The Background Pony Experience

Twilight Sparkle woke up to a smell. It was a delightful smell, and she recognized it quickly. It was the smell of pancakes being made. Her eyes opened at once and she scrambled out of her bed, hoping to get some of the delectable treat.

She trotted absentmindedly down the stairs following the aroma, expecting to find her number one assistant Spike making the batch by the stove. In his place, making the pancakes instead, was a mare. her coat was a subtile grey color and her mane a respectable black. Her cutie mark, of which Twilight felt that she had somehow seen before, was a light purple treble clef.

Twilight looked around, now fully awake, to notice that the house she was in was not hers. There was a desk by the hallway. On the top was a picture of two mares, one of them the mare standing with her flank towards her, the other was...

It was her, with a goofy smile on her face and headphones covering most of a messy dark purple mane. She stepped back, not sure what was going on, and the floorboard made a creak. The grey mare turned a head towards her, finally noticing her.

"Oh, hello Twilight! You simply must have a pancake. Its buckwheat, your favorite!" She said in a posh accent.

Twilight stared at the mare before responding, her voice cracking. "Who in Celestia's n-name are you?"

The mare's facial expression changed multiple times, from surprise to worry and then to a little smile. "Ah, I see." She said. "Long night of partying at the club, huh?"

Wow, thought Twilight. This mare really IS crazy... "What? Why would you even- I don't go to clubs, much less party  at them..."

She must have said it somewhat groggily, because the next thing she knew, the mare was putting different items into a blender. "And a hangover too? It's okay, I have you covered dear."

Twilight raised an eyebrow and walked over to the blender, noticing what the mare was putting in the blender. Pears, beets, daisies. Then the mare took out a pair of hot pink headphones and started to hover them over the blender.

"No! Tavi, you know not to play around with my headphones! These are my 'Wubs by Elis'!" Twilight swiped the paid of headphones from the now snickering mare. She blinked. Where had that come from? What did she call the mare? Tavi?

"Uh, Tavi? What does that stand for... again?" Twilight asked.

Tavi stopped snickering and rolled her eyes, as if that sort of thing happened a lot. "Twilight, why must you always seem to forget one of the most important things of our relationship?"

Her left eye twitched. "Relationship?"

Tavi heaved a sigh. "Those dang hangovers!" She said. "The excessive partying has to stop, Twi. If you are partying so hard that you can't even remember your own marefriend, then you have a choice. Choose between me or your dream of being a DJ." She started to storm out of the room, before yelling over her shoulder. "Oh, and my name is Octavia you idiot..."

Twilight stood there, fazed with what had happened. Wait, what just happened? She thought.

She walked over to the pancakes and started to chow down, still trying to digest Octavia's words. She suddenly spit out the pancake that she had been eating and screamed. "Wait, marefriend?!"

"I need to take a walk..." She said after she was done freaking out.

As she closed the yard gate to the house, she noticed that Equestria hadn't changed much. She had checked the calendar on her way out, and it indicated that it was the day she was expecting. She saw semi-familiar ponies wandering around Ponyville. She walked through the neighborhood, ponies calling her name who she had never talked to in her life, and her waving out to them as if they were all old friends.

She then got out of the neighborhood and into town. She headed over to Sugar Cube Corner to find Pinkie Pie. She might know what to do. Or maybe at least know what happened.

She walked around the corner to look at the building, which hadn't changed at all. She was relieved to see the Caked working the counter when she trotted in. She walked in the line, which was short.

"Hello," Mr. Cake said to her. He almost sounded frantic. "What can I get for you Ms.?"

"Hello, Mr. Cake, I was wondering where I could find Pinkie Pie?" He looked up, his face now more confused and calm.

"Who's Pinkie Pie?" He asked.

"Really?" Twilight deadpanned. "You don't know who that is?" His head shook no, and she sighed. "I knew that this was probably going to happen. Thank you for your time, Mr. Cake." He nodded.

"Next!" He shouted, shooing her off.

Next she went to "Danny's Daisy Diner" and had a Daisy sandwich before heading towards the library. She had a theory about what was going on, but she needed proof to be sure.

She walked into the middle of the street, passing some stalls straying from the market. She studied them, hoping to find Applejack selling apples to passerby, but she found nothing of the sort. Soon she could see the Golden Oaks Library tree lingering over the tops of buildings, and she knew that she was getting close to her home.

As she passed the buildings, she began to trot, and then gallop as she began to get closer to the library until... CRASH! She crashed through the doors of the library, and, screaming, ran into the library and abruptly crashed into a bookshelf.

She shook her head, making the dizziness go away. When she opened her eyes, she was greeted with a pair of surprised blood red eyes.

"...Twilight?"