The sun began to rise over the horizon of Ponyville, casting its rays across the town. The Apple family was already up and started work on the farm. Across town, a magenta unicorn arose and went about in her own home- a tree- rousing a young dragon unwillingly from his bed and starting breakfast. All across the town ponies started to awake from their dreams to start their days, save for a few like a certain blue pegasus who snoozed away in her suspended cloud home.
Near the center of the town in a house which appeared much like those around it- two stories, thatched roof, bright plants around the windows and foundation- a grey mare stirred in her sleep, mouth and ears twitching slightly. In her mind’s eye she saw a large crowd in front of a brightly lit stage where she stood, waiting for her cue. The mass waited patiently, hushing their neighbors as they watched the refined pony on the stage.
The music started, and she drew her bow across the strings, beginning her part. The back and forth motion, the heavy instrument leaning against her, the slight vibration of the strings- it all felt wonderfully natural to her.
She heard the notes rising and knew the crescendo was coming. She shifted her hoof on the neck of the cello and prepared for the climax-
But the culmination never came.
Unbidden, somewhere far beyond her blissful sphere came a noise that had become too familiar to her. She awoke with a cry, disoriented by the rapid change of standing to lying down. The noise continued, shaking the walls of her room and the frame of her bed. Her sigh was lost in the drumming beats as she swung her body out of bed, feeling the vibration of the floor under her hooves. She muttered darkly to herself, also unheard over the pounding bass.
After a quick session in the washroom, enough to check over her mane to make sure it wasn’t too frazzled and splash some water on her face, she started down the stairs to the kitchen of her house. When she entered she was greeted with the same scene that was there every morning.
A white unicorn with a beautifully styled mane stood was at the counter, manipulating various kitchen utensils with her magic. One of her hooves tapped to the beat of the music (she used that term loosely when referring to her housemate’s tastes) that was emanating from the contraption to the unicorn’s right. Upon further observation, it also appeared that she was singing to the noise- an ironic feat considering there were no vocals.
The white mare turned and saw her friend. “Morning Octy! Sleep well?”
Biting back the dry comeback in her head, she simply replied. “Fairly well, yes. Vinyl, do you mind turning that down a bit? I can feel my teeth vibrating in my hooves.”
“Sure thing, no problem.” Vinyl reached out a hoof and shut off the dishwasher. “Dishes were probably clean a while ago, but I didn’t want to turn off the music.”
Multiple responses came to mind, but Octavia denied each of them. She knew what she was getting into when she decided to share a house with Vinyl. Well… she thought she knew, but it was all water under the bridge now. “Thank you. I see you’ve already started breakfast?”
“Yeah, sure did. I was just finishing up when you came in; here, have some!” She levitated a plate of food in front of her friend’s muzzle. It smelled delicious, but Octavia was a little worried nonetheless. Vinyl was a good cook- a great one actually, she normally did the cooking in their household- but the DJ was also a bit of a prankster. Octavia still remembered the last time she had been on the receiving end of her friend’s shenanigans; come to think of it, that time had involved food as well.
In the end her hunger got the best of her. She took a tentative bite of the food; she didn’t know what it was called. It was flat and seemed to be a kind of cake or bread- based fare. Vaguely she recalled hearing of things like this, but she had never seen or eaten one before. Leave it to Vinyl to cook it for breakfast.
The scent hadn’t lied. The cake was delicious, soft on the outside and fluffy on the inside. After the initial brace for some unpleasant surprise, Octavia couldn’t suppress a moan of satisfaction. She swallowed and took another bite, savoring the new flavor. “Oh Vinyl this is great! What is this?”
“Thanks Octy. I heard about it a while back when I was in Fillydelphia. It’s called a pancake, kind of like a biscuit except flat.” She seemed pleased with the success of her experiment and her housemate’s reaction. “Oh I almost forgot- here, they said syrup goes great with it!”
Octavia eagerly added the molasses to the pancake. Once again, Vinyl was right; the addition of the sweet syrup greatly improved the taste. In the middle of her savoring, she abruptly remembered her manners. Blushing slightly, she swallowed her recent bite and took her plate to the table, ignoring Vinyl’s snickering. Soon enough the unicorn joined her and they ate in companionable silence.
When the last bites had been taken, Vinyl levitated the dishes towards the dishwasher. Octavia noticed and rose slightly from her seat in anxiety. “Oh there’s no need for that, Vinyl. I can do the dishes myself.”
