Canterlot Castle

Celestia P.O.V.

Before I could even react, or even turn around, I felt something long and slender wrap around my torso. I was about to start blasting at the black tentacle that was around me, but before I could, I was pulled… into the floor.

It took just a split second for me to land on what I assumed would be the lower floor, underneath the throne room, but what I saw next was impossible. I found myself back in the same throne room, except there was nopony else there, and everything was in pristine condition. The once half destroyed throne room that had holes in its walls, craters in the floor, parts of its ceiling falling down, shattered glass, and a broken pillar were now completely spotless, and there was not a single hint that a battle that rocked the castle once took place there.

'This must be some sort of trick… he's already proven to be an adept user of mind magic, so this might all be his doing,' I thought to myself.

"Enough tricks, coward! Show yourself and fight me! I once thought you were actually a threat. I won't make that same mistake again. Now come out and dispel these illusions!" I shouted, hoping I would be able to bait him into dispelling the illusions with my mockery. But what happened next was far from what I expected.

As soon as I finished my sentence, a large, cuboid extended out of the wall and rammed into me, sending me flying towards the other side of the room and straight through the wall. I thought I heard a few bones crack and when I tried to move, pain jolted through my body and I screamed in pain. It looks like the impact did manage to crack a few ribs. I laid there limp, unable to move because of my injuries. That was it. That was how I was going to die. I was rendered immobile and it was only a matter of time till the creature came through the hole I had created in the wall to finish me off.

But then I realised something. The creature sent me flying through the wall, which had to mean that I was outside. 'Maybe I could get somepony to help me - ' my thoughts stopped when I looked up from the ground and found myself… back in the throne room, still without any visible damage done to it. I was both confused and terrified at the same time.

"Still think this is all an illusion?" the creature asked, before laughing madly.

But it wasn't the creature's voice. It wasn't the distorted, demonic voice that I had heard coming from it earlier. This was similar to how his voice sounded when he was in pony form. I tried to pinpoint where the voice had come from but I couldn't. It came from all around me. I then decided I would try and stand up to defend myself just in case the creature tried attacking me again. I knew fighting it was futile in this state but I was going to try nonetheless. I attempted to use my two forelegs to lift myself up, but hissed as another shot of pain ran through my body. I tried again and again for the next few seconds and gave up after the fourth try. Here I lay, slumped on the ground and vulnerable to attack from all angles.

"What is this place?! Where have you taken me?!" I asked the creature.

"This… is my world. Here, I am God and you are but an insect," the creature told me, "I've brought you here so we could have a little chat without you trying to blast me into oblivion. But first, consequences. I'm gonna have to rough you up a bit for blowing a literal hole in my chest."

"I had good reason to do that. You literally - " I was cut off by another cube rising through the floor to smash the bottom of my jaw breaking it and dislodging a few of my teeth while sending me flying through the air. I landed on my back about ten meters away, but before I could do anything, another pillar burst out of the ground and rammed against my underbelly, breaking a few more bones, sending me flying up in a straight line at a ninety degree angle to the ground. I shut my eyes as I was afraid I was going to crash into the ceiling, but that would have been preferable to what actually happened. Before I could make contact with the roof of my throne room, another cube burst out of the ceiling, slamming into my back and sending me flying back down. I smashed through the ground and into another spotless replica of the throne room, then broke through the ground of that second throne room and crashed into into the ground of the third throne room, creating a mini crater as the force of my impact broke the tiles of the floor and broke through some of the concrete under it, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The pain was unbearable, and before long, I blacked out.

Pocket dimension

Slenderman P.O.V.

I felt extremely satisfied, seeing the broken and battered princess that bled profusely all over my floor. It made me feel powerful, causing pain to the one that somehow managed to get over her fear of me and blow a hole in my stomach. But I was a fair man, and as much as I wanted to gouge her eyes out, I wouldn't cause someone more pain than they caused me. Well, I would, but I wouldn't cause somepony more pain than they caused me, especially if they had a good reason, which, as much as I hated to admit it, Celestia did. I mean, if someone did that to a member of my family, I would make sure they stayed alive for as long as possible while experimenting on torture techniques. But although I couldn't blame her, and although I did admittedly deserve it, I won't let someone do something to me without returning the favor. Like my motto in my previous life was: if they punch you once, punch them back ten times.

I stared at the unmoving princess, checking to see if she was still alive. I was worried that I had killed one of the kindest ponies in the world, and that I killed one of the leaders of the kindest creatures from this, or any other world. I was beginning to seriously contemplate if I could fight against every single creature on the planet if they came after me, before I spotted the slow, rhythmic rise and fall of her chest.

She was still alive, but not for long. I tried to heal her with my godly powers, but seeing as I couldn't directly warp anything that came from outside my pocket dimension, I quickly realised the futility of my actions and decided to think of another way to save the princess. I eventually decided on just returning to the real world and letting the unicorn doctors use their healing magic. I sighed as I picked her up and cradled the dying princess in my arms and prepared to transport her back.

Canterlot Castle

Luna P.O.V.

It had been about ten minutes since that thing took my sister from me. It just wrapped a tendril around her and sunk into the floor, dragging her down with it as well. I was frantically searching for my sister on the floor just below the throne room. I had blown a hole in the floor of the throne room when I tried to find her. That was when I suddenly heard screaming coming from the floor above me. I immediately took off and flew back down the halls I had just come through, and up through the hole I had just made, leading me directly to the throne room. What I saw made my heart sink.

My unconscious sister was laid out in the middle of the throne room, blood pouring from every part of her body, and it looked like she was extremely close to bleeding to death. Her ribs looked like they were crushed, her limbs were bent at odd angles, and her lower jaw was completely bent out of place. I tried to gauge the level of her internal injuries using my telekinesis and it felt like her internal injuries were even worse than her external injuries. She had multiple punctured arteries, two of her ribs were puncturing her left lung, her right lung was crushed completely, and two bones were stabbing into her heart. Good news is she was somehow still alive, but not for long. She was gonna die in a few minutes if I didn't do anything.

