Nothing Personal, It's Just Rule 63

Now that the doors made way, Malaysia could see the other side. At the end of the hall, she noticed the Prince Charming she had seen just outside. Next to him was a blue mare with glasses. Her demon eye focused on the mare, and there was a large cloud of darkness surrounding her - accompanied by very little drips of light. Malaysia's eye also began to glow while her classic smirk grew sufficiently big that it showed off some of her sharp teeth that some would say should not belong to her.

He didn't need to ask to know when the stallion was. Malaysia casually brushed past Sakuyi as if he was nothing but air, and made her way towards the blue mare. The smoke from his cigar seeped out of her mouth and nose like a slumbering dragon as her eye got brighter. Malaysia was all smiles. So what if her sharp teeth were showing? When she got but a few feet from the mare, she addressed her.

"Miss Xenna, I presume?"

"Yes, Xenna would be me," Xenna confirmed. She had gotten practice at keeping a neutral face on from years of corporate board meetings. "And yourself?" she asked, stepping towards her.

"Malaysia," Sakuyi interrupted, clearly in a grumpy mood as he stood beside his boss. "Two occupations: part of the Semi family. Punk."

"Well, that's rather unfriendly," put in Malaysia. "I like to consider myself an eccentric, if you will. But yeah, like the boy said, I'm Malaysia Semi, a Caporegime for the Semi family," she explained as she took another puff of her cigar before blowing the smoke away from the occupants of the room, so as not to be impolite. "Not sure if you've heard of me, but I'll bet you're acquainted with my momma, Semiazas."

"Of course, Semiazas," replied Xenna. "I was contacted by her team on one occasion. Organized crime. Something I've tried to avoid myself." She waved a hoof around the room, as if there was an invisible fly. "I, of course, have taken great measures to keep this company as legit as possible, at least as far as the law is concerned..." She gave a frown. "They seem to have a problem with me operating independently from the Families."

Before Malaysia could respond, a red Pegasus mare stopped in front of her. "I'm not a smoker myself, but can I just say what a cool cigar that is you have there?" she asked eagerly. "Like the kind ponies in the movies use! Are you here to sign a contract to be in a movie? Isn't that what you do at a contractor business? Does that cigar have a hidden weapon inside it or something?"

Malaysia looked at her cigar and smiled at the energetic mare. "I guess it is kinda cool now that you point it out. And sadly, no, I'm not here to sign a movie contract," she replied. "It doesn't contain a hidden weapon. But that gives me an idea..." She mulled it over some more before patting the mare's shoulder. "I like you."

Malaysia didn't sense the faintest bit of darkness in the mare. In fact, a rainbow wrapped itself around her as she smiled innocently ear to ear.

Malaysia took out another cigar and tucked it behind the mare's ear. "Here's one for yourself whenever you feel like taking up smoking."

Now back to her little talk with Xenna. She turned to the blue mare, but she seemed preoccupied talking with her assistant, one of the two abrasive stallions she had met in the elevator.

As for the other abrasive stallion... "Rahleigh!" he snapped angrily. "That mare is part of organized crime! You just encouraged whatever filthy deeds she's got planned!"

"I didn't know..." said Rahleigh, backing down.

Malaysia looked towards them. "Hey now, don't be like that, Bianchi. My line of work may be a bit out of the confines of the law, but that doesn't make me a bad person." She walked closer to them. "And you can't scold her for not knowing something. That just ain't fair. I mean, if that were acceptable, you'd be getting your cute flank whooped every single day of school."

"We're leaving," announced Aidan with the bluntness of a butter knife. "C'mon, Rahleigh," he instructed his companion, getting behind her and inching forward. Back when they were foals, Aidan was usually the one to save the day when Rahleigh had gone and gotten herself into trouble, such as climbing a tree with no idea of how to get down (before she learned to fly), or getting stung in the rump by a bee.

"I'll escort them down," said Sakuyi.

When the elevator doors opened, Sakuyi led Aidan and Rahleigh inside. "I'll be back later," was his message to Xenna before the doors sealed them away from each other from Sakuyi pressing the 'Doors Close' button after the 'Ground Floor' button.

"Well," he said, looking at the two ponies who shared the descending room with him. "That certainly proved interesting. Could do with more mornings like it," he commented. "Sorry for yanking you out like that, but I was getting a bad vibe from that mare..."

"Sorry? If anything, you deserve thanks," said Aidan. "And whatever bad vibe she was gving you, I'm sure mine was more or less the same."

He leaned in and whispered, "I know my friend here is cool with it, but she... well, I think her brain cells might be made of rainbows."

Sakuyi chuckled, and turned to the Pegasus. "So... what brings you to our tower? You don't strike me as a regular visitor."

"I fell straight through the roof," said Rahleigh with a smile and without the slightest hint of pessimism in her voice. "I was napping on a cloud, and I woke up to discover I was falling, and what do you know? I landed straight into the building!" he explained. "Miss Xenna and I had a nice chat, and my tongue landed on the ground, so I got to taste the floor. I think it was... Osmane cleaning products?"

Sakuyi looked at Rahleigh. "Cleaning products? Osmane?" He shook his head. "Yeah, sure. Not really sure what the cleaning staff uses. Perhaps you could check with my boss."

'She's a little... strange...' thought Sakuyi, giving the mare a brief once-over with his eyes. 'Almost... innocent. Like a filly.'

He turned to Aidan. "I get the feeling you two know each other," he said. "Old friends?"

