"Vet medicine," Greywhisker said in a flat tone that made it sound like he was so very disappointed with life.

"See?" Fleur pointed a hoof at Greywhisker as she looked at Shining, "Exactly what I said. Same tone of voice and everything."

"It'll be fine," said Shining. "I have it on good authority that what we have there is totally acceptable for ponies to use."

"And what about the hospital? Wasn't there anything there worth using?"

"It's been taken over by refugees, and we felt they needed it more, and had just as much right to it as we do."

Greywhisker closed his eyes and sighed as he massaged his temples, "You and your bleeding heart, Shining Armour. Fine, so these will work for my ponies?"

"They will. The doctor there went over it with us, and assured us that nothing here is harmful to ponies. There's everything you need to treat your wounded for a while, and he even helped Shadow out."

"Shadow," Greywhisker growled, displeased that she was making trouble for them already.

Shadow held her hooves up, her eyes going wide. "It's not my fault it got infected again! I swear!"

"It's fine, Greywhisker," Shining reassured the Captain. "She has some meds, and will be right as rain soon."

"Urgh, very well." Greywhisker picked up a bottle and inspected it, "I have no idea if you've held up your end of the bargain or not, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt since I have few other choices."

"There also wasn't a bargain," said the filly. "You asked us a favour, and we did it as best we could."

"Indeed." Greywhisker returned the bottle to the rest. "We've kept an eye on things here as you asked, and Black Rose is still in the city, and is staying in La Selle Dorée on Whinniacre avenue, on the top floor where she is rather well guarded."

"The Gilded Saddle?" Fleur translated. "Sounds a little bit seedy if you ask me."

"I won't deny it has had a reputation in the past, but it is now one of the highest rated hotels in Equestria. Certainly fancy enough for Black Rose to want to impose herself upon."

"What kind of guard are we talking about?" asked Bon Bon.

"A dozen or more Shades, although they're staying there on deployment rather than as her protection. Apart from that there's a complement of about fifty soldiers, both unicorns and earth ponies. The problem is that when she's there, most of the other Shades are as well."

"Not to mention there's plenty of soldiers in the city if they call for help," said Shining. "What do you think, Bon Bon? Can you do it?"

"Absolutely. All we need is the best way to approach without getting spotted, and we'll get it done." Bon Bon looked over to where Flicker was attempting to lift a throwing knife with her magic. "Maybe a little bit of preparation time is in order though."

"And I'll have to teach somepony how to sail this thing before I go," Crème added. "Yes, Nightlight, that can be you," she said as Nightlight grinned like a giddy colt.

"Very well." Greywhisker shrugged at all of them, "I'll leave that to you. In the meantime, I'll send a flight down to Las Pegasus to see if those ships you saw ended up there. If not, then I guess we'll have to see what the story is with those. Good luck."

Shining returned the salute Greywhisker gave, then turned to Bon Bon as the thestrals departed with the medicine. "Are you sure you've really got this?"

"I already have a plan, and once Flicker's magic is back in order, we'll put it in action."

"Thorax isn't getting involved."

Shining tried to hide his sigh at the words that came from Honeydew, and was pleased that he mostly succeeded. "He shouldn't need to be there this time, even if he is the expert infiltrator here."

"I feel like you're all taking the fact that he... survived what happened for granted. He mightn't do that every time something bad happens!"

"Then how about you do something instead?" Rocky asked. "We're all in this together, yet you seem conspicuously absent in everything we do. Heck, you don't even do the dishes. Thorax on the other hoof, he steps up and helps, and we appreciate that far more than complaining about everything."

"That's hardly fair. You haven't exactly done much that requires a pony with my skillset. I can't even maintain this boat we're on because of its crazy magic engine." Honeydew crossed her legs and huffed at Rocky, "It's not that I'm useless, but that I have no use."

"Doesn't stop you doing the dishes."

Honeydew opened her mouth to shout, but it snapped shut again as she looked down at the floor. "What do you want from me?"

Rocky looked to the others for an opinion, but when they gave him nothing he shrugged. "A little less complaining would be nice, and perhaps remembering that everything Thorax does is his choice."

Thorax gave Honeydew a smile as she looked at him, and kissed her on the cheek. "I said I wanted to help, and I'm sticking to that."

"I almost lost you."

"And I would've died saving lives, which is much better than dying in one of Chrysalis' insane plans." Thorax took Honeydew by the hoof, "Come on, you need to relax. Follow me." With a wink back at the others, Thorax led Honeydew away.

"It's official," Rocky said once Thorax had led Honeydew below deck, "I like Thorax way more than I like Honeydew. Such a complainer. I hate to think what she's like in the bedroom. No idea why she could possibly need to relax either when she doesn't do anything."

