Golden Hourglass

Chapters

1. The Staff
2. Dare To Move
3. Reckless
4. Numbers
5. Shut up and Drive

1. The Staff

As an owner of a small restaurant, it's not easy but in my case it's difficult when you got a staff full of girls who can create mass destruction in your own resturaunt almost everyday! - Time Turner, owner of Golden Hourglass

"Where are they? I told them all to be here early today!" says Time Turner annoyed as he stood in the lobby. He looks out the window seeing the street beginning to be filled up with stands. "We have Bon Bon and Derpy. All that's left is Lyra and Vinyl," says Octavia, second in command. Octavia looks over at Derpy. Derpy was watching TV behind the counter as she held a broom in one hand. Octavia walked over and turned off the TV using the remote that was left on the counter.

"Hey! I was watching that!" says Derpy, a waitress.

"Oh really?" she says sarcastic with her arms crossed in front of her chest. "You're suppose to be cleaning the lobby!"

"I can clean and watch TV at the same time!" Derpy claims.

"I just witnessed that you can't!" Octavia points her finger to the lobby. "Sweep. Now!"

Derpy sighs and does as she's told. Octavia decides to check with Bon Bon in the kitchen. "Bon Bon, you think you have plenty of ingredi-" she stops to see that Bon Bon wasn't there. She looks over to the lobby where the manager is standing behind the counter looking through the computer monitor of the cash register. "Sir, where's Bon Bon?"

"She went out to buy extra ingredients," says Time Turner.

"But we need her to start the food before we open."

"Before she left she said not to worry as she's taking the secret route."

"Secret route? What secret route?"

Time Turner gave her a tired look, "Don't ask."

Octavia was left baffled.

A jingle sound was made from the bell of the front door. "Morning! We're here!" Lyra sings happily with Vinyl following right behind her. Out of nowhere, two empty buckets fall on Lyra's and Vinyl's head. "You two were suppose to be here minutes ago!" says a mad Octavia.

Lyra looks up at the ceiling. There was a contraption held by a rope. The end of the rest of the rope lead to where Octavia was standing and still holding the end of the rope. "Are you crazy?! You could've broke our craniums! Also, when did you even have the time to built that!?" she yelled, pointing up at the ceiling.

"Oh wow! Craniums? So you do use your brain!" Octavia says in a sarcastic displeased tone.

"What's that suppose to mean?!" Lyra yells. Lyra is the head waiter.

"It means, if you can use your brain to use advance words then it shouldn't have been a problem for you to have come early!" Octavia yells. The two begin their bickering.

Vinyl looks at her headphones to see if they were okay. Derpy uses two fingers to rub the small bump on Vinyl's head. Vinyl is another waitress like Derpy. Time Turner was close to losing his temper.

"What's all the commotion?" asks Bon Bon who was all of a sudden was standing behind Octavia.

"GAH!" Octavia jumped and yelled out from Bon Bon's sudden appearance. "Wh-Wh-Where did you?! How did you?! Here?!"

"If you're asking how I got here, that's classified." Says Bon Bon. Bon Bon is the cook.

"Now that you are all here," says Time Turner getting all the girls attention, "I can tell you all why I asked you to arrive early." He looks at the girls making sure they were paying attention to him. "Today there's going be a fair on our street and we got to make sure our place gets good attention so there won't be a food stand outside like last year."

"Last year?" asks Derpy.

"Last year, there was a Vegan food truck right outside the café," explains Octavia. "It was a slow day for us."

"That's why we're going to try to do our best today to look presentable enough not to have any food stands outside of this store!" says Time Turner. "Is that what the town council told you when you asked them not to have any food trucks outside of our small restaurant during the fair? To look presentable," asks Lyra. Time Turner fakes a cough, "Yes." He admits it. "Why?" asks Vinyl. "This place is getting customers everyday! That should show we're presentable enough."

"That may be true, Vinyl, but we seem to have a reputation of having problems. Constantly," says Time Turner. He takes out a folded piece of paper and unfolds it. "Food takes too long to arrive, constantly being asked our orders repeatedly, loud sounds of crashing, bickering and unknown disturbing noises could be heard from the backroom. At times we can't come to the café due to unpredictable times of the place being closed." He looks at the girls who he sees look away from him. "These are our most popular reviews girls!" He says mad.

"Well then, we're just going to have to change that!" says Octavia. She walks over and stands to face the girls. "Remember girls when we were not trusted to make the float at High school for our towns annual parade?" All the girls nodded as they do remember. "Well we showed them, the school and the town, that we could by building the greatest float this town had ever seen!"

"We did!" says Lyra.

"It was an amazing float!" says Bon Bon. All the girls cheer. 'They built a float for CHS?! Together?' Thought Time Turner as he was left flabbergasted.

"And even though we may not have Golden Harvest and Tick Tock in our team like we did back then, I believe we can still do our best with just the five us!" says Octavia with enthusiasm. All the girls cheer. "Now that we're excited! Let's get to work! We all know what to do!"

Lyra and Vinyl leave to the backroom to change into their uniforms in the locker room. Derpy goes back to sweeping the lobby and Bon Bon goes to the kitchen to start preparing the food.

"You five built a float for the town parade together?" Time Turner asks Octavia.

"Indeed we did!" says Octavia proudly.

"And what were Golden Harvest and the other friend you mention their part of the float?"

"Well you know Golden Harvest, a great planner, she helped come up with the structure while our other friend, Tick Tock, came up with the calculations to how big it would be and what we could use to make the float so it wouldn't fall apart during the parade," says Octavia happily. Time Turner couldn't help but wish he had those two of those friends as part of his staff for today.

Vinyl came out into the lobby wearing her uniform. The uniform for a waitress in the small restaurant was a white long sleeve collar shirt with a green bowtie, black pants and black non slip shoes. The uniform was the same for Octavia and Lyra but instead of a green bowtie theirs was a green tie. For Bon Bon as she is a cook she wears a black cooking uniform with a hourglass patch on the right chest along with the name of the café in green lettering under the hourglass. Time Turner's uniform was like Octavia's but with a black vest added.

Derpy looks around the lobby seeing she was done sweeping inside and was ready now to sweep outside. Opening the door, to go out, a pigeon flies in. The pigeon lands on the counter. "Whoops," says Derpy.

"Cool! A pigeon!" says Vinyl.

"Vinyl, we have to get this pigeon out of the lobby before Octavia or the Manager see!" says Derpy worried.

"No sweat! Getting rid of a bird should be a piece of cake!"

Before the two can think of a plan, the pigeon begins cooing in a surprising melody. Vinyl smiles, "This pigeon got rhythm!" Vinyl takes out her cellphone from her back pocket. She turns on a app that lets her add, mix and play with music almost like her music equipment at her house.

Two minutes later. Lyra comes into the lobby. "Hey girls, Octavia sent me out here to ask about that sound." Lyra sees the pigeon and Vinyl playing music with it while Derpy bobs here head, enjoying the music. Five minutes later. The pigeon finishes cooing, ending the song. Both Derpy and Lyra clap.

"That was fantastic!" Says Derpy.

"Yeah! Maybe you should think of adopting that pigeon, Vinyl!" Lyra suggests.

"Aw shucks! You girls think so!" Vinyl smiles while blushing.

Octavia stands in the doorway angry at the three girls playing music in the lobby. "You three are suppose to be getting this place ready! Not playing music!" She shouts.

"Oh really?" Vinyl questions, "Then why did it take you about five minutes to finally speak up? Don't think I didn't notice you in the door way all this time!" Octavia blushes, "Fine! I admit it! Your music with the bird.....was nice. Although it could've use some cello!"

"Well then, why don't you come over to my place after work with your cello and add to the music I just made!" says Vinyl.

"Sure! Why not?" Says Octavia.

"Can I come over too, Vinyl? I like to hear how it will turn out!" asks Derpy.

"Me too, please!" says Lyra.

"Sure! The more the merrier!" says Vinyl.

Time Turner was now the one angry as he stood looking over the counter seeing the girls chatting away instead of working. "I'm begging you girls! Please get back to work!" He yells making the girls jump.

"Yes, sir!" The girls say unison.

The owner speaks more calmly, "Vinyl and Derpy! I want you two to care of that pigeon and get it out of here!"

"Will do, sir!" Both Derpy and Vinyl say. After everyone left the lobby, Vinyl and Derpy looked over at the pigeon. "So how do we get rid of the bird?" asks Derpy. "We'll just shoo it away," says Vinyl. "Just open the door so it can fly out."

Vinyl carefully walks up to the bird. Right when she got close enough she claps her hand. The clap sound made the pigeon fly. "Derpy, the door!" Vinyl calls out. Derpy opens the door wide. The bird flies and lands on the window sill. "How about we try hitting it and lead outside?" Derpy suggests holding up the broom in one hand.

"Great idea but you think you can do it without breaking anything?"

Derpy looks at the lobby remembering it just got clean. "I guess not," she says smiling nervously.

"We're just going to have to keep scaring it till we can get it to leave."

The two clapped their hands the entire time trying to scare the bird to get outside but it kept flying else where in the lobby. The two were getting tired. "So want to try for the eleventh time?" asks Vinyl. "No. My hands are hurting from all the clapping!" says Derpy sad. "Can't we stop?"

"I would like to but remember that the manager is the one who asked us to do this."

"Right," Derpy said disappointed.

