//------------------------------// // Chapter Two: Hitting the Big Time // Story: Hitmares // by Shane1108 //------------------------------// Octavia awoke to the sound of her phone ringing. The sun was almost down now but she was still exhausted. As she shuffled out of her bed and to the phone she had hoped that it wasn’t a call for a job. She really wasn’t trying to do much today. She hobbled to the phone and slowly picked it up to answer. “Yes?” “Why Octavia darling, what’s got you feeling so down today?” A friendly and familiar voice said on the other end. Octavia smiled a bit to herself, she hadn’t talked to her friend in quite some time. She had sometimes preferred the conversations that she would have with another pony with at least a modicum of class that she tried to reflect than those that she would share with Vinyl. “My apologies Fleur, I just woke up about 30 seconds ago. How have you been?” She said, a smile forming on her lips. “My my, you certainly slept in late today. It’s not good for you dear. The early bird gets the worm you know. I’ve been fine though either way. Sunset has kept me quite busy as of late, maybe you’ve seen my work in the papers.” Octavia had of course. It was all the tabloids could focus on as of late. They were filled with tales of the mysterious deaths of certain lower members of the noble class by a mysterious mare of the night, whom they were beginning to refer to as “The White Widow” in some articles. “I have indeed.” She replied. “Though I think it’s best to maybe limit your exposure a bit. We wouldn’t want to have a full on panic on our hooves. You know how fast stories like these can travel.” Fleur just chuckled. “Pleas dear, we both know that no one actually believes half of the things that they read in those papers. Still though it’s a bit of fun to see my work is at least appreciated on slow news days. That business aside though I was meaning catch up with you, are you busy this evening?” Octavia thought it over. Her head was still foggy from just waking up and she was still tired from the business that she spent all the previous evening attending to. She didn’t even know what time it was. “I’m not sure what exactly I’m doing but I will most likely be at the club all night. Would you like to come in and have a glass of wine with me?” Fleur laughed a little bit again. “Well that all depends dear, is it one of Vinyl’s dreadful rave nights tonight?” This time Octavia laughed as well. She could find enjoyment in Vinyl’s brand of music. She had been hearing it for years after all. It wasn’t all noise once you got into it. There were very complex and enjoyable melodies and sometimes amazing vocal work as well. She knew however that to those of a somewhat more refined taste (or stuck up snobs as Vinyl referred to them as) the music may be a bit much. “No, tonight we have a jazz trio that has come from Manehattan to play at a few places around the city. They are quite enjoyable from what I’ve heard from others. I think it will be more than fitting to a mare with tastes as refined as yours.” She replied, adding a bit of a joking tone in the last sentence. “Mock if you like Octavia.” Fleur said in a fake pouting tone. “Just because I don’t exactly fit in with the stuffy upper class of my marks all the time, it doesn’t mean that through my work here that their fancies haven’t at least rubbed off on me a little bit. Either way though I would love to come, I’m not sure exactly when I’ll be able to make it down there but I’ll phone ahead before I head over. I still need to get ready for the evening and you know how that can be sometimes.” “Sounds wonderful, I’ll see you then. We have some catching up to do. It’s been far too long since we’ve had a chance to share war stories as it were after all.” With that they said a few pleasant goodbyes and Octavia hung up. She moved slowly across the massive apartment, her mind finally starting to fully clear as she woke up. She shuffled into the kitchen and turned on the coffee maker. The day could never fully begin until she had a chance to get her coffee, no matter what time it was. While she waited for magic caffeine elixir to brew she headed into her room to dress for the evening. She wasn’t feeling a full suit again. Maybe just a nice evening dress for tonight, something simple that still had a bit of class. If she knew Fleur as well as she thought that she did then she had no doubt that the elegant white unicorn would be dressed to impress. She figured it was the least she could do to try and at least compete a little bit with her posh friend. Later as she sipped her coffee and felt truly awake for the first time since she hobbled out of bed for the phone it rang again. With a bit more pep in her step she reached across the marble island in her kitchen and grabbed it from its receiver. Before she could greet whoever it was