My Little Pony: Dark Harmonyby AgentMayaCoxackChaptersDH1: Shooting StarDH2: First CrossingDH3: InterrogativeDH1: Shooting Star"But I-!" "OUT!" The door slammed hard enough to wake the entire town, having followed a shriek that could do the same. Dilly was left standing in the dark street alone, covered in splattered cake as a candle was stuck to her neck. She hung her head and walked home in her ruined clown attire - another party wrecked by her incompetence. Still... what else was there? Same old, same old; open the door, kick off her clothes, go into the bathroom and wash the splattered cakes and treats off of her face. To think, she wanted to be a nurse when she was just a filly. She used her pink Magic to clean herself up before going to the window - it was a beautiful night with a gorgeous view of the ocean. The moon shone brightly over the dark and calm seas, almost perfectly aligned in the outcroppings of Horseshoe Bay... almost - and that bothered her. Would it really kill them to move the Bay just a bit to the left so it lined up? Regardless, she loved to look up at the moon in the middle of the night... it made her wonder, what else was out there? Beyond the moon? Beyond the stars? Beyond even them? She'd likely never know, but you can't stop a mare from dreaming. Suddenly she noticed something odd in the sky. An orange light flickered high above, again almost in line with the Bay's piers. "A shooting star!" She gleefully told herself. She clamped her eyes shut. "I wish I-... I wish... I..." She opened her eyes, letting her excited smile droop into a bored frown. "...I wish something would happen." CRASH! Splintered wood flew across the room as something fell through her roof - landing on (and completely destroying) her bed. Dilly was frozen with fear and considered how lucky she was that none of those bits of wood hit her. Though she did lament at her loss of a bed... before realising what took it's place. She saw something there - it was big. It was dark, but some areas looked burnt and charred. Faint red lights were speckled on certain parts of it, including a large T-shaped light on the small protrusion. The lights flickered in a pattern. .-- / .. / .- "What... the..." Dilly finally got the words out before- "Fuck-!" The thing let out it's own word and twitched, terrifying Dilly as she bolted for the nearest cover - whacking her head on the cupboard in the process. Just as soon as it had made the noise, it went limp again. The lights continued their pattern as the thing seemed motionless, prompting Dilly to reluctantly leave her hiding spot and steadily approach it. It seemed to be breathing, and some of the digits on the ends of what Dilly assumed to be limbs were twitching ever so slightly. "Uh... hello?" Dilly tried to talk to it, but it seemed unresponsive. Without warning, a very distant "boom" noise rung through the town, breaking the still of the night. It caught Dilly off-guard but she was soon swept up by something else she noticed on the figure - the red T-shaped light had a gap in it and something inside it was moving. She used her Magic to pry it open gently, making it let out an aggressive beep as it opened entirely. She saw it unabated - a sheet-white face, eyes shut, mouth agape, and jet black hair barely visible near the top of the head. Her old medical training instincts kicked in. As she climbed closer to check for a pulse, the eyes surged open. Two bright red irises stared into her very soul, before the entire figure sprang up and grabbed her by her neck, pinning her to the wall. "Identify yourself!" The figure stated. "I-!" Dilly panicked. "IDENTIFY!" The figure reached for something on it's hip, but looked alarmed when it found nothing. "Shit- where are we?! TALK!" It's yelling into her face made her start to cry. "DILLY DALLY! DILLY DALLY! MY NAME'S DILLY DALLY PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" It clamped its thing over her mouth, shutting her up, and looked puzzled. "Kinda name's Dilly Dally? In fact, what the bloody hell are you?" It gently released it's grip, allowing her to speak as tears ran down her face. She sniffled before stating; "I'm- I'm a Unicorn... don't you know that?" She also looked at it, confused, gesturing towards her own pink horn atop her head. "Unicorn? How the hell we end up in Scotland? No no, can't be, too far north..." The creature spoke to itself, letting her go as she dropped to the floor. "Where are we?" It was much more gentle now, seemingly pondering to itself. "Uh... Dodge." She took some deep breaths to recover from the choking, as well as wiping away her tears with her hoof. "Dodge. Not heard of that one. What country?" "I-" "Or nation, province, state..." The last word piqued her interest. "State - it's Dodge City-State. Probably the most boring in Equestria." "Equestria... more