Chapters My new faceless, soul sucking life
A splendiferous displacement
Makael weaved through the swarm of grotesque entities. Everywhere he looked, all he could see were widely grinning abominations, knife wielding psychopaths, twisted demons, tortured souls, and of course, the occasional eldritch terror.
Mikael was at a horror convention and he was currently looking for his girlfriend. He and his girlfriend went to the con dressed as the Slenderman and sadako respectively.
Mikael loved the Slender man's character. He always preferred horror movie characters that stalk their victims and wear them down psychologically as opposed to cold, brutal murderers like Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers.
And the Slender man was everything Makael looked for in a horror movie character. He had an aura of dread surrounding him that no one else could even compare to. Even when you think he can't see you, you know in your heart that he is watching. Even if you can't see him, you know he's there. Even when you think you've escaped him, you're never really free. After that first encounter, you never ever feel that he's not there. You never feel that he's truly gone. Years may pass without an encounter but he never really leaves. From the moment you encounter him, you know that every second you draw breath is a second he allows you to live. Not out of mercy but out of cruelty. He keeps you alive to play that sick game of his. He keeps you alive for the sole purpose of torturing you. He has no eyes, but always watches.
'How the hell am I gonna find Crystal in the middle of all this?' Makael pondered, 'I told her to stick together and she agreed, but what did she do in the end? She ran off to take a photo with the bloody babadook.'
Makael looked around for about ten more minutes before deciding to try her cell. 'Even if I do see her, I probably wouldn't recognise her at all' - He thought as he took his cell phone out of his pocket - 'Around half of all the girls here came as sadako as well.'
He clicked the power button on his phone but it didn't turn on. He tried again and it didn't work. He tried again but the glow of his phone's screen never came. He then held down the power button on his phone.
"Low battery?!" Makael half whispered in annoyance. 'I was literally just using it ten minutes ago and it had over eighty percent! I made sure to charge it to a hundred before coming here! What the bloody hell is this crap?!' he thought as he fumed internally.
Makael now had two options. He could either go and look for his girlfriend and stare intently at the faces of every other girl here dressed as sadako or he could go through the stores and stuff and see if he could find something interesting to do.
Makael decided on the latter. A decision that would come to have drastic consequences.
He decided to go store by store and see if he could find something interesting.
He passed by a store selling scary costumes.
He passed by a store selling horror movies.
He passed by a store selling horror games. He passed by a store selling food.
He passed by a store selling various items and he could make out a few. Freddy Krueger's gloves, Jason Voorhees' hockey mask, The jigsaw puppet, a scream mask, a real version of the babadook story book, tentacles that looked like the Slenderman's, a few -.
Wait, back up. Tentacles. Tentacles? Tentacles! Exactly what Makael needed! He could finally complete his whole Slenderman outfit. With this, he might even win the costume of the year award! He was pretty sure the other two slendermen he passed didn't have tentacles on their backs. What are the chances of someone selling tentacles that looked attachable to his back?
It was odd for sure. What idiot company would literally manufacture tentacles for sale? Maybe it was handmade? But it looked way too realistic. Even the store was odd. Nobody else that passed by it even stole a glance at it. Nobody even looked in the store's direction or gave any indication that they even saw it. The store itself was empty which was strange considering the finely crafted and all round awesome looking things on sale.
Makael entered the store and as he did, an inexplicable chill run down his spine. The store felt… off. He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was that was off, but there was definitely something strange about this store and he was sure it wasn't the fact that the way he came in was now replaced with nothing.
There wasn't a wall blocking the entrance or a black void in place of it but it was just nonexistent. It was like no matter how hard he looked he couldn't notice where he had come in, despite the entrance being right in front of him. And he didn't even notice the fact that he didn't notice where he had come in.
His eyes were locked on the set of eight tentacles that were before him. So focused on the object of his desire, Makael was, that he didn't notice the green light that flashed behind him and the figure growing in height above him.
"Seeing something we like, are we?" came a gleeful and happy sounding voice from behind Makael.
"Arggh!" Makael screamed, startled by the stranger behind him, "Jeez man, do you scare all your customers half to death like that?"
