THE MAGIX: CHAPTER 15: Crash

Rain swooped through the shattered remains of the window and landed with a single sweep among the shards of glass scattered over the floor. Glittering bits of glass rained down around her, filling the air with a gleaming crystal snow. Rain stood up from her impact-bracing crouch and moved forward through the glass-filled room, walking toward the lifeless unicorn chained helplessly into a chair in the center of the room. Amber.
Rain rushed forward. She wrapped her forelegs around her shaking, half-conscious crewmate and held on tight as she spread out her wings like a feathery shield.
Neon hovered just outside, holding his machine gun at the ready, the end of the barrel still smoking from shooting the glass to pieces. Horus dropped down from the roof. The dark pegasus caught him by the hoof and he swung into the room, slipping a small handheld machine gun from his trench coat. The second he hit the glass-covered floor, they fired.
Bullets rained down and crashed everywhere. The walls cracked and sprayed plaster dust all over the room, exposing the reinforced metal panels underneath, the tile floor shattered, jagged bits scattering everywhere. The reprogrammer was completely destroyed. The monitor glass shattered, the mechanics underneath sparking and fizzling out. Bullets dug into the metal structure, the web of wires were cut and sizzling with electricity. The two agents in the room only lasted so long. It was less than a minute before they, like everything else in the room, were torn apart by the bulletstorm. They disintegrated into a thousand pixels and shimmered out of existence. And Agent Steel-
Agent Steel was gone.
Rain straightened up again, shaking bits of glass and plaster dust out of her coat and feathers. Amber let out a soft, pained moan, still chained in the office chair. Rain eased a hoof under her chin and raised her head. Amber's eyes were blank and unfocused, her breathing was heavy and unsteady. Rain reached her hoof behind Amber's head and grabbed the jack forcefully plugged into her head. She wrenched the jack out of its socket, letting the metal plug fall to the floor and clatter against the tiles. She looked again at her friend's blank, lifeless face. "Amber?" she whispered.
The unicorn said nothing, only stared blankly up at her like an android. Rain took her shoulder and gave her a soft shake. "Amber. Come on. It's me. Wake up." Nothing happened. Amber still stared at her, silent. Rain shook her harder. "Come on, Amber. Don't do this. Wake up!"
Tears stung at her eyes. Her heart stopped, and her breath caught in her throat. She shook Amber again, harder, screaming in her face, desperation twinging her voice. "Amber! Wake up! What happened to you? Don't do it. Don't you dare give out on me, Amber! Wake up!"
Rain let go. Amber's head flopped limply back into place, her dark mane scattered carelessly forward. Rain stared at her crewmate, her eyes burning to cry again. After all they'd been through. Even after the fight, she'd been there. They even came back to rescue her. It couldn't be too late...
"Rain?"
Amber's soft, choked voice came from somewhere behind the tangle of dark, spiky mane covering her face. Rain's eyes went wide. Slowly, the amber unicorn lifted her head, her eyelids fluttering heavily over her eyes, fighting to open again. She blinked, the spirited glow returning to her brown eyes. She shook the hair out of her face. Her eyes widened. "Rain?" she gasped again.
"Amber!" Rain threw herself at the dumbstruck unicorn, warmth flooding from her heart and pulsing through her with warp speed. She wrapped her forelegs around her roommate, over the chains and the backrest of the chair, holding on tightly as if she'd disappear the second she let go. She felt Amber squirming around in the chair, struggling against the chains that held her in place.
"Rain, what the- When did- What just happened?"
The pegasus pulled back, laughing and smiling so hard it hurt. "Oh my Celestia. You're okay."
Amber looked back up at her, her eyes glossy with tears, maybe from pain, or from happiness.
"You- You came back. You actually came back for me." A faint smile showed through on her face.
Horus and Neon walked in closer, gathering around Amber. The unicorn looked around herself, stunned. They were here. They had come back to rescue her.
She turned to Horus. He stood looking down at her, his deep brown eyes gazing at his apprentice, taking in every little detail of her. He reached into a pocket and slipped out a small knife. He jammed the blade into the padlock behind the backrest holding the chains tightly in place. He flicked his wrist, twisting the knife and breaking the tumblers. The lock fell open, the chains came loose and fell clattering to the floor around the legs of the chair.
The second the chains were off, Horus scooped Amber up out of the chair and held her close against him. For a second, everything was right in the world again. Amber felt safe. Her friends, her captain, everyone had come back. She was okay. She'd made it out alive.
"Oh. How sweet."
The dark, sarcastic voice sounded out from nowhere. Horus quickly let go of Amber and reverted to letting her lean on his shoulder as she struggled to regain her footing. Neon, his shoulder already scabbed over and healing quickly, folded his wings tightly against his sides and swiped a remaining throwing star from his jacket. Rain tensed up, her gaze flickering frantically around the empty room. That voice. She knew it. Only one pony could ever sound like that.
The reprogrammer had become a mass of twisted, sparking metal, fallen from its original position and lying in a chaotic mess on the floor. A shadowy figure slipped out from behind the broken pile of technology. He strode calmly out into the fading red light of the sunset outside.
Agent Steel. He was still alive. And he held a large handgun aimed at them. Trapped. "You ponies are in far over your heads." A sharp, steely edge shone through his voice, cutting through the air like a razor. "I have worked too hard on this to let you ruin Regenerate now. Agents are on their way to this very room as we speak. You have exactly twenty seconds to give us our subject back and leave. Otherwise, we kill you right here, right now."
Rain reflexively wrapped a foreleg around Amber's waist. Sliding a pistol from her belt, she aimed it back at the coldhearted program, her blazing magenta eyes offering him an unspoken challenge. A quick glance to her left told her that Neon and Horus were standing close, prepared to bolt.
Rain stared unwaveringly at Agent Steel. She held her gun firmly aimed at him, sending him a silent threat. Who's going to shoot first? You or me?
A soft rushing sound caught her by surprise. Rain broke her gaze, but only for a second, just in time to see Neon grab Horus, snap his wings out and push up off the ground, making a break for the window. Steel heard a metallic click. Her gaze instantly flickered back to Steel. He'd turned his back on her, just for a second, to turn away and aim at the escaping pegasus.
Rain couldn't stop herself. Before she knew what was happening, she'd pulled the trigger. There was the familiar, earsplitting BAM. And then Agent Steel was standing deathly still, a look of confused shock on his face, as a dark red stain blossomed on the pristine white fabric of his shirt.
Rain froze. Her grip on Amber's waist tightened. She watched as Steel's eyes glazed over and he fell to the broken tile floor, blood soaking his perfect white shirt. She'd killed him. He was immortal, and she's killed him.
A stifled, desperate cry broke through the silence. Rain shook herself out of her trance. The voice screamed again.
"Rain!" It was Neon. He stood beside Horus on the glass-covered window frame, staring down at Agent Steel's still body on the floor. He screamed again. "Rain! Don't believe him! Move!"
The confused mare turned back to where Steel was lying on the floor in a growing pool of blood. He lay perfectly still, not even breathing. The blood was growing steadily darker and spreading across the floor. And then, suddenly, it stopped.
Rain could only stare, held in a trance by... she wasn't even sure what was going on. Steel's chest rose. She heard a sharp gasp. The lifeless program on the floor stirred, then he let out another strained noise and rolled over onto his front, moving his legs underneath him and pushing himself up off the floor, blood still dripping from the dark red stain on his shirt. And then-
The stain was shrinking. The deep blood-red smear receded back, leaving behind only the pure white of his shirt. It went on, shrinking back until there was nothing left but a tiny rip in the fabric where the bullet had torn its way through. Steel glared angrily at Rain as she gaped at him, frozen. He shook his head. "You stupid little mare."
He stepped away from the pool of his blood on the floor and back to where his gun had fallen when it had dropped from his hand the moment Rain shot him. He retrieved it, pulled the hammer back and aimed at her. The single door of the soundproofed, reinforced room slammed open. Agents swarmed in.
Rain shook herself out of her trance. Everything clicked into place. She squeezed her forelegs around Amber's waist. Her wings snapped out and she shot up from the floor just as the agents opened fire. The pegasus soared up toward the window and, with a twist of her wings, flipped over backwards and dove outside and past the walls. She flew away, clutching Amber close, Steel's furious shouts fading into the distance.

