> Her First Bass Drop
>  by nctransgirl
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> Intro
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Intro


"Alright, ponies, settle down!" Ms. Cantata's voice attempted to overshadow that of the sound of the mingling of fifteen young fillies and colts who had just entered her Music Orientation classroom for the first time. Needless to say, the little ponies were too excited talking about their summer vacations to listen to their new teacher. 

In one corner, Bubblegum Pop was babbling on to her minions about her trip to Canterlot as they absorbed every paltry detail of an anecdote about a charming young stallion she met by the name of Fancy Pants. In another, one could listen to Tremolo Pick and his delinquent friends planning their next prank on the lonely colt who sat by himself near the door. Sporting a slicked back turquoise mane that complemented his cyan coat, that pony, the bluest in class, certainly was feeling blue at the moment.

That pony's name was Break Beat, and he was waiting for his best friend to arrive. As he attempted to listen to the indistinct conversations of his contemporaries, he found himself increasingly upset that he could not share his own story with a little unicorn that always seemed to brighten up his day.

Suddenly, in the middle of the chaos that was the Music Orientation class at the Fillydelphia School for Pony Musicians, the sound of metal clattering together permeated the room, and everypony that was present finally began to quite down.The clattering belonged to that of the school bell, which, of course, meant it was time for a new school year to officially begin. All at once, each pony found their seats, which had been neatly alphabetized for them. Once again, Break Beat was dismayed to realize that he was sitting next to Bubblegum Pop, and worse, they were at the front of the class. Once all fifteen ponies had found their seats, Ms. Cantata finally got a word in.

"Hello, my little ponies!" She spoke with a smile.

"Hello, Ms. Cantata." The entire classroom droned back, sans Break Beat, who was digging his hoof into the surface of his wooden desk.

"As you all know, today is the first day of our school year. I hope everypony is as excited to learn as I am to teach! This year, you will all be learning about music theory, from the basics, like the names of notes, to more advanced concepts, such as complex time signatures! We'll be learning about all kinds of instruments, and I'm sure that if you haven't already, you'll find one you'll come to love for sure!" Again, she grinned as she spoke. The classroom let out a collective sigh.

Doing her best to continue smiling, Ms. Cantata exclaimed: 

"Let's start with a roll call! Adagio, are you here?" 

"...Present." The pony with a whole note cutie mark responded as slowly as the tempo for which he was named. He had never been a particularly active pony - whenever the class played kickball, he was sure to be chosen last. He did, however, possess an extraordinary talent for playing the timpani - an instrument most ponies seemed to take for granted.

"Break Beat?"

"I'm here..." Break Beat's voice was harshly muffled, as he had pressed his face against the top of his desk. "Where is she?", he thought to himself. Break Beat had woken up that morning eager to tell a little filly he knew about the cutie mark he woke up with the month prior to the first day of school. Concerning his talents, he was a bit strange. Put him behind an electronic drum kit, and he'd play polyrhythmic beats all day long. Place him on an honest-to-goodness kit, however, and he'd just sit there, almost not knowing what to do. Perhaps he simply didn't understand dynamics, a problem that could be avoided through the use of an electronic kit. Nopony really knew.

"Bubblegum Pop?" The egotistical filly responded:

"I'm right here, obviously." She pulled a hoof filer out of her saddle bag and began to scrape away. Bubblegum Pop...she was something else. An aspiring singer, and a damn good one, she poured her heart into every syllable of her love songs. However, when she put her microphone down, it felt as though she left her heart onstage, antagonizing every pony in her path, save for her two unremarkable twin goons.

"Right then, moving on..." Ms. Cantata was visibly annoyed for the first time.

While the teacher of this classroom was listing off names, somepony else was in the middle of an activity that took just a bit more action.

A little unicorn was galloping down the streets of Fillydelphia, trying hard not to bump into whatever was in her way, be it mailboxes or ponies, and failing miserably at both, leaving a trail of destruction wherever she went. As she dashed down Horseshoe Street, easily the most crowded road in all of Fillydelphia, she found herself running toward a clover green unicorn stallion who was on his way out of her favorite diner, a submarine sandwich held in mid-air by his emerald aura of magic.

"Oh, boy! So this is one of Fillydelphia's famous dandelion and cheese sandwiches..." He motioned to begin eating his sandwich, and upon taking his first bite, he closed his eyes found himself in Heaven. After savoring the flavor of the provolone, he reopened his eyes...

and saw that his meal was gone. The little unicorn had swiped the sandwich right out of his field of magic with her own, and was now speeding down the road with it.

"Hey! That's my..." The distraught unicorn plopped down on the concrete pavement. "Oh, who am I kidding? Keep it..."

The filly, now with her new sandwich, continued to speed down the road. After a good half minute, she finally saw the upcoming turn onto Starswirl Street. Feeling as if she might make good time, the unicorn took a victory bite out of her meal, and almost immediately spat it out.

"Who puts mustard on a dandelion and cheese sandwich?" She spoke with audible exhaustion and proceeded to toss the sandwich to the side of the road. Once she had done so, she continued to jet down Horseshoe Street until, at last, she reached the turn onto Starswirl Street. Only one more turn to go.

This particular unicorn, as she realized the moment she woke up that day, was late for school.

That morning, the unicorn had woken up in her neon violet room with a spiky bedhead that made her dual-tone blue mane look like, as her mother had once called it, "the embodiment of chaos itself". She had rushed to her bedside mirror to comb her untidy mane, trying her best to undo all of the knots she had made in it through her ten-hour sleep the night before. After only five minutes of combing her mane, she had grabbed her saddle bag and rushed out the door without saying a word to either of her parents, who were eating breakfast quietly in the kitchen all the while.

The pale yellow pony rushed down Starswirl Street, still about a half mile away from the school she had just started the previous year, the Fillydelphia School for Pony Musicians. Tall buildings lined the streets, some composed of bricks, others of glass. Fillydelphia had for decades now been known as a city that blended modern and ancient architectural styles, and a simple residential street such as Starswirl Street was no exception. While she was in her hurry...

"Grand Pause?" Ms. Cantata called out to a black and white filly sitting behind me. Grand Pause, a gray colt, was hands-down the most reticent member of the class and often chose to eat alone at lunch rather than sit with friends he knew he had. Although one could tell him that he should interact with his friends with certainty, one couldn't tell him that his violin skills were anything less than stupendous.

"Right here, teacher." The pony raised his left hoof into the air.

Bubblegum Pop leaned her cherry blossom pink head toward Break Beat, and as if he didn't already know, she whispered into his ear:

"You do know she's not coming. She's probably way too embarrassed to be the only blank flank left to even show her ugly face."

"Bubblegum Pop!" The teacher walked toward the pink pony and frowned.

"Yes, Ms. Cantata?" She feigned surprise at the approach of the wise gray mare.

"I think everypony here would appreciate it just as much as I if you wouldn't interrupt my roll call! Just for that, you get to stay for another minute while everypony else goes to lunch on time. Now, where was I? Oh yes, Morning Aria?" The white-haired teacher returned to her desk. A dainty voice called back at her:

"I'm here, Ms. Cantata..." Her words seemed to trail off into a void as she spoke. It always did. Morning Aria was, for all intents and purposes, the polar opposite of Bubblegum Pop. Visually, she was rather dull, sporting a long, dull cerise mane that complemented her dull mulberry coat. While Bubblegum tended to sing sweet, if a bit cheesy, songs about things like finding the perfect colt, Aria sang songs about the desire to escape from her own loneliness. Any melody of hers, coupled with the voice she possessed, which was more delicate than a flower petal, could easily drive any pony to tears.

Meanwhile, as roll call continued, a splash of water spread out over a relatively insignificant part of the concrete jungle that ponies called Fillydelphia. The tardy filly rushed over a puddle from the previous night's rain, not stopping to notice how very soaked her front hooves were, and quickly made her way to the final turn onto Thunderhoof Road. As she made her way toward the school, she noticed the large words printed on the road: SCHOOL ZONE. The little unicorn was almost there.

"Pizzicato? Are you here?" 

"Yes, Miss." The smoky gray colt replied quickly. Another pony that could almost go without a name, Pizzicato's best friend was Grand Pause, and they shared a love of stringed instruments. While Grand Pause was a violin virtuoso, Pizzicato's forte had always been the viola.

Happening simultaneously outside of the school, the student that had woken up late for her first day of school in Fillydelphia was making her way inside with a heavy breath. As she looked around at the stone interior, she started to feel as if she was back home. Pictures of all of Equestria's famous musicians from all over time hung from the walls - she passed Beethoofen in one wing on her way to the main office, and The Wings in another.

When she reached the main office, a stallion behind a desk greeted her with these words:

"Now, little filly, what could your excuse possibly be for being so late on the first day of school?" He turned his head away from her, as if to tell her he was disappointed.

"Hey, I'm sorry. My parents beefed at me all night yesterday, so I couldn't sleep." She told him a half-lie and tried to maintain her poker face. Though it was true that her parents and she had been in a minor confrontation the night before, she slept like the filly she was.

"Well...I guess matters like that can't be helped. Show me your Student ID card and I'll let you on your way to class with a late note." He put his hoof forward to take her card. After putting down her saddle bag, she pulled her card out via a levitation spell and gave it to him. After staring at the card for a moment, the stallion spoke to her with shock:

"Wait, you're the daughter of Mezzo Soprano and Paradiddle? Why, Mezzo Soprano has the most haunting voice in the operatic world! And didn't Paradiddle play drums for Flank Sinatra Jr.?" He grew more excited with each word.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't get so freaked about it; they're not as great as ya think." The pony responded apathetically. "Now, could ya please give me my card and my note? I'm late to Ms. Cantata's class and I miss my friend." 

"Well, by all means, here you are, miss." He gave her a signed post-it note and her Student ID card, which she placed in her saddle bag before trotting toward her classroom. 

"Room 68..." After reading this from her late note, she checked the number of the door immediately adjacent to her. It read: ROOM 22. As she sighed and made her way down the hall, the roll call continued.

"Tremolo Pick?" The teacher called out the penultimate name on her list. A pony in the back row was losing himself in hard rock music.

"Tremolo Pick!" This time, she yelled. Still no answer. Frustrated, she made her way to the back of the classroom and slammed her hoof on his desk. With a grunt, he took out his pair of red earphones and simply said:

"What?" 

"Though this is a music school, we still have rules. No music in the main classroom! We play our music after lunch. Now, give me those earphones. You'll get them back at the end of the class." The angry guitarist sighed and put his earphones on the desk before watching his teacher swipe them away. Ms. Cantata loved teaching - she truly did. But that year, between the infamous Bubblegum Pop and Tremolo Pick, who had just the previous year been suspended a total of thirteen times, she knew she had her work cut out for her.

As she returned to her desk, she called out the final name on her list:

"Vinyl Scratch? Is Vinyl Scratch here?"

Tremolo Pick pointed his hoof at the empty desk he had been sitting next to, which rested in the northeast corner of the classroom.

"Well, I guess we can't have perfect attendance every day..." She marked an X next to the name "Vinyl Scratch" on her checklist. "Now, let's begin our first lesson. This and everything we'll do this week are just refreshers to help you remember the basics, so if you've forgotten anything from Music Kindergarten, that's fine." She drew a crescent shape on the chalkboard and put a colon near it. "Can anypony tell me what this is?" After a brief pause, somepony raised their hoof.

"Yes, Adagio?"

".....It's a bass clef, right?" The lethargic pony replied.

While class was really beginning to start, the unicorn on her way to class was passing Room 46.

"That's right, Adagio!" She drew another symbol, this one more complicated with the last, and turned back to the class. "Now, who can tell me what this symbol is?" A mulberry hoof made its way gently into the air.

"Morning Aria? What's your answer?"

The timid pony replied, "It's...a treble clef. Is that right?" Her voice faded again. Some ponies called it a bad habit, but she didn't really mind.

"That's correct, Aria! Now, who can tell me the diff-" A knock at the door. Break Beat picked his head up and turned around.

