Unwanted Passage

It’s the middle of the day in Canterlot, and the busy crowds are going about their lives unmindful of how often they bump and jostle you. You’re just trying to cross the street and more than a few ponies manage to crash into you without a thought toward your well-being. To be fair, you didn’t care a whit about theirs, but you felt like you cared more than most. You surely didn’t bump into ponies that often and have it be your fault.
When you finally reach the other side of the street, you brush yourself, checking to make sure everything was still in its rightful place in your pockets and saddlebags, then continue on your way.
You’re passing an alley when you see something familiar out of the corner of your eye. You double back and look down it, but see nothing. You do hear something, however, so you slip further down the narrow backstreet, wondering if you’d seen what you thought you had.
Sure enough, you delve deeper into the alleyway and you find Waxworks, carrying her familiar lantern pole. It was currently unlit, but that green shawl confirmed it was her. She was wandering about, looking back and forth at the walls of the buildings as though searching for something. She spies you watching and frowns.
“Well, I suppose I should bid you hello, but I was hoping not to be followed,” she said. “I was looking for something, but I won’t be telling you directly what. It was somewhere around here, but I think it might have moved, which is a shame.
She walks away from you, looking down two other side streets. She returns and brushes past you, then looks down the other directions. Her frown deepens, and she returns to lean on the wall next to you. “I won’t tell you directly what I was searching for, but I hope you’re ready to hear another story.”

The glitz and glam of Las Pegasus had enraptured her from afar, but Cheerilee had arrived and entertained herself only be let down by the self-same glitz and glam. There was no substance to it. It was all just flash, without any underlying meaning. She wasn’t really looking for meaning, but the fact that it was all just a show caused it to lose its luster with abnormal haste.
Cheerilee lay on her bed in her hotel room, staring at the ceiling. There was a painting made to look like a ship’s sails and crow’s nest on her roof, which was fun. Her whole hotel room was themed after sailing across the ocean on an old ship. Her bed was the helm, with a functional wheel at the foot of it. She idly kicked the wheel and it spun easily. She sighed.
Only three days and she was bored of it all! She rolled onto her stomach and kicked her hooves. She’d gone to see the circus, she’d gone to a magic show, she’d even gone gambling and won back more bits than she’d spent! She’d saved up for this for a whole year, and here she was, bored out of her mind!
Was it because she came alone? She thought back to all the stallions that had been paying attention to her since she arrived, as well as some mares. She’d had a brief tumble with one of them, but that was the extent of it. She didn’t think being alone was the problem. She could remedy that easily enough. No, the problem was something else.
“Am I a horrible pony?” She groaned into her satin pillows. “Am I so jaded and cynical that not even mindless entertainment is enough for me? I came here to get away from my thoughts, not have even more of them! Ugh!”

Cheerilee lay there for a while longer, then kicked off the bed and marched into the bathroom. She turned on the sink and splashed water into her face, spilling it all over the floor.
“No! I can’t let a little thing like this get me down! I came here to get away from it all and experience life outside of Ponyville, and by Celestia, I’m going to do it!” Cheerilee dried her face and grabbed her bags, then stepped out of her room.
She trotted outside of her hotel and into the streets of Las Pegasus. The streets floating on top of the clouds were curious to look at, and knowing that a fall to her death was just a railing away was terrifying, but it was that kind of terrifying that was exciting at the same time. Cheerilee thought it added a distinct spice to the place. Pegasus ponies were relaxing on the clouds that made up the median of most streets, and a few of them waved. One of them even whistled at her. At least, she liked to believe it was her. It could have been any one of the ponies walking along the streets.
Cheerilee went inside a few of the stores to browse just for a little bit. She hadn’t yet bought any gifts or souvenirs. She was looking for something that was unique. Something that just screamed: “I visited Las Pegasus!” She didn’t want to get a shirt. That was a little bit too obvious. It needed to be subtle while still shouting about how Las Pegasus it was.
Disappointed in the selection of the current shop, Cheerilee stepped back outside and wandered aimlessly through the streets, stopping at shop after shop. She got distracted at one point by a few street performers. They were all pegasi except for one earth pony, and they were performing on the clouds, pretending to drop the earth pony. It was exciting, fun, and free, and was a welcome distraction.

When the sun began going down, Cheerilee was more than ready to head back to her hotel room. She had distracted herself, but that’s all it was. It was a distraction from the fact that she was going to be heading back to an empty hotel room, which by itself was a distraction from the loneliness waiting for her back in Ponyville. It’s true that she hadn’t really been looking very hard, so it was somewhat her own fault, but the fact that Big Macintosh had found a special somepony was a bit of a blow. Applebloom had tried so hard to get Cheerilee to be his special somepony, and she appreciated the effort, but it was too forced. It probably wouldn’t have worked out.
Probably.
She sighed again, which she was getting rather tired of, and plodded along the gilded streets back to her hotel. Her eyes were pointed at the ground, which was why she almost didn’t notice it, but something down the alleyway caught her eye. She stopped to look down it, but didn’t see anything too out of the ordinary. There were a few pieces of trash, some lights strung along one of the walls, and a pony who was too partied out sleeping on the ground in front of a doorway. Nothing really out of the ordinary.
Cheerilee continued walking, and was walking by a restaurant when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned to look, but saw nothing except a food cart in front of a door. It was selling dumplings of some kind, but the owner hadn’t moved much. He waved to her when he saw her looking, but she was sure that wasn’t it. She shook her head and moved on, passing along the shining streets.

She was coming up on her hotel when movement caught her eye again. She was beginning to worry she was seeing things, or at least imagining things. Was it caused by the stress of her vacation not living up to her expectations? She turned to look again, curious if she had still imagined it, but this time, there was something out of place that actually appeared to be out of place: There was a door in a fence.
It appeared out of place because the fence was surrounding a construction site, and there was a second door right next to it. The one on the left was cheap, and looked jimmy-rigged into the fence, since the construction workers were probably mostly pegasi, and had a sign on it that said: CONSTRUCTION. KEEP OUT. The one on the right looked expensive. It was pure white, with a red frame and a glass handle. No words adorned it at all.
Curious, Cheerilee approached the doors and looked them over. It was late at night, so there weren’t too many ponies about, and the few that were out were either drunk or intent on getting drunk, so nopony paid her any mind. She looked at the one on the left and determined it was likely supposed to be here. She reached out to open it and it opened easily, showing her the cloud ground beneath that she definitely couldn’t walk on. She closed it and approached the door on the right.
By all accounts, the door should also open onto the construction site, but somehow she thought that wouldn’t be the case. It was probably magical, but then, Las Pegasus was a magical place. If it was some sort of show, shouldn’t there be advertisements or something to draw attention to it? Mind you, it was out of place. Maybe getting ponies to open it was the advertisement? Cheerilee shrugged and reached out to the handle and turned it, and the door swung open.

