Having successfully woken up the two brothers, we all trooped on to the dining hall. I opened the large doors for the both of them, and they scurried through and sat next to their loved ones.

“You coulda atleast said thank you…”

I pass through the door myself, and head to take a seat at the table.

Celestia was at the far head of the eight seat table, with both stallions taking place beside her. Next to them, were Lovie and Dearie, having chose to sit in the middle. Lastly, Derpy and Trixie were sitting close to me. I take my seat at the other end of the table.

“So, anybody order food yet? I already feel like I’m beginning to waste away here.”

“We got pancakes!” Derpy spoke up.

“Pancakes? That's a lot of sugar for right in the morning, I’ll go ahead and eat them for you.” I say, poking her in the cheek.

“No! I want the sweets!” Derpy says pushing my hand away.

“Me too Pawpaw! Me too!”

I pat them both over the head and motion for a guard stationed by the door to come over. With practiced moves he places his spear beside the door and approaches me.

“Would you mind takin my order to the kitchen, I’d do it myself, but I’ve already done more walking than I should before my morning coffee.”

“Of course sir, what would you like?”

“Thanks Silverhoof. Can you tell them to get a ‘Clean Tuesday’ with the Irish coffee?”

“Of course sir. I’ll be right on it.”

“Good on you lad.” I say with a salute, to which he responds with his own.

We make idle talk as we wait for our orders to come out. Celestia and I were the only two to get coffee, mine being a bit different than hers was. While hers was sweetened with sugar and cream, mine was ‘sweetened’ with whiskey and cream.

“Pawpaw, what does coffee taste like?” Trixie asks me, her hoof around a cup of orange juice that she got.

“Depends on the creature, I find ponies don't like it as much as everyone else. Before you ask, no, you cannot have some of mine.”

“Can I order my own then?” She asks.

“After you finish your-” I start to say, before she interrupts me by downing her entire cup of orange juice. “Fair enough. Waiter?”

“Yes sir?” A thin looking earth pony asks, wearing a classic waiters uniform, complete with a small apron on the front.

“Can I get a small cup of coffee for the little pony right there?” I ask, before leaning in and whispering into his ear. “Make it decaf tho, and bring a lot of sugar and cream.”

“Of course sir, right away.”

With a nod he leaves us be and I continue to nurse my own drink.

“So, anypony have any plans for today?” I ask.

Dearie tries to speak up, only to choke on her food. Lockstone pats her on the back and he speaks up. “What Dearie was gonna say, is that we all have plans today.”

I wait for her to finish coughing her lungs out and motion for her to explain.

“Umm, yeah. We have plans today as a family, you’re free, right Dad?”

“Of course! Anything for my family! Celestia, cancel my appointments!”

“Wait, what?”

“Perfect! Appointments cancelled Celestia and I would love to join.”

“Clean, I-” Celestia starts, before I cut her off.

“See? Even Celestia is free-.”

“Dad, I was wondering if instead of inviting Celestia, it could be just us? No offense Princess.”

It was my turn to be interrupted as Lovie spoke up.

“My apologies Clean, but it looks like a family outing today. I have work to finish up either way.” Celestia says, wiping her face with a napkin, standing up off her cushion, and hurrying off.

“Well then. I suppose it's a family outing today.” I conclude, as the waiters come out with our food and Trixie’s coffee.

They place our plates down while one looks confused at Celestia’s empty seat. With a shrug, the waiter places the plate down and walks away.

Derpy and Trixie both ordered pancakes like they said. Dearie and Love both ordered toast, scrambled eggs, and grits. Lockstone and Keystone chose to get toast as well, but with soft boiled eggs on the side. Celestia, unsurprisingly, ordered an extra large plate of pancakes, oozing with syrup.

The ‘Clean Tuesday’ consisted of a thin strip of steak cooked with salt, pepper, and garlic, an over hard egg cooked with onion powder lightly sprinkled on it, and a thin slice of cheese all put together on an English muffin.

All the ponies at the table looked at it like it was the holy grail.
“You know you can order it yourselves. Just ask for it, but you’re not gettin mine.” I said, pulling the plate closer to me.

“You know Dad, you DID teach us that sharing means caring.”

“And Barney taught me that, and we all know what happened to him!”

We sat in silence for a couple seconds, the joke clearly being lost on them.

“Nevermind. Just don’t touch my food.” I say, waving my butter knife around menacingly.

We all ate, with Trixie drinking her own cup of coffee. Luckily the waiter made sure to add a lot of cream so that it wouldn’t be too strong for her.

“Look mom~ I’m just like grandpa!” Trixie said with coffee staining her light blue coat.

“That you do sweetie,” Lovie said, before levitating a napkin up to Trixie’s muzzle and wiping it away.

I reached up to rub at my face, finding a lot more stubble than I remember having.

“Alright, alright. Jokes on me. How did you like the drink Trixie?”

