Screwdriver’s place. It was a seedy bar in the nastier part of town, populated by the absolute worst of the Canterlot underground. Street docs, prostitutes, thieves, pirates, every criminal that called this city home hung out at this pub. It was most certainly not an appropriate place for a filly. Of course, Sky and Shadow hadn’t gotten where they were today by following rules about where ponies should and shouldn’t be.

The sun had gone down not too long ago, the cobblestone streets of Canterlot freezing cold under the two sisters’ near-silent hooves. They both kept their hoods drawn, concealing their identities. They were wanted ponies.
Sky waited under the pub’s porch for a moment for her little sister to catch up, ruffling her mane through her hood and grinning at her.
“We haven’t had much to celebrate lately,” she whispered, nuzzling the little filly.
“We haven’t really been able to afford it, huh?” Shadow shrugged, doing her best to maintain a cool and collected affect. She nuzzled her back all the same.
Sky couldn’t wipe the silly grin off of her face. Shadow was adorable as fuck really, even if she tried her hardest to hide it.

Of course, she is technically banned from Screwdriver’s for what nearly braining the last stallion who called her cute... Sky reflected, frowning. She was the only pony who could get away with calling her little sister adorable, or could catch her doing girly things without getting some more hoofprints unceremoniously added to her cutie mark.
“Now keep an eye out, okay? You’re still probably not allowed in here, so keep a low profile and let me order the drinks.” Sky kissed her on the cheek, pulling her own burglar’s mask off as she did so.
“Awww! Sis! Yeah, I know. I know.” Shadow groaned. “As long as nopony starts any shit, I’ll be on my best behaviour. Harmless little filly, see?” she flicked her hoof, retracting her crossbow. To a passive observer, she’s just a smaller version of Sky, a completely unarmed little pegasus with shining green eyes.
“An adorable harmless little filly...” Sky retorted, sticking her tongue out cheekily. Shadow cringed.
“Do I have to tell everypony about those magazines I caught you with?” she growled, going red and sticking her own tongue out in turn.
Sky gave her a dark look. “We don’t speak of those magazines to anypony.” her voice carried undertones of desperation. A filly shouldn’t have been looking at stuff like that in the first place, especially one like Shadow.
“I dunno...” the filly stared upwards innocently, “Keep going on about how adorable I am, and I might accidentally let my tongue slip...”
“Okay, okay, whatever. I won’t call you adorable, I promise!” Sky panicked. “Just...please promise me nopony’ll find out? Pretty please?”
Shadow checked her hooves for a moment to draw out the tension, before grinning at her. “Come on, do you think I’d do a thing like that?”
“You’re a bitch.” breathed Sky, relieved.
“True...but I’m your bitch.” Shadow looked around for a while, making sure that nopony was watching them, before grabbing Sky and hugging her tight.
Sky gave a quiet chuckle, before hugging her back and rubbing her cheek against the filly’s. “Come on kiddo, let’s have a party.” she winked, pushing the door open.

Screwdriver’s, for it had no more imaginative name, was the the liveliest of the Canterlot underground’s watering holes. Even now, after dark, all of the lights were on. There were only a few shadowy corners for the edgier criminals to convene, and the rest of the clientele were treated to a roaring warm fire, good music, passable drinks, hot meals and no questions asked. Screwdriver himself, a larger stallion with an almost permanent smile, was the kind of guy who minded his own business and kept a friendly face until the shit hit the fan. Nice bloke.