Makael turned around to find a man dressed in a polka dotted suit, with a white comedy mask with a wide grin hiding his face… if he had one, that is. The man was around seven feet tall and his height allowed him to pull off his look masterfully. His look was so realistic in fact, that for a second, Makael entertained the idea that it was actually him.
Standing in front of Makael, in all his creepy yet cheerful glory, was the Splendorman. The. Fucking. Splendorman.
"Sorry, I thought you were always watching… brother," the Splendorman replied in his ever cheerful voice.
"Hahaha, good one, brother!" the Slenderman replied awkwardly with a forced laugh. 'This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder,' Makael thought.
"So, what brings the white king himself to my humble store?" The Splendorman asked.
"Well, as you should have noticed, I have everything in my costume complete except for -"
The Splendorman cut Makael off, "Of course, the tentacles that should be on your back. Then I assume you're here for those?" the Splendorman pointed at the eight tentacles which were propped up on a rack. They were all joined together at a center point from which all the tentacles protruded. There were also two straps which would go over the wearer's shoulders so they could use it like a backpack.
"Wow, how'd you notice?" Makael said sarcastically. "Yes, how much are they? You wouldn't mind giving your brother a good price, would you?"
"Y'know, for anyone else, I would charge maybe around eighty dollars, but for you, and for you only, I'll give it to ya for fifty. Since you pull off the look so well," the Splendorman replied.
"Done!" Makael said happily.
Makael gave the money to the Splendorman and he took the tentacles off the rack.
"A perfect fit," Makael said to the Splendorman. "I reckon I could at least qualify for the best costume of the year with this," he said.
"Well, I reckon you could have if you signed up," the Splendorman replied.
"Yea, I probably coul -" wait, what? Makael cut himself off confused by the man's use of the past tense. "Wait, what do you mean I could've if I signed up?" he asked, confused.
"Enjoy your purchase, I hope it was worth it," the Splendorman replied in that same joyful tone.
Before Makael could say anything, he blacked out.
Author's Note
This chapter was all about origin stories so yeah. Don't worry, ponies will appear in the next chapter.
All criticism is both welcome and encouraged. I look forward to what you guys think of this chapter.
My new faceless, soul sucking life
An unfamiliar face (or lack thereof)
Unknown Location
Makael P.O.V.
All I could see was white. 'What the hell happened? I haven't had a hangover like this since, well, ever,' I thought. As I tried to regain my bearings, the world came into focus. I found myself in the middle of a small clearing of trees and as I looked through the branches, I couldn't see any visible end to the forest I now find myself in.
I began to panic and search around frantically for any indication of where I could be, and how I came to be here, but found none.
I tried to think back to what I could remember last. I went to that horror con with my girlfriend, I went looking for my girlfriend after we got split up, my cellphone died unexpectedly, I stopped looking for her and decided to explore some more, then I came across the Splendorman.
I put two and two together easily. 'From that bastard's use of the past tense and the eerie atmosphere in his store, I'm pretty sure he was the asshole who kidnapped me and brought me here,' I thought, 'probably knocked me out as well. Creepy bastard. '
Then realisation dawned on me and I was immediately overcome by fear. 'Wait… he was dressed as the Splendorman and it looked far too realistic. It looked like the costume was a part of him. In fact, it looked like he was the costume. That and the almost frightening aura surrounding both him and his store… Could that have been the actual Splendorman and he's not the happy cheerful creature the wiki said he was?!' I thought fearfully.
Fearing the worst, I immediately got up and spun around looking for the tall figure that I was sure would be staring me down in the distance. Fortunately, I found no one. I sighed in relief, but that relief was short felt as I saw a piece of paper on the floor. An envelope.
Thoughts of 'Slender: the eight pages' flooded my mind as I stared down dreadfully at the envelope. Slowly, I picked it up and took the folded piece of paper out of the envelope. Relief one again flooded me as I realised it wasn't one of the eight pages. It was a letter.
It read:
Dear Makael, the newly crowned White King,
You probably remember me from the store back at the con, and no, to answer your question, I'm not the real Splendorman. He's In Equestria #186. Or, was. Got killed by Chrysalis. Trust me, you wouldn't like #186's Chrissy.
Anyways, You are now In the land of friendship and magic, Equestria! Yay, Friendship! You are now what is known as a displaced, or a dimensionally misplaced. An individual which has been ripped from their lives on earth and shoved into an Equestria.
