All I wanted was to have breakfast with my best friends
It was a beautiful morning in the Friendship Castle, all ponies were busy that morning preparing for breakfast. Pinkie was preparing the dough for the pancakes, Fluttershy was putting the glasses while her bunny Angel was running around dropping some items, Rarity was reading a letter, Applejack was putting the dishes and Rainbow Dash was reading a book. But there was somepony that was not very excited about the breakfast itself: the Princess of Friendship herself Twilight Sparkle. She looked haggard and exhausted and for good reasons: all the week she had been busy and now when she had spare time with her friends she couldn’t enjoy it. The only thing she heard was noises and all she wanted was peace and quiet.
“Pinkie, could you please be less noisy? Fluttershy can you control your bunny? It’s messing with my castle!”
“Sorry Twilight, but I want him to run free through your home.”
Twilight then directed her eyes to Rainbow Dash, sitting in front of her.
“What are you reading Rainbow Dash?”
“It’s the latest Daring Do book! It says she might be disguising as a professor in a school to catch–”
“Dash, you’re reading a Cosmare magazine that casually has A.K. Yearling on the cover.”
“Oh yeah...”
“I’m sorry to say this but–”
“Don’t say it!” Rainbow Dash begged her with a puppy face.
“...You need glasses.”
“NO! I can’t use glasses. I’ll look like an egghead.”
“You said the same thing before you start reading Daring Do.”
“Sure but only you and the mailpony that brings me the books know that. With glasses everypony in town will know it, my entire reputation will be ruined.”
Twilight sighed, facehoofed and watched Rarity at her left. “Why you look more beautiful than usual Rarity?”
“This letter says that I’m invited to a fancy party tonight; maybe I will know my true love there.”
“Or you will probably become a drama queen and cry in your fainting couch saying you will no longer find love despite of having it next to you.”
Rarity turned her head to the left and answered Twilight confusedly.
“...Applejack?”
“No, it’s...” Twilight paused. “Forget it. What are you thinking about Applejack?”
Applejack sighed. “In them.”
“‘Them’? The ‘them’ that you’re always thinking but you never tell us who are they?”
“Yeah, so? It’s not bad to think ‘bout them.”
“It is if you do it constantly. It’s like you never want to let them go.”
All the girls decided to ask Twilight what was going on about her recent nature.
“What’s happening Twilight?” Pinkie asked. “You have been grumpy all the morning; tell us what’s going on?”
“...Sorry girls, I’ve been tired, stressed and haven’t slept well all week. And the suffering doesn’t end there; I have to visit Trixie this evening.”
“I thought you two were not friends,” said Rainbow Dash.
“Yes, but I received a letter from her saying that she wanted to see me so I guess I have to go only to make sure she’s not alone.”
“That’s nice of you Twilight,” Fluttershy said. “Where’s the visit?”
“In jail.”
“...Are ya sure we can’t help ya in somethin’ sugarcube?”
“Thanks girls but this is one job I have to do alone,” Twilight sighed. “All I wanted was to have breakfast with my best friends to take benefit of the time we’ll have together before you–” Twilight was about to say them that she will missed them in the future but then retracted and, because of her tiredness, she slowly rested her head on the table. “You know what? I know I had my hard days but when I’m with you I think I’m the most fortunate pony in the world.”
“Twilight!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “Be careful, you’re going to–!”
“AH!”
Instead of resting her head on the table Twilight fell of the chair, so hard that the girls heard a crack when she touched the floor. When the girls ran to her to make sure she was ok, they found her horn damaged and put a bandage around her horn.
“Is it ok?”
“Unfortunately no. I’m sorry to say this darling but you can’t use magic.”
“For how long?”
“At least the next two hours. After that we can take off the bandage.”
“But I’m the Element of Magic; I’m supposed to use magic.”
“We know that Twilight,” Fluttershy said. “But it’s for your own good.”
“The best thing you can do is go to your room and rest.”
“But–”
“Don’t worry ‘bout us, we’ll take care of the castle meanwhile.”
