Chapter one- I quit!
Many, many centuries after the age of Equestria, the realm of Ponyland became the home of all of Ponykind. It was within Ponyland, that there existed a kingdom called Dream Valley- home to some of the bravest mares and Stallions in all of ponydom. This made Dream Valley the one of the safest and happiest places to live. There was only one place even the greatest warrior dared not go.... the one place even the mightiest of heroines feared to tread...
....The classroom.....
"Class! Would you please settle down!"
Sundance wished that, for just one morning, her classroom would be filled with bright young minds, eager to learn. She wished her classroom was filled with colts and fillies who turned their homework in on time, and treated their teacher with the kindness and respect she deserved.
Today, just as every other morning..... her wish went unfulfilled.
"Apple Delight! Please stop shooting spit wads at Confetti!" Sundance snapped. "Baby Applejack! Stop making faces at Moondreamer!"
The two siblings gleefully ignored their teacher, and continued tormenting their fellow classmates.
"Ow! Miss Sundance! He won't stop!" The green earth filly wailed, covering her face with her hooves.
"Stop it, you two! I mean it! Or I shall have to tell your mother about this!" The teacher snorted.
"Yes, Miss Sundance." The brother and sister replied, annoyed. The last thing those two wanted, was a scolding from Applejack.
"All right, students, now if you would please take out your textbooks, today we're going to look at-"
"Quack!"
The annoyed Sundance spun around, to see a bunch of baby ducks crawling out of Quacker's school bag.
"Baby Quackers, didn't I tell you I did not wish to see those waterfowl in my classroom?" Sundance snorted.
"Sowwy teacher- QUACK!- but day woulda gawten wonwy if I -QUACK!- left dem by demselves -QUACK!"
Exiting the bag, the ducks began to scatter all over the room, distracting the students. Sundance rubbed her temple with her hoof… this morning was really testing her patience! She tried to stay calm, as Quackers shooed the baby ducks out.
“All right, class… as I was saying, please open your history books to chapter nine, the founding of the Ponyland confederacy.” The white earth pony opened her teaching manual with her teeth. “Your homework was to read the article on the Pony freedom fighter Red Ribbon. Can anybody tell us about her?”
The class sat there silently, staring at Sundance, until one little Pegasus filly finally stuck her hoof up.
“Yes, Baby Firefly, please.” Sundance called on her.
“Red Ribbon was the famous unicorn who led the inhabitants of Canterlot to safety, during the final goblin attack on the city.” The pink filly recited in a bored tone. “While they fled the destroyed city, she gave her life fighting a cave troll to cover their escape.”
“Very good.” Sundance replied. “And can anybody tell me her significance to modern pony society?”
“Because of her heroism, every mare and filly in Ponyland now wears a bow on their tail- Red Ribbon’s cutie mark- to remember her sacrifice.” Baby North Star replied sarcastically. “Everybody already knows that story, teach!”
Sundance narrowed her eyes at the Pink Pegasus… she knew what this filly was up to. Baby North Star was ringleader of all the troublemakers in the class. She seemed determined to drive poor Sundance out of both her mind... and her classroom. Sundance had been brought in as the fourth replacement teacher, after the previous one had run screaming from her pupils in abject terror.
It was rumored by some of the adult ponies in the castle that Baby North Star carved a notch into her desk for every teacher she successfully drove away. Well, she could put her classmates up to causing all the trouble she wanted… Sundance wasn’t going anywhere! She had gotten into teaching to fulfill the calling of her cutie mark- a circle surrounded by hearts, symbolizing her students love and admiration for her- and she wasn’t going to let this bratty filly stop her!
As Sundance sat down at her desk, Baby Glory whispered back to her friend Ember; “Ya think I should tell her about the bear trap I put on her seat?”
The question was immediately answered by a loud SNAP, as the trap snapped shut. Sundance let out a terrible cry of pain.
"AIEEEEE!"
As the crying teacher galloped out of the room, a bear trap hanging from her tail, Baby North Star scratched off another notch on her desk.
------
“I can’t take it anymore, Majesty!” The Bandaged-up earth pony yelled. “Those little hellions are driving me insane!”
Sundance was standing before Queen Majesty’s throne, turning in her resignation. Majesty had also summoned Applejack and Glory, the mothers of three of the instigators of the troubles. North Star, as usual, was away on an expedition… so there was nobody to stand accountable for her daughter.
“Wow.” Glory whispered to Applejack. “She looks like a wreck!”
Applejack saw the poor mare had a bandage over her flank, from the bear trap she had sat on. She had also gained a nervous eye twitch, and giggled to herself every few seconds or so.
"You wouldn't be in much better shape, if you had to put with what she does on a daily basis." AJ whispered back.
“Are you certain of this, Miss Sundance?” Queen Majesty asked, trying to hide her desperation. “You came to us highly recommended from the Superintendent of the Bright Valley school system… I would hate for Dream Castle to lose your unique educating talents.”
"I wont survive if I stay a teacher! Last week, Honeycomb's swarm of bees stung me when she brought them to class for show 'n tell." Sundance snapped. "And this week, Snippy tried to shave my mane off when I fell asleep grading papers during recess! No offense, my queen... but the children of Dream Valley are a hazard to any sane pony's health!"
