Shadow hammered on Sawblades’s door, only stopping when he was able to make himself heard over her hoof-pounding.

“What? What on earth is it?” he barked, sliding the viewport open and staring down at Shadow, perplexed. “Where’s Sky?”

“Captain Stronghooves caught her, Mister Sawblades!” Shadow yelped, visibly shivering as she looked up at him. “You’ve gotta help me get her back and stop him from hurting her!”

“But...I can’t...I’m not a burglar, I’m a doctor…” Sawblades began, but he fell deathly silent as he looked into Shadow’s misty bright green eyes. Her lower lip wobbled as she threatened to burst into tears, hoofing at the ground and giving him a pleading look. It was enough to melt the heart of even the most stone-faced stallion, and Sawblades was far from heartless.

“Fine…” he mumbled, unlocking the heavy steel door and pulling it open for her. “Look, I can’t help with everything, but I can certainly give you the tools and knowledge you need to get in there and rescue her.”

Shadow wagged her tail just a little as she stepped inside, giving his foreleg a grateful nuzzle as she trotted by to get into his office. Sawblades locked the heavy clinic door behind her, making his way into his office and spraying one of the seats with disinfectant.

“Sorry,” he said, chuckling uneasily. “We had a guy come in here with a missing leg earlier, so he might’ve bled all over the place.”

“He came in with a missing leg?” Shadow asked. “So, he’s like a pirate now, right?”

“Yeah, he’s got an eyepatch and everything,” Sawblades replied, allowing himself a smile as he dug through various books and maps for information.

“Awesome!” Shadow squeaked, hopping up onto the chair and tilting her head. “So what do we do to save Sky, Mister Sawblades?”

“Well, that’s a difficult question to answer,” Sawblades said, ears pinned back against his head. “See, she’s held in the prison of the most heavily protected city in Equestria, guarded by an officer who’s known for killing escapees on sight...and I don’t know whether he’ll make an exception for her…”

“What if he doesn’t?”

“Well then, Sky will be killed the second she breaks out, provided he can catch her,” Sawblades said mournfully. “Fortunately, I don’t think he’ll be building his plans around you being a capable burglar. Sky trained you, right?”

“Yahuh!” Shadow said, gesturing to her hooded cloak and little burglar’s mask. “I’m her partner and I made it out of there all by myself! I even flew a little!”

“Smart kid,” Sawblades said with a chuckle. “Okay, so I guess we’ve got the running and the sneaking and stuff down pat, so let me ask you this; are you prepared to go into the prison and get your big sister back?”

“Yes,” Shadow answered, without a moment’s hesitation. “I’ll do whatever I have to do, Mister Sawblades. I’m a really good burglar!”

“Then listen carefully,” the doctor whispered, pulling out a map of Canterlot Prison and laying it out on his desk. “This building is damn well defended. Lots of guards and a receptionist to sneak past before you even get to the cells themselves. Then you’ll probably have a jailer to take care of. He’ll have the keys to the cells, and one of them should fit Sky’s cell lock. After that, you’ll both have to grab her stuff from the evidence locker and get out of there.”

“But how am I going to do that?” Shadow asked. “I mean, there’ll be so many guards in there! What if they see me coming?”

“You’re right,” Sawblades huffed, looking back down at the map. “I did some research of Lieutenant Stronghooves recently. The guy’s pretty focussed on Sky right about now, and he’s attentive. He’s actually really good at hunting and catching burglars. I’ll give him professional credit there. What we need is a way to draw him away from the cells and the prison itself, like…”

“A distraction?” Shadow finished for him, staring at Sawblades expectantly.

“Yeah, that’s right, a distraction,” Sawblades agreed. “Some kind of heinous crime that’d get him to come after somepony else while you sneak inside the building and rescue Sky. At best, you’d only have to deal with the receptionist and the jailer.”

Shadow kept staring at him, a little smile forming around her fluffy little face. It didn’t take long for Sawblades to catch on to it.

“Um...are you okay?” He asked worriedly.

