Music is Magic

by SleeplessScribe

Chapter 8: I'm Still Me

Music is Magic
Story 5
Chapter 8: I’m Still Me
By: SleeplessScribe

Much to my surprise, he seemed rather… okay with what had just happened. He tried to speak, but I pressed my hoof to his mouth. “What, so were those tears this morning just an act? You make me sick, you jerk.”

I turned to walk off, but he grabbed me, a very determined look in his eyes. “This is just a minor setback. Look, Via, I’ve done a lot to prove that I’m still who I am, and while it took a whole lot of pride swallowing and painful decisions, I’m sure they’ll bring Scratch back to me. Please, please, please, please, do something for me? She keeps her goggles in a drawer in her bedside table. In that drawer is a piece of paper with a song I had written for her… please bring it to me? I’ve written a second song that I plan to sing with Sweetie, but that song I’m asking for is what I’m going to sing solo. That may not mean much to you, but I’m going to reveal my entire plan tomorrow… and I’m sure it’s going to drop some jaws.”

Half of me wanted to slap him again and just walk away, but the half that won was the one that gave him a soft nod. Beat let go of me and rushed over to Sweetie Belle, scooping her up in his forelegs and twirling around with her. I would have stayed to watch, but now I was extremely curious.

When I got back to Vinyl’s home, she was asleep on her couch with a blanket completely covering her. I snuck into her room and peeked into that drawer my cousin spoke of, and sure enough, there was a decently lengthy sheet of paper. It was a rather long song, but I decided to read through it anyway.

“Every day, every day the sun comes out,
I know that we will be okay,
Every night, every night the moon shines bright,
I’ll hold tight until the day,

Because I am with you,
And I love all that you do,
I know we're meant to be,

So stay with me,
And together we will sing,
Together we will sing,

Dah dahdah dah dah dah,
Dah dahdah dah ooouuuhh oohhhh,

It doesn’t matter you do; It doesn’t matter you say,
What you say?
Everywhere you go, everything you do,
What you do?
I know we'll make it through,

Stay with me, 'cause I don't need no anypony
Please don’t go
‘Cause I don’t want to be the one left alone….”

I couldn’t even finish it. I didn’t need to finish it to know that he probably wrote this right after the… sex. Honestly, I had half a mind to wake Vinyl up and show her, but decided against it. Now I was curious about the song he intended to sing with Sweetie, but I guess that was just something I’d have to wait to see.

As I made the trip to the tour bus, I began to wonder just exactly what I would do with my friend tomorrow. Heck, I’d be lucky if she even wanted to get up in the morning. In the end, that’s what I chose to be my deciding factor. If Vinyl didn’t feel like picking herself up, I’d let her rest and help set up for the talent show tomorrow night.

The thing is, I’d have to drag her to the show if she still didn’t want to get up. Once I was at the bus, I knocked on the door, but I was met with White Noise instead. Since I was a little eager to get to bed myself, I simply gave him a yawn and the lyrics. “Beat needed these… please make sure he gets them.”

The big guy gave me a nod. “Goodnight, Octavia.”

The trek back to Vinyl’s home was long and arduous considering the face that I was unaware of how tired I was until I no longer had any goals but sleep. I thought I might even just collapse on the way there, but luckily I at least made it to the house before I clonked out.

Just as I had thought, Vinyl wanted some time to herself when I woke up. Of course, I still had to do my hair, shower, eat, brush my teeth, tune my cello, brush my teeth again, do my hair again, and pet the adorable stray puppy that came up to the house every so often, but once that was over, I was ready.

I gave the broken mare a small kiss on the forehead, which was met with a weak smile. “Th-Thanks Tavi….”

“Of course, dear. I’m going to go see if there’s anything I can do to help out with setting up for the talent show tonight, but I’ll be back, mmkay?”

She gave a small nod, and I only hoped she’d be alright while I was gone. Things were looking just a tad bit hectic as I made my way to the stage, but I actually didn’t get very far before I was pulled aside by my cousin. Two sandy forelegs wrapped themselves around me rather tightly, leaving me unable to return the hug.

