It's been six days since the Christmas party took place. Making it a total of ten days that Twilight had stayed at the resort. Her ticket will last an additional six days until she has to go home. However Twilight was far too busy getting her paperwork together to be holding a proper vacation.
The reason being that after her vacation, Twilight will finally start up her cafe she has been planning the past few months. Besides that. Twilight feels tired from doing a lot of resting for no particular reason. Especially after recovering her magic thanks to a princess of the past. She felt no reason to continue her resting time.
"Twilight!" Spike shouts through the door. He had been trying to catch Twilight's attention by knocking on the door, but Twilight hadn't responded.
This caused Twilight to wake up from her daze and run towards the door to open it.
"Sorry, I was kinda busy." Twilight admitted. She saw Spike standing in front of the door. He looked slightly annoyed at the lack of response.
"No worries. I heard from Golden that you were very busy getting that cafe started, correct?" Spike asked. As he dismissed his annoyance.
"That is correct. I was doing the finishing touches on the paperwork." Twilight explained.
"So. Like you told me before, you were searching for a partner. Right?" Spike asked.
"Yes. Which I accidentally started by getting you fired." Twilight admitted, feeling slightly embarrassed by the whole ordeal.
"Were you referring to me? When you mentioned a partner?" Spike asked hopeful.
"To be honest? I was searching for one, in general. But you are one of my current prime candidates." Twilight said.
"But why me?" Spike asked.
"Well, your curiosity was certain one of them. Another reason being, that you were the first candidates I found to begin with. Another reason is because you are a dragon." Twilight explained.
"Okay. I understand the first two reasons. But why does being a dragon matter?" Spike asked.
"Well. I could ask you the same. Why do you not see more dragon chefs work next to pony chefs?" Twilight asked instead.
"I don't know." Spike admitted.
"Neither do I. So I thought, why not hire a dragon. That way I get a good partner and be able to make a statement at same time." Twilight explained. She was smiling while explaining it.
"To show. You aren't scared of other species being in the kitchen along side a pony. Right?" Spike said.
"That is correct and to combat speciesism. So, Spike. Do you want to become my partner?" Twilight asked.
"What about my payment?" Spike asked.
"Of course. I will paid for your work, though it is mostly material payment than simply money. First of all, since it is in Ponyville, I will ask you to live with me, during the full duration that you work along side me. That means, free housing and we will share our breakfasts and dinners together. Besides that, I will prepare you an reasonable amount of pocket money. With gems being shared here and there. How about it?" Twilight asked.
"So, basically. We become family, for the entire duration that I am staying with you?" Spike asked surprised.
"Adoptive. But yes. You can even stay family, even after your employment. That way you can travel within Equestria much easier." Twilight offered.
"I will talk to my current family about it. If they say yes. Then I will join your cafe." Spike said determined.
"Very good. Which means, I will now have a partner and my hunt for one is done." Twilight said.
"They haven't said yes yet." Spike said while walking off.
"Something tells me, that they will in fact say yes." Twilight said mysteriously.
Spike raised his eyebrow, but said nothing. In fact, he simply showed his wings and flew back home.
Twilight meanwhile simply closed the door. And was about to go back to her paperwork, only for someone else to knock on the door.
"Yes?" Twilight asked as she opened the door.
"Hey, Twilight. Have you found a assistant?" Golden asked.
"I have. In the form of an partnership." Twilight admitted.
"Ah. Who is lucky boy? Or girl?" Golden said, while quickly adding the girl part afterwards.
"Spike." Twilight simply said.
"The prince?" Golden said shocked.
"Yup." Twilight said smiling.
"But. He is their heir. If he is refusing to take the crown, who will?" Golden asked worried.
"Surely they have a second prince or princess to take it instead, no?" Twilight asked.
"Uh. If so, I have never met them." Golden admits.
"Not every prince or princess is supposed to be publicly known. You know how it is. They are by nature a combat royal family. Not everything is very well known." Twilight said.
