“Miss Sky?”

“Yeah, kid?” Sky replied, looking back at the little filly in her saddlebag.

“Do you remember what you promised me?” Accident asked, a bright little smile on her face.

“Oh Luna…” Sky groaned. “No, kid. I don’t. What did I promise you?”

“You promised me you’d take me to see a real-live cookie factory, remember? All expenses paid!” Accident nodded briskly, resting her forehooves on the rim of the bag.

“I’m pretty sure I didn’t!” Sky tried hopefully.

“You did, Miss Sky! I have a witness!” Accident growled, rummaging in her saddlebag and producing Scruffy.

“I’m pretty sure Scruffy’ll speak in my defence.” Sky nodded confidently, trotting a little faster.

“I dunno about that, Miss Sky! Scruffy, what do you say?”

Accident leaned down, perking her ears and listening close to the silent little plushie as she bobbed and nodded its head. “He says you’re a lying cheeky monkey and you totally promised that you’d take me to see a cookie factory.”

“Damn it, Scruffy! Why did you have to sell me out like that?” Sky skidded to a halt, cringing.

“You promised.” Accident said with a certain finality, crossing her forehooves and clutching Scruffy tight. “You said you’d do it. You promised.”

“But...I…”

“Were you telling me a lie?” Accident said accusingly. “Miss Sky, you know lying is wrong, right?”

“So’s stealing. Never stopped me before.” Sky shrugged.

“But...you promised…” Accident pouted, her eyes widening as she teared up. This made absolutely no sense. Sky had told her she’d take her to a cookie factory - twice, in fact! Why would she be going back on it now?

Sky looked back at the filly in her saddlebag, and stared into the eyes of the world’s saddest pony. Accident was heartbroken, eyes welling up with tears.

“That’s not going to work!” Sky said stoically. “I’ve already had you try this on me, and it’s not gonna work again! Besides, I’m not allowed in the cookie factory anymore after that thing with the stallion and the vat full of cookie dough.”

“But...Sky…” Accident whimpered, placing a shaking little hoof on Sky’s shoulder. “You promised.”

Sky looked away, shivering with fright at the sight of such a desperately sad little filly.

“My mummy lost me, I got a really bad bump to the head and now I don’t get to go to the cookie factory?”

The mare cringed, hiding her face behind her hooves to avoid Accident’s damning gaze. She mumbled something incomprehensible, muffled by her own padded hooves.

“It’s okay, Miss Sky...I understand…” Accident nodded, sighing. “You’re probably too super-busy to take me there. Mum’s busy a lot, too…”

Sky frowned, evidently feeling like the world’s worst pony by that point, and did the unthinkable. She peeked out from between her hooves.

Accident sighed, slumping down over the side of the bag with silent tears running down her face. She clutched Scruffy close to her chest as she sniffled, looking for all the world like the most heartbroken, sad little pony in all of Equestria. To be fair, she probably was.

“Nnngh…” Sky mumbled. “Fi...fine…”

“Fi...fine? What’s fine?” Accident sniffed, wiping her eyes on her enormous wing.

“I...I guess we could go to the cookie factory…” Sky sighed resignedly.

“Tonight?”

“Will it make you stop crying?”

“Yahuh!”

“Then sure…” Sky slumped, defeated. “Just...please...please stop crying...I can’t take it…”

Accident bounced up and down in her saddlebag, squealing with excitement. “Oh my gosh we’re going to a cookie factory and it’s gonna be awesome and I bet there’s gonna be a giant cookie there and everything!”

“Yeah…” Sky chuckled tiredly, pulling her hooves away as soon as she was certain that the crying had stopped. “Just a few things, okay?”

“What? What do I have to do?” Accident nodded briskly, cocking her head and letting one of her ears flop down. Obviously this was very important information and she needed to pay extra-special close attention.

“Right...first, we’ve gotta go in after dark. Like I said, I’m not allowed in there anymore.” Sky huffed, getting back onto all four hooves. “Second...we’re gonna have to conceal your identity or you’re gonna be in a whole heap of trouble with your mum when she finds out what you’ve been up to.”

