Origins: Vinyl Scratch

by CarsonScottProductions

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life
Length: 5825

When Vinyl Scratch is accepted into the most prestigious music academy in Equestria, she becomes the target of violence and discrimination due to her inability to speak out against them.

Vinyl Scratch, a music producer in Mane Francisco, has always wanted to be a musician. However, when she is accepted into Chordia School of Music, the most prestigious musical academy in all of Equestria, she doesn't believe it. She has spent her whole life believing that she could never be a musician, because she can't speak, much less sing.
When she gets there, though, the lines are quickly drawn between her friends and enemies. She becomes the target of hate and violence, all due to her inability to speak out against it.
Will Vinyl give in to the pressure, or break through it? Find out in this installation of MLP Origins!

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-08-02 21:13:40 UTC

Origins: Vinyl Scratch

This has to be a joke, I think as I look over the letter. It just can't be serious. Somepony's trying to pull a fast one on me. Still, the letter's in my hoof, and it at least looks legit.

Most ponies know me as Vinyl Scratch. I'm a white unicorn mare with a cutie mark in music. You've probably seen me around; it's hard to miss my blue mane and purple sunglasses.

I’ve loved music since I was a filly. I used to dream of becoming a world-famous musician, traveling the world and performing in front of millions- I dreamt it so much, actually, I got my cutie mark that way. But soon, I realized that it was never going to happen.

Which is why I was pissed that someone would prank me with this letter from Chordia School of Music. I don't know how they did it, but they managed to find a letter of acceptance from Chordia, put my name in it, and send it to me. I didn't even think that it might have actually been real, because Chordia only accepts the most talented musicians in all Equestria. Even with my mark, I didn't fit under that category. So, I threw it away. I had actual work to do, managing gigs for a start-up music act in Mane Francisco. I didn't have time for jokes.

A few days later, I had completely forgotten about the letter and had gone on with my life. I was in the process of booking a gig for the band when I heard a knock at my apartment door. Annoyed, I got up and opened the door. At the door was a green unicorn stallion with a yellow mane. I had never seen him before.

"Vinyl Scratch?" He asked. I nod. "I'm Mountain. I'm an admissions director from Chordia School of Music. Do you know it?"

I nod again. "Perfect. I'm just coming by to see if you got our letter."

Oh, Celestia. It was real. I was completely embarrassed, but still confused. Why would Chordia want me at their school? Sure, I loved music, but I couldn't be a musician. It was just how I was born.

I let Mountain in anyway, though. I gave him a drink and had him sit down. "So you got our letter?" He asked again. I nod, and point to the trash can, slightly embarrassed. "I see. You thought it was a joke." Mountain said. I was relieved he didn't think I was just saying 'no'. "Well, I assure you, Vinyl, it's no joke. We think you have great musical potential, even if you think otherwise."

I wanted to tell him I didn't think so; I knew so. I wanted to scream at him that I would never be a musician of any discipline. I wanted to rant on and on about every time I dreamt of becoming famous, and immediately knew it would never happen.

But I didn't. I simply sat there, not exactly sure what to do. Thankfully, Mountain continued. "I'll leave the offer open for you, Vinyl. Don't discredit it just because you think you can't do something. We know you can do more than what you think you can, which is why we gave you the invitation. I hope to see you soon."

I let Mountain out, and his words stuck in my mind. It felt crazy, but I was seriously considering accepting his offer.

***

It wasn't until I was on the road, looking up at the gate to Chordia that I wondered what in Equestria I was doing. I had my bags all packed, everything I would need to go to the school, but I almost didn't believe it. I was about ready to turn back and just go home.

But, I didn't. Instead, I walked right through the gates, then towards admissions, which was right off the main courtyard. As I walked through the courtyard, I saw lots of ponies playing instruments in the sun, some with other ponies singing along. Others still were writing in notebooks or reading, and most of them had headphones on, listening to music. I tried to just act like I knew what I was doing.

It seemed to work, until I got to the admissions office.

I was instantly swamped by the secretaries running around doing one thing or another, and I also noticed a large crowd of ponies waiting for their turn to be helped. It was chaos, and I had no idea what I was doing.

So what I did, I guessed. I picked a spot to stand and I waited there for somepony to decide it was my turn and help me. In the mean time, I used my magic to pull out the admissions papers from my saddle bag.

I waited for about ten minutes before one of the secretaries came up to me and asked the important question, "How can I help you". I handed him the admissions papers, and he looked them over.

