Precious Memories

Chapters

The Unexpected Guest
The Expectations Game
The Silent Room
The Decision and The Meeting

The Unexpected Guest

The Unexpected Guest

Had the weather been any better today, the unicorn might have had an excuse to be outdoors instead of being tortured by her friend.

However, Vinyl Scratch found herself trapped and intimidated by the most mundane of personal hells. It wasn't a painful situation per se, but it was a fairly gruesome ordeal for the normally nocturnal unicorn that she would rather just avoid. Unfortunately, what made the problem slightly less troublesome was the fact that Vinyl had caused the circumstances she now found herself in.

Before her was a substance she had long since sworn off drinking. Despite her earlier promise, Vinyl found herself wishing and praying that the substance would magically turn into something more palatable to her tastes. However it was in vain, her magic was for music, not alchemy and the unicorn had long ago come to terms with the fact that divine intervention would not do her any favors.

And so the cup sat there, silently mocking Vinyl with its presence, daring her to try out its knowingly bitter taste.

“It’s just tea Vinyl... it’s not going to hurt you”

“Be quiet Octavia... I’m just preparing myself”

Across the table, Octavia rolled her eyes as watching Vinyl continue to glare pensively at her cup reached a new stage of exasperation.

Her laments about Vinyl’s addictions was nothing new, but the setting in which they were discussing it was. Until recently, Vinyl and Octavia had difficulty meeting up with each other as a result of the unicorn’s nocturnal nature and of the earth pony’s wallflower-like social confidence. Traditionally, they had conversed in a bar well frequented by the musicians of the conservatorium where they could discuss their art in an enlivening environment amongst their peers.

However, that arrangement had run afoul as Octavia started to feel out of place and began to withdraw from the boisterous scene. Whilst it was quite an enriching experience to converse with Vinyl, doing so came at the cost of having to socialize with her mean spirited co-workers. This particular problem, along with an undercurrent of discomfort with her performance at work, had encouraged the earth pony into social exile, at least until Vinyl had intervened.

Presently, in order to see each other while both were cogent and sober, Vinyl would drop by Octavia’s apartment on the weekend, where along with a very late breakfast, the unicorn would catch up with her awkwardly shy friend. It was still an unperfected routine, but both ponies were quickly learning and made a special effort this week in order to catch up on affairs after what had been a busy fortnight of concerts.

Unlike previous occasions, their banter was rather subdued today, though that had more to do with Vinyl’s present caffeine drain than with Octavia’s weariness from her busy schedule. As always, Octavia’s solution to that problem was found in the form of a decent cup of coffee or tea, but to the unicorn’s personal dismay, the earth pony had run out of her second most preferred drink. Worst of all, Vinyl knew not to bother asking if her friend had her favorite drink since she already knew how much Octavia detested energy drinks.

That had left Vinyl with a cup of tea. For all of her adult life she had been avoiding this concoction, which still baffled the unicorn as to why ponies would willingly consume this foul tasting brew. What made it worse was that Octavia evidently believed strongly in trying exotic types of tea. It wasn’t enough that it had to taste bitter, it had to have a certain fragrance that would smell nice in any form, except when it was in a hot and liquidized state.

But how could she turn down the offer? Octavia was quite the wallflower sometimes and some recent experiences had made the unicorn rather cautious about offending her. That sentiment, however, wouldn’t make the tea taste any better.

“My kingdom for a bottle of Red Minotaur right now...” Vinyl sighed

“Oh please Vinyl, don’t tell me you’re still drinking those nasty things”

“You say nasty, I say a lifesaver during a long night shift,” Vinyl pronounced with a chuckle.

Octavia looked up with a less amused look.

“You know those things are packed with way too much sugar,” Octavia warned

Vinyl chuckled.

“Well duh! That’s the whole idea!”

“If you keep it up, they are going to rot your horn,”

“Great...now you sound like my doctor,” the unicorn replied sardonically. “Don’t worry about my health; I’m only down to three a night. That’s an improvement right?”

“From two a night? Depends on your idea of improvement,” Octavia quipped in return.

In other circumstances, the two ponies might’ve started an argument about this, but instead they had a light chuckle. For all their differences, the two got along too well to let simple disputes like beverage choice ruin what was already the most improbable of friendships.

If Octavia was ever asked to describe Vinyl, her vocabulary would have been taxed to find any better suiting words than eccentric and unpredictably insightful. This came mainly for the fact that Vinyl - despite the popular belief to the contrary - was quite interested in classical music, even to the point of sitting in on practice sessions when Octavia and her co-workers were preparing for a minor event. Another misconception was that Vinyl preferred to sit behind the turntable stand in nightclubs every night, but that was far from the case.

As Octavia had long since discovered, the unicorn was at her best when she was experimenting with music and composing something new and fresh without regard for the strict rules of musical structure that institutions like the Royal Conservatorium obeyed. This was almost where the two ponies had commonality. As a composer, the unicorn had a strange and ornate perfectionist sense in her that set her well apart from the usually lazy contemporaries in the Disk Jockey business. The only difference though was that while Octavia had the same level of dedication for detail, Vinyl was able to turn those senses off when the music stopped playing.

Otherwise, both ponies got on remarkably well.

“Well, if you drink those candy drinks every day, I’m sure you can stomach a cup of tea...”

“They are nothing alike”

“Please, Vinyl. Besides, I’m sure you’ll like it if you try it... this is Keemun tea. It’s very expensive”

Vinyl sighed and bowed to the inevitable. Her horn lit up with a dull blue glow and lifted the cup up towards her reluctant mouth.

If there was ever a strong argument to use against the Unicorn, it was to let her know how much something cost. While not suffering any sort of financial problems herself, Vinyl was easily guilt stricken about the idea of wasting anything of a certain value. Octavia, in contrast, was not well off and so for her, this was a rather generous thing to share with Vinyl.

The alabaster unicorn would never know if divine intervention decided to turn in her favor, but just before she took a sip, both ponies heard a thumping sound at the front door. Octavia’s ears flickered in surprise as her attention was suddenly turned to the unknown guest.

“I wonder who that could be?” the earth pony pondered as she rose to her hooves.

“Maybe the coolness police,” Vinyl joked right away “They are going to take you away for making me drink this!”

Octavia stifled a chuckle.

“I’m sure they wouldn’t mind it either way,” Octavia replied smartly as she cantered to the door.

Curious as to whom it was, Vinyl promptly returned to all four hooves herself and went to catch up with her host. As the unicorn caught up, she saw Octavia already peering through the spyglass and caught the muted surprise.

“Well I’ll be...”

To Vinyl’s surprise, Octavia’s appeared rather excited as she grabbed the handle with her mouth to open the door.

“Melody! What a surprise,” Octavia chimed, again to Vinyl’s now amused surprise.

Standing on the other side of the doorway was another earth pony with a light grey coat that looked to be a few to be a few years younger than Octavia. For what this pony lacked in age though, she seemed to make up for with a visibly exultant personality that strongly contrasted the elder earth pony. Vinyl quickly realized that some of this elation had more to do with the excitement of this stranger finding Octavia.

“Tavi!” the unexpected guest voice exclaimed before reaching out for an embrace.

Vinyl’s ears instantly perked up at hearing that rarely uttered nickname and soon became befuddled when Octavia did not negatively react to it.

To her knowledge, only a select few ponies could ever call Octavia by any shorthoof variation of her name and not get a nasty retort in return. Vinyl barely counted herself within that circle, but she had never seen this mare before.

“Melody! What a surprise,” Octavia gasped once they broke off their embrace. “What are you doing up here?”

“Well I was in the area... so I thought I’d drop in and say hello.”

“Well, you should stay for more than a hello, come on in!” Octavia gestured with a hoof.

Both ponies turned around and found themselves confronted with the obvious white...alabaster colored elephant in the room. Octavia quickly addressed that short coming at once.

“Oh where are my manners?” Octavia continued talking in a cheerful tone “Melody! This is Vinyl Scratch, a close friend of mine in Canterlot... Vinyl, this is Melody Belles, she is an old friend of mine from before I moved to Canterlot.”

“Delighted to meet you!” the younger mare extended a hoof to Vinyl, who greeted it with an unsure awkwardness.

Vinyl hadn't spotted the curious item straight away because of the focus she had on the surprise arrival of the younger earth pony. Now that she had been properly introduced, the unicorn took the chance to take another look over, specifically at the items she was carrying. Much like Octavia would on any given day, the pony sported her own saddlebags – which looked rather large on the small pony – and a blue instrument case. It wasn’t anywhere near the size of her friend’s cello, rather it was only about the size of a small violin.

Curiously, the color of the case was the first thing that tipped Vinyl off. Most, if not all, of the other musicians she knew from the Royal Academy favored the commonplace black cases, but this one was a faded royal blue. But it wasn’t until the light grey pony passed by the unicorn that she noticed another remarkably thing about the case that instantly brought her passing interest into full attention.

“Care to have a look around first?” Octavia offered.

“Sure!” Melody replied cheerfully.

Without hesitation the two earth ponies continued to the living room, leaving a very perplexed unicorn to ponder.

Getting back to the table took some effort on the part of Octavia, who was compelled to give her new guest a tour of her abode.

It was not a long tour, as there was little to be seen in a one bedroom apartment, but Octavia had taken full advantage of the chance to show a pony around the home she had spent an almost inexcusable amount furnishing. In the meantime, Vinyl had returned to the table to continue eating a few biscuits and feeling a little left out. Eventually Octavia reunited with her at the table, but instantly made herself busy again by preparing a cup of tea for her new guest.

“So what brings you to Canterlot, Melody?” Octavia asked as she poured a fresh cup.

“Well, I’ve come to join you at the Academy,” Melody announced.

“Oh,” Octavia smiled “You're going for an audition?”

“Of course,” Melody grinned “I’ve been practicing everyday for weeks for this chance”

The way she said it made the elder earth pony chuckle, it was a delightful reminder of how she was when she first came to Canterlot.

“I remember doing something like that once...” Octavia replied as she sat down “...turned out okay for me”

“Well, you were always a fantastic cello player.”

The two earth ponies chuckled, making the unicorn in the room feel awkward again. It was as if a magical spell had been cast and all of a sudden Vinyl felt like a stranger listening in on a conversation.

In her own defense, the disk jockey had to admit that she wasn’t a classical musician like her friend was, so it was inevitable that some things would make no sense. But at the same time, the unicorn found herself distracted again by the violin case, now leaning against one of Octavia’s sofas. Vinyl couldn’t help but sense some deja vu by just looking at the violin case.

Eventually, the unicorn decided to just ignore the feeling for now and turned her focus back to the conversation.

“And where are you going to stay?”

“Canter-Lodge Inn”

“Oh... That’s a nice place, a lot nicer than where I was staying when I was auditioning...I think I was down the street at...”

Vinyl coughed, politely reminding the two earth ponies she was in the room. Octavia turned at once, feeling a little bemused at the interruption from her friend, but a moment later feeling sorry for the unicorn at being left out of the conversation.

“I’m sorry, I don’t want to be rude but I didn’t take ‘Clairvoyance 101’ when I was in school but...how do you know Octavia exactly?”

It sounded a little rude, but both earth ponies fortunately didn't take offence to the witty remark. For Melody’s part, the earth pony realized that through her arrival, she had evidently halted any discussion her mentor was having with her friend and the aforementioned unicorn was now feeling left out. It was altogether an awkward moment, but the young mare tried her best to strive past this shortcoming.

“I’m sorry,” Melody apologized then started to explain “The short version... Octavia and I both attended the music school in Trottingham-”

“Where as I recall, you went by the nickname ‘Melly Belly’,” Octavia inserted.

Melody chuckled.

“I don’t think there was a single student of Mr. Tipplekeys’s that didn't have a nickname, right Tavi?”

Octavia frowned a little, but let go of her bemusement when she realized it was not meant as an insult. Vinyl however, picked up on the name as a bit of a curiosity. To her knowledge, had anypony else said that, Octavia would’ve been infuriated, but somehow this Melody filly got away with it fairly easily. The unicorn ventured to conclude that Melody was more than a mere classmate of Octavia’s and decided that instead of assuming, she could just ask.

“I see... so you were classmates?”

Octavia hummed an incorrect tone before replying.

“It doesn’t quite work that Vinyl... No; I was something like...like a mentor I guess”

“I see” Vinyl replied, she didn’t quite understand, but that was what one said.

“Octavia taught me how to balance better on my back legs so I could play a violin while standing”

“You play violin?”

“Of course,” Melody answered.

Vinyl briefly glanced over at the violin again, then back at the earth pony.

“And you’re here and auditioning to join the Royal Palace Conservatorium?”

“That’s correct”

“You don't say...” Vinyl drifted off and felt her ponders return again.

The sense of deja vu was back again. This time it wasn’t just the instrument case that was pegging her memory, but the exact circumstances she was here. Vinyl had already clouded a longing suspicion but had been too shy to voice it to the others until now. The simple reason had been that, as delightful as the possibility was, the unicorn was not really one that jumped to conclusions.

Vinyl pondered about the right course of action and decided that it was at least worth a look, even if it wasn’t to be in the end.

“That’s a fancy color case” Vinyl started “Mind if I look at it?”

Melody was a little confused by the unicorn’s request, but saw no real harm in letting one of Octavia’s – whom had been her beloved mentor – friends look at her violin and picked herself up to retrieve the instrument.

On the other side of the table, Octavia at once went on alert when she caught the inquiring look the unicorn had on her face. The problem was her expression looked similar to nostalgia, something Octavia did not associate with Vinyl, who seldom held sentiment for old things. That made the grey earth pony guarded and a little worried about why her friend was suddenly interested in Melody’s violin.

“It’s really a hoof-me-down. it was originally my sisters violin, but when she joined the Fillydelphia Conservatorium a few years ago, she decided to get a new one, and so it became mine,” Melody explained as she placed the case flat on the empty part of the coffee table.

“You don’t say...” Vinyl thought again.

Upon closer inspection, the case had seen better days, but that told Vinyl that that it had been used quite a lot. It had its collection of scratches and dents, and the fabric on the case was worn-looking, but it still looked rather new despite its age. One district mark on the case however caught Vinyl’s attention: an odd scribbled engraving on the handle, which bore the uncanny initials ‘V.S’. It was too good to be true now and deja vu it no longer was, Vinyl had seen this case before.

“May I see?” Vinyl motioned at the locks.

Melody wondered about doing that and looked up to Vinyl, only to pick up the same look her senior had noticed just before. Had she known the unicorn a little better, she might’ve read the look a different way and hesitated at the suggestion or even said no instead, the earth pony – who still felt sorry for interrupting her afternoon with Octavia – saw no harm in doing so and opened the case.

“Sure, I don’t see why not”

Vinyl only needed to take one look and gasped.

The unicorn was a believer in coincidence whenever something funny was involved, but this was a whole different feedbag. Never once did Vinyl Scratch ever suspect that she would come across this particular piece of her past, but it was right there in front of her, in all its nostalgic form.

“Well I’ll be... I haven’t seen you in a long time...” Vinyl sensed giddiness surging though.

Octavia’s worries automatically doubled when she saw the look on Vinyl change from curiosity to a very strange sense of warmth for the object. It was almost too scary to believe to see Vinyl become quickly enthralled by the sight of this violin. To her knowledge, Vinyl Scratch had never professed to have played with an instrument before, apart from her turntable, and the idea of the unicorn even attempting to play this one rapidly frightened her.

“I know this is asking a lot, but you don’t mind if I give this a little play?” the unicorn looked up pleading “It’s been awhile”

Melody again was failed by her lack of knowledge on this unicorn and her general naiveté about Canterlotians. Her response however was guarded.

“Do you know how to play Miss Vinyl?” Melody asked.

Despite the awkward feeling from the title she was given, Vinyl almost grinned when she responded.

“Actually as a matter of fact-”

“No, she doesn’t,” Octavia cut her off.

The two ponies turned to face their host.

“Melody, Vinyl has not once in her life picked up a classical instrument and played it well” Octavia announced “...that one time with my cello is enough proof”

Vinyl gave her friend and hurtful look.

“Tavi, I told you I was joking around back then... and don’t you ever know you should never judge a horse until it’s performed all its tricks?” Vinyl declared, then turned the other pony “Trust me, I’m a little rusty, but I can play”

Before the subject could even be argued, Vinyl extracted the violin and bow out with her magic. Once free, Vinyl sat back on her haunches and with closed eyes levitated the instruments into her hooves. On the other side of the table, Octavia feared the worse and braced for the screeching noise. Her ears flopped down, but then she took the further measure of covering them with her front hooves. Now recognizing the apparent error she had made, Melody quickly followed her mentors motions.

“Here goes”

Vinyl’s first attempt ended abruptly when the single note she was played sounded too high. Opening her eyes, Vinyl chuckled as she quickly rectified the error by adjusting her hoof holding the neck for a second attempt.

“Okay, now here we go”

From the moment she started it playing, fours seconds passed before Octavia to started feeling a tad stupid for holding her ears down like she was.

At first, Octavia wasn’t quite sure if she was actually imagining Vinyl playing the violin, but it took an additional few seconds for that denial to be defeated. To her befuddling astonishment, the unicorn was actually playing properly, although as she was by her own admission, a little rusty. With only a few errors, Vinyl Scratch continued to play the opening bars to ‘Rule Equestria’, which not perfectly in tune, thoroughly convinced Octavia that Vinyl was indeed capable of playing.

Melody caught on slightly faster that Octavia did and by the end of the brief performance was actually impressed.

“Wow! That was pretty good, when did you learn to play?” the younger of the two earth ponies got to ask first.

“When I was a filly...in fact unless I’m mistaken, I believe this violin used to be mine”

That pronouncement came as a surprise to the two musicians. Once she wore off thought, Octavia was quick to respond.

“How can you tell?”

“Well... unless I’m mistaken again... those there are the Initials my parents had carved into the handle” Vinyl said as she caressed that part of the case.

Melody turned the case over to see the handle for herself and caught a look at the familiar looking etching.

“I always thought that was the brand of the violin...” Melody answered and looked up to the unicorn again, “Then why did you stop playing?”

“Well... that’s a long story,” Vinyl casually answered.

“Really?” Octavia replied with a wary glance.

One annoying fault of Vinyl’s was her regretful attempts for modesty; sometimes it just gave away volumes more about what she was hiding. Considering the way Vinyl acted after seeing this violin, it was too much to believe that it was as simple a story as she implied. Octavia wanted to know more and already the earth pony realized there would be no better time to query her friend about this than right now.

“Then why don’t you tell us? Melody you don’t mind, do you?”

“Of course not, I’d love to hear it,” the younger pony agreed with her mentor.

Vinyl smirked at the challenge, but sensed a trip down memory lane might be in order now that she had been reunited with her instrument.

“Well, I guess if you have the time... It started when I was filly...”

It was nothing more boring or uninteresting than attending a society party, at least that was what Vinyl Scratch had long since concluded.

First, there was the always annoying task of donning a petite fitting gown to wear to these functions. The young unicorn groaned whenever she learnt that her parents were invited to a party, because it always meant she would be forced to wear another pink frilly dress at her mother’s insistence. For a tomcolt like Vinyl Scratch, this constituted as a form of torture, one that was compounded by guilt from her mother if she were ever to damage one of her expensive dresses.

Once Vinyl was dressed up and her mane tightly brushed into whatever style was deemed appropriate, she would travel with her parents by carriage to whatever home or garden that was hosting the event. Even if they arrived early – which was seldom the case – they could not enter the party until they had been greeted by the host. In the end though, by the time Vinyl was finally be allowed to canter around on her own, she would already have grown bored of the party.

Despite her family’s love for these events, Vinyl Scratch simply didn’t enjoy going. To her, it simply felt like a big waste of time, especially since these parties never celebrated a birthday, rather were normally put together for boring ‘grown up’ nonsense that felt like an excuse to dress up and act formal. Vinyl Scratch always felt out of place and for quite a number of reasons, the most prominent of which was that there was often nothing for her to eat.

At every event since Vinyl Scratch was able to trot on her own, she had been made to consume tasteless food that seemed perfect for the ever talkative ponies that couldn’t stop gossiping to finish their plates. The food got even worse at ballroom or garden parties, which while still edible – for those with bitter tongues – was served in even smaller proportions and often hard to obtain anyway given how waiters would ignore her. What topped off her displeasure was that Vinyl was always limited to one type of beverage, water, whilst all the grown-up ponies got to drink all kinds of things out of fancy glasses.

Then there was her gripe about having nopony to talk to. One crucial requirement at these social functions was to have an equal, or at the very least somepony with something in common. Vinyl however was a unicorn uncommonly mismatched due to her age. She came from being deemed too young for the older foals and too old to be associating with the youngest foals.

This odd social mismatch often left Vinyl to wander around in the awkward role of the party loner; that one mare or colt who latched from one conversation to the next and was occasionally listened to. But despite her pleasing manners and the willingness to listen, Vinyl was almost always ignored.

This lack of conversation eventually led Vinyl to sit by the music being played. Whenever the unicorn had exhausted her patience with the other ponies, Vinyl would collect what food she found palatable and sat herself in front of the musicians that provided the room or garden with a sound other than endless chatter. It was the one unqualified enjoyment she had, and unsurprisingly, an interest she shared with nopony else at these parties.

This was where Vinyl Scratch first developed her love for music.

Sitting near the performers, the unicorn always listened in, feeling as though she was their only audience in a room or garden full of disinterested ponies. After awhile of just enjoying the music, Vinyl had started to learn about the kind of music they played, from the distinct order in which they played throughout the night, to the sort of instruments needed for a given occasion. However, from early on, Vinyl developed one minor gripe with them and that was their limited selection of music.

While still too young to be educated in the arts, the unicorn started to notice how little variety their music appeared to have. Initially she accepted the constraints as the result of what the limited number of musicians could achieve, but when she was first exposed to a full orchestra for the first time, that impression quickly changed. It wasn’t for a lack of instruments or ponies, it was just that they simply didn’t play anything new.

To her way of thinking, that could explain why nopony ever paid attention anymore. However, that was not enough of a reason for the unicorn to turn away from the one thing about these parties she liked, and so she sat and watched, ignoring everything but these underappreciated ponies playing.

“My dear Vinyl, listening to the band again I see?” an elder voice spoke.

Vinyl did not even have to think twice about who it was and quickly leapt off the grass and turned to face the elder unicorn.

“Daddy!”

He stifled his chuckle enough to clear his throat at being called that.

”Now Vinyl, you know you shouldn’t call me that here”

The unicorn nodded her head down in apology.

“I’m sorry father”

“It’s quite alright dear…” he chuckled “It’s only when we’re out in public”

Vinyl remained disappointed in herself.

“Please cheer up,” her father suggested, then moved on to his query “...so how come you’re sitting here by yourself? Isn’t there anything else to do?”

“No there isn’t,” Vinyl complained politely.

“What about playing with the others?” Her father turned to the group of foals assembled around the far edge of the garden.

“I can’t... all the others call me a blank flank.... and besides, Blueblood is here today” Vinyl went on to explain “He thinks I’m a baby and that ‘babies’ shouldn’t try to talk to him”

“He is a worrisome colt...” he muttered, then he changed topics “...Do you find the music interesting today?”

“Very” Vinyl replied “but I do wish they had more songs to play”

“What’s wrong with this?” he gestured his hoof at the band, playing on despite their talk.

“Its all fine... but I wish they could play something new...”

“Well…I’ve never really thought of it that way,” he chuckled then “Maybe you should write some new music for....”

“Lord Scratch!”

Father and daughter turned their heads to find the source of that voice. Both felt dismay, but for very different reasons; for Vinyl having the precious little time with her father interrupted and for Lord Scratch who had a more informed antipathy for the stallion approaching.

