Scarred Vinyl

by Belgianchief

From Scratch

I found myself in the Dreamworld, which probably was not how it was called, but it was what I named it, cliché as it may sound. Imagining a chair and seating myself, I wondered what to do. It suddenly came to me that I would miss the party tomorrow, for there was no way a pony with a concussion could go to a party. But, alas, there was nothing to do about that. "I hope Rainbow Dash doesn't feel too guilty and that Applejack manages to make her pies and hope whoever they can find for the music does a great job... I really hope that Pinkie Pie enjoys the party, she really deserves it." Helplessly I sat on the floor of this black void in my mind. Though time flowed differently here, from what I could understand, it wasn't just the pace that was different, for five minutes here could be a second outside, or more than an hour. "While I'm here, I might as well imagine some music, maybe time will go faster." Then an idea popped into my mind. Considering the place where I resided, I looked around, hoping to see something, well, pop. Rather disappointingly, nothing happened, but the idea was still in my mind. Perhaps, instead of wasting my time here, I could practice my skills here, at night, where I had both the time and the material at my disposal. So I imagined my turntable, some boxes and a couple of records to practise with. Suddenly dizzy, I wondered if this was an effect of the concussion.

After a while, not being sure about the time exactly, I gave up on trying to play music, because it was impossible with a headache to focus in the slightest. So, I shut down the turntable. I felt tired, strangely enough, considering I was sleeping. Imagining a bed, my headache increased, so I went to lie on it.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." I heard a voice from the other side of my mind. Princess Luna. "Please, don't call me Princess in this place, after all, I am a guest here."
"I'm sorry Princess, I just think my concussion made me weaker, just let me get a rest..."
"I really wouldn't do that if I were you, here I made you some coffee"
"Just one more minute..."
"Vinyl, if you fall asleep in this place, there's no way you can save yourself from the nightmares, not even I can do anything then. Now get up."
"Fine, where's that coffee, it better be good." Suddenly, reminding who I was speaking to, I sat straight up. "I'm sorry, Princess, I'm really sorry you have to see me in this state of mind." She handed me a cup of black goodness. The smell alone of it awakened my senses, and the taste was superb, as always. Looking over, I saw that she had summoned a table and two chairs, and asked me to come sit with her.

As soon as I stepped from the bed, she waved her hoof to make it disappear. Walking over to the table, My strength wavered again and I felt dizzy. Taking a sip from the coffee, I immediately felt my strength return. Has the Princess done anything special with this coffee, it's so invigorating.
"My, you catch on quick. However, if you don't stop calling me Princess in this place, I will have to start calling you... Lady Scratch perhaps?"
Suddenly the coffee that had just entered my mouth was now all over the table and over the Pr-... Luna. "I'm sorry... Luna, that just sounded so wrong, I..." While I was looking for words, the paper towel that Luna had imagined was cleaning everything, so I decided to pour myself another cup of coffee. When the... Luna was done, I asked her "So, you were saying that there was something in this coffee?"
"Yes, something to restore your magic powers."
"Magic? But I haven't use magic in a while." I looked around, seeing all the stuff that I imagined. I facehoofed.
Luna sighed. "Even though imagining objects is less difficult than conjuring them, it's still magic. When I arrived here, I saw all the things you had imagined and I knew that you had overexerted yourself. Plus you mentioned you had a concussion?" I nodded "It's quite a feat that you managed to imagine all of this and didn't fall asleep. I'm impressed."

I didn't quite know what to think, or how to respond to that, so I just took another sip of my coffee, which strengthened me again. "Thank you for the coffee, Luna, it really gave back my strength. I'm going to need it if I want to practise some more. With that, I stood up from the table and went to the turntable."
"Practise?"
"Well, I lost my talent for being a DJ, so yeah... Trying to find it again."
"What about your bigger talent?"
"Bigger talent? What in the name of Celestia do you mean?"
"You really think your talent is being a DJ. Well explain to me then, why isn't your cutiemark that of a record or whatever, but rather one of the most-used notes in any form of music?"
"What?"
"I know what that cutiemark means, I've seen it so many times over the years, but I think you too know what it means."
I got a headache, trying to remember... something. Something happened so many years ago, but what? The headache became so bad that I first grunted, then wanted to scream out of pure agony. Luna ran over to me and hold her horn to my head. "I'll help you." Then, a white flash.

