Everything was faint. There was a small glow but everything was still dark. And the darkness only grew until everything was pitch black. I opened my eyes... But everything was still black. I tried making sure my eyes were open, I even brought my hooves up to rub them... But they were still open. Very thing was dark. I tried scrambling to my hooves but I was weak and tired. I heard a muffled sound, like a knocking. The sound was soon followed by a distinguishable click followed by a soft creak. Next I heard a horrified ghasp and the stamping of hooves growing closer.

"CRIMSON!" Shouted a very worried voice still slightly muffled. I figured it out to be twilight.

" oh my god..." Said another familiar voice. I recognized it as martukus.

" Avo help us..." Said another voice. This voice wasn't as familiar as the others. I felt four energies, and with them I could see. Through the darkness colored outlines lit up and the world became visible through outlines and energy. First I saw... Or I should say, I sensed twilight. Her figure was outlined in purple energy with black in the middle. I next saw thunder with a blue outline and martukus with a white outline. The ground and world around me was outlined in white. The bed, the fireplace, even the cracks in the floorboards and gritty texture of the walls. Twilight was right over me in staring in horror.

The voice I could not figure out from before soon took shape in my mind and through the darkness a figure arose which must have been there a while now. I looked and saw that it was the innkeeper. The room around me was stained with red outlines... Most likely blood. There were claw marks and slashes ruining the walls. Seeing everything through this point of view was easy enough but still difficult. Everything around me was either black or just a simple, colored outline. I couldn't see the stone walls, since they weren't alive. The only thing I could see were the floorboards which were once a mighty tree, the ponie sin the room, and my blood over the walls. To me it looked like red streaks and claw marks were just floating in the dark air, but they were on the walls and ceiling.

" oh god crimson say something..." Said thunder.

" c'mon crimson... Are you alright?" Asked twilight worryingly. I finally scrounged up a well of energy that only grew stronger and stronger. I pulled up to my hooves very shakily but grew stronger and more confident.

" ughh..." I said almost on my knees hanging my head and rubbing my temple with my hoof. " oh god... Ughh." I muttered out again.

" oh thank god... Crimson what happened?" Asked twilight.

" I'm... I'm not entirely sure." I said.

" wait a minute..." Said martukus who walked over and glared at my face. " your eyes... Crimson... Are you blind?" He asked. Everypony in the room looked over at me.

" uh... Eh...yes." I said with a sigh.

" it's obvious that shal-grahkan is trying to weaken you outside of his realm before you reach him... His shadows burn like no other." Said martukus. The innkeeper looked over at us like we were crazy. I couldn't see any real features on any of them, just outlines and glowing circles in place of eyes.

" crimson... Your blind?" Said twilight.

" yes..."

" oh god..." She said covering her mouth in shock.

" but this wasn't shal-grahkan's doing..." I said. " it was something else..."

" the dark mare..." Said the innkeeper. We all shot our gazes towards him. I do remember seeing a shadowy mare the other night.

" you've seen her..." He said. " you've even got the dark scars to prove it... Like me."

" who is she?" I asked.

" nopony knows..." He said. " I was out one night... Just in the woods. Suddenly something caught my hoof and I fell dropping my lantern. The lantern rolled way and my legs fell out of the protective light. Next thing I knew something was tearing into my hind legs, like some kind of lion or something, and I hear this beautiful voice. Reciting, melodically a poem of some sort. When I finally got hold of my lantern and shone the light the pain and the voice stopped... I sat there the rest of the night in fear with my bleeding and torn open legs."

" did you see her?" I asked

" no... And thank Avo I didn't." He said. " there are some ponies who claim to have seen her... But those ponies have had their eyes torn from their heads." He said. " I'm curious as to why your eyes are still in your head... Despite being blinded now."

" I am too..." I said making up an excuse for not knowing why... Even though I do really.

" crimson we need to get you some help..." Said twilight.

" I'll be fine twilight." I said.

" I've got more than just my sight you know." I said reaching a hoof over to her left cheek and placing it against her face and smiling looking right at her. She just stared right at me with open eyes.

" who is this Avo that you keep praising... Is he your god?" Asked thunder.

