• Published 19th May 2013
  • 15,654 Views, 1,488 Comments

GTVS: The Great Teacher Vinyl Scratch - Mariacheat-Brony



(Humanized) Her DJ career is on the deadlock, Vincenza 'Vinyl' Scratch needs an other job quickly. Thanks to her mother's connection, she founds one in a complete other field than what she's used to: Highschool Teaching!

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Meet the students

"......Mannaggia!" [Damn!] Octavia let out in a slow whisper.

As she said that, all her other classmates started to look at the young cellist with a puzzled frown. As far as they knew, Octavia couldn't speak a word of Italian. Hearing her saying that had turned all the heads from the new teacher to her.

"What do you know! I must be better at the teacher thing than I first thought," Vinyl commented with a short chuckle, her eyes locked on Octavia. "In only four days of doing absolutely nothing for it, I get to make you speak one word in Italian on your own. Mitico!" [Awesome!]

Octavia's response to that comment was a low unintelligible mumbling which Vinyl totally ignored as she was looking at the other students, returning the curious glance they were giving her, without an agape mouth though.

"Octavia, is that...." Beatrice began, whispering in Octavia's ear.

"Yes," Octavia answered abruptly, not waiting for her friend to finish her question.

"And she's going to be...." 'Parish' said with his voice calm as always despite his stunned expression.

"Apparently," Octavia muttered.

"Well." Vinyl clapped her hands together, startling the students in front of her. "Not that it isn't fun to see you with those dumbstruck expressions, but why don't we get started? Have a seat." she gestured to the dozens of desks in front of the stage. "Oh, and you!" Vinyl pointed at Viola who jumped with a soft surprised squeal, Vinyl's jacket still in her hands. "Put my jacket where you found it, will you?"

"Octavia, didn't you say your father hired her for some technical work in his label?" Viola asked in a whisper as they walked to their desks, after having hooked Vinyl's jacket on the hatstand.

"I thought it was what he hired her for." Octavia answered slowly.

"Didn't you ask her?" Frederic asked.

"Uh... no." Octavia admitted.

"So some random DJ suddenly moves into your house and you're not even curious about what she's gonna do for your father," Henry said with a puzzled frown. "That's a bit stupid."

"I... I..." Octavia stammered. "Look, it doesn't matter!"

"I think it does," Beatrice whispered. "You do realize that our teacher's gonna spend the year in the room next to yours, don't you?"

"I don't want to talk about it!" Octavia hissed vigorously.

"But,..."

"I said I didn't want to talk about it!" Octavia insisted before sitting at her desk.

In the mean time, Vinyl sat on the edge of the stage while the students slowly took their places in front of her. She noticed that the group sort of divided themselves into three groups. Octavia, who was trying to be as small as possible, was sitting at left side of the room along with five other students who, much like Octavia, were all wearing bow-ties. On the other side of the classroom, the two blonds were sitting next to the dark haired girl with the orange scarf.

And, in the middle of the two desks, a wide no-man's land was sitting the girl with white hair and teal ends. Vinyl couldn't help but notice that, compared to the others, she was the only one who was looking at her with more curiosity than puzzlement. Octavia being the only other exception seeing as, she was trying her best to not look at Vinyl at all.

"So....." Vinyl let out slowly, swinging her legs back and forth above the edge of the stage. "You guys plan on remaining silent during the next hour and a half?" she asked with a small chuckle, earning no responses. "Well, in any case... Welcome to the Senior year of high school!" she said happily. "Anyone got a question?"

Laura timidly raised her hand and Vinyl invited her to speak with a wave from her right hand.

"Huh... You said your name was Vincenza Scratch, right?" Laura asked hesitantly. Vinyl simply nodded. "The same Vincenza Scratch who's also known as DJ Pon-3, the Queen of Manehatten's clubs?" she added with a growing excitement.

"What's your name girl?" Vinyl asked with a soft smile.

"Laura Hart."

"Well, to answer your question, Laura, I didn't get this for nothing." Vinyl pointed at her 'Pon-3' tattoo on her shoulder with a short chuckle.

"That's so freaking awesome! DJ Pon-3 is our teacher!" Laura said with excitement.

"You know her, Laura?" the small blonde girl, Diana, asked slowly.

"Of course! My cousin in Manehatten brought me to a club in which she was DJ-ing last spring," Laura explained happily. "The coolest night of my life so far!" Vinyl smiled softly at that statement.

