The moon hangs over the vast expanse of the Everfree, as the now chill summer winds blow through the trees of the forest. In the middle of a clearing comes a bright flash of light, momentarily blinding the nearby animals and lighting the surrounding area up as if it was daytime.
As the animals blink their eyes and focus, they see an odd sight stood at the epicenter of the flash. A tall creature, bipedal much more like a heron than an ape with how tall the creature is, though it’s legs are easily thicker than a heron’s own. The creature also appears to be wearing a fine suit, like that of a buissnesspony. Most catching is it’s face, blank white, yet with little indents allowing a hint of emotion. Immediately catching attention after that are the inky black tendrils extending from the back of the creature.
A manticore approaches the creature, sniffing at it. It begins to back up slightly when it smells blood on the creature.
Slender stands there, staring at the manticore. Then a tendril of his lashes out, wrapping around the front leg of the manticore, and ripping it off cleanly. The manticore howls in pain, and attempts to flee from him. Before it can even complete it’s turn, another tendril wraps around a back leg, and pulls the manticore back to him.
Slender looks down at the creature, rage boiling inside of him, ‘They tricked me. Those pathetic weaklings tricked me. I knew something was wrong, yet I still acted. I shall not make the same mistake again.’
He brings the manticore into the air, examining over it’s form. Lion body, scorpion tail, and dragon wings.
The manticore yelps, and sends it’s stinger flying at Slender. It hits him right in the face, injecting poison into his system. Slender grabs the stinger with a hand, breaking it off the manticore, and taking it out of his face. The wound heals over a second later, and he throws the tail down.
He holds the manticore up, looking it right in the face. ’An abomination to nature. Obviously of the human’s making. Only they would make such a pathetic, yet strong, creature. They tricked me... and they sent a science project to try and kill me.’
His two hands plunge into the manticore, and push, ripping the creature in half. He throws the two halves down, and brushes any gore off the front of his suit.
He looks around, turning completely around once before suddenly stopping. ‘Intruders to the forest. Obviously here to see if their little pet killed me. I’ll send their answer back in body bags.’
He suddenly disappears, reappearing far away. He stands among the trees, waiting for the little group. As he waits, however, an odd purple mist passes by him. He pays it no mind, instead shifting and holding out his tendrils in such a way as to blend in with the trees.
Within a minute, he begins to hear screams. Bursting into a clearing come six ponies. Pink, white, lavender, blue, orange, and yellow.
He looks at them as they seem to scream in terror at the trees. ‘Intelligence in something other than a human. If their screams truly carry the spark of intellect like I hear, then this has become interesting. For now, they are nothing more than equine humans, and will be treated the same. There are six of them, however. It would be unwise for me to attack; my store of power might need to be carefully maintained.’
Five of the equines stop their screaming, as the pink one begins to laugh instead. Slender looks at her with interest, that interest doubling as she begins to sing.
The entire world seems to get brighter as she does, causing Slender to shift slightly to try and stay in shadow.
He pauses as he feels something touching him. He looks down, seeing the pink pony leaning against his leg, while singing, “Snicker at the Slender.”
A hand swipes to grab her, but she had already disappeared by the time his hand had moved. He looks back up, seeing her back with the others as they all laugh, rolling on the ground.
He then feels something on his head, reaching up and grabbing a tinfoil party hat secured on him. He rips it off his head, and crushes it into a little ball. He snaps his head back to the ponies, almost letting out an audible growl. He pauses upon seeing the pink one waving at him and smiling, while the others simply stare at him.
He stand in shock for a moment. ‘They are staring at me. They aren’t running, they aren’t screaming, they aren’t even showing an ounce of fear. Worry and hesitation, but no fear. That one is even waving. These creatures are either dumb, suicidal, or both.’
Shaking his head slightly, he blinks away, finding himself standing on top of old castle ruins. He crouches down, watching the forest. Once more the purple mist passes by, cutting down a bridge over a ravine and calling fog to fill the area. After the bridge is cut, the mist moves to the castle. However, it pauses, and heads to the roof.
The form of Nightmare Moon appears beside Slender, grinning as she looks at him, “You are a creature of the night. Not merely a creature, but a hunter. A predator of shadow.”
Slender looks over at her, rising from his crouched position.
The mare smiles, looking at his towering form without fear, “I ask of you something simple. Help me in making sure the Elements of Harmony are destroyed, and their possible Bearers captured. Do this, and the night shall reign eternal, something a hunter of shadow like you would appreciate.”
Slender steps closer to her.
She nods, “Of course, you shall be allowed to roam the forest freely and hunt any animal you please, with the exception of the ponies.” She extends a hoof, “Do we have a deal?”
Slender grabs her hoof with his hand, and attempts to pull it off.
