//------------------------------// // Procrastination // Story: Moments in Time // by Shingo //------------------------------// Twilight had had a long day. For the first time that she could remember, the library had visitors. Ordinarily she would be ecstatic about this fact. Unfortunately, she was over worked. Roughly seven dozen ponies had come into the library an hour before it was scheduled to close. All of them demanded the same thing: books. Both she and Spike worked their best to satisfy the crowd’s demand, but they couldn’t meet everypony’s needs. Library hours had been extended so that each pony could take a book home. All of the ponies left the library with a book in tow and a smile on their face. Due to the sudden influx of ponies, the library was left in a mess. Twilight was walking around the foyer picking up dropped books. Each of the books were slid into their proper place on the shelves. When the last book was pushed in, a knock came from the door. The door was opened with a single thought. Standing on the other side were two ponies: a cerulean pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail carrying a saddlebag, and a pink earth pony with a poofy mane and tail carrying a purple pouch over her neck. Both of them had smiles on their faces. “Hi Twilight,” Pinkie said. Twilight in response offered a weak smile. “Is something wrong?” “Nothing’s wrong, Pinkie,” she said. “I’ve just had a long day. What brings you two here?” “It’s Wednesday,” Rainbow Dash said. “And it’s your turn to host.” Twilight blinked. “Host? What are you talking abou…” her eyes widened in realization. “Oh. Oh!” She ran to the door and hugged both ponies. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Rainbow pushed Twilight away. “Whoa, easy there,” both Rainbow and Pinkie entered the library. “Looking forward to this?” “You could say that,” Pinkie closed the door. “I just really need to unwind after today. You two brought everything we need?” The pegasus reached into her saddlebag and pulled a clear glass object out. It was in the shape of a gourd and had a long hooked neck. Sitting in it was a glass tube. “That we did,” Rainbow smiled. “I just finished cleaning this today. So we’re going to get a real nice buzz from the stuff Pinkie got from Grand Daddy Purple.” “Grand Daddy Purple?” “You haven’t tried Grand Daddy Purple’s stuff have you?” Pinkie asked. Twilight shook her head. “Oh, you’re going to like this then. Before we do this though, I have to ask: is Spike here?” “No, he’s not,” Twilight answered. “He’s staying at Sweet Apple Acres for the night.” “Aww, that’s adorable how Apple Bloom invites him over,” the librarian blinked. “But that’s great! Well, not really since Spike isn’t here, but since he isn’t, I don’t have to be subtle!” “You, subtle?” Rainbow laughed. “The day that happens is the day that Applejack grows oranges.” “Like you’re one to talk,” Pinkie lightly jabbed her pegasus friend’s ribs. “I’m surprised your toast cravings haven’t given us away yet.” “Hey! Toast is awesome, you can’t deny that.” “I’m not arguing that it isn’t, but it’s kind of obvious to everypony else as to what we’re doing if you keep making toast.” “Well we haven’t been caught yet, so there’s that,” Rainbow turned to Twilight. “Anyways, you prepared for this right?” “I was wondering why I had bought so many snack foods and loaves of bread,” Twilight said. “Yes, I have everything we need. Just let me get two things first.” Her horn lit up covering two objects in a purple aura. A ring made of stone was brought over to her. She placed the ring over her horn causing it to glow with arcane characters. “A magic limiter?” Pinkie asked. “Why would you need that?” “Remember what happened when we did this two weeks ago?” both of Twilight’s friends shuddered. “Yeah, that’s why.” Again, her horn gave off a purple glow. A pair of round glasses with green lenses in them was brought to her face. The glasses’ temples were opened and placed over Twilight’s eyes. “Okay, now I’m ready. Follow me to my room, we can do it there.” * A pale smoke drifted around Twilight’s bedroom as she and her friends sat on a pile of pillows. A gentle tune flowed around the room as they sat there. Between them was a pile of multicoloured blocks stacked on top of each other. Pinkie had her tongue out in concentration as she tried to place a red block on top of the pile. Rainbow had a near empty glass of an orange liquid to her lips while Twilight had her mouth over the gourd’s end. “Hey Dashie,” Pinkie said. “Do you think you can get me some juice when you get up?” Rainbow moved the glass from her lips. “Once I’m out of this stuff, then I’ll get up,” she tilted the glass upside down, staring at its emptiness. “And that would be now. What do you want? Mango?” The pink pony nodded. The pegasus slowly got up from her spot. She stumbled as she moved towards the room’s door. Along the way, she bumped into a desk. A piece of parchment fell from