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Chapter 6 - Renegades

A hurr rumbled mockingly from the shadows, “Did you honestly think it would be that easy to fool us?” Twinky head jerked from the darkness, her icy steel muzzle pointing close to my own, “Wrong, ponies!”
“When were we ever right, Twinky?” I sighed into my hair, some of it now flopping carelessly in my face. I inhaled, trying to blow it away, but it just kept hitting me in the eye with a vengeance. She scoffed at my feeble attempts to rid myself of the problem, staring between Shadow and I.
“Should we cut it off for you? Looks like you’re due a trim…” she snickered, a grin spreading across her face as she came up with this idea.
I shook my head vigorously, “Nah ah! You’re not touching my hair!”
“Tell us what you know, and we’ll leave it be.” Shadow snarled into the base of my ear. I shuddered from the strange feeling of stale air leaking through my fur, scrabbling against her to try to escape, to no avail.
“-What if we don’t know anything?” Blitz enquired, sounding clearly struggling for breath with the amount of steel resting on his lungs
The Anis hesitated for a moment, pondering their decision. Twinky raised an inquisitive (or maybe impressed) eyebrow at Shadow as she smirked. After what seemed like an age before their scratchy voices sounded again, Shadow spoke up, “Fair enough.” She released me from her harsh grip, dropping me like a sack of potatoes. Dazed, it took me a few seconds to stabilise myself. Meanwhile, Ani-Shine lifted herself from Blitz, him wheezing and coughing as he finally got air back to his lungs. For a moment or two, they watched us struggling, stumbling and gasping in front of them - no doubt, signs of weakness in their eyes. I heard a cold snicker echo from Twinky, and her hoof tapped the floor like a drumbeat, “We’ve decided to release you, my ponies. For sport, we will now pursue you. If we catch you, then you will tell us our information. Or die. Got it?” She spoke quickly, almost as if she wanted us to be confused. I blinked at her hazily, rubbing my eyes with a hoof. She continued, “You have a ten second head-start. Starting now.”
I shuffled on the floor, still not processing what she said, “…Wait, what are we meant to be doing? R-running from you?” I mumbled, before whining, “I don’t get it...”
She kept a stern face, “I’m counting, y’know. 4…5…”
Annoyed, I muttered and cursed to myself as I stumbled to my hooves, looking around me sleepily.
“8…9… You really don’t care that you’re about to die, huh?”
I blinked twice, confused. And, then, the word die seemed to impact on my brain, leaving a comet-sized crater in it. I swallowed a gulp of air, exclaiming, “Wait, die-?”

Too late, Twinkleheart.
With pleasured, sinister grins, the trio of Ani-Ponies exclaimed, “10!”, leaping forward in unison, creating a unescapable barrier of metal. What little could I do in that moment? All I did was make the most mouse-like squeak which itself trembled away from my lips as though it wasn’t sure of its existence.
Thankfully, a minty-coloured hoof heaved me out of the way as the robots leapt within centimetres.
“Come on!” he yelped down my ear, clearly struck through with pain from Fireshine holding him down earlier, “We don’t have time to just sit there!”
Finally realising what this all was leading to, my legs, although shaking, now moved from their own accord, carrying me clumsily across the tiling. Agitated grumbles echoed from behind me, and I dared a look back. Twinky’s scarlet eyes, furrowed in anger, bore straight into mine. Yet, they didn’t appear to be chasing us, their forms slowly shrinking away - however, with what almost seemed like a silent command, she and her pack members slinked around the corner they were guarding.
“Blitz…” I huffed out of my lungs between ragged breaths, “They aren’t chasing us. They’re going a different direction!”
Finishing off my sentence, he spoke, determined, “They’ll try to catch us using another route. They do live here, Twinks.” As a turning beckoned us from its place, Blitz swung round it as though he had wheels, dragging me by the tips of my hooves, “But they can’t find us if we stop running and hide?”
To my surprise, a large, faded violet box stood around the wall, leant solemnly against the peeling paint. It was perfectly sized for two ponies such as Blitz and I - how had he even noticed it before?
“I saw it while we were looking for the Office. Thought it might come in handy.” he smiled, answering my thoughts for me. His entire demeanour had changed - the usual Blitz that I knew, grew up with and loved had all but disappeared, now replaced with a stallion set on a mission… In a way, it scared me. If this was what he was like now, what would he be like if something bad happened to any of us…? I hoped never to find out. Either way, the cube was our home for the next few hours - at least we could keep each other company.

With every precaution, I slipped across the colour-drained tiles, careful not to knock any of the forlorn ribbons that drooped their tails on the ground. Everything looked so… dead (and, please, excuse the untimely pun), as if every ounce of life had been seeped from the walls. The purple of the empty gift box loomed in front of me, and the thought then came across my mind - perhaps it had been originally designed to fit ponies in it? It would make sense, this being a place of fun, surprises, and children. Something was, for once, conveniently working in our favour. Noiselessly, I lowered myself into the box, taking care not to tip it up with my often clumsy hooves. Honestly. Everything that I could knock over, run into, fall over, the list goes on, I would do; neither of my parents had that problem - it seemed only I was blessed with that wondrous gift.
Blitz, now settling into the box as he pulled the lid of the present over, sighed, “Welp: that should be good.”
I nodded, afraid that, perhaps, the Anis had watched us go there all along. Yet, however long I waited, no strike, no ambush came. I was thankful for that, but it only made me, in some ways, tenser. Nervously, I tapped my hoof lightly against the enclosed walls, when, for some strange reason (maybe he found it would comfort me), Blitz grabbed one of them to rest on his lap while he massaged the other end of the hoof with his own. Great - a hoof massage in a murderous place.
I scoffed at him as he busied himself with my back hooves, “My hooves are that interesting, huh? And, secondly, why exactly are you massaging them?” I was more baffled than what I usually was with this stallion; in all honesty, that was saying something.
“You kinda looked stressed, so I thought it’d calm you down a little.” His words were casual, soft, as if nothing was going on. Again, his entire front had shifted - it made me curious as to what swung his moods, or, if anything, everything I’d seen tonight had been a spectacular show as to not worry me. Watching his preoccupied face, seemingly enjoying the proximity of us both and an opportunity to massage my hooves, I didn’t have the heart to tell him that, as a matter of fact, nothing he was doing would make me feel in better. But, I couldn’t crush his happiness - if he thought he was helping me, then I’d let him believe it.
Everything remained silent for a moment, lost in time, when I asked the strangest question (and I never understood why I would bring it up), “Do… do you think that we’re going to die tonight?”
He stared at me blankly, baffled, “If they don’t find us, then no…” he sounded awfully doubtful, and his tone made me feel uneasy.
“But, we do have to leave at some point.”
“They’ll turn off though, won’t they?”
I shook my head, “I don’t know - we’ve never seen them do so, even after six…”
He appeared to have no reply to this, and all he did was move his jaw side to side, as if he was chewing his very words before swallowing them down with an audible gulp. Again, all fell into an awkward hush. But, then, an out-of-tune bong rattled through the sides of the box; it was slightly muffled, but still clear enough to be heard.

One, eerie, single bong - one o’ clock.

I stared at Blitz, and he froze still, his hoof-biting (yes, he was doing that) halting. Softly, the clang faded into the dusty air of the play place, leaving us two to expect something coming, or perhaps the lid of our box flying off and being greeted with three pairs (maybe more, who would know?) of ruby eyes. I felt my very bones rattle, singing an eerie tune of their own. Every breath, every gulp, sounded like a gunshot. I felt more conscious of my surroundings than ever, as if time had slowed down just enough for me to feel the world rather than just be in it - and then I thought, “Is this… death?”. I had heard of stories where those that narrowly escaped death felt as if the world had slowed its turn for just a few moments… so maybe this was it. My eyes darted in their sockets, catching every tremor, every flicker of shadow. Silence. It was all wrong. My breath kept catching inside my lungs. No. This was it.

And then the whirring began.

It started off as a murmur, something that could barely be distinguishable amongst the humming of moths and faulty electrics. But, slowly, each and every one grew just a little stronger. Each echo became longer. Each step became more daunting. Soon, a faint rumble of thunder had made its way up the corridor and had seeped through our box, as if an army of hundred or more came to hunt us down. Surprisingly, we heard a somewhat sheepish knock coming from the top of the box - it didn’t snarl a threat, nor did it beckon us to safety. It was somewhat sorrowful, if someone could even deduce that much from a knock at all… I carefully reached up a hoof to brush away the lid and reveal who our visitor was. My arm locked up as it was enveloped by an orange glow.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I heard Blitz snarl in a whisper, trying his very best to disguise our presence.
I shook my head wildly, sending my hair into a frenzy, “They wouldn’t knock, though…”
“What if it’s a trap?”
“That’s not them.”
“…Why are you so difficult?” he sighed eventually, releasing my hoof from his magic.
I scoffed a little at that remark. I think everyone knew that was part of who I was - stubborn as a mule. Without any further objections (although he winced back a little as I did), I reached up towards the roof of the box, carefully lifting the lid from the walls of the container. Hesitant, I brushed it aside, suddenly doubting my actions.

And, peering back as if she stared into my very soul, was Sad Twinky.

It was, admittedly, the first time I’d ever seen her in the flesh - no, ignore me. The… metal? I don’t know; whatever you can say you met animatronic ponies in. There was something so sad within the bottomless holes where her eyes would be. They seemed… understanding. She knew what it was like, to be scared of them. She’d been here long enough, no doubt. Blitz stared into her soft features, the plait that we all knew so well tumbling across her neck and hanging like a fishing rod into the box. I peered up at her expectantly. She raised her head a little, allowing her voice to slip from between her stiffening jaws.
“T-they’ll find you here…”
I shook my head, disbelieving, “And we should go somewhere else?” I whispered.
She gave a soft smile. It tugged at my heart - so sorrowful. It was as if she’d seen this happen before.
She breathed inwards (which didn’t make sense to me), before sighing softly, “They are all but 15 seconds away… and they will come here…” her words fell into a deeper hush as the whirring returned. She whipped her head around to point her ears in the direction that it was coming from, “OK, 10 seconds. They’ll find you here.”
I stared at her helplessly as Blitz shifted to get ready to move. The whirring shifted as though they had just passed a wall - that nothing was blocking the sound besides the walls of the box.
From there, all descended into chaos.
The whirring fell silent. It was a stand-off. An unfair one, to say the least: one shell of a pony versus six monstrosities of mechanics. Then, I felt as if the very walls of the box were being burnt by a fiery gaze, every one filled with malice.
“Run.”
A low growl ascended from the voice-box of one (which, I wasn’t sure), before I heard a sweeping of hooves and our hiding place was tossed over. The Ani-pony, which turned out to be Raindrop, slid around the side of the container, primed to attack, but was greeted with nothing.
A spark of blue tumbled weakly onto her nose.

An agitated cry split through the air, melding with mine and Blitz’s clattering hooves - it was a clever move, I felt. It bought us enough time to get away from them and further into the crevices of the building. With some hope, we’d stay hidden in this game of hide and seek for a long enough time to glide over to 6 am. With luck, that is.
Recklessly, my hooves crossed over one another around a corner, hastily trying to grip against the smooth floors; to my dismay, I tumbled over them (clumsy, clumsy me) and into the direction of a wall. I winced a little as I braced for an impact, skidding constantly as I tried to peddle backwards. With a thump, I bundled into the wall. However, I was surprised as I felt myself continue to move. I gave a cry as a grate attached to the wall gave way and I fell inwards. Blitz called out to me a couple of times, hastily moving towards the vent in an effort to see where I had ended up. It was, however, a wasted effort - it was a heavy gloom, scented with stale air and oil. The only thing I could see was a pair of worried eyes staring back at me through the blue gloom that spilled into the tunnel.
“It’s… a vent.” I spoke with intrigue, but I instantly lowered my voice to a whisper as echoes bounced all around me.
Blitz shook his head in annoyance, “Stay there, I’m coming in for you.”
I leapt back towards the opening, peering up to him as he jumped, startled, “This is how Shadow must have got through to us! It must be a system that links all the areas together!”
I saw him recoil as my words fell through the slats (most likely sounding much louder than intended), before pressing his minty-coloured muzzle against the metal. His orange eyes threw sparks of colour into mine - I had never noticed before how very fire-like they were. They shone within his nervous features like ambers set in the handle of a sword. I think I finally understood what Crystal meant when she said that our eyes were the jewels of our souls. The very things that made us - every quality that made us an individual. We all had a defining trait, though. One that made us, us.
The fire within.

