The Iron Palace

“*yaaaawwwwnnn*”

Aurora wakes up from her Princess sized mattress on the floor, rustling through the black bed sheets and stretch from what seemed to be a somewhat disturbing slumber. As she scratches her grey mane and starts to crack her neck, she begins to talk to herself – as Aurora does...

“What the fuck was that dream about? And who in Equestria was I talkin’ to?” Aurora questioned herself mid-crack, “Been a while since I’ve even thought about back then. Oh well, time for a durry I guess.”

The drowsy mare shuffled out from her bed to find her cigarettes in the cyclone disaster that was her bedroom. Blueprints, spare parts, books and takeaway boxes from her favourite restaurant nearby, disgraced and blanketed her hardwood floor – That is, if anypony could see it to begin with. The most intriguing thing about this room however isn’t the amount of crap scattered on the floor, it’s actually the fact that there isn’t even any type of door to get in!

After much spelunking, she found her crumpled red packet of Mareboro’s on top of a pile of books near the bookshelf opposite her bed, which by the looks of it, she never used. Almost drooling over the sight of the label, she pulls a crooked cancer stick out from the soft pack with her lips and adjusts it to the side of her mouth. She instinctively rummaged through her mane to find a brass Zippo lighter, flick the cap and ignite the wick in one swift motion. For an Earth Pony, that’s pretty damn impressive.

Gazing outside the window above her mattress after lighting up her smoke and wiping the condensation with her hoof, she notices that daybreak hasn’t quite risen yet and sighs.

“Up before the alarm again...”

Aurora begins to wrap herself in the black quilt with the cigarette in her mouth and opens the window. After a quick observation, there is a spacious balcony with a ragged couch under a parasol, outside of her window sill on the roof. Also bringing the transistor radio on her bedside table i.e. milk crate, she steps outside and sits down, placing the radio next to her.

Looking over the balustrade from her couch, a skyline of different coloured brick apartments covered the residential area of the city. She had always wondered why the local weather team put up cirrus clouds at this time, not that she minded it. She found it quite peaceful actually, since they were usually arranged to look like a large, wispy halo blessing the city from the starry red sky above.

As she exhales the monoxide smog of death, the small crack of Celestia’s sun appears from the horizon to meet with its fellow clouds, and her ‘alarm’ awakens.

“...ood morning New Foaleans! It’s 6am for all of you hard workers out there in this beautiful City of Music! You’re listening to the one and only, Stomp Radio! This is Dusty Duke on the dial, deliverin’ your favourite tunes live from the studio!”

Aurora, inspired by the heavenly radio voice, decides to wreak some early morning havoc and manically yells out to the city of New Foaleans, “GOOD MORNIN’ EVERYPONY!!”

The neighbours' pets rampaged in a domestic shitstorm of barks, meows and squawks and the by-standing pigeons scurried amongst themselves and flew away as Aurora snickered to herself. As the pets began to quiet down, the radio can finally be heard to be playing a typical jazz song.

While bopping her head side to side in sync with the trumpets, Aurora heard a familiar voice coming from the quiet street below.

“Hey Aurora! Good to see you shouting about so early!”

Abandoning her quilt, Aurora jumped out into the chilly air and peered over the balustrade to see a yellow skinned Unicorn with a red mane, in front of a shabby two storey house with bold red writing above the door which read: The Rising Sun.

“Hey Luka! How’s business?” Aurora hollered from her rooftop, “I had some customers from Manehattan bitchin’ about ya last night, callin’ you a barbarian o’ somethin’! They must’a pissed you off suttin' shockin’ to be complained about the way they did!”

“Don’t get me started on those pompous clopstains!” Luka vented out to her favourite customer, “As soon as those four walked in at around seven in the evening, they go and insult my shop! Then they sat at their table and whined about the new chairs I ordered the other week! They later asked about my origins and insulted my hometown in the East!”

“Oh, you’ve got to be shittin' me...” Aurora empathised with her own feelings.

“Yep, but that ain’t the kicker.”

