Cheerilee flinched as the cold wind hit her, only for the stack of papers curled under one hoof to suddenly explode into her face and then all over the street around her.

Great. Just, great!

Cheerilee gave a huff, and set about chasing down her paperwork, biting each errant sheet and tucking it back under her hoof…

Only for another gust of wind to scoop up a handful of the ones left and toss them around the corner and down an alleyway.

Cheerilee huffed again as she shook her head. “Rainbow Dash, would it kill you to ease up scheduling wind flurries?” she muttered to herself and hobbled after her lesson plans. Around the corner, page by page she went, until she finally got to the last one, and her face fell when she saw it.

Silverstream had seen her as she made her way down the street earlier and stopped to give her an admittedly improving portrait of herself using watercolor as a gift. A portrait now lying in the snow and soaking up moisture.

Because today had to get worse.

She shook her head, took the painting in her teeth, and slid it under her front leg. It wouldn’t be the end of the world, just a sour note to end on a string of already rotten luck. She let out a sigh and finally straightened herself up after a few minutes of hobbling around with her snout in the snow.

There was a door there she was pretty sure hadn’t been on this street before.

It was just inside an alcove in the stone wall, made of heavy, dark wood. Emblazoned on the front was some kind of cutie-mark in crystal: a red and yellow flaming sun.

It was also embedded into the back of Lyra and Bonbon’s house.

'That… can’t be right.'

She heard music on the other side of the door. She leaned in.

“Bonbon? Lyra? Are you two home?” She paused, and got no answer. So she then briefly considered the logistics of knocking with only three usable hooves before just turning around in place and giving a few light raps with a hind hoof.

“Come in!” a voice said, somewhat distantly. So Cheerilee did just that.

The first, and most immediately important impression she got of whatever was on the other side of the door was blessed warmth.

The next, and perhaps more alarming, was this was definitely not Lyra and Bonbon’s house.

Before her was a cozy little nook of a bar. Not that much bigger than her living room, it featured a handful of tables and a little bar made of the same wood as the door. Beyond it was a wall of drinks abutting a wall of photos and frames she couldn’t make out at this distance. At the end wall, across directly from the door, a jukebox played what sounded like an anthem about work that sounded at turns mournful and then triumphant.

Overall, it was a charming little place. Although, what it was doing lodged where Lyra’s "studio" was supposed to be was a somewhat distracting question.

“Sorry, sorry!” a voice said from somewhere behind the bar. “I'll be with you in just a second. Just sorting out some things.”

Just as the jukebox switched songs a creature Cheerilee had never seen before rose from behind the bar. "Welcome to Sunset's Isekai! My name is Sunset Shimmer."

The closest approximation Cheerilee had was a minotaur, but aside from a wavy mane matching the cutie mark on the door, the creature lacked fur and was hornless. It still towered over her, however.

It was then that Cheerilee realized that whatever this thing was, it was smiling politely and she was staring at it, gobsmacked.

It’s not like you haven’t bumped into strange new creatures in this town before, Cheerilee!

Her face snapped into a somewhat awkward smile.

“Uh, hi! I’m Cheerilee.”

The creature gave a genuine, warm smile back.

“Nice to meet you, Cheerilee.” It gestured with one of it’s weirdly articulate paws. “Please, have a seat!”

Cheerilee relaxed a bit and let some of the wonderful warmth of the place settle into her aching hooves. She gave an easier smile in return.

“You know what? I think I will.”

Sunset had been staring at the stack of books sitting on top of her bar. 'It sure is tall!' she thought despondently as she gave it a half-hearted bap with her hand.

Anything she could find of basic magical theory was there, but the problem was—as Strange and Elminster had indicated in between glares—that more than half of the content of each book was irrelevant when applied to interdimensional, time-space anomalies like her bar or alternate reality situations where the basic nature of magic itself changed. That was one stack.

