The Godmare: Only Personal

"Grazie, Don Teologo." Twilight kissed the foreleg of her Godmare, Celestia. She had just been ranked up to Underboss of her family, which was the biggest honor available to a family member, right after Don. And on her 30th birthday, no less.

"You earned it. You've been by my side through thick and thin since I found you 17 years ago. You know how to show respect and you know how to accept respect. Come, walk with me." Celestia walked forward down the middle of cabaret club, Twilight in tow. "Tell me, do you know what being an Underboss means?"

"Yes, Godmare." Celestia nodded to her Underboss and began to explain anyways.

"I understand you know what it means, but you don't truly understand what it means to me. When I pass -which I will- it means that you will take over the family business."

"I understand this, Godmare."

"Good. It also means that it's finally time for you to take your revenge." She stopped, turned and looked down on her Underboss and nodded subtly to her. Nodding back, she smiled a bit. She had been waiting for this day for 19 long years. "You'll be meeting Trixie at our Manehatten warehouse. She'll direct you towards the ones that killed your family. What you do to them, it's your choice."

"What do you mean, Godmare?"

"I mean, you'll be able to choose if they live..." She started walking down the hallway towards the stairs that lead to the underground racket, which was a casino. "Or die. If you choose to let them live, they'll be released back into Equestria. But know this, they came to us for protection... They managed to anger the Meraviglia's." She sat down at a card table, gesturing her Underboss to sit across from her. "If you let them live, the Meraviglia's will claim their life. I'll judge you not for the choice you make, since it's personal." She took a sip of her drink and looked to the stage as a performer stepped onto it.

"It's something I must do."

"Twilight." Celestia looked to her Underboss, her most loyal family member with a stern face. "This time is an exception. But never let personal matters interfere with the business. It only... Complicates things." She waved off a waitress as she was brought a cigar. "Do you understand why?"

"No, Godmare." She stood from the chair and started walking out of the club.

"Come, I need some fresh air." She promptly followed her Don. That was her way, to move a lot. Don Teologo never liked to sit in one place for too long. Nor did she ever like to talk while crowded around people, especially not of such matters. The double doors swung open to the streets of Canterlot. The sky was a grey color and the sounds of the increasingly popular automobile filled the streets.

"Hey, you forgot to pay!" Celestia simply stopped and turned around to the pony who was holding a baseball bat in his mouth.

"Twilight, take care of this."

"Of course, Godmare." Twilight slowly walked over to the owner, who was now realizing who he had just stopped. Fear spread across his face, into his eyes as Twilight stopped in front of him and reached into her trench-coat with her magic. He dropped the baseball bat, but didn't run. Everypony knew that running was a sure way to catch lead, so you were better off just take the beating you were to be given. Fear turned to relief as Twilight levitated out a wad of cash and handed it to the owner.

"Don Teologo is most sorry for insulting you by not paying for your services. Please, take this gift from us as an apology." Turning away from the pony, who was now sighing in relief, she returned to her Don's side.

"Good, I taught you well." Back when she had just started in the business, she had always been quick to resort to violence. Now, she was much more calm and knew the correct way to get a pony on her side. "The reason you must never interfere your personal matters with business is simple." She stopped in the middle of the cross-way and turned to Twilight. As she was about to finish her thought, a cargo truck honked at them, causing Celestia to slowly turn around to look at the driver. Upon seeing who the figure was, he immediately backed up and allowed her all the time she needed. "It clouds your judgement." The two exited the crossway.

"That makes sense. Should I take the death of my family personally?"

"You're allowed to, on this one occasion. They were not part of the business, nor were you. Now that you are, anything that happens to you," she handed of a wad of money to a nearby police officer as they passed, "it's only business. Capiche?"

"Capiche, Godmare." The two entered a nearby shop, which had refused their offer for protection. When a shop refuses protection, it is equivalent to spitting right in the Don's face. There are many ways to anger a member of one of the three families, but that was the worst way. Nothing shows disrespect more than denying protection.

"Sorry, we're clo-"

"You dare to sully my name when I come to you with an offer for protection." The mare's eyes widened as she looked up from his register and saw none other than the feared Godmare of the Teologo's standing before him.

"D-Don T-Teologo." Twilight stepped towards the scared mare at Celestia's gesture.

"I'll offer you one final chance to accept my offer. This time, however," Twilight violently grabbed the mare and slammed her head into the cash register, "I'm not going to ask nicely. There's a lot of expensive looking antiques in here... Be a shame if anything were to happen to them, right Twilight?"

"My thought's exactly." With a swift swipe of a hoof, she knocked an entire shelf over. Outside the window, a cop looked in. Deciding he had seen nothing, he moved along.

"Please, I'll pay... Just don't hurt me anymore!" The shop owner stood from the ground and placed a hoof against the side of her head, a thin line of blood trickling from the side.

