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// Surprises, Waffles, Pillows and Toasters 
// Story: With Morning, Comes Surprises 
// by Cheer 
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	Mornings in Canterlot castle are normally a very quiet affair, the only ponies truly awake being the royal pony sisters.

Having just brought about the morning, Celestia was making her way to have breakfast with her sister Luna. They always made sure to at least have breakfast and dinner together, even if one of them is always tired during the meals. 

As she made her way to where her sister waited, she came across a peculiar sight: five of the elements of harmony were in the middle of a hall bickering. 

"I'm telling you it's that way," Rainbow Dash argued as she pointed one way.

"And Ah'm telling you that it was this way," argued Applejack while pointing the opposite direction. 

Rarity held a hoof to her chin as she spoke. "I'm quite certain she had mentioned it being on the other side of the castle." 

Fluttershy looked as though she was trying to get a word in; however, due to how quiet she was being, even Celestia's enhanced hearing couldn't make out what she was attempting to say. 

Pinkie, on the other hoof, wasn't giving any advice or directions; she was waving at Celestia. As Celestia neared the group, they finally took notice of her and gave a quick, informal bow, having long since grown used to the diarch. "Hello my little ponies.”

"Mornin' princess," Applejack said, nodding her hat. "We were just lookin' fer Twi's room." 

Rarity nodded in agreement. "Indeed we were. Pinkie convinced us all to give a surprise visit to her," she explained as Pinkie nodded vigorously. "However, we seem to be lost as it t'wer." 

Celestia gave a light chuckle. "Would you like some directions to her room?" A series of nods answered her question.

After giving the five mares directions and a promise of a lunch together, Celestia had left once again to meet with her sister. When she entered the dining room, the table was already set and her sister was staring at her mug of coffee, which was a gift she had obtained from a traveling magic show. Sitting directly across from her sister, Celestia used a little of her magic to bring herself over some tea and waffles, her magic ensuring they were the optimal temperature. 

"I am sorry for being late. I came across a few ponies that needed assistance," she explained. 

"There were ponies that needed assistance this early?" Luna asked.

"Indeed," Celestia said as she sipped her tea. "The element bearers came to surprise Twilight and got lost in the halls." 

Luna nodded her head. "I can understand that. It took me a good month to memories this castle." A sigh escaped her lips. 'The old one was so much simpler. Greater defenses and less secret passages,' she thought. Luna had always had a passion for strategizing and was let down by just how open this new castle was, especially to airborne attacks. 

Luna was brought back from her thoughts as recalled something her sister had said. "You said that Twilight's friends have come to surprise her?" she asked as worry crept into her voice. 

"Yes. Why? Is there something wrong?” Celestia asked with a brow raised.

Being the mistress of the night meant that Luna was privy to many things that the casual pony, or even her sister, was not. “No, no. Just… I’ll be right back.” With that Luna teleported away, leaving her sister alone.

Celestia gave a small chuckle and shook her head. ’Well, more waffles for me I suppose,’ she thought as she levitated Luna’s untouched waffles towards herself.

Luna appeared in front of Twilight's room just as the young princess' five friends turned the corner. The sudden sight of the rarely seen princess of the night caused the five mares to stop. When no pony spoke, Pinkie took it upon herself to break the silence. "Hiya Luna! Are you here to surprise Twi too?" 

With the silence broken, Luna remembered her reason for coming. "Ah. Well, I wished to talk to you all about that. Twilight... has been under a lot of stress recently, so I believe it would be best to leave her be until at least after noon," Luna lied, with a too large smile. 

Applejack eyed her curiously, the lie plain as day. "Well, Princess, that's part of the reason we came. If she is so stressed, then we plan to help her relax the best we can," she explained as she started moving forward. 

Realizing that she had just attempted to lie to the element of honesty herself, Luna moved out of the way and shrugged. 'Well, I tried. Not very hard, I admit, but I tried. They were going to find out one day anyhow.' She internally giggled when she thought of what the five mares faces would look like when they opened the door. 'Good luck, Twilight. You might need it.' 

