As night fell on Canterlot, a little red pony burst through the tower doors, trotting up the stairs and hurrying through the living quarters. He pulled off his cloak, casting it heedlessly over a couch as he made his way further up into the building. He wound his way into the hideout, barging through Sky’s door and whipping her diary out from under the mattress again.

There’s gotta be more to this...there’s no way she’s this fucked in the head…

He shed his own armour, rolling onto his back on Sky’s little mattress and looking up at the book. Rat’s horn blazed to life as he lent some illumination to the darkening room as he read. Rat let out a soft sigh, relaxing for the first time that day as he finally got the information he’d been looking for.

I don’t wanna admit it to her, but that mare scares the crap out of me… He thought to himself as he leafed through what was quite literally her life story. Now that we’ve got those assholes out of the way, perhaps I can help her get over this Shadow thing. Stronghooves was right. I’m closer to her than anypony else now.

Rat frowned as he recalled the stallion’s words, the trust Stronghooves had placed in him finally making sense. He hadn’t understood what on earth the Captain had been getting at during their little interview a few days ago, but now, as he looked through Sky’s history and learned the truth about her personality and her sister, everything was laid bare.

Either she’s as strong as a fucking work stallion or she’s doing her best to hide all of this shit. Rat frowned, reading past the Elements Job itself. The pages were stained with tears and a little dried blood, probably Shadow’s and her own. It was possible that she’d written this very shortly after burying her.

“Come on, come on…” He muttered, flicking through the pages and frowning. Sky could be back any minute. Surely stealing the crystals wouldn’t take too much longer.

Finally, he reached the point where he’d stopped last time, reading on from the point immediately after Shadow’s death.

Dear Diary,

The house is really quiet today. This is the first time I’ve been able to lie in in years, but I couldn’t. Everything still hurts. Sawblades reckons that the cuts from the window are going to heal in a few days, and that’s fine, but that’s not what hurts. The house is QUIET, and it doesn’t feel right. It feels spooky and empty. I don’t like this. It’s lonely here without Shadow. She’s always woken me up in the morning, when I haven’t woken her up. I keep walking by her room, hoping that I’ll hear her in there. That’s so fucking stupid. I’m losing it in here. I’ve got to go out somewhere. Maybe the park will cheer me up…

Rat cringed a little as he read on. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he was reading the story of a pony losing her mind. Of course, all of this had been and gone, a series of events that took place half a decade ago, but Rat felt an overwhelming surge of helplessness. He wanted to change it, to somehow send himself back in time to that period of loneliness and keep her company. Guilt crept in, wrapping around his heart and his head as he read on, watching the real-time descent of a pony into suffering, sadness...then insanity.

Dear Diary,

Why her? Why the HELL was it her? She wasn’t hurting anypony. She’s been a sweetheart all her life. That little pony didn’t want anything except loving, and I gave her that every single day. What the fuck did either of us do to deserve this? I was so close to getting her free. She could have lived a normal life. Hell, we BOTH could have. She didn’t deserve this. She never deserved this.

The stallion bit his lip, flicking through the pages of her diary. Sky hated herself for what had happened. That much was apparent. He was more interested in finding out just when and how her mind broke, whether there was a correlation between the loss of her wing and the beginning of her hallucinations.

He raised his eyebrows as he reached her account of the night she lost her wing. The letter from Stronghooves, the meeting, the way it had been crushed between the cogwheels, the pain and crippling loneliness...and then the reappearance of Shadow.

“Oh, Sky…” He muttered sadly.

Dear Diary,

Sawblades says he can’t fix my wing. There’s some weird magic shit working on it that means it necrotises when he tries to heal it with potions or magic. He’s never seen it before. I’m going on holiday for a few weeks to see if it heals naturally. Shadow’s going to stay at home for a few weeks while she recovers, too. I guess after what happened, we both need a big rest so we can get better. There’s a brothel not too far from here. I might apply there. I mean hell, if I’m going to go on holiday and have a nice time, I might as well enjoy it, right?

This wing hurts pretty badly, and I still feel scared or sad a lot of the time, but it’s okay. Shadow’s here and she’s okay. We’ve been talking all day and making each other feel better! She can only eat soup so far, but she loves it to bits. I’m just so happy to have her back. I don’t even care where she’s been all this time. I love my little sister.

Rat growled softly, closing his eyes in quiet contemplation of what he had just read.

She’s so messed up, that poor pony...why the hell did Stronghooves do that to her? He was so close to having her back and he completely fucked it up…

He bit his lip, opening his eyes and clutching the book to his chest as he searched the ceiling for answers.

The unicorn was jolted back to reality by the slam of a door downstairs. In that moment, he realised that he was in a great deal of trouble.

Fuck...I can’t get caught in Sky’s room going through her diary! She’ll be so pissed at me! I’ve gotta think of some other reason to be here, like...I...dunno…

His eyes drifted over to Sky’s chest of drawers. Rat bit his lip again, realising that out of all of the possible things he could get in trouble for, this might well be worse than being caught with her diary.

