In front of the mirror portal

Twilight P.O.V.

"So, Discord," I began, "Tell me the plan again."

"Well, I plan on not answering that question for the third time," he said sarcastically, to which I replied with a glare.

"You know how dangerous this thing is. How can you fool around when there's a monstrous demon about to kill someone?!" I asked in frustration.

"Yeah, yeah, as if a proper thinking creature would actually end the life of another," he said dismissively. "And why do you need me to repeat the plan for the third time?"

"Don't act like you weren't eavesdropping on our conversation. It's because, firstly, you always mess up. Secondly, your overconfidence and playfulness always gets the better of you. Thirdly, you have near unlimited capabilities and were defeated multiple times by individuals who didn't even have one percent of your power," I listed, "Is that enough or would you like me to continue to add to your list of accomplishments?"

"Fine, I get it. You don't trust me," he said, feigning disappointment.

"No, I don't. Like the princess said. You can defeat any opponent instantly, but you don't do that because of your overconfidence," I replied, "And I want you to be absolutely clear about what your role is."

He rolled his eyes, "I'm the draconequus that's going to defeat him instantly, not giving him even a second to register what is happening before I teleport us to the center of the Canterlot garden, where you and your friends will proceed to use the rainbow cannon on him before he can even blink his eyes. It will all be over in an instant."

"Elements of harmony, not rainbow cannon," I corrected with a frown, "And just to be clear, when will we teleport to the others?"

"The moment we see him, without any hesitation or 'toying with my prey'" Discord used two of his fingers to form air quotes, "I get my role. And yes, I am aware that the being is 'extremely dangerous.'"

"Let's go then, shall we?" I asked as I walked into the portal. Or I would have walked into the portal if it wasn't for Discord stopping me.

"I will protect you to the best of my ability, Twilight," said Discord, "But remember that if things go badly, we can't depend solely on my magic. Although I am too powerful for the human world to remove my magic completely, it renders my magic completely unreliable and extremely unpredictable. It also eliminates almost all of my magic. I'll only be about as powerful as you when we are in the human world, having less than three percent of my regular abilities. While I will be powerful, it will be nothing compared to what I can usually do."

"What? I'm not that weak," I said disappointed. "I'm one of the most powerful magic users in Equestria! No, the entire world! There's no way I am only three percent as strong as you!" I said in disbelief.

"Oh, now you're about twelve percent as strong as me. I was talking about you before you ascended," he said.

"Oh…" I said worriedly, "Where are you even getting these numbers from anyway?"

"Reality warping isn't my only ability. I'm nigh-omniscient as well. How do you think I am always aware of those talking about me?" He answered as if I had asked a very stupid question, which I do admit it was.

"Right…" I said as the silence became awkward, before I eventually broke the awkwardness. "Shall we?" I gestured towards the portal.

"Yes we shall milady," Discord offered me a hand and I placed my hoof within it, which he grasped in response.

"Yes we shall," I replied, mimicking the same posh accent that he had used before entering through the portal.

Canterlot High School

Sunset Shimmer P.O.V.

I laughed hard at another one of my new teacher's jokes. This new Science teacher of ours was already much more fun and entertaining than the previous one. He had claimed that our previous teacher, Mrs. Rory Mercury, had resigned because she was taking a 'permanent vacation' whatever that meant.

At first, we were skeptical, wondering who this random new man who just took over the class was, but that skepticism was quickly eliminated as he proved both his knowledge in the subject, and turned out to be much more easy going and all-round more fun than our previous teacher.

He was a very young man, looking barely in his twenties. The man's skin was just as pale as Rarity's, but while Rarity's skin looked like it was naturally white, his looked like whatever colour was that was previously there was sucked out of it, leaving him completely pale. It was strange, to say the least, and had he not had an attractive look, it might even have been creepy. He was extremely tall as well, unnaturally so. He was the tallest man I had ever seen in my life, and had to be at least eight feet tall, even having to duck slightly under the door frame to get into the classroom without hitting his head. The fact that he was also extremely skinny only made him look even taller. I couldn't see much of his arms since he had his suit on, but his fingers were long and thin, about as thin as me and the girls' own fingers, which was strange seeing as even the most slender of men were around as skinny as flash sentry, who was rather scrawny for a man, with most being considerably bulkier.

