My Little Pony: Dark Harmony

"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."