Prologue - Before - Redone
The two guards flanked the little filly as they marched down the street.
The street, lined with double story wooden buildings on both sides, was empty at this time of night; the only light in the street was a murky, flicking, light cast from one of the few street braziers. The trade district, despite being prosperous, wasn’t felt to be prestigious enough to warrant actual street lighting.
The guards kept their eyes forward, but their ears flicked towards each new sound they heard. The little filly, a dark green unicorn, struggled to keep up with them as they marched on. She occasionally had to break into a canter just to keep up with them. Her eyes were wide as she continually looked around the street. The mounting look of horror was plain on her face as she started to recognize where she was.
Stopping outside a store, one of the guards leaned forward to look in through a window; the candlelight inside illuminated a solitary figure, hunched over a book.
He looked down at the filly. “Is he alone?”
The fillies eye’s glowed for a second as she scanned left and right. Her eyes returned to normal and she looked up at the guard. “I - I can’t see any other auras. H-he’s alone.” She lowered her head. “Mr Sable is alone.” She whispered.
Turning to look at the other, he gave a sharp nod before looking down at the filly. With a tap of his hoof on the ground, she looked back at him again. This time, her eyes were filled with pleading. She knew exactly they were going to ask her to do. He reached into his bag and withdrew a dagger in its scabbard. A large red crystal, set into the end of the hilt, was the only thing that marked the dagger as different from normal.
Flipping the dagger so he held onto the scabbard, he presented the hilt to the girl. He leaned in towards her. “You know what you have to do?”
The other guard took a step closer to the girl, looming over her. “And what will happen if you fail?”
Looking from guard to guard, she nodded. Slowly, she reached up to the dagger and drew it out of its scabbard, only to promptly drop it.
With a whimper she immediately fell to the ground, scrambling around to find it in the murky light.
The first guard looked up at the second and slowly shook his head. The other silently nodded in agreement. She had no chance, it was too soon and everyone knew it. Scrolls had taken a personal interest in her and had done everything possible to make sure she failed. They both suspected that was why her ‘Rite of Passage’ was being done in such an unorthodox manner.
The guards were not alone in their contempt of Scrolls. Many ponies would have liked to express their dislike of him in a more direct manner. However, being favoured by one of the chancellors was enough to stay the hoof of even the brashest of those ponies. It was joked in the guard room that if he ever fell out of favour, the queue would be out the door and down the street.
The filly got up, pressing the dagger tight against her chest. Tears were rolling down her face.
The first guard opened the door to the store and stood to one side.
He closed it after she had entered.
* * *
Mr Sable looked up at the sound of soft hoof-falls. Getting on in years, the chestnut stallion still prided himself on the fact that his hearing was still as sharp as ever, even if his eyesight wasn’t. It was late for a customer and with the bookstore having seen better days, any customer at all was, quite frankly, a surprise.
The store itself consisted of two walls of shelves with books, a counter facing the door and a staircase going up to his private room against the back wall. The single bookcase in the middle of the room was empty, it’s contents piled up in columns on the floor pending re-filing. Almost all the books he had on display were faded and worn.
Seated at the counter, going over the ledger, he had been working out his losses for the week.
In the candlelight he could make out what looked like a young filly stood at the door. Any distraction from the books, maybe even a sale, was appreciated. Putting on his glasses he smiled as he recognized the filly. There would be no sale, but her company was always welcome. She’d been in his store enough times, he even knew her name, her real name, by now.
“Why hello there little one. You’re up late, shouldn’t you…”
The filly, still several body lengths away, and with the counter between them, held up the dagger. Pointing it at him with a shaking hoof.
Mr Sable nodded, then closed his ledger. “Ah, I take it that I have been selected as the subject of your ‘Rite’?”
She nodded.
“Scrolls selected me, right?”
She nodded again. He could see the tears.
He rubbed his face. ‘Damn you Scrolls! You knew we were friendly. And that’s the entire reason, isn’t it?’
He looked back up at the girl, eyes wide, her whole body now trembling. Her hoof with the dagger had started to shake violently.
‘How is she even able to hold onto it?’
In answer to the question, she dropped the dagger with a clatter. Sitting down on her haunches, she wrapped her forelegs around her chest as she stared at the floor.
“I - I don’t want to do this Mr Sable. I don’t want to be a monster.”
Standing up he walked around the counter and over to her.
“Shhh, little one.” He whispered as he stroked her forelock.
She looked up hopefully at him.
He could feel the lump in his throat. He was out of options. ‘Damn you Scrolls. For this, for those white stripes on her back. For making me do this. There will be a reckoning… but not by me.'
He sighed. “I don’t want to do this either little one.”
He bent down and picked up the dagger.
The fillies eyes grew wider as, dagger in hoof, he towered over her.
“M-Mr Sable?”
“Shhh. Close your eyes little one…”
* * *
The two guards lifted their head at a fillies scream. A second later, there was the sound of a body hitting the floor.
“At least this way she’s free of Scrolls.” The first one commented.
The second nodded. “Let's go clear up the mess... and persuade him to keep quiet.”
Walking in, they both stopped to stare at the scene.
The filly was struggling to get out from under the unmoving storekeeper pinning her to the floor.
One of the stacks of books had been knocked over, scattering books all over the floor. Stepping carefully over them, and ignoring the filly reaching out to him, the first guard went over the storekeeper and prodded him.
No movement.
“H-help me, please.” She begged.
The guard rolled the storekeeper off the girl. Not so much to help her, but to make sure he was actually dead. The dagger embedded in his stomach, the blade thrust upwards into the chest cavity, confirmed that.
He looked over to the other stunned guard. He finally found his voice.
“Well horseapples, that’s gonna mess up the betting pool.”
The other nodded, before stamping a hoof. “Buck it! I drew her name on the sweepstake. I damn well went and threw the ticket away. Humm, maybe I can still find it in the bins…”
A hint of malice entered the first one’s voice as a half-smile formed. “Of course, this is gonna ruin old Scrolls’ day.”
The other returned the smile. “Oh yeah. He’s sooo gonna bust a blood vessel when he finds out she passed. He’ll no longer have control over her.”
They both turned to look at the little filly. Now free, she’d moved to the edge of the room and was staring at the body, eyes wide and shaking.
“Let’s get this done.” The first guard went over to the body. Placing a hoof on its chest he took hold of the dagger and pulled hard on it. With only a small spray of blood, the dagger came free.
Turning it over, he could see the red crystal was glowing slightly. “Good, it worked.”
He turned to the filly. “Congratulations” he smiled at her, “you’re officially a clan member, you’re a Snake now little one. What do you choose as your ‘Symbol of Passage’?”
“N-necklace. H-his necklace… He said… He said...” She looked away.
The guard looked over the body and lifted the head up to remove the necklace.
He held it up to look at it. A mostly clear crystal, with a dark, flickering core. It had a fitting around the crystal that allowed a silver chain to run freely through it.
“Good choice.” The guard pressed the tip of the dagger against the crystal of the necklace. The necklace glowed red briefly before fading. Checking the crystal on the end on the hilt, he found that the crystal was now dark.
“Good, we’re done here. Let’s go.”
Walking over the girl, he lifted her head before dropping the necklace over her head.
She looked down at it like he’d just put a noose around her neck.
Smiling the guard looked at her flank. “Hey look, ‘The Rite’ even brought on your cutie mark. Congratulations.”
The young filly stopped in shock and looked around at her flank.
A snake, jaws open in mid-strike and with icicles for fangs, looked back at her.
Collapsing to the floor, she started sobbing uncontrollably.