" Avo is more than a god." He said. " and its a she... Avo is the goddess of our land." Replied the innkeeper. " she was the one that forged this great nation and when we failed to appease her she became angry and over one million years ago she erupted the volcano and showed our kind the true extent of her power." He said.

" she must be angry now if this is what she lets happen at night..." Said martukus.

"She has forever scared this part of our land. The volcano eruption also unleashed horrible demons that will forever haunt the forsaken land." He said.

" what's the forsaken land?" I asked.

" that's where you are right now." He said. " stallasia is decided into two parts, the eastern blight and the forsaken land. The forsaken land is the whole area that was destroyed by the volcano those million years ago... The eastern blight doesn't have to live in the fear of night... We do."

" martukus... Where is this spirit healer?" I asked looking over to him.

" a few towns over, past the volcano... Probably just outside of the forsaken lands."

" now wait adventurer..." Said the innkeeper. " tell me... What are you really?" He asked.

" me... I'm the most interesting pony you'll ever see." I said smiling.

" so... What do we do now?" Asked twilight.

" my blindness isn't as a problem as what's poisoning me..." I said. " we need to leave today... Well get a few lamps and plenty of oil as well as a bit of food... But we need to leave today." I said.

" are we going to the spirit healers?" Asked thunder.

" yes..." I answered. " every night that I spend sick is another night of torture... We need to get there as soon as possible."

" I know the spirit healer you are talking about..." Said the innkeeper. " I went to her after the attack because I was feeling Ill" he said. " the dark scars began to spread higher up my legs and were consuming my body." He said. " she is the one who healed my and kept the darkness from spreading... She works miracles and is very famous. If it helps she is going to Neewah to help family. She will be there for the next six days."

" how far is Neewah?" I asked.

" it's in the forsaken lands..." Said the innkeeper. " it's actually on the way to the volcano, two towns over... Only a four day venture... If you leave today you can make it. Since your fortunate enough to keep your eyes than she might be able to restore your sight... But if you miss her then you'll have to chase her all the way back to Milldara on the edge of the eastern blight... Which is a week long journey from Neewah."

" alright... Then we need to move fast." I said. " we should start heading out of town now, we can find shops as we head out."

" I have a map you could have downstairs. I'm sure it will come in great use." Said the innkeeper.

" that would be very kind of you." Said martukus to the innkeeper. We followed the innkeeper downstairs and he went behind his counter and into the back room. Twilight stood by me and kept a hoof over my shoulder trying to guide me. It wasn't really needed, I could tell where I was going, I wasn't hopelessly blind after all. I could sense my way around and use the energies to create a picture in my head. Still... I didn't comment because I know she means best and that's all that matters.

We finally got to the counter and the innkeeper went into the back. Everything was silent now, only a few other ponies were in the bar talking and having drinks. We waited there for a moment in silence before the innkeeper finally came back out from the back room. He walked up to the counter and passed the map over to thunder who was the closest. I couldn't actually see the map, but I could tell from the passing gesture of the outlines that there was one. To me it looked like thunder was staring at his own hoof but it was probably the map. The horn outline on his head started glowing brighter and a ring of magical energy floated in front of him. He must be using his magic to levitate the map.

" thank you..." Said thunder. " this will be of much help."

" we should be on our way." Said martukus.

" good luck adventurers... May Avo guide you." He said waving. We smiled and waved as we left out the front door. We walked out into the bright morning air and suddenly everything went white and my eyes began to burn. I cringed in pain and closed my eyes which helped, but they still stung.

" ahh... Hnng..." I moaned gritting my teeth and trying to block out the light from my eyes.

" crimson... What's wrong?" Asked twilight.

" the sun... Hnn, its burning my eyes..." I said.

" crimson, there is no sun." Said thunder. " it's a dark and cloudy day."

" well the light is burning my eyes." I said. " like a lot..."

" well... Uhh... Oh, one second." Said twilight who's voice slowly faded and she ran back into the inn. I stood there trying everything I could to keep the light from reaching my eyes and I was able to stop the burning by looking at the ground and covering my eyes, but that isn't a very practical solution. Soon I heard twilights hoofsteps again and she was right next to me. " here maybe this will help..." She said grabbing my head. I felt something soft start to wrap around my eyes and the back of my head... Did she just blindfold me? I don't know... But it worked. I opened my eyes and I could see again... Well I couldn't see. I could see the outlines of energy instead of the pure white light. My eyes didn't burn and I could look around again.

