Al Dente’s Family Restaurant was designed to look like a welcoming family-owned restaurant.
The decor made use of bare wood and simple warm colours with various bits and pieces from “the old country” adorning the walls.Aroma’s of good, hearty food wafted from the open kitchen behind the bar. The red and white checkered tablecloths covered the tables and various candles helped set the mood as well as aid in providing more light to the restaurant. The dozen or so mobsters that were dining there, however, made one realize it was a different sort of family owned restaurant.
At the tables, ponies of varying degrees of unsavouryness sat and ate. Some picked at their food while others took hearty mouthfuls. Others had already made use of the bar present and had become even more boisterous than normal.
None paid too much heed to the stallions at one of the back tables.
“Hey Al,” Sweets Cannoli, a lanky yet very well dressed earth pony, called out, “Let’s get some more marinara, pronto.”
“Sure thing boss.” A voice called back from the kitchen.
“You were saying, Stromboli.” Sweets said to his remaining lieutenant, a well built pegasus.
“The Clarinet family have always been on good terms with your father.” The lieutenant said. “If we proposed an alliance they may be open to it.”
“No, the Clarinet family did nothing when Pops was taken down. We ain’t crawling to them for help.” Sweets growled. “We complete this job and then we rebuild the family ourselves.”
ching-a-ling
The conversation was interrupted by the sound of the door chime.
The crime boss and his lieutenant looked up to see two stallions standing at the entrance. One was orange and the other was red. Both were wearing matching grey suits and ties.
The strangers continued to walk further into the restaurant. Conversations petered off and tension began to rise as several mobsters started to notice the newcomers. Eventually even the rowdiest patrons took notice of the change in the room.
The two strangers continued to walk in as if they owned the place.
“What a beautiful establishment, Mr. Walrus.” The orange stallion finally said. “Did you notice the craftsmanship on the door? Masterful work.”
“Eeee...Indeed, Mr. Carpenter.” Mr. Walrus replied before taking a whiff. “And do you smell that? That is smell of food being lovingly prepared.”
“Indeed, Mr. Walrus.”
Stromboli approached the two newcomers, stopping them as they were about halfway to the back tables.
“Hey Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. This is a private function.” The mobster stated. “You two need to clear out.”
“Do you think he is referring to us, Mr. Walrus?”
“Well he is looking straight at us, Mr. Carpenter.”
“But those are not our names, Mr. Walrus.”
“Well, we haven’t yet introduced ourselves, Mr. Carpenter.”
“Quite right Mr. Walrus.” The orange stallion focused his attention to Stromboli. “I am Mr. Carpenter. My associate is Mr Walrus. We’re here because we have a pressing matter to discuss with Mr. Cannoli.”
“I told you to clear out.” Stromboli tried to shove Mr. Walrus back, only for the larger stallion to grab his hoof and twist it in a direction it wasn’t supposed to go.
“Let’s not treat this like some playground.” Mr. Walrus said to Stromboli. “This all looks to be a wonderful repast and I would hate for it to be ruined by some unnecessary rudeness.”
Mr. Walrus let go of Stromboli's hoof and the mobster limped backwards to put some space between them. Meanwhile all of the other mobsters present had stood up at this display.
“Since we have your attention, Mr. Cannoli, we’ll cut to the chase. We have been hired look into a Stone Wall Securities, a company that has been encroaching on our employer’s operation in Bitsberg. Imagine our surprise when we discovered that Stone Wall was in bed with the Cannoli Family. Now a security company is one thing, but a Manehatten crime family expanding their territory is something entirely different.”
Sweets’ eyes narrowed. “You seem to be sticking your noses somewhere they don’t belong.”
“We’re just covering our bases, Mr. Cannoli.” Mr. Walrus said, keeping his voice neutral. “Just answer a few questions regarding your working relationship with Stone Wall and we’ll let you get back to your meal.” Mr. Walrus took a long sniff of a nearby plate. “Mmmm...Fettuccine alfredo.” He then took a big mouthful and then grimaced slightly. “Hmm...too heavy on the butter.”