The next one were books of questionable morals and origins which she needed contained in their own separate pocket universes lest they fester together and create something that took the newly minted "Order of the Ten Wizards (Meeting every three years at Sunset's Isekai first two drinks free as a thank you for saving her ass.)" to take out again.

The last stack was books on how to teach. Not teach magic. Just… teach.

Sure, she had been a personal student of Celestia's (with all the additional emotional baggage), so she could emulate the whole thing to the best of her abilities, but she had a few concerns about that, namely: Celestia had a LOT of practice, and even she had screwed up. What was a bartender going to teach a young duck about magic, anyway?

This was insane! Not only was Lena effectively a magical battery of sorts, but also just a teen. Sunset could really mess up here. And then, if she tutored Lena, that might become a problem with Dani—

The knock on the door made her jump. "Uh… Come in!" she called out, quickly grabbing the larger of the stacks of books and putting it behind the counter just as the silver bell rang, announcing that her latest guest had accepted the invitation. She managed to get the other stacks out of the way and was making sure the books were not going to attack her just as she heard the clip-clop of hooves on the floor. “Sorry, sorry!” she called out, prying the Necronomicon from her hand and shoving it into its own pocket. “I'll be with you in just a second. Just sorting out some things.”

Once she was sure the stack (and her) would survive, she slowly stood up, glancing over the bar at a familiar-looking pony, although she couldn't place her yet. "Welcome to Sunset's Isekai!" she said, falling into the familiar introduction. "My name is Sunset Shimmer."

When the pony simply stared at her, her smile wavered.

That seemed to snap her guest back into the real world, and the mare carefully ventured a smile of her own. “Uh, hi! I’m Cheerilee.”

'Ooh! The librarian at Canterlot High! Of course!' Sunset realized, the relative familiarity with the human, if not the pony putting her even more at ease. 'Probably out of school right now if the stack is anything to go by. “Nice to meet you, Cheerilee,” she said, motioning to the stools at the bar. “Please, have a seat!”

“You know what? I think I will,” Cheerilee said, smiling and visibly relaxing. She carefully piled all of her papers and some sort of canvas on one of the stools next to her, then climbed up, sinking into the comfortable cushion.

"Wow, you look like you've been having a tough day." Sunset chuckled. Her eyes studied her guest for a moment, before she nodded. "You look like you could use a nice, warm drink. How does a Hot Toddy sound to you?"

Cheerilee smiled as she settled in.

“That sounds lovely, thank you.”

Sunset smiled in reply

“Glad to hear it, I have a recipe I’ve been wanting to try.” She turned around and set about pulling up ingredients. “So,” she said, pulling a lemon out from the fridge. “What brings you here?”

“Uh,” Cheerilee glanced to the side, “well, your door was where a friend’s studio was supposed to be. So I knocked.”

Sunset let out a laugh, placing a jar of honey on the bar.

“Yeah, the door does tend to appear in odd spots sometimes."

“Do you mind explaining exactly what ‘this place’ is?” Cheerilee had a quirked eyebrow and frown.

“Sure.” Sunset set a knife on the counter, and a small jar of whole cloves. “It’s my bar.”

“Uh huh.” Cheerilee responded with a flat look. Sunset grinned in reply.

“More specifically - it’s a kind of interdimensional pocket. The door appears to anyone who needs a break. Anywhere. Anytime.”

“Oh.” Cheerilee sighed. “Well, fair enough, I guess.”

“You’re taking this in stride.”

Cheerilee shrugged.

“Having Twilight Sparkle live in your town leads you to be wary but unsurprised when something bizarre starts happening.” Cheerilee shook her head. “At least this place isn’t trying to eat me.”

“Everfree Forest?” Sunset asked, expertly dicing the lemon into thin slices. "Or conveniently resizable magical trunks?"

“Yeah, Everfree Forest.” She frowned. “How did you know?”

“I’ve met a few different ponies from Ponyville, and I visited as a pony myself a couple of times. There’s never a timeline where the place isn’t wild, so I have a rough idea of some of the stuff that goes down her.”