“Nooo....”

“Oh yeah” Luka continued, “Once they all finished their meals, one of them decided to do some terrible third-rate acting and collapsed on the floor! The other three were trying to convince me that their friend had a peanut allergy! If that dipshit actually had an allergy he wouldn’t have ordered a large serving of peanut satay straw fry! UURRRGHHHH!” Luka raged.

“They all seemed in tip-top shape to me, all four of 'em.” Aurora began to chuckle, “Well, ‘cept the fat shit. He had a black eye.”

“That sounds about right. I threw a wok at that one, and chucked them all out on the street with my magic. Wasted so many bits on that lot though...” the unicorn sighed in grief.

“Don’t worry Luka; I’ll sort ‘em out when they leave.” Aurora promised, “What did the other three get, by the way?”

“All together, they ordered a platter of spring rolls as a shared entree; one got a bamboo noodle broth with three glasses of lager, the other had a teriyaki straw fry along with crispy noodles and a glass of soda and wok-face had a sizzling Szechuan chickpea and broccoli dish with rice, a plate of dim sums, a pot of Oolong tea with extra lard and a plate of deep-fried ice cream with a side of dark chocolate sauce. All large servings perfectly cooked and prepared!” The esteemed chef pony had noted in great detail, proud of her culinary accomplishments.

Aurora’s jaw would’ve hit ground level over the colossal order. How those four, especially the land whale, managed to even survive on Manehatten’s hors d’oeuvres had left her in a catatonic state of confusion and shock. She didn’t even notice her cigarette fall out of her mouth and off the balcony.

“Why do you ask anyway?” Luka asked.

Ferrick snapped out of her vegetable state and started shaking the cobwebs out.

“N-no reason” Aurora stuttered while trying to recover her senses, “J-jus’ in-ci-den-tals... Catch...ya latahhh...”

And with that, the brain-fried pony clumsily stumbled back into her bedroom wall-eyed, with a concerned yellow unicorn observing from the road.

Finally settling down after the conversation, Aurora picked up a black book with her teeth and heard the reception bell ting from downstairs. Panicking from the awaiting customer, the teal Earth Pony bolted through the bookshelf, as if it was made of thin air, and then she was gone.
________________________________________

Running through the other side of the bookshelf, Aurora finds herself in a small isolated room which was obviously the office – paperwork strewn all over the office table and receipts stabbed through a small aluminium spike.

Behind her was a tall mirror hoisted on the off white wall (which was what she had exited from a few seconds ago), and glanced quickly at her profile before serving the impatient customer that was beginning to bash the dainty bell as though he or she was crushing sunflower seeds in a mortar and pestle. Bringing her black book, she rushed through the office door to her right and saw to the customer’s needs.

Arriving at the pine counter, Aurora drops the book on it and gazes over the counter to find a startled overweight brown Unicorn with a black eye, pinning himself to the white wall opposite Aurora.

“...Still not used to my eyes I see.” The peeved inventor retorted.

“N-no... You just t-took me by surprise, t-that’s all...” The trembling cocoa puff stuttered, while still attempting to keep a formal Manehattan dialect. The large Unicorn began to relax and step away from the wall. “I-I wish to...make a complaint.”

“As do I, Mister...” Aurora dropped her Horsetralian accent to one that rivalled his. She flicked through the black book. It’s a tenant ledger of all of the ponies that had ever stayed at The Iron Palace, listing not only their appearances, personal details and their occupations, but also medical histories, preferences and allergies too. She managed to suppress her laughter when she had found the irony of his name, “Raul E. Paullie, is it?”

“Mister Paullie will be sufficient, madam.” Scowling over the entire pronunciation of his name, he then inquired, “But what is it that you could possibly complain to me about?”

Knowing that this situation was going to happen sooner or later, Aurora knew that she’s have to ‘bring out the big guns’ is she was ever going to convince the snooty lard ass to pay for the humongous food bill they skipped out of last night. She glanced at his bio in the black book again to find the perfect opportunity...