Now, so many people ask me why I displace others, but none ever get their answer, so here's why I displace people:
For the funny.
Now you can tell any other displaced you meet the reason why I do what I do. Oh did I mention, you are merely one of the many displaced out there. And I am one of the many displacers out there.
Other displaced you may meet come in all shapes and sizes, and colours and genders and species and cartoon characters and movie characters and creepypastas and OC's and some are even displaced as one of the ponies themselves. Not my cup o' tea though.
Alright, now for the serious stuff. A typical displaced story goes like this:
Human goes to a convention dressed as the character of their choosing; e.g. someone going to an anime convention dressed as Naruto, human meets a displacer and the displacer uses their unlimited cosmic power to send them to a different world. Whether that be another Equestria or another Earth or a Star Wars galaxy or an alternate marvel universe. The displaced usually refer to the displacer as the merchant, seeing as they usually buy something from the displacer.
I have so graciously displaced you as, you guessed it, the Slenderman!
Now since a lot of the Slender Man's abilities are largely headcannon, I've decided to give you these abilities to back you up:
1. Teleportation! Self explanatory. This ability is only limited by what you've seen. Teleportations into physical objects will just fail to work. Don't worry, you won't get stuck in other objects.
2. Telepathy! You can speak to others directly through their minds. You can induce memory loss while also minorly altering existing memories. You can also cause others to exhibit a great deal of paranoia, which is one of the best pasts of this ability. Oh and you can also use mind control but only on things others do subconsciously, such as making them spill their coffee, or making them take a longer route to get to their destination.
3. Dreamwalking! You can enter the dream realm and, yes, you can meet Luna there. You will instinctively know whose dream is whose when you look at each door.
4. Telekinesis! Move things with your mind! Crack necks with your mind as well!
5. Hallucination Inducing! This can be used on one person by being able to influence anything and everything a person sees. This can only be used on one person at a time. To use this ability just think of what you want whoever it is you are inducing hallucinations into to see.
6. Shapeshifting and voice mimicry! You could turn into discord if you wanted to. However, both children and animals will see your true form and not your shapeshifted form, unless they deliberately switch to viewing your shapeshifted form.
7. Selective visibility! You can choose who sees you and who doesn't. You can pretty much remain invisible from anyone you don't want knowing you're there. This ability doesn't work on animals and children though. They always see you.
8. Tentacles! You can emit a maximum of one hundred tentacles from your back. However, you can only control so many limbs. If you let out all 100 I think you'd probably have to control them in swarms rather than individually.
9. Complete invulnerability from physical damage! However, you still have to follow the laws of physics, meaning if somebody punches you hard enough to throw you a hundred meters, you're gonna fly a hundred meters away.
10. Extreme resistance to magic! Only the strongest of magic will hurt you and only extremely powerful magic will cause you pain, and your regeneration should take care of any magic damage anyway. You can probably take about a hundred and fifty fully powered blasts from Celestia or Luna, but it will probably still sting though. Oh, and discord's chaos magic won't work on you at all. This ability also scales with fear. The more afraid of you your opponent is, the less damage their magic will do to you.
11. Enhanced regeneration! You regenerate about half as fast as wolverine, meaning you can be killed by magic if it's strong enough and if you're not careful. You also don't have any organs including pain receptors so you don't have to worry about those and you won't feel any pain unless the magic that hit you is extremely powerful.
12. Enhanced strength! Your strength scales with your opponent's fear of you. So scare them shitless. Regularly you're around strong enough to lift a car and throw it around ten meters away from you. With enough fear though, you could destroy Canterlot Castle with your bare hands.
13. Your own personal pocket dimension! You are pretty much omnipotent in this dimension. Now that might seem great, but even better news is that you can drag other enemies that might otherwise be too strong to defeat into your pocket dimension. You won't be able to manipulate them but you will be able to manipulate the world around them, seeing as they would not originally be from your dimension. Oh, and one other thing you can't do in your pocket dimension is creating sentient life, so no being a God in your own universe.
