Rat cocked his head as he spotted Sky smirking as discreetly as possible.

“Hey, what’s so funny?” He asked.

“Oh, nothing!” Sky said brightly, trotting along on her merry way. She couldn’t even remember where the hell the river was by this point, focussed on walking for the sake of walking.

Rat, however, suspected foul play, bumping his flank against hers. “No, come on, it’s gotta be something. What’re you grinning about?”

“My goodness, Rat!” Sky huffed with mock offence. “Can’t a mare just smile for no reason? You’re being way too paranoid!”

“Yeah, well you’re not the kind of pony who just smiles for no reason.” Rat said suspiciously, narrowing his eyes. “Do I have something on my flank?”

“Nope!” Sky grinned, trying to suppress her giggles. “But you did!”

“What are you talking abou...oh.” Rat rolled his eyes. “This is about the big snake thing and its fucking tongue, isn’t it?”

With that, the dam broke. Sky broke out into a wild giggling fit that sounded more like a happy neigh than anything else. Rat came to a halt, staring at her as she rolled onto her back, kicking her legs in the air.

“It wasn’t that funny!” He said defensively.

“It so was!” Sky snickered. “How come you get all of the luck, huh? The first big bugger with a tentacle tongue we run into, and he wants to eat you out!”

“Yeah, well, I’m not exactly into vore.” Rat shrugged. “What, you’re saying you’d be into that?”

Sky rolled onto her front, still breathing heavily as she fluttered her damaged wings. “Did I ever tell you about the land squid thing?”

“N...no…” Rat shook his head, glancing around to make sure no one was coming. He suspected that this wasn’t the sort of story that Sky was meant to tell in polite company...or company at all, for that matter.

“Well...okay...you’re gonna love this…” Sky grinned as Shadow and Fox emerged from the foliage. “Oh, hey guys!” She beamed brightly. “I was just gonna tell Rat about that one time a few years back, with the big land kraken that…”

Shadow didn’t wait for her to finish, clapping her forehooves over Fox’s ears and shaking her head wildly. “Nope! You’re not telling that story in front of Fox...or Rat...or...fucking…anypony!”

“Oh, come on! It’s a great story!” Sky protested, as Rat looked on with a curious expression. “It’s got action and adventure and romance and…”

“It does not!” Shadow glared, taking Fox’s tail in her mouth and attempting to drag him off. “She’s lying! Don’t listen to her! It’s horrible and disgusting and…”

“As I was saying.” Sky went on, grinning. “So I used to have this friend a while back called Eclair. She was an ex Royal Guard and thick as pig shit. So she goes and drinks this potion she just finds on the ground in the woods one day. Next thing you know...bam. Were-pony.”

Rat settled down in front of her, frowning. This was going to be good.

“Now, you know I love it when somepony’s an animal in bed…” Sky went on, flashing Rat a sly smirk, “but that was just nuts, so I go looking for ingredients to make a reversal potion to change her dumb ass back, and what do I find?”

“Nothing! You found nothing!” Shadow cried hurriedly.

“This great big squid, kinda like that big tentacley thing from Star Horse. You know the one?” Sky giggled. “Anyway, she made a bet with me that I couldn’t touch it, and I wasn’t gonna take shit from a bitch who’d just taken “fursuit” to the next level, so I went and gave it a poke.”

“THEN IT LEFT YOU ALONE AND YOU ALL LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER AND...fuck this, I’m out.” Shadow groaned, putting her hooves over her own ears and taking off to hide in the upper branches of a nearby tree.

“Wha...what the fuck happened then?” Rat asked, enthralled.

“Well, then it grabbed me by the legs and...it was really good.” Sky bit her lip, completely shameless. “It felt amazing...”

“So how the hell did you get out?” Rat pressed. “Like, I heard those things kill ponies or get them pregnant or do all kinds of weird shit to them...er...which I know from...er...textbooks I read once.”

“Oh, it died.” Sky shrugged.

“Wait, it died?”

“Yeah.” She said, huffing disappointedly. “The poor thing was so tuckered out after a few hours, and I was just starting to get into it, so I shot it with a bunch of lust darts and it went for another four hours...then it dropped dead like a great big jerk.”

