The Silanos

by Kama and Hallie

The Dinner

The Silano House rested near the outskirts of Ponyville in the dead of night. It wasn't as large as how some would imagine a mansion to be, but it was still easily the second largest residence in Ponyville right behind the Rich Family Mansion. The Silanos have not interacted too much with the Rich Family despite both being business owners and easily the richest residents in Ponyville, since despite Roberto setting up his house and first restaurant in Equestria in Ponyville, essentially making the town his base of operations, he spent most of his time since coming to Equestria trying to also establish business in other more major cities like Canterlot and Manehatten, which was why he was absent from Ponyville for quite some time. But Roberto Silano and Filthy Rich have bumped into each other for a moment during Roberto's early days in Ponyville, and after Filthy Rich introduced himself to the human and what he does for a living, Roberto proposed to maybe one day supply the businnesspony's stores with some of his own products, despite already planning to open up his own stores, probably to help give a little "seal of approval" to the ponies of Ponyville as well as help each other earn a bit more profits.

But on this night, a while since that short interaction with Filthy Rich, Roberto was not discussing business with anyone but his family. The Silano House was a wide two-story building with tiled roofs, unlike most of the other houses in Ponyville that had roofs made of straw. The house was clearly made with Italian architecture in mind, as per requested by Roberto, who was very insistent on making all his properties as Italian-based as possible. The mansion had four main bedrooms for each of the family members, the fourth being for Mrs. Silano who never came to Equestria but Roberto still had built just in case she changed her mind (which she never did), two guest bedrooms, an office room for Roberto to conduct his business, a large kitchen which was to be expected, a storage room for all kinds of meats and cheese, and most importantly, a wine cellar. But Roberto's personal favorite part of the house was easily the back garden, in which he spent a lot of his free time at home when he's not busy. The garden was fairly vast, with wide open grass fields, large trees to provide shade, and Roberto's personal little plantation. While Roberto did tell Applejack he was no farmer, he wasn't clueless when it came to gardening, as he grew his own tomatoes, grapes, and olives in a little corner of his garden. Roberto always used the produce from his personal garden to make his recipes instead of using the crops from his farms, as those were reserved for his restaurants and stores, and his personal rule for himself and his family was to never consume any of the products they intended to sell, legal or illegal.

Right now, Roberto sat with his children and Vincenzo De Luca in the dining room of his house. While Vincenzo did not live in the Silano House, instead living in the houses around the edges of Ponyville along with Roberto's other men (they preferred to keep a distance from the ponies, especially after learning just how hectic they can be), he was still allowed the honor of dining with the Silanos every night before going back to his house. Vincenzo has worked for Roberto for a good many years, even having a hand in raising and teaching Gabriele who became close to him, so it would be unfair if they did not allow him to sit alongside them as a member of the family.

The Silanos and Vincenzo had a dinner consisting of spaghetti with meatballs and sausages, salad, and many side dishes of bread, meat, tomatoes, and cheese. Last but not least, for the drinks, were two bottles of wine, mandatory for any Italian lunch and dinner. Roberto and Vincenzo, being the largest men of the group, had a lot on their plates, literally, and refilled them the most. Gabriele ate quite a lot too, but with a more reasonable amount for a young man his size. Ainsley, as usual, ate the least out of all of them, having only salad and tomatoes on his plate, and despite every dinner his father kept trying to insist him to eat more considering how thin he was compared to everyone else, Ainsley always refused because he wanted to maintain his weight and body shape, which Roberto thought was ridiculous. Roberto also did not have his cigar during the dinner, as there were only two things of the day that would ever cause Roberto to not be seen with a cigar in his mouth or hand, and that was when he was eating and when he went to sleep, but once one of those two things were over he immediately lit up a new cigar. The dinner was mostly quiet for the first twenty minutes, with everyone at the table quietly enjoying their meals, as all the Silanos as well as Silano were fantastic at cooking so they always took time to enjoy their hard work, but eventually Roberto broke the silence to start discussing business.

"So, kids, how did it go?" Roberto asked, still looking down at his meal.

"What?" Ainsley asked back, a little surprised at the sudden question that interrupted his quiet meal.

"The talks with the otha' two council members, Fluttershy an' Rainbow. What else?"

"Oh, right. It went pretty well, actually. Dash is a really nice mare, easy to get along with, easy to make friends with. We spent the day at the spa, and I gotta say, one of the best times of my life!" Ainsley answered and raised his arms as he did so.

