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// Chapter Three: Help Wanted 
// Story: Hitmares 
// by Shane1108 
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A little over a week had passed since Sunset had delivered the good news and already the wheels were in motion for their new plan. The shipments were on their way with the first one arriving that night and with that in mind Vinyl and Octavia made a decision that it was time to take on some new staff to take some of the workload off of themselves while they tried to manage their budding new drug empire.  The only other employee outside of the three guards that they employed at the time was a light brown unicorn mare with purple and white hair named Velvet Melody who had started as an act for the club in its early days but wasn’t reaching the breakthrough success in music that she expected when she came to Canterlot from her home town of Vanhoover a little over a year ago (as many others who came to the capital to chase their dreams had similarly found out over the years). 

She would usually tend to tables as well as occasionally performing on slow nights when there were no other acts booked. She was a nice mare who was friendly enough as far as Octavia and Vinyl were both concerned and she had even helped them get some new clients when they first started out in the drug trade. You could almost always count on musicians to either be into that sort of thing or at least know someone else who was and in Velvet’s case she was both. 

The first official new hire came in the form of Vinyl’s older brother Long Play, whom she hadn’t actually seen since her graduation from music school. He showed up to inform her of the passing of their grandmother and decided to stick around at least until Hearths Warming to stay with her. The next day she offered him a job as a DJ on the club nights as well as doing odd jobs around the club when it got busy, which he happily accepted. 

The third and final hire came from a pony who was as down on her luck as anyone else, especially for someone with luck in her name. Roseluck was an earth pony mare in her late 30’s with a light yellow coat and two shades of violet in her mane and a rose cutie mark that had left her old life as a flower shop owner in Ponyville behind to start fresh in the big city. Unfortunately her new flower shop had lasted only 8 months before a fire had destroyed it and with no insurance she was faced with two options. She could either pack it in and admit that the city had bested her and return home a failure to the mocking of her friends who co-owned her old shop or step up and try and raise money here to start over. She chose the latter. 

After looking around for what felt like ages she stumbled on a help wanted ad for a rising club downtown looking for ponies willing to work for decent pay with a fairly relaxed schedule. Vinyl had interviewed her and despite making multiple inappropriate jokes and even overtly hitting on her they got along quite well and she was hired on the spot. This evening found her talking with Octavia and Vinyl an hour before opening about what she needed to do for her first night on the job.

“It’s pretty simple really.” Vinyl started. “Just look for ponies that need drinks and make them for them. When the drinks are empty then get them another one. Make sure that they are all taken care of and happy and you will be fine. They’ll even usually leave a good tip too, especially for a mare as cute as you.” She finished with a wink and a sly grin. 

“I’m sure you will do fine Rose. Just put on a nice smile and do your best.” Tavi said, ignoring the blatant flirting that was taking place as she usually did when Vinyl got up to her antics. She knew it was only a matter of time before the friendly flirting would turn into propositioning and she wanted to curb it fast before things got out of hoof. 

Vinyl was what some would call abusive when it came to intimacy. Sometimes so much that they had, on more than one occasion, ended up taking what was left of a mare of the night to Sunset’s warehouse in the wee hours of the morning. That was something Octavia was certainly not planning on doing again and had no intentions of losing the new employee that they desperately needed. She needed to keep Vinyl in check, at least for now.

Rose nodded her head and smiled at them. “Thanks again for the opportunity. I really appreciate it. I’ve been having a really bad time lately and I’m glad I’m finally getting the chance to start over.”

They both smiled back, with Octavia adding “It’s no problem at all dear. They say this is the city of second chances after all.Everyone deserves at least one.” With that Vinyl went off to prepare for the first shipment while Octavia began showing Rose around the club. After walking around to the back of the bar Octavia looked around to make sure no one else was around.She then leaned in close to Rose. “Just so you know dear. Vinyl may be a flirt but I can assure you that she is quite serious. I would be cautious around her if I were you. You may not be fully aware of what you could be getting into.”

