Author's note: In this series, we take a look at what various MLP characters would ask if they could see alternate realities based on a question of "what if...?" Enjoy the first chapter, inspired by one of my favorite 80's cartoons, Muppet Babies, or one of my favorite 90'c cartoons, Rugrats! (Whatever floats your boat). The pre what if segment is from the POV of my OC from Equestia's New Comedian, Chuck.
Ponyville Daycare's New Comedian
"You're probably all wondering why I called you here." Twilight said as we gathered around, she had called for Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Starlight, and I for something.
"Well, I did leave work where I make money for this, so yes." I nodded.
"What did you want to tell us Twilight?" Starlight asked.
"Yeah? What's going on?" Rainbow Dash nodded.
"I've figured out a new spell!" She exclaimed. "And I think you'll all get a kick out of it."
"Oooh! Sounds exciting!" Pinkie smiled. "What's it do?"
"Simple! If you ask it a "what if" question, it can show you that reality! Anything from a minor decision at one point down to one gigantic difference!" She explained, we all exchanged looks and nodded feeling intrigued by the discovery.
"Sounds mighty interestin' Sugarcube." Applejack said. "But what's the use of it?"
"Anything you really want! The possibilities are almost endless on account of all the different factors of life, any change in a single one could offer up an entirely different story than the one we're living now!" Twilight explained.
"That was border-lining onto meta humor, but I'll let it slide." I chuckled.
"So, who has a question?" Twilight asked. Pinkie looked at me for a moment.
"What about it Chuckie?" She asked. "We'd finally know the answer!" She said.
"I was thinking the same thing." I nodded. "I've got one." I said.
"Alright Chuck! Let's hear it." Twilight said as she stirred up the potion.
"Alright." I nodded as I approached the cauldron. "What would it would be like if we all knew each other when we were little?" I asked the potion. It had been a heavy piece of conversation between Pinkie and I the day before when we were watching the little Cake twins, this was a perfectly convenient way to find out just what it'd be like.
"Good question!" Twilight said. "Now let's see what the answer is, shall we?" A large cloud erupted from the cauldron and lit up like a screen, about to show us the answer to the question.
"Five bits say you hate my guts." I chuckled to Pinkie as it began.
"We'll just have to see." She giggled.
Hypothetical Ponyville; roughly twenty years ago
"I'd like to congratulate you gentlecolts." A young Chuck grinned at two of his friends at Ponyville Daycare, one a yellow earth pony colt with thick glasses and a puffy brown mane, the other a stockier tan earth pony with a short and wavy black mane. These were Cheese Sandwich and Quibble Pants respectively.
"It wasn't easy Chuck, I'll tell you that much." Quibble said. "I had to trade those no good Flim Flam brothers in the big foals room my yo-yo and two bits for it."
"With the bits we'll be makin' once I put this baby into action will be enough for ten thousand yo-yos my friend!" Pre school Chuck grinned as he held the object, this object was Nanny Cheerilee's basement key for the daycare. "Every day for the past forever what have I said I've been spendin' my allowance on?" He asked them.
"Juice boxes and soda." The two said in unison.
"And today it pays off!" He grinned. "Come nap time, we'll use this baby and we'll finally be able to open up "Chuckie's Juice Box", and we'll make a fortune and a half! We're talking every juice box and soda you can imagine, and we'll be selling them!" He laughed. "This is too brilliant." Suddenly, Nanny Cheerilee walked into the room and called out to the little foals in the nursery, Chuck quickly hid the key in his large puffy mane.
"Good morning my little ponies!" Cheerliee smiled.
"Good morning Nanny Cheeriliee!" The little foals all said in unison.
"Today, we have a new little filly joining us! All the way from Quartzcolt Valley, I want you all to say hello to little Pinkamena Diane Pie!" Cheerliee said as she welcomed the pink earth pony filly into the room.
"Just what we need, another filly." Quibble muttered.
"I hear ya Quibble." Cheese nodded, Chuck however just stood and stared.
"Chuck? Chuck?" Quibble asked his friend. "Hey Loofah Mane!" He waved a hoof in front of Chuck's face, causing him to snap out of it.
"Huh?" Chuck asked. "Uh, oh, yeah, fillies. Yuck!" He nodded.
"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! I hope we can be the bestest of fwiends!" The little filly smiled as she introduced herself.
