How to Live a Daily Life

by Smaug

Pie-a-Palooza Day

Here it was, her biggest show yet. For the first time in years, Vinyl was nervous. But she knew she would pull through. The cheering crowd gave her the confidence she needed. She held her breath, and began the show. Lights were flashing, music was blaring, and the crowd had gone berserk. She was having such a good time. Beating to the beats, singing to the songs, spinning the records... it felt great. She continued playing and playing her songs, and then she noticed the crowd was cheering her name. "Vinyl! Vinyl! Vinyl!" They yelled. She beamed with happiness.

But then, she noticed something else; every pony in the crowd were pink. She hadn't noticed this before, but to her, it didn't matter. She kept playing her songs, loving the sound of both it, and the huge crowd of foals screaming. Wait, foals? She looked out over the crowd again. Every pony in the crowd were foals. She knew that she had seen colts out there earlier, but now, they were gone. Must have left for some cider or something, Vinyl thought. Oh well, she continued playing and playing.

Then she stopped. She saw every pony in the crowd had become Pinkie Pie. She was completely confused. She'd seen foals who look similar to Pinkie before, but this many? This was too much, and too much of Pinkie Pie, too. Then, something overly strange happened. Still yelling her name, the crowd of Pinkie Pie's had started morphing together. They continuously coagulated upward, until finally they had morphed into one giant Pinkie Pie.

"Vinyl! Vinyl! Vinyl!" It yelled. Vinyl screamed in terror as it continued yelling. "Vinyl Scra-a-atch!"

Vinyl shot upward in her bed, slamming her head into Pinkie Pie's, who had apparently been sitting there. They both fell back, dumbfounded by what just happened. "Ugh... Pinkie...? Is that you?"

Pinkie shot upward to her feet, completely unaware of her pain. "E-e-eyup! Here I am! Here to get you out of bed!" Pinkie bounced around the room as Vinyl gradually rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"I... I must have been dreaming..." She told Pinkie. "It was so weird... I was performing at Canterlot stadium in front of thousands of ponies..." She brushed her mane while Pinkie bounced about. "Then, halfway through the concert, every pony had turned into you, chanting my name as they all morphed into a way bigger version of you..." Vinyl slipped her green glasses on. She really had missed those things.

Pinkie giggle. "Thousands of me? That's silly, Scratchy! You know that can't happen!" Pinkie hopped on over to Vinyl's side and pushed heavily against her. "Even I wouldn't want so many of me! That'd be way too much Pinkie!" She flopped herself on the bed. "As much as I would love to have another me around, a thousand of me around would be total chaos!" She launched herself off of the bed and directly in front of Vinyl's face. "My friends wouldn't be able to tell which me is which! They'd never be able to play with me again! What if..."

She gasped. "What if I forgot which me was which? Oh no, that'd be terrible! My parties would be lost forever, and then Pinkamen-" Vinyl shoved her hoof over Pinkie's mouth.

"Pinkie," She said sternly. "We don't talk about Pinkamena. Remember?" Pinkie nodded quickly.

"Good," Vinyl sighed. "Now, let's get on course here: First, why'd you wake me up? I was having a great dream, and I'm on vacation, remember?"

Pinkie smiled. "Because you told me you wanted to see the everyday pony's life! So, I thought, 'Boy, Pinkie, how can I show Scratchy what it's like back here in Ponyville?' And then I got it! You can spend time with my friends to get to know them, and how their everyday lives work!" Pinkie bounded over to the window and opened it wide. "Oh, look outside, Scratchy! It's a B-E-A-utiful day!"

Vinyl slowly walked to the window and looked out. Surely enough, it was an utterly stunning day. She could see young ponies playing in the sunlight, older ponies working happily at their vendors... it seemed so much more relaxed than Canterlot. She felt great. She turned to Pinkie and asked, "What were you planning on doing today, Pinkie?"

Pinkie jumped onto the bed again. "Well, I could show you how everything works around here in the bakery! Mr. and Mrs. Cake wouldn't mind at all!" She jumped, flipped, and landed feet first at the door. "Come on! My shift is going to start soon, so wash your hooves and get ready!" Pinkie left the room, humming happily.

Vinyl chuckled a bit, and then walked out into the hall and into the bathroom. She pulled her hair back with her horn so that she could wash her face. She looked up into the mirror, and noticed something in the reflection. She could barely see it, but something yellow was hovering just outside the bathroom window. She spun around to see, but whatever it was had gone. She looked around curiously, and continued washing her face and hooves.

/\ \/ /\ \/ /\

Vinyl walked into the kitchen to see Mrs. Cake engaging in a conversation with Pinkie.

