“You can go ahead and drop me off, Phil,” Sunset said as Phillip drove into the hospital’s parking lot. “I may be a while.”

“You got it, Boss.”

Phillip drove up to the entrance. Sunset stepped out of Phillip’s car, walked into the Rainbooms’ hospital as Phillip pulled away to find a parking spot, passing the reception desk without a word, and made her way up to Doc’s office. She knocked on the door and a moment later he opened it.

“Thank you for coming, Sofia,” he said and welcomed her in.

Sunset shrugged. “I needed some time away from the office, and your text came at a great time. What have you got for me?”

“Two things: an update on Pinkie and an update on the autopsies I performed on Snips and Snails. Which would you like first?”

Sunset thought for a moment. Diane went under surveillance first, but Snips and Snails were more recent and possibly more important.

“Pinkie.”

Doc picked up a file from his desk and handed it to Sunset. “Her condition remains stable but with signs of improvement. We have daily therapy sessions, and we’ve found a medication that appears to help her without negatively impacting her performance.”

Sunset flipped through the pages, not understanding everything written in the reports but understanding enough. “That’s a relief.” She closed the file and handed it back to him. “And Snips and Snails?”

Doc took the file folder and set it back on his desk, then picked up a second folder and handed it to Sunset.

“I’ve confirmed that Snips and Snails died of asphyxiation by strangulation. Their windpipes were crushed and the skin on their necks showed evidence of bruising, but as we guessed from our initial investigations, it wasn’t from someone using their hands. Instead, it was with an instrument that applied evenly distributed direct pressure all around the neck except for a small area on one side of each.” Doc pointed to a photograph of Snails’s neck that showed less bruising than the surrounding area. “Phillip mentioned smelling gas in the apartment, so I ran samples of their blood. As expected, their blood had a high blood alcohol content, as we found a case of empty beer bottles. Their blood also showed a concentration of carbon monoxide, but not enough to kill them despite their high BAC.”

Sunset looked up from reading the file. “Can being drunk affect how your body responds to carbon monoxide?”

“Yes, ma’am. If you’re drunk, it’s likely you won’t feel any symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning before falling unconscious or dying. If I had to guess, the assailant tampered with the gas line on their oven until they passed out, and then wrapped something around their necks to kill them.”

“Our suspicions were sort of correct, then,” said Sunset. “Someone murdered them, but wasn’t attempting to cover it up.”

“It might’ve fooled someone not as smart as us.”

Sunset nodded. “They’d have to be dumb as shit to not understand what happened. Thanks Doc. I’ve got what I need to meet with Octavia about.” Sunset turned to walk out the door.

“What about you, ma’am?” Doc asked before she could leave. Sunset turned around with a questioning look on her face. “Two of your associates dead, and one of your most valuable enforcers has mental health issues. Even if you weren’t the leader of a gang, that can affect anyone’s mental health.”

“It’s stressful, but I’ll be fine,” Sunset simply stated and left the doctor’s office.

“That’s what they all say,” Doc sighed and returned to his work.

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

Esperanza walked into her lab and turned on the light. S.P.I.K.E. woke up from his sleep mode and rolled over to her.

“Good morning, S.P.I.K.E.,” she said. S.P.I.K.E. let out an electronic bark. Esperanza looked at the clock above her door. “11:59 is still morning. I might have to check your date and time settings to see if they need to be recalibrated.”

S.P.I.K.E. rolled over near one Esperanza’s primary computer and barked again. Esperanza followed him and sat down, then brought up her email application and one of the programs she had been working on. S.P.I.K.E. barked again, and she looked down at him.

“What is it, S.P.I.K.E.?”

S.P.I.K.E. began uploading a digital facsimile of part of Esperanza’s computer and keyboard to a program she had running in the background. A circle appeared around an anomaly in the digital image, and Esperanza looked at where the anomaly was in the real world. The anomaly on the image turned out to be the missing AI chip for the baking bot.

“Aha!” she said, picking it up, then brought it close to her face and adjusted her glasses to look at it. “Wait, this isn’t where I left it, and surely I would’ve seen it here at least once in the last few days.”

She made a mental note to deal with that issue later, and closed the program that S.P.I.K.E. had uploaded the image to. She plugged the chip into a slot in her computer and a program opened up on the computer displaying thousands of lines of code, and she started reviewing them.

