Pinkie Pie gasped as she attempted to put weight on her leg. Not good. Like most runners, she had a good sense of how injured she was, and right now, everything was telling her that she probably wasn’t going to make it.
“Tell me where the entrance to Tartarus is, Pinkamena,” said Twilight Sparkle, her voice flat and emotionless, “tell me, and I promise to end it quickly.”
“You’re just a big meany pants,” said Pinkie, backing up against the wall, “no way I’m telling you anything.”
“Empress Celestia will not be moved from her throne. It’s for the best if everypony just accepts that.”
Pinkie Pie gritted her teeth as a wave of pain shot through her.
“I saved your life, Twilight. Remember that first run? I stopped you frying your brain,” said Pinkie.
“Yes, and you helped me get information that’s going to help me make sure that the Empress’s rule goes unchallenged. As a way to repay that, I’ll make your demise painless if you cooperate.”
“You-you lied to me,” murmured Pinkie, “you said that information was going to help ponies.”
“It will,” said Twilight, “just not the ponies you want it to. You cannot possibly be this naive, Pinkamena.”
Pinkie’s sight was getting blurry. She didn’t have long now. But perhaps, she’d have long enough to make sure that everypony possible lived. She wasn’t even really part of the rebels-Pinkie was just a runner. She raided buildings and got paid and tried to keep everypony alive. She wasn’t as invested in deposing Empress Celestia from her fancy throne, but apparently, being a runner was enough for Twilight.
“I don’t know where the entrance is,” she said. Twilight giggled. It was a fake, high laugh that grated against Pinkie’s ears in the worst possible way.
“Oh, Pinkamena, I can tell when you’re lying,” said Twilight, an odd smile creeping across her face as she began to trot towards Pinkie, “though it really doesn’t matter. Several units of the Empresses’ best are poised to search the sewers. They’re not going to stop until they’ve routed out all of your friends down there.”
Behind her back, Pinkie’s hooves were frantically working on a small portable deck, typing a message into the net, in the runner-only channels. She had to get word back to the rebels, she had to make sure that as many ponies as possible survived. Nopony died on Pinkie Pie’s watch if she could help it.
As Twilight Sparkle came within physical reach of Pinkie, Pinkie finished her message, sending it out into the net. Her strength was failing her, but Pinkie still had one last trick up the sleeves she wasn’t wearing.
With a final burst of energy, Pinkie charged forward, grabbing onto the unicorn that had betrayed her, and threw herself and Twilight out of the nearby window in a single, last ditch effort.
“The Empress, our Undying Sun, will not be moved from her throne by your petty efforts, runner. Your rebel friends will fare no better than you did,” said Twilight Sparkle, her horn glowing. With a spark and a bang, she vanished, and Pinkie was left to fall to the streets below, alone.