I was in the classroom, paying attention to the teacher. Today's lesson was about music. I loved music, it was so nice and warm. There were many kinds of music, but every kind was fun. Looking over my side, I noticed that my cutiemark still wasn't there, but it wouldn't take long anymore. I knew that it had something to do with music, I could feel it. The other fillies didn't understand music as much as I did, and none of them were interested in the lesson, apart from Octavia, but she already had her cutiemark. Then came the moment I had been waiting for, we went to the music class to look at the instruments.

This is a dream. Nothing happened though.
"No, trust me, Vinyl, you want to see this through" Luna's voice spoke in my head.
No, I don't
"Please, Vinyl, I'm doing this for you, please see this through. It will help you."
I don't need your help!
"Yes, you do, and this is the last thing I will say about this subject."
The voice left my head as abruptly as it entered.

We arrived at the music class, and I tried out all the instruments. I could play every one of them, but nothing felt... right. After every attempt I looked at my side, hoping to see a cutiemark, but to no avail. I sat down, completely in the dumps. Music was one of the few things that felt special to me, but apparently, even there I was wrong. The teacher came sitting down next to me, and asked what was wrong.
"Well, I always thought that music was going to be my cutiemark, because I care about it so much, but... I've tried all the instruments and... nothing..."
"Maybe you could ask Octavia how she got hers? She's a musical pony, just like you."
I looked over to see Octavia at the cello. "She doesn't like me... No one does. And besides, I might as well not be a musical pony..."
"She likes you enough to answer a simple question, I suppose?" the teacher nudged me.
"I guess" I stood up and walked over to her.

"Uhm, Octavia? H-How did you get your cutiemark?"
"Well, my father is a great artist and he has a lot of instruments at home. I went into his study, and the first thing that caught my eye was the big cello standing there. I stood next to it and played it and Bam! I got my cutiemark."
"That's what I figured. Thanks anyway."
"You'll get it soon, Vinyl, I just know you will, You just got to believe in yourself."
"Would you mind playing a bit for me? I've always wondered how you could play such a big instrument."
"I'd love to, but I don't have any sheet music with me."
"Just play something, I don't really care what."
"I'm sorry, I can't... at least not yet..."
"I'll go see if I can find something here."

I couldn't find anything, but I really wanted her to play something for me, so I took some piece of paper and wrote down what seemed like a good combination of notes. I had been given a few lessons, so I knew what notes were, but not much more.
I gave her the piece of paper, saying that it was the only thing I could find. She thanked me, and started playing.
Beautiful music filled the room, and everypony came to see Octavia playing. I got pushed to the back of the audience, but I could still hear the music emanate from the strings. It was stunning. She received a big applause and I smiled. Now there was a musical pony if there ever was one. She came to me, receiving many a compliment along the way, and gave me the piece of paper back. "That was beautiful, Octavia, you really have talent."

She pointed at my flank and said, "Look Vinyl" I looked to see that my cutiemark had appeared. "Hey everyone" she called out, "Vinyl got her cutiemark!" To me she asked "What did you do to get it?"
"Well, there was no sheet music anywhere, so I just wrote down some notes from scratch, because I really wanted to hear you play."
"I thought it was sloppy writing, that explains it. But you wrote that in one minute? That was beautiful. No, Vinyl, you have talent. You are going to be a great composer, like Beethoofen."
A composer... Like Beethoofen... I smiled. "I always knew it, somehow"

Another white flash.

School was out. They would be waiting for me at the front gate, but I had no choice. The only way in or out of the school was through that gate. So, I made a run for it, hoping that they weren't there yet. As I came close to touching the gate, I suddenly felt something hit my hind leg. Not being able to hold my balance, I smacked against the ground. So close.
"I'm sorry, did the little unicorn trip? Can't it walk alone when big sis Octavia isn't around?"
"Could you guys just leave me alone for once?"
"I'm sorry, Vinyl, no can do. You know the rules, if you don't give us your lunch bits, we have to take them from you."
"I told you guys, I don't have any bits."
"We'll be the judges of that. Now, your backpack please?"
"No" My gramps told me I should fight them off, and so I will.
"Wow, you guys, maybe she grew something between her legs. Let me check." A quick jab in my belly sucked all the air from me as I fell down, gasping. "Nope, felt nothing." I could hear the others chuckle at their boss. My backpack was taken from me and turned upside down. "Huh, seems that she was speaking the truth. No bits in here. Not that we expected anything else from you, being the useless unicorn you are. You know, it all makes sense now..."
"What makes sense?" I hissed a question.
"You know, why your parents are dead. They were like so disappointed at your birth, that they like died, from just looking at you."

