The Drums of War: How to live as a Timepony

by ShackledTime


Diner Stop

  We continued driving down the road for a few hours more, already into light of the next day, though now everyone was awake, Ditzy typing away at her laptop, Tyler having stayed up to drive, and myself currently having a conversation with the Master about the likelihood of actually finding the TARDIS anytime soon.

  ‘I’m not sure we’ll even find the thing in a hundred years, let alone soon.’ “Believe what you will, but as soon as this is over, I’m finding it an-”

  “I’ve found a decent route to Kansas!” Ditzy suddenly called out.

  I put my talk on hold and turned to look at her, “Oh, how long will it take?” I asked.

  “It’s a long one, but so are all the others.” she replied, then went quiet, most likely thinking it over in her head.

  “Well, it’s almost 7,” Tyler said, glancing at the radio’s clock, “while we figure which route to take, how about breakfast?”

  I could hear Ditzy shifting a bit in the back seat, “Breakfast would be great...” she replied slowly.

  “Something wrong?” I asked, turning around in my seat to look at her, “You seem hesitant.”

  She let out a yawn before answering, “More tired than anything. Wait a second, I’m becoming like my mom on all matters sleeping...”

  “Right, forgot about that,” I said, mentally hitting myself, “sleeping tends to slip my mind a bit, what about you, Tyler,” I asked, changing the subject slightly, “you doing okay, being up as you were?”

  “I could,” he started, yawning mid sentence, “use some rest, yeah.”

  “Right...” I nodded, looking around the road for a place before spotting a Waffle House, “Pull up here, we’ll stop and get some rest and food.”

**** **** **** ****

  “Ah, Waffle House,” Ditzy began, looking around as we got out of the truck, “For all the horror stories of the inner-city ones, I’ve never had a problem...”

  “Can’t say I’ve really even been to one,” I said, hopping out of the passenger seat. “but hey, first time for everything.” Tyler didn’t seem to care all that much, as he just head straight for the building.

  Ditzy and I followed shortly after, Ditzy quickly deciding on a booth seat which Tyler and I slid into on the other side.
 
“Well, this is a quaint little place, isn’t it?” I asked, looking around the cozy looking space.

  “Yeah, it is.” Tyler half heartedly agreed with a yawn.

  “Remarkable…” Ditzy added, another yawn following, “ All of them are exactly the same inside with very slight differences...”

  I look back and forth between Tyler and Ditzy a moment,  “Well, now I feel left out, you’re both tired and I’m wide awake.” I said, just before a waitress came up to our table.

  “Hello!” she said in a friendly manner, looking like seeing ponies was normal even before the event, “What can I get for y’all this mornin’?”

“I suppose I’ll just start with a glass of water, I’ll decide in a minute.” I answered, looking over one of the menus she’d placed down.

  “Okay, and you?” she asks, looking to Tyler.

  “I’ll have scrambled eggs with bacon, please.” he said, eyes half closed by now,

  The woman scribbled down the order before looking back up“Anything to drink?”

  “Um... Sprite’ll do, I guess.” he said.

  She went back to her book before smiling at Ditzy, “And you?”

  Ditzy takes a breath and rapidly answered, “I would like cheese and eggs with raisin toast and hashbrowns with a chocolate milk to drink.”

  “You look like you’ve had some practice here...” she smirks before looking back to me, “Have you decided yet?”

  “Yes,” I replied, putting down the menu, “I’ll take a stack of blueberry pancakes and a side of scrambled eggs with sausage links, ma’am.”

  “Gotcha.” she says, returning to her pad and back, “Your food’ll be ready shortly.”

  I nodded my head, letting her know I understood.

  The waitress left to call the order then returned to talk to us. “So lemme guess: New York.”

  ”I’d say that’s rather obvious,” I commented, “but yes, we are, thank you.”

  “Well, not at the moment,” Ditzy corrected, “We’re going to meet my sister.”

  The waitress gave Ditzy a look, “Human sister or pony sister?”

  “Pony.” Ditzy replied.

  The woman nodded, but said nothing, though she looked to be in thought.

  “I’m sorry, is something the matter?” I asked, raising an eyebrow to the staring waitress.

  “It’s just that I recognize her...” she said, before she suddenly snapped out of her train of thought, “Your sister is Derpy.”

  “Yep.” Ditzy replied simply, “May I ask about how you know of my sister?”

  “I saw the youtube video. A friend showed me...” the waitress said, sounding like she was about to space out again.

  “The phenomenon is fairly obvious at this point,” I said, part of me getting slightly annoyed at the time it took for our food to finish(I blame time travel), “I’m not all too surprised.”

  Ditzy started to lean back and lets herself rest at this point.

  “Even though I didn’t watch the show,” the waitress continued, “I figured I should read up on the ‘People becoming Ponies’ thing.”

  “Well, I’m just glad you aren’t one of the people who’d rather see us dead.” I commented with a smirk.

  “Yeah, I just don’t see a reason why.” she finished, the bell ringing for food ready to be taken to their tables.

  “She seems nice.” I said after she left.

**** **** **** ****

  A few minutes passed and we finally got our food to up.

  Ditzy nodded her thanks before starting to dig in while Tyler just grumbled in his stupor before starting.

  “Thank you,-” I begin, looking at her name tag, which read our ‘Cheryl’, “Cheryl.” After which I starting eating my own food.

  “No problem.” Cheryl said before going to check on the other customers.

**** **** **** ****

  A few minutes after all the plates had been cleared of food Tyler had already dozed off, head rested back against the booth’s back.

