Ode to the Napkin Holder (Scratch) [Dead]

[pfluff]

Bubble Pop
why yes. that was me.
███ ⊱ Mood/garhbleareawer ☁ Tagged/Sharaletta ☁ Crush/None ⊰ ███
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Well. That was fantastic. There really wasn't any other way to look at it. The show her parents and sister had put on was flawless. Her sister's acting was absolutely spot-on. The dramatic pauses- pardon the pun- were so well timed. Bubble glanced towards the small pile of books next to her at the table at the doughnut shop. Her signing had gone well, true enough. It was technically to further promote the third book in her Chincoteaque Isle Pirates series and get ponies hyped for the fourth. In fact, she had read a small passage of the fourth book at the signing and the response was amazing. Despite the focus on Pirates, fans of some of her other novels had come forward as well. Which was absolutely great- don't get her wrong. She really did love her fans. 

But her parents weren't able to come by. Her sister was busy with rehearsal, working with her mother on perfecting the scenes. Princess Celestia may have been in attendance for the show so they needed to be perfect. And to add to it, they had just arrived the night before, so her father had to devote his day to setting up the- well- set. It really wasn't anyone's fault nor did it didn't mean her parents didn't care about her. Everypony was busy.

Though it would have been nice for her parents and sister to see her not looking like a train wreck. Earlier in the day, Bubble had dressed herself up. She had put her hair up nice in some elegant victory curls and donned some light mascara. She had worn a nice white blouse for the signing, a small light orange pendant hanging from her neck. 

The pony had appeared collected. After all, if ponies were going to come out to see her she had to prove to them that she wanted them to be there. If she showed up in pony sweats and her hair a mess like it usually was then what would that say? For the evening the pony had changed her clothing, donning a pretty black dress with a slit on the side. Her necklace this time consisted of classic simple diamonds and her mane was still set in its earlier style. Shimmery white saddlebags rested over her haunch- looking elegant on the outside while the left pouch held a beat-up copy of The Perfect Gait by one of her favorite romance novelists and the right pouch held the extra copies of her third Pirates book. It was really the perfect outfit to go see a good show in, despite having to change at the bookstore in order to make it on time. 

There was still at least one thing to look forward to, ish. The next morning her parents and sister had invited her out to breakfast before her train back to Ponyville. She could show up and tell them how wonderful they had all been, they would probably politely ask her about the signing and she'd tell them it went well. That ponies seemed excited for her next book to come out. There were some fillies and colts dressed in pirate garb who wanted her to sign their hat instead of the book. 

Of course, it would probably be nothing compared to what Dramatic Pause would receive at the end of her performances. The actress always stuck around after a show to thank ponies for coming. Ugh. Why did her sister have to always be just... so darn perfect? With a small bang the pony's head hit her corner booth table. Not enough to hurt her, but enough to garner some attention from the ponies around her. Next to her head was a small, half-eaten plate of chocolate, cream-filled doughnuts and a glass of milk. Calories? Weight gain? Whatever. She was in Canterlot and she had heard about this doughnut shop back in Ponyville. So it had to be good. Right? This was research!

Well, her research came to the conclusion that, yeah. The doughnuts were pretty great. She had already eaten two of the four doughnuts she had bought. When she ordered it initially the guy behind the counter had asked who she was waiting on- a special somepony maybe? "You bet I am!" she had replied before pulling out the beat-up book, "And look! He's already here!"

It wasn't until after the damage was done that she realized most normal ponies weren't that awkward, and that she had accomplished freaking out a doughnut shop clerk. It was really the highlight of the night as she looked down sheepishly, taking the doughnuts, the drink, and her book to the far corners of the doughnut shop. She had set her saddlebags precariously close to the edge of the table, opening her book for the first time. For a while, this was great. She ate some of the sweets, read a few pages, took a sip of her drink, but then something had happened to distract her from her serenity- and it had nothing to do with the Alliance- er, sorry, wrong fandom. 

