Ponyville needs a new substitute teacher!
After Cheerilie gets a cold, the Cutie Mark Crusaders go in search of a new teacher. The mane six seem good options, but most have their own excuses. After a lot of disappointments it all comes down to the most unlikely pony of all...
--
The Capn' got this idea into his head fer a potential WG tale. The first part however is completely without any squick or naughtiness to be found an it turned out longer then Ol'Squeaks first supposed it might be. Truth to tell he really likes writin fer these characters.
Part two will have more of a fetishy bend probably, but even then...it's Fluttershy. The Capn' won't treat her too roughly. Really it may be his first truly upbeat WG tale with a bit of immobility an awkwardness, but nothin unpleasant.
Fluttershy is best pony XD
--
Ifn ye want something harder core, jus wait till the end of the week when the Capn'll have access again to his desktop an his Thanksgivin tale ;)





The Fluttertute
Part 1: School’s Out Forever?


When a knock came at the front door Twilight was in the midst of mixing unstable chemicals in a single flask. It was extremely lucky for her as well as most of Ponyville that she managed to make a dive and catch her creation before it hit the floor of her attic lab or both she and it might have been vaporized, transmogrified, or worse.
It went without saying she made her way to the door with something less then a stellar mood.
“Yes?”
When she saw Applebloom looking up at her with wide, innocent eyes Twilight could feel her heart melt. She laughed gently to break the ice a little.
“Applebloom! I didn’t see you there.”
Uncharacteristically the little yellow pony looked very unhappy, so much so that Twilight felt her own concern rising by the moment.
“Twilight…”
Applebloom lowered her eyes to the welcome mat.
“Yes?” Twilight prompted cautiously.
“Well…um…ya see…Cheeralie is sick today.”
“Oh I’m sorry!” Twilight’s face fell.
“Oh, it’s jus a little ol’cold.” Applebloom looked up, smiling sadly. “She jus needs rest is all.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“Only thing is….” The little pony stirred her hoof anxiously. “See…we don’t have a substitute.”
“You don’t?”
“Never really needed one till now. Cheeralie rarely gets anything.”
“So, do you want me to fix up some medicine or something?” Twilight raised an eyebrow.
“Oh no, Red Heart’ll take care of that.”
“Then…do you want a book on…something?” Twilight muttered, scratching her ear.
“Um…jus to ask you…if you wouldn’t mind…um…”
“Yes?” Twilight asked, a little more forcefully this time.
“To be our substitute?” Applebloom blurted.
She waited breathlessly but could see already see the answer in Twilight’s expression.
“I don’t know what to tell you…” Sparkle grinned sheepishly. “I don’t know the first thing about teaching. I’m still in training myself!”
“Awww!” whinnied Applebloom, still further widening her eyes. “But you live in a library an you have a laboratory an stuff!”
“Yes, and that’s why I’m usually really busy.”
Twilight hung her head.
“I’m glad you’re concerned about this, but I’m not sure how much help I can be.”
“Aye came on the weekend an everythin!” Applebloom grumbled. “So we’d have time to get ya ac-li-mated to the school room environment.”
Twilight beamed.
“That’s a nice complex word there!”
“Thanks!” Applebloom smiled, prideful. “Cheeralie taught us that one.”
“Gee…I can’t help but think that maybe…”
Twilight squinted at the houses down the hill from the library.
“Rarity! Rarity has a little sister and she’s great with crafts. Maybe she can help out?”
“Thanks Twi.” Applebloom sighed, nodding courteously. “Aye hope so.”
As she trotted away Twilight felt a familiar twinge of guilt running down her spine.
Even magic wasn’t the answer to every problem.

--

Outside of Rarity’s emporium Applebloom met Sweetiebell who was shaking her head sadly while pushing the door closed behind her.
“Any luck?” Applebloom asked.
It was a pointless question but she said it in lieu of nothing at all.
“She says she’d love to help, but work orders are already too great to consider it.” Sweetiebell said, crestfallen. “She said she’d still try and make it to the school house tomorrow but I could tell she was booked solid. Big sister can be a little too bighearted for her own good.”
“Yeah.” Applebloom chuckled. “But at least we’ve got four left to try!”
“If any of them aren’t too busy!” Sweetiebell whined. “Poor Cheeralie! I wish…”
“No sense in wish’n fer what might have could be.” Applebloom muttered. “The important thang is the leg work.”
“Maybe we’ll be able to cover even more of Ponyville if we recruit Scootaloo in for our substitute search?”
Their eyes met and gleamed.
As one they rose into the air, clacking hooves and cheering at the top of their lungs.
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADER SUBSTITUTE SEARCHERS!”
Almost immediately afterwards they stopped, blinked, and adopted the same bewildered expression.
“What in tarnation would that even look like?” Applebloom furrowed her brow.
“I don’t know.” Sweetiebell shrugged. “And I don’t want to know.”