"Hang in there sister, you'll be alright," I whispered to her as I picked her up in my telekinetic field. "You have to be," I immediately teleported the both of us right in front of the reception desk to the emergency wing of the Canterlot General Hospital.

The receptionist jumped, startled by my sudden intrusion, "P-princess Luna! W-why… What are you - " she halted her words once she saw my sister, "Princess Celestia!" she exclaimed.

"Get me your best doctors now!" I said in the Royal Canterlot Voice and multiple doctors rushed out and came to meet me.

"Do you know what injuries she's sustained?" one of them asked me.

"She has multiple broken bones, punctured arteries, a crushed right lung, and bones stabbing into her left lung and heart. Can you save her?!" I spoke quickly and worriedly.

"Maybe, but we're gonna need all the help we can get. Normal surgery is definitely not gonna cut it. Princess, can you use that loud booming voice and get all the other unicorn healers here immediately?" The doctor asked and I nodded.
"Healing this many injuries with magic is risky, but we won't be able to make it in time if we perform physical surgery. Healing magic is never performed because of how unstable it is, but it's the only chance she's got now," the doctor explained.

'If they do this, there's a chance Tia might die,' I thought, 'But this is her only hope. I shouldn't have attacked the Slenderman in the dream realm! I shouldn't have told Celestia about the Slenderman! If I hadn't told her she wouldn't have attacked him! And maybe, just maybe, he might not have hurt her!'

"Fine, I'll summon them. But first, I have to know, what are the odds that she… that she… that she won't make it?" I asked.

The doctor sighed, "We don't know because our unicorn doctors have never done this before, only practiced it in medical school, and that was to treat small cuts and bruises. I've only ever heard of using healing magic for something half as severe as this. There were roughly ten unicorns performing the spell, and the patient…" he paused, "Didn't make it. And two out of those five unicorns suffered a magical backlash. One of them was unable to use magic for the rest of her life and the other…" he trailed off and I got the message.

"So you don't even know if this will work? You don't even know if this can kill her or not?!" I asked.

"You're right! We have no idea! But all we're trying to do is save our princess! And this is the only thing that has even the slightest chance of working! I know I might seem insensitive, but with all due respect princess, she's gonna die anyway. The only difference is whether we take the risk and try and keep that from happening or let her pass in a few minutes anyway!" the doctor told me.

It was a risk but the doctor was right. She was going to die if we did nothing, so we might as well do something. Reluctantly, I called out in the RCV, "Attention all unicorn healers in the area! Gather in the emergency wing reception area at once! Princess Celestia is hurt badly and she needs your help now!"

Doctors rushed in from all sides of the room and in about a minute, there were over thirty highly trained medical professionals in the room. Professionals that might either save or kill my sister.

"We are about to perform the most risky operation that could ever be performed," the same doctor who was consulting me spoke in a raised voice. "As you can see from the princess' condition, she is hurt very badly. But we are about to perform a healing spell," he told them.

Murmurs and voices of opposition were heard amongst the crowd of doctors but I silenced them by speaking in a raised voice, "You will all perform the spell! I am well aware of the risks, and well aware that this will most likely..." I sniffled and wiped the tears that had begun streaming down my face and continued in a shakier voice, "That this will most likely kill her, but like the doctor said," I gestured towards the one that had consulted me, "She's going to die even if you don't do this, so I don't want to hear any more opposition. This is a chance to save her and we must take it. You will all perform the spell and that is final. Her time is limited and she could pass at any moment, so stop wasting time and do it!" I told them.

"The way we are going to this is by having our most steady surgeons use their telekinesis and hold the broken bones in place. The rest of us will heal around the break and mend the two ends of each broken bone together. After this procedure is complete, we shall mend her punctured arteries and veins. We shall then proceed with her organs and heal the damage present within them. She has two bones sticking in her heart, two bones in her left lung, and her right lung is completely crushed," the same doctor told the others.

"Your highness, I'm sorry but we have to move your sister to the operating room. Could you please allow us to do that?" he asked me.

"I'm not leaving my sister's side!" I screamed at him.

"With all due respect your highness, having you here will get in the way of the operation and might cost your sister her life. We assure you that we will be able to do our jobs and will update you as soon as possible," he replied.

I sighed in defeat knowing he was right, "Fine," I said before turning to my sister. "You're gonna make it. I know you will," I whispered to her and moved away while watching as they disappeared through the doors of the operating room and shut them.

I sat down in a chair nearby the operating room and began to think to myself, 'Why is the Slenderman doing this to us? We haven't even met before and he just randomly starts tormenting us! How can somepony be so evil? How can somepony even do something like - ' my thoughts were cut off when I heard a cheerful 'hello' come from behind me. I turned around and came face to face with… an oddly attractive earth pony? He was dressed in a black suit that went extremely well against his white fur. He was taller than me and slightly skinnier, although his height made him look rather strong despite his slim figure.

"Fancy seeing you here," he said in that same cheerful voice.

"And who are you?" I asked, annoyed that some random pony would come bother me when I was obviously troubled.

"Name's Slendy. I believe we've met," he said, confusing me.

"Slendy? I don't believe I know a Slendy. I'd say you've mistaken me for someone else but it's hard to mistake one of your leaders isn't it?" I told him.

"Oh, sorry. I believe you're more familiar with Slenderman. Slendy's a short form," he replied. He spoke in a refined accent, similar to the way that most nobles spoke in public.
Though it didn't sound over the top much how the nobles usually sounded. And it didn't sound fake, like most of the nobles who clearly faked their High Equish accent ...(Equivalent to the Queen's English accent irl)... just so they could show off and sound more… upper class. His accent was refined, but not too refined, sounding more professional rather than the 'higher than thou' vibe that most nobles gave when they spoke.

