Highschool

by vinylcloud

Back to School

There's never really a starting point no definitive beginning or end all there is, is blackness surrounding me, engulfing me. Like a stone I fall deep into the inky darkness no control over my actions no control at all. That's when it starts, the mental onslaught that seems to be ever present in the back of my mind only rearing its ugly head in my nightmares. It Starts tearing into me yelling all my insecurities all my shortcomings using them all to tear me down and leave me curled into a ball sobbing and weeping loudly. The voice never stops never taking a break for no matter how long it goes on no one else comes its just me and the voice alone in the darkness. I know this voice it has a name and that name is Lyra Heartstrings.

Vinyl woke with a start practically jumping out of bed before realizing where she was, same surroundings as always pale white streetlight filtering through the blinds. She was covered from head to toe in a cold sweat just like all the other times. This had been happening for about two years she had found some respite from the nightmare during the summer but now it was back in full force. She remembered when it first started it was somewhere around the end of her freshman year it came slow at first once a month maybe twice not being too much trouble and then it went away with the end of school that year. During her time as a sophomore the nightmare returned within a month of starting school and remained getting worse and worse throughout the year until eventually it was a nightly occurrence. Waking up for the start of her junior year Vinyl was sure of one thing, the nightmare would continue.

Stepping out of bed Vinyl dawned her signature shades and sighed, looking down at the clock she realized it was only 4:30 and she had only got about an hours worth of sleep. The idea of going back to sleep only to be awoken by the same voice inside her head sounded less than appealing. Although it was still early Vinyl decided it would be better to get a headstart on getting ready for the first day back to school. Walking out into the hallway Vinyl’s senses were assaulted by a variety of sights sounds and smells all bringing about disgust. The stench of alcohol filled her nostrils. Bottles of liquor were strewn about the hallway and a horrible discordant cacophony of sounds emanated from her brothers room across the hall. Walking down the hallway making sure not to trip over any bottles that littered the pathway. She tried to open the door to the bathroom only for it to get stuck on something halfway leaving the door slightly ajar. Jamming her head through the slit between the doorway and the wall she saw that a teal earthpony lay passed out next to the toilet. The contents of his stomach last night still residing within the toilet bowl.

With a heavy sigh Vinyl pulled her head from the doorway and began trodding down the hallway knocking bottles left and right. reaching the door to her brothers room she forced it open hearing the sounds of empty glass bottles clang against one another. Not surprisingly this amount of racket was not enough to wake the sleeping ponies strewn across the floor. Spotting her brother covered in sheets and the arms of a mare Vinyl had never seen before she approached the side of his bed.

"Dimitri wake up." she said in a hushed tone slightly shaking him. This evoked an irritated grumble out of the dark purple unicorn.

"Go away," He mumbled using a hoof to push her away.

"Wake up one of your friends is passed out in the bathroom."She said angrily. The sound of snoring returning. Walking over to the only window of her brothers room she parted the blinds and turned on the overhead lights. An overwhelming amount of grumbles and protests replaced the sounds of snoring. She walked back over to the side of her brothers bed. The same brother that was now burying his face into a pillow. She shook him once more. "Get up and get your friend out of the bathroom."

"Alright alright shut your trap already I’m going,”He said pushing Vinyl out of the way and getting out of bed. Following him down the hall she watched him knock on the door and shout,” Hey Sparks wake the hell up.” The sounds of Sparks groans and protests were the only sounds that came from the bathroom.”Motherfucker.” Dimitri said under his breath.” Get the fuck out other people want to use the bathroom.” He said shoving the door into the pony on the otherside.

“Eh, fine fine I’m moving,” The teal earthpony said stumbling out of the bathroom and into the hallway. Tripping over himself as he walked down to the end of the hallway.

”There now can I go back to bed,” Dimitri said looking at Vinyl with an annoyed look on his face.

“Yeah just make sure none of your friends come walking in on ‘accident’.”

“Oh come on that was one time and we all walk around naked anyways.”

“Still just keep your friends out until I’m done.” Vinyl said.