--

“You want me to…what?”
The three fillies looked up at Rainbow Dash with identical pleading stares.
Even from her vantage on a cumulonimbus several feet above the ground they could tell Dash was looking perturbed.
“Please?” Sweetibell, Applebloom and Scootaloo all said together.
“Um…I don’t think I’m really teacher material.” Rainbow Dash preened self-consciously. “See I only really made marks in flying and…”
Her eyes searched the skies thoughtfully for some moments.
“And that was kind of it.”
“But can’t you teach, like physical edu-ma-cation?” Applebloom suggested.
“Or show us all how to do a Sonic Rainboom?” Scootaloo implored.
“Or maybe something not quite so strenuous?” offered Sweetiebell.
“I’d love to help, really.”
Dash began warily paddling her cloud back into the sky.
“But I think you’re mistaking me for an egghead like…”
“We tried Twilight!” whimpered Applebloom. “She said she was busy!”
“What about Rar…”
“We tried her too!” Sweetibell bawled, stomping the ground.
“What about…your sister!” Dash said triumphantly, pointing to Applebloom. “Yeah! She’d make a great substi-whatsit. AJs great with fillies and she’s smart too.”
“Dash!” growled Scootaloo. “You’re not going to let all the fillies in Ponyville down are you?”
“Look…”
The Pegasus covered her eyes ashamedly.
“I’m just…not that smart, okay? I don’t think I’m a good role model.”
“I think you are.” Scootaloo whispered.
Dash peeked from behind her hooves.
“Thanks, Scootaloo, but I mean like books and…facts and stuff. I can fly really great…really really great…but flying isn’t all life’s about, right?”
“I thought you said…” Scootaloo began.
“See?” sputtered Rainbow. “I’m a lousy role model…unless you want to be a super cool flying extraordinaire. Then I’m perfect, but still…”
“Fluttershy can fly faster then you.” Applebloom said offhandedly.
“I…”
Dash blushed.
“That’s…never been proven! Not that I’d mind of course. She is my friend…still…um…”
Then she was gone in a flash of rainbow light; cloud and all.
Sweetiebell and Scootaloo glared at Applebloom.
“Nice going!” Scootaloo snapped.
“Sorry.” Applebloom muttered. “It’s still true though.”

--

Applejack wiped her streaming brow as the three fillies approached. Opposite to her Big Mac was hauling on a stout rope connected to massive bale of hay and by a rope and pulley anchored to the top of the barn. They had been storing the hay for the winter months to come. It was slow work and required heavy lifting but both Big Mac and Applejack wouldn’t have had it any other way.
“Heya sis!” she said, cheerfully waving at her sibling. “Now what’s got yer bow in a knot today? You look downright downcast.”
“Cheeralie is in the hospital with a cold.”
“That’s a shame!” Applejack sighed, sipping on a chilled cider. “Smart as a whip that mare. Will she do all right?”
“They think so.” Sweetiebell nodded. “Only thing is…”
“Aye’d better make up some apple pies an fritters fer her.” Applejack said thoughtfully. “Assumin’ the staff doesn’t mind of course.”
“But…!” Scootaloo squeaked.
“Big Mac, will you remind me if I forget to visit poor Cheeralie in the hospital?”
“Yeerep.” Mac said, his voice muffled by the rope in his mouth.
“I can always count on you.” Applejack chuckled. “Can’t always count on me, course. Mind like a sieve. In one ear an out the…”
“WE NEED A SUBSTITUE!” all three Cutie Mark Crusaders howled.
CRASH!
Big Mac had gaped and the bale of hay fallen with a thud, ferried by the slackened rope.
Applejack tucked her jaw back up to its proper place and like clockwork made the same nervous expression all three previous ponies had.
“Girls…it’s awful nice of you to think of me…but aye don’t really think…”
“All we need is a teacher till Cheeralie gets well!” Applebloom blubbered.
“We don’t care who it is!” Scootaloo bawled.
“We just want somepony to teach us!” Sweetiebell whined.
“Well girls…aye was never much fer book learnin.” Applejack’s voice fell by degrees as she spoke until it was barely an undertone. “Always liked doin more then thinkin about doin myself…”
“So you’ll do it!” Scootaloo cried out abruptly. “Great! We’ll take you to the school house and…!”
“Sorry.”
Applejack looked back at the wreckage of the hay bale behind her.
“Aye’ve got the winter chores to do before the first snow fall. You understand, right?”
“Yes.” All three fillies grumbled.
“And you really know that Pinkie would probably be a much better teacher then me anyhow, right?” Applejack brightened. “She loves kids…aye’m pretty sure.”
The three exchanged uneasy looks.