“Ah Hollow Wood, So good to see you,” Vinyl’s father replied with a false grin“...I cannot seem to evade you for long at these parties”

“You hardly make it a challenge,” the fellow Unicorn retorted and bellowed with his ghastly laugh “So are you trying to learn about what the foals are into these days?”

Lord Slate Scratch sighed with his empty chuckle at the bad joke. He decided to answer bluntly though.

“Well, if you want to call it that... Though if you put it that way, I guess you're trying to ask for a favor...again”

“Not really...but myself and a few of my colleagues did want to ask about how the railroading business treating you...care to join us? We would most enjoy your insights”

The unicorn sighed, already deciphering the language as another spoiled noble looking for a share of his business pie. It seemed a little insulting to even beg for a job, considering this was the same drunk that had laughed at his Dodge Junction railway expansion just last year. Yet unfortunately the elder Scratch did have to recognize this as business, Hollow Wood’s father was an old friend of his - not to mention a lot more intelligent than his son - and so he had to take the request with some calculation.

Before leaving, he turned to his daughter again.

“I’m sorry dear... your father has a few business matters he needs to settle while he is here,” Slate then added to himself “...and quite honestly needs to nail a few muzzles shut”

“I understand father” Vinyl said, lying like her father wanted her to.

“We’ll talk later... how about you think about that music thing a little more in the meantime,” her father suggested.

“Okay father”

Lord Scratch turned away and was led by his would-be associate to a group of unicorns and one pegasus who all seemed as gaudy looking as everypony else. She wasn’t angry at her father for putting his work over her interests, Vinyl was long past that phase, but it did disappoint her that he did not immediately correct that annoying fellow that they were having a rare moment with each other.

Vinyl ,however, did take up to his suggestion with some interest and returned her focus to the band playing. This time vinyl listened in with a new ear for detail, wondering how she could go about what her father had almost challenged her to do.

The two earth ponies looked at Vinyl with equal amounts of surprise, yet both had different reasons for being this way.

For Octavia, it was as if she had become aware of her own obliviousness and somehow felt embarrassed for not noticing it before. It only occurred to her at that moment that she had inquired about what kind of family Vinyl Scratch was from, and her surprise showed it. It was all a little more embarrassing than shocking, especially since the two of them had been conversing for almost a year now.

The earth pony had never broached the subject of families with the unicorn, except for a question or two about what her parents did for work. On top of that thought, Octavia realized right away that Vinyl was serious. She had known the unicorn to tell tall tales, but never did Vinyl have the nerve to tell a story this long without cracking up.

Melody ,on the other hoof, took all of this as a complete surprise and without the weight of the revelations that Octavia was fighting with, was free to ask that first predictable question the unicorn was already familiar with.

“Your father is a Lord? Does that mean you’re royalty?!”

As a filly Vinyl had once detested that assumption, but now as an adult, she merely chuckled at the thought.

“Not really. It’s just an honorary title... and besides, it doesn’t work like that. Dad explained to me once that there are about ninety-nine lords and earls and other fuss-buckets ahead of him that will earn the title of royalty before he ever gets it himself.... not that I mind. From my experience you have be a real jerk to be a royal, and I’m not a jerk to anypony...am I Tavi?”

“Only when you’re drunk... or when you're really high on sugar.... and then there was that time when you tried to replace the strings on my instrument with twine....”

”Besides that,” Vinyl laughed at her guilt. It was hard to deny something Octavia had caught her in the act of doing.

“Anyway...” Octavia stifled her own chuckle “My point is, I think we are a little surprised about your family is all we’re trying to say”

Vinyl’s expression returned to a semi-serious state.

“I get that a lot...” Vinyl sighed “back on the playground... at those annoying parties... problem is daddy wasn’t like that, he loves working for the railways”

Octavia again cursed her friend’s humbleness and pried further.

“But what does he do for them?” Octavia asked wryly. In her mind, the earth pony imagined a vision of Vinyl’s father as a kind and gentle rail porter or a ticket inspector, but that was hardly the job for a Lord, was it?

“Well he did some management stuff... you know... tickets and stuff, but-”

“Wait... Miss Vinyl,” Melody interrupted “did you say your father’s name was Slate Scratch?”

“Yeah, what about it?” the unicorn asked guardedly and already didn't like the direction this was going.

One particular reason why she was humble was that she didn't like to boast...unless it was on her own merit, and even then, the unicorn was not sanguine about cheering her own accomplishments. Some of it came from the fact she had an ‘honorary’ lord for a father, but most of her mini-complex came from what Melody had just figured out.

“Isn’t he the unicorn that built the Appleloosa rail line? I mean, the railway for all the western frontier towns?”

“He didn’t build it, he just managed its construction and planned the route.... and occasionally oversaw the bridges being built. You know... management stuff”

“That’s more than just ‘management’ Vinyl, that’s pretty important stuff,” Octavia stated with a wry smile “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“It’s not exactly something I like to advertise” Vinyl answered and went on “My father never really boasted at the parties, but I guess that’s kind of like him in a way... what he wanted to do was be something other than a stuffy lord in Canterlot. I guess I get some of my attitude from him”

“Not to mention your humbleness” Octavia thought before shrugging off that thought.

“So what does he do now?” Melody asked next.

“Well he finished the line to Appleloosa, I don’t really see him a lot, so I don’t know” Vinyl replied then quickly added “Anyway, we’re getting off topic... now where was I?”

It had not been more than a few weeks since the party, however that was all the time Vinyl needed to develop her interest into a full blown obsession.

That development had started the moment Vinyl came upon the first challenge. How could one go about thinking up new music and putting it in a form that was more everlasting than her short term memory? It was an obstacle for Vinyl, but one that couldn’t be avoided and for her to succeed at all, overcoming this hurdle was essential.

Like any inquisitive filly her age, her first port of call had been to make an enquiry at the school library. To her astonishment however, the library’s rather comprehensive collection of books on music had nothing that taught Vinyl how one went about recording or composing music. It didn’t deter her though and while she was not a traditionally academic pony, Vinyl decided to continue her enquiry at a higher level; the Canterlot central city library

From here, Vinyl came across her next obstacle. While she did find some books on the subject, none were written in a vocabulary she understood. Considering the type of music she enjoyed, Vinyl had long since ruled out songs with lyrics, but that seemed to make the task harder. Only a few books appeared to address the subject, and all of them were evidently written for somepony far older than her.

Still undeterred and with a dictionary in her hoof, the unicorn continued on and tried to understand the books, but still failed to comprehend the subject. She wasn’t stupid, it was just that there appeared to be a lot of rules to composing and that worried her. After exhaustively reading through a tome on the subject; she still failed to find a proper – and hopefully understandable – explanation on how one went about composing new music.

This particular failure might’ve ended the unicorn’s quest, but a reexamination of the sheet music examples provided in another smaller book didn’t give her any idea on how she might go about it. Rather than try to understand the existing system of notes and symbols that made up the sheet music, Vinyl decided to invent her own system.

Starting with a blank piece of paper, Vinyl would start to hum whatever melody she had in mind and as she sang, let the pencil she held draw a seemingly erratic line across the page. As the pitch changed, the pencil would stray up or down until it reached the end where she would instantly start a new line. It was a basic system, but one for which Vinyl could completely understand and as time wore on, could evolve into a sophisticated system as complex as the real life compositions like in those dusty tomes.

From then on, whenever Vinyl would think of a clever idea or hear a particular song that had something she wanted to incorporate, she would quickly find a blank piece of paper and write it down before her memory faded. She would even sneak papers in her party dress, just so she could study the music being played for new ideas. To all concerned, it was probably the most bizarre change in Vinyl’s personality they had ever seen, but the filly couldn’t have been happier.

One unicorn however, was not.

“Vinyl dearest, would you please put away those scribbles…and stop humming! You're a lady, not a mule! You’ll rot your teeth if you keep that up!”

“Yes mother” Vinyl responded and reached for her saddle bag. She was a little slow in stopping her hum however

“Oh I wish you had left that thing at home... we will be arriving shortly so I want you on your best behavior starting now”

Vinyl sighed and looked out the carriage window at the passing scenery of Canterlot streets. Any prolonged time in a stagecoach was too much for the excitable filly, especially when her mother was in a foul mood. What only made it worse was that it had been of her own mother’s doing; she had simply taken too long getting ready this morning, and how was that the fault of the young filly?

Today, Vinyl had the misfortune of being taken along to her mother’s usual meeting with her circle of friends for an afternoon game of bridge and to gossip about the affairs of Canterlot. The filly unicorn always did everything she could to avoid going along to these abysmally boring tea parties, but occasionally her presence as an otherwise expensive and living accessory was necessary. It was a tedious exercise in social networking that the filly unicorn had become depressingly used to.

“Here we go” Vinyl silently sighed as they turned to leave the street.

Upon leaving the road, the carriage carted up a small drive to the manor and while she continued to groan about what would soon be the beginning of her boring afternoon. In Vinyl’s limited experience of social affair, she realized that if ego could be measured, it would be done so by the size of the residence, as this daunting house somehow seemed appropriate for the owner. It belonged to one of her mother’s close friends, though the term was lightly polluted by the nature of their association.

In contrast to her father, whom had friends of actual common interest, Vinyl Scratch’s mother was clutched dependently onto the old social ladder of Canterlot. Since her marriage, and then induction into equestrian peerage through her husband’s deeds, Vinyl’s mother had strived endlessly to become an important figure. This had resulted in an odd combination of associations and acquaintances, all of whom relied upon siding with the popular opinion to be considered a pony everypony should know.

To Vinyl, it seemed like a great big game of acting, something she might associate with school-yard bullies even.

“Now dearest, please be nice to the Lady of the house, she has wanted to see you for quite a while,” Her mother chided once more for good measure.

The carriage stopped and right away the foot pony jumped off and opened the door for his passengers. Despite her displeasure at being so late, Vinyl’s mother quickly repressed her stressed look and exited the cabin looking ever like the wife of a lord. Awaiting her, another lavender unicorn came down to greet the new guests to her home.

“Lady Brighten Balance” The stern voice calmly announced “I must admit, I cannot wait to hear your reason for being so late”

“I’m terribly sorry... the carriage was awfully waylaid on the way here...and my Vinyl seemed rather slow this morning in getting ready” Brighten responded.

“Your little Vinyl again... I see, and where is the filly?”

Just as she finished the thought, Vinyl Scratch stepped out of the carriage to join her mother, as always five hooves behind and to the left.

“Ah there you are...you know you should have already been out of the carriage by now...and no wonder!” the unicorn spotted a fault already “You’ve gotten round... Brighten, what have I told you about feeding this foal properly... you shouldn’t call yourself a Lady if you’re tardy because of this overfed filly”

“I’m terribly sorry again...I try and try to convince her to be a better lady...” Brighten deferred with her usual excuses “....but all those weird ideas they teach our foals today in school...it’s ruining her upbringing”

“Quite true...” the elder of the two peers pondered “Very well, I hope you have brought your game with you today...because I am really in the mood for a challenge.

“Of course Lady Grand Salary” Brighten pleasingly answered.

“And you young filly?” The lavender mare asked “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“It’s a great honor for you to invite me today” Vinyl bowed her head accordingly. She had practiced it enough times.

“Well at least you haven’t forgotten your manners... though from the way you dress, I wonder how much longer plan on staying that way”

Vinyl took the insult like a grown pony would and said nothing. She had made the mistake before of responding to these prods and the result had been a month of being grounded from ice cream and visiting her friends.

“Very well then... do mind your manners in my house” she sternly warned “Now come Brighten, our game table awaits”

The two elder ponies turned for the door and left the filly unicorn all alone with her thoughts. Having served her only purpose, Vinyl was now free to do whatever she liked, and by that, it really meant to obey the age old pony adage ‘foals should not be seen or heard when un-required’

She really detested that saying, but it did have its advantages.

For all the displeasure that came with visiting some of her mother’s friends, she was at least old enough to be left alone and that meant a freedom of sorts to explore the manor. Now that she was free of her obligations for awhile, Vinyl went looking for the library, where at her own pleasure, she could resume her work on the composition she had started this morning.

Passing by the hallway that lead to the sitting room her mother would enter, Vinyl climbed the stairs and took a right. Her memory served her well and soon the filly unicorn found herself in the household’s library. However, before the unicorn had the chance to even find a comfortable seat, she spotted another colt already in here, no doubt dragged along by his mother for the exact same purpose as Vinyl had just endured. To her dismay it was Feather Script, a colt that she did not enjoy the company of anymore.

“I thought I smelled a blank flank entering”

“What do you want Feather?” Vinyl hissed.

“Well at the moment Vinyl, I would like it if you would be so kind to remove yourself from this library... your presence is only going to stifle my study environment”

Vinyl Scratch sighed. Until he got his cutie mark, this fellow unicorn was actually quite a sweetheart at times, but now he was like the other colts she was alienated from at parties; stuffy, egotistical and just a little too stupid for their own good. However, Vinyl could immediately exploit the last flaw.

“So what is it this time... remedial math... or remedial magic?”

“Oh shut up!” Feather protested “Like you would understand how hard it is to do advanced magic”

Vinyl grinned at the chance to verbally snipe at the colt again.

“True, but you didn’t deny it... I guess it’s important to be honest with yourself”

“Get out!” the colt bellowed louder this time.

“Fine, fine, have it to yourself,” Vinyl sighed.

Without further protests, the filly unicorn picked up her recently deposited saddlebag and passed through the doorway again. She would’ve slammed the door, but the colt had beaten her to that with his magic in grasping the door first.

Now without a quiet place to resume her work, Vinyl instead decided to explore a little more of the house she frequently visited, yet actually knew very little of. It was the one other advantage that overcame the displeasure of visiting her mother’s friends: the delight of exploring a home that wasn’t her own. Trotting back to the stairwell, the young mare continued on and entered the previously unexplored left side of the manor.

Unfortunately, like most rich homes, there was a penchant to make everything look the same, or even symmetrical if it was possible. Passing by the first few doors, Vinyl quickly assumed that the left side of the house might just as well have been a clone of the right side, at least until she almost missed noticing the contents of the next room. Vinyl did a double take and reversed a hoof-step to look inside the room she had trotted by.

Inside, sitting in the center of the room was a grand piano, looking forgotten despite the fact that the room was evidently made to accommodate this instrument. The discovery quickly excited the young filly and without hesitation, went to occupy the room before another annoying colt could tease her out of it.

“Sounds pretty quiet” Vinyl noted as she perked her ears up to listen for any outside noises.

When she failed to hear any sort of noise, the filly reached for her saddlebag and pulled out her notebook full of compositions and cantered over to the nearby seat intended for listeners and returned to her work. With a free hoof, she reached for the pen folded in the pages and positioned it directly above the page. After a deep breath, vinyl resumed her song, humming slowly up and down the octaves, the pen matched the contour of the melody.

After some time however, her mouth felt a little sore from humming and this prompted her to look up at the piano again.

Despite their wealth, her family it didn’t possess one in their home, citing that nopony in their house knew how to play. That did come as something of a disadvantage to the young filly, who by now had started to grow tired of not being able to apply her musical ideas to a real instrument. But right now, through the most mundane of circumstances, Vinyl suddenly felt a twinge in her hindquarters, excited about the chance to finally fulfill that shortcoming.

With her very weak ability to levitate, Vinyl Scratch lifted her music book up and returned to the piano. With a hoof, she lifted the cover and found the line of keys, awaiting somepony to play them. The unicorn briefly weighed the option of using the piano, but inevitably she only needed to look at her book again to realize the potential of this moment.

Without another hesitation she sat on the bench and prepared the book for her first attempt to adapt her hummed melody to a real instrument.

“Here goes...”

Had Vinyl ever thought about it a little more, she probably would have realized that whilst the room appeared soundproof, the floor might not be and therefore detection might occur. This was especially the case if the music room she had discovered was directly above the sitting room her mother and her friends were gossiping in.

“...and then i said to him... that’s not a necktie, that’s a snake that happened to seize up around your neck!” Grand Salary finished her story, to the collective amusement of the other three ponies.

“Oh, I wish I could've had the pleasure of seeing the look on that foolish stallion’s face” A cyan-colored unicorn chimed in what would’ve been awkward in a normal discussion, yet was perfectly normal in high society.

“You must next time... and that hospital really should give you more time to socialize... it is absolutely appalling how hard they have you working” Grand Salary commented. “How in the world do they expect you to keep up your social obligations to me and everypony when they have you treating every broken hoof in Canterlot?”

“Four days isn't that taxing... though I must admit that bat-brained director isn’t doing me any favors by not paying me what I’m clearly worth” the fellow unicorn agreed.

“Oh, that director... You see Brighten, Tendercare... this is what i was warning you about...” Grand Salary started to lecture “Celestia has employed a tyrant at Canterlot General... She should never have been given the ability to select the new director. It’s always those anti-social workaholics she likes that get the top jobs in this city... and what good are they for promoting charity and working with us in the private sector?”

The three other ponies in the room all nodded their approval, even if it was all rather strenuous to listen to the opinion of their senior.

They were all minor figures compared to Grand Salary and depended upon her for status, in the hope that one day they might be considered important ponies worthy of their own social circle that begged for their attention. This ,however, did come at a cost: Grand Salary was quite an avid fan of scandal and went on tirades at every chance she got on topics that she felt very strongly about. This had the unintentional effect of attaching themselves to her views, just as it had the effect of making Grand Salary dependant on them for gossip so she could retain herself as a pony ‘in the know’ about the current affairs of Canterlot.

One popular topic that she craved was the news about the royal family ,or rather, the failings that she often sought as evidence of her opinion of them. Like any important pony in Equestria, she was of the rank to attend the gala and even had some pull in getting the attention of Princess Celestia at smaller events. But as the Governor of an important Manehattan bank and feeling herself superior - at least on money matters - Grand Salary felt obligated by a sense of duty to see wrong in everything they did.

Some of her displeasure was focused on Celestia, whom she saw as dangerously naïve for a mare of her post. One example could be found in the stifling banking regulations that the monarch used to fund her pie-in-the-sky initiatives like schools for villages and small towns that the princess was fond of. In an idealistic sense, this was acceptable, but the Princess could have easily found the money elsewhere; such as making the tax system not so biased in favor of farmers.

But what attracted her ire the most was the other members of the royal family, all of which Grand Salary felt woefully undereducated for leadership. For this reason, she had an almost eerie craving for any news on them to gossip about, a task made impossible given her distant position in society compared to those in the know. Fortunately, one of her friends here had a tidbit that she had been waiting for the right moment to divulge and in doing so become the favorite guest of Grand Salary.

“Has anypony heard the news about Mi Amore Cadenza?” The pearl-colored unicorn started to speak, pausing for effect.

The three other ponies all flicked their ears at the same time, suddenly waiting in anticipation for a juicy piece of gossip

“No…but do go on dear” Grand Salary started.

“I have heard from a reliable mare…of a suggestion that our newest royal princess will be becoming a foal sitter... and as the rumor goes... for the daughter of a family friend”

“Scandalous!” Grand Salary spat out “For a family friend? Of whom... the palace or... you surely don’t mean the house of...”

“House of Cadenza, yes... and to make it worse, it might be that...” The pearl unicorn stopped speaking.

Instead of just simply saying who, the pearl unicorn let Grand Salary work it out for herself. She had played this social sport a lot longer than the other two guests, and knew that she needed to give her host a chance to be seen as an intellectual. It didn't take long for Grand Salary to make her educated guess.

“That.... that foal-fiction author?”

A silent nodded confirmed and triggered Grand Salary’s next tirade.

“Oh that’s just typical, the current heir apparent to the throne of all of Equestria is being a foalsitter to a commoner's foal. Oh, what has happened to world around me... has Celestia gone insane?”

“I’m not really sure, Lady Salary. You are more of an expert on the subject than I can hope to be,” the Pearl-unicorn appraised.

Grand Salary took that invitation to continue her lecture, but as she resumed speaking, the old mare started to hear the faintest noise. Ignoring her senses for the moment, she started to talk.

“This is just typical of what's going wrong with the palace... it seems these days Celestia will give anypony she likes wings and a tiara, and its really frustrating to me that if Celestia were ever to fall, we would have a leader who only knows when it's nap time for a little foal and-”

As much as her ignorance tried, the noise - and almost music of a sort – quickly started to become more noticeable and ebbed against her mood at the moment, enough for the old mare to focus her attention to the noise above her head. At the same time, her guests were becoming a little worried at the unexpected pause to her tirade, but they too soon heard the noise from above.

”What in the name of all that is orderly is that dreadful noise!?”

Without really needing to identify the direction of the noise, Grand Salary focused on its sound and to her immediate dismay recognized it for that-

“Who is playing the grand piano!?” She almost bellowed.

The Cadenza controversy quickly became forgotten news as the elder unicorn leapt to her hooves in as dignified a fashion as her station required her to and trotted to the stairwell in the foyer. Predictably, all three of her guests had to follow, even if it meant the feared wrath of Lady Grand Salary’s rage if it was discovered that their foal was playing with their host’s property.

Their canter to the foyer didn't take too long, despite their age and attempt to be dignified as they moved, but from here Lady Grand was less concerned about appearance and more concerned about catching the culprit. What would happen if everypony learnt her house had invited undisciplined foals who did whatever they pleased? It was worse than dealing with boring commoner ponies and their simple thoughts.

As Grand Salary reached the top of the stairs, the noise that attempted to sound like music suddenly stopped, but this did not halt her advance. Right behind the old mare, the three guests followed, all with their separate worries, though one of their number had more reason to fear than the others.

Brighten Balance had every reason to worry. Ever since Vinyl had started drawing those squiggly lines in her notebooks, the filly had the most ornate interest in instruments and a desire to play them. Until a few minutes ago, Brighten had been rather dismissive of the venture, hoping it to be a phase. But now that ignorance was coming back to haunt her and only a miracle from Celestia would deliver her from her worst nightmare.

The quartet of ponies arrived at the doors of the Piano room and with a mighty and unladylike pull, Grand Salary revealed the culprit.

The sight waiting for them couldn't have looked most absurd. Instead of finding a foal at the piano, they found Vinyl beside it with her dress lifted all the way up, exposing and pointing her posterior towards the gathered mares at the door. To top it off, the foal appeared to be grinning in many flavors of delight while she caressed what initially looked to the world like a pair of smudges her haunches.

“Young Lady!” Grand Salary shouted “What uncouth reason do you have for acting like a mule in my house?!”

Vinyl turned around and saw the angry looks, but her happiness overcame this moment of fear and she announced to the world what had just happened.

“I got my Cutie Mark!”

The Expectations Game

The Expectations Game

In light of the increased interest in her story, there had been a natural inclination to migrate to the sofas.

The opportunity to do so came at the end of Vinyl’s latest portion of her story, which after a light chuckle between the three, allowed the earth ponies the chance to refill their drained cups of tea. In short order, contents of the dinner table were transferred over to the coffee table, and the three mares started to settle in for the remainder of the unfinished story. Almost as soon as she found the right comfort level in her seat, Octavia sensed the need to ask an obvious question.

“Did you really moon her on purpose?”

“Not on purpose,” Vinyl replied “Had they knocked, I might’ve had the sense to lower my tail...but I guess that didn’t occur to them”

“Did you get in trouble?” Melody asked next.

“Oh yeah, my mother grounded me on the spot...and for mooning her friend. I wasn't allowed ice cream for a month!” the unicorn answered with a chuckle “Though I think it had more to do with me using the piano without permission than mooning that old hag”

“What about your father?”

“Well…I guess he took it another way,” Vinyl mused, and started to recount what happened next.

“Stale, it’s not that funny!” Brighten fumed at her husband.

“I know dear...though you have to admit it must have been a little humorous,” Slate Scratch continued to chuckle.

His attempts to defuse his wife’s panicky mood went unheard.