Rose was a little taken aback by this. She had sensed that it may have been a bit more than flirting but what could that possibly hurt? She was single after all and it had been quite some time since anyone had really shown much interest in her, mare or stallion. She was open for a lot of things, especially in a big city where no one knew who she was and couldn’t judge her. 

She gave a slight blush and a smile to Octavia. “Oh, you don’t have to worry about me. I’m sure everything will be okay. Besides, I don’t mind the extra attention. It’s been awhile since anyone has really said anything like that to me.” She ended it with an awkward chuckle, not knowing exactly how to deal with what Octavia was telling her. 

Octavia just shrugged. “Whatever you say darling. Just remember that I tried to warn you. Anyways…” She went on describing to Rose how to make certain drinks that were house specials and the prices for each of them. Just as Rose’s head started to spin from all the new information coming at her at once she was saved by a knocking at the door. “Excuse me for a moment dear, my apologies.” Octavia said as she rushed over to the door.

Octavia pulled open the door just enough to stick her head out. “I’m sorry but you’ll have to come back later we aren’t open…” She paused when she realized who the pony was that had been knocking. It was a very disheveled Lyra. Looking like she hadn’t slept in quite some time with her fur sticking up in spots and matted in others and her mane spiked in strange directions. “Oh my, are you okay Lyra?” She asked, genuinely feeling for her old friend from school.

Lyra’s eyes began to twitch. “No!” She said, quite a bit louder than she had planned on. “Bonnie's still gone, I’ve called everyone I could think of dozens of times and still no one has seen her. Then yesterday I got a call from the bank that said that they were going to foreclose on the bakery soon if I didn’t make a payment. I thought she owned the bakery! I didn’t even know we had any debt. How could she not tell me about that kind of stuff?” She began speaking faster and faster with the twitch in her eye becoming more pronounced. 

Octavia made a quick decision then to calm her down. She pulled her inside the club and wrapped her in a deep hug. Lyra began crying almost immediately, sobbing deeply into her friends shoulder. “Shh. Calm down, it’s going to be okay. Just take a few deep breaths.” Octavia whispered into her ear.

“I just don’t know why she left.” Lyra choked out between her sobs. “I love her so much. If she had these problems she should have just talked to me and not tried to run out on them. It’s not like her.” 

Octavia ran her hoof through Lyra’s mane still whispering in her ear to soothe her. “I’m sure she’ll come back dear. Maybe she just needed to get away. Things must have just been too much for her. We both know how she can overreact under pressure sometimes. She just probably needs some time to figure things out. Who knows, maybe she’s out there somewhere trying to get some money to bring back.”

Lyra finally resolved herself to stop crying and after sucking up the rest of her tears she pulled her head from Octavia’s shoulders and looked her dead in the eyes. “I have to fix this. I can’t let the bakery go, especially if she comes back. I have to figure out a way to save it. I need to come back to work for Sunset. Do you think she would let me?”

Octavia reeled inside from the irony of the situation that was playing out in front of her. It was starting to look like Sunset would be getting paid back for the debts after all, in one way or another. Outside though Octavia just smiled at her, finally saying “I don’t think she would have a problem with that, you were always a good earner. She’s going to be here later tonight to drop some things off. Why don’t you stay until then and we can see if we can get things sorted.”

Lyra wrapped her in another hug at this and the tears started again, although only lightly this time. “Thank you so much Tavi. I don’t know where I would be without friends like you and Vinyl. I promise I’ll do whatever she needs done. I can’t let the bakery go.” Octavia just hugged her back, almost bemused at the absurdity of the situation in which she found herself. Life could be pretty funny in horrible ways sometimes. She was no stranger to that.

She just gave Lyra another pat on the shoulders. “It’s no problem, honestly. We would love to work with you again. It will be just like old times. She should be here in a few hours if you want to take a seat here I’ll have the new girl get you a drink. Also if you want to talk to Vinyl she’s in the back office. Just knock first, who knows what she could be getting into in there.” She finished with a smile that seemed to put Lyra at ease. It seemed like that was all that needed to be said as Lyra walked over to the bar and sat down. Octavia turned to Rose and motioned to Lyra with her head. Rose went straight to work and the two began talking.