“Come on, Sky. You did not fuck a tentacle monster to death. That’s gotta be bullshit.” Rat huffed. “There’s no way you went for longer than that thi...wait, lust darts? What the fuck are they?”

“They’re my pink darts.” Sky mentioned off-handedly, gesturing to her bandolier. “They make you horny!” She added helpfully.

“Huh...and...that killed it?” Rat cocked his head. “They must be pretty potent.”

“They make you pretty horny.” Sky answered evenly. “If you even got a prick from one of these darts you’d be on my back in two seconds flat.”

“OH MY GOD, SHUT UP!” Shadow screamed from up in a tree. “YOU’RE DESTROYING, LIKE, EVERYPONY’S INNOCENCE RIGHT NOW!”

Sky grinned at her little sister’s reaction. “Shadow doesn’t like them because they get me laid instead of arrested.” She added, sticking her tongue out.

“Okay, I can believe the lust dart thing…” Rat conceded, glancing across at Sky’s bandolier. “But seriously? A fucking tentacle monster?”

“Well, it’s not fucking anymore!” Sky snickered.

“Very funny.” The unicorn chuckled, giving her a nudge. “You are so talking out of your ass right now.”

“Oh fine, Mister I-Don’t-Believe-My-Favourite-Pony-In-The-World!” Sky huffed. “You want proof? If we run into one of those things in the woods, I’ll trot right up to it and give it a smack just to prove you wrong!”

“Hmmm...fine…” Rat chuckled. “Let’s make this interesting, though. If you don’t do it...like, if you pussy out at the last second, you owe me a date.”

“Wait, a...a date?” Sky froze, taken aback.

“You heard me.” Rat grinned, crossing his forelegs. “A formal one, too. Like, you have to dress up and do your mane and everything.”

Shadow’s ears perked as he spoke, glancing down at the scene below with renewed interest.

“Wait...you wanna...take me...on…?” Sky began, but Rat held up a hoof to silence her.

“Those are my terms.” He said with finality.

“Wo...wow…” Sky whispered. “O...okay...but if we’re really making a wager out of this, if I can do it, you’ve gotta spend a whole day dressed up as a cheerleader. Like, with the knickers and everything. I seem to remember that you don’t have a problem wearing mares’ underwear.” She added, grinning evilly.

“Damn it, you’re never gonna let me live that down, are you?”

“Nope.” Sky shook her head. “So...do we have a deal?”

Rat bit his lip, thinking carefully for a while before finally taking her hoof and shaking it.

“Yeah.” He nodded. “We’ve got a deal.”

With a quick tug, he pulled Sky closer and kissed her on the muzzle. The little white mare squeaked, pulling back and clapping her hooves over her muzzle as she went a little pink.

“Wow, that’s cute.” Rat smiled, getting up and trotting deeper into the woods. “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s find that Poison Joke before we something else finds us.”

As the two ponies trotted away, Shadow dropped down next to Fox, bumping her flank against his own.

“Don’t go getting any ideas.” She warned.

“What, you think I’m just gonna go about summoning tentacle monsters?” Fox replied evenly, grinning. “I may be awesome, but even I can’t do that.”

Shadow merely flashed a suspicious grin his way, before following in her sister’s hoofsteps.

Stronghooves stepped off of the train onto the underground platform, looking around at the sterile white facility walls.

“Rolling Thunder’s records say that this place used to be a Griffon research outpost.” Shield said, levitating a clipboard in front of his head and sipping on a thermos of coffee. “You’re right, though. This place is pretty remote. Any particular reason for the secrecy?”

“Mostly ethical reasons, I suppose.” Stronghooves shrugged. “We’re here to ensure that Sky comes back into my fold, and in order to do that...we have to take certain measures.”

“Yeah?” Shield asked, raising an eyebrow. “Why am I suddenly feeling uneasy about this, Hoovesie?”

“With good reason, probably.” Stronghooves sighed, trotting up a flight of stairs into the facility itself. “This building was constructed by a griffon mad scientist, and it became a test centre for the first Operatives. If memory serves, this is also where they were refining the transformation process.”

