“What is it, Shield?” Stronghooves whispered, staring out of the breach in the wall pensively.

“Looks like she’s breached the perimeter, mate.” Shield mumbled, taking a swig from his hip flask. “She’s long gone.”

“I nearly had her, Shield…” Stronghooves sighed. “I was so close...”

“We all knew she was gonna run when she first saw you again.” Shield shrugged. “It was gonna happen, Hoovesie. There was no getting away from it.”

“Yes...I know…” Stronghooves frowned, hanging his head and putting his ears back. “This isn’t over, anyway. Are the crystals secure?”

“Yes sir.” Shield nodded, smiling weakly. “We’ll keep them under lock and key until we can find somewhere safer to keep them.”

“I’ve got some ideas about that, actually.” Stronghooves grinned, tapping his hoof to his chin. “Thunder has a facility up in the mountains on the border with the Griffon Kingdoms. It’s where I went through my first trials with these enhancements. Top secret.”

“I suppose they’ll hardly be using them.” Shield admitted, shrugging. “I’ll pack my toothbrush.”

“Not yet, my friend.” Stronghooves smiled thoughtfully. “Sky’s still in the city, and moving those crystals would be dangerous as long as she’s planning to get them back.”

“You don’t really reckon that she’s got a chance of getting them off of us?” Shield asked incredulously.

“You’d be surprised. My sister’s resourceful, smart and capable. That, and she has help.” Stronghooves rubbed his chin with a hoof. “We’ve got to find a way to get her out of the city, set things up the way we want them to be…”

“A trap.” Shield finished for him.

“Exactly. Sky controls the engagement if she’s in this city, she controls the terms of the engagement. She’s got her contacts, the layout of the city and her safehouses to work with.” He nodded. “We’ve got to deprive her of those things if we’re going to get her to safety.”

“I suppose with Thunder and Silver removed, Sky’s just become your primary target.”

“Exactly. I need that little mare safe. Not only for her own sake, but for Equestria’s.” Stronghooves nodded. “You know that she won’t come quietly, and she wants those crystals because they’re the only way she can clear her name.”

“So, we’re gonna deny her that?” Shield asked.

“As silly as it sounds, I’m going to need to give her an incentive to come after me. No matter where I hide, she’ll come looking for me, if only in the name of getting them back.”

“And then you get to sit down with her and talk at last.” Shield nodded. “Are you sure tricking her into doing it is the right way to fix it?”

“How would you do it?” Stronghooves asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“Well, I’d suggest leaving her alone if she were in any other position. I mean, if she didn’t want to be your sister before, I don’t reckon she’s gonna be any more excited about it when you trap her.” Shield frowned. “Still, she’s a dangerous criminal whether she’s wanted for terrorism or not.”

“Yes, and mentally ill to boot.” Stronghooves agreed, stepping away from the hole in the wall. “I hate to admit it, but she needs help, and she doesn’t know what she needs anymore. We need to save her, even if it’s against her own will.”

“So I guess we need a way to verify where she is. Confirm that she’s left the city or force her to do it.” Shield said, following his friend.

“Yes, we do.” Stronghooves smiled. “Of course, if it were that easy, we’d have already caught her.”

“Yeah…” Shield sat down on his haunches, groaning. “We’d need a tracking crystal, or a spell, or…”

“A phylactery?” Came a voice behind them.

The two stallions turned, grinning as one as Daybreak trotted towards them.

“One of the Operatives had a little jar on him when I went to check out their quarters a few minutes ago.” She explained, holding it up. “You’ll never guess whose blood’s in it!”

“Don’t tell me we’re in that much luck.” Stronghooves said breathlessly, meeting her in the middle of the hallway and taking a closer look. “It’s...Sky’s actual blood? A real sample?”

“That’s what the label says.” Daybreak nodded, holding it up. “Oooh, and you’ll never guess what I found when I went snooping through Silver’s office…”

She opened up her saddlebag, producing a very irate baby dragon. “He’s called Daybreak Junior! Can I keep him?” She grinned, looking up at Stronghooves hopefully.

“Please kill me…” The dragon croaked.

“You found this in Silver’s office?” Stronghooves frowned, meeting Daybreak’s gaze. “What in Equestria was he doing to this poor reptile?”

