//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: A Deafening Silence // Story: Heart of Raven Black // by Vin Diesels Go-Kart //------------------------------// The wooden cart was traveling much faster now that Trixie was riding it instead of walking alongside it. Surprisingly, they hadn't run across any ponies since heading toward Ponyville. The unicorn was still unsure of whether or not bringing this human to the town was a smart move, though deep down she knew it probably wasn't, but those birds flying above prevented her from taking any direct action against his wishes. Even so, she did work up enough courage to engage in conversation with the man. "So what's your story?" she asked, a little more demanding than she'd intended. At first she thought the human was just going to ignore her, but before long he came around. "My story? Well I suppose all you need to know is that I came here looking for my brother, or in this case, his body." Trixie felt a pang of remorse when he answered. She remembered how casually she had informed the human of his brother's death, granted she wasn't aware of their relationship, but it still made her feel guilty. "So that's the only reason you came to Equestria?" she asked. He glanced at her. "Does a man need anymore motivation than discovering the fate of a missing sibling?" "Well I suppose not." she said, avoiding his eye. "Were you two close?" He looked forward. "Close enough." "And what's your name?" she inquired. "Daniel." he stated flatly. "How did you get here? Was it a spell?" He seemed caught off guard by the question. "How about you answer some of my questions now." he suggested. Trixie was annoyed by his unwillingness to reply to her inquiry, but decided keeping the conversation going was worth a few secrets. "Fine." "Tell me in detail how it came to be that my brother met his end." "Well, Trixie doesn't know many details. Trixie's only heard bits and pieces of the story from various ponies in the towns she's visited; but apparently he protected Ponyville from a bunch of bandits, then he attacked their camp and stopped some giant monster thing, and then he fought off these strange fire demons, and finally he went to some stallion's evil lair and defeated him by sacrificing himself and causing a huge cave-in." she said, almost out of breath by the end. "Humph, that doesn't sound like the Thomas I knew." he scoffed. "The Thomas I knew would have looked for a way back to Columbia, and wouldn't have been afraid to burn down everything in his path to do it. He wouldn't have gone off on some ludicrous quest to save a pathetic settlement." "Well maybe you and your brother weren't 'close enough' after all." she retorted. The Zealot gave her a look, and Trixie instantly regretted saying anything. She had to admit, this human knew how to intimidate. "So, what exactly are we going to do when we get to Ponyville?" she asked again, hoping the conversation had made him a bit more open. Daniel eyed her curiously. "We? There is no we. As soon as we reach this town, we go our separate ways. I'll continue my own investigation, and you can go back to doing whatever it was you were doing before we met." he explained. Trixie became agitated, looking directly at the Zealot. "You think you can just use Trixie as transportation and then toss her away like a used tissue?" she growled. He chuckled. "Your powers of deduction continue to impress." The cart suddenly halted and the blue unicorn stood up. "That's not the way this is going to work. Whether you like it or not, Trixie is part of this now and she refuses to be dismissed simply when she is no longer useful to you." "Listen, I'm....." Daniel started, but was quickly cut off. "You listen, you're the first human to be seen in Equestria since the last human to be seen in Equestria, and if you think for a second that I'm going to walk away from such a rarity, then you must be the biggest fool in both of our worlds." The show mare moved closer to the Zealot, their faces almost touching. She didn't break eye contact with him for a second, thus she didn't notice his hand slowly grab the sword tucked neatly under his robe. His fingers calmly wrapped around the handle, ready to act on a moment's notice. "Understand?" she finished, her eyes narrowing. Daniel stared at her for a moment, surprised by her sudden acquisition of a spine. After a heated stare down, the Crow released his grip from the sheathed weapon and let out a slight laugh. "Have it your way. If you want to be part of this, then be my guest. Just don't hold me responsible for what happens to you." he warned. "Trixie is more than capable of taking care of herself." she assured, closing her eyes and sticking her nose in the air. "Oh yes, you've made that quite evident." the Zealot said sarcastically. Either the sarcasm was too subtle for Trixie to notice or she simply ignored the comment, but her horn lit up and once again the cart began moving. The rest of the ride to Ponyville consisted of several more Q & A's between Trixie and Daniel. She asked about the world he was from, gaining absolutely no ground on that front, and he asked about her world as well. His questions focused more on various locations throughout Equestria, taking particular interest in the