01 Crimson Tempo
“Who lives in a sugarcube under the sea?“
“Seapony squarepants!”
[click]
“They’re making another left turn!”
[click]
“Special news bulletin, the unicorn criminal known as ‘Tempo’ has escaped Canterlot prison earlier this evening, he is to be considered horned and dangerous… ”
[POP]
The young white filly, Vinyl Scratch, turned the television off. There wasn’t much on anyway and her big brother was taking her to see a parade at his high school. She shook her electric blue mane out of her ruby eyes and went upstairs to get ready.
Her brother had an auburn mane and blue eyes, but shared her white coat. His name was ‘thirty-three and a third LP’ but she just called him ‘Long Play’. Unfortunately her mother, Indigo Scratch could not go with them. She was an officer and had to run security due to some bad pony that had escaped. It was still a mystery how a pony with a singing yellow canary on her flank became an officer.
Indigo Scratch was a unicorn with a light blue coat and blue mane, but her eyes were a shocking crimson. She would be home later and they would all eat Vinyl’s favorite food, olive and bell pepper pizza. The filly could hardly wait.
Her father, on the other hand, would not be joining them. He had left home when Vinyl was just a foal; on her first birthday. Her mother was also absent for that day, leaving Vinyl’s brother to host the party. Long Play said daddy was a bad pony, but Indigo never said much about him. Vinyl didn’t even know what he looked like. Nopony would tell her and there were no pictures of him in the house. She had learned to stop asking a few months ago and just enjoyed the family she had.
“You ready to go?” Long play asked. His cutie mark was a vinyl record with a blue note on it. Vinyl had been told she was named after Long Play’s cutie mark. He had gotten it the night her parents first ‘thought’ about having another foal. Either way, Long play had a talent for laying down rhythmic beats. Vinyl couldn’t wait until she got her own cutie mark and hoped it was similar to her brother’s.
The parade was even better than Vinyl could have dreamed. One band, ‘the Mystic Knights of the Electric Stable’ preformed a song with a strange effect on mares and fillies alike. They looked ridiculous dressed like the Village Ponies, but everypony enjoyed it. Vinyl’s flank tingled while she was watching the performance, but she thought nothing of it.
After the parade Vinyl was shocked and delighted when her brother directed her attention to her new cutie mark. It was a backwards double quaver, a musical note, and was similar to her brothers. The little filly figured this meant she would become a great singer and ‘treated’ (abused) her brother with her ‘talent’.
They walked for awhile toward a park forest on the outskirts of Canterlot, Long Play was silent even as Vinyl chattered on. Long Play suddenly dispersed into a cloud of smoke and a strange unicorn stepped out of the bushes. His mane was a shocking white while his body was auburn, like a reverse of Vinyl’s brother. The cutie mark on his flank was a metronome, but his eyes were the most disturbing feature about the stallion. While the right eye was a chilling blue, his left was grayed out.
“Your arrival is right on time, as I predicted” The stallion monotones.
“W-who are you, a-and where is my b-brother?” Vinyl stammered, frightened.
“No need to fear me little filly, my name is This Time.” The stallion introduced himself “I assure you your brother is quite well.”
“I also go by the name Tempo, the greatest thief ever.” This Time monotones.“Now, I believe your name is Vinyl Scratch, correct?”
The frightened filly was speechless so she just nodded.
“As to how I led you here, I have been learning projection spells for just this occasion.”
“Why?” asked Vinyl, her eyes wide with fear.
“I see your mother never told you about me, typical mare.”
The disdain in This Time’s voice prompted Vinyl to speak up “Hey, my mommy is the bestest!”
“Indeed, and as your father I know this better than anypony. I thought marrying an officer would be the greatest cover, but it was a tactical error.”
“D-dad?” was the only thing Vinyl could choke out. Now they could be a family again, mother would be so happy that dad returned.
“Indeed, little one. I believe you would have some questions for me.”
“Why did you leave and why won’t anypony tell me about you?” Vinyl questioned.
“I was unaware Indigo could make ponies sing like a canary.” This time continued “And I did not leave, I was imprisoned.”
“Im-personed?”
“Imprisoned: being detained against one’s will for allegedly or factually causing harm to oneself or others. You can also be imprisoned for breaking arbitrary or meaningless laws. It is not like those ponies needed what I took.”
By this time Vinyl understood. This stallion used his family to hide as he did bad things. When her mother found out she had him put in jail to protect her family and innocent ponies.
“Why are you here?” the filly asked.
“You mother took two things from me; my eye, and precious time.” Time advanced upon the frightened filly.
“I have led you here so I can take something precious from her.” He used his magic to produce a knife made from energy as he advanced again.