He was dressed in a sharp black suit, complete with the vest and everything, with a red tie tucked underneath his vest and with a white handkerchief tucked neatly into the front pocket of his suit. On his wrist, brandished an extremely expensive looking gold watch, which I couldn't tell if it was painted gold or made from real gold seeing that if it was real gold it would've cost a fortune, and it gleamed brightly as it reflected the light from the sun shining through the windows. He was extremely overdressed for a teacher, which only irked our skepticism in the first place, but my God was he attractive.

'Oh God, what am I doing? I can't be developing a schoolgirl crush on someone I just met, and especially not a teacher. He's like at least four years older than me,' I thought. I looked around and saw most of my female classmates staring at him with lovestruck eyes as well. Even my own best friends were staring at him in a similar manner. I was about to return my gaze towards him and join my classmates in staring, but as I was looking around, my eyes caught something just outside the window.

There were two figures emerging from behind the statue in front of the school. One was Twilight, and the other was… Discord?! Although he quickly took up a human form after being visibly berated by Twilight. I wasn't that surprised by seeing Twilight, seeing as she usually came over once every month whenever the portal opened and stayed for three days before returning. But I was surprised by the presence of Discord, worried even. I decided I needed to go find out what was going on, and why Discord of all people was here.

I stood up and all attention was immediately upon me. "Umm, Mr. Makael, Sir," I said from my desk, "I kinda have something to do now, so could I maybe… possibly… leave early? Just this one time sir, I promise."

His calm and happy demeanour was immediately replaced by a frown on his face, "So let me get this straight," - he started walking towards me - "You think that whatever it is that you have to do is more important than my class?"

I hesitated for a moment, shocked by his change in demeanour, "N-no, Sir, I just have something really urgent to attend to."

The tension in the air rose as he continued glaring at me while walking towards me, but that glare quickly turned into a grin which he was visibly forcing back before he burst into abrupt laughter, "Hahhahahhahahha! Sorry, I just could not hold it back any longer," he said, confusing everyone. "You should have seen the look on your face!" he said to which everyone slowly turned towards me. "You looked so scared!" he said through bits of laughter, eliciting gradual chuckles from the crowd as they realised what he meant, which soon developed into full on laughter. Even I was laughing along with everyone else, but the laughter eventually died down.

Mr. Makael checked his watch and looked back towards me. "Of course you can leave early. There's only ten minutes left. In fact, you know what? Early dismissal for the whole class!" he said to which cheers erupted from the rest of my classmates.

Some of my classmates got off their seats and began to exit while some stayed behind to chat with each other for a bit. I was one of those that were heading for the exit, but before I could go through the door, I was stopped by Mr. Makael.

"Sunset Shimmer!" he called after me. "Before you go, could you please come here for a moment?" he said, "I have something I would like to ask you."

I turned around and headed to his desk and stood before him. "Yes, Mr. Makael?" I asked with a sense of urgency.

"I know that you are in a hurry, but I assure you this will only take a moment of your time," he said in his ever calm and cheerful tone. "Do you remember that battle of the bands competition? The one you competed in?" he asked.

"Of course I remember it. I was in it," I replied in a hurried tone.

"Well, there was another group, one that I'm currently trying to locate. The Dazzlings, I believe they are called. Do you happen to know where I can find them?" he said, which confused me.

"Why would you be looking for them?" I asked.

"It's a long story, but I really want to meet them," he said, a glint in his eyes as if he was their biggest fan. "But I won't bore you with the details, you were in a rush, weren't you?" he asked, which reminded me that I needed to catch up with Twilight and Discord before they strayed too far.

"They usually go to a diner, DcMonalds, at around this time," I said with immediacy, "I'm sorry Mr. Makael, but I'm really in a hurry. Could we pick this conversation up another time?"

"Yes, of course," he said, gesturing to the open door of the classroom, "Go ahead,"

I took off quickly, hoping to catch up to the princess of magic and lord of chaos in spite of the delay before they could stray too far. I walked down the hallway in a quickened pace, hearing the fading voices of my classmates behind me.

"You're the best, Mr. Makael!" I heard Rainbow Dash's voice in the distance, "No one's ever let us off early before."

Mr. Makael replied with a cocky, "I know," to which I heard the faint remnants of laughter that gradually sounded further and further away from me as I made my way towards the school entrance and away from the classroom.

I began to run in order to catch up with them before I lost them. As I ran down the hallway, I came upon a corner, and just beyond that corner was the main entrance to the school, where I would hopefully find the two interdimensional travelers. In my haste, I ended up rounding the corner way too quickly, and as a result, I ended up running into someone.

