Rachel opened her eyes to darkness and a dull ache in one of her shoulders. She tried to move her arm to rub at her shoulder, but discovered that she couldn’t move at all. After squirming a bit, moving as little as she was able, she determined she’d been blindfolded and tied to a chair.

“This is definitely not the spa treatment I paid for,” she complained. She waited for a response, but after a few seconds no one did. “You could’ve at least wrapped me in a robe before tying me up. It’s cold here.” Wherever “here” is, that is.

“Get used to it,” said a gruff voice.

Rachel allowed herself a sly smile, subtle enough that you’d have to be looking directly at her mouth in order to see how little the corners of her lips turned up. Oh good, a man, she thought. I might be able to charm him into letting me go free.

“Oh, thank goodness, another human being,” she exclaimed in a relieved tone. “Did they kidnap you too?”

“No.”

Rachel waited a moment to see if he would continue, but he said nothing more. If he’s not a victim, he’s either with the kidnapper or is the kidnapper as I suspected. “Do you know where we are?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me?”

“No.” Rachel huffed. Short answers were not what she fishing for… but perhaps she could figure out some clues with her senses.

Rachel moved her body to feel where the ropes were around her body and get a sense of how much range of motion she actually had. Ropes had been wrapped around her torso several times, and her hands had been tied behind the back of the chair. If she’d been clothed, she would’ve been able to reach a stiletto knife she kept hidden in her belt.

Damn it all! she thought. Despite knowing that someone’s been targeting us, I still let my guard down..

Adjusting her legs, she found that they’d only been bound just below the knees, leaving her lower legs and feet free to move. She rubbed her feet against the chair – plastic – and against the cold floor below. Too cold to be linoleum, too smooth to be stone, not nearly smooth enough to be tile, nor did she feel her toes rub against any grout lines That suggested a concrete floor of an industrial building, one with a need for practical flooring instead of something more aesthetic, and one with a terrible lack of any interior design whatsoever.

She leaned her head back and took a slow, deep breath through her nose. The most prominent scent was of staleness, dust that had been collecting for months, or perhaps years. It was a smell she’d remembered from various missions which brought her to some of the more abandoned areas of the city, horrid places that she’d suggested a few times to Sofia to let the Rainbooms buy these lots and fix them up, but alas, urban renewal had always been a lower priority for their leader. So she was in an abandoned warehouse, or at the very least, one that had been sitting unused for some time.

She turned her head and coughed into her shoulder. “Can you please cover me with something? It hasn’t gotten any warmer.”

“Would it get you to stop whining?” her captor asked. Rachel thought she detected a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“Technically I’m complaining, not whining,” she replied, “but yes, darling. For a while, anyway, as this is not the spa experience I paid for.”

Rachel heard the man’s heavy footsteps walking away – steel-toed boots, perhaps – and a door open to her left. His footsteps faded away as he looked for a blanket or something. She pulled her right leg as close to the chair as she could and pushed the other as far forward as she could, stretching the rope out as little as she could. She was grateful her thighs hadn’t been bound as she wiggled her right leg higher with some difficulty. When she couldn’t raise her right leg any more she lifted her other leg and felt the rope shift. Her movements may always be graceful befitting a lady such as herself, but she was certainly not as agile as Diane could be from time to time. Used to be, she reminded herself.

She heard the man’s footsteps returning, so she quickly put her legs back down. As she’d hoped, the rope slid down closer to her ankles. She’d have to keep working at it later and hope that her captor didn’t notice the change.

Rachel heard a crinkling noise as the man got closer, then more crinkling above her before feeling cold, stiff plastic covering her body. It was a tarp.

“This is all I could find.”

Rachel sighed.

“Well, thank you anyway,” she said. “At least it’ll cover my indecency.”

“You talk too much!” the man said, his voice raised.

Rachel stopped talking, but not because she was afraid of getting hurt for continuing to talk. No, she’d gone silent because she suddenly recognized his voice as of one of the spa workers. She didn’t usually deal with his services, but she could sometimes hear his loud voice through the walls as he made enthusiastic exclamations to his patrons. His large bodybuilder physique made him easily recognizable.

“Bruno?” she asked, her voice welling up with fear.

Bruno stuck a cloth in her mouth and tied it tight, silencing her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next few days passed with no further incidents, and while that would normally give Sunset the opportunity to relax and plan future missions, most of her energy was spent trying to find where Rachel had gone, and when that produced no results, distracted herself with assisting customers and dealing with her usual managerial duties in the music store. The distraction worked, as she found she’d lost track of time when Arianna and Phillip approached her.

“We should go, Sofia,” Phillip said, “even though we know Octavia’s going to be late anyway.” He smirked. “Ten bucks says she’s only eleven minutes late this time.”

“Not in the mood today, Flash,” Sunset stated. Phillip nodded.

“I already told Jackie she’s in charge of the store,” Arianna said, “so don’t delay. When was the last time you had some fresh air?”

“Fresh air in this city?” Sunset asked, not expecting an answer. Neither of her associates did, but simply looked at each other and shrugged. Sunset suddenly reminisced on how crisp and clean the air in Equestria had always been, and how disappointed she’d been when she learned that the air in human cities was never nearly as pure. “The day Diane died and Rachel disappeared. I haven’t been able to focus since.”

The three walked out to Phillip’s car and stepped inside, Sunset in the passenger seat and Arianna in the back seat. They drove in silence so Sunset could focus on the topics they’d be discussing at the meeting with Octavia, and soon were parked in the café’s parking lot.

Sunset, Arianna, and Phillip sat in silence at the usual patio table where Octavia and Sunset always held their lunch meetings. It was the first day Octavia had told Sunset she’d be available to meet, and while Sunset hadn’t liked the idea of waiting while Rachel was still missing in action, she had little choice but to agree and keep the Rainbooms vigilant in the meantime.

She took a few deep breaths, taking in the afternoon air, and found herself able to calm her nerves. She wasn’t sure if it was reminiscing about Equestria’s air quality, breathing in the relatively fresh air she’d gotten accustomed to, or having her two best underbosses next to her that calmed her.

Probably some combination of the three, she concluded.

Eleven minutes after the agreed-upon time, Octavia’s car drove around the corner. Arianna passed Flash a ten-dollar bill behind Sunset’s back, which he took without saying a word before all three stood up.

Octavia looked at the three Rainbooms as she approached, and greeted them. “If I had known you were bringing both of your best associates, Sofia, I would have brought another of my own.”

Sunset shook her head. “They’re not just here for my protection,” she replied. “Given what’s been happening, it’s for their own protection as well.”

“That’s either paranoia or wisdom,” Octavia said.

“It’s about half of each.”

“In all the years I’ve known you, Sofia, I’ve never known you to become flustered like this,” Octavia said as a waiter approached their table. “Tell me what’s been going on since we last met.”

It didn’t take very long for Sunset to explain everything that had happened since their last meeting, as well as to mention some new details concerning old business from the previous couple weeks.

“With four separate incidents or attacks on our associates in the last two weeks, and two of them on the same day, I need...” Don’t say it, don’t say it! “I need to ask a favor.” Fuck, I said it. No going back now.

Octavia nodded. “Anything for my oldest friends,” she replied. “What do you need?”

“We need protection,” Arianna blurted out. Sunset gave her a look. Arianna looked back and shrugged before turning back toward Octavia. “We think someone’s been targeting us. First Snips and Snails are found dead under suspicious circumstances, then some of Twilight’s tech disappears and reappears, and a few days ago Pinkie died and Rarity’s gone AWOL. We’ve beefed up security a ton since Snips and Snails, but it hasn’t seemed to have any effect whatsoever.”

“Hmm.” Octavia sat in thought for a moment, her hands clasped on the table. Sunset knew Octavia well enough to know that she was likely thinking about some complications regarding the Melodias protecting a rival famiglia. “As my oldest and most trusted friend, it’s the least I could do, though I may have to pull a few strings.”

“Thank you,” Sunset replied. “That shouldn’t be too difficult for you, mia amica. After all, you are your father’s daughter. You’ve got plenty of influence.”

“Indeed.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

S.P.I.K.E. let out an electronic bark, causing Esperanza to look up from the electronics she was soldering.

“What is it, S.P.I.K.E.?” There were yellow caution signs in the dog’s eyes. “Oh good, the security update for the drones is ready.”

She turned back to her computer and pulled up the program for the security update. She placed a USB in the port and began uploading the program. An error message popped up on the screen. Esperanza clicked on it and was relieved it wasn’t for the security update, but her relief faded as a program told her there was a malfunctioning drone in the storage warehouse.

“That’s strange,” she mumbled. “None of the drones in the storage warehouse should be active at all. Why’s one of them malfunctioning?”

She began typing at her computer, but with each command she entered she was greeted with an error message.

“Okay, that’s definitely a problem. I’m going to have to go there and fix it manually.” S.P.I.K.E. barked again. “Don’t worry, S.P.I.K.E., this is a good thing. I can add the security update while I check on the malfunctioning drone.”

S.P.I.K.E. let out a mechanical wine, and Esperanza reached down to pet his head while she waited for the program to transfer onto the USB. Once it was finally done, she safely removed the flash drive and tucked it into her pocket as she stood up to leave. Esperanza was just about to close the door behind her when S.P.I.K.E. barked again.

“What now?” S.P.I.K.E. tilted his head and she looked beside the table where she kept her taser and extra cartridges. “Oh, thanks, S.P.I.K.E. I definitely don’t want to forget that, what with all that’s been happening recently.” She picked up the taser and cartridges and closed the door to her lab behind her. She walked into the store and paused as she passed Jacqueline at the cash register.

“Applejack, I’m heading to the storage warehouse to install a security update on the drones,” she said.

“Alone?”

“It’s the middle of the day, so I should be fine,” Esperanza replied. “Plus I’ve got my taser in case someone does attack me.”

“That ain’t what I’m concerned about,” Jacqueline sighed. “Pinkie’s dead, Rarity’s missin’, and Sofia, Flash, and Dash just left to meet with Octavia right now. All our best associates are gone except fer us, and I’m in charge of the store right now so I can’t come with you. It’s really not a good time to go off alone.”