"Good to hear. I look forward to doing business with you." Celestia exited the shop and awaited Twilight. The shop owner slowly stood, helped up by Twilight, who brushed her blouse off and steadied her. The mare silently thanked Twilight, who was already on her way to the door.

"Arrivederci." She cracked open the door before glaring calmly back at the mare. "Don't insult the Godmare further by being late on your payments." The mare shakily nodded to the Underboss as she exited out onto the Autumn Canterlot streets.

Canterlot was yet the most beautiful city in the entirety of Equestria. Flora and fauna grew on the sides of the roads, the sky was almost always sunny and everypony was friendly. The town was the only to not have any different districts of it, instead only housing the compound for the Teologo's, which was in fact a castle from ancient Equestrian days. Despite it's happiness, it was also the largest crime city in Equestria. Every shop had to pay protection to the Teologo's; every city official turned a blind eye to their actions.

"I'll walk with you to the train station." Trains were the main method of transportation in these times. They could get you anywhere they needed to go. There was the nation wide train, which took you to every city and town, then there was the city train, which transported ponies to different parts of the towns. And finally, there was the trolleys, which took it's passengers to individual streets and could be boarded and de-boarded at any time.

"Thank you, Godmare. It is truly an honor." The smell of Equestria cooking was heavy in the air as they continued down the street towards the station. In the old days, Equestrians had been purely vegetarian. Nowadays, they consumed the meats of animals that were hunted in the wilds. Still, large amounts of Equestria still ate only pastas without meats and the sort.

"So, tell me Twilight... Did you ever imagine yourself my Underboss?" It was rush hour. The streets now bustled with the daily lives of ponies. Each pony that passed the Godmare gave a hello, from both respect and fear.

"No, I didn't."

"Did you ever imagine yourself involved in this thing of ours?"

"No, but life has a strange way of leading us down paths we never expect."

"You have a point. But I see the fire in your; in your eyes. You must meet the ones who killed your family soon, or I feel you may snap. That is why I arranged for you to meet them. Twilight, you are a most loyal Underboss. No, friend. I trust you more than my own sister; my Consigliere. Your pain and anger emanates off of you and affects the others around you. Today is the day for you vent it all out, then and only then, can you become my Underboss."

"Thank you, Don Teologo." The two walked in silence for three minutes, the only gestures between them subtle looks. That was the way of the family business. When you had nothing to say, you were strangers to one another. Made it harder for rival families or the peacekeepers to find you. Still, family members always traveled in flocks. Wherever you saw one, there was bound to be more of them.

"Do not return to me until you have taken care of this matter of yours."

"Yes, Godmare." Twilight began to lean over to kiss the Godmare's foreleg, but was interrupted by the Don, who instead did so to the soon to be Underboss. To be kissed on the foreleg by a Godmare... It was the single greatest honor that anyone below the rank of Don could ever feel. It meant that the Don had great trust and respect in you, even so much as to put respect for their blood and flesh to shame.

"Go, with my blessing and my respect. When you return, we shall have a party at the compound in your favor. I have already sent the invitations to your friends. For tonight, you will be the life of the party; for tonight, you will have the honor that only a Don could deserve."

"Thank you... Celestia." The Godmare smiled as the train pulled up into the station. Their eyes met once more as Twilight entered the train. Upon looking out the window of her seat, the Godmare was long gone from the station, such was her way. Even though she stood out, being one of only two pseudo ponies, she had a habit of disappearing into thin air when she wanted to.

The whistle of the train cut through the air as if it was a knife through butter as it slowly departed. A glace out the window revealed a overlook off the side of the cliff; the town of Ponyville. It wasn't her destination, but it was her hometown and indeed the hometown of all her friends. While once being a small town, it was now separated into three sections and was right in the middle of the three families territories. That being said, there was always a war going on in the streets for defacto control of the city. The sections of the city were Little Equestria, a slice of ancient Equestrian life; Old Town, the oldest part of the city, including the apple orchard run by her friend, Applejack, named Sweet Apple Acres; and Downtown, the biggest war zone between the five families of all Equestria.

It was at least a three hour ride to Manehatten, but she didn't mind it. Deciding it was best for a quick nap, she rested her head against the window and sighed, falling asleep soon afterwards.

"Manehatten, Docks. Please prepare for de-boarding!" Twilight perked her head up and yawned, returning her attention to world around her. The train hissed as metal scraped against metal, the grinding only being drowned over by the whistle of the train as it announced its stop. Ponies began to murmur and say their goodbyes as they began to exit the train. Twilight, having no one to say goodbye to, simply stood from her seat and made her way to the door.

