Sea Turtles and Pancakes

For the rest of their REM sleep Princess Luna made sure the foals had a safe but fun experience in my Equestria dreamscape. Therefore the princess made sure the foals encountered the more benign inhabitants of the Sea of Dreams.

     This didn't mean that foals experience was boring. Far from it, and for the rest of the evening they met a diverse selection individuals and species. Some the foals found interesting, others confusing, but one in particularly fascinated the foals.

     As the school of seaponies were headed toward another section reef Luna spied a group individuals swimming towards herself and her charges. A smile grew her face as bale of sea turtles joined their formation for a few minutes.

     The CMC, including their newest member Stone Mane, were thrilled and spent next half hour cavorting around the reef with their newfound friends. The sea turtles seemed to be as curious of the ponies and often entered the foals formation and swam with them.

     However eventually Luna had to bring the foals adventure to an end. It was important to for them to descend below REM sleep to get proper night's rest. One advantage of REM sleep was that time progressed at a very different rate than in waking world. So even though only a couple of hours had passed in the waking world. It had seemed like an entire day had passed for the sleeping foals. Also it meant Luna could get some proper sleep herself.

     So as Celestia's rising orb heralded the start of the new day it found everypony in the CMC clubhouse asleep. In light of the special occasion AJ and Big Mac had agreed to pick up Applebloom and Stone Mane's early morning chores so they could sleep in a bit today. Still at around 6am everypony in the clubhouse was woken by the sound of Granny Smith ringing the triangle meal bell. Sleepy eye the foals and the alicorn woke to greet the new day. Gold shafts of sunlight peeked through Rarity's newly made clubhouse curtains filling the space with a soft golden light.

     Luna yawned and opened her eyes as she stretched her front legs. Looking around the interior of the clubhouse she found the 4 foals stirring. With her normal frumpled mane she looked over at a bleary eyed Applebloom.

     "Morning Little Bloom. Yawn! It appears your family is calling us to breakfast."

     "Morning yer Highness." She looked over Stone Mane who was beginning to stir in his sleeping bag. Glancing back Applebloom watched as the princess climbed out of her sleeping bag and doing further stretches. There barely enough room for Luna to completely open her wings. The filly rubbed her eyes with a front hoof. "Yeah Granny said she'd be doing baked pancakes fer breakfast."

     The Princess of the Moon froze in mid stretch and looked down at the filly. "Did you say baked pancakes?"

    Applebloom slowly climbed out of her sleeping bag as the remaining foals woke themselves. Shaking further sleep dust from her head the filly she looked up at Prussian Blue alicorn. "Yep! Granny doesn't make them often cuz they're a heap more work ta make than plain old pancakes, but she figgered this get tagther was worth it!"

    A smile slowly grew across the mare's face. "So these are the delightful, big, puffy type?!"

     "Uh yeah. Morning Stone." The filly looked over at her colt as he scrambled out of his own sleeping bag. The colt yawned then looked at Applebloom.

     "Morning Thumper. Did I hear that we're having pancakes for breakfast?"

     "Baked pancakes!" The princess said with enthusiasm.

     "Oh! I like pancakes!" Sweetie said as she and Scootaloo scrambled out their sleeping bags. "Are these the apple ones that Granny made at New Years?"

     Applebloom sat down and started looking for her mane brush and bow. "Yep! We'll want to mosey up there soon. If we don't my big stupid brother will eat all of them."

     "You're joking?" Luna looked at the filly.

     Fiddling to get her bow into her mane the filly looked up at the princess. "Nope!"

     Alarm danced across the princess's face. Taking Applebloom's warning as legit. The alicorn's horn suddenly flared and everypony in the clubhouse was suddenly enveloped in a globe of night. With a hiss and a pop the globe and its occupants vanished. The globe materialized in the dining room of Sweet Apple Acres startling Applejack who setting the table.

     "Ah! Sun and Moon! Uh, good morning yer highness!"

     "Good morning!" Said the princess. Luna then immediately trotted in the kitchen leaving the disoriented foals who were now swaying from side-to-side in dining room. Applebloom was the only foal there who'd experienced teleportation before. Confident that foals would quickly recover from the new experience the alicorn left them in AJ's care."

    Granny Smith was gently stirring the apple slices that were now stewing in a pot along with brown sugar, water, butter, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, lemon zest, and ground cloves. She raised an eyebrow when Luna came trotting into the kitchen with her frumpled bed mane and tail. Setting the spoon down she addressed her guest.

    "Mornin' ta ya yer Highness. What got ya outta bed so quick taday?"

     "Is it true you're making baked pancakes for breakfast?" The princess said while starting to prance in place.

     The matriarch grinned. "That I am! Let me guess. Does her Highness have a hankering fer sum pancakes?"

    Luna nodded her while continuing prance in place. "Yes! Very much! I have tried to convince the Palace Kitchen make them more often, but so far I've strangely met resistant to the idea. They say they're too rustic for Princesses. And the ones that have been produced have been most unsatisfactory."

    Granny made a dismissive sound while waving a front hoof. " Pffft! Pancakes r' fine fer anypony! Don't matter if yer rich or poor! They ain't hard ta make, and yer kitchen shouldn't have any trouble making them. It's just tricky here cuz I've got one oven and few pans ta make them in!" She grinned at the alicorn. "Let me guess. Yer gonna want more than one?"

    Luna nodded her head. "Yes! Two please!"

    Granny made a dismissive wave. "Okay I got yer order. Now yer Highness would please leave the kitchen I'll git them started fer ya."

     "Thank you!" With that the alicorn turned and left the kitchen. Granny chuckled to herself after she'd left. Didn't matter how rich or powerful they were. All ponies loved good food.

To be continued.

Edit. If you're curious Granny Smith is effectively making what are sometimes referred to as a Dutch Baby. Here's a Link to a recipe. The stewed apples are almost like apple pie filling Link but with a bit less sauce.