While jumping Angel landed on Twilight, hurting her more than she was, to the point that she exploded in front of her friends.
“That’s it! I had enough!” Twilight pointed her friends one by one saying them their faults. “Be less noisy, control your animals, go to the oculist, think about your love experience and get over them, we don’t even know who they are!”
Twilight retired and although her friends were angry with her Applejack stopped them from breaking her face, the purple alicorn just heard them as she went to the basement.
“Ah think she needs some time alone. Let’s give her some space.”
Meanwhile Twilight sat on a stool and reposed her head on a desk. Surrounded by old spells and parchments, immediately she knew how to spend her time resting. She took the first one of the pile to her right and started reading it from beginning to end, it was like that for 10 or 20 minutes, she finished all the parchments but one. She took it and read the autor.
“Starswirl the Bearded.”
Twilight squealed after she read it, after all he was her greatest idol.
“Maybe it’s a spell that will cure flu,” she proceeded to read the spell. “For every minute you’re angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness, just make sure to don’t fall in the eternal hole of loneliness. Don’t worry I’m sure you’ll be fine, but eventually everyone runs out of time,” Twilight was confused. “What does this mean?”
A giant hole appear above her and began to suction her with strength.
“What the...?”
Suddenly she disappeared in a flash and she found herself falling down through a tunnel with white-and-black squared walls, red carpets, clocks, mirrors and a cabin that said ‘Pony Public Call Box.’ She always held the spell.
“Look at this! I must be the first pony who travels backwards through time!”
From the cabin showed briefly a brown earth pony and a gray pegasus who replied her.
“Correction Twilight, you’re the second.”
“That’s right Doctor!”
“I love you Derpy.”
Twilight finished landing on a grassy terrain and in an environment that looked like a forest nearby a mountain.
“Where am I?”
Then a little creature approached her, touched her and said the only thing it could say: its own name. Twilight grew fond with the little creature and grabbed it.
“Oh, a cute tiny yellow mouse. Fluttershy will love you.”
She looked surprised to her surroundings and discovered a land where different creatures ran, jumped, drank water from the nearby lagoon and fed of the trees and bushes. Among the creatures the most recognizable were a bipedal white humanoid with purple tail, an egg with spiny head and colorful triangles in its shell and a cat with a coin on its head. She released the mouse from her hooves.
“Seems that I make to the time when these creatures ruled the planet. What were they called?” she thought for a moment. “Oh yeah, Chinpokomon! I can finally see and study these creatures in its natural habitat. Wait, remember the advice Princess Celestia gave you on the day you became a princess.”
“If you actually travel back in time don’t touch anything because even the tiniest change can alter the future in ways you can’t imagine.”
“Well, as long as I stand perfectly still and don’t touch anything I won’t destroy the future.”
A bipedal black-masked blue jackal then approached her and sniffed her entire body. Although she felt uncomfortable she didn’t care.
“What’s this, a black-masked blue jackal? You looked like Rainbow Dash... That’s weird, why everything here reminds me of my friends?”
But she soon discovered why the jackal was sniffing her.
“What are you doing?” the jackal raised it leg. “No, don’t dare you.”
Before it marked its territory Twilight kicked it but she did it so hard that a tree passed through its body, killing it in the process. She gasped.
“Oh no, what have I done?”
The spell glowed in blue, the hole appeared and Twilight traveled back to her present time. As soon as she returned she left the spell on the desk and went upstairs to make sure everything was the same: she went to the dining room where her friends were having breakfast. She sighed relaxed and then proceeded to sit down on her correspondent chair on the table.
“My best friends, nothing has changed. Listen, I thought about what you said and you’re right: I needed some time alone. But now I’m back and better than ever. So, what do you want to do? I’m open to your answers.”
“What is she doing here?” Rarity asked.
Twilight put a confused face.
“What?”
“Oh no, if the Supreme sees her we’ll be doomed!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
“What are you talking about?”
“Too late, hide her behind the plant!” Rainbow Dash screamed.
