The Fast, Dangerous and the Furious

Chapter Sixteen: Operation Stealth

Drip …

I gasped for air and coughed violently making every direction echo with my hacks. Daring kicked her hooves around somehow tearing her mask away from her face. She discarded the clothing desperately looking around in the darkness. The slight glow from my horn brought me to her. We floated up and down for a moment and just caught our breath.

Drip …

Everything played back through my mind in an instant. The griffon’s grenade exploding. Daring and I soaring into the gate making it pop open then slam shut. All of that happened in just a split second then the next thing we knew there was no air. Now we have air, but no light.

Drip …

My hoof felt around for something to grab onto, but all I could find was water. Daring flapped her wings and rose up out of the water. Shaking her fur like a wet dog, my pegasus friend frantically looked around for some other light. Still nothing but darkness.

“You alright,” I quietly called out to her.

Daring hummed in return, although I couldn’t tell if it was a good hum or a bad one. The sound of her wings flapping started to echo around in tune to the dripping water. I started moving forward and swam to whatever I could find. My hoof hit something cold and made of stone. Daring landed on that same surface reaching a hoof out to me in the process. I gripped her hoof with mine and she pulled me out.

Daring stretched out a little. “Dead Eye has a griffon assassin on his side. I don’t know about you, but I’m not liking our odds of getting through this mission with our coats still intact.” I’ll be flat out honest. I have no idea what the big deal is about having a griffon assassin on the opposing side of things.

“In case you don’t know, part of the Griffon Kingdom across the sea trains a special division of fighters in every griffon martial arts style known and teaches them about ten different ways to kill any type of prey.”

Celestia, damn them.

I leaned against the cold cobblestone archway looking out into the darkness. Daring nickered. “If my memory serves me then that griffon was from one of the older divisions that got shut down. Most of them became assassins for hire then once they found a boss they liked working for they would protect them until their last breath.” I put my hoof around Daring and gave her a pat on the back. “How one of them ended up in Equestria is beyond me.”

“You did well out there against, Shelby, I’m assuming.” I could hear Daring let out a low chuckle, but I couldn’t see if she was smiling or not. Daring pushed herself away from the wall and reached into her saddle bags. She tossed down a working flashlight while I turned it on. My horn lit up holding the light in place while Daring wrapped a bandage rag around the places where … several throwing knives had hit her. I only remember one hitting her.

Daring pulled off her bullet proof vest discarding it into the water. I did the same and watched her tie the bandage rag around any bleeding areas on her stomach. “Stop gawking at me,” her tone became sour.

“I wasn’t gawking at you,” I spat back rather quick.

Daring scoffed putting her medical kit away. Something made the water splash around. The flashlight floated up shining in the direction of the splash. Daring and I just stared at the collapsed pipe that had shielded us from near death. Tons of rubble barricaded us from whoever was on the other side.

Well, looks like were aren’t going back out the way we came. It was then that we noticed the Challenger had become half submerged in the sewer water. I lit up my horn and the thing budged a little. Daring ran a hoof through her wet mane. “Come on, let’s get that thing out of here. And get that mask off your face.” I looked at my reflection in the water noticing my mask was still on. I tore the thing off leaving it in the water.

“AREEEEEEGH!”

A cold shiver went up my spine. My entire body began to shake while Daring became too occupied with the Challenger to notice anything. “Shut up.” I whispered to her.

“AREEEEEEEEGH! AREEEEEEEGH! AREEEEEEEEGH!”

Daring looked up at me irritated, “Excuse me?” Her voice was raised. I pointed my hoof at what I was staring at. That was when Daring got the same ‘oh-shit’ look I had. The clicker stopped twitching and froze. We froze.

“AREEEGH!” The creature lurched towards us traveling down the stone path. Daring was doing something in her bag just before I slid into the murky water pulling us both down.

I opened my eyes underwater while trying not to think of the lack of air in my lungs. Daring was still fidgeting around for something in her bags. My lungs started to burn. I looked up at where we dove down and started silently beating my hoof against the wall. The waters resistance made it difficult to actually hit the wall as hard as I could.

Sweet Celestia and other princesses, please help us!

The urge to open my mouth and gasp for air began to take over. My eyes turned to Daring and she was letting out a few bubbles, from the look on her face she was resisting the same urge I was. Something was in her mouth though. She swam up and brought me with her. We both silently gasped for a breath of fresh air. I could see the clicker’s shadow moving around near the Challenger. “What are you doing,” I whispered to her. There was a gun or something like it in her mouth. “Are you crazy?” Daring flung whatever was in her mouth. Loud clattering sounds echoed in the pipe closest to us. The Clicker looked up and galloped over to the pipe. It twitched around then galloped after the noises shortly after it made one more unnatural noise.

“I’m not that stupid, I know how to get rid of a damn clicker,” Daring growled back.

We both swam to the edge panting profusely. Daring showed me a slot in her gun where the ammo clip was supposed to be. It wasn’t there. That was … actually really smart. “Let’s get this thing out of the water.” We swam underneath the Challenger and pushed as hard as we could. Engulfing the large hunk of metal in my magic, using a tremendous amount of focus that albeit was more than just difficult, I lightened the machine enough for Daring to set it down on stone floor. I climbed out of the water keeping a close eye out for anymore infected.

First thing I could think to do was check to make sure the glider actually worked. I slid underneath the machine putting my back against the soaking wet groove. Shivers went up my spine. “Runner,” Daring took a sniff at the air, “we’re going to need showers after this.”

I took a deep inhale and coughed. “More like a tub of soap with air fresheners hanging around it.” We smelt rancid. And I mean. Rancid. The sewers smelt better than the water, which now that I thought about, was probably a bad idea to get soaked in twice.

Note to self: take a shower when we get out of here. I hate smelling like the business end of a sewer. My eyes scanned the glider a few more times before confirming no damage had been done to the easy-lift feature. I hit the button and lifted the glider up. Thank Celestia! Oh, and you to Princess Luna and Cadence! “Well, submerging part of the engine like that wasn’t an ideal way to keep it out of harm’s way. I’m pretty sure if we just let it dry out it’ll still run.” Daring hummed. “You have a map of this place?”

Daring shook her head and gave me a flat “nu-uh.” I exhaled slowly. This is going to be a long walk. “Why do we need a map? I’ve got a pretty good idea of where we are.” I stopped in my tracks.

“Because I don’t want to hear you complain when we get lost,” I commented before continuing my walking. Daring chuckled a little and eventually gave it a light laugh.

We kept moving and to our luck there were no signs of infected or clickers around us. It felt like an hour had passed before we finally found a turn in the pipe. I set my hoof down in the connecting pipe and froze. Daring followed behind me and her jaw dropped.

Three bloaters were snoring at the end of the pipe and lucky for us there weren’t any other pipes to go into. One of them gurgled up orange sludge that looked like puke. I brought a hoof to my mouth then checked my throat. It was starting to warm up. Daring looked at me with sickness in her face. She looked ready to hurl with me. I dunked my head in the water for a second then pulled it back out. My throat wasn’t warm anymore. Daring looked at me and looked like she wanted to know why I had done that. The answer was simple. I had no idea why, distraction, maybe.

