Prologue - The beginning of Ocatavia's New Life
The streetlights of Canterlot City blurred past Octavia’s window in a rapid and hypnotic spectrum of beautiful colors. Rain pattered softly against the window of her limousine, blurring her view of the outside world. The streets themselves were glistening brightly with the freshly fallen rain, and occasionally, a reflex shiver passed through her body. She could remember hating the sound and presence of rain all the way back to her foalhood. Back then, her father used his musical talent with the violin to create soft and graceful music to comfort and protect her through a storm, it always helped her feel less alone and scared. She pulled her thick coat tighter around herself, snuggling further into its comforting warmth.
Octavia closed her eyes and took several deep breaths to clear her mind of any thoughts of her foalhood, she couldn’t afford to be distracted by those. Tonight, she needed perfect mental clarity and one hundred percent pure focus. When she reopened her eyes she, was greeted by the concerned gaze of her very close friend, and personal assistant, Vanilla Rose, who looked away and ruffled her feathers in a clear sign of agitation. “Something the matter, darling?’ Octavia inquired.
“I know you won’t listen to me, Miss Melody. But I still am insistent we return to the protection of your father’s mansion. The Night Terrors can not be trusted or underestimated. We could be being set up for a trap.”
Octavia shared her friend’s worry, the “Night Terrors” were an extremely skilled and deadly Black Ops military group known to nopony other then Princess Luna and a few select members of the Lunar Guard. And those that did know of the Night Terrors, had no idea of their actions moonlighting as mercenaries and arms dealers. The only reason she knew of them, herself, was because her father had once been their leader before he retired from the military.
Octavia smiled darkly with amusement. “Rose darling, I am sure everything will be completely fine, tonight. My father lead the Night Terrors against the griffon rebellion, and they would not dare betray his only daughter. Not unless they wanted to be hung by their intestines in his basement.” She lit a cigarette taking in a long breath of the nicotine filled smoke, despite the reassurances she had given her partner in crime, Octavia felt terrified herself. Even with her father’s history with the Black Ops team, there was still a chance they might attempt a doublecross, they were after all nothing but mercenaries who would do anything for money.
“I know you’re worried, Rose. I too am also worried, but if tonight goes well, we will have tripled our arsenal of weapons, and no other crime family in any other city would dare try to move against us. The streets of Canterlot will belong to Melody Family for years to come.”
Rose sighed with resignation and nodded. “Very well, Miss Melody. If it is your wish to continue through with this mission then, I will be with you.”
Octavia held out her hand.. “Until the end?”
Vanilla Rose tightly grasped Octavia’s hand and gazed intently into her eyes. “Until the end,” she vowed.
For several moments Octavia held onto Rose’s hand. Despite the potential dangers of making an arms deal with the Night Terrors, Rose was still going with her, and willing to be by her side so they could face any dangers together.
Octavia gave a little squeak of surprise as Rose pulled her forward into into a soft but sincere hug. Rose unfurled her wings and wrapped them around Octavia’s body surrounding her with the soft and comforting warmth of her feathers. “Just promise me you’ll get out of there alive, Octavia.” Rose whimpered quietly and held Octavia even tighter. “I don’t know what I’ll do if I lost another friend, like we did in Fillydelphia.”
Octavia wrapped her arms around Rose’s body and gave her a reassuring squeeze. “I promise Rose,this will be nothing like Fillydelphia. Unlike now, we were simply not prepared for that attack.” They pulled back from their embrace and Octavia smoothed out the wrinkles in her otherwise immaculate black and gray urban camouflage fatigues.
The intercom for the backseat crackled to life and the driver’s voice came through the speaker. “We are pulling up to your destination now, Miss Octavia.”
Octavia glanced out the window and she could barely make out the silhouettes of the warehouses through the pouring rain they were pulling up in front of, but the distinct outline of several large humvees could not be mistaken.
When the limousine came to a full stop, the driver opened Octavia’s door and both mares shivered from the cold rainy air that flooded into the interior of the car. “Try not to worry too much, Rose darling,” Octavia said reassuringly. “I’ve never gotten myself into a situation I haven’t been able to get out of. Especially with you watching my back.”
Both mares stepped out of the car, and they suddenly froze when each of their chests and heads were marked with half a dozen red laser dots.
A loud strong voice suddenly shouted over the sound of pouring rain. “State your names, the business you have here, and reveal any weapons you have on you!” A well built bat pony in gray urban camouflage fatigues stepped into luminescence of a nearby streetlight switching the laser guide of his assault rifle to the middle of Octavia’s forehead. “Do it now!” Octavia raised her hands above her head and Rose copied her actions. “My name is Octavia Melody! My companion is Vanilla Rose! I am here to purchase a large quantity of weapons! I armed with two silenced nine millimeter hand guns , an AK-47! And a dozen throwing knives!”
At her words a dozen more bat ponies formed a “V” formation behind their leader never removing their laser guides from the two mares. “Prove it!” the leader of the Night Terrors demanded. “What was Sharpstring Melody’s role in the Manehatten extraction!”
