//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: Luck of the Draw 
// by totallynotabrony 
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Cheerilee followed Twilight carefully.  Now that the unicorn was alerted to her presence, it would be harder to stay incognito.  That would get even worse when Twilight told her friends.  The schoolteacher sighed.  That was just how luck sometimes went.
Silverwing was probably still in the area.  It hadn’t been that long since Cheerilee had broken into his room.  While her mission was technically over, the mare hated to leave somepony like him to run free.  Still, priority one was making sure the six visitors from Ponyville stayed safe.
Leaving Twilight for a moment, Cheerilee flew into her room.  The items she’d confiscated over the course of the night were still there.  The mare threw open her suitcase and yanked out a different dress.  It wasn’t quite as nice, but at least it was different—black and cut shorter.  She dropped her Countess de la Cheer ID and grabbed a new one.  After quickly running a brush through her mane to restyle it, it was time for the lenses.
Most ponies would refuse to put glass of any kind into their eyes.  The curved pieces of clear glass were contoured to match the shape of Cheerilee’s eyeballs.  Each one had a carefully colored depiction of an iris.  The upside of wearing the uncomfortable things was that it completed Cheerilee’s illusion of being a different mare.  Her eyes now appeared to be magenta.
After quickly applying some lipstick, Cheerilee was out the door again.  Her disguise probably wouldn’t fool Twilight and the others if they looked directly at her face, but every little bit helped.
The schoolteacher dashed up to the third floor, spotting the irksome purple unicorn going around to the rooms of her friends.  Rarity was bemoaning her broken door.  It was obvious from Twilight’s worried look that she was quickly organizing the six of them to step up their investigation to a whole new level.
Cheerilee spotted Smooth coming down the hallway.  Taking a risk, she stepped out and met him, her back to the six mares.  Hopefully they weren’t paying attention.
Smooth looked Cheerilee up and down and grinned.  “What brought this on?”
“It’s for the job,” she replied.  “Have you learned anything?”
“I spotted a couple of ponies downstairs that looked like they might be part of this drug ring,” said Smooth.
“How could you tell?” asked Cheerilee.
“They looked scared that they might wind up in a dumpster.”  Despite his unpleasant experience shoving bodies down the trash chute, Smooth appeared to have bounced back.  Cheerilee didn’t appreciate his attempts at humor, however.
“Do you have any idea where Silverwing went to?” asked the mare.  “I’ve been a little busy keeping those six out of trouble.”
“I haven’t seen…”  Smooth trailed off, staring down the hallway over Cheerilee’s shoulder.
The mare grabbed him without hesitation and maneuvered the stallion against the wall.  Carefully keeping her mouth closed, she kissed him on the lips and got as close as their clothing would allow.  Considering that each of them were only wearing a layer or two, that was very.
Smooth’s eyes bugged out comically.  Cheerilee heard a pony pass by, walking quickly.  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw it was Silverwing.  The pegasus paid no attention to the two ponies in lip-lock, and headed straight for his room.  When he got there, the doorknob Cheerilee had broken fell off in his hooves.
Silverwing threw the door open and quickly checked his room.  Finding the suitcase of money gone, he came back out into the hallway, fighting to keep his face calm.  As soon as he was gone from the hallway, Cheerilee broke her embrace with Smooth.
The EIA agent made a show of gasping for air.  Cheerilee ignored him and glanced around, not seeing Twilight or any of the others.  She figured they had probably hidden upon seeing Silverwing.
“Come on,” said Cheerilee.  “Let’s go after him.”  It would make things easier if she and Smooth could get to Silverwing before the six mares did.  The two of them hurried away.
Carefully keeping their distance, the mare and the stallion managed to follow Silverwing as he strode quickly through the hotel.  It was clear that he was worried, something that Cheerilee took a little pride in knowing she’d caused.
Silverwing entered the casino and passed through without pausing.  He made his way to another part of the building and went into an unmarked door.  Cheerilee gestured for Smooth to stay back, and pulled the door open.
There was nothing beyond it except a rough set of stairs leading downwards.  The schoolteacher could hear Silverwing’s hooves on the steps.  She motioned Smooth to come along and the two of them descended, stepping quietly.
The stairs switched back and forth in short flights.  They went for what felt like a few stories.  The floor appeared, and the two ponies stepped out into a service tunnel that ran perpendicular to the stairs.  A couple of branches separated from the tunnel, running to various rooms.
Cheerilee concentrated hard, picking out the sound of Silverwing’s walk among the echoing passageways.  He’d gone down one of the closest branches to the stairs.
“I’m going after him.  Go check around the rest of the area,” she whispered to Smooth.
The stallion nodded and turned to go in a different direction.  Cheerilee peeped around the corner and observed the passageway where Silverwing was currently working on unlocking a door.  He was a little ways down, and there was no cover between him and her.  Well, it would just have to be a rush, then.
