The Café of Broken Dreams

It’s a cold and rainy night in the Equestrian wasteland, the kind that drives even the toughest of heroes to find shelter. In the ruins of an old skywagon stop, a small fire glows gently, illuminating a quartet of ponies. Sitting a ways off from the fire in his hulking suit of power armor is Steelhooves, watching over the trio of ponies sitting around the fire.

“I hate being stuck here like this. Are you sure we can’t make it the rest of the way to Tenpony Tower tonight, Calamity?” Littlepip asks, shivering from the cold breeze blowing in through the holes in the building. “I’d really rather wait out the storm in our room there.”

“More like in Homage’s bed.” Velvet Remedy snickers at Pip’s comment. “Admit it, you’d rather be cuddled up with her doing naughty things.”

“Sh-shut up, Velvet. Not like you don’t want to have Calamity to yourself in a private room for the night.” She quips back.

The pair look at Calamity and he puts up his hooves as a bolt of lightning lights up the room and thunder rolls overhead, “Don’t you bring me into this. I don’t want t’ get struck by lightning trying t’ fly there tonight.”

“Ugh, fine.” Littlepip says with an exasperated sigh as she collapses onto her back next to the fire. The conversation drifts away and is replaced by the sound of the rain and the occasional crack of lightning or rumble of thunder. After a while Littlepip sighs again and gets up, trotting towards the exit of the building.

“Where are you going, Littlepip.” Steelhooves voice booms from the speakers in his armor.

“To take a leak, Steelhooves. I’m not going far.” She says as she steps out of the building and into the rain with a shiver.

She quickly trots around the corner of the building and out of sight of her friends. She waits a couple of moments before slipping a tin of Party-time Mint-als from her bags and taking one. As she chews it and watches the rain, the world becomes so much clearer than it was just a few minutes ago. The drops splashing in the puddles, the sound of thunder, the flashes of lightning; all of it becomes so much clearer. Looking back at the tin she wonders if taking another one would make things even clearer. With a shrug she pops another in her mouth and chews on it.

The world around her becomes so extraordinarily sharp she can see the individual raindrops falling from the sky and splashing into the puddles. The rumbling of the thunder sounds like the roar of Mr. Topaz, and the lightning is ten times brighter than Steelhooves head lamp. Stepping back toward the building, Littlepip looks up to the sky just in time to see a bolt of lightning racing down at her. Her mind races realizing that she has to move out of the way or get hit, but her body simply can’t move fast enough. An ear piercing scream tears from her throat rivaling the roar of the thunder above her as her world goes dark.

The darkness slowly recedes from Littlepip’s vision as her eyes blink open. The rain continues to pour down on her head, as she looks at the building she’s next to. Gone is the crumbling wasteland ruin that was once a skywagon stop, standing in its place is a fully restored—or perfectly preserved—pre-war building. Neon lights ring the edge of it and as she walks around to the front, she sees a large neon sign full of colorful letters spelling out, “Café of Broken Dreams.”

The N on the sign flickers a little bit as she slowly approaches the door to the café. The round circular windows on the doors are just a little too high for her to look through. With nothing else to do, she pushes open the doors to the café and steps inside, coming face to face with an unexpected pony.

Staring back at her is herself, dressed in a rather skimpy waitress outfit, holding a menu. “Welcome to the Café of Broken Dreams, would you like a table or a booth?”

“What in Celestia’s blue balls is this place?!” Littlepip exclaims, looking the waitress version of herself up and down.

“It’s the Café of Broken Dreams,” Waitress-pip replies as she drags Littlepip along in her magic, seating her at a table in the middle of the room. “We’re an odd sort of place where you never quite know who you’re going to meet, just that it will be a different version of yourself. Now, take a look at the menu and order whatever you like.”

Waitress-pip walks off with a shake of her panty clad rump and a teasing giggle, leaving Littlepip blushing bright red. She shakes her head and focuses on the menu that her other self dropped off, using it to try and hide her blush. As she looks over the menu a pony clears their throat drawing her eyes from the menu to a towering figure standing in front of her. The menu drops from her magic with a thunk.

