Rainbow Dash and Blueshift Blaze flew along silently towards the northern end of Manehatten. The less urban countryside served as a nice change in scenery, but the lack of distractions served to make the silence awkward. The sun was already well on its way down when finally Rainbow Dash asked, "So, Blaze, where you from?"

Without looking towards her, the dark blue pony responded, "I grew up in a little farming community in Mountana." She tossed her mane, revealing her face. "After this, I went down south to Horston, out by the Gulf of Mexicolt. I had some family out there who were nice enough to take me in for a while. It was okay, but I couldn't stand how crowded it was. The heat wasn't too nice, either. I finally got sick of the place and slowly made my way back north. Recently I came back to the outskirts of Fillydelphia. I've been working as an assistant in a forge ever since."

Dash nodded. "I was born in Cloudsdale, but Ponyville's my home. Aside from Cloudsdale, I haven't left it or the surrounding area until now. I've been to Apploosa and Canterlot, but only on visits."

Blaze grunted in acknowledgement.

Rainbow had a specific question on her mind. She avoided it to be polite and instead asked, "So what's your cutie mark mean?"

Blaze looked at her flank, regarding the fiery blue orb with contempt. She snorted. "It means I've been through too much shit to develop a special talent. By some sort of prophetic irony, my PMV skill leaves a trail of blue fire." She gave an empty laugh. "Fire seems to follow me I guess."

Rainbow Dash smiled, trying to brighten the mood a bit. "Mine's PMV based too! It means I'm a born racer and pretty much THE only pony capable of creating a Sonic Rainboom." She beamed with pride.

Blaze cracked a faint smile. "So that's what last week's unexplained explosion was. I knew it was magic of some sort, but unicorns tend to leave the sky alone."

Dash grinned, basking in the praise. The silence descended upon the pair again, slowly wearing on her. Unable to keep her mind off of it, Rainbow Dash finally asked the question she had been stifling. As gently as possible she inquired, "Blaze, what happened to your face?"

Blaze stared Rainbow Dash down, her eyes dark. Her powerful gaze was full of emotions darker than simple anger. Like so many ghosts in a mirror they passed through her eyes, and the effect caused Rainbow Dash to fall silent and look away. Her voice dripping with sarcasm, Blaze responded, "I slipped and fell."

Rainbow Dash quietly responded, "I'm sorry."

As the two pegasi flew along silently, Rainbow couldn't help but analyze Blaze a bit more. Her scars, she deduced, must be related to the Shadowbolts. Rainbow absentmindedly put a hoof to her side, remembering how Blitz shattered her ribs. She had gotten lucky, she thought; couldn't help but wonder which Shadowbolt was crazy or evil enough to burn Blaze's face like that.

Similarly, Blaze analyzed Rainbow Dash silently. Looking upon the sky blue pony she couldn't help but see a bit of herself. She was so full of anger, but still so naïve. Blaze wondered just how badly she had been hurt to carry such a grudge. Surely it would come in handy in a fight, but the long term mental and emotional damage it would cause would leave her cold and cynical, if not outright empty. Like me, Blaze thought. The poor filly's gonna end up like me.

The pair flew along without words until they crested a hill. The hill sloped gently downwards to a large building. While only two stories tall, the building had a wide sprawling courtyard out front. The courtyard consisted of a stone path lined by tall stone pillars. On either side of the path, low hedges formed a miniature labyrinth. The back and sides of the property sloped off into a cliff face, the point of the cliff jutting out to the west. The front of the building was a single story, implying that the entire structure had been that way until recently. The back had a comparatively small second story portion that covered the back right corner of the building. In the center of the flat roof of the single story portion, near the back, there was a large patch of shining glass, a skylight. Off to the far left, the wall was lined with a single strip of glass about as tall as an average pony. There were patches in the glass that were dark and reflective. These were walls between the rooms in the living quarters, presumably. There was a main area in the central part of the left wall that was all glass. It appeared to be a main commons area for the Wonderbolts. Even at this time, a couple of ponies could be seen lounging on the big leather sofa.

"This is it", Blaze muttered. Her mind was clearly elsewhere.

Rainbow Dash grinned from ear to ear. "The Wonderbolts private mansion… Wow." Her smile left her face as she added, "I wish we weren't here under these conditions." She stood up a little straighter and began to trot towards the house.

Blaze grabbed Dash by the tail. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I have to warn them that somepony's coming to kill them! I'm not gonna leave the Wonderbolts hanging!"

Blaze indicated the front door with a hoof. There were two burly earth ponies in front of it, and a unicorn above them on the shingled awning over the front door. She turned to Dash, warning, "They'd tear you apart before you had a chance to explain yourself. We can't just go barging in there. As hard as it will be, we have to wait until the action starts to slip in after the Shadowbolts. Then the real fun starts."

