It's funny. The morning of change started off like every other morning. There wasn't any ominous weather, foreboding news in the paper, or anything out of the ordinary. My alarm was a few minutes off, but I think that was just Octy trying to mess with me again. By the time I'd stumbled out of bed and gotten somewhat presentable, she'd already made breakfast. When she saw me come in, she raised her hoof in greeting, then did a double-take and stared at me. As I fumbled around trying to figure out which was the apple juice and which was the syrup, I caught her hiding her grin with her coffee mug.
"What's so funny, Tavi?"
By trying not to chuckle, she just laughed harder. "I'm sorry, Vinyl, but are you aware that you have a record on your horn?"
I reached up and felt plastic. With a forced chuckle, I quickly removed it and went back to my breakfast.
"What were you up to last night?"
"Eh, I was helping Pinkie Pie host somepony's Sweet Sixteen. We partied so hearty that we measured on the Richter Scale." Lost in memories, I stood up and began spinning around the room. "It was so much fun! You should have been there."
"Vinyl."
I kept going, spinning even faster. "The music, the smiles, the food, it was all great."
"Vinyl."
"But the best part was seeing the expression on the filly's face. It was like she couldn't believe that we'd done this all for her. I tell you Octy; moments like that are what make life worth--"
"Vinyl, look out!"
Not looking where I was spinning, I crashed into the counter, sending the syrup on top of it flying into the air. It arced for a few seconds before crashing down on my head, soaking me in the stuff.
"Uuagh!"
She just stood there with her hoof over her mouth, before beginning to laugh in spite of herself.
"Hardy har har." I righted the bottle and tried to salvage what little dignity I had left. "You could help me, you know."
The response was a towel thrown at my face and more laughter. "You get so funny when you're like this. Always gushing about your gigs and the ponies you're entertaining."
"Well of course." Now my mane was sticking out like I'd been struck by lightning. Maybe I could convince Pinkie Pie that today was Special Mane Style Day. "That's the whole reason I choose this job in the first place. Ever since I got my cutie mark from watching Shining Armor's band perform, I've wanted to help make ponies just as happy as he made me. And I have. Ponies love my singing," I gestured for dramatic effect. "And they LOVE! MY! MUSIC!"
"Of that, I have no doubt." Her laughter suddenly subsided to be replaced by a serious look. "Just be careful, okay. I don't want to come home one day and find out that you've overdone it and hurt yourself. That would make me very UN-happy."
That's my roommate for you. Underneath all the teasing and snobbishness, she really does care. I smiled in spite of myself.
"Thanks Octy, I'll try not to." I set my sights on my food for a while before speaking up again. "I just remembered. I recently finished a new piece to perform. It's a mix of techno and classical."
She raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "Are you saying you want to do a duet?"
"No one's ever done anything like this before. It should be awesome."
Her expression turned from vaguely amused to irksomely cheeky. "You know the tabloids would have a field day if we did that, right?"
"The tabloids also think that Princess Celestia is some kind of power-hungry dictator. Even Pinkie Pie knows they're ridiculous. But does that mean you don't want to do it?"
"Of course I want to do it. Something that unorthodox and creative should be fun."
"Great! I'll go over it with you this evening. See you later."
With that, I finished eating and ran out the door as Octy yelled for me to have fun. It was time for another great day with my music.
It's funny. Before that day, there were so many things I took for granted. My songs, my talent, even my career. But when Discord was free, suddenly none of that mattered anymore. Even now, the memories still fill me with frustration, a building scream that I can't let out. But I can't change what happened.
"What? What do you mean my gig's cancelled?"
"I'm sorry, Miss Scratch, but the gazebo we rented is covered in chocolate."
"I'm sorry. Did you say 'chocolate'? What, did one of Pinkie's parties get out of hand?"
"Um, not exactly," The receptionist blushed and rubbed the top of her head. "The chocolate actually came...from the sky. As rain."
"Chocolate...rain? Are you kidding me?"
Unfortunately, she wasn't. I found that out when I went to check the gazebo myself. All of the sound equipment was ruined, gummed up in a sticky mess of sweetness.
"What's going on here?"
I checked my other appointments for that day and found each of them disrupted by similar oddities: Subwoofers covered in chewing gum, backup singers with frogs in their throats (literally), and worst of all, a stage where all of the instruments had been replaced with bagpipes.