I hit another button on the metal block causing any other portion of the wings to retract back inside. You’d think that would cause some noise, but it doesn’t. Older glider models did that, but not the newer ones. I took in a deep breath and we started walking into the next pipe, the water I had dunked my head into ended at the entrance leaving us without any other escape route except for the other end. Daring moved close to me and seemed to be sweating beads.

With each careful step forward my pulse began to race at a pace I didn’t think possible. It felt like being stalked by a shark in the ocean. Except in this scenario, I could see the enemy, it was the anticipation that these creatures would wake up ready to tear us to shreds that was haunting my mind. That’s what these creatures are, they are the apex infected and when those things wake up it’s not something any pony wants to be near.

My hoof slid a little under the sweat running from my horn to my hoof tips. The first one was still several hoof steps ahead of us, it might as well have been a few inches, because each step sounded like a bottle breaking against the ground. Carefully looking over at Daring I could see her coat was now drenched in sweat. We had been soaking wet before, but neither one of us would say it was from the sewer water.

With the amount of infected I had encountered I would like to say I was decent at figuring out what they reacted to. Regular infected were just feral ponies turned plant like. Clickers were infected that hunted using sound similar to a bat. Bloaters though, not enough ponies have encountered these to figure them out, aside from discovering that their fungus is like armor plating. However if I’ve learned anything from these things I’ve learned that you don’t know anything until you have all the facts. Sadly, I was missing a lot of information on how all three of these infected types acted.

We passed the first one, still holding out breathes.

The hulking creature gurgled out more dark orange sludge. This time spores were released. I reached into my saddle bags and put a cloth to my mouth. Daring did the same. As we moved towards the second one, Daring noticed a large metal pipe in the way and pointed at it. I gently put my fore hooves around it and stepped over it. Daring followed right behind me. The second bloater let out a loud snore and gurgled almost like it was talking in its sleep.

This bloater had the shape of a huge round apple, taking up almost half the freaking pipe. I took a look at Daring while we continued to move towards it. She was actually shaking. Honestly, I’m surprised I hadn’t started shaking yet. I wanted to, badly.

My eyes darted back to the round bloater a few hoof steps away from me. This was insane, seeing three bloaters in one place. From my understanding these things take a long time to reach this stage and there are three of them here. Now I’m starting to understand why those gates open inside the pipe. Keeps the infected ponies at bay.

We passed the second one.

I took another glance at Daring and could see she was now using her hoof to wipe away the sweat around her mane. My body was ready to burst from how fast my heart pumped in and out. I’m surprised being so close to these bombastic creatures hadn’t sent me into a heart attack yet.

The third bloater was just standing there. Unmoving. Frozen. It didn’t snore. It didn’t do anything but stand there. The sheer amount of pressure and weight I was feeling just being near this one was different from all my other encounters. My first encounter with a bloater might not have ended well, but there had been four ponies armed very well against one bloater. My second encounter was a bit rougher since it was like Oceans and Rusty hadn’t been near one of things in their lives. That’s when I took a look at Daring. There was something in her eyes that told me she had encountered at least one of these things before, but it was a moment she never wanted to relive ever again. I can understand that.

I’d like to believe most of this pressure came from being near three of these towering infected within just a couple hoof steps of each other. I swear the walk from one end to the other was taking longer than it should, but I probably shouldn’t have expected a less stressful trip through here.

We made it out of the bloater mine field and took a left. I tried to stop but bumped into a stack of crates set up like a wall. Several objects toppled down on top of my Challenger making loud clattering sounds echo all around us. Daring and I turned around. All three of the bloaters burped awake and thumped towards us. There was one other way to go. We galloped down what would have been the right hoof pipe leading away from the crated wall.

The ground around us vibrated to the point that my glider’s engine started rattling around. We hung a left into a hallway still big enough for my glider to fit through. Something caught my attention up ahead. A maintenance room with large double doors. I bucked the doors open and let Daring run past. Inside the room were rows of cabinets and tool boxes towering five times the average pony’s height. Daring bucked the door open. “What the hell are you doing?” Her head snapped back at the doors as they began to vibrate. Those things were closing in fast.

“We need that map,” I spat back at her almost to the point I couldn’t understand what I was saying.

My horn lit up and the drawers started emptying themselves. Pencils. Pens. Paper. More paper. A bullet for a gun I didn’t own. Daring groaned as she began tearing open drawers left and right. The glow around my horn started getting brighter while I shoved everything I emptied against the doors to keep them shut.

WHACK!

The cabinets budged almost toppling down. Daring looked at me then at an air vent big enough for a pony to squeeze through. Her gaze went back inside of a drawer and she bit down on a rolled up piece of paper. She got on the desk knocking open the vent quickly. “Daring,” my jaw dropped when she jumped back down. “I guess we stand our ground and fight.”

“Bring it,” she reloaded her pistol aiming it at the door.

Another loud whack made the room shake. The only computer in the room fell down screen first and shattered. My head frantically looked around for some other way out. I had to leave the glider behind. That was the only way we could possibly leave.

WHACK!

Daring looked in her saddle bags and then at me. Her wings started flapping then she flew inside the vent. I called out to her while another loud bang made the entire wall rattle. My horn lit up and put everything in the room against the double doors. “Daring,” I called out. The cabinets flew back and hit the wall letting out a metal groan while they bent out of shape. “Daring, I can’t fit the Challenger in there!”

The entire room shook sending dust down on me just before I lost my balance. Using a free hoof to push me and my machine back up I made one of the walls transparent.

Ear shattering explosions were erupting in one of the pipes. My horn stopped glowing as I looked at the doors. They started vibrating but soon stopped. Daring popped back out from the vent landing on all four hooves. “Now let’s move before they get back,” she whispered in my ear. My horn sparked to life, sending every cabinet back where it came from.

We galloped out the doors going in the opposite direction the bloaters were heading in. Daring tossed a map to me and I caught it with my levitation field. It unrolled revealing a marker of where we were at. Daring looked at it and pointed to where we needed to go. “Alright, let’s move our hooves,” Daring said looking around for infected.

*** ***

Sticky bombs. Left over sticky bombs saved my life!

Daring lay on top of the Challenger while I hit a button that ejected the stands out. I undid the strap and slid out from underneath it making sure to listen carefully for any infected that may have tried to follow us. My ears twitched.

“Here they come.” Daring pointed out the wagon being pulled and pushed by the other … four members of the team. We looked at each other. Once all four of them got to us they dropped to the ground, each letting out a long sigh of relief.

“I have to say, that was quite a fire work show going on.” Rusty Horseshoe waved his hoof around while War lit up his horn to make a little colorful light show go off. Neither I nor Daring were amused. We gave him each a deadpan.

