Moondancer sat in the Canterlot Library, reading as she always did. Study, study, study. That’s what her life had been consumed by, learning things about magic, science, and basically anything that was in books. There was so much that could be learned from these books, they held knowledge, as well as great stories that were fun to read. But Moondancer wanted more than just joy out of this, she wanted to be able to DO something with this knowledge.
Moondancer sighed and closed the book she was reading.
“Something wrong, Moondancer?” a voice asked.
The yellow pony looked over her shoulder and saw one of the librarians, First Folio.
“Yeah, I’m just wondering… what I’m going to do!” Moondancer screamed.
“Shh!” Everypony hissed in her direction.
Moondancer blushed, they were in a library, and ponies needed quiet time in order to be able to focus on the things they were studying or otherwise reading. She had once shushed somepony trying to befriend her when she’d been trying to focus on reading.
“Sorry!” she whispered.
As everypony went back to studying, Moondancer looked back at First Folio.
“Well, you certainly spend a lot of time studying things about magic,” the elder mare said quietly so as not to disturb the others. “Perhaps you should consider a career teaching magic?”
Moondancer put a hoof to her chin then whispered back. “Hmm… that’s not a bad idea. But where would I teach?”
First Folio chuckled. “I happened to open todays newspaper and see a little something along those lines.”
She walked over to the newspaper stand in the library and picked one up with her magic before levitating it over to Moondancer. The younger unicorn opened it up and looked at the front page.
Ruler of Equestria needs substitute teachers!With the retirement of Professor Prospell at the School of Magic, Princess Twilight needs a new substitute teacher to fill in on days where she is busy ruling Equestria. Interviews will be held this afternoon.
“This could be perfect for you!” First Folio said. “Princess Twilight is a friend of yours after all!”
Moondancer thought back to the days of when she had attended the School of Magic. How she would spend a lot of time learning and receive applaud from her parents, teachers, and her friend Twilight Sparkle. Moondancer smiled at the fond memories as she recalled how she and Twilight would both get top scores, they had been the two smartest mares of their class and would congratulate each other every time they passed a test. They had been slightly competitive on the tests as well, motivating each other to do their best and see who would get the better score, and of course, be top student of the year. Of course, Moondancer had come in second place next to Twilight. Now, she couldn’t even hold a candle to that pony! Twilight had ended up becoming the Princess of Friendship, and to think that road had begun when she had not gone to the party Moondancer threw.
Moondancer smiled at the fond memories of her fillyhood.
“You know, First Folio, you’re right. This could work! But won’t you need me here?”
“I’m sure we can find somepony to take your place here. You and I both love books, but a bright mare like you spending the rest of your time here? You should go out and experience new things and have some excitement in your life! Don’t waste away in boredom here!” First Folio screamed out.
“Shhh!” the pony’s shushed again.
Moondancer looked around at the library full of books that she had spent countless hours reading. She’d gained a lot of knowledge here, and now it was time to use it for a new path. She was going to see Twilight.
***
Moondancer made her way to the Castle where Twilight was now the ruler of Equestria. The Royal Guards escorted her to the throne room. Twilight sat on the throne, she was not the same alicorn as she had been when she had met Moondancer again after moving to Ponyville. She was larger, and her mane had started to flow and sparkle. Moondancer was not surprised though, as she’d seen Twilight like this a few times already. Since Twilight moved back to Canterlot, she’d gotten together with Moondancer as well as their old classmates Twinkleshine, Minuette, and Lemon Hearts every now and then. Just months ago, Twilight had invited all of them to dinner at the Castle. Moondancer still remembered the wonderful taste of the royal fruits served in desert that night.
“Well, hello Moondancer,” Twilight greeted her.
“Hello Twilight,” Moondancer said as she approached the throne with a bow.
Twilight chuckled at the gesture. “Moondancer, I know I’m the ruler of Equestria but we’re still old friends. There’s no need for such formalities.”
“Right,” Moondancer said. “So, I heard that you had a position available at the School of Magic for a Substitute Teacher?”
