{Chapter 1}
“I may not speak or act like a tyrant, but I have plenty of friends that are capable of doing so.” - Luna [Weapons_X, Monster is as Monster does, Chapter 18]

A room, not quite bare, but definitely not full. The walls seemed faded, and off to the side, a desk sat. In the middle, lain across a worn bed, was a pegasus. With tears in her eyes, she didn’t notice the visitor enter her room.

“Mum? Whats wrong? Where's Dad?” asked a small blue and grey unicorn colt, who had only recently gained a cutiemark of an old tome.

“I-I’m fine, my sweet, sweet little Arcane, Daddy's just gone to get something from the market.” replied a older mare. Her mane a neon green, and her coat a dark blue, similar to the small colt, her face was stained with tears, both dried and fresh. “W-Why don’t you go find your little brother?”

“Oh, okay. Let me know if you need anything Mum…” The colt said uncertainly before rushing out the door behind him. As he trotted forward, the hallway seemed darker than usual, turning a corner, he found his little brother in the family room. He was only younger than the colt by a few years, he had the wings of his mother and a coat as green as her hair. His mane on the other hoof, was a bright blue, many shades brighter than the fur of his brother.

He was always the more athletic of the two, while Arcane was fine to spend hours curled up with a good book, his brother was the polar opposite, he was seemingly unable to sit still, and never a fan of books. Even the good ones.

“Arcane?” Asked the green colt, turning to face his brother. “When am I going to get my cutiemark?”

Even after Arcane found his cutiemark, he still found it enjoyable to run around trying all sorts of random things. He just hopes that he’ll still be able to do it with his brother once he gets his cutiemark.

“I don’t know… How about we go try to find it Steel?” Arcane replied, as he donned a mask of false cheerfulness.

”Yay!” cried Steel, racing towards the backyard, ”I’ll go get the bows!”

With a slight chuckle, Arcane thought to himself, ‘Never change little Steel, never change…’

Suddenly, everything seemed to lose focus, and in the edge of his hearing, he heard a voice call out.

”Next stop, Whitetail Woods!”

“Ah! Wha?” Arcane Quill exclaimed sleepily, around him, what looks like a train cart, rushed across the countryside. There weren't many inhabitants inside of it, maybe ten at maximum. He shifted on the wooden bench he found himself sat upon.
Shaking away the last remnants of sleep, he looked out the window. Up ahead he could see a forest of sorts, ‘Probably the Whitetail woods, huh… I never expected to come home so soon…’

It wasn’t a popular town, but hidden in the branches of the forest, there was a small town, a bit smaller than Ponyville. It was surprising with the suddenness of the forest, with the plains stretched out all around it and the fact of there being little to no trees outside of the woods.

Ahead of the train, a small station became apparent, it was little more than a waiting bench and a ticket stand. This, was his destination.

‘I seem to remember it being bigger… I guess I’m too used to Canterlot.’ With a quick chuckle, Arcane reached under his seat to grab his suitcase. It’s dark brown case a reminder of the last time he came here. ‘I can’t believe it’s been seven years. It feels like it was just yesterday when I last saw Mother’s wonderful smile.’

The thought seemed to brighten the unicorn, if only slightly.

“Whitetail train station! All passengers for Whitetail, please make your way to the exits!” A voice cried, shattering the silence. Nopony moved, except for Arcane.

“I guess I’m the only one getting off.” He muttered, slightly amused. He exited the train at a brisk pace, be it from nervousness or excitement, it is uncertain, even to Arcane himself. Around him, the forest seemed deadly silent, the air only pierced by the train slowing making its way down the track. A desolate path stretched away from the ‘station,’ it was overgrown, bits and pieces of grass and other plant matter had made it’s home on this path.

“Just as I remember it. Alright, let’s do it. It’s only family. Not that bad.” He stammered to himself, “The train’s gone, I can’t stay here… I can only move on…”

“Damnit.” Arcane sighed, as the slowly made his way down the path.