“Fine fine whatever.” Dimitri said walking back into his room and shutting the door. Vinyl heard him lock the door behind himself as he entered.

Vinyl stepped into the bathroom using her magic to levitate her ipod and glasses off her nose and out of her hair and onto a nearby counter. Scrolling through a list of songs Vinyl couldn't find any that she particularly wanted to hear. Deciding to leave it to chance she hit shuffle and stepped into the shower. A slow pulsing bass filled the air around Vinyl as she twisted the knob of the shower. Feeling the cold water of the shower wash over her coat Vinyl let out a low sigh. Today was going to be her first day back at school in over three months. The stress wore on her considerably as the weeks came closer to this day. It had all accumulated into a ball of nervousness and anxiety. Vinyl knew that this year would be no different from the last she’d go to school everyday and put up and act of bravado and false confidence. It killed Vinyl putting on that act every day acting brave, acting outgoing it was tiresome and at some points she didn't know what was worse the constant harassment or the constant pressure that one day she might crack and it would all fall apart around her.

The changing of songs brought Vinyl back to reality as her ears were entranced with the constant beat of snare drums. With the start of the new song Vinyl turned off the water and stepped out of the shower onto the cold tiles. Drying her hair and combing it into the usual messy hairstyle Vinyl grabbed the finishing touch her pair of signature purple lenses. Looking into the mirror and bringing forth the most genuine fake smile she could muster. I wonder if it will always be like this having to force a smile and just endure the day. Vinyl sighed. drawing her phone up in her magic and depositing it amidst the strands of hair she exited the bathroom. On her way back to her room she noticed the door to her room was slightly ajar. Pushing the door open she saw the colt who was earlier blocking the door to the bathroom was now laying down in her bed. “Ugh,” Vinyl said loudly as she walked over to the edge of her bed.

"Get out.” She said grabbing him by his neck and pulling him down on the ground.

"Agh, what the fuck," He said hitting the ground with a loud thud.

"Get out of my room and out of my bed!" Vinyl said in an irritated voice. He exited the room grumbling and rubbing the spot on his head that hit the ground.

Walking over to a shelf at the side of her room Vinyl took a look at her collection of headphones that she had amassed over the years. Grabbing two large over the ear headphones she compared the two weighing one in each hoof. One was a deep purple with a strip of light neon blue next to the earmuffs. The other was a much more flashy black with electric blue streaks that matched Vinyls hair running through the entire design. She shelved the deep purple ones and grabbed the more flashy black and blue pair. Fiddling with her magic to connect the cord into her phone she grabbed her violin case and plopped it on her back.

Trotting over to the corner of her room Vinyl rummaged around in her closet looking for the old saddle bags she knew would be there. Finding it she loaded it up with pencils and papers from a table containing her turntables and laptop. unhooking her laptop from the turntables and the wall Vinyl neatly packed it into her saddlebags.

Walking out of her room and Making sure to shut and lock the door behind her Vinyl walked out into the kitchen. Opening the fridge Vinyl peered inside to find a half empty case of beers and barren shelves with empty tupperware containers in the back. Looking towards the kitchen counter Vinyl spotted what seemed to be a relatively new bushel of bananas. Closing the fridge with her magic and grabbing a banana off of the bunch Vinyl exited into the living room. The teal colt who had been residing in the bathroom was now laying passed out on the sofa in the middle of the living room. Deciding she’d rather eat on the way to school than in her own home Vinyl left closing the door behind her.

The streets were empty as Vinyl walked. She thought nothing of it, it was still early and the city had yet to rise from its somber slumber. As she walked through the familiar streets Vinyl could feel her mind begin to wander. These streets contained many memories for Vinyl, the good and the bad. These were the alleys that Vinyl had learned to avoid early in her days of roaming the streets shady deals and even shadier actions took place in the alleyways closest to her home. Glancing into the alleys around her Vinyl noticed one such deal going down refocusing her eyes on the sidewalk in front of her she simply walked passed Vinyl knew and was occasionally reminded of why it was better not to get involved in the dealings that happened in these alleys.

