Chapter 4: Breakfast at Hinny's
So there'll be a few more chapters of this than I really planned for. Ah well. 
"Pinkie. Pinkie! Wake up, Pinkie!"
"—zzz...but I don't wanna be a virgin sacrifice! That's fun for everybody but the virgin!"
"PINKIE!"
"Hwah—AH!" Pinkie shot to her feet on top of her bed and started kicking left and right. Her antics caused Rainbow Dash to stagger back, colliding with Twilight, who went down with a surprised wail and a panicked flailing of arms. By the time Pinkie was awake enough to take stock of the situation, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Rarity were splayed out on the floor in a complex tangle of limbs. Pinkie blinked. "Aww, you guys started Twister without me?"
Three pairs of annoyed eyes glared up at her. "Get dressed," Rainbow said. "We were all gonna go out to breakfast."
Pinkie's eyes widened. "Omigosh!" she hopped down off the bed and started throwing clothes out of her closet.
Rarity extracted herself from the pile on the floor, stood, and straightened herself, fixing her hair in the mirror on Pinkie's dresser. "Really, Pinkie Pie, you simply must learn to wake up in a civilized fashion."
"Yeah, Pinkie," Rainbow grumbled as she got to her feet and helped Twilight up. "Your Kung Fu Pussy Beam was kinda funny the first two times, but it's gettin' kinda old now."
Twilight blinked. "Kung...Fu...Pussy...Beam?"
Rarity's cheeks flushed. "You...er...you had to be there, darling."
"So where're we going for breakfast?" Pinkie asked as she put on a clean pair of panties.
"Probably Hinny's," Rainbow said. "Everywhere else is too crowded on a weekend."
* * * * *
It took over half an hour for Twilight to wake up Ember while the other girls got dressed. Once she was finally awake, Ember ran a hand through her hair and laughed. "Sorry," she said. "Dragon, y'know? We wake up slow." She yawned. "So, what's the plan?"
"Soon as you're dressed, we're going out for breakfast," Sunset said. "We'll go to Hinny's because it's cheap and not as crowded as the other places will be today."
"You have Hinny's here?" Twilight and Starlight asked at the same time. They looked at each other, blinked, and giggled.
"I'm missing the joke, aren't I?" Moondancer asked with a sour frown.
"Sorry, it's..." Twilight stifled a giggle. "There's not one in Canterlot because Canterlot's, well, Canterlot, but a lot of other cities in Equestria have a Hinny's. Manehattan, Whinnyapolis, Las Pegasus, Fillydelphia..." She shook her head. "One time my friends and I had this absolute disaster of a trip to Hoofston, and we ended up parking our flanks at Hinny's for three hours until the staff finally asked us to mosey along."
Sunset snickered. "Yeah, there's a joke in this world. Nobody ever goes to Hinny's, they just end up there." She stretched. "But their breakfast menu's good."
Ember raised an eyebrow. "Any place that has an ominous reputation in two different worlds has to be worth checking out."
"Prepare to be underwhelmed," Starlight said.
* * * * *
"I'm underwhelmed," Ember said.
The five girls had taken the bus across town, which had been an...interesting experience. Moondancer and Starlight Glimmer had expressed mortal terror during the entire ride, Twilight had been excited because she'd never actually ridden a bus before, and Ember had slept for most of the trip.
"Okay, I don't know anything about this world's culture, but this place kinda looks...manufactured," Starlight said with a frown.
"Yeah, they pretty much all look the same," Sunset said. "Same chairs, same tables, same booths, same counter, that same neon sign in the kitchen, even the same pictures on the walls." She shrugged. "I think it's supposed to let you know you're getting exactly what you expect, or something. Like no matter where you are, Hinny's is the same everywhere."
"This is what you call not crowded?" Moondancer muttered, shifting awkwardly. A faint buzz of chatter and consumption noises rose from the half-full diner, and servers were bustling to and fro, carrying trays and refilling coffee.