Ms. Cantata, obviously disgruntled, trotted slowly over to the door and asked:

"Who's there?" An aggressive voice answered:

"I'm Vinyl Scratch! Is this Ms. Cantata's class?"

The door opened, and in walked a silent, pale yellow filly whose loud blue mane caught the eye of everypony in the classroom. Break Beat's eyes glistened at the sight of his best friend as he waved her way. The entire class went silent as Vinyl's garish mane tossed around with each step she took before occupying the empty seat in the corner of the room.

"Now, Ms. Scratch, since you were so kind as to interrupt my class, perhaps you could tell us the difference between a treble staff and a bass staff." Ms. Cantata glared at Vinyl Scratch.

"Well...aren't notes on the treble staff higher than the ones on the bass staff?" She answered a bit nervously and looked around to see who she was sharing a class with. 

"Bubblegum Pop? Great." Vinyl thought to herself. Bubblegum Pop had made up a crazy rumor that Vinyl threw Morning Aria against a wall with her magic on the last day of Music Kindergarten. For such a little pony, Bubblegum Pop had a twisted sense of humor. Looking around, Vinyl saw the filly herself, Morning Aria, who had just finished drawing a heart on a sheet of paper before holding it close to her body with a smile. Vinyl turned away from the innocent Pegasus to see her best friend since Fillydelphia Preschool, Break Beat, who gazed back at her with wide eyes and a wider grin.

"Well, that's correct!" Ms. Cantata nodded her head and beamed. "Notes on the bass staff are typically below middle C, while the notes on the treble staff are usually above middle C." After a brief rest, Vinyl called out:

"Well if the notes on the staffs are above and below middle C, where the heck does middle C go?" She didn't raise her hoof, as usual; it was a time waster.

"Well, you see, technically, any note can be placed on either staff, but you need to add a ledger line to tell a reader what note it is, and the farther away from the staff a note gets, the more out of place the note gets. That's why it's always important to know which notes belong on which staff and how to place them accordingly."

Vinyl placed a hoof under her chin and let out a deep breath, partly because of her sheer exhaustion from the run to her class, and partly because she didn't care much for the lessons being taught to her at all. Why did she even come to this school? She'd played every instrument in the band room, failing at each miserably. The first time Break Beat allowed her to play his drum kit, she broke his favorite pair of sticks. Tremolo Pick's main grudge against her was that she had snapped three strings on a guitar he had only just gotten. Every instrument she touched was cursed as long as she was in direct contact with it...so what was the point? She couldn't sing, couldn't play music...the only reason she even came back that year was to see Break Beat. Some days, she and Break Beat would sit at lunch, and as he would excitedly tell her about the newest beat he'd learned, she would even begin to wonder if she was a musician at all.

The rest of Ms. Cantata's lesson was somewhat of a blur. Vinyl was still gathering her breath by the time the class' first lesson on the treble and bass clef had ended, and that was a good fifteen minutes. Like always, she simply ended up retreating into her own dimension, where, unbeknownst to anypony else, she was trying her hardest to come up with new music unlike anything heard of in ponydom. But what? In the thousands of years that ponies had existed, surely every type of music that could exist already had. Music without instruments...there's an idea. She thought this to herself and wrote it down on paper before realizing: Dang it! That's what a capella is all about. Before she had even begun to formulate this new music, her world was shattered by the ringing of a school bell.

"Alright, everypony! That's the lunch bell!" Lunch bell? Had she really been ignoring class for that long? As everypony, save for Bubblegum Pop and another, almost non-present pony, began to leave the classroom, Vinyl and Break Beat came to the little brown Earth filly's desk, where she sat motionless.

"Hey, ya there?" Vinyl waved her hoof vigorously in front of the pony. "It's lunch time, so why don't ya...ya know...get up and go to lunch?" She walked around for a moment and sighed.

"Because I can't find my way. The halls, they're so black...everything is black to my eyes. The fillies, Bubblegum Pop and her friends...they call me Sight Reader, like it's some sort of joke." She tilted her head down. "I only found my way to the classroom because my mom guided me here..."

Break Beat placed a hoof on the stranger's shoulder. "Well, we'll take you to the lunchroom. It isn't really that far, so no worries!" Break Beat held the filly's hoof and helped her down. "What's your name again? I wasn't really paying attention during roll call, sorry." Break Beat was a very straightforward pony when he wanted to be. "I'm Break Beat, and my friend is Vinyl Scratch." 

"Those are wonderful names, both of them! Well...nopony here has ever asked me for my name, 'cept for the teacher. I'm Glissando."

"Well, Gliss...can I call ya that?" Vinyl requested.

"Oh, sure, Vinyl..." Gliss answered.

"Well, Gliss, I know what'll cheer ya up: Some good food! That always cheers me up!" Vinyl spoke as she followed Break Beat and Gliss out of the room and to lunch.

"Did I tell you about how me and my family went ice skating in Germaneigh this summer? So exotic..."

"Has anyone else heard that Vinyl Scratch threw that pink pony against a wall?"

"What's for lunch today? More hay bacon strips and a daffodil and daisy sandwich? Just like the end of last year..."

Words flooded the cafeteria. Though it was a specialized school - only musicians and the immediate family of musicians could attend - the population of the school was easily over three hundred, and every single one of those three hundred ponies had gathered in the room all at once. It was a wonder anypony got served, Vinyl thought to herself as she got in line behind her old best friend and her new acquaintance. 

"Hey, no cutting!" A turquoise filly, at least three grades older than Vinyl, pushed a black pony who tried to force his way in front of her. This school was renowned for the quality of its classes...but students change every year.

"So, Gliss..." Break Beat broke the awkward silence that had engulfed their little group. "I haven't seen you around here...are you new?" He turned to Gliss, as if he could be seen.

"My parents and I moved here in June...they said they needed a change of scenery from Vanhoover." Break Beat's jaw dropped. 

"You came all the way from Vanhoover!? But that's on the other side of Equestria!" Break Beat was practically shouting, to the point where Gliss felt the need to cover an ear.

"Yes...but they can manage...they have the money." Gliss replied weakly.

"You said Bubblegum Pop called you Sight Reader..." As Break Beat said the name, Gliss couldn't help but whimper. "But you only just moved here in June. How'd you meet her?"

"Well, my family and I were visiting a musical performance that featured my younger cousin Lyra...every pony in my family plays a stringed instrument, and hers is the lyre. But that's not the point...apparently, Bubblegum Pop's half-sister was there, so her dad took her to see the musical...her half-sister and Lyra were decent friends at the time, so I tried to be friends with Bubblegum, but then she found out my eyes were broken...and she started calling me that mean name..." Break Beat gave Gliss a tight hug.

"Don't think about it too much. Bubblegum's always been kind of a jerk." Break Beat looked away from Gliss and found that he was in front of a selection of foods. "Hey, I guess it's our turn. What do you want, Gliss? They have milk, applesauce, hay bacon strips, daffodil and daisy sandwiches - yum."

"There better not be any mustard on them." Vinyl muttered to herself.

"That all sounds so good! I'll just have the milk and applesauce, though. I'm not really a pony that eats a lot." Break Beat gave Gliss a tray with her requested contents as Vinyl picked her own up.

"So, what do you play, Break Beat?" Gliss asked. As Break Beat explained his family's long tradition of percussion playing, Vinyl chose her lunch - every item.

Once the group had reach the checkout mare, who was wearing the cafeteria staff's mandatory mane net, each of the three pulled out a hoof full of bits.

"Two bits." She demanded this from Gliss, and Gliss paid.

"Five bits." She told Break Beat, and Break Beat paid.

When she saw Vinyl's full plate, she told her:

"I'll need seven bits for that lunch." Vinyl opened her mouth a bit out of shock and shook her head.

"Well, see...I only brought five bits to school today, so if I could get a little compassion, and see ya pay just two bits for a poor filly's meal, I'd be real grateful." This didn't work the last year, and it wouldn't that year.

"Seven bits or take the hay bacon strips back." Vinyl sighed and motioned to place the bacon back in its tray in the food line.

"Now, have a nice day." The mare smiled, not noticing that Vinyl had hidden some of the bacon that was left on the tray into her saddle bag via her magic.

"Now, where do you two want to sit?" Break Beat felt like taking charge today. Vinyl wondered why for a moment before finally noticing the snare drum on his flank. Suddenly, she realized that she was the odd one out. Again. She sighed and trotted up to Break Beat and Gliss and pointed out an empty table in the northwest corner of the cafeteria.

"We could sit over there, it looks like nopony's got that table." Vinyl told each of her friends this, and together, they made their way to the vacant seats.

Once the three cohorts had sat down at their table, they began to eat. 

Vinyl took a bite out of her sandwich and grunted. "Stale bread. Just my freaking luck!" She yelled. "Anyways," she said as she set her food down, "What did you do this summer, Break Beat? You know, other than getting your cutie mark..."

"Oh, you noticed? It's wonderful, isn't it? One day, I was playing along to a Hay-Z song, and the next day, I woke up, and there it was!" He beamed. Vinyl loved it when he beamed; it made her feel like she could almost feel the warmth of his smile. 

"Hay-Z? Who's he? A rocker?" Vinyl had never heard of Hay-Z before - surprising, since his album was playing all over the radio at the time. 

"No? Dang, Vinny, you need to stop hanging around with your parents and listen to some real music. You're probably fifty years behind the times with all the jazz your dad pumps into your head, you know that?"

"Yeah...I guess so..." Vinyl reluctantly took another bite out of her sandwich. "Hey, Gliss. You're a musician, yeah? What do ya play?"

"Well, I play the harp, just like my dad. I know...it sounds crazy, getting your talents from your parents, but I guess it all works out, you know?" Gliss swallowed a spoonful of applesauce.

"You can play the harp? But h-" 

"Vibrations. I can feel the notes crawl up my hooves. And my eyes have only been broken for three or so years, so when they broke, I already knew how to play." Glissando cut Break Beat off. "And I know this might sound silly, but sometimes I think I can almost see the strings, like they're in my soul, as a piece of me."

"Wow...that sounds incredible." Vinyl replied, taking a crunchy bite out of a bacon strip. "What do they look like?"

Glissando paused for a moment, and the indistinct conversations around them began to flood the air. "They look like little beams of light...my parents tell me I have a crazy imagination, but I'm sure that when I play long enough, I see them..."

"Well I believe you. Do you, Vinyl?" Break Beat turned to Vinyl. The music is in her soul... Vinyl thought silently to herself. What's the sound of mine? What does it look like? So many questions... 

"Hey, Vinny! You there?" Break Beat yelled in her ear. Suddenly, her mind flew back into reality.

"Uhh, y-yeah, Breaker. And yeah, Gliss, I believe ya..." She opened up her milk carton and took a sip.

"Hey, something wrong? You haven't been talking much today." Vinyl felt a hoof touch her own, that of Break Beat's. She pulled away immediately and exclaimed:

"Nothing's wrong! Why would something be wrong!?" 

"Well, I don't know, you just seem kinda zoned out."

"Well I'm fine, Breaker."

The rest of Vinyl Scratch's lunch was relatively silent, as her thoughts raced through her, too many thoughts for a filly to handle. After a few moments, she simply stopped thinking and listened to Break Beat and Glissando's conversation until the end of lunch. Once the lunch bell had rung, each of the students in Ms. Cantata's class traveled in a beeline to the band room. 

Each of the school's nineteen band rooms were just as large and full of potential as the last, containing over twenty instruments per room, specialized for each classroom. This year, Ms. Cantata's class was specially designated to practice all of their music in Music Room #8. Vinyl once asked her parents how the school was able to afford all of their "crazy stuff", as she called it, and they simply told her that "Fillydelphia pays for everything". That came as an honest shocker to her, naturally.

Each of Ms. Cantata's students scattered to their respective instruments the second they entered the room, save for Gliss, who was guided by Break Beat to her harp personally. Everypony except Vinyl, that is, who seemed to simply float by the door as though she was lost.

"Why does she even come to this school if she's not a musician?" Bubblegum spoke into her active microphone, and at least five other ponies nodded in agreement.

"She should just drop out."

"She'll never be as good as her parents."

