The Secret Diary of Vinyl Scratch

by Locomotion

Part 1: The New School

Entry 1

May 3rd, 1999

Okay, first ever entry in the journal of Linsey Woolsey Vinyl Scratch. So it's like this: I'm a unicorn what lives in some fancy penthouse in Canterlot with these two stuffy old snobs who call themselves my parents. They're both unicorns, same as me. My Dad, Baldachin, is like really big and muscly with nearly the same fur colour as me, but his mane and tail are a sort of greeny blue, and his Cutie Mark's a sort of loom thingy. He's like “I'm way better than you, and don't I know it” just because he owns this really big fabric making business and is bringing in so much money.

Then there's my Mom, Scarlett Corduroy. She's all red with a sort of reddish orange mane and tail that make her look like fire, and she's got a roll of thread for a Cutie Mark. She's no better than Dad, because she always makes out like he's right and everypony else is wrong, especially me. They don't really let me like have a life, because they want me to take over their business when I'm old enough. That's like the worst thing I can think of, being forced to make cloth all my life!

Well, actually, I haven't worked out what I want to do with my life yet, but I want it to be fun and cool and...stuff. I keep telling my parents that, but they don't listen to me. My Dad just shouts at me and speaks a whole lot of stuff about responsibility and duty and such. But what do I care about all that crud?! I'm not sitting in some lousy chair and watching over all those dumb old cloth machines just because my parents want me to! Their stupid fabric business can go stuff itself for all I care!

So anyways, about this diary. See, one of the guys at this factory my Dad owns near where I live saw that I was getting all wound up and such, and he suggested that I keep a journal so I can share my thoughts with somepony or something that isn't my parents. He's a really nice guy, something like 50 or 60 or whatever, name of Needlecord. Doesn't exactly stand up to Mom or Dad, but he sort of looks out for me. So I goes out into town and I gets myself this lock-up diary thing. That was like 2 weeks ago or something, but I wasn't too sure about it until now. So yeah, this is like my first ever

So, hobbies and interests – well, Mom and Dad don't exactly let me have hobbies, but I really like music. Mostly stuff like rock, metal and all that jazz, but I'm good with a bit of classical, I guess. That's the only kind of music Mom and Dad ever seem to allow in the house anyway, so I can never get enough pop music. Hey, maybe that'll be what I do when I'm grown up! Maybe I'll become a singer or a drummer or something! Might even be a super famous rock star one day!

But yeah, I really want my Cutie Mark to be something to do with music! That'd be well cool if that was my calling in life. Okay, so they might go ballistic if they ever find out, but so what? It's what I want to do with my life, so screw them!

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Entry 2

May 21st

Well, that's just great! I'm doing like so well at school, and then out of nowhere, my folks decide it's not good enough for me – and now they're trying to find some really posh school over in the West End where they tell me I'll do better! I mean, what in the hay is their problem?! I was doing just fine where I was!

Still, what do they care about what I want? All they ever care about is what suits them, and if somepony don't like it, then that's tough. Even their own sprout matters little to them – heck, I wouldn't be surprised if they think of me as less of a daughter and more of a nuisance. If I've done something wrong, I've done it like really wrong, and if I've done something right, it's never good enough for those two snobs.

But anyway, the school they're thinking of sending me to, I think it's called Canterbury Preparatory School or something fancy. I've already seen that place before now, and it's way too fancy for my tastes – might as well have been St Clover's Fillies' School for crying out loud! And get this; when Mom and Dad spoke about it earlier, they were saying it was...good enough, but they would have preferred to send me to St Clover's instead. I mean, really, Canterbury's bad enough, but St Clover's is like twenty million times worse! I'd probably die of shame the moment I walked in through the door!

Still, I don't see myself doing much better at this Canterbury place. The induction day is next Monday, and I'm really not looking forward to going there.

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Entry 3

May 25th

So much for not looking forward to this prep school thing. Maybe it's not too posh for me after all – okay, so perhaps I may have been in a bit of a sulk when I was there, what with Mom and Dad hovering over me and such, and the way other kids was looking at me, they probably thought me a bit of a wimp, but I think I might grow to like this place.

Okay, so about this induction day thing – they're basically just sending us from one part of the school to the other so as we can see the sort of thing what goes on in this place. Mom and Dad insisted I go and do the textiles stuff first, and I'm not gonna lie, I found it like real boring, man! It's just this camp Earth stallion going on about stitching and applying appliqué motif and different types of fabric and methods of manufacture and all that trash. If this is what learning about making cloth is like, I'd rather be strapped to a griffin and flown into a volcano!