"She's just scared of losing the one she loves." Shining sighed as he thought of Cadence, and how she had to feel about him. "She's not the only one."

"Even so, screaming at us isn't going to help. None of us actually want to die, but we accept that we could."

"Just forget about her," Crème said to Rocky. "We have a job to do, and frankly it's a job that we've been looking forward to."

The skyline of Fillydelphia wasn't an impressive sight compared to Manehattan or Canterlot, or even somewhere like Appleloosa at times, but from the perspective of the tallest building in the city, it was pretty decent. For those not on the tallest building however, it was barely decent, and left plenty to be desired, such as a decent view, or at least a nearby coffee shop.

"La Selle Dorée," Rocky said, peering through his monocular at the hotel in question. "Something about that name rubs me the wrong way."

"It's literally across the street," Crème said, fighting to keep a sarcastic smile off her face. "I really don't think you need the monocular to keep an eye on it."

"Do I need to open my mouth to tell you to shut up? Or are you capable of doing that one yourself?"

"Alright Mr Touchy, take it easy."

"I am taking it easy. You don't want to see me not taking it easy."

"Stow it you two; here comes Black Rose," said Bon Bon. She made a face as Black Rose walked down the street towards them, escorted by two Shades, and apparently none the worse for their little tussle the other day. It made her wish there was a weapon capable of delivering death from so far away. It would make things much easier. "She's entering the hotel."

"That's us set then," said Rocky. "Now we just have to wait until it's good and dark. How long do you think that'll be?" he asked, turning to the singular thestral with them.

"Why are you looking at me?" Shadow asked. "I tell the time the exact same way you do."

"So you don't have special night-time powers then? Specifically one that lets you know when it'll get dark?"

"Other than the ability to see in the dark and take a few hits, no, I have no powers." Shadow cocked her head with a bemused smile, "Now I'm curious what else you might have heard about us thestrals."

"That you're soulless abominations that feed on blood and blah, blah, blah. Y'know, the usual."

"I wish ponies would stop giving away our biggest secrets like that."

"What?"

"What?" Shadow said back innocently.

Rocky blinked at Shadow's poker face, "...What?" he murmured weakly. "I honestly can't tell if you're joking now."

"I know! Great, isn't it?" Shadow hooked her hooves on the edge of the roof and looked down over the edge. "Do you think I could spit on a soldier from here?"

"Get down!" Bon Bon yanked Shadow back down below the edge of the building, "Do you want them to spot us?"

"Now you're just being paranoid."

"It's my job to be paranoid. Now sit down, stay out of sight, and wait until it's dark."

Shadow groaned and flopped onto her back, "The Night Guard would've stormed the building and killed her by now. This sucks."

"The Night Guard have considerably higher numbers than us, and are a good deal tougher, but even a few Adepts in there would severely mess up their attack." Bon Bon patted Shadow on the back, "Just sit tight and be patient."

Somehow, through the inexorable passage of time, night fell, bringing with it the darkness that would cover their entry into the hotel. The air near sparked with anticipation as the time came to make their move, and for three of them, get a little justice for their fallen teammate, Tootsie Roll.

"Two unicorns on the roof, probably two more on the far side," Shadow said as she peered up through Rocky's monocular, her night vision making her the only one capable of really seeing them. "Shouldn't be too difficult to take out if I'm quick. The problem is I'm not as quick as I used to be."

"Take me up with you then," Bon Bon suggested. "I can take out two while you take care of the other two."

Shadow gave Bon Bon a sceptical look, "Now that I'd like to see."

"And you will." Bon Bon gestured with her head up towards the roof of the hotel, and playfully raised her eyebrows, getting a groan from Shadow, although she took the hint and took fight, grabbing Bon Bon around the waist to carry her up.

"Good grief, either your gear weighs a ton, or you need to lay off the cake."

"Think of it as a workout for your wings." Bon Bon said with a grin, although it morphed into a frown as Shadow started heading away from the hotel. "Where are we going?"

"If we fly up by the hotel we'll be spotted, so I'm getting some distance to fly up then approach from above."

"Oh, good thinking." Or at least Bon Bon hoped it was good thinking, because most of her was occupied with how far above the ground she was getting, and how much faith she didn't have in the three legged bat pony she barely knew that was carrying her up there. "Oh dear."

"If you think this is the worse part, you're sorely mistaken," Shadow laughed. "I'm going to have to fly us in without flapping my wings so we don't get heard."

"And how is that worse?"

"I've never done it while carrying a pony before."

"Joy." Bon Bon sighed, and let her mind go to that empty place where her own mortality was a tertiary consideration.

