“Why did nopony tell me that they’d escaped earlier?!” Snake Eyes glared around the office, meeting the nervous gaze of every City Guard gathered around the room. Nopony dared answer him.

“Damn it,” Snake muttered, running a hoof through his mane. “Cornerstone must’ve had a cronie in the jail who let him and his buddies out. Where did they go?”

“Captain!” a voice called out. Everypony looked up to see Quarter Deck rushing through the doors into the office and up to Snake Eyes. Spike was riding astride her shoulders. He dismounted almost before Quarter Deck came to a halt.

“Twilight, Flash and Phil are gone!” Spike burst out, his eyes wide with terror. “They just...they disappeared from the food shelf!”

A block of ice settled in Snake Eyes’ stomach and his heart missed two beats. “Oh, no,” he muttered, looking up to meet Quarter Deck’s eyes. While her face remained stoic, deep in her eyes, he saw the same thought, the same fear.

“Captain,” Quarter Deck reported. “At approximately 2124 hours, about thirty minutes ago, I observed Sergeant Sentry and Princess Twilight exiting out the back door of the food shelf. Two minutes later, when I got the call that Cornerstone and his accomplices had escaped and warned Duke Blueblood, I noticed Phillip Finder run out of the back as well. I instructed Corporal Lightdancer and Corporal Thrush to escort Blueblood and his wife and son home and saw them out to the carriage before going back inside to warn Princess Twilight. However, by the time I got back out, they were gone. We searched the area but could find no trace of them. I woke up Spike and hurried here.”

“You don’t think…” Spike whimpered, tapping his claws together in apprehension. “You don’t think that Cornerstone...took them, do you?”

“I don’t know, Spike,” Snake Eyes replied shortly. He turned to one of the Guards, a dark purple unicorn with a shaggy black mane and the cutie mark of three yellow stars. “Sergeant Warden, we need surveillance recordings of the area.”

“Yes, sir. This way!” Sergeant Warden turned and started down a hallway, his hoofsteps beating a rapid rhythm against the carpeted floor.

“Get every available Guard on standby,” Snake Eyes instructed the rest of the room. “Start searching outward from the food shelf. We need to find them, now!”

“Hoo-ah!” the City Guards bellowed as one, hurrying to their task. Snake Eyes, Quarter Deck, and Spike followed Warden down the hallway to a large, locked door. The unicorn pulled a key out from his armor, unlocked the door, and led them all inside.

Spike gaped at the large room that they stepped into. Set into the walls were dozens of round blue crystals, each of which was glowing faintly and projecting a moving image. Everywhere he turned, he was peering at a view of Fillydelphia’s streets and houses.

“Are these the surveillance crystals?” he asked.

“Yup. Thank Duke Blueblood for all this,” Snake Eyes said. “Sergeant, what’s the closest camera to the food shelf?”

“We have a camera near the back park,” Warden replied, igniting his horn. One of the crystals began to glow brighter than the others and the image that it projected grew larger. It was an image of a street to the south of the park, opposite the food shelf. Two street lamps cast the street in an orange glow, and a tall oak tree stood sentinel on the street corner.

“Rewind it,” Snake Eyes ordered. Warden used his magic to rewind the image half an hour, then played it back at a slower speed. A few carriages passed by, and a number of late night pedestrians walked past, but there was no sign of Twilight, Flash or Phillip. Spike shifted from foot to foot, stifling a whine with his claws.

“Wait, there,” Quarter Deck suddenly said, pointing. A line of three drawn carriages was trotting quickly down the road, the ponies steps purposeful and quick. “Zoom in on that pony’s face,” Quarter Deck ordered.

Warden paused the image and zoomed in closer on the pony drawing the second carriage. The pony was a steel gray pegasus with blue-white hair and cold blue eyes. His shoulders were wide and built as solid as iron, and there was a bright red rash around his mouth and nose.

“That’s one of the Guards that worked with Cornerstone,” Snake Eyes said. “He escaped with the others. Follow those carriages!”

With the aid of Warden’s magic, the projected images followed the three carriages and their felonious passengers down the streets of Fillydelphia. The carriages stayed together down Cotton Candy Way, turned onto Wavedance Street and merged into Posey Street. Anticipating their movement, Warden switched views to a four-way intersection. But, to the confusion of the observers, the carts did not appear.

“Where’d they go?” Spike asked.

“They vanished between crystals,” Quarter Deck observed. “Damn it!”