“Ah,” Cheerilee’s face relaxed and then she leaned forward and frowned again. “‘Timeline?’”

“Well, sort of," Sunset waved her hand dismissively. "More like parallel realities.”

“Ah.” Cheerilee blinked. “Like that world Twilight told me about on the other side of the mirror?”

“Yep!” Sunset smiled. “I was from that place, actually. Or, one like it. I’ve been to a few now. Although I was born in Equestria - an Equestria, anyway.”

“Wow.” Cheerilee's eyes widened in surprise. “Wait, are you the pony Twilight told me about? Celestia’s student?”

“One of them, anyway?” Sunset’s smile became a little awkward, and she rubbed the back of her neck. "Let's leave it as "former student" and leave it at that. Plus, for all I know, in this universe Starlight Glimmer might've been her student."

“Oh! This is…” Cheerilee rubbed the back of her neck as well. “This is certainly different.”

“Yeah… I'm surprised Twilight even mentioned me, or whoever the student was. She tends to keep the other world a secret for the most part.” Sunset looked away. “Anyway, drinks.” She bent under the table and pulled out a pan and a hot plate, and went about setting them up.

“Right…” Cheerilee watched as Sunset measured out some water and a fair amount of honey, and tossed them in the pan and set them to boil. “So, if you don’t mind me asking, what’s the strangest version of Equestria you’ve seen?”

Sunset shrugged and she stirred the pot. “Dunno. Most of the times I'm in the bar, not out there when it comes to Equestria. I've been to… different places, you know, doomed worlds, Blips and Chitz, Alternate Earths… pony wise I tend to mostly meet people here, although there's been a few interesting ones. My first client ever was me, actually.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Imagine my surprise when I found out I had a fiancee, had lost use of my legs, but was otherwise living a very happy life.”

“Yeah, that would be a bit strange.”

Sunset tossed in a handful of cloves and the sliced lemon. “I’ve met an interdimensional council of Sweetie Belles—" she smirked when Cheerilee shuddered. "—A changeling Queen who was Twilight’s niece, a changeling who took Celestia’s place for a thousand years.” Sunset shrugged and she stirred the simmering mixture. “One of the last customers I had were Twilight Sparkle and the reincarnation of Nightmare Moon she had adopted as a daughter.”

Cheerilee’s eyes went wide at that. Sunset chuckled.

“Those are just some of the Equestrian tangent visitors lately, besides you. I’ve been to worlds that had nothing to do with Equestria.” She suddenly gave Cheerilee a serious look. “If you ever meet a creature that’s the same species as me and he introduces himself as ‘Mordenkainen,” be careful. He’s a wiley bastard and more powerful than most alicorns I’ve met.”

“Does he travel between worlds as well?” Cheerilee frowned.

“Yes.” Sunset rolled her eyes. “Often to everyone’s detriment. Although thankfully he seems to keep to a particular quadrant of the multiverse. One that my business partner is unfortunately fond of.” She cut the heat, opened the bottle and poured a fair portion in. Cheerilee smelled cinnamon and booze. “Takes all types when you have theoretically infinite realities to deal with, though.”

“I’d imagine.” Cheerilee shook her head.

Sunset took a sip of her concoction and smiled. “I think it's ready.” She then put a pair of mugs onto the bar, and ladled out some toddy and a single lemon slice in each, before pushing one to Cheerilee. The pony wrapped her hooves around it and relished as the warmth bled in and wiped out the last bits of chill in her hooves. She took a drink herself and smiled.

“Oh! That is good, thank you.”

“No problem.” Sunset took a drink.

“Although it’s rare to see a bartender drink themselves.” Cheerilee smirked.

Sunset’s grin got a little guilty. “Would you believe this was a recipe I’ve wanted to try myself? I got it from a necromancer I met out in a swamp recently and it sounded good and like something you needed. For some reason he insisted on dressing like dracula in the middle of the day, hot, humid weather too.” She shrugged. "Necromancers are weird. 'sides, I've gotten a bit stressed out lately."

