Turning Back the Clock

by FlufferNutters

The Greatest Show in Canterlot (edited)

The sky is bright over Manehattan as the sunlight reflects off the reflective glass on the buildings and skyscrapers as the view shifts to the bustling sidewalks and streets of the city, people forming a sea of movement as Peanut Butter walks on the sidewalk, like a salmon going upstream.

"Hey Peanut Butter!" A young girl shouts behind him.

Peanut Butter turns around to see a young girl with red streaks in her hair wearing a green and red dress with white sneakers.

"Hey Cherry Blossom, what's up?" Peanut Butter asks.

"Just on my way to school, oh, my mom wanted me to give you this."

Cherry takes out a small brown bag and gives it to him. She smiles as they start to walk.

"Thank you Cherry, it means a lot that your mom would do this for me." Peanut Butter says.

"You're welcome."

"So, anything new?"

"We're supposed to get a new principal and vice principal today."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, their names are Prim and Proper."

"They don't sound that bad."

Cherry Blossom takes Peanut Butter’s hand and looks at him in the eyes.

"You know that offer with becoming my brother still stands, my family really likes you."

"I know, but, I'm just not ready yet, you know?"

"I understand."

"Tell her I said thank you though."

"Of course, what are friends for?"

The memory fades as a new one shows with snow falling at the sight of Cherry's school. He looks over the fence to see moving trucks in front of it.

"I haven't seen Cherry in weeks, I wonder if school had anything to do with it?" Peanut Butter asks himself.

The view suddenly changes to outside the school window as he looks to see small slides and toys be brought in as the room looks newly painted with decorations of animals and a circus on the walls. The floor is laminate tile flooring with rugs scattered about.

"Must be for the kindergartners." He assumes before hearing screams coming from the back of the school.

Peanut Butter hears the scream again as his head moves towards the back of the school from the second scream.

"Let go of me, someone, help!" The person screams in a plead for help.

Peanut Butter’s eyes go wide and starts running towards the noise.

"Cherry!" Peanut Butter shouts.

He runs faster and turns around the corner to see Cherry trying to run, but only managing to fall every few steps. He races to her and tries to pick her up. Her eyes go wide as she pushes him away. He tries to help her only to be met with more defiance.

"Peanut Butter, you have got to run, save yourself, please, for me." Cherry Blossom begs.

"I don't want to leave you behind."

"Just go!"

"I'll be back, I'm gonna save you."

Peanut Butter runs away just as other voices are heard in the distance.

The next scene is him hiding in a nearby bush as the voices spread through out the campus. The view blocked by leaves as he hides.

The memory fades again as he is seen inside a building playing around with wires in a dark room.

"Then this connects to here and I would have thirty seconds to get out." Peanut Butter says as he finishes capping off the wires and runs to hide in the near by woods.

Suddenly a loud boom could be heard on the roof as the lights in the school and three blocks are knocked out and birds fly from the near by area. Peanut Butter sneaks in, avoiding the guards and teachers as he goes through the building. He looks through the windows in the doors to see toddlers hiding in the corner of the room. After a couple minutes he sees one of the toddlers running in the halls, a girl. He sees her as his eyes go wide and chases her through the hall.

He catches up with her and gets in front of her.

"I finally found you Cherry, I told you I would be back." Peanut Butter says.

The girl cries as he hugs her.

"It will be okay Cherry, I'm gonna get you out of here."

The toddler continues to cry as Peanut Butter lets her go and steps back.

"You're scaring me Cherry, come on, let's go."

"She nor you are going anywhere." A woman says as she steps out of the shadows and into the light of a window.

"Who are you and what did you do to my friend Cherry?"

"My name is Prim, she's been reborn, just like you will be."

Peanut Butter pulls out a knife and holds it close to him.

"No!" He shouts.

"Too bad kid, we can't let you get away."

Just then Peanut Butter throws a couple spheres that blasted smoke as he runs into it, avoiding Prim's capture.

"Get him!" Prim shouts.

He runs down into the basement of the building as he goes back to the wires he was at earlier and messes with them some more.

"This is for Cherry you sick freaks." Peanut Butter mutters to himself as he caps the wires and runs.

Just as he reaches the forest another boom is heard as the boiler explodes causing smoke to flow out of the school. He continues to run into the city. One of the guards from the school sees him and chases him.

A few blocks down Peanut Butter turns into an ally with the guards giving chase, just then a man in a leather jacket covered with holes comes out of the shadows standing between them.

"Aren't you Prim's goons?" The man asks.

"Yeah, what's it to you?"

"You're on our turf, now get before I make you."

