Two's Company, Three's a Crowd

by Lithe Kamitatsy

Chapter Sixteen

The three walked towards a small cafe near the Library, taking a seat outside while they waited for the waiter.

"Y'know, that Trixie filly is something else. How long have you two been dating?" Vinyl asked.

Twilight blushed slightly, thinking back. "Well, I originally met her a quite some time ago when she came to Ponyville, boasting about her magical abilities. She was dead-set on convincing everypony that she had vanquished an Ursa Major, amongst other feats. At first, everypony disliked her...for good reason, admittedly."

"Why is that?" Octavia asked, curious.

"Well, she DID kind of show up all my friends...she tied Applejack up with her own rope, turned Rarity into a fashion DISASTER, and a few other things that generally just embarrassed them." She explained. "Everyone kept egging me on about showing her up, but I honestly didn't want to stoop to her level and end up having everypony think I'm just like her. In the end, two other colts that live in town got a little over-excited and woke up an Ursa Minor, which came into town and started terrorizing everypony. I was able to put it back to sleep, but Trixie ran off before I could talk to her again." She said.

"So what, did she come back on her own? Or did you go looking for her?" Vinyl questioned.

"It's a funny, story actually...I received mail one day from her: a legal summons sent by her agent. As it turns out..." Twilight then turned a deep shade of red. "...She wrote a screenplay about me, and wanted my permission to have my likeness used in it."

Octavia smiled. "How sweet of her. She must really care about you."

Vinyl merely laughed. "So she sued you, just to get your attention?"

Octavia sighed. "No, Vinyl. She did not SUE Twilight, she just wanted her permission-"

"Huh. Maybe I should do that." Vinyl said. She then turned to Octavia. "Octy, I love you so much that I'm suing you. I'll see you in court." Octavia face-hoofed so hard that Twilight winced.

"Heh, kinda reminds me of the time I got that new Hoofby Surround Sound for my system, and blew out our neighbor's wall with the drop on the track I was mixing." Vinyl grinned, proud of herself.

"Ugh, please do NOT remind me Vinyl. The amount of begging I had to do to prevent our landlord from throwing us out was humiliating, not to mention I promised free concert tickets to him and his wife for the next year." Octavia groaned, remembering it clearly. "Thankfully, the neighbors were kind enough not to press charges."

"The police weren't." Vinyl said flatly, folding her forelegs.

Twilight chuckled sheepishly, not sure what to say. "Well, to put it simply, I talked to Trixie about why she created the screenplay. She told me she was in such awe of my ability and grace she felt she wasn't worthy of being near me, and tried to hide it with her illeisms and self-propagation. Over time, she grew to miss me to the point she felt she had to get my attention, but she was also afraid of how Ponyville would treat her after the mess she caused." Twilight paused to take a breath.

"I think it was what she did next that made me fall for her. She went to each and every resident of Ponyville and apologized, one by one. It damaged her pride, sure...but she said I was more important than that." She blushed. "Eventually, everypony started to see that she was a good pony on the inside, she just has a weird way of showing it. She moved in only a couple weeks ago, seeing as she didn't really have anywhere to stay, and that's how it's been ever since."

"That's a nice story." Vinyl said, content with the ending. It was then that Vinyl heard a whistling sound filling her ears. "Um...am I going deaf or do you guys hear that whistling?" She asked. Both Octavia and Twilight looked around, looking for the source.

"Yeah, I hear it too..." Twilight said.

"Me too..."

Vinyl looked up. "Uh..."

"WATCH OUUUUTTTTT! A voice yelled as it screamed towards them. At the last possible moment, Vinyl pushed Octavia out of the way, Twilight jumping backward as a rainbow-colored blur slammed into their table, destroying it completely and leaving a small crater where she made impact. When the dust settled, a cyan pegasus with a rainbow-colored mane and tail sat in the crater, very much dazed and confused.

"RAINBOW DASH! What were you thinking?! You could have hurt yourself, or worse, somepony else!" Twilight scolded as the dust settled. Rainbow Dash shook her head slightly to stop the shaking in her vision.

