The Run

The Run

Chapter One: Surviving

Written by Dragon Genesis

Edited by AuthorGenesis

In the more secluded suburban district of Canterlot sat a single house.  Inside this house lived two famous musicians.  And this house was being ransacked again for the daily hunt.

A group of changelings turned over every piece of furniture that had seen enough abuse over the past three weeks that it's amazing that it's still intact.  After all, each piece was flipped over or thrown everyday for the past three weeks, changelings searched for ponies that were hiding from them.  However, they never checked the basement often enough.

In the basement of this suburban home were two mares, holding onto each other as the changelings destroyed their home above.  The couple stayed quiet and still, not letting their breathing give away their location to the monsters above.

Vinyl Scratch held onto her marefriend, Octavia, as they hid.  She stroked the grey mare's black mane to help calm Octavia's nerves and give a sense of security and reassurance.  Octavia just shuddered at every noise above them, shivering in her marefriend's embrace.

Vinyl merely sat there, calming her in any way possible.  She placed a gentle kiss on herforehead, carful of how much love she projected to keep them hidden incase the changelings could sense her love for Octavia.  Right now, Octavia's well-being was more important.  If changelings did find them, Celestia help them when they find themselves an opponent of a protective marefriend.

"Tavi?" Whispered Vinyl, leaning so her mouth wasn't far away from Octavia's ear.

"Y-yes, Vinyl?" Said the mare shakily.  Vinyl leaned forward and placed a kiss on her lips.

"You do know I would fight Tartarus for you, right?  That I wouldn't let a single changeling lay a hoof on you?" Asked the alabaster unicorn, her electric blue mane falling over her red eyes.  Octavia stared into them with her own violet, both oculars filled with fear for the other.

"Of course, Vinyl.  I know you will.  But I am afraid to lose you."

~~~~~~

"What the hell is this sappy shit?!" Shouted Vinyl as the caravan moved towards Canterlot.  Her, Octavia, and a group of soldiers sat in a covered carriage as they prepared themselves for the battle to come.

"It's the story of how we all got here, Vinyl." said the mare with a frown.

"I hardly remember it being that fucking sappy!" Said Vinyl.  Octavia sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Fine.  I will retell it how I remember it."

~~~~~~~~

"I'm so fucking scared, Tavi!" Whined Vinyl, gripping onto her marefriend.  Octavia sat proudly, holding onto her marefriend protectively.

"Do not worry, Vinyl.  I will protec-"

~~~~~~~

"You fucking bitch." said Vinyl, narrowing her eyes at her wife.  Octavia grinned and winked at the unicorn.

"Only for you, Vinyl." said the gray mare with a snicker.  Twilight Sparkle sighed.

"Will you two just get to the important part of the story?  And please, no romantic or bullshit versions." said the lavender unicorn.

"Okay, bossy." said Vinyl. She cleared her throat before speaking, her voice going out to every cart of soldiers in the mile long caravan.

"We were three weeks into the changeling rule, so a month.  Me and Tavi's supplies were almost gone and it was getting harder for me to keep the wizard fire going... ."

~~~~~~

Vinyl coughed, her stomach growling in response.  She cursed, but kept magic pouring into the blue fire in the center of the room that provided their heat and light.  Octavia's ears perked up at the sound and turned to see her marefriend shivering despite the warmth of the fire.

"We cannot keep going like this, Vinyl." said the mare in a sad tone.  The white unicorn scoffed.

"We h-have to, Tavi.  I'm not going to let you go up into some fucking cocoon." said the mare, shivering as if cold water was poured onto her.

"Vinyl, you are hungry, tired, and exhausted of almost all of your magic.  You have to let go of the spell and rest." said Octavia, putting a hoof on her shoulder.  Vinyl shied away from the hoof.

"We will freeze if I did.  I can't let you suffer." said Vinyl, pouring even more magic into the fire, causing it to grow bigger and brighter.  Octavia's eyes widened as she watched it grow.

"Vinyl, stop!  I am suffering by watching you suffer!  Please, just drop the damn spell."  Vinyll's eyes widened and the spell died down to nothing but a candle flame before it sputtered out, leaving nothing but the small specks of daylight shining through the window to provide light.  Vinyl leaned against Octavia, and started crying.