weird names." The creature looked up at the hole it had caused in the ceiling. "Eesh. Sorry 'bout the roof." It's sudden casual demeanour only put Dilly on edge. All of a sudden, it seemed as though an idea popped into it's head. "The plane." It looked into her eyes. "The plane - where did it go? Did it crash?" "The- the what? A plain? There's a few plains around Equestria-" "No no smartarse, not plain like a field, plane like in aeroplane. Big thing, made of metal, in the air, probably on fire." It put it's limbs out to simulate wings, but they didn't flap. "Oh, the shooting star?" "Probably resembled one." "It went right over here, kept going We- no, East... no wait, yeah West. It went West." "...Make hell of a spotter, you would." It seemed... insincere. "Well... I have trouble with directions sometimes. And a few other things... my sisters call me clumsy." "Clumsy one didn't just fall through a roof." It again looked up at the hole it made. Silence followed... "Hey, uh... what was your name?" "Blackchurch. Captain Connor Warwick Blackchurch." "Captain? Do you have a boat?" "No - never could join the Navy. I get seasick. Can you believe it - a Briton with no sealegs... s'heresy, s'what it is." Blackchurch walked around a bit, seemingly ignoring the fact that he had just fallen through a roof and should probably see to his legs about being broken. "Are you... are you okay? You know, cause, you did just-" "I'm fine, we're built tough." He walked over to the windowsill and looked out over the ocean. "Strange." "What is?" She joined him there, trotting over. "Sea's dark, but blue. And the sky's much the same. Where's that red tinge in the air, or the green water? No smog, no flares, hell not even a cloud. We either went way off course and found Oz, or Dorothy here hit her head real bloody hard on the fuselage." Black tapped his own head twice, causing his helmet to snap back shut. He looked over his entire body, making sure everything was still attached and not too badly burnt. The flickering lights had stopped, now a solid stoic red. He looked back out of the window to the streets below, seeming more Ponies of all three races out and about, disturbed by the shockwave he'd slept through. "What are you doing here, anyway?" Dilly asked. "Good question." DH2: First Crossing"I need to find the wreck - there could be survivors." "There are more of you?" "Well ye- actually, lemme get one thing clear real quick. Me, this me, the me standing before you? That's me, and that's the only me. But there are other men out there, think about... what was it, six? Pilot, co-pilot, crew attendee, two Commandos... so six including me." "I... don't understand any of those words." "Thankfully you don't need to - you just need to know there are blokes out there that could do with more of a hand than me. They weren't quite built the same." "Built?" "Figure of speech, I ain't a mech." Blackchurch walked over to the door, which was too low for him to walk through so he had to crouch down. "Wait!" Dilly ran up and stopped him. "You can't go out there, the entire town's outside!" "Take it my physique ain't exactly common, huh?" He took his hand off the door and relaxed in a crouching state, finally making him eye-level with her. "Well, no. There's not too many ten-foot things in black clothes with red lights walking around." "Oi," He pointed at her face. "First off ya cheeky git, I'm not 10 foot. I'm 6" 7', cheers. Second, I ain't no thing, I'm a proud Briton. If anything's a thing, you're it, short-arse." He stopped pointing. "Hey- I'm only-!" Her voice lowered. "...Just about 3" 5'... actually... pretty small for my kind..." She looked down, saddened by her lack of verticality. He put his hand on her shoulder and looked into her eyes through his helmet. "Don't need to be tall to be good, love." He took his hand down. "Knew a guy in Dover, shortest of our lot at a measly 5" 2'. Didn't stop 'im from being a bleedin' terror for the bad guys, lemme tell you." He shook his head with a chuckle. "Now, I got a plane to catch." He opened the door with his hand, and immediately a Pony was standing there. "Dilly Dally, have you heard the news?!" The mare's voice was worried and rushed. Dilly's heart stopped for a second as the game was surely up, there's no way she didn't see... "I- I! Raspberry Ripple I can explain! This isn't what-!" Dilly looked at where Blackchurch was, but there was nothing. No sign of him. She looked around the room frantically. "What it looks... like?" "What are you talking about, Princess Celestia is missing and Nightmare Moon has returned!" The Pony's face was one of near-sheer terror, her voice quaking with uneasiness. "I... wait, WHAT?!" Dilly's own voice picked up. "Yeah! She was meant to appear in Ponyville to address the crowd but she didn't arrive and Nightmare