As she had predicted, Blue's mind had refused, point blank, to switch off and drift into sleep. Indeed, when Coalburst finally awoke from her slumber Blue wasted no time in leaving the tank.  

The rain had stopped, thankfully, and the outside world was as such something of a reasonably pleasant place. At least Blue thought so; compared to the confined and musty air of the tank, everything out here felt and smelt so fresh. Even the mud was not so horrible now—it was at least better than ice-cold steel.

In fact, by the outside's standards, it was now something of a pleasant day. It was bleak, sure—it was always bleak—but the sun shone more boldy in the sky than the moon that day. The additional light that it donated was feeble, certainly, but when everything was so dim even a little could do wonders.

Though she was tired—exhausted, even—Blue felt better than she had done in days. She trotted along gayly and flew a little way, humming as she did so and bucking now and then. Though neither talked as they travelled, Blue nickered and whinnied quietly as she flew and threw her legs about in the air in some feeble attempt at a dance. Coalburst, to her credit, managed to stifle her own giggles—though it was tough to do so.

"So, um, Blue," Coalburst began as the pair turned a corner, spluttering a little as she fought not to laugh. "What was the facility like? Other than the whole, y'know, trying to kill you bit."

Blue was quiet for a second before she fluttered down to the ground to walk beside the filly. "Eh, not bad. I guess. I mean, the tests were horrible... Really horrible. But that might be me 'cos I hate needles and all that." Blue shuddered and then gave a feeble smile. "But the food was nice at least."

"Oh," Coalburst murmured as she glanced about, her ears flicking. She walked with a rather more pronounced skip in her step. "And what were the ponies there like?"

"They... They were nice. To eachother. They didn't like me but I think that was 'cos I'm a part amnesiac. Ponies are jealous or something—that's what the doctor always told me."

"Well, it's good that they weren't horrid to everyone then..." Coalburst trailed off and her mouth morphed into a grin. She ignored Blue's frown as she continued to speak. "So, you... Would you go back? Or... Would you go to a different facility?"

Blue's frown heightened as she ducked her head to avoid a large outcrop of rock. "They tried to kill me, Coal," she said, "so no, I don't want to go back. Though come to think of it"—Blue glanced about and shuddered—"I'm not all that fond of being outside either."

"Oh." Coalburst stopped and turned to face west, looking at the entrance to a tunnel which now could be seen fifty metres away. "I... Um, I only say that 'cos were outside one now."

"What?" Blue recoiled quickly before she paused and eyed up the cave entrance. Lo, the broken watch logo of the facilities could be seen engraved above the hole. She then spun to Coalburst and whispered though gritted teeth, "That's a rather massive coincidence, Coalburst."

The filly shrunk a little as she gave a sheepish smile, a blush colourings her dark cheeks. "Okay, so maybe I knew where this was and maybe I led us this way. Maybe. But just think 'bout it; there must be tons of good stuff in there! And the tunnel's open! And supposedly it's abandoned! It's... It's pretty much begging that we go explore it!" Coalburst giggled as she finished and hopped on the spot a little. Blue, however, took one more glance at the facility, shuddered and quickly began to walk away, her head held high in the air. She kept her feathers wrapped tightly around the filly's waist as she began to drag her away.

"No thanks. I-"

"Wait!" Coalburst stiffened and her body tensed up. "Shh."  The filly tapped her hoof to Blue's muzzle. Her ears swivelled and she took a few rushed steps away from the tunnel's entrance. After a few moments, she then hunched slightly and began to back up slowly, placing each hoof as if walking on eggshells.

Blue frowned and followed the filly slowly, listening intently herself. The world was silent, it seemed, other than the soft sound of the pair's breathing—but it only took a moment for the mare to pick up on the danger as well.

Voices.

At first, the sentences could not be made out; within twenty seconds, however, the odd word was clear enough to get the gist of the conversation.

By the sounds of it, the two ponies involved in the discussion were alone. Despite the potential vulnerability, though, they talked somewhat loudly and adopted a jovial and relaxed tone as they did so; it was hard to decide whether they were naïve or overconfident.

"So, what're we after again?" the first pony, a mare, asked. She waited for a moment before she continued. "I mean, "those two escapees" wasn't much to go on when I don't have a clue who they were."

Blue frowned and looked down at Coalburst, shrinking back a little faster. The filly returned the glance and whispered, "You don't reckon..." She didn't have time to finish, however, as the new mare's stallion companion answered for her.

"They didn' tell me much either, but I took a look at that file o' theirs. Said it was a unicorn buck and a peggy mare, 'bout the same age. Kinda look similar... Well, they've both got blue hair, anyway. Mare's an amnesiac, no cutie mark and grey coat. She's a wimp, probably wouldn' leave the buck's side. Then tha' buck, he's got beige—no, tan—fur and a lock cutie mark. Pretty easy."

The mare was quiet before she replied. "Yeah. Easy-ish. Shouldn't be too hard to find; killing them might be harder though. They avoided the guards when they broke out so nothing to say they can't do it again."

The stallion chuckled. Blue's hair stood on end when she realised how close she must have been to be able to hear it. "Well, tha's where we've got it good. Find 'em and hit 'em before they can run. Bam! They're down."

"Sounds good to me."

Blue shuddered and looked down at Coalburst again, whimpering a little as she shuffled closer; the filly opened her mouth to reply, but she cut herself off when the new ponies began to talk again.

"Oh, Papercut! Where've you been, boy?" The mare's cries were interjected by a loud but determined bark. After a few whines, the voice then returned. "What is it? What've you found, boy?"

Coalburst gulped and pressed herself up to Blue, burying herself under the pegasus' feathers. "Oh, Cob! We're screwed!"

Blue moaned and pushed herself back, trying to squish in between the crevices in the rock wall. She had kept herself hidden from the filly when they had first met by hiding in the shadows; maybe, by some miracle, the dog would lose their scent in it too?

Lose the scent...

Blue's eyes widened and her wings snapped open. She then jumped to her hooves and began to take off, lacing her hooves under Coalburst's legs just as the dog appeared in her field of vision. Her heart sunk at the sight and she whimpered quietly; Coalburst picked up on her plan and whispered up to her quickly.

"There's no choice, Blue! We've gotta go in that facility—they won't look for us there!"

Blue whimpered a little more; her legs trembled so much that she feared she would soon drop the filly. But when the dog barked again and the sound echoed around, she took one final glance around and shot into the new facility's entrance tunnel.