Eleven Oceans put a hoof on Rusty’s shoulder and got up. “Right … well, Daring, Runner.” He pointed at our extra addition. “This is Not Important, our mare on the inside.” I really hope this mare turns out to actually be helping us and not trying to stab the entire crew in the back. War attached the wagon to my Challenger. I popped open the top taking a look at our new machine gun.

Holy crap.

This thing had enough ammo to wipe out any pony we didn’t like. War strapped himself against the glider and used the easy-lift feature. Not Important jumped into the back with me and I hopped out. Oceans took my spot, “Let’s get this thing to your place.”

“I know what to do with it.” The mare waved a hoof and the wagon started moving. Meanwhile Daring jumped into the back of the wagon with them and soon enough they were on their way to wherever Not Important’s place was.

Rusty trotted over to a table with several different weapons set amongst a plethora of gadgets. The first thing he grabbed were two grappling hooks which were thrown around his body then tied in place. An overcoat was pulled over his body next and two pistols were put in the inside pockets.  “Hey, mind if I ask you something,” I asked slowly turning my gaze from the wagon. Rusty hummed while he picked up the most beautiful looking sniper rifle I had ever seen. “Does Daring have a … stallion in her life, you know like … well … you know.” Rusty put his eye against the scope as if he wasn’t even paying attention. He quickly disassembled the rifle putting the deconstructed parts inside of a black brief case.

It was just a simple question. A bit of an embarrassing question.

It’s not like I was gawking at her earlier, for the record, I was checking her out … wait … no I was checking her out to make sure she was okay. Why am I having this argument with myself?

I cleared my throat.

Rusty grabbed a few tranquilizers strung next to some sticky bombs I assumed were not needed for his side of the mission. “I know what you mean but I can’t answer that question.” I opened my mouth and a hoof went up. “And before you ask any more questions. Look it’s not in my nature to be mysterious, but I can’t tell you why and I can’t tell you why I can’t tell you why.” Umm. Alright … I guess. I’m kind of lost now. You are no help. “Not that it’s any of my business, but you shouldn’t be so obvious around her, seriously keep your eyes up here and away from her flanks.” Rusty pointed at his eyes once before setting his hoof back down.

Wait. I haven’t been staring at her flanks. That’s not to say I haven’t stole a few glances, but I haven’t been staring at them that much. “I haven’t been that obvious.”

“Yes you have.” Rusty deadpanned.

My hoof tapped against the ground while I looked around. I didn’t really know the rest of the plan so I voiced my concern.

Rusty’s eyes lit up. “Oh, right. I’ll brief Daring on what’s going on in a while. Okay, so tomorrow Dead Eye’s going to be giving a big presentation. We’ll get him then, but before that I need you to do something.” I raised an eye brow at that. An extra job. “Phase three of our plan requires a list of Sombra’s hideouts. All I need you to do is hack Dead Eye’s computer and get a copy of the locations. War will pay you double your final cut.” Double? As in times two? That’s a lot of bits.

Wait. Hang on. I can’t just go and laser dance my way into Dead Eye’s condo and walk back out with that kind of list. I mean he’s got a freaking griffon assassin ready to pounce and rip our throats out.

“You’ll have Daring backing you up, if that’s anything to take into consideration.” Rusty tightened the belt around his overcoat, hiding every weapon he put inside. I have no idea how he could hide that many weapons.

What is this? A page right out of Grand Theft Glider. I mean I know you can hide a lot of stuff if you’ve been in prison before. Reminds me of those games where your character pulls a rocket launcher out of his pocket and ponies say ‘where’s he keeping that’ or ‘that’s so unrealistic, that’s bull shit.’ I say to them ‘you clearly haven’t met a prisoner, they can keep a lot of stuff hidden in unspeakable places.’

Rusty attached his briefcase to his belt and let out sigh. “I know it’s risky, but we really need this for our next plan. From the way you’re acting I’m pretty sure this will be our lost job with you and it would be nice to have a little memento of your stay.” I slowly nodded. If Daring and I actually pull off a stealth mission without getting caught this will have been a successful day.

“Alright, I’ll do it.”

Rusty looked surprised. He smiled and shook my hoof. “How you go about getting inside his condo is up to you. I’ll be in touch with Daring.” Rusty started trotting up a set of stone stairs and stopped. I followed him while he just stood there blocking my way. “Just don’t do what I did.” I gave him a curious look.

I set my hoof down on the railing and scratched my head. “What exactly did you do?”

“See, I had just pulled a bank job while I was with this cop,” Rusty nickered. “I jumped out the second story window in a hotel.” He kept walking.

I didn’t know Rusty was the kind of guy to hit it and quit it.

My hooves carried me up the stairs until we trotted up to a metal gate blocking our way out. Rusty pulled the door open while I stepped out. Once he was on the other side with me, he closed the gate shut making sure to lock it up tight. “So, are you and Not Important … you know?” I nudged him. The look on his face suggested something entirely different. Actually, he looked more like he was in deep thought.

Rusty stared at me and kept moving. For a stallion that’s not supposed to be mysterious, he’s acting pretty mysterious. “Me and Not Important, no. She’s a mare I met that got here by glider.” It was a one way trip from his tone of voice.

“Actually, if I had gotten the chance I would have married that cop. She was just something else. You know. That one mare that just stuck to me.” He was a thief though. Thieves and cops don’t go together. At least that’s what his eyes are telling me. “I live for this kind of work though, so I’ll stick with it. You know not every stallion and mare are supposed to find a special some pony, some of them are here for a purpose.” Rusty tapped his brief case, “I know what mine is.”

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you,” I said placing my hoof on a door. “Why did you go along with War’s decision to bring me in on that heist?” I walked into another room and trotted up a small flight of stairs.

“Because Oceans and I saw you freeing those slaves in Brave Day’s mine.” So that pony that saw me in the mine wasn’t supposed to be there! Huh. Talk about being lucky.

We walked up another flight of stairs emerging out into a small junkyard for ruined gliders. Not much was salvageable which, admittedly, disappointed me. I need more parts if I’m going to either rebuild or buy another glider. The sky began to rumble a little. My gaze went from the piles of scrap to the cloudy skies above. A drop of water hit my muzzle. “I’ll catch you later, Rusty. I’m going to have a shower and get some sleep.” I gave him a hoof bump before trotting off to the hotel.

*** ***

KA-BOOM!

My eyes shot open as I rolled off my couch. I hit the ground with a thud and snapped my head around looking for an explosion. My heart was pounding. Thumping. After a few seconds I calmed down and listened to another clap of thunder go by. Daring was sitting at the bar drinking from a bottle of Apple Whiskey. “You talk in your sleep sometimes.” She looked in my direction, but her eyes were staring at the rain pelting the window. “Who’s Glider?”

“Family.” I brought my hooves to my eyes rubbing them slowly. That’s right, I almost forgot we have a job to do. I really don’t want to do a job right now. I mean really, really, really don’t want to.

Daring hummed at me. It sounded more like curiosity. I don’t know why, but that surprises me. I mean she’s got Daring Doo’s blood running through her. Curiosity is running through her blood. I let out a deep sigh and took my hooves away from my eyes. “How are we getting into the condo,” I asked cutting right to the chase. Rusty’s a professional that’s how I know he brought Daring up to speed.

