She had to be seeing things.
It wasn’t possible. Rainbow Dash looked alive and unharmed, just as she had been the morning of that first day. There were her wings, neatly folded against her sides. There was her hair, an uncombed mess going down one side of her face as always. There were her eyes, magenta and bright.
“Hello, Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash said, and she smiled a cracked smile that wasn’t hers at all. “We’ve been waiting for you.”
Fluttershy turned and ran.
“Aerials, head back to Tacoma!” Fluttershy heard Rainbow Dash shout. “The rest of you, stay with me! I’m going after her!”
Fluttershy didn’t look back. She just ran as fast as she could for the shelter of the nearest building, with the rapid click click click sound of Little Ball’s legs on the ground close behind her. The building up ahead was one of the stone apartment buildings, three stories high, with wide windows for each apartment. There was a buzzing sound from behind her, and above Fluttershy’s head she saw the aerials lifting off into the sky, the rotors in their wings spinning into a blur. Behind her came the footsteps of the soldiers.
There was the sound of flapping wings above Fluttershy’s head, and Rainbow Dash came down to the ground right in Fluttershy’s path. “Stay there, you. Megiddo wants to – ”
Fluttershy dodged around Rainbow Dash. “Hey!” she heard behind her. “Don’t run when I’m talking to you!”
Fluttershy didn’t stop. She leapt through the doorway of the apartment building she had just come out of, reaching out a hoof to snatch up the wicker basket as she did so.
“Spread out,” Rainbow Dash said from outside, her voice echoing slightly in the halls of the building. “Make sure she doesn’t get out of there! If she runs, use the net guns!”
For once Fluttershy was grateful for the fact that the hallways of these buildings were almost completely unlit. She began flapping her wings, lifting her off the ground so that her hooves wouldn’t be making sounds against the hard floor, and flew deeper into the building, praying that the darkness would hide her. The sound of the clockwork ball’s footsteps stayed steadily with her; the ball could see her just fine in the dark.
Fluttershy felt a change in the air currents just ahead and slowed to a stop. She put a hoof out and felt a wall up ahead that she’d almost run into. She searched her memory for the layout of this particular building. Where were the stairs? She looked over her shoulder and saw the shadow of a pony standing in the open doorway.
“Fluttershy? Where arrrrrre you?” The scrape of a hoof against stone. “Come out, Fluttercry!”
Fluttershy couldn’t believe this was happening. She couldn’t believe it was Rainbow Dash saying these things. This couldn’t be real, this couldn’t be real! Her hooves fumbled over the walls almost on autopilot, trying to find the way up. Where were the stairs? She needed to be out of here, now!
“I know you’re in here, you flightless little coward. Just give up now.” More hoofsteps, a bit closer now. Fluttershy peeked over her shoulder; Rainbow Dash hadn’t gone too far into the building yet.
Fluttershy kept feeling along the wall. She had gone too far, she should have found – her back hoof bumped against one of the stairs; there they were. Fluttershy floated gently up the stairs. She could just hear the quiet tap tap of the clockwork ball following her up. It was moving slowly, trying to stay quiet.
“What is it, Fluttershy? Too shy to come say hello?” Rainbow’s voice was coming from somewhere below her; she must be near the foot of the stairs. Fluttershy reached the top of the stairs and began flying slowly along the second floor, looking for a doorway to one of the apartments. There was the sound of hoofsteps down below. It sounded like Rainbow was trying to find the stairs. That was fine with Fluttershy; she needed just a bit more time…
There! Her hooves found the open doorway. She darted inside, with Little Ball close behind her.
The room within was dimly lit with the orange sky outside. Fluttershy glanced around frantically. Empty filing cabinet lying on its side, three wooden dining chairs…closet by the window. Fluttershy flew up to the closet and opened the door. The clockwork ball scuttled inside, and she flew in after it and shut the door. Her breathing was much louder in the enclosed space, and her heart felt like it was trying to climb out of her chest with fear. Fluttershy knelt on the floor of the closet, trying to slow her breathing.