--

“Me…be a…a….” Pinkie Pie placed a hoof to her chest. “A…TEACHER?”
“Um hmm!” The Cuite Mark Crusaders said as one, nodding.
“I…I don’t know what to say!”
Pinkie’s eyes filled with joyful tears.
“I’d LOVE to!”
Sweetiebell, Scootaloo, and Applebloom all sighed with relief.
“Omigosh…it’s like a dream come true!” she clapped her fore hooves in excitement. “I can’t wait! I mean that too. I can’t possibly wait to teach you all everything I know!”
Pinkie leapt into the air and in a blur of pink was gone through a doorway.
It might have seemed strange to anyone unfamiliar with the strange earth pony’s mannerisms but to the Cutie Mark Crusaders it was an accustomed sight.
She reappeared seconds afterwards with her pet alligator Gummy clinging to her mane.
“Now I have a teacher’s pet!” Pinkie giggled. “Get it?”
All three fillies nodded.
“I thought you might.”
Pinkie zipped to the shelves she surrounded her home with. The majority of space for her dwelling was devoted to a cleared off area she used for exercising and holding impromptu dance parties.
“Ah HA!”
After pulling down all manner of boxes and containers willy-nilly she zapped back to stand before the three, holding a heavy looking crate with some difficulty.
On the side was painted in broad letters ‘PINKIE’S PARTY STUFF’.
“Perfect, right?” she jogged in place. “Everything I need for advanced party throwing in one place!”
The fillies looked perturbed but none of them wanted to voice their concerns.
Finally Sweetibell held up her hoof.
“Yes?” Pinkie said.
Then she squealed.
“You just held up your hoof…AND I ANSWERED YES!” she capered in glee. “I knew I’d make a great teacher!”
“Um…do ya have any books in there?” Applebloom said warily.
“Of course!”
Pinkie removed Gummy from her mane and placed him carefully, teeth first, against the top of the crate. By working him along like a living can-opener she chewed a square shape through. Replacing Gummy and yanking the top open she rifled through the party supplies until she found a colossal hardbound book.
“Pinkie’s Big Book of How to Throw a Party Literally Anywhere!” she said, holding it aloft. “Volume one through…”
“Um…” Sweetibell’s eyes darted back and forth. “The thing is…we need to be taught more then just about parties.”
“Oh.” Pinkie began flipping pages. “Well, I’ve also got chapters on celebration, festivities, get-togethers, bashes, blasts, socials, birthdays…”
“But those are all just parties.” Scootaloo murmured.
Pinkie stopped and her brows slowly rose as realization dawned.
“Huh…” she chuckled awkwardly. “I guess they are. But a party’s never ‘just a party’ to me.”
“Still…we need, like, book learnin an field trips an homework.” Applebloom sighed.
“Maybe not so much homework.” Scootaloo added, hopefully.
“Well…”
Pinkie scratched her head thoughtfully, her hoof not quite making it and scratching Gummy instead.
“I could always provide party training, but I’m not sure I’d be very good at things that…didn’t involve parties.”
“It’s okay.” Sweetiebell smiled sweetly.
“I hope you find the perfect somepony.” Pinkie said, grinning encouragement. “And remember, you need a party you know where to turn first!”
“Never ever doubted that.” Chuckled Applebloom.