Sky’s eyes drifted down to Accident’s silk blindfold, still wrapped around the filly’s neck like a scarf. It was jet black, the better to rob Accident of her eyesight a couple of nights ago, and Sky couldn’t help but grin. It’d be perfect.

“Hold that thought.” She grinned, spreading her wings and taking off.

Accident beamed at her reflection in the mirror. She hadn’t had time to fix her mane up since before her mother came to visit, and it hung freely around her shoulders, messy and unkempt as ever.

I’ll have to fix that… Accident thought critically to herself, as Sky worked carefully around the back of her head, knotting her blindfold into place. Two eyeholes had been cut into it, letting Accident see out. It looked for all the world like a burglar’s mask wrought of silk.

“How do I look?” She squeaked, after a while.

“Like a really scary burglar.” Sky smiled back, pulling away and examining her critically. “Now...there’s just one more thing you need...oh! Hang on!” She trotted away, giggling with all of the glee of a pony giving her best friend a makeover.

Accident craned her neck as Sky rummaged in a little chest of drawers. What on earth could that big silly pony be doing over there? She already looked like a super-scary burglar! Sky must be getting something super special.

After a moment, the elder pony returned with a light grey bundle of cloth, flicking it out and fastening it around Accident’s shoulders. It was a little cloak, just big enough for a filly!

“There.” Sky said proudly, pulling the hood up over Accident’s head. “Can’t exactly do anything about the wings, but besides that you look like one awesome little burglar.”

“So if somepony sees me, they’ll know it’s me?” Accident asked, wiggling her head so that her ears could pop out of the ear-holes in the hood.

“Yeah. They’ll be able to tell who you are by your wings, but don’t worry, nopony’s gonna see us.” Sky winked. “I’m a professional, remember?”

“Yeah, you’re the best burglar in Canterlot, right Miss Sky?” Accident nodded, turning around and bumping her muzzle against Sky’s foreleg affectionately.

“That’s right.” Sky nodded. “Course, I’m only good at making myself disappear. I can keep you safe and hidden, but you’ve gotta follow my instructions and do whatever I tell you, okay?”

“Okay, Miss Sky.” Accident smiled eagerly. “I’ll be the best burglar ever! You saw how well I was sneaking earlier, right?”

“No, I didn’t.” Sky rolled her eyes, smiling. “You were far too sneaky for me. I didn’t even know you were there.”

“Ha! See? I can do this!” Accident giggled. “So...um...whose cloak is this, anyway?”

“Well...it’s kinda...mine…” Sky shrugged, scratching the back of her head. “It got a little small for me, but hey, it suits you just fine!”

“This is yours?” Accident gasped, looking down at the dusty old cloak with surprise. It was strange. Sky seemed like one of those ponies who’d been this age forever. It was unthinkable that she’d once been a filly, too...let alone a filly burglar.

“Sure is. You take care of it, okay? This’ll be your first job as a burglar so you don’t wanna lose your cloak or get found out.” Sky smiled, tussling Accident’s mane.

“Okay! I can totally do that!”

“Second thing…” Sky went on, biting her lip. “You’ve gotta keep your voice down when we’re on a job. If you go squeaking or shouting or anything, you can get in a whole load of trouble or attract the guards, and believe me, you don’t wanna get caught by the guards.”

“Will they tell my mum that I was doing burglar stuff?” Accident asked worriedly.

“Yeah, and then they lock you up in a room with nothing to do and they don’t let you out for ages.” Sky growled. “But don’t worry, you’re gonna be perfectly fine as long as you stick with me. Now, we just have to come up with a proper name for you…”

“I’ve got a name, though!” Accident frowned. “It’s Accident! That’s what my mum’s always called me!”

Sky cringed, finally shaking her head and trotting towards the door. “No, I mean, a secret code name that I can call you by when we’re on a job together. It’s...part of being in the club. You get a super-secret name that you go by when you’re on a job.”

Accident frowned as she followed along in Sky’s wake, giggling quietly as she hopped into Sky’s shadow again and again, trying to catch it.

“So it’s gotta be edgy, right?” Accident asked. “What does edgy mean, anyway?”