Moon was standing there, she said the night would last forever!" Over the Pony's head, Dilly Dally could see black smoke rising from Everfree Forest and an orange glow at it's base. "What are we gonna do?!" "I don't know, I'm just a clown!" Both Ponies froze with fear as their imaginations ran wild with what might happen, before Raspberry simply screamed and ran away in a panic. Dilly was about to do the same when she felt her mouth being forced shut by something, as if something was wrapped around her muzzle. "No more screaming, I'm done with loud noises tonight." Blackchurch's voice was heard seemingly from nowhere. "Hmmph rmrhgh?" Dilly couldn't speak, but after she tried to Blackchurch seemingly blinked back into existence, right where he had been when the door opened, accompanied by an audible humming noise. He let his hand down. "What happened to you?!" She asked, still a bit terrified by what she'd learned. "Emergency Cloak. Useful to prevent discovery, but it doesn't last forever. Damn near burnt out the battery cause you wouldn't shut your gob." "Hey-!" She took a second to recuperate her thoughts. "You're right... sorry." "Eh, it's nuffin'." He looked out of the door and saw the smoke column. "There. S'no mistakin' it - that's a B115 down an' out. If I've any friends around 'ere, they're there." He gazed out on the street, seeing all sorts of Ponies running around like headless chickens. "I see you lot are strong-willed." His voice had a tinge of cynicism. "Still, I need to reach that wreck. And if just hearing about something going wrong puts you in that big a rut, I can't imagine what seeing me'll do to 'em. I don't wanna draw attention so I'll take the rooftops." "You can fly?" "What? Nah, I've got strong legs. If you wanna tag along I suggest actin' casual on the street and makin' your way to that big fuck-off plume'o'smoke." Blackchurch flickered out of existence again and, once more, Dilly Dally was alone. She could just about see dust being kicked up from where he stepped, and could hear his footprints for just a few seconds before they were drowned out by the terrified yelling of the restless crowd. "Well... I did wish for something to happen. I guess it came true." Dilly cautiously left her house, closing the door and making her way towards the big column of black smoke rising high into the night sky. Despite the darkness, it was easy to spot. It's not often a smoke cloud can be ignored in Equestria. She deftly avoided being trampled by the rioting crowds, making her way out of the town and across a big plain field. Despite how open it was, she found no sign of Blackchurch. Still, he'd said where he was going and that's where she was heading. "You know, being invisible isn't very helpful when you ask somepony to follow you... or maybe he's just super fast." She talked to herself, as she often did, as most Ponies didn't like talking to her very much so she often found herself alone. She soon recoiled in fear as she realised where she was - she'd completely zoned out during her self-talk, and found herself deep within Everfree Forest. It was dark, creepy, and best of all in the dead of night her imagination ran amok with speculation of what was currently looking at her. Timberwolves? Creepvines? Manticores?! "OH MY!" She tripped on a branch and fell flat on her face, spitting out a leaf. "Ugh... smooth. You wonder why you weren't allowed to-" Upon looking up she noticed the orange glow from before was right in front of her. It was a collection of burning fires, accompanied by twisted and melted metal. Several of the trees were burning, with a lot more seemingly sliced apart or uprooted from something sharp slamming down onto them at an angle. A clear path of destruction was laid out before her as the soil was upturned and disturbed. She nervously approached the source of the impact as she was too afraid to think. "I could really use that guy right now..." Her voice shivered as she approached a large lump of twisted metal, nearly entirely engulfed in flames. Just as she got close, a figure emerged from the fire, limping. "Blackchurch?" She asked, taking a few more confident steps forward. The figure featured no lights as it shambled towards her, lifting it's right arm and pointing whatever was in it's hand at her. "Iden... identi-" The figure coughed twice, and it's normal voice was nothing like Blackchurch's. "IDENTIFY!" It screamed. Author's Note The title "First Crossing" was actually the working title of Dark Harmony. Yay, inter-universal punnery. DH3: Interrogative"IDENTIFY!" The man's lone word was shaken and injured - he could barely keep his arm aloft. The fires around him meant only his silhouette was visible, and unlike Blackchurch there were no lights on his body. He coughed again, before a click came from whatever was in his hand. He dropped