"...And he said he'd be over here in about an hour to give it to you." Mrs. Cake had finished saying. Vinyl wasn't entirely sure what they had been talking about, but whatever it was, it had Pinkie Pie jumping with joy.

Vinyl smiled and spoke up. "Hey Pinkie. Hey Mrs. Cake." The two earth ponies turned to see Vinyl.

"Ooh, Miss Scratch! Good to see you're up! I hope Pinkie didn't wake you, she's usually the only one up at this hour." She looked at Pinkie, who was smiling nervously. "Anyway, I have to go out for a few hours. The Heartstrings family invited the Mr. and I over for brunch and a luncheon." She walked out of the kitchen door before saying, "You two have a good time! Don't get the place too messy..." She glared at Pinkie."...Pinkie Pie."

Pinkie had apparently taken no notice to it. "Sure thing, Mrs. Cake! We'll be as clean as Twilight's library! Although, Spike does make a mess of it sometimes, but Twilight has unicorn magic, so I'm sure cleaning isn't a problem! I mean, Scratchy's a unicorn, so cleaning'll be easy as pie!" Mrs. Cake smiled worryingly, and then left out the door. Pinkie's face suddenly became serious. "...Pie? Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no."

Vinyl raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong, Pinkie? I thought you loved Pies. It is your last name, after all."

Pinkie was rushing all over the kitchen. "It's today! How could I have forgotten it was today?" Pinkie was throwing bowls, pans, spoons, spatulas, the whole lot all over the kitchen table.

"Pinkie. Pinkie."

Pinkie didn't hear Vinyl over the crashing and banging. "Oh, they're going to be here any moment with them! Oh, how come I never mark this down on my calendar..."

Vinyl, once again, tried to get her attention. "Pinkie. Hey, Pinkie."

Still not hearing Vinyl, Pinkie began turning the ovens on. "Oh, how could I have forgotten? This is not good, not good at all!"

Finally, using her unicorn magic to amplify her voice, Vinyl yelled, "Pinkie Pie!"

Pinkie jumped, yelping at the sound of her name. "Uh... Yes?"

Vinyl walked over to her and gave her a look of concern. "What's the matter with today? You seemed so gleeful this morning, and now you look like the world could end at any second." Vinyl started organizing the mess that had developed on the table. "Care to explain?"

Pinkie calmed down. She then explained why she was so flustered. "Today is Pie-a-Palooza Day, where every pony in Ponyville competes against each other in hopes of making the best pies ever in order to win the grand prize! You'd be surprised at how many ponies in Ponyville can make really good pies. Anyways, once again, I forgot it was today! And every year, the Apple family and everyone at Sugarcube corner team up to make 'The Best Apple Pie Your Mouth has Ever Had! And oh, no, it isn't one small pie, no, it's a huge pie, like the huge cookie from 'Bronco Almighty'!"

Then she went back into a state of fluster. "But, with the Cakes not in today, it'll only be me, Granny Smith, Applejack, Applebloom and Big Macintosh to cook!" Her hair was starting to look stressed itself.

Vinyl laughed. "Pinkie, I'm sure that's more than enough hooves to help in the kitchen. And, you'll have me, too! I don't usually cook, I leave that to Octavia. But I can cook!"

Pinkie's mood didn't seem to change at all. "But the thing is, Applejack can't cook, Applebloom can't either, and Big Macintosh can't even stand properly in here! The last time I cooked with Applejack, she totally got the ingredients wrong, and almost every pony in Ponyville got sick!" She moaned. "O-o-oh, what am I going to do?"

Vinyl patted her on the back. "Hey, it's alright! Three pairs of hooves. That's how it usually is around here anyways! Besides, even I know Granny Smith's apple pies. They're really popular in Canterlot. Not as popular as Sugarcube Corner's, though." Pinkie gave Vinyl a worried, yet positive smile. Vinyl smiled back. "It'll be alright, Pinkie. We can do this!"

/\ \/ /\ \/ /\

"Y'sure ye want me n' Big Mac teh' help out fr' Pie-a-Palooza Day, Granny?" The Apple family were almost to Sugarcube corner to start baking the 'The Best Apple Pie Your Mouth has Ever Had'. Applejack and Big Macintosh were both worried they'd screw it up.

"Of course, deary, why wouldn't I want'che to?" Granny had obviously forgotten the last time Applejack had helped Pinkie bake a pie. Of course, Applejack was dead tired when she did it, but after a whole year, Pinkie Pie didn't even know. "It's Pie-a-Palooza, eh... day! It's fam'ly tradition!"