"Hi Pinkie Pie." A little purple unicorn filly approached her. "I'm Twilight, you can play with us if you like!" She motioned to her group of friends consisting of Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, and Starlight Glimmer.
"Ooh! Okay!" Pinkie nodded happily as she went off to play. As the group played Pinkie couldn't help but notice another group of ponies across the playroom busy with the building blocks.
"Pinkie darling." A little filly Rarity said. "Pay no mind to them, they're colts, they're icky."
"She's not a colt!" Pinkie pointed at the white earth pony filly with the long black mane playing with them.
"Well, no, but that's because she wanted to play with them more, they let her in the group because she said fillies were yucky!" Rarity explained.
"Why does anypony have to be yucky?" Pinkie asked.
"Jus' the way it is Sugarcube, no sense in fightin' it." The little southern filly Applejack chimed in.
"So they think we'w yucky, an' we think they'w icky?" Pinkie asked.
"That's right." Rarity nodded.
"I think that's kinda siwwy." Pinkie said.
"It's not silly Pinkie, it's natural order." Twilight said.
"Sounds like egg-head talk." Rainbow Dash snickered.
"Nothin' wrong with bein' immersed in smarts and knowledge." Starlight said to Rainbow Dash.
"Nerd." Rainbow Dash snickered.
"I stiww think that's pwetty siwwy." Pinkie said. "I think I'm gonna go talk to them." She said as she went across the play room.
"Should we be letting this happen?" Fluttershy asked.
"It's important for the new foal to learn the ropes, whether it's by listening to her friends, or by running to them in tears." Rarity explained as they watched.
"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie Pie said as she bounced over to the four.
"And I didn't ask." Quibble said sharply as he placed a block down on his structure.
"Whatcha buiwding?" Pinkie asked.
"We are building, as it is properly pronounced, a 1/100th scale model of Moneybag Tower in Manehattan." Quibble explained.
"That's what he thinks anyhow, I'm builidn' this." The red colt said to Pinkie, Chuck then showed her a wooden train set held up by building blocks above a little town. "Pretty neat huh?" He asked as he made the train move.
"Yeah!" Pinkie nodded. "What is it?"
"I dunno, it's kinda like a train I guess, but it's on a track in the sky, but it's more like a rail, but just one, a singlerail?" He shrugged.
"Wooks fun!" Pinkie giggled as the train went around and around.
"Chuck. What are you doing?" Quibble asked him. "She's a filly!"
"I'm just being friendly!" Chuck replied. "Besides, we let Ivory in the gang, what's wrong with Pinkie?"
"We let Ivory in because she denounced fillies, we've heard no such promise from her!" Quibble sneered.
"Do you denounce fillies?" Cheese asked from inside the block fort he had constructed.
"I dunno what denounce means..." Pinkie shook her head.
"Neither do I." Chuck nodded.
"Do you think fillies are yucky?" Quibble asked.
"No..." Pinkie shook her head.
"So you think colts are icky!" Quibble sneered.
"I don't think anypony is icky an' I don't think anypony is yucky!" Pinkie whined. "I just wanna be you guys' fwiend!"
"Well too bad filly! We're not interested!" Quibble sneered.
"Yeah!" Ivory stuck out her tongue. The little pink filly began to tear up at the mean words of the colt, as she began to walk away she was stopped by the red colt who had been nice to her before.
"What do you want?" Pinkie asked. "Gonna teww me I'm yucky?"
"What? No!" Chuck shook his head. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for what he said, I don't think you're yucky, heck I don't think anypony is yucky!" He sighed. "I do wanna be your friend." He smiled. The pink filly smiled a bit at the red colt.
"I wanna be youw fwiend too." She giggled.
"By the way." The colt said. "I'm keepin' this on the down low, but nap time, you're invited to a little get together I'm throwing in Nanny Cheerilee's basement, tell the other fillies too." He winked.
"I will." She giggled as she went back over to Twilight's group. As Chuck returned Quibble was shaking his head.
"Chuck Chuck Chuck..." He sighed. "Don't tell me this filly is makin' you soft."
"Was I ever not soft?" Chuck asked. "I've always been kinda fluffy." He said as he felt his coat of fur and mane.
"Not that you booger head!" Quibble moaned. "With the filly, Chuck, we're colts, we aren't meant to like fillies."
"We like Ivory!" Chuck said.
"That's different!" Ivory peaked out from behind the scale tower.