Across town the Friendship Express was pulling into Canterlot station on a direct trip from Fillydelphia. For some reason unbeknownst to most ponies there was a detachment of the royal guard waiting for it at the station with a large truck marked with the guard insignia. Among the normal platoon of white and gray unicorns stood a Flash Sentry making sure that everything went according to plan with Sunsets shipment.

He took pride in what he did for her. He, like many others who found themselves in her employ, had a deep respect for her and what she had done for him in the past. He started life in a rundown orphanage on the riverfront near the outside edge of Canterlot. Growing up as the only pegasus in the orphanage had him marked as an easy target for bullying from a very young age. When he was younger he would try and hover above them to keep away from their punches and kicks but once they began to learn how to use magic he had to learn how to fight back. After fighting with the other foals just to defend himself for most of his life he finally had enough and decided that it was time to go on the offensive. 

Shortly afterward he singled out one of the most abusive ponies that he had dealt with for most of his life and woke him up in the night, pulling him out of his bed and waking up the others and proceeded to beat him senseless as the others looked on in shock. Flash wasn’t going to be pushed around anymore. Of course the next day when they sent his former bully to the infirmary with many of them doubting that he would survive he was kicked out of the orphanage and left out on the street to figure out his next move.

He went on to do what most violent teenagers on the street at his age would do and became a petty criminal. This went on for about six months until he had made the mistake of trying to rob Sunset’s offices late at night. What he didn’t know was that she was still there. She was going to kill him, as she would anyone else who had made the same mistake until she saw how young he was. He was skinny and dirty and his coat was matted in places. She couldn’t help but feel bad for the poor colt and decided to give him a job.

She cooked up something special for him though. He was obedient and strong as well as quite loyal to her once she took him into her care. No one had ever treated him nicely before in his entire life until that point. He was only met with hostility due to his wings and lack of horn by everyone from the foals to even the adults in the orphanage. She decided that what he would be best at would be as her first full time undercover operative in the royal guard. So after getting him cleaned up and spending some time with her getting healthy she enrolled him just after his 17th birthday. 

He loved it right away. Everyone was worthless in the eyes of the superiors. Throughout the grueling 14 weeks of training he did his best to stand out from all the unicorns that he was surrounded with and found that he was actually a pretty exceptional soldier. He loved the order and the schedule as well as being able to take out his anger in a positive way. He also loved the respect and occasional admiration that he got from his comrades. No longer was he just a lowly pegasus, unworthy to even share the same food with a unicorn. It wasn’t long before he made Lieutenant at the age of only 21. 

Beneath it all though was his true allegiance. He would do anything for Sunset for helping him reach what he had become, anything. No matter what she had asked of him he would always find a way to get it taken care of.  From giving information on potential informants to destroying evidence and even occasionally making ponies disappear that her usual squad didn’t have access to. At first he was a little conflicted about breaking the laws that he was sworn to uphold but the more he thought about it the more he knew that he had to repay Sunset for making his life untold amounts better than it would have been. Especially when after the drunken haze of a night that was his 25th birthday when she told him about how handsome he looked in his guard armor. One thing led to another and then by the time morning came he had even another reason to be loyal to Sunset. 

Days like today always made him happy. He got to help out Sunset and knew that he would be rewarded for it, one way or another. After everything was loaded up he slipped some extra bits to each of the guards who helped him and took the truck himself to Sunsets office. Once he arrived he trotted up with his helmet in hoof and a smile on his face which grew even wider when as he saw Sunset waiting for him with a smile on hers as well.

“So,” She started, putting her hoof on his shoulder. “I trust it’s all taken care of then?” As she said it she started rubbing his shoulder, eliciting a sigh from the pegasus. It turns out moving crates while in full armor without the help of magic could really take a toll on you after doing training drills with new recruits for most of the morning.

“Yes ma’am. It’s all in the truck downstairs waiting for you.” He said as he moved into her impromptu massage with his eyes closed. “Do you want me to get someone to bring it up?” He asked as he turned his head to the side.