Inside was a hallway. The construction site was nowhere to be seen within the door, and in its place was a long sinuous hallway that swung left and right, and also had a gentle flow up and down as it went. Some distance away down this path it curve off to the left, and she could see no more of it. The hallway was poorly lit, and gave Cheerilee a bad feeling. There was no lettering or signs anywhere inside, not even on the back side of the door.
Disappointed and not a little confused, Cheerilee swung the door shut. It was magical, sure, but it seemed more sinister than anything else. Without any signs, and knowing it was traveling from place to place didn’t make her very comfortable. The door latched shut behind her and Cheerilee went back to her hotel.
She entered, waved to the concierge and rode the lift up to her room. She bathed in the luxurious bath shaped like a crow’s nest and flopped into her helmsman’s bed. “Yarrrr, matey. It be time for sleep.” Cheerilee chuckled to herself and closed her eyes.

In the morning, she awoke staring at the ceiling, and a door attached to the roof of her room. She blinked in confusion, then realized what she was looking at.
“What in the world?” Cheerilee said.
It was the door from last night and it was attached to her ceiling. It was the same white wood, the same red frame, and the same glass handle. It had replaced the part of the painting that contained a good portion of seagulls and the cloud shaped like a skull-and-crossbones. It wasn’t open, thankfully, but it was occupying her roof. She picked up the phone on the bedside table and called the concierge to send somepony up immediately. It was making her uncomfortable.

Cheerilee kept her eyes on the door until a knock came at hers and she had to go answer it. The pony was dressed in pirate-themed clothes and carried a box of tools on her back.
“Quick Fix here to help, ma’am! What seems to be the problem?” The pony said.
Cheerilee rolled her eyes. They never tell them what the problem is, they just send them up to keep the guests quiet. “Well, as I explained on the phone, there is a door in the roof above my bed that wasn’t there before. Nothing’s broken, I just want the spell making the door appear there gone. It’s making me uncomfortable.” Cheerilee pointed to the bedroom.
“I’m not sure what you mean, ma’am, but I can take a look if that’s okay?” Quick Fix said.
“Yes, please. By all means, come take a look.” Cheerilee led the way to the bedroom and pointed at the ceiling, which was empty. “Of course it’s gone! Why would it still be there. Now I just look crazy.”
“Now ma’am, that’s quite all right. We do have a plethora of spells active at the hotel to improve the customer experience. If one of them was the cause, we’ll get it figure out and change it so it skips your room, okay?” Quick Fix pulled out a notepad and pencil. “Now do you mind describing it to me?”
Cheerilee smiled at the repair pony. Even though it had sounded crazy she was taking the complaint seriously. “Of course. I woke up this morning and a door had appeared in the ceiling above my bed. It was white, with a red frame and glass handle.”
“Did it open at all?” Quick Fix asked.
Cheerilee shook her head. “Not at all.” Cheerilee put a hoof to her mouth in thought. “Wait, that’s not correct. Last night, as I was coming back to the hotel, I passed by the exact same door on a fence not far from the hotel. It had the same appearance, at least. I couldn’t say it was the same.”

Quick Fix clucked her tongue. “If you saw it outside it might be bleeding in from elsewhere and we might not be able to control it. If you see it anywhere else in the hotel, let us know right away, okay?
“Yes of course, thank you very much,” Cheerilee said.
“A pleasure ma’am. Hope you enjoy your stay at Buccaneer Bay!” Quick Fix winked at Cheerilee and stepped out the door. “What do you do with a drunken sailor, what do you do with a drunken sailor…”
Cheerilee sighed and pressed a hoof to her nose. It was still kind of amusing that they held to the theme so well, but it was starting to feel a little silly at the same time. She needed a change of pace from the revelry inherent in a pirate theme and maybe see a bit of class. She had prepared for such an event, and had brought her nicest evening gown. She had few opportunities to wear it in Ponyville, so she thought this would be a good opportunity. Maybe she would even meet somepony nice.
The gown had been purchased a few years back when she had still been actively seeking a special somepony. It was soft yellow, almost the same colour as the flowers in her cutie mark. It draped over her flank in a quite flattering manner, showing off her curves. Which, she had to admit, had gotten a little bit too big.
Cheerilee looked at herself in the full-length mirror in the bathroom, turning in a slow circle. She wiggled her butt a bit, flexed a bit, then sighed. She wasn’t getting any younger. She didn’t even know if she wanted foals. Teaching them was almost too much. She didn’t know if she could manage a foal of her own.
She climbed into the shower and washed up. She did her hair up in a nice tight bun, leaving some parts loose. She didn’t want to look too severe, but she needed to let ponies know she was there for business. Even if that business might be… entertaining.

Cheerilee finished preparing herself and checked the clock: 1:00pm. It was still a bit too early to go out drinking, so she needed to do something fun until the night life would begin. Many ponies would be out of work and looking for some fun around six or seven, so she’d have to entertain herself until then.
There was an entertainment area on the first floor for guests in the hotel. It was pirate-themed, of course, but there were games, snacks, and occasionally small shows. Her hotel wasn’t the most expensive, so they didn’t get magicians or circuses. They just got bands or comedians. It would be something, at least.
Cheerilee laid out her gown on the bed before she stepped outside and rode the lift down to the first floor. She went and found a table in the center and sat down to watch. It looked like there was a band playing. Some band called “Tangled Fetlocks.” If they were performing this early in the afternoon, they were pretty low on the rungs. As she listened, she understood why. They were generic in the extreme, and she distracted herself by reading the menu and getting some food.
She had lunch and looked around the room, looking for anypony by themselves she might be able to strike up a conversation with. There didn’t appear to be anypony like herself at the moment, so she finished her meal, paid, and left.
She stepped out into the streets and just walked. She might need to shower again when she got back, but she needed to do something to keep herself busy. Maybe she could catch a magic show. She’d heard from Starlight Glimmer that Trixie had managed to get herself into a venue here, which must have been quite the impressive feat. It was nice to see her succeeding so well, but Cheerilee had the sneaking suspicion she’d used her secondary connection to the princess to get it.

