Broken Recordsby Smashed TapesChaptersChapter 1: Run Boy RunChapter 2: Ain't No Rest For The WickedChapter 3: On Melancholy HillChapter 1: Run Boy RunThe sounds of the train tracks, that's all Vinyl could focus on as it powered on through the night. Everyone else there had something else, Bon had Lyra to cling to, as if she was the only steady perch in a storm. Dixie had Haven to help calm her down, and Octavia, well, she clung onto her cello case for dear life, but all Vinyl had to distract her was the sounds of the train. Haven looked up, finally able to stop Dixie’s crying, he looked around at the group in their lonely train car. “Does everybody remember the plan?” Lyra looked up from her clinging girlfriend. “You...did kinda just shout it out as we were running.” “Ah, very fair Lyra! Very well, I shall repeat!” Vinyl couldn’t help raise an eyebrow, Haven was known for how calm he could be under pressure. The world itself could be about to explode and he would not only stay calm throughout the whole thing, he could probably even figure out how to solve it, Vinyl thought to herself. “We need to get out of this town before news starts spreading, now, Lyra! I believe you have a truck at your place of living?” Lyra nodded, still holding her girlfriend close. “Yeah, just finished paying it off too, so hey, we can take angry truck salesmen off the list of things we’re running from!” The joke wasn’t received well, Dixie going to sit right up to Haven in fear. Octavia coughed into her fist and shot a glare at the green haired girl, who could only look at the floor. “Sorry…” Bon glanced up from over her love’s shoulder, looking to move the conversation away from Lyra. “What next?” Haven, happy to take the reins again, replied. “Well! As I tried to explain in our rush, we should split up into pairs, and grab what’s needed from our homes; clothes, devices. If you have a piggy bank, smash it, we’re going to need it. Bon, Octavia, you two help each other grab what you need, since you live on the same street. Dixie and myself live next door, so I’ll be going with her. Vinyl will be going with Lyra to help her and get the truck ready. Once you have grabbed what you need, we meet at Lyra’s and drive out of this town as fast as we can.” Dixie wiped a tear from her eye and spoke up. “W-What about Vinyl? Shouldn’t we also get her stuff-” Vinyl cut in with a strong tone, not letting Dixie finish, “I’ll be fine, I don’t got anything I would need to take with me, so I’ll just help Lyra.” Dixie wanted to speak up again, but after looking at Vinyl’s stern face, she decided against it. Haven looked at the map printed above the train windows and squinted. “Next stop will be ours, we all know what to do.” Everyone eventually nodded, exchanging worried looks as the train started to slow down and pull into the station. Octavia spoke up. “What do we do if we can’t make it?” Lyra, standing up as the train halted, spoke. “Text me, we’re not leaving anyone behind for the cops to scoop up.” Everyone else began to stand. Lyra kissed Bon on the cheek, telling her that she won’t be long, Dixie stood close to Haven as she tried to control herself, Octavia placed her cello case on her back, and Vinyl, once again, only had the sound of train tracks to focus on as she stood from her seat. The door slid open, everyone exchanging one last look at each other, before running. Running all the way to Lyra’s proved to be a challenge for both women as they stopped at the property's gate to catch their breath. “Lyra if you wheeze…. ever make me huff…. run that kind of distance again, I’m going to break a fucking window.” Lyra just sighed as she unlocked and swung open the gate. “Yeah, like the barn window?” “H-Hey we both know I didn’t mean to do that!” Lyra just rolled her eyes and motioned for Vinyl to follow her. Lyra’s house was on top of a small hill surrounded by farmland, and parked just in front of the shed was Lyra’s truck. Vinyl remembered when Lyra first got the deal for it, she was on cloud 9, it was big, had plenty of seats and could hold a lot of weight. Vinyl and Lyra had even given it their own special touches, which mostly meant defacing it and drawing all over it. The two women ran into the house, slamming the door behind them with Vinyl running to the kitchen as Lyra ran to grab her stuff. “Damn it, Mama and Mum aren’t even meant to come back for a week….I’m sorry mums” Lyra said to herself as she grabbed her bag and started filling it with clothes, each outfit should last a few days each it re-used. Then she had to get her phone charger and camera, after that was- “Lyra!” Vinyl shouted from across the house. “Don’t forget to get that money out of your stash! We’ll need all the fucking cash we can get!” Lyra sighed deeply and removed a band poster from her closet, revealing a small hole in the wall which stored a wad of cash. “Awwww, but this is meant to be our weed money!” “We got more important things than that to worry about!” “Fuuuuuuuuck.” Lyra groaned loudly before grabbing the cash and stuffing it into her pocket. She zipped her bag up and was ready to help Vinyl in the kitchen when she stopped. On her wall, the picture Lyra and Bon took on their first date, both of them smiling as Bon tried to wipe the spilt ice cream from her mouth as Lyra tried to not burst out laughing. She grabbed it off the wall and folded it into her pocket, there was no way she was leaving without that. Lyra ran to the kitchen, only to see Vinyl trying to pack away a large carton of... “Fucking Cola!? Really, Vinyl!?” Vinyl, looking up from her struggling attempt at shoving the whole box into a shopping bag, threw her hands up. “What? It’s not like we’ll be shopping on the road! Now hurry up and help me.” “I swear you’re fucking addicted to that shit.” “Maybe so, but at least it’s not beer.” “That’s not a high bar to pass.” Vinyl sighed and made one last push into the bag, the side now had a tear thanks to the carton, but hey, it was in at least. Lyra just rolled her eyes and started placing food into the bag, whatever they could eat on the road, which meant mostly canned food…..and a lot of junk food. “It’s not like we’ll need these for our sesh.” Lyra commented as she placed yet another bag of chips into her bag. “Hey Lyra… do... do you have salsa?” Lyra stopped what she was doing and just stared at Vinyl with annoyance, Vinyl returning the glance by giving the biggest puppy dog eyes she could. Lyra sighed and motioned to behind her. “Top shelf in the fridge.” “Fuck yeah!” After they were done, the two women threw their stuff into the truck, mostly in the back, Lyra fished into her jacket for her keys as Vinyl stood aside the vehicle. “Where the fuck is everyone?” Lyra grabbed her keys and placed them into the ignition, turning them and causing the truck to hum and purr as it came to life. “Relax, we had to run for a fair bit to even get here, we just need to give them a bit more time.” Vinyl rolled her eyes and took her seat in the front seat of the truck. Lyra sat there at the wheel, ready to go at a moment’s notice. She smirked at Vinyl, which confused the blue haired girl. “..What?” “You know, we might be like, on the run, but there’s some positives to it.” “Oh really? Like what exactly?” “No school, for starters” “I guess that’s fair, we had a science test on friday didn’t we?” “Yeeeeep.” “Nevermind, we should have committed crimes years ago! Think of all the tests we could have gotten out of.” “Well there’s that, but we also get to spend time together. Me and Bon Bon-” “I still can’t believe you call that a pet name.” “Dixie and Haven…” Lyra turned to look at Vinyl, a huge grin across her face with her eyebrows raised. “You and Octavia~” A small blush covered Vinyl’s cheeks as she stumbled over her words. “T-The fuck is that supposed to mean!?” “Oh come on Vinyl, you can’t tell me that you don’t like the thought of spending a lot of time with Octavia.” “I-I mean yeah, she’s a friend!” “Oh really? Just a friend? That’s not what drunk Vinyl told me, as she laid across my floor constantly going on about how much she just wanted to grab Octavia’s face and kiss her.” Vinyl punched Lyra in the arm as her cheeks grew to a deep red. “I-I don’t speak for drunk Vinyl! No one does, she lies about shit all the time.” Lyra laughed off the punch and smiled. “Yeah, suuuuure. Should I bring up the time when you saw her at our beach meet up and you fell off the diving board cause you were eyeing her up something fierce?” “I-I was not.” “Or the other time where you tried to write a classical piece for her and it sounded fuckin’ awful?” “IN MY DEFENSE! thaT WAS FOR A SCHOOL PROJECT!” “Yeah Vinyl, it was, to write a piece of any kind of music, and you chose-” Vinyl started repeatedly punching Lyra in the arm as Lyra couldn’t contain her laughter. The gate was heard swinging open as Lyra looked up at her windshield, seeing Bon and Octavia with their bags running to the truck. Vinyl just glared at Lyra. “Yeah yeah V, not a word from me.” The two other women ran up and dumped their bags into the back of the truck, then taking a moment to breathe, Octavia looking like she was about to pass out from lack of oxygen. “My goodness…..I knew I wasn’t a runner but that was certainly a big reminder.” She remarked as she adjusted her cello. Vinyl looked out of the window in disbelief. “You’re taking your cello with us?” “Why of course I am, I’d rather hand myself over to the police than leave this behind.” Vinyl just had to shrug, she should have expected that kind of reaction from her. “That’s fair.” Bon walked up to Lyra and gave her a peck on the cheek. “You got everything you needed, sweety?” “Of course Bon Bon, you?” “We’re actually pretty quick to do so, we actually spent more time running here.” “Yeah…..maybe having everyone meet up here wasn’t the greatest plan, but it's the only one we got. Now we’re just missing-” Lyra’s phone buzzed in her pocket, fishing it out, she saw the picture of the caller in question. Haven in a one piece black and white striped swimsuit, floaties, some goggles and a swim cap, confidently walking towards the shore. She swiped the phone and answered, putting it on the loudspeaker. “Haven? Where are you?” “Oh thank goodness you picked up! Look we got mine’s and Dixie’s things together, it's just-” “Just what?” “We’re…hearing sirens, and they’re getting closer.” “...Fuck.” Lyra looked to the others, each sharing the same look of worry. “Okay…think Lyra…fuck, what do we do?” “Hang on a moment… myself and Dixie’s whereabouts are near the highway…. Lyra! Start driving there! Me and Dixie will have to jump in on the side as it’s driving.” Vinyl leaned in closer to the phone. “So you want us to drive closer to where all the police are?” Haven sighed, before the sounds of shuffling can be heard. “It’s not the best idea I’ve had, I’ll admit, but right now it's the only one we got.” The sound of Dixie’s voice soon shot up from the phone. “Please hurry! Me and Haven will start making our way there now!” “Lyra, start driving, now!” The call ended there, leaving everyone speechless, except for a certain loudmouthed, blue haired girl. “YOU HEARD THE MAN, GET IN THE FUCKING TRUCK AND LETS GO!” The rubber of the tires burned against the road as Lyra swerved onto the next lane. Everyone grabbing onto their seats as tight as they could as the truck bounced and swung its passengers around. “Lyra, hun! Think you could not drive like a madwoman?!” Lyra slammed the brakes and turned onto the highway. “Sorry babe! But we’re kind of in a hurry!” Vinyl stuck her head out of the window and squinted. “Where the fuck are they!? We’re coming up to the backs of their houses soon!” Her question was soon answered as they spotted two figures with large bags running across the raised hillside next to the highway, blue and red lights flashing close to them. “Holy shit! You guys have to get down here! Should we stop!?” Haven just frantically waved to the flashing lights near him, panicked. “I DON’T THINK THAT WOULD BE THE BEST IDEA!” Bon leaned out of the window and looked to Dixie and Haven, as the sirens and lights got closer. “THEN YOU TWO WILL HAVE TO JUMP DOWN TO US!” “ARE YOU INSANE!?” “JUST DO IT!” Haven looked back at Dixie, even with her blonde hair flailing about, he could still see that she was scared too. “I’ll jump first! Then I’ll catch you!” “You don’t even know if you can do that!” “Correct! But it’s that or nothing!” Haven looked down at the truck as it slowed to match their running speed. He gulped, and turned back again to Dixie. “I will catch you! Just believe in me!” Haven stepped to the side and leaped down off the hill, Lyra driving the truck as close to the edge of the road as possible. Haven yelled out as he fell down towards, and eventually into the back of, the truck, landing with a loud thud which was followed by several pained groans. Bon gasped in shock as Vinyl couldn’t help but chuckle. “Holy FUCK dude! That sounded painful as shit, you okay?” Haven slowly got up, placing his bags to the side. “I’m fine! I’ll just count the bruises later” He balanced himself against the truck’s motion as he stood up, holding his arms up to Dixie. “Dixie! You have to jump!” Dixie looked down in panic, the siren and speaker now audible. “Stop running and place your hands in the air! If you do not stop we may need to use force to arrest you.” Everyone exchanged a look, before Vinyl motioned for Dixie to jump. “We don’t have time for this! The fucking cops are getting close to you!” “Dixie! You’ll be okay! I’ll catch you!” Dixie looked down, it was either jump down off a large hill and onto a speeding truck, or be caught by the police, neither sounded good, but only one of those options allowed her to stay with her friends. She gulped, focused on the truck, and leaped for her life. The wind whipped against her clothes and hair as she reached out for her friend, whom she promptly crash landed into, more than caught. “...Owie..” She remarked, rubbing her head as she got up to her knees. “Yep, definitely more bruises now.” Haven winced in pain as he sat up. “Who knows, maybe something broken too, if I’m lucky.” Ocativa looked into the back before leaning into the front of the truck. “They’re both in, we can go!” “Don’t have to tell me twice!” Lyra slammed the gas, speeding along past several cars and up to the speed limit, everyone getting a chance to finally breathe. Vinyl sat back into her seat, breathing a sigh of relief. “Ha! They’ll get around the corner and be like ‘Where did they go??’