on the other end the instantly recognizable voice of her roommate and best friend started speaking. “Yo Tavi, what’s up?” Octavia smiled without realizing it, as she often did when talking to Vinyl. “Nothing much, just enjoying my morning coffee. I also just talked to Fleur as well, she’s stopping in tonight to catch up.” Vinyl chuckled, “Morning coffee eh? Have you seen what time it is? And to think that ponies accuse me of being lazy.” Vinyl teased. “It’s going to be good to see little miss stuffy pants. I feel like it’s been forever since she has so kindly graced us with her presence.” Octavia frowned a bit at this. “I don’t know why you have to be like that sometimes. You know she isn’t like the rest of them. It’s all a part of her cover. You act like she is some snobby noble or something.” “Look,” Vinyl started. “It’s not that I don’t like her or anything like that. It’s just sometimes I feel like she looks down on us you know? Like spending all that time with those noble pricks has made her actually think that she’s one of them. I feel like she’s changed a lot from when we first met her.” Octavia sighed. “Why Vinyl Scratch, of all the ponies to pass judgment on another I would hardly think that you would be one to do it so freely with all the fighting of prejudice that you constantly do with your music. Never mind all of that though, what’s up?” Vinyl paused for a few seconds before continuing. “It’s about Bonnie. Lyra’s here and she says Bonnie never came home last night. We were wondering if you had seen her at all. We’ve been calling around all day and no one’s heard from her.” Octavia smiled a bit to herself. Vinyl was taking care of it just like she said she would. She hoped everything had been going well with it so far. “No dear I can’t say that I have. The last I spoke with her was yesterday afternoon. Did she not show up at the club last night?” “No,” Vinyl started and then saying as if she had moved her head away from the phone to someone in the background. “She said she hasn’t heard from her Ly, we’ll have to keep checking.” Then she was back. “Keep your eyes open either way, Lyra is getting worried. Oh also before I forget, Auntie is coming in tonight. She wants to talk to both of us, she says it’s important so you should hurry up and head down here. I’m not sure when she’s going to be here.” Octavia wanted to sigh. When it came to talking with Sunset as of late “something important” usually meant another pony needed to be disposed of, and often with a deal of urgency and tact involved. They had already done what was requested of them the night before. Was it too much to ask for a night off after that? Fleur was coming in and she had made plans to visit with her. Although if it was something important she would most likely be able to help as well, so at least there was that. She wasn’t ever really in much of a position to deny a request from Sunset, not that she would even if she could. She still felt that she owed Sunset a great deal and would help out whenever needed, despite being exhausted or worn out. “Okay. I’ll be down there as soon as I get dressed. I’ll see you in a little bit.” With that she hung up and with a small sigh took a sip of her coffee, hoping that she wasn’t in for another long night. As Octavia was getting dressed for the evening downtown, on the upper east side of Canterlot a tall and beautiful white unicorn mare with a cutie mark that she shared her name with was doing the same. Fleur had originally planned on dressing to impress, something that she had become quite accustomed to over the last five years. Although after reminding herself that all of the pomp and circumstance was just another part of her disguise she decided to go with something simple. She was a downtown mare living an uptown life after all, and she still tried to hold on to her inner city roots whenever she was off duty as much as she could. She was born with the name Grace Prose (which she always hated) and raised the same way as many others in the lower noble classes. Her family motto was essentially to always aspire to be greater but at the same time know your place within the ranks of society. She always hated it but went along with it for her uptight parent’s sake. As a teenager she would often sneak out at night and head downtown to go “slumming” as her so called friends used to refer to it. It was among the carefree common ponies that she felt like she truly belonged. They were nice, most of them anyways, and they never passed judgment on another pony based solely off of who their family was or how many bits they had. Everything was going well until shortly after her 16th birthday when she had learned that what she thought was food poisoning ended up being morning sickness. Everything changed after that. Her parents were livid and demanded that she terminate the pregnancy immediately, claiming