Yarost'

New Manehatten, The Palisades, July 15, 10:56 PM

Timeless and Dash ran for the lives down the cramped alleyway. Timeless' armor was scorched and dirty, worn down by heavy combat. Dash's side was wrapped up in some bloody gauze, her hand trying to keep the damp fabric in place as she ran.

"We're dead. We're so dead!" Dash said, fear gripping her voice as she ran.

"Only if we stop!" Timeless shot back. He could hear the humans hunting them the next street over, giving war cries and hoots.

"We gotta try and find another station, Timeless! We got cut off at the one you usually go to for work, remember?" Dash asked.

"I honestly don't remember anything between the car crash and now." Timeless said sheepishly. This answer caused Dash to skid to a halt, grabbing the Engineer by his shoulder.

"You mean you don't remember the National Guard hunting us on the highway, entering the city, and encountering those fanatics at the shuttle station?" Dash asked, a questioning look on her face.

"Nope. Guess my body was running on autopilot there for a bit." Timeless said with a simple shrug.

"Unbelievable Timeless. Simply unbelievable. Do you even have a solid plan at this point?" Dash asked, putting her hands on her hips. Timeless places a hand over Dash's mouth to quiet her. Silence filled the alleyway, punctuated at times by the sounds of distant destruction and screams of terror.

"The plan..." he said, leaning down and whispering into her ear. "Is to stay quiet, stay alive, and get the hell out of here. If you keep talking loudly, they're going to find us, and kill us." Timeless said as he pulled away, staring at her hard in the eyes. "You going to be okay?" he asks. Dash nods and removes his hand from her mouth.

"Sorry...just a bit stressed..." she said with a sheepish smile.

"You and me both, Dash. Now let's go." Timeless said, pulling out his Plasma Glock. Dash raised hers as well and fell in behind Timeless as they came up to the alleyway exit. Peaking his head out, Timeless scanned the street, watching for hostiles. At the far end, Timeless could see a National Guard IFV sitting at the intersection, its' crew having been brutally murdered long ago. Near the IFV, a couple humans milled about with bloodied knifes in their grasps.

Some seemed to be sniffing the air as they walked about, trying to locate the scent of their next prey.

Timeless turned to Dash and raised a finger to his lips, telling her to be quiet. Dash gives a nod and cups her gun hand, keeping it raised. Timeless begins to slowly move out of the alleyway, making a small sprint for an abandoned car nearby. Once he was behind it, he peeked over, keeping an eye on the crazed hunters down the street. He signaled for Dash to follow, and the blue Anthro quickly joined him.

"If I remember correctly, there should be another station on the next street over. Only thing is, we have no idea how many people are out and about." Timeless said. Dash nodded in agreement and peaked over the car.

"Oh man, looks like they're coming this way..." Dash said. Timeless peeked over also and saw the humans walking down the street in a small cluster, scanning the area. With a small jerk of his head, Timeless signaled to move to the next alleyway. Keeping low, the two Anthros moved from their cover and dashed into the alleyway. This alleyway was wider than the last one, allowing them to walk side by side down the alleyway. A couple back doors sat open, leading into the unknown within the buildings.

"Did it just get really quiet...?" Timeless asked, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck start to stand on end. He then began to notice the smell of blood in the air, thick and smelling heavily of iron. The low buzzing of flies could be heard as the two approached a small branch off.

On the ground leading into the smaller alley, a large splatter of blood sat on the ground, followed by a long tail of the crimson liquid.

Timeless knelt down and put a couple finger tips in the puddle, drawing them back with the crimson liquid clinging to him.

"It's fresh..." he muttered. He turned his head and stared down the alley, his visor lights flickering on to illuminate the darkness. The lights illuminated the outline of a broken form, slumped against the brick wall. "Stay here..." he told Dash as he got up and walked into the alley. Keeping the Glock raised, Timeless approached the form laying on the ground.

It was a pony, or what was left of one. The face was too broken to tell what the gender was, but judging by the feminine curves, it was most likely a mare, and a pegasus at that, judging by the mangled wings. Her coat was peach colored, with a cluster of cinnamon toast crunch adorning her flank. Her mane was brown, laced with hints of a cinnamon coloring within it.

Around the neck was a golden heart-shaped locket, opened up to show a smiling stallion and a sleeping filly.

"Hey Timeless, are you getting a headache?" Dash asked, pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers.

"No...not really..." Timeless muttered as he looked over the body, searching for an ID of some kind. He managed to find a small clutch purse. Inside was an Alliance ID card, telling Timeless that the mare was once known as Cinnamon Crunch.

Click.

Timeless' ears folded back at the sound of a locking firing hammer. Slowly, he turned his head to look behind him, seeing the barrel of Dash's Glock aimed at him. He slowly stood up, the firearm following him.

"Dash...?" he asked warily. Dash's eyes were glazed over as she stared at him, yet held a crazed look at the same time.

"They want us to become whole..." Dash muttered beneath her breath. Suddenly, her head snapped up and stared Timeless dead in the eye. "They want us. They want our bodies!" she yelled, pressing the Glock to Timeless' forehead now. "They want us to join in Convergence!" she screamed.