"You do have a point. Still Spike? I heard he is the worst chef among his family." Golden said worried.
"I am not looking for a chef, I am looking for a partner. And Spike is the ideal partner." Twilight argued.
"Oh? How so?" Golden asked curious.
"There is no need to explain it twice. You were standing around the corner." Twilight said annoyed.
Golden sighed, "But are you truly certain?" he asked.
"Yes. A thousand percent yes." Twilight said determined.
"Fine. Good luck with Spike." Golden said uncertain.
Golden choose that exact moment to leave Twilight alone. Causing him to walk off, he appeared begrudged to do so. But shrugged it off regardless.
Meanwhile Twilight stood there, uncertain about what just happened. Twilight then once again closed the door to continue to work on the paperwork. Twilight then continued to work on the paperwork causing an additional three days to pass by quite quickly.
This time around Twilight was the one to leave her room first. She finished the final paperwork on the cafe, this caused her to once again visit one of the libraries and read some cookbooks about foods that she might sell in her new cafe. After finding the right book, she made her way to one of hills that have a single tree on it.
And as soon as she laid down on one of them, Spike appeared out of nowhere.
"Hi Spike! Did you managed to get permission?" Twilight asked, with the weight of the cafe off her shoulder for a moment, she seemed a lot happier.
"I did. Though I did skip out on the whole adoption thing, as my parent would have instantly said no." Spike admitted.
"Ah. I totally blanked out on the magic school egg incident." Twilight admitted as moved her hoof to her face.
"Among other reasons, but yes. That would probably have been the main reason." Spike agreed.
"But that is great news! After my vacation is over, which is over three days, you are going to help me move the furniture into the cafe." Twilight said smiling.
"I see. I did wanted to know. Is this kitchen going to be on an ordinary kitchen scale or like proper full metal kitchen style?" Spike asked.
"I decided to go with the cheapest version. Which is, a kitchen with all appliances but made of granite and wood. So ordinary style." Twilight said.
"Reason?" Spike asked.
"Ponyville." Twilight simply answered.
"Ah! A small village, I understand." Spike said.
"Besides, my cafe will also have some seating indoors. Which no other cafe in the area has, at the moment." Twilight said.
"Why is that?" Spike asked.
"Too small, not enough space for such an feature." Twilight said.
"Ah, which probably means. It is an open kitchen, right?" Spike asked quite confidently.
"Yup. The only closed off area, is food storage and coolers." Twilight said quite pleased.
"So, what about the menu, have you made any decisions yet?" Spike asked.
"Sort off. Every three months the menu rotates. Making four different parts of Equestria featured in our cafe." Twilight said.
"Oh?" Spike said in thought.
"I am planning on rotating your job from waiter to kitchen staff. This means, I expect you to also interact with guests. And yes, the one in the kitchen is also responsible for dish washing." Twilight said.
"So you rotate evenly?" Spike asked.
"Not really. I will be constantly responsible for the bar, this includes making drinks. Besides that, I do my part at the kitchen and being a waitress." Twilight said.
"So, an all-rounder." Spike suggested.
"Exactly. Perhaps, one day I might hire a third member. But for now, two is enough." Twilight agreed.
"Do you expect a lot of traffic?" Spike asked.
"Nope. I am going to do little to no advertisement. The location is far from any main street or plaza. And our focus is to buy as much produce in our local area as possible. If we can't, we might grow our own." Twilight said.
"Wait. So how are you going to pay any tax or rent?" Spike asked worried.
"Ha! Don't worry. I collected a nice stash of money for rent and tax. Even if we make no income, we will be able to last for atleast five years before our money might start to dwindle." Twilight said.
"And after that?" Spike asked one more time.
"Well, I could touch my emergency savings. But that will only be broken if we totally fail. And only then, will I advertise." Twilight admitted.
"Good. So when we arrive, which theme is the start?" He asked excited.