Applejack bit her lip as her and Big Mac looked at each other worryingly. She turned back to Granny Smith. "But, Gran', We'd just done screw it all up if'n we helped out! Can't Big Mac n' I just go back teh' the farm n' milk the cows r' somethin'?"

Granny Smith chuckled. "Oh dear, y'know it ain't milkin' time! N' besides, Bovinette just had'r first calf! Yeh wouldn't want to go n' messin' with it's birthday party, now would'je?" Granny shifted in her chair on top of the apple cart that Big Macintosh was pulling. "Enh, we've got to look inteh one of them drivin' boxes... what're they called again?"

Applebloom spoke up cheerfully. "A car, Granny!"

Granny Smith smiled. "Thank ye, Applebloom deary! A car! that'd make it easier on all of us fr' the workin' and the shippin'." They finally arrived at Sugarcube corner. "Applejack, be a dear, and go inside and tell the Cakes that we're here." Applejack nodded reluctantly, and then went inside.

"Howdy, anyone?" Applejack asked as she stepped through the door. She looked around. No one was there. But she was sure she could hear voices from the kitchen. Since it was official business, Applejack knew she would be allowed in the kitchen. She stepped into the kitchen. "Hello?"

Pinkie Pie and a pony Applejack didn't recognize looked up. "Oh, hi Applejack!" Pinkie exclaimed, although Applejack thought it sounded kind of worried.

Applejack looked around. "Where'r the Cakes at, Pinkie? A'm supposed teh' tell 'em we're here now."

Pinkie laughed, worryingly. "Well, uh... they... aren't... here today..." Applejack obviously took this by surprise. Pinkie hurried out another response. "But, but don't worry! We have a Unicorn this year! I'm sure you've heard of her though. Applejack, meet Vinyl Scratch!"

Vinyl held her hoof out to shake hoofs. Applejack shook it, but in all her life, she's never known of such a pony. "A'm charmed, but frankly, A've never even HEARD of ye'."

Vinyl took this by surprise. "Really? Not to sound cocky, but that comes as a surprise to me!" She looked at Pinkie. "Don't you play my music at your parties?"

Pinkie nodded. "Of course I do, it's all I ever play at them! Your stuff is the perfect party music! Well, there was that one time I played some 'DJ Pony D', but... that was a bad decision."

Applejack understood. "Oh, okay! I rec'gnize yer' music from Pinkie's parties! Can't say A'm much a fan, though. A' like a lot uh' country music. A' dun't mean teh sound rude r' nothin. S' just what A' prefer."

Vinyl nodded in agreement. "No, that's totally fine! I can respect that. I'm not all that cocky when it comes to my fame. If someone has an opinion, then I can respect it. But, if someone has an opinion on my personal, non-music associated life, well then..." She mocked Celestia. "To the mo-o-oon!" All three ponies laughed at the joke.

"Well, Ah'd best teh go tell Granny Smith. I'll be back with 'em in a few sec'nds." Applejack told them, and left out the door. Wow, She thought. A big timer in a lil' city like Ponyville? These past few years sure have been good teh us folks!

/\ \/ /\ \/ /\

Big Macintosh and Applejack set their table up in preparation for Pie-a-Palooza Day to start. They had Applebloom set up an apple stand, in case customers wanted any (Luckily, people began buying as soon as it was up.). Inside, Pinkie, Granny Smith and Vinyl had begun cooking. Granny was on apple cutting duty, Vinyl on ingredients fetching, and Pinkie on making and cooking.

"Hmmm..." Pinkie pondered. "The recipe for pie crust is... six cups of cake and pastry flour... two teaspoons of salt... a pound of lard... ew... a tablespoon of vinegar... 1 lightly beaten egg...and cold water!

"Now... for for the flling ingredients..." She flipped the page to see them. "Okay, we need a half a cup of brown sugar... one table spoon of all purpose flour... a half a tea spoon of cinnamon... a quarter cup of nutmeg... 5 cups of peeled, cored and sliced apples... Granny Smith's on that.. and, one table spoon of butter. But, since we're making a huge apple pie, were gonna need ten times as more ingredients!" She looked at Vinyl. "Time to multiply, Scratchy!" Vinyl nodded, and cast her multiplying spell.

Within seconds, the amount of ingredients had grown much bigger. The room was big, but even then, the ingredients still filled the room largely. Luckily, there was still room to cook.

"Alright!" Exclaimed Pinkie. "That took a much shorter amount of time than last year! Alright, time to make this thing!" Pinkie immediately burst into song as she constructed the pie.

"Take some bowls, mix the flour and the salt,
We're making a pie, no downhill fault!
Cut the lard, with a big knife,
this big pie will last your life!

