Chapters Author's Note
((This is my first MLP story, I'm hoping it will come out well when it is complete. Feel free to leave feedback and let me know if their are any grammar issues I can fix))
The Arrival
A soft heartbeat, the sound of wind blowing over my body, the footsteps of small animals running around. This was all I could hear, but all I could see was blackness. I felt nothing, my body was numb, and my last memory was that of a gun being held to my head and the sound of it as the trigger was pulled. I'm dead...is this what it's like? Empty, black, the feeling of nothingness? It's like I don't even exist, like I'm not real. I can't fight the urge to get up, to tell death off and force myself back to life. Is this Hell? It couldn't be; I heard my heart beating faster. Then it hit me, my heart's beating, I'm not dead.
My eyes lids were heavy, but I managed to get them open. I was in a forest and a very odd one at that. It seemed vaguely cartoonish and it was making me question my mentality. Ignoring it, I forced myself to get back on my feet; which proved to be a struggle. My entire body was sore, but it was nothing compared to the splitting headache I was being forced to endure. I looked around to see nothing but trees, which was actually rather comforting. Since my pledge to a new higher power was made I found myself a lot more comfortable within the depths of heavily wooded areas, especially at night.
"Where the hell am I?" I asked myself as I started slowly walking through this empty abyss of a place. I walked for maybe an hour before I started to smell something horrid. The scent of wood-rot and death filled my nostrils and a faint growl came from behind me. I turned around to see this...thing. A giant wooden beast in the shape of a wolf with glowing green eyes stared at me with a great hungered look. It took a stance that I could easily recognize, one that said it was ready to attack. I stood my ground in shock and awe at this beast, but I didn't let my guard down. The beast lunged at me and I rolled to the side, dodging its attack. I instinctively drew my knife. It wouldn't do much against wood, but it was better than just accepting my fate as this monster's lunch. It jumped at me again and I ducked down, letting it fly right over me and smash its head into a tree that stood directly behind me. It shook its head in pain, but mostly annoyance. I stood ready to fight despite having no idea how to defend myself from such a massive monstrosity. As it prepared to jump again I felt a presence. The beast could feel it too, I could see it in its eyes. This presence comforted me, it made me feel as if their was no danger, like I had nothing to fear from the world. The wooden wolf creature however was filled with fear, this was very clear. I knew this feeling and apparently it did too.
It stood there, debating whether or not to attack, looking back and forth between me and an open area where it could flee to safety. It eventually decided on the latter and took off with its tail between its legs.
"That was one hell of a welcoming party." I said to myself, tucking my knife into the side of my pants. I turned around to see the source of this comforting feeling, but was surprised at its appearance. There was a tall, horse-like, white figure donning a black suit. It had a blank white face and bore the Operator symbol on its flank. I walked closer and stared at it in confusion, my eyes refusing to move from the sight. It was at that moment I heard a voice whispering to me within my own mind.
"Odd, I don't remember you being so disrespectful when approached by me..." My eyes widened in my realization and I quickly knelt down.
"I'm sorry master, please excuse my rudeness. I was unsure if it was really you." I quickly said, hoping desperately he wouldn't take my inexcusable behavior to heart. I wasn't normally so submissive, but this creature was like a father to me. He had saved my life and freed me from the madness of the world I lived in. He showed me how to survive, showed me that I have a purpose in life and gave me a new type of freedom, one that I couldn't achieve on my own. Granted, I had to serve him for the rest of my life, but he allowed me to express myself in horrible ways...ways that made me feel so alive.
"Rise, child. Your confusion is understandable as this form is completely foreign to you..." I got back to my feet and I watched as the creature extended a large number of tendrils to my body. It started to feel me, gripping at my entire body randomly.
"You don't appear to be injured..." He said, halting his inspection and moving on to brushing the dirt off of my cloths.
"Thanks to you, master. If you hadn't shown up I'd probably be nothing but a red puddle." I said with a chuckle. Its tendrils retracted back into its body and I started to do an inspection of my own. I walked around it in a circle, eyeing this weird new body my master now had. When I finally got back to its front side I decided to address the situation.
"I mean no disrespect, master...but where the hell are we?" I really didn't want to question him, but my curiosity was driving me crazy and I needed to know.
"We are currently in the Everfree Forest, it's located on the outskirts of Ponyville in the land of Equestria" I stared at him with a great deal of confusion, but he couldn't see it due to the mask I always wore. He didn't need to see it, he could tell, he could always tell how his proxies were feeling.
"Child, we are in a world beyond the confines of your previous one. This is a world of magic; allow me to summarize. It is inhabited by three separate races of pony. Earth ponies, who work the with the land and grow crops for their townsfolk to consume. Pegasi, who control the weather. And unicorns, who can control magic. The land we are in currently is ruled by two royal sisters of a different race, alicorn... I listened as gave me a brief history lesson about the land I was in, but I couldn't help but stare at him in disbelief.
"So...I am in a world full of sentient horses...that can control magic?" I commented, still finding all of this to be kind of insane. If you ask me, that's a lot to hear from a guy who has dedicated his whole life and even took the lives of others for a being that most didn't believe existed.
"I understand your skepticism, but I assure you that all of this is true... I remained silent, still just staring at him with a blank expression. I mean, really? How could it expect me to take this seriously, it's way too far fetched. For a moment I suspected that this was some sort of joke my family, fellow proxies, were playing on me. No, if it was than our master wouldn't be here. He wasn't the joking type.
"Let me show you..." He reached out and pressed a hoof against me and in the blink of an eye we were standing just outside of the forest. He pointed toward a group of small ponies; one earth, one pegasus, and one unicorn. All different colored, and when listening carefully I could hear them talking. They were speaking of a place called Sugarcube corner and a new brand of doughnuts they came out with. My jaw dropped and I apologized to my master for not believing him. He accepted the apology, but their was still one last thing I needed to know.
"Why am I here?" I asked. He looked at me with his expressionless face.
"Do you remember the events that took place before you awoke? I thought back and told him I did. It was the dead of the night, the sound of sirens filled the air as I ran. I jumped onto a fence and climbed over it just to continue my efforts to escape. I sprinted with great speed and smiled as I saw a forest preserve in the distance. I knew if I made it there I would be safe, but luck wasn't on my side this time. I heard the crack of a gun behind me and collapsed as a sharp pain penetrated my leg. The bullet had gone through the back of my leg and tore through my knee cap. It wasn't the pain that had caused my collapse, but the shock that zipped through my body causing me to stumble and lose my footing. I was about to get up and start running again, but I was grabbed and lifted up by a man in a blue suit and a badge on his chest. His eyes were filled with rage and he held the gun against the side of my head.
"You...you're the bastard that took my daughter! You gave her to that...that thing!" I ignored his words and tried to break out of his grip, but his anger was in control and his grip was stronger than iron. "Where is she?"
I stopped struggling and looked him in the face. He stared past my mask and into my eyes. I smiled and figured that I'd play with him a bit, he was going to kill me regardless.
"She's gone...it has her...and it'll never give her back..." That was when it happened. He pulled the trigger and the world went black, but I noticed something. Despite being at the mercy of the unstable officer, just before he shot me, I felt a great deal of comfort. A comfort that I had been very welcoming of for over four years now.
"I couldn't allow you to die, you're one of the most influential proxies I have ever had. So I took you and brought you here. A universe that has no history of your existence, a universe where you never died... I rubbed the spot on my head where I had been shot. Not only was their no wound, there wasn't even a scar. It had never happened.
"I need you here. My influence in this world is almost nonexistent, I believe you can change that..." I remained silent for a moment before turning to face him completely.
"How can I serve you master?"
Author's Note
((I have a bit more time than I originally thought. Might be able to get a few more chapters up real quick))
The Introduction
I waited for the sun to go down before moving out. Covered by the shadows of the night should make me very difficult to spot. I made my way toward the large castle just spitting distance from this Ponyville place while avoiding the town itself for obvious reasons. When I made it to my destination I crouched down beside a bush to make sure nothing was around. I carefully scanned the area to find no sign of life and went for the door. Luckily it was unlocked, saves me the lock-pick. After creeping in I slowly closed the door, trying to make as little noise as possible. This place was ridiculous, the entire exterior and interior looked like it was made entirely of crystals. Not only that, but the hallways seemed to stretch for miles; how am I supposed to navigate my way through this place without getting lost?
After a bit of wandering I found myself in a large room with a table and six large throne-like chairs, not including the one small chair resting beside one of them. My body jerked as I heard something moving in my direction and I ducked behind one of the chairs. The sound of multiple footsteps came close to my area and I immediately reached for my knife. No! The boss said no killing, not yet. I am to find the alicorn princess that lives here and play nice until I can gain their trust. I peeked out from behind the chair and saw a white unicorn with a purple mane slowly walking with a glass of water levitating in front of her. Wait, only one? But he said six ponies lived here and it sounded like...right, horses have four feet. I mentally slapped myself for not realizing that in the first place. If I'm to get away with stuff like this I need to remember these details. The unicorn looked drowsy, she was likely grabbing a drink and heading straight back to bed, maybe if I follow her I can find out where the bedrooms are.