“No, don’t worry about that.” She started as she walked around him continuing his massage and sliding pieces of his armor off. I’m going to have it all shipped out tonight and take a chunk of it to the club myself later. The girls will be happy to see just what they’re working with, I think we’re going to make a lot of bits together.” She then stood him up to undo the underside of his chest piece and started to rub his stomach. “I think that can wait for a little bit though, don’t you?” He couldn’t speak though; he was already two steps ahead of her.

As night had just began to fall at the club a few hours later things were getting in full swing as a local indie rock trio was just getting into their set. The turnout that night was great, especially for a relatively unknown local band. Just about every table in the house was taken and there were even some ponies on the dance floor. Velvet was making her rounds from table to table with Long Play as Rose stood with Vinyl behind the bar learning the intricacies of mixing drinks and occasionally talking with Lyra.

Vinyl was doing her best to hit on Rose and Rose was doing her best to pretend to ignore it. Lyra had calmed down considerably after a few drinks and was actually beginning to enjoy herself a bit with the company of her old friend and a potential new one and music that she really enjoyed in the background. Octavia was eating dinner in the office upstairs and taking in the music coming from the club below and waiting for the call from Sunset. She ended up not having to wait long though when just as she started digging into her salad the phone rang and the news that she would be stopping by soon and to get Vinyl ready. She also had told her Sunset about Lyra’s need for employment and after they shared a laugh at the irony she agreed to consider it.

A few minutes later after barely pulling a slightly drunk Vinyl (someone had to taste Rose’s concoctions after all to make sure they came out okay) away from Rose and taking Lyra in as well Sunset came in the door with two large crates held in her magic and a huge smile on her face. “Well girls I told you this was finally going to pay off and here it is! Welcome to the future of our business together. This is only the beginning too. I want you to try and get these out sometime before the holiday and I’ve got more ready right away.”

She pulled open the crates and hidden inside an assortment of books were bags of shining clear crystal powder. All of the mares in the room eyes lit up at the possibilities. Octavia saw the bits, Vinyl saw the potential for fun and Lyra saw the opportunity to provide some assistance and save the bakery. It was at this point that Sunset looked to Lyra. She hadn’t even recognized her in the room. She was too excited at her big reveal to even notice her sitting there.

“Oh.” She started, losing her smile for only a fraction of a second. “I’m sorry Lyra I didn’t even see you there. Octavia told me about the unfortunate business of your dear Bon Bon leaving and that you may need some help getting back on your hooves with some debt. I think that we may be able to make that work. It can be just like the old days again. Although you should know that I fully expect you to not be afraid to get your hooves dirty. What do you say?”

Lyra’s smile grew massive and a tear came from her eye as she jumped up and wrapped Sunset in a tight hug. “Thank you so much Sunset. I promise I won’t let you down. Once I get everything paid off I know Bonnie will come back. I’ll do anything you want I swear. Just give me a chance and I’ll do it.” Sunset was caught off guard at first but eventually returned the hug, seeing her chance to test out the new girls resolve to the cause and her loyalty. 

“As a matter of fact I do have a little something for you. I needed Vinyl and Octavia to go out on a little job for me later tonight but maybe one of them can go with you instead. I need someone to go and have a little chat with a former friend of mine who decided that he would be better on his own and doesn’t want to pay his dues. It’s nothing too heavy so I think it would be a good place to start. What do you say?” 

As Sunset finished Lyra was already nodding her head in agreement. “I’m all for it. I won’t let you down.” She said sternly, looking Sunset right in the eyes. She would do whatever it took to get the bits she needed to bring Bonnie back. It’s not like she hadn’t been there before and although it took Bon Bon to bring her out of it and show her how bad it could be she had no issues getting right back in to bring back the mare she loved.

Octavia and Vinyl looked towards each other, silently deciding who would be the one to take Lyra out for the late night work. Vinyl was the first one to speak up. “I’ve gotta stay here to make sure the new girl keeps everything up. She’s doing okay so far but you never know. Also if we are going to be spreading this new shit out there we need someone to be the official tester and I will volunteer for it. I know it’s a rough gig but someone’s got to do it.”

