Sky sighed, pulling her mane back into a ponytail before pulling her hood up over it. It was always nice to keep her hair out of her face. If Stronghooves was a factor in this little conflict now, she had enough to worry about without it trying to poke her eyes out.

“Hey, Sis…” Shadow said slowly, trotting into Sky’s bedroom, her hood lowered for the time being. “Can we talk?”

“Sure thing, kid.” Sky smiled softly, winding a ziptie around her mane to keep it in place. “What do you need?

“It’s about Rat.” Shadow muttered, sitting down next to her big sister and hanging her head. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t keep him out of your stuff. He just kinda...I dunno, gave me the slip…”

“That’s okay, sweetie.” Sky smiled back, tussling her mane. “Trust me, I’m not going to get mad at anypony over this. It just means we’ve gotta be careful, okay?”

“Careful...how, exactly?” Shadow frowned, cocking her head as she put one of her huge wings over Sky’s back.

“We can’t give him anything else about us. I think he knows about what happened to you, some stuff about my wing, shit like that.”

“That’s not too bad, I guess.” Shadow shrugged. “What about Stronghooves? Does he know about him yet?”

“I don’t think so.” Sky shook her head, putting on her burglar’s mask and glancing back at her damaged wing.

“You’re gonna have to tell him eventually, sis. If he’s calling the shots now, you know that means we’re gonna have to fight him sooner or later.”

“I know.” Sky said simply, flopping back onto her bed. “I just...don’t exactly wanna tell him that, yet.”

“Well yeah, I guess there’s no right way of saying “Hey Rat, by the way, my brother’s a fucking nutter,” but this is important. You know he’d tell you if he had a pony like Stronghooves gunning for him, right?”

Sky lay there in silence, running her hooves through her mane. She flashed Shadow a questioning look.

“I think he’s a good pony, Sky.” Shadow added, her voice softening. “Yeah, he looked through your diary and that was kinda shitty of him, but I think he’s got the right intentions. I don’t think he’s gonna hurt you.”

“Yeah, he seems nice and concerned and stuff…” Sky conceded. “But...Shadow, you know I haven’t had a buddy before. Not besides you, and you were a filly when we first met. I knew you didn’t have any bad intentions or whatever. You were way easier to trust.”

“I could still be an evil supervillain and nopony would know it.” Shadow winked. “Still…maybe it wouldn’t be so bad for you to trust an adult for a change. It’s not like he’s done anything with the info he’s gotten out of you, right?”

“You’re...right, I guess.” Sky admitted, nodding. “I dunno, I’ve just never done this before.”

“There’s a hell of a lot of stuff we’ve never done before, sis.” Shadow grinned, nudging her. “You and I have a lot of adventures left to go on, and sooner or later we’ve gotta try everything. Why not reach out to a stallion who cares about you?”

Sky fixed Shadow with a searching gaze, looking the filly up and down as she tried to work out her ulterior motive. Shadow smiled back, the biggest cheesiest grin in the world on her face.

“You’re just saying that because you wanna keep hanging out with Fox.” Sky giggled after a moment.

“N...no!” Shadow squeaked, waving her forehooves defensively. “I couldn’t give two shits about that little asshole! I just think it’d be nice to…”

“Shadow...I can tell when you’re lying.” Sky glared, grinning triumphantly. “There’s no shame in admitting it, you know.”

“No! I’m...not...okay, maybe a little…” Shadow muttered, glancing up at the door to make sure Fox wasn’t listening in. “But I’m not dropping this. You should totally hang out with Rat. I mean, even if you don’t trust him one hundred percent, you’ll never know whether you can if you keep pushing him away. Besides...you’re gonna need help.”

“Yeah...I guess Hoovesie finally got to be a big enough threat that I can’t take him alone.” Sky rolled her eyes, pulling her little sister into a hug. Strangely enough, for the first time in ages the filly didn’t resist, snuggling up to her and hugging her back.

