Substitute
Sometimes a story is so special, it can't be put into words. Sometimes a story requires the right words, from the right person. So let us sit back and hear a tale from the perspective of the one most connected to it, and see what their views on the matter make us understand.
It was another happy Monday morning and Flash's super sports car had just arrived at Canterlot High, pulling into the parking lot while the driver smirked.
"Everyone who knows about me and my magical friends seem to think that every day is some super insane adventure. But the fact was, those magical incidents weren't as frequent as many people believed. In fact, most days at Canterlot High were pretty much the same. I got there at the same time." He pulled into the parking space and killed the engine, checking his clock and seeing it was ten to eight. "I saw the same kids." Twilight unbuckled her seat belt and the pair climbed out, spotting Rainbow arriving on her bike while Iron and Fluttershy walked up to the school together. "And I took the same classes with the same teachers."
"Did you hear?" Rainbow asked as they entered the school, "Mr. Cranky Doodle's gonna be gone for a couple of weeks."
"Why?" Fluttershy replied as they arrived at their lockers.
"Apparently, he was in an accident and broke his arm and both legs." They all went wide-eyed at this, Fluttershy grimacing.
"How the heck did he do that?" Iron yelped while Flash's mind began to create a thought bubble above his head about the situation.
Cranky Doodle was riding on a skateboard, being pulled along by a rope connected to his car as his wife drove. The grumpy old guy cheered in excitement as he swerved from left to right, loving every second of this situation.
That was until the car turned left to avoid some road workers. Cranky felt the rope turn, but then it snapped and he continued into the road workers. And as this happened, a plastic dividing wall had fallen over and angled upward, making it the perfect ramp for Cranky to go flying over his car and-
The giant thought bubble snapped out of existence as Flash shook his head, the teen shrugging a second later, "Eh, he probably tripped down the stairs or something."
"So who's gonna be covering his classes?" Twilight asked.
"We're probably gonna get the substitute," Iron replied as they continued down the hallway.
"When it comes to substitutes, you'll find it's a lot like playing the lottery. You never know who the school managed to find on such short notice. Anything was possible."
"You could have out of work actors."
"To be or not to be?" a man dressed like Toy Story's Woody without the hat read from a book. "That is the question."
"You could have out of work dancers."
A woman dressed in eighties dance clothes slid from side to side, then twirled before jumping back into a chair with her head back. She then turned to the students and pointed to a bucket on the desk, "Can one of you throw that water over me?" She struck the pose and waited for a student to do it.
"You could even have out of work teachers."
An overweight guy in a suit that looked like it had never been ironed was taking a deep swing from his flask, then turned to the class. "Enjoy this while you still can," he said, "Cause believe me, it's all downhill from here."
"And as we sat down for third period, we were all excited to see what kind of sub we'd be getting. But nothing could have prepared us for the man that walked through that door."
"Hello class," a man with pale blue skin and snow white hair said as he limped into the room using a cane. He wore a white overcoat that went to his knees with a red yolk, pockets and cuffs atop a purple button up shirt and black pants. "I am your substitute teacher, Cold Steel." He reached his desk and put his briefcase down on it. "I'll be teaching you while Mr. Doodle is away. Any questions?" No one said anything, but they were all focusing on the cane. "You wanna know about the stick?"
Everyone shared glances before nodding back.
"As a matter of fact, I'm a police officer. As you can probably guess, I received an injury in the field and have been undergoing treatment for a while. And while I can't get back out into the field for a while, teaching is more mentally challenging then physically. You can thank my old colleague, Grand Hoof, for the hell you're about to suffer through." As he said this, everyone suddenly felt a chill down their spine.
"Damn. Did somebody turn the air-con up to icy or is it just this guy's attitude."
"Alright," Cold opened his briefcase, "if I'm gonna teach you, then I'll need to know what everyone's skill levels are." He took out some papers. "So, we're gonna be taking a little test to see where you're at." Everyone moaned at this as Cold gave the papers to those on the front row and they were quickly passed around.
Later that day...
The Sparkle family were now sitting down for dinner, Flash, Twilight, Night Light, Velvet and Spike all at the table, enjoying their meal.
"Ever since Spike gained human level intelligence, several changes had occurred to him. Some of the good things were that he could talk and hold a conversation, but one of the bad things was his new sense of ego. Suddenly, the dog food he had once happily scoffed down wasn't good enough for him. Now, he wanted to eat at the dinner table like everyone else and eat the same food that was once a rare treat for him."
