The Mare In Grey

by Furious Flyer Dashie

Chapters

The Ugly House/The Glimpse
The Mare In Grey
Vinyl Listens to Ghost Buckers and The Mare in Grey Experiences Buck Marley's Nirvana (Disclaimers Ahead!)
Vinyl?! You Look Like You've Seen A Ghost, Girl!
A Day in the Life of A Losing Pony
Introducing Lazy Bum Vinyl Scratch/ If It's too Good to Be True, Ask a Taxi Driver

The Ugly House/The Glimpse

"Soooo.... this is the place?" Vinyl asked uneasily as the cab mare tapped her hoof on the ground.

"Yup, this is the address."

"Are you like, one hundred percent sure?"

"Yes! I live like, next door! I think I would know!"

"So like, why is it so ugly?"

Vinyl wasn't lying, the house was rather.... unkempt. The roof was withered, the plaster seemed to be falling off, the grass had grown over a foot tall, the door had holes in it, windows were missing, or they were busted up, and there was an odd sound and eerie feel oozing from within.

"I don't think anypony's lived in there for like, three months. Some 'supper rad' colts trashed it and hosted parties in there a few times, but you know.... other than that and the spooky noises, it's fine." The cab mare explained, her hoof still tapping eagerly on the ground.

"Sp-sp-spooky sounds?" Vinyl asked, a small shiver running down her body.

"Yeah, some say it's the ghost of a past resident!" the cab mare laughed in an evil tone as she tried to mimic a ghost sound. Vinyl shot a nasty glare at her, making her close her mouth, but not without a few snickers escaping her pursed lips.

"So... where's the landlord?"

"You're lookin' at her..."

Vinyl turned to see the mare holding her hoof out, a key laying in it, hung neatly on a little ring, attached to a lanyard. The key was odd, it's golden shine faded and weathered, black gunk around the crevices, and a creepy pony skull made its top. Vinyl reached for the key, but not before the cab mare yanked it back, a dark glare in her eyes. Vinyl gave a confused look before realizing she had yet to pay the two hundred bits. With the exchange done, the cab mare bounced the nice bit of change in her hoof, smiling as she trotted off to her home across the little dirt road. Vinyl watched as she opened the door to the little cottage, her house a complete opposite to the one Vinyl had purchased. But Vinyl didn't have time to worry about that, she had to get her things inside, and get to sleep. This was much more work than she had hoped to do when moving.

The inside was better than the outside, but not by much. The floors were covered in a thick and sticky layer of dust and filth. So much so, Vinyl's hooves left nasty little hoof prints. A single glance assured her, that her hooves had quickly become black from the amount of filth on the ground. But that wasn't too bad, she could fix that with a maid. The kitchen was next, and it was nothing more than a simple turn of the head away. This cottage was seeming more like a cabin the more she looked over it. The divider for the kitchen was nothing more than a change in flooring, and a little counter with a tiny stove, and a fridge. There was no dining area, but that was fine. The rest was basically a living room, and a little door that lead to a bathroom. The bathroom was even smaller, with everything clumped together, but the tub was at least big enough for a nice bath.

Vinyl sighed, dragging her things with her into the home and spotting a nice little bed of hay in the corner of the house. Vinyl examined it and poked around the small bedding. It seemed nice, it was warm, and it seemed freshly made. That was odd. Vinyl shrugged and bedded down for the night, her eyes feeling heavy. As her eyes grew heavier, a small figure appeared, a tiny little figure Vinyl could not make out. But as it moved, it turned to her, and gasped. But that could be dealt with another day.....

Author's Note

Dum dee dee dum dum..... lalalalalala.... I'm going to eat some Chinese food....

The Mare In Grey

Vinyl's eyes were wide, her mouth trying to touch the ground bellow it. The cab mare who had sold the house however, was just nodding as she looked over the home.

"Does this normally happen?" Vinyl asked quietly.

"I never saw it, but I wouldn't be surprised, this house is really weird like that."

The floors were spotless, the ground having been scrubbed and the kitchen cleaned. Vinyl had even woken up to a worn but comfortable blanket over her body. Upon the discovery of the freshly cleaned house, Vinyl had jumped up and ran out to her neighbor/cab driver/land lord, of whom she learned the name of. Her name was Chisel. Vinyl looked up to the strong brown mare who just sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

"This is your place now, you're going to have to deal with it." She said before walking off. Vinyl turned quickly and grabbed her shoulder before she could make it all the way out the threshold.