“Wait,” Snake Eyes said. “I know that street. When we were foals, Flash and I loved exploring this city and looking for all the little hidden nooks and crannies. If memory serves, there’s an old disused tunnel that connects to Posey Street right before that intersection. Sergeant, switch to Hackney Street.”

Another street replaced the image, this one a road of cracked pavements, the image partially blocked by overgrown branches that quivered in the wind. The mouth of a dark tunnel could be faintly seen in the corner of the projection, cast in darkness by a flickering lamp.

“Advance it slowly,” Snake Eyes said, and the image began to progress. Save for the movement of the branches, there was no indication that anything was changing.

“Are you sure about this, Captain?” Quarter Deck asked.

“There!” Snake Eyes shouted, pointing. A garbage cart was emerging from the tunnel, drawn by a pair of ponies wearing the orange reflective vests of sanitation workers. One of the ponies was a steel gray pegasus with a rash around his mouth.

“Clever, boys, but not clever enough,” Snake grinned. “Follow that cart!”

Warden chased the garbage cart down the road as it traveled out of the inner city. Eventually, the two fugitives passed through a chain-link fence surrounding a large patch of barren land.

“The old Scrap Heap junkyard,” Snake Eyes noted. “Sergeant, call every available Guard. We have a rescue mission to prepare for.”

The Scrap Heap junkyard was two square miles of barren ground surrounded by chain-link fence. Piles of garbage were dumped haphazardly at every corner and rusting vehicles and appliances had been tossed aside to crumble into dust.

Towards the back of the junkyard was a short concrete hut. It had formerly served as an office room when the junkyard was operational; now, it served as a fine stockade.

Phillip, Flash and Twilight lay on the concrete floor, each of them tightly bound with several coils of rope and their mouths duct taped shut. Phillip and Flash had been stripped of their clothing, armor, and gear, which was now in one of the dummy carriages to be used to create a false trail. Twilight had a restraint ring around her horn, and she and Flash both had their wings were firmly bound to their sides. Phillip was lying facedown on the floor, still unconscious; Twilight and Flash were struggling futilely against their bonds. Flash tried to squirm his way over to Twilight in order to try to untie her.

“I wouldn’t advise that,” Cornerstone growled as he entered. Three ponies followed him: Flash and Twilight recognized one as a corrupt City Guard that had been arrested. The other two bore the tattoos that marked them as members of the Nightmare Snakes.

Flash and Twilight glared up at the former Captain as he approached Flash. Cornerstone scowled at Flash for a moment, then raised himself up and slammed his forehooves onto Flash’s chest. The pegasus grunted and curled up into a ball, coughing and wheezing. Twilight shouted in protest through her gag.

“You were warned, Sentry,” Cornerstone stated, kicking Flash repeatedly. The sound of every blow echoed in the small room, accompanied by Flash’s grunts of pain. “You were told repeatedly to let it go, but you didn’t listen.” He knelt down and took hold of Flash’s wing in both of his front hooves. “And now you pay the price.”

There was an earsplitting crack, Twilight screamed, and Flash let out a long, muffled roar of pain. He curled up into a ball, breathing heavily and shivering as he tried to shield his newly broken wing from further damage. Tears of pain shimmered in his eyes.

“Don’t pass out, son,” Cornerstone ordered, slapping Flash across the face. “I want you to hear this. Since you took away all of my primary means of income, I’m in need of money. And you three are going to fulfill that need.” He looked over Flash and Twilight, both of whom were now looking up at him in a mixture of apprehension and anger. “I’m going to put the three of you up for bid. A young, handsome Royal Guard such as yourself is worth quite a lot on the slave market, Sentry. And for an actual Princess...I could name my own price. As for Finder,” he added, glaring over at Phillip’s still form. “There are a lot of ponies who would pay through the nose for a chance to get revenge.”

The three thugs that were with Cornerstone chuckled darkly.

“So I need you three alive... for now,” Cornerstone concluded, rising back up to his full, imposing height. “But I will not hesitate to discipline you.” He turned to the three ponies. “You three, keep an eye on them. Tomorrow, we start preparing for our revenge.” Cornerstone exited the hut. The corrupt Guard exited to stand guard outside, leaving the two Nightmare Snakes inside with the prisoners.

They leered at Twilight and Flash, who instinctively tried to huddle closer to each other for safety. Flash whimpered faintly with every movement as pain shot up his wounded wing.