I found the literature studies thing a bit more interesting, I gotta admit. We looked through bits of a poetry book by Quilland Ink – “excerpts”, I think you call them – and yeah, some of them were like so awesome to read. Maybe if I could learn to write a bit of music to go with them, that'd be real radical!

And so it went on for like the whole day – maths, science, history, trig, business studies and such – until I got to like the real highlight of my day. Our last session was music, and we actually had a chance to listen to this number by a group of third-year students, see the sort of thing they get up to. There was about seventeen of them in all, but the one that caught my eye was this grey mare with a darker grey mane and tail and some sort of pink musical note a treble clef for a Cutie Mark. From the way they were playing, hers was like the lead instrument in the group – some big violin thing that she calls a cello or whatever – and let me tell you, the tune she played on that thing was...I know I'm not as much into classical as rock and metal and such, but it was unlike anything I'd ever heard before. She just looked and sounded so much in the zone it was untrue, and I think I must have had tears something in my eye just from listening to her. Thank Celestia I wasn't the only one – that would have been like well awkward!

The mare herself looked a little sort of “I'm a posh girl, and don't I know it,” but there was something about her that made her way less of a snob than Mom and Dad. I dunno what it was – maybe it was that cello music, or maybe something to do with that peaceful look on her face when she plays. Whatever it was, it made me want to get to know her better, and I never thought I'd say this, but I was like real sad when the induction day was over. But one thing's for sure – as long as I get the chance to see her again, I definitely want to go back to that place.

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Entry 4

May 30th

I so can't believe this! Mom and Dad have actually signed me up for Canterbury Prep! I never thought I'd ever write this, but I'm actually like real glad they chose to send me there. Now I'll get a chance to meet that grey mare with the cello, whatever her name is. Maybe I should have asked her before I left.

Dad took me round the factory again today, and I had to listen to like two million years' worth of fabric talk trash – again! Seriously, what is it with that high and mighty stick-in-the-mud?! Can't he just forget about his stupid fabric business lectures and let me have a life for once?! I swear, one of these days, I'm gonna do something that'll really honk him off, and he'll only have himself to blame, darn him!

Still, I don't know why he's wasting all his talk on me – the way Stockinette's been going, I probably won't even have a chance of taking over his factories. Don't know Stockinette? She's this really dark blue unicorn, almost black in colour with a black and white mane and tail, and her Cutie Mark looks like a needle poking through a piece of fabric. She's like one of the hardest worker in Dad's factory, but she's real bossy and picky and such, sort of “This will be fine quality, and I don't care what it takes” – and I won't lie, there's something about that mare kind of creeps me out!

You'd think she wouldn't win herself very many friends with an attitude like that; but there are some who suck up to her, like that Tiffany, for example. She's in charge of...quality control or whatever Dad calls it. Again, she's really good, but heck, she's such a snob in her own right! “Oh, Stockinette is always right, and don't we know it? And what about that Linsey filly? I don't know why she's even here – she plainly doesn't belong in a place like this.” Darn right, Tiff, but you don't need to be such a flaming gossip queen about it!

I kinda like that new apprentice Needlecord has taken. Her name's Tracey Stitchit, and yeah, she may be all shy and stuff, but she's like really good with all the sewing stuff that needs doing round here. That's pretty much Needlecord's line of work, hence why he took her on in the first place, and he tells me there's a heck of a lot of potential in that mare. Be good if she could trim that mane of hers back, though. Dad and Stockinette say the machines in this place can be like really dangerous if you get your mane caught in them.

So yeah, pretty boring day, but the whole thing with me being sent to the same school as that grey mare was pretty much the highlight.

(P.S.: must remember to write in this journal more often.)

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Entry 10

September 3rd, lunchtime

Okay, maybe this new school was a mistake all along. It's only my first day, and I still haven't seen the mare what was playing the cello a few months back. Maybe I got the wrong school or whatever.

Not only that, but all those other kids are like way too classy for my liking. I mean, yeah, I may look kinda posh myself, but they're like way fancier than I can ever be, and don't they know it! The looks they keep giving me as I sit down in class, walk down the corridor, hang out in the yard, whatever – bad vibes, man, bad vibes! Lessons have been okay, I guess, but I'd be like way better if I'd been doing the music stuff at some point. I mean, yeah, it's like mandatory and Mom and Dad can't get me out of it even if they try, but I'm not gonna be doing any of that until Tuesday.

Still, what does it matter? Whoever that mare was, she's probably moved to a different school or whatever. Maybe this place wasn't right for her neither. But what the hay – I'm still not gonna enjoy it here as much as I thought I might. Stupid parents! Why can't they just let me do it my way?!

