Sky hammered on the great big metal door to Sawblades’s clinic, taking another swig of water from a stolen flask. It took her a moment to contort her face into something resembling a smile before the viewport slid open, revealing the doctor’s two mismatched eyes.

“Sky? What the hell happened to you? Everyone’s been telling me that your hideout was destroyed and you got forced out of the city…” Sawblades began, but Sky held up a hoof to cut him off.

“Sawblades, I need food and medical attention right now,” she said, trying her hardest to sound chipper as always. “I’m also gonna need a way into the palace chapel.”

“Sure, sure…” Sawblades said distractedly, hauling the door open and pulling Sky inside for an examination. “Damn...you look like one hell of a mess.”

“You look like shit too, sweetie,” Sky said with a wink and a tired smile, giving him a smooch on the muzzle. “Come on, let’s get this crap together so I can go and get myself killed.”

“What the hell are you going to the chapel for at this time of night?” Sawblades asked, locking the clinic door and hauling her onto a gurney. “And in this state, too...no, no, there’s no way…as your doctor, I can’t allow it.”

“Sawblades, all I need is to be combat-ready,” Sky whispered, placing a hoof on his cheek and smiling up at him. “Come on, you know that timing is everything when it comes to my work.”

“Looks like all you’ve done is pick a fight with a dragon…” Sawblades huffed, looking her over and checking her pulse. “Okay, let’s see...blood loss, blunt trauma, some nerve compression but nothing too bad, some of your feathers are missing, too...that’s brutal...and…vaginal bruising…” he concluded, looking between Sky’s hind legs and cringing. “You’re also a little yellow, which can happen if you’ve been heavily poisoned. Look...I don’t know if I can do this, Sky…”

“Can you promise me that you’ll try your best?” Sky asked, looking up at him with pleading blue eyes.

Sawblades’s features seemed to soften as she looked into his eyes, his ears pinned against his head as he tried to fight back tears. For a doctor will all of his experience to be in a state of choking back tears spoke volumes about just how bad Sky’s injuries were.

“I...yes,” he said finally. “It won’t be easy, but...I can do it. I can get you ready for combat, maybe even give you something to keep you from feeling too much pain, but...Sky...you have to tell me who did this to you.”

“I’ll tell you when all of this is over,” Sky said dismissively, taking his cheeks in her hooves and muzzle-bumping him. “Just patch me up and I’ll go right out of my way to reward you for it, whatever you want.”

“How about a date?” Sawblades asked, grinning just a little.

“Good one,” Sky giggled. “Sawblades, you always know how to make a mare feel better.”

“Yeah, heh, good one…” Sawblades said, glancing down at his hooves for a moment before trotting off to get his equipment. “I’m going to have to drug you pretty heavily. You might not feel anything for a very long time, and when it comes back, the pain’s going to be just as intense as ever. Are you okay with that?”

“Yeah...as long as it’s gone for a few hours. That’s all I need…” Sky whispered, flexing her forelegs and feeling jabs of pain shoot up her limbs. Her fetlocks were torn out where her shackles had rubbed against her skin, and it was all she could do to ignore the stabbing soreness of it all. Worse still was her damaged wing, having already bled through its bandages and soaked her surrounding feathers and fur with infected blood. As she looked down between her hind legs, she cringed at the thin trickle of blood that still ran out of her marehood, soaking the protective paper cover of the gurney and staining it bright red. How she’d made it all the way back to Canterlot was anyone’s guess.

Sawblades came back, sitting up next to her and unwrapping her spent bandages. So much of the gauze stuck to Sky’s feathers that he eventually had to resort to a pair of scissors to cut them free. As soon as her wounds were all laid bare, he began the long and tedious task of cleaning her up, pouring rubbing alcohol on a cotton bud and dabbing at her wounds to sterilise them.

“Ow!”

“Sorry.”

”Ow!”

“Oh, stop being such a big baby, Sky. I didn’t even touch you that time.”

“I know, I’m just messing with you…”

“You know what happens to mares that cry wolf, right?”

“What’s tha… OW!”

“Exactly. Now hold still.”