Despite her good points, Brighten Balance was forever fearful of Lady Grand Salary and her implied powers that could ruin her. Like most members of the Canterlot elite, she was very well aware of the importance of position amongst her peers and as a result, craved every chance to advance in importance and influence through a sterling reputation. However, much to Brighten Balance’s dismay, all her efforts could have easily been wasted as a result of the very immature act her daughter performed this afternoon.

She strained with all her good manners not to explode at her daughter in front of the others and held out until she reached the safety of home. There, she bellowed at Vinyl with all the pent up anger and laid out the details of her grounding for her act of lunacy. Deep inside though, she already sensed regret, but it was an unavoidable cost of being a lady to a Lord. Had she not disciplined her daughter, would it get out that Brighten was too soft as a mother? That alone was a fear that almost erased the guilt, but her conscious still sensed it.

Stale composed himself and continued on “So is our little Vinyl in her room?”

“For the rest of the afternoon,” Brighten replied “and if I see her peep out even an inch, I’m going to double her prohibition on ice cream to two months”

“I guess I’ll have a talk with her then...”

Despite the way his wife was fretting over the issue affecting her, he was still surprised by her sudden suggestion.”

“Please Slate...don’t yell at her.”

“I know Brighten, just leave it to me.”

With both of them in agreement the two unicorns embraced briefly and parted ways, Bright balance cantering to the sitting room to recover while Slate Scratch proceeded to the bedroom of his daughter.

Lord Scratch had hoped to come home to better circumstances. He had just returned from a three day tour of the rail line, only to witness a mudslide claim the track work that had just been laid down west of Dodge Junction. It was a miracle that nobody was hurt, but Slate Scratch was now contemplating explaining it to the railroad directors and the investors, all of whom already considered him something of a barely tolerable eccentric.

This rail line was his other foal, and at the moment, this foal needed much more attention than even the fussiest newborn. It had meant constant trips away and all his time at home was spent on attending social parties in order to earn extra investment bits. But Lord Scratch also knew that the railroad – If the Canterlot elite would just trust him – would succeed and a whole new frontier would open up, leading to more farmland and property investment for his clients.

His return home today was devoid of any of that enthusiasm, and in light of the accident out in the field, his mood only sunk further upon learning of the apparent chaos that took place this afternoon with her daughter. He had especially looked forward to seeing Vinyl Scratch again, a daughter who evidently shared his eccentric zeal, but after hearing what had happened, he was not looking forward to the talk that was required by him. However, while Slate Scratch was never going to be father of the year, he still cared about his daughter’s feelings and while he could have been angry at her, he suppressed his worries for the moment.

With quiet hoofsteps, the stallion made to the top of the staircase and down to the room the end of the hall, the one contrasting with the rest of the rest of the house with a heart-shaped wooden nameplate which hung over the center proclaiming the name of the room’s occupant.

“Vinyl, are you in there?” he asked the most redundant of questions. He didn't need to wait long for a response.

“Yes...” a sobbing sound came from deep inside.

Slate Scratch sighed, feeling the weight of guilt that only a father feels when they hear their daughter whimpering.

“Vinyl, I’m coming in.”

“Okay...”

Slate turned the doorknob with his magic and made his way into the bedroom.

At once he found the need to create a glow from his horn to see the way around to the bedside. Vinyl had evidently drawn the curtains to darken her room to suit her present mood. It was a very typical thing for a filly to do, but it did make it a slight hazard for the stallion to tread forward, knowing well the possible hazards that were strewn across the floor.

At hearing the door open, Vinyl finally turned her head up to face him as he enter and closed the door. When he had come close enough, the filly got off the bed and stood steady to address him. Her mood however did not reward her with the strength to be able to look at him as she spoke.

“Welcome home, father”

Slate could have said a dozen things at that, but instead felt the need to say the one thing that he knew would make his daughter feel better.

“Now Vinyl, I thought I said you could call me daddy when were in private”

The filly unicorn looked up in surprise, and then smiled as she saw her father’s total lack of malice in his expression.

“I’m sorry...Daddy.” Vinyl repeated, this time able to face him.

“That’s much better,” he smiled.

Having restored her confidence, Slate then used his magic to pull a curtain away, letting some light from the afternoon sky back in. It made Vinyl flinch, but she managed to resist pleading for her father to close them again.

“Now let’s talk about this afternoon,” Slate said as he lowered himself on the cleanest spot on the floor.

“Am I in trouble?” Vinyl asked at once.

Slate paused and thought about his answer.

“In a way you are...but don’t you think you’ve been yelled at enough as it is?”

The filly unicorn nodded.

“Then let’s talk about your cutie mark."

Until now, Vinyl’s ears had been drooped down, but in a second she had them flicked up and alert. It sounded too good to be true but Vinyl figured that her father was at least trying to listen to her.

“My cutie mark?” Vinyl repeated.

“Yes, it’s a very important milestone to reach in your life...so how about you tell me about it.”

Vinyl felt the joy in her heart flutter back to life and without hesitation the young filly leapt up and started to talk for five uninterrupted minutes.

As Slate had every reason to expect by now, any explanation from a filly like Vinyl was often a muddled affair that most grown-ups would have a hard time keeping up with. However, tasking as it was, the filly’s father managed to keep up with the erratic lecture and understand how she thought she managed to obtain her cutie mark. He could tell Vinyl did her best to explain things, despite the explanation having no chronological order and even going as far as presenting the ‘musical pages’ in her book. But in the end, only after she had caught her breath again, did Slate finally admit that he only understood maybe half of it.

However, that was a small price to pay to make Vinyl happy again.

“And then when you finished playing, your your flanks felt really hot?”

“Yes...I thought I was on fire, but then it got cool again so I wanted to know what it was under my dress...and...”

“...and then Lady Grand Scales just happened to catch you mooning the door?”

“I guess so,” she replied and started to feel dejected again

Much to Vinyl’s surprise, her father started to chuckle.

“Oh dear...Vinyl, what we ever will do with you?” Slate responded.

The reaction left her daughter more than a little confused. She had expected him to be disappointed, even mad at her, but Vinyl Scratch was unable to understand why he would laugh at something that her mother had shouted at her for. Regardless of her inability to understand, when he stopped chuckling she again made the same plea to him as she had done to her mother.

“I’m sorry, Daddy... I didn't mean to cause so much trouble for everyone,”

Slate paused at that, but continued on with a question to Vinyl.

“I don’t think I need to tell you but do you understand what you did wrong now?”

“Yes. That I shouldn't use other pony’s stuff without their permission...” Vinyl recited her mother’s words “...and that I should not show anyone my...'posterior'...on purpose.”

Slate managed to only clear his throat this time at mention of the latter lesson. Now he had to hand down the punishment that a father of his rank in society was supposed to give, but in light of what he had learnt, Slate felt no need for it, and instead spoke gently as he gave his amended ruling.

“Because of your cutie mark, I will forgive this as an honest mistake on your part, but please be more careful in the future” Slate declared with a more delightful tone than his wife had.

“I will Daddy.”

Sensing the need to move his legs, Slate returned to a standing position.

He took a glance down at the ‘sheet music’ as Vinyl had described it and tried to think about the potential future her daughter had now. Evidently his offspring was destined to be a musician and if that was the case, then he would do everything in his power to help her become the very best performer she could be. That task now hit its first roadblock an entire thought later; how did one even begin to accomplish that?

For one, there was the rather vague cutie mark on her daughter’s flanks. Vinyl had played the piano in order to achieve her cutie mark, but did that mean she was destined to play the piano? If so, then why didn’t the cutie mark indicate something closer to that? At asking himself that question, Slate knew at once that he would have to consider this a little more, but in the meantime, there was no harm in asking his daughter what she would like to do now.

“So, have you given any thought to what kind of instrument you want to play?” Slate asked.

“I’m not sure” Vinyl replied “But I’d really like a chance to play something with strings or something like that...they always sound nice.”

“String instruments huh?” Slate pondered “Well, I’ll talk it over with your mother later.”

“Is she still mad with me?”

“A little bit, but I wouldn’t worry,” Slate assured her “Your mother is just embarrassed at the moment and really didn’t want to yell at you”

“But she was so...mad”

“Vinyl, sometimes the stupidest things make us grownups mad... but it doesn't mean she was disappointed”

“I think I understand,” Vinyl replied, her smile growing stronger.

“Then cheer up!” Slate announced “Now I know you can’t have ice cream, but I’m pretty sure I can convince your mother that some cake should be acceptable, given your accomplishments today”

The news raised the filly to her feet.

“You really mean it?”

“I don’t see why not...getting your cutie mark is as good an excuse as any don’t you think?” he gave a knowing wink.

“Oh thank you Daddy!” Vinyl jumped up to embrace her father.

Upon getting her cutie mark it seemed that a whole new world had opened up and all the old misconceptions she had to put up with had been erased.

It started almost at once when she went to school Monday morning and managed to amaze her classmates with not only a cutie mark, but one of the funniest stories to accompany it. As though by magic, all the foals who teased her about being a blank flank had been silenced and for a brief few days Vinyl Scratch felt like the most popular student in the classroom. The novelty of it all had worn off by mid week, but by then it had left the young filly feeling like she had seen the best days of her young life.

That could’ve been more than enough to make her week special, but as her father had declared on Wednesday, her parents had decided to proceed with buying their daughter an instrument that they considered would suit Vinyl Scratch this coming weekend. At first it had initially worried her that she had been left out of that decision process, but the promise of her very own instrument had managed to assuage her own fears.

Like any foal, this announcement had the effect of testing Vinyl Scratch’s patience for the rest of the week. By Friday, Vinyl could barely concentrate on her lessons as she continued to guess at what kind of instrument her parents had decided on and balanced out the positives and negatives of each possibility. But the end of the day, Vinyl decided that regardless of what she ended up with she was sure to love it.

After being picked up by her father from school – a very rare occurrence itself – both father and daughter ventured into the shopping district of Canterlot where throughout the week Lord Scratch had educated himself on a suitable place to buy his daughter an instrument. Their arrival at a music store could not have come soon enough but Vinyl strived mightily to contain her anticipation, which had reached its zenith and made the filly positively glow in excitement. Bounding for the door, Vinyl’s only accommodation to patience now was to not stray far from her father.

If the rare chance to spend time with her father wasn’t exciting enough, suddenly being surrounded by all manner of instruments in this quaint sized store gave cause for Vinyl’s fur to bristle. Violas, violins and cellos lined the wall, and in some places, hung from the ceiling, as if it were a lush forest of string instruments. Amongst the collection, a kindly-aged earthy pony sat behind a shop counter, having until moments ago been entranced in the task of replacing the strings on a viola.

The stallion was quick to recognize the familiar face amongst the trio who just entered his shop.

“Afternoon, Lord Scratch. Come by to pick up the instrument have we?” the gentle-worded storekeeper spoke from the counter then noticed the young filly that resembled the elder gentlecolt “And who might be is this little filly?”

“I’m Vinyl Scratch, how do you do?” she introduced herself.

The storekeeper smiled at the polite foal - a notably rare trait nowadays - and at making the connection between the two ponies, now knew why the Lord had put off picking up the instrument until today.

“Is it ready for collection?” Slate asked.

“But of course Lord Scratch,” the storekeeper announced “Just a moment while I collect it from the back.”

The earth pony rose from his seat and with a lazy haste in his pace, trotted to a side door and disappeared.

“Vinyl, why don't you have a quick look around while we wait?”

“Of course.”

Like any youthful filly in an interest place, Vinyl went off to tour herself around as she slowly examined the many instruments, trying to notice their differences in brand and design. It then dawned on the young unicorn had she never really had a chance to look at an instrument up close, her only encounters before being the ones at the social events and that piano in Lady Grand Salary’s home. It was as good a distraction as any for the filly who ,until moments ago, could barely contain her excitement.

By the time she had performed her brief tour of the shop, the storekeeper had returned with a blue instrument case. While its color was strange compared to the dozens of black cases that Vinyl had noticed so far, pretty soon the filly noticed another distinguishing feature; on the handle she found the initials V. S. were engraved into the black handle. Vinyl was momentarily awestruck with silence.

“Is this mine?” Vinyl asked in obvious surprise.

“From today onwards dear,” the storekeeper announced “I hope you’ll take excellent care of it”

“May I...” Vinyl asked the storekeeper.

“Of course dear.”

Vinyl used her magic to unlatch the case locks and with her hoof, she raised the lid to look inside. She was not disappointed one by what she found inside. No comprehensible words could describe the joy that the young unicorn felt at that moment. She turned to face her father; Slate took that as the cue to make his next announcement.

“We’ll be starting lessons next week, so be ready to make good use of that instrument, Vinyl,” Slate said calmly.

At feeling that she had reached the zenith of her happiness, Vinyl Scratch leapt at her parents for a second time this week to thank them repeatedly.

By common agreement, the three ponies decided to take a break to stretch, and in Melody’s case, to allow herself to make room for more tea.

Octavia also took the opportunity to restock both the biscuit tray and to boil the kettle again. She was up to seven cups now and if this story got any more interesting, she sensed she might break her record for consumption in a single day. Vinyl on the other hand did nothing more than lounge around await the two listeners to return; she had gone to too much effort to make herself comfortable on one of Octavia’s Sofas to feel like getting up.

“You know, you never cease to amaze me” Octavia started to speak upon her return. “Here I am thinking you have never played an actual instrument in all your life and then...you well... surprise me”

“Well, I guess it’s because you never thought to ask,” Vinyl Scratch replied with a grin

“Then what about that time I caught you trying to play with my instrument and you admitted that you ‘don’t know how to play this,” Octavia asked wryly.

“Tavi,” Vinyl chuckled “I never said I didn't know how to play any instruments, just that I didn't know how to play cello”

Octavia fumed at being called out on Vinyl’s wordplay, but didn't let the cunning retort ruin her mood.

“Vinyl, You really are an enigma sometimes...” Octavia muttered to herself as she returned to tend to her teapot.

In a matter of minutes, both Melody and Octavia had returned to their seats. Both were now feeling refreshed and ready with refilled cups to hear more of their friend’s story. Once again discussion started with a word from Melody.

“You were so lucky Miss Vinyl,” Melody started “It would’ve taken my parents years to save up for a violin...and that’s if we got good money for the crops.”

That Tidbit of information caught Vinyl’s interest for a moment.

“What did you parents grow?”

“Sugar cane, they grow it on land to the south of Baltimare.”

“I see…” Vinyl replied cautiously.

Octavia took note of the careful way Vinyl answered that and again sensed the unicorn was hiding her thoughts again. For the moment though, her interest was focused on the question Melody asked.

“I don’t for a moment doubt how blessed I am to have parents like mine...they are cool in their own way,” Vinyl said in a matter of fact voice “But there were some downsides to them when I was a filly”

“What do you mean?” Octavia asked.

“Well, let’s just say that in hindsight, I guess I didn't know what I was getting myself into at the time...Sure I loved to play music, but that apparently wasn't enough for some ponies.”

If there is one important lesson any pony learns throughout their lifetime, it is the importance of understanding the difference between their personal expectations and the expectations of others.

From the day one is born, whether it relates to how one does their studies or socializes, opinions are formed and from that, expectations are created. This solicitation of expectations from others stems from the natural fact that no matter the pony, one inevitably seeks the approval of their peers regardless of their potential. Under normal circumstances, adopting these expectations help form realistic and feasible goals for one to accomplish over a lifetime.

However, when the expectations of others become greater than what is reasonable, often the only protection one can find from this despair is perhaps the most magical protection in the world: the foalhood’s blissful obliviousness. But from the day Vinyl Scratch first picked up her violin to play, her days of protection were numbered.

At first it had not been noticeable due to the fortune that initially bequeathed the young unicorn. As her parents had hoped, Vinyl Scratch had taken to the instrument like a duck to water and it was soon reported that she was displaying an above average performance. Despite its obvious boost to her morale, those early successes would set in motion an expectation that would come to dominate the young unicorn.

Vinyl Scratch’s first encounter with those expectations around her came when some of the first misimpressions she had formed about being a musician were corrected. Despite her own enthusiasm, Vinyl was told that she would not be taught how to write her own music. Her teacher had tried to alleviate her dismay by explaining that she would simply be too busy with practice, but Vinyl remained adamant that she could compose her own music.

Starting on her own, Vinyl Scratch started to divide her practice time into a part-rehearsal and part-experimenting routine. Despite her best of intentions though, this routine did not hide her slackening in practice as the months wore on and the above average performance started to wane. At first it had not been a problem, but as Vinyl’s abilities with the violin started to exceed her ability to recite the compositions she was made to practice, her teacher became suspicious.

It did not take long however to discover the source of the inconsistency. After another confounding afternoon of lessons with mixed results, Vinyl had made the unexpected error of leaving her bag in his studio. Whilst respecting her privacy as much as possible, in looking for what might’ve stunted the unicorn’s progress, the teacher did discover the young filly’s special book mixed along with her sheet music that had been issued. Inside, the music teacher was appalled to find an extensive – but messily organized – collection of squiggling lines, of which over half of it appeared to have been rudimentarily translated into sheet music.

If it weren't for the above average handling Vinyl Scratch still displayed, the teacher would’ve been infuriated by the discovery. However, the teacher had to recognize that whilst full of good intentions, Vinyl Scratch was not doing herself any favors by distracting herself with these scribbles. Keeping the book separate from the rest of the bag, the teacher had awaited for her punctual arrival at four in the afternoon.

As usual, the young unicorn entered his studio at a few minutes to four, which given the distance from her school, was a rather remarkably feat to accomplish whilst carrying an instrument on one’s back. But just as expected this afternoon, a worried look accompanied the filly as she entered, evidently aware by now of her folly.

“Good afternoon sir,” Vinyl carefully spoke as she cautiously walked inside.

“Good afternoon my dear,” he evenly replied “come on in, we have a lot to cover today.”

The teacher did not say another word and instead waited for the unicorn to close the door and settle down in her usual spot for practice. After extracting her violin and miniature stand, Vinyl Scratch stopped and waited for her teacher to speak, knowing full well that she didn’t have her music books to read from.

“Vinyl, you left your books here yesterday...I’m very disappointed in you, a musician should not be tardy or forgetful...or distracted,” he added, prompting him to pick up Vinyl’s notebook off his desk “Does this look familiar?”

“Yes Sir.”

“Then would you like to explain to me what this is?”

“It’s what I put all my own ideas and stuff in...”

While admittedly proud that she had a seemingly naïve courage to be honest, he was still not impressed and Vinyl knew it.

“Vinyl dear, how many times must I tell you? You don't have the time for this horseplay...” the teacher explained “You’re here to practice every moment you can...your string work is excellent but your recitals are getting worse!”

Vinyl took offense to that, more so than with the idea that her teacher had read through her personal stuff to find this secret of hers. However, there wasn't anything she could do about that and all she could do now was justify it as best as she could.

“But I’m practicing every day and-”

“Vinyl dear, I know you are, but it’s not enough to just practice a few times...” the teacher cut her off “you must practice, and practice, and practice some more...and then practice until you don't need the sheet music anymore, and then you practice again!”

“I’m doing that...”

“You are,” he paused to regain his composure “But Vinyl dear...you can’t go off and do your own thing as well” He picked up the book again as a gesture “A musician’s life is all about discipline...and neglecting in your practice is very undisciplined of you”

Vinyl felt hurt at that declaration. Wasn’t going off and doing her own thing what got her a cutie mark in the first place? If not, then why was she being punished for the very thing she was good at? It made her feel low, but Vinyl stubbornly held onto her resolve, still sensing a need to fight.

“So I can’t create my own music?” Vinyl asked.

At that moment the teacher felt a pang of guilt for the necessary evil that was needed for correcting this filly’s behavior. In light of his regretful tone, the teacher tried a new tact; one that he hoped would resolve this problem and explain to her why she couldn’t go on with this idea of composing her own music.

“Not for a very long time Vinyl...and judging by your works, you’re nowhere near mature enough to understand.”

“Understand what?” Vinyl asked.

“I read your notes,” the teacher explained and went on “you have no discipline even in your own ideas. you're ignoring a lot of the rules of music, now as you start to play more complex pieces, you might understand what I mean.”

“What rules?” Vinyl asked.

“You might not understand...but how do I put it...” the teacher pretended to be searching for the right words and then continued “Music is supposed to tell a story...and your music doesn't do that. Right now it looks like a collection of noises.”

What he said had started to sound like an insult, but the filly remained calm and tried to reason with him.

“Then what am I supposed to do?” Vinyl snapped in frustration “I love creating my own music...and I don't care if it’s just a collection of noises!”

“Vinyl! Stop that once!” the teacher sternly warned “What you're supposed to do is learn to play...and up until now you’ve shown me a lot of potential, but the more time you waste on these...scribbles, the more harm you will do to yourself in the long run! As I said before, a musician's life is all about discipline, not playing around with sounds and pretending to be a composer!”

“But I want to compose music!” Vinyl whined.

The teacher frowned again drew on his deep vat of patience to ignore the filly’s singular act of immaturity. After composing his own thoughts, he started to speak.

“Then you must learn how to play the music first…and when you’ve grown up and learnt how to compose music within the rules, then I promise you I’ll be the first in line to hear what you have created,” he then went on to warn her “but until then, you must work hard at improving your recital abilities...”

Vinyl looked down in silence after being lectured and wondered about what she had just been told. Was she really not allowed to do what she wanted? Was the sole motivation that inadvertently led to how she had gained her cutie mark – as she had previously assumed – something she was actually not allowed to do at all? It was a depressing surprise to the filly.

When Vinyl looked up again though, she was surprised to see the teacher pick up the book and hoof it towards her.

“For now, I’ll let this slide since your music has managed to improve your string skills beyond my initial expectations, but please,” the teacher breathed “I would like you to leave that book at home from now on.”

“Thank you.” Vinyl simply replied and quickly took custody of her book and hid it deep inside her saddlebag.

The teacher sighed as he made his final comment on the subject “In the future, please keep in mind...your cutie mark has told you that your destiny is to be a musician, what would your father and mother think of you if they were to learn that you're wasting their money by playing around instead of fulfilling your destiny?”

That line scored for points and he could tell by Vinyl’s reaction that it had the desired effect on her resistance. From what the young unicorn had said about her family, letting her parents down sounded like it was the real crime she feared to commit. Despite the painful look on her face at realizing what she had done, Vinyl started to comply finally.

“I understand sir,” Vinyl replied with a defeated tone.

“Then please open up your workbook to page 34 at once...we've wasted enough time on this subject as it is..”

“Yes sir”

Despite her compliance, all of a sudden she didn't feel like playing like she had only ten minutes ago. It was as if in a single moment, all the fun in playing music had been sucked out of her soul. Regardless, without resistance Vinyl collected her workbook and opened it to the appropriate page.

After setting up the book on the stand, the filly finally picked up her violin and prepared to play. In her final moments of independent thought before playing, Vinyl tried to assure herself that if she started to work hard now, she just might one day get to make her own music....that is if the teacher was right about the story he just told her.

It was a goal she could aim for one day at least and so with the bow in hoof and her breathing under control, the young unicorn prepared to play.

“From the top!” the teacher ordered.

Despite her efforts, what original enjoyment Vinyl had in playing music left her during that unfortunate afternoon.

But even with the blow to her morale, she did not allow it to hamper her performance. If anything, Vinyl Scratch had become more focused on playing the violin. With every new piece, the unicorn had strained even harder to perform better than she had before and showed no sign of slowing down in her efforts. All of this renewed vigor however could be traced back to Vinyl’s mixture of new motivations and fears.

On the one hoof, she had done her own research and discovered – to her hidden relief – that if she waited long enough, she had a slight chance to create her own music. That discovery went a long way in restoring Vinyl’s motivation to continue playing her violin. But on the other other hoof, in discovering what she needed to do in order to compose her own music, Vinyl was slowly starting to notice the expectations that came between her and that new goal.