“Ah,” Cheerilee blinked, her face caught somewhere between amused and confused. “Fair enough?”

“Like I said, it takes all types.” Sunset took another drink and put her mug down. “So, what brought you here?”

“Your door was attached to the back a friend’s house?”

Sunset shook her head. "Yes, but the bar appears to those that really need a break. I swear I even saw the door to my bar appear in the wall across from me last time." She cleared her throat. "Dresden advised against going in, and I think that was a good idea."

"Right." Cheerilee looked down at her mug. "This is really confusing."

"Yep. But what isn't confusing is that you're here, and you're clearly stressed out. Unless you have interdimensional ties with other sentient beings?"

"Um… n-no, I don't think so."

"Then why don't you tell me what's on your mind?" Sunset said gently. "That's basically the point of this place. Even the random wizards that come in are usually here to relax, not to have adventures or stress even more."

Cheerilee shrugged and gave a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“I mean, where to start, right?” She gestured at the pile of papers that she’d carried in. “School starts again in a few weeks and I have all this paper work and lesson planning - new regulations are coming down from the EEA regarding certification and standards. I had one mess of a Hearthswarming, and Rainbow Dash keeps insisting on windy days in the schedule and that got half my forms soggy and-” her irritated frown softened somewhat as she looked down at the rolled up canvas covered in damp spots, “and it got my Hearthswarming gift wet.”

She looked off into the distance and took another long sip. “That necromancer had taste, I guess.” She smiled.

"That, he did." Sunset took it all in and then gestured towards the stack. “Mind if I take a look?”

“Go ahead.” Cheerilee replied.

Sunset reached down and picked the canvas up, and unrolled it. She started at it for a long while, eyes wide, one eyebrow quirked. One side of her lips quirked up, and she opened up her mouth to speak.

“It’s—”

“Terrible.” Cheerilee giggled. “She’s just learned how to paint. The gift is sentimental, honestly.”

“I mean it’s great for a painting of you…” Sunset turned it one way and then the other, “...hugging a giant pink pickle in a giant teacup.”

Cheerilee grabbed her muzzle and gave a fit of laughter into her hoof.

“The pickle looks very happy.”

Cheerilee graduated to pound the table as she convulsed, muzzle planted into the bar, in silent laughter.

Sunset just twisted her lips into a smile, eyes darting left and right.

Cheerilee finally recovered and wiped a tear away from her eye.

“Sorry.” She shook her head. “It really isn’t great.”

“No,” Sunset agreed with a sagely nod. “No, it isn’t.”

Cheerilee gestured with a hoof, and Sunset rolled the canvas up and passed it to her. She placed it back on the paper stack.

“The ‘pink pickle’ is Silverstream. She’s… a friend.” Cheerilee looked at the canvas, a warm but tired smile on her face. She glanced up at Sunset. “For reference, she’s a hippogriff, and that was my bathtub.”

Sunset pondered this revelation for a moment long enough to take a sip. “Why was she in your tub?”

“She was a fish at the time.”

“I…” Sunset tilted her head and quirked her head, raising her hands in a grasping gesture, “how?”

“Magic Pearl.” Cheerilee smirked. “Guess you didn’t have this world as pegged as you thought.”

Sunset looked up and then wiggled her finger as if she was counting something.

“Ah! Storm King timeline, got it.”

Cheerilee pouted and hid it with another sip of her toddy.

“So, yeah, wow.” Sunset blinked. “She a student of yours?”

“Of sorts.” Cheerilee gave a wistful smile into her glass. “Truth is, she just… flew into my life, and I’ve been helping her along as best I can.”

Sunset’s face softened.

“So, what happened on Hearthswarming?”

Cheerilee gestured at the stack.

“Well, that did.”

