Brethren

Magic vs. the Darkness

Chapter One: The Assassin

The morning dew moistened the grass on the forest floor as the wet leaves on the trees shined in the early sunlight. The woods were full of the sounds of chirping robins of spring and the tree frogs perched upon the burgeoning oaks of late April. This was the beauty of the Everfree Forest in the Heart of Equestria during the golden days of Spring. As the forest was mainly in tranquility, however, there was something in the woods this day that interrupted the peace.

The single sound of trotting came through the forest as an armored stallion came walking through the woods not on a simple stroll, but on a mission. He knew he was in the place where he was assigned to go, and he was searching for the target his master had assigned him to look for. For he was assigned with one, simple mission: Search and destroy.

A nice stone path led up to a small mushroom house in the heart of the Everfree Forest. The sound of tiny hooves filled the air as a group of young fillies came trotting down the path and into the mushroom house. The filles sat down at desks, while a young mare with a quill and ink for a cutie mark stood behind the desk at the front of the room, a chalkboard behind her and a book on her desk. All the fillies said at once, “Good morning, Miss Zacherle!”

“And a good morning to you, all my wonderful fillies!” She said back. Then, using the magic from her horn, she levitated the book, opened it up, and started reading. “Today’s lesson.” Zacherle cleared her throat. “We will be learning about ‘Dark Magic’.”

“Cool!” said a colt in the back row.

“Oh, no no no no no!” said Miss Zacherle, shaking her head in disapproval. “Dark magic is not something to joke about! It is a serious matter! Dark Magic is evil!” She noticed one of the fillies raising her hooves. “Yes?”

“Miss Zacherle, why is Dark Magic so evil?” the filly asked.

“Well, Snuzzle, Dark Magic is evil because it possesses the six powers of the-”

KABLOOOOOOM!

The mushroom schoolhouse was destroyed, every pony, every young filly, killed instantly, their bones scattered about the ash-filled crater. “Check.” said the armored, black, blue-eyed Stallion, his mission accomplished. Without any sympathy for those who were destroyed, he began heading back to report back to his master. Indeed, Zearou was King Sombra’s most trusted assassin. His main goal was to destroy the spread of Elemental Magic, using Dark Magic, the Magic he had been trained to harness the power of, the Magic of King Sombra. For as soon as he reported to his master that he was successful, he knew that he would be assigned a new mission to destroy Elemental Magic and the Elements of Harmony.

It was soon that Zearou heard the sound of larger hooves stomping through the forest, so he snuck behind a large tree. There he saw a wide road walked down by two lone unicorn stallions in silver armor. They were army scouts, out looking for the assassin of the Elements to arrest him and bring him in front of Princess Celestia, his older sister who he had turned on many centuries ago.

“Hey, I think I heard something dart behind that tree” said one scout to the other. Zearou tried to stay quiet was he could, so they wouldn’t see him hiding, waiting to ambush.

“Was it something big?” asked the second scout.

“Well, I can’t tell” replied the other.

“Then it must be an animal, like a fox or something small.”

Zearou kept quiet and was sure he didn’t move any muscle. After all, he needed to take care of these two, but he didn’t wish to kill them, but he planned to do something worse.

“Are you sure it’s not the assassin?” asked one of the scouts. “After all, that’s who we’re here to find. I’m pretty sure he’s somewhere in these woods.”

“And why do you think that?” said the other. “Are you assuming that that’s where that boom came from?”

“Maybe. I was just wondering if he was very close to us. For some reason I feel a presence. I guess it’s just me. Oh well, I guess we need to keep looking.” The guard kept walking down the wide forest road. “Let’s find the source of that boom.”

As the two scouts decided it was nothing serious and continued to search, Zearou jumped out from the bushes in front of them, his eyes glowing green. This entranced the two scouts, whose eyes also began to glow green as well. For this was another one of the assassin’s missions, to assimilate anypony on the side of the Elements to a pony on the side of Dark Magic who will help Sombra engulf Equestria into darkness.

***

The King of Darkness took a sip of blue milk and a bite of fried chicken as he relaxed on a black crystal chair in his Master bedroom. For King Sombra had been enjoying his rule as king, with his technique of enslaving the Crystal Ponies and making them obey everything he said. Of course, he had led them to believe that Elemental Magic was evil, and that he was trying to help them with the power of Dark Magic. Of course, he knew he was telling a fib, and that this was just another way to get the ponies to obey him, even though they knew he was lying as well, and wished that they could be free. They hoped that someday, the Crystal Heart would return, and Sombra’s days would be over.

Just then, Sombra heard somepony walking down the hallway, followed by something slipping across the carpet under his door. “Hmm, what may this be?” he asked himself as he walked over to the door to find that it was a letter. He read it.

My Lord,

The mission was successful. I found and destroyed Bonnie Zacherle’s Magic Schoolhouse in the Everfree Forest. In addition to this, I also discovered that there were two scouts sent by your sister to try and hunt me down. However, I faced them and assimilated them into your rule. I am proud that I have accomplished this, and I hope I may be your most trusted henchman.

Zearou

“Good for you” Sombra said with a grin. For now he was ready to assign Zearou with the next target. However, this time, it was for the one whom he despised most of all, and he knew that he would be bringing his henchman to the ultimate task. Sombra took a seat down and began writing down on an empty sheet of paper.

Zearou,

I am delighted to hear that you have terminated practicers of Elemental Magic. However, now I shall assign you with your next task, which may be an extremely difficult one. Now that you have my full trust, you will use my trust to find my Elemental Brother, Prince Starswirl, capture him, and bring him unto me so I can take care of him and bring him to my side. You must do this as soon as you are finished reading this letter, so I will end it right now.

King Sombra

Sombra handed the letter to a guard. “Be off” he said, and the guard ran out of the palace to take the letter to the Imperial Post Office, which was just down the street. Now the king of Dark Magic would have to wait in anticipation, knowing Zearou was loyal enough to be able to bring back Starswirl in order to be taught in the ways of Sombra and Dark Magic, and Sombra would finally have his dream fulfilled of brotherly rule over the Eternal Crystal Empire.

And, of course, to show his excitement, Sombra took out his maracas and started shaking them enthusiastically, and then he let out an evil laugh, in hopes of accomplishing something good.