Shadow smiled, having a far better handle on the situation than she'd ever let Bon Bon know. Once she was high enough, she found the direction the wind was blowing and faced into it, using it to keep her in an almost stationary position before slowly dropping towards the rooftop in the middle. As she'd suspected, there were four ponies up there, one on each corner, and not one of them watching the middle of the roof where Shadow dropped Bon Bon with the lightness of a feather.

"Yours," Shadow whispered, pointing at the two ponies at the one end of the building. "Give me thirty seconds, then go."
Bon Bon nodded, and with barely a sound Shadow was gone, letting the wind carry her back up into the night sky. Bon Bon crept closer to one of the ponies, practicing in her mind what she was about to do. Spring loaded blade up close and personal for the left one, throwing knife for the other.

Thirty seconds passed and Bon Bon silently ran out to the first pony, placing her hoof next to his neck and extending the blade before he even knew she was there. She caught him as he fell, and lowered him gently, then sprang forwards towards the other soldier, closing the distance a bit before throwing the blade that ended his life, hitting him in the neck. Not a quick death, but it was at least fairly quiet.

Bon Bon flinched as a shout echoed over the rooftop, and she whipped her head around just in time to see Shadow stumble through the air as one of the other soldiers pointed a crossbow at her. Bon Bon sprinted for the stallion, jumping on his back and killing him with her blade before he could fire. Thankfully the other soldier Shadow was supposed to eliminate was already dead.

"What happened?" Bon Bon asked as Shadow came in to land, sheathing her blades with more force than necessary.

"I fucked the turning up, alright? My back end just doesn't have the weight to throw into some turns like it used to. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologise, but do learn from it." Bon Bon patted Shadow on the shoulder, and gave her a reassuring smile. "Go grab Crème and the grapples for the other two, then we'll get this done."

"On it."

Bon Bon groaned as Shadow flew off. She supposed it could've gone a lot worse, but that was too silly a mistake to have to call off the entire operation over. The success of this hinged on none of those soldiers and Shades below her knowing they were coming. Blowing that before they'd even started was... crap, to be honest.

Bon Bon was investigating the way into the hotel interior when Shadow flew Crème up, two grapples floating in her magic that she hooked to the side of the building as soon as Shadow put her down. She waved back down at Rocky and Flicker, then turned to Bon Bon with a grin. "Are we ready to go, Chief?"

"Almost." Bon Bon waved Shadow over and held a small item up in her hoof, "Do you know what this is?"

"A short range communicator. You stick in your ear and you can talk to other ponies with one. I assume you want me to have it?"

"That's right. I want you out here keeping an eye on things. If any soldiers come, or anything you think notable, tell us. Likewise, if we have to call for help, be ready, although hopefully that won't happen."

"Gotcha." Shadow shoved the communicator in her ear, and turned it until it felt comfortable. "Good luck in there guys. Luna knows you'll need it." Tossing them a lazy salute, Shadow took off.

"Do you really think we'll need her help?"

"I hope not," Bon Bon replied, looking up to try and spot Shadow in the dark, "because by the time we know we need help, it'll probably be too late."

"Aww, isn't that cheerful," Rocky's voice said over the communicator. "Now if you two are done gassing, could we get this show on the road?"

"So impatient," Crème snickered. "On your word, Chief."

"Move in."

"Finally." Rocky grabbed his rope and checked it was securely attached to his belt, with Flicker taking that as a cue to check her own climbing gear that had been acquired on the way to the hotel, and modified to hold her weapons. It wasn't exactly comfortable, to say the least, but if it stopped her plunging to her death, she was all for it.

"Remember to try and avoid the windows, although hopefully Crème remembered to put the grapples between them."

"I know. Let's just do this before we get noticed."

Rocky shrugged and got himself into position as he leant back against the rope. Fairly confident it was solid, he picked his back legs up and swung off the rooftop towards the side of the hotel, and landed between the windows, taking as much of the impact with his legs to make it quieter. Seconds later, Flicker joined him.

Rocky gave her a questioning nod to ask if she was okay, and pointed upwards when he got one back. The time had come for the hard part of the climb.

Again bracing himself on his back legs, Rocky pulled himself up with one hoof, and used the other free one to pull the rope through the attachment on his belt, repeating the action again and again to slowly ascend up the side of the building. To his dismay, Flicker was overtaking him, so he pushed on faster.

When they reached the third storey, they stopped on both sides of a window that was partially open with the curtains drawn, although a brisk wind was blowing them about enough to give them an occasional glimpse inside. A unicorn mare was inside, asleep and unaware that she was being spied upon.

Rocky shook his head and pointed upwards to continue climbing, only to be stopped by Flicker. Using magic, she held the curtains apart and highlighted something on the floor next to the bed. It was a Shades uniform that had been tossed in a pile.