Some time later there was a knock on her door. She got up and opened it, seeing Jacqueline. “What can I help you with, Applejack?”

“I didn’t have much to do today, so I figured I’d swing by and see how that baking robot is comin’ along.”

“There hasn’t been any real progress since I misplaced the AI chip, but on the plus side I found it this morning.”

“Well, that’s good.”

“Yes, it is! However, it’s not where I thought I put it, and it was right next to my primary computer, a location I would’ve looked at dozens of times each day since I lost it. Not to mention S.P.I.K.E. would have located it the day I lost it but didn’t.”

“Really? That’s strange.”

“Yes, it is,” Esperanza said. “Logically, that would only happen if someone had taken it and brought it back.”

“You sayin’ we’ve got a mole?”

“I wasn’t, but now that you mention it, with what happened to Snips and Snails, that does seem like a possibility.”

“We’d better tell Sofia when she gets back from her meeting with Octavia,” Jacqueline said. “She’ll need to know. Maybe she even learned something when she visited Doc this morning. Let’s think about the mole possibility for a minute. If someone stole the AI chip, what could they have wanted it for?”

Esperanza thought for a moment. “They could’ve copied the code to use in their own projects. Not that it would do them much good, since I’ve been having issues adapting it from S.P.I.K.E.’s programming to a more sophisticated robot–”

S.P.I.K.E. barked.

“Don’t get mad, S.P.I.K.E.,” Esperanza said to the robotic canine. “I built you in high school, and I’ve learned a lot since then. Which reminds me. S.P.I.K.E., make a note that I need to add some upgrades.”

S.P.I.K.E. barked again.

“You talk with your robot?” Jacqueline asked, and Esperanza nodded.

“Yes. I didn’t have a lot of friends – well, I didn’t have any friends – before I transferred from Crystal Prep to Canterlot High. Even at CHS after meeting all of you, I built S.P.I.K.E. so I could hold conversations because I spent a lot of time alone.”

“Yes, I remember.”

“I used S.P.I.K.E.’s AI as a basis for the AI for the cooking robot. Actually, I should add the AI into the selfie drone as well, so it can be commanded–”

“Twilight,” interrupted Jacqueline, getting Esperanza’s attention. “Focus.”

“Right, sorry.” Esperanza adjusted her glasses. “The AI that I created for S.P.I.K.E. can be theoretically be adapted to allow any robot to follow commands and do tasks. The specific commands and tasks can be changed to pretty much anything. S.P.I.K.E.’s are specialized for doing tricks and helping me, and the cooking robot’s will be specialized for cooking and baking.”

“Interesting,” Jacqueline said. “So, worst case scenario, if someone technologically capable were to decipher your code, they could theoretically add new programming that could overwrite your programming at their command.”

“I suppose that is possible,” Esperanza said. “I’ll have to increase the security firewalls in our drones then.”

“Do you want me to start bringing them over?” Jacqueline asked.

“That won’t be necessary,” Esperanza replied. “I need to write the new code first and test it so it works properly, and then it’ll be faster to bring it to the armory when I’m done and install the update wirelessly to all of them at the same time.”

“Noted.” Jacqueline looked at the clock on her phone. “I haven’t had lunch yet. Did you eat yet?”

“Yes, I did.”

“All right then. I’ll talk to you later then.”

“Have a good day, Applejack,” Esperanza said and turned back toward her computer. S.P.I.K.E. rolled up beside her, rubbing against her leg. She reached down and placed her hand on top of his head to rub it as she scrolled through more lines of code.

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

Sunset and Phillip sat at their usual table at the café, waiting again for Octavia to arrive.

“I really shouldn’t be surprised that she’s late again,” Phillip said.

“No,” replied Sunset. “No, you should not.”

Twelve minutes after the agreed upon time, Octavia’s Cadillac appeared around the corner and Sunset waved down a waiter. The waiter arrived and Sunset told him to bring four glasses of water, and as he left Sunset and Phillip stood up to greet Octavia, who had just stepped out of the car.

“Octavia, buon pomeriggio.”

“Sofia, buon pomeriggio.”

They greeted each other with kisses on each other’s cheeks and sat down.

“It’s good to see you again, but on the phone the other day it seemed like you were having some trouble with the Rainbooms.”

