The local Canterlot Café had, in recent months, become as much of a popular hang-out spot with kids of the nearby big city as it had with local teens, and this was showcased well in just how often the students of Crystal Prep liked to go there. In particular, Sunny Flare and Lemon Zest now sat in their particular booth, having already ordered a pair of milkshakes for themselves, which they currently slurped down at their respective paces. However, nobody could fail to notice that, at this very moment, there was also a third milkshake, which was, at present, untouched. After wiping away some of the milky froth from her lip, Sunny looked to the untouched glass, before glancing over to her classmate.
"So, you did tell her to join us, right?"
Looking up, Lemon nodded, smiling as she did so.
"Don't worry, Amira will be right..."
Then, just before she finished those words, they both turned to the sound of the café's door opening up. Sure enough, their fellow Crystal Prep colleague, Amira, had just entered. The girl was, at the moment anyway, looking like she'd just run a marathon, panting furiously as she looked around for them. In addition, she seemed to be occupied in making sure the last part of her bright blue hijab was wrapped properly around her head. But, shortly afterwards, she spotted the other girls, and gave them a smile and a wave, heading over and sitting beside them.
"Sorry! My Mom had a few more chores for me this morning than I thought. Been waiting long?"
Lemon shook her head.
"Nah! Enjoy the shake!"
And enjoy the shake she did, as Amira took a long and hearty slurp of the thing, much to Sunny's amusement.
"I'm sure running that long took it's toll, eh?"
Looking to her friend, Amira raised an eyebrow, pointing to her headgear and speaking in a slightly annoyed tone.
"Hey, let's see you try and get this thing on right when you're in a hurry!"
Sunny nodded, acknowledging that, before turning to her own drink. But, before she had the chance to take another sip of it, all of them were interrupted when, just then, Lemon got a buzz in her back pocket. Reaching into it, she pulled out her phone, looked at the screen for a while, before breaking out into a wide smile.
"Yes! Top spot!"
Amira looked to her with confusion, but Sunny soon began to explain.
"It's Lemon's latest fic. Apparently it's pretty popular right now."
Leaning back into her chair, Lemon tried to sound as humble as possible, even though everyone knew it was feigned.
"Well, I don't like to brag, but..."
Sunny rolled her eyes, but Amira looked to her with interest.
"You know...I don't think I've ever actually read any of your stories. Could I...?"
Lemon, already seeing the question coming, gave a smile and a nod, handing the phone over.
"Sure! Enjoy!"
So, the other girl took the phone, scrolling through all the available stories that were presented to her. After a few moments, her eyes widened.
"Wow! There's got to be hundreds in here!"
Lemon looked rather proud of herself after that.
"Yeah, I like to think I get a few in here and there."
Sunny frowned to that, then leaned over towards Amira, taking a look at the phone herself.
"Not bad...quite a few popular ones here."
Lemon nodded.
"Yep. Even wrote a few about the people I know in real life every once in a while."
Afterwards, she gave a sultry look to Amira.
"Would you like to see the one I wrote where your and Fluttershy's date went...a little differently?"
Blushing slightly, the girl shook her head.
"Er...no, I think I'll pass."
Lemon shrugged her shoulders, getting back to her drink, and leaving her two friends to carry on reading through the presented stories. Eventually, however, they stopped at one in particular, with both of them seeming, for the most part, impressed.
"Huh...that's neat."
Lemon looked to them, clearly interested.
"Found one you like?"
Amira glanced up to her.
"Well, we're seeing this one fic...looks like your most popular story. Those are some seriously high numbers."
But, contrary to how they might have expected, Lemon soon started to frown. She folded her arms and looked away.
"Oh...that one."
Naturally, both girls looked to her with some confusion.
"What's wrong?"
Lemon sighed.
"I know the one you're talking about and...I'm not really that fond of it."
Sunny raised an eyebrow.
"But it's your story!"
Lemon nodded before turning back to face her.
"Yeah, but..."
As before, she sighed.
"Look...that fic was based off a kid's show that's really popular at the moment. You know, with all those brightly-coloured puppies and stuff?"
The other two looked to one another, then back to Lemon, nodding to show that they knew what she was talking about, if only in passing. Seeing that, Lemon continued.
"Well...there was this one villain, and they had this whole thing where they went back in time and found out why they were evil. And when I saw that...I just felt really underwhelmed at the time. Really? That was the reason they turned evil? Some bad childhood experience?"
She looked down to her phone, narrowing her eyes.
"So I wrote a fic to basically vent about what a terrible ending I thought it was. It was therapy for myself really, and I never expected anyone to really pay attention to it."
Leaning back into her chair, she grumbled a bit.