It would be nice to see somepony from Ponyville while she was here, so Cheerilee thought she’d go check out the venue at least. She didn’t expect to actually get in to see Trixie if she was there, but it would be fun to find out when she was performing and who she was opening for.
The place was some distance away from the hotel, but it was a lovely day for a walk, so Cheerilee wandered along, looking at what was around and just ponywatching. She passed by several interesting restaurants and shops she made a mental note to come back to look at. Some had interesting names that were probably named that way just to draw attention, but it worked. “Bridle”rides was one. Why was the bridle in quotation marks? What were you supposed to ride? It sounded like a euphemism, but she couldn’t quite figure out what it meant, and there were no images to go by, so she could only let her mind wander about what it might mean. It certainly piqued her curiosity.
While she was walking, she saw something red and white out of the corner of her eye, and she felt a spike of alarm. She turned to look where she thought it had come from, but saw nothing. She had feared the door was appearing around her again, but there wasn’t even anything red and white nearby. She dismissed it as her imagination after the events of the morning and continued on her way.
She arrived at the place Starlight Glimmer had mentioned, a place called “Midway Starship.” It was a massive yacht-shaped building that had a see-through hull that dangled below the clouds, so earth ponies and unicorns could look down at the landscape from high above. It drew a lot of attention, so Cheerilee knew of it. Maybe she’d come drink here tonight if it was appealing enough.

She entered the ship from the door in the prow and looked for the day’s show listings. She found the showtimes and discovered that Trixie was indeed performing, but not until the start of the evening at five o’clock. Cheerilee didn’t recognize any of the other names, but it might not be so bad to come visit, just to see. She’d need to see what the place had to offer, first. Food and drink was obviously available, and there looked to be a small orchestra playing right now. Cheerilee decided she’d hang about, and maybe go look at the see-through hull. First, she needed to use the restroom.
Cheerilee found the little filly’s room and went inside. The building was still pretty busy, but the restroom had no line, which was nice. She found a stall and stepped inside to take care of business. She closed her eyes for a moment to relax, then opened them and let out an awkward cry of alarm. The door to her stall had changed into the red and white door from before!
“What in the world?” Cheerilee said.
“Well that’s never something you want to hear in a bathroom,” a voice from the stall to her left said.
The stall to her right snorted in amusement. “Sounds like something you might want to get looked at honey.”
“No, it’s… nevermind.” Cheerilee couldn’t tell them her door had changed. They wouldn’t believe her if they couldn’t see it, and she didn’t know if it was visible from the outside.
Cheerilee finished her business and cleaned up, hoping the door would disappear by the time she was done. It didn’t, much to her annoyance. Her neighbours were gone, thankfully, but she still couldn’t get out. The door was blocking her path. She didn’t want to open it because that first time had creeped her out. She didn’t know why or how that hallway appeared, or what was at the end. Or if she could even get back out.

She looked at the bathroom stall she was in. She could try to climb over the top of the stall walls, but those were far above her, and she couldn’t go underneath because those openings were too skinny. She looked at the toilet and debated whether it would be enough of a boost. Well, there was no other way to find out!
Cheerilee closed the lid and stepped onto the toilet lid, then stretched up above to the top of the stall wall. Her hooves were just shy of reaching, but a little jump should be almost enough. She was about to do it when the door to the restroom opened and somepony came in. She lowered her hooves and waited while they picked the stall to her right. She prepared again, but this time, a whole crowd of ponies came in. The stall she was going to climb into filled up, and she had no recourse beyond that.
She sat down on the toilet, frustrated. The crowd of mares waiting outside were chattering away, waiting their turn. After a minute of Cheerilee waiting for somepony to finish so they would leave, a knock came at her door.
“Heyyyyy, are you done in there? Other ponies are waiting you know,” somepony said.
Cheerilee was angry, but then she realized that they weren’t commenting on the door itself. Could they not see it? Did they think it was normal? It looked nothing like the other doors in the bathroom!
Cheerilee was beginning to wonder if it was all in her head. She reached out and touched the glass handle. It felt like glass, and looked like it. She stuck her nose against it and sniffed. It smelled like glass? She’d never really noticed what glass smelled like, but it didn’t smell out of the ordinary. She experimentally pulled on it and it turned, the latch clicking open.

Cheerilee froze. Did she really want to find out if this was the bathroom door or the ‘other’ door she was opening? She could just wait in here for all these other mares to leave. She had a right to be in the restroom as long as she wanted. She owed no explanations to anypony.
But the likelihood of the restroom being empty before the evening hit was slim, and the evening would just bring more of a crowd. Could she really wait in here all day? All she really needed to do was look inside the door, then she could make further decisions from there, right? She just needed to look inside. That was all. Her hoof trembled, but Cheerilee pulled on the door and leaned her head to look inside as it swung open.
A brightly lit hallway appeared before her. Magical lights hung from the ceiling while the hallway itself traveled off into the distance. It went a dozen or so meters before it turned sharply to the right. On the wall at the end of the perfectly straight and boxed-off hall, a colorful poster of some kind was plastered against the far end, but she couldn’t make out the words. The picture itself had a stallion and a big heart above his head, but that was all she could see.
Cheerilee squinted as she tried to make it out, but suddenly a hoof appeared in front of her, coming out of thin air! She screamed and jumped back, climbing up onto the toilet seat to try to escape. The hoof came in and turned then… rapped on the door.
“Yo! You getting’ out? Some of the rest of us gotta go, y’know?” The image of the hallway disappeared, along with the red and white door, revealing a crowd of mares, all staring at Cheerilee.

“I think she’s on drugs,” one mare said.
“Everfree powder?”
“Nah her eyes aren’t dilated enough.”
“Griffon snuff?”
“Maybe. I think she’s seeing things, though.”
Cheerilee coughed and collected herself, then pushed out of the stall, hurrying out of the bathroom with her eyes cast down. She didn’t even wash her hooves.
“Excuse you!”
Cheerilee didn’t look back.
Cheerilee stumbled out of the bathroom, more than a little confused. She wandered down into the see-through hull and found herself an empty table. She plopped down and just breathed, trying to make sense of what had happened.
Okay, she told herself, categorize and break it down into manageable chunks: She had seen the door. She had opened it. She had seen the hallway. There were lights this time, and a poster. But! It had taken the place of the bathroom door, so she had opened the bathroom door as well, and nopony else had seen it. At least, not from the back. That mare had stuck her hoof through it like it wasn’t even there. Did that mean it didn’t exist? It felt like it did. She could touch it, and it felt like glass and wood. Was it only there for her? Why? There were so many unanswered questions, and nopony to give her any answers but herself, and she had none. It was all so confusing.
A mare wearing form-fitting clothing came by to take her order. Cheerilee checked the clock and decided that four o’clock was late enough to begin drinking. She was mentally exhausted and a little stressed. She needed to take the edge off.
The mare came back with her drink in short order, and Cheerilee stopped thinking about the door and just looked around her at the building itself. She looked down at Equestria beneath her. The view mostly showed off Applewood, which was the neighboring city to Las Pegasus, but the exhilaration was still there.