"Wait! Can't you give me a tour of the town?" Vinyl asked desperate, "S-so I don't have to stay in this house all day?" Chisel stopped and tapped her hoof repeatedly, only to turn and smile.

"Sure! I don't care, I have nothing else going on today!" The happy tone was quickly cut short with a frown. It was obvious she was being sarcastic. Vinyl only gave a half smile in response. The brown mare simply rolled her eyes and lead Vinyl from the house into town. As the door slammed shut and the two mares went on their way, the sounds of hooves crept across the floor and into the kitchen.

"So do you think it's haunted?" Vinyl asked as they trotted through the market place. Chisel simply shrugged and kept going. "Like, what if it is haunted? Could you imagine how cool that would be?!"

"You want to live in a house with a ghost you don't know is evil or not?" Chisel asked dismissively. Vinyl gulped and gave a halfhearted chuckle.

"You don't really think it's a mean ghost.... do you?"

With a simple divisive shrug, Chisel continued to walk. As the town square come into focus past a few homes, Vinyl was quickly distracted by the colours.... before becoming instantly bored by the lack of fun places to visit. There seemed to be almost nothing to do! There were no bar signs, no clubs, just a few little corner shoppes, and a large bakery. There was a candy shoppe on the road up, but that was closed. Vinyl simply sighed, deciding simply to look over her landlord.

Chisel was a well built mare, with rather rare fetlocks, she must have been one of the Clydesdale variety. With those powerful hooves, she balanced a powerful body, her toned muscle working under taught skin, and a posterior to boast a large hammer as a cutie mark. Vinyl's eyes wandered up to her tail, a short but lightly curly light brown colour, and her mane of the same shade, but cut in an forwards mohawk. Her mane and tail bounced with more life than her stone face, that, in itself, bore a few piercings on the snout and eyebrow. Her ears also had a piercing on each, one ear had two. As Vinyl grew bored with the plain look on her landlord's face, her eyes decided wot wander down to a more interesting place.

'Maybe I missed a detail on her cutie mark... was it a silver hammer, or was it gold?' Vinyl deviously wondered as she gawked at the mare's tail end, only to get an even better view.... after Chisel had stopped and Vinyl went head first into the earth pony's read end.

"Oof!" Chisel hardly moved from the impact, although Vinyl had fallen back onto her rump. "You planning on buying me dinner or what?!" Vinyl simply blushed and stood up before her landlord who was pointing to the door of the bakery they had been walking towards. "Get in there, I'll tell you what I know about the house." Vinyl waited a second before shuffling in and plopping down on a seat in the cozy dinning area. As Chisel sat down with the unicorn and waved a hoof to get service, Vinyl raised her own hoof. When Chisel gave her a confused look, Vinyl simply smiled and gave a light chuckle.

"I think I owe you dinner?"

"It's eleven in the morning...."

"So it's haunted then?" Vinyl asked leaning over the table. Chisel simply bit into her burger and looked up at the unicorn with a flat look on her face; as usual.

"We haven't said anything yet, and you're already going to assume it's haunted. Do you want it to be haunted?"

"No, but I'm just curious..." Vinyl mumbled leaning back into her seat. Chisel wiped her mouth casually before tapping her back hoof on the ground out of habit.

"Weeeellllll, there was this story I heard awhile back about the house...." Chisel began. Vinyl leaned forward again, her mouth open in anticipation. "Relax, girly, it's only a story, it's called the 'Legend of the Mare in Grey'. They say it happened about ten years ago...."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~10 Years Earlier~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A young grey earth pony mare stood before a large construction site, the large mounds of dirt and plowed mud had since become a nice little cottage. She didn't want anything huge, even though her father had offered enough to build a mansion. The little amount it cost to have the nice little home made left plenty of bits for a comfortable life of just enjoying herself. She could manage what she had to just enjoy herself for another year.

They called this lovely mystery mare, The Mare in Grey. Her long jet black mane fell like silk over her shoulders, and her back carried a large cello case that hardly hindered her mobility, as it had been her companion for many years. On her ever so graceful neck hung a small bow tie, pink in colour. A little gift from her mother that was given to her as she left her Canterlot home. The Mare in Grey stood before the freshly built home with a sigh, and trotted in, placing her things away, and stashing her bits in the floor boards.