Our heads hit each other, which caused me to cry out in shock as we both fell to the ground. I landed on my haunches, and brought a hand up to my forehead, which was the point of impact and as a result, it hurt the most. I slowly opened my eyes, gradually getting out of my stunned state.

"Ow," I moaned as my vision slowly returned. My eyes focused on the person I bumped into, which by sheer coincidence ended up being… "Twilight?" I asked.

"Sunset!" she exclaimed as she finally noticed it was me that she bumped into.

"Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise?" came a third voice that I didn't recognise, immediately associating it with the one other person that was here. The spirit of chaos that I had heard so much about.

"Discord, I presume?" I said with venom in my voice, "Why are you here?"

"Sunset, it's alright," came Twilight in a placating tone, "You can trust him. He's reformed, remember? Just like you."

"Forgive me for being a little concerned about having a lord of chaos present," I said, "But at least he doesn't have his all powerful reality warping magic."

"Actually - ," he began but was cut off by Twilight.

"Well, about that," Twilight said sheepishly, "He can do magic in this world."

"What?!" I exclaimed, "Can I speak to you privately for a moment?"

"Yea, sure," she agreed and we put a slight distance between ourselves and Discord. Or we would have, if he hadn't followed us.

"Hmmm Hmmm," I cleared my throat to which Discord responded by leaning in closer. "Excuse me? Do you mind?" I asked, making sure he heard the irritation in my voice.

He either didn't notice how annoyed I was, or didn't care. "No, I don't. You guys can carry on," he said, to which I couldn't tell if he was joking, being genuinely serious, or if he was just an idiot.

"Discord, we wanted to speak privately," Twilight said.

"Oh, right," he said. He looked around for a moment before finding a door which led to an empty classroom and ushered Twilight to enter, to which she complied. I stood my ground defiantly, which only resulted in him gripping me by my wrist and dragging me into the empty classroom.

"There, now you have privacy," he said to which I raised an eyebrow.

"Well, thank you," Twilight replied and turned her attention towards me, "You wanted to tell me something?"

"He's still here," I cocked my head towards Discord, who was still standing in the doorway.

"Discord, didn't you say you were gonna give us privacy?" Twilight asked, accentuating the word privacy.

"Yes, which is exactly what I did. Isn't this private enough for you?" he asked in what seemed like confusion.

"Do you mind closing the door?" Twilight asked, mirroring my tone of irritation.

"Not at all," he replied.

'Finally,' I thought as he began to move. I guess that in the end he did technically close the door, only with him being on the wrong side of it. Rather than give us both the privacy we requested, he now stood in the room together with us, with the door closed behind him. In response to this, we both gave him a look that simply said, 'Seriously?'

Outshining all his previous capabilities, it seemed that he actually understood our message from the way we both looked at him. "What? Isn't this private enough for you? I highly doubt any other humans can hear us with the door closed. I would say we have enough privacy," he said in complete ignorance of the fact that he was the one we wanted privacy from.

"Discord, um… how do I say this?" Twilight awkwardly began, "We wanted privacy… from you. We wanted to speak to each other… like… alone."

"Alone? Sure, go ahead. The door's closed," Discord said.

"Alone, as in… just the two of us. Without you," she gestured towards me and back towards herself, "Twilight and Sunset, without anybody else listening."

"Oh, you mean with- without me?" he asked, disappointment creeping into his voice.

"Give the man a medal. He figured it out. Now could you please get out so the grownups can talk?" I asked sarcastically.

He frowned at me but his frown soon turned into an evil grin. He stood there, smirking at me before snapping his fingers, which caused me to flinch back slightly in mock fear as absolutely nothing happened. He frowned and snapped again… snap… nothing happened… snap… nothing happened… snap snap… nothing happened. He was soon snapping his fingers nonstop, with his frown returning and him frowning more and more as his magic didn't work, while I just stood there, visibly annoyed, with an eyebrow raised.

Fortunately, he soon stopped his snapping and looked back at me. "You done?" I asked.

"Discord, we're in the human world, remember?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, yes, forgot I couldn't do what I can usually do here," he said.

"I thought you said he had magic?" I asked confused.

"He does, it's just… weaker," she replied.

"How much weaker?" I asked.

"A lot," she replied without as much elaboration as I would have liked.

"Define a lot," I said, worried.

"About as strong as me," she said, which made my eyes grow wide.

"What?!" I exclaimed in worry, "The Lord of Chaos is in a magicless world with as much magical capability as one of the strongest magic users in history?! With as much magical capability as an Alicorn?!"