Everfree Forest. When Trixie mentioned its strange properties, the Zealot pressed further, wanting to know everything about it. Finally, after reaching the top of a final hill, Ponyville could be seen on the horizon. The town was no Manehatten, but over the years it had developed into a bustling settlement. "So this is the town my brother died for." Daniel muttered in disgust. He was about as happy to see the town as Trixie. After everything that happened with the Alicorn Amulet, this was the last place she wanted to be. Sure Twilight had forgiven her, even if it seemed reluctant, but her friends could make the visit very awkward. Of course, she also had with her a ticking time bomb in the form of a powerful human. She didn't know what to expect from all of it, but taking heed from past experiences, it probably wasn't going to be good. "So what's the game plan?" she asked, wondering if the Crow had thought any of this through. "Well, is there a mayor here, or some kind of elected official?" Trixie couldn't help but giggle a little bit, remembering how she had thrown the mayor into a cage during her temporary rule. "There's a mayor, but you're probably going to want to talk to Twilight if she's in town." the blue unicorn suggested. "Oh, and why's that?" "Well for one, she's a princess." Trixie answered, rolling her eyes. "And another reason might be because she was Thomas' number one friend during his time in Ponyville. She was with him during most of their little adventure, and should be able to answer any questions you have." "Well, if I needed anymore convincing...." Several crows landed on the cart, getting a few suspicious glances from the show mare. "What's the deal with your feathered friends?" she inquired. "What do you mean?" "Well why do they follow you around? More importantly, how did you transform into them?" The Zealot looked away. "It's called a vigor. It allows me to connect with the crows on a level that is almost incomprehensible to most." "I heard your brother had fire abilities. Is that the result of a vigor?" she asked. "That's correct." "So in your world, everyone has a specialized vigor?" Daniel shook his head. "Not exactly. Some people are that way, but there's really no limit to how many vigors one can acquire." "So how many vigors do you use?" she inquired. The Crow hesitated. "At least one." he finally said. Trixie rolled her eyes. "Do you always have to be so cryptic?" "Listen, I'm not here to indulge your curiosity. We aren't pals, so don't get comfortable with the current arrangement." he harshly explained. Trixie grumbled something inaudible to the Zealot as the cart started on the last leg of its journey to Ponyville. Just then, a large raven flew over and promptly landed on Daniel's shoulder. "Are they in position?" he quietly asked. A caw from the raven answered the question. "Good." Trixie looked over at the raven with curiosity, but a glance from the large bird quickly caused her to divert her gaze. And here I thought that the human was intimidating. she thought to herself, unsure of whether or not the raven was still watching her. The unicorn noticed an increase in the crows' presence as they got closer to Ponyville. * * * Twilight flew over the fields of Sweet Apple Acres in a hurry, attempting to locate the owners. When she had gotten back to the library, Spike informed her that Rainbow Dash flew by in a hurry, asking for her help. The pegasus stopped just long enough for Spike to tell her that Twilight wasn't there. Rainbow then told him to tell her to meet up at the farm. Apparently there was a crisis going on. Now the alicorn desperately scanned the fields in hopes of finding the Apple family. "Twilight!" she heard a voice yell. Quickly turning to its source, the princess noticed Applejack and Big Macintosh standing in the south field. "Applejack, what's going on?" she asked, landing next to the two siblings. "These darn birds are sittin in almost every dang tree we own!" the farm pony answered, clearly annoyed. Twilight looked up in the trees and saw numerous crows occupying every tree in sight. "We can't harvest apples when these varmints attack anypony gets too close." she exclaimed, pointing to a gash on her cheek. Twilight gasped. "One of the birds did that?" "Eyup." Big Mac replied, staring the crows down accusingly. "The darn thing nicked me when I bucked one of the trees." Applejack explained. "I sent Rainbow Dash to grab Fluttershy, hopin she could talk to the things, but they haven't come by yet." Twilight looked up at the black creatures sitting in the trees. They all stared back quietly, only a few faint caws escaping their beaks. The alicorn watched in curiosity as one of them quickly flew off, heading toward town. She suddenly felt sick as her breathing quickened and her stomach turned. Something about these crows seemed very wrong. "When did they show up?" she asked fearfully. "Dunno, they were here when Big Mac and I got out here, a little over an hour ago." Applejack replied. "I've just never seen this many birds in one place before. Have you Big Mac?" "Nope." he said, shaking his head. The crows continued to silently stare at the bewildered ponies with eager anticipation, fully aware that things would get much more interesting soon enough.