“Yes, I need one for my personal class as Professor Prospell is retiring,” Twilight said. “I need somepony who’s responsible, intelligent, and has good attention to detail.”
Moondancer smiled. “Well I’d say I probably have the intelligence part. We both got top marks on our tests after all.”
Twilight nodded. “Yes, but I can’t simply give you the job because we knew each other as fillies.”
“I understand, Twilight. I have to go through the same process as everypony else. So, what is?”
Twilight levitated a clipboard with a piece of paper on it over. Moondancer took it and looked over the top, seeing a series of six questions.
- What can you bring to the School of Magic besides teaching?
- You see a student cheating during a test what do you do?
- You are teaching a new class, what do you need to know before lesson planning?
- A bright student is refusing to do any work for you? What do you do?
- A student asks why they have to learn this stuff anyway, what do you do?
- A parent wishes to talk to you about all the great things their child can do, the child (your student) is only averagely academic, how do you handle the person?
“Those are the six questions I have for you Moondancer,” Twilight said. “Just a few scenarios to see what you think you would do in that situation.”
“Okay,” the yellow glasses wearing pony said before taking a quill with her magic and sitting down to write.
The questions required a bit of thought as Moondancer carefully considered each scenario. She skipped the first one, deciding to come back to it later. The second one was easy, give them an automatic F like Professor Prospell had. A cheater didn’t deserve to pass! Three required a bit of thought, but she soon figured it out. She needed to identify the learning objective, what did she expect her students to learn from what she taught and how it would be accessed?
If a bright student was refusing to work, it meant they had problems. If somepony asked why they needed to learn the things that were being taught, then Moondancer would try to explain how having knowledge of any kind could help them in life to pursue their careers, Literature could help with becoming an author, Biology could help an environmentalist in the field. As for the parent, Moondancer would probably have to let them think their child was brilliant if they were so delusional. Perhaps they felt their child was more gifted, or perhaps the child was holding back? If that happened, Moondancer might try and see if there was some untapped potential.
The hardest one was probably the first one, as she had been rather focused on the teaching aspect. School was meant to teach after all. What could she bring to the School of Magic. She had her knowledge that she could share with the students, but what else did she have? What things made her the pony for the job besides that? Then she had it, with that thought, she wrote the answer to the first question and levitated it back to Twilight.
Twilight looked at the answers and read the first answer aloud.
“A friendly face who wants to be friends with as many students as possible. Well that is certainly important, being friends with your student and creating a good relationship. That does help to inspire them. I remember it was like that for me with… with Celestia.”
Twilight looked down.
“Twilight, are you okay?” Moondancer asked.
The ruler of Equestria nodded. “Yes, its just… I miss Celestia being here. Sometimes I just don’t feel like I can fit in her shoes.”
Moondancer chuckled as she looked at the growing alicorn. “You’re getting close to her horse shoe size!”
“Haha. I’m still not her,” Twilight said. “But I am ruler of Equestria and Principal of the School for Gifted Unicorns.”
“So when can I expect to hear if you decide to hire me?”
“Just wait a week or two,” Twilight said. “I’ll send you a scroll.”
So Moondancer returned to her job at the library, she couldn’t afford to simply quit until she had a new job secured. Then finally, in a puff of smoke, a scroll materialized in front of her one day as she walked home. She opened it and saw to her delight it read-
Congratulations Moondancer,
I’ve chosen to have you as the substitute teacher for my class at the School for Gifted Unicorns. We need friendly faces there who love knowledge, and after me you were the most studious of all our class. It will be a lot like the good old days, but this time I will appreciate your friendship.
Your old friend,
Princess Twilight Sparkle
“Yay!” Moondancer squealed in excitement. “I’m gonna work at the School of Magic!”
Author's Note
Well here’s my Moondancer one shot for her getting a job as a teacher in my Successor Verse. I used to be a bit scholarly myself like both and she and Twilight were, I would study hard in Junior High and try and do my best to get good grades and have friendly competition with a girl I had a crush on, so I had something similar with them here. I also figured Twilight could possibly get together with Moondancer and their group of friends from the school of magic every now and then. I took the questions from a model teacher interview I found online.