"Alright, Vinyl. Follow me." He said, leading me to a side office. He closed the door behind us, and sat down at his desk. I sat down in a chair in front of it.

"The semester's already started, Vinyl," he started, "There aren't many classes open for you."

I nod.

"Especially considering your predicament," he adds. "No worries. We can figure something out. Let's see... Music theory, instrumental music... Do you play an instrument?"

I nod. I've played the keyboard for a few years.

"Perfect." He continues, "Some basic freshpony courses, Literature, Composition, History. You've got two credits left, Vinyl, where do you want to put them?"

He handed me a paper with some of the class options, and a pencil. I looked it through and marked the classes I wanted; Technology in Music and Guitar; I've always wanted to learn guitar.

"Alright, perfect." He said after typing into his computer for a second. "I'll put it in the record. Here's your schedule, it's got your room number at the top, and a map on the back. Why don't you go look around? You don't have classes until tomorrow."

I nodded and put the papers in my saddle bag before walking out of the office. That wasn’t too bad, I guess. Maybe this won’t be so bad.

***

The school was huge; almost as big as Canterlot Castle itself. It had a large courtyard in the center, surrounded by different buildings for different subjects; Vocals, Instrumental, Theory, Composing, and Classical, just to name a few. I found my classes, then when I was satisfied with looking around, I went to my room.

The dorms were across the courtyard from the Theory building, and was one of the biggest buildings on campus. My room was on the third floor, room 316. I wondered how my roommate would react when she heard she was rooming with a mute.

Turns out, she took it pretty well.

Her name was Octavia; she was a brown-grey earth mare with a cutie mark in instrumental music. She played the cello in the classical band.

"Oh, hello there. They said you'd be coming." She said as I walked in. "I'm Octavia. Nice to meet you."

I smiled and shook her hoof. She seemed confused (a look I wasn't unfamiliar with), so I pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen from my saddle bag, then wrote on it, "I'm Vinyl Scratch. Nice to meet you."

"Lost your voice? I understand completely." She said, and was about to continue when I started writing again. "Actually, that's only kind of true. I'm mute." I wrote.

"Mute?" She asked, surprised. "I guess you must be a pretty good instrumentalist, then."

"I play keyboards pretty well."

"I play the cello," she said, “But you must be better than ‘pretty well’ to get in here.”

“Honestly? I don’t know. I thought it was a joke at first.”

She looked confused, but continued anyway. “Well, I’m sure you’ll find out someday. The admissions directors can really tell when a pony has talent.”

“I’m sure.” I wrote, “What classes are you taking?”

“All the freshpony basics, then classical orchestra and choir. My singing voice isn’t so great, but it can’t hurt to improve it.”

“I’m sure you have a great singing voice.”

“Thanks, Vinyl.”

“Anytime.”

“Well, what are you taking?”

“Freshpony classes, music tech, guitar, and instrumental.”

“Not bad choices. I hear music tech is a pretty intense class, once you get up to the higher levels.”

“Well, they do the stage tech, right?”

“Yeah. Speaking of which, I'd better get to class. See you later, Vinyl."

I waved to her as she walked out of the room. If everypony here was like Octavia, this was going to be a lot better than I thought.

***

Not everypony here is like Octavia.

The next day, I went to class. I was a few days late, so I was definitely noticed, but in my first class (Music History), nopony seemed to care. However, my next class wasn't so lucky.

Music Theory has always been a strong subject for me, but my professor this time turned out to be one of those professors that demand participation in class, and apparently hadn't got the memo. This only drew more attention to the fact that I was mute.

"Vinyl, tell me the notes in a G progression." He said. I started writing the answer on my paper, and he continued, annoyed, "I'm talking to you, Vinyl. Don't get distracted."

Ignoring him, I gave him the paper with the answer on it with my magic, and he looked at it for a second, crumpled it up, and threw it away. "I don't want a written answer, Vinyl. What are the notes in a G progression?"

By this time, everypony in class was staring at me. Some were holding back laughter, some seemed annoyed that I was holding up the class. I was used to ponies looking at me like that, but this time it was a lot worse than normal- maybe because I was more stressed out, or maybe because I was in a musical institution that I cared about. I heard a few of them talking crap about me, thinking I couldn’t hear. I even heard somepony (I couldn’t tell which one) say that I was probably retarded. I wanted to disappear.

Octavia was there, too, so she tried to help me out. "Professor," she started, but he interrupted her, saying "I'm not asking you, Octavia, I'm asking miss Scratch. Now Vinyl, do I need to kick you out?"

