The Silanos

by Kama and Hallie

The Offer

A few hours after arriving back at Ponyville, Roberto decided to go up to Sweet Apple Acres on his own, while the other three took care of other things. Besides, Roberto has always been the best at negotiating and forming partnerships with others, Gabriele and Vincenzo were men who mostly spoke with action rather than words and weren't really the best at getting people comfortable, and Ainsley was still inexperienced in his father's business, still a lot to learn. It wasn't like Gabriele and Vincenzo's assistance were needed anyway, as this was simply a talking matter, no jackass debtors who needed convincing or anything like that, and Ainsley seemed like he was getting frustrated with his father trying to look into the "mystery" of his near-death experience. But Roberto had always been somewhat superstitious, maybe not to the degree his wife was, or his father and grandfather were, but it was still there. Roberto always knew that in his line of business, there'd always, always, be someone who wished death upon him, one way or another. So if Roberto felt that if his life was nearly taken in any way, he'll take that as a warning that someone bore ill intent upon him, which is something that happened nearly all the time, and he'd take that as a warning that his life could be in danger.

Roberto walked through the gates and saw the big red farm and acres upon acres of apple trees that stood before him. Roberto had to admit, while Equestria was personally not his favorite place, it still had a lot of things to be enjoyed. Roberto personally thought that the views of Sicily could never be beat, which made him realize he couldn't remember how long it's been since he last visited his ancestral home, or Italy in general. Roberto shook the thoughts out of his head, focusing on the task at hand. He wandered past the barn and into the fields, trying to find some any form of life that was there. The mob boss thought it was funny how he managed to visit two different farms on the same day. Earth ponies did seem to have a natural talent for agriculture and "taming the land" as they say, which is something Roberto can respect.

After a few minutes of walking through the trees, Roberto finally heard some noises that indicated that someone (or "somepony", as they say in Equestria, something he would never get used to) was nearby, and he found his target. Among the trees was an orange mare with a blonde mane and tail wearing a cowboy hat, and Roberto immediately knew this was Applejack, exactly the pony he wanted to see. It never occured to Roberto how little he knew about Ponyville and its residents despite it being pretty much his headquarters here in Equestria. He was known as a man who knew everyone back on Earth, so he thought he needed to fix that mistake. Can't do business if you don't know anything about the place you're conducting business in, can you? And what better place to start than some of the most famous and influential figures in town?

Roberto approached Applejack, who was in the middle of bucking one of the apple trees, which caused all the apples from the tree to fall perfectly in place in the baskets she had placed underneath. Roberto took the cigar out of his mouth and cleared his throat, which got the orange farm pony's attention.

"Nice farm ya got 'ere," Roberto greeted.

"Oh, howdy there, stranger! Ah'm Applejack, an' you are...?"

"Mr. Silano. Ya mighta heard o' me," the mob boss answered.

"Wait...aren't ya the feller who had that accident with the cherry down at Sugarcube Corner?" the farm pony asked.

"That would be me. I was hopin' I could talk to those three fillies."

"Well...look, Ah already confronted the girls about what happened, gave 'em a talkin' to, they apologized, an' I told 'em ta be be more careful in the future."

"Oh, don't worry about that. I have absolutely no hard feelings about what happened, they are jus' children after all," Roberto reassured. "I actually jus' wanted ta ask 'em some questions regarding the incident."

"Questions? But tha whole thing was jus' an accident, weren't it? What questions do ya even wanna ask 'em, an' why?" Applejack asked, starting to become a little concerned.

"It's alright, Apple Girl, they's not in any trouble. I'm jus' startin' to have a suspicious feelin' that my so-called 'accident' wasn't that much of an accident," Roberto explained, which he could see was not helping her understand any better.

"Are ya sayin' the girls had somethin' to do with the accident or somethin'?" Applejack asked again, clearly becoming a lot more defensive.

"No, of course not, not really, it's complicated. Look, like I says, they's not in any trouble, an' I have no hard feelin's. I jus' wanna talk to 'em. Ya know where they are?"

Applejack still looked pretty skeptical with Roberto, but decided to play along. "Sure, they're in their clubhouse. Lemme take ya to 'em."

"Why, thank you."

Applejack led Roberto through the trees. Roberto decided to keep looking around him, at all the apples growing around him, all managed by this one apparently small family from what he heard. This orange mare, her older brother and his wife, her little sister, and her grandmother who's probably retired by now. Roberto always had an appreciation for farmers, as his ancestral home of Siciluy was full of them, and they were the backbone for his main businesses. Roberto could tell that Applejack was eyeing him suspiciously, so he decided to defuse the tension by starting to talk about the other reason he came to the farm.

