//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: The Great Escape! // by Wheller //------------------------------// Chapter 2 The clock on the computer terminal struck 1700; that was it. The work day was over, time to go home and relax. Relax, right. Anastasia Hopely let out a deep sigh at the thought. When she considered what today was, there would be no relaxing this evening. Hopely looked up and watched as Detective Sergeant Ana Kelso approached her. 'Hey Hopely, you heading out?' the earth pony mare asked as she approached. Hopely looked up and nodded her head in the affirmative. 'Yep', she said simply. Hopely was a detective for the Ponyville Police Service's Serious and Organised Crime Group. Ana Kelso was her direct superior. Kelso was a pale olive coated earth pony mare, she wore her teal mane in a straightened fashion that hung down just past her shoulders, in all points, Ana Kelso was a fairly attractive mare. Hopely admitted, she thought Kelso was kind of cute, but that was it. She had no desires for her superior officer in any way. Especially not today, she had far too much on her mind to even be thinking about sex. Hopely looked up at Kelso for a moment, watching as a frown formed on her face. Clearly she had been expecting more out of her. 'Have you voted today?' Kelso asked. Crap. It was Election Day wasn't it? Hopely had completely forgotten. She hadn't turned on her television at home in the past month, she knew better than that. The only thing on the telly for the last three months had been political adverts. 'I'm going to be stopping by on my way home from work', Hopely said. 'Not like it matters, since FutureTec manipulates the elections behind the scenes'. Kelso frowned and shook her head. 'Maybe it doesn't matter now, but it will soon, and I'd like to think that when we fix the system, that social liberals in power is the best way to go', Kelso said simply. 'Uh huh', Hopely said, nodding her head. The members of the PPS' Serious and Organised Crime Group were wrapped up in a secret war against the Equestrian Future Technologies Corporation, known simply as FutureTec; they had discovered that the company had been using its great economic power to manipulate the course of the Equestrian Republic, how long it had been going on, they weren't entirely sure. What they did know was that it had been going on for too long already. They had all vowed to take FutureTec down, so far, they'd had a few victories, but they still had a long way to go. 'I take it you voted PPP?' Hopely asked. 'Yep', Kelso said nodding her head. 'Hasn't been a Parliamentary election that I haven't voted PPP in'. That was Ana Kelso alright, centre-left as always. Hopely didn't see eye to eye with Kelso on politics, but she didn't continue the conversation any further. There wasn't a point, Hopely was fairly conservative, she was about the furthest right you could be while still calling yourself centre-right. She had learned a long time ago that arguing with the centre-left was pointless. 'Hey, Hopely? Viola and I are meeting up with Sparky and Dizzy around 1900 and going out to dinner, want to come? It'll be fun!' Kelso asked, offering Hopely a smile. Hopely merely shook her head. 'Sorry Sarge, got things I need to do tonight, thanks for the offer though. Maybe next time', Hopely added, offering Kelso a friendly smile. 'Well alright... see you tomorrow Hopely', Kelso said with a nod before placing her fedora on her head and heading over to the lift. Hopely packed up her things and trotted over to the lift. Pressing the button and riding down to the bottom level. … 'Welcome to the Year 100 Parliamentary election! Please state your full name, and the party you wish to represent your constituency'. Hopely let out a sigh and blinked at the voting terminal before her, almost as if she was debating her choices. She knew better, her vote didn't matter. Not when a mega corporation was the real determiner of the outcome of the election. 'Anastasia Hopely, Equestrian Fascist Party', Hopely said after a moment. 'Thank you! You have successfully voted in the Parliamentary Election. To continue on to the local election, please say “continue”. To finish voting, please say “exit”'. 'Exit', Hopely said, rolling her eyes and stepping out of the voting booth. Kelso couldn't complain now, she'd voted. She let out a small chuckle at her choice. The Equestrian Fascist party was a joke, they existed on the books yes, but no one took them seriously. How could you when there were only three actual party members? The real purpose for the Fascist Party was for protest voting. Didn't like the choices? Vote for them. Actually, the more Hopely thought about it, she was somewhat sure that that was the Fascist Party's slogan. She left the poll and climbed on her motorcycle and headed for home. She laid herself down on the seat, watching as the holographic canopy materialised over her head. She switched on the autopilot and entered the coordinates for home, as the motorcycle began to move on its’ own, turning the corner out of the polling station’s parking