“Mister Sawblades…” Shadow said, trying to suppress giggles, “could you do me a really big favour?”

Sawblades looked from her to the map, then back to her again. His eyes widened in horror.

“Erm...wait...when I said we needed a distraction, I didn’t mean…” he stammered.

“Pleeeeeease?”

“But I don’t often leave the clinic…” Sawblades complained, playing with his forehooves nervously. “There are guards out there with sharp sharp spears and a worrying interest in my internal anatomy…”

Shadow didn’t understand what “internal anatomy” was supposed to mean, digging through her saddlebag and giving him another nuzzle.

”Pleeeease?” She whimpered. “I don’t know anypony else!”

“I could always set you up with a partner. There’s this lovely little colt called Buzzy who’s just come into town, and he…” Sawblades began, but Shadow shook her head furiously.

“No way! Colts are gross!” She insisted, sticking her tongue out in disgust. “Are you sure you wouldn’t do it for...one bag of money?”

To emphasise her point, she pulled a sack of coins from the earlier heist out of her saddlebag, letting it drop heavily onto his desk. There was an audible clink!

Sawblades’s ears perked up and his eyes drifted to the bag of money. He couldn’t help but reach for the bag to inspect its contents, but Shadow was faster. She swiped the bag away and held it close, still staring at him.

“Oh, so you do want the money, huh?” Shadow asked with a smirk. “Well, you know, the only ponies who get to have this money are the ones who help me out with my little heist, by giving Stronghooves a distraction…”

Sawblades sighed.

“You’re Sky’s sister, all right,” he conceded. “Fine. Here’s the plan…”

Stronghooves paced down the dark stone corridor next to his commanding officer, both stallions holding their heads up haughtily.

“Well, Lieutenant,” said Titus, “you commandeered a lot of the Watch’s resources, but you get some serious results. I’d never have believed that you could succeed where the rest of the Watch failed. However did you do it?”

“It was quite simple, actually,” replied Stronghooves. “I had an anonymous tip-off that she’d be hitting the bank today, and I made sure to have some of the best troops I could muster on-site before she arrived. She walked right into the trap.”

“Not bad,” Titus said with a chuckle, patting Stronghooves on the back. “You’ve got the makings of a Captain about you, son. I’ll see to it that the princesses are informed about your successful crusade against burglaries.”

“Thank you, sir,” Stronghooves said, beaming. “I just wish I could’ve captured the foal, too. She was far more elusive than I’d first thought.”

“Foals are hard to catch,” Titus replied with a shrug. “She’ll get hungry and come to the Watch soon enough, and when she does, I’ll be sure to find her a new loving home personally.”

“Excellent,” said Stronghooves. “Now I just hope we can rehabilitate Sky. She’s gone a long while without a positive male influence in her life, and I only hope it’s not too late to fix her.”

“I have to say, I’m looking forward to finally meeting her properly,” Titus commented, as they rounded a corner into the cell blocks. “Anypony who was so efficient at burglary that we mistook her for five different ponies is worth rehabilitating...maybe even turning into an informant.”

“We’ll see,” Stronghooves sighed, as they came to a stop outside one of the cells.

Titus peered inside. Curled up on her little wooden bunk was Sky Runner, her tail all tucked up underneath her as she slept. From time to time, her ears gave a little twitch, as if she was totally at peace in spite of her predicament.

“Has she been like this for long?” Titus asked Stronghooves and the nearby jailer.

“Since she was brought in earlier, sir,” the jailer answered with a nod. “She’s stable, just unconscious.”

“I’m afraid there was violent resistance on her part,” Stronghooves explained. “I had to put her under for a few hours to ensure that she wouldn’t harm me or my soldiers.”

“That’s only under regulation if she was armed, Lieutenant,” Titus warned.

“She was, sir,” Stronghooves said with a nod. “She had a crossbow strapped to her foreleg and she was threatening to shoot us with it. I had to act quickly.”

“I see,” Titus said with an understanding nod. “Good work, Lieutenant. You just keep making me more and more happy to have you on the force.”

