Silly Assumptions

by Owlor

highlights

Silly Assumptions

Ponies make such silly assumptions! Vinyl Scratch thought as she exited the shower, fresh-scented water still dripping from her mane. Most ponies assumed that she lived a hectic 15.00-04.00 lifestyle, fueled by salted energy drinks and the dark monotone pounding of the latest dubstep track. They didn't realize she also had mornings like these, bright like the tiles of her bathroom and fresh like her pine-scented shampoo. A sharp pain is pulsating trough my hind legs.
From the kitchen, her tea kettle greeted her with its high pitched whistle and Vinyl eagerly rushed towards it to prepare her breakfast. Again, she couldn't help but be reminded of some ponies incorrect assumptions. True, DJing didn't pay much, but that didn't mean she had a trashy apartment or lived in a flophouse somewhere. I empty the last crystalline chunks into a spoon and let it cook over a flame.
Thanks to a local pony called Pia, her admittedly small apartment could be outfitted with cheap furniture that nonetheless gave off a clean modernistic look. And if the apartment had one saving grace, it was the lovely windows that let Celestia’s morning sun into the apartment, washing away the last remnants of sleep from the young DJ's mind.
I reach for the needle, but I fumble. I curse my lapse of concentration.
The tea gave off an inviting bergamot scent, but after a few careful sips, she concluded that the drink was still a bit too hot. While waiting for it to cool down, she picked up the newspaper and casually browsed trough it. Apparently, the singer Wolfsbane had been found in a hotel room after drinking himself to death. Vinyl Scratch had barely heard of him, but couldn't help but feel a slight tinge of sympathy.
Calm down, Vinyl, Calm down, soon it will get better.
She ignored a boring decree by princess Celestia of no consequence to her and skimmed trough the politics and economics pages. They where all filled with articles detailing how bad the current economy was and how different factions blamed each other for it. Vinyl sighed, she already knew the economy was bad and didn’t care about who had caused it. Still, being reminded of all the bad news disheartened her and she flipped to the horoscopes, hoping to catch some good news there at least. I have calmed down, I reach for the needle again, but I miss the vein.
Cancer:
Your social energy demands attention -- so get out there and meet up with ponies! You need to make sure that your network keeps growing, and now is the time to add new connections.
Lucky number 108, Lucky color magenta.
Damnit, I wasted my last shot! I feel the liquid burn under my skin.
Maybe I should get out some more, Vinyl Scratch thought. Things have been pretty quiet lately. Funny how parties loose some of their charm when they become work. She went up to go to her workstation to work on some remixes, but stumbled. It felt like somepony had bucked her in the stomach and she fell down onto the floor. Sharp pain surged from the stomach to each and every part of her body. She swore incoherently to herself, but her curses quickly turned into nothing but pained whimpers. A nauseous wave reach me, causing the content of my stomach to creep back up my throat.
"Not again!" she pleaded. "For the love of Celestia, not this again."I can’t hold it back any longer, liquid regurgitation spew from my mouth and nostrils. I’m hit with the smell of acid and bergamot.
Vinyl suddenly felt really cold. She could hardly control her movements for the violent shivers. She manged to roll onto her back and found herself in the fetal position, staring helplessly towards the ceiling. She focused on the rough white structure to keep her mind off the pain surging across her body. Purple and blue bruises has formed on my damaged fore hoof and the vein underneath is pounding angrily.
She started to see fleeting patterns in the ceiling, much like you would looking at a cloud for long enough. Seemingly unrelated shades and highlights combined into what looked very much like a white rabbit. Its eye was just a faint stain where the paint had dried unevenly, and it appeared to be staring at her. She could feel her eyes becoming slightly moist as she pictured herself seen from up above: A pathetic shivering wreck, draped across the floor like a sick little filly. Another wave of nausea, but this time, I have nothing I can regurgitate and I find myself just heaving dryly
"Please..." she continued to plead, but she didn't know to whom. Celestia perhaps. Or to herself. "I just want to live a normal life..."
I turn over, not thinking straight, and my head lands in the puddle of my own vomit.
Ponies make such silly assumptions, they assume that a being a DJ means living the fast life, partying for harder and longer than anypony else, and once upon a time, Vinyl Scratch did believe that. Hazy memories of those wild nights still flickered in front of her eyes as she closed them, at once pleasant and bitter. The moisture in her eyes turned to outright tears as she thought back. All those opportunities wasted, I could’ve really gone somewhere, but instead I chose to pass it by.I don’t have the strength to be sick again and my head feels too heavy to pick up. I’m just lying there, hoping that my strength will return.
Vinyl got up on her hooves, knees still shaking. She coughed dryly and staggered towards her workstation. With her magic, she levitated a pair of headphones over her ears, isolating herself from the outside world. With the push of a button, the chirping of early morning birds got drowned in the sound of a fat bass line. She tweaked a few knobs to shape the sound wave into something that pleased her ears. With the loop still playing in her headphones, she went on to charge up the drum machine. She still felt a cloud over her, the aches and pains had not gone away, but for the moment at least, she could ignore it and feel like her old self again.
I make a promise to myself to not let my addiction get the better of me. I wish I could say that I'm likely to keep it, but truth is, I've promised myself the same thing a thousand times by now.