"What? How do you know the Slenderman?!" I asked, confusion and anger evident in my voice; confusion from somepony else knowing about the Slenderman without being one of the castle staff, and anger from some random stallion bringing him up in what was probably an effort to harass, make fun of, or threaten me.
I quickly got up from my seat and turned around to face him fully.

"Your sister asked me the same thing. I know him very well, we are rather… intimate. In fact, we're so close that we're together right now," he said, causing me to recoil in disgust, before realisation hit me and I took up a fighting stance and flared my horn in warning.

"Where is he?" I asked firmly. For some reason, my fear of him was completely gone. Where just a moment ago I would've broken down the moment I saw him, now I stood there wanting nothing more than to blast him straight to Tartarus and lock him up forever and throw away the key. The sudden shift in my mood didn't go unnoticed and confused me slightly, but I reasoned that the fear was probably drowned out by my anger.

"Fine, I'll tell you, but you have to promise me that you won't attack him on sight," he said, which only led to angering me even more.

"Look what he did to my sister! He attacked the both of us, meddled with my mind, and almost killed my sister! And there's still a chance she might die!" I shouted at him in the Royal Canterlot Voice, which had drawn in dozens of onlookers.

"Firstly, he says he's sorry for your sister, and that he didn't mean to injure her that badly. Secondly, he says that what happened with you was an unintended accident," he said which caused my anger to rise, while also causing me to calm down slightly. It was weird. "Lastly, he says he's only gonna meet with you if you promise to hear him out."

"I'm not going to stand here and speak to that monster! Look at what he's done!" I screamed in anger, "The Slenderman did this and now he just wants to talk? The moment I see him I'm going to banish him straight to Tartarus!"

"It was an accident!" he screamed back at me, "I… he never meant to put you through that. And if you don't give me your word that you won't attempt to harm him, he's not gonna show."

I thought for a moment, not harming him for the moment would be worth it if I could find out more information that could assist me in defeating him. I finally decided on agreeing with his terms just so I could find out what he wanted or if he had any weaknesses, "Fine," I said, "Now tell me where he is.

"You're looking at him," he said.

His form then shifted to that of the utterly terrifying tall, bipedal entity I was familiar with. The shift only lasted for around a second or less, but that was enough for my fear to return in full force. Seeing his figure for a second time which lasted a single second was just as, if not more terrifying than seeing him for a few minutes the first time. I immediately jolted back in shock the moment his form shifted, and started backing away even after he reverted to his pony form. I was scared enough to run all the way back to the castle, but I was afraid to even move, scared that if I moved more than a few steps at a time, that it would trigger the creature somehow.

But as I was backing away, just as quickly as the fear had engulfed me, it left, and I stopped backing away and just stood there, staring at the creature, emotionless. Then something else began to fill my being. Anger. Rage. Hate.

My expression contorted to one of pure fury, before I noticed the onlookers that were still staring at me, and hadn't even flinched from the Slender Man's sudden shift. It was just like they saw a regular stallion. Then my anger was replaced by pure confusion, 'Why did I just stop being afraid all of a sudden? I was unable to even move because of how scared I was, and all that fear just left me somehow. And why didn't the crowd react to the sudden shift? Surely some of them would've noticed the quick change in appearance and reacted accordingly,' I thought as I just stared back at the creature, who was just standing there looking at me.

Where there was once nothing but complete horror, there was now… awkwardness. An extreme level of awkwardness, on par with some of the most awkward experiences I have ever had in my entire life. I was experiencing an awkward moment with the most terrifying creature in existence. And it was… awkward.

"Right. Well, apologies for startling you, that was the only way to show you proof that I really am who I say I am," he said, "though I did take the liberty to remove your fear of me so that we may actually converse in a way that wouldn't reduce you to a state in which the only words you could produce would be a mixture of fearful mutterings and incoherent babbling. Yes, in your current state, if you had encountered me without me quelling your fear, you would've suffered so much trauma that you would've been reduced to insanity," he explained, which only disturbed me further, "I know, I know. It's amazing I have that effect on people."

"So that's why my fear suddenly vanished…" I said, before my anger returned at this revelation, "So you used mind magic and manipulated my emotions?!" I screamed at him in anger.
In response to this, the crowd responded in a cacophony of gasps and murmurs, followed by most of them backing away. "Worry not, my fellow ponies, I shall not allow this creature to harm you," I spoke to the crowd before fixing the Slenderman an aggressive glare, silently daring him to make a move.

"I think the crowd is quite bothersome, wouldn't you agree?" he turned towards the crowd and addressed them, "Don't worry, nothing to see here. There's no need for fear and panic. Go and return to whatever you were doing and leave us alone. You won't even remember we were here," he spoke and the crowd immediately disbanded without any hesitation and returned to whatever it was they were doing. It was like nothing even happened, and none of them even spared me a glance, where a few mere moments ago, just about every pony in the hospital was staring at me.

"What the…" I whispered softly.

"Anyway, I believe you have a deal to fulfill," he said, "You promised to both listen to my side of the story in relation to recent occurrences, and that you would not attempt to attack me, at least not for the duration of our conversation."

"A deal's a deal," I said, making sure that he could hear the venom in my voice, "I recommend you choose your words very carefully. Our deal only lasts for the duration of our conversation."

"Thank you for honouring your word, although that subtle treat was definitely not necessary," he said while feigning disappointment, "Firstly, I would like to say… I'm sorry. Sorry for what I put you through, and sorry for attacking your sister. Believe me when I say most of what happened is a misunderstanding. I was - " I cut him off in anger.

"You mean to say that you attacking me in the dream realm was a misunderstanding?!" I shouted at him, "You mean to say nearly causing my sister's death was a misunderstanding?! You mean leaving the only hope of my sister's survival being a spell that will most likely kill her?!"