Rain flew onward, pushing herself as fast as she could go, holding on to Amber as if she could never let go again. Neon floated up next to her, his forelegs wrapped around Horus, carrying him as he motored his wings to keep up with brightly colored buildings of Ponyville appeared, bright and clear in the distance. Rain pushed harder, Neon struggling to keep up.
"Hey," Neon panted, swooping closer. "Ponyville's straight ahead. You don't have to gun it."
"I know. I just don't want to risk anything."
"Yeah. Okay. About Steel..."
"I didn't know he could do that."
"It's exactly what we told you," Horus said, looking up at Rain from his place hanging from Neon's forelegs. "But Steel's different. He doesn't just die and reappear like the others. He's the lead agent. He is literally immortal."
"I should have thought of that before I tried to kill him."
Neon looked down at the streets of the outskirts below them, Ponyville growing closer by the second. "I think we're close enough."
Horus nodded. "Okay. Land, then we have to find an exit. The agents can't be far behind."
The pegasi swooped down and landed in the empty streets of the outskirts. The sun was gone, the sky turned a dark twilight blue. A soft rain had begun to fall. Thunder sounded in the distance, signaling an approaching storm. The warm lights and busy, cheerful noises of the main city shone through the maze of the broken outskirts, close enough to touch. The crew ran through the last block of buildings and out into the Ponyville streets.
Horus took his communicator from his pocket and dialed Spiro. A familiar voice answered on the other end. "Operator."
"Spiro, it's me," Horus answered. "We've got Amber."
"She's not- Is she okay? Everything on her POV is scrambled out here."
Amber smiled at her captain and nodded energetically. "She's fine. It's a miracle Regenerate didn't damage her."
"Your escape was pretty narrow there."
"I know. We need an exit, fast. The agents can't be far behind."
Rain watched as Horus conversed with Spiro, waiting patiently to find out the location of their escape. She didn't expect a nudge on her shoulder, or a soft weight to suddenly press against her side. She looked over her shoulder. Amber was leaning against her, the unicorn's legs still weak and unsteady. Her eyes were bloodshot, her mane and coat splattered with blood and tangled with the sparkling dust of broken glass. She blinked and her eyes glossed over with tears.
"Amber? What's wrong?"
She sighed, leaning heavily on Rain's shoulder. "Rain, I- I'm so sorry."
The pegasus cocked her head, confused. "What do you mean?"
"I'm sorry. For everything. The way I treated you. How I was so stupid, and I thought that you didn't care about the crew and then just threw myself in there, and then... You came back for me. Even after all the things I said, you still wouldn't let me die."
"Amber..." Rain's face softened. A small smile shone through on her face. "I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have exposed the resistance to an outsider. I was just desperate. I had no choice. And then when you went into the swarm to save Horus... I never thought it would end up like this."
"None of us did."
"It was my fault."
Amber softly punched Rain's shoulder. "No it's not. Wow, you just never stop, do you?"
Rain laughed. "Friends?" she asked, offering Amber a hoof.
"Friends." Amber tapped her hoof against Rain's. Horus's voice cut in, breaking through the haze of the moment.
"What? But how did you-" Horus fell silent, listening to whatever Spiro had to say on the other end. "Okay. How much longer do we have? Okay, I'll tell them. Call me back when you've gotten us an exit." He hung up and slipped the phone back into his pocket.
Neon spoke up. "What's going on?"
"The double-take from Apocalypse has been detonated."
Rain was confused. "How did that happen?"
"Apparently, while Amber was connected to the central computer network, the mainframe had a temporary connection to the network. They managed to hack in and break into security. The bomb had been left in the control room, still plugged into the network. And, well... They reactivated it."
"What?"
Horus nodded. "Not only that, but Cherrybomb somehow found a way to amp the explosive power and take out not just the basement, but the entire building."
Neon laughed. "Of course she would."
"Less than thirty seconds after we escaped, the entire database was blown apart," Horus went on. "We've been given a small amount of time to spare. The agents will all have to reprogram and reorient, but it won't take them long."
"How much longer do we have?" Amber asked.
"A few minutes... along with the time it'll take them to reach us. We've got fifteen minutes, at the most."
Rain nodded. "We can manage that."
A crack of thunder shattered the quiet. Lightning flashed across the sky. The street lights flickered and went black. The few remaining ponies on the street gasped, chattering amongst themselves and dashing through the doors of random storefronts to escape the storm. The rain fell harder, pelting the pavement with cold, wet drops.
Her vision obscured by darkness, Rain felt a foreleg slip around her waist. "Huh?" was all she had time to get out before she was dragged backwards into an alleyway. By the time the blackout was over, she was gone. The crew split off in different directions to find her and a new exit.
Rain didn't even panic as the foreleg at her waist pulled her deeper into the shadows. She knew exactly who it was. "Pinkie?"
The foreleg was gone from her waist. A pair of light blue eyes peeked out from a soaked cotton-candy mane, looking up at her. Without another word, Pinkie Pie threw her forelegs around Rain. "Dashie!" she cried, her face buried in her friend's rainbow mane. "I knew I'd see you again!"
Rain hugged her friend tightly before pulling away. "Pinkie, what are you doing here?"
"I was waiting for you. My Pinkie senses told me you would be coming back tonight."
"I know," Rain said, brushing a stray strand of purple hair from her face. "But why were you waiting for me?"
The pink mare looked up at her friend, her eyes huge and glassy. "I'm ready."
Rain stopped breathing. "What?"
"I'm letting go, Dashie. I don't want to live in the Magix anymore. I've said goodbye to everything. Even Gummy. I know the real world is out there. And I'm ready to see it."
"Pinkie, I-"
"What is it, Dashie?"
"You want to leave now?"
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be."
"But Pinkie, I don't know how I can-"
Pinkie Pie put a hoof over Rain's mouth, cutting her off. "I know. The Magix is just a dream, right? And no matter what happens in a dream, it's not real. And when you die, you just wake up. And I've been thinking about it for days. That's the only way I could possibly-"
Rain pushed her friend's hoof away from her mouth. "Pinkie, you are insane! You can't be serious."
"What?" The mare's face changed, her expression becoming soft and sad. "But you said-"
"The Magix isn't just any dream. If you die here, you die in real life."
Pinkie nodded. "Yes. Anypony else would, because they're afraid to die." She looked deeply into Rain's eyes, her own baby blue eyes glowing with emotion. "And I'm not afraid anymore."
Rain's heart stopped. Pinkie Pie's words filled her head. "Pinkie, I can't."
"Dashie, please. Remember what I said?"
Pinkie's voice sounded in her head. I'd rather die than never see you again.
"I meant it. I meant everything."
Tears stung at Rain's eyes. "You're sure?"
Pinkie nodded, her flat mane fluttering around her shoulders. "Positive."
Without a word, Rain wrapped her forelegs tightly around Pinkie Pie. She rested her cheek against her soft pink shoulder one last time. She unfolded her sky-blue wings and took off into the dark, stormy sky, clutching her best friend tightly to her chest.
The rain pounded down harder as Rain rose higher into the night sky, the freezing cold drops pelting her face, soaking her hair and feathers. Her wings struggled against the icy wet blasts, pushing against the cold, sodden air. The pegasus held Pinkie close as she looked down at the city streets below. Ponyville was slowly going dark, falling into the lull of the night. Only the glimmering silvery blue and warm gold of the street lights lit up the streets, slick and shining in the rain. Against her shoulder, she felt Pinkie Pie squirm and turn her head to look over her shoulder and gaze down at the city below. She let out a quiet breath of amazement. "Wow."
Rain gazed longingly at the shimmering streets below. They floated higher and higher into the dark night sky shimmering with stars, the raindrops falling steadily down. With every stroke Rain's sky-blue wings slowly grew cold and heavy. She wouldn't be able to hold on much longer. At least not with Pinkie Pie clinging to her.
Her friend turned her head away from the streets that seemed miles away and looked up at the pegasus holding her so tightly. Clinging to her shoulders, Pinkie inched up until her face rested on Rain's shoulder next to her ear. "I'm ready now, Dashie. I can do this. Let me go."
Rain let out a soft, choking breath. "You're sure?"
"Yes."
She couldn't do this. She held on tighter. "Pinkie... If this doesn't work, I-"
"It's okay, Dashie," Pinkie whispered. "It's okay."
Rain hugged her tightly. One last time. Then she untangled her forelegs from the warm pink pony held tightly against her and reluctantly let go, watching heartbroken as the small pink shape of her friend plummeted helplessly toward the shimmering streets below.

