“And now for music news-“

Vinyl Scratch pricked his ears towards the television, which had previously been blaring some flashy ad.

“Pop sensation Petunia Petals has been hinting at the drop of a new single recently, and we’ve called her producer to find out more-”

Vinyl sighed and tuned out again. More pop music news. Both a relief and a disappointment. The only time she cared about the music news was when it was confirming the status of her friends.

Being part of the underground music scene was. Interesting to say the least. Almost all of the bigger bands had served prison time at least once. Bands like Marefit Losers or Dead Mares Walking were well known for being loud and disruptive, and had served more time than most other bands. Of course, since the “Rebel music scene” was considered mostly unimportant, news about any arrests made because of it were announced on music channels.

A loud chime sounded on the loudspeaker, startling Vinyl out of his reverie. She looked around quickly, tightening his grip on the bag of parts at his side.

“Shuttle is now boarding” said the pleasant voice of the shuttle station. Vinyl stood up and ambled over to the shuttle in no real rush, seeing as the station was completely empty.

Vinyl’s hooves clicked across the shiny white floor as he boarded the shuttle. The little spaceship was cramped inside, and a dark dusky blue fabric covered the interior. The entire place smelled musty. Vinyl took a seat next to the large front window and stared out at the universe in front of her. He slipped her headphones over his ears and turned them on.

The sound of music filled her ears and he relaxed, feeling one with the universe as the stars sped by. Vinyl wished she could return to the clubs and bars he frequented, but she couldn’t. She wouldn’t. Not until she was back. He absentmindedly dug through the bag of parts sitting next to him. Mostly wires and lights, but some more advanced hologram pieces were scattered amongst the more basic materials.

The materials had been purchased, totally legally, from a smuggler by the name of Raven Midnight. It hadn’t been Vinyl’s preferred method of acquiring parts, but most other places would have required her to explain his plans, plans she was not willing to talk about, for many reasons, not the least of which being that they were considered illegal and immoral.

————————————————————-
“Greetings, Vinyl Scratch”

Vinyl stepped into his house. Well. “House”. It was his home sure, but it didn’t really resemble what most people would call a house. It was more of a room.

The entire house was circular, with a circular platform floating in the middle. The entire platform was surrounded by computer banks. Hundreds and hundreds of rows of code scrolled down screens. The entire platform hovered over a void, with a single bridge leading from the door to to the platform. Leading off the main platform was another bridge, leading to the platform that functioned as Vinyl’s bed. There had been other platforms that had served other functions, but Vinyl had recently cannibalized them for parts.

In the middle of the main “room” stood Vinyl’s pride and joy. A hologram of a grey earth pony with a black mane, referred to affectionately by Vinyl as “OctavA.I”.

OctavA.I had been a housekeeper A.I when Vinyl had first acquired her. After the passing of Vinyl’s wife Octavia Melody, Vinyl had obsessively tinkered with OctavA.I’s code to make her into a duplicate of Octavia, but had only succeeded in making it take the form of her beloved wife. After this disappointment, Vinyl had decided to embark on an all together more ambitious project,,,

“You received a call while you were gone. The caller left a message. Do you wish to hear it?” OctavA.I asked, not moving from her spot in the middle of the room.

Vinyl grunted his assent as she went to work on the computer banks again.

OctavA.I raised one of the robot arms from her holographic back and projected a recording of a white bat pony with a die blue mane. The pony on the call appeared to mess with the camera for a sec before speaking

“Yo, Vinyl, this is Black Parade. We haven’t seen you in a while, and I was wondering how you were doing? If you’re interested me and the rest of Marefit Losers are preforming shows at some of the clubs you like to visit, and you’re welcome to come and hang out. I get it if you’re busy though. Uh- just let me know if you want to come yeah?”

Vinyl huffed and waved his hoof dismissively.
Tell him I’m busy but I’ll try to make it to one of his shows. Vinyl signed. OctavA.I nodded. “Understood.”

Vinyl shook out her mane as he scanned the lines of code. Everything seemed in order, but you never knew with time travel. Not that anyone had ever succeeded in creating time travel, but Vinyl was certain that she could figure it out. It was the only way to get Octavia back. Time travel was possible, bringing the dead back wasn’t. At least, bringing the dead back the way they were. There were plenty of stories of ponies who managed to ressurect their loved ones, only for their loved ones to have come back wrong. Vinyl was not going to let Octavia come back wrong.

Naturally, after ruling out necromancy, Vinyl decided that the only way to bring his wife back was to change time itself. Vinyl still tried to keep her social life alive, but as his project started taking up more and more of his time he had begun to neglect everything besides the things that might help her complete his mission.

She was obsessive. He knew that. But she needed to bring Octavia back. He needed too. She would stick with it as long as it took. He would change history. She would bring Octavia back.

Author's Note

This is my first longform fic so constructive criticism is appreciated! Don’t be mean though I’m sensitive :( /lh

Marefit Losers and Dead Mares Walking are ponyfied versions of my oc bands, Misfit Losers and Dead Girls Walking.