She admired all the Pegasus ponies as they flitted about underneath. She focused in on a few of the stallions, then realized that there was an aerobatic show going on! They were doing formation flying, leaving behind trails of smoke and that signature trail some of the faster pegasi had. She’d seen Rainbow Dash leave behind her rainbow trail and wondered what a lot of these meant. There was one, leaving behind a trail of what appeared to be flowers, and she wondered what his special talent was that he could do that.
At some point, the stallion caught her watching as he flew lazily along underneath, showing off his back-flight. He’d tap on the hull in certain places and blow kisses at some of the mares. He passed underneath Cheerilee’s table, blew her a kiss, then winked at her. After all the stress she’d been dealing with considering this awful door, possibly combined with the drink, Cheerilee felt a bit daring and blew a kiss back. She winked at him, too, and he laughed. She couldn’t hear it, but she imagined it was deep and rich. He had a nice smile. For the rest of the performance, the stallion seemed to pass underneath her table a lot more often. She was sad to see them stop.
But them stopping meant it was five o’clock, and that was Trixie’s moment to shine! Cheerilee turned to the stage, which had been lit up with various cool blue lights and what she recognized to be some of Trixie’s signature devices. Most of them were just for special effects, but that was Trixie’s talent after all.
“And now, for your viewing pleasure, The Grrrrreat, and Powerful, Trrrixie!” the announcer boomed.
Cheerilee snickered at the poor attempt by the announcer to roll his r’s. Trixie did it much better. She watched as Trixie went through her special effects routine, clapping her hooves in appreciation, when somepony joined her at her table.
“Mind if I join you?” a deep and rich voice said.

Still smiling, Cheerilee turned to look at the pony who had spoken. Her smile gave way to a gasp as she realized it was the aerobatic stunt pony from earlier. His mane looked a little damp, and he smelled of soap. She guessed he’d just gotten out of the shower.
“Oh… not at all! Please do!” Cheerilee said, perhaps with just a little too much excitement.
He nodded and sat down in the seat next to her, then turned to watch Trixie’s show. “That a friend of yours on stage?”
“Not exactly a friend. An acquaintance, perhaps. It’s still nice to see her get recognition.” Cheerilee paused to cheer and clap her hooves after a particularly impressive magic trick.
“It feels nice, too. When you finally get the recognition you’ve been working so hard for,” the stallion said. “My name is Dandelion, by the way. What’s yours?”
“Cheerilee,” Cheerilee said. “Miss Cheerilee. Can I get you a drink, Dandelion?”
He looked taken-aback for a moment, but he laughed. “I would enjoy that, Miss Cheerilee.”
They talked while Trixie finished her act, enjoying the show and each other’s company. Trixie left the stage and some other ponies came on and started performing, and Cheerilee stayed and talked with Dandelion when there were lulls in the action. He told her about who was who, and what history they had. Some he didn’t recognize and they were one-shots stopping on their way through town, but he knew enough about the place that he had their names at the very least. Cheerilee told Dandelion about Ponyville, and about her students and friends. He’d heard about the Princess of Friendship, of course, and asked what Cheerilee knew about her. By the time the night was ending, they were both happily drunk and clinging to each other.

“Dandelion, you should… you should come back to my hotel. I’ve always wanted to do it on a boat.” Cheerilee slurred.
“Miss Cheerilee, I think… I think… wait, hang on.” Dandelion squinted for a moment, deep in thought. “Oh yeah! I think we’re both far too drunk to be making good decisions like that.”
Cheerilee rubbed her face on his neck. “Then maybe, you know, in the morning?”
“That’ll be better, yeah. You come back here and ask for Dandelion, or I’ll come to your place,” Dandelion said. “Who… whoever… whoever gets up first. Where are you staying?”
“At the pirate-ship hotel,” Cheerilee was leaning on Dandelion, her eyes half-closed.
“Alright, lemme getcha home.” Dandelion stood up and propped up Cheerilee. He held her up as they left the building, and walked her down the streets back to her hotel.

Cheerilee woke up the next morning with a mild hangover. The pounding in her head was minor, but the bright light spilling in the window was doing nothing for it at all. She rolled out of bed, briefly noticing her evening gown hung up on the ship’s wheel, and stumbled toward the bathroom. She did her business then sipped at the bathroom sink’s water, swishing and spitting to rid herself of the taste of leftover alcohol, then washed her face clean of last night’s revelry.
While she was drying her face off, she fumbled with the bathroom handle. Her hangover was giving her difficulty with the most mundane of things. She grumbled and stepped through the door when it finally swung open and pulled the towel from her face. In place of her room, a long hallway was in front of her, stretching out some distance to a point where it turned sharply to the right. It was sinuous and curved, with minimal lighting and dingy walls. Cheerilee screeched and leaped backward, rolling out of the doorway and back into her bathroom.

Her bathroom only had the one door, so Cheerilee was now effectively trapped. There weren’t even any windows she could think about climbing out or even shouting for help. It was her and the door, and it had outsmarted her because she was out partying.
No, that wasn’t fair. It was magic and could replace any door, so this was inevitable. If it wanted her to go through it, it had only to wait. The problem now was figuring out how to deal with it. The obvious option was to go through it, but she had no idea what was waiting for her on the other side. It could be dangerous. But then, some magical door replacing things she needed to use was already dangerous.
Well, waiting was going to get her nowhere, so Cheerilee stepped into the door one hoof at a time. She’d been fully inside it not a minute ago, and if it had wanted to shut behind her it could have then, but she was still scared. She wasn’t a unicorn, and her defenses against magic included ‘hoping it doesn’t kill me’, and ‘find a unicorn to deal with it.’
When she was fully inside, Cheerilee looked behind her. Her bathroom was sitting there with the door open, her discarded towel on the floor. It didn’t appear to be swinging shut, but she wasn’t very far inside. With much trepidation, she began walking slowly down the snake-like hall, wishing she had some company. She hoped this magical mess wouldn’t make her miss her ‘date’ with Dandelion. The contours of the hall gave the impression of motion even though she knew full well it was sitting still, and eventually she came to the corner. She looked back at her door, and it was still open, which was quite reassuring. Satisfied it hadn’t shut her in, she poked her head around the corner, and saw another door, roughly the same distance away from the corner as hers.

