Will To Survive

Chapter 2: Basic Business Operations

         I woke up in a shock to realize I wasn’t in my abandoned apartment building, but instead, a hotel room. I lay back in the bed to help me relax. The bed was comfortable, nice and soft, but most importantly noted, it was warm. After I finished with the delivery yesterday and got the money, the first thing I got was food, and a lot of it. I ate at a fancy restaurant; it was expensive, but totally worth. I managed to fling myself off the bed and begin to head out. I checked myself out of the hotel and began to head to DimLight’s place for some more work.

         Only yesterday was I offered to work for this business. It’s not my first choice, but it was the only one available on a short notice. Although I knew it was risky, I’m willing to take it. In this timeline it’s safe to say that just about anypony would be willing to take it. Money was scarce, so some ponies were almost forced into this line of work.

There was red glow in the morning; a nice warm feeling overcame the land as I walked to DimLight’s place. When I finally got to his apartment and knocked on the door, he opened up and let me in, “Hey good, you’re here.”

“Yea, need something today?”

“Of course, come on in here and I’ll show you.”

         He led me into the living room to reveal two stallions and two mares of which I only recognized two of them. Mercurial Rage and that one mare from Sparky’s Den. I looked over to see a full yellowish gold mare with a wavy mane with about the same color. She had light blue eyes that were half closed staring me down. Next to her was a stallion that looked demonic. He was pure black with red and orange strait hair that covered half his face.

I stood there examining all of them before DimLight broke the silence.

“Okay then, so Spark, You remember Mercurial Rage and Cosmic Joy, right?” nudging his head in their direction.

“Yea,”

“Well then, here is more of the gang.”

“He can see that.” Said the golden mare in the corner “But now is not the time for introductions.” She sounded a bit tired.

“Okay, then let us get down to business, you have the floor ma’am.”

The mare stands up and gives me a faded look then takes a glance at Dimlight.

“Don’t be a kiss-ass.” Pointing to him then looked back to me, “So, your name is Blue Spark, huh? Interesting, anyway, we need you and Mercurial Rage along with my other friend here,” pointing to the black one in the corner, “to go get some product we made and take it to the docks where it’s going to be shipped to other parts of Equestria.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to have people fly it to the other towns?” I asked while regretting my words as they left my mouth. But she didn’t mind the question surprisingly. I’ve heard it’s not a good idea to ask too many questions, they’ll get suspicious of you.

“Yes and no. We make and distribute it. But it’s too out in the open to have ponies fly all over the place. We need to be sneakier so we use the ships to get through checkpoints easier, although flying has its advantages too.”

         I guess it made sense even though a bit confusing. They were trying to stay hidden while also be in plain sight. I can see a many instances were that won’t work to well for them, but for now I’ll just do as told.

“So, are you going to go do this?”

“Yes.” That’s all I could manage to say. I felt a bit nerved to be with what’s-his-face over there that was glaring me down, but I managed to keep my composure.

“Alright, let’s go then.” saying Mercurial while grabbing his bag.

         Mercurial tossed a saddlebag on me that was going to be filled with the substance; we began to head out. We started walking down the street to head to our destination until I was stopped by the black one; he grabs me and looks me straight in the eyes.

“I hope I can trust you, or else you’re going to regret it.”

He lets go and walks onward and says nothing more the rest of the time. Mercurial walked next to me and just slowly shakes his head back and forth and continues alongside me.

We get to a neat little middle-class neighborhood and walk to a small blue house on the corner of the street. The windows were covered by black shades and the grass looks as if it hadn't been cut in weeks. Mercurial goes to the door and knocks in a rhythm similar to the one I used to get into Sparky's Den. We were greeted by two stallions that let us in. We went over to the table where there was a bunch of different things. First was the packages we were coming to get, alongside with some others stuff such as some switchblade knives, a half drank tequila bottle, and an unloaded pistol, which caught my eye almost immediately. We grab our stuff and walk out the door and start to head down to the docks.

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It was a long walk there so I had a conversation with Mercurial Rage, just something to help pass the time.