Vinyl turned to the door and shed a tear. As she did so, in came Ms. Cantata, who placed a slightly wrinkled hoof on Vinyl's head. Tilting down to Vinyl, she spoke:

"Now, Vinyl, don't let her get to you. You're a musician through and through - you just don't know how yet. You know, lots of ponies in the music business don't even play music. They write it. Beautiful music. I'm sure you could, too, if you tried." She turned her attention to Bubblegum Pop.

"And as for you, little filly, put down your microphone and sit in the corner for today. You've been very mean to little Vinyl." Bubblegum followed her teacher's orders, tossing the seventy-five-bit microphone on the ground like a trinket and sitting in a chair in the loneliest corner of the band room.

"Now, everypony else." Ms. Cantata picked up her own microphone and spoke. "We're all going to perform Beethoofen's Sonata No. 14 in two months. They call it the Lunar Sonata. I'll be passing around the sheet music for each of your respective instruments in just a moment." She trotted over to her desk and pulled out a rather large stack of papers before walking around the room, handing two or three sheets to each pony. When she reached Gliss' papers, she walked to the harp and whispered to her.

"I'm sorry, Glissando, but we don't have any braille sheets. I'll try to get some very soon...you can manage, can't you?" Glissando replied:

"I'll manage...I can always improvise until they're ready. Thanks a lot, Ms. Cantata..."

"Anything for a student of mine." She walked off to the next student, Tremolo Pick, while words became muffled in Vinyl's mind. She should just drop out. She'll never be as good as her parents. The daughter of Mezzo Soprano and Paradiddle... The words rang through her head. Noticing his friend losing herself again, Break Beat left his Coltland V-Stage drum kit and went to her side. 

"Vinyl, really, you can tell me what's wrong. I'm your friend, right?"

"Everyone has to make me sound like I have to be like my mom and dad, and I don't even wanna be! All the music here is boring and old, just like my parents. I could be an awesome musician like you, but I'm just not...I can't even play a dumb chord on a stupid guitar." She burst out and shed a small tear that nearly went unnoticed on her off-white face, her breathing starting to accelerate.

"Please don't cry, Vinyl. I can hear you crying, and I don't like the sound." Glissando's voice shot through the air at Vinyl.

"I'm really sorry, you two...I'm just going to sit in the corner...again." Vinyl walked over to the corner of the room opposite Bubblegum Pop and listened to the cacophony of notes clashing against each other that came from all directions. The one good thing about not being able to play an instrument, she thought for a moment, was that she wouldn't take part in the chaos. After a while, the discord settled down, and each instrument grew closer and closer to synchronization, before, at last, they formed a harmony that resonated deep within Vinyl.

After about ninety minutes of the endless song, the final school bell rang, and Vinyl, Break Beat, Gliss, and everypony else went back to Ms. Cantata's room to gather their saddle bags before heading out to go home. As always, Vinyl and Break Beat had stayed and talked until nearly everyone had left.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Break Beat had asked Glissando.

"Yeah...my mom will be here soon, and she'll get me out. You guys just have a great day, okay?" Gliss smiled at both of the young ponies. Whether she knew it or not, her smile was absolutely gorgeous - however, there wasn't a point in telling her. At least, that's what Vinyl and Break Beat would later agree on.

Together, Vinyl and Break Beat left the door of Ms. Cantata's classroom, and then, together, they left the school, re-entering the vast world of Fillydelphia.

"So..." Break Beat began to ask Vinyl as they exited the school. "Wanna go someplace? Home is so boring." Vinyl finally let out a laugh and nodded.

"Yeah." She smiled at Break Beat. "Let's go."


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Verse


The city of Fillydelphia was a bustling one, to say the least. Horse-drawn carriages flooded streets lined with tourists and residents alike. A plume of smoke rose in the distance, the sure sign of the Friendship Express pulling into the train station. The entire city gave off a strange feeling of nostalgia through its tourist attractions, mainly through places like the Flanklin Institute and the Fillydelphia Zoo, the first public zoo in the history of eastern Equestria. As Vinyl and Break Beat stepped out into this world, they couldn't help but feel overcome by the choices of destination. So many places, and only a few hours to visit them before their parents - or at least, Break Beat's parents, went berserk with worry. After crossing the street back onto Thunderhoof Road from the school, Break Beat made a suggestion.

"Y'know, my parents always hold my hoof when we go out in public." His blue cheeks went purple with blush for a moment. "Maybe we should? I-I-I mean for safety, of course. Wouldn't wanna get lost out there, you know?" His faithful friend smiled and tilted her head, looking into his eyes crookedly.

"Nah! I'll be fine!" Vinyl struck Break Beat's shoulder lightly with a hoof. "I'm tougher than I look, ya know! Now, where should we go first? The Museum? I know it sounds boring, but there's somepony there I think ya'd like to see! We'll go there, and when we're done, we can just hang around town. Don't worry, I'll get ya home on time...maybe." After rubbing the wound from Vinyl's blow, which was, much like herself, tougher than it seemed, Break Beat took a moment to smile. There it was - the infamous rebellious spirit of the filly Vinyl Scratch. Behind all of her momentary lapses of self-control, it'd always been there.

"That sounds great, Vinny. When do you wanna-"

"Right now, duh! Come on!" Vinyl began to gallop down the sidewalk, and Break Beat followed suit. Vinyl was fast - no, very fast. Everypony in class knew that much. The way she could maneuver her way through crowds was unmatched even by the Earth colts she knew, most likely as a result of the intense amount of running she had done after being caught sneaking into umpteen buildings. Of course, she did have her off days. That morning in particular was strange for Vinyl - she'd never been so clumsy. Perhaps it was the stress of the previous night, and perhaps it was the anticipation she had due to the fact that she was about to see her best friend for the first time in months.. She wasn't really sure, and she didn't really care.

"Come on Vinny, wait up!" Vinyl stopped dead in her tracks to check behind her, where, a good twenty feet away, Break Beat was still catching up. After a good three or four seconds, he caught up to his restless friend. 

"Seriously, Breaker, ya gotta learn to pick up your pace! We only have a few hours before your parents totally lose it, remember?" Vinyl tapped her hoof on the ground with impatience.

"Yeah, I know. But please, Vinny, can you slow down?" A pant escaped Break Beat as he tried to catch his breath. You'll get on a lot of nerves if you just run in the way of everypony!" "Vinny" exhaled strongly.

"Okay, fine. If that's what ya want. Come on, let's go to the museum." 

Together, the two ponies made their way slowly to the turn back onto Starswirl Street, talking and laughing along the way. 

"So, my brother had another gig last month." Break Beat had turned to Vinyl as they walked. His brother, Blast Beat, was a bit of a metalhead, but had been trying to branch out from the drums, despite the fact that he already had his cutie mark. He was a bit of a nut, or at least to Break Beat. 

"Oh, Celestia. What instrument did he play this time?" Vinyl had smirked.

"Guitar. He broke two strings, and at the end of the show, he just tossed it in the air, broke it into a million pieces. He's such a numbskull!" Breaker had let out a laugh that would've filled the streets, had they been empty.

However, as the two turned onto Starswirl Street, they each remembered simultaneously that the streets were not, in fact, empty. Starswirl Street was booming, as usual. Businessponies trotted down the streets to their latest appointments while a group of socialite mares wearing the newest dresses approved by the up-and-coming fashion critic, Hoity Toity, gawked at passersby that they deemed "unfashionable", completely ignoring the fact that many of these passersby were not wearing clothes in the first place. When looking out at Fillydelphia, which had sported a population of over thirty thousand - the third-highest in Equestria, Breaker's suggestion to hold hooves made perfect sense; somepony could easily get lost.

"Everypony seems really busy today," Break Beat observed. "I wonder if the Museum is going to be this crowded." Vinyl chuckled. 

"Did ya really just use the words 'crowded' and 'museum' in the same sentence? Nah, it's not gonna be crowded, but it's gonna be noisy! Now come on, let's go!" Vinyl sped up to a slow trot, passing by the residential buildings of Starswirl Street as Breaker followed. Ignoring the turn onto Skyfang Lane, the duo found themselves in the first business area of Starswirl Street. Skyfang, was, as everypony knew, the captain of the Wonderbolts. Remembering a conversation about the Wonderbolts he had once heard, Break Beat struck one of his own.

"You know what I heard?" Breaker exclaimed as the trotted down the sidewalk. "I heard that Skyfang Street is named after the captain of a team of Pegasi called the Wonderbolts! Isn't that an awesome name?"

"Yeah, yeah. But Skyfang is getting old. He doesn't have more than five years left in him. There's even a rumor that the newbie, Spitfire, is gonna take over. That's what my dad's friend said, anyway." Break Beat let out a sigh and cantered up to Vinyl's side.

"Your parents and their friends are the only ponies you ever hang out with. Don't you wanna play with me, Vinny?" Break Beat tilted his head down, obviously distraught. With a touch of her hoof against his chin, Vinyl responded:

"Ya think I don't wanna hang out with ya? No, no no no! It's my parents, they've never let me see anypony. But I couldn't try to tell them to, they think I'm just a dumb foal or som'n. You're an awesome bud, Breaker. Don't forget it." Vinyl let a warm smile escape her, something she only showed to her closest friend.

"Okay, Vinny. You know, you've gotta talk to them sometime, they're taking over your life!" Vinyl stopped in her tracks.

"Yeah," she said. "I know. It's not your problem, though!" She smiled. "Now c'mon, let's go already! Enough hold-ups!" She trotted down the seemingly endless sidewalk. As the two traveled together, they noticed a pair of ponies outside a local bar.

"Ms. Moonshine, I think you've had enough," the indigo mare said to the younger, light blue mare, who held a mug of cider in her hoof. 

"Are you kidding!?" The mare with the mug of cider on her flank rejoined. "I'm only half-through with my fourth, I can go for at least another three cans. Ya wanna make a big deal about it? You wanna fight?" She spoke slurred words, swinging her free hoof around wildly.

"Umm...no? I just think that you..." The words faded out as the young pair of unicorns laughed and walked away. For a fleeting moment, as Vinyl and Break Beat passed an alley, Break Beat thought he could see the figure of a little pony in the narrow crevice. Shaking the sight off, Breaker turned to his companion and asked. 

"How much further until we get to the Museum? My hooves are killing me!" 

"Well, there's the radio tower, so it should be..." She pointed her hoof at the tower and trailed off to the left. "Right there!" She settled her hoof in midair, directed at a large building checkered with panes of glass that varied in color. Break Beat and Vinyl never ceased to be amazed by the building which seemed to shine with every color in the spectrum when the sun struck it. The Fillydelphian Museum of Modern Music was without a doubt the greatest sight in the city, and everypony knew it. "Just a little further! C'mon!" Vinyl galloped away as she had always done when excited, and with a sigh, Breaker followed.

"Hey, you're that jerk filly from this morning!" Vinyl heard a voice and skidded to a halt, at which point Break Beat was able to catch up. After turning around, Vinyl found herself in front of a familiar green stallion, who seemed perfectly comfortable approaching a little pony with hostility in the air.

"And who are ya s'posed to be?" Vinyl lowered her eyes with disinterest. "I'm sorry, but I've gotta get to the Museum over there." Again, she pointed her hoof to the multicolored building. "There's a pony there that I've gotta introduce my friend to." She pointed to Break Beat, who was catching his breath.

"I'm the pony that lost a perfectly good sandwich to you this morning! And I don't care where you're going, you owe me, you little thief! You know, you're lucky I don't find out who your parents are and-"

"Their names are Mezzo Soprano and Paradiddle. Give 'em a call if ya want, it's not like I care one way or the other. And for the record, you've been holding this sandwich thing against me all day? Sounds like you're wasting your time." Vinyl cut him off for her own half of the speech.

"Mezzo Soprano? Paradiddle? So you're the punk daughter of those two? You'd think they of all ponies would be able to teach a foal some manners." He muttered the latter statement under his breath loudly enough to allow Vinyl to hear every heavily enunciated word.

"Yeah, ya think they would. Now stop worrying about that sandwich. Break Beat, ya mind giving this oaf a few bits? I'll give ya double back, my parents' treat." Breaker pulled a small bag of bits out of his saddle bag with his mouth and tossed it to the stallion.

"You can't use magic? At your age? Seriously?" The green pony asked Break Beat, disappointed at the colt's disuse of magic.

"Oh, I can use magic. I just don't want to waste any on some stranger. There's about fifteen silver bits in that bag. You can get tons of sandwiches with them. Now, leave my friend alone, or I'll show you what kind of magic I can use." He spoke with an over-dramatic confidence.

"Oh, that's just not going to do it." The agitated stallion telekinetically lifted his new bag of bits to his side. "I've got to teach your friend a lesson about stealing." Vinyl laughed off the farcical notion. 

"Well, you'll have to get me first!" The boisterous filly galloped off toward the Museum, leaving Break Beat behind.

"Oh, I don't think so." The green unicorn started to give chase to Vinyl before being stopped in his tracks by Break Beat, who would have nearly slammed his face against the pursuer's own had he not been the cautious pony he was.

"Don't you think you should give her a head start?" Break Beat's horn glowed light blue for a split second before releasing a small burst of pure force, knocking the stallion onto his back. Seeing Vinyl galloping away, he cantered off to her, leaving the shocked victim of sandwich theft to recompose himself on his own.

"Hey Vinyl, slow down! I don't think he's going to come after us after all!" Break Beat called to his friend, who turned around.

"Really?" She replied simply. "What did ya do?"

"Pulled out a trick my brother taught me at one of his gigs. Invisible energy wave, great for hitting drums in case you drop a stick." 

"Nice! Ya better show it to me sometime!" The two bumped hooves and picked up where they left off on their little journey. The rest of the walk to the Museum didn't include further disruptions or detours, thankfully for them, though Break Beat did at one point find that a pigeon had "done its business" on him, which Vinyl must've found to be the most amusing thing in Equestria, as she fell to the ground in laughter.

As they continued to walk, thoughts swarmed Vinyl Scratch's mind. "You'd think they of all ponies would be able to teach a foal some manners", that stallion had said. Another pony trying to take away any thoughts of me being my own pony. What's so great about Mom and Dad? The unicorn was beginning to grow weary of the thoughts she harbored behind closed doors.

When the two arrived at the Museum, the first things they noticed, as always, were the rays of refracted light that bounced off of each colored glass pane and hit the ground, which allowed the stone the the friends stood on to erupt in a gorgeous makeshift rainbow, tantalizing each of them for a moment. As always, Vinyl was the one to shatter the calming atmosphere around them.

"Hey, Equestria to Breaker! It's your pal, Vinyl! C'mon, let's go! She flailed a front hoof in front of Break Beat's face, snapping him out of his trance.

"Sorry, the lights are-"

"They're just lights. C'mon." Suddenly, Vinyl had lost the pep in her voice, a fact that Break Beat noticed almost immediately.

"What's wrong, Vinny? You know, that stallion back there was just-"

"He was relating me to my parents. Why does everypony have to do that? They're my parents, big whoop! I'm a pony too. I mean, why am I just the daughter of Mezzo Soprano and Paradiddle to everypony? Can you tell me?" 

She said "you." She never says "you." The thought struck Break Beat with the force of a hammer. What was more troubling to Breaker was that, for the very first time, the sympathetic pony didn't have an answer for the questions his friend was asking. 

"I'm not sure..." His voice trailed off à la Morning Aria.

"I didn't think you'd know. C'mon, Breaker, let's go inside." Vinyl telekinetically opened the glass door that sat underneath an arch in the building and allowed Break Beat to enter the building first, a short breeze dancing through his mane as he entered. Vinyl followed suit, the air floating by her as well.

When the two ponies took their first steps onto the hardwood floor, they entered a special world, one that they felt only they could appreciate. Guitars hung from the west wall, basses from the east. In the distance, three hallways could be seen side-by-side, each leading to a different wing of the Museum, which was famous for the very strange detail in which it operated. For as long as the Museum had been open, guest exhibitions had been common - that is, rather than displaying new memorabilia, new ponies were displayed, giving lessons and demonstrations to any pony that paid a simple fee. 

"Good afternoon, little ponies!" A homely mare waved to Vinyl and Break Beat from behind a desk. "How'd you wander in here? Are you two lost?" Break Beat and Vinyl giggled at the question.

"Nah, we're not lost! I'm Vinyl Scratch, and this is my best bud Break Beat," Vinyl answered the inquisitive mare, her voice echoing throughout the room. "We're here for the guest!" The mare behind the counter was shocked, to say the least.

"Oh, but it'll be very loud in there, are you sure you want to-"

"Look, lady, we just walked a couple miles to get here. I think we wanna see the guest." The pressure of the day must be getting to her. The thought rested in Break Beat's mind as the mare began to respond.

"Well, if you're sure, it's ten bits." 

"Ten bits? Breaker? I promise I'll pay ya back." She never did. Break Beat frowned for a second before pulling another small bag of bits out of his saddle bag and tossing it to the front desk. Everypony talking about her parents must be getting to her again, he thought to himself.

After opening up Breaker's bag and counting the bits inside, the teal mare pointed to the leftmost of the three hallways to the north. "That's the rock music wing. That's where the guest is. Just follow the sound of drums and you'll get to the guest. And please, for the love of Celestia, don't touch anything. Somepony tried to steal Power Chord's guitar a few months back and it was all over the news."

"No prob, miss. Ya won't even know we were here." Vinyl smirked and turned to Break Beat. "Now c'mon, Breaker, let's go." She feigned enthusiasm as she smiled at her friend and led him down the west wing of the Museum.

The west wing was, without a doubt, the most famous in the Museum, gathering over fifty thousand visitors per years, as opposed to the thirty-three thousand that visited the blues wing and the minuscule sixteen thousand who somehow found the jazz wing to be enjoyable. At the time, an electronic music wing was in the works, but nopony truly expected anything to come out of it. 

As Vinyl and Breaker traveled through the first hallway in silence, they each gazed at every piece of memorabilia that the establishment had to offer. Picks, guitars, drumsticks, clothing - the Museum seemed to have everything. The further they traveled, the more prominent the sounds of wood clattering against copper violently. His eyes filled with wonder, Breaker turned to Vinyl and asked:

"So, who's the guest? Is it Tom Tom? Or Double Kick? Who is it? You've gotta tell me!" 

"Oh, none o'them. But I'm sure the two of ya are gonna love each other!" Vinyl laughed for a moment and smiled at Break Beat. When they reached the second hallway, one lined with doors leading to different eras of rock history, the sound of drums pounding began to fill their ears, and once they had traced the origin of the sound to the third and final door on the right, labeled "EXHIBITION ROOM", Break Beat opened it slowly.

Inside, in the corner of the claustrophobia-triggering room, pounding away at an impossibly large kit from atop a drum throne, was a stallion who boasted a dark crimson coat and a spiked white mane, accompanied by a small crowd of spellbound ponies who sat in silence from their wooden seats. Three seats in the back row were left unoccupied, and after noticing this, Vinyl led Break Beat to them, their legs bumping into those of audience members. After getting to their chairs, the two ponies rested their saddle bags on the floor and sat down.

Taking a seat after all of the walking the two had done was a relief for the both of them, as if they could just sink into their chairs and float away to a calmer world. However, being in the same room as a drummer meant that was not going to happen anytime soon. As Break Beat became entranced with every beat the drummer played, Vinyl found herself trying to think. She always did, in the end. When did the loneliness start? When did her parents begin to suck her into their world? Oh yeah...a memory returned. Not the beginning, yet so close...

"Vinyl!" Her mother, in her distinctly Canterlot manner, had called up the marble staircase. "Be a dear and come down here!" The upper-class accent bounced off of each and every wall it could, creating a long reverberating sound.

"What is it, Mom? I'm about to listen to a new record Breaker gave me!" The high-pitched voice of Mezzo Soprano's daughter did not reverberate in the way her mother's had; her door was closed, as it had so often been. Vinyl wasn't one to relate to her parents - their taste in music and hers were too different.

"I hope your little friend has chosen some quality music rather than the usual rubbish he infects your mind with." Again, the ostentatious voice danced its way upward to Vinyl's door, filling the main hall with sound. The sound of a doorknob creaking reach Mezzo's ears, and the high-pitched voice echoed:

"It's not rubbish! It's one of Breaker's favorite bands, so it's fine!"

"Yes, because he has such a fine ear."

"Well, I think he does! So just let me listen to it, okay Mom?" Vinyl's tone had grown a bit more harsh.

"I am your mother and you will refer to me as such, young filly!"

"Heh. Make me." The door slammed, and in just a few seconds, the muffled sound of distorted guitars and heavy drums flooded the entire 2nd floor of the house. 

"This nonsense again," Mezzo muttered to herself as she stomped up the staircase. "Vinyl Scratch, that music is tripe and you and I are both completely aware of it!" No reply. 

When Mezzo reached Vinyl's door, the sound of aggressive, near-unintelligible vocals filled the angry mother's ears.

"Vinyl! Turn that nonsense off this instant! Your father is trying to sleep!" This, as Vinyl was well aware of, was a complete fabrication. Her father was a very punctual stallion, even making a point to go to sleep at a designated time - 10:42 P.M. sharp - Vinyl wasn't sure why he chose 10:42, but then, she wasn't sure of many things when it came to her father. At that moment, it was 8:35 P.M., and it was because of this that Vinyl was able to pick up on Mezzo's lie immediately.

"He's not asleep, prolly just reading or som'n." Vinyl's reply was as apathetic as ever.

"Well, that doesn't change the fact that you need to turn that ridiculous mess you call 'music' off!" Mezzo Soprano opened Vinyl's door and made her way to the record player by the bed where Vinyl had pushed her face deep inside a pillow.

"No more of this nonsense. I'm taking this record and the phonograph. From now on, you will only listen to proper music." 

"For the hundredth time, Mom, it's called a turntable, and Break Beat got me that for my birthday!" Vinyl looked away and muttered as her mother grabbed the device and began to walk off.

"And on that note, I don't want to hear any more about this...Break Beat." Once she found herself in the hallway, Mezzo Soprano slammed the door of the bedroom. As she opened up the stairway to the dilapidated attic to store Vinyl's only real possession, a tear streamed down the filly's face like honey.

The last record Break Beat ever got her. That's what it was. The last song she'd heard that reminded her of the only colt who truly understood her. Her tear reached across time and flowed down her left cheek once more - thank Celestia Break Beat was to her right. She wiped away the tear, and, after phasing back into the present day, was able to catch the ending of the guest's performance. As the pony's sticks slammed against a pair of cymbals for the final time, every pony in the room began to cheer, Break Beat included.

"Alright," the pony behind the drum kit said with a bit of exhaustion after wiping away a bead of sweat, "at this time, I'll be taking questions." Immediately, Break Beat's hoof, along with about four others, shot up.

"You, in the front." A yellow stallion smiled. 

"What was it like working on your new album with Flashbang?" The exuberant pony stuttered his way along the question. Break Beats eyes widened as he turned to Vinyl.

"That's Ballistic? From Flashbang?" He giggled like a foal in a candy store.

"Yup." Vinyl managed a smile, though she opted not to turn back to him, instead looking at the excited colt out of her peripheral vision. 

Questions piled up, ranging from "What was your favorite song from the new album?" to "Will you go out with me?" The answer to the latter was a bout of laughter from everypony who remained in the room. When it was finally Break Beat's turn, the Q&A had been going on for over half an hour, and everypony else had left. With enthusiasm, he asked his question:

"What kind of drums do you use?" A simple question, but after hearing the brightness of Ballistic's snare, Break Beat was dying to know.

"Horseshoe, of course! It's my company - well, my family's. My dad runs it." Breaker's smile grew tenfold.

"No way! That's my family's company! What's your name?" His calm voice suddenly grew excited.

"Well, everypony calls me Ballistic, but before I tell you my name, tell me yours." The red stallion raised an eye.

"I'm Break Beat."

"Oh, Gravity Roll's kid! I've heard about you! I'm Back Beat. I think Gravity and my dad are cousins, if I'm not mistaken." Vinyl let a smile spread across her face as Breaker trotted up to his idol.