The division between the high and low class establishments was obvious. A line drawn by the markings of graffiti and the absence of such was what formed that line around the lower classed downtown district and separated it from the higher classed suburbs and townhouses afforded by those of noble descent or decent wages. Vinyl was walking down one such street when her attention was pulled back to the ground. As she moved forward down the street she realized why this was the same street where Vinyl had saved a peculiar grey earthpony from whatever fate awaited her on the cold cement slabs. Looking back on it Vinyl was glad she had helped somebody it had made her felt like she made a difference however small. Plus she had liked having someone to talk to for a while.

Arriving at the outskirts of the schools campus Vinyl knew she was still early but that wouldn't matter it would give her time to look through her schedule and claim her secluded spot in the back of the class. Looking around she saw other kids meeting old friends they hadn't seen through the summer break, freshman checking out the new campus and chatting amongst themselves. But not her, headphones over her ears music pulsing through them loudly and a cold glare of solid purple all screamed one thing to anyone observing the seemingly out of place mare and that was do not approach. Walking forward towards another year, another hell and the front doors of her school Vinyl prepared herself. The headphones and music could only do so much to dull the pain brought on everyday by the combination of dirty looks and hateful words that Vinyl saw herself on the receiving end of. Walking up to the front desk of the office she thought back it hadn't always been like this.

She slid back her headphones to their resting place around her neck. The day was here the world had finally given her a chance to prove herself. It was going to be her first year at celestia's school for musically gifted ponies and she was one of the very first students to be accepted with a piece that was completely electronic in nature. Walking onto campus she was excited it was a completely new start a new place where she could really come into her own and define her musical style. She walked forward towards the front doors eager to meet her new classmates. Vinyl had heard that most of those who attended were noble ponies and nature that was ok though. Vinyl knew that they would all find common ground creating and playing great music.

‘How stupid I was to believe that’ Vinyl thought. While it was true that not everyone at the school had been noble ponies, not even a tenth of the students truly were. But being the only student who wanted to pursue a career in the somewhat new electronic scene of music only proved to separate her from the rest of the students. The first few days had been nice enough she talked to a few people and really thought that she had made some friends. Then the rumor got around that she was only interested in electronic types of music. Ponies would come up and askif it was true and she would casually reply that it was. The expressions Vinyl got in return was enough to know that, that was the wrong answer. That's when Vinyl took on the title of ‘Class Outcast’ she was shunned by most of the other students in her class and those who weren't avoiding contact rarely had anything anywhere close to nice to say to her. That was when her hell began.

Grabbing her headphones with her magic and sliding them down to a resting spot on her neck, Vinyl stared at the earthpony beyond the counter of the offices front desk, intently sorting through some papers. Vinyl cleared her throat.

“Oh excuse me miss I didn't see you there.” She said looking up at Vinyl. “Is there something you need?”

“Yes i’d like a copy of my schedule for this semester.”Vinyl replied.

“Alright and what name would that be under.” She said hooves moving to a computer on the side of the desk.

“Vinyl Scratch.”

“Vinyl Scratch?” Questioned a voice of someone standing behind Vinyl. A chill went down her spine as Vinyl froze. She knew that voice it was the same voice that constantly clawed at the thoughts in her head, the same voice that haunted her nightmares. It was the voice of the main source of all Vinyls frustration and problems at school. The voice of Lyra Heartstrings.

“Vinyl its been too long. How have you been over the summer? Fantastic I hope.”Lyra said. Vinyl could hear the vehement hatred and dishonesty disguised in the voice’s cheery tone as she turned around to face her.

“Oh it was fantastic, I had so much fun.” She returned in a flat tone.

“You must tell me all about it, but later I have some business to attend to,” she said standing up and walking towards the back of the office into the principal's office.”Talk to you later.” Vinyl was not excited to see what new ways Lyra had of tormenting her.

“Ms. Scratch.” The secretary said as Vinyl turned around. “I have your schedule ready.”