"What exactly did you expect me to do?! You attacked me for no apparent reason! Did you honestly expect me to just stand there and receive blast after blast of magic without retaliation?!" he shouted back, which caused me to flinch and start backing away from him as he started walking forward, "I was just standing there minding my own business! And then some random pony just came up to me and started shooting me! You struck first, and all I did was defend myself!"

I began seriously considering the possibility that I was wrong. If I hadn't attacked it back then, all of this might have been avoided. But then I thought about what happened to Celestia. Me being in the wrong still didn't excuse what the creature did to my sister, and my anger returned in full force.

"But look what you did to Celestia! I admit that attacking you at first glance did escalate the situation, but my sister's about to be dead because of you! Why did you do this?!"

"Well, if someone blasted a hole straight through you, I reckon you'd be pretty mad as well. That's just my hypothesis though. I'd be more than happy to blast a hole straight through you and observe your reaction if you need me to prove my point," he said.

"You shouldn't have attacked her if you didn't want a hole blown through your chest," I snarked at him.

"She fired the first shot," he shot back.

"So you nearly killed her in response?!" I screamed at him.

"I only returned the favor. She didn't know I was capable of regeneration at the time, yet she released a fully powered blast, intent on killing me. And I would be dead if I were any other creature. I nearly killed her, by accident, while she would have intentionally ended my life if I was unlucky. The way I see it, I was only returning the favor. In fact, I showed her mercy. If I really wanted to return the favor wholly and completely, I would've put a hole in her chest as well. Trust me when I say, you have no idea how hard it is to restrain myself, and after our little chat, you will finally understand how much I really have to gain from either of your deaths," he said, reverting back to his overly cheerful tone, which was overly disturbing, "The first reason your sister isn't dead is because I like ponies in general. The second reason is because I've been watching you. Not in a creepy way mind you, it was mostly for entertainment, and I'm not a stalker. I've grown quite fond of you as a result, Also not in a creepy way."

"How, in any way, shape, or form, is that not creepy?!" I shouted at the creature who would dare intrude on my privacy.

"Well, I am about to tell you everything. All I ask is that you take a seat, and listen to what I have to say. Trust me, it would be in your best interest as well," he told me.

"Fine, I'll listen to what you have to say. You'd better have a good reason for all of this, or I'll show you what happens to those who mess with my subjects," I said, both eager to be done with the deal so I could banish the abomination to the depths of Tartarus, while also being genuinely curious about what the creature wanted.

"Firstly, I would like to start off by saying… my entire species…" he paused for dramatic effect, "Is watching you," he finished with a wide grin, not sinister and mocking in nature, but more of how a child would smile if they were happy. He had once again made the situation so very awkward, and had somehow managed to disturb me even further. He didn't even give me a chance to process what he said before continuing, "it isn't that we're stalking your species, or keeping an eye on you. In fact, we don't even know we're watching real people. So I hope that - " I cut him off before he could go any further.

"What?! You mean to say that we have a race of monsters watching us for their own entertainment?!" I exclaimed, terrified of the implications of this. How could they watch an entire species? How was one of them able to get to our world? What if more creatures similar to the Slender Man come to our world?

"Well yes, we're watching you, but we have no idea we're watching you. Are you aware of the comic book series known as the Power Ponies?" he asked.

"Yes, I am. I have personally read a few issues, and have found it to be mildly entertaining," I said, confused by what place a comic book series held in the conversation.

"Imagine if everything that you've read was real. You'd be watching an entirely separate species. You'd have no idea you were watching real peopl- ponies, and they'd have no idea their entire race was being watched. This is similar to how my species, humanity, watches your species. The only difference is, we watch you on what we call television, best described as moving images rather than stationary ones. It would be exactly like seeing whatever it is we were watching first-hand, but through a piece of glass," he explained.

His explanation did raise some concerns, like how another species, especially one like his, would be able to watch our species without even knowing they were watching actual ponies, and how we were left completely unaware that we were being constantly observed by a race of demons. But his explanation did intrigue me though, and it raised even more questions than this new revelation had answered.

"So you mean to say that everything I do will be shown as entertainment for another race?" I asked, not even knowing what to think of this new knowledge.

"Not any one of you specifically. Trust me, it sounds a lot worse than it actually is. Would you like me to tell you more about the show?" he asked.

"How is it not that bad?! Every single one of us I'd being watched by a race of demons! How would you react if all the other Slender Men were being watched by another race?!" I shouted at him, mostly out of desperation for something to vent my anger and worry upon rather than being angry at him for the act of observing my people.

"It's not that bad because my race isn't a race of demons. I was turned into a demon by some unknown entity and sent to your world, like I said when we had first met, but I'll tell you more about that later," he said, dismissing the current line of conversation with a wave of his hoof, "for now, I'll tell you more about the show. If you want to hear about it, that is."

"I… I would like that," I told him.

"Firstly, we aren't really watching your entire species. We're actually watching the lives of six individual ponies; the elements of harmony who star as the main characters of the show. There are, of course, others that star as supporting main characters. These include, but are not limited to, you and the other princesses, Spike, the group known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and Discord, among many others," he explained, without as much detail as I would've liked.

"So, your… show, as you called it, depicts the everyday lives of the elements, while occasionally involving other… 'non main character' ponies?

"Yes, though not entirely. The show is separated into nine seasons, consisting of episodes. Each episode usually lasts for a total of twenty two minutes. Each season consists of twenty six episodes, with the exception of the third season," he explained to me with regular pauses as he tried to think of how to best word his explanation. "The series doesn't show every single part of their lives, only the important and interesting bits; Ember becoming dragon lord, Rarity getting kidnapped by diamond dogs, fluttershy challenging a dragon, Twilight's ascension, stuff like that. We don't constantly watch Twilight reading a book for hours, or Applejack working the farm 24/7. And at the end of every season, there's the big bad villain that is usually battled against over the course of the last two episodes. In the first season it was you, in the second it was Discord, in the third it was Sombra, in the fourth it was Tirek, in the fifth it was…" he trailed off without continuing. "Tell me, does the name 'Storm King' mean anything to you?"