I shook my head, and pulled out another piece of paper to try and explain to him why I wasn't responding, but he took it himself and threw it away. "It's not a difficult question, Vinyl," he said, walking right up to me, "I just need an answer."

At that point, I did all I could do. I shook my head at him, and tried to explain once again, but he continued. "Are you refusing to answer, miss Scratch?" He asked, to which I shook my head again. I could hear other ponies laughing at me, and at that moment, I would have given anything to be able to just say one word in my defense. "Well, miss Scratch, I hope you've got a good reason for disrespecting the class."

"Professor, she's mute." Octavia said quickly. The room instantly silenced, and I felt everypony’s eyes go to Octavia, then to me, then to the professor. He looked to her, then back to me. "Is this true?" He asked. I nod, wary of the others around me.

"I should have been notified. Well, the answer you wrote earlier was correct. The progression is G..." He continued in the front of the room. I was never a pony to care what others think of me, but right then I felt like everypony was watching me and thinking only of the mute pony in a music school; I wanted to disappear.

***

I didn't disappear. In fact, the complete opposite. It seemed that by the end of the day, everypony knew the mute.

"Did you hear? That Vinyl Scratch is mute."

"How did a mute get in?"

"You think she's dumb, too?"

It really rubbed on my nerves, so I just went back to my dorm after my classes. Octavia was gone with the classical orchestra, so I had the room all to myself.

That was the routine for the next couple weeks; go to class, try not to stand out, end up doing so anyway, and go back to my dorm immediately afterwards.

Two weeks after I first arrived in Chordia, everything went to hell.

Everything was going as usual for a while, but as I sat down to eat my lunch out in the courtyard, four ponies surrounded me.

"Hey there, newbie." One said. I smiled and nodded to her, trying to be polite.

"Hey, that's a good-looking sandwich there. Mind if I take a bite?" Another said, taking the sandwich from my hooves with her magic. I tried to pull it back, but my magic isn't very strong, and she was able to take it from me, bite it, and give it back. I glared at her, but I knew full well I couldn't really do anything.

"Hey, mind if I have some of your coffee?" Another stallion asked, drinking from my coffee cup. Again, I tried to take it back with no success. Then he took it one step farther, 'dropping' it on the ground and spilling it. "Oops. Sorry." He said sarcastically. That gave the others the go-ahead to all swarm me and not only take my food, but one of them grabbed my sunglasses. I'd had those sunglasses ever since my mom left, so they meant a lot to me. I grabbed them with magic, but the unicorn that had them wasn't letting go. After some pulling, the glasses snapped in two and we both fell backwards onto the ground.

"See you around, Vinyl Crash!" The first one said, leading the others to the dorm rooms. I picked up the pieces of my glasses, wishing I knew a spell to fix them. I just sat on the ground, with the garbage from my lunch all around me. I almost exploded, I swear; I was about to just wring their necks for doing that, but as usual, I didn’t. It only took a second after that to calm down, but then I started to cry. I didn’t care- nopony could have brought me lower, and it seemed that the world was already out to get me. I hated everything- I hated this school, I hated the ponies in it, I hated Mountain for convincing me to come, and I especially hated myself, for being born mute, for being stupid enough to think that it would all be okay. I sat there for what felt like forever, but was in all honesty more like ten minutes or so.

"You know," I heard a voice from next to me, "I've never seen a pony with eyes like yours."

I had bright red eyes, which everypony liked to comment on. I wore the sunglasses not only because they were from my mom, but also because I was self-conscious of my eye colour.

I looked up to see a tall lime-green stallion looking at me. He also had sunglasses on. "Here, let me help you." He said, using magic to pick up my broken sunglasses and fix them before handing them back to me. "That spell's helped me so many times before, I don't even remember. Maybe I'll teach it to you one day."

I smiled and got up, putting the glasses on. "You know, you should join the electronic music club. You don't need a good singing voice to have fun there. We're meeting tonight at 7, down at the tech center."

I was skeptic of his offer, but I felt like I could trust him. Maybe that was because he’d fixed my glasses, or maybe because he just seemed like somepony I could trust. Even with this, though, I took a minute to respond, considering I’d just been mobbed and beat up. Eventually, though, I nodded and mouthed, "I'll be there".

"Great! I'll see you there."

***

That night at 7, I actually went to that club. I felt like a complete psycho for doing it, but I went anyway. I thought it'd be fun, and if everypony there was like the one that helped me out (I mentally noted to get his name), then it couldn't be so bad.

