Unlike Starlight, Bon Bon wasn’t the least bit surprised that a guard had decided to turn on Goumada when given the chance. From what she’d seen, ponies and griffons weren’t people to Goumada; they were just things that danced when she played the right tune. Treat people like things, and you shouldn’t be surprised if they struck back. Especially your own security guards. The only ponies it was stupider to anger were waitresses. Did you really want to piss off someone guarding your valuables or handling your food?
She was walking into the casino, back in her fake guard’s uniform, her borrowed key wrapped around her fetlock. In her pockets clinked enchanted gems (Sunburst called them “seeds”), ready to be put into the security system and reroute some signals. She was alone since Sunburst’s route into the security system was (supposedly) almost completely automated once she stuck it in, and she’d argued that the same technician needing to be let into the security hub by the same guard two days in a row would’ve been suspicious where one guard wouldn’t be. Also, she didn’t want to admit it, but, freed from having to babysit Sunburst, the only pony Bon Bon had to worry about was herself, and she knew herself. She didn’t have to fake any excuses for why she knew this or that. She didn’t have to come up with backstories for teammates. She didn’t have to justify anything to anyone. She could infiltrate however she wanted, and wow was it a good feeling.
Okay, so maybe she wanted to admit it a little.
“You, uh, holding up?” asked Sunburst in her head. She had the telepathy anklet on, just in case.
Bon Bon barely managed to not roll her eyes, remembered he couldn’t see her, and rolled them anyway. “Unless I say otherwise, yes, I’m fine, Sunburst. Entering the casino now.”
“Um. Good. Any, any idea when-”
“I’ll let you know when I’m in the security hub. Out.”
Bon Bon scanned the casino floor intently as she walked. There were more guards than her previous visits. Had Goumada noticed something was up and decided to beef up security? How had she known? Maybe she had seen Thorax shapeshift on the cameras. Maybe she was keeping it secret to keep attendance to the anniversary festival high; a venue like this getting infiltrated by a changeling would drive ponies away. Goumada seemed like the kind who’d allow the world to go to Tartarus on a tanning rack as long as she wasn’t hurt.
Two guards were standing at the back doors, up from one on previous days. Bon Bon didn’t spare them a glance as she let herself in and they didn’t spare her one, either. So she hadn’t been recognized yet.
“In the staff halls,” she whispered to Sunburst, following a familiar path. “Security must’ve been upped, by the way. There’re more guards than usual, but nothing too bad yet.”
“Hmm. Hmm hmm. I’ll, I’ll make a note of that.”
“Also, I wish this telepathy stuff worked through actual telepathy.”
“If I could do that in a, in a few days without having your private thoughts intrude, I, I’d’ve won the Neighbel Prize a long time ago.”
She found the security hub without much trouble. As she headed for the bathrooms, she counted her steps and made sure to keep her strides as evenly-spaced as she could manage. When she reached the bathroom, she looked both ways. No one was coming. She pulled open the door, only to get brushed aside by a griffon exiting, still shaking water from her claws. Bon Bon kept herself from yelling about how there were paper towels right there, let herself in, and quickly locked herself in one of the stalls.
Standing on the toilet and praying nopony would come in, Bon Bon turned her suit jacket inside out, clambered on top of the walls of the stall, pushed one of the ceiling tiles up, and poked her head into the crawlspace. It was dusty, musty, cramped, and downright terrible. Ducting and wires wound through the gap, reducing the space even more. Still, worth a shot. Bon Bon ducked down to reorient herself, then climbed into the crawlspace and, supporting herself on the infrastructure, replaced the tile.
