It all started in spring. I was sweeping the straw out of a corner of the schoolhouse when I heard someone trot into the room behind me.
“Come in!”
I was expecting Snips, or the Cutie Mark Crusaders, or any of my students, asking about class or something like that, so I wasn’t in a hurry to turn around.
I did not expect to hear the sound of crinkling straw followed by an enthusiastic “Oooooh!”
I paused and turned around to see—
A pegasus? No, they don’t have beaks. Or talons to play with the straw on the floor. Griffon? No, she had hooves. There was something… something I’d heard recently… a… a…
“A hippogriff?”
The hippogriff snapped up from her fascination of grinding straw between her talons, smiled a huge smile, and nodded.
“Yep! I’m Silverstream!”
“Uh. Hi!” My face snapped into a smile. “I’m Miss Cheerilee, and welcome to the Ponyville Schoolhouse.”
“Ooooh!” She took to the air and began hovering around the room. “So this is a pony school! Or at least a non-Friendship School! Oh, this is. So. Cool!” She began pawing over everything she could get her talons on. “You have books! So many books! And this big—black—wall… thing!”
“That’s a chalkboard.”
“A chalkboard!” She seemed to swoon. She then gasped and swooped over and grabbed a piece of chalk. “And this the White-Writing-Thingy! We have them in every class at the school!”
“That’s chalk, dear.” I smiled, slightly confused.
“OOOOOH! That’s why it’s called a chalkboard!”
She then started furiously scribbling on the board.
“Um.” I tried to give my Best Teacher Smile. “So, you’re new?”
“Yup!” She turned around. “I came all the way from Mt. Aris to attend Headmare Twilight’s School of Friendship!”
I smacked my forehead.
Right. Right! The Friendship School. The Friendship School that… almost caused an international incident.
“Oh! Ponies do that when they’re frustrated!” She smacked her own face. “Hah! This is great!” She hovered there for a second, and quirked her head to the side. “Why are you frustrated?”
“Sorry! I’m just, you know,” I chuckled, “kicking myself for forgetting that was probably why you were here.”
“Right! It’s not every day you see a hippogriff, huh?”
“Admittedly, the last time I saw one was in my Early Modern History Textbook.”
“Oh yeah, totally! We haven’t left hiding since I was just a little griff!”
Right. The Storm King.
“Ah, Well.” I stretched my smile a bit. “It’s nice to meet you Silverstream. Is there anything I can help you with?”
“Not sure! I just saw this cool little house and saw the door was open and I was all ‘Oh! I bet I can find neat things in there!’ So I came in and I found this!” She swooped down and suddenly I had a pair of straw stuffed talons in my face. “It’s so neat! We never really had stuff on the floor in Seaquestria! It would all just float away!”
“Ah, right. That’s straw. We put on the floor to make it soft for children to walk on. It also helps collect and cover all the garbage from snacks the students eat, and makes cleaning easier.”
“That’s so cool!”
I smiled.
“I’m glad you think so.”
“Silverstream!” I heard a voice calling from outside.
A patter of hooves ran up to the door.
“Silverstream! Oh hey, Miss Cheerilee.”
Sandbar stuck his head through the door.
“Hello, Sandbar! Silverstream here was just exploring the school.”
“I was! Sandbar, did you know they put straw on the floor of schools in Equestria?!” She graciously offered him her talonfuls for examination.
“Uh… yeah?” Sandbar leaned back, unsure how to reply.
“That’s so awesome!”
“I guess, heh.” He smiled.
“So you and Silverstream are friends, Sandbar?”
“Oh, yeah, totally Miss Cheerilee.” He smiled. “Me, her, Ocellus, Gallus, Yona, and Smolder, heh.” He leaned forward and rubbed the back of his head. “May have almost caused a world war, though.”
“Wellll,” I smiled, “I guess it’s good you did it for your friends.”
“Heh, yeah. Friendship is magic and all that.”
“Alright, it was nice meeting you, Silverstream, and catching up with you Sandbar, but I really need to finish cleaning here. If you have any questions, Silverstream, feel free to ask me, alright?”
“Really?!” Her eyes swelled up and suddenly I was reminded all to much of Pinkie Pie.
That… might have been a mistake.
“Well, I am a teacher. It is my job, afterall.” I suddenly was caught up in a tight, pink and blue feathered hug.
“Thank you so much! I’ll see you around Miss Cheerilee!”
