Chapter 1. Beginning of the End

The small town of Ponyville slept peacefully under the glow of Luna's Moon, in all it's full glory, little activity came from the sleepy village, and no light emanated from the small settlement, other than a soft glow coming from a library built into a large, elder tree. Inside, Twilight is reading by candlelight, while a drowsy purple dragon slept upstairs, Twilight thought to herself for a moment, then yawned quietly. She then returned to reading her book, while she was doing so, a figure passed by the window, the figure was a tall shadow with a head of a ghostly white color, it stood outside for a couple moments, then began heading towards a nondescript home, seemingly aimless.

The next day, Celestia's warm sun slowly rose over the horizon, revealing the now awoken village, but something was off from the last night, there was a panic among Ponyville's population, there was a crowd in the center of town, all around something laying limp on the ground, a dead filly, completely dismembered, face warped beyond recognition, it was missing its eyes, as if something gouged them out, its lips were burned off, mouth sealed, its skeleton was a jumble of shards and small pieces, and the body was twitching slightly. Twilight exited the library to join the crowd, and looked in horror at the mutilated body.

"What happened here?" Twilight asked with a large hint of fear in her voice.

"I found this body in the woods," answered a grayish colt, "I don't know anypony that could've done this."

Twilight remembered that she had a book in her library, one that she was reading recently too, she quickly dashed off back towards her library, and quickly searched through her collection, until she found what she was looking for, a book called "Sentinel of the Everfree", she opened it, then skimmed through, until she found herself at the last page, where she found what the book was based off of, a legend by the same name, she thought if it was logical for a legend to be real, then decided that it was a drastic time, calling for drastic measures, while she looked for the book of legends that she kept (for whatever reason), a small dragon came down the library's steps, rubbing his eyes.

"Twilight, why are you going through those books like it's the end of Equestria?", Spike demanded.

"I'm sorry Spike, I didn't mean to wake you, I'm just looking for a book, it's really important!" replied Twilight.

Spike gave a blank stare, then went back up the steps, hoping to get some more sleep. Two minutes later, Twilight found the book she was searching for, she opened it up, then searched for the legend, she found it at page one hundred twenty, she quickly read it, wasting no time.

"So that proves it," Twilight said calmly, "The culprit is the Slendermane!"

"Sometimes, the best way to beat your enemy, is to join them." -Starswirl the Bearded

Deep in the Everfree, the culprit of the killing stands near a pond that has pure and clear waters, it would be peaceful, if the tall menace himself wasn't standing right there. He stands there for a moment, then sticks his hoof into the water, then seems to watch the ripples on the water disperse outwards from his hoof, he contemplates for a moment, then yanks a parchment off a nearby tree, studying it for a moment, researching a foal's hoofwriting, he then sticks it back onto the tree, he gets up, looking around at his surroundings, he then turns and begins walking away.

"Your worst nightmare, is the unknown." -Unknown

In the Sweet Apple Acres orchard, Applejack rests under a tree, tuckered out from a morning of applebucking, she relaxes, her work is done, nothing else needs to be done, so she just sits and rests, forgetting about her worries for a moment, these moments really is what made Applejack's life hectic, but rewarding, as she closes her eyes to take a nap, she suddenly hears a loud grinding noise, her ears perk up to try to identify the sound, but it is to no avail, as her mind comes up blank, so she got up, grumbling something about 'pesky buggers', then trots towards the source of the sound, finding a strange symbol carved into a tree, she stares at it, trying to decipher what exactly it means, as she does so, a tall figure watches her from a distance. It tilts its head, gauging her movements silently. Applejack felt the sense of someone watching, but when she turns to look, the figure vanishes into the woods. She glares at where it stood, still processing what she saw. It took a while before realization hit her like a runaway train. "Hey! Git back 'er!" She takes off after the figure, hoping to stop it and have a little 'talk' with it.

"Running with Death isn't foolish, chasing him is." -Starswirl the Bearded

Twilight took off out of the library at a speed that would make Rainbow Dash blush. She was in quite a hurry, racing through the troubled village like a Hellsteed out of Tartarus. She skidded to a stop, almost going flying clean through the door of Rarity's Boutique. She opened the door with reckless abandon, letting it smash into the wall with a terrific bang. Rarity jumped from the sudden mixing of both a bell ringing at unbelievable volume, and a door slamming into the wall at almost sound breaking speed.

"Twilight!! Please do knock so I know when you're about to blow my door off it's hinges. You know I don't take kindly to that darling." Rarity chirped, quite annoyed.

"I'm sorry, but it's a matter of life or death!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Those who fear death, are more likely to embrace it." -Unknown

Applejack quickly galloped after the figure, but it seemed to keep ahead of her by only walking slowly.

"Git back 'er! I'm not done with you!" Applejack yelled.

The figure just keeps walking, seemingly oblivious to her calls, but it stops, then turns towards Applejack. Applejack stared at the figure, extremely confused. "What. The. Hay?" The figure begins emitting an extremely loud droning noise, flaring tentacles. "Buck me..." The figure menacingly approached Applejack, forcing her up against a tree.

"Those who follow the leader, are oblivious, those who are the leader, are deceiving." -Starswirl the Bearded

Author's Note

A little announcement to those who just jumped into the story, don't judge by this first chapter. This was written a long time ago, and will probably be re-written for clarity and engagement.