When the dark dragon woke up from his slumber the sun already got pretty up in the sky. He didn’t remembered what he had saw in his dreams because of how chaotic it were, but he could swear that he had saw a baby alicorn female looking disgustingly cute and adorable with gigantic wings. That view made him almost puke. Shaking off those thoughts he got up, noticing right away that a certain raven wasn’t in the nearby. And just as the thought crossed his mind Ezio appeared in a cloud of black smoke.
“Where have you been today you sack of feathers?” asked Noir with is typical gruffness. The raven refused to answer, cawing what sounded like “mind your own business”. “Sorry but my curiosity needs to be fulfilled” and with that said he used his powers to see in Ezio mind, ignoring the loud objections of the raven. What the dark dragon saw surprised him, for then cracking down smiling and laughing at the angry bird. Apparently when he was busy kicking some flank and show Luna the heart of darkness yesterday Ezio flew back to palace in an attempt to find something entertaining and there, in one of the private chambers of Princess Celestia he meet up with the ruler pet, Philomena, a phoenix. The phoenix looked very different than the ones back in his world: smaller, incapable to talk and of course much less powerful. Ezio got a crush on her and tried to court her, making a fool of himself. “That’s too rich!” claimed Noir, between his fits of laughs, “I never thought you would fall for something as silly as for love at first sight, even less with a creature of light like a phoenix!”. Ezio cawed in anger, offended for being mocked and for the lack of respect for his privacy. Despite laughing at that view Noir was intrigued by the fact that he wasn’t alone to have a crush on a creature of light. Of course he wouldn’t ever admit it to anyone, even less that dust collector that was Ezio. After a minute of snicker the dark dragon finally stop poking fun to the bird, “Fine. I would say we have been fooling around for long enough. Time to go and meet again those Mane 6”. With that said he opened his wings and flew in the sky, followed by the raven.
“Well, I’ve got to say, whoever come up with the name of this town is either lazy or a genius” commented Noir while standing at the entrance of the village. For the occasion he decided to assume the pony form to avoid scare the population and surprise those ponies away. While walking around town he got nearby a small building and noticed that few dozens of meters away there was some movements and shout. The origin of the noise were five fillies that he had already saw in the dark files. The pink one with the tiara was Diamond Tiara while they one was Silver Spoon. The two were tormenting the other three fillies, Apple Bloom (Or AppleBloom? I never remember how is supposed to be written!), Scotaloo and Sweetie Bell. Typical. Cliché someone else would say.
“…blank flank!” finished the bratty bully.
“Are you seriously accusing us for what happened to the Equestria Games?” questioned annoyed more than anything Sweetie Bell.
“Of course you did! You blank flanks jinx everypony anywhere!” added Silver Spoon.
“You realize how absurd that sound, do you” asked Noir, who had got closer to the group in silence.
“And who are you supposed to be?” asked irritated the pink filly, while the CMC stared at the black pony with surprised eyes.
“Somepony who has the same passion as you two, in a way” said Noir, “Although instead of bullying innocent fillies who only fault is to be without a… cutie mark, mine is taking such bullies and make them cry like the pathetic trash that they are” this last words were followed by him grinning at the two brats.
“How dare you say that to me!” screamed in anger DT, “You don’t know who my father is and what is his occupation!”.
Noir kept a innocent smile on his face, not even the slightest bit scared by the words of the brat, “Oh, please, do go on”.
“My father is Filthy Rich, one of the richest ponies in Equestria! He has friends in the high places in Canterlot, Fillydelphia and Manehattan! If you” and then, after noticing the raven standing on his back, “Or that stupid bird of yours would dare insult me in any way or form you will regret it for the rest of your life!”.
“That sounds disappointing” commented the dragon in disguise, “I was hoping for your father to be somewhat of a challenge, but it’s just as dangerous to me as a piece of rock is dangerous to the universe”.
“How dare you say that!? Who do you think you are?!” shouted Diamond Tiara, while both the CMC and Silver Spoon were in lack of words for what the mysterious unicorn said, disrespecting someone as Filthy Rich.
“Tough question” huffed ironically the dragon in disguise, “Maybe I dare because I’m a dragon. Or because I’ve defeated your powerful leader and the power of Harmony as if they were nothing”. As he said those words he started do unmade the spell slowly, “And for who I think I am allow me to present myself: I’m Noir, the Avatar of Darkness!”. And with that loud words the spell vanished, revealing his true giant dragon form, making the already small fillies look almost like ants in comparison.