Suddenly all the mares grabbed Twilight and threw her behind a potted plant. Twilight looked how her friends formed a line while a hologram emerged from the ground. The image revealed Starlight Glimmer looking to her friends with a menacing stare and a creepy smile.
“Hello, my little slaves!”
“We are quite safe!” All answered at unison.
“How about we sing our national anthem to start the day?”
“I love that!” Pinkie Pie shouted.
Then Starlight pull out a kazoo and a radio, she play the musical instrument and after that she switched on the device, where a melody started to play and all the mares began to sang. All Twilight could do was saw her friends singing and dancing under Starlight’s command in an embarrassing way.
“My little slave, my little slave! Ah, ah, ah, ah. ♪”
“My little slave! ♪”
“I used to wonder what freedom could be! ♪”
“My little slave! ♪”
“Until you all shared this contract with me! ♪”
“No adventure! ♪”
“Tons of work! ♪”
“A merciful hope! ♪”
“Blind and worthless! ♪”
“Taking money! ♪”
“It’s an easy feat and magic makes us all equal. Yeah! My little slave! Did you know you’re my very worst fears! ♪”
Twilight came out of the plant to stand her but when Starlight looked her they tried to stop Twilight from a fight and tried to explain her everything.
“Hey, what the hell is Starlight doing on that hologram?”
An alarm sounded and when Starlight noticed her, she was angry toward her friends.
“Why is that scum in my castle and not in the dungeon as I said, my slaves?”
“Your castle?! This is my castle, these are my friends and that was the cheesiest anthem I’ve ever heard.”
The girls proceeded to take Twilight back to the dungeon, but Twilight stopped them, wanting answers to the situation.
“Don’t make the Supreme mad with us,” Fluttershy said.
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t you remember Twilight?” Pinkie Pie explained. “Starlight Glimmer is the undisputed mistress of the universe!”
“WHAT?!”
“Looks like somepony need another therapy of glimmeration.”
“No,” said Applejack frightened. “Not glimmeration again.”
Tons of guards appeared from the main door, the windows and even the roof and took away the Mane 6 from the castle. Twilight then noticed the first change when they exit the castle: Ponyville didn’t look like Ponyville, it looked more like Manehattan and more modernized, as the guards led them to rehabilitation by glimmeration she observed that all the buildings had a big poster with Starlight’s face and the written lines ‘Big Sister is watching you’ and when they reached the prison she read the center’s slogan ‘Glimmeration Center: Where the elite meet to have their spirits broken.’ The glimmeration was a method that consisted in three phases: first, gave all the ponies the same manestyle Starlight had and second, brainwashing them so everypony behaved equal, like Starlight wished when she ruled the little town. The second phase consisted of hitching the ponies to a chair while they watched Starlight’s hologram saying:
“Come on ponies, give me a big smile!”
After the extreme zoom to her smile a pair of hooks descended from the roof and hooked a pony’s cheeks and mouth so it smiled without effort.
“Relax; the machines do the work for you.”
“And what are you smiling at?” Twilight asked annoyed, with the hooks inside her mouth, to the pony next to her.
Moments later Twilight was formed in a line with other ponies and while she was rubbing her cheeks to minimize the pain Starlight’s hologram appeared near the line to indicate the third and final phase of the glimmeration process.
“Now if that didn’t cheer you up, there’s always something that never fails: a pair of delicious cookies, a glass of warm milk, a little nap and a total frontal lobotomy.”
A blue pony hit softy Twilight’s flank.
“Hey be more careful.”
But the pony didn’t listened to her. Twilight approached her and turned her around. The big surprise she got when she discovered who the pony was.
“I said be more care–”
“Hello Twilight,” she said in a semi-monotonous voice.
“Trixie? What are you doing here?”
“Trixie was dragged here to be glimmerated because Trixie thought nopony care about her,” Twilight felt bad on the inside. “It’s not so bad Twily. They go through your nose and they let you keep the piece of brain they cut out,” Trixie took out a jar of alcohol with her piece of brain in it and began talking to it. “Look. Hello, hello there,” she pointed to Twilight. “Who’s that cute pony, who’s that?”