The Captain’s horn flared, forcing Sky back to consciousness by magic. Sky, roused from her trauma-induced sleep, clutched at her head where Stronghooves had struck her, groaning quietly.

“Shadow?” she called out dimly, still bleary-eyed.

“Who’s Shadow?” Titus asked.

“Her young partner,” Stronghooves clarified, before turning to Sky again. “It’s okay, Sky. You’re safe now. Your brother’s here to make everything all better…”

Sky whimpered a little, shying away from her elder brother. “Leave me alone…”

“You should be more grateful, Miss Runner,” Titus said, raising an eyebrow. “Lieutenant Stronghooves here went to great lengths to have you back in his life, you know.”

“I wish I could say the same…” Sky muttered. “You have no idea what he did to me…”

“Sky’s a compulsive liar, sir,” Stronghooves interrupted. “I assure you that any 'trauma' she’s claiming to have is just a result of her need for attention and special treatment. Give her an inch and she’ll take a mile.”

Titus nodded understandingly, sitting down by the cell door and smiling at the scared little mare, clearly goin
g out of his way to appear friendly as can be.

"You've given us quite a run for our money, Miss Runner," he said, looking her up and down curiously. "Where on earth did you learn to work so efficiently?"

Sky gave him a dark look, spreading her wings and using them to hide her own face.

"Are you here to gloat or are you just after sex, buddy?" Sky asked dully, still massaging her poor head. "Most guards are just after one or the other, so why not cut to the chase?"

"Lieutenant Stronghooves and I are not most guards," Titus said sternly. "You had better lose the attitude as long as you're here under the Royal Guard's care."

"Oh please," Sky scoffed, "I've seen what passes for care with you guys. I mean, hell, anyone who's crazy enough to hire this asshole has already told me enough." She gave Stronghooves a savage look, narrowing her eyes furiously. "You know that he kills ponies who can't defend themselves, right?"

"If I may interject, sir," Stronghooves cut in, "you've already seen the official reports on those criminals, and they did resist arrest. I'm afraid that Sky is lying again."

"Oh yes, Lieutenant," Titus said with a chuckle, "I'm well aware of this, but she's ever so quaint with her assertions. Burglars often use a divide and conquer approach when cornered, you know." He turned back to Sky, beaming at her like a teacher would at a prodigious little foal. "Go on, why not incriminate yourself further?"

"Bite me," Sky hissed acidly. "You're clearly not gonna listen to me, so how about you give me my stuff back and we can skip to the part where I knock you all out and get the hell out of this dump."

"She's definitely your sister, Lieutenant," Titus commented, his smile fading slightly. "Every bit as confident and strong-willed."

Sky made a rather dramatic retching noise.

"Can you stop tonguing his balls for two seconds and just get a room already?" She groaned, rolling onto her back and letting her wings flop over the sides of her prison cradle.

"Lieutenant, I sincerely hope that this attitude won't continue. " scolded Titus, glaring humourlessly at his prisoner. "You are in charge of making your little sister more compliant and law abiding. Use whatever methods you deem appropriate, but don't kill her."

"I assure you, sir. This won't be fatal," Stronghooves replied, throwing a salute. "I will need equipment, however."

"Whatever you require, Lieutenant," Titus replied, making to leave. "Just do try to make a dent in that toxic attitude of hers. I can't imagine how the two of you could possibly be related."

"You and me both, matey," Sky said with a huff. "Hey, isn't torture meant to be illegal in Equestria?"

"Oh please, are you seriously going to lecture us on the law? You, of all ponies?" Stronghooves scoffed. "Torture is permissible under certain circumstances, especially with problem prisoners who are particularly dangerous."

"And you guys are the law, so you get to decide what makes me a problem prisoner," Sky said with a sigh. "And you're seriously going to tell me that I'm the bad guy in all of this?"

Titus left the cell block without another word, refusing to dignify Sky with an answer. Stronghooves stared at her through the bars, giving her a hurt look.