The days went by as she lived happily in her home, until one day, a stallion came to her home with a bundle of flowers. She was flattered, and took them, but she did not return his feelings. Days went by again, and the strange stallion continued to give her extravagant gifts, bigger and more impressive than the last. The Mare in Grey would take them to make him feel better, but would quickly throw them out in fear of the stallion's actions.

But one day, something strange happened! She was coming home from the market, a basket of goods in her mouth, but as she walked home, there was a shadow following her. She hadn't noticed, but it crept up behind her as she opened the door, and he shoved her in. There was the sound of screams and fighting, things being knocked over, and a splash of blood over the walls. Soon the noises died down, and the stallion staggered out sobbing, his hooves covered in blood and his body weak.

The guards came to look over the home, but only found a mess of blood, torn clothing, hair, and fur thrown about the home. Her body was nowhere to be found....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Present Day~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"-They just guessed it was buried somewhere, and didn't bother to go look for it. Respecting the dead and all that jazz." Chisel finished her story with another bite from her burger. Vinyl sat, her eyes wide behind glasses and mouth agape.

"So she can't be a mean ghost if she was so shy! Can she?"

"I don't know, my cousins say ghosts can get really mean if you move into their house and bother them. But I've never dealt with much outside of weird sounds from there."

"What kind of sounds?"

"Sometimes I'll go in to do routine checks and if I get near some parts of the house, I'll hear a shriek, or sometimes a ghost sound, like 'Oooooooooo' or scurrying." Chisel began to tap her hoof again. Although her face was flat, Vinyl began to think Chisel was tapping her hoof out of nervous habit. Vinyl suddenly felt like a detective, solving a case!

"So what would happen if I found her body?" Vinyl asked as she scratched her chin.

"Eew, why would you want to?" Chisel asked, her hoof had stopped tapping. Vinyl quickly tried to reel her landlord back in with a more reasonable question.

"Are her parents alive? Aren't they looking for her?"

"Well, this grey unicorn stallion with a jet black mane gave me the key to the house and told me to sell it. I think it was her father, his name was Vito Philharmonica. He just sort of gave me the key and left. But I could imagine them wanting their daughter's remains so they can bury her. But after ten years? It wouldn't be a pretty sight I'm sure..." Chisel stopped her tapping and went back to eating. Vinyl nodded and scratched her chin again.

"What if I caught her ghost?" Vinyl asked shooting up from her seat with new enthusiasm. Chisel just looked up with a smirk.

"Are you serious?"

"As serious as horn herpes." Vinyl stated with a cross of her heart. Chisel chuckled at Vinyl's words, only to receive a dark glare from her. "Horn herpes aren't funny!"

"Sorry, girly, I'm not a unicorn, I can't share that sentiment." Chisel added with a tap of her forehead. She leaned back again and tapped her foot lightly and more slowly. "Well, if you captured her ghost, I guess we could sell it to her parents, or use it as a side show attraction!" Chisel laughed heartily as she thought about her trying to sell a glass jar with nothing in it as a ghost. "Yeah, yeah! I'll get you a glass jar, and you can put it in there!" Chisel laughed a little harder before she sat back up and straightened her face again. Vinyl looked on in confusion as the stoic mare fell from a fit of giggles to the face of a hardened soldier in mere seconds.

"Are you serious? You'd give me a jar to capture her ghost?" Vinyl asked with a serious expression. Chisel turned and gave Vinyl an exasperated look.

"Whatever gets you to pay the rent and leave me alone, I don't care." Chisel pushed her self from the seat and began to trot to the door. Vinyl was put off by the sudden change in demeanor, but left it alone. As Vinyl walked from the tiny shoppe, she turned and looked to the sky with a new determination in her heart.

"With Celestia as my witness; I will capture the soul of The Mare in Grey!"

"You keep yelling to the skies like that and you'll have to find your own way home..." Chisel called as she continued to trot home. Vinyl quickly caught up to her landlord, the vow still fresh in her mind.

Author's Note

Okay, so this was originally tagged as Comedy, Slice of Life, Random, and rated Everyone. But I think I'm going to change the tags around a bit, since this seems to be taking a bit of a mystery slice of life, than anything else...... :unsuresweetie:

Yes, I will finished Octavia Crashes a Party, but for now, I need to readjust to life here in PA. It's much different than the tiny little state of Delaware. :raritydespair:

Vinyl Listens to Ghost Buckers and The Mare in Grey Experiences Buck Marley's Nirvana (Disclaimers Ahead!)