Alright, now that you know how OP you are, let's talk about restrictions. The elements WILL work on you so be warned. Your abilities also scale with fear, much like Pennywise's abilities. The less someone fears you, the more damage they can do to you and the less damage you'll be able to do to them. And the more someone fears you, the less their attacks will affect you and the more you will be able to affect them. Don't worry too much though, you have a far aura that you will have to learn to toggle on and off. It's currently on though.
The last thing I need to inform you about is your new hunger… for souls, that is! Yes, you need to eat souls to stay alive. One per day. I'll leave learning to suck souls to you. If you don't eat at least one soul per twenty four hours, you will start to experience extreme hunger. It will feel like your stomach is burning from the inside by day two. It only gets worse from there. By day five, you'll be experiencing twice as much pain as they do in hell. Trust me, I know. I've been there. You can go seven days without a meal but I don't think you'll even last a day and a half. The more fear you induce into your victims, the more tasty they will be. The only way to get rid of this hunger is by eating the soul of an immortal. Other displaced won't work though.
And before you think about going all vigilante and only killing bad guys, I've seen your future if you go down that path. You suck about three souls from bad guys then begin to starve and start with the good guys after that. What did you think? This is the MLP universe. It's bloody peaceful. How many bad guys did you think there were?
And with that, I leave you to your own devices.
Yours sincerely, The Splendormerchant
P.S. Heh. Just thought of that one. Has a nice ring to it doesn't it?
'What. The. Fuck.' I thought to myself.
'Focken crackhead,' - I thought as I brought both my hands up to feel my face, - 'There's no way I'm the focken slederm -'
My thoughts stopped as I felt smooth skin devoid of any facial features. "Okay, deep breaths. Deep breaths," I told myself softly.
"I can't even fucking breathe because I don't have act God damn lungs!" I screamed out in a distorted voice that was accompanied by static. Think Kylo Ren's helmet voice but more demonic.
"You bastard! You put me in a land of pacifist, adorable, peace loving ponies as a soul sucking monster from the Devil's nightmares!" I screamed out into the forest.
"Your fucking mother is gay and your dad is probably a dog you piece of shit!" I continued to rant in my demonic voice.
After ten minutes of ranting and cursing the merchant that sent me here, I decided to try and use my abilities.
'Okay, telekinesis. Sounds simple enough,' I thought.
I took a small rock in my hand.
"Fly!" I shouted at it. Nothing happened.
"Float!" I shouted at it. Again, no reaction.
"Abracadabra!" I shouted at it. The rock just stayed there, however I could've sworn that an inanimate object somehow managed to facepalm despite me keeping constant sight of it.
I got fed up and crushed the rock into nothing but dust and let it fall to the floor. I wasn't that surprised by my strength considering the letter and that I was the literal Slender Man now.
I moved onto the next rock and tried the same phrases but mentally. It didn't work.
I got frustrated but wasn't prepared to give up so easily. I decided to try a different approach. Instead of giving commands to the rock, I imagined it floating. And, it worked!
After the first rock worked, I tried with other objects. Multiple rocks at once, a boulder, an entire tree which I ripped from the ground, two trees at once.
'Woah, does my telekinetic abilities even have a limit?' I thought, amazed. I then tried multiple rocks, a boulder, and five trees all at once. I lifted them all up, floated them around me in circles for about a minute, then put them down. 'This is amazing!'
'Alright, one down, eight more to go,' I thought to myself.
Canterlot Castle
Luna P.O.V.
I was walking through the halls of the castle to find something to do.
The night court was about as popular as it usually was. One of my regulars did come and seek an audience with me though so it wasn't all bad.
As I was walking through the castle, I thought about the events that had occurred recently. 'Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra, Tirek… I feel like the threats we face are getting more terrible each time,' she thought, 'And that's not even counting the recent discovery of that anti cutie mark village that was being led by some unicorn named Sunlight Glammer or something.'
I sighed in worry, 'I just hope the elements will be able to combat whatever threats are bound to surface. Although, after beating Discord, Sombra and Tirek, what wouldn't they be able to overcome? The only thing that could beat them now would be if Grogar himself came back.'
"Well, I'm off to the dream realm seeing as I have nothing better to do," I told the two guards that were assigned to escort me, "The both of you are relieved from your duty. I'm going to retire to my bed chambers,"
"Yes, princess," They said in unison.