Still using her magic, Flicker picked a blade up with her magic and floated it in through the window, slowly guiding it over to the bed where she held it over the mare's neck, before moving up to her eye. Clearly Flicker wanted it to be quick, and she winced as she stabbed the blade down.

"What was that face about?" Rocky whispered, feeling a little more free to do so now that the room's occupant wasn't going to catch them doing it.

"They might be making a mistake working for Faust, but they were my friends once. Excuse me if I don't take killing them too lightly. It's not like I enjoy killing ponies in their sleep either." Flicker wiped the blade down and returned it to her belt. She then tried to open the window, but found it only went so far before a wire stopped it.

"Pegasi proofing," Rocky said to an unasked question. "You'll have to unscrew it from the inside."

"What would you do if you didn't have a unicorn?"

"Why do you think we always have a unicorn with us?"

Flicker rolled her eyes and pulled her blade back out as she used her magic to search for the screws, and used the knife to undo them when she had. Free of its limitations, the window swung open, allowing the both of them to enter unhindered.

"They're in," Crème said, having been watching Rocky and Flicker the entire time. She pulled the ropes up once she was sure they were detached, and stored the gear on her waist belt.

"Our turn then." Bon Bon pulled open the door in the small hut on the roof that allowed access to the hotel, and slowly made her way down the steps within. An attic stretched out before her, its edges invisible in the dark, but it did give them another option if they could find which room Black Rose was in.

She could see more as Crème followed her down, the unicorn's horn providing ample illumination to see that the attic was actually full of the accumulated junk of ages. Old furniture and fittings filled the space, and scuppered that plan.

Continuing down brought them into the hotel proper, although they didn't rush in, instead choosing to observe what little they could through the keyhole. The place seemed empty, so they let themselves in and started the process of going door to door looking for their target, and taking care of a little business as they went.

Bon Bon put an ear to a door, checking for signs of life. A gentle snoring reached her, and there was no light coming from beneath the door. Checking the handle informed her that the door was locked, so she waited for Crème to unlock her own door before indicating for the unicorn to unlock hers.

A click from the lock was the only sign it had been unlocked, and when Bon Bon tried the handle again it opened. She crept into the room, the snoring informing her that she'd not yet been noticed, and stopped by the bed, finding a stallion of indeterminable colours in the dark, half covered by the sheets. A uniform hanging off a rail confirmed he was a Shade, so wasting no time she stood up on two legs and positioned her blade over his heart, readying her other hoof to cover his mouth.

She slammed her hoof down over his mouth as her blade shot out, piercing flesh and bone with ease to stab into his heart. His eyes went wide as he struggled briefly, but it wasn't long until his eyes rolled back in his head, and his movements stopped. Bon Bon released him, cleaned her blade on the sheets, and stepped out the room as Crème left hers. With a quiet nod, they moved onto the next.

It continued like this for a while. Not all of the rooms were occupied, and not all of them held Shades, although that wasn't to say they were civilians either. There were maybe twenty rooms per floor of the hotel, and it seemed unlikely that the Shades would let anypony not involved with them share their floor. Bon Bon decided to leave it to the other's discretion as to whether they eliminated more than the Shades, but she left them alone otherwise.

"We're running out of rooms," Crème whispered as they left another pair of rooms. "If she's not in one of the next few rooms, I have no idea where she is."

"How many empty rooms did you find?"

"Three."

Bon Bon had found four herself. There was a possibility that their occupants were off on a night time operation, but that sort of thing was to be expected. What wasn't expected was for Black Rose to be with them when they saw her enter the hotel. "Keep searching, she has to be here somewhere."

"What if she isn't on the top floor like Greywhisker said? Frankly, I'm curious how he came to even learn that much."

"Observation, probably."

Crème took a deep breath and released it through her nose as she looked up and down the corridor. "I know it's clichéd to say it at this point, but trap?"

"I don't think so. As I said, keep searching, and hopefully we'll find her."

Flicker held her nose as she entered a room, and twisted her head in sheer confusion at the fact that the bed had been replaced with a itchy looking slab of hay. The room was empty though, so she quickly left and ran into Rocky, who reported the exact same thing in the room opposite.

"Guess that means we found our yaks," said Rocky.

"Should we take them out too?"

"Heck no. I have no wish to get into a tussle with yaks. Have you seen the size of those things?"

"Uh, no, I haven't."

"Oh, yeah. Well, they're big, like four, maybe fives times your size big, if not bigger. And they have horns, two of them, and a hide as tough as your average armour. Believe me, you do not want to fight one of those big bastards."

"And what if we don't have a choice? How do I kill one?"

Rocky held up a hoof, then lowered it slowly, turning it into shrug. "Carefully, and with luck."

"That's not exactly helpful."

"I don't know, go for the eyes if you can find them."