I tapped gently against the vent, beckoning him to join me in the gloom. Cautious, he glanced side to side, before pushing the shutter inwardly and clambering in. (Usually, you had to pull them open to access it - perhaps it was to do with Shadow’s ability, I wondered. However, that did leave me thinking that the owner must have asked for them to be made like that… I shuddered away the thought before it worked itself any further into my head.) He shuffled his shoulders, probably surprised by the vent’s closeness. I smiled to him. He always seemed surprised by obvious things, such as a narrow vent or ice being cold; I guess it was part of his personality, really. His loveable, dorky, sweet little personality I’d known since time began.
He sat, a little awkwardly, with his tail curved around his flank and looking as if he’d just been told that his mother was a chocolate dinosaur. I snorted, regarding his blank expression, before stifling an oncoming laugh.
“What?” he shrugged.
“You.”
“What?”
“…Nothing.” I scrunched my smile inside my cheek, appearing somewhat squirrel-like as they puffed out, “So, do you think we should walk this vent?”
“Eh… ‘spose so.”
I rolled my eyes at his lack of enthusiasm - why wouldn’t he want to check out this ominous, gloomy, depressing vent with me? It was the perfect pastime, I thought. Perhaps not, in his opinion. I began to clumsily shuffle across the icy steel that floored the vent, feeling the rusting metal grate against my fur. Grimacing a little, I crawled a little more comfortably as I found an easier method, and soon the vent fell further into darkness.

The only light I had was that from the tangerine and sapphire glows in mine and Blitz’s eyes - like candles, they flickered against the steel outsides that held us in. It felt as if we had entered the stomach of some great, cold beast, which held us unfriendly within it. Ugh. What a terrible thought. Every movement made echoed like a gunshot (it felt), and I was hoping that this beast’s belly didn’t stretch its inners too far into the design of the building…
“Do you have any idea-” Blitz started loudly, before I whirled round, hissing for him to be quiet, “where we are?” He whispered this last part sheepishly.
I shook my head softly, flicking my ears around my head like radars honing in on a signal. To be honest, that was exactly what I was doing. I had heard a clang. I was sure of it. I could feel within my soul that our hiding place had been upturned.

And being chased through pitch-black vents was not something I was planning on doing.

Blitz’s questioning expression followed every turn of my ears, bat-like in a way. Perhaps being best friends with a half bat-pony pegasi had had its effect on my behaviour.
“Twinks…?” he breathed, trying not to disturb my surveillance, but curiosity beating him with its hooves of stone.
I jolted a little, stunned as a mouse joined us within our (could you call it “ours”?) vent and scampered further into the cavern, “A-a clang. I swear I heard one.” I wavered my hoof in the general direction of the corridor, “Out there.”
“Well, do you think it’s wise to stay in here?”
I pondered this fact for a moment; true, it might have been a smarter option to have left, but, never being a mare of rational thinking…
The little mouse ran up to my hoof, budged at it with all its weight against it, and then twitched its whiskers in a feat of courage. It seemed as if it wanted my attention. Regarding it intently, it flitted in a circle, sat up on its back legs, squeaked, and ran off further up the tunnel. It stared back at us with intrigue and determination in its twinkling eyes, wriggling its whiskers side to side in a peculiar manner.
I raised my neck, tried the best I could to get back up into a manoeuvrable pose (unlike the sack-like way I was lolling about right this moment), and pointed an order away into the gloom, “Follow that mouse!”
The small, fuzzy critter squeaked a war cry before bounding away into the vent, with my heavy, clumsy hooves pounding against the metal as I clawed my way through the blanket-like fog.
Blitz rolled his eyes, the obvious exasperation coating his voice, “You’ve gotta be kidding. We are not following a mouse! I’m especially not entrusting my life in its…” his words lingered in the air as the mouse ran back into sight, twitching and twiddling in a delicate way. Blitz held its gaze, and his features softened the slightest bit, “…tiny, sweet paws.”
Turning, I smirked at him with an all-knowing “you-cannot-defeat-me” look in my eyes, and he let out a shaky groan, “Fine.”
“You must trust more in the animal kingdom, dear chap!” I cheered, putting on the pretence of an ageing documentary host, waving a hoof in the air with a hint of regality and self-importance.
He snorted, swallowing laughter back down his throat, “You sound like a hippie gone wrong!”
“And exactly how many hippies do you know, Blare Blitz?”
He let out a dragging ‘uh’, confirming my story in its entirety. I didn’t think he knew any hippies, really. I guess Fireshine could be described as a pseudo-hippie, perhaps, in the right conditions… But. Well.
That isn’t quite the important fact at this moment.

In that moment, the little tawny mouse let out a sharp squeak and leaped away into the darkness. It wasn’t apparent why, but I pursued it at a pace that Blitz could just manage, and that kept the little creature within my sight. The very faint outline of its tail flashing within the murky gloom. Every once in a while, we passed an exit, allowing slats of bluish light to pour in to the vent. Those moments, I awaited eagerly, allowing me to be sure I wouldn’t be turning into a nocturnal creature any time soon. The near-silent patter of the mouse’s paws, sounding like soft rainfall on the top of an umbrella, and the shuffling we tried to mute as we followed, were the only noises that could be heard.
The steel groaned a little as I shifted along it - I could sense, now, that we were deeper into the heart of the systems in here, and no light was pouring into the corridor anymore. We’d been plunged into a cloak of darkness. Even with a unicorns’ sharp vision, I was struggling to make out the creature that was guiding us. More times than one, it stopped, ran back into vision, and then began to make up its speed once more. Eventually, lost within this labyrinth of madness, we came across a junction.
We had two options: left - plunged into darkness; right - plunged into darkness. There was no difference. At all.
“Uh, what do you think?” Blitz questioned, turning his head side to side with increasing curiosity.
“I have no idea.”
“Great.”
Even the little mouse seemed perplexed, hovering between the two channels as if deducing a decision itself. Stood upon its back legs, it was dwarfed by the endlessly gaping chasms at its flanks - its tail curved over on itself as the little mouse cocked its head, flickering its ears. It was as if it could… hear something.

With a squeal surprisingly loud for a creature of its size, the mouse doubled back on itself, dashing towards us in a flurry of fur and feet. It bundled itself past us in a panicked daze, quickly scampering away out of sight before I could even comprehend what was going on.
“What the-?” I began, puzzled out of my wits as to why the creature had so quickly changed. I shuffled myself forwards, my ears pointing upwards like arrows. Slowly nearing the junction, I jutted my head, craned my neck - just about did any kind of movement that would add an extra inch or two to my reach. I gave a sigh. Finally, I could actually see what I was meant to be looking at. Poking my muzzle around the corner of the right side, I likened myself to a periscope, eyes scanning the darkness as if I had my own x-ray vision: as a simple unicorn, I obviously couldn’t see in that (if only I could), but, as far as I could tell, there was nothing of any interest, dangerous or not, in that direction at all. Merely black, gloomy air.
“You spotted anything?” Blitz questioned, forgetting the “whispering rule” and instead sending a wave of echoes throughout the tunnels. I grimaced, shook, and turned to him with an icy stare.
“No.”
“Hmm. Odd.”
I grumbled to myself. Perhaps Blitz hadn’t been the best option to bring along to this hellhole, after all. I probably should have fetched one of the gang. Shadow would’ve been amazing at this - resourceful as one possibly could be, afraid of nothing (well, near enough nothing. I doubted that any clowns would be emerging any time soon.), and, with much better hearing and night-vision than either me or Blitz could muster, it would’ve been helpful to have her stashed in here at this moment.
Except. She might not have enjoyed being chased around by her alternate self. I don’t think I really enjoy that, either, to be honest.
I threw a glance to the left, realising I hadn’t yet analysed that area at all. Considering everything, I was sure there was nothing to see, but, I realised that Blitz’s echo was seemingly cut off at a point within a few metres down that channel. While his voice was still throwing and tossing its mane around in the right side, the left had all but died abruptly.
So, with this revelation, I peered harder into the gloom, and, sure enough, the darkness seemed to be solidly matt, without any light at all shining away from it. In fact, it blocked every view of the rest of the vent. Strange.
Well, I was hoping that wasn’t an Ani.
“Blitz.” I began, sounding a little too leader-like for my own liking, “Stay there.”
“Alrigh- wait, what are you-?”
I shuffled quickly across the front of him, into the intersection, and headed into the left corridor like a frightened snake.
“Twinkle! What the hell are you doing?” he cursed, sending more soundwaves into the chamber.
I sighed, turning back to him, “It’s just a door.”
“What’s just a door?” he mocked my tone, squeaking a little at the beginning to emphasise his agitation. Oh, he didn’t just do that.
“That’s just a door!” I thrust a hoof hard in gesture towards the rectangular, steel door that was blocking the left side. It must have stayed down from the other day, I pondered. It blocked Ani-Shadow, sure, but it also blocked us. Great. Nowhere to run. I was feeling a little like a mouse in a maze. Which reminds me…
“Blitz, can you see that mouse anywhere?” I asked, peering past the soft fur of his shoulders and back into the way we came.
He appeared to take a momentarily glance, before replying “Gone like the wind.”
“Just perfect…”
I continued to peer side to side, curious as heck as to what on earth was happening. There was something between those two vents that scared the mouse so much, but nothing was suggesting as to what it was. Floating here wasn’t going to aid my cause whatsoever.
Deciding to stray a little further into the right corridor - which could obviously prove to be a foolish decision later - I let my hooves steadily guide me into the oppressing darkness.
“Keep a watch, Blitz, and let me know if you spot anything positively “dodgy”.” I waved my hooves at this as if I was air-quoting. It was a shame that ponies didn’t have fingers… I actually heard about a pony, years ago, being somewhat obsessed with the idea of hands. Poor mare; she was a unicorn, too - she didn’t even have wings to use in a similar way to hands!

Aah, old times.

The downy feathers that walked my shoulders rose a little with the increasingly damp atmosphere. A little further down the corridor, I could hear the faint buzz - almost like bees in late summer - of what sounded like equipment. Possibly heating equipment, probably water pipes - I couldn’t be sure. Like the idiot that I was, I plastered my ear to the outer wall of the chamber, breathing shallowly as to not interfere with the sound. There was a water-like sound, dripping and surging with the need to bulge, a more intensified buzz, and, to some sort of surprise, I found that the base of my ear being heated as though a dragon was breathing soft air onto it. Without a doubt, that was a boiler room. Nothing else could describe the connection between the three. Keeping my ear positively glued to the steel exterior, I shuffled an inch at a time, moving place as though I were a doctor checking the passing of breath. I eased myself a little further each time, paying little attention to the gloom around me and instead focused entirely on the heartbeat of the mighty room. With a bump, I slipped a centimetre or so into a large crevice - a crater in the crust of the earth. I felt the divot give in a little further, and, finally peeling myself away from the walls, find myself peering at a small opening, with slits that let the outside world flood in. In this earthworm world, the light was positively blinding, forcing me to withdraw as I tried my damn best to accustom in such a short moment. The smell of hot air hit me like a wave. It was as I was feeling somewhat proud of my deductive skills that I heard Blitz stuttering wildly.
It was a frenzy, a panicked slur of something that he couldn’t seem to get out quickly enough. This flurry of vowel sounds confused me - as it naturally would - so I called, “Blitz? You alright?”
He didn’t answer; he just kept stumbling over a new frequency of sound.
“Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-”
He leapt at me at a speed I believed he was incapable of in his somewhat bundled position, grasping hold of my plait and tugging at me as if I was a rag doll. Making an awkward stumble over me, he leapt away into the darkness of the corridor, clanging and bumping all the way along with his clumsy hooves.
Panicked into a frenzy, I tried to swing my head in search of anything that would scare him so much. I saw and heard nothing, as the shallow heartbeat of the building ceased to make a sound.
Then, out from the gloom, I saw the faintest shimmer. It was white, like the soft tender glow of the sun in the morning sky. Then, it intensified in its place, bouncing and jittering with a cacophony of grating sounds. I shivered with concern, slowly beginning to puzzle out what it was. Blitz had frozen to his place in complete fear, peering round at the discord of noise with a head motion so slow as though not to disturb the very air around him.
Whatever the creature was, it slunk around the corner we had come from like a snake, taking soft, easy steps with its arching legs. The only suggestion I could see of it was the gleam of its demon’s smile and the silhouette of its body, visible with the light thrown from the vent exit nearby. Something material flowed around it in swirls, bound around its hooves in twirls and bundles. It gave a hiss. A hiss that slowly increased in depth and volume as it edged closer to us. I could see it shift its head from side to side, scenting the air in order to seek us.
That told me immediately that this wasn’t Shadow we were facing.
It had to be someone who couldn’t see us in this light.
Something that only an Earth Pony would struggle with.

