The Secret Diary of Vinyl Scratch

by Locomotion

Part 6: Vinyl's Big Moment

Entry 105

December 17th

Not really a lot been going on lately. I've been keeping the customers happy at Sugarcube Corner, playing music and saying hello and Happy Hearth's Warming and stuff, and as soon as that's out of the way, I've been hanging out and writing new music tracks with Pinkie and Lavender. Apart from that, it's all just hanging around and waiting for Hearth's Warming to roll around the corner. You'd think I'd be rushed off my hooves with all these gigs and so on.

But no way is that ever gonna happen any time soon. It's obvious that those losers don't want some teenager playing songs for them, and even if they did, they'd probably be out of their minds or something. You won't believe how frustrating it is just sitting around, way out of the limelight, wondering if you're ever gonna rise to fame! I sure as hay hope it won't be too long. It's bad enough that Lavender went off and rubbed me up the wrong way. Mind you, it's not as if she's anywhere near as bad as my Mom or whatever – that idiot would have gone mental if she saw how good I was at writing music, but Lavender knows it's my passion in life, and she's encouraging it too. Maybe I should think of adopting her as my new Mom.

Anyways, she and I have been working on this new song called “Scratching the Surface”. Not gonna go into too much detail, but it's about this really crusty young mare who's like really lonely underneath because she's been dumped like a million times, and there's this really kind stallion who can see what she's going through and is trying to help her out of her shell. Totally didn't base her on myself, though. Lies! It's still only a work in progress, but it is so gonna rock when it's done.

I bet Pinkie's having a pretty fun time too right now. She's been called over to Town Hall to get all the decorations sorted out for the party that's taking place in a couple of days, the same one that Lavender said she was gonna be singing at. Just wish I could have been there with her.

Entry 105 and a bit

OMG!! I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS FINALLY HAPPENING! TELL ME THIS ISN'T JUST A DREAM! PLEASE SOMEPONY PINCH ME!

Okay, I'm calm again – sort of. But seriously, I am well over the moon right now, and do you know why? Pinkie came back to Sugarcube Corner looking almost as worked up as I am now, I asked her what was up, and she said that Noteworthy had to call in sick because he's gone down with a pretty nasty cold. At first I was like “What?!”, but then Pinkie went on to explain that they didn't have anypony else to fill in for him, so she went ahead and put my name forward again, and guess what – they accepted me! They actually properly accepted me!

This is way better than I could have hoped for! I've got like a real famous singer helping me get my name out there, and a real awesome friend who can help me get a good gig to boot – and now I actually have that first gig ever! I mean, yeah, I can still hear all those losers going “Ah, she's way too young to be doing this” or “No daughter of mine is gonna become some lowlife DJ” or “You're gonna flop at all this music stuff because you're rushing into it!” Well, now I'll show them!

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Entry 106

December 18th

Just finished that “Scratching the Surface” song, and Lavender seems pretty impressed with it. I've also done a few remixes of various Hearth's Warming tunes so that they're a bit more catchy and lively and stuff – still trying to keep that festive air, but with a bit more bounce and pizazz so it kinda fits in with my style. Okay, so this is only my first gig ever, but I'm still going all out with this one because why the hay not. If I have anything to do with it, I am so gonna knock them dead with how good I am!

Or at least I hope so. I mean, yeah, I'm like really excited about being able to perform at a massive event such as this, but at the same time I'm kinda nervous. I mean, what if I screw up big time and everypony starts to hate me because I'm a failure? And will my music even be good enough for them in the first place? So many things to worry about that might crash my career before it's even begun – and after all the work I've been putting into this gig! I'm not saying I don't want to back out of it, but I'm still taking a heck of a risk here.

I actually happened to mention it to Pinkie and Lavender and the Cakes over lunch, and after hearing what they had to say, I totally can't believe I was such a derp as to snub them before now. Pinkie was all chatty and bouncy and “Oh, you can do this, Vinyl”, but I honestly couldn't understand too much of what she was saying until Lavender translated it into plain Equestrian for me – basically what they were both saying was that everypony gets like this before their first gig, and I'm no different. Didn't mean I was gonna flop at it though, so they said. All I needed was to just be who I was and do what I do best, and everything will work out fine. Even Mr and Mrs Cake are going on about how they believe in me, and that I'm gonna go far, which I don't ever remember them ever saying to me before. Again, that's probably being too much of a prude to hear them out or whatever, but that's beside the point. The point is, I have ponies who believe in me, who like what I'm doing, who want me to live the dream.