“Come on now, don’t be coy.” Sunset smirked, leaning into the bar. Cheerilee shook her head, still smiling.

“It’s a bit much to unpack…” She frowned and looked directly at Sunset now. “How much do you know about the Storm King?”

“Bits and pieces.” Sunset took a step back and leaned on the counter behind the bar, propping herself up on her hands. “When I was studying under Celestia he was something of a distant issue - waging war on random small kingdoms, looting them and then putting them to work in a mercantile empire of sorts. I know in more than a few timelines he finally makes his way over to Equestria, usually with the help of some kind of traitor, and then is almost always defeated there thanks to Twilight.”

Cheerilee nodded and looked down into her drink, her face blank.

“For me… the Storm King was a bad few days. I live in Ponyville, so bad days are something that just happens from time to time. Granted, this was worse - usually Twilight’s taken care of the danger before we’re even really entirely aware of the full extent of the problem. Not this time… but still, I only spent a few days in a cage.” She grimaced. “Silverstream spent nearly a decade in a cage.”

Sunset nodded but didn’t say anything.

“Not like I did. Her queen used this pearl to turn all the hippogriffs into seaponies, and hid them in the ocean, but it was still a cage.” She rocked the mostly empty glass back and forth in her hooves, brooding. “Silverstream had to sneak away to see the sun for the first time, and when the Hearthswarming fireworks went off, she had a flashback to safety drills she did as a child and… ran to my home to hide from, well, you know who.”

She finished the statement off by finishing off her glass. Sunset bounced forward and ladled it back to full. Cheerilee smiled.

“Thanks.”

“What are bartenders for?” Sunset winked back. Cheerilee giggled and took a sip of the fresh draught and smiled.

“Still, thank you.”

“No problem.” Sunset took a long drink herself and leaned forward on the bar again. “So, is Silverstream alright?”

Cheerilee’s smile got a bit of it’s spark back.

“Yes. I talked it through with her, and helped calm her down. She’s fine now. As far as I know, she’s off and happily giving her griffon friend his first real Hearthswarming.”

“That’s good to hear,” Sunset chuckled, sharing the smile. "Griffons don't usually have Hearthswarming, so I'm sure he'll have fun."

“So, that’s been on my mind.” Cheerilee looked off at the photos on the wall. “She’s so brave. To have spent her whole life in fear like that, and to come out as unafraid to love the world like she does.” She looked back at Sunset, her face a distant, wide grin. “It’s inspiring.”

“It does take a special type of person to do that.” Sunset smirked. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

Cheerilee’s eyes widened a bit.

“I mean, it sounds like this was some kid who you just bumped into, but you took them under your-” Sunset blinked, and grinned, “-hoof, and helped her through some real darkness in her past. Not a lot of teachers would go that far for a stranger, let alone a lot of people. You’re pretty admirable yourself.” Sunset’s lean became more pronounced as her stance slacked and her eyes became distant. “I wish I’d had someone like you, when I was growing up.”

Cheerilee frowned. “I thought you said you were Celestia’s student.”

Sunset gave an embarrassed grin. “Would you believe that I wasn’t the best student?” He grin became more strained. "Or that sometimes I needed a different kind of teacher?”

Cheerilee’s frown softened, but didn’t go away. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Don’t worry too much," Sunset said, "It’s in the past now, and there were more issues going on there than just a teacher/student relationship. Besides, all things considered, I'm a better pony for it.”

Cheerilee tactically raised an eyebrow.

"Human." Sunset shrugged. “Self-identity and obligate shapeshifting that comes with reality hoping is a complicated issue.”

“Fair enough.” Cheerilee grinned took a long drink.

Sunset watched her drink in companionable silence for a little bit, but then a thought crossed her mind. 'She sure looks much more relaxed now that she's had a chance to let all of that out. I'm sure she'll be in great shape for her next—' Her eyes widened slightly and she looked away, biting her lip and rolling her glass around in her hand as she considered the stray thought that had crossed her mind. Finally, she put the glass down and took a deep breath. “Uh, hey, Cheerilee? Can I ask you for some advice?”

