In a shady inn that any other pony would have thought twice about before staying there, Silent sat in his room looking over the dossier for the mission. It seemed like something simple, something that he should have been able to handle in his sleep. But something about it seemed wrong as he continually read over the details, something about it didn't add up quite right. The pieces were askew. No, one was missing altogether- maybe more.
A real estate company was interested in a piece of property a few miles out from a smaller town near Canterlot, about the same size as Ponyville. But simpler. It seemed more like Appleloosa from what he could understand. The property used to belong to a stallion who once owned most of the town, a property giant whose business went south when the town's economy took a dive. The stallion fled the town in shame, thinking he was the one who caused the collapse, and left his mansion standing.
Silent was amazed to learn the mansion was much bigger than his own that stood in Ponyville. Of course he considered his to be large, but he never considered it to be the biggest. But still, something larger than his two-story, seven-bedroom, five bath sanctuary seemed ridiculous. And that wasn't counting the library, Ink's study, his own, as well as the training area and forge under the mansion. He shook his head. It was no wonder the economy collapsed with mindless spending like that- and in a town where most of the houses around the place had a low property value to begin with. The stallion had only lowered the property value and not only ruined his own business, but others nearby as well.
According to the file, the town was now something like a ghost town. A few of the original residents remained and tended to their farms, paid handsomely by the nobles in Canterlot to stay. Even if the property value was next to nothing, the little crops that were produced there still fetched high prices in the markets of Canterlot- even Ponyville. That alone was enough to make them stay, the promise of the profit they got when there was little competition in the area.
But that was what didn't make sense to Silent.
If the value of these crops was so high, why did the value of the land they were grown on stay low? He wasn't much of an economist, he never had to be, but something about it seemed wrong. And why was he being called into a town this small?
He flipped the page and got his answer.
The rumor went that the stallion fled to Canterlot and was killed there for his corruption by an unknown killer- or group. He chuckled as he read that. That had the smell of the Order all over it. Any kind of killing over corruption or greed was their hallmark, he had spent enough time with Ink to learn the inner workings of one who belonged to the Assassin Order.
He sighed softly as he continued to read.
The rumored last words of the stallion, although Silent thought them to be too clichéd to be real, were “This is not the end of me. Only the beginning.” That promise, the townspeople believed, manifested itself in the form of a clothed specter that haunted what remained of the stallion's mansion. Portions had been burned down. Raided. Demolished. Vandalized. All in vain attempts to somehow rid themselves of the specter. The only portion that still stood was the west wing, where the stallion's study and master bedroom had been. And what was even weirder about that, was that the study had gone untouched by anypony. The vault was unopened. Not a book was out of place. If anything had been moved, it was due to the elements that the structure was exposed to.
But nopony had dared go near that place even though the vault was unlocked and within easy access on the floor level. Those who had tried came back to the main part of town rambling nonsense and going on about seeing the past, hallucinating about things that happened years ago. Speaking nonsense. Having fits of what could only be described as complete insanity.
And this was all thought to be some kind of revenge brought on by the “untimely” death of said stallion. Something about unfinished business.
Silent shook his head and set the folder aside with a sigh, reaching for his short sword when he noticed a picture had fluttered out of the stack of papers. It was a small photograph of what seemed to be the figure of an earth pony stallion, completely see-through and just barely visible in the shadows. The eyes, though, of the figure were clear and solid. The longer Silent looked at them, the more a sense of dread started to creep up inside of him.
Something was definitely wrong now.
For once, he was regretting taking a contract. He shook his head and slipped the picture back into the folder, trying not think anymore of it. He sighed. If the property was haunted as it was claimed to be and ponies had such horrible experiences after going near the place, why was a real estate agency interested in it? Something about it didn't add up and the more he thought about it, the weirder things started to seem to him. Silent tried not to think about it, but the image kept flashing in the corners of his memories. What's more was his thoughts were constantly pulled back to Ink, even when she had nothing to do with any of this. He sighed and shook his head, putting on his tattered black cloak and strapping on his short sword as well as a few smoke bombs and a spare dagger.
Silent had planned on waiting until tomorrow to go gather information, but he realized there was no time for that. As he left the room and locked the door behind him, the only thing that was going through his mind was the hauntingly clear image of the figure's eyes.