After a bit of stalking and hiding behind curtains and crystals she walked into a room that I could see was extravagantly designed with colorful and flashy materials. She's a high-end kind of pony, enjoys the finer things in life, expensive tastes run in her blood which likely makes her a bit of a snob. I made sure to commit that to memory, if I'm going to try to make friends I have to learn how to appeal to their personalities. She closed the door to her room and that was that. If her room was there then the others shouldn't be too far, they were friends after all. I opened the door to another room and found it filled with a bunch of party supplies and things that could easily make a small child smile, on the bed was a pink pony with a very poofy pink mane snoring very loudly. This one was too easy; This one was a party animal, likely does things that are a bit unpredictable, probably does anything to make their friends happy despite being slightly annoying from time to time. However, this was not the pony I was looking for. Master told me the one I wanted was purple and had wings and a horn. I closed the door softly and moved on to the next. This one was relatively plain despite all of the books in it. So this one's a heavy reader, probably well educated, but those with book smarts tend not to read people accurately, this is good for me. Typically smart people like to do things by-the-book and this can make them a bit ignorant. Moving on to the bed...
"Jackpot..." Hours later the sun rose and the alicorn princess woke up with a yawn and stretched as she sat up before letting out a yelp.
Twlight woke up feeling very refreshed and ready to take on the day. She yawned a bit as she got up and stretched before seeing something rather odd. It's appearance startled her and she yelped out of fear. She lost balance and fell out of bed, landing on the floor next to spike with a thud. Spike woke up and saw her.
"Twilight? What are you doing on the floor?" She stared at the creature sitting on the end of her bed who was silently staring at them. Spike turned around and screamed the moment he saw it. He jumped and took refuge behind her. Twilight got up and straightened herself to assess the situation, despite still being a bit disturbed by this hooded thing. I mean, how couldn't She? It was just sitting there staring at her through a what looked like a mask. It had one eye blacked out and the other circled and X'ed out, it had a weird smile on it too. The creature was dressed in all black from the head down. It was now or never. She cleared her throat and took her royal posture as she addressed him.
"Greetings, uh...sir? Um, my name is Twilight Sparkle. I don't mean to be rude or anything, but what are you doing in my castle?" She asked, a bit more shaky than she'd like to admit.
"I was looking for you, I guess." It said calmly.
"Oh, heh heh. What for?" She did her best to not appear fearful, but even Spike could see how terrified she was.
"Well, to be honest I'm a little lost." It didn't sound threatening, but she couldn't be too sure.
"Lost? How so?" She's got to find out as much about it as she can. It reached up and removed its hood, running what appears to be claws through a patch of short black hair. It's claws don't seem to have nails, well, none that were sharp.
"Well I'm not exactly sure where I am. I woke up in a forest just outside of town and after I got out I saw this castle. I assumed it belonged to royalty and who better to answer my questions than the ruler?" He seems genuine...
"Well, I wouldn't exactly call myself the ruler, I just help out really, but I am the princess of friendship." Being honest is probably the best way to go about this, especially if she's giving him her royal title. The creature stepped off of the bed and stood on two legs. It got down on one knee and bowed. Her plan worked!
This is disgusting, bowing before something that isn't my master, but she believed the story. I just have to role with it and show respect until they formally welcome me.
"It's an honor to meet you Princess Sparkle. I apologize for intruding on your property without consent." I looked up and saw a blush forming on her face...really?
"Oh, please, don't bow. It's fine. You just startled me is all." I stood up and looked over her, she seemed to calm down, but the purple lizard was still cowering behind her hind leg.
"So, about where I am?" I asked, still going with the whole 'lost traveler' bit my master and I came up with.
"Oh, right! You're in Ponyville." Fascinating...sometimes my sarcasm is a bit too convincing, even for me.
"Umm..." I fell silent for a moment, still playing the role.
"Is something wrong?" She had a concerned look on her face, she's still buying it.
"No, I'm just wondering...why are you a pony?" Her eyes widened and her ears fell flat. I've already won.
Author's Note
WARNING: Their is a brief story about physical abuse in this chapter.
The Mask
It's been hours since I've spoken to Twilight in her room. She's introduced me to her friends, the embodiment's of the elements of harmony. This world was definitely a weird one, but not weirder than that pink horse that practically defies all logic. I feel like she was a mistake, like she wasn't supposed to exist, but that's just my opinion. They all sat at the table and asked me dozens of questions; who I was, where I came from, what was it like. So far they know my name and that I'm from another world. They surprisingly took it very well, hell, the pink one wanted to throw a '"Welcome to our world" party.
"I gotta gotta tell ya, yer definately one of the strangest creatures I've ever seen. No offence." The one called Applejack stated.
"Don't worry about it, I'm weird in my world too." It wasn't really a lie, I could tell them the truth about a few things, their are just things I have to either change or leave out.
"I'm sure you're not that different in your world." Fluttershy quietly added.
"Well, I'm not much differently physically. People just think I'm weird because of how goofy and random I can be." Goofy and random, good. If they ever catch me doing something weird now then hopefully they'll just assume it's me being random.
"Goofy!? I like being goofy, it's fun!" I almost jumped out of my skin, she just came out of nowhere. Stupid pink horse. Pinkie poked my nose with her hoof.
"I like your face." She simply stated. I just kind of stared at her from behind my mask with a confused expression.
"I'm sorry darling, but I must disagree. It's eerie and unsettling. Why ever would you wear such a thing?" Great, now that Rarity questioned it everyone else is going to get curious.
"I'm with Rarity on this one, it is kind of weird." Even the Rainbow horse is questioning it now. I have an idea. If I can come up with some sort of sob story I can make them feel bad, then maybe they'll drop the subject completely. Who knows, maybe it'll help me get out of answering more of these questions. I made my eyes drop and buried my face in my hands, I slipped my pinkie fingers into the eye holes of my mask and jabbed them into my eyes, making them tear up. They didn't see me do this, as far as they know I'm just covering my face. Twilight was the first to speak up.
"James...are you ok?" I lifted my head, my eyes were slightly red with irritation and had already teared up to give the impression that I was crying. They all looked at me with worry filling their faces.
"Um, you don't have to tell us if you don't want to..." Fluttershy, you're so full of heart, so caring. The others weren't heartless, they just weren't as moved as she was. Hell, Rainbow Dash just looked confused.
"No, it's fine. When I was young...my father used to beat me." All of their eyes widened and they froze. I continued my little sob story.
"He...he did it on a regular basis. Everyday after school I would go home and he would just be sitting there waiting for me. Then he would get up and hit me. It started with a few slaps on the side of my head, but as time went by he would hit harder...He started punching me in the face on a regular basis..." It was working, each and every one of them were tearing up rapidly.
"Eventually my face was more cuts and bruises than skin. He made me lie to the school so they couldn't come after him and it just got worse every day. Every time I looked in the mirror I was reminded of him. So I started wearing masks so I wouldn't have to look at the aftermath of my fathers rage..." I stopped there and waited. I didn't need to say anything else, they were all silently bawling in their chairs. Minus Pinkie who rushed over and hugged me so hard I couldn't breath while literally crying pools around us. I managed to get her off of me, but it was one hell of a struggle, she was surprisingly strong. When they all calmed down and recollected themselves Rarity apologized, going on about if she had know she would never have brought it up in the first place. I told them it was fine, that it was all in the past and their was nothing to worry about. They all felt horrible, they wanted nothing more than to make me happy. Pinkie threw me a party, I had a bit of cake, some punch. It was actually pretty relaxing. It was nice to take a break from my usual work and kick back, but I knew this wouldn't last forever. Even though I wasn't technically working, I was easily succeeding in my mission to get these ponies to like me.
They asked a few more questions about my world and avoided any subjects that seemed too personal. I told them about my dreams and ambitions as a child, how I wanted to grow up to help people. That was back before...that doesn't matter. Obviously I left out everything about my discovery and submission to my master, the last thing I need is for them to start second guessing me. The girls started talking among themselves while I stood off to the side by the punch bowl and watched. They seemed like they were having fun. Applejack eventually found her way over to me.
"Howdy, James." Now I may be a cold-hearted murderer, but that southern accent is absolutely adorable.
"Hey, Applejack. What brings you over here, shouldn't you be having fun with your friends?"
"Ah could say the same thing to you." Smart ass, she said that with a smile and everything. I kept my cool and continued the conversation.
"I just needed to break away for a bit, do my own thing. Ya know?"
"Ah guess there's nothing wrong with having a little alone time." I couldn't help it, I let out a chuckle.
"What are you laughin' bout?" I did it again, this time a little louder.
"I'm sorry, I can't help it. Your accents really cute." I told her with a smile, not that she could tell. She blushed and turned her head. I could see the small smile on her face before she looked away.