"So my cousin is the best drummer ever? That's too cool! Can I maybe...hug you?" Breaker grinned.

"Sure, c'mere." The stallion embraced Break Beat, who was experiencing happiness to the point of laughter, with a hoof tightly before letting go. "Now, don't tell anypony I did that. You're my cousin, but I've still got a reputation."

"Can do! So, what's it like? Being a pro and all, I mean." Suddenly, Break Beat was able to regain some of his composure.

Back Beat's response became blurred in Vinyl's mind as thoughts took hold of her once more. It's good to see him act like a colt for once. Why the hay does he worry so much about me? I know we're friends and all, but the hoof-holding seemed kinda weird. Doesn't he know I can take care of myself? ...I can, can't I? I don't need Mom and Dad, I know I don't...but Break Beat...he feels different.

"So, we'll catch up later, okay Breaker?" Back Beat's voice halted Vinyl's train of thought. 

"Sure thing!" Vinyl saw the two ponies hug one more time.

"Oh, and Back Beat, this is my best friend Vinyl Scratch." Back Beat stared at the uncharacteristically listless pony's flank for a moment, taking a few seconds to laugh before walking toward her. 

"I remember when I got my cutie mark. Don't think too much about it, Vinyl. You'll get it sooner or later." He placed a hoof around her neck. "It's going to be great, you'll see." 

"Yeah, it'll be great." Vinyl broke her silence with the nearly-sarcastic response. "Breaker, ya ready to go?"

"Mhmm! Just let me get my saddle bag." Breaker was as cheery as he'd ever been. He pulled his bag over his back and Vinyl followed suit. After they were ready, the ponies headed to the door, and with a wave to Breaker's new family member, they left the room first, followed by the museum. When they exited the building, the two ponies were surprised to find that the sun had already started its descent. With a wordless nod, they began to canter back to Starswirl Street to hail a carriage. Of course, the pair still needed their energy, and by the time they had reached Skyfang Street they had run out. After searching for a place to rest, Vinyl settled for the alley the two had passed earlier.

"There's a little alley right here." For once, Break Beat could hear exhaustion in Vinyl's voice. "Let's hang out there until our legs decide not to give up on us."

"Agreed," Break Beat said, equally exhausted. The two ponies were able to find a place to sit in the crevice that wasn't completely filthy, though they had their backs against a brick wall - not the most comfortable place to rest, but a place nonetheless.

"I still can't believe my cousin is Ballistic!" Break Beat exclaimed.

"I know, it's pretty awesome, Break Beat." Vinyl replied.

"Break Beat? You're there?" A somber voice echoed from further down the alley, the remnants of its initial sound pouring out into the street before getting lost in a sea of bodies.

"I knew I recognized this alley. I saw it on the w-" Break Beat interrupted himself. "Wait. Gliss?"

"It is you! Hold on, I'll find my way to you!" Out of the shadows of the alley, Break Beat and Vinyl saw Glissando slowly edge her way along the wall and rushed to her.

"We're right here, Gliss." Break Beat comforted her with his voice and a hoof around her neck. "But why're you here? Shouldn't you be at home? I thought your mom was going to pick you up!" Gliss' head suddenly began to tilt downward.

"She never came. Ms. Cantata began to walk me home, but she started talking to this stallion who came rushing up to her. It sounded like he was in a big hurry, and he needed her back at the school, so she told me to wait. I didn't know where to go, so I came here! I think this is an alleyway..."

"It is. And Ms. Cantata just left you by yourself right in the middle of Fillydelphia? What's wrong with her? And why didn't your dad come for you?" Break Beat began to shout, prompting Gliss to cover an ear with her hoof.

"I think she's getting a little too old for that job of hers," Vinyl replied with a hint of irreverence. "No self-respecting adult leaves a little filly out here like this."

"Daddy's gone to Baltimare for a few performances...he won't be back for another three or four days."

"We've got to get you somewhere, Gliss. It's going to get really dark and cold soon. Vinyl, could she stay at your house for tonight?"

"Yeah, not only would I come home late, but I'd be with some strange pony they've never met or heard of. My parents would be so into that idea."

"Then I guess it's my house. Gliss, are you okay with that?" Glissando nodded "yes". "Alright then," Break Beat said. "Vinyl, we're not resting. We've got to get home before somepony tries to hurt Gliss." The sightless filly's head tilted even further down.

"I'm not any trouble, am I? You two should get your rest." Gliss pulled her head up and somehow managed to look Vinyl in the eyes.

"Breaker's got a point. We need to get ya out of here before some weirdo tries to get to ya. C'mon, both of ya. It's not totally dark, we can still get a carriage ride to Break Beat's house and drop you two off."

"What about you, Vinyl? Won't you stay with us?" Break Beat asked.

"I've gotta face the wrath of Mezzo Soprano, remember?" She sighed. "Now, like I said, c'mon." Break Beat held Gliss close and began to walk out of the alley with Vinyl in tow. After finding herself and the other two back on the street, Vinyl trotted in front of the two, taking charge of their group.

"Hey...did you hear about the murder?" 

"Oh dear...who was it this time?"

A pair of mares conversed only about ten feet from the trio. Ya'd think they would save this conversation for later, when there's not a couple of schoolponies right next to them, Vinyl thought to herself.

"She didn't have an ID with her...they don't know her name, but she was a pink mare with a blonde mane...she was on her way to the music school. The police said it was a magic-related death...she choked to death, but there wasn't a single mark anywhere on her." As tears welled up in Glissando's eyes, Vinyl led the other two away from the disturbing conversation. Noticing her deep breathing, Break Beat stopped walking and looked into Gliss' eyes, wiping away a tear. 

"Do you know who the pony - no..." Break Beat almost shed a tear himself. "It wasn't her, was it?"

"My mother...that's exactly what I remember her looking like...how Daddy always describes her." Break Beat held the filly close. 

Vinyl, we have to go get a carriage so I can take her home. She's had enough." Break Beat turned to the speechless filly.

"Alright, alright..." Vinyl paused for a moment. "I'll be right back with our ride. Just keep her safe." Vinyl galloped off like a bolt of lightning to find the nearest carriage while Break Beat attempted to calm Glissando, to no avail.

After a few moments of galloping down the street looking for her way home, Vinyl's legs finally began to give out. "Can anypony please get me a carriage? I need to get home." As she cried out, a carriage came from behind her, the sounds of wooden wheels rolling along the cement almost implanting itself into her ear. Once she had realized what was coming, she shouted again.

"Hey! Hey mister! I need a ride home, and so do my friends! Can ya stop the carriage?" With a tug of their reins, the ponies pulling the vehicle continued on slowly for a moment before decelerating. As the carriage came to a halt, Vinyl sighed in relief. The graphite-colored pony steering the carriage stepped down from his position atop the carriage and greeted Vinyl, who was easily less than half his height.

"Hey there, little pony, nice to meet you. Now, I've got two questions. My first question is: What are you doing out so late?"

"Listen, I just need ya to take me and my friends home. I went to the museum with one of 'em, and we had a blast, but on our way to get a carriage back home, we found our blind friend, and we're all basically positive that her mom just got killed this afternoon, so we need you to take us to our houses, alright?" She shot the words out as fast as she could manage, tripping on a few along the way." There was a brief moment of silence.

"Get in. I won't charge. Just get in." The stallion opened the door of the carriage and allowed Vinyl to get inside, shutting the door once she was situated and returning to his previous station as driver.

"Now, where are your friends?" He called back to her through an open window that rested in the wall in front of her seat.

"Just go the other way, you'll find 'em." Vinyl sat back in her leather seat and waited, worrying for both Gliss and herself. Sure enough, after a few minutes of driving, the stallion called at her again.

"Is that them?" He slowed down, allowing Vinyl to peer out of the window at a blue colt, sitting, holding a smaller filly close.

"That's them." Vinyl responded, and the carriage slowly came to a halt. Vinyl's door opened, and Break Beat spoke to Glissando outside the carriage.

"Hey, Gliss, Vinyl's here. We can go home now, kay?" He embraced Gliss, who had returned to her fit of crying, and got up on all fours, lending her a hoof as she slowly followed. "Come on," he said gently as he led her to the step that the door rested on. "Get in."

"Okay..." Gliss responded, almost silently, as, with Break Beat's assistance, she found her way inside the carriage, sitting adjacent to Vinyl. Once she had taken her seat, Break Beat did the same and shut the door.

"Now, where am I taking you three?" The stallion asked Vinyl.

"Cloudsdale Boulevard." Vinyl replied monotonously.

There was no speech for at least another twenty minutes, save for the occasional direction provided by Vinyl; Break Beat and Vinyl were too busy being concerned about their new friend to even consider talking. Even if they wanted to say something, how could they? What words could justify her experience? What could possibly be said to alleviate Gliss' distress? The two both pondered and pondered, but nothing seemed to emerge. No real solution. All either of the two knew was that they would have to wait, and simply hope for Glissando's mood to improve. During the entire forty-minute ride home, Break Beat couldn't help but hold Gliss close for comfort, as that seemed to be his only current solution of any sort.

When the carriage stopped in front of 23 Cloudsdale Boulevard, Vinyl breathed a heavy sigh. The day was finally about to be over. 

"Gliss, we're at my house. You can stay here until your dad gets home, okay?" Break Beat pulled away from the filly.

"Okay, Break Beat. And both of you, thank you so much..." Vinyl smiled ever-so-slightly and spoke:

"It's our pleasure, Gliss. Both of ya, have a great night." Break Beat replied:

"We will. Good night, Vinny."

"See ya, Breaker." Her two companions left with the slam of a door and began to travel down the path to Break Beat's home.

"Okay, driver. 57 Cloudsdale."

"Can do, ma'am." The wheels began to roll again. After only a short time, they had stopped, this time in front of Vinyl's house.

"Thanks for your help, mister. Couldn't have got home without ya, and I know Gliss appreciates it." Vinyl opened up the carriage door and made her way out.

"Anything for a cute filly like yourself. Now have a good night." She nodded wordlessly at the stallion. "C'mon boys, the night's almost over." The driver lashed his reins and the two ponies he steered went into a canter. Once they had completely left Vinyl's field of vision, she walked slowly down the cobblestone path to the door of her home and opened it.

Inside, as if she wasn't expecting it, were both of her parents. Her mother, looking infuriated, walked straight up to Vinyl, gave her a deathly stare, and asked a question Vinyl had seen coming since the moment she had left school:

"Where have you been?"

Apparently, this was going to be an even longer and worse evening than Vinyl had expected.
> Drop
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Drop


Vinyl had just arrived at home after a particularly stressful day. If it wasn't enough to have been late to class on the first day of school, she was humiliated in front of her class by an obnoxious filly, confronted by a melodramatic sandwich aficionado, haunted by an old memory, and essentially thrown into a young foal's increasingly bleak life. At this point, there was nothing more that she wanted than to hop into her bed and sleep for at least a full day. However, apparently, that wasn't what was going to happen. Instead, she found herself in a staring contest with her own mother, and she wasn't exactly sure why.

The tension in the air became apparent; not a sound escaped anypony or anything for upwards of fifteen seconds. Vinyl wasn't sure of how to break it - should she answer the question or avoid it, as she had always done? That was her first question. Her second, of course, was the question of whether her mother would believe the truth. After all of the question-dodging and lying, did Mezzo Soprano even believe Vinyl had the capacity to tell the truth? Perhaps, she thought for a moment, she'd get a cutie mark in deception. What could I do with a cutie mark in deception? Vinyl thought about that for a brief moment. Maybe I could be a spy. The thought came to her before halting. Vinyl, you're getting off track. The filly turned away and let out a sigh unconsciously.

"Well?" Vinyl's mother simply shouted right in her daughter's face with no apparent sign of compunction. "You were to arrive here over three hours ago! Your dinner is cold!" 

