Melody glanced down the long, dark alleyway nervously. No way was she being taken off guard, this time.

She set her hoof down in front of her slowly, being sure not to make any noise. She crept down the alley, keeping an eye out for any signs of red. Nearing where they normally slept, Melody sneaked in.

She spotted Hearth Claw instantly, sprawled all over the floor as she was. Symphony was lying above her head, wrapped up in both her quilt and what appeared to be Hearth Claw’s small coat, as well as Melody’s extra small blanket.

Melody slipped over the two ponies, hoofing the knife out of Hearth Claw’s reach. Finally, she put her hoof on Hearth’s muzzle, starting the pony awake. Instantly the red filly reached for her knife, but couldn’t reach it. Melody brought her muzzle close to the mares’ ear.

“Hearth! It’s me!” She whispered. “Calm down!”

Hearth’s eyes widened, and she slowly settled down. After a few moments, Melody lifted her hoof off of the red pony’s mouth.

The filly glared indignantly at Melody. “Y’know, that’s the second time I’ve woken with your hoof in my mouth.”

Melody smiled. Teasingly, she said “Seems like we’re getting a thing, here.”

Hearth returned the grin. “I suppose so.”

A small silence settled between them as Hearth Claw struggled to ask the question that had been pestering her all day, but she couldn’t find a way to word it. Finally, Melody let up on the filly. “I’m guessing you want to know how much I got paid.”

Hearth grinned awkwardly. “Uh… yeah…”

Melody let out a long sigh. After letting another silence torture the red filly, she said “I don’t know how much, exactly. I do know it’s more than one fifty.”

Hearth almost choked. “One hundred and fifty? Like, actual bits?”

“Yeah, though it’s kind of a long story. Right now, I want to get Symph to a doctor.”

Hearth nodded quickly. “Heck, yes. Definitely. Let’s go.”

Melody raised a hoof to her lips as Symphony tossed in her sleep. She crossed the room quietly, setting a hoof gently on her sister’s shoulder. “Symphony? Wake up.”

Symphony slowly opened her eyes, though they were almost completely glazed over. “Mel?”

Melody winced at how raspy her voice was. “Yeah, Symph. It’s me. C’mon, you have to get up.”

Groaning, Symphony buried her head under the blanket. “Why?”

Melody shook her sister slightly. “We’re going to a doctor, Symph. I’m gonna get you help.”

Melody had to help her sister walk from the alleyway to the clinic. She let Hearth take Symphony off of her shoulder when they arrived at the office. Melody approached the small building, pounding on the door.

“Oh, for Celestia’s sake. What in blazes are you doing, pounding on my door at four in the morning?”

Melody winced. Not a good start, but she needed help. “Please, Sir, my sister’s sick!”

An elderly brown pony peered out through large spectacles at the three fillies outside his door. “Come back in four hours!”

Melody grit her teeth. No way was this getting away from her. “With all due respect, Sir, I don’t know if she’ll last that long. I couldn’t get help before now, and she’s been sick for weeks.”

The pony glared at her. “Do you have any idea how much this’ll cost?”

Melody matched his gaze. “I can pay any amount.”

The stallion paused, a hoof thoughtfully scratching at his black goatee. Finally he nodded. “Alright, give me a second to unlock the door.”

A horrible sinking feeling gnawed at Melody when she saw the look on that ponies face, but she had no other choice. Symphony needed help. She waited in the cold as the stallion reappeared at the door, letting the three fillies into his house.

Melody gazed around the building. It, too, had nearly twelve bookshelves, though most were empty. The brown pony sat down behind a large desk, where he rested his muzzle on his hooves. “So what’s wrong with your sister?”

“I don’t know, that’s why I’m here.”

The brown pony sighed. “What symptoms did she have?”

“Uh… Well, she had a cold. She caught that a while back… But we couldn’t really do anything for her, and now she’s really sick.”

Symphony broke in with a small cough. “Well, actually, I’m not that sick…”

Melody gave her sister a sarcastic stare. “Yeah. You just can’t walk on your own. You’re fine, really.”