Her hooves hooked around the main girders and aiming for the security hub, Bon Bon slowly pulled along through the crawlspace. She avoided putting weight on the tiles at all costs; they were hardly strong. She knew that sound was amplified in the narrow space and that the tiles were meant to absorb sound from reaching the outside, but she still winced every time she heard the clink of hoof-on-steel echo through the space. Dust swirled through the air, and if she hadn’t had the kerchief, she would’ve been coughing up a fit in moments. Even with that protection, the back of her throat tickled tremendously. The only light in the darkness poked up through tiny, tiny holes in the tiles. Bon Bon kept moving on, hoof over hoof, slow as a sloth. She was careful to only move a distance of one foot at a time and counted each step. Seven, eight, nine…
It was tight in there, and fostered a very strange kind of claustrophobia. If she was just hemmed in, Bon Bon wouldn’t have minded. But she also had to not touch the tiles to keep from getting found out. She had to sucker herself as close to the real ceiling as possible, and if she slipped, the entire operation could be a bust. Alone in the dark, dust making her breaths sound like wheezing, she kept moving. Thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four…
Come fifty-nine, Bon Bon stopped. She listened; nothing. Carefully, carefully, she pulled up a tile. Room: security hub. Status: empty. Cameras: none. Secret agent: pleased. She delicately lowered herself onto one of the racks, replaced the tile, and dropped to the floor. “I’m in the hub,” she said as she re-reversed her jacket, hiding the dust it’d picked up.
“You, you are?” asked Sunburst. “Wow. That’s, uh, that’s impressive. It was really that easy? You said you were going, going through the crawlspace, right? There wasn’t anything, uh, blocking you?”
Nopony could see her, but Bon Bon still shrugged. “Happens all the time. You get the strongest door money can buy, then somepony just breaks through the drywall next to it. There really should’ve been concrete going all the way up. My guess is that Goumada cut corners in all the wrong places. She was probably oversold the keygem system and only separated the back rooms and main floor.” Bon Bon prowled up and down the aisles, looking for the right rack. “We only got back here by swiping someone else’s key, remember.”
She instinctively reached to open the nearest set of racks, but her hoof bumped against something shiny and new. She took a look and saw- “Bad news,” said Bon Bon. “The racks now have locks on them. Must’ve been added at the same time security was bumped up.”
She could almost see the shocked look on Sunburst’s face. “Well. Um. Crap. Do you-”
“Good news. The locks look cheap and I’ve got a screwdriver.” If by “screwdriver”, she meant “lockpick kit that I’ve been carrying everywhere Just in Case”. Which she did. “Give me a minute and I’ll be in.” She selected the right pick and slotted it and the torsion wrench into the lock.
“…What. It’s, I mean, seriously, Bon Bon, why, why do you KNOW stuff like this?”
Bon Bon jiggled the pick around. Not as cheap as she’d expected, but still cheap enough that she could train somepony in opening it with a screwdriver. That was the problem with protecting money: if you wanted to go all-out, you might not have any money left to protect. “What, you never broke into lockers when you were in high school?” That was a skill she’d had before joining SMILE.
“No.”
“What a boring childhood yours must’ve been.” The door swung open and Bon Bon was confronted with a loom of glass thread. “I’m in. Now what?”
“Okay, um, take one of the seeds — any one will do — put it into, into the fibers, right on top of the lattice, and wait. Anywhere’s fine, but close to the center’s best.”
“Just like that?”
“Yeah, the enchantments Starlight and I put in it’ll, they’ll handle everything. See, by extending the projection filaments into-”
“Because magic. Got it.” Bon Bon grabbed one of the seed from her pocket. Delicately pushing fibers aside (was it her imagination, or did touching them make her hoof tingle?), she wormed the seed into the racks. When she thought it was far enough in, she just let it rest on top of the crystal lattice for several moments and wondering if she’d know when-
Suddenly, a tiny needle poked her in the frog. She gasped and instinctively pulled her hoof out; the seed didn’t come with it. After a quick check to be sure she wasn’t bleeding, she pushed the fibers aside. The seed was glowing, had absorbed some of the fibers, and was already melting into the lattice, where it’d be undetectable. She let the fibers fall back into place. Nothing out of the ordinary. “It looks like it’s working,” she said. “It’s glowing, anyway.” (Why did active magic always glow? Couldn’t it hum? Or even have a smell?)