Octavia just frowned. She knew that an argument wouldn’t work, eventually she would get the sad eyes from Vinyl and she wouldn’t be able to refuse. Also she wanted to see just how dedicated Lyra could be so she decided to bite the bullet and take one for a team. “Fine. Just don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.” She said with a sigh.

Vinyl cracked a huge smile and levitated one of the bags out of the box and a knife from her hip. As she cut it open and spread a good sized line on the table she put her nose straight to the table and gave a huge sniff. Her eyes grew wide and she slammed both hooves down on the table, sitting her head up straight. “Holy shit. That’s what I’m talkin’ about!” She then quickly stood up and began speaking loud and fast. “Thanks Auntie, I gotta go work the club now. The new girl isn’t going to teach herself. Thanks again for covering for me Tavi, have fun with LyLy!” With that she had already exited the room and was heading down the stairs by the time they had realized exactly what she had said.

Octavia’s frowned deepened. Vinyl got to spend the night flirting (and probably more) with the new girl while being super high and she had to go out and bust someone’s head open to teach a lesson. At least if nothing else by the look on Vinyl’s face the new stuff would sell well and the ponies would be breaking down her door to get more. The image of her bank account rising steadily and the new house and cello that she would soon be buying turned her frown slowly into a smile. 

“Tavi? Hello? Are you there?” She heard Lyra say from somewhere far away. She blinked as Lyra was moving her hoof in front of her face. She realized that she had been staring off into space as the thoughts of flowing bits entered her mind. She let out a small embarrassed cough and a bit of a blush started to show through her gray coat.

Sunset just smiled to her. “Thinking of the bits again dear? Don’t worry, it won’t be long now. I’m off though, I have a few more deliveries to make before the night is over.” She levitated over a piece of paper to Lyra. “Here are all the details for tonight’s job. I’m sure you’ll do fine. Good luck!” With that she was off and the others followed shortly after.

As they walked into the club the night was in full swing. The band was being very well received and the dance floor was crowded as well as the bar. Octavia looked over to it just as they made their way out of the front door to see Vinyl eagerly chatting up Rose. A small pang of something similar to jealousy struck her then. She knew Vinyl was just trying to get laid but sometimes she had wished it was her. Her crush was more than that, she was full on in love with her partner in crime during most of their friendship but didn’t think that Vinyl would ever be able to commit so she left it alone and locked her feelings away. She had always considered that one day after Vinyl had calmed down that they would have a chance to be together and it was that thought that made watching Vinyl get with any mare that she could bearable.

After she walked out Rose watched in awe as Vinyl went a mile a minute with her words. She couldn’t keep track of much of it after awhile but was still enraptured with her style and confidence. She had to admit that even though she seemed a little bit on the crazy side that she was certainly beautiful and had something about her that really turned her on, although she couldn’t quite put her hoof on it. 

“Anyways.” Vinyl said, her tirade seemingly over. “I’m gonna be real with you right now. How about we go up to the office and get a little bit more acquainted. I promise I’ll go easy on you.” Rose was a little taken aback at first but after giving it only a few seconds of thought she decided that it was time to throw caution to the wind and do something unexpected and possibly very irresponsible. Her life up until then had been boring and predictable and she was ready for something new, she didn’t care what. 

She leaned into Vinyl and planted a soft kiss on her lips. “Don’t worry about going easy. I think I can handle everything you’ve got.” She said, wrapping her tail around Vinyl’s back legs.  That was all it took to set Vinyl off. The drugs were working their magic on her and she was already ready for action. She grabbed Rose by the hoof immediately and pulled her through the crowds up into the office, locking the door behind them.

As all this happened no one noticed a stallion who was sitting by himself in the corner. He was pale blue with three white stars adorning his flank and a spiked black mane. He was wearing a black button up shirt and a white tie as well as black aviators, even when inside. He had been watching quietly as his former boss brought in two crates and as his former friend just took one of the barmaids upstairs in a frantic rush. The wheels began turning in his head as he hatched a plan to himself about how to deal with the new competition that his business would surely be facing soon. It was time to put a stop to this new expansion before it even started.