to his knees, sounding like he was choking, before falling limp onto the floor. Dilly was paralysed. "I- wha- who- why-..." Her mind was completely fried by what she'd experienced, but her trance was broken when a hand suddenly tapped her back. "AGH!" She screamed. "Shh, it's me!" Blackchurch was there behind her. He ran up to the man on the floor, flipping him onto his back and checking for life signals. After a few seconds, he gently shook his head and patted the man on the chest. "Bollocks." Blackchurch stood up and walked back to Dilly. "Alone." "W-what?" Dilly was still a little scared. "I'm alone. The entire crew is dead. So I'm stuck God-knows-where with no way out, all on my own." "Hey, you're not alone. I'm here." He looked her in the eye through his helmet. "If you- if you need help..." "Well I'd appreciate a hand-" He tapped her front left leg gently. "-or a hoof." A twig snapped behind them, startling the pair. "Hey!" A new, female voice rang out. "You there, civilian!" A Pony wearing golden armour walked towards Dilly Dally, flanked by six other Ponies in the same attire. "What's your name?" The speaker confidently approached the terrified Unicorn, as if there wasn't a figure standing next to- oh, right. "Uh... I'm Dilly Dally." She played it off best she could, though her voice was shaky. "Where you from?" The questioner was almost ordering her around as her five cronies, recognisable as Celestia's Royal Guards, investigated the burning wreck. "Dodge City. I'm from Dodge City." She took a deep breath, gaining back her composure. "You see what happened here?" Her four compatriots scanned the wreck vigorously, with one of them examining the body that had just threatened Dilly. "N-no! No, I just came out for a walk and found it here." "You came out for a walk into the middle of Everfree Forest, despite the dangers, chasing a smoke cloud?" One of the other three guards looked at Dilly in suspicion. "I... yeah? I mean, it looked cool, so- well it's fire so it- it looked hot, not cool, and- uh...?" The other two guards were both looking at her now. "We're looking for something that came out of the wreck, have you seen it?" "No, I haven't seen him." There were seconds of silence. "...Him?" The silence extended as Dilly's heart seemed to stop. *BANG! BANG BANG!* Three loud noises broke the silence as the guards flopped to the ground, as if thrown down by a sharp force to their heads. Dilly still couldn't move but was reassured when Blackchurch emerged from the shadows with a small metal object in his hand. He took the middle part out of it, slid three little metal objects into three empty holes in it, and put it back into the original object before putting it in one of his many pockets. "I should save those, really, but hey you needed help." He spoke casually, but Dilly was staring at the bodies on the ground. "...Are they... are they..." She couldn't finish. "Dead as a doorknob." Blackchurch's voice was confident, and a little proud. "Sloppy though. Got 4 in quiet, then the last three went loud." "You killed them?! All of them?!" "Yeah." "How could you do that?!" "With these." He pulled out the original metal object, as well as what was distinctly a knife, albeit a very strange and large one. "Don't always use 'em, but they make it easy." "WHY?!" She screamed out, on the verge of tears. "...To save you, thought it was obvious." "You..." She backed away from him. "You're a MONSTER!" "You what? I just SAVED your stupid arse!" His shouting was louder than hers as he pointed to the ground. "Maybe I shouldn't've bloody bothered!" He put the metal objects back in their holders. "Stay away from me!" She ran off into the forest. "Oh don't worry, you'll never see me again!" His words vanished into the night as she ran, but they echoed in her head. She knew he could vanish in the blink of an eye, and he's willing to kill to keep his presence quiet... but she couldn't think about it that much, due to her perceived friend turning out to be a bloodthirsty monstrosity and the tears streaming down her face obscuring her vision as she ran blindly through the dark forest, not even sure if she was heading in the right direction. The forest seemed to stretch forever now, and before long she grew too tired to run any further. She fell to the ground, crying to herself as she curled up on her side. Through a gap in the trees, she saw a white light shoot up into the sky before bursting into a technicolour pulse that lit the entire skyline for a few seconds. "It begins." A voice came from the darkness. It spoke similarly to Blackchurch but was definitely not the same guy - Dilly looked around frantically but didn't see the unmistakable outline she was looking for. After turning her head many times, she finally saw a Unicorn's silhouette right in front of her. It's horn flashed yellow and everything went dark. "And soon, it'll end."
