Rat narrowed his eyes as smoke billowed around him once more, focussing as carefully as he could. By force of will alone he conjured his bow and taser-tipped arrows out of the ether. This was a dream realm, after all. Linking two minds together like this meant that both ponies were bound by the same rules, and Rat was all about breaking the rules.

Stronghooves leaned on the bridge, perking his ears and turning his head as Rat approached from behind him. His tail flicked from side to side, belying his nervousness.

“I don’t have anything you want,” he murmured diplomatically.

“I know you’re lying,” Rat replied, nocking an arrow and drawing it back as he approached. “You’ve been hiding something about Sky, something about your past, and I’m not gonna sit by and listen to your bullshit anymore.”

“Look, I failed as a big brother, but this isn’t about any of that. We’ve both failed, Rat...you and I,” Stronghooves pleaded, turning to the smaller unicorn and putting his forehooves up. “I’m just trying to ensure that you never make the same mistakes I did.”

“So am I, and I’m never gonna fail Sky like I failed Fox,” Rat growled. “So if you’re really serious about helping her, you’ll tell me all of your little secrets about her before I crack open that big dumbass head of yours and spill ‘em all over the sidewalk!”

“You don’t want to see what I’ve kept hidden,” Stronghooves said uncertainly. “It’s...not relevant…”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Rat said, glaring. “Now, you’ve got until three to show me. One…”

“Rat, listen to me…”

“Two…”

“You’re overreacting!”

“Three,” Rat snarled, loosing the arrow. Three prongs dug straight into Stronghooves’s skin as it struck, sending a powerful pulse of electricity through the stallion’s body. The captain tumbled to the ground, his legs and ears twitching.

“Now,” Rat carried on, hauling Stronghooves back onto the side of the bridge, “let’s see what you’ve been trying to keep from me, shall we?”

And with that, he leapt into the creek with Stronghooves in tow.

Sky lay in a narrow alley between two buildings, tongue poking out of her little mouth as she scribbled something in her diary. The foot of her filly-sized alley was hidden from view by a well-placed cart, letting Sky see out without anypony being able to see her in turn. It was the perfect hiding spot, and Rat couldn’t possibly have spotted her unless he’d seen Stronghooves striding towards her without any indication that he was going to stop.

Sky’s ears perked as she spotted the familiar hooves thundering towards her, wriggling out from under the cart and galloping towards him with a great big hopeful smile on her face. Her tail wagged excitedly as she wrapped her forehooves around his leg. Rat paced around the two of them, finding the young mare so...unfamiliar. Both of her wings were a strange dirty-white colour with her filly down still visible beneath the feathers. Her mane was far longer back then, coming down halfway to her hooves and tied into pretty braids. Though her face was absolutely filthy, she looked up at her big brother with huge shining eyes full of cheer.

Wow...seeing Stronghooves must’ve been the highlight of her whole damn day… Rat thought to himself, watching the scene unfold with a growing sense of unrest.

Stronghooves pushed the filly off of his forehoof, looking down at her with a slightly blank expression.

“What’s wrong, Hoovesie? Is everything okay?” Sky asked, cocking her head.

“Sky,” Stronghooves said quietly, glancing around at the empty courtyard, “we’ve got a lot to talk about.”

“We sure do,” Sky nodded, “like, there’s this awesome picture I drew on the pavement today and I just know that you’re gonna love it!”

Stronghooves shook his head. “No, Sky. I mean, there’s some things we have to discuss urgently. Mum and dad have told me some pretty terrible things about you, and I want to know the truth.”

“What’ve they been telling you, Hoovesie?” Sky asked, tilting her head just a little. One of her ears flopped down sideways as she regarded him with the tiniest hint of concern.

“They talked to me, Sky. They told me that you’d threatened them, threatened to come back and stab them someday. You do realise what that’d do to our family, right?” Stronghooves asked, doing his best to keep his voice under control.