. Serves them fucking pigs right.” Octavia looked up at everyone, with a worried look across her face. “I hate to burst this good mood, but what exactly do we do now?” Lyra just shrugged. “Keep drivin’?” “That’s not a plan.” “We’ll think of a plan later, right now, focus on the fact that we just got out of that mess.” Lyra just looked ahead and focused on the night covered road ahead of her. Haven suddenly sprang up, then after a string of pained sounds, knocked on the back window to get everyone’s attention. “I was thinking about that while getting Dixie’s things! It just so happens that my uncle is a lawyer!” “No fucking way.” Vinyl remarked, looking back at him. “Way! He lives up north!” “How far up north?” “He lives about…I’d say it’ll possibly take about a week to get there if we were on the road for most of it.” “You fuckin’ serious?” Bon looked back at Haven, having concerns as well. “You sure he’ll be able to get us out of this?” Haven scoffed and beamed with confidence “Why of course! After all we’re on the right side, the… event being an accident and all. Trust me, once I’ve talked to him, he’ll gladly help us.” Lyra shot a glance at everyone, raising an eyebrow. “So, Haven’s uncle, but it's a week away if we drove the whole time. Anyone else with any other ideas?” “What about Octavia’s parents? Don’t they live up north too?” Dixie commented, having finally shrugged off the pain. Everyone looked at Octavia, who quickly had a rebuttal. “NO! No no…my parents are…. away on holiday in Spain for the next month, so that would be a no go.” “Haven’s uncle it is then, get comfortable everyone, this is going to be a long drive.” Lyra added before going back to focusing on the road ahead, and everyone did just what she asked, trying to get comfortable under the circumstances they’re in. Vinyl just slumped down and sunk into her chair, all it took was one accident for everything to get as it was, she sighed. Everything. Her future plans, events she wanted to go to, tests she would skip, they’re all out of the window now because of just one mistake, one slip up, and the worst part was that it pulled all of her friends into it too. “Fucking damn it.” Author's Note Hello! Long time reader, first time writer! (on this site anyways lol), I hope y'all enjoy the start to this (looking to be long) story! Lemme know any and all feedback you guys have! <3 Chapter 2: Ain't No Rest For The WickedIt was always the unimportant things Vinyl would tend to focus on, whether that be focusing on someone’s tone rather than the words that are being said, the way someone’s moving rather than what they’re doing, or in this case, focusing on the sounds of the car as it speedily drove on the highway with the early AM sun giving a small haze of the day to come. A yawn snaps her out of her focus, looking back to find Octavia slowly waking up from her seat as everyone else but herself and Lyra at the wheel were sound asleep, exhausted from the night they all went through. Octavia rubbed her eye and leaned forward. “Oh blimey, what time is it? The sun isn’t even fully up yet” Vinyl reached for her phone and checked. “Like, 4am” “Bloody hell” “Yeah it’s fuckin early, are you like, okay?” Octavia let out another yawn before trying to blink her eyes awake, her words at first coming slowly and drowsily. “If you mean completely than not particularly, I didn’t exactly plan to be running from police when I awoke yesterday. But if you mean right this moment then I suppose I’m okay.” Vinyl’s eyes lowered as she looked to the floor, the events of the night before playing out in her mind. “Hey look, Octavia, I’m just, really fucking sorry how out of hand shit got. I-” “I’m not hearing of this, Vinyl, no one knew that was going to happen, not with that storm and everything. You didn’t do anything wrong, okay?” Vinyl looked up as a small smile formed on her lips. “Thanks, still, shit’s kinda fucked right now” “At least we’re not lost in the everfree forest this time” She couldn’t help but chuckle, the time when Vinyl found a cool river away from camp everfree, only to accidentally get the group lost on the way back. “You’re never going to let me live that down, aren’t you?” “Nope!” She responded, beaming. “You know the paths at that camp were confusing as shit.” “Well it didn’t help that we were off the path.” “I-It’s not like it would have helped!” “Poor Haven, he was absolutely covered in bites and rashes when we got back, I swear he was redder than your flannel hoodie” Vinyl just rolled her eyes as Octavia tried her best to contain her laughter so as to not wake the others. After managing to control herself, she leaned over to the driver’s seat. “Any idea of when we need to stop, Lyra?” “By like, mid afternoon, I pulled up maps on my phone and there’ll be a stop around then, we can get food, water and gas there.” “Oh my…...that’s certainly a bit of a wait” “Yeah well, we got a whole week in front of us, and that’s if Haven was being generous with his math” Octavia slumped back on her chair and sighed, looking at the others as they snoozed away. This whole situation was insane, but hey, if she had her friends with her then things couldn’t get that bad, right? She leaned forward and rested her head against the seat in front of her, yawning. “Wake me when we’re close, okay Vinyl?” Before Vinyl could even respond, Octavia’s eyes had dropped, she could even hear her already starting to snore away. Vinyl smiled warmly at the sight. “Of course, Tavi” Lyra smirked at seeing the interaction, causing her friend to raise an eyebrow. “What?” “I see the ‘Tavi’ thing is back” “I-It’s just a nickname…” “Mmmhmm, sure, keep telling yourself that” Vinyl just responded by playfully flipping her off. “Yeah yeah, fuck you too, Lyra” “That’s Bon Bon’s job” “OKAY so we’ve reached TMI already” “Not really, if you really want TMI then-” “Oh please no, fuck no, I ain’t hearing this shit” “Okay okay, no more from me” Vinyl leaned into her seat, her eyes growing even heavier and heavier. “Hey, V, catch some Zs. It’s been a long fucking day” “You sure? You’ve been up just as long just as long as the rest of us” “Nah, I actually slept in till like 1, look I’ll be fine. If I really need to switch over, I’ll pull over and wake you up. For now just get some rest, you deserve it” Vinyl wanted to argue against it, but her weighty eyelids fought her attempt. She rested her head to the side as best as she could, seeing the pink of early morning coat the sky. She had to focus, she had to plan on how to help her friends out of this, make herself useful to them in some way. But Lyra’s words rang through her head, she needed to sleep, and with her and the others close by, maybe things will be alright for a while. Her eyes dropped, maybe it was alright to rest, even for a little while. The heat was what eventually woke Vinyl up, she had spent whole days in underground raves so the light of the sun didn’t bother her sleeping eyes. But the heat and burning feeling was definitely enough to force her out of her wonderful dream, one with her treating a certain cello player to a lovely night out. Her eyes shot open and then had to be quickly closed to block the intense beam of sunlight. She raised her hand above her face and opened her eyes again, it was shockingly later in the day than she expected, the late afternoon sun now shining at her to wake up. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes as her sense of the world around her slowly returned, slowly cursing the fact that her dream was cut short, they always seemed to stop right before Vinyl could get that kiss. She sat upright and looked around, they were parked, for one thing, and no one was even in the truck. “Fuuuuuuck, if the cops have already got us then this is by far the worst run attempt ever” She slowly observed her surroundings, well they were surrounded by large, thick trees, a far cry from the concrete and lights of Canterlot Way. There was only one building in sight, what seemed to be some sort of gas station/road side shop combo, at which sat her friends at a table. Haven was standing up, pointing to a map against the wall and waving his arms around, he always seemed to do that when he was deep in explaining something. Along with Dixie, who just seemed happy to be there. Lyra and Bon sitting shoulder to shoulder with their hands firmly together, Vinyl swears that if she wasn’t already friends with the both of them before they got together, she would have found their endless hugs and kisses annoying. Then there was Octavia, the warm sunshine showing off her beautiful hair, did she do something different with it- Vinyl shook her head, now wasn’t really the time to get caught up in...all that. She unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the car door, stepping outside. She stretched out her tired and sore muscles as she yawned and walked over to the rest of the group, stepping across the gravel road. “So! If we take this series of back roads, we’ll make it to my uncles in the next 6 days! Of course, we would need to be driving for most of that, but I believe we can just switch drivers for those times!” Haven smiled, happy he finally worked out a route that worked for both stealth and time. Lyra raised an eyebrow. “Yeah me and Vinyl can drive the truck, but what if we’re both in need of rest, who can drive it then?” The group looked at each other, no one wanting to speak up. “Okay different question, who here even has a driving licence?” Octavia raised her hand. “I do, although it’s only for automatic vehicles I’m afraid” “Well, since no one else can seemingly drive, Octavia! You will be our back up driver!” “I-I just said I can only drive automatics!” “Don’t worry, she’ll treat you right” “I wasn’t questioning the truck!” The conversation was soon cut short by the appearance of one tired Vinyl, as she claimed the nearest chair. “Ah, good afternoon, Vinyl, sleep well?” Octavia was honestly happy just to get out of that talk, she didn’t want to be the one responsible for it crashing or something like that. “It was alright, didn’t expect to sleep all day though. When the fuck did we get here?” Dixie fetched her phone out of her pocket. “Only about a half hour ago! So don’t worry! You didn’t miss out on much” “Okay then what did I miss out on?” “Oh! Haven was just going over some driving plans. Haven?” Haven smiled and motioned Vinyl to take a look at the map, which was balancing against the wall and a shipment box of ‘Scoota-Os’. “Well Vinyl! After some discussion, I have found just the right route for us! We’ll take this path through the hills, it avoids all major highways, but it also won’t take us a month to get there” “Wow, you guys really thought this though” Bon clapped her hands together. “Finally, now we can finally buy some food from here and hit the road again.” “Wait, you guys haven’t even gone in yet?” “Yeah, Haven here was very insistent that we sort out a plan first before we got distracted by food” Vinyl rolled her eyes, of course he would. The group stood up while Haven wrapped up the map, entering the small shop. The walls had that vintage wooden feel, which did clash with the modern shelves and fridges. The older man at the counter sat slouched in his chair, from the looks of him he was one tall, well built guy, a bald head with a large brown beard. He waved at the group and smiled. “About time I saw some friendly faces, welcome! Anything y’all need?” Lyra smiled back and approached the counter. “Yeah, actually, we need some gas cans and some packs of bottled water” “Ah, going out far, young lady?” “Yeah! We’re….going camping! We just need some things” He stood up from his desk, clasping his hands together. “Luckily for you, I got multiple of both in the back, lemme just go and get some out for you” Bon ran up to Lyra, interupting their conversation as she excitedly held up some sort of bag. “Babe! They got those mints you love! And they’re on sale!” “Oh shit, that’s awesome! Can we afford some?” “Already counted, we’ll have plenty left over” “Thanks Bon Bon” Bon planted a small kiss on Lyra’s cheek and ran off to join the rest. The friendly smile from the man quickly disappeared. He raised an eyebrow and looked at the rest of the group. “Some group you got here, you and your…...friend there seem close” “Hm? Oh that’s just my girlfriend, she gets really excited about sweets” His only response was a low grunt as he seemingly focused on one person in particular, causing Lyra to get confused. “You okay sir?” He simply grunted again and turned to the back door. “Gimme a minute to uh, get your things” Without waiting for any kind of response, he entered the back and slammed the door behind him. “Okaaaay? What a weird guy” Lyra turned and returned to her friends, Dixie trying to stop Vinyl from loading her bag with… “Fucking cola!? Again Vinyl!? We have some in the truck!” Vinyl just whined as Dixie pulled the bottle of soda away. “But these ones are cooooold” Lyra pinched the bridge of her nose. “One, you can get fucking one cold bottle, but we need to be careful with our money here” Vinyl excitedly grabbed the bottle from Dixie and loaded it into her bag, Octavia looking on. “I never understood your….. fondness for that particular soda, Vinyl” “It’s fizy and it tastes great, what’s there not to love?” “The teeth rot, perhaps” “My teeth are fiiiine” The rest of their shopping was uneventful, stocking up on basic foods, a first aid kit, and some of their favourites to treat themselves on the road. All and all it only took about a half hour to gather everything they wanted as they placed it on the counter. Vinyl looked around as she placed her bag down. “Didn’t you talk to the dude about getting some gas and water? He’s been gone for awhile” Lyra shrugged as she helped Dixie with her bag. “I’m sure he’s just sorting out some stock or something while he’s back there, or maybe a nap or something” “Or maybe he found a haunted statue and is fighting it to the death as we speak!” “Or maybe he found a mystic portal to a far away world that he now has to save” "Or maybe-" Their banter was cut short as the large man came through the back door, his annoyed expression from before still covering his face. “Sorry about the wait, I found your stuff, I’ll need some help with it though, it’s pretty heavy” He pulled out a stack of wrapped water bottles, and 3 filled gas cans. “Someone grab the gas, you, blue girl, care to help with this water?” Vinyl shrugged and walked to the stack of bottles. “Sure, can you guys get the other stuff?” Bon, Lyra and Haven grabbed a gas can each as Dixie quickly walked to the truck. “I’ll get the money for our stuff!” The other three slowly hauled their gas cans out the door, while Octavia turned to the water. “I may not have built arms like you, Vinyl, but carrying around a cello everyday has its results” The man just grunted, waiting for Vinyl to take the lead leading the water outside. Octavia hauled her water case through the door. “Thank you so much for your help sir-” Octavia felt a strong shove forward out the door as it was slammed shut behind her, Vinyl now suddenly having to deal with the man standing in front of her and the door. She dropped her water and took a step back. “Hey you fucking asshole! What do you think you’re fucking doing!?” The man stomped forward, locking the shop door behind him. “Miss Vinyl, I presume?” “H-How the fuck-” “I knew there was something wrong when I found a bunch of fucking queers entering my lovely store, so I did some digging. The Bluebloods, huh? You must have done something big for them to put that kind of price on your head, not like I need the money.” “G-GUYS!?” Octavia raised to her feet and turned back, shocked at what she was seeing, quickly leaping to the door only to find it locked, she fought against the unmoving handle with all her might while telling out to the group. “EVERYONE! THE STOREKEEPER JUST LOCKED THE DOOR! HE HAS VINYL!” The group looked, then sprinted over, pounding on the door and yelling, Lyra trying to smash the door down. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! LET MY FUCKING FRIEND GO!” The man reached to his waist, and pulled out a small handgun out of a holster, causing everyone to freeze. Vinyl stood in place, scared shitless out of her mind, did this guy really just pull out a gun? And was she really stuck in here with him?? He turned and pointed it to the outside group. “Break my door and I’ll have to deal with you fucking queers too. Stay out of this, this is between me and her. The Bluebloods really want her in, and I wouldn’t be doing my job as a helpful citizen if I didn’t help a good family out with capturing some queer bitch for them” Vinyl clinched her fist, her eyes filled with rage as some papers and magazines started to move to a non-existent breeze. “Shut your fucking mouth, asshole! We’re fucking leaving” She took a step forward only to have the man turn back and look at her, causing her to stop in her tracks. “You fucking move again, and I’m gonna have to start taking shots at your group over there, maybe starting with that disgusting sinner couple” “Y-You can’t do that! You’ll be arrested!” “What? It’s just self defense, after all, I’m sure the Force would be understanding after I had to defend myself after you lot broke into my shop” Vinyl felt her rage boiling, her knuckles turned white as her fists shook, the papers and magazines now really being kicked up, where the hell was that breeze even coming from? “So if you take one more step, I’m dealing with your friends. Maybe even starting with that british bitch” Her rage reached its breaking point, she leaped from her spot and went to send a right hook straight into his face. “DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE HURT HER-” She was quickly silenced as he backhanded her with his weapon, sending her crashing into the counter, drifting into unconsciousness as she could hear her friends call out her name. Vinyl awoke for the second time that day, but instead of being greeted with sunshine and the sight of her friends, she could only see dark. Her head throbbed with pain, she went to hold it but found one of her arms couldn’t make that journey, her wrist felt stuck to something. She pulled against it but was only met with the sounds of a chain being pulled, once her eyes adjusted to the dark she could make out that she was handcuffed to some sort of desk. If she was going to wake up in handcuffs, this is not how she would picture it, realistically she’d find herself in a cell, but ideally she'd have wanted it to be chained to a bed. She looked around the small room she was in, the walls stacked with shipping boxes of various products. Her memory slowly returned, she remembered some sort of shop on the road, cola, and a man- Oh, that’s right, she got her lights knocked out by some higher than thou homophobe, Vinyl was disappointed that she didn’t get a good hit on him first before that happened. Now that she remembered what happened, it was time to actually figure out how to get out of this mess, because there was no way she was going to let herself get handed over to the fucking Bluebloods. “Psst! Vinyl! Viiinyl!” Vinyl heard a harsh whisper above her, she turned her wrist as much as she could and looked up, seeing a window high above her, being able to barely make the faces of her friends, particularly Octavia’s, who was currently trying to whisper simultaneously as loud and as quiet as possible. “Tavi? What are…..what are you doing?” She rubbed her head, it still throbbed with pain. “We’re here to get you of course!” “W-What