"Well, thank you. It's not every day somepony-er someone says something about me is cute." I wonder...
"I don't see why they don't. You are very cute and you deserve to know it." just how far...
"Nah, you're just sayin' that." She started facing me again, still blushing.
"Applejack, what I am telling you is the honest truth...I think you're really cute." Her smile vanished and she was starting to look like she had cherries glued to her face. She smiled nervously and said she had to go do something before taking off. I wasn't lying when I said she was cute, she really was. Plus, if I can get at least a couple of them romantically interested in me then if rumors start about me I'll have some influential individuals there to back me up. Sometime's I think I'm a little over-prepared for my own downfall, but then again I only do this because I've gone through this kind of thing a lot. These tactics are just things I picked up on and think to myself about how if I had done something like this I could have gotten away with it without discovery, or at least have bought myself some more time to leave town.
The girls finally called an end to the party and Twilight offered me a room to stay for the time being. I gladly accepted, but I felt my heart sink when she brought up her fellow princesses. Talking about how she was going to send them a letter about me and see if there was anything they could do to send me home. When I got to my room I leaned against the wall and slid to the ground. What if the princesses got a hold me and find me out? What if they had a way to send me home? Would I die? I'm supposed to be dead in that world, that's why my master brought me here. I pushed those thoughts out of my head and focused on the task at hand, and hell, if I could trick one princess into thinking I'm a harmless sap with a messed up childhood then I shouldn't have any problem with two others. I got back to my feet and walked over to my new bed, but stopped when I noticed the tall faceless figure standing right in front of it.
Author's Note
This was a pretty fun chapter
The First Step
I ran as fast as I could. After my master had approached me he spoke of a mare in the Everfree forest, a potential proxy. I needed to find her as soon as possible. A lot of proxies didn't follow through with the ritual and would attempt to back out, but by then they had sealed their fate. They were either its servant or his prey. I stopped when I got to the forest and took a second to catch my breath. Now, to find her. I closed my eyes, I knew my master was close to her, I just had to find out where he was...Found him. I could feel his presence. He wasn't too far in, but he was moving. Fast. I sprinted through the trees until I was sure I was standing in the direction she was going. The sound of a pony running became clearer by the second. I crouched down so I wouldn't be seen and sure enough there she was. A young red mare with a black running desperately, as if her life was depending on it. When she was close enough I stood up, catching her by the neck before I threw her to the ground and pinned her. She choked a bit from the impact but as soon as she recovered she screamed and yelled, demanding that I remove myself or she'd hurt me.
"Shut up!" I couldn't take it, it was getting annoying. She looked up at me with fear in her eyes, but tried to cover it up with anger.
"Get off of me! Who do you think you are!?" She said that while trying to throw me off of her. I'll admit, these ponies are a lot stronger than I thought, but luckily I was able to keep her pinned.
"Stop struggling and listen or I'm going to feed you to it!" She stopped dead in her tracks and despite the dirty look she was giving me, she seemed like she was ready to hear me out.
"We both know what you're running from, but right now I need you to tell me why you're out here." I have to be sure she was trying to become a proxy. If she was then there's a chance at her surviving, if not then I'll be forced to keep her here until my master shows up. After that she's history.
"What does it matter to you?" Stubborn, hard-headed, and strong-willed...
"Answer now or I'll kill you before you can so much as blink!" I am even more so. She growled at me, but her face fell, she was ready to cooperate.
"I came out here to find the Slender Horse..." Now we're getting somewhere, I just have to press a little bit harder.
"Why?" I asked this while making my voice as threatening as possible so she would get scared and wouldn't start struggling again.
"I...I wanted to be one of his followers. They say those who do can do what ever they want. That they can break free from the confines of the world around them and become something...more..." This one hit a little too close to home, she reminded me a lot of myself in a way.
"You've found little satisfaction in the world. You feel like a pawn in the game of life, just following the rules and running a predestined course. However, despite all you've done you still feel empty, washed-up, useless...You want a purpose..." She stared at me as if she was a lost soul who had just found God.
"How did you..." No time to let her talk, my master was almost here and if I didn't work fast she'd be as good as dead. I quickly released her from my grip and pulled her back on her hooves.
"Listen, we don't have time for that right now. I just need you to stand still and close your eyes." It's getting closer, I can see it not even 10 feet from us, but I can't tell her that, she'll try to run again.
"But it's trying to"
"Zip it!" She tried to look behind her but I grabbed her muzzle and pulled it towards me.
"Trust me...hold completely still, no matter what you hear or feel, don't move...and do NOT open your eyes!" She was obviously very hesitant to listen to me, but obeyed.
"Good...now as long as you do as I said, you have a chance at surviving this." My master was now standing directly behind her. I found it hard to see my master as something frightening with this new form, but I know what my master is capable of. This wan't a force to be reckoned with, this was an entity you cower in fear of and pray goes away. Its tendrils extended from its back and started wrapping around the mares form. She shuddered from its touch and for a moment I thought she was going to bolt, surprisingly she kept her cool.
"What's happening? What's it doing?" I looked to my master for confirmation. He nodded, letting me know it was okay.
"My master is currently inspecting your body to see if you are physically capable of being a proxy." She gasped which led me to assume my master had accidentally touched her inappropriately.
"Did you...call it...your master?" Oh. Why did I assume that other thing? Never mind, she's already being felt up by my master, so she's at his mercy. No point in hiding it from her since she's either going to have to follow the same rules as I do or die.
"I did, I am a proxy. I hold undying loyalty to my master and follow his orders without question." My master retracted his tendrils, a sign that his inspection was finished.
"Is it over? Can I open my eyes?" My master looked at me again. I knew the routine, he wanted me to ask her why she wanted to be a proxy. It could do its on his own, but part of my job is to serve it and sometimes it found it necessary to have us speak for him. Above all it's a way of reminding proxies of their place. Moving on, I already knew why she wanted to be a proxy.
"She wants to be a proxy for the same reason I did. Right down to the last dot..." It nodded. I watched as my master's face tore open and revealed a large demonic looking mouth. It lowered its mouth to her shoulder and bit down. She screamed in pain and I could hear the sound of her flesh burning. When it finally released her she fell to the ground, unconscious. I lowered myself to her and ran my fingers over where my master had bitten her. There was no wound, no teeth marks, not a trace of anything even touching her. But if you looked close enough you could see a scar beneath her fur that was black as night, the operator symbol, a sign of my masters ownership. I stood up straight and faced my master.
"You've done well, child.." That was a relief. It's good to know I'm not going to be doing all of the work on my own now and with her actually being a pony she would be able to work in public without causing a panic or immediate suspicion. Speaking of...
"Is there anything else you would like me to do?"
"Go to the Town Hall in Ponyville, do not be seen, and carve my symbol into the wall." Town Hall, it's the most popular spot in this area and if the ponies were to see the master's symbol they would get curious. Some might even research its origins and they would find stories of my master. That would allow "My influence to spread" I looked up at my master, forgetting that when he's near he can tell what I'm thinking.
"Once word spreads that I have returned then ponies will either begin to follow me or fear me..." I couldn't help but smile, this would definitely be an adventure to remember. I made quick work of the Town Hall, it was dark so no ponies were able to see me. Afterward I made my way back to the castle. I wondered what the mare from earlier would be like. I didn't really have time to get to know her with the situation being what is was. I'll get to see her again, she is a proxy now after all. My master has marked her; now it will return her to her home and tomorrow night it will retrieve her and begin the training.
It was still pretty late when I got back to the castle so after I got in and quietly made my way back to my room I collapsed on the bed and went out like a light. My nightmares used to keep me up all night, but after this I think I can live with a bit of late-night convulsions.
I woke up screaming, as usual. I was sweating profusely; these nightmares were going to be the death of me. I could hear something coming toward the door to my room. My instincts told me to be ready for a fight, but my common sense reminded me that I have nothing to worry about in here. I sat up and leaned against the bed-frame and waited for what ever interaction was coming . Not even a minute later the door shot open and I was greeted by a very worried looking alicorn princess.
"What's going on? Are you okay?" Twilight seemed genuinely worried. Weird...
"I'm fine, Twilight. Just a nightmare." I don't see the point in lying to her about that, I'm sure even pastel colored horses have bad dreams every now and again. I saw the relief wash over her features after hearing that I was okay.
"Oh, thank Celestia. I thought you were hurt." Thank Celestia? What was that; some sort of weird horse religion? Wait, that's the name of their sun god. I tilted my mask down enough so that I could rub my temples. I had a raging headache, those were one of the effects of the nightmares, plus trying to remember all of this information was just plain annoying.
"Are you sure you're okay, James?" So inquisitive...
"I'm fine, just a headache, it'll pass." You better hope your curiosity doesn't get the better of you.
"If you say so." She was about to walk off but turned back. She wasn't done yet?