Twilight’s friends appeared then with a blanked face, forced smile, the jar with their piece of brain on one hoof and said with a monotonous voice:
“Join us Twilight.”
Then Princess Celestia appeared on the same conditions.
“It’s amaaaaaaaaaaazing.”
“NOOOOOOOOOO!”
Twilight ran away.
“Get her.”
The guards appeared and began chasing Twilight, who was flying to her castle as she undid Starlight’s manestyle of her head. Without magic she couldn’t attack so she had to fly fast. She finally reached her castle, entered to the basement and found the spell.
“I have to go back and fix the future.”
When she repeated the words and the giant hole reappeared she traveled through the same tunnel and landed on the same spot of the same period.
“This time I’m not going to touch anything, just watch,” she spotted her first Chinpokomon. “What’s that, a green gecko with a bushy tail that can make trees grow? It can help Applejack on her farm...” To prevent her sadness she spotted another one. “Isn’t that a green-haired humanoid with a white dress? It can inspire Rarity to... Who am I kidding? They’re probably mad with me at this moment.”
From the trees appeared an orange flying dragon that roared and breathed fire. Twilight was scared to the point that she began to run away from it and as she was avoiding plants and other creatures saying:
“Mustn’t crush, mustn’t touch... and made it!”
She relaxed sitting on a log... or what she thought was a log. She stood up from what she squished.
“And instead of a log I sit on a blue ninja frog. Wow, that sounded like Zecora.”
The spell glowed in blue, the hole appeared and Twilight traveled back to her present time, she headed to the dining room only to find that none of her friends, or her furniture, were there.
“Where is everypony?”
A giant eye showed up from one of the windows and the castle’s roof was ripped like a patch in a pants. Twilight saw a giant yellow hoof with a brush coming to her. She thought that the hoof was going to hurt her but no: it only painted a little part of her castle. The ponies were the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
“Now we will get our cutie marks by winning the competition of replicas with this Twilight’s castle model,” Apple Bloom said.
“Hey, it’s a doll that looks like her. Let’s crush it!” Scootaloo proposed.
“Ok,” Sweetie Belle nodded.
Twilight quickly returned to the basement before the fillies crushed her and she went back to the same period. The orange dragon went back to eat her until she accidentally sneezed in front of it. The dragon sneezed and died, Twilight at first was worried but after remembering what it actually wanted she relaxed. That was until she heard a sneeze from the mouse, the same had happened to the purple-tailed humanoid, the cat, the egg, the green-haired humanoid, the jackal, the frog, the gecko and so on. Soon every creature in the area died because of the virus Twilight released.
“This is going to cost me.”
The spell glowed in blue, the hole appeared and Twilight traveled back to her present time but this time when she exit the basement she discovered that all her castle was designed as her old home, the Golden Oaks Library. She wowed but also was afraid of the consequences, when she entered her dining doom she found Pinkie cleaning the table’s legs. She ran to her and hugged her.
“Pinkie! I’m so happy to see–”
But as soon as Pinkie rised from the bottom part of the table Twilight’s expression changed: her friend had her mane flat and short and worst of all: she had wings and a horn!
“Hello Twilight.”
“Pinkie, is that you?”
“Indeed.”
“But why your mane's flat and short and why are you talking like Rarity and–?”
“I follow your advice dear,” Pinkie interrupted her. “Now I do formal parties trying to be considerate with you. When I did, I realize that I have to look properly and accord to my new lifestyle so I decided to change my look and cut it.”
Twilight was shocked, Fluttershy entered to the room with Angel inside a cage. Oh, and she had a horn. Twilight did the same questions but she always obtained the same answers and had the same reactions.
“Fluttershy, why are you caging your bunny?”
“I follow your advice. I will cage Angel so he can’t ruin your home; I’m not hurtful at all.”
“But you like your animals to run free.”