"So ya grow apples, huh?" Roberto asked.

"Yup, best apples in Ponyville," Applejack answered with a friendly voice, though still with a hint of wariness underneath.

"Ya know, my business is also kinda in farming as well."

"Really? Ya don't seem like the type." the farm pony gestured at Roberto's whole being.

"Well, I'm not that much of a farmer myself. I mean, I do grow a lot of my own things, mostly in my garden, but I don't really try to get my hands dirty often. But my business does involve a lotta farm-grown things, all o' which I own."

"So whaddya grow?" Applejack asked.

"Many things, but we mainly farm grapes, olives, an' tomatoes. Y'know, ta make wine, olive oil, an' sauce, all the essentials fa Italian cuisine. Ya make somethin' like that with ya apples, don't ya?"

"Yeah, we do. We make the special Apple Family Cider, best cider 'round these parts. We even grow some of our own grapes, too. Why do ya ask?"

"Y'see, I didn' jus' come here ta talk ta the fillies, Applejack. I wanna talk some business as well," the mob boss answered.

"Business? What kinda business?"

"I know you's never met me before, but ya mighta seen my new restaurant around town. It's called 'Giovanni's'," Roberto gestured his thumb in Ponyville's direction behind him.

"That's yer restaurant? Then how come Ah've never seen ya 'round town before?"

"I'm a very busy man, that's all I can say. The point is, I wanna make ya an offer."

"An' what's that?" Applejack began eyeing Roberto again, as if trying to spot anything off about him.

"Like I just says, I own many farms myself that grow many things important fa my business. The thing is, since my chains have only recently opened up 'ere in Equestria, the products fa my business still need ta be delivered an' shipped from Earth through the portal. Not only is this slowin' down my business 'ere significantly, but there are also certain products important fa my business that would have a hard time gettin' through the portal's authorization," Roberto explained.

"Uh-huh..." Applejack said, trying to follow along, waiting to see where all this was going.

"So, I was thinkin', in order ta help my business, how 'bout we form some kinda partnership with our farms?"

"How d'ya mean?"

"Well, yous already got yaself a pretty damn big farm 'ere, probably takes half o' this town. I was thinkin' maybe I can also use some o' ya acres ta grow some o' my own crops an' other products 'ere. That way, not only will it be a lot easier fa my restaurant businesses 'ere in Equestria, but ya can even get extra profits from my businesses as payment fa me usin' ya farm. Ya can use it ta fix or renovate the barn, expand the land, help ya own business. How's that sound?" Roberto asked.

Applejack pondered about it for a moment, taking in everything that was just said to her. "So ya jus' wanna use some o' our acres ta grow yer own stuff fer yer restaurant, is that correct?"

"Correct."

"Why d'ya need our farm?"

"It's mostly jus' a little boost ta help our startin' businesses 'ere in Equestria, make it easier ta access the tools an' make things go smoothly, an' maybe, one day, we'll open up our own farm 'round 'ere somewhere. But until that day 'appens, I'd be happy if ya can accept my offer, because I need to grow these things immediately if I want ta keep my business 'ere stable. Plus, where better to trust to grow them than the best farm in town? Plus, you an' ya family are still gettin' paid fa this, I ain't jus' gonna leech off ya land."

Applejack gave it another thought, and after a moment of silence, accepted. "Well, Ah've never tried growin' olives mahself, but shoot, why not? I'd be glad ta help an honest growin' business like yers."

"So it's a deal?" Roberto asked, extening his hand.

"Sure," Applejack extended her hoof into the human man's hand, and just like that, the farm pony and the mob boss formed the partnership.

"Ah'll make sure ta talk ta the rest o' the family before we make this really official."

"Of course, it's always important ta talk ta family. They're the backbones of any honest business," Roberto said with a smile.

"Well, c'mon. The clubhouse should jus' be right 'round 'ere," Applejack gestured to Roberto, as they continued walking.

After a few more minutes of roaming the fields, they finally arrived at the clubhouse. A small wooden house perched on a tree with a green staircase leading up to it, and there was what looked like some sort of watchtower at the very top of the tree, judging by the telescope sticking out of it.

"Maybe ya should stay down 'ere, 'cause ya look like ya might be too big ta go up there," Applejack said to the mob boss.

"Don' worry, wasn't plannin' ta go up there, anyway."

