After the scream, the whole casino went silent for several seconds before conversation nonchalantly resumed, although at a slightly lower level. Cheerilee heard a familiar voice say, “Come on, girls. Maybe there’s something we can do to help.”
Glancing around, Cheerilee saw the six mares from earlier hurrying off Well, they were about to bite off more than they could chew. She turned back to Smooth, whispering, “I found out that Silverwing is working with some kind of smuggling operation. I’ll try to figure out how many more ponies are involved.”
Smooth nodded, looking worried. “Make it quick. I’ve lost a lot of money.”
“Keep playing. As long as he’s winning, Silverwing will stay here where we can watch him.” Cheerilee covertly slipped Smooth's notebook back into his pocket.
The EIA agent nodded again, nervously. Despite his name, Smooth Operator was apparently anything but. Cheerilee straightened up from whispering in his ear. For no reason in particular, she flashed Silverwing a confident smile. The expression on his face changed a little, perhaps wondering if she’d introduced some new strategy with her whispering. The mention of a dead pony also probably gave him pause.
Cheerilee went back upstairs. The room where the slain stallion lay was taped off while police and medical ponies worked. The six mares that kept causing problems were crowded around. Cheerilee slipped by while their backs were turned.
Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. Familiar names and faces that Cheerilee hadn’t thought about in years. A few of them knew a little about Cheerilee’s situation with Princess Luna. Since moving away from Ponyville, the schoolteacher hadn’t had any contact with ponies from that town.
While it wouldn’t hurt much to say hello to them, it would inevitably lead to questions about what Cheerilee had been doing for the last decade, and why she didn’t look like she’d aged a day.
It was a shame, really. Twilight the purple unicorn was smart and helpful with school. Rarity, also unicorn but white, had made several articles of clothing for Cheerilee in the past. Pinkie Pie, a bubbly earth pony, always had something interesting to say and knew how to cheer a pony up. The orange cowboy-hatted Applejack was good for more down-to-earth practical conversation, and Cheerilee knew several other members of her family. Rainbow Dash, a pegasus as colorful as her name, was always making the news for something or other. Fluttershy, a shy yellow pegasus was perhaps the nicest, most caring mare the schoolteacher had ever met.
And somehow the schoolteacher had to keep them from getting involved. Granted, the six of them were capable and had dealt with plenty of bad ponies in their day, but that generally did not involve death, illegal substances, and vampires all in the same incident.
Down the hallway, Cheerilee passed two stallions going in the opposite direction. Both had their eyes fixed on the group of mares. Acting on sudden instinct, Cheerilee swung around a corner and stayed there, peeping out.
The two ponies stopped behind the crowd assembled around the emergency crew. Rather than watching the scene, they appeared to have their eyes on Twilight and friends. After a few moments, Applejack said something to her cohorts and separated from the group. After a quick discussion between the two of them, the stallions followed.
Cheerilee stayed long enough to see which direction Applejack went on the staircase, and then sprinted in the other direction. She found another set of stairs and went up, arriving on the third floor. Peering out from the stairwell doors, the schoolteacher spotted Applejack walking up to a room and pulling out a key.
The two ponies following her were not far behind. Cheerilee knew that Applejack was strong and tough from years of working on her farm, but being attacked would certainly convince her and her friends that the case was worth pursuing.
As Applejack opened her door, the two stallions turned towards her. Cheerilee shouted, “Murder!”
All three ponies turned in her direction, although the schoolteacher was out of sight. Cheerilee called, “Never mind! False alarm.”
Applejack snorted in disgust. “Some ponies...” Turning, she nodded politely to the two stallions. “Gentlecolts.”
Still off balance from Cheerilee’s interjection, the pair of thugs failed to react as the mare closed her door. Realizing they had missed their opportunity, the two of them began walking back towards the stairs while whispering angrily.
Cheerilee traveled the length of the hallway quickly and quietly enough that the two stallions were pinned on their faces before they even knew she was there. She held each of them in a modified headlock, faces to the floor.
“If either of you struggle, you die,” the mare whispered. “If you speak loudly, you die. If you don’t tell me what I want to know, you die. Understand?”
One of them said, “I don’t believe-” Cheerilee broke his neck with a twist of her hoof. The other stallion gasped.
“What is that green powder hidden inside the vegetables?” the mare demanded. The pony in her grip looked like he was about to panic and scream. His eyes darted around, and he look a deep breath, opening his mouth.
Crack. Cheerilee rolled her eyes. Was it really that hard to follow simple instructions? Her students didn’t have problems, and they weren’t even being threatened with violence. The mare hefted the two limp bodies onto her back and headed for a nearby supply closet. Inside, mops, brooms, soap, and other cleaning supplies lined the walls. There was a trash chute there, but it was too tight to permit her to shove the dead ponies down it. Oh well. The cleaning staff would probably not be back until morning.