Shadow gave Sky’s cloak a little tug, and a moment later she was gone, looking for somewhere for the two sisters to sit. Sky approached him, hoping against hope that he hadn’t spotted Shadow.
“What can I get ya?” he beamed at her, in the middle of polishing a glass. Like Sky’s burglar mask, it was all about appearances. Nopony would know that he was a bartender if he didn’t open with that line every damn time.
“I’ll go with a cider, thanks.” she hoofed over the money, and glanced over at where Shadow’s now sitting, giving her big sister a cheerful wave. “Oh yeah, and an apple juice, but can you make it look like cider somehow? Impressions. You know how it is.”
Screwdriver looked around, before tapping his muzzle conspiratorially. “You’ve got it, Miss. Two ciders coming right up.”
Sky patted his shoulder and winked at him, before trotting back to their table and sitting down across from her. “Well, he didn’t see you.”
“Yeah...” Shadow shrugged, disappointed. “I wasn’t even trying to hide that time.”
“I dunno...maybe he’s forgiven you or something?” Sky shrugged, looking over as Screwdriver approached, setting the drinks down while very pointedly not looking at Shadow. “There you go, Miss. Can I get you anything else while I’m up?”
“Wouldn’t mind some hay fries.” she smiled up at him. He gave the most genuine smile he could manage, to his credit doing a great job of ignoring Shadow’s snickering right next to him, before trotting off.
“Your big mouth’s gonna get you in trouble one of these days.” Sky glared at her little sister once he was out of earshot.
“Oh come on, could you see him trying to keep a straight face?” she giggled cheekily, pulling a feather out of her wing with her teeth. “Hang on, he’s coming back. Watch this...”
As Screwdriver came back, placing the plate of hay fries down on the table, Shadow reached up and started tickling his muzzle with her little feather. Sky facehoofed, trying her best to not descend into a giggling fit. Damn it, we are so gonna get thrown out...
“Is something wrong?” Screwdriver raised an eyebrow, curious.
“No...no...nothing’s wrong...” she looked up all of a sudden, her face a mask of seriousness. The corners of her mouth twitched all the same. The little filly went from his nose to tickling under his chin, all the while squeaking “Coochie coochie coo!” For fuck’s sake Shadow...
Screwdriver sighed, shaking his head and walking away. “Enjoy your meal, Miss.”
As soon as he was gone, Sky’s head hit the table, panting wildly between giggles. “Fu...fuck...fuck you...”
Shadow gave her her best shit-eating grin. “He’s good...he must hate me...”
“Can’t imagine why...” Sky chuckled, pushing the plate into the middle of the table.
“He’s jealous, I bet that’s what it is.” Shadow smiled brightly, helping herself.
“Uh-huh, jealous of the little filly who still can’t sleep in her own bed?” Sky grinned, punching her playfully in the shoulder.
“Well, there’s a lot of ponies who’d like to sleep in the same bed as you,” Shadow winked. “and only one of them can do this...” she rubs her hooves over her eyes until they water, her purses her lips, pouting and giving her big sister her best puppy eyes.
Sky pulled her good wing around her face, shielding her eyes. “No! No, that’s not gonna work this time, damn it!”
“Yes it is,” said Shadow in a sing-song voice.
“No it isn’t!” Sky kept her eyes closed, tucking her head under her wing.
There was silence for a moment while Sky cowered.
“Sis...” Shadow whimpered, taking off and fluttering right in front of her, pulling her wing down gently and holding it in her little forehooves.
Sky looked up at her, reluctantly opening her eyes and...yep, Shadow was still pouting, still doing her cutest little face, her ears splayed back and her lip quivering slightly.
“Fuck you.” Sky grinned, before grabbing Shadow by the forehooves and pulling her close to her chest, cuddling the now-struggling filly and wrapping her wing around her.

They stayed like that for a while, with Shadow occasionally poking her muzzle and forehoof out through Sky’s feathers to feast on any fries unfortunate enough to wander near her newfound den. Her eyes darted from side to side, searching for anypony who might be giving her funny looks, disappearing back behind Sky’s wing whenever she spotted one. Finally, she made a little “eep!” noise, snuggling close to Sky and looking up at her with fries poking out of her mouth.
“You know, for a filly who doesn’t like getting called cute, you pull a lot of this shit.” Sky grinned, ruffling her mane playfully.
Shadow looked up at her with shining eyes, finishing her fries and giving her a little smile as she leaned up to nuzzle her nose.
“Damn it.” Sky rolled her eyes, nuzzling her back.