"How did you get in the club?" Nathan, the tall blond next to the girl with the orange scarf, asked with puzzlement. "You were sixteen during last spring,"

"Uh...." Laura shuffled awkwardly on her seat.

"Fake ID?" Vinyl suggested with a knowing grin.

Everyone let out a shocked gasp when Laura nodded slowly, her cheeks red from embarrassment.

"Do you mind if I have a look at it? If you still have it of course." Vinyl asked with genuine curiosity.

Laura nodded and slowly started to look in her wallet before timidly extending her fake identity card to Vinyl who examined it with great attention.

"Mhmmmm." Vinyl pondered for a couple of seconds as she flipped the card in her hands. "Caspita! Your cousin sure knows the good people." Vinyl let out a short, impressed whistle. "That's from Patrica, isn't it? No wonder the bouncer let you in with that!"

Laura's eyes snapped wide open in surprise. "How did you...."

"Where do you think I got mine when I was younger?" Vinyl asked with a wink, causing a more shocked collective gasp from her students. "Besides, only an eccentric like her could have come up with the name 'Lyra Heartstrings'," she added with a chuckle. She noticed Laura's confused expression. "Don't worry, you're not going to get into trouble. But you know I'm gonna have to keep this, right?" Laura nodded with a relieved sigh as Vinyl put the card in her back pocket.

"Anyway, now that I know you like what I did and that you've used a fake ID to get in at one of my gigs," Vinyl said casually. "Why don't you tell me more about yourself?."

"Huh...What do you want to know?" Laura asked.

"Basic stuff: name, your real age, what instrument you play, hobbies, and what not," Vinyl suggested with a shrug.

"Well, I'm Laura Hart. I'm seventeen years old," Laura said softly. "I play the lyre and for my hobby.... Well, I help in a pony ranch on Sundays."

"A pony ranch?" Vinyl asked with interest. "That sounds nice. Anything else?" Laura shook her head slowly. "Ok, then. Who wants to be next?" The dark haired girl with an orange scarf raised her hand after a short silent pause.

"Ma name's Fiona," the girl said quietly in a thick, southern accent. "Fiona Buckner-Smith. Ah'm eighteen. Ah play the fiddle and..."

"The violin, Fiona," Viola corrected her impatiently from across the room. "It's called a violin."

"Same thin'!" Fiona cast a short glare at her classmate.

"I beg to differ," Viola added slowly. "There are subtle differences that you...."

"That's nice and all," Vinyl interjected with a small chuckle. "But you and I aren't here to discuss about instrument terminology."Almeno, spero così.... Perché non ho la più minima idea di quale sono queste differenze... [At least, I hope so.... Because I haven't got the slightest clue about what those differences are...] she winced mentally. "You wanted to say something more?" Vinyl asked to Fiona.

"...nah, Ah'm good," Fiona muttered sourly after a couple of seconds of silence.

"All right, then. You?" Vinyl pointed her finger at Viola who cleared her throat while fumbling with her purple bow tie.

"I'm Viola Krauss," Viola said with a perfectly clear Canterlot accent. "I'm eighteen years old. I've been playing the violin since I was twelve."

"You don't have a hobby of some sort?" Vinyl asked with curiosity.

"I've never communicated that sort of informations to our previous teachers, I don't see why I should do otherwise with you," Viola explained in a polite, yet firm tone.

"Fair enough." Vinyl shrugged casually. "Moving on to you with the red bow tie," she added, pointing at the brown haired boy with a red bow tie.

"Me? Well, I'm Henry Patterson. Eighteen years old. I'm a percussionist and I'm thinking of learning how to rap as a hobby," Henry said with a happy grin.

"Rap?!" his comrades asked in unison with a very surprised and disbelieving gasp. "Are you serious?"

"No, I just wanted to see the look on your faces," Henry explained with a short fit of laughter which was soon joined by Vinyl's. "Priceless!"

"Good to know there's a funny one," Vinyl commented with a small chuckle. "Moving on to the other red bow tie." she pointed at the nearly white haired young man at Henry's right.

"I'm Frederic Horzowski. I'm eighteen years old and I play the piano which also happens to be my personal hobby," Frederic said in a calm matter of fact tone.

"Mhm Mhm!" Vinyl nodded before pointing at Beatrice.

"My name's Beatrice Bluenote, I'm seventeen. And I can play the sousaphone and the tuba," Beatrice said.

