For my own students.
"Okay, guys!" Radiant Dawn tapped a hoof to the chalkboard. "Today, we're going to have a history lesson!" The powder-blue unicorn surveyed her classroom full of foals, most of whom looked dubious at the prospect.
One young yellow pegasus pony raised her hoof. "Miss Radiant Dawn, why do we have to learn about history?"
"Because history is important!" Radiant Dawn said, drawing herself up straighter, although there was a teasing smile on her muzzle and a twinkle in her deep blue eyes. "It's by learning from the past that we can make a better future! Plus, there's tons of interesting things in history, like the magic discoveries of Starswirl the Bearded!"
Her students seemed unimpressed.
Radiant Dawn blew a strand of her wavy pink mane, accented with yellow streaks, out of her face, and lowered her eyelids. "And because there's this huge old list of stuff that we have to get through in the curriculum before they let you graduate."
"Yeah, boring stuff," an earth pony said. "How much longer until lunch?"
"Ummm…" Radiant Dawn glanced over at the clock on the wall. "Two more hours. Just work with me here, I'll make this as entertaining as possible." Lowering her head and concentrating, her horn began to glow with white magic. It swirled out of the tip of her horn and curled into shapes and figures that moved along with the willowy unicorn teacher's lesson.
"Long ago," she said, "our kingdom of Daybreak was ruled by King Early Light, who oversaw his subjects with fairness and kindness." The light-figures showed a noble-looking pegasus pony standing tall—and then long tendrils began to writhe toward him. "Unfortunately, the lamia Tanith decided she wanted his kingdom for herself. She attacked Daybreak and challenged Early Light in combat." A monstrous snake-demon rose out of the magic swirls, lashing out at the pegasus who zoomed around her with his knights.
The foals stiffened, entranced by the spectacle, and Radiant Dawn smiled. It was always nice to know that she'd successfully gotten their attention.
"Did King Early Light win?" a unicorn asked, eyes wide.
The pegasus from before shook her head. "If he'da won, he would still be here! Tanith won and that's why she's the queen now!"
Radiant Dawn's smile faded and she nodded somberly, watching as the lamia in her magic pictures defeated the pegasus. "That's right. Tanith crowned herself queen."
"And then what?" a foal asked.
Radiant Dawn sighed and looked over at the flag in the corner of the classroom. It was black with the stylized emblem of two sharp yellow eyes, a reminder that Queen Tanith still ruled them all. The unicorn cleared her throat and looked back to her lesson guide. "Well, no one knows if Early Light escaped, but then Tanith enacted several new tax laws—"
The pegasus filly frowned. "Why doesn't anypony stand up to Tanith?" She clopped a hoof on her desk. "If I was older—I'd march right into her castle and tell her to leave!"
The earth pony rolled his eyes. "Sirocco, you can't just tell Queen Tanith to leave. Her magic is too powerful." His voice lowered. "And my mom says that anypony who's ever tried to fight her gets put in the dungeons."
"I heard she turns ponies to stone!" another foal piped up.
"She's not the one who turns them to stone," somepony else said, "it's her pet serpents! If they look you in the eye—next thing you know, you're part of her statue collection!"
Radiant Dawn noticed that some of her students were looking rather disquieted at this information, so she cleared her throat in an attempt to get her class's attention. "Everything will be okay as long as you don't do anything to get yourselves in trouble," she said in as stern a tone as she could muster. "There's being brave and then there's being foolish." Eying Sirocco in particular, the unicorn added, "Nopony knows how to defeat Queen Tanith, and I don't want any of you to get hurt trying, okay?"
"Yes, Miss Dawn," the foals intoned.
Sirocco's hoof shot up. "Since Queen Tanith is so mean and nasty, why doesn't everypony just leave?"
Radiant Dawn smiled ruefully and pulled out a map of the region. "See this dot? That's Daybreak." With a hoof, she circled the vast, unmarked area around it. "And these are the Sierra Pinto Mountains. It's all wilderness for miles and miles... and I hear all sorts of things live in those woods, like manticores and timberwolves."
"I bet I could take 'em," Sirocco grumbled.
An earth pony craned his neck to look out one of the classroom windows. "Is it true that there used to be fields and forests in Daybreak instead of all these factories? My granny says her granny told her that things used to be different."
Radiant Dawn nodded. "One of the first things Queen Tanith did in her rule was have the ponies construct all of these factories and tall buildings." With a sigh, she dispelled her magic and moved to the window, looking up at a sky blanketed with an ugly brown haze that kept the day forever cloudy and dim. "But you know, past all this smog, the sun still shines. Somewhere up there."
"We'll never get to see the sun," an earth pony groaned, slumping over his desk. "I asked my dad once and he said it was useless to even think about it. We're all just going to work in factories for our entire lives."
Radiant Dawn frowned. "I don't think that's true. The sun's got to shine through someday."
"My mom says Princess Celestia's forgotten about us," somepony else chimed in.
"Some princess she is," another foal grumbled.
Radiant Dawn cleared her throat again. "Princess Celestia is a very busy alicorn, overseeing the motions of the sun and the moon… and Queen Tanith is very powerful. I'm sure Celestia would help us if she could, but for whatever reason, she just can't right now." She smiled. "So until then, it's our job to hang on to what we've got and find the good in every day!"