“I wouldn’t...I didn’t…” Sky said slowly. “Hoovesie...you know that that’s a lie, right? I’d never do anything to hurt mum and dad!”

“Then why would they say that?” Stronghooves asked, pacing around her. “Why were they reduced to tears? Why did they look so frightened as soon as I told them where all of that food I stole was going?”

“Oh…” Sky frowned, pawing at the cobblestones with her little hoof. “I guess they caught you, huh?”

“Yeah, they caught me, and they told me a very interesting story.” Stronghooves nodded. “Sky...have you been lying to me?”

“No!” Sky yelped, taking a step back and shaking her head. “I’d never lie to you, Hoovesie! You’re my best friend ever! I don’t ever wanna do anything that’d upset you!”

“You might be too late,” Stronghooves said. Sky recoiled at the slight growl in his voice. “Tell me the truth, Sky…”

“Hoovesie...you’re kinda sounding like dad…” Sky whimpered, backing away from him and lowering her head submissively.

“Are you going to stab me too, then?” Stronghooves asked, advancing on her. “Do you have any idea what hurting mum and dad would do to me? Do you have any idea what kind of hell you would’ve put me through?”

“N...no!” Sky squeaked, shaking her head again and backing away faster. “I wasn’t planning anything, okay? Hoovesie, please calm down...you’re scaring me…”

“Oh, I’m scaring you?” Stronghooves huffed. “Do you know what scares me, Sky? Standing up for you against my family and every stinking criminal in Canterlot! You never even told me why Shady hates you so much! Want to enlighten me, or are you going to lie about that, too?”

“I’m not a liar! Shady just...doesn’t like me, okay? I dunno why…” Sky murmured, pawing the ground with her hoof and looking away.

“I know you’re not being honest,” Stronghooves growled, lowering his head down to her level. “I’ll ask you again. What did you do to him to make him mad?”

“Nothing!” Sky gulped. “I just...stole...I was hungry, and I stole...food from him...and the guards might’ve been following me...and they found his hideout, and...and…”

“So you did lie.”

“No! I mean, yes, but…” Sky choked. “I’d never lie about mum and dad, Hoovesie! Please, you’ve gotta believe me! They’re trying to make you angry at me, just like them! I’m your sister, remember?”

“Yeah, my sister who’s had me take every single punch Shady threw at you, all so that you could keep lying to me about why he’s supposedly such a bad pony.” He spat. “How am I supposed to believe anything you say anymore? You’ve nearly cost me more than a few broken bones. Hell, you nearly cost me my future.”

“Are mum and dad threatening to give you a criminal record with the Royal Guard Academy again?” Sky asked, curling up into a protective ball of pony and peeking out from under her feathers at him.

Stronghooves bowed his head, gritting his teeth and looking away from the young pony. “When they found out that I was helping you, they threatened me with any number of horrible things. They threatened to throw me out, too. I suppose I can see why, now.”

“Hoovesie,” Sky whispered, raising her head and shuffling a little closer, “come on, they’d never throw you out. Let me talk to them. They hate me anyway, right? I can totally talk some sense into…”

Sky was cut off as Stronghooves snarled, smashing his forehoof right into her cheek and sending her tumbling over onto her back. Sky didn’t react at first, her eye remaining half closed as she touched a forehoof to her sore cheek in utter shock. There was really nothing for her to say or do in that moment.

“Don’t you dare go near them!” Stronghooves boomed, flaring his horn as he forced Sky back onto her hooves. “You may hate this family by now, but that’s still my mum and dad, and I will not allow you to compromise that, do you hear me?”

Sky merely stared straight ahead for the longest time, her underdeveloped wings slumping down by her sides as the full weight of what had just happened struck her. “You...hit me…”

“I said, DO YOU HEAR ME?” Stronghooves roared, picking her up by the neck and slamming her into a brick wall. “I CAN DO FAR WORSE THAN JUST HITTING YOU, BELIEVE ME!”

