Sky and Shadow stepped out into Canterlot, wearing this season’s completely tasteless sunglasses as they observed their surroundings. Each pony wore a little crossbow on their forehoof and a bandolier of bright green darts on their shoulder. They struggled not to giggle as they exchanged a glance and saw just how cool the other looked. Sky picked Shadow up by the scruff of the neck and placed her safely in her saddlebag.

“That feels a bit safer,” Sky said with a chuckle, “and we’ve got a quick way to put you to sleep if you’re getting fidgety!”

“Aww, sis, don’t knock me out!” Shadow complained, poking her head out from under Sky’s saddlebag flap. She fixed her big sister with a heart-wrenching pout, doing her best to look as criminally adorable as possible.

“Kid, after the treatment you’ve had at home, I’m not going to give you more shit to worry about. Relax,” Sky giggled, craning her head back to rub her cheek against Shadow’s. She broke out into a gallop, bounding up onto the rooftops with a few flaps of her underpowered wings.

“So what’s the plan now?” Shadow asked. “I mean, we’ve got the neat little crossbows, but that’s not exactly gonna draw Stronghooves out, right?”

“Right,” Sky agreed with a slight frown. “We have to draw him out, and there’s only one way that you can get a cop like him to play into our hooves.”

“How’s that?” asked Shadow, tilting her head.

“Cause as much chaos and have as much fun as we can,” Sky replied, giving her little sister a wink. “Trust me, whenever burglars start having fun, there’ll always be a guard along to ruin everything. Just you wait and see.”

“Okay!” Shadow said, beaming. “What are we gonna do first?”

Sky paused, putting her hoof to her chin and glancing sidelong at Shadow. “Well...let’s see...it’s gonna have to be something public…”

“Something with a lot of ponies watching?” asked Shadow.

“And something with a lot of money,” Sky finished for her with a nod. “We’re gonna have to be pretty obvious about it, too. Draw attention, make some noise...say, how would you like to be a bank robber?”

“Do I have to wear the mask?” Shadow inquired.

“Can’t be a proper bank robber without a bank robber’s mask,” Sky said with a shrug.

Shadow stopped to consider this for a while. The logic, she decided, was quite airtight.

“Are you sure I’m ready?” She finally asked.

“Well, let’s put it this way,” Sky replied. “Back when I was just a little older than you, I got my ass kicked out of my house and I had to make my own way. Do favours for ponies, some of them...kinda degrading...learn some tricks and skills and generally take care of myself. I guess what I’m saying is that the best way to learn is from experience, right? Besides, you’re gonna have something I never had when I was your age.”

“What’s that?” asked Shadow, cocking her head.

“A big sister watching my back,” Sky finished, hauling Shadow up into her saddlebag and taking off. “Come on, kid. We’ve got a heist to plan.”

Bells rang out across Canterlot as yet another burglar fled for her life, cringing every time her damaged hoof hit the cobblestones. She rounded a corner, horn flaring as she desperately tried to magically shield herself from sight. Though her body flickered out of the visible spectrum, the clink of her saddlebags and her low wheezing gave her away. With uncertain steps, she slipped into a side alley, finally allowing herself to rest.

How the hell was he waiting for me? She thought to herself, applying pressure to the deep wound on her hind leg to stem the bleeding through her bandages. The clinic’s supposed to be safe ground…the guards shouldn’t know about us…how could one of them have been waiting right outside the tunnels?

With a pained little whimper, the unicorn hoisted herself up, clambering back down the alleyway towards her little hideout. Her magic spluttered and died as the blood loss set in, breaking her concentration and focus. So dim were here senses that she never saw the guard coming, not until he slammed a hoof down on her struggling body.

“Please...pleeeease...let me go…” she whispered between deep sobs. “I don’t know what you want...I wasn’t doing anything…”

“You were patronising the services of a criminal, my dear,” Stronghooves replied dutifully. “You know full well that that clinic is strictly for those who want to remain anonymous. No one would go there unless they had something to hide.”

His horn flared, tearing the mare’s saddlebags open with his magic. Beakers and conical flasks full of strange coloured liquids tumbled out, clattering on the pavement. The criminal cringed, clearly terrified that one of them might break.

“Contraband,” Stronghooves whispered. “You could go to prison for a long time for possession of dangerous alchemical substances...but I wonder if it wouldn’t be kinder to put you down…”

“No...please…” the mare gulped, choking back tears and looking up at him with wide eyes. “I don’t want to die...I just needed this stuff, okay?”

“I’m sure,” Stronghooves replied, raising an eyebrow. “Fine, I’ll make you a deal. Your kind like deals, right?”

The little unicorn nodded, glancing back at her oozing leg for just a moment before staring up at Stronghooves with rapt attention.

“I’m looking for a pony,” he said, softly and clearly. “Her name is Sky Runner. Red mane, white coat, travels with a little foal. The foal’s head was bandaged, so I have reason to believe that she visited the clinic recently. Tell me, did you see anyone with this description?”

“No...I...I didn’t…” the mare gasped. “Please...I didn’t see her...leave me alone...please...I just want to go home…”

Stronghooves raised an eyebrow, stepping in front of her and laying down nose-to-nose with his captive. He tilted his head just a little, giving her a friendly smile.

