Chapter Three: What's the Family?
Written and Edited by the Archer of Anarchy, with Assistance from BronyRex and Sweetapplejacker
"WHAT." Frostbite said bluntly.
"Seems fun!" Comet smiled.
"I am NOT doing that, they'll just see us!" Flare declared, folding his forelegs across his chest.
Torq looked confused and Arc facehoofed.
"Exactly what I meant." she chuckled.
"All you have to do is dance. We go out onto the dance floor and hide among the other couples grooving out there. They can't exactly follow without making a huge scene can they?"
"I suppose not..."
Flare brushed his metal wingtips absent-mindedly. Arc put a hoof on his shoulder.
"Come on, it'll be fun!"
He paused, then nodded.
"Alright."
Comet glanced at Frostbite.
"You wanna?"
"Sure!" the frosty unicorn replied with a little smile.
Torq looked a little put out until Daring punched him in the shoulder.
"Hey, you wanted to come on an adventure, right?"
"Uh, yeah..." he shrugged.
"Well," Daring smiled, "Here's your chance."
Torq smiled back, standing up.
"Alright, let's go," Daring announced, "Before they can see us over here..."
The six of them snuck out onto the dance floor, mingling with the other dancers as the band began to strike up a new song. They got into position, ready for it.
"Ooh! I recognize this one!" Comet grinned at what song was beginning. "Catgroove, I think it's called?"
"Listen to what of it you can," Daring hissed back over her shoulder as the four weaved back and forth between the now slowly-whirling dancers. "I think they spotted us!"
The black suit ponies by the door of the restaurant were still scanning for them, until one of them spotted Daring's trademark hat bobbing through the dancefloor.
"There!" He yelled, "Over there! Get her!"
"Crap!"
Daring glanced at the chandelier above her, then back at the group of ponies now charging towards them.
"Quick! Run for the stage!"
They made for the stage, skirting closely around all the other dancers. Torq barreled through, disrupting everypony in his way. They were thrown bodily aside with indignant yells of: "Hey!" and "Watch it!"
Comet Clue spun, light on her hooves, dodging those that got in her way. Flare Twister leapt over their heads, light spreading from his wings as he sped up to reach the stage first. The band continued to play as he stood in front of them, well trained to ignore anything wrong and keep playing. He turned to look back at their pursuers as the others scrambled up.
"Watch out, they're coming!"
Daring glanced back, seeing the strange stallions charging through the hole Torq had created. The entire area beneath the whole chandelier was empty, leaving them a straight run for the stage.
"Sykes, if you're where I think you are," Daring yelled out, " I think this would be a good time to reveal yourself!"
There was a creak from the chandelier as one of the chains got disconnected. Overstressed and half-broken, the others snapped from the extra weight. It swung downwards on the one surviving chain, smack dab into the oncoming stallions. They didn't even have a chance to turn before it crashed down, pinning them to the dance floor.
That made the band fall apart as players just dropped their instruments and stared. Daring wasn't watching the carnage however, she only had eyes for the chain that had initially broken off. It flicked when it reached the bottom of its arc towards the band, as if a weight had dropped off it.
"Sykes, you clever devil you..."
An invisible pony slammed into the drum set, scattering it like bowling pins. The drummer was catapulted into the crowd, landing on some unfortunate dancers.
Frostbite and Flare heard the crash and looked back as the red curtain behind the band was hit, making a large part of it dent inward. It fell down, covering a pony that started trying to escape.
"What was that? Is there more of them?!"
The frost unicorn started to charge his horn, but Daring waved for him to stop.
"No, but come on, there's bound to be more coming for us!"
The six of them ran to the stage door, Torq lifting an edge of the curtain as he went past.
"Thanks!" burst out from nowhere, making Comet Clue slide to a stop.
"Alright, I let it go earlier, but who is that Daring?!"
Daring made it to the door, bucking it down for the others. They ran through it, the adveturer only following when everypony was through.
"Sykes, show yourself, so we don't Comet here glancing over her shoulder for the rest of the day."
"Fine." he replied grumpily next to her, dropping the invisibility spell.
He faded into view behind her silently, making a shushing motion to the others.
"Skyes, I'm warning you..."
Sykes tweaked her tail, making Daring jump.
"I know, I know, don't be invisible when you're around, yeah, yeah I know."
She shoot him a look, getting little snickers from the others.
"Oh shush all of you, and come on."
The restaurant was in an uproar, with the staff desperately trying to retain order. The stallions had only taken a few moments to free themselves from the chandelier, but it had been enough to give the group of ponies time to hide. They looked around, trying to find the daring adventurer as a lone unicorn stallion sat finishing his drink.
Metablade glanced over at the table where Daring had been sitting.
"What a waste of a table..." he said softly, not in the gruff voice that he had used with Daring, but in a deeper, more flowing voice. "But it had to be done."
He set down his glass of water as the stallions started making for the main doorway.
"I'm sorry boys." Meta declared as he stood, stepping over fallen chairs to stand in their way. "But I am afraid that there's been a change of plans..."
The largest of them stepped up, unafraid.
"Daltharious, you had your chance and failed. It is our turn to attempt capture of the heretic!"
A small chuckle trickled out from the dark armor.
"Oh, I didn't fail..."
Metablade leaned in close, making the stallion have to lean back.
"I wasn't trying to."
In the alley behind the restaurant, a door suddenly burst open. An over-enthusiastic Torq slammed into the wall opposite, stunning himself as well as denting the brick building. The others climbed out, careful to avoid the stallion now trying to unsuccessfully rise from the ground.
Sykes offered him a hoof, rolling his eyes.