Sky stared at him in sheer terror, the bruise around her eye visibly darkening as time went on. She opened and closed her mouth uselessly as tears trickled down her mucky cheeks, hooves raised protectively under her chin.

“Am...am I a bad filly?” she finally croaked.

Stronghooves rolled his eyes, dropping her. “You’re worse than that. You threatened to hurt my family. You repeatedly disobeyed them and drew me into your little web of lies for two damn years. You’re a pathetic little foal.”

Sky’s ears flopped down as she tried to get back on her hooves, still rubbing her bruised cheek.

“I never did anything to them! I couldn’t! They were always shouting at me! All I ever wanted to do was make them happy, and I never could! I’m sorry, okay?” She squealed, trotting closer and looking up at him with big hopeful eyes.

“You’re still lying,” Stronghooves growled, looking away. His horn sparked now and then, his eye twitching. Rat knew it to be the expression of a unicorn who’s trying their hardest to resist the urge to cast a spell.

“I’m not lying,” Sky whispered, shaking her head and placing her forehoof on her brother’s. “I’ll even make everything up to you. We can go to the park and play together, okay? I know you want to play Toss The Filly. It always makes both of us feel better, right?”

Stronghooves glared at her out of the corner of his eye, pulling his hoof away and snorting. “What makes you think that I want to play with a dishonest little bully?”

“You love playing with me!” Sky beamed hopefully, only able to open her eye halfway due to the swelling by now. “You told me that it’s your favourite thing in the world to do! You told me that you looked forward to playtime every day!”

“And you told me that you were being bullied for no reason, that mum and dad had no reason to hate you, that you were some helpless little pony and you’re somehow the victim, here.” Stronghooves spat. “I guess that makes us both liars.”

“Hoovesie...I didn’t mean to make you upset! Please...let’s talk about this, okay? We can go to the park and we can hug and play and…”

Sky trailed off at the sight of Stronghooves’s face as he looked at her once more. His eyes burned with betrayal, anger and the most feral kind of hatred.

“You’re a freak,” he said simply.

Sky backed away, looking down at her forehooves and wrapping her tail around herself. “I...I’m sorry...I don’t mean to be…” she croaked. Judging by the look on her face, that had hurt her far more than the actual beating.

“You don’t mean to be.” Stronghooves huffed. “Excuses. Everything mum and dad said was right, wasn’t it? They were right about you not trying at Flight School. They were right about you being a bad student. They were right about you being a terrible excuse for a daughter who blamed her every failure on somepony else.”

“If...if I say yes...will you stop being mad at me?” Sky asked hopefully, idly playing with her tail.

Stronghooves lowered his head to draw level with her once more, his expression unchanged.

“Our family is broken, Sky,” he said quietly. “Our parents don’t know who they can trust, and I’ve had my skull broken in three places and my jaw in two others...and it’s all because of you. You’re a snotty, disgusting, pathetic excuse for a pony, and the worst part is that you’ve gotten away with it for so long.”

Sky looked up at him with a trembling lower lip. “I’m sorry, Hoovesie. I’ll try and change, okay? I’ll...I’ll be good. I just want my big brother…”

“If you wanted to keep me, you should’ve been honest with me from the beginning.” He sighed, looking away once again. “I don’t see you fixing this, Sky. You’ve kept me living a lie and sacrificing everything for you for two whole years since you were thrown out, and now everything mum and dad told me is starting to make sense.”

“No, please! They’re lying, Hoovesie! I’d never hurt you! I’d never lie to you! I was just scared that you’d be mad about the Shady thing, but mum and dad...I know why they hate me, okay? It’s because I’m...different…” Sky sniffled, grabbing his foreleg and hugging him with all of her might, “It’s because I’m...special.”

“You’re not special. You’re a liar and a freak,” Stronghooves snarled quietly. “You’ve got three seconds to let go of my leg and get the hell out of my sight.”