The only light inside the closet came from a razor-thin gap between the closet doors. Fluttershy peered through the gap, trying to see what was happening outside.
She could only see strips of light and dark; it might have been the open doorway leading into the dark hallway and the far wall of the room, but with only this narrow field of vision she couldn’t be entirely sure.
There was a flash of movement; she couldn’t be sure of what. Actually, with this little vision she couldn’t be sure it hadn’t been a trick of the light. Fluttershy held her breath and strained her ears.
There were hoofsteps from somewhere inside the room. Fluttershy stifled a gasp and curled up into a ball against the back wall of the closet, covering her head with her forelegs and trying to make herself as small and inconspicuous as possible.
The closet door opened. Rainbow Dash was there, wearing that same disturbed smile. “There you are. Megiddo wants to talk to you.” The smile faded, to be replaced by an expression of contempt. “Get up. Now.”
Fluttershy stayed on the ground, shivering. She didn’t get up.
“I said get up!” Rainbow Dash lifted a hoof as if she was going to slap Fluttershy.
There was a blur of motion just on the edge of Fluttershy’s field of vision.
Little Ball was suddenly on Rainbow Dash, clawing at her face. The pegasus screamed, stumbling backward as she pulled the ball off of her face.
Fluttershy leapt to her hooves and dove out of the closet. The window was right next to her, and she spun around and jumped onto the windowsill.
She was turning her head to face the sky when she saw movement at the bottom of her eyes. There was a soldier standing in the street below, swiveling upward to point a long weapon it held in one hand at her. She meeped and leapt back into the room just as there was a BLAM! A net shot through the window, hit the ceiling, and fell in a heap on the ground.
Rainbow Dash pulled the clockwork ball off of herself, tossing the ball aside with a shake of her hoof. Gray, strangely bloodless scratches ran up and down the side of her face. “Gah, stupid little pain in the flank!” Little Ball began climbing to its feet immediately, apparently not having been damaged at all, but Rainbow Dash was already turning her attention to Fluttershy. “Now…”
Fluttershy didn’t stay around to hear Rainbow finished her sentence. She flew past Rainbow Dash, snatching up one of the dining chairs on the ground and bolting out the door back into the hallway. Little Ball scrambled out the doorway just as Fluttershy slammed the apartment door shut and wedged the chair under the doorknob.
Something slammed into the apartment door. There was a moment’s pause before the doorknob rattled and the door was shaken back and forth in its frame. Instead of waiting for the pounding to stop, Fluttershy waved Little Ball towards her and flew down the hall, deeper into the apartment building. She pulled into another apartment, crouching down on the other side of the doorframe and putting the wicker basket down beside her. The clockwork ball scuttled in and set itself down on the ground in front of her. It looked at her, clearly waiting for her to say what to do next.
Now what?
Rainbow Dash would only be stopped by the blocked door for a minute at most. She could easily fly out the window, through the open front door, and back into the apartment building. Fluttershy had no doubt that reinforcements were on the way, and that the cyan pegasus would keep dashing back and forth within the building until she had found Fluttershy.
Fluttershy needed to get out of here. But for that to happen, she needed to get the soldiers away from their posts around the building somehow.
Maybe there was another way out? “When I first met you, you got out of a building like this one through some grates. How did you use them?” she asked Little Ball.
The ball gave her a quiet series of clicks. It had gone through the wider drainage pipes and some of the air vents. The pipes and vents went to every apartment in these kinds of buildings. Little Ball could squeeze into them, but Fluttershy was definitely too big.
Fluttershy tried to think. The vents would save Little Ball, but they wouldn’t save her.
There were hoofsteps outside.
The hoofsteps weren’t close by; they sounded a lot more like they were echoing from the far end of the hallway, next to the stairs. There was the thunk of wood falling onto stone; Rainbow Dash had reached the door Fluttershy had blocked earlier and had opened it again.
What could she do, what could she do, what could she do?
