The Slender Mane of Everfree Forest

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, that belongs to Hasbro and Lauren Faust. I also do not own Slender Mane, or Slender Man, and credit to those that made them, because I do not know who you are.

Side Note: Took a lot longer to get this chapter going because I needed to get in the mindset of Slender Mane to get a decent idea of what he would do next... So... yeah :/ Here's the next chapter!

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Chapter 2: A Fainted Friend with a Nightmarish Experience

{~Location: Everfree Forest~Two miles in~}

{~Time: 0830 hours Military Time~8:30 a.m. Civilian Time~}

{~Date: Morning~4 days after Nightmare Night~}

{~CMC~}

“Are you sure that we're heading the right way to Zecora's?” Sweetie Bell asked, rotating a map while levitating it in front of her, squinting her eyes against the darkness.

“Ah'm certain that we are, Sweetie Bell. Ah found my way to her hut by myself, 'member?” Apple Bloom stated, not looking back.

Scootaloo didn't say anything. She just couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched. She looked into the forest that surrounded her and her friends, seeing nothing but the eerie blackness swallow the trees like a hungry maw. She jumped at the sound of twig snapping somewhere in the distance. She couldn't explain it, she wasn't normally this scared of being in the forest, but something was making her more nervous of being in the lightly explored area. Scootaloo looked at her friends still talking, but for some strange reason she couldn't here what they were saying. There wasn't any wind or animal cries that could drown out the sound.

As she was trying to overcome her sudden fear, she thought she saw something out the corner of her eye. She quickly looked in that direction and saw nothing. She heard the sound of something moving through the leaves behind her. The silence had turned into the sounds of muffled voices that had stopped abruptly. She turned to her friends and saw them a few feet ahead of her, giving off looks of confusion and slight concern.

Sweetie Bell took a few steps forward and, still muffled, asked, “Scoot, are you okay?”

Scootaloo shook her head to try and stop the muffling. All the while the presence of something behind her ever increased her fear. Scootaloo asked, with the smallest of voice cracks, “Sweetie Bell, is there something behind me?”

Sweetie Bell gave her a look a confusion, yet leaned upwards a little bit to see over her friend's head. Sweetie Bell got back down to her proper height and shook her head.

The presence was still there.

Scootaloo gulped at that and slowly turned around... She saw the hooves of somepony in a black suit standing a mere six feet away. Her head slowly moved upwards and she saw the head of the pony, and saw no face. Only a slight discoloration that was in the shape of a blank frown was existent on the face. She was frozen in terror and was unable to move as the faceless pony took two steps forward, already covering the distance between them. It's limbs shrunk until It was her height. A single black tendril came from It's back and caressed Scootaloo's cheek like a special somepony would do. The tendril of shadow retreated back into the pony's back and It leaned forward until It's head was right next to her's. It whispered something silent and It quietly took a few steps back and stretched It's limbs until they were the same length as before. It suddenly disappeared and left nothing behind as though It was never there.

Scootaloo stared at the place where the pony disappeared as what It said was moving throughout her mind.

The Operator wishes you luck...

It was echoing through her mind like a bat's sonar. She did the only sensible thing she could do: She fainted.

As her two friends rushed to her side, the faceless pony was moving towards Ponyville, more specifically, the medical center.

{~Change of Setting: Medical Center room 203~}

{~Change of Time: 2330 hours Military Time~11:30 p.m. Civilian Time~}

{~Point-of-View: Third Pony~}

Nurse Redheart quietly closed the door to Room 203. She took a small breath and turned around to see Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and the other two members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. All of them had looks of deep concern. She took another small breath and said, “She's stable.”

They all gave a sigh of relief. Redheart said, “According to our analysis, there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with her physically. Sweetie Bell, can you tell me again what happened before she fainted?”

Sweetie Bell nodded and said, “Well, we were walking along inside the Everfree Forest. She was acting far from normal. She was jumpy, nervous, and outright scared. She's never shown that before. Something must've scared her enough to show it. At one point she stopped and asked me if there was something behind her. I looked over her head and saw nothing. I shook my head and she turned around and moved her head upwards. She stood like that for a few minutes before she fainted.”

Nurse Redheart rubbed a hoof under her chin. Rainbow Dash had look of concern. Fluttershy was silent as always, but she had her gaze on the door. She had, almost, a quizzical look on her face. She then gave off a small smile and remained silent. She saw the smallest of specks of black glide under the door and into the room. Fluttershy thought nothing of it and returned to the conversation.

“I suggest that we keep a close eye on her. If she's seeing things that aren't really there, that can be point of concern.” Nurse Redheart said, “I've got a friend that deals with the Psyche of fillies. I'll give him a call and make an appointment.”

Fluttershy asked, “Shouldn't we wait and see if these events continue before we make a decision like that?” She lowered herself to the ground and mumbled, “I mean, if that sounds reasonable to you...”

Sweetie Bell said, “I agree with Fluttershy. I think that we're thinking too drastically.”

Rainbow Dash and Apple Bloom agreed as well. Nurse Redheart sighed and said, “Alright, I give her a week. But if she shows no signs of improving I'm calling him.”

They all nodded. Everypony walked back to the entrance, Fluttershy stayed back, muttering something about going to the little mare's room. Nopony seemed to notice, so she walked down the hall in the opposite direction they were walking and went past Scootaloo's room. She went to the restroom and as she neared Scootaloo's room, she stopped at the entrance and peeked in. With a quick look around and seeing nopony she quietly walking into the room.

She stopped at the foot of the bed, looking at the sleeping form of the orange pegasus. Scootaloo was constantly rolling over in her sleep, trying to get comfortable. Fluttershy either was ignoring or wasn't even aware of the faceless pony that was appearing as though to be watching both of them at once.

Fluttershy smiled and muttered, “You know that you've been asleep for a while.” There was no response and she continued, “I've been worried the whole time that you would be asleep forever. But once I was told that you would be up and kicking soon, I was so happy. I never imagined how soon though.”

She smiled again and said, “Come back to us. More ponies miss you then you think.”

With that she left the room without another word. The faceless pony then walked over to Scootaloo and did as he had done before. A black tendril come out of his back and wrapped around Scootaloo's head, completely covering it except for the nose and mouth. The same hue of purple surrounded the tendril and the same small flashs of light went through the tendril and into the faceless pony. He convulsed again, this time with slightly more erratic spasms. His target was rolling around in a cold sweat, muttering 'No' and 'Need to get away'. A particularly bright flash went into the pony and he convulsed greater than the other times. The heart monitor was going crazy and the sounds of hoof falls could be heard getting louder in the halls. The faceless pony waited until a doctor ran into the room to retract the tendril. With him being slightly satisfied, he left the medical center and went into the Everfree Forest.

{~Three days later~Cheerilee's Class~}

“And class before the final bell I would like to make an announcement.” Cheerilee said happily. She continued when the class was silent. “As you may already know, the Ponyville Talent Show is going to be in three days. Anypony is eligible to enter. You can do it as a group or solo. But, the thing that makes this different is that there will be prize for the top three ponies.”

At the word of 'prize' the classroom was filled with mutterings of what the prize could be. Cheerilee had to raise her voice to get their attention again. Everypony was excited for the talent show, except for one. A certain orange pegasus was currently drawing in class. It wasn't a normal picture by everyponies standards. It showed herself in a forest-y setting, with a tall and skinny pony behind her, tentacles coming out of It's back. She sighed, and put it with the multitude of others that she had drawn in the recent days. She even had a small notebook where she was writing a story of her experiences with the pony that she has come to name, Slender Mane. It was mostly full of nightmares or personal sightings and theories. She even named a pony that she has seen with him as a Proxy. It was a little known term regarding somepony that was authorized to act for somepony else. The Proxy's identity was unknown, as the Proxy wears a mask and completely covered their body. When she heard the final bell ring, she put her notebook in her saddle and left with her two friends.

“So what do you think the prize is goin' to be?” Apple Bloom asked excitedly.

“It's probably something cheesy like a coupon for the local Spa.” Sweetie Bell claimed.

“What do you think, Scoots?” Apple Bloom asked. With no response she said, “Scoots?”

They both looked at their friend to find Scootaloo appearing absent-minded. Sweetie Bell nudged her friend's shoulder and said, “Hey, Scoots. Scoots!”

Scootaloo shook her head and said, “Huh?”

“We were wondering what you think the prize for the talent show is going to be.” Sweetie Bell said.

“Oh uhh...” Scootaloo thought for a moment before saying, “A trip to Canterlot?”

Sweetie Bell started jumping up and down while exclaiming, “Ohh ohh I hope it's that!”

They all laughed and went on their way to the CMC Clubhouse.

~-_-~

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell were fast asleep in the clubhouse. Scootaloo, on the other hoof, was wide awake and staring out the window. Without even turning around she said, “You know, if you could do something for me just once.”

Slender Mane, who was currently behind her, didn't respond as she continued, “If I manage to convince them to let me do a performance with somepony else, would you and your Proxy mind joining me for the talent show?”

She turned her head to see Slender Mane tilt his head slightly. They stayed in that position for at least an hour. Slender Mane gave a silent and small nod, then left the clubhouse and went back into the Everfree Forest, giving her a single night of peace. And she enjoyed it with every fiber of her being.

{~Time: 1130 Military Time~11:30 a.m. Civilian Time~}

{~Location: Ponyville~}

{~Date: Two days until the Ponyville Talent Show~}

Scootaloo had managed to convince her friends to let her do it with somepony else. She was currently walking towards the home of the town's D.J.: Vinyl Scratch, or as she's most famously known as, D.J. Pon-3. She stopped at the front door and knocked a few times. After a few seconds, Vinyl answered and said, “Yes? Oh hey, Scootaloo! What brings you here?”

Scootaloo said, “Oh nothing. I was just wondering if you could help me out with something?”

Vinyl gave her a small look of confusion and said, “Uh sure thing, come in.”

She opened the door more and Scootaloo walked inside. She saw the basic furnishings, but a door to her left had a sign on it that said, 'Studio'.

“So,” Vinyl said, “What do you need?”

Scootaloo at her and said, “I was wondering if you help me make some background music for my performance in at the talent show?”

Vinyl smiled at that and shrugged, then said, “Sure why not. Come on, let's get started.”

She went into the studio with Scootaloo following.

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Tell me what you think!

I'm really wanting to move this story along so that I can finish my other two. But don't worry, this story's going to be at least five chapters long.

This has been MrDenim

Random Quote of the Day: "You are WRONG, you ol' brass-breasted fascist poop!" -- Bloom County

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