The Pony Sector

by AnonyPoni

The Fifth Empire

Quinto Imperio wasn’t labeled. There were no signs and no indication it might actually exist. There was just a door. It wasn’t even a nice looking door.

Rook knocked. Nopony answered. He sighed and tried again, hitting the door harder. Eventually, somepony opened the door a crack.

“Go away, we’re closed.” said the sleepy voice.

“I need to speak with Herder. Is he in?” Rook asked.

The sleepy voice groaned, and closed the door to undo the lock. When he opened it again, I realized he was a bat pony, which explained why he was sleepy. The door opener yawned and went down the short hall to open another door. “He’s in the back room.”

Rook and I walked down the hall and into a dark room. My eyes hadn’t adjusted yet, but I could make out the outlines of a bar and stage. The bat pony opened the door to another room, this one well lit, and showed us in. The room was tastefully plain, with a fancy table in the middle. A fat earth pony (who I assume was Herder) was sitting at the table, counting money.

Rook cleared his throat, and Herder looked up. “Whaddya want?” he said.

“I understand you’re looking for a musician.” Rook nodded at me, “This is Octavia. She’s was a former cellist for the the Royal Canterlot Philharmonic, and I think she’d be a welcome addition to your establishment.”

“I don’t know nothin’ ‘bout that.” Herder went back to counting his money. “You’re that fella that works for See-Ess, ain’t ya? Whaddya playin’ at?”

“I’m simply helping a member of the community” Rook said, “And it’d be in your best interests to do so as well.”

“Well, there’s gonna be an audition-”

“No auditions.” Rook interrupted, “She was in the RCP. That’s a good enough indicator that she knows how to play,” Rook smiled, “Besides, I don’t think you the time for that, and she’s not going to have any competition.”

Herder was quiet for almost a minute. He then sighed, “Fine, you win, bozo.” He took a good look at me, “You talk at all, missy?”

“I - I... Yes?” I stammered.

“So you wanna work here?”

“I, uh... I hear this is a very distinguished place,” I managed to say.

“Course it is, but tha’s not what I asked you. Do you wanna play cello for my stuck up patrons? Gimme a straight answer, sweetheart.”

“I...” I looked at Rook. I suddenly realized that Rook had planned for this. He didn’t take me here to give me more time to think, but rather to force me into a decision. He was probably pressed for time and needed to find someone before Herder did.

Honestly, I have no reason to complain. I get to play cello for a discerning crowd, and I’ll actually get paid decently for it. Honestly, I think that’s a pretty good deal. So what if I have to “spy” on some of the guests? I doubt I’m going to hear anything more groundbreaking than some gossip on who’s sleeping with who. Honestly, if Rook is going to pay me to tell him that sort of stuff, then more power to him.

“I ain’t got all day, missy.”

It was now or never, and I had to make my decision. “Yes,” I said.

Herder nodded and looked back at his money. “2,000 infos a month good enough for you, missy?”

“4,000” said Rook.

“Hey, let the mare talk.” Herder looked back at me, “2,000 infos a month?”

I stood speechless again. I didn’t know how to negotiate. By the sound of it, 2,000 infos was around 2,500 Equestrian bits. In Canterlot, that was barely a livable salary. The number Rook tossed out was higher than what he told me at the cafe. This was probably all part of the game.

Next to me, Rook cleared his throat, tapped his hoof three times, then scraped his hoof across the floor.

I took a stab at it, “3,500 infos would be better,” I said.

“You damn professional musicians. There’re street furries who play music just as good for a few pennies.”

“Yeah, but you’d never hire them,” Rook said, “It would ruin your image.”

Herder grumbled to himself, then looked straight at me, “3,000 infos a month. I ain’t going any higher. If that’s not good enough for you, get outta here.”

I quickly glanced at Rook, who nodded. “Alright.” I said, “I’ll take it.”

“Good, ‘s ‘bout time.” Herder stacked the money and put it in a metal box, “You start working tomorrow night at 6:30. Not tonight ‘cause you’ll look like shit with no sleep. Get a nice black dress you can play cello in. Somthin’ classy that shows off your cutie mark.”

Tried to hold back my smile, “Thank you so much. I won’t let you dow-”

“Yeah yeah. Now get outta here.”

***

Rook and I walked out of Quinto Imperio, and the bat pony slammed the door after us. If I hadn’t just been given a job, I would have thought we were kicked out.

“Well...” I said, as Rook and I walked back to the cafe, “Herder seems... nice.”

“Don’t lie to me. It just wastes my time.” Rook replied dryly.

“Right, right, sorry,” I said quickly.

“If you can’t be trusted to tell me the truth, I’ll find someone else.”

“Sorry!”