The city of Manehatten was pretty much the exact opposite of what Canterlot was. Where it was sunny in Canterlot, it was constantly cloud and dull in the city of Manehatten. This was due to the cars and factories, which both produced large amounts of pollution. Despite this, the city still had a reputation for being the place where anypony could make it big. Hell, she'd seen a lowly beggar make it to the head of a business in her short visits here.

The crime in the city was more or less the same in Canterlot. The city officials weren't as well paid of here, but they were still quite lenient of any 'business' that happened in their streets. The heading family of Manehatten were the Meraviglia's, headed by the ruthless Pegasi, Spitfire. While Pegasi mostly lived in the grand cloud city of Cloudsdale, which was completely free of any of this 'business' of theirs, she decided she didn't want the easy life and instead formed her own family.

"The Don sends her regards." Twilight looked across the street as a Pegasi held a gun in his mouth; a stallion dressed in casual wear at the end of it. "You should have paid her your dues." She didn't flinch as three shots were fired into the chest of the stallion. The assassin was probably none other than one of Don Meraviglia's goons sent to teach the poor guy his lesson. As a crown formed around the now dead stallion, she just continued to walk away. Whatever he had done to suffer that fate, he had known the consequences of crossing the Don. He deserved it.

She turned down a road with warehouses on either side of it. Warehouses were a major racket for any family to own. They were used to ship illegal goods in and out of the country; to take care of business that couldn't be taken care of in public, and to arrange for meetings like the very one she was heading to. Stepping inside, she was greeted with the smell of cigarette smoke and the voice of the Don's latest Capo, Trixie.

"Ciao, Twilight. I take it the train ride went well?" Trixie always had a smugness about her. She was also completely ruthless. One time, she had shot a mare for simply bumping into her. Of course, Don Teologo was never informed of this, since it would have been bad for her reputation. After all, you an't be connected to that which you never knew about. Still, her methods were unorthodox, even outright evil at times.

"Yes, as good as a stale cannoli."

"Eh, I don't envy you. Anyways, I have somepony you'd like to meet. Follow me." They exited out of the back of the warehouse, onto a dock. Seagulls squawked as they walked down, but Twilight's attention was on the figure at the end of the dock.

"Is that them?"

"Yes, that's him." The earth pony stallion stood from the ground as the boards creaked under the pressure of their combined bodies. As he looked upon Twilight, he knew what she was there for. Her magic unwrapped the cloth draped into his mouth, allowing him a chance to speak. After all, she wanted to her what her mother's murderer sounded like.

"You look just like her..." Anger slowly rose in Twilight. Who was this pony to say she looked like her mother? All he knew her as was the added point to his kill count.

"No... I'm not riddled with bullets. I'm not innocent!" She barely contained herself from attacking the stallion and ripping him into looking like something that would be in a freshly made lasagna.

"You think me some kind of monster. I understand... Twilight."

"What? How do you know my name?" She grabbed the pony by his collar and lifted him into the air. She wasn't the best at balancing on her hind legs, but it's amazing what the body is capable of when driven by anger.

"Your mother wasn't just a random target."

"Spit it out! Why did you kill her? Let it be your apology to god before I send you to his realm."

"I... I did it... I did it to protect you." Her face twisted into that of extreme confusion.

"To protect me? How could killing my mother ever be twisted into being done to protect me?!" The stallion sighed and with a face of sorrow, spilled the beans.

"Your mother owed the Meraviglia's a large sum of money that she wasn't able to pay... It was either the money, or... Your life in exchange." Her jaw slid open as the truth was finally revealed to her. 19 years of mystery, of wondering why it had happened... And there it was.

"Why me? Why save me...?" She dropped the pony and returned to all four hooves. What was once anger was now confusion; her face an expression of bewilderment.

"Because... I couldn't kill my own daughter." She nearly fell back onto her haunches as he said that. Surely it couldn't possibly be true... No, there was no way it was true.

"You're lying."

"Twilight Scintillare... Twilight Sparkle, I am no liar. Your mother kept me away from you because I was involved with the business. Never once did I think that they would use my own family as leverage against me... Crepuscolo Scintillare, I was never a father to you. When I saw my one chance to protect you... I had to take it." She didn't know how to register what she was hearing. Deep down, she knew this was her father. He was broken... Only a broken pony could be broken more by having to tell his own flesh and blood that he was the one that caused them so much pain. That only made the next part so much harder...

"I understand... Father." Slowly, her magic wrapped around the .32 in her jacket. Her father slowly watched the gun with his eyes as it was brought out and aimed at his head.

"I don't expect you forgive me."

"I don't... I never will. But at least I now know one thing." She sighed as a single tear rolled down her cheek. Her father, knowing exactly what his daughter was going to say, nodded and closed his eyes.

"I understand, Twilight..."

"It's only business." A single gunshot echoed out across the town of Manehatten. To everypony else, it was just another gunshot. To Twilight, it was the gunshot that killed her inside.