Hikarus Freedom

by 20percentcooler

Days Beckoning

Iris found herself getting bombarded with angry phone calls from many of the hotel rooms.
"Why is there no soap?"
"Where are the towels!"
"Since when did you guys only have one pillow for a bed when you used to give 4?"
"What kind of hotel doesn't have cable?"
It seemed that the fear of losing money was getting to Storm, which was making him make some very unwise decisions.
"Doesn't that old idiot know that his attempts to save the business are actually ruining it?" Sighed Iris as she took a break while ignoring an incoming call to the front desk.
"This is just stupid. I think I need to try to talk some sense into that Storm."
She walked over to his office down the hall. She stood in front of the door for a bit, feeling a bit unsure of how he might react to what she would say. She was actually feeling a bit nervous. But she shook it off. Now was not the time for nerves. Storm's actions were hurting the hotel, and something had to be done or else the entire business would surely fail.
She raised a hoof and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Said Storm a bit loudly.
Iris walked in.

Storm was sitting behind his desk looking over some magazines. Iris noticed that the one he was reading had a large print on the front which read "CRISIS! EQUESTRIAN ECONOMY IN DESPERATE STATE!".
'Thats a great thing to read, sure won't get you worried that's for sure...' thought Iris sarcastically.
"Iris!" said storm sharply as he looked up from his magazine. "why are you not behind the counter! What's wrong with you! Go back! What if somepony arrives! Thats a bad image for us if nopony is behind the counter!"
"Storm.." began Iris slowly. "I think we need to discuss something important. Something concerning the future of this business."

==============

Today was the day. The day that Hikaru had been waiting for. Nocturnal Oasis was tonight! And he was ready. Flash and Zen had scheduled their friends carriage to pick them up later on in the afternoon, and once they were on, it would be only an hour to get to Ponyville. Hikaru couldn't wait. All his favorite artist would be there, plus all his good friends. He was especially excited to hear some news that he had gotten from Flash. It seemed that Flash had somehow gotten to grow close to Vinyl Scratch, and she would occasionally talk to him on his text device. She mentioned to him that Aly & Filly would be making a surprise appearance at the show and that they would be spinning some tracks as well. Aly & Filly were one of Hikaru's favorite trance artist and he nearly screamed in joy when he Flash told him that they would be there.
With the backstage passes that Vinyl had given them, he would be sure to meet them.

Hikaru had been practicing some glowstringing moves as well. He put his dead practice set to good use as he listened to his music while trying to figure out new and interesting wraps and spins. He remembered what Laser had told him, about how it was more about flow and expressing yourself than actual technique and planned tricks. It seemed to be working as he had figured out some interesting stuff on his own. And ended up forgetting exactly what he did a few seconds after.

Sky was excited as well. She couldn't believe that the time was already here. She had never been to any event to this scale, and the anticipation was great.
She was a bit annoyed that Zen kept hinting at Hikaru and her being together for some reason. It was really starting to get on her nerves. She never thought of Hikaru like that, and Zen was starting to make the thought cross her mind when she really didn't want it to. 'Whatever..' She thought. 'Just gotta focus and be happy about this event. Its gonna be amazing!'

It had been quite the journey that both Hikaru and Sky had taken. And it had its highs and lows. Up and down like a yoyo at times. But through it, they had grown closer, and met awesome ponies along the way who helped them out and became true friends. It was awesome.

Hikaru was lying on the sofa chewing on a carrot. Sky had gone out so he was just relaxing while he waited for her to return.
He thought about the schedule for the day.
At 3 o clock, the two would meet up with Flash and Zen. From there, they would go a few blocks away to meet up with Zen's friend Neko, and Flash's friends Beam and Cobalt. From there, they would wait to get picked up by the carriage which would would take them right into Ponyville. They would get some dinner and go hang out until the event started backstage. Hikaru and Sky would try to keep hidden by the general Ponyville eye as they knew that they were probably being looked for.
Once the event was over, they would take the carriage back to manehattan.

"I hope this all works out." Said Hikaru as he tried to bounce the carrot off the wall and have it come back to him. It actually worked surprisingly.
"Hmmmm...." He threw the carrot harder and watched as its bounced off the corner wall and off the other side and back to him.
He looked at the carrot in his hooves and gave a little smirk.
He chucked the carrot quite hard and watched as it bounced off one wall, a second, a third, and landed back by his side. "Well now..."
He built up all the strength within him and gave the carrot a massive power throw at the wall.

Sky suddenly walked in.

*THUNK!*

"YAH!"

The carrot flew right by Sky's face and imbedded itself into the wall next to her like an arrow.
Sky stared wide eyed at the carrot by the side of her head.
Hikaru let out a long breath as his heart had literally stopped when Sky had walked in.

"Hikaru?"
"um..yeah...."
"The hay?"
"That wasn't supposed to happen."
"I would hope so."
"I was bored."
"Obviously."

There was an awkward pause between the two of them as they both looked at the carrot in the wall.

The silence was broken as the carrot suddenly broke in half and fell to the floor.

"You know..." Began Sky. "you can be a very very strange individual."

"I really am...."