Amber was the first to see the sky-blue pegasus fly into the air, a pale blue shape cast against the dark, stormy sky. At first she could only stare, watching in amazement as Rain rose up in the cold night air, fighting against the pelting drops. Then she saw the splash of pink covering up part of the bright, shining blue. Immediately she grabbed her communicator from her pocket and called Horus. She heard the other end pick up. "Amber? You're seeing this too, right?"
"Yeah," she answered. "Either Rain somehow got into a ball gown or she's got somepony up there with her."
"Any idea why?"
"No. But I might just know who it is."
"What's she doing with-"
Horus trailed off. Something had changed. Rain moved. Then the pink pony let go and fell back toward the streets with frightening speed. She heard herself screaming into her phone. "Holy Celestia!"
"Get over there as fast as you can. We found Rain. I'll call Neon. I'll bet he's already on his way."
Amber nodded, breathing heavily. "Okay."
She hung up and slipped the communicator back into her jacket pocket. Then Amber took off at a dead sprint for the square.
It was only a few seconds before she was there in the soaked, darkened square, the white, misty lampposts shining softly in the rain. Neon and Horus were already there, looking frantically around for any sign of Rain. Neon turned around. "She should be landing here any second now."
"The last I saw she was a million feet above the city," Amber said. "How could she have-"
A shout from Horus cut her off. "Amber! Look out!"
She instinctively dove sideways. Not a second later something dropped out of the sky and landed with a sickening thud on the wet, shimmering pavement. Amber hesitantly raised her head and turned around. It was a pony. Her candy-pink coat and flat, bright pink mane were dripping wet from the rain and stained with red. Blood was splattered on the pavement all around her, a small, dark pool slowly forming underneath her. Her chest heaved and the pony took in a weak gasp of air. Amber's eyes widened. She was still alive.
She felt a rush of air overhead stir her dripping, dark mane. Then all of a sudden something went whizzing past her head and crashed jarringly to the ground.