Flicker pouted at Rocky and moved onto the next room, finding it unoccupied like several others. She hoped the others were having more luck than they were, because so far they'd found only a hooffull of Shades, and a few other soldiery types, although why they got to sleep in here was a mystery to her.

She shut the door and paused as a noise reached her ears. And it was definitely a noise by all descriptions, because she couldn't tell what it was supposed to be in the slightest. It was quite deep, and had a rumble to it, but if it was words she couldn't understand them. "What is that?" she asked Rocky, who was stood stock still as he listened.

"Trouble." Rocky opened the door he was at, and dragged Flicker in after her as the noise got louder. Other noises started to be heard as a string of complaints from ponies started to be voiced, directed at the noise, that upon further inspection appeared to be singing. Very bad singing.

"That's going to wake everypony up," Rocky hissed as the singing got closer. "If we have to abort the mission because of a crap singer, I'm going to be pissed."

Flicker swallowed as a loud thump came from nearby, followed by more that got closer each time. "How big did you say yaks were again?"

Rocky never got the chance to answer as the door bulged, then splintered before giving up entirely on stopping the yak leaning against it. Both of them jumped clear as the yak fell into the room, and stood like deer in the lights as the yak pulled himself upright and glared at them, which was odd since his eyes were hidden behind a mass of hair.

"What ponies doing in yak room?"

"This isn't your room," Rocky said as calmly as possible as another yak followed the first in. "This is pony room. I mean our room."

"Pony room? Then what yak doing in pony room? Where yak room?"

"Next door down I believe," Rocky said with a nervous smile, pointing with a hoof to the right.

"Oh." The yak froze for several seconds, save for a certain amount of swaying, then stomped around in one eighty turn and left. "Nirmata be with you."

"Who?"

Rocky narrowly avoided a concussion by facehoof as the single, innocent sounding syllable slipped out of Flicker's mouth. As unimpressed as he was at her, that was nothing compared to the expression the yaks were wearing.

"Why you no know who Nirmata is?"

Flicker's eyes flitted about wildly, fully aware of the massive cock-up she might've just made. "Because I've never heard that before. What's Nirmata?"

The yak stepped forward and snorted at Flicker, blowing her mane back. "You call her Lady, and if you do that, you know yak call her Nirmata."

"Oh, uh, I must've missed the memo for that. Sorry."

The yaks didn't appear to be buying it, and through some miraculous leap of drunk logic, managed to call them out as being exactly what they were. "Yaks' memo was perfect, and very thorough, so you must be imposters!"

"Rocky pushed himself in front of Flicker, "Now-now fellas-" he started to say in an attempt to diffuse the situation.

"Me lady yak!" the yak in the rear shouted over him. "Why you think me no lady? Yak smash rude pony!"

"That's what upsets you more?!" Rocky screamed as he dove out of the way of the yak's hooves as the supposed 'lady' yak reared up to stamp on him. He ran, dodging around the two yaks and back out of the door, and was surprised to see Flicker keeping up with him.

"I think they forgot I was there," she offered as an explanation.

"Who cares? Run!"

The wall exploded behind them as they rounded a corner as the yaks took a more direct route to them, not even bothering to shake the bricks off themselves before chasing after the two ponies. Nothing proved to be too much of an obstacle for them to smash their way through, except each other as they ran side by side down the corridor.

"You really fucked up this time!" Rocky yelled at Flicker, mostly to make himself feel better. In the back of his head he could feel the remaining seconds of his life ticking down with each rumbling step of the two yaks.

"Me? You're the one that didn't know she was a lady!"

"How was I supposed to know? Shit!" Rocky swore as they turned into a dead-end. "We're so fucked!"

"I have an idea."

"This should be good."

"Just shut up and stop running when we reach the end!"

Rocky did so, skidding to a halt at the same time as Flicker, and turned to face the yaks as she did. There was a bit of distance between them, but the yaks were eating it up quickly as they continued their relentless pursuit of the ignorant ponies that had insulted them on two counts.

"I really hope you know what you're doing," he said as Flicker lowered her stance, like she was preparing for her own charge against the yaks.

"Just get ready to move when I do." Flicker grit her teeth, her nerves doing a dance along with the shaking floor as the yaks got closer. There were barely a dozen meters away when her horn blazed with a blinding light that dazzled the two yaks, and with a shout for Rocky she dove out of the way.

The two yaks, either too heavy, or too drunk to think of stopping, continued their charge, ramming into the wall that had been behind the two ponies. The wall, having been designed for pony habitation, proved unable to withstand the blow, and fell apart, letting the two yaks persist in a journey that would take them through the wall, and straight to the other side in every sense of the word.

Rocky coughed, a cloud of dust filling the corridor as well as his lungs. A strong breeze was quickly clearing it though, and drawing it back out through the gaping hole the yaks had left in the wall. He risked looking out through it, and far below in the street were the two yaks. Both of them were most definitely dead.