I could hear Blitz whimpering softly, the twists of my hair still within his teeth tensing and slacking within his jaws. He was contemplating making a break for it, I knew.
Through gritted teeth, and with a hiss similar to that of our company, “Whatever you do. Don’t. Move.”
His sound ceased, and I knew my message had been understood. Everything went completely still around us - the boiler room ceased to whisper, Blitz and I dare not pass breath, and the enemy approaching did so with slow, careful movements, like that of a cat. Its features were becoming clearer as it inched closer, the tips of its ears and the dulled gleam of its eyes steadily moving towards me. It took everything not to cry out in horror. Stilling my quaking muscles, I felt even the breath of this creature upon my face now, warm and humid with anticipation.
My eyes widened, my pupils dilated. Heart racing within my chest, I willed it to calm - I feared that it could be heard within this silence. The devil herself took another step forward (and no more could be taken, so close was her and I) and, to my surprise, halted.

Nothing happened in those agonising moments. The air hushed. I held my breath with every fibre of my being. I could see her jawline (of a her I was certain), clenched with focus, as she peered along the vent. The sound of her mechanics suddenly became animated, whirring as I saw her pupils change dimension and direction. At one moment, I swore she had seen me, her eye lights falling upon my form for some heavy seconds, before moving away again to further scan the darkness. This process lasted what seemed like an eternity, before her eyes fell back into the gloom. For some reason I couldn’t understand, I saw her smile chillingly in the direction she was facing - I couldn’t help but feel a strike of dread deep within my heart.
The form breathed out with a spray of mist.
And inhaled.

I winced back, withdrawing as unnoticeably as physically possible. But, with a movement no one could predict, she dropped her muzzle straight down to my level, pressed its steely tip against my own, and startled. Blitz quaked, knowing that our cover had been broken. There was no reason to stay put. But, still, I wished he would just remain where he was and wait it out.
With an angry whirr, she withdrew, peered directly into my eyes with an intense fire, and shrieked with a split of sound.
Blitz dropped my hair in a startle, and dashed along the vent as quickly as what I thought possible, me quick on his trail. The channel of this narrow vent began to spill out into a chasm, large enough for us to stand upright and gallop hastily along the corridors. Every second or so, I’d spin my head on its pivot to stare back into darkness - I could see nothing, but hear the distant rumble of hoof-fall, almost as though it was the rumour of some forgotten conflict. Momentarily, the scent of hot air rose and fell around us; a second vent opening hanging on by a nail. I tried to absorb this as quickly as it fleeted by - had I been leading, I would’ve dragged both Blitz and I across through it, regardless of what was through on the other side. If we had enough room to run efficiently - other ways out rather than this labyrinth of venting systems - at least we could possibly make an escape.
Alas, my dim-witted friend continue to wheel along without a second regard as to what was hitting him in the muzzle. With desperate eyes, I pleaded with myself for him to turn and at least look at it, but, knowing only I had seen it, I hung close by, whirling my head round behind me and trying to pierce the gloom.
Clattering, I saw our pursuer, heavy and stocky, charging around the bend in the vent and heading towards us, her eyes alight with scarlet and heaving out long jets of steam from her nostrils. A scarf, the material I had seen earlier, was whirling around viciously and whipping the air she left in her wake. Inhaling sharply, I cried to Blitz, “Rain!”
I was so hoping that this was not happening - not the huge, unstoppable force that was Raindrop. Her farm work, and her part-horse genetics, made her the last pony I’d want to cross in the real world. But, trapped in a place like this, caged in and helpless, with a giant steel pony galloping towards us with no hesitation as to what damage it might cause to anyone, could be called my worse nightmare.
Flinching, he skidded a metre or so, staring back at me, and then the animatronic, with pure fear frozen in his eyes. I saw him sweep a gulp of air into his lungs, punching a hoof down violently into the steel floor in order to catch the attention of the robot. She slid to a halt, within a hoof’s length of me, and appeared to take no notice of the clang my companion had made. However, once more, she stared straight past me as if I was a ghost, merely spectator to all of this.
Which then made me question if Blitz and I were already dead.

Although, I doubted that no nightmare, no hell, could conjure up something as weird and wonderful as this pretty little torture.

An ear-splitting clatter drew my attention back to the vent, cold and isolated. I twirled around on a pivot and witnessed a blur of steel leap from behind Blitz, angular and pointed with a venomous hiss. I cried out in desperation, believing I was too late. No reply. Not even a whisper of metal whirring, a cry of pain. Silence. I awaited any response, staring transfixed ahead into the path through this - I saw nothing from the cavernous channels beyond, without light to even illuminate the fate I knew he had met.
The floor behind me a trembled a little with a heavy hoof, steady and deliberating. I wished not to even turn around - I suddenly felt myself welcome of this demise, a fate I would share with my best friend.
If he had fallen, so would I.

Ani-Raindrop’s weighted steps slowly sweeped their way towards me; if those plodding steps were made because she was expecting something further, or if she was waiting for me to look into her eyes and tell her not to kill me, I was not sure. But, in my belief, Raindrop would be waiting for a fair fight - to take me down as I struggled against my death.

I would not struggle. I prayed for her, if anything, to make it hasty as I persisted at staring off into the distance, hoping for any sign of him.

I no longer cared whoever took me, or even if I were taken. I just wanted to hear a breath that wasn’t mine. But it had been too long for him to return if he still was alive. And, the stillness, the lack of company I felt, not even the drawing of shallow breath audible in this deafening silence, told me the worst.
I could not even bare to admit it. I felt my heart, my very soul, shatter inside of me, peering away into that agonising truth.
All these years I believed I was just his friend, that his pursuits to have me to himself were in vain. However, I suddenly realised that the breath caught in my lungs, the hitch in my throat that prevented me from crying, weren’t out of mere friendship.
I believed, in that moment, that was the first instance I had ever felt real love.

“You’re Twinkleheart.” The steel voice spoke softly from behind me, the deep undertones of a voice capable of far louder speech flecked within it, “You fight against those who do you wrong.”
Her words trickled over my head like nothing but rain on a warm summer’s day.
“Have I been told wrongly? Or do you not see an enemy in this?”
I gazed away into the distance, attention caught by an isolated tear rolling down my face, “…I see monsters… I see ghosts…”
I felt the confusion on her metal face, doing its best to replicate puzzlement with the barely-moveable parts that showed her expression.
My voice was barely a whisper, still muted by agony, “…and I see ponies who no longer understand what they are, and who they’ve become.”
My hoof trembled as I raised it, turning it over to stare into its golden surface, shining back a reflection I did not recognise, frozen cold in despair and weakness, “And I believe I am in the same state as you. So, just get it over with.”
I patiently awaited her bite, or her leap, crushing me into dust. But, as the silence stretched out, the echoes disappearing, nothing came. From within the grief, I felt anger and frustration well up inside of me (I couldn’t place where it had come from, but it was a place I had forgotten many years ago), and I tilted my head to see her. She was just… staring at me. As if I were frozen in time, a sight to see in one of the many places of Equestria. My glare penetrated her eyes, and she glanced away in submission.
“Come on!” I growled, bowing my head closer to the ground, exposing any vulnerable position I could, “Just do it!” The burning tears were now streaming down my face, piercing my heart with a thousand needles, “It’s killing me!”
I started at my own sick, twisted pun, and found my company mirroring a flinch in response. She stared at me, eyes as wide as they could in some form of shock, but, still, she was obviously reluctant to do anything. And, to my own surprise, I laughed. It was choking, heavy, as I looked away back into the darkness.
* (Ending 1 - Bad Ending) “I always thought you could do any job, Rain…” I sighed, rolling my shoulders in isolation to the rest of my body, “but not this one, eh?”
I heard her blow out a sorrowful jet of stream from her mechanics, remaining silent otherwise.
“Perhaps Shadow, instead, then? We know you’re the merciless one out of us.” I snorted, calling out a little louder into the gloom. I knew it was her. In the flash of steel and jagged blurs, I saw the diamond-slotted eyes, the flare of faux fire sailing upon her head, I had clearly seen exactly who had brought Blitz down. In my opinion, the class-murderer just had to lay claim to both of us.

From the direction I was facing, I saw the faint silhouette of the pegasus emerge from the gloom, the black shadow that gave her her name only highlighted by the open vent, now a distance away behind us. However, her eyes, glowing scarlet like the blood she had thrown from so many, were clear from her body, seemingly emotionless and cold. However, as she spoke, the faintest hint of sadness, pity, even, escaped and flowed into her words.
“It’s the truth.” She stepped a little more forward into the light, it bouncing from her metallic coat in both harsh sun rays and soft moonlight. I heard Rain move her head a little, staring away into the walls, lost in thought, no doubt in my mind.
“Why?” I questioned, my voice pitching higher at the end as I forced myself to look at her, “What’s the point in any of this?”
She snorted, then shook her head in the best way she could to show that she, like I, had no idea. Her wings, folded neatly behind her, drooped a little in guilt. Red light was thrown around the room as she stared to the floor, colouring the ground with a criss-cross design of scarlet. I continued to regard her actions, and almost laughed at how life-like she was to the real thing. It made me question how on Earth the designers had been able to program these ponies to such a degree that even I could have been fooled.
“To be honest, I’m not sure.” She sighed, after what seemed to be an age of silence, hanging on by a tender thread.
I scoffed, feeling the sarcasm surface like bile in the back of my throat, “You don’t know? Wow. I’ve heard a lot of crap over my time, but, really?” I was shaking in part-frustration, part-hilarity, before I noticed that the robot was indeed telling the truth, “What has she got over you guys?”
“Something, obviously.” Raindrop grunted, chipping into the confrontation, “She is head of the gang, after all.”
“I’m the head of the real gang.” I dragged my words out heavily in order to exaggerate my irritation, “and I hold nothing over my friends.”
“It’s different, here. So, so different to the outside. So much so, we’ve forgotten what that was.” Shadow complacently tapped a hoof on the floor, creating the tiniest clangs I could imagine from them.
Shaking my head in disbelief, I allowed the conversation to end there, letting her words continue to flow around the corridors. It was an ocean in which I was drowning. Either from my own tears, or the sounds flowing through my throat, I was drowning; I could do nothing to stop it.
“A-and Blitz?” I began again after some moments, forcing the words to form through the pain it caused, “What did he do?”
The blank looks and meaningless gestures were far more excruciating than any excuse they could have made.
I once again shook my head, this time out of disgust, “…Twinky, I bet, hey?”
“We have no cho-”
“Twinky would be proud.” I mocked, tilting my head with every word.
Scorned, I prickled in anger, wishing that, in that moment, I had the very power to order them to attack me. How I envied my steely counterpart, one with so much control as to what happened at any moment. A snap of her tongue and the dogs would come running. Such a shame that they would not listen to me in that same way.
Even the fur around my neck raised, something that was an extremely rare occurrence for me, before it was accompanied by fresh tears falling away from my sapphire eyes, “I-I don’t know - why you took him. You want me, but you took him!” I was tossing my head by this point, no longer struggling to shout through the huge wedge in my neck, “You can fucking have me! Come on! Come at me!”
I was screaming at this point - I no longer cared whoever heard me, or responded to my cries. Only that my wishes were heeded, “Come o-o-on!” I broke down into tears, uncontrollably roaring through my ripped lungs and straining to see through my blurred eyes. I felt nothing come, and I felt further frustrated the longer they waited. It was inevitable. If they let me get away (which I would refuse to try), Twinky would have them hurt. They had to, regardless of their doubts.
I thought I was making it easier for them - they wanted me to struggle. So I was. I was struggling to make them kill me.

