"We're really sorry Miss Cherilee," Applebloom said, hanging her head in embarrassment. "We promise to pay more attention in class." Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle stood next to her, both in similar states of apology. The school morning was over, and the classroom was empty, but for the three girls and their teacher. Everypony else was outside eating lunch or playing on the playground, their laughter coming through an open window at the back of the classroom. Cherilee sat behind her desk looking down at her students and sighing.

"I'm sure your very sorry, but this is the third time you have fallen asleep in the middle of class. What's your excuse this time?" Cherilee asked, more than a little annoyed. "Wait, let me guess, you were trying to get your cutie marks?"

Sweetie Belle looked up. "Umm...yeah, we were out late last night, guess we didn't get enough sleep..." She cut herself off midsentence, realizing her mistake. Applebloom and Scootaloo purposefully avoided looking at her. "So not only are you falling asleep in class, your sneaking out at night without you parents knowledge." Cherilee couldn't help feeling dissapointed. While she couldn't have favorite students, she had always had a soft spot for these three. Lately though, they had been coming to class unprepared, distracted, or just plain tired.

Applebloom and Scootaloo looked up with fear, and Sweetie Belle teared up a little. "Please don't tell mah sister Miss Cherilee, we swear we won't sneak out anymore." Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nodded in agreement.

Cherilee sighed again."I know how important getting your cutie marks is to you, but that does not mean you can shirk your school work. You three did very poorly on yesterdays test, and you're all in danger of falling behind the rest of the class. Now I have to come up with some way for you to make up your work." Cherilee stood up and waved the girls towards the door. "You three hurry up and eat your lunch, and for ponies sake stay awake during class or I will have to tell your parents."

Relief spread over the girls faces, and Scootaloo let out the breath she had been holding. "Thank you so much Miss Cherilee, we really appreciate it" she said. They turned and ran out of the room, rushing out into the schoolyard. Cherilee sighed once again and rested her head on her desk. She loved teaching and wanted her students to succeed, but she was unsure how to help those silly fillies. She could have them retake the history test but that would only solve part of the problem. As long as they had trouble paying attention in class, they would continue to do poorly.

As she contemplated the problem, there was a knock on the classroom door. "Come on in," Cherilee called out. The door cracked open and Cherilee's good friend Twilight Sparkle poked her head into the classroom. "Hi Cherilee, " she said. "I was wondering if you could do me a favor?" Cherilee gave her friend a welcoming smile, beconing her to come inside. "Hi Twilight, good to see you. Of course I can help, but I'm about to have lunch so..."

"Oh, don't worry, I just want to borrow a blackboard again." Twilight walked over to Cherilee's desk, looking with interest at some of the students artwork on the walls. "Tonight I'm having my history group meeting at the library again, I have some interesting topics to talk about tonight and I want to make sure that everyone can follow along. Speaking of which, will you be attending tonight?" Twilight tilted her head questioningly, giving Cherilee a hopeful look that caused Cherilee to inwardly cringe. She had gone to the first meeting Twilight had held, just to give her friend some support. She had even brought a few of her friends along. It did not go well; Twilight had droned on with dates and names of famous unicorns of the classical era for two hours, thouroughly boring everyone in attendance. Cherilee had been able to talk her way out of attending the last two meetings, but she was running out of excuses.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Twilight but I have a bunch of papers to grade tonight, important test yesterday." Barely made it out of that one, she thought to herself. Twilight's face fell and her ears drooped. "Oh," she said,"then nevermind I guess. Everyone else I asked has said they were too busy as well." She turned, head down and slowly walked toward the door. Cherilee was torn; she could not stand to see her friend so depressed, but she really could not bring herself to sit through another one of those lectures.

That's when she had a devious idea.

* * * * *

"Wait, what do you mean we have to attend a special course tonight," Scootaloo asked with a confused look on her face. "I thought we weren't going to be punished!" School had been ended for the day, and the clasroom was once again empty. The sun was just starting to go down and the sunlight creeped across the blackboard with the evening light. "Exactly what I told you girls, I'm having you attend Twilight's History group this evening. I already had Twilight ask your parent's permission and they agreed." Cherilee gave them the 'eye' as her students called it. Scootaloo shut her mouth and sat down in frustration. Nopony argued with Cherilee after they got the 'eye'. "This is make-up for the test you failed; go to the meeting and I'll give you a passing grade. Don't go, and not only will you fail the test, I will tell your parents about your lack of concentration."

Scootaloo frowned and grunted, "Fine." Applebloom sighed, "Yes Miss Cherilee, we'll be there." Sweetie Belle only nodded unhappily. Cherilee smiled. "Glad to hear it girls. You had better get moving though, Twilight moved up the time to make sure you could attend, it starts in half an hour." Cherilee was quite happy with herself. Not only had she been able to make Twilight happy, she had also been able to find a suitable punishment for her wayward students.

After enduring the horror of that meeting, they would make sure to pay closer attention during class. Satisfied with her descision, Cherilee pushed the girls out the door and locked up for the day.

Author's Note

Ok, so this is not only my first fanfic ever, it's my first attempt at writing any kind of narrative, so comments and criticism is appreciated. (Don't worry about being critical, I'm a big boy, I can take it)

Update: Made some minor revisions to the story, I really did rush through the first three chapters. I'll make sure to take a proper amount of time from now on.