Look, I know not a lot of people agree with the weed thing, but it's here for a reason. If you're not comfortable with that, I'm like, uber sorry, but I won't change it, and I won't be upset if you stop reading because of that, this is just a warning. This chapter can be skipped, but it would put a small damper on the story if you did. But do you, loves. -Furious Flyer Dashie

Vinyl had sat on her futon looking over her home for a whole hour, a glass jar balanced in her hooves. The home seemed more foreboding with nothing in it, so Vinyl quickly set up some of her belongings. On one wall was a large TV mounted to the wall, a stereo set put up around the TV, and a few speakers and a DJ's set up against the opposite wall behind the her futon. There was a small shag carpet that was a lovely lavender colour laying under the futon and reaching to the wall that held the TV. The kitchen was stocked with junk food, and the floor had stacks of papers and vinyl records, magazines, and video game cases. Vinyl hummed to herself as she looked around, the eerie emptiness and lack of any sound left Vinyl feeling vulnerable. But if there was anything Ghost Buckers ever taught her about bucking ghosts, it was that you need to have them thing you're vulnerable, so they'll come to you.

Vinyl sighed and reached under her futon where there had lay a small wooden box, it's golden hinges well kept and a sweet little carving that read "LEGAL" in burned indents. Her horn glowed as she removed a little glass pipe from it, the pipe's bowl held a thick layer of black residue that tingled her nose as she sniffed it. 'Still fresh...' Vinyl hummed as she thought to herself, her horn flicking a few more green flaky bits into the pipe's bowl before setting the foliage aflame, the slow burning bud crackled in resistance, filling Vinyl's ears with a calming sound.

It hadn't taken long before Vinyl zoned out, her face felt numb, and the world was a slight blur, and soon a filling feeling after a small cough. 'So much for feeling vulnerable... I feel invincible now!' Vinyl thought to herself as she slumped further into the comfy worn futon. Vinyl had only sat on the cushions for a measly thirty seconds... or was it thirty minuets? Maybe about thirty millionths of a second? 'Woah, that's fast... like... really fast... how fast can a pony run? Like, a few feet per second? How many though? Do ponies have feet? No no, we have hooves! But... but what am I? Do I have hooves? If I were a pony, wouldn't I know?'. While Vinyl continued to contemplate life and if she was really a real pony or some figment of another higher beings imagination made for the entertainment of young creatures like themselves, a flurry of hooves scurried across the hard floors. Vinyl's lazy eyes drifted to see the noise was coming from some small little things on the ground. Like a mouse... but, not a mouse. Vinyl lifted herself from her seat to see the small thing stop in its tracks and look up at her.

"What are you?" Vinyl asked half to herself.

"I'm... um... I'm Octavia...." the small thing said nervously. Vinyl's eyes remained half lidded and and she sat back on her seat and smiled, patting the empty seat beside her.

"Hey there, that's an odd name for a mouse! Come on up here, chill with me!" Vinyl began to snicker a little as she lifted her bowl again, the full feeling having since left her. Octavia, the tiny little "mouse" looked about her surroundings and shook nervously. "Hey, come now!" Vinyl began comfortingly, "I'm not going to eat you or anything, heh heh, I just wanna be friends. You live here, I live here, and you're willing to talk to me, not like the mice in my old town, always giving me the cold shoulder." Vinyl made a slightly displeased face at the memory of those rude mice. Octavia only gave the large unicorn a confused glare.

"What are you doing?" She asked as Vinyl took another long hit from the pipe. Vinyl gently put the bowl down on the table and let the smoke fall from her nose as she sank back into the seat.

"What? This? I'm just.... relaxing...." Vinyl sighed as she rolled on her back. Octavia shrugged and climbed to the couch, her tiny hooves trying to navigate the fabric the best she could. Vinyl watched as the tiny thing clambered on the side of the couch for a little while before lighting her horn to lift the little mouse up to her chest. Octavia was sat directly in the center of the unicorn's chest, where she could get a good whiff of the strong plant that was being burned.

"Are you doing drugs?!" Octavia asked half aghast. Vinyl only chuckled and shook her head.

"Nah, babe, drugs are bad! This stuff... this stuff makes you feel good!" Vinyl writhed her legs as she felt the bud working its magic.

"That's what they all say before they become addicted and crazy!"