“Oh, you know, awesome, cool, something that says ‘don’t mess with me.’” Sky frowned, flicking her tail out of the way as Accident threatened to pounce on that, too.

“Hmmm…” The filly thought carefully, standing stock still for a time. Her ears flicked idly back as she wondered just what kind of burglar codename would best suit her. Obviously Sky didn’t seem to think that Accident was a very good name at all. Every time Accident had uttered it, it seemed that Sky’s smile faltered a little, almost as if she was sad to hear it. The young pony frowned, glancing to the floor, then back up to Sky, then back to the floor again.

“Can I be called Shadow?” She asked after a time.

“Shadow?” Sky asked, sitting down and cocking her head. “I mean...er...sure. That’s an okay name, I guess…”

“I chose it because...um…” Accident shuffled further under Sky’s own silhouette. “Because a shadow’s something that’s right next to you all the time, no matter where you are or what day it is, and that’s what I’m gonna do! Stick right by your side and be as quiet as a mouse!” Accident sat down, letting out an excited little squee.

“Shadow…” Sky muttered under her breath, impressed at the young filly’s logic. “You know, when you say it like that, it actually sounds like a pretty damn awesome name.” She got to her hooves, unable to suppress an excited grin of her own. “Well okay then, Shadow. You ready to go?”

“Yahuh!” Accident nodded, standing at Sky’s side and striking the same pose as the elder pony. “I’ll be the best shadow ever! Just you wait and see!”

Sky giggled, taking the little pony under her wing and trotting out into the dusk light. “Come on then, kid. Let’s go steal us some cookies.”

“Sky?”

“Yeah, Shadow?” Sky whispered, as they reached the perimeter fence.

“You never really explained why you’re banned from the cookie factory.” Accident scratched her head, curious. “You mentioned a stallion and a vat of cookie dough…”

“Oh...erm...that…” Sky blushed. “Well...you see, it was...er...kinda complicated. We got into a fight...and we started wrestling, and we ended up in the cookie dough vat...when they found us they fished us out with swimming pool nets and we were both covered…”

“Sky?”

“Yeah?”

“Why are you blushing? That sounds like an awesome fight!” Accident giggled, nudging her shoulder. “Did you win in the end?”

“Erm…” Sky muttered, biting her lip. “I guess you could say it was a tie. I got thrown out of the cookie factory and told not to come back, though. I guess he won in the end.”

“Was he a guard?”

“No...not exactly…” Sky mumbled, shuffling her hooves awkwardly. “He was the tour guide...um, anyway, you ready for this?”

“Sure a…” Accident began, before stopping and letting her mouth hang open, horror-struck. “Wait, I forgot Scruffy!”

“That’s okay, sweetie. He said he’d guard the house from intruders and rival burglars.” Sky winked. “He’s a really good friend.”

“He sure is.” Accident nodded. “So how do we get inside?”

Sky looked up at the towering pink factory, little brickwork chimneys atop its roof exhaling puffs of black smoke into the night sky.

“See those little cones of torchlight?”

“Yeah?”

“Guards.” Sky muttered, starting to scale the perimeter fence. “Come on, kid. Hop in my saddlebag. We’ll sneak past them. Once we’re inside we ought to be okay. I don’t think there’s much they’re defending in there.”

Accident wiggled her flanks, hopping up into Sky’s saddlebag and closing the lid over her head. She left herself a little so as to peek out, however. Besides, her wings didn’t fit in there properly, so the flap wouldn’t close. Sky waited for her to get comfortable in her saddlebag before scaling the perimeter fence and hopping down onto the factory grounds. Her soft padded hooves made nearly no noise as she touched down, and Accident couldn’t help but be impressed. This mare’s good.

Sky lowered herself close to the ground, spreading her wings to take some of the weight off of her hooves. Licking her lips in concentration, she began to creep forward, her hooves making no noise against the ground as she ducked and weaved around cover. Accident was transfixed, watching the elder pony do her work like only a professional can.

“You’re really good at this.” She whispered encouragingly, as Sky splayed herself against a wall, pushing one of the ground floor windows open.

