//------------------------------// // Beaten and Bushwoolied // Story: Classroom of the future // by Paradise Oasis //------------------------------// Beaten and Bushwoolied As the first light of dawn creeped through her window, Cheerilee awoke to the loud, annoying beeping from her digital alarm clock. She grumbled inwardly, at not having known to shut the alarm off for the weekend. "Mmmm, it's Sunday..I want to sleep in..." She groaned to herself, pulling her pink-and-purple covers up over her head. She tried to get back to sleep, but the annoying "BEEP BEEP BEEP" would not stop. The earth pony rolled over, and brought her hoof down on the clock to silence it... only to have it shatter into a million pieces. "Oh, no! Stupid flimsy modern junk!" She whinnied, pulling herself up out of bed. Oh, well, it's not like she wanted that creepy clock with the lit-up numbers anyway. She hoped Glory was able to dig up an old wind-up clock for her from the castle storerooms, like she had asked. After brushing her mane and washing her face, she tied her tailbow on, and trotted out to look at the current condition of her apartment. Majesty had given her one of the nicer suites in the castle, with two bathrooms, a living room, two floors, and a full kitchen. Despite the fact a thousand years had passed, she still recognized most of the devices and appliances in the room... except for that weird wooden box with the knobs and glass window on the front. She was going to have to ask Glory or Applejack what this purpose this 'television' thing served. Well, here's my first Saturday to myself... wonder what I should do first? Deciding to get breakfast, she poured herself a bowl of cereal and milk. As she was eating, however, a knock came at the door. "Just a minute!" She called out, trotting over to the door. When she opened it, Cheerilee found herself face-to-face with a with a pale blue coat and a purple and red mane. A pair of gemstone eyes looked around the room nervously, indicating that this was a very timid mare. "Um, Miss Cheerilee?" The pale blue mare said softly. "I... um.. am sorry to b-bother you... but may I come in, please?" "Oh, of course! Please, come in!" The teacher motioned for her to step inside. Cheerilee noticed the mare's gumdrop cutie mark. "You're Sweet Stuff, aren't you? Your daughter, Speedy, mentioned you in my class." "Y-yes. I'm your new neeeiiighbor, and I w-wanted to welcome you to the c-castle." Sweet Stuff replied. "I bake sweets and sugary goodies for the castle kitchen... and I wanted to bring you these." Sweet Stuff sat two square, baked tarts covered with icing in front of Cheerilee. "I call them Smooze tarts, they're filled with chocolate and marshmallows!" "Mmm! These are good!" Cherilee replied, taking a bite. "Thank You!" "Good! I'm so happy you like them!" Sweet Stuff replied, smiling. "I named them for something bad that happened to the dream valley herd awhile back... I'm sorry if you don't know what I'm talking about..." "Wow she's even more timid and apologetic than fluttershy." Cheerilee thought. "With the way ponies are around here, the poor thing must be the Dream Valley doormat!" "It was really wonderful of you to bring these wonderful treats to me!" Cheerilee said with a smile. "I really like them, no matter what they're called! They're simply wonderful!" "Wonderful!" "Great!" "Amazing!" "The Best!" "AHHHH!" Cheerilee shrieked, jumping back from the four fuzzballs with eyes, legs, and a mouth... that had appeared out of nowhere. "WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS?!?" "Um, please don't faint again, Miss Cheerilee." Sweet Stuff pleaded. "Those are just the bushwoolies... they won't hurt you." "The Bushwoolies?" Cheerilee calmed down, staring at the four of them curiously. "Oh, some of my class mentioned them. They're the herd's pets, I believe?" "Pets! Yeah!" "Sidekicks!" "Buddies!" "Comic relief!" "You four are certainly amusing!" The teacher pony giggled. "It's a pleasure to meet you all!" "Pleasure!" "Charmed!" "Thrilled!" "Ecstatic!" "Wow, you bushwoolies must run out of synonyms when there are large groups of you!" The teacher replied with a chuckle. "You really are a lot of fun!" "Cheerilee, would you like to join me for a walk out in the castle gardens?" Sweet Stuff asked timidly. "You never seem to go anywhere but your class and the Satin Slipper, and Majesty wanted us to show you around a little more!" "Certainly! I need to get the layout of this city-sized monstrosity of a palace, anyway." She looked at the Bushwoolies. "Would you four care to join us?" "Sure!" "You bet!" "Let's go!" "What're we waiting for?" ... Located in the center of the keep, the castle gardens were a vast expanse of flowers, trees, and every type of flora and fauna. Covering a vast four square miles (A result of Dream Castle being larger on the inside that on the outside, due to magic) and covered by a glass terrarium dome, the gardens were like a small, self-contained world. "This... this is incredible..." Cheerilee said in