"Trust me, it'd be worse at Panwaffle Shack," Sunset said as she led the group to the line of customers waiting to be seated. It was a short line; there was a family of three right in front of them. A server greeted them and led them away; the girls moved up and waited for the next greeter.
They'd been waiting almost a minute when the door opened behind them, and a loud gasp sucked half the air out of the diner. "SUNSET SHIMMER!" a high-pitched voice cried enthusiastically.
Sunset blinked, as did Twilight. Starlight's eyes widened. As did Moondancer's.
The five girls turned to see the group of six that had just walked in.
Starlight's jaw dropped. "No way..."
Twilight grinned. "Hey girls!" she said, waving enthusiastically. Her gaze fell onto the native Twilight, and her grin dimmed slightly, taking on a forced edge. "And...hi, Twilight...who isn't me...gosh, that's still weird..."
Twilight adjusted her glasses and gave Twilight a sheepish wave. "Hi...again," she said.
Ember looked between the two Twilights, raising an eyebrow. "Okay, that's trippy."
Sunset smiled. "Hey girls! Didn't expect to run into you here!"
"Well, y'know, everything else is full on a Saturday," Rainbow Dash said. "Hey Twilight!" She looked at the other girls. "'Sup?"
"Moondancer, Starlight, Ember, meet the human versions of my Ponyville friends...and me," Twilight said.
"It's one thing to hear about it, it's another to see it for yourself," Starlight said.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," a voice called from behind Sunset. "Welcome to Hinny's! How many..." The girls turned as the server trailed off, her eyes wide as she looked over the group. "Shit," she said. "Umm...you're...you're not all together, are you?"
"Yeah, I guess we are," Princess Twilight said. "I mean, we're all friends, we should have breakfast together, right?"
"Breakfast at Hinny's Party!" Pinkie Pie yelled enthusiastically.
"Uhh, girls? I'm not even sure they can seat eleven..." Twilight said doubtfully, adjusting her glasses.
The server plastered on a huge, falsely cheerful smile. "I...think we can push together a few tables for four," she said, looking out into the dining room. "Would you excuse me for juuuuuuust a minute?" she rushed off, grabbing another server by the arm. She pointed at the group, then started whispering hurriedly.
"Ah think we dun goofed," Applejack muttered.
The two servers had a quick, heated exchange. The second server threw up her hands, then started helping the first server move a group of empty, not entirely clean tables at the center of the diner. Some of the patrons looked on curiously. Once they'd managed to assemble three tables into a table for twelve, the second server hurriedly wiped everything down while the first server rushed back, a huge stack of menus in her arms. "Riiiiight this way," she said in an overly syrupy voice.
The girls shrugged and followed her, seating themselves; the five Equestrians took one side of the joined table, while the six natives took the other side. The server hurriedly passed out menus, then pulled out a notepad. "I'm Syrupy Sweet, I'll be your server this morning...well, one of your servers," she amended. "Let me just get you started with something to drink?"
The girls placed their drink orders, and Syrupy Sweet bustled off. A few feet away, they heard her call out, "Sour Sweet? I'm gonna need your help, we got a huge table in just now."
"Well that's wonderful!" an overly sugary voice said. Sunset and the six native girls froze, eyes wide. Seconds later, the same voice, much closer to their table, muttered, "Oh you gotta be fucking kidding me."
"Oh! H-hey! Sour Sweet," Twilight said nervously. "I...didn't know you worked here!"
"Well of course you didn't!" Sour Sweet said. "Because you don't really know me," she added. Smiling brightly, she produced her own pad and pencil. "What can I get you all?"
It took the girls several minutes to decide what to order, during which time Sour Sweet's mercurial temper warbled through several cycles of false sweetness and bitter, barely-suppressed rage. When she finally wandered off, Ember snorted. "Well she's a pain in the ass," she said.
"Be nice," Starlight chided in an almost bored tone. She looked across the table and smiled brightly. "So! Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack...and Twilight." She toyed with a napkin. "I have to say, even though Twilight told me all about you girls, and we already met Rarity yesterday..." She laughed lightly. "Seeing all of you here, in these crazy bodies..." She shook her head. "It's...a little overwhelming." She glanced between the two Twilights, then added, "Especially with this going on."