“Thanks.” Sky smiled, fluttering her wings quietly so as to clamber through the open window without leaving hoof marks. Moving slowly and deliberately, Sky shut the window behind her and looked out over the factory floor.

“Well, Shadow...this is what you came here to see, right?” She whispered, hoisting the filly out of her saddlebag and setting her down on the concrete factory floor.

Accident blinked, looking up at the most incredible array of machines, vats and assembly lines she’d ever seen. Though the monsters sat at ease for now, Accident was awestruck by just how many different contraptions were dedicated to making her favourite food ever. Her eyes drifted down through the factory workings, following the labyrinthine network of conveyors and little ramps, until finally…

“Wooooow…” She breathed. “Look at all of those boxes of cookies! Do you think there’s a real live giant hugging cookie somewhere in here?”

Sky frowned pensively for a while, her face lighting up after a while with the air of a pony who has an idea. “You know what? I bet there is.” She nodded. “If I know anything about giant hugging cookies, they usually hide at the top of the factory to make sure that only the most dedicated ponies can find them!”

“I bet I can find one!” Accident hopped up and down excitedly, galloping off up the stairs.

Accident’s head still ached from the bruising she’d taken the night before, but she couldn’t care less at this point. The same day as she’d told Sky her secret, she’d been allowed to come to this wonderful, fantastic sweet little factory. She found herself reaching onto the dormant conveyor belt from time to time, selecting a cookie and tasting it for herself before tucking it under her wing for later. As Accident wove her way up the stairs, the space under her wing got more and more crowded, until finally she left a trail of cookie crumbs behind her wherever she went.

“Hmmm…” She muttered critically, glancing around. “This isn’t gonna work...I need something that can hold a whole load of cookies, like a saddlebag, or...oooh!” She started. Hanging on the wall before her was a sizeable sack, emblazoned with the factory logo. It was perfect.

“If I fill this whooole sack up with cookies, I can bring mum a “sorry for getting lost” present!” Accident giggled, hopping on the spot until she finally managed to unhook the sack and empty the cookies into it. As the young filly partook of more and more cookies, the bag got more and more full. Finally, Accident found herself at the very top of the factory, just a few metres shy of the roof, with a bag that was just about full.

“Okay...this is where Sky said the giant hugging cookie would be.” Accident let go of the bag, pacing quietly around the huge machines and brushing past switches, levers and buttons. “Hello? Um...Mr or Mrs Giant Hugging Cookie? My name’s Acci...Shadow...my name’s Shadow, but it’s my super-secret codename so don’t be fooled!” She giggled. “Um...I was looking for you because it’s always been my life-long dream to get hugged by a great big cookie. Don’t worry, I’m not sick or anything, and I give great hugs! Wanna try one on?” She glanced around hopefully, her ears flopping down as her pleas were met by weighty silence.

“I don’t get it…” She whispered, leaning on a nearby button and sighing. There was a noise that sounded an awful lot like screaming from downstairs, but Accident paid it no heed, fixated instead on the decided lack of plus-size cookies taking her up on her offer. “It’s not like I give bad hugs or anything. I give great hugs! Any cookie who got to hug me would be a lucky cookie!” She sighed again, dejected. “Did Sky lie to me about this, too? I mean, she lied to me about coming here, but that was just because she was banned forever. I mean, there’s not even a good reason for her to lie to me about this…is there?”

Pulling her hood up again, Accident relinquished the pressure on the button, trotting downstairs again and dragging her bag along behind her. Perhaps she’d made a mistake, or gone the wrong way, or…

“Sky?”

“I can explain!”

“You didn’t start wrestling ponies again, did you?”

“No.” Sky glared accusingly. ”Somepony must have turned on the conveyor belt…”

Accident took another moment to examine the scene. Sky was indeed odd. Somehow, and Accident couldn’t for the life of her imagine how, Sky had managed to bake herself into what looked like a huge blob of cookie dough. Only her head and hooves were sticking out of it, and she looked very grumpy indeed.

“Oh...erm...sorry…” Accident chuckled. “Er...I didn’t find any giant cookies up there. Are you sure they’re meant to be at the top of the factory? The big huggy ones?”

