Vinyl often wondered how long it would be before her parents berated her for not having a major area of study picked out yet. They had both wanted her to go into their respective fields, and Vinyl hadn’t had the heart to turn either of them down. She elected to take General Studies to look at the pluses and minuses to both her parent’s career paths.
She had figured out within 2 weeks that neither of her parent’s jobs would appeal to her. It took her only another week to rule out Rarity’s path too. She basically just wandered the halls of the various Faculties after that, looking for something she wanted. Today was the 6th day of wandering, and Vinyl had decided that today would be spent in the Musical Ponies Faculty.
Neither of Vinyl’s parents ever played music in or around her house as they felt it distracted more than helped them. Because of this, Vinyl had little to no exposure to music before going to the Musical Ponies Faculty. She felt an odd inclination to visit it nonetheless.
Once there, Vinyl felt no true pull any which way. Most of the classrooms here were sound proofed so that all the various types of music could be practiced without interacting or interrupting each other. As such, Vinyl didn’t have much sound to naturally pick up on. As she came upon a door marked Classical Music Studies, Vinyl decided to use some of her magic to see if she could hear the music on the other side.
Vinyl definitely wasn’t the strongest unicorn in terms of magic, but she felt content to say she was at least as adept at it as Rarity was. She let her magic flow from her horn, and almost instantly, she could hear inside the Classroom.
What Vinyl heard made her drop onto her haunches. It was an absolutely beautiful classical melody. Vinyl knew that she had to see the pony that was playing such a thing. She let go another spell from her horn, and was able to see through the door partially. What she saw made Vinyl’s sunglasses slide right off her head.
Playing the most beautiful sound she had ever heard was probably the most beautiful pony she had ever seen. Vinyl never even acknowledged the fact that this meant she was into mares more than stallions.
The mare she saw was a light grey Earth Pony with dark grey hair and grayish purple eyes. Vinyl didn’t know it at the moment, but this mares name was Octavia. She was currently renowned as the most talented Classical Music Pony and would go onto to become a largely contributing member of the Canterlot Royal Symphony Orchestra.
Vinyl knew she had to meet this pony. She was her destiny. Vinyl didn’t care if all she ever got was friendship or more in return. All she knew was that she needed to meet this pony. It was at that moment that Vinyl felt a tingling sensation by her flank. She turned her head to see, for the first time, her Cutie Mark, made up of two joined Eighth notes.
Self-control was never one of Vinyl’s strong points, but she did a good job at not breaking out into song and dance when she saw her Cutie Mark. She now had justification that the pony she heard was her destiny. This presented a dilemma to Vinyl though.
While Vinyl knew that the music was good, she knew she wouldn’t be good at it nor have been interested if she hadn’t heard that pony play it. She also knew she couldn’t very well just barge in and announce that the grey pony, who had just now finished playing, was her destiny.
Vinyl consented to find a way to become top of another department of the Musical Pony Faculty. That way, when the Year End Concert would come up, she would get to play with the grey pony. It wasn’t a full proof plan, but it was the one that made the most sense to Vinyl.
She needed to find a musical style that appealed to her. Vinyl set off again, intent on finding one. She also made it her mission to find out the name of the grey pony. Foal steps, Vinyl Scratch. Foal steps.