I proceeded to my room and prepared to enter the dream realm.
Everfree forest
Makael P.O.V. (Three hours after discovering abilities)
'Well, I've got telekinesis down, teleportation down, shapeshifting down and I can now control up to eight tentacles. The only other things I have to try out are my mental abilities such as my selective visibility (or invisibility), the hallucination thingy, and my telepathy, which I find extremely limited by the way, and all of these abilities require… test subjects, for lack of a better term. It's not like I can test those on myself,' I recalled all of the abilities in the letter, excluding the passive ones, 'Although I do feel like I'm forgetting something.'
I reread the letter again and found what I was looking for, 'Yes, of course, dreamwalking! And seeing as it is currently night time, I think there would be no better time than the present to try and learn this ability now. I just hope I don't find Luna there though. I don't think I can change my appearance in the dream realm and I don't exactly know how to explain to her that I used to be a bipedal hairless ape that got turned into a soul sucking demon at a costume party while buying tentacles for my costume. '
"Alright, let's do this," I said out loud, "Dream realm activate!"
'Okay, that obviously wasn't gonna work,' I tried to think of something else, 'Okay how about… Dream realm activate!'
'Okay, thinking it didn't work any better than saying it out loud. What now?' I pondered.
'Enter dream realm,' I thought to myself only to be met with the chirping of crickets, 'Alright, this is getting bloody irritating. How the hell do I figure out how to enter a nonexistent plane of existence?!'
I decided to try one more time by closing my eyes and picturing entering the dream realm instead of thinking it seeing as all my other powers required me to visualise using them in order to use them. I calmed myself back down and pictured what the dream realm would look like. The cosmic sea in tmr background, the doors lining both sides of me, and finally myself, standing in the sea of never ending doors and cosmic substance.
When I opened my eyes, I was there. In the middle of the endless doors known as the dream realm. I then did what any other person would have done in my position. I looked for Twilight Sparkle's door.
Author's Note
So basically, half of this chapter is explaining which of Slender Man's abilities Makael inherited, since there is a large portion of it which is headcannon.
Please give me any feedback in the comments. All criticism is welcome. And if you have criticism for me, no sugarcoating please. Hope you enjoyed.
My new faceless, soul sucking life
The Night mare's nightmare
Dream Realm
Makael P.O.V.
I was attempting to locate Twilight's door, or any of the Main 6's doors really. In fact, I hadn't located the dreams of a single familiar face over the course of the past hour I had been here.
'I don't know any of these ponies,' I thought, 'There's no way in hell I'll be able to locate anyone's dreams with any efficiency like this. I'll be lucky if I find the door of any of the characters I know within a month.'
"I guess I'll have to find some other way to locate people's dreams," I sighed defeatedly, "How should I go about this... "
I decided I would Imagine Twilight's door appearing right before him and it didn't work. I tried different ideas of how he would be able to sift through the millions, if not billions of dreams that were in the dream realm but none of what I thought of seemed to work.
As I was staring at the door in front of me, trying to will different ponies' dreams into the place of the door in front of me and into the empty space between each door, and while I was trying to imagine doors thinking this ability would work like all the others, the most unexpected thing happened. The doors before me started to move vertically across the empty void. Slowly at first, but getting faster and faster until all I could see was a blur of faded colours. The doors were moving past at such speed that after a while, all I saw was a mishmash of colours that blended together. After about thirty seconds, the doors stopped abruptly. There was no slowing down before they stopped or any indication that they were ever gonna stop. They just halted.
I stood there confused, 'What the hell?' I wondered, 'Did it work? Is this Twilight's door?,'
I was disappointed to find that it was in fact, the door of some unknown pony named blank canvas.
'Why would some random pony's dream show up in front of me? It makes no sense,' I tried to reason, 'Is the dream realm trying to tell me this pony is of importance or something?'
I tried to deduce Any possible reason as to the sudden intrusion of this 'blank canvas' upon the door that was just in front of him a moment ago. I decided that I would enter the door in front of me after a few minutes of just standing there pondering. But before I could, the same thing happened again and this time it brought a different door in front of me.