Now in a separate bowl,
one made for measure,
pour in the vinegar and the egg!
then add water, make sure there's lots,
Make sure that we use all we've got!

take the liquid, stir it all into a flour mix,
but not too much, just enough to let the dough affix!
Gather it all into a ball, make into portions,
then refrigerate, in a neat little fashion!

Well now, we can't do that, we do not have the time,
so we'll do something even more to make it more sublime!
Take this Pegasus cold accelerator, it'll do it fast!
Now aim it at the mixture, and give it a big blast!

Now put it into this pie plate, the one that's rather huge!
I had it prepared especially from a simple Ponyville stooge!
Trim the edges, make it even!
just remember, it needs to look pleasing!

Now throw in the sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon and flour,
all with apples, sliced and diced by Granny's valour!
toss them like salad, then throw them in the shell!
dot with the butter, do it real well!

Take another pastry, cover it over the filling,
tuck the ends in, if you're willing!
press 'em together, then make steam vents,
cook it, then we're done, if you consent!

Pinkie's song finished as she managed to jam the massive pie into the oven. She then fell over, obviously out of breath.

Vinyl trotted over and picked her up. "Pinkie, I know you like singing and all, but doesn't it get... really tiring?" Pinkie got back on her hooves, and looked at Vinyl. She couldn't speak she was so tired out. She merely fell over again.

"Enh, that was a... uh... hm... A, uh, good singin' song. If I can remember it..." Granny smith pondered. Vinyl laughed to herself, and head outside to tell Applejack and Big Macintosh that the pie would be done in a half an hour.

She was about to walk out the door when she remembered something; she was Equestria wide famous. If she stepped out that door into a crowd of hungry ponies, she was sure to attract attention. But, she knew this would happen when she was packing her suitcase the day she left. She hurried upstairs and into the guest room. She flung open her suitcase, and there it was.

"Thank Celestia I packed this!" She said. In her hand was the make up kit she got when she did a music video for one of her songs. She quickly ran into the bathroom and started putting it on. It had everything in it. Latex rubber, eye contacts, colouring, the lot. She decided that since she was one of the few ponies to have straight red eyes, she'd use green contacts. She put a white bald cap on, and then a yellow, long haired wig over top of it. She looked completely different.

She went back downstairs and stepped outside, holding her breath. Luckily, the huge crowd of ponies of ponies waiting for the apple pie didn't recognize her. She went over to Applejack and whispered. "Pssst! Applejack! It's me, Vinyl!"

Applejack whipped around. "What? Yer' not Vinyl, yer' some other pony!"

Vinyl shook her head. "No, it's a wig and make up!" She peeled the bald cap of slightly, showing the multiple colours of blue in her hair. "See?"

Applejack looked confused. "Why're ye' dressed up like that? And why're we whisperin'?"

Vinyl explained the predicament she was in. "Well, I am famous all over Equestria, so if I were to show myself here, I would attract a load of attention from all of these ponies! So, I used a make up kit I brought with me for just this kind of situation."

Applejack nodded. "A' getche' now. A'm supposin' ye' came out here teh tell me the pie's ready?"

Vinyl nodded. "About 20 minutes from now, it'll be done. I still don't know how Pinkie Pie managed to fit the thing in the oven, though. You should see it, it's gigantic!" She stood up and put her arms out to show Applejack how big it was. But, she had forgotten one thing; her cutie mark, and it was now visible to every pony waiting.

"hey! I'd recognize that cutie mark anywhere!" Yelled a pony from the crowd. "Hey, isn't that DJ Pon-3's cutie mark? Why is it on another pony?" Said another. Vinyl was in trouble. The crowd was murmuring up a storm until one pony finally came to a conclusion. "It's Vinyl Scratch and she's in disguise! No two ponies have the same cutie mark, and that cutie mark is hers!" The crowd burst into cheers of happiness.

Vinyl gulped, and sped inside the bakery, wiping her disguise off as she did it. She closed the door behind her and locked it. "Oh no, what am I going to do? I totally forgot about my cutie mark! Stupid, stupid, stupid!" She slumped to the ground as the sound of ponies outside filled her ears.

"Scratchy? Why are there so many ponies trying to get in? Is there a party I don't know about?" Vinyl looked up to see a regained conscious Pinkie Pie and Granny Smith standing over her.

Well," Vinyl started, "I was going to go tell Applejack that the pie would be ready soon, but then I realized if I did, I would attract attention to myself, so I put a bit of make up on, went outside, told Applejack, but I forgot that my cutie mark was still visible..." She pouted. "One of them recognized it, then another, and soon the whole crowd was freaking out, so I sped back in here..."