that it would damage her family’s social standing that they had worked for generations to get beyond repair. When she refused her parents cast her out. They still had her little sister to carry on in her stead and couldn’t be bothered with such an unruly older child and the scandal that would come with her foal. At first she thought things would be okay. She had friends after all. She thought that despite their sometimes snobbishness they were still good ponies who cared about her. She was wrong. After being kicked out of her house she was a social pariah among the group that she grown up with. They wouldn’t even talk to her, raising their noses to the sky and not even stopping to address her when she saw them on the streets. She began to hate nobility even more after that. She moved away from the rich area of Canterlot after that, choosing to try and find a job downtown with ponies that she could actually stand to be around. She then spent a few months as a model after being “discovered” by well known fashion photographer Photo Finish as she was walking down Main Street one morning. It was through that job that she met a noble stallion by the name of Fancy Pants. He was nice enough and could at least provide her with a stable life for her soon to be born foal. She even thought that one day she could grow to love him. That wasn’t to be however as Grace eventually came to a realization that most of us come to when we spend enough time around a pony. She got to know who he really was behind all of his airs and social standing chivalry nonsense. He was a hurtful and abusive monster who was only interested in her as a trophy for his hoof to show off at parties, seen and not heard or else. Luckily for her she learned quickly how to use makeup to cover up her bruises and occasional cuts for social events. One day though things went too far. He was drunk and in another one of his moods again and she was trying to avoid him as much as she could. It was not meant to be though as they eventually started fighting. She was sitting on the living room couch, minding her business, when he came staggering toward her with a bottle of whiskey held up shakily in his magic. It started with just a passing statement. “You know once you have that thing you’re going to give it up right away. You’re lucky I happen to believe in the sanctity of life in all of Celestia’s ponies or this would have already been dealt with.” He said to her with venom dripping from each word. She turned quickly to him, standing up. “That was never the deal. You said it could be ours and that you would help me take care of him. Why do you think I’m even here in the first place?!” She screamed at him. He just laughed a dark and twisted laugh. “I changed my mind. Maybe one day if you are lucky you can bear my children and actually earn your keep around here. You are lucky that I even let you stay here. You should remember that before you start mouthing off.” She got right in his face, she had taken just about enough abuse from him. “Fuck you.” She said simply, staring him right in the eyes. He scowled. “How dare you! You worthless little whore! You seem to be forgetting your place. You will apologize this instant and then head into the bedroom for your punishment.” He got closer to her with each word, backing her into the edge of the couch and getting his face closer and closer to hers. She wasn’t going to take it anymore, not tonight. She did the first thing that came to her mind without even thinking about it and spat in his face. He took a slight step back and let out a low growl. “You stupid bitch!” He shouted at her. Then before she had a chance to react he hit her in the head with the bottle, breaking it and knocking her to the floor. She tried to move but he began kicking her over and over in the stomach. When he was finally tired out she was shaking and crying on the floor. He spat on her and then as he was walking away said “I’ll have one of the drivers take you to the hospital. Maybe this should be a lesson to you about learning your place. She didn’t hear it though, she had already passed out. When she woke up she was sitting in a hospital bed. Her head was on fire and it hurt to breath. A nurse was staring down at her. “I’m not sure what happened to you miss but the driver who brought you here said you took quite a tumble. You are lucky to be alive.” She said with a sad smile. “I have some terrible news for you though. The damage was extensive and there were a few complications. We couldn’t save the foal. I’m so sorry.” She couldn’t put it together at first. Her head was killing her and it took some time for the message the nurse had given her to connect. Once it did though she was broken. She couldn’t think, she couldn’t speak, and she never cried. Any sadness quickly turned to a deep hatred and rage inside her. All she could do was