"I received a letter from Princess Celestia this morning, she and Princess Luna are working on a spell that might be able to send you home." Really? Just like that?
"They...they don't want to see me or anything?" This doesn't seem right.
"Well, they would like to see you at some point, but after sending so many letters about how kind you've been she trusts that you won't be an issue. She has even asked me to introduce you to all of Ponyville!" She seemed strangely excited about this. Do all ponies behave in such an upbeat manner. I know I've been here for a few days now and they are almost always smiling. The moments where they are even close to breaking down only lasts minutes if not only seconds. I don't know whether one would envy their constant carefree happy nature or pity them for it.
"That's cool, but I don't think they're going to be that comfortable with something like me just going out and walking around. Even in my world mothers would make their kids hide under a table when I came near." She giggled from my comment since I say things like this all of the time and now they all just see it as my odd sense of humor. If only she knew just how truthful I was actually being.
"Trust me, you'd be surprised with how welcoming this town can be." Yeah, my master gave me quite the lesson on that. That story about a zebra just trying to shop and everyone avoiding her like she had the Bubonic Plague was the whole reason I completely avoided town. If they reacted that way to a fellow horse just for having stripes I could only imagine how they would react to me.
"I'm trusting you on this, Twilight." The first horse to pull a pitchfork, I'm throwing you at them...
"Good! Now come on, spike made waffles." Waffles sound nice...
After a quick breakfast I decided to take a stroll out by the Everfree. I let Twilight know I was going out and she just told me to be careful and try to avoid Ponyville until she can prepare them for my presence. Should be easy enough. After a bit of walking around and clearing my head I started carving the operator symbol into trees at random. I couldn't help it, my master's proxies were obsessed with it and we were always drawing it. We don't know why we do it; It just became a habit, one that was impossible to break. I had just finished my sixth symbol before I heard the sound of children coming my direction. I turned around and saw two small ponies standing behind me, whispering back and forth to each other while staring at me. Both of them were earth ponies, possibly siblings. From the look of their bodies and muzzles I'm assuming they're both male. One was blue with a white mane and the other was grey with a black mane.
"Can I help you?" They both gasped. I guess they were shocked that I could speak, at least that's what I'm assuming.
"...Well, are you gonna say anything?" This is starting to get annoying. They just kept standing there like petrified trees...God, I hate kids. The blue pony shoved the grey one, making him take a step or two or...whatever, he was shoved slightly closer to me.
"Umm, hi. We were just wondering what exactly you were?" He spoke slowly, obviously being unsure of whether or not they should have approached me. It didn't take long for me to hatch an idea about how I could take care of these kids, my master might like to have them for his collection. I crouched down to their height, this caused the grey one to back up and the blue pony followed suit. This leads me to believe that the grey one is the leader of this two-pony herd. It was time to make magic happen; I took off my hood, and soon after, my mask. I smiled at them and looked into the grey pony's eyes.
"My name is Archangel; I'm your friend. I came here from another world to protect fillies and colts from danger." These ponies had names that corresponded with their talents, this name seemed like the best fit for this role.
"Really?" The grey one asked, looking shocked and slightly excited.
"Yep, I have the power to scare off and defeat any monster that comes my way. Why, I could even take you both on a tour through the Everfree Forest and all of the bad things that roam it would stay away." I could feel my master in the forest; he was close, he was watching. The two colts smiled, a look of danger and excitement filled their eyes.
"Imagine it, being able to tell all of your friends that you walked through the Everfree and the monsters were too scared to attack you!" I stood up and waved one of my arms dramatically during this one, mostly as a joke, but these two were taking it seriously. Both cheered with glee, and bounced around me saying things like, "I wanna go! Let's do it! We're gonna be so cool!" I took a step into the woods and looked back at them. They were hesitant, but took their first brave step in and like that they were sold. I would have to take them deeper into the forest, my masters presence was near though. It should be enough to ward off any creatures near us. As we walked I could see the green eyes of those wooden wolf beasts glaring at me. This scared the colts, but I assured them that we were safe and they believed me. We walked for maybe ten minutes before the blue colt started complaining about wanting to leave.
"We should really go back, our mom is probably looking for us." He said
"Don't be such a baby, we're fine." I knew the grey one was the leader. I felt my master coming closer. He knew what I had and he wanted them. I slid my mask back on and pulled up my hood before stopping . The colts were still bickering and didn't notice, causing them to walk right by me and keep going. When they noticed I was behind them they stopped. The grey colt looked confused, the blue one was scared. I turned to the side and walked to a very odd looking tree, stopping before it and looking at all of its branches. The colts followed me, asking me repeatedly where I was going and what I was doing. They stopped along side me followed my gaze and we all watched as the tree began to twist and bend. The colts were practically in a trance at watching this thing move around and reshape itself, I took this opportunity to sneak behind them. The tree...my master...finally revealed itself as the ever famous Slender Horse. The colts started slowly walking backward, but ended up bumping into me in the process. They weren't going anywhere, I wouldn't let them. My master unleashed his tendrils and grabbed the colts, hoisting their bodies into the air. They screamed, but were quickly silenced. And in the blink of an eye my master was gone and so were the colts.
"Finally, little brats have been pissing me off since they found me." I lifted my mask a bit and lit a cigarette for myself. I didn't smoke very often and my master would break my arm if he ever saw it. I just...I really hate kids.
Author's Note
((Please allow me to remind everyone that the reason Slender Man sent James to this universe was because he was a very influential person, this is an important detail))
Author's Note
FINALLY: I can give the brutal murder warning!
The News
I finished off my cigarette and pocketed the butt. My master would get mad at me if I tossed it on the ground. It trains its proxies to respect the forest and treat it as our home. It basically was our home, we went there when we needed to rest or when we needed sanctuary. We've always been safe in the forests. I was about to start making my way out of the forest when suddenly I was tackled and pinned by a large blue blur. At least that's what it looked like at first. the impact had dazed me a bit and after my vision cleared I saw a blue mare with a white mane holding me down with tears streaming down her face. She's likely the mother of the children I had just given to my master, but how did she find me?
"Where...are they?" I didn't bother replying. Instead I tried to break free from her grip, but to no avail. Like I said, these horses are strong. She didn't even budge a little bit.
"Tell me where it took them!" Eww, she spit on my mask.
"Calm down, I'll tell you. I just need to know how you found me?" Please answer, I need to know.
"I saw my kids walking in here from Ponyville, so I followed them. I didn't see you until you...you gave them to that THING!" Wait a minute. She didn't see me until that point? So no one else knows I'm here either, she's the only one.
"Now tell me where it took them!" This mare is six kinds of stupid if she thinks she'll get anything out of me. I laughed a bit before deciding to stop toying with her. It's gonna suck for her family when she doesn't come home though. She moved her face closer to mine, glaring daggers at me. I headbutt her in the muzzle and she put a hoof over her face. I tightened my now free hand into a fist and slammed it into the side of her head, knocking her off balance and allowing me to roll out from under her. I got up and pinned her in the same manner she did me. She was now bleeding from both her mouth and nose.
"Lady, do you know how brain-dead you sound? Trotting in here and trying to make me tell you where it took them, that nuts. Hey, did you even tell anyone you were coming in here?" She couldn't have been that stupid, at least one person is bound to...
"No, but..." Sometimes these ponies amaze me in more ways than one.
"You realize you've just signed your own death certificate, right?" She looked at me, her face was full of anger and hate.
"You know, you're actually pretty cute. It sucks that we had to meet this way." I can't help it, sometimes it's fun to mess around like this. Sadly it didn't last long, she managed to get me to let go of one of her hooves by biting my arm, giving her the chance to punch me. I've got to tell you, she has one hell of a hit. My vision went black as I fell face-first into the dirt and went limp. She came over and kicked me in the stomach, knocking the wind right out of me just before rolling me into my back. I laid on the ground trying to catch my breath as I looked up at her, my vision finally coming back, she was still bleeding pretty bad.
"Just wait until I tell the mayor about you. Soon the whole town will hunt you down and destroy you." She started to walk away and then it hit me. If she did that then the plan would be over. Everything that's happened will be blamed entirely on me. There would be no suspicions of the Slender Horse, of my master. His influence won't grow. I will have failed him...
"You're dead, bitch!" My adrenaline kicked in as I let my rage take control of me. I jumped back to my feet and charged her. She turned around to see what all of the noise was. Her jaw took a brief meeting with my knee, causing her to fall over and cough up small pools of blood. I quickly straddled her so she couldn't move.