"It's just not natural." Quibble explained.
"That's the biggest load of baloney I've ever heard." Chuck arched his eyebrow. "Your mom and dad like each other!"
"They're grown-ups, that's different." Quibble said. "Everypony becomes yucky when they're a grown-up."
"I'm telling Nanny Cheeriliee you said that!" Cheese spoke up.
"Do that and I tell her where all the cupcakes went." Quibble fired back. "It's not just us Chuck, it's the big foals too." He led Chuck to the window between the two play rooms where the older foals played. Sure enough, colts played with colts and fillies played with fillies. "See? Fillies and colts aren't supposed to be friends."
"I... I guess that makes sense." Chuck shrugged.
"Precisely." Quibble nodded. What little Quibble didn't know was that all the fillies in the nursery had just been invited to Chuck's opening party. Chuck could already imagine the look on his face when he found out, Chuck wasn't scared of Quibble, in fact he knew he could take him on, he just didn't want trying to be friends with somepony to ruin their friendship. That lunch time, when everypony sat down to eat lunch before nap time Chuck sat with his friends and Pinkie sat with her friends, both not happy with the segregation that had become nature. Pinkie would look at Chuck as he ate and Chuck would glance at Pinkie now and then, eventually, members from both tables noticed.
"Ooh, looks like new filly has a friend who's an icky colt!" Rainbow Dash snickered.
"He's not icky!" Pinkie said.
"Know what I think it is girls?" Applejack asked. "I think she likes him."
"You don't mean..." Fluttershy began.
"Like like?" Rarity asked.
"Eeyup." Applejack nodded.
"I do not!" Pinkie whined. "And b'sides, that icky colt invited aww of you to a pawty at nap time!"
"A party?" Fluttershy asked. "Could I bring Mr. Discord?" She asked, holding up her stuffed draconequus doll.
"I don't see why not." Pinkie shrugged. "Hey Chuckie!" She called. "Can Fwuttewshy bwing Mr. Discord?" She called.
"Sure!" Chuck nodded.
"Bring Mr. Discord to what?" Quibble asked.
"Uh... nothin', we're rehearsing a play! That's just a line in a play, we're in the Ponyville Junior Players, I thought you knew that!" Chuck lied.
"I thought you didn't make the audition." Quibble said.
"Yeah, but then Doc Hooves got the measles so I got his part." I shrugged.
"I see." Quibble nodded slowly.
"Yep!" Chuck nodded.
"Really? Well then I guess I'll see you at the next practice." Ivory said.
"Dang it." Chuck muttered to himself.
"Anyway, when do we set the plan into action?" Quibble asked.
"The moment Nanny Cheerilee leaves the room." Chuck explained. "Cheese, you got the word out to the others at recess?"
"Sure did!" Cheese nodded.
"Good." Chuck nodded. A few moments later when everypony was finished lunch the cribs were set up and Nanny Cheerilee tucked them all in for nap time. The moment she left Chuck opened his eyes and nudged his crib-mate, Cheese.
"Let's go." He said. The two ponies climbed out and jumped onto a pillow on the floor, with Quibble and Ivory following, they snuck over to the door to the basement and Chuck got the key ready. "Gimme a boost." Chuck said to his gang, the three formed a makeshift pyramid for Chuck to climb up and unlock the door, the lock slid with a click and Chuck pushed open the door. "And we are in business my friends." He chuckled as they went down the stairs. "I once volunteered to help Nanny Cheerilee clean up down here, when I did that I hid my stash and the sign for this very day..." Chuck said as he moved a couple boxes. "Here we are!" He said. "Quibble, Cheese, get the counter ready. Ivory, I saw a little old piano in the corner. Remember, back upstairs in two hours."
"Anypony know when that is?" Cheese asked.
"When the little hand says two." Quibble pointed to the clock.
"Thanks!" Cheese nodded, meanwhile Ivory played a couple notes on the toy piano.
"It's little out of tune." She remarked.
"All the best saloon pianos are a bit out of tune." Chuck explained. "Alright, any second now we should be flooded with thirsty foals." Soon enough ponies started to flow in, all the colts Cheese had invited during recess had showed. Still no sign of Pinkie and her friends though.
"Macintosh! Good to see you!" Chuck addressed the colt that would eventually be known as Big Mac. "What can I getcha?"