“You’ve gotten softer.” Sky commented, running a hoof through Shadow’s mane. Sure enough, it seemed that the younger pegasus had spent a good few hours in the washing machine with a whole bottle of fabric softener.

“It’s to lure ponies into cuddles so I can strangle them.” Shadow huffed. “Don’t read into it, sis.”

“I’m totally gonna read into it.” Sky smiled. “You’re showing your loving side more and more every day. It suits you.”

“Yeah, well…” Shadow grumbled, crossing her hooves in Sky’s embrace. “Maybe I kinda like it...a little...I guess...but this is only because you need a hug after what happened today, you got me? Don’t expect me to start dressing up like a little pink princess.”

“Don’t worry.” Sky winked. “I’ll be sure to trick you into doing it. You’d look great in the little cone hat.”

“You look good in a dunce cap.” Shadow replied evenly, sticking her tongue out.

“That’s the Shadow I know.” Sky whispered, cuddling the filly as tightly as she could without hurting her. It was difficult as always to keep the dim feelings of unease and sadness out of her head as she held her little sister, but Sky defied them as best she could. Shadow had a way of making everything alright again.

“Are you ready to…?” Rat asked, trotting into the bedroom and freezing in place. An expression of deepest sadness flashed across his face for just a moment as his eyes fell on Sky and Shadow, before he finally shook his head and brought that smile back.

“Yeah, we’re ready to go.” Sky smiled, as the two sisters looked up at him. “Come on, the sooner we can get this formula adapted the sooner we can end this bloody nightmare.”

”If it works.” Rat added, shrugging.

“Yeah, if it works.” Sky nodded, clambering to her hooves and pulling her hood up. “Still, if it does then I guess we’ve got a much easier task ahead of us...if it doesn’t...I dunno, they’re still vulnerable to lust bombs, right?”

“Right.” Rat smiled, nudging her shoulder with a forehoof. “Well, I’m ready. Let’s do this.”

Sky gave him the briefest of hugs, kissing him on the cheek before pulling her face wrap over her muzzle.

“Yeah, the sooner this is over, the better.”

“Shield?” Stronghooves asked, stepping out onto the rooftop with the Inspector. “How’s everypony doing?”

“Everyone’s in position, Stronghooves.” Shield grinned back. “We had some of our batponies do fly-bys. Looks like Sky and Rat are in there.”

“Good. You and Daybreak move in first and try to secure them. I don’t want anypony killed on this operation. If we can’t snatch Sky now, we’ve got to let them both go, though...I do very much want to talk to Rat again.”

“You’ve got it.” Shield nodded, pulling his helmet on. “Daybreak and I walk into a collapsing building to try and apprehend two burglars. What can go wrong?”

“Nothing, actually.” Stronghooves chuckled. “You see, I already found that the enhancements we have on our bodies make us immune to falling masonry and explosives. You’ll both be totally safe.”

“Yeah, well you’ll excuse me if I take a stiff drink before we get this show on the road, all the same.” Shield grinned mirthlessly, taking a pull from his hip flask. “Just let me know when you want me to get this show on the road.”

“Now, if you’d be so kind.” Stronghooves smiled, sitting back and pulling his own helmet on.

The Inspector nodded, waving his hoof at the assembled archers and unicorns nearby. As one, the soldiers drew back their explosive-tipped arrows and charged their horns, their weapons trained on the little old tower.

“Let’s get started.”

Sky was the first to hear it, her ears perking at the quiet whistling of arrows flitting through the air. It took her brain a little longer than it should’ve done to process the sound, realise that something was wrong and tackle Rat to the floor. A moment later, an incredible buzzing roar filled the air as the unicorns outside added their demolition spells to the storm. For a horrible moment, the air filled with sound, Sky’s ears splaying back against the din. Finally, with only a moments’ silence as an interlude, before the entire building shook with a series of violent explosions. Stone walls were torn asunder, wattle and daub disintegrating into powder. Dust and chunks of stone rained down around them, the ceiling groaning as the walls threatened to collapse under its weight.