DH1: Shooting Star"But I-!" "OUT!" The door slammed hard enough to wake the entire town, having followed a shriek that could do the same. Dilly was left standing in the dark street alone, covered in splattered cake as a candle was stuck to her neck. She hung her head and walked home in her ruined clown attire - another party wrecked by her incompetence. Still... what else was there? Same old, same old; open the door, kick off her clothes, go into the bathroom and wash the splattered cakes and treats off of her face. To think, she wanted to be a nurse when she was just a filly. She used her pink Magic to clean herself up before going to the window - it was a beautiful night with a gorgeous view of the ocean. The moon shone brightly over the dark and calm seas, almost perfectly aligned in the outcroppings of Horseshoe Bay... almost - and that bothered her. Would it really kill them to move the Bay just a bit to the left so it lined up? Regardless, she loved to look up at the moon in the middle of the night... it made her wonder, what else was out there? Beyond the moon? Beyond the stars? Beyond even them? She'd likely never know, but you can't stop a mare from dreaming. Suddenly she noticed something odd in the sky. An orange light flickered high above, again almost in line with the Bay's piers. "A shooting star!" She gleefully told herself. She clamped her eyes shut. "I wish I-... I wish... I..." She opened her eyes, letting her excited smile droop into a bored frown. "...I wish something would happen." CRASH! Splintered wood flew across the room as something fell through her roof - landing on (and completely destroying) her bed. Dilly was frozen with fear and considered how lucky she was that none of those bits of wood hit her. Though she did lament at her loss of a bed... before realising what took it's place. She saw something there - it was big. It was dark, but some areas looked burnt and charred. Faint red lights were speckled on certain parts of it, including a large T-shaped light on the small protrusion. The lights flickered in a pattern. .-- / .. / .- "What... the..." Dilly finally got the words out before- "Fuck-!" The thing let out it's own word and twitched, terrifying Dilly as she bolted for the nearest cover - whacking her head on the cupboard in the process. Just as soon as it had made the noise, it went limp again. The lights continued their pattern as the thing seemed motionless, prompting Dilly to reluctantly leave her hiding spot and steadily approach it. It seemed to be breathing, and some of the digits on the ends of what Dilly assumed to be limbs were twitching ever so slightly. "Uh... hello?" Dilly tried to talk to it, but it seemed unresponsive. Without warning, a very distant "boom" noise rung through the town, breaking the still of the night. It caught Dilly off-guard but she was soon swept up by something else she noticed on the figure - the red T-shaped light had a gap in it and something inside it was moving. She used her Magic to pry it open gently, making it let out an aggressive beep as it opened entirely. She saw it unabated - a sheet-white face, eyes shut, mouth agape, and jet black hair barely visible near the top of the head. Her old medical training instincts kicked in. As she climbed closer to check for a pulse, the eyes surged open. Two bright red irises stared into her very soul, before the entire figure sprang up and grabbed her by her neck, pinning her to the wall. "Identify yourself!" The figure stated. "I-!" Dilly panicked. "IDENTIFY!" The figure reached for something on it's hip, but looked alarmed when it found nothing. "Shit- where are we?! TALK!" It's yelling into her face made her start to cry. "DILLY DALLY! DILLY DALLY! MY NAME'S DILLY DALLY PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" It clamped its thing over her mouth, shutting her up, and looked puzzled. "Kinda name's Dilly Dally? In fact, what the bloody hell are you?" It gently released it's grip, allowing her to speak as tears ran down her face. She sniffled before stating; "I'm- I'm a Unicorn... don't you know that?" She also looked at it, confused, gesturing towards her own pink horn atop her head. "Unicorn? How the hell we end up in Scotland? No no, can't be, too far north..." The creature spoke to itself, letting her go as she dropped to the floor. "Where are we?" It was much more gentle now, seemingly pondering to itself. "Uh... Dodge." She took some deep breaths to recover from the choking, as well as wiping away her tears with her hoof. "Dodge. Not heard of that one. What country?" "I-" "Or nation, province, state..." The last word piqued her interest. "State - it's Dodge City-State. Probably the most boring in Equestria." "Equestria... more weird names." The creature looked up at the hole