Rain fell out of the dark sky, her soaked, heavy wings fighting against the rain to stay upright. She twisted violently and flew sideways before crashing onto the pavement and skidding to a stop, just barely missing Amber's head. She lay splayed on the ground, panting. Slowly she lifted her head and looked around her. She'd landed in the square. The crew was here. And Pinkie...
Rain's magenta eyes went wide. Pinkie.
She was lying on the pavement, still and lifeless, blood pooling around her and seeping into her mane and fur. Rain instantly pulled herself to her feet and dashed to her friend's side. She stopped and knelt down next to Pinkie, not caring that the dark red pool stained her coat and windbreaker. She leaned in close. "Pinke," she choked. "Oh my Celestia. Pinkie..."
Pinkie Pie's chest shuddered as she took a weak, labored breath. Her pale blue eyes fluttered heavily open. She looked up at Rain. The light that she'd always remembered was slowly fading away. Rain moved in closer. She picked up Pinkie's limp, bleeding form, cradling her gently in her forelegs. "Pinkie, I'm so sorry..."
Pinkie's mouth opened and she took another shuddering breath. "D- Dashie?" she choked.
Rain stroked her friend's soaked, bloody mane. "Yeah?"
Her blue eyes gazed hopefully up at Rain. She smiled weakly. "Y-you're... my best... friend."
Tears stung at Rain's eyes and fell over her cheeks, mixing with the cold raindrops falling all around her. "You too, Pinkie. You too."
Then the light in Pinkie's eyes was gone. Her eyes fluttered shut again. Her shaky, labored breaths stopped. Rain let out a choked, gasping sob. She was gone.
Everything around her became blurred. The sounds of her friends whispering faded away, silence filling her ears. All she saw was the soft pink body in her forelegs. Pinkie Pie. Her best friend was dead. It was wrong. But she was free. Just like she'd wanted to be.