“Oh thank you,” Vinyl said grabbing the paper from the pony’s mouth with her magic and bringing it to her face. Vinyl reviewed her classes and headed off to her first class of the day. Pulling on her headphones she waded through the numerous other ponies arriving for the school day. Finally finding the door to her first class she walked in and found the desk the farthest from the front and sat down waiting for the class to start. Looking around she noticed she was the first one there besides the teacher of course who was arranging papers on his desk and looking over a paper intently. Vinyl turned up the volume of her music and leaned back in her chair. As students slowly filtered in through the doors Vinyl was met with one small source of solace Lyra wasn’t in this class.

---

Vinyl glanced at the clock, the teacher of her first period had been prattling on about the rules of the class that Vinyl was already well versed in after reading the disclosure the teacher had passed out at the start of the class. Taking a look at her schedule Vinyl saw that her second class was orchestra. A class that she had every year with every student of the same class it was what the title described an orchestra composed of the students at the school. This sent a shot of dread through Vinyl She knew that Lyra would be in that class and worse than that she would be the lead of the section Vinyl was in. Vinyl tapped her hoof on her desk waiting for the bell to ring and signal the beginning of her torment. ‘Brrring’ the schools bell rang cutting the teacher off mid sentence and signaling all the other students to pick up their belongings and get to class. Picking up her violin and hefting it on her back Vinyl heard the teacher try to finish saying something as the majority of the class exited the room. Vinyl honestly didn't care what he was trying to say and exited the room quickly heading to her next class hoping to beat Lyra there and set up before she had to deal with her.

Walking through the double doors of the classroom Vinyl recognized the familiar slanted semi circle room that was the home to the orchestra class. Quickly walking down to the center of the room Vinyl spotted stacks of sheet music on the desk of a white unicorn who was the conductor and also teacher of the orchestra class.

“Hello Vinyl glad to see you back for another year. Grab a paper from the end.”He said tilting his head to one of the ends of the desk. “How was your summer? Didn’t slack off on practice I hope.”

“Maybe a bit more than i should have. But I did manage to mix up quite a few songs over the break I have to show you.” Vinyl replied happily.

“I’d love to have a listen but show me after class I’ve got to sort out some papers and you probably need to tune your violin.” He said focusing on a few other sheets of paper on his desk. Grabbing a piece of sheet music with her magic and levitating it over to her stand Vinyl took a seat among the first string violins. Unclasping her case and withdrawing the bow and violin inside Vinyl began tuning her violin as other students filled in the empty seats of the room. Including a certain mint green mare who claimed a spot right next to Vinyl making her very uncomfortable and giving her a sense of uneasiness.

“Hey Vinyl I hope you’ve been practicing over the summer. We wouldn't want you getting kicked out of the school for poor performance.” Lyra said poison oozing over the words that came out of her mouth.

“You mean like what almost happened with you and the harp incident?” Vinyl spat back. Knowing this would get a response out of the mint green unicorn. The harp incident had happened while Vinyl and Lyra were still Freshman at the highschool Lyra had been the harpist for the orchestra at that time and was renowned as a pretty bad one at that. One day something had been off about her performance. She had been called out on it numerous times by the conductor and other students. Every time getting more and more frustrated with the piece they were playing. At one point she finally snapped taking all the strings on the harp with her. By using too much force or by some surge of magic lyra had broken every single string on the harp and stormed out of the room.

She had caused a huge scene and the question was raised on whether or not she would be expelled from the school luckily for Lyra her father was the Principal so the incident was largely forgiven and she was merely transitioned to a different section, the violin. Which in her sophomore year she had come to lead mostly through her father's influence. In truth she wasn't much better than Vinyl at the Violin.

The harp incident had largely been forgotten but it was known that lyra would get infuriated anytime someone would mention it. and that was the exact response Vinyl hoped to elicit out of Lyra. all she got in response was Lyras face to turn a brighter shade of red and a few harsh words.