“And… Okay, good, we’ve got- Oh, sweet mother-ducking Celestia, this is GREAT.” Sunburst giggled the slightly-evil giggle that comes from overwhelming giddiness. “It’s all coming through PERFECTLY. I, I think. I can test it quick a minute. Maybe if I… Holy alicorns, yes! WHOO!”
Bon Bon flinched and massaged her temples. “Sunburst, please don’t give me a migraine with your yelling.”
“Sorry, sorry,” laughed Sunburst, “it’s just- You, you’re good. A-at least on those cameras. Keep, keep moving.”
“Alright. Going to the next rack.”
Thorax-Unicorn-Green was feeling good. No, not just good, goooooooooooood. He was chipping away at the other players’ pots, “flubbing” just enough hooves to keep them interested, and not accidentally driving Glade-Earth-Orange into a nigh-homicidal rage (that last one was an especially big plus). In fact, Thorax-Unicorn-Green didn’t taste a single whiff of suspicion in Glade-Earth-Orange’s emotions. Yes, life was good. Or at least the poker table was. Even Sunburst-Unicorn-Orange and Bon Bon-Earth-Tan’s conversation in his head couldn’t stop that.
As Thorax-Unicorn-Green pulled yet another stack of bits towards him, Corky-Earth-Yellow leaned over and asked, “So where did you learn to play?”
“Friends,” said Thorax-Unicorn-Green vaguely. “They thought I’d be good at it, they taught me, and, well, here I am.” Which both absolutely true and quite misleading. Bon Bon-Earth-Tan would’ve loved that answer.
“They certainly taught you well. How good are they?”
“Not very.” Technically accurate.
“Really,” said Glade-Earth-Orange. “Then how come you’re so good at it?” Thorax-Unicorn-Green had a brief moment of panic before he realized he still couldn’t taste any suspicion, just curiosity.
“Dunno. I… guess I’m just good at it?”
Thorax-Unicorn-Green felt a slight spike of interest, and for the first time in what felt like ages, the dealer-griffon-tiger-red falcon spoke up. “That happens. I’m just good at this.” He flicked the cards off the deck in such a way that they spun at the players, coming to a stop in exactly the right spots. “Don’t practice much. Don’t need to.” He gave the deck an extra flick; the card spun off and did a tight circle in the air before the dealer-griffon-tiger-red falcon easily caught it. “It just comes. Maybe I’m magic. You can’t look for any magical butt tattoos, though. I’ve already checked.”
“Cutie marks are not tattoos,” snorted Corky-Earth-Yellow. He peeked at his cards; Thorax-Unicorn-Green got a mild rush of joy.
The dealer-griffon-tiger-red falcon smirked. “Permanent patterns of different colors against your coat? They’re pretty darn close.”
“They’re natural! Tattoos aren’t. Cutie marks come when-”
“I know how cutie marks work, thank you. Now, please…” The dealer-griffon-tiger-red falcon gestured across the table. “Make your calls.”
Thorax-Unicorn-Green looked at his cards. Ace of hearts, jack of diamonds. Solid. The others, unfortunately, had enough confidence that their hooves were also solid. Everypony only called, though.
The flop. Two of clubs, eight of spades, nine of diamonds. If he got lucky on the turn and the river, he could still get a straight, but otherwise, Thorax-Unicorn-Green wasn’t holding his breath. Neither of the others were, either. So he took a risk and, when his turn came, raised.
It was a strange feeling, when the emotions of multiple people turned the same way at once. Like being caught in a river of feelings. Even ponies could notice something that blatant. Everypony’s mind went still for a moment. Corky-Earth-Yellow called, then the other players did so, too. But everypony started looking at each other, well aware of the shift around the table.