"Hoo boy," Rocky muttered as a squawking in his ear started to deafen him. He pressed a hoof to his communicator, finding it had been dislodged a little, and the voice became a lot clearer as he put it back in right.

"Rocky? Can you hear me?"

"I hear you Chief."

"Good, now what the fuck was that? It felt like an earthquake!"

"Yaks. Two of them. They've been... taken care of."

"You can say that again," said a voice that took Rocky a moment to recognise as the one that belonged to Shadow. "The flight was pretty good, but they really failed to nail the landing. There's bits of yak everywhere!"

"Not now Shadow," Bon Bon barked, not sounding pleased. "That woke everypony up, which means our job just got impossible. I'm aborting the mission, so get your flanks to us. You too Shadow."

"Yes Chief," Rocky grunted, annoyed that it had to come to this because of a couple of pissed up yaks with no brakes. It was at least unique in that regard. "Come on Flicker." Rocky started to trot back the way they came, bit stopped at the lack of response from the unicorn. "Flicker?"

He turned back, finding Flicker half buried under rubble right next to the hole, which was odd because he knew she'd jumped away. Then he saw the gash across her right cutie mark, and the broken strap on her harness, and figured that she had to have got caught on a yak's horn as she jumped, then got smacked against the wall. Luckily the strap snapped rather than take her with the yaks.

"Flicker? Can you hear me?" Rocky quickly cleared the debris off her, and put a hoof to her neck, finding a pulse. She also appeared to be breathing, she just wasn't waking up. "Shit."

Rather than spend time he didn't have waking her up, Rocky picked her up and slung her over his back. He could hear plenty of commotion coming from elsewhere now, meaning that there would soon be plenty of ponies investigating what had happened. Ponies that would know they weren't meant to be there.

Luckily, they'd already taken out a lot of the ponies that would recognise them, which might have coincided with the immediate lack of ponies around as Rocky raced for the stairs up to where Bon Bon and Crème were waiting for them, although there were now some bodies in the corridor, along with Crème who waved to them as they turned the corner.

"Is Flicker alright?"

"She's alive, but that's as much as I can say for sure. Do we have a way out?"

"We're working on it."

Bon Bon was talking to Shadow out of the window as he entered the room, but turned to Rocky as he got closer. "You two have really kicked the hornets nest now."

"Well excuse us for having a couple of drunk yaks suddenly turn up." Rocky slid Flicker off his back and lowered her to the floor, checking again that she was still alive. She was, as yet, but the lack of consciousness was getting more worrying the longer it went on. "How are we getting out of here?"

"Quickly, hopefully," Bon Bon said as she finished knotting together the two lengths of rope they used to get into the hotel. "Remember, far side of the building," she said, passing one of the grapples to Shadow through the window. "Then you might have to come back for Flicker."

"Yeah, I got it." Shadow flew away quickly, and Bon Bon secured their grapple in the corner of the window. A minute later the rope went taut, followed by the return of Shadow.

"There's a lot of ponies out there around the yaks now. If you want to get out of here, you need to go now."

"I know. Rocky, give me a hoof." Between them, they got Flicker out of the window and into Shadow's hooves, and she quickly carried the unconscious pony away as Bon Bon climbed out of the window and took hold of the rope, hoping her suit would save her from rope burn. Hesitating for only a second, she pushed off, sliding down the rope to the rooftop opposite, landing with a dainty roll as her uniform started to smoke.

"Your turn, Rocky," Crème said once Bon Bon was gone. She could hear shouting coming from nearby as the bodies were starting to get discovered. It wouldn't be long until ponies found them as well, so it would be nice if they could be away before that happened.

Crème looked back as Rocky slipped out of the window, and with a final check of the corridor before shutting the door, she ran to the window herself. The Mareitanians were getting too close by far now, and as she took the rope in her hooves she could hear them running past in the corridor. Thankfully she was right over the rooftop before she was seen, and the shouts directed at her didn't exactly faze her as she landed and cut the rope to prevent the Mareitanians following them.

Flicker was already on Rocky's back by the time Crème was done cutting the rope, and without a word they made for the exit, hoping they could get down before soldiers started coming up. It was a feeble hope, and as soldiers started piling up the stairwell, Bon Bon led them through one of the many doors leading off the stairs.

Locked doors greeted them as they raced on, the building's inhabitants thoroughly unaware of all that had transpired in the hotel just across the road from them, although they would certainly become more aware as the soldiers started chasing after the five fleeing ponies.

The hallway ended in a dead end with a window, and Shadow flew ahead, pulling it open by the time the others reached her. A fire escape was outside, and there weren't any soldiers on it as yet. "This way," she said, again taking Flicker so Rocky could climb down easier.

