//------------------------------//
// Void 
// Story: Shadows of Darkness 
// by BloodHive1998 
//------------------------------//

	Crystal Wing glided down to the ground as she approached Ponyville. The entire town was encased in a very thick magical shield. Crystal approached the shield and tapped on it, any trained guard could spot detection spells from a mile away. A moment later, a guard walked up to it.
"Hello sir, may I come in?" Crystal asked.
"What is your reason for coming here?" the guard countered
"My friend Rainbow Dash lives here, I was just wanting to surprise her." 
"Rainbow Dash isn't here at the moment, I can take you to the clone that's temporary taking her place though."
Crystal shrugged and nodded, leading to the guard opening the shield partially. The Changeling stepped through and followed the guard, thinking back to when she had been told of Night Shade's plans.

Begin Flashback
Crystal yelped as the Hivemind went completely silent from the intense shield Night Shade had just put up. The Changeling in question's horn slowly died down, though the spell stayed.
"Can I trust you to keep a secret Crystal?" Night Shade asked as she looked to her friend. 
"Of course. why would you even bother asking that question?" Crystal asked, too shocked from the question to even think about the powerful spell that was blocking the Hivemind entirely.
"Even from the queen?"
Crystal was stunned at that question and took a shocked step back. Why wouldn't I be able to tell Queen Chrysalis, what's Night planning? "D-depends on what you're wanting to do?" she asked, of course, there was little chance that she'd deny such a request from her friend, her loyalty to her friends was one of the reasons her father wasn't sure about her joining the guard.
"I'm leaving the hive. I don't want any part in our queen's plans. I'm going to change most of my life to ensure I'm not found." the second she finished, Night went up in red flames, a cyan coated and rainbow maned Pegasus now stood in her place.
"How do you plan to do that?"
"Simple." the Changeling stood proudly as she continued "When I'm done talking to you, I'll perform this spell with others to cover my tracks and keep suspicion away from you. Tomorrow afternoon I'm going to sneak away and head into a forest, where I'll send a false distress call and cut my link to the hive (effectively faking my death). From there I'll sneak off and fly to Cloudsdale, where I'll perform an advanced metamorphosis spell to permanently change my form to this. My magic wont dwindle from doing this and so I'll then perform an age spell without the memory restrictions and pose as an orphan until I'm found. I'll start building my new life from then on." Night smiled as she went into a hover, even as a Pegasus, the infiltrator's wings were silent.
Crystal stood with shock, she wanted to find a hole in that plan, but there wasn't any, at least not with the hives strongest infiltrator as the planner, Night simply knew too many spells to let her plan even waver. "H-how will I find you?" she asked. Night went up in red flames again as she reverted to her true form and spun around to walk off, saying only four words as she did. 'Look for Rainbow Dash'. With that, the shield fell away and the Hivemind returned. If Night didn't know her so well, then Crystal would have wondered why the infiltrator didn't bother asking if she'd keep what she learned a secret, but Crystal knew the reason. Night knew that she wouldn't dare give away a secret that one of her best friends had shared with her.
End Flashback

Crystal shook her head to clear the memories away as she was lead into a castle and then a throne room with seven thrones in a circle. She quickly scanned them and found Rainbow Dash, or the clone of her.
"And you are?" the clone asked as she glided down and landed.
"Crystal Wing, I'm under Queen Chrysalis' orders to gather intel on the Elements of Harmony." she whispered.
"Sorry, you missed the Elements of Harmony about two hours and twenty minutes ago. They're in the middle of some very important missions from sompony I'm not at liberty to identify, you can wait here though if you want."
"Um, okay, I guess I can stay for a bit. Thanks umm." she paused when she realized that she didn't know the clones name.
"I'm C-Dash, just call me Spectrum Flash though." with that, the two took wing and C-Dash flew over to the window, inviting Crystal to a flight/tour around the village.