"Well, I've been doing this for a while, and to be honest, I'm not dead, in a rehab, and as far as I know, it's legal, so it's like drinking, but less of a problem." Vinyl retorted with a slight frown. Her buzz killed, Vinyl picked her bowl back up and took another hit before giving the tiny Octavia a small glare, followed by a devious grin. Octavia looked at Vinyl with curiosity and slight worry before being engulfed in a cloud of white smoke, her lungs bombarded with the smell of the bud and the scent of the unicorn's breath; which, in turn, smelled of the plant. Octavia nearly fell back, but not before Vinyl's hoof caught her. Once the cloud had dissipated, the only thing left was a slightly dazed tiny little.... pony!

"W-why I never in all my.... in.... what the?" Octavia began before her vision too turned to that of a slight blur, her tiny body unable to resist the large dose of smoke it was given. "Eheh... that's... that's odd.... I feel all tingly..." Vinyl only gave Octavia a dead on stare before rubbing her eyes.

"You're a tiny little pony!" Vinyl shouted before laughing hysterically. "I thought you were a mouse!" Vinyl tried to keep her hooves on the tiny pony, but her hooves were numb. Octavia managed, holding herself against the shaking hoof of the laughing unicorn.

"Y-yes! Hahahahaha! W-when did you think I was a mouse?!" Octavia laughed as well, her mind now set on instant rather than long term memory and thought. It was as if everything was instinct, and anything she thought, she would do or say. As her last bits of coherent thought left her, she said one thing before her vision was clouded in a thick hazy blur. "Give me another hit, will ya, love?"

Author's Note

Well... that happened :applejackunsure: . I might want to explain this. Growing up, a lot of my humor was shaped with things like Dave Chapelle show, Dude Where's My Car, Dumb and Dumber, and a lot of stoner movies. Like... a LOT! :pinkiecrazy: So I tend to find the misadventures of weed to be rather funny. It's a legal thing in my home state, so a lot of people do it, and it's often coupled with booze. I personally don't think weed is bad, but I mean, if you do, that's fine. I don't think booze is bad, but people don't like to always agree with that. Again, that's you, do you. :twilightsmile:

I would love for you to stick around and keep reading though, since this will not be a recurring joke, but I might make a stoner based comedy in the future, just not now, and likely, not with ponies, since it would be a tad off colour for the site, but I've seen worse things happen. Only reason I think it would be bad here, is becuase of it being a story where I would be bashing the use of "drugs" like in say, "The Musical Life of Octavia and Vinyl Scratch", I would be basing the story around it and making light of it, with characters having blunts falling from their lips every scene. :unsuresweetie:

But I tend to keep my weed stuff to myself, since it's considered a risque topic with most. :ajsleepy:

Anyway... I'm going to take a nice long walk into this rediculious amount of snow.... F*****ING SNOW!! WHYYYY?!? :raritycry:

Vinyl?! You Look Like You've Seen A Ghost, Girl!

Vinyl's hooves flinched as she tried to shift her body below the massive and unfamiliar weight above her. What had she eaten last night to make her feel to... heavy... and hot? And... was that a breeze? Vinyl lazily moved her hooves to feel her body, only to have them land on a mass on top of her. A mass that was very much alive and breathing... and wasn't a part of her own body. Vinyl opened her eyes, eyelashes fluttering under the steady breathing that was brushing against them, only to see a mare, of the earth variety (from what she could tell, as her head had taken up most of the unicorn's view), with an ash grey coat and a jet black mane. Vinyl shifted, hearing the pony snore lightly before she pushed the sleeping pony from her body and back onto the couch.

Vinyl, now free from the weight of this mysterious pony, got a better look at her. 'She's the same little mouse thing from last night that was asleep on my chest... wasn't she?' Vinyl thought to herself as her mouth began to open in shock. 'But she's a ghost! Why did she feel so heavy? And why is she big now?' Without letting her mind wander any further, Vinyl approached the sleeping figure, wanting to touch her, but puller her hoof back quickly, just before she had even ruffled a single fur on the mare's back. 'Perhaps waking her wouldn't be a great idea...' the unicorn thought to herself, putting her hoof back on the ground. A loud rumble shook Vinyl from her thoughts, and a new set had replaced the fleeting ones. Food. That was the new goal. Vinyl could deal with this later, it wasn't like a whole mare would disappear, right?

Vinyl bumbled about the kitchen, dropping things and burning food, the floor getting soaked and flour exploding onto walls, eggs dropping and milk spilling on counters and tables. The sound of a kettle whistle was heard before the smoke alarm went off in protest to the madness that was being considered "cooking".