"Yeah, none of us are used to seein' both Twilights in the same place yet," Applejack said with a chuckle.
"So," Rarity said lightly, "what are you girls planning to do today?"
"Not really sure yet," Sunset said. "Just sightseeing, y'know? Thought I'd show them around town, maybe see what kind of trouble we can get into." She smiled. "You're welcome to join us if you want."
"Can't," Rainbow said. "I've gotta get to baseball practice in a couple of hours."
"Gotta go home for a family thing by lunch," Pinkie said.
"Meetin' Big Mac at th' feed store when Ah leave outta here," Applejack said.
"I have to work at the boutique at eleven," Rarity said apologetically.
"Animal shelter," Fluttershy put in.
All eyes turned to Twilight, who blinked behind her glasses. "Oh," she said. "I...I guess I don't have anything too important to do," she said. "I could...I guess I could join you."
"Yay!" Pinkie said happily, grabbing one hand of each Twilight and slapping them together. "Purple Twin Powers Activate! Form of...a bookworm! Shape of...ANOTHER bookworm!" She collapsed back into her chair, giggling hysterically.
Everyone stared at her.
Both Twilights blinked in confusion. "I don't get it," they said simultaneously.
This set Ember off snickering, which in turn spread to the entire table. By the time Syrupy Sweet and another server brought trays laden with drinks, the entire table was lost in helpless giggles.
"Enjoying yourselves, girls?" Syrupy Sweet asked as she started placing the drinks in front of each girl. She smiled at the two Twilights. "You two must run your parents crazy," she said with a giggle. "I can't even begin to imagine what it'd be like if Sour and I were twins."
"Oh, we're not—" Twilight began.
Princess Twilight held up a hand and returned Syrupy's smile. "We're easy enough to tell apart," she said. "She wears glasses and always has her hair up, I don't and always have mine down, and we don't really do that twin thing because Mom and Dad can always tell. Right, sis?"
Twilight blinked at her. "Oh. Um. Right," she said.
Syrupy laughed. "Well, your food will be out before too long," she said. "I'll be by to check on you in a bit!"
As she wandered off, Twilight looked at Princess Twilight with wide, startled eyes. "Why?" she hissed.
Princess Twilight smirked. "Why not? What's the point trying to explain it when we'd just be holding her up from doing her job? Besides," she added with a giggle, "if people think we're twins, that makes it easier on us, right?"
Twilight blinked. "Well...I guess so," she hedged.
"If I ever get to hang out with the other Pinkie Pie, I'm painting my entire body white, bleaching my hair gold, and introducing myself as Surprise," Pinkie said. At everyone's confused stares, she rolled her eyes. "Because I look like my granny, Surprise Pie?"
"If you say so," Applejack said.
Sour Sweet wandered over. "Hiiiii," she said sweetly. "It's going to take just a bit longer to get your food out because the kitchen wasn't expecting eleven orders all at the same time." With that, she stalked off again, swinging a coffee pot and nearly splashing scalding coffee all over the place.
Princess Twilight blinked. "Wow. Touchy."
"She's always like that," Pinkie Pie said with a frown. "We met her at the Friendship Games. She either needs to get laid or pull out whatever's stuck up wherever."
"Pinkie Pie!" Rarity scolded. Clearing her throat, she added delicately, "I do believe the poor thing has a mental health issue of some sort."
"Friendship Games?" Ember asked.
"An academic and athletic competition Canterlot High School has with its rival Crystal Prep Academy every four years," Sunset Shimmer explained. "Twilight went to Crystal Prep until the Friendship Games. Then she transferred to CHS after..." She hesitated, then finished, "after she met all of us."
"After I turned into a horrifying winged monster and tried to destroy reality," Twilight said quietly, bowing her head.