“I dunno!” Daybreak shrugged, passing the vial over to Stronghooves and clutching the little dragon close to her fluffy chest. “He was just stuck in that horrible office and it looked like somepony had blasted the place apart and he was so angry so I thought I’d cheer him up! We made s’mores!”

Stronghooves chuckled, sitting back. “Oh, alright then.” He rolled his eyes, feigning reluctance. “You can keep him, but you’ve got to take good care of him, okay?”

“Sure! I’ll take great care of him! Much better than however Silver treated him!” Daybreak beamed happily, squeezing the little dragon and holding him up to look her in the eye.

The irate lizard took a breath, letting loose on Daybreak’s face with the biggest blast of dragon fire he could manage. Daybreak kept on beaming as her scorched features healed along with the damage, such that by the time Silver ran out of breath her face seemed completely untouched...though her mane was blown back a little.

“Bless you.” She smiled, nuzzling the dragon and tucking him back into her saddlebag. “Now you just stay right here while I work out what happened to the wall with Hoovesie here.”

“Do you really have to call me that?” Stronghooves sighed, leaning back against a door and running his hoof through his mane.

“It’s a cute nickname, and it’s sticking. Deal with it.” Daybreak snickered. “So...what did happen to the wall?”

“Did I ever mention that Sky uses explosives sometimes?” Stronghooves chuckled mirthlessly.

“Oh, you met her, huh?” Daybreak frowned, looking around at the fallen debris. “I guess she...er...wasn’t happy to see you.”

“Not as such, no.” Stronghooves sighed. “She once again refused all of the help I offered, called me names and resisted me. There was no talking sense into her.”

“Hmmm…” Daybreak and Shield exchanged a glance. “So what are we gonna do?”

“Force her out of the city and then move the crystals up to a facility on Equestria’s northern border.” Stronghooves frowned. “We can track her movements and act from there. Obviously the first phase of that plan is to compromise one of her hideouts.”

“That’s what the phylactery is for.” Shield nodded.

“Precisely.” Stronghooves smirked. “If we can use this as a ritual sample, we can track her movements by magic and prepare for everything she can throw at us.”

“Not bad.” Daybreak giggled. “So we’ve got a way of tracking her and a base of operations.”

“Indeed. I’d say we’re pretty nicely set up, all told.” Stronghooves grinned, slipping the vial into his saddlebag. “Now, let’s get this sample to one of the labs and start tracking. She’s not going to keep evading us for long.”

“We’ll catch up with you in a few hours!” Daybreak beamed, trotting towards the staircase with a great big smile on her face. “If Daybreak Junior’s gonna be my pet, I’ve gotta show him where he’s gonna be staying. Oh, and I’ve gotta get him fixed!” She added off-handedly.

As the mare broke into a gallop, the little dragon poked his head out of her saddlebag, wide-eyed with terror.

“Wait, what?” He gasped.

Shadow sat outside the door to Sawblades’s clinic, bouncing on her hooves and checking her forehoof every so often as if a watch would magically materialise there. She didn’t know how long she’d waited here to hear if Sky’s wing would be alright, but it felt like she’d been here for hours. The bloody irritating colt wasn’t helping the time go by any faster, either.

“So how’d her wing get that way, anyway?” Fox asked innocently, settling down and crossing his forelegs.

“A mixture of industrial accident, the asshole who’s hunting us now and a great big bucket of none-of-your-fucking-business.” Shadow said wearily, rolling onto her back and staring at the tunnel ceiling.

“I thought we were past the part where you’re super-mean to me.” Fox pouted, shuffling closer and giving her a long look. “You’re just down to insults now, right?”

“Oh yeah?” Shadow asked, fixing him with a venomous stare. “You wanna bet? Come over here and hug me, see what happens.”

“I know you’re a sweetheart deep down, Shadow.” Fox rolled his eyes, resting his head on his forehooves. “All you ever do by hiding it is make yourself look silly. You’re really the biggest sweetie pie ever!”

“Bite me.”

“I can prove it, you know.”

“No you fucking can’t.” Shadow shook her head. All the same, she peeked at him out of the corner of her eye, not entirely sure whether or not he was bluffing.

Fox stared at her, pulling a bunch of keys out of his saddlebag.