" that... That actually works." I said smiling. " what did you do?" I asked facing her.

" I just wrapped a headband around your eyes." She said, " it's a leather headband with a cloth interior so it's think and comfortable."

" thanks twi..." I said still smiling. " let's get going shall we."

We all pushed on and made our way through the town. Being blind like I was I wasn't much use. I couldn't buy any of the food or supplies that we went to get because I couldn't see the items or the money in my hoof. I could only see the ponies and the environment around me. Even the lifeless stone soon became apparent as just a white chalky outline on the ground and walls. I had to pass of my bags to thunder but we did all get other bags from a clothing shop. Whenever we would buy something one of my friends would walk over and just put something in my pack. After a while we did all find a place to eat. We all sat around outside with our food. I held out my hooves and twilight placed something in them.

I could feel a warm plate of food in my hooves, but I couldn't see it, which is a really weird feeling. She had to tell me what it was so I could try and eat it. She said it was a sandwich. I felt the food finding a right place to grab it and eat it. Once I picked it up and took the first bite I didn't place it down In fear of loosing it. When I finished my food twilight took the empty plate and I stood up. After our short break I got up and stretched my legs. We started to make our way back through town again and martukus told me we were almost out of town now, we had almost all of the supplies we needed except for fresh water. He said there was a public well just outside of town. We had bought canteens which were strapped to my saddlebags with our names on them... Except for mine, mines the one on the top left.

Inside my saddlebags I was carrying the lanterns and oil for said lanterns. There was a lot of oil for them and martukus said we probably won't need all of it, but then again nopony wants to end up like me. I didn't take much offense and agreed that we should better be safe than sorry. So we closed in on the public well which was on the border of town, twilight said she could see it from here, I could too. We got up to the well and thunder and martukus started filling up the canteens with fresh well water. Once that was done we finally headed out on the path out of town. The town was surrounded by a small jungle like biome with exotic trees and plants. The whole world seemed covered in green now instead of black. We finally set off now that we have all our supplies, food, water, a source of light, and other basic supplies.

With everything around me so dark I had no real conception of time. I could count by the hours and minutes, so far since I woke up only five hours have passed. If I had to guess, it must be some time after twelve, but I can't really tell. I'm sure that soon enough somepony will speak up and tell me when it's getting dark. I looked back and saw the well a ways behind us, but it was just the start of the path. I turned back and kept onward down the path. Derek and martukus stayed in the front and me and twilight lagged in the back. Martukus decided that since adventurers seem to be very well respected in this country that we should keep up the gig and make it more obvious. So me and him both had dawned our own suits of armor, his dark and mine light. I put up my hood and stretched my wings slightly. To be honest the whole getup I was wearing looked pretty bad ass. Spiked metal armor that glows like light, glowing symbols on my body, hood and cape, and a blindfold. I couldn't really see myself to tell if I looked awesome, but I imagined that I did.

Since our armor was magical armor it glowed brightly in my field of vision. Twilight and Derek looked like colored outlines, but me and martukus looked different through my eyes. He was looked like a patch of static moving I front of me, grey white and black lines zipped up and down his outline. I just glowed purely white. I looked down at my own hooves and it was just a solid white block in the shape of my body. We kept walking through and the world was filled with the sound of chirping birds and the rustling of leaves in trees. There was a cool breeze and today was a rather humid day, it had been like it all day. Markus told me that it was a dark cloudy day and I still think it is. We had been walking for a few minutes in total silence until twilight nudged ,y side and spoke up.

" I've been wondering about something crimson." Said twilight.

" what is it?" I asked looking at her.

" that... You just looked over to me, how are you doing that if your blind?"

" well first I can hear you right next to me, plus before you started talking you nudged me." I said.

" yeah... But you haven't needed anypony to hold your hoof and walk you around, you seem to get around just fine while your blind..." She said.

" I've been wondering that too." Said martukus.

" well... It's simple... But complicated at the same time."

" go ahead... Shoot." Said thunder. " I'd like to hear this too."