It's gonna be a heck of a challenge, but there's no way I'm gonna let that dream fall through. Music is my passion, and I'm gonna get there no matter what happens.

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Entry 107

December 19th

[The pages of this entry are riddled with tear stains and smudges, so some text may be missing or misinterpreted]

Well, today's the day – first time ever when I get to perform at a real live stage show and not through a gramophone at some bakery lobby. I've been working half the night to get my music as good as it can ever be, and now it's gonna make its public debut. Let's just hope it's not met with a salvo of rotten tomatoes.

Pinkie and Lavender have been up Town Hall helping me set up my equipment, and they're gonna be singing the vocals to a few of my songs, so props off to them for helping me out with this gig. I was kinda juggling between sticking solely to the Hearth's Warming theme or throwing in my other songs into the mix (no pun intended), but I think I'm gonna just keep it seasonal. If I could only shake off the stage nerves and be a bit more of a mare!

Seriously, though, what is it with me being so terrified of performing in front of a whole mass of ponies?! I didn't have any problems with it at Sugarcube Corner, I shouldn't be having any problems with it now! I mean, heck, all my stuff's been set up, my tunes and songs are at their best, I've got ponies who are gonna sing for me, there's plenty of space for dancing, the buffet table's been sorted, the mayor's given us the go-ahead, the walrus is in one of my albums somewhere – what the hay could possibly go wrong?!

Actually, now I come to think of it – everything! My turntables might not be plugged in properly, speakers might not be functioning, crowd might not even like my music, there's just umpteen and one things that could go kaput and make me look like the worst DJ ever to have set hoof on this planet! If only Octavia could be here to cheer me on right now. She always seemed to have all the faith in the world for me. Still, too late to do anything about it now, I guess.

Should point out, from here on in, things are probably gonna be so busy that I won't be able to get in a full entry, so I'll just be updating this thing as I go.

Entry 107 and a bit

Right, first guests have just got here, and the party's about to begin. Now the plan is that I start off with “Season's Greetings”, which is like the best of my first ever Hearth's Warming songs, but I won't be giving anypony my absolute best yet. Instead I'll be sort of building up to it with other songs and remixes, and only towards the end will we round it off with me, Pinkie and Lavender singing “Reindeer Rocks”. That ought to leave them speechless!

I've already talked with the organisers, and they still seem a bit “Meh” about me performing at this gig, but I can live with that – 'cause it's not like they have anypony else to fill in for Noteworthy, do they?! Anyways, they've told me that I'm gonna be swapping around with Lyra, Lavender, Neon, Pinkie and Merry May every so often, just so we all get equal amounts of time to let our music shine. (That probably made more sense in my head than on paper.)

So, according to the schedule, Neon's up first with Lavender singing, then Lyra's gonna be playing a little harp lyre solo of “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”, and my first turn is gonna be after her. That should give me plenty of time to check things over before I go out there and play.

Seems Neon and I are on roughly the same hoofing so far. That “Greatest Gift of All” song of his was pretty darn good, and that's quite a lot of praise from someone who hasn't heard his music before. Mind you, he's been living here since forever, and more importantly he's been making music for longer than I have, so it's no surprise he managed to do so well at this gig.

I can only hope the guests think as much of my songs as his.

Again, quite a performance. Lyra's a natural at that instrument of hers, especially if Bonbon's anything to go by – she's just been staring up at the stage with this really dreamy look in her eyes like this is only the first time she's ever seen Lyra before ever, like she doesn't even know her and yet she's clearly falling in love with that mare just from listening to her music. She's got some really nice pipes as well, I gotta admit.

If only that could have been me and Tavi in some way, shape or form. I so miss that pony.

But whatever – I can't just sit around feeling sorry for myself while there's still a crowd to entertain. For Octavia – for practically everypony who's helped me get this far – let's do this!

I can't believe this had to happen to me! There I was, sitting behind my turntables and waiting for the hooves-up, the compère announces my name and says what I'm gonna be performing, I start up the record – and nothing happens! Of all the things I could have done wrong, I had to leave the speakers unplugged! How in the hay could I have been so stupid?!