The turn. Five of diamonds. No straight today. Everypony else roiled with nervousness; this was not a good hoof for anyone at all, it seemed. So Thorax-Unicorn-Green raised again. What was the harm, right? They’d fold.
“Raise,” said Corky-Earth-Yellow.
Poop.
The other players, with some slight hesitation, checked. Back to Thorax-Unicorn-Green. He looked between his cards and the turn again. They weren’t great. But… he’d spent this game playing with a relatively restrained, safe strategy. The other players probably thought of him as cautious. So maybe- “Raise.” He pushed his tokens in. Suddenly turning aggressive would make him look confident. Blatantly confident.
Sure enough, the emotions of Corky-Earth-Yellow and the player-pegasus-blue flinched; after some thought, they both folded. But- “Raise,” Glade-Earth-Orange said the second it was her turn. She was nervous, but not as bad as the other two.
“Raise,” repeated Thorax-Unicorn-Green, just as quickly. Corky-Earth-Yellow had kept talking about how he was a good player. Maybe that would keep Glade-Earth-Orange from thinking this was a bluff.
Apparently so. Concern emanated from Glade-Earth-Orange like heat from a fireplace. If he hadn’t been looking closely for it, Thorax-Unicorn-Green probably would’ve missed her blink and her ear-flick when she said, “Raise.”
“Raise,” said Thorax-Unicorn-Green.
The other players looked back and forth between the two. Corky-Earth-Yellow was probably chuckling inside, based on his glee, and the dealer-griffon-tiger-red falcon was completely invested.
Glade-Earth-Orange had apparently learned something from two days ago; her anger flared up, but it was smothered beneath resignation. “Fold,” she sighed.
Yes. Corky-Earth-Yellow smirked at Thorax-Unicorn-Green as the latter gathered his winnings. He looked at the pile of tokens in front of him. They’d probably bought all their stuff for the heist already, right? They wouldn’t need anything more. And if they did, he could come back later. Time to cash out. “Well,” he said as he dumped his tokens into his bag, “it’s been fun, but I think I’ll be going.” He hopped off his chair and waved, hoping he didn’t look condescending.
The other players gave him strange looks, except for Corky-Earth-Yellow, who waved back. “Nice game! Hope to see you again soon!” Then the other players gave him strange looks. Thorax-Unicorn-Green nodded to Corky-Earth-Yellow and left for the cashier. Good day today. Good day.
“Oh, my, aren’t YOU a sweet little A/V datastream…”
Bon Bon almost made a joke about Sunburst marrying that datastream if he loved it so much, but from the way he was talking, she wasn’t completely sure he wouldn’t decide that was a good idea. Twilight was like that at times. (And to think she was a princess…)
The process was so easy, she quickly settled into a rhythm. By the end, she could put the seed into place and re-lock the rack within fifteen seconds. Nobody came inside; this was probably the kind of room nobody was supposed to come into unless something went wrong. Fine by her. Sunburst got a little bit louder and more approving with each new interface.
“Last one,” Bon Bon said, jiggling the pick to put the tumblers back.
Sunburst giggled. “Holy Celestia, this is GREAT. We, we don’t just have cameras. You know how the guards have those earpieces? We’re getting audio from those, too. Starlight and Lyra, they’re working on sorting the, the different frequencies out so we don’t get blasted by, by everything when we try to look through the, through the cameras.”
“Awesome. Anything more I need to do here?”
“No, I, I don’t think so. Just, just get out of there and back here.”
Bon Bon grinned. “Copy that.” Easy and simple. Why couldn’t all infiltrations be like this? She exited the hub with her head high and her heart soaring. A little bit of a strut made its way into her stride and it was hard for her to not start spontaneously whistling.
It became much easier a few moments later, when she realized she’d come out of a door she hadn’t gone into.
She was safe. Nopony had noticed. Right? They wouldn’t attach anything to it. Right? They probably wouldn’t even think anything of it Right?