"Pass the potatoes please?" Flash asked, Velvet nodding.
"Of course," she grabbed the bowl and handed it over.
"And I'll have more meat," Spike chimed in, only for Twilight to turn to her dad.
"Another roll please?" He nodded and handed her the plate.
"And I'll have more meat," Spike repeated, only to get ignored again, "Hey, what's a dog have to do around here to get something dead?"
Twilight turned to him. "Spike, you've had enough to eat already."
"And no offense," Velvet added, "But recently you've been turning into a furry blimp."
"What?!" Spike yelped, "Don't be ridiculous! I'm as spry as an arctic wolf! Besides, today I've only had ten of the twelve food groups."
Flash snickered at this, "What's left? Chocolate and lard?"
The others laughed while Twilight turned back to her puppy, "Maybe you should try dieting Spike."
Spike huffed. "I don't need a diet, cuz I am not fat!" He then jumped down off his chair, "I am big boned." He trotted over to the front door and tried to get through the pet flap that he had used a hundred times...only to get stuck. "Oof!" he moaned before trying to pull himself back.
"Need a push?" Flash asked.
"You laugh and you die!" They managed to hold their laughter back and continued their meal.
"So how was school today?" Night asked the kids, who nodded back.
"Pretty good," Flash responded, "We got this new substitute who seems a little...intense."
"Well, he did get shot," Twilight reminded him before noticing her parent's reactions. "He's a police officer and got hurt in the field. That's why he's subbing in for Mr. Doodle."
"Huh," Velvet swallowed her food, "I wonder if Shining knows him."
"Probably," Flash replied, "But he's got this super serious aura around him. Like he'd happily put you in a year of detention if you sneezed while he's talking."
"Well, maybe he's what you need," Night added, "A firm but fair teacher to help you learn what you need to make a life for yourself after school. You should pay attention to him and learn as much as you can before he leaves." The pair nodded before continuing their meal, all the while Spike continued to try and free himself from the doggy door until Springer arrived and pushed him through.
"The next day, I learned just how serious Cold Steel was."
"I graded your tests," Cold growled as he started passing the tests to the students. "Some of you did well. Others...not so much." As he said that, Trixie let out a huff at the D she had gotten. "And some of you did fine, but I believe could do better."
As he said that, he passed Flash his test. The teen took the paper and smiled when he saw a B with a line next to it, nodding happily. "Alright." As he said this, Cold shined a quick glare at the teen before handing out more papers.
"It's clear you all have areas of math you excel at, but also have areas you need more work on. Hopefully, we'll be able to improve on those areas and get you all up to snuff."
For the rest of the class, he went over the subjects in the test, asking those that had gotten the answers wrong how to solve the problem before having a student that got it right correct them. When they got to the algebra section of the test, Cold asked Flash to solve three of the questions, ones he had gotten horribly wrong the first time. The class came to an end soon after, the students packing up their supplies as Cold took out a bunch of sheets they would need to complete for homework.
"Mr. Sentry," Cold told the teen as he reached for his sheet. "Hold back for a moment." Flash raised an eyebrow at this and turned to the others, shrugging at their confused looks and gesturing for them to head off without him. Once the classroom was empty, he turned back to the sub.
"Is something wrong?"
"In a way," Cold told him. "You seemed rather happy about your B minus."
"Yeah. Most days I'm lucky to get anything higher than a C when it comes to math. I'll take a B any day, even if it's a minus."
"Hmm," Cold sat down and glared at him, "I've heard a lot about you Mr. Sentry." Flash raised an eyebrow at this. "Grand tells me you're a smart young man with a good heart and great potential." Flash smiled at this, happy the janitor thought that. He knew Grand had a soft spot for him because of how he got to know his counterpart and was happy they got along so well. "But simply having potential isn't enough. It takes real effort in order to unlock said potential."
Flash tilted his head at this, "Well, it's not like I don't pay attention. I listen and I do the best I can. I'm just...not great at everything I try."
"Heck, if I didn't have Twilight helping me study, I'd be even worse off than I am already."
"You can be great if you try hard enough," Cold instantly responded, "The key is focus." He looked Flash up and down, "What do you wanna be when you leave school? What kind of career do you aspire towards?"
Flash shrugged, "I haven't really thought about it."