“But you don’t like disorder in your house so I should obey my princess friend.”
Then Rainbow Dash appeared... with thick-pasted glasses, Twilight’s manestyle and a horn.
“Hi Twilight. How’ve you been?”
“Rainbow Dash?! What did you do?!”
“I follow your advice. I went to the oculist and you were right: I needed glasses and I chose these ones.”
“But what about your reputation?”
“I don’t care about it anymore, all I care is seeing right.”
“And why did you have my manestyle?”
“It’s an homage of how much I appreciate you. I still remember when you were transformed into an alicorn and I taught you how to fly. And now,” she sighed tranquil. “You will teach me how to use magic.”
Rainbow Dash hugged her and when Twilight was released Rarity appeared with a baby on her hooves. At first Twilight was not shocked because she entered walking but as soon as she left the baby on the table she spread her wings, her beautiful butterfly wings.
“Rarity, you was not supposed to be on you fancy party?”
“Not anymore darling since I finally found my real love: my little Spikey-Wikey. Well, not little anymore. You were right Twilight: my real love was next to me the whole time.”
“And who is this little child?”
“It’s your niece, Claire. It wasn’t easy having a baby but we finally procreated her.”
And finally Applejack appeared with a box full of cider bottles and if you haven’t noticed what she had in her body to this point I’m very disappointed with you.
“Applejack?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you explain me something?”
“In a moment sugarcube, just let me put out these bottles so we can have our breakfast.”
But another thing caught her attention.
“Applejack, where’s your hat?”
“Ah follow yer advice and Ah threw it away. Ya were right, Ah was thinkin’ ‘bout mah parents too much, especially since Ah lost them at early age, that hat was the reason of mah sickly obsession with them and now Ah don’t care ‘bout them.”
Twilight felt bad on the inside.
“‘Them’ were your parents Applejack?”
“Yes and Ah finally overcome them thanks to ya.”
Twilight was shocked and disappointed of herself to the point that she was near of crying for all the decisions she made. All her friends were exactly what she wanted but she wasn’t excited.
“What are you thinking darling?”
“...Why all of you are alicorns?”
“We knew about your loneliness,” Pinkie explained. “About not being with you in the future anymore.”
“So we searched through a lot of books and find a spell that could help us to gain immortality. We found it, Rarity casted it and boom, now all we’ll be awesome together, although she took some liberties with her wings,” Rainbow Dash said.
“But enough about that. Which dress do you want to use?” Rarity asked.
“For what?”
“For Trixie’s funeral this evening,” Fluttershy said.
Twilight sit down on her chair and cried silently.
“Are ya alright sugarcube?”
“...No” Twilight explained. “All of you are immortal and we’ll spent eternity together, my castle looks like my library, I have a beautiful niece, Trixie is dead. Everything is perfect, I‘ve got everything I ever wanted, I’m supposed to be happy but I’m not.”
“Don’t cry Twilight,” Fluttershy said. “There’s something that always cheer you up.”
“What?”
“A dish with your favorite food.”
“Daisy sandwiches?”
“...What’s a daisy?” asked Pinkie Pie.
“Or even better: what’s a sandwich?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“What do you mean what’s a daisy sandwich? It’s my favorite food!”
“No, this is yer favorite food.”
Applejack put a silver dish in front of Twilight with her favorite food in this universe.
“Quesadillas!”
“NOOOOOOOOOO!”
Twilight stood up from the chair frightened and screaming out loud, left the dining room, went to the basement and traveled back in time.
“Did Ah say somethin’ wrong?”
When Twilight returned from her time travel she found her assistant in front of the basement’s door.
“Spike?!”
“You are still no in your world Twilight. I can get you home but you have to do exactly what I sa–”
Spike stopped talking abruptly because he was shot on his back. When this body fell to the floor the culprit was revealed: one of the Chinpokomon from her time travels killed him, in this case a pink puffball with triangular ears, a curly fluffed hair and big blue eyes, holding a shotgun.
“Why this puffball reminds me of Pinkie Pie?”