'I didn't even know that smoke alarm worked!' Vinyl was once again surprised to hear another odd sound; a door slam, and the sound of scurrying hooves skidding on wooden floor as a large body slammed onto said floor. Vinyl turned to see her landlord, Chisel trying her best to get to her hooves, a panicked look on her face before she turned to her unicorn tenant.

"Geez, babe, where's the fire?" Vinyl asked nonchalantly as she turned back to her horrific slaughtering of the kitchen.

"Here, apparently!" Chisel shouted breathlessly, "What the hell are you doing? The house looks like it's on fire!"

"Well, I was cooking breakfast for me and my lovely guest on the couch there." Vinyl pointed with her hoof over her shoulder. Chisel turned and chuckled as she faced the white unicorn.

"So I guess you're little ghost friend there won't mind the extra crispy food then?" Chisel continued to laugh despite Vinyl's obvious worry. What did she mean ghost? That grey mare was there clear as day! Vinyl turned, and saw that Chisel wasn't lying, the mare had disappeared into thin air!

"W-what?! She was right there!" Vinyl shouted in shock running to the empty couch, runner her hooves over the cushions, "Sh-she was sleeping! She was on top of me and everything!" Chisel walked up to the dazed unicorn, her laughing stopped and a serious look took hold of her features.

"Vinyl... are you okay? Like, have you been sleeping well?" Chisel placed a hoof to her forehead and then to Vinyl's, and in her rush to check the unicorn's health, accidentally hit her horn, giving Chisel a little shock and knocking the unicorn to the floor chin and chest first in sensory pain.

"W-well.... I was...." Vinyl groaned. Her eyes scanned the ground, there was a little mouse hole in the wall. Had that always been there?

"Vinyl! Oh geez, sorry!" the larger brown mare helped Vinyl to her hooves, although the light unicorn was hesitant to stand, she made it up eventually. Vinyl kept her eyes on the wall where she saw the hole.

"Are there any mice in here?" Vinyl asked suddenly. Chisel did her thing, tapping her hoof quickly as she looked around the house with a slight grimace.

"Maybe? With all that's been happening around here, I'm surprised a squatter hadn't turned up!"

"Well..." Vinyl began trotting towards the wall, "I wouldn't be so certain about that...

Author's Note

Welp, I'm not done yet! I'm trying to get these out fast, but I only have a short time until the internet is off, then it's off to the library to update the stories :raritycry: :raritydespair:

A Day in the Life of A Losing Pony

Octavia paced eagerly in the walls, her hooves kicking about splinters that she had long since neglected to clean and her tail picking up more dust that seemed to never stop raining from above. The walls of a cottage was no place to live, although they were well built, she made sure of that! Her body shook, and her eyes zoomed about her surroundings, there was nothing much, like there ever was to begin with. She got into a tiny box, fitted with strings, and went down to her little abode.

Her little stow away was nothing to be envious of. The large beams were fitted with tiny ropes that held a small box to make a tiny elevator, that elevator ran to the floor boards where her little "home" was, and in that home was make shift furniture and basic tunnels to get to the things she needed. Things like the kitchen that now had food in it, although she was often okay with growing her own (regardless of how much of a chore it was on her small form), and basically other places in the small home, but nothing as important as that. The kitchen was were she bathed, cooked, and relaxed by her little perch in the window. She had long since given up on leaving her home for long, as animals tended to find her interesting, and ponies would shriek in fear, rearing up and nearly squishing her, or better than that, not noticing her, and nearly squishing her anyway. In the floor boards were other small essentials that grew as years passed; her cello, that she loved dearly and played often, her tiny furniture, a living room set complete with table, couch, china cabinet, entertainment center, and a little flat-screen TV that had a sticker on it. The sticker was a picture of a large strong stallion holding a mare on a nice little beach, and if she pressed the button on the entertainment center it was connected to, it would play the sounds of the beach, waves, seagulls, and a nice breeze.

Octavia sighed as she trotted into her home, the tiny couch was comfy for her size, and the TV was left on for her to see when she got home. What she really needed to do was relax, and not worry about how weird everything just was. Jumping into her couch, she looked at her table, a few stickers adorned it. A sticker of a candy jar, a sticker of a remote, and a sticker of stacks of magazines, which she didn't care much for, since she had plenty of tiny little sticker books on her plastic book shelf in the corner. On her walls were stickers of art, but those were also promptly ignored for the real fun; the TV! Her favorite show was on, it always came on at three, although her little plastic clock always read three, she was still none the less excited for the newest installment of "Beach Stallion Dreams"! Octavia lay comfortably on the couch, her legs hanging over the side just enough, and her eyes dancing over the sticker on the little plastic screen.

