The Life and Times of a Substitue Teacher

Chapter 2: The Crusaders

It was a fairly uneventful first day, there was the occasional laughter as Snails wasn't able to grasp the fact that your name was Mr Star, not Mr Cheerilee, and on one occasion Pinkie Pie had entered the classroom looking for gummy, who had found his way in and was on the back of Snips' chair. After dismissing the class you talked with Diamond Tiara for about 10 minutes about her treatment of Scootaloo, and then prepared to head home. Just as you were putting away the last of your papers you heard a knock at the door.

"Who is it?"

"Someone you know"

"Big Mac?" you said while heading to the door.

"Eeyup" he responded as you opened the door, revealing the gigantic red stallion you knew as Big Mac.

"What can I help you with? You know we can't go drinking tonight since I have work tomorrow and all, right?" you asked while you grabbed your saddle bag and threw it across your back.

"I came here to talk to you about my sister"

"Oh, right, Applebloom is your youngest sister if I remember correctly. What is it you wanted to talk about?"

"Well, I think I have something to show you, just to let you know what you got yourself into"

"Okay, so what you going to show me?"

"Just follow me"

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After around half an hour of walking you recognized the surrounding area as Sweet Apple Acres, but it was far into the field from the looks of it. Just as you were going to ask why he took you out here you saw a little tree house come into view, and you could faintly hear the laughter of young fillies.

"What are we doing all the way out here Mac?" you asked, now even more confused.

"Be quiet, you'll see in a minute"

You listened to what he said and shut up, and you obediently followed him up the stairs of the little house and up to the window. When he motioned for you to look inside you quickly did as he said, and you could now make out what was being said.

"Mr Star is so nice! How come we've never met him before?!" Sweetie Belle said.

"I don't know, from what I heard he does odd jobs most of the time. He even knows Twilight!" Scootaloo responded happily, "He even said he'd fix my scooter after it broke from me running into him!"

"Wow, that sure is nice of him!" Applebloom said while looking at a list on the wall, "He knows my big brother, since I see the two of them together some times, so he's gotta be a really good guy!"

"Maybe he can help us get our cutie marks!" Scootaloo suddenly yelled, now standing on the small table that was inside the room.

You were intent on listening to the rest of their conversation, but Big Mac pulled you away. He made a little nod to the farm house that was barely visible from where you currently were. He either meant he'll be going there, or he wants you to go there with him, but it was most likely that he wanted you to go with him, so you did. After a few minutes of walking you made it to the old house and were welcomed inside.

"So, now do you see what you got yourself into?"

"Well, I can see that your sister and her friends really like me, which is always a good thing for a substitute teacher, but I don't see anything wrong with that"

"No, the problem is that since they like you, there going to try to get you to help them get their cutie marks"

"Again, I don't see what's wrong with that"

"You'll find out soon enough"

Almost as if they knew someone had been talking about them, the three young fillies appeared behind you at the door to the farm house.

"See! Told ya he was a friend of my brother" Applebloom said while pointing at you.

"Ya, ya, whatever, let's ask him now since he's here!" Scootaloo said, surprisingly happy to see you.

"Hey Mr Star, can you help us get our cutie marks?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I don't see why not," you said while making your way towards them, "and outside of the class you can just call me Silver"

"Awesome!" Scootaloo said, taking her place next to you, "What should we try first?"

"We could try to fix this scooter of yours, maybe one of you is good at repairing things"

"Yeah! Cutie Mark Crusaders Scooter Fixers!" the three fillies said all at once.

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"Well girls, looks like this may not be your special talent after all" you said while looking at the three tired fillies and the thing that was once a scooter. After they got to work on it they had begun to add a lot of unnecessary pieces of wood to it, and plenty of extra wheels. One of the wheels was a square from the looks of it. The only part that looked correct were the parts you had told Applebloom to patch up.

"Although, maybe Applebloom's talent is fixing things, since her work was done well. It looks better than what I could have done anyways" you said while staring at the perfectly carved handles.

"This sucks, all we did was make it worse!" Scootaloo said while looking at what was once her scooter.

"We'll never get our cutie marks at this rate!" Sweetie Belle cried out in terror.