“Yeah.” Rook cleared his throat, “I have an appointment, so i’ll be quick. My deal with you is confidential, so I want you to be quiet about it. Every week, starting from the day after tomorrow at 4 PM, you’ll meet me at cafe luna to tell me what you’ve heard.”

“What if I haven’t heard anything?”

“Then it’ll be a quiet meeting. Besides, there will always be something.” Rook started to walk off.

“How will I know what to hear for!?” I said loudly.

Rook kept walking.

***

I got back to Casa de Oro sometime past 4. When I opened the door, I smelled cooking.

“Ah, Miss Melody.” said Max, closing the door behind me and helping me wipe my hooves, “We’ll be having dinner shortly. Please wash up.”

“Dinner? It’s not that late.”

“Yes Miss Melody, but Miss Scratch wishes to wake up early and has requested a sit down dinner with you.”

I sat at the table for about a few minutes before Vinyl came to the table. By the looks of it, she just got out of bed. Her mane was a mess, eyes red, and I could smell her morning breath. She looked almost hungover.

“Good mor- afternoon.” I said, remembering the time. “Did you sleep well?”

Vinyl gave me the shut-up-until-I’ve-had-my-coffee look.

Max quickly came by her side. “Miss Scratch, your breakfast is on the way. What beans would you like for your coffee? Chiropteran?”

“Are you trying to kill me, Max?” She mumbled, “Too strong...”

“Yes, Miss Scratch, but if I may take the liberty, you’re in no shape to greet your guest.”

Vinyl groaned, “Yeah. Fine... Chiropteran.”

“Excellent choice, Miss Scratch.” Max rushed back to the kitchen.

“Piece of work, he is.” Vinyl said.

“Uh, yes, he is.” There was an awkward pause. “Human, of course.” I added.

“mhm. Once you get a human butler you can’t go back.”

“Hands?”

“Yep. Crazy useful things. Like paws with fleshy claws.”

“I wonder how they got them.”

“Apparently they had to peel bananas in a past life.”

“I see. They peel the bananas?”

“The skin is too tough for them.”

“Huh, I see.” Well, she and I were making small talk. That was a start.

Max brought me a simple plate of lemongrass pasta and gave Vinyl her coffee and a fancy breakfast platter with scrambled eggs, toast, several fruits, and pancakes. She also had him peel a banana for me.

“Full of potassium, Miss Melody.” He said as he put the skinned banana on the end of my plate.

“Do ponies need potassium?” I asked.

“I imagine so, Miss Melody.”

Vinyl used her magic to pick up a syrup bottle and started to pour it on her pancakes, “Have you found a job yet? I’m sure I can find a position for you at one of my clubs if you haven’t.”

“Is this the clothing club thing that Max told me about?”

Vinyl smirked, ‘Well, normally I could use more mares for that, but recently I noticed there’s an untapped market for male clothing clubs.” She took a bite of her pancake, “Anyway, you’d probably be a barmaid or maybe someone in management.”

“Ah, I’m not sure if that’s my calling.” I said, trying some of the pasta. It was average.

“Octy, I know you’re all stuck up and shit, but here, ponies can’t just do their special talent.” She sipped her coffee, “This isn’t Equestria.”

“Don’t I know it. Anyway, thanks for the offer, but I just got a job playing cello.”

“Really? That fast?”

“I suppose so. I start tomorrow night.”

“Wow, I guess we’ll both be nocturnal then.” She ate some scrambled eggs, “That was really damn fast of you.”

“Fast? It took me a month!”

“Well, in Equestria that might be a long time, normally it can take half a year to find a decent place to work here.” She sipped her coffee again, “Seriously, that was quick. What is it, you working for See-ess?”

“What is that? I keep hearing ponies say it.”

“It’s what everyone calls the government of Archive City. It stands for Central Sector. Sometimes they like to recruit ponies soon after they get here before they put down roots.”

CS. So that’s what Herder was talking about. Rook must work for the government. He also told me to quiet about it.

“Oh, I see. No, it was nothing like that.” I took another bite of the average pasta, “I’m playing cello at a fancy nightclub.”

“Which one?”

“Quinto Imperio.”

Vinyl paused mid-bite, and put down her fork. “What? How the... how’ve you even heard of it?”

“I, uh...”

“That’s a place where politicians and department workers go. It’s supposed to be private... How did you get a job there?”

“Somepony mentioned they had a position open, and... well...”

“How did you even find it?”

“Well, I... was given directions.” I said. Yes, that sounded plausible.

Vinyl started to look suspicious, “Right. Of course. From who?”

“Oh, some guy at a cafe.”

“Uh huh.” She nodded, “And that didn’t seem odd to you?”

“Should it?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Vinyl got up, “Well, anyway, congrats on finding somewhere to work. You’re still welcome to crash here for now, given the real estate market in the city, but you’re going to help out with the rent.”

Comments

[CountDerpy]

This is good. I am really looking forward to where this goes.