• Story: Off-Key (Update Part 3!)



    [Grimdark] [Comedy] [Friend-Shipping]

    Author: Chromosome
    Description: All legends begin somewhere, and in the musical world, they tend to begin at the Hoofington Institute for Musical Excellence. When a young, unwilling Vinyl Scratch is forced into its halls, she will discover far more than simply music among dark secrets. Because after all, great ponies are not born, but grown from the ashes of dying myths.

    Off-Key Part 1
    Off-Key Part 2
    Off-Key Part 3 (New!)

    Additional Tags: Still a very pretentious pony, bittersweet

    27 comments:

    1. Grimdark comedy from the writer of the color story.

      Hunh. This I will have to read.

      ReplyDelete
    2. Grimdark comedy...there's a pairing that never gets old.

      ReplyDelete
    3. All the comments on this story have to do with grim dark...

      ReplyDelete
    4. Glad to see it on here mate!

      Can't wait to read the next few chapters.

      ReplyDelete
    5. Nothing grim in this chapter - but the scratch force is strong in this one, this may well be my next fic to look out for! :3

      ReplyDelete
    6. Hmmm... I'm all for Vinyl and Octavia. It seems well written, and the promise of grimdark (possibly drama?) is interesting. Keeping an eye on this one.

      ReplyDelete
    7. good strike me dead if i die before reading this! >D

      ReplyDelete
    8. Wow, I'll have to read this. Just got in to Vinyl Scratch, and I LOVED White Box!

      ReplyDelete
    9. Stop writing interesting fics, you foals. I have no time to read them all!

      ReplyDelete
    10. This one is starting out real interesting so far. I love all of the ominous hints everywhere, and lines like, "...as they began their journey through the institute, the red carpeting warming their hooves with the day’s heat stored from the slowly dying rays of sunlight." just make me oh so happy. I'll be following this one

      ReplyDelete
    11. [Grimdark] [Comedy] [Friend-Shipping] Not really.. More like Normal.. (maybe [Sad].. but this is just part one sooo)

      ReplyDelete
    12. That awkward moment when staff forgets your [Bittersweet] tag...again.

      ReplyDelete
    13. Now I'm hesitant to work on my own story with Scratch's Mom.

      ReplyDelete
    14. >Still a very pretentious pony.
      -What nonsense is this ?

      ReplyDelete
    15. @Nova25

      That nonsense is sort of my catch phrase. To be taken with a grain of salt.

      ReplyDelete
    16. VERY cool. Definitely gonna be watching this one for updates.
      You use language well. The descriptions are vivid without going all purple, and this really is almost exactly how I would have pictured Vinyl's upbringing.

      Of course, it does beg the question of how her real name ended up being Vinyl Scratch? It hardly seems like Vinyl fits in with the theme that two classical musicians would pick. I always thought she changed it when she found her style later in life.

      ReplyDelete
    17. @OtterMatt

      I was considering looking at that, but since all names in Equestria tend to somehow be weirdly prophetic, and no one ever questions them, I just left it as is.

      ReplyDelete
    18. Oooh, new chapter already! Decent hook to get me in, promptly follow up with second chapter... well, I can tell I'll be following this now =P

      ReplyDelete
    19. First off, I just have to say that you sir/ma'am are a glorious writer. You describe things in such detail, but at no point did the imagery seem overkill or unneeded. You're making what I can tell is going to be an amazing (and most likely 6-star) story. You better not leave this unfinished, and please don't make the whole thing just a few, short chapters.

      Onto the actual story...
      So far, this seems just a teensy bit cliche. A child is sent to a boarding school, meets a diverse group of students and teachers (INTERESTING OCs!?!?!wtfbbq), has a snobby arch-nemesis, and will presumably have many rule-breaking adventures. However, your amazing writing and unique setting make up for whatever unoriginality there may be. The concept of a music school adds quite a few interesting possibilities, and you have introduced an intriguing cast of characters. I can tell from the grimdark tag that after the first few 'introductory' chapters, the plot will thicken. It's rather obvious who the friend-shipping will involve. But I'm not really getting the comedy tag yet. Yea, there were a few moments that made me chuckle a bit, but not enough so far to warrant the comedy tag.
      Or I'm just being a Critical Chris right now.
      Also, it would be nice to have longer chapters. I understand that you need to push out short, frequent updates until you gain a loyal army of readers, so hopefully the later chapters will be bigger.

      One last thing
      I really like how Vinyl Scratch is portrayed. She doesn't particularly like music, and seemingly has no talent. But we all know what she'll end up doing. We already have the ends, you just need to give us the means. I'm interested to see where you'll go with this...

      Anyways, great story so far, this is already one of my favorites, and I (and many others) will be sure to keep an eye on this.

      ReplyDelete
    20. @Neros

      I'm going to be going above and beyond the whole "boarding school cliche", because that was indeed one of my biggest concerns when writing this. As for the tags themselves, that's Seth getting my Light-Comedy tag wrong, because he apparently hates my tags...

      ReplyDelete
    21. Yep... if I wasn't sure after chapter 1, I am now. Going to follow this all the way through.

      Though on one hand I would like to see the chapters being slightly longer, but on the other I do like bite-size chapters I can fly through. Huh, I don't suppose that is any help, now is it? xD

      In that case, just keep writing this awesome story :P

      ReplyDelete
    22. I just spent like 30 minutes typing an epic-length comment,which was almost done, then I accidentally closed the tab it was in. I really shouldn't be doing this at 2:30AM.

      Anyway, it was basically this:
      >Thmooth Thong(hehe)ith betht lithp pony
      >Opera isn't a COMPLETE meanie-head
      >awkward Falsetto is best Falsetto
      >The record scene at the end had no suspense building up to it, but was amazingly written.

      ~~~Errors~~~
      >... with only hum of the guitar vibrating in the vacuum of sound.
      - needs a 'the' between 'only' and 'hum'
      >... a surprised looking earth pony with blue and white mane
      - needs an 'a' between 'with' and 'blue'
      >... replied the unicorn with a smile, prideful smile.
      - unneeded 'smile' ( Pinkie Pie is not pleased with me)
      >... and familiar figure staggered forward.
      -needs an 'a' between 'and' and 'familiar' (Familiar Figure would be a great pony name...)
      >... he quickly levitated and organized the stack of book before the indignant stallion.
      -'book' should be 'books'

      I didn't look extremely hard. These are the ones that I noticed easily. And I don't think I'm very good at more complicated and fine grammar, so there might be more.


      I just wanted to stop by and offer my 2 bits on the latest chapter, which I actually read when it first came out but was too lazy to do this up until now.

      ReplyDelete
    23. Wow! 4.8 stars!
      Looks like I need to go 5-star this on all my browsers on all my electronic devices.

      YOU'RE SOOOOOO CLOSE

      ReplyDelete