"Now, now girls. Don't think like that, you may already have your special talents, but you may have not realized it yet, that's all" you said while patting the two fillies on the back.

"But we can't do anything right at all! We're useless" Applebloom said while looking at the ground.

"Don't worry, you'll find out what your special talent is one day, I'm sure of it!" you said while messing up Applebloom's already dusty hair.

"Thanks Mr Star" the three fillies said while they hugged one of your legs.

"Please, call me Silver, Mr Star is my teacher name"

"Okay Silver!" Scootaloo said while giving you another tight hug on the leg.

"Now it's getting late, you three should be heading home"

"Okay, bye, see you guys tomorrow!" Applebloom and Sweetie Belle both said while they ran towards their respective homes.

"So, Scootaloo" you said after the two fillies were out of sight.

"Yes Silver?"

"Want to stay at my place tonight? I have a really comfortable guest bed you know" you say while smiling at her.

"Thanks Silver!" she said while hugging you once again.

"Anytime Scootaloo, I'll always be here if you need me"

As you walked towards your house you could see Scootaloo's eyes getting bigger and bigger the fancier the houses got.

"Do you really live in this neighborhood Silver?" she asked while looking at the gigantic houses that were surrounding the two of you.

"Doing odd jobs pays off every now and then," you said as you stopped outside one of the larger houses, "and here we are"

"Whoa..." was all Scootaloo could manage to say.

"Come on inside, it's starting to get dark out" you called to her from the door.

Without hesitation she ran up the path and into your house, and within moments she was zipping around the house, looking at every nook and cranny. You quickly made your way to your work shop and began working on the scooter. After around an hour it was finished, and looked good as new. You headed back into the house to find Scootaloo playing with something she must have found during her investigation of your house.

"Having fun?" you ask as you bring her scooter into the room.

"Yeah, I found this..." she saw the scooter behind you, "Is this my scooter?! It looks so awesome, thanks again Silver!"

"No problem, now, did you finish the homework I assigned today?"

Her expression made it easy to see that she hadn't. "Go finish your homework, if you do I'll cook up a nice big dinner for you to eat, maybe even give you a cupcake if you finish it all before I'm done cooking" you said while levitating her books in front of her. Without a word she quickly began to do her work as you made your way to the kitchen to make a delicious salad for you and your new house guest.

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After you finished the salad you were happily surprised by Scootaloo. All her homework was finished, and it was all done correct, so as you promised you got her a cupcake. You grabbed one with a rainbow coloring to it, including some multicolored sprinkles that were on top. She grabbed it hesitantly, and then you remember the story Lyra told last Nightmare Night about Pinkie making Rainbow Dash into cupcakes. You then remember being the only one who was able to tell her to stop telling kids that story since it was making everyone vomit everywhere.

"Don't worry, the coloring is just for show, it's actually a blueberry cupcake" you reassured Scootaloo, who had begun to look at you suspiciously. Without any care in the world she ate the cupcake, all in one bite, and then happily smiled.

"You were right! I guess Lyra's stories were fake after all! Thanks for the cupcake by the way" she said while liking the crumbs off her face and hoof. As you carried the dishes to the sink you heard a knock on the door, but it was a special knock that only one person ever did.

"Hey there Whooves, can I help you with anything?" you asked the brown colored pony that was now standing outside your house.

"Well, I was in the neighborhood and was wondering if maybe you'd like to go get a drink with me and Mac" he said as he moved to the left, revealing Big Mac standing on the road by himself.

"Sorry, I can't, I've got a guest over tonight, and not to mention that I have work tomorrow"

"Oh yeah, I forgot you were filling in for Cheerilee," Doctor Whooves said as he made his way back towards Big Mac, "Well, see you another time!"

You waved goodbye and then headed inside, managing to find Scootaloo passed out on your couch, probably just tired from running around with her friends after school. Rather than waking her up, you decided to levitate her to the guest bedroom, and you tucked her in under the sheets.

As you left the room you turned back to the sleeping filly, and something felt right about it. Looks like you were going to end up spending a lot of time with the "Cutie Mark Crusaders".