Coming out, Cheerilee went back downstairs, skirting the crowd that still hung around watching the police and paramedics. She didn’t see the remaining five mares from Ponyville, and that worried her. They could be anywhere now.
The schoolteacher may have had abilities beyond the range of any normal pony, but she was still just one. Keeping track of six was a tall order, especially now that it seemed that somepony wanted to hurt them. Reluctantly, she decided to go get help.
Cheerilee stopped by the front desk of the hotel on her way back to the casino. She gave the clerk a smile. “Hello, I’m looking for some friends of mine.”
She told the stallion behind the desk their names, also adding in Silverwing. He shrugged. “Sorry, procedures say I can’t do that. I might have broken them and helped you anyway, but with that mess on the second floor, I can’t take the risk right now.”
The mare pulled out her bag of bits, keeping the bloodstain hidden from view. “How much?”
The stallion stuttered. “I’m sorry?”
“I don’t have time for subtlety,” Cheerilee said. “How much for those seven room numbers?”
“Uh, seven hundred bits?” said the clerk, as if pulling the number from thin air. Cheerilee paid him, and stood with an expectant look on her face. The clerk quickly wrote the numbers down and slid the paper across the desk.
Cheerilee stowed the note and headed for the casino. Smooth Operator had about thirty thousand bits left. He was visibly sweating now. Silverwing’s pile of chips had only grown larger. As the next hand came up, Cheerilee shoved Smooth’s chips forward. “All in.”
The EIA agent’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. Amused, the other ponies at the table matched his bet. The players laid down their cards. Smooth lost.
“It was fun while it lasted,” said Cheerilee. She pulled Smooth up. “Come on.”
Quickly explaining the situation as they walked, while leaving out why she couldn’t allow the six mares to see her, Cheerilee talked Smooth through everything she’d learned.
“Between the two of us, we need to keep them safe and figure out any others that might be working with Silverwing.” Cheerilee pulled out the paper with room numbers and tore it. She gave Smooth the piece that had just three numbers on it. “You watch these rooms.”
“Uh...” The stallion stammered. “I’m not really qualified for this. I don’t know anything about fighting. I guess I’m not really cool under pressure, either.”
“You’re not living up to your name, then,” said Cheerilee in disgust. In response, the stallion raised the hem of his tuxedo jacket, revealing a cutie mark that looked like a quart of oil.
Cheerilee facehoofed. “Your special talent is lubrication?”
Smooth shrugged. “The EIA is kind of understaffed right now.”
The mare shook her head. “We don’t have time for this. Are you helping or not?”
“I...okay,” agreed Smooth. He didn’t look confident.
“If you see anything suspicious and you don’t think you can handle it, come get me,” Cheerilee told him. “Otherwise, just keep on the lookout for trouble.”
The two of them split up. Cheerilee watched the second floor, reasoning that it would give her more time if anypony with bad intent was on their way upstairs.
A few minutes passed and Fluttershy came down from the third floor. She seemed to have a destination in mind. Cheerilee debated briefly what to do. Of the six ponies, the yellow pegasus probably needed the most protection.
The schoolteacher decided to follow Fluttershy and at least check where she was going. The yellow pegasus went down to the first floor and headed for the courtyard. A few rooms had balconies that overlooked the trees, grass, and landscaping. Gently beating her wings, Fluttershy flew up to the upper branches of a tree and began to sing softly. Cheerilee suspected that she was tucking some baby birds in for the night.
Turning to go, Cheerilee spotted a shadowy figure moving on one of the balconies that overlooked the courtyard. It was a pony raising a blowgun to his lips.
Without alerting Fluttershy, Cheerilee sprang into the air and landed on the second-floor balcony, jumping again to land where the hostile pony stood on the third floor. Surprised, the stallion turned to face her, leveling his weapon and firing. The dart stuck in her neck, but that didn’t stop Cheerilee from launching a spinning kick that drove the blowgun down the pony’s throat.
The mare quickly dragged him inside and out of view just in case Fluttershy turned around. In not very long, the stallion suffocated, and Cheerilee checked the hallway outside the room. The same supply closet she’d used earlier was right next door, and Cheerilee dragged his body in, putting it with the other two.
Cheerilee pulled the dart out of her neck and sniffed it. There was a passive chemical smell, probably some kind of narcotic or poison. It probably wouldn’t affect her, but may have been very bad for Fluttershy. She stowed it in the pocket of one of the dead ponies.
Coming out of the room, she saw Smooth looking at her curiously. She waved a hoof. “No problem.”
The stallion shrugged and walked back towards the other end of the hallway. Cheerilee took the stairs down to the casino floor, checking to see if Silverwing was still at his table. He wasn’t. Well, that was too bad. She decided to see if the stallion had gone up to his room.