The moment I finished speaking, Daring put her bottle away and grabbed her pith helmet. After a moment of hesitation she groaned and put it down on the bar. That made sense, we didn’t need to worry about something that would slow us down in a stealth mission. Daring cleared hear throat, “Come here.” Her hooves grabbed a pair of masks. She slid hers on and I took mine before doing the same. I followed her out onto the balcony becoming drenched within a second of setting hoof outside. My hoof nudged her. I looked at her and she was unresponsive.

Daring just stood there staring at the hotel down the street. She turned her gaze to me. Now I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. Was there something on my face? Well, duh, a mask. She leaned in close and I took a step back. She took another step forward. Her breath felt like warm chocolate against my ear. Daring whispered, “Don’t hate me for this.”

SHE PUSHED ME OFF THE BALCONY!

“Oh, shit!”

“Got you!”

Daring wrapped her hooves around me after I plummeted at least two stories. Her wings opened up and took us higher up in the sky. The rain washed down on us like a blanket of snow, keeping us practically invisible. The ponies down below looked hazy to the point they were almost deformed. I turned my gaze up to Daring. “Don’t hate me for this, besides aren’t you supposed to be paid for this?” I rolled me eyes at her while she flapped her wings harder, lifting us up higher.

*** ***

It took us under a minute to reach the top of our target. Daring dropped me down on top of the roof just before landing next to me. Operation stealth mode was a go. I wasted no time whipping out a map of the place, Daring shielded it with her wings, giving me the chance to plan our way through. My hoof traced the schematic. Daring’s hoof tapped room three fifty two, “That’s our target. We need to get in and out as fast as possible.” I hummed and folded the map up.

Daring reached into her bag of wonders tossing me three cans of knock out gas strung along a belt. My horn lit up and slung the leather around my body before tightening it up. Once Daring wrapped a belt around her stomach we set off towards the door, bucking it open, before heading inside.

I found a guard schedule posted on the wall. “Alright, there are going to be guards near the elevator around the corner. Blue team, let’s move.”

Daring rolled her eyes at me and took the lead.

We approached the corner with great speed, coming to a stop at the walls edge, and tossed two cans of knock out gas around it. I put my hoof in front of Daring and counted to three. A low popping sound went off as green gas came flowing around the corner, not enough to knock either of us out, but enough that the guards would be sent to dreamland.

I turned my head around the corner and four guards were lying unconscious on the ground. My hoof waved down. Once the signal registered to Daring she bolted around the corner and hit the elevator button.

Ding!

We went inside, immediately closing the doors behind us. I got as close as I could to the buttons while the entire room moved down to the correct floor. The doors tried to open until Daring hit the emergency stop button. I flung a can of gas out the opening then forced the doors closed with my magic.

One. Two. Three.

The elevator started back up while my magic died down enough to let the doors open up. We trotted out to the sight of several more guards knocked out. I telekinetically shoved all of them inside of a broom closet. We took off down the hall counting the rooms as we went by.

Three Sixty One.

Three Sixty.

Three Fifty Nine.

Daring stopped and bit down on my mane. I looked at her as she pointed at the end of the hall. My eyes narrowed until I saw the shadow of something moving. I was violently shoved inside of a broom closet. Daring slammed the door, quietly, and pressed her ear against it. I slid into my transparency spell. A griffon was on the other side. I stopped breathing. There was a gold griffon emblem printed along the handle of a throwing knife attached to her vest.

“What do you see,” whispered Daring.

“Shush,” I put my hoof to her muzzle.

The griffon was fast. It had taken only a matter of split second to reach this broom closet which was still several rooms away from the intersecting hallway. From the way she was skulking about it didn’t look like she had noticed us yet, which was fine by me. She moved to where the guards had been at and stopped.

Daring gave me a nudge. I pushed her back.

The griffon shook her head moving to the elevator. At that point my spell couldn’t give me anymore sight to where she was going. Once I was sure the assassin was gone I made my move out the door. “Dead Eye’s assassin is here, which means he’s probably somewhere in the building.” Daring groaned and galloped down the hall with me.

Three fifty five.

Three fifty four.

Three fifty three.

Three fifty two!

I slid to a stop and had Daring get to work on the door. She pulled out a screwdriver and bobby pin. A few tinks here and there, and the door opened up nicely. “Since when do you know how to pick a lock?” I asked with amazement.

“Oceans taught me,” she spoke matter-of-factly.

I shut the door behind us as quietly as I could. Daring put her hoof against my chest. My gaze went to her. “How do we know Dead Eye isn’t here right now?” That’s a good question.

I mulled it over for a second while carefully tip-hoofing over to the kitchen. No pony was there. I noticed a bedroom was right behind a small island set up near the stove. It was actually a pretty nice place, looks like the casino owner’s doing well for himself.  Daring flapped her wings and checked out the second story that was only accessible through a spiral staircase next to the fridge.

Daring landed down in front of the island. Her hooves traced something. I moved next to her and saw what she was staring at. It was a set of fifty throwing knives all with golden griffon designs at the handle. That brings so many disturbing thoughts about Dead Eye and his body guard!

Daring looked at me; she violently shook her head to get those same thoughts out of her head. “Take a look at these,” Daring said plucking a feather from her wing. She picked up a knife and gently dropped it on the blade. Her feather sliced in half. “These are sharp knives.” I nodded. My horn lit up and I held the blade in front of my eyes. Daring got a closer look at it as well. They were specially made. No doubt by some pony working for the living assassins from that group she told me about.

The door knob jiggled.

My horn stopped glowing and the knife clattered against the ground. Daring winced in pain and put a hoof against her wing. “Ow!” Her mouth was quickly covered by my hoof. My eyes caught the sight of a drop of her blood on the ground. We looked at each other before I galloped for the bedroom. I slid underneath the bed rolling behind a comforter covering part of the bed that shielded me from view. Daring flew up and that was the last I saw of her. A loud thud caught my attention, it sounded like a door opening up.

The lights in the kitchen flickered on.

My horn lit up as dully as I could make it. The blanket became transparent giving my eyes full view of what Shelby was doing. She set her claws down on the island staring down at her fifty … crap … forty nine knife set. Shelby bent down and picked up the knife I had dropped along with something else. She was just staring at it. I listened to the sound of her claw scrape against the floor like a set of razor sharp knives being dragged down a chalkboard with an accompanied ear-piercing screech. She continued staring at her claw tip, closely, just before she took a glance at the other knives.

Don’t look at the bed, don’t look at the bed, don’t look at the bed, don’t look at the bed.

There had to be something there. Just had to be. She was an assassin, probably trained to pick up on even the smallest amount of sweat or any hint of an intruder. The griffon shook her head and grabbed the entire throwing knife set. She opened her vest stringing them along the inside. A moment later, she was gone, lights out, door shut behind her and locked.