“Hmmm?” The pony put down her own glass and looked at the bartender. “About what, Sunset?”

Sunset pushed off the bar, placing her glass down under it before scratching the back of her head. She walked over to the where the cashier was and dug up her own pile of books. "So… long story short, there's this kid. She's gotten a lot of magical power and she doesn't really know how to use it. It's… actually structurally very similar to our own pony magic, so two of her friends suggested I could… um, teach her."

Cheerilee glanced warily at the literature. "I don't think you're looking in the right direction."

"I know, I know," Sunset said, picking up the stack and throwing the books into a box that magically sealed itself. “I realized shortly after I had to get help to destroy the demonic interdimensional flaming zombies that I wasn't getting anywhere close. It was actually one of my guests that suggested that, if Lena's magic is so close to my own… maybe what I needed to learn was something different. So…" Sunset smiled uncertainly. Can you… teach me how to teach? Or at least give me some hints?”

Cheerilee leaned back. She looked down, and her brow twisted into a frown.

Sunset sighed and leaned back, crossing her arms. “Yeah, I figured.”

“Now hold on,” Cheerilee said, frowning at Sunset, “it’s not an easy question. Don’t get discouraged just because I’m taking a second to think, here.”

“Right.” Sunset grinned, sheepishly. “Sorry.”

Cheerilee went back to frowning at the bar.

“You need to be able to talk to her.” She finally said, not looking up. “You need to know your stuff, so maybe some of those books are useful, but it doesn’t matter if you can’t talk to her.” She looked at Sunset now. “You need to be able to be sure you’re both speaking the same language; that you’re understanding each other. This means explaining yourself clearly, but also making sure you’re understanding where she is coming from. If there’s a difference in understanding - you need to work with her to correct it. You can’t teach physics unless everyone understands what “motion” is.”

Sunset nodded, paying rapt attention now.

“I also mean it when I say you need to pay attention to her; pupils teaching masters is a cliche, but it exists for a reason. Sometimes the student’s way of looking at a subject can be useful in teaching them, or learning yourself.” She paused to take another sip of toddy. “Next, you’re going to need to keep her interested. This is something I hate about the EEA, but their curriculum emphasizes teaching facts without context - most fillies and colts hate math because it’s dry and abstract, but I bet a lot more of my students would care if we could do things like building trebuchets to learn about calculating curves.”

Sunset blinked and snorted.

“See?” Cheerilee grinned. “You’re already excited to learn math.”

“Yeah, that sounds pretty fun.”

“Right? So you need to make Lena want to learn magic. Figure out what makes her tick, what she’ll get excited about, and use that to keep her engaged.”

“Right.” Sunset nodded.

“The final skill you need ties back to your books - you need to be able to break what you’re saying down.” Cheerilee locked eyes with Sunset. “You need to explain the most complicated, abstract, magical concepts you take for granted in terms an Earth Pony farmer could follow along with.”

“I see…” Sunset’s eyes widened and lit up, and she quickly took out a tablet, taking quick notes..

“To you, all this stuff may seem second nature, but to her it’s all new, so you need to be able to talk to her as if she knew nothing.”

“Right.” Sunset nodded. “That’s really useful, actually. I wasn’t sure what to do with all these books, but now I have a direction to move in with my research.”

Cheerilee nodded, smiling in reply.

“I’m glad to hear it.” She leaned back in her seat a bit. “Aside from all of that, you need to just be good at speaking - keep your pace up, keep her attention, keep her engaged in her lessons. Use metaphors, help her visualize the material. Notice when she’s flagging, or when you’re losing her, and adjust.” Cheerilee smirked. “Be entertaining and informative, basically.”

“Right.” Sunset itemized Cheerilee's suggestions and scratched her head. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

Cheerilee’s smile softened a bit, and she looked away to take another drink.