“P-please…” I stammered, my head bent downwards in my now crumpled position, tears dripping down my face like rain in April.
They looked at me, and looked at one another. Rain looked quizzically as Shadow moved away from her stare, and peered back the way she came. The way that my friend had met his fate. I raised my head, then staring after her, before I decided that I needed to see him before anything was done.
As I rose from my broken bundle, an iron hoof was set in front of me, blocking my path. Blurry eyed, I peered up into Ani-Shadow’s dark features, blank and direct, and my eyes must have pleaded why, for she answered, “You… you don’t want to see him like he is.”
I shivered once more, shaking my head against my own will, “N-no. No. No, no. What did you do to him?” I found a snarl rising in the back of my throat, “What did you do to him?”
“…It doesn’t matter.” She shied away from my knife-like glare, “Not like it matters anymore.” She gulped a little (despite having no actual need to - perhaps it was a comedic use of mechanics?), before starting once more, “He’s gone, Twinkle. He’s gone, and I can’t bring him back.”
“If only there were resets…” I muttered under my breath, and, to my surprise, I saw Shadow perk up a little, her ears standing on end and a shallow smile breaking out upon her lips.
“Haha, if only I was Chara, eh?”
I glanced up at her with bemusement, “They programmed that, too?” I shook my head, a broken smile emerging on my face, “It’s amazing what these guys programmed into you…” My cold look returned, peering back up to her with a replaced tone, “It’s a shame they didn’t program empathy in those icy souls of yours.”
She snuffled, rattling her neck with a toss of fire left in her wake. Then, staring down at me, I saw her eyebrows tip the other way, rotating to show the best expression of sadness she possibly could muster. The face reminded me of a small, guilty puppy, and, had I not been in this devastating situation, I would have laughed. The face, scary as it seemed, reminded me of the way… Blitz looked guilty…
And the tears returned again.
“I-” Shadow began, hesitant, as though deliberating something greatly against her systems. Then, steadily, she placed a hoof against my back, grazing it softly across my flocked shoulders, in an act of compassion, “We do have empathy. We, we just…” she fell silent and still like the darkness around us.
“We just can’t express it, is all…” Raindrop broke in, completing the line that her friend could not. She paced up to the side of me, peering into my eyes with a dullened version of her own. It pained me to keep looking, knowing that they were my enemy, knowing what they had done to Blitz, yet I continued to look back in despair.
“Then, do so now. Help me.”
My whisper, vulnerable and weak, appeared to strike a chord within the stoic Rain. Her outward expression shattered, and her pupils shrunk back as though they were stars in the night sky. I heard her give a weak gasp out, shaking a little as though trying to throw something from herself. She stepped back two paces in a haste, burying herself against the vent wall. She continued to stare at me, her eyes wide with some sort of terror. She stared at me, my expression somewhere between shock and confusion and despair and frustration all thrown together; Shadow, meanwhile, stared at her in some sort of pity, or sadness, even. Something was in that, I was sure.
Her pointless breathing shaky, Rain raised a hoof upwards, flinching away from some invisible bombardment, and hesitantly pointed at me, “D-did you- h-hear that-…?” She seemed so panicked, so scared my presence now, I feared as to what I had done so wrongly, “P-please, no. Stars, no. Like…l-like…”
“I know.” Shadow began, staring back off into the distance as though she wished something had gone differently, “I know…”
“I know-” I spoke, this time, in a completely different context this time, curving the words deliberately over my tongue, “That Shadow hasn’t been the lone killer… has she?”
Raindrop just continued staring at me, similar so much to a frightened hare. Her nostrils wavered.
“And, I get it.” I began, trying to look at little less annoyed with the entirety of the situation, “You… you couldn’t do anything else… for if you hadn’t… she… a-and the ponies behind the door would still be…” Every sentence I formed trailed away into some sort of silence, like a word fill where the missing gaps had to be pencilled in.
“You don’t. You really don’t.” Shadow sighed, looking away once more, as though it was a secret agony to keep pouring over the two pitiful ponies in front of her.
“And you don’t get what damage you do otherwise.”
That had come out far more bitterly than I had predicted, flinching at my own words while my company shuddered uncomfortably. Shadow peered over me, my now pleading eyes begging her to complete her duty, to take me now rather than leaving me in this agony. She kept staring at me, before relenting with a heavy sigh.
“You…you really want me to…to… do this, hey?” she almost laughed out the words, somewhat taken aback with the ludicrous idea that this unicorn, renown for her sturdy determination, had given in so easily.
I heaved out hiccupping cries in relief, feeling so pleased that I had finally been heeded. My voice, along with its cracking, sounded so desperate. Desperation flowed from me, my stance, my eyes, everything cried out a beg for mercy. She glanced over my weak form, shaking with need, and she shook her head in some kind of conflicting disbelief.
“Had this been in any other case… had I been in my… zone…” she sighed to herself, almost smiling in utter astonishment, “I would’ve been so proud to do this. End you. But, now…-”
I grumbled a little, feeling my body slowly giving into everything around me - it swaying with some sombre, distant beat of steel, “I don’t care if you don’t want to. But, if you care about others, and you say you do, show me.” I shook away any other cold remarks about bragging to Twinky’s smug face afterwards. Being so sarcastic would get me nowhere anytime soon.
“And, in all honesty, I owe it to you, don’t I?”
I remained silent to that, but peering away in the direction Blitz had fallen gave away enough to say she did.
“…Fine. But-” she started, and I began to worry that have a condition would make all of this more unbearable - some kind of ridiculous challenge that would force me to exist far longer than I wished. However, her next breath surprised me, “I want to hear the real Twinkleheart of Equestria sing.”
My confused and stunned face must have shone brightly from the gloom, for, whatever it was, made the larger robot snort a laugh back. She tossed her tangling mane back from her face, “I’m not exactly asking for a load, Twinkle. I just heard you were good at it.” Her face drew up scornfully, her eyebrows tilted in a pseudo-scowl, “And listening to the same tinny tunes from Twinky only is tolerable for so long.”
I was shocked, my eyes gaping wide as I scanned her now more-present features, “I-is that it?”
Stammering, Rain said, “I-I’ve always been curious as to what the real Twinkle sounded like…”
“And you’ll get to hear it, because you really should help me, too.” A tinge of pushiness lined the pegasus’ words, causing Raindrop to startle in realisation.
“I-I ain’t.”
“You deserve some of the credit, Rain. After all, you helped me track her.” Shadow bobbed her head from side to side, allowing her hair to waver like real flames, soft and flowing on a winter’s night, “And, hell, she struggled to be taken down so much, that two of Twinky’s best warriors could only get her together.” Shadow winked at me, seemingly optimistic despite the grave task I had set her. Perhaps her outlook was a forced output - after all, it appeared that our real, depression-struck Shadow did the exact same thing. Perhaps, after killing so many, you had to stay on the lighter side just to keep sane. Or, perhaps, she had desensitized to the horrors of spilling blood.
Ani-Rain’s reluctance was as clear as the water she worked with, but her sigh showed her relenting attitude. She dragged a hoof across the floor as she moved back closer to us. Her eyes looked over a hardly recognisable face, pausing for a moment to see if any sign of regret was evident in my paling sapphire eyes. To my fortune, and her lack of it, there was none.
“Where?” She spoke clinically now, as though her objective was to paint a wall, or something of the like. She straightened her neck out, holding it above her increasingly drooping shoulders, almost as if it was necessary; if not, she’d fall to the floor like a stone.
“I-what? Where?”
“Where?” she spoke a little more forcefully now, as if her query was something obvious to the average equine like me. I blinked a couple of times, before finally realising her question with a long-drawn oh.
“I-I don’t mind. Just, quick?” I murmured, giving a cheesy, forced smile afterwards, as if I was an idiot awaiting the speeding train while stood on the railway.
She blew out some air from her nose, taking a pace back again, “Fair enough, ‘spose…”
Shadow shook her head in bemusement, appearing to chuckle silently to herself, before re-raising her hoof and placing it against my stomach, “Hey, how about you sing, and we’ll sort out the best way to do it as you do? I solemnly swear that we won’t mess you about. Promise.” She placed a hoof against her none-existent heart and fluttered her wings in salute. Of course. Pegasi code, right?
“I…” I had no clue as to what I should spin from my mouth to its tune. My final song had to be part of me, and Blitz, too, I knew, and had to be something I had always loved. I wasn’t leaving this Earth without a decent way to sing it goodbye.
And then it came to me. Of course, that song Blitz and I had sung so often as children; one of the first songs we ever encountered while we were friends, the relationship it reflected between us was undeniably true to it. As we were galloping around the countless fields of my hometown, we would loudly (and untunefully) shout it into the breeze in hopes of some higher power hearing it and granting us better singing voices. The wraiths swam around my head, of times past and forgotten, but still his smile danced warmly. Sweet memories of many, many years flowed by like an endless river, a whisper circling around in round after round.
My mind was lost to all around me, and my mouth began to sew the words:

When the sky is blue,
And there’s snow on the ground,
The best place to be,
Is ho-ome.

I momentarily caught Rain wavering in my tune, and Shadow turning away from my song to catch her eye and nod. She, however impossibly saddened her expression looked, she knew she had been granted this right, and she understood that she had to undertake it. Steadily, she and Rain lifted me from my feet, in some kind of burial procession. For a moment, I wondered what they were actually doing. However, as I was replaced on the floor, I saw the shadowed outline of a familiar friend. I gasped a little, my voice cracking, as his tangerine eyes peered into mine without a single suggestion that he was no longer alive. Not even a mark tainted his face. Nothing was different. It was just like waking up to his smiling face all those years ago, after that one time he had a nightmare… everything felt like an nothing but an instant had passed.

Look into my eyes,

I shivered at that line - the irony of such timing. His eyes kept holding mine, bright and orange, just without the usual fire that burned so brightly within them. They were somewhat extinguished, covered by the occasional strand of wily hair. But, on his muzzle, he, strangely, wore a smile. Perhaps he was just happy to see me by him. That was what he had always wanted, after all - to lay beside me. I…he would never get to, now. If anypony would have me, it would’ve been him. In some way, he already had a huge part of me, and I never even realised until now.
Now everything was too late.

And see a paradise,
That’s where we’ll go,
A Heaven of our own.

Heaven. Had he gone there? Did it even exist? I had no idea what we were heading to, but, if he was with me, I would be happy. We could be happy together, never separated by any meaningless mission or stupid excuse or my ignorance ever again.

When I first saw you,
There was a spark,

The Anis worked gently and carefully. First, a hoof rest upon my head, firm, but not uncomfortable. Then, they placed a second hoof, and then a third, along my back, securing me. I felt one hoof be raised behind me, and another tucked in against my body. The faint glimmer of Shadow’s eye moved into view, and she gave me a weak beam of fangs. A pity smile. Always a pity smile.

That lit something up,
Within my heart.

Like the fire Blitz burnt like a candle, a memory of his soul, within his heart, and within his now muted eyes. He’d sparked something that very first day he came up to those bullies and told them to leave me alone. He knew what he was getting into. But he braved it, for some stupid reason. He charged into the fire headlong, knowing exactly he would be burnt. Just like this time. This tragic time we had failed like all others. He still blindly went into the flames because I refused to leave the embers alone.

When the sky is blue,

The faded blue leg of Rain moved by my eyes, sturdy and heavy looking, without significant damage but only the occasional scuff, stood by my head. A single glimpse of her scarf fluttered past my fluttering eyes, teared and frayed so slightly, and my eyes teared up, but no longer streaming.

And there’s snow on the ground,
The best place to be,

The final line came out as a breathy whisper, barely audible, as I finally gave in completely. I allowed my breath to shallow as the hooves along my body applied some more pressure. I winced a little, the increasing pressure sending frequent jolts along my spine. It was if I had become one of them, electricity surging along my spine in order to keep my powered.

Is home, safe and…

I saw two pairs of ruby eye light, some sort of comfort now - as though they were fallen angels helping the dead to rise. I gave a broken smile, thanking them more than any words could say. All I could see was black, and, from it, the glow of two garnet eyes, a shine from two scarlet, slitted-pupil eyes, and, finally, my eyes came to rest upon the amber-orange glimmer from Blitz’s, the music I could almost hear him singing alongside me.

sound.

I breathed the final word, and found that my two angels sung the final note alongside me in an impossibly melodic static. They glanced across to one another, and, then, with movements as hasty as lightening, my back froze, my shoulders gave, I softly sighed, and then two hooves took hold of my head and ever so painlessly twisted it over, out of place.

The weighty pressure finally gave, a static choke rang like an echo around me, and everything faded to white.