about crazy homophobe dude?” “He waved his gun around and told us to get lost, so we parked the truck a road away and came to get you! He’s waiting out front of the store now, I think for the Bluebloods” Lyra and Haven moved in, pushing the window up the rest of the way. “Vinyl, is there a key down there?” Vinyl shrugged at Lyra. “I’m pretty sure Mr Crazy has it” Vinyl’s eyes lit up, and snapped her head to look at the group. “Wait! Does anyone have, like, a normal hair pin?” Dixie reached to her side and pulled a thin hair pin out, she leaned in and held it up for her friend to see. “Like this?” “Yeah! Now drop it to me!” Dixie quickly did what was asked and dropped it to the floor, Vinyl quickly grabbing it and bending it, sticking one end into the hole in the cuff. After some turns and twists, a small click is heard and her wrist is free, she rubs it and looks up at her friends. “Now help me up before-” The sound of a car was heard rumbling in, then stopping at the front of the shop, everyone shot each other a glance of worry. “Well fuck, guess Kyle and the rest of his rich bitch squad is here, now help me the fuck up!” Talking was heard from just around the corner as Lyra and Bon reached their arms down to her, Vinyl having to leap up and catch their hands. With some difficulty they lifted her through the window and onto the grass outside. Octavia gasped and quickly knelt down next to Vinyl, her hand just hoving barely over a large red gash on the blue haired girl’s face. “Oh my god! Vinyl you’re hurt!” The door is heard swung open, followed by multiple sets of footsteps. “She was just right here! I checked only a few minutes ago” “Then I suppose she hasn’t gone very fair, you idiot. Men! Search for them! If she got out then her friends won’t be too far” The sounds of his posh, narcissistic voice made everyone shiver with dread. Lyra signaling everyone to follow. “We can worry about that gash later, right now we need to fucking run!” “She’s hurt, Lyra! I can at least cover it before we run” “Okay then just fucking hurry up” Octavia was somewhat right, as Vinyl stepping to her feet caused her head to spin, that guy must have done more damage to her than she first thought. It was now stinging from the cold bite of the wind as Vinyl tried to stand up right, blooding dripping down and onto her face. Octavia didn’t hesitate to get her to lean her weight on her own shoulders, nodding to Lyra. “Okay, I got a cloth in my pocket-” “Oh my, that is so thoughtful, Miss Octavia” The group turned around in dread, seeing Kyle Blueblood stand there with three of his private guards, each carrying a tall taser. He smirked and flipped his blonde hair back, showing his bandaged wound from the night prior. “I must say, you lot just up and running from my party did complicated things, but did you really think you could just ruin my party, wreck my lovely, expensive home, and do THIS to my handsome face and expect to just walk? No no no, my Blueblood honour will not allow that. Which is why you’re all coming with me, and don’t bother saying you won’t come with, you don’t have a choice” Bon grabbed a large rock from the ground and threw it as hard as she could right into Kyle’s face. He screamed in pain as the group bolted deep into the forest, Octavia holding Vinyl up as they tried to place as much distance between their group and Kyle’s as they could. Kyle reeled his head back in pain and glared at his guards. “Don’t just fucking stand there! Whoever gets that lesbian bitch gets double their pay! GO!” The guards sprinted into the forest, trying to catch up with the group of young adults, they sprinted for dear life as they approached the open road, spotting Lyra’s truck up the street. “There! Fucking go!” Lyra ran forward and unlocked the vehicle, quickly starting the engine as the others piled in, with only Vinyl and Octavia lagging behind. A guard approached the two, igniting his taser with a chuckle. “You two will make Mr Blueblood very happy-” He didn’t get to finish his sentence, as Octavia swung her leg up as hard as she could and kicked square in the middle of his legs, a small squeal of pain was heard before he collapsed to the floor. Vinyl looked at Octavia, impressed. “Damn, didn’t know you could kick that hard” “Comes in handy, doesn’t it?” She quickly led Vinyl to the truck, helping her into the back with Lyra slamming the gas as soon as they were both in, zooming past the other two guards as they rounded the corner and away from the road side shop. Octavia fetched her cloth from her pocket and wrapped it around Vinyl’s head. “Here, it won’t help too much, but it’ll stop the bleeding for now, then I can clean it and actually dress it” Vinyl simply nodded and smiled. “Thanks, you’re a real lifesaver” She looked around at everyone else, Bon and Lyra in the front with only Haven in the back of the truck, Dixie taking the other free seat. “Is everyone okay? Did we even get the stuff?” Dixie nodded. “I think we’re all fine, and yes! We actually got everything still” “How the fuck?” Bon chipped in, looking into the back. “I don’t think he cared, once he yelled at us to leave, we kinda just threw everything we could into the back. So we got gas and water! Sadly none of the food and drink though, that was inside” Vinyl nodded, holding up her head, true to Octavia’s word the cloth did seem to stop the bleeding for now, or at least slow it down. Dixie leaned forward with wonder in her eyes. "Vinyl! How did you get those cuffs off?" "Uh, hair pins are really good at getting past simple locks like that" "Wait....you can pick locks?" The group looked at Vinyl, who now was very aware that suddenly showing that you can pick locks isn't exactly a normal person would know. "I-I learnt how to do it to sneak around my old highschool, y-you know??" Dixie shrugged, smiling and sitting back into her seat as Vinyl breathed a sigh of relief. The group finally had a moment to relax again, everyone taking a moment to breathe as they finally let themselves be free from the intense stress of the situation. Lyra focused on the road ahead as Vinyl tried to not focus on the pain throbbing through her head. Octavia leant close in worry. “Are you alright?” “It’s just a bit of pain, nothing I can’t live with” “Well as soon as I can I will make sure it’s nothing serious. You had me really worried” Vinyl smiled and relaxed in her seat, after everything that just happened, she could use a few Zs. “Um, Vinyl, can I ask you something?” “Hmm? Yeah? What is it?” “Tavi” “Huh?” “Is Tavi some sort of nickname you have for me now?” Octavia smirked as a small blush grew on Vinyl’s cheeks. “I-It’s nothing, really, just didn’t have the energy to say your full name, is all” “Well, I like it” “H-Huh?” “I like it! Everyone is so formal with me all the time, I don’t think I would mind someone treating me more…..casually” “Heh, alright, I can keep calling you Tavi if you want” Octavia smiled and put her head back, looking to get some rest, Vinyl followed suit, letting her eyes drop as the world once again dipped into black, at least when she woke up, instead of being in cuffed in a back room or having sun in her face, it would be next to Octavia. Author's Note Hello everyone! No way I'm letting this story die on it's first chapter. I hope y'all enjoyed! Chapter 3 is already being written and 4 is being planned out, looking forward to showing what I have in store! <3 Chapter 3: On Melancholy HillThe truck crawled to a stop on the sand as the engine slowly turned off. Lyra fully sunk her head into the rim of the steering wheel as she tried to blink her eyes awake, Bon reaching her hand over and placing it onto her girlfriend’s from the passenger seat. “Alright guys, guess we gotta make camp here for tonight. Vinyl’s in no state to drive and my poor Lyra is about to pass out. So get your butts outta the truck and let’s set things up!” Bon tried to motivate everyone with her positive attitude, but with the state most was in, it only really seemed to work on Dixie and Haven. “Brilliant idea, Bon! I shall attempt to get things together for a fire!” “Ooooooo, and I’ll get some blankets out!” Octavia looked at Dixie, confused. “I don’t think many of us brought blankets, Dixie.” “Oh, I knew that! That’s why I brought all ten of mine!” “O-Oh, that’s very thoughtful of you, Dixie.” She beamed with happiness as she left the truck, grabbing the large pile of blankets from the back. Haven was already wandering off to get wood, which was going to be difficult given their savana-like surroundings. Bon left her seat with Lyra slowly getting out of her seat. “Bon Bon and I will get some food ready. Hey Octavia, how’s V holding up?” The girl in question was leaning against her seatbelt, resting after the afternoon she just went through. Octavia was at her side, making sure the girl didn’t hit her gash while sleeping. “She’s alright, after some trouble I finally got her to sleep. If it’s all the same to all of you, I might stay here with her for now” Lyra nodded and went to the back of the truck, Dixie quickly taking her place. “Hey! I found some first aid thingies in my stuff! Maybe you can use them?” The blonde girl smiled and leaned in to hand Octavia a small zipped up bag with a red cross sewn into it. “Thank you, Dixie, I appreciate you looking out for us like this.” The girl beamed and slightly bounced in place. “It’s no problem! I don’t like seeing friends hurt. I’m gonna help Bon with the food as it seems Lyra is…” She leaned to the side and pointed behind her to a certain green-haired girl having already crashed on one of Dixie’s fluffy blankets. Octavia chuckled at the sight. “Sounds good, I’m going to properly cover Vinyl’s wound and help her out.” Dixie enthusiastically nodded and skipped off to help Bon. Octavia sighed and opened the small bag, lucky for her it had what she needed. Bandages, swabs, tissue, cotton, antibacterial wipes, everything that would help out with an injury. She looked over at the sleeping blue-haired girl. There was something about seeing her like that- all relaxed and peaceful- that brought a smile to her face. She grabbed the wipes and slightly tilted Vinyl’s head, removing the cloth that covered the wound. Luckily it wasn’t too deep, so it should be healed soon enough. She tried to hold her head still, but the wounded girl’s head kept sinking back into the seatbelt. Octavia sighed and grabbed the other girls’ head with both hands to keep it still. At that moment, there was something that struck her. Vinyl’s hair, it was so…..soft. Octavia found her hands running through her hair, feeling each blue strand between her fingers. Just the feeling made Octavia’s chest flutter. She looked at Vinyl’s sleeping face, as her thumb brushed a strand of hair off of the other girl’s cheek. Something else occurred to her, Vinyl’s face felt soft to the touch as well, in a different way. Her hands wandered to the girl’s cheeks; they were warm. She had completely forgotten about her task at hand, lost in the moment. She might have not noticed it before, but Vinyl certainly wasn’t harsh to the eyes like some others at their college thought. She was so close to Vinyl- practically on her lap- their faces mere inches apart. A part of her wanted to close that distance. She pulled her hands back and shook her head, trying to get her thoughts straight. ‘Why am I getting like this? Why is my chest feeling like this? And god why can’t I get my heart to stop racing!?’ Octavia took a few deep breaths and looked back to her friend, still sleeping away. Octavia shook her head again and tore open the small pack of wipes. She fetched one out and started gliding it over the wound. Vinyl jolted awake with a small grunt of pain, catching Octavia by surprise. The girl blinked her eyes open and managed to focus her vision on her helper. “T-Tavi? What are you doing?” “Oh! I was just uh….helping your wound, cleaning it out before re-wrapping it.” Vinyl slowly nodded, rubbing her head as she looked around the empty truck. “That explains why it stung like a bitch. Where’s everyone else?” “Dixie and Bon are preparing some food, Haven is off to get wood for a fire, and Lyra is currently passed out on a pile of blankets.” She chuckled at hearing her friend’s state, before focusing on the wipe in Octavia’s hand. “So uh, I guess I should let you finish cleaning this gash.” “O-Oh! Right…” Octavia leaned in and applied the wipe to the wound, causing Vinyl to slightly wince at the pain. “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you” “I know…” The closeness of her crush to herself was almost too much for poor Vinyl, trying to minimize the blush on her face as they worked away. “....I still cannot believe you did that, Vinyl.” “Did what?” “Throwing yourself at him! He had a bloody gun and you still tried to punch him!” “I had to! He was-” “You could have gotten hurt a lot worse than this! I was worried sick about what state you were in, or what he might do to you! What on earth possessed you to just.. lunge at him?!” “He was threatening you.” “I know he was threatening us, but you should have thought-” Octavia paused her lecture and froze. “W-What did you say?” “He was threatening you, and I guess I just.. did the first thing that came to mind when I heard that.” She had to take a moment to process that, it wasn’t just that her friends were in potential danger, but Vinyl fought back when she was the target. She slowly returned to cleaning the wound, tossing the soaked wipe away when she was done. “Y-You are an idiot….” Octavia sighed and looked up at Vinyl, just now realizing how close she had gotten while she was cleaning the gash. She stumbled back a bit and awkwardly rubbed her hands together. “S-Sorry for getting so close….” She reached into the bag and pulled out a small bandage roll, undoing it to wrap around Vinyl’s head. “I...don’t mind.” “Don’t mind what?” “...You being close.” Octavia’s cheeks suddenly felt hot as they blushed a deep red. She shook her head; she just needed to focus on helping with the wound. She slowly leaned in and began wrapping the bandage around Vinyl’s head. “Hey, Tavi? Do you remember the first time we met?” She was taken back by the question- not that she couldn’t answer- it just felt odd to ask at the present moment. “Of course I do. Bon was showing me around Canterlot High and was about to end the tour-” She tightened the bandage, to make sure it would stay in place as she continued. “-when she wanted to introduce me to her friends. So we entered the music room to find you and Lyra playing air guitar to some metal song on top of a stack of chairs.” Vinyl chuckled at the memory, herself and Lyra had just got done with a science test and were just happy to be free from that stress. “You two saw us enter shortly after, and you were so surprised by the sudden intrusion that you fell off the chair stack, taking Lyra right down with you.” Octavia couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at the scene in her head. She hadn’t expected the polite tour guide’s friends to be loud, dyed haired pretend rock stars for one thing, and her first time being around them had her witness Vinyl bringing Lyra down a stack of chairs. “I-It wasn’t that funny!” “It was pretty funny, Vinyl. I thought my experience at that school was going to be dull and then you lot quite literally fell in to prove otherwise” “Yeah yeah, well I’m glad it was funny to someone, cause I remember Lyra not being too happy about those bruises.” “Gosh yeah. But Vinyl? While it’s funny to think about, why bring it up now, if I may ask?” “Well uh! Cause uh…” ‘I didn’t fall in surprise, I fell because I couldn’t believe the most beautiful girl in the world just walked through that door.’ Vinyl wanted to say that, they were alone with no interruptions, closer than they have ever been before, she could just come out and say it. A lump got caught in her throat, fuck. ‘Come on nerves, now’s not the time to get like this on me! She’s right here! This is a perfect time!’ She couldn’t help but seeing the strangeness that being on the run and injured someone presented itself a chance to let Octavia know how she really felt about her for all these years, but she just couldn’t seem to get the right words out. “Oh you know, I remembered it just now and thought to talk about it.” ‘Ms. Vinyl Scratch, that the worst speaking your feelings attempt, ever, of all fucking time’ Octavia simply hummed as a response, finishing wrapping up the bandage around Vinyl’s head. “There you go, that will take care of any leftover blood and allow it to heal up.” She sat back and admired her handiwork, it would be no time at all till it was all nice and healed up. All they had to do now was exit the truck and join the others. Exit the truck. And join the others. And end this alone time with Vinyl. Octavia felt her chest flutter again, she didn’t want to leave this moment, she didn’t want to join the others yet. ‘Come on, Octavia, we just have to join the others. But, why do I not want to? I just, want to be here….’ Vinyl noticed her friend and what to her seemed like panic, she leaned forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, it’s all cool, it’ll heal up all fine and junk. You did a great job.” Octavia couldn’t help but calm at the touch- there was always something about Vinyl that had that effect on her- when she wasn’t being the cause for her worry of course. ‘Why am I getting like this? Am I freaking out? No that’s not it. I feel actually really good, so why do I feel like my heart is about to burst out of my bloody chest?’ Vinyl smiled, still trying to calm down the seeming panic in her friend. “You did awesome, Tavi. There’s no one I would have wanted more to patch me up. Trust me, okay?” She thought about brushing her hands through that blue hair again, and the feeling of Vinyl’s head in her hands. She thought about being so close. ‘God, I feel like how Bon described the way she gets around Lyra-’ Octavia froze, that last thought bouncing around in her mind. She moved quickly, opening the door to the truck. “W-We should get moving! I think we’ve k-kept everyone waiting long enough!” Without waiting for a response, Ocativa climbed out of her seat and out to meet with the rest of the group, leaving Vinyl still sitting there in shock. ‘Was it something I said? Shit, maybe. Fuck..’ Vinyl sighed, before rising from her seat as well to join the rest. Somehow, someway, Haven had managed to find enough wood from the very few scattered trees to make a pretty big fire, and with some sticks leftover too. Dixie was warming herself next to the flame while he poked at it, trying to keep it going for as long as possible. Bon sat nearby with Lyra’s sleeping head in her lap. Vinyl took her seat next to Lyra while Octavia paced around. “Holy shit Haven, how the fuck did you manage to get enough wood for this?” “I have my ways, Vinyl, it wasn’t that difficult. Dixie helped me light it too!” Dixie nodded as she tried to get comfortable on the sand. “I used a bit of gas to kickstart it, so it went off fine!” Vinyl looked at the height of the flame and let off a whistle. ‘So that’s why it’s so tall then’ “So how’s the food situation?” Bon poked at some open tins of spaghetti and beans near the fire. “We don’t have all the tools to actually cook these, so we’re just letting the fire heat these up.” “Better than nothing, I guess.” Octavia suddenly went up to and crouched near Bon, making sure to speak quietly. “Bon, may I please have a moment of your time? In private?” “Huh? Oh, sure thing! Vinyl, mind watching over Lyra for me?” Vinyl picked up a stick and poked Lyra’s backside with it, causing her to sleepily try to whack it away. “She’s fine, I got this.” Bon rolled her eyes and stood up, following her friend a distance away so that the others wouldn’t hear. “So what did ya need, Octavia?” Octavia had led her friend a bit away from the rest of the group, her mind a mess of different thoughts and emotions, and she didn’t want the others to hear something she may regret saying. She rubbed her arm, slightly shaking from the cold and her own nerves. “Geez, are you okay? You’re shaking like a buzzer.” Octavia had turned and looked at her friend, not able to meet her eyes. “B-Bon, do you remember you talking to me about how being around Lyra m-makes you feel?” Bon raised an eyebrow, confused at the question asked. “Yeah? I do remember that, why do you ask?” She tried to control her breathing, taking in large breaths to try and calm herself, but the suddenness of said breaths only made her nerves worse. “W-Well, I… I-I…” “Woah, Octavia, breathe, you can talk to me” “I…. Bon…” She finally looked her in the eye, Bon seeing the confusion and slight worry in her eyes. “Bon… why do I feel those things when I’m around Vinyl?” “... What?” Octavia walked up closer to Bon, trying to form words to explain the conflicting waves of thoughts in her head. “T-Those feelings, wanting to hold them, feel their touch. Wanting to run your hands through their hair, wanting to block out everything, and just be there with them! I-I feel those things when I’m with Vinyl and I’m just! I-I’m just confused! And s-scared! Why is this happening to me!? Bon I don’t know what’s going on with me…” Octavia was heavily panting by now, shaking wildly as she let all her panicked thoughts out. Bon took a moment to process what that was blurted out. “Oh, Octavia, how long has this been going on?” That was a question that caught Octavia off guard, this recent panic was because of what happened in the truck, but now that she thought back on it, as she peeled back the layers of memories, more and more came to her. She often stared at Vinyl, caught up in her features. She always found herself playing her heart out with her cello even more if she knew she was watching. She was always happy around her. Even when Vinyl did something dangerous or stupid, she could never stay mad at her. ‘H-How long has this been going on with me!? Why did I never notice until now!?’ “I-I don’t know! I-I was with Vinyl in the truck and my chest just felt like it was filled with butterflies! My heart felt like it was beating a million times per minute! I-I want to be around her! I… I don’t know what’s happening with me!” “Octavia….Do you feel safe around Vinyl? Do you want to always be close to her?” “Y-Yes! A-And I don’t know why! I’m just… so confused.” Bon walked up to Octavia and placed her hand on her shoulder, causing the panicking girl to calm down a bit. Bon tried to give her the best reassuring smile she could. “I can’t speak for you, but Octavia? Everything you’ve told me leads me to believe that you might have fallen hard for our little Vinyl.” Octavia froze, her shaking stopped as she tried to understand Bon’s words. “F-Fallen? Like, fallen for her?” “It seems that way to me, you remind me of myself when I first developed feelings for Lyra.” “B-But that’s… impossible! I-I’m not…” “Not what?” “L-Like you and Lyra. I’m not… gay” “Oh, I mean, I don’t mean to be pushy but are you sure about that?” “O-Of course! I was raised that way! I’m only meant to like men.” “.....Raised? Meant to? Octavia that doesn’t really sound like you’re even sure about that. I mean, I thought I didn’t like girls until Lyra. Have you ever been with a guy before?” “No, no I can’t say I have. I focused on my music, and I just… never really saw the point in that. All that… hand-holding and kissing them didn’t really appeal to me.” “Oh, honey. I think you might not be as straight as you thinkt.” Octavia let that thought bounce around in her head. It was true, she never really went out with any men. She just had too much work with her music, but was that really the reason? “Octavia, I’m going to ask you a question and I want you to answer as honestly as possible.” “O-Okay.” “If Vinyl came up to you, right now, and said she wanted to kiss you, would you let her?” That thought was certainly new, it made her head spin. Her parents always expected her to come home with a nice young man one day, and she thought that would always be the case too. But Bon’s question just shattered all that at once. ‘If she wanted to… kiss me… would I let her?’ She felt dizzy. The thought burned into her mind. She pictured it: Vinyl leaning forward, herself leaning in, and having their lips meet. It sends her on a spiral of thoughts and emotions. She couldn’t just kiss a girl like that, hell she didn’t even know people could like other genders until she came to Canterlot High! Sunset and that Twilight girl from Crystal Prep being the school-wide famous couple made sure that Octavia couldn’t not hear about it. She supported people like that- she saw nothing wrong with it- Bon and Lyra for example were one of the happiest couples that Octavia had ever seen. But she wasn’t like that. Was she? “I…” She kept imagining it, the image of Vinyl’s lips against hers not leaving her mind. She kept thinking of every answer she could give, but one answer was being screamed at her much louder than the others. it made no sense to her, so why was it the answer she wanted to give? Octavia gulped, hard, forcing all of her energy out to give an answer. “I…I think I would happily let her..” The words escaping her lips had stopped all the buzzing in her mind, like time just, stopped around her as she looked down at the sand. "I….want to kiss a woman." Octavia stared at the ground, not moving an inch as her mouth spoke without any input from her. "I want to kiss Vinyl Scratch." Octavia collapsed to her knees, not even being able to hold up her own weight was the reality of her words set in, Bon quickly going to her side to comfort her. “Oh, Octavia. I know it’s a lot to process, and no one said that you had to figure everything out right now. This is just the first step on that.” “I… didn’t even know I… felt that way about her. I’ve never even thought of anything like that before.” “It’s a big shock to the system, isn’t it?” She silently nodded her head, her mind was shockingly blank of all buzzing thoughts, just the echoes of what she said. “Do you need some time alone?” “I….yes, actually.” Octavia stood up, finally managing to compose herself. Bon placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled. “No problem, I’ll be over with the group if you need me.” “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to offend, I just-” “No I totally get it, it’s a lot to discover and think about all at once. And don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone until you feel comfortable about it.” “Not even Lyra?” “Not even Lyra, promise.” Octavia threw her arms around Bon and brought her into a hug, breathing a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Bon. You’re such a good friend.” “Awww look at you, getting all sappy.” Bon gladly returned the embrace, just happy that her friend seemed to be in a better headspace now. “You’re one pretty awesome friend yourself, and I’m sure all the others would say the same.” Bon pulled away from the hug with a smile before walking off to join the rest of the group. Octavia took a seat on the sandy floor as she looked at the distant image of her friends. Vinyl and Dixie were busy trying to stack things on top of the sleeping Lyra while Haven was trying to keep it from falling. She giggled at the sight, even if they were in danger and on the run, her friends would always somehow find a way to make it an enjoyable experience. She found herself focusing on Vinyl, her giggling face as she stacked yet another tin of beans onto the pile. ‘Of course. If there was anyone to come into my life and throw everything I knew about it out the window, I should've guessed it would be you, Vinyl’ It took about an hour before Octavia worked up the courage to walk back to the group. She tried thinking about everything she and Bon discussed but she just ended up trying to not focus on it in the end. She had a lot of conflicting thoughts and feelings in her head, and sitting out in the cold wasn’t going to help. She would figure things out, eventually, but right now wasn’t that time. She looked at her friends, Haven and Dixie were now talking around the fire. Haven was waving his arms around, no doubt explaining some sort of scientific theory. Lyra and Bon were laying in the back of the truck, just enjoying each other’s company as they rested. Lastly Vinyl for whatever reason was sitting on top of the truck roof, looking into the night sky. “What on earth are you sitting up there for, Vinyl?” “Oh, hey Tavi, took you long enough to find a place to piss.” “I wasn’t….what? No, I was just resting you idiot.” “Ah, well I feel stupid. So what’s up?” “I was asking what you were doing up on the roof of the truck, doesn’t strike me as being the most convenient seating around.” Vinyl just shrugged and smiled back. “I like being on top of things, gives off the vibes, ya know?” “N… No, I can’t say I do know. Are… you stargazing?” “Yep, was bored and there was nothing else to do.” “I had no idea you even knew anything about constellations, Vinyl.” “Oh, no, I know fuck all about those! I like making new ones up, though.” Vinyl pointed to a vague set of stars up in the night sky. “See, if you look closely, that one is shaped like an ass.” Octavia let out a long laugh at the immature comment of her peer, before looking up to the set of stars, and shockingly if you looked at it just right it did kind of look like someone’s behind. “Oh my god, it actually does.” “It sure does. Hey, come up here, there’s plenty of room and I can show you more constellations I made up.” She looked up at the blue-haired girl, seeing the moonlight shine down and highlighting the colored streaks. Octavia gulped. Not even an hour ago she was panicking over her feelings for this woman, and now she was being invited to watch the stars with her. She sighed and climbed up the front of the truck. ‘You know what? I’m not thinking about that, right now, I just want to have a nice moment with her.’ Reaching and pulling herself up, she took a seat next to her friend. “I-It feels a bit rocky up here, are you sure we’ll be okay?” “Yeah we’ll be fine, what, afraid you’re gonna-” Vinyl began wildly rocking the truck side to side. “Fall!?” Octavia yelped and held on tightly before Vinyl stopped the shaking. “Y-You’re a jerk!” “It’s a part of my charm.” Vinyl laughed as the other girl repeatedly punched her in the arm. “Okay okay! I won’t do that again.” “Hmf! Good!” They both laid down on their backs, side to side, looking up to the night sky. Being far from any city, it was filled with so many stars, it was almost too much to take in. Vinyl lifted her arm and pointed up at the sky. “Okay so, that one is shaped like a car….I think” “Hmmm, well I suppose if I squint it vaguely looks like one.” “And that one looks like a giant bong.” “Of course you would see that! To me, it looks like a bell.” “Bong.” “Bell.” “Boooong!” “Beeeell!” They both let out a chuckle at their little non-argument, sighing before gazing at the stars again. Octavia looked to her side, seeing just how close Vinyl was to her. All those feelings came rushing back in an instant looking at her smiling face. ‘God damn everything, it’s just been so confusing today.’ “Uh, you okay Tavi?” Octavia snapped out of her thoughts and blinked at Vinyl. “Hm? What do you mean?” “You were kinda just, glaring at me, did I do something wrong?” “Oh no no you’re fine, I’m just…..spacing out I guess. It’s been one long day.” “Yeah it has, not even a few hours ago I was chained in some dude’s backroom.” “You’re still an idiot for trying to punch him like that, but… thank you.” “It’s nothing.” “It is not nothing! You threw yourself into harm’s way to try and protect us, not knowing what was going to happen to you! That’s something, Vinyl” “I mean….okay. It’s not a problem then, and trust me I’ll do it again.” “Oh my lord if you actually do that again I’m going to faint!” They both laid their heads back down. Octavia- left alone with her thoughts again- remembered Bon’s words. She basically gave Octavia a test to see how she was really feeling- and while she wasn’t going to just suddenly embrace Vinyl’s lips like that, she did have one thing she wanted to try. “.....Vinyl?” “Yeah, Tavi?” “I’m getting rather cold, would you mind if I….got a bit closer for warmth?” A deep blush covered Vinyl’s cheeks as she tried not to stumble over her own words. “O-Of course! Y-You can get as close as you… need.” “Thank you.” She moved closer to Vinyl until she was leaning right up next to the blue-haired girl. She wasn’t lying, it was getting rather cold and their heat definitely helped, but this was more so to just….experience what that was like. ‘She’s….warm, she even smells nice too. This….feels okay. This feels nice.’ Octavia slowly sunk her face into the side of their shoulder, causing Vinyl’s face to grow bright red. ‘Okay okay okay, don’t panic Vinyl, you got this! It’s just….the most amazing woman you know is almost snuggling up against you. It’s no big deal, nothing to panic over. Absolutely nothing to panic over! Nothing.To.Panic.Over- NOT PANICKING WE ARE SO NOT PANICKING RIGHT NOW YEP TOTALLY FINE EVERYTHING IS A-OKAY WOOOO’ The brown-haired girl softly yawned, leaning her head more into Vinyl. “Stay up here, for now? You’re warm.” Vinyl’s panic was suddenly gone as she looked down at the sleeping girl. She smiled, yeah, maybe there really wasn’t anything to panic over. “Of course Tavi, get some rest.” “Night Vinyl…” “Good night.” “.....Vinyl?” “Yeah?” “I really like it when you call me Tavi.” Before Vinyl could respond, Octavia’s eyelids closed as she fell into a deep sleep. Something about being around Vinyl calmed all the thoughts tumbling through her head. She wasn’t ready to think about what all those feelings could mean, but at the very least she could just enjoy this one moment. Those problems would be ready for her tomorrow. Right now though? Nothing else mattered. Only Vinyl mattered. Author's Note Hello all! I hope y'all enjoyed this more chilled, character focused chapter. Chapter 4 is being written rn! So look out for that! Can't wait to show you what happens next, and I hope everyone of you has a great day/night!
