//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Nice People // Story: The Sun Always Rises // by jl7895 //------------------------------// This has been the worst week of my life. Not even the outfit Coco made for me makes me feel better, but I do love it. Sky and Sonata have been spending all their time together and it is driving me crazy. It’s not that he’s spending time with another girl, it’s that I can’t even get near him without Sonata’s evil sisters acting like guard dogs. What did I do to deserve this? Oh…right… Still, I don’t think my behavior warrants this kind of punishment. They’re taking away my best friend and there’s nothing I can do about it. He’s the only person who understands me and probably the only one that gets me. Sure, Derpy is there to comfort me, Coco and Rarity can make me feel better about myself, and I feel like I can talk to Rainbow Dash about anything, but they don’t get me on the same level as Sky. To try and forget about Sonata and Sky, I decided to get a job. I tried applying to Sugar Cube Corner, Pinkie even said she would put in a good word for me. Unfortunately, Mr. and Mrs. Cake weren’t hiring at the moment. Pinkie then told me about a new café that opened up a few blocks away. She happened to forget to tell me that it was a maid café, but I basically got the job when I walked through the door. At first I thought there was no way that I would ever work here, but then I took a look around. The girls weren’t wearing revealing and the customers weren’t objectifying the girls. In fact, the girls looked like they were enjoying themselves. I got to know the people were I work pretty well. First there was Colgate, the daughter of the two most successful dentist in the city. She’s as bright as her smile and even more insightful. People would come in and request her just to have a meaningful conversation. Sweet Leaf was the first person they hired and has no intention of leaving. Customers would agree there’s something special about the food she serves, even though she does nothing to it. Lyra and Bonbon have known each other since they were kids and still best friends to this day. They are so close that they can finish each other’s sentences. Finally, there was Octavia. Octavia is originally from England and only moved to Canterlot within the last few years. She has a thick accent and people think she’s arrogant because of this. Truth be told, she’s one of the most kind and caring person I have ever met. She always asks me how I’m doing and would invite me to go out with her and a few friends after our shifts. I introduced her to Derpy and Coco and the four of us started hanging out both in and out of school. Lucky for me, The Dazzlings don’t harass me while I’m around my friends. They do, however, try to find ways to make me feel uncomfortable. They brought back the tradition of throwing notes at my head and they give me intimidating stares as I walked down the hall. Whenever I did get to spend time with Sky, at least one of The Dazzlings was nearby and watched us like a hawk. The only time I was able to see Sky without one of those witches around was when he came into the café with his friends and I didn’t want to talk to him about Sonata with his friends around. Today started out as a good day. I got plenty of sleep last night and woke up on the right side of the bed. I had a nice, relaxing shower and followed it up with a delicious breakfast. Sweet Leaf and Colgate called in sick, so Octavia and I are covering their shifts. This meant we had to work a double shift, but neither of us minded. We both enjoyed working and the owner is really nice to anyone who takes a double. It would have been nice catch a ride with Sky as he left to hang out with some other friends, but it was a nice day and I didn’t mind walking. I was afraid of seeing The Sanderson Sisters on my walk. As luck would have it, they were nowhere to be seen. I walked into the café and the host greeted me. I smiled and said hello back and headed into the back room to change into my outfit. Octavia was already back there, waiting for her shift to start. Our uniform was a traditional maid’s outfit, except we have orange instead of black. The selves stopped about a fourth of the way down the arm and the skirt stopped just above the knees. It looked like a real maid’s outfit. “Good morning, Sunset,” Octavia said as I walked into the room. “Good morning. How have you been?” I asked as I stepped behind the room divider to change. “I’ve been better.” “What’s wrong?” “I don’t really know myself. I’ve just been feeling a little down lately. Maybe I’m just stuck in my own head. I should be fine once we start.” “Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it? You know we can talk about anything.” “How can I talk about something when I don’t understand it myself? I’ll be fine.” “If you say so,” I said as I stepped from behind the divider. “How do I look?” “Fantastic,” She said with a smile. We walked into the main room and started working. Usually, people are kind and not trying to see up our skirts. This was a place for people to enjoy food and conversation. This wasn’t a peep show or some brothel. That rule seems to fly out the window when a bunch of middle-school or under classmen come into the café. Luckily, the host, typically a male, also works as a bouncer. If anyone causes trouble, he has the right to kick them out. However, he can’t actually do anything until they cause a disturbance, which means they try and pick us up as often as they want. I learned some tricks to help keep the perv levels down. I started wearing shorts under my skirt so if they “accidently” lift it up all they see is more clothes. “Excuse me, maid,” One of the high school boys called out to me. He was sitting with his friends in another corner. I wanted to kick them