Sunshower

     Cheerilee faced the back wall of her same old classroom. Her spring green eyes dimmed at the sight, for this was the same room she had taught in for years now. The only things that had changed since her start were the foals. They came and they went. Most leaving behind great memories, others leaving some thoughts Cheerilee wished to forget, and this was common for many teachers.

     It was an hour or so before class was in session, and Cheerilee already had her lesson planed out for the day. It was her birthday, so after school, she'd go out and celebrate. That is, if anypony remembers, unlike Last year. Minuette, one of Cheerilee's best friends that she calls 'Colgate', had forgotten. Colgate worked overtime at her dental care clinic and didn't even seem to notice. They soon held the party 5 days later, only because Pinkie Pie had reminded her. Then again, Pinkie knows everypony’s birthday.

     Cheerilee sighed as she tried to think of a brighter side to this extremely dull day. Just as she looked out of her window where the sun poured in from, she saw the weather ponies gathering clouds into a pile in the sky. It was scheduled to rain today. Cheerilee buried her face in her hooves.

     The school bell rang; it was a sound that Cheerilee heard everyday at the same time. Her ears perked up as she heard the giggles of fillies outside her window and the chuckles of the colts. Cheerilee then picked her head up and tilted it to the sides, having an audible cracking sound in between. She put on her game face, and was ready to start her normal, bleak, uneventful day of school.

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     Soon the day was over, and it was just as Cheerilee expected it to be. Uneventful. She wore an expression of melancholy. Cheerilee's occasional sadness had now officially turned into a clinical case of dysthymia that was now getting too hard to cover up. She had a pain in her throat that almost seemed to tear at it. It was from holding back the tears that had built up over the day. The pain slowly crept over her entire face. She was walking home when she realized she was going to cry in public. Instinctively, her walk switched to a full gallop home.

     As she approached her house, she noticed that her window was wide open. So she jumped through, landing firmly on all four of her hooves. She laid her bag down and collapsed on the floor, bawling. She didn't know why she started crying, or why she was crying so furiously. Nothing happened to her. Her day was fine, only dreary enough to be lachrymose. It didn't matter. She just let it out. She cried and cried until she just fell asleep on her floor.

     It wasn't too long before a neighbor woke Cheerilee up. She was still on the ground when she looked up to see a silhouette that she couldn't quite make out. The sun was shining brilliantly behind her.

     "Cheerilee? Are you okay?" She still didn't know who it could be. A lot of ponies know her name, so it could be anypony.

"You awake, honey?" Cheerilee sat up so the sun could no longer molest her eyes. She could now finally make out who the mare that woke her up was. She had a soft green coat and a bluish mane in a style quite similar to her own. It was her friend, Emerald.

     "Good afternoon, Emerald." She found the strength to speak, but it was difficult.

     "My goodness, I came to wish you a Happy birthday, but I saw you laying on the floor." Emerald adjusted her eyes on Cheerilee's. "Have you been crying? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, thank you, dear." She responded as she got up on her hooves.

"Well, Happy birthday, Cheerilee. I got you a diamond. Now don't think it cost me much, I'm a jeweler, you know."

     Emerald popped her head into her satchel bag and produced a large, round-brilliant cut diamond. You could tell it was flawless. Cheerilee's jaw dropped.

     "I cut it myself. I think it's my best work, but really I give all the credit to the diamond itself. Look at it! It's brilliant! No pun intended. Heh."  Emerald handed her the gorgeous rock. Cheerilee had never held something so wonderful.

     "I...I...I don't know what...I don't even...thank you..." The sunlight was captured by the perfect diamond. A bright rainbow was spread around the room. The pastel colors of their world were all spit out in the most glorious manner. Cheerilee was awestruck.

     "I knew you'd like it." Emerald said proudly. "Enjoy your special day! I gotta get back to work. I heard some folk from Canterlot and Las Pegasus were coming to check out the shop."

"Thank you!" Cheerilee whooped as she stole a hug from her visitor.