"I think I saw some teeth fly from that one." I reached to my side and pulled out my knife, using it to pry her mouth open. I could see the blade digging into her gums as I did this, but then again it wasn't like there was much else for it to go against. I had knocked every tooth that rested in the front of her muzzle clean out. She was screaming and swinging frantically at me. I couldn't feel anything, the adrenaline had made my body go completely numb. Every hit was like having a sibling throw stuffed animals at you. And just like that it was starting to get annoying; So, I grabbed one of her hooves and punched her in the joint. There was a loud crack as the bones snapped. She cried in pain louder than anyone else I had ever heard. As much as I would love to sit here and torture her, I can't. Her screaming would eventually attract attention. I held my knife up high and brought down on her throat, waves of blood seeped out of her neck as she started choking. I pulled my knife out and stabbed her again, and again, and again. When I was finally tired of stabbing her I grabbed her mane with one my hands, wrapping my fingers around the thick strands of hair, and pressed my foot to her chest. With a few hard tugs the bone finally gave out. I held her now severed head to my face and cursed at it before I threw it against a nearby tree. I started taking deep breaths to calm myself down. After a few breaths I noticed a very familiar stench and smiled as I could finally formulate a decent plan for the body. I was jumping around, clapping my hands and whooping like an idiot until they were close enough for me to see the lights of their eyes. I ran to the nearest tree and climbed my way to the top in record time. Watching the beasts tear the body apart was actually kind of relaxing. It was funny how they would fight over the tiniest chunks of meat. It only took them a few minutes to finish their meal and move on. They didn't leave much behind, mostly just a few splashes of red here and there, but at least the ponies had something to blame other than me.
It was almost an hour later when I walked into the castle. My cloths were soaked and dripping all over the floor. Twilight saw me and worked her way over.
"James? What happened to you?" I could tell by the look on her face that she was doing her best not to laugh.
"Well, long story short, I fell...and landed in a lake." I pulled some seaweed off of my mask and twilight snorted, still trying not to laugh at me and my shame.
"I'll go get a towel. You just wait here." I watched her as she walked away and the second she turned the corner I heard her bust out laughing. Getting blood all over my cloths wasn't really a problem. Everything I wore was black, so it wouldn't stain. All it would take was a bit of water and thanks to a lake I found in the Everfree I was clean. She came back holding a towel with her magic with a big smile on her face.
"Sorry about that."
"Don't worry about it." I'd laugh at you if you fell off of a cliff.
"Hey, were you in the Everfree at all?" Shit, come on, think. I can lie and say I wasn't, but there's a chance that one of her friends saw me and will call me out on it. Then I'll lose their trust and be right back to square one. If I tell them I was then they might connect me to the recent disappearances...I'm gonna have to take a chance. I have faith that I covered my tracks well enough, they won't find out.
"I was for a bit, why?" My mind is all over the place at this point, praying that I didn't leave something out of place.
"Some ponies saw a mare go in there and they haven't heard from her since. I was wondering if you had seen her?" If I play my cards right then everything should fall into place nicely.
"No. I saw a pack of giant wooden dogs, but that's about it."
"You saw timber wolves! Holy Celestia, are you okay!?" She looked like she just seen a ghost.
"Yeah, I could smell them coming from a mile way so I scaled the first tree I could find." When you mix a bit of truth with your lie, not only does it become easier to remember, it makes it harder for someone to tell that you are lying. Twilight sighed and calmed down, but had a downcast look about her now.
"I really hope that poor mare is safe." I really don't understand how she can care so much for other ponies, especially ones who she doesn't even know.
"You're worrying too much, I'm sure she's fine." Now that the timber wolves are in the playing field when ponies start assume the mare died in there Twilight will be the first to jump to the conclusion that it was the timber wolves. And with her being a pony of authority, they will all listen to her. I was snapped out of my little inner-monologue by Twilight violently rubbing me down with the towel she had.
"What the hell are you doing!?" I tried to escape the assault, but magic was not something I had a lot of experience with.
"You are absolutely soaked! Now hold still!"
"Stop!" Just kill me, it'll be easier!
Author's Note
((This chapter is a bit longer than the others because I tried to go into James' mind a bit))
The New Family
It's been a few weeks since my little tantrum in the Everfree with that blue mare. Word of her disappearance as well as her kids has spread like a wild fire. Ponies have noticed the symbols that were mysteriously popping up all over town; luckily for me they took notice of those before Twilight introduced me to everybody, so my level of suspicion was fairly low. I still get a lot of weird looks when I'm in public. Can't really say I blame them. If I saw some weird creature walking the streets with a mask on I'd probably stare a little too. Anyway, it turns out that more ponies are looking into the symbol's origin than I had thought. The whole town was talking about the 'Return of the Slender Horse', I would hear about it constantly when I went out for walks. Talk of it continued to grow with each passing day as more and more kids went missing, some by my hand. Only some though, there's someone else doing this too and it couldn't just be the red mare I found in the Everfree almost a month ago. The number was too great. Simply put, my master's existence was now known all throughout Ponyville and word was spreading fast. However, I'm not sure about his influence. When it comes to me it asks me to do a job and I do it, I don't bother it with my curiosity. If it wanted to tell me it would have by now, but I haven't seen my master in almost six days and as a result I've been feeling off. I'm sleeping less, my body is growing weak, I'm coughing up blood constantly and it just keeps getting worse the more time I spend away from it.
The girls have seen all of these symptoms and are doing their best to take care of me. It's not often they let me go out on my own like this. I try to get up and walk around town to help clear my head and they always insist on coming with me. They all worry about me so much, it's disgusting. Yet, here I am, still living with them and pretending I'm this carefree holly jolly fruit cup. This illness is making me cranky and irritable, I'm constantly in pain. Why hasn't my master visited me? Is it upset? Did I do something wrong? Has it abandoned me and left me for dead? I don't know and that's the hardest part. Just not knowing. Being completely unaware of what will happen next. I can't keep moving like this, the pain is becoming too much so I made my way back to Twilight's castle. The girls were in the main room to greet me and help me back to my room.
"Now, ah want you to just lay yourself down here, and relax. Wouldn't want you straining yourself too much. Take care." Applejack kissed the side of my head and exited the room. She was convinced that I was romantically interested in her because I would flirt constantly whenever she was around. She's always trying to spend time with me, but after I got sick like this she allowed me to have some space due to the fact that I "don't want her to get sick to". These ponies were so gullible, they'd believe anything I told them. If they ever caught me behaving oddly I could just tell them it was a custom we humans did back in my world and they'd drop it. So far I've been able to get away with just about everything I've done here and none of them have been any the wiser. This was one of the easiest jobs I had ever been given, which is why it kind of sucks that I'm laying in bed literally dying a little more with every given second. We proxies have a connection with our master on a level that is almost impossible to achieve. The only thing I can think to compare it to was a game I played back before I became a proxy. The main character needed to find a little girl because if he was away from her for too long he would go into a coma-like state and then finally die. Well that was the position I was in, just laying here almost completely incapable of movement. My body was beginning to shut down, I'm dying right now. I can feel it. I heard the door to my room open, but after that all was silent and the world around me faded to black.
It was dark, the only light I could see came from the moon. I don't know where I am. Beneath my feet is a solid black cement ground that seemed to go on for miles. Other than that there was nothing, so I walked. I walked for what felt like forever, but nothing changed. Suddenly I felt something, something I hadn't felt in a long time. I was afraid, I felt like someone or something was watching me. I turned around and there it was again. A tall man in a black suit just standing there staring directly at me with that face. No, there was no face. There were no eyes. What am I looking at? It's arms were to the ground and it was easily standing at least nine feet tall. It started walking in my direction, I started walking backward to keep my distance, but it kept getting closer with every step it took. I turned around and ran, I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, trying to increase the distance between me and it. I turned to face the thing, still running, but it wasn't there. I took a sigh of relief, but before I could turn to look in front of me I bumped into what felt like a brick wall and was brought to a sudden stop. I took a step back and rubbed my head. When I looked up at what I ran into I saw myself staring into the blank face of that thing that was following me. My knees went weak and I fell. I felt like I was gonna throw up, my ears were ringing, and I could feel blood leaking out of my nose. I thought it was over for me, so I closed my eyes and accepted my fate. Nothing happened though. I opened my eyes and it was still standing there. Then it grabbed me with its large hands and lifted me into the air. I saw these things, these tentacle-like thing come out of it and before I could react all of them came at me. Each one penetrating a single limb; tearing through the flesh and smashing through the bone like wet paper. The pain was unbearable, but I still clung to life. That is until the tendrils all yanked at my body in opposing directions. My body pretty much exploded after that and it just stood there staring at the wreckage like it never even happened...
I shot up and screamed, sweat was pouring down my face and filling the inside of my mask. I felt a pair of hooves on my shoulders, rubbing them in a very relaxing manner.
"You okay there, buddy?" It was just a dream...thank god.
"I'm fine." I looked around really quick and realized I wasn't in bed anymore. I was somewhere else, inside of what looked like a stack of hollowed out leaves. And that voice...I remember it from somewhere. I turned around and was met with the muzzle of a red mare with a black mane.
"Long time no see, I don't think you and I have formerly met. I'm Black Cherry. You, however, can call me cherry." I was actually surprised to see her, I didn't think I would after so long without hearing anything about her from my master.
"James..." She smiled at me and kept rubbing my shoulders.
