Put the Needle Down

by Mstar

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Slice of Life, DJ P0N-3
Length: 2480

A story of Vinyl Scratches fillyhood.

You might have seen her around, playing awesome music and generally making everypony happy. But what's the history behind the wubs? What if she went to the same school as Twilight? What if she actually couldn't *stop* making music?

What if.... well, maybe you better read on.

Published 2015-02-03 15:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2015-02-03 15:00:01 UTC

1. The radio isn't even on...

Author's Note

So, this story was largely inspired by a particular song. I highly recommend playing this at least once while you read.

Derezzed by Daft Punk (remixed by The Glitch Mob)

1. The radio isn't even on...

Put the Needle Down -
Vinyl Scratch's childhood

Vinyl Scratch was having a good night. Everypony was on their hooves and shaking, well, whatever they had to her awesome beats. This is what Vinyl lived for. Well, this, and a nice clear view of Luna's work on the night sky, but she didn't have many chances to be that romantic.

Still, Vinyl loved her work, and she knew how lucky that made her. Some ponies had to do things they didn't enjoy every day. She didn't want to think about how miserable that had to be.

Vinyl was even luckier still though, because she was able to be a successful mare despite her... handicap. She was a classic example of turning a problem into an asset.

Everyone in Ponyville knew by now that Twilight Sparkle had been Celestia's private student, and that she had gone to Celestia's school for Gifted Unicorns. What wasn't well known was that Vinyl had been a student there as well, a grade behind Twilight. Vinyl didn't normally share this info because everyone invariably compared her to Twilight when they found out. She had simply gotten tired of explaining the true nature of the school to everyone.

The fact of the matter was that Celestia's school was for gifted ponies, but everyone forgot that there was more than one way to be gifted. Oh sure, better than half of them were the classic “egg heads” like Twilight. Many of them had above normal size magical reserves, and the standard magic tests got bumped up a few levels to accurately measure them all. Juggling carts was almost as common as juggling normal stones. But the other half of the students had all sorts of gifts. There were several students with fantastic connections to specific elements, and usually total immunity to them as well. One student whose special talent was teleportation who was going to have a bright future as a mail carrier.... or a thief. Or the colt who could walk on air and through walls. That one was sternly advised to stay out of the mare's dorms. Several ponies had telepathy, they tended to have a hard time making friends and had extra space in the halls, but they were treated just the same by the faculty. Greenhooves was a popular young earth pony colt who could grow absolutely anything with just a hoof-ful of dirt and a few drops of water. His entrance exam had involved getting a centuries old dormant seed to sprout. If Greenhooves concentrated, plants would sprout and bloom where he walked. Vinyl couldn't even identify half the things that he grew along the windowsills in the classes they shared.

Vinyl's particular gift was one of the more rare ones in the school. It wasn't so unheard of that it had never been encountered before, but it was rare enough no one else had it while she was a student, or since. Before going to the school, Vinyl's skills hadn't been all that remarkable. There had been no indicators that her gifts might be unique, and no one else on either side of her family had ever had a gift like hers. As she had started to try the basics of magic like all young unicorns, she had struggled with much of it. Her magical dexterity was average, her output was poor, and her reserve size had been small. Only her magical range had been above average from the start. None of this was cause for alarm, as it is not uncommon for most of a unicorns abilities to shift as they age, sometimes dramatically.

Like many ponies, Vinyl remembered the night she got her cutie mark. She had just gone to a concert, and she still had the music stuck in her mind. She had been on her way home afterward and couldn't seem to stop thinking about the music. Her steps had been light and she was half walking, half dancing down the streets. Vinyl hadn't realized her horn had started to glow as she went. By the time she got home, Vinyl had huge bags under her eyes but a huge smile on her face. She stumbled into bed and slept hard, but soundly. The next morning, right after she woke up, she started to think about the music again, and again her horn lit, without her realizing. Vinyl bopped through the house, nodding along and tapping her hooves as she got ready. It wasn't until her parents asked her to turn down her music that anypony realized something strange was going on. Vinyl hadn't turned the music on in her room. Her parents found out they were hearing the music straight from Vinyl's mind. It was an unusual gift but not totally unheard of, particularly in unicorns with musical talents. They asked her to stop and sent her out the door to her regular classes.

Later that day, at recess, Vinyl showed off her ability, as any young unicorn is want to do. She managed to keep the sound going all through recess, quite a feat for a young filly. The day seemed to drag on, but finally class got out and Vinyl was headed for home again. This time, Vinyl realized what was happening and tried her best to “play” some other music for the random ponies she passed by.

Vinyl was tired fairly often due to all the magic she was spending, and her parents were getting concerned. This went on over the course of weeks, and a pattern emerged. Vinyl quickly gained more and more magical stamina and magical range, and it became harder and harder for her to stop broadcasting the music out of her mind. Sometimes, she would even broadcast her thoughts, but that only happened when she was exhausted. Her abilities with the other aspects of unicorn magics got a little better, and her reserve was clearly increasing at a rapid pace. It only took a month before she had real difficulty turning off her broadcasting. If Vinyl was awake, she was pushing music out to everypony she could reach. The neighbors hadn't realized what was happening and had knocked on the door to ask Vinyl to turn off her music more than once. Her family hadn't mentioned exactly how the sound was being broadcast.

