Beanery

by TCC56

5 Pairs Of Shorts

Author's Note:

Prompt/Prompt: Short Shorts (mix and match prompts and bonuses out of all those selected, all stories under 500 words.) (Primary prompt in caps lock first//bonus prompt second.)

REWIND // All four seasons of the year are depicted in the story
198 words

Snow blanketed the ground, thick, heavy and wet like a dog that had gone swimming. Seconds passed and it melted, revealing a riot of red and orange leaves scattered across the ground. Those, in turn, leapt into the air and attached themselves to the bare tree branches, creating a wide expanse of beautiful foliage.

Moments later, the bright fiery colors dimmed, easing into cooler greens as the world around them warmed. Warmed and beyond, turning sweltering as the temperature reached a peak. Then, slowly, it slacked off again and eased into a pleasant warmth accompanied by a gentle rain.

As the rains passed a minute later, the leaves shrank to tiny buds before retreating inside the branches. And as they did, the air turned chill and flakes of soft snow began to fall from the sky.

With the patience of a saint (and because she had no other choice), Twilight waited for Discord to get it out of his system. It took a good five cycles through before he turned to her gleefully. "Isn't it wonderful?"

"Discord," the Princess muttered, "When I said that the seasons were reversed in the southern hemisphere, that is not what I meant."

---

THE DUALITY OF A MARE // Someone is a changeling
213 words

Sunset Shimmer crept into the bedroom. Everything was going according to her plan - she was in the Palace without being spotted, her path back to the Mirror was clear and now she was inside the room of the Princess' student. All she had to do was snatch the Element of Magic away, and unlimited power would be hers!

Carefully sneaking forward, Sunset pulled out the counterfeit Element to replace the real one with. Just a quick swap and--

Her eyes widened as Sunset saw the pony in the bed. The Princess' prize personal student - Sunset Shimmer. Sunset stared at her own sleeping face in the bed, so overcome with shock that she dropped her fraudulent crown on the floor.

The clatter of plastic on crystal echoed like a cannon - and Sunset found the strange other her's eyes open.

Both were frozen, unsure of what to do - until both knew exactly what to do.

The standing Sunset lit her horn half a heartbeat too late as the one in the bed spit a glob of a horrific green slime. Instantly hardening, the slime trapped Sunset against the floor as her doppelganger climbed out of bed.

"I love it when loose ends tie themselves," hissed the fake as it advanced on the helpless Sunset Shimmer.

---

DINNER CONVERSATIONS // All four Princesses are present
122 words

Sunburst shifted uneasily in his seat.

Beside him, Twilight shifted uneasily in hers.

Both of their plates were full of some of the finest food in the kingdom - because no less would be expected of the Palace chefs - but neither was eating anything.

The cause for that would be the company at the table: three alicorns (Celestia; Luna; Cadance), three unicorns (Twilight Velvet; Night Light; Shining Armor) and one dragon (Spike). All seven were looking directly at Sunburst with an intensity that would melt stone.

Without taking her eyes off of the unicorn, Twilight Velvet stabbed a fork into her eggplant parmesan and slashed her knife across it to cut it down to size. "So," she evenly intoned, "You're dating my daughter."

---

TWO SIDES OF A COIN // Character acts drunk
188 words

"BECAUSE MAAAAAAAAAAAYBE!" Rainbow Dash had lost her volume knob and simply belted out the lyric. Normally she was quite capable, but the number of bottles around her feet demonstrated to even a casual observer why she currently couldn't carry a tune in a bucket full of glue.

"MAAAAAAAAAAAAAYBE!" came the echo from the other Rainbow Dash beside her.

"YOU'RE GONNA BE THE ONE THAT SAVES ME!" The first one leaned heavily on the shoulder of her double, even as both swayed dangerously.

"SAVES ME!" The second leaned back into the first, supporting both of them much as an archway does: falling into each other to create stability.

"AND AFTER AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL!"

Both joined in, holding their beer bottles high as they created the worst two part harmony yet heard. "YOU'RE MY WONDERWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL!"

Glowering, Applejack tried to strangle Pinkie Pie with her mind.

The other Applejack was more articulate. "Let's take the ponies out to a bar, she says." The farmer didn't stop glaring at Pinkie. "They've never been humans before, she says. I bet they don't have karaoke in Equestria, she says."

Helplessly, Pinkie Pie just shrugged and smiled.

---

IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT // Unsympathetic protagonist
205 words

Everything was fire.

What few things weren't were ash.

Everything that reasonably could have burned incinerated days ago, leaving only things that could only burn unreasonably. Bricks, sand, metal… creatures caught a second too long under the sun that covered the entire sky from horizon to horizon.

Each hour, each minute it grew, though now there was no true way to tell as there was nothing left above beyond the raging fire. No creature that remained knew how much time was left before it consumed earth as well as sky.

Deep below the surface - down further than light could reach, deep enough that the searing heat was only sweltering and the all-pervasive light was just an afterimage when you closed your eyes - a tiny pegasus sat on her throne. At the foot lay an alicorn - mighty, gleaming like light itself, and throughly, entirely beaten. Celestia could barely raise her head for the injuries she had taken - bruises, burns, abrasions. But she still managed to fix Cozy Glow with one eye.

"Please," she begged. "With just a mote of magic--"

But the filly hardened her heart and would not be moved. "Better my kingdom burn," she declared, "Than it not be mine."