Chapter 3 - Meet Lyra, Bonbon, and Vinyl Scratch
Colgate awoke to the sound of a mellow harp playing from the house next to her own. She rubbed her eyes, and dragged herself out of bed. Without checking, she knew that it was Tuesday and exactly 9:26 AM in the morning. She quickly brushed her hair with her favorite toothbrush-shaped hairbrush, and went downstairs to investigate the sound of the harp.
When Colgate opened her front door she discovered a light blue unicorn with a white-and-blue mane using magic to play her harp, which looked exactly like the one plastered on her flank as a cutie mark. Upon seeing Colgate, she stopped playing and put her harp back in her saddlebag.
"Good morning, Doc! My name's Lyra! You probably don't remember but I played the music at your party." She said cheerfully.
With such a smiley pony in front of her, Colgate felt the need to be equally cheerful.
"Good morning, Lyra. And Colgate is fine, please don't call me Doc."
"Whatever you say, Colly! Anyways, Roseluck wanted me to tell you that she can't meet up with you today, so you're going to be hanging out with me and Berry Punch!"
"Okay. And seriously, Colgate is fine, it's already a nickname."
"Sure thing, Colgers. Anyways, Berry is waiting for us at her stand in the market, we should get going."
"Berry has a stand?"
"Yeah, how did you think she makes bits? She sells Equestria's BEST fruit punch and juice. She used to sell alcohol too, but she got banned."
"Berry Punch seems to get banned from a lot of things."
"Indeed she does."
Just as Lyra had mentioned, Colgate soon found that Berry did indeed have a stand in the market. In fact, the stand was so large and colorful that Colgate was surprised she had never noticed it. There was a large flashing sign that read: "Berry Punch's berry punch!" and the stand itself was the very same shade of purple as Berry herself, who was currently behind the counter manning the cash register.
"Hey guys! Give me a bit to close up shop, and we can hang out for the rest of the day!"
"Close up?" Said Colgate. "Didn't you just open? It's pretty early."
"It's no big deal, I get most of my business during the nighttime anyways." Responded Berry as she turned off the glowing sign using a nearby switch.
"So what should we do today?" Asked Lyra.
"I was thinking we should show Colgate around town a bit, and perhaps we could introduce her to some of our other friends." Replied Berry.
"Ooh! Can we stop by Bonbon's shop?" Said Lyra hopefully.
"Again?" Said Berry. "Why is it that you always want to go there, but never actually buy anything?"
"I uh... just like to browse."
"What does Bonbon sell?" Asked Colgate.
"Candy." Replied Berry.
"I'll pass then, I'm a dentist, I know what that stuff does to you." Said Colgate monotonously.
"Aw! Can we PLEEEEEASE go?" Lyra pleaded.
"Only if you tell us why you go so often. The candy doesn't change." Said Berry.
"Not true! Bonbon told me that last week she got a new supply of licorice!" Said Lyra.
"That's nice but you don't really need to go see it. You know what licorice looks like." Said Colgate.
"What if she's getting a new shipment of something else?! I have to talk to her!" Said Lyra anxiously.
"So you just want to talk to Bonbon? Why didn't you say so?" Said Berry.
"No! Wait, yes! Er... maybe." Mumbled Lyra.
"I think I know what's going on here." Said Berry in a smug tone.
"You do?" Said Colgate.
"You do!?" Said Lyra.
Berry pointed a hoof at Lyra.
"You like Bonbon!"
"I do not!"
"Admit it!"
"Okay, maybe a little. Can we stop talking about this now?"
"Pardon me for interrupting," Said Colgate. "But aren't we forgetting that both ponies in question are female?"
"Oh right," Said Berry. "Lyra is lesbian."
"Oh. Never mind then."
Berry stopped to think for a moment.
"I guess you we should take you to the usual tourist locations of ponyville, and I think Hoity Toity is doing a fashion show at the park tonight. Interested?"
"Sure, so where do we start?" Said Colgate.
"What about the candy shop!?" Said Lyra.
Berry rolled her eyes.
"We'll stop by the candy shop on the way to Sweet Apple Acres, and I'll give you six minutes to talk to Bonbon."
"Six minutes? That's not nearly enough!" protested Lyra.
"Sure it is, just don't babble and it will be plenty of time."
Lyra groaned.
"Well," Announced Berry. "let's head down to the candy shop so we can hurry to Sweet Apple Acres!"
"Sounds good to me." Said Colgate.
As the three ponies approached the colorful building, Colgate already dreaded being anywhere near it. The giant cardboard candy on the front of the building was enough to make her want to turn around immediately. Unfortunately, her friends didn't seem to care, and casually stepped into the candy shop. Colgate gulped and followed her companions into what she knew as the plastic wrapped dental damage store. Even before she had decided to be a dentist, the mare had just never appreciated candy. The taste would just never seem worth the detriment to a pony's health.
Unfortunately, Berry and Lyra didn't really care and paid no heed to Colgate's anxious expression. As they made their way towards the front desk Colgate spotted the mare who would have to be Bonbon. Bonbon's cyan eyes surveyed each of them as they approached. Her dark blue and light pink mane seemed to Colgate to be almost as bouncy as her smile.