Sweetie Bell, Scotaloo, Apple Bloom, Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara cried in panic and while the first three stood still frozen in fear the bullies tried to run, only to be grabbed by the tails and brought up in front of the eye of the dragon, “Now please don’t let this pointless fact stop you from telling what happened to your father. I can’t wait to meet him and have a talk with him!” said Noir, while smiling like a lunatic, his eyes gleaming in a way that made felt her very soul freeze in terror. With that said the dragon left the two go on the ground more softly than he liked and, as soon the terrified fillies touched earth, they run away screaming in fright, making the dragon laugh sinisterly. Even Ezio cawed what sounded like a laugh at that scene. “Amusing, isn’t it?” asked to the other fillies. But the CMC weren’t there, instead were running far away from him in the opposite direction of Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara, shouting in panic. “Maybe” muttered the dragon, slowly, as if he had just realized something, “I should’ve waited before to show my true form”. Ezio couldn’t express with words, but his caw sounded awfully like “Gee, you think?”.
***
Applejack kicked the tree, making the apples fall in the casket lying under it. An action that, for how much repetitive, she missed in the latest months. Since when she and her friends defeated Tirek and find out their objective to spread friendship all over Equestria she didn’t had that much time to spend in the farm, with her sister, brother, and grandma. She missed the times where life was much simpler, without shadowy tyrants, centaurs and stuff like that. Sure, she loved to defend Equestria from the forces of evil and she was, in fact, part of the elements of Harmony, but this things were happening way too much often and she started to feel more like a soldier than somepony who wanted to spread friendship. And then, yesterday, this dark dragon comes out of nowhere, took her and her friends down with Celestia without breaking a sweat. Even now she couldn’t help but wonder where that Noir was and what to think of him. Was he threat? Or an ally? And then there was the fact that Discord told them that he came from another world or even a complete different universe. Applejack was sure that even the others were thinking about him. And she was even more sure that Twilight got the most shocked and intrigued about him. So much that for all the travel back to home she summered up all the possible questions and theories about what they had just witnessed. The Element of honesty hoped that her friend managed to get a hold of her curiosity and take some sleep.
Applejack got distracted when she heard the sound of yelling coming from the distance and getting more and more closer at each second. Before she could do anything she got tackled to the ground by none other than her sister Apple Bloom, Scotaloo and Sweetie Bell. The three fillies seemed quite in panic, speaking all together in an incomprehensible gibberish. Even though she could have swore that she heard the word dragon in it.
“Whoa calm down you three!” she said managing to get on her hooves and getting an hold of the CMC. After she got sure they calmed down a little she spoke again, “So, what in the tarn nation is going on here? Why are you scared?”.
“We… we were coming back home when we crossed paths with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, who, as usual, tried to feel bad for our lack of Cutie Mark” Apple Bloom explained. Applejack sighed. When those two fillies would have stopped being bullies, she asked herself. “Then, suddenly, a mysterious unicorn appeared and started pocking fun to Diamond Tiara and when this last one tried to menace him he turned into a dark dragon!”.
“A… dark dragon?”.
“Yeah. Not enormous, but still big enough to make us look like bugs!” added Scotaloo, almost shouting.
“Do you know him?” asked Sweetie Bell, who noticed Applejack expression.
“In a way yes. He’s not dangerous” said the Element of Harmony, trying to calm down the young ones. Or at least I hope he isn’t, she thought, “Now why don’t you go into your club-house and relax. I have to talk to Twilight”. With that said she trotted off at good pace.
***
Twilight Sparkle groaned in frustration. Since she and her friends returned to Ponyville the lilac alicorn had spent rest of the day searching in the books. And today, after a very short rest, she went back in her research to find any possible clue and information about any kind of Avatars of Darkness and dragons in her library. Hours and hours went on without finding anything that may help her satisfy the curiosity that was devouring her from the clash with Noir. “It’s pointless” she muttered, “There are already way too much little know about dragons. No way I will find something in here” after a short sigh of defeat she continued, “I hope I will find something on the books about the theories about the multi-verse. Spike can you hand me the books in the section of “beyond our universe”, please?” she asked kindly to the young dragon.
“Ok, but after you’re done reading that you should go out and take a breath of fresh air. And a rest. And eat something. You know what? Why don’t you just quit for today? You’re just going to get an headache if you go on like this” said Spike, worried.
“I appreciate your care, Spike, but I can’t help it. When there is something unknown I feel it deserve more attention. And that dark dragon sure is something that must not be ignored”.
“Aw, how nice to know you couldn’t help but thinking to me” said a voice that echoed through the room, “I would have never expected that my good looks would work so well with a winged, horned horse”.
Twilight turned her head to the left and to the right, trying to find the source of the noise. The she noticed Spike watching her with his eyes wide open and clearly scared off his scales. “Spike? What’s wrong?” she asked. The young dragon didn’t opened his mouth, but used his claw to point something behind her. Yes, he wasn’t staring at her, but what lied behind her. Slowly, reluctantly the lilac alicorn turned around. Noir stood there, hunched over to fit in the room and was staring at her with a creepy grin.
“Sup, princess”.
Twilight scream could be heard from miles.