“Heh, look at the pig,” one of the Snakes, a bulky coal black pegasus with snakeskin green eyes sneered, adopting a mock baby voice. “Da widdle baby’s gonna cwy.”

“Yeah,” his partner grinned. He was a milky white earth pony with light pink eyes, wearing a long trenchcoat. He pulled something out of his pocket: a flat, carved stick. Flash recognized it: it was his boomerang.

“What’s that?” the pegasus asked.

“I found it in his saddlebags,” the earth pony replied, nodding at Flash. “I thought it was cool, so I kept it.”

“It’s a stick,” the pegasus deadpanned. “I got better ideas on how to entertain ourselves.” He slowly examined Twilight, passing his lecherous grin up and down her body. “This one’s got a pretty flank on her.”

Flash immediately began to struggle against his bonds with renewed fervor, letting out a stream of muffled curses and threats as his eyes blazed with fury. Roughly pushing him to the side, the two Snakes converged on Twilight. She immediately responded by lifting her knees up to her chest and kicking out, striking the pegasus in the chest and knocking him back.

“Feisty one!” the earth pony grinned. He blocked Twilight’s attempt to kick him and pinned her down, pressing in with his body. “I’ve never done a royalty before,” he hissed softly, leaning in close and taking a long sniff of Twilight’s mane. She struggled and flailed beneath him, but all in vain.

The pegasus got back up and held Twilight down, slowly drawing his tongue across her cheek. “Delicious,” he breathed.

Twilight whimpered, shivering. Flash continued to try to free himself, desperately calling out to Twilight through his gag.

“Don’t worry, Your Highness,” the pegasus whispered into her ear. “We’ll go easy—”

His sentence was interrupted by a muffled grunt and a heavy blow, and he collapsed. Phillip was standing behind him, his hooves still tied behind his back and his mouth still taped, but the rest of the ropes were undone and lay on the floor.

Not wasting a moment, he snapped forward and kicked the earth pony full in the face, sending him flying off of Twilight. Turning, he kicked the pegasus in the head, fully knocking him out. Phillip then jumped up and tucked his knees to his chest, looping his bound hooves underneath his hind legs and up in front of him.

The door burst open and the guard who had been standing outside dashed into the hut. In one movement, Phillip dashed forward, snatched up the length of pipe from the floor and threw it at the guard. The pony’s nose exploded in a shower of crimson and he reared back, clutching his face. Dashing forward, Phillip struck the guard across the jaw twice with his elbows, then looped his hooves over his enemy’s neck and brought his chin down onto his knee, knocking him out.

The earth pony raced towards Phillip, fury across his face. Thinking quickly, Twilight quickly rolled over into his path, causing him to trip over her body and fall flat on his face. Turning, Phillip finished his downed opponent with a knee drop to the head.

Breathing heavily, Phillip tore the tape off his mouth and bit off the ropes around his hooves. Hurrying over to Twilight, he lifted the restraint ring off her horn. In an instant, she used her magic to untie herself and Flash, then cast immobilization spells over their former captors.

“How did you get yourself untied?” Flash asked, slowly getting to his hooves.

“Learned a few things about escapology from Daring,” Phillip replied shortly, clutching his wounded ribs as he hurried to Flash’s side, examining his mentee’s broken wing. He let out a slow hiss. “Sorry, Flash; I had to fake being unconscious to buy myself the element of surprise.”

“It’s all right,” Flash said through a pained grin. “Could be worse.”

“Hold still,” Twilight said tenderly, gathering up the rope that had been used to bind them in her magic and gently wrapping it around Flash’s wing as a makeshift cast. Flash winced, biting down on his lip to stifle a cry. “Sorry, but we need to keep that wing still until we get proper medical attention,” Twilight whispered, now using her magic to carefully set the broken bones in place to aid in their healing. Both stallions noticed that she was still shaking.

“Twilight, can you teleport us out of here?” Flash asked gently.

“I can...I can try,” Twilight nodded, swallowing. She pulled Flash and Phillip close and closed her eyes, focusing her magic. A field of purple magic surrounded the three of them for a moment, then immediately disappeared. Twilight let out a small noise of confusion, then tried again, only to get the same result. She growled in frustration. “There must be something scrambling the thaumatic field over the area. I can’t teleport us out.”

“Then we’ll have to get out on hoof,” Flash stated. He retrieved his boomerang, tucking it beneath his good wing, and headed for the door, quickly scanning left and right and seeing nopony around. “Come on,” he whispered. “Just stick close and stay quiet, and we’ll be okay.”