"You flatter me," commented Discord, a comment which I ignored.

"No, I mean before I ascended!" she quickly corrected herself in response to my freak out. "Before I ascended," she confirmed once more.

"That doesn't exactly make matters better!" I shouted. "Okay, deep breaths. Deep breaths," I calmed myself before the classroom door burst open, revealing my friends standing out in the hallway, peering inside.

"Sunset?" half of the group asked.

"Twilight?" the other half of the group asked in tandem with the first half.

"We heard shouting, darlings," Rarity said.

"Other me, you're here!" Twilight's human double said. "What's going on?" she asked and gestured towards Discord, "And who's this?"

"This…" Twilight put her hand on Discord's shoulder, "Is Discord."

"You mean the Discord?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Lord of Chaos Discord?" she looked towards him, eyes going wide.

"In the flesh," Discord replied while grinning widely, bowing like a showman and tipping an imaginary hat.

"That's so cool!" Rainbow suddenly popped up next to him, "I've heard so much about you!"

"All good things, I'm sure," Discord said while smiling.

"I'm like, your biggest fan!" Rainbow said, which only caused his smirk to become even more cocky.

"What's not to love?" Discord threw his arms wide as if giving a show to an audience and reveling in the praise of the crowd.

"Please Rainbow, don't feed his ego," Twilight said as she brought two fingers to the roof of her nose, mocking an attempt to soothe a headache.

"Is it true that you made it rain chocolate in your world?" Pinkie asked.

"Of course I did, human pinkie clone," he said before he turned towards twilight. "You really made me famous," he said to which Twilight responded with a roll of her eyes.

"Can you do it over here?" Pinkie asked excitedly while jumping up and down repeatedly in joy. She did stop jumping when she saw the cold glare that both Twilight and I sent her way, calming down but still smiling widely at us.

"Don't encourage him," Twilight said while shifting her eyes towards Discord.

"I can honestly say with a hundred percent certainty that nobody has ever requested that I cause chaos before," he said while grinning, "You and I are definitely going to get along!"

"This meetin' is fun an' all," Applejack began, "But why are ya here together with Twilight instead of Spike, Lord of Chaos?"

The moment AJ asked that question, both of their eyes went wide, clearly remembering having to do something important. "We have to find the Dazzlings, now!" Twilight exclaimed in worry. "Do you know where we can find them?!" Twilight pretty much shouted in my ear, causing me to recoil in shock and pain.

"Well yeah," I said after recovering from my shock, "Why are you looking for them anyway?"

"Sorry guys, but you don't have to worry," she replied. "Discord and I have got everything under control," she said to which Discord responded by nodding firmly, "I can't let you guys get wrapped up in all this. It's for your own safety."

"It was good seeing you guys but I'm sorry, we have to go, and fast," Twilight said and began moving towards the exit with Discord, but human Twilight's next words stopped them dead in their tracks.

"That's weird. Didn't Mr. Makael ask where they were as well?" Human Twilight said, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw both Twilight and Discord as they abruptly froze on the spot, "Probably just a coincidence though."

Twilight was up in her double's face in an instant. "Say that name again," she said, face full of worry.

Intermission

From here I'm just gonna say SciTwi to refer to Twilight's human double for ease of writing.

End of intermission

"Mr… Makael?" SciTwi asked confused, "You recognise him?"

"Yes, I recognise him!" Twilight died in a worried tone, which worried us as well. "Now, I'm going to ask you this. It is very important that you try to answer to the best of your ability," Twilight said in a very serious manner, which only worried us further, "What was his full name?"

"I don't remember. I only remember his first name," SciTwi said, now concerned.

"You have to! At least tell me what he looked like, how he was dressed, anything. I don't know if it's the same creature we're looking for, but if it is, we could all be in danger," Twilight said to which the rest of us shared worried glances.

"Wait a minute," Rainbow waved a hand, "You mean to say that you think our new teacher is some creature?"

"He was a very nice man," Fluttershy stated softly.

"Duly noted," Twilight said. "But we're going to have to find him anyway just to be on the safe side. After that, we should immediately head off to look for the Dazzlings. Wait…" Twilight glanced around, "Did you say… new teacher?"

"Yes, he just started out today. He said the previous teacher went on a 'permanent vacation'," I said.

Then the least expected person spoke up. "We have to find him. Now!" Discord said, surprising everyone with his seriousness. We threw each other another set of worried glances. If even Discord was being serious, there was definitely something up.

"What's going on, Twilight?" I asked, now slightly afraid of whatever it was that got them so worked up.