“I don’t want to...please, Hoovesie...please believe me...I’d never lie to you...I need you…” Sky whispered, clutching him tighter. She rubbed her bruised little cheek on his leg affectionately, closing her eyes.

“One…”

“Please...I’ll make it up to you! I don’t know how, but I’ll make it up to you!”

“Two…”

“I’ll do anything! I’ll be the best little sister ever, you’ll see!” Sky yelped louder, hiding her head under her wing as he raised his free hoof and flared his horn. Rat couldn’t look away, transfixed by the scene before him. Even in the last moments before he struck her, Sky had been totally prepared to do whatever it took to restore their relationship.

As if she was ever the problem… he thought to himself.

Stronghooves yanked Sky off of his leg, slamming her into the ground and holding her there while he punched her in the stomach. Sky’s screams ceased immediately as the wind was knocked out of her. As he brought his hoof down on her again and again, her unusually fluffy belly quickly turned red, then purple. Before long, it was all Sky could do to draw breath at all, gasping for air as she looked up at her big brother with big teary eyes. Letting go of her, he gave her one last kick, sending her tumbling head over hooves and smacking into a brick wall with a pained little squeak.

Sky lay there in silence for a very long time, panting desperately to try and get air back in her damaged lungs. Stronghooves waited in silence, too. His expression flickered between confusion, remorse and outright malice. Finally, with a little whimper, the young filly rolled over, looking up at him with those same big blue eyes.

“Wh...why?” She croaked.

“Because...I hate you,” Stronghooves whispered back. “I hate everything you are. I hate how you’ve failed at everything you’ve ever done. I hate how you’ve lied, how you’ve cheated, how you’ve hidden behind me. I hate how you gave up on being a good little sister and used me.” He sighed, shaking his head. “You’re on your own now, Sky. Just hope that Shady isn’t stalking around here at all. I imagine he’s got a score of his own to settle with you.”

As Stronghooves left the courtyard, Rat perked his ears at a near-inaudible whimper from the young filly. He wasn’t sure, but he could’ve sworn that it sounded like “I still love you.” The teenager ignored it, trotting out into a nearby street and nodding to a gargantuan stallion on the other side of the street.

“She’s all yours,” said Stronghooves, as the memory began to fade. “I’m done protecting her.”

Instead of appearing back on the bridge as he had done before, Rat found himself standing in a monstrous lecture theatre. It was completely empty, only the dim security lighting providing any illumination to the enormous room. The stallion glanced around, catching sight of myriad carts and little desks covered in medical equipment, along with…

“Stronghooves…” Rat whispered, spotting the stallion in the corner. The captain leaned against the wall, older than he had been in the previous memory, wearing the purple-gold armour of a high-ranking officer. Rat’s eyes drifted down to his sword, already recognisable as the one Makali had described.

Both stallions glanced down at the double doors to the lecture hall as the sound of thundering hoofsteps approached, and a moment later a pegasus stallion burst through it. He looked for all the world like a younger, slightly fitter version of Shady, wearing the distinctive hooded cloak and mask of a fully-fledged burglar. He caught Stronghooves’s eye, winking at him as he drew a knife and rounded on the door.

Only a few seconds later, a second pony burst into the lecture theatre. Rat recognised her immediately, having seen her likeness in his hallucinations with Fox and the pictures in Sky’s diary.

Shadow… he thought to himself. Those enormous wings were incredibly distinctive. She held a familiar yew longbow in her hooves, drawing back an arrow and training it on the stallion.

“Looks like a dead end, Nightshade,” she said coolly, taking off and hovering in midair. “Come on, save yourself some trouble and just put that knife down. I’ll even aim for something soft. You won’t feel a thing, trust me.”

“That’s not gonna happen, kid,” Nightshade growled, stamping his hoof and flourishing his knife. “This time, it’s you who’s gonna be going down, and unlike you, I don’t put ponies to sleep. I just...well…put ponies to sleep.”

