CHAPTER 8

The train trip to Bardingville was a few hours long. Though it went by quickly enough with a game of I spy, which Silver Spoon and Rarity had a lot of fun playing. Sweetie Belle didn’t want to participate at first, wanting to read her book instead, but it turned out that she had already almost finished it, and being done reading the book half-way through, she ended up partaking in the game to pass the time.

As the group disembarked the train, they immediately split up and started inquiring about a house that used to belong to a unicorn named Silver Key, or any member of the Silver family.

“Silver Key? Never heard of that name, sorry,” a young pegasus said to Rarity.

“I don't recall hearing about him. Is he a locksmith?” a middle-aged unicorn replied to Silver Spoon.

“Hey!” an earth pony colt called, running up to Sweetie Belle. “I heard you're looking for someone named ‘Silver’, huh?”

****

The three trotted on the path in the woods at the outskirts of town. Apparently, there was a house in the middle of a clearing around here. That is, according to the information given by that one colt.

“Do you think he was lying?” Silver Spoon asked.

“Why would he?” Rarity asked in return.

“We're never sure with colts his age.”

“I think we looked about the same age as him, though,” Sweetie Belle recalled.

“I said colts.”

The two unicorn sisters rolled their eyes at Silver Spoon's statement.

“What?” Silver Spoon raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t say anything offensive, did I?” There was a short moment of silence. “Really, though. I think I genuinely forgot the difference between actual science and DT's bigoted comments, at this point.”

Before Rarity could start to explain in detail how Silver Spoon's comment was rude and biased, they arrived at the clearing in the woods where the house they were looking for stood.

It wasn’t a mansion, but it wasn’t a cottage—maybe 3-4 ponies could live here. The walls were old and clearly used to be painted gray. It had been peeling off for decades, but, otherwise, they seemed well intact. In the front garden, there was a carrot orchard, and next to it was a tree stump where a pony hacked logs of wood. He put down his ax and turned his attention toward the trio.

He was an old pegasus stallion with a light gray coat and a slightly darker mane and tail. His build was more muscular than the average pony, and he had a craggy, handsome face that made Rarity blush ever so slightly. His cutie mark was of a canine's paw print.

“Can I help you ladies?” he inquired the trio that had just arrived.

“Is this Silver Key's old house?” Silver Spoon asked, pointing at the building in question.

The stallion looked back at it, nodded, then closed his eyes in reminiscence. “I haven’t heard that name in a very long time.” He turned back to the filly who had asked the question. “And who would you happen to be?”

“I am Silver Spoon, heir of the Silver family.” She pointed to her companions. “And they are Sweetie Belle and Rarity.”

Sweetie Belle was fiddling with one tip of her cape while Rarity waved shyly, clearly charmed by the pegasus's beauty.

He nodded. “And I am Silver Fox.” He held out a hoof to the silver filly. “Nice to meet you, my great-niece-in-law.”

Silver Spoon didn’t shake Silver Fox's hoof. Instead, she looked in empty space for a bit before blinking in realization. “So…” She looked back at him. “You're Silver Key's widower?”

Silver Fox nodded.

“That's gay,” Silver Spoon commented.

“Silver Spoon!” Rarity scolded.

“Am I wrong, though?”

Rarity shook her head in disbelief. “Didn’t your parents teach you there is a place and time for—”

Silver Fox held up his hoof and Rarity quieted. “It's alright. It's been over a decade. And she's just a kid too. I was much worse at her age.”

Silver Spoon stared back and forth between the two grown-ups in confusion. “Can somepony tell me already which part of what I said was wrong?”

****

Inside the house, one could tell from the smell and furniture that the place was antiquated. Some decorative, silver-trimmed plates were most likely over half a century old. There were monochrome photos and painted portraits of both Silver Key and Silver Fox, along with some depicting other members of the family. While Sweetie Belle's attention was captured by an old book that stood alone on one of the shelves, Silver Fox treated his guests with some tea and biscuits.

“So.” He sat back in his chair. “What would be the reason for your visit?”

Silver Spoon bit and swallowed a bit of biscuit. “The main reason was to pay respect to Silver Key.” She glanced over at Sweetie Belle, who sat next to her on the couch. “And somepony here has something to ask you.”

Silver Fox looked over at the cloaked unicorn filly, who was making sure to look away from anyone else in the room. “Does she now?” he asked. “She hasn't said a word since we met.”

“She hasn't said a word to anyone recently,” Rarity said before taking a sip of tea. “Only Silver Spoon and I seem to be able to make her open up.”

Silver Fox nodded. “And what would be the reason, my little pony?” he asked Sweetie Belle, who finally looked in his direction.

“I became an exorcist,” she explained, taking the key from under her cape and presenting it. “This key was Silver Key's, and it saved my life more than once.”

The old pegasus gaped at the sight of the key, and had to put down his cup of tea on the table. “And I thought I would never see it again,” he mused, chuckling. “But where did you find it?”

“Silver Spoon gave it to me,” Sweetie Belle said, bringing the attention back to the earth pony.

“My butler saved it,” Silver Spoon explained. “He's been trying to save our family's history from my parents. I guess he must have found the key at some point and kept it.”

“I see,” Silver Fox said. “And so what was it you had to ask me?”

Sweetie Belle stared down at her tea. “Some demons I fought talked about ‘their king coming soon’ or something like that.” She then held her key to eye level and stared at it instead. “And… I know that I'm one of the last exorcists, if not the only one left, and I can’t just stand by and do nothing about it.” She looked back at Silver Fox. “But what can I do?”

“Well, for starters, you'd need at least a few dozen well-trained exorcists to even scratch the guy, if demons are to be believed.” Silver Fox snickered. “But, thankfully, demons aren’t to be believed.” He assumed a serious face. “Most of the time, that is.

“But I doubt they would lie about the Demon King arriving. No, they're giving us a chance to prepare.” He frowned. “They think we don't stand a chance to beat him.”

The fillies looked downcast hearing that.

“But you knew Silver Key. You must also have known other exorcists, right?” Rarity asked, hopeful.

“Heh, I'd love to assemble a team of these guys to come save Equestria, if that's what you're thinking about.” Silver Fox shook his head. “Sadly, anypony who would've had the guts to face the Demon King lost said guts, either literally or by going into hiding. What with Silver Key, the best of us, having kicked the bucket.”

“‘Us’?” Silver Spoon noticed.

“That's right! I'm technically an exorcist too now.” Silver Fox stood up and trotted over to a drawer, from which he took out a key on a necklace with an intricate design and a white gem stone in the middle.

“I thought only unicorns could become exorcists,” Sweetie Belle said.

“That used to be true, yes. But technology is ever evolving.” Silver Fox put on the necklace. “I suppose you already know how exorcism keys work, huh?”

Sweetie Belle nodded.

“Well this key I'm wearing now is a special one that I made myself. It took me half of my life-time, but I did it.” He took the key in his mouth and the gem on it glowed. A white portal appeared in the middle of the room, leaving the three guests impressed.

“You made a tool to simulate unicorn magic,” Rarity observed in amazement.

“Yep!” Silver Fox used the key to close the portal, making sure to lock it. “It only has the ‘portal to Tartarus’ spell, though.”

Sweetie Belle stood up on the couch. “Do you think you could train me?” she asked him.

He looked at her questioningly.

“Um, I want to become a better exorcist myself, and you're the only pony I know that not only knew but also used to live with one. He was the best one too,” the unicorn filly explained. “So that logically makes you the best pony who could possibly train me. Right?”

Silver Fox took the time to sip his tea before answering. “I mean… I guess?” He shrugged. “That kind of training usually takes a while, though.”

“Sweetie's already got this,” Silver Spoon affirmed, stirring her namesake in her cup of tea. “She's already cast advanced spells and locked up three demons. That training might not take that long.”

“Really now?” Silver Fox had to raise an eyebrow at that. “Okay then. I'll see what I can do. I don't have anything planned for a month, anyway.”

“A month?” Rarity asked.

Silver Fox scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah… Exorcism training normally takes full years, but I think you have other things to do with your childhood than to spend it at some boring old geezer's house. So we'll have to shorten it to a month. Then we'll see how to continue from there on.”

Rarity was about to protest, but was cut off by her little sister.

“It's okay, Rarity. I made my choice,” Sweetie Belle said determinedly.

Rarity knew better than to argue against the stubborn little filly, so she simply nodded. “There is one thing I want you to promise me, however.”

“Hm?” Sweetie Belle cocked her head, while Rarity placed a hoof on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes with concern.

“Promise me that once this is done, the first thing you will do is to go find your friends, tell them how much you care about them, and play with them again. Alright?”

Sweetie Belle took her time to respond. “I will remember,” she finally promised, smiling.

Rarity then threw herself into a hug with Sweetie Belle that lasted for over a long, quiet minute.

Author's Note

Being famous in a competently secret society is a good way to stay unremembered by History.

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