Shadow’s ears perked up.
“Shit.” she whispered, before disappearing under the table and out of sight.
“What’s gotten into you?” Sky put her wing down, peering under the table. Shadow was gone, but there were four light grey hooves on the floor in front of her that she recognised a little too well. Raising her head again, she found her muzzle pressed against a familiar, equally grey face. It belonged to a younger stallion, a pegasus just like her, wearing a smug little grin.
“Hey Sky, how’s the little sister?” he asked conversationally. There was something about that grin...it was infuriating.
“She’s getting on okay.” Sky said cooly. “How’re your balls? They grow back yet?”
The stallion took a step back as a few of the bar’s patrons laughed, before collecting himself and grinning again. “You’re never gonna let me forget that, are you?”
“Nope, because it’s still funny, even today.” she smirked back. “You and your deadbeat dad still haven’t learned what happens when you tangle with us, have you?”
“We learned that one years ago. You gonna eat that?” he grabbed the plate of fries and starts stuffing them into his mouth, sitting down across from her.
“What, so you came into this particular bar just to start shit with me?” Sky cocked her head, her crossbow snapping out under the table. “That’s bloody typical of you, Nightshade. You really are the worst fucking burglar I’ve ever met.” she said acidly.
“From you, I’m gonna take that as sweet talk. You coming onto me like you do to every other stallion in Canterlot, you whorse?”
“I would, but I don’t really have two minutes to spare, thanks for offering.” Sky leaned back in her chair, smirking back. A little pair of dark blue filly ears loomed up behind him. It appeared as though Shadow had somehow taken possession of somepony’s chair, and was raising it over Nightshade’s smug little head. Sky rolled her eyes. We’re gonna get kicked out of here again...I can just see it.
“You know you’re fucking around in our part of town, right?” Nightshade put the plate down, glaring at her dangerously, flapping his wings a little impatiently. “I could kick your measly little flanks from here to Baltimare anytime I wanted.”
“Talk’s cheap, Nightshade. Where is your precious little daddy anyway? I didn’t see him passed out in a gutter on my way here.”
The entire bar had long since fallen silent, the patrons all fixated on the two burglars, smiling at one another, waiting for the other to blink.
“One more word out of you,” he leaned across the table at her, “And I’ll slap that fucking smirk right off of your face, missy.”
Shadow raised the chair over her head, taking off to get a clear shot at the back of his skull. Sky nodded at her.
“Bring it.” she pressed her muzzle to his, releasing the catch on her crossbow as Shadow swung downwards with the chair.
There was a crunch, just as Nightshade reached out and grabbed Sky’s good wing. She followed up by headbutting him in the face, and the grey pegasus stallion collapsed over the table, soundly knocked out.
A bunch of burly looking stallions got to their hooves, glaring at the two sisters. “What the fuck was that for?”
“He was a rapist!” Sky cried.
“He was a pedofilly!” Shadow yelled at the same time.
The pair locked eyes for a moment, before turning back to the stallions and pointing at one another. “What she said!”
They looked confused for a moment, looking between the sisters before turning to the elder. “Miss, you just interrupted our buddy’s birthday with your shit,” growled one of the larger ones, a light brown gentlecolt with an anchor for a cutie mark. His breath reeked of alcohol. “You know what happens to ponies who interrupt my buddy’s birthday?”
“They get a goodie bag to take home?” Sky grinned, looking him up and down with approval. Oooh, a sailor...don’t mind if I do...
“Um...sis...” Shadow started, before closing her mouth and sitting back. She’d known her sister for long enough to know how this was going to turn out. Bloody shameless flirt...
“You getting smart with me?” Goodie Bag’s eyes narrowed.
“I don’t know...” Sky grinned, playing with her drink. “Do you want me to get smart with you?”
“Maybe I should take your ass out back and teach you a lesson...” his muzzle was inches from Sky’s now.
“Maybe you should...” she nodded, her eyes half-lidded, murring softly. Come on, matey...I’ll have you...
“Oi.” growled another stallion from behind her. Sky looked around, internally rolling her eyes. Oh come on, let the nice guy take me out back and teach me a lesson...
Goodie Bag looked up at the pegasus. He was a slightly darker shade of blue, with a black and yellow mane. Part of his ear was missing, almost like something had taken a bite out of it.
“Step away from the mare. She doesn’t want anything to do with you.”
“Well, actually… Sky began.
“And why the hell do you care what happens to her?”
“Would you just let her go, already?”
Sky frowned, hopping off of her chair. “You know what? This probably isn’t gonna work. Come on Shadow, let’s get out of here…”
“Oh no you don’t!” Goodie Bag growled, grabbing her by the shoulders and digging his hooves in.
That’s a bit more like it…
“Hey! I said back off!” The blue pegasus shoved him away.
Or not…
“You back off!” The angry stallion shoved him back, harder. The pegasus bumped back into his table, upsetting his drink.
There was a moment of silence as his whiskey spilled across the table, dripping onto the floor. He was transfixed by it, staring intently as if expecting it to jump back into his glass from force of sheer will alone. When he turned back to the stallion, he was glaring.
“Nopony…” he growled, picking up a barstool. “fucks...with...my...booze.”
And with that, he walloped the stallion straight in the muzzle.