Description
Chapter 6 - Renegades

A hurr rumbled mockingly from the shadows, “Did you honestly think it would be that easy to fool us?” Twinky head jerked from the darkness, her icy steel muzzle pointing close to my own, “Wrong, ponies!”
“When were we ever right, Twinky?” I sighed into my hair, some of it now flopping carelessly in my face. I inhaled, trying to blow it away, but it just kept hitting me in the eye with a vengeance. She scoffed at my feeble attempts to rid myself of the problem, staring between Shadow and I.
“Should we cut it off for you? Looks like you’re due a trim…” she snickered, a grin spreading across her face as she came up with this idea.
I shook my head vigorously, “Nah ah! You’re not touching my hair!”
“Tell us what you know, and we’ll leave it be.” Shadow snarled into the base of my ear. I shuddered from the strange feeling of stale air leaking through my fur, scrabbling against her to try to escape, to no avail.
“-What if we don’t know anything?” Blitz enquired, sounding clearly struggling for breath with the amount of steel resting on his lungs
The Anis hesitated for a moment, pondering their decision. Twinky raised an inquisitive (or maybe impressed) eyebrow at Shadow as she smirked. After what seemed like an age before their scratchy voices sounded again, Shadow spoke up, “Fair enough.” She released me from her harsh grip, dropping me like a sack of potatoes. Dazed, it took me a few seconds to stabilise myself. Meanwhile, Ani-Shine lifted herself from Blitz, him wheezing and coughing as he finally got air back to his lungs. For a moment or two, they watched us struggling, stumbling and gasping in front of them - no doubt, signs of weakness in their eyes. I heard a cold snicker echo from Twinky, and her hoof tapped the floor like a drumbeat, “We’ve decided to release you, my ponies. For sport, we will now pursue you. If we catch you, then you will tell us our information. Or die. Got it?” She spoke quickly, almost as if she wanted us to be confused. I blinked at her hazily, rubbing my eyes with a hoof. She continued, “You have a ten second head-start. Starting now.”
I shuffled on the floor, still not processing what she said, “…Wait, what are we meant to be doing? R-running from you?” I mumbled, before whining, “I don’t get it...”
She kept a stern face, “I’m counting, y’know. 4…5…”
Annoyed, I muttered and cursed to myself as I stumbled to my hooves, looking around me sleepily.
“8…9… You really don’t care that you’re about to die, huh?”
I blinked twice, confused. And, then, the word die seemed to impact on my brain, leaving a comet-sized crater in it. I swallowed a gulp of air, exclaiming, “Wait, die-?”

Too late, Twinkleheart.
With pleasured, sinister grins, the trio of Ani-Ponies exclaimed, “10!”, leaping forward in unison, creating a unescapable barrier of metal. What little could I do in that moment? All I did was make the most mouse-like squeak which itself trembled away from my lips as though it wasn’t sure of its existence.
Thankfully, a minty-coloured hoof heaved me out of the way as the robots leapt within centimetres.
“Come on!” he yelped down my ear, clearly struck through with pain from Fireshine holding him down earlier, “We don’t have time to just sit there!”
Finally realising what this all was leading to, my legs, although shaking, now moved from their own accord, carrying me clumsily across the tiling. Agitated grumbles echoed from behind me, and I dared a look back. Twinky’s scarlet eyes, furrowed in anger, bore straight into mine. Yet, they didn’t appear to be chasing us, their forms slowly shrinking away - however, with what almost seemed like a silent command, she and her pack members slinked around the corner they were guarding.
“Blitz…” I huffed out of my lungs between ragged breaths, “They aren’t chasing us. They’re going a different direction!”
Finishing off my sentence, he spoke, determined, “They’ll try to catch us using another route. They do live here, Twinks.” As a turning beckoned us from its place, Blitz swung round it as though he had wheels, dragging me by the tips of my hooves, “But they can’t find us if we stop running and hide?”
To my surprise, a large, faded violet box stood around the wall, leant solemnly against the peeling paint. It was perfectly sized for two ponies such as Blitz and I - how had he even noticed it before?
“I saw it while we were looking for the Office. Thought it might come in handy.” he smiled, answering my thoughts for me. His entire demeanour had changed - the usual Blitz that I knew, grew up with and loved had all but disappeared, now replaced with a stallion set on a mission… In a way, it scared me. If this was what he was like now, what would he be like if something bad happened to any of us…? I hoped never to find out. Either way, the cube was our home for the next few hours - at least we could keep each other company.

With every precaution, I slipped across the colour-drained tiles, careful not to knock any of the forlorn ribbons that drooped their tails on the ground. Everything looked so… dead (and, please, excuse the untimely pun), as if every ounce of life had been seeped from the walls. The purple of the empty gift box loomed in front of me, and the thought then came across my mind - perhaps it had been originally designed to fit ponies in it? It would make sense, this being a place of fun, surprises, and children. Something was, for once, conveniently working in our favour. Noiselessly, I lowered myself into the box, taking care not to tip it up with my often clumsy hooves. Honestly. Everything that I could knock over, run into, fall over, the list goes on, I would do; neither of my parents had that problem - it seemed only I was blessed with that wondrous gift.
Blitz, now settling into the box as he pulled the lid of the present over, sighed, “Welp: that should be good.”
I nodded, afraid that, perhaps, the Anis had watched us go there all along. Yet, however long I waited, no strike, no ambush came. I was thankful for that, but it only made me, in some ways, tenser. Nervously, I tapped my hoof lightly against the enclosed walls, when, for some strange reason (maybe he found it would comfort me), Blitz grabbed one of them to rest on his lap while he massaged the other end of the hoof with his own. Great - a hoof massage in a murderous place.
I scoffed at him as he busied himself with my back hooves, “My hooves are that interesting, huh? And, secondly, why exactly are you massaging them?” I was more baffled than what I usually was with this stallion; in all honesty, that was saying something.
“You kinda looked stressed, so I thought it’d calm you down a little.” His words were casual, soft, as if nothing was going on. Again, his entire front had shifted - it made me curious as to what swung his moods, or, if anything, everything I’d seen tonight had been a spectacular show as to not worry me. Watching his preoccupied face, seemingly enjoying the proximity of us both and an opportunity to massage my hooves, I didn’t have the heart to tell him that, as a matter of fact, nothing he was doing would make me feel in better. But, I couldn’t crush his happiness - if he thought he was helping me, then I’d let him believe it.
Everything remained silent for a moment, lost in time, when I asked the strangest question (and I never understood why I would bring it up), “Do… do you think that we’re going to die tonight?”
He stared at me blankly, baffled, “If they don’t find us, then no…” he sounded awfully doubtful, and his tone made me feel uneasy.
“But, we do have to leave at some point.”
“They’ll turn off though, won’t they?”
I shook my head, “I don’t know - we’ve never seen them do so, even after six…”
He appeared to have no reply to this, and all he did was move his jaw side to side, as if he was chewing his very words before swallowing them down with an audible gulp. Again, all fell into an awkward hush. But, then, an out-of-tune bong rattled through the sides of the box; it was slightly muffled, but still clear enough to be heard.

One, eerie, single bong - one o’ clock.

I stared at Blitz, and he froze still, his hoof-biting (yes, he was doing that) halting. Softly, the clang faded into the dusty air of the play place, leaving us two to expect something coming, or perhaps the lid of our box flying off and being greeted with three pairs (maybe more, who would know?) of ruby eyes. I felt my very bones rattle, singing an eerie tune of their own. Every breath, every gulp, sounded like a gunshot. I felt more conscious of my surroundings than ever, as if time had slowed down just enough for me to feel the world rather than just be in it - and then I thought, “Is this… death?”. I had heard of stories where those that narrowly escaped death felt as if the world had slowed its turn for just a few moments… so maybe this was it. My eyes darted in their sockets, catching every tremor, every flicker of shadow. Silence. It was all wrong. My breath kept catching inside my lungs. No. This was it.

And then the whirring began.

It started off as a murmur, something that could barely be distinguishable amongst the humming of moths and faulty electrics. But, slowly, each and every one grew just a little stronger. Each echo became longer. Each step became more daunting. Soon, a faint rumble of thunder had made its way up the corridor and had seeped through our box, as if an army of hundred or more came to hunt us down. Surprisingly, we heard a somewhat sheepish knock coming from the top of the box - it didn’t snarl a threat, nor did it beckon us to safety. It was somewhat sorrowful, if someone could even deduce that much from a knock at all… I carefully reached up a hoof to brush away the lid and reveal who our visitor was. My arm locked up as it was enveloped by an orange glow.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I heard Blitz snarl in a whisper, trying his very best to disguise our presence.
I shook my head wildly, sending my hair into a frenzy, “They wouldn’t knock, though…”
“What if it’s a trap?”
“That’s not them.”
“…Why are you so difficult?” he sighed eventually, releasing my hoof from his magic.
I scoffed a little at that remark. I think everyone knew that was part of who I was - stubborn as a mule. Without any further objections (although he winced back a little as I did), I reached up towards the roof of the box, carefully lifting the lid from the walls of the container. Hesitant, I brushed it aside, suddenly doubting my actions.

And, peering back as if she stared into my very soul, was Sad Twinky.

It was, admittedly, the first time I’d ever seen her in the flesh - no, ignore me. The… metal? I don’t know; whatever you can say you met animatronic ponies in. There was something so sad within the bottomless holes where her eyes would be. They seemed… understanding. She knew what it was like, to be scared of them. She’d been here long enough, no doubt. Blitz stared into her soft features, the plait that we all knew so well tumbling across her neck and hanging like a fishing rod into the box. I peered up at her expectantly. She raised her head a little, allowing her voice to slip from between her stiffening jaws.
“T-they’ll find you here…”
I shook my head, disbelieving, “And we should go somewhere else?” I whispered.
She gave a soft smile. It tugged at my heart - so sorrowful. It was as if she’d seen this happen before.
She breathed inwards (which didn’t make sense to me), before sighing softly, “They are all but 15 seconds away… and they will come here…” her words fell into a deeper hush as the whirring returned. She whipped her head around to point her ears in the direction that it was coming from, “OK, 10 seconds. They’ll find you here.”
I stared at her helplessly as Blitz shifted to get ready to move. The whirring shifted as though they had just passed a wall - that nothing was blocking the sound besides the walls of the box.
From there, all descended into chaos.
The whirring fell silent. It was a stand-off. An unfair one, to say the least: one shell of a pony versus six monstrosities of mechanics. Then, I felt as if the very walls of the box were being burnt by a fiery gaze, every one filled with malice.
“Run.”
A low growl ascended from the voice-box of one (which, I wasn’t sure), before I heard a sweeping of hooves and our hiding place was tossed over. The Ani-pony, which turned out to be Raindrop, slid around the side of the container, primed to attack, but was greeted with nothing.
A spark of blue tumbled weakly onto her nose.

An agitated cry split through the air, melding with mine and Blitz’s clattering hooves - it was a clever move, I felt. It bought us enough time to get away from them and further into the crevices of the building. With some hope, we’d stay hidden in this game of hide and seek for a long enough time to glide over to 6 am. With luck, that is.
Recklessly, my hooves crossed over one another around a corner, hastily trying to grip against the smooth floors; to my dismay, I tumbled over them (clumsy, clumsy me) and into the direction of a wall. I winced a little as I braced for an impact, skidding constantly as I tried to peddle backwards. With a thump, I bundled into the wall. However, I was surprised as I felt myself continue to move. I gave a cry as a grate attached to the wall gave way and I fell inwards. Blitz called out to me a couple of times, hastily moving towards the vent in an effort to see where I had ended up. It was, however, a wasted effort - it was a heavy gloom, scented with stale air and oil. The only thing I could see was a pair of worried eyes staring back at me through the blue gloom that spilled into the tunnel.
“It’s… a vent.” I spoke with intrigue, but I instantly lowered my voice to a whisper as echoes bounced all around me.
Blitz shook his head in annoyance, “Stay there, I’m coming in for you.”
I leapt back towards the opening, peering up to him as he jumped, startled, “This is how Shadow must have got through to us! It must be a system that links all the areas together!”
I saw him recoil as my words fell through the slats (most likely sounding much louder than intended), before pressing his minty-coloured muzzle against the metal. His orange eyes threw sparks of colour into mine - I had never noticed before how very fire-like they were. They shone within his nervous features like ambers set in the handle of a sword. I think I finally understood what Crystal meant when she said that our eyes were the jewels of our souls. The very things that made us - every quality that made us an individual. We all had a defining trait, though. One that made us, us.
The fire within.