"Dash! What is your malfunction!?" Timeless barked, swatting the Glock away. Dash screamed and slammed Timeless across the face with a heavy right hook. Timeless grunted as he staggered back, falling on the body of Cinnamon Crunch. Immediately, Timeless lunged for Dash and tackled her around the torso, taking her to the ground. Not wanting to hurt his friend, Timeless held Dash on the ground by her shoulders, sitting on the thrashing girl.

"Get off me! We need to become whole! Convergence is at hand!" Dash screamed, trying to grab onto Timeless.

"What the hell are you talking about!? What's gotten into you!?" Timeless demanded.

"The Marker...the Marker...it's here...in the city..." Dash said, her back arching as she seemed to fall into a relaxed state, a lazy smile coming to her lips. "The Marker tells us that we should become whole...offer our bodies..." Dash said, giving a small moan as she writhed beneath Timeless. "They're going to use our bodies as vessels to deliver the word of the Marker...unf..." Dash said, her tongue rolling out as her cheeks developed a blush.

Timeless just sat there, unsure of what he was seeing and hearing from his friend.

Dash suddenly slipped from beneath Timeless and straddled him, cupping his face with her hands, looking at him with half-lidded eyes. "And they don't care how we become one..." she said with a smile. Suddenly, Dash tackled Timeless with a snarl, grabbing his Glock and breaking Timeless' firing finger. Timeless screamed in pain, being silenced immediately by the barrel of the Glock being rammed into his mouth. "Make us whole...make us whole..." Dash moaned as she grinded against Timeless, keeping the Glock in his mouth.

"I gotta do something...!" Timeless thought. Dash was stronger than she looked, managing to keep him down as she spouted off about Convergence.

"I'm getting cloooose..." Dash moaned. She pulled the firing hammer back as she sped up. Timeless could see that her finger was beginning to tighten around the trigger.

Then an idea struck him.

Activating the Kinesis module in his left glove, Timeless raised his hand and opened his palm, enveloping Dash in a field of Kinesis. Just as the field made contact with her, Dash let out a scream of orgasmic glee as she was thrown away, the gun going off as soon as it left Timeless' mouth. Timeless could feel the plasma bullet slam into his chest, scorching the armor and melting his flesh into the under suit. Timeless screamed as his rib bone cracked and fragmented, blood beginning to seep from him. Dash landed a few feet away, writhing as she laid there. Soon, she went still as Timeless struggled to get back onto his feet while clutching at the gunshot.

It was then, that Timeless heard a guttural growl from behind him, followed by the sounds of snapping bones and ligaments. Timeless turned around slowly, his eyes widening behind his visor was he watched the body of Cinnamon Crunch rise and burst into a fountain of blood. Her wings were violently ripped off as two new limbs of pure, sharpened bone formed from her back, arching into lethal talons. Cinnamon's face begin to be pulled away, the skin and fur stretching and tearing into a new form. Her eyes rolled over and became glossy as her jaw began to hyper extend, revealing a bloody maw as her teeth rapidly grew into sharp fangs. Immediately, the corpse began to thrash at Timeless, trying to impale him with its' bone like blades. Timeless screamed and picked up the Glock on the ground, firing rounds into the corpses' head.

But it just kept coming.

Timeless kept firing into the creature, the shots going wild and striking at random places. Timeless backed away, taking shots when he could.

A bullet struck at the base of the limbs on the creatures' back, the lethal limb breaking off in a spout of blood. The creature howled in pain as the limb fell away.

"So, they do feel pain..." Timeless' mind muttered as he knelt down and picked up Dash's body, putting her over his shoulder. He ran out of the alleyway, firing backwards at the charging creature, its' remaining limb still slashing at the air as it chased Timeless. Running out of the alleyway, Timeless skidded around the corner and ran, the creature roaring as it left the alleyway.

Only it didn't go after Timeless now.

It had spotted a couple humans in the street and tore into them, making a gorefest of them. Timeless ignored the screams of the humans as they were torn to ribbons, focusing on making a beeline for the shuttle station ahead of him. As he ran, Timeless' mind seemed to shut down once again, his autopilot kicking in and taking over. Timeless didn't register the multitude of the slaughter that was the shuttle station. He didn't register the fact that there were families massacred and laying on the floor in pieces or pools of their own blood, holding each other in death's embrace on the tiled floor. Instead, Timeless began to register things again when the sensation of flight came to him. Timeless blinked his eyes a few times and shook his head, looking out the shuttles' pilot window. The shuttle was rising into the nighttime sky, taking them away from the hysteric city below. Timeless turned around in his seat and spotted Rainbow Dash sitting in the navigators' seat, strapped in and out cold. Timeless gave a sigh of relief as they entered the Earth's atmosphere, entering the realm of space and into the Tether Highway.

Taking the controls into his hands, Timeless readjusted the shuttles' path for a small blot of metal floating within the Tether Highway.

Station Gypsy.