     "Bye-bye!" With that, Emerald exited. Cheerilee looked into her present. She played with it like a Kaleidoscope. "This is fantastic!" She thought. She wanted to enjoy her gift to the fullest, so she figured she'd go and study up on how many Karats it was, or how diamonds were even made. She grabbed her bag and plopped her diamond in it and headed over to the library. She had plenty of time to lounge about anyways. It was vacation time.

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     "Hmm...this book looks good." Cheerilee was searching for books about diamonds, at the local library. Twilight was eating her lunch casually outside, waiting for her guest to check out a book. Finally. Cheerilee had spotted a book that caught her interest, but it wasn't a book on diamonds. She took it off the shelf and began to read it.

υπερδιάστατο ταξίδια: ισχυρό μονόκερους   notably written in Greek. Colgate once told Cheerilee that all unicorns from Canterlot had to learn Greek to learn spells, and simply to know one of the former languages of Equestria. Cheerilee could make out the word 'Travel' and the word 'Powerful' but had a hard time figuring out the other words. She tried to sound them out, but she wasn't doing too well.

     "epeardi...eperdiastato....taxidia." The last word she said with confidence. Taxida. It meant travel, and she remembered when Colgate told her how the word 'Taxi' must have come from the Greek word for travel. She wished Colgate could come help her with the translations.

"Are you trying to speak in Greek?" Twilight came in unexpectedly. She just finished her lunch.

"Yeah, could you help me out?"

"Sure!" Twilight lifted the book over to her with her magic. When she saw the cover, she read it herself, quickly, with an expression of confusion.

"I don't think I've ever read this book before. Which is strange because, I've read all these books! Then again, the cover kinda blends in with the book shelf."

"What does the title say?"

"It says, 'yperdiástato taxídia: ischyró monókerous.'"

Cheerilee had a disappointed look on her face.

"Ohhh, heh, it says 'interdimentional travel: powerful unicorns.'"

"That sounds pretty interesting. Mind if you read it too me?"

"Why, I'd love too! It looks like a pretty short instructions booklet."

     It took Twilight nineteen minutes to read. She would have been done with it a while ago if she didn't have to read it aloud or translate it. Cheerilee was captivated by the idea to travel to a different world. Her over bearing curiosity got the best of her and it formed a sense of longing. At the end of the book, it read: επικίνδυνο ξόρκι. Meaning "Dangerous spell."

"Epikíndyno xórki. Well, the end!"

"Wait what did that last part mean?"

"Oh, it means I won't be doing this spell anytime soon." Twilight giggled.

     That made Cheerilee a bit upset. She was hoping Twilight could bring her to another land. She envisioned what it would look like. What would be different? What would stay the same? It looked like she'd never find out now. Her face was splashed with a tinge of sadness noticeable enough for Twilight to pick up on.

"What's wrong, Cheerilee? Didn't you like the book?"

"It's not that...it's just..." Cheerilee really wanted to travel to another dimension. "I wanna know what it's like.

"Oh, well I'm sorry, Cheerilee. The book said it was too dangerous. As much as I'd like to see myself, it's just too dangerous."

     "I understand. It's just that I'm tired of the same old thing, every single day. I go to class, I teach the kids, they sometimes say something I find funny, but all in all, it's all so dreary and boring. I'm tired of doing the same thing over and over and over and over and..."

"I'm sorry. I just can't do it." Twilight said, sternly as she swiped the book away and found a place for it on the shelf.

Cheerilee turned around furiously, and trotted toward the door. Just before she left, she said one last thing.

"Did you know," she began, "that today is my birthday? I'm getting pretty old." With that, she escaped slowly out of the door. Twilight stared at the floor, disappointed in herself. She trotted outside to get Cheerilee before she left.

"Wait..." Twilight called out to her. Cheerilee stopped in her tracks, perked up her ears, but didn't look back. "I'll do it." This made Cheerilee grin. She knew what she did was just wrong, but she really wanted to escape from her dull reality in Ponyville.

"Thank you, Twilight. When can we leave?"

"Tomorrow. I'd like to bring my friends along." Twilight stated in a defeated tone.

"Great!" Cheerilee exclaimed as she bounced off to her house.