Effigy of Anarchy

Laid out like a hexagon with two lecture halls at the center and ringed by classrooms, the Archaeology building made a search simple to perform. As the two crept out from the connection’s broken door, a faint reflection of light from the front entrance was accompanied by a low grumble of muffled speech. Presumably the lecture hall had some sort of magical microphone in it, though what was being said was impossible to discern.

Silent motioned to Chase for quiet and drew closer to the light. The two crossed the darkened hallway and stopped at the corner while Silent peered around it.

“Well?” Chase whispered.

Silent backed around the corner again and shook her head. “Nopony is out there. They’re all in the meeting. Let’s get searching.”

“No splitting up!” Chase hissed.

“Fine.”

The layout of the building meant there was only one way to go, and it was not long before the two found evidence of their target. One of the classrooms behind the lecture hall had a faint glow coming from within, visible under the door. Silent and Chase sidled up to the door and Silent held up a hoof for quiet.

Gently, she reached towards the door’s latch. She very slowly and delicately lifted it and pulled it back, then opened the door slightly. She made not a sound, and anypony inside the room would no doubt write the door off as having been improperly closed. Now, whoever was inside could be heard, and Chase held her ear close to the door to listen in.

“... so I understand you two have been discussing marriage?” said a male pony. By the wheezing as he spoke, Chase judged he could be as old as her grandfather.

“Well…” said a male.

Chase pulled back and looked at Silent, whose outline was barely visible in the darkness.

“That’s him!” Chase whispered.

“Good, let’s go.”

“No, wait!” Cloudchaser said, “Maybe we can figure out how they do it!”

Silent relaxed and held still as Chase put her ear back to the gap.

“We’ve been talking about it,” answered a female, presumably Lilac.

“And?” asked the old pony.

“We haven’t decided yet. It’s such a big step.”

“I see,” the old pony said. There was a pause as Chase heard some soft clanking sounds.

“What are you doing?” Lilac asked.

“This is part of the ritual.”

Cloudchaser felt her body tense up, and instinctively held her breath.

“Ritual?” the colt asked.

“Yes. On behalf of the Sons of Equestria, I would like to formally bless your union.”

A muffled laugh came from the two younger ponies.

“We haven’t decided yet!”

“But you two do love one another, don’t you?”

“Yes!” the colt answered.

“Of course!” Lilac said, followed by another pause.

“Then please accept,” came the old pony, “It’s the least we can do for those tasked with bringing about the next generation.”

Now came a muttering sound, too low for Cloudchaser to understand. The muttering continue for a moment before Lilac spoke up. “All right, we’ll do it. What do we have to do?”

“Ah, excellent,” the old pony crowed, “This will be very simple. First, I need you to step outside, mister Brick.”

“Uh, why?” the colt asked.

“Don’t worry, it will be not even five minutes. It is part of the ritual that each receives their blessing in turn. I will send Lilac to get you when we’re done.”

Chase pulled her ear from the door and turned quickly to Silent. “He’s coming!”

Silent began backing down the corridor, motioning for Chase to follow. She turned a corner and pulled Cloudchaser the rest of the way as the door opened and shut behind them.

Silent pressed herself against the corner as she gently pushed Chase further down the hallway. She turned briefly to see Chase’s silhouette.

“Ready?” she whispered.

“For what?”

Silent stuck her nose around the corner, just enough to see with the edge of her eye. The colt was standing in front of the door with a dim candle barely illuminating him. His face betrayed his boredom until he spotted the edge of Silent’s face from the corner of his eye.

“Mortar?” he asked. Silent immediately backed up.

“Chase, grab the candle when he comes,” she hissed.

“Mortar, I told you it’s not cool to listen in on me. This is a big step for us and - “

The colt trailed off when he turned the corner to see Silent already lunging at his throat.

The surprise was total and the colt did not even have time to react before his face met the cold floor. Silent pressed one hoof into his neck while the other held shut his mouth. She pulled and thrust him to the floor, keeping the hold in check without creating any more noise than necessary. After a brief moment of struggle, the colt’s body thudded against the floor.

Cloudchaser mutely stepped forward and extracted the candle from the terrified colt’s hoof. It had slipped but not fallen over, such was the control exercised by her friend. As she leaned down to pick it up, the colt caught an eyeful of her face, and immediately stopped his struggle.

Laying there, immobile on the floor, he waited until Silent leaned down and placed her mouth next to his ear.

“Listen to me. I am going to take my hoof off your mouth. When I do, if you scream or call for help, I will snap your neck. Do you understand?”

