“They're onto you—right behind you. Don't look. Just keep running. I'll tell you when to turn.” Grey's sentences were short and clipped, almost as if the running was taking as much a toll out of him as it was for the ponies actually galloping.

“Um, okay...” Scootaloo mumbled. “How many are after us?”

“Three,” Grey replied, a cautious wavering in his voice. “Dessic, that Butternut fellow, and the other stallion that was with them.”

Scootaloo counted under her breath. “Wait, isn't that all of them? Who's after Kaylee, then?”

“...None of the guards seem to be. Cotton Fluff and Mochi are still upstairs, along with Anna, Haze, and Gloss.”

“Hmm...”

“Scootaloo!” Flight panted. She was galloping a metre and a half behind the other filly, having slowed down considerably. “Don't look now, but we've got company!”

“I know!” Scootaloo replied, ducking her head to the side to avoid smacking it into the end of a pipe that butted out into the pathway. She looked back at Flight, concerned. “You gonna make it? We need to go faster!”

“I... think...” Flight wheezed. She started flapping her wings and lifted her hooves from the metal grating. The good news was that she was now able to keep up with Scootaloo still running on hoof; the bad news, however...

“Ow!” Flight shrieked, flinching to the right. “Oh shit...” she swore, biting her lip as she pulled back down close to the path, right alongside Scootaloo.

“What's up?” Scootaloo asked.

“I... hit something,” Flight managed, nursing her shoulder with a hoof. Flecks of blood appeared on her coat and hoof, though she didn't appear to be bleeding seriously. “I'm gonna be fine.”

“You'd better be,” Scootaloo said firmly. “I know we're running here, but... be careful, okay?”

Flight looked defiant, like she wanted to argue—but it wasn't something she could rightly argue without sounding ridiculous, and she knew it. “Th-thanks,” she stuttered. “Are we any closer?”

“Plenty closer,” Grey replied. “You're almost upon the entrance to the chamber leading to the vault. In fact, you'll want to watch for that on the left...”

“Um... yeah, we're almost there,” Scootaloo summarised quickly, though she kept stealing glances over her shoulder. Although she could hear the heavy clanking of hooves on the metal grating somewhere behind them, she suspected that they had rounded too many corners to be in any immediate danger. Being small and nimble had its uses, and quickly diving through sharp corners was one of them. Still, it wouldn't hurt to get there as fast as possible.

They ran along for another moment in silence, but for the clinking of hooves and the whooshing in the pipes. Then, Flight spoke up.

“So... um... I know I wasn't exactly asking the most politely about this, but...” She coughed. “How do you know where we're going?”

Scootaloo kind of half-shrugged, or at least as much as one can do that while barrelling down a hallway. “I guess I just have... fancy alien intuition?”

Flight squinted. “Seriously? You expect me to fall for that? I know you've been communicating with somebody, maybe through like an earpiece or something. You keep mumbling to yourself, and...” She coughed again. “...asking a lot of questions.”

“...She's the observant type, isn't she?” Grey murmured.

Scootaloo sighed. “Look, it's... a long story. And not really one I can get into right now. I don't even understand the whole thing, myself.”

“Does it have to do with the star... creature... things?” Flight asked. “Like from when we were in the forest, 'cause you tried to talk to that one, and then there was the one back in Umberlight...”

“One back in Umberlight?” Scootaloo asked, turning to look at the yellow filly. “What do you mean?”

“There was one on the building, that talked to Kevin and said a bunch of weird stuff.” Flight paused, taking a breath. “It was saying things about...”

Suddenly, Grey spoke over Flight. “We're going to be there in just a second. There's going to be a small area beneath the pipes on the left, and you're going to need to crawl through there. If you can do it quick enough, the guards won't be able to follow you and they might even not know you're there.”

“Thanks, Grey,” Scootaloo said out loud absentmindedly.

Flight suddenly stopped talking, and shot Scootaloo a very confused look. “'Grey'?” she asked. “Huh? I wasn't saying anything about... oh.” Her expression turned glum, and she looked down. “You're talking with somepony else, aren't you?”

“I...” Scootaloo started.

“It's fine,” Flight replied with a resolute nod.

Scootaloo didn't know what to say, so she just repeated what Grey had said: “We're close.”

Flight didn't reply for a moment. Then, she finally just said, “Okay.”