After a good chunk of time, the blue stallion arrived at the town. From his perspective, he could see the few buildings that make up the town. It was the sort of town that everypony knew everypony else.
The town hall was situated in the middle, whilst a small residential district sat to the left of it. To the right, was a few shops and the ‘hospital.’ If you could even call it that, it was quite small, enough to only fit a small chemist and around three doctors.

‘Heh, I wonder if Caringhoof still works there… He was always good at his job.’ He thought as he reminisced in all of the times he would get busted up and forced see the doctor. ‘It’s surprising really, despite his name, he was always an old grump.’

Trotting down the path, he noticed that they had put up an entrance sign. ‘Welcome to Brismane!’ it was quite rickety, but, fortunately, still readable.

‘Well… now that I think about it, I guess it would be unfortunate.’ Turning, he spotted a greenish stallion sitting near the outskirts of the town. He looked like he was waiting for somepony. Or maybe somebody? The figure was quite lean, but his muscles seemed quite strong. From this distance, Arcane noticed that the figure had a pair of wings folded up on his sides. His mane was an almost neon blue, and at his hooves, Arcane saw a green duffle bag.

‘Is that…? Steel? What’s he doing waiting over there? I didn’t send a letter ahead of me…’ With a question on his mind, Arcane made his way over to his brother.

“I’d say I’m surprised to see you here, but I think you know better.” Steel Quill began as Arcane approached, “So, how was your trip?”

“Could be better.” Arcane replied with a shrug, “how have you been all these years?”

“Could’ve been better.” Steel shot back with a smirk, “I didn’t even hear why you left, Mum’s been quiet about it, and I haven't seen Dad long enough to ask. All I know is that you left in the dead of night.”

“Mmmm? How did you find out about that? I expected them to say that I left as the sun rose.”

“That is what they said, but I do remember seeing an egghead running off around seven years ago, right when he thought everypony else was asleep.” Steel remarked with a chuckle, “stealth was never your area of expertise.”

“Huh, I guess I’ll have to try harder next time.”

“You can try.”

The awkward silence once more came out to play, as the two brothers sat there, just outside of town. High above them all, the moon quickly raised towards the sun, and with it, the thousandth year had finally arrived. The chilling wind rushed through the forest, almost like the whispers of fear the residents of Equestria where muttering.

“The buck? Whats up with the moon?” Steel crudely questioned, as he pointed to the moon with his wing,

“That shouldn’t be happening… Ummm… shit.” Arcane replied, shrugging once again “I… A.... I’ve got nothing.”

“Ah. I guess the world is ending.” Steel stated with a thousand mile stare, “Damn.”

“I… Did not expect this.” Arcane stammered as the moon covered the sun entirely.

“Imma just sit here.” Steel said as he brought down his wing. “If the world is ending, I’m going to sit in my favorite spot. Right here.”

“Okay.” Arcane replied, “Who knows? Maybe somepony just got the princess drunk or something.”

The sounds of laughter now dominated the once silent hill. This did little to calm the residents of Brismane, they may be a resilient bunch, but this was well out of their league. The local authorities were able to halt any riots or looting, but general unease and panic still ran rampant.

As the hours slowly ticked by, the only ones that seemed calm were the two stallions on the hill. But even then, ‘calm’ is a relative term.

“What's been happening to you the last couple years?” Steel asked his blue-screening brother,

“I-Is this really the time to talk about that?” Arcane stammered back,

“Well, we’re not doing much else are we?”

“True, true…” Arcane replied, before letting silence play its corse.

“Well?”

“Ah, yeah. The last couple years I’ve been working in Canterlot, at the moment, I’m the head of an R and D branch.” He said with a faint smile, “other than that, I’ve just been continuing my studies of old magic. How about you?”

“I’ve been here. After this baby appeared,” He explained, flashing his crossbow cutiemark, “I enlisted in the local militia, and I’ve been keeping this place safe.”

“It’s still hard to think that you’re only nineteen. I’m… sorry that I wasn’t here for that…” Arcane apologized, it only now, truly, dawning on him how long he was gone.

