//------------------------------// // Runners // Story: Wired // by canonkiller //------------------------------// Anastasia listened to Eclipse's babbling, cautiously investigating the room around them. For a diner, it seemed pretty clean. Some of the patrons acted a bit unfriendly, but she knew most of them from her father's stories. She jumped as Eclipse tapped her hoof. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. What day is it today?" "I think it's Sunday." "Day of the month." Eclipse clarified. "Uh... the twentieth or something." Eclipse slid out of the bench, trotting around the edge of the table to start pulling Anastasia after her. "Okay, time to go. Let's move, right now." "Huh?" Anastasia stumbled, hooves slipping on the slick tiles. "Why?" "Just trust me." Eclipse growled, shoving her towards the door. "Put it on my tab, Creamy dearest!" "You maxed out your tab last week!" A stallion called back. "Yup, leaving!" Eclipse pushed Anastasia though the door, passing her on the edge of a gallop. "Come on, we have to hurry!" "Why?!" Eclipse glanced around before fixing Anastasia with a dark glare. "Because I have access to every Changeling's mind in a large radius, and this place is going up in flames." "What?!" Anastasia spread her wings, half-gliding after the escaping Changeling. "Who? Why?!" "They've got charges set up in the lower tunnels. Changelings are good at camouflage, and the second they sensed an access of emotion in the lower tunnels, they went to investigate. Heard a lot, spread the word. They're going to set them off, but I didn't know it was today." Eclipse cursed as she turned into a dead-end, spinning and loping back past Anastasia. "I didn't remember it was today." "You're a runner, aren't you? Why don't you just get out now?" Eclipse turned back over her shoulder, smirking. "Because the blind aren't good at leading themselves." She turned away, her tail flicking. "Rainstreaks! Seek out Redback and get him to the surface. Don't harm him, but do what you need to!" Anastasia looked up as a pack of Changelings dropped down from the rooftops, galloping alongside Eclipse for a few strides before breaking away. A final Changeling landed behind Anastasia, gently lifting her onto his back. "Torch, take her up to the nearest surface access. Do not leave her!" The Changeling under her nodded, taking off at a canter away from the mare. Anastasia held on as the Changeling's wings snapped open, buzzing loudly as he lifted away from the cobblestone. She flattened her ears against the blinding noise, her world turned to a single blank panel. "We're going into a tunnel." The stallion advised. "Keep close." "I will." She muttered, pressing down against his cold shell. "What about Eclipse?" He sighed. "She knows what she's doing." ----- "Dammit, Redback!" Crescent shouted above a crowd of ponies. "Where'd you run off to?!" "Eclipse! What are you doing?" The Changeling turned, smiling as her target emerged from the throng. "Redback!" "Yes, what?! I have things to do!" "Not right now you don't." Crescent chirped happily, watching the disbelief slowly appear on his muzzle as the Rainstreak Changelings circled him through the crowd. "Come along now, not meaning you any harm." Redback stammered in confusion as the Changelings shoved him along, ears pricked and wings flicking. "What's going on?!" Crescent hovered down to his eye level, giving him the most honest look she could muster. "You have to trust me, and my pack. They won't harm you, or your foal, but you have to get out." Redback was shoved away through the crowd, protesting. The little foal clung to his back, seemingly excited about the whole premise. Crescent allowed herself a smile at the innocence of the filly before she beat her wings and rose into the air. "Okay, miscreants and wrongdoers! This place is going to blow!" Panic rippled across the crowd, ponies turning up to her in shock and fear. Other Changelings transformed among them, aiding in rushing them towards the exits. "Don't harm anyone! You should have enough time to get out if you stay calm and orderly!" Crescent flashed her Wiring, a surefire means of control over Changeling that weren't hers. "Go into the shops and evacuate everypony. Leave nopony behind! Now move!" ----- "Spida, what's going on?" He turned to spare a loving glance at the foal on his back before refocusing on staying upright in