"I told you, that door was barely standing in the first place!"
As Daring walked out, Frostbite lowered his horn at the empty doorway. A stream of water flowed up out of a sewer grate nearby, freezing over the hole. By the time he was done, the doorway was a solid block of ice.
Flare nodded slightly.
"Handy, but I still prefer my fire."
There was a shout from farther down the alley, where there were two more stallions dressed exactly like the ones inside. They charged down the alley towards them. Frostbite stepped forward again, horn glowing.
"Careful, running on ice is dangerous!" he quipped.
Another stream of water rushed out of the sewer, coating the alley between them with a thin layer of ice. The ponies tried to stop, but they hit the ice before they could. Their hooves slipped from underneath them, sending them skidding uncontrollably.
Another gush of water made a tomb of ice encase the two. Daring blinked, then turned on Frostbite.
"Are you planning to suffocate them?"
He looked at her like she was crazy.
"Of course not. I left enough space to breath, but not to move or call out."
"Good. I don't like killing. There's been too much around me before for my liking. Come on, we need to see what Aurora has gotten us into this time."
The six of them quietly trotted to where the alleyway came out onto the road. Sykes motioned for them to hide behind some boxes.
"My time to shine! Or, in my case, to disappear..."
He shot past everypony at full gallop, going into a roll as he left the shelter of the alley. Before he had gone a yard out he had vanished. Their eyes followed a small trail of dirt on the cobblestone roadway until it was lost in the light traffic on the road.
"Quite the ability." Comet commented. "But being a showman doesn't work well when you can't be seen."
At any rate, Sykes had nailed his roll. He had flipped right under a cart going by, grabbing the bottom of it to stop himself. Letting it drag him past the restaurant, he saw the ponies outside being watched over by five more stallions. They were all on the ground, either cowering or beaten down. One by one they were roughly hauled into a police wagon. Two ponies with police uniforms stood ready in their harnesses to bolt with it.
"What is going on?..." Sykes muttered to himself as he let go of the cart.
Sykes snuck back to the alley after getting another look at what the stallions were up to, sliding in stealthily next to Frostbite..
“It looks like they have incapacitated everypony out there. Nopony is dead, but they are being loaded into what appears to be a police carriage.”
“Did it have an identification plate on the back?” Comet piped up. “The police are making those mandatory now for all their units to prevent gangs from pretending to be the cops.”
“I don’t remember seeing one...”
“Then these aren’t the cops,” Daring cut in. “Sykes, how many are out there?”
“Five. No, seven counting the two hooked up to the cart.”
The pegasus adventurer turned to Torq.
“Think you can take five stallions like were back there?”
“Yeh, had to do more in the past.”
“Then get out there! They shouldn’t recognize you at first, because you haven’t been adventuring with me. Everypony else, we are swiping that cart!”
Torq stepped out uncertainly, walking slowly to the edge of the street. The stallions were halfway done loading the ponies who had been waiting, and the carriage was beginning to look full. He looked back to the alley where Daring was smiling.
“Go on!” she whispered encouragingly. “Get them!”
He nodded, taking a deep breath. The earth pony began to trot towards the front of the restaurant, looking as nonchalant as one of his size could. The dark night made his quiet steps towards them relatively unnoticed. It wasn’t until he was a few yards from the stallions that one looked over at him. The one that did turn away from where the last few captive ponies were being loaded into the carriage
“Move along civilian,” he scowled, “Nothing to see here...”
Torq flipped around, putting most of his weight on his forehooves. Spinning his hindlegs around, he delivered a powerful kick to the offending stallion’s chest. His hat flipped forward as he flew backwards, hitting another of the suited stallions and crashing them both into the street.
As Torq placed his hindlegs back firmly on the ground, the other stallions turned to face him. One of them stepped forward, a small silver pin on the lapel of his suit. Instead of the fedora hats the others wore, he wore a bowler hat, black with a dark grey band around the base.
“You...” he spoke slowly. “You’re one of Daring Do’s meatbags!”
He spun around to face the others.
“Get him! He’ll be wanted for questioning!”
They charged forward at Torq, heads tilted low. The two he had kicked into the street joined them, their eyes narrowed in anger. The large earthpony smiled at their united attack.
“Gud to know you tink I’m ah threat...” he chuckled.
Inside the restaurant was subdued, as the ponies that had been running around screaming for their lives and diving under tables were seeing the conflict unfolding at the edge of the dance floor. The waiters and waitresses had stopped trying to calm the crowd and were now nervously looking at the group of stallions and the armored unicorn now eyeing each other.
“What do you mean, you weren’t trying to?” one of the stallions asked loudly, “You had her right where we wanted and you DIDN’T take her out?! What about the plan?!”
Metablade smiled as his horn began to glow.
“Oh, your plan? Yeah, I didn’t bother following that. I have my own schedule to keep, and it doesn’t include Daring being stopped by the likes of you.”
The stallions were picked up in Meta’s telekinetic field, spinning around in the air as they tried to escape.
“You’re crazy!” another yelped, “You’ll never survive the Family! We are too strong..”
Meta’s eye narrowed.
“I don’t plan to. Daring will help in ways she will never know.”
The magical field intensified, darkening around the stallions. Their bodies began to twist in ways that pony legs and necks were never supposed to twist. They began to yell in pain, eyes closing in feeble attempts to ease it.
“You’ll never get away with this... eeerrrrkkkk.......”
The magic intensified again, momentarily blotting out the Family members before dissipating entirely. Five hats and suits fell to the ground, empty.
“Enjoy your time in the dark realm.” Meta said softly, turning to the doorway. “You may never leave it.”
Nopony attempted to stop him.