Chapter 1: Run Boy RunThe sounds of the train tracks, that's all Vinyl could focus on as it powered on through the night. Everyone else there had something else, Bon had Lyra to cling to, as if she was the only steady perch in a storm. Dixie had Haven to help calm her down, and Octavia, well, she clung onto her cello case for dear life, but all Vinyl had to distract her was the sounds of the train. Haven looked up, finally able to stop Dixie’s crying, he looked around at the group in their lonely train car. “Does everybody remember the plan?” Lyra looked up from her clinging girlfriend. “You...did kinda just shout it out as we were running.” “Ah, very fair Lyra! Very well, I shall repeat!” Vinyl couldn’t help raise an eyebrow, Haven was known for how calm he could be under pressure. The world itself could be about to explode and he would not only stay calm throughout the whole thing, he could probably even figure out how to solve it, Vinyl thought to herself. “We need to get out of this town before news starts spreading, now, Lyra! I believe you have a truck at your place of living?” Lyra nodded, still holding her girlfriend close. “Yeah, just finished paying it off too, so hey, we can take angry truck salesmen off the list of things we’re running from!” The joke wasn’t received well, Dixie going to sit right up to Haven in fear. Octavia coughed into her fist and shot a glare at the green haired girl, who could only look at the floor. “Sorry…” Bon glanced up from over her love’s shoulder, looking to move the conversation away from Lyra. “What next?” Haven, happy to take the reins again, replied. “Well! As I tried to explain in our rush, we should split up into pairs, and grab what’s needed from our homes; clothes, devices. If you have a piggy bank, smash it, we’re going to need it. Bon, Octavia, you two help each other grab what you need, since you live on the same street. Dixie and myself live next door, so I’ll be going with her. Vinyl will be going with Lyra to help her and get the truck ready. Once you have grabbed what you need, we meet at Lyra’s and drive out of this town as fast as we can.” Dixie wiped a tear from her eye and spoke up. “W-What about Vinyl? Shouldn’t we also get her stuff-” Vinyl cut in with a strong tone, not letting Dixie finish, “I’ll be fine, I don’t got anything I would need to take with me, so I’ll just help Lyra.” Dixie wanted to speak up again, but after looking at Vinyl’s stern face, she decided against it. Haven looked at the map printed above the train windows and squinted. “Next stop will be ours, we all know what to do.” Everyone eventually nodded, exchanging worried looks as the train started to slow down and pull into the station. Octavia spoke up. “What do we do if we can’t make it?” Lyra, standing up as the train halted, spoke. “Text me, we’re not leaving anyone behind for the cops to scoop up.” Everyone else began to stand. Lyra kissed Bon on the cheek, telling her that she won’t be long, Dixie stood close to Haven as she tried to control herself, Octavia placed her cello case on her back, and Vinyl, once again, only had the sound of train tracks to focus on as she stood from her seat. The door slid open, everyone exchanging one last look at each other, before running. Running all the way to Lyra’s proved to be a challenge for both women as they stopped at the property's gate to catch their breath. “Lyra if you wheeze…. ever make me huff…. run that kind of distance again, I’m going to break a fucking window.” Lyra just sighed as she unlocked and swung open the gate. “Yeah, like the barn window?” “H-Hey we both know I didn’t mean to do that!” Lyra just rolled her eyes and motioned for Vinyl to follow her. Lyra’s house was on top of a small hill surrounded by farmland, and parked just in front of the shed was Lyra’s truck. Vinyl remembered when Lyra first got the deal for it, she was on cloud 9, it was big, had plenty of seats and could hold a lot of weight. Vinyl and Lyra had even given it their own special touches, which mostly meant defacing it and drawing all over it. The two women ran into the house, slamming the door behind them with Vinyl running to the kitchen as Lyra ran to grab her stuff. “Damn it, Mama and Mum aren’t even meant to come back for a week….I’m sorry mums” Lyra said to herself as she grabbed her bag and started filling it with clothes, each outfit should last a few days each it re-used. Then she had to get her phone charger and camera, after that was- “Lyra!” Vinyl shouted from across the house. “Don’t forget to get that money out of your stash! We’ll need all the fucking cash we can get!” Lyra sighed deeply and removed a band poster from her closet, revealing a small hole in the wall which stored a wad of cash. “Awwww, but this is meant to be our weed money!” “We got more important things than that to worry about!” “Fuuuuuuuuck.” Lyra groaned loudly before grabbing the cash and stuffing it into her pocket. She zipped her bag up and was ready to help Vinyl in the kitchen when she stopped. On her wall, the picture Lyra and Bon took on their first date, both of them smiling as Bon tried to wipe the spilt ice cream from her mouth as Lyra tried to not burst out laughing. She grabbed it off the wall and folded it into her pocket, there was no way she was leaving without that. Lyra ran to the kitchen, only to see Vinyl trying to pack away a large carton of... “Fucking Cola!? Really, Vinyl!?” Vinyl, looking up from her struggling attempt at shoving the whole box into a shopping bag, threw her hands up. “What? It’s not like we’ll be shopping on the road! Now hurry up and help me.” “I swear you’re fucking addicted to that shit.” “Maybe so, but at least it’s not beer.” “That’s not a high bar to pass.” Vinyl sighed and made one last push into the bag, the side now had a tear thanks to the carton, but hey, it was in at least. Lyra just rolled her eyes and started placing food into the bag, whatever they could eat on the road, which meant mostly canned food…..and a lot of junk food. “It’s not like we’ll need these for our sesh.” Lyra commented as she placed yet another bag of chips into her bag. “Hey Lyra… do... do you have salsa?” Lyra stopped what she was doing and just stared at Vinyl with annoyance, Vinyl returning the glance by giving the biggest puppy dog eyes she could. Lyra sighed and motioned to behind her. “Top shelf in the fridge.” “Fuck yeah!” After they were done, the two women threw their stuff into the truck, mostly in the back, Lyra fished into her jacket for her keys as Vinyl stood aside the vehicle. “Where the fuck is everyone?” Lyra grabbed her keys and placed them into the ignition, turning them and causing the truck to hum and purr as it came to life. “Relax, we had to run for a fair bit to even get here, we just need to give them a bit more time.” Vinyl rolled her eyes and took her seat in the front seat of the truck. Lyra sat there at the wheel, ready to go at a moment’s notice. She smirked at Vinyl, which confused the blue haired girl. “..What?” “You know, we might be like, on the run, but there’s some positives to it.” “Oh really? Like what exactly?” “No school, for starters” “I guess that’s fair, we had a science test on friday didn’t we?” “Yeeeeep.” “Nevermind, we should have committed crimes years ago! Think of all the tests we could have gotten out of.” “Well there’s that, but we also get to spend time together. Me and Bon Bon-” “I still can’t believe you call that a pet name.” “Dixie and Haven…” Lyra turned to look at Vinyl, a huge grin across her face with her eyebrows raised. “You and Octavia~” A small blush covered Vinyl’s cheeks as she stumbled over her words. “T-The fuck is that supposed to mean!?” “Oh come on Vinyl, you can’t tell me that you don’t like the thought of spending a lot of time with Octavia.” “I-I mean yeah, she’s a friend!” “Oh really? Just a friend? That’s not what drunk Vinyl told me, as she laid across my floor constantly going on about how much she just wanted to grab Octavia’s face and kiss her.” Vinyl punched Lyra in the arm as her cheeks grew to a deep red. “I-I don’t speak for drunk Vinyl! No one does, she lies about shit all the time.” Lyra laughed off the punch and smiled. “Yeah, suuuuure. Should I bring up the time when you saw her at our beach meet up and you fell off the diving board cause you were eyeing her up something fierce?” “I-I was not.” “Or the other time where you tried to write a classical piece for her and it sounded fuckin’ awful?” “IN MY DEFENSE! thaT WAS FOR A SCHOOL PROJECT!” “Yeah Vinyl, it was, to write a piece of any kind of music, and you chose-” Vinyl started repeatedly punching Lyra in the arm as Lyra couldn’t contain her laughter. The gate was heard swinging open as Lyra looked up at her windshield, seeing Bon and Octavia with their bags running to the truck. Vinyl just glared at Lyra. “Yeah yeah V, not a word from me.” The two other women ran up and dumped their bags into the back of the truck, then taking a moment to breathe, Octavia looking like she was about to pass out from lack of oxygen. “My goodness…..I knew I wasn’t a runner but that was certainly a big reminder.” She remarked as she adjusted her cello. Vinyl looked out of the window in disbelief. “You’re taking your cello with us?” “Why of course I am, I’d rather hand myself over to the police than leave this behind.” Vinyl just had to shrug, she should have expected that kind of reaction from her. “That’s fair.” Bon walked up to Lyra and gave her a peck on the cheek. “You got everything you needed, sweety?” “Of course Bon Bon, you?” “We’re actually pretty quick to do so, we actually spent more time running here.” “Yeah…..maybe having everyone meet up here wasn’t the greatest plan, but it's the only one we got. Now we’re just missing-” Lyra’s phone buzzed in her pocket, fishing it out, she saw the picture of the caller in question. Haven in a one piece black and white striped swimsuit, floaties, some goggles and a swim cap, confidently walking towards the shore. She swiped the phone and answered, putting it on the loudspeaker. “Haven? Where are you?” “Oh thank goodness you picked up! Look we got mine’s and Dixie’s things together, it's just-” “Just what?” “We’re…hearing sirens, and they’re getting closer.” “...Fuck.” Lyra looked to the others, each sharing the same look of worry. “Okay…think Lyra…fuck, what do we do?” “Hang on a moment… myself and Dixie’s whereabouts are near the highway…. Lyra! Start driving there! Me and Dixie will have to jump in on the side as it’s driving.” Vinyl leaned in closer to the phone. “So you want us to drive closer to where all the police are?” Haven sighed, before the sounds of shuffling can be heard. “It’s not the best idea I’ve had, I’ll admit, but right now it's the only one we got.” The sound of Dixie’s voice soon shot up from the phone. “Please hurry! Me and Haven will start making our way there now!” “Lyra, start driving, now!” The call ended there, leaving everyone speechless, except for a certain loudmouthed, blue haired girl. “YOU HEARD THE MAN, GET IN THE FUCKING TRUCK AND LETS GO!” The rubber of the tires burned against the road as Lyra swerved onto the next lane. Everyone grabbing onto their seats as tight as they could as the truck bounced and swung its passengers around. “Lyra, hun! Think you could not drive like a madwoman?!” Lyra slammed the brakes and turned onto the highway. “Sorry babe! But we’re kind of in a hurry!” Vinyl stuck her head out of the window and squinted. “Where the fuck are they!? We’re coming up to the backs of their houses soon!” Her question was soon answered as they spotted two figures with large bags running across the raised hillside next to the highway, blue and red lights flashing close to them. “Holy shit! You guys have to get down here! Should we stop!?” Haven just frantically waved to the flashing lights near him, panicked. “I DON’T THINK THAT WOULD BE THE BEST IDEA!” Bon leaned out of the window and looked to Dixie and Haven, as the sirens and lights got closer. “THEN YOU TWO WILL HAVE TO JUMP DOWN TO US!” “ARE YOU INSANE!?” “JUST DO IT!” Haven looked back at Dixie, even with her blonde hair flailing about, he could still see that she was scared too. “I’ll jump first! Then I’ll catch you!” “You don’t even know if you can do that!” “Correct! But it’s that or nothing!” Haven looked down at the truck as it slowed to match their running speed. He gulped, and turned back again to Dixie. “I will catch you! Just believe in me!” Haven stepped to the side and leaped down off the hill, Lyra driving the truck as close to the edge of the road as possible. Haven yelled out as he fell down towards, and eventually into the back of, the truck, landing with a loud thud which was followed by several pained groans. Bon gasped in shock as Vinyl couldn’t help but chuckle. “Holy FUCK dude! That sounded painful as shit, you okay?” Haven slowly got up, placing his bags to the side. “I’m fine! I’ll just count the bruises later” He balanced himself against the truck’s motion as he stood up, holding his arms up to Dixie. “Dixie! You have to jump!” Dixie looked down in panic, the siren and speaker now audible. “Stop running and place your hands in the air! If you do not stop we may need to use force to arrest you.” Everyone exchanged a look, before Vinyl motioned for Dixie to jump. “We don’t have time for this! The fucking cops are getting close to you!” “Dixie! You’ll be okay! I’ll catch you!” Dixie looked down, it was either jump down off a large hill and onto a speeding truck, or be caught by the police, neither sounded good, but only one of those options allowed her to stay with her friends. She gulped, focused on the truck, and leaped for her life. The wind whipped against her clothes and hair as she reached out for her friend, whom she promptly crash landed into, more than caught. “...Owie..” She remarked, rubbing her head as she got up to her knees. “Yep, definitely more bruises now.” Haven winced in pain as he sat up. “Who knows, maybe something broken too, if I’m lucky.” Ocativa looked into the back before leaning into the front of the truck. “They’re both in, we can go!” “Don’t have to tell me twice!” Lyra slammed the gas, speeding along past several cars and up to the speed limit, everyone getting a chance to finally breathe. Vinyl sat back into her seat, breathing a sigh of relief. “Ha! They’ll get around the corner and be like ‘Where did they go??’. Serves them fucking pigs right.” Octavia looked up at everyone, with a worried look across her face. “I hate to burst this good mood, but what exactly do we do now?” Lyra just shrugged. “Keep drivin’?” “That’s not a plan.” “We’ll think of a plan later, right now, focus on the fact that we just got out of that mess.” Lyra just looked ahead and focused on the night covered road ahead of her. Haven suddenly sprang up, then after a string of pained sounds, knocked on the back window to get everyone’s attention. “I was thinking about that while getting Dixie’s things! It just so happens that my uncle is a lawyer!” “No fucking way.” Vinyl remarked, looking back at him. “Way! He lives up north!” “How far up north?” “He lives about…I’d say it’ll possibly take about a week to get there if we were on the road for most of it.” “You fuckin’ serious?” Bon looked back at Haven, having concerns as well. “You sure he’ll be able to get us out of this?” Haven scoffed and beamed with confidence “Why of course! After all we’re on the right side, the… event being an accident and all. Trust me, once I’ve talked to him, he’ll gladly help us.” Lyra shot a glance at everyone, raising an eyebrow. “So, Haven’s uncle, but it's a week away if we drove the whole time. Anyone else with any other ideas?” “What about Octavia’s parents? Don’t they live up north too?” Dixie commented, having finally shrugged off the pain. Everyone looked at Octavia, who quickly had a rebuttal. “NO! No no…my parents are…. away on holiday in Spain for the next month, so that would be a no go.” “Haven’s uncle it is then, get comfortable everyone, this is going to be a long drive.” Lyra added before going back to focusing on the road ahead, and everyone did just what she asked, trying to get comfortable under the circumstances they’re in. Vinyl just slumped down and sunk into her chair, all it took was one accident for everything to get as it was, she sighed. Everything. Her future plans, events she wanted to go to, tests she would skip, they’re all out of the window now because of just one mistake, one slip up, and the worst part was that it pulled all of her friends into it too. “Fucking damn it.” Author's Note Hello! Long time reader, first time writer! (on this site anyways lol), I hope y'all enjoy the start to this (looking to be long) story! Lemme know any and all feedback you guys have! <3