I let out a breath I wasn’t aware I had been holding. My hoof went to my heart. This is going to be my last mission with these guys. Things are getting to risky and the crazy scale is about to break. Anymore of this and I’m sure I’ll have a panic attack. I rolled out from underneath the bed sighing with relief. I got up and called out to Daring. No response.

I looked around and saw a couple dozen plants all set up around his kitchen. You know, for a corrupt casino owner, Dead Eye has some taste. My gaze went up to the second floor.

My hooves carried me up the spiral staircase taking me straight to Dead Eye’s computer room. A familiar looking pegasus mare was sitting at his desk printing out a list of Sombra’s hideouts. There were only three on that list. Not that I cared. I actually mean that to. This is my last job with these guys and then I’m pulling out once and for all.

Daring’s eyes were reading something else. I took a look at the screen and froze. It was a diagram summary of a blue energy sphere the size of a hoof ball. “Runner, can you please tell me what this is?” My eyes traced the words on the screen several times.

The Alicorn Sphere is designed to draw in the magical energy of all nearby unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies then transfer it into a conduit. It is unknown if Alicorn magic will corrupt the device due to insufficient data. Survivable test subjects are yet to be discovered.

I kept reading those lines over and over again. This is what Autumnal Den used against the Princesses. My eyes darted around the room looking for that device, but it wasn’t anywhere to be found. Why was Dead Eye researching something like this? We’re two hundred plus years past the date it was used. Probably wouldn’t even be functional by now. “This is information on the Alicorn Sphere, a device that got Princess Celestia’s attention. No idea why Dead Eye is looking into it though.” My gaze shifted down to a set of memory jewels sitting in a small glass bowl. I knocked one of them out and lit up my horn. It was bright orange. “I want to see what this is all about,” and if my hunch is correct these jewels might tell me something. The world ripped away from me.

*** ***

My host roughly tapped his hoof against a table while his gaze went from the table to the Alicorn Sphere. Autumnal Den paced back and forth staring at his creation like it was his newborn child.  It pulsed with a light blue energy inside of it looking almost as if it was alive. The room shook a little. “The Alicorn Sphere’s completion is imminent,” Autumnal stopped in front of the device, “In just a few short hours we will have more Alicorns than just the four princesses.”

All my host did was stare at the device. He looked over at a griffon who was counting some gems. Once she was done she jumped out the window and flew off. “Thanks to Gilda we now have the last bit of magic we need for this to reach its full potential. We just need time.” My gaze went down to some schematics labeling all of the magic that went inside that Celestia-awful device. Whoa, wait … he’s putting dragon magic in this shit? Holy crap this guy wasn’t shitting around when he made this.

Dragon magic was last on the list of things to incorporate into the Alicorn Sphere. Along with that were some very interesting spells being used to power the device. One spell caught my attention, it was written by Stair Swirl the Bearded and intended to be something completely different, but from the notes written down it appeared to be reverse engineered into a weapon for Autumnal Den. To make this thing even crazier it was also using copious amounts of zebra and griffon tonics from each respective homeland.

The room shook again making books thud against the ground. “Autumnal, they’re here.” The pony, I suspected was his assistant, spoke up. From the shaken tone of voice I was beginning to feel like I had been a part of this before. My host’s hoof swiped all of his notes and diagrams into a journal, several of them flew off the table. His journals were shoved inside of a hidden compartment built inside of the bookcase behind him. The compartment closed and dozens of books were shoved in front of it.

My host galloped into the room next to him and slammed a door shut. His hooves knocked over a couple beakers before pulling a blindingly white memory jewel out. He looked in a dusty mirror and lit up his horn. “Whoever is watching this, you are about to experience history.” This is the day that everything changed … the day Autumnal used the Alicorn Sphere.

“Play time is over for you Autumnal,” a loud regal voice bellowed.

Princess Celestia! I know that soothing yet powerful voice anywhere. Hmm. Actually, you’d think that I’d recognize Princess Luna’s voice more. She’s my favorite princess.

My host’s gaze went down to a knife lying near the sink. In the mirror’s reflection I could see the memory jewel turning a bright shade of orange. The assistant floated the knife up in his levitation field and put the memory jewel in his lab coat’s pocket. His hoof pushed the door open with a low creak. Princess Luna spoke up, “I understand wanting to help Equestria, but trying to create Alicorns with the Alicorn Sphere is not a way of accomplishing that goal.” She took a few steps to the right to keep Autumnal from bolting for some weapons I hadn’t seen from Celestia’s point of view. Cadence went to the right and blocked the door.

Autumnal’s head jerked about trying to find an out. Every sense of the word trapped described him right now. My host looked at the Alicorn Sphere while his boss ripped it off its pedestal. From this view I could finally make out what the computer had been feeding it. It was dragon magic, and the bottle it was being fed from was only half empty. Celestia spoke in a calm and gentle tone, “Autumnal, please. Put the sphere down. You are a stallion of science and logic, can you not see that this device will do more harm than good?”

WHACK!

My host knocked the door open charging for Princess Luna! A pink beam fired from Cadence’s horn impaling me and my host just before knocking us into a bookcase. The case tipped over toppling down on our back.

AGH!

I let out a mental groan that no pony could hear. At least I hope no pony outside the memory jewel can hear me. I swear if Daring hears that she’s going to find some way to make me feel embarrassed about it. I don’t know how she’ll do it, but she’ll find a way.

Autumnal started up a hacking fit for a couple of seconds. “You four don’t see the potential this device holds. With this beautiful machine any pony could become an Alicorn and help ponies. Imagine all the lands across Equestria with their own Alicorn princess. Imagine it. Peace in our time.” His eyes were locked solely on the pulsating blue magic inside the sphere. In all honesty, it was hypnotic. Beautiful. And seeing it twice from two different perspectives … I know this thing needs to be destroyed. Something like the Alicorn Sphere can’t exist in Equestria if it’s to be like it once was.

Autumnal twisted the metal sphere halves until they let out a low click. His hooves made them collapse together and the energy inside of the sphere lit up with enough light blue everything turned white. All of that energy swirled together and burst in every direction. Energy rushed past my host and everything burned!

My coat felt like it was igniting to the point of turning into magma. This wasn’t like the other memory jewel. Everything inside of me was being ripped away molecule by molecule. I was just viewing a memory yet all of this shit was cutting into me and out of me at the same time. The burning felt icy all around. It was a mixture of pain I knew and more pain that I could only imagine until now.

AGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!

Celestia buck it all to hell! Take me away from this bucking memory!

A loud clattering noise was the last thing I could hear before the sound of ringing.

My host collapsed to the ground sending burning spikes of pain all around our burned coat. His gaze went down to his body. It was burned so badly that there was no longer any coat it was just a dark red rash all around. He let out a few coughs and crawled to his lab coat which had somehow been torn from his body in the explosion. The memory jewel was still glowing, recording every last detail.

