//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: Let the Bass Thump 
// Story: Electronic Heart Beat 
// by Nightlock106 
//------------------------------//

	I was five when I discovered my talent for mixing music. My dad had brought home a DJ booth and was trying to figure out how it worked. I wasn't sure what he was doing, I just sat there and watched. Then he walked away from it madder then hell.
I got up from where I was sitting and walked over to the set, admiring every detail of it. I turned it on and began to use my magic to mess with the knobs and switches. The music was amazing before, but it became even greater. I danced around, holding the headphones to my ear and waved my free hoof in the air.
My dad walked in with a stunned look on his face.
"How did you figure it out?" he asked.
"I don't know, I just turned it on and began to mess with the knobs and stuff."
"Well, you have a talent for it!" he said, nodding to my backside.
I turned and saw it. It was an eigth note right there where there was once nothing. I started to hop up and down with joy. I had finally gotten my cutie mark, and my parents couldn't have been any prouder.
Later that year the school had a talent contest. It was too good to resist so I signed up. My friends thought that I was crazy, but I just laughed and rolled my eyes.
"You guys are too funny."
"Vinyl, you do realize that Glimmer has won the talent contest three years in a row now. And they say she's going to win it this year."
"Whatever, I'm gonna show there aint nothing that Vinyl Scratch can't do."
"Look if you are serious about this, you're going to need a stage name."
"A stage what?"
"A stage name, everypony who's in the music biz has one."
I couldn't come up with anything at that moment. I started to pace around. I've never been to good with coming up with names.
"How about Blasting Speakers?"
"Already taken."
"DJ Unrated?"
"Taken."
"I can't think of anything."
"Hmm... how about. Um...hmm. I got it, how about DJ Pon3."
"Are you sure, it doesn't sound all that good."
"Well it's the best I could come up with. Take it or leave it."
"Fine, fine. Jeez Octy, do you have to be so pushy?"
I practiced as much I could, before bed time of course. But, I was determined to win, no matter what.
And so three weeks later, the contest began. I was really nervous, and it was really obvious.
"Are you okay, you look paler than usual?"
"I'm alright Octy."
"Look, just don't think about it, just get up there and make it your own," she said,pushing me onto the stage.
"And now, our final act of the night. Put your hooves together for DJ Pon3."
The curtains came up, and the applause was making me even more nervous. I looked around for a bit, trying not to pass out. The audience fell quite. I was still standing there. My mind was blank. Out of all the things I could have gotten, stage fright had to be the one for that night.
I took a deep breath, shutting the fear out of my mind. I walked up to my booth, turning it on. The music started, and so did I. My magic was hard at work to twist and turn the knobs, flip and flop switches, and to keep me from falling over in fear.
After I was done, I felt exhausted. I looked up from the booth. Everypony was completely silent. I looked to the ground in disappointment and began to walk away. Just then, the audience began to grow in ever increasing applause. I turned back to them, giving them a bow and standing there in their admiration.
"It seems that we have our winner," said the announcer. "Ladies and gentlecolts, give it up for DJ Pon3!"
I was stunned, I had never won anything in my life. I could see the headlines now, "DJ Pon3 Knocks Glimmer Right Out of the Water!". Maybe I was overplaying it in my head, but I didn't care. Because from that day forward, I knew. I knew that DJing was the thing that was going to make me famous.
I was the talk of the school for a month, and it had gotten to my head. Everywhere I went, ponies were lining up to do whatever I told them to do. I had six of the smartest ponies doing my homework, I had the most popular colt in school as my coltfriend, and I was always the first to get my lunch. The fame was great, but it didn't last long.
The thing about foals is, they can be extremely cruel. I had made the mistake of kissing one mare in the bathroom, and the word got around quicker than Rainbow Dash could fly. I was constantly picked on, beat up, and ran out of school. There were nights when I would cry myself to sleep. I soon became a truant, I would skip school all the time. Only going about once every three or four days.
My mom would always blow the roof off yelling at me. And because of it, she saw to it that there was somepony there to keep me from leaving the building. It was a nightmare. But eventually everything died down and things got back to normal.