It had started when her mother started discussing her music lessons with her friends, emphasizing the advanced skill that Vinyl evidently rated for a filly her age. At first, that sort of boasting from her own mother bolstered Vinyl’s confidence in a new way, especially considering how guarded her parents had been in ever mentioning their daughter in discussion before. That positive feeling however became marred when those discussions had then prompted the young unicorn to demonstrate her abilities for her parent's guests, as a sort of test and confirm the validity of her mother’s claims about her talent.

This particular act soon became a commonplace requirement of the young Vinyl and in a matter of weeks, the act of reciting music she had recently learnt had become a nagging errand. Vinyl soon started to compare the treatment she got as being no different from before, when her sole task accompanying her mother was to be seen and not heard. In her limited way of seeing things, all that had changed was that Vinyl had to play a song before being dismissed to the back room, where her awaiting foal-age peers would scold her hogging the attention of the grownups.

Despite the negatives though, Vinyl continued to practice, perfect and perform her way along, trying mightily to keep up with those expectations along with her own self-imposed goals. She never thought of the task as easy, but even with the pseudo-mature way Vinyl attempted to deal with it, she still felt an unwelcome sort of pressure from everypony. For every achievement she reached, it seemed that she had to try even harder for the next time she was asked to impress the same ponies she performed recitals for, as she was once again doing this afternoon.

Even though it no longer had the novelty as it did in the beginning, Vinyl was still expected to play, and so like many previous occasions, she stood before her mother’s friends and played.

Performing a relatively short piece, she played every note well, and on the final sound, Vinyl lifted her bow and awaited the silent judges arrayed around her to pass their verdict on her performance.

“Very good Vinyl, as always your music is...palpable to the ears,” Lady Grand Salary spoke in her usual dry tone, with the immediate agreement of the rest of the assembled social circle shortly following her statement.

“Thank you, Lady Salary.” Vinyl bowed and lowered her instrument, knowing already her services were no longer required.

“You may go now.”

“Yes, Madam.”

Without another word in response, the unicorn returned her instrument to its case and made her hasty departure, feeling grateful again that she had finished the one annoying errand that her mother insisted on.

These performances had in fact become so tedious that she had stopped using a stand for sheet music, not because it was a sign of her talent, rather because it could let her leave the room sooner. In Vinyl’s mind, the faster she could pack up, the sooner she could leave these ungrateful listeners for the relative safety of the library. Despite the hostility she would meet there, it was more manageable than dealing with the grownup ponies she now despised.

Upon reaching the library, Vinyl was greeted by her fellow regular tag-a-long whom ,as always, tried his best to put her down whenever she was required to play. Even with her cutie mark, he still felt obligated to find flaws in her character.

“I Thought I heard the sound of a broken violin screeching...so another stupid performance for Ms.Vinyl Scratch the perfect?”

“Oh, shove it Feather!” Vinyl replied with an annoyed frown, continuing to walk by the foal and found her own corner of the library to occupy.

By common consent between the two foals, Vinyl did not take out her violin to practice and instead looked for a book to read. As she scanned the shelves, Feather Script took his chance to annoy her again.

“So, how did they react? Was it so bad they all threw up and stuff?”

Vinyl sighed and responded in kind.

“Shouldn’t you be more concerned with your remedial magic textbook right about now?”

“It’s not remedial!” Feather Script protested “It’s advanced levitation for weak magic users!”

“Remedial...gotcha” Vinyl smirked as she looked for something of interest “And I honestly keep telling you, I’d rather not be playing for them.”

The colt snorted at the remark.

“Whatever...I don’t get why they even care to listen to you every week anyway; my mother says everyone thinks your music sucks.”

That caught Vinyl’s attention.

For all of Feather Script’s flaws and in spite of all the lies he told, whenever he mentioned his mother or someone else, it usually had some substance to it. She didn't like the idea of asking for clarification, especially with this spoiled brat, but the accusation piqued her concerns. Knowing that she would soon regret asking, Vinyl nonetheless wanted to know the truth.

“What do you mean?”

Feather Script smirked. He knew such a remark would bring out the vanity in Vinyl and it was enjoyable to watch the filly fret.

“Well, I’m not sure what it is they said, but mother suggests that your performances have been worse as of late...or so I’ve been told. You could ask them, but I guess they might not tell you the truth. you know how it is...they don't want to make a baby like you cry!”

Vinyl frowned at the mockery. She never had been afraid of criticism before, but as her doubts surfaced, the filly started feel both unsure and curious as to what her mother and her friends really thought of her music. Had there been the chance to, Vinyl would simply walk downstairs and demand an answer, but the unicorn knew that Grand Salary would refuse to even let her even talk.

On the other hoof, Vinyl did not like the idea of letting her colt associate continue to haunt her with this accusation. So without another useless thought, the filly abandoned her quest for a book to read and went for the door.

“Where are you going?” Feather asked in surprise.

“I’m going to find out if that’s true. If its not, I'm going to buck your face off!”

Feather Script’s worried look gave Vinyl some satisfaction, but her worries continued to fester as she left the library. Cantering along, the filly soon returned to the hallway leading to the sitting room, but just as it entered her sight, Vinyl Scratch quickly brought her pace down to an almost silent trot. After finding a place to hide behind, the filly set herself down and strained her ears to listen in.

As Vinyl leaned in, she caught the discussion ensuing.

“Well Brighten, it certainly looks like a hopeless cause now...she is becoming such a disappointment...and to think she had started out so well.” Grand Salary stated.

The group of grownups had already dispersed with their initial exchange of pleasantries, something that Vinyl knew in society circles could take some time to finish. Now that they had settled in for their discussions, their host did not hesitate to voice the opinion she apparently struggled to hold back for quite awhile now.

“I just can’t believe how painful that was to listen to! That was an absolutely atrocious performance Brighten...won’t you please get your daughter to try harder?”

“Lady Grand Salary, I don't know what to say. I’ve been making her practice and I don’t understand what the problem is,” Vinyl’s mother defended herself before adding, “She is supposedly doing well according to her teacher, but I just can’t understand why she is performing so badly for you.”

Grand Salary let the dire excuse hang in the air for a minute as she sipped her tea. When she felt her guest had finished explaining, the host started to rebut.

“Then my dear, I think its time to look for a better teacher. This colt is too soft on your daughter and she is letting her potential slip away with these mistakes,” Grand Salary continued to explain “I warned you about this. You aren’t disciplining her enough, Brighten...and this is why she’s failing now. You let her do her own thing and this is what happens.”

“But surely she will improve...it’s not that hopeless is it?” Brighten Balance pleaded.

Grand Salary almost laughed at the suggestion.

“Surely you cannot be that naive Brighten. A pony her age should be able to rear up on her back legs as she performs, and her performances are no better than that of a daft earth pony who decided to make noises with an instrument! Open your eyes Brighten, your daughter is showing incompetence!”

Grand salary then smirked as she was about to sink the proverbial knife in further.

“Though from what I’ve heard, this daughter of yours has been doing more than failing to keep up with practice...”

From behind the corner, Vinyl froze in fear at what Grand Salary could possibly know about her previous problems, or what she could possibly tell her mother that she had kept a secret thus far. Curious and now festering more fear along with her already heightened anxiety, Vinyl Scratch edged closer to the corner, hoping to see as well as hear what was being said about her.

“How do you mean? Vinyl practices every day, I make sure of that!” Brighten weakly argued.

Grand Salary smiled wryly as her friend exposed herself to her social circle even more. Brighten was never good at controlling her emotions under stress and for as long this problem existed, Grand Salary would enjoy every minute of exploiting her.

“A reliable associate told me that a friend of the mare-friend of your daughter’s teacher said that your daughter was caught attempting to compose her own music not so long ago...” Grand Salary announced to the social group.

Brighten Balance froze, knowing that saying anything more would only solidify her association to her daughter’s social crimes. She had been informed of the music book not long after the discovery, but Brighten had not gone to punish Vinyl Scratch, under the pretense that her daughter had already learnt her lesson. Grand Salary however didn’t see it that way and was now punishing her for it.

Grand Salary watched the fur on Brighten lose its complexion and felt a little disappointed in how strict she had to be. However, she felt that by sinking in the guilt now, it was the only way that Bright Balance could learn from her mistakes. After sipping her tea again, Grand Salary continued to lecture.

“I was wondering how long you had planned on keeping that to yourself. Now if it were not affecting her talents, I would not bring this up,” she lied “but your daughter really is one of those ponies these days who lack the discipline we expect from our young. Such a shame really...if it gets out it, it could ruin your reputation!”

Brighten remained silent, already thinking of a way out of her social dilemma. Would be it better to simply withdraw Vinyl from lessons? No, that would be a sign of defeat and she would be considered a quitter and a lesser pony by her peers. That meant the other alternative, something that could overcome this blight on her and her daughter’s record.

Already, Brighten knew that Grand Salary would not let this disgrace go for as long as it suited her, but that in itself was an advantage. If Vinyl improved dramatically, and even got appointed to an academy or won a scholarship, then the whole mar on Brighten’s record as a mother would be erased, and her social standing could even be improved.

It was something to think about as she composed her reply. However, before her words were fully formed, Grand Salary attacked again.

“It’s an awful shame, I know...if your child wasn’t already cursed with such a useless profession, this would be easier to correct. I would have even settled on her becoming more like her father in that damnable rail business he runs...”

At hearing that subtle insult, Brighten instantly took to the defense of her husband and daughter.

“Surely you jest...she still has a future if she works hard enough”

“But she isn't working hard at all. Composing her own music? How is that a sign of dedication?” Grand Salary asked.

Brighten paused to think, but Grand Salary continued to speak.

“Brighten, it is not enough to just perform well. For her to even have a place in the Royal Academy, she must be excellent…and even then? What sort of career will she have? She will become a noble who plays at the whim of commoners! That is not the destiny for a daughter of a Lord and a banker. If it weren’t for your dedicated support in the past to us, Brighten Balance, your reputation could not possibly survive the disgracefulness of your daughter’s destiny!”

“I see...” Brighten cringed as her confidence from a few moments ago vanished.

“It’s a sad state...foals like Vinyl are just typical of the youth,” Grand Salary’s diatribe to the others continued “These stupid fillies who get these useless ideas about their futures."

“Foals today really aren’t like us.” another mother added.

“Oh they aren't my dear...back in our day we knew our place! Be silent, be unseen and do what your mother and father tell you to do! That was how I was brought up.” Grand Salary declared.

“So what is your advice Lady Salary?” Brighten finally asked.

“If there is to be a future with your daughter, then it’s time you stopped treating her like a child.”

Vinyl Scratch didn’t hear that last part. Her emotions had already started to breakdown and she had decided to retreat to the safety of the library before she was detected by the ladies in the room. Even though she was bound to be teased and mocked by Feather Script, at least she would be further away from these horrible ponies.

Making her way back the Library, Vinyl let herself whimper as much as possible before she had to compose some restraint. It was hard to. Normally it was easy for her to shrug off insults and the like, but when it came from adults instead of ponies her age, it seemed to have a greater impact on her. Nonetheless, by the time Vinyl had returned the library, her sobbing had been reduced to a handful of sniffs.

At hearing the door open, Feather Script spoke his prepared remark without looking up

“Welcome back, did they admit to it?” he asked wryly.

It was only when she didn’t reply that he decided to look up and saw the look on her face. Only then did he come to regret what he had said. He hadn’t lied, but he hadn’t expected her mother or her friends to actually tell Vinyl that she wasn’t good enough. By the look of Vinyl’s expression staring back at him, it had been more than just mere confirmation.

She continued to say nothing and like a lifeless doll, she merely continued on in silence, trotting to the back corner where she had left her saddlebag and instrument. Feather Script traced her moved, slowly feeling worse for what he had said until he reached a breaking point.

“I’m sorry...”

Vinyl turned in surprise and for the first time in years saw Feather Script show genuine concern for her. Still, it just wasn’t enough to make her feel better and considering what he had said just before, somehow his apology felt like mockery.

“Just leave me alone, okay?!” Vinyl hissed.

With that, Feather Script made no further attempt to communicate, feeling both stupid for what he said and just a little concerned for his own well-being if Vinyl was to snap at him again.

Vinyl crawled up onto a couch in the corner of the library and just sunk her head into a pillow. She didn’t say another word for the rest of the day.

Whatever enjoyment Vinyl Scratch had in playing the violin left her that sordid afternoon.

Even if she still found some enjoyment from playing, that would have soon been erased by the changes in her life. Following the advice of her society senior, Vinyl’s mother had gone to great lengths to overcome the supposed flaws that her daughter had.

First to change was her teacher, who through some secret prodding from Grand Salary, had been encouraged to recommend Vinyl Scratch for a more advanced teacher. This new teacher, as promised, had made the old one look soft on her in comparison and through a five day a week lesson regimen, pushed the young unicorn even harder than before. On top of all that, Vinyl Scratch was still expected to attend school and get good grades.

Now her days consisted purely of violin practice and homework, with little room for any sort of fun. Vinyl Scratch had tried to protest, but after the lecturing Brighten Balance had received from Grand Salary, she refused to hear her daughter’s pleas. Normally Vinyl would then defer to her father for support, but he was seldom at home now due to his work commitments.

What he was doing now required him to be away for weeks at a time, with only enough time at home so he could attend the really important social functions and give updates to his clients on progress. The rail line was starting to show interest to potential investors and many who had previously mocked him were starting to buy shares in the venture. That ,however, only forced more pressure on him to complete the project sooner.

Over the course of a month since that afternoon, Vinyl felt her foalhood being drained out of her as the new commitments to practice started to overtake time previously spent at play. It had started to turn her interest into music into an unending chore, and now as she was to soon discover, it was starting to have an unforeseen effect at school.

For just over three weeks now, she had been attending classes with a brand new music teacher, and it showed. Vinyl Scratch, who had previously been known for boundless amounts of energy, now found herself exhausted by the time school would end for the day. It had caused her to become reluctant in playing with the other fillies and colts who had had nothing like the routine she had to keep up with.

Once again, school had already ended for the day, but unlike other foals, this daily milestone was no longer one of elation for Vinyl Scratch. All it meant was that it was time to go to her next violin lesson. After putting her pencils and books away, the alabaster unicorn used a brief moment of respite to look at the piece of paper on her desk.

It was her end of term report card; something that Vinyl had been dreading before, but to her fortune had seen no reason to fret. With the exception of her math class – a subject she only got a B+ in – Vinyl Scratch was still at the top of her game academically, but now at the cost of many recent late nights studying.

What respite she was having ended when another off-white unicorn approached her desk.

“Hey Vinyl!” Vanilla Blossom asked “Do you want to go to the park today?”

The unicorn stopped cradling the piece of paper she had been looking at and turned to see her long-time friend and fellow classmate.

“Sorry?” Vinyl answered in surprise before she returned her gaze to the paper she had been reading.

“I said do you want come play with us at the park?”

“Oh,” Vinyl replied before giving an answer “I’m sorry, Vanilla. I have practice in half an hour.”

The fellow filly frowned, but ignored that rejection. With her still weak magic, Vanilla levitated out an envelope in front of Vinyl.

“What’s this?”

“You promised you would come to my party remember,” Vanilla continued to refresh her friend’s memory “So here is your invite!”

Vinyl was still at ‘She promised’.

“I did?”

“Yes you did!”

After putting away the report card, Vinyl Scratch blinked her eyes as if to test if she could still see and tried to recall when or where she might’ve agreed to something like that. Her memory was foggy and what came to mind right away was something else entirely. Taking a look at the letter, she opened it to take a look at the date. To her dismay it was for a Saturday a week from now.

“So can you come?”

“I’m not sure” Vinyl replied.

Vanilla Blossom fumed at her friend’s uneasy response.

“Oh, come on Vinyl! Why can’t you? You’re starting to worry everyone about why you have been avoiding us lately…and now this?”

“Wait…I’m avoiding you?” Vinyl asked.

“Yeah!” Vanilla replied furiously “You won't play with us anymore. You always act so tired but then you say you have lessons everyday!”

Vinyl sighed as she used her forehooves to massage around the horn; she could already feel a headache coming on. Is this what her friends really thought? It was true she had not hung out with them lately but Vinyl didn’t suspect this sort of reaction from her friends. The filly sighed and tried to consider her options, and decided to try to make an effort of assuring her friend and classmate.

“Vanilla, I’ll try my best…I’ll ask my mother tonight if I can go to your birthday party.”

Vanilla Blossom looked at her friend with a careful eye. This had not been the first time Vinyl Scratch had lied to her or her friends in recent weeks. There were the countless games of hoofball she passed up, the broken promises about coming over to visit and the lunchtimes where Vinyl Scratch simply refused to do anything exciting with her friends.

However, Vanilla also acknowledged that her friend wasn’t looking her best, the harsh brown bags under Vinyl’s eyes spoke volumes that the youthful filly was going through a tough period. She didn’t understand why that was the case, but had felt that inviting her dear friend out might give the young unicorn some respite from what troubles she was going through.

“Okay Vinyl,” Vanilla Blossom replied cautiously “I really hope you can make it to this party…it’s been so long since we’ve had time to play together.”

“I know” Vinyl answered. It wasn’t a reply so much as it breathe of air.

The time had already come for the filly to start making her way to her music lesson. Enough time had been wasted in the brief few minutes between the end of her school day and now, any further waste of time would only cause Vinyl Scratch to be late for her class. Putting both the report card and the birthday invitation away, Vinyl rose from her haunches and started to pack away the last of her stationery.

“Vanilla, I hope I can make it to the party,” Vinyl continued as she lugged her Violin case onto her back “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Take care, Vinyl!”

“See you later” Vinyl almost whispered. She simply didn’t have the energy to put into a more cheerful response.

Vanilla Blossom went her own way, leaving Vinyl Scratch to walk out to the school gates alone and off to her lesson. It seemed rather metaphorical of the situation Vinyl suddenly realized she had created.

She had thought her friends would understand what she was going through, and that practice sessions were important for her future. But even the young the filly had to admit that her patience might’ve been worn down by the constant excuses that she herself had given in recent weeks. With that in mind, Vinyl Scratch decided it was time for some personal intervention on her part.

Her answer was predictable.

“For the last time,” Brighten Balance explained “You cannot go!”

“Why can’t I go?” Vinyl Scratch pleaded.

Brighten groaned. Vinyl Scratch could be a very stubborn filly sometimes, even when it was a situation where should know better. The mother had already given a logical reason to her choice, but upon rejecting that, there was really no other option but to repeat in clearer terms her decision.

“Because I said so, Vinyl,” Brighten repeated, before adding on, “These grades are appalling! I won’t reward you for this sort of performance!”

As if to punctuate her point, Brighten levitated the report card up to show her daughter, even though she was on the other side of the dinner table.

“But they aren’t bad…the teacher says I did very well in everything!”

“Except math,” Bright promptly responded “And is this an A- in magic studies? Would you care to explain yourself?”

Vinyl frowned. Wasn’t an A- good enough anymore? It was actually the best grade she had ever gotten for magic studies and considering that Vinyl was a B average student, she had expected her mother to be pleased with the results in this report card. But that previous expectation didn’t seem to matter right now, what with the overall change in her mother’s attitude as of late.

Ever since that afternoon, Vinyl’s mother had become rather hard to please and the filly couldn’t understand why. Almost overnight, Vinyl’s mother had gone from a passive interest in her academics and violin practice, to an almost fanatical level of obsession. That had not made it easy for Vinyl, who was not used to overworking herself, yet in a short span of time, the expectations she had to deal with had vastly increased.

In addition to her regular school studies, Vinyl was now attending violin lessons six days a week and practicing an additional three hours a night. This regimen was compounded by more traditional studies in all her school subjects; something that was using up all her free time. Finally – and rather insultingly to the above average student – for the first time in ages, all of this was done under the supervision of a housemaid to ensure no distractions.

Yet for all of her reluctant grumbles and all of the hard work that Vinyl had struggled to accomplish in recent weeks, it was all for nothing. Even if it was her best result to date, her mother had coldly dismissed the filly’s hard work as not ‘good enough’. Now starved of approval after all her hard work, Vinyl continued to complain.

“But mother! I did far better in my magic exam! I was fourth best in my class!”

“That’s not good enough Vinyl…not for your age!” Brighten lashed out “Vinyl, I’ve given too much slack to you in the past, but I’m not giving you anymore!”

Brighten fumed at Vinyl and remembered to send a strongly worded letter of reprimand to the mother of Vanilla Blossom.

Brighten could no longer afford to see her daughter distracted by trivial things, and worse, allow her classmates to prevent her from achieving well. Grand Salary had warned her about the latter, at how it was just possible that her friends at school were conspiring to ensure that Vinyl would continue to fail. The possible ramifications of that alone made Brighten feel justified; no matter how cruel it seemed to Vinyl, it was for the best.

But Vinyl stubbornly refused to quit and in desperation tried again to justify her simple request.

“But mother, that’s not fair,” Vinyl complained loudly “You get to go to parties all the time! Why can’t I go to one?”

That statement set Brighten off. Her shouting could have been heard outside on the street.

“Because I earned that privilege Vinyl!” Brighten exploded “I worked every day of my life to be able to attend those parties! To have this house! To have my Job! And most important of all; to make sure you would be provided for! So I won’t let you, or your immature antics reflect poorly on the reputation I made and all the hard work I did to get here!”

Vinyl cringed and almost hid under the table after being shouted at like that. Her mother had been angry with her before, but never this angry. Even with all her resilience in fighting with her mother, Vinyl felt broken from hearing that.

“But what about my friends?”

“Your friends do not matter anymore, only your future does” Brighten announced in a chilling tone “Everything you do now that you have your cutie mark reflects upon how I’ve brought you up, and I will no longer allow you to make me look like a fool!”

Vinyl crumpled to her haunches. She simply couldn't stand and fight anymore.

“Do you understand Vinyl?” Brighten asked in a calmer voice.

The filly didn’t reply at first, instead mumbling out something that resembled a reply.

“I said do you understand Vinyl?!” Brighten raised her voice again.

“Yes,” Vinyl weakly sniffed out.

“Good,” Brighten sighed then continued.

Her argument had been won, but she had been forced to shout. Brighten regretted the harsh tone but it was unavoidable; If Grand Salary's implied threat was genuine, then she could not risk further potential embarrassments, like allowing trivial events like foals birthday parties to impact on Vinyl's potential. It was a necessary evil, but even with her justifications, it still felt unfair.

“Now go to your room and finish your reading” Brighten started to speak.

“But what about dessert...” Vinyl weakly asked.

“Not after that outburst young lady,” Brighten continued to discipline “No ice cream for a week, understood?”

This time, Vinyl simply sobbed silently as she nodded her acceptance.

Silently, she vacated her seat at the dinner table and trotted back to her room.

Vinyl tried her best to not cry. She felt too old to express that emotion in public, yet it took all her restraint to hold it back as she retreated up the stairs to the privacy of her room. Upon returning to her room however, Vinyl Scratch only needed to look at her favorite doll on the bed to be drawn towards it for the comfort she now desperately sought.

Once the doll was firmly in her grasp and she hidden under a blanket, Vinyl finally allowed herself to cry.

The Silent Room

The Silent Room

Like all long and interesting stories, it often required a number of a toilet breaks.

This time it had been Octavia who needed to answer the call of nature. She had already consumed close to a dozen cups of tea, but at this rate, it seemed that the tea enthusiast was now going for a personal record, much to her bladder’s protest. Octavia’s absence also meant that for the first time since they had met, Melody and Vinyl Scratch were alone.

Sitting alone with their respective thoughts, the two guests visiting Octavia’s apartment mulled in an awkward silence.