“WHAT THE FUCK’S GOING ON?” Rat roared over the sound of cracking stone.

“They must’ve tracked us here somehow!” Sky cried back, pulling her hood back up and shaking plaster dust off of her cloak. “Come on, we need to get out of here!”

“Fuck’s sake, Sky! I thought we were one step ahead of them this time!” Rat growled, pulling his own hood up and galloping down the stairs into the living room. Sky followed close behind, peeking out of the window into the dark streets beyond. The night lit up with flickering flames as the tower began to burn, its decades-old structure succumbing to the damage. Sky’s ears rang in the aftermath of the blasts, and she caught herself wincing at each new detonation from down below.

They’re knocking out the foundations...holy shit, they’re trying to kill us…

Another arrow struck the building, blasting a hole in the wall and one of the floors and sending Sky tumbling downstairs into the living room. Splinters from the wooden rafters rained down after her, slicing through her leather armour like so much rice paper and tearing into her skin. Sky let out a sharp cry of pain as splinters and shards of glass fell on her from the floor above.

“They’ve got the whole building surrounded!” Rat barked urgently, taking Sky’s forehoof and dragging her away from the falling wood. “I don’t suppose you’ve got some kind of clever-ass secret passage?”

“No luck!” Sky yelped back, pulling splinters out of her fur. She tried her best to think, her mind racing as she tried to think of a conceivable way out. Her eyes drifted upwards, back at the demolished upper floor and the slightly makeshift wooden ramp leading upstairs.

“I might have an idea, though…” She muttered. “Come on, let’s try the roof!”

“The roof?” Rat blustered. “Sky, they’re gonna have pegasi all over the roof! What the fuck are you on?”

“Well, they’ve got weapons trained on the front door!” Sky cried, galloping up the stairs and spreading her wings to lessen the strain on the damaged floor. “Besides, I thought you liked pegasi!”

“I like one or two, but I’m not sure about this one crippled one I met a week back!” Rat groaned, following the mare up towards the roof hatch. His horn lit up, lowering his weight until he was light enough to walk on the weak floorboards without crashing through them. More arrows and spells struck the building, crippling the very foundations and threatening to bring everything down atop the ponies’ heads. Sky leapt up the last flight of stairs, struggling with the roof hatch before finally shunting it open and pulling Rat out onto the roof.

“Well, fuck.” She muttered.

Beneath them, the entire tower was ablaze, towers of coiling smoke rising up from holes in the wall as the base of the building immolated.

“Er...well...we can...get you a new one…?” Rat ventured hopefully.

“Whatever. Let’s just...get the fuck out of here.” Sky sighed, spreading her wings and galloping towards the edge of the building. As the two ponies got up to full speed, the tower began to topple over, the lower floors disintegrating under the weight of the building. Stone, tortured wooden beams and cracked plaster crunched as the tower keeled over sideways.

“JUMP FOR IT!” Sky yelled over the crackling, leaping with all of her might as the tower came crashing down. She tried to beat her wings, only to find her damaged limb completely unresponsive. What came of it was a slightly off-balance flap that sent her tumbling down onto the roof tiles of a nearby house. Rat slammed into her as he tried to make the jump too, knocking the two of them clean over the edge of the roof and down into the street below.

Sky groaned, picking herself up and breaking into a gallop again, her aching hooves thudding into the cobblestones as she sought to put as much distance between herself and those guards as possible. She cast only a brief glance back over her shoulder to make sure that Rat was keeping up, trying to defy the pang of regret she felt as the burning wreckage of her home caught her eyes.

“It’s okay, Sky…” Rat whispered, galloping alongside her as spells and arrows whizzed overhead. “You and I’ll get you free, then we can set you up with a nice new place. Trust me, you’ll love it.”

“Ye...yeah…” Sky muttered back, flapping her good wing to gain just a little more acceleration. “How the fuck did they track us, Rat?”

“No idea!” Rat shook his head as they rounded a corner. “I don’t know about you, but I made sure I wasn’t followed back! I was careful!”