A vein popped out of Sweets’ forehead.
“How about instead of answering your questions the boys and I break every bone in your bodies and ship you back to Bitsberg in boxes?”
“Oh dear, it seems they don't wish to tell us what we want to know, Mr. Walrus."
"It would seem so, Mr. Carpenter."
"What would you suggest we do about it, Mr. Walrus?"
"Oh I’m afraid it means we will have to be quite rude to them, Mr. Carpenter"
"I believe you’re right Mr. Walrus."
Suddenly, Mr. Walrus pushed down hard on the edge of the table he had been resting his hoof on. This caused the other end to fly up and hit three unsuspecting thugs in the jaw. He then used his other hoof to push the upturned table forward, causing it to topple onto the stunned thugs.
At that the other mobsters tried to rush them.
Two thugs tried to tackle the red pony head on. In response, the massive stallion stood up on his hind legs and caught both assailants in reverse headlocks.
Mr. Walrus paused his attack when he noticed some Gnudi on the edge of a nearby table. He shifted slightly, the two thugs he had trapped being forced to move with him. Once in position he kick the underside of the table with one of his hind legs.
The Gnudi flew into the air, right into Mr. Walrus’s waiting mouth. “Hmmm.” He said approvingly as he fell backwards, ramming the captured thugs’ faces into the floor. “You know most places make their Gnudi all mushy and heavy.” He commented as he picked himself up. “But those were excellent.”
He then kick backwards with his hind leg, his hoof connecting with a pony trying to come at him from behind.
“Try not to dawdle too much Mr. Walrus.” Mr. Carpenter instructed. “We are on a schedule.”
The orange stallion then ducked as a baseball bat wielded by Sweets narrowly missed his head.
“You. Think. You. Can. Mess. With. Me?!!” Sweets snarled, punctuating each word with a swing.
Mr. Carpenter dodged each swing with relative ease. Waiting for an opening, he sidestepped the mobster, who was put off-balance by his own forward momentum, before picking up a nearby bottle and smashing it over Sweets’ head.
“We were trying to have a civil conversation about this, Mr. Cannoli. You’re one that decided to make things difficult.” Mr. Carpenter removed the bat from the now dazed crime boss. “And quite frankly, I’ve seen postal workers that wield a bat better than you.”
He paused to examine the bat. “Hickory?! Really? Is this a family heirloom or something?”
Mr. Walrus took a break from beating up oncoming mobsters when his attention was drawn to a steaming bowl of soup. “Ah minestrone.” He picked it up, took a sniff and let out a sigh. “Too much garlic.”
He threw the bowl full of hot soup over his shoulder into the face of a mobster trying sneak up on him.
“Argh!!!!” The mobster screamed in agony.
“Oh come now,” Mr Walrus said, “I don’t like excess garlic either, but that’s a bit of an overreaction.” His glance turned to towards a Stromboli who was wielding a bottle. “Are you planning to hit me with that?”
The mobster froze at being caught out. “Er..no…” He lied. “This is to have with my meal.”
Mr. Walrus looked at the bottle and then at the food nearby.
“You were planning on having a spinach lasagna with red wine?!”
“Er...yes?”
Stromboli promptly found himself thrown out a nearby window.
“Being a mobster does not give you the right to be a philistine.” Mr. Walrus scolded.
Mr. Carpenter meanwhile seemed to be more interested in admiring the oak bar counter.
"Would you look at that finish," He commented as he ran his hoof along the surface. "I must say that this was expertly done."
One the thugs then approached him.
"Alright you..." Anything else the thug was about to say was cut short by Mr. Carpenter grabbing him by the back of the head, slamming him face first into the counter and then falling to the ground unconscious.
"And so sturdily built too."
