//------------------------------// // 02 Bittersweet Symphony // Story: Cut The Feed // by PlanetKiller //------------------------------// 02 Bittersweet Symphony Vinyl eventually had to go to school. She had been home-schooled, but Long Play was just starting his DJ career, so he could not get the books Vinyl needed to continue home-schooling. He did make sure she was well fed and had a roof over her head, even if he went hungry. It was a public Canterlot school and she had no friends in this new environment. Indigo had taught Vinyl how to project letters though, so she could communicate, but the thought of her mother saddened the ivory filly. “Oh excuse me!” a soft gray wall exclaimed when Vinyl walked into it. Vinyl had not been looking when she trotted into a gray filly with a lavender treble-cleft as a cutie mark. Her mane was long and jet black, while her eyes were an amethyst color. “Oh, a fellow pony with musical talent!” the gray filly exclaimed upon seeing Vinyl’s cutie mark. “What instrument do you play, or do you sing?” “Oh, where are my manners, I’m Octavia, and you would be?” Octavia noticed the ivory filly now looked even more depressed. “I something wrong? Can you tell me?” Vinyl just raised her head until the scar was visible. “Oh my, you must be that poor filly in the newspapers that was attacked” Octavia gasped “I’m sorry for your loss.” She embraced the filly as Vinyl began to cry. The irony of Vinyl Scratch’s name was not lost on Octavia. “There there, just let it all out.” Octavia comforted the distraught filly until she had calmed down. “Here, let me help you clean up.” Octavia produced a mirror from her saddlebags. Upon looking at it Vinyl shut her eyes tight. Confused, Octavia looked for the source of her new friend’s distress. When Vinyl opened her even redder eyes, Octavia understood. The poor filly was still stressed at the sight of red. Probably from her ordeal. Octavia gave Vinyl a handkerchief; the ivory unicorn cleaned her face and blew her nose. “Keep it.” said Octavia. They were both late for class, but luckily, they both had the same first class. The next day Octavia gave Vinyl a gift. It was a pair of tinted glasses that went from blue to amethyst as they turned. “Because the bathrooms have atrocious décor.” Octavia clarified. Vinyl happily put the shades on and noticed the change in colors. She projected her thanks to Octavia. The gift made her happier, and it seemed that things were starting to look up. They quickly became best friends and helped each other when they could. Vinyl had a natural talent for telling if an instrument was out of tune, and she taught this to Octavia. Octavia tried helping Vinyl learn different instruments and kept bullies from harassing her. One day they were in the school’s auditorium setting up for a talent show later that week. Octavia was augmenting the inferior acoustics of the stage. There were a few technical issues that Octavia was trying to rectify. After giving up in frustration she asked Vinyl to attempt fixing the problem. Being around Long Play’s DJ equipment allowed Vinyl to find and fix the problems quickly. Octavia’s performance was a success, and she won second place. “Here, this is for you.” Octavia gave Vinyl a large rectangular gift on her birthday. The present was bigger that either filly and Vinyl opened it enthusiastically. Inside was a basic DJ turntable. “I thought of this upon noticing how skilled you are with musical equipment.” Octavia said “When school lets out you can try your skill on it.” Vinyl nodded and projected a ‘thank you’ using her horn. After school Octavia’s intuition had proven true. She had wondered why Vinyl never tried using her brother’s equipment. Vinyl just projected that she didn’t want to damage anything. It was how Long Play earned their living, but it was getting old. Learning this, Octavia promptly helped Vinyl select a DJ turntable to replace her brother’s. Octavia assured Vinyl it was no problem, her family had the money. Long Play was grateful for the gift. DJing was indeed Vinyl Scratch’s talent. She started DJing parties and began helping her brother with the bills. Long Play met an earth pony mare named Frontier Remedy and she settled down with him. After graduating, Vinyl and Octavia moved to a small town that was cheaper than living in Canterlot. Since they were starting out with their music careers, they decided to split the rent on a small house. Upon arriving in Ponyville and unpacking, Vinyl took a walk around town. She saw a steel-blue stallion with a darker blue mane. His cutie mark was two double quavers, and Vinyl was smitten. Maybe this town would be a peaceful place to live after all, Vinyl just had to introduce herself to the stallion. Her horn glowed and the words ‘Hi, I’m Vinyl Scratch’ appeared above her.