//------------------------------// // Chapter 39 // Story: The Tome of Faust // by DungeonMiner //------------------------------// After meeting with the wizard, Mouse became even more secretive. He began leaving in the middle of the night, always by himself, before returning within the hour. One night, Golden cornered the little unicorn and asked him just what exactly he was up to.          “Small changes,” he responded.         “What do you mean?” she asked, her voice low and quiet as the others slept somewhere in the sanctuary.     “Asking a guard for help here, keeping a lamp lit there, small things. Just the smallest things,” he explained, openly.     “Why?”     “To get everything ready,” he said simply.      “Ready for what?” she asked.     Mouse simply smiled at that, before he led her back to her room, and told her to go back to bed. “You need your sleep, Goldie. You’ll need your strength.”     “No, I’m not letting you leave me like this. I’ve played along with this all-knowing stuff long enough, I’ve followed you, and I’ll keep following you, but I’m not letting you disappear into the night without talking to anyone.”     Mouse shook his head. “I’ll be fine, Goldie. Just take care of yourself,” he said, gently pushing her into her room.     “No, Mouse,” she said, turning, but Mouse was already gone, fading into the shadows of the sanctuary, and slipping away.     “Mouse!” she called after him. “Come back here, we’re not done!”     The unicorn didn’t answer.      “Sarding thief,” she muttered, before retreating back to her room.     “Can’t trust him at all can you?” A voice said, and Golden nearly jumped out of her skin, before her eyes fell on Wraith, who hung in the rafters of her room. “Well, at least he doesn’t hide on my ceiling.,” Golden muttered darkly.      “Hey, you know where I stand,” the other unicorn said. “I’m a killer. I want ponies killed, but Ghost…”     “Mouse,” Golden corrected.      “Only if you’re talking about a dead pony,” Wraith said. “He killed that soft part of himself, and he became a true killer. Now, he claims he killed Ghost too. So what’s left, I wonder? Is he just an empty husk of a pony leading us along, or is he a pony desperately trying to hold on to a past that doesn’t exist anymore?”     Golden sighed. “Are you done? I need to go to bed.”     “He’s a completely different pony than before,’ Wraith hissed. “He used to be one of us, but then he turned on his murderers in arms, and left us for dead.”     Golden paused for a second. “Don’t you mean brothers in arms?”     “We knew what we were,” Wraith said. “We were killers, but we were a team, and he turned on us. I don’t know what kind of pony you knew, but he’s dead. All that’s left is that thing dressed in his skin.”     Golden shook her head. “Goodnight, Wraith.”     “I need you two,” Mouse said.     Golden wasn’t quite sure why. “So...to recap, you know of a high-ranking Horn member, and in order to get the Horn to meet, which we need for some reason, we need to assassinate this pony.”     “Yes,” Mouse said. “That’s correct.”     “Okay, well I understand why you’d want her to come along for that,” Golden said, pointing at Wraith, “but why me?”     “I can’t tell you why exactly,” Mouse said, “but you will be vital for the whole operation.”     “Okay, sure,” she muttered, “but you’re still bringing me along to murder somepony.”     Wraith snickered. “A, what’s the matter?” she asked. “Lost your nerve? You killed plenty of ponies before.”     “Wraith is right, here, Golden,” Mouse said. “Nothing’s changed, this is still the same enemy trying to destroy Equestria the same way it always had. The only thing that’s changing is how we meet them.”     “I understand that,” Golden said. “But I also happen to be wearing heavy, and somewhat loud armor. I’m going to be a liability, and you know that, right?”      “I do,” Mouse said. “At the same time, you will be our in. The assassination will be at a party, and you are going to get us into that party as a representative of the Founders.”     “Okay...that makes it a little better, I guess?”      “The important thing is that I and Wraith will deal with the pony that needs to die. Once he’s done we can all move forward.”     “This is crazy, you know that right?” she asked. “I’m not cut out for this.”     “All you need to do is be the face that everyone looks at. Wraith and I will take care of the rest,” Ghost said.     “Look, I get that, but I don’t think you understand how terribly suited I am for this kind of job.”     “Aw,” Cut said from the loft he built above the main hall. “It sounds like our little guard friend’s too afraid to her get her hooves dirty.”     “No, I’m fine with that, but I am not good at parties, like, at all.”     “Please,” Cut said, hanging from his hammock. “It’s a party. It’s not a war zone.”     “I’d prefer a warzone,” she said. “They’re easier to navigate.”     Cut laughed.         “You will do well, Goldie, I promise,” Mouse said.     Golden sighed. “Fine. Damn you and this damned foresight that you have, Mouse. I’ll go with you, though.”     Mouse nodded, and gave a faint smile. “I know, I know it’s taxing, but I promise, this will all make sense soon. We only have two and a half weeks left, after all.”     