"Seems you girls are having bird problem!" says a voice. All the lights turn off in the lobby. A lamp turns on in the corner of the room shedding some light for someone sitting in the corner. This person was leaning on a chair with both feet up on the table. "I may know someone who can solve your bird problem." Vinyl and Derpy look at each other for a second then walk over to the table and sit in the two empty chairs. "Who are you?" Derpy asks. "Yeah and who is this someone that can help solve our bird problem?" asks Vinyl.

The mystery person puts down their legs revealing a girl wearing a grey fedora and trench coat. "The name is Sweetie. Sweetie Drops. The identity of the person who can help you with your bird is in this envelope," she says taking out a white envelope from the inside of her coat. "But it comes with a price."

"Why kind of price?" asks Derpy.

"I'm glad you ask kid. The price is a specially made double chocolate muffin!"

Derpy and Vinyl gasp. "But Derpy specially made that for herself for lunch!" says Vinyl.

"Oh! I know! Specially made muffins are the best and rare and is why I want it! So what is it going to be?"

Derpy sighs and stands up. "I'll go get it!"

"Atta girl!" Sweetie drops smiles.

One minute later. Derpy is back with a paper bag in hand. She places it on the middle of the table. Sweetie Drops grabs it, opens the paper bag, and takes out the double chocolate muffin and takes a lick. "Mhm!" she smiles. She takes out the envelope from her coat. "You girls get yourselves a bird hunter!" She hands the envelope to Derpy. Derpy takes it. The only light turns off for a second and all the lights in the lobby turn back on.

Derpy and Vinyl gasp. "Sweetie Drops," says Derpy. "She's gone!"

"Quick!" says Vinyl. "Check the envelope!"

Derpy opens the envelope and takes out a white folded paper. She unfolds it. In the middle of the paper were letters from magazine cut out spelling out a name. The girls gasp as they read the name together. "Bon Bon!"

The two girls go to the kitchen where they find Bon Bon stirring a large pot of soup. "You girls just going to just stand there?" asks Bon Bon without looking at them. "We got from a reliable source that you can help us with our bird problem," says Vinyl. "A reliable source, aye? That could only mean Sweetie Drops! That girl is getting soft if she could just give away information just like that!"

"Actually, no. We had to bargain my double chocolate muffin for it!" says Derpy.

"Of course! Who wouldn't? They're rare and specially made!" She says.

"So will you help us?" asks Vinyl.

Bon Bon turns off the stove. "I just finished the soup and still have to wait for the pork chops to unfreeze in hot water in the sink, so of course I'll help! But are you two ready? Bird hunting will not be easy!"

"We can do it!" Derpy and Vinyl say together.

"I like your style girls! Let do it!"

Five minutes later. The three girls are in the lobby wearing ponchos covered in feathers, dressing as pigeons "Why are we doing this?" asks Vinyl. "Can't you see? It's simple! Every time when flock of pigeons stand on a telephone wires they all fly off together when they leave!" says Bon Bon.

"I see!" says Derpy. "So we'll have the bird think we're also pigeons and when we leave out the door it will follow and fly out the restaurant."

"Exactly! Now! To the door!" They stand in front of the door. "Here, birdie! birdie! Three of your kind are getting to go so you better follow!" The pigeon just stayed sitting on the window sill. "This isn't working," she frowned. "Should we try cooing like a pigeon?" asks Derpy.

"Great idea!" says Bon Bon. The three began cooing. The bird still didn't budge. "Wrong dialect?

"What if we use Vinyl's recording with the pigeon?" Suggested Derpy.

"Bright idea! Let's try!"

Vinyl takes out her phone and plays the recording. The pigeon starts cooing. "Wow! I think it's working!" Says Vinyl. The pigeon flies toward the girls and flaps it's wings like crazy at them. The girls scream and runaway. "Behind the counter!" yells out Bon Bon. The two jump and hide. They take a peek seeing it standing on top of the monitor. "That's one crazy pigeon!" says Bon Bon. "I was hoping not to do this but desperate plan calls for desperate measures!" She takes out three different colored thick sticks and hands over two to her coworkers. "Push the button. The three girls push the button and out came the nets. "Now! Let's go hunt a bird!" Bon Bon says as if she is ready for war.

In the back room. "Does it sound like crashing and yelling coming from the lobby to you?" Octavia asks Lyra. Lyra stares blankly at her for five seconds. "I'll go check what's happening," says Lyra. Octavia glares at her, "Oh no! I'm not going to let you go on your own again!" The two walk out into the lobby. To their surprise they see their coworkers dressed as pigeons chasing a pigeon using nets.

"You two still haven't got rid of that bird and why are you joining them Bon Bon?!" Octavia demands. "Catching a bird is harder than it looks, you know?" says Vinyl. The pigeon flies towards Octavia and Lyra flapping it's wings like crazy at them. The girls shriek till they're ambushed by nets. "Did we get it?" asks Derpy. The pigeon stood on top of the nets. It then flies towards a table. The three girls remove their nets from their two coworkers. "Well since you two are here," Bon Bon takes out two more nets, "You might as well join the hunt."

All five girls with nets in their hands, surround the table that the pigeon was standing on. "In my countdown to one," says Bon Bon. "Five... Four..." Each held their net over their heads. "Three...two...ONE!" They all pounce forward with their nets. The pigeon stood in the middle in the small space of the table surrounded by nets but not caught in one. The pigeon flies up and lands on Lyra's head. Lyra's yells in anger, "Get out already, bird!"

Time Turner was standing in the doorway looking at the girls for that last minute. He sighs in disbelief, "All you girls needed to do was to get rid of a pigeon. Was that really too much to ask for?" Neither of the girls hear as they were to preoccupied looking at the bird on Lyra's head while she threw a fit.

The door rings. In comes into the small restaurant was a middle aged man wearing a blue collar shirt with black dress pants and shoes. He looks inside the restaurant for a good few seconds. "I'm from the town council and it seems you all look very busy. I'll be going now." While he does, the pigeon flies out through the door before it closes.

"People always seem to come at the worst times," says Time Turner.

Hours later. The fair outside was crowded with people while inside Golden Hourglass was empty except with the employees and manager still remaining. Octavia, Lyra, Bon Bon, Vinyl, and Derpy were sitting together at a table in the lobby. "So what's out there this time," asks Lyra. "A taco stand," answers Octavia. They were still wearing their uniforms but their aprons were left hanging on the back of their chairs.

"Hey, Bon Bon, what do you do with the food at a time like this?" asks Derpy.

"I keep them separately in containers and leave them in the fridge," Bon Bon explains.

"They don't spoil or freeze?"

"No, I checked the temperature. The food, sauces and ingredients will be okay."

"I see," says Derpy. The group was back to being quiet.

Lyra sighs, " We've hadn't had any customers since morning and after cleaning we're now left with nothing to do."

"Yeah and it's lunch time," says Vinyl.

"Is it?" asks Octavia. She looks up at the clock on the wall, seeing it's 12:45 p.m. "You're right. We should've been in the middle of rush hour." All the girls sigh.

Derpy then remembers about the manager. "You know, I kind of feel bad for the manager. He really wanted us to make this place look presentable and if we did make it as nice as he wanted then this place wouldn't have been so empty right now."

"You're right, Derpy! We should do something for him!" says Lyra.

"But what?" asks Bon Bon.

Vinyl looks out the window. She smiles, anyone up for tacos?"

Later, Octavia goes up to the managers office. The door was open. "Knock! Knock!" she says. "Hey, sir!"

"Hey, Octavia." Time Turner was sitting behind his desk on his computer.

"Are you doing anything important right now?" she asks.

"No just looking at paper work for a third time. Is there something going on out?"

"No. The girls and I were wondering if you like to join us for lunch. Please?" She smiles.

"Sure, why not?"

"Good! Just follow me!" she says. As he does, he gets confused when he follows her to the direction of the lobby instead of the break room. In the lobby, he's surprised to see all the girls sitting in a round table with bags of food.

"What's this," Time Turner asks. "Lunch!" The girls say together. He takes a seat in the only available seat between Derpy and Vinyl. They each pass around paper plates and food wrapped in aluminum. Time Turner opens his after he gets one. Inside were tacos. "Where did you girls get these?"

"The taco truck outside," says Vinyl. The manager looks over at the window noticing the taco stand.

"Sir!" says Octavia. "We're sorry!" They say in unison. Time Turner looks at the sadden looks on their faces, understanding now that this was an apology lunch. He sighs and smiles. "It's okay girls. I already forgiven you all. Plus as I think about it, if it takes five girls to try to get rid of a bird but fail in the end then that just means it's not always easy getting rid of a bird out of a restaurant."

"It's not," Vinyl and Derpy say together in a tired tone.

"Now then, let's enjoy this peaceful lunch!" says Time Turner. All the girls agree and dig in.

Author's Note

I was inspired to create this story after rereading a manga I like called Cafe Kichijoji de! The six background ponies came to mind then thought of creating this story!

2. Dare To Move

She may not have looked waitress material at first but after a while I finally learned from her she really was - Time Turner, Owner of Golden Hourglass

"Could you repeat that again? Sorry I didn't get the first part!" asks Vinyl to a customer. The man clenched his hand under the table feeling impatient, "I said I want a burger, no cheese, fries and hot wings!" Vinyl nods her head as she scribbles it down, "And you want it with cheese, right?"