Years had passed and soon I was in high school, and that's when I changed everything about myself. Before I had my signature blue mane and purple shades, I had a plain white mane and kept things like that away from my face. I was never allowed to dye my mane, but I decided that my mom wasn't the boss of me.
I was walking home from school one day when I had passed by a hair stylist and decided why not. I walked in and sat down in the chair at the front desk.
"Welcome to Lotus Pond, what can we do for you?" asked the mare at the front desk.
"I'm looking to get my mane dyed," I replied.
"Did you have a color in mind?"
"Electric Neon Blue."
"Wonderful. The treatment should only take about twenty minutes. Just go through that door over there and I'll be right with you."
I walked into the room and sat down. I looked around at everything, there were posters of all kinds of hair styles and colors all over the walls. In the center of the wall I was facing was a giant mirror with pictures of Octy all over it.
After she had graduated early, Octy went off to become a famous cello player. It wasn't long before she became the biggest name in the music industry. Everypony who was anypony had at least one of Octy's many albums in their collections.
"Okay, time to get started," said the mare as she walked in.
She began to work the dye into my mane.
"So, how long have you been doing this?" I asked.
"About thirteen years. I got to say, you get to see all kinds of hair when you do this for so long."
"I'll bet you do. So, have you ever thought about doing anything else?"
"Not really, I've always wanted to work on hair ever since I was a little filly. Though I didn't get the hang of it until I was seven. What about you, what's your special talent?"
"I'm a DJ. I was five when I found out I could work the tables. I competed in a talent contest at school. I was the winner, beating out Glimmer who had won three years in a row."
"That must have been great," she said rinsing the dye off her hooves.
"It was, I was the most popular mare in school. That was until word got out that I kissed another mare in the bathroom."
"Everypony can be way too judgmental. It doesn't matter if you somepony likes those of the same sex. It's just wrong for ponies to be treated that way," she said, turning the chair around and leaning my head over a sink.
"Tell me about it. Just last year I told my friends I was a fillyfooler, and I haven't seen or talked to them since. I told my mom too, but she didn't care. She said I am who I am, and if others don't like it, the they could kiss my flank."
That sent us both into laughter.
"Well, looks like we're done here. Just dry your mane and use this conditioner to keep the color from fading too quickly. Come back in a few months and we'll do another treatment."
I gave her the bits and walked home.
"What in Equestria were you thinking?!" asked mom.
"I was thinking that I didn't have to listen to you anymore. I'm my own mare."
"Vinyl, you raise your voice one more time, and so help me Celestia I will kick you through the wall."
"Try it," I said, grinning like there was no tomorrow.
She didn't do anything. She turned and walked into her room, leaving me to my own devices. I sat on the couch and turned on the TV. Though there was nothing really good on, I just needed something to drown out mom's crying.
Three years ago my dad died, and mom's been going through extreme fits of depression ever since. I was depressed about it for the first year, but I came to accept the fact that nothing I did would ever bring him back. Mom remarried a year latter. My brother, Boombox, was born almost a year after she got married. But, soon she filed for divorce and had won the custody fight with my step dad over my brother.
With mom the way she was, I was the only one around to take care of my brother. I wouldn't even be surprised if he grew up thinking that I was his real mom. Mom almost always left us alone, going Celestia knows where, and I had to make sure my brother had everything that he needed.
Soon after I filled out the forms to drop out of school so I could take care of him. Mom had distanced herself from us and was no longer there.
I heard my brother crying in his room. I got up from the couch and went to check on him. He was really cute, with is small face, small limbs, and little unicorn horn.
"What's the matter, are you hungry?" I asked softly, picking up him and his bottle with my magical grip.
He took the bottle in his grip and began to drink.
"Your the only thing I have left in this world. You mean everything to me. I hope someday you grow up to be the best little stallion you can be," I said rocking him back and forth.
He just stared at me blankly, still drinking from his battle. I couldn't help but to cry when I looked in his eyes. He tilted his head confused, "Momma?"
"Your first word. I'm so proud of you, if only momma were here, she'd get back to her senses and become the mother that she needs to be."
"Momma?" he said again.
With a tear in my eye, I whispered to him, "That's right, momma's here. And I'm always going to be here for you."