Chapter 2: Ain't No Rest For The WickedIt was always the unimportant things Vinyl would tend to focus on, whether that be focusing on someone’s tone rather than the words that are being said, the way someone’s moving rather than what they’re doing, or in this case, focusing on the sounds of the car as it speedily drove on the highway with the early AM sun giving a small haze of the day to come. A yawn snaps her out of her focus, looking back to find Octavia slowly waking up from her seat as everyone else but herself and Lyra at the wheel were sound asleep, exhausted from the night they all went through. Octavia rubbed her eye and leaned forward. “Oh blimey, what time is it? The sun isn’t even fully up yet” Vinyl reached for her phone and checked. “Like, 4am” “Bloody hell” “Yeah it’s fuckin early, are you like, okay?” Octavia let out another yawn before trying to blink her eyes awake, her words at first coming slowly and drowsily. “If you mean completely than not particularly, I didn’t exactly plan to be running from police when I awoke yesterday. But if you mean right this moment then I suppose I’m okay.” Vinyl’s eyes lowered as she looked to the floor, the events of the night before playing out in her mind. “Hey look, Octavia, I’m just, really fucking sorry how out of hand shit got. I-” “I’m not hearing of this, Vinyl, no one knew that was going to happen, not with that storm and everything. You didn’t do anything wrong, okay?” Vinyl looked up as a small smile formed on her lips. “Thanks, still, shit’s kinda fucked right now” “At least we’re not lost in the everfree forest this time” She couldn’t help but chuckle, the time when Vinyl found a cool river away from camp everfree, only to accidentally get the group lost on the way back. “You’re never going to let me live that down, aren’t you?” “Nope!” She responded, beaming. “You know the paths at that camp were confusing as shit.” “Well it didn’t help that we were off the path.” “I-It’s not like it would have helped!” “Poor Haven, he was absolutely covered in bites and rashes when we got back, I swear he was redder than your flannel hoodie” Vinyl just rolled her eyes as Octavia tried her best to contain her laughter so as to not wake the others. After managing to control herself, she leaned over to the driver’s seat. “Any idea of when we need to stop, Lyra?” “By like, mid afternoon, I pulled up maps on my phone and there’ll be a stop around then, we can get food, water and gas there.” “Oh my…...that’s certainly a bit of a wait” “Yeah well, we got a whole week in front of us, and that’s if Haven was being generous with his math” Octavia slumped back on her chair and sighed, looking at the others as they snoozed away. This whole situation was insane, but hey, if she had her friends with her then things couldn’t get that bad, right? She leaned forward and rested her head against the seat in front of her, yawning. “Wake me when we’re close, okay Vinyl?” Before Vinyl could even respond, Octavia’s eyes had dropped, she could even hear her already starting to snore away. Vinyl smiled warmly at the sight. “Of course, Tavi” Lyra smirked at seeing the interaction, causing her friend to raise an eyebrow. “What?” “I see the ‘Tavi’ thing is back” “I-It’s just a nickname…” “Mmmhmm, sure, keep telling yourself that” Vinyl just responded by playfully flipping her off. “Yeah yeah, fuck you too, Lyra” “That’s Bon Bon’s job” “OKAY so we’ve reached TMI already” “Not really, if you really want TMI then-” “Oh please no, fuck no, I ain’t hearing this shit” “Okay okay, no more from me” Vinyl leaned into her seat, her eyes growing even heavier and heavier. “Hey, V, catch some Zs. It’s been a long fucking day” “You sure? You’ve been up just as long just as long as the rest of us” “Nah, I actually slept in till like 1, look I’ll be fine. If I really need to switch over, I’ll pull over and wake you up. For now just get some rest, you deserve it” Vinyl wanted to argue against it, but her weighty eyelids fought her attempt. She rested her head to the side as best as she could, seeing the pink of early morning coat the sky. She had to focus, she had to plan on how to help her friends out of this, make herself useful to them in some way. But Lyra’s words rang through her head, she needed to sleep, and with her and the others close by, maybe things will be alright for a while. Her eyes dropped, maybe it was alright to rest, even for a little while. The heat was what eventually woke Vinyl up, she had spent whole days in underground raves so the light of the sun didn’t bother her sleeping eyes. But the heat and burning feeling was definitely enough to force her out of her wonderful dream, one with her treating a certain cello player to a lovely night out. Her eyes shot open and then had to be quickly closed to block the intense beam of sunlight. She raised her hand above her face and opened her eyes again, it was shockingly later in the day than she expected, the late afternoon sun now shining at her to wake up. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes as her sense of the world around her slowly returned, slowly cursing the fact that her dream was cut short, they always seemed to stop right before Vinyl could get that kiss. She sat upright and looked around, they were parked, for one thing, and no one was even in the truck. “Fuuuuuuck, if the cops have already got us then this is by far the worst run attempt ever” She slowly observed her surroundings, well they were surrounded by large, thick trees, a far cry from the concrete and lights of Canterlot Way. There was only one building in sight, what seemed to be some sort of gas station/road side shop combo, at which sat her friends at a table. Haven was standing up, pointing to a map against the wall and waving his arms around, he always seemed to do that when he was deep in explaining something. Along with Dixie, who just seemed happy to be there. Lyra and Bon sitting shoulder to shoulder with their hands firmly together, Vinyl swears that if she wasn’t already friends with the both of them before they got together, she would have found their endless hugs and kisses annoying. Then there was Octavia, the warm sunshine showing off her beautiful hair, did she do something different with it- Vinyl shook her head, now wasn’t really the time to get caught up in...all that. She unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the car door, stepping outside. She stretched out her tired and sore muscles as she yawned and walked over to the rest of the group, stepping across the gravel road. “So! If we take this series of back roads, we’ll make it to my uncles in the next 6 days! Of course, we would need to be driving for most of that, but I believe we can just switch drivers for those times!” Haven smiled, happy he finally worked out a route that worked for both stealth and time. Lyra raised an eyebrow. “Yeah me and Vinyl can drive the truck, but what if we’re both in need of rest, who can drive it then?” The group looked at each other, no one wanting to speak up. “Okay different question, who here even has a driving licence?” Octavia raised her hand. “I do, although it’s only for automatic vehicles I’m afraid” “Well, since no one else can seemingly drive, Octavia! You will be our back up driver!” “I-I just said I can only drive automatics!” “Don’t worry, she’ll treat you right” “I wasn’t questioning the truck!” The conversation was soon cut short by the appearance of one tired Vinyl, as she claimed the nearest chair. “Ah, good afternoon, Vinyl, sleep well?” Octavia was honestly happy just to get out of that talk, she didn’t want to be the one responsible for it crashing or something like that. “It was alright, didn’t expect to sleep all day though. When the fuck did we get here?” Dixie fetched her phone out of her pocket. “Only about a half hour ago! So don’t worry! You didn’t miss out on much” “Okay then what did I miss out on?” “Oh! Haven was just going over some driving plans. Haven?” Haven smiled and motioned Vinyl to take a look at the map, which was balancing against the wall and a shipment box of ‘Scoota-Os’. “Well Vinyl! After some discussion, I have found just the right route for us! We’ll take this path through the hills, it avoids all major highways, but it also won’t take us a month to get there” “Wow, you guys really thought this though” Bon clapped her hands together. “Finally, now we can finally buy some food from here and hit the road again.” “Wait, you guys haven’t even gone in yet?” “Yeah, Haven here was very insistent that we sort out a plan first before we got distracted by food” Vinyl rolled her eyes, of course he would. The group stood up while Haven wrapped up the map, entering the small shop. The walls had that vintage wooden feel, which did clash with the modern shelves and fridges. The older man at the counter sat slouched in his chair, from the looks of him he was one tall, well built guy, a bald head with a large brown beard. He waved at the group and smiled. “About time I saw some friendly faces, welcome! Anything y’all need?” Lyra smiled back and approached the counter. “Yeah, actually, we need some gas cans and some packs of bottled water” “Ah, going out far, young lady?” “Yeah! We’re….going camping! We just need some things” He stood up from his desk, clasping his hands together. “Luckily for you, I got multiple of both in the back, lemme just go and get some out for you” Bon ran up to Lyra, interupting their conversation as she excitedly held up some sort of bag. “Babe! They got those mints you love! And they’re on sale!” “Oh shit, that’s awesome! Can we afford some?” “Already counted, we’ll have plenty left over” “Thanks Bon Bon” Bon planted a small kiss on Lyra’s cheek and ran off to join the rest. The friendly smile from the man quickly disappeared. He raised an eyebrow and looked at the rest of the group. “Some group you got here, you and your…...friend there seem close” “Hm? Oh that’s just my girlfriend, she gets really excited about sweets” His only response was a low grunt as he seemingly focused on one person in particular, causing Lyra to get confused. “You okay sir?” He simply grunted again and turned to the back door. “Gimme a minute to uh, get your things” Without waiting for any kind of response, he entered the back and slammed the door behind him. “Okaaaay? What a weird guy” Lyra turned and returned to her friends, Dixie trying to stop Vinyl from loading her bag with… “Fucking cola!? Again Vinyl!? We have some in the truck!” Vinyl just whined as Dixie pulled the bottle of soda away. “But these ones are cooooold” Lyra pinched the bridge of her nose. “One, you can get fucking one cold bottle, but we need to be careful with our money here” Vinyl excitedly grabbed the bottle from Dixie and loaded it into her bag, Octavia looking on. “I never understood your….. fondness for that particular soda, Vinyl” “It’s fizy and it tastes great, what’s there not to love?” “The teeth rot, perhaps” “My teeth are fiiiine” The rest of their shopping was uneventful, stocking up on basic foods, a first aid kit, and some of their favourites to treat themselves on the road. All and all it only took about a half hour to gather everything they wanted as they placed it on the counter. Vinyl looked around as she placed her bag down. “Didn’t you talk to the dude about getting some gas and water? He’s been gone for awhile” Lyra shrugged as she helped Dixie with her bag. “I’m sure he’s just sorting out some stock or something while he’s back there, or maybe a nap or something” “Or maybe he found a haunted statue and is fighting it to the death as we speak!” “Or maybe he found a mystic portal to a far away world that he now has to save” "Or maybe-" Their banter was cut short as the large man came through the back door, his annoyed expression from before still covering his face. “Sorry about the wait, I found your stuff, I’ll need some help with it though, it’s pretty heavy” He pulled out a stack of wrapped water bottles, and 3 filled gas cans. “Someone grab the gas, you, blue girl, care to help with this water?” Vinyl shrugged and walked to the stack of bottles. “Sure, can you guys get the other stuff?” Bon, Lyra and Haven grabbed a gas can each as Dixie quickly walked to the truck. “I’ll get the money for our stuff!” The other three slowly hauled their gas cans out the door, while Octavia turned to the water. “I may not have built arms like you, Vinyl, but carrying around a cello everyday has its results” The man just grunted, waiting for Vinyl to take the lead leading the water outside. Octavia hauled her water case through the door. “Thank you so much for your help sir-” Octavia felt a strong shove forward out the door as it was slammed shut behind her, Vinyl now suddenly having to deal with the man standing in front of her and the door. She dropped her water and took a step back. “Hey you fucking asshole! What do you think you’re fucking doing!?” The man stomped forward, locking the shop door behind him. “Miss Vinyl, I presume?” “H-How the fuck-” “I knew there was something wrong when I found a bunch of fucking queers entering my lovely store, so I did some digging. The Bluebloods, huh? You must have done something big for them to put that kind of price on your head, not like I need the money.” “G-GUYS!?” Octavia raised to her feet and turned back, shocked at what she was seeing, quickly leaping to the door only to find it locked, she fought against the unmoving handle with all her might while telling out to the group. “EVERYONE! THE STOREKEEPER JUST LOCKED THE DOOR! HE HAS VINYL!” The group looked, then sprinted over, pounding on the door and yelling, Lyra trying to smash the door down. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! LET MY FUCKING FRIEND GO!” The man reached to his waist, and pulled out a small handgun out of a holster, causing everyone to freeze. Vinyl stood in place, scared shitless out of her mind, did this guy really just pull out a gun? And was she really stuck in here with him?? He turned and pointed it to the outside group. “Break my door and I’ll have to deal with you fucking queers too. Stay out of this, this is between me and her. The Bluebloods really want her in, and I wouldn’t be doing my job as a helpful citizen if I didn’t help a good family out with capturing some queer bitch for them” Vinyl clinched her fist, her eyes filled with rage as some papers and magazines started to move to a non-existent breeze. “Shut your fucking mouth, asshole! We’re fucking leaving” She took a step forward only to have the man turn back and look at her, causing her to stop in her tracks. “You fucking move again, and I’m gonna have to start taking shots at your group over there, maybe starting with that disgusting sinner couple” “Y-You can’t do that! You’ll be arrested!” “What? It’s just self defense, after all, I’m sure the Force would be understanding after I had to defend myself after you lot broke into my shop” Vinyl felt her rage boiling, her knuckles turned white as her fists shook, the papers and magazines now really being kicked up, where the hell was that breeze even coming from? “So if you take one more step, I’m dealing with your friends. Maybe even starting with that british bitch” Her rage reached its breaking point, she leaped from her spot and went to send a right hook straight into his face. “DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE HURT HER-” She was quickly silenced as he backhanded her with his weapon, sending her crashing into the counter, drifting into unconsciousness as she could hear her friends call out her name. Vinyl awoke for the second time that day, but instead of being greeted with sunshine and the sight of her friends, she could only see dark. Her head throbbed with pain, she went to hold it but found one of her arms couldn’t make that journey, her wrist felt stuck to something. She pulled against it but was only met with the sounds of a chain being pulled, once her eyes adjusted to the dark she could make out that she was handcuffed to some sort of desk. If she was going to wake up in handcuffs, this is not how she would picture it, realistically she’d find herself in a cell, but ideally she'd have wanted it to be chained to a bed. She looked around the small room she was in, the walls stacked with shipping boxes of various products. Her memory slowly returned, she remembered some sort of shop on the road, cola, and a man- Oh, that’s right, she got her lights knocked out by some higher than thou homophobe, Vinyl was disappointed that she didn’t get a good hit on him first before that happened. Now that she remembered what happened, it was time to actually figure out how to get out of this mess, because there was no way she was going to let herself get handed over to the fucking Bluebloods. “Psst! Vinyl! Viiinyl!” Vinyl heard a harsh whisper above her, she turned her wrist as much as she could and looked up, seeing a window high above her, being able to barely make the faces of her friends, particularly Octavia’s, who was currently trying to whisper simultaneously as loud and as quiet as possible. “Tavi? What are…..what are you doing?” She rubbed her head, it still throbbed with pain. “We’re here to get you of course!” “W-What about crazy homophobe dude?” “He waved his gun around and