“Okay…” Shield frowned, following behind his friend. “And you were part of these tests, right?”

“Correct. I was the first pony to receive the enhancements.” Stronghooves nodded. “I’m very pleased to have been given the opportunity, too. It gave me a great deal of insight into how things are done here.”

He came to a halt in a large white atrium, glancing around at the doric architecture and smiling softly.

“The building was reinforced to be difficult to escape as well as penetrate. Remember, this fortress is meant to test the stability of the ponies undergoing enhancements. Aberrants could compromise the entire operation.”

“So they were killed?” Shield asked.

“Yes. Thunder always told me that they were “disposed of” responsibly, but come on, let’s not kid ourselves. If a pony didn’t demonstrate the necessary complacency, they were killed and dumped off of the side of the mountain.”

Stronghooves looked out of one of the huge windows over Equestria’s northern plains. From here he could see everything from the foothills that led into the mountainous Griffon Kingdoms, to the periphery of the Everfree Forest, and to Canterlot itself.

“That’s fucked.” Shield shook his head. “I hope nopony’s gonna get their corpse dumped off of a mountain after all of this.”

“No, trust me, they won’t.” Stronghooves smiled, shaking his head. “I’m not out to kill anypony, Shield. I’m here to make sure that Sky can be safe. I’ll simply take her away until the heat blows off, help her rehabilitate and remind her that I love her, and everything will be fine.”

“Sorta like taking in an injured animal and nursing it back to health before releasing it back into the wild, huh?” Shield nodded. “I could get behind that. So what’s the plan?”

“Well, like I said, this place is built to contain Operatives.” Stronghooves frowned, tapping a hoof to his chin. “It’s just about the only facility that we could use to trap Sky, since conventional prisons don’t seem to work properly.”

“Containing her’s one thing. Rehab’s another matter entirely.” Shield commented, following the Captain as he made his way down a corridor off the atrium.

“Yes, and this is where things get unpleasant.” Stronghooves sighed. “Shield...how do you make a pony want to be helped?”

“I guess they need to admit that they’re in trouble and can’t handle a situation alone, right?”

“Correct. Unfortunately, Sky’s never in that state. She’s confident and clever...I can’t begrudge her that.”

“She’s definitely resourceful.” Shield agreed. “You’re gonna have to pull some serious shit if you want to make her feel vulnerable.”

“She is vulnerable, Shield.” Stronghooves shrugged. “The trouble is that she hasn’t accepted it yet. She’s caught up in her own little world, seeing ponies where there are none. If she ever feels vulnerable, her own delusions come to her aid, strengthen her resolve and confidence. She honestly believes that her sister’s still there to help and encourage her.”

“Kinda sounds like her mental illness is giving her a kind of balance.” Shield grunted. “I guess you’ve got a plan, then?”

“Yes.” Stronghooves smiled, placing a hoof on a metal plate next to a heavy steel door. “I’m going to upset that balance. It’s...unfortunate that it has to be this way.”

A magical pulse shot up Stronghooves’s foreleg, before zapping back into the plate. With a tiny ding, the reinforced door swung open.

“This is sounding less and less ethical by the second…” Shield said doubtfully.

“Yes, it is.” Stronghooves replied, flicking a switch.

Huge lights blazed on as Stronghooves stepped into the room beyond, revealing a huge warehouse lined with shelves. Upon each shelf, rows of chrome canisters sat side by side. Each was filled with a glowing amber liquid, lending a little extra illumination to the room themselves.

“What the hell is this place?” Shield asked, ears splaying back as he observed his surroundings.

“This,” explained Stronghooves, “is where Rolling Thunder and Silver Tongue stored experimental compounds. Pharmaceuticals, bio-weapons, mutagens, alchemical weapons...and samples from various creatures in the Everfree Forest.”

“You’re going to use these on your sister?” Shield asked, cocking his head. His fur stood on end as a feeling of pure dread shot through his body.

“Yes. Medicinally.” Stronghooves nodded. “We can cure her of her hallucinations, mentally reprogram her and turn her into a model citizen...and the kind of sister I’ve been missing all of these years.”