“Er...what’re you gonna do with those?” Shadow asked worriedly, wary of the keyring and the triumphant expression on the unicorn’s face.

“Oh, nothing much.” Fox chuckled, bouncing the keys up and down on his hoof and making the most delightful little jingling sound. Shadow deadpanned at him, rolling onto her front with the world’s most bemused expression on her face.

“That’s not gonna work, jackass.” She huffed. “Just put the keys away and stop embarrassing yourself. Come on, this shit’s for fillies!”

“I dare you to keep frowning. Go on. I dare you.” Fox grinned, jingling away. “You’re trying not to smile right now! Look at you!”

Sure enough, the edges of Shadow’s mouth kept twitching up, her eyes locked on the bunch of keys as they bounced around in front of her. She caught herself raising a hoof to reach out and touch them, snarling and giving him the grumpiest little pout she could possibly manage.

“Give...give me the keys…” Shadow ventured nervously after a while.

“Admit that being cute is okay and I’ll consider it.” Fox snickered, jingling them harder and faster.

Shadow gave a little squeak, clapping a hoof over her mouth as she finally broke the dam. A huge smile spread across her muzzle, her bright green eyes fixated on the keys like a hypnotist’s watch.

“Seriously...eee...Fox, give me the keeeeeeys…” Shadow whimpered, snorting as she tried to hold in her laughter.

“Admit it! Come on!” Fox laughed along with her, holding the keys out over her head by magic. Shadow followed them until she’d rolled onto her back again, reaching out with her free hoof.

“I...I’m...you’re a big jerk!” Shadow yelped, bursting out into a squeaky giggling fit and batting at the little keys with her fluffy forehoof. “I’m...gon...gonna get...oh Luna, Fox, look at them!”

“So you’re cute and that’s okay?” Fox asked, blatantly leading her.

“Yeah, whatever! Give them here!” Shadow gasped, breathless from laughter. With a breathless hop, the little filly grabbed the keys out of the air, hugging them tightly. Of course, the second she had them clutched to her chest like that, the spell was well and truly broken. Shadow looked down at the keys, then up at Fox. The colt stared back blankly.

“Nopony must ever know of this.” She said darkly.

“Tell Sky right away. Got it.” Fox giggled back, getting to his hooves.

“Breathe a word of this to Sky and these keys go up your urethra!” Shadow growled.

“You know something, Shadow? I think the look on your face might just be worth it.” He smirked. “Unless…”

“Wha...what?” Shadow asked warily.

“You wanna go on a playdate with me?” Fox smiled hopefully.

“Eat shit.”

“Okay!” Fox chuckled, banging on the door. “SKY! GUESS WHAT I JUST FOUND OUT ABOUT YOUR LITTLE SISTER!”

“NO! STOP IT!” Shadow wailed, tackling Fox away from the big metal door. “Calm your farm, asshole. I’ll...I’ll do it…” She muttered, ears splaying back. “As long as you don’t breathe a word to the big lug, okay?”

“Okay, deal.” Fox smiled, laying underneath her and beaming up at her like she’s the first sunlight he’s seen in years. “Just because I like you.”

Shadow was about to say something else, but before she could get the words out, Sky herself emerged from Sawblades’s clinic. Her wing lay strapped to her side, twisted the right way around again and expertly rebandaged by the professional street doc. She took in the sight of Shadow laying atop Fox, staring down at him with all of the authority and barely-contained passion of a dominatrix...and Sky would know about that, better than anypony else.

“Should I leave you two alone for a couple of minutes?” She grinned evilly, fixing a dark, victorious stare on her little sister. Shadow recoiled, whimpering.

“We were...er…” She muttered. “Rehearsing a play?”

Sky looked at her blankly. That was the worst excuse for an excuse she’d ever heard.

“Yahuh.” She finally smiled, satisfied. “Well, I hate to cut this little date of yours short, but we’ve got work to do...starting with finding Rat.”

“Where’d that asshole go, anyway?” Shadow asked, cocking her head and punching Fox in the gut for good measure.

“Sawblades said he showed up here a little while ago, asked all about me.” Sky mumbled, scratching her chin. “Come on, you two. Get up, stop cuddling and let’s go find Rat. There’s only one place he could be hanging out right now.”

And only one book he could be reading… She added worriedly to herself as the three of them retreated towards the hideout.