Ponies at Taco Bell
By Miss Vixen
“I’m surprised such an establishment even opened here in PonyVille.” Octavia said to Vinyl Scratch as the two of them walked down one of PonyVilles many streets, with their saddle packs strapped firmly onto each other respectively.
“I know right, but when I was in the Crystal Empire, doing a gig awhile back they were all the rage.” Vinyl said using her front hooves to exaggerate only a little about how big the hype actually was.
“Did you happen to go too one while you were there?”
“Yay and the food was actually pretty good, but a lot of their drinks are lime flavored and their pretty powerful in lime intensity, so beware Tavi.”
“Thanks for the update Vinyl, I’ll try and remember that. Oh… were already here.” Octavia said as she looked up at the building.
The building was tan and purple in color with architectural styles similar to those in the far south, but was toned down a bit due to mass franchising. As the two ponies opened the front doors Octavia began to wonder. “Say Vinyl what kind of food do they sell here anyway?”
“Tacos mostly Tavi, hence the name. I hear some of their other food is good though.”
As the two ponies approached the counter, they looked up at the large board of food trying to make a decision. A light colored pony wearing the appropriate uniform asked the two of them, “Welcome to Taco Bell, may I take your order?”
Both Vinyl and Octavia heard their bellies growl loudly and then they both said in unison, “A taco twelve pack.”
They looked at each other slightly blushing and then back to the worker while suddenly blurting out, “Each.”
“Alright that’s two taco twelve packs, will that be all for today?” The pony behind the counter asked.
“That will be all, thank you.” Octavia said with Vinyl in agreement.
“Will that be for here or to go?”
“For here.” Vinyl replied.
~~~~
After the two mares received their meals, they decided on sitting at an empty booth in one of the back corners.
“Alright Vinyl, now it is time for us to start what we came here to do, besides to have lunch I mean.” Octavia said dramatically.
“It is indeed.” Vinyl replied while playing along with the scene.
Both ponies pulled a stack of papers out of their saddle bags and set them on the table. Then they slide their piles over to the other.
“It is time to proof read each other’s fan fictions.” They both said together, with the conversation ending in a stare down.
After a moment they both lost it in laughter and brought an annoyed glance or too their way.
“Alright, can we get started now?” Vinyl asked as the laughter started to die down.
“Agreed.” Octavia replied.
~~~~
“Hey Tavi, I’m at the reveal and I’m having a little trouble keeping all the evidence in order. Just to let you know.”
“Thank you Vinyl, I’ll dually note that for later and also I’m having a little trouble trying to wrap my head around the paradoxes.”
“Cool thanks.”
While the two of them were righting down notes, they absorbed enough into each other’s fan fictions, that they didn’t notice the pony that had walked up to their table.
“Excuse me, but by any chance are you Vinyl Scratch?”
“That’s my name, don’t were it out.” Vinyl said without even looking away from Octavia’s fan fiction.
“And are you Octavia Melody?”
Octavia more politely laid down Vinyl’s fan fiction and started to make eye. “Why yes indeed I… I… I….”
Vinyl took notice and looked up towards Octavia. She was frozen in place by the sight of the mysterious pony and as Vinyl turned to see who it was, she became just as frozen. The only words she could squeeze out were, “P-Princess C-Cadence?!”
Princess Cadence chuckled a little. “May I eat with you two?”
The two musicians snapped back to Equestria and happily agreed. As Cadence slid in next to Vinyl she set down her food, which consisted of a couple of locos tacos and several loaded grillers. Then Octavia asked, “Not to be rude, but what brings somepony of your statue to PonyVille?”
“Oh, my husband, Shining Armor, is just visiting his sister, Twilight and I was hungry, along with hearing that a Taco Bell had opened up, I decided to come and have my favorite tacos for lunch. So what brings you two here, besides lunch of course?”
“We were just proof reading each other’s fan fictions.” Vinyl responded.
“Oh, I love writing fan fictions. What are yours about?”
Octavia started the explanations. “Well from what I have read about Vinyl’s story, it is about Neon Lights finding a new form of music on magical music sheets while shopping in a foreign market. However they are stolen by an upcoming rival, who was once close to Neon, but when one of the songs is played incorrectly the music sheets are scattered through-out time. Neon then seeks out Doctor Hooves for help with the issue of time travel and they are both accompanied by Neon’s rival, who is looking for forgiveness. Of course Chaos ensues, along with some romance, through different time periods and the rest I believe I can leave to the imagination.”
“That sounds really good. Alright Vinyl, why don’t you tell me what Octavia’s story is about?” Cadence said turning her head towards Vinyl.
Vinyl swallowed a bite from one of her tacos and started to explain. “Okay so the story is similar to that of a crime show where it is more episodic. It opens with what could be a classic closed room mystery and Princess Luna, who is a famous private detective and is there by coincidence because she was staying at the hotel, the place of the incident, for a mystery convention the hotel was hosting. As she starts to investigate the scene, her rival shows up, who just happens to be Princess Celestia and obviously she’s her sister as you very well know. The story progresses with the two of them butting heads and the realization that the two of them have to work together as the case becomes far more complicated. I think I’m going to leave it at that, because I’m sure you’ll want to read it for your-self.
“Yes indeed. They both sound like very interesting stories and I would love it if you both would send me copies of your final versions, if it wouldn’t be two much trouble?” Cadence asked putting her hooves together.
“Oh it wouldn’t be any trouble at all and we would be happy to.” Octavia replied.
Vinyl shifted in her seat so she was more so facing Princess Cadence. “Alright Princess, you said that you write fan fiction, what have you written about?”
