Chapters My head is on a table. That was the first thought that came into my mind when somepony's hoof shook me awake. I pulled myself up and tried to shake the cobwebs of sleep that had formed in my head away. I looked around the room warily, examining where I was. In front of me was the desk my head had been resting about a minute ago, along with a cup of pencils and a bunch of paperwork. On the plain white wall to my right was a bench and a clock that read 12:30 . I had fallen asleep at the job-which happened to be working at Ponyville's police station. Then all the memories from the previous day rushed into my head. Tonight was my night of sitting at the front desk-just in case somepony needed help after the sun set. Of course almost nopony ever came that late-and usually not very many ponies came in at all.
Five minutes later me and the girl-whose name was Sapphire, like the color of her body-were sitting in small room. It was the same kind of room that was used to interview criminals. A table with a recorder on it, two chairs, a door leading in and out, and a one way mirror. When I looked at it, I saw a brown earth pony with a untended black mane and two blue eyes looking back. Behind the mirror you would be able to look through, like a normal window. In fact, I had a coworker-a mare named June-watching. She had also had the night shift, and she volunteered to watch the whole thing so nothing went wrong. I think she was just bored and wanted to see what was happening.
After calming Sapphire down enough to be able to leave her alone for a few minutes, I head out the door and turned to June. The light brown mare looked as stunned as I felt.
After a bit of a discussion, me and June decided that I would check Sapphire's house for evidence while she would hold down the fort back at the police station. I didn't really want to go at night, but the sooner after the kidnapping, the better chance there was of an uncontaminated crime scene. Sapphire said she would stay back as well, and I couldn't blame her-after how she had broken down like that earlier. It would be a one man mission. Pretty soon I was ready to go, with a saddlebag which held Sapphire's keys, a flashlight, spare batteries, plastic bags (to hold evidence), a camera, and an audio recorder. By the time I was out the door, the clock read 1:05 .
When I arrived at the doorstep, everything seemed pretty-well-normal. I fished the keys out of the saddlebag and the door unlocked with a satisfying click ! Inside it was pitch black, so I reached out and turned on the nearest light switch. When the yellow light flooded the room, I immediately knew something was missing from Sapphire's story. The living room was a mess. A large carpet held a big red stain on it-and it didn't take a genius to realize the stain was blood. A knife was lying on the floor, most likely used in self defense since the attacker didn't bother to take it. The backyard door was smashed, with glass coating the floor in front of the empty frame. Outside all I saw was grass-and behind that, a forest.click and a flash, I had a picture of the living room. Now to just check upstairs.
Most of the rooms looked undisturbed-the laundry room, the bathroom, the guest room. When I walked into the room that could only be Sapphire's, I stopped. The bed was unmade, like somepony had left in a hurry. On top of the sheets was a book called Myths, Monsters, and Other Old Mare's Tales . The one Sapphire and Bolt were studying. The curtains were drawn as if somepony were looking outside, checking for... something. A clear view of the woods. I shivered, a chill going down my spine. Creepy. When I looked back at the book, I decided to see if it was of any importance. Why wouldn't it be important if it was on the bed in plain sight, left for anypony to see? I flipped through the pages, looking for anything of significance. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Nothing in the book was even touched... until I reached the Slenderpony section. The top of the page read The SlenderpⓍny . The 'o' in pony was crossed out, and the X crossing it out was obviously not there in the beginning. What? Why? Questions began forming in my mind that had no answers. Who did this? As a matter of fact, all the 'o's in this section of the book were crossed out. Frantic little notes were scribbled down in different corners, like:
it likes watching me make it gⓍ away nⓍ eyes, but it can stare at me it's cⓍming HELP ME ⓍⓍⓍⓍ
The pages themselves just talked about the legend. About how the Slenderpony stalks ponies then those ponies dissapear. I took the book and put it in my saddlebag, then I took a picture of Sapphire's room and got up to leave. I decided to go check Bolt's house as well. Who knows, maybe there's something important there, too. I looked out the window one last time, and...
Ⓧr maybe nⓍt
"So, how did it go?" June asked. I was back at the police station, in the front room. June sat at the desk I had fallen asleep on.
"Well, I visited Sapphire's house, took a couple pictures, then I went over to Bolt's house and... and..." I frowned. And? It was a blank. I couldn't remember anything beyond arriving at the front door. It was as if everything from that point on was gone.
"And?" June said impatiently.
"I.. I don't remember." I said.
"What do you mean you don't remember? It just happened!" she said in an annoyed tone.
"I don't know... The last thing I can remember is arriving at Bolt's house. Then it's all the a blank until I came up to the police Station." I shook my head. Something strange was going on.
"Well, you've been gone for a while. How long did you spend at Sapphire's house?"
"I don't know, somewhere around fifteen minutes." I said.
"That leaves about an hour. An hour of... something. What the fuck." She said.
An hour? I looked at the clock. 2:30 . An hour and twenty five minutes since I had left the police station. For a moment we stood in uncomfortable silence, both of us trying to put together puzzle pieces that just weren't there.
"What's in your saddlebag?" June finally asked, breaking the tension.
"Oh, lets see." I said. We dumped the contents of the bag on the table. Keys, a flashlight, a camera, an audio recorder...
"What the hell...?" June muttered. Five pictures, two plastic bags (each with a copy of Myths, Monsters, and Other Old Mare's Tales ), a knife, and a small book that read Bolt's Diary: Keep Out! . The spare batteries were gone.
Two of the pictures were from Sapphire's house-the ones from the living room and bed room. One picture was of a bedroom that was in a mess, with sheets on the ground, a bookshelf knocked over, and a poster for some book with the Ⓧ symbol painted over it. The next picture was of an attic. A flashlight shinned on a ton of papers nailed to a wall, all of them saying different things like:
It's watching frⓍm the trees Hidden by fⓍg and darkness HⓍme isn't safe
And the fifth picture... It was a brown hoof-my brown hoof-on a muddy floor. Branches and leaves were everywhere. Tree roots were off to the right. I had been in the forest.
One of the books was the one from Sapphire's house, the other seemed to be from Bolt's house. It had even more scribbles and notes in it-more paranoid thoughts translated onto paper. Nothing I hadn't seen before. I handed it to June.
The audio recorder had a tape in it. It was used earlier. Reluctantly, I pressed the green arrow.
*leaves rustle* *heavy breathing* *the sound of running* *the running stops* "Oh, oh Celestia, I think i'm safe for now. Listen. My name is Drifter, i'm a cop. I work at Ponyville's police station. If you find a body near this tape, or i'm missing, then it got me. If i'm listening to this myself... woo hoo, i'm alive. Now, run. If you're listening to this, run. After you escape, forget this ever happened. Pretend Slenderpony is a silly legend to scare children. It's a better alternative to the truth. If you're some knuckle head that continues looking into this, i'm sorry. But stay out of the woods. Stay out of the woods and out of dark places." *chuckles* "Says the pony who's in the woods in the middle of the night. Anyways, look for Sapphire. Tell her she's in danger. Tell her she was right, and that she's next-" *the sound of a branch snapping is heard nearby* "..." *silence* "...fuck." *recording ends*
Me and June looked towards each other.
"Where's Sapphire?" I asked.
"She's in the break room." June said. For a moment it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Then there was a scream.