lot and heading onto the open road. Hopely let out a small sigh and closed her eyes for a minute. She had a lot on her mind. Five years. It had been five, long hard years since she had made the most important choice in her life. Five years ago, she had chosen to terminate her pregnancy. She told herself that what she had done was for the best, but that didn’t make it easy. Today was the arbitrarily chosen day for what that foal’s birthday should be. Her foal would have been five years old, in school and making friends. Hopely couldn’t help but feel guilty and selfish at the choice that she had made five years ago. She had murdered her foal before it could even have a chance at life. Abortions were legal in the Republic, rare, but legal. Improvements in medical technology and contraceptives had rendered accidental pregnancy almost completely nonexistent. Hopely’s problem had been that she had not gotten pregnant by accident. Her pregnancy had come about by rape. Hopely could close her eyes and she would find herself back to that day. Lying on the cold hard ground, her overcoat ripped open. She was pinned on the ground, forced to watch as that rat bastard lay on top of her, grinning that stupid grin, moaning softly with pleasure at each thrust. He was in complete control; he had complete power over her. She couldn’t scream, she couldn’t cry out, oh she had wanted to. She’d even opened her mouth to do it but nothing came out. No one would hear her. No one would come to help her, and it had only turned the bastard on more. She had known her rapist, and that was what had made it so damned enjoyable for him. He was able to do whatever he wanted to her and she could do nothing to stop him. She had seen his face; he had made no attempt to hide it from her. He wanted her to know it was him. What made the situation worse was the fact that she had orgasmed during the act. Her body had enjoyed it, and it made her sick. When she thought back to that day it was all she could think about. Her body had enjoyed being ravaged by that fucking commie bastard, her mind had saying no and her body had been saying yes. She was disgusted with herself, and when he finally was done and left her there. He knew his control had become complete. She hated Yuri Tasarov. She wanted nothing more than to catch him alone in a dark alley, just as he had her, and force him to watch as she mutilated him to the point of being unrecognisable. Then, and only then would she show him a mercy that he had failed to show her that day five years ago when he had raped her. She would put a bullet between his eyes and leave him for dead. A pipe dream, a fantasy, one cannot simply murder the most powerful agent of the Præsidium NKVD. Even if she could get close, she wouldn’t be able to for the simple reason that he would not fall into a trap like that. Neither would she, it only takes once for that to happen to make sure it can never again. Even if she did somehow manage to torture and kill Yuri, that wouldn’t be the end of it. If anything were to happen to Yuri, it would be pretty obvious who had done it, especially considering the way she would. Yuri’s right hoof operator, another bastard who was just as cold and as sick as he was, Oleg would hunt down each and every one of her friends and torture them for hours before finally killing them. Sparky Starlight, Dizzy Doo, Viola Auditore, Ana Kelso, Amarilla de la Manzana, Juan Carlos... he would find them all, and ensure that they would suffer. He would leave her alive, but the damage would be done to her. She would have to live knowing that in her desire for revenge, she had killed her friends to do it. Anastasia Hopely had learned a long time ago that the world was a sick and twisted place. This had always been, and it always will be. She pulled up outside her flat, parking her motorcycle and heading upstairs. She opened her front door and locking it right behind her. She pulled off her overcoat and set it down on her sofa before heading into her kitchen. She opened the refrigerator and pulled out a pan and set it on her kitchen table. It was a birthday cake that she had gotten for the occasion. She looked down on it, reading the text written in icing over and over again. ‘Happy fifth birthday!’ it read. Sticking out of it were five small candles, one for each year. She took an elongated utility lighter in her teeth, and lit each of the candles one by one. ‘Happy birthday to you... happy birthday to you... happy birthday, happy birthday... happy birthday to you...’ Hopely said as tears formed in her eyes. She waited for a moment, and then blew out the candles for her unborn foal. She picked up the tray with the cake and promptly tossed it into the rubbish bin before opening up her refrigerator again and pulling out a half full bottle of whiskey. She opened it up and drank the remaining contents in one go before tossing the empty bottle at the wall and falling to the floor in tears. Knowing that this would be how she would spend every one of her unborn foal’s birthdays, and she would be the only one who ever remembered it.