"There's no time! Where is he?!" Twilight now looked a lot more distressed than she previously had, "I'll tell you guys on the way but please, please tell me where he is."

"We saw him heading down to the basement car park," Fluttershy said and Twilight and Discord immediately bolted, with us following close behind.

While we were running, she began her explanation on what was really going on, after we had to straight up demand her to tell us.

Canterlot High car park

Twilight Sparkle P.O.V.

I had told them everything about the Slenderman and they were currently in disbelief, looking both horrified and disgusted. They had pretty much the same reactions that their pony counterparts had, now taking the threat very seriously. I had asked them to stay out of this, telling them it could be dangerous, and making an attempt at insisting they let Discord and I do this on our own. They were having none of it though, and they in turn insisted, no, demanded that I let them help. I eventually realised the futility of trying to get them to leave and rather than wasting time, I had decided that I would have to have them along for the ride, not like I could do anything to stop them anyway.

We were attempting to locate their 'teacher' in the car park, running as fast as we could down the roads in between the rest of the cars. We ran the entire length, from where we exited the lift, all the way to the ramp that led outside the car park, finding no sign of their so-called teacher.

"Do you see him anywhere?" Rainbow asked.

"What if he's already gone?" Fluttershy asked, worried.

"Then we just have to get to the sirens before him," I told them as I began to think of a possible plan of action.

Then suddenly, the sound of glass being broken came from slightly behind us. It sounded a slight distance away, but because of the open space of the car park, the sound reverberated all throughout it.

Then came the alarm. It was very loud, so we were easily able to pinpoint its location of origin and began to make our way there.

"That's a car alarm," Sunset stated.

"Do you think it's him?" my human double asked.

"I mean how do we know that Mr. Makael is the Slender Man anyway?" Fluttershy asked, sounding uncertain.

"So you think that someone who wears the sharpest suit I've ever seen, is extremely tall, just arrived today, literally said that our previous teacher was taking a so-called 'permanent vacation', and asked about the Dazzlings just by coincidence?" Sunset asked sarcastically.

"But he was nice," Fluttershy rebutted.

"Too nice," countered Rainbow Dash.

"Even in the extremely slim, almost non existent chance that this is a coincidence, we better be safe than sorry," Sunset advised.

"Um, guys?" Pinkie said but the others didn't notice, still talking about recent events.

"Guys?" Pinkie said again, but was once again ignored.

"Guys!" Pinkie shouted which startled all of us, and by extension, annoyed all of us greatly as well.

"What?!" we all said in unison.

"The alarm's moving. I think it's getting closer," she said and we listened intently for the sound, and sure enough, the beeping sound was getting closer and closer.

The sound got louder and louder, then it stopped. But its point of origin soon became clear as what looked like a sleek, black classic car rolled around the corner and stopped about fifteen to twenty metres ahead of us.

It was a classic sports car, which Sunset had pointed out to me before, though I had never seen this particular brand of car before. It had four large headlights on its front, two on each side, which was also one of the features that helped me identify it as a classic. It didn't have a roof, only one of those large windows on the front, a windshield I believe it was called, which was lined on the outside by a silver coloured metal frame. It had a short body height for a car, typical of most sports cars but the length of its body was much longer. Not only was it longer than most sports cars, it was longer than most cars, period. The black coating of the car had a smooth and glossy appearance, and its shine reflected back the light directed at it. It all would have been very impressive, if it wasn't for the individual driving it.

He was the tallest man I had ever seen, and was also the most overdressed man I had ever seen, wearing an expensive looking three piece suit which looked like even filthy rich couldn't afford. He had both hands on the steering wheel and was staring at us through the large window thing at the front. He was attractive, sure, there was no denying that, but the way he stared at us with that smug, lopsided grin, it was extremely menacing, maybe even downright creepy.

"Mr. Makael?" Fluttershy asked timidly.

"The Slenderman, I presume?" I had to raise my voice because of the sound of the vehicle and the distance between us.

"I see my reputation precedes me," he spoke in an overconfident voice, that silently said, 'You can't do anything to me. You're not a threat.'

"Discord, you know what to do," I said, not taking my eyes off the Slenderman.

"I'm so very sorry it has to end this way. I did love that bit of chaos you caused," Discord said, feigning an apologetic tone. "Oh well," Discord said before snapping his fingers, but nothing happened. He tried snapping his fingers again, to no avail. Snap… nothing happened. Snap… he brought his fingers up to eye level and tried again. Snap… we threw him worried glances and he began to look increasingly worried as well. Snap… the Slenderman replaced his smirk with a confused look and a raised eyebrow.