it to Rainbow’s hooves. She picked it up and brought it to her eyes. “Twi,” said pony looked up at Rainbow. Her cheeks were puffed out and smoke was rising from the gourd. “I think this is yours.” Twilight’s horn glowed bringing the paper to her. Rainbow left the room as Twilight read through it. She coughed out pale smoke when she reached the note’s end. “Holy… crap,” she said between coughs. “I forgot about this!” “Forgot about what?” Pinkie tilted her head. “This!” the note was shoved in front of Pinkie’s face. She moved her head back and began reading. Friendship Report Must be sent before Thursday at noon. Princess Celestia is expecting one from you. “I thought you didn’t have to send her so many Friendship Reports,” Pinkie said. “Why do you need to send her one before noon tomorrow?” “I promised her at least one a month,” Twilight said panicking. “And the Friendship Report that I have to write has to be sent tomorrow! What do I do?! What do I do?! What do I do?!” “Just write one,” Twilight blinked. “If you need a report, try writing one.” “That’s brilliant!” a second piece of parchment and a quill in an ink well were brought over to Twilight. “I can’t believe that I didn’t think about that. But first, I probably should take these off.” She placed her hooves over her glasses and removed them. Immediately, her forelegs covered her eyes. “Gah!” she screamed. “Colour!” The sudden noise caused Pinkie to knock her tower over. Her forelegs quickly moved to her ears. “Noise!” she moaned. “Terrible, terrible noise!” Twilight removed her forelegs from her eyes and blinked. She looked down at the parchment and grabbed the quill. Pinkie reached for another block with her foreleg. The block was placed on the ground. Another was soon stacked on top of it and the process repeated itself. The door to the room opened and Rainbow walked inside. She was carrying a plate on her back with eight pieces of toast piled on top of it. Both of her wings held glasses of mango juice, and a third glass with a white liquid in it was on her muzzle. “Twi,” she said. “I brought you some lychee juice. Do you think you could get this glass off my stout?” The glass was covered in a familiar glow and brought to Twilight’s side. Rainbow walked to Pinkie and passed one of the glasses to her. The plate was put down and she sat down beside it. Rainbow looked at her purple friend. She was staring at a blank piece of parchment with a quill in her magical grip. “How long has she been like that?” Rainbow asked. “How long have you been gone?” Rainbow looked up at a nearby clock. “As of now, twenty minutes.” “Twenty minutes then,” Pinkie answered, placing another block on her tower. “Twi, you’ve been staring at that parchment for twenty minutes,” Twilight looked up at Rainbow. “Don’t you think you should stop?” “I can’t!” she said. “I have to write a Friendship Report to Princess Celestia before noon tomorrow. Or else!” “Or else what?” “I don’t know, but it’s going to be bad!” Rainbow sipped from her glass. “Do you have any idea what you’re going to write?” she asked. “Well,” Twilight said sheepishly. “No.” “Are you in any condition to write anything coherent?” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Okay, I'll admit, that was a stupid question on my part. Let me suggest something. Write about your experiences of what we do on a weekly basis. You’ve tried it enough times to know what to write, and you can talk about how a pony shouldn’t have preconceived notions before trying something.” “Brilliant!” the sudden outburst caused Pinkie to once again knock her tower down. All of the ponies cringed at the sound. “Sorry. But I can’t even write a coherent sentence. What do I do?” “Do it when we wake up tomorrow,” Rainbow shrugged. “Just wake up before noon, and write as fast as possible.” Twilight looked down at the parchment. “Just relax,” Pinkie said. “If you don’t, the buzz will go away faster. Listen to Dashie, she knows what she’s doing.” “Against my better judgment, I’ll do that,” Twilight pushed the quill, ink well, and parchment off to the side. “As soon as I wake up, I’ll write the Report.” The glass beside her was brought to her lips. She smiled when she placed it down. “Really, Rainbow?” Twilight asked. “Toast?” The toast in Rainbow’s hooves stopped its journey to her mouth. “Hey! Don’t judge me! I’m not the one procrastinating here.” Twilight raised a hoof for a retort. After a few moments, she put her hoof down and shrugged. She looked around for the gourd, but found that Pinkie was using it. She lifted her head and passed it to Twilight. Pale smoke exited her mouth. “Twilight?” Pinkie asked. “Do you think you’ll make it in time?” Twilight shrugged before putting her glasses on her face. She put her mouth to the top of the gourd; a bubbling sound came from it as she inhaled. For the moment nothing mattered to her. As soon as the sun came up, she could worry. Until then, she decided to lose herself in the pale haze.