And just like that, she was out the door.
Sandbar nodded to me, and made his way out after her.
That, of course, was just the start.
------
“INCOMING!”
I admit, my Years-Of-Living-With-Rainbow-Dash-Within-A-Twenty-Mile-Radius hair-trigger reflexes are probably all that saved me of getting a flank full of crashing hippogriff.
I blinked through the dust cloud and let out a gasp of shock.
“Silverstream! Are you okay?!”
“Owww…” She sat upright, nursing a now crooked beak.
“What happened?”
She shook her head a few times, and almost lost her balance doing so.
“Sorry, Miss Cheerilee. We learned about the Wonderbolts today, and they sounded so cool, I just wanted to try some of their tricks.”
“Are you okay?” I asked again, reaching out to touch her beak, which resulted in a hiss.
“Not sure. Flying like that is hard.”
I gave out a small chuckle.
“Of course it is, Silverstream. Ponies like Rainbow Dash train most of their lives to fly like that. Come on.” I reached a hoof under her and helped her to her feet. “Let’s get you looked at.”
“Oh! Where are we going?”
“Inside.” I said, turning around. I reached into my saddlebag, and snatched the key out of it, and with a turn of my neck, the door was open. “You can walk, right?”
“Yeah! It’s just—” she winced as she touched her face again “—my beak.”
“I know. We’ll get that looked at in a second. Come in.” I waited for her to cross the threshold. “Have a seat over at the table. I’ll be back in a second.”
I trotted over the bathroom.
First aid, first aid… ah, there we go!
I trotted back out to find Silverstream hovering around my living room, and I rolled my eyes.
“Silverstream?”
“Oh! Sorry! Is this your home?”
“Yes. Now come here, and let me look at you.”
She flapped over to the couch and I sat down in front of her. She winced as I cleaned her beak, and I did my best to check her over. I admit, I didn’t exactly take Hippogriff Biology but, as far as I could tell, she was mostly okay aside from some scrapes and bruises. Except…
“Just… hold… still.”
There was a crack, a whimper, but her beak looked good as new.
I hoped.
“There we go. Feel better?”
Silverstream tentatively brushed her beak with a talon, and then nodded and hummed in the affirmative.
“Well, good. Glad to get that sorted out.”
“You’re really good, Miss Cheerilee.”
“Well, when you’re around foals all day, it pays to learn how to treat a few scrapes and bruises.”
Silverstream nodded again, and took flight over to my mantel.
“I was just looking at these pictures and noticed you had some of Professor Applejack’s family! I didn’t realize Applebloom was related to Professor Applejack.”
“Well, it’s good bet if a pony has an apple in their name in Ponyville, they’re related to Applejack.”
Silverstream’s eyes widened with revelation.
“So, you know Applebloom?” I went on.
“Yep!” Silverstream did a mid-air flip and I winced reflexively. “Her and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders became tutors at the school this week!”
“Oh! Well, I’m glad to hear it. Those girls really have come far together.”
“Do you teach them?”
“I do.” I smiled with pride and looked at the picture on the mantel. “Those three are some of the students I’m most proud of.”
“That’s so cool!”
“I’m glad you think so. So, why were you trying to to replicate advanced Wonderbolt stunts?”
“Oh! Like I said, we learned about them in Professor Rainbow Dash’s class—”
Of course.
“—oh! An eyeroll! Those mean you’re feeling sarcastic or dismissive!”
I winced.
“And closing your eyes like that means frustration!”
“Right, sorry, go on, Silverstream. I was just thinking about ‘Professor’ Dash.”
“Right! She made it sound so cool, how they all work and train together! She talked about them being an example of loyalty, and how it comes in different forms! She even shared her super embarrassing nickname!”
“Embarrassing… nickname?”
“Yep! Although she told us never to speak it ever again!”
Right.
“Yeah, the Wonderbolts all get a nickname based on the first mistake they make when they join the team! She says it keeps them humble, and that it also serves as a way for them to build trust since they can trust each other’s meaning over their words! That way, their friendships get stronger! She also talked about how the Wonderbolts work to keep each other in check, reminding each other when they aren’t working towards the team, like when Captain Spitfire almost abandoned Soarin so she could fly with Professor Dash until Rainbow Dash turned her down for it.”
Those are… actually decent lessons to talk about in a Friendship School.
I blinked.
I guess Dash isn’t as bad a teacher as I thought.