"I just don't know what to do, Tavi!  Why did they have to come?" Cried out the white mare, tears soaking both their coats.  Octavia held her protectively as she looked over at their rations.  It was a single crate tipped on its side that barely had anything in it anymore.  It survived them the month but won't survive the next day before it's depleted.

"We need to find more food, Vinyl.  It is either go out and look, or we die here." said Octavia with a sigh, leaning head against Vinyl's.  The mare sobbed softly for a moment, thinking their situation over in her head.

"W-we should get some sleep and head out before the patrols start." said Vinyl.  Octavia nodded and slowly laid the two of them on the ground, Vinyl's head laying on her chest.  She sat there, stroking the electric blue mane of her marefriend to comfort her.  It ended up calming the two of them as they drifted off to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~

The night was just approaching as two figures stepped into the Scratch/Philimacora household, taking their first steps into the main floor for the first time in over a month.  Furniture was overturned and pretty much destroyed while photos of the owners were smashed on the floor.  Octavia and Vinyl looked it over with sad looks.

"They really don't care about the ponies, do they?" Asked Vinyl, looking around her destroyed home.  Octavia sighed.

"I am afraid so.  The only thing we are to them is food.  They could not care less about the rest." said the grey mare.  And, for the first time in a month, Vinyl chuckled.

"Did you just rhyme?" Asked the unicorn, suppressing her giggles.  Octavia thought a moment before laughing.

"I did, did I not?  I did not even notice." said the giggling mare.  The two stood there giggling, before they deemed it time to venture outside and begin their search for food.

The sun had set an hour before.  It was said that the changeling queen, Chrysalis, was able to find the spell for moving the celestial orbs by digging into the minds of Celestia and Luna as they were most vulnerable in the cocoons.

Vinyl had lit a small latern with actual fire, deciding it best to save her energy.  It wasn't much, but it illuminated far enough in front of them to help their search.  The dangers of scouting in the night was that the lantern light was easliy seen.  But the bright side was that there were fewer changelings on patrol.

Keeping her lantern low as they crept along the streets of Canterlot, Vinyl led the two of them towards where she would think best to scavenge for food and supply's.  From what she knew, the only other thing they needed besides food was Vinyl's pills.  If she could find a bottle, she would be set for the next month.

"You want to head to the pharmacy first?" Asked Octavia.  Vinyl thought about it before nodding, checking to see where exactly they were.

"Yeah.  I probably only have enough to last me a few days." said the unicorn, motioning to the saddle bags that held whatever stuff they had, which was very little.  Octavia nodded and Vinyl took them down the familiar path down to the pharmacy.

"You do know how to get them without a pharmasist, right?" Asked Octavia.  Vinyl rolled her eyes.

"Tavi, I had to memorize the name of the pills so I could tell them what I need.  And last I checked, it's labeled on the bottle.  The only thing I'm worried about is the alarm." said Vinyl, checking around the corner to see if it was clear.

"What about the alarm?  It is not like we are breaking windows." said the grey earth pony.

"To get the pills we have to get into the back room.  No doubt there is an alarm set up just I case someone tried to break in.  I'm going to have to look fast since it will alert the changelings." said the unicorn as they finally came up to the building.  She looked over the door until kneeling in front of the door, lighting her horn.

"What are you doing now?" Asked Octavia, nervously looking down the street.  Vinyl huffed a the door unlocked.  She pushed it open with a hoof and trotted in.

"Letting myself in, of course." said the mare as she walked in.  Octavia soon followed.  Inside the shelves were haphazardly throw across the room and isles, no doubt ponies trying to grab what they needed.  However, Vinyl grinned as she saw the back untouched.

"Alright.  I'm going to turn on the gas laterns and quickly get into the back.  I may be able to delay the alarm but get ready to run when I come out." said Vinyl as the lights came on with a flash of her horn.  Octavia squinted before her eyes adjusted and nodded.

"When did I ever fall in love with a thief, Vinyl?" Asked Octavia with a smirk.  Vinyl rolled her eyes.

"I did what I had to do to survive.  It wasn't till of recent that I started rolling in the big bits.  Unlike you, I didn't grow up with Celestia knows how many bits saved away." said the unicorn as she knelt before the back room door, examining the lock and the wires that rigged it to the alarm.

"And my parents always told me I would fall in love with a handsome prince." said Octavia with a smirk.  Vinyl scoffed.