"Strike any deals with 'er or whateva'?" Roberto asked again, this time with food in his mouth.

"Not really. I did tell her she can come to us anytime if she's experiencing any trouble, but nothing specific. I did consider maybe trying to get something out of her Wonderbolts job, but I couldn't find any reason to. She seems pretty satisfied with her life, so y'know," Roberto's younger son answered again.

Roberto nodded at his son's answer and swallowed his food before speaking. "Hmm. Ya did pretty well, son. Ya got close with 'er an' earned 'er friendship, trust, an' respect; an' ya may not 'ave struck a business deal with 'er, ya still made 'er an open offer that she can accept anytime an' bring 'er ta us. That's pretty good."

"Why, thanks, Dad!" Ainsley felt flattered at that.

Roberto now turned to his older son. "What about you, Gabriele? How did yours go?"

Gabriele stared back at his father and chewed and swallowed his food first before saying anything. "Well, if I'm bein' a hundred percent honest, that yellow broad was a weirdo. She seems ta have a borderlone unhealthy obsession with animals with how she talks about them all tha time an' talks about 'em like they actually 'ave rights an' they need as much respect as we do. I mean, fa Christ's sake, she frickin' let's 'em roam around 'er damn sanctuary unchecked! If ya ask me, animals like the ones she keeps need to be kept behind a cage, not roamin' around alongside us! I mean, they're violent an' unpredictable, ya neva' know when they're gonna attack! One minute they'll be all gentle an' sweet like a fuckin' puppy dog, but then the next minute they're brutally tearin' ya ta piece! Jus' like that, at the drop of a hat! Creatures like those shouldn't be allowed ta be walkin' freely beside civilized folks like us."

"Alright, but we ain't 'ere ta talk about how ya feel about 'er sanctuary, we're talkin' about how things went with 'er. Ya didn' actually say any o' that stuff ta her, did ya?" Roberto asked.

Gabriele stuffed some spaghetti in his face and talked with the food in his mouth. "O'course I did! Well, not really, actually. I jus' asked 'er what the frickin' point of a fuckin' animal sanctuary. A place like that is a waste o' funds an' taxes if ya ask me. I mean, c'mon, how long do those damn animals live anyway? A couplea years at best! So ya rescue those animals from dyin' out there in the wild, then they die immediately after anyway! Ya coulda jus' used all that money ta give to a...I don't know, an orphanage? All I did was pose the question ta Flutters, challenged 'er ideals, ya know? An' right after I did that, ya know what she did?"

"No, I don't. Enlighten me."

"She invited me ta one day help around with 'er sanctuary an' animals, in orda' ta 'teach' me that animals aren't jus' the way I think they are."

"An' what did ya say?"

"What else? The whole point o' this was to try an' be 'er friend an' get 'er on our side, so I accepted. I even told 'er that if she eva' had any problems with 'er sanctuary or anythin' else, she can come ta us. But if I'm bein' completely honest 'ere, I am not lookin' forward ta dealin' with 'er an' 'er sanctuary. Maybe if we could get the animals ta battle each otha' ta the death, I'd be interested, but we're obviously not gonna do that," Gabriele said as he rested his head on his hand and put another forkful of spaghetti in his mouth.

Roberto stared silently at his son for a moment and nodded at what he was just told. "Ya didn't do too bad, son. I gotta say that. Sometimes business is like that, ya 'ave ta deal with a lotta people ya don't like at all but ya gonna need ta keep ya business goin'. It's painful but it's necessary. But ya still need ta overcome ya greatest problem, ya need ta stop tryna insult an' look down on everyone 'round ya. While that might be useful on the streets, especially when ya roughin' up some jackass tryna screw his way outta payin' us, it's not gonna be useful when ya tryna negotiate with someone, especially if ya wanna partner up with 'em an' be their friend. I think ya should definitely take 'er offer an' help 'er out."

"What?! Seriously?"

"Well, ya already agreed to it when she asked ya today, can't go back after that. Plus, if we wanna get 'er by our side, we need ta show 'er that we are willin' ta be by her side. If all ya did was jus' make a mockery outta her job an' passion an' not fulfill a promise ya made 'er on the first day, that's not gonna leave a good impression on 'er. So, I suggest that ya try ta fit into ya schedule aa day where ya can go ova' ta the animal sanctuary an' help Fluttershy out, get closer to 'er. Ya've already sorta got the business part down, but ya need ta improve on the relations part. Ainsley's the opposite. If any o' ya wanna help run this business, ya gonna 'ave ta learn both o' them," Roberto explained, pointing at his son with his fork.