“Hello Littlepip, I wasn’t expecting to see you here.” A towering alicorn version of her says with a soft smile.

“Y-you’re an-” Littlepip starts only to have the alicorn version of her put a hoof to her lips.

“Yes, I am an alicorn, and as you can see, I am not like the others you’ve faced.” She says slowly removing her hoof from Littlepip’s lips before sitting down at the table. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions, some I can answer, while others I cannot.”

“Why the buck are you an alicorn?!” Littlepip shout-asks only to get a hoof stuffed into her mouth before she can continue.

“Inside voice, Littlepip, and one question at a time.” The alicorn version of her says before one again pulling her hoof away from Littlepip’s mouth.

“How are you an alicorn?” Littlepip asks again, this time keeping her voice more level.

“That is one of the questions I can’t answer Littlepip. Now don’t go shouting at me again, I don’t have a say in this. It’s just part of how this place works.”

“Fine,” Littlepip says with a sigh. “Can you at least tell me what you can tell me about?”

“The food’s great and the company is even better.” Another version of her says as she swings into view, a frilly black skirt that barely covers her ass swishes as she throws a leg over the alicorn's shoulders. “Isn’t that right tall and sexy~”

“Unfortunately, not all of us here have a sense of decency.” The alicorn says as she picks up the rather sluttily dressed version of her and tosses them out the door. “Sorry about her, that’s one of the slutty and wild versions of you.”

Littlepip blushes and averts her eyes earning a groan and a face hoof from the alicorn.

“Celestia’s teats, it’s like all of you are horny little shits.” The alicorn-pip says as she slams her face into the table.

“Hehe, we’re not all that bad… are we?” Littlepip asks sheepishly.

“I’m afraid so.” A startlingly deeper voice says as a stallion version of her walks up to the table. “I’d say it’s nice to see you, Littlepip, but given how you got here…”

It takes a moment for things to click in Littlepip’s head before she whips her head around to look at the door. “Luna’s frigid moon cock, I was struck by lightning!”

“Yeah,” Alicorn-pip says as she reaches a hoof across the table and lays it gently on one of her hooves. “As far as ways to get here that’s one of the most painful.”

“So… I’m dead?” Littlepip’s voice is almost inaudible.

“No, but things aren’t looking good.” The stallion-pip says with a sigh and taps his hoof on the table.

The table’s surface swirls into a mirror sheen and then the world—the real world—appears on the surface of the mirror. The Sky Bandit rockets along the ground with Calamity flying faster than Pip had ever seen him before. The occasional lighting strike sends him darting off to the side just in case. Inside Velvet tends to her scorched horn, mane and coat while Steelhooves watches over them, making sure that they can’t slip out of the wagon as it speeds across the land.

“You took the strike right to your horn, with the PTMs in your system it hyper charged your brain and triggered a magic surge.“ Another version of her steps up to the table dressed up in a set of scientist scrubs. “Right now you’re in an interdimensional construct that exists at the core of reality.”

“What? What does that even mean?” Littlepip asks, her head spins as she watches the daring flight across the wasteland towards Tenpony Tower, which slowly looms in the distance.

“Your soul is sitting halfway between life and death Littlepip.” Alicorn-pip says with a shake of her head. “This place is a resting point for those who haven’t quite died but aren’t quite alive either.”

“You’re very lucky to be near Tenpony Tower. They can bring you back from here, so long as your body survives.” Scientist-pip says as she sets a hoof on Littlepip’s shoulder. “For now take the chance to rest and enjoy seeing what other paths your life could have taken.”

The doors to the café are kicked open with so much force they rip off of the hinges. In steps a blood soaked, scrap armor clad Littlepip. Their mane is pure red, dripping blood with each step as she starts to march across the room.

“Sweet! Fresh fucking meat!” The bloody version of her shouts as she charges right at her.

As if on instinct the scientist and male version of her both pull out a pistol, a magical energy pistol and a revolver respectively, each firing several into the charging mare stopping her charge short. The crazed mare drops to the floor and explodes into a poof of smoke that fades away quickly, droplets of blood that she left on her charge do the same thing.