"Ugh...what..." She then realized she was on the ground. "DARN IT I was so close! I KNEW I shoulda pulled up sooner! Whatever, I'll just try that move again until I get it right! The Princess didn't call me the "Best Young Flier in Equestria" for nothing!" She grinned mischievously, eager to get back up in the air.

"Oh no you don't!" Twilight yelled as she used her magic to hold the pegasus in place.

"Wha-Twilight! Let me go!" She said, desperately trying to flap her wings but gained no distance.

"Not until you apologize to the two other mares you almost FLATTENED." She chastised.

"Ugh, fine! Just lemme go already!" A moment later, the purple glow around her faded, and she was free once more. She took a deep breath, and sighed. "Look, I'm sorry I almost-" Dash froze when she realized just who she was looking at. The white coat. The electric blue mane and tail. The violet sunglasses. The double eighth-note cutie mark. It HAD to be her.

"OMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSH!" Dash squealed, unable to control herself.

"Uh, you alright?" Vinyl asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Y-You're DJ-PON3...THIS IS SO AWESOME!" Dash yelled. "I LOVE your music! When's your next concert!? What about your next album!? This is AMAZING! You're like my FAVORITE DJ in all of Equestria!"

Octavia shook her head and sighed. "Monkey see, monkey do I suppose." Twilight stifled a giggle at this.

Vinyl smirked. "Now this is a pony that has an eye for talent!" She said, trotting over to her and draping a foreleg across her shoulders. "Well, I'm currently not touring, but I can give you a tidbit on my new album. It's called "More Manticores and Parasprites," and should be due out sometime in February." Vinyl said.

"Just for being such a cool pony, I'm gonna send you an advance copy and a backstage pass to my next set, on me." She winked. "By the way, that was a pretty cool move, even if you did crash. Keep it up, and I'll stake my CAREER on the Wonderbolts letting you in." Vinyl said, patting her on the back.

Twilight was worried. Rainbow Dash was shaking so violently from excitement she was convinced she was going to shake off every last feather on her wings. Suddenly, Dash gave a scream of delight and rocketed off back towards her cloud home, leaving a rainbow trail behind her.

"I gotta say, Vinyl...I've never seen anypony get Dash THAT excited. Well, aside from the Wonderbolts." Twilight chuckled.

"Ahem...and just who is going to pay for these damages?" A voice said from behind them. The three of them wheeled around, only to find a very unhappy waiter, standing over the wrecked table and broken plates.

"Just put it on my tab." Vinyl said. Octavia looked at her incredulously.

"WHAT TAB!? Vinyl, you have done this at the last THREE restaurants we have been to! Just SAY you do not have the money to pay for it!" Octavia yelled.

"But I do, I just prefer to pay it all in one go. Again, put it on my tab." Vinyl said nonchalantly.

Octavia looked ready to grab the nearest object and beat Vinyl with it, but was showing titanic amounts of restraint. She walked up to the waiter. "I will be back later with the money." She said, gritting her teeth.

The three left to look for another place to eat, not having eaten due to Rainbow Dash's sudden appearance.

"Hm, I guess we could go eat at Sugarcube Corner. I've actually been craving a danish recently." Twilight said.

"Sounds good to me." Vinyl said. Octavia was still upset at Vinyl, but agreed.

"I will eat, but I have to keep an eye on my sugar intake. I know I am going to do a lot of growing as the foal grows, so I do not want to have to do double the work once it is born to lose the excess fat." She said.

"That's very observant of you, Octavia. I'm glad you're taking steps to make sure the foal is born healthy, as well as staying healthy yourself. If you want, I can lend you a book on maternity care, that way there's no guesswork involved." Twilight offered.

"Gladly, I can use all the help I can get. To be truthful, I am scared...but I am more excited than scared. I was the other way around at first, but now...I am very much looking forward to the day my foal is born." Octavia said softly with a blush. Vinyl smiled, relieved to hear that Octavia was feeling the same way she was.

