//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: Under the Radar // Story: Juggernaut // by Captain Flea609 //------------------------------// "OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH..." "Uuhh...is she ok?" Soarin asked Pinkie Pie gesturing to Rainbow Dash who was absolutely freaking out. "Nah, she does that sometimes." Pinkie answered cheerfully. "I see..." Rainbow Dash realized how much of an idiot she was making of herself and forced her mouth shut. Her cheeks grew red and flashed an embarrassed smile. She didn't expect one of the most famous Wonderbolts working behind the counter of a bar in some random club. Her mind was flooded with swears and profanity that she cursed on herself. She couldn't believe she just lost it in front of a Wonderbolt. "Sorry about that," Rainbow Dash chuckled nervously. "I just didn't expect anypony like you to be here." Soarin didn't directly answer her. Instead, he slightly narrowed his eyes as if he was trying remember something about her. Then his eyes widened in sudden realization. "Oh wait! I remember you! You were the one who caught my pie from falling at the Gala!" "Really?!" Rainbow Dash's eyes lit up with glee. "I wouldn't think you would remember that considering that was like, what, three years ago?" "Uuh..." Soarin began, scratching the back of his head. "I remember a lot of faces. Plus you were in the newspaper you know?" Rainbow Dash's mind began to filter back to the events of her flight that put her in the hospital and was not surprised that a lot of other ponies knew about her little accident. "You heard about it?" "Heard about it? I saw it!" Rainbow's heart jumped in her chest. "Aaaww I wasn't there to see it! Not fair!" Pinkie complained. "Well it's too bad you didn't! That had to be the most awesome thing I've ever seen. In fact I don't that's ever been done...well...ever!" Rainbow's cheeks grew a bit red. She didn't expect Soarin to be so ecstatic about it. She wanted to be proud of what she managed to do, but she couldn't. She couldn't make herself proud over something that nearly ripped the flesh from her body. She guessed that's what happened when an organic being hits mach 4 or however fast she went. It still bothered her how the sheer g-force didn't kill her or make her pass out. All these questions would have to wait because Rainbow Dash was pretty sure she was gonna get hammered with questions. "uuhh...thanks I guess. It was nothing really." She chuckled nervously. "Nothing?! You broke mach 3! No pony has ever done that before! Ever! In fact some ponies say its physically impossible for anything to fly that fast. Guess you showed them huh?" "Nothing's impossible for Dashie here!" Pinkie patted Dash on the head that for some reason really pissed her off. She wasn't sure why a friendly pat on head pissed her off. Then again she didn't know a lot of things and right now she didn't care to have to answers for them quite yet. She just remembered the reason she came here in the first place. "Anyways" Dash chuckled. "Mind hittin' me up with the good stuff?" "What'd you have in mind?" "The toughest shit ya got." Soarin looked at rainbow maned dare devil as if she were the most insane pony he'd ever met. "umm....you mean one of Jazz's specials?!" The Wonderbolt put a grin on his face. "Guarantied to knock you right on your ass on the first glass." He said as if he were quoting that from somewhere. HA! Just what I was looking for! "Hit me up with that." Rainbow ordered with an indifferent expression. She looked over Pinkie Pie who, for some reason didn't seem the slightest bit concerned for her. "You're paying right?" Dash whispered. "Yeah." "Good." Soarin looked a bit worried for the poor girl, but he couldn't deny what the customer wanted. "Ok, but don't say I didn't warn you. This'll take a minute for me to get. It's a recipe the old bar tender here made. I need to go get the stuff for it. Be back in a second." As Soarin went around to a back room behind the counter. Rainbow Dash swiveled around in her seat to survey the rest of the club. She had to admit it was a rather impressive set up. Although they could have chilled out with neon lights. They extended all throughout club; from the bar, to the booths, obviously the dance floor, and even to a back hall way past the dance floor where the restrooms were. The colors of the lights ranged from multiple shades of blues and purples. Mostly cool colors. One of the most impressive sights however was the dance floor. The floor and walls near the dance floor were actually some kind of screen that projected a background depending on the mood of the song that was played. Of course, above there were strobe lights and colored laser projectors. Right now the song that was playing was deep bass pounding dubstep so the background on the screen was a raging fire. It had a bit of a catchy fast paced beat to it that began to get stuck in Rainbow's head. In the DJ's booth she thought she could see the silhouette of a unicorn with a pair of shades head banging to the intense bass rattling beat of the music. Sending her mane into a frenzy. Rainbow wondered how the DJ didn't go deaf sitting next to those giant subwoofers. It seemed as if the music was some kind of demon that was possessing the DJ, causing her to spazz out like that. She appeared ten times more of the party animal than Pinkie Pie and that's saying a lot for her. "So that's DJ PON3 huh?" Rainbow gestured to Pinkie. "Yep! If you think I'm crazy? Ha, wait till you see