"How are you feeling, James?" That's a very good question. I'm...better...
"I'm actually feeling kind of great. Which is weird..." She giggled at me. "What happened?" Maybe Cherry would have some answers for me.
"Do you want the long version or short version?" I'm a sucker for details, but right now I'm more curious than anything.
"Hit me with the long one." Might as well get all of the information I can.
"Well, the master has been trying to get to you for days now, but with how much more often you were surrounded by ponies it couldn't. We all knew that if you didn't get to see the master and soon that you would die. So we broke into the castle you've been staying in and searched the entire place until we could find you. After that we brought you here. You were in pretty rough shape, you almost didn't make it." She said 'we' a lot in that.
"Where is here?" Get the basics first.
"The Everfree, but right this moment we are in a tent made of leaves and branches. The master wanted you to get some much needed rest." Okay, enough dragging it out.
"Okay, now what did you mean by 'we'?" She looked at me with a big smile before forcing me to my feet and taking me out of tent. Once I got out I knew exactly what she meant. I could feel my eyes trying to climb out of my skull when I saw this huge congregation of ponies, dozens upon dozens, each one with a hoodie long enough to cover their flanks and each one with their own mask. I turned to look at Cherry who had put hers on just before I went to face her.
"Impressed?" She had no idea.
"You have no idea. This is amazing...How did this happen so quickly?" Really, for this many ponies to join the proxies it should have taken months, but here it was, standing before me.
"Well, ponies are very easily scared. They are also easily influenced. When word got out about the return of Slender Horse everypony was scared for their lives. So I went around and spread a 'rumor' that if you work for it you're safe from its wrath so long as you obey its every order." I find it hard to believe that ponies would just give up the lives that they knew and loved to become a proxy and have to do the jobs we did. There was something missing.
"I'm going to need to know how you've convinced these ponies to do this. They know that their job is literally kidnapping children and murdering other ponies right?"
"Of course they do." She was looking at me like I was an idiot now and it was getting on my nerves.
"But who would just up and quit on the life they had and do this? What reason do they have?" I couldn't help but question it, it just didn't make sense. In this world morals seemed like they held much more meaning than in mine. I could understand why people in my world would do this in such a vast number, but not here.
"You know, you're pretty smart, but even you can't know everything. I know you think our world is all butterflies and rainbows, but the truth is everypony has some sort of secret. Something deep inside of them that's so dark it drives us to behave the way we do because we're afraid of it. These ponies here, they've stopped being afraid of it and have learned to embrace it. Just like you did when you became a proxy..." I don't know the opinions of others as well as I would like, what makes sense to some will not make sense to other. This I do know. And somehow, some way, what Cherry just said to me made sense.
"You know what, I'm not gonna bother questioning anything around here anymore, especially if it's working out in our favor." It's like they say, You should never look a gift horse in the mouth .
"That's the spirit...I guess?" I couldn't help but laugh at her. Then I felt it, we all did. Our master was coming...
Author's Note
((This chapter isn't too eventful, I'm hoping to make up for it in the next))
The Collection
When our master had come to us he spoke beyond just being a lost legend to buried and forgotten. He wanted more. We needed proxies and a lot of them. Loyal followers and servants who would be willing to put their lives on the line to please our master. We got to work; day after day, week after week, we all went out. We found potential proxies and welcomed them into our ranks so long as they passed inspection. However, those who didn't were given a five minute head start. So far, none have made it home. We worked our way up from Ponyville to more popular areas. Dodge Junction, Fillydelphia, Baltimare, Las Pegasus, Manehattan, and so many more. Word of my disappearance and many others was in the papers everywhere I went. The girls were looking for me and they were being persistent. My only assumption was that they believed that I had been kidnapped along with the large number of missing ponies and they felt responsible. I know Applejack was definitely going all out on the search. There was a photo in the papers of her handing out Have You Seen Me fliers with a drawing of me on them to everypony that came to Sweet Apple Acres. Poor girl. Getting so attached to a guy like me and making me look like another victim of the ever growing vanishings list. A small number of proxies were doing the usual job of giving little fillies and colts to our master for his collection, but most were traveling all over Equestria, finding more proxies and recruiting almost everypony they could get their hooves on. We had to, for this plan was something much larger than just a spreading of my masters influence. He wanted more than to just be another legend, he wanted to rule. He wanted to dominate this land and claim it as his own. But, to do that, we would need an army. And that was exactly what we were building.
Both proxies new and existing were being put through training far more difficult than ever. My master even had me go through it and I hate to admit it, but it kicked my ass. I've had to endure a lot of physical trauma from beatings to being launched into trees. This was meant to hurt, it was supposed to help us to learn to better deal with pain. It was a way to build up our endurance. We were put through exercise routines to build our strength, but if you asked me these ponies didn't need much of it. They were completely capable of handling their own. I've seen them lift boulders almost bigger than they were and I couldn't even get close to that. I expected a lot of criticism, but my master could understand my disadvantage and so did the ponies. Whenever we had time off we would sit around a fire and they would ask me what my world was like and I could sit and tell stories for hours about my world without having to leave anything out. These ponies were proxies now, they were family. We live and die by the same codes and our one purpose is to serve Slender Man. Or in their case Slender Horse. Sometimes they asked about what kind of jobs our master would give me, I gladly told them. I even went on about how in my world my master wasn't a horse, it looked like a much taller version of me. They wondered why its form changed when it came here and mine didn't, making it a point to address their curiosity. I honestly couldn't answer them, I didn't even know. I assumed it had something to do with magic, but I wasn't too sure.
It had been almost six months since I was taken from the castle, through all of this with the jobs and intense training we became powerful. Our numbers had grown significantly and although the ponies were still stronger than me I wasn't far behind. The master pushed me harder than the ponies when it came to exercise for obvious reasons. I now had the strength to kill ponies, those who didn't make the cut and go through training mainly, with my bare hands. I seldom had to pull my knife on them, it was mostly just used for my own personal pleasure now. I had just finished mutilating a stallion who had not passed the inspection, my hoodie was soaked with fresh blood and my mask had red stains coating it almost completely. I could feel my master watching me and turned to face him.
"Greetings and Salutations, master." I used to say this constantly back in my world when I was discovered by my victims to toy with them, but when I said it to my master it was a sign of respect from me to it.
"Greetings, child. I see you've made quick work of our failed initiate..." I had, it only took me maybe three minutes to kill this one, even less to bring him down and make him immobile.
"I live to serve to the best of my abilities." I could tell it was impressed by my improvement, but it would never say it aloud.
"That is pleasing to hear... I smiled to my master, he wouldn't be able to see it, but I knew it could tell. "I have another job for you..."
"Your wish is my command, master." It nodded at me before simply telling me...
"It's time..." My smile couldn't help but grow. My grin would have been ear to ear if my face were capable of it. I knew what my master wanted, I knew what I had to do.
I was standing outside of the Twilight's castle, still with blood coating my body. The ponies had all gasped and stared at me as I walked to the castle, shoulders hanging and legs dragging with every step. Now here I was, looking bloody and beaten. I made my way to the door and weakly slammed my fist against it three times. Rarity came to the door and opened it.
"Would you please refrain from knocking so-AHHHHH!!!" She screamed and almost fainted from seeing me. The others could hear Rarity's cries and came to her aid. They all swarmed rarity, asking her if she was alright and all she could do was point in my direction. They all looked over at me and screamed in unison. They backed away and glared at me with fear in their eyes. I fell to my knees and caught myself with my hands so I wouldn't fall further. I could feel their eyes scanning my body, it was weak and coated with blood. Applejack was the first to come up to me.
"James? What? What...?" She couldn't finish her question, I took it upon myself to answer her anyway.
"I...I got away....I know what's happening. I know what's taking them..." They all gasped and surrounded me.
"What's happening? Who's taking them?" Of course Twilight would be the first to try and get answers.
"Are they okay? They're not hurt are they?" Fluttershy was always so sweet, so concerned for the well-being of others.
"Take us to this big mean meany pants!" And Pinkie was being Pinkie. I had no other way to describe it.
"Twilight..." I wheezed, "I need to...get to the...princesses. This is beyond me, beyond you... I was lucky to get away with my life. We have to go, now!" It's time for the world to know of my masters presence and soon enough they would...