Wait a minute! I think I just saw her sitting over by the window. She's like all alone with a tray of food in front of her, but she don't seem all that bothered. Maybe she's just waiting for somepony. Anyway, there's my chance – I'm gonna go talk to her.

Entry 10 and a bit

Late evening

Well, what do you know?! Only my first day, and I've made a friend! So it's like this; I go over to her table, ask how she's doing, and she says something like “I'm very well, thank you.” She actually spoke to me, and she like didn't even know me! YES!

Anyway, I started making small talk with her, she told me a little bit about herself and I did the same. Turns out her name's Octavia, and she lives like a couple of blocks away from me and my folks. She's really into music too, but more classical than pop – not that she doesn't like it, she just really loves the cello, and you don't get any of that in pop music. Or do you? I'm gonna have to look into it. Anyway, her parents seem a lot nicer than mine, and don't care that she's not doing the same as they've been doing. I think one of them is a painter and the other one owns some sort of hotel chain, but they're okay with her going for a life of music. She says she's hoping to get a part in the Royal Canterlot Symphony one day, and guess what – her parents are hoping for the same thing too! So yeah, take that, Mom and Dad!

So yeah, good day at school after all. Can't wait to go back and see this Octavia pony again tomorrow, and I don't care if I don't get music lessons until next week.

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Entry 16

September 9th

Aw, yeah! First music lesson at my new school, and I'm looking good already! Wasn't half as good without Octavia there, but I got this real cool music teacher who says I'm a natural at making music. As if there was any doubt!

So anyways, first thing we did was listen to this really boring bit of music, and then Miss Falsetto – that's our teacher – asks us to try and spice it up, like. She then gives us these keyboard thingamajigs and lets us change the tune a bit so as we can make it sound a bit more groovy. I gave it a sort of a swing feel that I think you hear in like discos and such, made it sound like somepony was playing an electric guitar, even added a wicked cool drum beat, and guess what – Miss Falsetto gives me an A+ for it!

I gotta admit, I had her pegged as some stuffy posh mare who only likes classical, so I didn't know if she'd like what I'd come up with. So yeah, when she came up to me and went “Well done, Linsey,” I was like “What?!” Most of the others didn't think much of my jazz, but screw them! If Miss Falsetto likes it, then that's good enough for me.

I got to talk with Octavia again at recess, and I've learned a bit more about her too. She's like half a year older than me, and it seems her grandma was a musician too – played the piano in some huge orchestra, so she tells me. Must run in the family, all this musical stuff! Not only that, but one of her cousins what lives out east is aiming to become a party planner. Didn't quite catch the name of that filly, but I think it was something pink or whatever. What really weirds me out is that she lives on some rock farm or whatever Octavia calls it – and I'm not talking about rock music either! But yeah, farming for rocks? I don't know that much about rocks, but I'm pretty sure you don't farm them.

Dad was in a right mood when he got back from the factory today. I think it must have been something to do with Drap de Berry, because all he ever spoke about was how she couldn't seem to mend a loom properly; but the way he was talking, he probably brought it on himself, so...HA! Serves you right!

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Entry 51

October 14th

Okay, not that much to talk about here, but I might as well. So first off, school – pretty boring, mostly, apart from today's music stuff. Miss Falsetto was talking about giving me an extra credit assignment, seeing as I was doing so well, and after class was over, she kept me behind to kind of talk it out with me. I did tell her it wouldn't be easy, because my folks won't let me anywhere near an instrument – that banjo I got for myself didn't last five minutes before Mom took it away and sold it off, and she wouldn't even repay me for it, damn her! So yeah, that was that plan out of the window, but Miss Falsetto still promised to try and find a way round it.

Things got a bit better at lunchtime. When me and Tavi met up at recess (yeah, I've thought up a nickname for her – go figure!), she told me that the school band was having a rehearsal thing around that time, and would I like to come and watch them play? You bet your hooves I would, Tavi!

Anyways, I got myself some food and went down to the hall to find them setting up their instruments. Tavi and her cello, I easily recognised, but there was also this brown colt sitting at some massive piano thing, and also a bluish mare with something what looked like somepony had tied her up with a really long trumpet. Heck, there was loads of weird instruments among that lot, but what did I care? It was Tavi I'd come to see, and to Tartarus with the rest of them.

So, the tune what they were practising. They said it was something classical, can't remember what it was called, but it sounded really cool and lively – not exactly death metal, but it still made me feel like there was a bit of a party going on inside me. And who says all classical music is rubbish?! Totally not me!

So yeah – classical it may have been, but it was still like the highlight of my day. And just as well, too, because it seems I'm gonna be spending the whole half-term in Dad's factory – yeah, not looking forward to that.

Comments

[Applejack224]

Hmm... liking this so far