(jack out)

Spiro watched as the streams of code rushed across Rain's avatar POV. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. She'd just killed an innocent pony. Rain couldn't believe it either. Her thought patterns were slow and heavy. Sadness, loss, regret... everything was reading off of her like snow from a blizzard.
Saph looked up at him inquisitively. "What's going on in there?"
Spiro shook his head. "She actually did it. She killed Pinkie Pie."
"The pony she spilled to?"
"Yeah. She's with her right now. She's dead."
Saph stared into Rain's POV screen. "Agh. I can't see anything. How do you read this stuff so fast?"
The unicorn shrugged and returned his attention to the other avatar POVs. They were all there, shocked and confused, watching Rain crying, holding Pinkie Pie for the last time.
Blip! Out of nowhere, an alarm went off.
Spiro distracted himself from the POV to see a blinking red window in a corner of the large touchscreen. The loud, musical blip! sounded again. He reached across and tapped the flashing red square. The window grew larger, a white square bordered in bright red, bold black text spelling out a message below a bright yellow alert symbol.
Video feed has detected movement! Request view?
Spiro tapped the small gray OK icon below. The white message board pixelated away and became the pale whitish green footage of a night vision camera. Their video feed from their hidden camera in waste disposal had detected change. Something was different.
The unicorn nudged the young dragon next to him. They both turned and carefully watched the grainy, shadowed footage of the dark metal walls and the cold, rippling surface of water. At first nothing happened. Then there was a flash. Something moved below the shadowy surface of the water. Then all at once, a flailing, thrashing object burst out from below the surface, spraying cold water everywhere. It floundered desperately, trying to stay above the frigid surface of the water before slipping under again.
Spiro's eyes widened. "What is that?"

(jack in)

For the longest time there was nothing. The virtual world had gone blurry, the sounds fading into a deathly silence. Rain just stayed, holding the body of her best friend, the rain falling heavily all around her, splashing against her fur and feathers, mixing with her tears. She was suffocating, unable to even breathe through the choking sobs that wracked her body. The trance held her captive for what seemed like forever. She felt the soft touch of forelegs slipping gently around her shoulders, awakening her. Her consciousness returned to the virtual dream.
Amber was leaning against her shuddering shoulder, her forelegs wrapped comfortingly around her. Rain looked back, tears flowing freely from her red, glassy eyes. Amber gazed back at her, her face softened with sympathy. "It's alright," she whispered. "She's in a better place now."
A loud, grating ringtone cut through the silent, misty air, killing the moment. Rain whipped her head around. It was Horus's communicator. He sighed heavily and grabbed it out of his pocket. "Spiro, have you found us a jackout site?" Silence. "This is sort of a bad time. We kind of have a crisis going on right now."
Spiro's voice sounded out from the speaker. "We know. We've been watching the POV this whole time. I just got an alert from the waste disposal feed."
"What's going on?"
"We've detected movement. Somepony's been freed."
"What? How far away are we?"
"I don't know. A few minutes, I think. Should we go after them?"
"Do you think we'd make it in time?"
"I don't know. It hasn't been long, but the pony in there could last anywhere between thirty seconds and three minutes. Our chances of getting there in time are narrow if anything at this point."
Horus nodded. "How's the pony's movement looking?"
"Pretty energetic. Like they're hyped up on caffeine or something."
Hope bubbled up into his mind. He turned to Rain, looking over her shoulder at him, cradling Pinkie in her forelegs. "Sounds like she'll make it. You'd best get there as fast as you can."
"She?" Spiro sounded confused.
"I have a pretty good idea of who it is that our camera picked up."
"You don't think-"
"Go. Before it's too late. She's come this far, and we can't give up on her now."
"I'm on it, Horus." Spiro hung up.
Rain's eyes had stopped tearing. "What's going on out there?" she asked in a choked, quiet voice.
Horus's eyes were glowing. "She made it."
The mare's magenta eyes widened. "What?" She looked back at the lifeless body cradled in her forelegs. "It can't be... She just... How?"
"I don't know. Your friend must have been stronger than we thought."
Rain shuddered as a heavy breath of relief escaped. Her face broke out into a glowing smile. "You- you mean she's out there?"
Horus smiled. "She's free."