Octavia gave a silent sigh of relief. She had always loved hearing her father recall to her his wartime stories, and the Manehatten extraction was by far her favorite. It was at the end of the Griffon Rebellion and the leader of the Griffons “Sillias Iron Claw” had stormed Manehatten and taken up a strategic position in a multistory high-rise building fortifying it with the last of his soldiers for one last attempt to gain control of Equestria. If he had fortified the building properly he would have been able to hold out against any attack for months to come. Unfortunately for him, the Night Terrors had been able to exploit a weakness in the building’s foundations by drilling up from the sewers before storming the building and securing it for themselves. It was her father himself that had come up with the idea and had been personally responsible for the death of Sillias Iron Claw,and ending the Griffon Rebellion.
“It was my father who came up with the idea for breaching the Griffon’s stronghold from the sewers!” Octavia called out. Just as suddenly as the laser dots had appeared on their bodies, they disappeared and the Black Ops team lowered their weapons without putting them away. Half of the group then took up strategic positions to secure and cover all entrances and exits of the roads leading to the warehouses.
The leader of the group walked up to Octavia and offered her a leather-gloved hand to shake. “Nice to finally meet you, Octavia. My Name is Shooter, I’ve heard many good things about you. Also some bad. My condolences on your mission in Fillydelphia, I know how hard it is to lose a fellow comrade.”
Octavia shook Shooter’s hand making sure to apply as much pressure as she could, bat ponies always made it a point to assert their dominance over others who they thought were weaker, and Octavia wasn’t going to be seen as an easy prey to to them. Shooter’s eyes narrowed at Octavia and he accepted her challenge also applying more and more pressure. Octavia gritted her teeth and refused to show him any sign of the pain her hand was suffering through from his crushing grip.
Shooter released Octavia’s hand before he broke it and gave the mare a genuine smile of affection. She was a tough little filly, much tougher then some of the soldiers he had shaken hands with before, she didn’t even give any sigh of relief when her hand was freed from his crushing grip.
“Thank you,” Octavia said acknowledging Shooter’s earlier comment of losing comrades. “Thankfully I’ve learned from that mistake, and it won’t happen again.” She leveled an icy and pointed glare at Shooter. “Ever again.”
Shooter’s smile turned predatory and even through the haze of rain Octavia could make out the gleam of his razor sharp fangs. “I see you’re just like your father, . There’s not a time I can remember Sharpstrings ever taking crap from anypony without making them swallow their teeth. Anyway, the weapons you’ve ordered are in the warehouse ready to be loaded as soon as your payment of ten million dollars has been made.”
Octavia turned to Rose and her driver, giving each of them a nod. They both pulled several large suitcases out of the limousine and stacked them in a neat pile. Two other bat ponies began loading the suitcases filled with money into one of their humvees.
“And the codes to the cases?” Shooter asked.
“You’ll get the codes, as soon as I’ve got my weapons, darling.”
Shooter was silent for several moments eyeing Octavia up with his pale blue eyes gleaming with a predatory glint.. Octavia held his cold unblinking gaze, with a fiery glare of her own that promised strong retribution should this arms deal go south.
Shooter grinned and nodded to one of his soldiers. “Bring out Octavia’s weapons, and load them up!”
His order was instantly obeyed by six bat ponies who rolled out several large crates each one filled to the brim with either AK-47s, nine-mil handguns, hand grenades, RPGs, sniper rifles, and enough ammo for the weapons to wage a small war against anyone for a very long time. It took the better part of an hour for everything to be loaded and when it was finally done the rain had stopped and Octavia was smiling to herself with satisfaction.
“The codes as promised,” Octaivia said handing Shooter a small note book. For several long moments Shooter’s hand lingered in Octavia’s grasp.
“If you’re ever interested in something other than managing the Canterlot Crime syndicate...”
“Then I’ll be sure to let you know, darling.”
Shooter’s grin widened and he made several hand gestures to his team. “Let’s move out. Nightglider! Take Crescent and get the money to a secure location! The rest of you are going to be escorting Octavia and her weapons to the location of her choice! ETA will be no longer then forty five minutes, I don’t care what traffic rules you have to break.”
Once more his orders were carried out instantly and soon they were moving out from the warehouse district and back to her father’s secure residence. Octavia had opted to ride with Shooter, and she let Rose ride in the second humvee, the third humvee with Shooter’s money went in the opposite direction, no doubt being being taken to the Night Terror’s own secure base.
As they drove through the rain soaked streets of Canterlot, Octavia rested her left hand on the hilt of the handgun holstered at her hip ready to pull free and use should Shooter and his team have any second thoughts about where they were going to deliver her weapons. Shooter noticed the movement and he glanced at Octavia with a playful smirk.
“You’ll get a hole in the back of your head before you can even think about drawing your weapon.” There was an ominous click of a gun being cocked and loaded before Octavia felt the cold metal of a gun’s barrel being pressed against her head.
“Fair point, darling.” Octavia relaxed her grip her on the gun and shifted into a more comfortable position.
“So, we’ve got a while before we reach our destination, perhaps you could make some introductions? I’d like to know who I’m dealing with.”
“I’m Sable...” The thestral behind her said very softly. “I’ve got a great deal of respect for your father. He saved my life a few times. I’m hoping you’ve got at least half his combative skills and loyalty.”
“Don’t mind Sable,” Shooter said. “She’s our best hand to hand combatant with no sense of polite bedside manners.”
Octavia shrugged. “It’s quite fine darling. To be honest I’m just relieved everything went fine without trouble. No offense, but you Night Terrors don’t exactly inspire trust. Especially with this much money at stake.”