Dash lay down, never taking her eyes off the complex. After a while, she muttered, "Those pillars could be useful in a fight. Great for traps or surprise attacks." Blaze only nodded in response. Dash soon became restless. She turned to Blaze and asked, "So what exactly are we waiting for?"

No sooner than the words left her mouth, Blaze spotted movement along the tree line north of the house, near the main living quarters. She only had time to point in that general direction with a hoof before two blurs shot from the forest. One skimmed right behind the two main guards. Much to Rainbow Dash's horror, their necks jerked to one side and their heads slowly lolled forward. Blood poured out from their necks. The two ponies collapsed noiselessly onto the stone walkway. A second blur darted from the forest, performing a similar maneuver on the unicorn lookout. He tumbled from the awning, his severed head landing with a dull splat beside him. The second attacker curved around and threw a small box-shaped object at the front door before taking off.

"Oh Celestia", Rainbow Dash murmured into her hooves, "What have I gotten myself into?"

Mere seconds later, Blaze and Dash were rocked backwards by a powerful explosion. The night became bright as day. The front of the mansion was obliterated in a plume of fire. Bricks and stones rained down like so much molten rock from a volcanic eruption. Two of the large pillars near the front of the house tumbled outward, shattering.

Blaze peered through the smoke. Walking into the house in formation she saw Nightshade, the leader; Stratus, her second in command; Charger, the racer; Starry Skies, the thief; and out to the far right, Blueball Blitz, the psychopath.

Blaze snapped her wings open, galloping down the hill. "Dash, on me!"

Rainbow Dash galloped down the hill after Blaze. Remembering something, she turned her head up and called out, "Blaze, take whoever you want, but Blitz is mine!"

Blaze didn't look back. Either she hadn't heard or hadn't cared.

Rainbow Dash spread her wings and glided in low and fast, coming to a smooth stop at the end of the walkway. Blaze landed just ahead of her, galloping forward toward the flaming remains of the front of the Wonderbolts' mansion.

Starry Skies had galloped off to the main living quarters with full saddlebags; a glimpse of wire hinted that they contained bombs. Charger had shot off towards the second story, murder in his eyes. Stratus and Nightshade were already making their way towards the back of the house. Blitz lingered at the front, making sure each guard was dead. This task proved to be rather simple, as all three bodies had been torn apart by the explosion. Blitz giggled and began to follow the others into the mansion, when she was stopped. Stepping through the dust and rubble, Blaze shouted ahead of her, "Blueball Blitz!"

Blitz turned to see Blaze with Dash standing beside her. For the first time in as long as any of them could remember, Blitz's face filled with two foreign and rare emotions. The first was rage. The second was fear.

Blitz spread her hooves, planting herself firmly. Her mane crackled to life as her pink eyes darkened. The bubbly grin was gone, replaced with a hateful glare. Rainbow Dash summoned all of her courage to mirror the stance. Blaze was unable to add her own bravado to the standoff. She was quaking with fury. Blitz issued a squeaky growl which ran into a shout of rage.

Blaze gave a hollow laugh. "Surprised to see me?"

Blitz began to twitch as charges of electricity leapt from her. "I already killed you, Sissy!"

Dash reeled back in horror. "That MONSTER is your SISTER?!"

Without warning, Blitz charged, hooves outstretched. The cold blades gleamed in the light of the fire.  Blaze rolled to the side, holding her wings in. The very un-pegasus-like move threw Blitz off and she instead turned on Rainbow Dash. Dash held her ground, sweat beading on her brow. Blitz drew within range, expecting a last second attempt at a dodge. Rainbow Dash had something else in mind.

A split second before Blitz would have torn her in half, Rainbow Dash blasted forward like a bullet, slamming a front hoof into Blitz's cheek. The Shadowbolt spun off course, skidding across the dirt. Blaze and Dash stood at the ready as she rose, spitting blood onto the ground. Blitz smiled daggers at Rainbow Dash.

"You wanna play rough this time, cutie pie?"

Dash deflected, "Bring it, nutcase."

Blitz rocketed forward, prompting Dash to take off in reverse. Flying backwards was one of the skills she honed to an art form while training with Applejack. She threw herself backwards, barreling towards the hill. Blitz was gaining on her quickly. At the last second, Dash redirected herself, shooting straight up. The quick change in direction gave her a slight lead on Blitz, which she used to lead Blitz towards the ground.

Blitz wasn't through. She shot downward after Dash and swiped with her blades; Rainbow Dash felt the back edge of the cold steel brush against her rump. She glanced back over her shoulder to find she only had about four inches of her tail left. Blitz took advantage of this momentary lapse in concentration and shot past Rainbow Dash, swiping at her face. The tip of a blade sliced the bridge of Rainbow's muzzle; blood sprayed into her eyes, causing her to drop to the ground at a gallop, crying out in pain. Dash wiped the blood from her face and turned to see Blitz setting up another charge. She turned towards the edge of the cliff, calling to Blaze, "Watch me and get ready!"