“So… why do you want to help this person, anyway?”

Sunset looked up, surprised.

“I mean, you live a life as an interdimensional bar-tender. Why tutor this kid you met? Wouldn’t someone from her world be a better fit?”

Sunset looked away and grimaced, rubbing her arm. It was definitely not an easy decision, and it meant splitting up her time a little but… “You wanna know the truth?”

“When it comes to helping children blossom?” Cheerilee’s face was hard. “Yes. I do. Always.” She looked down at her drink. “Silverstream helped me remember that.”

Sunset sighed and dragged a stool up to the bar and sat on it herself. She pulled her own cool glass of toddy infront of her and began tracing the rim with a finger, looking at it distantly. “You know when I said I was a bad student?”

“Yes.”

“That might have been a bit of an exaggeration.”

Cheerilee didn’t say anything, simply waiting.

After a moment, Sunset went on. “I was a genius. Any magic I got my hands on, I mastered. I was Celestia’s personal student, I had my place in the literal sun, and it went to my head.”

Cheerilee nodded.

“She tried to steer me away from what was happening, but-”

“-she wasn’t the best teacher.” Cheerilee smirked, although it didn’t reach her eyes.

“Yeah, you could say that. She came down on me like a ton of bricks when I didn’t listen to her, and I ran away. I tried to get the power I thought I was owed by destiny on my own terms, you know, 'screw the princess!' And all that. But something went… wrong.” Sunset’s face was a mask of misery. “I got caught up in some dark magic, and it woke something inside of me I didn’t think I was capable of. Maybe I never was, and it was just the magic talking, but—”

“You aren’t sure,” Cheerilee said, tilting her head, her eyes sad.

“Yeah.” Sunset closed her eyes and shook her head. “I don’t want that to happen to Lena.”

Cheerilee leaned back, nodding.

“Well,” she said, looking at the bar, “Self-hatred isn’t always the healthiest place to start in helping somepony, but you do want to help.” She looked at Sunset. “Keep an eye on that. Don’t project onto her and keep a clear head.”

When Cheerilee didn't say anything else, Sunset blinked, confused. "Um…"

“I’m giving you my blessing.” Cheerilee smirked. “Accept it, dear.”

Sunset blinked again, and then laughed. “Alright, I accept, then.” She smiled, a little more at ease than before. “I’m glad you showed up, Cheerilee.”

“I’m glad to have shown up.” She closed her eyes as she relaxed into the seat. “Helping ponies blossom is what I love to do!”

“I can tell!” Sunset grinned. “I… you know, I’ll be honest again; sometimes this place gets to me.” She looked down as she went on. “I used to be kind of a big deal, you know. Saving the world with my friends. Now I run a bar, and the world got a lot bigger and scarier.”

“Sunset.”

Sunset looked up to see Cheerilee staring into her eyes, and felt Cheerilee’s hoof wrap around her hand.

“The world is always big and scary. Even for the ponies saving it. Do you know Twilight Sparkle felt helpless, too, after seeing what the Storm King had done, even though she’d been the one to stop him? I felt helpless, watching a child struggle with a fear no child should have to bear. Nothing I could say or do could make what happened to her not have happened.” Her lips thinned, but her eyes shone. “But I held her, and I tried to teach her just how brave she was because she was still open and wonderful despite her fear. The world is always big and scary - but the world is also made of ponies, so never, ever underestimate what it means to be there for others.” Her lips twisted in a smirk. “What’s a bartender anyway, if not a professional “be-there-for-others” pony?”

Sunset blinked, and then gave out a small chuckle. “You really take that making ponies blossom thing seriously, huh?”

“I didn’t get my cutie mark in teaching algebra!”

Sunset giggled. “Thanks, Cheerilee.”

“It’s what I do.” She smirked.

“Just like Silverstream reminded you.”

“Right!”