(jack out)

Spiro stood up from his swivel chair. Saph and Cherrybomb turned to him. Saph cocked her head. "You're going in after her?"
Spiro nodded. "Captain's orders. She's come this far, and we're not about to give up on her just yet."
Cherrybomb stood up from her spot on the floor. "You'll need some help getting her on board."
The stallion smiled. "Of course."
Grinning, Cherrybomb shot through the doorway to the pilot chamber. Saph leaned back in her chair and laughed. "You're seriously going to leave me here?"
"You can set up a jackout site," Spiro said. "Get to it." He turned and rushed off after Cherrybomb.
Saph turned to the POV, then the feed. There had to be somewhere nearby to find an exit. She looked through the falling streams of code, trying to read them as they rushed past at light speed. She squinted at the screen. There. A payphone, six blocks away, hidden at the edge of an alleyway between a cafe and a busted streetlamp. Perfect.

When Spiro had entered the pilot chamber, Cherrybomb was already strapped into one chair, sitting bolt upright with excitement. "We set to go?" she chirped, her eyes bright.
The unicorn slid into the seat next to hers, slipping the belt over his waist. Outside of the thick plexiglass windshield, the long metallic expanse of the underground tunnels stretched out before them. He rested his hands on the controls and started up the ship's engine. Slowly the Firestar lifted into the air, levitating as it waited for direction from its driver. He smiled. "Yep. Time to save ponies."
The controllers shifted forward and the Firestar sped off toward the waste disposal.

(jack in)

As the seconds passed, the outline of Pinkie Pie's body began to blur. Her form started to pixelate, growing pale and fuzzy. The crew all turned to stare. Slowly the lifeless pony in Rain's forelegs began to fade away. Then she was gone. There was nothing left but the blood splattered on the pavement, staining Rain's coat and windbreaker.
"Disconnected," Neon murmured, breaking the deathly silence.
"I can't believe it," Amber said, a smile slowly forming on her face. "She's really out there."
Horus nodded. "I don't know how, but she made it out alive. Somehow, dying... It must have woken her up."
A short, clipped chime sounded out from Rain's pocket. Her communicator was ringing. She quickly slipped it out and answered. "Saph. Oh my Celestia, it worked."
Saph's short laugh sounded from the speaker. "Yeah. I can't believe it either. Look, I've found you guys a jackout site. I've just got to get the connection locked."
"Alright, we're listening. Where is it?"
"About six blocks away from your current location, there's an alleyway. It's between a cybercafe and a thrift store. The streetlamp in front of it is broken, leaving the alley completely concealed. There's a phone booth at the edge. You should be able to jack out from there without being seen."
"Alright. We're on our way." She hung up and slid the communicator back into her pocket.
"We've got an exit?" Neon asked.
"Yeah," Rain answered. "Phone booth, six blocks from here."
With a nod from Horus they set off, running to keep the few shreds of time they still had.