Luna's eyes went wide as she remembered what she had left behind in the dining room, and more importantly, with whom she had left it. "My waffles!" she shouted aloud as she teleported away. The five mares stood in confused silence, staring at where the alicorn had just been standing. 

Rainbow Dash was the first to speak, successfully saying what was on all of their minds, "What?" 

After a moment they all decided to just treat it as they would a Pinkie moment. Meaning they ignored it and promptly moved on. Opening the door, they peered inside. To say they were surprised at what they saw would be an understatement.





Twilight was in the most comfortable slumber she could remember. Her pillow being just the right mixture of soft, firm, and warm, making it the greatest pillow she had ever had. She was also surrounded by some of the most comfortable heaters she had ever been lucky enough to have.

She could have stayed like this all day if not for the pervading light that hit her eyes. With a groan, she shut her eyes tighter and tried to will it away. When it persisted, she attempted to convince her pillow to stop it. “Mphmi.” she mumbled to her pillow. The pillow didn’t react. Trying once again, she called out to her pillow. “Trixie.”

A small groan came from the pillow, telling Twilight that she had, at the least, been heard. Adjusting her head slightly she poked Trixie with her horn. “Trix.” Another poke and another groan. “Trixie. Go vanquish the light.”

A mumble came, followed by more mumbles that at least sounded like words. “Mhmi nus nh hanhi heho nw.”

"Trixiiie," Twilight nearly whined as she followed up with another poke, finally drawing an understandable answer from the mare, albeit not the one she wanted.

“Trixie does not vanquish before noon.” With that, Trixie fell back into both her slumber and self-appointed role as Twilight’s great and comfortable pillow.

The light continued to intrude upon Twilight’s sleep. Looking behind her, she found herself being used as a pillow, much as she had been using Trixie, so she decided to try again.

“Tavi?” Nothing. “Tavi, turn off the light, please.” Nothing aside from a slight stir.

’Ugh. Such a heavy sleeper,’ Twilight thought before trying her next option, who was being used as a teddy by Trixie. “Hey Vin-“ she stopped as she put more thought into her current option. ’She sleeps harder than Tavi.’

With a sigh, Twilight turned to her final option. She really didn’t want to go with this route since it would mean losing her amazing barrel warmer and current snuggle buddy.

“Finn?” Using her wing, Twilight poked at the mare.

“Finny?” Once more and she finally got a groggy response, but a response nonetheless.

“Ja?” The mare answered, her eyes still not open.

“Could you get the…” Twilight trailed off as she looked for where the light was coming from. “The door. Pleeeeease?”

With a yawn Twilight was answered. “Ja, ja. I vill.”

After a few steps, she finally made it to the door and was about to close it when she opened her eyes a bit more and found somepony familiar on the other side. “Ah. Hallo, Flootershy.”

Broken from a stupor, Fluttershy answered. “H-hello. Photo Finish. Um. How are you doing?” Fluttershy asked, unable to think of anything else.

Photo Finish turned her head slightly to look back at the bed. “Gut. Guten nacht, Flootershy,” she said as she sleepily shut the door and went back to the bed.

Finding her place in the bed again, she snuggled up to Twilight’s warm body.

Twilight noticed she no longer had to clamp her eyes shut and that Photo had returned. With a nuzzle and kiss to her cheek, she thanked the mare and put one of her warm wings over her as an extra thanks, quickly falling asleep.





On the other side of the door sat five very confused mares. They had just seen their friend surrounded by mares. They had suspected their friend swung that way, but to say that this confirmed their suspicions was like saying a toaster that had exploded into pieces was out of order.

“Do any of you think they’re still serving breakfast?” Rarity asked the group, never taking her eyes off the door.

“That sounds like a fine idea,” Applejack agreed, prompting the others to nod their heads in agreement, Pinkie being the only exception as she drew up party plans for Twilight and her mares. With that, they made their way to the dining room, hoping that the princesses had a left some food for them. They would deal with all this later.