Sunset appreciated Octavia bypassing the small talk and getting to the point. Italians don’t usually cut straight to the important topics in a conversation, as she had learned as a teenager while researching Italian culture. Sunset herself was always punctual, a side effect of growing up in the Princess’s castle in the capital city of Canterlot, and it was something Sunset had had to deal with over the years without complaint, lest she risk offending Octavia more than she wanted to.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Sunset confirmed. “One of my capos had a mental breakdown, and two of my associates were found murdered in their apartment.”

“Oh dear.” The waiter returned with the waters, and Sunset and Octavia thanked him. He took their orders before going back to the kitchen. “Do you think the two events are related?”

Sunset shook her head. “No, the mental breakdown appeared to be completely unconnected. She was on a job with a client. The client said something that set something off inside her, and she mortally wounded him before she realized what had happened. The associates were watching a movie and drinking beer when they passed out and then were strangled to death.”

“I can see why you wanted to speak with me,” said Octavia. “Do you have any theories why they were killed?”

“Nothing confirmed yet, but we do have one that’s most likely. It’s possible it was a hit.”

Octavia folded her hands in front of her face. “Who on Earth would want to put a hit on your gang?”

“I’m sure we’ve made many enemies over the last few years,” Sunset answered with a sigh. “I’m sure it can’t be the Melodias, however. Your famiglia has always been good to us, and we to you.”

“Indeed,” said Octavia before taking a sip of her water. “Speaking of which, I have an update on those associates who attempted to assault that Felicity woman a couple weeks ago.”

Sunset sat up straighter. “What have you found?”

“As it turns out, we did have an associate check into one of our hospitals for pain in his side. We were able to track him down, confront him, and persuade him to tell us what happened. Neither man still works for us, and have a new hobby involving fishes.”

Sunset smiled. “Nice metaphor.”

“Thank you.”

At that moment the waiter returned with their food. They thanked him again and began eating their lunch.

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

After eating lunch, Applejack returned to the music store to wait for Sofia and Flash to return, noticed some instruments were sitting out, and got to work putting them back in their place and giving them a quick polish. As she worked, she whistled a jaunty folk toon her very large family played at every family reunion. Once all the instruments were where they belonged, she picked up a broom and started sweeping the floors. She was about half done when she heard the bell above the door ring.

“Good afternoon,” she said, turning around to see Sofia and Flash. “Oh, welcome back. I’m just doing a bit of cleaning.”

“Thank you, Applejack. No customers today?”

“Not since this morning,” she said and set the broom against a display. “What’d you learn?”

“Pinkie’s condition seems to be improving, Snips and Snails were definitely murdered, and the Melodias have dealt with the two goons who were stalking Felicity. We won’t be seeing them again.”

“Felicity will be glad to hear that. We’ve got some updates as well.”

“I’ll be in the back,” Phillip said, and made his way through the employee door.

“What have you got for me?” Sofia asked.

“You know that AI chip Twilight’s been missing?” Sofia nodded. “She found it while you were out, but it wasn’t where she put it, and S.P.I.K.E. would’ve detected sooner if it was in her lab the whole time.” Applejack moved closer and spoke in a low voice so only Sofia could hear. “We think there might be a mole.”

“That could definitely explain why the computer chip went missing, as well as who might have wanted Snips and Snails dead.” Sofia thought for a moment. “Any theories on who it might be?”

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but haven’t come up with any good ideas yet. The latest the mole could’ve infiltrated was a few weeks ago around the time we took in Felicity, but I doubt it’s her. She’s very shy and only just started to learn how to protect herself. It doesn’t make sense for her to commit espionage.”

“And the earliest?”

Applejack shrugged. “Could go back as far as when you and Dash started this whole thing.”

“In other words,” Sofia said, “no ideas. I’ll get our intel people working on it.”

Sofia started to walk back toward her office, but stopped and turned around when Applejack said her name. “Sofia, we’re both workaholics and we both know it. Hell, I cleaned the store because there wasn’t much else to do. Have you had a chance to read those books yet?”

“Not yet,” Sofia admitted. “I’d just come back from the library with the first two Xanth books when Flash told me about Snips and Snails. I’ve been dealing with that since, and haven’t had a chance to sit down and read them.”