“So, what does this stuff actually do?”

“Well, I tried it once. It all depends on who does it. Some have felt like they were on top of the world, others felt little change besides the crazy visual and audial hallucinations, and some just completely lose their shit. And when I mean by who does it, I mean the attitude they go into it. If you go in sad, you come out depressed. Go in angry, come out infuriated, etcetera.”

“So why do ponies do this then?”

“It’s to escape from the hard times, like they do with alcohol.”

“It’s dangerous though, right?”

“You have no idea.” He looks me in the eyes with his eyebrows raised up. “When some go psychotic they begin to attack others around them. Matter of fact: In Canterlot one pony went crazy and began to attack the ponies around him, actually killed one when he was on it. That little situation is what caused its ban by Shining Armor almost immediately afterwards.”

“So that explain why it got banned. I’m just surprised it didn’t happen sooner.”

“You and me both, and to be truthful I don’t like the high it gives.”

“Then why be in this business?”

“Same reason as you, I can’t get job anywhere else. Also, I like what I do, just not the substance.”

“A-alright,”

         That is all I needed to hear, I was quiet the rest of the way there, and so were they. We walked all the way to the old docks on the other end of Manehattan. My legs were tired because we couldn't just cut through the middle of the city, we had to walk all the way around. What a pain... When we finally reached the dock, we went to a boat called The Red Wing. I thought it was going to be some low budget speedboat. Actually, it was a fancy yacht. Now how the hell this is supposed to be more “stealthy” is beyond me. I don’t know if they were really thinking about that, or if they really cared.

We got on board and went to the lower deck, took the stuff out put it inside the hidden compartments that allowed us to line the stuff inside the walls, and then left. Nothing of general interest happened. Well, we did get money before we left by the boat owners. A nice amount to, 250 bits each.

         We walked back and still didn’t talk. I was afraid at this point that other pony was going to stab me. The entire time he looked at me funny. He didn’t trust me at all, he despised me to no end, and I don’t know why. I’m pretty sure I have to prove my worth to all of them. Who knows how long it will take before I finally gain respect.

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We get back to DimLight’s place and tell them that the job was done. It was a long walk; we basically walked from one end of the city to the other. When we got back it was almost nightfall, we all sat down and talked to each other, mostly just some small conversations about the world and all that. We had some drinks and basically just talked, until the gold mare that sent us out spoke to me directly.

“So, you joined this business, why?”

“Well, I need money. That’s it really. I see no other reason to be here.”

“It’s not about the ponies you meet or work with?”

“I just started yesterday, so I haven’t met anypony else but you five.”

“Oh really, well then, we need to introduce you to some more sometime," she takes a glance at the clock on the wall, "but right now we need to prepare for our next task.”

When they said next task I was a bit curious. We spent nearly the entire day just to pick up and deliver the powder. The sun had set and it was night time. What else do we need to do?

“So what is it?” I asked out of nervous curiosity.

“It’s plain and simple. Do you know what B&E stands for?”

“No, I’m afraid not.”

“It means breaking and entering. We are going to rob a rival. Sound good?”

Rival? I was never told anything about a rival, but I guess that should have been obvious to me. I had a question, but I was unsure if I should ask.

“Yea, but can I ask a question.”

“Damn it Spark, not another question.” said DimLight with a hoof over his forehead.

“Hey, let him ask the question.” The gold mare said, “He’s new to this, let him ask a few. What is the question, and we may or may not have an answer.”

“Who is the rival and are they the only one?”

She leaned back in the chair picked up a drink on the table next to her. She takes a sip, puts it back and looks at me with a small smile, then to DimLight.

“I find that to be an acceptable question.” She looks back at me, “The rivals are called Unity. They are in the same line of business we are, which is obvious. There are other smaller ones in this city, but we don’t pay much attention to them since they never mess with us, or Unity. We plan to overpower the smaller ones, but as of right now, let’s go collect something from Unity.”

“Okay, what do you have planned?”

“They own a warehouse in Milestone Industrial Park. They have a large laboratory and supply of the powder. We are going in to pay them a little visit tonight.”

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