her!" Pinkie answered nudging her shoulder. "I can already see that." Dash chuckled. Pinkie looked over to DJ's booth where Rainbow Dash was looking at and began to chuckle with her. "Yeah she tends to get carried away like that. She used to be a good friend of mine too." "Is that so? I would imagine you two making good friends." "We were. In fact she used to live in Ponyville, but she moved to Manehattan to move in with this other mare who she told me she was madly in love with and I think her name was Octa-" Pinkie quickly slapped her hooves over her mouth and her eyes widened "Sorry! Sorry! You weren't suppose to hear that." She squeaked frantically. "It's ok I don't really care. It's her business." Dash shrugged. "Oh! I almost forgot I've been wanting to ask you something." Pinkie's voice fell to a more serious tone. Which was unusual and was starting to make Dash feel uneasy. "Go ahead." "What's been going on with you lately? Before Celestia's funeral, I've noticed that you haven't been really....well....you." Pinkie stated. Rainbow Dash knew that she would be asked this question eventually, but she never really got around as to how she would answer it. It's not that she didn't think of an answer, it's that she couldn't think of an answer. She couldn't really describe what was happening to her. She was changing in some way. That's the only solution she was able to come up with. "I....I don't know. I'm being completely honest when I say that. I don't know." Rainbow Dash spun around in the seat to rest her head on her hooves. "It's like...I just have a lack of motivation to interact with anyone. I can't sleep either. Then I'll have these random episodes where my emotions just go....all over the place and then I'll get very angry and start thinking of...the most gruesome and horrible things I could do to other ponies. I don't know Pinkie everything's just going to shit." There was a long pause between them. A long awkward pause. For a moment all they heard was the music and the buzz of other ponies conversing, laughing and having a good time. "Uuumm..." Pinkie began with an extremely worried look. "Do you think you need to see somepony about this, because the part where you said about getting violent urges I'm afraid will get worse if you don't do something about it." Pinkie had a good point. This will only get worse. Sooner or later Dash might not be able to control herself the next time she has one of those violent urges. She was beginning to fear it might turn into the same experience she had when she was flying at mach 3. She had absolutely no control of her body and had to use every ounce of her will power to make herself crash into the ground. "Don't worry Dashie." Pinkie rested her hoof on Rainbow's back reassuringly. "I'll help you get through this. I'm sure the others will be happy to help too. You know why? Because I'm your best friend. So is Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack. Whatever is going on with you, I'm sure we'll figure something out and then you'll be back to normal before you know it." Rainbow Dash had never seen this side of Pinkie Pie before. Her words made her feel more comfortable. Perhaps she should ignore all of those urges to be alone and actually tell her friends what's going with her. Pinkie reassured Rainbow Dash's confidence and hope. Maybe she could return to normal. "Thanks Pinkie." Rainbow Dash leaned into a friendly hug which Pinkie offered. "Aaaaaww!" Said another voice. Both mares turned back to the bar. Soarin had returned with Rainbow's drink. "Wait..." Soarin paused. "You two aren't...going out are you?" "Uuuh...no?" Both Pinkie and Rainbow replied awkwardly separating from each other. "Oh...ok then. Not like I had a problem with it or anything if you two were dating, but I was just curious." Soarin blushed rubbing the back of his head. "Here's your drink by the way." Soarin slid the large glass over to Rainbow. Rainbow frowned at the sight of it. "This is....it's green..." Rainbow commented. "Yeah...I know. That's Jazz's special recipe." Rainbow looked at Pinkie who shrugged. "Go ahead and try it." She said. Rainbow gripped the glass and took one last look of the green liquid. "Bottoms up." She muttered to herself. ******************************* Shroud and Azure team entered the club and seated themselves over in a booth that was farthest away from the dance over in a secluded area where no pony was around. The music was loud and obnoxious and felt like it was molesting her eardrums. It didn't even sound like music just random noise. Azure two however was slightly nodding his head to the beat of the song that Shroud couldn't pick up. She never liked dubstep. She also felt uncomfortable without her flight suit on or her mask. They almost never took it off because they were so used to wearing it that it became like a part of their skin. Seeing her team out of uniform made them look like completely different ponies. Like Azure 2 for instance. He was so attached to his flight suit and mask that most of the time he kept it on. It was very rare that Shroud would see his face, let alone his whole self without it. It was probably because of the color of his coat. It was a high contrast orange, combined with his short blonde spikey mane and you could spot him from a mile away. Azure 3 had the most blank expression Shroud had ever seen. It showed no emotion what so ever. Shroud never really saw Three's face that much either, but he definitely showed it more often than Two. He had a dark green