A muffled agreement prompted Silent to withdraw her hoof, keeping the other on his neck.

“P-p-p-please,” he cried softly.

“Quiet,” Silent said.

“You’re the mares from the newspaper. Please don’t kill me. I won’t tell anypony I saw you.”

Cloudchaser snapped to attention. She had moved just behind Silent’s body to keep the glow of the candle away from the corner where it might be seen, but now stepped back into view.

“I said,” Silent snapped, pressing her hoof hard on his neck, “to be quiet. Speak only when spoken to.”

“He thinks we’re gonna kill him,” Chase said nervously.

“We’re not,” Silent replied.

“But - “

“We’re not. If we don’t have to...”

Silent’s assurance did little for the colt’s demeanor, but he kept his tongue in check. He waited until Silent returned her attention to him.

“What’s this ritual they’re doing to your marefriend?” Silent asked.

“Th-they’re gonna bless us. We’re going to get married soon!” he said, speaking a little too loudly. Silent pressed his neck again, causing him to quiet down.

“That’s it? Just a blessing?”

“Y-yes. I promise, just a blessing.”

Silent thought for a moment, then asked her next question. “What is the purpose of tonight’s meeting?”

The colt held still and did not answer. Silent gently tugged on the side of his head, causing his muscles to tense.

“New recruiting procedure! That’s it, I don’t know what it is because I haven’t been yet. I had to go to this ritual instead.”

“Recruiting? Why don’t you tell me about your procedure.”

“I-I just… I just told you! I don’t know!”

“Your old procedure. Passing out flyers. I’m rather curious,” Silent said.

“We just pass out flyers, really, that’s it,” he said.

Silent let a moment pass before she continued. “Oh, do go on.”

“That’s it!”

Silent leaned in close, letting the colt see the full measure of her amber eyes reflecting Chase’s flickering candle. “I don’t feel like asking again.”

Cloudchaser stepped forward and put a hoof on Silent’s shoulder, prompting her to withdraw.

“Listen,” she said, “just give us something we can use, and we’ll let you go. Any little thing will help.”

“Uh,” the colt said, thinking quickly, “sometimes my supervisor comes by and asks if anypony took a flyer.”

“What happens then?”

“He goes and rummages around in the garbage cans, I think. I’m not supposed to notice, but he does it right in front of me! He says I’m not supposed to tell anypony.”

“Garbage cans, huh? Any ideas, Silent?”

Silent kept her eyes locked on the panicked colt.

“Something to do with the flyers, maybe after they’ve been touched. Finding one might help.”

The colt tried to sit up, but Silent maintained the pressure on his neck. His panic rising, he gave a raspy plea, “I left a bundle in the classroom. If I could just go get them…”

“That’s quite alright,” Silent said.

Silent gripped the colt’s neck and began squeezing. He struggled for a few seconds, but his prone position left him little recourse. Soon, his struggle ceased and he lay still.

“What did you just do?” Chase asked, her voice rising in fear. At the last moment, she caught herself, lest she let anypony hear her.

“It’s a choke hold that knocks a pony out. He’ll wake up in a few minutes,” Silent replied.

“So you didn’t just strangle him?”

“Yes, but a very particular kind of strangle. Now, help me carry him into one of these classrooms so nopony finds him.”

Silent hefted the colt’s head and looked expectantly at Cloudchaser, who shook her head briefly before picking up his hind legs. Working together, they slid his body across the floor as Chase illuminated the hallway with the candle clutched in her mouth. Silent pushed open a door and they deposited the sleeping colt safely out of sight.

As they left, Cloudchaser kept staring at Silent, who noticed but said nothing. They waited in the hallway for a few moments before Chase could no longer keep her curiosity in check.

“Silent?”

She did not answer immediately, instead craning her neck to hear down the hallway. Satisfied that nopony was coming, she turned to Chase. “Yes?”

“Have you ever killed a pony?”

Silent looked straight at Cloudchaser’s eyes. Not a flinch, not a tic, not a twitch. Her face was as flat as it always was. “Yes.”

Cloudchaser, though certainly not surprised, still choke as she spoke. “Who?”

“A dockworker and a baker, on different occasions. They saw something they weren't supposed to and tried to blackmail me. The threat of jail time couldn't be allowed to stand."

“Did you… kill them because they would turn you in?”

“Yes. There was no other way. What I do is often frowned upon by the law, even if the Guard are the ones who hired me. They can't officially know what or how I do what I do."

“But - but - you…” Chase sputtered. She shook her head, trying to make sense of it.

“You knew the answer, but you still asked anyway. Why?”

Chase just hung her head and said nothing. Silent shrugged and resumed listening in the hallway.

Too long had passed, and there had been no activity from the doorway. Chase had remained quiet the whole time, which Silent did not object to. A mere tap on Chase’s shoulder, and the two made their way wordlessly to the classroom.

Silent stopped outside the door which the colt had come from, now closed from his exit. Once again, she turned the knob without making any noise and held the door open just enough to hear through it.

The old pony was still talking, but too low to hear what he was saying. Something was amiss, but Silent was not sure what. However, there would be no finding out what by staying outside. Silent pushed into the room and left Chase in the hall.

The room smelled vaguely sweet, like cheap perfume. Despite her entrance, neither pony had noticed her as she padded her way along the back of the room. Both Lilac and the old pony were facing the chalkboard at one end of the room, furthest from where Silent had entered. The old pony had scribbled all sorts of diagrams and gibberish on the chalkboard while Lilac had remained rapt.

“As you can see,” the elder said as he turned around, with one hoof still to the chalkboard, “the sanctity of a union and the total commitment behind it is vital. You must understand that total loyalty is the backbone of any marriage.”

“Yes,” Lilac said.

Silent kept low and in the shadows. The elder’s vision was presumably far gone, as she should have been visible in this light, yet he had said nothing. She froze where she was, lest her movement give her away.

“Now, if you would, please take the eagle feather.”

Lilac reached forward and gripped the feather in her mouth. As she held it, her body remained completely still, and Silent held her breath.

“Dip it in the perfume, and - oh mister Brick, it is not time yet. We are almost finished!”

Silent chanced to turn her head around, to see the glow of Chase’s candle at the doorway. To her credit, Cloudchaser closed the door again and hid the glow. The elder turned his attention back to Lilac.

“My apologies, madam. Now, repeat after me. I swear to uphold the sanctity of my love to my husband.”

“I swear to uphold the sanctity of my love to my husband,” Lilac said in a flat monotone. Silent instinctively tensed up, cursing at her own foolishness. Solving this quietly was no longer an option, and she crept closer to the head of the room.

“The Sons of Equestria, and their charter, shall be my guide,” the elder said.

“The Sons of Equestria, and their charter, shall be my guide,” Lilac stated.

Silent now reached the edge of the glow of the desk lamp, the sole source of light in the room. As she did, she was amazed that the elder could not see her. The presence of a thick pair of glasses resting on the table answered any questions she may have had, and she quickened her pace.

“In true obedience before their Truth, I shall know peace,” the elder said.

Silent reached forward and grabbed Lilac from behind, throwing her to the ground. As she did, Lilac continued to repeat after the elder, wholly uninterested in Silent, or anything else. Hearing the commotion, Cloudchaser burst into the room and ran to the front.

“What is the meaning of this?” the elder shouted, as Silent searched Lilac’s body. There was no necklace, nor was there any other yellow jewel, yet her eyes were unfocused and her form remained limp.

“Damn it,” Silent hissed in frustration.

“Who - who - “ the elder stammered, putting on his glasses. His cleared vision met Silent as she looked up at him with a glower, and the elder shrunk away.

“Somepony!” he shouted, “help!”

Silent felt a hoof seize her leg and pull her downwards as Lilac used the counterweight to stand. Though she was a fairly average looking mare, her strength was incredible, and Silent tumbled and rolled away quickly. Even as she did, Lilac was bearing down on her and kicked her in the back when she stood.

Thrown forward from the impact, Silent whirled and faced her attacker. The eerie sensation she had gotten when facing down Flitter returned, as Lilac’s eyes were unfocused, and she did not follow Silent’s movements. She merely faced her, remaining still, then suddenly lunged forward.

This time, Silent was ready for the attack, and stepped to the side to allow Lilac past. As she did, she reared up and brought her forelegs down on Lilac’s back, sending her to the ground. Almost immediately after her body landed, she had sprung up again and whirled around. This time she was too fast, and Silent caught a forehoof to the chin.

Silent staggered backwards, almost bumping into Chase. The glow of her candle gave her position away, and Silent took the momentary pause in Lilac’s assault to consider her option.

“No necklace!” Chase whispered.

“I saw. No jewelry anywhere. Ideas?”

“Uh, I dunno!”

Chase let out a shriek and ran as Lilac charged again. Silent blocked the blow with her forelegs and quickly countered with a swing to Lilac’s chin. Her hoof landed squarely and Lilac took the full force of the hit, but barely even flinched before throwing another swing.

