//------------------------------//
// Mission One 
// Story: Blooming Under Pressure 
// by Dice 
//------------------------------//

	"...and so, you're now qualified to participate in rank 12 missions."
"Wow.." Applebloom looked over the small badge. The badge was in the shape of a small paraspite, and seemed to be made of brass. Although she still wasn't happy about being dragged here in the first place, she still felt a spark of pride at this honour, "where'm ah supposed to put it?"
Her history teacher smiled, "Most agents keep a sash tied to their bedposts, or hung on their walls. They put their pins there."
"Alright.." She pinned it to her uniform shirt in the meantime, "So, you're sayin' the director sent me this?"
"Yes," He set his hooves on his desk, "Apparently you're excelling in all of your courses; something he rewards. At least, that's what he told me. Personally, I think it's because we never have enough agents anyways."
She nodded a little, the spark of pride still glowing despite his comment. It felt good to be praised, even if it came from an undesirable source. Heck, it just felt good to actually be working towards something again, like back in her filly days with Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell, when they were looking for their marks.
Applebloom's heart tightened a little as she realized they had no idea where she was right now. They must be worried sick...
"Miss Applebloom?" The teacher's voice dragged her back to attention.
"Yessir?"
He nodded to the door. Applebloom frowned slightly, thinking he was telling her to leave. How rude! However, when she turned, she saw the director in the doorway, watching her with a cool gaze.
"Oh! Hello!" She blinked, then quickly added, "Sir"
"Hello, Miss Applebloom," He said in a neutral tone, "I trust you've just received your badge..?"
"Yessir, thank you sir." She nodded a little, "It's an honour.."
"The honour comes from how you use the badge, not the badge itself, " He shook his head, "Now, something's already come up, and I'd like to have you on the team as backup. You'll only be there to watch how things work and to call for help if something goes wrong. Understood?"
"Y-Yessir!" Applebloom blinked, surprised. He was already sending her out? They must REALLY be short on agents..
"Good," He said, his mouth twisting as though the word pained him to say it, "We'll head out for Canterlot tomorrow morning. Be in the main at at 6am, sharp."
***
" 'old shtill!" Picklejuice complained, setting her hoof on Applebloom's shoulder, " I cah't do anythng wfth you mvng ar'ownd!"
"Sorry, it just tickles," Applebloom muttered, obediently falling still, "So what ah yah puttin' on there? Some kind'a royal thingy? Some important doohickey?"
"Ah mrtini."
"Ah what?"
Picklejuice spat out the makeup brush, an amused expression on her face, "A martini, silly. And if you keep asking me questions I'm not gonna be able to do my job, and if I can't do my job, then we won't be disguised, and if we aren't disguised, we'll get caught. And if we get caught-"
"Ok, ok, ah get it. You can git back t' work, then."
Picklejuice giggled, and picked up the brush again, returning her gaze to Applebloom's flank. Applebloom carefully twisted her neck to watch her work. They'd reached Canterlot a couple of hours ago and received their debriefing. The CEO of Wonderbuilds- a prestigious construction company that built courses and equipment for the Wonderbolts- was holding a dinner party at his home for select dignitaries and company executives. They had received intel, however, that the CEO had been running an underground drug dealership from within his estate. The job was to find the stash of drugs and destroy it. Applebloom's job, specifically, was to stay in the party room and watch for trouble.
"There, all done." Picklejuice spat out the brush again, "You look perfect!~"
Applebloom stood and trotted over to the mirror, and turned a couple times. "Wow, Pickle! You did a right fine job! I look all kinds of spiffy now.."
Applebloom's mane had been carefully styled and her coat brushed until it practically shone. She wore a simple evening gown, and on her flank was a picture of a thin, flared glass- complete with olive.
"Well, it's what I do," Picklejuice smiled, fixing a couple of stray hairs in Applebloom's tail, "I'm not exactly a field agent, like you or kitten or terminal. I stay here and make sure all the ponies look just right for fooling the subjects. You're lucky that you don't need any sort of extreme makeover, though I could turn a colt into a filly if I wanted, or a bat pony into an earth pony!"
She giggled as if at some secret joke.
"Ah see now," Applebloom smiled, turning back to face towards her, "I was confused as t' why ah makeup pony would be ahn agent, but ah see now.."
"Mmmmmhm!~ And that's the truth! Speaking of the truth, you'll want to not use your normal accent while at the party."
Applebloom really couldn't see how truth and her accent were related, but she went with it,"Ok, ah suppose. I could try somethin' more Manehatten-ish, if yah want.."