A couple of ponies had come into the shop positively raving about the show, about the director, about the beautiful set, and about the wonderful leading actress. And then everything went down hill. Getting stuck in her thoughts she had put down her book on the metal table, her lower lip out in a small pout as she stared at the reflective napkin holder. Taunting her. It was a great napkin holder. It held those napkins like no one else's business. Its family was a family of napkin holders. It wasn't a disappointment to its family. It fit right in. That's what happens when you're a great napkin holder. 

"I wanna be a good napkin holder," she found herself muttering. She let her head fall to the side to get another look at her great napkin holder friend, not realizing that her table friend wasn't good at being a table. It wobbled slightly, just enough for her precariously balanced bags to topple over- straight onto the ground creating the second shockingly loud noise that came from her spot. It was one of those nights.

Embarrassed beyond all belief, Bubble shut her eyes tight- maybe if she tried really hard, she could pretend that wasn't her. After counting to ten and wishing with all her might, her eyes opened. Nope. It was still her. Her books were strewn about on the ground. Maybe they would clean themselves up if she stared at them? No? No. That wasn't working. Letting out a low groan the pony began to clean up the mess she made. Some date this turned out to be. 

[ScratchThat]

Well, Sharaletta certainly hadn't attended any fancy performance or famous book signings during her day, but nonetheless, she looked content as she strolled down the wide Canterlot streets, a small smile gracing her lips. Business had been particularly good that day, and she'd made quite a generous amount of bits, although—of course—that wasn't the fuel for her happiness. No, she'd actually made a few friends. Well, at least she thought of them as friends. Although, looking back on it, perhaps they'd only asked her to accompany them to the theatre next weekend due to her being one of the more well known pony folk in Canterlot. I mean, she had nothing on the princesses, but hair styling had quite a fanbase—you'd be surprised!

Honestly, though, she didn't care what their incentive was. After all, they'd come in, picked out a few items, before then coming over to the counter. It had been quite near the end of her working day, so only a few idle customers were filing in through the door. No reason not to strike up a little conversation, right? And so, they had. They'd chatted about magazines, hair products, cute baby duckies, and all manner of other things. It'd been a very girly conversation, even for Shar, although she wasn't complaining. Making small talk with customers was one of her favourite pastimes, but of course, the line had gotten a bit bigger, so Candy Swirl and Crimson Curl had offered her tickets to some performance the next week, which she'd gratefully accepted, although at first she was a little reluctant. Didn't want to ask too much of ponies, did she?

Still, her smile was so bright and joyful that other passersby on the street—after debating whether the mare was crazy—gave her a little grin, too, and that just about made her day! ...But, you know what else would make her day? Some food. Yup. Grub.

Opting for something a little unhealthy, she trotted up to the doughnut shop and made her way inside, the counter's display of doughnuts immediately drawing her over to it. Why, she'd never seen so many different flavoured doughnuts! But, of course, one must keep to tradition, so she selected a chocolate one. The guy behind the counter clearly caught her optimistic mood—her smile was a little infectious today, it seemed—and gave her a hearty beam back, before passing her over the plate and stating the price. 2 bits! Glancing over at the display after paying, she noticed that the triple chocolate doughnuts were 2.50. Raising a brow, he merely claimed that the shop was offering a discount today exclusively, although she had a hard time believing it. Nonetheless, she replied with a polite "thank you", before making her way over to a table in the far corner.

That is, she was until a pile of novels came crashing down in front of her. Now, that didn't actually sound all that bad. Shar loved literature! But, uh, apparently other customers didn't take so kindly to the sudden disturbance. They gave the mare who'd dropped them some mocking glares, which prompted Sharaletta to look away in distaste. Obviously it'd been an accident. Some ponies were so inconsiderate sometimes.