“Your questions have been answered as a courtesy.” As This Time advanced again, Vinyl tried to flee. She found that her feet were held fast by the stallion’s magic to prevent egress.
By now he was standing over her with the knife pressed against her throat, an inch below her jaw. Vinyl whimpered at the sensation, tears in her eyes, as she wondered how could her dad be so cruel.
“Don’t you love me daddy?” Vinyl wished anypony was there to help her. Mother, brother, it didn’t matter.
“No, your mother always did love you more.”
“Mo-” Vinyl’s plea was cut short.
The last thing Vinyl heard was a scream, she was too weak to know if it was hers or not. She fell unconscious there, in her personal crimson artwork.
-o-
Long play was relieved when his sister’s voice finally trailed off. She had been chattering non-stop so long his ears had gone numb. He had looked behind him several times to make sure she was following him. Vinyl was, but she looked exhausted. After the days events, he couldn’t blame her; but something still bothered him. Then he understood; the rhythmic beat of hoofsteps were missing. Long Play quickly dispelled the simulacra and began searching frantically for his little sister. His heart sank as he remembered what his mother, Indigo Scratch, had told him. His father had escaped, and that made the young stallion search harder.
When he found his sister’s prone body lying in a crimson painting of her own expression; he screamed. Being a DJ, he was great at multitasking. He prayed to God his sister was still alive as he engulfed her body in his magic to stop the bleeding. Shouting for help, he cradled his sister’s body near him. Luckily, an EMT was taking a break within earshot of the distraught stallion. They rushed to his aid and worked tirelessly to save the young filly’s life.
-o-
The beeping of the EKG woke Vinyl from her coma. She was nervous about the white hospital room at first, but then she saw her brother. It had been three days since she had looked at her brother, but she was unaware of what had passed since her assault. She cocked her head and tried to say she was sorry, but her throat hurt. Even with the best medical unicorns, it would take time to heal.
Vinyl wanted to apologize for being lead astray, for causing her brother the worried look he now sported, and for never finishing her broccoli. There was another pony there too, a pink unicorn mare with a blue heart cutie mark and violet mane.
“Good to see you are awake, Vinyl.” she had a nasally accent “My name is Azure Heart, I’m your nurse.”
The nurse had been doing a routine check of the patients under her care when Vinyl had awoken. Since Equestria was usually so peaceful, there were not many patients as bad off as Vinyl. She had taken priority from the moment she was admitted.
“I do have some bad news sweetie.” Azure Heart was crestfallen “Due to the damage to your vocal folds, it looks like you may never speak again.”
It took a minute for the information to sink in. No speaking meant no singing. This mean her cutie mark might be useless now. Vinyl wanted to hear this was all just a joke, she wanted to wake up, wanted to scream. She tried that last one, much to her own discomfort. Seeing this, both the nurse and her brother tried to comfort her. The next thing Vinyl saw terrified her.
Everypony that knew Vinyl or her family had sent her flowers. Many were roses, but they all were similar in color to her eyes. Her pulse quickened, evidenced by the accelerating beeps coming nearby. Both Long Play and Azure looked around to find the source of the filly’s distress. Upon realizing it was the flowers, they both hurriedly moved them out of the room.
“I supposed some colors are still too traumatic for her now.” Azure told Long Play as Vinyl calmed back down. Before long the filly had gone back to sleep, perchance to dream of better days.
It was another three days before Vinyl was allowed to go home. Thanks to the healing magic the wound healed rather quickly, leaving a scar that was easily covered by her fur. She still felt a little weak, but was happy to get home to her mother. Long Play took her home in a taxi as Vinyl wondered why her mother had never visited her. Indigo Scratch was a busy officer, but surely she could have taken some time off. Maybe she had visited when Vinyl was asleep, the filly had slept quit a bit.
As they entered the house Vinyl rushed upstairs to her mother’s room. She knocked politely on the door, in case her mother was indecent, and after several minutes without response; went in. The room felt cool, but Indigo had liked it that way. It also felt wrong, lifeless, within the room. Confused the little filly went downstairs to see if her brother would tell her where mother was. Vinyl just wanted a hug from her mommy and to be comforted by her sweet voice.
Vinyl found her brother in the living room. Long Play was sitting in front of a small table with some things on it Vinyl had never seen before. He seemed to be crying and the little filly crept closer; curious. There was a framed picture of Indigo Scratch smiling, her blue mane perfectly accenting her light blue coat. Even her crimson eyes were too beautiful to cause Vinyl any distress. Behind the photo was a strange vase. Vinyl had seen a vase like that before, an urn, after her grandparents had gone away. She didn’t understand fully where they had gone, but they stopped visiting. Then it clicked for the filly, her mother wasn’t coming back. Indigo Scratch was gone; forever.
Vinyl curled up against her brother. He embraced her tenderly as she began to sob.