“Via, I gotta thank you. Whether you realize it or not, you’re a big reason I was able to realize how much I had actually changed.”

Apparently I was helping a lot of ponies without actually realizing it. “How so?”

He gave a nervous chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck. “Well, thing is… I realized I was becoming more and more like you, which is the exact opposite of what I wanted to do with my life!”

I had a sudden urge to slap him again. “What exactly is that supposed to mean?”

“Well, I’ve been putting up with ponies I really don’t like instead of telling them to fuck off. I’ve been letting others mess with my intentionally messy hair and neaten it, allowing myself to be told what to wear to a degree, and stuff like that. Now let’s be honest, you actually do do all of those things.”

Rolling my eyes was just my natural reaction, but I suppose he did have a point. I had tendencies to be a “silent sufferer”, dealing with things I usually wouldn’t even think of, though for different reasons than my cousin. In all honesty, it was both flattering and insulting that him wanting to be everything I wasn’t contributed so much to his success.

I opened my mouth to speak again, but two pairs of white hooves threw themselves around my cousin as the unicorns giggled excitedly. Sweetie’s mouth was like a motor that had just been fired up.

“Oh, thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you, Beat! Can you believe I finally got my cutie mark? This is the best whole year of my life! And I just know Apple Bloom and Scootaloo won’t be far behind me!”

My cousin picked up the little filly, lightly tossing her up in the air and catching her. “Little Sweetie’s gonna be a big singer!

She began to giggle like crazy, hugging the unicorn as she squealed. “You have no idea how great this is! Everypony’s been congratulating me all morning! This is the bestest thing of all bestest things! Yay! Yay! Yay!”

He continued to toss her and play with her until I cleared my throat. “So, Beat, is there anything I can help with? Unfortunately, Vinyl doesn’t even want to get out of bed, but I don’t feel like trying to force her.”

Beat pointed toward the stage, circling the air slowly. “Ask around, I have some things I need to take care of. Please, Via, if you can, get Vinyl up and bring her here. The talent show is at eight this evening, so that gives us a pretty big window of time, but still, I need her here. You two can get in free, as well.”

Had he not taken off before I could respond, I would have at least given him a “Will do.”

It took a few hours to get everything set up, but by the time we were done, it was noon, and everything looked great. Rarity herself had fixed up a nice pair of curtains for the stage, we got a full set of speakers set up, enough seats for all of Ponyville, just to be safe, a ticket booth, and of course, the stage lights. You’d think this was going to be some kind of televised talent competition with how official it looked.

The unicorn still had not returned, and now my curiosity had yet again been piqued. A part of me wanted to investigate, but the rest of me wanted to preserve the surprise. Vinyl was up and about once I came to visit her, but the first thing she said was not to mention my cousin to her. The two of us decided to do lunch together just to get our minds off of things, so we went to a small café up in Canterlot.

I still couldn’t blame her for feeling the way she did, since there was no guarantee Beat’s plan was going to work, nor that it was actually an attempt to make it up to Vinyl. The topic of almost all our conversations was instead Sweetie Belle, ranging from her new cutie mark to how we thought she’d do in the show, and things like that. It did seem to help, since my friend managed to smile a few times.

There wasn’t much we could really do aside from be lazy, seeing as how Percy was visiting his family. Vinyl had met my coltfriend a few times, and they got along well enough, though having her along meant he and I wouldn’t have been able to “go out”. Granted, a bit of a break from doing stuff was actually very nice. Without any errands to run, coltfriends to go out with, and my orchestra on a break for the next few days with Vinyl working on her own schedule, we weren’t really left with a lot to do once we got off the train back to Ponyville.

