Chapter 2
Warm Welcome my Flank

“Oh buck, oh buck, oh buck, oh buck!” Octavia said, still shocked at the fact that they were not in Equestria anymore. “How they hay did this happen?”

“I don’t know? I was still knocked out, so I figure you’d wake me up when we got back to Ponyville...You fell asleep while I was knocked out didn’t you?”

“Well excuse me for being tired for carrying your drunken flank around Canterlot! Ugh, it’s the Canterlot wedding all over again. Only this time we end up in a strange place with no idea on how we got here.”

“Calm down Tavi.” Vinyl said as she pulled herself off the floor. “I’m sure we can just ask somepony where we are and who we can get back. I mean it can’t be that hard, right?”

“R-Right, right. We just need to stay calm, and just ask somepony where we are and how to get back to Equestria.” Octavia said, rubbing the back of her head. “Okay, so from what I’ve heard on the intercom. He said that we were gonna be heading to a place called Inaba in a few minutes.”

“Inaba? Sounds like something you would hear in Neighpon. Wait are we heading to Neighpon?”

“I doubt that seeing how you need to take a chariot or a boat to get there. Not to mention that no trains from Equestria are not connected to Neighpon.”

“Well that doesn’t give us much to go by does it? Maybe we got teleported here by magic or something?”

“Unless you know somepony other than the princess that can do that. Thinking about how we got here isn’t helping us. Let’s just ask somepony in this town call Inaba, and see how we can get back home.”

“Agreed.”

(Yasoinaba Station)

The train began to slowly stop in front of the train station’s platform. As the doors to the train cart opened up, Vinyl and Octavia exited the train as they looked around at their new surroundings. It was a bit surprising to them seeing how this place called Yasoinaba was strangely but almost similar to Neighpon. Well, minus the flashy build boards, electricity, vending machines, and Celestia knows what else. Making their way out of the station, Vinyl slightly pulled up her shades as she looked around at their surroundings.

“Geez, look at this place. It looks like Neighpon only...different.”

“Indeed. The language are the same, just a bit different.” Octavia said as she squinted her eyes at the japanese writing above the train station entrance. “Y-Yaso...i...i...naba...ugh I neighponese is getting rusty. I can barely read what it’s saying.”

“Try not to strain yourself Tavi. Let’s just hope somepony here speak Equestrian and can tell us where we are.” Vinyl said as she patted the earth pony’s back for comfort.

“That might be hard seeing how there’s nopony around here. I mean this is a train station after all. You think there would be some...pony...here.”

“You okay Tavi?”

“Um...Vinyl.”

“Yes?”

“I don’t think we’re in Equestria.”

“What makes you say that?” Vinyl asked as Octavia pointed a finger next to the DJ. The unicorn looked to her left as she saw a human with black colored hair, green eyes, a blue hat on her head, and was wearing a punky rockstar outfit that she thought that she would wear if she was into rock-n-roll music, or if she was DJing.

There was awkward moment of silence between both the ponies and the human, until Vinyl decided to break it by saying something.

“Sup.” The DJ pony said as she waved a hand at the girl, who in turned waved back at them awkwardly.

“Um...hi...Who or what in the world are you two?”

“I’m Vinyl Scratch, and the pony beside me is Octavia Melody.” Vinyl answered as she point a thumb at Octavia who was waving and smiling awkwardly. “We’re ponies.”

“.....O-Okay.” The girl said as she backed away a bit with a mixed expression on her face.

“Oh, perfect, you speak equestrian. Hey you wouldn’t happen to know where we are by any chance do you? We’re kinda lost and have no idea on how to get back to Equestria.”

“I...have no idea what you’re talking about...wait are you two cosplayers or something?”

“The hay is a cosplayer?”

“Someone that dress up as their favorite character from their favorite anime or cartoon show. So are you cosplayers or not?”

“I can assure you that we’re not cosplaying.” Octavia said as she flopped her ear. “We’re ponies.”

“S-Sure you are, and I’m the club leader of the crazy people club.” The girl said in a sarcastic tone. “Whatever, I don’t have time for this.” She said as she walked pass Vinyl and Octavia.

“Geez, and here I thought your parent were rude Tavi.” Vinyl said as she turns her attention back at the girl who was still walking away from them. “At least tells us where the nearest town is at!?” She yelled only for the girl to ignore her and continues walking off. “Man not only is she rude, but she’s a total bitch as well.”

“You can’t really blame her for acting like that. If I was in her shoes, then I would want to get away from us...though she could have done it better then come off as rude.”

“Whatever, let’s just fine a town or something that can help us. Maybe this place as a map that can lead us to a town.”

