Once upon a time in the land of Equestria, there resided a village where nothing particularly exciting ever happened--other than the occasional cheater at the monthly bridge tournament. This peaceful atmosphere was largely due to the strong sense of community that was found in its residents. So strong were their bonds that when one of them needed help with anything, the others would do everything in their power to help them.
Thus, when young Snickerdoodle needed to raise bits for a school trip to Canterlot, his neighbor offered him a job tending sheep. Snickerdoodle was not happy with this assignment, but he agreed nonetheless. As anypony who has had any shepherding experience knows, sheep are quite stupid creatures, and thus make quite obnoxious company--their favorite pastimes being chewing grass and discussing how much they agree with the current political leaders. Needless to say, the young colt very quickly lost interest in the task at hand, and began thinking of ways to amuse himself. After considering his options he finally hatched a simple plan that would simultaneously ease his boredom and help wake up the sleepy little village he called home.
"Timberwolf! Timberwolf! A timberwolf is attacking the sheep!" shouted Snickerdoodle.
His shouts panicked the dimwitted sheep who, although there was no timberwolf, soon joined in on his shouting, and quickly began looking for cover.
The villagers soon came running up the hill, armed with rocks to help the young colt chase the timberwolf away. However, when they arrived, they saw that there was no such beast. As the villagers realized that there never had been any danger, Snickerdoodle laughed at the ponies' confused and frustrated faces.
Angered by the situation, but chalking the whole thing up to childish inexperience, the majority of the crowd turned around, muttering under their breath as they walked home. However one pony, an eminently sensible earth pony named Clyde, stayed behind. He waited patiently for Snickerdoodle's fits of laughter to die down, and gave the colt a few moments to collect himself. After a few minutes, the young colt noticed Clyde was still standing in front of him.
"Are you here to scold me?" Snickerdoodle said with a smirk.
"No," Clyde replied, "I'm here to replace you."
The smirk quickly fell away from the colt's face, "Replace me? Why? It was just a prank!"
Clyde stared intently at the colt. "A prank that could have easily led to your death and the death of the sheep under your care. If you had continued to shout 'timberwolf'--which, based on your lack of remorse you had every intention of doing--ponies would have soon stopped believing you. Then, if a real timberwolf came, they could have easily gobbled you and the sheep right up. That is something I absolutely cannot allow."
Thus, the colt left in shame, and Clyde took over the care of the flock. He had brought with him everything he needed to take care of the sheep--including discussion questions on political leaders in order to converse with them. So, when an actual timberwolf attacked, Clyde was prepared. He pulled out a homemade flamethrower and torched it. The sheep were too busy debating Clyde's last question to notice that they were ever in danger.
As for Snickerdoodle, he didn't end up raising enough bits to go to Canterlot, but he did gain something more precious: a valuable lesson. Something he did not appreciate until he was much, much older.
Moral of the story: Don't send a colt in to do a stallion's job.