it had caused in the ceiling. "Eesh. Sorry 'bout the roof." It's sudden casual demeanour only put Dilly on edge. All of a sudden, it seemed as though an idea popped into it's head. "The plane." It looked into her eyes. "The plane - where did it go? Did it crash?" "The- the what? A plain? There's a few plains around Equestria-" "No no smartarse, not plain like a field, plane like in aeroplane. Big thing, made of metal, in the air, probably on fire." It put it's limbs out to simulate wings, but they didn't flap. "Oh, the shooting star?" "Probably resembled one." "It went right over here, kept going We- no, East... no wait, yeah West. It went West." "...Make hell of a spotter, you would." It seemed... insincere. "Well... I have trouble with directions sometimes. And a few other things... my sisters call me clumsy." "Clumsy one didn't just fall through a roof." It again looked up at the hole it made. Silence followed... "Hey, uh... what was your name?" "Blackchurch. Captain Connor Warwick Blackchurch." "Captain? Do you have a boat?" "No - never could join the Navy. I get seasick. Can you believe it - a Briton with no sealegs... s'heresy, s'what it is." Blackchurch walked around a bit, seemingly ignoring the fact that he had just fallen through a roof and should probably see to his legs about being broken. "Are you... are you okay? You know, cause, you did just-" "I'm fine, we're built tough." He walked over to the windowsill and looked out over the ocean. "Strange." "What is?" She joined him there, trotting over. "Sea's dark, but blue. And the sky's much the same. Where's that red tinge in the air, or the green water? No smog, no flares, hell not even a cloud. We either went way off course and found Oz, or Dorothy here hit her head real bloody hard on the fuselage." Black tapped his own head twice, causing his helmet to snap back shut. He looked over his entire body, making sure everything was still attached and not too badly burnt. The flickering lights had stopped, now a solid stoic red. He looked back out of the window to the streets below, seeming more Ponies of all three races out and about, disturbed by the shockwave he'd slept through. "What are you doing here, anyway?" Dilly asked. "Good question."
DH2: First Crossing"I need to find the wreck - there could be survivors." "There are more of you?" "Well ye- actually, lemme get one thing clear real quick. Me, this me, the me standing before you? That's me, and that's the only me. But there are other men out there, think about... what was it, six? Pilot, co-pilot, crew attendee, two Commandos... so six including me." "I... don't understand any of those words." "Thankfully you don't need to - you just need to know there are blokes out there that could do with more of a hand than me. They weren't quite built the same." "Built?" "Figure of speech, I ain't a mech." Blackchurch walked over to the door, which was too low for him to walk through so he had to crouch down. "Wait!" Dilly ran up and stopped him. "You can't go out there, the entire town's outside!" "Take it my physique ain't exactly common, huh?" He took his hand off the door and relaxed in a crouching state, finally making him eye-level with her. "Well, no. There's not too many ten-foot things in black clothes with red lights walking around." "Oi," He pointed at her face. "First off ya cheeky git, I'm not 10 foot. I'm 6" 7', cheers. Second, I ain't no thing, I'm a proud Briton. If anything's a thing, you're it, short-arse." He stopped pointing. "Hey- I'm only-!" Her voice lowered. "...Just about 3" 5'... actually... pretty small for my kind..." She looked down, saddened by her lack of verticality. He put his hand on her shoulder and looked into her eyes through his helmet. "Don't need to be tall to be good, love." He took his hand down. "Knew a guy in Dover, shortest of our lot at a measly 5" 2'. Didn't stop 'im from being a bleedin' terror for the bad guys, lemme tell you." He shook his head with a chuckle. "Now, I got a plane to catch." He opened the door with his hand, and immediately a Pony was standing there. "Dilly Dally, have you heard the news?!" The mare's voice was worried and rushed. Dilly's heart stopped for a second as the game was surely up, there's no way she didn't see... "I- I! Raspberry Ripple I can explain! This isn't what-!" Dilly looked at where Blackchurch was, but there was nothing. No sign of him. She looked around the room frantically. "What it looks... like?" "What are you talking about, Princess Celestia is missing and Nightmare Moon has returned!" The Pony's face was one of near-sheer terror, her voice quaking with uneasiness. "I... wait, WHAT?!" Dilly's own voice picked up. "Yeah! She was meant to appear in Ponyville to address the crowd but she didn't arrive and Nightmare Moon was standing there, she said the night would last