He looked up from the counter to notice that Mr. Walrus was currently fighting hoofticuffs with one of the larger earth ponies, as another stallion climbed onto a nearby table, obviously with the intent of dive-bombing Mr. Walrus.
Mr. Carpenter picked up a nearby pizza board and threw it like a big discus. It spun through the air before hitting the mobster in the head, knocking him off the table.
“I will admit applewood may get better distance but you just don’t the same satisfying ‘thump’ as with oak."
He then sidestepped a mobster swinging a stool at him. The stool smashed on the countertop. Mr. Carpenter picked up the bat and brought it down hard on the top of the mobster’s head.
“That was for all the hard work you just ruined.” Mr Carpenter told off the unconscious mobster before returning his attention to the bat. “And I still think you’d get a better swing out of Maple.”
Mr. Walrus leaned back to avoid a haymaker and responded with a straight jab to his assailant and swift kick to knock out another mobster.
The large stallion couldn’t help but notice that attacks were becoming less frequent. But before he was able to fully relax he was surrounded by magic and lifted off the ground. He was then spun round to face the pony responsible. Turns out that Al Dente was a unicorn.
"What are ya gonna do now?" The cook asked cockily.
"Ptooie!!!"
Mr. Walrus hawked out a massive wad of spit, right into the unicorn's eye.
"Argh! Son of a…!"
The unicorn tried to wipe the spit out of his eye, not realising the break in concentration meant that he had lost his hold on Mr. Walrus. Realisation dawned on him however when the red stallion closed the distance, delivered a massive uppercut and sent him flying into a nearby wall.
Mr. Walrus took out a handkerchief to wipe the spit off the side of his mouth as he surveyed the splintered and groaning wreckage of the restaurant’s furniture and patrons.
"Terribly sorry, Mr. Carpenter. That was incredibly uncouth of me."
"Quite forgivable, Mr. Walrus. Though I fear you may need be uncouth for little while longer."
Mr. Carpenter gave the bar a meaningful tap. Understanding, Mr. Walrus reached over and pulled out Sweets who had been hiding there.
With little effort, the mobster was forcibly laid out on one of the last remaining tables. He looked up in terror as Mr. Walrus and Mr. Carpenter stood over him.
"I trust we can have a civil conversation now, Mr. Cannoli." Mr. Carpenter's voice, while still mostly neutral, had developed a slight edge.
"Look I don't know what Stone Wall is doing in Bitsberg but I swear that the Cannoli Family has nothing to do with it." Sweets was on the verge of tears. "You can give your boss my personal guarantee that we will stay out of Bitsberg!"
"Do you think that will satisfy our employer, Mr. Walrus?"
"I don't believe so, Mr. Carpenter."
"My thoughts exactly, Mr. Walrus.” He focused his attention back to Sweets. “Let me explain to you the situation. We don’t get paid if the client isn’t satisfied and unless you tell us what he wants to know, he won't be satisfied.” He lowered his voice almost to a whisper. “So right now, you’re the thing standing between us and our pay day.”
“Look, whatever your boss is offering you, I-I’ll double it.”
Mr. Carpenter let out a sigh. “Now you’re just being irritating, Mr. Cannoli.” He turned to his comrade. “Mr. Walrus, if you would.”
Mr. Walrus raised his hoof.
“ALRIGHT!!!” Sweets shrieked. “I’LL TALK!!!”
Mr. Walrus retracted his hoof.
“Stone Wall set up this arrangement with the old man.” The mobster explained. “He gave us a good deal on the stuff we needed to form Stronghold Construction as well as a few construction jobs so we looked legit. In exchange we would avoid hitting places his company protected and we’d do each other the occasional favour. That’s all it was. We don’t have anything to do with Stone Wall’s out-of-town operations.”
“What do you think, Mr. Walrus?” The orange stallion asked.
“I think he’s telling the truth, Mr. Carpenter.” The larger stallion replied. “But I don’t think he’s telling us everything.”