The sticker remained one image, but that didn't stop the vivid imagination of the earth mare, oh no, in her mind, a very intricate story was being played out, and it was one of episode 1,897! This episode was a bonus follow up to the last one, where Sir Senor Stallionguard was called in for duty at the hospital (he was a handsome head surgeon), leaving his lover, Daphne Diamond behind, where she had a scandalous date with Stallionguard's older brother, Ricardo Fernandez Chase, who was a famous but still very humble life guard on the Golden Mane coasts. This time, Stallionguard walked in on his lover and his brother making passionate love in their condo living room. It should be said that things got very ugly, tears were shed, and love was lost. Octavia yawned as the credits rolled, looking over at her plastic clock.

"It's three already! I had better get the house cleaned up!" the grey mare shouted before running to a small house, the exterior a bright yellow plastic, but inside was a tiny little kitchen, and right next to it a stair well, and right after that, a den. Octavia never bothered with the stairs as they were not really stairs, it was a wall with a sticker that looked like stairs. This always bothered Octavia as there was a second floor to this little plastic home, but no way to get to it. It would have been nice to have the little bedroom up there and a nice bathroom. But she would have to settle with the living room. "First! I need to do some dishes!"

Octavia went to a tiny little counter where there was a small indent meant to be a sink, and that was it. It was a tiny pink fake sink, with a little pink faucet that was solid plastic. But this never stopped Octavia, as she turned a fake nob and began to make obnoxious water noises.

"I had better watch the water this time, I flooded the kitchen last time!" Octavia was sure to head her words as she watched the sink, still making loud water noises. She suddenly turned off the faucet and plunged her tiny hooves into the fake sink full of fake water, making more, less water like sounds, as she splashed about doing the dishes. "Maybe today I'll just get a box or something to get that bed down here? I'll climb up there and build some stairs later!" As she finished the dishes, she drained the sink, being sure to watch, since she didn't want the sink to flood. As she waited, a loud noise came from above, a regular throbbing sound, like the bass of a song, rumbling the ground, and shaking her small set up. Octavia frowned at the sudden disturbance. But before she could get an imaginary broom and wack the ceiling in anger, a bed, a nightstand, a tiny bathtub, and a few place mats, and a tiny dresser came tumbling down from above. Octavia only looked on in awe at the sight. She had it! The bathroom and bedroom set! Octavia squealed before moving the tiny little items around and sorting them out.

Octavia looked over her work, the bed had been set up in what was once an empty den, and the bathtub was placed in front of the stairs. There was a little towel on the tub, and there was even a shower head to enjoy relaxing showers, and a nice little pink place mat. She was happy to see it was made of felt with a sticky pad on the back, and not the typical paper based stickers she had in the rest of the house. With a sigh, Octavia trotted to the bath. She turned on the water and let it run for a bit, putting her hoof under an imaginary stream, her mouth still making that loud water noise. She let her hoof set until she pulled back with a loud "ouch!"

"That's a tad hot..." she hissed before readjusting the fixed knobs. After fiddling with them for another minute, she finally got into the tub, her fur feeling relaxed already, and her bottom hooves poking from the bottom as she sunk in deep, feeling the "water" soak into her fur. This was the life only a few ponies would be blessed to live!

Author's Note

So I just wanted to do some background on how Octy is living, and let me tell you, she's living it up! With her doll house and what not! So this is what Octavia is living with, just so you know. But I gotta go see ya next time! :)

Introducing Lazy Bum Vinyl Scratch/ If It's too Good to Be True, Ask a Taxi Driver

"-and you will learn to take care of yourself, and with some responsibility you can finally do something other than sit around her playing your gaming station and get a good job-"

Vinyl listened to her mother drone away again about the positives of living on her own. It was a daily thing at this point. Vinyl lay upside down on her bed in a messy bedroom, a controller set snugly in her hooves as she played away, her character on screen jumping about and shooting his gun in all directions.

"-Why do you always have your TV upside down? Laying like that will swell your horn! Do you want a swollen horn?"