Something snapped in me, as I tried to charge him. His two lackeys barely could hold me, but they managed long enough for the boss to notice me.
"Easy there" He jabbed me in the stomach once more. Again, I felt the air leaving my body, and fell back on the ground. "That's a good girl, now stay" He had another look at my backpack. "Now, what's this?" He pulled out some sheets of paper.
"No, keep your filthy hooves off those." Those are the sheet music I made for Octavia
"Shut up!" He sucker punched me in the face. "Ugh, they're just pieces of paper with some scribbling on them. You know what's cool about paper? It burns." A spark sprang from his horn and fell on the paper, immediately setting it on fire.
Then, something snapped in me again. I managed to break from the hold of the two lackeys and charged at him. This time, however, he saw it coming. He easily sidestepped my charge and jabbed me in the stomach. I turned and charged at him again, this time managing to hit him, then I punched him in the face. Blood dripped from his mouth.
"Girl, now you've done it. Grab her, boys." They grabbed hold of me and put me on my hind legs. I took hit after hit from him. I lost the count, but they kept coming, one after another. I fell down on the ground once the lackeys released their grip.
"Let's go guys, she learned her lesson."
I just laid there, broken, shattered, next to the charred remains of my papers, an empty look on my scarlet eyes. Way later, my gramps found me, still lying in the same spot. He lifted me on his back and carried me home.

Another flash.

It finally was Octavia's turn to audition. As always, she had asked me to write her a piece, and I gladly had, because she really deserved to be accepted in the Royal Equestrian Academy for Music. Apart from worried parents and the judges, I was the only spectator. Octavia was my only friend, and we shared our interest for music. Whenever we were together, we discussed music, we listened to music, we played music. We shared a bond that could not be broken.
I saw her going up on stage, clearly nervous. "Go Octavia!" I yelled. She saw me and smiled, and seemed more confident afterwards, just from the fact that I was there. She bowed and said "The song I will be playing is written by my friend, Vinyl Scratch. It's called An ode to Friendship." I chuckled, the name was based on Beethoofen's "Ode to Joy", my idol ever since that one day I discovered my cutiemark. I wanted to be just like him, apart from being deaf, of course. Then she started playing, and even though I knew what was coming, her music kept surprising me with its pure tone.
When she was finished, the judges stood up and gave her an applause. She was immediately accepted in the Academy, and rightfully so. I went backstage to congratulate her.
"Again, that was beautiful, as always." She ran up to me and gave me a hug.
"Thank you for everything, for writing that beautiful piece, for supporting me, for everything."
"Hey, that's what friends are for, right? Besides, if it wasn't for you, I might have never found out what my talent was. So thank you too, Octavia, for being my friend."

Another white flash.

It had been a year since Octavia had joined the Academy, and I had heard nothing from her. During that entire year, I had tried getting into the School, but never had. Almost every time a pony played my pieces, they were accepted, but I never heard anything from the School. My gramps always said jokingly that great composers were only great after they died. But I wanted to be famous now. I wanted to write pieces that would make ponies to recognize me on the street as they did with many artists. So I gave up on composing classical music, and laid myself on more modern types of music. Techno was the new thing, so I used all the remaining bits I had to buy a synthesizer, and became a DJ. I could finally play the music I wrote myself, and after a few hard years, I became a hit. I became famous. Ponies recognized me on the streets. But my personality changed alongside the music I made. I now was a wild, drunk party animal, and I liked it. Soon, I became as notorious as I was famous, which only helped my reputation to play in clubs. Gigs would pay me hundreds of bits just to play a few songs. I didn't care that Octavia had dropped me, I didn't need her anymore. I was famous, and becoming rich very fast.

Another white flash. How long was this going to continue?