"Well now is the time to think about it," Cold grabbed his cane and pushed himself up. "Grand said you have a keen eye and a heroic spirit. The kind that would make a great police officer if you applied yourself." Flash rolled his eyes. This wasn't the first time he had heard this stuff. "But it takes a lot more than a keen eye and heroic spirit to join the force. That's why I've decided to have you take mandatory after school classes." Flash's eyes went wide. "I'm gonna teach you everything you need so that no matter what life throws at you, you'll be able to handle yourself."
"I don't think that's necessary," Flash replied, "I can already handle myself fine as is. I'm pretty sure there's others in class that need your help more."
"I suppose...but you can just call this added insurance," Cold responded, "I've already confirmed these lessons with Principal Celestia. Clearly, she thinks you have great untapped potential as well." Flash opened his mouth at this, only for Cold to pull out a note and give it to him. "You should be going now. Give this to your next teacher so he doesn't give you a hard time." Flash took the note and with one final sour look, he left the classroom.
"It was at that moment I realized I was not gonna enjoy having a sub as much as I thought I was."
The next morning...
The Sparkle family were preparing for the day, Twilight and Flash going over their math homework while Night read the paper and Velvet was cooking them breakfast. Springer was sitting at Flash's feet, enjoying a chew stick while Spike scuttled into the room with a yawn.
"Morning," he said before sniffing the air. "Mmm...waffles." He jumped onto a chair and wagged his tail as Velvet carried some plates over. "I'll have mine with peanut butter." But when Velvet put the plates down, Spike noticed there was one plate missing. His. "Err...I think you missed someone."
"No, I didn't," she replied before moving over to the counter. "I've made a special breakfast for you." Spike licked his lips as she brought over a bowl. But when she put it down, he saw it was full of banana slices, blueberries and apple slices with no sugar anywhere.
"What the?!" He yelped as the others dug into their breakfast. "Why do you guys get waffles and I have to have this?!"
"We told you Spike," Twilight booped him on the nose. "You're going on a diet."
"But I don't need a diet!" Spike whined as he pushed the bowl away.
"Fine," Flash told him, "Don't eat your breakfast. That's an even better way to lose weight."
Spike growled at him as Twilight let out a sigh, "You've got two choices Spike. It's either that, or the regular dog food. Those are your only options."
Spike blinked back at her before pulling the bowl back at him, "This in animal cruelty," he grumbled before picking up a banana. "Has it occurred to you guys that the problem isn't the food I'm having, but the amount of walks I get to take?"
"Don't try and turn this around on us," Night replied, "You get just as much exercise as Springer, and he's a picture of health." The dog in question barked at the compliment while Spike continued to frown and eat his healthy breakfast.
Spike pacified; Twilight turned to Flash. "Looking forward to your after school classes with Mr. Steel?" The frown he gave was all the answer she needed. "Come on, it won't be that bad."
"I have to do these extra lessons three days a week!" Flash yelled, "How is that legal?!"
"Well, it's not like you're doing anything else in that time," Night chuckled.
"I was thinking of joining the chemistry and baking clubs," Flash sighed, "Now that's out the window. At least I'll still be able to do band practice."
"Well, it's only for a few weeks," Velvet chimed in as they finished their breakfast. "He won't be around forever, so use this time to learn as much as you can." Flash let out a groan, but nodded as the clock fell to the time he and Twilight needed to leave. They got up, washed their plates and headed for the door. And as they did this, Spike was still struggling to finish his fruity breakfast, finally managing to force down two thirds of it while shivering. It seemed Flash wasn't the only one that would be suffering for the next few weeks.
The school day came and went, their Math Class being much like the previous day with Cold Steel going over the homework and seeing how many of them got a passing score. Flash's was reasonably good, mostly thanks to Twilight helping him with the ones that he really didn't know, but Cold still seemed unsatisfied.
"My first one on one class with Cold was exactly what I feared. As I stepped into the classroom, he was writing a super long and complicated equation on the board. Seriously, was that a math problem or a game of tick-tack-toe?!"
"Good," he said as Flash put his bag down, "You're here. Now we can get started." He sat on his desk and pointed at the board with his cane. "Look at this and tell me what you see?"
Flash stared at the board...and couldn't make hide nor hair of it. "I have no idea," Flash slowly replied, "It just looks like a bunch of numbers and letters to me."
"These aren't just numbers and letters," Cold responded, "Algebraic equations use mathematical statements to describe the relationship between things that vary over time."