“I’ll tell you in a minute! Now help me get out of here!” Sky squeaked, flailing her hooves uselessly.

“I thought you said you could escape anything.” Accident said accusingly, her eyes narrowing. “Were you telling me another lie, Sky?”

“What? No! I’ve just never been baked into a fucking cookie before!” Sky protested. “Now come on, stop kidding around and help me out!”

“No.” Accident glared, sitting down next to the bag. “You’ve gotta prove you weren’t trying to tell me a lie. You’ve gotta escape that big evil cookie all by yourself!”

“You can’t be serio…” Sky started, meeting Accident’s very serious pouty gaze and sighing. “Fine...I didn’t lie, but I haven’t always gotten out of everything myself. Sometimes I need help, okay?”

“So sometimes other ponies have to come and save you?” Accident cocked her head. “Like a princess?”

“Yeah, sometimes other ponies have to...no, not like a princess! I’m nothing like a princess!” Sky shook her head. “Does this look like a princessy thing to do?”

Accident shuffled closer, grinning victoriously. “You are too! You are too like a princess, and you’ve gotta admit it otherwise I’m not gonna help you out of this mess!” She was relatively certain that this was a very cheeky thing to do indeed, and that it would get her in a lot of trouble later on down the line, but Sky needed to admit it. It’d be adorable.

“What? You can’t be...you can’t…” Sky blustered, looking down at her doughy prison in resignation. “Ugh...fine. What do you want me to say exactly?”

“Say “I’m a pretty little princess and sometimes I need rescuing!”” Accident giggled, booping Sky’s nose with her little forehoof. “If you say it, I super-duper swear that I’ll let you out!”

“Fi...fine…” Sky muttered through gritted teeth. “I’m...a...pre….”

“That’s cheating! You just trailed off!” Accident huffed, crossing her forelegs and sticking her nose up at the ceiling. “You’ve gotta say it properly!”

“Wasn’t my fault if you weren’t listening.” Sky huffed back, sticking her tongue out at the young pony.

“Put that tongue away, missy!” Accident growled in her most commanding little voice, promptly pushing Sky’s tongue back into her mouth with her hoof. “Now come on! Say it properly or you’re gonna be trapped there for a loooong time!”

“Fine! Fine!” Sky wiggled her hooves uselessly again, laying back and going bright red. “I’m...I’m a pretty little princess and sometimes I need rescuing…”

“There, was that so hard?” Accident giggled, getting to her hooves and trying to find something to help Sky out of her predicament. “So how did you manage to do that, anyway?”

“I was trying to…” Sky began, before falling silent. “Never mind what I was trying to do. It...didn’t work exactly like I’d planned it to, okay?”

“That’s okay, Sky. I have all sorts of great ideas and sometimes none of them go to plan!” Accident came trotting back, dragging a crowbar along behind her and resting it atop the great big clump of cookie batter encasing Sky.

“Erm...was this one of them?” Sky asked, her ears splaying back as Accident raised the heavy piece of metal over her head.

“I guess we’re gonna find out!” Accident giggled, bringing the crowbar down on top of Sky.

With an almighty crack, the metal bar shattered the solid dough trapping the elder pegasus, allowing her to finally shake herself free. Hopping off of the conveyor belt and shaking herself off, Sky rounded on Accident, her face a mixture of rage, confusion and...relief?

“What made you think going at it with a crowbar was a good idea?”

“Well, it worked, didn’t it?” Accident shrugged, looking up at Sky with concern. “You’re not hurt, are you?”

“No...no, I’m okay.” Sky sighed. “We should probably get out of here, though. I think we made a whole ton of noise back there and it’s only a matter of time before the guards come running.”

“Okay, then!” Accident grabbed the huge sack of cookies, hoisting them into one of Sky’s saddlebags before lowering herself into the other.

“You’ve been busy, huh?” Sky chuckled, trotting back towards the window.

“They’re for mum, for when I get home!” Accident nodded. “They’re a “sorry I got lost” present! Do you think she’ll like them?”