"That punk behind you blew up the boiler and a unit on the roof at Prim's school."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, we only want him."

"Sorry, no can do."

He whistles as more men showed up.

"Boys, let 'em have it."

They chase after the guards causing them to run. The man turns to Peanut Butter and kneels down to him.

"You owe me kid."

"I'll do whatever you want in return for helping me."

"How about you join our club?"

"Sure."

The memory fades out as it turns to black.

Sunset lets go of Peanut Butter and moves back a bit before hugging him.

"I see why you are the way you are now, it must have been hell for you."

"Yeah, losing my friend Cherry was the hardest thing for me after losing my family, I almost had a family again back then."

"You have one now."

"Yeah, and this time I won't lose it."

Peanut Butter gets up to grab a step ladder and places it next to his work bench before standing on it. He grabs some tools before he starts working on what was placed in front of him. Sunset tries to see what he is doing, but cannot get a good look.

"What are you working on?" Sunset asks.

"An EMP device."

"You're going to fry the chips aren't you?"

"I'm gonna try, they probably found a way to prevent it, but if I can knock out the receiver then we can save the others."

"And if that doesn't work?"

"If neither Twilight nor I can stop the signal by these means, I got a much louder plan in mind."

"You don't mean?"

"I don't plan on a body count, with two exceptions, but if it comes to it, I may need to cause another Manehatten with the broiler."

"There's other ways,"

"Like what, through magic?"

"Those would work."

"In case you forgot, most of your magic is gone."

A small bit of smoke is seen coming from the table.

"If you end up blasting the boiler and hurt our friends, I won't forgive you, ever."

"I'm trying to avoid that."

"So what is the rest of the plan?"

"We have options, though since this is so, close to me, we're going to be as under the radar as possible, we're getting our friends back first, and for that, we'll need these,"

Peanut Butter shows Sunset a black box with antennas sticking up and lights on the box.

"What is that?" Sunset asks.

"Transmission interrupter, any signal it gets from them will be blocked, it also has a homing signal to help find the source of the signal."

"How did you learn all this stuff?"

"Internet and The Changelings."

"Explains a lot."

"Yeah, I made enough for our friends and for Luna and Celestia."

"How will we get them on?

"Do it naturally, go to a bathroom and slap it on somewhere discrete."

"Got it, and if we fail?"

Peanut Butter sighs and looks away.

"If we fail, it's game over, for all of us."

Sunset gasps, leaning back slightly.

"Shocking, I know." Peanut Butter states sarcastically.

"I'll do it, I want my mom back as well as my friends."

"That's the spirit, and done."

Peanut Butter gets down from his work bench and faces Sunset. He gives her one of the black boxes he showed her earlier.

"Now to turn the chips off on Celestia and Luna, remember act natural." Peanut Butter explains.

"Got it."

They hide the chips under their sleeves and head back inside the house to see Luna and Celestia sitting in the living room watching TV. Celestia sees them and smiles softly at them.

"Hey you two, did you enjoy playing outside?"

The both nodded and opened their arms towards Celestia and Luna.

Celestia turns towards Luna and pokes her arm gently.

"Luna, someone wants attention." She says with a small smile.

Luna turns to see Peanut Butter's arms open towards her. She kneels down along with Celestia and hugs him as Celestia hugs Sunset.

Just then Peanut Butter and Sunset hug back and flip the switch on the chips on their necks. Luna and Celestia fall on top of them before waking up.

"Holy shit P.B., you just killed them!" Sunset shouts.

"Just wait, consider this a reboot of the brain from the chip."

Just then Celestia and Luna move and groan before suddenly getting up.

"Sunset?" Celestia asks.

"Peanut Butter?" Luna asks.

"Yes?"

"What happened to you two?"

"Long story, but, Prim and Proper turned all the students in the school into kids." Sunset explains.

Celestia and Luna both gasp as Peanut Butter turns his back on them crossing his arms in a self embrace with his head down.

“I tried to warn you about them, I tried to have us all leave before this all happened, but you didn’t listen and now look at us.” Peanut Butter explains, his voice cracking as his eyes well up.

Luna looks down, slightly teary eyed and kneels behind him, putting her hand on his shoulder.

“We’re so sorry P.B., we should have at least listened to you, can you forgive us?” Luna apologizes.

“I don’t know if I can right now, but we got larger problems to deal with currently.”

“Do you have a plan?”

“Yeah, Twilight gave me and Sunset an antidote to the gas that Prim and Proper used, for who we have to talk to, I’ll need to go back to my real age.”

“Who?”