Chase looked around, trying to spot anything she could use to help Silent. Other than chairs, chalk, and some flimsy looking model dinosaurs arranged on the shelves behind her, the classroom was bare of weaponry. When her eyes traced across the cowering form of the elder, she realized she didn’t need a weapon.

Chase ran towards him, then stopped halfway. She shook her head, then puffed out her chest to try to make herself look bigger, more menacing. When she spoke, she lowered her voice, and said, “Hey, you! Uh, come here!”

The elder merely put his forelegs over his head and whimpered, so Chase stomped towards him and put on her meanest face.

“Please, don’t hurt me!” the elder cried.

“Whatever you did to her, stop it!” Chase shouted.

“Leave me alone!”

Now standing over the frail elder, Chase fought with herself over what to do next. The sound of a pony slamming into a table behind her spurred her forward, and she tried to find a spot to grab the elder without accidentally breaking a bone.

As soon as she seized his shaking foreleg, he cried out again, “Stop! Stop! I’ll do anything!”

And with that, the sounds of battle behind her died off. When she turned to look, she saw Silent with a bleeding nose standing opposite the still form of Lilac. Silent faked a strike, and Lilac made no attempt to avoid it, not even flinching as Silent’s hoof grazed her face.

Furious, Chase turned back to the terrified elder and pulled him to a stand. There was no need to fake it now, she let her anger pour out as she tightened her grip.

“What did you do to her?” Chase shouted, causing the elder to wince.

“N-nothing! We just did the ritual!”

“Don’t lie to me! If you don’t stop it right now, so help me I’ll - I don’t know what, but it’ll be bad!”

Silent, still wary of Lilac, softly intoned, “Tell her to remove the stone.”

Chase shook the elder. “Say it!”

“Lilac, do what they said!” he cried.

Lilac opened her mouth to reveal a tongue stud with a small yellow bead atop it. She pulled it out and dropped it to the floor. No sooner had the stone been removed than her legs buckled and she collapsed in a heap. Silent wasted no time smashing the stud.

Chase, still with the elder in her grip, did not relent. “How did you do that? Why does she do whatever you tell her to?”

“I - I don’t know! I’ve performed the ritual a hundred times, but never have I seen something like that!”

“You weaselly, oily little - “ Chase growled between gritted teeth. The gentle tap of a hoof on her shoulder brought the world back into focus, and she released her grip. The elder slumped over and whimpered again.

“That’s enough,” Silent said, letting Chase back off.

The elder looked up and made a move to crawl away, but Silent stepped to block him.

“You’re not going anywhere. I want to know about this ritual of yours. Start talking.”

“It’s just a little ceremony! I swear, I’ve never seen anything like that before. Please, don’t hurt me…”

Silent looked over at the items arranged on the desk. An eagle feather dipped in perfume and a silver letter opener, presumably likewise once the colt did his half.

“What about those things? Why the perfume and the letter opener?”

“They symbolise femininity and masculinity,” the elder answered, holding a hoof to his chest to slow his breathing. He was wheezing each time he spoke, and sweating profusely.

Silent trotted over to the desk and picked up the perfume, quickly scanning the label. It was cheap mall perfume, probably two or three bits for the whole bottle. The letter opener was a bit more expensive, but could easily be reused in multiple ceremonies. The feather was likewise nothing special, if a little bit worn and giving off a nauseating stink.

“Did we miss it?” Cloudchaser asked.

“Must have, and I don’t think he’s dumb enough to lie to us,” Silent replied.

“I swear it’s the truth,” the elder pleaded.

“Well then,” Silent said, walking back towards the elder, “I’ve got another question. Where’s Messerschmitt?”

“Roger? What do you want with him?”

“None of your business. Where is he?”

The elder looked around nervously before he answered. “Canterlot, he’s supposed to be in Canterlot tonight, that’s why I’m doing the ceremony.”

Silent smirked. “So he normally does it? Since when?”

“Since he became an elder. I did it before him, but he abrogated that duty. Tonight was a special night,” the elder said. He had calmed down somewhat, but was still glancing periodically at the door.

“Special because he’s out of town. What’s he doing in Canterlot?”

“I’m not sure, but he said he was going to show somepony something. A private showing.”

“A private showing? Of what?”

“That’s enough, Harold,” a came a voice from the doorway. All three ponies turned to see the silhouette of a pony standing in the opened doorway. Even in the dark, the white flash of a grin could still be seen.

Silent narrowed her eyes. “Roger Messerschmitt.”

He laughed softly, and said, “The one and only.”