All hell broke loose. The two stallions growled at one another, circling for a while, champing and snorting before finally locking hooves and wrestling. The pegasus roared, throwing his opponent off of him and hurling his assailant back into the bar, upsetting a few more drinks. Sky looked around, seeing the whole ‘get fucked by angry stallions’ plan going completely down the tubes, and gave a quick, loud whistle.
“Yeah, sis?” Shadow asked, crawling out from under the table. Far from looking as scared as a filly ideally should under these circumstances, she couldn’t possibly look more excited if she tried.
“I think we might’ve buggered up. We should probably get out of here.” Sky looked around, chuckling.
“Awww, can’t I just barfight for a little while?”
Sky rolled her eyes, grinning. “Oh, all right. You can beat up one pony, but then it’s bedtime, okay?”
“Sweet!” Shadow giggled mischievously, grabbing a bottle and taking off, flying over the growing fray, ready to dive in to smack an unsuspecting pony upside the head.
Sky watched her little sister go, beaming proudly. I’m never gonna stop being proud of that insane fluffy little bugger…
She was somewhat distracted by a bright orange pegasus soaring over her head, sent flying by the blue stallion in the middle of the scrum. He tumbled and turned in the air and crashed into a table, giggling madly.
“Hey Sparky!” Sky chuckled, helping him to his hooves as he twitched a little. “How’s it hanging?”
“Not hanging at all!” Sparky grinned back, fluttering his wings excitedly. “Flying, falling, crashing. How are you?”
“Not too bad, thanks!” Sky nodded, getting tackled by one of Goodie Bag’s friends. “Hey, don’t suppose you wanna give me a hoof, could you?”
“Dunno...what do I get in return?” Sparky asked evasively. The stallion drew back a forehoof to punch Sky in the face while she was pinned down.
“Erm...anything you want!”
“A night with you?”
“SURE!” Sky’s eyes widened as the stallion brought down his hoof, cracking some of the wooden floorboards where her head had been just a second before.
“Well jeez, you just had to say so!” Sparky grinned, rolling his eyes and charging into the stallion, knocking him off of Sky.
She got to her hooves, dusting herself off and flicking her forehoof to snap her crossbow open. A moment later, she had to duck as Sparky went flying over her head again. Jamming a sleep dart into the weapon, Sky raised it and got off a shot as that stallion came for another go at her, diving sideways as he dropped to the floor, already snoring.
“Well this isn’t exactly the kind of party I’d asked for, but whatever.” she chuckled, flicking her tail and wrapping it around the hind legs of a stallion who was charging towards the melee. He tripped over, landing in the pony pile face-first.
Sky yelped as someone grabbed her good wing from behind. She spun around, a few of her loose feathers coming free as her attacker refused to release his grip.
“Oi! Hooves off, mate!” she giggled, coming face-to-face with Nightshade again. He seemed groggy and thoroughly pissed off, holding a hoof-full of her feathers and growling furiously.
“You think this is a fucking joke?” Nightshade spread his wings, raising his hooves defensively. Sky eyed him warily. She knew him well enough to know that he was a brawler first and a burglar second. She took a few steps back, trying to get a few tables and chairs between the two of them. Her flanks bumped into something, and as she turned around, she saw the blue pegasus from earlier swinging a forehoof around to meet her, in a terrible, frothing, sober frenzy.
Nightshade spread his wings, leaping over the table and charging towards her, raising his own hoof to sock her in the face as well.
Sky did the only sensible thing any mare could do in such circumstances.
She ducked.
Nightshade struck the pegasus in the face, and he snarled loudly, picking him up by the shoulders and casting him into the air. The stranger then switched over onto his front hooves, winding up and bucking Nightshade out of the window as he fell back to earth.
“Blimey…” Sky whistled, looking up at the pegasus as her rival went sailing out onto the street. “I don’t suppose you want a go with me, do you?”
“There’s a time and a place, miss.” the stallion grinned back. He definitely didn’t seem aversed to the idea.
“Yeah, yeah, I know…” Sky rolled her eyes. “Barfight, guards are probably coming, yadda yadda.”
She loaded up her crossbow with another sleep dart, dropping a pony who was coming up behind her would-be rescuer with a folding chair. A moment later, Shadow shot out of nowhere, starting to lay into the unconscious pony with a plank of wood.
“Oh yeah, that’s my little sister.” she chuckled, as the pegasus followed her eyes to the unfortunate scene incredulously.
“Uh huh…” he grunted, raising an eyebrow and staring for a moment. Shadow stopped what she was doing to give him a cheery wave.
Sky was about to continue the pleasantries, but was cut off by the sound of rapid hoofsteps behind her. She drew back her hind legs, kicking a chair towards whoever was coming and dove sideways. The bar patron in question, who for all she knew was just trying to get the hell out of there, tumbled over the chair, straight into the pegasus’s back legs.
“Anyway, introductions!” he grinned, once he was sure that the pony was out cold. “What’s your name, lass?”
“It’s Sky.” she grinned, going a little pink. Bugger me, nopony’s ever asked me my name when they thought they were gonna get lucky before… “How about you, sweetie?” she added, giving him her best bedroom eyes.
“My name’s Eny…” he began, but stopped mid-sentence. There was a tinkling of broken glass, and he stood there for a moment before falling over forwards, knocked out by some plot-blocking pony with a broken bottle.
Sky sighed, walking slowly up to the pegasus’s assailant, putting her forehooves on his cheeks and giving him a soft smile.
Then she headbutted him, hard.