“She also showed us all sorts of cool tricks and talked about how she was the best flyer in Equestria!”
I guess that can’t be helped, though.
I smiled.
“I’m glad to hear things are going so well at the Friendship School.”
“Yup! It’s amazing!”
I nodded.
“Still, you should be more careful. Dash is, despite what some people say about her ego, a really talented and advanced flier, so trying to emulate her out of the gate is dangerous.”
Silverstream seemed to wilt as she lowered to the floor.
“I know. I just thought it was so cool that ponies fly around so much that some of them dedicate their whole lives just to practicing, that I wanted to see what it would be like to fly like that.”
“That’s all well and good, but you need to consider your safety first.”
“I will from now on, Miss Cheerilee.”
“That said…” I gave her a bright, soft, smile. “If you really want to learn how to fly like that, I am sure Rainbow Dash would love to teach you the basics.”
Silverstream’s eyes went wide as saucers for the second time since she came inside.
“That’s a great idea!”
My entire body rocked with the impact of the hug.
“Thankyou!Thankyou!Thankyou!”
“It’s alright, Silverstream.” I gave an awkward hoofpat to her back. “I’m just glad you have something that interests you so much.”
“I’ll go see her right now!” She sprung off of me with two beats of her wings. “This is such a good idea, thank you Miss Cheerilee!”
“You’re welcome!” I smiled genuinely, and watched her zip out of my door.
At least she took the time to open it, and didn’t crash again.
I shook my head and dusted myself off as I stood. I looked up at the mantel. There, among the photos, was one of myself and the Apple family around a cauldron in the snow-covered Apple Family Orchard, mugs of wassail in hoof.
Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo… all my other students, and I guess Silverstream, now, too.
I hummed as I went to go unpack my saddlebags.
Nothing put me in a better mood than seeing a pupil blossom.
-----
Well… he did manage to mention Chancellor Puddinghead by name, so… points for that, I guess.
A series of sharp raps on my window startled me out of my grading fugue.
“Miss Cheerilee!” a muffled, but exuberant voice said through the glass.
I looked up, and hovering outside the window was Silverstream, holding a wooden tankard.
“Have you tried cider?!” She waved as I walked up to the window. “It’s amazing!”
I chuckled and flipped the latch.
“I made sure to get some this morning before class.”
“It’s sooooo good!” She flapped inside, chugging as she finished her sentence.
“It is one of the perk of living in Ponyville!”
“If I knew that I would have been even more excited to come here to study!”
“Applejack brought some for the class?”
Virgin, I hope.
Silverstream landed, perching on Rumble’s desk.
“Yep! She talked about how hard it is to make, and how communication is important to making it efficiently! She also talked about this time a pair of ponies tried to con her out of her farm so they could make more cider than they ever could!”
“Yep. I remember that one.”
“Wow! So you’ve seen a lot of the adventures the Professors have been on?”
“More than I like.” I said, smiling, and taking a seat behind my desk. “How are flying lessons?”
“Hard!” Silverstream said, excited. “But Professor Dash is such a good teacher! She said if she could get an egghead like Professor Sparkle to fly in a month she could whip me into shape in half that time!” She paused to inhale the rest of her cider. “Did you know sometime ponies just grow wings?”
“It’s… kind of a rare occurrence, actually.”
“That’s still so cool! You guys don’t even need a magic pearl or anything.”
Magic pearl?
“So, were you around when Discord showed up?”
I shuddered.
“Sometimes I’d rather forget that I had. I’m still surprised Fluttershy was able to turn him around.”
“He’s staff at the school now!”
What?
“What?”
“Yup! He was feeling left out so he tricked all the professors into going on a Friendship Adventure, and when Guidance Counselor Starlight was picked to run the school and he wasn’t asked he caused all sorts of chaos until she realized it was because he was sad, so she made him vice headmare.”
I was speechless.
“I was chased by a bugbear!”
I was now speechless, and massaging a temple.
“Oh! That one is frustration! Or you just had a headache.”
“That was… very irresponsible of… ‘Vice Headmare’ Discord.”
“It wasn’t as big as the Ursa Major!”
Both temples now.
“Do you need some willow bark tea? Professor Fluttershy taught us that was good for headaches.”
I’m guessing that does explain the explosion I saw at the school last week.
“No, dear, I’m fine.” I made some effort to put my hooves down and relax. “I’m glad things worked out so well.”
