Rare Normalcy
By: The Grey Pegasus
The metal dinging of an alarm clock.
The inevitable groans of waking up.
Lucky Clover woke up to yet another day. He never had much to worry about. If he did, he could always count on his own special quirk to get him out of a jam. After all, that's what the mark on his flank said.
It said that his special talent was being lucky.
Somehow, that meant that at most times, if he wanted to be lucky, if he needed to be lucky, he was. And if he couldn't care less about something that might happen, somehow he'd still get lucky. All in all, it did get irritating at times.
Yet the small desk calendar on his nightstand said otherwise. Friday the 13th. A good day for someone as forced to superstition as him. On a day some ponies swore for the bad luck it supposedly brought, Lucky called it one of his few truly normal days.
He grinned. Finally, some excitement. He rolled off his bed opposite his usual side of getting on or off, ready to face the day with uncertainty.
<<+>>
Lucky remembered something about a possible Weather Patrol notice for that day. Maybe rain. There was an umbrella hung next to his door that he never used. He was just lucky enough never to have to use the umbrella. Lucky paused in thought; he was even lucky enough to avoid rain. He wondered if it still even worked. He couldn't remember the last time he used it. Maybe when he had a friend over.
Taking it in hoof, he popped the umbrella open. Well, that solved that. Opening the door and looking outside, it was perfectly clear in the sky. Lucky resolved to closing the umbrella and hanging it back up.
As Lucky walked out the door, he allowed himself a moment of thought. A moment in some other pony's horseshoes. Really, most would just regard today as a day to be cautious. Twilight Sparkle would claim things about probability or something. Pinkie Pie on the opposite of the spectrum couldn't even care less about what fate tried to say, no matter what day it was.
Speaking of Twilight Sparkle, her arrival in Ponyville sure did make him appreciate his cutie mark more. With everything that happened surrounding that unicorn when she arrived, the town sure did have moments of illogical insanity quite often. Made Ponyville considerably livelier, whether one liked it or not. Fortunately for Lucky, he had luck on his side and managed to remain largely unaffected by the numerous quirky events.
Lucky continued on his way. His walk took him past Carousel Boutique, home and business place of that seamstress. For some reason, he felt that Rarity was one of those particular ponies that believed in superstitions. Or at least, he was thinking it when he saw a mirror lying on the front lawn propped up against some boxes.
Upon closer inspection, the frame around it was bent, but Lucky didn't see anything else wrong with it. Unless that tiny crack in the glass in the corner was a problem. It could be a problem. Lucky touched the mirror.
Nothing happened. Somehow, he felt disappointed. He touched it a little harder. That time, something happened, in the form of a box on top he wasn't noticing getting tipped over by the top of the mirror and falling down. There was a muffled sound of something breaking inside of it.
Prodding it open with a hoof, Lucky found... a broken hoof mirror. Which was probably his fault. Whoops. The thoughts of luck naturally ran through his mind, but the only thing that came to mind was the fact that there was broken glass.
Actually, that was an issue. Somepony could cut themselves. Lucky thought that he should probably write some sort of note warning about the broken glass, but he didn't have anything to write with on him.
... Darn. Maybe if he rummaged through the rest of the boxes, he'd find something, but going through a neighbor's stuff, even if they were throwing it out, just seemed wrong.
Lucky resorted to turning the box upright after checking for any stray shards, and left it at the base of the tall mirror. Just for good luck, or to prevent the next pony from having a case of bad luck and cut hooves, he sheepishly tapped the box as he left.
Celestia's sun was already up. Still early morning though. The market was just opening. Lucky headed that way, seeing if there was anything good over there. It was a Friday, and he had off from work. At least, he was sure about it. It was a rare moment of having fun not caring.
Lucky walked through Ponyville, deciding that eating was the first thing on his agenda. Hay Burger was probably open. Something cheap. Something to get food in his stomach. The restaurant was quickly sighted. There was a worker working on something on the roof. On a ladder. Lucky felt a bit giddy, feeling like it was finally a fair chance to tempt fate, and went on along his way to the entrance of Hay Burger, passing under the pony and his ladder.
On entering the restaurant, he found a line already formed going to the counter. The gray stallion wondered if, in his excitement, he had walked out his home a bit later than usual. Normally, no matter what time of day or where he chose to go, there would be no line at the moment he walked in.
There was a certain relief to it. A comforting change of pace. He waited patiently in line, thinking about what to get to eat. Soon enough, after a few minutes, he himself stood at the counter. The mare at the register took his order as quickly enough as Lucky recited it.
Lucky was informed that part of his order was still being cooked, and that he would have to wait. One of the employees was apparently late, for reasons currently unknown, and they were a little short on hooves. The coffee was ready though.
Kindly giving his thanks, Lucky walked off to a table to wait for the rest of his food. His coffee came out shortly, precariously balanced on a tray held out on the pegasus's wing. Lucky lazily watched as the pony walked towards him, wondering if the cursed day would strike.
Apparently not, though, as Lucky was contently drinking a pleasantly hot cup of joe a few moments later.
The rest of his food came out a few minutes later. Just some hay bacon sold during the breakfast hours, this time brought to him by a unicorn. Lucky humored himself by looking around, wondering if any mopping had been done earlier that morning. Dry floors.
The hay bacon was set down on his table. It looked... singed. Wait, it was hay bacon though, right? Not fries? It looked like bacon.
The server looked puzzled as well. She waited for Lucky to prod it with a fork. There was a scraping sound as metal touched burnt food. He continued scraping the burnt surface.
The unicorn took back the plate, also with some confusion on her face. She headed back for the kitchen, continuing to contemplate the plate in her magic from different angles.
Lucky shrugged. At least he still had his mocha. A few more sips of the pleasantly hot drink and the unicorn came back with another plate. She proudly smiled as she set down what definitely looked like hay bacon.
Giving his thanks, he quickly ate through it. A few chews in, and Lucky thought that salt might be a good addition. Carelessly reaching out for the condiment in the middle of the table, the salt shaker was instead bumped over by his hoof, spilling some salt.
Lucky stared at it for a moment, then thought nothing of it. He picked it up and continued eating. As soon as he was done, he stood up and headed for the door.
Looking around, he was met with the sight of an owl chasing around a black cat. Whatever that meant. That was answered with a something falling on his head. Lucky picked it up, puzzled. It was a muffin.
Ditzy Doo landed in front of him with a sheepish expression. He simply gave the mailmare back her own breakfast.
Pleased with breakfast, Lucky thought it was a good time to continue on to the market as he had originally planned. On his way, he passed by some workers fixing up the pavement. The weather did its occasional toll on the sidewalk, leaving cracks.
A few more minutes of walking and Lucky found himself at the market square. He spotted his friend Roseluck over in her usual spot. It looked like she had just pricked her hoof handling one of her roses.
He walked over, happily greeting her. Roseluck smiled back, offering the rose in her hoof while shaking her other one, which was the one that likely got pricked.
Lucky eagerly took it and breathed in the scent. It was going to be a fine day.
Author's Note
An exercise in writing while having fun with today. Self-challenge to write the story as fast as possible.
Experimenting with a dialogue-less story.
Experimenting with pointless, random, slice of life. I think it had a point to it or somewhat of a plot when I started writing, but I didn't write down a single note, and just let all... this happen.