“I definitely agree, Mr. Walrus, and I can’t help but notice that his brother isn’t present this evening.”
Sweets was starting to sweat bullets. “Okay, so Stone Wall might have come to us with a job recently. He uh wants us to...uh...stage a kidnapping.”
“And who, pretell. Would you be kidnapping?”
“Princess...Mi Amore Cadenza.”
Mr. Carpenter blinked a couple of times before turning to his partner. “Mr. Walrus, I believe he is mocking us, please respond accordingly.”
“Understood, Mr. Carpenter.”
“IT’S THE TRUTH I SWEAR!!!” Sweets shrieked. “She’s in town this week and is invited as the guest of honour to that Love Boat whatever show Stone Wall is putting on. Gelato and his crew are going to get the drop on her when she's leaving the theatre.”
“Mr. Cannoli, I know your family is going through a rough patch, but do you honestly expect us to believe you are desperate enough to try and kidnap a princess?” Mr. Carpenter asked in disbelief.
“We’re not trying to kidnap her, we’re just supposed to make it look like we’re trying to kidnap her.” Sweets explained. “While she’s in Manehatten, the princess is using the Royal guards instead of her own for protection as sign of good will. Stone Wall’s alchemists have whipped something up that he will slip to the guards. When Gelato attacks, the stuff kicks, making the guards act all drunk and unable to protect the Princess. Stone Wall’s troops swoop in rescue the princess while Gelato and co make like they've been beaten and run off.”
“Do you have any proof to back up this story?” Mr. Carpenter asked.
“We kept the letters he sent us.” Sweets said. “Stone Wall tried to keep things verbal to avoid anything being tied back to him but when he couldn’t risk coming in person, he’d used a message system we set up. We kept the letters he sent us incase he ever decided to turn on us.”
“And where are they now?”
“...behind a panel under the cash register.”
Mr. Carpenter went to retrieve the letters while Mr. Walrus kept Sweets company.
“Mr. Cannoli. As a bit of candid advice, I would suggest that you end your working relationship with Stone Wall, immediately.”
“You mean call off the job?” Sweets asked. “I can’t.”
The low growl that escaped Mr. Walrus caused the mobster to panic.
“I mean I literally can’t.” He clarified. “A couple of days before a job, Gelato and his crew always go dark until the job is finished so I have no way of calling the job off.” As Mr. Carpenter continued to glare at the mobster, tears started streaming down Sweets’ face. “Look, once this job is finished, that’s it. We’ll never do business with Stone Wall again. I PROMISE!!!”
“You had better not Mr. Cannoli.” Mr. Carpenter turned to his associate. “I believe we’re finished here, Mr. Walrus.”
“Understood, Mr. Carpenter.”
The two stallions left the restaurant without another word. Certain he was alone, Sweets let out a sigh of relief.
That quickly turned into a groan of pain when the table he was lying on collapsed.
Cheerilee, Filthy and Notary were sitting around the table, reviewing the information yet again. The sound of the door opening and closing notified them of Big Mac and Heavy’s return.
“So how did your Q&A go?” Cheerilee asked. The looks she got in return spoke volumes. “Bad?”
“Worse.” Heavy replied.
“This is insane.” Filthy said. “There is no way he could do something this crazy.”
“The guy has delusions of grandeur and the resources to make it happen.” Notary commented. “At this point nothing he does would surprise me.”
“But to stage an attempted kidnapping of a Princess as a smear tactic? All so he can start to repeatedly humiliate the Royal Guard so he can eventually replace them and privatize all of Equestria’s military and police forces?” The business stallion scoffed. “I can’t even begin to describe how ludicrous this idea is."
“True, but I’ve heard of crazier.” Notary stated. “Though how does Heavy Roller fit into this?”