The puffball spoke with a deep voice and give the shotgun to her.
“This is indeed a disturbing universe.”
Twilight traveled back in time for the 5th time but now she had lost her mind and started shooting to all the creatures.
“Don’t touch anything? I’ll touch whatever I want!”
Twilight traveled back and forth so many times that the parchment broke to the point of no repair. So now Twilight was stuck in this universe and had no option of coming back. When she exit the basement she was glad that her castle was made of crystal but she was worried about her friends, their appearances and their behavior. She entered nervously to the dining room and saw all her friends as they always had been and still organizing the breakfast. Pinkie Pie was the first one who saw her, followed by the others.
“There you are Twi–”
“What’smyname,whatcoloristhesky,whataredaisysandwiches,whatfoodI’mafraidof? Tell me, for the love of Celestia, tell me!”
“Twilight, the sky is blue, daisy sandwiches are your favorite food, you’re afraid of quesadillas, you have to visit Trixie in jail this evening. It’s something wrong with you?”
She sighed relax. “Nothing, nothing at all.”
“It’s been two hours already; let me take the bandage off you.”
“Thanks Rarity.”
“Listen sugarcube. We heard ‘bout ya were sayin’ and... ya were right.”
“What?”
“We will change for you Twilight,” Pinkie said. “You’re right, I can be very noisy sometimes so from now on I will do more formal parties and maybe I’ll cut and flat my mane.”
“And I will cage Angel, I don’t like doing it but if that makes you happy I will.”
“I’m really blind so I will go to the oculist. Good bye to my reputation but I need to see well.”
“I’m not going to the party anymore, maybe you’re right darling. I’m giving up in finding my real love.”
“Ah missed them so much, but ya’re right. Ah can’t think ‘bout them all the time so Ah will overcome them and the first step to do it is by removin’ this.”
After hearing all of this and considering what Twilight had been doing for the past hours she cried, screamed and reconsidered with all of them.
“NOOOOOOOOOO!”
“But that’s what you wanted,” Fluttershy said.
“No, please don’t change. I love you all for the way you are,” she then talked to them one by one. “I love your parties, I love your spontaneity and I love your curly-fluffed hair. Let your animals run free here, I don’t care about the disorder; the important thing is that you and your little friends feel comfortable. If your reputation is very important to you then I will search for the best doctor in Equestria so he can make you a laser surgery. Go and have fun in your party, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise nor even me but sooner or later you will notice him, keep that in mind. I don’t know how it’s living without parents at early age–”
“But Ah didn’t tell ‘bout them to anypony. How do ya know?”
“That doesn’t matter; the only thing I know is that as long as you think about them they will never leave you. So please keep that hat on your head.”
Everypony smiled.
“That’s the Twilight we know,” said Rainbow Dash.
“We even discussed about your schedule and we agreed to join you in your visit with Trixie,” said Fluttershy.
“Thanks girls. Now let’s sit to eat, shall we?”
The Mane 6 sat down and in the moment they will start to eat Twilight noticed a minor detail on her friends: they squeezed the pancakes with their hooves, then puked on the pancakes and finally reabsorbed them with the mouth. Basically they were eating like flies.
“Close enough.”
And she left the things as they were.
Author's Note
Bradburian facts:
-The original title of the story was "Running out of Time."
-Yes, Pokémon existed before ponies ruled the Earth. If you can guess the 10 that I included in the story I owe you a coke. (All the pokemon in order of appearing: Pikachu, Mewtwo, Togepi, Meowth, Lucario, Sceptile, Gardevoir, Charizard, Greninja, Jigglypuff)
-The idea of including Pokémon in the story is from an old concept I had in my childhood called "Walking with Pokémon" and it was going to be similar to BBC’s documentary series "Walking with Dinosaurs" and its sequels. Sadly the project never got the greenlight.
-Cameo of Crystal Clarity "Claire" by Kilala97.
-This was written before "The Cutie Re-Mark", so no reformed Starlight Glimmer.
