Finding Harmony

by Alice Eddor

XIII

The city of Ponyville was surrounded by shadow, a swirling black cloud of darkness. What had once been a strong and proud town was reduced to literally nothing but a home for the Shadow Beings and Changelings. It had been a week since Terra left Dodge City, with a reluctant Wind Storm in tow. Ponyville seemed like the next best place to go, considering Appleloosa had been obliterated. But she had expected Ponyville to be standing, seeing as it had once been the power centre of Equestria, being the host town of the Elements and everything. She had been wrong. As the two of them approached the town to investigate the shadows, maybe find survivors inside, Wind Storm froze.

"I'm not going near that place," he said, backing into the Everfree Forest. Terra rolled her eyes. He had been so averse to going into the Everfree Forest to begin with, and now he was backing into it. Of course, he was averse to moving at all so she should have expected this.

She switched into psychiatrist mode, turning to face him. "What's wrong with investigating the shadows? I've wanted to see what was causing everything. I'm sure whatever's in there is all in your head."

His expression shifted from fear to confusion, though he kept his eyes on the endless black in front of them in anticipation. "What shadows?"

"The shadows, those, right there." She walked over to him, turning her back on the shadows. "Can't you see them?"

Wind Storm hesitated. He had done that nearly every time she had asked him a question, and it bothered her. If he didn't open up enough she would get nowhere. "No, I can't," he said finally.

This stopped Terra in her tracks. She was close to accusing him of lying, but figured that it wouldn't do any good. She was about to say something, though she wasn't sure what, when Wind Storm yelped, leaping forward and pushing her out of the way. This was followed by the sound of impact that Terra barely heard as she fell to the ground, rolling a couple feet away. She looked up to see the boy locked in a struggle with a black accumulation that had apparently attacked her from behind. The battle itself was a flurry of dust and smoke that she couldn't pick apart. She got to her feet, unsure of what to do. She couldn't throw anything for fear of hitting the kid, and was posed the same problem when she considered going in herself.

While all she could see was a gathering of shadow and smoke, Wind Storm had a very different view. The skin of the thing was violently pink, as though raw from a burn. This particular 'Shadow Being' as they were apparently called had two sets of arms and no legs, using its second set as replacements. It was completely bald, skin leathery and wrinkled. Small, broken wings fluttered uselessly on its back as the struggle went on. Its three eyes were all different colours, orange, green, and black. Through the sounds of struggle he could just barely hear Shining Light yelling, though it wasn't helping much. There was nothing she could do.

He pushed the creature off of him and scrambled backward, jumping to his feet near to Terra. "Do you have anything sharp? Anything on you right now?"

She pulled her backpack off and opened it, pulling out her syringe case and a small bottle. Wind Storm met the thing again in a twisted game of uncle. She had no idea how he knew where its hands were but he seemed to have grabbed them and was pushing the things backwards. She filled the syringe with what was in the bottle just as Wind Storm broke away from the Shadow, flying with difficulty a few feet above it. He grabbed the syringe out of her hands and stabbed it into the top of the thing, pressing down the top of the needle.

The needle was stabbed deep into the eye in the centre of the things head, squirting black blood over his face. The creature howled as he pressed down on the end and ripped the needle out of the eye, then jabbed it into the left one. He knew there was nothing left in the syringe, he just wanted to cause it pain. Maybe kill it. Could it be killed? He wasn't sure.

The thing sunk into the ground, vanishing as quickly as it appeared. Wind Storm staggered backward, dropping the syringe. Shining Light grabbed him arm, her hand in his back to steady him.

"What was in that?" he asked, gesturing to the syringe on the ground.

"Morphine," said Terra shakily. "Are you okay? Oh Luna, you're covered in blood."

Wind Storm wiped the black blood off his face. "I'm more or less fine," he said, more to Shining Light than to Terra.

"You flew, your wing. Is it better?"

"No."

Terra jumped on the opportunity to check up on him. She didn't know exactly what had happened, but she knew he wasn't as 'fine' as he claimed to be. "So, that thing-"

"There was no shadow, and there's no shadows on the things over there, and this is a really, really bad place to be."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Terra finished her examination, which was a quick one, and stepped back, glancing at the Shadow Beings. They didn't seem to be doing anything violent, why was he so anxious?

"Look," he said, "I just want to get out of here, right now."

He was pale, shaking. Terra was put in a strange place, knowing that he wouldn't go back into the Forest any deeper, but wouldn't go near the town either. She had begun to question him; maybe he wasn't as insane as she thought. He had kept a level head when the Shadow Being had attacked, almost like he had been in situations like that before.

"You haven't told her anything yet, you're going to need to at some point Wind," said Shining Light as Terra retrieved her syringe from where Wind Storm had dropped it.

Wind Storm shook his head. "I don't know how."

"Hey! Help! Please!"

Terra turned immediately to face the voice while Wind Storm turned warily. Shining Light kept her eyes trained on Wind Storm, worried for him. A young woman running towards them greeted them. In her hands were two bronze knives, both bloodstained like her clothes. Her ground-length skirt was torn up to the thigh, and the sleeves of her long-sleeved shirt were in tatters. Her dark hair was plastered to her tear-stained and bloodied face. She fell to her knees on the ground in front of Terra, who held up her hands as though she were surrendering. Terra glanced to Wind Storm, who was still trying to catch his breath from the Shadow Being. He didn't seem to have anything wrong with the girl, so Terra helped her up.

"What's your name sweetheart?"

The girl didn't answer, but dropped her knives and fell onto Terra, sobbing. Wind Storm watched them sadly while Terra tried to comfort her, like he knew something Terra didn't.

"Her name is Thimble. Her father was killed."

Thimble said nothing but continued to cry. Terra stared. "How?" she mouthed.

"He told me."

Terra stroked the girls’ hair gently, glancing back and forth between the two younger people in her company. "I've got some questions Wind Storm."