Blitz flew along restlessly, circling the group, doing barrell rolls, and making wind noises with her mouth. As this continued to grate on Stratus's nerves, he began to grind his teeth. Finally he shouted in exasperation, "Blitz, did you kill that filly?"

Blitz rolled over to Stratus, hovering just over his head. Craning her neck to look at him upside down, she responded, "Nah. She was too cute to kill. Why? Did you think she was pretty, too?"

Stratus grunted. "We don't need the extra attention that comes with killing innocents."

Blitz shrugged.

As Blitz circled the group she did something she rarely ever did: she became lost in thought. She couldn't help but ponder at Stratus's aversion to killing ponies. Killing can be fun, she thought, and Stratus really enjoys fighting. I don't get why he doesn't ever finish the job. Blitz frowned as she struggled to see through Stratus's eyes. How can a pony as grouchy and scary as Stratus not see that some ponies just need to stop being alive?

Blitz thought back to the first time she had killed a pony, the day she escaped the mental institution.

***

Sleep. Eat. Medication. Therapy. Group time. Eat. Medication. Alone time. Eat. Medication. Sleep. Life had become numbers on a chart. Life had become a clockwork hell, predictable and boring, day in and day out. The first few days were almost fun, like a game. Blitz eagerly took the pills, played the games, talked with the other "crazy" ponies. It was all a game. But then day two was the same. And day three was the same. And day four was the same. More pills, more dull conversation with other sedated ponies, more talking to droning doctors in dull white coats. Some days were more tolerable than others. Sometimes there was some action. Every so often a pony would have an outburst and start breaking things or screaming and running around, eyes full of fear. Blitz loved when this happened. It always made her feel… alive. Less than a week before her escape Blitz had witnessed the breakdown that prompted her to decide to leave.

The day had started boring enough. Everything happened right on schedule. But during group time that changed. Just as one of the more boring ponies was beginning to drone on about how he saw ponies that weren't really there, the doors burst open. A brown colt with an hourglass cutie mark stood in the doorway, his chest heaving. His eyes were what Blitz noticed most. They weren't wild or panicky. They were full of fire, determination, life. Unlike the other ponies who went wild, this colt didn't seem frantic and scared. He wasn't running aimlessly. He was looking for a way out. After a few seconds he spoke in a rich powerful voice.

"Where is it? Where's my phone box? I need to get out of this dimension, damn it!"

He began to cross the room when the doors at the opposite end burst open. Two burly earth ponies in white coats moved towards the brown colt.

"Doc, we need you to come with us."

The brown colt lowered his head, backing way indignantly. "It's 'Doctor', not 'Doc'! I'm a Time Lord, you bloody foal!"

Two more strong earth ponies approached him from behind. Suddenly one reared up and planted his front hooves on the brown colt's flank hard enough to buckle his hind legs.

The second planted a firm hoof between his shoulders, holding him tight.

"Release me! You don't know what you're interfering with!"

From the front, a third pony approached with a needle. Blitz recognized those needles; they were full of extra strong medicine. She hated them. They made ponies so slow and quiet. Sometimes they put them to sleep altogether. The brown colt turned his eyes to Blitz. Commanding her attention, he shouted, "You! You're young, you're strong! Resist! Fight back! If you can get out, you can let all of us out! Don't take the medicine!"

With calmness and precision the burly pony jabbed the needle into the brown colt's neck and his screams of protest fell silent. The four big ponies dragged him out of the room.

The other ponies crowding around began to slowly resume their dull dispositions; the affect the needle had on the crazed Doctor seemed to spread by osmosis. The sight of such a strong brave colt being taken down seemed to crush every pony's spirit further. All except Blitz. Blitz resolved right then and there that the Doctor had the right idea, just not the right methods; Blitz thought to herself, He coulda made it out! Had he rushed those big dummies instead of backing up, he coulda made it!

That night Blitz didn't take her medicine. The next day she no longer felt sluggish, calm, carefree. For the first time in weeks she felt like flying. But she knew she wouldn't be able to pull off an escape just yet. The day crawled by, but when the medicine came around Blitz held the pill in her cheek long enough for the doctor to look away, at which point she spat it into the nearest trash bin. She did the same with her night pills.

Over the next three days Blitz continued her little routine; this was her kind of game. Cheeking pills, feigning sedation, and carefully watching the doctors, seeing which ones were faster or stronger or smarter, noting which ones came by her room more often. It all became a matter of waiting for the young meek colt to come by; not only was he physically no threat, but Blitz could tell he was afraid of her, and with good reason. In the past few days her subtle increase in energy had become completely noticeable and had put everypony on edge, including the other patients. She had finally snapped and put a swift hoof to a doctor's chin. This got her locked in her room for the next two days. She was only visited at meal and medication time by one of two doctors, a bold and assertive mare and the meek colt.

The day he came into her room, she was ready for him. He didn't stand a chance. As he stepped closer to her with the needle in his mouth, she made her move. A turn, a buck, and his head snapped back. The needle skittered across the floor. The other doctor outside started screaming and an alarm was raised. Blitz panicked. Her doctor was groggy but still standing. She reared and stomped on his shoulder, bringing him to the floor. His grunts of pain became sobs of fear as Blitz slammed her front hooves into his sides again and again. Finally there was a sobering crunch. The doctor whimpered and coughed a spray of red onto the white tile floor.

Blitz giggled nervously. "Oopsie."

Blitz knew the doors were no longer an option. The window didn't have a screen or bars in it. With a crash she leapt through it face first and accelerated towards a new life.

***

"Blitz, are you even awake?"

Blitz shook herself from thought. Apparently she and the other Shadowbolts were now closing in on the rim of south Manehatten. This is where they would meet their contact and make the exchange.