Golden Shield stepped into the manor house overlooking the harbor outside of the west side of Vanhoover. The manor house was owned by Lord Shining Silver, one of the Unicornian nobles that decided they would follow Princess Platinum rather than stay with the soon-to-be-fighting sisters.      Or so he said.      According to Mouse, he was actually a Golden revolutionary, and actually one of the leading members of the Horn of the Mystic Oath. Mouse and Wraith walked beside her, flanking her on both sides as though they were officers or bureaucrats of some kind.     Honestly, Goolden wasn’t sure what to call them beyond their retainers, though she was surprised by how well they seemed to disappear into the background noise. No one seemed to notice them as pony after pony greeted her, thanking her for her service to the new-founded country, while at the same time showering her and the Founders for their attention.  Golden was sick of it by the second pony.     Despite that, the party was a marvelous affair, with a ballroom decorated with linen drapes, floors of marble and black granite. The tables were of exotic mahogany, shined to a mirror polish, and the sparkling cider was served in clear crystal. Not a speck was out of place as the manor servants took care of every need.      The whole place screamed of prim, proper, stiff, and lifeless, and that’s why Golden truly hated it. Despite the fact that this was supposed to be a celebration of some sort, there was not a single laugh in the building that didn’t sound forced. The unicorns moved carefully, so as not to wrinkle their precious petticoats, and the dancing, oh, by Peme the dancing! If the ponies were physically stiff in their over-starched shirts, then their dancing could only be described as outright wooden. As far as her eye can see, not a sprout of genuine life existed within the walls of the ballroom.     “I’d much rather be fighting for my life,” Golden whispered.      “You can do this,” Mouse whispered back. “Just a little longer.”     “A little longer, he says,” muttering to herself. “You know, I’d feel a lot better if they didn’t take my sword at the door.”     “You’re a representative, not a soldier,” Wraith whispered back. “Representatives don’t walk around with swords ready.”     “I still don’t like it.”     “I don’t like hiding in the corner,” Wraith said. “I want my prey to fear me before I send them screaming to the void, yet here we are.”     Golden gave the mare a look. “And here I was, wondering why we hadn’t gotten to know each other better.”     “Easy, we’re getting curious looks,” Mouse warned. “We can’t blow our cover now.”     Golden went quiet before smiling and greeting another pony offering fake platitudes. “Oh, of course, of course, my pleasure.”     Another moment or two passed, with the three ponies standing on guard, waiting for something to happen, before Mouse suddenly whispered. “It’s almost time. Our opportunity is coming up.”     “What is?” Wraith whispered back, before Golden caught sight of it.      Shining Shield stood to the side, where a pony in a purple cloak whispered into his ear. Shining nodded, before he quickly excused himself, and began to head toward the back room.      “Golden, now’s your true time to shine,” Mouse whispered. “I need you to make a scene.”     She nodded, but smiled despite herself. “Finally, something I’ll enjoy doing.” the guard stepped forward, looking about for any sign of anypony acting suspicious before she found a decent quarry.     A smaller unicorn with slicked-back hair hovered a crystal glass by his lips, staring hungrily at a young mare just across the way. He’d make an excellent target.      Golden walked right up to him, staying in his blindspot for as long as she could before leaping at him. “Now I’ve got you!”     Both ponies slammed into a table, smashing it to pieces and earning every single eye in the ballroom as she pinned him to the ground.     “What is going on?” the unicorn yelled, still too shocked from the sudden blow to be angry.     “Sly Plan! You are under arrest for impersonating a noble!” Golden yelled.      Shocked gasp rippled through the crowd, many, as far as Golden could see, showing sincere expressions since first entering the room.      Yes, this made it so much better. “You’re coming with me, Sly!”     “Who? What?” The unicorn gasped. “I am no such Sly! I am Lord Mica Slate! I am no imposter!”     “Right, that’s what they all say!” Golden said.     She could just knock the pony out and drag him out of the ballroom, but she needed to make a scene, and that meant to be as loud and obnoxious for as long as possible. She chanced a look back at her compatriots, but they were already gone. She risked a smile, before she tacked the unicorn to the ground again. “I know that’s you, Sly! Don’t try to deny it!”     Wraith performed as her namesake, and nearly glided down the hall. A spell clung to the tip of her horn, poised for action, and ready to be released at a moment’s notice. Beside her, Mouse moved just as silently, his twin crescent knives in his magical grip.     He had already told her what to expect. It’d be quiet to begin with, but they’re cover would be blown sooner rather than later. Rushing down the halls as fast as they dared, they quickly covered ground, before coming upon a large, oaken door.     Wraith pressed her ear to the door, listening for any sign of life, and smiled when she heard the sound of muffled speaking.     She glanced to Mouse, and he nodded, holding his blades higher.      She nodded as well, and smiled.     Her spell exploded, knocking the door from its iron hinges, and sending it slamming through at least two attendants. Screams, blood, and splinters filled the air in the trail that the door left behind it, but the dust settled quickly. Shining Silver barely had time to recover before the two assassins burst into the room, but just managed to struggle to his hooves, before Mouse ripped into the room. His blades tore through ponies left and right, leaving only fresh corpses on the floor, throats slit.     A bodyguard lept to the lord’s defense, firing his own spell at the exposed Mouse. A bolt of flame shot forward, screeching through the air, only to disappear as one of Mouse daggers cut the air around him, devouring the magic completely.     Any physical retort was answered by a spell Wraith, one that came barreling down toward the hapless defender, and immolated him to ash. She turned and brought her horn down upon Shining, who only barely managed to deflect the blow to the side, leaving a smoking crater where an empty set of armor once stood.      “We’re-we’re under attack!” he yelled, hoping someone other than the two assassins would hear him.  Mouse lept at him, bringing his knives around in a terrible arc, Shining ducked, and ran screaming down the hall, before Mouse and Wraith paused only a second to catch their breath. Their mission was simple, cause as much terror and damage as possible before ending the lord’s life.  “Now?” Wraith asked. Mouse nodded. “Let’s go.”     With only those two words, the assassins ran down the halls, killing anything and everything they came across. Servants, soldiers, even a wandering mastiff were all killed in their rampage. They were cruel, and they were excessive, they needed to be, because they needed to send a message.     “Stop them!” Shining yelled, though not many guards of his personal army still survived.      A handful of guards answered the call, only for half of them to be cut down by a burning green spell that ate at their flesh. They screamed, recoiling and writhing under magic that most considered a war crime.      And then Mouse came to end their suffering.      “Stop them! Stop them!” he yelled, slamming a door behind him.      Another blast from Wraith sent ponies flying, breaking bones as they slammed into furniture. Mouse cut another down, all the while, glaring ahead, his eyes betraying no emotion. For a moment, just a moment, Wraith saw Ghost once more.      In a moment, they cleared the hallway, leaving only the bodies and warm blood. “We can take a second here,” Mouse said. “He locked himself in an office, he can’t escape that way.”     “We have him cornered then?” Wraith asked.     “Completely.”     “Perfect,” she said with a smirk. “So do we light the room on fire and let him burn?”     Mouse shook his head. “This isn’t about being effective. This is about fear.”     Wraith smirked. “So am I breaking in, or you?”     Mouse simply smiled, before he readied his tools, and his lock picking spell. “He has a few traps on it, I’ll take care of it.”     “Suit yourself,” she said, before she turned around to face the empty hallway. “So, is there a reason you kept your little guard friend in the dark?” Wraith asked.     “What do you mean?” Mouse asked as he worked on the tumblers.      “You didn’t hide the plan from me,” she said. “You told me almost everything. Why tell me, and not your precious guard ally?”     Mouse didn’t even spare her a glance. “Because knowing everything is dangerous. It can cause ponies to act in certain ways. Dangerous, unpredictable, or violent ways.”     The door clicked open, and Wraith smiled and turned, ready to finish her grim work.      Inside, the office of the unicorn was rather well kept, though completely, and unfortunately for him without windows. The bookcases were filled with tomes of various ages, a desk, normally prim, lay up on its side, and hiding behind it stood Lord Shining Silver, back to a wall with a blade in his magical grip. “Stay back, you beasts!”     Wraith’s smile slowly faded.      The blade that the lord was simple, unadorned, and otherwise unremarkable. Long, cold steel with no beauty to it. The blade was a killer’s weapon. One of such pragmatism, and brutality that only one could be so familiar.      That was one of Demon’s swords.     Mouse stood, and sighed, even as Wraith stepped into the room. “Shining Silver led the cultists that gathered the bodies the night you threw me out of the sanctuary. He went there to ensure that all of the assassins were dead. If Oracle had told him of your existence as well, Shining Silver would have hunted us both down. But he is the one who collected and left the bodies to rot.”     Wraith didn’t hear anything else, even if Mouse told her.      Instead, she simply absorbed that knowledge, and reacted, unpredictably, and violently.