Octavia was at the home, glass of wine in hoof, as I entered. The door must've been left unlocked because I was the one with the key.
She didn't seem to notice me, so I made my presence known.

"I'm back and in one piece in case you were wondering."

"Well that's a relief."

She wasn't exactly doing her best right now, I'd just leave her to it. That's how it was going to be today I guess. I took a quick look at my watch, it Hoity must've left the factory an hour ago. He'll be getting the news soon though, I need to be careful when I approach him. He'll have as many bodyguards as Celestia herself after what went down earlier today. I'm ready to get whatever I need from him. I just need the right time and it'll be shooting a fish in a barrel.

It wasn't long before things would get out of hoof again. The city had gone to hell because of those two and it was my job to fix it, at least that's how I see it. If I need to scrap a few innocent ponies to do what must be done then so be it. Life goes on whether they live or not. Life always goes on.

I poured myself a scotch and sat next to her. We had a view out the window. The whole city was ours to see. All the skyscrapers, all the apartments, and much more. It was something majestic really.

"What did he do to you?"

"Excuse me?"

"In the office, what you did was awful. You know that as well as I."

"I need to do what I ha-"

"Don't give me that! That was unnecessary and you know it!"

"Well it's done now, what can we do about it?"

"Change for next time."

I was a little confused by this.

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that if you are to torture anypony else like that, you can consider me gone."

It was a fair trade. That and it was a serious threat.

"Fine, it won't happen again."

"Good, that's what I like to hear."

We watched the nighttime sky over the city together. It was as if there was a blanket over the whole world, hiding all the light. It was the perfect overcast of clouds and spots in the sky, only adding to the serenity. There were lights on in some of the buildings. Not a star in the sky. It must've been normal for these ponies not to see stars, they are always awake. For me, however, there was no appeal to that.

Octavia moved back towards the bed, and laid there until she eventually fell asleep. As for me it was my turn to sleep on the couch. Which I did. I woke up to a nightmare.

Upon waking up the next morning I was at the shock to see one thing: Octavia.

She was laying on the floor. What was she doing there? I walked towards her to have my question answered.

Her knife was in her neck, obviously self inflicted. The blood was spread across the floor, on the table was a note.

"Quite a mess you've made, haven't you?"

I read it quietly, it was repeated to me by Octavia. I looked up to see the body standing on it's hind legs. I screamed, I couldn't make out what I was trying to say, whether it was cry for help or a cry for mercy. It was then I had woken up.

Sweat was heavy around my neck and chest. It was almost hard to think about again. I had been jolted awake by Octavia.

"You were practically screaming, are you alright?"

"I'll be fine, they're just thoughts."

"You were thinking about yesterday weren't you?"

"I guess you could say. What time is it?"

"12:30 PM, why?"

Immediately after asking that, she understood.

"I'm not coming on this one..."

"Why not?"

She gave me a face something between 'You've got to be kidding me' and 'Please kill my dog and feed it to my children'.

"Oh, right."

"Yea, that is right."

I left the house and locked the door, I want Octavia to be as safe as possible. There was no way for her to leave the house, and that was just how I wanted it. Sure I'd be in for a shitstorm when I get home, but I'd rather her be safe than her be dead. The glock was still in the back seat. I didn't need anything but it and my knife. I already had my knife on me, with just some minor scratches from the day prior.

I loaded a magazine in to the weapon and got moving to Hoity's factory.

Upon arrival the first thing I noticed is that it was probably the most unsafe factory of all time. The cheap iron sheet walls had long since rusted, leaving them sharp and dangerous to any worker in the area. Maybe this was all because I had parked next to the loading bay. I doubt it, Hoity Toity always looked like a cheapskate when it came to anything but cloths.

I stowed the Glock under my jacket, and clipped the knife to the inside of a pocket. I made my way over to the front door, which was not in any good condition either. I pulled the door open and entered the building. There was a mare behind the counter. She was busy reading some newspaper, on the front cover was a police sketch of me. I hastily exited the premises so that she wouldn't notice me.

I entered the 'Employees only' area and kept moving. I caught a glimpse of Hoity in a office on the second floor. It actually was the only room on the second floor, so I wouldn't need to do much in order to access that once I'm past the industrial area. I walked by factory workers and inspectors until I had gotten to the stairs that led to the room. There was only one window in said room, and it was right next to Hoity's head.

Once I was at the door, I took a deep breath and grabbed my knife. remembering what Octavia said, I'm going to start trying now. I opened the door and it was all eyes on me. There was another pony in the room. A fat stallion with a large mustache. He had a similar coat to me, only difference was that he had a black mane. He was as silent as Hoity at this moment really.

I walked right past Hoity and looked right into the eyes of the other pony. He looked at his desk, which had the same paper the receptionist was reading. He looked back at me and back to the paper. I smashed his nose with the window breaker on my knife and put my Glock to Hoity's head.

"You know who Starlight Glimmer is?"

"I'm afraid not!"

"No, you're afraid I know otherwise."

I pistol whipped him on the face.

"You know who she is?"

"Well not personally, I know her name though. She was mentioned by the mayor."

"When and why?"

"We were having a conference and she needed to increase tax cuts for some project including 'Starlight'."

"What was this project?"

"It was an urban development project, some sort of new city that was being developed."

"Well, that explains a lot. What do you have to do in it?"

"I just give the mayor a portion of my profits!"

"Don't you already do that?"

"Excuse me?"

"Taxes, don't those go to the governor?"

"Well... yea. I didn't ever really think about that..."

"Well looks like you had the raw end of that deal."

"Listen, Mr. Dasher. I know who you are, lots of us do now. We now have a common enemy. Just fol-"

I slammed his face against the glass, shattering it on impact. Lifting his legs above his head, I threw him out of the window. He landed in a combing machine. He was crushed under the weight. He died soon after.

I ran my way out of the building, I could now confirm that there was a new city in development, and it wasn't going to be pretty.

I started driving, and then that's when I heard the sirens. I pulled onto the wrong side of traffic. The police were discouraged from following, but they did keep alongside me on the right lane. They shot a few shots at me, recognizing my identity. I pulled the glock and went to work shooting at them as I navigated through the weaving lines of cars. Some of them skidded, others played chicken. One of the officers to my right rear ended a SUV, driver obviously wasn't paying attention.

The car stopped where it was. There was another two vehicles following. I pulled my way onto the right side of the road. Now was time to lose them. I pulled off on the closest turn I could and then pulled my way off of that road and onto another. It was two right turns. I took the next left turn I could, this put some distance between us. The officers didn't follow. I drove my way home, when I arrived the house was exactly as I left it.

I opened the door, Octavia was watching TV. Wait what!

"Octavia, how did you get the TV to work?"

"It just turned on now. It's some emergency broadcast."

I looked at the television, and on it was an image of me. It was the same sketch as before.

"If you see this pony, do NOT attempt to approach him. He is armed and highly dangerous! Contact local authorities if you have any information on him."

The TV shut out right then.

I needed to get out of this city as soon as I finished my work.