“That bad pony will never bother you again, mother … took him to his final judgment.” Long Play tried to explain that his sister was safe “Unfortunately, she had to go with him.”
Vinyl looked up with understanding, and looked toward her mother’s with thankfulness. This display saddened Long Play, but he resolved to take care of his sister.
“I’m sorry you had such a lousy birthday, kiddo.”
Author's Note
Are you still alive? Good! Second chapter is a bit more noteworthy.
02 Bittersweet Symphony
Vinyl eventually had to go to school. She had been home-schooled, but Long Play was just starting his DJ career, so he could not get the books Vinyl needed to continue home-schooling. He did make sure she was well fed and had a roof over her head, even if he went hungry. It was a public Canterlot school and she had no friends in this new environment. Indigo had taught Vinyl how to project letters though, so she could communicate, but the thought of her mother saddened the ivory filly.
“Oh excuse me!” a soft gray wall exclaimed when Vinyl walked into it. Vinyl had not been looking when she trotted into a gray filly with a lavender treble-cleft as a cutie mark. Her mane was long and jet black, while her eyes were an amethyst color.
“Oh, a fellow pony with musical talent!” the gray filly exclaimed upon seeing Vinyl’s cutie mark. “What instrument do you play, or do you sing?”
“Oh, where are my manners, I’m Octavia, and you would be?” Octavia noticed the ivory filly now looked even more depressed. “I something wrong? Can you tell me?”
Vinyl just raised her head until the scar was visible.
“Oh my, you must be that poor filly in the newspapers that was attacked” Octavia gasped “I’m sorry for your loss.” She embraced the filly as Vinyl began to cry. The irony of Vinyl Scratch’s name was not lost on Octavia.
“There there, just let it all out.” Octavia comforted the distraught filly until she had calmed down.
“Here, let me help you clean up.” Octavia produced a mirror from her saddlebags. Upon looking at it Vinyl shut her eyes tight. Confused, Octavia looked for the source of her new friend’s distress. When Vinyl opened her even redder eyes, Octavia understood. The poor filly was still stressed at the sight of red. Probably from her ordeal. Octavia gave Vinyl a handkerchief; the ivory unicorn cleaned her face and blew her nose.
“Keep it.” said Octavia.
They were both late for class, but luckily, they both had the same first class.
The next day Octavia gave Vinyl a gift. It was a pair of tinted glasses that went from blue to amethyst as they turned.
“Because the bathrooms have atrocious décor.” Octavia clarified.
Vinyl happily put the shades on and noticed the change in colors. She projected her thanks to Octavia. The gift made her happier, and it seemed that things were starting to look up.
They quickly became best friends and helped each other when they could. Vinyl had a natural talent for telling if an instrument was out of tune, and she taught this to Octavia. Octavia tried helping Vinyl learn different instruments and kept bullies from harassing her.
One day they were in the school’s auditorium setting up for a talent show later that week. Octavia was augmenting the inferior acoustics of the stage. There were a few technical issues that Octavia was trying to rectify. After giving up in frustration she asked Vinyl to attempt fixing the problem. Being around Long Play’s DJ equipment allowed Vinyl to find and fix the problems quickly. Octavia’s performance was a success, and she won second place.
“Here, this is for you.” Octavia gave Vinyl a large rectangular gift on her birthday. The present was bigger that either filly and Vinyl opened it enthusiastically. Inside was a basic DJ turntable.
“I thought of this upon noticing how skilled you are with musical equipment.” Octavia said “When school lets out you can try your skill on it.”
Vinyl nodded and projected a ‘thank you’ using her horn. After school Octavia’s intuition had proven true. She had wondered why Vinyl never tried using her brother’s equipment. Vinyl just projected that she didn’t want to damage anything. It was how Long Play earned their living, but it was getting old. Learning this, Octavia promptly helped Vinyl select a DJ turntable to replace her brother’s. Octavia assured Vinyl it was no problem, her family had the money. Long Play was grateful for the gift.
DJing was indeed Vinyl Scratch’s talent. She started DJing parties and began helping her brother with the bills. Long Play met an earth pony mare named Frontier Remedy and she settled down with him. After graduating, Vinyl and Octavia moved to a small town that was cheaper than living in Canterlot. Since they were starting out with their music careers, they decided to split the rent on a small house.
Upon arriving in Ponyville and unpacking, Vinyl took a walk around town. She saw a steel-blue stallion with a darker blue mane. His cutie mark was two double quavers, and Vinyl was smitten. Maybe this town would be a peaceful place to live after all, Vinyl just had to introduce herself to the stallion. Her horn glowed and the words ‘Hi, I’m Vinyl Scratch’ appeared above her.
Author's Note
A happy~ish ending for the survivors.