"Like X means I'm confused."
"I...still don't understand."
"Exactly," Cold got up and limped over to him. "That's algebra. The math of the unknown."
"Well, I must be doing great, cuz I don't know it." Cold sighed and took the marker before writing out the answer, trying to show Flash how to figure it out.
"Algebra wasn't the only thing I didn't know. And everything I didn't know, he was determined to teach me."
"He taught me language."
Cold finished writing three words on the board, then turned to Flash and explained them. "Veni vidi vici," he pointed to Flash. "I came, I saw, I conquered." He then noticed four words Flash had written on the board.
"Eenie meenie miney mo," he pointed at Cold. "Catch a tiger by the toe."
"He taught me history."
Cold gestured to the image he had just drawn on the board. "The Vitruvian Man." He looked over at Flash and saw the teen had drawn a series of lines that made up a particular shape.
"The hangman," he held the pen up to the board. "Pick a letter."
"He taught me science."
Cold had just finished dissecting a frog and held up the scalpel to Flash. "Your turn." The teen took the knife and looked over to a glass box holding his still living subject, an almost Spike sized green toad.
He stared at it for a moment before glancing over at Cold, "Got anything bigger?"
"Please don't kill me in the name of science, ribbit."
Out in the school's parking lot, Flash was jogging on the spot while holding a heavy textbook in each hand. Circling around him, Cold was dressed like an army general as he sprayed Flash with a hose.
"Is a B minus alright!?" He yelled, Flash continuing to run on the spot.
"NO SIR!" He hollered back.
"Do you wanna learn!?"
"YES SIR!"
"You wanna quit!"
"NO SIR!"
"Then you'd better answer my question! What's A squared plus B squared?!"
"C squared!"
"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"
"C squared!" Flash replied before falling to his knees, the books falling to the ground besides him. "It's C squared..."
"That's right!" Cold hollered, "That's what I'm talking about!" He kept yelling, but Flash could barely hear him thanks to his exhaustion filled brain.
"Talk about the worst wet T-shirt contest ever."
Three weeks later...
The Sparkle family was once again in the kitchen, minus Flash and Springer. Velvet had gone out of her way to make a delicious looking full english breakfast for them, but one member of the family was now moaning at her every step. "Please!" Spike begged whie sitting on the counter, "Just one little egg, or a slice of sausage or even a scrap of bacon! I'm begging you here!"
"No," Velvet replied as she pulled a plate of food away from him. "It's not healthy for a dog to be overweight." She walked over to the table, "We're doing this because we care about you."
Spike looked ready to cry, as in the three weeks of starting his diet, he had barely gotten to eat anything he really enjoyed. "You don't understand," he whined as Flash and Springer arrived at the kitchen. "Pets like me only live for three things: Eat, sleep and playing fetch. Take away the enjoyment of one of those things and you're taking a way a third of my identity!"
"Right..." Flash commented as he buttered some toast. "That might be real for most pets, but they don't usually spend the day watching reality TV shows, playing video games or pretending to be women in chat-rooms."
"I like the attention," Spike pouted as Twilight scratched him behind the ear.
"The point is that most dogs don't get to have half as much fun as you normally do. Having something healthy every now and then isn't gonna kill you."
"I'm pretty sure it can!" Spike cried as Twilight walked over to the table with her OJ.
"It won't." Flash deadpanned as Spike turned to him.
"At least let me lick the butter of your knife."
"Oh, go get some self-respect."
It was here that Spike was almost reduced to tears as Flash sat at the table and let out a yawn. "Tired?" Night asked. "I hope you weren't up late playing video games."
"Nope." Flash moaned, "Studying. I can't take Cold Steel's lessons anymore. Maybe if I can get my grades up, he'll leave me alone until he's gone."
"Your lessons can't be that bad," Twilight added while rolling her eyes.
"Tell me that again after he makes you run ten miles while reciting the value of pi."
"Besides, he probably won't be around much longer. He'll probably be returning to the police force now that his leg's healed."
In the last week, Cold had stopped using his cane and was now walking around like normal. Hopefully, that meant he would be getting back to his normal job and Flash could get back to not needing to be pushed far beyond the breaking point.
But that thought was quickly dashed during their day's math lesson. "Class," Cold Steel told them, "I thought I should let you know that your principal has offered me a permanent position at the school." Flash went wide-eyed at this, his face going pale.
"And that position is in my behind."
