A fanfic written by PaleoPrints
After her students release the spirit of Discord on an official field trip, Cheerilee finds herself out of a job. With no opportunities in Ponyville, the schoolmare takes a job offer in the inner city area of Canterlot's old mining town. Can even she overcome the insanities of her colleagues and apathy of her students in time to pass her next annual review? And who is the mysterious backwards-talking filly following Cheerilee around? Luna's School for Disadvantaged Youngsters will never be the same!
You can find it here
. Its sequel, A Nightmare in Ponyville, can be found here.
This story provides examples of:
- The '80s: the story itself is a Shout-Out to Stand and Deliver so this is only natural.
- Absentminded Professor: Red Glare is this with shades of Cloud Cuckoolander.
- Adaptational Badass: Cherilee officially cements herself as one for bucking Discord in the face.
- Adults Are Useless: Since the festival goers don't believe Screwball's warnings, the students have to mount the daring rescue into the collapsed mine to save their trapped teachers and Sluice's father.
- Ascended Extra: It’s a 74,000 word novel about Cheerilee, who is not a main character in the source material.
- As Himself: Running Dangerfield, who "gets no respect I tell ya."
- Buffy Speak: "You're... good at the thing where you mix the words and the stuff and they do things in the brain."
- But Now I Must Go: Inverted: Cheerilee stays in Old Canterlot.
- Cool Teacher: Cheerilee, Golden Ratio, Globe Trotter and Red Glare all certainly qualify.
- Education Through Pyrotechnics: Red Glare seems to be rather fond of this trope.
- First Guy Wins: Red Glare for Cheerilee.
- Fundraiser Carnival: The plan Cheerilee comes up with to save the school.
- High-School Sweethearts: Crunch and Luster, Screwball and Quest
- Inevitable Waterfall: Screwball and her friends face one in the collapsed mine. While rafting on an underground river.
- Inner City School: Naturally, as the school is located in Inner Canterlot.
- Manipulative Bastard: Discord. He emotionally assaults Cheerilee during her darkest moments, creates a distraction in Ponyville which nearly holds up the element bearers and the princesses from helping the teachers when they are trapped in the mine, and tricks Celestia into believing he did it all to help Screwball, his "daughter"... who he in fact feels nothing but contempt for and is only using as a way of escaping his imprisonment, negating the elements binding of him. Clever bastard, eh?
- Noodle Incident: The Cutie Mark Crusader's escapades touched briefly on in the first chapter.
- Running Gag: The salacious pictures of Cheerilee left behind by her last class.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: In terms of the last chapter title; every chapter before that is titled with the name of an 80's song. Chapter 11 is left titleless until its end.
- Speech Impediment: Screwball says the exact opposite of what she means, and she's prone to using third person. It is later revealed that Discord created her this way on purpose. She can speak normally with a great effort of concentration, but it takes an enormous toll on her body to do so.
- Sucky School: Unfortunately, Princess Luna's School For Disadvantaged Youngsters is not exactly up to scratch. The building itself being an old prison doesn't help matters much.
- Take That!: One to Past Sins.Celestia: Besides, does separating a youngster from her adopted mother for her father’s past sins really sound like something I’d do?
- Teens Are Monsters: At least initially.
- The 'Verse: According to the summary of the author's stand-alone prequel, Choices, this is in the same universe as another one of said author's works, The Three Whooves (or at least that starts in the same universe as this).
- Waxing Lyrical: Dozens of lines of dialogue are lines from 80's songs, especially Men at Work and Talking Heads.
- Xanatos Gambit: Invoked but ultimately averted. Discord. He even calls out the trope-namer in one scene by growing a mustache, renaming a pony 'Owned,' and telling him that "Everything is going according to plan."
- "YEAH!" Shot: There's an ending bro-hoof done with magical aid.