As she didn't seem to be willing to say anything else, Vinyl designated the small blonde girl across the room.

"I'm Diana Hoovet, seventeen years old. I play the flute and... I don't know if it counts as hobby, but I spend most my sundays baking muffins with my mother," Diana explained with a cheerful voice.

Mhmmmm Muffins.... Vinyl thought with envy, her gluttony slightly taking the control of her mind.

Diana giggled softly when she noticed Vinyl's hungry look. "If you want to, I can bring some next Monday," she suggested.

"Mhmmm." Vinyl pondered for a moment. "That would be nice. Thanks." she smiled at Diana before pointing at Nathan two desk at her left. "Big guy, you're next."

"Name's Nathan Meadow, nineteen years old," Nathan said casually. "I'm a guitarist. But, I don't have much time for hobbies with my part-time job at Donut Joe's." he noticed Vinyl's interrogative frown. "That's two streets to the right from the student's gate."

"Thanks!" Vinyl winked before pointing at the last student to be introduced. "What about you?"

"Huh... My name's Harshavardhan Parish Nabarunmandhu," the caramel-color skinned boy said with a pinch of worry.

Vinyl blinked at his name. "That's going to be a problem."

"I know it's hard to pronounce but..."

"Oh, I have no problem in pronouncing 'Harshavardhan'," Vinyl said with perfect diction and accent, something that surprised everyone in the room. "It's just that I don't know how to make a short with it that doesn't sound weird.... Unless you're ok with 'Harsh'?"

"Huh... I'm not very appreciative of that nickname," Harshavardhan said slowly.

"No real surprise there," Vinyl said with a shrug. "Hang on.... You're the one who plays the harp, right?" Harshavardhan nodded. "What do you think of 'Harpo'?"

He blinked a couple of times before turning to Frederic and Henry. "In all those years we've known each other, you've never managed to come up with that nickname?" he asked with reproach. When his friends shook their heads, he turned his toward Vinyl. "Harpo's nice," Harpo said with a small smile.

Vinyl smiled back. "All right, Harpo. Anything else you want to say about you?"

"Well, I'm eighteen and I like to read books during my free time, Ms Scratch," he said casually.

"Ok!" Vinyl said abruptly. "One thing I should've told you all, the first one of you who calls me Ms, Madam, or any other title whatsoever, will get detention!" she turned her head to Harpo. "FYI, that works retroactively. Sorry 'Harpo', but that's detention for you," she affirmed with a stern face.

"What?" the rest of class shouted in unison while 'Harpo' was standing still with his mouth agape.

"You can't do that!" Viola protested with a scandalized tone.

"Yeah, since when does a teacher punish someone who's polite with her?" Henry asked in total disbelief.

"It's basically power abuse!" Frederic protested vigorously.

"You should be ashamed of yourself!" Beatrice shouted angrily.

"Yeah, that's so unfair!" Diana interjected.

"I thought someone like you would be cool, I was wrong!" Laura roared with anger.

"That there's the most stupid thing Ah've ever heard!" Fiona bellowed. "And Ah've seen ma cuz pretendin' he could charm a nest of hornets with bongos!"

"I can't believe you'd take such drastic punishment for something so petty!" Nathan said with an obvious disgust.

"And I can't believe you all really thought she was serious about that!" Octavia interjected loudly, finally exiting her 'silent exiled state'.

"Huh?"

The protesting students all looked at Octavia with cocked eyebrows. Octavia simply pointed her finger at Vinyl who, despite having kept a stern façade during their outburst, was now biting her lip to contain her laughter.

"Va bene! Va bene!" [Ok! Ok!] Vinyl exhaled to calm her giggles. "I was just joking."

"Why did you do that?" Diana asked in confusion. "That was just mean!"

"Well, you can think of it as my first lesson to all of you," Vinyl answered. "In the biz, unfair, mean and petty reactions, like the one I just did, are sadly common occurrence," she explained with a serious tone that convinced everyone to listen to her in silence. "It's not school life out there. People important for your future career can react to what you say and to what you do in about every way you can imagine. Some times, it's justified and most often, it's as absurd as getting a detention for calling your teacher 'Ms'."

"So my first advice's the following one: make sure to know your contacts before trying to do business with them," Vinyl said with wisdom. "In Harpo's case, he couldn't really have done some research about me so that's no big deal. But, if you must discuss with an influent label, like for example: Vito Philharmonica, one good thing for you to do is to go to his daughter, whom you all know and who's been glaring at me every five seconds when she thought I couldn't see her,..."

