My little bartender, my little bartender...

[no_vampires_plz]

Twilight stares down at the letters on the napkin Bar has just given her. "You want me to what?"

The letters change.

"What, now??They change again

Comments

[sunbaked_baker]

This is the second little... pony that this baker has seen, but she's still not over the strangeness of it yet.

"Evening," she greets the purple pony with a smile, setting the much-depleted tray of baked goods on the bar. "Bar has you tending, tonight?"

[no_vampires_plz]

"Apparently," says Twilight with a shrug. (Never seen a pony shrug before? You have now.) "Can I get you anything?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"The Magic Star one sounds good," she replies, after a moment of thought.

"You're friends with Fluttershy?"

[no_vampires_plz]

"Yeah, she's one of my best friends," says Twilight as she turns to search the shelves for liqueurs. "I guess you've met her here?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"Just once, out back," Rae smiles. "She was nice."

If, of course, a bit shy.

"I had never met a talking pony pegasus before."

[no_vampires_plz]

"Well, I'd never met a human before I came here, and neither had she," points out Twilight as she levitates half a dozen different bottles in the air, pouring each one in turn into a cocktail shaker. "So I guess we can call it even."

[sunbaked_baker]

"Culture shock, all around," she says, wry, watching the levitation with interest. "Glad to see another world with magic, at least."

While she's envious of the worlds without the threat of vampires, Rae is still weirded out by worlds without magic.

[no_vampires_plz]

Twilight does a double-take, nearly spilling the grenadine. "There are worlds without magic??"

[sunbaked_baker]

Rae chuckles, gratified by the similar response. "Thank you. That's exactly what I thought when I first heard."

So much of what's left of the world economy in Sunshine's world is built around it - magic is everywhere. She could hardly sleep in Thirteen's world, simply because she couldn't feel the familiar solidity of the house wards around her.

[no_vampires_plz]

Twilight is still flabbergasted. "B-but--how does anything work without magic??"

Sure, the Everfree Forest gets along without it for the most part, but the entire world??

[sunbaked_baker]

"Apparently they get along all right without it," Rae says. "I'm not really sure of the particulars, of course. There are plenty of magic-handlers in my world."

Not nearly enough, all the same.

"I'm Sunshine, by the way."

[no_vampires_plz]

"I'm Twilight Sparkle," says the unicorn. "Give me a minute..." She closes the cocktail shaker and shakes vigorously. All without touching it, of course.

[sunbaked_baker]

"Pleased to meet you," she says, not at all in a rush. Rae steals a humongous cinnamon roll for herself while she waits, watching the unicorn.

"So your magic handling is anchored by your horn?" she asks, sure the terminology will be different, but hoping the idea gets through.

[no_vampires_plz]

"Of course. A unicorn's horn is the source of her magic." Twilight pours out the drink into a glass and adds a dusting of grated chocolate and a slice of starfruit. "Do they have unicorns where you come from?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"Well..." Swift, deadly beasts likely to impale anyone who comes near on their two foot long horn before leaving them to rot? Yes. Rae's world doesn't have the nice, kind types of magical creatures. Only the terrible, mangling kinds. "You're the first unicorn I've met."

Politic!

"It sounds like in your world, one's magic comes from one's horn like one's magic comes from a specific element, in my world. So, wait, in your world only unicorns have magic?"

[no_vampires_plz]

"Well, everypony has a little magic," allows Twilight. "They wouldn't be able to function, otherwise. But only unicorns can use spells."