Out of Bits - OPEN

[Deleted]

Ponyville wasn't too large a town. When you grew up there, you started off in a tiny area - your home. As you got older, your world grew, and soon you knew the entire town like the front of your hoof. When some ponies got to a certain age, they felt the town was just too small for them. They'd seen everything there was to see, visited every cafe, bought fun things from every store (or at least looked). There came a point where some ponies found themselves telling their father they were going to Sweet Apple Acres when they had no intention of the sort. There came a point where some ponies instead made their way to the train station and headed off to Canterlot.

One such pony was Diamond Tiara.

She wasn't heading off forever, no, her life was much too enjoyable and carefree for that. She just wanted an exciting day, doing something different. Filthy Rich had taken her to Canterlot a few times, but she'd never been by herself. She wanted to walk down whichever streets she wished, buy whatever caught her eye, bring back something to show off in school the next day. The lie she had told her father, she was surprised he bought it - when did she ever choose to go to Sweet Apple Acres? It was full of blank flanks and crazy grannies. But he had bought it, so she had rushed off, and not too long after, stepped out into Canterlot.

That had been a few hours ago, and the shine was wearing off. Her hooves hurt. She was uncomfortably hot. She had discovered that one of the upsides of living in the same smallish town all your life was that it was impossible to get lost. The same was not true of a place you had just followed your father around in. The first couple of times she hadn't minded - she was there to look around, so what did it matter if she knew the map location of where she was looking? Then it started to get old. Currently standing in front of an art gallery, Diamond Tiara was taking a break. She had planned to do so in a fancy cafe with a cool drink and something completely unhealthy and delicious for lunch, but she had discovered a huge problem: she was out of bits.

How was she going to get lunch? How was she going to get home? She stared unblinkingly at a pony seated nearby with a large glass of something, unaware she was even doing it. The look of it was almost enough to make her drool.

[Deleted]

Cloudyjack was in Canterlot today on a mission. A trip to Royal Guards headquarters. Was he applying? Did the nerdy, homework loving, teacher's pet pegasus want to be all he could be? Not really. At least he had a few more years before that was even an option. He was there to pick up some mail for his Aunt Sunny Skies that was just found. While a Ponyville Foal alone in Canterlot would seem off, he was the only one that could. His mother was too heartbroken to come herself and his father was of course, dealing with extreme weather somewhere in Equestria. Sheesh, it's like the little blue one lives alone most of the time. Coming around the corner he spotted another Ponyville foal in Canterlot. Diamond Tiara. Though the question right now was why was the richest filly in Ponyville just sitting there drooling and looking at some Stallion with a drink. This caused him to arch a brow. Was the stallion that good looking? The little pegasus had seen better heads in the farmlands near Sweet Apple Acres. Though looking back to the filly, he could see it wasn't the stallion she was looking at, it was the drink. CJ just walked right up to her and sat down next to her. "HI Diamond Tiara. Thirsty?" He had a bit of bits on him, enough for lunch, a train ride home, and a new book, his usual allowance when running an errand. So getting a drink for a classmate would be no biggie.

[Deleted]

That cool, pale lemon coloured liquid... Diamond Tiara could see droplets running down the side of the glass as the ice within melted. No drink had ever looked so good. Why did all drinks cost money? Like, how much could it cost to make one glass? Why not just give it away? Was it really right to charge somepony for something which would be gone in a matter of minutes? Well...yes. Diamond had been known to charge her fellow fillies to play with her dolls when she'd been younger. If a pony was willing to pay, a good businessgirl was willing to charge them. She had just found herself on the wrong side of the equation today.

"Huh?!" Diamond Tiara jumped upon hearing her name. Her eyes left the other pony's drink for the first time in minutes, to discover that it was Cloudyjack who had startled her. What was this, every-pony-go-to-Canterlot day? "Oh, hi. No...no, I'm fine," she claimed, thinking in horror of the picture she must have been. Staring at a glass of drink...could she be any more pathetic? She was Diamond Tiara, she bought what she wanted, she didn't stare at it as if it were a necklace made with the rarest diamonds. "I'm not thirsty at all, why would you think that?" she asked with a giggle. Fake it til you make it.

[Deleted]

CJ was a bit susprised at the jump but didn't really make much of it. He did hang around with the want to be Ninja Griffin, Keans, so sneaking up on ponies was kind of a thing he did. He never tried actually sneaking up on ponies. He just somehow managed to. He waited for her to settle down and finish with her own inqury. What would make him think she was thirsty? Well it was kind of obvious. But with Mr. SKies being a Master of Being Tactful he just immediatly replied. "Well you were staring over at the stallion with a drink and just sat there almost about to drool." Did I say Tactful? I meant tactless. This colt has a book where he makes list of ponies by certain attributes. Scientifically though. Loooking at the cafe across the street, and then over to her. "How about I buy us lunch? I have a little bit before I have to be at the Royal Guards." He stood up and used his wings to dust off the back of his flanks. Front hooves coming forward the straighten up his ever present red scarf.

[Deleted]

(sorry for the late reply, got caught up with other stuff this week!)

Had she pulled it off? Diamond Tiara had a high opinion of herself, and hated when anything happened which didn't fit with it. She'd bounce back, but she still hated it. As CloudyJack made it clear she'd been as clear as a glass of water (mm, water...), Diamond was relieved that her fur was pink. It should hide her blush. "That wasn't over his drink, silly," she scoffed. Quick, think of something else...something plausible. "It was... it was..." The pony wasn't wearing a jacket or a hat, and if he had been, no doubt they'd be horrible. What else was there?

"Okay, fine, I'm thirsty," she wailed. She kicked the bags piled up beside her. "I bought so much stuff that..." She trailed off yet again. The idea of admitting outloud that she had run out of money was just too much for her. Why had her dad cut her allowance?? This was all his fault. Now she was stuck here in Canterlot, being offered charity by a classmate. Her big adventure was starting to become a misadventure. "You, by us lunch?" was her non-repy. A drink, and food, that would be amazing, but having someone else pay seemed kind of humiliating. Then she'd be in his debt, too, and Diamond did not believe in debt of any sort.

[Deleted]

Ahhh the sound of Backtracking. A sound he was used to around his friends. Then came the inevitable confessions. She apparently bought so much stuff...Well if she couldn't afford a drink or lunch, she was probably at least forward thinking enough to have gotten a round trip ticket for the train. Though it seemed Diamond Tiara had her pride. Even though she was staring deeply at the water. Standing up, he thought about where he could normally go eat and smiled. "It will be my treat. Kind of like a gift. I usually eat at this one great place by myself, so it would be a treat for me to eat with someone else and not just the shopkeeper." He took a look at the street sign and charted a path in his mind. Keeping to the ground since Diamond couldn't fly. Buckwheat Ramen was sort of what he was planning on getting later, it was cheap enough he could order two lunches and not go broke, and it could easily be explained so as an Elite Pony would mistake it for Gourmet food. But it would take all of his Oratory skill. Perhaps a coule ranks in Bluff. But he should be able to do this.