Our story starts in the large city of Canterlot, in a small apartment complex, that had even smaller apartments inside. However, size didn't keep one tenant from managing to squeeze quite a bit of stuff into apartment number four on the top of the stairs. Like the apartments around it; Apartment Four had a living room that opened up to a very small kitchen, along with a single bathroom and bedroom. This story begins not in the bedroom, or bathroom, or even the kitchen, but in the living room. Under a couch.
<><><>
“Come on, Mrs. Twinkle, where did you hide it?” a couch with pale white legs and a purple clad butt sticking out of it asked.
“Meow,” Mrs. Twinkle answered, jumping off the couch and onto the butt. “Meow!”
“Well you would have it if you didn't like to hide your shit,” the person under the couch said. “There's defiantly a ton of dust bunnies under here though,” as if to punctuate that statement, this person sneezed.
Ring! Thump! “Shit!” grumbling, the person started to crawl out of the couch, making Mrs. Twinkle jump off her butt and run away to the kitchen. The person under the couch started to rub her varying degrees of blue hair, snatching her phone off the coffee table.
“Vegetal? Damn,” she muttered, thumbing the talk button. “Hey boss!”
“Ah Vinyl, do you plan on coming in today?” Vegetal asked, his Hispanic heritage showing in his words. “Or would you like to never come in again?
“Hate to break it to you Veg, But I'm not working today,” Vinyl said, sticking her head back under the couch, looking for Mrs. Twinkle's toy.
“Oh? That's not what Lyra said,” Vegetal said, he sighed suddenly and quickly. “Look I don't care who comes in, but I need somebody here, now. You live closer so I expect you here, ok?”
“Damn it,” Vinyl swore under her breath. “Yeah ok.”
“Good.”
Click.
“Damn you Lyra!” Vinyl grumbled at the bunnies before crawling back out. She shook her hair to get rid of any pieces of stray dust, then stomped her way to her room. Vinyl wasn't expecting to work today. It was a Saturday, which meant Vinyl stayed in her t-shirt and underwear. When this got messed up, she got mad.
She fished out a pair of ripped blue jeans, shaking off any pieces of clothing that decided to join the ride, and a green shirt out of her clothes hamper. She got dressed and slipped on her sneakers, red with white rubber tips. She threw on a worn purple hoodie and grabbed a green apron with her name sewed into the right upper corner. She threw her wallet, phone and keys in her pockets before yelling good bye to her cat, and none too gingerly slamming the door.
She stepped out of her apartment door and into the hallway, locked the door behind her and continued down the stairs at the end of her hall and out the lobby into the fresh, brisk Canterlot air. Or as fresh as the air could get in a city. She sniffled a little and trudged her way over a leaf infested street and threw open the door to the shop across the street from where she lived, The Fruit Cake. A wholesome store that was all about fruits and vegetables, and the store that Vinyl worked at.
“About time!” an old, short, Hispanic, man shouted, “We are very, very, very busy today!” he shouted as he shuffled out of the room to do something. Vinyl looked around and saw only one customer looking at kumquats. But, holding her tongue, she only rolled her eyes and tied her apron on and got behind her place at the juicer, where she sat on her bar stool and rested her head on one hand and wore a very bored look.
The Fruit Cake was a small farmers market type of store with a twist, they main attraction being that everything was very fresh. Well, as fresh as any grocery store that is. The customer could pick out their favorite fruits and vegetables and they had a choice of buying them and taking them home, having them baked into something and come back to get their baked good, or get it juiced into a smoothie or something similar on the spot. The three stations were separated by green pieces of plywood sitting on a single long green table that separated the front of the store with the back of the store, and on each station there are little fruits like strawberries and blueberries sitting on little stands for the customer to want last minute.
Vinyl's spot was the juicer, she was good at it and nobody could tell her differently.
“Hey, V,” a head popped over the divider to her right.
“Hey C.T. how's it hanging?” Vinyl asked Carrot Top, a tall girl with bright orange curly hair that fell upon her shoulders with a sort of grace that seemed perfect. Carrot Top was in charge of baking.
“I thought it was Lyra's shift today?” Carrot Top asked, walking around the divider and leaning against the counter.
“It was, but I guess she decided to blow it off, probably to hangout with her girlfriend, Bon-something?” Vinyl asked, trying to get the name.
“Bon Bon, well maybe they love each other,” Carrot Top said while grabbing a strawberry from Vinyls stand.
“It's not going to last,” Vinyl said sourly, rolling her eyes.
“Vinyl!” Carrot Top scolded, “that's a mean thing to say!”
“It's true you know! They've been dating for two weeks and they see each other waaay too much,” Vinyl claimed, “it's unhealthy.”