"Are you KIDDING me?" Even with my horn, I couldn't play something like that. And what pony would want to listen to bagpipes anyway?
Turns out, they didn't, and we had to postpone. By the time lunch rolled around, frustration and confusion had seeped into my mind, soiled my meal, and soured my mood.
"This is too ridiculous to be the work of a saboteur. But it can't just be a coincidence either. And why would somepony go to all the trouble of messing up my appointments, anyway?" My head ached from trying to figure it out. "Ugh, this doesn't make sense."
"Make sense? Oh my poor little pony, what's the fun in making sense?" came a voice.
I leaped to attention, jerking my eyes all around to catch sight of the speaker. But there wasn't one.
"Great, if everything else wasn't bad enough, now I'm hallucinating."
"You'd like that, wouldn't you? For this to all be the result of some bad food before bed. But I assure you, this is very real."
Whatever it was sounded closer. The hairs on the back of my neck began to stand up.
"Show yourself! Where are you?"
Nothing happened at first. All I heard was the wind blowing...
woosh
some birds chirping...
Twee twee twee
And the pitter-patter of a cat walking by. A cat with a really long tail. With scales and a grin that was splitting its face in two in a way that no cat ever should. A cat that was getting way to close to me.
"HEY! Ouch, that hurt. Do you mind?!"
I shook myself and stared down at it. "I'm sorry. Did you just talk?"
One flash of light later, the cat was now a...weird mix-match creature with an eagle claw, a lion paw, and a snake tail. "Yes, I did. Where do you come off stomping on my tail like that?"
"S-sorry. I didn't see your--"
The creature tore off its own tail and stroked it like a squalling baby, because the tail really was crying. "Oh my poor baby. Don't worry, daddy's here now. No no no, don't cry." The creature looked at me, its eyes were disturbingly different sizes and shapes. "I mean, how would you like it if someone hurt you like that?"
"Ouch!" In a flash, he had hoisted me up by my tail and was spinning me around like a parade baton. I soon ended up taking the opportunity to reacquaint myself with my earlier lunch. The roots of all my tail hair screamed, like I did as I flew through the air when he let go of me. "WAAAAAAHHH! Oomph!" I landed in a bundle of marshmallow deck chairs.
"There. Now we're even."
"Uhhh, uhhh, uhhh uhhh." My eyes swam in their sockets, unable to focus.
He hooted like he'd just seen a tap-dancing fish. "You should see the look on your face. It's PRICELESS!"
Reorienting myself, I tried to look as ticked off as possible; though inwardly, my stomach was tightening. And I didn't mean from the spinning.
"Can I help you in any way, sir, or did you just stop by to turn me into a Frisbee?"
"Oh, that was just part of the fun. Didn't you see all the improvements I made to your work?"
"Wait, so that was you? What's your problem, man? Why'd you sabotage my appointments?!" The anger wasn't an act anymore. Aside from Octy getting hurt, nothing rattled me more than interference with my work.
"Sabotage?" He clutched a paw to his heart in mock pain. "I've done nothing of the kind. Those were improvements of the highest quality."
"Improvements?" I clenched my hoof at the word. "Nothing's working like its supposed to. How am I supposed to play my music? How am I supposed to write new songs like this? All my instruments are gone, my equipment won't work, and I can't find any inspiration in this cacophony of chaos!"
"'Cacophony of chaos'?" He picked me up again, using my tail as a tissue to wipe away fake tears. "Why must you say such unkind things?"
"Oh I don't know." I snarled through clenched teeth. "Maybe because I had everything all planned out before SOMEpony came along and ruined my whole day. If this keeps up, I'll be too worked up to do my duet with Octy this evening. So I'd appreciate it if you could just undo what you did and get the hay out of here!"
His smile vanished, replaced with a sneer. "Well now, that wasn't very nice. And here I thought you'd be a nice little distraction while Twilight Sparkle and her band of merry misfits figure out their next move. At least those two cake ponies were funny when I turned them into actual cakes and let their babies eat them. But you? You're turning out to be not only not funny but actively aggravating. If I'm to be honest, I never really cared for your music, and I certainly don't care for your tone, little missy."
"What are you getting at?"