"No! With no cheese!" he says almost losing his cool.

"Alright! Thanks! Oh wait, I almost forgot. What did you wanted to drink?" asks Vinyl.

The man face palms. "Cherry Cola."

Vinyl scribbled it down.

"Sir, it happened again." Octavia tells Time Turner. The two were behind the counter. "What happened again?" he asks as he was on the cash register adding up the price of a customers meal. "Vinyl. She's asking more than once a customer's order and he seems to be the impatient type."

"Oh no," he says with no real emotion. "Did she finish taking his order?"

"Seems like she did."

"Okay, then it all went well. No need to get you, Lyra or me."

"Right."

Time Turner, could tell there was something on Octavia's mind. "What's up? You sound kind of displeased, Octavia."

"It's just that I like to know why you hired Vinyl," says Octavia.

Time Turner arched a brow, "Why? Don't like her?"

"No! Of course I like her. It's just...I never got to learn why you hired her. I was so busy the whole time those days she started and I remember from Lyra telling me how it somehow changed Vinyl but I don't notice any changes!"

The manager smiles, "Maybe you're not looking hard enough."

Octavia pouts, "Please, sir, tell me the story!"

"Sure but it's a long one. How about if I tell you during your break and if there's not a lot of customers. Remember, we don't have Derpy today so I may need to step in and help if the place get's busy!" The manager explains.

"Right, why did Derpy call out?"

"She didn't give me the details. She just said, Something came up and I'm sorry that I won't be able to make it. After, I tried calling on her cell but she wouldn't pick up."

"Oh my. I hope it's nothing serious!"

"Same here, Octavia."

The time finally came for Octavia's break. She took a quick look around the lobby. There was just a few who were already eating their food. Nothing big that the manager may need to take care of. She hurries to her locker and takes out her lunch bag then goes towards his office. Right when she was about to enter, he comes out. He notices her. "Sorry, Octavia but I need to take care of Derpy's turn of washing the trash cans," Time Turner say. Octavia groans.

In the alleyway, Time Turner had the garbage cans on the ground while he held a hose in one hand. He looks back, finding Octavia sitting on a crate eating her lunch. "You're persistent," he tells her. She doesn't say anything but eat her lunch. "I'll begin. Let's see, I guess I should start when the day Lyra brought her in."

Time Turner was in his office with Lyra in front of his desk as she went on and on about a friend she believed would be perfect to be a new waitress. He's noticed that he'd been needing extra help ever since his small restaurant been getting more customers the last few months.

"So, does she sound great?" Lyra asks him.

"She sounds nice," he replies.

"Good because she's here waiting in the lobby," she smiles.

The manager sighs, "You shouldn't have, Lyra."

"Oh but I did!," she says excitedly. She leaves the office to go get her. She comes back with a girl with two different colored blue hair wearing shades and dressed in white. On the girl's head she was wearing headphones. The girl waves her hand at the manager.

Time Turner was taken back by how the girl looked. Usually when someone comes in to ask for a job they dress a bit more professional. He looks up at Lyra, "Why don't you leave us alone, Lyra, so I can start the interview." Lyra nods her head happily and leaves. He looks at the girl in front of him.

"What's your name?" He first asks her. The girl removes her headphones and leaves them hanging around her neck.

"My name is Vinyl Scratch," she says.

"Vinyl Scratch, the position for this job is a waitress. Why would you like this position?"

"Well, I work well with other people. I've joined a lot of activities back in high scool and was also the school DJ so I played a lot of music at school dances and events."

The manager nods his head, "You have people skills. You had any other jobs before or currently have one?"

"Yes actually. I work as a DJ in a small club. It's only for four hours a day and only work for two days on Friday and Saturday night."

"If you were to work here we could arrange your schedule for those two days. Anything else?"

"Nope."

Time Turner goes into his drawer, taking out a clipboard. He takes out a packet of papers and places them on the clipboard. "For now you can fill these out," he tells her. "There's a chair in the back you can sit on."

Several minutes later she finishes with the paperwork. He looks through them. "All seems well." He puts down the papers on his desk. "I'll call you around this week to tell you if you got the job."

"Cool! Thanks!" she says and sticks her hand out. The manager takes it and shakes her hand. She then leaves.

The next day. "Please, sir, tell me! Did Vinyl get the job?" Lyra begged. "I haven't decided! And please Lyra get back to work! We're already busy as it is!" He was in the kitchen helping Bon Bon make several dishes. Octavia comes into the kitchen, "Are the orders for the family of twelve ready?"

"Yeah, Lyra will help you carry the side dishes!" he says. Lyra pouts but does as she is told.

When the restaurant finally slowed down, the manager went into his office. During the rush hour, he realized his small restaurant was going to need extra help. He looked for Vinyl's papers. He looked through them checking to see if she did qualified. One thing that caught his eye was the times she could work on Friday and Saturday. She gave herself less hours than the other days she put herself. He guessed it was due to the other job. Other than that, he decided that Vinyl was qualified for the job!

Few days later. "Does that size fit you?" Lyra asks behind the restroom door. Inside the bathroom was Vinyl who was trying on the waitress uniform. "Yes!" she yells back.

"How's everything?" Time Turner

"Good! The uniform fits her!" Lyra says happily.

"Good! After she's done fitting in her uniform, you can show her how we do things around and the rules of this place!"

"Will do, sir!"

"During those first days, there was no problem with Vinyl. She worked hard and did her best even if she still wore her shades and sunglasses on but that wasn't much of a problem. But a week later, the day when we found her in the back of store is when we started learning more to her," Time Turner tells.

"The back of the store?" asks Octavia.

"You should remember that moment. We found her barfing and Bon Bon was with her."

Time Turner looked into the kitchen finding Bon Bon gone. He went to ask his two waitresses who were in the lobby. At the time, Octavia was his Head Waitress while Lyra was a regular waitress. "Octavia! Lyra! Have you two seen Bon Bon?"

"No!" the two said together.

"Where could she be?" he said to himself. He checked the back room and break room, she wasn't there. "Strange, she usually leaves me a note or texts me when she's gone off to do something when she's too busy to tell me in person." He decides to check the back of the store just in case. When he goes out he finds her but also Vinyl. Vinyl was throwing up in the trash cans.

"I didn't let her try any of the food I made if that's what you're thinking!" says Bon Bon.

"Don't worry, that wasn't what I was thinking at all!" says Time Turner. He goes over to Vinyl. "Has she said anything?"

"I asked her already if she was sick or ate something strange but she just shook her head no."

"How long has she been here?"

"For a while now. I only went out to throw out the garbage from the kitchen then I went out here and found her already throwing up!"

Time Turner looked at Vinyl. He noticed that she was holding her shades in the same hand she was holding onto the garbage can.

"Vinyl!" Lyra yelled out. She and Octavia stood right next to the manager. After several minutes, Vinyl finally stopped. They took her to the break room where they let her rest.

Time Turner past by a few times in the break room just to check on her. When it became lunchtime, she refused to eat anything. Vinyl only worked for three hours that day. Two days later, Time Turner found her having trouble carrying the garbage outside. He also began noticing her looking much thinner . The day he finally decided to ask her what was wrong with her was when she collapsed during the rush hour in the lobby. Lyra and Octavia excused themselves and carried her to the back room. Time Turner told them to go back as he'll take care of her. He looked at her waking up as he stood in the doorway.

"What happened?" she groans.

"You collapsed. Tell me, what's been going on with you these last few days?"

"Nothing. It's just I've not been myself. Working here is just something I still need to get used to."

Time Turner noticed how she turned the other way when telling her this. He guessed it was her way of lying.

After the store closed.

"Tell me. Why are we going to a basement club?" asks Lyra in the driver's seat. The two were in Time Turner's car. "You said before there was someone who knows Vinyl at the club where Vinyl works."

"Yeah. Vinyl calls him Neon Lights."

"Good! Then it's him we need to see!"

The two look at the large old looking building. "This is the place?" Time Turner noticed the street was filled with only small stores and apartments. "We enter at the back!" Lyra says and begins walking to the direction of an alleyway. Time Turner follows. The alleyway was packed with people who were on their phones, eating food, and talking with each other. "Sir, make sure to just look forward and not look at anyone! Look at someone and they may get the impression you got a problem with them. Also, stay cool!" Lyra explains. She goes ahead into the alley. Time Turner didn't have a problem. All he had to do was look straight with confidence just like he did in the past when he had a friend who use to make him go to similar places.

Lyra stops. Time Turner notices a ramp that goes down leading to two double doors. One door was open with two security guards on each ]]]]side of it. The two walk down then stop in front of the guards. "Hello, gentlemen!" Lyra says in a cheerful tone. "My friend and I are here to see Neon Lights. I sent him a text earlier that we'd be coming to see him."

"Password?" One guard asks. In a low voice Lyra says, "Pony Rock! Party till the morning light!" The guard nods his head. "You two may go in. He's in his office right now."

The two go in. The place was filled with many people inside. "Not a lot of people. Neon must not be playing tonight," Lyra comments. They walk up to a door where Lyra says the password again to another guard. They walk through a hallway filled with staff, security and equipment. Their stop was a door that had a silver plaque on it with the name Neon Lights engraved. Lyra knocks, "Neon! It's Lyra and guest!"

"Let your selves in!" yells a male voice. Lyra opens the door.