"Yet, you will become unhappy if you cannot practice your special talent- namely, teaching." Majesty noted. "And nopony wants to see you transfer to another kingdom. What do you suggest?"
“The human Girl, Megan... she's always visiting the Castle." Sundance thought for a moment "I could tutor her... help her with her homework. Least I can do, after she helped me get my confidence back during that whole sorceress Katrina fiasco."
"Very well, Sundance. I assign you to be Megan's chaperone while she is here." She dismissed the earth pony with a gesture. "We shall find another to teach in your stead."
"Thank you, your highness." Sundance bowed, before staggering out of the throne room.
"Well, glad that's over..." Applejack told the queen nervously, starting to trot away.
"Yeah, we'd better get back to work..." Glory agreed, following her friend out.
"Hold it right there, you two." Majesty snapped. "This whole mess is the fault of your offspring!"
The two mares stopped dead in their tracks, and gulped.
"If you two aren't able to find a suitable replacement for Sundance by tomorrow..." Majesty's eyes narrowed. "One of you will have to take her place as teacher, until I can find a new one!"
"Ponyfeathers!" The two mares cursed under their breath.
....
A few hours later, Glory and Applejack were in the Dream Castle schoolroom, cleaning up after Baby Glory's 'Bear-trap surprise'.
"Can you believe she blamed us?" The White unicorn with the shooting star Cutie mark asked her friend. "It's not our fault North Star's daughter is a twisted sadist!"
"Baby North Star put our kids up to the trouble they caused, but they still made the trouble on their own." Applejack replied. "We should be teaching those kids some better discipline."
Glory looked around the classroom....a brightly-lit place, with white washed walls, and wooden desks placed neatly in rows. The children's artwork decorated all the walls, and portraits of the council of six princess ponies of Ponyland hung in the front of the classroom.
"You know, being a teacher here wouldn't be a half-bad job." Glory commented. "If it weren't for the demented hellions we brought up."
"There was one teacher who could have handled these ornery foals, Glory." Applejack replied. "She taught my little sister Applebloom, and could've easily handled Baby North Star and her gang."
"That was a thousand years ago, AJ." Glory whinnied. "We need a solution that's going to solve our problem, right here and now."
The orange earth pony sighed, and trotted over to straighten up the bookshelves. It was at that moment that Applejack spotted a name in on of the book titles that she recognized from the distant past.
"Hey, Glory?" AJ called to her friend. "Come take a look at this."
The white unicorn trotted over, and read the title of the book Applejack had pulled off the shelf. " Cutie Marks: Cheerilee's guide to helping foals find their special talents. Applejack, what's this?"
"Cheerilee was the teacher in Ponyville that I was talking about, the one who taught Applebloom when she was a filly!"
"Hey, I know this book!" Glory exclaimed. "North Star and Wind Whistler brought it back from the ruins of Canterlot, after one of their excavation missions there!"
"If the Cheerilee I know wrote this, them maybe there's something inside that can help us." She tried to pull the cover open. "Ugh, it won't budge!"
"Maybe it's magically sealed?" Glory bent her horn towards the book, and it started to glow. "Maybe a little unicorn spell will..."
FSHOOM! The cover of the book blew open, and the two mares were blasted back. There was a flash of light, and suddenly Applejack and Glory were not alone.
Before the two stunned ponies, a dark pink earth pony, with pink striped hair, and a smiling flower cutie mark appeared. She looked disoriented, and was trying to get her bearings. Applejack’s mouth hung open, as she could not believe what she was seeing.
"Ch-Cheerilee?" AJ asked in shock. "I-is that you?"
Her voice seemed to snap the green-eyed mare out of her trance. "Applejack! So nice to see you! And who is your friend here?" She looked at her surroundings. "And where are we, for that matter? This isn't my classroom in Ponyville."
"Cheerilee...h-how did you get here?" The still shocked orange earth pony asked her.
"The last thing I remember, I was opening up a book somepony had sent me, that said it was a help guide for teachers." She then stared at AJ strangely. "Applejack, what happened to your accent? And why do you have a bow on your tail? That seems a bit... girly for you."
"Oh great, a time-lost Equestrian." Glory rolled her eyes. "Well AJ, now at least you have somebody to talk to."
"I'll explain everything soon enough." Applejack told Cheerilee. "Right now, let's get you outta here."
The three of them came out of the Dream Castle classroom... just as Moondancer and her daughter were coming down the hallway.
"Oh hi, Miss Applejack! Hi miss Glory, how are-" Baby Moondancer's eyes went wide, as she saw Cheerilee wasn't wearing a tail bow. "AIEEEE! MAMA! THAT MARE'S NAKED!"
"What?" Moondancer then saw Cheerilee. "How obscene! Applejack, Glory.... tell your nudist friend that if she's going to walk around Dream Castle, she should at least have the decency to put something on!" Moondancer covered her daughter's eyes with her hooves, and promptly trotted her down the hallway.
"Well that went well." Glory sighed. "We'd better take her down to Bowtie, and have her pick out a tail bow."
"W-wha.." A bewildered Cheerilee asked. "I don't understand..."
"Welcome to the future, Cheerliee." Applejack sighed. "Please leave your sanity at the door..."