Well, there were only two exits. One exit she had come from, and the other was at the other end of the hall. She couldn’t exit her restroom any other directions except into this… thing, so there was only one option. She marched down the hall toward the other door, climbing the slight hills and keeping her ears perked for any strange noises. She reached the door without incident, and examined it.
It was the same style as the other side, which wasn’t particularly surprising, but still, it at least seemed to indicate it would stay connected to itself. She wasn’t positive, because nothing to do with magic could ever be trusted as far as she was concerned. It was useful, sure, but Cheerilee would never live in a house made of it. Like Twilight’s crystal castle. That was a bit disconcerting to see.
Cheerilee put her hoof on the handle of the door and slowly pulled it down. She heard the click, and held her breath, then swung it open the rest of the way.
Inside was a small room, with just a dresser and a bed. On the walls were posters and shelves holding what looked like somepony’s life history. It was dark, but she could make out some of the posters with the minimal light coming through the crack in the curtains. It looked like whomever this room belonged to liked the wonderbolts, not unlike Rainbow Dash. This pony didn’t look to have quite made it. There were a few trophies to do with flying, but she couldn’t tell what the rest of the items were as they were too far away. Her door had opened in place of the door of this pony’s room. She didn’t know if that meant she had opened the door to the room, but she had to assume it was the case, so since she had no other choice, she stepped in and shut the door behind her.

“Now why did you bring me here?” Cheerilee asked, her voice low.
She tip-hoofed closer to the bed, and looked for something that might explain why she had ended up in this pony’s room. She felt out of place, like she was trespassing. Probably because she was, but this wasn’t really her fault! She didn’t have a choice! She examined some of the items on the shelves, and saw a familiar name written on the trophies!
“Dandelion?” Cheerilee turned to look at the sleeping figure, who snorted at the mention of his name.
“Huh? Whuzzat?” He turned over and looked at the clock, then reflexively smacked the top with a hoof. “It ain’t even noon, Speedy. Show’s not till four. Go fuck yourself.” He turned back over and waved a dismissive hoof.
Cheerilee approached the bed. “Pardon me Mr. Dandelion, but you told me I could come by and see you today.”
Dandelion’s silhouette rolled over again and squinted up at her. “You’re not Speedy. Who the...” Awareness seemed to dawn on him and his eyes opened wide. “The mare from last night! Cherrylee was it?”
“Hah! Cheerilee. But you were close,” Cheerilee said.
“Yeah, sorry. I had a lot to drink last night,” Dandelion said.
Cheerilee was feeling a bit bolder now that she knew who it was, so she crouched down and leaned onto the edge of the bed. “We both did. My head still hurts a little bit, but I wasn’t going to let a stallion like you get away from me. What would you say to a little breakfast, then we can go from there, hmm?”
“I think I would like that very much Miss Cheerilee.”
Cheerilee waited while Dandelion pulled himself out of bed and squeezed past her in his tiny room to the tiny bathroom. She was a little taken aback by how small his quarters were, but if he lived in the same building he worked in, it made more sense. In all honesty, she had no idea where she was.

“So may I ask why your room is so very small?”
“Ah. Yeah. The business allows us to live on the premises, but because the place was built so long ago, the rooms weren’t built to be quite so spacious as you might expect nowadays,” Dandelion said. “They haven’t expanded them, and offered them to us free of charge, so long as we perform when they ask. We’re a small group, and not very well-known, so we didn’t want to pass it up.”
“Contracted?"
“Yeah. Four years. Two more to go.”
“Not a bad deal.”
“Nah, not at all. By the way, how did you get up here? Was it Speedy? He’s always getting on my case.”
Cheerilee bit her lip and looked at the door. It had transformed back into a normal door, so she’d have to go home the regular way if it didn’t show up, but she had no good explanation for him. She didn’t even know the path! She couldn’t tell him it was magic, that would be a little creepy. She hesitated, but decided to try to fudge it.
“I just… told the front desk I was here to see you, and they… let me come to the back!” Cheerilee mentally berated herself. That was such a lame explanation. Nopony would believe that!
Dandelion laughed a hearty laugh. She loved the sound of it, but she knew she hadn’t gotten past him with her lies. “I appreciate the humor, and I won’t press as to which one of the team flew you up, but come on. Was that really the best you could come up with? I’m sure you can be more creative than that.”
He finished cleaning himself up and opened the door for her. Cheerilee stepped outside onto a short landing with a single chair and a small gate. She stepped closer and realized why he hadn’t believed her. There was nothing but a long drop all the way down to the floor.

“Sweet Celestia!” Cheerilee backed away from the edge and pressed up against the wall.
“Preparing to go down is a lot worse than coming up, isn’t it? I hear that a lot from earth ponies and unicorns,” Dandelion said.
She was trying not to have to explain how she had arrived up here, but she was swiftly running out of ideas. The only name of his crew that she knew was Speedy, but they would talk, and her lies would come out. She was trapped. He didn’t seem to be pressing the issue, so she decided to leave it for now, but it was going to come up sooner or later. She could feel it.
“Yeah, because it was built in Las Pegasus, it was all built with pegasi in mind. The rooms up here are pegasi only. Mostly used for employees, but for a nominal fee you can rent ones at the end,” Dandelion said. “They’ve even let a few earth ponies or unicorns rent them. Extra charge for the need for a Pegasus escort, of course.”
“It’s… quite something,” Cheerilee said.
Dandelion chuckled. “Alright, I can see you’re uncomfortable. Let’s get you down.” He held out his forehooves.
Cheerilee moved into his hooves and wrapped hers around his neck. He lifted her up with some slight difficulty, but didn’t say anything, and swooped down to the lobby. He placed her on the floor and she breathed a sigh of relief. She knew she was still hundreds of feet in the air, but at least she couldn’t see any edges.
“So let’s find something to eat. I know this great restaurant. Serves the best breakfast burritos,” Dandelion said.
Cheerilee followed him outside and they made their way along the streets as Dandelion showed her the restaurants he frequently ate at. It was a relaxed morning, and she enjoyed his company. He treated her very well and didn’t even bring up either the fact that she had thrown herself at him last night, or the way she’d gotten into his room.