“Eh, no biggie. I’m sure you had your reasons. So… You got a fillyfriend yet?”

“Wha-! N-no! Yes? Maybe!” He stammered, “I expected this from Mum, not you!”

“Come ooooon! Tell meeee!” Steel begged playfully.

“N-no! I don’t. I’ve been too busy.”

“Awwww…” Steel signed with exaggerated disappointment. Suddenly, he perked up, “So, when do you think the sun will be fixed?”

To which his brother answered with an exaggerated, and almost comical, shrug. Almost as if the universe heard them, the moon returned to its normal position.

“Huh, it’s fixed.” Arcane monotonically stated, “We should probably go find Mum. And maybe Dad…”

“Yeah… we should. Come on, let’s go.”

The two brothers stood before an old log cabin, it was of moderate size, not too big, not too small. Out the front, there was a porch with an old rocking chair and a few pot plants scattered across the beams. A few roses, a violet or two, rosemary and some lavender. It was peaceful, to say the least.

“Hey, Steel? Would you mind if I go talk to her first? I… just want a moment. It’s been a long time.” Arcane asked, a slight sorrowful look on his face.

“It’s cool, I’ll give you a moment.” Steel replied.

“Thanks.”

With a steadying breath, Arcane walked up to the door, ‘It’ll be fine, it’s just family, she’ll forgive me.’

Steeling his resolve, he knocked on the log door. With a creak, it opened, ’What? Well.. that’s not creepy at all…’

Despite his better judgement, he trotted into the house. Picture frames lined the entrance, a coat rack sat next to the door, there was quite a few coats on it. Most prominently, there was familiar denim jacket lined with wool. ’Dad? What's he doing here?’

With the question on his mind, he made his way down to the kitchen. From memory, it was quite modest, the most expensive item in it was an old ice box. But even then, it was decently cheap.As he made his way into the kitchen, he noticed something embedded in a beam above him.

“Wait…” He muttered as the summoned a light. With the magic torch, he revealed a hatchet of sorts. There was only a handle visible, as the blade seemed to be stuck deep inside the beam.

“Ahhh… okay? That's… interesting.” Continuing on, Arcane noticed that the candles were either quite low or missing altogether. “Mum? Are you here?”

He called out, concerned. Turning down another hallway, ahead of him, he saw an old stallion crouched over... something.

‘Drip’ The sound of something dripping off whatever the stallion had in his magic echoed around the hallway.

‘Drip’ The candlelight was unable to reach whatever it was, but Arcane was able to make a pretty good guess, judging from the puddle of… red, under the figure.

‘Drip’ The figure turned, the gray fur of its hoof was the only thing clearly visible.

“You shouldn’t of come back colt.” The stallion scolded, his voice gravelly and cold. “When I disown something, it doesn’t come back.”

‘Drip’ Its eyes, with its deep orange tinge, bored into the blue unicorn.

“Wh-what did you do? W-where's Mum?” Arcane stammered, fear prominent in his eyes.

‘Drip’ This time, the noise wasn’t from the grayed stallion, but from a tear falling from the eye of Arcane Quill.

“Same place you're going to!” The stallion yelled as the lunged towards Arcane, what looks like a kitchen knife in his magical grip shining in the candlelight. Time seemed to freeze as the knife danced across the air, gliding towards its target. Its blade, covered in red and bits of fur seemed to move at a snail’s pace.

’Thud!’ A cold feeling gripped Arcane’s heart. He looked down to his chest where the knife found its new home.

‘Drip’ The seconds ticked by, as the floor came up to greet its old friend.

And the darkness got to him first.

Author's Notes:

{Update: More edits}
{Update 2: Formatting!}
Well, here we are again.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, The next one will be longer, I promise.
If you've got any comments/suggestions/questions/other just shoot me a comment down below, I read all of them. Even if there is only one at this point in time.

Weapon's EN:
Eric has learned well, I don't even know whether Arcane survives. Personallly, my money is on a viral intervention but that's just a guess.