“Cute,” Shadow sighed, tossing her hood back and letting her untidy mane tumble down to her shoulders. “Well, I’ll try not to wear out my bowstring on you, pal.”

With that, she loosed the arrow, tipped with a little glass capsule filled with a bright green fluid. Nightshade dove out of the way, taking flight himself and slashing at her with the knife. The filly danced out of reach, her massive wings launching her ever higher into the air.

“So where’s Shady? Don’t you normally follow him round like a little whimpering bitch?” she asked conversationally.

“He’s dealing with your sister. Trust me, Sky’s not gonna get here until it’s too late,” Nightshade chuckled, rolling out of the way of another arrow and slashing at Shadow’s neck.

“Really? You think that big tub of lard’s gonna get an edge over my sister?” Shadow giggled, effortlessly looping around him and nocking another arrow. “You’re dumber than you look, and that’s saying a lot.”

“You don’t understand, kid,” Nightshade grinned, climbing up after her as she got alarmingly close to the light fixtures overhead, “this time it’s gonna be really different.”

“Yeah, keep believing that,” Shadow giggled, nocking an explosive arrow and firing at the ceiling. “Heads up!”

The arrow detonated with stone-shattering force, sending one of the enormous projectors tumbling down towards Nightshade’s head. In full climb, there was no way he’d be able to get out of the way in time.

A split-second before impact, Nightshade was wreathed in bright blue light, taking the hit without a single scratch. The projector disintegrated against the magical barrier, and all Shadow could was stare in confusion and fright.

“Wait...you can’t…” she began.

“No, he can’t,” Stronghooves announced, stepping into the light, “but I can. Hello, Shadow.”

Shadow glanced between the two stallions, gulping and backing away slowly. She suddenly appeared to be far less confident in her abilities.

“I...didn’t know that you two were working together…” she squeaked, nocking another arrow.

“It’s funny, isn’t it?” Stronghooves commented, drawing his sword and saluting her. “But you’d be surprised at just how many ponies become willing to work together to bring you down when you’re a public nuisance, and you and Sky most certainly are.”

“So what, you’ve recruited these assholes as some kind of vigilantes?” Shadow asked, diving out of the way of Nightshade’s follow-through and launching herself towards the captain.

“Something like that. Everything about this job was a set-up, Shadow. The Palace, the encounter with Nightshade and Shady, your separation from Sky...and now this,” he smiled, horn flaring as he fired a bolt of magical energy straight at her. Before Shadow could roll out of the way, it struck her wing, sending her crashing down to the floor with a pained grunt.

“For...what…?” Shadow snarled, struggling to her hooves and inspecting her scorched wing. “We’re gonna get out of here one way or another. We...always do…”

“Sky might,” Stronghooves nodded, stepping forward and bringing his sword around in a flashing arc. “You, however...well, this whole set-up was specifically for you.”

Shadow ducked his sword, drawing back an arrow and firing it off at Nightshade as he tried to get around her. The young filly tucked her useless wings in by her sides, backing away and attempting to keep her bow trained on both stallions simultaneously.

“Sky…” She said slowly, a little louder than speaking volume. As Rat looked into her eyes from across the lecture theatre, he recognised an emotion that was familiar to him but perhaps not to Shadow; fear.

Stronghooves’s horn flared, holding her bow in his magic as he slashed at her again. Shadow leapt backwards, releasing the weapon and yelping as he sliced it in two. She reared up onto her hind legs, pulling a sleep arrow out of her quiver and holding it like a short makeshift spear. Her eyes drifted down to her broken bow, still engraved with her name in Sky’s terrible hoofwriting.

“SKY?” she repeated, spinning the arrow in her hooves and jabbing at Nightshade as he tried to dive on her. The stallion’s knife became entangled in the barbs of the arrowhead, holding him there for just long enough for her to swing around and kick him in the stallionhood. Nightshade quickly went down, clutching his balls and groaning as Stronghooves picked up the slack. He brought his sword down in a double-hooved swing, shaving a few hairs off of Shadow’s tail as she leapt down towards the front of the lecture theatre.

