A single light hung down from the low ceiling of the darkened room. Beneath the light was a table, upon which rested a wooden case of green bottles. The dark blue sludge inside seemed to glow ominously. With his front hooves planted on the table, a lean steel-grey pegasus leaned his head into the light. His short mane was done up in slender, blunt planks, forming a choppy mohawk which wilted slightly in the humid air of the warehouse. He cleared his throat and spoke in a smooth, low voice.

"Spin Juice. Imported. Pure Poison Joke in near pure alcohol. And the best part is, I had a unicorn buddy of mine from Fillydelphia spike it with a little black magic to cause amplified senses and massive disorientation. It's ready to hit the market." Looking up at the pink pegasus adjacent to him, he added, "I'm sure it'll be a hit with your preppy friends and their money, Starry Skies."

Elegantly rising from her seated position, Starry Skies slowly stepped into the light. Her svelte, sexy figure was well framed by her flight suit, which she never seemed to take off.  Tossing her airy pink mane and fluttering her sapphire eyes she responded in a lazily sensual voice, "Charger, I do believe you simply enjoy corrupting ponies; we both know with the money I bring in it isn't necessary for you to move this stuff." Stretching her wings, she circled Charger and the table slowly and deliberately, her beautiful form holding his gaze. She stopped only when a dark blue blur flung itself in front of her from across the table.

The entirely blue pegasus stood with hooves firmly planted on the floor in front of Starry Skies. Her bright pink eyes seemed to exude energy. Plastered on her face was a twitchy smile, stretched to the point where it seemed it could crack her face in half. At short and random intervals, small charges of visible electricity crackled through her spiky mane. She held her wings close to her body where they shivered as though ready to spring open at any second like feathered switchblade knives. With visible effort, she wiped the smile from her muzzle, contorting it into a pouty uncomfortable scowl. At nopony in particular, she whined in a squeaky girlish voice: "I'm booored!"

Visibly flustered, Starry Skies attempted to reign in the blue pony. "Blueball, sit still!"

Blueball Biltz blew a thick, wet raspberry at Starry Skies, causing her to growl in anger. Blueball giggled with glee at this reaction. She seemed to materialize in front of Charger. In less time than it took for him to blink in surprise, she was lying atop the table looking at him upside down. Before he could react she spoke again, drawing out her words for emphasis.

"Chargerrr, I wanna do something fuuun! Aren't you supposed to be doing something with that pretty mare friend of yours tonight?"

Charger maintained his cool and retorted, "Yeah I was, but when Nightshade calls an emergency meeting everything else takes a back seat."

Blitz resumed pouting. "Darn! I was gonna steal her from you, too." In a blink, she stood next to Charger and addressed a dark corner of the room. "Stratus, are we gonna get to hurt somepony soon?"

When no response came, Blitz darted up and hovered above the table. She took the hot steel shade of the overhead light in her mouth and shone the light in the corner to which she had spoken.

In the harsh light stood a massive pegasus. His dull white coat was crisscrossed with scars and his large frame was disjointed at places from broken bones healing improperly. His venom green eyes contracted swiftly and he turned his face away, revealing his spiky ice-blue mane. Blitz took the hint and dropped the light, becoming abnormally quiet and still. She materialized next to Starry Skies, making a point of giving Stratus a wide berth. Stepping into the light, Stratus scowled, stretching a particularly thick scar on the left side of his muzzle. He spoke in a low raspy growl.

"We may. We'll see when Nightshade gets here." He said nothing more and turned towards the wall of the warehouse where he knew a door was.

As if on cue, the door exploded open and a black wall of smoke darker than the night outside obscured the doorway. A pair of reflective gold flight goggles poked through the smoke and it swiftly dissipated. In its wake stood a mare, a fifth pegasus with a steel-grey coat and dark indigo mane. Taking a powerful commanding stance in front of the other four, she spoke in a crisp clear voice.

"Suit up, everypony. We're moving a whole crate of this stuff tonight. We're in for a fairly lengthy trip, too; we gotta get just south of this clean-cut little town called Ponyville before we can rest."

She lifted her flight goggles, revealing her gold eyes. Stratus had seen those eyes many times before, and though Nightshade's dark gaze still commanded his attention, he found his eyes subconsciously drifting to her neck. He couldn't see it, but he knew the scar was there under her flight suit. Stratus found his mind drifting back to the day he saw her get that scar, the day she almost died, the day they became friends.