"Ah! Yes! That'd be perfect!" Picklejuice beamed,"Wonderful! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and do Kitten's makeup. Bye-bye!~" She bounded off to another room. Applebloom watched her go, a hint of a smile on her face.
The room became very quiet,and Applebloom looked around. It was empty. No one here to see her leave. Ponyville wasn't too far from Canterlot. She could easily take the back way, and head straight to the train, and from there, home...
...but, for some reason, she didn't want to. It would be easy, yes, but it would always nag her. There was more of Equestria to see, and she'd never really had the chance to get away from home before. That, and something about seeing Equestria's dark side tempted her. It was new, almost unexplored. It was also curious that she'd never even heard mention of it before. No, she couldn't leave now. She was too drawn into it now.
The door opened, cutting off her thoughts. A roguishly handsome colt with caramel, tawny skin and a bright mane of orange and red stepped in. Applebloom couldn't help but stare slightly, and her eyes wandered to his cutie mark. It was....A computer terminal? Hang on, this colt couldn't be...
The colt smirked, "Something wrong, Applebloom?" His voice was a sweet tenor, so different from his normal lazy tones. Applebloom blinked, shocked.
"Terminal?! Tha' cant b' you!"
The colt laughed, "It is. You've just never seen me 'dress-up' before. Come on, it's time to go."
Applebloom nodded, still in slight shock, and followed him out.In the hallway, Kitten was waiting. He looked as he usually did, except with slightly tidied hair and a nice suit. He nodded to Applebloom, who nodded back. 
"Alright, let's get into the carriage and I'll explain the situation." Terminal said silkily and led the way down the hotel stairs. Once inside the vehicle, Terminal sighed.
"Ok, so here's how it goes. I'll be there as myself, and Kitten, you're there as my bodyguard. That should give you the excuse to stick around me the whole time. Applebloom, you're there as my plus one. You'll be going by the name Olive Martini, alright?"
She nodded. "Sure... but, if yer gonna be there as you, who is 'you'?"
He laughed slightly, "Well, I suppose you're new, so you wouldn't know. I'm the son of the current owner of Equestria's rising computer industry. It's a new company, of course, but already quite lucrative. This means, as heir to the company, I'm quite the important addition to these parties. It makes the perfect excuse to get in and check things out."
"..Ah.." Applebloom said dumbly. She was CHOSEN to be an agent with people as important as this? She could hardly believe it... Yes, her sister was an element bearer, but those were often overlooked in everyday society.. You can't fix the economy with the friendship cannon, as the colloquial phrase went. In any case, there must have been something special to land her here...
'blank flank. That's how you're special- you don't know anything. Your future, your strengths. You're at a loss. and that's what makes you special- you're a failure.'
Applebloom shook her head slightly to rid herself of the hounding thoughts. No, she was here for a reason- a reason OTHER than her blank flank... she hoped...
They arrived at the dinner party not much later. It was easy getting in- Terminal did indeed seem as important as he'd mentioned previously. They accepted his invitation in, and welcomed all three into the room with great enthusiasm. Then, it was time to mingle for a bit and be seen. It wouldn't be right for Terminal and Kitten to run off right away. Terminal had to make a strong appearance first. Applebloom, a little freer in her movement, went to a strong source of conversation- the drink bar. She purchased a martini to help complete her image, and was happy to find that the one she'd purchased had some pleasing apple flavours. However, she only sipped at it every now and then, trying to keep as sober as she could for when things started happening.
Soon enough, Terminal and Kitten slipped away from the crowd and went down one of the estate's lengthy hallways. Applebloom watched, but no one had noticed the escape. They were all too focused on the new arrivals- Fancy-Pants and his usual plus one- Fleur. Applebloom entertained herself with the thought of Rarity's face if she knew where she was, and how jealous she'd be. That small entertainment didn't last very long, however, and Applebloom soon began to grow bored. She looked at the door longingly, but the director had expressly told her earlier that she was NOT to leave the room for any reason. So, instead, she sipped her martini and listened to the conversations around her.
"-New fashion line will be undeniably fabulous-"
"-Absolutely cannot wait, my dear. She's simply devastated-"
"-will have to bash his head in-"
"-Can't wait to see the new products-"
Applebloom's ears pricked- who was bashing who's head now? She moved a little closer to the source of the conversation and listened closer.
"-if he doesn't bring the shipment tonight, I'm gonna have all sorts of blood on my hooves." The male voice said in hushed tones. Another male replied.
"I know, but we can't do it in the middle of the party- people will talk. There's a nice quite place down the south hall we can talk it out it- nice and slow."
"Yeah, I'm gonna bleed him nice and slow, sure. Look, there 'e is now..c'mon Break, let's go have a nice little chat."
