Vinyl Woke Up

Vinyl woke up.

She stretched, then peered down at her bedfellow through the grey morning light. Still asleep. Good.

She slipped out of bed, taking care not to let her hooves hit the floorboards too loudly, and headed downstairs, down to the kitchen, where the coffee pot awaited her.

It was an easy routine; in went the filter, then the coffee, measure out the water from the tap, into the reservoir it goes. Hit the button, wait for it to brew. Easy. Comforting.

They'd been roomates for years now, and Vinyl always made the coffee. She got up first, you see; she was the early riser of the two. She'd get up, make coffee, drink hers. Octavia would come down and finish off the pot once it had cooled. Hers would have milk and sugar, but Vinyl drank hers black.

She'd thought Octavia would be a tea drinker, actually, at first, as the Trottingham stereotype went. But no, Octavia wasn't really into the stuff, although she would indulge it on occasion.

They'd met in a coffee shop, funnily enough. Just random happenstance. They'd sort of heard of each other, as they both worked in music, both of them living in Canterlot at the time, but that was how they'd met. Over coffee.

Actually, was that Octavia now, coming down the stairs? She frowned, glanced at the clock. 6:34. Odd, Octavia usually wasn't up for another hour.

"Guess who woke up early again?" Octavia said, trudging into the kitchen. "I don't know what's going on with me. Whatever it is, I hope it ends soon; I'm knackered."

Vinyl couldn't remember Octavia being up much earlier than usual the day before, but she shrugged and gave her a sympathetic smile anyway.

"Coffee on? Wonderful! You're a real angel, Vinyl."

Vinyl winked at her, then went to get the paper. As she closed the front door, she glanced at the headline. "Twilight Sparkle Passes New Tax Code Revisions". Thrilling stuff that no doubt Octavia would enjoy more than her.

"Thanks, love," Octavia said, as the newspaper was passed into her hooves. Her eyes looked over the front page, and she frowned.

"Did you get this from outside?" Octavia asked.

Vinyl gave her a puzzled look. Nodded.

"They've delivered us yesterday's paper, then," Octavia said, ruffling through the other pages. "Yep, all of this is old news. Literally."

She sighed, threw the thing down on the table. "Oh well."

They fell into silence, Vinyl looking out the window, Octavia humming something to herself. Eventually the coffee maker dinged.

"Oh, finally," Octavia said, as Vinyl pulled out the jug and began to pour it into their two mugs. "Thanks Vinyl."

She took a long sip. Vinyl took a swig of her own. Smiled.

Bitter. Just the way she liked it.