" well you know that I can sense energies... Right?" I asked. They all nodded. " well I can use that sense to manifest a mental image in my head, like an outline of your energies, and the energy of everything around me."

" so you can see..." Said twilight.

" almost..." I replied. " see to me twilight, your just a purple outline, and thunder is a blue outline." I said. " I can't see things like the saddlebags over my back, the map, or the food we were eating earlier."

" because ether aren't alive, is that it?" Asked martukus stating his theory.

" yes... It i can see things like rocks and stone since they are an element and give off their own energy." I said.

" that's kinda cool..." Said twilight.

" kinda?" I said smiling and glancing back at her.

" well we have been through more interesting things lately."

" I guess so..." I said.

" hey thunder... Grab one of the lanterns out of crimson saddlebag, its going to be night soon." He said.

" it is?" I asked.

" yeah it's starting to get dimmer." He said. I felt thunder rummaging around in the bags by my side and he pulled out a lantern and some oil to keep by his side should we need it. " now the sales pony said that these are long lasting lanterns which is good... But we should still be careful when we are resting."

" I think right here is a good place to set up camp." Said thunder gesturing to a large opening in the woods that had large stones jetting out from the ground. Most of the stones were flat and would make great places to sleep.

" no..." I said, everypony looked over to me.

" no?" Said twilight.

" we should push through the night, in this case the forest, the whole continent is proven to be too dangerous." I said. " we shouldn't stay in one place for too long especially after my incident. I can see somewhat but I don't think the rest of you can." I said.

" alright... That seems alright." Said thunder.

" I agree, this place is very dangerous at night."

" how many lanterns do we have?" I asked.

" three..." Said thunder.

" good, we can burn two together and increase our radius of light." I said. Twilight nodded and grabbed one of the lanters? She filled it with oil and a small flame lit up. I couldn't see the lantern, but I could see the flame. It looked like she was holding a little fire by an invisible string.

" we do need to sleep at some point though..." Said twilight.

" we can take short stops..." Said martukus. " every now and then we can rest for an hour then continue."

" somepony will need to keep watch so that we can rest and don't oversleep." Said thunder.

" I'll do that." I said.

" yeah and we can take shifts with every stop." Said twilight.

" no it's fine, you three can rest, I don't need the rest so much." I said.

" crimson... Your blind, you shouldn't even be walking right now, you should be resting, all day, hell even all week." Scolded twilight.

" twilight... I'm fine." I said.

" crimson you really should try and rest." Said martukus. " I know what you are, and that's no excuse... You should rest." He said looking back at me. I looked back at him through the blindfold and just smiled.

" alright..." I said. " I'll take the first shift then we can switch off and cycle through."

" thanks..." Said twilight smiling. I smiled back and we pressed onward.

" okay then, we can push on a while longer until it really gets dark and we get tired, then we'll rest for an hour while crimson takes watch." Said martukus.

" alright..." Said thunder. " then we'll walk again for another hour or so and rest up again, we can work by the hours." He said.

" sounds good to me." I said. " how about you twilight?" I asked looking over to her.

" sounds good to me," she said. " I'll take the next shift after crimson." She said.

We pushed on some more and apparently night began to fall, the sound of birds and animals had died down and now only the eerie silence of night fell upon us. That silence was soon broken by the sounding of crickets and other creatures of night. I could only imagine that there would be many exotic creatures on this continent. We pressed on a bit longer and the ground under us started to get a bit soft and wet. It had been close to an hour now and I could see the others were getting tired now as I had to slow my own pace down as not to pull ahead of them.

" I think it's a good time to stop and rest." I said.

" are you sure?" Asked thunder as we all stopped.

" yeah, it's been a bit over an hour now and we should rest up." I said.

" alright... Find someplace dry and stay close." Said martukus. I found a nice dry spot under a tree and rested up against the truck. Martukus gave me a lantern and I held it on my lap and sat down. The other around a nice place to sleep on the ground close to me. We tried to stay close together. Thunder and martukus both took a spot close to me and stayed in the glow of the lantern. They laid down and seemed to drift off rather quickly. There wasn't much space left for twilight, who was walking over to me.

" mind if I sleep here with you?" She asked. " you know... To keep you company." She said. I smiled and took the lantern off my lap. She nested up against me and laid her head down on my lap which was now free of armor. Se laid her head down and her purple mane spread over my hind legs and she rested the side of her head in the gap between my hind legs. Sitting down this way wasn't very comfortable being a pony, but twilight was smiling with her eyes closed seeming to be very comfortable where she is, so I stayed like this. I smiled and held the lantern up and hung it on a broken branch on the tree I was resting on. It took me some time to find the handle and hang it up, I almost dropped it a few times which would have been bad.

I sat there and we all rested in the darkness of night. The sounds of the world around me filled my ears and I could feel the energy of the forest. Twilights gentle breath would wash down my hind legs every time she exhaled. I placed my hoof over her side and she grabbed it right up like a teddy bear and coddled it. I smiled and rested my head against the tree trunk. I looked around but for me there wasn't much to see. Just looking at these vivid outlines of the world was interesting at first, but now it's almost become painful to look at. Even if I close my eyes I can still see them. I didn't even try to start looking around like this, it just happened, and now I can't stop it. This must work like a second line of sight if my eyes fail me, which is kind of neat. But I already miss seeing all the vibrant colors and hues of the normal world. Outlines and bright neon colors aren't pretty to keep looking at.

" it's been so long..." Said a voice. My ears perked up and I sat up a bit careful not to wake up twilight. The voice was darkly familiar, it was a mares voice. " now you can see my love... The true colors of the world, only black." Said the voice. Why did she call me 'her love'?

" hmm..." Moaned twilight twisting beneath me. She moaned slightly and turned her body around so her face was looking over to my stomach. She smiled again as she slept and held onto my hoof. There was a cold breeze that didn't seem to bother the others, but stung against my skin as it passed through my fur. There was a soft tune in the air which burst into same voice was singing a tune with Da's and La's. it sounded like a lullaby, but felt dark and twisted. The sound cooled the night air more than before and seemed to make the darkness I could see only ever more darker. Soon there was another whisper in my ear while the singing continued. I couldn't tell what it said but it repeated again, this time louder.

" can you feel that... My love?" Lashed the voice whispering in my ear. " this ever knowing darkness that lies deep within even the brightest of stallions." She said. " spiraling us closer to the void, twisting, churning, confusing us, making us angry, making us yearning... Yearning for so many things." The voice sounded distant, like it was coming from deep in the forest. " things like wealth." The voice grew closer. " fame..." Even closer now. " power..." Even closer now, it sounded like it was about a few feet away, I couldn't see anything. "...love..." Said the voice in a seductive tone, this time right next to me speaking right into my ear. I didn't move, I knew nothing could get me in the light.

" you can't hurt me..." I whispered trying to reach the voice. I don't know if it was going to work or not.

" but you hurt me..." Said the voice. " why do you bring this light into my forest?" She asked. " the light hurts me... Please, put it out." She said. " then we can be together... And I can show you a place of pain and pleasure untold." She said right into my ear again. I don't know what's going on, but I don't like e way this is going. There was a soft moan which quickly escalated into a frantic laughter. It was a sick twist of evil laughter and happy laughter.

" what are you?" I asked whispering again. There was silence now. Everything seemed to be silent, even the crickets. Soon there was another burst of soft laughter which faded after a few seconds.

" roses are red, violets are blue," she said. " only when the light is gone can the eyes see what is true." She said singing to some sick poem. " here in the darkness, a place that I call home, only here in this forest may I freely roam." She said. There was a bit of laughter that faded back into the poem. Se sounded like she was coming form all angles. " but here in this forest, a place where none dare walk, may you find it's mistress, the lady of the dark." She said.

Suddenly there was silence and a moaning wind passed through the forest taking away this, lady of the dark. I thought about that poem she sung for a little bit because for some strange reason it struck me as curious. It was fairly simple in understanding the literal meaning, but I felt that there was a deep hidden meaning to it. I sat there looking around but I couldn't see much other than my friends and the forest. The green glowing leaves and brown trunks along with my own glowing friends weren't the best things to look at to see what's around me. I thought about the poem and tried to pick it apart.

Roses are red, violets are blue. Only when the light is gone can the eyes see what is true. Here in the darkness, a place she calls home, only here in this forest may she freely roam. But here in this forest, a place where none dare walk, may you find it's mistress... The lady of the dark. I thought that over and a chilling wind passed over the forest. I shook my head to pull me awake since I was starting to drift off myself. I recalled the moment from when we stopped and up until now. After a bit of thinking I figured out that it had been a little more than an hour since then. Don't ask me to explain how I know that because I couldn't. I reached up to the branch above me where the lantern hung and carefully lowered it down. I shook twilight who still laid on me sleeping.

" twilight... C'mon, wake up." I said nudging her to consciousness. " c'mon, it's time to get going..." I said.

" huh...what?" She asked as she slowly opened up her eyes. She shuffled around a bit and pulled herself up. She looked up at me and smiled. " oh hey... Is it time to go?" She asked.

" yeah...c'mon, lets get the others up." I said. She sat up and climbed to her hooves. Once she was off of me I got up as well and we woke up martukus and thunder. Once everypony was up we set out again and pushed onward through the forest. We walked by and time passed. It wasn't long before another hour had passed and this time twilight would stay and keep watch. We found another place to rest and we laid down. I laid down near a tree and twilight walked over and kept watch near me. Once the hour was up she woke me up and I woke up the others. We carried on and it was like that the whole night. We took shifts and the night seemed to be bare able and we didn't have any problems.

Fr eight hours we passed through the forest and took our shifts. Once it got to thunder who was last it was already getting light out. Not even an hour after thunders shift did it start to get light outside now and the sun was peaking over the horizon and lighting up the forest. The darkness faded within minutes and it was safe for us to turn off our lantern. We kept strutting through the forest and out of the whispering wind I thought I could hear a voice. At first it sounded like a female voice calling out my name, but then it became much more clear.

" crimson..." Said the faded voice of a mare to the right. I looked off to the rot of the woods and for a second, I saw something. Instead of an outline of bright neon colors, I saw an actual picture. I mare, standing between the outlines of the trees. Her hair was grey, her coat was black. Her eyes were red like rubies and she wore a black gown that was torn and dirty. Her hair was braided back with black rope swarming through the braids. Her dress had red swerves through it like a pattern. Her tail was ragged and not as well kept as her mane. Her dress was mostly lace and looked like a wedding gown. And her face was all torn up. Open wounds and scratches across her eyes, like cat claws had dug out each eye. There was flesh missing from different spots of her body and they leaked blood, I stared at her with curiosity and strangely, passion.

Not a passion of love, but a passion of interest. She was by far one of the most interesting foes I've seen in a long time. Se looked sad, not at all like she wanted to kill me and hurt anypony. She looked like she needed help, like she was in incredible pain. She had the same face a child does when he is sad and looks like he might begin crying. And for a second she did cry, but not tears...blood. Drops of blood leaked from behind her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Then she opened her mouth to speak. She had pure white teeth, all evenly flat and bright white.

" until the next night... My love." She said softly. A strong breeze blew from behind me and blew her away. She evaporated into black smoke and was carried away by the wind and back into her forest. I kept looking to my left like I was expecting to see her again out of nowhere, but it never happened. It had been about three minutes before somepony tapped my shoulder. I looked over to see that twilight had nudged me with her horn and looked at me with a slight sense of uncertainty. I could tell from the way her bright purple, glowing eyes were slanted out wards.

" is something wrong?" She asked. " what are you looking at?"

" it's nothing twilight... Don't worry about it." Is said.

" whenever you say it's nothing it usually is something..." Said twilight. Martukus and thunder have taken interest in the conversation and tuned in. " I know you see something that we can't... What is it... Be honest." She said. I let out a deep sigh and looked at her. I looked over to martukus and thunder who gave me the same look twilight was. I looked back to twilight and decided to tell the truth.

" The lady of the dark..."

-Authors Note: hello there my shady friends. so things got interesting very fast, as you've seen. who exactly is this 'Lady Of The Dark'? some of you may be asking yourselves that question, and some of you are just like 'oh she's just some evil demon bitch lurking in the forest.'. well that's not quite right, she may be one of the deepest, and well supported villains ive come up with yet. it's going to be fun... you'll see. i plan on keeping the lady of the dark with the group through all of stallasian adventure. all answers will be revealed in time, until then my friends, stay safe, stay sober, and stay shady.-End of Note-