"You really should show us a little more respect, Sky," he scolded. "We're only trying to help. Don't you see? I'm doing this because I love you. You really shouldn't fight this, little sister."

"What, so you'd rather I just sit down and get tortured like an obedient little criminal? Bite me." She spat, curling up on her bunk and giving him a very rude gesture with her wing.

Stronghooves sighed again, making his way over to a nearby basin and getting the water running. He lowered a large flannel into it, giving Sky a mournful stare.

"Your disobedience did terrible things to our family," he whispered. "Running away was the best thing you ever did for us, and you couldn't even do that properly. A burglar, Sky? Really?"

"Hey, you've gotta have a hobby," Sky said with a shrug, eyeing the basin worriedly. "Besides, you know that I I didn’t run away. I was kicked out. Don’t you see that mum and dad have gotten into your head and messed with your memory? Damn, you’re stupider than I thought."

“Your attitude isn’t doing you any favours, Sky,” Stronghooves said, waiting until the cloth was completely soaked through before taking it out of the basin and shutting off the water. “Now, how about we have a talk about your willingness to cooperate with the city watch, hmm?"

"Look, Hoovesie, you're wasting your time and mine," Sky said, backing up into a corner as Stronghooves stepped into her cell. "I don't suppose that you could just let me go, you know, for old time's sake?"

"Are you begging, Sky?" Stronghooves asked, edging closer and grinning dangerously at her. "There's no getting out of this, little sister. You had your chance to escape, to do something meaningful with your life, to build a brighter future for yourself. You had your chance and you squandered it, and now it's my solemn duty to punish you for your insolence."

Sky backed further into the corner, fur standing on end as she stared down her brother. Her eyes darted from side to side, frantically looking for a way out. Stronghooves grabbed her by the scruff of the neck as she tried to leap past him, hauling her up and looking deep into those frightened eyes of hers.

"You're not going anywhere," he whispered, holding her up with his hooves as he raised the soaking flannel in his magic. Before Sky could protest further, he wrapped it around her mouth and nose, immediately cutting off her ability to breathe. Sky struggled and writhed as Stronghooves applied pressure, forcing her back onto her cot and pinning her there with one heavy hoof. Sky's eyes went wide with panic as she fought for air that simply wouldn't come, the flannel asphyxiating her completely. She tried to scream but found herself damningly muffled, making little more than a pathetic choking whimper. He held her there for so long that Sky's vision went blurry and dark, the onset of merciful unconsciousness. Finally, with Sky moments from passing out, Stronghooves relinquished the flannel, letting her breathe again and yet refusing to take his hoof off of her chest.

"You are broken, Sky," Stronghooves whispered in her twitchy white ear. "You are broken and foolish and the very definition of a ne'er-do-well. Don't worry, through; your big brother's going to make it all better. Won't that be nice?"

Sky drew weak, desperate gasps, trying to draw as much air into her starving lungs as possible. She kept a wary eye on the flannel, her twitches and meagre efforts to escape growing all the more pathetic by the moment.

"Don't...wanna...be...saved..." she wheezed, tears running down her damp muzzle as she choked back tears. "Wanna..go...home...wanna...take care of Sha...Shadow. Le...let me goooo...please..."

“I can’t, Sky. Not until you reform yourself and hand the filly over to the Watch for rehabilitation. You’ve fallen a long way, and right now the burden is on you to make the decision that’ll save both of your souls.” Stronghooves said mournfully.

“I’m...not gonna...give her to Titus...she’s with me...we’re happy...we’re si...sisters…” Sky gasped, trying to roll over in order to somehow crawl away. Stronghooves pushed his hoof down on her chest, crushing the air out of her lungs and the fight out of her body with one little application of pressure. Sky let out a strangled cry and fell silent, choking quietly as she stared up at him with eyes the size of saucers.

“Sisters?” Stronghooves asked, as his voice dropped dangerously low. “You and that foal are...sisters, are you?”