"I haven't decided whether I'm gonna take it or not, but I'll be giving it much thought." He reached into his briefcase and took out a math book. "Until I make that decision, I'll be prepping you all for something rather special. In two weeks, we'll be taking practice test in preparation of the end of year exams." The students all moaned at this, "Be warned, this test is more important than you think. Anyone that gets below a seventy-five will be joining me in a mandatory...Saturday study group." This statement got everyone on the edge of their seats, no one more than Flash.
"It's bad enough this psycho's taking three of my after schools from me, now he's coming after my Saturdays. Oh, that's it. This guy has got to go."
"What do you mean he's gotta go?" Applejack asked as they sat around their table having lunch.
"I can't take this guy anymore," Flash replied, "If he doesn't go, I'm gonna have to transfer back to Crystal Prep."
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Do you really think Cadance would let you back just because you wanna get away from a teacher? If she doesn't give you a hard time, Ruby will, and I'd rather deal with Mr. Steel then her."
"Eh, I think Ruby is better than him. She's not obsessed with bullying me into learning junk I don't care about."
"Seriously Flash?" Twilight deadpanned as she glared at him.
"I'm serious!" Flash replied, "I can't take it with this guy much longer! I gotta rid of him!"
But before they could start arguing, Iron chimed in, "We're gonna see you on the six o'clock news, aren't we?" Flash turned to glare at him, "Look. If you don't wanna do the Saturday classes, just pass the test like he wants you too."
"It's not that simple," Flash responded, "This test is gonna be the most ruthless thing I've ever had to deal with, I just know it! It's gonna focus on all my weak points!" He slammed his head on the table, "I'm doomed..."
The others shared glances, fearing Flash might have a mental breakdown if he ended up doing the weekend classes.
"What I don't get is why this guy is even planning to take a full job here?" Rainbow asked, "I thought he was a cop. Shouldn't he be out doing...cop things?"
"Well, if you must know," they all turned to see Cold holding a tray beside their table. "I've been a cop for a long time, but never felt any challenge in the cases I went after. In the weeks I've been here, I've found new challenges." He took a sip from a juice box, "I look forward to seeing how well I can accomplish the challenges I've set myself."
His eyes focused on Flash for a second before heading for the teacher's table. And as he left, Flash slammed his head into the table again, "Well, that's it! I'm done. He's gonna hound me until the day I graduate. Goodbye Saturdays."
They all grimaced at this, Twilight putting on a hand on his shoulder, "Flash, there's still a way out of this. If you can ace his test, not only will you get your Saturdays, but he might also release you from your after school lessons."
Flash looked up at her, "But there's no way I'm gonna ace it."
"Not with that attitude," Twilight countered, "We've got two weeks from now until then. And every spare moment we have, I'm gonna drill as much mathematical skills as I can into you."
"I thought Cold was bad. But it turns out, he's nothing compared to Twilight when she's determined to teach you. For the next week, she hounded me every spare moment I had. From the moment I woke up to the second I went to bed, I was studying. I'm lucky she didn't make me study while I was in the bathroom. But no matter how hard she taught me, I just couldn't get it."
"Alright," Twilight sat on their couch with a textbook in hand while Flash was on the floor with his own. "If eight times X is twenty-four, three times Y is ninety-six, and twenty-one times Z is one hundred and forty-seven, what is X plus Y divided by Z times X?" Flash rocked back and forth, tapping his pencil on his head, but that wasn't much help.
"Nineteen?" He asked, only to see Twilight frown at him. "Augh!" He laid back, "This is hopeless..."
"You're trying too hard," she replied, "You just need to relax and think the problem through one step at a time."
And as she started walking him through the equation, Spike walked past them and carefully tip-pawed into the kitchen. The place was empty, and up on the counter, the cookie jar sat undefended. "Jackpot." He jumped onto a chair to get onto the table, giving him a good leaping off point to reach the counter.
He limbered up, cracking his paws and charged. Picking up speed, he reached the end and leapt for the counter. It looked like he was gonna make it...only to be suddenly grabbed by a purple aura. "No!" He cried, reaching for the jar that was inches away, only to be floated away, "NOOOOO!"
"No cookies Spike!" Twilight yelled as he floated into the room.
"I wasn't gonna eat any of the chocolate chips." Twilight placed him on her lap and started scratching him under the chin, "Oh yeah....right there. That's the stuff."
