As we moved through the crowded club, I made sure to stick close to Rainbow. She may be headstrong and sure of herself but I wasn’t so confident. This job had made me nervous from the start. I’d found myself in the underworld of Las Pegasus and I didn’t like how things were going down.
Offering me as much money as they had and the wealth of knowledge they had on the target made me wonder why they even needed me. The thought of a double cross seemed unlikely. Why go through the trouble of hiring an out of towner to come find someone you could already find on your own, and then killing them both? It didn’t make sense.
As we moved toward a door marked VIP we were stopped by a bouncer in a tuxedo and sunglasses.
“Private party tonight, sir.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll be in and out before you know it.” A code phrase. Another thing that had been tacked onto this job.
The colt tipped his sunglasses up and glared at me as he leaned to whisper, “You said you worked alone.”
“Change of plans,” I whispered back.
The colt grumbled and pushed the door open for us. I motioned for Rainbow to enter ahead of me as the colt continued to give me a dirty look. After she was inside I quickly followed, stopping her just inside the door in a small dark hallway.
“Stay with me in here. The target should be back here and we need her to trust us. All we have to do is get her to walk out the back door of this club and the job is done. They get their mare and we get paid and hit the next train back to Ponyville. Do you understand me?”
Rainbow nodded seriously but her eyes said she had questions, which she didn’t hesitate to ask. “It’s that easy? Seems kind of fishy.”
“Believe me, I’ve thought this whole thing was fishy from the start. If things start going bad I need you to just take off and get out of town. They won’t be able catch you. Just go back to Ponyville and go about your life like nothing happened. If they know who you are they’ll come looking.”
Rainbow nodded again. Her eyes once again betrayed her and showed me the fear behind them. “So what’s my name?”
That one had caught me off guard. I hadn’t thought about her fake name. I had planned on using my real one. I cocked my head, thinking for a moment before finally saying, “Sky.”
“Sky Chaser,” she mulled her fake married name over for a moment. “I like it.”
I smiled as I turned down the hallway putting my hoof around her. “Shall we, dear?”
She giggled at the ‘dear.’ She really was enjoying this but she cut her laughter short and fell into character.
We walked into the rather small VIP room and looked around. I spotted the target sitting alone in a round booth, sipping at a drink. I nudged Rainbow Dash and motioned toward her table, Rainbow caught the hint and we started walking together toward the large corner table.
As we approached the mare noticed us and began to look nervous. She knew she was being watched by someone. Her eyes looked up and down as if searching for an escape route. It was too late, we were already on top of her.
“Excuse me, do you mind if we join you? All the other tables seem to be full,” I said, using a bit of charm and innocence to try and calm her nerves. It had seemed to work.
She sighed. “Of course. I thought you were somepony else. Somepony not too fond of me.”
I pushed Rainbow into the booth ahead of me and placed myself on the outside. “Why would anyone not like you? You seem like a nice enough pony.”
She smiled awkwardly. “Well, I’m a witness for a murder trial.”
She was a bit more forthcoming with that information than she should have been but my natural curiosity kicked in. “My word. What happened?”
She explained how she had seen the most powerful mob boss in all of Las Pegasus lose his temper and kill one of his own colts. She didn’t know exactly why he had lost control but the rage she described was enough to turn anypony’s stomach.
She explained her nervousness at us approaching her had been due to all the disguised policecolts escorting her around the city. No one was set to be with her tonight and she had decided to go to a club in an attempt to calm her nerves. So far, it wasn’t working.
Rainbow had caught onto my lies and questions. “Well, then we’ll just stay with you for tonight. Celestia knows you look like you could use the company.” Rainbow sincerity had touched even me. I knew she was loyal but this was a level I’d not seen from her.
“So what’s your name?” My mind was beginning to change on the outcome of this job.
“My friends call me ‘Sugar.” She had smiled a sweet smile. This mare had a good heart and I knew why I’d been hired. I couldn’t let them do what they had planned.
“Well, Sugar, how would you like to spend a night on the town with us? We’ll shake these nerves of yours and the tails that you’ve picked up.”