I tapped gently against the vent, beckoning him to join me in the gloom. Cautious, he glanced side to side, before pushing the shutter inwardly and clambering in. (Usually, you had to pull them open to access it - perhaps it was to do with Shadow’s ability, I wondered. However, that did leave me thinking that the owner must have asked for them to be made like that… I shuddered away the thought before it worked itself any further into my head.) He shuffled his shoulders, probably surprised by the vent’s closeness. I smiled to him. He always seemed surprised by obvious things, such as a narrow vent or ice being cold; I guess it was part of his personality, really. His loveable, dorky, sweet little personality I’d known since time began.
He sat, a little awkwardly, with his tail curved around his flank and looking as if he’d just been told that his mother was a chocolate dinosaur. I snorted, regarding his blank expression, before stifling an oncoming laugh.
“What?” he shrugged.
“You.”
“What?”
“…Nothing.” I scrunched my smile inside my cheek, appearing somewhat squirrel-like as they puffed out, “So, do you think we should walk this vent?”
“Eh… ‘spose so.”
I rolled my eyes at his lack of enthusiasm - why wouldn’t he want to check out this ominous, gloomy, depressing vent with me? It was the perfect pastime, I thought. Perhaps not, in his opinion. I began to clumsily shuffle across the icy steel that floored the vent, feeling the rusting metal grate against my fur. Grimacing a little, I crawled a little more comfortably as I found an easier method, and soon the vent fell further into darkness.

The only light I had was that from the tangerine and sapphire glows in mine and Blitz’s eyes - like candles, they flickered against the steel outsides that held us in. It felt as if we had entered the stomach of some great, cold beast, which held us unfriendly within it. Ugh. What a terrible thought. Every movement made echoed like a gunshot (it felt), and I was hoping that this beast’s belly didn’t stretch its inners too far into the design of the building…
“Do you have any idea-” Blitz started loudly, before I whirled round, hissing for him to be quiet, “where we are?” He whispered this last part sheepishly.
I shook my head softly, flicking my ears around my head like radars honing in on a signal. To be honest, that was exactly what I was doing. I had heard a clang. I was sure of it. I could feel within my soul that our hiding place had been upturned.

And being chased through pitch-black vents was not something I was planning on doing.

Blitz’s questioning expression followed every turn of my ears, bat-like in a way. Perhaps being best friends with a half bat-pony pegasi had had its effect on my behaviour.
“Twinks…?” he breathed, trying not to disturb my surveillance, but curiosity beating him with its hooves of stone.
I jolted a little, stunned as a mouse joined us within our (could you call it “ours”?) vent and scampered further into the cavern, “A-a clang. I swear I heard one.” I wavered my hoof in the general direction of the corridor, “Out there.”
“Well, do you think it’s wise to stay in here?”
I pondered this fact for a moment; true, it might have been a smarter option to have left, but, never being a mare of rational thinking…
The little mouse ran up to my hoof, budged at it with all its weight against it, and then twitched its whiskers in a feat of courage. It seemed as if it wanted my attention. Regarding it intently, it flitted in a circle, sat up on its back legs, squeaked, and ran off further up the tunnel. It stared back at us with intrigue and determination in its twinkling eyes, wriggling its whiskers side to side in a peculiar manner.
I raised my neck, tried the best I could to get back up into a manoeuvrable pose (unlike the sack-like way I was lolling about right this moment), and pointed an order away into the gloom, “Follow that mouse!”
The small, fuzzy critter squeaked a war cry before bounding away into the vent, with my heavy, clumsy hooves pounding against the metal as I clawed my way through the blanket-like fog.
Blitz rolled his eyes, the obvious exasperation coating his voice, “You’ve gotta be kidding. We are not following a mouse! I’m especially not entrusting my life in its…” his words lingered in the air as the mouse ran back into sight, twitching and twiddling in a delicate way. Blitz held its gaze, and his features softened the slightest bit, “…tiny, sweet paws.”
Turning, I smirked at him with an all-knowing “you-cannot-defeat-me” look in my eyes, and he let out a shaky groan, “Fine.”
“You must trust more in the animal kingdom, dear chap!” I cheered, putting on the pretence of an ageing documentary host, waving a hoof in the air with a hint of regality and self-importance.
He snorted, swallowing laughter back down his throat, “You sound like a hippie gone wrong!”
“And exactly how many hippies do you know, Blare Blitz?”
He let out a dragging ‘uh’, confirming my story in its entirety. I didn’t think he knew any hippies, really. I guess Fireshine could be described as a pseudo-hippie, perhaps, in the right conditions… But. Well.
That isn’t quite the important fact at this moment.

In that moment, the little tawny mouse let out a sharp squeak and leaped away into the darkness. It wasn’t apparent why, but I pursued it at a pace that Blitz could just manage, and that kept the little creature within my sight. The very faint outline of its tail flashing within the murky gloom. Every once in a while, we passed an exit, allowing slats of bluish light to pour in to the vent. Those moments, I awaited eagerly, allowing me to be sure I wouldn’t be turning into a nocturnal creature any time soon. The near-silent patter of the mouse’s paws, sounding like soft rainfall on the top of an umbrella, and the shuffling we tried to mute as we followed, were the only noises that could be heard.
The steel groaned a little as I shifted along it - I could sense, now, that we were deeper into the heart of the systems in here, and no light was pouring into the corridor anymore. We’d been plunged into a cloak of darkness. Even with a unicorns’ sharp vision, I was struggling to make out the creature that was guiding us. More times than one, it stopped, ran back into vision, and then began to make up its speed once more. Eventually, lost within this labyrinth of madness, we came across a junction.
We had two options: left - plunged into darkness; right - plunged into darkness. There was no difference. At all.
“Uh, what do you think?” Blitz questioned, turning his head side to side with increasing curiosity.
“I have no idea.”
“Great.”
Even the little mouse seemed perplexed, hovering between the two channels as if deducing a decision itself. Stood upon its back legs, it was dwarfed by the endlessly gaping chasms at its flanks - its tail curved over on itself as the little mouse cocked its head, flickering its ears. It was as if it could… hear something.

With a squeal surprisingly loud for a creature of its size, the mouse doubled back on itself, dashing towards us in a flurry of fur and feet. It bundled itself past us in a panicked daze, quickly scampering away out of sight before I could even comprehend what was going on.
“What the-?” I began, puzzled out of my wits as to why the creature had so quickly changed. I shuffled myself forwards, my ears pointing upwards like arrows. Slowly nearing the junction, I jutted my head, craned my neck - just about did any kind of movement that would add an extra inch or two to my reach. I gave a sigh. Finally, I could actually see what I was meant to be looking at. Poking my muzzle around the corner of the right side, I likened myself to a periscope, eyes scanning the darkness as if I had my own x-ray vision: as a simple unicorn, I obviously couldn’t see in that (if only I could), but, as far as I could tell, there was nothing of any interest, dangerous or not, in that direction at all. Merely black, gloomy air.
“You spotted anything?” Blitz questioned, forgetting the “whispering rule” and instead sending a wave of echoes throughout the tunnels. I grimaced, shook, and turned to him with an icy stare.
“No.”
“Hmm. Odd.”
I grumbled to myself. Perhaps Blitz hadn’t been the best option to bring along to this hellhole, after all. I probably should have fetched one of the gang. Shadow would’ve been amazing at this - resourceful as one possibly could be, afraid of nothing (well, near enough nothing. I doubted that any clowns would be emerging any time soon.), and, with much better hearing and night-vision than either me or Blitz could muster, it would’ve been helpful to have her stashed in here at this moment.
Except. She might not have enjoyed being chased around by her alternate self. I don’t think I really enjoy that, either, to be honest.
I threw a glance to the left, realising I hadn’t yet analysed that area at all. Considering everything, I was sure there was nothing to see, but, I realised that Blitz’s echo was seemingly cut off at a point within a few metres down that channel. While his voice was still throwing and tossing its mane around in the right side, the left had all but died abruptly.
So, with this revelation, I peered harder into the gloom, and, sure enough, the darkness seemed to be solidly matt, without any light at all shining away from it. In fact, it blocked every view of the rest of the vent. Strange.
Well, I was hoping that wasn’t an Ani.
“Blitz.” I began, sounding a little too leader-like for my own liking, “Stay there.”
“Alrigh- wait, what are you-?”
I shuffled quickly across the front of him, into the intersection, and headed into the left corridor like a frightened snake.
“Twinkle! What the hell are you doing?” he cursed, sending more soundwaves into the chamber.
I sighed, turning back to him, “It’s just a door.”
“What’s just a door?” he mocked my tone, squeaking a little at the beginning to emphasise his agitation. Oh, he didn’t just do that.
“That’s just a door!” I thrust a hoof hard in gesture towards the rectangular, steel door that was blocking the left side. It must have stayed down from the other day, I pondered. It blocked Ani-Shadow, sure, but it also blocked us. Great. Nowhere to run. I was feeling a little like a mouse in a maze. Which reminds me…
“Blitz, can you see that mouse anywhere?” I asked, peering past the soft fur of his shoulders and back into the way we came.
He appeared to take a momentarily glance, before replying “Gone like the wind.”
“Just perfect…”
I continued to peer side to side, curious as heck as to what on earth was happening. There was something between those two vents that scared the mouse so much, but nothing was suggesting as to what it was. Floating here wasn’t going to aid my cause whatsoever.
Deciding to stray a little further into the right corridor - which could obviously prove to be a foolish decision later - I let my hooves steadily guide me into the oppressing darkness.
“Keep a watch, Blitz, and let me know if you spot anything positively “dodgy”.” I waved my hooves at this as if I was air-quoting. It was a shame that ponies didn’t have fingers… I actually heard about a pony, years ago, being somewhat obsessed with the idea of hands. Poor mare; she was a unicorn, too - she didn’t even have wings to use in a similar way to hands!

Aah, old times.

The downy feathers that walked my shoulders rose a little with the increasingly damp atmosphere. A little further down the corridor, I could hear the faint buzz - almost like bees in late summer - of what sounded like equipment. Possibly heating equipment, probably water pipes - I couldn’t be sure. Like the idiot that I was, I plastered my ear to the outer wall of the chamber, breathing shallowly as to not interfere with the sound. There was a water-like sound, dripping and surging with the need to bulge, a more intensified buzz, and, to some sort of surprise, I found that the base of my ear being heated as though a dragon was breathing soft air onto it. Without a doubt, that was a boiler room. Nothing else could describe the connection between the three. Keeping my ear positively glued to the steel exterior, I shuffled an inch at a time, moving place as though I were a doctor checking the passing of breath. I eased myself a little further each time, paying little attention to the gloom around me and instead focused entirely on the heartbeat of the mighty room. With a bump, I slipped a centimetre or so into a large crevice - a crater in the crust of the earth. I felt the divot give in a little further, and, finally peeling myself away from the walls, find myself peering at a small opening, with slits that let the outside world flood in. In this earthworm world, the light was positively blinding, forcing me to withdraw as I tried my damn best to accustom in such a short moment. The smell of hot air hit me like a wave. It was as I was feeling somewhat proud of my deductive skills that I heard Blitz stuttering wildly.
It was a frenzy, a panicked slur of something that he couldn’t seem to get out quickly enough. This flurry of vowel sounds confused me - as it naturally would - so I called, “Blitz? You alright?”
He didn’t answer; he just kept stumbling over a new frequency of sound.
“Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-”
He leapt at me at a speed I believed he was incapable of in his somewhat bundled position, grasping hold of my plait and tugging at me as if I was a rag doll. Making an awkward stumble over me, he leapt away into the darkness of the corridor, clanging and bumping all the way along with his clumsy hooves.
Panicked into a frenzy, I tried to swing my head in search of anything that would scare him so much. I saw and heard nothing, as the shallow heartbeat of the building ceased to make a sound.
Then, out from the gloom, I saw the faintest shimmer. It was white, like the soft tender glow of the sun in the morning sky. Then, it intensified in its place, bouncing and jittering with a cacophony of grating sounds. I shivered with concern, slowly beginning to puzzle out what it was. Blitz had frozen to his place in complete fear, peering round at the discord of noise with a head motion so slow as though not to disturb the very air around him.
Whatever the creature was, it slunk around the corner we had come from like a snake, taking soft, easy steps with its arching legs. The only suggestion I could see of it was the gleam of its demon’s smile and the silhouette of its body, visible with the light thrown from the vent exit nearby. Something material flowed around it in swirls, bound around its hooves in twirls and bundles. It gave a hiss. A hiss that slowly increased in depth and volume as it edged closer to us. I could see it shift its head from side to side, scenting the air in order to seek us.
That told me immediately that this wasn’t Shadow we were facing.
It had to be someone who couldn’t see us in this light.
Something that only an Earth Pony would struggle with.

