//------------------------------//
// Secrets Shattered/Friendship Repaired 
// Story: Blood of Harmony 
// by BloodHive1998 
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	A Pegasus filly walked quietly through the Everfree Forest, her dark purple coat looking almost black in the shade of the Everfree trees. Soon, she stopped behind a bush and crouched down, a slightly angered expression showing. The filly could here the giggles of the infamous trio known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders coming from the clubhouse ahead of her. Shadow Vine absently brushed some of her long dark blue mane out of her eyes so that she could see the shadows from the crusaders in window. Once, she had thought about joining them, but she had changed her mind after seeing the reaction of a pink filly who had see her true form, she'd just have to find her cutie mark alone. That isn't true, you could try with your friends the more stable side of her mind said. She couldn't though, they weren't her friends anymore. They were running off a lot, granted she would to, but that wasn't the point. If they aren't your friends anymore, then why'd you agree to come to this meeting? the voice had a point there. Shadow had never figured out the origin of that voice, but she suspected it was her old self from before the Everfree took her under it's wing, literally and figuratively.
"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS: ANDROID HUNTERS" came the voices of three excited fillies, one not as excited as the other two. It was only a few seconds after that when the three burst through the doors and landed in their respective places on their ride. Scootaloo soon shot off on her scooter, pulling the others along with her.
After following them with her light blue eyes until they were gone, Shadow quickly and quietly ran to the club house and entered, making sure to opened the nearby window so she could make a hasty retreat if necessary. After a moment, she sat down and began fixing her mane and tail, since they both got a lot of leaves and other things in them from her being close to the ground. Her mane was rather long, going down to nearly two inches above her hooves, her tail was similar though it went down to only an inch above the ground and held a slight curl at the tip. After finishing with fixing her mane and tail, she sighed.
"Now to wait for those two, what could even be important enough for Night to be determined to bring the three of us together in the same room?" she said with a faint hiss.

A Pegasus filly stepped out of her house miles away with a demonic growl. Her blue coat shined in the eerie light cast by the huge black gates nearby, through them, one could see pits with ancient evils in them and a huge three-headed dog standing guard. Lunar Fire took to the skies after a moment and shot towards the CMC clubhouse, a blazing trail of blue fire behind her. The air from her speed blew her light blue mane and tail; both a little shorter than shadow's, with her mane going down to four inches above her hooves and her thin tail going to half a foot off the ground; behind her. I can't believe Night, after abandoning us so many times, had the nerve to call the three of us back together Lunar giggled evilly as scenes of blood and torture passed through her head, she just loved seeing the fear on ponies faces when they saw the real her.
The Everfree Forest was bellow the Pegasus now, she had often seen Apple Bloom (a member of that group called the Cutie Mark Crusaders) and even Shadow Vine go in there for seemingly no reason. Granted, that wasn't as strange as the day she saw Shadow playing with Timberwolves. She had always loved the Everfree, it was a place where a magic close to Demon Magic filled the air. The Everfree was alive, everpony with half a mind knew that. She had heard several legends relating towards it, one of which was the legend of Sunny Town, a happy and prosperous town by day, a zombie infested village by night. There were other legends of course, such as the legend of the Everfree Goddess, Eternal River, who corrupted any who dared enter her domain, turning them into feral beasts.
Lunar Fire landed on the steps to the clubhouse and entered, finding Shadow already there. The two ex-friends sat away from each other and refused to make eye contact Night, this best be important.

Night Wind examined herself in a mirror in the cave that served as her home, she had decided to give her friends time to get there before her. Her dark magenta coat; her black mane with it's red streak, style of hanging from both sides of her head, it's length of a foot off the ground, and it's blue bow; her tail, which was the same and went to two inches off the ground with its own bow near her body; and her orange eyes. This was how her friends knew her, but she wanted them to know the real her.
After brushing her mane, Night flew to the clubhouse that they had met at in secret for the past two years. When she got there, she found exactly what she feared she'd find. neither of her friends were looking at her or each other and both clearly didn't want to be there, this saddened her. All of this could have been avoided if we had just told our secrets instead of keeping them she hated that fact almost as much as she hated bullies.
"Girls, I'm sure you're wondering why I called you both here." Night said as she took a seat.
"What I'm wanting to know is why you abandon us so much." hissed Shadow.
"She abandons us, well so do you." Lunar replied, which quickly sparked an argument since all three had left each other at some point or another.
It was only three seconds into the fight when Night intervened. "Quiet!! We only have about an hour to finish this and I'd like to get started now." she yelled, which quieted both of them down, Night rarely yelled.

"Now then, I called this meeting because I know all of us have secrets, and I think those secrets are what's pulling us apart. I don't want us hiding anymore, I want us to know each other's true self, not the lies we've woven. So who's going first?" Night asked.
"You thought it up, so you go first." Shadow said with another hiss.
Night nodded and closed her eyes. She imagined her real self wearing a costume shaped like her current form, she imagined slowly removing the costume to reveal her true self and then burning the costume. Red flames engulfed the filly quickly before dying down, revealing her real form. Her hooves had holes in them; she had fangs that were about the size of a bat-pony's; her wings were insect like, fading from silver at the base to purple at the tips; she had a saddle carapace that was blue; her eyes were slitted and red, with a faint glow; and her mane and tail had holes in them; she was a Changeling. Like her two friends, she lacked a cutie mark. When she spoke, a faint echo could be heard.




I was born to a mother from the Shock Hive and a father from the Dagger Hive. You may not know this, but hybrids between hives are absolutely forbidden. I ran away after being forced to watch my parents die. I ran to an old orphanage where my instincts allowed me to take on the disguise you've been seeing me in. I spent several years there before perfecting my changeling magic, well... perfecting it as best I could, and running away. The hives were after me and I knew it, so I ran into the Everfree. I've lived in a mini hive I built near the old castle since then. When I met both of you, I wanted to reveal myself, but I was too scared. The reason I ran away so much was because I had to feed. I didn't want to feed off either of you though because I was scared that I'd be caught and that you'd stop being my friends. I see now though that my secret was what began breaking our friendship apart.




When she finished her story, Night sat down and looked at her fiends, she didn't even bother with her disguise.
"Wow... I didn't realize that you went through all that." Lunar said.
After a moment of silence, Lunar decided that it was her turn. Her mane and tail became pure blue fire, though they stayed in the shape of her mane and tail with wisps of flames flowing off and some embers floating off; Her wings followed next, doing the same as her mane and tail and becoming the same fire; Her teeth then sharpened to points; her feathers sharpened; and her irises were encased in a very deep blue glow. briefly, two fangs unsheathed, then re-sheathed from her teeth.




I'm not actually a pony, I'm a demoness. I've been running from several darker demons for years now. I chose the form of a filly to hide, even though my home is literally five yards from the gates of Tartarus, it was the only way Cerberus would let me leave Tartarus. Demons have to eat the flesh of the species they've taken as their disguise, so that's why I ran away a lot. I have to eat ponies, which I really don't mind, but I would never eat my friends. I'm wanted by a lot of demons in Tartarus, but that's why I'm here as a filly. I wont leave any of you though, I promise.




Lunar finished her story and sat down.
Shadow was quiet for a moment before standing up and letting her illusion fade. Her irises were encased in a deep purple glow as purple mist began leaking out of the corners; her teeth sharped and fangs snapped out in a way similar to a cobra's before folding back against the roof of her mouth; her feathers sharpened and her wings changed to fade from dark purple at the base to dark red at the tips; and several dark purple vines (darker than her coat) with blood red thorns exploded out of her back before wrapping around her legs, tail, mane, body, and wings, then tightening to where the thorns penetrated her skin, though no blood came out.
"Whoa." Lunar said as she reached out to touch one of the vines, it quickly receded into Shadow's back.
"Please don't, I don't like ponies touching them." Shadow said in a suddenly shy voice, which caused Lunar to back down.




I wish I could tell you about what I was like before, but I have no memory of that time. I'm corrupted by the Everfree, the only filly in thousands of years to be as such. Since I was a filly, I kept my mind, to an extent. My earliest memory is when I woke up from the corruption and saw Eternal River, she's my mom now. At first, I tried to find friends in Ponyville, well... now the Harmony Kingdom, but the first pony to see my real form ran. She was a pink filly with a tiara, I think you'll like to know, Night, that it turns out she was a bully. After that, I started hiding who I really was. I ran away a lot though because I can't be outside a certain range of the Everfree for more than about three hours. Sorry for not telling you girls.




Once she was finished, Shadow sat back down.
"That's interesting... so, are we all still friends?" Night asked hopefully.
"Yeah." Shadow and Lunar said in unison.
"Yes!" Night jumped in the air, her wings buzzing happily, then landed and got a little more serious, "I need some parchment, a quill, and an ink well."
After getting the necessary items, Night explained that she was going to send a friendship letter to Celestia, seeing as it had practically become tradition for the entire Harmony Kingdom. She set the quill to the parchment and wrote.

	Dear Princess Celestia
I know you don't know me, or even my friends, but we've been near the Harmony Kingdom for years now. Today I and my friends, learned a valuable lesson in friendship, one that will hopefully help us stay together until the end.
"When secrets are kept, friendships begin to shatter. When secrets are revealed, true friendships strengthen"
in short, never keep a secret from your friends, no matter how dark or minor they are, because all secrets can be a catalyst for the end of a friendship.

Your faithful subjects
Night Wind, The Forbidden One
Lunar Fire, The Devil Child
Shadow Vine, The Daughter of the Everfree

After finishing the letter, and having her friends sign it, Night used her magic to send it to Celestia.