"Well, I'm sure things will turn out just fine. You know Nurse Redheart lives here, and she's got a small clinic. If you need to go see her at any time while you're here, she's open pretty much all day." Twilight said.

"That is good to know, I will definitely keep that in mind...and you know, I have to say. I have grown to like this little town very much. The sense of community is wonderful, and everypony seems to be very kind to and genuinely caring towards one another here...aside from a certain green unicorn." She said.

"Green unicorn? Do you mean Lyra? What's wrong with Lyra?" Twilight asked.

"Octy and Lyra apparently hate each other. Some sort of rivalry according to Bonbon. I think it's funny, personally. Octy's pretty good at throwing insults, probably because she had her nose turned up at birth."

"Oh, ha ha Vinyl. Very funny. I will have you know Lyra's talent does not even BEGIN to compare to mine. She has never played for the Princess, whereas I have played for her several times as Twilight can attest to." She said, boosting herself up.

"Why don't we talk about that over lunch?" Twilight asked. "I'd like to see if maybe we can get that resolved." She then held the door open to Sugarcube Corner.

"Resolved? I don't see that happening. Ever." Vinyl said as they entered.

"Why not? Maybe it's just a misunderstanding." Twilight suggested.

The three sat down at one of the tables, continuing their conversation, lunch completely forgotten.

Comments

[titankore]

Another great chapter I love the way vinyl and Octavia bicker and still remain so sweet together. I think I might have one or both show up in my story and I hope I represent them as good as you.

[gaston]

Great as always

[Twisassin]

Was that a Ballad of Twilight Sparkle reference I saw?

[Apocalypse Pony]

31822

WE SEE WHAT YOU DID THAR

[Fox-Sama]

I see you to are a fan of "Ballad of Twilight Sparkle" wish that would update, But I am happy that you updated and update soo often! you really know how to give the fanse what they want! :pinkiehappy

:

[mintfree]

Hah, I caiught the Ballad of Twilight Sparkle reference.

[SureFreeD]

Abortion!
*slap across da faic*
Wow imagine the baby failing. Oooooo that would be SO juicy for my grimdark as fuck mind..
*licks his lips*

[ShiroExia]

awesome chapter man

[PeaceColt112]

th01.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/f/2011/112/d/9/rainbow_dash_seal_of_approval_by_lemonyhooves-d3d8vey.png

[Happy Thoughts]

Excellent! I want MOAR of this. 5 stars, as always :).

[yusha]

"lets go to bed, but first see if a story updated' looks at story update "OMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSH!"

[Crooked Djinn]

I was at school when i got cought reading this in math class by my teacher. Now I have a new brony to talk to! Because THE FUN HAS BEEN DOUBLED!

[DooDawDay]

Excellent excellent, I am continually impressed at your ability to update like clockwork. Of course, the story itself is quite good, all around a great fanfic.

I did however figure out the one thing that had been bugging me. Nothing monumental, just something I noticed; there was no need to introduce Twilight (or rather the idea of meeting Twilight) as early as you did. Since they were going to go through Ponyville and staying with Pinkie anyway, it would have been very easy to have had them mention in passing that they didn't really know how it was possible Octavia got pregnant and Pinkie could then mention that her super smart smarty-pants friend Twilight Sparkle was sure to have an idea. It just felt like redundant foreshadowing.
Anyway, I know you've said before that you write these chapters pretty much one a day (sometimes more XD) I can understand the lapse in foresight. This is the sort of thing that you would catch in the first or second read through in the editing process, since (as far as I know) you skip editing, it's quite impressive that that is my only nitpick. Keep up the fantastic work!

[SpitfireLover]

31916
Finally, another educational worker who understands what I like

[oblivion2k]

Nice Skrillex reference

[Jolttix]

The ref to another fan fic was good and well placed.

[lol1759]

i love this fic so much

[DashXColt]

I've got a bone to pick with you. Pffft you thought it was going to be a bad comment, huh?

Trickery is what this is!

