EVENT THREE: Daily Commute
“Hurry up!” Grace called.
“I am!” Coco hollered back.
“You have a shorter mane and tail than me, how long does it take to brush it?!” Grace groaned. She looked at her wristwatch and sighed. “I’m leaving without you if you’re not done in one minute! The train arrives earlier than a cab, y’know! And you can’t catch another one once ya miss it!”
Coco rushed out of the bathroom and adjusted her hairpin. “Ok, ok, I’m here,” she said quickly. She picked her saddlebags up off of the floor and hoisted them on. “Did you get lunch?”
Grace rolled her eyes. “Yes, Mom,” she retorted sarcastically. “Now, let’s get the hay out of here.”
She swung open the door, and winced at the sound of screaming from everypony else in their complex. Another downside of living in an apartment - having little to no separation from their neighbors. It didn’t help that they lived next door to some really crazy ponies…
“Vinyl, why did you waste all your entire paycheck on a stereo system we will never use?!”
“Aw, c’mon, Tavi-babe, don’t hate me because I’m beautiful!”
“That doesn’t even make any sense!”
“Your face doesn’t make any sense!”
“I swear, I’m married to a foal.”
“A very sexy foal.”
“...You’re sleeping on the couch tonight for that sick joke.”
Grace shoved a hoof in her mouth to prevent herself from laughing out loud at the dialogue from the ponies who lived next door. Meanwhile, Coco was just shaking her head. The two of them listened to the screams of other ponies, mixed in with the few cries and wails of children. Grace was about to push the button for the elevator, when her jaw fell to the floor as she read a note taped onto the wall.
Dear Residents of the Cityview Apartments,
The elevators are out of order for this week. They should be back in function by the end of the month. Please use the stairs.
Sincerely,
Founder / Manager / Landlord Lurch
“I hate that mule,” Grace grumbled. “What a creep he is, too.”
“Grace, please don’t start--” Coco sighed.
“--I’m serious!” Grace argued as she walked over and swung open the door to the stairwell. “Have you seen that guy?” She stretched out a sick, twisted smile and she crossed her eyes. “Not only is the dude ancient but he’s just plain weird. He’s, like, the center of kids’ nightmares.”
Coco said nothing and rolled her eyes as she started heading down the steps.
“What?” Grace called after her friend. “C’mon, I know it’s not just me! He’s not called Lurch for nothin’!”
“G’morning, ladies,” a monotone voice said.
It startled both Grace and Coco, who nearly fell off of the platform as they noticed their landlord standing there, staring at them with the same strange grin Grace had mimicked.
“Off to work?” the stallion droned, scratching his whiskers.
“Y-yessir,” Coco said softly.
“That’s nice,” Lurch muttered, with a heavy sigh. “Well, I better go. I gotta go upstairs and clean Miss Tabby’s carpets.”
“Ya mean the crazy lady who lives above us?” Grace retorted. “Dude, it’s been over six months since her carpets have started reeking of cat shi-”
“-have a nice day, Mr. Lurch, bye!” Coco said quickly as she took her roommate’s hoof and pulled a protesting Grace the rest of the way down. “Didn’t your mother ever wash your mouth out with soap when you were a filly?”
“Nope,” Grace smirked. “That’s ‘cause I was smart enough not to swear in front of my ma.”
“Of course,” Coco said, with a shake of her head. “So, how do we get to the subway?”
“Follow my lead,” Grace declared. She led her friend out of the complex building and they started their trek down the block towards the train station.
Weaving one’s way through the crowds of Downtown Manehattan wasn’t an easy task. Like many things in life, it was something that had to be practiced over and over. Grace had been residing in this city for almost a year now, while Coco was still new to the whole routine, what with only being in Manehattan for two months. Keeping up with Grace was a struggle in itself, seeing how she practically ran across the pavement, leaving Coco in the dust.
...however, Grace suddenly halted as a huge crowd passed through the streets, screaming and hollering about something. Signs were being held up, flags flew and ponies were marching around, thus blocking traffic in the process.
It didn’t take a genius to find out that this was a protest.
“Aw, you gotta be buckin’ kidding,” Grace mumbled. “Move it, hippies!” she yelled.
Her words fell on deaf ears as the march continued, and seemed to never end.
Coco frowned. “So, how are we going to get to work now?” she asked worriedly.
Grace tapped her chin with a hoof and pursed her lips in thought. “I got an idea,” she mused. She took Coco’s hoof and dragged her into the crowd. “Hey, man, what are we protesting ‘bout?”
A pale yellow stallion with his green mane tied into dreadlocks looked over to her.
“We’re tryna to legalize weed,” he explained. “The governor vetoed it so we’re gonna protest the hay out of it ‘til he lets us be free! This is Equestria!” He shot his hoof up into the air and cheered, while other ponies followed.