You won't believe how embarrassing it all was, me just dithering about and trying to explain myself, and then as I'm trying to fix the speakers and get my song going again, I hear these ponies grumbling about “What were they thinking, letting this amateur onstage?!” and this, that and the other! I ended up losing it and running backstage I was so humiliated! This is like the worst setback I've ever faced – now my career's pretty much ruined all because of some stupid speakers that I totally forgot to set up properly! My parents were right! I really am a failure!

How could I have ever thought this would get off the ground?! My first real gig, and I can't even play my flipping music! I should have stayed in Canterlot and let Dad dump that stupid fabric business of his on my withers – maybe even thrown myself off a bridge somewhere! I'll never be good at anything.

Whoa! That was the nicest thing that's happened to me in ages! As soon as I chickened out, Pinkie and Lavender came in after me and asked if I was okay, and would I be able to go out there soon and so on. I was still in a right tizzy, and just about ready to back out of the gig altogether, but they were like “You can do this, Vinyl, you're made of way stronger stuff than that”. I didn't think I could, so I told them to go out there and perform without me – I mean, hey, it wasn't as if they needed me in the first place.

That was when Pinkie pulled out the big guns. As I was sitting there moping about what a failure I was, she galloped outside and ran off to Sugarcube Corner for something she had in her room. She didn't say what it was, but when she came back, there was a small wrapped box balancing on her back which she said was supposed to be her Hearth's Warming present for me – she said that after seeing me all sad and such, she thought I should have it right now.

And what a present it was too! I was a bit unsure about going ahead and opening it at first, because what the hay had I done to deserve an early Hearth's Warming present? But I went ahead and opened it anyways, and it turned out to be a really neat pair of purple shades with black rims, the sort you'd expect to see on some real hardcore rock-star DJ. Pinkie tells me she thought they'd really help me enhance my image, and sweet Celestia was she right – as soon as I put them on, I really did feel like the sort of mare that ponies would just be screaming their heads off to come onstage and perform. In fact, I can't really understand why I stuck with such a boring manestyle for so long. If I'm to be a DJ, I gotta make myself look a bit more out there, and having it all brushed back is not what a proper DJ should look like. It's time to mess my mane up and make some noise!

HELL, YEAH! Those shades and that frizzy mane have totally made all the difference! Me and May had to swap acts while I gained back my confidence, but as soon as I got back onstage, somehow I felt like there was no way I could ever be so scared of this kind of failure again. I made absolutely sure to plug in the speakers this time, and as soon as I played “Season's Greetings” – for realsies this time – everypony out there was like “Whoa! Listen to this!”, and after like three seconds or something, they were like “Yeah! This DJ totally rocks!”, and then they were like “BOOGIE!!”

Might have helped that I actually went with a stage name this time round – behind the scenes, it's still Vinyl Scratch, but to you party lovers out there, I am DJ PON-3! I know it looks kinda boring on paper, but it was kind of a spur of the moment which paid off surprisingly well. In fact, you know what? So what if I made a complete flop of myself earlier on – nothing can stop me from following my dreams now!

Entry 107 and a bit

Well, party over – and what a party it's been. I had a swell time playing my songs and listening to Pinkie and Lavender singing the lyrics, the guests really loved me, and what's more, the organisers were so impressed that they promised me a spot at the New Year Celebration!
They weren't the only ones either. It turned out Rarity was at that party too, and when it was all over, she and I took a moment to catch up before going home. She's found somewhere for this new shop to go, and after seeing me perform and hearing what the range of my musical skills, she says she wants me to DJ for the opening ceremony which, all going well, should take place some time around June next year, so she tells me.

But best of all was when Lavender said she'd talk with her producers in Sydneigh and get them to release some of my songs as gramophone records with her providing some of the lyrics. I can't believe I ever doubted her the way I did before she helped me with all this DJ stuff – if it weren't for her and Pinkie, I would have become another struggling young busker living out on the streets on whatever spare change I could wangle off of other ponies. I have so much to thank them for, and I don't even care if I was the one who made the music. Those two are helping me on my way to greatness, and I'm well grateful for it.

Thanks, you two. I dunno what I did to deserve this, but thank you so, so much.