//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: Barn Notice // by totallynotabrony //------------------------------// Garcon was hooded and tied to a chair in Soarin’s living room when I walked in.  He reacted slightly to the sound of my entrance. Soarin wordlessly gestured to me.  Ready to go. I took a glance over a few pieces of paperwork Soarin and Rainbow had apparently taken from Garcon’s place.  There didn’t seem much particularly notable. It would have been nice if he was the kind of pony who kept records of misdeeds so we wouldn't have to do the interrogation. No matter. I turned and approached the chair.  “Mr. Garcon, is it?” Even though he knew he wasn’t alone in the room, he still jerked slightly at my voice.  “Who are you?” “Come now, have you really forgotten me so soon?” “...Octavia Melody?” “I suppose you can guess why you’re in this situation now.  Mr. Rich was rather cross about your contribution to the failed kidnapping.” When a pony is accused of something, their reaction is telling.  Will they make an excuse?  Deny it?  Defy it? “What do you want?” he said.  Straight to business.  Good boy. However, that wasn’t how my strategy worked.  I began to circle his chair, walking slowly.  “What makes you think I want something?” It threw him for a loop, as intended.  He paused, and then gestured as well as he could when tied up.  “Uh...why-why else would you do this?” I could actually see the hair on his neck stand up as I circled behind him.  I paused and leaned forward to his ear.  “We didn’t get to the Third Street Thugs before the guards did, but we did get you, so that’s a consolation.  We had intended to do this as a group but...lucky you.” “Ponies will be looking for me,” he said. “All the more reason to get started quickly.” He seemed to seize on another idea.  “Well...you’re new in town, right?  Pinkie Pie will be looking for you.” “Pinkie and I have an agreement.” The agreement was don’t hassle me, I’m a local and carried the implication of the dirt I had about how Pinkie pulled off her party planning surprises.  Secret dossiers, slight of hand, and preplanned supplies hidden everywhere?  Maybe I should have been an entertainer. “Why are you doing this?”  The stress in his voice was building. “Oh?”  I smiled to myself, not because of the irony, though it was, but because of the subtle tone it added to my voice.  “You think kidnapping is wrong?” He struggled to reply for several seconds.  “What if...what if I told you who I was doing this for?” “Are you proposing some kind of deal?” “Yes!  That’s right!” “Hmm.  Well, I suppose that would depend on who they are.  On the one hoof, we have direct betrayal from you.  On the other...well, I suppose you will just have to tell us.” Garcon talked.  I gave myself a pat on the back for the interrogation.  It hadn’t taken that long to break him.  I didn’t even have to touch him. Some ponies have signature methods of torture.  They’re psychopaths, and if I’m being honest, not very good at interrogation if they have to resort to inflicting pain.  Not that I hadn’t gotten physical every once in a while, but I wasn’t using bowstring for strangling or anything. There was an old joke, at least among cello players, that competition for First Chair in the Canterlot Philharmonic could be rather cut-throat at times.  The rest of the joke doesn’t translate well to civilians, but it was a play on garrotting somepony with catgut. Soarin, Rainbow, and I left Garcon tied and hooded, stepping outside to discuss what he had told us. “Wow, you’re more slick-talking than I expected,” Rainbow said.  “I didn’t know you could do that in addition to taking direct action like rescuing Rich.” “Maybe you can’t,” said Soarin, saying the same as I had thought. “Oh please,” Rainbow shot back at him.  “You only get mares because you pick the old ones who can’t run away.” “Speaking of running away, are we going to get after this gang tonight before they find out we have Garcon?” I said. The three of us quickly reviewed what he had told us. Apparently, we had just irritated the largest organized crime group in Equestria. PY-12 was a near-boogiemare of a gang, or at least according to many parents.  It primarily infested the underbelly of cities, but since I’d been gone there was even a branch started here in Ponyville now. They were mostly a problem because of how big and widespread they were.  