//------------------------------//
// Chapter I 
// Story: Linkin Pony Recharge: The Catalyst 
// by Kaciekk 
//------------------------------//


 Two and a half months later



The pony population was growing smaller, and the ponies left were hiding, gathering the supplies they could. It was almost impossible to travel and not get caught by a Hybrid
Soft clopping of hooves hit the pavement, careful not to make too loud of a sound. Dark brown eyes scanned every direction. The humid air stuck to the blue-gray pelt of the Unicorn. His parted up-cut mane was made to look jet-black in the dim light. He slipped through the shop's broken door.
"SpinningNote."
A stocky red-violet Unicorn turned his head. He didn't speak, he only gave a stare of deep thought. His black mane fell down and along his face.
"You can't stay here forever... we can't stay here forever," The blue-gray pony said.
"I know CharmingRhythm," SpinningNote spoke with downcast eyes.
"You gotta let this place go. Everything is different now. We've been preparing for months," CharmingRhythm explained, "I know you've loved this shop, but every time you come in here you aren't yourself. We need the real Spinning if we want to move on."
He stepped forward with his head low. " Are we going to get the others?"
Rhythm nodded and walked out of the shop with Spinning. "Pull your hair back," Rhythm commanded. But it was his own blue magic that pushed his friend's mane back and took a hair band to keep it in a tail.
The two Unicorns kept close to the walls as they traveled.
"So we're really leaving today?" Spinning asked.
"If we wait any longer things could get ugly," Rhythm replied. "We should have enough supplies in the base, and it's in a rural area; so less Hybrids."
The two stallions stayed within alleyways. They removed wooden boards that block their path. They found a building which its area around it was a bit cleaner. But the structures still deteriorated. 
Rhythm opened the door an went inside. His ears twitched as he heard a pony speak in a high voice.
"Whoaaaahh!!!"
Green eyes stared into Rhythm with a started face. The bulky orange pony stepped back with relief to only see his friends.
"BlazingFlair, calm down. You don't want any Hybrids to hear you," Rhythm told him.
"He thought you were a Hybrid," Spinning pointed out blankly.
BlazingFlair studied their faces as they passed. His gold earrings wobbled as he pushed his ears back. "We're really leaving, huh?"
"EchoBeat and FeatherTune are already out waiting for us," Rhythm reported, "They said  we'll meet up under the bridge. We just gotta bring our last things. Make sure you get what's important." 
The blue-gray Unicorn entered into another room. A sofa laid at one end. On the far side, there was a large desk area set up with a computer. A yellow Pegasus sat in the chair. Rhythm came up to him. The Pegasus' brown eyes stared at the computer screen, which showed audio tracks.
"HyperBlitz, got your stuff together?" Rhythm asked.
His friend only nodded faintly. Rhythm glanced at the audio tracks.
"We can't stay here."
"I know that Rhyth, you've been saying that for more than a month," HyperBlitz moaned.
"But  today  I really mean it."
Hyper rubbed his face with his forehooves, which his coat above was tattooed with blue flames. "I just hope that SweetHooves will be okay."
"We can't bring everypony with us. I'm sure you'll see her again."
Hyper just gave a sigh.
The Pegasus pressed a key on the keyboard that closed the audio window. He pulled away from the computer and made eye contact with CharmingRhythm finally. Rhythm took a small box with his magic.
"Is this the last of the files we need?" He questioned.
HyperBlitz nodded. The two of them then came out from the room. Rhythm found a pale red-orange stallion looking to them.
"Too bad we couldn't finish that song," He said.
HyperBlitz shrugged. "We have all the files. We just need to add a little more to it. But I guess that's for another time."
"Would you like to come with us at least half-way, ElectricTone?" BlazingFlair offered.
The stallion paused for a moment. Then he gave an expression of agreement.
"We better get going if we want to make good time," Rhythm told all of them.
The five ponies started to walk down the streets together. ElectricTone stayed towards the back. The DJ had stayed with the Linkin Ponies for the last few months. Though they had made progress with music, they had no ponies to give it to.
They walked along the side of an abandoned roadway where the most trash was. There was neither noise of other ponies nor of creatures. The road raised up and was supported by beams. CharmingRhythm stopped, alert to see if there was any trouble by the road going underneath.
A red stallion poked his head around the corner. He flipped his brown mane back and waved his hoof.  They entered into the darkness and met with the red pony and a cream Pegasus. The Pegasus' auburn eyes glared around to the outside.