Grace nodded. “Cool, I smoked weed back in college,” she said. “Mind if my friend and I join ya?”
“Wh-what?!” Coco squeaked out. “I - I don’t smoke marijuana, though! I’ve never touched drugs!”
Of course, as expected of her, Grace nudged Coco and gave a wink. “How's 'bout we skip work and protest to legalize weed instead?” she asked.
It took a moment, but the pieces of the strange puzzle eventually fell into place in Coco’s mind.
She faked a smile and a laugh. “Yeah, sure!” she lied.
The stallion gave a goofy grin. “Work blows,” he agreed.
“Totally!” Grace said, with a genuine smile. “Yo, where can we get one of those signs?”
“Go ask Hot Shot, he’s on the other side of the line--”
“K, thanks, bye!” Grace replied, as she started trampling over everypony else, while dragging Coco.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, the two of them fell out the other side of the line, breathing heavily and faintly smelling of drugs. Fortunately, Coco pulled out a small bottle from her saddlebags and began squirting her friend with it.
“Great, now I smell like a hooker!” Grace argued.
“It's only perfume,” Coco said, as she spritzed herself. “Besides, do you want the boss to think you do drugs? This masks some of the scent.”
She slid the bottle back into her purse when suddenly, Grace noticed a yellow carriage.
“Oi, marshmellow, this might just be our lucky day,” she mumbled. She started waving her hooves like a crazy pony. “Hey! You, with the hat! You workin’ that thing?”
The mare standing next to the carriage nodded, and waved her wing.
“Well, whatdya know,” Grace smiled. “We can get a taxi after all.”
As they both began walking over to the cab, Coco knit her eyebrows and stared at her friend.
“How do you know what a prostitute smells like anyway?” she asked.
I'm currently sitting opposite my mum, she thinks I'm doing research on WW2.
Do you know how BUCKING hard I am trying not to smile right now???? Under different circumstances I'd be rolling on the floor laughing my butt off. It was the OctyScratch that got me, that was just beautiful, thank you!
Still zero dislikes.
Yay for cameos indeed.
You know, you're younger than me and write more sappy romance... So why are you better at swearing than I am?
Oops
I'm liking this, so far. There's a few places where I think it could have done with another look, especially with regard to the pacing; it's kind of slower than I think it should be. I've also caught a few punctuation errors, and I'm the sort of person who thinks the verb in a dialogue tag should always, always, always, with very little exception, be "said". Overall, just needs to be tidied up.
But the banter is cute. Have a favorite and an upvote
4546604 Thanks for the idea of a radio play. I'm half way done converting the first chapter into a script but I wont be able to start recording until after summer break is over in September. Also I should get some permission from the author before I go any further. Oh, well. I'll finnish writing the first chapter and then send an e-mail.
Nice story! Like, favorited, and to be favorably mentioed by me!
The troubles of living in the Big Apple... Love it
The cameo was funny, but the reference to their marrage felt tacked on.
I think the conversation would have worked better without that extra detail, and instead letting the readers insert their own headcanon there.
But that's just me. The rest of this is still awesome!
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Hah, that's awesome!
If you need any help (I'm a guy with an accent, so the help will probably not extend to any main role voice acting ), don't hesitate to let me know.
P.S.: I almost didn't see your reply. They don't give you a notice if the reply is on a different chapter than the post. And with that in mind, here is something I found in the comments of Chapter 4:
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*leans in to whisper* I think she likes it.
It's funny 'cause I thinking about how Grace and Coco could become the new Vinyl and Octavia: one is an outgoing extrovert, while the other is a more straightlaced introvert.
4560515 In my opinion I think the Octascratch stories might have run it's course a while back.
yay for octascratch
Thanks for reminding me why I hate most cities.
Rarity's song about how great Manehattan is is full of crap. She should have visited Whinnyapolis.
The Twin Cities are a truly nice place.
...Okay, so weed apparently exists in Equestria. Celestia help us.
4746084 You know G1 MLP featured this cat lady witch who enhanced her power using a potion made from "witchweed". If you see the actual episode, you might agree that this witchweed looks a lot like pot.
So, Grace and Coco live next door to Vinyl and Octavia... FTW!
That's totally my kid sister's thing as well. (She's 24 by the way.)
Yay for Octavia hating Vinyl!
4766678 Yeah, proof that everyone did drugs back then. Explains a lot of things about the previous generations.
Reoccurring to my comment in the second chapter the similarities seem to dissipate in this one.
Grace still sounds like me though from time to time in this story.
Vinyl and Octavia in a nutshell!
This chapter title worries me...
After reading the chapter, I get the title now, but that last line worries me.