"Aww..." Flash moaned as he stared at the equations, the numbers and letters looking like they were flying around the page for him. "I'm never gonna get this. Guess I'm saying goodbye to my weekends."
"There's a still a week until the test," Twilight responded, "Plenty of time for you to figure this out."
Before Flash could reply, the front door opened. "Hey!" Twilight's brother called out as he walked in, carrying a large pile of files before seeing what the two teens were doing. "Big test?"
"Huge," Flash moaned, "And when I fail, I'm gonna be spending my Saturdays in school."
"Ouch," Shining chuckled, "Well, you're not the only one having issues." He put the file pile down and sat in an armchair, "The precinct's been having no luck tracking down a criminal calling himself Cloak'N'Daggers. He just stole fifty thousand dollars from the Canterlot Bank and left no clues behind."
"Cloak'N'Daggers?" Twilight asked, "I feel like I've heard that name before."
"Yeah," Shining nodded, "He stole the same amount of money from the same bank two years ago. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he's planning on stealing the same amount every two years."
"So he really left no clues on how to find him?" Flash asked, Shining nodded.
"Even the CCTV cut out when he entered the bank. No one knows what he looks like and there was no evidence left behind at the scene." He sighed while leaning back. "If we don't find a way to track this guy down, who knows what he'll do next. Robbing the same bank again and again probably won't interest him for long. He could start targeting other places." He got up and headed for the kitchen, planning to make himself a drink. "Just wish there was a cop that was up for tracking this guy down."
"Hmm..." Flash muttere before smirking like the grinch as he got up and grabbed the top file.
"What are you doing?" Twilight asked with narrowed eyes.
"Hopefully, solving both mine and Shining's problems." Seeing he had the right folder, Flash used his phone to start taking photos of the evidence. Once done, he put the file back and headed upstairs.
The next school day...
Cold arrived at his class to find it was already full, the man walking over to his desk. He was about to start talking when he saw something on the desk: A file with his name on it.
Raising an eyebrow at this, he told his students to open their textbooks and start doing the problems whilst he opened the file. As he pulled out the documents, Flash looked up from his work and smiled.
"I knew I had his attention, but now I had to hope he actually took the bait and decided to challenge himself with catching this elusive criminal. Hopefully, the guy would be gone before the test on Friday."
"Tuesday."
Flash walked up to the school and spotted Cold getting out of his car. "Morning," he told a fellow teacher as he entered the school.
"Damn."
"Wednesday."
Flash opened his locker and smiled, having not seen Cold in the parking lot. "You there." His eyes went wide and he turned to see Cold berating Snips. "Don't think I didn't see you hide your gum under the desk. Hope you enjoy scraping gum off of every desk in the school."
Flash slammed his head into the locker, groaning.
"Thursday."
Flash hadn't seen Cold the entire day. Not in the car park, not in the halls and not even at lunch. "I think he's gone," he told Twilight. "I'm free. I'm free."
"Free from what?" He heard Cold ask as they rounded the corner, Flash letting out a moan. "You're lucky your math class is in the afternoon. My car wouldn't start this morning."
When Friday rolled around, I was sure I would be stuck with Cold Steel forever. I guess even an elusive criminal wasn't as much of a challenge as teaching high school."
"Well..." Flash sighed as he, Twilight and Rainbow headed to Math class. "This is it. I'm gonna fail and my Saturdays will be lost forever."
"Oh, quit complaining," Rainbow grumbled, "You're not the only one who's probably gonna flunk." She frowned, clearly talking about herself as they arrived at the classroom. But instead of seeing Cold Steel at the desk, they went wide-eyed to see their former teacher: Mr. Cranky Doodle.
"You're back?" Flash asked, the teacher looking up at them.
"Of course I'm back," he chuckled before standing up. "Simple breaks. Nothing a few weeks rest can't cure." He practically tap-danced on the ground, but stopped when his legs suddenly filled with pain and he bit his lip.
"So...where's Mr. Steel?" Twilight asked as they took their seats.
"He resigned yesterday," Cranky responed, "Said he had something he needed to do."
Flash couldn't believe his ears. He was gone. Flash was free.
"Hallelujah."
"So what about the test he was gonna have us do?" Rainbow asked, "The one that if we fail means we have to come in and take extra lessons tomorrow."
"Are you insane?!" Cranky yelped, "I'm not giving up my weekends! No test." The teens cheered and none were more relieved than Flash. It took everything he had to not start crying.