"And none of us hold that against you, darling," Rarity said primly, patting Twilight's hand. "Think nothing more of it." With a smile, she turned to Princess Twilight. "So! Do tell us what you've been up to since the last time you visited! I mean, the last time you properly visited."
"Oh! Well. I've been keeping busy," Princess Twilight said. "I have a new student, I've been making new friends, reconnecting with old friends, helping solve friendship problems, sending my friends across Equestria to spread the magic of friendship..." She sighed. "Having lots and lots and lots of meetings and formal parties..." She smiled tiredly. "Don't get me wrong! I love being a princess. I love helping ponies. I love organizing lots of events and having lots of meetings where important things are discussed."
Starlight stared flatly at her. "Twilight, you spent three days last week meeting with the hay board about changing the official size of standard hay bales by three quarters of an inch."
"Three quarters of an inch of hay is a day's food for a family of three!" Princess Twilight protested. Then she sighed. "Okay, so maybe that hay meeting was boring even for me."
"So you eat hay?" Rainbow asked, tilting her head.
"Well...yeah!" Princess Twilight said. "I mean, it's not all I eat, but we are ponies."
"Just for the record, I don't eat hay," Ember said. "I eat gemstones."
Rarity stared at her. "Eat...gemstones?" She swooned; Applejack caught her.
"You know, I saw a llama eating hay the other day," Pinkie said. "Evilly eating hay."
Rainbow laughed. "Oh yeah, that video! I guess it did look a little evil."
Princess Twilight facepalmed. "What is it with Pinkie Pies and evilly eating hay?"
"I don't evilly eat hay!" Pinkie protested. "Does your Pinkie evilly eat hay?"
"No, she doesn't!" Princess Twilight said. "Not unless you call covering it in sugar evil."
"Well I evilly eat gems," Ember said cheerfully. "I'm a dragon, we do everything evilly."
Fluttershy paled. "D-dragon?" she squeaked.
Princess Twilight rolled her eyes. "Ember's teasing," she said. "Sure, a lot of dragons can kinda be jerks, but Ember's not like most dragons."
The food began trickling in, then, though it took ten minutes for every girl at the table to be served, with Ember's meal arriving last. Fluttershy, Twilight, and Applejack each had a fairly standard breakfast consisting of two pancakes, two sunny-side-up eggs, two strips of bacon, and a scoop of hash browns. Rarity had a crisp golden waffle with syrup, a poached egg, and two sausage links. Rainbow and Princess Twilight each had a huge omelette stuffed with sausage, bacon, veggies, and cheese. Pinkie Pie's breakfast was similar to Applejack's, except that her pancakes were drizzled with cinnamon syrup and glaze. Moondancer and Starlight Glimmer had the most simple breakfasts, consisting of blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs, and hash browns. Sunset Shimmer had a grilled cheese sandwich stuffed full of ham and scrambled eggs, with hash browns on the side. Ember's breakfast, however, came served on a sizzling hot iron skillet, and consisted of a skewered bits of sizzling steak resting atop a bed of roasted peppers, onions, mushrooms, and potatoes. A smoky-sweet-smelling sauce coated the beef, and two fried eggs sat on the plate.
"Holy crap that looks good," Rainbow said, eyeing Ember's breakfast. "I may have to come back tomorrow and try one of those."
"Share some of yours and I'll share some of mine," Ember said. "Friends do that, right? Still new to the whole friendship thing."
The next half hour saw the girls swapping bites of breakfast back and forth, trying a little of everything, making light conversation all the while. By the time the last morsel had been consumed, it was a quarter of ten.
Rarity pushed her plate away and dabbed her mouth primly. "Well, it was lovely meeting you all," she said as she dug some bills out of her wallet. "We simply must do this again sometime."
"Yeah, this was fun!" Pinkie said as she chipped in. One by one, the native girls and Sunset added to the pile of money on the table.
Starlight frowned. "We...don't have any money," she said.
"Relax, I've got it covered," Sunset said. "You're my guests, after all!"
"Yeah, but still—"
"Don't worry about it," Sunset repeated firmly. She sighed. "Well, soon as I settle up, I guess we'll head out and figure out where to go next."
