07: That First Job
A few days later Starshadow had to begin thinking about moving her belongings from Cloudsdale to Ponyville. Even though the more difficult items (namely her keyboard and accompanying electronics) were already in Vinyl's house in Ponyville, she still had a few other things to bring over. Luckily for her, her apartment in Cloudsdale came already furnished, as did her new room in Ponyville, so she didn't have to worry about moving anything too heavy. However, she did still have her other belongings to bring over, such as her clothes and the few other belongings she had.
Moving everything would be impossible for Starshadow to do alone, and though Big Mac offered to help her carry her items back, there was no way that the muscular earth pony could get up to Cloudsdale or walk on the clouds like the pagasi could. Instead, Big Mac called over two pegasi mares that he said would be more than happy to help her bring her belongings back over to her new home. The first pegasus to arrive was a bright blue pegasus with a rainbow-colored mane and tail, and Starshadow instantly recognized her as a pony she had seen around Cloudsdale a few times, specifically around the weather factory. Big Mac introduced her as Rainbow Dash, and as Starshadow extended a hoof in greeting Rainbow looked at the midnight blue pegasus with some curiosity, shaking her hoof with some reluctance.
Before Starshadow could ask what was up with Dash's odd behavior the rainbow pony's eyes lit up. "Wait, you're Starshadow, aren't you?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Oh my gosh, I loved the last show you played up in Cloudsdale! It was so awesome! I really wanted to go to the show you played in with Vinyl here in Ponyville but I got stuck on night cloud watch that night. So you're moving to Ponyville? That's so cool!"
"Uh, yeah... I'm glad you liked the music." Starshadow said indifferently. 'Oh great, another fanatic fan-pony.' she thought to herself with some disdain.
"Hey Rainbow Dash, where's Fluttershy?" Big Mac asked, thankfully taking Dash's attention off of Starshadow.
"I dunno." Rainbow shrugged. "I'd guess taking care of her animals back home... it's just about that time where she has to feed all of them. Let's head over there and check on her."
Zooming up into the sky, Rainbow Dash stopped as she realized she was alone. She turned and saw that both Big Mac and Starshadow were still on the ground. She floated back down to where they remained on the ground and eyed both ponies. "Well, are you guys coming?" Dash asked. "Don't worry, Big Mac here is more than fast enough to keep up with us if we fly over there."
Starshadow shook her head no. "I prefer walking." she said bluntly.
Rainbow Dash looked at Starshadow, her expression somewhere between shocked and judgmental. She could never understand pegasi who preferred to walk rather than fly, such as Fluttershy and now Starshadow. Shrugging, she zipped back up into the sky, shouting back at Starshadow and Big Mac that she'd meet them at Fluttershy's cottage.
Big Mac looked down at Starshadow. "Don't worry, she's usually like that." he said, hoping Starshadow wasn't too offended by Dash's bluntness.
"It's okay. This way we get to enjoy the walk together." Starshadow said, brushing up against him. Big Mac smiled and nodded, eventually leading the way to where Rainbow Dash would meet them. During the walk they talked about Starshadow's new home and what there was to do around the small town. As they strolled through town Big Mac pointed out the various shops; Sugarcube Corner where one of his sister's friend worked, the town library where Princess Twilight Sparkle resided when she was in town, Carousel Boutique where she could get any type of clothing made, the Day Spa that was run by the twins Aloe and Lotus, the train station that ran to Canterlot, Shady Stable, and Los Pegasus among other places, and finally Fluttershy's cottage.
As they approached their destination they saw Rainbow waiting impatiently by the front door of a small little cottage near the woods. "About time." she huffed impatiently. "Although it doesn't really matter... Fluttershy is still trying to finish feeding her animals before we go."
Starshadow and Big Mac looked around the outside of the cottage. Dozens of different animals were happily munching on their favorite foods and there was no sign of any pegasus struggling to finish her chores. Starshadow looked up at Big Mac with some confusion. "What's she having trouble with? It looks like she's already done." she asked.
Rainbow Dash let out a snigger but Big Mac remembered that Starshadow didn't know about Fluttershy's most difficult pet. "You'll understand better if ya take a look inside." he told her.
Rainbow Dash pushed open the front door and allowed Starshadow to view the trouble inside. Inside was a pegasus with a long pink mane, rushing back and forth between her kitchen and the living room. The pony dashed into the kitchen and came out with a small bowl of salad, placing the food in front of a small white rabbit who was acting like a spoiled filly.
"Angel, I told you I'm really sorry, but I don't have any carrots left." the pegasus said apologetically. The bunny in front of her didn't seem to take her excuse kindly and pushed the salad away. "Um, what about some nice apples with your salad? Would that be okay?"