I thought about the ponies I'd heard of before and after my return and nothing came to mind. "No," I replied with a single word.

"Hmm… does the name Thorax ring any bells? He's a Changeling by the way," he said, and the newly crowned King Thorax came to mind.

"Yes, he was just recently crowned the king of the Changelings a while back. They recently reformed by - " he cut off my explanation abruptly.

"Yes, yes, I know. So that's where I am in the timeline. Alright. Now that that's done, time to move onto my second talking point," he said. "Whatever entity that sent me here, sent me with the extremely effective ability to induce paralyzing fear in whoever, or whatever I come across. That was how I accidentally affected you with what I call my ever present fear aura. I apologise for causing you to feel that much fear, though it was a good thing I did. I now know that all I have to do to turn it off is to alert the affected individual of my aura."

"Excuse me?!" I said, burning with fury at his insensitivity of what he had caused. "How, in any way, was that good?!"

"It provided me with knowledge. Would you rather that happen to you, a mare that is by all accounts, extremely brave, or would you rather I had found out by affecting another random pony that isn't an alicorn, and possibly cause them to go insane as a result of the overwhelming fear they experienced?" He asked.

"Well, I suppose you really didn't know what you were doing," I said, before realising something else that made be drop back down to a sitting position with all manner of emotions taking over me, "So… my life… our lives… it's all a lie? Just made for the entertainment of another species?"

"Not exactly," he said. "Has your kind delved into what is known as the multiverse theory yet? It'll be much easier to explain if you are aware of this."

"Yes, it was theorised by starswirl the bearded over a thousand years ago, and we've been trying to find possible proof of this, and we think we have. The world beyond the mirror, I'm sure you are aware of it, might be proof of this theory, and I do acknowledge that the fact that you exist and came from another universe is further proof of this fact, but that doesn't change the fact that we have been living a lie this whole time," I said. I had a slightly better understanding of how this was possible, but was also waiting for his explanation.

"Remember when I said we were watching you? I take that back. We aren't," he said, contradicting his previous explanation about having known everything there is to know about us, and everything there will ever be to know about us. "We are watching a fictional adaptation, created by a member of my species, that is coincidentally written just as how your lives will progress."

"What?" I asked.

"What I'm saying is, if there are an infinite number of universes, there are an infinite number of possibilities within each universe," he said. "Let's go back to the comic book series known as power ponies for a moment, shall we? If there are an infinite number of worlds, assuming each world has an infinite number of possibilities for an infinite number of different lines for development, there is, a one hundred percent chance, that in a limitless and completely infinite multiverse, the power ponies actually do exist in a separate universe. In theory, it is impossible for a world containing the exact Power Ponies storyline, down to the very things that the characters say, to not exist, seeing as every possibility that can occur, will occur. In fact, if this theory proves to be true, I can say with absolute certainty, that there is a species of Tireks with hands on their heads and eyes on their backsides who are watching my own species with their very own televisions, maybe even watching this very conversation. In fact, our conversation has probably already been watched an infinite number of times, by an infinite number of different species, with this very conversion having gone in an infinite number of different ways. Does the fact that this conversation has coincidentally been made into a story an infinite number of times, and I stress this has happened by complete coincidence an infinite number of times, make us any less of ourselves? Does that make our lives a lie?"

"I think that… I think I need a moment to process this," I said.

I stared ahead with a blank expression, my thoughts blank, just trying to come to terms with what I had learnt, trying to come to terms with how insignificant I am. After a few minutes of just plain staring, he snapped me out of it by clapping his two front hooves together, causing me to finch and let out a small gasp in shock.

"Now that you are up to terms with this, I kind of need to bring up the main reason I wanted to speak to you and ask for your help," he said.

"You mean to tell me…" I sighed with irritation, "that wasn't the main reason you came to speak to me?"

"No, not even the half of it, but I had to let you know of my origins to show you that I am not your enemy. I am not an evil villain… at least not right now," the Slender Man brought his forehooves together and rubbed them in anticipation, "I'm going to have to kill somebody by tonight, and nothing that you possibly say or do can change this. If what I want to do actually works, that'll be my only victim, but if I don't… guess I'll just have to be a vampire, except instead of drinking blood, I eat souls."

I stared at him for a bit, waiting for the punchline before he spoke again, "Uhh… hello? I just said that I require a soul as a form of sustenance? I would have expected your reaction to be a little bit more… dramatic."

"Oh, I was waiting for the punchline. Still am," I said.

"Ohh… the punchline. Yes of course, how could I have forgotten about the punchline? Most important part," he leaned back into his seat and took up a more relaxed position, "The punchline is that if I kill an immortal, I only have to murder one person, but if I kill a mortal... I'll have to murder one person as well… every single day."

I stared at him, waiting for a small snicker, or a sign of him trying to mask a smile, but he continued to maintain a serious albeit slightly amused expression, without a single hint of it being some kind of dark joke or a lie meant to make me afraid of him.

"What?" I asked with uncertainty, expecting him to say that he was kidding about what he said followed by admitting to his pathetic attempt at a lie. But that admission never came.

"I would be lying… if I said I was lying," he said. "When I was given these… gifts… I was also given a curse. The entity that sent me here gave me all these powers and abilities, along with a need to feed on the souls of sentient creatures in order to avoid an horrible, extremely painful, and extremely brutal death. I can survive about seven days without feeding before I actually start dying, but if I don't feed at least once every twenty four hours, I'll be suffering through more pain than you can possibly imagine. I highly doubt that I'll even be able to stand the pain of an entire day without feeding, let alone seven." he put his forehooves behind his head while letting his hind hooves dangle off the edge of his seat and crossing them, a position that most ponies would find impossible to sit in. "However, I do have a solution. The entity stated that if I kill an immortal being, an ageless being, my hunger for souls will be completely satiated and I won't have to constantly kill to avoid unimaginable torment."