  “That was certainly a nice way to start the morning, don’t you think?” I asked, wiping my mouth with a napkin.

  Ditzy nodded, though groggily, “I need sleep though...” she added.

  Cheryl came by moments later, placing the check on the table, “Nice to have met y’all!” she calls, going to serve more customers.

  Ditzy waved to her as she left before curling up on the seat while I grabbed the check. It read $18.96 total, “Not bad for what it’s worth,” I said, getting my wallet ready by taking out a 20 and a 5. “Anyone want anything to go, just in case?”

  “‘M fine…” Ditzy replies, muffled, Tyler just slurring in his sleep.

  “Guess it’s just me then.” I said, though mostly to myself.

  “Wamme to go pay?” Ditzy offers, though not having moved much.

  ”I’ll do it,” I told her, “you just rest a bit, I’ll ask if we can stay a bit for a break.” I finished by getting up want walking up to the counter.

  “Ready to pay?” Cheryl asks, seeing me come up.

  “Yes, and if you wouldn’t mind, would you mind if I get something to go, in case we feel a bit peckish?” I asked, “Oh, and while on that matter, could we possibly stay a bit, we’ve been driving for quite a ways.”

  She looked hesitant as she thought to herself, “I think we’ve got a bit of space in the back… Just don’t be too loud,” she told me.

  “Not a problem,” I replied, “the other two will mostly be sleeping, and I’ll just be thinking to myself.” I put the cash on the desk, “And thank you, Cheryl” I finished, turning back to go to my booth.

  “It’s no problem.” she called out.

  I returned to the table moments later, “Alright,” I began, “she said we can stay for a bit, but we’ll have to stay in back for it, what do you say?”

  “Sure…” Ditzy said, getting up.

  “Yeah…” Tyler answered,getting up, almost drunk looking in his groggy state, making his way to the back. The Ditzy and I following behind.

**** **** **** ****

  ‘I’m surprised, honestly,’ the Master commented as yet another mental chess game concluded, ‘48 to 3, not bad for a human boy.’ At this point, I couldn’t even tell if he was either being as ass, or genuinely surprised I’d beat him at all. ‘Alright, enough of this, we’ve got places to be,’ I mentally retorted before lightly shaking Tyler and Ditzy, “Come on, up and at ‘em you two, we’ve been here for three hours, and thinking to myselves is a bit boring at this point.”

  “Only three hours…?” Ditzy asked, the obvious signs of wake up annoyance on her face, “better than none, I guess…”

   “Sorry,” I apologized, looking at Ditzy while Tyler refused to wake, “but we still have a spirit of chaos to stop, and Derpy and Octavia are in a big city, last I heard, and you know how those can be.”

  “And sleep-dep will help that how?” Ditzy retorted.

  “Right, right, sorry, still not used to the whole ‘always awake thing’,” I continued apologizing, “if you need more sleep, fine by me, just lets do it when we aren’t in the back room of a Waffle House.”

  Ditzy nodded “Fair ‘nough.”

  “I mean, really, only a madman would try to continue on without proper energy.” I finished.

  “What is a man?” Tyler grumbles in his sleep, “A miserable little... pile of... secrets…”

  I mentally facepalmed heading him say that while Ditzy gave me a look, “Nice Bloodline you’ve got there;” she teased, “does it repeat a segment or theme?”

  I huffed, rolling my eyes, “He’s just a being a dork in his sleep, he got Castlevania on his PSP and he kept replaying it.”

  “There’s worse.” Ditzy commented, getting up, Tyler slowing regaining consciousness and joining us.
 
  I let out a chuckle, “Yeah, you could be a fan of Other M.”

  “No, I can’t,” she says flatly, “My first Metroid was Fusion; that game is a betrayal.”

  “Exactly, Other M eliminated several games from the storyline,” I began to to ramble as we made our way out, “Team Ninja took the bare minimum they knew of a series and decided to make a game off that.”

  “Never played it,” Ditzy admit, “Some of it looks fun to play, but most of it… doesn’t. Didn’t it come between Super and Fusion?”

  “Probably,”I answer, “I just know that Prime never happened and it happened right after Super.”

  “Prime makes no sense in the storyline, anywhere,” she pointed out as we exited the building.

  I shrugged, “Makes more sense to have a trilogy with some story and background than one game that eliminates others.”

  “I’ll give you that one,” she said, floating a meter above the ground to stretch her wings. “Granted, I have yet to play Prime…”

  ”If you ever get hands again, you should try it,” I recommended, “it’s certainly got a high entertainment value.”

  “Compared to Super, how is it?” she asked, floating towards the car across the lot.

  “Being what it is, I’d give Prime 1 as good a score for exploration,” I told her, “though not diversity, and Prime 3 just a bit under Super in story, being that there were a few holes in the plot.”

  “Yeah, it’s something to do if I ever get hands…” she said, looking a bit glum.

  “Or if I ever get this thing working properly again,” I continued, taking out the laser screwdriver from my collar, “I could make it so this would work just as well.” Bringing that up seemed to make her look even worse. “Like I said, it was an honest mistake, I’m sure that by the time I find the TARDIS, this thing will be as good as new,” I finished, our group reaching the truck.

  “Back to napping?” Ditzy asked before getting into the back seat once again.

  “If you want,” I told her, “Tyler’ll have to stay awake a bit more, till we find a place to actually sleep.”

  Tyler groaned, the first noise he made since fully waking up, “Just get in already, we have somewhere to be.”

**** **** **** ****