Subway Girl

by Space Jazz

Let the Ghosts Sleep Tonight

Twilight stared at the sad little Subway at the edge of an even sadder looking strip mall with more vitriol than she had ever felt for anything before — And if felt great! Well, she lived a sheltered life, so she wasn’t really mad at much yet. She hadn’t even entered the workforce. She could find something to be cross about there then.

The bus nearly barreled past the stop before Twilight yanked at the thin cord above her head. And with a chime and an aggressive squeal of the breaks, the bus stopped right in front of her date’s place of work.

She stepped off and out into the world, her teeth grit and her fists clenched. Her breaths began to pick up with each footfall.

Stopping just short of the glass entrance and posters hawking the deal of the day (half off tuna subs on Tuesdays, for anyone curious), Twilight leaned against the hard concrete wall and prepared herself for an unpleasant confrontation. At the very least, she had the advantage of preparing for it. And gee, did she uh, prepare.

Twilight had practiced her speech for the better part of the morning. She was pretty proud of it, too. It had an arc to it, rise and falls in intensity and a proper cadence to convey her well warranted frustration and righteous fury. Oh, she was absolutely going to let her bad date have it. This was her taking a stand and becoming a stronger, more better version of herself.

All that went out the window once she and Adagio met face to beautiful face.

Adagio had been resting on her cheek on her hand and took a moment to glance up from her phone. “Did you want something?”

Twilight’s face scrunched. “Uh, what you did last night was… not nice!”

“Uh huh.”

Twilight gritted her teeth. “How dare you take advantage of me like that.”

Aria stepped out from the back. “Let her have it, girl.”

“And. And.” Twilight’s breaths grew heavy.

Adagio leaned in. “And?”

Twilight felt her angry tears threaten to breach the corners of her eyes. “And you’re mocking me, aren’t you?”

“What?” Aria gasped dramatically, looking at Adagio. “Nooooo. She would never.”

Twilight balled her hands into fists. “You owe me.”

“Owe you what?” Adagio asked. “Money? Sex?”

“An apology.” Twilight tried to hide the flush in her cheeks. “And yes, whatever you and your friends owe me for the date.”

“Okay!” Adagio clapped her hands together. “We’re currently fresh out of apologies. But! I can pay you back.”

She made her way to the cash register, punched a few buttons, and began to slowly, passive aggressively count out a stack of bills, making sure to look Twilight right in the eyes. She slapped the last bill on the counter. “There. That should cover it.”

Twilight glanced up at the security camera in the corner. “Um, I can’t take that.”

“Why not?” Adagio’s smile was plastered, far more interested in Twilight’s answer now.

“It’s the store’s money.”

Adagio scoffed. “It’s insured. I’ll just tell the police that I was held up by a girl with the cutest little set of doe eyes.”

“You think they’re—?”

“Yeah, it’ll lead them right off your trail.”

Twilight glowered, realizing she had done the verbal equivalent of walking into a rake. “I’d feel much better if you paid me back legally.”

Adagio sighed. “Fine.” She slipped the cash back in the register. “We’ll do it your way.” She leaned over the counter and grabbed a gift card from its display. “As a shift lead, I’m authorized to award gift cards to placate the more problematic customers.”

She punched a few buttons on the register and swiped the card. “There. Twenty-five dollars. Are we square?”

Twilight scoffed. “You’re joking, right?”

“I’m doing you a favor. The usual limit is twenty.” Adagio turned to Aria. “Would you say she’s a problematic customer?”

Aria nodded. “Very problematic.”

Adagio grabbed another gift card and brandished it. “Guess who’s getting another gift card?”

“Is it her?” Aria asked with a smirk.

Adagio swiped the card. “Very good. Now that’s fifty dollars. That’s a week’s worth of six inch subs of the day. Today’s is spicy tuna.”

“A fate worse than death.”

She slid the cards over to Twilight. “You know what?” Adagio tapped her chin in mock thought. “I think this warrants another gift card on Sonata’s behalf. Can’t forget that she’s to blame, too.”

Another gift card. Another twenty-five.

“There. You bought us food. She bought you food,” Aria crossed her arms. “We’re even.”

Twilight didn’t know what to say. Seventy-five dollars worth of cheap sandwiches only covered half of what the three girls had cost her—not that she was hurting for money—but it was the principle that mattered.

