Far from the walls of Canterlot, far from the eyes of many peoples, far from even the barest hint of civilisation, there was a forest. Old, and teeming with many wild animals, this was a dangerous place. The early morning saw that ancient woodland filled with a dense fog, obscuring the sight of any who would have wondered within it's boundaries. But, right at the heart of that great expanse of trees, there was a structure. It's crumbling walls and ruined towers made it very clear that, whatever this place might have been in another lifetime, those days were gone. This was a ruin, shattered and broken to any who would have gazed upon it. Vines and weeds had seeped in over the ages, claiming it and making it as much a part of the forest as the surrounding trees. Truly, this was a forgotten place.

However, that did not mean it was completely abandoned. For within it's walls, in an old and empty hallway, there were three men. They were a savage-looking sort, clad in many animal furs. One was of fairly average build, the second was far shorter, and the third was a great brute of a man. As the fog of the early morning seeped in, these three, who were sitting around a small campfire, started to shiver. The largest of them looked to the middle-sized man, bearing a look of annoyance as he did so.

"Why in the world did we ever come to this forsaken place, Rover?"

The other man, Rover, looked back to him, narrowing his eyes.

"Don't blame me for this, Fido! How was I supposed to know there'd be nothin here? An old, forgotten castle, not touched for ages. There was bound to be some treasure here!"

The third man, the shortest, let out a dry chuckle at that.

"Treasure? Ha! Ain't no treasure here, brother. No treasure at all!"

Rover turned to him and growled slightly.

"We'll find somethin somewhere else then, Spot! Don't go on complainin!"

But complaining certainly seemed to be the order of the day, as Fido reached into his pocket, pulling out a very unappetizing piece of bread, and holding it in an accusing manner towards his brother.

"At least let us go out and find some real food! We ain't had nothin but maggoty bread for three stinkin days!"

To this, Rover let out a grunt of annoyance before throwing another small stick onto the fire.

"Ugh! Fine! We'll go out and find a rabbit or somethin. But no promises, ya hear?"

Fido continued to grumble at that, but contented himself with that declaration for the time being. A silence fell over the three for a time, during which they continued to shiver, even in spite of being so close to their fire. Then, just for a moment, a gust of wind blew through that ancient hall, causing all of them to turn in the direction it had come from.

"Huh...strange," Rover commented.

The other two nodded, but were unable to say anything, as they were all suddenly jarred from their sitting positions by a brief, yet violent tremor. None of them had expected it, yet they were all thrown to the ground from it. Scrambling to their feet, they looked to one another, bearing fearful expressions. They said nothing, but stayed exactly where they were, as if expecting another. Their suspicions were soon confirmed, as yet another tremor occurred, this time just bringing them to their knees. As they started to pant with concern, they noted that there, on the stone ground beneath them, there was a crack that had not been there before.

"What the...?" Fido remarked.

However, like before, his words were halted when another shock to the ground caught them off-guard. This one widened the crack beneath them, causing them to suddenly feel like they should start moving away. But they couldn't, for another tremor arrived, then another, and another. On an on it went, causing many of the already-crumbled walls around them to keep on falling down. For safely, the three men grouped together, but all kept their eyes on that crack, as if instinct alone told them to do so. Then, to the surprise of all of them, the shaking stopped. At first, they looked to each other with a sense of relief, even to the point of smiling, Unfortunately, those smiles were short lived.

"What...what is...where...?"

The expressions of the three men became ones of horror. That voice was unfamiliar, and yet, it had been the manner in which they'd heard it which terrified them most. It was as if the words had been whispered into their very minds, rather than through their ears. Needless to say, they were more than a little worried about this, and started to look around.

"Um...hello?" Spot asked.

His words were answered, though not in the way he and his brothers might have expected. The moment his utterance had been heard, the great crack on the floor finally burst forth. But, what emerged from it's depths was not something any of them could readily recognise. It was as if mist and shadow were one, and poured forth from the ground like a geyser, spreading all around them in a nightmarish display. None of them dared move while this occurred, and so they remained still, watching as this creeping darkness continued to surround them. Then, when the emergence of this force at last seemed to have halted, it happened again. The voice.

"Long...long...long has been the sleep. What is the world now? How...why...why now?"

They were the words and ramblings of a madman, confused by all around him, and so, as one might expect, the three brothers were less than eager to respond to it. So, they simply let that voice carry on in it's madness.

"Something...something stirs. Something has begun. A first step, taken. The light...the light of yore. It cannot be...and yet...it is."

A silence fell, but only briefly, as the voice spoke up once more.

"...The Elements."

Needless to say, the three brothers cast nervous glances at one another, and before long, they started to slowly inch themselves backwards, hoping to get away from whatever this thing was. Unfortunately, fate, it seemed, had other things in store for them, as this imposing voice addressed them once more.

"You!"

The brothers stopped, quaking in their boots.

"Y...y...yes?" Rover asked.

"Be thee of the dark...or the light?"

Rover, understandably, looked like he had no idea what was going on, and so simply shrugged his shoulders.

"I...I don't know."

A silence fell, but it was a short one.

"Hmmm...brutish...simple...undisciplined."

The voice sounded, for lack of a better word, disappointed, and yet, in time, it started to speak with more interest in it's tone.

"And yet...you may serve."

The brothers looked to each other, still bearing concerned expressions. The voice had, to their dismay, started to sound like that of someone who was taking a very unhealthy interest in something. And yet, their fear persisted, preventing them from trying to move away at this point. Rover, looking to his brothers, cast them a glance before turning yet again to the darkness.

"Um...serve?"

"Yes...you will serve. You will obey."

To this, Rover took an action that he knew full well would be a mistake on his part; he spoke out.

"And...if we don't?"

The response to that question was immediate, and regretted, as each of the brothers started to find themselves surrounded by the dark fog that had covered so much of this place. They felt it glow closer to them, like a fist balling close, and it wasn't long before they started to feel the strain of it. Tighter and tighter the darkness gripped them, until, eventually, it reached a point where it felt like it was going to crush them entirely. Rover, feeling the breath being squeezed from his lungs, gasped out.

"Al...alright! We'll serve!"

At that, the darkness relented, releasing them, which, naturally, caused them to collapse to the ground. After taking a moment to catch their breaths, they looked up as this unknown force spoke yet again.

"Then go...do my will. Find that which I seek. Find...her."

The brothers, of course, seemed more than a little confused by this.

"Er...her?" Spot asked.

Once more, the darkness started to convulse, and the brothers shied away form it. Fortunately for them, this was not an attack, but something else entirely. The shadows around them began to condense, concentrate into a single mass in front of them, twisting and reshaping with every instant. Then, in the midst of it all, the brothers would see that there, right in the centre of that darkness, was a face. Sculpted from the darkness, the face was crude, and yet, there was still just enough details for them to get a good idea of the face. It was a girl, younger than all of them, with hair worn in a tight bun, and glasses upon her eyes. None of them recognised her, but neither did they dare speak of it. Instead, they stayed quiet as the face vanished within that dark ether.

"Go forth...find her...bring her!"

Seeing an out at long last, the three men immediately got to their feet, scrambling to get away as fast as they could. The shadows, for their part, let this happen, and when the brothers were at last gone, only IT remained within this place. It stayed there, twisting as always, until, in the end, it started to form yet another shape. This time, it was not face, but a hand, which very quickly balled into a tight fist.

"Come to me...bearer."