out because I thought they were nothing but trouble, but the host could probably handle them. “Yes, Master,” I responded. “Do you have a license?” He asked. “Because you’re driving me crazy.” The boy and all of his friends started cracking up. “I’m sorry, Master, I do not have a driver’s license,” I said, keeping the smile I always have to wear. Sweet Leaf told me that immature boys will try to pick me up and I should just smile and act as if they were serious. “Hey maid,” another boy said, “if I flip a coin, what are the chances of me getting head?” Again, the boys started laughing. “I believe it’s a 50 percent chance, Master.” “I’m sorry for my friends,” another boy said. “The real reason we called you over is because I have a favor to ask. I lost my number, can I have yours?” “Leave her alone,” a mature voice said from behind me. It was Flash and I have never been happier to see him. “Maid, can I please talk to you in private?” “Yes, Master,” I said. Even if I was enjoying myself, I had to say yes. Thank you management. I passed by another maid and asked her to cover my area while I was on break. Flash and I sat at a two person table across each other. “You look good,” Flash said. “I mean not because you’re in a maid outfit or anything. I meant you look fit. Not that I was checking you out, but-” “It’s alright Flash,” I said with a giggle. “I knew what you meant. What are you doing here? You’re not the kind of guy who goes to a place like this.” “I was just checking up on you. I know I asked you to stay away from Sky, but I also know that you care for him. I noticed that you two weren’t hanging out as much, so I was concerned that you two got in a fight or something.” “It’s nothing like that. I just don’t like his new girlfriend.” “Who’s his girlfriend?” He asked. “Sonata Dusk.” I sighed at just the thought of them together. “Is there something wrong with her?” “There something wrong with her and her sisters. When I was my evil self I used The Dazlings to get what I wanted. They have a way about them that can make anyone do anything they want. I had them help me win the freshman Fall Formal and then told everyone what they did.” “Do you think that they’re exacting some kind of revenge?” “Yes and no. I do think that Sonata really does have feelings for him. I think she really likes him, maybe loves him. But why now? Why when do they show up when I start hanging out with Sky? Why are they trying to keep me away from him? It’s too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence.” “For what it’s worth,” he said as he grabbed my hand. “I would have picked you over anyone any day. Do you want to have dinner tonight?” “Where’s this coming from?” I asked, almost bewildered by his question. “I know you might not have liked me when we were dating and was just using me to get more popular, but I liked you. If the you I liked was just an act, than I might like the real you even more. So, what do you say?” “What about Twilight? I saw you two at the Fall Formal and you seemed like you really liked her too.” “I have to be realistic. Twilight left this world and might never come back. Even if she does, she’ll only be here for a few days and then I have to wait again. We can’t build a relationship off of that. Please Sunset, I really want to get to know the real you.” “Sunset,” the maid I asked to cover my tables said, “your break is over.” “I’m sorry, Master,” I said as I stood up. “I need to get back to work. Is there anything I can get you?” “No…” he said with a disappointed look, “I’m fine.” I was still thrown off a bit by Flash’s question. Why, after all this time, would Flash suddenly ask me out? Could it be because he didn’t want to be seen with me when everyone hated me? That can’t be it. Everyone hated me before and he was still happy to have me around his arm. Come to think of it, Flash has only been nice to me since I met him. Even after I broke up with him, he still helped me when he could. Maybe he really does like me and I’m just shrugging him off. “Sunset,” Octavia said coming towards me. “Can you please cover that table for me?” She pointed at a table with several kids from school. They were all from all class, so I knew they weren’t going to try anything funny. “Are you going on break?” “No, I just need you to cover that table. Please Sunset.” “Of course.” I walked over to the table and introduced myself like we’re told. They were pretty easy going and didn’t give me any trouble. Some of the males even gave me compliments without sounding like they wanted more. This was a dream table. I wondered why Octavia wanted to give it up? I walked back to the kitchen to put in the order and I found Octavia blushing and hiding behind a wall. “Octavia?” I said trying to get her attention. She jumped, not expecting me. “Don’t do that to me,” she said when she realized it was just me. “What’s going on? Why did you want to give up that table?” “I guess it’s only fair if I tell you. I’m…obsessed with someone at that table.” “Really?” I asked, still a little confused. “I don’t know what it is, but I can’t stop thinking about them. Every time I see them, my heart just sings. Whenever I’m playing anything remotely romantic, they’re all I can think about. And not to mention her voice.” “Wait…her? Sorry, I just didn’t think you were-” “I’m not,” she interrupted. “I’m bisexual, but I would easily turn if that’s what she really wanted.” “What’s her name?” “Vinyl Scratch. She usually goes by the name DJ PON-3 when she’s on the stage. You should see the way she gets lost in her music. It makes one of those faces that shows she’s enjoying what she’s doing and the only thing that matters is her music.” “If you want, I can ask her to talk to you,” “No! I would die of embarrassment if she ever found out I liked her. Plus, I don’t even know if she likes me back. What