Twilight looked down at the gift cards on the counter. “I… I’m…”

“Speechless? Eternally grateful? Glad we got this sorted out?” Adagio suggested, finishing her sandwiches.

Twilight bit the inside of her cheek. “Actually insulted?”

“Good!” Adagio said sharply. “Now you know a fraction of how I felt when you asked me out.”

Twilight stood there, mouth open. “Why are you doing this? I did nothing to you.”

Adagio smiled and leaned across the counter, gently pinching at Twilight’s chin with her gloved hand and leaving a spot of mayonnaise against her chin.

“You just have a really unfortunate face.”

—🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕—

“You what?”

Sunset Shimmer nearly choked on her pizza. And while she would usually blame it on the buckets of grease the on-campus pizza joint lovingly slathered on top, the true cause was utter bewilderment.

“I think it went well,” Twilight said with a bright lilt to her voice.

“She called you ugly!”

“She said my face was ‘unfortunate.’ There’s a difference there. I think she meant I looked too much like the other me.”

Sunset’s laugh made love with a scoff and birthed a noise that was frankly confused of its own existence. “Well, I’m glad you’re taking it fine, I guess. But forreal you’re lucky to make it out alive.”

“You’re exaggerating,” Twilight said as she mopped up a pool of grease off the surface of their plain pizza. “They don’t seem that bad. A little mean, but maybe I need that.”

“I’m just worried they might be up to something. They seem like the grudge holding type.”

“Figured that one out already. I don’t need you to tell me that,” Twilight said, a bit rudely. She caught onto her tone and bit on her tongue. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Sunset brought her hand out and squeezed at Twilight’s wrist. “Look, I trust you. I don’t trust them. But I get it, you gotta do you. Just don’t hesitate to get me involved if things get out of hand.”

Twilight did something that approximated a huff and a laugh with enough plausible deniability for either. “Thanks. But I’ll be fine.”

“I’m serious. Say the word, and I’ll fire a friendship laser at them.”

This time, Twilight’s laugh was a bit more genuine. “You never told me the full story behind that.”

Sunset crinkled her nose. “Yeah, I don’t like revisiting that era of my life. Was a bit of a bitch back then. Life after wasn’t pretty either."

“You had a bitch phase and never told me?” Twilight had that glint in her eyes. “I would have loved to see it.”

“You did,” Sunset answered. “Well, the other you did, but I’ll still count it.”

“The other me gets everything.”

“The other you recognized Adagio was a threat, at least.”

Twilight didn’t hear that as she was preoccupied with inspecting her unfortunate face in the dented napkin holder sitting on the table, thinking about what she could do to change things and turn things around from her unfortunate position.

Sunset wiped a bit of grease off her chin. "What are you even trying to get out of this, anyway?"

"I don't know." Twilight shrugged. "I think she's neat. I don't know if I want to fix her or if I want her to ruin my life."

Author's Note:

"The Start of Something" — Voxtrot

Originally published on 17th March, 2023, on a potentially defunct alt named Space Jazz.

Comments

[forbloodysummer]

You're.... you're back?

There is no story on this whole site I'm more excited to see reinstated than this one!

[Thereal_lunastan]

Oh my gosh!!
This was definitely unexpected.
So glad you're back, though.

[Ice Star]

This was a fantastic binge read. Queer, funny, and with plenty of smart turns of phrase. I’m super-hoping Space Jazz doesn’t become defunct.

[Bryan Luna]

"I think she's neat. I don't know if I want to fix her or if I want her to ruin my life."

This could easily result in both outcomes.

[Bones_]

Damn girl, how relatable can you possibly get? I too want a hot bitch to fix and/or ruin my life. Especially the second part.

[SlimCognito]

This has been a very entertaining, humorous, and Subway-critical story so far! It might be enough to make me never return to that restaurant of low-quality sandwiches and decent service.

Twilight’s a very sympathetic, if naïve, protagonist who is easy to root for. I hope that Adagio will eventually warm up to her and see beyond her other self. Plus, Sunset acting as the wiser counterpart to Twilight lets the two play off each other in a fun way!

[6-D Pegasus]

oh wow, you've been gone a while , welcome back to writing!^^

[Moproblems Moharmoney]

Loving this

[Posh]

Her eyes were death. Utter fucking contempt. And, to be honest, Twilight Sparkle was kinda into it.