To be honest though, I think this is kind of funny. This situation, I mean. See you have made a reference to the well known Twixie story, "The Ballad of Twilight Sparkle." Whereas I have also made a reference to the same fict in my next chapter (Which was done a couple days ago...). So now there's two ficts with a reference to TBOTS! Not that I've released mine, yet.

Still I don't mind the reference made here. Just thought it was a fun fact that we're both making a reference to it. Kind of like when me and this other Twixie fiction had Twilight eating pancakes at the same time. It's just coincidental fun!

You really thought I was mad at you? I'm not that kind of person.

[Not]

You no longer need my comments, and as such I will read quietly.

-----
I am many things in many places. Here I am Not.

[jsk244]

I did go read Ballad like you suggested. Annnnnd you were right, and now I'm a fan of Trixie x Twilight.

Confound these ponies! They make me want to ship everyone!

[DooDawDay]

32381
Here's another weird coincidence for ye, I know exactly which fic you're talking about with pancakes. The day before I read that fic, I had opened up a word document with the beginnings of a fic I've been working on for some time now. I decided to rework the beginning. The first scene is Twilight waking up and making pancakes for Spike.
WEIRD

[littlerobotbird]

Okay, gonna stop here for now. Seems as good a place as any.
So, yeah... well, first things first, you've got a fun core to this story. The banter and relationship between Tavi and Scratch is almost certainly the strongest part of the story as well as the thing that makes me want to read on.
That said, some of the pacing and scene structure is just sort of wonky. I'm not one for the "~Elsewhere~" method of scene transition, so you may take that criticism with a grain of salt.
Some of the tension ends up a bit false at times... Vinyl's father's outburst at hearing the news as well as the quick resolution that followed just seems a bit off... I dunno, perhaps if we had seen the scenes that Marianna ends up describing (Vinyl cussing out her dad and him subsequently crumbling) then maybe these would feel a bit more true. (Though, I did enjoy Marianna as a character; she was fun)
Might have to go with a similar criticism on your inclusion of the main 6. Pinkie and AJ feel fairly organic in their introductions, Rarity feels a bit off, but understandable... but Fluttershy ends up being rather random in her introduction (and even more random in her exit...). Apparently AJ's tour of Ponyville is kept to her friends. Could help if you sent them around a few more of Ponyville's sights.
Honestly, as soon as you got to Twi, oh lawd, Trixie, what is wrong with you? (and I mean that in the most positive way. Trix is ridiculous... so much so that I almost require her and Twi's story)
So... anyways, nice story overall. It's certainly a compelling story (post-shipping stories can be nice when they're like this), but... think it could use a bit of polishing (odd transitions, oddly broken up paragraphs, oddly not-broken-up paragraphs, M.I.A. commas... stuff like that) and this certainly be a 4.5-5 story for me.
Nice work.
-Lammy

anyone notice the skrillex reference up there? "more manticores and parasprites"? sounds close to "more monsters and sprites" DUBSTEP FTW, DJ PON-3!!!!

[4morian5]

"Octy, I love you so much that I'm suing you. I'll see you in court."
I can't adequetly express in text how much I laugh at this.

[cuck]

It seemed a little to generous of what vinyl did, a normal artist would sign an auto-graph not give FREE backstage passes to somepony she doesn't even know

[paper bag wizard]

441185
well vinyl is best pony

[Ecthelion_Yuda]

Is it possible to get a more perfect shipfic than this one? I don't think so...

[Faust Fan Five]

738755
Try these other great shipfics!
Green By Steel Resolve,
Vinyl and Octavia: University Days By Dawn Fade, or
Composure By Varanus.
I'm not saying these are better, just that these are equelly as good.

[Frostbytten]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rImo9AlKT_c]
I love this guy!

[Spazz6768]

1182032 University Days is the reason I read ship fics.

[Da Bass Cannon]

well im sold. ILL SEE YOU IN COURT OCTAVIA BECAUSE I LOVE YOU SO GOD DAMN MUCH. xx seizure engaged xx

[Dustchu]

Lyra and Octy rivals, hmmm...

Good show! Once again.