As it got into the afternoon, Dandelion kept checking the time. “I have a performance at four, as I’m sure you remember. I’ll have to head back at three to join in the warm-up. Speedy’s working on a new routine, but until he has it planned out practice only happens sporadically.”
“How long have you all been together?” Cheerilee asked.
“Speedy and I started the whole thing. The other members come and go. We didn’t quite make it into the Wonderbolts academy, so we started our own.”
“That’s very clever.”
“We thought so. Speedy came up with the name: Trickselion! Cause we do tricks like loops n’ stuff. Eh?”
He looked so proud of the name, Cheerilee couldn’t help but laugh though. “You obviously but a lot of thought and care into it. I’m glad it worked out for you two.”
“Yeah. He’s a great guy. Always bugs me about my love life, though. That’s why I thought he was the one who brought you up to my room,” Dandelion said. “By the way, if it wasn’t him, how did you get up there? I’m genuinely curious. You even seemed surprised to see we were so high up.”
Cheerilee sighed. “Okay, I’ll tell you, and it’s going to sound crazy, but I swear it’s the truth.”
“Go on.”
“A magic door.”
He waited, but Cheerilee said nothing else. She just looked at him and tried to gauge his reaction.
“That’s all?”
Cheerilee nodded. “It started appearing two days ago. It appears on walls and replaces doors in buildings for me. I don’t know why or how or for what reason.”
“That actually sounds really creepy.”
“I know! But it replaced my bathroom door this morning and I couldn’t get out, so I had to go in! Then the door at the other end of the hall was your room. It then disappeared, leaving me there. I’m just glad you were home,” Cheerilee said.

Dandelion closed his eyes and folded his hooves. He seemed to be measuring her story up in his mind and trying to decide to believe it or not. “Well, I can’t rightly say that magic can’t do that, because I’m clearly not a unicorn. But somepony has to be behind the spell. It’s too neat and tidy to be wild magic.”
Cheerilee saw something red and white out of the corner of her eye, and turned to look. Sure enough, there was the door, down an alleyway across the street from her and Dandelion. Cheerilee poked Dandelion and tilted her head.
“Okay, so please be patient Dandelion, but the door has appeared,” she said.
“Really? Right now?”
“Mm-hmm. It’s right down that alley across the street. Do you see it? Red frame, white door, glass handle.” She pointed.
Dandelion looked, and he even squinted, but he shook his head. “I don’t see anything. Certainly not a door coloured like that.”
Cheerilee leaned back in her chair and groaned. “See, that’s what I mean. Nopony but me appears to be able to see it. I was caught in a restroom when it replaced the door, and the ponies outside thought I was on drugs!”
“Well, it was probably weird seeing somepony interacting with an invisible object. I mean, maybe some thought you were just a mime?”
“They tried to guess what drug I was on. Some said Everfree powder. Everfree powder! I’m never even seen Everfree powder!”
“Don’t worry so much, Cheerilee. Let’s get closer. Is it still there?”
“Yeah. I don’t know what makes it come and go.”
“Then let’s go have a closer look at this wall.”
They paid for their meal and approached the short alleyway. Boards had been placed down on the clouds so other ponies could walk through it. Cheerilee didn’t know how that worked, but it was pegasi magic, so she just trusted it. She got up to the door and motioned with a hoof.
“Right here,” she said.

Dandelion looked at the wall, then back at her, and Cheerilee knew he couldn’t see it. “You can’t see it, can you. To you, this is just a blank wall.”
“Yeah, I’ll be honest. I think you’re just messing with me,” Dandelion said.
Cheerilee looked down the long dark hallway. This time the floor didn’t wobble up and down, but only side to side. It was still lit with only a few lights, and it still had that ninety degree turn some distance away.
“Okay, then let me just” – Cheerilee stepped inside the door, and Dandelion jumped in shock. – “step inside.”
Dandelion stared at the wall. His eyes flashed up and down as he tried to make sense of what he’d just seen. It was magic, but he didn’t like it very much. “So why can’t I see it then? Why just you?”
Cheerilee stuck her head out, and Dandelion yelped in surprise. “I don’t know, but it got me to your room this morning, so it can’t be all bad.”
“No, but that’s really strange. I don’t like it,” Dandelion said.
“I didn’t either, but it’s kind of growing on me. Let me see where this door goes. Be right back.” Cheerilee pulled her head back into the wall, as it appeared to Dandelion, and trotted down the crooked passage. The path felt about the same length as earlier, although she knew it was far shorter than the actual length of time it would take to get from her hotel to the Midway Starship. That made her curious how far it could go. Could it transport her all the way to Ponyville from here?
She rounded the corner, and saw the door at the far end. Her path was straight ahead, and the open door behind her still showed the alleyway where Dandelion was sitting. He was scratching his neck in confusion and Cheerilee couldn’t help but chuckle. She didn’t want to keep him waiting, so she cantered down the hall to the closed door.

Upon opening the door, Cheerilee was delighted to see a familiar house. The bedroom of her home in Ponyville was before her. The bed was made, the floor was tidy, and everything was just as she had left it. Excited, she left the door open and dashed back around the corner. She hopped out of the doorway, beaming, and grabbed Dandelion’s hoof.
“It’s my house!” Cheerilee said.
“What? What is?” Dandelion’s confusion had not abated, but he was happy to see her.
“The door leads to my house in Ponyville!”
“Seriously? That’s hundreds of miles away! How?”
Cheerilee shrugged. “Do you want to see?”
“Your house?” Dandelion looked at the blank–to him–wall. “Can I even go in it?”
“Maybe. I can, so if you hold my hoof, that might work. If not, I guess I’ll just close it and we can go back to the Midway Starship,” Cheerilee said.
“Yeah, I have to go to work in less than an hour, so I might not have time.”
“Well at least help me find out if you can enter with me holding your hoof.”
“Okay, okay.” Dandelion grabbed Cheerilee’s hoof and gave her a weak smile.
Cheerilee grinned and gripped his hoof tight, then stepped into the doorway. The hoof holding Dandelion’s approached the wall and he flinched, but to both pony’s surprise, and Cheerilee’s delight, it passed through the wall and into the ethereal passage. He watched as his forehoof disappeared into what looked like a solid surface. His snout approached and he cringed, but it too passed through without impact, until he was entirely inside the hallway.
Dandelion looked around in bewilderment at the sinuous passage, still a bit unbelieving of the whole thing. “You weren’t kidding. It’s just a hallway.”
“It’s strange, and a bit spooky, but yes. It’s just a hallway,” Cheerilee said.