"Is something supposed to happen?" he asked, looking genuinely confused. I would have laughed if it wasn't for the current circumstances.

"It usually works on the first try," Discord replied casually.

"Don't worry, take your time. We all make mistakes," Makael reassured him sarcastically.

"Discord!" I whisper-shouted at him, "What's going on?!"

"He's repelling my magic somehow," Discord whispered back, and my friends' expressions grew increasingly distraught.

"Your magic's not working?!" I asked, becoming afraid.

"It's working perfectly. My magic just can't touch him," he illustrated his point by levitating me slightly, then letting me back down. "Not only is it unable to touch him, it's being repelled."

"You done?" He asked, looking at his watch, "Now if that'll be all, I am in quite a bit of a rush. Got a reservation for my meal, so if you can kindly move out of the way, that would be very much appreciated." He gave us a few moments and we didn't move. "Or I could just run over you. Your choice," he said, revving his car to illustrate his point.

Then Discord spoke up, "I might have an idea, but if he really goes through with attempting to run us over, we'll have to jump out of the way. I need you guys to stand your ground until the last second. I need him to be going at full speed for my plan to be at its most effective.

"Hey, assholes! Get the hell off the road, unless of course, you want me to run you over?" he revved his vehicle again in an attempt to threaten us.

"I trust Discord, but if we're gonna do this, we all have to be in on it," I told the rest, "So can you guys stand your ground until the last second?"

"If Twilight trusts him, I trust him," Rainbow said.

"I'm with ya, Twi," AJ confirmed.

"We have the same mind, and I'm sure I would trust myself, so I'm in," my human double said.

"I - " Rarity began but was cut off.

"Are you all contemplating death? Saying your last goodbyes?" Makael sarcastically asked us, "It's not that difficult a decision. Move out of the way or I'll go through you."

"I don't believe you!" Sunset raised her voice in defiance. "Twilight told us what happened and how you need to… kill… an immortal being to avoid unimaginable torment," Sunset took on an empathic and understanding tone, "But I know there's still good in you, and you know this is wrong. And I know that you won't hurt us for just standing in your way."

His cocky smirk was quickly replaced with a frown, then a look of anger. "Then what do you propose?!" he shouted in anger, which made us all flinch, "You all talk of how… how I can't do this, but have you considered what will happen if I don't?! When I kill Adagio, she won't feel any pain at all. It will be instant. But if I don't feed, my death will be anything but painless!"

All of us, even Discord, got a pitiful look on our faces. What none of us admitted, but all knew to be true, was that the Slender Man was right. He would suffer a fate much worse than death, and from how scared he himself looked, we could not even imagine how much pain he would go through. He tried to hide it, behind his smugness, his sarcasm, his apparent lack of care for anypony else, and his overconfidence, but it was when he got angry that his own fear became apparent. He screamed and wore an expression of fury, but behind his expression, in his eyes, it wasn't anger. It was fear. And from how the others threw him pitiful glances, rather than fearful looks I could tell they saw the same thing as well.

"You were sent here as a monster, but you don't have to be a monster," I told him, taking on an understanding tone of voice, "What we are doesn't define our actions, our actions define who we are. Thorax was a changeling, but he didn't let that stop him from being good."

"It's not about what I chose to do. Don't give me any of that shit!" he said and I recoiled slightly at his language, "It's about what I need to do. There's no choosing my actions here! Well, I guess maybe there is. Kill or be killed. Wait, no, kill or be tortured to death with a level of pain neither of us can even fathom."

"We'll find another way! You don't have to do this!" Sunset begged.

"Tell you what. I'll go and capture one of them first, preferably Adagio, and I'll give you until ten o' clock tonight to find another way," he said, resuming his refined and overconfident tone of voice, "If you find another way, I won't eat her soul, but if you don't, I won't have any other choice." He paused for a moment, "If it helps, I really would prefer it if you find another way. I really hope that I can avoid killing someone."

"I'm sorry, but we can't let you do that," AJ said, and received looks of confirmation from the rest of us.

He revved his vehicle again, this time louder, but we didn't budge. "Oh well, it's your funeral," he said dismissively.

He began reversing his car, which I assumed was to gain more time to accelerate in order to ram into us even harder. That or it was another intimidation tactic. He reversed until he was about fifty metres away, being extremely close to the wall behind him.