That weekend...
Flash was celebrating an escape well done by sitting on the couch, Springer's head on his lap, while watching some of his favorite movies. But that enjoyment vanished when the door bell rang. He got up and headed for the door, opening it up and going wide-eyed at the sight of who was waiting for him. "Mr. Steel?" He yelped, the cop smiling at him while holding a briefcase. "What are you doing here?!"
"I came to give you your practice exam," Cold replied.
"I don't have to take that test."
"Or let you in."
"You're not my teacher anymore. Remember? You quit!"
Cold raised an eyebrow at this. "How'd you know I quit?" Flash's mouth dried up as he tried to come up with an answer, only for Velvet to appear from the stairs.
"Can I help you?" She asked, looking Cold Steel up and down as Flash turned to her pleadingly.
"Don't help him. Help me."
"I'm sorry," Cold stepped inside and shook Velvet's hand. "I'm Cold Steel. I've been Flash's substitute teacher the last few weeks."
Velvet's eyes went wide. "Oh, that's right." She crossed her arms, "Flash and Twilight have said a lot about you. Is there a problem?"
"Yeah woman. A crazy man is trying to give me a test at home."
"Not at all. I've been preparing Flash for a practice test and I wasn't able to give him the exam before..." He slowly turned to Flash as the teen raised an eyebrow.
"Before I got rid of your crazy behind."
"Before I left Canterlot High." He turned back to Velvet, "I just wanna make sure he's ready."
Velvet tilted her head, "And...why are you doing this?"
"I think Flash is a smart kid," Cold replied, "But I think he can do better." Flash felt like slumping over and turned to give Velvet a pleasing look, the woman thinking for a moment before gesturing to the dining room.
"Better get in there and take that test." Flash wanted to cry as he started heading to the dining room, Velvet and Cold continuing to talk as he did so.
Cold took out his test and an hourglass. "So the funniest thing happened to me," the older man chuckled, "Just when it seemed I would never find any challenge in the police business, I find a strange file that led me to start looking into a mysterious criminal."
"Is that so?" Flash slowly asked.
But it was clear from Cold's expression and words that he knew, "I wonder who it is that could have given me that file. It had to be someone with connections to the police, given how extensive the file was." He glared at Flash, "Don't you know a police officer. Shining Armor, was it?"
"Huh," Flash shrugged, "What a coincidence."
"Right..." Cold smiled before grabbing the hourglass. "You have one hour. Starting...now." He turned it over and Flash got to work, hoping Cold wouldn't kill him too badly when he completely flunked it.
Meanwhile, Twilight was at the Pet Store where Fluttershy worked part time. Fluttershy had Spike on a weighing machine, the dog asking, "So?! Is it over?! Have I wasted away enough for you to stop torturing me?!"
The girls rolled their eyes, Fluttershy giggling before saying, "Spike, you're officially the perfect weight for a dog your size."
Spike sighed in relief as Twilight smiled and picked him up. "See Spike? It wasn't that bad."
"Easy for you to say," Spike moaned, "I'm just glad this is over and I can go back to eating real food."
"Do that and you'll regain the weight you worked so hard to lose," Fluttershy chimed in, "You need to be careful with how much you eat."
"Exactly," Twilight added before taking out an extra large bone-shaped down dog biscuit. "This is a special treat you get to have, and after that, we continue with the diet to a less extreme stint." She handed it over and Spike started devouring it down, moaning at the deliciousness as the girls laughed.
Back at the house, Flash continued to work on the answers, having no idea if the method he was using was correct as Cold stared at the hourglass, the last of the sand dribbling out.
"Pencils down." Flash stopped working and Cold took his test, Velvet now walking into the room.
"So how'd he do?" She asked, Cold's eyes glaring at the paper.
"I'll let you know in a minute." His pen flicked through the paper, Flash not daring to look how many Xs the test had. Then, Cold finally spoke up. "Ninety two. That's an A." Flash's eyes shot open, looking down to see him write the number on the page.
"Oh, Flash." Velvet hugged him, "That's great." She pulled away, "I knew you could do it."
"No she didn't."
She walked off as Cold smiled at Flash, "Congratulations."
"Um...thanks?" Flash slowly nodded, "But...it doesn't make any difference. It doesn't count."
"Doesn't it? You were able to pass this test that I made as tough as humanly possible. What do you think that means for any future test you might have?"
"That...I can pass them?"
