BridgeWorld

[994AB Day 262]
"Cardinal on lock."

"Blackbird on position."

"Hummingbird on site."

"Okay, ladies," Red Sovine said into his mike. "Eyes and ears open. It's showtime again."

"Copy," High Flyer responded.

"Copy," Fred Hummer replied. "Confirming Crystals are awake."

"Roger Crystals," High Flyer reported.

"Ditto," Red said as he kept watch over the alley behind the unicorn Jack Black's home. "Now, we shall see what we shall see." The other two pegasi were covering the street in the front of the apartment building.

"Hope we get a better show than the last few nights have been," Fred Hummer muttered.

"Ooo, I've got twenty-one, already!" High Flyer reported from his position just to the west of the apartment's front door as he spotted the unicorn wearing a shabby cloak walking out. "From the well-dressed dealer, heading east."

"That didn't take long," Fred Hummer commented. "And this should be interesting. I see ghost walkers coming up to the table—and—walking right by the dealer," he added in singsong as a pair of Equestrian Guard who were headed west on the same street walked on by Jack Black, whose ankle bracelet and horn suppression ring were still visible despite the cloak the unicorn wore.

"Confirm!?" Red Sovine nearly shouted as he was flying toward the next vantage point that was prearranged in case their subject went in that direction.

"Ghost walkers definitely saw the dealer's bling," Fred Hummer reported, staying put to keep his eyes on the action while High Flyer flew by going to his next vantage point further east. "Didn't even ask how much they cost."

"Well, this movie's starting to stink," Red muttered.

"Yeah, I'm smelling mildew, too," High Flyer said, settling down to cover the street to wait. "But it's an interesting stink. Let's see just how bad it's going to get."

"Getting tired, Master Buck?" Alfalfa asked with a smirk as she delivered a fury of blows down on the colt. "Remember, I'm just a pegaus. We're physically weaker than you earth ponies."

"You're a trained assassin, Alfalfa!" Buck protested.

"I'm a trained soldier, Master Buck," she said, disapproving of his assessment of her.

"Plus, you're a spy! That makes you a trained assassin!" Buck countered. That made Alfalfa pause to consider it for a second. But only for a second.

"You're right!" she said grinning and resuming her attack. But her pause was enough to throw Buck's pattern of blocks out of synch with her attacks and when she began again, she was able to land several telling hits on the colt until he collapsed.

"I know the earth pony's natural reaction is to block, Master Buck," Alfalfa told the colt as she called a halt to their hoof-to-hoof combat exercise. "As my old trainer explained it to me: 'Avoid, rather than check. Check, rather than hurt, Hurt, rather than maim, Maim, rather than kill. For all life is precious, nor can any be replaced.' But remember the key to controlling the fight is at the border between where you should avoid and where you should check. Try sending your opponent off balance when you block by avoiding the attack."

"How do I do that, Alfalfa!?" Buck exclaimed, panting.

Thomas Mane settled back to the ground from his practicing flying under Lucius' monitoring, and Mareta paused in her horn marksmanship to both come over to see how their son was faring.

"So, get up and come at me, and I'll explain," Alfalfa told him.

Buck got up and shook out the wings and prepared to attack. It didn't seem fair that Alfalfa wasn't even wearing any of the mutant chainmail armor and she was still wiping the floor with him.

Has to be all that training, he considered as he looked for the best attack. But she was simply waiting for him to come at her, so now was all he had.

Rearing up, he brought his forehooves into play as she had taught him. And was missing her with every swing.

"This is what I mean by 'avoiding'," she calmly said as she kept dodging just out of his reach.

"And this—umph—is what I—oof—mean by 'blocking'," she said as she shifted her defense to actively block his hooves with her own. Despite his youth, his earth pony strength made it clear that his blows were having an effect on the former Guard pegasus. On the one hoof, he felt good about being able to get some good hits on her, on the other, he felt bad about hurting Alfalfa—she was just doing as his father asked and teaching the family members how to defend themselves. Fighting isn't fun and games, after all. It does involve hurting somepony and being hur—

"And this is what I meant by finding the boundary between the two," she said as she dodged half a step back while shifting the move of her hoof that was going to block his incoming punch to grab the outside of his blow and gave his arm a yank forward and to the side, suddenly sending Buck sprawling out on his belly.

"—wha—what was that!?" Buck exclaimed in astonishment when he was able to catch his breath again.

They followed Jack Black into the heart of the warehouse district, leapfrogging over each other to keep tabs on the unicorn. And aside from the pair of Guard who passed him near his home, Jack Black didn't have any more encounters with any authorities. Still, the unicorn didn't seem to be too concerned until the final few blocks, when he began to inexplicably keep an eye out for anypony following, including looking up. Fortunately, the three pegasi tracking him wore full dark ninja coverings, so Jack Black never saw them.

Then, after Jack Black ducked down an alley, he did one careful check on his surroundings before tapping a hoof against the wall of one of the warehouses. A section of the wall suddenly and silently recessed and slid to the side, allowing the unicorn entry before the wall section slid back into place and the wall returned to its normal looking façade.

"Cardinal! Please tell me you got that, too!" High Flyer hissed, as he looked in shock at how the unicorn had just vanished.

"I did, indeed," Red Sovine grimly stated. "Well played, Dealer!"

"What's happening?" Fred Hummer asked as he flew over, looking for his partners, not having been in position to see Jack Black's unorthodox move.

"The dealer found a new gambling house to play in," Red Sovine reported. "He left our table high and dry."

"So—do we—try to see if we can get invited, too?" Fred Hummer asked as he landed beside High Flyer.