Applebloom's heart raced as she turned her head to watch the two colts head slowly to the door. One was a pale unicorn, and the other a disgruntled-looking pegasus. They approached the third colt who'd just entered the door, carrying a small satchel. The unicorn whispered in the newcomer's ear and they all started down the hallway opposite of where Kitten and Terminal were working. Applebloom swallowed. She was disobeying orders, but she couldn't let this just slip past her. She headed after the colts.
After a while walking down the hall, she heard the voices from before, except louder.
"-You bring this griffon shit! I asked fo' one thing and you bring me another! What am I supposed to do with this, Merril?!"
A third voice spoke, weak, frightened, "I didn't have much of a choice! It was all I could sneak past the border gaurds- you know it's practically impossible to get Buzz through these days! So I got some of this new stuff, and I figured-"
"-Yeah, yah figured. That's where yah went wrong, ya dipshit. yah ain't supposed t' bring us anythin' but Buzz."
"But-"
"-we did have specific orders for you." The unicorn said softly. There was a clicking noise, which Applebloom managed to recognize. The safety on a firearm had just been turned off. She swallowed. Now or never.
"Excuse me, is there something wrong?" She stepped out from her spot around the corner. The gun turned to her and she barely had time to roll out of the way before the shots went off. She didn't think, she just reacted, bucking the gun out of the air where it had been held by unicorn magic, and rearing up and kicking the offender in the face. He crumpled to the floor just as the pegasus roared and charged her.
"OOf!" The air whooshed out of Applebloom's lungs as she took a strong kick to the gut. She coughed and fell to one knee, a little dizzy. 'no, no... get up...' she urged herself as the pegasus aimed a kick at her head. She managed to fall out of the way, rolling onto her back and sending a powerful buck to his back legs. There was a snap, and the pegasus called out, steadying himself by flapping his wings. Applebloom started hearing startled voices from down the hall, and she knew the party attendees were coming to try and see what the commotion was. She knocked out the pegasus with a blow to his right cheek. The colt with the satchel cowered in a corner, watching her approach.
"You. If ye don't want t' end up like them, help me drag these boys into one o' these rooms.." She rasped. It hurt to breath- it felt like something was digging into her lung. The colt nodded, and together they pulled the colts and the gun into a closet, just as people came around the corner. Applebloom held her breath as people passed by the door again and again. The pegasus was bleeding profusely from his nose, and Applebloom was worried that the blood may have made a trail to the door. However, if there was one, no one noticed it, and the disturbance was soon written off as the 'estate feline making a general ruckus'. Applebloom thanked whatever gods there were that most ponies had no idea what a firearm was, much less what one sounded like. She herself had only discovered them during training, and quickly became acquainted with their function.
She'd just been about to come out into the hallway, when there was the sound of hoofsteps outside the door. She froze, then stepped back when the door open. Her heart leaped in relief when she saw Terminal and Kitten.
"There you are! We've been looking all over. We heard the gun- what happened?" He looked at the three colts. She explained what she'd heard, her voice shaky. The adrenaline was unfamiliar to her system. She tried not to look down, where the colt's blood had gotten on her hooves.
Terminal nodded to Kitten, who slapped a hoof across the last colt's head, dropping him. Applebloom jumped. "H-hey! He was cooperating!"
"We can't take chances." Kitten muttered quietly, "We need to clean up and get out. Fast."
"What about yer job?"
"We already finished it. We'd just got back to the party when we hear the shots," Terminal sighed, holding a pad of gauze over the pegasus's nose. "Kitten, radio for a clean-up crew. Applebloom- hold this gauze down until he stops bleeding."
"o-ok.." she swallowed, looking down. Her stomach turned at all the red. It wasn't like she hadn't seen blood before.. she'd fought plenty times before in school, and done plenty of damage... this was different.. this felt more cold.. cruel. She swallowed, holding the gauze in place. She winced as a particularly deep breath jostled her lung.
Terminal went over to the third colt and searched through the satchel. He let out a whistle. "Kitten, this is some pretty strong stuff- this shouldn't have gotten past protocol..."
"Is it local?" Kitten looked over, setting down his radio.
"Nope- over border stuff. Looks Griffon-made." Terminal closed the bag, "If it made it this far, there's something else going on. I need you to call for an interrogation crew."
"Alright. I'll start getting everypony out, too."
"ok."
Kitten headed out of the room. Not much later, the fire alarms started going off.
"That should flush them out..." Terminal muttered, looking at Applebloom. "Come on- we need to get out, too. The cleanup crews will take care of this- we need to get this information to the director."