“Excuse me!” Daring Do pressed a firm hoof against one of the bouncer’s withers. “Do you think you could let me inside?”
Slowly, the bouncer turned his head downward. With a stone-faced glare, he sized up her khaki fur, cherry red mane, and garish skirt. “Miss, you’ll have to wait at the back of the line.”
Daring protruded her lower lip like a needy child. “But I’m Daring Do, can’t you see? You’ve gotta let me in! I should have, like, VIP access or something!” She hid a smile as the bouncer rolled his eyes.
“Miss,” he droned. “Not with that mane you ain’t. You look barely of age, even. The Lucky Stallion ain’t for mares your—”
Daring leaned forward and shifted her weight onto the bouncer, catching him off guard. “Okayyy,” she whined. “You got me. But my brother is in there, and I need to send him a message.” She fluffed her wig. “Can I go inside, just for a moment, pretty please?”
She felt herself being lifted and placed on the ground a foot back. “Hooves off,” the other bouncer growled. “We have a line to attend to. Now—”
“Just one quick, second, pleeease?” Daring pounced forward again, straining toward the open door as the bouncers held her back. As they struggled, she shouted, “I just need to tell him about the dolphins.”
That was Angel Wing’s keyword to go. She slipped past the distracted guards as Daring flashed her a smile. “Nice work, Decoy One,” she whispered over the communicator, and disappeared inside. “But actually calling yourself ‘Daring Do?’ If they believed you, we’d be toast!”
Daring ignored her. “Fine,” she pouted, and let herself get pushed away by the bouncers. Sprinting around a corner and removing her disguise, she tapped her com twice. “That’s step one. How’s it looking inside, Infiltrator One?”
Angel Wing coughed, waving away the smoke. “About half a step above a crackhouse.” Energetic music thumped in the background, drunken partygoers swaying to the rhythm. “Nothing immediately out of the ordinary, though.”
“Okay. Overwatch, visuals.”
There was the sound of muffled static. “I don’t… wait a minute. I see Sky Stinger. And… what in Celestia. Grubber?”
“What.” Daring’s stomach twisted. “Tempest’s former lackey? I thought Cinch was the middlemare.” Her brows furrowed. “Wait. Overwatch, Sky isn’t restrained at all? No chains, no magic?”
“None whatsoever,” replied Midnight Strike. “Could be a trap. Keep your eyes peeled, Angel.”
Daring scratched her face. “Never mind that for now. Overwatch, keep track of them. Infiltrator One, proceed as normal.”
“Yes ma’am.” Angel Wing scanned the establishment. Pushing her way past woozy couples, she swiped a lit candle off a table. She carefully cupped its glass jar in her wing and made her way back to the front.
She took a deep breath and stumbled outside in a mock drunken stupor. “Excuuuse meee, sirsh,” she singsonged to the bouncers. “I’m j-j-just… stepping out for a breath of fresh air. I’ll beback inaminute!”
“Candle stays indoors,” a bouncer said.
Angel blew a raspberry. “B-b-but it’s sooo dark. Can’t a mare get some s-safety?”
The bouncer sharply exhaled and turned back toward the crowded line.
Angel briskly walked over to Vapor Trail’s hiding spot. “Package, quick.”
Vapor nodded, silently withdrawing a seemingly identical candle from her bag and swapping it with Angel’s. “Stay safe, okay?”
“Our friend’s been foalnapped. I’ll stay as safe as I can under those circumstances.” Nevertheless, Angel nodded and gave Vapor a reassuring smile before turning back toward the Lucky Stallion.
As Angel drew near, she resumed her tipsy walk. “Hi boys,” she slurred. “Just gonna—”
“Hold it.”
“Excush meee?” She stared at the bouncers indignantly.
One gestured toward the candle. “Let me see that.”
Shit, shit, shit. Angel eyed the entrance, then the candle. “This ol’ thing? Just a flame in a glass prism.”
From their outposts, both Daring Do and Vapor Trail held their breaths. That was the keyword for potential danger. “C’mon,” whispered Vapor. “Please...”
Angel could only watch helplessly as the bouncer’s hoof drew closer and closer to the candle, as if in slow motion.
“Hey! You’re not welcome here; we banned you last week!”
Both the bouncer and Angel snapped their heads toward the sound. A scarred stallion, adorned with gold chains and gruesome tattoos, was grappling with the other bouncer.
The first bouncer shot Angel a look. “Whatever. You can go.” He sprinted over to his compeer.
As Angel strode back into the bar, she heard sighs of relief over the com. “Decoy One, continue as planned?”
“Hold on a sec. Overwatch, update?”
More static. “Look to your left, Infiltrator One.”
Angel did, and caught a cerulean and sea green blur disappear around the corner. “Sky!”
“And Grubber right beside him,” Midnight added.
“You’re right,” said Angel. “Could be a trap, but I’m going anyway.” She frowned. “I’m this close. Not letting this chance get away, but I’ll be careful.” Slowly, she began heading left.