We checked on the progress of the show setup, and almost all the little ones that were participating were there practicing. Oddly enough, Sweetie wasn’t there, though both of us thought for sure we’d see her. Asking around only informed us that the little filly was practicing elsewhere, which told me that Beat was probably rehearsing that duet he spoke of with her. I have to admit, I was rather eager to see what he’d do, though I really, really hoped he didn’t end up making a fool of himself in front of the whole town.

It was only a matter of time, a nap, and a few silly games before it was finally time for us to head back to the school for the talent show. When we arrived, everyone including Sweetie and Beat was indeed there. As we made our way to the ticket booth, Beat actually just tore off two tickets and gave them to us, basically letting us in for free just like he said he would.

He even set us up with… back row seats. It was a little confusing, but after a bit of thought, we both facehoofed each other. Being at the back would make hearing Sweetie all the more amazing considering her new talent.

A few minutes later, every single seat was filled, and some spectators even had to stand or bring their own cushions or chairs. We all expected Cheerilee, or maybe even Mayor Mare to come up and do the introduction, but it was my cousin that stood on the stage before the audience.

“Fillies and gentlecolts! Thank you for coming to… to… uh, what are we calling this thing?” He looked to the other adults that helped organize, but was only met with shrugs and head shakings. “Alright, so we don’t have a name for this thing. In that case, allow me to develop a little tunnel vision and title this event the New Mark Talent Show! I’m sure we all know where I got that from, right?”

Beat waited until the loud applause died down, and that was when I noticed his headset was on. Thinking about it made me realize how little attention I actually paid to that. Speaking of, why did he even need that microphone? Recent events made me realize that my cousin’s magic eliminated the need for voice amplification, so I made a mental note to ask him when I got a chance.

“Alright, everypony, before we begin, I’d like to make a few big announcements. The first being that the tour I said the ticket prices would be funding… has been cancelled.” The entire crowd let out a gasp, but he raised up his hoof to quiet them. “Instead, every single bit that this show has earned will be donated to The Song of Hope, a charity that works to bring the joys of music and an organized education to homeless foals all around Equestria!”

This time the crowd responded with both cheers and confused chatter. Beat once again quieted them down, using his magic to hold a clipboard up in front of him. “Allow me to explain: not only are we donating every bit of the ticket sales to this charity, but I am going to personally give 75 percent of my entire bank account to support the shelters and orphanages this charity runs. Why? Because, from this day forward,” he pulled off the paper from the clipboard, revealing that it was actually his recording contract, “I’m giving up my spot on the celebrity tier list.”

Another loud gasp followed as he tore the contract in half, sending both pieces into a nearby trash can. “Now that that’s over, I’d like to review tonight’s participants.”

Beat began to read off the list of the ponies that would be taking part in the talent show, but all I could focus on was the wide-eyed unicorn beside me. “Vinyl? Are you alright, honey?”
She slowly turned to me with a quivering lower lip. “Tavi… what did he just do?”

There were a lot of things I could have said. I could’ve stated the obvious, I could’ve called him crazy, heck, I could’ve even been a-pardon my language-absolute bitch and said he was doing this for the attention, but my gut told me just one thing.

“He tore down the wall between you and him.”

Vinyl opened her mouth again, but something else caught our attention. Beat was now listing of… adults? “Twilight Sparkle will be performing a nice magic show for us, Ponyville’s own Rainbow Dash will be showcasing a series of her latest stunts, Jet Rush will be singing for us what he’s labeled a… ‘clean, child-friendly rap’… if there even is such a thing, I myself will be singing a solo, and to finish off the night, the talk of the town, little Sweetie Belle, and myself will be singing a duet!”

Once again, the crowd began to roar as my cousin gave a bow. He took his leave, and the show began. Let me be honest; Sweetie’s solo, Beat’s solo, and their duet were the only things Vinyl and I actually cared about personally, and of course they would be the last acts of their respective segments. The unicorn began frantically scanning around for him, and I had to pull her down back in the chair.

“Just calm down, sweetie. I know something you don’t, so believe me when I tell you he’s not done proving to you just how much he loves you.”