Sunset let out a breath, and a weight seemed to lift from her shoulders. “Alright, I think we’ve had enough moping.” She topped off her and Cheerilee’s glasses. “Bars are great for moping, but what’s moping without a good time?”

“I’ll drink to that.” Cheerilee was then true to her word. Sunset followed suit. As she put her glass down, she looked over at the wall of photos. “So, those your other customers?”

“Yep.” Sunset nodded. “It’s a bit of a tradition, here. I take a photo with everyone who stops by. Each visit has been special in their own way, and I've learned a lot from every one of them.”

Cheerilee nodded, lost in thought. Sunset took another drink, looking over her wall of memories. “Hey, Sunset?”

“Yeah?”

“Think we could maybe do something a little different?”

Sunset looked over at Cheerilee “Like what?”

“Well.” Cheerilee grinned sheepishly. “It’s admittedly mostly an excuse to do something else, but there’s someone I think would really love to see this place. Plus, having her here would definitely help lighten the mood.”

“Oh?” Sunset quirked an eyebrow.

“I guess the important questions are… well, can you get Lena, because I’d love to meet her and does this place have a virgin menu?”

Somepony knocked on the door to the room Silverstream shared with Smolder, making the gang glance at each other.

"I thought everycreature else had gone home for the holidays?" Ocellus whispered.

“Silverstream?” a voice from the outside called.

Silverstream gasped and looked up. “Miss Cheerilee! Come in!”

“I’m glad you’re here—oh, so are all your friends!”

“Yep!” Silverstream flapped up from her seat to the door. “Do you need me for something?”

“I do, sort of, but I’m glad your friends are here too.” Cheerilee grinned as they all gathered around the door. “There’s something I’d like to show you all.”

“Like what?” Smolder asked, crossing her arms.

“A bar at the edge of the universe!”

Cheerilee's proclamation was met with dead silence.

Gallus leaned over to Sandbar. “Are all of you ponies crazy?” he stage-whispered while Smolder dug under her pillow for her ID.

“I don’t know, man,” Sandbar said, just as confused. "Maybe it's just the teachers?"

Silverstream wasn’t paying attention to either of them though. She had eyes only for Cheerilee, and they were as big as saucers.

“Magic is like a…” Sunset twisted her lip as she stared down at the paper in front of her. “Like a… river? Too vague? Hrm.” She continued muttering to herself as she jotted down notes and flipped the pages of a book in front of her. Abdul Alhazred had a way with words, but Sunset was finding his endless ways to make shoggoths sound like the worst thing ever not as useful for explaining the feeling of controlling magic to a teenager.

"How would Raistlin put it?" she forced her voice into a harsh, whispery croak. "Time is like a pond, you throw a stone in and the ripp—" she started coughing. "That's time, not magic," she muttered. "And he proved that theory was BS anyway, what is he doing spouting that nonsense still?"

Finally she closed the book and stood up to stretch and take a walk to clear her head. As she did her eyes caught a new addition to her wall. A piece of canvas with a charcoal sketch on it.

Cheerilee hadn’t been facing the end of the world, just a bad day, but coming here had reminded her of her convictions about being a teacher. Sunset may not having been saving her own tiny world for the umpteenth time, but she had been reminded that as big and scary as it was, the world was still made of ponies - or krogans, ponies, ducks, and humans, but still all fundamentally people - and that that was what really mattered.

The charcoal drawing depicted a human, two ponies, a griffon, a dragon, a duck—based on the picture of Scrooge and the gang—a changeling, a yak, and a hippogriff all in a sort of loose hug in what appeared to be her bar if you squinted.

It honestly wasn’t very good—although having seen some of Silverstream’s earlier work she really was improving rapidly.

Still. It was sentimental.

Sunset smiled and continued her circuit around the bar, remembering a good day and trying to think of a metaphor.

Author's Notes:

So if you haven't read the original, The Teacher and the Hippogriff is a lovely short story by Nyronus which you should really check out!