"Alright, Pops," Gabriele said.

"So, Dad. How did things go with you today?" Ainsley asked this time.

"Me? Oh, nothing ya didn't expect, but things went pretty well. We've successfully managed ta mine a hundred wagons worth o' gems on our first day! Those Diamond Dogs sure helped speed things up. Best part is, we've only scratched the surface, and there's obviously many more places in Equestria ta mine as well. But that's a thought for anotha' day. I personally had three wagon's worth o' gems delivered ta Rarity, which she was obviously thankful for, a wagon or two fa us an' ya mother who I'll personally gift 'em to, an' the rest are fa sale. Now, a quarter o' the gems we mined will be sold right 'ere in Equestria, an' we'll 'ave 'em delivered ta the major pony cities like Canterlot, Manehatten, Fillydelphia, Las Pegasus, an' maybe Baltimare. The rest o' the gems will be delivered ta Earth, an' they'll be sold ta all the major jewelry stores in New York an' maybe the otha' cities in the state since we are discoverin' a shit ton o' gems right now. But we won't deliver all of 'em at once jus' yet, maybe jus'...five ta ten wagons a day fa now? I don' wanna attract too many unwanted attention, whether it's Portal Patrol guards who suddely get a little too nosy, or other families an' rich guys who easily get greedy an' wanna piece o' the action. So fa most o' the gems, we'll 'ave ta store 'em safely before they're ready ya be delivered, an' with how many gems we keep findin', I don't think we's gonna run out anytime soon!" Roberto said.

"For sure!" Gabriele cheered for his father as he, Ainsley, and Vincenzo raised their wine glasses to Roberto.

"Oh! I forgot ta mention. There's somethin' else I've been doin' today while ya two 'ave been gone," Roberto said with a cheeky smile.

"What's that?" Ainsley asked.

"This gem minin' business got me thinkin', Equestria is a new world with lotsa untapped business potential at every turn, an' I figured we should scour the land fa anythin' fa potential business exploit. So I asked my guys from every place we've established business 'ere ta try ta recruit ponies ta help us, since they'd obviously know the land much betta' than us. While not strictly necessary, I did ask fa most o' the pony recruits ta be unicorns an' pegasi since they'd be betta' security an' musclework in my opinion. I mostly asked the guys over at Manehatten ta do this since that city would obviously 'ave a lot more ponies willin' ta do shady stuff. The job fa the ponies is simple, jus' guide our guys around Equestria, help look fa potential exploits, educate 'em on Equestia, get close ta the otha' kingdoms as well an' see what we can get outta the otha' creatures as well," Roberto explained.

"Wait, I thought we scratched most o' the otha' creatures off our list," Gabriele spoke up, confused.

"Fa sellin' gems to, but that doesn't mean we can't get anythin' outta them. Those hippogriffs an' those changelings would obviously 'ave some things ta offa' even if they aren't the richest out there money-wise. Plus, Klugetown, sure it's a shithole, like Ainsley said, but from what I heard they'll still be good customers. Plus, there's still many lands an' kingdoms out there we, or heck, maybe even a lotta the ponies 'ere, don't know nothin' about!"

"'Anything', Dad," Ainsley suddenly said.

"What?"

"It's 'don't know anything', not 'don't know nothing'."

Roberto just stared at his feminine youngest son silently for a few seconds, not appreciating having his way of speaking be corrected, and simply said "Shut up, son."

This time, Vincenzo finally decided to speak up as well. "I've been talkin' to our guys over at Manehatten as well. By letter like ya dad, o'course. Besides the restaurant an' the stores, we're also makin' a racin' track there jus' like the one here in Ponyville too, ta expand our gamblin' circle. Obviously, Manehatten wouldn't be too different from Manhatten back home, any damn idiot can figure that out, so obviously the ponies there would be jus' as greedy an' stupid as New Yorkers back home, so there'd be no question a lotta them would participate in gamblin', way more than the ponies here in Ponyville."

"Hey, uh, speakin' o' gamblin', are we still goin' along with the narcotics business 'ere?" Gabriele asked, again with his mouth full.

"Of course we are. If ya gonna do business in two worlds, might as well double ya money by sellin' ya products in both worlds. We should expect shipment in a few days," Roberto answered.

"But what about the Portal Patrol? Won't they check for those things?" Ainsley asked this time.

