The Reader

by GnollReader

Chapter 17: The teacher

Night had fallen over Ponyville. The streets were empty, lights shone from the windows of the little houses and everything was quiet and peaceful. Two town guards were patrolling the streets, and as always, it was boring. Nothing ever happened in Ponyville. At least their shift was finally over.

"So, wanna hang out at the Fat Mare?" the one guard asked his companion.

"Sure, let's see if Two Shots finally got a decent bouncer."

As they approached the inn everything seemed quiet, just as always the lights were softly shining through the dirty old windows.

"Doesn't look like there's much going..."

They were cut short as a shuffling accompanied by yelps could be heard from inside. The door was flung open and three ponies were thrown onto the street with loud thumps, cheers could be heard from the inside.

"Looks like Two Shots finally got a new bouncer."

"Pfff... I could mop the floor with these rookies. Let's see how well he can handle a real stallion!"

The two guards passed the moaning heap and entered the inn. It was filled to the brim and the ponies were all chatting wildly.

"All right lets see this new bouncer of yours Two Shots. Maybe he can even make me sweat!" the first guard announced as he struck a pose.

The other guard wasn't so sure. For one thing Two Shots was looking remarkably smug, and what was Purple Haze doing here? As far as he knew she was on some important mission.

"Come on Two Shots, let's see that big bouncer of yours! You won't be looking so smug when... HEY!" his helm was suddenly lifted off his head. The two guards spun around, ready to take on the new bouncer. What they found before them though strongly decreased their enthusiasm.

A huge beast was towering over them, the guards helm clasped in a huge paw. They stared at the huge being as it eyed them with red eyes. Without a word and with a flip of its wrist it flung the helm into its maw and simply started chewing on it. The two guards were speechless, the only thing that could be heard inside the inn was the squeaking of the guard's helmet as the gnoll chewed on it.

It tasted of metal, sweat and paint. Also of pony. And just like most pony metal, it was too soft for his liking. He spat it out before the two ponies' feet. It was nothing more than a crumpled piece of scrap now. The two ponies looked down at it, and then back at him again with open mouths and huge eyes.

"If ponies make trouble gnoll chews on pony head next. Now ponies buy drink and behave." the beast grumbled at them.

The two ponies didn't take long to respond, they each ordered a drink, sat down and tried to drown the humiliation as the rest of the inn burst into laughter.

---

"Damn,..." the first guard mumbled over his fifth drink "Captain Flying Shield is going to have my head over the missing helm. I bet she'd treat me like a hero if I beat that thing!"

"What, you gonna try and take on the gnoll?" the other guard asked surprised, "You're not that drunk are you?"

"Nah, I may be drunk but I ain't suicidal. If the gnoll says behave, then I'll behave. Besides, next week the night guard recruits are back from training camp." he smiled, "Think how much fun we'll have watching that!"

The other guard couldn't help but laugh, "Yeah, that'll be a blast. Wanna make bets who gets stomped on first?"

"Hell yeah!" they cheered as they downed another drink.

The rest of the night passed peacefully. When the inn was finally closed Scar and Purple Haze headed back to the tree, the gnoll carrying a nice bag of bits with him. Two Shots had been happy, and the gnoll was happy knowing he had done good work.

---

The next morning Scar's sleep was interrupted by the visit of three little fillies.

"WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!" the trio happily called. He gave a silent curse as he recognized the voices, whatever had caused them to be so excited couldn't be that good for him.

He carefully stepped out of the pile. Purple Haze and Twilight were also up. The scaled one was busy putting books in shelves. He looked down at the three little ones, they were chatting at him wildly, all three of them excitedly trying to tell him something. He gave Purple Haze a pleading look, "What do tiny ponies want from Scar?"

Purple Haze seemed unsure, "They want to take you to 'Show and Tell'."

"Show and Tell?" he didn't know the phrase.

Twilight stepped up, "It's when the foals of a school bring something with them to show and explain to the rest of the class. I think it's a perfect occasion for you to learn more about equestrian society!"

He knew the word school. It was a place tiny ponies went to learn. Maybe he'd learn something by going there. He turned to Purple Haze, "What does Purple Haze think?"

She was surprised by him calling her by her actual name, but she quickly composed herself. Twilight seemed surprised too, she had never heard the gnoll use a pony name before. "Well, I'm not sure... we should check with their teacher first. So she knows what to expect."

The gnoll nodded and turned to the tiny ponies, "Scar will meet teacher pony. If teacher pony agrees, Scar will come and visit school."

"GREAT!" the three tiny ones squealed in delight before they took off to prepare whatever they had planned.

---

Purple Haze and the gnoll left the tree behind and headed towards their destination. Twilight had told them the teacher's name was Cheerilee and from her description she sounded very nice. They made it to the place without any difficulties, it was a colorful little house on the outskirts of the town.

As Purple Haze knocked on the door Scar couldn't help but wonder. Something was different. It was the air, it smelled different around this house. He knew the smell but couldn't quite place it. It had been there in the whole town before, weak, nothing more than a side note to the other odors. As the door was opened from the inside he suddenly remembered what the smell was.

The moment Cheerilee opened the door the gnoll was already at her throat.

Comments

[The Well Dressed Ninja]

... my first thoughts are that your going to go with the whole "Vampire Cheerilee" thing. Please don't. Please, please, please.

[GnollReader]

1727731
Vampire Cheerilee? LoL. Rest assured that's not where I'm going

[The Well Dressed Ninja]

1727817

I reserve the right to call "bull" on any other cliches you might use.

[kyle_gaurdian_of_harmony]

ha i love how the guards enjoy eachothers stupidity and pain

[katarjin]

2043178 just like the real military

[magemagics]

This is definitely my favorite chapter so far.

[Lucky424]

............but why? Unless the one that imprisoned him looks like her.

[Animatorsnake]

Wouldn't it make sense to call this 'Pony Work 3', it mostly mentioned the aftermath of the fight and a little about the future, so the title 'The teacher' kinda does little for this chapter