Sawblades and Sky exchanged a friendly smile as he worked, slowly cleaning off all of the blood and cauterising whatever damage he could with a tiny blowtorch. He whispered soft sounds in her ear as he worked, more to calm her than to say anything coherent. Once or twice he blew a raspberry, coaxing a tiny little giggle out of the little pegasus. All the while, he gave her little sips of water and small treats to nibble on, just enough to get her blood sugar back up to an acceptable level.

Finally, Sawblades sunk a syringe into Sky’s foreleg, pushing down the plunger and pumping a concoction of combat drugs and painkillers into her system. He wrapped her bad wing and her sore hooves in bandages before finally stepping back and admiring his handiwork.

“Who says that you can’t polish a turd?” Sky asked, sitting up on the gurney and examining her fresh bandages. For just a moment, she looked and felt like a brand new pony, able to put the memories of what she’d been through out of her mind for just a little while.

“Those bandages have been carefully pinned in place, and I gave you some alchemical stuff that’ll make you a little more resistant to pain. In six hours, though, everything’ll come rushing back, so I want you back in this clinic before then so I can fix you up properly, got it?”

“Six hours will be enough,” Sky conceded, hopping off of the gurney and testing her footing. Her hooves were sturdy enough, and after some preliminary checks, she stood satisfied with his work on her wings, too. “Damn, Sawblades, you work some real miracles, you know that?”

“Hey, look, I’m just doing my job,” Sawblades said with a soft chuckle. “Now, I’ll wake up my contacts and see if I can get you that map. The chapel’s public access, but I figure that you’re probably not thinking of taking the front entrance.”

“I need to get into the catacombs,” Sky explained. “Trust me, it’s really important that I get in there right away. There’s something super-important down there I’ve gotta deal with.”

“Robbing tombs, are you?” Sawblades chuckled. When he caught the look in Sky’s eye, however, his smile faded and he nodded gravely. “Consider it done. Look, I’ll go and see what I can pick up about secret entrances to the chapel. You just stay here and rest up, okay?”

“Gotcha,” Sky said with a soft smile.

When Sawblades strode out of the clinic and slammed the door behind him, Sky’s smile disappeared, replaced with a grim frown and a pair of cold, dead blue eyes.

You have to stay strong, Sky...just a little bit longer…

She glanced up at the medical tools laid out on the table. Taking the bonesaw, Sky examined it for a moment, looking between it and the crossbow that Daybreak had given her. Her eyes drifted further afield, to a roll of medical tape nearby.

Taking the crossbow in one hoof and the saw in the other, Sky began to make herself a brand new weapon.

The moon sat low in the sky as a little white mare crept past the guards around the chapel’s perimeter wall. Public access though it undoubtedly was, Sky suspected that she wouldn’t exactly be welcome in a place like this, especially since getting inside the chapel and claiming sanctuary meant that she couldn’t legally be arrested.

She crept across a graveyard, weaving in between headstones with her hood drawn over her head. The damnable repeater crossbow clattered a little with every step, since at no point had it been designed with subtlety in mind with all of those moving parts. Still, Sky was light on her hooves, keeping her wings out to silence her hoof-falls. It was her special talent, after all.

The guards were inattentive as always, with no reason to believe that a burglar would come knocking at this time of night, and soon enough Sky reached the wall of the tall chapel itself. A monstrous building wrought from ivory stone and gold just like everything else in the palace, a scraping from one of the walls could probably pay for a month’s food, but Sky wasn’t concerned with money right now.

She took a little map out of her saddlebag, reading the instructions that Sawblades had given her by moonlight. She glanced between it and the masonry before her, counting off blocks in her head until she finally came to one that looked a little loose.

Great, Sawblades came through for me…

Sky put the map away, taking the block in both of her forehooves and tugging with all of her might. It came away more easily than she’d thought, sending the little pegasus rolling onto her back with a grunt.

What the hell...it’s made of plaster Sky thought to herself, looking the false block over with just a little amusement. The gap she’d created was just big enough to accommodate a pony her size. According to the instructions, it had often been used as an escape route by foals who didn’t want to sit in on weddings and services.