Inside was a young man sitting behind a desk with jagged ice color skin, dark gray spiked up hair, wearing a black collar short sleeve shirt with a white tie, and shades with black lenses. Right now he looked frustrated.

"This a bad time?" asks Lyra.

"No. Just a certain someone who doesn't pick up. Anyways, what's this all about?" says Neon.

"This is my manager from the small restaurant where Vinyl and I work at," Lyra introduces.

Neon nods his head and stands up. He gives out his hand, "Neon Lights. Friend and partner of Vinyl!" Time Turner walks up to him and shakes his hand. "I'm Time Turner. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"So, tell me. What you came to talk to me about?"

"I came to ask about Vinyl. She's not been doing well these last couple of days. It started with the day we found her at the back of the store barfing. The days after that she doesn't eat anything during her breaks, having a lot of trouble carrying which she didn't before and earlier today she collapsed during the rush hour." Neon just nodded his, "I'm glad you came to me, Time Turner. Now I know for sure that something is up with her. These last day few days she's been canceling practice and doesn't pick up the phone. If the problems are not coming from your place or mine then that means they must be coming from home."

"How did you came to that conclusion?" Time Turner asks.

"I known her well enough," Neon says. "I even almost met her mother. Which is important for you to knew but before I tell you anything about her, let me ask you. If you had two children and one left the coop to follow their dream but you found that dream of theirs absurd but the child leaves anyway and then you were left with one left, would you let that last child follow whatever dream they want or keep them from ever liking anything that may lead them to the same direction the eldest child chose?"

Time Turner thought carefully. Obviously this question had to do something with Vinyl but it's not like he was going to lie the answer. After all he does have one child. "I would let them follow their dream even if it means having to let them go. Plus all parents have to at least some point let their children go at some point and besides how absurd can a dream be?"

"Well, Vinyl's mother finds the idea of getting into music a dead end job. Vinyl's older brother loved to play music so much that he and his band wanted to take an RV and travel to different locations and play anywhere they wanted after they graduated high school," says Neon.

"And did they?"

"They did but his mother was really against it. She preferred him to go to college, get a degree, and become a manager of a place or a CEO of some company. He didn't want that, so one day after a week he graduated, he and his friends left to go live their dream."

"Let me guess," Time Turner interrupts. "After that, she became overprotective of Vinyl."

"Pretty much. Vinyl was only a little girl when all of that happened."

"She never forgot him, did she?"

"No because she had already fallen in love with music when her older brother took her to his school. There they happened to see a band on a float playing and that's what caused her to love music for the very first time."

"I see," Time Turner says with a smile. "But wait! How does an overprotective mother explain why Vinyl's behavior?"

"Well I guess 'overprotective' isn't the right word for her. The word instead should be, nuts!"

"Nuts?" Time Turner questions.

"The way she punishes Vinyl can only be the work of a mother who is nuts!"

"How does she punish her?"

"I mentioned I almost met her mother. When we were both still in high school, she invited me over to her place one day but I guess she didn't expect her mother to come over early. Vinyl hid me under her bed and I overheard her mother getting angry over the pizza we brought over. She punished her by not making her lunch or dinner for the rest of the week since Vinyl could just buy her own food then she didn't need a mother to maker her food."

This shocked both Time Turner and Lyra.

"Tomorrow. You think we can meet up, Time Turner?" asks Neon.

"For what?"

"To see Vinyl and meet her mother. You know as well as I do we can't let Vinyl live like that any longer!"

"You're right. Vinyl has the day off tomorrow, we may end up meeting up with her in her own home."

"Just as good! Lyra's got my number, you can get it from her and we'll talk about the plan tomorrow."

"Alright!"

"By the way, is your car old and plain looking?"

"It's only been four years since I bought it."

"Good enough! We'll use your car to get there!"

"Why? What's wrong with yours?"

"It's a van with a paint job that advertises this club! I rather not have Vinyl's mother close the door on us after she sees my van."

"Good idea! We wouldn't want that, would we?"

"No, sir, we wouldn't!"

"Oh my goodness, I didn't know that side of Vinyl's life and we've been friends for so long," says Octavia feeling shocked.

"She didn't want anyone to know. Neon was the only one who ever knew."

"Then why didn't he ever said anything or at least could've rescued her."

"She didn't want him to and he respected her decision."

"But what made him change his mind?"

"I already said it, because he could no longer let her live like that."

Time Turner decided to close for the day. He called his staff before the time the store usually opens telling them he had to do something important and because there is no Second In Command he couldn't leave it open.

Time Turner picked up Neon from his place. Next stop was Vinyl's home.

They parked in an empty space across the street from the apartments where Vinyl lived in. The apartments didn't have a fence, they were just separate little buildings with two homes in each of them nestled in a neighborhood full of houses and other apartments. Time Turner followed Neon as he still remembered which home Vinyl lived in. When they got to the door, Neon decided to be the one to knock. Time Turner was going to say something but was too late when a woman opened the door.

"Hello! My name is Rising Star!" Neon says. Before he could say anything else the door was slammed closed.

"You couldn't have worn what you were wearing yesterday?" Time Turner asks. "It what was at least descent enough and why did you introduced yourself as Rising Star?"

Neon was wearing a t-shirt with the words Pony Rock across his shirt in bright colors along with three stars. His pants were black jeans held up by a black belt with silver studs. He had two bracelets on each wrist to match the belt. As for his shoes were black and white checkered flats. Neon whispers to Time Turner, "Rising Star is my real name. The name you know me by is a stage name. So please call me Rising Star in public for now."

Time Turner sighs and rolls his eyes. He goes up to the door this time. He says loud enough at the door, "Hello, Ma'am! Sorry for this unexpected visit! I'm Time Turner! The manager of the Golden Hourglass where Vinyl works at." The door was then suddenly open. "Excuse me! Sorry about that! If I knew you were also here I wouldn't have done that. Please forgive my rudeness!" says the woman with two different colored pink hair tied back in a bun. Her skin was white with blue eyes behind glasses and was wearing a simple long navy blue dress. "What may I have the pleasure of meeting Vinyl's manager at this time of day?" she says politely. She glances over at Neon who was right behind Time Turner. "He's with you?"

"Yes he is. He's accompanying me with this visit. As for why I came, I came to talk to you about your daughter Vinyl," Time Turner says.

"I see. Then won't you two come in?" she says opening the door wide open. Neon follows behind the manager but while he does, he gets a look of disgust from Vinyl's mother. "You two may sit down on the couch," she tells them. The two do so. Neon glances around the house now that he could take a more better look at it than he did the last time he came over. He looks over the one wall that is covered with photos. There were many of Vinyl dressed in simple pink dresses. Neon had to contain his laughter as this was the first time he seen his friend ever wear a pink dress. Especially ones with big bows on it and wearing a matching hat.

Vinyl's mother sits across from them in a one seat arm chair. "You know I'm very disappointed that Vinyl has a day off today and works for only a few hours. I believe giving her more hours of work and just one day off would be good for her. She's a real delinquent that girl. She deserves to be working more," she tells them. Neon had to hold in his anger. How he wished he could told her off of how wrong the woman was of his friend but right now he had to make a good first impression till they got to the part of why they came.

"I'm sorry to hear that," says Time Turner. "Since she's new, I could only give her as much hours till she's finally got the whole routine down."

"Then that's why you should give her more hours. She could spent a lot of the hours trying to get the whole routine memorized. It's that simple," she says.

"Ma'am, Vinyl's work schedule is not what we came here for," he tells her.

"If not then...did that girl cause trouble?" she said now sounding angrily. She stands up and yells out Vinyl's name. In a few seconds, Vinyl comes into the living room. She is surprised to see Time Turner and Neon. "Oh! For goodness sakes child! Those street clothes again?! We have guests and you decide to wear those juvenile delinquent clothing. I buy you enough clothing so you won't have to look like one. Now go back to your room and change!"

Time Turner speaks up, "There's no need for that . If she's comfortable in what's she's wearing then it's fine by me."

Vinyl just nods her head and goes ahead to sit down in the available seat next to Neon. She whispers, "Why?"

"Because we had to!" Neon whispers back.

"Excuse me if I was too loud," Vinyl's mother apologizes. "You were saying?"

"What we came here is due to the fact that we're concerned about Vinyl," Time Turner finally tells her.

"Of course you should be concerned. She's a trouble making child. She might steal from you blindly or even invite her troublemaking friends and give them food for free," she remarks.

"I doubt that," he replies. "From what I've seen of her, she makes a great team member of my staff." He smiles proudly.

"She's deceiving you. Is an awful trait of hers what she does when she's not home!" she says.

"Oh like you know!" Neon yells out. Neon couldn't take it anymore. "You're the one whose deceiving the people outside! You pretend to be a good mother but you're not! Starving your child is not a great punishment. It's child abuse."

"Of course a boy like you. dressed like that, would disagree on my way punishment," she tells him. Before Neon can say anything, Time Turner interrupts. "I know that you may love your child but the way you punish Vinyl is drastic."

"You would do the same if you had children."

"I do have a child and I do not punish my child in any similar way you do. Not going to ever plan to either."

"What a shame. Now, since you two only came here to waist my time, leave."

"No way! We're not leaving without Vinyl!" Neon says.

"She's my child! Not yours!" Vinyl's mother says. "Understand?"

