Vinyl Woke Up

Vinyl woke up.

She stretched her forehooves into the air, then glanced down at the other pony in the bed. Octavia was sleeping soundly. Vinyl smiled, then slid out of bed, gingerly slipping her hooves to the ground. Wouldn't want to wake Sleeping Beauty.

Down the stairs she went, to the kitchen. Same routine as every morning; filter into the machine, coffee grounds on top, water from the tap into the reservoir, push the button, let the coffee brew itself. Coffee makers sure were great things, huh? Sure, theirs wasn't a particularly fancy one, but it got the job done. They weren't snobs—well, Octavia pretended to be one, sometimes, but she wasn't really.

Actually...

Octavia groaned as she slumped against the kitchen doorframe. "This is the third day in a row I've woken up early. I have no idea what's going on, but I'd love it if it stopped!"

Vinyl gave her a worried look. She couldn't particularly remember Octavia being up any earlier than usual yesterday, but maybe she had. Either way, it looked like she was suffering, so Vinyl walked over and patted her on the shoulder.

"Thanks, Vinyl," Octavia said, smiling wanly at her. "At least I can rely on you."

She went over to the table. Her brow was furrowed, but she sat down all the same.

"There's nothing happening in the mornings? No one mowing their lawn or anything?" she asked, although she sounded doubtful.

Vinyl shook her head.

"Hm."

Vinyl cast her another worried look, but went to get the paper. As the front door shut behind her, she glanced at the headline. "Twilight Sparkle Passes New Tax Code Revisions". Boring! But Octavia would probably think it was interesting, so once Vinyl was back in the kitchen, into her hooves it went.

Octavia looked at the front page. Frowned. Scanned through the rest of the pages.

She set the thing down on the table. "Vinyl, is this one of your practical jokes?"

Vinyl raised an eyebrow at her.

"I swear this is the same newspaper we've gotten for the past two days."

That was... strange. Vinyl didn't remember the headline being that boring yesterday—actually, hadn't it been about a hoofball game two days ago? She'd actually read that one. Yes, she was sure it was. Vinyl shook her head.

"Really? I... Vinyl, what day is it?"

Vinyl looked at her funny, then slowly levitated over the calendar that hung from their fridge and pointed at the date. November 12th.

"That can't be right," Octavia said. "It's the fourteenth, isn't it?"

Vinyl shook her head. Pointed at the date again. Octavia stared blankly at the thing.

"Well, um... if you say so," she finally said. But she still looked troubled, even as the coffee maker dinged. Vinyl poured both their coffees, but she didn't take her eyes off Octavia for more than a second.