So, it looks like tonight is going to be another one of those nights, Vinyl thought to herself. After turning back to her mother, she decided on the course of action she would take and responded:

"As if I was s'posed to know that! Neither of you two even bothered to say 'bye' when I left! You made me late because you wouldn't bother to wake me up on time!" Vinyl quickly retorted. It was true - Her parents had been completely inattentive that morning, and they both knew it. "Do you even know what I've been through today?"

"I hardly think the events of your day have any impact on this conversation." 

"You really don't have a clue, Mom." Vinyl almost cried. Almost.

"I am your mother-"

"And you will refer to me as such, young filly! Save it, Mom." Vinyl grunted.

"Come on, you two, can't you both calm down?" Paradiddle broke his silence and walked to the feuding dam and filly, separating them with a basic barrier spell.

"Now what, pray tell, was that for?" Mezzo asked the question almost sarcastically.

"For getting right in Vinyl's face, dear. You don't have to antagonize her or anything - that goes for you too, Vinyl." He pointed a hoof at the little unicorn. "I'm sure she's got a good explanation. Now, Vinyl. What have you been through today?"

Vinyl had wished her father would ask that for quite a while. With a deep breath, the filly began to pace around the floor in an attempt to somehow gather her thoughts. Should I tell them the truth? She suddenly realized how often the thought came to her during talks with her parents. Yeah, this time, they should know. She stopped walking and turned to her parents.

"I had to steal to get breakfast. When I got to school...late, I should add, I couldn't even afford my lunch with the bits you gave me!" She turned to Paradiddle. "So I stole a little bit of my lunch, too! I got put down by Bubblegum Pop - that jerk filly from last year, you might remember her. Or you might not care enough to remember her." She turned to her apathetic mother. "And when me and Break Beat left school to go to the Museum, we almost got chased by the same stallion I stole my breakfast from!"

"Well, Vinyl, it sounds like you have a bit of a problem with taking things that aren't yours." Paradiddle gently inserted himself into her speech.

"I'm not done yet! Do you know what happened on my way home with Breaker? We found a filly from school - a blind filly. In an alley. And we had to be there to find out that her mom died. And after all this crap, I got home. I just wanted to go to bed, but no! You have to get right in my face and talk to me like I'm a bad pony!" Vinyl wasn't aware of it at all, but at this point, she was screaming.

"Now, Vinyl, when you said 'me and Break Beat', I believe you meant 'Break Beat and I'. And speaking of Break Beat, didn't I once tell you not to mention that faux musician's name in my presence?" Vinyl's mother questioned her as if she had a reason to antagonize her daughter.

"Mom, did you even listen to what I just said? Somepony's mother died, and you're going to correct my grammar and tell me what to do? Do you even care about what makes me upset?" Vinyl paused. "Or do you just hear the things that make you want to hate me? Is that it? Do you just want to hate me?"

"Vinyl, just calm down. Your mother doesn't hate you. " Paradiddle walked her way and attempted to hold his daughter in an embrace, but was brushed aside by her hoof.

"Don't hug me. I'm tired of you guys already. If you'll excuse me, I'm going up to my room." Vinyl started to make her way up the stairs.

"Don't go yet, Vinyl! What I need - what we all need right now is some calming music." Paradiddle telekinetically moved the needle on the gramophone in the nearby kitchen onto an already-placed vinyl record. The ambient sounds of a synthesizer filled the room before being overshadowed by those of a piano player dancing along keys in some magnificent harmony. Once the piano had been properly introduced, a percussion beat came into play. With the sound of a short drum fill, everything came together. Still, the music seemed empty; the instruments were alone, with nothing to follow - that is, until the saxophone came in to guide the rhythm. Everything together in harmony, perfectly in sync...somehow, the music reached even Vinyl's mother, whose hostility seemed to melt away like butter.

However, as the two parents always seemed to fail to notice, it didn't reach Vinyl. From the moment the sound of the synthesizer had started to fill the room, the filly had been cringing in disgust and only grew more irritated as it continued, standing stagnantly halfway up the staircase. "You seriously think that's what I need?" She questioned her father as the music in the background began to crescendo.

"Well, it always helped me to calm down," he answered. Vinyl didn't allow him to breathe before coming back down to ground level and speaking.

"It always helped you. That's the thing, dad! You apply everything to yourself! Y'know, maybe I don't like that jazz stuff as much as you! And same with you!" Vinyl pointed her hoof directly at her mother. "I don't care about opera and classical music!" She placed a hoof on her forehead. "That junk is so boring! I can't listen to a single minute of music that either of you like because it just puts me to sleep, and you don't even notice! Have either of you even begun to consider the fact that my taste in music could be different?"

The sound of strings were all that was left. Neither of her parents seemed to have anything to say for a moment. As Vinyl expected, her mother was the one to break the silence.

"Vinyl, don't be absurd. Your maternal family is renowned as the greatest in both classical and neoclassical Equestrian music. Your great-grandmother was a renowned pianist in the New Romantic period. Your grandmother and her viola took a place at the forefront of the post-Romantic revival. My beautiful voice is famous all over Equestria! It's been over one hundred and fifty years since your maternal family hasn't spawned a proper musician, and that was simply because the poor mare was deaf in one ear. I'm more than positive that you will learn to enjoy continuing our tradition."

"No!" The little pony shook her head vigorously. "Have you seen what I do to your fancy instruments? I break everything!" Her mother lost herself in thought momentarily before replying.

"No matter! I'll train you to be an excellent singer like myself." 

"Or I could get my cousin to teach her! He was a great crooner back in the day." Paradiddle chimed back in.

"I can already tell this isn't going to go anywhere. Like I said, I'm going to my room. And don't you two come up here, I'm lockin'," Vinyl said with a touch of disappointment. 

Vinyl began to walk up the stairs once more as her parents, obviously having ignored her, began to argue over who would aid her in beginning her nonexistent singing career. The sound of hooves clacking against the marble got lost in a fusion of guitar chords and feckless conversation. Peering through a gap in the balusters at her parents from halfway up the stairs, the unicorn began to wonder if they would ever notice that she left. Once she reached the top of the staircase, she looked just once more at her bickering parents. They hadn't even looked away to check on her. She walked wordlessly down the second floor hallway for a short time, the sound of her parents exchanging heated words starting to fade away, before reaching her room. 

The sound of the door slamming behind her went as unnoticed by her parents as the filly herself. A click of the lock on her door was the first positive sound Vinyl had heard all night. As she entered her room, her first thought was to relieve herself of the burden of her saddle bag, and as such, she used a bit of magic to telekinetically toss it to her bedside.

Vinyl Scratch's room seemed to be her only remaining place of solace. On one side, her modest bed rested, awaiting her with warm black-and-white sheets that popped with the violet walls. Unused gramophone records sat against the bottom of the footboard, collecting the dust and depression in the air. When was the last time I saw those things spin? Vinyl saddened herself with the thought. She turned to her right where a vanity mirror sat atop a dresser filled with unnecessary clothes. All that thing is good for is getting my hair ready. I wonder why she even got those clothes. Vinyl swiped the thought aside and walked to her bedside, where she looked up at walls once covered in posters, now left blank.

I know she didn't want me listening to music, but did she have to take everything? Vinyl thought to herself. "Everything" wasn't exactly an understatement - Not only had she lost posters of her favorite artists and her turntable, which, for all intents and purposes, had left her vinyl records useless, but she had lost both her headphones and her pictures with Break Beat - everything went to the attic. Suddenly thinking about Break Beat after looking at her records, she thought to herself.

"I wonder how Break Beat and Gliss are. I bet they're having a great - wait. Yeah..." Vinyl's words faded away. "I hope she's okay. She seems kinda delicate." The unicorn walked to her window and looked out at the other side of her suburb. After scanning the houses for a few seconds, she made a decision.

"I've gotta see him. This place is getting old. Maybe after those two fall asleep?" Vinyl listened intently for the sounds of a continuing argument between her parents. Nothing. Are they already asleep? Vinyl wondered wordlessly. Whatever. I guess I should wait a little while just in case they aren't totally gone yet. With this thought, the unicorn walked back to her bedside and climbed in - but not after having to hoist herself up using her forelegs. Once in bed, she lay down, hitting her pillow with a thud and allowing her hair to splay outward as she finally allowed herself time to think.

Why don't they get it? I'm different from them, so what? It's not like that needs to be a big frickin' deal. Lots of ponies have different talents and interests than their parents. Vinyl looked up at her ceiling for a moment, gazing at each carefully painted star that attempted to shine in the darkness of her room. They were so bright, even though they weren't real stars...Vinyl let the thought resonate. Just because something isn't real, does that have to make it bad? Breaker's music is electronic, and it's insanely good. Maybe I'm more like him and less like my parents...

Break Beat and my parents. Why do I always put them together? They're totally different. He's a pretty laid back pony, really nice and caring, even if he is serious too much. Mom and Dad...I can't describe them. They're so frustrating, I can't stand 'em. What's with all the fighting about me anyway? A thought struck Vinyl. 

Wait...yeah. They're always arguing over what kind of musician I'm gonna be, like it's gonna benefit them. Maybe it does...maybe I'm just a source of profit for the family. Either way, Breaker is tons better than those two...we could take care of each other if it came down to it...just like that first time we met... The memory flooded her mind...

The air in a large playground was saturated with the laughter of fillies and colts, each eager to play for just half an hour before the final class of another uneventful day at Fillydelphia Preschool. The sounds of robins chirping could be heard in the more unoccupied areas of the playground, such as the place where Vinyl found herself sitting again. Two weeks of school, and still nopony to talk to - she must have been the loneliest pony in school. At least, she thought so. She sat underneath a sycamore near the edge of the dirt road in a small grove that hid her from everypony else.

"I wonder when they're actually gonna teach us some magic," she said to herself. Most of us have horns anyway, might as well teach us to use 'em. How am I gonna show everypony else how cool I am without magic?" Vinyl dug her hoof in the ground. Despite the attention she craved, she was perfectly content with relaxing by herself in the shadows, and she knew it. Being alone wasn't exactly her choice; she had done something on the second day of school that caught a teacher's attention, and at this point, quite a few ponies felt intimidated by her because of that day.

"I wonder if that colt's still mad that I knocked him around. He shouldn't be; he kinda had it coming," Vinyl muttered, her words clouding the far-off noises of a small group of fillies playing jump rope. Once she completed her sentence, the sounds faded back in, filling the unicorn's ear. As she continued to listen to the joyous echoes of her classmates' voices, she found that her smug expression had gradually faded into a frown.

"It's like I'm a ghost or som'n. It was just one little hit. It's not like everypony has to hate me." Vinyl dug her hoof in the ground where she sat.

A refreshing zephyr weaved its way through the leaves of each tree in the grove, Vinyl's mane dancing with it as it began to fade. Somehow, she thought, the wind simply made everything better. It was partially due to the occasional breeze, she thought, that Vinyl was able to properly enjoy her recess time despite her solitude. After feeling the wind dying down, Vinyl peered up for a moment at the nearby clock on the outer wall of the school. The filly applied freshly-learned skills and deduced the time - 1:47. "Huh. I guess school's good for som'n. Maybe I can shut my eyes for a few before the bell," Vinyl said to herself. She closed her eyes and prepared herself for a well-deserved rest...

Come on, guys! Give it back!

Vinyl opened her eyes to the sound of a colt's plea. "What the hay is that all about?" Vinyl's voice rang softly. After getting up, the pony slowly made her way out of the conglomeration of sycamores, the outside world fading into view as she pushed aside the branches and leaves that sheltered her from everypony else. When she finally found herself out of the grove, she saw four ponies near a lonely swing set, one surrounded by the other three. In the air, a bag was being tossed around recklessly from pony to pony. The colt in the middle, however, didn't seem to be enjoying the game. His coat was sad, Vinyl thought. Why is blue so sad? She wondered for a split second before being pulled back into the events that were unfolding in front of her. The blue colt in the middle was still running around aimlessly, attempting to intercept the bag before it could reach its next target.

"Seriously! All my sticks are in there!" One of the ponies, a yellow colt, caught the bag in his mouth and tossed it back into the air.