Le petit mort is a fucking phrase, Twilight, how many times do I have to tell you?!

You deserve better, Twilight thought. And she was right. No one deserved to spend eight hours a day—presumably just under thirty hours a week to avoid being paid benefits—slinging low quality sandwiches full of over-salted lunch meat and hawking overpriced bags of chips and cookies.

Yeah, but counterpoint, a six-inch veggie delite and a footlong turkey, as part of a healthy lifestyle, can lead you to losing four hundred million dollars in a massive criminal investigation, Twilight. You ask me, Alfredo Dongle’s got big things ahead of her.

Her stomach grumbled. She looked over to her classmates to see if anyone noticed. Thankfully, no one seemed to care. However, her next problem was what to have for lunch. She exhausted her healthy on-campus options, and the freshman fifteen was a genuine concern of hers. It hit her older brother hard when he first started college, and the last thing she wanted for any reason was to follow her brother’s footsteps.

Except for that whole “sleeping with Cadance” thing.

Something light sounded good, preferably filled with greens.

She knew just the place.

She visited her local Smart & Final and spent hours opening canned green peas and pouring them into her mouth.

For some reason she couldn’t quite place yet, she was drawn to this particular store with this particular girl. She was all she thought about, and she just had to know that woman’s name at the very least. Then she could write it in cursive over and over again in her diary until her wrist hurt.

Ah! She is quite skilled at being gay. :)

Her voice had a bite to it, the kind of bite reserved for bedrooms and earlobes.

God, you are very good at turning phrases, old bean.

The Subway Girl turned around. Twilight eyed her name tag. Adagio’s vengeful eyes narrowed. "Oh. It's you.” Her voice had a bite to it, the kind of bite reserved for bedrooms and earlobes. “Welcome to Subway. May I interest you in our spicy tuna sub? It's limited time only."

“And for an even more limited time, you can have one contaminated with listeria. On the house, just for you. Bitch.”

"Uh, no thanks," Twilight said. Her mouth was dry. She should probably purchase a refreshing Coca-Cola.

...Well, now I want one too. Shit. Fucking subliminal ponyfic advertising.

The sandwich artist clicked her tongue. "I'm not allowed to address suitors until I clock out," she said, twirling a lock of hair around her finger. "It's in the handbook."

"Page seventeen, subsection two," the other girl added. Twilight scanned her name tag, Sonata.

...Is that... is that a real thing? Is that true?

"No loitering.” Sonata pointed at the sign plastered against the door.

Right under it was a sign that read: “No Soliciting Dates.”

“Is that a common sign in these stores?” Twilight asked.

“This one in particular. It came down from corporate.” Adagio tapped the counter. “So are you going to buy something or are you still window shopping?”

pffhahaha

It had a heavier than than usual, as if it were a ham or chicken breast sandwich.

hate when they add too much than.

(editing error?)

Twilight paid only to hear an expectant cough. She followed Adagio's eyes to the tip jar. Getting the point, she slipped a dollar into the jar.

"There's two of us," Sonata said from the back.

Dollar fifty.

Sonata is just casually stealing the show here, isn’t she? Just like in Rainbow Rocks.

This is fun. I like your sandwich-based content.

[forbloodysummer]

Twilight looked down at the gift cards on the counter. “I… I’m…”

“Speechless? Eternally grateful? Glad we got this sorted out?” Adagio suggested, finishing her sandwiches.

Twilight bit the inside of her cheek. “Actively insulted?”

“Good!” Adagio said sharply. “Now you know a fraction of how I felt when you asked me out.”

New chapter does not disappoint!

[Lurks-no-More]

Goddamn this fic is a glorious mess. 👍

[Posh]

Twilight looked down at the gift cards on the counter. “I… I’m…”

“Speechless? Eternally grateful? Glad we got this sorted out?” Adagio suggested, finishing her sandwiches.

Twilight bit the inside of her cheek. “Actually insulted?”

Why do I suddenly feel the urge to slap Twilight’s teeth out of her mouth

“The other me gets everything.”

Except the Sunsetussy

[redandready45]

Glad this is back.

This relationship is a beautiful mess.

[LadyFey]

11532206
When I read that sentence, my gay heart was like "same, girl.". XD

[Cojo5536]

Where did you go? Should we even hope for more chapters?