“The Changelings, I wish there was another way, but we don’t have much to go on and we can get the antidote to everyone faster.”

“That’s insane!” Sunset shouts.

“I forbid this.” Luna states.

“Too late, I meet the queen in the morning.”

Just then Peanut Butter wraps a towel around him and pops the top of the vile off.

“Well, bottoms up.” He jokes as he raises the vile and drinks it.

After a couple minutes he starts to grow as the sound of ripping fabric is heard. His face looks strained as Peanut Butter grows to eighteen years old. He looks at himself from a mirror near by. His facial hair is grown out to cover his neck and jaw, meeting at the sideburns.

“Close enough, I’ll get my razor and my change of clothes I have stowed away.” He states as he makes his way upstairs.

Sunset goes to the bathroom to grab a towel and the second vile. She does what Peanut Butter did and grows up.

“Good to be back.” She exclaims.

A few minutes later they return to the living room, fully dressed in their pajamas before the regression. Peanut Butter is in flannel plaid pajama bottoms with a hoodie and shark slippers. While Sunset is wearing violet sweatpants and an orange hoodie with lavender colored slippers.

“After the meeting, Sunset and I will have to hide out here until things get set up.” Peanut Butter explains.

“What do we tell them?” Luna asks.

“Easy, we’re sick.” Sunset answers.

“Would they buy that?” Celestia asks.

“I’m pretty sure they would, it’s the season.” Sunset answers.

“I got a long day tomorrow, I’m going to sleep.” Peanut Butter states before going upstairs.

Everyone else follows suit and goes to sleep.

The following morning was foggy as Peanut Butter is sitting on a bench in the park wearing two jackets and a pair of jeans with his pajama bottoms sticking out of the legs sightly, looking out at the river. A tall woman with long green dyed hair wearing a tan overcoat and dress pants sits at the bench next to him.

“It’s been a long time hasn’t it?” She asks.

“It has been a long time Queen Chrysalis, I wish this was a casual meeting though.”

“Yes, your situation is quite unfortunate, however we haven’t discussed what I get in return.”

“I’ve been thinking about that, best I can think of is joining the hive again.”

“Tempting, however I have something in mind that is mutually beneficial.”

“That would be?”

“Their heads, you see, Prim and Proper have been intruding on our turf with their new gang.”

“And you want me to send a message.”

“Exactly, I’m quite surprised that you’d be willing to return and throw away everything here.”

“That just shows how far I’ll go to protect them.”

“Did you bring the vile?”

“Yes.” Peanut Butter answers before going into his coat pocket and pulls out a vile of the antidote and gives it to Chrysalis.

“Good, we’ll be in touch again when everything is ready.”

“Thank you for doing this.”

“It’s no problem, even if you aren’t a changeling member anymore, I still care about your well being, and you’re always welcomed back, but on your own terms.”

“That, means a lot.”

Chrysalis gets up and walks away and a couple minutes later Peanut Butter gets up and walks the other direction.

He gets home and shuts the door behind him and takes off his jacket and other layers. He sighs as Sunset comes out from the kitchen with a mug of hot chocolate.

“How did it go?” She asks.

“It went well.”

“So are you with them again?”

He shakes his head.

“We both have a common goal, after that goal is reached, we go our ways, she said I’m always welcomed, but I declined.”

“Okay.”

“So now starts out house arrest since we have to wait to hear back.”

“Why couldn’t we change the others back?”

“It would draw too much attention.”

“True, but I hate that we have to go into hiding like this.”

“Yeah, but I’m having Rarity make something special for this.”

“What is it?”

“You’ll see.”

“Wanna play Let’s Groove nineteen?”

“Sure, get it setup, I’m gonna get in on that hot chocolate action after I put away my extra layers, haha.”

Sunset nods as Peanut Butter goes upstairs and opens his bedroom door. His room looks more like his current age with a full sized bed, desk, shelves and a dresser along the wall and his computer. He has a couple posters on the walls as well as his daily affirmations next to his bed. He sighs and smiles before putting away his jeans and jacket and comes back downstairs and makes himself a mug of hot chocolate with marshmallows.

“Let’s do this.” Sunset affirms as she gives Peanut Butter the second controller.

About a two months pass as the weather warms up. Luna is home with Sunset and Peanut Butter. They are all sitting at the table. Luna sitting opposite on Peanut Butter.

“So they are about to make their move?”

“Yes, at the end of the school year they will ship them out.”

“And our friends?”

“They’ve been keeping low profiles but are getting antsy.”

“Just have to get the phone call to give us the green light.”

Just then Peanut Butter’s phone rings. He looks at the number and answers.