the crowd. The Changelings around him moved with enough purpose to keep most ponies away, but they were not all-powerful. "Nothing. Don't worry about it." "What's going on?" She repeated, leaning off of Spiderwick's back and prodding one of the herding Changelings. His red-purple Wiring flashed in surprise. "Hm?" "What's happening? Why's everyone so scared?" "Oh, that's because," Spiderwick shot him a sideways glare, "there's a big party going on and we're all invited." "You've never been a good liar, Leeway." A second Changeling quipped from Spiderwick's other side. The first hissed in shock. "Cut it with the names! Surrounded by strangers, remember?" "We're all going to die if these ponies don't get a move on." The second hissed. "Come on, everypony! Move some flank, here!" The ground behind them erupted in a pillar of fire. Ponies screamed, fell, ran, the Changelings barely holding back the waves of terror. "The first charges!" Leeway cried. "Raven, Wildfire, clear the way ahead and carry the injured. Seldom, you take Redback, and I'll take the foal." Spiderwick struggled against a pair of chitinous hooves as Leeway tried to lift the foal from his back. "You can't take her!" "I swear, by my Wiring and my pack, that I will not harm her." He crossed his heart with one hoof, smiling softly. Screams echoed in the strange silence they found themselves sharing. "To be a Rainstreak means you have the highest speed and the greatest loyalty. I will protect her with my life." And with that, he hoisted the filly into his forehooves and took off over the crowd, Spiderwick following in Seldom's hooves a few moments after. ----- Nox jolted as the Reaver went limp. "Cinnamon?" "Something's wrong." The speaker crackled. "The ground is shaking, and ponies are surging out of the sewers. I have to go. Disconnec-" The speaker crackled once and was silent. "We have to get to her." Lone Wolf stated, pawing at the ground. "If something's wrong where she is, it's going to affect all of us." Crystal frowned, leaning over the limp Reaver. Her scales sparkled like sapphires. "In the castle." "What?" Lone turned to face her. "In the castle. There's new machines, terrible machines, that belched smoke and fire." Her pupils shrank in terror, and she shut her eyes. "They came with them, when all the ponies were taken away. You have to go to her, she's the key." "Are you alright?" Nox turned towards her, frowning. Her ears flattened, her entire body seeming to shine with a white glow. She spoke with a voice that was not her own. "The Crystal Heart must be preserved, do you understand?! Without the ponies to fuel it, there'll be nothing left for the Enterprise! What do you mean, the ponies can still fuel it? What do you plan on doing!?" The two stallions shared a panicked glance, and all of a sudden, Crystal seemed to recover. Her eyes shot open, and she stared at the two. "I'm all that's left." She whispered, "they killed them all." "Who?" Nox pressed, frowning. "What's going on!?" "She killed the Crystal Ponies with her machines." Crystal stared down the the limp Reaver below her, awe and terror dancing in her eyes. "And she's going to do it again." "What do you mean?" Lone shouted. "She's not a bad pony!" "And what have you seen of her that makes her good?" Crystal whispered, running a hoof down the sleek metal shell of Cinnamon's latest creation. "What pony could create such horrible beings?" Lone and Nox watched in shock as she peeled up the side of the plating, revealing a small, shining orb inside of a thrumming metal cage. The air around the core seemed to shimmer in rhythmic beats, the pulse echoing in Lone's ears and in his heart. "I-is that...?" Crystal calmly pried apart the bars, weak and fragile without their covers. She pulled the small orb free, holding it up so the two treasure hunters could see. Under her hooves, the robot seemed to wither, coiling in on itself and relaxing fully. "It's a heart," she whispered, "just like yours or mine." She tilted her head, rotating the orb. With a snarl, she threw it down at the ground, the sphere shattering into a hundred thousand pieces on the crystal roads. "And they took them because the Crystal Ponies were trapped in a dying world." She spat, turning her angry gaze to the stallions. "There is a teleporter in the castle. We have to go to her. "The last Crystal Pony would like to have a few words with her."