Medley looked at the form in front of her yet again, brushing her brown mane away from her magenta eyes. Did she really want to do this? Her parents gave her that name for a reason, it’s been a part of her for such long time. It was a promise, a wish. She shook her head. It was not time to have doubts, she had made the choice a long ago. She levitated the pen in front of her with her magic and reached to her memories to steel her resolve.

A song was drifting through the house. It was not like the song her mother was singing to her when she was going to bed. It was not soft and slow. The way her mother’s voice sounded reminded her of the waterfall they were passing every day going to the Palace Park. Clear and powerful. The words of the song also were different from the ones she usually sang.
Medley walked up to the parents’ study and peeked through the door. Inside there were two unicorns. The stallion with dark blue, curly mane, purple eyes and pale blue coat was sitting behind a desk, a pen levitating over a sheet of paper in front of him. One the other side of the study, on a pedestal, stood a mare holding a hoof to her heart. She was the one singing. Her coat was pure white and her mane was the brown. The stallion was her father, Largo and the mare - her mother, Serenade.
After a moment the song has ended. Serenade looked at Largo, smiling. He nodded, smiling back, and the pen in front of him dived to the paper and started furiously scribbling. Medley slowly retreated from the door to not to disturb them.

Medley smiled at this memory. It was one of the first things she remembered from her childhood. Her parents were always so fond of classical music, it was their drive in life and the source of their joy. No wonder they wanted her daughter to experience it too. Pity she had disappointed them so.

The room was full with scent of fir. The great tree was towering in the middle of the room; blue, yellow and red orbs of pure light hovering among the branches, paper chains wrapped around it. A pale blue star, like an eye of a windigo, glittered on its top. Four colorful boxes wrapped with ribbons laid under the tree - three big and one small.
Medley trotted around the presents along with her brother, Scherzo, examining each of them. Her brother was three years older that her. His features were a mix of his parents’- his coat was white and his mane blue. He already got his cutie mark - a C clef. She envied him. If she had gotten one she would have been the first one in class. It would be awesome.
Scherzo inspected the presents for a moment, then dove under the tree. Medley followed his footsteps. Both were small enough to fit under the canopy. The needles prickled her skin through her coat and the smell of fir was almost overwhelming. She looked at the tags attached to the presents. She wasn’t very good at reading yet, but after a few whiles she was able locate her present and to levitate it from under the tree. The packet was narrow and quite long. It didn’t look like a plushie. She liked plushies.
Scherzo has already opened his present. A new, foal-sized viola laid before him. He looked both happy and a little bit silly - a ribbon has twisted around his horn during unpacking. Medley was not very good with her magic yet but she was sure she will not repeat her brother’s mistake. She carefully used her kinesis spell to unwrap it. Her parents were looking expectantly at her as she did.
Inside there was something that looked like a little, colorful metal fence. And two sticks.
“It’s a... a xylophone, yes?” she asked her parents.
“Yes.” her mother nodded, smiling.
“Yay! I can finally play music too, like Sce!” Medley jumped up and down in joy.
She concentrated, hovering one of the sticks over the keys and stuck it. It produced a nice, clear sound. She hit another one. The sound was different this time. After a few moments she was happily playing a chaotic melody. She was making music, just like her bro and mum and dad!
After she finished she looked at her mother, beaming. “Music!” she proclaimed.
“Yes, you are making music, dear.” Her mother answered, her eyes darting to her blank haunch. She looked both happy and disappointed, just like that one time when Medley has scribbled a picture of her whole family on the living room wall.

“I really wish my Medley was just like your daughter Octavia...”
Medley froze next to the patio door, hearing her name and peeked through the glass window in the door. Outside, her mother and some gray-coated and gray-maned were talking, sipping tea from teacups. She recognized the mare as her mother’s friend, Limma. Limma played in the orchestra accompanying many of Serenade’s performances and they knew each other for many years. Her daughter Octavia was around her age and she visited to play with Medley and her brother from time to time. Medley didn’t really like her. She seemed full of herself.
“What do you mean? You have a wonderful daughter. She is smart and kind. Everything you could ask from a child. And really, you wouldn’t, my dear. Octavia can be a pain in the haunch too. As all foals.” Limma smiled from over the teacup.
“But... You know. Her brother didn’t take long for his talent to show. Your Tavi has got her cutie mark so fast! She was first in class! I remember how excited you were when it happened. And Medley...” sighed Serenade.
“Well, sometimes it takes some time for a cutie mark to show. I’ve been quite late with mine. But hey, it does not matter when your talent comes, it’s what you do with it. You remember Pinky Hook? Such a great trumpeter, now plays in some shady clubs in Manehattan.” Limma shook her head somberly.
“I know, but... ah. We are doing the best we can, trying to get her know different instruments. I’ve been trying to teach her to sing and my Largo how to compose music... She plays instruments and sings just well, but it all just lacks... Soul? It seems that in spite of our best efforts she is unable to find her calling. And I am afraid that if he won’t find one soon she will be bullied by the other foals in school. You know how cruel they can be for cutie markless...”
“Maybe her talent is not music?”
“Maybe, but I do not think how could I help her then. And I have a gut feeling that her talent is musical. It's just that...”
“I am sure all will end well, my dear. And you know, you should come to one of Octavia’s recitals. You would love them. And we should get Scherzo and maybe some other of their foal friends from the music school and start a quartet! I am sure it will do them good to start to learn playing with others...”
All that time Medley stood in front of the door, listening to all it all. She understood. She also felt disappointed in her inability to get a cutie mark. And it seemed that there was nothing she could do about this, too.