Sky set the block down by the hole, pushing her head through the gap and squeezing her shoulders into it, too. A stabbing pain rocketed up her bad wing as it pushed past the stonework, coaxing little whimpers out of her, but besides that she was able to push in without any problems. The combat drugs completely dulled any pain she might have felt, albeit temporarily. Sky suspected that she might have to pay for that with interest after all of this was over.

As soon as she’d slid the block back in after her, Sky looked around, taking in her surroundings.

The foyer to the chapel itself was ominous and a little spooky after hours, but there were still enough candles burning in their brackets for Sky to find her way around. A low archway across the hall led to the deep catacomb network that ran under the palace, the entrance to the Crystal Caverns...or at least the only entrance that didn’t involve negotiations with the Canterlot Underground. Sky didn’t have time for delays right now. Taking a deep breath, she ventured into the tunnels.

The stairs that ran down into the earth were far too small for a fully-grown pony, having been haphazardly cut into the rock of the mountain by someone with no concept of hoof sizes. Sky found herself taking very careful steps indeed. Tumbling down the stairs at this stage in the proceedings might give her away to Stronghooves, wherever he was.

Sky crept past ossuaries and tombs set into the walls, long-forgotten unicorn monarchs and high priestesses whose names she couldn’t remember. Their tombs ranged from ornate to spartan, their names and features obscured by dust and age. Magically sustained candles lit the way, giving Sky enough illumination to at least see where she was going. She followed twisting tunnels and winding staircases that seemed to go on forever, leading deeper and deeper into the earth, until she finally came to a crack in the wall. It was big enough to accommodate a large stallion or a mid-sized alicorn.

Huh, so this is it… Sky thought to herself, peering through it. This is the entrance to the Crystal Caverns.

Sure enough, the candlelight from the tunnel reflected off of some distant diamonds, each one an absolutely vast translucent stalagmite. The caves beyond looked more like a shattered mirror than anything else, the crystals glowing faintly with raw magical power. Sky suspected that, were she sensitive to magic, she’d be able to feel the energy kept in these big underground reservoirs. Indeed, even she could feel a certain weight in the air, as if she were outside before a thunderstorm.

Steeling herself, she squeezed through the gap and entered the Crystal Caverns. Her padded and bandaged hooves made soft pitter-patter sounds on the solid granite, barely audible even in the strange acoustics of the cave. Deep ravines stretched out here and there, shattered crystals adorning their walls as they sank into inky blackness.

Okay, don’t wanna fall down one of those things. I don’t imagine I’ll get out alive…

Sky ventured deeper into the caves, spreading her wings once more to keep her hoof-steps silent. She followed a little pinpoint of light deep in the caverns, a pinpoint she was confident was the light from Stronghooves’s horn all lit up.

“There you are…” she muttered to herself, loading the ammunition cartridge of her crossbow with darts. She crept closer, recognising that familiar silhouette as he stood at the centre of a big round plateau.

“Daybreak lied to me…” Stronghooves said softly, his voice echoing around the wide chamber as he looked from one crystal to the next. “She must have done. None of these are small enough for me to take them back to the fortress...they’ll never do…”

Sky raised her repeater crossbow, flicking a switch and spinning up the cylindrical ammo cartridge. A little iron crosshair sprung up, centred over Stronghooves’s midsection.

“None of these are right…” he said mournfully. “Then again...perhaps I don’t need to bring one back with me. Perhaps all I need is for Sky to follow me here.”

Sky paused, lowering her crossbow just a little as her eyes widened. Stronghooves rounded on her, staring at her across the cavern and smiling,

“Hello, little sister,” he said softly.

Sky froze in place, lowering her hoof completely and letting out a frustrated sigh.

“You just couldn’t make it easy for me, could you?” she said dully.

“I could say the same to you,” Stronghooves replied, pacing towards her and slipping his helmet over his head. “Sky, I had such high hopes for you. I thought that the treatment would work, that I’d be able to make you somepony to be proud of...but you just keep disappointing me at every turn.”

“You’re a disappointment too, Hoovesie,” Sky growled, taking a couple of steps back. “You’re fucking insane. Did you ever stop and ask yourself whether what you were doing was right?”