“Me too! All three of us were!” Sky replied evenly. “What the fuck happ…”

“STOP RIGHT THERE, CRIMINAL SCUM!”

Sky and Rat skidded to a halt, kicking up brick dust as they stared down the street. A pair of ponies blocked their path, one of them the rather overenthusiastic mare from a few days ago. The other was a stallion that Sky recognised as her interrogator from when this whole mess had started. He looked tired and exasperated beyond belief.

“Daybreak, do you have to keep doing that?” He sighed.

“Awww, come on Shield! Don’t tell me you’ve never wanted to say it, just a little?” Daybreak replied, flashing him a great big goofy grin.

“...No.” Shield said blankly, looking back at the mare as if she were something downright alien. Daybreak didn’t lose her sunny disposition, turning back to the two burglars.

“Now then, why don’t you two come with us and we can get you a brand new place to live?” She carried on, pulling out a pair of hoofcuffs and giggling unapologetically. Sky couldn’t help but grin as well, being as she was on very much the same wavelength.

“Yeah guys, there’s no point in running. Just come quietly and make it easier on all of us.” Shield added, nodding and levitating his own pair of hoofcuffs out in front of him. “Come on, we’re not gonna hurt you.”

“Well...I guess we could...” Sky conceded, tapping a hoof to her chin. “But you’ve forgotten one little thing…”

“What’s that, then?” Daybreak asked, cocking her head.

“I never cum quietly.” Sky grinned, pulling a glass orb out from under her cloak and hurling it at the two super-soldiers. It detonated between them, shrouding both Shield and Daybreak in thick black smoke.

“Run for it!” Sky barked, galloping off down a side street.

“Where the hell are we going?” Rat asked, doing his best to keep pace with the galloping mare.

“I don’t care! Anywhere that’s not here!” Sky squealed, charging at full speed down the labyrinthine streets and alleyways. She had only a vague idea about where she was going, the only place where she and Rat would have a better chance of survival than Daybreak and Shield.

Sky skidded to a halt as she heard running water, grabbing Rat by his cloak to bring him to a stop as well.

“Hey, hear that?” She grinned, ears perking.

“Ye...yeah...Sky...where the hell are we?” Rat asked.

“Never mind that right now.” Sky shook her head, grinning just a tiny bit wider. “How would you like to do something absolutely retarded?”

Rat opened his mouth and closed it again, speechless. That grin of Sky’s made him pretty uncomfortable.

“Do...do we have a choice?” He asked, mindful of the loudening clanking sound of approaching guards.

“I don’t think so.” Sky shook her head, pulling him out of an alley and onto a raised platform, overlooking a series of canals.

“Oh, I see. We lose them in the canals. That’s pretty clever.” Rat smiled, a little relieved. “So...where do they lead?”

“Well...you know those big waterfalls that run off the side of the city?” Sky asked innocently.

“Ye...yeah...wait...no...nonono…” Rat began, but Sky had already shunted him into the water, hopping in after him with a little splash.

“Come on, we can at least survive the drop!” She called out as her head breached the surface again. “Nopony’s gonna chase us down there!”

“What about the Operative Project, Sky? What about the Poison Joke?” Rat called back, the rushing water growing louder by the moment.

“We’ll just have to think of a Plan C!” Sky yelled, finally disappearing off the edge of the city as the canal opened up into a monstrous waterfall.

Rat closed his eyes as he approached the edge, fighting the urge to try and swim away. The current was far too strong anyway, and it was really no use.

Besides… Thought he, I’ve gotta make sure that that crazy fucking mare doesn’t get herself hurt down there.

So preoccupied was he by the inevitability of the drop that he didn’t see Stronghooves step out from behind a building, charging his horn. The Captain lowered his head, a beam of bright orange light arcing between his horn and Rat’s head for a brief moment. Rat collapsed into unconsciousness as he, too, tumbled over the edge and out into the abyss beyond.