“You mean over there?” Octavia said as she pointed at the build board with a map on it next to them.

“How did we not see that?”

“I guess because we got sidetracked by that weird hairless ape creature thing.” The Earth pony said as she looked over the map of she could guess was Yasoinaba. “I can barely understand some of it, but I think we’re right now at the train station. So if we take this road from here, then we’ll be heading to this town here.”

“Hm,” Vinyl lifted her shades as she looked up at the sky. “Well it’s morning, so we might be able to make it there by noon time today. Unless we can get a ride into town, then we’re gonna have to hoof it and walk.”

“You think we can catch a but to this town?”

“If it goes just like with that creature from before, then we might as well hoof it to town.” Vinyl said as she started walking. “If we run half the way, we might make it before the sun begins to set.”

“The one time I’m glad I didn’t bring my cello with me.” With a sigh of dread, Octavia followed after the DJ pony as they made their way down the road that lead to Inaba.

(Inaba)
(Afternoon)

Inaba, a rural town in japan that is located near the countryside. Despite it being near the country, it’s a somewhat peaceful place for those who enjoy the quiet countryside, going to the Amagi Inn to enjoy the local hot spring, food, and relaxation, or going to the town’s most famous shopping market Junes. Besides the town history, culture, and low criminal activities in the town, Inaba is a nice and relaxing town. Off in the distance next to the bus sign and gas station, A bus could be seen stopping in front of the sign as people started to get off of it. As the bus was about to leave, Vinyl and Octavia quickly jumped off the roof of the bus as it drove down the street away from Inaba.

“Well that could’ve gone better than expected.”

“I can’t believe you got me to do this. Especially on that...whatever in Equestria is that strange carriage.”

“Well at least it didn’t take us all day to get here. Not to mention we didn’t have the right currency for the carriage, so why not just hop on top and ride for free without anypony noticing?”

“Because it’s illegal to do that! I mean seriously what if the royal guard or some kind of law enforcement saw us on top of that?”

“Oh come on, you gotta lighten up a bit Octavia.” Vinyl said as she placed a hand on Octavia’s shoulder. “We’re here now, so there’s no point in worrying.”

“You saying that is not making my anxiety feel any better.” Octavia said as she felt her stomach beginning to growl. “I really need something to eat.”

“How many bits do you have on you?”

“Fifty-five bits. What about you?”

“Five hundred bits.” Vinyl said as she reached into her pocket to pull out a bag full of bits.

“How did you even get this much bits?”

“I save up my bits at times depending on the places I perform. Mostly in Canterlot or Manehatten, those are the biggest places I get paid a lot more than anywhere else. Come on, let’s see if this place has a fast food place or something that accepts Equestrian currency.”

“You are taking this way to well Vinyl.”

“Well one of us has to.” Vinyl said as she and Octavia began to walk down into the shopping district of Inaba. As the duo made their way down the street, some of the people that were standing outside or walking down the street were looking at the two with questionable looks. Mostly because it was either the way they look, or because of the fact that they were seeing weird anthropomorphic ponies that you would see in a child’s cartoon show walking down the street of Inaba.

“Those weird creatures are looking at us.” Octavia whispered as she walked up close to Vinyl.

“Well what do you expect? We’re ponies walking into a town full of weird hairless ape creatures. You can’t expect them not to look at us like they did back on that strange carriage thing.”

“I really wish you take this more serious Vinyl. I mean, what would happen if somepony tries to attack us or something worse?”

“What can be worse than what we’ve seen in Equestria. I mean we live next to a forest filled with monsters. So I’m pretty sure we can handle with anything this place has to throw at us.” Vinyl said as she caught a whiff of something tasty.

“You smell something?”

“You bet your sweet flank I do. Come on, it’s this way down the street.” Vinyl said as she rushed off down the street. Moments later the DJ pony appeared in front of what she could guess was some kind of restaurant. What with the lingering aroma of food coming from out of the building.

“What...is this place?”

“I don’t know. But whatever it is that’s making that delicious smell, has got to have some food in there.” The unicorn said as she open the door to the building as she and Octavia entered inside. As the doors to the restaurant opened, the musicians eyes widened as the inside of the building was almost similar to the restaurants they’ve visited back in Equestria. Only this one was a bit smaller, they couldn’t read the language that was written on the signs, and there were humans in the restaurant then ponies. “Well, looks like we found ourselves a place to eat.”

“What makes you think we can eat here?” Octavia asked as she notice the humans staring at her and Vinyl. “Oh dear, they’re staring at us.”

“Like I said before, be prepared for them to look at us like that.” The DJ said as she walked over to a seat next to a human male.”Come on Tavi, have a seat.”