"Have fun, y'all," Applejack said as she stood up. "Ah gotta git goin'. Later!"
"I as well," Rarity said.
"Time to bounce!" Rainbow declared.
"I should get going too," Fluttershy said.
"Have fun, girls!" Pinkie said as she waved.
In minutes, Sunset, Starlight, Moondancer, Ember, and the two Twilights were left alone at the table.
Sunset looked around at the girls, smiled, and said, "So! Ready to go have some fun?"
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And this is a bad thing how?
The diner scene made me laugh.
Though for some reason, I kept expecting Pinkie to comment about "all day breakfast".
That was a nice surprise having both groups meet at the same diner. Sour Sweet showing up was a a surprise too, but I would of thought she would be a little more confused about there being two Twilights.
Only you, Moth.
"Panwaffle Shack." I can only imagine the slogan. "We sell waffles. All waffles."
These poor girls had better be getting an amazing tip.
Huh. Does Hinny's discriminate based on name appropriateness, or is this just a coincidence?
... Ah, they're siblings. That explains things. Is Syrupy the one marching band girl from Friendship Games?
In any case, more of this story definitely isn't a bad thing. I look forward to seeing what you do with it, especially with a token human tagging along.
Sour Sweet does definitely need a good time. (if only I could offer my services)
Still, this is coming together quite nicely, and turned out better than I thought.
That was... strange.
Yes, I do believe I'm looking forward to the Twilights interacting.
Yay! This updated!
And wow author. Just wow. That diner scene was very amusing
Thanks Moth. Now I want waffles... And I'm all out of waffles!
This is the worst possible thing
Ah, the post-sleepover breakfast trip. Good times.
Is this a reference to Llamas with Hats, Eddie Izzard, neither, or both?
Sour Sweet has a day job at a restaurant? No wonder she's cranky.
Fuck you lot, I'm going to Denny's!
7635964 what do you mean with that i work in a restaurant in rl and its kinda fun and the boss is incredibly nice same with the other employees
Now I'm curious....
7635931 And I have a craving for one of those omelettes.
Good thing I decided to read all of these chapters now. In fact, I imagined the actual characters talking as I read and it certainly was an interesting experience. Glad to hear that this will be going on for a few more chapters.
Hey, I had that last time I went to Dennys!
7635850
Hadn't considered that, I just picked a name and thought she'd be Sour Sweet's college-age older sister. That works too though if you like it better.
7635963 Neither. It's a reference to the first Zecora episode, except with a llama instead of a zebra. Because llamas are funny.
7636100 If I ever have a chance to go to Denny's I'm SO getting that.
(Actual chances of Moth going to Denny's: 0%.
)
7636028 Apologies, different people clearly have different experiences with particular jobs.
My thoughts on working in a restaurant tend towards the belief that it's a fast-paced one, where people can (and do) complain about their meal or otherwise raise a fuss. And that's ignoring occasions where you're called in to work extra shifts for whatever reason and find yourself exhausted in the process, as a friend of mine can attest with her job at an Olive Garden. It's not the sort of job that I'd enjoy.
Granted, I don't really enjoy the job that I work at anymore, but I'm grumpy.
7636169 you made me hungry.
Damn good food!
Amazing chapter.^^ Though, figured Sour Sweet had become a bit... sweeter, after the Friendship Games. ...to an extent anyways.
Other than that, this was an amazing chapter, and I'm very glad to see you continuing it.:D
You say that as if it were a bad thing.
7636028 Well yes, but you don't work in a US American restaurant (assuming you really are German), where workers are treated like crap, have no rights and don't even get paid a real wage.
7636121 Sad dude, sad, so sorry about the Denny's chances.
7635972
Status report: I am well fed, but broke.
The idea of Pinkie Pie cosplaying Surprise somehow seems right, especially when you realise that Lauren Faust originally wrote her as Surprise, the Gen1 pegasus of parties.