“Hold on, I have an idea,” Twilight declared. She pulled Flash and Phillip close and channeled magic into her horn. Her mane and coat color began to change, darkening into shades of blue and gray. Her eyes became light green, her horn seemed to shrink into her mane, and her cutie mark was transformed into an anvil. Working quickly, she cast illusion spells over the two stallions, transforming them as well.

“Good thinking, Twilight,” Flash grinned, examining his new crimson coat and snake head cutie mark. “Now, let’s get moving.”

They exited the hut and turned left, walking confidently down the makeshift road formed by the ten-foot walls of junk on either side of them. The stench of rot and decay hung heavy in the air, making them cough into their hooves, but they kept moving.

Suddenly, as they turned a corner, they spotted two Snakes up ahead, talking quietly and passing a joint back and forth. Twilight stopped, gasping in shock.

Without looking up, Flash reached out and took Twilight’s hoof for a moment, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Just keep walking,” he whispered. They continued moving forward, not looking around. The Snakes let them pass by without so much as a second glance.

Phillip looked around and spotted a makeshift watchtower constructed of scrap metal nearby. He nodded towards it. “If I can climb up there, I might be able to look around and find an exit.” Twilight and Flash both nodded their agreement, and they made their way to the foot of the tower.

While Twilight and Flash stood guard at the bottom, Phillip climbed up a rickety ladder that creaked threateningly with every movement to the top of the tower, which was thankfully uninhabited. Peering over the edge, he saw the junkyard sprawled beneath him like a great labyrinth, full of unpredictable twists and turns. Searching carefully, he spotted an exit at the edge of the yard nearby. To his dismay, it was surrounded by several ponies, who were apparently standing guard.

He memorized the quickest path there, then quickly climbed back down and rejoined the others. “I found an exit, but it’s chocka thugs. We’d have to get past a lot of wankers.”

Flash glanced around and sighed. “The longer we stay here, the more chance that we get caught. We’ll have to risk it—”

Suddenly, he was interrupted by several loud, piercing whistles. Everypony looked up at the noise, and then there was a storm of movement as ponies rushed around them, shouting to one another.

“Oh, damn,” Flash muttered. “They must’ve found out we escaped.”

“Nothing for it, then. Come on,” Phillip declared, gesturing them towards the exit. They started to hurry towards safety, pushing past armed thugs. They reached a more open area, with a small valley with a large pond of muddy water on their right. They could see the exit in the distance: unfortunately, it was the length of two hoofball fields away, and there were several ponies between them and the gates. Ignoring everypony around them, they began to trot towards the gate at a quick pace.

“Hey, you!” a voice suddenly barked. The three of them halted in their tracks. A steel gray pegasus with a bright red rash around his mouth and nose was stomping towards them. “Where are you going?”

“To…” Flash started to say, glancing at the others. Other ponies around them began to notice the strangers and turned towards them, suspicion shining in their hooded eyes.

The pegasus glared at him. “Wait a minute, I don’t recognize you…”

Twilight spotted a pale orange unicorn with the cutie mark of a flame in a circle glaring at them. He lit up his horn and cast a wave of dark blue magic over them. Instantly, her illusion spells vanished, revealing their true identities.

Instantly, dozens of guns and knives were aimed at them. “Nice try,” the pegasus sneered. “Get them back to their cell and—”

A wave of purple magic passed over the surrounding thugs, turning their weapons into flowers in their hooves. Phillip lunged at the pegasus, punching him in the throat and knocking him over. “Get to the gate!” Flash shouted, shoving two thugs out of the way.

Suddenly, a large, grey object crashed into them, sending them flying into the muddy waters of the sewage pond. They all fell beneath the surface with a loud splash. Twilight pushed the object off of them with a blast of magic, and they desperately paddled to the surface, gasping in air and shaking the filthy water out of their eyes.

Cornerstone resurfaced, panting heavily as the mud streamed off his body. “You ruined everything!” he shouted, his narrowed eyes focused on Flash. “This was all perfect until you came! I was running this city the way it should be run!” He gritted his teeth, his body trembling with rage. “Forget selling you: I’m going to end you!”

Flash grunted, then spread his arms wide. “Come on then!” he roared, defiance burning in his eyes.

Cornerstone charged at Flash, mud splashing around him as he ran. He launched a front kick at Flash’s face. Flash ducked to the side, but his counterattack was interrupted by a spinning backhoof to the head, forcing him to duck. Cornerstone began to swing at Flash with his hooves, his blows controlled, but fueled with rage. Flash ducked and weaved, evading every blow.