Symphony faded back into silence, this time with a large blush on her cheeks. She gets embarrassed so easily… Melody turned back to the stallion. “Could you take a look at her?”

The stallion slowly nodded. “Yes. For a price, of course.”

Melody sighed. “How much?”

“Fifty bits.”

'That little?' Melody quickly shuffled out the mound of coins. “Okay. Can you look at her now?”

The pony nodded slowly. He rose from the desk, escorting Symphony into a small room behind his desk. Melody followed quickly after, not letting her sister out of her sight for a second. The large stallion pulled out various unrecognisable instruments, using them on her sister.

Melody had no idea what ears had to do with being sick, but the doctor still checked them, as well as her breathing, and her pulse.

Finally, Melody let her temper slip a little. “What exactly are you doing?”

The doctor pulled off his stethoscope, sighing louder than he needed to. “I’m giving her a check up. There’s no point on just giving her one medication if there’s more than one thing wrong.”

Melody fell back into silence, though there was no need. “As for the sickness, it’s pneumonia. I may have something for it here, but it’ll be expensive.”

“Whatever. If it helps her, I’ll pay.”

The pony grinned, and Melody finally pin-pointed the expression. Greed. No way was this pony going to charge fairly. The stallion dug around through a cabinet, pulling out a small pill bottle. “Here you go.”

Melody narrowed her eyes at the stallion. “How much?”

“One hundred bits.”

'That’s bullshit!' “…Okay.”

Melody slowly poured out the large pile of bits, counting them out onto a large table. The stallion looked at the mound, and Melody saw a grin flitting behind his eyes. Finally, the stallion rose. “This isn’t enough.”

Glancing down at the heaping stack, Melody sputtered indignantly. “N-no, this is one hundred bits.”

“I said one fifty.”

Melody growled at the pony. “You said one hundred.”

The stallion shook his head, pocketing the pills. “One fifty, I’m pretty sure I know what I said better than you.”

Melody audibly ground her teeth. “Fine.” She emptied the rest of the purse, and began counting out the coins. 'Thirty two, thirty three, thirty four, thirty fi- Oh no…'

Melody glanced at the stallion. “Uh… I only have one hundred and forty.”

The stallion scooped up the bits lying on the table, sliding them into his own purse. Letting out a long sigh, the stallion smiled sweetly at Melody. “Well, that’s alright then. Just come back when you have more.”

A suffocating silence filled the room as Melody fully processed what just happened. Finally, she spat out a few words with enough acid to chew through diamond. “Give me my bits back.”

The stallion looked confused, though Melody could tell it was for show. “No, you paid me for this.” He shook the bottle of pills.

Melody grinned back, though there was no humour in her smile. “Oh, okay. Then give them to me.”

The stallion shook his head. “You haven’t paid for them yet. You still owe me ten bits.”

Melody nodded slowly. “Oh.. I see… That’s good, ‘cause, y’know, I thought you were swindling me. And we just wouldn’t want that.”

Anypony could have clued in. Anypony in Equestria. But the stallion just smiled back. “I’m glad we came to an understanding.”

Melody walked out to the lobby, approaching Hearth. She knew that the stallion was still watching her. Melody reached into Hearth’s vest, grabbing her coin purse as well. Hearth raised her brow questioningly. “But Mel, all I have is-”

Shaking her head minutely, Melody said “I know.”

Hearth gazed back, slowly clueing in to what Melody was saying. Finally, she pushed herself off the chair she was waiting on and trotted to the room that Symphony was in.

Melody slowly turned, a smile plastered on her face. “Sorry about that. Now, how much did I owe you?”

The stallion grinned stupidly at the purse Melody set on the desk in front of him. He glanced up at Melody. “Twenty more bits.”

Melody shook her head. This pony was digging his own, shallow grave. “Of course. How could I forget?”