“You know, I respect the camaraderie of your little criminal society,” he said, placing his hoof on hers. “I do. I understand how important it is to look out for one another. You know, the guards are similar. I’d do anything for my fellow guards to see them safe.”

The mare blinked, tilting her head and looking back at him with wide, confused eyes.

“Still...your circumstances are different from mine,” he continued softly. “You look as if you have everything to lose and nothing to gain, so I’m prepared to make you a deal. Tell me the whereabouts of the pegasus and her foal, and I will not only let you go, but I’ll allow you to keep the contraband.”

“It’s...really that important to you? What’s this pony done?” the mare asked, perplexed.

“That is a complicated story that you needn’t worry about right now,” Stronghooves said, his horn flaring. Tendrils of magic wrapped around her saddlebags, stitching them back together before cocooning her leg in sweet, soothing magic. “Suffice to say, she’s my sister and I want her back in my life. Fair enough?”

“Fair...enough…” the mare whispered. “Fi...fine. She was in the clinic...today, in fact.”

“Really? What was she after?” Stronghooves pressed.

“We don’t ask about that kind of stuff,” she replied, waving a hoof dismissively. “I heard her talking about hitting a bank later in the day, though. Some kind of big heist.”

“And what, she’s going to bring the kid?” Stronghooves said with a gasp. “That stupid reckless...okay, right...well, thank you, ma’am. I’ll be going now, but there’s one last thing.”

“What’s that?” she asked, as Stronghooves got to his hooves.

“No telling her what I’m up to,” he finished, trotting to the end of the alley and glancing back at her.

“Don’t worry, sir! I won’t tell anyone anything, I promise!”

Stronghooves gave her one last smile, drawing his sword and winking at her.

“No,” he whispered, “you won’t.”

Sky threw open the chest in the corner of her living room, pulling out a scroll and spreading it out across her coffee table.

“This is a floorplan of the Grand National Bank,” Sky explained to her awestruck little sister. “I’ve drawn on it a couple of times, but it’s still pretty accurate. Now, we’re gonna go in through the front and…”

“What’s this?” Shadow asked, pointing to one of the doodles.

“Oh,” Sky said, blushing and looking away, “erm...that’s a picture of me with big sacks of money...you know..being rich and stuff…”

“And all of those ponies around you?” Shadow asked, grinning.

“Stallions...lots of stallions…” Sky murmured.

“And why is one of them on top of…” the filly began, but Sky promptly spun the map around so that she could slam her hoof down on it.

“ANYWAY,” she interrupted a little too loudly. “WE GO IN THE FRONT AND TELL EVERYPONY TO GET ON THE GROUND AND THEN WE GET THE MONEY AND RUN FOR IT, OKAY?”

Shadow nodded, beaming with the innocence of a pony who didn’t understand the implications of a stick-figure stallion mounting a stick-figure Sky Runner.

“Good!” Sky finished, laughing as she sat back. “Now, if we run into a problem, we can get through this service corridor and up the stairs. There’s a back window they leave open that we can escape through, and that’ll put us above most of the guards.”

“So that’s if we can’t get out the front way, right?” Shadow asked, tilting her head.

“That’s right,” Sky said with a grin. “When Stronghooves turns up, we book it with the loot. If he lets us get away from right under his muzzle, odds are that his commanders are gonna have to reprimand him to save face, which’ll get him out of our manes for a few months...maybe even a year or two, if we’re lucky. Any questions?”

Shadow tentatively put a hoof up.

“Any questions that aren’t about the stick-figure stallion?” Sky clarified.

With a little huff, Shadow put her hoof down again.

Sky facehoofed, pulling her little sister in with one of her wings. “Okay, kid. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, how are you feeling? I mean, this is gonna be a big, broad daylight operation, so this is gonna be a lot of pressure for both of us.”

“Well, will it mean that we get to live safely?” Shadow asked, resting her head on Sky’s side as she peered at the map.

“As safe as burglars are ever gonna be,” Sky admitted with a shrug.

“I think I could live with that,” Shadow said quietly. “I mean, it sure beats freezing to death out in the big rainy city, right?”

“Exactly,” Sky agreed with a giggle. “You’re far too cute to go unloved for your whole life.”

“Look who’s talking!” Shadow squeaked, poking Sky in the chest-fluff and beaming up at her. “I can’t believe you tried to pretend that you had a great big fan club when you never got any visitors at all!”

“Hey! I do too have visitors!” Sky protested. “Sometimes Sawblades comes over and everything!”

“Oh really?” Shadow asked, folding her forelegs and giving her a stern look. “And why does he come over, hmm?”

“He just...comes to house calls...because he’s a doctor…” Sky stammered, going bright red again and looking away.

“Really? Because that stick figure pony you drew on top of you totally looks like…”

“I thought we agreed to not mention that anymore!” Sky yelped.

“I didn’t agree to anything,” Shadow said with a cheeky little giggle.

Sky glanced sidelong at her fluffy sister, letting out an angry huff as she blew her mane out of her eyes.

“You’ve got an attitude on you, kid,” Sky eventually muttered. “Come on, let’s get going. We’re burning daylight here.”

“Sky, do you like...?” Shadow began.

“I SAID WE’RE LEAVING!” Sky yelled, clapping her hooves over her ears.

With that, she pulled her cloak on and galloped out into the cul-de-sac with a giggling Shadow in hot pursuit.