This one belonged to some mare named Jade Ring. At this point, I could not possibly be any more confused. 'Is this some weird dream realm phenomenon or something,' I tried to reason. That was until an idea struck me. Another way I could possibly sift through the millions of dreams present. "Thank you, whatever God that helped me, "I said out loud while emitting an aura of a victorious smirk as a new idea came to me, "Thank you so much for the hint, oh great dream realm."
I had decided to try to imagine myself scrolling through the doors and stopping at Twilight's door, much like how I would scroll down a webpage on a computer. I looked upon the doors in front of me with baited breath as the doors started moving once more. Slowly at first, then faster. Faster. Faster. Until it finally stopped about twenty seconds later.
In front of me, was the door to Twilight's dreams.
Dream Realm
Luna P.O.V.
'Another nightmare banished,' I thought happily.
I then proceeded to scroll through more of the doors until I came upon my next nightmare, 'Oh my, Rose Star again? I hope she isn't having any more nightmares about being chased by monsters again,' I hoped that the little filly's nightmare steak would have stopped by now. She had been having nightmares of strange looking creatures chasing her and threatening to eat her almost every night. The creatures in her nightmares always looked silly to me as they would to any other adult but for a little filly they were terrifying. She even had a nightmare about a weird female version of Discord named Eris or something chasing her on two occasions.
I preplanned the advice I was going to give her before I entered just as I did with anyone I could predict the nightmares of before entering their dreams. I decided I was going to give her the sand advice that I usually do. I was going to tell her that Celestia and I would protect her and everypony else no matter what happened. I was going to tell her that her mother and father would protect her no matter what happened. I was going to tell her that her friends would always be there for her and that there was no reason to be afraid that something would after her.
I sighed as I prepared to enter the door ahead of me, not knowing if my advice would do anything to quell her fears. But as I reached my hand forward to turn the door's handle, the strangest thing happened. The door moved. Not just the one in front of me but all of the doors around me. They moved faster, then faster, then even faster, until they eventually stopped and I found a random pony's dream in place of Rose Star's.
But that shouldn't be possible. Never one in the hundreds of years of me tending to the dream realm did the doors move of their own accord. They only moved when I moved them. They only moved when a dreamwalker moved them. And I was the only dreamwalker on Equus. There could never be another dreamwalker. Dreamwalking wasn't something one could learn with a spell. It involved tapping into every creature's subconscious at the same time in a literal alternate dimension.
But yet, the shifting in the positions of the doors told me otherwise. There was another dreamwalker on Equus. And that left me more excited than I had ever been in the past thousand years. But it also left me more terrified than I had been since the awakening of Tirek. The thought of meeting another dreamwalker was exhilarating. I couldn't wait to meet somepony else that could do what I could do. This had to be somepony with immense power, or somepony that was born with the ability. But before I could meet them, I had to meet them first.
Good thing was, this was the dream realm. The only limit to what a dreamwalker could do within the dream realm was their imagination. I was pretty much omnipotent in this world of mine. So I began to move. Faster than a pony could run, faster than sound, faster than light, and in the span of ten seconds, I came roughly twenty metres away from him. From it .
It was at this point I was beginning to regret my decision. If only I hadn't been traveling so fast, I might have been able to stop further away from it and observe it from afar. But it was too late now. It had noticed me. It didn't turn around to face me but it was watching me.
It always watches.
To say I was afraid would be the biggest understatement in the history of Equus. I was terrified. And this unnatural fear, it wasn't like anything I felt before. It was pure terror. Standing there, I wasn't just terrified, it felt like torture. The fear was eating away at me. It cut me deeper than any wound ever could. It burned within me. In that very moment, I would rather have died than experience that fear for even a second longer. But it went on. Seconds passed. Hours passed. Weeks passed. Months passed. Years passed. It never stopped. And it never got any less terrifying. Every second longer was just as horrible as the moment I laid my eyes on him. On it . In the span of ten seconds, I felt lifetimes pass by me. Every second felt as though it was a century. If every single creature on Equs experienced their greatest fears, and that same fear lasted their entire lifetimes until they passed, and all that was concentrated into a single focus point, that would not equal one millionth of the fear I felt every passing second. If that same fear was multiplied by a thousand times, that would not equal even a noticeable fraction of what I experienced with each passing second.