told us to get lost, so we parked the truck a road away and came to get you! He’s waiting out front of the store now, I think for the Bluebloods” Lyra and Haven moved in, pushing the window up the rest of the way. “Vinyl, is there a key down there?” Vinyl shrugged at Lyra. “I’m pretty sure Mr Crazy has it” Vinyl’s eyes lit up, and snapped her head to look at the group. “Wait! Does anyone have, like, a normal hair pin?” Dixie reached to her side and pulled a thin hair pin out, she leaned in and held it up for her friend to see. “Like this?” “Yeah! Now drop it to me!” Dixie quickly did what was asked and dropped it to the floor, Vinyl quickly grabbing it and bending it, sticking one end into the hole in the cuff. After some turns and twists, a small click is heard and her wrist is free, she rubs it and looks up at her friends. “Now help me up before-” The sound of a car was heard rumbling in, then stopping at the front of the shop, everyone shot each other a glance of worry. “Well fuck, guess Kyle and the rest of his rich bitch squad is here, now help me the fuck up!” Talking was heard from just around the corner as Lyra and Bon reached their arms down to her, Vinyl having to leap up and catch their hands. With some difficulty they lifted her through the window and onto the grass outside. Octavia gasped and quickly knelt down next to Vinyl, her hand just hoving barely over a large red gash on the blue haired girl’s face. “Oh my god! Vinyl you’re hurt!” The door is heard swung open, followed by multiple sets of footsteps. “She was just right here! I checked only a few minutes ago” “Then I suppose she hasn’t gone very fair, you idiot. Men! Search for them! If she got out then her friends won’t be too far” The sounds of his posh, narcissistic voice made everyone shiver with dread. Lyra signaling everyone to follow. “We can worry about that gash later, right now we need to fucking run!” “She’s hurt, Lyra! I can at least cover it before we run” “Okay then just fucking hurry up” Octavia was somewhat right, as Vinyl stepping to her feet caused her head to spin, that guy must have done more damage to her than she first thought. It was now stinging from the cold bite of the wind as Vinyl tried to stand up right, blooding dripping down and onto her face. Octavia didn’t hesitate to get her to lean her weight on her own shoulders, nodding to Lyra. “Okay, I got a cloth in my pocket-” “Oh my, that is so thoughtful, Miss Octavia” The group turned around in dread, seeing Kyle Blueblood stand there with three of his private guards, each carrying a tall taser. He smirked and flipped his blonde hair back, showing his bandaged wound from the night prior. “I must say, you lot just up and running from my party did complicated things, but did you really think you could just ruin my party, wreck my lovely, expensive home, and do THIS to my handsome face and expect to just walk? No no no, my Blueblood honour will not allow that. Which is why you’re all coming with me, and don’t bother saying you won’t come with, you don’t have a choice” Bon grabbed a large rock from the ground and threw it as hard as she could right into Kyle’s face. He screamed in pain as the group bolted deep into the forest, Octavia holding Vinyl up as they tried to place as much distance between their group and Kyle’s as they could. Kyle reeled his head back in pain and glared at his guards. “Don’t just fucking stand there! Whoever gets that lesbian bitch gets double their pay! GO!” The guards sprinted into the forest, trying to catch up with the group of young adults, they sprinted for dear life as they approached the open road, spotting Lyra’s truck up the street. “There! Fucking go!” Lyra ran forward and unlocked the vehicle, quickly starting the engine as the others piled in, with only Vinyl and Octavia lagging behind. A guard approached the two, igniting his taser with a chuckle. “You two will make Mr Blueblood very happy-” He didn’t get to finish his sentence, as Octavia swung her leg up as hard as she could and kicked square in the middle of his legs, a small squeal of pain was heard before he collapsed to the floor. Vinyl looked at Octavia, impressed. “Damn, didn’t know you could kick that hard” “Comes in handy, doesn’t it?” She quickly led Vinyl to the truck, helping her into the back with Lyra slamming the gas as soon as they were both in, zooming past the other two guards as they rounded the corner and away from the road side shop. Octavia fetched her cloth from her pocket and wrapped it around Vinyl’s head. “Here, it won’t help too much, but it’ll stop the bleeding for now, then I can clean it and actually dress it” Vinyl simply nodded and smiled. “Thanks, you’re a real lifesaver” She looked around at everyone else, Bon and Lyra in the front with only Haven in the back of the truck, Dixie taking the other free seat. “Is everyone okay? Did we even get the stuff?” Dixie nodded. “I think we’re all fine, and yes! We actually got everything still” “How the fuck?” Bon chipped in, looking into the back. “I don’t think he cared, once he yelled at us to leave, we kinda just threw everything we could into the back. So we got gas and water! Sadly none of the food and drink though, that was inside” Vinyl nodded, holding up her head, true to Octavia’s word the cloth did seem to stop the bleeding for now, or at least slow it down. Dixie leaned forward with wonder in her eyes. "Vinyl! How did you get those cuffs off?" "Uh, hair pins are really good at getting past simple locks like that" "Wait....you can pick locks?" The group looked at Vinyl, who now was very aware that suddenly showing that you can pick locks isn't exactly a normal person would know. "I-I learnt how to do it to sneak around my old highschool, y-you know??" Dixie shrugged, smiling and sitting back into her seat as Vinyl breathed a sigh of relief. The group finally had a moment to relax again, everyone taking a moment to breathe as they finally let themselves be free from the intense stress of the situation. Lyra focused on the road ahead as Vinyl tried to not focus on the pain throbbing through her head. Octavia leant close in worry. “Are you alright?” “It’s just a bit of pain, nothing I can’t live with” “Well as soon as I can I will make sure it’s nothing serious. You had me really worried” Vinyl smiled and relaxed in her seat, after everything that just happened, she could use a few Zs. “Um, Vinyl, can I ask you something?” “Hmm? Yeah? What is it?” “Tavi” “Huh?” “Is Tavi some sort of nickname you have for me now?” Octavia smirked as a small blush grew on Vinyl’s cheeks. “I-It’s nothing, really, just didn’t have the energy to say your full name, is all” “Well, I like it” “H-Huh?” “I like it! Everyone is so formal with me all the time, I don’t think I would mind someone treating me more…..casually” “Heh, alright, I can keep calling you Tavi if you want” Octavia smiled and put her head back, looking to get some rest, Vinyl followed suit, letting her eyes drop as the world once again dipped into black, at least when she woke up, instead of being in cuffed in a back room or having sun in her face, it would be next to Octavia. Author's Note Hello everyone! No way I'm letting this story die on it's first chapter. I hope y'all enjoyed! Chapter 3 is already being written and 4 is being planned out, looking forward to showing what I have in store! <3
Chapter 3: On Melancholy HillThe truck crawled to a stop on the sand as the engine slowly turned off. Lyra fully sunk her head into the rim of the steering wheel as she tried to blink her eyes awake, Bon reaching her hand over and placing it onto her girlfriend’s from the passenger seat. “Alright guys, guess we gotta make camp here for tonight. Vinyl’s in no state to drive and my poor Lyra is about to pass out. So get your butts outta the truck and let’s set things up!” Bon tried to motivate everyone with her positive attitude, but with the state most was in, it only really seemed to work on Dixie and Haven. “Brilliant idea, Bon! I shall attempt to get things together for a fire!” “Ooooooo, and I’ll get some blankets out!” Octavia looked at Dixie, confused. “I don’t think many of us brought blankets, Dixie.” “Oh, I knew that! That’s why I brought all ten of mine!” “O-Oh, that’s very thoughtful of you, Dixie.” She beamed with happiness as she left the truck, grabbing the large pile of blankets from the back. Haven was already wandering off to get wood, which was going to be difficult given their savana-like surroundings. Bon left her seat with Lyra slowly getting out of her seat. “Bon Bon and I will get some food ready. Hey Octavia, how’s V holding up?” The girl in question was leaning against her seatbelt, resting after the afternoon she just went through. Octavia was at her side, making sure the girl didn’t hit her gash while sleeping. “She’s alright, after some trouble I finally got her to sleep. If it’s all the same to all of you, I might stay here with her for now” Lyra nodded and went to the back of the truck, Dixie quickly taking her place. “Hey! I found some first aid thingies in my stuff! Maybe you can use them?” The blonde girl smiled and leaned in to hand Octavia a small zipped up bag with a red cross sewn into it. “Thank you, Dixie, I appreciate you looking out for us like this.” The girl beamed and slightly bounced in place. “It’s no problem! I don’t like seeing friends hurt. I’m gonna help Bon with the food as it seems Lyra is…” She leaned to the side and pointed behind her to a certain green-haired girl having already crashed on one of Dixie’s fluffy blankets. Octavia chuckled at the sight. “Sounds good, I’m going to properly cover Vinyl’s wound and help her out.” Dixie enthusiastically nodded and skipped off to help Bon. Octavia sighed and opened the small bag, lucky for her it had what she needed. Bandages, swabs, tissue, cotton, antibacterial wipes, everything that would help out with an injury. She looked over at the sleeping blue-haired girl. There was something about seeing her like that- all relaxed and peaceful- that brought a smile to her face. She grabbed the wipes and slightly tilted Vinyl’s head, removing the cloth that covered the wound. Luckily it wasn’t too deep, so it should be healed soon enough. She tried to hold her head still, but the wounded girl’s head kept sinking back into the seatbelt. Octavia sighed and grabbed the other girls’ head with both hands to keep it still. At that moment, there was something that struck her. Vinyl’s hair, it was so…..soft. Octavia found her hands running through her hair, feeling each blue strand between her fingers. Just the feeling made Octavia’s chest flutter. She looked at Vinyl’s sleeping face, as her thumb brushed a strand of hair off of the other girl’s cheek. Something else occurred to her, Vinyl’s face felt soft to the touch as well, in a different way. Her hands wandered to the girl’s cheeks; they were warm. She had completely forgotten about her task at hand, lost in the moment. She might have not noticed it before, but Vinyl certainly wasn’t harsh to the eyes like some others at their college thought. She was so close to Vinyl- practically on her lap- their faces mere inches apart. A part of her wanted to close that distance. She pulled her hands back and shook her head, trying to get her thoughts straight. ‘Why am I getting like this? Why is my chest feeling like this? And god why can’t I get my heart to stop racing!?’ Octavia took a few deep breaths and looked back to her friend, still sleeping away. Octavia shook her head again and tore open the small pack of wipes. She fetched one out and started gliding it over the wound. Vinyl jolted awake with a small grunt of pain, catching Octavia by surprise. The girl blinked her eyes open and managed to focus her vision on her helper. “T-Tavi? What are you doing?” “Oh! I was just uh….helping your wound, cleaning it out before re-wrapping it.” Vinyl slowly nodded, rubbing her head as she looked around the empty truck. “That explains why it stung like a bitch. Where’s everyone else?” “Dixie and Bon are preparing some food, Haven is off to get wood for a fire, and Lyra is currently passed out on a pile of blankets.” She chuckled at hearing her friend’s state, before focusing on the wipe in Octavia’s hand. “So uh, I guess I should let you finish cleaning this gash.” “O-Oh! Right…” Octavia leaned in and applied the wipe to the wound, causing Vinyl to slightly wince at the pain. “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you” “I know…” The closeness of her crush to herself was almost too much for poor Vinyl, trying to minimize the blush on her face as they worked away. “....I still cannot believe you did that, Vinyl.” “Did what?” “Throwing yourself at him! He had a bloody gun and you still tried to punch him!” “I had to! He was-” “You could have gotten hurt a lot worse than this! I was worried sick about what state you were in, or what he might do to you! What on earth possessed you to just.. lunge at him?!” “He was threatening you.” “I know he was threatening us, but you should have thought-” Octavia paused her lecture and froze. “W-What did you say?” “He was threatening you, and I guess I just.. did the first thing that came to mind when I heard that.” She had to take a moment to process that, it wasn’t just that her friends were in potential danger, but Vinyl fought back when she was the target. She slowly returned to cleaning the wound, tossing the soaked wipe away when she was done. “Y-You are an idiot….” Octavia sighed and looked up at Vinyl, just now realizing how close she had gotten while she was cleaning the gash. She stumbled back a bit and awkwardly rubbed her hands together. “S-Sorry for getting so close….” She reached into the bag and pulled out a small bandage roll, undoing it to wrap around Vinyl’s head. “I...don’t mind.” “Don’t mind what?” “...You being close.” Octavia’s cheeks suddenly felt hot as they blushed a deep red. She shook her head; she just needed to focus on helping with the wound. She slowly leaned in and began wrapping the bandage around Vinyl’s head. “Hey, Tavi? Do you remember the first time we met?” She was taken back by the question- not that she couldn’t answer- it just felt odd to ask at the present moment. “Of course I do. Bon was showing me around Canterlot High and was about to end the tour-” She tightened the bandage, to make sure it would stay in place as she continued. “-when she wanted to introduce me to her friends. So we entered the music room to find you and Lyra playing air guitar to some metal song on top of a stack of chairs.” Vinyl chuckled at the memory, herself and Lyra had just got done with a science test and were just happy to be free from that stress. “You two saw us enter shortly after, and you were so surprised by the sudden intrusion that you fell off the chair stack, taking Lyra right down with you.” Octavia couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at the scene in her head. She hadn’t expected the polite tour guide’s friends to be loud, dyed haired pretend rock stars for one thing, and her first time being around them had her witness Vinyl bringing Lyra down a stack of chairs. “I-It wasn’t that funny!” “It was pretty funny, Vinyl. I thought my experience at that school was going to be dull and then you lot quite literally fell in to prove otherwise” “Yeah yeah, well I’m glad it was funny to someone, cause I remember Lyra not being too happy about those bruises.” “Gosh yeah. But Vinyl? While it’s funny to think about, why bring it up now, if I may ask?” “Well uh! Cause uh…” ‘I didn’t fall in surprise, I fell because I couldn’t believe the most beautiful girl in the world just walked through that door.’ Vinyl wanted to say that, they were alone with no interruptions, closer than they have ever been before, she could just come out and say it. A lump got caught in her throat, fuck. ‘Come on nerves, now’s not the time to get like this on me! She’s right here! This is a perfect time!’ She couldn’t help but seeing the strangeness that being on the run and injured someone presented itself a chance to let Octavia know how she really felt about her for all these years, but she just couldn’t seem to get the right words out. “Oh you know, I remembered it just now and thought to talk about it.” ‘Ms. Vinyl Scratch, that the worst speaking your feelings attempt, ever, of all fucking time’ Octavia simply hummed as a response, finishing wrapping up the bandage around Vinyl’s head. “There you go, that will take care of any leftover blood and allow it to heal up.” She sat back and admired her handiwork, it would be no time at all till it was all nice and healed up. All they had to do now was exit the truck and join the others. Exit the truck. And join the others. And end this alone time with Vinyl. Octavia felt her chest flutter again, she didn’t want to leave this moment, she didn’t want to join the others yet. ‘Come on, Octavia, we just have to join the others. But, why do I not want to? I just, want to be here….’ Vinyl noticed her friend and what to her seemed like panic, she leaned forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, it’s all cool, it’ll heal up all fine and junk. You did a great job.” Octavia couldn’t help but calm at the touch- there was always something about Vinyl that had that effect on her- when she wasn’t being the cause for her worry of course. ‘Why am I getting like this? Am I freaking out? No that’s not it. I feel actually really good, so why do I feel like my heart is about to burst out of my bloody chest?’ Vinyl smiled, still trying to calm down the seeming panic in her friend. “You did awesome, Tavi. There’s no one I would have wanted more to patch me up. Trust me, okay?” She thought about brushing her hands through that blue hair again, and the feeling of Vinyl’s head in her hands. She thought about being so close. ‘God, I feel like how Bon described the way she gets around Lyra-’ Octavia froze, that last thought bouncing around in her mind. She moved quickly, opening the door to the truck. “W-We should get moving! I think we’ve k-kept everyone waiting long enough!” Without waiting for a response, Ocativa climbed out of her seat and out to meet with the rest of the group, leaving Vinyl still sitting there in shock. ‘Was it something I said? Shit, maybe. Fuck..’ Vinyl sighed, before rising from her seat as well to join the rest. Somehow, someway, Haven had managed to find enough wood from the very few scattered trees to make a pretty big fire, and with some sticks leftover too. Dixie was warming herself next to the flame while he poked at it, trying to keep it going for as long as possible. Bon sat nearby with Lyra’s sleeping head in her lap. Vinyl took her seat next to Lyra while Octavia paced around. “Holy shit Haven, how the fuck did you manage to get enough wood for this?” “I have my ways, Vinyl, it wasn’t that difficult. Dixie helped me light it too!” Dixie nodded as she tried to get comfortable on the sand. “I used a bit of gas to kickstart it, so it went off fine!” Vinyl looked at the height of the flame and let off a whistle. ‘So that’s why it’s so tall then’ “So how’s the food situation?” Bon poked at some open tins of spaghetti and beans near the fire. “We don’t have all the tools to actually cook these, so we’re just letting the fire heat these up.” “Better than nothing, I guess.” Octavia suddenly went up to and crouched near Bon, making sure to speak quietly. “Bon, may I please have a moment of your time? In private?” “Huh? Oh, sure thing! Vinyl, mind watching over Lyra for me?” Vinyl picked up a stick and poked Lyra’s backside with it, causing her to sleepily try to whack it away. “She’s fine, I got this.” Bon rolled her eyes and stood up, following her friend a distance away so that the others wouldn’t hear. “So what did ya need, Octavia?” Octavia had led her friend a bit away from the rest of the group, her mind a mess of different thoughts and emotions, and she didn’t want the others to hear something she may regret saying. She rubbed her arm, slightly shaking from the cold and her own nerves. “Geez, are you okay? You’re shaking like a buzzer.” Octavia had turned and looked at her friend, not able to meet her eyes. “B-Bon, do you remember you talking to me about how being around Lyra m-makes you feel?” Bon raised an eyebrow, confused at the question asked. “Yeah? I do remember that, why do you ask?” She tried to control her breathing, taking in large breaths to try and calm herself, but the suddenness of said breaths only made her nerves worse. “W-Well, I… I-I…” “Woah, Octavia, breathe, you can talk to me” “I…. Bon…” She finally looked her in the eye, Bon seeing the confusion and slight worry in her eyes. “Bon… why do I feel those things when I’m around Vinyl?” “... What?” Octavia walked up closer to Bon, trying to form words to explain the conflicting waves of thoughts in her head. “T-Those feelings, wanting to hold them, feel their touch. Wanting to run your hands through their hair, wanting to block out everything, and just be there with them! I-I feel those things when I’m with Vinyl and I’m just! I-I’m just confused! And s-scared! Why is this happening to me!? Bon I don’t know what’s going on with me…” Octavia was heavily panting by now, shaking wildly as she let all her panicked thoughts out. Bon took a moment to process what that was blurted out. “Oh, Octavia, how long has this been going on?” That was a question that caught Octavia off guard, this recent panic was because of what happened in the truck, but now that she thought back on it, as she peeled back the layers of memories, more and more came to her. She often stared at Vinyl, caught up in her features. She always found herself playing her heart out with her cello even more if she knew she was watching. She was always happy around her. Even when Vinyl did something dangerous or stupid, she could never stay mad at her. ‘H-How long has this been going on with me!? Why did I never notice until now!?’ “I-I don’t know! I-I was with Vinyl in the truck and my chest just felt like it was filled with butterflies! My heart felt like it was beating a million times per minute! I-I want to be around her! I… I don’t know what’s happening with me!” “Octavia….Do you feel safe around Vinyl? Do you want to always be close to her?” “Y-Yes! A-And I don’t know why! I’m just… so confused.” Bon walked up to Octavia and placed her hand on her shoulder, causing the panicking girl to calm down a bit. Bon tried to give her the best reassuring smile she could. “I can’t speak for you, but Octavia? Everything you’ve told me leads me to believe that you might have fallen hard for our little Vinyl.” Octavia froze, her shaking stopped as she tried to understand Bon’s words. “F-Fallen? Like, fallen for her?” “It seems that way to me, you remind me of myself when I first developed feelings for Lyra.” “B-But that’s… impossible! I-I’m not…” “Not what?” “L-Like you and Lyra. I’m not… gay” “Oh, I mean, I don’t mean to be pushy but are you sure about that?” “O-Of course! I was raised that way! I’m only meant to like men.” “.....Raised? Meant to? Octavia that doesn’t really sound like you’re even sure about that. I mean, I thought I didn’t like girls until Lyra. Have you ever been with a guy before?” “No, no I can’t say I have. I focused on my music, and I just… never really saw the point in that. All that… hand-holding and kissing them didn’t really appeal to me.” “Oh, honey. I think you might not be as straight as you thinkt.” Octavia let that thought bounce around in her head. It was true, she never really went out with any men. She just had too much work with her music, but was that really the reason? “Octavia, I’m going to ask you a question and I want you to answer as honestly as possible.” “O-Okay.” “If Vinyl came up to you, right now, and said she wanted to kiss you, would you let her?” That thought was certainly new, it made her head spin. Her parents always expected her to come home with a nice young man one day, and she thought that would always be the case too. But Bon’s question just shattered all that at once. ‘If she wanted to… kiss me… would I let her?’ She felt dizzy. The thought burned into her mind. She pictured it: Vinyl leaning forward, herself leaning in, and having their lips meet. It sends her on a spiral of thoughts and emotions. She couldn’t just kiss a girl like that, hell she didn’t even know people could like other genders until she came to Canterlot High! Sunset and that Twilight girl from Crystal Prep being the school-wide famous couple made sure that Octavia couldn’t not hear about it. She supported people like that- she saw nothing wrong with it- Bon and Lyra for example were one of the happiest couples that Octavia had ever seen. But she wasn’t like that. Was she? “I…” She kept imagining it, the image of Vinyl’s lips against hers not leaving her mind. She kept thinking of every answer she could give, but one answer was being screamed at her much louder than the others. it made no sense to her, so why was it the answer she wanted to give? Octavia gulped, hard, forcing all of her energy out to give an answer. “I…I think I would happily let her..” The words escaping her lips had stopped all the buzzing in her mind, like time just, stopped around her as she looked down at the sand. "I….want to kiss a woman." Octavia stared at the ground, not moving an inch as her mouth spoke without any input from her. "I want to kiss Vinyl Scratch." Octavia collapsed to her knees, not even being able to hold up her own weight was the reality of her words set in, Bon quickly going to her side to comfort her. “Oh, Octavia. I know it’s a lot to process, and no one said that you had to figure everything out right now. This is just the first step on that.” “I… didn’t even know I… felt that way about her. I’ve never even thought of anything like that before.” “It’s a big shock to the system, isn’t it?” She silently nodded her head, her mind was shockingly blank of all buzzing thoughts, just the echoes of what she said. “Do you need some time alone?” “I….yes, actually.” Octavia stood up, finally managing to compose herself. Bon placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled. “No problem, I’ll be over with the group if you need me.” “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to offend, I just-” “No I totally get it, it’s a lot to discover and think about all at once. And don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone until you feel comfortable about it.” “Not even Lyra?” “Not even Lyra, promise.” Octavia threw her arms around Bon and brought her into a hug, breathing a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Bon. You’re such a good friend.” “Awww look at you, getting all sappy.” Bon gladly returned the embrace, just happy that her friend seemed to be in a better headspace now. “You’re one pretty awesome friend yourself, and I’m sure all the others would say the same.” Bon pulled away from the hug with a smile before walking off to join the rest of the group. Octavia took a seat on the sandy floor as she looked at the distant image of her friends. Vinyl and Dixie were busy trying to stack things on top of the sleeping Lyra while Haven was trying to keep it from falling. She giggled at the sight, even if they were in danger and on the run, her friends would always somehow find a way to make it an enjoyable experience. She found herself focusing on Vinyl, her giggling face as she stacked yet another tin of beans onto the pile. ‘Of course. If there was anyone to come into my life and throw everything I knew about it out the window, I should've guessed it would be you, Vinyl’ It took about an hour before Octavia worked up the courage to walk back to the group. She tried thinking about everything she and Bon discussed but she just ended up trying to not focus on it in the end. She had a lot of conflicting thoughts and feelings in her head, and sitting out in the cold wasn’t going to help. She would figure things out, eventually, but right now wasn’t that time. She looked at her friends, Haven and Dixie were now talking around the fire. Haven was waving his arms around, no doubt explaining some sort of scientific theory. Lyra and Bon were laying in the back of the truck, just enjoying each other’s company as they rested. Lastly Vinyl for whatever reason was sitting on top of the truck roof, looking into the night sky. “What on earth are you sitting up there for, Vinyl?” “Oh, hey Tavi, took you long enough to find a place to piss.” “I wasn’t….what? No, I was just resting you idiot.” “Ah, well I feel stupid. So what’s up?” “I was asking what you were doing up on the roof of the truck, doesn’t strike me as being the most convenient seating around.” Vinyl just shrugged and smiled back. “I like being on top of things, gives off the vibes, ya know?” “N… No, I can’t say I do know. Are… you stargazing?” “Yep, was bored and there was nothing else to do.” “I had no idea you even knew anything about constellations, Vinyl.” “Oh, no, I know fuck all about those! I like making new ones up, though.” Vinyl pointed to a vague set of stars up in the night sky. “See, if you look closely, that one is shaped like an ass.” Octavia let out a long laugh at the immature comment of her peer, before looking up to the set of stars, and shockingly if you looked at it just right it did kind of look like someone’s behind. “Oh my god, it actually does.” “It sure does. Hey, come up here, there’s plenty of room and I can show you more constellations I made up.” She looked up at the blue-haired girl, seeing the moonlight shine down and highlighting the colored streaks. Octavia gulped. Not even an hour ago she was panicking over her feelings for this woman, and now she was being invited to watch the stars with her. She sighed and climbed up the front of the truck. ‘You know what? I’m not thinking about that, right now, I just want to have a nice moment with her.’ Reaching and pulling herself up, she took a seat next to her friend. “I-It feels a bit rocky up here, are you sure we’ll be okay?” “Yeah we’ll be fine, what, afraid you’re gonna-” Vinyl began wildly rocking the truck side to side. “Fall!?” Octavia yelped and held on tightly before Vinyl stopped the shaking. “Y-You’re a jerk!” “It’s a part of my charm.” Vinyl laughed as the other girl repeatedly punched her in the arm. “Okay okay! I won’t do that again.” “Hmf! Good!” They both laid down on their backs, side to side, looking up to the night sky. Being far from any city, it was filled with so many stars, it was almost too much to take in. Vinyl lifted her arm and pointed up at the sky. “Okay so, that one is shaped like a car….I think” “Hmmm, well I suppose if I squint it vaguely looks like one.” “And that one looks like a giant bong.” “Of course you would see that! To me, it looks like a bell.” “Bong.” “Bell.” “Boooong!” “Beeeell!” They both let out a chuckle at their little non-argument, sighing before gazing at the stars again. Octavia looked to her side, seeing just how close Vinyl was to her. All those feelings came rushing back in an instant looking at her smiling face. ‘God damn everything, it’s just been so confusing today.’ “Uh, you okay Tavi?” Octavia snapped out of her thoughts and blinked at Vinyl. “Hm? What do you mean?” “You were kinda just, glaring at me, did I do something wrong?” “Oh no no you’re fine, I’m just…..spacing out I guess. It’s been one long day.” “Yeah it has, not even a few hours ago I was chained in some dude’s backroom.” “You’re still an idiot for trying to punch him like that, but… thank you.” “It’s nothing.” “It is not nothing! You threw yourself into harm’s way to try and protect us, not knowing what was going to happen to you! That’s something, Vinyl” “I mean….okay. It’s not a problem then, and trust me I’ll do it again.” “Oh my lord if you actually do that again I’m going to faint!” They both laid their heads back down. Octavia- left alone with her thoughts again- remembered Bon’s words. She basically gave Octavia a test to see how she was really feeling- and while she wasn’t going to just suddenly embrace Vinyl’s lips like that, she did have one thing she wanted to try. “.....Vinyl?” “Yeah, Tavi?” “I’m getting rather cold, would you mind if I….got a bit closer for warmth?” A deep blush covered Vinyl’s cheeks as she tried not to stumble over her own words. “O-Of course! Y-You can get as close as you… need.” “Thank you.” She moved closer to Vinyl until she was leaning right up next to the blue-haired girl. She wasn’t lying, it was getting rather cold and their heat definitely helped, but this was more so to just….experience what that was like. ‘She’s….warm, she even smells nice too. This….feels okay. This feels nice.’ Octavia slowly sunk her face into the side of their shoulder, causing Vinyl’s face to grow bright red. ‘Okay okay okay, don’t panic Vinyl, you got this! It’s just….the most amazing woman you know is almost snuggling up against you. It’s no big deal, nothing to panic over. Absolutely nothing to panic over! Nothing.To.Panic.Over- NOT PANICKING WE ARE SO NOT PANICKING RIGHT NOW YEP TOTALLY FINE EVERYTHING IS A-OKAY WOOOO’ The brown-haired girl softly yawned, leaning her head more into Vinyl. “Stay up here, for now? You’re warm.” Vinyl’s panic was suddenly gone as she looked down at the sleeping girl. She smiled, yeah, maybe there really wasn’t anything to panic over. “Of course Tavi, get some rest.” “Night Vinyl…” “Good night.” “.....Vinyl?” “Yeah?” “I really like it when you call me Tavi.” Before Vinyl could respond, Octavia’s eyelids closed as she fell into a deep sleep. Something about being around Vinyl calmed all the thoughts tumbling through her head. She wasn’t ready to think about what all those feelings could mean, but at the very least she could just enjoy this one moment. Those problems would be ready for her tomorrow. Right now though? Nothing else mattered. Only Vinyl mattered. Author's Note Hello all! I hope y'all enjoyed this more chilled, character focused chapter. Chapter 4 is being written rn! So look out for that! Can't wait to show you what happens next, and I hope everyone of you has a great day/night!