awe. "We never had anything like this in Equestria... even the interior of Canterlot Castle pales by comparison..." "It's cause of what Wind Whistler calls a tress... a test...ahhhh..." Sweet Stuff fumbled with her words. "A tesseract." Cheerilee corrected her. "Tesseract" "Subspace" "Pocket dimension" "space between spaces!" "Yeah, that's it!" Sweet Stuff replied. "The castle's insides are in one of those!" "Amazing... simply amazing!" The stunned teacher replied. "Flowers, crops, Applejack's orchard... you've got everything in here! All one contained ecosystem." "Yeah, AJ runs the apple orchard, Cherries Jubilee runs the cherry orchard." Sweet Stuff offered. "Though they both have hundreds of earth ponies working under them." "Doesn't the mare named Posey run the garden though?" Cheerilee asked. "Her daughter is in my class." "Yes, Poesy's in charge overall.... though AJ hates taking orders from her on what they're gonna plant each year." Sweet stuff said with a chuckle. "And you work in the kitchen." Cheerilee continued. "Tell me... does Wigwam come back to the Castle often?" "Oh, yes! Though we don't see him that much." The twinkle-eyed pony replied. "The Buffaloes made him an honorary brother to the tribe, and sometimes he acts more like one of them than one of us... but if it came down to it, he'd be loyal to our herd 'til the end!" Sweet Stuff thought for a minute, then her cheeks turned red. "Hey, are you taking an interest in him? Oh my...looking for a lifemate at your age...." "I-it's not like that! I'd just like to get to know him better!" Cheerilee protested, blushing furiously. "You have a foal... so you must have a mate, as well." "Yeah, my hubby is Sports-Time... he used to play for the Dream Valley ponyball team." She looked down. "But he's not around the castle as much anymore." "I've noticed that." Cheerilee said, looking over at Sweet Stuff. "I never see that many stallions around the castle all that often... and I only see them for very brief periods. Where are all your males, Sweet Stuff?" The twinkle eyed pony only looked away, leaving the teacher all the more confused. Soon, the two of them approached the garden's large fountain, where they heard two ponies arguing. Not wanting to interfere in another pony's business, Cheerilee began to move away, but Sweet Stuff stopped her, and motioned for her and the bushwoolies to be quiet. Ducking behind some bushes, the two ponies ducked down to listen... "Worthless!" A Mare's voice snapped. "You are totally worthless! Haven't I told you NOT to come down here and play with these ducks?" "I sowwy momma -QUACK!-" A filly's voice answered. "Bhut woking wish the duckies -QUACK!- is my speshal tawent!" "I don't give a flank WHAT you're special talent is!" The mare responded. Even from this distance, Cheerilee could smell the hard cider on the mother's breath. "You're making me look bad to the other mares!" "Pwease don't be mad -QUACK! - I sowwy!" The filly- who Cheerilee recognized as Quackers- pleaded. "Pwease don't shtop me from -QUACK!- taking cawe of teh duckies! They my -QUACK!- fwends!" "Can't you even talk straight?" The mare screamed. "How did I ever give birth to a worthless, retarded mistake of a foal like you!?!" Quackers finally snapped back, forcing herself to talk normally. "I... AM... NOT...RE-TAR-DED....-QUACK!- I jest diffawent! -QUACK -I wike being diffawent!" "CLOP!" Cheerilee heard the sound of a mare's hoof cracking down hard on a little filly's skull, followed by the sound of the filly clattering to the ground. As Quackers began to cry, the two mares leaped out from behind the bush. "Quackers? Are you ok?" Cheerilee asked in a concerned tone. She ran over to the quivering filly, who had blood trickling out of her mouth. "Miss Cheeriwee..." Quackers tried to get up, but collapsed in Cheerilee's Hooves. "I not fweel sho good....quack...." Her eyes went closed. "SPARKLER YOU WITCH! HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO YOUR DAUGHTER!" Sweet Stuff angrily snorted steam, and flashed fire out of her jeweled eyes. "I'M GOING TO RIP YOUR FLANKING HEAD OFF!" To Cheerilee's shock, The timid twinkle-eyed pony charged at the pale blue unicorn, who took off galloping at top speed. Cheerilee saw the gash on Quackers's head, left from the powerful blow her own mother had given her. "Quackers... stay with me! DON'T LOSE CONSCIOUSNESS!" "GET BACK HERE, YOU FOAL OF AN ASS!" Sweet Stuff roared, galloping after Sparkler. "MAJESTY WILL HEAR OF THIS... IF YOU EVEN FLANKING SURVIVE WHAT I'M GOING TO DO TO YOU!" "M-miss Cheeriwee?" Quackers eyes fluttered open again, her quacks growing more feeble as she spoke. "I sowwy- quack- I sowwy we tweat you so bad in cwass. -quack- I wish I could have learnedned stuff fwom you...quack..." "Bushwoolies! Get her on my back!" The little fuzzballs quickly complied, and the teacher pony galloped back towards the garden entrance... and out towards the castle's clinic. "...Great Celestia... if you are out there somewhere... please don't let her die...."