Silverstream nodded, and leaned back, still perched on the desk.
“I just find it so cool how Equestria is friends with everyone! Even their enemies! Changelings, Discord. We even learned that the Queen of Equestria’s sister used to be a bad guy, and now she and her sister are best friends! Even the pony tribes used to fight but now you live like that never happened.”
“Well, friendship is something we’ve learned to treasure, and your school is our attempt to share it with the rest of the world.”
Or at least that’s what the pamphlet said.
“Yeah! It’s just so neat realizing how far and wide Equestria friendships have spread.” Her wings fluttered and her shoulders slumped. “The world would be such a better place if it was more like Equestria…”
Um…
“Well, here’s hoping the school works out, then.”
“Right!” Silverstream seemed to perk up. She went to take another chug of cider, paused, eyed the tankard, and then shook it upside down to let loose the world’s saddest single drop. “Awww.”
“Good, isn’t it?”
“It is, but I came to share some with you, and I drank it all.”
I laughed.
“It’s fine, Silverstream. Being friends with the Apple family means I can always get some when cider season is around.” I reached into my desk, and pulled out a flask, and wiggled it, making an audible slosh. “Like I said, I already got some today.”
Plus, I imagine mine is a little stronger than what Applejack served the class.
I hope.
“Oh! That’s good! I wouldn’t want you to miss out!”
“You don’t have to worry, there.”
I took a quick sip. Cider, I remembered, is always useful when grading essays.
“Miss Cheerilee, why did you decide to become a teacher?”
“Mmhm?” I said, awkwardly around the flask.
“You seem so nice, and I was wondering… why?”
“Oh… well, you know about Cutie Marks, right?”
“Yes! Your’s is of flowers! When I saw that and you sweeping up straw I thought you were a gardener!”
I chuckled.
“In actuality, the flowers are symbolic. Like flowers, each student I meet needs care to grow, and just like those flowers, they bloom into wonderful adult ponies, ready to face the world with smiles!”
She tilted her head to the side, and then suddenly realization dawned.
“Oh! Right! It’s a metaphor!” She shrugged and chuckled. “For a second I was wondering if ponies grew on vines or something!”
I blinked and then chuckled.
“Nope, just some word play on the part of myself and my destiny.” I turned and looked out the window towards the setting sun. Days would be getting shorter as autumn approached, and I let my thoughts drift for a second.
“I got my cutie mark late, when I realized I wanted to be a teacher. It didn’t even happen there. I fell asleep and dreamed about all the ponies I could help. Watching hundreds of them come in as foals and leaving as young adults, ready to take on the world. All of them smiling and standing tall, like happy, confident, sunflowers, and when I woke… there it was!” I shrugged and turned back to Silverstream, smiling. “Helping ponies grow and be happy is what I love, and being a teacher is a great place for that… so here I am!”
“Wow…” Silverstream leaned back. “Ponies are so cool. Hippogriffs don’t have anything like cutie marks to tell us what our destiny is!”
“Well, they don’t so much tell us, as they just appear when we realize it ourselves.”
“That’s still so neat!”
I nodded, and paused, thinking.
“Silverstream, what do you want to do when you grow up?”
“Ooooh!” She shot up into the air. “I don’t know! The world is just so big, and wonderful, and I’m just starting to see it now! There are so many cool things out there, like flying! And teaching!” She began circling over the desks at a rapid pace. “I could be a teacher, or a vet like Professor Fluttershy, or a farmer like Professor Applejack, or travel the world, or maybe be the first hippogriff Wonderbolt!”
I smiled.
“It’s good to want to explore your options.”
“Really?” She paused mid flight and turned towards me.
I nodded in response.
“It’s something I try to tell all my students when they get to that age when they want a Cutie Mark. Only by going out there are trying new things can you really find your special talent. Even then, adult ponies need to try new things. Learning is how we grow, and experience is a vital part of learning! Part of what makes me so proud of the Cutie Mark Crusaders is, at the end of the day, their willingness to keep trying found them a whole new kind of Cutie Mark, proving all the adults around them, myself included, wrong.”
“So you’re saying it’s cool that I keep wanting to see and try different stuff?!”
“I’m saying it’s better than cool—it’s exactly what you should be doing.”
“That’s so great!” She fluttered down, and gave me, surprising given prior experience, a soft hug. “I am so glad I met you, Miss Cheerilee, you’re such a cool teacher.”