Author's Note
((One more chapter to go, still unsure if I want to have Slender Man's army win or not))
The Approach
The train ride was long and boring, just sitting in my seat playing the weak and traumatized victim role. I had done so many times before. It used to be one of my favorite roles to play back in my world, but I've never had to do it for this long and I was starting to get annoyed with it. Annoying or not, it was for a good cause, I held onto the character I had been given. The girls were constantly checking on me and I replied with silence. When we got off of the train Twilight used her magic to 'help' keep me from falling. We got some nasty looks from the snobs that lived in the Canterlot place as I limped my way toward the largest building in the city. I wanted to kick their heads self-absorbed in. I've found my urges to kill becoming stronger since I was reunited with my master. It must have just been me; after doing so many jobs maybe I was just becoming accustomed to it. If not for the plan I would be in the woods either recruiting potential proxies or slaughtering them. The latter was always much more fun, but we were working for a purpose so I had to keep myself in check. We made it to the castle entrance but the guards cut us off, that was before Twilight identified me as the one the princesses wanted to see. They stared at me in disgust, they obviously didn't trust me. A wise choice. They reluctantly stood aside and let us enter; imbeciles. After being assisted with climbing a flight of stair and going down a long hallway we came to a rather large door with more horses guarding it. These ones let us pass without a word to say, they must have known I was coming. Or maybe it was simply because I was being held up by a small purple alicorn's magic. This room was filled with horse guards and had a red carpet that stretched down to the end of the room where two thrones sat and on them was what I could only assume to be the Princesses of the sun and moon. Celestial was always represented with bright shining colors and sunlight. Lunar with darkness, more specifically the night. It was easy to tell which one was which despite never meeting them beforehand. We walked to the edge of the throne and Twilight let me sit on the ground to rest.
"Twilight, it's always so good to see you and your friends. So, this is the creature we've received so many letters about?" Celestia's voice was smooth and soft. It was like that of a loving mother. The girls all bowed before the princesses and rose shortly after.
"Yes, Princess Celestia." Twilight showed a great amount of respect to Celestia despite her having a royal title of her own.
"Twilight, it is not like you to wander in unannounced, is there some sort of issue?" Luna's voice was interesting. It was like a female gym teacher. Feminine, but authoritative.
"Well, princess, it seems our friend here has information about the recent disappearances." Typical Rainbow Dash, cutting in like she was a part of the group. All of them do this from time to time, but I've noticed a pattern with the rainbow flier. The princesses both looked down at me, taking notice of the dried blood that coated most of my body. This was disheartening to see for them. Despite this, Celestia still lowered her face to mine.
"Is this true? Do you really know what has been causing this?" I looked up at her and nodded. She seemed happy to know this and demanded that we all meet in her private chambers to speak further. She was nice enough to teleport the group there so I wouldn't have to keep pushing myself to move around. Luna came up to me first.
"You know, this information is of great importance. We need you to tell us everything you know so that we can take the necessary precautions and, if needed, action. Do you understand?" All eyes were on me. I nodded. "Good, you may begin."
I lowered my hood and removed my mask. Their jaws all dropped when the saw my face. I traced my fingers across the many fresh cuts that decorated my features. Some were small, some were large, some were deep, and some had shades of purple highlighting the skin around them.
"Where do I start..." I said plainly. The girls looked at me in shock, Applejack looking like she was about to cry. "I was kidnapped shortly after leaving the castle to go for a walk. Someone knocked me out and when I came to I was in the Everfree forest tied to a tree. I was blindfolded so I couldn't see anything, but I could hear ponies screaming left and right. Begging to be released. I could hear their cries of pain as they were tortured." I saw Celestia put on a stern look. She levitated a sheet of paper and a quill to her and began writing.
"I'm sending a detachment of guards to the forest. If you had to guess, how many ponies would you say were performing these horrible acts?" If I word this correctly I can make it sound as if there were a large number of these 'monsters' and she would be forced to send more guards.
"I can't say for sure, but it sounded like there were a lot. I could hear them talking among themselves sometimes and there were so many voices I could hardly hear myself think." She nodded and continued writing before sealing the letter and making it vanish into thin air.
"This will not go unpunished, I'm sending half of our troops to the forest. Whoever is doing this will not get away with it, I assure you." Perfect, this was just perfect. "I hate to do this to you, but is their anything else they did to you while you were there?" I could see the guards flying to the forest through the window. They were moving fast. It's too bad for them that once they get in there they won't be coming back out. My master had riled up the timber wolves and they were ready to rampage.
I stood up and unzipped my hoodie, revealing my pale but bruised and cut flesh to them. "They were constantly beating us, they would use whips, and branches from trees. When they were feeling especially creative they would use knives to carve things into us." They all stared at me with watery eyes as they looked over the large operator symbol that now took up most of my torso. Luna was the first to show some recognition. Her eyes went from the symbol on my chest to the one on my mask. She was beginning to catch on, it was now or never. I lunged at Celestia and tackled her, quickly wrapping my arm around her neck and holding her in front of me. I drew my knife and held it to her throat.
"One move and this bitch is as good as dead!" They were all surprised to see me moving so quickly, as they all thought me to be injured and in too bad of shape to even walk on my own.
"Hey, just what do you think you doing?" Stupid loud-mouth horse. She even had the nerve to start flying closer to me.
"You better watch your next moves very carefully rainbow, or this whole room is going to become a blood bath." They saw the anger in my eyes, the hate, and they all froze. They knew I was being serious, even Celestia refused to put up a struggle, but Luna wasn't having it. I could see the magic building up in her horn.
"Release my sister you piece of filth!" She shot a beam of magic my way, I turned and used Celestia to block myself from the blast. Celestia's body convulsed a bit as her stomach absorbed the blast. She was shaking and I could see the fur just around where she was shot turning red as she started bleeding. "Sister!" Luna shouted, her eyes tearing up rapidly. Celestia was still breathing, this girl had some fight in her. The castle shook as an explosion went off in the distance. Everyone was looking around frantically.
"They're here..." Their attention was back on me.
"James, why are you doing this?" Filthy farm horse
"Why...Because I was told to. I'm just following orders." Luna growled at me, her eyes turned white and suddenly the sky went dark.
"THOU SHALL PAY FOR THEIR CRIMES!!! BUT FIRST, WE DEMAND TO KNOW WHO IS GIVING SUCH ORDERS!!!" I couldn't help but laugh at the night princess, this behavior was simply adorable.
"If you really want to know who, then I'll tell you. Its the one who's responsible for everything going on around here for almost a year now. The sudden abductions, the missing foals, the death of thousands! I'm only partially to blame, it all stems from my boss. My master is the one who asked me to do this. The one you call Slender horse." We could all hear a sound coming from outside of the window. The echo of what seemed to be branches snapping. We all turned our heads to the window in time to watch it shatter. Atop of the now ruined stained glass stood a tall horse-like creature wearing a black suit and bearing pleasant lack of facial features. It had tendrils coming from its back that whipped around manically.
"Greetings and Salutations, master..."
I couldn't help but smile as my master finally made its grand appearance. It stood taller than ever in both stature and grace, at least that's how I saw it. Every other face in the room was stricken with fear, even the oh-so-special princess of the night was sharing a look that practically screamed terror.
"What are you?" Luna was surprisingly cute when she was scared. My master moved quickly, grabbing Luna by her horn with one of its many tendrils. The girls were about to run to her aid, but I wasn't about to allow that.
"Do it! I dare you!" I screamed, flashing the knife I still had to Celestia's throat. They froze and stared at me pleadingly. Luna tried to use her magic to escape my master's grip, but to no avail. His power was too strong for her to fight back. It's grip on her had neutralized her magical ability, rendering it almost completely useless. Luna called for the guards and two ponies burst into the room wearing royal armor. She ordered them to attack my master and release her from its grip, but they merely stood there and watched.
"What are you doing? Free your princess!" She demanded. The ponies in armor laughed as they removed their helmets. Both were wearing masks that bared the operator symbol. "No...NO!!!"
"James!" I turned my head to Applejack. "Please, you don't have to do this. You don't have to listen to it." She looked me in the eye and Twilight continued for her.
"You can fight this, we can work together as friends and defeat it. You just have to let Celestia go and help us." After her Rainbow Dash decided it was her turn to cut in.
"You know this creature better than any of us. We can beat it if we try." My face sank.
"Please..." Fluttershy begged. "You have to help us." Pinkie and Rarity stared at me with tears in their eyes. I now bared a look of sympathy and soon regret. I looked up at my master who was still focused on keeping Luna in her current state, then back at them. I dropped my knife to the ground. The girls all smiled in my direction. Looking back at my master I watched as one of his tendrils charged at Luna, smashing into her horn with great force. The impact was enough to make her horn snap off from the base of her skull, it wanted to be sure she wouldn't be able to attack. She let out a bloodcurdling scream as she fell but was again grabbed by my master's tendrils. Twilight and her friends galloped over to rescue her, my master was too fast for them though. He picked them up one by one, wrapping them in his tendrils and restraining them. They tried to break free from his grip, but he was too strong for them. Twilight even shot it with a magical blast, which hardly even fazed it. They turned their focus on me, screaming and begging for me to help them. I looked up at them with a smile that could make a grown man shake in their boots. They all watched me in confusion as I just watched them being suspended like cattle. I turned my focus back on to Celestia, who was finally coming to. My master turned its head toward me and its face tore open, revealing a large mouth filled to the brim with long demonic looking teeth.
"Now!" I shook my head, grabbing Celestia's muzzle with one hand and the tip of her horn with the other. I immediately brought her head down on my knee, snapping her horn in half in the process. I held her horn in my hand and let her body fall to the ground.