Sure, they got up to all kinds of crime, and occasional murders and drug running, but I’d never personally had a tiff with them.  In fact, some of my coworkers had occasionally engaged them for connections or information. Okay, yes, they were still a menace.  I wasn’t going to lose sleep over disrupting them.  More importantly, though, if I got lucky, I might be able to use their connections to the company. They were big enough and organized enough that when they moved into a town, they co-opted the smaller gangs already there.  The Third Street Thugs had become PY-12’s errand boys, even if they didn’t realize it.  Garcon had been the well-placed go-between.  It was good that he felt no particularly loyalty to either gang, because otherwise he might have refused to talk during interrogation. We had enough information to go find PY-12.  Garcon had usually met up with his contacts in the gang at the Starry Night club.  That was another thing, Ponyville also now had a nightclub since I’d been gone.   I was going to need camouflage.  As Octavia, I had Garcon’s attention.  Ideally, that wouldn’t have happened, but it couldn’t be helped now and regardless it seemed like a safe step to isolate my name from what I was about to do next.  PY-12 might be on edge, now that the Third Street Thugs had been rolled up and if they already knew Garcon was missing.  It was best for me to put on my best fake identity. Putting together a disguise is much more complicated than just dressing up.  One has to change her clothes, hairstyle, and even posture, gait, and voice.  The point is to eliminate as many points of comparison as possible. Plausibility is also a concern.  It’s fine to be disguised, but not if it’s only going to draw more attention.  A disguise for Manehattan wouldn’t work for Ponyville.  The surefire way to blend into the background of Ponyville was to pretend to be a native.  So I decided to call myself Jazz Apple. “You’re in with the family, the Apples aren’t going to take too much offense to this, are they?” I asked Rainbow. “In with the Apple family?” Soarin razzed.  “Do they know?” “Well yeah, I think Mac knows we’re dating,” Rainbow defended. “You think?” I said. “Please!  Who can say no to this?”  She gave a flourish with her wings. “I did,” Soarin volunteered. “Because you have a pie fetish,” Rainbow shot back. I broke up their sparring.  “Soarin, depending on how this goes, we may need a heavier hoof, so could you go get some charges from Mac?  Preferably ones that won't kill the neighbors.  Rainbow, I’ll need you to come with me to the club, so put on a nice dress-” “How about Rainbow goes to the farm, and I’ll come with you to the club,” Soarin suggested.  “Maybe I’ll play the bodyguard?  Gay best friend?”  “I wouldn’t mind going,” said Rainbow.  “I wouldn’t mind seeing Mac.  Plus, my piece has been acting up so I can drop it off with Mac while I’m there” “No, I need you on this,” I said.  “In a club, two mares together are much better for this kind of thing.  Soarin, why don’t you want to see Mac?” “It’s not that I don't want to see him, I just think you need me on this more than you need me, you know...going to see him…”  I stared at him. “I mean, it’s a big club!  You haven't been there before, and I know my way around a bar and…” Rainbow was also now staring at him. “Wow, is it getting hot in here?” he said, despite us being outdoors.  “Hey, I think I got some yogurt in the fridge now-”  “Soarin-” I said. “I’m trying to watch my figure, and that’s all I ever see you eat and you look great!” “Soarin-” “And I heard this club makes the best Bahama Mamas, always in the mood for a Bahama Mama!” “What did you do?” “What?  Nothing!  Innocent as can be!”  Rainbow facehoofed.  “Oh my Luna, you got caught didn’t you!  Mac caught you in Applejack’s room!” “We were not in her room!” I sighed.  “Rainbow, you’re supposed to be fast, right?  Can you - quickly - go get the charges, then put on a dress and meet me at the club?  Soarin, if something happens, I’ll need you outside the building.” “What are we doing with Garcon?” “Make sure his knots are tight, and depending on how things go tonight, we’ll deal with him later.” Plans made, we split up.  I swung by the turnip factory to grab a purple sequined dress I’d bought off the rack earlier in the day.  