“Celestia’s scorching mareheat what the fuck was that?!” Pip exclaims scooting away from where the mare was just a moment ago.

“That was one of the evil yous, darling.” A rather sultry but soothing voice says from the doors, drawing the attention of all of the Pips.

Stepping into the room is perhaps the most gorgeous version of herself that Littlepip could ever imagine. Her hair flows like silk with each step, styled like Ministry Mare Rarity. The sheen of her glossy coat resonates with the aura of a sexual deva.

“No need to stare like that, darling.” Rarity-pip chides as she walks up to the table. “I appreciate the looks, but I’m not here for a social call. I’m here to bring her back.”

“What? I just got here? How can they have fixed me up already?” Littlepip asks as she looks back at the table. Sure enough it’s changed to her laying in a medical bed in Tenpony Tower.

“Time works differently here. The more you watch the real world the more time flows in sync with it, with that horrid mare’s distraction time skipped forward way faster.” Rarity-pip says resting a hoof on Littlepip’s shoulder. “As much as I would like to let you stay and learn more, I’m afraid it’s time for you to go back to your reality.”

“I… I’m ready, I want to go back to my friends. To Homage.” Littlepip nods as she stands up.

“Wonderful darling, I will guide you back and keep you safe.” Rarity-pip smiles at her. “Come with me.”

The pair of them walk to the doors of the café and push them open. Stepping into the darkness, the world fades away until all that’s left is the two of them. No rain, no wind, no direction, nothing. Slowly they float along through the darkness until Tenpony Tower begins to appear in the distance.

“I’m sorry this happened Littlepip, you shouldn’t have ever had to end up there.” Rarity-pip gives Littlepip a hug.

“Thank you, I didn’t mind it actually, aside from that raider version of me that is.” Littlepip returns the hug.

“It can be quite fun, can’t it darling?” Rarity-pip replies as they come to a stop at the base of the tower and begin floating up to the correct floor.

“Yeah, it was fun. Maybe someday I can come back?” Littlepip asks hopefully.

“I’m afraid the only way back is to die, and next time you may not be able to go home again.” Rarity-pip replies, wiping a tear from her eye. “It was really close, Littlepip, had they not gotten you here as quick as you did, you would have died.”

“Oh.” Littlepip says as she grips Rarity-pip tighter.

“It’s scary, but you were lucky. You have the best of ponies looking after you, willing to do anything for you. Treasure them Littlepip, they will see you through even the darkest of times.” Rarity-pip strokes Littlepip’s mane as she carries her into the medical room. “This is goodbye, Littlepip. You have a wonderful destiny ahead of you.”

“Goodbye.” Littlepip wipes a couple of tears from her eyes as Rarity-pip lowers her back into her body.

The world goes dark once more.

Littlepip’s eyes slowly blink open to see her friends and Homage standing around her bed. Their words are garbled and off as she readjusts to the world again. Homage’s hoof on her shoulder helps her calm down as her senses slowly return to normal. Eventually their words begin to make sense.

“Littlepip, can you say something?” Homage asks as she gently strokes Littlepip’s mane.

“Hey Homage, do you think I’d look sexy with Rarity’s mane?” Littlepip asks, her voice raspy and her question ending in a cough.

The question gets a chuckle out of all of the ponies there, Littlepip laughing right along with them until she breaks out into a coughing fit. Homage helps her by holding a cup of water with a sippy straw, letting her drink a few sips from the cup to help her raw voice.

“Thanks Homage, did you know there’s a café called the Café of Broken Dreams where you can meet alternate versions of yourself? I visited it and It was awesome!” Littlepip says a bit of a dopey grin on her face.

“I think you need some more rest Littlepip, you’ve been here for the last three days.” Homage says as she continues to stroke her lover’s mane. “Get some rest and you can tell us all about it later, okay?”

“Sure thing.” Littlepip’s voice slurs a little as she leans into the petting and drifts off to sleep, happy to be back in the care of her Homage, even if the other Pips were fun, Homage was best.