I wanted to run. I wanted to scream. I wanted to die. But I couldn't move. I was completely petrified. My brain couldn't process anything other than pure, unbridled terror. In the span of the past ten seconds we were staring at each other, I would have rather died horribly a thousand times.
And it was right in front of Twilight Sparkle's door.
Dream Realm
Makael P.O.V.
'Okay, looks like Luna is here. She's just been staring at me for the past ten seconds. What's she doing?' I thought, confused, 'Is she gonna say something?'
Luna stared back at me, and I just stared back at her, 'Now would be a good time to test out my telepathy to see what she's thinking,' I thought.
I imagined myself peering into Luna's mind and what I found was horrible. Only three words could describe what Luna felt in that moment.
It. Was. Torture.
And I was feeling extremely guilty. Nobody should have to experience that much fear, ever. Even Hitler wouldn't deserve this kind of torment. Okay, maybe Hitler would, but anyone besides him should never experience what she felt in that moment. So I did what I hoped would quell her fears. I spoke.
"It's alright, I'm not gonna hurt you," I said to Luna, "You don't have to be afraid. I'm not all that scary once you get to know me. I spent my entire life thinking you weren't real. You have no idea how badly I've been wanting to meet you. I've been watching your kind and out of all the other ponies in existence, you're my favorite. And I think we'll be getting on just fine. I plan on both of us being the greatest of friends. I hope my scary appearance won't get in the way of that."
'Could I have worded that better?' I asked myself. 'Of course I could have worded that better! What the hell was I even thinking?! If a creepy monster said that to me, I'd probably crap my pants! And the demonic voice really isn't helping my situation here!'
Luna just stared at me, and through my telepathy, I could have sworn I felt a raised eyebrow somewhere within her subconscious.
"Look, I'm scary, I get it. I look like a demon, sound like a demon, and I think I could've worded that in a better way. But I really don't intend on hurting you." I tried convincing her. "I wasn't always this creature. I was turned into this monster just a day ago. Before this, I was an ordinary… interdimensional alien, just like you except from another world. I was sent here with a set of abilities. One of them is my natural fear aura, which I have no idea how to turn off, and that's the only reason you're this afraid of me."
As soon as I told Luna about my natural fear aura, it was just like a veil had been lifted. It was like the moment she was made aware of this, it ceased to affect her any longer. She was still bloody terrified of me, but a lot less than she was a minute ago. I hoped that she would have snapped out of it enough to finally begin to form coherent words. So I decided to try introducing myself to her again.
"I think we got off on the wrong foot… hoof, last time, so let's start with the introductions. Hi, my name is Makael. Or, it was Makael. That was before I turned into the Slender Man. I guess now that I'm no longer human but Slenderman, I should go by his name as well. Well, you can call me the Slender Man. Or Slendy, for short. It's nice to meet you, your highness," I said in my muffled demonic, staticky voice. I hoped that Luna would warm up to me after my introduction. It was a slim chance, but I hoped so anyway.
The princess just stared back at me, still unmoving. I eagerly awaited her reply, but she just stared back at me, not saying anything. After about thirty seconds, I got fed up with her silence and spoke again.
"Umm, princess? This is the part where you introduce yourself. At least where I come from, if someone introduces themselves, you introduce yourselves back. Is it different where you come from? Do you just stare at people once they introduce themselves in Equestria? Or is introducing yourself considered rude in your culture?" I asked annoyedly.
Luna just started backing away from me, slowly. "S - Stay back, c - creature!" she stuttered out. "I am t-t-the p-princess of the night, k-keeper of the dream r-realm, and banisher of nightmares. And you, are a c-creature of n-n-nightmares."
At that point, I was getting even more annoyed. "Is that how you usually introduce yourself to others?" I asked her. "So you're gonna do what? Banish me?"
Luna got into a fighting stance, and her horn lit up with it's signature blue glow, and she fired a beam at me. Seeing as this was the dream realm however, it didn't harm me. Not even a sting. She fired off bolt after bolt of magic but none of them did anything. After about fifteen bolts striking me, I decided to fight back.
Now, this would be a good time to mention, I was diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder at the age of thirteen. I was also clinically diagnosed with sociopathy a year later. Back on earth, I had my meds to help me, but here, I didn't.
