//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 - A New Student // Story: The Best Time of Our Lives // by ThisIsMyFateNow //------------------------------// “Welcome New Students” the brilliant banner proclaims, hanging just over the entrance to the old building. Smiling, the white mare with with a brushed electric blue mane pulled into a ponytail walks through the doors of the Canterlot Preparatory Academy, relieved that she is finally here. All of the hard work, petitions, even an audience with Princess Celestia. All of it to get here to this moment. With a smile on her face and a pep in her step, Vinyl Scratch walks through the doors… and right into another pony. Blinking rapidly, the white mare wonders briefly why everything is upside down. Glancing around, she notes that it was she, rather than the world, whom is upside down. Righting herself and grabbing the glasses that had fallen off, she turns to look at the other pony that had been involved in this minor collision. A light grey mare with a dark grey mane and tail stands there, glaring at her while adjusting the pink bowtie around her neck. “Excuse me! Watch where you’re going!” she says rather forcefully. Rather taken aback, the white mare levitates a notepad and pen out from her the spilled contents of her saddlebags and scratches out a brief apology before showing the other mare. “What, you can’t say ‘I’m sorry’,” the grey mare asks with a sneer “are you deaf or something?” Stepping back in recoil, Vinyl scratches out "Not deaf. Just mute." Advancing on her, the grey mare continues with her sneer “Then what are you even doing here? I’m sure there’s a school for “special” ponies like you. This is a school for gifted ponies. Ones that are actually talented at things.” With a flick of her tail, the grey mare suddenly turns and leaves a shocked Vinyl to try and recover from the verbal bombardment. Shaking her head after a few moments, the white unicorn collects her things and places her saddlebags back on her. Glancing around she notices a magic mint unicorn with a lyre cutie mark trotting over. “I see you’ve met the school’s prodigy. That’s Octavia Melody and I’m Lyra Heartstrings,” the unicorn says extending a hoof in greeting. ”I’m Vinyl Scratch.” the white unicorn scribbles, giving Lyra a friendly hoof bump in return. “I’m guessing that you can’t speak, can you?” ”How did you know?” “I overheard Octavia. In fact, most of the ponies at the entrance heard Octavia. And judging by the fact that you have yet to speak and you’re responding by writing your replies, leads me to believe that you are mute.” Nodding in agreement, Vinyl smiles a bit uncertainly. Offering her a reassuring smile, Lyra continues “I see that your cutie mark is a double eighth note. What instrument do you play?” ”Piano. I’ve spent a better part of my life playing up until recently, but I’ve started to play again. Only this time, I’m working on writing my own music.” “That’s awesome! Are you taking the musical composition course?” Feeling more relaxed now that Lyra seemed to not be on the side of Octavia, Vinyl nods enthusiastically. Once more she scratches out a note on her pad, holding it up for Lyra to see. “Registration? I know that you get your schedule and what not over in the Auditorium. If you’re looking for the Office, it’s just off the right of the entrance you just came through.” Pointing towards the Auditorium, she nods her head and starts to head to the open sets of doors. Feeling Lyra settle in beside her, they set off to complete registration and see what the first day would hold. ~~~ Sighing with relief at the sound of the bell, Vinyl packs up her bags and heads to her locker to grab the rest of her books. Who knew that there would be so much homework on their first day? With her saddlebags bulging, she heads on out and starts to work her way to the train station. It’s been a long day and she still had to work tonight. Thankfully, work is one thing she is getting better at all the time. Slipping a couple of bits into the machine, she selects her ticket for the next tram which should be arriving about… now. With an ear piercing whistle, the squealing brakes of the Royal Metro Blue Line brought the seven car tram to halt, the doors lining up perfectly with the turnstiles of the station. As a hiss of hydraulics announce the tram doors opening, a crush of ponies flood out from the tram and on to the waiting platform of the Canterlot Central Metro Hub. Threading her way through the crowd, Vinyl makes a mad dash, leaping into the tram as the doors start to close. The anal retentiveness of the ponies that run Royal Metro was a bit irritating at times, but she couldn’t complain as she was able to usually get anywhere within Canterlot no later than five seconds after the scheduled arrival times. Glancing around at the nearly empty car, she trots to an empty seat. She lifts her saddlebags off, setting them on the seat as she climbs up next to them. With a jolt, the tram starts to move, carrying her towards her home. As the minutes passed, Vinyl couldn't help but reflect on the day and how it was both fulfilling and strangely lacking. She had worked so hard to get here, especially over the past two years. Now that she was finally here though, is it what she really wanted? Sure, her mother had dreamed of getting her into Canterlot Prep with the goal of heading off the Conservatory next, but what if life had other things in store for her? Sighing, she gives up on the argument that she has had so many times with herself. The tram’s clock shows that she still has 32 minutes before she reaches her destination. Turning to the bulging saddlebags next to her, she grabs the first textbook and opens it to the page she had marked at the end of class and gets started on the day’s work. ~~~ Listening to the muffled chants of the crowd out front in one of the many mid to lower end dance clubs in Canterlot, Aurora Aetherica, DJ-PON3 glances over herself and checks her appearance in the mirror one more time. Hair spiky and unruly? Check. Signature shades on? Check. Cutie mark hidden? Oops. Concentrating slightly, the unicorn’s horn lights with the cerise glow of her magic as she casts a spell, hiding her cutie mark. Taking a couple of deep breaths, she flashes her famous grin to her reflection and trots out to the DJ Booth as the house announcer finishes hyping the crowd. Grabbing the mic, she shouts “Are you ponies ready to dance?” as she powers on her turntables and grabs the first record of the night. Placing the record on the soft velvet, she swings the needle around and sets it precisely at the start of a slow build up. As the bass starts to thrum and pulse with the sound of a kick drum, she looks out over her rapt audience and grins, waiting for what was to happen next. Everypony is waiting with baited breath in anticipation of the music. Suddenly, after a slow build of of bass and strings, the music goes silent for a couple of heartbeats. Nopony moves. Nopony dares to breath. As the sound on the record ceases, she moves the volume of table one up, slamming the club with a driving bass line and a cacophony of sounds, causing everypony to go mad. Just like that, DJ-PON3 has hooked the club and settles into her routine. Glancing back, she starts to formulate an order of records and moves from crate to crate to start getting her choices set. Headphones in place, she deftly transitions from one record to the next, bringing the crowd up with her to the breaking point before bringing them back down. Cycle after cycle, she masterfully works the tables and brought the crowd along for the ride. Grinning from ear to ear, she loses herself to the music, forgetting her worldly troubles for now.