I patted her back.
“I’m happy to have helped you, Silverstream.” I chuckled. “It is my job, after all.”
She let go, and gave me a big, wide, smile.
“Alright! I’m going to go out and buy a paint set!”
“That’s the spirit!”
“I’ll see you later, Miss Cheerilee!”
“I’ll see you as well, Silverstream.”
“Later!”
With that, Silverstream flapped out of my classroom.
I got up, and closed the window behind her.
I sat down and went back to the essay left on my desk, humming absentmindedly as I worked.
On a second read, Snips’ paper wasn’t so bad afterall.
------
A cold wind blasted across my flank, causing me to shiver and toss an extra layer of scarf around my neck. I relaxed and looked across the park. The pegasi had begun to gear up for winter in earnest, wrangling in cold winds made in Cloudsdale in a blanket across Equestria, easing the whole nation into the colder season.
The sunset was beautiful, though, although I suspected Princess Celestia was more to blame for that one.
I began trotting down the path when I heard a familiar voice calling out to me.
I smiled and waved back as I saw Silverstream sitting on a bench in what could only be described as a nest of painting supplies. Although the way she was sitting was… novel.
“How are things going, Silverstream?”
“Painting is haaard!” Her neck stretched out with the word, but then it snapped back as she smiled. “Fun, though!”
I chuckled.
“I’m glad to hear it.”
She turned back to her work, tongue stuck out from her beak as she wiggled the brush in her talon against the page.
“What are you painting?”
“The sunset!” She smiled, turning back to me. “I just love seeing the sunset! It’s so warm, and soft, and there are so many colors.” She bubbled along. “I was so amazed with first one I saw, and I always like it when they’re so big and beautiful, like today!”
“They are wonderful. How’s your crack at painting going?”
She smiled and turned the artbook towards me.
Not well, I see.
“Terribly!” She chirped, “You said I should try new things to learn, though, so I’ve been keeping at it!”
I nodded and smiled.
“That’s the spirit!”
“Yep! I tried painting Smolder last week, and she wouldn’t sit still and kept complaining it was boring!” She smiled. “It came out awful, but she keeps it hanging in her room, anyway!”
“It’s good to care about what your friends are doing.”
“I know! I’m so happy I have friends like Smoulder now, and we can do things like watch the sunset or paint awful portraits of each other!”
I nodded along.
“Everything has been so great since I came to Equestria!”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
She went back to trying to paint the sunset before her. I looked at it myself, admiring the Princesses’s handy work, when a thought came back to me.
“So, Silverstream, why are you sitting like that? Is that a painting technique you heard about?”
She perked back up and looked at me, blinking, and then smiled.
“Oh! No! I met this pony named Lyra sitting like this and it just looked so different, I wanted to try it!”
I sighed, and leaned forward.
Figures.
“How is it?”
“Awful! My back hurts!” She giggled. “But you have to try new things, right?”
“I guess so.” I giggled along with her. “I have to go, but I’ll see you around, Silverstream, alright?”
“I’ll see you too, Miss Cheerilee!”
I began trotting past her.
“Remember, just swing by if you need help! I’ve taught more than my fair share of foals how to paint!”
“Oh! That’s so cool! I’ll try and do that! Goodbye, Miss Cheerilee!”
“Goodbye, Silverstream!”
And with that, I went on to enjoy the evening as I made my way back home.
------
I lazily drifted through the snow, humming Hearth’s Warming Carols to myself as a warm mass of patented Apple Family Wassail and Pinkie Pie Certified Baked Good rolled around in my belly.
The town Hearth’s Warming party had been wonderful this year. Twilight had held it in the castle again. There had been a wonderful party for the town, and I was lucky enough to get invited to a more private dinner with Twilight and her friends where Applejack was kind enough to serve some of her famous mulled cider. I was pleasantly surprised to see Silverstream and all her friends there. The whole group had decided to stay over the break to give their friend Gallus a true holiday experience. It was really nice to get to know the rest of them. Sandbar had managed to make himself quite the band of friends. Yona was quite charming, even if we had to save the spread from her at least once. To top it all off, Trixie of all ponies put on a real dazzling firework show for the whole town.
“Hearth’s Warming Eve is here once again…” I fished my keys out of my bag, unlocked my door, and stepped inside. I shivered as I closed the door, shaking off the biting cold in the room and tuning out the still howling wind.