"Yup! Are we there yet?"

Starry Skies indicated the scattering of lights below. "It would seem so, dear."

The group circled in and landed just inside of the city in an open lot, presumably where a building would soon be erected. This city was considerably less innocent than Ponyville; despite the darkness a few ponies were still out. A young mare with a feather in her mane stood on a nearby corner with her tail held high and her face painted up with cheap make-up. An old stallion, probably once young and strong like Charger, stumbled out of a building across the street. He teetered on two hooves for a moment before flopping over on the ground, mumbling incoherently. A bottle rolled out of one of his saddlebags.

Nightshade surveyed the city before them. Turning to Stratus and the rest of the group she commanded, "Our contact is in that office building over there. Don't cause trouble. Nopony should bother us here; these ponies are used to bad company."

Upon entering the windowless building the group was greeted by another small group of ponies. Two large earth ponies stood in each corner of the dimly lit room. They were clearly security. A dark green unicorn mare with sky blue eyes and a spiky blue mane sat between them. She remained silent as the Shadowbolts filed into the room. When all five had entered, she stood and looked straight to Charger. He stopped cold. With his flight goggles still on it was difficult to read his emotions. Still staring him down, the unicorn spoke in a low, refined voice.

"Charger, how nice to see you again, dear. It looks like you survived Manehatten."

Charger cracked a bitter smile. "And Clopton." He gave a hollow laugh. "I almost didn't recognize you, Sharkey. It's been awhile."

Sharkey held her poker face. "That it has." She paused, smiling. "Surely you aren't still in a tiff about that little incident back home, sweetie." The final word dripped from Sharkey's lips as more of a taunt than a pet name.

Nightshade stepped forward, breaking the electric tension in the room. "Miss Sharkey, if you don't mind, I'd like to get this train rolling."

Sharkey took a step forward from her seat, her horn glowing. Starry Skies felt Stratus tense up in anticipation of trouble as she unhooked the crate of Spin Juice from Stratus's harness. She rolled it towards the center of the room. Nightshade stopped it with a hoof. Sharkey, using magic, rolled her own crate forward. She and the crate stopped about a foot away from Nightshade. At the same time, each pony shoved the crate on their side to the other pony.

Nightshade weighed up her odds. Sharkey was unarmed, technically, but unicorns could be dangerous with magic. From this distance, Nightshade wouldn't be able to respond in time if attacked. It all came down to numbers; there were five Shadowbolts versus Sharkey and two guards. Starry Skies wasn't much in a fight, but Charger, Nightshade, and Stratus had seen everything from gang brawls to all-out military assaults. And Blitz was fast and reckless enough to provide a challenge for anypony. That put four solid fighters against three. Nightshade relaxed a hair as Sharkey busied herself inspecting a bottle of Spin Juice. Mirroring her, Nightshade opened the crate on her end and pulled out the five smaller boxes inside, tossing one to each member of her team. They eagerly opened them, pulling out the contents.

Each box contained four steel shoes with leather straps. On each front shoe were two long, curved blades protruding forward from each side of the hoof. Each rear shoe had similar shorter blades on the front and a single long blade coming out of the back.

"Hoof Blades. You have no idea how much trouble I had to go through to get them here."

Blitz strapped hers on. She pawed at the air and kicked a few times, trying them out. "Ooh, cozy!"

Sharkey continued, smiling "Of course. They're fitted to the specifications Nightshade gave me." After a moment she continued, "So where are the other crates?"

Stratus's ears perked up. He slowly began to turn towards Sharkey's guards. Charger walked around to the other side of Nightshade.

"What other crates?", Nightshade asked.

Sharkey's smile left her face. "We agreed on five crates for the blades."

"No, our agreement was five cases for five sets of blades. There's five cases in that crate. We're even."

Sharkey's voice rose. As she took a more aggressive stance her guards took a step forward. "The agreement was five CRATES, Nightshade!"

"You're wrong, Sharkey!"

"I'll be keeping the payment until you've given me the product!"

Nightshade turned, her temper flaring. "Eat me, Sharkey. You have what you asked for. We're leaving."

"The hell you are, bitch!"

Sharkey darted forward, slamming the door shut with magic. Her guards moved to stop Nightshade, but were intercepted by Charger and Stratus. Charger, wearing his blades, turned and slammed both rear hooves into the face of his attacker. He reared back, blood flowing from his mangled muzzle. Before he could react Charger flew up and slammed his front hooves down on top of his head, throwing the incapacitated guard to the floor. Simultaneously, Stratus had taken down his opponent using an old Royal Guard move: a swift hind hoof to a front leg dropped his face to the floor, where Stratus shattered his jaw with a stomp. The two stallions turned to Sharkey.

Sharkey was sending blast after blast of magic at Blitz, striking the spots the pony had been just a split second before. None of the Shadowbolts could make a move with bolts of magic - and Blitz - flying around the room so quickly. Finally Blitz bounded forward and tackled Sharkey, stomping her horn and pinning her to the floor. She held a blade to her throat.

Helpless without her magic, Sharkey turned her eyes to Charger. "Charger! Please! You can't let her do this!"

Charger walked over to Sharkey. His face was blank. Blitz looked up at him, grinning. "It's your call, Charger."

Leaning down, Charger brought his face level with Sharkey's. Looking into her eyes, he hissed, "Sorry, Sharkey. It's only business."

"No, Charger! Please!"

Charger turned to leave, followed by Starry Skies, Stratus, and Nightshade. As he walked out the doorway, he said without looking back, "Do it."

Blitz leaned her weight forward. There was a wet slicing sound. Blitz raised her blood covered face, smiling. "All done!"