She pulled the drawstrings, cracking the purse open slowly. Finally, she emptied the contents onto the desk top, just as Hearth slid the door to the room shut. Melody had to smile at the astonished look on the stallion’s face, as all the purse emptied out was a large knife.

Melody instantly grabbed the tool, slamming it point down into the desk. “Now, how much did I owe you?”

The stallion blinked at the large knife. “Uh… None. Go ahead and take the pills.”

The smile further across Melody’s face. She pried the knife out of the table, sliding it point first under his chin. “It’s so nice to see ponies like you acting out of the generosity of their hearts. Could I have my coins back too, please?”

The brown pony nodded shakily, taking his purse and setting it on the table. “Yeah, sure. Here. Take mine, too. Just don’t kill me.”

Melody instantly played an innocent facade. “Kill you? Why in Equestria would I kill somepony?”

She slid both the bits and the pills into Hearth’s purse before trotting across the lobby and knocking on the examining room’s door. Hearth cracked it open an inch. “Yeah?”

Melody didn't turn to her, keeping her eyes and the knife pointed towards the doctor. “We’re leaving.”

Hearth slid the door open all the way, unveiling Melody’s shivering sister. The red mare escorted Symphony out of the building, quickly followed by Melody. The pale pony paused in the doorway. “Thanks, Doc.”

The doctor nodded shakily. “Ye-yeah, anytime.”

As soon as they left the small building, Melody pulled Symphony off of the red filly onto her own back, speaking only one word.

“Run.”

The two fillies galloped away from the clinic, hardly sparing it a backward glance. They ran for what felt like hours before Melody finally pulled into an alleyway, out of sight from the street. Hearth came in just a few seconds after her. As soon as she had caught her breath, Hearth gave Melody a confused glance. “So, explain to me again why we’re running?”

Melody set her sister back on her hooves before answering. “I thought he may attempt to find a Guard.”

“Oh.” Hearth glanced about the dingy alleyway. “We staying here, or..?”

Melody shook her head. “No, we aren’t. We’re going back to our alley. Just had to take a breather.”

Hearth gave a short nod. “Right. Well, I’ll go watch for somepony in armor yelling ‘Stop, thief!’”

“Sounds good.”

Melody watched as Hearth sauntered out of the alleyway, turning to her sister as the red mare disappeared from sight. “Are you okay?”

Symphony nodded, though her breath sounded raspy. “I’m fine, Mel.”

The pale pony shook her head. “Yeah right. And I’m Princess of Equestria. Here, take these.”

Melody pulled the pills out from Hearth’s coin purse, handing them to Symphony. She watched as her sister uncapped the bottle, glancing at the contents warily. “You sure? These are… stolen.”

Melody rolled her eyes. “Well, it was either that, or paying well over what they were worth. Don’t worry about it.”

“Well…”

Crossing the gap between them quickly, Melody placed her hoof on her sister’s shoulder. “Symph. Trust me, I did what I had to.” 'For you to survive.'

The cream pony smiled back nervously. “A-alright, I guess…”

Melody finally let the smile come back when her sister swallowed a small white capsule. Symphony stuck her tongue out. "Tastes like gravel."

Melody turned down the alley, glaring out into the brewing snowstorm. She turned back to her sister. “Are you sure you can do this?”

Symphony slowly stood. “Yes.”

The two ponies walked into the street, the wind almost pushing them over. Hearth came over to them, her teeth chattering like ninety. “S-S-So, w-we m-m-moving, n-now?”

Melody shared a nod with her sister before the two pegasus flanked the earth pony, pinning her between the two of them. She grinned as Hearth found herself pinned between two small ovens, the pegasi’s much warmer body heat flushing out the cold. “Yeah, we’re moving now.”

Author's Note

Sorry about taking forever with the update. I could only type with one hand, and I only finished it yesterday. It's also a lot shorter than I wanted...

Whatever. Just a bit of forewarning: Until my hand is good, my updates are going to be sporadic, at best. Sorry again.

Same thing as usual. Leave a thumbs up if you liked it, or a thumbs down if you didn't. S'all good.

...Morphine is awesome.