"Shadow, take Flicker and get back to the boat to tell the others what happened, and that we're going to need an emergency pick-up at the docks."

"But how will I keep an eye on you?"

"You won't! Just go Shadow!"

A short, frustrated growl came from Shadow's mouth, but she obeyed, quickly flying away with Flicker into the night, leaving the rest of them to keep running.

The streets seemed considerably busier around the hotel as more and more soldiers became aware of the attack that had taken place, and the three of them found it hard to balance their speed with staying hidden, and more than once they almost ran full pelt into a group of soldiers heading for the hotel. At the opposite end of things, the further they got from the hotel, the easier things got.

"Where are we going?" Crème panted, struggling to keep up with the two earth ponies.

"The docks, like I told Shadow."

"But why? I thought we were avoiding places like that."

"Because I wasn't thinking! Too late now!"

The route to the docks was mostly clear past that point, probably because they'd passed most of the soldiers on the way as they ran to the hotel. Unfortunately, some soldiers had a sense of duty, and the docks were still being patrolled. Bon Bon slowed down as she saw the patrols, and stopped entirely as she saw their rescue wasn't there yet.

"I suppose it would've been faster to not have Shadow carry Flicker," said Rocky.

"I was thinking that at least her and Shadow would get away," Bon Bon told him, not disagreeing with his opinion, but not about to openly admit to how right he was in this case. "We just have to sit tight until they get here."

"We mightn't have that kind of time," said Crème.

Bon Bon looked around to see what she meant, and spotted as Crème had, the soldiers making their way into the docks, led by none other than Black Rose. Either they'd been spotted on the way here, or the mare had made an educated guess on where they were going. Whichever it was, they were in trouble.

"I guess we'll have our chance at her after all," Rocky said grimly as Black Rose started directing the soldiers to spread out. "It must be our lucky day."

Bon Bon shook her head at Rocky, "Don't even think about it. There are too many soldiers, and this wasn't supposed to be a suicide run."

"A mission gone this fubar, it might as well be."

"Hey, it was a partial success," Crème said defensively. "We took a decent number of Shades out, even if we never got our chance at Black Rose."

"Yeah, and we probably never will now. If she was being careful before, after today she'll be impossible to sneak up on."

Crème shrugged, and was about to say they'd have another chance, when a light on the horizon caught her eye. "There! That has to be them! Chief?"

"I see them." Bon Bon just didn't know how to get to them. She knew she'd fucked up a moment after the word 'docks' had left her mouth, but now she could see the full depth of that cock-up. "There," she said, pointing to one of several large concrete jetties that reached out into the sea. "We'll meet them there, and hope that they reach us before the soldiers do. Go!"

They sprinted out, racing through the docks and past surprised soldiers as they ran for the jetty and up it, keenly watching the light of the boat getting closer and closer. They were elated as the boat came into full view, with Shining Armour stood at the bow, ready for action. The elation died quickly as the boat flew straight past the jetty. They could hear Shining cursing at his father.

"Well...shit," Rocky swore, hanging his head for a second before turning to face the dozens of soldiers that crowded the jetty behind them. Black Rose was in the lead, and she did not look pleased.

"Do you have any idea what you've done? A dozen of my Shades dead, along with the two yaks that the Lady had sent to protect the reconstruction! If it wasn't for the fact that you're wanted alive, I'd have killed you all by now!"

"Then why haven't you?" asked Bon Bon, happy to keep Black Rose talking while the boat hopefully came back around.

"I just said, I need you alive." Black Rose tapped a hoof to her chin, some of her usual theatrics coming back into play. "I suppose I don't need all of you though. Question then is which one to spare? Which one of you knows the most? Probably the leader, but then I have to ask which one of you is the easiest to break? I suppose it doesn't really matter in the end. Soldiers, kill the big one first."

"No!" Crème shouted, raising a shield as the soldiers raised their weapons, saving Rocky from the volley, although she knew she wouldn't save them from another, and especially not if the soldiers decided to get up close and personal. If anything, she'd made herself their primary target, but she was alright with that if it meant not seeing her friends die.

A shrill whistling reached the ears of all there, and there was a short moment of confusion when the dark shape of Shadow came out of the night, two shining blades on her forelegs that lashed out at the back of a soldier, killing him. Seconds late a larger form fell out of the sky directly above the gap between Bon Bon and her team, and the soldiers. It was huge purple insect that started thrashing two of its six limbs at the soldiers, knocking them away. Arrows bounced off its hide, gouging chunks out of its chitin.

