Amidst Shadows Made Flesh

Ohhh...my head...Wait, where...where am I...? Vanhoover? Looks about the same. No, somethings off. Where is everypony, why is no pony in the streets? Wait, what was I doing? Ventil' wanted to see me so I was walking to her house, and then...I don't even know what happened...

Maple Leaf stood up. Her head was killing her, and the fact that she could remember almost nothing wasn't exactly making the situation any better. She looked around, the empty streets seemed familiar, but different. The roads were yellowed and cracked from unuse. The houses that lined the streets were also the same she had always known, but with the addition of boarded windows and locked doors.

Everything looks...creepy. What is going on, this place just plane scares me. Well...I...guess I should just continue to Ventil's house. Maybe she can explain just what the hay's going on.

She walked, slowly and carefully, making her way down the roads. The usual asphalt that covered the roads was gone, not even cobblestone, just cracked, yellow dirt. The sides of the streets no longer had lush grass and occasional tree or bush of ponies' front lawns  instead it was brown-yellow. Dead. The trees had no leaves (concerning since they didn't have fall colors collected at their botoms, and the fact that it was early spring).The one last problem was the air. It was warm. Maple looked at the sky. Grey. The sun was completely blocked out by cloads making the world around her seem much darker, so why was it so hot? Maple tried to reason this out.

Okay, so the plants and trees dying is probably just because of a drout, which would also explain the cracked roads. She smiled as her words began to make sense. And the high collection of clouds is probably the pegasi putting a storm together to fix the dried land. They would have to have done this recently, which is why it's still hot, simple as that.

Maple sighed and lost her smile. Of course that wasn't the case. If the pegasi wanted to stop a drout, they would have done it much sooner than now, when the land looked this bad, and looking back at the sky, it wasn't truely grey. It was red. Red like fire. Like blood. And even if all of what she thought was true, why was there not a single wing in sight? And why are ponies' windows boarded?

She decided that waiting until reaching her friend's house might not be the best course of action. She walked up to one of the wooden doors upon the many rugged houses. Lifting her hoof, not entirly sure what to expect when she knocked, she tapped the door three times. No response. Not a surprise really, in her own fright Maple had knocked so lightly that not even she herslef heard it. She lifted her hoof again to the door. Closing her eyes she tried again.

*TOK* *TOK* *TOK*

"Hello," the syrup mare called, "Is anyone home?"

"WH-WHO'S THERE? PLEASE, W-W-WE DON'T WANT ANY TROUBLE! J-JUST- JUST LEAVE US BE!" A mare's shakey voice, somehow more scared than Maple, cried out from within the house.

"Please, I need help. I'm not entirely sure where I am." Maple explained

"Wh-who are you?" Asked the voice, somewhat calmed by Maple's non-aggressive tone.

"My name is Maple, Maple Leaf, I'm a citizen of Vanhoover, Equestria, please where am I?"

The door creaked open just a crack, Maple saw nothing, just darkness. She saw the mare on the inside look out with one eye. A very light beige coat surrounded the deep violet eye. That eye stared at her with a wide pupil from staying in the dark. Upon seeing Maple, the eye somehow widened more than its dilated form. The door immediatly slammed shut causing Maple to jump back.

"NO! GET AWAY!" The voice once again shouted, "YO-YOU-YOU'RE" she pausded" "You're one of Them."

Maple wasn't sure whether to be shocked, surprised, or offended by the term 'one of them'.

"I'm sorry, One of who? What are you talking about?" Maple asked, hoping she hadn't offended this pony, who was obviously scared out of her wits by something.

The mystery mare began to speak, not in the shaky voice from before, but in one that was heavy with pain, with sadness and sorrow, "The Five Darknesses. They terrorize us! Everyday more ponies are killed. Somethimes they go missing and are never seen again, sometimes they're part of mass murders with no survivors, sometimes they're tortured so they're screams can be heard throughout the entire town. All of us who are alive are left to cower in fear, fear of knowing that one day we will be taken from our homes, our family. You and those four col- wait... shouldn't you know this? You're the one that causes it."

Maple's blue eyes were glassed over. The sad story of these ponies' plight bringing her close to tears.

"I'm... I'm sorry... I can't imagine a worse kind of life. But, I assure you that I don't cause this. I couldn't kill a pony, not even hurt them, I can't even say a mean word to someone else, not without apologizing almost immediatly afterwords. I don't even know what I'm doing here. I just woke up in the middle of the road with a headache and slight amnesia. I couldn't figure out where I was, so I knocked on the first door I saw: yours."

The mare opened the door again, revealing her violet eye, which now squinted at the red-and-white-maned pony, like it was trying to figure something out. Hold on a minute. I've... I've seen her before. And her voice, it sounds very familiar, like...

"I don't believe you," The mare said," You're a Darkness, why should I trust you? Just leave me alone, I don't wa-"

"Ventil'."

The mare stopped talking. "H- huh?"

"Ventil'. Ventil', it's me" Maple pointed a hoof to her chest, "It's me, Maple, your friend."

The door opened wider to reveal the mare's entire face, her silvery mane held back by a blue headband, and both her violet eyes scanning Maple, looking for something familiar in the Syrup-colored mare.

"I've never seen you before in my life," she finally stated. "I've only heard stories about you, which is how I knew your appearance and name meant death. But this is my first time ever actually seeing you and besides," The mare's eyes dropped, "I don't have any friends"

"Ventil'," Maple said hurt that her friend would forget her, but also sad at what the mare had just said, "What do you mean you've never seen me? We've known each other for years."

"I already said I don't know you," the mare said, "and you don't know me."

Maple closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and looked strait into the eyes of the grey-brown mare, "You're name is Ventil' Podsolnechnik, it comes from Stalliongrad, your last name means 'sunflower' and your first is meant to be 'faucet' but the literal translation is 'valve'. You used to be a ballerina, which is nothing like your current personality. You're a member of the snake house from that wizard book we both love. You're an avid cellist, taking lessons from Octavia Melody herself. You always wear headbands like that one your wearing right now. You love lemonade, and can't drink any type of soda other than Dragon Dew. You have very strong reactions to caffeine. And you're my friend!" Maple punctuated her last sentence with a stamp of her hoof.

Venil' stared back. Her eyes wide with shock at Maple's list of facts. She sighed and opened the door completely.

"Come in, Miss Leaf," she said, "There are things we must discuss"

Maple slowly walked into the strange mare's house hoping that she could finally get an answer to the one question she had been asking all day.

Just where am I?