scream. The nurse tried to comfort her but she was pushed away and eventually left her to herself. Later that night she managed to get up and check herself out of the hospital, despite the pony at the front desk warning her that it was too soon to go. She didn’t care. She had something that she had to do. She managed to walk all the way to Fancy Pants’ large estate from the hospital, it took almost two hours but she never noticed. Her mind was set on one thing only. The guards noticed who she was and let pass through the gate. She walked inside and began her search. She found Fancy passed out with a bottle next to him on his bed. With a twisted smile she picked up the bottle in her magic and then in one swift motion slammed it down on his head with as much force as she had. As it shattered he began to stir. She didn’t stop there though, she took what was left of the neck of the bottle and started thrusting it into him as fast and as many times as she could, laughing to herself the entire time. When the deed was done there wasn’t much left of him that was even recognizable. She slumped down from the bed onto the floor, leaving the bottle neck stuck into his chest. As she sat there soaked in his blood her mind started coming back to her and she began to realize the full extent of what she had just done. She had murdered a noble, and not just a lowborn. Her survival instincts then took over and she ran out of the back of the house and hopped the fence, running as fast as she could into the night. She remembered hearing about a pony who could fix things from Fancy once. Someone had been extorting him and he called a mare named Sunset Shimmer to make it all go away. That pony was never heard from again. She went with him to meet with Sunset and remembered where the place was, so she made her way there as fast as she could. As dawn arrived she finally reached Sunsets office. After explaining to Sunset what had happened in detail everything had finally caught up with her and she broke down in Sunset’s office, sobbing into the desk. Sunset came up to her and gave her a deep hug. “I’m so sorry sweetie. I never knew how much of a monster he was. I promise I’ll take care of it. You won’t ever have to worry about it again.” She said as Grace buried her had into the shorter unicorns shoulder, crying heavily. “Dry your eyes honey, tears are for the weak. You are not weak, never forget that.” The next morning just as Sunset promised, no guards came from her. Somehow the official guard report came out saying that Fancy Pants was found dead from an apparent suicide. It was a revelation that shocked the public with vigils being held for one of the kindest nobles in Canterlot as ponies openly wept, regretting the sudden and tragic loss of such a great and influential pony. After she had healed she learned a spell from one of Sunset’s associates to change her coat color from the natural baby blue that she was born with to pure white and changed her name to that of her cutie mark (which she didn’t even remember getting, one day it was just there) and she started her life anew. She then asked Sunset if there was anything that she could do to help her after everything that she had done for her. Sunset knew about her deep hatred for nobility and the brutality that she was capable of so she made Fleur an offer to get back at the nobles a bit for shunning her, and offer which she accepted without even thinking twice. She was sent in to gather information, use blackmail and even kill when needed. It had been over five years since that day, and as much as she despised the high society persona that she had to adopt to do her job she loved every minute of her duties and did them with both pride and joy. With every noble mare or stallion that she made disappear (sometimes leaving them where she killed them, leading to her infamous tabloid moniker) she felt a little more alive inside. The bits were just an added benefit to the job. She truly thought that she was doing good work in ridding Equestria of its disgusting ruling class. She had made quick friends with the slightly older Octavia and Vinyl. They all were broken ponies in one way or another and that bonded them together. They were her only real friends as far as she was concerned. She had many associates from her double life but they were nothing but cover for her and for the most part she couldn’t care less about them. When she was around Octavia, Vinyl and Sunset she could really be herself again, something that she didn’t get much of a chance to do often. She relished their meetings together, especially with Octavia and would try and arrange them whenever she had free time. She was especially looking forward to tonight, it had been weeks since they had a chance to catch up and she had some great stories to tell. After dressing up in a basic black and purple dress, Octavia had