“There’s no escape, you know!” Stronghooves laughed, leaping after her and slashing the back off of one of the chairs in his way.

“There’s always a way out!” Shadow snarled back, twisting in the air and hurling the arrow at him like a javelin. Stronghooves teleported out of the way moments before the arrow hit, bursting back into existence off to her side and slashing at her again. This time she was a little too slow, yelping in pain as he left a thin cut down her side, punching through her armour with ease. Shadow wheezed, clutching her side as she backed all the way down to the chalkboards. She searched blindly for a weapon behind her as she tried to keep her eyes on Stronghooves. Finally, her hoof grasped a long wooden pole with a metal hook on the end, one of those un-named pieces of equipment for pulling down errant floating blackboards.

“SKY!” Shadow screamed, bringing the makeshift weapon around in a wide arc that forced Stronghooves onto the defensive. She danced out of the way of his counterattack, spinning the pole over her head to break the captain’s focus and pulling his forelegs out from under him. Stronghooves fell to the floor, snarling as his jaw cracked against a desk.

Nightshade finally got back up, leaping at her and spreading his wings as he aimed the knife straight at her neck. Shadow followed through with her swing, catching his neck in the hook and slamming him down into the floor with all of her might. Her eyes darted from one stallion to the other as she backed away towards the doors. Rat knew an uncertain gaze when he saw one, and Shadow was most certainly in over her head.

“Sky...any time now…” She muttered, watching as Stronghooves got back up again. This time he snarled at the filly, launching himself towards her with his sword held over his head by pure magic. Shadow dove sideways, spinning the pole to build up momentum and whacking him across the head with the metal hook. His helmet took the worst of the hit with an echoing clang, though it only served to make him angrier. Stronghooves pressed his attack, countering Shadow’s acrobatic, fast stickfighting with calculated force and incredible brute strength.

Shadow screamed out her sister’s name one last time as Nightshade tried to tackle her from the side, catching the hook around his neck once more. She pulled herself down its length, headbutting him repeatedly until both ponies looked downright dazed. Finally, she swung the pole in another wide arc, striking Nightshade in the head with the curved side of the metal hook and knocking him unconscious.

When Shadow turned to put her attention back on Stronghooves, however, the Captain was nowhere to be found. She clutched the pole close to her chest, reared up on her hind hooves and scanning the room as best she could.

Rat spotted him first, shimmering back into existence behind Shadow and sizing her up from behind. He knew in that moment that Shadow wouldn’t quite be able to react in time, but though he screamed and screamed for her to turn around, he could no more get her attention than he could change history itself.

Shadow whirled around, the polearm meeting his sword in mid-swing. With a crack of splintering wood, Stronghooves clove the makeshift weapon in two. The young filly squeaked, dancing out of reach as he tried to follow through.

“You don’t give up, do you?” She cried, flicking her forehoof and extending her hoof crossbow.

“Try to think, Shadow.” Stronghooves growled. “You’ve led my sister down a dark path, messed her mind up in ways I can’t even describe, ruined any chance of her ever loving me again. No...this ends now.”

Shadow levelled the weapon, firing a bright green sleep dart at her aggressor as he swung at her head again. Stronghooves conjured a shield out of pure magic, blocking the dart and shattering the capsule in midair. Shadow retreated, firing each and every dart left in her bandolier at the Captain of the Royal Guard as he advanced on her.

“SKY! HELP!” She shrieked, as tendrils of magic wove around her crossbow and forced it off of her struggling hoof. Stronghooves crushed it before her very eyes, fixing her with the predatory glare of a combatant who knew he’d won.

“She can’t help you, Shadow.” He whispered, lifting the filly up and drawing her closer. “You’re out of tricks and out of time, and there’s nothing you can do to stop this. Just accept it.”

