Blood of Harmony

by BloodHive1998

Shadows of Kindness

Black Shard stood in stunned silence as she beheld the castle in the center of what was once Ponyville. It was huge, with several floors and a crystalline exterior. There was also the tell-tale sign of a dimensional displacement field around the entire thing, meaning it was even bigger than it seamed.

"That castle's gotta be at least twice the size of the crystal castle, not counting what the inside probably looks like." She said with shock.

"Yep!" Twilight said from Black Shard's right.

When Black Shard turned, Twilight struck, sending them both into the ground nearby. Twilight's horn lit up in magenta Alicorn Magic as she prepared a powerful combat spell, before she released it though, she leaned in closer and spoke in a low hiss. "I never did like it when demons stole a living pony's body." was all she said before releasing her spell, causing a crater. Twilight flew into the air then.

"Ya really shoulda' known Twi would know the truth... Sombra." Apple Jack said before sending Black Shard flying with a strong buck to the back.

"It's Black Shard now!" the Queen of Shadows protested.

Rainbow intercepted her with a punch delivered at rainboom speeds, this was soon followed by several razor-edged gems from Rarity, then a party cannon to the face from Pinkie Pie, then an unnaturally violent punch from Fluttershy, then back to a blast from Twilight. This continued for about ten minutes before Pinkie decided to fire a second time and sent Black Shard into the ground.

"Pinkie! I said to keep to the pattern!" Twilight yelled angrily.

"Well keeping to a pattern was getting us nowhere! I say we just pound her to the ground and never let her get up!" Pinkie Pie said.

"THAT IS NOT A SOLID PLAN!"

Black Shard used the distraction to her advantage as she shot into the air and prepared a Black Magic spell, dropping her illusion in the process. Twilight began charging a spell as well. The two magics met in the middle as they were fired, resulting in an explosion that ripped apart some nearby buildings.

Spectral replications of the elements suddenly appeared on the mane six as they floated in the air. The elements charged for several seconds before releasing their power in a rainbow colored beam that soon struck Black Shard. Black Shard cried out as she was sent flying.

"There, that's done." Rainbow said angrily. A group of fillies that were hiding, however, noticed her clear wish not to be around the others.

"No it's not. The element's failed, and it's your fault!" Twilight motioned angrily to the other bearers. Angrily, the ponies flew off to the castle.

"They're keeping secrets, like we were. We need to help them, before the Shadow King, or rather Queen, returns." Shadow Vine said to her two friends from the safety of the bushes they had been hiding in. Despite Eternal River's efforts, they had found and read the letter. Her friends nodded and they snuck off.

---

The main six were in the throne room, arguing rather loudly, too loudly to notice the three fillies that had set up camp on some railing overlooking the thrones, about their failure and general distrust of the others.

"I aint talkin" Apple Jack said angrily when her friends asked her about why she would disappear on them several time a week. Rainbow gave a similar answer when asked about where she was during some weeks where she wouldn't show up at all or would suddenly leave. Rarity and Fluttershy gave the same answers when asked about there random shifts to much darker personalities. this was the same for Twilight when asked the same question as Apple Jack and the same response from Pinkie When asked about the screams ponies sometimes reported coming from under Sugar Cuber Corner.

"If we don't stop fighting, then we'll be unable to use the elements, now what are you all hiding?" Twilight asked angrily.

"We should ask you the same, Twilight." Rainbow said bluntly. This continued for another four minutes before the group departed.

A few minutes later, Shadow, Night, and Lunar were siting in the CMC clubhouse.

"We have to help then learn that keeping secrets wont help one bit if we're going to help them regain their friendship." Night Wind said to her friends while fixing the blue bow in her mane.

They took a while to think of what they could do and Shadow Vine eventually had an idea. They'd split up and try to figure out the secrets of one bearer per pony then they would share this knowledge with each other before going out and finding the others. Shadow Vine would go after Fluttershy since Fluttershy's home was close to the Everfree; Lunar Fire would go after Pinkie Pie since Lunar's demon magic would help her keep up with the reality bending mare; and Night Wind would go after Twilight since Night was strong with her magic and might need it for a quick escape.

The three took some time to prepare their plans and to set up a meeting time and place before they all departed.

A few more minutes later The door to the CMC clubhouse opened and three different fillies walked in.

"Hey what's that doin here?" a voice with with a bit of a country accent asked as her and her two friends spotted a piece of paper on the table.

Pony name: hint towards there secret/Filly Investigating

Twilight Sparkle: randomly running off, strangely demonic when angered/Night Wind, The Forbidden One

Fluttershy: randomly changing to a much darker and stronger personality/Shadow Vine, The Daughter of the Everfree

Pinkie Pie: screams coming from bellow Sugar Cube Corner, Cakes know nothing about it/Lunar Fire, The Devil Child

Rainbow Dash: Often disappears for weeks at a time with excuse of going to Cloudsdale/none yet

Apple Jack: Randomly runs off, strangely dark when angered/none yet

Rarity: Random times of extreme anger and seemingly feral nature/none yet

Meeting at CMC Clubhouse Friday at noon (right after CMC leave for crusading)

---

Shadow moved quietly around Fluttershy's cottage, it was nearly nighttime so she knew she'd be hidden. I doubt she'll just reveal her secret while the possibility of exposure is so great, hmm. Shadow sent a silent command to a nearby Manticore cub, as well as information of her plans to its mother and a small group of the most feared Everfree creatures. It wasn't long before the cub started crying like it was hurt.

Fluttershy came out soon after that and headed into the forest with a first aid kit. Shadow followed as she soon found the crying cub, who actually had a small scrape on its knee. Fluttershy fixed the cub up and it ran off, not two seconds later, a pack of Timberwolves came out of the bushes. The Timberwolves growled angrily as they approached. They said she seemed strangely anger prone. They also mentioned how shy she usually is. Fluttershy released a feral growl when one of the Timberwolves locked eyes with her.

Fluttershy's eyes began glowing a deep red as fangs unsheathed, her wings became bat-like, and her cutie mark changed to three bats. She hissed before attacking, quickly dismembering most of the first Timberwolf. What is with all these ponies with fangs? Shadow thought as she ran her tongue over her snake fangs. Fluttershy was soon on the last Timberwolf as she destroyed it, she looked around then returned to normal, looking around a second time before walking off.

"Sorry, you five." Shadow said as the Timberwolves rebuilt themselves. They gave a calm, musical, howl before walking off. To Shadow Vine, though, it was an 'It's fine'. Shadow pulled out a notebook and wrote down what she had found before leaving.

Author's Note:

This is roughly how I'm going to have the next few chapters be set up. There'll be something related to the story in the first half of each chapter and at least one more secret revealed in the last half of each chapter.

don't forget to comment on why you like/dislike this story.