It was only a minute before they reached the jackout site. Rain heard the ringing first. She dashed ahead of the others, desperate to get back to the safety of the Firestar. She skidded to a stop right in front of a darkened shadow in the middle of the gleaming wet streets. The others caught up with her. There it was. The streetlamp that would normally have been glowing silvery white was dark and shaded, the glass cracked and the light bulb inside cold and flameless. And in the darkened alley, something shone out from the black shadows. The glint of a metal frame. The tinny, metallic ring sounded again. The phone booth.
The crew slipped silently into the lightless alley. Rain turned to Horus. "You first."
He nodded silently. The the weathered metal of the door squeaked as he slid it open. He picked up the phone from its base and held it to his ear. He disappeared with an icy blue flash.
Amber gently pushed Neon toward the door. He stepped in and replaced the receiver. It instantly began ringing again. He removed it and held it to his ear. In seconds, he was gone, too.
Rain felt a nudge on her shoulder. She turned around. It was only her and Amber now. The unicorn nudged her again, ushering her toward the open door of the phone booth.
"No," Rain said, stepping aside. "You're weak. You have to get out."
Amber looked back at her, a defiant spark in her eyes. "You rescued me. You deserve it."
"Yeah, but I don't need it."
Amber stayed silent. Rain sighed and pushed her toward the booth. "Go."
The unicorn hesitated, then slid calmly into the phone booth. She took the phone and placed it back on its base. When it rang again, she picked it up. She looked out at Rain from behind the smoky, grayish glass. She was pixelated, glowing a faint, icy blue. Any second she would disappear.
Suddenly Amber's gaze shifted. She wasn't looking at Rain anymore. She stared at something behind her. Amber's face darkened with fear and her eyes widened. She slammed a disintegrating hoof against the glass and screamed. "Rain, look out!"
Then she was gone. White light flooded the pitch-black alley. Rain whirled around to see headlights barreling through the night, straight towards her. She leaped into the air just in time for a sleek black car to speed uncontrollably into the alleyway and crash, destroying the phone booth, her only hope of escape.

(jack out)

The Firestar hummed with electrical vibrations as it sped along the tunnels, racing against time. Spiro steered carefully, scanning constantly for predators as he drove at a hovering sprint to waste disposal. The image of Pinkie Pie flailing for her life in the frigid water was imprinted firmly into his memory. As the seconds passed, all he could see was the delicate newborn mare floundering for her life, trying to keep her head above water, the cold sapping away her strength, getting weaker and weaker until-
Spiro gunned the engine. There was no time to spare.
The dark, metallic walls of the tunnels sped past the windshield, the Firestar tilting ever so slightly upwards, carrying the ship gradually toward the surface. The reflective dark metal began to shine with a pale, pinkish glow. The pods were close by. Waste disposal wasn't much further.
Spiro turned to Cherrybomb. "We've made it into the danger zone. Shouldn't be much longer now."
The filly's head was turned toward the large array of controls in front of her. Her gaze landed on a large red switch, lit up by a glowing LED inside. "Should the EMP be charged?"
"No," Spiro answered, shaking his head as he turned his attention back to their route. "We've still got the crew jacked in. We couldn't set it off without risking their lives."
Cherrybomb nodded. She looked up from the control panel and through the windshield at the world outside. The pale pink glow of the pods seeped through the metal grid above the tunnel, holding up the massive walls holding thousands of ponies captive in their dreams. Suddenly the tunnel turned sharply to the right, then began to gradually slope downward. The pinkish glow faded away and was replaced by the silver, undulating reflection of the ship's headlights on water. Waste disposal was close. The tunnel came to an end, opening up into a huge, empty chamber. The headlights of the ship reflected off the dark metal walls, the streams of water spilling from channels in the walls and the rippling surface of the freezing cold water below. They'd reached waste disposal.
The white beams of the headlights skimmed across the surface of the water, searching desperately for any sign of life. For the longest time nothing changed. Spiro clenched his hooves against the controls, heart pounding. They couldn't be too late...
Suddenly a wild thrash broke through the surface of the water, spraying cold droplets into the air. Spiro redirected the lights, focusing them on the foaming waves spreading outward from the splash. There it was again. Something was thrashing around in the water, weakened by cold, trying desperately to come up for air. In the white illumination of the headlights, Spiro thought he caught a flash of pink. It was her.
"Cherrybomb, get to the lift! We've got her!"
The filly hurriedly unstrapped herself and leaped out of her seat, dashing to the back of the pilot chamber. Two hinged metal panels formed a trapdoor in the floor. Hanging above was a huge robotic claw, its movement cables wrapped in a tight spiral around its base on the ceiling. Imbedded into the wall right beside the apparatus was a control panel similar to the one used to steer the ship. She slid in front of the control panel and flicked a few switches. The trapdoor in the floor slowly began to swing open, the lift claw whirring to life and slowly lowering itself to the floor. Cherrybomb took hold of the two joystick controls and stared at the screen in the center of the control panel, carefully watching the video feed from the camera in the palm of the lift's fingers. She gently lowered the claw toward the foaming surface of the water, watching for the splashes of pink that told her she was in the right place. A candy-pink foreleg broke through the surface of the water, then another, their movements stiff and slow. Then a face appeared, bordered by bright pink strands plastered against it, its mouth gaping open and gasping for air, eyes squeezed tightly shut against the cold sting of the water. They floundered there, but only for a second before the pony once again disappeared underwater.