"Some sexy prince I am." said the unicorn with a smirk as the door unlocked.  "Alright, get ready." said Vinyl as she ran inside, looking over the shelves franticly, pulling open drawers and other as she tried to find what she was looking for.  However, the shelves were empty.

"Come on, come on.  Did someone already clean this fucker out?" She asked herself, going over to the last shelf.  Before she could reach it a high pitched rining sound went off.  Cursing, Vinyl went back out into the main part of the store.

"Come on, we have to go!" She shouted as she exited the store, Octavia trailing behind her.  Vinyl could just barely her shouts as changelings were alerted of the noise, she knew they didn't have long to find cover.

"Over here!" Shouted out a blue unicorn from inside an abandoned apartment complex.  Vinyl looked back then over to the building before motioning for her marefriend to follow as she barreled into the front door that was being held open.  The unicorn slammed it shut behind them and locked it.

"That was a close one, you two.  Next time, I would stay away from setting off alarms." said the mysterious mare with a smile.

"I-I'll keep that in mind." panted Vinyl as she tried to regain her breath.  The mare turned away for a second before turning back around and giving each of the two mares a prick in the shoulder.

"Hey!  What was that for?!" Shouted Octavia, rubbing her shoulder.  Vinyl stepped in front of her marefriend with a growl.  The mare ignored them and held two needles in her magic.  She sat there for a second before destroying them with a burst of magic.

"Please follow me, and sorry about that.  The leaders of our little sanctuary here are strict on the 'make sure they aren't changeling's first' rule." said the mare, motioning for them to follow her up the stairs.  The two hesitated before doing just that.

"What is this 'sanctuary' exactly?" Asked Octavia.

"Well, we are a group of rebels that plan on trying to fight back against the changeling rule and reclaim Canterlot. Each of us so far actually had some part in the wedding before all hell broke loose." said the mare.  She turned around, walking backwards, and grinned at them.  "I'm Minuette, some call me Colgate.  I was supposed to be one of the three bridesmaids."

"I'm Octavia Philmacora, this is my marefriend, Vinyl Scratch.  We were supposed to play at the reception.  Fate was kind enough to make us late." said Octavia.  Minuette, nodded as they stepped onto the third floor.  She led them to the end of the hall before opening the second to last door.

The rooms next to each other must have had their walls knocked down since the entire area looked a lot larger than it should.  In it was four more mares.  Two of them Octavia recognized as Lyra and Bon Bon, friends of theirs.  Octavia had played with Lyra a few times before and that seemed to be the only area they would bicker in.  The other two mares, however, shocked them.

"What are the elements of Magic and Loyalty doing here?" She asked curiously.  Twilight and Rainbow Dash looked up from where they were currently playing chess, the latter seemed to be losing.

Rainbow Dash wore Applejack's trademark stetson on her head whole Twilight had a simple Diamond necklace around her neck.  Each looked tired beyond belief as well as their eyes being puffy.

"Well, if Minuette told you the story, then you should know why." said Twilight.  She gestured around them.  "We started this."  Vinyl was about to reply when Minuette stepped in.

"Hey Twi, do you know where Berry is?" She asked.  Dash pointed to a room on the far end.

"In the bathroom.  You need to find her some hard candy soon before she pukes up that stomach of hers." said the cyan Pegasus.  Minuette winced and turned to Bon Bon.

"Did you finally get the ingredient's?" She asked nervously.  The cream colored earth pony shook her head as she held on to the shaking Lyra.  The poor unicorn looked tramuatized, but from what Octavia didn't know.

"Sorry, ‘Gate.  Punch is going to have to wait until I get the sugar I need.  I suggest once that alarm settles down on checking that pharmacy for anything." said Bon Bon.  Minuette sighed and headed towards the bathroom.

"I'm going to comfort her if you need me." said the mare before disappearing behind it.  Silence ensued.  Octavia and Vinyl stood awkwardly as the unicorn and earth pony couple held each other and Twilight went ahead to beat Rainbow Dash.  Finally, hating the silence, Vinyl spoke.

"What happened to all of you?" She asked.  The four mares looked at them then at each other.

"I think we should start first." said Twilight.  Rainbow nodded and adjusted to a more comfortable position.  "It was back when they invaded ..."