And unfortunately, Twilight Sparkle didn't get that particular memo. Especially when she signed up as a substitute teacher to take over for Miss Cheerilee, who was currently on a much-needed vacation in Las Pegasus.
Twilight practically jumped at the chance to take over teaching Cheerilee's class for the week, seeing it as an ideal opportunity to help educate the next generation. Sadly, she spent the majority of the week stuck with one half of the class being a bunch of rowdy students and the other half being completely disinterested in any of her lectures.
But the real chaos ensued once the final bell rang. Before Twilight could even open her mouth to go over homework assignments, she suddenly found herself dogpiled by the entire class who promptly tied her up with a bunch of jump ropes from the storage closet. Diamond Tiara even duct-taped Twilight's mouth shut to keep her from calling out for help. The entire student body sent taunting faces her way as they rushed out the door for the weekend. Not even the CMC stuck around to help their substitute teacher out of their predicament, as they sent Twilight apologetic glances before hurrying off to their homes.
Twilight spent the next several minutes trying to undo the tight knots of the jump ropes that bound her upper body. Eventually, the front doors of the school swung open and another woman walked inside, sporting a half-surprised, half-amused grin.
"Okay, this adds a whole different meaning to being stuck to your work," Sunset Shimmer jested.
"Hmmpphh!!" Twilight fumed as she wriggled around in her bindings.
"Alright, alright, I'm coming!" Sunset held up her hands defensively. She walked over and untied Twilight, while gently peeling off the duct tape from her mouth.
"You okay?" Sunset gingerly rubbed the spots where the ropes chafed at Twilight's skin.
"I can't believe this! Those little-argh!!" Twilight threw her arms up exasperatedly. "Just…why?! Why would they all pull something like this?!"
"Kids do crazy things, Twilight. It can't be helped." Sunset gave a sympathetic shrug. "Plus, this might've been part of the reason why Cheerilee sought you out to replace her this week."
"You mean her students do this to her too?!"
"You mean you didn't notice how much of a hurry she was in to get to the airport?" Sunset countered.
Twilight stopped herself from retorting. She did start to remember the nearly-frantic look in Cheerilee's eyes when Twilight accepted her request. But then again, Twilight was far too caught up in her dream job at the time to notice.
"Well, she could've told me that!" Twilight argued.
"And that would've probably driven you away from teaching this class in particular," Sunset replied.
Twilight pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Well, I'm going to make sure to notify each of the kids' parents of what their children have been up to. Then we'll see who gets the last laugh!"
Sunset gave her an unimpressed look. "You can try, but Cheerilee already did. And even though some of the students got grounded, she still gets the occasional prank every now and then."
Twilight wrung her hands through her hair. "Then what am I supposed to do?!"
Sunset put a hand on her shoulder. "Like I said, you can't force kids to act a certain way. Maybe the best thing to do is to get them on your side."
Twilight raised a brow. "Meaning…?"
"Well, come on, Twi. Do you really think a bunch of grade-school kids are gonna want to sit through hours of boring presentations on the basic principles of magic distribution?"
"They're not boring! They're meant to be stimulating!"
"To you, maybe. Try looking at things from their perspective for a bit."
Twilight once again bit her lips to stop her retort. She pondered it over for a bit and realized that there was some shred of truth to Sunset's words.
"Maybe we can find a way to adapt your lectures to better fit the kids' attention spans," Sunset suggested. "Make it so that they want to learn about what you're teaching."
"But how can I do that? An award system?" Twilight asked. Her eyes then widened a smidge when an idea popped into her head. "…Pinkie's great at throwing pizza parties."
"Pizza and a movie might be enough incentive to get the kids to study harder in class and at home." Sunset smiled knowingly.
Twilight wrapped her girlfriend in a tight hug. "Sunset! You're a genius!!"
"You're the one who thought of it. I just got the ball rolling."
"Well, thank you anyways." Twilight grinned at her partner. "I'll call Pinkie and see what we can put together." Her grin then became sharklike. "After I send notification letters to each of the parents, that is!"
Sunset rolled her eyes and patted Twilight's shoulder. "You can handle that tomorrow. You've had a busy week."
This time, Twilight didn't even bother trying to retort as she sagged her shoulders while sighing. "Yeah…you're probably right."
"Course I am." Sunset winked at her.
"Don't push it."
"Okay, sorry." Sunset giggled. "Why don't we do our own little pizza party at home? What better way to cap off a long week for both of us?"
Twilight smiled at the enticing idea. "Sounds perfect."