I stared at him for a while, thinking about what he had said, 'If this truly is the case, he might not have been a creature of pure evil like I had suspected… he's worse. A creature with a want for causing harm can be reasoned with, but a creature that needs to cause harm… even if he had the purest heart in the world, that wouldn't keep him from killing others if he truly will be in that much pain. I feel sorry for him, but I feel terrified at the same time. But he said that if he… eats the soul of an immortal being, he would be cured. But that means - ' my thoughts cut off abruptly as I realised what he had said. I began to back away from him slowly, all the while he was giving me a lopsided smirk while wearing an amused expression.

"An immortal… you mean as in… me and my sister?" I said while still backing away. That was until I could no longer back away any longer as I came into contact with a wall behind me.

"Well, any immortal will do. It doesn't have to be an alicorn. There are several other ageless beings besides yourself, you know. You and your sister aren't the only ones blessed with eternal life," he got up and began pacing while using hoof gestures as he spoke, "A few examples of these individuals would be Tirek, Chrysalis, maybe Sombra, and Discord. But I can't kill any of them, because one, I don't wanna mess up this universes' timeline, and two, because I always liked the villains more than the heroes. No offense, of course."

"How can you speak about something like this so casually? You're saying you need to end somepony's life! How can you be so calm through all this?!" I exclaimed in both anger and surprise, "I thought you said you said you came from a race of kind and caring creatures!"

"No, I said I didn't come from a race of demons," he said as he began to pace around me. "I never said we were kind or caring. Sure, some of us are, but most of us aren't. And I… I'm different from the rest of them. Most others would be horrified at the very idea of killing someone, but I see it as more of an inconvenience. It would be a great burden to have to kill someone every single day, not to mention the negative publicity it would bring. And by negative publicity, I mean an entire planet full of people who will all want to track me down and either kill me or imprison me. Not the best position to be in."

"Are you crazy?! Are… are you insane?! These are living, breathing people!" I was shocked by his open disregard for the lives of others. He was, in fact, worse than I thought. Much, much worse.

"Well, that depends on your definition of insanity. The typical view of people who are insane usually entail those who are diagnosed with schizophrenia, psychopathy and multiple personality disorder. Oh, and of course, who could forget the sadists? I'm none of those things. I'm a sociopath, and I usually have medication, to cope with my general lack of giving a damn about others. I guess that my medication was still active when I was first sent here, but based on my actions I believe its effects are fading quickly. And from this new knowledge, I can safely assume that this is the same body I had back on Earth, just transformed. I guess it's slightly reassuring to know that my body wasn't replaced, or that I was placed in a new one," he rambled on.

"I have no idea what any of those things are. What on Equus is schizzoprena, or psycapothy, or sadists? And what do you mean you're a sockapoth?" I wasn't sure if I really wanted an answer to my question.

"Yes. Yes, I'm insane. I have a lack of emotions and a near complete lack of care for others. So while in my world that would be maybe half insane, considering how much emphasis pony society places on being kind and caring and friendly, I would say that I am insane by your standards," he walked back to his chair and casually took up his previous sitting position.

"You've got to be kidding me," I said to no one in particular.

"I don't kid, I'm an adult," he smirked slightly at his extremely terrible joke.

"So why are you telling me this? Do you plan on… killing me?" I asked, voice barely above a whisper.

"If I wanted to kill you, do you really think we would be having this conversation? If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead," he replied coldly.

"Then why are you telling me all this?" I asked.

"At first, it was supposed to be to get you to help me so that I won't have to kill anyone," hope shined within me for a moment, before it was dashed away in less than a second, "But there's been a change of plans. I need the location of the mirror portal. The one to the human world."

"Why?" I asked. I was confused for a moment, wondering how he knew, but then I remembered my entire life was being watched.

"Remember the sirens? The ones banished to the human world by Starswirl," Makael asked.

"No, I was trapped on the moon when that happened, but I was well informed about what happened," I told him.

"Well guess what? They're immortals. And I won't be disrupting the timeline nearly as much as I would if I killed Tirek or Chrysalis if I went for them instead," the Slenderman explained.

"You plan on killing them?!" I stomped on the ground with my hoof, and I caught him flinching slightly in shock from my sudden outburst.

"Uhh, hello? Haven't you been following anything that I've said so far? I have to kill somebody by tonight, and if it's one of the sirens, it'll be the first and the last person that I kill. If it's not, well then I'm gonna have to kill at least two people, with no upper limit to that number," the Slenderman rose from his seat and looked down at me with his superior height. "Would you rather I eat your soul? Maybe your sister's? If you have any other suggestion, I'm all ears."

I thought about something, but I was almost certain that he wasn't going to go through with it. "Would you consider having the elements used on you?" I asked sheepishly.

"What?" he raised an eyebrow at me.

"Think about it. The elements reformed me, it could strip this hunger for souls from you as well. And if you're scared that it might turn you to stone, if you do actually get petrified, you'll be unconscious throughout the entire ordeal. You will be frozen fully and completely, meaning your hunger will be frozen too, and we could easily wake you up once we have a solution," I tried convincing him.

He scoffed, "They reformed you after imprisoning you for a millenium. I'm not looking forward to that risk. Now you can either tell me where the mirror is, or I can take it from your mind myself."

"I can't let you do this. I'll stop you," my horn began to glow in its signature blue shade, "And even if I fail, my sister will defeat you. She already defeated you once, and you only won by catching her off guard. I don't think you'll be that lucky for a second time."

"I was showing her mercy. That was nothing compared to what I could do. Don't pick a fight with me. For your own sake," he said, "And besides, I've already spoken to your sister and she agreed that it's the only way."