Ponies didn’t join the guard to put up with this sort of crap. When they looked up at those nice recruitment posters, they didn’t imagine themselves wading into some wrecked-up pub to break up a drunken slogging match. Unfortunately for Inspector Shield, who was on patrol with his squad that night, they couldn’t ignore a pegasus crashing through a window and sailing out onto the street. He sighed, visibly deflating as he gestured vaguely in the direction of Screwdriver’s. “Okay lads, you know the drill.” he said tiredly, his horn flaring as he drew his sword. “Round up the drunkards, put them in the cart if they resist...just...it’s too early for this shit.”
The guards, especially some of the rookies who were far less used to this kind of thing, drew their weapons and charged towards the bar with far more gusto. They even chanted “hup hup hup!” as they did it, oblivious to the empathic expression that their commanding officer was wearing.
Yeah yeah, just wait until you get in there…poor sods... he thought to himself, following reluctantly.

Sky poked her head out of the shattered window, her smile disappearing. Uh oh…
“Erm, Shadow?” she backed up a little, wary of the broken glass currently carpeting the bar.
Her little sister was still beating her victim over the head with a plank of wood. She looked up at Sky as if she’d just been interrupted in the middle of something very important.
“What’s up?” she keeps her eyes on her big sister, not making any effort to stop doing what she’s doing.
Thump...thump...thump…
“There’s a fuckton of guards out there. We’d probably better get out of here…”
“But siiiiiiiiis!” She whined, tears appearing in her pretty green eyes.
“Oh fine! I’ll just let you get arrested by the guards!” Sky shrugged, giving a knowing smile as she started to trot to the back door. “Who knows, they might even send you to military school so you can learn some manners!”
That did it. Shadow went wide-eyed and froze, dropping the plank of wood, where it landed with a comical clatter. “Erm...I mean...meet back at the hideout in an hour?” she squeed.
The elder sister giggled. That one always worked on that poor little filly. “Yep, hideout in an hour, and then it’s off to bed, okay?” She ducked as Sparky shot over her head again, ready for round three.
“Fine…” she pouted, before spreading her wings and rocketing out of the hole in the window, zipping off into the air.

The guards burst into the bar, some of the lead soldiers slipping on the mix of unconscious ponies and puddles of beer that currently covered the floor. They were all of them drawn into the brawl, dragged in by angry and inebriated stallions with a million different grievances against the government in general and “interferin’ guards” in particular. The arrival of Canterlot’s finest really only provoked escalation. Spells started flying all over the place, scorching holes in the wall and blasting tables apart. The entire tavern sounded like someone had set off fireworks, explosions, the buzz and whistling of spells and the roar of about four dozen angry stallions combining into a deafening din.

Sky, however, was gone, leaning against the wall in the alleyway out back, rubbing her ears and chuckling to herself. Stretching her legs and her wings, she trotted back out onto the street, ready to go home.

Huh...all in all, today’s been a pretty good day…