"I'll have some apple berry punch if y'have it. Just the apple part can get a little borin', don't tell m'little sis I said that." He chuckled.
"Coming right up!" Chuck nodded as he grabbed a juice box and slid it to him. "One bit please!" Macintosh slid the coin over to Chuck who grinned.
"An entrepreneur always remembers their first bit." He remarked.
"An entre-what?" Cheese asked.
"Never mind." Chuck dismissed him. At that moment the door creaked open and the sound of little hoof prints started down the stairs.
"Who could that be?" Quibble asked. "Everypony on the guest list is already here."
"Hi Chuckie! I bwought my fwiends!" Pinkie smiled as she bounced down the stairs with Twilight and the others following her.
"You invited her!?" Quibble turned to Chuck.
"Ew! This place is icky colt city!" Rainbow Dash remarked.
"I believe all are welcome at Chuckie's Juice Box." Chuck explained. "I told Pinkie she could bring her friends."
"That's very kind of you Chuck, and surprisingly mature." Twilight said as she sat down at one of the cardboard box tables.
"We colts are very mature." Quibble sneered. "We just aren't weenies about it."
"Who are you callin' a weenie!?" Rainbow Dash growled. Applejack and Fluttershy held her back.
"Us fillies aren't weenies, you colts are brutes." Rarity scoffed.
"Icky brutes." Starlight nodded.
"C'mon Warity!" Pinkie said. "Chuck was twyin' to be nice!"
"He just wants your bits!" Applejack rolled her eyes. "An' Macintosh, what're you doin' with an apple berry punch?" She demanded, Macintosh just sighed.
"Pinkie, lets just go, this is no place for fillies, just icky colts." Twilight said.
"COWTS AWEN'T ICKY!" Pinkie hollered, finally having enough.
"Shh! This is a secret juice bar!" Chuck reminded her.
"So you think fillies are yucky?" Rarity asked. "You're just like her!" She pointed at Ivory.
"An' what's wrong with that fancy flank?" Ivory sneered. "You fillies are all yucky!"
"Why don't you come over here and say that, traitor!" Rainbow Dash growled.
"Bring it on candy head!" Ivory glared.
"No everypony, let's be smart and bring it off." Chuck suggested.
"Come on evewypony!" Pinkie nodded. "Why can't we be fwiends?"
"We've explained this a million times Pinkie Pie!" Twilgiht groaned. "It's because colts are icky!"
"No, it's because fillies are yucky!" Quibble sneered.
"Why does anypony have to be icky an' why does anypony have to be yucky?" Pinkie asked, having enough of this.
"Yeah!" Chuck nodded.
"B'cause that's how it works!" Quibble said.
"Finally you say something right!" Rainbow Dash said angrily.
"Why I oughta!" Quibble growled, Chuck and Cheese immediately grabbed their friend and held him back.
"I'm sick of this!" Pinkie whined, having enough of everypony fighting and ran off, starting to tear up.
"Way to go you big meanies, you made her cry!" Rarity accused.
"Us? You were the ones bein' meanies!" Cheese replied.
"Alright that's enough!" Chuck cut them both off. "You were bein' meanies." He pointed at Twilight and her friends, Quibble and the others in Chuck's gang nodded happily. "And so were you!" He pointed at Quibble and the others.
"We were not!" Cheese defended.
"Yeah! Your noggin's full of gummy bears if you ask me!" Rainbow Dash sneered.
"I could go for some gummy bears..." Fluttershy nodded.
"I just don't get it." Chuck said. "Who decided that colts had to think fillies were yucky and who decided fillies had to think colts were icky?"
"That's easy!" Twilight said, always having an answer for everything. "It was uh..." She thought. "It... it was..."
"Exactly." Chuck narrowed his eyes. "We don't need to hate each other! We should come together, work together, be a team!"
"A team with colts?" Applejack asked skeptically. "I'm not sure how I feel about that." Before anypony could reply Chuck whipped out a pitch pipe and blew into it, finding key.
"You're not gonna sing are you?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Chuck: Teamwork! We can do anything when we have teamwork. Don't you think so, my friend?
Rarity: No! Teamwork, with you icky colts just doesn't work. What don't you comprehend?
Chuck: But working together is the key. Nothing's impossible when it's you and me!
Quibble: We're doing just fine on our own!
Chuck: But work is no fun when you do it alone!
Twilight: If we want something done right we'll do it by ourselves!