"What? How? You're lying. My sister wouldn't let you kill somepony," I said, 'Would she?'

"Well given the choice between one of you and one of them, she chose them. She didn't exactly say that outright, but she made it pretty clear that if it was either you or them, she would choose them," he said. "As for the how - " he tapped one of his hooves against the side of his head, " - I entered her subconscious while she was knocked out. It was good enough to explain to her everything I had just told you. All I had to do was slow the passage of time. We talked for about two hours, and I apologised. We're not exactly best buds now, but she no longer wants to beat the crap outta me so I guess we're slightly better off."

"You're lying! My sister would never allow you to kill somepony!" I voiced anger. The fact that he had the complete shamelessness, the sheer audacity to even suggest my sister would partake in something like that, even though indirectly… it made my blood boil. If I was willing to give him a chance before, I sure wasn't going to now. If I had felt a dislike for him earlier, now I only felt disgust, completely appalled by his words.

"You're right. She wouldn't," he said with feigned disappointment. "I did try to reason with her. Told her to think of me as being a tiger, a manticore, or a timberwolf, which needed to hunt, and kill, in order to obtain its food, in order to live. I asked her if in that situation, any of those predators would be considered evil for doing what they have to do in order to survive. But she of course countered with the fact that none of them hunt sentient creatures exclusively, and that if it did, it would probably be put down before it could hurt anyone else."

"So she said she was going to… put you down?" I asked in surprise. Celestia would never suggest killing another sentient being.

"Not exactly," the Slender Man said, "I asked her another question to counter hers. What if that creature was sentient? She couldn't answer me and remained silent. Then I asked her another question. What if it was your sister that had to kill at least one person each day to avoid unimaginable agony? She simply said 'I don't know.'"

That did give me something to think about and I pondered for a moment. 'What would I do if Celestia were in that situation?' I thought.' But I quickly banished those thoughts in favor of the situation at hand. Despite him managing to successfully mess with my mind once again, I remained strong in my resolve, "I understand," I said and he looked up to me with what looked like happiness and hope in his eyes, getting someone to see things from his perspective and having someone who understands his plight. But that hope was quickly diminished, "But I still can't tell you where the mirror is. I won't help you kill somepony."

His hopeful expression suddenly shifted to one of anger, of fury. He began quickly walking up towards me with his expression of sheer hatred. I backed up towards the exit just as quickly, before I bumped into something behind me. I looked back to find a wall of ponies blocking the exit, all starting directly at me with expressionless faces. I looked back and saw the Slender Man still advancing. I began to panic and look for a different exit, but before I could, he abruptly halted in his advance.

Then just as suddenly as his previous mood shift, his furious expression began to shift into a smirk. "Heh. Heh heh," he chuckled, "You almost got me there. For just a moment, I thought I had even the slightest chance of being understood, that someone actually cared enough about me to sympathise with me." I opened my mouth to say something but before I could he raised his voice, startling me in the process, "No! I don't care what you have to say! I could've easily pried the location of the mirror from your mind, but I chose not to. I decided to come and speak to you instead, and offer you an explanation. But being a nice guy doesn't look like it's working. Tell me where the mirror is or I'll just look through your memories myself!"

"Go ahead. I would rather have been forced to help you rather than help you of my own free will," I told him.

"Very well," he replied.

Canterlot Castle

Slenderman P.O.V.

'Well, I got what I wanted. That wasn't a complete failure,' I thought.

I stood in front of the mirror, thinking of the conversations I had with Celestia and Luna. 'That went much better than I expected,' I thought, 'Granted Celestia did indirectly say she was going to kill me, but it's not like she can succeed anyway, even if she tried.'

I began to walk towards the portal that was inconspicuously disguised as a regular mirror, 'Well, only one thing left to do. Time to break a curse,' I thought as I went through the portal, fully prepared for the upcoming task: tracking down and killing one of the dazzlings.

Canterlot General Hospital (1 hour later)

Twilight Sparkle P.O.V.

Princess Luna told my friends and I everything. As the element bearers, we were entitled to knowledge that would normally be considered classified. The existence of an otherworldly being being sent to Equestria as a demon that eats the souls of sentient creatures definitely comes under classified. So does the existence of an infinite multiverse. And especially the implied existence of an infinite number of other species from an infinite number of worlds that watch exact replicas of our world due to sheer coincidence.

"We can't let this happen. We have to save them!" Fluttershy said to the princess, "How is it possible that somepony could even think of doing something like that?! It's evil! It's worse than evil! How is it possible that somepony could even begin to think of something that bad?!"

"Fluttershy's right. We can't let that monster track down somepony and kill em. We have to stop him," Applejack agreed with Fluttershy.

"Yea, exactly! I still can't wrap my head around how somepony would be capable of something like this!" Rainbow Dash spoke, "I know the sirens are like evil villains and whatever, but I won't sit around and do nothing when there's somepony that's going to kill one of them. I wouldn't wish death on anypony! Not Chrysalis, not Tirek, not even Sombra! We gotta go kick this demon's butt! Who's with me?"

"They're right, princess. I have to do something!" I told Luna, who was still sitting at Celestia's side while looking down at her. We could tell she was listening to us though since both her ears were turned towards us.

"Don't you mean 'we?'" Rainbow asked.

"No Rainbow, I mean me. You guys don't know the human world as well as I do. And having six ponies walking around with an exact double is going to raise some suspicion," I told her, "The only reason I was able to get away with it with their world's Twilight was because there was only one pair of us. We could easily convince other people that we were twins. I highly doubt that same excuse would work if all of us went."

Rainbow grumbled slightly but did eventually concede, "Fine. As much as I hate to admit it, you're right. You have exact replicas of us there anyway so why would you need us?"

"Rainbow - " I began but she cut me off.

"Don't worry," she said, "I'm just messing with you. So what's your plan?"