“That’s fucked.” Shield muttered.

“Excuse me?” Stronghooves cocked an eyebrow, ears perking as he rounded on his friend.

“It’s not right.” Shield shook his head, taking a step back at the sight of Stronghooves’s face. “Look, I said I was gonna help you get your sister back, but I kinda pictured a heartwarming scene where you two hug and kiss and apologise for all of this shit and...you know...make up.”

“That would be doable under different circumstances.” Stronghooves shrugged. “As it is, she’s insane. She’s clinging to a pony who’s been gone for a very long time.”

“So are you.” Shield replied evenly.

“You’re deluded, Inspector.” Stronghooves growled, drawing himself up to his full height and advancing on Shield. “Sky’s been damaged, a lot. Her mind’s in much the same state as her wing; damaged, bleeding out and in need of urgent repair. I’d love to be able to fix what’s wrong with her with mere words and comfort, and there’ll certainly be time for that later. For now, I need to fix her mind before I can fix our relationship. Unfortunately...steps have to be taken.”

“You’re lucky that Daybreak isn’t here. She wouldn’t go for this shit at all.” Shield spat.

“She understands as much as you do, perhaps even less.” Stronghooves glared, his horn lighting up and slamming the door behind them by magic. “You don’t know how twisted and mad she’s become, how much the damage she’s suffered has affected her mind. She can’t be reasoned with, she can’t be talked down. She just runs and runs and runs, and if we can’t take this opportunity to pin her down and fix her head, she’s going to remain on a path of self-destruction that’ll end with her dying, alone and unloved. Don’t you see that?”

“Yeah, I see it, but fucking with her mind?” Shield countered. “There’s gotta be a better way. The insanity plea, a fucking mental institution? Anything like that?”

“Sky’s sane enough to escape it but damaged enough to require it. A heavy hoof is the only way that we’re going to ensure that she recovers. Nopony can do it but us, Shield.”

“Stronghooves...you’re right...I know you’re right…” Shield shook his head. “But...I’m not gonna do it. I quit.”

“You quit?” Stronghooves asked, cocking his head.

“Yeah. Look, I signed up to make sure you could get your sister back...I mean, I wanted to be your friend and this seemed like a great thing for us to do together...but this is fucked. I’m not gonna help you torture a fucking pony into submission, no matter how annoying she’s been.”

“Not even if it would save her life?” Stronghooves asked, tilting his head.

“No.” Shield said firmly. “That’s not the kind of pony I am.”

“You still don’t understand…”

“No, I understand completely.” Shield growled. “You’ve gone and fucked your sister’s life up way worse than anything she’s managed to do to herself, and now you’re gonna do the same thing again. And what if the Princesses find out about this shit? You’re risking everything just to fuck up a pony’s life.”

“The Princesses won’t know a thing about what we’re doing here.” Stronghooves said stoically, sidestepping the rest of Shield’s argument. “They’re under the impression that we’re conducting an extensive investigation into Rolling Thunder’s crimes...which is technically true.”

“So you lied to Celestia? Now I know you’re insane.” Shield huffed, turning tail and making for the door.

Before he could reach out to pull it open, the entire door was wreathed in bright blue magic, held fast by Stronghooves.

“You still don’t get it.” Stronghooves growled, stepping toward his friend and lowering his head. “You don’t understand that this is something bigger than the law, bigger than the Princesses or even the future that these enhancements can give Equestria. It’s all about family, Shield. Family is downright important to me, and I won’t let anypony stand in the way of that.”

“That’s your prerogative.” Shield said, rounding on Stronghooves again. “Mine is warning that pony away from here and telling the Princesses what you’re really planning. I’m a guard, not a torturer.”

“So you’re not only going to walk out on me, you’re going to try and stop me?” Stronghooves asked, stamping the floor with a forehoof.

“Yeah, the Princesses finding out about this shit is gonna completely wreck your career.” Shield spat. “Maybe then you’ll think about something other than your sister. That whole situation was fucked up to start with, but this...this is evil.”