As she got to the corner, she peeked around. The area in front of her was poorly lit, and the air smelled much cleaner. There were also far fewer ponies, although the ones that milled around wore hardened scowls. If Moondancer’s information was correct, this was where the gangs, black marketeers, and two-bits did their business.
And there in the middle was Sky Stinger and Grubber. Both were looking away. Angel’s breath caught in her lungs. “A-am I missing something?”
Midnight’s voice came crackling over the com. “Hold on. Daring, I’m sending you magic scans of the area to analyze. Anypony with a familiar residue? Any traps?”
Angel waited what seemed like forever. “Literally nothing,” Daring eventually piped up. “There’s no way that’s right.”
“Maybe he’s being transported?” Vapor suggested. “I don’t know why Grubber is here, but I don’t think he’s exactly the most competent.”
“So there we have it,” said Midnight. “We found the weak link in the chain. Let’s grab Sky and get out of here. I’m sure Vapor wants her best friend back.”
“Got it!” In a matter of seconds, Angel crossed the room, and reached for Sky Stinger.
“Wait no!” cried Daring. “Something’s wrong!”
It was too late. As Angel tapped Sky’s shoulder, he whipped his head around, his face contorting in shock. “A-Angel? N-no, get out of here, it’s a trap—”
Whoomph.
Angel turned her head to the left at the sound of somepony landing on the floor. Her face met with a very familiar black hoof.
Shaking the pain away, she stared at her friend in disbelief. “Midnight Strike?”
“Sorry,” the batpony growled. “Business is business.” Then she wound her hoof again and socked Angel in the jaw.
Angel growled in rage. “Why, you—” Leaping into the air, she collapsed on Midnight, ignoring the ponies scrambling around them. She threw a punch of her own, which Midnight blocked. With a powerful buck, Midnight kicked her away, but she bounced back, slamming a hoof into Midnight’s gut. As Midnight cut an arc with her wings, reflexes kicked in, and Angel leaned backward. She threw another punch, which was met by Midnight’s own.
As they fought, for every hit that Angel connected, she would receive two. Wheezing wildly, she abandoned all pretense, screaming into the com. “Shit, I can’t win! I’m getting out of here!”
“The package!” Daring shouted.
“Screw the package!” Angel gave the dropped candle one last glance before turning tail and sprinting for the exit. If there was one thing she had Midnight beat in, it was speed.
She briefly turned her head with tears in her eyes. Midnight hadn’t bothered chasing after her. “I’ll come back for you, Sky!” she called. “I promise.”
Sky Stinger, eyes wide, could only nod before Angel disappeared around the corner and out of view.
As he entered a winding, dark alleyway, bound in chains again, Sky Stinger shot Midnight Strike a withering glare.
Midnight avoided it, instead looking straight ahead at Grubber, who was singing a jaunty tune to himself.
Finally, they reached the end. Midnight slowly bent down and bowed to the shadows. “We’ve arrived, sir.”
A pony stepped out, and Sky swore the air grew chillier. The Smiling Mask. The kingpin and cult leader that he’d been warned about.
The look on his face could be described as nothing less than smug satisfaction. “Well done, my friends,” he slowly crooned, his voice dripping like the guts of crushed insects. “I’d like a status update, hm?”
“We did all you asked, boss,” proclaimed Grubber, sticking out his chest. “The plan worked perfect, just like you said.”
“Mmm.” The Smiling Mask peered cloyingly at the cast before him. “I don’t see any… new prisoners among our midsts, though.”
“T-that’s true,” said Midnight, “but I accomplished two more things. First, I marked Ang—one of them with magic to broadcast their location to us at all times. Second, I took this from them. I’m not sure what it is, but I believe it is of great value, somehow.”
She withdrew the candle and screwed open the false top. Inside was a gleaming ruby, radiating light even in the dead of night. She quickly handed it to the Smiling Mask.
He stroked it slowly, letting out a laugh as thick as honey. “Well done. With this, we shall accelerate to victory in no time.”
Daring Do, Angel Wing, and Vapor Trail sat around a crackling campfire. An unforgiving wind blustered, sending them into bouts of shivering. In the distance, crickets chirped against the deafening silence.
“I… I can’t believe it,” Vapor Trail said after a while. “We were so close, and yet…” She burst into tears, falling into Angel’s hug.
“Midnight,” muttered Daring. “Midnight, Midnight, Midnight…”
She cleared her throat, causing Angel and Vapor to look up. “I—we lost a dear friend today. And… and I’m hurt, too.” She quieted as an owl hooted nearby. “But Sky Stinger is still out there, and I’m not giving up until he’s safe. Our—our mission remains the same.”
“You’re right,” said Angel. “There’s still hope.”
Vapor sniffed. Wiping her tears away, she asked, “Did Midnight ever know what the package really was?”
“No,” replied Daring. “And that’s where there’s still hope. Angel, that was some quick thinking. You got Midnight to think that it meant something to us.” She took a deep breath. “It’s a tracking device. We’ll be able to find them much faster, now.”
She gazed into the fire as Angel and Vapor looked on in rapt focus. “Today, we came closer to Sky than ever. Let’s remember that feeling, girls. And let’s get that job done.”