For Octavia’s younger former classmate, she was already in awe of the unicorn and could easily imagine how Octavia must’ve admired this pony. It therefore made Melody rather uneasy to be around this extraordinary pony and for the first few minutes after Octavia left, there had even been an awkward sense to avert her eyes from Vinyl Scratch. With anxiety like this, she no doubt had questions she wanted to ask whilst there was a break in the story, but somehow, without Octavia it felt like she didn’t have the privilege to.

Vinyl Scratch also had her own thoughts. However, unlike the earth pony sitting across from her, they were questions that had been mulling from well before she had started to retell her tale. And once more, unlike Melody, Vinyl Scratch could easily find the courage to ask, her only obstacle being determining the best way to calm the earth pony’s nerves.

“I can tell you want to ask me about something,” Vinyl Scratch offered a chuckle “I’m not going to bite, so ask away”

Hearing her speak snapped Melody out of her mental block. After a second of unorganized thoughts, Melody found her courage to ask her question.

“I’m sorry, it’s just…I never thought that a rich pony from Canterlot…I mean, that is to say…I was just thinking of how horrible it must’ve been for you to have what you loved to do become such a–”

Vinyl interrupted Melody’s rambling as she took a long breath.

“Well, I guess its true, but I guess thinking about it now, I can forgive my mother for being like that about my practice...I’m old enough now to understand why she was doing it”

“Why?” Melody asked incredulously.

“My mother was usually the warmest and most wonderful pony in the world with me, but she had a few problems to overcome. Coming from what was considered a modest background compared to Daddy was part of her inferiority complex. Mother said that there were a lot of ponies that disapproved of her marriage to Slate because she wasn’t of ‘their peerage’, which I guess means they wanted a rich and arrogant pony to marry him.

“That’s awful” Melody responded.

“Well, my mother at least didn’t let it get to her and run away. She worked hard and did her best to earn their approval. Over time she made friends, but she did get used by certain ponies, which I guess is where she developed the habit of using me.”

“And you were okay with this?”

“Not in the least,” Vinyl answered “But, while I never approved of how she was using me, but I guess I’ve learnt not to hold it against her”

“How can you do that?” Melody asked.

Vinyl scrunched up her muzzle for a moment in awkward surprise. She really hadn’t thought of an answer for that yet. Instead of remaining silent however, Vinyl Scratch started to speak as she constructed an answer.

“Well…I guess growing up, I’ve sort of learnt to understand that it was because of the kind of ponies she was talking to back then. Even now I can’t believe that those were the sorts of ponies that my mother wanted to be friends with, I’m just glad I didn’t become one of them.” Vinyl sighed.

“Even if you say that you’ve gotten over it, I couldn’t imagine going on with that sort of pressure. I simply wouldn’t last” Melody said evenly.

Vinyl raised an eyebrow in surprise at the young mare.

“I wouldn’t sell yourself short Melody” Vinyl Scratch replied, and then finally added what she wanted to say “and I know that you have gone through way more hardship than a pony like me could imagine”

Melody looked over at Vinyl with a surprised look.

“Why would you think that?” Melody replied guardedly after her brief moment of panic.

“It’s a hunch…but you wouldn’t happen to be from the Suthermare Valley area, would you?”

This time, Melody was unable to hide her surprise and attempted to look away. When she realized that she couldn't even hope to deny this most embarrassingly detail about herself, Melody attempted to face Vinyl again, but in the unnecessary shame she was feeling right at that moment, was unable to look the rich-born Canterlot pony in the eye.

“How did you know?” Melody asked.

“Because you mentioned something about being from south of Baltimare. Doesn’t take much of a guess where you really mean. Not a lot of ponies like to admit they are from the Suthermare Valley,” Vinyl Scratch explained

Melody tried to deny it for a few seconds but felt it futile.

“It’s true,” Melody sighed, then after a second pause added “I apologize if I gave you the wrong impression, I didn’t mean to hide my background to you. I was worried you might’ve thought less of me because of it”

Feeling guilty, Vinyl Scratch changed her tone.

“I don’t think less of you. It’s not your fault that it’s one the poorest parts of Equestria, and that is also why I know it wasn’t exactly an easy place to grow up in, especially if your cutie mark isn’t related to farming”

Melody nodded and found herself taking another look at Vinyl Scratch.

She had again underestimated the depth to this unicorn, yet somehow Melody had found comfort in that. Had Vinyl Scratch not talked about her own difficulties with such sincerity before, the country-born earth pony would not have been able to believe that this unicorn was capable of understanding hardship. Sensing her impressions proven wrong now, Melody composed herself to explain.

“I’m from a village called Sugarhayview” Melody started “It’s a near the coastline. Every pony doesn’t own much. In fact, the schoolmaster is the richest pony in town and he even takes his classes to Canterlot every few years. It’s not so bad now that things have changed, but back when I was a filly we simply didn’t own anything”

Vinyl Scratch nodded. Then she started to tell her own story.

“When I was a filly, My father and his friends were part of the movement with other nobles to bring an end to how the House of Pureblood and others were running their estates,” Vinyl went on explaining “like how they used high landlord taxes to burden ponies with debts to them…like the Suthermare Valley was”

Silence resumed, but it was because nothing else needed to be said both ponies.

Melody already knew that it was explanation enough for why Vinyl Scratch had taken such an interest in her origin. With that insight from her however, the earth pony’s reverence for this unicorn could only grow more. Melody could have submitted to the temptation to ask more about the subject, but before the thought had occurred, Octavia reappeared from her trip to the bathroom.

“I’m terribly sorry about that” Octavia spoke as she trotted back to her seat.

“It’s cool” Vinyl answered wryly “Just glad you didn’t forget about us”

Octavia ignored any temptation to reply with a snappy remark and instead glared at the back of the unicorn’s head.

“So what have you two been talking about?” Octavia asked as she made her way around to the other side of the coffee table.

Because she had been looking at her, Vinyl instantly noticed the look of concern from Melody. Just as quickly, Vinyl made the choice to answer for her.

“Just stuff mainly, nothing important,” Vinyl replied coolly.

By now Octavia could see Vinyl’s face and once again felt the unicorn was hiding something. With a knowing look of disdain, she only needed to look at Melody to confirm her suspicions. It frustrated her as always, but Octavia decided not to bother asking about it.

Besides, there was another, much more interesting story she still wanted to hear.

“Okay…I’m settled,” Octavia announced as she found a comfortable spot on the couch she was sharing with Melody.

“Alright then,” Vinyl spoke and adjusted herself “Now, as I was saying…”

Vinyl Scratch could no longer deny that her life had stopped being enjoyable.

With the now ever-present guidance of tutors and her mother, what remaining respite the unicorn had from the daily demands in her life had been sapped away. Everything was about work; whether it was in relation to her regular academics, magic practice, or her violin practice, all of Vinyl Scratch’s time was now focused on satisfying the ever rising expectations that had become a part of her life. There was no escape from the workload and every protest only caused more of her freedoms to ebb away.

What resistance remained had finally been defeated when she ran out of things to fight for. First her mother had depleted her of free time and then denied her of favored foods, but now she had turned Vinyl Scratch into a loner. Her workload had become so great that she simply could no longer spare the time to socialize with her friends.

This deprivation of social contact was only made worse by recent events which had only served to alienate her further. True to her word and to Vinyl’s dismay, Brighten Balance had confronted Vanilla Blossom’s mother. While Vinyl Scratch had been spared the pain of watching her mother angrily berate the other pony, she had been forced to endure the repercussions.

Vanilla Blossom had become afraid to talk to her, and through Vanilla, so did the rest of her friends as word about the confrontation spread. Soon all her friendships became annulled by her mother’s will, and not long after that, the others in class started shying away from her. For the first time since she had been bullied, Vinyl Scratch felt alone and isolated at school.

Socializing was now restricted to the domain of the occasional dinner or garden party that her parents attended. It felt rather paradoxical to Vinyl that she was still allowed to attend these events, but even here the unicorn still found it hard to make friends. Sadly, nothing had changed their minds about her, blank-flank or not. With only a few exceptions, she was still regarded as below them.

It left her alone and with nothing to do.

Vinyl Scratch could not even enjoy listening to the music being played. This one truly enjoyable thing at these parties now only served to remind her of the accursed responsibilities she now had. Thankfully, the hosts of tonight’s party had neglected to have any music which left Vinyl merely feeling bored on top of her usual loneliness. She was also hungry.

Vinyl’s father had returned home so he could accept his recent promotion in the railway company. This achievement had been a cause – or more likely an excuse, Vinyl thought – for a celebration and tonight he was being honored with a dinner party at the home of one of his close friends.

Vinyl Scratch was happy for her father’s recent achievement, but such feelings were tempered by a feeling of neglect from him. Vinyl fully understood the importance of his job and that the long periods away from home were unavoidable, but his long absences had played a large part in weakening the young unicorn’s resolve against the changes in her life. Without his presence to support her, Vinyl had been left defenseless to the pressure that her mother was putting her under.

Even during the few occasions he was home, Vinyl’s father was unable to take the time to even speak with her and it eventually made her feel more like a stranger than a daughter. Despite the neglect she felt, Vinyl was happy to see him home again and as she would often do on other occasions, Vinyl Scratch listened intently to him explain his work to the other guests.

“And you say you will be in Grove Pine by the winter?” One of the guests asked.

“That is will hopefully be the case” Slate Scratch answered evenly before he explained again “Now that Dodge Junction has been connected up with the rest of railway, we’ve begun work on a transfer yard for offloading the rail segments there…Once that’s done, we only need to send the work train to Dodge Junction instead of all the way back to the factory in Fillydelphia”

“And why would that be any more efficient?” The host of the dinner asked “From the way you describe it to me, doesn’t that mean you would need a second train to bring the materials from Fillydelphia?”

Slate Scratch sighed and began to frame his reply, remembering as always to account for their lack of understanding of complex engineering topics.

“It’s all about distance and travel time. At the present it takes our work engine roughly a week to travel from the rail end, past Dodge junction, back to Fillydelphia, load up all that it can pull under its power - which is not much I may add - and travel all the way back to the railhead”

Slate paused, and much like a good teacher, made sure everyone understood before he went on.

“At present, we have one train engine, which cannot carry more than 16 fully laden flatcars of material to the worksite and has a slow top speed. The only reason why we had her assigned the project in the first place was the fact that she was no longer fast enough to operate on any of the railway lines. Now sixteen flatcars of material only equates to roughly three days worth of track laying. Which as I hope makes sense, means that at present...roughly seventy percent of our time is being spent on transiting from the railhead to the factory for more parts”

All the ponies around the table, bar one notable exception, nodded in newfound understanding. Slate noted the pony ignoring his lecture, but carried on.

“Now with the new arrangement, one of the brand new freight train engines that normally does the run between Baitimare and the farming region to the south of Canterlot will be diverted to bring about thirty two flatcars of material from Fillydelphia to Dodge Junction…which we estimate will have a turn around time of maybe three days total. With our work engine only needing to travel one day instead of three, the overall expectation is that we will only be spending forty percent of our construction time transiting back for more material.”

“A rather commendable improvement in efficiency, Lord Scratch” the host of the dinner declared “Your promotion was well deserved”

“Thank you my friend,” Slate nodded to the host of the party “But I could not have done so without the support of my staff and the workers doing their best to complete this project. Their morale has been high ever since we were able to make it past Redback Ridge. If it keeps up, we will have finally opened up the southwest tablelands to railway transport within a year.”

The other ponies at the table applauded at the end of speech, with the notable exception of one pony sitting on the other side of the table from his wife. When the applause settled down, she spoke.

“I have my concerns Lord Scratch. If I may ask, how much will this ‘new arrangement’ cost the big town markets once you remove another train for delivering produce?” Grand Salary asked “Is robbing the railway company of another train for this project really a good idea?”

Slate Scratch looked over to the banker. Grand Salary was no friend of his, but her position on the board of an important Manehatten bank – as well as being a friend of his wife – insured that she would be in attendance tonight.

“Lady Salary, I can assure you that any impact will be outweighed by the long term benefits. And as I’ve discussed before, the railway company have done their best to curtail the impact on regular services”

Grand Salary nodded curtly and took the chance to start the discussion proper.

“Even if that is the case Lord Scratch, I would have felt much better about the interruptions if I was also assured they would be focused on improving the existing network, you know just as well as I do that we need more services between Canterlot, Fillydelphia and Manehatten and I often feel that your expensive adventure into the badlands is depriving us of the resources to make the necessary upgrades”

Slate Scratch contemplated her bitter response and much like his explanation before, began to carefully frame his own reply.

“I am quite aware of your concerns,” Slate Scratch answered, then went on “However, the railway company is more than capable of keeping up with the current demands and implementing its own improvements to the existing network, even as it is working on this project…just as it has in adding more services to the Canterlot to Manehatten line in recent months”

“Yes, In a way that is impressive,” Grand Salary noted again “but they are still being loaded up with commoners. I don’t know why you don’t just raise the price instead of putting on more services to meet their demands”

Slate Scratch quietly nodded, as did others though they managed to hide their annoyance about her remark better.

“You of all ponies should understand by now that it’s financially unsound to do so. Not to mention that if we were to raise the price any further, it would go against the requirements of our royal charter from Princess Celestia”

“I’m fully aware of the charter’s affordability requirements Lord Scratch,” Grand salary reminded him “and yet ponies wonder why it barely makes a profit”

Grand Salary started to become slightly annoyed. Whatever she said, he seemed to be more than capable of a response to silence her criticism.

The banker had been making these points repeatedly ever since the project had begun. Her own criticisms on the feasibility of Slate Scratch’s plan were her main selling point in trying to persuade – or more accurately, bully – other investors to be wary of this investment. She had even gone as far as to make it a policy of her bank to reject any form of investment in Lord Scratch’s railway project.

Unfortunately for her, and despite her influence, she had been mostly unsuccessful and in recent times, many investors that had been previously turned away were coming back now that the completion of the project was in sight.

Around the table, the other guests either visibly groaned at the prospect of a verbal melee, which at this highest of social scenes could usually constitute as entertainment with their dinner. However, all of them had to agree they had become quite tired of her complaints and her audacious timing felt very uncouth of the usually strictly dignified Banker.

Grand Salary soon picked up their collective mood and noted to her dismay that she would be made a fool of by every pony here if she insisted on continuing this debate with the pony that the dinner was being held for. The banker began, with rehearsed care, to step away from the debate and, moved to something she had planned to discuss later in the evening.

“I think this debate would be best explored for another time…” Grand Salary noted as she turned her eyes to Brighten Balance “Since I have more appealing news that would be of interest to you. Specifically about your daughter.”

Both of Vinyl’s parents lurched in surprise at the unexpected turn from the banker.

For Slate it had been a rather pleasant surprise, though one that he felt uncomfortable with. Considering how vicious Grand Salary had been with her criticism just moments ago, he felt an immediate sense to guard his thoughts.

For Brighten however, it had been a more informed cause for alarm. One dour word from Grand Salary could undo all the hard work she had done to crackdown on Vinyl Scratch’s shenanigans and overcome the poor performance of her daughter.

Fortunately, and again to their pleasant surprise, Grand Salary had something far more appealing than harsh criticism.

“I’ve heard through a reliable friend of mine that the Royal Palace Conservatorium is soon going to hold a round of auditions for their special apprenticeship program. Considering the time and investment you have put into your daughter’s practice, this might be of interest to you”

At the end of the table, the mention of Vinyl’s name had sparked the young filly’s attention and she quickly became better attuned to the discussion around her.

“An audition?” the host of the party noted “Even if it’s for apprenticeship isn’t Vinyl a little too young for that?”

“Not at all” Grand Salary declared “these are very special auditions. They are looking for the very best of the ‘up and coming’ talent in Canterlot still at a young enough age that they can start training them to be the very best musicians in Equestria”

“That’s a rather remarkable proposition” the host of the dinner party replied with interest.

“It is indeed a very esteemed privilege, and it’s a rare one as well…the academy will only accept the two or three best applicants from their audition process,” Grand Salary continued “And to even get an audition slot can be very demanding. They have some strict requirements that not a lot of ponies even come close to matching…but they always find one or two stars that have ,to my knowledge, gone on to become very famous musicians, even amongst the other members of the Royal Palace Conservatorium”

Vinyl could only cringe at what she was seeing and hearing. Across the table from Grand Salary, Brighten Balance’s eyes had already started to glaze over in a brainwashed state of imaginative contemplation.

Grand Salary, noting the effect this was having on her friend and delighting in every moment of it, continued to prod her further.

“Just think of it. If you were to put Vinyl into that audition process and she were to succeed, then her future will be secured as a respectable member of society and you will most certainly be guaranteed even more prosperity for being responsible for such a talented musician,” Grand Salary claimed.

Brighten balance thought rather quickly about the prospect.

Here at last was the answer she had been scouring for ever since Grand Salary’s rather intimate threat a few months ago. If she were to enter Vinyl Scratch into this audition and succeed, the damage to her reputation would be quickly forgotten and she would be praised for being the mother of a specially selected protégé in Equestria’s finest musical academy instead.

Even if it got out about what had happened before her audition, Brighten knew that she would be commended for correcting the behavior problems in her daughter and bringing her up as a model citizen worthy of praise from the Canterlot elite.

“But know this,” Grand Salary warned “I’ve learnt from my friend, if she were to fail, then I cannot contemplate the future that she might have the disgrace of failing an audition with the Royal Palace Conservatorium, regardless of the level, will be with her for the rest of her days. Every pony will know it and they will question every possible reason why the daughter of a noble family failed.”

Some of the ponies seated shifted uncomfortably in their places around the table as they all realized the inherent risk to their social status that this sort of offer could become.

Brighten, however, took that implied risk to heart. In her mind already there were three paths and instead of being immediately frightened off, began to consider the options.

The initial option would be to simply not pursue this chance and explain that she thought Vinyl Scratch could always try when she was older. It was, at the very least, a reasonable thought to have, especially if her daughter’s chances for entering the Conservatorium were better if she were to wait. This disadvantage however would be that her peers, particularly Grand Salary, would consider her to be cowardly and take it as a sign that Brighten Balance was not confident in her daughter’s abilities.

The next option was to enroll Vinyl Scratch for an audition, and for some reason, fail to get in. Presently, this was the most frightening avenue to consider since, as Brighten did not need to be told, even a failure by the smallest margin would reflect poorly on her in the long run. Even if Vinyl scored third place out of the two they selected, Brighten Balance would be disgraced; not only failing this gambit, but for allowing Vinyl’s failure to reflect the way she was brought up.

This left the final, and desired outcome where Vinyl Scratch entered the Royal Conservatorium as a young protégé. As she had imagined before, any of the criticism she feared would be nullified by the fact that as Vinyl’s mother, she had steered her daughter into a very prestigious posting which only a very disciplined and skillful were reward with.

Brighten weighed the options, knowing that despite the setting she was in right now, if she failed to give a reply it would make her appear indecisive and that alone would reflect poorly on all she had done before. She returned her thoughts to the value she placed in the previous assessment the music teacher had given her. Vinyl was, according to him, an exemplary musician; even though he was used to teaching much older ponies, the young filly had managed to satisfy his expectations to the point of amazement.

That assessment alone gave Brighten a lot of confidence in her daughter’s abilities, especially since she realized there was only one way she could reply to Grand Salary now that she had thought about the risks again.

Slate Scratch however had a different thought on the subject.

He had been quick to notice the way that this topic diversion had immediately placated everypony’s earlier annoyance with Grand Salary. What disturbed him however was while the discussion was more lighthearted than the possible argument he would have had with Grand Salary, he wasn’t quite happy with the way his daughter had become the focus. Slate Scratch however had more conviction than his wife and before she had finished contemplating the possibilities, he decided to reply.

“That sounds like a very interesting avenue to explore” Slate Scratch noted evenly “Though I personally would like to hear what my daughter thinks about this”

At the end of the table, Vinyl Scratch suddenly found herself as the center of attention for a dozen or more pairs of adult eyes and the few ponies her age.

Until this moment, Vinyl Scratch had been listening in while contemplating her own conclusion about the offer, though for her it was more like a depressing realization. What she had assumed was more obvious: that despite her own achievements in recent times, the level of expectation was about to change yet again, and as she had already come to expect, there was nothing she could do about it. At least until her father had turned to her for an opinion.

Vinyl almost stammered as she tried to construct the words for a reply, but for some that was not fast enough.

“Weren’t you listening foal?” Grand Salary complained “this is your future we are talking about! Speak up”

Slate Scratch gave Grand Salary an unseen look and returned his gaze to his daughter, noticing for the first time the very glum look on her face as she sat there. This particular look was rather new for Vinyl, whom he remembered not too long ago as being more animated than this, even at dinner parties that he knew too she despised. His daughter looked almost sad and when she finally replied, he realized that there was something seriously wrong.

Vinyl only needed to look to her mother, then her father and then to Grand Salary to know what the answer should be.

“If mother expects me to, I will” Vinyl Scratch said in an almost emotionless tone.

Slate Scratch was not entirely sure who this pony at the end of the table was, but it was clearly not his daughter anymore. The Vinyl Scratch he knew was a far more ambitious, determined and free spirited. This pony however was unflinching, submissive, and from the sound of her voice, completely devoid of the youthful fortitude Vinyl Scratch had.

“Very well said, dear,” Grand Salary chimed in response before turning back to Vinyl’s parents “Even your daughter says she can do it, so what do you say? Will you pursue this audition?”

Brighten Balance for the second time found herself in a tight spot, knowing too well that whilst the question was aimed at both her and Slate, she was the target of the offer. If she accepted then she risked being ashamed more than if she rejected, but with her current predicament with Grand Salary, how could her answer be anything else?

“I…we will consider the audition” Brighten responded finally.

As his wife more or less confirmed it for Grand Salary, Slate Scratch looked over to his daughter to notice her reaction, which he was instantly surprised to see that she didn’t have one. Instead of a more defiant look of surprise or shock at the decision being made for her, she appeared to have completely resigned herself to her fate.

With the dinner still on, he made a mental note to pursue this anomaly another time.

One additional advantage to the promotion he had just received was the rather useful ability to reschedule meetings and therefore create some free time.

Until now, Slate Scratch’s position in railways had required compliance with the demands of the board of directors, which on all his visits home to Canterlot had meant he had been forced to neglect his daughter and trust his wife to taking care of her. Until last night he had hoped that whilst he was away, his wife would be able to take care of their daughter by herself. While she was in good health and had evidently been doing very well in her grades as of late, it was only now that Slate Scratch began to question the reasons behind the latter.

He was as proud a father as any and relished in any of his daughter’s noteworthy accomplishments no matter how small, however he had always been adamant that those deeds could not come at the cost of having fun along the way. After seeing Vinyl Scratch off to school – which was an enjoyable yet rare enough occurrence these days – the railway-civil engineer made his way to the offices for the two meetings he had rescheduled the previous day. Thanks to his preplanning before the dinner, he would now have the entire afternoon off, which he planned on spending with Vinyl Scratch once she got home from school.

At least that had been the plan.

What Slate Scratch had evidently not been told of by his wife – until he asked at least – was the rather time consuming afternoon routine that now occupied his daughter’s day. In addition to the seven hours of regular learning at school, Vinyl Scratch was now spending an average of ninety minutes a day with a violin tutor, immediately followed up by a two hour session with a math and magic tutor to improve her overall grades in school.

Curious, he looked up her previous report cards and wondered right away about why that had been a concern. Vinyl was not a stellar student, but wasn’t an underachiever and her grades reflected that until recently. Now she was almost a straight A student, with the only exception being her physical education classes which was hovering between B+ and A-.