It took a little bit, but finally it was Sweetie’s turn to sing. Her little song was the same as the one from her rehearsals, and she sounded even more amazing than she did before. By the time she was done, everypony was clapping, and the little unicorn’s face was as red as a beet. Unfortunately, she was pulled back behind the curtain without a chance to even take a bow.

After that, all the older ponies began their acts. Twilight Sparkle’s magic showcase was probably my favorite of all the acts; that unicorn had amazing talent. Once we had gotten through the fluff, it was time for Beat to step up. He had his guitar with him, and he motioned with his hooves to have the speakers turned off.

“Alright, you all, I gotta make a confession before I begin. This is probably the biggest instance of swallowing my pride ever, and this is still a little awkward to say… but I had an ulterior motive for putting on this show. Well, admittedly there’s two. A few days ago, I took on little Sweetie Belle as an apprentice that I tried to teach sound magic to, and you’ve seen the results. This show was meant to build up her confidence, and I’m sure we can all agree with her new cutie mark, she’ll be much more confident than ever before.”

His words prompted many agreeing murmurs and nods. “But I’m going to be honest, that’s not all. Everypony, I’ve made a big mistake in recent days. A long, long time ago, I made a promise to a very close friend of mine, and I broke it. This performance, and my duet with Sweetie, which she knows is for this purpose and was more than happy to help me, is dedicated to that friend.”

Vinyl held her hooves to her mouth, and I honestly really felt bad. Poor thing couldn’t seem to keep her eyes dry for more than a few hours now. Her tears only came faster as he began, and he wasn’t even halfway through his song before she was sobbing into my shoulder. I could tell that they weren’t tears from a broken heart this time, but watching her cry was still a little painful.

Finally he was done, and everyone, including Vinyl and myself, began to clap. He held up his hooves again, but didn’t waste any time speaking before Sweetie popped up before him and he set his guitar aside. As he motioned towards the edge of the stage, one of the pieces Vinyl told me she wrote when she and my cousin were just loafing around one day began to play.

“Well I had lost my way,
And I forgot my name,
Remind me who I am.
All the fame got to my head,
It was just like being dead,
Remind me who I am.
In the loneliest places,
When I can't remember the faces….”

He nodded to Sweetie, whose horn began to glow along with his as she sang the chorus with him. They actually had very good harmony, it sounded amazing.

“Tell me once again who I am to you,
Who I am to you.
Tell me, else I'll forget who I am to you,
That I belong to you.
To you.”

The entire audience began to cheer as they sang, refusing to hold back their applause as the pair sang.

“When I leave my past behind,
And I forget to hit rewind,
Remind me who I am.
When you're not feeling my love,
I'm too busy up above,
Remind me who I am.
Supposed to be your beloved,
Help me not to forget it.
Tell me once again who I am to you,
Who I am to you, whoa.
Tell me, else I'll forget who I am to you.
That I belong to you.
To you.
I'm the one you love,
You’re the one I love,
That will be enough,
I'm the one you love.
Tell me once again who I am to you.
Who I am to you.
Tell me, else I'll forget who I am to you,
That I belong to you, oh.
Tell me once again who I am to you.
Who I am to you.
Tell me, else I'll forget who I am to you,
That I belong to you.
To you.”

My cousin and Sweetie bowed their heads, knocking their hooves together as the audience cheered and applauded. However, one set of applause drowned out all others. White Noise approached the stage, silencing everyone else just by being there.

One would expect him to be rather upset, but he had the biggest smile on his face. “So Beat, I understand you’ve terminated your contract with me?”

He only gave Beat enough time to nod before speaking again. “Alright, I have to have a reason.”

Beat let out a long sigh, finally seeming wary of the audience before him. “Look, White Noise. Being famous and successful is great and all, but it really clouded up my vision. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, as much as I didn’t even realize it, my success made me lose myself. I started taking all I had for granted… and it wasn’t until I lost something more important to me than any magazine cover or paycheck could ever be. As crazy as this is going to sound, I’d rather have a lifetime of Vinyl Scratch, the love of my life, than a lifetime of riches and fame all by myself. I’m done, man. I’m done.”