The tech center was almost its own building, it was so big. As it was, though, it shared space with the other tech-based classes; Stage tech, instrument shop, and Tech in Music were the biggest ones. Still, though, all those classes were held in the Tech center, and they just had storage cabinets or whatever for their equipment. It was really a centerpiece for the whole building.

By the time I got there, there were already a few ponies there finishing setting up. Among them was the pony that helped earlier.

"Hey, there, Vinyl!" He said once he noticed me. "Glad you could make it!"

The others in the room looked at me, but nopony looked angry or anything, just curious. A lot of them looked like they wouldn’t be the kinds of ponies to be instant celebrities- most didn’t have the looks, or personality. A lot of them, I thought, were probably the background ponies in the music industry- the tech ponies, the managers, the instrumentalists, et cetera. None mentioned me, at least that I could hear. This pony must have a lot of influence in this club.

They were setting up multiple turntables at one end of the room, each flanked on either side by speakers. At another end was a set of computers, probably with some music software on it, and in the middle was a large open space.

A couple of the ponies came up to me after they put down the speakers. "Nice to meet you, Vinyl," one of them said, "I'm Mouse, president of the electronics club."

"I'm Shrill, the vice president." The other one added.

I smiled and nodded to each of them. "Have you ever done any electronics before?" Mouse asked, to which I shook my head no. "Well, then, this'll be fun for you. Once everypony shows up, we can introduce you."

It only took a few minutes for everypony to show up. There were a few I knew scattered among them; Owl, House, and Dragon were a few of them. Others I had never seen before. I could tell ponies were looking and talking about me, a few of them being fairly hostile, but none of them had the courage to confront me. At this point I didn't mind. So long as they didn't try to attack me, I was satisfied.

At that point, Mouse went up onto the stage and called everybody together. Once it was quiet, he continued.

"Hello everypony, welcome to the Electronic Music club. Today the turntables and computers are open for anyone who wants to try their hoof at composing. Those that have been here before have learned to use these pieces of technology, but me, Shrill, and Neon will still be teaching the basics for newbies, or if you've forgotten. We've got the room until ten, so go crazy."

Most of the ponies headed for either side of the room, while a few just stayed and talked in the center. I was about to head to one of the turntables when the pony that helped me earlier walked up to me. "What are you thinking, Vinyl? Turntables or computers?"

I pointed to an open turntable. "Nice choice. Let me help you learn."

For the next hour, Neon (I learned his name shortly after we started) showed me the ropes of the tables, and even a few tips to making better-sounding music with them. By the time the hour was gone, I felt pretty good about playing the tables. I had forgotten about all the things that surrounded me, and even about my own problems. It was just the tables and the music that really mattered, and I was in the zone. I stayed at the table, playing my heart out until ten, when we had to clean up. Even then, I thought about new music I could make until I fell asleep.

***

Things around school didn’t get much better for me, but ponies started just keeping to themselves. I knew they were trying to antagonize me, make me feel like I didn’t belong, but I guess they didn’t want to risk a physical confrontation. That was alright with me, so long as I wasn’t getting my coffee dropped all over.

Octavia was a real asset for me ever since we started rooming together. By the time she heard about my lunch incident, she’d taken on just hanging out with me when we both had a chance, like during lunch and breaks between classes. We got to know each other quite a bit over the next week, and by the next wednesday, she had even agreed to come to electronics club with me.

But along with the good came the bad. Ponies didn’t stop trying to mess with me, from the usual talking behind my back to the point where once during that week, me and Octavia came back to our dorm to find it absolutely trashed; papers everywhere, books torn to shreds, our beds sideways and the words ‘Go back to Mane Fran’ written in spray paint on one of the walls. It took us both days to clean it up, and cost a fortune.

That was on Tuesday. That Wednesday, I learned that the replacements and repairs would cost just about everything I had in the bank. I tried begging the school to at least help pay for it, since it was an act of vandalism that cost me so much, but their hooves were tied. Octavia tried to help, but she didn’t have much to spare either. My dad was living off terrible wage pulling a cart, so I couldn’t bring myself to ask him. It all came down to one thing- I couldn’t afford my tuition. I was going to have to leave Chordia if I couldn’t pull together the money by the end of the week.

I had done everything I could by the time Neon sent me a text reminding me about electronics club that night. I almost couldn’t bring myself to go, but I knew that there was nothing I could do at that point, so there was no point not going. By the time I got there, it was all set up.

“Yo, Vinyl!” Neon said, “Glad you could make it back!”

I smiled insincerely and nodded. “Everything okay?” He asked.