“I never had a doubt in my mind, Sky,” Stronghooves said confidently.

“Then you’re even more mad than I thought,” she sighed, raising the crossbow again. When she depressed the trigger, Stronghooves disappeared in a flash of light, suddenly standing right next to her with that same strange smile.

“Sky, someday you’re going to realise that I do all of this for you,” he went on, putting a hoof around her shoulders and drawing her close to him. “All of the things I do, I do them for you. I do them so that I can have my sister back. I do them so that I can stop all of...this.” He gestured to her equipment. “Sky...I do these things so that you can stop disappointing me.”

“You’re fucking sick,” Sky growled, spinning up the crossbow again and aiming at a chink in his armour. “Leave me alone, Hoovesie. Get the hell out of my life. Stop hurting me and my friends. You’re never ever getting me back.”

Stronghooves sighed, picking her up with his magic and holding her in front of his face. He had the strangest look on his face, a sort of severe blankness that belied barely contained rage. As he looked into her eyes, Sky saw no pity or mercy there whatsoever. She knew right away that he wasn’t going to hold back for one moment.

“Oh, Sky…” he whispered, drawing his sword as slowly and ominously as he could. “Why do you have to disappoint me EVERY...SINGLE...TIME!”

He punctuated each word by slamming her into the ground again and again, her padded armour doing little to soften the blows. Even the combat drugs didn’t help as she felt the impacts reverberate through her poor hollow pegasus bones. He dropped her completely, letting her slump onto her side as he raised his sword.

“I’m tired of this,” he whispered. “I’m tired of hoping that you’ll be a good pony. I’m tired of waiting for you to get your act together. I was an idiot to try and save you. It’s clear that you’re never going to be anything but a failure.”

As he raised his sword, Sky cycled an explosive dart into her crossbow’s firing chamber, raising her hoof and firing it square into his unarmoured neck. The clamps on the dart dug deep into his flesh, distracting him for just a moment as Sky hauled herself out of range. The dart detonated with enough force to blast a wall to smithereens, launching Stronghooves back across the chamber. A hanging crystal shattered like glass as he struck it, skidding across the ground before coming to rest far away from Sky.

She barely had time to haul herself to her hooves before he was back upright again, his torn jugular and windpipe healing right before her very eyes. Stronghooves kicked his sword back into his grip, charging at her once again. Sky spread her wings, leaping towards him and opening fire with her crossbow in turn. The air filled with darts as she emptied the entire ammo cartridge at him, sleep darts rebounding off of his armour or sword as he tried to teleport out of the way. Just as he came within striking distance of her, Sky threw down a smoke bomb, concealing her in thick black fog for just long enough for her to slip out of the way. The captain coughed and choked on it, looking around frantically in an effort to re-acquire his target.

Sky dove behind a crystal sticking out of the ground, reloading as quickly as she could and peeking over it as the smoke cleared. Stronghooves glanced around, spotting her for just a split-second before she loosed another explosive dart at him. It detonated at his hooves, launching him back and slamming him into a wall. He was back on his hooves before he hit the ground again, charging his horn and hurling a blast of magical energy at her. It sank into the crystal, which absorbed the magic like some kind of capacitor, and Sky dove out of the way as it began to spark and light up brighter than ever. Both ponies shielded their eyes as it flared brighter than the sun, finally exploding in a shower of sparks and shattered diamond.

That’s not good… Sky thought to herself, as Stronghooves lowered his head and charged another spell. Great, now he had an area-of-effect weapon to use on her.

Sky chambered another explosive dart, aiming it at a crystal over Stronghooves’s head. The resulting explosion brought it crashing down on the captain’s head, throwing off his aim and sending his spell careening into a wall on the far side of the cavern. He let out a furious roar, teleporting closer to Sky and punching her square in the face with one of his large heavy hooves. Sky was launched bodily towards the cliff edge, slowing her descent by spreading her wings and beating them as furiously as she could. She came to a stop with her hind hooves inches away from the precipice.