With a flick of her wrist, Cherrybomb sent the claw plummeting into the water. The writhing pink form in the dark enclosure of the water grew larger, filling up the whole screen. She pressed a button at the top of one joystick and the lift claw clamped shut around the thrashing pony in the water. The filly pulled back sharply on the controls and the lift shuddered to a stop and jerked backwards, winding its cables back into their spiral and pulling the claw back into the ship.
Cherrybomb smiled and looked up at the unicorn at the ship controls. "We've got her Spiro," she said. "The shark's in the net."
The unicorn nodded. "Perfect. Once she's in, shut the trapdoor and we head back to the tunnels.. We've got to get out of here before we get caught."
Cherrybomb nodded and the lift continued winding itself back into its dormant position, taking the pony with it. She shut off the feed and watched as the cables wound back into a tight spiral. At last the claw came through the trapdoors, tightly gripping the limp, dripping form of a weak pink pony. Cherrybomb toggled a switch and the trapdoor swung shut and latched in place. Spiro pushed the controls forward and the ship was in motion again. The claw lowered back to floor level and released the pony before returning to its dormant position and shutting off.
The pony lay still on the floor of the pilot chamber, chest heaving with the effort to breathe. Cherrybomb jumped up from the crane controls and dashed to her side, tugging at the mare's shoulders to get her off of the trapdoor. She was cold, soaking wet and slimy, the fluid from her pod still clinging to her mane and coat. Her short mane was bright pink and plastered flat against her head with water and pod sludge, reaching just past her ears. Her coat was a soft shade of pink, the dark metal plugs that all new arrivals had jutting from her legs, chest and stomach. The cheery image of three yellow and blue balloons adorned her flank.
The ship shuddered as Spiro gunned the engine and sped back the way they came. Somewhere in the holodeck, voices sounded out in the silence. Then there were hoofsteps. Somepony had woken up. Then another voice joined in, then another. Saph had gotten the crew out safely.
Cherrybomb turned her head to look over her shoulder at the sound of hoofsteps approaching the doorway to the pilot chamber. Neon appeared, carrying a soft, shapeless white towel on his back. At the sight of Cherrybomb with the motionless pony's head in her lap, he rushed over. The towel was draped over the wet, shivering mare and wrapped tightly around her. Her shuddering began to slow, her breathing no longer ragged and shallow.
"We've got to get her to the sickbay," he said. "She might be in shock. She needs to get cleaned, then have her temperature normalized."
Cherrybomb nodded. "Is everypony back yet?"
Neon didn't answer. He only stared at the floor as Cherrybomb helped lift the new arrival onto his back to carry her to the sickbay to be cleaned and treated. She followed him into the holodeck and watched him disappear down the main corridor.
Horus, Amber and Saph were there. Amber was wiping away the blood that stained the corners of her mouth. Horus was walking toward the control panel, were Saph was still sitting, her eyes glued to a single POV window still glowing with green streams of code.
Cherrybomb galloped over. She quickly glanced at the rushing streams of code, but the random symbols confused her. The filly turned to Horus. "What's going on?"
Horus turned around to see the youngest crew member standing beside him, her eyes bright with curiosity. "Cherrybomb," he said. "Something's happened, I don't know how, but... They attacked us. We were already jacked out. We couldn't stop it."
"What? What happened?" Fear rushed through Cherrybomb's head, drowning out everything else.
Horus didn't say a word. He was looking back to the center of the holodeck. Cherrybomb followed his gaze. Amber was standing up, looking down at one of the jack chairs, a look of pain and desperation clear on her face.
Cherrybomb galloped away from the control panel and to the circle of chairs, over to Amber. As she drew closer, the thing Amber was looking so wistfully at came into view. Cherrybomb gasped and skidded to a stop. The sky blue coat, blue feathered wings relaxed at her sides. Her short, spiky rainbow mane was spread over the headrest, her eyelids shut, twitching with the moment of her eyes under them.
It was Rain. She was still jacked in.

Amber felt helpless. All she could do was stand here and stare at Rain, while her friend was still in there, going through Celestia-knows-what. She'd come back to save her, and now-
"Amber! Amber, what happened?" Cherrybomb's voice shook her out of her trance. Amber looked over the Rain's motionless form to see the little filly's scared, confused face, her electric blue eyes wide with shock.
"I- I don't know," Amber stuttered. "We were jacking out, and she was the last one. I was right before her. She told me to go first, so I did. And then this car just came out of nowhere-"
Her voice choked off, leaving her sentence unfinished. She couldn't do this. She refused to just stand by and watch as her friend was killed. Amber turned away and walked indignantly over to her captain at the control panel.
"Horus, you have to jack me back in."
He turned around. "No. I can't do that to you."
"But they'll kill her. She'll never get out alive on her own."
"They've already drained you. You're too weak."
"Horus-"
He held his hoof up, silencing her. "We'll do as much as we can. At this point there's no telling what could happen. But there's no time to jack somepony else in now. We've got a newborn on board and we're already in a bad position and predators could show up at any second. All we can do is get her an escape route. We aren't giving up the fight just yet."
Amber nodded. "Okay."
Horus turned back to the POV. "There's nothing more that we can do. This is her fight now."