With that in mind, the additional lessons seemed unnecessary, as did the extra violin lessons that she attended six days a week. When one added it all up, Vinyl was effectively studying and practicing more hours a week than her mother was working, which despite the stresses involved, only amounted to an average of 35 to 40 hours a week

That extra time spent learning about Vinyl’s life from Brighten helped soak up the time as he waited for his daughter’s return, but it also made Slate Scratch more concerned. Fortunately by dinner time Vinyl Scratch had managed to make it home, but the look on her face worried him. It was nothing like the bright cheerful filly she had once been; now as she cantered in the door with her heavy load, Vinyl simply looked tired.

Slate Scratch knew exhaustion very well and how it could affect you over time. When he was a young draftsman fresh out of the engineering academy and working his first major job, he knew how close he had come to burning himself out with the workload he had somehow managed to burden himself with. He usually couldn’t remember what he looked like when he was this tired, but Vinyl certainly had that look at the moment.

Her youthful magenta colored eyes were drowned out by the redness of exhaustion and the familiar black rim around her eyes told him that she didn’t get much sleep these days. Her fur looked faded in places, and as hard as it was to believe, her usually very well-kempt mane and tail now looked lifeless as they drooped down around her.

“Hello Vinyl, how was school today?” Slate offered.

Vinyl seemed surprised by the remark and stopped to look at her father.

“It was okay father” Vinyl responded neutrally before asking “May I go now?”

“Of course, I’ll see you at dinner”

Vinyl nodded and trotted slowly off to the staircase where with a very sluggish place, eventually made it to the top, and turned towards her room.

The entire exchange had only lasted a few seconds, but it worried Slate Scratch more than the response he remembered Vinyl giving at the dinner the other night. Something simply wasn’t right in his house anymore and he was more than a little frustrated that he hadn’t been around to prevent whatever had turned his usually happy household into a cold brooding mess.

Dinner had soon followed, as did much of the depressing sense that Vinyl had become a lifeless automaton that – to his shock – didn’t even try ask for dessert for the third in a row. Despite knowing she was not grounded for any reason, he had never known Vinyl Scratch to voluntarily go this long without ice cream. Instead she had cleared her plate, and with permission – another oddity in itself – excused herself to her room.

“Brighten dear, is it me, or is Vinyl Scratch no longer…well…being herself?”

Brighten had expected this discussion would come sooner or later, but calmly finished swallowing the last of her broccoli before replying.

“I’ve had to make some changes to her routine while you have been away. She is starting to reach that age where we need to start ensuring that she will do well in the future.”

Slate Scratch raised an eyebrow. It had been a rather cold-hearted and very un-motherly remark from her. Previously, he had been rather forgiving in accepting the worries his wife routinely faced, but whenever it included Vinyl, he became concerned.

He knew all too well about the insecurities that Brighten sometimes felt, but lately it felt like that had taken on a new dimension and Slate had not been able to figure out the reason. That changed however when he had taken a look at Vinyl Scratch last night, and after researching all afternoon on the subject, it didn’t take the railway engineer too long to find the connection.

It had frustrated him to even think about it, but at hearing Brighten’s response, he was compelled to ask the bitter, albeit necessary question.

“Are you worried about her future, or your future?”

Brighten did not reply and instead glared at her husband with a hurt look. For Slate, it was just as much a confirmation as a verbal confession.

“I thought as much,” Slate Scratch quietly replied to himself. When a full thirty seconds passed with no reply from Brighten, he started to speak.

“Dear, something doesn’t seem right with her. I don’t know what you’ve been doing while I’m gone, but I hope you aren’t putting too many expectations on Vinyl…she isn’t some automaton you can force to do what you want”

Brighten remained calm and answered with the most predictable of responses.

“I’m just trying to do what’s best for her”

Slate Scratch sighed. He knew his time away from home had not been the healthiest thing for his marriage and he was in no mood to have an argument with his wife about their daughter. If last night was any indication however, it seemed like their daughter hadn’t had much in terms of support from anyone lately. It was time to make up for lost time.

“Why did you agree to that audition last night then?” Slate started.

“Excuse me?”

“I haven’t kept up with her progress,” Slate Scratch asked, “but even if Vinyl Scratch was a prodigy at the violin, wouldn’t you agree it’s still too soon for her to audition for a music school?”

It was a conservative estimation on her daughter’s talents, Slate recognized, but it was to him a far more logical consideration. Vinyl was not even done with basic schooling yet, so why would she be ready for an advanced school like this? Despite that, Brighten somehow managed to evade the question and again responded with her prepared answer.

“As I said…I’m just trying to do what’s best for her”

Slate had enough of her evasive answers and finally decided to speak straight.

“Brighten, I’m going to be blunt, There is something strange about the way you and Vinyl have been acting lately, and last night I finally noticed the reason why. So I’m going to ask you once, does Grand Salary have some sort of grudge against you?”

“No” Brighten flatly lied.

Slate was not impressed, but did not get angry with her.

“Brighten…It’s me you’re talking to, and trust me, I can tell something is wrong,” Slate answered calmly “Now please, what happened between you and Grand Salary?”

Brighten sighed and began to explain the details slowly; first how during Vinyl’s initial music lessons, their daughter had been sneaking time in to create her own music and how through some unfortunate events, Grand Salary found out. Then she explained the present arrangement, where through her manipulation alone, Grand Salary was effectively controlling Brighten with a sort of blackmail, at least until Vinyl Scratch was able to overcome the inadequacies that Grand Salary saw in her.

At the end of the story, Slate was barely able to maintain his cool, yet despite all of the reasons he had for getting angry with Brighten, he was more infuriated with the banker from Manehatten. It was Grand Salary who had discouraged and scared off his earlier investors with those weird stories and false rumors. It was the bank under her leadership who managed to convince a steelworks in Manehatten to abandon a lucrative contract to make the track for him.

Now it seemed she wasn’t merely content with sabotaging his project, she had gone after his family too, using Brighten’s weak willed nature to create this problem; at least he thought that was what it looked like. Brighten and Grand Salary knew each other long before the railway project, and knowing the latter as well as he did, Slate Scratch could just as easily put this down to Grand Salary continuing to project her traditional and strict ways.

He was familiar with the method of upbringing that Grand Salary preached. It dictated that once you got your cutie mark, there was an impetuous to immediately end your foalhood and conform to the expectations of the family. It was once considered the supreme method of upbringing in the traditional noble families, but in the present day, it was now considered a dated perception that only a small minority continued to practice.

Slate Scratch, in contrast, had never been subject to such a method even though his parents were of the same social class as Grand Salary’s family. They had wisely taken a more relaxed approach with his upbringing, and despite some concerns from certain ponies of their generation, was now the more commonplace approaching to raising foals, even among noble houses.

After learning to appreciate what he had been lucky to have, Slate had been rather determined to make sure that Vinyl was brought up the way he had been. For this reason, he was quite offended at the prospect that Vinyl Scratch was being made, by proxy of Brighten, to adhere to the more traditional methods of upbringing. What insulted him more was how they had taken advantage of Brighten’s insecurities.

Ever since they had met, he had been confronted with a few complaints about his courting, dating, and eventual marriage to what was considered a pony of a lower class to his own. While his own family had approved, even now there were segments of the Canterlot elite that were rather adamant that Slate Scratch would have been much better off with an arranged marriage from another noble family. For him it was rather easy to ignore these complaints, but for Brighten it was a different story.

Faced with the prospect of being shunned by her new peers, Brighten Balance had worked hard to prove her place was amongst the Canterlot elite. It had not been easy at the start. Even with all her wonderful talent and intellect, she was often ignored and for the early part of their relationship, depended heavily upon her husband for protection.

Things got notably better by the time she had given birth to Vinyl Scratch, but by then, Brighten had changed into a different pony.

Compared to when they first met, her rather down to earth nature and compassion – which was what endeared him to her – had been partially eroded away, making space for a refined sense of vanity. It slowly changed her attitude; she had become more cautious about her own actions, and over time became very protective of her image in front of others. She could still be same pony she was when they met, but from then on, Brighten would reserve it for her new daughter, and sometimes her husband.

But now, Brighten wasn’t even capable of that, despite her earnest attempts to try. Once Vinyl was capable of independent thought, it seemed that Slate had to fight with his wife every day to ensure that their daughter was not programmed with the same – and sometimes, almost paranoid – Instincts that she had been forced to adopt. Slate thought he had been rather successful, at least until now.

Slate Scratch stopped contemplating the possible grudge match between his wife and her ‘friend’, and instead returned his focus to the important problem which for him had been the empty look in Vinyl’s eyes.

“Brighten, have you seen how tired Vinyl looks lately?” Slate asked in a very controlled tone.

“I have,” Brighten replied quietly and again replied predictably “It’s just a temporary thing. Once she gets use to the routine, she will be fine again.”

It was such an effective lie that she almost believed it herself. Slate, however, wasn’t as easily convinced.

“Dear…believe me when I say this, but I’ve seen track workers on the project that are more awake than her, even after they complete triple shift” Slate continued “She is just a foal, you place so many expectations on her”

Brighten held stubborn on that point.

“It’s not about my expectations,” Brighten lied again “Vinyl needs this education, even if I wasn’t in this situation, problems or not, I don’t want her to fall behind”

Slate sighed and composed himself. Besides the subject, not wanting to yell was the only other thought in his mind at the moment.

“She won’t be a filly forever either” Slate reminded her “And even it wasn’t the case, isn’t using her as protection from your social problems a little unfair on her?”

The comment struck home, and Slate could tell that he had finally gotten his point past her stubborn defenses. Instead of continuing to speak, he merely sat in silence, looking over at his wife, who already seemed deep in thought.

Across the table, Brighten had started to ponder over the final point that Slate had made. Was it really fair that Vinyl had to do her bidding just to save her from being embarrassed by her intimidating ‘friend’? Once upon a time, a much younger Brighten would have been disgusted with the very thought, but the present day Brighten wasn’t so sure.

Everything Vinyl Scratch had become was meant to be the product of her influence. School, friends, and her father could contribute to shaping Vinyl’s personality, but Brighten was aware that it was always the mother that bore the ultimate responsibility of ensuring that her foal grew up to become a respectable member of society. Even her younger self would have been forced to agree with that.

However, when applied to her circumstances now, the logic behind this principle started to become diluted.

In high society circles around Canterlot, merited achievements alone could not earn a pony a place among ‘them’, especially if that pony had come from a lesser background like Brighten’s modest upbringing. While an intelligent and beautiful pony in her own right, from the day she had met Slate Scratch, Brighten had worked tirelessly with her imaginary handicap to become a noteworthy pony amongst the nobility. Brighten acknowledged it would be a difficult journey to win their approval, but as always, she confided in herself that eventually, it would be worth it and more importantly, her offspring would be the beneficiaries of her hard work.

With this as one of her motivations, over the years Brighten was able to eventually prove herself and by the time she had given birth to foal, the once middle-class unicorn had finally obtained the wealth and status that she had hoped to achieve. As she cradled the baby Vinyl Scratch for the first time, Brighten felt assured that unlike her, her foal would never have to go without. But with that in mind, Brighten acknowledged that there would be a price to pay if she was to ensure that her daughter would have the same sort of comforts she fought for.

While her daughter would not be cursed with a middle-class background, Vinyl would still have to prove herself and in turn prove that Brighten was capable of creating offspring worthy of a place in the exclusive social circles of Canterlot. Before, the work had been all her doing; working at the bank to earn promotion, which in turn improved her status. But now she also needed to ensure that Vinyl would not undo all the hard work she had done for her.

The social connections that helped her career along, the long hours, the stiff resolve when she was insulted by the haughtiest members of society; it had all been for Vinyl Scratch, her beloved daughter.

Yet, was she unwillingly using her beloved daughter as a shield to protect both her, and in the long run, Vinyl’s future? Brighten almost felt disgusted at herself for the basic impression that gave her, and yet she could not tell if that was the right thing to do. Didn’t others in her social group do similar things, and didn’t they work just as hard for their offspring?

Brighten ,however, was no fool. Whether intentionally or not, she was creating new hardships for Vinyl Scratch; ones that she had vowed to protect her from. The unicorn was unsure of her methods at the moment, but she did finally respond with her first honest thought.

“I’m sorry,” Brighten almost whispered out, but spoke louder as she went on “I just wanted to do what was best for her”

“I know dear,” Slate answered.

Silence resumed as both of them once again returned to their thoughts briefly. Slate ,however, decided he had enough of this issue with his wife and decided on what he would do next.

“I’m going to talk to Vinyl” Slate announced.

A quick succession of knocks on the door announced his arrival.

”Vinyl,” Slate declared to the door “It’s your father”

Silence answered him.

There was no doubt that she was inside however. There was a light glow around the door frame and until a few moments ago Slate had heard the muffled sound of a violin being played. When his patience for a response expired, he made his next announcement.

“Vinyl, I’m coming in” Slate spoke and with a gentle force of magic, he manipulated the doorknob and opened the door.

The scene that awaited him was depressing.

Vinyl was clearly too tired to stand, but she had managed to prop herself up against a chair in a way that allowed her to stand on her hind legs more easily. At the nearby aforementioned desk, there was a scattering of sheet music and textbooks on all manner of subjects. Yet apart from this corner of the bedroom, everything else was unusually clean, which for a tomcolt like Vinyl – as Slate was sure she still was – would normally be an unheard of occurrence.

“You’re still practicing?” Slate started to speak.

“Yes father…I’ll finish up soon though” Vinyl said with a little more enthusiasm than she had thus far shown him.

“What happened to calling me Daddy?” Slate replied with his first prepared question.

Vinyl looked at him oddly and after the thought possessed she gave him a tired smile.

“I’m sorry…Daddy”

Feeling better now that he had fixed that one minor discomfort of his, Slate made his way into the room, mindful to close the door behind him for the privacy he wanted.

“Would you like to talk?” Slate Scratch offered as he looked for somewhere to sit down.

“Won’t Mother-” Vinyl started to speak, but was cut off by Slate.

“I’ll deal with her. You can take the rest of the night off from practice”

Vinyl didn’t speak any words of gratitude, but she slumped to the floor as the pressure to keep practicing was finally lifted from her. Slate the watched on as Vinyl put away the violin and for at least a few seconds, close her weary eyes and wish her fatigue away. When everything was squared away, Vinyl lumbered towards Slate, looking for a place on the ground to join her father.

“What did you want to talk to me about Fath…Daddy?” Vinyl asked as finally let her haunches find the floor.

“I wanted to see how you were. It’s been a long time since I’ve had the chance to speak with you, Vinyl” Slate started before mentally adding “And by the looks of things, perhaps I’ve been gone too long”

Vinyl didn’t reply and instead tensed up, something that concerned him right away.

“Is something the matter?”

“No. I’m just not sure if...”

Slate sighed.

“Vinyl you can tell me if something is wrong. I can already tell that something is bothering you, so please tell me”

Vinyl looked up at her father again, wanting to trust in him, yet feeling unsure if he would even begin to understand her problems. Sensing no way of retreating out of this, the young filly decided to just to tell the truth.

“I don’t want to play violin anymore” Vinyl declared.

Slate listened on as his daughter started to admit what she had evidently been keeping down for a long time.

“It’s not fun anymore! And no matter how well I do it’s never enough for mother or her stupid friends!” Vinyl whined out “It’s getting too hard to keep up and I never get to do what I want anymore because I need to keep practicing!”

“Why did you agree to the audition then?” Slate asked with concern.

The question struck a chord with Vinyl and finally broke her composure.

“Because I thought I had to! I already knew that it wasn’t my choice so I knew I had to agree to it,” Vinyl Scratch continued as she started to sniff away her tears “Mother would just make me do it anyway. Even if I said no.”

“Vinyl...”

As Vinyl attempted to resist crying, it was at that moment that Slate realized just how awful a father he had become.

He had disregarded his daughter for far too long. Instead, he had been head deep in a project that left Vinyl vulnerable and while he had assumed that her strong will would protect her, evidently his daughter’s resistance had since long been broken. It was painful to see the results of his neglect.

In his absence, Vinyl had been pushed to the limits of her endurance and it left her sore and exhausted beyond comprehension. Unable to stand looking at her like this, his reaction was only natural, even if he felt it completely unworthy of being called a father at this moment. He moved himself to sit beside Vinyl, an act that initially surprised the young filly, but soon turned into a feeling that she had not experienced in a long time as Slate briefly nuzzled her neckline.

The act encouraged her to do the same, and in doing so, finally allowed her let feelings flow out. She cried, not in a loud whine like a younger foal would, but in an almost silent whimper as her isolated emotions were finally released. When her sniffing started to subside, Slate Scratch spoke again.

“Vinyl…do you really want to stop playing violin?” Slate Scratch asked,

Vinyl whimpered at the idea but after a minute of contemplation still didnt have a clear thought.

“Yes…No…I don’t know” Vinyl answered.

Slate Scratch considered his next response. Unlike the times when he had framed his explanations for technical things, he found himself struggling for words in consoling his daughter. He overcame that shortcoming, however, and in short order he managed to find the words that he was sure Vinyl needed to hear.

“No matter what you decide to do Vinyl…as I’ve said once before, remember it’s always your choice and nopony else can say otherwise”

“But Mother…won't she get mad? Won’t you get mad?”

“Vinyl dear, I will never get angry with you for making a choice you think is the right thing for you”

“But what If I don’t know myself…and what if I regret it?”

That was a tough question, Slate admitted and even he was tasked to think of the right response.

“Vinyl…” Slate smiled “Ever since you could walk, you’ve never thought twice about a single problem you’ve encountered and you always seemed to know the right thing to do at the right time…even your cutie mark is proof of thatt”

Vinyl frowned.

“I’m not sure about that” the filly replied “Ever since I got it, I’ve had nothing but problems”

“Because you started letting others make choices for you” Slate answered “and that’s not how the Vinyl I know would act,”

Vinyl looked up at her father, managing to keep her emotions in check. Slate noted her changed look and ,for the first time, saw something approaching optimism in her tired eyes. He continued on with his impromptu lecture.

“Vinyl, when you grow up you’ll understand, but you will only truly regret the things you didn’t do,” Slated continued, “and that will include the occasions you didn't say what you really felt”

“But what about Mother and-” Vinyl tried to speak, but again Slate cut her off.

“Don’t worry about what they want. I think you should know by now that trying to please everypony doesn’t work.just worry about what makes you happy and don’t let others judge you”

Vinyl thought about what her father had said and found an odd comfort in his words.

“Thank you, Father,” Vinyl whispered.

Slate Scratch smiled again as his daughter nuzzled against his neck again before yawning.

“I think it’s time for you get some sleep, Vinyl” Slate noted.

“Sure…” Vinyl responded softly “Daddy…can I ask you something?”

“Of course”

“When I make my choice…are you sure you’ll be okay with it?”

Slate Scratch paused for a moment and thought about his answer. When he realized there was no reason think twice about it he responded.

“Of course, Vinyl,” Slate Scratch answered “No matter what you do, I’ll always be proud of you”

With some magic to assist the transition, Slate Scratch ,for the first time in ages, helped Vinyl into bed and tucked her in. Even knowing how much she had grown, it was as if she were still a very young filly again.

“Goodnight, Vinyl” Slate whispered before kissing her forehead.

Even though she was exhausted, Vinyl still felt a welcoming feeling of warmth from his affection.

“Goodnight, Daddy…” Vinyl mouthed quietly before she quickly nodded off to sleep”

Once he was certain that Vinyl was asleep – and quietly surprised she gone to sleep so quickly – Slate turned off the desk light and exited her room as possible. As he found the door, he crept out, only pausing one last time to make sure that Vinyl was sound asleep.

Satisfied with the improvement to his daughter’s situation, he closed the door.

“So did you decide to quit after that?” Melody asked

Vinyl Scratch took the interruption as a chance to exercise her hind legs before her haunches fell asleep on her.

“Not quite. Even though I knew what I wanted to do for my future, I wasn’t sure of my choice yet” she explained.

“That’s rather deep coming from you,” Octavia added “I don’t think I’ve ever thought about something like that before”

“I’ve just gotten faster at thinking,” Vinyl joked.

“Considering the mistakes you sometimes make…I’m not so sure if that’s a good thing,” the earth pony remarked wryly.

Vinyl only smirked in reply. Once her back end was sufficiently awakened, Vinyl returned to a comfortable position on the sofa to resume her story.

“Don’t worry, we’re getting to the important part now” Vinyl assured them “Anyway so after that night…”

If Vinyl could have wishes come true, she would have made her warm moment alone with her father last for eternity. Unfortunately just as soon as she had fallen asleep, it was quickly rendered into the past by the time dawn broke the next day.

Not much had changed, and as soon as her father had left Canterlot, her dismal routine simply returned again, though this time with another additional demand now put upon her. True to her expectations of her mother by now, she had indeed - with some surprising reluctance - made enquiries about the audition process. Vinyl also felt no surprise in learning that it was not only coming up pretty soon, but that Grand Salary had apparently made some preliminary arrangements for Brighten in anticipation that she would take up the challenge.

After consultations with her teacher, who had approved of the audition, Vinyl was put to work again, now with a certain goal in mind. The ninety minutes of music lesson evolved into a two full hour session, but to Vinyl’s surprise her math and magic tutoring were immediately suspended for the meantime. It felt like a positive sign of some control returning to her life.This was soon invalidated by an even longer practice session at home.

Throughout all of this practice however, Vinyl felt completely different about the experience. Taking in the words of her father, Vinyl began to ponder about her future with more clarity and even as she struggled with the daily routine that had worn her soul down before, Vinyl strangely found renewed strength in her doubts. Her father had somehow inspired within her the ability to wonder about what she wanted to do, even as she continued to practice endlessly for the audition.

A month and a week soon passed before word came that Vinyl would, despite her relatively little experience, be made an exception and be allowed to audition for this most prestige of opportunities with the Royal Palace Conservatorium. As it had turned out, Grand Salary had been rather selective in not mentioning certain criteria to Brighten, such as the necessary amount of experience Vinyl would need, but her mother nonetheless managed to convince the selectors.

Brighten had sought out both her present and previous violin teachers to write up letters vouching for Vinyl Scratch and as insurance, she even made arrangements for a ‘donation’ to be made. Such underhanded foolishness however was not required and after another week of waiting, Vinyl Scratch was admitted to the audition roster, which would perform for the selection board in two weeks time.

What soon followed was the most intensely packed and strenuous fortnight the young filly had ever lived before or since. It had been mostly part of the paranoid reaction from her mother who suddenly recognized a possible handicap that Vinyl Scratch still might have regardless of how well she performed. The solution however was the same: with increasing reluctance from Brighten, Vinyl had her routine altered yet again to prepare for the audition.

In the final week before the audition, Vinyl was given a week off from school by her mother and two days before the audition, was sent to a beauty spa for some necessary last minute ‘maintenance’ to her appearance. Despite the good intentions on Brighten’s part, the trip to the spa had almost been the final deciding factor in what made Vinyl Scratch end her long suffering indecision. Even on raw talent she was suppose to have, the fact that she also had to be pretty doing it had outright infuriated the young filly.

Yet even with all her rage, she somehow still had a reasonable doubt about what she wanted to do.

Most of it had come from her mother’s unexpected change in behaviour in the last month and how she had tried, with faults, to be a lot nicer to Vinyl Scratch while she practiced for this audition. But what it came down to was a choice between what her first teacher had promised; the chance to compose her own music one day, or to leave and no longer face the constant expectations that she had now every reason to know would only get worse in the future.

It was a choice; her passion or her potential, which either way Vinyl knew she risked regret.

“Come on dear, we can’t be late for your big day” Brighten declared. She was almost fidgeting in her place as the carriage arrived at the entrance.

The weather wasn’t exactly nice for this audition day. It was getting very chilly as they entered winter and for some reason today the weather agency had decided on a very overcast sky to blanket Canterlot, possibly with the first snowfall for the season to come this evening. It was a prospect that Vinyl Scratch was positively looking forward to; she utterly enjoyed it when it snowed.

