Twilight Velvet leaped out of the mess on the container floor—the last hurrah of her adrenaline rush. What followed next wasn’t exactly a sprint so much as a limping canter. Sweat dripped from her fur, her horn felt like it was about to cave into her forehead, and every muscle screamed for rest. The exit of the cargo hold was in view, despite her darkening vision. Just a couple more…

Rapids didn’t need toys. One hardened buffalo cranium made its mark on Velvet’s thigh. Velvet was airborne for less than a second. Her body dented the wall, shooting a resounding gong through her shoulder, up her ears, and out her eyes.

As Rapids’ blurred form trudged towards her target, Velvet’s horn sputtered. Something…anything…to get her out of-

Another blow. The spell fizzled out. Velvet’s legs fell limp, but she clung to consciousness even as Rapids mounted onto her.

“Rapids…please…sto…ack…”

The last word trailed off into a gag when Rapids wrapped her cloven hooves around Velvet’s neck. Velvet tried to raise her arms to pry Rapids’ hooves off—fat chance of that—but all she could muster was pawing the ground. Velvet’s head was forced to the floor, and her increasingly fuzzy vision dimmed as her eyelids began to close.

Then the golden angel arrived.

But she didn’t seem quick to the trigger this time.

It was hard to see—Daring Do was just a yellow blob standing in the distance—but it was obvious Daring was aiming down her rifle’s sights. However, instead of opening fire, the pegasus kept hesitating—raising the rifle to take aim and then lowering it again, shaking her blurry head.