***

The tryouts alone had had a massive turnout. After thousands had shown up, only 32 pegasi had made it to the tournament portion. Over the course of 3 grueling days those 32 ponies competed in races, flight shows, trick contests, and various other manners of competition meant to test their flying abilities. The winner would get a rather large sum of money in addition to being inducted as the newest member of the most renowned competitive flying team in Equestria: The Wonderbolts. At the end of the competition, only two very gifted pegasi remained. The first was a bright easy-going young mare with a vibrant orange coat and flame-colored mane. Her name was Spitfire, and upon reaching Pegasus Magic Velocity (sometimes called PMV for short) she could streak the sky with trails of flame. The second of the two was another young mare, a cocky and aggressive pegasus whose PMV talent was the ability to block almost any ray of light with black magic smoke. This pony was called Nightshade.

Stratus remembered the first time he saw her. At the time he had been working as part of the Royal Guard. A seasoned veteran, Stratus rarely had to enter the Royal City; his combat expertise served Celestia better when he was working to round up dangerous creatures and criminals in the wilderness between cities or in lawless towns outside of the more peaceful cities like Canterlot and Ponyville. However, for this particular event Stratus was brought in to guard the Princess; she was scheduled to raise the sun just as the winner of the competition was announced for dramatic effect. At the time of the sun raising his duty was to keep careful watch over Celestia, but until then he was free to watch the beginning of the event.

Stratus first saw Nightshade as she strode into place at the starting line, next to Spitfire. They were both smiling, but Nightshade had a certain quality about her. While the orange pegasus looked excited and happy, Nightshade had a particularly darker and far more powerful expression in her eyes. She looked hungry for victory. She didn't seem simply determined to win, she seemed to need to. This event was a simple race around a large elliptical track. All that mattered was speed. Nightshade looked confident, but in her eyes there was a drive, a hunger. Stratus noticed it immediately.

The race started and Stratus was moved to the pavilion area where the Princess would be raising the sun. As he glided to his post, he noticed the race heating up; the two competitors had become a swirl of grey and orange as they jockeyed for position, looking as though they would force each other off the track as they were rounding the halfway point. He turned away just a moment too soon to see the orange pony slam into the grey one. The race was far out of his line of sight when he reached his post; he didn't see the race escalate into a ramming match. All Stratus knew at the time was that after a load of cheering, a breathless pegasus brought Celestia the name of the winner. According to his account, the race was really close until the orange pegasus rocketed into the lead coming out of the shoving match. Celestia nodded and took her position. As an awe-stricken crowd watched, Celestia brought light to the entire land; at exactly the moment the sun reached its peak an announcer stepped onto the stage, taking his place beneath Celestia.

Clearing his throat, the announcer read from a card. "And the winner of the Wonderbolts' Top Flier of Equestria competition is… Spitfire!"

From his position at one side of the stage, Stratus watched the crowd cheer wildly as the young pegasus eagerly strode onto the stage to accept her trophy and the coveted title of "Newest Wonderbolt". Stratus noticed one face in the crowd wasn't smiling. As he looked closer, he noticed the expression on that particular steel-grey face was one of pure rage. Stratus blinked and looked into the crowd again, and his stomach dropped when he saw that same face flying up into the sky, higher than Celestia.

Stratus was among the first of the guards to react; always a slow flier, he lugged his bulky armor-covered frame up after the speedy pegasus as she rocketed straight up. Reaching an impossibly high point above the crowd, she turned towards the stage. Tucking her wings back, she threw her body forward and dropped like a missile. As Stratus ascended he heard her screech, "Spitfire, you bitch! That title is MINE!"

With appalling suddenness, the enraged pony reached PMV and the sky was torn asunder as darkness exploded over Celestia's sunrise. The less experienced members of the Royal Guard were forced to stop mid-flight, unable to see through the black wave of smoke which blotted out the sun; the more bold veterans, Stratus included, charged forward anyway. After a few seconds that seemed like an eternity, Celestia managed to blast away the black cloud of magic with a flare of sunlight, revealing the scene above her. Two guard pegasi under Stratus's command were on an intercept course and closing in on Nightshade. Stratus's blood ran cold. He knew from years of being on the Royal Guard that if either pegasus collided with her at that speed the impact alone could well kill her. The fact that both guards were wearing the standard issued edged armor didn't help the crazed mare's chances. In spite of all this, the most dangerous factor was the fall; from that height, if she landed wrong she ran the risk of shattering her bones.