“Make sure you make time to read them, then,” Applejack replied. “Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon.”

Sofia laughed. “Okay, Rick.”

“Come again?”

Sofia looked at Applejack. “You’ve never watched Casablanca?”

“Nope, but I’ve heard of it,” Applejack replied. “Is that where that quote’s from?”

“Yup!” Sofia laughed. “As well as ‘I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship’, ‘Here’s looking at you, kid’, and ‘We’ll always have Paris’. Girl, you have got to watch it. Buy it, rent it, stream it on HBO Max, or hell, use a VPN to watch it on Netflix. It earned its reputation as a great American classic. Catcher in the Rye, on the other hand…”

Now it was Applejack’s turn to laugh. “I know, right? That book was terrible! No plot, no conflict, nothin’ interesting whatsoever!”

“I’ve read encyclopedias with more substance than Catcher in the Rye.”

“You’ve also got two books that are leagues better still sitting on your desk waiting to be read,” Applejack reminded her. Sofia pointed a finger at her.

“You’re right. Thanks for reminding me. Keep up the good work, AJ. The floor looks great on that half of the store.” Sofia hurried to the back door before Applejack could respond. Applejack chuckled and picked up the broom again.

Sunset stepped into her office and looked at the bag on her desk that held the Xanth books. She walked over, took out A Spell for Chameleon, the first book in the series, and opened it. She sat in her chair, leaning back as she began reading.

A Spell for Chameleon followed the journey of a young man named who was banished to the human world for breaking an important law.

Sunset put a bookmark in the pages to mark her place and set the book back down on her desk. Gee, that sounds familiar, doesn’t it? she sighed. Sunset pulled out her phone and sent Phillip a text.

Got any plans tonight?

Nope

Wanna have a date night?
I need to get my mind off things.

:)

Sunset smiled.

7 PM
My place.

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

The bell over the bar’s entrance rang, and in walked a beautiful woman wearing a sleek purple and black dress that hugged all her curves. The dress belonged to Rarity, the most elegant and sophisticated of the Rainbooms. Some of the bar’s patrons turned to look at her. Some of the men whistled at the beauty that had just arrived.

Rarity smiled at the men looking at her and sauntered her way over to the bar counter and sat at a stool.

“What’ll you have tonight, Rachel?” asked the bartender.

“Well, Sam, I have a need to either be fucked or to kill someone tonight,” Rarity answered.

“The usual, then.” Rarity nodded, and Sam the bartender poured one half ounce of St. Germain elderflower liqueur and two ounces of vodka in a mixing glass and stirred it, then poured it into a martini glass, and garnished it with a lemon twist.

“Mmm, thank you, Sam,” Rarity said, taking the glass and taking a sip.

A blonde-haired man in a white suit that accentuated his athletic physique came over and sat down next to her.

“Good evening, Ma’am.”

“Good evening, Sir.”

“A light beer, please,” he said to Sam, who started pouring him a light beer from the tap. “I’m Patrick,” he said, turning back to Rarity, “Patrick Blumenthal.” He smiled, holding out his hand. Rarity looked at it.

“Charmed, I’m sure.”

“Oh, very. It’s not often I meet someone as attractive as I am.”

Oh, goodie. A narcissist.

“Oh?” Rarity feigned confusion. “How so?”

“I’m handsome, and you’re beautiful,” he replied. “It’s like destiny destined us to be together.”

Rarity rolled her eyes in her mind. Not my destiny, if I can help it.

“Unfortunately, Mr. Blumenthal, we seem to be on the same end of the magnet.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Please leave, and if you don’t, I’ll get Sam to throw you out and ban you. I’m sure you don’t want that, as this is the most prestigious bar in town. Oh, and do take your light beer with you. I won’t be needing it.”

Patrick looked confused, and after a few seconds of trying to come up with a clever response got up and left. Rarity took another sip of her martini when she heard another man’s voice on her other side.

“He’s going to be sleeping alone tonight.”

Rarity turned her head, seeing another blonde-haired man, this one wearing white thick-rimmed glasses. This man didn’t wear a suit, but wore a more sensible outfit to wear at a bar, khakis and a green sweater.

“You look familiar,” said Rarity. “Don’t tell me, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen you before somewhere.”

The man sat up straight and flashed his teeth in a smile. Rarity let out a little gasp.