Twilight and Phillip moved to help, but a blast of dark blue magic forced them to halt in their tracks. The unicorn from before had been joined by two other unicorns and they were firing spells at them. More thugs were regrouping around the edge of the pond, grabbing makeshift weapons and climbing down into the pit; more ponies were gathering around to watch. Twilight cast a protective shield around herself and Phillip.

“You handle the unicorns,” Phillip told Twilight. “I can take care of the others.”

“What about Flash?” Twilight asked.

“He can handle himself,” Phillip stated. Twilight nodded, took a breath, and dropped the shield. She spread her wings and took flight, charging right at the unicorns. Phillip clambered out of the pit, striking out with his weapon to take out his first opponent.

Meanwhile, Flash ducked out from underneath a right hook to his head and counterattacked with an elbow strike to a floating rib. Cornerstone grunted in pain and flinched, and Flash pressed his advantage, leaping up with a flying punch to the jaw and a straight shot to the chin. Cornerstone deflected the second strike and countered with a powerful punch to the gut that made Flash double over. Cornerstone knocked Flash away and lashed out with a roundhouse kick to his left side, striking his broken wing. Flash yelled in pain and stumbled, falling back into the mud.

Bellowing in fury, Cornerstone lunged at Flash, stomping at his face. Flash rolled out of the way, gritting his teeth against the pain, and scooped up a hoofful of mud, flinging into Cornerstone’s face. Blinded, the earth pony lashed out at Flash. Evading to his opponent’s back, Flash kicked out and struck Cornerstone in the back of his knee, forcing him to kneel. Cornerstone swung his elbow back, but Flash blocked the strike and counterattacked with a knee to the ribs.

Cornerstone pulled his arm in close, blocking Flash’s attack and hitting him in the chest, then dropped to all fours and kicked out with his back legs, sending Flash flying backwards into the edge of the pond. He disappeared beneath the surface again.

Rising back up to his hooves, Cornerstone hurried over to Flash’s prone form and seized him by the neck, lifting him up. Spinning him around, he wrapped his foreleg around Flash’s neck and squeezed, holding his other foreleg around Flash’s chest. Flash struggled, choking and gasping for breath, but Cornerstone’s grip was too tight.

“You shouldn’t have come back here, boy,” the former Captain snarled into Flash’s ear. “Why did you come here? Why did you come when you knew it would only bring trouble?”

Flash gagged, his vision darkening around the edges. He saw Phillip on the edge of the pond, surrounded by five ponies. Twilight was forced to generate a shield around herself to block simultaneous magic streams from three unicorns. He struggled for air, but the vise around his neck was too tight. He was beginning to black out...

Suddenly, with a thunderous explosion that seemed to shake the sky, the gates of the junkyard flew violently open. Silver canisters flew through the opening and detonated as they struck the ground, filling the air with tear gas. Ponies staggered away from the gas, coughing and choking.

“We’re under attack! Open fire!” a corrupt Lieutenant bellowed. Other ponies around him drew their weapons and began firing into the cloud.

A reply came from the smoke: a furious roar and a long jet of green flame that swept from side to side, forcing the terrified gunponies to dive for cover.

“It’s a bucking dragon!” one pony shouted, cowering behind a pile of scrap.

“I’m outta here!” another unicorn declared, leaping up and running away. His attempt at escape, however, was halted by a crossbow bolt to the knee, and he collapsed, shouting in pain.

Dozens of City Guards, all of them adorned in full armor, marched out of the smoke, firing upon their targets with cold precision with guns and crossbows, some covering their partners with heavy riot shields. Captain Snake Eyes was leading the charge, his face grim and tight beneath his visor. Spike rode atop his back, sending streams of flame at any attackers foolish enough to come out from behind cover.

“Charge!” Snake Eyes shouted. “For Fillydelphia, and for our friends!”

Teams of City Guards spread out amongst the maze of junk like an unstoppable flood. Their focused push overwhelmed all attempts at resistance. The sounds of battle filled the air as the Nightmare Snakes clashed with the Guards.

Distracted by the attack, Cornerstone loosened his hold on Flash. Seizing the opportunity, Flash gasped in a breath of air, then loosened his right wing. His boomerang fell out, released from his grasp, and he caught it in his hoof. Immediately, instinctively, he drew his foreleg back and threw the weapon out. With a whistling, the boomerang arced around, striking Cornerstone in the side of the head. Momentarily stunned, the earth pony released Flash. Leaping up, Flash spun around and kicked Cornerstone in the chest, forcing him away.