The bunny crossed his little arms and shook his head no. Rainbow Dash facehoofed herself in agitation and impatience. "Fluttershy, come on! We don't have all day."
"Oh, I'm so sorry! Just one more second." she replied to Dash before turning her attention back to the bunny. "Please, Angel? I promise to pick up carrots tomorrow at the market."
The stubborn bunny shook his head once again and brought his foot back to kick away the offensive bowl. Fluttershy saw his movement and finally had enough and decided to finally utilize her secret weapon; the Stare.
Big Mac and Rainbow Dash knew to look away from Fluttershy's gaze, but Starshadow caught a glimpse of Fluttershy's stare and felt her body freeze. Her first impression of the meek yellow pegasus was very negative, and she had thought about telling Big Mac that she didn't need this shy pony's help. But now she felt weak in her legs and she wanted to bow down to Fluttershy and give in to her every demand, the willpower to disobey the yellow pegasus completely gone.
Angel finally succumbed to Fluttershy's stare and slowly lowered his foot. Still unhappy about the lack of carrots, the bunny took the salad and took a bite out of one of the leaves of lettuce. Fluttershy smiled at him and gently patted his head. "See? It's not so bad." she said. Angel stuck his tongue out at her but kept on eating, finally allowing Fluttershy to join her friends and Starshadow outside.
"It's about time!" Rainbow Dash said impatiently. "You know how long we've been waiting for you?"
"I'm sorry." Fluttershy squeaked, causing Starshadow to wonder where all of her assertiveness had gone.
"Well, come on, let's go! We wasted enough time already." Dash said, flapping her wings and hovering in the air.
Starshadow still wasn't too keen on flying, and thankfully for her Fluttershy didn't seem too excited about flying either. "Um, do we have to? Couldn't we take the train to Shady Stable and fly up to Cloudsdale from there?" she asked.
Before Starshadow could speak up to agree with Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash shot down the idea. "Ugh, are you serious? The next train for Shady Stable doesn't leave for another few hours. By the time it leaves Ponyville we could have flown there! Besides, that ride costs so much, it'd be a waste of bits."
Starshadow was glad she kept her mouth shut as Rainbow Dash was right about both of her points. She gave Big Mac a hug before all three mares took off for Cloudsdale.
The flight from Ponyville to Cloudsdale was only a two hour flight, nothing that the three pegasi couldn't handle. Rainbow Dash had to keep on stopping and waiting for Fluttershy to catch up, groaning about how she could have flown to Cloudsdale within thirty minutes if she was flying solo. Thankfully for both Fluttershy and Starshadow, Rainbow Dash soon reduced her displeasure of flying slow to grumbling to herself, though she had to still occasionally stop and wait for the two others to catch up.
Starshadow was more than happy to hang back with Fluttershy as they flew on to Cloudsdale. Fluttershy surprisingly felt somewhat comfortable talking to the newest resident of Ponyville. She happily answered the questions Starshadow asked her, though Starshadow had to restrain herself from asking about Fluttershy's hypnotic stare. Fluttershy had some questions of her own and somehow managed to summon the courage to ask them. The first few were relatively harmless; where was she staying in Ponyville, who else did she know there, what would her job be...
Fluttershy then hit a sore spot, though there was no way of her knowing about it. "So, um, is your family going to be moving to Ponyville also?" she asked innocently.
Starshadow almost forgot to keep flapping her wings when Fluttershy asked her that question. A flood of emotions came rushing back to her all at once; fond memories of happy yet brief moments with her sister and mother, but those memories were quickly overshadowed by a darker figure in her life... a pony she hoped to never ever see again or talk to; her father.
Shaking her head clear of her dark thoughts, she shook her head no. "No, they won't be." she said.
Fluttershy caught wind of the depression in Starshadow's voice and realized that she asked a question she shouldn't have. "I, um, well, I'm sorry." she said, unsure of where to go from there.
"It's okay." Starshadow said, not wanting Fluttershy to dwell on any guilt.
"Hey, hurry up you two! We're almost there!" Rainbow Dash yelled back to them. Looking ahead, Starshadow saw that the massive cloud city was just coming into view on the horizon. Once they reached the city proper, she took the lead and led the two other mares to her apartment. Both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were surprised by the apartment she had been living in; while it was nothing extravagant, by Cloudsdale standards it was a massive space, much larger than they had expected a single mare to live in by herself. Since both of them had been born in Cloudsdale and had family still living in the cloud city they both knew how much a place like this cost. Rainbow Dash's salary couldn't cover someplace like this unless she had two or three roommates, yet Starshadow had somehow been living here alone for quite a while.