Vinyl cocked an eyebrow at her curiously. She knew that Octavia didn’t like to clean the dishes, owed mainly to her dislike of handling the messy tableware, which is why she tolerated the dishwasher in the first place. It was most odd for her to offer this. “Really Octy? I know how much you hate washing dishes, and the dishwasher could do it much faster.”
“Yes Vinyl, I’m sure.” Octavia really wasn’t, but she was willing to do it to avoid that machine’s noise for a little longer. The price was a relatively small one to pay if she was being honest, and she could always wash later. “It’s my thanks to you for cooking such a wonderful breakfast.”
‘She ain’t fooling anypony; she just doesn’t want to listen to the dishwasher. Well if she really wants to…It might be fun.' Smiling a little to herself, she nodded. “All right, if you really want to, here you go.” She set the dishes down beside the sink.
Octavia winced a little at the clatter, but got up and started regardless. Vinyl remained at the table, smirking while she watched her friend tentatively grab a plate and start scrubbing. About halfway through, the fun began to wear off and she went over and helped her out- this was a job more suited to a unicorn after all. Octavia gave her a grateful smile as the filthy load was lightened.
With both of them working on the chore, the stack quickly lessened until they were left with a pile of sparkling clean plates, cups, and pans. Smiling in victory, the two friends retired to their den, settling into their favorite seats.
“So what do you got going on today Octy?” Vinyl casually flipped through a magazine that had come through the mail recently. Her days were often empty of obligations- a result of mostly being a night life DJ.
“Oh, nothing especially important.” The grey mare also rarely had daily commitments other than practicing her cello both for purpose and pleasure. Occasionally she had an important performance or audition, but they were fewer and farther between than she would like. She didn’t complain though- she enjoyed what she did and the music she played, which was enough for her.
Vinyl mumbled in acknowledgement, used to the response. She knew her friend’s routine well and didn’t comment on it. In truth she wished Octavia would get more opportunities to play; she didn’t really care for classical music but Octavia was passionate about it, and that was enough for her.
A few minutes passed in mutual silence before Vinyl broke the silence. “Octy I’m bored.” The grey mare rolled her eyes, but before she could reply the unicorn saw the motion. “No I don’t mean like that. I mean I’m bored of this place- our house, Ponyville.”
Octavia regarded her friend with greater interest. “What are you talking about Vinyl? I thought you loved Ponyville?”
“I do, but it’s getting boring. We’ve been here for a long time without any change since that trip to Canterlot a while back for the Gala.” She bit back a laugh at her friend’s expression; Octavia didn’t like to talk about the Gala. “That was pretty interesting though.”
After recovering from her flashback, Octavia was still skeptical of what her friend was saying. “So what Vinyl, are you saying you want us to move? Move away from Ponyville? To where?” a thought struck her that darkened her expression. “This better not be an attempt to get us to move to Los Pegasus.”
“Aw man that would be awesome!” The DJ’s eyes lit up with the thought of moving to Los Pegasus. Shaking her head, she continued. “No, that’s not what I mean Octy. I still love Ponyville; no way do I want to move out of it. I was just thinking maybe we should get away for a while, like a vacation!” She smiled expectantly at her friend.
Octavia pondered her words. A vacation did sound rather nice, something to shake up the daily routine- which was rather nonexistent to be truthful. But just the fact that it was Vinyl suggesting it made her wonder what the unicorn had in mind. “What were you thinking of Vinyl? “
“Well, I know this guy who has a sweet cabin up in the mountains. It’s really peaceful and stuff up there, and it won’t cost much, just enough to get there and back and food!” Her eyes sparkled and pleaded her friend. “C’mon Octy it would be so much fun! Just you and me up there relaxing in the mountains, how could you say no to that?”
Octavia had to admit, that did sound rather nice. But spending years as Vinyl’s friend and more housemate had caused her to learn her friend didn’t really do ‘peaceful and relaxing’ well. However Vinyl’s pleading expression proved too much for her- Vinyl always knew how to manipulate her, Celestia curse her. “Oh very well.”
“Yes!” She pumped a hoof in the air. Quickly she leapt up from her seat and started towards the door, levitating her famous shades to her as she walked. “I’ll go talk to him right now, and we can leave by the end of the week! I’ll take care of everything Octy, don’t worry about a thing!” The door closed shut loudly, cutting off her words.
Octavia sighed, and then put a hoof to her head. “‘Don’t worry about a thing.’ Oh what have I done?”