Octavia's cheeks became bright crimson from embarrassment as her classmates started to chuckle at Vinyl's remark.

"...to learn a couple of things about him. It's sad to say but one misplaced word to the wrong person and your career can be jeopardized for a long time, no matter your talents. And, always check your sources! The biz is full of sharks, ready to do completely dirty tricks, just to get the juiciest piece of meat." Devo smettere di fare le metafore con il cibo... Mi fa venire fame... [I must stop the food metaphors... Makes me hungry...] Vinyl added mentally.

"So, basically, there are no friends in the music business?" Frederic asked.

"I wouldn't go that far," Vinyl said slowly. "I knew a DJ that I thought was my friend who tried to do me a low blow, that's true. But I've had a lot of friends in the biz who've helped me out when it was possible. It depends on a lot of things." she checked on the classroom's clock. "Anyway, we've still got about forty five minutes before I can let you go.... If you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer to them."

The next three quarters hour were mostly spent with Laura excitedly asking question about Vinyl's career and how she ended up as a teacher in Canterlot. Vinyl answered the questions with sincerity and noticed that at least the two third of the class were genuinely interested in her story. The other third was composed of Viola and Frederic who were only half listening, but Vinyl didn't mind them the slightest, and Octavia who was once again trying to not look at the DJ's general direction.

"Ha!" Vinyl let out when the bell rang. "Can't believe I'm about to say that but... Class dismissed!" Vinyl chuckled a bit as her students slowly packed their things in order to go. "Remember to bring your instruments on Monday, I'd like to judge your skills. Except for the piano! There's one backstage."

"Is she able to do that?" Viola whispered to Frederic. "From what we heard, she hasn't touched a single instrument in her career...."

"I don't know... We'll just have to see." Frederic shrugged as he made his way through the door.

"Ottavia," Vinyl called as the young cellist was about to stand up. "Can you stay here for a couple of minutes?"

"Sure..." Octavia nodded before turning toward her friends. "I'll meet you guys downstairs."

"Ok, see you in a few," Beatrice said before going out with Viola, Frederic, 'Harpo' and Henry.

"Goodbye, Ms Scratch," Diana said politely. "I won't forget your batch of muffins," she added with a chuckle before passing the door.

"Thanks, kid! Can't wait to taste them!" Vinyl winked.

"Goodbye, Ms," Laura, Fiona and Nathan said casually before going out of the room.

"Bye, kiddos!"

A pregnant silence filled the room when Vinyl looked over Octavia who was glaring at her.

"Are you mad at me or something?" Vinyl asked, walking to Octavia's desk.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Octavia asked with an angry frown, ignoring Vinyl's question.

"Tell you what?"

"That you were going to be teaching here!" Octavia snapped loudly. "That you were going to be MY teacher!"

"What difference would it have made?" Vinyl asked with a calm voice.

"Well, maybe I wouldn't have come to school on your bike!" Octavia said loudly. "Maybe I wouldn't have told my friends about you!" she started to shake from anger. "Maybe I would have kept it a secret so that people don't start saying that I'm just a teacher's pet! Maybe...."

"Well, technically," Vinyl interjected. "I'm the one who lives at your house, your father is paying me indirectly and also pays for what I eat.... So, I'm the one who's more the pet in this story." Vinyl chuckled.

"It doesn't matter!" Octavia shouted. "People are going to say things about me... That my success this year would be all thanks to me housing my teacher.... That you'd favor me over the others..."

"Because you think I'd do that?" Vinyl asked firmly.

"No, but it won't stop them to think so!"

"Octavia, your father has been in this school board long before your attendance. He told me so," Vinyl said softly. "Since you've been here, has something along those lines ever happened because of him?"

"....No," Octavia admitted slowly.

"Then why do you think that my situation's going to matter?" Vinyl asked. "Your father has clearly more influence on your success than I could ever 'hope' to have and it doesn't bother anyone."

"My father doesn't come to the school everyday. Most of the students don't even know he's a board member," Octavia said. "You, on the other hand, are going to come to school with me. People are going to get curious about you: the young DJ who teaches music at Celestia's Royal Academy. They'll dig further and they'll find out that you live with me and my father and...." Octavia started to hyperventilate.