Shadow gritted her teeth, kicking out with her hind legs and setting off her own flare boots. The lecture theatre was lit up by bright pink flares for a few moments, blinding Stronghooves and making him drop the young pony as he clutched at his eyes in anguish. She dragged herself away from the massive stallion, pulling out her very last weapon; a little combat knife. Shadow reared up onto her hind legs, holding it up with the air of a pony who’d never raised a lethal weapon in anger before, but when she looked, Stronghooves was gone.

Shadow only got out one more short scream as she caught his silhouette looming over her shoulder, not even managing to turn around all the way before the captain slammed the sword into her gut. She dropped the pole, looking down at the tip of the blade bursting out from her stomach, and gurgled quietly. For the longest time, the only sound in the room was both ponies’ heavy breathing, and then finally the young filly gave a pained grunt as he drew the blade out of her, letting her slump to the ground to die.

“Come on, get up,” Stronghooves said quietly, nudging Nightshade with his forehoof. “You’ve still got a job to do, remember?”

Rat’s ears perked at the sound of desperate galloping from outside, Sky’s voice echoing down the hall as she called Shadow’s name.

“Nngh…” Nightshade grunted, roused back to consciousness by Stronghooves’s nudging. “I don’t see why you don’t take the credit yourself.”

“Sky needs to be able to rely on me, that’s why.” Stronghooves smiled, dipping the knife in the growing puddle of blood around Shadow and forcing it back into Nightshade’s hoof. “Besides, this is your crowning achievement! Don’t be so modest!”

Moments before Sky burst through the double doors, Stronghooves teleported away, leaving Nightshade next to the body with a bloody knife and a dazed expression.

The memory faded around Rat once more, and this time he was once again left on the bridge with a semi-conscious Stronghooves. The burglar was far too pissed-off to hold back at this point, grabbing him around the neck and striking him across the face with a bolt of pure magic.

Stronghooves jolted awake, rubbing the thin cut that Rat had left on his face. “Wha...what are you…?”

“Listen up, bub,” Rat snarled, giving him another smack, “I know that it’s you behind this whole Operatives thing. I know that it’s you behind all of the horrible things that’ve happened to Sky, and I know that it’s you who’s ruined her damn life and killed her sister. You lied to me, asshole.”

“I...didn’t...lie…” Stronghooves whimpered pathetically, still disoriented from the rude awakening.

“You did, and I’m gonna damn well make you pay for it,” Rat grinned savagely. “Now, if you wanna make this easy for yourself, why don’t you go ahead and tell me where you’re hiding with the rest of your asshole buddies?”

Stronghooves said nothing, opening and closing his mouth uselessly. Nonetheless, as Rat looked into Stronghooves’s eyes, he caught glimpses of a mountain fortress with a lighthouse atop it, overlooking the Equestrian Plains. He could recognise a place like that anywhere.

“You’re hiding in the Griffon Kingdoms, aren’t you?” he grinned.

“I’m...no...I’m not…” Stronghooves said, hurriedly looking away. That was all the answer Rat needed.

“You stay right there, buddy. You and your friends are about to get one hell of a surprise.” He chuckled mirthlessly. “Go ahead, set up whatever defences you’d like. Hide behind as many of your buddies as you like, but believe me, Hoovesie...I’m coming for you. Sky and I are gonna hunt you down, crush you and fuck you up...just like you fucked her up. Got me?”

“Please...don’t...I don’t want to…” Stronghooves yelped, eyes going wide as he met Rat’s gaze once more.

“Too bad. You should’ve thought of that before you fucked with my best girl. She’s my best friend and I love that dumb little pony, and you’ve gone and tried to get her killed or...or tortured, or...whatever. You’re the cause of every horrible thing that’s gone on in her life...and I’m gonna make you pay.”

Rat relinquished him, stepping away as everything began to fade into white. Stronghooves couldn’t say a word more, though as Rat Racer perked his ears, the captain’s whimpering began to sound more like...laughter.