She started to let go of his hoof, but he gripped it tight. “Please don’t let go. I can’t see the door, which means this was meant for you. If you let go while I’m in here, what might happen?”
Cheerilee hadn’t considered that. She bit her lip, but nodded. “You’re right. This could be dangerous. Let’s get back out and go to your practice. It will come back I’m sure.”
Dandelion looked more than a little relieved. “Thank you, Cheerilee.”
Dandelion stepped back out first, followed by Cheerilee still holding his hoof. Once both were certain they were out of the doorway, they released each other’s hooves and Cheerilee shut the door. It was still invisible to Dandelion, so it looked like she was shutting nothing, but he didn’t say anything. He had seen it, after all. It was real, but he was not privy to it.
They chatted about other things, with Dandelion curious about her life in Ponyville. Cheerilee told him how she was a school teacher, and more about what life was like for her in Ponyville. They walked back to the Midway Starship, and Dandelion had to go to practice, but Cheerilee waited. She was there to observe the performance all the way through. Dandelion flew underneath her more often than not whenever there was a spare chance, and she waved every time.
When it was over, he came back out to her table after his shower and they talked some more. Cheerilee noticed some other mares nearby saw him come straight to her and they frowned.  She felt important. Like she had something other mares didn’t. The fact that it was something that made her feel attractive was nice. It was a good feeling. She didn’t even mind the fact that she was not seeing much of Las Pegasus. Dandelion’s company was more than enough.

The two talked as the evening passed, and they had a single drink each, but eventually, talk came down to where they might get a little more intimate. Since they were already in the Midway Starship, Dandelion suggested they go back to his room, since all he would have to do was fly her up there.
“Well, I did say I always wanted to do it on a boat, and this is shaped like one. Okay,” Cheerilee said.
They settle their tab and Dandelion lifted her up, then took off into the upper sections of the building. Cheerilee held tight to his neck as he flew and avoided looking down. Heights were okay, but with only a single pony between herself and a long fall, she couldn’t get comfortable. It was a short flight, and he set her down behind the railing while he unlocked the door. As soon as the door was open, she threw herself on him, kissing him deep as they struggled toward the bed.
The fight was long, yet passionate, and it ended with them both breathing hard.

When they decided to stop, it was late. Or perhaps early. It depended on your point of view. They were holding each other in their hooves, manes disheveled and fur ruffled. Cheerilee sighed and smiled. It had been a long time since she was so comfortable with somepony like this, and could get this intimate. She wasn’t sure if it was the vacation or maybe alcohol, but she was happy.
“Some of that was not quite what I’d expect from a schoolteacher,” Dandelion said.
“What, you think because I teach foals that I’m not allowed to have deep dark secret desires?” Cheerilee said.
“Hey, not at all. It’s just you have this image of teachers, you know? Probably from your school days, and you just threw the ones I had all off kilter,” Dandelion said.

“Well, guess you’ll have to get used to that, because I plan on throwing them all off again soon,” Cheerilee said.
“Nice.” Dandelion wrapped his hooves around her and pulled her close.
“Oh no you don’t,” Cheerilee pulled away, but gave him a quick kiss. “I’m still too tired and sore, and I need to clean up.” She smiled and stood up, heading to the bathroom.
“Well, I can wait. I don’t have anything scheduled,” Dandelion said.
“Perfect. We can choose something to do after we’re all cleaned up,” Cheerilee said.
She shut the door behind her and hopped into the cramped shower space. It was small, and the water pressure was poor, but she got herself cleaned up and crawled out of the tiny tub. When she turned to look at the door, she was dismayed to see it was the red and white door that had been hounding her. She grunted in frustration.
“Sweet Celestia, what do you even want, door?” Cheerilee said.
“Cheerilee? What’s going on?”
“It’s that stupid door again. It replaced the bathroom door.”
“Seriously? Why?”
“I wish I knew.”
“Well how do you get rid of it?”
“I don’t know any surefire way to get rid of it. Those mares in the bathroom stuck their hooves through it and it disappeared. Can you come do that?”
“Okay. Hang on.”
Cheerilee opened the door to see a straight, brightly-lit passage with that ninety-degree turn. She heard Dandelion’s hoofsteps tapping toward her and stop somewhere in front of her. A hoof appeared, sticking out of the vision in front of her, cut off where her view of the hallway began.
“Is it still there?” Dandelion asked.
“Yeah, I just see your hoof floating in mid-air,” Cheerilee said. “I don’t know what else to do.”
Dandelion walked through the vision and joined her in the small bathroom. “I guess we can both go through. That way I won’t lose you somewhere on the far end, wherever it is.”

Cheerilee smiled at him. “Thank you. I know it’s unsettling, and I wish I could fix it. I’ll try to contact some unicorn services soon.”
Cheerilee grabbed Dandelion’s hoof, steeled herself, then stepped into the hall. Dandelion stayed beside her, his grip tightening as they entered the hallway. They walked side by side down the path, up toward the corner. Cheerilee was getting quite fed up with this door appearing and disappearing at a whim of its own. She didn’t know any unicorns except Twilight or Starlight back in that crystal castle that might be powerful enough to figure out what magic this was and get rid of it.
They rounded the corner and Cheerilee balked at the sight of the door. It wasn’t the red and white she was used to. This time, the frame was green, and the door itself was black, with a metal handle.
“Something’s wrong.” Cheerilee said. “The door is different.”
“Different how?”
“It’s an entirely different colour.”
“And that’s bad?”
“I… honestly don’t know.”
“Well we won’t know unless we try. How else are you going to get out of the bathroom?”
“Okay, okay. But don’t let go of me no matter what.”
“Same goes for you.”
Cheerilee gave him what she hoped was an encouraging smile, and they proceeded down the bright and welcoming hallway to the strangely-coloured door. The walls were clean and free from scuff marks, and the floor was smooth and polished. When they got to the door, Cheerilee could see that it was of the same quality. A stark difference to the weathered, worn, and dark hallway she had seen before. The only other time it was this clean was when she was in the restroom before. What was the difference between the two types of hallway, she wondered? What significance did this hold?

The two approached the door with caution. This magic hallway had suddenly changed the rules she thought she understood without warning her, and now she had to deal with the changes. The problem Cheerilee had with this was that it seemed random, and it was magic.
Cheerilee didn’t understand magic on her best days. She was forced to just accept it as something that unicorns could do and was a fact of life. This magic was unsettling. It was following her, she was sure of that, and it wanted her to pass through it. The fact that it wasn’t utterly random was the scariest part. That meant there was some purpose to its appearances, and she had no way of knowing what that purpose was.
When they reached the door, Cheerilee reached out and gripped the handle with her free hoof. She looked at Dandelion, who smiled down at her. She took a deep breath, turned the handle, and pushed.
The door swung open to reveal Dandelion’s room. Or at least, it appeared to be Dandelion’s room. It had all his posters, trophies, and other knick-knacks on the shelves. The only difference was the bed was currently occupied.
“It’s… my room?” Dandelion said.
“Shhh, almost.” Cheerilee pointed at the bed.
“Who’s that in the bed?” Dandelion stepped out of the hall, bristling at their privacy being invaded. “Hey, you! What are you doing in here!”
“Dandelion, no! This isn’t right!”
It was too late. Dandelion stepped out of the hall and let go of Cheerilee’s hoof. The figure in the bed sat up and rubbed his eyes. Cheerilee gasped, and Dandelion’s eyes widened in shock.
It was Dandelion.
“What in Tartarus? Am I dreaming?” The second Dandelion said. He looked from Dandelion, to Cheerilee peering out of his bathroom door. “What are you two doing in my room?”

