Unwanted Passage

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.