“You’ll pay for that in time Vinyl.” She said in a hushed tone quiet enough for only Vinyl’s ears to hear. Vinyl knew that this wasn’t just some empty threat from Lyra and she questioned why she even wanted to provoke her. regretting her decision and turning her mind back to the task at hand Vinyl resumed tuning her instrument idly looking over the sheet music they were to play.
“Alright class since this isnt your first year here we can spare the introductions I am your teacher and conductor Markus Sympho. You can all call me Mr.S I’ll be leading your class once again this year through the wonders that is the orchestra.” He said standing in front of the class looking out at all the ponies now gathered in their seats. “All of you have one of these pieces of sheet music in front of you for your respective sections. As i see some of you are still tuning your instruments I will let you all have 5 minutes to look over it and chat amongst yourselves.”

The chatter around Vinyl began as she looked over what parts she would be playing and familiarized herself with the first few sections of the piece. The five minutes passed and as Markus rose from his desk the students quieted down and waited to begin playing.

Markus had found his position working for Celestia’s school for the musically gifted by being offered it by the pony whose name brandished the schools title. He was the first common pony to ever hold a title at the school and it was through no lack of talent or skill that he found himself holding the position. He was world renowned as one of the best composers and conductors it was a shock to most of those in the loop when he accepted to be the teacher of an orchestra class at a highschool even one that was run under celestia’s name. His overwhelming talent and esteem was one of the reasons so many students at the school had the amount of respect for him that they did.
Slowly leading the first string of violins and then the rest of the orchestra in the piece they began to play.

---

The rest of the day passed in a blur teachers repeating the same thing about their courses, no goofing off, this will take a lot of hard work,blah, blah, blah. Vinyl quickly became disinterested and distracted in each of her classes.
Walking through the hallways Vinyl glanced down at her schedule one final class and then she was free, reading the name of the class, independent study brought a smile to Vinyl’s face it was a class that everyone at the school had. A period to do nothing but work on perfecting ones art, creating music or some other form of musical study. The class was loosely based around that with a teacher to guide the way and look over the class. But it was the overall freedom that the class provided that made Vinyl excited she would be able to work on whatever she pleased and be left completely alone.

Practically bursting through the door Vinyl looked around surveying the classroom there were some ponies setting up their musical instruments around the room but Lyra was not among them. Vinyl cracked a smile this entire semester Vinyl had only one class with that shewitch Lyra. She loved it, now in this class she didn't have to deal with a teacher standing at the front constantly telling her what to do. This was her spot of freedom her safe haven the place where no one could tell her what to do and she could just do whatever felt right.

Pulling her laptop out of her satchel bags and setting it on a desk in the back of the classroom. Vinyl set to work on her latest project a slower song than what she was used to and was giving her troubles. As she began her work the classroom filled up with other students. Focused so much on her work Vinyl didn’t notice the teacher announcing a project they would be working on, feeling the room grow more silent than normal Vinyl looked around the room to see almost all the ponies in the room staring at her. Slowly Vinyl took off her headphones and shut the screen to her laptop.

“Thank you, Ms. Vinyl Scratch I presume.” Said the stocky light blue unicorn sitting at a large desk at the front of the classroom “Well as I just got done telling the rest of the class for your first assignment you will all be working on crafting collaboration pieces with one of your classmates. You are free to choose your partners as you please.”
Great another project meant to introduce us to our classmates I’ll just wait until everyone's paired off and ask to do it on my own. Vinyl thought gazing around the room when she saw a beige earth pony with a black mane headed towards her. Expecting her to pass right by Vinyl thought she was probably looking at somepony behind her she didn't think much of it. But it did look like she was staring straight at Vinyl. Then she noticed the bowtie and a wave of recognition washed over her. As she walked up she said, “Um, hey… Vinyl.”

Comments

[pokemonfirer]

loved it i cant wait for the rest of the story

[Angius]

Is this story inspired by University Days? Because the title sure as sugar implies that.

I'll add it to my "read later" bookshelf and ill be watching it closely, since the comments say you need an editor.
Mo offence, but I'll wait until you get one. I like to read fics at their best.

2334929 Numbers in my country have 9, so I guess it depends on where are you from.

[vinylcloud]

5632102 Its not really inspired by one story or another I saw the Octavia and Vinyl Trope and decided to throw my own story into the mix.