"Don't worry about those guys. I've already made sure our guys'll mix the coca seeds into every package containin' seeds o' different crops an' plants. Plus, the Portal Patrol guards are lazy an' pretty incompetent. They 'ave ta watch hundreds o' humans an' ponies comin' an' goin' from the portal everyday, so I doubt they'll ever bother ta check every seed in every package ta see if it's actually illegal. They ain't exactly on the same level as airport security."

The Portal Patrol was a pretty new group appointed by the United States government to guard and watch over the portal that connects Earth to Equestria, with the hundreds of humans and ponies passing either entering or leaving Equestria and vice versa for Earth. Fortunately for the Silanos, as Roberto said, because the group was still in its infancy, they weren't as strict and tight as international, or in this case interdimensional, security ought to be. Plus, with how many humans and ponies pass through every day, the guards couldn't be bothered to check everyone thoroughly. They were, at this point in time, pretty much useless, which opened a huge door of opportunity for illegal activity, like the one the Silanos were about to commit, to happen very easily.

"We'll be growin' all our produce, both the narcotics an' the stuff fa our restaurants, will be grown over at Sweet Apple Acres. I already spoke ta Applejack about it, told 'er I wanted use some o' her unused acres ta grow my crops. She's still discussin' it with 'er family, so we'll 'ave ta wait fa that ta be over with, but once she does, we can commence. I'll 'ave our workers build an underground facility under the greenhouse tent we'll have pitched up ta grow some of our other crops, an' this hidden underground facility is where we'll grow an' process our narcotics," Roberto continued.

"One thing, Dad. The ponies and other creatures here probably don't even know what narcotics are. So how are we supposed to sell it to them?" Ainsley asked again.

"That's simple, son. That's one o' the reason I wanna learn what makes every pony and creature tick. Everyone has a different reason fa wantin' ta consume cocaine an' otha' drugs, but eventually, their reason all becomes the same, an' that's jus' ta keep havin' more drugs. Same as money, keep givin' 'em endless riches, an' eventually their only reason fa comin' back will be ta jus' keep havin' more riches. So if we can figure out how ta convince 'em ta take our product in the first place, then we'll 'ave new regular customers. So ya see, if we can't find potential customers, then we'll make the potential customers!"

Gabriele and Ainsley stared at their father in shocked silence for a moment, and Gabriele was the first to speak up. "So we're really gonna turn a world of magical creatures into desperate druggies? I like the sound o' that!"

"Wow, that's just...wow," Ainsley said, not knowing what to say.

Roberto nodded at his sons' responses with a proud smile for himself. Now, his mind shifted to the other important topic as he and everyone else at the table finished their dinner. "So, we've managed ta befriend the five members o' the Council o' Friendship. That just leaves one more...the Princess herself."

Comments

[Chrome Masquerade]

I have wanted to use that reference for... SO long!

[OP Omni God-Emperor Doom]

"One thing, Dad. The ponies and other creatures here probably don't even know what narcotics are. So how are we supposed to sell it to them?" Ainsley asked again.

"That's simple, son. That's one o' the reason I wanna learn what makes every pony and creature tick. Everyone has a different reason fa wantin' ta consume cocaine an' otha' drugs, but eventually, their reason all becomes the same, an' that's jus' ta keep havin' more drugs. Same as money, keep givin' 'em endless riches, an' eventually their only reason fa comin' back will be ta jus' keep havin' more riches. So if we can figure out how ta convince 'em ta take our product in the first place, then we'll 'ave new regular customers. So ya see, if we can't find potential customers, then we'll make the potential customers!"

Gabriele and Ainsley stared at their father in shocked silence for a moment, and Gabriele was the first to speak up. "So we're really gonna turn a world of magical creatures into desperate druggies? I like the sound o' that!"

"Wow, that's just...wow," Ainsley said, not knowing what to say.

Roberto nodded at his sons' responses with a proud smile for himself. Now, his mind shifted to the other important topic as he and everyone else at the table finished their dinner. "So, we've managed ta befriend the five members o' the Council o' Friendship. That just leaves one more...the Princess herself."

You gotta be frickin kidding me!!??

What's next? You're going to sell them guns/weapons next!!??

This will most likely end in a disaster, and will eventually get the full-attention to the mane six, young six, starswirl/pillars, and even former princesses after you all.

[Doctor NOOOOOOOO]

Now imagine Rainbow Dash on drugs. Ponyville would see 8 consecutive sonic rainbooms

11812155

What's next? You're going to sell them guns/weapons next!!??

how the hell would ponies shoot a gun? I don't see that happening
Also I swear Ive seen you somewhere before...