“Late last night, I was awakened by a distressed Luka Fry, the head chef of The Rising Sun.” Aurora stated, “With chopsticks as her Cutie Mark... I believe you know who I am referring to.”

“I do.” Paullie became curious, “But what does that... brute have anything to do with you?”

Remaining composed and in formal manner, Aurora continued. “She had told me that you and your colleagues had not only offended her greatly, but also skipped on your bill with a certain... peanut allergy fiasco. Is this not true?”

“That is true, and that lady did nothing for my poor friend who was suffering an anaphylactic shock at that moment.” ‘Rolly Polly’ lied.

“Anaphylactic shock you say?” Having read up on allergic reactions from one of the many books in her room, she felt confident that she can bluff him out. “What time did this occur?”

“At around seven o’clock. We were there for an hour”

“In most cases, it takes approximately two hours for a pony to suffer from anaphylactic shock when caused by a food allergy.” Aurora informed, “Luka told me that the four of you had arrived at The Rising Sun at six. You claim that you were there for an hour and what you say matches up to what she said.”

“What? You thought I’d be lying?”

“I never thought you were lying, Mister Paullie, I know you were lying.” Aurora began to press the matter aggressively, “You and your cohorts had booked in at 9pm last night. Your allergic friend would have already suffered or would have been suffering from the allergies at or within the time you left the restaurant and arrived at this hotel. If you had sought out medical attention for your friend’s allergy, he surely would have been administered at the local hospital for more than ‘just a few minutes’. Besides, with what he ordered, I don’t think he would have lived long enough to experience his allergic episode, let alone book into a hotel.”

Defeated by the evidence, Paullie cocks his head down to the floor for a moment, and then finally musters up enough courage to say something.

“A-again, I d-don’t see what this has to do with you...” Sweat began to run down Paullie’s face.

Grasping what he meant by that question, Aurora had to do some lying of her own. The fatso was not going to fork over the bits that easily. She peeks over to the left of the counter to see a small stack of sightseeing brochures next to another radio and picks one up, knowing the local businesses – including The Rising Sun, were listed inside.

“There’s a reason why these businesses specifically, are listed within this brochure...” Aurora continued with her tall tale, “And it’s simple really: I own them.”

“You own these? I apologize, but I find that extremely hard to believe.” Paullie doubted as he examined the brochure, “How can one pony such as yourself, run this rundown hotel alone and find the time to do business on the side?”

Ferrick saw a good point in what he was saying and had to think of a way to convince him. She obviously wasn’t going to give up on this. Then she thought of something. It was a bit of a long shot, but it was the only method she could muster.

“My, I thought you of all ponies would be able to relate with how I managed. You’re quite an entrepreneur yourself, are you not?” Aurora flattered, “There too must be a reason why you have your own branch of hardware stores spread across Equestria.”

"I'm listening..."

“It’s simply because we’re good at what we do. We are capable of turning in profit margins regardless of what competition is before us, and we expand, growing into a powerful force within our society. I’m sure by now that you’ve had countless business proposals in your profession.”

“I have, but what are you getting at?”

“The Iron Palace is one of the only hotels in New Foaleans that continues to light up their ‘no vacancy’ sign. So it’s little wonder why other ponies want a part of that. They too want the many customers that I’m serving on a daily basis, so when they come to me, I make them a deal and voila! That is how I, Aurora Ferrick, expand.”

“Touching story, so what is the point of this?”

“I was hoping you’d say that. When you have been in this industry for long enough, you realise that as a successful pony, as you should know, you gain a reputation.”

This is the opportunity that Aurora has been waiting on since the conversation started. Aurora had figured that the one thing entrepreneurs feared most, was a bad reputation. As an icon, it’s the one thing that can send anypony crashing down.

“If any form of...’slip up’ should occur, you could lose just about everything you had ever achieved.” Aurora threatened, “It’ll be quite a shame to hear on this little radio here, the incident of Raul E. Paullie, breaking an innocent chef pony down to tears, after he and his colleagues had harassed her inside her own award winning restaurant... And then proceeded to assault her.”