I don’t even remember hearing any screaming. All I could listen to was an irritatingly loud ringing that grew less loud by the second. My singed carcass of a host pulled the memory jewel from his still intact pocket. He gasped for air. “We … we had … no idea what we were medaling with … if any pony sees this message … destroy the Alicorn Sphere. Reverse everything that this device caused.” His gaze turned from the jewel to that device. Outside, the sun had been setting, but in its place storm clouds appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

The Alicorn Sphere was dull grey. It’s bright blue magic completely faded and no longer visible. Next to it was a stone statue of the three princesses. I couldn’t tear up at the sight, but on the inside I could feel my heart calling out the three of them. For whatever reason no pony had ever said anything about them and now that I could see why Princess Twilight took on so much work all I wanted to do was give her a big hug. She lost so much today.

My host’s body jerked around.

Our hoof swung out and hit a beaker into the bookcase. We started twitching and jerking in all different directions. My host looked into a mirror and the world slowly started to rip away from me. “AREEEEEGH!” His face had fungus on it!

*** ***

I pushed myself up with a loud gasp. My chest puffed in and out while my mind processed everything that I had just seen. The Princesses weren’t alive and they weren’t dead. They were stone. Trapped in a prison like the master of chaos had once been.

My body returned to being on all four hooves and I was left with one wicked headache. I could feel my throat heating up like I was going to hurl. Thank Celestia I didn’t. With a very slow inhale my thoughts gathered until I became calm again. “Daring, where are you?” My eyes scanned the room for my pegasus friend yet she was nowhere to be found.

Crap.

I cleared out any and all evidence of ever being on Dead Eye’s computer. Once I was done I trotted down the spiral staircase into the kitchen. I stopped next to the island and noticed a few plants were skewed. Several feathers were lying on top of the chairs, several of which were knocked over, along with a very unbalanced work of art.

Agh.

A sharp pain went through my hoof. My gaze went down to the source and my eyes narrowed. I bit down on a throwing knife and pulled it out. The beating in my heart started to pick up. I looked over at Dead Eye’s room to see his assassin going for another throwing knife. My hooves carried me straight into the living room right towards the couch. I leapt over the love seat and rolled underneath the coffee table. A loud thud shook the wood to the point I thought it was going to snap in half. My eyes locked with the assassins through the glass. I put all four hooves against the table and sent it flying into a wall with the assassin wedged between it and the wall. My body rolled onto all fours.

I bolted up and took a leap of faith over the next couch. Just as my hoof set itself on the door knob a throwing knife lodged itself in the lock. I pulled my hoof back and my horn lit up. Using my magic in a panicked state, I threw the door open. All I could do was run.

With my heart and mind scrambled as I bolted out into the hallway. A loud crack echoed in the hall and my body dropped. My hoof had blood spewing out of a bullet wound. I looked over at the shooter and recognized the culprit. Dead Eye. My hoof went straight for my pistol and another crack went off. He sent a bullet through a fore hoof making me to yell out in pain.

I rolled behind a soda machine and used my magic to shut the door. The assassin beat a hole through the door. A musky scent escaped from my saddle bags while I unraveled the last of my bandage rags. The rag wrapped around all of my wounds nicely while I listened to hoof steps grow louder. “Shelby, show our guest to the V.I.P room.” Dead Eye opened the door letting his assassin plant a hoof strike on my neck.

*** ***

I want you to do me one favor. Run, because when I find you I’m not going to be the corrupt casino owner that’s been greeting all the unicorns tonight. When I find you, I’m going to be your worst nightmare.

Ugh.

Agh.

I let out a nasty cough and spit out blood. It tasted metallic. My eyes felt like they were ready to roll back into my skull, dry up, then die. Death would have been nice after that hoof strike. Shelby had sent every fiber in my body screaming in pain. She wasn’t just skilled at what she did, she was damn right precise and accurate with what she was doing. That hoof strike could have killed me and she made sure I damn well knew it. That left one question in my head. Why am I still alive?

My eyes carefully looked around the room. Torches lined the walls only to have the room dimly lit. A roaring fire set ablaze in a brick fire pit with a metal spearhead sitting in the middle of it. A metallic grinding snapped my sense back to reality. I tried to move but too little success. Metal straps kept my four hooves spread out on a crap-built wood table that felt worse than that bar I used to hide out at. Splinters were practically digging into my stomach. My muzzle was the only part of my body I could move a little. Even my horn had some sort of ruby ring that restrained me from using magic.

To my left was a critically injured Daring Adventure who was restrained just a bit differently from me. Metal straps held out her hooves, but they were all attached at a corner of the table. Several leather straps kept Daring’s wings held down to the point the feathers almost started to look nailed down. Honestly, I’m surprised they weren’t nailed down. Another metallic grind went by.

It took me a minute to notice something was off with Daring. Her saddle bags and mask had been removed. It was pretty obvious by now that my identity was revealed to whomever was hiding in the shadows grinding metal. A firm yet soothing voice spoke up from the shadows, “Mister Runner. I’m surprised to see you here. The last time I saw you and your mare, you made off with a great sum of gems.”

Thunk!

A cane tip smacked the ground behind me. The table I was on jerked a little and slowly lowered. I finally noticed that both tables were attached to chains leading up to the ceiling. Another loud tap from the cane made me cringe.

Thunk!

A pair of eyes met mine. They belonged to a pony wearing a fancy suit with a blood red tie. “I have been called a very smart pony, Mister Runner. Something tells me that you were the one to free my slaves and this mare here is the one that stole all of my money.” My heart skipped a beat. I could feel my mouth starting to dry up. There was no lying my way out of this. Not that I could if I wanted to. I looked at Daring and her eyes had finally opened. There was a slight sign of lost hope in her eyes, but it was replaced by anger.

Another loud metallic grind went by. My exhale came out in stuttered pants. “We didn’t take your money,” I said as calmly as I could. “Han took your money, but we took your slaves.” Truth. Nothing but the truth. Daring won her bits fair and square, for the most part, so I didn’t feel like I was lying about it.

Dead Eye nodded slowly taking it all in. “So you say that the two of you broke into my jail and took my slaves.” I tried to nod, but couldn’t. Instead I gave him a grunt. “I don’t believe you. It takes more than two ponies with a death wish and a zebra who’s going to be repaying me soon.”

I cringed letting out a low groan. He was right. In fact he was smart, way too smart for me and way too smart for any pony that set hoof out of a district not that long ago. “You’re right. There’s another skilled thief in our crew. Actually, it’s his crew.” Daring growled at me. I shot her a look that just told her to shut up. At this point we would be lucky to set hoof out of here without being brutally mutilated by his assassin. I bet she gets off on that kind of shit. “His name is,” a throwing knife impaled the wood half an inch from my muzzle.

My well-dressed torturer put his hoof down on my table gesturing for me to stop talking for a minute. He took a hoof step to the fire pit then pulled the spear out. The spearhead glowed bright red. “Miss Daring Adventure, please, tell me the name of this other crew member.” Daring jerked her head to look away. It didn’t go as well as she wanted it to. Her head snapped back into place. Dead Eye shoved the spear down into the wood, cutting some flesh in the process making Daring …

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” She jerked around pulling as far from the spearhead as she could, which wasn’t far.