“It's L-O-V-E,” Carrot Top spelled out for her before going back to her own station.
Vinyl just rolled her eyes and let her head hit her counter.
“Um, excuse me?” The woman that was shopping cleared her throat hesitantly.
“Yeah?” Vinyl looked up.
“Are you open?” she asked with an unsure smile.
“Uh, yeah, have you got what you need?” Vinyl asked, getting the blender ready.
“Yeah,” the woman put all her ingredients on the counter and Vinyl prepped them for the blender.
“It'll cost $5.41,” Vinyl said, starting the blender. It was a quick process, the lady didn't have too much stuff, just a classic fruit smoothie. She paid with a ten and Vinyl gave her her change and drink. “Have a good day, Miss-?”
“Octavia,” The lady, Octavia, said, grabbing her drink. “Can I ask you a question?”
“You just did,” Vinyl said, cleaning out her blender with the sink under the counter.
“Oh, um?”
“Kidding. Whats up?” Vinyl asked, drying and replacing the blender.
“Um, is there a way I can speak to a manager or owner?” she asked hesitantly, Vinyl's smile quickly fell from her face, and seeing this Octavia quickly added, “Uh, I play music, and I was wondering if- uh, well?” Octavia seemed unsure of what she was trying to say and trailed off making sporadic hand motions in the air, as if she was trying to catch the thought fleeing away from her.
“Like play music? like how cafes do sometimes?” Vinyl offered up with a shrug.
“Yes!”
“uh sure, one sec,” Vinyl turned towards the back and yelled, “HEY VEG. I NEED YA!”
“Huh?” Vegetal frantically ran out front. “Whats wrong?”
“Nothing, but this lovely lady wants to make a deal with you, some publicity thing,” Vinyl said, making room for Vegetal to greet the lady.
“Hi, Vegetal Slada, I own this little store, whats your name?” Vegetal asked, shaking Octavia's hand.
“Octavia Philharmonica, it's a pleasure sir,” Octavia said, smiling.
“Please, come into my office,” Vegetal said, leading Octavia behind the counter and into a room behind them with Vinyl watching them go.
“She's cute, huh?”
“Gah!” Vinyl jumped out of her skin. “C.T. you are too quiet!” Vinyl scolded Carrot Top, putting a hand to her heart.
“Oh come on, she's quite the looker, huh?” Carrot Top said, walking around the divider and leaning against Vinyl's counter and looking at the door Octavia and Vegetal went through.
“Pft. No,” Vinyl huffed, turning her attention back to the store.
“Oh come on, not even a little?” Carrot Top asked, plucking another strawberry off Vinyl's stand.
“Not even a little, and would you stop?” Vinyl asked, batting away Carrot Top's hand away as she was reaching for another strawberry.
“But I'm out on my side,” Carrot Top whined, walking over to her side.
“Not my problem,” Vinyl said, resting her head again.
<><><>
It was two weeks after Octavia had asked to play at The Fruit Cake and today was her first performance. The Fruit Cake was set up differently for the occasion. The stands in the middle of the store were moved to the side and in one corner a small little stage was set up with a microphone. Vinyl was doing some wiring work for the various speakers placed around the store and talking to Octavia while she worked.
“So, how do you know so much about this kind of stuff?” Octavia asked. Normally Vinyl didn't like to be bothered while she did her magic, but with Octavia she didn't mind. She had the last week to get to know her new “co-worker”. Vegetal seemed to have come up with a new gimmick to attract more customers; every Saturday they were to host an “aspiring” artist; play a song, get recognition, that kind of stuff. Since he knew that there would be some trouble finding artists, he and Octavia came up with a sort of agreement. Octavia would work at the store during the weekdays, and on Saturday she would play for free, versus having to pay a small fee like anybody else. Since The Fruit Cake was always short on staff, and Octavia needed a steady job anyways, the situation was perfect.
So for the past week Vinyl has been assigned Octavia's trainer to teach her how to operate the cash register, juicers, ovens and sorting out products so the most desirable is always showing, since Vinyl has been at the store the longest, of the employees anyways. According to Vinyl; Octavia was hopeless. She couldn't remember the price of anything, and she couldn't get the proportions right for proper smoothies and she seemed to burn anything she put in the oven. She barely stacked stuff right and Vinyl was ready to be done with her.
But, she couldn't help but be kind to Octavia. Whenever Octavia messed up some prices, Vinyl was there to fix the mistake and set things right. Vinyl would always fix the proportions to her smoothies, and swap produce to make the stack better. There was no rescuing burned food though. Vinyl couldn't seem to help but always look after Octavia, like a bigger sister.
