As Alan walked along the path he sighed, having gathered his thoughts. He didn't know how or why he was in this world, different yet so nearly identical to the Equestria he had visited before. It might have had something to do with his lack of scene-setting before inserting himself into it, but his gut said no. It was almost certainly a trap laid by Mr. ****, but as little detail as he had gone into, he had still written himself into the story in pursuit of his psychotic doppelganger. Mr. **** was here somewhere, and it was only a matter of time before he made his move. That was why Alan had written himself to appear in the middle of the day, to give himself a few precious hours of preparation before nightfall.
Looking back over his shoulder at Nyx, he said, "Look, I'm... I'm sorry I freaked you out with all those things I said. I was confused, and I got you mixed up with someone I knew before, so I can't blame you for thinking I'm crazy. I need you to believe me about this, though. There's a man... er... pony named Mr. ****, and he may be the most dangerous thing you've ever seen."
"Oh yeah?" Nyx raised a skeptical eyebrow, having faced Scorpios, Hydras, and a Lupus Major. And for a time, she'd been the most dangerous thing she'd ever seen. Plus, she had doubts that this Mr. **** even existed, no matter what Alan did to cause that bizarre scratching sound in her brain whenever he said that name.
Dead serious, he stopped in the path and turned around to firmly state, "I mean it, Nyx. The whole reason I'm here is to stop him before he does irreparable harm to this place. He's a creature of pure--" Alan stopped in mid-sentence as the light of day grew dim. And though it could have just been a cloud passing by overhead, he looked over his shoulder at the sky only to have his worst fear realized. "--Darkness..." Where the sun had been high in the sky just minutes ago, it was now setting already.
"Dammit, NO!" he cried up at the sky. Likewise, Nyx's turquoise eyes went wide with surprise and worry. She knew that she wasn't causing the premature sunset, so why would Celestia and/or Luna do so? Alan slapped against his forehead and began berating himself again. "Stupid... STUPID! Why did I do that?! I should have known trying to give too much information too early would trigger this!"
Before he could say anything else, Nyx pushed him down onto the dirt road and pinned him down with her forelegs. "What do you mean?! Do you know what's causing this?" she asked with an accusing glare.
"It's... it's Mr. ****! It has to be, he's making his move earlier than I expected! I thought that I might be able to get here early enough to warn princess Celestia not to let the sun set, but that just made the darkness act sooner. Mr. **** must have caught the princesses off guard somehow, and now he's bringing the night." He pointed a hoof toward the rapidly dwindling golden rays of sunset. "Once it's dark, every pony that isn't in the light is going to be in danger! We have to get to Ponyville NOW!"
Nyx's heart and mind raced. She wanted to think that Alan was just crazy, considering how much he'd gotten wrong about her, but the simple fact was that the night shouldn't be falling so soon. And he sounded so certain and urgent that something horrible was going to happen, she couldn't help but start to grow fearful over what might happen to her friends and neighbors if, Celestia forbid, he was actually on to something.
"Fine," she said, getting off of him. She then flipped the flashlight on with her magic and levitated it to him before pulling him up onto her back. He was heavy, but she was strong enough to carry a passenger as she spread her wings and launched herself down the path.
he last bit of sunlight vanished over the horizon, and Nyx felt a chill as it felt like a wave of darkness rolled over the land like a dark wave. It wasn't just the absence of light, but rather something like a cold, oppressive fog that dimmed even the light of Luna's moon and stars. With Alan pointing the flashlight in front of her and her intimate knowledge of the path, though, she was able to twist and bank her way down the road.
When the edge of Ponyville started to come into view, Nyx noticed that there was virtually no activity along the road like there should have been for that time of day. Even with the premature night, there should have been a few ponies caught out in it, still making their way home. Vague worry started to settle like a cold stone in the pit of her stomach as she wondered what had happened.
Alan had a far more concrete, and vastly more terrifying idea of what may have occurred, though he tried to hold onto some hope that it hadn't progressed that far yet. He panned the flashlight around from side to side, scanning the path until the beam fell upon a pony-shaped figure moving through the darkness. Nyx saw it too and banked toward the shape before he could warn her of the potential danger. Within moments, they were close enough for him to identify it as...
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