Luckily, Sharaletta wasn't one of them. Glancing over at the mare and offering her a kind smile, she placed her plate down on a nearby empty table, before crouching and scooping up books with her hooves. Placing them neatly down on the mare's table, she noted her irritated expression and nodded a little. Perhaps she was having a bad day? Heck, maybe this had just added to her bad day? Determined to improve the stranger's mood, she gazed down at one of the novels, which she was about to pick up. "I don't think I've ever seen this book before," she began lightheartedly, before continuing on, "Any good?" Okay, so maybe her first statement might be taken a little offensively, but it was obvious that Shar was only trying to be polite. Unlike—well—everypony else.

[pfluff]

Bubble Pop
just a legend in my own mind
███ ⊱ Mood/Better ☁ Tagged/Sharaletta ☁ Crush/None ⊰ ███
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Okay. So it's not like Bubble disliked other ponies. Other ponies could be nice, they could be fun to talk to. They had fascinating stories and amazing lives that she always enjoyed hearing about. However, at this moment, the other ponies were not something she greatly appreciated. In fact, they seemed to not be appreciating her very much at the moment. What had started as a mild embarrassing moment had escalated, she wasn't able to really look up as she stared down at her bags and began to put things back together. She knew if she looked up she could end up making eye contact with the other ponies in the shop, and their glares were not something she really wanted to deal with at the moment. Were these ponies just particularly cranky ponies? Or was this what Canterlot was actually like?

Well. Whatever. She had to finish cleaning up her things and if the ponies wanted to stare and watch a fancily dressed pony struggle with a glitzy bag and her books, they could go right on ahead. It wasn't like she was expecting any pony to be of help to her. It wasn't their problem. However, before she could get too far in gathering up the books another mare- one with absolutely fabulous hair- had come over with a kind smile. Wow. That kindness was actually something Bubble really needed at the moment. She hadn't been aware of just how badly she had needed someone to just be friendly towards her until it happened, but here was a pony who was just being kind and friendly. And she looked so stylish. Bubble had to wonder what this pony did for a living to look so... well, hip. 

This pony was taking time out of her day to help Bubble gather her books again. The mare had even put aside her doughnuts. Now leaving your doughnuts to help someone, that was something. What? Doughnuts were really good. Before long, all of the books had been picked up and placed on the table. The other mare had nodded and it took a moment for Bubble to realize why. Oh. She probably didn't look like the happiest pony in Equestria at the moment. The evening had given her its own fair share of difficulties, so she probably was doing that thing again where her "resting face" was one equivalent to "when will this day just end?"

When the little pony started looking over her books, one of the copies of her third Pirate book in the series, she seemed interested in it. There were a couple of copies of the third book and one copy of the first. Maybe this pony had read them before? She looked over the cover of one of the copies herself. It featured Captain Ivory, a white pony with a silver mane and piercing green eyes, on a beat-up pirate ship. Behind her, her crew were working the mast as a storm swelled around them- a dark, evil storm in the background. Next to Captain Ivory was Navy Captain Sapphire Clockwork, a blue pony with a brown mane and tail. Despite the panicked look of the pirate crew behind them, both Ivory and Sapphire seemed cool, calm and collected as Sapphire pointed in a direction, barely holding onto a map while Ivory steered the ship with her hooves. When Bubble had first seen the cover art for this book in her series, she had been absolutely floored. It was exactly what she wanted. That feeling hadn't changed- giving her a surge of pride every time she was able to look at the awesome cover and realize it was for her work. The pony was proud of her novels.

And then it was revealed that the pony who had been helping her did not, in fact, know about the series. Okay. Well then. It would be silly for her to think every pony knew her series... or even think that most ponies knew her series. It was just a couple of books in a sea (no pun intended) of literally millions of stories written by ponies everywhere. Naturally not every pony was going to know her book. So when the pony continued to ask if the Pirate series was any good, Bubble Pop chuckled a little- glancing over the book that bore one of her two pen names "Artpop." "Haha, enough people like it. I get a lot of good feedback on the books," she smiled and held out her hoof, "I'm Bubble Pop, also known as Artpop or B.P. Thanks for your help picking them up. It's been a long day."  Bubble had then noticed that the pony's doughnuts were at a different table, she tilted her head, "Are you here alone? Would you like to join me?"