Stratus knew he would never reach Nightshade in time. Straining his wings, he blasted toward the closer guard, shouting ahead of him, "Decelerate, you foal! You'll cut her in half at that speed!" He tossed off his armor in direct defiance of protocol. It gave him just the boost of speed he needed. Just in the nick of time, Status collided full force with the guard closer to him; he could not stop the other from grazing Nightshade with an outstretched armor-clad wing. In a flash of blood, the grey pegasus was thrown off course and plummeted to the ground. Stratus was also careening downward, dazed from impact. Relying on years of flying experience, he twisted in the air and righted himself, landing hard on his hooves. He looked to where Nightshade fell to see she wasn't so lucky.

Judging by her posture she had managed to flare her wings and skid into the dirt at the least dangerous angle possible but she still tumbled head over hooves, rolling to a stop a few dozen yards away. Stratus sprinted to her side. Just before he reached her, another guard cut him off.

"That's enough, Stratus! Step away from the criminal!"

Stratus attempted to push past him. "She's injured, you foal! Without medical attention she could die!"

The younger guard pushed back. "She's a terrorist; she'll get exactly what she deserves."

"She's a kid, damn it!" Stratus slipped to the younger guard's left and turned, slamming a massive rear hoof into his side. The younger guard's gleaming armor folded inward with a loud clank and a crunch. He toppled over with a shout of pain, his ribs cracked.

Nightshade lay in the dirt, dazed and afraid. She could feel the life leaving her. The only warmth she could feel was her own blood pooling around her head. As she drifted out of consciousness, she felt the sensation of being lifted…

Nightshade awoke to bright lights. She took in her surroundings: warm blankets, peaceful room, and the beep of some form of machinery just out of her sight. She gathered she must be in the hospital. In a rush, her memory came flooding back. Everything flashed before her eyes: the race, the fight, the ceremony, Spitfire, herself creating a Nightblast in broad daylight, being hit, feeling cold… Nightshade shuddered as she remembered the feeling of her neck being sliced open. At that moment it struck her that the soreness she was feeling must be that exact wound healing. She slowly tried to crane her head to see it, when a low gruff voice stopped her.

"Don't try to turn your head yet. You'll tear your stitches and bleed out."

Nightshade fought back tears as she turned her upper half to face the massive pegasus in the corner of the room. Trying to take in everything at once, she said the only thing that came to her mind clearly.

"You're the one who saved me."

The pegasus in the corner also kept his emotions unreadable. "You would have died if I hadn't."

The silence which followed seemed to become gradually louder to Nightshade; finally she couldn't stand it anymore, and hesitantly spoke again. "Are you, you know, okay?"

Again the large white pegasus answered without emotion. "Physically, of course; I've taken hits before." He paused momentarily, shifting his weight. Looking directly at Nightshade, he continued. "I was discharged from the Royal Guard for saving your life. Of course the way they framed it was that I was 'disregarding protocol, attacking Royal Guards, and endangering, above all others, Her Highness, Princess Celestia by interfering in the apprehension of a dangerous terrorist.'" Stratus stepped closer, looking down at Nightshade. His face was now perfectly readable. "If that's justice", he spat, narrowing his eyes, "then screw justice."

Stratus turned to leave. He stopped at the door, turning back to Nightshade. With a cynical laugh he said, "Oh yeah, thought you should know this. Not only did that Spitfire get inducted into the Wonderbolts, she became a national hero for surviving your 'terrorist attack.'"

Nightshade's rage boiled over as she leapt from the hospital bed. The rest of her body felt fine, but she held her head perfectly still as not to tear her stitches.  She glared back at Stratus with an intensity that impressed the veteran of the Royal Guard. Her voice quivering with fury, she stammered, "She stole that title from me. She knocked me back. She cheated and she took that title from me! That BITCH took my title, my dreams, my aspirations from me!" Nightshade poured all of her willpower into fighting back the tears forming in the corners of her eyes; she refused to look weak. She also knew if she started crying she would never be able to stop.

Stratus snorted. "Well, that's the Wonderbolts for you, I guess."

Nightshade's gaze narrowed. Hatred seeped from her eyes at a low burn. "If that's the Wonderbolts", she growled, "then screw the Wonderbolts."

Stratus met her gaze for a minute. He stood, contemplating the shattered pegasus before him. He couldn't help but see himself in her place; she was young, but strong willed. Finally he said, "I like you, kid. Get back in bed and rest up. We leave in two days."

As Nightshade began to calm down, she began thinking rationally. "I can't leave. I'm a 'terrorist', as you put it. They'll mark me as a criminal on a vengeance mission."

"That's what you are. That's what we both are now. We may as well stick together. And face it, every good criminal needs a partner."

Nightshade turned away from Stratus, considering this. "No," she said, "I'll need more than one…"