"Lyra!" Exclaimed Bonbon, grinning obtusely. "Are these your friends?"
"Yeah, this is Berry and Colgers."
"Colgate." Corrected Colgate. Lyra only shrugged in response.
"I don't think I've seen you around town before, what's your talent?" Asked Bonbon politely.
"I'm a dentist, but I just moved here."
Bonbon frowned.
"A dentist? That's......nice."
It didn't take a genius to tell Bonbon didn't like dentists, which was perfectly understandable given the circumstances.
"So," Said Lyra. "what have you been up to lately?"
"Oh you know, just running the shop as usual. And you?"
"Well since Colggy is new we thought we'd show her around ponyville and take her to Hoity Toity's fashion show tonight."
"Five minutes." Said Berry
"Shut up!" Yelled Lyra.
"Huh?" Said Bonbon.
"Er....Not you!" Lyra quickly added.
"So where are you heading first?" Asked Bonbon.
"Sweet Apple Acres." Said Lyra.
"Ooh, can I come?"
Lyra's eyes lit up. "Really?!"
"Yeah, I need to get more apples for my apple flavored hard candy." Said Bonbon casually.
Colgate groaned, but everypony else ignored her.
"Of course!" Said Lyra
.
"Okay, just wait outside while I close up, I'll be right there."
After 10 minutes of waiting outside and listening to Lyra's cheers and Berry's complaints, Colgate spotted Bonbon leaving the store with an empty saddlebag.
"I'm all ready! Let's go!"
After touring every part of Ponyville and more, the four mares agreed upon going to Sugar Cube Corner to get dinner. Lyra and Bonbon had only been talking to each other for most of the day, and were now engaged in their own conversation away from Berry and Colgate. They had both been munching on cupcakes when Colgate suddenly felt herself being alerted that she only had 5 minutes and 28 seconds before the fashion show started.
"We'd better go, if we leave right now we'll be on time."
Lyra and Bonbon looked up from their conversation.
"How do you....know that? There's no clocks in here." Asked Bonbon.
"It's my talent." Said Colgate quickly.
"But I thought you said you were a-" Said Lyra
"LET'S GO OR WE'LL BE LATE."
"Okay! Going!" Said Lyra.
The moment the four mares arrived at the show, all of the street lights turned off and the stage lit up.
"ATTENTION EVERYPONY! HOITY TOITY'S NEWEST FASHION DISPLAY WILL NOW BEGIN!"
"Ok Colgate, I am impressed." Said Berry.
"Woah, how did you do that?" Said Lyra.
Before Colgate could respond, another familiar voice chimed in.
"Ooh! That's impressive!" Said the doctor, who had suddenly appeared as usual, but this time with Derpy in tow. Colgate jumped back.
"Augh! Stop doing that!"
"Doing what?"
"Just appearing out of thin air! It's annoying!"
"You can't ask me to do that! It's like if I asked you to stop doing dental work, would you do that if I asked you to?" Claimed the doctor in a seemingly offended tone.
"How is that at all the same?" Questioned Colgate.
"You'd be surprised."
"Hi Colgate!" Said Derpy.
"Hello Derpy, are you here for the fashion show too?"
"Yeah! I missed it so Mister Doctor here took me back to see it!"
"Um....what?"
"Ha! Derpy, now don't be ridiculous. We talked about this, remember?" Said the doctor.
"Oh! Right, sorry Doctor!" Replied Derpy nervously.
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that!" Said Colgate somewhat nervously.
Before Derpy or The Doctor could respond, a loud crash echoed through the air, and the music came to an abrupt stop. Beyond the crowd's confusion, Colgate spotted Hoity Toity himself chewing out the D.J., a white unicorn with a rough blue mane and purple sunglasses. She seemed to have smashed her drink on the ground.
"For the last time, NO!" Yelled the unicorn above the ambiance, silencing the crowd.
"Now Vinyl, there's no need to get angry. It was merely a suggestion." Calmly stated Hoity Toity.
"Who's that?" Whispered Colgate to Lyra.
"That's Vinyl Scratch, she's known for playing the music at basically every event that calls for it over in Canterlot. She also does work in Ponyville from time to time. She's also known for her uh....tantrums."
"Say it! I dare you to say it one more time!" Exclaimed Vinyl.
"I just think that a pony like you could easily make a job in the modeling buisine-"
Before Hoity Toity could finish that statement, Vinyl bucked him in the jaw, sending him flying out of the sound booth.
"That's IT! Vinyl, I didn't want to do this, BUT YOU'RE FIRED."
"Screw you! I hate your shows anyways you old creep!"
With that, Vinyl Scratch hopped off stage and left through the main entrance after pushing her way through the crowd.
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(Author's note)
So sorry for the half year delay!
See I began to write this story during the summer, but I go to a gifted school where I'm a year ahead of my age in every subject (not trying to brag, it's really not as hard as it sounds) and I haven't had time to write at all with all the work I've had, so now that I'm on thanksgiving break I'll update my other fanfic at least once and continue working on this, if I have time between doing family stuff then I might get another update in!