Stronghooves disappeared in another flash of light, re-appearing before her and swinging at her head with the cursed sword. Sky ducked under the blow, darting past him and kicking out with both of her hind legs. They rebounded harmlessly off of his armour, and Sky let out a yelp of pain as the shock shot up through her limbs. Stronghooves kicked back, knocking the wind out of her and hurling her into a nearby outcrop. There was a sickening crack and Sky went limp, laying still against the rock face as her brother advanced on her.

“I HATE YOU!” Stronghooves bellowed, his voice echoing around the vast cave as he strode towards her. “I HATE EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU! I TRIED TO LOVE YOU! I TRIED TO CARE! I TRIED TO HELP, BUT THERE’S NO HELP FOR YOU, SKY! YOU JUST KEEP FAILING, KEEP DISAPPOINTING! YOU DON’T EVEN TRY TO BE GOOD ANYMORE, AND NOW LOOK AT YOU! BROKEN, RUINED AND ALL OUT OF TRICKS!”

Stronghooves lifted her up by his magic, looking into her bleary eyes and seeing a single tear run down her cheek. She shook her head, coming back to her senses and fighting through the head trauma to stare back with equal determination.

“I’m…never...out of tricks…” she wheezed, kicking him squarely in the face with her hind leg. Her flare-boots sputtered and sparked, hurling bright pink countermeasures into the captain’s eyes. Sky squeezed her own eyes tight shut to stop herself from being blinded, but Stronghooves was neither so fast nor so lucky. The sparks struck him squarely in the eyes, burning away his retinas and blinding him completely. He let out a horrified shriek, casting the pegasus aside as he clutched at his face, waiting for it to heal up completely. Sky skidded across the stone, not spreading her wings fast enough to slow herself this time, and hurtled off of the cliff edge. She struck out with her forehooves, grabbing onto the edge and managing to hold on...if only for a while.

Stronghooves bowed his head, wheezing and growling as his eyesight slowly returned. He slowly, deliberately turned his head to look at the struggling pony, sparks still dancing in his damaged eyes as he marched towards her once again.

Shit...gotta think of something… Sky thought to herself, cycling her last dart into her crossbow. She glanced at it, then back up at him. This would be one hell of a gambit.

Stronghooves didn’t even offer her a last gloating speech, merely drawing back his hoof and kicking her square in the forehead as soon as he was within reach. Sky plummeted down towards an outcrop deep in the ravine, but she had no intentions of going alone. She raised her crossbow, firing a rope dart up at the captain as she fell. Before he could react, it struck him square in the shoulder, the little grappling hook in the tip punching straight into his flesh and extending to hold the rope in place. Stronghooves screamed with pain as his body healed around it, his balance upset by the little pony hanging quite literally by a thread. Sky swung back against the cliff face, digging her hind hooves into it and looking up at her brother with malice.

“You’re coming with me,” she snarled, giving the rope as powerful a tug as she could manage.

Stronghooves teetered on the cliff edge for just a moment before plummeting with her, grabbing onto her on the way down as he dropped his sword and screamed. Sky turned herself over as best she could, making sure that Stronghooves took the full brunt of the impact. It certainly wouldn’t kill him, but it could potentially buy her some time.

The two ponies landed on a smaller cliff further down the ravine, Stronghooves’s helmet buckling under the impact and rolling off of his head. Sky’s crossbow came free from her hoof as she fell away from him, leaving the rope dart embedded in the captain as she slid towards the cliff edge herself. She couldn’t see the bottom, or anything else for that matter. The light down here was far too little for her to find her way around.

Stronghooves rose to his hooves, pulling the rope dart out and flaring his horn to illuminate both ponies. He crushed her crossbow with his forehoof, pacing towards her once again with all of the inexorable menace of a tsunami. Sky stepped back, wary of the nearby cliff edge, when her hind hoof struck something metal.

Oh no...it can’t be… She thought, flicking her wing over it to make sure that it was precisely what she thought it was. Stronghooves’s sword.

She didn’t want to use it, but she was out of bombs, out of darts, out of tricks and out of time. With a fierce shriek, she grabbed the weapon by the hilt and swung it in a wide arc right at her brother’s head.

The sword struck, the light from his horn went out and both ponies were hurled into inky blackness.