“This is only another step on a road that I’ve been paving since I killed Shadow.” Stronghooves smiled confidently, muzzle inches from Shield’s as he stared into the stallion’s eyes. “The death of her sister, the fight against the Operatives, whatever she’s doing with Rat Racer...all of it is leading up to the moment I break her and turn her away from a path of self-destruction. You can either stand with me or against me, and you do not want to stand against me. I will defend myself.”

Shield faltered, staring into Stronghooves’s eyes for the longest time. Where he’d once seen compassion, the unicorn now saw a cold, feral desperation, the look of a stallion who would tear apart Canterlot itself in order to save his sister...however he defined “saving.”

“Go fuck yourself, Hoovesie.” He snarled. “I’ve given you my two weeks notice, and I’m walking out of that door whether you like it or not.”

Stronghooves grinned, placing his forehooves on Shield’s shoulders in total silence. For a moment, neither stallion even drew breath, silently assessing his counterpart before anyone took the first swing.

Shield was the first to strike, rearing up and slamming his forehead into Stronghooves’s. Their horns, both flaring with magic, struck one another with a crackle of power and the sickening clack of bone striking bone. Stronghooves reeled backwards, shaking his head and recovering just in time to strike out at Shield. The Inspector caught his hoof in the face, sending him tumbling onto his side. Stronghooves was quick to follow through, rearing up and bringing his forehooves down on his former friend’s head.

Shield’s horn lit up at the last second, producing a powerful energy field above his head. Stronghooves hammered at it with his forelegs, putting all of his significant weight behind each blow, but for all his effort he couldn’t break the Inspector’s forcefield.

“It’s...not gonna work!” Shield barked. “Get the fuck out of my way! I’m getting outta here and there’s nothing you can do to stop me!”

Stronghooves paused, realising that there really was no way for him to penetrate the shield. Stepping back, the Captain prowled back and forth like a tiger in a cage, his cold gaze meeting Shield’s as he tried to think of something.

The memory of his fight with Rolling Thunder came back to Stronghooves, the way he’d thrown himself into the machine as Thunder received the improved enhancements, the way he’d been able to override the Count’s commands...what the unicorn in the Enhancement Chamber had said about Thunder being able to mentally control the Operatives...ponies with the same improvements that Shield bore.

Concentrating, Stronghooves reached out with magic, wrapping unseen tendrils of influence around Shield’s mind and forcing his horn to fizzle out.

Sure enough, the forcefield flickered out of existence in just that moment. Shield appeared dazed for just a moment as he tried to process what had just happened, before his eyes opened wide with fear.

“Got you.” Stronghooves growled.

Shield pulled himself to his hooves, trying to put up the forcefield again, but Stronghooves darted forward and hurled Shield into one of the shelves. Canisters came crashing down as he slumped to the floor, his augmentations already working double-time to knit his bones back together.

Stronghooves was on top of him before he could regain complete consciousness, twisting the stallion’s mane around one of his forehooves and slamming the back of his head into the concrete floor. For the first time since their confrontation had begun, Shield stared up at Stronghooves with real primal fear, realising too late that he’d gotten in too far over his head.

The Captain didn’t give him time to regret his decision, pulling his head back and slamming it into the floor again and again. With his incredible strength, Stronghooves was able to do damage faster than the magic could repair Shield’s body, and soon the floor was awash with Shield’s blood, broken glass and dented chrome. Stronghooves didn’t stop until Shield’s screams subsided completely, replaced by weak whimpers as the stallion lay broken on the floor.

“Don’t you ever stand in my way.” Stronghooves whispered.

With that, he let go of Shield’s mane, letting the Inspector slump down on the very brink of unconsciousness. Stronghooves stared at his pathetic form for a very long time indeed, weighing up the decision to end his miserable life on the spot. As it stood, Shield was a potential string of unanswered questions for both Daybreak and the press, and Stronghooves couldn’t afford that. He certainly hadn’t come here with any intent to commit murder.

Besides, thought he, I think I might have a better use for this silly little stallion…

As Shield’s enhancements began to work their magic on his body and force him back into a conscious state, the last thing he saw was Stronghooves’s horn flaring as he stared into his eyes.

“Let’s see just how powerful Rolling Thunder’s control over the Operatives would have been, shall we?”