forever!" Over the Pony's head, Dilly Dally could see black smoke rising from Everfree Forest and an orange glow at it's base. "What are we gonna do?!" "I don't know, I'm just a clown!" Both Ponies froze with fear as their imaginations ran wild with what might happen, before Raspberry simply screamed and ran away in a panic. Dilly was about to do the same when she felt her mouth being forced shut by something, as if something was wrapped around her muzzle. "No more screaming, I'm done with loud noises tonight." Blackchurch's voice was heard seemingly from nowhere. "Hmmph rmrhgh?" Dilly couldn't speak, but after she tried to Blackchurch seemingly blinked back into existence, right where he had been when the door opened, accompanied by an audible humming noise. He let his hand down. "What happened to you?!" She asked, still a bit terrified by what she'd learned. "Emergency Cloak. Useful to prevent discovery, but it doesn't last forever. Damn near burnt out the battery cause you wouldn't shut your gob." "Hey-!" She took a second to recuperate her thoughts. "You're right... sorry." "Eh, it's nuffin'." He looked out of the door and saw the smoke column. "There. S'no mistakin' it - that's a B115 down an' out. If I've any friends around 'ere, they're there." He gazed out on the street, seeing all sorts of Ponies running around like headless chickens. "I see you lot are strong-willed." His voice had a tinge of cynicism. "Still, I need to reach that wreck. And if just hearing about something going wrong puts you in that big a rut, I can't imagine what seeing me'll do to 'em. I don't wanna draw attention so I'll take the rooftops." "You can fly?" "What? Nah, I've got strong legs. If you wanna tag along I suggest actin' casual on the street and makin' your way to that big fuck-off plume'o'smoke." Blackchurch flickered out of existence again and, once more, Dilly Dally was alone. She could just about see dust being kicked up from where he stepped, and could hear his footprints for just a few seconds before they were drowned out by the terrified yelling of the restless crowd. "Well... I did wish for something to happen. I guess it came true." Dilly cautiously left her house, closing the door and making her way towards the big column of black smoke rising high into the night sky. Despite the darkness, it was easy to spot. It's not often a smoke cloud can be ignored in Equestria. She deftly avoided being trampled by the rioting crowds, making her way out of the town and across a big plain field. Despite how open it was, she found no sign of Blackchurch. Still, he'd said where he was going and that's where she was heading. "You know, being invisible isn't very helpful when you ask somepony to follow you... or maybe he's just super fast." She talked to herself, as she often did, as most Ponies didn't like talking to her very much so she often found herself alone. She soon recoiled in fear as she realised where she was - she'd completely zoned out during her self-talk, and found herself deep within Everfree Forest. It was dark, creepy, and best of all in the dead of night her imagination ran amok with speculation of what was currently looking at her. Timberwolves? Creepvines? Manticores?! "OH MY!" She tripped on a branch and fell flat on her face, spitting out a leaf. "Ugh... smooth. You wonder why you weren't allowed to-" Upon looking up she noticed the orange glow from before was right in front of her. It was a collection of burning fires, accompanied by twisted and melted metal. Several of the trees were burning, with a lot more seemingly sliced apart or uprooted from something sharp slamming down onto them at an angle. A clear path of destruction was laid out before her as the soil was upturned and disturbed. She nervously approached the source of the impact as she was too afraid to think. "I could really use that guy right now..." Her voice shivered as she approached a large lump of twisted metal, nearly entirely engulfed in flames. Just as she got close, a figure emerged from the fire, limping. "Blackchurch?" She asked, taking a few more confident steps forward. The figure featured no lights as it shambled towards her, lifting it's right arm and pointing whatever was in it's hand at her. "Iden... identi-" The figure coughed twice, and it's normal voice was nothing like Blackchurch's. "IDENTIFY!" It screamed. Author's Note The title "First Crossing" was actually the working title of Dark Harmony. Yay, inter-universal punnery.