Sky burst through the door of her tower, charging up the stairs with Shadow and Fox in tow. She snarled as she kicked open the door to her room, trotting inside with every intention of taking Rat to school for looking through her private belongings. What she found, however, was a full-grown stallion wearing her underwear and looking downright ashamed of himself.

“I can...can explain…” Rat muttered awkwardly.

“You’d better,” Sky smirked, “because you look like a Skipsy drawing.”

“Yeah...well...you see…” Rat groaned quietly. “I...got…really into the...whole...blue...dart...thing?”

Sky smiled a little wider, trying her best to look stern even as the urge to giggle overpowered her. “You...you tried on my knickers because you wanted to know how it’d feel?”

At this moment, Shadow trotted into the room, took one look at Rat and trotted out again. There weren’t many things she was willing to tolerate in her own home, and this was the most intolerable of them all.

“Well...yeah, I guess…” Rat muttered, sitting down and fluttering his eyelashes at the little white mare. “Er...sorry, I should’ve asked…”

Sky kicked the door closed behind her, trotting up to him and running a hoof through his mane gently. “It’s okay, sweetie. I get that you’d be pretty curious after that little adventure of yours in Manehattan. I learned a lot the first time I turned myself into a stallion, too.”

“Re...really?” Rat asked, cocking his head. “What did you learn?”

“Well...I learned that stallions are fucking retarded and terrible liars.” Sky winked, grinning at him acidly. “Come on, Rat. Spill the beans. I know there was more to you coming in here than just broadening your horizons.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about…” Rat began, but Sky held up a hoof to silence him. She leaned in, nuzzling his neck and chest with the air of a pony who had every intention of taking him to bed.

He does kind of look good in panties… She thought to herself, before pulling herself back into the moment.

“Cut the crap, sweetie. I know you were at Sawblades’s place earlier…” She whispered. “I know you asked about Shadow and about my wing. You were looking in my diary again, weren’t you?” She stared into his eyes, her half-lidded gaze carrying just the tiniest hint of anger and an even tinier hint of fear. Rat looked away.

“Knew it.” Sky sighed, flopping back onto her bed with a huff.

“Hey, it’s not like that! I’m not out to blackmail you or anything!” Rat protested, pulling Sky’s knickers off and settling down next to her on the mattress. “I was just...you kept a whole bunch of stuff from me and...hey, you’ve gotta admit, your wing’s kinda distinctive…”

“What, this fucking thing?” Sky growled, gesturing at her aching damaged wing and glaring at him. “Yeah, it’s a little fucked up, but it’s okay, sweetie. Just needs a little love and care and it’ll be okay until I can afford to get it fixed.”

“Yeah...well...so do you.” Rat mumbled, nuzzling Sky’s cheek. “Every last bit of you.”

“Rat...don’t...don’t get into this right now, okay?” Sky sighed. “I’m okay, sweetie. Yeah, some shit’s happened in the past, but what’s important is that Shadow and I are okay now. We don’t need mothering or care or whatever the fuck you had in mind.”

“Look, toots.” Rat groaned, rolling his eyes. “You’re a nice pony and you don’t deserve the shit that’s happened to you two. You may not need a pony to take care of you, but how about a friend? Do you want a friend?”

Sky stared into Rat’s eyes for a very long time indeed, trying to work him out. As he stared back, she saw only honesty and concern, both very unusual traits for a pony in his profession. In his face, Sky saw a great deal of hurt, worry and...impatience, almost.

What the hell’s up with him? Maybe it’s time I did some snooping back…

“Ye...yeah…” She said finally, slumping. “We’re already friends, Rat. Don’t worry about it.”

“Right.” Rat whispered, giving her a hug. “We’ll get you safe and free, sweetheart, don’t you worry about it.”

“Deal.” Sky chuckled.

“So…” The stallion muttered after a while. “Where are the crystals?”

“They were...better defended than I thought.” Sky frowned, pulling away from him and laying back on the bed. “We’re gonna have to come up with another way of dealing with the Operatives.”

“I was afraid of that.” Rat shrugged. “It was a bit of a longshot anyway, and hey, there’s more than one way to shave a pony.”

“Yeah. Still, we’re kinda back to square one on this.”

The two of them fell silent, Rat’s eyes drifting to Sky’s recently rebandaged wing, then up to her equipment.

“Saaaaay…” he said slowly. “You know those darts you use?”

“Yeah? What about them?” Sky cocked her head, curious.

“I’m guessing they’re not that effective against those assholes?”

“Nah.” Sky shook her head. “It took my whole bandolier knock one of them out, and that only did it for a few minutes. What we need is a formula that can do its job faster than they can heal through it.”

“Fuck…” Rat grunted, slumping again. “I guess that makes things tricky. It’s like going up against a lock where the tumblers keep on moving.”

Sky’s ears perked at that, and she looked up at Rat with a frown. “Well...you know...we could use a lockpick that changes with the locks…”

“You’ve got an idea?” Rat stared back searchingly.

“Yeah...I got told a while back about something called Poison Joke. Shadow and I used to use it in our darts a few years back. It really fucks a pony’s body up.”