Sky nodded, placing both hooves on his foreleg in an effort to try and push him off. It was no use. Stronghooves was far stronger and heavier than Sky, and her forelegs were nowhere near muscular enough to even shift him an inch. All she could do was watch as his eyes flashed with silent fury, his face contorting into the most disgusted, hateful expression she had ever seen on him.

“Oh, Sky...you’ve clearly quite forgotten what love is…” Stronghooves whispered darkly, raising the flannel again. “You are corrupted in every sense of the word. I thought you were disgusting when I realised that you’d kidnapped a filly and started raising it as your own, but calling her sister? That implies that you love her almost as much as me...if not...more…” He let out a low snarl, prompting Sky to scramble backwards in her cot, beating her wings in a vain attempt to get out of his grasp.

“Do you love her more than me?” He finally asked, his voice no louder than a whisper by now.

In spite of herself, Sky nodded. There simply wasn’t the air in her lungs for her to speak by now, and all she could do was nod.

Stronghooves let out a soft sigh, looking away from her in disappointment. Though her eyesight was blurry at best from the onset of unconsciousness, Sky could see him shaking with barely contained anger.

“Wrong answer,” he said simply, and wrapped the cloth around her muzzle again.

“This plan is stupid,” Sawblades muttered under his breath, hiding in the shadows.

“You’re stupid!” Shadow replied acidly. “Now you promised that you’d do this for me, and I’ve already paid, so you’d better go and do it, buster!”

Sawblades let out an adolescent groan, slipping a balaclava over his head to conceal his face and taking a selection of items out of his pack.

“Are you sure about this?” he said doubtfully. “I could still get in touch with Buzzy if you wanted to…”

“No,” Shadow interrupted coldly, pouting at him. “You promised, and I will not work with colts, got it?”

“But I’m a colt…” Sawblades protested pathetically.

“You don’t count,” Shadow argued. “Now get going! Don’t make me put you in a cast, pal!”

“You’re reminding me a little too much of Sky, kid,” Sawblades said with a sigh, eyes fixated on the main entrance to the Canterlot Royal Guard Barracks. Taking a moment to mentally prepare himself, he took tentative steps across the cobblestone courtyard, vividly aware of how conspicuous he looked in this get-up. One of the guards out the front of the building regarded him with a curious glare, the kind reserved for someone showing up in completely incorrect attire.

“Can I help you?” She asked after a rather awkward approach.

“Erm...yes, actually, you can,” Sawblades said nervously, taking a couple of bags of money out of his bag and grinning as evilly as he could manage. “I just wanted you to know that I have robbed a bank today, and I might do it again unless I’m stopped! Er...rargh.” He added hopefully, giving the guard what he hoped was a menacing grin.

The guards standing outside of the main entrance exchanged a depressed look. You really do tend to run into some odd ponies in this job.

“Alright,” the guard said dully, adjusting her helmet, “I’ll tell you what. First, I’ll tell you exactly where you can stick those bags of money and that balaclava, and then…”

What Sawblades was then meant to do, we may never know, as in that moment he brought his foreleg up, a pistol crossbow springing out and sending a sleep dart right into the guard’s neck. Before the other guard could react, he, too, was struck by a sleep dart, slumping down at the same time as his partner. Shadow trotted proudly across the courtyard, flicking her hoof to retract her own crossbow.

“See? Easy!” she said proudly. “Now, how about drawing away all of the guys indoors like a good little stallion, huh?”

“I swear, this isn’t worth the money, kid…” Sawblades seethed, kicking the front door open and rolling a small glass orb into the foyer. He and Shadow dove sideways, hiding outside as the bomb detonated and flooded the entrance hall with sleeping gas. Green fog wafted out of the open doorway, accompanied by the chokes and screams of the guards within.

“This is where I leave, kid,” Sawblades whispered to Shadow. “Get Sky out and be safe, got it?”

“I will, Sawblades. Thank you,” Shadow whispered back, giving him a kiss on his cheek and nudging him with her nose. “Now come on, you’d better get running before they catch you!”