The first Dandelion looked back to Cheerilee. “Cheerilee, what is this? Did that hallway do something?”
“Yes! It’s not good magic! Come back here, quickly! Let’s leave!” She motioned to him frantically to come back.
The second Dandelion’s ears whipped forward, and he suddenly looked very awake. “Hallway? Hallway! It came back!” Second Dandelion leaped across the room, pushing the first Dandelion aside in his haste. “I can finally leave!”
The Dandelion that had been pushed aside stumbled, but turned to grab the other one before he could make it to Cheerilee. “Hold it! What the hell are you talking about? Why do you know about these things?”
The other Dandelion fought back, squirming and thrashing as he tried to get past Dandelion and into the hallway. The two wrestled and fought, until Cheerilee had no idea which one was which anymore.
“Stop this! Fighting will get us nowhere!” Cheerilee shouted. The two Dandelions didn’t listen.
Their wrestling became a hoof-fight, and they traded blows back and forth. It was light hits at first, meant only to stun, but after the first few they grew stronger and harder. Blood began to fly and eyes to blacken. Cheerilee thought she recognized her Dandelion, as one of the two had a crazed look in his eyes as his hooves flew with desperation born of desire to leave this place.
Cheerilee moved toward the scuffle, intent on helping. As soon as she stepped outside of the hall, the door began swinging shut.
“No!” Both Dandelions yelled at once. They leaped toward the door in unison, bowling over Cheerilee. All three of them landed just inside the hall. They blocked the door, but the Dandelions were still fighting, Cheerilee now caught up in the brawl.

Cheerilee felt a few stray hooves strike her head, and she struggled to try to free herself. “Stop it! Stop it both of you! Just stop!”
“I won’t stay here any longer! Home is waiting for me! You’ve taken my place long enough you imposter!”
“Imposter? I don’t even know what these hallways are! Why do you? You’re keeping something from us and I won’t let you through until I know *oof* what!”
Cheerilee covered her head while they fought, accidental blows striking her back and hooves like angry hail. She finally found an opportunity, when one Dandelion had lifted the other over his head, and Cheerilee rolled away, deeper into the hall.
The moment she separated from them, the Dandelion that had the other one gripped in his hooves screamed in pain and dropped his victim. Cheerilee turned around to look, and saw Dandelion’s fur tearing off his body. It happened fast, faster than he could escape from the hall. His fur ripped off, then his skin was flayed off his muscle. Underneath that, Cheerilee was expecting a skeleton, but instead there was a mass of rigid, colourful bars, and beyond that, nothing but eyes. Eyes that stared out in pain and fear as they, too, were torn away into the air, leaving half of Dandelion’s body twitching inside the room.
“What… what is... ‘was’ that?” Cheerilee was in shock, staring wide-eyed at the mess.
“That—“ Dandelion kicked the body into the room “—was something. I don’t know what, but it wanted to traverse the hallway. I’ve seen them before.” He shut the door and moved toward Cheerilee. “They’re not allowed, but you brought one in. Why?”
Cheerilee shuffled away from him. “But, nopony but me was able to even see or do anything with the hallway unless I helped them. What made him different?”

“Ah, shit. You went native, didn’t you?” He held out a hoof, which Cheerilee avoided and pulled herself to her hooves. “They’re not different. You are. You’ve just forgotten.”
“What?” Cheerilee was confused.
Dandelion trotted down the hall, back to the room Cheerilee had entered from. It was the same as it was when the two of them had left, only now Cheerilee was returning to it with a stranger. “Listen, I don’t want to explain. I’ve been stuck there for years. You’re not my problem. I have things I need to do.” He began searching the room, looking for something. Cheerilee didn’t know what for, but he wasn’t the Dandelion she had just slept with.
Cheerilee remembered what she had seen when Dandelion had died in the hallway, and what had been inside him. Her mind was a muddle, but that one visual stuck out. “What… was Dandelion?”
“I said I don’t know.”
“Is everypony here like that?”
“I don’t know.”
“But then… why?”
“I’m a traveler. It’s what I do. So are, or were, you. You seem to have forgotten.” Dandelion had found whatever he was looking for, and placed it in a set of saddlebags. He returned to the hallway and pushed past Cheerilee to get inside.
“Where are you going?” She asked.
“I don’t know.”
“But I love… you,” Cheerilee said, the final word losing its force as she remembered this wasn’t the same Dandelion.
Dandelion sighed. “No. You loved that thing, and it only loved you for the hallway, I assure you. Whatever you do from here on out, good luck, Miss.” He pushed Cheerilee out of the way and shut the door. It vanished, leaving her alone.

Cheerilee sat alone with her thoughts for some time, until she realized Dandelion was gone, and she was trapped in his room far above the floor. She wasn’t going to be able to get down. She wanted to cry, but couldn’t, so she just stared at the door. She missed Dandelion. Or at least, the idea of Dandelion. That… thing she had seen wasn’t a pony, but it had treated her nicely. She wanted him back. She didn’t want to stay here where the memory of Dandelion was without Dandelion. He was the closest thing to a special somepony she’d had in years.
She curled up and fell asleep on the floor, not willing to go to the bed they had just shared. She awoke sometime later, darkness filling the room.  Cheerilee looked around, then remembered everything that had happened. It all finally hit her and she began crying, remembering all the strange things that had happened and the good times she had spent with Dandelion.
Once she finally got out of here, she was going to have to go home to her job in Ponyville, where she was just a teacher, and she was going to live out her life teaching foals how to do numbers and recite the alphabet. She didn’t want to do that alone.
She pulled herself to her hooves, and turned to the front door. She wasn’t going to be able to fly down, but maybe she could just jump. End her own damn misery.
Cheerilee turned the handle and looked ahead. Instead of the railing and edge leading to the bottom floor, Cheerilee was staring at a long hallway. It was lit brightly, with a poster pointing to the right.
She had found a second Dandelion in another world beyond the hallway once. That meant there might be more. She stepped into the hall and shut the door behind her. No matter what was out there, it was better than loneliness.

The End.