if I say the wrong thing and suddenly she thinks I’m a freak and never wants to talk to me again?” “Calm down,” I said as I grabbed both of her shoulders. “You can’t keep these feelings bottled up. You need to at least try and talk to her. At the very least, you could get a new friend.” Octavia took in a deep breath and gave it some thought. It was a little funny to her like this. Usually Octavia is graceful and elegant. She’s always been the one to remain calm in situations like this. Seeing her get all rallied up over anything one is a whole new side to her. “Okay, I think I can talk to her. Can you please get her for me?” I nodded my head, gave Octavia a hug and walked back to the table. One of the boys was in the middle of a story and we have been instructed never to interrupt a customer. The boy kindly interrupted himself and asked me what I needed. “I’m sorry to bother you, but one of the other maids requests Vinyl Scratch’s presences. If you would please follow me.” Vinyl got up from her seat and walked with me. Some of our customers like to just talk with our maids. Sometimes they just want to vent about their lives or talk to someone they can relate to. Lucky for them, this café has a small, den like area made just for that. “Look, if this is about signing up to be a maid, I’m not interested,” Vinyl said as she followed. “No offence to any of you, but that’s just not my style.” “It’s nothing like that. Octavia Melody just wants to talk to you.” “Octavia, huh. That’s the one that plays the cello right? You know, the cute one.” I smiled a bit because I knew this was the start of something beautiful. I led her to the empty seat next to Octavia, who was blushing harder than anyone ever. I couldn’t stay to hear their conversation, but I did get an idea of how it was going. It started out kind of slow, as Octavia didn’t know what to say. It then started to pick up, as I guess they traded stories. By the end of our shift, they were holding hands. I had to pull Octavia a way for a moment so she could clock out and change back into her street clothes. I also took the opportunity to find out how it went. “So,” I said as we changed. “how did it go?” “She likes me back!” Octavia shouted. “She said that everything I do everything in the most beautiful manner possible. She even asked me on a date, Sunset. Don’t even know how to start thinking you. If there is absolutely anything I could do to repay you, please just ask.” “Don’t worry about it. You would have done the same for me.” “You’re right. I would have.” We went back to the dining area where we saw Vinyl waiting at the front door. Octavia ran towards her and the two of them left the building hand-in-hand. I followed them out of the building and watched them walk off into the sunset holding hands. “Well what do we have here?” Adagio said from behind me. I turned around to see the three Dazzlings standing right behind me. “It looks like she’s trying to make something freakier than she is,” Aria said. “So people would stop talking about her and start talking about that abomination.” “Can you please not do this today?” I asked. “I has having a really good day until you three showed up.” “You know we were having a good day one day. You just won Queen of the Fall Formal and you promised us all the love and adoration in the world.” Adagio said. “And then what happened?” Aria said, “You soiled our good name and ruined us. You made sure that everyone hated us and no one would ever want to talk to us.” “You ruined our good day, so if we ruined yours than our job is done for the day. Come on girls.” Adagio and Aria walked away with evil grins on their faces. Sonata stayed behind, but it’s probably because she didn’t notice her sisters walking away. “Can we talk, Sunset?” Sonata asked me. “I don’t want to hear anything you have to say. You won alright. You successfully took my best friend away from me and now you want to gloat?” “It’s not like that Sunset. Please can we just talk?” “Why? Is it because you’re recording all of this so everyone will think I’m a monster. Is that what you really want? To have everything think I’m a monster again?” “But, you’re not a monster. I’ve seen you around school and how nice you’re being. You talked to that really shy girl, you were super nice to that girl with the weird eyes, and you just helped that musician find her love. Does any of that sound like a monster to you?” “Then why do I still feel like one?” I said, trying to hold back tears. “Let me tell you something that my mom told me. Your past doesn’t define you because your past is not today.” “Why are you being so nice to me?” “Because I saw the change you made and I wanted to make that change too. I don’t want to be thought of as the girl who rigged the Fall Formal election. I want to be thought of as Sonata.” Maybe I misjudged Sonata. Maybe she was just the girl who got caught in the cross-fire and now she’s a monster. I thought about it and she too has never said a mean thing about me. She’s never laughed at my misfortune or started any rumors, or I don’t think she has. She’s only been that girl on the side, silent as her sisters took center stage and her voice was drowned out. Either way, what kind of person would I be if I told her I wouldn’t help? “Okay, Sonata. We’re going to fix your reputation.” “Thanks Sunset,” she said with a smile. “I also wanted to talk to you about Sky. I really really like him. I like him more than I’ve ever liked any other boy ever. But I also know how close you two are and if you like him more than me, than I don’t want to get in between you two. So, do you like him more than me?” “I…I’m not sure. I think I like him, but it could be just because he’s the first person who I thought really cared about me.” “Do want to talk about it until you figure it out?” “I would like that.”