“You asked why I came back here,” he panted. Cornerstone lunged at him, lashing out with a jab-hook-cross combo. Flash weaved out of the way of every punch and dropped to a crouch, punching Cornerstone in the side of the knee, striking a sensitive band of tissue. Cornerstone yelled in pain and stumbled back, then lunged again, trying to grab Flash again. Leaping to the side, Flash dove beneath the surface of the muddy water, disappearing from view.

Growling, Cornerstone rummaged beneath the water, trying to find his quarry. “Come out here!” he roared, limping forward on his injured leg.

Suddenly, like some swamp monster emerging from the depths, Flash resurfaced behind Cornerstone, kicking him in the back, right over his kidney. Cornerstone staggered to the side and Flash struck again, kicking him in the head to knock him down. He then grabbed Cornerstone's hind leg, pulling it straight out and pressing his attacker’s knee against his leg. “Because injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” Flash growled, and pulled.

There was an earsplitting crack like a tree branch breaking and Cornerstone roared in agony, flailing in pain as his leg broke. Flash climbed up to Cornerstone’s head, pinning him down with a knee to the neck.

“Because I took a vow to uphold justice and protect the innocent,” Flash continued, bending down to growl right into Cornerstone’s ear. “Because I’m a Royal Guard.”

“Damn you, I’ll kill—” the defeated Captain shouted, trying to get up only to be stopped by a punch to the jaw that knocked him out. Flash rose to his hooves, panting.

Meanwhile, Twilight used her magic to deflect a stunning spell from one unicorn, striking another unicorn in the face and knocking him out. The unicorn who had fired at her summoned a stream of fire from his horn, directing it at Twilight. Twilight took flight, dodging every spell that the two unicorns that she was battling fired at her. Swooping low, she cast her magic over several piles of junk, sending them flying into the air at her two foes. The unicorns were forced to use their magic to repel the projectiles. One of them was overwhelmed and was struck over the head by a bathroom sink, knocking him out.

Growling, the orange unicorn summoned an expanding shield that forced the flying junk away. Turning, he fired a stream of magic at Twilight. She countered with a stream of magic of her own. The two beams struck head-on, struggling against each other for a moment, then Twilight’s magic overwhelmed his, forcing the blue magic stream back towards its owner. The unicorn was forced to construct a hasty shield to protect himself, which shattered under Twilight’s onslaught. Stunned, the unicorn staggered back and looked up to find Twilight running towards him, aiming a punch right at his face.

He sidestepped, deflecting the blow and countering with a chop to Twilight’s throat. Instinctively, immediately, Twilight raised her forelegs, blocking the strike. With a shout, she dropped her weight and lashed out with her elbow, striking the unicorn in the chest as she used her other foreleg to keep his arm under control. Stepping forward, she placed her leg behind the stunned unicorn’s legs and pushed him back, tripping him and toppling him onto his back. With another shout, she lashed out with a powerful hook, knocking out her opponent in a single blow.

Three thugs all swung at Phillip simultaneously. He ducked beneath their attacks, then leapt up into the air, grabbing the heads of the two attackers in front of him and smashing them together as he kicked the third opponent in the face, knocking them all out. Another group of ponies started to rush at him, but a jet of green flame forced them away: the City Guard had finally caught up. The Snakes that weren’t cut down by gunfire immediately surrendered and were quickly shackled.

Spike leapt off of Snake Eyes’ back and hurried over to Twilight, flinging his arms around her, ignoring the wet mud that still clung to her coat. She hugged him back tightly, holding his shaking form close. “I’m okay, Spike,” she breathed.

Snake helped Flash climb out of the pond, already shouting for medical assistance for the wounded. Cornerstone still lay in the mud, semiconscious, his broken leg twisted like a gnarled branch. The sounds of battle in the background had faded: the City Guard had won.

Flash and Phillip staggered over to Twilight, both of them panting with exhaustion from their respective engagements. Flash pulled a surprised Twilight into an embrace, even as a unicorn medic began fussing over his injured wing. Phillip let out a sigh and sat down as the City guard began to make one last sweep of the area, wiping some sweat off his forehead.

This night was theirs. Fillydelphia was safe again.

Author's Notes:

See, Don? Flash nasty. Flash don't shiv.