//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Harbinger of the Apocalypse // by Lord Midnight //------------------------------// Prologue Cast Out It’s night and a unicorn stands in what used to be a shop, his magic a whirlwind of purple aura and all manner of stuff flying into boxes. He’s wearing an old tattered black cloak with gems and gold wires on it; hood down, to let his red-streaked mane fall free. The cloth hides his pitch black coat. A teal earth pony with a caramel mane appears in the doorway. “Harbinger, you are not welcome here anymore." Without looking away from his packing, the dark unicorn states in a flat inflectionless voice. “Really? Here I was packing as fast as possible so I could move into the mayor’s place.” This seems to enrage the mare, and she seems to have fear, hatred, and anger in her eyes. "I knew you were after my job! I knew that was your plan. We know all about your black magic, and we all know what your plans for the world are. Autumn told us all about it. You even made a manticore attack her just so you could try and convince everypony that you were a good pony. Your nefarious plans to become mayor and rule us will not succeed, nor will your plans to control us and take the earth pony way from us. We know all about the evils of your so called arcano-tech inventions. You want to make everypony lazy and under your complete control." The whirlwind of magic comes to a halt as the last item, a weird glowing crystal attached to a metal shaft, hooks into a slot in the harness Harbinger is wearing. “Seriously, somepony needs to teach you sarcasm. Look, I’m moving on. I’ll find a new place to live. Don't get all stupid and try and stop me from leaving. I get it, you’re all a bunch of idiots who can't even acknowledge somepony, who's been trying to help them for almost a year, enough to at least listen to his side of a story. I tried to explain, but still nopony wanted to listen; so I'll go. I'm used to this. Every town is the same, and nopony ever changes. Anypony who is different than them, anything you don't understand, you hate and fear. Which, considering how stupid the lot of you are, it's surprising you're not afraid of everything. Have a happy life with your town full of idiots.” Anger creeps into his voice now, as a black aura begins to leak from his body, and swirls around him. “And tell your precious filly, Autumn that Harbinger says that she’s welcome for me saving her life, and thanks her for being such a good friend.” The aura flaring for a moment as he spat out the last two words, like there was poison on his tongue. “It admits it's not a pony! See everypony? It's a monster come to conquer our town! It’s pretending to help us so it can fatten us up to eat us!" A voice from outside calls to the crowd. "It's gonna escape and bring havoc somewhere else if we can’t stop it for good." Another voice from the crowd. His voice losing his wrath, Harbinger regards the teal pony once more, “Dangit Gratso, you distracted me. I wanted to be long gone before the mob showed up. I wonder if they went all out with the pitchforks and torches this time.” The lighthearted words didn't match his flat tired voice, as the black aura disappeared. With that, the dark unicorn strides outside to face the crowd between him and his wagon. They were, in fact, armed with pitchforks and torches. Several of them are holding their weapon as if they plan on throwing it. Sighing, Harbinger looks upon the crowd, "Any chance of somepony in there actually listening to my side of the story?" “Die demon!” A torch flung at him through the air. A flash of magic from his horn and all the fires go out. This time his voice ignites in pure rage as his emerald eyes flash. "Hey idiots, if you live in a wood house don't throw fire! This is ridiculous. I'm leaving town peacefully, and I've done nothing wrong! Why does everypony have to be so... SO. SO FUCKING VILE!" The black aura bursts and his eyes change to grey as the black light connects to his horn and he begins the spell, lashing out at all the ponies who had thought to destroy themselves trying to stop him. The wind created by it lifts his hood and reveals the horrors on his flanks that somepony, who he had believed to be his friend, had seen. His cutie marks depict him with batwings and a crown of fire ruling Equestria from a throne of pony bones, with the princesses chained to it and a black crystal embedded into their horns. In the background, a black dragon flying in the sky, bellowing flames on the world below. The marks were ringed with strange acid green symbols that seemed to pulse with evil. A groan from somepony in the crowd assures Harbinger that he hasn't gone too far as he returns to normal and begins loading his few boxes of possessions onto his cart. He hooks himself to it, and as he leaves he turns to the crowd rising to its hooves unsteadily. Harbinger calls out a parting remark filled with finality to everypony behind him. “Cutiemarks don't matter.” "The Bearers of Harmony will stop you, monster, why don't you make it easier and just go to Ponyville and face them!" The black unicorn stops for a moment in consideration, nods, and continues on his way. "Ponyville, huh? Not a bad idea."