“GET AWAY FROM HER! AGH!” My body lunged up and snapped back down against the splintering wood. I thrashed my head around shouting incoherent words saying anything that could get him to stop screwing with her. She might not be my mare, but I’ll be damned if I’ll let some pony lay a hoof on her while she’s restrained. “AGHHHHHHHHHH!” A throwing knife forced its way into my stomach making blood spew out from the gash. Fire from one of the torches revealed half of Shelby’s face for a brief moment. She was grinning. Her face went back into the shadows.

Dead Eye jabbed my stomach with his cane and I got quiet. His attention on me was brief and eventually went back to Daring. “You will answer me when I speak to you, Miss Adventure, is that clear?” Shelby kicked over a rather large machine, with a nozzle hanging from its side, as if on cue. Dead Eye retrieved it, placing the nozzle close to Daring’s mouth. The handle attached to the machine began pumping out oil.

Daring gaged. Spat. Tossed her head away. Black slugged spewed out onto her, notably never once reaching the red spearhead I was sure would ignite the entire table, every beautiful hair in her mane seemingly shot up at once. “You will answer me when I speak to you, Miss Adventure, is that clear!” Dead Eye’s voice echoed around the room making me want to curl up in a small corner to cower in fear. The nozzle was put back on the machine before the entire thing was kicked back into the shadows.

Daring continued to cough. Once her mouth was forcibly dried off, as well as the table, with Dead Eye’s magic, she seemed ready to speak.

“Oh you can lick my,” five throwing knives scattered in the air and jammed themselves inside of both her wings, “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! DAMN IT!” Blood oozed out onto her feathers turning them from a beautiful tan brown to a disgusting dark red. Daring shouted all the foul language she had mouthed to me tenfold at them. Such language was appropriate for this time, but I won’t repeat it. Not my style of pissing a pony off.

Her ear-splitting screaming made me cringe. I couldn’t do anything to help her. All I could do was just lay here! Just like with Silver Shoe. I won’t let Daring suffer that fate. I won’t let any family or friend of mine hurt that way. My body lurched up and got pulled back down. Another throwing knife lodged itself in my side. “AGHHHHHHH!” Dead Eye slammed his cane down on top of my muzzle making me wince in pain. He told me to keep quiet.

His hoof tightened up around the spear and plucked it from the wood. He gently swung it near Daring’s eye. My body got ready to lunge again, but a throwing knife impaled the wood next to my muzzle. I focused my attention on Daring and saw beads of sweat rolling down her head. “You are a very beautiful mare, Miss Adventure, I’d hate to see such beauty ruined by a poorly thought out judgement call.” I want to kill him. I want to take that spear, ram it through Shelby’s coy smile, rip her skull out and beat Dead Eye within an inch of his life so I can ram that same spearhead through his eyes!

A throwing knife lodged itself in the wood a few inches from my stomach. I looked at Shelby and she gave me a scowl. She knew exactly what I was thinking. My attention went back to Dead Eye’s very calm tone of voice. “You know, every member of your bloodline has had such beautiful eyes. Please don’t make me ruin that family tradition.” Daring spat in his direction, narrowly missing his suit. Dead Eye moved the spear over to her wings then slowly, gently, lowered it. Her eyes went straight to her wings and she tried to move. “I could scorch your lovely wings as well.” I felt my heart sink down to skip a beat. Those wings are her freedom. You can’t do that! You can’t do that to any pegasus!

Daring screeched in pain while the scorching red tip touched one of her feathers. It wasn’t enough to catch her wings on fire, but it was more than enough to send her into a screaming tantrum that rivaled that of a foal. “HIS NAME IS WAR!”

Everything went silent.

Every pony and griffon in the room paused.

Dead Eye mulled that name over. If I wasn’t the wiser, I’d say he knew exactly who War was. Shelby was even thinking that name over. From what her eyes were telling me she knew a bit about him. “If that stallion was working with you then everything you said must be true. Only that pony is stupid enough to make a smart enough plan to take my slaves.” Yeah, but stupid enough to get duped by a zebra. Dead Eye wasn’t smiling on the outside, but I could sense he was plotting something in his head. “You two are going to do some work for me. I have a pony that needs to be dealt with.” Daring scoffed as he finished.

“Why would we help you,” she spat.

Shelby grinned at that. I wanted to get a bit more distance between me and her. Dead Eye took a hoof step over to the fire pit and set the spearhead back inside the flames. “Because your zebra friend stole fifty million bits from me while he was a part of your crew. With that said, you will both pay me that amount back plus interest for every day I don’t get it back.” My heart sank inside my chest. Dead Eye was now burying that chest, with all my hopes and dreams of being free, and built a house of top of it. He moved into that house. “That is the alternative if you do not comply.”

Daring’s eyes looked ready to tear up. “Are you kidding me? That kind of money with the high interest you charge per day would keep us in debt for years.” Her mind immediately did the math. It was enough to make her ready to throw up. “We can’t possibly pull enough heists off to pay you back.” Dead Eye leaned his cane against the table and clapped his hooves together.

“Very good Miss Adventure, you see my plan here then.” I’m beginning to hate this stallion with every fiber of my being. I want to buck his teeth in with my hooves and feed it to his assassin. “Now, let’s get down to business shall we?” I groaned. “I like your attitude, Mister Runner.”

Daring was giving me a glare. I wasn’t looking at her, but I could feel that burning glare scorching into my coat. Dead Eye clear his throat. “There’s a stallion named Bolt Action that I need taken care of.” Bolt Action? Bolt Action! That guy’s the reason I nearly got turned into an infected. If that didn’t do it his psychopath scientist would have.

I hummed and jerked about until Dead Eye turned around. “Look, Dead Eye, that’s a great offer but you should know that the son of a bitch you’re talking about already offered me a job with his side.” He slowly nodded and knew that might cause a problem if I turn tailed and went back to him. A metallic grind echoed around the room again.

“Well then it’s a good thing I have not finished all of my questions yet.” I would have shrugged but my body was restrained. This was going to turn into an even worse night. Why is it that I’m getting stuck with all these freaking jobs? Should just pack it up and stay away from any pony not associated with my family. “Are you responsible for stealing the machine gun and glider?” I hummed with a slight nod. “What was the machine gun for?” My heart sank even further into the ground.

Daring chuckled and shook her head. I turned my eyes to her. That smile. She had that coy sly smile on her face that I just absolutely loved to hate. “Oh,” she cooed, “that was actually for Bolt Action. See he hit some personal ground with me and I’d like a little revenge. Runner here doesn’t know jack shit about it, he’s just doing this because I bat my eyes with a false promise of a fun night.” I’ve been around Daring long enough to know that’s a lie. Her poker face was like stone and I loved it. “Maybe we can benefit from one another after all.”

