The Tome of Faust

by DungeonMiner

Chapter 25

“Congratulations, kid!” Phantom said, clapping Ghost on the shoulder as the coven of assassins celebrated. “Not bad at all.”

This was a great blow, Oracle had said. An open movement against one of Equestria’s greatest organizations like this would strike fear into the hearts of the common pony. It would gain them notoriety, weaken Equestria, and it furthered their goal all in one single blade strike.

It was a big job, a good one, and he was the one to do it.

“Cheers to Ghost!” Demon yelled. “For bringing glory to the Void, and pleasing our employers!”

“Hail!” the others cried, raising their drinks.

A literal feast had been laid out in the main hall of the hideout. Steamed vegetables, baked potatoes, Unicornian ratatouille, soups, stews, loaves upon loaves of fresh-baked bread and more was gladly passed from hoof to hoof as Specter drank deep again.

Well, really, it was the only way she drank at all.

Speaking of the pegasus archer, she and Demon were quickly working their way up to an eating contest, while Ghoul daintily picked at his meal. Phantom ate with his normal, slow, methodical pacing, and Wraith ate while she glared at him.

Honestly, it seemed her glaring had lessened a bit, but Ghost wasn’t sure if that was her warming up to him or his imagination. Or, worse yet, her lulling him into a false sense of security just so she could poison him later.

The only pony that wasn’t actively celebrating was Oracle. The old, pale pony simply sat and ate, watching everypony else with a small smile. He watched as the ponies around him ate, sang, and swapped stories of their best kills.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t beat the time I killed that lord by removing the trap on his trapped chest and putting it on the safe.”

“Please, the time I disguised myself as a waiter so well that the owner legitimately thought I worked there was far better. He even paid me wages at the end of the day.”

“Neither of those beat the time I shot a stallion who was standing in a room with no windows from two blocks away,” Specter said between mugs of ale.

“Bah! I still killed thirty guardsponies while standing in their keep, and walked away without a single injury. I truly brought glory to the Void that day.”

“Yeah, killing people with a sword’s great and all,” Wraith said with just the hint of a smile on her face. “But it’ll never beat watching them kill each other with swords.”

Ghost smiled and shook his head.

Oracle suddenly stood. “Brothers, Sisters, a moment please.”

The assassins quickly settled down to listen to their leader speak. When he had silence, he continued. “My good ponies, as most of you know, I have long-ago forgotten what my goal was when I founded our little family of cutthroats. Losing my mind to the Tome has stripped me of that pleasure. Yet, despite that, I know that if I did know, I would be proud of what we have accomplished. We are here, now, on the edge of victory, ready to strike the greatest blow of all against our enemy. This is our time. So, cheers to you, my brothers and sisters, for we have turned the wheel of fate, and marched into the future.”

The assassins cheered.

“I have had no greater joy than working with you, my friends. Now, let us,eat, drink, and be merry!”

They cheered again, before drinking deep of their ale.

Ghost, meanwhile, smiled. He has to admit it, coming to join the assassins was a good choice. Sure, there were a few jobs that he was uncomfortable with, but he was still alive, still fed, and a much richer pony because of it.

To think he was afraid of these ponies at one time.

He shook his head, and drank, ate and celebrated until sleep took him.

“Why?” He asked.

Mouse didn’t dare look at him.

“Why? What did I do to you?” the corpse asked again.

Mouse didn’t answer him.

“I just tried to help. I gave you food, shelter, a place to sleep, so why?” he didn’t even sound mad, just sad and curious.

Mouse couldn’t bear to look at him, but as it is with dreams, he began to turn to face him anyway, turning to see the bloodied, already decomposing body of Cedar. The stink hit Mouse full force, hitting his gut like one of Demon’s hammer blows. “I just wanted to help.”

Mouse tried to scream, tried to run, but he couldn’t. He could only stare as Cedar moved closer. The stench got stronger as Cedar stepped forward, flesh sloughing off bone and organs as he moved. “I just wanted to help…”

Mouse couldn’t move.

“I just wanted to help…” Cedar repeated, so close they could touch now. They were so close.

“Why did you do it?” Cedar asked. “Why? What did I do to you?”

And that the last Mouse heard before the stallion began to envelop him, the dead body holding him tight as the smell assaulted his nose.

And that’s when he was jostled awake.

He sat up, startled, terrified, eyes glancing around wildly, before he finally saw Oracle, staring at him. “Ghost, I need your wits about you.”

“What-what’s happened?”

“You have a job. It’s very important. You need to leave immediately,” Oracle said, pressing the Shadowkey for Manehatten into Ghost’s hoof. “I cannot explain how important this mission is, you must leave now, understand?”

Ghost’s mind was waking. “A job? For who? What am I doing?”

“You need to speak with Baron Jet, and you need to go now,” Oracle whispered.

“Why?”

“Because this job is the most important job you will ever have with us,” Oracle said. “Now listen to me, Ghost. Listen. Tell me you’re listening.”

“I’m listening, I’m listening,” Ghost said.

“No matter what, no matter what Jet tells you, you must complete this job, do you understand?”

“What?”

“Promise me, swear by every go that lives, swear by the Void, swear that you will see this job through to the end no matter what he asks of you.”

“Why? What’s going to happen?” Ghost asked, confused by this outburst.

“Just promise, no matter what.”

“Alright, alright, I swear I’ll do it,” Ghost said, still confused.

Oracle nodded. “Good. Stay true to the course. Whatever happens will be for good, I swear. No matter what.”

Now he was really concerned.

“Go, you must go, you must while everyone still slumbers,” Oracle ordered, pulling Ghost from his bed. “Now, now!”

Mouse was pushed out of his room, his cloak and bag being shoved into his chest as Oracle shoved him into the hall toward the Shadowgates.

“I’m going, I’m going!”

Oracle walked with him all the way to the Shadowgate. “You must do this, it will be hard, but you must.”

“I get it! I get it! I’ll do the job.”

“I hope you understand,” Oracle said. “I hope you do.”

“What’s happening Oracle? What’s going on? You’ve never acted like this before.”

“I can’t tell you. Just know it’s important.”

“I get it, but why?”

Oracle didn't answer that, he only pushed Ghost forward, closer to the magical gates that would carry Ghost away to Manehatten in moments.

“Oracle?” Ghost asked, searching for an answer.

Another word did not pass between the two of them until they entered the domed room that held the Shadowgates. “Ghost, good luck. I will be waiting for your return.”

“You still haven't told me what I’m doing.”

“You will understand everything soon. May Seyella guide your path.”

Seyella? Ghost had never heard Oracle swear by that god.

But he ran out of time to think, and was forced through the shadows. He stepped out on the shore of the river, facing the island which sat like a black mass in the moonlit night.

“Sir?” a voice said behind him, and Ghost turned to stare at a young unicorn that stood between him and a simple, black carriage. “Lord Jet is waiting for you.”

Ghost looked between them, glancing between the young stallion, the carriage, and the team of pullers, and the carriage. He waited a moment, using every trick that Ghoul taught him to try and find any trickery in the young unicorn’s face before he began walking toward the carriage.

The door opened for him, and Ghost stepped inside, keeping his thoughts on one of his blades if he needed to reach them.

“Ah, Mr. Ghost was it?” Jet’s deep, authoritative voice asked as Ghost stepped inside the carriage. “I was hoping Oracle would send you my way. It seems that he is, indeed, the slave to fate that I had hoped him to be.”

“What do you need me to do, Lord Jet?” Ghost asked.

Baron Jet sipped a goblet full of wine, while offering another goblet to Ghost as he sat across from him. “Correct me if I’m wrong, Mr. Ghost, but you’re the new comer to this little operation, yes?”

“I’ve been here since the start of Winter, yes.”

“Yes, well, as it just so happens, you are therefore, the one I can trust the most for this new job.”

“What job is that?” Ghost asked.

Jet smiled. “How many jobs have you done for us? At least six, yes?”

“More than that, sir.”

“Indeed, and you have carried them out with the efficacy of viciousness that I have expected to see from my assassins. Unfortunately, this is only a later development, because there has been more than one occasion where the jobs I have requested have not happened. In fact, some of the most important jobs I requested have not happened, and this has made me rather upset.”

Ghost blinked.

“This means two things, the first is that you are the only pony that I can trust, and second there is somepony among my assassins that is working against me.”

Ghost began to feel uneasy.

“So, the job I have for you, then, is take care of my problem, and wipe out the rest of the assassins.”

Ghost blinked. “Sir, I—”

“You will be paid ten thousand gold bits in advance,” Jet said. “You may kill them in way you deem fit, but they must all die.”

“Sir—”

“Once you finish killing them, you may take anything you want, except Oracle’s Tome. That is to remain behind. You may then leave at your leisure, but if the job goes as planned, then we will not see each other again.”

“Sir—”

“What, Mr. Ghost?” Jet asked, his face cold and hard. “What do you want to say?”

Ghost opened his mouth, and closed it slowly as Jet glared at him. “I...I...where there any particular instructions?”

Jet’s growl lightened, and he eventually smiled. “Yes, there is one. Leave no survivors, am I understood?”

Ghost nodded.

“Good. Now, just as a word of warning, if you fail this job, I will find out, and I will hunt you down. Am I understood?”

Ghost nodded.

“Good,” Jet said, handing over a bag that jingled with coin. “I hope never to see you again, Mr. Ghost.”

As the bag dropped into Ghost’s lap, he felt the weight of the coins against his legs.

It felt so terribly, terribly heavy.

“Well? Is there anything else you need?” Jet asked.

“No. No, sir.”

“Then go. You have a busy night ahead of you.”

Ghost nodded, before he slipped out of the carriage, and back into the spring night air. The carriage door closed behind him, and the pullers quickly ran off, taking Lord Jet back to his own home.

And Ghost simply sat there, on the shore of the Manehatten river, feeling the weight of the bag.

The weight, that terrible weight.

Ghost stormed into Oracle’s office. “Oracle, what’s going on?”

Oracle sat there, with the Tome in front of him. “Hello, Ghost.”

“What’s going on?” Ghost demanded again.

“Our end.”

“No, we’re not ending. I’m not killing everypony because some mad rich pony said so,” Ghost said.

“You must,” Oracle said.

“Why? Why do I need to kill everyone! What good is that?”

“It is what is written. We must die and you must live on.”

“What?”

Oracle motioned to Tome.

“The book? You’re going to have me kill everyone over a book?”

Oracle shook his head and smiled, before a cough escaped him. “It’s not just a book…”

“I don’t care if Luna, Celestia, Seyella, Ventus, and all others came down, kissed it, and told me that I was to follow it to the letter, I am not killing everypony here. We are not ending!”

“We must, Ghost.”

“No! That answer’s not good enough. I refuse, do you hear me! I refuse! I will not kill everyone here because you’ve gone off the deep end.”

“I know you won’t.”

“You better believe I won’t!” Ghost growled.

“You won’t because you’re not a killer,” Oracle said.

“What?” Ghost asked, bewildered by this conclusion. “You really have gone mad, haven’t you?”

“You didn’t come here to be a killer,” Oracle continued. “You didn’t come here because you enjoyed watching the life drain away from a pony’s eyes. You didn’t come here to take life. You came here because you wanted money.”

Ghost was about to answer, but found his voice faltering.

“You came here so that you’d have a place to sleep at night, to eat well, to sleep well, and to be rich. Yes, I gave you a push, but you could have decided to wander instead, to live in wilderness of Baltimare and eke out your honest living out there. Instead, you thought a pony’s life was a worthy price for goosefeathers by a fire.”

“I...I’m not going to be lectured like this!” Ghost bit back suddenly. “I won’t! You blackmailed me into this crazy family of yours, you made me care, and now you’re asking me to kill them? And then you have the gall to lecture me!”

Oracle just offered a small smile and a cough. “You don’t want to kill them,” he said, more a statement than a question.

“No! No I don’t want to kill them!”

Oracle nodded. “So it was written.”

“What?” Ghost asked, now horribly confused.

“I knew you wouldn’t kill them. You’re not a killer. You just want to live a comfortable life. No. I know you would—” he coughed again, breaking into a light fit. “—I knew you wouldn’t kill them. I would have to do it for you.”

Ghost’s heart went cold.

“We’re poisoned.”

“What?” Ghost asked.

“All of us that must die will die,” Oracle repeated, before coughing again.

His hoof came away red.

“It will be quick and painless, and Lord Jet will be satisfied.”

“What...what did you do? Oracle, what did you do?”

“I did what must be done.”

“What did you do?” Ghost asked again, before he ran from the room. “Demon! Demon!”

He leapt down the stairs to the dormitories, rushing down the hallway and slammed into Demon’s door. “Demon!” Ghost yelled, before he tried to shake the earth pony awake.

He did not answer.

He did not stir.

He did not breathe.

“Demon! Demon, wake up!”

But the body of the stallion that had taught him so much, who had been stern and vicious with his punishments, and had looked so proud when Ghost had done well, stayed still. He did not wake up. He was asleep forever.

“Ghoul!” Ghost yelled. “Ghoul!”

He rushed to Ghoul’s room, but like demon, the painter that considered disguise to be his greatest art was gone. He remained unresponsive and Ghost tried to shake him awake, but the face, normally decorated by the wide, warm, and slightly unhinged grin, reamined cold and motionless.

“Ghoul! Ghoul, speak to me!”

The pony that had been so joyful to see a blank flank said nothing.

“Phantom!” Ghost cried, rushing to the next room as a coughing silhouette haunted the hall. “Phantom, please!”

The pegasus’ door opened easily enough, the locked picked so many times that the pins had been worn thin. “Phantom! Phantom be alive!”

The methodical, cautious yet cocky pegasus did not answer. His shallow, easy-going exterior was gone, along with that simple confidence that he was the best at breaking and entering in the world. He was never as close as the other, his own methodical nature kept him at bay, but he was just starting to open up to him, and now he would never open anything ever again.

There were the mares though. They had to be alright. “Spectre! Spectre!”

He burst into her room as Oracle watched at the end of the hallway.

“Spectre?”

The pegasus lay still, sitting in a chair that faced a portrait of her father. The frame was filled with broken arrows, nicks, cuts, and dents, while the portrait itself was damaged beyond repair with the exception of his face. The old, fatherly face looked down at the body of his daughter with sad, fatherly eyes, and a simple, sad smile on his face.

The drunken archer held her bow close to her in one hoof, and a tankard in the other.

She was already long gone.

“Wraith! Wraith!” Ghost yelled, blinking away tears he didn’t know were there. “Wraith!”

“She lives, yet,” Oracle said between coughing fits.

“What?” Ghost asked.

“She lives,” he repeated, coughing again. “She must. It is written.”

“She’s...she’s not poisoned?”

“No,” Oracle said, before he bent over coughing, spitting up blood as he lost his footing, and fell to the floor. “She must,” he coughed, “she and you must live. Jet doesn’t know of her, she is safe.”

“Why her! Why her and no one else?” he asked, trying to glare at the dying, pale pony through his tears. “Why can’t you save anypony else?”

“Because you have to. You’re the one…”

“What are you talking about?” Ghost asked as Oracle began to fall back onto his back, staring at the ceiling.

“You...you will bring peace, Mouse. That’s why you’re here.”

“What?”

“Oh…” Oracle said. “That’s right…That’s what I wanted…”

Ghost shook his head, trying to understand why.

“I just wanted...peace…”

And Oracle passed on, looking for the peace he had wanted all along.

“Oracle?” Wraith called out. “Oracle where are you? We still had flour.”

The lair was quiet, and Oracle did not answer her.

“Oracle?” she called again.

Turning the corner to the dormitories, she was about to continue her search, when she came upon him.

Ghost sat here, right beside the bloody body of Oracle. He didn’t move, he simply sat there, next to the bloody, frail, and mentally broken body of the stallion.

“You…” she hissed. “You. What did you do?”

Ghost’s head snapped up, hearing her for the first time. “Wraith, wait—”

She didn’t wait. A fireball shot toward him, roaring as it burned down the hall. Ghost leapt out of the way, his armor eating the heat and flame as the burnt of the explosive flame shot past him and into the hallway. “What did you do?” she yelled.

“I didn’t do this!” Ghost yelled back. “It wasn’t me. Oracle did this! He said that we had to end!”

“Liar!” she cried, firing another spell that transformed into a line of bubbling acid in the air. “I know you did this, I knew you were up to no good! I knew it! I knew it, I knew it!”

“No, Wraith, it wasn’t me, I swear! Oracle poisoned them, I didn’t want to do this!” he cried, leaping to the side.

She glared at the tiny stallion, her eyes burning with hatred as she saw the price of not acting on her suspicions. She should have killed the pony name Ghost the moment he walked into the lair. Why didn’t she listen to her gut? Why didn’t Oracle let her kill him?

She shot spell after spell down on the shifty little pony, forcing him backwards as he tried to escape.

“You sarding bastard! What did you do?”

“It wasn’t me!”

“Liar!” she yelled again, firing bolts of lightning, globs of acid, spears of starlight and more down at the traitor, trying desperately to pin him to the wall.

“I didn’t want this, Wraith, you have to believe me!”

Icy blades and exploding gales ripped passed him, thundering in the air and as he ducked from room to room, trying to escape Wraith’s fury as she unloaded her spells into him. “You killed them! You killed them! They trusted you and you killed them!”

“I didn’t! It wasn’t me!”

“Oracle took you in!”

“I didn’t kill him!”

“He gave you a place to sleep, to stay! We taught you! We trained you! We fed you! I fed you! We did all this and this is how you repay us?”

“It wasn’t me!” He yelled back, as he was forced back to the Shadowgate room.

“You betrayed me!” she screamed, gathering a massive ball of pure, magical force, and lobbing straight into Ghost.

Bone-shattering force hit the retreating unicorn with a glancing blow, fracturing his left jaw as he was sent spinning across the room. He slammed into wall, sending the Shadowkeys that were hanging there scattering across the room, before he landed hard on the floor.

The world spinning, Ghost did the only thing he could, he grabbed the key at his hoof, and rushed out of the open Shadowgate, even as a bouquet of spells followed after him.

“You traitor!” Wraith yelled as he slipped away, and into the shadows. “How could you betray us? Go die! I hope you die!”

She screamed and wailed after him, daring him to come back so she could finish what she started.

But he did not.

All that was left was her, the empty lair, and the tears running down her face.

You've learned a lot about Equestria... and about yourself. It's hard to believe how ignorant you were, but now you have so much more to learn.

Comments

[TheCommunistDog]

Thank god finally those cunts died. Now i just need to see the last one go