DH3: Interrogative"IDENTIFY!" The man's lone word was shaken and injured - he could barely keep his arm aloft. The fires around him meant only his silhouette was visible, and unlike Blackchurch there were no lights on his body. He coughed again, before a click came from whatever was in his hand. He dropped to his knees, sounding like he was choking, before falling limp onto the floor. Dilly was paralysed. "I- wha- who- why-..." Her mind was completely fried by what she'd experienced, but her trance was broken when a hand suddenly tapped her back. "AGH!" She screamed. "Shh, it's me!" Blackchurch was there behind her. He ran up to the man on the floor, flipping him onto his back and checking for life signals. After a few seconds, he gently shook his head and patted the man on the chest. "Bollocks." Blackchurch stood up and walked back to Dilly. "Alone." "W-what?" Dilly was still a little scared. "I'm alone. The entire crew is dead. So I'm stuck God-knows-where with no way out, all on my own." "Hey, you're not alone. I'm here." He looked her in the eye through his helmet. "If you- if you need help..." "Well I'd appreciate a hand-" He tapped her front left leg gently. "-or a hoof." A twig snapped behind them, startling the pair. "Hey!" A new, female voice rang out. "You there, civilian!" A Pony wearing golden armour walked towards Dilly Dally, flanked by six other Ponies in the same attire. "What's your name?" The speaker confidently approached the terrified Unicorn, as if there wasn't a figure standing next to- oh, right. "Uh... I'm Dilly Dally." She played it off best she could, though her voice was shaky. "Where you from?" The questioner was almost ordering her around as her five cronies, recognisable as Celestia's Royal Guards, investigated the burning wreck. "Dodge City. I'm from Dodge City." She took a deep breath, gaining back her composure. "You see what happened here?" Her four compatriots scanned the wreck vigorously, with one of them examining the body that had just threatened Dilly. "N-no! No, I just came out for a walk and found it here." "You came out for a walk into the middle of Everfree Forest, despite the dangers, chasing a smoke cloud?" One of the other three guards looked at Dilly in suspicion. "I... yeah? I mean, it looked cool, so- well it's fire so it- it looked hot, not cool, and- uh...?" The other two guards were both looking at her now. "We're looking for something that came out of the wreck, have you seen it?" "No, I haven't seen him." There were seconds of silence. "...Him?" The silence extended as Dilly's heart seemed to stop. *BANG! BANG BANG!* Three loud noises broke the silence as the guards flopped to the ground, as if thrown down by a sharp force to their heads. Dilly still couldn't move but was reassured when Blackchurch emerged from the shadows with a small metal object in his hand. He took the middle part out of it, slid three little metal objects into three empty holes in it, and put it back into the original object before putting it in one of his many pockets. "I should save those, really, but hey you needed help." He spoke casually, but Dilly was staring at the bodies on the ground. "...Are they... are they..." She couldn't finish. "Dead as a doorknob." Blackchurch's voice was confident, and a little proud. "Sloppy though. Got 4 in quiet, then the last three went loud." "You killed them?! All of them?!" "Yeah." "How could you do that?!" "With these." He pulled out the original metal object, as well as what was distinctly a knife, albeit a very strange and large one. "Don't always use 'em, but they make it easy." "WHY?!" She screamed out, on the verge of tears. "...To save you, thought it was obvious." "You..." She backed away from him. "You're a MONSTER!" "You what? I just SAVED your stupid arse!" His shouting was louder than hers as he pointed to the ground. "Maybe I shouldn't've bloody bothered!" He put the metal objects back in their holders. "Stay away from me!" She ran off into the forest. "Oh don't worry, you'll never see me again!" His words vanished into the night as she ran, but they echoed in her head. She knew he could vanish in the blink of an eye, and he's willing to kill to keep his presence quiet... but she couldn't think about it that much, due to her perceived friend turning out to be a bloodthirsty monstrosity and the tears streaming down her face obscuring her vision as she ran blindly through the dark forest, not even sure if she was heading in the right direction. The forest seemed to stretch forever now, and before long she grew too tired to run any further. She fell to the ground, crying to herself as she curled up on her side. Through a gap in the trees, she saw a white light shoot up into the sky before bursting into a technicolour pulse that lit the entire skyline for a few seconds. "It begins." A voice came from the darkness. It spoke similarly to Blackchurch but was definitely not the same guy - Dilly looked around frantically but didn't see the unmistakable outline she was looking for. After turning her head many times, she finally saw a Unicorn's silhouette right in front of her. It's horn flashed yellow and everything went dark. "And soon, it'll end."