Wait.
I looked to my right and my small kitchen was covered in snow, still blowing in through the wide open window.
It was then that I realized that I could hear the sound of something sloshing through water.
In my house.
Where the window was open.
And I lived alone.
I grabbed the vase of flowers off the shelf.
“Hello?”
There was splashing, and then only the sound of water lapping.
“Hello?”
The light was on in my bathroom, and as I got close, I could hear the water in the tub and what sounded like a wounded animal in there.
“Please, whoever’s there, just tell me. I’m really scared.”
I grabbed the door handle, and raised the vase with my other forehoof, silently begging whatever was on the other side to say something.
“I’m sorry, Miss Cheerilee.” Silverstream replied.
I paused in place, and then slowly lowered the vase, and opened the door.
Greeting me was a giant Silverstream-shaped pink fish, staring out from me from between the shower curtains, ashamed.
“Silverstream?”
“I was scared, too.” Not sure what to say I just finished opening the door. “Are you okay, now?”
“... you left my window open.”
She flinched and looked down, rubbing a pair of forehoof-like fins together.
“Sorry.”
“It’s... okay. I’ll go close them. Will you be alright for a second?”
She nodded.
“Alright.”
I went to go do that.
-------
After taking some time to close the door, sweep up the snow, and starting a fire to try and drive out the chill, I finally threw some towels down and sat down next to Silverstream. I wordlessly passed her the tea I’d offered her, and waited for her to take a drink, which elicited a sad smile.
“Ponies have hot drinks.” She said. “We never had those in Seaquestria. No real need or way to drink anything other than seawater. It’s so… amazing.” She looked over the cup, her smile warming a little.
“Can you tell me what happened, Silverstream?”
She frowned.
“You’ll think I’m a big dummy.”
My eyes narrowed and my lips twisted into a frown.
“Try me.”
Silverstream didn’t know how to take that, so I sighed, shook my head, and tried to smile.
“What I mean is… I’ve seen a lot of ponies do silly things sometimes, even myself, so I won’t think any less of you, no matter what happened.”
“You promise?”
I smiled a little more genuinely.
“I promise.”
“Okay…” She looked away, rubbing the edge of the tub with her flippers. “When I was six years old, Queen Novo took me and a school of little griffs like me close to the surface, where one of our whale friends was waiting for us. She had the whale slap the water with his tail and it made the loudest noise. This big boom that rattled straight through your bones. She told us if we ever heard a sound like that near the surface, it meant the Storm King and his cannons were nearby, and we needed to hide. She showed us these little caves hidden in the coral. She told us to hide there and not come out until an adult showed up and told us it was okay. We did that every year. Last year, I even helped her teach the latest school of little griffs that lesson.”
And that’s when it clicked.
“You didn’t learn to paint because paint doesn’t work underwater.”
She blinked and then nodded.
I raised a hoof to my temple.
“You spent your whole childhood in hiding.”
She nodded, and curled into herself.
“I didn’t even remember what a sunset looked like until I saw one when I was ten, and I got in trouble for swimming up to the surface.”
“And when the fireworks went off…”
She curled even tighter into herself.
“I knew what they were. Sandbar told me about them and I read a book and everything, but when they exploded I had no idea how much they would sound like… that.”
“So you ran because some part of you thought he was here.”
She nodded.
I sighed.
“I’m so sorry about leaving your window open. I got lost and then I saw your house and I just… wanted to hide.”
I shook my head.
“Silverstream, come here.” I reached out my hoof, and took her fin in it, and wrapped my other hoof around it. “You are not dumb, or silly, or stupid, you understand me?”
Her eyes glistened as she looked into mine.
“When you’re afraid for such a long time, it does things to you. Becomes part of you, and it takes a long time for it to stop being part of you like that. You lived your whole life afraid of the Storm King, but you know what?”
“What?”
“You didn’t let it define you. You came out of the sea and embraced the world with an enthusiasm I rarely see outside of Pinkie Pie. Some ponies would keep hiding, but you embraced the world with open hooves, trying new things without fear. That takes real courage, you hear me?”
She stared into me, her eyes like saucers.
“You are a brave pony—” I rolled my eyes “—griff—person, you understand? Wonderful, happy, free, and brave, and you’ll never have to worry about that bastard again, understand me?”
She nodded, shaking.