"Celestia!" Twilight shouted.
"Sister!" Luna followed up. I ignored them for a short while, lowering myself so I was face to face with Celestia. She looked at me and I could tell that she was in a severe amount of pain. If only she knew what I was going to do next. I reached over and grabbed my knife off of the floor, holding it in front of her face. I could see the fear in her eyes as they light up, realizing that I fully intended to use my blade on her. She tried to crawl away, but didn't get very far before I jumped up and landed on her back. She screamed and I could hear Luna yelling at me. Never mind her though, my focus was on the mission at hand. Acquiring my master's trophy. I took a seat on Celestia's back and grabbed one of her wings by its base, pulling it back until I could feel the bone break. Another cry of pain penetrated my ears, but we weren't done yet. I lifted the limp appendage and started sawing it off from where the bone had snapped. When I had gone through far enough I grabbed the wing with both hands and pulled it until what flesh was still connected tore free and the wing was completely severed. My master watch me as I did this and repeated the process with the other wing. I could hear sickly sounds coming from behind me, which just told me that the ponies were watching me mutilate her. Celestia was now covered in her own blood as it seeped out of her back in waves. I rammed my knife into her skull and watched as the life faded out of her. I climbed off of the corpse and slid my blade into the side of my pants before grabbed both wings and the horn and taking them over to my master, holding them out to it. I merely watched as it grabbed the pieces of the brutalized princess with its tendrils and held them up. My master drove the base of the horn into its skull, then it took the wings by their blood soaked ends and yanked them down, forcing them into its back. I could hear the bones within it twisting around, adjusting itself to its new limbs. The horn had fused to my masters skull and had even grown back what length of it was missing. It's wings spread out far and wide across the room before folding to its new body's sides.
I was so busy admiring my master that I was completely oblivious to all of the shouting going on around me, all of the tears that were being shed. My master pulled Luna so her face was close to its before impaling her with its tendrils and ripping her body in half. My master's attention was then on me. It lowered its head until it was eye level with me. I stood still as I felt its tendrils grab my head and hold it in place. My eyes caught sight of a very familiar mask that was levitating to my face. Once it was on my master adjusted it so the mask was straight before facing the girls who had been watching over me since I first showed up to this world.
They all watched as the beast had forced parts of their princesses body into its own, making them become one with its form. As the nightmare continued to unfold they could do nothing as it attacked Luna just before ripping her body into two like it was nothing. After re-bestowing James with his mask it turned it's attention back to them. It started squeezing them with its tendrils, forcing the air out of their lungs and only getting tighter by the second. Blood started leaking out of every orifice on their bodys as its grip continued to squeeze the life out of them. It lifted six tendrils, one for each of them. After positioning the tendrils in front of their faces they plunged through the center of their skulls with enough force to shoot out of the back of their heads.
It's been several months since the death of the princesses and the embodiment's of the elements of harmony. This land was now under the rule of my master. We've had to deal with a lot since the fall of Celestia and Luna. There was the so-called Master of Chaos who tried to fight my master for ownership over Equestria, that was short lived. My master was powerful before, but after absorbing the powers of an alicorn it was practically a god. Then there was the great war with the crystal empire which only last for a couple of weeks. Equestria was a big place and now that My master has gained control all who resided within it joined our cause, most out of fear for their lives. Our troops outnumbered theirs by hundreds of thousands and the intense training the new proxies were put through made them into war horses. After our troops had beaten them down to the last man my master infiltrated the castle to deal with the leaders personally. My master's made a lot of changes to Canterlot since the fall of the royal sisters. It was rebuilt in its image and in center of it all was a menacing statue of it in its new form. It stood over 12 feet tall with the operator symbol respectively carved onto its flank. This was only the beginning though. My master had already conquered Equestria and the Crystal Empire, but it wasn't going to stop there. This wasn't about influence anymore. It was about world domination and my master wasn't going to stop until every living creature here bowed down to it.
As for me...well, I've stood by my master's side throughout all of it. The battles between power hungry beasts and the wars against those who chose not to surrender to its rule. My role went from abductions and murder to training the new recruits and fighting for the land we earned. In my free time I go out and meet the new proxies; we talk about battle strategies and ways we can keep our master happy. Not only that, but sometimes I'd bump into Black Cherry and we would just talk about whatever was on our minds. She and I have developed a relationship of sorts. Our master wasn't too fond of the idea but didn't complain since it was me. My master doesn't like to admit it, but without me none of this would have been possible. For once, I knew there was something in this world that was proud of me and the work I had done. I had finally done it, I had made my master happy, and that made me happy. Soon enough we would finish conquering this world and then we can rebuild it to suit our master's wants and needs. It will happen, in time, the world will belong to The Slender Man...
Author's Note
((I'm a little sad that the story has to end. It's been fun putting it together and I've gotten a nice amount of positive feedback. Thank you all for your support, I hope you enjoyed the ride. If you'd like you can check out my deviant art where I've written a few of my own Creepypastas. I'll post the link below. Thank you all again, it's been great.))http://lordevil-iii.deviantart.com/ http://thecreeper003.deviantart.com/
[{';.%/,?<I Know You're Watching>?';/,;*.}]
[{';.%/,??';/,;*.}]
How could I do this? How could I just come to this world and do so many horrible things to innocent ponies? I gave up the life I had back in my world and then I was sent here. A place full of magic, a place that wanted nothing more than for harmony to greet the smiling faces of all who dwell here. I had a clean slate, I had friends. I could have warned them of the horrible creature that had arrived and they could have fought it back with everything they had until there was nothing left. They could have won and I would still be here with so many wonderful ponies that would have welcomed me with open hooves. No longer would I have to hide my shame behind a mask. I could have started anew. But why didn't I? Better question; why didn't you do anything to stop me? You thought I didn't notice? I could tell the second I came here that there was someone else watching, stalking me. Observing every little thing I did. You didn't stop me, you didn't even try. In fact, you enjoyed it. Even worse than that, I think you actually helped me. You sat their on your computer, your tablet, cell phone, whatever. And you just watched as this whole massacre started to unravel until I finally finished the job. What's your excuse, huh? Why did you start helping me rather than stopping me? How could you sit idly by while I beat, tortured, and even killed these innocent creatures?
I'll tell you why, because you're sick bastard. That's why! You would rather watch me get away with all of this than lift a finger to save any of them. You've seen me take children from their family's, butcher all who opposed me, and even maim that useless sun goddess before sticking a knife in her skull. I can only imagine some of the questions you're trying to ask me at this point; "Well, what's your excuse? Why did you go out and hurt all of those ponies? If it was so great then why did you let your master take over? Why didn't you take the initiative to help them on you own?" You wanna know why? Do you really want to know? Because I love it...
I love ruining the lives of family's by taking away their loved ones; by stealing their children, by stabbing them to death in cold blood while I sit over them laughing so hard my lungs could collapse. Well who are you to think that you're any better than me!? Are you telling me that not once have you ever done anything fucked-up in your entire life? Because that's bullshit. You're no better than me. We are all killers, we just don't know it yet. All it takes is a little push and one day you will see who you truly are. It took years for me to make this discovery, but when I did it was almost orgasmic! I felt like I was at peace, like I was finally in control of myself and the world around me. It was all thanks to my master. The Slender Man was the one who altered my path, directing me down a road that is unseen to most. It gave me the push I needed to get my life on track. To finally discover who I am.
When you think about it, you and I are kind of the same person. I mean here you are, watching me once again, observing the world through my eyes. That part of my life is clear to you, but the rest will be black. You lived this portion of my life and there is no way you're going to be able to just walk away from it. You were in my head, now I'm in yours. Part of me is going to be with you forever. I'm the dark thoughts that pick at your brain when you're alone at night, the poison you ingest when you indulge yourself with undeserved luxury, the snake venom pumping through you veins that tells you to bring harm to those around you and force them to their knees when you are mad. I cannot go back quite yet...but thanks to you, you who has been watching every little move I make, listened to every single thought that pops into my head, you are my ticket home. How does it feel to know that once you leave this part of my life alone forever that you are the reason another part will begin? To know that every dark thought you will have from here on out won't even be yours. Your life is a joke and you are but a puppet in its wicked game of cruelty and pain. You don't know pain, not yet, but you will in time.
I appreciate you keeping up with me, it's kind of nice to know that I haven't been alone through little adventure of mine. However, stories are a lot more complex than you may think. Some stories are purely for letting people see the world in a different way and allows them to watch as life goes by with the story in peace. That's not the case here, however. Stories like this aren't some sort of one way mirror, they're portals; gateways to separate realities telling of what might have been or what will be. This one is mine. Don't you worry your little head too much about that though. In fact, you should be happy. Because from this moment on, you will never have to be alone. Once you go back to living your normal life I will finally be home; watching the world through YOUR eyes...
Author's Note
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