made her way into the club just after the moon had risen. The place was empty except for the figure of two unicorns behind the shaded glass into the office. Lyra was nowhere to be found. As she opened the door to the office she was greeted by the sight of Vinyl sitting behind the desk as she put out a cigarette that was being held in her magic in an ashtray on the desk. She had a smile on her face and looked like she was in mid conversation with the other pony in the room, her surrogate aunt Sunset Shimmer. Vinyl whistled at her. “Wow, look who’s all dressed up tonight. You got a date coming that I don’t know about or something there misses fancy? I thought you only had eyes for me? Maybe I’m losing my touch.” Octavia had blushed a bit. It was true that she once had a large crush on Vinyl but never acted on it. Vinyl knew about it and would constantly poke fun at her for it, much to her displeasure. Before she had a chance to respond though Sunset spoke up. “Oh you hush, I think she looks beautiful. Besides don’t you remember me telling you that there doesn’t have to be a reason to want to look good? Sometimes looking good can make you feel good and there is nothing wrong with any pony, mare or stallion, wanting to dress up a bit now and then.” Octavia came up to her and gave her a hug before sitting down in the chair next to her across the desk from Vinyl. “Thank you Auntie. It’s not my fault that this ruffian has no taste outside of the clothes that I dress her in.” She looked over to Vinyl who was wearing a simple white silk button up with tight white pants. “Maybe someday you will thank me for it.” Vinyl just smiled at her. “I doubt it. Besides I always look good no matter what I’m wearing. Although I’m sure you already know that don’t you. All that’s beside the point though, wait until you hear what Auntie has to say. Your day is about to get a whole lot better.” The both turned to look at Sunset expectantly. She cleared her throat and began to speak up. “Thank you Vinyl, I’m glad that you are excited. Basically to make a long story short I’m so happy with the way that things have been going with the trade through here and so proud at how well you two have been doing that I’ve decided that it’s time to step things up a bit. I’ve got a new supplier in Fillydelphia who has a lot of product to move but no clients. I offered him our services, at a very large markup of course. Things are about to get very busy around here. The best part is though is that I want you and Vinyl to run the entire thing. We’ll split it evenly instead of the 10 percent that I have been giving you. That plus the regular income that you two make from this place should lead to quite a bit of wealth coming to both of you.” Octavia processed everything that was being told to her and the more she put it together the larger the smile on her face became. This was finally it. It was time to start making some real bits. She had an idea of how much Sunset was making off of the 90 percent of the usual take from the drugs that they were running and it was no small sum. Getting half of that would make both her and Vinyl wealthier than they could have ever thought of. She couldn’t wait to get started. She wrapped Sunset in a hug. “Thank you so much Auntie. I promise we won’t let you down. There aren’t words for how much we appreciate this.” Sunset just smiled and returned the hug. “Of course you won’t let me down. I would have never given this to you two if I didn’t have the utmost trust in both of you. We are about to all become extremely wealthy and I know that you two can make me even more proud of you than I already am. I’ll still need you to take care of the occasional problem for me though of course if the need arises, I trust you both more than just about any pony else around and I know you can get the job done.” The worry about taking another job was gone from Octavia’s mind. She could do anything for Sunset now knowing just how many bits she stood to make over the coming months. She would be ready to do anything that Sunset could ask of her and she would do it with a smile. Things were finally about to start happening for her and Vinyl. It’s what they had always dreamed of since they were fillies. They were about to finally make it. Before more hugs and kind words could be exchanged there was a knock at the door from one of the security ponies. “Excuse me, but Miss Fleur is here to see you Octavia.” The bulky stallion said through the door. Octavia cocked her head for a second and blinked. “Well that was much earlier than I thought. The band isn’t showing up for another half hour. Either way you’ll have to excuse me Auntie. Thank you again though.” She stood up and as she was walking to the door Sunset got up as well. “I think I should be off anyway. I’ve got some business to attend to back at the office. You girls have a good