"Dragon lands. It's a special theme. Since it would be the easiest to get started into. After those three months have passed, Canterlot." Twilight said.
"So wait. Most creatures in Ponyville is pony, so how will we do that?" He asked.
"I will explain that, once we get there. Now, I expect you in three days at the train station. Do try to bring little with you, since this isn't a mere vacation." Twilight requested.
"Alright! See you in three days!" Spike shouted excited as he made his way back home.
Twilight sighed, after that barrage of questions she was feeling less excited for her book. It made Twilight realize the reality of the situation. She was about to start a cafe, without using any of her fame made as someone that is actively helping female chefs. Thus started a business with little to no knowledge of the know-how. And without any fame that belongs to the cafe itself.
However, Ponyville is a small village. This means word does spread fast about a new cafe opening up. And something she didn't tell Spike, was the fact that after a certain period of time. In the evening, it turns into a bar instead. But not a bar in the traditional sense, but in the cocktail sense. She would serve cocktails and have a DJ play music.
At the evenings, she would have a different partner. A friend she made during her younger years in Canterlot. Her name is Vinyl Scratch or as her business name states, DJ Pon-3. She makes a living making songs and playing DJ at the night. In that sense, this bar was also a little different. In CET time, between 1700 and 2300 was bar period. That way, nopony was being kept awake by the music and it would allow Vinyl to play her music at other venues later at night. If she had any other location.
To prevent herself from overworking, she would open her cafe at 1100 so that she would work a total of twelve hours at the most in a single day. Also to keep herself from overworking, in the evening the kitchen was closed. However, Twilight did not have a contract with Vinyl. Since she didn't want to restrain her own interactions with Vinyl. Their friendship being merely platonic. But a deep one.
'Flashback
During Twilight younger years as a student from Celestium. Some days as student was very tiring. Twilight loved new information, but she didn't like the way teachers explained the information sometimes. And in order to wind down, she would go around visiting cafes and restaurants. However there was this one time, that she mistook a club for a cafe. Not in the mood to go elsewhere, Twilight decided to stay that day.
As she entered she took one big look around the room. The room she entered was quite big, with lots of installations of lights and boom boxes. And near the DJ set, was the ground filled with lights. Not to forget a disco ball on the ceiling, though this one seemed to not be working at the moment. The bar was filled neon lights and someone behind the bar was cleaning the glasses.
As Twilight was walking towards the bar, she swore to hear the sound of someone in distress. Looking towards the side of the DJ set was a young white filly. About the same age as herself. She was wearing pink stylish glasses and was swearing quite a bit. As Twilight looked closer, she could tell that one of sound transformers was badly damaged.
What Twilight didn't know, was that the person behind the bar was also the owner of the bar. He also saw what happened. Angrily, he kicks the young filly into the alleyway outside of the emergency door. Before slamming the door shut. Feeling empathetic towards the filly, Twilight exits the bar to see if the filly needed any help.
"Are you alright?" Twilight asked the filly.
"No. I just lost my only source of savings. That club was the only place that would accept my music." The filly said saddened.
"Really? Why?" Twilight asked curious.
"Because I am a filly. Canterlot is cold like that." The filly said as she kicked a tin can.
"Maybe I can help you. I do have this building that has a podium and a bar, but it is not in use at the moment." Twilight said.
"Really? You will help a random stranger?" The filly asked surprised.
Twilight smiled, "Of course. What is your name?" she asked.
"My name is Vinyl Scratch. Or DJ Pon-3 as my stage name." Vinyl said.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Twilight Sparkle. So you need a place to perform? One moment let my use my Communication magic to ask my parents for permission." Twilight said.
"Sure thing. I can wait." Vinyl said. She seemed a lot happier at that fact that anyone is willing to help to begin with.
After Twilight exchanged a few words through the communication magic. She nodded, "My parents are meeting us at the venue. Let's go!" Twilight said excited.