"Yup!" put in Rahleigh. "Perhaps the story of how we met?"

~~~

"Alright, game's up, Blondie, gimme your lunch money!" demanded the purple, green-maned filly, advancing towards Rahleigh. She raised her hoof...

The bully found herself being bumped by a white colt with a dark grey mane. "Well, if it isn't Mister Gormless!" she said snarkily. "Here to commend me on my skills for catching you off-guard from behind and nabbing your lunch money?"

"Look here, missy," he said angrily, and shifted his flank to show a symbol of a bow and arrow. "Don't mess with the pony with a bow and arrow for a cutie mark."

The filly seemed suitably unnerved before she bolted.

The white colt smiled, then cantered over to Rahleigh and held his hoof out for her.

"Um... thank you," said Rahleigh."

~~~

"As far as I know, she never dared pick on anypony again," said Aidan with a satisfied smirk.

"Good to know you got a good story out of it," said Sakuyi, laughing. "I've done worse to ponies myself for less."

The elevator came to a halt, and with a ding, the doors opened with the trademark *PING!*. With Rahleigh and Aidan in tow, Sakuyi stepped out into the lobby.

Suddenly, the two guards who were assaulted earlier came up, but Sakuyi waved them off. "It's under control," he told them, and with wounded pride, then moved away.

"Sorry," Aidan addressed the two guards. "I'm sure you were really hoping to tear that Malaysia pony apart limb by limb." He then caught up with his two friends - one old, one new.

"Anyway, got any place in mind to head to?" asked the latter.

"Aidan, Sakuyi, guards... up for McDockalds?" asked Rahleigh. "I hear they have a new meal available for a week only."

"I've known her long enough to tell you she's got a big appetite," said Aidan. 'Were her parents half-whale?'

"Sounds like it," replied Sakuyi as they went back into the daylight. The city was truly alive, with ponies of many types and colors rushing here and there. "I guess I could go for a hayburger. Lead the way..."

Rahleigh scanned the area for McDockald's. "Where is it?" she murmured. "We gotta find it! No McDockald's means no hayburger and no hayburger... oh, that was easy!" Her sentence diverted as she noticed McDockald's. She lead the two stallions to it.

Their problems were not a thing of the past just yet, however. The line was like a snake.

"I know how to get past this," said Rahleigh confidently. She put on a police officer costume. "Cops get extra privileges, and you two can be civilians."

Sakuyi blinked. "A cop?" he asked as if it weren't obvious. He turned to Aidan. "You really think this will work?"

Aidan half-lidded his eyes. "It's worked before."

"Then off we go! It's on me!" said Rahleigh gleefully, and entered the building. "Ladies first!" she said chipperly as she skipped past the occupants of the queue before taking a place at the front.

"Officer Blahleigh Rythe patrolling," she said. She gestured to her friends. "And I have two civilians here with me."

Sakuyi simply coughed into his hoof, attempting to contain his bemusement. 'Impersonating a police officer for a cheap meal? Now I've seen everything!' He turned to Rahleigh. "I guess just a combo meal for me," he said.

"Same," said Aidan blankly.

Soon enough, they were sat at a table, munching on their food. "So... what else shall we do today?" asked Rahleigh.

Sakuyi shrugged. "I'll be honest, I really don't know. Most of my days are spent working. And the nights-" He frowned. "-keeping Xenna out of trouble." He sipped from his drink before continuing. "She's been spending more and more time at her favourite club, just lounging around and drinking like a fish, forcing me to keep things running. What self-respecting mare does that?" He sighed heavily. "This has been the first day in a while I've really been able to slip away from the office."

Rahleigh's ears perked up upon the mention of a club. "What club is this?" she asked eagerly. "I like clubs! And partying! Are you free tonight? We could all go together! I'll bring along my friends!" She continued to ramble on.

With a slurp, Sakuyi finished the last of his drink before answering. "It's a downtown place called the Scratch Shack. She's been going there almost every night for the past few weeks." Another sigh. "Spends most of our extra Bits too. If we don't get some more business soon, I fear she may drink all of our Bits away..."

"Considering how you just described Miss Ennex's relationship with this Scratch Shack place, sounds pretty popular!" said Rahleigh. "Let's go tonight!"

"Sure, why not?" replied Anala.

"My friend Baileef is a bartender, and she owns a bar. The Frayed Saddle, it's called. Perhaps I could take her along? Oh, and some more of my friends, Ivory and Brutesy," Rahleigh went on.

Sakuyi smiled. "You wanna invite the rest of Manehattan too?" he said, laughing afterward.  He turned to Aidna and asked, "Is she always this excited about everything? Or is he on something?" He grinned, hoping that her friends would recognize the joke, and not assume he was serious...

Aidan grinned equally in response as he turned to look over at his ranting friend. "She's got enough youthful energy to use as a power source," he replied. "Who knows? Maybe the licorice she always used to buy from the candy shop as a filly had some sort of secret ingredient in it..." he mused.

Sakuyi laughed.  "If only that energy could be harnessed," he replied, glancing at Raheligh. "We could make a fortune!"

Aidan imagined Rahleigh hopping around like a lunatic while having some kind of metal science hat on her head, transferring energy from her to homes.

Sakuyi turned to glance at a nearby clock. "I'd better head out now," he said. "We're suposed to be purchasing a building a few blocks from here. Some plan Xenna has to build a downtown casino." He couldn't help but frown. 'Gee, I wonder who the regular customer of that building is gonna be...'

"But tell you what," he went on. "How 'bout you meet me later at the club I mentioned? Gimme a sec." He reached nto his bag, pulled out a card, and wrote a quick address on the back. "Here," he said, placing it in front of them. "That's my business card. Just show it to the bouncers, and they'll let you in free!"

Getting up, he smiled at his new friends. "Thanks for lunch! And I hope to see you tonight!" With a final nod, he trotted out of the diner.