I could hear Blitz whimpering softly, the twists of my hair still within his teeth tensing and slacking within his jaws. He was contemplating making a break for it, I knew.
Through gritted teeth, and with a hiss similar to that of our company, “Whatever you do. Don’t. Move.”
His sound ceased, and I knew my message had been understood. Everything went completely still around us - the boiler room ceased to whisper, Blitz and I dare not pass breath, and the enemy approaching did so with slow, careful movements, like that of a cat. Its features were becoming clearer as it inched closer, the tips of its ears and the dulled gleam of its eyes steadily moving towards me. It took everything not to cry out in horror. Stilling my quaking muscles, I felt even the breath of this creature upon my face now, warm and humid with anticipation.
My eyes widened, my pupils dilated. Heart racing within my chest, I willed it to calm - I feared that it could be heard within this silence. The devil herself took another step forward (and no more could be taken, so close was her and I) and, to my surprise, halted.

Nothing happened in those agonising moments. The air hushed. I held my breath with every fibre of my being. I could see her jawline (of a her I was certain), clenched with focus, as she peered along the vent. The sound of her mechanics suddenly became animated, whirring as I saw her pupils change dimension and direction. At one moment, I swore she had seen me, her eye lights falling upon my form for some heavy seconds, before moving away again to further scan the darkness. This process lasted what seemed like an eternity, before her eyes fell back into the gloom. For some reason I couldn’t understand, I saw her smile chillingly in the direction she was facing - I couldn’t help but feel a strike of dread deep within my heart.
The form breathed out with a spray of mist.
And inhaled.

I winced back, withdrawing as unnoticeably as physically possible. But, with a movement no one could predict, she dropped her muzzle straight down to my level, pressed its steely tip against my own, and startled. Blitz quaked, knowing that our cover had been broken. There was no reason to stay put. But, still, I wished he would just remain where he was and wait it out.
With an angry whirr, she withdrew, peered directly into my eyes with an intense fire, and shrieked with a split of sound.
Blitz dropped my hair in a startle, and dashed along the vent as quickly as what I thought possible, me quick on his trail. The channel of this narrow vent began to spill out into a chasm, large enough for us to stand upright and gallop hastily along the corridors. Every second or so, I’d spin my head on its pivot to stare back into darkness - I could see nothing, but hear the distant rumble of hoof-fall, almost as though it was the rumour of some forgotten conflict. Momentarily, the scent of hot air rose and fell around us; a second vent opening hanging on by a nail. I tried to absorb this as quickly as it fleeted by - had I been leading, I would’ve dragged both Blitz and I across through it, regardless of what was through on the other side. If we had enough room to run efficiently - other ways out rather than this labyrinth of venting systems - at least we could possibly make an escape.
Alas, my dim-witted friend continue to wheel along without a second regard as to what was hitting him in the muzzle. With desperate eyes, I pleaded with myself for him to turn and at least look at it, but, knowing only I had seen it, I hung close by, whirling my head round behind me and trying to pierce the gloom.
Clattering, I saw our pursuer, heavy and stocky, charging around the bend in the vent and heading towards us, her eyes alight with scarlet and heaving out long jets of steam from her nostrils. A scarf, the material I had seen earlier, was whirling around viciously and whipping the air she left in her wake. Inhaling sharply, I cried to Blitz, “Rain!”
I was so hoping that this was not happening - not the huge, unstoppable force that was Raindrop. Her farm work, and her part-horse genetics, made her the last pony I’d want to cross in the real world. But, trapped in a place like this, caged in and helpless, with a giant steel pony galloping towards us with no hesitation as to what damage it might cause to anyone, could be called my worse nightmare.
Flinching, he skidded a metre or so, staring back at me, and then the animatronic, with pure fear frozen in his eyes. I saw him sweep a gulp of air into his lungs, punching a hoof down violently into the steel floor in order to catch the attention of the robot. She slid to a halt, within a hoof’s length of me, and appeared to take no notice of the clang my companion had made. However, once more, she stared straight past me as if I was a ghost, merely spectator to all of this.
Which then made me question if Blitz and I were already dead.

Although, I doubted that no nightmare, no hell, could conjure up something as weird and wonderful as this pretty little torture.

An ear-splitting clatter drew my attention back to the vent, cold and isolated. I twirled around on a pivot and witnessed a blur of steel leap from behind Blitz, angular and pointed with a venomous hiss. I cried out in desperation, believing I was too late. No reply. Not even a whisper of metal whirring, a cry of pain. Silence. I awaited any response, staring transfixed ahead into the path through this - I saw nothing from the cavernous channels beyond, without light to even illuminate the fate I knew he had met.
The floor behind me a trembled a little with a heavy hoof, steady and deliberating. I wished not to even turn around - I suddenly felt myself welcome of this demise, a fate I would share with my best friend.
If he had fallen, so would I.

Ani-Raindrop’s weighted steps slowly sweeped their way towards me; if those plodding steps were made because she was expecting something further, or if she was waiting for me to look into her eyes and tell her not to kill me, I was not sure. But, in my belief, Raindrop would be waiting for a fair fight - to take me down as I struggled against my death.

I would not struggle. I prayed for her, if anything, to make it hasty as I persisted at staring off into the distance, hoping for any sign of him.

I no longer cared whoever took me, or even if I were taken. I just wanted to hear a breath that wasn’t mine. But it had been too long for him to return if he still was alive. And, the stillness, the lack of company I felt, not even the drawing of shallow breath audible in this deafening silence, told me the worst.
I could not even bare to admit it. I felt my heart, my very soul, shatter inside of me, peering away into that agonising truth.
All these years I believed I was just his friend, that his pursuits to have me to himself were in vain. However, I suddenly realised that the breath caught in my lungs, the hitch in my throat that prevented me from crying, weren’t out of mere friendship.
I believed, in that moment, that was the first instance I had ever felt real love.

“You’re Twinkleheart.” The steel voice spoke softly from behind me, the deep undertones of a voice capable of far louder speech flecked within it, “You fight against those who do you wrong.”
Her words trickled over my head like nothing but rain on a warm summer’s day.
“Have I been told wrongly? Or do you not see an enemy in this?”
I gazed away into the distance, attention caught by an isolated tear rolling down my face, “…I see monsters… I see ghosts…”
I felt the confusion on her metal face, doing its best to replicate puzzlement with the barely-moveable parts that showed her expression.
My voice was barely a whisper, still muted by agony, “…and I see ponies who no longer understand what they are, and who they’ve become.”
My hoof trembled as I raised it, turning it over to stare into its golden surface, shining back a reflection I did not recognise, frozen cold in despair and weakness, “And I believe I am in the same state as you. So, just get it over with.”
I patiently awaited her bite, or her leap, crushing me into dust. But, as the silence stretched out, the echoes disappearing, nothing came. From within the grief, I felt anger and frustration well up inside of me (I couldn’t place where it had come from, but it was a place I had forgotten many years ago), and I tilted my head to see her. She was just… staring at me. As if I were frozen in time, a sight to see in one of the many places of Equestria. My glare penetrated her eyes, and she glanced away in submission.
“Come on!” I growled, bowing my head closer to the ground, exposing any vulnerable position I could, “Just do it!” The burning tears were now streaming down my face, piercing my heart with a thousand needles, “It’s killing me!”
I started at my own sick, twisted pun, and found my company mirroring a flinch in response. She stared at me, eyes as wide as they could in some form of shock, but, still, she was obviously reluctant to do anything. And, to my own surprise, I laughed. It was choking, heavy, as I looked away back into the darkness.
* (Ending 1 - Bad Ending) “I always thought you could do any job, Rain…” I sighed, rolling my shoulders in isolation to the rest of my body, “but not this one, eh?”
I heard her blow out a sorrowful jet of stream from her mechanics, remaining silent otherwise.
“Perhaps Shadow, instead, then? We know you’re the merciless one out of us.” I snorted, calling out a little louder into the gloom. I knew it was her. In the flash of steel and jagged blurs, I saw the diamond-slotted eyes, the flare of faux fire sailing upon her head, I had clearly seen exactly who had brought Blitz down. In my opinion, the class-murderer just had to lay claim to both of us.

From the direction I was facing, I saw the faint silhouette of the pegasus emerge from the gloom, the black shadow that gave her her name only highlighted by the open vent, now a distance away behind us. However, her eyes, glowing scarlet like the blood she had thrown from so many, were clear from her body, seemingly emotionless and cold. However, as she spoke, the faintest hint of sadness, pity, even, escaped and flowed into her words.
“It’s the truth.” She stepped a little more forward into the light, it bouncing from her metallic coat in both harsh sun rays and soft moonlight. I heard Rain move her head a little, staring away into the walls, lost in thought, no doubt in my mind.
“Why?” I questioned, my voice pitching higher at the end as I forced myself to look at her, “What’s the point in any of this?”
She snorted, then shook her head in the best way she could to show that she, like I, had no idea. Her wings, folded neatly behind her, drooped a little in guilt. Red light was thrown around the room as she stared to the floor, colouring the ground with a criss-cross design of scarlet. I continued to regard her actions, and almost laughed at how life-like she was to the real thing. It made me question how on Earth the designers had been able to program these ponies to such a degree that even I could have been fooled.
“To be honest, I’m not sure.” She sighed, after what seemed to be an age of silence, hanging on by a tender thread.
I scoffed, feeling the sarcasm surface like bile in the back of my throat, “You don’t know? Wow. I’ve heard a lot of crap over my time, but, really?” I was shaking in part-frustration, part-hilarity, before I noticed that the robot was indeed telling the truth, “What has she got over you guys?”
“Something, obviously.” Raindrop grunted, chipping into the confrontation, “She is head of the gang, after all.”
“I’m the head of the real gang.” I dragged my words out heavily in order to exaggerate my irritation, “and I hold nothing over my friends.”
“It’s different, here. So, so different to the outside. So much so, we’ve forgotten what that was.” Shadow complacently tapped a hoof on the floor, creating the tiniest clangs I could imagine from them.
Shaking my head in disbelief, I allowed the conversation to end there, letting her words continue to flow around the corridors. It was an ocean in which I was drowning. Either from my own tears, or the sounds flowing through my throat, I was drowning; I could do nothing to stop it.
“A-and Blitz?” I began again after some moments, forcing the words to form through the pain it caused, “What did he do?”
The blank looks and meaningless gestures were far more excruciating than any excuse they could have made.
I once again shook my head, this time out of disgust, “…Twinky, I bet, hey?”
“We have no cho-”
“Twinky would be proud.” I mocked, tilting my head with every word.
Scorned, I prickled in anger, wishing that, in that moment, I had the very power to order them to attack me. How I envied my steely counterpart, one with so much control as to what happened at any moment. A snap of her tongue and the dogs would come running. Such a shame that they would not listen to me in that same way.
Even the fur around my neck raised, something that was an extremely rare occurrence for me, before it was accompanied by fresh tears falling away from my sapphire eyes, “I-I don’t know - why you took him. You want me, but you took him!” I was tossing my head by this point, no longer struggling to shout through the huge wedge in my neck, “You can fucking have me! Come on! Come at me!”
I was screaming at this point - I no longer cared whoever heard me, or responded to my cries. Only that my wishes were heeded, “Come o-o-on!” I broke down into tears, uncontrollably roaring through my ripped lungs and straining to see through my blurred eyes. I felt nothing come, and I felt further frustrated the longer they waited. It was inevitable. If they let me get away (which I would refuse to try), Twinky would have them hurt. They had to, regardless of their doubts.
I thought I was making it easier for them - they wanted me to struggle. So I was. I was struggling to make them kill me.