"Why my little Scratchy-watchy. If you can't say something nice..."
His claw fist came down on my head; the world swam before my eyes.
"Don't say anything at all."
The dizziness and nausea returned 1000-fold. The colors around me faded to murky grey. Vision blurred until movement impossible. Straight think couldn't I. Throbbing head. Ringing ears. Pain so bad, couldn't stand up. Eyes squeezed shut to keep from screaming. Throat felt like it torn out. Pictures flashed inside head. Voices never heard again.
Octavia.
It was hours later when I woke up. Celestia had already set the sun. While my vision wasn't entirely grey anymore, everything still felt muted. The pain in my head had settled to a dull thud, and the ringing had died down too. With little regard for anything else, I slogged my way home.
A second shock waited for me when I got home. Octavia was there, lying in the midst of broken glass and scattered food, her hooves jammed over her ears.
"Please stop. Make it stop. Stop it. Stop it!"
"Octy? What's wrong?"
She gave no indication she'd heard me. "Make it stop! Make it stop! STOP THE NOISE!"
To my horror, she began writhing around on the ground, slamming her head into the floor.
"Cut it out; you're hurting yourself! Octy, calm down."
She still didn't react to me at all. What, had that snake guy made me invisible?
"Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop."
"OCTAVIA! THAT'S ENOUGH!" I managed to pry her hooves off her head and screamed into her ear.
There was still nothing. And it was only then that the realization began to sink in.
She can't hear me.
I ran outside to try and find some help but found nothing. Everypony else was either suffering their own fits of madness or they couldn't hear me either. Becoming more and more desperate, I got on my haunches and howled towards the heavens. And I wasn't even given the dignity of a sideways glance.
"What's going on? I can hear myself, but why can't anypony hear me?"
POOF!
"Because you've been muted, my dear."
"You again!" I whirled around. "How can you hear me if they can't?"
"Because I'm the one who did this to you, uh doy. You're Speak no Evil, and your friend in there is Hear no Evil. Deaf to everything but the chaotic cacophony in her head. That is what you called it, isn't it?"
"Look, this is between us, okay. Leave Octy out of this. She didn't do anything to you. By Celestia's mane, I don't even know your name. Who ARE you?"
"Oh that's so sweet, sticking up for your friend like that." He switched to a snarl and grabbed me again. "I hate sweet. And that certainly won't help her. The more time passes the worse she'll become. Soon, she'll be running around without a clue who she is, what she is, what her precious manners are, nothing at all. Could you imagine it?"
"Why are you doing all this? What did we ever do to you?"
This time, his laugh was spiteful. "Nothing, that's why it's fun. I like fun."
"Wrecking ponies' lives for laughs. You're sick."
"Of course, I'm sick. Who told you I was well?
"Change. Octy. Back!"
He shrugged. "Why should I? Did you see her hitting her head like that? Hilarious. Maybe I'll make her head into a fruit gum candy. That way, when she bangs it hard enough, gooey sugar will come out instead of bloody brains."
"Don't you dare!" I jumped towards him only for him to vanish and reappear behind me with a glare.
"Do you presume to give me orders, little pony? Not even Celestia herself was able to give me orders."
By this point, tears of desperation began to seep out from under my glasses. "Leave Octy alone or I'll...I'll...I'll buck your fangs down your throat." It was an empty threat but it surged up inside me. I was so mad, I couldn't help it.
The creature's eyes narrowed at me. "My, my, aren't we brave. I hate brave. Brave is so boring. I thought if I discorded you, you'd become more entertaining, not less. Oh what to do with you? If you're going to be sassy and disrespectful, maybe I'll do more than just hit mute."
He grabbed my head with his tail. I hadn't even seen it whip out until I was in its grip. Holding up his claw, he made one of the talons lengthen and sharpen to a point.
"Now be a good filly and say ahhhh."
"AAAAHHHHH!"
It's funny. Before that day, there were so many things I took for granted.
"Vinyl? Vinyl, where are you?"
My social life, my career, my health. I was completely solid.
"Oh thank goodness, you're okay. Once my sanity returned, I had to be sure you were safe. What did that mongrel do to you?"
But it all vanished in a single instant...
"Vinyl, what's wrong? That thing's been turned back to stone. Why are you crying?"
...when Discord cut out my tongue.