Crème gasped as she saw her chance in the confusion, and she ran for Black Rose as the mare tried to avoid Thorax. She gathered a single charge of magic, and fired it just as Rocky grabbed her, knocking her aim off. She heard a scream, although it might've been her own scream of outrage, she wasn't sure, and was dragged back behind a purple shield.

"Get on, quick!" Shining shouted as the fight started to turn against Thorax. The changeling retreated back through the shield, and jumped on board just as Shadow came in to land. As soon as they were on, the boat was moving again taking them to safety.

"I could've got her!" Crème screamed at Rocky, hitting him on the chest. "She was right there, and I could've got her!"

"It was time to go," Rocky answered simply, indifferent to Crème hitting him, but surprised by what she was doing.

"He's right," Bon Bon said sternly. With a sigh she turned to Shining Armour, "Thanks for the rescue."

"You're welcome, although I feel it could've gone better," he replied, giving his father in the cockpit a glare. "I'm just glad you're all alright."

"That said," Fleur poke sternly as she came out onto the top deck, "I wasn't expecting to be dealing with another fuck-up right now, and I would very much like to know what went wrong, and why Flicker is in the state she is."

"Drunk yaks," Rocky told her, fully aware of how feeble that sounded even to him. "You can't really plan for drunk yaks."

"Drunk... yaks." Fleur thought about it for a moment, and came to the conclusion that she didn't believe it for a single moment. "Even if there were drunk yaks, how could they have messed things up to the point this happened?"

"They attacked us, and woke everypony up in the process. Flicker got hurt saving mine and hers life."

"He's not joking," Shadow piped up. "You should've seen it! There I was just flying around, keeping an eye on things, and boom! Two yaks come flying through the wall and fall to the street like splat! It was fucking ace!"

"Fucking ace, hmm? You consider the mission getting ruined to the point we needed to pull off a risky pick-up like this 'ace?'"

"Uhh..." Shadow bit her bottom lip for a second, "No?"

"And that is the right answer. We can't afford screw-ups like this."

"How's Flicker?" asked Rocky.

"Alive and awake," Fleur grunted, annoyed at the blatant change of subject, "although I wouldn't call her as being entirely with it as yet. She's sleeping again now, I hope." Fleur looked up at the city as it fell further into the distance, and sighed. "Her being hurt is also another reason of many why we won't be attempting anything that ambitious for a while, if ever again, because we can't afford the kinds of fuck-ups where the few ponies we have get killed. I'm going to contact the princesses and see if they have any idea for us in the meantime, and to tell them what we've learnt so far."

"I think she's mad," Shadow stage whispered as Fleur went back below decks.

"I just wish she was wrong," Bon Bon said back. "Drunk yaks or not, we were out of our depth, even if the mission was a partial success. We really need to rethink how we do this."

"Why must I be constantly beset with failures and disappointments?" Faust asked as she paced around the hospital bed occupied by her head of the Shades, ignoring the grunts of pain from the mare. Faust had forbid her to be treated for now, and the pain of the raw burns on Black Rose's face was enough, Faust hoped, to keep her awake and listening thoroughly to every word she said.

"We have Equestria now, and are at a point where we can start moving our plans along, and yet we are constantly bested by small groups of- of- miscreants, right under our very noses! How does this keep happening?"

It took Black Rose a moment to answer, the pain she was suffering fighting her ability to gather the breath for a single sentence. "We know who they are, but without the griffons, we can't catch them."

"Ah, so failures aren't yours at all, but the fault of those disloyal cretins. Of course, how could I forget that they were the only competent beings at my disposal?"

"That's not what I meant, my Lady," Black Rose said quickly, when all she really wanted to do was scream and cry. "Fleur de Lis and Shining Armour, and whoever else is with them, are operating from a boat that we can't track or attack without soldiers that can fly. Luna's Night Guard also can't be tracked from the ground. We know they're around Hollow Shades somewhere, but exactly where is still unknown."

"I know all that," said Faust. "What I don't know is why nothing is being done about it."

It took Back Rose a few seconds to respond, and when she did it came out as a pained growl. "What can we do?"

Faust smiled and lit her horn up, and Black Rose gasped as the agony in her face suddenly abated. Potent healing magic swept over her, healing the burns and leaving nothing behind except a small scar on Black Rose's left cheek, to act as a constant reminder of her failures, and of who she had to thank for only leaving that much.

"While the yaks are a potent ally, at times, it is clear to me we cannot hope to match anything with wings without wings of our own. I can't be expected to be everywhere either."

Rose stroked a hoof over her face, amazement filling her at how Faust had done that. She was still thinking about what Faust had said though, and after a moment she came to realise what she was talking about.

"Do you really think she's ready?"

"I do believe she is, and I think this shall act as a fine test for her."

Author's Notes:

That's right, it's not entirely incompetency causing the fuck-up this time. No one plans for drunk yaks.