Comments

[Owlor]

Owlor, what the bloody hell is going on in this story?

Well, if you only read it straight trough, you're missing half the story. If you're confused, it might be a good idea to try and look closer. I don't think I can put in more hints than I've already have without giving away the whole game, and that'd spoil the fun of discovery, wouldn't it?

[Lucefudu]

Thoughts before reading the tiny letters in your PM:
The story is much more interesting once the other half has been presented to you. But I think that I still didn't experience it to its fullest. I mean- I could've had that on Default and read the story "normally", then come back and read it with it again, but noticing those little details. But I happened to stumble upon them in my first go and curiosity got the best of me. This has a slight "Requiem For a Dream" feel, and makes me wonder a bit on the subject of what is really going on here and what will happen in the future.
And I really thought that the Slice of Life tag couldn't be present with the Dark tag at the same time. Most people will just shoot this story a first glance and not fully comprehend it, and I think that this is what makes it special.

Thoughts after reading the tiny letters in your PM:
Yeah, I'll just PM you. My comment here would just spoil the fun.

[particle_pony]

Not sure I'm getting the points as it seems straightforward. At any rate, have a stache.

[CanterlotGuardian]

oh wow... what's going on with Vinyl? maybe all will be explained later...

EDIT: oh. it's just a one-shot. I would like to see more, but it is your story...

[jamofthetoe]

I don't get it But I'm not the brightest bulb so maybe its just me. You said there were hints, but I don't see them. I is derp.

[Owlor]

1382008
Well ,the rest of my stories isn't as obtuse, but I can't resist experimentation now and then.

[jamofthetoe]

1382118 Yeah, I've actually read your story about Derpy interviewing other ponies. Really good!

[Owlor]

1382135
Yeah, that's closer in style to what I usually write. But hallwoeen is coming up and I felt like releasing something mysterious and spooky.

[Bad Horse]

Good luck. I used that trick in a story that has 2500 views so far, and gave a clue in the comments, and only one person noticed.

[Owlor]

1382813
Well, so far, the one that has noticed has gone "WHY OWLOR WHY?!" So perhaps its for the best that people don't notice...

[Bro Dash]

1376851

Ugh. I guess I've got to continue thinking between the box. (open it up, turn it inside out, and think on the box, same difference)

Really. I needed to relax, and now I have to put my mind into overdrive...

Because I will find EVERYTHING hidden. No exceptions.

[suckmyponycock69]

SPOILER WARNING!

So first I thought "aww man she has cancer"
Then when I found the secret, I realized.
Meth addict? Cancer?

JESUS CHRIST THIS IS THE MLP VERSION OF BREAKING BAD.

[Owlor]

1386654

If I had to do this thing mainstream book publishers do where they put quotes from critics on the cover, you bet that I'd put "JESUS CHRIST THIS IS THE MLP VERSION OF BREAKING BAD!" on the dust cover of this.

[suckmyponycock69]

1386702 Just like that my life is complete.

[PedeSnowmew]

Reading it on an iPad kinda took the mystery out of it. Yay eReader!

[Owlor]

1390966
I did not take that possibiltiy into account when writing it, I must admit.

[PedeSnowmew]

1391093
Allot of people don't. So many headaches are caused by the reacer's format issues. Stories with no paragraph breaks, or indentations. One Tory I read had different color fonts for diffrent points of view, I was totally lost until retreading it in the browser instead.

[Owlor]

1394357
I'm always a big proponent of the idea that art should be tailored to the medium it's presented with, so if you're say, a webcomic, you might wanna think about taking advantage of things like animated gifs, infinite canvas, hyperlinks or having a space under each comic to make comments in, just in general the sort of things you'd never be able to do in print. Same with onlnie stories. You can use hyperlinks, color-changes, all sorts of things to help tell the story, it'd be riddiculus not to use it out of some boneheaded idea that it's nor "proffeesional" just cus book publishers in general can't do that sort of thing.

The problem with that is that if you tailor a story to one medium, you're sorta tying it to that medium. I mean, good luck printing this story out if you're the type who prefer to read things on paper. I'm afraid I don't OWN an ipad, so I can't check for this sort of thing. Oh well, the rest of my stories should be perfectly readable without having to rely on color. It's kinda ironic actually, cus most of my stories are written in txt and only grudgingly use any formatting beyond that, mostly cus my editors yell at me if I use ALL CAPS for emphazis....

[Owlor]

1386654
Wait a sec, something just hit me, did you think she had cancer (the disease) because I state in the narrative that she is a Cancer (the astrological sign) Like, that I was making some kind of pun-based ironic foreshadowing? I'd never... strike that, that DOES sound like something I'd do, actually... But no, I guess we can call this one an unintentional red herring.

[TheHylianBatman]

I.... don't get it.

[suckmyponycock69]

1396912

[VinylMeisterScratch]

Plz private message me about the hidden secret cause I don't want ta ruin it!

[Donutethespartan2]

I have calmed down, I reach for the needle again, but I miss the vein.

i highlighted the sentence... whats this?

[Fabian Corcair]

INVISIBLE TEXT!

[Loganberry]

Hello! I reviewed this recently. It does its job competently enough, but in 2024 the textual gimmick has become overused. Not the author's fault given this was written in 2012, but the "secret" isn't such any more, and so it loses some of the impact.