Then he began moving forward. Slower at first, but quickly picking up speed. That was when I heard a snap coming from Discord and noticed a faint yellow glowing barrier in front of us. I noticed it because of how focused I was on the oncoming vehicle and how that same vehicle suddenly had a near-transparent yellow tint rip it. The Slenderman didn't notice it though, or made no indication that he did as he just kept on coming, full steam ahead.

I was extremely confused though, since such a weak magical barrier definitely would not be able to stop that vehicle. Then, the most unexpected thing happened. The vehicle easily made it through, as expected, but the moment the Slenderman impacted against it, he was sent flying about twenty metres backwards, going straight through the open roof of the car.

"Now!" Discord called out just in time for us to move out of the way and avoid the battering ram of a vehicle, just moments before it hit us. Without a driver, the vehicle quickly lost control and crashed into a nearby pillar, finally coming to a forced stop.

We all looked towards the mangled body of the Slender Man, bones broken with some of them even jutting out, joints bent at odd angles, body covered in blood, and with a cracked neck as well to top it all off. However, he was regenerating quickly. Cuts closed, bones fused back together with a sharp 'crack', and joints slotted back into place with a clicking sound.

"How'd you know that was gonna work?" Pinkie asked in a cheerful tone as if we hadn't almost lost our lives.

"I didn't. I theorized it," Discord said. He continued once he saw that we were all looking at him and wanted an explanation, "When I tried teleporting him, it wasn't that my magic didn't work on him. It was being repelled, pushed away, like how magnets repel each other. I took a guess that if I made a barrier out of my magic, and he headed into it at that speed, he would repel himself off of it and literally bounce off the barrier. His injuries were all from being thrown back, not from hitting into my barrier. He didn't even touch my barrier before his own chaos-magic-repelling-field thing worked against him."

"That was… really smart," I praised Discord, "Good work."

"We were real lucky this time," Applejack said.

We all turned towards the now partially healed body of the Slender Man as we heard the pop of another joint clicking into place. "Princess Luna said that the Slenderman was able to regenerate from Celestia's strongest attack within a few minutes," I eyed a fractured rib which was jutting out of his chest as it very gradually retreated back into where his ribs should be, "His regeneration might have weakened by coming here but being thrown against the floor is still nothing compared to the Princess' strongest attack. We should get moving, find them before he gets back up."

"I am sure we all agree with Twilight. I don't think that trick is going to work against him a second time," Applejack said.

"We have to get to the Sirens and get them as far away from Mr. Makael as soon as possible," Rarity added with a serious look.

"And then what? He's just gonna go after other people!" Rainbow Dash stated and we glanced at each other, all with concerned looks on our faces.

"We can't let him hurt other people!" Fluttershy exclaimed.

"Flutter's right. We have to stop him," Applejack stated the obvious.

"How exactly are we gonna do that?" Pinkie asked.

"Let's just all take a breath, okay?" I said and contemplated our next move, "We have to move him to the other side while he's out. Your pony doubles are waiting on the other side with the elements. If we don't strike now, we won't have a chance."

"She would be right, except for the fact that your chance has already passed," we all looked back towards the Slenderman, where the voice originated from. "That was a great idea, I have to commend you on that one, Discord," his broken neck snapped back into place, "But now you've made me angry. I wasn't going to hurt any of you but you had a plan to use the elements on me. That won't go unpunished."

"Guys, what do we do?" Pinkie asked.

"I suggest you run," he said as his previously dislocated kneecap slotted back into place, "The guardrails are off. I'm removing the training wheels. No more restrictions. No more mercy. And last I checked, both Twilight and Discord are immortals."

"What do we do?" Rainbow asked.

"Run," replied Discord as a second snap was heard and his other leg went back into place.

We all bolted as we saw the Slenderman get up, with three limbs still protruding from his chest and a broken right arm dangling limply from his side. I looked back to see him casually popping back his dislocated right arm into place, followed by pushing one of his ribs back into his chest and cracking it back into place with a sharp jerk, all without even flinching or grimacing. In fact, he showed no sign of feeling any pain at all.

Then we went up the ramp that led out of the basement, went around the automatic bar that was present to make cars pay for parking, and stepped out into the open road. We quickly made our way onto the pavement so we could talk without getting hit by a car.

"Alright, we got away," Applejack began, "What now?"

"We look for the Dazzlings," Sunset paused as she stared off into the distance, "And we save them."

"And what about everyone else?" Pinkie asked and the focus shifted to her, "We can't exactly just leave a soul eating demon out to feast on everyone else."