"Yeah well I know that's she's now eighteen years old and by law is allowed to live on her own with society!"

"She's not leaving and that's final!"

"And I say she is! That's final!"

Time Turner looks over at Vinyl. "Vinyl, what do you want?"

Vinyl bites her lips and stands up. "I want to go!"

Vinyl's mother just looks at her stunned, "You just want to keep disappointing your mother, don't you? The same! You're the same as your brother!"

"That's good!" she yells out as she stares at her mother. "I'm glad that I'm a lot like my brother! There's no one else I like to be at least close to!"

The two stare at each other eye to eye. "I'm leaving! And that's final!"

Vinyl looks over at the manager and Neon. "I'm going to pack. Wait for me, please." She passes by her mother and goes to her room. Neon smiles. He takes out his phone to make a call to bring his van over their location. Time Turner looks over at the mother of Vinyl as she leaves to the kitchen and hears her sob.

Minutes later, Neon is helping load boxes of Vinyl's stuff into his van. "That's the last of it," Vinyl says as she places the last box in the van. She looks around noticing her manager wasn't around. "Where's my boss?" she asks. Neon looks over at Time Turner's car then at the direction of Vinyl's now old home. He's him coming. "Here comes now."

"Sorry," Time Turner says as he goes up to them. "I couldn't just leave Vinyl's mother in such a state.

"What you tell her?" Vinyl asks.

"A few words along with some advice," he tells. "So where is Vinyl staying now?"

"At my place," Neon reveals.

"The apartment above the club?" he asks.

"Yeah! I have a spare room and my place is big enough for the two of us. So why not?"

"Is that what you decided, Vinyl?" he asks her.

She nods her head, "Yeah."

"Alright. Let's get a move on if we're done here!" Time Turner says.

"Vinyl!"

The three turn around to see Vinyl's mother coming their way. She stops in front of them and catches her breath. "Vinyl, please! Please take care of yourself! Eat meals three times a day! Brush your teeth twice and floss once! Don't eat a lot of junk food or drink too much soda. Don't spend more than an hour looking at a screen! Wash your hands before and after you eat. Do laundry at least once or twice a week. Overall, call me every night before you go to bed to tell how you been!"

Vinyl was taken by surprise of the things her mother just said. She answers, "Sure will, mom!"

After that, the three leave.

"You told her something, didn't you?" Octavia asks her manager.

"All I said was some words and advice!" Time Turner says with a smile. The garbage cans were now drying from being washed. The manager was wraps around the hose to put away. He goes back into the restaurant. Octavia follows.

"So what changed Vinyl? She doesn't sound like she changed," she says.

The two walk over to the counter. "Look carefully," he tells her. "It should be obvious!"

Octavia looks at Vinyl picking up plates from tables. She just shakes her head, " All I see is that she is not wearing her shades and headphones."

"Exactly!"

What? But she's done that for almost a year now that she's been working here!"

"Yes but after what happened, she decided to stop wearing them during her shift."

"Because that's the right thing to do when working."

"Not for her. Back when she was living with her mom, she always had to hide them. She only wore them out. Now she has the freedom to choose whenever she could wear them. No need for hiding them anymore."

Octavia nodded her head in now understanding. She smiles as she watches Vinyl wipe the tables clean with her handkerchief.

"Wait a minute!" She eyes the piece of fabric noticing the cursive stitch of her name on the corner of the handkerchief. "Vinyl! Why are you using my handkerchief as rag?!" she yells.

"We ran out of clean rags and I found this! No one was using it!"

"That's no excuse to use my stuff!"

Author's Note

Well this chapter took me a while! Hope you guys liked it! Next chapter, I'll try me best to make it fun! I already have plans what the characters will do to make the Golden Hourglass more fun!

3. Reckless

Octavia looked worriedly outside of her managers office. "Hey, Octavia! What's wrong?" asks Bon Bon. "It's the manager! These last few days we've been so busy with health inspectors, food critics and a journalist that it's been giving a lot of work for him. He's even been coming early and leaving late these days. "Oh," the cook simply says. "You think you can bug him for a second because his phone won't stop ringing!" She says holding the managers cellphone.

"How did you get his phone?!"

"I found it on a tray of dirty dishes. Lyra must of found it on the counter and was planning to give it to the manager but probably forgot she was holding it when she was collecting the dishes."

Octavia stared at her for a second. "Sounds legit." She looks over at the managers office. She carefully opens the door. "Manager?" She looks inside finding her boss resting his head on his desk. She walks over to him and gently shakes him.

Time Turner wakes up. "What?" He says groggily.

"Phone for you," says Octavia while Bon Bon shows off his phone.

Time Turner takes his phone and answers it. The girls decide to leave but freeze when they hear their boss scream.

"What?! Yes! I'll be there as soon as possible!" He hangs up the phone and runs over to get his coat on the hanger by the door. "Octavia! I got to leave you in charge for a while! Something happened that I really got to get to!"

"Yes, sir!" says Octavia.

Time Turner then grabs his keys and dashes out through the back door of the restaurant.

"What you think that was all about?" Octavia asks.

"Don't know but I hope it leads him to a bed. Those bags under his eyes really show," Bon Bon comments.

"I know," Octavia says.

Crash!

Alarmed, Octavia looks up at the clock. "Derpy doesn't come in till half an hour!" The two run out of the office and to where the sound came from, the lobby. They found Lyra on her knees on the floor picking up broken pieces of plates onto a tray. Two customers were helping her pick up some of the pieces.

"Lyra, how did this happen?" asks Octavia.

"A little girl. She ran in front of me as I was taking these plates to the kitchen," Lyra tells.

Octavia looks around the lobby looking for a little girl. Only seeing there were only adults and teenagers in the restaurant, "How does the little girl look like?"

"She was small with two different yellow colored hair wearing a white shirt with of a picture of balloons on it," Lyra tells. As Lyra was telling the description of the girl, Bon Bon notices a table with it's tablecloth slowly being pulled towards the other side. She runs to the table slamming her hands holding onto it on time before anything falls while startling the two customers who were sitting at the same table. Bon Bon looks over the table but sees no one on the other side. She looks around but can't seem to find anyone who could've been the one pulling the tablecloth. An idea appears in mind and she quickly checks under the table. There, she finds a little girl kneeling on the floor scowling at Bon Bon. She looks at the girl's appearance. Two different yellow colored hair wearing a white shirt with balloons on it.

"This is her!" Thought Bon Bon. The little girl makes a run for it but Bon Bon was fast and grabs her by the back of the girl's shirt. "I found the girl!" She yells getting everyone's attention. Lyra and Octavia look over. "That's her!" Lyra exclaims. Octavia walks over to the girl. Before she could yell out to ask the customer's who she belongs to, the girl points her finger at her.

"Mommy!"

The whole restaurant got quiet.

Few minutes later. "So, what are we going to do with Octavia's secret child?" asks Bon Bon.

"Don't know. Ask Octavia. She is the mommy," says Lyra.

"You're right. Hey, Octavia!"

"Enough already!" yells out Octavia. "And get back to work!"

"There's only a few customers and they already ordered," says Lyra.

"Doesn't mean there's no work to do," says Octavia angrily.

"What are we going to do about the kid?" asks Bon Bon. All three look at the little girl who was sitting at a table in the lobby.

"The manager isn't here to tell us what to do in this situation and God knows what he's doing right now that got him to leave. I guess the only choice we got is to call the police."

Slam!

"No!" The little girl yells. "Mommy's here! Police don't need to be here! Mommy's here!"

The three look at each other. "So she is your secret child!" Lyra exclaims looking at Octavia. Angrily, Octavia pulls a string from the ceiling dropping a cake on Lyra's head. Lyra shrieks, "Gross! Coconut cake!"

"There will be more if you don't quit calling her my child!" Octavia warns.

"Fine! Fine! I'll stop!"

"Back to important matters. If that girl says her mother is here then is must mean that who ever her mother is must be a regular at this place!"

The three look over at the girl. "Well she doesn't look like anyone I've served," says Lyra. "Same here but you know? She does look somewhat familiar," says Octavia pondering at the thought. "Me too," says Bon Bon. Lyra and Octavia look at Bon Bon. Octavia asks, "But you work in the kitchen! How can she be anyone familiar?"

"Not sure but I'm going to check the files," says Bon Bon.

"What files?" asks Octavia but Bon Bon leaves to the back without answering her question.

"Octavia!" Lyra calls out. "The little girl is gone!"

"Where'd she go?!"

"I don't know? I just looked a away for a minute then she was gone!"

"We got to find her!"

The two look around the lobby. Lyra looks under the table. She excuses herself when she looks underneath the tables that the few customers were occupying. They meet back at the counter after their search. "Where could that girl be?" asks Octavia.

Crash

They turn around as the sound came from the back. The two hurry inside and separately looked in each room. Lyra finds the box of spoons on the floor in the supply room. She looks up finding the girl climbing on the shelves. "Found her Octavia! She's in the supply room!"

Octavia quickly comes in just to have a box full of packets of sugar fall on her and Lyra. The little girl jumps off the shelf making a loud thump on the ground and runs out of the room. Octavia and Lyra quickly look out of the room seeing the girl running through the back room. The door that lead to the back of the restaurant opened, coming in was Vinyl and Derpy.