Sawblades gave her one last sheepish grin, galloping back across the courtyard as the first guards burst out of the foyer, still choking and trying to stay conscious. He stopped only to pose dramatically against the sunset, cackling madly.

“You can’t catch me, coppers!” He roared, rearing up onto his hind legs and hurtling off down the street.

The guards charged after him, drawing weapons and completely ignoring the little filly sitting by the door. Shadow didn’t mind. For the first time she wanted to be completely ignored, and it was working like a charm.

“Okay, Sky. Let’s get you out of there…” she whispered, pulling her face wrap up over her muzzle to conceal herself and slipping inside the foyer.

The guards within were passed out to a man, a tangled mass of hooves and metal armour plates that clanked when Shadow trod on them.

“Oops...sorry...oooh, I hope that wasn’t important...sorry, mister…” Shadow whispered under her breath as she hopped from one body to the next, working her way slowly but surely to the hallway marked “Cells.”

She hopped off of the last body, one she recognised as the purple-and-gold clad commander who had accosted her in the alley, and gave him one last kick in the snout for good measure.The corridor beyond was lined with cells, one of which had its barred door wide open. Shadow narrowed her eyes, darting down the corridor and flicking her hoof to let her crossbow spring out.

When she rounded the corner, she spotted Sky, laid down on her back and apparently lifeless, resting on her cot with her wings slumped off of the sides. Shadow yelped and charged into the cell, leaping onto Sky’s belly and inspecting her face more closely, tilting her head this way and that.

“Sky? Sky, are you alright?” Shadow whimpered, muzzle-bumping her big sister on the cheeks and under the chin. Sky’s skin was a little blue under all of that white fur, and at first she didn’t move under Shadow’s ministrations. However, after much nuzzling and worried little whispers, Sky’s eyes flickered open and she drew deep, desperate breaths.

“Sha...Shadow...tra...tra…” she wheezed, as Shadow wrapped her forelegs around her favourite pegasus.

“What is it, Sky?” Shadow squeaked, nuzzling into Sky’s surprisingly damp fur.

“Tr...trap…” Sky managed, still trying to draw breath as she slipped off of the cot.

“No, Sky, there’s no trap. I knocked out all of the guards! You’re safe now!” Shadow squeaked excitedly, rolling off of Sky’s belly and pushing her head under her big sister’s chin to keep her head up. “Come on, big breaths, big sister. We’ve gotta get out of here!”

Sky took a moment to get air back in her lungs, looking down at Shadow with bleary eyes. “You...shouldn’t have come…” she whispered. “That wasn’t safe…”

“Well, I’d better go home, then!” Shadow said brightly. “Since I’m heading there anyway, wanna come with me?”

Sky looked down at those big earnest green eyes and felt her heart melt. There really was no saying no to those eyes, no matter how angsty Sky was trying to be.

“Fine,” she said eventually, ruffling Shadow’s mane and stepping out into the corridor, “but we have to get to the evidence lockers to get my stuff if we’re gonna make a clean break out of here. Did you run into Stronghooves on the way in?”

“No, but Sawblades knocked out a bunch of guards,” Shadow whispered, pacing after Sky and keeping her crossbow ready. “He might have been in the blast!"

Sky regarded Shadow with skepticism as she led the way up the corridor, stopping only to grab her gear out of the evidence locker. Though sealed by a cruciform lock, Sky swiped the key from an unconscious guard and popped the locker wide open. Shadow watched the door as Sky strapped her gear on, crossbow at the ready.

"So wait, Sawblades helped you bust me out?" Sky asked. "Weird...I've never seen him outside of his clinic before. How the hell did you get him to help out?"

"I asked him nicely!" said Shadow, beaming with pride. "Oh, and I paid him, like, a lot of money."

"That sounds more like it," Sky said with a chuckle. "Right, let's get running. We probably don't have much time before..."

"Before someone makes it to the gas masks?" came a voice from the corridor.

Shadow raised her crossbow, taking a shot at Stronghooves the second he rounded the doorway. To her horror, the dart shattered on his visor, his riot armour protecting him from both the dart and the formula within.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Sky growled, rounding on him. "How the hell are you still standing?"