But there was another pony there. The mare's strait brown mane was highlighted by the dim light coming from the other opening of the by-pass. 
"HeartFelt, what are you doing here?" Rhythm let out.
"Rhythm, you know.... I-" The aqua Unicorn couldn't speak her thoughts, she only looked downwards.
Rhythm pushed his muzzle to hers. "You can come with us half-way. We can't bring everypony. I'm just worried about your safety," He stepped back. there was a light blue colt that sat on HeartFelt's back with huge brown eyes, "and GentleSketch."
"We don't want to lose any time," The red pony said.
"Did you see any Hybrids, EchoBeat?" Hyper asked the Earth-pony and his response was only a head shake.
"Alright! Lets go!" The cream Pegasus jumped out from under the road with his bushy brown mane bouncing.
"FeatherTune!" BlazingFlair called out.
"What?!" He snapped.
Indigo magic raised a packed maroon bag. "You're going to forget your saddlebag, FluffButt," SpinningNote said, a bit cocky.
"Don't call me that!" FeatherTune scolded as he snatched the bag from the indigo aura.
"No need to be snippy you guys," Blazing told them.
"It looks like the normal Spin is coming back," Rhythm exclaimed as the group left into the road. The red-violet Unicorn only rolled his gray-brown eyes.
The ponies trekked along, and Rhythm took lead. He had trouble keeping his eyes narrowed when he was always expecting something to jump out at them. Ever so often  he would be started by a sudden noise when it was nothing but hooves tapping on the ground and sometimes breaking a small object.
CharmingRhythm had traveled this way before to drop supplies off at the base. He knew anytime him or any of his friends went out they would get caught by Hybrids. Luckily the Hybrids were slow enough or too stupid enough that the ponies could escape. It was too dangerous in the cities because Hybrids knew that there was more population there to overun.
So the group had found a place to make a base. There was a small neighborhood around it, but it was abandoned.  Today would be the last day that Rhythm and his team would travel there, for they would stay there permanently.
"It's  so  humid," FeatherTune moaned.
"Stop complaining!" HyperBlitz said, in a harsh way. When Hyper was not feeling well or in a bad mood, he could have a very hot temper.
Rhythm only looked to them behind. He could see that they were farther from the tall, dangerous buildings. It seemed like only a while ago that the city was beautiful with a blue sky ahead. Now the sky set out in sickening brown and green. 
"Rhythm?" His heart stopped a bit when he heard the whisper in his ear. He turned to see his wife.
"Y-yes?" He said in a quiet tone, expecting that their conversation was meant to be private.
"Well..." HeartFelt didn't know what quite to say, like she had no topic. "I know you can't bring everypony, and there probably isn't much room, but isn't there a small neighborhood? It's just that..."
"HeartFelt, that place isn't safe to live in, and you'd be all alone. You an GentleSketch," The colt glanced up as he heard his own name. "The other guys have families too. The world has broken us apart. And it's not always safe to be in one place."
"I know, it's just that  I don't want to bee to far from you."	
"The base  isn't  that far from the city. You shouldn't stay in the city, but around it, and stay low so no Hybrids could find you. There are some ponies with good information. And I promise we'll be more connected once we figure all of this out, figure out a good plan."
BlazingFlair suddenly jumped in between them with wide eyes. "Shh!!!" Then the ponies froze.
There was a sound  coming from behind a fence. A head popped out. It was a dark gray mare with a black and brown mane, cut short. She had no sign of being a Hybrid.
"Hey," She said in a murmur, "What'chya doin' out here? There's some Hybrids roaming. Some o' my guys are out there. They couldn't get away."
Rhythm glanced around the corner. He could see metal covered ponies. Red eyes beamed right to him.
"Fuck," HyperBlitz blurted out.
"They're right in out path. Can we get around them? They'll chase us," EchoBeat feared.
"There's a fuck load of them!" Hyper cursed.
"We gotta go! We can't fight them, we're musicians. Leave those ponies," FeatherTune said.
"No," Rhythm argued, "Do you not care about others? There's too many to get away. They are in our path. They've already seen us-" 
"They might be in numbers, but so our we," ElectricTone exclaimed.
CharmingRhythm placed his hooves ahead. He mad eye contact with one of the enemies. HeartFelt stepped next to him.
"Heart-what are you doing?" 
"I can help, I have magic."
"I know you could, but... our little colt-"
The mare looked over her shoulder and studied GentleSketch. She sighed and stepped over behind the fence. She let her son get to his own hooves.