//------------------------------// // 7. Shop // Story: Long-Distance // by Bicyclette //------------------------------// Wallflower smiled as she drew on the photograph. A heart around Sunset’s beaming face, marking her from the row of her fellow teachers at the School of Friendship, with their smiling students arranged in rows underneath. “Seriously?” Sunset’s voice scolded her through her phone speaker. “I sent that picture so you could see what the students I’ve been talking about look like, not draw on it!” Wallflower laughed, and focused her gaze on the tiny image of Sunset. “I just can’t help it. Your eyes are so beautiful. I have to express how they make me feel.“ Sunset groaned. “If you’re going to be like that, turn on your phone.” Wallflower did, and Sunset’s smiling face appeared on the screen, familiar eyes bright and wide. She lost herself in their sky-blue. “I can’t believe you’re making me do this on my lunch break,” Sunset muttered. “What, look into a phone?” “Oh, this thing is so much more awkward to use than a phone! It’s more like a film camera strapped to a mirror. If I weren’t a unicorn I don’t know what I’d do.” Wallflower laughed. Just then, a chime from the front door interrupted her. “Oh, that’s a customer! I’ll be right back. Love you!“ “Love you, too!” came the reply, and Wallflower ended the call. She took a moment to feel the power of those words, then made her way to the storefront to greet her guest. She could instantly tell that she was not one of her regulars from the way she was still standing by the entrance, marveling at the living floral arrangements all around her. Wallflower smiled at that, always glad for her work to leave an impression. Her smile widened as she turned around, and Wallflower was able to recognize her, as if that mess of merlot hair wasn’t enough. “Ms. Cheerilee!” Wallflower cried out. “Wallflower Blush!” Her old teacher turned to her and beamed. “And just ‘Cheerilee’ is fine. Canterlot High was a long time ago for you now!” It was odd to realize that she was older than Cheerilee had been when she was her teacher. “How have you been doing? How is your—” Wallflower then realized why Cheerilee was there on a late morning on a September weekday. Her old teacher gave her a sad smile. “Oh, you know. Still getting used to my early retirement. I figured that, hey, why not travel? Track down all my old students and see how they turned out in person, even if just for a little while? Plant shop, it makes sense! President of the Gardening Club, right?“ “That’s right,” Wallflower confirmed. “It’s really lovely.” She had another look around the quiet store. “You must be proud of what you’ve built here.” “I am. It’s a nice, quiet little life.” “I’m glad.” Cheerilee smiled softly at her, and she smiled softly in return. Silence stretched on for a couple of beats before Wallflower said something to fill it. “So, what was teaching like after Canterlot?” She realized with a bit of guilt that she had never even thought of what happened to the students and teachers after it was shut down. “Oh, it was wonderful! A lot quieter than what was going on with all your classmates!” Wallflower smiled at that. “But towards the end, keeping those kids in school to prepare them for an adulthood they’d never really get to have… It was almost a relief, to let them go.“ Cheerilee kept smiling, but Wallflower could see how she was forcing it, a bit. She wished she knew what else to say. But then, a thought came to her. “Do you want to talk to Sunset? Cheerilee’s face brightened. “I would! I couldn’t find her anywhere! I swear, she dropped off the face of the Earth…” Ducking into the back room, Wallflower grabbed the journal and her phone, and called Sunset, who answered as she stepped back out. “Hey, babe! Done already?” “Hey, love! Not exactly.” She smiled at Cheerilee. “Customer’s someone you might remember.” She handed the phone to Cheerilee. “Sunset? Is that you?” Sunset recognized her right away. “Ms. Cheerilee! Oh wow, it’s been so long!“ “Fifteen years!” Cheerilee marveled. “And I still remember your first day in my classroom.” “I really was a handful back then, wasn’t I?” Sunset groaned. “You really were! And as a teacher, while I didn’t approve of how you took over the school’s social scene, it was still a very impressive thing to see.” Sunset laughed. “I’m sorry for being so awful then.” “You were young, Sunset! And it was wonderful to watch you grow up before my very eyes. You were already so kind and empathetic, by the end. I can’t imagine how amazing the woman you’ve become must be.” There was a trace of irony in Sunset’s laugh. “Thanks, Ms. Cheerilee. If I have, it was thanks to you.“ “Oh, that’s being too kind! I was only your high school teacher.” “No, really! Because I’m a teacher, too, now!” “Really?” There was surprise and confusion in Cheerilee’s voice. “Yes! And the students we get really are from all over, from all kinds of species. There’s so much I can’t assume about what they already know, or how they do things. But whenever that gets hard I just think of how when I first came to Canterlot, you had to show me how to use a computer and phone and so many other things. You were so patient with me, “ “That’s so sweet to hear!” Cheerilee cooed. The confusion on her face grew as she digested all this. She frowned. “You’re not on Earth, are you?” “No. I’m not.” Wallflower opened up the journal to show Cheerilee the photo of Sunset surrounded by her students. She looked at it, puzzled, until her eyes lit up on the face of pony Sunset encircled by a heart. “That’s…” She looked up at Wallflower, who just smiled and nodded. She looked back down and ran her finger across the faces of the students in the photo. “And this is a world where there are still schools. And these are your students…” Wallflower’s heart broke as she saw Cheerilee smile through tear-filled eyes. “Do you want me to tell you about them?” “Yes!” Cheerilee cried. “I would!” And so she did. Cheerilee mostly listened at first, then began to speak more, as Sunset’s stories reminded her of student stories of her own. From there the conversation wound through memories of Sunset’s time at Canterlot High. Just as she had watched those events from the background then, Wallflower was content to just stand behind the counter in silence, smiling, happy they were sharing this moment together. She could have stood forever, listening to the two of them reminisce. But everything eventually ends. “—and I’m sorry again!” Sunset apologized. “But I really have to get ready for my afternoon class. This was really nice!” “It really was!” Cheerilee chirped. ”Thank you for this.” She looked at Wallflower and smiled. “To both of you.” When Wallflower took back her phone, Cheerilee grabbed her hand lightly. She looked into her eyes. “Thank you so much, Wallflower. Really. Just knowing there’s still a place where things are going on, I—” Cheerilee tamped her eyes closed for a second, then blinked. “I didn’t know how much I needed it.“ Wallflower just touched the shard around her neck, and wondered just how quickly the details of what Cheerilee saw today would fade from her mind without any more exposure to low-level Equestrian magic, just as she doubtlessly no longer remembered her students turning into monsters or growing tails. That Sunset was a pony now? That this other world that would go on existed at all? Seeing the peace in her eyes, she figured what she would remember would be what mattered.