I let go over her fin, and swung my hooves wide, pulling her into a tight hug in a wave of lukewarm water. It took her a second to respond, but after a second her fins shakely wrapped around me, and then locked tight.
“If you’re ever scared like this again, come find me first, alright?”
“But… what if he does come back?”
“Then find me faster.”
“How could you stop him?”
“Math books are heavy.” I hissed into her ear, hugging her tighter.
She laughed, and then started crying at the same time, keeping her grip on me.
I held her and let her get it all out. Eventually she eased up and leaned back into the tub.
“Thank you, Miss Cheerilee.”
I felt a weight lift from me as I saw her smile.
“It is my job.”
Silverstream giggled.
“Now, how about we dry you off and warm you up by that fire?”
She smiled, and I blinked.
“Umm… do you need help with, uh…” I waved a hoof in the general direction of her tail. “...that.”
She stared for a second, and then smiled.
“Oh, no, here!” There was a swirl of golden light and suddenly a very wet hippogriff was sitting in my bathtub. She lifted up the pendant she wore with a talon. “Queen Novo gave us all a piece of the Pearl of Transformation after the war ended so we could live on land or sea since so many of us had gotten used to it. It also breaks up its power so we don’t have to hide it from someone like the Storm King ever again.”
“... That’s... ” I smiled. “Really amazing, Silverstream.”
She beamed.
“I know, right?!”
“Well, here, get out of there so we can dry you off.”
The water sloshed as she happily obliged.
------
There was a frantic knocking at my door.
“Come in.” I said, quietly, hoping not to wake Silverstream.
The knock repeated.
“Come in.” I said, a little louder.
The door opened—
—and got caught on the chain.
I gave a face hoof and began to try and extricate myself from the sleeping bundle of hippogriff my legs were caught up in when there was a pop and a bubble of lavender burst in front of me revealing a disheveled looking Twilight Sparkle.
“Cheerilee! Silverstream went missing at the party and we’ve been looking all over for her! Big Mac said that the two of you knew each other, so have you seen—”
I raised my hoof to my lips and gave my best Be Quiet teacher glare. Perhaps on years of trained academic reflex, Twilight stopped short. I then turned my hoof down to indicate towards the bundle of blankets and feathers next to me on the couch. Twilight’s eyes followed my hoof and she visibly deflated with relief.
“Thank Celestia, she’s okay.” She said, quietly now.
I nodded, and responded to a jostle by stroking the bundle.
“She was scared by the fireworks. They trained their children to be afraid of loud noises incase the Storm King attacked.”
A look of hurt came over Twilight’s face. She then turned and curled up in a seat across from the couch.
“I’m so sorry to hear that.”
I nodded in reply.
“She came here, and I managed to comfort her. We spent the last hour talking about what Seaquestria was like.” I gave a sad smile. “It may have been a cage, but it still sounds beautiful.”
“It is.” Twilight nodded, and turned away. “Sometimes I wonder if Equestria as a society had been more open and proactive a long time ago, if none of this would have happened. The Storm King spent years pillaging kingdom after kingdom, and we let it happen.”
“That’s not true, Twilight.” I sighed. “We had our own troubles.”
Twilight winced.
“You’re right, but still. If we could have been more open, more aware, none of this might have happened.” She shook her head.
I smiled.
“Well, isn’t that what you’re trying to do?”
Twilight perked up, and ear flicking forward.
“With your school? Building friendship between Equestria and all races, and all races with each other? Then no bully like the Storm King will ever be able to divide us up and take us down one by one again, right?”
She thought for a moment, and then nodded.
“Yeah, that’s right.” She smiled, and looked down at Silverstream, sleeping away in my hooves. “You really are a wonderful teacher, Cheerilee.”
I shrugged. Twilight smiled.
“Don’t be modest,” she went on. “You made a fast friend with Silverstream, and were able to comfort her about her deepest fear when she needed it.” She rolled her shoulders and let out a laugh. “I mean, I’m still getting the hang of lesson planning and budgeting.”
“I figured that would be the easy part for you.” I smile and quirked an eyebrow.
“It was—until I actually had to use them!”
I laughed, wrapped my hoof around my muzzle to stay quiet. Twilight did the same.
“You’re just a natural.” She said, finally, as the giggles died down.
“What can I say…” I looked down at the sleeping child wrapped up in my hooves, my face softening as I remember how wonderful and brave she was. “... it’s what I love to do.”