coat with a messy brown mane. His grey eyes however; was his most disturbing feature. He would occasionally stare off into the distance at the same spot for a long time with the same flat expression and most of the times he wouldn't even blink. Just the look of them made Shroud uneasy around him. "Man this place is awesome!" Two commented admiring his surroundings. He looked over to the dance floor and smirked. "Hey boss! Wanna' dance?" He gestured over to the dance floor with a joking smirk. " By dance, you mean kick your ass in front of everypony on that dance floor? Yeah sure I'll dance with you." Shroud sarcastically remarked with a smirk of her own. "Aaaaawww your know fun!" "That's because we're here for business Two. Now the both of you scan around real quick for the target." She ordered. Shroud looked around the place for any signs of a multicolored mane. That was her target's most recognizable feature. Azure 2 didn't seem to be actually searching for the target, he looked like he was just admiring the scenery. Three on the other hand seemed to be trying the hardest. He was glancing left and right and his soulless grey eyes were darting all over the place. He still kept the same, creepy, blank expression. "Found her." Three called out. "Over by the bar." Shroud turned her attention to a small bar just down the row of booths which they sat in. There she was. Her pink friend was still with her. They were having a conversation with the bar tender. "Got eyes on." Shroud reported. "Same" Two said. "Where's that demon unicorn bastard?" "I don't see him anywhere." Three reported. This was beginning to worry Shroud. What if that unicorn was somewhere they couldn't see him and was watching them right now. She didn't like that feeling. She was the hunter not the prey. "I say we nab the girl now before he comes back." Two suggested anxiously. "And make a scene and get us compromised? We were strictly ordered not to be seen or make a scene when kidnapping her." Shroud reminded Two with authority. "I'm sorry, but we've been following this bitch for about half the day and have not found one chance where we could grab her boss. We need to do something now." Three agreed with Two which was extremely rare. Maybe they were right. It's time they did something, but what? Shroud couldn't think of anything. She was stumped. The team sat there in silence for a moment thinking. Shroud had already given up and hoped somepony else would eventually have a suggestion. "I got an idea." Two said with a smile of content. "It's risky though." "Go ahead" Shroud encouraged him. "You know how good I am at going undercover and the playing the role of someone right?" It was true. Azure 2 was a master when it came to the undercover stuff. He was good for getting information out of ponies when needed, but she wasn't sure how that would apply here other than the fact of blending in with the crowd. Still she was interested in Two's plan. She nodded and gestured him to continue. Two sighed. "I was thinking of a direct interaction approach. I could play the role of some pony who's interested in her. You know, work my charm on her. Maybe get to know her and gain her trust and then nab her once her and I are alone together in a secluded area. Preferably the back hallway where the restrooms are. I think there's a door that leads to the back alley in there." Shroud had to admit it was very clever, but he would have to rely only on his charm and slick words. He was good at that kind of stuff. It was mostly because of his natural look. In Shroud's opinion he was handsome, not cute, but handsome. It was mostly the sly look he would always have that made him look charming. The grin he would have combined with a certain sly look he would have with his bright blue eyes would make almost any mare fall for him or at least find him somewhat attractive. As much as Shroud hated to admit it she use to have a small crush on him when she was first assigned this team. However later on in her career with him she realized he was just an immature and undisciplined kid with good looks and a gift with words. "Sounds good to me. I like it. It's a real dirty trick, but I like." Shroud approved. "It's alright, but it could do without the whole seduction part if that's what you were implying when you said 'alone together'." Three criticized. "Hey what would be the fun without that?" Two joked. "But seriously though, the reason why I'm including that part is to make her feel comfortable being close to me. I don't want her to get suspicious and think. I want all of her attention and thoughts on me. This will distract her and make her vulnerable for me to knock her out and drag her around back where I will meet you guys for exfil. When you see me go around back where the restrooms are that's your cue to go around to the back alley and wait for me. Sound like a plan?" Both Shroud and Three agreed on his plan. "Just one question though." Shroud said. "Are you gonna use an Alias?" Two contemplated the idea for a moment. "Nah I think I'll just use my real name. It's not like anyone will know who I am anyway. I haven't lived in Equestria for a long time ever since I was kicked off of the Wonderbolts and that was like eight years so I highly doubt anyone will recognize me." I hope your right when you say no one will recognize you." Shroud said. "Oh don't you worry boss I highly doubt anyone remembers Maverick Stardust. Hell, I wasn't that well known of a Wonderbolt anyways." "Is "that" your full name? Man, I can't