Rainbow shot far out over the water. Blitz took the bait, hoping to drop her opponent into the sea. At a glance from Rainbow Dash, Blaze knowingly positioned herself at the front of the house along side the pillars lining the walkway. Rainbow Dash let Blitz gain on her just enough so that when she curved around the Shadowbolt would be right behind her. Now came the hard part.

Rainbow Dash visualized the life she could well lose. She shot forward, ignoring the blood running into her eyes. Her thoughts skimmed over all of Ponyville before coming to rest on a certain orange earth pony.

I promised I'd come back to my friends, she thought. One more push and her mane pulled straight back. She felt an elastic pressure against her hooves. Had her tail still been there, it would have been pulled straight back, too. She was still a ways off from the cliff. She pushed harder. Her face burned. Her side was throbbing. The pressure on her hooves was enormous. She chanced a look backwards.

Rainbow Dash's stomach dropped. Blitz was already flashing with electricity. She was considerably closer to PMV. Rainbow Dash threw herself forward. In an instant, the sky exploded outwards around her. Just as this happened, she heard a thunder crack. She turned to see Blitz flying behind her astride a lightning bolt, slowly gaining.

Time moved in slow motion. Dash passed the first pillar and began a tight slalom between the rest. Just as planned, Blitz followed in suit. In anticipation of a kill, she stuck one of her blades into the lightning, letting the immense heat and energy bring the blade to an orange glow. She was gaining on Rainbow Dash inch by inch. As Dash passed the third pillar she heard fire roar to life behind her. Looking back she saw Blaze, a ball of blue flames, keeping pace with Blitz.

Blaze timed Blitz's slalom, flying along side the pillars. She knew if she weren't rocketing forward in a straight line she'd never catch her sister. Finally as they passed the eighth pillar Blaze threw herself sideways into Blitz, using her momentum to hold the electric pegasus in place as she shot straight at a pillar. Blaze became a conduit for Blitz's energy; her eyes rolled back into her head as she was hit with wave after wave of electricity. Nonetheless, the plan worked; Blitz spun out of control and slammed into the pillar sideways. The remaining lightning shattered the stone structure and both pegasi and the remnants of the pillar came crashing down.

Dash curved back around, gliding to the crumbled remains. She flapped her wings hard, trying to clear some of the dust. Peering through it, she saw Blaze rising up on wobbly legs, standing over Blitz. The Shadowbolt was sticking out from under a large chunk of stone, her back half crushed. Blaze knelt beside her.

Dash stepped forward, her eyes oozing contempt. "Are you going to finish her?"

Blitz looked up into Blaze's eyes; something was different in her face, something fragile. As she spoke, blood bubbled from her mouth. "Sissy", she whimpered, "I'm cold…"

Blaze took Blitz's head in her hooves, gently cooing, "It's okay. It's over now, Blu."

Tears ran from Blitz's eyes as they began to cloud over. Coughing, she stammered, "Do you think Mom and Dad will be mad at me?"

"Not anymore, Blu. I promise." Blaze kissed her sister on the forehead and closed her eyes. The last charges of electricity left Blitz's mane. Blaze gently laid the dead filly's head down.

Slowly, Blaze rose. She wasn't crying. Her eyes were devoid of tears. Rainbow Dash noticed that they seemed devoid of everything, even life itself. The scarred pegasus looked hollow. Blaze turned to Dash. "I just killed the last living family I had. She and I shared a bed as fillies."

Dash stepped forward, tears in her eyes. "Blaze, I'm so sorry. I never meant for this to happen. I didn't know, I re-"

Blaze cut her off. "It's okay." She looked back to Blitz. "She's at peace now. She's free. She'll find more peace in death than she ever could have in life. There's nothing more anypony can do for her…" Blaze turned back to Dash. "But there is a way you can help me."

Rainbow raised her head. "Anything."

"Help me move this pillar. I want to give my baby sister a proper burial. Then…" She looked away. "Then, I don't know what. I guess I'll have to find somewhere to hide out after all this."

"You could come back to Ponyville with me", Dash offered. "It's full of really nice ponies." After a moment, she added, "It helps to be around friends when you're going through a tough time."

Blaze cracked a feeble smile. "I may do that. Hell, Rainbow Dash, you're the first friend I've made in quite a while." Hoisting Blitz across her back, she turned away from the mansion. "Come on. We're done here. The rest isn't our business."

Dash nodded. For once, the Wonderbolts didn't seem to be the most important thing in life.