"Oh, thank Celestia." Blue whispered, sounding almost winded and she glanced around herself in interest. She knew what this place was; it was the exit of the facility to the outside world.

From the other side of the door came muffled voices of rather gruff sounding stallions, accompanied by the start of a song playing on the tannoys. For what reason Blue didn't know; music was only played occasionally in the facility. "Leave them. They're dead."

It took a moment for the words to sink in, not really meaning much at first until Blue's eyes widened and she began feeling alarmed as she danced on the spot. Rushing to the door shakily in a panic, she tugged on the lock in desperation, her heart sinking as it refused to budge. "Oh my god! I'm trapped! We're trapped! We're gonna die!"

"Blue, shush, shush. Stop saying... whatever it is that you're jabbering on about. Just stop panicking." RipEar's words were harsh, not sympathetic but commanding; he knew exactly what was going on. "We need to keep going; I will say this now. Your only hope—mine, as well actually—is just to run. I know where the guard ponies are, I'll try to knock them out but I can't promise I won't miss. So... If they do shoot at you, just... just try to keep going. Just keep running. And if I go down, leave me behind."

"What? You didn't mention any of this!" she whispered harshly, her mind reeling. "And I can't just leave you! If I have to leave you then... Then you have to leave me if I go down."

RipEar didn't hear her and he spoke quickly in response. "It's only one hundred metres, but it's brutal; they don't want ponies getting out, spilling the facility's secrets. So, on three, Blue."

"No, I can't-"

"Three. Two."

"Rip-"

"One. Now!"

The stallion's hooves pounded hard against the rocky floor of the tunnel, his horn glowing as he ripped a hunk of rock from the wall with a cry of exertion—what point was there in being quiet? There was nowhere to hide after all.

Blue ran up to the stallion hurriedly, his presence comforting—at least it was until the first gunshots sounded. She could see him trip slightly as a bullet grazed his shoulder and he cried out in pain as he hurled the rock he'd picked up at the guard who promptly collapsed to the floor, knocked out... Or possibly dead. Blue couldn't tell, didn't want to know. She focused instead on running, one hoof after the other constantly in that repetitive pattern. Du-du, du-du, du-du.

RipEar's running had already begun to slow and they weren't even quarter of the way in yet. Leaping up into the air and using her momentum to propel herself forwards Blue zoomed through the thin corridors, zipping as fast as she could until she spotted a guard. The pony—a buff looking mare—aimed and fired; Blue instantly snapped her wings shut and fell, missing the bullets and leaving the mare confused for just long enough to run into her, the force sending the guard crashing into the wall. The impact sent small pebbles falling down and Blue winced sympathetically; still, she didn't have time to worry as soon as RipEar caught up and the pair carried on.

"There's two guards soon, one each side of this tunnel. You take one, I'll take the other; then there's just one guard and a thirty metre sprint to freedom."

"That's probably the nicest thing you've ever said to me," Blue said with a small sigh, only focusing on the last part. A thirty metre sprint to freedom. Her brain ignored the previous details in an attempt to protect her from fear; when she realised what he'd said—two guards at once?—her heart caught in her throat and she had to simply resort to nodding.

Snapping out her wings and launching up into the roof of the tunnel, flying just slightly faster than her companion could run, Blue desperately tried to work out how she could give RipEar a hoof—it was no wonder no one was ever heard from again after leaving. They'd all been gunned down with ease—but none of them had had a partner.

Maybe they had a chance? She'd take the cuts and bruises if it meant she could live.

Looking down, she saw RipEar hurling a rock to her left side and heard a muffled thud as his aim was true and the guard collapsed without releasing a single bullet, having only had time to take aim. Using that as her cue, Blue folded in her wings and began to dive steeply, hoping she was aiming for a pony; she heard the sound of gunshots even before she saw him and cried out in agony as the bullet grazed the side of her neck, hot and sticky blood flowing immediately down her chest.

Bile raised in her throat and she gagged as she lost concentration. A second missile shot through the top of her thigh, tearing her skin to shreds and the scream which came then was thoroughly deafening—or, perhaps more accurately, was so loud that even a deaf pony such as RipEar could hear. Snarling furiously he ran forwards with a rock just as Blue crashed down into the guard stallion, sending him to his knees and shattering his bones from the sudden heavy weight. He cried out too but RipEar gave him no sympathy; as Blue clambered off shakily, her legs hardly supporting her from both the wounds and the emotional trauma and her head spinning, threatening to make her faint, he smashed the guard's head in with two large rocks, breathing heavily afterwards. He dropped the rocks with a clatter and then feel to his own knees, simply trying to catch his breath. Blue raised herself into the air, no longer able to stand, and flew backwards a few metres unsurely.

"We... We ought to go..." she whispered as she fought the urges to faint and to cry. RipEar looked to her with wild eyes which slowly calmed; he didn't hear her words but he had been thinking the same thing.

"Twenty more metres, one guard. Attack together. Let's go."

Blue whimpered at her friend's sudden steely exterior, unsure how he grew so cold hearted in minutes, but nodded all the same as she flew forwards wobbly, crashing into the wall more than once and crushing her wings, making things even harder. Even a trotting speed was a struggle now.

The final guard was easy to see now; she was stood almost at the very doorway to the exit where a small amount of light filtered in around the edges of the door. Large dogs stood at her side, snarling viciously and barking; Blue swallowed nervously as the guard mare spotted her and the dogs began to get even more riled up. RipEar snarled in response, pawing at the ground.

"Go, Blue." he commanded firmly, "I'll try to take out the guard."

Blue made an attempt to protest but her companion nudged her hovering hoof by way of saying 'get going' and she accepted begrudgingly; flapping her wings as fast as she could, she flew close to the ceiling and over the dogs, their teeth scraping her underbelly as they jumped and she cried out again in pain. Spinning around, she disregarded RipEar's plan and zoomed down towards the mare, knocking her forwards onto the floor before struggling to regain her pathetic amount of altitude once more. Her thigh burned with each movement, her neck streaming still and her wings aching from being so battered. Tears streamed down her cheeks now, unable to hold them in, and stained her almost-white coat a darker grey.

"Go, Blue!" RipEar shouted as he levitated the dogs two at a time and sent them hurling into the wall far behind him until only the guard mare remained; she rose to her feet shakily and spun on Blue, shooting a laser of light in her direction. The pegasus barely dodged it but ended up scraping by with just one less feather as RipEar grabbed the guard mare in his magic and pounced upon her, holding her down. "Go! I'll catch up!"

A barking from far behind told her that the dogs were coming back; terror in her eyes, she flew down and opened the door as wide as she could, her vision blurring as she began to fly outside. "Rip! Come on!" she yelled and the stallion looked up at her. She could just make out his grey body galloping towards the entrance when his eyes widened in sudden realisation; his horn glowed as his saddlebags were ripped off of his body and hurled out of the door, just as a mass of hounds leapt on him. He screamed in pain and terror as the mutts ripped his entire body to fine shreds, his cries echoing around the entire facility surely—or perhaps that was what the music was for, to hide the sounds of pain—until soon all that was left was bones, scraps of meat and a pair of terrified grey eyes, watching unblinkingly.

"Rip!" Blue shouted in agony of her own just as a massive gust of wind blew her off course and slammed the heavy door shut, her battered and beaten body incapable of withstanding; tears streamed down her face in a tidal wave as she finally passed out, crashing down in a bed of soft plants and simply laying there, unconscious. Next Chapter: Equestria Divided Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 11 Minutes