I nodded again. I didn’t want to worry him, and besides, what could he do?

“Okay.” He said, “Tavi! I didn’t know you were into electronics.”

“Figured I might as well try it,” She responded with a shrug, “If Vinyl’s so interested.”

“That’s a good start!” Neon said, “Glad you could come.”

Just then, one voice rose above the others, saying, “Hey, what’s the mute doing here?” The room instantly silenced, and everypony’s eyes turned towards the pony who had spoken out- it turned out to be a mare I didn’t recognise, but I knew was pretty popular around campus based on her expression, and the two cronies that flanked her.

“Tavi,” she said, turning to Octavia, “I thought you were with the classical band, not these stage hooves. I expected more from you.”

“Why are you here, Fire?” She asked.

“I thought I’d come by and see how the stage hooves are doing with their ‘music’,” she said, exaggerating her sarcasm as she said ‘music’. “I figured a classy mare like you would find every excuse to stay away.”

“A classy mare wouldn’t be so condescending,” Octavia retaliated, “Especially considering their success in the industry.”

That seemed to shake her confidence, if only for a second. “I will give you a hundred bits if any of you is more successful than I am in the industry.” She said, “Double that for the mute. You all should be in the tech booth,” she paused, then added with a sneer, “Where you belong.”

She then turned her attention to me. “And you thought you were starting to fit in here, Scratch?” She said, “Look again. You’re fitting in with outcasts, losers, and wannabe artists with no real talent. Congratulations. Besides, I hear you’re leaving soon. Too bad your dad’s stuck pulling a cart, huh? I guess as an earth pony, what else can you do?”

“If you haven’t noticed, Fire,” Octavia said, “I’m an earth pony. And I’m not going to let you treat my friends like that.”

“Your friends?” Fire said with a laugh, “You’d call these ponies your friends?”

“Quicker than I’d call you mine.” She said, “And if you wanted to confess to trashing our room, you couldn’t have been any clearer.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Tavi.” She said, “Who would ever want to trash your room?”

“Skip it.” Mouse finally said, “You’re no longer welcome here. If you’re not out of this building in one minute, I’ll call security.”

“Don’t think you can threaten me, Mouse.” She said tauntingly, “I’m not scared of you.”

“Do you want to take your chances?” Mouse said, “Call my bluff. I dare you.”

She was hesitant. Apparently, she believed that he’d call security, and that wasn’t something she was willing to deal with, but she didn’t want to lose her cool. “Like I’d bother.” She eventually said, “I’ve got bigger fish to fry. Like a certain mute who needs to learn her place.”

She looked to me, glaring. I saw a burning hatred in her eyes, and I knew in that moment that she would do anything to see me out of this school- her school. I was glad that Tavi and Mouse had stuck up for me, but I noticed that most of the others backed down from Fire’s threatening glare. The only ponies that held my side by the time she had said this were Tavi, Mouse, and Neon. Even Shrill had backed off.

“I swear to Celestia, Fire,” Neon said, “I will make sure you never even see a recording studio again if you come back here.”

“Oh, I’m so scared.” She said, turning her back to us. “Ciao.”

***

Friday night was the deadline for fees, and since I hadn’t found enough to pay for the damages to my room (even though Octavia pitched in and helped try to cover my part of the fine), I started packing that afternoon.

I couldn’t really do much fundraising on campus, since my begging for help would just prove the other ponies right- that I didn’t belong here, and that I couldn’t last the semester. I couldn’t give them that satisfaction. Instead, I went to Octavia, Neon, and any other pony I could trust (they were few), and they did what they could, but ultimately the costs were too high.

I was going to leave Chordia, but I wasn’t going to let anypony else get the satisfaction of seeing me go. I was going quickly and silently, and that would be it. I’d take a bus back to Mane Francisco, and hope that there was a management job somewhere in the city. I had been a really good manager before I came out here, and I learned a few tips to help me in trying to find a high-ranking management job, even if I was mute.

I had already returned the money all my friends gave me- I couldn’t just take their money and run. I could still get an apartment in the same building as my old one- I had sold the other one, but the owner is a good friend of mine. He could pull some strings.

All of this was on my mind as I filled my saddle bags with my books, music CDs, and some other miscellaneous stuff and prepared to go home. As I was packing, though, Octavia and Neon both walked into the room, trying to hold back grins. I turned to look at them, wondering would could possibly make them so happy, but my question was answered soon enough.

“Unpack your stuff, Vinyl.” Neon said, “We got the money for the room.”