"And? What's that got to do with us?" The yellow pony's reply sounded cold. Vinyl continued to stand on the sidelines, watching, debating. If she helped the colt get his bag back, the other three would gang up on her, too. If she helped the other three, she'd be a jerk. And if she continued to observe and not do anything, she'd just be useless. No real way out of it, she thought to herself as she made up her mind.

She waited patiently as the bag continued to fly through the air, keeping her eye on the pony about ten feet from her. Vinyl began to notice the pony in the middle starting to tire out as the pony she faced caught the bag in his mouth. She dug her right forehoof into the ground, readying herself to help the colt. To the left...to the right...and to the back...the bag continued to fly about. The sounds of wood tapping against wood could be heard whenever the bag landed in a new mouth. Vinyl waited for a few additional cycles, and as the saddle bag made its way to the pony in front of her, she went into a gallop. Just as the colt was about to grasp the bag in his mouth, he felt an incredible weight fall right on his back. The bag, meanwhile, fell to the ground, and the blue colt in the middle rushed to get it.

"Stop messing with him, kay?" Vinyl spoke directly into the pony's ear from atop his back. Under her substantial frame, the pony found himself struggling to stay upright. After only a few seconds, his legs gave out, and he dropped to the ground.

"Hey!" The spiky-haired green pony who had been tossing the bag caught Vinyl's attention. "You messed up our game! And look at what you did to Star Light!" Vinyl looked down at the pony she sat on, who was now struggling a bit to breath. "You better run, filly." The green pony and his cohort prepared to go into a gallop.

Vinyl removed herself from the exhausted pony's back and immediately took off, running around the swing set toward the school's long-abandoned soccer field. As she passed the swings, she heard the sounds of an additional two sets of galloping. Not taking any time to look back, she continued to run across the field that encompassed much of the school's play area. Still ahead of her pursuers, Vinyl made her way to the school playset, which many ponies were still playing on. She ran up a slide that sat against the structure, albeit with some difficulty, and jumped off the platform she then found herself on, landing on all fours with a thud before continuing to run. Rather than follow her route, the ponies behind her went around the playset.

Vinyl was nearing the soccer field. If she could get there, she thought, she could waste enough time for recess to end. The teachers would come out to gather their respective students, and when Vinyl's teacher found her student at the soccer field, Vinyl could tell her all about the mean ponies that annoyed that blue colt and chased her. Sure, she'd be called a tattle-tale, but it wasn't like she had any more of a reputation to lose. She thought all of this as she approached the soccer field, which was now coming into view. Vinyl looked behind her, still running, to find that the ponies following her had begun to slow down with fatigue. She chuckled a bit and called back at them:

"Ya shoulda known that ya can't catch me! I'm Vinyl Scratch, ya jerks!" Again, she laughed. The green pony gave a simple response:

"Yeah, and you better slow down!"

"Why?" Vinyl's voice echoed through the air. "So you can-"

Suddenly, Vinyl ran out of ground to run on. For just a moment, the rambunctious little filly thought she might have been flying. However, as she learned quickly, the situation was quite the opposite. She was falling - but to where? Not knowing what to do, she tilted her body forward, as if to do a front flip, until her back faced the ground. A loud thud sounded as her back slammed against the steep slope she had just leaped off of. She found herself in the air again...was it over? Vinyl nearly breathed a sigh of relief before she hit the slope again. This time, however, she didn't bounce back into the air.

Down she slid...down, and down, and down, screaming all the way with searing pain in her back. Eventually, after about ten seconds, she found that she had reached the bottom, and as her body collected the grass and dirt that lay at the bottom of the hill, she realized that all she could do at this point was hang on to consciousness. However, that seemed to become increasingly difficult as time went on. Soon enough, the still, rotated image of the soccer field before her started to blur as her vision faded away. The short slumber, Vinyl remembered, was very, very peaceful...

"Hey, Break Beat, I think she's coming to!" The words faded slowly into Vinyl's ears as her eyes struggled to open.

"Really? I'll be right there!" Vinyl could hear the sounds of hooves pounding against wood for a moment, getting closer with each step. After a moment had passed, the sounds reached her and stopped abruptly. At this point, Vinyl finally opened her eyes completely and found that she was facing a ceiling.

"You're awake! Oh, that's so great!" A familiar voice came from Vinyl's right. She turned her head, her neck aching the entire time, to find that two ponies were sitting next to her. She began to get a feel for her surroundings and quickly came to realize that she was in bed, resting underneath a blanket. A few seconds of silence passed as the young unicorn began to fully grasp the situation.

"I'm Break Beat." The blue pony next to her broke the silence. "You helped me out back at the playground. I saw those ponies chasing you, and I kinda followed. That was a really nasty fall, y'know! I don't know what you were thinking!" He gave her an awkward smile.

"Aww, no! Is this the nurse's office? I'm telling you, if you get a needle anywhere near me, I'll-" Vinyl's weak words were cut off by those of the larger, sunflower-yellow stallion that accompanied Break Beat.

"Does this look like the nurse's office? Sorry, dear, this is our house. School ended about half an hour ago. Break Beat here found you at the bottom of a hill and got a teacher to get you guys a carriage back here. Your stuff is in the corner. Injuries don't look too bad,  but you've got a few bruises and you'll be sore everywhere for a while."

Vinyl smiled faintly. "Thanks," she said simply as she began turn onto her stomach, stifling a scream all the while. When she completed her rotation, she found herself facing a window. As she peered out, she began to notice the familiarity of the houses that lined the opposite side of the street. 

"Hey, Break Beat, where do ya live?"

"23 Cloudsdale, why?"

Vinyl quickly turned her head to the colt, doing her best to contain another scream. "Shut up! I live a few houses down!" Vinyl rubbed her neck for a moment.

"That's great! Now, hold on. An ice pack should help with the pain. I'll be back in a minute or two." Break Beat gazed into Vinyl's reddish eyes for just a second and smiled unconsciously before beginning to leave the room. "And no more sudden movements! Those really hurt. If you just stay still, you can get home on your own in a few hours, or at least I think you can." With this, he went into the hallway and left Vinyl's vision.

"Break Beat and I are part of a family of drummers. I'm his dad, the name's Gravity Roll. You into any music, little one?" Vinyl turned to Gravity Roll and collected her thoughts.

My mom and dad are really into music. They're actually kinda famous, but I'm not really into any music. They don't really let me listen, dunno why. Oh, and my name is Vinyl Scratch, nice to meet ya."

"It's a pleasure! Who're your parents? I might've heard of them."

"Mezzo Soprano is my mom, and my dad is Paradiddle. They're kinda fancy." Vinyl took a look around the room. "And this room doesn't really look that fancy, so if ya haven't heard of them, I get it."

"Not fancy? I can pop open a bottle of top-class cider whenever I want! And I've heard of Paradiddle, isn't he a jazz drummer?"

"Yup, he's pretty good, I guess." Vinyl heard hoofsteps fading in once again and noticed Break Beat coming back into view, an ice pack hanging from his mouth. Once he reached his father, Gravity Roll removed the ice pack via levitative magic and lifted Vinyl's blanket off of her, placing the pack on her back. As it touched her body, she let out a soft gasp.

"Ahh, that's...that feels weird." Vinyl found herself trying to adjust to the sudden temperature drop, a task that was much harder than she initially expected. 

"If it ever starts hurting, just tell me, okay? After a while, the ice can start to sting," Break Beat explained. "Anyway, what's your name?"

"Vinyl Scratch, ya better not forget it," the freezing filly replied.

"That's an awesome name! Umm...sorry, I'm not really great at talking. What do you like to do, Vinyl Scratch?" Again, he smiled. Suspecting nothing, Vinyl responded:

"Well, I'm...I'm not really sure. The 'rents don't let me do much. I really like sitting by myself though, I guess. Running, too. Running really gets me going, y'know?" Break Beat nodded his head before looking to the ground and giving his own answer.

"I love playing drums, but I bet Dad already told you that. I'm really into drawing, even though I'm not the best. Maybe I could show you my drawings soon, though! I'm getting better! What do you think about-" 

Break Beat looked up to see Vinyl, still turned to him, giving him a face that was half-confused and half-annoyed. The colt let out a simple "sorry" and the two ponies continued on with their conversation. As the hours passed, they laughed and laughed, recounting odd moments in their lives, sharing secrets, and all the while, Break Beat found himself looking deeper and deeper into the eyes of the injured filly. That night, Break Beat's father served them small bowls of salad. It was undoubtedly the most refreshing meal Vinyl had ever had.

As Celestia's Sun made way for her Moon, the last of Vinyl's injuries were treated. She had grown tired, not because of the sting that came from the ice, just as Break Beat said, but rather because she had spent the hours laughing. Somehow, she thought, this total stranger had made her day.

"Okay, Vinyl. You can try and get up now. Just don't push yourself, take it slow." Break Beat removed the ice pack from Vinyl's hindleg. Forehooves first, Vinyl slowly made contact with the hardwood floor as she stepped out of bed. Once she stood on all four legs, Break Beat continued: "So, how does it feel?" As Vinyl began to lose her balance, she replied: 

"It feels like I'm standing on four left hooves. You sure I'm good to go?"

"If you just walk slowly, you should get back to normal after a few minutes. If you'd like, I can help you out with the first few steps."

"I think that'd be nice of ya." Break Beat walked to Vinyl's side and placed his right foreleg around her neck. 

"Now, just take it slow! On my count, we'll do this. One, two, three!" At the instant Break Beat uttered the word "three", Vinyl made her first steps, catching him off guard as he tried to catch up. "Now, not too fast, Vinyl. Let's take it slow." After a few minutes, Vinyl had picked up her pace, and Break Beat wordlessly removed his leg from her neck, watching her continue to walk.

"Kay Break Beat, I think I'm all ready!"

"Good, now we can get you home." Vinyl stopped dead in her tracks.

"Home? Now? Can't I stay with you tonight? I mean, what if I fall on my way home or som'n?" She turned to Break Beat. "Please?"

"But you just said you can move around, and your house is only about ten minutes away..."

Vinyl sighed. "Fine, I guess. Let's go."

After getting her things together, Vinyl and Break Beat made their way to Vinyl's extravagant home, one which towered over every other. Once they had reached the house, the only thing Break Beat could do was stand in awe of what was before him.

"You're telling me this is your house? I've always wondered who it belonged to..."

"It's okay. There's nothing to do in there. No games, no radio, nothin'. A lot of the rooms in there are for producing music and storage, things like that. Anyways, if you want to come in real quick, be my guest."

"Really? You sure?" Break Beat's eyes lit up.

"Yeah, just don't touch anything. If anything breaks, it's on me."

"Will do!" Once Vinyl received Break Beat's promised, she approached the humongous door to her house and opened it, allowing her new acquaintance to step inside first.

As he gazed at each shimmering marble tile that rested on the floor, at each piece of artwork that lined the walls, and at each piece of hoof-crafted pottery that rested on nearby tables, Break Beat couldn't help but feel as though he lived in poverty in comparison to Vinyl's family.

"Now, hold on. I'm just going to see if Mom and Dad are here tonight." Break Beat suddenly turned to Vinyl.

"Why wouldn't they be?"

"Sometimes they just tell me they have stuff to do and they go someplace. There's a little button near the door that I can press to lock it so nopony gets in when I'm alone. Now hold on!" Vinyl trotted off to the living room to the right of the entrance. "Mom? You here?" The trotting sped up, becoming a canter. As her hoofsteps echoed throughout the first floor of the home, Break Beat simply waited for her to return. At this point, he thought, it was settled. Her parents weren't home.

After scanning every room of the floor for her parents, Vinyl made her way back to Break Beat. "One more minute," she said before hastily making her way up the nearby stairs.

As Break Beat continued to wait, Vinyl made her way to the eastern hallway of the second floor. The filly immediately went for the second door on the left, labeled "Singing Room," and opened it. Inside, she found both of her parents in a room that was, much unlike the rest of the house, built with wood, so as to absorb any sound. Her father sat at a mixing console that seemed to take up half of the room, his wife standing by his side. As she stood in the doorway, her parents staring at her with listless eyes, she made her entrance.

"Guys, I'm home. I mean, you can already tell, but y'know. Here I am." Paradiddle turned to his daughter.