Both Sugar’s and Rainbow’s eyes widened. Sugar began looking around nervously, and Rainbow just stared at me.
“Over my shoulder, the two in the booth staring at us and one by the door. Sugar, my name is Shadow Chaser and this is my wife, Sky. I’ll be straight with you. I was sent to lure you outside and after that Celestia only knows what they would do. But I’ve had a change of plans. We’re going to leave this bar and I’m going to get you somewhere safe.” I placed my hoof on hers. “This is only going to work if you have complete trust in me and do exactly what I say. These guys mean business and they won’t hesitate.” I stared Sugar in the eyes but caught Rainbow staring right at me. She knew I had meant those words for her as well.
“Okay,” Sugar’s voice cracked as the realization of what I had said sunk in. “But how will we get out of here?”
“You leave that to Sky and me.”
I moved out of the booth leading Sugar as Rainbow got out the other side. I caught Rainbow and looked her in the eyes.
“Are you ready?”
She nodded slowly; then her confidence returned. “Yea, let’s do this.”
----------
Luna, Twilight and I had split up. Luna had gone to guard Discord’s statue while Twilight had come with me down to the dungeons. The guards all knew Twilight so no one stopped to ask us questions.
As we neared the dungeons, Twilight suddenly stopped. I stopped with her catching my breath.
“What’s wrong?”
“If these guys are performing secret operations in the dungeons, don’t you think they’d have someone loyal to them guarding the way?”
The thought hadn’t crossed my mind but she was right. She glanced around a corner and confirmed that she had never seen the colt guarding the door to the dungeons.
“Well, detective, what’s the plan?” Twilight stared at me while I thought. I didn’t want to put her in harm’s way but what choice did I have.
“How long do you think you can distract him?”
“Long enough for you to do whatever you need to.”
I smiled at her. “Maybe one of these days I will need a partner. Go ahead down and get to work. I’ll be along shortly.”
Twilight nodded and rounded the corner, walking bravely up to the guard. I heard some indistinct chatter between them and went into action.
Casting my new favorite spell I walked up the wall all the way to the top of the giant vaulted ceiling. I peeked around the corner at the guard and Twilight far below me. I tiptoed around the corner and down the hallway until I was directly above the guard.
What’re you going to do now?
Knock him out.
This will never work.
With that simple negative thought, I fell. Quite a bit farther than I had anticipated but I landed squarely on the guard, one of my hooves impacting the back of his head and he fell into a heap. Twilight stared at me slightly in shock.
“Is he…”
I checked his pulse. “He’s fine. He’ll have one nasty headache though. Come on, we’ve got a damsel in distress to save.”
We entered the dungeons and stopped short. This place was a giant maze. With tunnels twisting this way and that, how would we ever find Octavia?
Twilight looked at me and smiled. “I’ve got this one.” Her horn lit up and she ran forward. She took a couple of turns and then from down the hall through all the bars I could see her. Octavia was lying on the floor.
“There she is!” I shouldn’t have shouted but my excitement got the better of me.
As we neared her cell, she stirred slowly. Backing away from the door she kept her eyes on the floor. They had beaten her. I quickly unlocked the cell and we gingerly stepped inside.
“Octavia? Are you alright?” I let Twilight take the lead.
“Tw.. Twilight? Is it really you?” Octavia looked up. One eye swollen from the beating she had received but both were full of hope now. “It is you! Oh thank Celestia!” She cried and rushed toward Twilight, hugging her tight.
“Twilight, get her out of here. I’ll find my own way back.” Twilight nodded and did as I instructed. But as her horn lit up Octavia cried out.
“Wait!” Twilight stalled the spell. “I’m not alone down here. There’s somepony else. I don’t know who she is, I never saw her, but I could hear them. They’ve beat her constantly over the past several days. You have to get her out.”
I nodded. “Go Twilight, I’ll take care of the mystery pony.” Twilight nodded again. I was hit with a purple flash and left alone. I had to find this mysterious mare and make my exit. This Wolves’ Den wouldn’t give us much breathing room.