Esperanza looked around the empty store. “You can’t lock up for an hour?”

“I’d rather not. The music store is still our only legitimate source of income, and I’d really prefer not risking an audit any time soon just because we’re closed at unusual hours. Were there any other associates in the back?”

“I didn’t see any.”

“And the security update can’t wait?” Jacqueline asked, her concern growing.

Esperanza shook her head. “It’s best if I do it right away so whoever’s attacking us can’t hack into my programming. Which shouldn’t be possible at all unless they’ve got a really good programmer, but there’s never anything wrong with having better security, right?”

Jacqueline sighed. “All right, go on then. Just… be extra careful. Please.”

Esperanza nodded and left the building, making her way to her car nearby. It wasn’t a fancy car, but it ran well. She sat in the driver’s seat and set her taser in the passenger seat before pulling out of the lot and driving toward the warehouse.

The drive was quiet except for the radio, which played the local classical station. Classical music, as well as other genres without lyrics, always helped her focus on the task at hand, whether it was soldering resistors to a motherboard, writing hundreds of lines of code, or paying attention to the other drivers on the road. She arrived at the warehouse as the station had just finished playing Gerald Finzi’s Intrada from his cantata Dies Natalis, a piece that was both somber and hopeful, both calm and tense. It was the kind of musical complexity she loved and could never achieve herself.

Esperanza unlocked the door and walked into the dark storage warehouse, lit only by the emergency lights. She turned on the lights, locked the door behind her, and walked to the primary control console, pulling the USB with the security update out of her pocket.

“Wait, I won’t have to run the update twice if I fix the malfunctioning drone first.” She set the flash drive down and pulled up a schematic to find which drone was malfunctioning.

“03-02-C-06.”

Esperanza repeated the location as she walked to it to keep it fresh in her short-term memory. Once she arrived at the location, she disconnected the malfunctioning drone and brought it back to the control console, plugged in a cable, and ran a diagnostic program. She brewed some tea while she waited for the program to finish.

“A GPS error?” she said once it had run its course. “That’s easy enough to fix.” She held down the drone’s power button until it turned back on, running its startup. She ran the diagnostic again and found no errors. “Perfect.”

She placed the newly repaired drone back in its location and finally ran the security update.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jacqueline looked up from her phone as the bell above the door rang to see Sofia, Flash, and Dash entering the music store.

“Workin’ hard or hardly workin’?” Dash asked.

“Hardly workin’,” she responded. “No one’s come in today.”

“Well, that’s business,” stated Sofia as she walked back to her office. Jacqueline watched her as she passed.

“What’s up with her?”

“Oh, you know,” Flash replied with a shrug, “Diane dead, Rachel missing, the meeting was helpful but not immediately productive. Is Esperanza still in her lab?”

“Don’t tell Sofia,” Jacqueline said, “but she went to install a security update to the drones alone. I tried tellin’ her not to, but she figured updating them as soon as possible would be best given what’s been going on.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much a lose-lose,” Dash said. “Any idea when she’ll be back?”

“Not a clue. You’d have better luck askin’ her robo-dog.”

“Or we could just text her,” Flash said, taking out his phone and sending her a message.

“Oh, yeah. That too,” Dash said. She leaned on the counter in front of Jacqueline. “What are the chances she responds quickly?”

“It’s Twilight,” Jacqueline stated flatly.

“Yeah, I know, but still.”

“I doubt there’s much to distract her at the storage warehouse,” Flash said. “Not like here, where she’s constantly super focused on making her tech.” Flash’s phone buzzed. “‘I shouldn’t be longer than a half hour or so. The security update is 69% complete.’”

“Heh, nice.” Jacqueline slapped Dash upside the head. “Ow!”

“I’m gonna head to the back,” Flash said, making his way to the back of the store. “See if Sofia needs anything.”

“Feels weird,” Dash said once it was just her and Jacqueline in the store.

“What does?”

“After all the tension the last few weeks and plenty of opportunities for bad things to happen today, nothing did.”

Jacqueline thought for a moment. Dash was right. Rarity was still missing and they still had no leads, Twilight had taken some risks but she was still safe, and half of the gang’s leaders had been away from the music store most of the day and no one had attacked them.

“You don’t think whoever’s been targeting us has given up, do you?” she asked.

“Nah, the opposite,” Dash replied. “I’ve got a bad feeling that whoever’s been targeting us has given us some time to let down our guard.”

Silence fell over the two young women. Both of them were thinking the same thing, but neither wanted to be the first to say it: something very bad was coming, and they had no idea when or how it would happen.

Author's Note

And here it is, chapter 11 of my most ambitious fic to date. The title translates to "the calm before the storm". At least, I'm pretty sure that's the correct Italian version of that phrase. I found that Italian does have an equivalent phrase, but for the life of me couldn't actually find it in Italian.

We're getting closer to finding out who's been targeting the Rainbooms and why. I think I've dropped enough clues so far that I'm going to ask for your guesses. Normally I thumb up every comment on my stories except the jerks, but obviously I won't be doing that for the guesses. Don't want to give anything away too soon, after all.