Dream Realm
The Changeling filly cried out as her queen threw her across the room. The filly yelped as she felt herself impact the wall. Her queen began approaching with pure evil in her eyes. An odd dark blue mist was flowing off (or into) her as she lit her horn in Black Magic. The hatch-ling looked at her queen with terror, until something else hit the queen and sent her flying. The being had shimmering butterfly wings with a dull horn and kind blue eyes. She had a pure white coat with a Cutie Mark of a ring of words in the Changeling's language, all translating to countless kind and good words. She looked, in every possible way, like the ponyfication of good. The queen growled and lunged at the being, only to find a long and razor sharp blade embedded in her chest. A moment passed before the queen vanished in a puff of black smoke.
"I'm sorry for what you saw dear. don't worry though, it wont bother you again. Have a good night." with that, the being vanished.

Nova Moon stepped out of the door with a happy smile. Over the past few days, she had really started to like helping fillies and colts with their dreams. When she awoke four weeks ago she had cried over her choices in life (the Elements had that effect on there targets). Then she had spent nearly a week just getting use to the nature of being a Nightmare and another getting properly attuned to the Dream Realm. Nova stretched slightly before walking away. She glanced at her black coat and crescent moon Cutie Mark, which barely resembled her original, she liked that though, though there were now a few burns from the nightmare she had just finished fighting, those were going to hurt when she returned to the waking world. Nova stopped at a door with a familiar black mist (which indicated just a nightmare, not a Nightmare) flowing out of it. The door had a crystal design to it, which indicated that it was a crystal pony.

She opened the door and found herself in a field of flames with Sombra laughing and a filly crouched down in fear. Not really wanting to go through a long and harsh fight again, Nova formed a bow and gave herself a horn. Holding the bow in her, still blue, aura, Nova took aim. An arrow made of light formed and the Nightmare fired. The nightmare image of Sombra was cut off as the arrow pierced its chest. It looked up in pain and found Nova staring at it calmly. A few more seconds passed before the nightmare exploded in a shower of light.
"Have a good night." Nova said as she left the dream. When she turned around after fully closing the door, she found none other than Princess Luna standing in front of her with an angered expression, Nova gulped while her shadow chided her for not being more careful, a harsh glare from the Lunar Princess shut it up though.




location and POV unknown
Balance is often seen as harmony, however, harmony and balance are two completely different things. Balance is between two opposing forces. Evil and Good, Harmony and Chaos, Darkness and Light. Balance is all of those and more, it's the silent acceptance of both one's good and their evil, it's the nature of equal chaos and harmony, it's the shadows between the light and the darkness. Ponies see a harmonic life style as a balanced one, but that is simply an illusion, for a harmonic life is not a balanced one. While there are countless forms of balance, none are as strong or as powerful as the balance between Harmony and Chaos, though Darkness and Light are a close second. When Harmony reigns for too long, it becomes Chaos, likewise when Chaos reigns for too long it becomes Harmony. These two forces are entwined with each other on an unimaginable level. Neither force has the power to truly surpass the other.

Harmony is peace. It's a state where nothing bad seems to happen. The force of Harmony is one that ponies would probably describe as 'boring' because of a lack of shock or interest. As powerful as many see it, Harmony has limits, it must correct a problem, it can rarely create one. Chaos on the other hoof can only create confusion and misunderstanding, its power can only confuse just as Harmony's power can only give sense to the world. If Harmony were to rule alone, ponies would soon find it to be a form a Chaos, for absolutely nothing would change. Similar is true for Chaos as well. If Chaos rules for long enough, then it becomes normal, it becomes Harmony. The world simply can't exist without both Harmony and Chaos, and the two forces can't exist without each other either.

The world's balance is delicate, the wrong move could end it entirely, sending the world into disarray. Sometimes though, to keep the balance, one must risk it. I know this better than anyone. When the Light in a pony (especially such important ones) overshadows their Darkness, I must ensure the two level out, an act that risks the same balance it strives to create. Split as they are, they must face their Darkness as their Light... all of their darkness. The young ruler must face magics none should ever touch; the wild legend must atone for the choices of her past; the shy flier must take the reigns of emotions she has almost never felt; the logic warper must stand against the evils of her family; the young worker must reveal the lies she lives; the resurfaced soul must face a life forgotten; the forgotten dream must mend her severed bonds; the god and goddess must put their differences aside; and I, the queen, must watch a changing world and ensure my kingdom never falls again.