"The city watch barracks does have a riot armoury with a supply of gas masks, you know." Stronghooves said patiently. "That was very resourceful of you, however. The guard could use someone like you, filly."

“Not interested, sorry,” Shadow said brightly. “Sky’s already given me a job, and you seem pretty mean, so I’d much rather be a burglar! Besides, you get to wear this cool mask!”

Stronghooves pulled his gas mask off, regarding her curiously as she pointed eagerly at her face with a big grin. Sky approached him, standing beside Shadow with her wings spread and a venomous look on her face. The Lieutenant sighed and shook his head.

“You’ve corrupted her, Sky,” he said solemnly, horn flaring as he drew his sword. “It was bad enough that you were a terrible sister, but then you had to go and mess with her mind, too. Don’t worry, kid, I’ll be sure to get you to Captain Titus so that you can get the help you need.”

Shadow’s eyes widened as Stronghooves advanced on them, transfixed by that blade of his, and for the first time in a while, a twinge of fear crept through her body. Her ears pinned back against her head and her wings spread half-way. Her first instinct was to hide behind Sky, but just as she crept back, a thought struck her.

Hey, I don’t have to hide anymore! I can actually stop ponies from being mean now!

Shadow raised her crossbow and pulled the trigger with a savage growl, sending another dart hurtling towards Stronghooves’s face. He dove sideways, taking a swing at Sky and nearly taking her wing off as the two sisters split up. Shadow darted right while Sky darted left, playing off of one another so well that it was almost as if they were reading each others’ minds. Sky followed up as her brother turned his attention to Shadow, firing another dart at him while he was distracted. Stronghooves heard the snap of her crossbow and turned his head just enough for the dart’s glass capsule to shatter on the side of his helmet.

“You’re as bad as each other, you know that?” Stronghooves commented, swinging his sword at Shadow with a grunt. The filly beat her wings to help propel her sideways, hiding under a wooden bench and curling up as his sword bit into it.

Sky charged right into Stronghooves, pushing him out of reach of his sword so that he couldn’t attempt to pull it out of the bench and have another go at Shadow. The distraction only lasted a second before he brought his own strength to bear, grabbing his sister by the throat and hurling her at a nearby locker. Sky hit the metal door with a loud clang, collapsing to the floor and struggling to come to her senses. Stronghooves strode over to his sword, grasping it by the hilt and wrestling it out of the bench.

As Stronghooves raised it over his head to finish Sky off, however, Shadow leapt onto his back and wrapped her forelegs around his neck. At first, Stronghooves didn’t even slow down, but when she followed up by clapping her wings around his eyes, he roared and flailed, trying to push her off of his back. Shadow held on for dear life, digging her hooves into his neck as deep as they could go and using her huge wings as the biggest distraction could manage. She only let go when he finally got a good hoof-hold on her, hauling her over his shoulder and slamming her into the floor next to her sister with a sickening crack.

“This...is…over.” Stronghooves snarled, raising his sword again to dispatch both of them with a single killing blow.

Sky and Shadow saw the blade coming, and as one they raised their crossbows and fired in one last-ditch effort to stop him.

While Sky’s dart rebounded off of his helmet again, Shadow’s aim was better, and by sheer chance it struck the point in between his neck and his helmet, right in his jugular. Stronghooves stopped, choking just a little as he looked down at the dart’s contents visibly seeping into his arteries. He pulled the little projectile out, casting it aside, but the damage was already done. The little glass capsule was empty and he could already feel the onset of inexorable tiredness. Stronghooves blinked at the two of them, catching only vague images of Sky picking Shadow up and galloping out the door as fast as her legs could carry her.

“No...come back…” he whispered, struggling after them for a few metres more before his legs...and his head...gave out completely. With a thud, Stronghooves collapsed like his brethren, knocked out cold by the sleep dart. His last sensation before unconsciousness took him was the sound of Sky’s wing-beats as she took off out the door.