"Octavia!" Vinyl said abruptly as she grabbed her by her shoulders, interrupting Octavia's rant at the same time. "Remain calm, inhale..." Octavia inhaled a large breath of wind. "... and exhale..." Octavia let out the air she had breathed in slowly. "Ascolta..." Octavia raised an eyebrow at the DJ. "Ok, listen... That better?" Vinyl asked, rolling her eyes annoyingly.

"Much..." Octavia answered with a curt nod.

"You shouldn't care about what people might think about this!" Vinyl said firmly. "We both know that won't happen because you're intelligent enough to succeed without any outside assistance."

"How can you possibly know that?"

"I'm your teacher, remember?" Vinyl chuckled. "I've read your records. Do you know what I read in it?" Octavia shook her head slowly. "I read that you've been one of the top students for a couple of years in a row and let me tell you something: that's clearly not my teaching that's going to change that. Te lo giuro! You and all your classmates probably have twice my academic knowledge," [I promise you!] Vinyl said with a good hearted laugh.

"Some teacher you turn out to be, Vincenza," Octavia muttered, the shadow of a smile appearing on the corner of her mouth.

"Octavia, I'm not here to give you tests or assignments... Well, I'll have to at some point but that's not the real reason I'm here!" Vinyl waved off playfully. "I'm mainly here to give you an insight of what's like out there and how to face it."

Octavia nodded slowly before realizing something. "You've been calling me by my normal name for a while now, you know that?"

"Addesso ché lo sta dicendo..." [Now that you're mentioning it...] Vinyl pondered out loud. "How about I keep it like that for when we're at school?"

"What do you mean?" Octavia asked with confusion.

"I'll call you Octavia Philharmonica in the class room and I'll keep the Ottavia for when we're at home. So that you can get the feeling that it's not your teacher that lives with you."

"That's a little too far fetched, isn't it?" Octavia chuckled softly.

"Do you have a better idea?" Vinyl asked playfully.

"No, not really," Octavia admitted.

"So, we're good?"

"For now, but be ready for when Father comes back tonight," Octavia warned playfully.

"You plan on yelling at him?" Vinyl asked with a knowing grin.

"At him and you!" Octavia specified.

"Fair enough." Vinyl shrugged. "Should I call you a cab to get home?"

Instead of answering, Octavia took Vinyl's biker jacket off the hatstand and put it on.

"Does that answer your question?" Octavia asked with a soft grin.

Vinyl returned Octavia's smile. "Go join your friends already," she said with a chuckle. "I still have to do a couple of things here."

Octavia nodded before going out of the classroom. As soon as she left the room, Vinyl turned her gaze toward the mixing table and the speakers on stage.

"Vediamo un po' quello che sa fare, Bella!" [Let's just see what you can do, Beautiful!] Vinyl whispered with an excited grin as she walked to the mixing table.


At the same moment, on the school's roof.

"Thank you for coming so quickly, Sir!" Ms Heliopolis said with relief to the bricklayer she had called.

"No problem, Ma'am," the bricklayer said casually as he inspected the edge of the roof. "You're lucky your janitor checked the roof today. If left unattended some of those bricks might have come loose."

"Any idea what could have caused this?" Ms Heliopolis asked.

"Probably the weather which weakened the cement in between those bricks," he said, pointing at the bricks, which were dangerously exposed, at the edge of the roof. "But don't you worry, I'll have this fixed faster than you can say Lickety-split," he assured before starting to prepare some mortar in a bucket he had brought along.

"Good thing that edge is above the teacher's parking lot and not on the students' entrance," Ms Heliopolis said, shivering at the thought of a brick falling on a student's head.

"Oh, It can hold a little while longer, as long as the roof doesn't start to shake," the bricklayer said matter-of-factly. "Still, better safe then sorry, right?"

"Right." Ms Heliopolis nodded.

At that moment, they both heard a faint deep 'wub' sound coming from the floor below them as they felt the roof shaking a little. They heard the noise of stones sliding on one another before they heard three loud crashes followed by a car's alarm bell. The bricklayer slowly peeked above the edge to confirmed what the headmistress and him were fearing.

"Uh.... Is the owner of the purple sedan down there well insured?" the bricklayer asked slowly as he faced the headmistress.

Author's Note:

There you go!

What do you think? Was it worth the wait? (I hope so)
Boy, the introduction of all the students was a pain to write....

I hope you enjoyed it.

Stay tuned for what's next!

Mariacheat-Brony

Edited by G3k0771 (thanks for that, pal!)

PS: [Mannaggia! 400 favs!] :pinkiehappy: