How to Live a Daily Life

by Smaug

Learning the Normal Way

"You what?" Octavia's jaw dropped open. It didn't usually do that, she was usually so proper.

"I'm taking a break for a while, 'Tavia," Vinyl said for maybe the third time now. "A month long break. We've discussed this, girl! I'm exhausted from touring and work. I think a good month-long vacation could, y'know, do me some good!"

Octavia heaved, and flopped onto her armchair. "But Vinyl! You never take breaks! I mean, if you did, what would that be for?!" She pointed to Vinyl's flank. "Music is your special talent! I didn't think it was possible for such a thing like this to happen to somepony like you!"

Vinyl sighed. " 'Tavia. You sound like the Clock Queen from "Mare-do-Well the Animated series". I follow my own schedule, not some, freaky, pre-set thing like YOU have."

Octavia frowned. "I am not obsessed, nor do I do such things! I simply like to be organized, it helps for a healthy, calm lifestyle."

Vinyl rolled her eyes, smiling. "Oh, of course. How rude of me to say so." Vinyl stomped her hoof. "'Tavia, you keep telling me, 'Oh Vinyl, you work yourself to dea-a-ath! You really should tune it down a bit!' "

Octavia looked at Vinyl as if she was about to shoot her. "that was rude. And what I meant was to try something, you know, different! Like, 'Trance', or... or 'house'! I myself like 'house'! It's so VERY laid back, and the uh, the... oh, it doesn't matter, but you know what I mean!" Octavia huffed and slouched in her chair, which, mind you, was very improper of Octavia.

Vinyl sighed and headed for the stairs. " 'Tavia, I know it's because you don't want me to leave. Trust me, I did re-consider, but I told myself... no, I promised myself I'd do this. I will vacate for a month, and I will have a good time, and I will be laid back, just like you want!"

Octavia stared at her best friend, before she finally gave in and nodded. "I'm sorry, Vinyl... I just, I don't like it when you don't tell me ahead of time, and that you always choose such irrational decisions..."

She got out of her chair and walked over to the staircase, and looked at the bleach white pony. "...But I respect what you want to do, and if you want to, I want you too as well. Like you said..." Octavia gave her a small smile. "You do deserve a good break."

\/ /\ \/ /\ \/

Vinyl took her suitcase from under the mess she now came to know as "The Closet". She blew off the dust, hacked and coughed, and opened it up. Whoa, She thought. There's so much stuff in here...my old green glasses, some guitar tabs, and... is that?! Vinyl reached in and grabbed a small doll. She stared at it in awe. "My Rag-pony Anne!" She hugged it tightly with the greatest of glee. "Oh, I've missed this thing so much! It was here, in this dusty old suitcase all along..."

She looked down at the suitcase and grinned. She had such great memories about it. Of all the things she wanted as a kid, she had always wanted a suitcase. Vinyl was always fascinated by the airport luggage pick up. Her father was constantly on the go, so whenever he came home, her mother and her would always be there waiting, at baggage pick up.

Her parents never knew why she loved it so much. But SHE knew, and she knew that the machinery intrigued her, where it came from, and where it went, how it worked, and how fun it was to watch it spin. And she especially liked the luggage. She always wondered what possibly could be inside each one. Clothes? Food? What if there were even more suitcases, filled with even better things?

Of course, her parents never allowed her to find out. Those don't belong to you, they'd say. "It's all private, blah blah blah." Vinyl mocked.

During her eighth birthday, much before she got her cutie mark, Vinyl had finally gotten what she wanted the most: a suitcase. Her parents were still confused at the time, but Vinyl was ecstatic about the idea of owning her very own suitcase. She later found out it was because her real birthday present was to go see her favourite band at the time, "Daft Ponies", which, to this day, remains her favourite. They were to stay in Manehattan, where they were playing that night.

Vinyl snapped back to reality. She realized how much she missed the days where she wasn't famous, when her, Octavia and Pinkie Pie would play at the beach all day. Of course, Octavia was from Canterlot, so it was very rare that they'd be able to play. They'd call and talk on the phone of course, all day if they could! But, Vinyl had to settle for Pinkie most of the time. Don't get me wrong, she loved playing with Pinkie! She just missed Octavia a lot, that's all.

That's what I'll do! Vinyl thought. Pinkie'll love having me back in Ponyville! Gosh, I've missed her so much! I'll give her a call and see if I can stay with her while I'm on vacation. Vinyl floated her cell phone over to her and, using her magic, dialed the number for Sugarcube Corner. She put it to her ear and grinned. Boy, I can't wait to talk to her! But, I haven't talked to her in a while... Oh well, she'll understand, I'm sure. Work and all. Come on, pick up...!

Finally, the phone picked up. "helloooo?" Said a voice Vinyl recognized as Mrs. Cake's. "Hi, Mrs. Cake? My name's Vinyl Scratch, we've talked briefly before. I'm wondering if Pinkie's around?"

Apparently, Mrs. Cake recognized Vinyl's name immediately. Not surprising, of course. Pinkie was constantly listening to Vinyl's music, blasting it as loud as possible from her room. "Oh yes! Ms. Scratch, I do remember! How nice to hear from you! But, I must say, Pinkie's not here at the moment, I've sent her on a cake run to her friend Twilight's house. Why, dear, is there something you need from her?"

Vinyl gulped. She didn't want to sound rude, asking someone she didn't know very well if she could stay at Sugarcube corner. But, from when she was in town and Pinkie introduced Vinyl to the Cakes, she seemed like a very nice pony. "Uh, yeah, but I can I ask you too. I don't want to sound rude at all, but um, I'm planning on vacating to Ponyville for about a month, and uh, I was wondering if I could stay at Sugarcube corner...?"

Vinyl winced. She hated sounding rude, but as far as she was concerned, no hotel in Ponyville was very nice. She expected some form of rant about how rude she sounded, but instead, "Oh but of course, Miss Scratch, you're very welcome to stay!" was the answer she got in it's place.

Vinyl beamed. "Really?! I, uh... mean, thanks! I'm actually about to leave, so could you tell Pinkie I'm coming when she gets back?" Vinyl heard Mrs. Cake give a slight chuckle. "Oho, why not make it a surprise? They are our other specialty, after all!" Vinyl thought it a great idea. So, that's just what they did.

\/ /\ \/ /\ \/

Skip, skip skip! Hop, hop hop! That was what was continuously going through Pinkie Pie's mind as she skipped and hopped home. Skip, skip, skip, hop hop hop, maybe a jump here and there. She was as happy as she could be. But then again, when wasn't she? Well there WAS that time when my friends threw me a surprise party, she thought. But it ended up being such a good party! Oh! I should do the same thing for them! They would love a party! Then she stopped.

"But then, that would mean they'd have to forget it's their birthday... that could be really really really hard! Maybe Zecora might have a mind potion-y thing that could make them forget!" Pinkie smiled ever so gleefully and continued hopping and skipping home. She whistled a tune, catching a few others joining in with her as she walked by. She loved when people did that.

As she stepped into Sugarcube corner, she overheard talking from in the kitchen. She wondered; who could possibly be back there with Mrs. Cake? ma-a-aybe it's a new employee! Ooh that'd be awesome! Her and I could talk all day, and throw parties, and be super best friends! Then she realized it might not even be a girl. Ooh, I wonder if it could be a colt? That'd be interesting! I've never worked with another colt besides that one from last year! She was teeming with glee by this time.

Pinkie ran as fast as she could, jumped over the counter, and skidded to a stop beside the entrance to the kitchen. She burst into the room and yelled, "HE-E-ELO-O-O-O-O NEW EMPLOYEE!" She ran over to her (Or was it a him?) without giving her a glance and started prancing around her, singing a song while she did it.

Hello, and welcome! To the Sugarcube Corner!
You'll love it here, you'll never want to leave,
it's all good fun, we're busy as a bee,
cooking, making, selling, eating,
it's our guaranteed policy!

This here's Mr. Cake, and this here's the Mrs.!
I'm Pinkie Pie, the head chef here, so you'd have best listen!
You're practically part of us now,
Sort of like a family,
But we here all are closer than that,
It's sort of really cheesy-y!

So once again, thank you for joining,
if you'll leave, there will be mourning,
even if you do, you'd best give a warner,
but you'll never want to leave the Sugarcube Corner!

Pinkie panted and panted before falling over. "Pinkie, goodness me dear! You've really got to stop doing that!" Mrs. Cake exclaimed. "And she's not an employee, in fact, she's here to see you!" Pinkie opened her eyes to see two ponies standing over top of her. There was Mrs. Cake on her right, and on her left...

"VINYL!" Pinkie jumped onto her friend, toppling them both over. "OH MY GOSH WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?! I'm SO-O-O happy to see you!" Vinyl laughed as she got back on her hooves.

"It's great to see you, too, Pinkie. I decided to take a vacation for about a month, and the ever so kind Mrs. Cake here let me stay with you all while I'm here in Ponyville!"

Pinkie jumped back on her. "With us?! That means with me too! Ooh, Scratchy, we're going to have so much fun!"

Vinyl had forgotten Pinkie's nickname for her. She didn't mind, of course. It was Pinkie, after all. She smiled and said "I'm sure we will, Pinks. I want to know what the everyday pony life is like; working is, well, hard work!" Pinkie picked them both up and laughed.

"You want to be a regular pony? Then you definitely didn't come to the right place!" Vinyl thought Pinkie had just slurred her words. She remembers her childhood in Ponyville clearly; Fun in the sun, chores indoors.

She laughed. "Pinkie, we're gonna have a good time. With you around, there's no way fun won't be had!"

Comments

[Gmode]

You know, boy, Fleetwood Brougham, a marekiller, gangster, Cadillac owner, and gambler, do you think he'd maybe want a little bit of a break, and live a normal life for one day?
NO WAY, MAN!

[Smaug]

207278 xD; I honestly have no idea of what you're talking about.

[Stonershy]

With the exception of a few tense slips here and there, it reads just fine on a technical level. The issue I have with this, however, is that it doesn't seem quite pony enough, if that makes sense. To be more specific, use of phones, television, and airports come across as far too human. As it is presently, the mental image this story forms is less about ponies and more about humans with pony names. I also want to say that her relationship with Octavia is kind of taken for granted. Try to establish the childhood friends thing a bit more strongly.

I think that's it. Basically, I just think you could use a bit more practice, but don't let that discourage you!

[portalthinker92]

daft ponies? omc that hilarious