night. We’ll get into more details about this tomorrow sometime.” She hugged Vinyl and gave her a kiss on the forehead and then walked out into the club with Octavia to see Fleur standing in a basic (for her usual attire) but beautiful white evening dress that had a few sparkles on it. Sunset walked over to her and gave her a small peck on both cheeks. “Fleur my dear, it’s great to see you. You’ve been doing great work up there in high society. How have you been?” Fleur returned the pecks and smiled at her savior. “I’ve been wonderful, although quite a bit busy as you know.” She chuckled a bit at that, “I’m just here to catch up with Tavi over a few glasses of wine. It’s been far too long.” Sunset smiled to them both. “Well girls don’t let me stop you. I was just heading out. I may have a new job for you here in a couple of weeks but I’m not sure yet. I’ll let you know. Until then have a wonderful evening. I’m sorry I’ve kept you so busy that you haven’t had much time to come in.” With that she made her exit. Tavi and Fleur then took a seat at one of the tables that had been quickly prepared by one of the clubs waiters, who was already bringing a bottle of red wine and two glasses. After hugs were exchanged across the table and the first sips of wine were had, Fleur was the first to speak. “So darling, how have you been? It’s been too long.” Octavia smiled warmly, taking a long sip of her wine and enjoying the taste. It was an excellent vintage, something that Sunset had seen to personally when choosing the stock for the club. “To be honest I’ve had a long week but things are starting to pick up after meeting with Sunset, especially now that you are here too. How about yourself?” Fleur returned the warm smile. “I’ve been pretty good. Busy as we discussed earlier but it’s been quite a bit of fun. You should have seen the last one who I just got finished with a few days ago. The look on his face when he realized that it was all over was too priceless. I guess bits can’t always buy everything.” They laughed at that and continued sharing stories over multiple glasses of wine. After awhile the club opened and ponies started filling it. Eventually the band set up and began to play. They both were a little tipsy by that point but they both enjoyed the music and even had a few dances to different songs. All in all it was a good night at The Hop! for them and one that would serve as another happy memory in the dark days that were to follow. Later that evening on the seventh floor of Sunsets office building she was sitting by herself holding a glass of scotch in her magic, looking out of her window towards the castle that rose up high into the sky at the edge of the city and waiting. Finally a knock came at her office door. “Come in darling. You’re quite late you know. You’re lucky I’m in such a good mood today.” She said as she used her magic to unlock the door. An younger orange coated pegasus stallion stepped in, still wearing his royal guard armor. “Sorry,” he began. “They kept me later than usual tonight for some kind of ceremony. It was a boring waste of time. I got here as soon as could.” She turned to face him. “Don’t worry about it Flash dear. Please have a seat. Would you like a drink?” The pegasus took off his helmet, shaking out his dark blue hair and sat in the large comfy chair at her desk, taking the glass that Sunset levitated towards him. She smiled at him. “Anything new to report?” She asked, looking intently at him. He cleared his throat for a second, thinking about it. “No. Well, not really anyways. The situation we had with the disappearance of those two nobles you took care of last week has been chalked up to a simple vacation mishap of sorts. Also I was able to switch around guard rotations to make sure that when your new shipment comes in from Fillydelphia you have friends to see to it that it gets to where it needs to go. Everything is taken care of.” She cracked a huge grin at this. “Wonderful, just wonderful. Things are about to start looking up my dear Flash. I’ve got big things coming and the more you help me the more you will be rewarded.” She stood up and walked around the desk, sauntering to the door and raising her tail a little bit to give him a tease. “Speaking of rewards,” She said as she shut the door and locked it. “I think you are about due for one now.” The smile on his face grew as a certain other body part of his started to as well. As the night came to an end in the city of Canterlot, change was on the horizon. None of them knew it yet but soon their lives were all going to change forever. A chain reaction was brewing that would bring most of them untold wealth but along with it also untold heartache and pain. The snow began to fall on the city as the ponies that made up Sunset’s crew enjoyed one of the last few peaceful nights that they would all have in quite some time.