"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.