This was a nice little chapter that addressed a lot of issues and had one scene that I desperately want to see happen in Equestria Girls - Princess Twi passing her and Sci-Twi off as identical twins to save time on an explanation that no-one would believe anyway. I really think that you're getting all the characters' personalities right.
The thing I'd like to see? Sci-Twi, the Princess, Moondancer and Starlight get into Sci-Twi's new lab and decide that the time has come to do SCIENCE!
The idea of Sour Sweet having a sister who is nice-nice instead of nasty-(fake) nice has a... circularity about it. Now... I wonder if they'll run into Sour's BF, Second Person?
Do I even WANT to know?
Yes, well, I-hang on, say that again?
One more time?
OK, so I didn't read that wrong. So, do I even want to know?
Uh, context?
I'm with Ember here.
Panwaffle Shack, I, don't know what to say to that.
I can only imagine.
Yes.
Sour Sweet works here, interesting.
That's because you're more two faced than Two-Face, and being two faced is his whole SHTICK.
That, and writing that many characters at once would no doubt be a massive headache.
Eh?
She has a point.
Sure, that's why.
As mercurial as she is, she has a point.
Cheers to that.
Ya don't say?
Her normal form is that of a pony, herbivorous diet.
Eh?
Only via the magic of MythrilMoth can this conversation make more or less total sense.
This should be fun.
I'd really like to Sunset's group run into human Trixie and human Lyra.
7636488
This is a reference to the Wonder Twins, characters made up for the old Superfriends cartoon. Honestly, given the title, I'm surprised that there aren't more references to it.
And now I'm picturing Princess Twilight as Batmare, with Starlight as Robin.
In my neck of the woods they don't have a Hinny's, but they do have several ICLOPs, and we say that exact same thing about how nobody "goes" there.
You'd think Sour Sweet would be delighted at the 20% auto gratuity that you can put on large parties. Celestia knows it's the only way she' ll ever get a 20% tip.
7636278 yes i am really and maybe part russian or scandinavian or both but yeah i live in germany
7636169 it greatly depends in what town you work and all and tourists say our waiters are rude but they arent they are just professional and most here whould find it annoying if an employee whould constantly try to talk to us i find it annoying too
7636537 That would be fun, or even Flash Sentry. Then he could see the two Twilights together for himself and the girls could talk about Princess Twilight's crush on him.
7636907 Mileage will clearly vary then.
7636537 That would be interesting... doubly so if Human Trixi knows the local Human Starlight already.
And Twi said "What about, Breakfast at Tiffany's?"
And Sunset said "it's, a romantic film."
And, Ember said "Romance? I don't think I'd like it"
And Sci-Twi said "No, you probably would not."
7637392 Exactly what i was thinking, Human Starlight would be a friend of human Trixie's that moved away for some reason a while before Sunset showed up at CHS.
7636436 My headcanon (for what it's worth) is that Sour Sweet's sister is the head majorette in the pep ralley song in Friendship Games.
Oh jings, I've got another headcanon. I'm starting to think I watch too much pony.
Hi
7636436 I think you are forgetting that Sunset Shimmer also likes to get her SCIENCE! on, even if we only see it in that one short and she didn't get anywhere with it.
That is the best description of Denny's I've ever heard.
The Equestria Club is now officially The Breakfast Club. In more ways than one.
You were making that joke from the beginning, right?
7639771 It didn't occur to me that Hinny's was a ponyfied Denny's until this comment, but I agree that is a apt description for Denny's
7637819 Wow... you look AMAZINGLY well preserved considering you're somebody's/somepony's grandmother.
"Let's not go to that Hinny's, let's go to the good Hinny's across town."
Why is it that there's always one Denny's that seems better than the others?
This chapter reminded me that me and my family need to go to a Denny's again at some point.
7635854
They have a fic about that...And, Mythril, you read the "Sour Sweet is Schizophrenic?" fic?
7653475
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/305553/sour-n-sweet-n-pretty
This one, for those who don't know.
Alright! New day, new adventure! It's time to press B to Blow. Their. MINDS.