"But instead, it went on to get a tonne of people liking it. Now, it's my most watched, most loved fic, and...I can't stand it!"
Amira looked to her with clear confusion.
"But...wouldn't you want your stories to be popular?"
Lemon looked back to her.
"Yeah, the good ones! The ones I like! I write a whole bunch of stuff, Amira. Steamy romances, big adventures, comedies! But this? This...this was just a fix-fic! Something I wrote just to get something annoying off my chest. And to have that be the most popular thing I ever wrote?! It just...urgh! It bothers me! Heck, it's so old now that I don't even agree with what I wrote in it anymore! That just makes this whole thing worse!"
Sunny raised an eyebrow.
“So...you don’t think it was a bad backstory anymore?”
To that, Lemon scoffed.
“What? No! Of course I think it was a bad backstory! But now I've just moved on to hating other stuff about it. Like making the baddie a friend and treating her nice instead of putting her on probation or something! Or how she just keeps screwing stuff up and they expect us to like her! I hate a whole bunch of stuff more than I used to. Hell, by comparison, having a rushed backstory is just small potatoes now!”
She grimaced.
“If I’d have known what I know now...the backstory would have been the last thing I’d have focused on!”
Slowly, she turned away.
“But...even if I had...I still wouldn’t have wanted it as my most watched fic.”
Naturally, both girls were a little uncertain how to respond to this. Lemon, by and large, was usually the most upbeat of their group, in all of Crystal Prep even, and to see her this way was something of a shock. But, as time went on, Sunny weighed her options, then leaned forward, smiling.
"Lemon...have you ever heard of the actor, Sir Alec Guinness?"
Lemon faced her, shaking her head, thus prompting Sunny to explain further.
"He played that military guy in that one movie, Bridge on the River Kwai?"
Lemon shook her head, so Sunny continued.
"He was also in that other great movie, Doctor Zhivago?"
Again, Lemon shook her head, and Amira, seeing this, let out a sigh before speaking up.
"He was Obi-Wan in Star Wars?"
Immediately, Lemon's face lit up.
"Oh yeah! I know that guy!"
Looking away briefly, Amira muttered under her breath.
"Forgive me, Sir Alec, we had no choice."
With that matter settled, Sunny, who seemed just as irritated as Amira, turned her eyes back to Lemon.
"Well...Star Wars was easily the most popular and watched thing Alec ever made. But, do you know how he felt about those films? At least in the years after?"
Lemon shook her head, leading to Sunny answering.
"He hated them. Seriously, he hated being in those movies, and everything else about them. He hated most of all that that role was what people thought of when they heard his name. And yet, it's the thing people have the fondest memories of. The thing they loved about him."
Lemon raised an eyebrow.
"...Are you girls seriously trying to compare my middle-of-the-road fanfics with the likes of Alec Guinness and Star Wars?"
Amira shook her head.
"No. I mean, no offense, but your stories aren't even in the same league!"
Lemon nodded.
"Okay, fair enough."
Sunny carried on.
"The point is...just because you're irritated that your most popular creation is the thing you like the least doesn’t mean you can't appreciate it in some small way."
She pointed to the phone.
"All these people...they like what you wrote, even if you didn't. So...I dunno...maybe you can take solace in that?"
Lemon considered that, and for a time, she said nothing. She looked away, weighing those words in her mind carefully, before letting out a very long sigh.
"Sure...I guess I could be happy about that."
Turning, she accepted her phone back after Sunny offered it to her. She glanced at the screen for a time, at that story she disliked to much, and cracked a smile, albeit a small one.
"Well...I guess it's no bad thing, having just a handful of stories I don't like out of all those. And I guess...there are plenty of people who get popular for reasons they're not entirely happy with. So...sure, I suppose I can live with that."
Sunny leaned closer to her.
“You know...push comes to shove...you could always, you know...stop writing fix-fics? You know, if you're going to be unhappy about them?”
To that, Lemon arched her eyebrow.
“Well...technically...all fanfics are fix-fics. I mean, if we’re writing stuff that doesn’t happen in the actual show, but it’s stuff that we want to see happen, then you can kinda see that...”
But Sunny raised a hand, stopping her.
“Lemon...I think this whole thing is getting meta enough as it is, don’t you?”
The other girl chuckled.
“Yeah...I should probably stop while I'm ahead.”
Hearing that, Amira smiled.
"That’s the spirit! A rather half-hearted spirit, but still..."
Looking to her, Lemon broke into yet another sultry smirk.
"So...while we're on the subject...how would you feel about being hooked up in one of my stories with Adagio? Maybe get her boyfriend in on the action too?"
Grimacing slightly, Amira looked over to Sunny, who promptly gave herself a facepalm.
"Aaaaand moment's over."