"Vinyl! Quick! Grab that girl!" Octavia yells. The little girl stops and runs into the closes room next to her which was the bathroom. Vinyl goes after her but is hit by the door when the girl slams it close. Vinyl tries to open it, "She locked it!"

"That's just great!" says Octavia frustrated. "I'll get the key!"

"I know this is a bad time, Octavia, but whose watching over the restaurant?" Derpy asks.

Octavia groans, "Lyra, you get the key! I'll check the lobby."

"Long day?" Derpy asks.

"Yes," says Lyra in a tired tone.

Having hold of the key, Lyra unlocks the door. The three girls are shock to find the bathroom a mess. A roll of toilet paper clogging the toilet while the sink was filling up with water making the two overflow and getting the floor wet. The little girl was hanging on the window sill as she was kicking her legs up trying to climb up at the window.

"Hurry! Someone take a picture of this! If the manager saw this he wouldn't believe it was the work of a little!" says Lyra frantically.

Derpy walks into the restroom towards the little girl. "Derpy?" Vinyl asks wondering what her friend is up to. Derpy grabs the girl by the back of her shirt and puts her down. "You know you look old enough to know from right from wrong," says Derpy in a strict voice. The girl stood still scared of Derpy. "So explain to me. What did you did wrong here?" Derpy asked the girl.

"You ever seen Derpy like this?" Lyra whispered to Vinyl.

"Only whenever Flash Sentry felt like quitting his band a few minutes before the show started," says Vinyl.

On the verge of tears the girl cried out, "I clogged the toilet and the sink so there would be a waterfall."

"Good girl," says Derpy.

"Hey, guys! I just called Dinky's dad! He's on his way right now to see her!" says Bon Bon as she came up to her coworkers. She looks over at the restroom. "Woah! What happened here?"

"I just closed the store for the time being till we clean up whatever mess that girl caused and to see what we should do with her," says Octavia coming over to the group. When she looked over at the restroom she cringed.

"I learned from my files the girl there is Dinky Doo," Bon Bon tells Octavia hoping the news would calm her down a bit.

"Dinky Doo?!" Octavia looks at the girl. "No way! The Dinky Doo I know was much smaller and sweet! Not destructive!" She says ending the sentence with a frown. Dinky just pouts and looks away.

"You know her?!" Vinyl and Lyra said at the same time.

"Yes. Bon Bon and I and also Golden Harvest when she use to work here know this girl," says Octavia. "Her name is Dinky Doo. We known her since she was just a toddler."

"And Bon Bon said she called her dad," Vinyl says. "Does this mean you also known her dad?"

"Yeah and you all will be surprise who he is!" She smiles.

From the back door bursting in came Time Turner, the manager. He was out of breath. He looked at the girl, "Dinky!"

"Daddy!" says the girl happily. Time Turner grabbed her into a hug then lifted her up. "Why did you came here?! Your Grandma and Grandpa were looking everywhere for you at home!"

"Daddy was suppose to take me to the park today but you didn't come!" The girl cried out.

"I said I would after I came home! You got to learn to be more patient, Dinky! Not run out of the house whenever you want!" He says sternly.

"It's daddy's fault," She grumbles.

Time Turner looked over at his employees, "I'm sorry if she was too much to handle."

"She was a monster!" says the girls bluntly.

"Her teacher says the same thing," he says in a tired tone.

"I closed the store for a bit, sir." Octavia tells.

"That's alright. We'll clean the place first then reopen in an hour," Time Turner tells them.

"And what are you going to do with Dinky?" Bon Bon asks.

"Keep her in the break room. Starting now she's grounded!"

"Nooooo!" Dinky whines.

"You ran away from home, came here and made a mess of the restaurant! You are grounded!" He tells her in his strict voice.

Dinky just pouts.

Derpy finished cleaning the restroom. As she was on her way to clean up the next place, she noticed Dinky in the break room sitting on the sofa pouting and saying, "Stupid Daddy!" over and over again. Derpy went in and sat next to her. Dinky flinched when she saw her. "What's wrong, Dinky?"

"Daddy's stupid!" she replies.

"What makes your dad stupid?"

"He's always messing stuff up! Like our play dates and school! I don't like staying forever at school but he makes me stay!"

"Why does he makes you stay?"

"I don't know...because dad is stupid!"

Time Turner walks over to see how his daughter is doing. He stops and stays behind the door when he noticed Derpy there.

"You know, Dinky? Your lucky to have your dad with you at home every night before you sleep and when you wake up you see him in the morning! You know why?" Derpy tells her.

Dinky shakes her head in response of no.

"Because my dad is traveling far away right now. I don't know when he'll be back to visit. I get a letter from time to time or a call but that's not enough. I miss him everyday!" A tear fell from Derpy's eye. She quickly wiped it away.

Dinky pats Derpy's hand, "You can have my dad."

Derpy lets out a small laugh. "No. I don't want you to feel this sadness and loneliness."

"I know that feeling. When daddy is at work and granny and grandpa go back home, I feel sad and lonely, too!"

"I'm sorry to that." Derpy grabs Dinky into a hug. Dinky hugs her back.

After the hour, the store was clean so Golden Hourglass was open again.

"Will Dinky be staying for a while?" asks Octavia. The manager and her were in the lobby behind the counter.

"Yes. I'm letting my parents have a break from her. She'll be okay here. It seems she has a liking to Derpy." The two look over as Derpy takes a customers order, Dinky is next to her with a pencil and notepad of her own.

Closing time came.

"Derpy!" Dinky calls when Derpy came out of the locker room. She was the last one to get out while everyone waited for her so they could all leave. "I got a great idea!"

"What's your idea, Dinky?" Derpy asks.

"You can be my new mommy!" Dinky says happily. "You can live with daddy and me and you and I won't feel anymore sad and loneliness!"

Derpy blushed, "That's sweet Dinky but I can't be your new mommy."

"Yes you can! Daddy says he likes all his employees so I'm sure he would like you living with us! Plus he mentions your name a lot when we have dinner and talk about our day."

Time Turner blushed a bit. Octavia and Bon Bon noticed his reaction and both grinned evilly at each other as the two now had something new they could use to tease the manager about.

"Don't you already have a mommy?" Derpy asks. Dinky nodded, she turns around and points at Octavia.

The rest of the girls gasp.

"Octavia was Dinky's secret daughter all this time!" Lyra says.

"She was lying to us all this time!" says Bon Bon.

"For shame, Octavia! Not taking responsibility of your own child!" says Vinyl.

Angrily, Octavia pulls a string. From the ceiling falls three buckets on the three girls head. "I known you girls since high school! I couldn't possibly be the mother of that child!" She yells.

"What happened to that coconut cake I suggested?" Groaned Vinyl.

"I wasted it on Lyra earlier!"

Derpy looks over at Time Turner, "Who is Dinky's mom?"

Time Turner smiles, "She was my first Second In Command. Is why she keeps pointing over at Octavia because in the photos of her mom she's wearing the same uniform."

"That doesn't really answer my question," says Derpy.

"I'll let Octavia tell you that," He tells her. "C'mon Dinky! It's time to go home."

Derpy noticed that the smile her manager had was a sad one.

When the manager closed the restaurant and left, everyone waited for Octavia to say it.

"Dinky's mom passed away a couple years ago. I barely knew her at the time she was Second In Command because she was too busy taking care of her daughter," Octavia said.

Everyone was quiet for a while not knowing what to say so they each said their goodbye's and went home.

Author's Note

After having to discard other chapter ideas I finally decided with this one! And if anyone was wondering, yeah all the girls are different ages though some the same age.

Bon Bon is the oldest while Golden Harvest (aka Carrot Top) is a year older than her but no longer works at the Golden Hourglass.

Octavia and Lyra are the same age and a year younger than Bon Bon.

Vinyl and Derpy are the same age and the youngest in the restaurant.

They all started working at the Golden Hourglass different years. Bon Bon worked there the longest while Derpy hasn't made a year yet.

And yeah, Surprise! Surprise! Time Turner is the father of Dinky Doo.

4. Numbers

Lyra was blushing madly as she held the small piece of paper in her hand while she took a tray of dirty dishes to the sink in the kitchen. She threw them all in the sink which was filled with water to get it wet first so any food that was stuck on the plates could come off. She looked at the piece of paper looking at the phone number on it. She blushed looking at and thinking of the boy who gave it to her. She felt so flattered but didn't know what to do. She never noticed much about the boy but when he talked to her he told her he has noticed her for weeks. Telling her how he spent his days saving up money just to go to Golden Hourglass just to catch a glimpse of her. Lyra blushed madly just remembering about the conversation.

"What ya doing!" Bon Bon yelled out behind Lyra.
Lyra shrieked. She looked over at Bon Bon, "Don't sneak up on me like that!"
Bon Bon rolled her eyes, "Sorry." She glanced at the piece of paper Lyra was holding. She noticed a number on it and a boy's name. "So, whose heart you're breaking?"
"What?!" She hid the piece of paper, but not forgetting her friend was quick enough to see. "I'm doing nothing like that! Just taking orders as usual!"
"Oh really? Then why are you hiding a boy's number?" She smirked.

Lyra gasped then sighed. "What do you think I should do?" she asks.
"Give it to me so I can use it as a new recipe for chowder!"
"Bon Bon! I'm not kidding around!" Lyra said angrily. She breaths, regaining her composure. "I want to know what I should do!"
Bon Bon raises a brow in question. She looks down for a second then looks back at Lyra who was frowning. "I don't know! Depends if you're actually interested in the kid!"
"He's not a kid!" Lyra exclaims.
"How do you know? Didn't you just get his number?"
"Yes but..."
"There you go. The use of the number is to learn about the kid."
Lyra looks mad at her, "He's not a kid and you're right! I'll use this number to get to know him."
"There! And if you come to regret it," Bon Bon walks up to her and places a hand on her shoulder. "You can always go to your cellphone company to get your number changed!"
Lyra frowns, "Yeah. Thanks for the advice," she says in sarcasm.
"Now if you excuse me I got a special to make and you need to get out there and break more hearts!"
"Bon Bon!" she says angrily.
"I'm just kidding," Bon Bon says and goes to the sink to wash her hands.
Lyra looks at her best friend for a second then leaves.

At Lyra's house, Lyra was in her room sitting behind her desk trying to finish her homework for a class. She kept getting distracted from looking at her cellphone. She didn't know to whether to text the boy or not. After several minutes of debating, she decided to text him.

The next day at the Golden Hourglass.

"Earth to Lyra! Table Three!" Octavia said angrily at Lyra.
Lyra blinked fast and shook her head as she was just staring at the stack of menus she was holding, "Sorry, Octavia!" She yawned. "I'm a bit tired."
"Were you doing an essay or project from a class?" asked concerned.
"No. Was texting a guy last night!"
Octavia scowls at her, "Is that all? Then I suggest you get back to work!"

Lyra was now at the restroom splashing water on her face to wake her from drowsiness. "I hope Josh isn't having trouble waking up as I am," she says getting out of the restroom.
"Whose Josh?" asks Derpy passing by with a broom and dustpan.
"A guy who gave me his number the other day. Decided to text him to learn about him," she says while a blush forms.
"That's great! It's nice that you met someone. Anything you like about him so far?" she asks.
"He's fine. Nothing to hate except the fact he's into science."
"Oh," Derpy says knowing what that meant.

Since a young age, Lyra had always been into the mythology of magical ponies. She believed there was a world out there with Ponies, Unicorns and Pegasus that lived in a world full of magic that worked differently from how people lived. She explored with these ideas for a long time. Though when ever she talked about it with others, they found it interest odd. There's even been times where someone who was so into science who met her tried convincing her there was no such thing as a magical world of ponies, which made Lyra upset. Nothing made Lyra stop believing in the world of magical ponies especially ever since back at Canterlot High she found the proof that it was all real when magical powers came to her highschool revealing classmate Sunset Shimmer was really a unicorn from a place called Equestria. Since then nothing could deny her proof of magical world of ponies but still had to face the nuisance of those who try to deny her belief.

"Yes, unfortunately." Lyra said disappointed.
"What will you do now?"
"I guess not go out with him? I mean I don't want someone getting on my nerves again about how there is no such thing as a Equestria!"
"Well you could always not mention it but that would be hard for you!"
"It will be!
"Well, what did Bon Bon say? She is your best friend!"
"She is but it feels sort of weird talking to her about this kind of thing!"
"Why?"
"I don't know. I felt it yesterday so I don't really understand it."
"Like, it's uncomfortable?"
"Something like that," Lyra said. She then remembers something about her friend now that they were on the subject on dating. "Derpy, didn't you use to go out with Flash Sentry?"

Derpy blushed a bit, "Yeah, but only for five months."
"Why did you guys ended your relationship?"
"Because it felt different from when we were just friends. We got along, we had fun but we just didn't feel like it was going to go anywhere. So we decided to just stay friends," Derpy explained. Her cheeks were in a shade of pink.

The door to the manager's office which they were standing close by opened. "Girls, please get back to work!" said the manager in a demanding tone. The girl's shrieked and speed walked back to the way to the lobby. When Lyra looked out at the tables, there was barely a lot of people. She pouted, "He didn't have to be so loud! There's hardly anyone coming in at this time!" She looks over at her friend. "Thanks for listening, Derpy!"
"No problem!" Derpy said smiling back.

Lyra's shift ended. She went into the locker room to get her regular clothes and put away her uniform. When she opened her locker, on the side of the door there was a note.

I heard you're having boy trouble. I'll help you. Meet me outside of work after you're shift is over. Sincerely, Sweetie Drops

Lyra gasped then hurried to get all her things ready. Outside, she looked around till she saw a shadowy figure wearing a long brown coat and hat standing be a lamp post. "Sweetie Drops?" she asks. The figure walks towards her showing off the blue and pink swirl hair much better in the light, "Who likes to know?"
"There was a note left for me saying you'll help me with my boy problem."
Sweetie Drops smiles, "It's been a while, Lyra. I thought you have forgotten me by now!"
"As if I'll ever forget the agent who has always helped me!"
"That's a relief! Now, to the mission! I got my car parked right here!" She says putting her hand out to the black sedan.

"You girls get home safe, alright?" The manager says as he walks pass them going towards the car behind the sedan.

"Yes, sir!" Both girls say.

The two get inside the black sedan and drive off. "So we're going to spy on him?" Lyra asked.
"Yes! We'll gather any information he won't obviously tell you!"
"Isn't this going too far? Isn't doing this not trusting him?"
"And if it turned out he has a waitress fetish, would you still like him?"
Lyra thought about it for a minute. "Well, it wouldn't hurt to see what he's like when I'm not around!"

They drove all the way to a University.
"Why are we at my school?" Asks Lyra.

"This is where the young man is living at. At the boy's dorm in this university."

"I never knew," says Lyra in awe.

Sweetie Drops parks away from the school, in a nearby neighborhood instead. From the compartment she takes out two grey clothing. She gives one to Lyra and the two girls change into them. Five minutes later they get out of the vehicle wearing the grey suits with matching caps and name tags. Lyra's name tag said Joe while Sweetie Drops name tag said Poe.

"Seriously? Joe and Poe? You could've thought of any better names?" Lyra questioned.

"As soon as you start a mission you got to use with what you got! And this mission started half an hour ago. Now let's move!" The two ran to the boys dorm building. They sneaked there way in pass the front desk and into the hallways.

"Sweetie Drops, what if he catches us and recognizes me?" Lyra worries.

"Mask in one of your pockets you can wear!"

Lyra takes out the mask and puts it over her mouth with the strings holding around her ears.

The two fake janitors go to the third floor. Down the hallway, they go inside the utility closet. Sweetie Drops takes out a tiny silver robot shaped as a pony. She throws it into the air vent. Next she takes out a small remote and a small sized monitor. "With this we can spy on him much easier!"

Sweetie controls the robot making it walk down the vent till they get to the boy's room. "Found it! Now let's see what kind of guy he is!" She turns on the camera into view to get a good look around the room. The girls gasped when they noticed on one side of the wall.

"Er...So uh...are you into these kind of guys?" Sweetie Drops asks. What the girls were staring at their side on the monitor was a wall full of drawings of Lyra in different kinds of maid outfits.

"If he's only drawing them it's fine...I guess," Lyra answers.

Suddenly the door of the room opened. In came in was the boy who liked Lyra. They watched as he sighed in relief. "Now I can go back to my projects!" He says happily. He opens the closet taking out a sewing machine and some fabric that was hanging in the closet. The guy places them on his desk and begins sewing the outfit together.

"Lyra, you noticed the inside of his closet?"

Lyra shook his head. She took a look seeing they were maid outfits. "You think if I asked the manager he'd let us wear them?"

"If Derpy modeled on one, probably."

"Well...I don't mind. I mean I love researching the mythology world of ponies so going out with a guy has a think for maid outfits may not be so bad plus the designs look really cute!"

"Then is the mission over?"

"yes. The mission is over, Agent Sweetie Drops!"

Morning at the Golden Hourglass.

Bon Bon was in the kitchen cooking up the morning breakfast meals.

"Hello Bon Bon!" Octavia greeted.

"Hey, Octavia! Do I need to make up non milk pancakes?"

"No. I just heard from Derpy that Lyra is going to keep seeing an admirer. You okay with that?"

"I'm not but if it makes her happy...I don't mind," Bon Bon says with a bit of her voice cracking.

Octavia looked at her sadly. She just nodded her head to her reply. "If you ever need to talk more about it, I'm all ears!"

"Thank you, Octavia!"

"What are friends for?" She smiled.

Author's Note

What's up, dudes! It's been a while! I'll try to keep updating more as I can. I still have plenty ideas for this story!

5. Shut up and Drive

Chapter 4: Shut up and Drive

Outside of the Golden Hourglass, Flash Sentry and Tick Tock were finishing up fixing Vinyl's car. "Drives well. I think we're good. What you think, Tick Tock?" Flash Sentry asked his friend sitting next to him in the car of the passenger seat.

"Indeed. We've successfully restored the issue on our friend's vehicle," Tick Tock answered.

"Now that we both agree, let's go get lunch!' Says Flash. The two get out of the car and head into the Golden Hourglass.

"Welcome!" Derpy greets them.

Tick Tock gives off a crooked smile as he blushes, "Hey, Derpy!" He manages to say. Derpy smiles, "I see you've been practicing on your smiling! Keep it up! It starting to look good!"

The ginger hair boy just nodded.

"Derpy, can ya tell Vinyl her car is done and parked out front? Also, we're eating lunch here so table for two!" says Flash.

"Sure! Just follow me!" Derpy lead them to a table. After the guys sat down, Derpy hand them their menus. "I'll be back to take your orders!" Derpy leaves.

A few minutes looking into the menu, "I'm deciding on the slice of pecan pie and strawberry lemonade. What you getting, Tick Tock?" Not getting an answer, Flash looked over to his friend. Tick Tock had his head ducked down with one hand grabbing his hair while the other hand held the menu he was using to hide himself. Flash could almost make out what his friend was mumbling about.

"Just ask about her day or how nice she looks but what if..."

Flash raised a brow wondering what he meant by that.

"Ready to order?" Derpy had came back to their table.

Tick Tock practically jumped in his seat as his heart leaped out from his chest. "N-No I'm still in the process of selecting on a meal!" He said blushing bright red while looking down at the table as he kept the menu in front of his face.

"No problemo!" said Derpy all chipper. She turned to Flash, "What about you, sir?"

"Slice of pecan pie and some strawberry lemonade, please!"

"Okie dokie!" The waitress wrote it down in her notepad. "I'll be back in a few minutes with your order!"

Flash looked over at Derpy. Once she walked in through the kitchen, he turned to the guy in front of him. He swipes his menu away from him. "Hey!" Tick Tock exclaims.

"I've figured out what's got you all jittery since we've came in here!" He smirks.

The ginger head blushes but trying to put on a serious face, "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"You really like Derpy don't you?"

Tick Tock looks away, "Is it really wise for me to say that to the one who previously had a relationship with her?"

The question surprised Flash a bit. "Honestly it would be considered weird by others but we're all friends! You know what happened to Derpy and I, we ended our relationship by staying as friends instead."

Tick Tock sighed, "Yes. I do recall when you told all of us at lunch in the cafeteria one day."

"See! Now tell me, how long you've liked Derpy?"

"Junior High. Since we've been friends."

"Junior High?! That's years!" Flash says surprised. Then it hit him realizing that he was with Derpy for a couple of months in high school. "Oh wow!" He says breaking into a cold sweat. "I literally didn't know!"

"It's fine. I've previously performed my revenge on you anyways."

"Really?! How?!" Flash says flabbergasted.

"Remember how you really needed a new A string on your guitar and went around town for a new one but no place had any?"

"Yeah?"

"I got a case full of them in my closet."

"No way," Flash smiles in disbelief.

"So if you ever need one," Tick Tock smirks. "I got you."

"You are one scary genius, my friend!"

"Are you ready to order now, Tick Tock?" Derpy came up to them. Tick Tock heart skipped. He made a fake cough as he looked down at his menu, "...hamburger."

"And to drink?"

"Lemonade."

"Anything else?"

"No. It's all. Thank you." Tick Tock hands over his menu to her. As he slightly looks up at her, she beams a smile. "I'll be back with your orders." Tick Tock turns away as his face blushes red.

Flash Sentry and Tick Tock left the Golden Hourglass and were walking down the street to a parking lot where Flash had parked his car. The two get in while Flash tries to convince Tick Tock to confess to Derpy. "You've liked her this long, go for it!"

"There's no point to it. We've been friends this long nothing will change if I say anything."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Well...she...and I..." Tick Tock stuttered trying to come up with an answer. Flash smirks, nodding his head, "You don't know, meaning you're just scared to tell her anything." Tick Tock sighs, laying his head against the window. Stopping on a ride light, Flash looks over at the direction of the Golden Hourglass where to his surprise he finds an angry Vinyl being held back by Derpy and Lyra as she she's yelling at a guy. "What is going on?!" He says shocked.

Alarmed, Tick Tock looks over to see what's going. Flash rolls down his window.

"YOU BET YOUR DIRTY HAIR YOU'RE GOING TO FIX MY CAR! I JUST GOT MY FRIENDS TO FIX IT JUST A WHILE A GO!" Vinyl yelled out.

"No way!" Flash and Tick Tock said in sync. The guys looked over at where they left Vinyl's car. The back of her car was crashed with the bumper on the ground, a dent and one light shattered. Flash looked forward, when the light turned green, he changed lanes then after a block he drove into another street where he made a quick U-turn. He parked closest he can to the restaurant and the two stormed over to where now there was a crowd of people with their cellphones out recording the threats Vinyl was yelling out to the guy.

"There's is no way I'm paying for your car, little girl!" The guy mocked.

"Why not?" Flash says out loud intervening with Tick Tock by his side.

"Because I wasn't the one who left so little space for me to park!" He spat.

"That may be true, but any owner of a vehicle would be wise to check the capacity before parking and won't attempt moving in if it's too small. Attempts end with trouble of getting out such space or what we see now for example with the back of my friend's car, crashing." Tick Tock explains.

Flash smirks pointing his thumb at his friend, "What he said."

"Ha! See! It was your fault! Now pay up!" Says Vinyl.

Angrily the guy looks at the three, "I keep telling you. I am not going to pay for anything!" He moves towards the three showing how bigger he is than them. The trio didn't move an inch as they stare back.

The sudden sound of a police car is heard as it drives right up to them. Two police men come out of their vehicle. "We got a call of a crash outside of Golden Hourglass," says one of the cops. Vinyl turns to her friends. Derpy and Lyra shake their heads no. Coming out of the restaurant they work at, their manager makes his appearance. "Hello officers. As you can see the ruckus outside of my restaurant is due to this young man crashing into the back car of one of my employee's vehicle," Time Turner explains. The policemen look over at the guy. The guy was looking away trying to hide his face with his bangs and putting his shades on that he had hooked over his shirt.

"Well, if it isn't Speed Sound," Says the second cop. "Trying another of your hit and run!"

"He's well known?" Time Turner asks the first cop. "Yes. We've caught him mostly for speed racing at night in the streets. Him and other street racing hooligans."

Inside of the Golden Hourglass, Vinyl was thanking his manager for calling the cops. She hardly ever calls the cops first because she wants to get her revenge before they get taken away.

"As soon as Octavia told me why my waitresses went out, the first thing I know I had to do was call the police before anyone got hurt," Says Time Turner. He looks straight at the young DJ, "Knowing you." Vinyl chuckles, "Yeah." Before the manager left to the back, he noticed Flash Sentry and Tick Tock. "Those two?"

"They're buds of ours. Blue head is Flash Sentry. Red head is Tick Tock," Vinyl answers.

"You girls mentioned them before," Time Turner recalls. "Flash Sentry, the guitar playing friend whose band played on the float you all built back in CHS and any fundraiser you girls got into. Tick Tock, the genius who helped built anything that helped in any other projects." He walks over to the two guys. "Any chance you boys are looking for a part-time job?"

"Thank you for the offer but Tick Tock and I already work part-time at an auto shop," Flash Sentry answers.

"But if it's any consolation, the service here was wonderful. We'd be glad to come here every now and then for a meal," Tick Tick tells.

"How unfortunate. Though I am relieved both of you had a swell stay, I'm happy knowing you both will come here now and then."

"Wow! I never noticed this but Time Turner and Tick Tock are kind of alike," Derpy whispers to Lyra. "Kind of?" Lyra questions. "Bon Bon once told me when the manager was a Canterlot High school student, he was known as 'Genius' like Tick Tock was when we were all at CHS."

"Really?" Derpy says amazed. "But shouldn't manager be inventing things or discovering stuff like Tick Tock has been doing."

"Yes but I guess something happened after high school. Bon Bon wouldn't tell me anything more."

Evening that same day at the auto repair shop, Flash and Tick Tock were closing up the garage. After locking up, Flash noticed a car coming up. "Tick Tock!" He calls out with a smile, "Looks who is coming for a visit." Tick Tock turns around. He sighs when he notices it is his brother. "Lightwing, we just closed up."

Lightwing gets out of his car, "Look! I need a repair before I go home tonight!" He begged.

"Why? What you did this time that dad will definitely do to take you precious car away?" Tick Tock mocked.

Lightwing looks at his brother angrily, fastly tapping his right foot impatiently on the concrete ground. "I got into a street race with some jerk. Lost the race and the rims from my car."

"Wow!" Flash and Tick Tock said bewildered.

"Way to do something stupid again, my brother!"

"If I didn't need your help I would've come up with a come back but no time!" Lightwing says angry. "I need your help getting new rims!"

"I'm afraid to tell you but this place is closed plus we don't sell any blue silver shiny rims like the ones you had that costed you more than five hundred dollars that you could've use to save up for that studio apartment you really wanted to move into!" Tick Tock mocked.

"Tick Tock!" Lightwing growled.

Tick Tock hummed, "Just buy regular rims and spray paint them blue."

"That's...!" He paused realizing the plan wasn't bad. "Not a bad idea." He hops into his car. "Laters! Tell dad I'll be arriving home late." He shouts driving off.

The two watched him leave till he was out of sight. "I thought your dad cared what your brother was doing more than what he did to his car?" Flash asks.

"He does but don't let Lightwing know that." Tick Tock smirks a sinister smile. "If he can't bother acting responsible outside of home then why bother acting all high and mighty at home!"

"Scary when you can be Tick Tock."

Tick Tock woke up to the sound of his cellpone ringing.

"Hello?"

"Hurry and get dressed we go to go to Golden Hourglass now!"

"Flash? Why now?"

"Someone vandalised the place last night!"

Author's Note

I thought I add a few male characters in this. Don't want Time Turner to be the the only man.