“My guess? Sabotage.” Cheerilee stated. “Have Heavy use his skills as both a smuggler and a cartwright to make Royal Guards wagons and equipment fall apart at inopportune moments or reveal to be carrying contraband. One embarrassment won’t end the royal guard, but it will put them under greater scrutiny for Stone Wall to capitalise on.”
“We have to go to the authorities.” Heavy stated. “Even if this stunt doesn’t discredit the guard somepony could get seriously hurt.”
“With what evidence?” Notary asked. “The files Cheerilee and I stole or the confession you two beat out of a mobster?”
“We have to do something!” Heavy insisted. “If he’s planning to discredit the royal guards, this will only be the beginning. Who knows how many lives will be ruined by this!”
“Think long and hard about what you’re suggesting.” Big Mac said as he removed the tie he had been wearing. “We started this to stop you losing Scootaloo. You’re no good to her dead or in prison.”
“If I stand by and let her mother’s legacy be dragged through the mud, what good am I to her now?”
Big Mac stood up and abruptly slammed Heavy Roller into a wall.
“Don’t ever say that again!!!” Big Mac warned.
Cheerilee stepped in between them.
“Enough!” She said. “This isn’t helping anyone.”
“Neither is some suicide mission.” The farmer shot back. “I signed on to help keep Scootaloo with her father but this goes way beyond that. The smart thing to do now is to walk away before one of us winds up dead.”
“You’re right, that would be the smart thing.” Cheerilee agreed quickly before going in for the kill. “But would you be saying that if it was Applebloom or Applejack on the line?”
Big Mac glared at her.
“Sorry, that was a low blow.” She admitted. “But you know I’m right.”
Big Mac just looked away and walked to another side of the room.
“Alright, alright. This needs to be addressed since the goals have shifted.” Cheerilee said to the group, trying her best to keep emotion out of her voice. “This is no longer a blackmail mission. We need to take Stone Wall down completely. I’m seeing this through to the end but If any of you want to back out, I understand.”
All eyes fell on Heavy. “Stone Wall threatened to take my daughter away from me and now he is threatening to ruin my wife’s legacy and that of every one of her colleagues.” His voice almost boiled with a cold fury. “I don’t want to just stop him anymore, I want to destroy him.”
Filthy shrugged as he took a sip from his drink. “In for a jangle, in for a bit. Stone Wall is scum and he needs to be dealt with.”
“I’ve certainly done a lot worse for less noble causes.” Notary murmured. “I’m willing to be a bad guy for a little longer.”
The room turned silent as everypony turned to the red stallion yet to speak. He deliberated for a moment then said.
“If this goes south, I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to protect any of you.”
“We’re not asking if you can protect us.” Heavy replied. “But we could use your help if you’re willing to finish this.”
Big Mac was silent for another moment before giving his answer.
“Eeyup.”
“Alright so now that’s out of the way, any ideas of how we’ll actually do this?” Filthy asked.
“There ain’t that many places Gelato’s crew could stage an ambush.” The apple farmer stated. “We could probably intercept them before they can strike.”
“Stopping the strike will only stall Stone Wall’s plans.” Heavy countered. “To stop him, he will have to be at the center of any fallout we plan for him.”
“The best place for that would be during the show.” Notary commented. “If we could find a way to get into the Wall Flower that is.”
“Well there is Subtle Service’s invitation.” Filthy offered. “I’m sure we could find a way to turn it into a plus one.”
“Possible but the audience gets limited access.” Cheerilee said. “We need full access of the theatre.”
“How about if we pose as staff?” Heavy asked.
“This is an event run by a private security company.” Notary replied. “Even their janitors get a triple background check. Anyone without signed or verbal authorisation will at best be kicked out.”
“Well if audience is impractical and posing as staff is too risky the only other way in would be as performers.” Filthy picked up the program he had received along with his invitation. “And looking at the star power already amassed for this show I doubt he’s going to be open to some last minute additions.”
Cheerilee developed a mischievous grin.
“Alright then, let’s go steal a headliner.”