One of the earth ponies looked under his desk. "I can't find it."
His teacher laughed. "See, just like that! Keep a sense of humor and you can't go wrong. Find the beauty in everything, appreciate the friendships you have, and always keep hoping for a better tomorrow. Things will improve, I'm sure of it."
Scirocco wrinkled her snout. "How do you know? Can you see the future?"
"I can't," Radiant Dawn said. "But I feel it in here." She placed a hoof over her heart. "So I know it's true. And—"
A sharp rap at the classroom door interrupted her thoughts. Before Radiant Dawn could respond, the door jerked open and the head of an older mare with a graying mane poked through. The mare narrowed her eyes with a scowl as she surveyed the class. "Miss Dawn," she said, "I trust everything here is going according to procedure."
Radiant Dawn shuffled timidly, ears pinned back. "We were in the middle of our history lesson, Principal Decorum."
"Well, don't take up too much time," Principal Decorum snapped. "This school year is on a strict schedule and the budget's tighter than ever. Queen Tanith could have this place audited any day, and if we lose our accreditation due to substandard student performance…" She glowered at the teacher. "There will be penalties."
"Yes, ma'am," Radiant Dawn said. Nopony wanted to get on Principal Decorum's bad side. The pegasus ran Daybreak School with an iron hoof, and had no patience for those who did not conform to her idea of the way things should be run.
Scirocco turned around in her seat. "Don't worry, Principal Decorum! Miss Dawn was using her magic to illustrate history for us!"
The principal's eyes widened at the younger mare. "Miss Dawn, that is not an approved teaching method! We are a school, not a cartoon studio!"
"I'm sorry," said Radiant Dawn, hanging her head.
"I'm beginning to re-think hiring you," Principal Decorum said. "Perhaps teaching isn't your thing." A sneer worked its way up her lips. "I mean, you don't have the cutie mark for it. Oh wait—you don't have a cutie mark at all."
Radiant Dawn cringed and glanced over at her hind legs. It was true—she was a blank flank. She didn't know why. She was well over the age where most other ponies received their cutie marks, and although there were things she enjoyed and was good at, none of them seemed to be her calling in life—her own extra special talent.
Principal Decorum lifted her head with a smug grin. "Well, I'll leave you to contemplate that on your own time. Right now, you're on the clock, and if there's one thing I can't tolerate, it's irresponsibility. Return to your lesson." She backed out and closed the door.
Radiant Dawn sighed and shook her head, magically shuffling her notes to try to get her mind off of what had just happened. Life would be so much less stressful without Principal Decorum breathing down her neck. But it was either this, or go to work at the factories. At least at the school, teaching these foals, Radiant Dawn knew she was making a difference in other ponies' lives, no matter how small.
"Miss Dawn?" The unicorn looked up to see the blond pegasus standing beside her. "We don't care that you're a blank flank," the young filly said. "You're the best teacher we've ever had."
That, Radiant Dawn decided, made all of this worth it. Feeling tears well up in her eyes, she wrapped the filly in a tight hug. "Thanks, Sirocco. I love you guys." At least somepony liked her, she thought.
Breaking away, she patted Sirocco on the head and the filly trotted back to her seat. Radiant Dawn turned back to the chalkboard, trying to compose her thoughts. That mare's vitriol always rattled the unicorn, although she tried not to show it to her foals. "Okay, where were we—is it time for math—" she muttered to herself as she began to sketch diagrams on the slate.
"Miss Dawn," a foal said, "history hour's not over yet."
Radiant Dawn glanced at the clock. "Oh—" With a sheepish grin, she erased the drawings. "Sorry, everypony. Um, where did we leave off?"
"Queen Tanith being a big bully," Sirocco grumbled, and the other students murmured in agreement.
Radiant Dawn had just found her place in her lesson guide again, and she gave Sirocco a distracted chuckle. "Right. So like I was saying, there were several tax laws laid down, and Daybreak began to export goods to enemies of Equestria…"
An earth pony raised her hoof. "Miss Dawn, do the magic again! The lessons aren't as boring then!"
Radiant Dawn hesitated, pawing the floor with one hoof. "I… I shouldn't, I'm sorry. Principal Decorum wants this place run in a certain way… and we shouldn't cross her. Just bear with me through the rest of this lesson, then we'll get through math and then you can go eat lunch."
The foals looked at each other, then nodded their reluctant agreement. Their teacher turned to the chalkboard, using her magic only to lift the chalk to write facts and figures as she lectured. She wanted so badly to do things her way, but more than that she feared breaking the rules. If she was to have any place in this society besides the palace dungeons, she would just have to swallow her pride and obey her superiors.
But that didn't mean she had to adopt their outlook on life, or spread it to the next generation. She utterly refused to stamp out that part of her that wanted to keep promoting happiness.
As the unicorn continued listing all the ways Tanith oppressed ponies, her pupils did not look terribly interested, but Radiant Dawn hadn't written this lesson—it was part of the required curriculum under Tanith's rule. Pausing at the end of a list of legislations, she looked out at these young subjects of a tyrant. Radiant Dawn wanted and needed to be strong for them. Even though something had gone very wrong in the kingdom of Daybreak, they could not lose hope—or else they would turn into ponies like Principal Decorum.