The surprise must have registered on my face, as he continued, “You’re wondering how, right?”

I nodded. “Well, you’re gonna like this.” He said.

“We took one of the tracks you made at your club meetings,” Octavia said, “And showed it to a radio company. They loved it!”

“They offered you five thousand bits for it, and said that if you make more, they’ll buy those too!” Neon added.

Five thousand bits? That was more than enough to cover the room expenses, and keep me at Chordia long enough to get a degree, especially if I ended up selling more of my songs.

“Hang on,” Neon said, turning on the radio and changing the station. The pony on the station was talking, saying “That was ‘turning the tides’ by Pony Express. Next up is a new song called ‘whatever it takes’, by inspiring artist DJ Pon-3.”

Then they played my song- my song! I was just about ready to explode, I swear. I played it along with the radio in my head, and for four minutes, I was in my own little world.

Just as soon as it started, it ended, and I was back in my room, Octavia and Neon looking at me. “Eh?” Neon said, smiling, “Pretty awesome, huh?”

I nodded. Not only would I be able to stay at Chordia, but my music was being heard all across Equestria. It was a proud moment for me.

***

That year became known as the electronic revolution in the music industry, with dozens of ponies becoming superstars seemingly overnight. Electronic music invaded the radio, clubs, and music players everywhere, and it seemed you couldn’t go more than a few steps without hearing it somewhere.

I continued my education at Chordia for four years, earning a bachelor’s degree in music theory. Things got steadily easier for me over those years, though that’s not to say it was easy. I still had incidents like the lunch or the room, but they slowly got less and less severe, and grew more infrequent. I guess ponies just got used to me.

The pony that trashed our room was never caught, despite plenty of investigation from the school. We don’t know who did it, but I’m not out to get revenge on anypony. Octavia’s still convinced it’s Fire, though.

Me and Octavia are still close friends to this day. We talk over texts all the time, and attend each other’s concerts whenever we get the chance. She’s not a big fan of electronic in general, but she enjoys it. I think she might just be saying that, but I don’t mind. I probably have it easier than her in that department; believe it or not, I really do love classical music.

The ponies at Chordia that tried to make my life miserable have since moved on. The pony that instigated the lunch incident (whose name was Rhythm) is now a popular pop musician- I hear her on the radio all the time. We’ve since become friendly to each other- not necessarily friends, but not enemies either. I’m kind of embarrassed to admit that she was the one to come to me waving the white flag.

As for Fire, she ended up making the biggest mistake you can in the industry- signing a long-term contract without having a lawyer read it first. She’s now trapped in a contract for ten years, and her record label isn’t going to publish any of her music. Until her contract expires, she’s working as a barrister at a coffee shop, playing gigs where she can land them. I feel bad for her, but I still think she got what she deserved for being a jerk not only to me, but to all of Chordia.

The electronic music club held a meeting every wednesday of that time without fail. With the electronic revolution, I was surprised it didn’t turn into a class of its own. I could barely count the number of ponies in attendance at the meetings. Speaking of the club, many of the original members became well-known musicians as well, becoming part of the revolution.

When Mouse and Shrill graduated, I was elected president of the club. It was tough, as the club was the most popular club on campus by then! I guess my plan of flying under the radar failed miserably.

I ended up becoming one of the more popular artists of the revolution. I played in packed arenas, full houses, and even a movie theatre one time. It’s awesome, travelling Equestria and being able to do what I love, in front of thousands of ponies who love what I make.

I don’t try to hide the fact that I’m mute. In fact, most of my fans know it. It just doesn’t matter to them, as long as the music keeps playing. Of course, that still brings around some ponies who feel self-righteous, or whatever, and decide to take it out on me. I’ve received hate letters, got spat on in public, and one time, there was even a bomb threat placed on my apartment. Thankfully, that was taken care of without much problem.

I’m not always strong in the face of this. I often find myself depressed, wondering why I even try to be successful in this industry, when so many ponies obviously hate me. During these times, it’s tough to even get out of bed in the morning. It seems that every day I think that if only I could speak, if only I could say just one word, my life would be so much easier. Admittedly, it would- not being able to speak causes lots of problems.

But despite all the bad that’s happened to me over the years, and despite the difficulties I’ve had in my life, being behind the tables makes it all worth it. Standing there, in a club, or a stadium, or wherever, surrounded by ponies dancing to my music, all the bad disappears. All that matters in that moment is the music. The rest of the world will be there in the morning, but in that moment, nothing else exists. That is the moment I strive for every day of every week, and no amount of bad can take that away.