Anger boiled in Paullie’s eyes in disbelief to what he had just heard, but that’s to be expected from blackmail.

“You wouldn’t dare!” Paullie yelled.

“Oh but I would, and Dusty Duke here will tell the whole city about it...” Aurora stroked the radio with her hoof with a devilish grin.

Now in tears, Paullie began to plead.

“Look, how much do you want from me!? I’ll do anything, just leave me be!”

Aurora turned to Paullie with an even wider smile, staring into his very soul with her blue and green eyes with sinister intent.

“Depends,” Aurora dropped her fancy facade, “How much is ya lil’ career worth!?”
________________________________________

Later in the night at The Rising Sun, Luka was cleaning the kitchen in her stained white apron as she waited for her next customer, swaying to the rhythm of an old song blaring through the radio on the counter. As the yellow unicorn was scrubbing away at the stovetop with her magic, the shop door opens and triggers the bell hanging over it, sending a small chime throughout the restaurant. Still being able to hear the bell through the loud music, Luka turned around to see an exhausted teal pony at the door. Luka turned the volume knob to an audible level to greet her cherished customer.

“You look terrible dear, long day?” Luka asked with worry.

Aurora gave a weak smile in response to Luka’s concern.

“Just work really.” Aurora shrugged off her fatigue, then smiled for what was to be expected next, “I have something for you that you’re just going to love!”

Aurora skipped past the neatly laid out tables and over to the counter to sit on one of the bar stools facing it. She stuck her left hoof in her grey lopsided mane, pulls out a purple jingly pouch and passes it across the counter. The curious chef lifted up the pouch with her yellow magic and opens it to see its contents. What was inside shined brighter than her own magic, as the fluorescent light above her reflected the treasure's glory onto her face as an array of buzzing fireflies.

“W-W-WHAT!?” Luka cried out in sheer surprise, “You can’t give this to me! How much is in here!?”

“...Enough” Aurora followed with a sheepish grin, “Surely covers th’ food bill huh?”

“It does more than that! But I can’t have all this!” Luka shouted.

“I made a promise. I make damn sure to keep ‘em. Besides, I already have my share.” Aurora assured.

Luka smiled with joy when she heard those words. Then paused when she thought about what her best friend had just said to her, staring into space.

“Your share?” Luka said in suspicion and turned to Aurora with a worried stare, “...What in Equestria did you do?”

Aurora averted her eyes away from Luka’s oppressive stare and bit her bottom lip.

“N-nothin’...” Aurora nervously stuttered, “But... Let’s just say that I have a new business partner.”

Luka continued with her stare. She saw right through Ferrick’s poor cover-up.

“Blackmail.”

Busted. Aurora turned back to Luka with no reason to hide the facts.

“Don’t call it blackmail Lu... I just gave the fat shit... a business proposal, so t’speak.” The teal pony weaselled around the words, “He’s a douche anyway. No one hurts my lil’ Luka.”

Aurora batted her eyelids innocently at Luka.

“A three month age difference doesn’t give you the chance to call me ‘little’, Nan.” Luka joked back. “Anyway, what are you ordering? It’s on me.”

Aurora drooled at those beautiful words of charity. She made sure to take full advantage of it!

“I’ll have a nasi goreng with extra buk choy, six spring rolls and a bottle o’ sake please!” Ferrick ordered with a cheerful holler.

“The sake’s gonna cost you a Mareboro. You do realise this, right?” Luka whisked her magic and pulled out Aurora cigarettes from her mane. “Just open the windows and we can get right to it.”

“That’s a fair call.” Aurora chuckled as Luka helped herself to her deserved smoke.

Aurora began to open up the shop windows that sat next to the door on both sides when she was interrupted by two disguised mares – one white and one grey, in dark sunglasses and hooded cloaks, burst in through the door.

“Please hide us Miss!” The grey pony panicked in fear.

Aurora noticed something interesting about the grey mare apart from the situation at hoof.

She was wearing a pink bow tie.