When their carriage came to a complete stop, mother and daughter soon made their way out to the entrance of the grand building.

“Wow…”

Here it was and Vinyl was surprised to realize just then that she had never seen the home of the Royal Palace Conservatorium until today. Whatever awe she had however had been quickly dampened by her mother’s fussing nature and without much of a chance to take in the scenery, both mother and daughter made their way up the broad entrance steps and into the foyer.

Inside, Vinyl scratch came across her second unanticipated surprise of the day, which was the appearance of other foals her age, all whom it seemed were also were vying for a position at the academy. Right away her confidence, as well as her comfort levels began to falter as the young unicorn examined the other ponies and discover what sort of competition she was up against. But after awhile her nerves returned to normal as Vinyl made the realization that should have been obvious from the start; they were just like her.

For some unknown reason, Vinyl was relieved when she noted that evidently most of them didn’t play the violin. From her own examination Vinyl Scratch noted that there were a few cellos, brass instruments, flutes and even a few ponies without an instrument, which if she had to guess were probably piano players. Once she had noted what she was up against, Vinyl felt a little better until she realized that all of them were standing at distance from one another.

It was then that Vinyl Scratch regretfully noticed the accompanying mothers or fathers.

Some seemed innocent enough and rather glad to just be here, but there were quite a few parents whom seemed to have the same imposing attitude about this event as her mother. They stood in close proximity to their kin, as if protecting them from an unknown threat from another candidate. It was an eerie sense, one that emanated its own tension.

Thankfully however, Vinyl Scratch was not made to endure the almost silent waiting for too long. Just as a few late arrival entered the building, an employee of the Conservatorium had come out.

“Good morning mares and gentlecolts, would all the candidates please form a line and follow me please”

A murmured choruses of well wishes soon erupted from parents to their offspring as they prepared to make their way.

“Just do your best Vinyl…I know you can do it,” Brighten said.

For a split second, Vinyl could almost have sworn that her mother had said something reassuring to her. Realizing she had, Vinyl Scratch replied in kind and for the first time with genuine feeling.

“Thank you mother.”

Under the instruction of the Conservatorium employee, Vinyl trotted off with other candidates.

After following the conservatorium employee past a series of hallways, they eventually came into a waiting room that was oddly called the ‘green room’. The name didn’t seem to actually apply the color of the room.

“Good morning candidates” announced another pony in a loud voice as he waited until everypony was inside.

When the door closed by the pony who led them into the green room, he continued speaking loudly as to ensure everyone heard him.

“I am Mr. Mendel. I am normally one of the instructors at the Academy…but today I will be one of the judges on the selection panel”

With his introduction complete, he had the undivided attention of every candidate who sat in absolute silence.

“Okay, we would like to get start pretty soon so I’ll run all of you through how this we will be conducting this audition” Mendel paused, making sure as he always did that these young fillies and colts were paying attention. Awkwardly he never needed to, all of them were direly transfixed on him and a few were even notably scared already.

“Okay, my assistant is now going to hand out a number card, when your number is called up you exit through the door behind me,” he gestured to make it obvious which door he meant

As he continued speaking, the assistant started trotting around and handing out paper cards with numbers on them.

“Once you are out the door, take a right, then up the stairs where you will then continue until you are at the exact we have marked out on the stage where you can stand, Pianists, you will proceed to the grand piano we have set up for you just behind the marker,” Mendel paused unnecessarily again before going on. “When you arrive at your spot, you will wait for us to speak, then you will tell us your number, tell us your name and you will then tell us whatever piece you plan to play.”

This last instruction made quite a few ponies tense up.

“When you finish, once we have told you to leave, you will then turn to your right and continue on to the other side of the stage where you will find another set of stairs.

Go down them, make another right and you will be a room exactly like this one,” Mendel concluded his instructions “Once you are there, you are free to go”

When he finished with his initial set of instructions, Mendel took a moment to consider the effect of what he was about to say. He now needed to add something that he always expected would start to scare them, but long experience had taught him that it was better they knew this now than in an hour from now when its was their turn.

“Now this is a very important thing I’m going to say, so I‘ll say it once. There will be a lot of ponies out there watching. In addition to the judges, we will be other conservatorium musicians watching, in addition to your parents”

This news did not do well to encourage the already scared ones in group. Mendel knew it and could already guess which ones might snap under the pressure, but he went on with his assurances.

“But for those who are little worried, do not panic, this is not part of your test. We know it might be scary so heed my advice,” Mendel advised “Always remember to just focus on the judges when you play, I guarantee that if you can do that, then you be just fine”

Now that he had finished getting past the scary stuff, Mendel needed to pep talk the confidence back into these ponies. It was at this time that Vinyl Scratch was given her assigned number; she would be 15th out of a total 22 candidates.

“This will be a very important moment in your young lives but remember regardless of the outcome, you have made a remarkable achievement in just making it to auditioning level for the Royal Conservatorium of work. You should all be proud of yourselves,” Mendel paused “So cherish this moment and enjoy it for all its worth”

As he had hoped, some of the most scared ponies were relieved by his words, even if it was somewhat of a lie. He had already noted at least three ponies in the room that almost certainly would break down.

“We will begin in about ten minutes, so just relax and wait your turn” Mendel finished before turning to his assistant and muttering some instructions to him.

Once he was finished Mendel turned to the doorway had pointed to and just like that he was gone again.

Despite how long they were told to wait, nopony said anything and instead remained silent for the duration of the waiting time. The only noise Vinyl could now hear, besides the ambience out the open doorway to the stage, was the occasional hoof step of the assistant lingering by the door. It was already starting to become very tense for the young unicorn, but she was unaware the tension was yet to reach its zenith.

After an additional two minutes to their wait, the first significant action since Mendel left occurred when the assistant – evidentially called from the stage outside – stepped out to hear his instruction properly. In a few seconds, he had returned with his announcement.

“Okay, Number 1, you're up!” the assistant announced.

At the very front of the room, a young black colt with a flute stood up from where he had been waiting and trotted off to the door.

Once he was outside, the assistant closed the door and all outside noise suddenly dissipated. Vinyl noted right away that meant the room was soundproof, which in a way was a blessing. Vinyl Scratch already had anxiety, and overhearing the performance of the other candidates might have continued to unnerve her. But a few minutes later, she realized that it was actually worse.

Without outside noise to provide some ambience and her fellow candidates evidently afraid of even speaking, Vinyl Scratch was effectively sitting in almost silent room. It was an unreal experience and within minutes of the door being closed, Vinyl’s acute hearing – which had become desperate for sound – had managed to focus in only the most sensitive noises. All of a sudden the movement of limbs or the breath of others suddenly became as noticeable as speech.

Vinyl then noticed that despite the small size of the room, everypony continued to keep their distance, finding something to focus on other than the gaze of the few ponies that dared to look around. With their tension already at an all time high, the silence of this room and close proximity to their competitors produced the most alien sensation of fear and anxiety that Vinyl Scratch would ever have experienced in her young life.

Almost ten minutes passed before all of sudden the stage door was opened again and the assistant spoke the assembled candidates.

“Alright, Number 2, you’re up!” the assistant ordered.

Vinyl Scratch this time didn’t see who had left and instead tried to focus her attention on her numbered card. Just as soon as the next candidate was called up, the door was closed again and the silence and tension returned.

This was going to feel like the longest afternoon of her life.

The Decision and The Meeting

The Decision and The Meeting

Vinyl Scratch had never been so scared in her life, yet even in this seemingly never ending anxious fright, the young filly managed to struggle her way through.

She had long since lost track of time, which was owed to the fact that there no clock in this waiting room. Vinyl could now only keep track of the progressing afternoon around her by keeping count of the number that summoned up yet another one of them to the stage. Inevitably, one by one in a seemingly uniform interval, each of the candidates was called up to leave the slowly emptying room.

Throughout her wait, Vinyl scratch started to suffer the occasional unnerving thought, but when she wasn’t feeling unsure of herself, other thoughts that helped occupy her mind throughout her long wait. At first Vinyl felt just a little uncomfortable about this room, but her source of concern soon returned to a more pressing disappointments that had occupied her since this morning.

Her father had promised to come today, but as Vinyl was being led away from the foyer, he had yet to appear to wish her luck. He was in Canterlot again, both for business and for this audition, but through circumstance, he was stuck in a meeting right now that overlapped with her audition time. Even with all the wishes she had made, by now the young filly had no doubt in her mind that despite his insistence and promises, her father had to the best of her knowledge been unable to make her audition.

That hurt Vinyl on the inside. It was her father that had reinstalled some semblance of resistance to what she was being made to do today, but for him to not be here, it almost invalidated every assuring word he had said to her that night. It wasn’t that he had been lying, but somehow his absence only made herself feel more conflicted about her greatest concern.

For the five weeks since the late night talk with her father, Vinyl had in the young mind racked for the right answer to the entire dilemma. Vinyl’s thoughts continued to fester about the choice she needed to make, even in her dreams now, where at last she was forced herself to give up the one space in her world that had been almost free of such thoughts. Every day and every night; even as she practiced long agonizing hours, Vinyl continued to ask herself the most important question of her life.

“Is this what I want” Vinyl silently repeated all week.

Just as she had expected – even if she a little jolt every single time – at around the right interval, the door opened up and once again the assistant entered the waiting room again.

“Okay applicants, Number 14, it’s your turn!” the assistant instructed.

To the left of Vinyl, a filly unicorn with a cyan fur and white mane arose from where she had been waiting this whole time and with just her numbered card – evidently meaning she was a pianist – trotted to the door under the careful supervision of the assistant. With a noticeably nervous mental constitution, she continued to ignore her fears and bravely rounded the corner, disappearing from Vinyl’s sight.

It was only then that she silently wished the young filly the best of luck.

It instantly struck Vinyl Scratch right away as a rather odd thought to have right then, but belatedly realized that she had subconsciously done the same thing for the last few applicants. She hadn’t wished any of the luck, though by now she had taken the chance to take a good look at all of them, at first during in the foyer, and now as they all waited for their turn. Pondering why Vinyl had started to wish her competitors good luck, the young filly looked around at the remaining applicants wondering what would have made her say that before in one astounding moment, it suddenly made sense.

Here she was in a room of foals just like her, all trained and under immense pressure to succeed. A minority was clearly in it for themselves, but as Vinyl had sourly noted before in the foyer, quite a lot of the ponies in the waiting room appeared to be here at the insistence of their parents. Just like her mother, they were really not here because it was their dream and ambition, rather it had been a choice made for them by others, for reasons not their own. It was during this moment of clarity that Vinyl suddenly started to comprehend another piece of her long tortured question.

Despite all the pressure Vinyl had been under before, it had not even once occurred to her that other ponies might be forced to endure the same hardships that she had suffered to achieve the outcome that her parents, not herself, had wanted. Looking around at the few remaining faces, she wondered what sacrifices they had been forced to make, what friends they been forced to alienate and what expectations they had been forced to meet?

Now here they were all in the same room, with the same objective, but at the same time knowing that only one or two of them out of the twenty-two auditioning today would succeed. How many deep down actually wanted to do this? It was their implied destinies according to their cutie marks to be musicians, but was this how they wanted to do it? The brief contemplating of those questions only made Vinyl’s finally start to see the answer that she had been hoping for so long.

Rather unexpectedly early, the stage door opened yet again.

“Alright” the assistant announced loudly “Number 15, your turn!”

Vinyl was almost completely derailed from the discussion and for the very first time since entering the green room she had wished she had more time to think about things. However her body reacted instinctively and without a thought the young filly had already risen to her feet.

Sensing no chance to retreat from her moment, Vinyl continued to summarize her thoughts, even as she gathered her instrument case and follow the assistant out into the narrow corridor.

“Just the right dear” the assistant kindly reminded Vinyl.

Vinyl turned back one last time to see the green room, noting the remaining faces she assumed already that would not be seen again today. Vinyl found the stairs – which was really just four steps up – and continued along until she entered the realm of the stage.

As she was walking in, Vinyl caught her first glimpse of auditorium from the stage. The bright stage lights made seeing the back of the hall rather had to do, but from what Vinyl was able to make out the room was only a quarter full of various groups, clustered together in the seats. To the left, she noticed a rather large number of unfamiliar faces – probably other conservatorium musicians – all sitting together like a class group and in the center most of the parents she could recognize.

Before she made it to the designated spot, she managed to make eye contact with her mother, who was sitting a few rows back from the main center section crowd, and then finally with another pony who it seemed to have just entered the hall.

Belatedly Vinyl realized that the visual distraction had cost her precious moments of time to think about the answer now only had less than a minute to consider. When she finished trotting to the marked spot, Vinyl then looked down finally at the three judges waiting for her arrival. Vinyl then remembered her instructions from before and waited, patiently for them to speak.

“Good afternoon dear…I’m sorry you had to wait so long, but now it’s your turn,” the mare of the trio started kindly “You’ve already met my associate Mendel so allow me to introduce myself, name is Crystal Clear, I am the deputy director of the conservatorium. My other associate with me is Camper Bells…now would you like to tell us your number and your name, please?”

Vinyl gulped the last of her nervousness and composed herself reply.

“Yes Madam…I am number 15…My name is Vinyl Scratch”

“Very good Ms. Scratch,” Mendel took his turn to speak “Would you please get out your violin”

“Yes Sir” Vinyl answered and at once dismounted her violin case.

By now the routine of unbuckling the case, collecting her violin, unsheathing the bow from its protector and then stranding herself up on her hindlegs was down to a rapid twenty seconds. It was just about all the time she had left to think about her answer.

Was this way the way she had wanted to do things? Did Vinyl want to forever be toted around to auditions and be made to meet expectations that she had not set herself? Was this what she want?

“Thank you Ms. Scratch,” Crystal answered kindly.

For just a split second while Crystal replied, out of the corner of Vinyl’s eye, a miracle seemed to be taking place. Next to her mother, a stallion was now sitting next to her, as familiar the sun in the sky; her father had arrived. This brief glimpse helped Vinyl helped become more comfortable with herself, even as she still felt tense.

“And what would you be playing for us today Ms. Scratch?” the gruff kind voice of the third judge asked as he held his pen out ready to repeat what she said.

Vinyl would never be sure for the rest of days just how fast her mind had been thinking in those last few seconds. Here she was up against the clock with nothing left to spare, realizing she was at the moment where she had no choice but to ask herself one last time – regardless of her fear of regret – what she wanted to do and how she wanted to do it.

Helping accelerating to her conclusion was the thoughts of just moments ago in the green room, when she asked herself if she wanted continue being like most of the other foals that had auditioned today. She saw the fear that they had, the hesitation and anxiety, which compared the hopeful fear that the few that wanted to be here had made Vinyl realize what it really meant to have her own choice.

“Ms. Scratch?” Crystal Clear repeated

“Yes?” Vinyl finally snapped out of the thought process that had only been two seconds long.

“Would you please relax,” Crystal incorrectly assumed “What song would you like to play today for us?”

It was clear to her now what answer should have always been and now that she was certain, Vinyl knew now there would be no turning back.Bounded by a confidence she had not had in a long time, Vinyl calmly responded.

“I’m not sure of the title yet…but I guess I’ll give it a go anyway,” Vinyl answered very casually “May I start?”

Crystal flinched in surprise, noting after all the auditions so far today, how quickly Vinyl’s anxiety had appeared to vanish. Feeling no need risk breaking the young filly’s confidence – as two others already had today – she let the odd answer slide.

“Very well dear…you may begin when you are ready,” Crystal announced.

“Thank you”

Vinyl breathed one last time and took a last glimpse at the audience, in particular her mother who had already fretted at the way she had answered that last question. Vinyl then closed her eyes as she brought up the bow, knowing that her mother was about to put her mother through a whole lot worse.

Gliding her bow over the first four bars, it sounded just like another song that Vinyl had practiced, which had quickly made the judges ponder to its origin. Their efforts however would soon become vain as Vinyl began to play the way she had always intended. Starting with a slow rhythm had only been the prelude to the song, from here on out the song was purely unnatural to their unsuspecting ears.

With a rapidly progressive canon, Vinyl’s tempo increased almost four fold to a very speedy pace compared to the start, which amazed all that were watching at how easily the young filly seemed to be keeping up with the pace of the song. Some in the audience joined the judges in trying to place the song from their extensive memory on all classical music, yet all of them failed to determine the origin of this very fast paced song. What they had all begun to realize however was this piece had a very catchy tune.

And it had a very addictive beat.

Almost reluctantly at first, the audience – mainly other musicians watching on – started to develop a strange flute in themselves that maintained the same rhythm of the song they continued to listen. At first it had been a mental reaction to the beat, but soon this evolved into an involuntary flinching of a limb or a nodding of their head. That however would not last long and soon the occasional hoof tapping on the floor could be heard.

The sound of one hoof was soon joined by another and then more hooves as others sensed a need to join in this additional noise. Even some of the other parents and one of the judges couldn’t help but join in with the motion of hooves tapping the floor, clapping as the only could in this way. Only one pony this hall managed to resist the urge all together, Vinyl’s mother.

Brighten Balance’s normal completion drained away until she looked as white as a ghost when she realized what was going on. Even she had attempted to place the song, but just as soon realized long before everyone else that Vinyl Scratch was not in fact playing any song that she had been taught by either of her instructors. The very thought of what was going on almost sent her in seizure, but Slate Scratch managed to halt that from happening when he finally spoke.

“It’s what we always wanted her do dear,” Slate Scratch whispered while he too tapped a hoof on the floor.

Brighten turned to face her husband furious at what he had just said.

“Slate, she is…”

“Being herself…just like we both promised she would be,” Slate finally reminded Brighten.

Brighten froze up.

For a brief span of time, Brighten Balance did not understand a single thing about her own existence or what had transpired to bring her to this moment. Everything that she had been working towards, for this one moment of divine payoff, had abruptly come crashing down the moment that Vinyl had touched her bow on that violin just minutes ago. She did not need to know just how much of a disgrace this would mean for her and as soon as her brain resumed functioning Brighten contemplated what happen to her.

She would be completely disgraced by this episode. Worse still, it would only be the beginning of what Brighten was most certain of was the end of her social existence in Canterlot, or even worse, all of Equestria. Grand Salary she knew would make sure of it, and she even knew how it would happen.

Once Grand Salary would learn of this, she would no longer seeing a for keeping her blackmail on Brighten, and proceed to tell everypony about the mistakes she made with Vinyl and how she had let the offspring of a distinguished lord act like this in a public arena. Brighten would be made a mockery of and others her social circles would go away, but only after she was exiled from the social group that Grand Salary had dominated.

The repercussions would then only continue. Brighten’s career would be effectively be over at this point and while she would not be fired, she would never see promotion again. Their impressions of her personal abilities would not be of her skills but of the reflection they got from hearing about the rebellious foal that she could not control. For this, and many more reasons, every nerve in Brighten’s body felt that she should be completely infuriated at what Vinyl had just done to her.

But Slate was correct; none of that mattered.

This moment of clarity came just as it had unknowingly done so for Vinyl minutes earlier. It was as if now she could see everything else that she was blind to before, and Brighten suddenly realized what despite all she had been told and everything that she hoped for before, those thoughts had led her away from what she was suppose have understood from the very beginning. It was a small indescribable comfort for her and soon Brighten felt more than contempt with the implications.

“You’re right dear…” Brighten whispered back “I’m so sorry for what I’ve done”

“It’s okay Brighten,” Slate raised a hoof and held his wife closer to him “I’m glad you understand now”

Unseen by the audience, the two parents embraced.

On stage, Vinyl was like magic in itself with her violin as she continued to belt out the flowing piece that nobody yet could figure out where it had come from. Yet it sounded so amazingly graceful despite the fast pace and the fact that Vinyl seemed to be playing a song that a few violins should be playing together instead of own her own.

The sections were a little awkwardly linked, but chouses made everyone’s hearts flutter at as she always repeated twice a certain bar of music with increasing pitch on the second round. It was a wonderful performance that the little filly pushed her young heart to the limits of perfecting; all the way to the inevitable end she finally approached. With a flurry of sounds, she ended on a high and brought to an end a piece that nobody had expected, but all had enjoyed.

Her completion had brought the audience to stand up and applaud, which Vinyl would have been surprised to learn they had yet to do for a single performance so far today. Yet Vinyl embraced the spectacle and felt her own heart flutter as every pony including the judges applauded her performance. It was nothing like the tea parties or whenever else she had been asked to play, this had been something else entirely.

Vinyl Scratch felt like it was worth it.

Stepping down from her hind legs pose, Vinyl began as she always did and replaced her instrument before closing the case. By the time she had done that, the judges were ready to speak to her again.

“Vinyl…” Crystal Clear started “That was absolutely fabulous…but forgive me for saying…but I can’t quite understand where you might have heard this song before”

Vinyl Scratch, comfortable with her choice and knowing that she had already gone beyond the point of return anyway, finally replied honestly.

“That’s because I made it up”

The answer sent the entire hall into stunted silence.

“Excuse me…did you say that you invented this yourself?” Mendel asked calmly after he had a few seconds of contemplation to let that sink in.

“Yes sir…some of it I already knew…but some of it I had to make up as I went along”

Crystal Clear was shocked beyond words and for the first time in her many years of doing this couldn’t even think of the right emotions that described what she felt. The rapid pace and the very skillful chord work alone made Vinyl Scratch above the grade already, but the absolutely boldfaced admission that she had just made it up only help add to her confused feelings about this candidate.

Vinyl Scratch was a gifted, bold and evidently a naturally talented composer, even at the spur of the moment. Yet for all these positive attributes, Crystal Clear almost cringed at her own admission; she had not done what she had been asked to do. This alone left no doubt what the deputy director had to do, even though in her soul she didn’t want to.

“I’m sorry Vinyl, but that’s against the rules of this audition…We need you to play something that already exists so we can judge your ability to recite” Crystal Clear announced to the young Vinyl Scratch.

“I know, but I decided to do my own thing” Vinyl Scratch replied proudly,

That surprised the judges. For just a brief moment, the three judges finally recognized what Vinyl Scratch had really planned from the moment she had stepped on the stage. They had there been justice in the world, none of them have felt the need to be so reserved about dismissing this young filly, yet unfortunately it had to be done.

“I see,” Mendel replied for the others, already making a mental note about this candidate that he would later follow up.

“I hope you enjoyed my performance today Madam, sirs” Vinyl replied before bowing as she was meant to.

Crystal felt touched at knowing what the young filly had really meant, or at least what she thought she had meant and responded in kind.

“Thank you Vinyl Scratch, I wish the very best for you”

Without another exchange, Vinyl Scratch turned right and made her way for the exit. This departure however was accompanied by more applause from the fellow musicians sitting in the audience. Once again, Vinyl Scratch would have been pleasantly surprised to learn that she had been the only pony they had done that for during the entire audition.

It was finally over.

Once Vinyl Scratch had left the stage and noted her moment under the lights were over, she began to feel lighter. It was as if by magic, every single stress floated away from her the moment she made it into the green room. The best thought of the day then came to mind right then; it felt wonderful.

Noting that the room was in fact empty and another door was open on the other side, Vinyl continued on and in a matter of seconds found herself in the very same hallway that she had followed to enter the opposite green room hours before. A helpful sign on the opposite wall indicated for her the way to the foyer.

“Well I guess that’s over…it’s time I left here” Vinyl Scratch said to herself.

It was only now that Vinyl remembered that there would be hell to pay fairly soon from her mother, the young filly once again bowed to the inevitable. However, instead of waiting around, Vinyl Scratch decided to make her way out of the building. Even after all that stress relief, it was time for some fresh air.

Octavia’s eyebrows arched as high as they could go and her mouth trembled in an unintelligible murmur. Eventually her ability to verbalize complete sentences started to recover as the result of the proclamation that Vinyl had more or less made.