Finally, one morning, Vinyl had started dreaming about music even before she woke up. Her horn had lit, and everypony in a 3 house radius was treated to a particularly unique mix of swing music and EDM. Once Vinyl woke up, she realized that she felt like she'd finally gotten a good night's sleep, and that she was already broadcasting. She attempted to stop herself, but could only change the music and lower the “volume”. Her parents finally took her to a unicorn doctor, and after several tests and a bit of chin scratching, the diagnosis of “perpetual caster” was given. The doctor explained that this meant Vinyl had one particular magical gift that she would be using all the time while she was awake. Other recorded cases had had this effect for telekinetics, or transmutation, or even pyrokinetics. Perpetual casters didn't usually have a lot of energy behind whatever the constant effect was, but since Vinyl's effect was mental, it wouldn't need a lot of energy to be received by everypony. By this point, Vinyl's reserve had grown enough, and her skill had already become refined enough, that she would be able to broadcast to a full room for an entire day and not be exhausted, though she would certainly sleep well.

The doctor had given Vinyl a necklace to wear to block any magical effect she created. Her neighbors could finally get a good nights sleep. Of course, this also blocked Vinyls other, normal unicorn powers. Her parents already decided to see if Celestia's school might want to have their daughter as a member. To everyone's delight, the school accepted her entry request. There was an introductory visit to let everyone know what life would be like, much like any other university in Equestria. By the end of the visit, everyone knew this was where Vinyl belonged.

Vinyls first day of class didn't involve any classwork at all. She spent the day at the infirmary, where she endured a few more tests. Vinyl didn't mind. By the end of it, the on campus doctors were able to provide her with a new device that would only block her perpetual broadcasting, while still allowing normal magic. Vinyl was thrilled... until she saw what they had given her. It would be a simple black pair of glasses, with only basic blank lenses. The magic was in the frames, so the lenses didn't matter. Vinyl was grateful, but they looked awful. Still, she wore them for an entire semester of class before she resolved she would find something better looking. She only had to endure a little good-natured teasing. Vinyl was sure it would have been worse if she had been in her regular school.

Vinyl paid attention in her classes, and continued to expand both her normal, and abnormal skills. By her second year she could easily stand hoof to hoof with anypony in the school for raw magical stamina. Vinyl wound up in a competition with some of the Seniors, and she beat them all on her very first try – 24 straight hours of levitating an object. In the second year, they even got some of the faculty in on it. Vinyls perpetual casting gave her a huge edge – she replenished her magic as fast as she spent it so long as the objects were not large. Her range was also still increasing. Full gymnasium? That was nothing. Vinyl could broadcast across a half mile square for a full 2 hour set. One pony jokingly called her a “one mare PA” and it gave Vinyl an idea.

Up until then, she had been playing music out of her growing collection. Vinyl had been a fixture at several of the local music shops since the first week she'd been at the school. Her collection was growing nearly as fast as her magical skills. But, she hadn't really been doing anything other than directly broadcasting what she was listening to. She wasn't adding anything to the events other than saving everyone the pain of lugging around bulky equipment and trying to find power outlets. One night, she decided to try something new.

Vinyl frequently thought a few songs would sound better if they were changed just a little bit. Thanks to her gift, she could change the music if she wanted. If she concentrated, she could even merge two tracks together. This always got her a big response from the crowd. The next few parties she went to, she pushed this skill further and further. In 3 months time, Vinyl was composing entirely new music, straight from her mind. Vinyl was heading firmly into the realms of electronic music by now. She could take samples, beats, and bass lines from anything else she heard and fuse them into something new and fresh. Ponies loved it, and Vinyl was having a lot of fun too.

More than once Vinyl had bags under her eyes in class, but her marks were still solid if not stellar. Many of her teachers realized that while Vinyls gift was fantastic and fun, it didn't lend itself to many job descriptions. The faculty had agreed to turn a mostly blind eye to occasional in-class naps so long as Vinyls marks didn't dip too low and she didn't cause too much trouble in their classes (which she never did). Her additions of laugh tracks and sound effects kept classes fresh, and she always knew how much was enough.

Vinyl had become popular enough at events and parties she had to turn a few down, and ponies had started to offer to pay for her talents. Vinyl felt bad at first, since by this point she only ever didn't broadcast when she was sound asleep. No amount of concentration could stop the music in her mind anymore. She didn't want to take bits for something that was as natural, and as impossible to stop, as breathing. On the other hoof, ponies were willing and sometimes even seemed to be insulted if she wouldn't take the money, so she did. By Vinyls fourth year, she had a tidy sum of bits saved up.

She had also spent some time talking with the on campus doctors about the enchantments on her glasses. Vinyl dipped into her savings and got something she felt better reflected her personality – her now trademark bright purple round party glasses. The enchantments were put on the new frames and this time she had purple lenses added to cut down on the glare from all the lights she was just about to add to her show. Alongside her glasses, Vinyl also had picked up a set of nice over the ear headphones, so she could listen to new songs and pick up new samples. She pent a lot of time listening to Jazz and Swing. Vinyl continued to ace all her music history and theory classes.

In magic classes Vinyl had been studying the projection of images along with sounds to ponies minds. Vinyl was marching full tilt into the magical school of Illusion, with a very particular twist. Unlike sound, Vinyl had to focus to get the images to transport, but they would. Vinyls parties were even more successful now. Vinyl was starting to find real success as a musical entertainer, and her classes had done just about everything they could to get the young mare ready for the outside world.

All of this brings us, very nearly, to tonight, in Ponyville. Vinyl loved gigs here. Oh sure, it wasn't as big as a lot of her venues, but the crowd was no less intense. Pinky Pie could give off a crowd's worth of energy by herself. She knew the Elements Of Harmony, if not well, at least on a first name basis. Not many ponies could say that! And when she wasn't performing on stage, she kind of liked the quiet countryside. Sometimes she would go visit Twilight, and they would talk about illusion theory or Astronomy and chat about the School. Vinyl had some new ideas for her act, she always felt pushed to keep the act as fresh as the music she put into it, which did a lot to keep up her popularity.

Yeah, it was good to be Vinyl Scratch. The beat goes on...