As right as left. Bon Bon glanced over her shoulder. The guard at the end of the hall seemed to be watching her, but it was hard to tell if that was from suspicion or coincidence. Bon Bon went with “suspicion”, faced forward again, and kept walking. “Sunburst,” she whispered, “just so you know, I might’ve been spotted. I made a mistake in coming out of the security room and they miight’ve noticed. But I don’t know for sure.”
A long pause. A long, long pause. A bead of sweat rolled down Bon Bon’s muzzle. She cleared her throat. “Sunburst? You there?”
“…Well, that’s one mother of a bombshell to drop right now!” Sunburst yelled.
“I don’t see any guards following me yet, but I don’t know that there aren’t any. I’ll keep you posted.”
Jitters ran down Bon Bon’s legs to her hooves. Keeping herself at a walk was an effort. It’s happened before, her mind said, nothing bad happened then, her mind said, but she knew better. Acting like it was nothing was the fastest way to ensure it would turn into something, whether because she got messy or because she was tempting fate something fierce.
She glanced over her shoulder. The guard was still looking at her, still standing in the same place. But right before Bon Bon turned the corner, the guard started walking towards her.
The second she was around the corner, Bon Bon picked up her pace a little. She was in a bit of a hurry, others would think, but definitely not running. She turned her ears back. Someone was coming around the corner behind her. They were picking up their pace, too.
Bon Bon turned another corner. The doors back to the casino were right in front of her. Doing her very very best to not break into a sprint, Bon Bon strode down the hall towards them. Twelve yards… Eight yards… Four yards…
“Hey!” someone yelled behind her. “You there! Tanny!”
Bon Bon pretended it couldn’t be directed at her and lightly shoved her way through the door onto the casino floor. The guards outside didn’t even blink. Although she sighed in relief, she also felt a gnawing trepidation. The crowd could cover her, but it could also cover anyone coming after her. She kept her head moving, always on the lookout for security. She spotted a guard in one direction and quickly scooched away, putting some ponies between the two of them.
She was about to look away when the guard twitched and put a hoof to her earpiece, pushing it in deeper to hear it better. She was getting orders. And Bon Bon had a good idea of what those orders were.
But it wasn’t that bad just yet. One guard? Maybe nothing to worry about. The order could’ve been anything. Two guards? Definitely something to worry about. Too coincidental. Bon Bon looked around-
Another guard was touching his earpiece. Yet another one right next to him.
And those were just the ones that made it obvious.
She looked at the entrance. Several guards were moving towards it. She swallowed. “Uh, Sunburst?” she whispered. She could barely hear her own voice above the sound of the casino.
“That, that doesn’t sound good.”
“The guards are looking for me. They haven’t spotted me yet, but, um… Yeah.”
“Ehm. Great.” Sunburst sounded like his jaw was stiff.
“So if you could put together some kind of distraction, any kind of distraction, that’d be nice.” Bon Bon risked poking her head above the crowd. None of the guards were looking at her, but the ones she saw were moving quickly. “And it needs to be fast.”
“I’ll, um, I’ll see what I can do.”
Bon Bon wasn’t holding her breath. Everyone else was at the villa, and even with Starlight’s teleportation, they could only get here so fast. And whatever distraction they used couldn’t get anyone else captured. But the main entrance wasn’t the only way in. Hadn’t Lyra said there were back rooms for entertainment rather than staff? Maybe she could get out through a service exit in there. Or maybe she’d just be running herself into a dead end. If only she’d memorized those parts of the blueprints, too. She looked around again. No guards nearby.
Her mind wrapped up in worry, Bon Bon ran headlong into a mare. As she staggered back and rubbed her mane down, she said, “Oh, Celestia, I am so sorry. That’s my-”
But her throat went dry when she saw who she was speaking to.
“Ah, hello. I’ve been looking for you,” said Goumada.