"Hey, girls! Come down 'ere!" Applejack called out at the treehouse, afterwhich three small heads poked out. "There's someone 'ere ta talk ta y'all," she gestured at Roberto.

When the three fillies saw who was with Applejack, their faces immediately turned to worry and fear, and after exhanging looks with each other, they reluctantly walked out of the treehouse and came down to the ground, in front of the mob boss.

"Hi, uh...we're...awful sorry about what happened back in Sugarcube Corner. Please don't be mad at us," Apple Bloom apologized nervously, rubbing her foreleg.

"It's alright, girls. I'm not mad about that. I jus' wanna ask ya somethin' about the incident," Roberto reassured.

The Crusaders looked at each other again. "What about it?" Scootaloo asked.

"I jus' wanted ta ask...why did ya three come ta the bakery at that time?" Roberto asked.

"Uh...we just wanted to go there, I guess," Scootaloo answered, she and the other two Crusaders looking very confused about the question being asked at them.

"No, I mean what caused ya ta go to the bakery at that specific time?" the mob boss asked again.

Now, the three of them, including Applejack, became even more confused. It was clear that the three girls were having a hard time trying to come up with a proper answer, and were worried what might happen if they didn't give an answer that satisfied the large human man. Roberto supposed he couldn't blame them, if someone suddenly asked him a question like that, he'd have thought they were either insane or stupid too.

"Well, uh..." Sweetie Belle spoke up this time. "We were released early today from school, an' Miss Cheerliee said that there was a Special Cherry Day at Sugarcube Corner, so we immediately went there after school. I mean, Sugarcube Corner wasn't too far from our school anyway."

"So ya got released early the very same day, huh? Isn't that an interesting coincidence," Roberto said out loud to himself, which did not help the already confused states of all the ponies around. "Well, thanks for ya time."

"That's it? That's all ya came ta ask?" Applejack asked, completely dumbfounded.

"Yup, that's all I needed ta know," Roberto confirmed as he threw his cigar to the ground and put it out with his shoe, which Applejack looked at with a sour face for his littering.

"Well, glad we can be of assistance, ah guess."

"Ya certainly have been," Roberto was about to walk away, but suddenly stopped himself. "Actually, there's one more thing I wanna ask. You, unicorn! What's ya name again?" Roberto pointed at the white unicorn filly.

"Uh...Sweetie Belle, sir," she answered.

"Ya sister's the fashionista isn't she? What's 'er name? Rareness? Rar..."

"Rarity?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Yeah, Rarity, that's 'er! She's ya sister, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, I've noticed there've been a few tears formin' 'round my suit 'ere, an' I can't 'ave that. This is an expensive first-class suit! I'd stitch it up myself, but fa a suit this expensive an' fancy, I think I'd rather 'ave a professional fashion seamstress do the work instead. I know she'd do a hell of a lot better job than me. Is she in today?"

"Yeah, she is. She's pretty busy, that's one of the reasons I'm over here," Sweetie Belle answered.

"Well, I'm sure she can spare some time fa me. I pay good money fa my suits, an' she'll definitely get some good money. Plus, I might also wanna discuss some things with 'er."

"Like what?"

"Ya don' need ta concern yaselves with that. It's strictly business talk," Roberto said as he grabbed another cigar from his pocket and put it in his mouth. "So 'er place is the uh...Carousel Boutique, right? The one surrounded by all the tents?"

"Yup, that's the one," the filly confirmed.

"Alright then," Roberto said as he turned to Applejack one last time. "Hope our partnership can be a good one, as two honest individuals o' business." And with that, Roberto walked away.

Applejack couldn't help but feel at least a little suspicious of the large cigar-smoking human, with how he kept asking the fillies those strange questions as if they were purposefully involved in his accident, to the sudden offer of having his business use her family's farm, and now, based on what he said, it sounded like he was going to discuss business with Rarity right after he did with Applejack. The farm pony couldn't exactly put her hoof on it, but something felt off about Silano. But before she could dwell on these thoughts further, she had to answer Apple Bloom's question about what the human man meant about their "partnership".

As Roberto walked out of Sweet Apple Acres in the late afternoon, he enjoyed the view around while he struck a match to light his new cigar. The mob boss smirked proudly thinking about all his accomplishments today so far.

Two friends o' the Princess down, an' three more ta go, he thought to himself as he walked into the town.

Comments

[Kama and Hallie]

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What's the mistake?

EDIT: Never mind. Took me a while to notice, but I found it.