All at once Vinyl jumped up, running to him and tackling him to the ground. She was in tears but also pouring out apology after apology as she held him close to her. The action brought out a loud “aaaw” from all the spectators, but White began to shoo them off, letting them know the show was over.

Sadly he couldn’t get a word in through Vinyl’s nuzzling and crying as Beat wrapped his forelegs around her. “Beat… it really is you!” She pressed her muzzling into the crook of his neck, the corners of her mouth turning upwards as she cried into him more.

White Noise settled for leaning forward, tapping my cousin’s shoulder. “Meet me at the bus when you’re done.”

-------

To be perfectly honest, I didn’t care about what White Noise had to say, but I couldn’t just say “No thanks, bye”. I mean, it was just a simple request, and there was a possibility he just wanted to send me off. However, with the beautiful-even-when-crying mare on top of me, I wasn’t going anywhere any time soon. Eventually Via and I managed to get her off, though it wasn’t long before the two of us were locked in a long, passionate, and apologetic kiss.

“Scratch, baby… I’m so sorry.”

She pressed her hoof to my lips and gave me a soft smile. “Don’t be… go see your ex-boss, but don’t take too long, okay?”

I responded with a quick nod. “I promise I’ll be back home around ten.”

Her lips met the tip of my muzzle as I began to wipe her eyes. “Don’t be late.”

White Noise was waiting for me outside the bus, but I made it clear that I didn’t want to waste any time. “Look, man, I gotta be somewhere soon. No offense, but please don’t take too long.”

All the big guy did was chuckle before he slipped some kind of shiny medal thingy around my neck. “Calm down, bud. I just wanted to send you off with this. Whether you know it or not, that was a real modest thing you did, giving up your fame and success like that. As a manager, I should be pissed, but I’m proud. Beat, I want you to go now, and never forget why you did this.”

I turned to leave, giving my former manager a nod. “No problem, man. Oh, and keep your mitts off Sweet Belle! That’s my protégé!”

I heard a loud laugh as I made my way back to me new home, and I was on the ground being showered in kisses before I even made it all the way through the door. “You’re not just not late, you’re early!”

Her forelegs were soon around me, her hug so tight it almost hurt. “Of course! How could I not rush home to see my favorite mare?”

Via had apparently been staying with Scratch, but once we were together again, she kissed both of our foreheads and trotted away. “I’ll give you two a few days of privacy.”

As soon as she was gone, our lips were pressed together. Granted, we were going a bit further than just your run of the mill kiss.

“Beat… I’m so sorry I ever doubted you, babe.” Vinyl leaned herself against me, and I settled for lying outside with her under the stars.

“No, Scratch, I’m the one who should be sorry. I broke a promise that meant the world to you… I’m the one that’s sorry, baby.”

She gave me a soft smile, rubbing her horn up against mine. “Well… think you can make a new promise to me?” After a nod, she rested her head against me again. “Never leave me, Beat… can you promise me that?”

“Of course, baby. Why would I ever want to leave you?”

Turns out, soft dirt and grass, coupled with a gorgeous mare as a blanket, made for pretty nice sleeping condition. We both woke up that morning and she actually let me shower with her. I hate to do this but I can’t not say it: Dat Ass, man.

Our morning was spent writing random music together, and that’s when we made the decision: Since I no longer had actual employment, Scratch and I were going to become a duet and sell our own records together. Each afternoon had a new lesson with Sweetie Belle, and now we focused everything on her song writing.

The little filly was actually really good at coming up with lyrics on the spot, and eventually ponies were coming to watch her sing to the music we wrote. After a while, we got permission from both of them to make sub albums with Sweetie’s signing and sell them too. Granted, without a big name like White Noise backing us, we got a little less attention, but with my name on each album we put on the market, we still made a decent profit.