“This is so embarrassing.” Octavia said as she tried not to look embarrassed as she took a seat at the counter next to Vinyl.

“Yo! My friend and I would like to order something off the menu!”

“Welcome, how can I help you two today-.” The man in the kitchen paused halfway into his sentence after seeing Vinyl and Octavia.

“Hi, we would like to order something please.”

“...Um...w-what would you like to order…” The chef asked, still shocked at what he’s seeing in front of him. “Question, are you two cosplaying for something or what?”

“This is the second time someone asked us this. We’re not cosplaying dude, we’re ponies. Living, breathing, talking ponies. What, you never seen one before or something?”

“Vinyl, please don’t make a scene while we’re here. We’re trying to get something to eat, and I prefer not to get thrown out of here with getting something to eat.” Octavia said, tugging on the DJ’s tail.

“But...fine…” Vinyl said, sighing as she looks at the chef. “You got anything to eat?”

“W-What would you like to order?” The chef asked as Vinyl tires to look at the menu on the board above the chef.

“Give us today’s special.” Vinyl said as she chef when back into the kitchen to prepare their orders.

“Do you even know what’s on the menu here?”

“No but it’s not like we could’ve asked him. That would make us look stupid.”

“More like make you look stupid, but that didn’t stop you from acting stupid.”

“Octavia, since when have I ever done anything stupid?” Vinyl asked in a playful tone.

“You mean that drinking contest you had with Neon Lights wasn’t you acting stupid?”

“.....Okay besides that one.”

“I can pull out a list of things you’ve done that were stupid from the day we met to now.”

“Oh yeah, well….shut up.” Vinyl said as she sighed in defeat.

“How many time would this be that you lost an argument with me?”

“Sorry for interrupting ladies, but your food is ready” The chef replied as he gave the mares their order. “Here you go, tropical vegan surprise.”

“Whoa, talk about going fancy.” Vinyl said as she picked up a pair of chop stick and tried to eat her bowl of ramen. After a few tries, the mare was able to get a piece into her mouth. “Sweet Celestia this is good!”

“I really wish you would lower your voice when we’re out in public like this.” Octavia said as she begun to start eating. “Although I do have to admit, this is pretty good.”

“Glad you like it. Most folk don’t order the special that much.” The chef said as he placed a mini plaque with a small piece of paper. “Here you go.”

“Uh… What’s this?” Vinyl asked, partially confused.

“You’ve never seen a receipt before?” He asked, a little surprised. “You still need to pay for the meal, even if you two are a nice change of pace from the usual customers we get.”

“Um, any idea on what it says Tavi? Because I can barely read this.” The DJ asked as she handed Octavia the piece of paper.

“Umm...I can’t tell either…I think it’s…42…something?” The cellist replied. “Maybe a few bits can work here.”

“That’s all I needed to hear.” Vinyl smirked, reaching into her pocket to pull out fifty bits and placed them on the counter. “There we go, that should do it.”

The chef took a moment to inspect the coins… before looking back at her. “What the hell is this? This isn’t yen… Are you trying to dine and dash, ladies?”

“The buck are you talking about? I paid the damn check. And even if it’s not your currency, these bits should cover it seeing how they’re made of gold.”

“These bits of yours look more like fake gold… and I also don’t like your attitude, lady.” The chef replied, just as two other people walked into the restaurant.

“Excuse me! I work hard to get these bit where I come from buddy. Compared to what you do, I get get paid a lot more when I’m DJing at a club!”

“Vinyl, please for the love of Celestia don’t make a scene here of all places. Especially if the law enforcers end up coming in here because you’re causing trouble.” Octavia pleaded, only to go on deaf ears as she watch Vinyl continue arguing.

“Is there a problem?” One of the two people that walked in a few moments ago asked as she went to where the argument was unfolding.

“This customer is trying to dine and dash on me by paying with fake yen!” The Chef retorted, causing Vinyl’s anger to stir up.

“We’re not you hairless ape!” That had the woman that was there take out something she kept in a holster on her hip as she pointed it at Vinyl.

“Ma’am, please calm down or I will have to taze you.” She warned, while her partner was watching.

“Kiss my flank bitch! I’m not going anywhere until this guy takes my bits-!” Just as she said that, Vinyl was shot by the woman’s taser as she was subdued to the ground and shocked by the dispensed electricity. “OH GODDESS, THIS IS THE WORST… PAIN!!!” While Vinyl was on the ground spasming in pain from the taser, The police officers turn their attention at Octavia who sighed as she raised her hands up.

“It’s Canterlot all over again.”

Author's Note

Vinyl's Outfit:

Octavia's Outfit: