Sunset returned to the music store an hour later carrying the first two Xanth novels in a tote bag. She greeted some customers as she passed them on her way to her office. She opened the door and saw Phillip sitting at her desk. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it with a smirk.

“Welcome back, Phil. Don’t tell me you’ve decided to usurp me?”

“No. Not yet, anyway,” he added. Sunset’s smile faded when she noticed he wasn’t smiling.

“I walked to the library to get some books to read later,” she said, walking behind her desk and leaning her arm on top of his head as she placed the tote bag on her desk. “Thank you for making me take a break.”

“You’re welcome,” he said.

“All right, now get out of my chair,” she said, turning the chair around. He stood up and stepped aside, and Sunset sat down, crossing her legs and looked up at him. “Now, if I recall correctly, you said you’d give me an update.”

“It’s a good thing you’re sitting down. Snips and Snails are dead.”

Sunset turned her head away and took a deep breath. Snips and Snails hadn’t been the brightest of her associates, but they always did what they were asked to do. She leaned down to open the mini-fridge, took out a beer. She offered it to Phillip, who shook his head, and then opened it and took a big gulp before setting it on her desk and leaning back in her chair.

“What happened?”

“They were in the second film in a Jackass marathon and had an empty case of beer next to them. I found no evidence of a break-in. Doc found evidence of strangulation around their necks, but not from someone’s hands. The cleaners cleaned out the apartment and brought the bodies to our hospital so Doc could run full autopsies.”

“Strangled, hm?” Sunset thought for a moment. “Was there anything else?”

“The apartment smelled a bit like gas,” he replied. “I think someone might have tried to cover it up and make it look like an accident.”

“A cover-up would mean this was intentional, possibly a hit,” Sunset said, drumming her fingers on the desk. “Let’s call a meeting in the music store. Get everyone from the back, and I’ll clear out the music store.”

Phillip nodded and walked out of the office and turned right, followed close behind by Sunset who turned left. She opened the door to the music store and looked around.

Fortunately, she wouldn’t need to clear out many customers. Arianna was helping an adult customer with guitar accessories, and Jacqueline was nearby helping a teenager pick out a bass guitar. She stepped behind the counter, picked up a couple coupon vouchers, and then walked over to them and got their attention.

“Good afternoon,” she greeted them with a smile. “Are you finding everything all right today?”

“Yes, thank you,” the adult said. “Your employees are very helpful.”

“That’s great to hear,” Sunset responded. “Unfortunately, we just discovered a big problem in the back room, and we have to close the store for about an hour in order to fix it. We understand it’s not ideal, but here are some coupons for the inconvenience.” She handed each customer the coupons, which they took. “Thank you for your patience, and we hope to see you again soon!”

Sunset stepped away and stepped behind the counter again, looking through the day’s sales so far. Within minutes, Arianna and Jacqueline had finished ushering their customers out of the door. Arianna locked the door and put up a sign that read “Temporarily Closed for Emergency”, the sign they always put up when there was a capo meeting during business hours. Sunset sent a text to Phillip telling him to bring everyone into the store. Within a few minutes, everyone who was in the building had been ushered into the front of the store and lined up in front of the counter.

“Thank you all for coming so quickly,” Sunset said, standing behind the counter like it was a podium. “This morning, Snips and Snails were found dead in their apartment.” A few of the gang’s members started murmuring. “Doc is performing the autopsies now, but here’s what we know. They had strangulation marks around their necks and their apartment smelled like gas had leaked. There was no sign of forced entry. We believe they were unconscious from the resulting carbon monoxide, and someone strangled them to finish the job.

“This leads us to believe that they were murdered, and whoever did it is trying to cover it up. It may have been a hit, so we have to assume we all may be targeted at some point. This also doesn’t appear to be connected to what happened with Pinkie last week. In light of what happened to Snips and Snails, I urge you all to check the security in your own homes, apartments, and vehicles for bugged phones and other indications someone may be after you. Stay safe.”

Sunset walked back to the backroom, letting everyone talk amongst themselves.

“Sofia, what the hell?”

Sunset turned around, seeing Arianna and Jacqueline behind her. She hadn’t even made it to her office yet. Arianna crossed her arms and looked angry. Jacqueline, on the other hand, had a hard look on her face but her hands in her pockets.

“Someone murdering one of the Rainbooms is a big fucking deal,” Arianna continued. “Why weren’t we notified first?”

“I understand your frustration, Dash,” said Sunset. “I only found out myself when Flash told me about it maybe ten, fifteen minutes ago. If they had just died of carbon monoxide poisoning, I would’ve called a meeting with the capos, but with the strong possibility that they were murdered, and the chance that a hit was put out on them, I thought it best to tell everyone at the same time. Make sure your soldiers know to take precautions, by the way.”

“I agree with Dash,” Jacqueline said, “but I also think you made the right call.”

“Thank you, Applejack.”

Jacqueline turned toward Arianna. “What should we tell Felicity?”

“Ah, shit,” Arianna swore and rubbed her temple. “We’d better not. She’ll get scared.”

Sunset thought for a moment. Not telling Felicity was an option, but sooner or later she’d be likely to find out what the Rainbooms really were anyway, whether by figuring it out, by overhearing someone mentioning something they weren’t supposed to, or by being told. She immediately dismissed putting a hit on her. She then looked at Jacqueline.

“What do you think we should do, Applejack?”

Jacqueline thought for a minute. “We tell her what we are.”

Arianna looked shocked. “Are you crazy?”

“No, I ain’t.” Sunset could tell that Jacqueline was being serious. Her natural southern drawl always appeared through her practiced “normal” accent in situations like this. “She’s gonna find out sooner or later what we actually do for a living, and it’ll be better if we do it on our own terms in our favor than if she were to find out some other way.”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Sunset said. “Now the question becomes how do we tell her?”

Jacqueline and Sunset looked at Arianna. Arianna looked at both of them and groaned. “Fine, I’ll tell her. But this was your guys’ idea, so you’re both coming with me.”

“Fair enough,” Jacqueline shrugged.

The trio made their way up the stairs to Felicity’s room and Arianna knocked on the door.

“Who is it?”

“Lis, it’s Arie. Jacqueline and Sofia are here too. Can we come in?”

“Oh, sure. Just give me a moment.”

Moments later, the door opened. Arianna thanked her and they all filed into her room.

“I’m sorry I don’t have more chairs,” Felicity said sheepishly. “Usually only Arianna comes to visit. Is something wrong?”

“Sorta,” Arianna said. Felicity put her head down, and Arianna went over, placing her hand on Felicity’s shoulder. “But not with you! You’re a great houseguest.”

“The problem,” said Jacqueline, “is that we haven’t been entirely honest with you. Something happened earlier today with some of our coworkers, and it made us realize we needed to come clean.”

“Oh? What happened?”

Jacqueline looked to Sunset. “The things we told you are true. We do run a music store, and we do also do what we can to protect the people of Canterlot. What we didn’t tell you is that the music store is the front we use for protecting people, and that we do more than protect people. The Rainbooms are a mafia – well, really more like a more organized version of a street gang – with the goal of challenging the Melodia crime family’s control over the city. While a large part of what we do is legitimate business, we’ve also done some bad and illegal things in order to challenge the Melodias.”

Felicity put her hands over her mouth. “Oh my.”

“I knew this was a bad idea,” Arianna grumbled, putting her arm around her friend.

“The night we rescued you, it was because one of our informants gave us some intel that you were being followed by some Melodia soldiers in our territory.”

“We also don’t use our real names all that often,” Jacquelin said. “Except for Sofia. She doesn’t have one. I’m Applejack, and Arianna here is Dash. Most of the other Rainbooms have nicknames as well.”

“Why don’t you use your real names?”

“It’s kind of a way to protect ourselves,” Sunset said. “By using nicknames for gang activity, there’s a chance it won’t be traced back to us and the music store.”

“Plus some of them are just easier to say,” Arianna said. “Like Esperanza. We call her Twilight.”

“Please understand,” Sunset said, “we kept this from you so you would feel safe with us that first night. Being rescued by criminals isn’t exactly the most reassuring thing to find out after being stalked by criminals.”

“May I ask what happened with your coworkers?”

Arianna and Jacqueline looked at Sunset. Even they weren’t sure if they should tell her this information.

“Two of our gang members – we called them Snips and Snails – were found dead in their apartment this morning. We suspect someone killed them and tried to cover it up.”

There was a moment of silence as they allowed Felicity to take it all in.

“This is a lot to take in,” she said.

“Yes, it is,” Sunset said. “We would understand if you wish to leave. In many regards, we’re not much better than the goons who attempted to abduct you.”

“It’s not that,” Felicity replied. “You took me in when I needed help and kept the truth from me because I was scared, and you didn’t want to scare me more. You are better than those creeps. I’ve seen how helpful you and your friends have been.”

Arianna looked at her friend. “So, you’re not gonna leave?”

“No, I want to stay. You may be gang members, but you’re good people.”

Sunset silently swore through the smile on her face. She hated being reminded of her Equestrian heritage. She was no longer Equestrian. She was Sofia Speranza, Donna of her own rising famiglia.