Chuck: But what if you need something on a higher shelf?
We'll be the hammer, you be the nail,
You be the boat, and we'll be the sail!
We're the flower and you're the aroma!
Rainbow: Right now I wish I was in a coma!
"Now that we agree on." Quibble nodded.
Chuck: Come on! I'm here for you, when your here for me!
It's better when you, plus me, equals we! Working together in harmony!
Side by side, we can reach our dreams, 'cause nothing's impossible, when we're a team!
There was a bit of silence for a moment, Twilight was the first to break the ice.
"I guess Chuck has a point." She said. "Maybe Pinkie was right, maybe it is... well, as she says, siwwy."
"Maybe... maybe I was kind of mean." Quibble looked down.
"And you were bein' a weenie." Rainbow Dash nodded.
"Don't push it." He said. "Maybe... maybe we should all work together."
"That's the spirit!" Chuck nodded. "Hear that everypony? We're working together!" He announced, when he turned, all the ponies from the other classes had left, it was just Twilight's friends and Chuck's gang.
"I think they all left when you started singing." Starlight said.
"I know I wanted to." Ivory gagged.
"Working together as a team already, albeit to insult me." Chuck said. "Alright, fillies, colts, we've got a friend to cheer up." He said as he led them out of the basement and quietly locked the door behind him, the group snuck back into their room to find Pinkie, they found her sitting in the middle of the room sniffling to herself.
"It was nevew wike this back in QuawtzCowt Vawwey..." She sniffed. "Evewypony was nice thewe." She sighed.
"Well, I think if you give us one more chance, you'll find that everypony is nice here too." Chuck said behind her.
"What do you want?" Pinkie asked them.
"Pinkie... we talked about it, and we realized... you were right." Twilight said.
"I was?" She asked.
"Fillies and colts thinking the other are icky or yucky, well it's all silly." Starlight nodded.
"This was all my idea." Chuck brought up.
"It was our idea, as a team." Quibble said.
"You gummy head." Chuck shot a sharp look at him.
"You mean you guys awen't gonna be mean to each othew anymowe?" Pinkie asked.
"To the best of our ability." Ivory nodded. Suddenly, Cheese's voice called to the others.
"Uhh, everypony?" He asked. "Nanny Cheerilee is waking the big foal room up from nap time, our room is next!" He said.
"Uh oh!" Twilight gasped.
"Everypony back in your cribs! Pronto!" Chuck ordered.
"C'mon!" Rainbow Dash started flying ponies up to their cribs.
"Everypony present and accounted for?" Twilight asked. Everypony nodded, at that very moment the door opened and Nanny Cheerilee walked in.
"Rise and shine my little ponies!" She smiled, the group pretended to wake up from their nap with little yawns. "Did everypony have a good nap time?"
"Yes Nanny Cheerilee." They all said in unison.
"Super! Well, it's time to play again!" She said as she helped the little foals out of their cribs and set them on the floor. "Now everypony play nice, I have to call the repair pony, I think there's something wrong with the air vents, I kept hearing noise from the basement!" She said as she left the room, the foals all exchanged looks and laughed. For the rest of the afternoon they played, this time all together. At the end of the day when everypony was going home Pinkie rushed to her mother and father who had come to pick her up.
"My little Pinkamena." Her father, Igneous Rock Pie said. "I trust thee hadst a fine first day?"
"Even bettew than fine!" She giggled.
"Perhaps thee could share what happened with me on the way home." He said with a little smile.
"Can we stop fow ice cweam?" Pinkie asked.
"No." Igneous shook his head.
Back in reality
"Well, that was nice." I nodded. "Though I mean, that on it's own isn't that impressive."
"How so?" Twilight asked.
"Well, it only shared one question! There's still plenty more to go." I explained.
"Chuckie has a point!" Pinkie nodded. Twilight sighed a little.
"Well, I guess when you want to see more you could come back..." She shrugged.
"I definitely will." I nodded. "Foal me is absolutely adorable."
"I thought he was a little preachy." Rainbow Dash said.
"I thought he was cute!" Pinkie giggled. "Thanks for showing us Twi! We'll be back!" Pinkie said as we left.
"Thanks for the warning." Twilight snickered.
So what do you think? Should this series continue? Let me know! I've got plenty of stories to tell!
Song used
"Teamwork" by: Tom Kenny and Douglas Lawrence