get it! I can give you projects! I can take you out to the town whenever I want. I can prove a point however I deem necessary, and guess what? It works!" Cheerilee throws her hooves into the air before slamming them back down again. "Can't do that with these damn kids! Not if the EEA has anything to say about it!"

"How would they know if you just bent a rule here or there?"

"Trust me, Anon." Cheerilee locks eyes with her human companion. Her expression is about as serious as he's ever seen. "They'd find out."

"Then screw 'em over in another way."

"Feh. And what do you mean by that?"

"I mean that you don't have to break the rules." Anon leans onto Cheerilee's table, bringing himself ever closer to the tired mare. "You just need to think outside the box. Be the reason why they make new rules."

"Heh. As much as I love the idea of sticking it to the EEA, that'd never work. Their rules are more or less all-encompassing. Not much I can do to wriggle out of them."

"Then let's brainstorm. What's something that the little gremlins like?"

"Recess."

"And?"

"Going home."

"And?"

"..." 

Cheerilee thinks for a moment. Due to her extremely busy schedule, she doesn't really get a chance to see the students outside of class all that often. She can make a guess or two, but the last time she actually saw them all collectively excited outside of recess was... 

Wait a minute.

Cheerilee looks to Anon, her eyes sparkling with the glow of a mare that just had an idea.

"I like that look in your eye, Lee." Anon quietly laughs to himself. "Let's fuck some shit up in the most tame way possible."





"Any questions?"

Every student in the schoolhouse raises their hoof, their eyes glued to the front of the classroom and excited smiles plastered to their faces. Cheerilee just sits back and watches, an ecstatic look on her face as well.

"What about you, Snails?" 

Anon, who stands before the classroom, points at the orange colt in the back.

"Uhh, what do you humans eat in your world?"

"Oh, it's a lot of the same stuff you ponies eat! There are some differences, though. We don't eat flowers, we typically have fewer veggies, and... oh yeah, we can't eat hay!"

The class erupts into a combination of giggles and gasps.

"You can't eat hay?! That's terrible!"

Anon smiles at Snails and laughs, knowing he'd get that type of reaction out of them. Hay is a very popular food among schoolchildren after all, easily comparable to french fries in his own world. 

Even though this world also has french fries. Weird.

"That's just normal for us! We can't digest it as well as you ponies do. Still, there are plenty of things we eat that you all don't."

"Like what?"

Cheerilee leans forward, a look of warning on her face as she glares at Anon. He wasn't supposed to go there.

"Ever have deep fried butter?" The students react with a large range of emotions, from joy, to disgust, to intrigue. "We humans are pretty good at coming up with weird stuff like that! Can't say I'd recommend it, but I'm sure somepony would like it!"

The class laughs once again and Cheerilee stands from her desk, happy with Anon's performance.

"Well class, now do you see? Learning about other cultures is interesting! You just have to dig a little bit deeper!" She glances at the clock, seeing that it's almost five minutes past the time the students are scheduled to go home. "Alright, you're all dismissed. Be sure to thank Mr. Anon before you leave!"

"Thank you, Mr. Anon!" The class shouts in unison.

The students all gather their things and make their way out of the schoolhouse with noticeably more energy than is normal for them after a school day. Once the last few students are out the door, Anon shuts it and turns to Cheerilee.

"Well?"

"I'm still shocked at how good you are with kids. Did you see them?!"

Cheerilee beams from ear to ear. She hasn't felt this energized in years.

"Oh, I saw 'em. I think they're going to remember a thing or two about that."

"I'll say! They haven't retained anything from my lectures! Every single one of them failed their tests, but today... Scootaloo didn't even fall asleep! It's like a miracle!"

"That's what bending the rules gets ya, Lee. Who are the EEA to tell you how to do your job?"

"You know what?" Cheerilee laughs, and it sounds almost hysteric. "You're right! Fuck the EEA!"

"Yeah!"

"I don't have to listen to them!"

"Yeah! Down with authority!"

"I'm a teacher, damn it! And I'm gonna teach!"

"You do it, Lee!"

"Now get out!"

"I... huh?"

Cheerilee begins to shove Anon out the door, a smile still on her face.

"It's nothing against you, Anon, but I have SO MANY IDEAS! I need to get started right now! We'll meet back up again tomorrow!"

"O-okay?" She closes the door behind him, leaving him outside of the schoolhouse with a confused, albeit amused expression. "Good luck, Lee."

Alone once more, Cheerilee immediately begins to dig through a few cabinets. She grabs some paper, markers, sticky notes, and everything in-between. Forget the EEA. Forget their regulations. She is going to help these kids learn!





And help them she did. Over the next couple of weeks, she assigned the students strange projects. She sent them on scavenger hunts, put them into groups and had them create posters, asked them to talk about things that actually interest them to tie it all back into the greater lessons at hand. She was breaking every single rule the EEA had placed on her. And yet, for the first time in a long time, she felt like she was actually doing something. She was actually teaching.

And the students were actually learning.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were less huffy after class, meaning that they largely left their victims alone. Scootaloo displayed more energy than ever. Test scores finally started improving, and the students were actually asking questions! What a world!

Cheerilee breathes in the cool evening air as she walks home. She woke up feeling good. It went well with her class. It went well with Anon. Despite it all, she actually feels... happy.

Maybe everything is going to be okay after all.