I lit a cigarette and let it burn in an ashtray while I put the dress on, fixed my mane, and slapped on some makeup.  In a dark club at night, nopony cares if it’s perfect.  However, overall appearance is still the sum of small touches.  Now that I smelled like tobacco smoke, I also tucked a cigarette behind my ear. I headed down at Starry Night, pausing outside to study the building.  Before I left town, I never would have guessed a place like this would come to Ponyville.  How times had changed. If it had been built a little earlier, I wondered if I would have left town.  Probably still yes, but the doubt was there. No time for this line of thinking.  Rainbow landed beside me just then.  She was dressed and carried a jumbo-size satchel.  Soarin was just after her.  She gave him the whole bag. “Well now, I said to get us ‘charges,’ not ‘a hydrogen bomb,’” I commented.  I’d already slipped into a more appropriate local accent for my cover name.  Strange how my affected one had become my natural default. “I can’t believe I’m the one talking about moderation, but we don’t have to use all of them at once,” Soarin said.  He nodded to the two of us.  “Good luck.” Rainbow and I walked into the club.  The music was already thumping.  It wasn’t doing much else, just thumping.  Okay, perhaps I actually wouldn’t have spent much time here if given the choice. Garcon had told us the descriptions of who we sought, and where they usually hung out in the club.  There were some semi-reserved private booths in the back.  I scanned the room.  Rainbow had told me that she was more attentive only when she was flying, plus she’d already gotten a drink somewhere, so I wasn’t holding out too much hope that she would spot our targets first. Who I spotted first was Diamond Tiara. “She’s your student; is she old enough to be here?”  I pointed her out to Rainbow. “I don’t think so, but I’d be a hypocrite if I called her out for rules I totally ignored at that age.” “I think this is part of why my mother keeps giving you failing inspections.” I glanced back across the room and sighed.  Letting Diamond be was risky.  She might approach us at an inopportune time while we were in the middle of something.  I couldn’t count on her spotting Rainbow, her teacher, and shying away.  I was going to have to get ahead of this. I had the length of the dance floor to figure out what I was going to say to her.  Diamond was with another girl, a grey filly with glasses.  Neither of them noticed me until I cleared my throat. It took her a second to recognize me.  Apparently the disguise was holding.  “Oh!  Octavia, what are you doing here?” “I was going to ask you the same thing, considering it’s a school night and you’re also underage.” “Well…”  She did look a little bashful.  “You don’t mind, do you?” “Not personally, I just wouldn’t advise it.” “Who is this?” the other filly asked. “Oh, she’s…” Diamond looked at me, apparently realizing I was dressed up, and said, “just somepony I know.” “Well, she is kind of right, DT,” said her friend.  “Maybe we should call it an early night.” “I’ll see you tomorrow,” said Diamond.  As soon as her friend was out of earshot, she leaned closer to me and said, “So are you doing some kind of mission here?” There was really no denying it, if she had already sussed it out.  What else was I going to say?  That I liked dancing? “I’m actually glad I ran into you, Diamond.  Could you do a favor for me?  I need somepony distracted.”  I didn’t say that somepony was actually her. “Really?”  Her eyes sparkled. “Do you see that stallion over by the bar?  He’s got a gold necklace.  Do you know him?” “Hmm.  No, I don’t think so.” “I need you to hold his attention.  Whatever you have to do, dance with him, talk with him.  As long as possible, or until I call you off.  Can you do that?” “Well, sure, but...what if he wants to do other stuff?” “Drop the bomb that you’re underage and then walk away.” She nodded.  “Okay, here I go!” I had no idea who the stallion was, but the job would keep Diamond occupied.  As she departed, I looked around again for the PY-12 members who usually hung out in the club. I was in luck.  The booth Garcon had told us about was being used by a few ponies that seemed to match the description.  I caught Rainbow’s eye, and the two of us walked forward.