"Vinyl, we're a bit busy right now. Could you go play somewhere or something?"

"But I just-"

"We're attempting to write music right now, Vinyl! Just go on! Before we lose focus," her mother interrupted.

"I got hurt really badly today. A colt helped me out." Mezzo Soprano, visibly disgruntled, replied:

"Well, you're safe now, so it hardly seems like anything for us to be worried about. Now shoo."

"Fine," the filly said with a grunt as she walked out of the room and into the hallway. As she returned to the staircase that connected her and Break Beat, thoughts began to cloud her mind. Why won't they just stop and listen to me? Why can't they hang out with me just a little more? The questions piled with each step she walked down. However, when Vinyl reached the bottom, she only had one question she wanted to ask her acquaintance.

"Hey, Break Beat. Would ya mind if I stayed over at your place for the night?"

"Sure! I've never had a filly sleep over before," he replied.

"Just don't get any ideas, kay?" Vinyl playfully hit Break Beat's body with her hoof. As the two little ponies walked out of the still-open door, the memory began to blur and burn until there was nothing left but a feeling of nostalgia...

Vinyl smiled from atop her bed, still going over the memory. With each scene that passed in her recollection of that long-passed day, she became more sure of what she would be doing in just a few moments. Yeah. Breaker's the one who looks out for me. Not them. Never them. It's not right...and they didn't even care. They were "busy". It's so stupid! Vinyl banged her hoof against the monochromatic bed sheets that she had been waiting to sleep under for so long.

"Well that basically decides it," Vinyl said as she rose from her stance and got out of bed. "Now, what should I take?" Vinyl paced around the room for a short time before setting her eyes on the records that were left at the front of the bed. Next, she turned to her bag, removing the contents - a notebook, two large textbooks, and three pencils. She placed each object gently on the bed before turning her attention back to the records, lifting four of the seven large discs from their place and putting them in her bag, two on each side. As Vinyl noticed immediately, the top of each record was completely visible.

"Maybe Gliss could use some music. These aren't that harsh or anything," she said in a whisper. "Okay Vinyl...you're just gonna go. And you're talking to yourself. Great. Better get there before you go cuckoo." Vinyl opened her door and found that the lights in the hallway were now off. "Thanks, Dad," she said as she walked into the blackness. 

The refreshingly cool blue light of Vinyl's magic aura provided her with a small field of vision as she made her way to the staircase in the nearly pitch-black hall. As she moved carefully down the hallway, Vinyl took short moments to look at the pictures that hung from the walls, pictures of her and her parents. One showed her parents holding each other in a loving embrace as Vinyl played in the background. The look on her past self's face sinking into her mind,Vinyl began to remember the moment that picture was taken. Her mother, she recalled, wouldn't allow her to be in the foreground with them, and instructed her to take a place in the background. "This is our picture, not yours," she had said. The words made the filly shudder as they surfaced in her mind. Looking at each picture, she noticed a pattern - she was in the background of every picture. The moment Vinyl realized this, she turned away from the wall and continued to walk down the hallway.

Once she could see a stair to her right, she began to carefully make her way down to the first floor. "One step at a time, Vinyl," she said as she continued to travel downwards. Each step was delicate - the echoes of her movements faded in seconds. "I swear, hooves, if you mess up, I'm gonna kill you." Vinyl's nervous words remained nothing more than a murmur as she finally reached the bottom of the staircase. The final step echoing, Vinyl congratulated herself silently before making her way for the door.

"See ya later, Mom and Dad," she whispered before pressing the violet button near the door, unlocking it. Keeping an eye out for her parents as she did so, Vinyl slow edged her way out. With the click of the door behind her, the filly found herself alone on her street.

The air that whisked through Cloudsdale Boulevard was frigid. The stars, distant, yet refulgent, dotted every square inch of a sky that hung over Vinyl Scratch's head like a blanket over a newborn foal. The occasional light emanating from a single room of an otherwise dark house assisted in lighting the world around the unicorn. For a time, Vinyl simply stood where she was, taking in her surroundings; she had never been out of her house alone this late. As she walked down the cobblestone path that lead her to the street, she felt the world collapse behind her. With a turn at the cobblestone path, Vinyl made her way to a familiar house, counting the numbers on each mailbox in her mind as she passed them. With nopony to talk to, Vinyl made the occasional comment to herself.

"I wonder if they've gone off to bed. I don't wanna wake 'em." 

51... 

"Is he even gonna say yes? If he doesn't, I'm basically done for." 

43...

"Man...it's freezing out here. How much longer till I get there?"

31...

"There it is! That's the house!"

23. Vinyl cantered over to the humble-looking home , following a similar stone path to the door. Noticing a light coming from one of the windows at the front of the house, she walked to it and peered inside. In the room, she saw Glissando, who was wrapped neatly in a blanket on Break Beat's own bed. The colt sat watching her from the floor next to the bed. Vinyl debated whether or not to knock for a moment. "I wouldn't want to startle her, she looks like she's still up," Vinyl said to herself. And so she waited outside in the freezing air on the outskirts of Fillydelphia, waiting to be seen. After a while, she saw Gliss say something to Break Beat - she wasn't sure what - and Break Beat turned to the window, immediately noticing Vinyl. With a surprised look on his face, he spoke seemingly silent words to the sightless pony and made his way out of the room. Seconds later, the front door opened and Break Beat stepped outside.

"What're you-" 

"Breaker, can I stay with you?" Vinyl finally asked the question she'd been waiting to ask all night.

"What?" A shocked look spread across Break Beat's face.

"You're my family, Breaker. You're way better than my parents. I figured that out tonight. Mom and Dad? They don't even care! So please? At least for a while?" As she spoke, the shocked look on Breaker's face became one of understanding.

"Vinyl, you're always welcome here, but living here? I dunno. Since you're here, though, come on, Gliss is waiting." Vinyl smiled and followed the blue pony into his house, shutting the door behind her. The house was just as she remembered - wooden floors, white doors. A gold record hung from the wall, courtesy of the RIAE.

"Dad's still up since we've gotta look after Gliss, just making sure he can help as much as possible. She's in my room, like you saw, just go in whenever you want."

"Thanks Breaker. Oh, and I'm really hungry, do ya got anything?" Vinyl turned to the kitchen door to her left.

"Dad made too much salad tonight. You can have what's left if you want."

Just like old times, Vinyl thought to herself. "That sounds great. I'll be with Gliss." Vinyl grinned at her friend and walked into Break Beat's room, where Gliss still rested in bed facing the wall.

"Is Vinyl coming in?" The question made Vinyl smile warmly as she came to the bedside. Gliss turned over toward the unicorn.

"It's me, Gliss." She sat down next to the bed and watched as a joyous expression burst out on the Earth pony's face. As Vinyl looked at the bed, the first thing she noticed was that the white pillowcase Gliss rested on her was dotted gray, a sure sign that she had continued to cry.

"Oh, hey Vinyl!" Gliss sounded much happier than Vinyl expected. Thanks a ton, Break Beat, she thought. 

"How're you holding up?" Vinyl was a bit afraid of the answer she could get. Would Gliss cry again? Would she simply turn away?

"I'm doing...a tiny bit better, I guess. Break Beat's really nice, and he makes me want to smile. I'm just glad he cares, I guess." Both ponies smiled.

"I know, he's great, isn't he?" The unicorn giggled a bit before noticing that Break Beat was coming.

"Vinyl, your salad's ready." Vinyl turned back to Break Beat.

"Thanks, Breaker. Hey, where can I put my bag?" Noticing that she still was still wearing her saddle bag, Break Beat lifted it off of her, setting it down gently in the corner of the room. As it passed him, he saw that all she had were her records.

"Umm...Vinyl, you know you forgot to pack your school stuff, right?" 

"Yeah," she replied quickly. "They're the only things I really care about."

Break Beat walked to her side, lowering the glass plate of salad to the ground. It looked gorgeous - McIntosh apples, spinach, endives, and carrots, all drenched in molasses. A nearly euphoric sensation overcame Vinyl as she took her first bite.

"Dad got extra apples from the family over at Fillydelphia Fields today. Hope you like 'em!" Both ponies beamed at each other. 

"The salad's really good, isn't it Vinyl?" Gliss took an audible whiff of the fragrant food. "That's the salad we had earlier!"

"Yup," Vinyl replied, taking a bite of apple and carrot. After swallowing her food, she continued. "I had this salad when I met Break Beat. Is it some kind of family recipe?"

"Not exactly," he replied. "But all of our food is grown in Fillydelphia and its surrounding farms. We don't buy imported food, not like Canterlot ponies.

"That's pretty cool, I s'pose," Vinyl said as she prepared to take another bite. "So, what've the two of ya been talking about?" Gliss smiled.

"Well, Break Beat was telling me stories for a while. Actually, I made one up myself a long time ago, and I was about to tell it when you showed up. Wanna hear it?"

"Sure," Vinyl said as the two ponies watched her sit up and turn to them, her eyes focusing over their heads at the amethyst-colored wall. "Go ahead."

"Okay," she said, preparing herself. "It all started in a place the ponies near it called 'The Forest of Light'. All of the trees grew perfect leaves. Whenever the leaves fell, they would turn into pure light before they could reach the ground, and the light would float up to the sky so that the daytime could last longer. One day, though, the leaves started falling to the ground, and the days got shorter and shorter. Soon, there was no daytime at all. Everypony was very sad about this." She yawned before continuing.

As the minutes passed, she wove a tale of a young Earth pony who dreamed of becoming the thirteenth paladin in Princess Celestia's court and his quest to return the Forest of Light to its former splendor. The further she progressed through her story, however, the more she found herself yawning. It was during the pony's confrontation with a cruel unicorn that Gliss finally lost herself to her dreams. As she began to snore softly, Break Beat and Vinyl giggled a bit and stood up. 

"I'll just show you to your room, I guess," Break Beat whispered to Vinyl. The two ponies walked slowly and carefully out of Break Beat's room, and with a gentle shutting of the door, made their way to the back of the house to a white door.

"This is like our guest room. You can stay here as long as you'd like, alright? I'll have to talk to Dad, but I think he'd love the idea. Anyways, get some sleep, alright?"

Vinyl looked at Break Beat wordlessly for a minute, a blank expression forming itself into a smile on her face as the filly lifted up her forehooves and caught the confused colt in a tight embrace. For a moment, Break Beat could almost feel himself melting from the touch of Vinyl's warm coat on his own, the sensation sending a tingle down his spine. Even as the moment ended and she pulled away, the colt continued to experience the feeling of euphoria.

"This is your room for now," he said nervously as he opened the door. Inside, an abandoned room, presumably Blast Beat's. awaited her, posters of hard rock and metal bands lining otherwise black walls. 

"I guess Blast is crashing at somepony else's place," Vinyl said as she walked in, staring in awe at a poster for Blast Beat's favorite band, Tauricide. Strange symbols and objects were scattered across the poster, which took up at least half of the wall she faced. 

"Try not to pay any attention to that. Blast Beat's into some freaky stuff," Vinyl's friend said from the door. "Well, good night!" 

"Night, Breaker," she replied as she her the door close with a loud click. Almost immediately after Break Beat's hoofsteps became inaudible, Vinyl walked slowly to Blast's bed. The sheets looked as though they hadn't been cleaned in ages, and the blanket had drink stains on it. It'll have to do, the filly thought to herself as she climbed in.

The bed wasn't exactly comfortable. Whereas her own bed was covered in fine fabrics, the sheets on Break Beat's brother's bed were cheaper. The second Vinyl pulled the cotton blanket over herself, she felt a bit warm and more than a bit uncomfortable.

Vinyl wanted to go over the events of the day in her mind. From the sandwich pony to Gliss, from Bubblegum Pop to Mezzo Soprano, she wanted to think about everything. However, overcome by the stress of the day and her inability to keep her eyes completely open, Vinyl decided to simply close her eyes, if only for a minute. Before the filly's mind wandered off into a world of fantasy, however, she allowed a final thought to echo throughout her mind.

A thought of the strange school recess intended to be spent under a tree that lead to the greatest friendship she'd ever known.