"Exactly," Cold nodded. "You just need to stay calm and think it through, but not overthink it. That's always the biggest issue people have with math." He handed the test back, "Keep hold of that and remember that advice whenever you feel like you can't do something. It's proof you can do anything if you put your mind to it." With that, he gathered his things and headed for the door.
Flash followed him and watched him step outside without another word as he headed for his car.
"As much of a pain in the butt as he was, Cold Steel had taught me a lot, and in a small way, I was gonna miss him. And he's right. I can do anything if I put my mind to it.
But I'm also glad that I can still go to Canterlot High and not lose my sanity. Goodbye and good riddance."
"That's great Flash," Twilight told him as they all had dinner together.
"Yes," Velvet nodded, "Now you don't have an excuse the next time you fail a test. You've got proof you can do it." Flash held back a moan as he dug into his dinner, but decided to change the subject.
"So how's Spike's diet going? What'd he end up weighing?" Twilight was about to answer, only to realize Spike was nowhere in sight...and a munching sound from the kitchen.
The family headed into the room, now seeing one of the cupboards open with Spike inside, pigging out on chips, cookies and a bag of vanilla wafers. He froze up as he saw the four glares, swallowing a mouthful before holding out the chip bag. "Want one?" The family frowned at him, the little dog knowing he was in for another few weeks of hellish dieting
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Wow, what a surprising way to introduce Cold Steel into Equestria Girls. Just like his pony counterpart, he has helped Flash improve himself while simultaniously putting him through Hell. I really enjoyed Flash's POV narration here, it was funny with him being an internal smart-ass and snarking in provate. It might be interesting if we got that from some of the other characters too, or if you want to just keep it for him that is fine too.
I also found the B-Plot with Spike being put on a diet hilarious.
Cool way of introducing the Ice Knight on EQG world, he sure had Flash thinking a lot & improving, his inner thoughts about the situation was hilarious as well!
And speaking of hilarious the other plot regarding Spike's diet was a hoot, little pup can't keep off food it seems!
A nice intro for Cold. Not sold on the POV approach. Absolutely loved that Flash was the instigator for most of his misery when he thought he could get himself out of his situations. And Mama Velvet's declaration that Flash no longer had an excuse to fail after he used the result of Cold's last test as something to boost about, was such a mom thing and such a fitting final 'we are the architects of our own destruction' for Flash. As for Spike... well is he really so much to blame, he's still a dog with the thought patterns of a dog, it's not his fault the family spoiled him after he gained speech.
Oh, and Flash to your comment
, to quote Qui-Gon Jinn, "the ability to speak does make you intelligent."
Holy shit Flash, you are SO lucky Cold didn't look into how a copy of the evidence file ended up on his desk at school. That's a major felony and could get you tossed in jail. Not juvey, the state pen, they'd try you as an adult. Evidence tampering is not cool dude.
11078326 How is it evidence tampering? All he did was photo copy the evidence. He didn't give Cold the real file.
11078328
Having any unauthorized personnel copy, or even just view evidence of an on going investigation falls under evidence tampering laws. Its a blanket law that makes it so there isn't a suggestion of impropriety in the criminal justice system. Let's say they find the guy, it goes to trial, and his defense attorney finds out Flash made a copy of the case file and gave it to a third party that was not yet on the case. The attorney could argue to the jury that because a third party that had nothing to do with the case, and wasn't even a law enforcement officer, viewed and copied the evidence file, that some of the information in that evidence file was falsified. And since all they'd have to go on is Flash's testimony that he didn't change anything, the state wouldn't be able to give evidence that supported that. It would be a straight up he said they said. All the facts say is that this robber was arrested with the help if this evidence file, that was copied by an unauthorized third party, and given to another third party that wasn't part of the initial investigation. Especially if its discovered that Flash did this with his own ulterior motives in mind. That creates doubt in a jury and leads to not guilty verdicts at best, and to a judge throwing the tainted evidence file out at worse. In the legal world it's called "fruit from the forbidden tree." Sorry studying criminal procedure right now for my degree and this was just... oh really not smart on Flash's part. Again, boy is lucky Cold and Shinning will pretend this didn't happen.
11078339
Wall of text, Sherlock
he was nicer then the pony version
oh my god, this is an "Everybody Hates Chris" reference
Okay, so, now, what's next for Flash? What's he going to do with what Cold Steel taught him?
Now that’s a visual