Sweetie and I started doing duets together, and we eventually even got Vinyl to showcase her holy-shit-better-than-sex angelic singing voice. It was also that same day that she started singing with us that she told me about her… odd feelings. A visit to the doctor confirmed her suspicious: our little romp before the break up fixed her up with a foal. It was obviously early, but every mare showed signs at a different time, and Vinyl just happened to show her signs a few weeks after the actual sex.

In all honesty, we were both really scared and excited at the same time. However, there was one issue. Word spread way too fast in small towns like Ponyville! That entire day ponies were congratulating us, and Scratch didn’t even have a baby bump yet!

Regardless, life was awesome now. Our only cares were now the tiny little foal that was growing inside Scratch, our lessons-turned-song-recordings with Sweetie, and staying together.

Life was good, and we were happy.

Comments

[Smirkythread]

Looking at all of the story......it's pretty good.

Grammar was fine as far as I could see and the characters seemed.....genuine is a good way to say it I guess. My only complaint is that the story itself seemed kind of short for all the stuff that happened, though that may be just because you wrote it all quite quickly.

Great work on this, nice to see someone not be afraid of doing an OC romance story.

[SleeplessScribe]

3314545 Well it's not supposed to be that long, in all honesty. The only story of this series that's going to be showing any length is the seventh.

[Dead Lock]

Aw man! I wish there was more!

[PageTurner]

“Vinyl? Are you already, honey?”

alright

I have a few other nitpicks, but I'll refrain because this story is too sweet to be overly nitpicky about.

[SleeplessScribe]

3324927 See, this is why I can't be my own proofreader. I still miss obvious stuff.

[PageTurner]

3325339
This is why I have my friends Bawss and Hoot, they read my story directly after I update it and then yell at me because it's too short/has mistakes/doesn't fit their headcanon/etc. because I miss all the obvious stuff too.

Hahaha, I love them anyways.

[B3at Boom]

O.O another Pony with Beat.

[SleeplessScribe]

3438236 Buddy, not to sound mean, but this OC is probably older than yours. I started writing before Season 2 started, and although what you're seeing now is a product of my work after the end of Season 3, Beat's been an idea in my head since I started. Design and personality inspired by SlyFoxHound, and name inspired by Jetset Radio and a random google search for music related words (hence his last name Tempo)

[Aura Zero]

Before I read this, what do you mean by story 5 of virtues?

If there are others, I want to read the first one

[SleeplessScribe]

3438538 Look through the descriptions in all my stories. Each one has continuity with each other, but you don't actually need to read any others to understand the story. HOWEVER, stories 2, 3, and 4 (Moving the Stars, Chaser, and Home) are going to be rewritten.

[Aura Zero]

Wow! This chapter brung much liquid from my eyes! I have to say this is the best Vinyl fix I've read, granted I've read only a dozen. Everything was nice and related to actual life in its own way, especially how people Change when they taste fame and fortune. Also when something very important to themselves is lost, change occurs almost immediately. Touching in many ways.

However I digress.

10 out of 10 for romance
9 out of 10 for grammar
9 out of 10 for overall story
1 like and a top fave for this story.

[SleeplessScribe]

3441396 Well, thank you

[canadianbrony91]

Not really into the whole "beat tempo" thing because I have abolutely no clue who he is, but you still did a good job developing the plot and making it very interesting. Well done

[SleeplessScribe]

3461630 Well NOBODY ASKED YOU! Jk,jk, he's an OC. It's not like you're going to know who he is prior.

[Eclipse LunarSol]

Ooooooh! The classical "Friend becomes famous and totally abadons friend and becomes a jerk." cliche, nice move.

[SleeplessScribe]

3920344 Not sure if you're mocking me or being sincere.

[Eclipse LunarSol]

3920424 Have to say more sincere and less mocking.

[The Writer of Fate]

A good story, but you need to work on your pacing. This was way too short for the kind of idea you had here.

Other than that, though, this was pretty good.