Chapter One: Party of One
The bell perched atop the metal-framed, glass door rang, signaling another customer for the Sugar Cube Corner. A raven haired girl in a formal black collar shirt, with black pants to match, and a pink bowtie entered the establishment, and past all the empty tables towards the front counter.
When she reached the unmanned registers she lightly tapped the silver bell on the counter.
*Ding*
The vibration resonated around the rather empty bakery, until a happy teen with big, poofy, pink hair and an apron literally popped from behind the counter.
"Hiya Octy, what're you doin here?" the extremely pink girl greeted cheerfully.
"Hi Pinkie," Octavia gave a sincere smile, "I'm just getting something to eat before I go to a movie with some friends."
"Sounds like fun, even if it's one of those romance flicks. I mean, they're sorta okay sometimes, when there are explosions, and when the guy is a hero and beats up bad guys to save the girl, but most of the time its talking and crying, which is totally okay in real life, but when you have like a million dollars to make a movie you should always have robots in the background. I don't know why Rarity loves them so much, but-"
"Pinkie?"
"Yeah Octy?"
"Can I talk to you after I order?" Octavia's stomach then roared a terrible growl.
"Oh, sorry," Pinkie smiled sheepishly, "So what can I get ya?"
Although Octavia would normally prefer a decent meal, her sweet tooth was calling. And it demanded a sacrifice of the highest caliber.
"A chocolate milkshake and brownie should be good."
"Easy peasie, just give me a sec."
Octavia blinked.
"Here you go," Pinkie said with a small brown bag in one hand and a tall, styrofoam cup in the other.
An Octavia from two years ago used to freak out and question her sanity at Pinkie's zany antics, but as time went on, the cellist decided to just let go when it came to Pinkie matters and decided to never question it. She just nodded and took the milkshake and bag.
"Thanks Pinkie," Octavia said as she was heading for the door, but before she could leave she was interrupted by Pinkie getting her attention.
"Wait, Octavia!" The girl in question turned around, "Could you do me one tensie weensie favor? It would mean a lot to me."
"Sure, what do you need, Pinkie?"
"Well, right now there's a party..."
"A party without Pinkie Pie attending?" Octavia tried to sell her million-dollar dramatic-gasp, "How can the world go on?" though this time she wasn't getting an Emmy. Actually all she got was a short chuckle from the party girl.
"Well the thing is, I sort of am at the party?"
Octavia cocked an eyebrow.
"Well, the party is sorta over there," Pinkie pointed a corner of the restaurant towards a booth where a girl sat alone with five empty plates set out and a cake in the middle.
The pale, skinny girl had spiky, two toned blue hair, that was tied up into a ponytail of sorts and was wearing huge purple shades, huge braces, a dark blue hoodie, and some expensive headphones. She was just sat there bobbing her head lazily to a beat with her eyes closed.
"Ummm, that's a party? Pinkie, aren't your parties usually... louder and... more crowded."
"Well, last year, it was huge blast. We had confetti, balloons, and cake. Everyone was having a great time, well except for Vinyl. She said she felt very alone even though there was like a hundred people there, so this year, she decided that she wants a small party. She sent out four invitations, to her parents, her brother Neon, and me. And the party's been going on for two hours."
"I see you're here Pinkie, but where's..."
Pinkie smile softened.
"Oh, wow. Really? None of them?"
"So it would mean a lot to me if you could eat some cake with her. I would be sitting with her right now, but Mr. and Mrs. Cakes won't let me take any more time off. Vinyl's a really sweet girl; just give her a chance."
Octavia briefly considered what she would do. She didn't really know her and Vinyl looked like she was having a nice time as it was, maybe she could skip...
'She's going to eat her own birthday cake all by herself.'
Octavia's heart sank. She shook her head, before she putting on a friendly face, and approached her new charity case.
Octavia tapped Vinyl on the shoulder, "Hey, mind if I sit with you?"
Vinyl took off her headphones and looked at Octavia before she started to panic a bit. "O-oh h-hey Octavia. I-uh, what did you say? I couldn't really hear you... you know, because... jams... were uh, too loud," Vinyl stammered.
'There's still a chance to leave. I can still get out of this.' The raven haired girl brushed off those thoughts before she replied, "I was asking if I could join you."
"I-uh sure. I mean, uh, let me get you some cake," she said as she scrambled to put a slice of cake on a plate.
"Wait, I never did introduce myself. How did you know my name?" Octavia asked as she took a seat on the opposite side of the awkward girl.
"Well, I do kinda go to all of your performances," Vinyl admitted, almost reluctantly, as a hand drifted to the back of her head and a sheepish look grew on her face.
“I like the sound you give off, when you play the cello," She added.
"Wait, really?" 'Odd,' Octavia thought to herself, 'I never saw anyone with blue hair at any of her concerts, but then again I am always focused on my playing instead of the crowd.'
"Yeah, anytime anybody plays music in my school, Vinyl Scratch is always around,” she proclaimed proudly, a more confident smile on her face.
"Oh, wow. I thought my ensemble was the only ones who took music seriously. Do you play?"
"Well yeah, I make music...sorta.”
The look Octavia gave her pushed Vinyl to explain more.
“Well, I mean, I can play the piano pretty okay, but I'm more into my mixing stuff," Vinyl voice was about as loud as a whisper by the time she stopped talking.
An awkward silence ensued with Vinyl staring at her piece of cake, and Octavia trying to figure out what to do next, until Vinyl finally spoke up again.
"Wow, have you tried this cake?! This sure is great cake! Pinkie outdid herself this year on the cake, heh heh heh."
*Buzz* *Buzz*
'Thank goodness her phone's ringing'
'Thank goodness my phone's ringing'
Octavia brought out her cell phone from her pocket, "Do you mind?" and after an approving nod from Vinyl's head, she picked up.
Octavia looked off to her right side and answered her phone with a polite, and steady, "Hello?"
"Hi Octavia, it's Beauty. Me, Freddy, and Harpo are all outside the theater. Where are you?"
"Oh, sorry, Beauty, I'm at Sugarcube Corner right now, I'll be right over there.”
“You sure you don't want us to come pick you up?”
“Don't worry, I'll get there before the movie starts."
"Kay, see you soon." Beauty finished, and ending the call with a beep from the other line just as Octavia herself flipped her phone away.
She looked up, slipping her phone back into her pocket and looking towards Vinyl.
"Which movie?" Vinyl said, genuinely curious and unaware of her interruption.
"The first Daring Do movie, I think." Octavia replied, working past the interruption.
"Awwwww, that's awesome. Undeniable classic."
"Yeah, well the movie's going to start soon, so I'm going to head out"
"Oh, okay," Vinyl said, her tone sounding crestfallen.
Octavia got out from the booth with her shake and brownie in her hand. She was starting to leave, but for some reason didn't feel right about it.
'Maybe....'
She turned around to Vinyl absentmindedly poking at her slice of cake.
"Hey Vinyl."
The DJ straightened up and turned towards her quickly, "Yeah Octavia?"
"Do you want to come with me for the movie?"
Vinyl's face lit up, "Oh, uh, yeah, I totally, but uh..." She turned and looked at the other plates set up at the table.
Octavia bit her lip before she suggested, "I'm sure your family won't mind if you went out to see a movie. It is your birthday after all. I think they'll understand when you tell them how great the movie was at home." She hoped she hadn't come off as rude in her suggestion.
The pale nerd gave it some heavy thought, "Well, I guess you're right. Okay, yeah, let's go."
She took Octavia's wrist and pulled her quickly out of the store and into the parking lot outside. As soon as they exited the store, Vinyl stopped frozen in her tracks, let go of Octavia's wrist, and dashed back into the bakery.
Vinyl looked over and pointed towards her booth, "Uh hey, Pinkie about that cake..."
Pinkie appeared right next to her, "Don't you worry about that birthday girl, your Aunt Pinkie'll take care of that"
She sighed in relief, "Thanks Pinkie, you're a cake saver"
"Oh you wanted me to save the cake for you?" Pinkie asked, grabbing her stomach quickly before shaking her head, before shaking her head, "Never mind that, you got a hot-date with a hot cellist right now."
At this Vinyl started blushing furiously, "What!? I- uh, no. Pinkie!"
"Don't, 'What!? I- uh, no. Pinkie!' me," Pinkie said with a huge smile.
Pinkie shoved the short nerd out the door, before shaking her fist, "And stay out!"
Pinkie slammed the door leaving Octavia and Vinyl standing back outside.
"Well, I guess we can start walking to the theater, good thing it's not that far," Octavia said as she turned to her left to start walking off.
"Why? I drove here, mind as well drive over there too."
"Wait you drove here?"
"Yeah, want a ride?" Vinyl asked as she started heading to the right.
Octavia gave it a quick thought before giving a shrug. "Sure."
They made their way to the far end of the small parking lot outside of Sugarcube Corner, to where a lone, sleek, prototype car awaited. Octavia stopped in her tracks and turned to her new charity/friend case, "Wait, you drove here in that?"
Vinyl gave a nonchalant, "yep" as she approached the driver's side of the car.
The cellist got over her shock, and hesitantly approached the passenger side, only fins another new found excitement when the door opened up. She grinned with childlike wonder at the design. 'I never thought I would ever ride in anything this cool.'
On the inside she found something akin to well nothing. It was just as bitching on the inside as much as it was on the outside. But one thing Octavia couldn't explain, "How is there so much space on the inside?"
VInyl looked up at the cellist and just shrugged while mumbling something that sounded like "I dunno".
"Wait, whose vehicle is this?" Octavia refrained from using the word "car", as she had too much reverence for the BMW.
Octavia got in as Vinyl answered, "It's my dad's, but he said I could use it whenever."
Octavia reached up to close her door, finding it slightly awkward since she had never closed a door in such a way, when a thought occurred to her. "Well, the movie starts in about five minutes, but the commercials are likely to be a half hour long, so we won't miss anything."
Vinyl's eyes went wide, "No, we will miss something. A new trailer for the New Star Wars comes out in theaters this week."
"It's still just a trailer.” Octavia said, curious at the teen's apparent panic at the thought of missing a trailer. “Besides, I'm sure you've seen it online."
"Octavia. This isn't just a trailer; this is the hype experience of the decade. I'll only get to see it for the first time once, I want to do that in the full movie theater atmosphere. It's about immersion, Tavi! Immersion!"
The sheer goofiness of it all caught Octavia off guard and she tried to suppress her laughter enough to say, "Vinyl, calm down."
Vinyl quickly buckled her seat belt and put the car keys she was holding in her right hand into the ignition. "We ain't got time for that!"
With a twist of the wrist, the car came to life and a hotblooded japanese song started over the stereo at a volume that made the whole car shake.
"Hold onto your butt!" Vinyl screamed, quickly shifted the car into reverse. Octavia saw the fire behind those shades, and quickly put on her seat belt as fast as she could. As soon as the click came from the buckle, Vinyl jerked the car back and spun it around before heading to the movie theater at top speed.
'What have I gotten myself into!?'
Author's Note
Any and all links in this story are not necessary. They don't help tell the story at all, but they are nice and I feel like I should offer them