“It was okay.” Came her muffled response from behind the napkin.

-=- -=- -=-

Noticing I was still in my sleepwear, I excused myself to clean up. Everypony agreed to meet back up at the front gates. Not only did I need a shave, but the fillies needed a washing off after all the syrup from their pancakes.

In my room, I decided on the typical dad look for the day. Plaid shorts and a white polo shirt, complete with a black belt. I skipped the hat and socks with sandals for the day, but there was always tomorrow.

Inside the bathroom I pulled out my straight razor. With a quick wash, I cleaned my face of any leftover breakfast. With soapy eyes I fumble for a rag and furiously dry my face.

With a now clean but still unshaven face I take a good look at myself in the mirror.

“Hells bells, I really do need a shave…” I offhandedly mention, rubbing at my scruffy face.

I grab a bit of the shaving cream and start to lather up. I set up my hone and strop, the two essential tools to shaving with a straight razor. With everything set up I flick the bit of lather off the razor and bring it up to my cheek.

“You’re looking a bit rough Clean, you sure you’ll be able to stay sane?”

I jerked back hearing this, cutting my cheek in the process. Taking only a moment to recoil, I hold the razor at arms length and look around in an attempt to find the intruder.

Finding nothing, I set the razor down and wipe the blood off my face. Luckily it wasn’t a large cut, but it would be bleeding for a while. I look into the mirror to get a better guess at if it’ll need stitches or not.

The face that greets me isn’t my own. The eyes of the man greeting me are sunken in, with deep bags under them. He lacks the cut under his eye that I just gained, rather, his face is covered in grey, shaggy hair. He looks worse for wear.

“What in the…” I question, bringing my hand up to my face, the figure on the other side copying my moves.

Tunnel vision takes me as my surroundings begin to disappear. My once comfortable bathroom is instead replaced with an all too familiar cell.

The knocking of hoof against, followed by; “Clean? Are you ready to go yet?” knocks me out of my trance.

Lovie walks into the room, followed by Dearie and the others.

“We’ve been waiting for- Oh my Celestia!” Dearie screams before running up to me.

“What happened? Why are you so bloody? Dad, talk to me!”

“Huh?” Is all I can let out as I bring my hand back up to my face. I see Keystone and Lockstone pushing the fillies out of my room as Dearie and Lovie close the door behind them.

I look down at my hand and see its a lot redder than I remember. Then, the familiar warmth of magic covered my cheek, wiping some of the blood away. The skin on my face was pulled taunt as Lovie’s healing magic closed the wound.

“Dad? Clean? What happened Dad?” Dearie kept asking.

I couldn’t muster up the strength to respond, instead turning around and looking into the mirror.

Whatever was there before is gone now, leaving only my usual look behind.

“I wish to be left alone. Dearie, Lovie, please leave.”

“But Dad-!”

“No buts, I’ll meet you down by the gate. Now please, leave me be.” I force out, voice cracking at the end. I didn’t want them to leave, but I couldn’t let them see me like this.

Both Dearie and Lovie looked at each other, before opening the door to the bathroom and leaving.

I looked around at the bathroom, trying to regain my composure. My once clean bathroom was now covered in the reflective look of fresh blood.

My hands are shaking and I feel cold.

“What was that…?”

-=- -=- -=-

Everypony was waiting outside my door. They each had varying degrees of worry adorning their faces.

I brush my fingers through Dearie’s mane as I walked past her. Everypony followed behind me silently.

Dearie and Lovie moved to walk beside me, brushing their faces against my hands.

“Dad? What happened back there?”

“Sorry, I was spooked is all.” I replied, trying to dismiss the fact that I didn’t have a real answer to give them.

They both fell back and started whispering to each other. Instead of focusing on their hushed voices, I instead focused on keeping a straight face. Best to hide behind a mask until I’m sure everything is fine.

“Dad, would you like to take a trip into the city?” Lovie speaks up, trotting back next to me.

“Yeah, they’ve got a theater playing Shookedspeared. You used to tell us stories about him!”

“It was Shakespeare. That was his name in my world.”

“Still! Would you like to go see it?”

I thought about it for a second, on one hand I don’t feel like sitting through a play that I’ve seen before. On the other hand, I don’t want to be left alone with my thoughts.

“Sure, I would enjoy that. When does it start?” I ask.

Both of them seem to cheer up at that.

“In an hour! We can make it if we hurry.”

“Then lead the way.”

They lead us all the way through the halls to the front gate. Outside was a carriage already waiting for us.

Keystone and Lockstone opened both doors on the side of the carriage, allowing us to get in.

The inside of the carriage is nothing special, we do have to squeeze together for us to all fit in. Derpy and Trixie choose to sit on my lap of course.

Lockstone says something to the drawponies in the front, before joining us in the cabin.

“Well? Shall we be off?”

Author's Note

Bet Y'all didn't expect this.