“Please call me Cadence and as for what I’ve written about, let’s see theirs Shining Armor my husband, love, romance, rule 63, and tentacles.” Cadence replied blushing slightly.
Both Vinyl and Octavia started to roll their eyes as Cadence went through her list, but they stopped when they heard the last two subjects listed. The only thing that they could say was, “In the same fan fiction?!”
“No of course no… well yes.” Cadence said a little embarrassed.
“Send us a copy please!” Both Vinyl and Octavia said still in unison.
“Alright, Alright, don’t worry I will.” Cadence said raising her hooves up in defense. “But first you two need to tell me what fan fictions you have read recently.”
“Alright fair enough.” Octavia replied.
Vinyl started to speak, “Okay, okay. I’ve have one. So I ran across a force feeding fiction that starred Fluttershy and Rarity. Now I actually liked the story and the transition of the idea that Rarity was into force feeding was smooth enough to be believable, however I had a slight issue with Fluttershy and that was her role was a bit of a stretch, so it didn’t seem very realistic. She didn’t come off as being very believable.”
“Speaking of Fluttershy, I have recently read a fan fiction about how she was living a secret life as a punk rocker.” Octavia spoke up.
“I do have to say that it was a good read, although it did seem to be a bit short and I would have liked it to have been a tad longer so that they could build up the story some more. Though the initial concept was a bit unrealistic, however it was written with realism in mind, so that it ended up being believable.” Octavia said while also explaining her opinion with hoof motions.
Vinyl nodded in agreement. “Sounds like a good read. Alright Cadence…, what fan fictions have you been reading?”
Cadence thought about it for a second and put a hoof to her chin. “Well there was this one, where they crossed over mlp and that one video game where everypony is saying it is the only true gang video game.”
Vinyl instantly raised her hooves and motioned to stop. “WOAH, WOAH, WOAH. Are you telling us that somepony combine…?”
“Mlp and Saints Row Two?” Octavia said finishing Vinyl’s statement.”
“Um, yes.” Cadence responded with a little uncertainty.
“We have to read it!” Vinyl said looking towards Octavia.
“Absolutely.” Octavia replied.
“It has to be the best cross over ever!”
“Most defiantly.”
‘NOW WAIT A MINUTE! You’re both going to be very disappointed with it.” Cadence had to speak up over Vinyl’s and Octavia’s onslaught of eagerness.
“Why would we be disappointed?” Octavia asked.
“It’s because it was never finished and it didn’t even get far enough into the story to learn all the roles for the main six.” Cadence replied.
“Well that’s a bummer.” Vinyl said.
An air of disappointment hung over the three mares while each one of them silently ate their tacos and grillers.
Cadence was the one to break the silence. “Octavia, I’m actually surprised by you. I had no idea that you would be into video games.”
“Oh not really, I’ve only played a few games from time to time that Vinyl had influenced me into playing.” Octavia answered.
“Riiiight, like I’m the one who got you into those foreign dating sim games.” Vinyl said raising an eyebrow.
“Well you made a comment on them one day and I became curious.” Octavia shot back.
“Don’t give me that I know you’ve been up late into the night playing those.” Vinyl said jokingly.
“You only know that because you’re up late playing that sound voltex.” Octavia rebutted
“Hey I’m just trying to beat your high score.”
“I’m not that good at it that you need to spend most of the night playing it.”
“Not that good!” Vinyl said stunned. “You have a perfect score on Through the Fire and Flames on level fifteen, so don’t tell me you’re not good.”
“Um excuse me, but not to be the odd pony out, but what’s sound voltex?” Cadence asked abruptly ending Octavia’s and Vinyl’s argument.
“Sure thing Cadence, we’ll be happy to show you.” Vinyl said going through her saddle bag. “Um Tavi, I don’t think I brought my phone with me, did you bring yours?”
Octavia quickly checked her saddle bag. “Sorry Vinyl, I don’t think I did ether.”
“That’s alright, I have mine with me.” Cadence said while she pulled her phone out of her mane.
“Okay I’m on the internet and now to find out about this sound voltex.” Cadence typed in the name and clicked on the first video that came up. Every patron in the place stopped what they were doing as the sound of nyan cat filled the room. Only the sound of the internet craze filled the air until it had ended and Cadence sat looking at the small screen a little dumb founded.
“So Cadence what did you think?” Octavia asked.
“WHY HASN’T THIS MADE IT TO THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE YET?!” Cadence suddenly shouted out.
Vinyl and Octavia were pulling themselves away from the back of their seats at the sudden outburst. Then Vinyl, “Now calm yourself down Cadence, we now know what will be trending in the Crystal Empire sometime soon.”
“Sorry for the outburst you two, but this looks really interesting and guitar hero doesn’t even come close.” Cadence said trying to apologize.
Octavia reached out a hoof and placed it on one of Cadence’s. “It’s alright we all lose time and sleep to things that we easily geek out about.”
“Yeah, I’m sure the three of us will be up late tonight reading and writing fan fictions.” Vinyl said as she set a hoof on Cadence’s shoulder.
With a smile on her face, Cadence let out a small laugh. “Thanks, you two. It is nice to know that no matter where somepony is they can find a friend in any fandom.”
~~
As the three of them started to continue eating their food, Cadence received a text from Shining Amour asking where she went. “I’m sorry, but I have to go.” Cadence said to Octavia and Vinyl and as she gathered her things, all three of them traded numbers and emails. They said their goodbyes and Cadence throughout her garbage as she made her exit.
Vinyl and Octavia finished their own food and with a new friend from an unexpected encounter, they made their own leave from Taco Bell.