“Hello?” He answers.

“Yes.”

“They are going to make their move in about a month and a half.”

“So everything is set?”

“Permits and all?”

“Good, how long to set the tent up and get everything here?”

“Already on the way? Good.”

“How about the antidote?”

“Enough to reverse the effects on everyone? Perfect.”

“Okay, five days then.”

“Good, see you then.”

He hangs up and looks at Luna. His eyes joyful, but face stern.

“Five days is how long it’ll be before we take everything back.”

“Sunset, you have an important job, you have to sneak into the boiler room and disable the transmitter, we may have to blow the boiler to do it though.”

Sunset’s eyes go wide.

“But that will hurt people.”

“Why do you think I’m setting up this thing? No one should be there.”

“If there is?”

“Only ones to be there will be the enforcers, you can knock them out, but don’t worry if they become casualties.”

Sunset sighs.

“Fine, where will you be?”

“Well, every circus needs a ring leader and you know how I like to put on a show in front of them.”

“But you’ll get caught.”

“Not if they don’t see my face.”

“True, but what do you have planned?”

“You’ll see.”

Just then Celestia comes in with a clothes box and a tall hat box and shuts the door. She sets both on the table.

“Anything?” She asks.

“Five days, did they take the bait?”

“Hook line and sinker, the circus is coming to town and the whole school is coming.”

“Perfect.”

“So what’s in the box?”

“Why not I show you?”

Peanut Butter takes the boxes and goes upstairs.

A few minutes he comes down in a red tailcoat with black along the chest, gold colored cuffs, golden buttons, a white button down, black pants, white gloves, and black high boots. Sunset, Luna, and Celestia all go wide eyed.

“That looks amazing.” Sunset compliments.

“Thanks, I just have to paint the mask and it’ll be complete, the Changelings have the cane.”

He goes back up and comes back in his pajamas.

“It’s gonna happen, I can’t believe it, it’s almost over.” He confesses.

“We’ll be here for you when it’s over.” Luna assures.

“Wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Five days pass as the big day arrives and the stripped tent is standing tall as workers set up the tanks with tubes that lead into the fog machines. Peanut Butter has his outfit on with a mask that covers his face. The mask is white with black and gold markings around the edge with gold on one side and black on the other. He peeks out to see the students line up and taking their seats. He takes out his phone and texts Sunset.

Five minutes later his phone vibrates and he looks at the message. He nods and puts his phone away.

“Showtime.” Peanut Butter mentions before running inside, the thick fog covering his entrance.

The inside of the tent has three rings, as he jumps through the middle ring, cane in hand as the other performers are behind him dancing and some doing their acts of juggling, jumping through rings of fire, and acrobatics.

“Welcome ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls to the greatest show in all of Canterlot, we have a magnificent show for you all, I’m sure it will grow on you over time if you are not convinced.” Peanut Butter shouts, his voice warped.

He leaves the stage as performers take over.

A half hour later his phone goes off. He looks and nods with a smile under his mask. He puts it away and goes back on stage.

“We have no reached the climax of our show and we have a special treat for you all.” Peanut Butter announces as he presses the left side of the gem on his cane.

Just then a faint boom is heard in the distance, followed by the tent filling with fog at a expedient rate. Within a matter of seconds the sounds of screams fill the tent, then silence as the kids from before are now teens once more. Prim and Proper look around.

“No, no, no!” Prim shouts.

“How could this have happened, unless.” Proper schemes.

“There is one last surprise left ladies,” Peanut Butter states as he takes off his mask.

He looks at them, his green eye glowing.

“Surprise!”

Everyone gets up and change into clothes that were laid out for them.

“You!” Prim shouts.

“Bingo!”

“But how?” Proper asks.

“Faulty device, saved others, got antidote, not that hard really.”

“We’ll get you for this.” Proper threatens.

“Funny, the way I see it, there’s the two of you, and an army along with myself, you’re outnumbered, and I don’t believe in a fair fight.”

Prim and Proper run out and towards the school, Peanut Butter giving chase as he takes off the costume to show clothes underneath.

He reaches the school to see a large pillar of thick, black smoke billowing out of the building.

“P.B., here!” Sunset shouts as she tosses a bag.

He catches it and opens it to reveal a pair of boots and puts them on hastily.

“Let’s go.”

“Lead the way P.B.”

They both enter the school building as the tent erupts into chaos as students are fighting the enforcers while others try to escape and heading towards the school.

Author's Note:

I’ve been listening to A LOT of The Greatest Showman. That inspired this chapter and helped me get out of the rut I had with this story.