“Uh, I have a side job, sorta,” Vinyl muttered as she worked. Her face scrunched up in concentration, there was bad feedback and she couldn't figure out which wire it was. “Like you, I make music. Sorta.”
“What kind of music?” Octavia asked, kneeling down next to Vinyl, kinda looking over her shoulder.
“All kinds, really. I mix and remix other people's music into something new. Is it this one?” she muttered to herself.
“Do you ever make your own-own?” Octavia asked, hoping to not sound too condescending.
“Well sure, but that's not what I play for other people.”
“Why not?” Octavia asked, Vinyl looked up at Octavia with a smirk, before standing up.
Vinyl motioned her to walk with her as she make her way past the counter and into a backroom that was the employee lounge. They both sat down on the leather couch.
“You see, I'm not good at making music,” Vinyl said, kicking up her feet on an orange plastic crate. “Can't quite get the sounds right.”
“And you get paid for this music?” Octavia asked, keeping her feet off the crate, though there was room.
“Not exactly, by 'side job' I mean that it's something I would like to get paid for, but for now it just entertains me, my cat, and the neighbors around me. Whether they like it or not,” Vinyl chuckled a little to herself.
“Do you think I could hear some?” Octavia asked, looking at Vinyl with wonder.
“Uh, sure, but it's all at my house, if you wanna come over sometime, or something-”
“Oh! I would love too!” Octavia practically shouted excitedly. Vinyl wasn't ready for it and it showed on the expression she wore. “S-sorry,” Octavia stuttered, embarrassment written all over her face, but Vinyl just chuckled.
“It's cool, didn't have many friends growing up I take it?” Vinyl asked with a half smile.
“None, actually. My father sent me to a private school, an all girls place, and I never really clicked with anyone other than my teachers. Sorry about getting all excited over something so trivial,” Octavia was blushing madly while she spoke, keeping her eyes to the ground. She only looked back at Vinyl when she put her hand on Octavia's shoulder.
“It's cool, I was kinda popular throughout my school years, but I wasn't the kind of kid to just hangout with the popular crowds I hung out with everybody. You're not the first person with no friend experience that I've hung out with. And don't sweat it, you learn as you hang with more people,” Vinyl reassured her, patting her on the back.
“Thanks, really.”
“Don't mention it, now lets get back to setting up,” Vinyl said getting up, she offered Octavia a hand, which she took with a giant smile.
<><><>
Vinyl was behind her counter again, making the last smoothie for the night for Octavia played in less than five minutes. The turnout was bigger than anyone really imagined; Vegetal had to turn two people away because he ran out of room and seats. From just the people ordering foods they have already made more money that they did on their busiest day of the week.
“Here you are, Ma'am,” Vinyl said sliding the fruit smoothie over to the woman who ordered it.
“Thanks,” the woman said, walking away.
The lights that were already dim got turned off all the way and the only light was a small light from Vinyl's stand, which she flicked off. Vinyl had the best view of all those who were behind the counter, so all she had to do was rest her head in her hand and sip on her own smoothie. But because she did have the best view, that meant the other two workers quickly set up their own seats next to her.
Carrot Top sat on Vinyl's right, closest to the fruit stand, and Lyra sat on her left.
“I wonder what song she'll play,” one whisper-asked the other.
“I don't know, but I hope it's good,” replied the other.
“Guys, shut up,” Vinyl scolded in a whisper, “she's about to play.”
Vinyl heard snickering from the two to her sides but she just ignored it and concentrated on the spotlight at center stage which Octavia was sitting in with her cello at the ready, she wasn't dressed in anything fancy, but a little better than street clothes. She flashed her eyes to Vinyl who gave a quick thumbs up. With a smile Octavia closed her eyes and began playing.
<><><>
“I've got to say, Octavia that was pretty good,” Vinyl said with a smile as she and Octavia climbed the stairs to her apartment, number four.
“Thanks, I was pretty nervous and I made a few mistakes, oh man I really hope nobody noticed them,” Octavia said. As nervous and worried as she sounded she had the biggest smile on her face.
“Oh come on, you did great,” Vinyl said opening the door for them. “Have a seat,” Vinyl said pointing to the couch as she went to the kitchen.
“Are you sure? I just don't know,” Octavia worried some more, but sat down. Mrs. Twinkles jumped in her lap surprising her slightly.
“Promise, you want a beer?” Vinyl asked, her head deep in the fridge.
“U-uh sure.” Vinyl grabbed two beers and brought them over.
“Come on, you need to chill out, it went great and everybody loved it,” Vinyl cracked open her beer.
“I hope so,” Octavia said, cracking hers open as well.
“To great fame and prosperity,” Vinyl said, hoping out her beer.
“To great friendship,” Octavia clicked her can to Vinyl and they both took deep drinks with smiles on their faces.