"We can't save everyone," Sunset sighed, "But let's focus on the ones we can save. The ones we know he's going after. We can't exactly follow him everywhere and rescue everyone he tries to… kill. But the more he focuses on us, the less of a danger he possesses to everyone else."

"Well said, Sunset," I said, "And the best way to keep his attention on us is by forcing him to chase us, and by extension, the sirens as well. So Sunset," I put my hand on her shoulder, "Where do we find them?"

"We can find them at DcMonalds. They're usually there this time of the day," she began to look worried, "Only problem is… I told Mr. Makael where to find them as well."

"You're kidding," Rainbow deadpanned.

We were so engrossed in our conversation that we didn't notice the Slenderman casually sauntering over, holding a flat, jagged edged sheet of metal in his right hand, that looked like it was literally ripped off of something. I did, however, notice as he casually took aim at his target, Discord. He brought his right arm back slowly, like someone raising a golf club. Then, with a slight jerk of his arm, and a strong flick of the wrist, he sent the piece of metal flying towards us like a frisbee. But it didn't glide through the air like a frisbee should, it sliced through it with a speed that made it almost invisible.

"Look out!" I dove into Discord and brought him down on the ground just in time, as I felt the sharp piece of metal nick my arm slightly eliciting a stinging sensation and presumably drawing a slight amount of blood.

I looked towards where the projectile had hit and saw it… literally lodged into the metal of a lamppost, with the wires inside of it sparking with electricity. 'It literally… cut through metal,' I thought, eyes wide with fear and shock, adrenaline still rushing through me from when I made that split second save.

'He was able to do that… even in his weakened state,' I thought hopelessly and looked towards him.

"Darn…" he cursed lightly, more annoyed than anything else, as if he had just merely missed a shot in bowling, not almost having killed someone. "Gonna have to try aiming lower this time," I was able to only very faintly make out what he was saying, because of the distance between us, before he resumed his casual stroll towards us.

"Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked, concerned as always.

"Guys, we have to go, now!" Rainbow said and I quickly recovered, getting off Discord and helping him up.

I looked back towards where the Slenderman was and saw he had closed half the distance, and was still taking his merry time in his stroll towards us.

"Run!" I heard my human double say, and Discord quickly shook out of his stupor, running alongside us.

We weren't running anywhere in particular, just in the general direction opposite the Slender Man, which was coincidentally towards the entrance of the school.

"There!" Sunset, who was currently leading the pack, called out. We all looked to where Sunset was pointing to and saw that she was referring to a bus that was about to leave. "We have to get on that bus!" She said and I got the idea. She wanted to use the bus to escape.

We picked up speed but it was too late. The bus was preparing to leave, but we still tried speeding up in futility. The bus moved slightly, but against all odds, stopped suddenly just a few meters from where it previously was, and the doors opened.

"Sorry, didn't see you there," the bus driver, a middle aged man, said to us. "That's gonna cost you a dollar each," he said and Sunset quickly paid the fee for all of us.

I looked back and saw the still oncoming Slenderman a slight distance away, walking as slowly as always, delivering a feeling of impending doom. Then the bus door closed, finally giving me a small sense of relief.

I went back and found a window seat, followed by Discord taking the seat next to me, with the rest of my friends in the seats surrounding us. I looked out to see the Slenderman who had stopped his relentless assault.

But now he was just standing there… menacingly. The bus then began to move and I looked around me to see those of my friends that had the window seat eyeing the Slenderman. The bus drove past him, coming within a proximity of less than ten metres away from him, but he made no hostile moves. He just stood there, and waved at us, grinning evilly, which was somehow even scarier than it would have been if he had tried to attack. He was taking his time, hunting us for sport, like we were his prey.

But we had escaped… for now.

Author's Note

I know I said that it was gonna be a horror story from the P.O.V. of the main characters this chapter, but that's only when he actually starts hunting and stalking them. That should be next chapter but don't hold me to that, just in case it's too long or I decide to make a part 3 that's just the hunting scene from the main characters' perspectives.

If any of you are wondering what route I'm taking with my character, I'm using Loki from the marvel movies as a reference. I'm basing my character around him, so imagine their personalities being similar, except that Makael has a lot less emotional drive and has about as little care for hurting others as Loki has. I'm definitely going the trickster style route with him as well, similar to the God of mischief.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. I would love if you can leave your opinions on the story and any criticism you have in the comments.

Next chapter probably in another two weeks or less.