Her tone increased at every word.

“You…threw…the…audition…” Octavia managed to say without stuttering out.

“I guess that’s one way of putting it,” Vinyl admitted cheerful to the two astonished musicians sitting opposite her.

“I mean…I would…there is no way,” Octavia slumped back into incomprehensible mumblings, but then went back on her original thought “You threw the Audition?!”

“To my way of thinking, that was the only way out for me…and while I do sometimes regret not getting to join the conservatorium like you did Tavi’, I have never regretted the decision I made” Vinyl stated with a tone of finality.

Octavia’s mind tried to reboot itself after the absolute shock of what she had just finally learnt.

If things had just been a little different, or even if young Vinyl had just lied about the song’s origin…the possibilities of that alternate path astounded Octavia and as she thought more about the possible ramifications, the earth pony felt almost flabbergasted at comprehending how different things would have been.

“You never cease to amaze me Vinyl…” Octavia repeated from earlier. “I still can’t believe that you once went for an audition at the Royal Palace Conservatorium”

“Well those were different times in my life obliviously…but guess when you're put my mind to it, anything is possible right Tavi?”

“I’m sure…” Octavia noted wryly and parted with some of her own insights “But think of what could have been…to enter the academy so young…they don’t even do those auditions for young foals anymore”

“Oh?”

Octavia nodded to confirm its truthfulness.

“They stopped it after they realized that it was unintentionally creating too many expectations on young musicians…which as I guess you knew from experience, came from too many parents forcing their foals to aim for this program”

To the earth pony’s continuing surprise, Vinyl smiled warmly when she heard that, which for Octavia almost looked like she was about to cry.

“I’m actually glad to hear they stopped that”

Octavia felt a little awkward about her feelings but instead of sharing a silent moment, Melody took her silence as her chance to enter the discussion.

“That’s just so…amazing,” Melody replied slowly before her rapid fire questions took over “so what happened next? Did you get in trouble with your mother? What happened?”

Vinyl chuckled at the younger earth pony’s enthusiasm.

“Well this is now where your violin comes in to the story”

Both earth ponies had just then realized they had almost forgotten that this instrument had been the whole purpose of this story.

Upon being reminded of it they subconsciously flinched in the general direction of where they had left the instrument, only to see that Vinyl had manipulated it with her magic, case and all, over to the coffee table. Gently moving it as slowly as her magic allowed, she laid the case and violin down as if it were a newborn foal.

“Well once I had left the audition…”

The same cold weather was still around to greet Vinyl Scratch as she finally made it outside again.

At passing through the threshold between the foyer and the outside, Vinyl scratch was confronted with a blast of cold air that was just good an indication as any that she had returned to the real world. Outside she had her first chance to tell time and right away could see that the sun had already started to settle towards the west, indicating nightfall was only an hour away. The unicorn was also please to note that just as she hoped earlier in the day, the same overcast skies above her had started dropping snow in light amounts, and to her glee had already blanketed the ground in a thin later.

Now free to roam on her own again Vinyl took account of her situation, and aside that, for the first time today the young filly had a chance to appreciate how long she had been inside. Before she saw the sky again, Vinyl Scratch’s had felt like she had been inside the conservatorium for just short of an eternity, while stuck in an almost soundless void that fed into her tension. But now, only moments after her return to the outside, all that stress and tension had already begun to feel like a long forgotten memory.

With that relief in mind, the unicorn then started to contemplate what she could do while she waited. Vinyl had no doubt her parents were on their way, possibly ready to scold her for screwing up her audition so intentionally, but she had accepted that it would happen. All she had to do was decide on what to do before the arrived.

Part of her initial thoughts were about going back inside and exploring the grand old building again – and maybe prolong reuniting with her parents – but once again in the corner of her eye, Vinyl Scratch noticed something out of place in her surroundings. Just at the bottom of the steps, she noticed an earth pony around her age standing alone amongst the falling snow, looking up at the building.

She appeared to have a delicate build – which for an earth pony was odd – with beige skin and an ice-blue mane. Vinyl tried to recall if she had seen her earlier in the waiting room, but her memory came up with nothing. Concluding that it was probably not one of the competitors from the audition, a newfound curiosity drew Vinyl to this unknown pony.

“Hey!” Vinyl announced as she had trotted down most of the way to meet this strange filly.

Whoever it was, the earth pony seemed to have been in a trace before Vinyl had called out, but the sound of another voice had done the job of snapping her out of the daze.

“I’m sorry!” the earth pony panicked and instinctively bowed to Vinyl “I didn’t mean to intrude”

She had a light hearted but very gentle voice Vinyl realized, and just by the way she responded verbally and physically, the earth pony already had earned the modest approval from the unicorn.

“It’s okay…” Vinyl replied.

Since she was taken aback by her manners and tried to be more casual by quickly introducing herself.

“I’m Vinyl by the way…Vinyl Scratch”

“I’m Cherry Belle” the earth pony replied in kind, and to Vinyl’s relief started to smile.

Silence between them returned, but it was short lived.

“So…What are you looking at?”

“The building,” Cherry answered, more lightheartedly now that the stranger had introduced herself “It’s the home to the Royal Palace’s very own music school right?”

“Yep, then I guess you’re from out of town” Vinyl immediately became curious “So where do you come from? Trottingham? Ponyville?”

“Sugarhayview,” Cherry answered, but after moment qualified her statement by adding “It’s not a big place, it’s probably easier to say its south of Baltimare”

“Right…I guess that makes sense then,” Vinyl answered, admitting she didn’t know where that was “So are you here with family?”

“Oh no, we would never be able to afford it,” Cherry almost blushed embarrassed “I’m here with my entire school actually…but I got separated around lunch time…they are probably back at the motel by now so I should get going…but I felt like stopping here first”

The earth almost felt overwhelmed by the discussion. Vinyl wouldn’t know, but it was Cheery’s first time in the capital and whilst she had hoped to see a lot of the attractions, she had never expected to ever talk to any of the Canterlot natives. She has expected that her would be too poor looking to merit a discussion, yet to her surprise Vinyl – another filly her age it seemed – didn’t seem to care one wit.

“How come?” Vinyl asked. She was genuinely curious now.

Cherry Belle looked up at the building again.

“I know it’s an impossible dream but…I really want to play music here one day” Cherry announced wistfully before looking back at Vinyl “It must be the most enjoyable…most magical place in all of Equestria I think”

Vinyl Scratch couldn’t have agreed more, though considering what she had gone through these last few months, it would be a long time before Vinyl were ever to associate joy to music. What worried her however was how easily Cherry Belle seemed to dismiss the dream she had so easily and it again merited her to ask another question.

“Why do you think it’s impossible?”

Cherry looked over at Vinyl in disbelief, and almost mistook her question as mockery. It was at this time that she noticed the instrument slung over the unicorn’s back.

“You play violin?” Cherry Belle asked in surprised “I’m so sorry, I didn’t notice I before”

“That’s alright,” Vinyl calmly answered before joking “I’m just glad you noticed me instead of it, so you alright in my books already”

Vinyl just smiled, even if Cherry Belle didn’t understand what she meant by that.

“Do you come here to practice?” Cherry dared to ask, wondering if maybe she had just come across a very talented – and therefore privileged she realized too late – protégée musician.

“Actually… I think they just rejected me at my audition just before”

“I’m so sorry to hear that, are you alright?” Cherry genuinely concerned for the seemingly polite stranger.

To Cherry Belle’s surprise, Vinyl stifled a quick chuckle.

“Actually I’ve never felt better,” Vinyl answered before turning back to her point “Now why did you think it’s impossible?”

Cherry felt uncomfortable for a moment.

The light hearted nature emanating from Vinyl was completely unanticipated. She had expected musicians from Canterlot, even the young ones, to have a serious professional personality about them, but somehow Vinyl Scratch didn’t seem have that in her. What surprised Cherry more however was how friendly she was and sensing the kindness coming from Vinyl’s enquiry, she chose to answer honestly.

“My family could never afford an instrument for me…even if it is my destiny to play” Cherry motioned at her cutie mark, which was a pair of single notes against three wavy lines.

Vinyl felt sorry for the young mare, upon further examination she wasn’t exactly neatest looking pony she had ever met, but somehow despite her implied poverty, Vinyl already felt like that didn’t seem to matter all. Her personality was already rich enough.

Looking at herself, she was prim and proper, neatly groomed and the only daughter to two prominent – if that was still the case by tomorrow – members of Canterlot’s highest social circles. Thinking of things that way, it almost made Vinyl Scratch completely regret walking away from the opportunity she had intentional screwed up. For a pony like Cherry Belle, moments like that would be unobtainable, but she had just blown it off like it was almost nothing.

That however made Vinyl think about what she could do to make up for that sudden guilt. The impulsive thought felt traumatic at first to even consider, but over the span of a few seconds Vinyl Scratch managed to convince an idea that right away she knew in her heart would be the right thing to do, even if she would get in trouble for it later.

The only obstacle of course had been the though of giving it away.

Vinyl had loved every minute that she had owned it, and even if in a way it been the cause to most of her problems, the unicorn had never taken to blame it for what it had done for her. Vinyl Scratch had grown up a lot ever since her father bought it; she had just about mastered the instrument and still wanted to play, but for all the joy it had given her, she somehow knew it was time to move on.

Looking around in case her parents were watching,Vinyl Scratch belatedly that with the exception of the falling snow, she realized it was just herself and Cherry Belle all alone on the steps of the Conservatorium’s entrance. The weather was cold and the clouds made it seem darker than it should be for this time of the day, yet somehow that only helped the unicorn make her choice.

“Then here,” Vinyl announced “I want you to have this”

To the absolutely astonishment of Cherry Belle; the pony took the violin case off her back and gave it to her.

“I’m not sure if that’s the instrument you wanted to play…but I think you deserve it more now than I do,” Vinyl explained.

Cherry Belle was thunderstruck and for while speechless. Eventually the earth pony’s begging modesty refocused her attention once more.

“I couldn’t possibly,” Cherry pushed the case back to its previous owner “I mean… what about all the hard work, and…”

Cherry continued to protest and started to feel awful about the possibility that she had just guilt stricken this fellow filly into giving the instrument to her.

When she finished explaining her reasons however, Vinyl Scratch still just smiled.

“Don’t worry about me; besides after today I don’t think I’ll be playing again anytime soon,” Vinyl Scratch stifled as her continued smiling “and since its helped me a lot , I don’t want it to go to waste so…it may as well get used by someone who needs it more that I do”

“Are really you sure?” Cherry squeaked out, suddenly feeling like she was being set up for a joke.

“I’m sure,” Vinyl answered.

Cherry almost started to whimper, feeling a need to deny if she had possibly misheard the last several minutes of discussion. But once again Vinyl Stretched out a hoof to give her instrument over to Cherry Belle.

“I don’t know what to say…” Cherry responded.

“Well saying thank you is usually…”

“Thank you!” Cherry Belle leapt forward to hug the fellow filly.

“You’re…welcome” Vinyl struggled for air. Even if she was a little frail looking, she still had the strength of an earth pony for sure.

Even in this cold air, Vinyl all of a sudden a felt warm feeling inside, but knew it wasn’t from the hug from the earth pony she had just befriended. Something else about being generous and kindhearted also came to mind, which had seemed like the gibberish that she associated with a fairy tail before, but somehow through her simple decision seemed to prove they were real.

Eventually the two ponies broke their embrace and noticed on their own that it was starting to snow a little more.

“You should probably hurry back to your motel Cherry,” Vinyl advised “When it starts to snow in Canterlot, we always get a lot of snow very quickly”

“I see,” Cherry regretfully realized that the unicorn was right.

Somehow she didn’t want to leave her, but knew the native to the city was right.

“Thank you again,” Cherry belle nodded.

“We’re welcome…and good luck” Vinyl replied softly.

Without any more words, the two exchanged goodbyes and went their separate ways. As Vinyl stood there, Cherry continued out the gates and along with the instrument case disappeared. It was only then that Vinyl had just realized that was the last time she would ever see her violin again. It was almost like Vinyl had lost a family member but somehow, despite the empty feeling, she felt a lot happier at the same time.

On her own now, Vinyl didn’t know how long she had stayed there watching the gate post her new friend and violin had disappeared behind, but a familiar voice snapped back into reality.

“Vinyl!” Her father yelled “Come back here! You’re going to catch a cold!”

The filly wasn’t exactly sure how long they might’ve been there, but knew either way she was in a lot of trouble. Acknowledging that her time alone was up, Vinyl turned up to the stairs behind her and cantered back where both her parents were waiting for her. Life was about to get a lot harder for her Vinyl knew, and her future now seemed murkier than ever, but even as she returned the warm embrace of her family, Vinyl Scratch felt she would never regret today.

“…and I guess that’s the whole story,” Vinyl then joking punctuated by adding “The end”

Sitting just as awestruck as they had been all afternoon, Octavia and Melody were stunned quiet.

“You know if I didn’t know you better…I’d say I wouldn’t believe a word of what you just said,” Octavia announced, once her mind started processing a response.

“I can believe it” Melody wistfully announced out of the blue.

Melody then reacted in the most unusual manner that Vinyl Scratch had ever expected. Without saying another word, Melody got up from her seat and trotted around the coffee table to confront Vinyl Scratch directly. For some reason Vinyl sensed an intimidating response and subconsciously began to rise from her seat, but instead was met with a crushing embrace from the earth pony.

“I’ve always wanted to say this…” Melody started to whimper “But thank you so much for what you have done for us”

For the first time today, Vinyl was wordless. The feeling was only short lived however.

“Say again?” Vinyl managed to pronounce.

Melody felt momentarily surprised that the unicorn hadn’t made the connection yet. She had recognized the instrument and deciphered where she was really from, but to her amazement, Vinyl somehow didn’t seem to make the one important connection that was worth mentioning. She could see Vinyl’s face properly to explain properly.

“Vinyl…Cherry Belle is my older sister” Melody answered “The person who you met…was my sister”

That connection took all off two seconds for Vinyl Scratch to finally make sense of what she was told. Melody went on to explain to the equally stunned Octavia.

“My Sister had gone to Canterlot one year when our school managed to save up for the fieldtrip…but I couldn’t go because they said I was too young” Melody explained “Anyway she came back from the trip she had this Violin case with her.

Vinyl relaxed, but continued to look up at the pony next to her.

“What did she do with it?”

Melody’s face turned neutral for a moment, knowing it wasn’t going to sound pleasant to Vinyl Scratch.

“At first, my parents thought about selling it could have paid down at bit of our estate debt…but when nobody else in the village could afford it, they decided to keep it,”

Melody then smiled.

“When Cherry was allowed to keep it, she started to do just as always wanted, for three years I think, she practiced every day…with the help of our teacher even” Melody explained “Then one day, a talent scout from a Fillydephia Academy spotted during our own annual Summer Sun Celebration; and she was so impressive that got a fully paid scholarship and everything”

Vinyl for the first time in a very long time almost felt a tear welt in her eye. She prompted for Melody to go on explaining.

“Once Cherry started working at the Fillydelphia Academy, they paid her a load of bits to play, so much that she could help pay down the debt.” Melody went on “When she grew up a little more, she then decided to buy a new violin for herself, but that so she could send her old violin back so I could start practicing as well”

“And then you went to Trottingham?” Vinyl then filled in the pieces

“Not for another two years,” Melody answered and explained on “I was surprised too when I got in, but by then we had a music teacher in our school and she helped me learn a lot faster”

Vinyl was touched and that was something you would never make the unicorn admit any other time she felt this way, but somehow she couldn’t help but smile at what she had done, even without knowing about it.

“Did she ever get to play in Canterlot?” Vinyl then asked.

“Not straight away,” Melody finally explained “But I think a year ago or so, just before Octavia moved here, she was part of a new exchange program that let her play for the Royal Palace Conservatorium for six months…but I guess in a way…she finally achieved her dream”

Once again Melody hugged Vinyl Scratch, but this time the latter was welcome to emotion.

“Everything that has been possible for us…both of us becoming musicians and helping my family like that…I knew for a long time that it was all thanks to whoever gave my sister that violin,” Melody concluded “So thank you, thank you a million times”

With that Melody let her whimpers become more pronounced. It was a feeling from her heart that she couldn’t possibly express with more passion, yet she tried to; and Vinyl loved every minute of it.

From the other side of the coffee table, Octavia smiled herself as she cherished the sight of Vinyl Scratch feeling so humble. For a pony that was rather resolute in keeping her warmer feelings down all the time, it was a very pleasant sight to see her friend embraced so tightly for the most emotional of reasons.

The time however waned and her curiosity lurked around, eventually Octavia decided to break the silence with a question.

“I know you finished, but would you like to tell us what happened after? Did you get in trouble for giving away your violin?”

Vinyl and Melody noted the question and broke their friendly embrace. Sensing the same curiosity in hearing the answer, the latter made her way around the coffee table back to where she had sat before.

“Well there isn’t much to add I guess, but as for what happened?” Vinyl Scratch then went on “I apparently wasn’t in as much trouble as I originally thought about the audition thing…but mother did get at little angry about the Violin. Dad was good natured about it even if he was a little surprised”

Vinyl adjusted herself.

“As for what happened afterwards well…As my mother predicted, she was made a mockery right away for the whole stunt and all her so called ‘friends’ left her for awhile…but that in the end I guess worked out for her in the long run”

“What happened?” Octavia asked.

“Well a few funny things happened I guess,” Vinyl started “But all it was all thanks to my father’s railway project. Just like he had promised everyone, he managed to finish it. That Grand Salary banker lady continued to argue against it, but then when it went into operation, I guess she got what was coming”

“How come?” Melody queried this time.

“Well some say it had to do with the immediate success of the railway, the great south western railway project created a whole lot of new farming communities, all the way to the end of the line Appleloosa, and a lot of ponies got rich of the land investment as a result...but others say that it was really the mithril ore deposit that the railway engineers discovered that really paid dividends,”

Vinyl began to smile as if she were telling a particularly funny joke.

“In short, because Grand Salary had refused to let the bank she was running invest in the railway project or anything related to it…they didn’t have a single share of when it became this mega success venture. Short version, they lost out on a lot of money when everypony else managed to get rich. She was absolutely disgraced from the social scene from what I remember…which worked great for mother because of much distancing her supposed ‘friend’ had done after my audition.”

Both Melody and Octavia felt some surprise at the offhanded way Vinyl had explained that part of the story.

“As for dad, well later he got knighted and all that fancy stuff…and seriously rich off his own project,” Vinyl added “But he gave most of it away to help out in that scheme to help pay off those debts in villages like yours Melody”

Octavia turned to look at Melody in surprise. When did Vinyl coax her into talking about that? Melody noted the look she got from her fellow musician and right away assured her that she hadn’t been teased about her past. It didn’t exactly convince her host, but at least Octavia hadn’t made an issue of it after such a touching moment just before.

“Anyway, I guess if you think about it, in a way, giving away things runs in the family…sort of” Vinyl concluded.

“Your father really did that?” Melody asked, now remembering how she had mentioned it before and how sure Vinyl had seemed when she had brought it up.

“Him and a lot of others Melody, even Princess Celestia eventually chipped in some money,” Vinyl then qualified “at least so that rumor goes”

It felt like everything had been explained at that point but stunningly both earth ponies still had one more question their unicorn friend.

“So what happened to you?” Octavia finally asked.

“Well,” Vinyl Scratch stretched out one final time “Things were rough for a bit, adjustment wise, but eventually everything went back to way things were before…my friends came back to me, and I was able to have a normal life…at least until one day a few months later when dad introduced me to another music teacher”

Vinyl went on to explain it in a little more detail.

Evidently one of the judges, but she couldn’t remember the name of, had approached her father after the audition and gave him the contact details for another music teacher that lived in Manehatten. He was apparently an old friend of the judge, but he was also a different sort of teacher, specializing in composing music instead of performing it.

Vinyl wasn’t too pleased at first at the decision being made without her consent, but after having a long talk with this new teacher, her young self had become enthusiastic about what was offering. Unfortunately she was still too young to work for him, but he had promised her that she had finished school; she could move to manehatten for a few years and take up an apprenticeship with him in the art of composing music.

“And from there…I discovered all kinds of music, but I really became interested in music made with electronic effects made from magic. It really opened my eyes,” Vinyl explained “Eventually I started work as a disk jockey, producing my own work for the first time but I found that Manehatten was already full of people like me…So I packed up my bags and hoofed it back to Canterlot…and I’ve been enjoying composing my own work ever since”

“That was such a wonderful…” Melody tried to finish but felt the urge to yawn just then.

Octavia caught on and soon yawned herself. Vinyl however managed to avoid it, at least for a few seconds longer than her friends. It prompted the former however to look at the time finally; just realizing that it was actually dark outside.

“Oh my Celestia,” Octavia leapt from the sofa “Its eight thirty…we’ve been talking about this for five hours?!”

“Eight thirty?” Melody looked for a clock before beginning to panic herself “Oh no…I was suppose to have checked in the hotel hours ago!”

Vinyl arched an eyebrow.

“You didn’t check in?”

“No,” Melody answered “I though that since Octavia’s apartment is on the way from the train station, I thought I’d pop in and…oh I’m so stupid!”

Melody almost cried out, but a gentle hoof on her shoulder managed to calm her nerves.

“You know you could just stay here if you’d like,” Octavia offered “You’re only going to waste your bits with the late check-in fee if you go now”

“Are you sure?”

“Hey, we’re friends aren’t we?” Octavia answered as she hugged “We’re suppose to help each other out”

“Oh thank you!” Melody responded and returned the embrace.

“So I guess all ends well that ends well huh?” Vinyl Scratch added.

The two earth ponies nodded in agreement and went away for a moment to freshen up and let Melody bring her stuff into the bedroom.

It left Vinyl Scratch alone for the first time since Octavia had toured her friend around the apartment earlier. Sensing nothing better to do, Vinyl Scratch got up to stretch her legs. Then she noticed her old violin case on the coffee table. Sensing nostalgia again, Vinyl approached the case and knowing she didn’t have permission, still decided to open it up and have a look at her old inanimate friend.

It still looked quite like how she remembered it, but knowing the story it now told, Vinyl felt an odd sense of pride in what it had achieved. Helping Vinyl Scratch with her first steps into the music world had been only one of the many things it had accomplished. But for some reason, she felt prouder still of how it had helped its next two owners out of poverty and more importantly achieve their own dreams.

Before she got caught, she quickly put it away again.

“I know I always keep saying it, but you never cease to amaze me”

Vinyl momentarily panicked and turned to find Octavia standing by the sofa.

“Sorry, I was just…”

“Its okay Vinyl,” Octavia walked up and in one swift movement hugged her friend “I know it’s a little late for me to say it, but you know that was possibility the nicest thing I’ve ever known you to do for somepony”

Vinyl actually blushed when Octavia said that, something that the latter giggled at when she noticed it.

“My, my, Vinyl Scratch is an emotional pony…”

“Oh stop it,” Vinyl Scratch said “Besides you didn’t even know me when I did that.”

“I know,” Octavia admitted “But I’m glad I do now…thank you, for what you did”

Octavia broke her embrace again and left to help her friend settle in.

Watching Octavia walk off, Vinyl Scratch smiled to herself as she finally realized something that she done all afternoon and it didn’t occur to her until she realized how dry her mouth was from all that talking. The unicorn looked around for something to drink, but once again found nothing, except for her cup by her seat at the table that had been long ignored by her until this moment.

“Well I’ve done braver things before,” Vinyl admitted to herself, thinking about the story she just told her few friend.

Vinyl cantered over to the table and without thinking too much about the contents of the drink – more likely forgetting – she poured its contents into her mouth. Only a moment later Vinyl realized the mistake she had made about drinking cold tea.

It was not a nice taste.

The End