The best part in all of this was Dead Eye completely ate it up. He was nodding, taking it all in like a sap. I couldn’t pull that off, but Daring could and I owed her big time for it. “Then I guess I have no choice but to let you keep the gun as a gift. Oh, and Runner you can keep the glider should it aid you in icing Bolt Action for me, but I want you to know several things.” Dead Eye stepped over to me and stared directly in my eyes. He was still buying that we were going to work for him. “Should either of you get into a fight with him, of all stallions, you should know that he is somewhat of a coward. He won’t fight you one on one or fairly unless you hit him in his weak spot. Sadly, I don’t know it.” I nodded. “He always fights with the advantage in his favor.”

I cleared my throat and got Daring’s attention. “I want some information first.” Dead Eye looked at Shelby, then at Daring. They had no idea what was going through my mind, which I liked. My well-dressed torturer nodded. “What does the Alicorn Sphere have to do with all this?” Shelby threw one of her knives in the air and caught it in her claw tips.

“The Alicorn Sphere is being hunted down as we speak. That device, as I’m sure you know, sent Equestria into this hell.” I got that already, but tell me something I don’t know. My brain really wants some new information. “However, to this day no pony has found the map that reveals its location. Rumor has it that a decedent of Autumnal Den’s placed it somewhere he didn’t tell any other pony.” Well I guess that removes one threat from Equestria. At least I hope it does.

“I know that look and no it does not remove that damn device from the equation. If even one of Autumnal’s decedents is still alive they will fix the device and use it to plunge Equestria even further into hell. Their entire philosophy has always been about preventing a war before it starts.” Assuming they find the map which hasn’t been found. I’ll let Oceans and Rusty deal with that since they seem to be keen on fixing Equestria. War will probably be the one to find the map since he’s got Daring helping him out.

“If you should happen to find it, either of you, it must be destroyed.” Dead Eye turn faced the fire pit. “Bring it to me first though.”

Consider that a done deal. Although that actually raises some questions to mind. If I didn’t know any better I’d say he’d just turn around and use it to buck Equestria over. “Why do you need it?” I asked rather bluntly. Dead Eye paused and turned to me.

His expression turned pissed faster than I could say family. Shelby caught another knife and took it through a sharpening stone making a metallic grind echo through the room. “A very unpleasant unicorn stallion wounded Sombra, my king, in battle. He blocked most of his magic so I’m going to use some of that device’s magic to break the restriction spell on his horn,” and by that you mean you’re going to let Sombra try to use the device. So your plan is as follows. You’re going to get me to kill Bolt Action, find the Alicorn Sphere then give it to you so you can turn around give it to Sombra and let him use it instead.

We need to move up our assassination window. This bucker needs to be shot dead in the eye. Ugh, Runner you’re one liners suck. Silver Shoe will slap you for that one in a dream or something. “Consider it done, Dead Eye.” I looked at Shelby. Yeah, you can go bite a flank and then get yourself off on some torture.

Dead Eye reached into his pocket and set a bright blue memory jewel down in front of me. I had an idea of what he wanted me to do with it. Shelby got up and delivered a cringe worthy strike to Daring’s neck rendering her unconscious. She plucked every knife from the pegasus’ wings. “Oh, and Runner. Just so we are clear. If you try to turn that gun on me or do something out of line, I am going to hurt Daring in ways no pony wants to see a mare tortured in. I will make you watch,” he hissed. My table lowered itself a little more so Dead Eye could force his hoof down on my neck.

Don’t do anything stupid … that doesn’t sound like me. Shelby pulled the ring from around my horn. I gave my new employer a nod and focused on the jewel. Dead Eye put a cigar in his mouth and blew several smoke rings in my face while the world ripped away.

*** ***

My eyes shot open and I recognized the interior right away. We were in Dead Eye’s room. That memory jewel he showed me … that can’t be right. That wasn’t the one I saw in the room. If what the assistant said is true then maybe I could just … I really wish I could talk with a princess.

A groan from the other couch caught my attention. I looked over at it seeing Daring rubbing her wings. My first instinct wasn’t what I thought it would be. I got up off the couch to give her the warmest hug I had ever given anyone. “You alright?”

Daring let out a few coughs and shook her head. I noticed her wings were still oozing out blood. On a side note, it looks like someone cleaned the oil off of her.

She was shaking. For a mare as tough and daring as she is I’m willing to make a safe bet that she had never been tortured to that extent. Her hoof pushed me away, “We need to tell War what happened.” I silently agreed.

*** ***

Daring nudged the door open with her free hoof while I pulled her limping body with me. We were greeted to the sight of Eleven Oceans playing a card game with Rusty Horseshoe while War poured himself a drink. War dropped the bottle of Apple Whiskey simultaneously with his jaw. “What the hell happened over there?” He paused and looked at Rusty. “I thought you said Dead Eye was out for the evening!”

Daring scoffed and walked past Rusty giving him the dirtiest look I had seen her give a pony yet. “And how’s this plan working out for you,” Oceans chimed in never once looking up from his cards. It’s like he didn’t even care we got injured. Rusty kicked him under the table.

War turned and looked at me. I put my hoof up defensively, “I’m not having this conversation right now.”

He looked back at Daring and she slammed the bathroom door shut. War was looking around at each one of us hoping for an answer that wasn’t coming to him as fast as he wanted. I sat on the couch hearing Daring’s voice through the door, “We’re only in this mess because you couldn’t leave the bucking memory jewel alone.” I could hear her growling even with the door closed.

“You had to mess with Shelby’s knives,” I called back to her.

War slammed his hooves down on the ground getting every pony’s attention. His chest puffed in and out and was filled with anger. “Daring, get out here,” he barked. The pegasus being commanded pulled the door open. Bandage rags were wrapped around her wings and stomach. She tossed a bandage rag to me. “Young lady, you tell me what happened over there right now.” Young lady?

She started grinding her teeth together. Neither one of us felt like talking. I just wanted to forget it. “I fought with Dead Eye’s assassin, got my ass kicked, then woke up to a torture session with memory-game over there. Now he knows who we are, well at least me, Runner and you.” Her hoof pointed me out. I’m starting to notice that we both turn into jerks when something doesn’t go according to plan. “Dead Eye wants us to try and find something called the Alicorn Sphere, which Runner is going to do, and we have to kill a stallion named Bolt Action with our new toy.”

Rusty had a smile on his face. He let out a sigh before getting up. “Well, I’m sure you both were followed, so Oceans and I will be with Not Important before they tag us as being part of this little group,” he waved his hoof around and slid his bits inside his suit. Oceans gathered up the cards and gave me a hoof wave before bolting out the door with the same smile on his face. I’d actually really like to know why War is the only pony out of the trio freaking out. Rusty put his hoof on the door and stared out at the hall. “War, as far as I’m concerned our plan is still going according to plan. Just moved up a little. We kill him tomorrow.”

War hummed letting the confident stallion trot out the door. I plopped my face into the couch cushions. Tomorrow this will all be over and I get to go home to my family.

My head slowly levitated up as spell book was slid under my eyes. “Learn that spell,” War ordered before setting my head back down. It was a protection spell.