"You do have a plan, don't you darling?" Rarity asked.

"Maybe you could throw a party for it!" Pinkie suggested.

"Why would I throw a party for a soul sucking monster?" I asked, already expecting a silly answer since it was Pinkie.

"I don't know," she shrugged.

We all stared at her for a moment but Applejack was the first to snap out of it, "Ya do have a plan, don't ya Twi?"

"Give me a moment," I said and began formulating a plan to take down the monster. After a few minutes, I had successfully thought of one, "Ah ha!" I exclaimed and the chatter died down, "I've got one. Firstly, magic doesn't work in the human world, so if we're gonna take him down, he's just made it much easier for us by going there. All I have to do is gather a bunch of my friends to hold him and take him back to the portal, where you guys will be waiting on the other side with the elements. As soon as he's through, we'll use the elements on him immediately, leaving him with no chance to fight back or escape."

My friends all voiced their agreement to my plan, all except for a certain princess. "No," Luna said.

"What?" I asked in disbelief "Why? Do you have a better plan or - " she cut me off before I could finish.

"It's too dangerous. He could have defeated both Celestia and I faster than you can say 'you were right Luna' if he wanted to," she said.

"But he won't be able to use magic there," I reasoned.
"He doesn't use the same type of magic as us. We don't know if his magic will be disabled there or not," Luna said, "It's too risky. His magic could be amplified for all we know. Would you trust Discord's chaos magic to follow the same rules?"

"But how are we going to save them then?" I asked, worried that I might not be able to convince the princess to let me go.

"I will go. I will bring him back, and you will all have the elements ready the moment he steps through the portal," she replied.

"But you don't know the human world as well as I do. You could get lost, or get hurt. You might not even be able to find him in the first place, and if what you said is true about him being some kind of human alternate universe human, he'll be able to navigate the human world a lot better than you can," I told the princess.

"That does not mean I'll allow any of my subjects to confront this monster," she lowered her gaze and sighed while shaking her head, "Let alone an element of harmony. More importantly, I won't allow that… thing to hurt one of the ponies I care about."

"I'll be fine. I can't sit around and just let that creature get them," I lowered my head, "I'll never forgive myself. I'll never stop thinking that there was a possibility I could have saved them."

"Twilight's right!" Rainbow Dash came to my rescue, "She's battled all of Equestria's greatest threats! We managed to defeat Tirek even when he had the combined strength of all of Equestria! I doubt this creature can defeat every single pony in Equestria, and that's pretty much what we did!"

"What is Twilight, Rainbow Dash?" Luna asked, much to our confusion.

"What do you mean?" She asked, confusion evident in her voice, "She's… a pony?"

"More specific. What type of pony?" She questioned.

"An… an alicorn?" she replied.

"Exactly. Specifically an alicorn ascendant. That means she may or may not be immortal," she said and my eyes widened in realisation at what she was implying. "This creature is hunting immoral creatures specifically. That means twilight is also one of the few creatures on the menu."

"He won't hurt me," I said after a moment of thought.

"What makes you say that?" Luna asked me.

"May I speak freely?" I asked her for permission to say something that would be considered inappropriate.

"Of course," she permitted.

"This Slender Man creature… there's a reason he's going after the sirens. They're villains," I said and Luna began listening more attentively, "No offense but, if he is as powerful as you say he is, if he wanted you dead, you would be dead. He's specifically targeting them because they're bad and we're good. Despite them being a lot harder to get to, and us being literally right in front of him, he's choosing to go after them over us. He's not gonna hurt me because he didn't hurt you," I said. "That badly," I quickly added.

She pondered for a moment and her gaze fell upon me. "You will go anyway, even if I forbid you to, won't you?" She asked.

"With all due respect princess, I will," I replied, my voice firm.

"Then I'd rather set a few conditions for you, rather than try to stop you and fail," she said.

"Conditions?" I asked.

"Yes, just one," Luna replied, "You will have to take discord with you."

"Discord? Why?" I asked her.

"Discord is the most powerful creature on this planet," she began, "If anypony can keep you safe, it's him."

"But he has been defeated before. And if he can be defeated, the Slenderman might be able to defeat him as well," I said worriedly, "And he was once a villain as well. This means that we have no idea if the creature will consider him one of its targets. It might shift its sights to him for all we know."

"Discord will defeat him," Luna said with confidence, "The only reason anypony else was able to beat him was because of his overconfidence, and the need to hold back his true power to toy with his victims. If Discord was serious, he could easily beat anything with a snap of his fingers. He could poof away all of Equestria if he wanted to. And once we reveal the true nature and intentions of this creature, I'm sure he won't hold back."

I thought for a moment, but I did eventually see that what the princess said was true. If Discord had overcome his overconfidence, he could've just destroyed the elements, he could've just imprisoned us forever, he could've just made us vanish in an instant. And once he realises how much of a threat this creature is, I'm sure he won't take any unnecessary risks and put his foolishness away. The moment he sees the creature, he'll teleport him together with me straight back to Equestria, where my friends will be waiting. The moment he appears, we'll blast him with the elements immediately.

He won't even get the chance to retaliate.

Author's Note

Yo! Guess who's back?

Sorry for the month long wait for the update. A lot of new TV shows came out like Lucifer season 5b, Loki, etc, and I kinda got hooked on them and lost interest in writing for a moment. I also kinda got hooked on a few fanfics so I did procrastinate quite a bit.

But the good news is that now that I've finished them and regained my interest in writing, I'll try to start putting up chapters faster.

Anyway, back to the story. I'm guessing nobody here thought about the dazzlings and the fact that they're immortal as well :P

Next chapter is gonna be in the Eqg world and will be more of a horror story from the point of view of the Mane 7 + Twilight and Discord + the dazzlings as they are being hunted down by Makael.

As usual, I hope you guys enjoyed. Any and all criticism is both welcomed and encouraged. Until next time!