And yet, I keep referring to myself “Sunset” and not “Sofia”.

After meeting with Felicity, Sunset went back to her office and saw the partially drunk beer on her desk. Closing the door behind her, she moved over and finished the beer in one swig. She coughed a few times and wiped her mouth, dropping the bottle on her desk. She bent down and opened the minifridge, taking out another bottle and opening it. She would spend the night at her desk.

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

On the first night of the portal being open again, Sunset passed through and was a pony again. She was in a castle she did not recognize, a castle that appeared to be made of crystal. She had learned about this kingdom under Princess Celestia’s tutelage. It was the Crystal Kingdom, a realm that had disappeared a thousand years ago when the Elements of Harmony defeated the tyrant King Sombra. However, Sunset had also figured out that unless the Elements of Harmony reversed what they had done, the effects of using the Elements would wear off after one thousand years. According to her calculations, the thousand years had recently passed, and the portal was open as she had calculated.

She used a dampening spell on her hooves so they wouldn’t make a sound on the shiny floors, and crept through the castle’s halls, ducking behind walls so she wouldn’t be seen by any passing guards. After some time searching, she found the hallway where the new princess Twilight Sparkle was staying the night. She slowly opened the door and crept inside the room.

Princess Twilight slept in the canopy bed on her back, and there was a baby dragon sleeping in a pet bed on the other side of a side table. Sunset wondered how she was comfortable laying on her wings like that. Sunset’s eyes were drawn to the side table.

There it was; the crown containing the Element of Magic. It really was incredible how alike it looked to Canterlot High’s fake crown for the Fall Formal. It looked different from how they looked when Princess Celestia had shown them to her in the ruins of her old castle, but the Elements of Harmony were also known to change depending on who was wielding them. When Celestia and her younger sister Luna had wielded them, they were regular faceted gems. Apparently when Twilight and her friends had become the new Bearers, the gems had transformed into their cutie marks and had wrapped themselves in gold to be worn as necklaces. Or in Twilight’s case, a crown.

Sunset stepped forward, casting a telekinesis spell to pick up the crown. It got too close to the lamp, which started to fall. She quickly cast a second spell to grab it before it hit the ground, and looked at Twilight, afraid she’d woken her. She breathed a sigh of relief and put the lamp back, then took the fake crown out from under her cloak and replacing it with the Element of Magic. She smiled at the successful stop, turned around, and began walking out. Unfortunately, the baby dragon turned in his sleep, and Sunset didn’t have enough time to adjust her step, so she fell down. The Element of Magic scattered across the floor.

“Huh? What?” So much for being stealthy. Sunset tripping over the dragon’s tail had caused him to wake up. She stood up, and then heard a voice behind her.

“My crown! She’s got my crown!”

Sunset bolted out of the room and down the hallway, hearing the hoofbeats of the princess behind her. She heard a crackle behind her, and saw a flash of light in front of her; the purple princess had teleported in front of her. Sunset smirked and kept galloping forward, preparing her own teleportation spell, and casting it just a moment before she would’ve run into Twilight. She reappeared behind Twilight, looked back with a grin, and started galloping again.

As she ran, she heard many more pairs of hooves galloping behind her. She looked back and was surprised to see five ponies chasing her on hoof and one with a multi-colored mane flying in the air. Sunset pushed herself to go faster, seeing the door to the room the mirror portal was in just within reach. Princess Twilight leaped forward, tackling her. The crown slipped out from the cloak and bounced on the floor and into the mirror. Sunset grinned. Everypony else gasped.

“What did you do with my crown?” Twilight demanded.

“Sorry it had to be this way,” Sunset said, teleporting closer to the portal, “Princess.”

Sunset ran through the portal, and found herself standing next to the statue’s pedestal, holding the crown after a final fight with the other girls. She grinned wider, cackling evilly.

“At last!” she exclaimed. “More power than I could ever imagine!” She placed the crown on her head, and to her surprise and horror, the crown pulled itself farther down her head. She tried pulling it off, but it just stuck itself tighter. Her hair started flowing and her boots left the ground as magic lifted her higher into the air, pummeling her with magical force. She screamed, feeling pain all over her body as if something inside her was trying to burst out of every pore.

She started cackling. The monster inside her had broken free.

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

Sunset jerked awake and looked around. She was in her office and had fallen asleep on her desk, an empty bottle of beer in her hand. She looked up and saw Felicity nearby, holding a tray with a teapot and two teacups.

“Hey, Felicity.” Sunset rubbed her aching forehead. “What time is it?”