“P-please…” I stammered, my head bent downwards in my now crumpled position, tears dripping down my face like rain in April.
They looked at me, and looked at one another. Rain looked quizzically as Shadow moved away from her stare, and peered back the way she came. The way that my friend had met his fate. I raised my head, then staring after her, before I decided that I needed to see him before anything was done.
As I rose from my broken bundle, an iron hoof was set in front of me, blocking my path. Blurry eyed, I peered up into Ani-Shadow’s dark features, blank and direct, and my eyes must have pleaded why, for she answered, “You… you don’t want to see him like he is.”
I shivered once more, shaking my head against my own will, “N-no. No. No, no. What did you do to him?” I found a snarl rising in the back of my throat, “What did you do to him?”
“…It doesn’t matter.” She shied away from my knife-like glare, “Not like it matters anymore.” She gulped a little (despite having no actual need to - perhaps it was a comedic use of mechanics?), before starting once more, “He’s gone, Twinkle. He’s gone, and I can’t bring him back.”
“If only there were resets…” I muttered under my breath, and, to my surprise, I saw Shadow perk up a little, her ears standing on end and a shallow smile breaking out upon her lips.
“Haha, if only I was Chara, eh?”
I glanced up at her with bemusement, “They programmed that, too?” I shook my head, a broken smile emerging on my face, “It’s amazing what these guys programmed into you…” My cold look returned, peering back up to her with a replaced tone, “It’s a shame they didn’t program empathy in those icy souls of yours.”
She snuffled, rattling her neck with a toss of fire left in her wake. Then, staring down at me, I saw her eyebrows tip the other way, rotating to show the best expression of sadness she possibly could muster. The face reminded me of a small, guilty puppy, and, had I not been in this devastating situation, I would have laughed. The face, scary as it seemed, reminded me of the way… Blitz looked guilty…
And the tears returned again.
“I-” Shadow began, hesitant, as though deliberating something greatly against her systems. Then, steadily, she placed a hoof against my back, grazing it softly across my flocked shoulders, in an act of compassion, “We do have empathy. We, we just…” she fell silent and still like the darkness around us.
“We just can’t express it, is all…” Raindrop broke in, completing the line that her friend could not. She paced up to the side of me, peering into my eyes with a dullened version of her own. It pained me to keep looking, knowing that they were my enemy, knowing what they had done to Blitz, yet I continued to look back in despair.
“Then, do so now. Help me.”
My whisper, vulnerable and weak, appeared to strike a chord within the stoic Rain. Her outward expression shattered, and her pupils shrunk back as though they were stars in the night sky. I heard her give a weak gasp out, shaking a little as though trying to throw something from herself. She stepped back two paces in a haste, burying herself against the vent wall. She continued to stare at me, her eyes wide with some sort of terror. She stared at me, my expression somewhere between shock and confusion and despair and frustration all thrown together; Shadow, meanwhile, stared at her in some sort of pity, or sadness, even. Something was in that, I was sure.
Her pointless breathing shaky, Rain raised a hoof upwards, flinching away from some invisible bombardment, and hesitantly pointed at me, “D-did you- h-hear that-…?” She seemed so panicked, so scared my presence now, I feared as to what I had done so wrongly, “P-please, no. Stars, no. Like…l-like…”
“I know.” Shadow began, staring back off into the distance as though she wished something had gone differently, “I know…”
“I know-” I spoke, this time, in a completely different context this time, curving the words deliberately over my tongue, “That Shadow hasn’t been the lone killer… has she?”
Raindrop just continued staring at me, similar so much to a frightened hare. Her nostrils wavered.
“And, I get it.” I began, trying to look at little less annoyed with the entirety of the situation, “You… you couldn’t do anything else… for if you hadn’t… she… a-and the ponies behind the door would still be…” Every sentence I formed trailed away into some sort of silence, like a word fill where the missing gaps had to be pencilled in.
“You don’t. You really don’t.” Shadow sighed, looking away once more, as though it was a secret agony to keep pouring over the two pitiful ponies in front of her.
“And you don’t get what damage you do otherwise.”
That had come out far more bitterly than I had predicted, flinching at my own words while my company shuddered uncomfortably. Shadow peered over me, my now pleading eyes begging her to complete her duty, to take me now rather than leaving me in this agony. She kept staring at me, before relenting with a heavy sigh.
“You…you really want me to…to… do this, hey?” she almost laughed out the words, somewhat taken aback with the ludicrous idea that this unicorn, renown for her sturdy determination, had given in so easily.
I heaved out hiccupping cries in relief, feeling so pleased that I had finally been heeded. My voice, along with its cracking, sounded so desperate. Desperation flowed from me, my stance, my eyes, everything cried out a beg for mercy. She glanced over my weak form, shaking with need, and she shook her head in some kind of conflicting disbelief.
“Had this been in any other case… had I been in my… zone…” she sighed to herself, almost smiling in utter astonishment, “I would’ve been so proud to do this. End you. But, now…-”
I grumbled a little, feeling my body slowly giving into everything around me - it swaying with some sombre, distant beat of steel, “I don’t care if you don’t want to. But, if you care about others, and you say you do, show me.” I shook away any other cold remarks about bragging to Twinky’s smug face afterwards. Being so sarcastic would get me nowhere anytime soon.
“And, in all honesty, I owe it to you, don’t I?”
I remained silent to that, but peering away in the direction Blitz had fallen gave away enough to say she did.
“…Fine. But-” she started, and I began to worry that have a condition would make all of this more unbearable - some kind of ridiculous challenge that would force me to exist far longer than I wished. However, her next breath surprised me, “I want to hear the real Twinkleheart of Equestria sing.”
My confused and stunned face must have shone brightly from the gloom, for, whatever it was, made the larger robot snort a laugh back. She tossed her tangling mane back from her face, “I’m not exactly asking for a load, Twinkle. I just heard you were good at it.” Her face drew up scornfully, her eyebrows tilted in a pseudo-scowl, “And listening to the same tinny tunes from Twinky only is tolerable for so long.”
I was shocked, my eyes gaping wide as I scanned her now more-present features, “I-is that it?”
Stammering, Rain said, “I-I’ve always been curious as to what the real Twinkle sounded like…”
“And you’ll get to hear it, because you really should help me, too.” A tinge of pushiness lined the pegasus’ words, causing Raindrop to startle in realisation.
“I-I ain’t.”
“You deserve some of the credit, Rain. After all, you helped me track her.” Shadow bobbed her head from side to side, allowing her hair to waver like real flames, soft and flowing on a winter’s night, “And, hell, she struggled to be taken down so much, that two of Twinky’s best warriors could only get her together.” Shadow winked at me, seemingly optimistic despite the grave task I had set her. Perhaps her outlook was a forced output - after all, it appeared that our real, depression-struck Shadow did the exact same thing. Perhaps, after killing so many, you had to stay on the lighter side just to keep sane. Or, perhaps, she had desensitized to the horrors of spilling blood.
Ani-Rain’s reluctance was as clear as the water she worked with, but her sigh showed her relenting attitude. She dragged a hoof across the floor as she moved back closer to us. Her eyes looked over a hardly recognisable face, pausing for a moment to see if any sign of regret was evident in my paling sapphire eyes. To my fortune, and her lack of it, there was none.
“Where?” She spoke clinically now, as though her objective was to paint a wall, or something of the like. She straightened her neck out, holding it above her increasingly drooping shoulders, almost as if it was necessary; if not, she’d fall to the floor like a stone.
“I-what? Where?”
“Where?” she spoke a little more forcefully now, as if her query was something obvious to the average equine like me. I blinked a couple of times, before finally realising her question with a long-drawn oh.
“I-I don’t mind. Just, quick?” I murmured, giving a cheesy, forced smile afterwards, as if I was an idiot awaiting the speeding train while stood on the railway.
She blew out some air from her nose, taking a pace back again, “Fair enough, ‘spose…”
Shadow shook her head in bemusement, appearing to chuckle silently to herself, before re-raising her hoof and placing it against my stomach, “Hey, how about you sing, and we’ll sort out the best way to do it as you do? I solemnly swear that we won’t mess you about. Promise.” She placed a hoof against her none-existent heart and fluttered her wings in salute. Of course. Pegasi code, right?
“I…” I had no clue as to what I should spin from my mouth to its tune. My final song had to be part of me, and Blitz, too, I knew, and had to be something I had always loved. I wasn’t leaving this Earth without a decent way to sing it goodbye.
And then it came to me. Of course, that song Blitz and I had sung so often as children; one of the first songs we ever encountered while we were friends, the relationship it reflected between us was undeniably true to it. As we were galloping around the countless fields of my hometown, we would loudly (and untunefully) shout it into the breeze in hopes of some higher power hearing it and granting us better singing voices. The wraiths swam around my head, of times past and forgotten, but still his smile danced warmly. Sweet memories of many, many years flowed by like an endless river, a whisper circling around in round after round.
My mind was lost to all around me, and my mouth began to sew the words:

When the sky is blue,
And there’s snow on the ground,
The best place to be,
Is ho-ome.

I momentarily caught Rain wavering in my tune, and Shadow turning away from my song to catch her eye and nod. She, however impossibly saddened her expression looked, she knew she had been granted this right, and she understood that she had to undertake it. Steadily, she and Rain lifted me from my feet, in some kind of burial procession. For a moment, I wondered what they were actually doing. However, as I was replaced on the floor, I saw the shadowed outline of a familiar friend. I gasped a little, my voice cracking, as his tangerine eyes peered into mine without a single suggestion that he was no longer alive. Not even a mark tainted his face. Nothing was different. It was just like waking up to his smiling face all those years ago, after that one time he had a nightmare… everything felt like an nothing but an instant had passed.

Look into my eyes,

I shivered at that line - the irony of such timing. His eyes kept holding mine, bright and orange, just without the usual fire that burned so brightly within them. They were somewhat extinguished, covered by the occasional strand of wily hair. But, on his muzzle, he, strangely, wore a smile. Perhaps he was just happy to see me by him. That was what he had always wanted, after all - to lay beside me. I…he would never get to, now. If anypony would have me, it would’ve been him. In some way, he already had a huge part of me, and I never even realised until now.
Now everything was too late.

And see a paradise,
That’s where we’ll go,
A Heaven of our own.

Heaven. Had he gone there? Did it even exist? I had no idea what we were heading to, but, if he was with me, I would be happy. We could be happy together, never separated by any meaningless mission or stupid excuse or my ignorance ever again.

When I first saw you,
There was a spark,

The Anis worked gently and carefully. First, a hoof rest upon my head, firm, but not uncomfortable. Then, they placed a second hoof, and then a third, along my back, securing me. I felt one hoof be raised behind me, and another tucked in against my body. The faint glimmer of Shadow’s eye moved into view, and she gave me a weak beam of fangs. A pity smile. Always a pity smile.

That lit something up,
Within my heart.

Like the fire Blitz burnt like a candle, a memory of his soul, within his heart, and within his now muted eyes. He’d sparked something that very first day he came up to those bullies and told them to leave me alone. He knew what he was getting into. But he braved it, for some stupid reason. He charged into the fire headlong, knowing exactly he would be burnt. Just like this time. This tragic time we had failed like all others. He still blindly went into the flames because I refused to leave the embers alone.

When the sky is blue,

The faded blue leg of Rain moved by my eyes, sturdy and heavy looking, without significant damage but only the occasional scuff, stood by my head. A single glimpse of her scarf fluttered past my fluttering eyes, teared and frayed so slightly, and my eyes teared up, but no longer streaming.

And there’s snow on the ground,
The best place to be,

The final line came out as a breathy whisper, barely audible, as I finally gave in completely. I allowed my breath to shallow as the hooves along my body applied some more pressure. I winced a little, the increasing pressure sending frequent jolts along my spine. It was if I had become one of them, electricity surging along my spine in order to keep my powered.

Is home, safe and…

I saw two pairs of ruby eye light, some sort of comfort now - as though they were fallen angels helping the dead to rise. I gave a broken smile, thanking them more than any words could say. All I could see was black, and, from it, the glow of two garnet eyes, a shine from two scarlet, slitted-pupil eyes, and, finally, my eyes came to rest upon the amber-orange glimmer from Blitz’s, the music I could almost hear him singing alongside me.

sound.

I breathed the final word, and found that my two angels sung the final note alongside me in an impossibly melodic static. They glanced across to one another, and, then, with movements as hasty as lightening, my back froze, my shoulders gave, I softly sighed, and then two hooves took hold of my head and ever so painlessly twisted it over, out of place.

The weighty pressure finally gave, a static choke rang like an echo around me, and everything faded to white.