believe I've known you for seven years and I have never known you actual name." Three said. Shroud didn't know Two's full name either, but he knew his name was Maverick. Just like she knew Azure 3's real name was Shamrock, but she never really called them by their names just like her team always called her "Boss" instead of Shroud. "Alright I'm going, watch my back." Two said as he left the table and strode to the bar where the target was sitting. "He better not screw this up because this is all on him now." Three pointed out. "You know what Three." Shroud said matter-of-factly, "I'm actually confident he won't screw this up." "If that boy fucks this up....." Three started in a low growl. "I'll kill 'em." *************************************** Maverick licked his hoof and ran it through his mane as he approached the bar. He adjusted the way his grin looked to give his most charming appearance. He was thinking of more of a soft approach considering he didn't really know that much about her and wasn't sure if she would think of him as an asshole he did the whole "Hey babe" approach. It was mostly because he didn't want a repeat of the Manehattan Governor's daughter incident. The mission was a solo OP and he had to play the role of the Governor's daughter's coltfriend. The mission was a failure before it started because it turned out she wasn't into Stallions and was homosexual. That was awkward. He hasn't done something like this ever since that accident and was worried it would turn out the same. As Maverick examined the rainbow maned mare more closely, he realized she had more of a tom-boyish look. That was never a good sign. He prayed to the Great Leader that she was straight or at least Bi, he could work with that. However; if Maverick get's the tip that she's not interested in stallions than his whole plan to finally kidnap their target would be shattered. To be safe Maverick would sit near the target and covertly study her before making an approach. Maybe listen in on a couple of her conversations to see what her basic personality was before he made his move. It was always good to know your target. That way he could get her where he wanted her easily. He also noticed that she was drinking as well which would make things even more easy. Maverick put aside his nervousness and his worries to maintain his charm. As he approached the seat that was a seat down from the target, the bartender that him as familiar for a second took notice of him. He didn't like the look he was giving him. The sky-blue stallion briefly squinted his eyes at him as if he couldn't believe who he was seeing. Then his widened in sudden realization. "Maverick?! Dude is that you?!" Once Maverick heard his voice he too recognized who he was looking at. It was Soarin. A old friend of his during his Wonderbolt days. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! What the hell is he doing here?! Oh shit, what should I do? This is just my luck too! "Uh...Soarin! Long time no see?" He answered while awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. Maverick couldn't back out now. He promised the rest of Azure team he had this. Not only that, but for once Boss seemed to be fully confident in him. He didn't want to let her let down nor the rest of team because he knew if he screwed this up he would not only be in trouble with Boss, but with the Great Leader himself. He didn't even want to think about what he would do to him. The thought just made him more nervous than he already was and needed to be relaxed while doing this. Maverick slowly approached a seat right next to the cyan Pegasus where Saorin had invited him to sit,still trying to keep his cool. As he took his seat, he confirmed that it was indeed his old buddy Soarin. "Holy crap dude it is you! Where have you been I haven't seen you for eight years! I din't recognize for a moment because you've gotten so big apparently" Soarin said taking notice of his changes. When he took a seat Soarin looked astonished. "Damn....have you been working out or something? Your certainly aren't a twig anymore." Back then Maverick was skinny for an athlete, but was a damned good flier. When he was recruited into the Enlightenment however; The Great Leader saw his potential and trained him to be an Assassin. He knew the intense training he went through benefitted his body a lot, but no one ever told him how different he looked from his old self and apparently he looked extremely different size wise. "And you still look the same as you always were ya' big marshmallow." Maverick chuckled. Marshmallow was a nickname they gave Soarin back then for being the big softie of the team. He remembered Spitfire or somepony made up that name for him, but he couldn't remember how he got it. "Aahh, you still remember that? Anyways I'd like you to meet somepony. Maverick, this is Rainbow Dash." Soarin introduced. Perhaps this would be easier than Maverick anticipated. Apparently Rainbow Dash was a mutual friend of his. A direct introduction to his target would decide whether the this "Rainbow Dash" was interested in him or not. They shook hooves. "Nice to meet you Rainbow Dash." He put on his most charming smile and examined the target's expressions. "L-likewise." Rainbow Dash broke I contact with him and nervously smiled back. Her cheeks turning bright red. She was constantly breaking eye contact with him and the more she looked into his eyes the more she blushed. It was way too obvious. She liked him. That's it. He smiled wider. I've got her.