Great Galloping Gala. The musicians were cleaning up after everypony had left. I was done pretty fast, so I went to the bar for a drink. That drink quickly became a dozen, till the barman didn't want to serve me anymore. I cussed and looked around to see somepony come over to me. Octavia. "Hello Vinyl, it's been a while."
"What do you want?" I slurred.
"I want to talk, like in the old days. I miss those days, Vinyl."
"The old days." I laughed. "Which old days, Octavia? Huh?! The ones where we talked? Those were the old days. Old, as in dead. Or the days since you joined the Royal Equestrian Academy for Music? For one entire year I tried to get in there. I had over twenty ponies audition with one of my works. Eighteen of them got accepted. For one entire year I waited for a message from the Academy. I got nothing. Nothing! But the thing that hit me the most, I got nothing from you. Not a single letter, not a single word. My best friend. Pah." I spat at her, jumped from my stool, and walked off.
"Vinyl, I'm sorry..."
"Is she bothering you, Octavia?" the pianist came in asking.
"Why don't you explain everything to your friends from the Academy, huh?" I yelled behind my shoulder. "Get me home" I told the carriage rider, and rode off into the night.

I was back in the Dreamworld, an exhausted Luna standing next to me. "Are you okay?" I asked her.
"Coffee" was the faint whisper I got in return.
I quickly went to grab a cup, and saw her strength return as soon as she started sipping.
"Wow, I've never had to battle so much willpower to exit a dream. I had to push everything to keep you in there."
"I'm sorry"
"It's okay, I see why you wanted to leave. Wow, your life wasn't easy."
"No, I shouldn't have spat, I shouldn't have gone away. She was my only friend ever, and I spat in her face and left her standing. I was a drunk foal." I started crying. "It wasn't supposed to be this way. She wanted to apologize to me. I betrayed her... I'm a monster."

Suddenly I heard familiar music. "Beethoofen" I whispered. "The Ode to Joy. No wait... That's... me. The Ode to Friendship."
"Do you remember what your dream was?"
"To be like Beethoofen..."
"Let's see if you can remember you musical history. Tell me, was Beethoofen accepted immediately?"
"No, his music was strange, it was completely new, ponies thought he was weird" I fell silent.
"Tell me, when he did gain success, did he start drinking like a madpony? He lived for music, he got deaf and music was still his life, even if he couldn't enjoy it anymore himself!"
"I-I..." Words escaped me, how could I have been so blind?
"Yet a couple of seconds ago, you couldn't recognize the music you had written from his music. It was basically a clone of Beethoofen's work. However, when you started to write techno, it was new. Tell me, did ponies immediately accept you for your music?"
I kept silent. They hadn't. It had taken more than two years for me to actually gain publicity. Those might have been the two hardest years of my life, but I kept trying, and I was happy.
"Which were Beethoven best works? The ones in the begin of his career or the ones at the end?"
"The ones at the end."
"How about yours? Were your best works in the begin or the end of your career?"
"The very begin."
"Do you remember how you wrote those first ones? Do you remember how you wrote that very first sheet music?"
I smiled. "My gramps always used to joke about that. From Scratch. I started with blank pieces of paper, and when I was done, I played it for him and I only played it on parties only if he liked it. Else, I would go back to the paper and start all over again."
I looked over to see that Luna was gone. I thanked her silently, now realising that I had only started actually composing once I played techno, how strange that may sound. My works before that were shameless copies of Beethoofen. Once I got famous, the bits were rolling in, and I started abusing my fame. I made songs with less and less effort, altering my songs just a little, just to get more bits, to be more famous. I only cared about the fame, not about the music, like I had those two years, when I wanted the music to be perfect. I disgusted myself. How could I have been so stupid?

I woke up, wondering where I was. Remembering I was in the hospital, I rubbed my head. My headache was gone I could feel a bump on the back of my head though. Though it was still dark outside, I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep again. So, I stood up and went on a walk inside the hospital, thinking about what Luna had showed me in my own dreams. I wandered past the counter, lost in thought. Nurse Redheart saw me walking about.
"Can't sleep?" she asked. "I can get you another one of those pills if you want."
"No, I'm fine, thank you." I stopped walking. "Do you think I could get some paper, a quill and some ink?" I asked her.
"Sure. If you want I can write a letter for you?" She gave me what I had asked.
"No, it's not going to be a letter, but thanks for the offer."
"Don't overexert yourself, though, if you feel dizzy, call for me. What are you going to write though, if not a letter?"
Turning back to my room, I answered over my shoulder. "Music" I smiled.
As I got to my room, I went to sit on my bed and started writing the title.

From Scratch