"Wow, quite the place." Rainbow Dash said as they walked inside. "How the heck did you manage to afford this place?"
"I used to work at the weather factory here for a while." Starshadow said. She noticed Dash's confused look. Since she worked for the weather factory also, Dash was very familiar with the pay grades for the pegasi who worked there. "I worked as a secretary for the CEO, Cirro Stratus." Starshadow explained.
"Seriously?" Rainbow asked. "Damn, I must be in the wrong position. If I knew that being a secretary paid so much then I would have chosen that job years ago!"
"Uh, yeah..." Starshadow said. There was no way that she could tell them the truth about how she had gotten her job as Cirro Stratus's secretary, but she couldn't help but think back to when she used to work at the weather factory...
After finishing secondary school and dropping out of flight school in Cloudsdale, Starshadow was desperate for a job and a place to stay. After about a week of searching, she found a young pegasus mare looking for a roommate. Her job hunt, however, was much more challenging. She had no experience as she had never held a job before, and she began to worry that her lack of experience would make finding a suitable job impossible... Thankfully, her roommate Rainbowshine had just the solution for her; winter was coming up and the weather factory was short on ponies to help with snowflake inspections. Since Rainbowshine was already employed at the weather factory she helped Starshadow get in the door and, after forging some paperwork about her age, Starshadow was finally employed.
The pay wasn't the greatest, and it was only a part-time position, but it was enough for Starshadow to live on while she continued looking for a better paying, full time position somewhere. She also didn't mind her position; she got to see the beautiful work the snowflake ponies created each day and her job was one of the least stressful positions in the entire factory. Still, she wanted better, and a few months later that opportunity came to her...
The CEO of the factory, Cirro Stratus, was one of the most influential pegasi in all of Equestria. He had the final say in every single weather decision and was thus widely liked and respected. His friendship could mean the difference between a sunny spring or a long extended winter, and he knew exactly what kind of power he held. Bribes, gifts, sexual favors from mares... he accepted everything he was offered and also was rumored to force his demands upon other ponies whenever he desired more. Of course he favored Canterlot and always gave the best weather to the ponies of nobility who resided there, and thus many of his actions were overlooked.
He normally didn't bother meeting any of the new hires in his factory and definitely didn't bother with overseeing the minor day-to-day tasks, but as the first snowfall was scheduled to take place in Canterlot he had no choice but to walk the floors and inspect the selection of snowflakes personally. His temper at having to mingle with the 'commoners' was quickly dismissed, though, once he saw the new beautiful mare that he had never seen before. He pulled aside the supervisor and demanded to know who she was, and when he was told her name and that she was only a part time employee he balked. "I will not have a mare like her stuck doing such mundane jobs! Have her sent to my office immediately!" he demanded.
Starshadow was almost trembling as she made the way to the CEO's office. She needed this job; without it the likelihood of her having to resort to some sordid business in order to survive, or even worse return home, would become impossible to avoid. She was slightly confused as she reached his office and saw that the secretary's desk was completely empty and cleaned out, but before she could wonder why the usual mare who staffed the desk was now gone Cirro Stratus came out and warmly greeted her, beckoning her into his office. He let her walk in first, not out of politeness but to catch a peek at her rear. He liked what he saw... he liked it a lot.
Getting right to the point, Stratus told her that he was suddenly in need of a new secretary, of course not telling her that he had fired his old 'used up' secretary and kicked her out a mere five minutes ago. He knew exactly how to make her accept his offer, tempting her with an extraordinary pay raise, generous benefits, and the opportunity to work from home on certain days. Of course there was no way that Starshadow could refuse his offer, and she accepted the job without a second thought. Happy that she had taken the bait, he told her that he had one more unofficial benefit of taking the job; he would provide her an upscale apartment to live in, one that was closer to the weather factory, and more importantly, next door to where he lived.
Starshadow didn't mind living with Rainbowshine but she preferred living on her own, so she gladly accepted the offer. The next day she moved in to her new place, excited that the apartment came already furnished so she didn't have to bother buying furniture. Her first day of work was relatively easy as all she had to do was redirect a few calls and organize some papers in Cirro Stratus's office. He passed by her a few times to see how she was liking the new job, and a few times he placed a hoof around her waist and let it slide down to her ass before he walked away. At first his advances scared her a little, but as his touching became more aggressive throughout the day she couldn't help but start to submit to the power he held over her. His last physical contact with her at work was clearly deliberate as he rubbed his hoof against her pussy while holding her tail up, causing her to gasp out loud before her gasp turned into a soft mewing. Stratus grinned at her reaction, abruptly pulling away and collecting his trench coat. "I'll see you later, miss Starshadow." he said before leaving his office. She was taken aback by his sudden departure, but she was kind of glad that he had stopped. She had heard the stories and rumors about him, and already she could tell that most of the ponies she used to work with were now talking about her behind her back.
She returned to her new apartment and prepared a light dinner for herself. With not much else to do she figured she would read a book in bed before going to sleep, but just as she was climbing into bed she thought she heard her front door open and then shut. She froze, trying to figure out if it was just the pony across the hallway getting home, but she found her answer when Cirro Stratus entered her bedroom. "M-m-mister Stratus!" she gasped in shock.
Her boss walked over to her and pushed her roughly down onto the bed, pinning her down. He forced his mouth against hers and got his first taste of her, and he was quite pleased with it. Starshadow was quickly overwhelmed by his dominance over her and let herself fall to his demands and needs, not offering a single ounce of resistance. He began to stroke himself and soon began rubbing his hardened shaft against her lower lips, feeling how wet she was becoming from his forcefulness. She couldn't help but cry out as he stimulated her, but once he felt she was wet enough he shoved his cock into her soaked pussy. He smiled as he felt her tight hole envelope his cock and immediately started thrusting in and out of her vigorously, not bothering to conduct any more foreplay than necessary. He knew what he wanted, and Starshadow knew it too. She gladly gave in to his dominance and let him use her to his heart's content, and all too soon Cirro Stratus gave out a gruff grunt and hilted himself inside of her one last time before he emptied his seed into her foal hole. He squeezed every last drop that he could muster into her and kissed her once more on the lips quickly before he pulled himself out of her body and wiped his cock on her crotch.
He looked down at her still horny body and smiled. "You liked that, didn't you?" he asked her. She nodded yes in response, hoping that he would reward her answer with allowing her to have her own orgasm. However, Cirro had no interest in her pleasure, only his own. He got off of her and looked at the small trickle of his cum leaking out of her pussy, watching her hole quiver slightly. "As long as you work for me, your body is mine to use whenever I wish. Do you understand?"
Starshadow nodded but knew that Cirro had a wife and foals at home. "B-but sir, what about your wife? Your family?" she asked him.
Cirro laughed. "My wife? That bitch? She's too old to bear me any more foals and won't even put out anymore, though she's too used up for me to find her attractive enough to bed with anyway." He walked back up to her and stared at her coldly. "If you don't like it, you can always go find another job somewhere else or go back home."
Starshadow couldn't bear the thought of having to go back home alone. "No, Master! I'll be good, I'll do as you say. Please, don't send me away." she begged.
Cirro Stratus was surprised by her response but smiled as it was exactly the response he was looking for. "Good girl. I'll see you at work tomorrow." he said before heading to the door. Before he left he turned back to face her. "Oh, and you're my property now. You are not allowed to sleep with anypony else or touch yourself unless I say so. Understand?" Starshadow meekly nodded, her crotch still burning with the desire to be fucked again but now she couldn't even masturbate to fulfill her own needs. Satisfied that his new toy understood her place, Cirro left her alone in her room.
Cirro kept true to his word and kept her life comfortable at the expense of her body. He paid for almost every single one of her expenses and also treated her to plenty of nights out at the finest restaurants. He brought her to the social events he was obligated to attend and was more than happy to have the small, beautiful mare by his side as she turned the head of every stallion who saw her. He gave her whatever she desired, and even bought her a diamond-studded collar to show the world that she belonged to him. But he was also demanding of her; every single night he would use his key to enter her apartment whenever he wished and would ravage her body. He didn't show any improvement in catering to her desires and only used her to fulfill his own primal needs for release. He would use whichever hole of hers he wished to use, and thankfully for her she was not a stranger to using all of them as he was extremely rough with her and never bothered with any more than the bare minimum amount of foreplay at best. Soon after she started working under him she found herself being called into his office to offer him her body, and more often than not she found herself underneath his desk, sucking his cock and swallowing every drop of semen that he gave her.
Her biggest shock came one day when she was summoned to her office and the president of the Farmer's Union of Western Equestria was talking to her boss. Cirro's guest looked over her with lust in his eyes while her boss motioned her to come over to him. She immediately obeyed his command and walked over to him, the union president staring at her ass as she walked by. Cirro slapped her ass with his hoof, causing her to yelp out. "Starshadow, this is Mister Greenhoof. He and I have been working on a business deal for the past few days, but as you can guess he is quite the stiff negotiator. Why don't you take him home and 'entertain' him a little bit. Maybe see if you can change his mind. Just be sure to do whatever he tells you to do."
Starshadow knew exactly what her boss meant, and Greenhoof looked quite eager to be persuaded to take Cirro's deal. "Yes, Master. I'd be happy to." she informed her boss and led her new temporary Master back to her apartment. Once inside Greenhoof pushed her to the ground and began eating out her pussy, sliding his tongue into her pussy to taste her sweet nectar. She snapped her head back in pleasure and moaned aloud in pleasure, but like Cirro, Greenhoof didn't care at all for her pleasure. Once he had tasted enough he re-positioned himself and sunk his cock into her pussy and began to use her as his own personal fuck hole, his only goal to plant as much of his seed into Starshadow's womb.
Starshadow couldn't believe how rough Greenhoof was being with her as he plowed into her again and again and again. Unlike Cirro Stratus, her current lover had an extremely high stamina and even after half an hour of pounding her now raw pussy, he still wasn't showing any signs of being close to done. By the time he did finally empty himself inside of her Starshadow had cum twice, and she herself was largely responsible for the large puddle of fluids now on the floor below her body.
Greenhoof, however, wasn't finished with her quite yet. His cock was still hard and he wanted to use more of her. Before she had a chance to get up he plunged his cock deep into her ass, the sudden intrusion catching her by surprise. Her mouth was left agape as Greenhoof savagely pounded away at her ass, and since he had just cum he was sure that he could easily last another half hour before he filled her anal cavity with his cream.
It actually took another hour and a half for him to finally reach his second climax. Starshadow had no idea how many times she had cum. All she knew was that her legs wouldn't stop shaking and her mind was a complete blank. Her mouth hung open and she couldn't stop from drooling on the floor as a mixture of his and her cum trickled out from her other end. Just then Stratus entered the apartment and saw his secretary in her orgasm-induced daze while Greenhoof slowly slid his cock out of her ass.
"So, did my secretary convince you to accept my offer?" he asked smiling as he approached the two.
"Oh yes, she was quite persuasive." Greenhoof said. "Perhaps she could delegate our 'agreement' right now?"
Stratus nodded in acceptance and took up a position by her head. He began to feed her his cock, and even though she wasn't thinking clearly she automatically opened her mouth once she felt her Master's cock at her lips. Greenhoof reinserted his shaft into her pussy, and together both stallions pounded away at Starshadow's body to seal their deal...
"...dow? Hey, Starshadow. You in there? Helloooo?"
Starshadow finally snapped out of her daze and saw Rainbow Dash standing in front of her. "Hey, you awake? The mailpony dropped off your mail. Where do you want it?"
"O-oh. Um, I'll take it. Thank you." Starshadow said, accepting the small pile of mail from Rainbow Dash. Once Dash left to help Fluttershy pack Starshadow's clothes, Starshadow flipped through the few pieces of mail she had.
'Junk mail, bill, not mine, not mine, not mine... Oh, Derpy' she sighed, shaking her head as she thought of her old friend from flight school; the fact that the mare had become one of the primary mailponies for Cloudsdale and Shady Stable had always confounded her. 'Another bill, junk mail... Oh!' She stopped at one piece of mail in an expensive matte envelope with a name she had been hoping to see for ages; Starsong. She put the letter aside, her heart bursting with excitement to see what her sister had written her, but she wanted to wait until she was alone to read it.
As she looked at the last envelope she had though, her happiness quickly disappeared, replaced with bitter hated. The last envelope she held was made of the same heavy matte material, but on the front of the envelope was a very familiar design; an aurora made of red, green, and blue with a white four-pointed star. Her family seal. Her cutie mark. She didn't need to open it to know who it was from. Tears of anger and frustration built in her eyes as an image of her father began to enter her mind. 'That... that foal-fucking asshole! How did he find me?' she thought angrily.
She went to tear the letter in half, but as she ripped it in two the paper magically bonded back together almost instantly. She dropped the envelope in horror as she realized that her father must have put a spell on it to prevent her from doing just this. She picked up the letter and ripped it in half again, but as before the pieces reconnected to each other almost instantly. Disgusted that her father would go to such great lengths she rushed over to the kitchen and turned on the stove, watching one of the burners light up. She dipped a corner of the paper into the fire and thankfully the offensive letter caught fire. Starshadow watched with more than a little satisfaction as the letter was reduced to ashes; she let the flames lick against her hoof, not caring that she may get burned. The flames did nip at her slightly but went out before they burned her, and she dropped the tiny bit of the envelope that was left into the fire before walking away.
"Fuck you, Polaris. Fuck you..." she quietly whispered.