Maybe she could ask Little Ball to distract the soldiers and Rainbow Dash? It could get into places that she couldn’t, maybe go around to the front door and wave at them until they started firing and…
No, no! That was a terrible idea! She couldn’t ask it to go into danger for her like that. She racked her brains for something else.
The hoofsteps were getting closer.
She had one more idea. It was a stupid, desperate idea, but it was the only one she had.
“I need you to run,” she whispered to the ball. “We can meet up later in the store with the trapdoor to the access corridors you showed me before.”
Little Ball jumped, surprised, then quietly clicked out a question to her. Was Fluttershy sure?
“Yes, I’m sure!” The hoofsteps were getting closer.
The clockwork ball stood still for a moment, before lifting a front leg to salute Fluttershy and scurrying off into the bathroom. There was a rattling sound as it squeezed itself down the shower drain, and then it was gone.
Fluttershy could now hear brief pauses in between sets of hoofsteps now; Rainbow must be checking each apartment before moving on. Rainbow was maybe three-quarters of the way to Fluttershy’s apartment now.
Fluttershy swallowed. She realized that her hooves were trembling, and tried to calm them. Fluttershy took a deep breath, and darted up into the open window. There was another soldier in the street, spinning about and aiming its net weapon at her.
BLAM!
Fluttershy dropped down as another net flew into the room. She heard Rainbow shouting, and knew that the other pegasus knew where she was now. Fluttershy leapt onto the net, almost getting tangled in it herself before she could pick it up.
There was a loud crash as the door was slammed open against the wall. Rainbow stalked through the open door. “Now – ” Rainbow began, her voice low and dangerous.
“RainbowI’msosorry!”
Rainbow stepped back and started to go “Wha? – ” just as Fluttershy leapt on the other pegasus, wrapping her in the net. Fluttershy pulled the net together, tangling Rainbow inside, and then threw Rainbow out the window.
There was a thump and a shout of pain from outside. “Gah! What the hay! Stupid little pegasus! Hey, what are you all standing around for? Get me out of this thing!” There was the shuffling noise of soldiers moving outside.
Fluttershy bolted into the hallway and ran down it. The soldiers would be all clustered around the window she had thrown Rainbow out of, and she couldn’t go out there unless she wanted all of them shooting at her at once.
Instead, Fluttershy ran to the end of the hallway, darted into the last apartment, and looked out the window. Three soldiers were clustered around Rainbow, lifting the net off of her; none of them were near the window Fluttershy was in. She spread her wings and leapt out the window. Now she just needed to turn the corner to hide herself –
“Hey, she’s over there!” Fluttershy heard Rainbow shout, and Fluttershy turned her head to see Rainbow finish throwing off the net and rise into the air. Fluttershy turned and bolted.
“Come back here!” she heard Rainbow Dash shout. Fluttershy looked over her shoulder. Rainbow Dash was already off like a shot. Fluttershy squeaked and flew faster, trying to push more energy into her wings. The buildings flashed past in seconds.
“Don’t even try it!” Rainbow’s voice was closer this time. Fluttershy risked another look back. Rainbow was slowly gaining. Fluttershy’s wings were already starting to ache. She wasn’t used to flying like this, but she couldn’t slow down!
“Almost…almost…” Rainbow’s voice was right behind her. Fluttershy closed her eyes and flapped as hard as she could. The wind whistled past her, the hot air feeling like it was superheating her. She had to be going at least as fast as she had when she had been helping with getting the water to Cloudsdale…but it wouldn’t be enough. It had always been Rainbow who was the faster –
“Hey! What are you doing!”
Rainbow’s voice wasn’t as close this time.
Rainbow was…falling behind?
Fluttershy looked back. Rainbow was already half a building away and falling further. She was gritting her teeth in exertion and clearly pushing as hard as she could, but was still slowly dropping away.