==============

"So what is so important that you need to leave the front?" Asked Storm in a very annoyed tone.

Iris could sense Storms annoyance and it made her feel a bit more uneasy about what she was going to say. But it had to be done.

"I'm worried about the hotel."

Storm tilted his head and gave a slight smirk.
"Well so am I! Nothing new! Times are tough, and we must make changes to keep the business running smoothly and efficiently. But no need to worry, I have made the necessary changes and as long as we continue to make careful choices, we should be fine."
"But......" Iris started quietly, "Sir, I have to say this...the choices you have made recently...they are hurting the business more than helping it."
A surprised look appeared on Storms face. "Nonsense! We've managed to cut back and save money with the new choices we have implemented. Its a great improvement!"
"But you don't see what's going on Storm." Continued Iris. "I work the front, and I have seen what's happening. Customers are getting angry that we have cut back on things that no other hotel would cut back on! I've been getting angry calls all morning!"
"Thats nothing to worry about." Replied Storm without a hint of worry. "Probably some overly particular Canterlotians who are doing the complaining. And as much as I aim to please the guest, we need to take our finances into account. And when you take a look, by cutting out the amenities, we save hundreds, even thousands a year!
"We are going to lose money if we keep this up!" Said Iris in an annoyed tone. "Its not Canterlotians, its individuals from all parts of Equestria who are calling in and upset! You always said that you cared about the reputation of the hotel, well what about now? We are going to get bad rep for the stuff thats going on!"
"No need to worry." Replied Storm calmly. "You must remember that we are still offering the best service in all of the Equestria here in the hotel. A group of well dedicated workers keeping everything running smoothly."
"And thats another thing!." Iris was feeling more confident now and was speaking up. "You FIRED some of the best workers we had! You fired Summer and Spark! Those two were the best we had! Truly dedicated to make the hotel run smoothly!"
"Also had the highest salaries." Scoffed Storm. "I will admit that they were good at what they were told to do. But the others do a good job as well, and right there, we save a huge amount of money. And I offered a lower price to Spark, but he protested. That was the final straw, so I fired him totally."
"Its going to hurt the business Storm..." Said Iris behind gritted teeth. 'This guy just doesn't get it does he?' "And how could you fire somepony like Spark! He has been so helpful here, and you know he has a family to take care of! You didn't even think about who he has to support at all!"
"Thats none of my business." Said Storm looking bored. "I could care less what's going on with Spark, or anypony else for that matter. I did not hire their families. I hired them. And besides, I knew Spark's family. His daughter has a deformed back leg due to a bone issue. The way I see it, there's no need to pay any extra to support him, if his daughter won't be able to succeed in life due to said deformity. Lost cause. Its sad but true. Thus, I could care less what happens to his family, they are of no concern to me. But this business is, and i will do everything it takes to keep us alive and well. And no family matter is going to stop that."

Iris looked up at Storm with fire in her eyes.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!"
=====================

Hikaru stood among some of the most awesome ponies he knew. New friends he made here in Manehattan, and his best friend of all time. They were standing at the corner where the carriage would come pick them up.
Flash had lots of connections within the city, so it wasn't difficult to get a friend of his to take them. Unfortunately, it seemed that this friend was late, as he was supposed to be there 20 minutes earlier.

"Ugh Flash..." Groaned Cobalt. "Where in the hay is he? Its so late!"
"I don't know he said he would be here bro, ugh....I don't know..." Flash looked quite worried.
"Now come on, just stay calm, I'm sure he'll be here soon." Reassured Zen. "He might have just gotten caught in some traffic."
"There is no traffic." Said Neko with an annoyed look.
"Not helping...." Replied Zen giving Neko a look.

"Do we have any other options?" Asked Sky hopefully.
"Yeah." Replied Beam quickly. "Run there."
"No!" Shouted Flash. "There's a reason that we hire sky carriages and chariots, it shortens travel time by 4 times. Im gonna wait here, and if that guy doesn't show up I'm gonna smash his face in next time I see him...."
"Calm down...." Said Zen softly.
"NO!"

Luckily, a sky chariot being pulled by two pegasus stallions appeared through the clouds and rushed towards the group.

"About freakin time!" Yelled Flash loudly as he walked into the street to meet them.

The two stallions landed and skidded to a stop in front of the group.
They both looked out of breath, and quite tired.
One of them began to speak between deep breaths.

"Flash! I am soooo sorry.....there was-"

"I WILL POUND YOUR LITTLE FREAKING FACE INTO THE PAVEMENT YOU LITTLE MULE ROTTEN APPLE! ILL SMEAR YOU ACROSS THE DIRT YOU LITTLE ROTTEN HAY STACK! ILL-"

*SMACK!*

Flash found himself being hit by a hard hoof to the face and he tripped over backward and landed on the street. He quickly gathered his surroundings and turned to see who had hit him.

"Zen?!?"

"I said...calm down....."

=======================

Comments

[SteampunkBrony]

okay, that's an interesting turn of events...

[Harpsanimation]

:3 i hope hikaru gets his cutie mark soon

[WildStallion]

I would rather trust a Ferangi from Star Trek then Storm. At leats they know how to run a buisness.