“So you reckon it’ll be able to mess with the Operatives and make them easier to sleep-dart?” Rat asked.

“It’s another longshot, but it’s worth a try, right?” Sky shrugged. “We can head down to an apothecaries’ and try adding it to my sleep formula, see what happens.”

“Well, that’s the best plan we’ve got right now, so why the fuck not? Hell, it might even be able to remove those crazy-ass enhancements altogether.” Rat shrugged.

Sky rolled over, getting to her hooves and stretching. “Yeah, I’m willing to give it a go. Hey, Rat, if you wanna fuck off back to Manehattan, you can. I don’t want you getting hurt, okay?”

“Awww, I didn’t know you cared!” Rat chuckled, sticking his tongue out. “Don’t worry, toots. I’m a big boy. I can take care of myself.”

“Big enough to put on a mare’s underwear to cover his ass.” Sky grinned, nudging him. “You look good. Light blue suits you. It goes pretty nicely with your tail.”

“Fuck’s sake...and there was me thinking you were gonna give me action instead of an interrogation.” Rat chuckled, blushing. “To be fair though, I did warn you that I was gonna look into this. It’s technically your fault.”

“Yeah, yeah...that’s what I get for trying to keep secrets from a burglar, I guess.” Sky rolled her eyes. “Still, I really don’t need anypony’s help, sweetie. I’m gonna ask you as a friend to not worry about me, okay?”

Rat stared at Sky for a very long while, finally nodding his head. “Yeah, sure. I can do that.” he said quietly. “Besides, everything’s gonna be okay again once we’ve cleared your name and gotten those Operatives out of the way, right?”

“Right.” Sky smiled, relieved. “Now, how’s about we go and get Shadow and Fox and head on down to the apothecaries?”

Rat cringed slightly as Sky mentioned the foals, and the little mare caught his expression, frowning.

Oh Luna, no...don’t tell me he’s started acting like everypony else…

“Rat?” She pressed, giving him a nudge with her soft forehoof.

“Yeah…” Rat shook his head, smiling back at her. “Sorry. Yeah, let’s go.”

Stronghooves pushed the lab doors open, trotting inside and smiling at his friend. Shield looked up from a mechanical contraption with the vial at its core, floating in midair. The Inspector gave his commanding officer a triumphant grin.

“Is it working?” Stronghooves asked curiously, sitting down and watching the other stallion work.

“Sure is.” Shield grinned. “I dunno how the hell that Operative got it off of her, but it’s authentic and giving me a pretty good lock on her.”

“So you’ve found her hideout?” Stronghooves cocked his head.

“Well...yeah, I think I have, actually.” Shield nodded. “One of the towers on the edge of the marketplace. You know, one of those ones that’s old as the fucking hills. We’ve been trying to get permission to demolish those buildings for ages.”

“Perhaps this’ll get us the Princesses’ blessing.” Stronghooves frowned, tapping his hoof to his chin. “I’ll talk to them and explain the situation. You assemble the guards and any Operatives who want to work with us.”

“We’re going to move in in force?” Shield frowned.

“No. The trick here is to make a statement and make her panic. She’s a smart pony and she’s got a lot of tricks, but now we’re one step ahead of her. Prep everypony for a demolition job.”

“Demolition? Whoa, Hoovesie, you’re not suggesting we’re gonna blow up the whole building?”

“No, Shield. I’m ordering it.” Stronghooves smiled. “Like I said, we’ve got to make her panic. In the chaos she’s either going to run from the city to avoid pursuit or she’s going to run right into our hooves. Either result benefits us.”

“I don’t see how getting your sister to escape the city’s meant to be a good thing…”

“Because it allows us to move without her tracking us through her contacts. Nopony will be able to warn her about the facility up north until we’re ready to leak the information ourselves.”

“That makes sense.” Shield nodded. “I guess I’ll get the troops ready. Anything else?”

“Just tell them to pack as many explosives and incendiaries as possible, but remember, I want Sky and Rat alive.”

“So wait, you’re going to attack them with explosives and fucking fire and you want them alive?” Shield asked incredulously.

“I guarantee that they’ll survive it. Just be ready to move in and capture them as soon as I have the Princesses’ permission.” Stronghooves smiled, getting to his hooves and trotting to the door.

“Hey, you’re the boss.” Shield shrugged. “So when should I get everypony in position?”

“Immediately.” Stronghooves replied. “We need to make sure we can catch her while she’s still at home with her guard down, make this as decisive as possible.”

“Right.” Shield nodded. “I’ll get everypony ready. You talk to the Princesses and try to explain why you want to wipe a building off the fucking map.”

As the Inspector trotted out of the room, Stronghooves caught himself smiling a little too widely. The decision to attack Sky’s hideout and force her out of town was not one he wanted to make lightly, but as long as he had her phylactery it wasn’t too hard to track that little sister of his. This attack was going to be just what she needed to play right into his hooves.

Besides… Thought he, trotting out after Shield. I have a little parting gift for her new boyfriend…