Sky cringed, refusing to meet Accident’s gaze.

“Um...Sky?”

“Yeah…” Sky said finally. “I think she’s gonna love them to bits. She’s lucky to have a kid like you. But...for now, what say you and I head back to the hideout?”

Accident tucked herself into Sky’s saddlebag, nodding excitedly.

“Okay, Miss Sky. Let’s go back home.”

The wooden door to the hideout fell off of its hinges as Sky pushed it, landing on the ground with a loud slam.

“Damn…” Sky muttered. “Eeeh, whatever. I’ll replace it tomorrow. For now, how about some hot chocolate?”

“Wow, cookies and hot chocolate in one day?” Accident cocked her head, enthralled.

“Sure! Anything for a burglar who’s just had her first big heist, even if she was pretty cheeky about it.” Sky chuckled, hoisting Accident and her bag of cookies out of her saddlebags. “You did great, Shadow. I’d even say you’ve got a knack for this sort of thing, but your mum probably wouldn’t like that.”

“Thanks, Miss Sky. I learned from the best burglar ever!” Accident shuffled her hooves, blushing bashfully. “Even if she is a little princess who needs to be rescued sometimes.”

Sky bowed her head irritably. “Yeah...well...I’m gonna go put the kettle on. You find a place to stash those cookies, okay?”

And with that, Sky retreated with haste into the kitchen, leaving Accident sitting there with a slightly oversized bag of cookies. The little filly started to drag the bag around, looking for a decent place to store them until it was time to go home.

“I hope that’s tomorrow…” She whispered to Scruffy. “I’ve had a lot of fun with Miss Sky, but I suppose I’ll have to go back to my mum and say sorry for getting lost. She must be pretty worried by now.”

Scruffy said nothing, sat on a nearby armchair with the demeanour of a wife asking Accident just what time of night she called this. Insofar as plushies can have a demeanour, anyway.

Accident sighed, glancing into the bag once more before carrying on her search. This time, however, something within the bag caught her eye.

“Is that...a double-peanut butter and chocolate chip gingerbread cookie?” She gasped, her eyes going wide with amazement as the delicious bounty nestled amidst the lesser tasty treats. That was Accident’s absolute favourite kind of cookie ever, and it was right there, within hoof’s reach.

“Mum...probably wouldn’t mind if I took just one little cookie…” Accident said slowly, reaching into the bag to claim her well-earned prize. To her horror, all she managed to do was poke it deeper into the bag.

“Okay...maybe…maybe this isn’t a job for hooves…” Accident muttered, withdrawing her foreleg and sticking her head in in its place. The room was abuzz with tiny little munching noises and squeaks of frustration as Accident did her best to catch the elusive cookie, pushing the bag around with her head to try and shift the interfering baked goods that kept getting between her and her quarry. This was actually surprisingly frustrating.

Finally, however, Accident’s perseverance paid off, and she caught the little biscuit in her mouth, munching on it gleefully. It was at this moment of greatest triumph, as Accident attempted to pull her head back out of the bag, that she realised that the unthinkable had happened. Her head was stuck.

“Uh oh…” She mumbled. The sound of approaching hoofsteps suggested that Sky was on her way back into the room. Whatever would she say if she caught Accident chowing down on the cookies she’d collected specifically for her mother? Accident needed a plan, and fast.

Sky burst into the living room with two mugs of hot cocoa, her smile turning to a look of deepest confusion as she took in the scene before her. There stood a filly with a cookie bag on her head, leaning against a couch and doing her absolute best to look nonchalant.

“Kid?” Sky said quietly.

“Ye…*munch*...yes, Miss Sky?”

“Are you eating all of the cookies yourself?”

“Um…*munch*...n...noooo…” Accident tried, as innocently as possible.

Sky stared at her for a while longer, placing the hot chocolate at Accident’s hooves and rolling her eyes. “You’re impossible.” She huffed, trotting back out of the room and leaving the filly to get herself out of that mess.

Accident would never suspect it because of the bag on her head obscuring her vision, but as Sky trotted out of the room, she smiled a smile unlike any she’d ever had before. This filly was funny.