"Ugh!" Vinyl groaned before throwing her controller down as the death screen on her game came into focus. "Wasn't the reason you got with Dad because he had a big horn?" Vinyl grumbled as she pushed past her mother who stayed put in the doorway, her pale blue face flushing red.

Vinyl's mother shook her head and grit her teeth. She was a lovely light blue earth mare with a white bob cut mane, large pink sunglasses and a thick German accent. Her name was Photo Finish, and as for her "swollen stallion" he had long since moved on to another mare, Fleur de Lis. Photo Finish briskly trotted after her run away daughter, her tail swaying as she snapped back (although a tad late) with a retort to her child's sass.

"Now, Vinyl Scratch! You are not to talk about me and your father like that!" Photo stopped in the kitchen where Vinyl was digging eagerly in the fridge, her tail poking out from the door.

"Blah blah blah! Geez! Where's all the food ma?! I thought we were rich or something? We have like NOTHING to eat in here!" Vinyl slammed the door and trotted to the counters, climbing on them to get to the cupboards and knocking boxes over, ceramic vases, and cookie jars, all of which fell to their demise, much to the dismay of the fed up photographer.

"VINYL STACCATO SCRATCH YOU WILL STOP THIS AT ONCE!" Photo shouted, surprising the young unicorn. Vinyl stumbled from the counter, her mouth full of pop tart and her eyes wide as she watched her seething mother.

"Mph erm..." Vinyl mumbled out, but not for long as Photo had more to say.

"You will leave this house, I'll give you some starting money, but you can NOT stay here any longer! You're twenty five and you just sit around and play video games all day!"

"That's not true!" Vinyl snapped back dropping the pastry on the ground as she did, "I go out to parties and come home drunk sometimes!" Photo didn't say anything, but only reddened further. Vinyl took the angered shaking and twitching as a sign to leave. "W-well.... I can um... why don't we go out to dinner? Yeah! We can go out to dinner, and we can talk about this like normal, civilized ponies.... yeah?"

"NO!"

Vinyl dragged her bags down the cobbled road, her horn having long since given in from it's long days of laying dormant. The town was eerily quiet this day, as if Vinyl was walking death row. It might as well have been. 'I don't know how to survive on my own!' Vinyl thought with a sigh. 'How am I supposed to live with nopony there to help me? Go out and buy me food, and clean my messes?'

As Vinyl continued to think, her body continued to grow weaker. How long had she been walking? Where was she? Must have been all day, she had to have been a whole ten miles away by now! Vinyl looked around and found her favorite donuts place.... it was half a mile down the road from her house.... 'sigh...'

Vinyl lay bored and tired on a bench not far from the donut shoppe, her eyes fixed on something non existent on the ground. With another forced sigh, she rolled onto her back and looked into the sky. The stars would come out soon, and she would be laying, loathing her whole life on that stupid bench.

"Now where am I going to live? Why couldn't she just kick me out when I found a place?" Vinyl huffed, her nostrils flaring at the thought of being out on the streets just because her mom threw a tantrum. As Vinyl looked up again, she noticed a taxi cab with a flimsy paper on its side.

HEY THERE WEARY TRAVELER!
Are you new to Equestria? Or just getting on you hooves? Did your mother get fed up with you being a lazy bum and finally kick you out? Well you're in luck! Come here to Ponyville to this address and be sure to have at least two hundred bits on hoof, as we're giving away a nice little cottage just for you!

Vinyl shook her head, there was no way it was going to be that easy! Just, a little cottage, for two hundred bits, and she could just.... have it? That was it? Vinyl stood up, her eyes wide and her mouth trying its best to touch the ground. There was a tired little mare on the taxi, her hooves tapping away as she watched the young unicorn stare at her cab. She was shocked when the unicorn turned to her and smiled.

"Is this for real?" Vinyl asked pointing to the flier. The tired brown earth mare just rolled her shoulders and kept quiet. "I'll take that as a yes!" The Earth mare just rolled her eyes and nodded to her cab. "How much is it going to cost?"

"Less if you hurry up..."

With that, Vinyl grabbed her things and loaded them into the cab, as well as her self afterwards.

"Onward my loyal steed!" Vinyl shouted as she bounced in the cab. The earth mare rolled her eyes at the typically "racist" statement and trotted on.

"I don't get paid enough to deal with these ponies..."

Author's Note

There won't be many chapters to this, but they will also be short. Be sure to tell me how you like it! Comments are always welcomed, framed, gazed upon, and sold for charity. But not in that order....

Please come back Terrasora :fluttercry: