Subversion

Eclipse walked slowly down the long, dark corridor, his hoofsteps echoed on the cold stone floor, eyes darting about from left to right, half expecting to see a shadow jump out at him. He stopped when he thought he had heard something, he paused, and listened. Nothing. Eclipse sighed, "Keep it together, why am I so paranoid about this..." he whispered to himself, and resumed walking down the corridor. He finally approached his destination, a dark crystalline door, with a torch on either side of it. He stopped, and inhaled. He tapped the door with his hoof. The silence was deafening, the wait seemed to stretch on for minutes, when only seconds had actually past, and finally the door opened.  He walked inside the dark room, and he approached the throne sitting in the center of the room, it's occupant was a dark, robed figure, with yellow glowing eyes.

"Ah, Eclipse, it is good to see you again, I assume you have been keeping your skills honed?"

"Of course I have kept my skills honed, few ponies have as many reasons to keep them honed as I do." Eclipse replied, his skill set was one of manipulation and assassination, he could shatter alliances between the closest of allies, or forge allies of the most hated nations in the world, few knew he existed, but those who did would swear his abilities to manipulate rivaled Discord. "But I doubt you called me here just to ask me how I was doing, now did you?" he asked.

"Perceptive as ever, Eclipse, it would seem that you do indeed keep your skills honed, very good. Yes, I have need of your abilities..."

"My abilities don't come cheaply you know, stop wasting time and get to the chase." Eclipse replied.

"Very well, Eclipse, I need to figure out a way to... nullify the princesses of Equestria." he said and smiled, with a dark evil grin. "And you have just the right skill set to complete this plan."

Eclipse stood half shocked by what he had said, it took him a moment to regain his composure. "I may be skilled, but I'm not skilled enough to eliminate an alicorn." he paused, "Unless that's not what you're asking..." he smiled slyly.

The dark figure on the throne smiled, "No, Eclipse, I know you could never take out an alicorn, even being a unicorn as talented as you." he waited for a reply which never came. "No, I have bigger plans, much, much bigger."

Eclipse stood still and thought for a moment, "What plans could you have that are bigger than eliminating the princesses of Equestria?"

"Starting an all consuming war between two nations, Eclipse. I want you to force a confrontation between the Griffin Empire and Equestria. Such a confrontation would weaken both nations and if the war doesn't result in the deaths of the princesses, they would be vulnerable enough to finish it."

"Any specifics on how you want me to start this...confrontation?" Eclipse asked.

"You're smart, Eclipse, you'll figure it out, after all, it's your special talent. Oh, one thing, however, make sure nobody knows the events are being manipulated, if they find out, the conflict could end prematurely. And I wouldn't like that."

"Of course, but there is one last matter..."

The dark figure smiled, and chuckled. "One hundred million bits up front, and another hundred million upon the start of the conflict."

Two hundred million bits. Two hundred MILLION bits. It was like releasing discord all over again, granted, that hadn't ended as his employer had hoped, but he still made a lot of bits from that. "So, two hundred million bits for this? That's million with a M, right?"

The dark figure nodded.

"And all I have to do is start a war between the Griffon Empire and Equestria?" he chuckled, "Piece of cake."

"Then I look forward to news of the start of a long, bloody conflict." he smiled.

Eclipse turned, and started leaving, he smiled, and chuckled. He began to formulate a plan, after all, he had a job to do.

Griffon Empire Equestrian relations hit new high, many credit it to the recent joint development and sharing of advanced magic micro capacitors capable of storing large amounts of magic energy, possibly allowing for...