Pinkie sat down beside her as Granny Smith fell asleep standing up. "Aw, Scratchy, it's okay." She reassured her blue maned friend. "You've just got to explain to them that you're not here on business, but off of business."

Vinyl whined. "But how? They only care that I'm here, they don't want to listen to me..." She pointed to her cutie mark. "They want to listen to my music... this isn't the first time it's ever happened."

Pinkie stood up again. "Vinyl, don't be like that! Have you ever thought to ask someone to do it for you?"

Vinyl's attention perked up. "What? I... no, the thought never came to mind! Why hasn't it...?"

Pinkie smiled. "I'd be glad to do it for you! Besides," She pulled a megaphone out of nowhere. "I've always wanted an excuse to use this thing!"

Vinyl nodded. "Okay, Pinkie. If you could, please explain it to them. I'd really appreciate it." Vinyl got up. "If and when they understand, could you tell me? I want to talk to them after, too."

Pinkie nodded, and burst through the door, knocking back the ponies who were there, and startling the ones nearby. "listen up, everypony!" She started. "As you know, a very famous pony is here in Ponyville, Vinyl Scratch, or as we all know her, DJ Pon-3!" It wasn't her intent, but the crowd cheered at hearing the name. "Quiet!" Pinkie screamed. "She's not here to entertain you!" The crowd quieted down and began to sound confused.

"Why is she, then?" Said one pony.

"Because she's on vacation!" The crowd slowly oooh'd. "She just wants some peace and quiet for a while, so she came back home to get it! She's very happy to see so many ponies here in town are fans, but, could you all maybe, you know... let it go for a bit? She was really flustered by how many people tried to crowd her, and she just wants some quiet time. Can you do that?" The crowd nodded in agreement. "Now, she wants to talk to you as well, so Scratchy, here you go!" Vinyl walked out of the bakery and into the faces of all the ponies.

The crowd, although still listening to Pinkie, still stared in awe to see their idol standing before them. Vinyl took the megaphone from Pinkie, and began her speech. "Hi, everypony. Uh, as you know, I'm here on vacation, and as much as I love knowing you all like me and my music, I really just want to get to know a regular life for a month or so. So, could you maybe, y'know, let me off for a while?" The crowd nodded in agreement.

"Good, and thank you. Now, while Pinkie talked to you all, I decided I'd give you all a special treat for agreeing. If you buy a piece of the pie Pinkie, Granny Smith and I cooked up, I'll sign an autograph over at Applebloom's apple stand." Everyone turned to see Applebloom, waving to the crowd. They turned back to Vinyl as she continued. "And, at the end of the month, if you all do really good at keeping yourself contained, I'll arrange a concert performance, just for Ponyville! Can you do that for me?"

The crowd all cheered in excitement, obviously agreeing with Vinyl. "Alright, everypony! I believe in you! Now, who wants some apple pie?" Every pony looked behind Vinyl as Pinkie appeared through the doorway with a giant apple pie over her head. Once again, they cheered and lined up in front of Applejack's table, as Applejack sold pies, and Vinyl signed autograph's.

Pinkie giggled as she trotted over to Vinyl. "You know, Scratchy. you may have just had your first 'normal' day in Ponyville!"

Vinyl looked confused. Did she say first?

Comments

[The Unknown Alias]

"As much as I would love to have another me around, a thousand of me around would be total chaos!"
And somewhere in Canterlot, Discord's ear twitches.

Also, happy Fluttershy is also stalker Fluttershy?

[Smaug]

216857 Comment 1: Yeah, I had that thought as well. I should have done a letter, but that idea completely blew over my head. Basically though the first chapter was just to see how well it could do and where I can improve on in the future. Also, I chose to do an airport because of the luggage pick up; Vinyl Scratch being interested in the way the the luggage pick up was supposed to be a little symbolic, showing that she's interested in things she spin. It's a little farfetched, I know, but I thought it could work at the time.

Comment 2: I know what you mean. I knew I'd screw up on some parts, as I've never really written from a horse's point of view, so I was bound to screw up on their walking patterns. I see what you mean by Victorian. I think that if they were to purchase a car, (However they aren't in the story) it would be one of those early 1940's cars.

Once again, thank you for your time! I appreciate it greatly.

[Smaug]

216821 Those were my thoughts exactly! XD

And who knows? C:<

[Stonershy]

217461
Not even 1940's! You're close, but think even lower tech than that.

[portalthinker92]

Stalkershy...

[BitSmith]

Yay good story. But I don't really like modern technology in the pony world.