“Almost six o’clock,” she replied.

“Six in the evening?” Sunset asked.

Felicity nodded. “Would you like some tea?”

Sunset nodded. “What kind is it?”

“Chamomile, good for headaches and other symptoms of hangovers,” Felicity answered. “The others saw you’d been drinking, so I asked them to get it for me.”

Felicity set the tray on Sunset’s desk and started pouring tea into the cups. “Sugar?”

“Will it help?”

“It can.”

“Then yes.”

Felicity dropped a sugar cube into a cup and handed it to Sunset. Sunset took the cup and reached to grab another cube of sugar from the dish and popped it into her mouth. She held the cup to her face and breathed in the scent before taking a sip.

“Where are Arianna and Jacqueline?”

“Working. They reopened the store while you were drinking. May I sit down?”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Sunset said. “I should’ve offered. Please, sit.”

Felicity sat down across from Sunset and took a sip of her tea. “Sofia, may I ask you something?”

“You can ask, but I can’t guarantee I’ll give a desirable answer.”

“Why did you decide to start a gang?”

Sunset sighed and set her teacup down. Her head still hurt, but it was already starting to feel better.

“That’s a long story.”

“We’ve got time.”

“I came to this city when I was ten. I was alone, and Arianna took me in.”

“That must’ve been awful.”

“It was, but being with Arianna certainly helped. She was having an argument with a girl named Gilda when I arrived here. They fought and Arianna won.”

“Gilda?” Felicity looked a little shaken, but there was something in her eyes that Sunset couldn’t place.

“You knew Gilda?”

Felicity nodded. “My brother Xavier’s death wasn’t the only reason we moved. Gilda would constantly bully me when we were children. She was held back a grade, and I was her favorite victim. One of the last things Arianna told me before my family left was that she and Gilda were going to start a street gang. I begged her not to, but I guess without me to stop her it was inevitable.”

“Sweet Celestia,” Sunset said. “Now it makes sense why Gilda wouldn’t take any of Arianna’s ideas seriously after agreeing to be joint leaders. She must’ve thought you were making her soft and wanted to make sure the gang would be strong.”

“It’s all my fault!” Felicity cried out and started sobbing with her head in her hands.

Damn it. Sunset stood up and made her way around the desk. She pulled up another chair and wrapped her arm around Felicity’s shoulders.

“No, Felicity, it’s not your fault. What happened was out of your control, and if anyone’s at fault, it’s Gilda.” Felicity’s sobbing sounds softened. “None of us have heard from her since Arianna left their gang, so it seems she gave up on that particular endeavor.”

Felicity looked up. “You mean it?”

“I do,” Sunset replied. “And please do me a favor and don’t mention this to anyone. I’ve got a reputation I need to keep up.”

“Why?”

“That’s a bit of a long story too. The short version is I need to keep myself tough until I can get back to the place where I came from. It’s a much more peaceful city than this one.”

“I wish I could go there,” Felicity said, picking up her teacup again. “I’ve wished my whole life that this world could be more peaceful.”

“‘More peaceful’ is a relative term,” Sunset said. “There may not have been organized crime controlling every aspect of life, but we still had people who were self-serving, deceptive, greedy, cruel, and manipulative, not to mention all the dangerous plants, animals, and other creatures that could kill you.”

“Oh…”

Sunset finished her tea and set the teacup down on the tray. “Thank you for the tea, Felicity.” She took a couple more sugar cubes from the dish and set them by her desk. “A few for the road,” she said with a smile.

“Would you like to keep the tray so you can have more tea later?” Felicity asked.

“That won’t be necessary,” Sunset answered. “My head feels well enough to make an important call.”

“All right. I’ll see you later, then.” Felicity picked up the tray and walked out of Sunset’s office.

Perhaps being Equestrian isn’t all bad, she thought as she watched her leave, and popped a cube of sugar into her mouth to suck on. She scrolled through her phone and dialed Octavia’s number.

The phone rang a few times before Octavia answered. “Sofia, buonasera.”

“Buonasera, Octavia. Can we schedule another lunch meeting? There’ve been some developments and I would appreciate some advice.”

Author's Note

The chapter title translates to "one cherry leads to another". It means the same thing as "one thing leads to another," I'm guessing because cherries in Italy are just so good that you can't stop eating them.

In my outline, I went from Sunset telling her gang to up their security to spending the night in her office to being woken up by Felicity. I needed to add words and I had a limited amount of time to come up with something, so I decided why not add a dream/nightmare sequence from a couple scenes in a movie which I've seen a bunch of times and can paraphrase in no time at all?