--

But once outside the house shaped like a desert Pinkie’s infectious optimism dissipated and their spirits fell.
“We’re never going to find a substitute!” Sweetibell wailed. “It’s impossible!”
“Well I hate to say it’s so, but we have run out of options.” Applebloom groused.
“I say we go back to Dash and threaten to sing our CMC anthem until she agrees!” Scootaloo grumbled. “We’ve got to get somepony by tomorrow…”
At that moment they were passing a hedge. Although their bickering muffled the sound when they stopped to catch their breaths they could hear something drifting through the breeze.
A soft voice, raised in song.
It was a lilting melody, almost shapeless but soothing. They could instantly recognize the source by the tone although it took some wandering among the bushes to find the singer’s whereabouts.
Fluttershy was in a little clearing off the main path, her fore hooves cupped around a baby marmot she was rocking to sleep as she sung. The Cutie Mark Crusaders approached, each with the same thought, but they were held spellbound until the song ended.
“Fluttershy!” Sweetiebell cheered!
She immediately regretted her enthusiasm. Fluttershy looked up, her face a mask of fear. With amazing speed she tucked the marmot cub into a nearby hole then darted away into the underbrush, leaving only a few delicate yellow feathers to glide down where she had been.
“Nice going.” Applebloom muttered, parodying Sweetiebell’s voice.
Sweetiebell responded by sticking out little pink her tongue.
“Girls, girls!” Scootaloo coaxed. “Get it together. We’ve got one pony left to ask, right?”
In a solid block they trotted over to the shivering bush with the two eyes peering from its shadows.
“Hiya Fluttershy!” Applebloom said, waving at the bush.
The only answer was a barely audible sob.
“It’s us!” Sweetiebell confirmed. “Sweetiloo, Scootabloom and Applebell!”
Applebloom and Scootaloo slowly turned to Sweetiebell in disbelief.
“Er…Sweetiebloom, Scootabell and...”
“I know who you are.”
Fluttershy stepped daintily from her hiding place.
“At least now I do. I’m sorry…when I get so focused on my work I can be a little…”
“Skittish?” Suggested Applebloom.
Fluttershy nodded silently.
“But now that the baby marmot is finally asleep I’m done with my work for awhile.” She smiled demurely. “It’s funny but when I find myself without anything to do I don’t know what to do with myself. I know other ponies like having free time, but I find it very…complicated”
“Did ya’ll say…free time?” Applebloom raised an eyebrow.
“Uh huh.” Fluttershy nodded again. “That baby marmot was a handful but he was the last animal in the valley I needed to ready for hibernation. I went a little overboard over the past week or so and finished early. Now…I suppose I’ll just go home and see what sweet little Angel has been doing in my absence”
“But free time means you don’t have anything to do?” Scootaloo asked.
“Uh huh.”
“So…if say, we wanted you to do something for us…?” Sweetiebell whispered, careful not to look directly at Fluttershy as she spoke.
“Oh, I’m not sure I’d be of much help in most circumstances.” Fluttershy blushed. “But I always like to help out other ponies if I can.”
“She’s perfect!” hissed Scootaloo to Applebloom. “Kind and smart and she’s got all sort of knowhow about animals and nature and stuff!”
“All right all right!” snapped Applebloom back. “
To Fluttershy directly she asked, “Would you…aye mean…could you…be our substitute Ms. Fluttershy?”
“I suppose.” Fluttershy replied. “But…a substitute for what?”

--

“I…don’t know if this is such a good idea.”
It had taken all three Cutie Mark Crusaders to prod her to the schoolhouse itself, let alone ease her over the threshold and inside.
“Nonsense!” Scootaloo chuckled. “You’re perfect Ms. Fluttershy!”
“That’s not my last name…” Fluttershy muttered as she was conveyed to the front of the room past the rows of desks. “I’m really not teacher material.”
“Of course you are!” Sweetiebell submitted. “You’re kind and patient and thoughtful.
“I…try to be those things.”
“And you know everything to know about the outdoors, plants and animals!”
“I…don’t know if I’d say ‘everything’…”
“And you spend your time taking care of children, right?”
“Animal children. I’m not sure fillies are quite the…”
“Great!”
All three gave her a slight shove and she found herself seated in the rolling chair behind the teacher’s desk.
“Don’t worry about it, none!” Applebloom offered. “You’ll do fine!”
“Just teach us stuff and write on the blackboard and give us homework afterwards.” Sweetibell chimed in. “Easy as pie!”
“And if you forget the homework, we’ll forgive you!” Scootaloo stated.
Fluttershy gulped.
“I…I really don’t know if I can handle all the attention.” Her breathing quickened. “Or the pressure. I’m quite helpless you know…”
“That’s not the Fluttershy who saved us from that Cockatrice!” Scootaloo beamed.
“Or that dragon!” Sweetiebell added.
“Or wrecked that Grand Galloping Gala a year back.” Giggled Applebloom.
Fluttershy down sunk in her chair until only the tips of her ears could be seen.
“I’d really prefer if we could all just forget things like that.” She muttered.
“Don’t worry about it.” Applebloom confirmed. “We’ll take care of everything.”
“The worst you’ll have to put up with is students loving you too much.” Sweetibell encouraged. “Every filly loves their teacher, and…well…you’re Fluttershy! They can’t possibly dislike you. If they loved Cheerlie they’ll love you even more.”
“Um…thank you.”
“Just say what comes naturally. We’ll listen.” Scootaloo nodded.
“Oh, and bring treats!” Sweetiebell suggested, walking towards the door.
“Jus make yourself at home!” Applebloom waved as she departed with her fellows. “We’ll see you early tomorrow Ms. Fluttershy!”
Just before leaving Scootaloo trotted back and placed a shiny red apple on the desk.
“We always give our teacher treats too.” She said jauntily. “I get to give you your very first apple!”
“Thank…you…” Fluttershy whimpered.
“Tomorrow will be the best day ever!” the Cutie Mark crusaders cheered in unison.
When they had gone the yellow Pegasus peeked up over the desk.
For a time she stared at the chairs, the desk, the blackboard, the globe.
“Oh…my…” Fluttershy whispered.