Medley sighed. She was sitting in the practice room, where her father was often checking the sounds of different instruments he was going to use in his operas and where her brother practiced his viola. It seemed that she had gone through the whole catalog of the musical instruments. Her parents have made her tried to play piano and viola, triangle and castanets, flute and oboe... And many more musical instruments from all corners of Equestria. The worst part was that she could feel the music in herself. The rhythm, the notes... But all the instruments she played sounded wrong, it seemed that she has no voice for singing and music writing just seemed so boring to her.
Her father said that there was yet another instrument, brought her from far away lands for her to test. Maybe it was the reason she could not find her calling yet? That the source of the musical talent came from faraway, magical land?
She looked at the instrument itself, which stood in the corner of the room. It looked really simple. A bent piece of wood and two pieces of string with a box at the end. Father called it “erhu”. She took it into her hooves, grabbing the bow laying next to it and started playing. It was easy; all instruments seemed to work similarly after some time. She tried a few of the basic notes. It produced simple, mournful tones she quite liked. She tried playing some of the simple songs used like “Moon’s Lullaby”, hoping that something will click, but nothing happened yet again. The notes she played were empty, devoid of soul. Empty. Blank. Just like her.
She wished she had had enough strength to snap the instrument in half.

Medley’s quill scribbled, carefully writing the letters in the brackets. It took much longer than she thought - it was just she was still hesitating all the time. Her parents did their best to help her, why should she discard the things they wanted so easily? But there was also another reason she wanted to change it, this one brighter.

“So, do you want to go to the Golden Chance’s cute-ceañera party or not?”
Medley blinked in surprise, still not believing what she heard. In front of her stood one of the most popular ponies in her school. She was pretty sure her name was Ruby-Something. And she was talking to her. She never got to know them very well, they seemed to stick to the chosen group of the “cool” friends since the beginning of the year.
“Why is he inviting a blank flank like me?”
“It’s Goldie who’s inviting you, not us. Ask him.”
“You are not pranking me, are you?”
Ruby shook her head. “Guess he pities you or something. So, are you coming? He says it’s going to be a more like a big pony party since it’s his cute-ceañera. There will be dancing and even cider!” Ruby looked really excited about the cider part.
It was not a tough decision. It was either going to the party and her some ponies laughing at her for coming or laughing at her for not coming. And whatever she did they were still laughing at her lack of cutie mark. The answer was simple.

Medley have heard some of the more modern music from time to time, but she never hear it like this. All around her ponies danced to the rhythm of ever-changing melody and light. That music seemed so much more alive than the one her parents were creating. It was stitched from tunes she knew, but in a way it created something new. And from what it seemed it all was controlled by a single pony, sitting in front of some weird table with many knobs and buttons.
And then she knew what she was searching for.

Medley looked at the completed form, double checking every bracket. She then she walked up to the office, carrying the document with her. The clerk, a brown-coated middle-aged earth pony greeted her with a smile. “We do not get many single ponies here. What can I do for you, miss?”
“I...” Medley hestiated for a moment. “I would like to change my name. I have the form with me.” She handed it out to the clerk.
He studied the document for a while. “Are you from that Recital family?”
Medley blushed. “Yes.”
“I’ve been to Lost Princess with my wife last weekend. She loved it.”
“My father is proud of it. La luna sorge....” she sang the opening of aria quietly.
“Would you mind I asked why you would like to change your name? Most of the ponies want to change it because it does not fit their cutie mark. Yours seems to fit it perfectly.” he nodded at the image of a double note at her haunch.
“It... Just doesn’t fit me. Or my family.”
“So, Miss 'Vinyl Scratch' from now on it is?”
It felt weird having this said by somepony, but she nodded. “Yes.”