This was her chance. Fluttershy turned hard, shooting down an alleyway and out into the next street. She banked hard to the right, soared through a window, and landed in a bathroom covered in light blue tile. She ducked through the open doorway into the gray hallway outside; it was covered in dust that she realized was old and disintegrated carpeting. She stayed there, crouched behind the door, listening.
There were wingbeats outside. Fluttershy held as still as a mouse.
“Horseapples,” she heard Rainbow say. The wingbeats continued for a few seconds longer before they started moving away. Fluttershy didn’t move a muscle until the wingbeats had faded completely away.
Time to go. Fluttershy followed the hallway until it met a set of stairs going down. She went down to the ground floor and jumped out an empty living room window. Fluttershy darted past a few more buildings, putting some cover between herself and where Rainbow Dash would have been, before flying back through the city to the first trapdoor to the access corridors.
She went cautiously, scanning the horizon for movement and hiding inside the storefronts and buildings, the same way she and the clockwork ball had first gotten to the gate facility. Three patrols of five soldiers each ran by in the first five minutes, all of them headed towards the apartment building she had just fled from. Fluttershy prayed that the clockwork ball had made it out.
Finally, she came to the storefront where the ball had shown her the entrance to the access corridors. She looked around; there were no soldiers in sight. Fluttershy flew into the store through one of the windows.
The door leading to the back room was still standing open. The closed trapdoor was clearly visible in the daylight. Fluttershy walked past the shelves full of metal knickknacks and abandoned shopping baskets to sit next to it, staying just out of the rectangle of light that was shining through the doorway.
She sat there, waiting for the clockwork ball. The minutes ticked by.
She swung a hoof back and forth. Where was it? Could anything have happened to it? What if –
There was a soft clattering sound outside, and Fluttershy turned to look.
Little Ball skittered in, clambering over the broken store window to head into the store. Fluttershy stepped out into the light, and it chirped and scuttled over to join her. “Oh, you made it! Are you all right?” she asked, and it nodded.
“I’m so glad to hear that,” she said, and almost gave it a hug before remembering that she shouldn’t touch it. “Do you need to rest for a bit before we go on? We need to go to Tacoma.”
Little Ball blinked in confusion, then clicked out a question. What was in Tacoma?
“Rainbow Dash…the blue one…said that they were taking the gate to Tacoma. She said there was a lab there.”
The ball jumped. It tapped out another question. One of Megiddo’s labs?
“Well…I guess…I mean, I can’t think of anyone else it might belong to.”
Little Ball frantically shook its head. This was a bad idea. There were sure to be guards there, and the ball had lived for this long by staying far away from anything and anywhere Megiddo had put his soldiers. They shouldn’t go there. It wasn’t safe!
Fluttershy thought Little Ball was right. This was going to be dangerous. But on the other hand, what alternative did she have? She couldn’t imagine herself living the rest of her natural life here, hiding in the shadows and living on scraps.
“I want to go home,” she said. “To do that, I need to find the gate. I have to go there. If it gets too dangerous, we’ll turn back. All right?”
Little Ball looked down at the ground, thinking. Finally, it looked back at her and nodded.
“Thank you,” she said. “We’re going to stop for a bit before we actually get there so we can eat and rest. We don’t want to be tired when we arrive.” Fluttershy took out her map and opened it. Tacoma was to the south, past the Industrial District. It looked like there was a route through the access corridors leading toward Tacoma. There was a thick line marked “Subway” heading south, bending just before it went off the bottom of the main map. After that she only had the inset of the surrounding area to rely upon, but it did show that the corridors went all the way to Tacoma.
She put the map down on the ground. “Can you get us to this part of the access corridors?” she asked, pointing at the subway line with her hoof.
The ball looked at it for a moment before nodding. It pointed at the trapdoor nearby.
“Okay,” she said. “Are you ready to go?”
It nodded again, and climbed into the wicker basket. Fluttershy picked up the basket, opened the trapdoor and stuck her head inside. There weren’t any soldiers in sight, and she didn’t hear any either. She closed the trapdoor behind her, and they started south.