Hearing Something New

by Nugget

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Octavia, Slice of Life, DJ P0N-3
Length: 1256

All Vinyl ever wanted was to be heard.

Vinyl Scratch is the premier DJ pony throughout Equestria! However, how she came to love music itself was from something she never expected to occur.

This is my first published commissioned story.

Edited by tommal

Requested by: Elika Deerling - Please check out his work as well!

Based on the song "Let The Music Do The Talking" by Aerosmith

Published 2017-08-30 13:00:06 UTC
Last updated 2017-08-30 13:00:06 UTC

Let the music do the talkin’

It’s what I’ve done since I was born.

I’ve let the music do the talkin’.

Sure, yeah, I can’t actually talk due to this whole mute thing, but it never limited my ability to speak out or express myself. Since youth, I was the wild filly in the family while my big sister, Octavia, was the quiet and reserved, sort of sophisticated lady. So, in other words, I was the crazy extrovert and Tavi, my nickname for her, was the silent introvert. Ironic, eh?

Anyways....

While she practiced her classical music on her cello, which, I will admit, sounds beautiful when she played it in the living room, I did anything and everything to make more noise than her. Doing what I could to draw attention to myself, I sometimes banged pots and pans around the house, dropped random items on the floor, producing a loud thud, or tried to mimic Tavi’s swift movements on her instrument.

Of course, she never really appreciated my distractions. So, my big sister did what she could to ignore them. Little did I know, her ignorance to my insane actions would turn into something we both benefited from. While she learned how to block out unnecessary noise from my shenanigans, I started to develop a passion which set my own stage for what I was to eventually become one day.

Looking to settle the score with my big sis’, I decided to fight fire with fire. If she wanted to produce music from her instrument, then I wanted to do the same thing… but a whole lot louder! I wanted to drown out her cello! I wanted my music to silence her playing! I wanted to be one who absolutely dominates when it came to producing sound! I wanted to beat Tavi at her own game!

When I was a teenager, I bought my first speaker system with a single turntable. Once and for all, I wanted to prove to Tavi my ability to produce a sound bigger than hers. I set it all up, nice and neat, within our living room. Then I waited for her to come home.

As soon as Octavia stepped into the house, I turned the volume up to the max. Placing the vinyl on the table, It began to turn as I used my magic to position the rod over the disk. As soon as it touched, I braced myself for the bombastic music about to be played.

Unfortunately, nothing came out of the speakers except for the static from the disk. I was devastated. To Tavi’s surprise, I curled my lip and threw a fit with tears rolling down my face. I wanted to beat her so bad! Wanted to do better than her! I knew it was going to take making music to do it! However, not even my system wanted to work for me!

I threw my forehooves down on the turntable, accidently causing the disk to skip. My mistake momentarily produced a short scratching noise which was carried out by the speakers. It echoed around the living room and caused me and my sister to suddenly jump. It frightened us, yet it also sparked our curiosity.

What in the hay did you just do? I asked myself, hearing my sister’s voice in my head. Did you just make that unexplained noise? How?!

I looked in front of me, gazing at the disk I just scratched up. Two thoughts came to me at that moment. With my sister by my side, I then smiled while she chuckled. The first thought was I just scratched a vinyl like I did when I was a filly, thus earning my name Vinyl Scratch. The second thought was, and even my sister admitted to it as well, it sounded cool.

Throughout the rest of the day, her and I threw away our sibling rivalry as we messed with my music equipment. Turns out, I accidently placed the vinyl on the wrong side! How embarrassing! Using my magic, I flipped it over, gently set it back down on the turntable, and then placed the rod on top of the disk. At last! Music began to play!

However, it was too loud. Tavi and I were near deaf after I turned the volume down. Look, I’m already muted, so I think my speakers can do about the same! Anyways, I then messed with the vinyl itself by causing those scratches to happen again. Afterwards, I periodically would slow it down, bringing the music to a crawl, and then speed it up past the normal tempo. I giggled and smiled. It was fun to mess with the music!

My sister seemed to agree.

Tavi told me I had a gift for it. Not only did she witness my joy for messing with the music, my sister also noticed that something appeared on the side of my flanks. It was my cutie mark!

As my sister explained it, my mark was a backward double quaver. To me, it was a music note with two hooks. To my ego, it was a mark! I then knew what my special talent was! I can ~~ruin~~ improve and improvise music with technology! My sister and I were thrilled!

Since that day, we never stopped challenging each other when it came to producing the sound of music. While Tavi would strum and pluck away at her cello, I would take older records and give them a new, updated track. Tavi coined my creativity as “remixing” old songs with current acoustics such as phasers, bass, and horns.

Meanwhile, she never stopped pushing me until I was a professional at it. All that time, my sister knew I had the talent within me to create music as beautiful as her own. I mean, that’s how I got my mark after all! In return, I was always there for her as well. I loved my sister and supported her classy, sophisticated music every now-and-then, even if it was a little boring to listen to!

In fact, recently we worked on our first collaboration piece. Titled Red Roses, it was the first song we ever wrote and mixed together. Once it was finished, Octavia was going to perform it in front of a live audience despite her own nerves saying it might not be a clever idea. All I could do was put a hoof on her shoulder, telling her in my own way that it was going to be ok.

Even if it did fail, at least I wanted to just be there for her. Tavi gave me a voice through music. She helped me to express who I was and kept pushing me to get better. What an amazing sister she was! To this day, I couldn’t ask for anyone better to play the role Tavi had fulfilled with kindness and generosity. Even when I was sad, she was always there to cheer me up and get me back into my normal groove. I loved her so much!

Thank you, my sister. I hope tonight’s performance goes better than expected. I hope you play your heart out to the song we wrote. I think it’s a masterpiece, a perfect blend between techno and classical. Its energetic, intense, and yet elegant with its notes. I don’t think anypony is going to hate it, especially since you, Tavi, are playing it. So, go out there and rock those ponies!

You know I’ll be there for you as well.