Cheerilee coiled her legs and launched forward, sprinting at the pegasus.  He didn’t have time to properly defend himself, but did manage to get one wing up into her face.  Cheerilee clamped down on it, but only got a mouthful of feathers.
Silverwing turned, getting into a takeoff stance, but Cheerilee hit him again, scattering more feathers.  She flipped him over and hit his face a few times, although not very hard by her standards.
“What’s behind that door?” she asked.
Stunned by both the attack and by the recognition of the mare he’d played cards against, Silverwing was slow to respond.  He eventually stammered, “Emergency kit.”
“For what?” asked Cheerilee.
“For an emergency,” spat the stallion.  “Like all my money coming up missing.”
Cheerilee allowed him to stand up, but kept a tight grip on his neck.  “Open the door.”
Silverwing finished disengaging the lock, and Cheerilee swung the door open.  She saw at the last minute a piece of string that was tied to the inside of the handle.  From inside the darkened room there was a click.
Something slammed into Cheerilee’s chest, knocking her back a step.  Looking down, she saw a crossbow bolt protruding from her chest.  Forcing herself to keep the pain from showing on her face, she glanced at Silverwing irritably.  “It’s a good thing this dress has ballistic protection built in.”
The stallion’s eyes were wide.  “That…could have been me opening the door.”
“Some friends you’ve got, huh?  Loose a little money and suddenly they want you dead.”  Cheerilee glanced up as Smooth rounded the corner.  The EIA agent saw that she’d captured Silverwing, and pulled out a pair of hoofcuffs.
Cheerilee’s sensitive ears caught the sound of the door at the top of the stairs opening.  She could hear Twilight’s voice faintly.  “Okay girls, Rainbow and Fluttershy stay to cover the exit.  The rest of us are going down there!”
“We’ve got to move quickly,” said Cheerilee.  Before Smooth could ask questions, she turned away so he couldn't see and carefully pulled the bolt out.  It wasn’t easy or painless.
Seeing an opportunity, Silverwing attempted to break free of Smooth’s grasp.  The two stallions struggled, a battle that was brought to an end by Cheerilee’s hoof smacking the pegasus on the back of the head.  He dropped like a sack of potatoes.
The fight had wasted too much time, however, and Cheerilee could hear Twilight and friends reaching the bottom of the stairs.  Smooth glanced in that direction, seemingly not very concerned.
“Let’s try this way first!” called Twilight.  She and the three mares with her charged down the tunnel, coming closer.  They slid past the corner, unable to stop, and crashed into a heap somewhere down the passageway.  
Smooth grinned.  “I found the boiler room that warms the building and borrowed some heating oil.  It worked well enough.”
Cheerilee nodded in agreement and tossed the limp Silverwing onto her back.  They made their way back upstairs before the mares on the slippery floor could recover.
“Sorry, he’s a little sick,” called the schoolteacher, carefully hiding her face and the cuffs on Silverwing’s hooves from Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy who guarded the door.  Smooth had tossed his jacket over the unconscious pegasus to help disguise him.
They made it back to the casino.  The plump, jolly pony from the card game walked by, mistaking Silverwing’s forced nap for something else.  “Ah, looks like someone had his fill of the high life?  Wish we could all be so lucky.”
The two ponies kept walking with their unconscious cargo.  “My backup is waiting outside,” said the EIA agent.  “They’ll take care of this guy.”
True to his word, a couple of ponies were loitering outside the building and took custody of Silverwing.  They went through his pockets and found a sizeable number of casino gaming chips.
“Tell you what,” said Cheerilee.  “Take my room key.  You’ll find a lot of cash and some confiscated drugs there.  I’ll take the chips.”
The other ponies from the EIA seemed agreeable to that, so Cheerilee collected the bag of game pieces that was in Silverwing’s pocket.  It was not a small bag.
Smooth followed her back into the casino.  “Well, that’s over with.  It was good to work with you.”
“You weren’t so bad yourself,” she said.
The stallion paused for a moment, appearing to steel himself for something difficult.  “I was wondering if you’d like to get something to drink and maybe talk a little?”
“Sorry,” said Cheerilee without looking at him.  “I don’t mix business with my personal life.”
“Then what were you doing earlier?” he demanded.
“Using you as a distraction,” she said, glancing at him.  It was almost comical how much his face fell.  Also kind of sad.
“Sorry if I misled you,” said Cheerilee.  At the same time, she was slightly sorry for herself.  While she was practically married to her job, it had been a very long time since she’d been romantic with anypony.
Cheerilee pushed those thoughts away.  The job wasn’t quite finished yet.  She walked up to the money exchange and placed the bag of chips on the counter.  The teller sorted through them in surprise.  “There’s almost half a million bits’ worth here.  Somepony got lucky.”
“Not me,” muttered Smooth sullenly.
Cheerilee smiled at the teller.  “Cash, please.”


Author note:  Thanks for reading.  Want more vampire Cheerilee?  Check out the rest of the series.