Silverwing’s room was actually located near Rarity’s. Cheerilee knocked on his door and waited. There was no response, so she figured a little breaking and entering would do no harm.
The door handle was integrated with the lock and looked quite sturdy. Cheerilee doubted it would break even under her whole weight. Instead, she took a solid stance and pushed upwards on it. With a groan of stressed metal, the handle twisted off. Cheerilee pushed the other side of the handle through the lock cylinder and pulled back the bolt.
After opening the door, she retrieved the other side of the handle and stuck it on the outside so the door appeared undisturbed while she was in the room. After closing the door, the schoolteacher set about searching through Silverwing’s belongings.
She found the cash almost immediately. A large suitcase filled with paper bills lay unsecured in the closet. At a glance, Cheerilee estimated that it contained several million bits. She had no way of telling if it was real, but had no reason to suspect counterfeit. It did seem a little strange to find it there, not even in a lockable suitcase.
Not one to turn down a gift, Cheerilee picked up the money. Taking it from Silverwing was her whole mission. Glancing out the window before leaving, she did a double-take. There was a pony climbing a rope on the outside of the building, a few windows down.
Mentally counting the room numbers, Cheerilee realize that he must be heading for Rarity’s, which was just down the hallway. She ran from the room, still hauling the suitcase.
Things happened quickly as Cheerilee kicked open Rarity's door. The lock splintered and tore loose from the frame. The schoolteacher observed a grappling hook secured to the window frame and a pony with a knife in his teeth climbing in. Rarity sat up in bed, a sleeping mask over her eyes. Without pausing for an instant, Cheerilee flew across the room and knocked the intruder backwards out the window. Her momentum carried the mare and the money along for the ride. Rarity, still struggling with her mask and unable to see, exclaimed, “What in Equestria...!”
The pony with the knife hit the ground first, the suitcase falling on him and Cheerilee on top of that. The three story drop was not kind to any of the three, but worse towards the bottom. The suitcase cracked along one side, bills sliding out. The stallion beneath did considerably more cracking than that.
Cheerilee quickly wrapped the suitcase in the dead pony’s jacket to prevent it from leaking any more cash. There was no way to stop leaking from the pony, however, and Cheerilee dragged the body carefully to prevent any harm from coming to her dress.
They had landed on the backside of the building, and nearby dumpster presented itself. Disposing the corpse there was much easier than transporting a fourth dead body up to the supply closet.
Cheerilee carried the damaged bag full of money back to her room and set it with the two suitcases of suspicious produce. She had no time to examine any of the things she’d recovered, however. Half the mares she was trying to protect had already been threatened with death, and the schoolteacher wanted to make sure the others were safe, as well.
She trotted upstairs once more. Smooth approached, a worried look on his face. “I saw a suspicious stallion hanging around one of the rooms on the list you gave me.”
He told Cheerilee which one. She remembered that it belonged to Rainbow Dash. The lavender mare nodded. “I’ll handle it. You cover the second floor in the meantime.”
Smooth nodded and went downstairs. Cheerilee turned and went down the hallway. Sure enough, there was a pony surreptitiously attempting to gain access to Rainbow’s door. He stopped as soon as he saw he wasn’t alone and casually attempted to look like he was searching for something that had been dropped.
“Can I help you?” asked the mare, smiling.
“Oh, no thanks. I’m good.” The pony didn’t look up. From inside the room, Cheerilee could hear Rainbow snoring. The schoolteacher continued to stand there until the stallion glanced at her.
“Something on your mind?” he asked, slightly annoyed.
“Just waiting until you realize your cover is blown,” she replied. The stallion froze for a moment, and then leaped at her. Cheerilee put a hoof in his face, perhaps a little harder than she intended. Her attacker dropped, out cold. The thud of him hitting the floor startled Rainbow out of her sleep.
“What the hay...” said the awakened pony. Cheerilee paused, listening to see if Rainbow would get out of bed. After a moment, she heard hooves hit the floor.
The lavender mare grabbed the unconscious stallion and bolted for the stairwell. Just as she heard Rainbow’s door unlock, she rounded the corner. There was a pause as if Rainbow was looking around the hallway. Then the door shut.
Cheerilee sighed. It wasn’t often that she had to run from one of the fastest pegasi in Equestria. Her break was short, however, by the sound of hooves coming upstairs. She quickly jumped into action once more.
Pinkie Pie ascended to the next flight, humming to herself. Cheerilee watched from an awkward position near the ceiling. Her hooves were outstretched and pressed against the walls to hold her there. The knocked-out stallion rested on her back, making her acrobatic stunt even more difficult. If Pinkie looked upwards even a little, Cheerilee would be seen.
As the schoolteacher watched, Pinkie came to a sudden halt. She glanced backwards at her tail. It was twitching.