Nightmare Moon smirks, not budging an inch to Slender’s pull, “A hunter to the end, and a predator even more. I’d almost respect you attempting to harm me, if it wasn’t so pathetic an attempt.” Her horn lights up, and she teleports a few feet back, “I admire what you tried, hunter, never mistake that. So I shall warn you, and give you time to flee. Whenever I take over, I will find you, and I will either kill, capture, or enslave you.”
Slender glares at her the best he can, his tendrils spreading around him.
The mare chuckles, “For you are but a hunter, and I am an Empress.” Her horn lights up, and she teleports away.
A white unicorn hums a little song as she trots to the entrance of her house, a rather medium sized affair called the Carousel Boutique. Rarity floats her keys out of her saddlebags, and enters into the building, floating her newly bought fabrics over to another table.
She smiles, walking over to the supplies and looking out the window to the rapidly darkening sky, “Hmm, twilight already. That reminds me, Twilight doesn’t have a dress yet.” She looks over to her supplies, taking out a swath of purple fabric, “Such a travesty must be corrected. But what should it look like?”
She looks back outside, looking to the horizon for inspiration. As she looks outside, her eye catches a little garden of trees planted a bit down the road from her. Oaks, pines, birches, trees of all kinds. She looks away for a second, before pausing, something catching her eye.
She looks back to the trees, “Hmm... something’s different. Some small, little detail.” She narrows her eyes, scanning the trees for something. She pauses as she picks out the details of a fine suit. She widens her eyes back to normal, and smiles slightly as she sees a tall figure in the trees, “Oh, it’s the creature from last night. A gentlepony if that stitch work is anything to go by.”
“Rarity?” A voice comes from behind her. Sweetie Belle props herself next to her sister, “What are you looking at?”
She looks over, and smiles, “Just something in the trees. A creature we saw yesterday while chasing Nightmare Moon.”
Sweetie Belle smiles, and looks out the window, “Oh, where?”
Rarity points at Slender, “Right there.”
Sweetie narrows her eyes, looking in the spot, then shaking her head after a few seconds, “I can’t see him.”
Rarity smiles, “Well, he is rather blended with those trees, especially in the twilight darkness. Last night, we couldn’t see him at all until Pinkie Pie was right next to him and he had a party hat on his head.”
Sweetie smiles, “Oh, what’s he look like? Is he a monster?”
Rarity shakes her head, “No, he’s too finely dressed for a monster, Sweetie. He’s about eight feet tall, from what I can tell.”
Sweetie’s eyes widen, “Woah, that’s, like, two of you! That’s taller than the Princess!”
Rarity nods, “Yes, but he stands on two legs. Like a heron.”
Sweetie smiles, “Oh, I remember Miss Cheerilee taught us about them.”
Rarity smiles, “Yes, they are from Neighpon, and are quite the graceful species. Oh, I wish I could make a suit or dress for one. Back to this, he’s also rather thin. He seems to be wearing a black suit as well, and I must admire that there are so few stains. For a creature who lives in the Everfree, it seems, his suit is very well kept, with only the cuffs on the arms being stained. He also has this blank, white face.”
Sweetie raises an eyebrow, “Blank, white face?”
Rarity nods, “Yes, likely a mask of some sort. A very well made mask. I do say, he is pretty much the spitting image of a masquerade goer.”
“Masquerade?”
“It’s a party where everypony wears a mask, Sweetie. They happen all the time in Canterlot.”
Sweetie raises an eyebrow, “Why wear a mask to a party?”
Rarity smiles, “Fashion, of course. Masks can be rather fashionable and can add a very unique component to a uniform. After all, you wear masks to your Nightmare Night parties, right?”
Sweetie nods, “So...masquerades are fancy Nightmare Night parties that happen all year?”
Rarity smiles wider, “They are similar in many ways, though masquerades don’t wear costumes, just masks. But yes, that is a rather apt description.”
Sweetie smiles back, “So this creature is going to a masquerade?”
Rarity pauses, “I truthfully don’t know what he’s doing. As of right now, he’s watching us.”
Sweetie pauses, before braking out into a wide smile, “Oh, what if he’s a superhero?!”
Rarity grins, “Superhero? Have you been reading those graphic novels again?”
Sweetie shakes her head, “They’re comic books! And no!”
Rarity titters, “Oh, Sweetie Belle, it’s important for a young mare to read. Even if I might not like those glorified picture books, I will not be disappointed if you like them.”
Sweetie pauses, “Oh. Well, what if he’s a superhero?”
Rarity smiles, looking back out the window, “Well, Sweetie, if he’s a superhero, then he’s a day late for the supervillain. That or there’s a supervillain left and he has something to do with us, which I don’t think so. I think he’s just a gentlepony getting to know the town before he shows himself. Like Fluttershy, he’s probably very shy.”
Sweetie nods, and smiles, “That makes sense.” She yawns, “Goodnight, Rarity.”
Rarity smiles, “Good night, Sweetie Belle.” She looks to Slender, giving a small wave, “And goodnight to you, my gentlepony observer.”