Vinyl nodded and followed Twilight towards the club. After a good five minutes of walking. They had arrived. Twilight's parents were waiting in front of the venue. They appeared to be smiling.
"Well hello there. My name is Velvet Sparkle and this is my husband Night Light. So you are the one perform at our old club eh?" Velvet asked pleasantly surprised.
"That is correct, madam." Vinyl said, showing his most polite side of herself.
"So. What is your stage name? And your musical specialty?" Night asked.
"DJ Pon-3 and its EDM." Vinyl said.
"Very well, Pon-3 is what we will refer you as. From today on end." Night said.
"Well. I guess I will open this venue up. If you got a moment. Night dear, can you get the lights ready? Twilight please do show our guest, our DJ setup." Velvet instructed.
"Will be done!" Night saluted.
"Sure!" Twilight agreed.
"I will call our usual servers for the bar. And clean it a bit, while I may." Velvet said.
While Twilight's parents did their part. Twilight meanwhile was showing her new friend the DJ setup.
"So this is it. It might be a bit bare bone but it is better than nothing." Twilight said. She watched as Vinyl inspected the DJ set.
"Why do you guys have such an advanced set? You don't seem the music type." Vinyl asked.
"That is true. It is mostly my brother and her new girlfriend that loves discos. We had to buy an entire club, for a single date. However we can use it anytime. His girlfriend is surprisingly good with DJ sets. So we bought the best of the DJ sets at the time." Twilight explained.
"I see. What did she play?" Vinyl asked.
"I think she called it, Techno Pop." Twilight said uncertain.
"You mean Electro Pop. Which is basically EDM." Vinyl said.
"No. She did say Techno Pop." Twilight said more certain a few minutes later.
"They are basically the same thing. Anyways, yeah. I can work with this." Vinyl said excited.
"Good. Well, lights are ready!" Night shouted.
"The servers are here. And using a bit of magic, we are ready to open." Velvet said.
"Did you also get the bouncers ready?" Twilight asked.
"Oh s- I mean. I forgot. One moment." Velvet said as she nearly swore.
"Excuse my wife for a moment. Opening this club up is terribly exciting. Before the original club went down on this place, it used to always place electronic music or that EDM as you call it. Sadly their prized DJ died from an accident, causing the club to lose everything. And thus eventually being bought by us." Night explained. His Canterlot accent coming through really clear.
"Really? What was the name of this venue originally?" Vinyl asked.
"Light Scratch. Not sure why that name, but that was its name." Night said.
"Wait a minute. That name is surprisingly close to that of Vinyl's surname. Vinyl Scratch." Twilight said surprised.
"Huh. Perhaps it was faith that brought you here. Regardless, there are plenty of similar surname holders that aren't actually family." Night dismissed.
"Yes. That would be very unlikely. My family lives in Baltimare. There is simply no way she could have been family." Vinyl agreed.
"I suppose you are correct. Nonetheless I hope you will enjoy your time here. And before I go home due to it being simply too late and me having school tomorrow. Can I ask you something?" Twilight asked.
"Of course, what is it?" Vinyl asked.
"Can we be friends? Of course I will visit this bar more often. But I would like to get another friend." Twilight admitted.
Vinyl smiled, "Of course. Perhaps I can teach you on the know-how of DJ sets." she said somewhat excited.
Twilight then gave Vinyl a hug before saying goodbye and leaving to go home for school.
Twilight then spend most of her time offs at the club until Vinyl got so popular, that she had little time to interact with Twilight. Instead, she would only show sometimes. One thing was certain. Twilight's club was so popular that it was finally earning the Sparkle family money. And always had an list of DJ's wanting to play music there.'
Nowadays the club was less popular. With Vinyl Scratch living her life in Ponyville and spending most of her own time with her new roommate. She played on larger venues. And there was little incentive to play at the club once again. Since Twilight wasn't living in Canterlot a lot either. They had lost contact towards each other until a faithful meeting a few days back.