Tirek always thought that Scorpan was a coward.
Even before he was banished from his Kingdom of Senturya from his father's betrayal, and especially after he was convinced to tag him along, Tirek had always thought of Scorpan as weak-minded and thin-skinned. When they were both young, Scorpan always sought to use reason and diplomacy to solve their problems, methods Tirek chose to abhor for he thought it would only make him weak. Thus, Tirek always sought the method of brute force; charging into his problems to tackle them head-on.
Scorpan, once upon a time, had tried to conform to his brother's ways. As the tale goes, when they both traveled to Equestria to steal its magic, Scorpan sought his brother's company, albeit still living in his shadow. He initially supported his brother's foray into Equestria for its magic and wealth, but he soon found refuge in Starswirl the Bearded; who peered past his brother's influence over him and saw the good inside of Scorpan.
It took a long while. At first, Scorpan didn't want to believe that he and his family were wrong and had lived unnecessarily cruel lives. But as time passed, he couldn't deny history and his past. He couldn't deny that Equestria's fair land was won through a willingness to work together in mutual harmony rather than forced sovereignty. He couldn't deny that his brother's plan threatened to undo the near-endless peace that Equestria had maintained.
The more the thought about the plan with Tirek, the more it felt wrong. He no longer wished to dominate the minds and hearts of ponies when they would be already willing to open up to them without force. Wishing and advocating for a path of coexistence, Scorpan eventually reformed to the Equestrian way of life.
But he knew his brother would not listen to these ponies. He knew that if he learned of his betrayal the hard way, Scorpan would not be spared. And he knew that without Scorpan, Tirek would still continue his plan to invade Equestria for its magic. He knew he was running out of time.
However, he also knew that Tirek alone was no match against the Alicorn rulers of Equestria. He would not survive, and it would end in tragedy. Scorpan wanted to avoid that tragedy by any means necessary, even if it meant turning his back on everything he ever knew.
And so of his own volition, he confronted his brother and pleaded to reason with him.
Tirek had always thought of Scorpan as a Coward. But never before had he felt ashamed to be related to his kin, despite his weakness. He always thought he could change his brother to be stronger if he was pushed hard enough. And that despite his timid nature, he would grow out of that shell into something better.
Up until that moment, Tirek still regarded Scorpan as his brother...
"You want to what?" Tirek's voice growled.
"T-to talk. I want to talk to the Princesses."
The wind howled a gale upon those words as Tirek stood in silent contempt. The two creatures stood in a cave overlooking the Smokey mountains, of which the fertile heartlands of Equestria lay just beyond ripe for the taking.
In the far distance just over the hazy horizon laid a single mountain range separating two fertile valleys with rivers banking through the plains. On the face of the mountain stood Canterlot, barely the size of a fingernail from this far away.
"They do not wish to harm us i-if we do not mean them any harm. Maybe we can work out a deal with them, get some magic from them without any confrontation?"
"... A Deal?"
Scorpan stood in the cave's entrance, standing as tall as he could against his more imposing brother. He had always been dwarfed in size, and that fact was especially prevalent now that Tirek was standing over him in a menacing stance.
Scorpan suddenly thought that this was a bad idea. He balls his fists, digging his two hooved legs into the stones to steady his stance.
He is prepared for things to get violent, but he doesn't plan on fighting his brother.
"I should have known. You don't care about taking Equestria, do you?"
"Tirek, please, just listen to me!"
"WHY?! So you can lather me with your honeyed words and try to manipulate me? Like how Mother did? When you always ran off to her?"
The centaur bellowed hard enough to cause a few pebbles to bounce around in the cave. Even so, Scorpan stood his ground.
"That's not true and you know it!" Scorpan pleaded.
"Isn't it?! She always tried to change who I was, and you always ratted me out to her like a snake! I so much as glance at somebody the wrong way, and it's off to the races for you!" He growls as his head peers past his kin to the exit of the cave. "Do you not see the riches that await us? Do you not see the bountiful lands that we shall soon reap for our own? How can you not see the power for the taking? Right in front of you?!"
