"Let me get this straight. You found a portal to another planet, and on this planet, we are characters in a children's show."
"Yep."
"A children's show that many grown men watch and enjoy, and created a convention around."
"That's right."
"And rather than submit it to Twilight or literally anypony else for proper scientific analysis and ensuring of safety, you want to go through it and attend this convention."
Vinyl Scratch took a sip of soda. "Sounds about right, yeah."
"I refuse to have even the tiniest of parts in this."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"...How on earth did I end up here?" Octavia asked, looking around the busy Vendor Hall.
"Well, let's see. I told you my plan, you said no way, and then I took off my glasses and made puppy dog eyes. There may have been some alcohol involved."
Octavia groaned.
"Oh, lighten up, Octy. There's a whole ton of concerts, look!" She levitated the schedule in front of her friend's face.
Octavia glanced over it, then sighed. "Well, perhaps it won't be too- Hold on! What is this?" She tapped her hoof on one square of the schedule: 2:00-3:00. Auditorium C. Octavia.
"I might have signed you up to perform?"
"WHAT? Vinyl, I don't have my cello! I don't have any music prepared! I don't-"
Vinyl pulled out a cello and some sheet music. "Here, I grabbed the five songs you play most commonly. You know them best, so you'll be able to play them on demand."
"What- when did- where did the cello-"
"Just go with it."
Octavia glanced around. The Hall was open, but most people either hadn't arrived this early or were at a panel of some kind. The room was mostly empty. She had no idea where she wanted to go, or what she should do. "What are you most excited for?" she asked Vinyl.
"Breaking all the rules!"
"What?"
"All. Of. Them."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Your cosplay is amazing! It's so detailed, and moves so smoothly! How did you do it?"
"Well, it was very complex, and I'm afraid I don't have time to explain it right now. I have a panel to get to."
The human passed on, and Octavia hissed to Vinyl, "I swear that's the tenth person to ask me that in the last hour! What am I going to do if this keeps going?"
"You could just tell them we're ponies," Vinyl shrugged, taking a sip from a bottle.
"Absolutely not. I'm not risking a horde of them going through the portal to- Vinyl, is that alcohol?"
"Nah, this is just water."
"Good, because-"
"I already had alcohol earlier. I have to move fast if I want to break every single one of the rules before getting kicked out!"
"Vinyl!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Come on, Vinyl, get in line."
She was posing for pictures in front of a group of adoring fans. "But this is so much more fun! Besides, you're saving my spot."
"No I'm not. Get in line or you'll end up way at the back."
"Ugh, fine. You guys can take pictures of me while I'm in line for this panel, right?"
One laughed. "With a cosplay that good? We'll take pictures of you in the panel!"
"Don't know why you wouldn't let them take pictures of you, Octy! I'm gonna be famous!"
"That is precisely why, and don't ever call me that again."
"Why not, Octy?"
Octavia sighed deeply. "I'm sure if I ignore it, she'll stop eventually..."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Vinyl? Viiinyyyyl!"
"I'm over here!" came the distant voice, and Octavia whirled around and galloped down the hallway, trying to find it.
"Vinyl?"
"Over here!"
She turned a corner. "There you are! I told you we shouldn't have split up! I had to run all over this center looking for you!"
"Guess this is why the humans have cell phones."
"Cell phones or not, we are not going to split up again."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Vinyl? Vinyl!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Sudden drumbeats broke into Octavia's cello solo. Concentration fractured, she ground to a halt. "Vinyl Scratch, what did you do?"
Vinyl waved from a sound booth. "Keep going! I think we can liven this up a bit!"
"If you were going to interrupt my performance, why didn't you just sign us both up for this space?"
"I did! I just used invisible ink."
"Wait, what?"
Vinyl turned a record, producing her signature scratching noise. "Keep playing! Let's show these bronies music like they've never heard before!"
Octavia rolled her eyes, but she had to admit she did enjoy playing with Vinyl. She returned to the song, feeling the beats interweave with her music, creating something new and beautiful.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Octavia, can you lend me a little money?"
"Vinyl, we brought several bags of bits to exchange for human money. Each bit is solid gold. We got over a thousand dollars for each bit. How could you possibly have run out?"
The white unicorn tried to hide the massive body pillow of Princess Celestia behind her. "No reason..."
"Vinyl, I worry about you."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Octavia, look! Look at that human."
"Which one? This place is packed with them!"
Vinyl grabbed her hoof and dragged her near a human. "That one!" she said, pointing. "He's dressed like me!"
"So?"
"This isn't even the first human dressed as me! I've seen five, Octy! FIVE! There are FIVE of me wandering around this place!"
"Your point?"
"I'm popular! It's really cool!"
Octavia rolled her eyes. "I've seen more people dressed as that wall-eyed mailmare than dressed as us. More than both of us together."
"Yeah, they do like Ditzy a lot. Not sure what that's about."
"She's probably just more likeable than you," Octavia said, beginning to walk away.
"HEY!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Vinyl had somehow landed a group concert with several musicians of the fandom, and Octavia was really enjoying the music they jointly produced.
Until, that is, she started chasing them around with her bass cannon.
"What are you doing?" she cried, but her voice was lost in the uproar. Vinyl quickly finished scaring everyone else off the stage and began a new performance, now solo. Most of the audience assumed it was a joke; it was supposed to happen. Octavia knew Vinyl better than this.
"How am I supposed to explain this when they call security?" she groaned.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"How? Just... how?"
Vinyl, wearing a makeshift crown that read 'Convention Queen' and being paraded on the shoulders of congoers, simply shrugged.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The convention center was beginning to clear out on the last day. Vinyl looked around the room and sighed contentedly. "Man, that was a good convention. I got named Queen, made so many new friends, and I succeeded in breaking every rule in the book!"
Octavia groaned.
"Pfft, just kidding!"
"What?"
"I didn't actually break any rules, silly! It was just fun to bug you. I mean, think about it! When I said I'd had alcohol already, it was before we'd ever split up. There was no way I could've done it without you noticing!"
"...Oh."
"Heck, even scaring the performers of the stage was fake. We set it up beforehand because they thought it would be funny!"
"Really?" Octavia took a calming breath, feeling herself relax. "So, you won't get kicked out of the convention, then."
At that moment, two security guards approached. "Excuse me, you in the Vinyl Scratch cosplay? Your bass cannon violated this convention's noise regulations. We're going to have to ask you to leave."
"What, seriously?" she asked incredulously. They nodded.
Octavia sighed deeply. "At least it was almost over anyway. Might as well come with you. We'll head home."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
They stood in front of the mysterious portal, ready to return to Equestria. "Well?" Vinyl asked.
"Well what?"
"Was it really that bad?"
Octavia thought back over the convention. She remembered the constant attention, the push to take photos. She remembered the massive crowds and the lines. She remembered getting interrupted in the middle of an excellent concert by Vinyl and her dubstep. She remembered how junk food was the only food available.
Then she thought about the music they'd made together, how much more unique it was and the way everyone seemed to enjoy it so much more. She thought about the merchandise she'd bought. She thought about the secret hope she was harboring, that the portal would still be there next year, when the convention rolled around again.
"No," she said. "No, it wasn't."
Author's Note
Just realized that about half of Octavia's dialogue is just "What?" Oh well. I knocked this out in like an hour; it was never going to be top-quality.