“I’ve got it!” she shouted, and a few patrons turned to face her. Rarity lowered her voice. “You’re Trevor Hood, one of my favorite travel bloggers.”

“That I am,” he replied, “but please, call me Trev.”

Goodness, so informal, Rarity thought. I hope he hasn’t been drinking for a while already.

Trevor pointed at Rarity’s martini glass. “What kind of martini? A Vesper?”

“Oh, no, a true Vesper is made with a type of vermouth that isn’t made any longer, and is often ruined by making it the James Bond way. This is made with St-Germain elderflower liqueur and vodka.”

“May I have a taste?”

“Yes, but not of mine. Sam!” Sam finished pouring another customer’s drink and came over. “One more usual for Trev here.” Rarity winked at him with the eye Trevor couldn’t see, and Sam nodded as he began mixing another drink. Moments later he set it in front of Trevor with a straw. Trevor took up some of the cocktail in the straw and dropped it into his mouth to taste. He held the cocktail over his tongue to taste it.

“Interesting,” he said. “I taste some sweetness and tang aside from the vodka. What is it?”

“Elderflower liqueur.”

“I’m more of a wine man myself, but this isn’t bad.”

“Whether you finish it or choose to buy it for me, Trev, either way I won’t be paying for that one.” Rarity winked at him with a smile, Trevor smiled back at her.

“I get the impression you do this often,” he told her.

“Do what?” Rarity again feigned confusion, this time more playfully.

“Offer drinks to men that they’ll have to pay for instead of you,” he answered. “I like that.”

Rarity smiled at him. As they talked, she found her desire to kill had softened, replaced with a desire to get to know this man better. Patrons filtered in and out of the door as Rarity and Trevor continued talking. Eventually, Sam rang the bell behind the counter.

“Last call, everyone,” he said, then tapped on the counter near Rarity and Trevor. “That means you too, Rachel.”

“Your name’s Rachel?” Trevor asked Rarity. “I didn’t realize we never talked about your name yet.”

Rarity nodded. “Why do you ask?”

“It’s a lovely name, but also seems a bit… mundane for the personality I’ve come to know. Do you have a nickname?”

Rarity thought for a moment about whether or not to tell him the name she used with the Rainbooms. “I’ve always liked the name Di.”

“Short for Diana?”

Rarity shook her head and smiled. “Short for diamond, darling.” But also because “die Trevor” amuses me, Rarity giggled.

“Do you have a home to go to tonight, or would you like to join me at my hotel?”

“Mister Hood,” Rarity smiled and gasped. “Do you take me for that kind of lady?”

“Only if you’d like to be.”

Rarity smiled. After paying their bills Trevor held out his arm, which Rarity took in hers, and they left the bar and hailed a cab. Soon they arrived at the hotel Trevor was staying at and made their way up to his room. He ushered her in and closed the door behind them. When he turned back around, Rarity had slipped out of her dress and let it drop to the floor, revealing her nude body underneath. Trevor took her hand, gave it a kiss, and laid her on the bed. He spread her legs and kneeled at the foot, bringing his lips to her warm, moist folds. Rarity closed her eyes and moaned as he showed her his more intimate skills.

Oh, he’s good, she thought through the moans. It should be a wonderful, murder-less night.

Author's Note

The chapter title translates to "such is life", equivalent to the French "c'est la vie". It's the closest I could find (with a quick google search) to "a day in the life", as all of these sections occur (in my head) throughout the course of a single day.

This chapter is pretty late. I barely wrote anything for two days trying to figure out how to end the chapter. I was a bit discouraged, but I let myself forget about the word count goals so I could think about how to finish the chapter and give some character development to Rachel/Rarity. If you're keeping track I should be over 35k, but I've also been working on a later section of this work so I could have multiple things to write if I needed a break from one.

Let's talk about Rachel/Rarity for a moment. Rarity's human name, Rachel Marie Johnson, is a little joke. In my high school class of about 300, I had two classmates who had that name, spelled exactly the same. So what more ironic name for Rarity than the name that was relatively common?

Her martini made from St-Germain elderberry liqueur is in fact a real cocktail. I was mulling over what kind of martini to put in when I discovered to my delight St-Germain. Rarity was voiced by Tabitha St. Germain, so it was just perfectly serendipitous.