His heart threatened to explode as Scorpan's legs refused to work. Instinct told him to run. A habit Tirek is calling him out on the spot. And Tirek knows as well as he does: there's nowhere to run.
Scorpan spared a glance behind his shoulder.
He could see some small villages in the countryside, a small castle planted atop a hill overlooking one of the fertile valleys. Small, incandescent, and technicolored dots moved and flew around the town with a mirthful purpose. He could see life blooming.
And he imagined it all being taken away. All of it being pillaged and stolen for their benefit and greed. And with that power, he would take on the alicorns of Equestria. Not even the Princesses themselves would stop them.
... And it sickened Scorpan.
He looks back at his brother, glaring down at him condescendingly.
A solemn weight sags his head and he can't bear to look his brother in the eyes as he gives his final verdict.
"All I see is the monster I tried to become."
Tirek's frown dissipated at that response. A few seconds of uneasy silence loomed over the two. for an ephemeral moment, doubt and confusion perplexed the towering centaur.
He then growled and lunged; with a heavy punch, Scorpan was knocked to the dusty earth.
"We are monsters. We are Destroyers! What else could we possibly be?! We don't change!"
"YES, WE CAN!" Scorpan screamed, wiping the blood off his lips as he tried to ignore the taste of copper. "You just don't want to! Why? So that you can prove father wrong?"
"NO!" Tirek defiantly yells. "Our-... My father is dead to me."
"Then why?"
"Because I can!" He paces up to Scorpan menacingly. "When there is a will to act, you must seize it! And if the rewards beseech you to do so, then such an opportunity mustn't be wasted!"
Scorpan strode backward, his resolve wavering as he braced himself for a strike that never came.
"And here I see my pathetic excuse of a brother, wallowing in his misery as he can't see past his faults to take action for himself! I see nothing but a coward!"
"Fine, call me a coward! But I still love you!" his voice chokes up.
Tirek took a step back from that response, his eyes widening. Scorpan pressed on, tears pooling in his eyes.
"You are still my brother and I love you as so, and I don't want to lose you! You will die Tirek! Is that what you want?! Please, just... just listen to me. W-we can still talk to them, we can still negotiate! It doesn't have to end in violence!"
The cave's darkness shrouded Tirek's face enough to hide his emotions. Scorpan couldn't see how he reacted, only that he remained stoic. His tears were getting harder to hold back.
A droplet of moisture drops to the floor. Scorpan cannot tell from what. Sweat? Tears? Saliva?
"Please brother," Scorpan's voice quivers, "I—"
"Get out."
The centaur's voice was gravelly, like coarse sandpaper creasing your face.
"W-what?"
"Get out. And don't ever come back. If you do, I will kill you. You are dead to me."
Scorpan's heart stopped beating, as it simultaneously dropped to the deepest abyss inside his stomach. With that demand, Tirek twists his body to retreat further into the cave.
"Tirek, please! You can't—"
"GET OUT!"
A dark ball of magic manifested between his horns, blasting his brother out of the cave. Scorpan slid and rolled painfully across the surface, scratches all over his supple coat.
"Don't come back." He growls with quiet finality.
Another blast from his horn strikes the mouth of the cave, shaking the earth around them as several large stones broke apart and crumble down. A cave-in that prevented any further entry from outside had sealed Tirek inside, alone and consigned to his fate.
Tirek marched back into the darkness, his steps echoing from within as he tries to process his emotions.
Scorpan curled up into a ball and wept, for he knew he had lost his brother.
Author's Note
I wanted to do more chapters on this, but it just felt... wrong, somehow. The more I thought about adding on, the more I thought how complete it was already with what I wanted to convey. So here you go.
Let me know what you think if you want to see more.
