Frostbite

Being shot hurts. A lot. I would know, since it happened once to me on our little revenge outing.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself. I should explain our plan.

The mob had seven lieutenants. Each controlled a certain part of their operation. I’ll say, we were pretty lucky to have eight of us for eight of them. We had planned for each of us to go after one figure. My partners would go after the lieutenants, and when they were finished, I’d go after the don, whoever he was. Had done a great job concealing his identity, really. Surprised me who it was. The guy had always been a slippery one.

I know, I know. getting ahead of myself.

After our meet and greet was finished, we headed back to the station, like Celestia said. We walked. Could use the exercise.

When we returned, Princess Luna had taken her sister’s place. “Hello. I’ve been sent in my sister’s place to debrief you, because, as you may know, the sun will be rising soon.

“I know about how you plan to go about bringing down the mob. Not a bad plan. But, you’ll need information to do it. My sister and I, being princesses, have access to all of the legal information in Equestria, which will certainly benefit you.”

I noticed a whiteboard behind Luna, and while I couldn’t make out the whole board, her pacing back and forth helped me see some things. I saw pictures, lines, and words written in red marker.

She stepped to the side and allowed the board to come into full view. The pictures, lines, and words all became visible. Lines went from picture to picture. Words orbited around each picture like asteroids orbiting a planet.

”This is the board my sister and I have been using to keep track of mob activity in Manehattan. It’s one of the largest criminal organizations in Equestria. We’ve decided to turn it over to your control.”

”Thank you,” said Steam. “Pray tell, who exactly are the ponies on the board? And why are there lines from them going to a question mark in the middle?”

”The pictures are of mob lieutenants. They lead back to the don. We’re still unclear of his identity.”

“I see.”

“My sister and I have also decided to make the work move a bit faster. We’ve decided to put each of you in charge of a lieutenant. Your job will be to find out as much as you can, and then kill him or her. Sound good?”

“Yes,” Steam agreed. Look at him, taking charge.

“Very good. Storm,” she said, turning to him, “you’ll be in charge of the mob’s recruitment operation.” She pointed to a picture on the wall. The pony on it was brown with a dark black mane. “Silver Tongue is her name. Go track her down.”

He saluted. “Yes, ma’am.”

“And drop the ‘loyal soldier’ bit. Steady Aim, I’m sure you know that the mob has a profitable contract killing bit.”

“I do,” he agreed. “They wanted me to do a few jobs for them, which I declined.”

“That is why I’m giving you the task of taking it down.” She indicated another photo on the wall. “Crosshair is his name. Make us proud, would you?”

He nodded. “Sure thing.”

“And you, Doctor Whooves. The mob’s forces are quite well-trained all thanks to a pony called Strong Arm. Take him down.”

“But of course,” he responded.

“Mist, I’m sure you’ve done your fair share of narcotics?”

She blushed. “Didn’t we all experiment with weed in college?”

Luna chuckled. “Yes, but that’s not exactly what I meant. I meant, you’ve done drug busts before?”

“Oh, of course.”

“That’s why we’re putting you in charge of the mob’s drug operation, headed by a pony named Induced Feeling. Do us a favor, and take him out of commission.”

“Will do.”

“Steam, the mob is well-informed, thanks to a mare named, coincidentally, Well Informed. Take her and her operation down.”

He nodded.

“Nickel, do you remember your earliest days with Frostbite?”

“Well, yeah, of course.”

“What were you doing?”

“We were trying to take down the mob’s prostitution ring.” Then he caught on. “Are you…”

“Tasking you with taking down their prostitution ring? Yes. Now, the head of it is a mare named Red Lights. Now go. All of you. I know this is all abrupt, and that you’ve had no time to mourn the loss of your loved ones, and that this plan seems cliché, but we tried the same approach in Fillydelphia and it worked wonderfully.”

A few loud shots rang out from outside.

“What was that?” Doctor inquired.

“Dunno,” Nickel replied. “But I want to find out.” He broke off towards the entrance, and we followed.

As soon as we exited the rather drab police station, a body fell from a window from the skyline. From looking, I could tell it fell from about the fiftieth floor. The corpse eventually hit the roof of the car. A chorus of snaps, pops, screams, and car alarms went off, playing a rather macabre tune.

“Nickel, fly up to where the body fell, and I’ll take the stairs,” I instructed.

“On it.” He spread his wings and flew. I’ll admit, that guy can fly pretty fast. He’s no Wonderbolt, but he can hold his own during a chase.

I entered the building the body fell from. It was the Red Bell Hotel. Jetset and I stayed here once. That was when I proposed to her.

“Enjoying the night?” I asked her. We had come back from a dinner at Manehattan’s premier (and most expensive) restaurant, the Golden Ribbon, and had settled in into our hotel room. The room was mainly red, with accents of white. It looked nice.

“Of course,” she replied. “I'm spending it with you.”

“Hey, I need to tell you something…”

A look of worry spread across her face. “What’s wrong?”

“Sit down.”

She made her way to the red couch and sat down. I followed suit.

“Are you okay?” she asked me.

“I’m fine. It’s just…we’ve known each other for a long time now, right?”

“Yeah. About five years, we’ve been going out.”

“We’ve really grown close, huh?”

“Yeah. Look, I’m just going to come out and say it. We should stop dating.”

She was taken aback. “What? Wha…I mean…why?”

“I want to stop being your boyfriend,” I told her. This was it. I got down from the couch and kneeled down. I pulled out the ten-thousand bit ring I had bought for her earlier. It was a clear diamond encased in platinum. I’m not a jewelry aficionado, but it was worth a lot.

“I want to start being your husband. Will you…y’know, marry me?”

She threw her head back and exhaled. And started laughing. Did I do something wrong?

“You know, that was the greatest way to throw someone for a loop. Telling them that they wanted to stop dating.”

My face fell. I felt like an anvil family reunion had just crashed on my soul. “I see…” I told her.

She flew over to me. “That’s not what I meant.” She tilted my head up and kissed me. “I meant that I thought that you really wanted us to be over, not that you wanted to get married. Of course I’ll marry you.”

“Really?”

“Really.” She kissed me again. “Now, how about we go…celebrate?” A devious grin formed on her face.

“Right behind you,” I said. I put the ring on the table next to the couch and followed her to the bed.

In my daydreaming, I had found my way to the room the body was thrown from. I heard grunts coming from behind the door. I turned around, reared my hind legs, and kicked. The door flew off of its hinges. Basic training requires us cops to be able to kick down doors, so I’m really nothing special. The look on the assassin’s face told a different story. Why was he still here?

“Welcome to the penthouse, Frosty,” Nickel said. He was holding the assassin down. That answers my previous question.

I trotted over to the assassin. He was wearing a black overcoat. On his shoulder was a small logo. It was of a red pyramid.

The mob’s logo. How fucking convenient.

I placed a hoof on his chest. “Who are you?”

He didn’t answer.

“I know who he is,” Nickel offered.

“Who?”

“A lead for Steady, that’s who.”