Nothing Happens

In the morning, Rayne woke up. She didn’t have an alarm, she just woke up when her body decided it was time. That time was usually around 6:00am but not always. Today it was 6:08am.

She got out of bed and went to the bathroom to get ready for the day. Some ponies liked to brush their teeth after breakfast, which made sense. Rayne hated the taste of death in her mouth so she brushed her teeth first thing.

A shower helped wake her up completely. She liked her showers so hot that the air was hazy with steam. First she used shampoo, rinsed it out, then put in conditioner. While the conditioner soaked into her mane and tail, she lathered her coat with body wash, then rinsed both out.

Once she was done with the shower, she wrapped both her mane and tail in towels and used a third to dry off her coat.

Now she was ready for breakfast. She went out to the kitchen and turned on the kettle to heat up some water. While she waited, she prepared a bowl with oats, sugar, and some blueberries. Sometimes she added strawberries or blackberries or raspberries or peach slices or apple slices. Today she wanted blueberries in her oatmeal.

The kettle finally whistled so she poured some hot water into the bowl and stirred. Eventually she got it to the right consistency, so she turned off the stove and poured the rest of the hot water into the sink.

Rayne took the bowl into the morning room and sat down at the table to eat her oatmeal. She looked out the window while she ate and saw a couple birds. Though she didn’t know what species they were, she enjoyed watching them all the same.

Her oatmeal finished, she took the bowl to the sink to wash it out and set it on the drying rack.

Now she was ready to do some chores. She got out the mop and did that first on the hardwood floors, then she vacuumed the carpet. All the tables and knickknacks were dusted, and the pillows on her couch rearranged.

Then she started a load of laundry, colors first. She wasn’t sure if it really made a difference to separate colors and whites but that’s how her mother did it so she just followed how she was taught.

Next came grocery shopping. She went through her pantry and fridge to make a list of what she needed from the store. More oats never hurt, since she knew she’d use them. She was also running low on milk, and only had one tomato left. It also would be nice to have some chips so she added that to the list, too.

With her list in hoof, Rayne left her house and started the walk to the store. Canterlot was busy as always, but most ponies kept to themselves. Which was okay by Rayne because she wanted to get to the store, not stop for a chat.

So she kept walking until she arrived at her destination.

The grocery store smelled like flowers and fresh fruit. She grabbed a basket and started going up and down the aisles, sometimes stopping to get something she needed, sometimes stopping to consider something she wanted. A can of boiled peanuts went into her basket, but the bag of gummies remained on the shelf.

Rayne went up to the register and set her basket on the counter.

“Did you find everything you were looking for?” the cashier asked as he started to ring up the items and put them into a bag.

“Yes, and a little more,” Rayne replied playfully.

The cashier gave a good-natured smile even though he’d probably heard that joke a hundred times. “Great.”

Rayne waited for the total.

“The total comes to twenty-seven bits.”

Rayne reached into her saddlebag and brought out three ten-bit coins that she set on the counter.

“Okay, that’s thirty bits, so your change is three bits.” The cashier opened the register to deposit the coins and retrieve her change, which he held out for her to take.

She took them. “Thanks.”

“Have a great day!”

She smiled as she picked up the bag. “Thanks, you too.”

Rayne left the store and started the walk home. It was the same as the walk to the store: ponies were busy and she didn’t have to stop and chat.

When she arrived back at her house, she set the bag on the counter and started to put the items away into the pantry or the fridge depending on what they were.

Now all of her chores for the day were complete, so she went into the living room and grabbed a book. This one was a fictional story, which was really interesting to read. The characters had motivations that she could relate to in some way and the plot kept her turning pages to see what happened next.

Sometimes Rayne liked to read epic stories of adventure. Sometimes, though, she liked simple stories where not much happened, just a little life vignette, but were still interesting because they showed an aspect of a character she liked or had some kind of narrative purpose that captured her interest.

For the next few hours, Rayne kept reading her story. Finally the clock on the wall chimed to let her know it was lunch, so she put her book down to go in the kitchen.

She got out some bread, a hoofful of daisy blooms, and a bottle of olive oil dressing. The sandwich was fairly simple but it was easy to make and quick to eat. Before she ate it, though, she put the rest of the bread and the dressing bottle away. Then she ate.

Rayne hadn’t used a plate so she didn’t have anything to clean up. She went back to the living room with the intent to continue reading her book, but she had been inside a lot already today, so she instead changed plans and went outside to get some sunlight.

Author's Note:

Remember this is slice of life okay? #writing-help told me that slice of life stories don’t need any plot or conflict or anything so you know it’s true.

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