"I don't think they're going to let us in through the front door, that's for sure," Red Sovine muttered while High Flyer pantomimed with his hooves to Fred about what Black Jack had done, how a section of the wall had opened for him and the unicorn had gotten away.

"Well, they do have a service entrance," Fred Hummer said, pointing to the windows near the roof. "Think they'll let us in if we ask real nice?"

"Our old friends might object," Red Sovine replied.

"Right," Fred said, sighing.

"Well, we are supposed to test these eyes and ears," High Flyer pointed out. "Might it be worthwhile to test just how good they really are if we don't go in?"

"So, you're finally getting the hang of flying, now?" Alfalfa asked Thomas.

"And shooting with the unicorn horn," he happily stated. Both Thomas and Mareta were smiling.

"Good! Now you can really start learning to fly by not thinking about flying," she said, grinning at them both, robbing them of their own smiles.

"Whu—?" Mareta got out.

"Do you earth ponies think about walking around when you step out of bed?" Alfalfa challenged them. "Do unicorns or kitsune think about levitating when they're lifting something up?"

Lucius just grinned at her as he sat there, and she rolled her eyes.

"No! You just do it! The same way we pegasi just fly when we want to get somewhere. We never have to think about flying. We just do!"

"Can't we train for hoof-to-hoof, instead?" Thomas asked.

"No, you're not ready for that, yet," Alfalfa said.

"I beg your pardon!?" Thomas nearly yelled. "Hoof-to-hoof is an earth pony specialty!"

Alfalfa stared at him for several moments.

"Okay, if you think you're ready for it, both of—no—all three of you come at me," she challenged. "If you can land a punch, I'll train you on hoof-to-hoof combat first. If not, then you'll do it on my schedule."

In less than two minutes, Thomas, Mareta, and Buck were all on the floor with Alfalfa sitting equal distant between them, while Lucius was rolling on the floor yipping in laughter.

"Okay—what went wrong there?" Thomas demanded as he struggled to get up again.

"You've got the talent for hoof-to-hoof combat, Mister Thomas," Alfalfa explained, "but you lack skill! Years of training, and I was trained by earth pony masters, sir! Earth pony, pegasus, or unicorn—anypony in the Royal Guard with my experience would be able to hoof your butt over to you just as easily.

"I'm focused on training Master Buck first because his youth makes him more malleable and he picks up the lessons quicker," she continued. "While you two have determination, your age does make it harder to take the lessons so fast. It's not that you can't learn, it's just that you're slower at it! It's your determination that makes it possible for you to learn at all. You WILL learn, but you'll learn at the speed that you're able. I can't make you learn faster—only you can do that. So, USE IT!"

Alfalfa helped Mareta to her feet.

"You all are learning very quickly," she assured them. "But now that you've got an idea of how far you have still yet to go, let's get back to the schedule, shall we? I trust the next time you'll challenge me—and you will—I expect you lot to do much better!" she said smirking at them.

"So, how is this batch coming along?" Jack Black asked the pegasus mare who was at the wall panel controls for the huge vat in the center of the large chamber.

"Your zebra friend brought in the poison joke yesterday. It's mixing well with the magic mushrooms—this time," the mare said. "Your friend gave us all a rash and a shit for you not being here. Especially as you have been out three days, now."

"Couldn't be helped," Jack Black replied. "Wrong set of Guards patrolling outside my home until tonight."

"Your friend suggested—and I say, strongly suggested—the next time, you don't pick somepony like Thomas Mane to rob. And that's one scary shaman. You don't want to ignore that advice. Just so you know, we all agree with your friend."

"You let me worry about my friend," Jack Black growled. "And as soon as I find out where that poison joke is coming from, we won't need our little friend any longer."

"HEY!" a shout from above sounded.

"juntaH!" Red Sovine shouted and instantly, all three darkened pegasi scattered from the two divebombing pegasi that swept through the air space in which they had been hovering. A glint of light was enough to warn them that at least one of the two were wearing wing blades. Likely, both.

The phone from the main office rang, so Alfalfa took over monitoring the family's flight and horn training while Lucius went to answer.

"Tom!" Lucius shouted out after a few minutes of talking. "Trouble at the office! Fred's been hurt!"

"How bad is he hurt?" Thomas demanded as he, Lucius, and Alfalfa stood in Thomas' office at Mane Industries. "Were you followed?"

"It's a clean slice. Serious, but Fred will live," Red Sovine reported. "They were definitely Guard trained, just not trained well enough," he added grinning. "And you don't have to worry about us being followed. They're not going to follow anypony with their wings broke. And our departure from the scene was vectored well off from Mane Industries, so they'll not be able to guess we're from here."

"I don't like it!" Alfalfa growled. "Too many signs of bad Guards are popping up. Former Guards aren't supposed to take jobs as mercenaries for drug dealers!"

"You'll like it even less when you see the recordings," Red warned. "There are active corrupt Guards who let Jack Black walk on out with his ankle bracelet and horn ring. And enough for him to know when he can and when he can't come and go when he wishes."

They watched the recordings from the night's activities.

"And now we've got idiots mixing magic mushrooms with poison joke!? In volume!?" Lucius asked when the view showed the inside of the warehouse through the window they had been hovering outside of. "It's a wonder half the city hasn't been blown up yet!"

"This is bigger than we feared," Thomas stated. "A few corrupt Guards letting a petty crook out maybe because he's too boring to keep an eye on, I could buy. A major drug operation? With stuff this dangerous!? And coordinated to let one of the major players know when he can come and go!? We can't rely on the local Guard to handle this," he said, picking up the phone….