At the strike of the sixteenth bolt, I began to get mad. 'I introduce myself and offer her peace and she just shoves it back in my face? Screw making peace with the bitch! I'm gonna rip her limb from limb for insulting me like this! This isn't about the attacks, because they don't harm me. This is about putting little shits that try to harm me in their places! This is about attacking me despite me not having provoked her at all! This is about her attacking me when I literally told her I want peace! Screw peace! I'll eat the souls of every single pony I meet! I'M THE FUCKING SLENDERMAN! I DON'T ACCEPT THIS KIND OF BLATANT DISRESPECT!'
I let out my tentacles. Dir at first. Then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty two. Luna just stared at me in horror as my tentacles multiplied gradually. Then I sent them at her.
As my tentacles were sailing through the air, Luna started blasting again, but this time at the constant onslaught of appendages sailing through the air to catch up to her while dodging, weaving and flying in between them. I mean, the only reason she was able to evade me so far was because of the lack of control I had over so many additional limbs at once. After half a minute of going through a constant rhythm of blasting and dodging, one of my many appendages hit her, and she fell.
I took advantage of this and sent all three dozen limbs after her at once. That was until I saw her face. One look at her and my rage melted away like ice before fire. That same look of terror was plastered on her face, along with a look of sadness, and… regret?
I searched through her mind with my telepathy. She didn't want to die. Not here. Not like this. Not in her own domain by a creature she had just met. Not by the hands of a creature that she had shown hostility towards despite it only having acted peaceful towards her and even offered her friendship. If only she wasn't so foolish. This all might've been avoided had she introduced herself like the creature had asked.
Time slowed as my tentacles sailed through the air. But before they could meet Luna, I stopped. 'What the hell am I doing? This is princess fucking Luna. One of my favorite characters from MLP. One of the most caring ponies alive. And I was about to kill her.' I quickly retracted my tentacles back to where they had came from.
In that instant, Luna looked at me, and seized the opportunity. She exited the dream realm immediately, leaving me alone with my thoughts, 'I'm going to let the princesses know of my situation in the best possible way I know how. By giving them the piece of paper the Splendorman gave me. Actually, no. I'll have to rewrite it. They can't know how my abilities work if they decide to come after me. They don't need to know that my power scales with fear, they don't need to know that the elements work on me, and they don't need to know about my mental magic. Most of all, they don't need to know that I'm vulnerable to magic. But they do have to know that I need to eat souls to survive and that the soul of an immortal can end my hunger, as much as it will antagonise me in their eyes. They're the only ones who can fix this.'
Canterlot Castle
Celestia P.O.V.
I listened to my sister's story intently. I felt deeply saddened by something like this happening to Luna. She had never described anything with this much fear. And that only proved to increase my worry. The magnitude at which she described her terror to be upon first encountering the creature due to not being aware of it's 'fear aura' was nothing short of, well… terrifying.
"And I even don't know if whatever it was has a physical body. I only encountered it in the dream realm and there have been no other recorded encounters with such a creature," Luna told me.
"Well, it's entirely possible you just encountered an extremely powerful and malevolent dream demon. This wouldn't be the first time you encountered one," I told her.
"But Celestia, that's simply not possible," Luna reasoned, "All the dream demons I've encountered in the past enter ponies' dreams at random. They don't have the power to look for individual ponies' dreams. And I'm a hundred percent certain that none of them looked as terrifying as the Slender Man. And none of them exhibited a 'fear aura' like he did. It was horrible. I would rather die than experience another second of that thing's presence."
'That's even more concerning,' I thought, 'If the Slender Man really is a dreamwalker with a physical body and not just a virtual one in the dream realm, this would be really, really bad. No, it would be beyond bad. Imagine countless ponies experiencing what Luna just did but in reality instead of in a dream.'
"Whatever this creature is, we can only hope that it only exists within the confines of the dream realm. If it doesn't, I honestly have no idea what could stop a creature like that, if it can even be stopped. Something that could induce that much petrifying fear in somepony." I told my sister while not making an attempt to hide how disturbed I was.
"I do hope that thing is not physical as well, but even if it isn't, what do we do about it? If that creature gets into the ponies' nightmares, it could cause them long lasting mental trama, make them afraid to go to sleep, or maybe even drive them insane. I experienced the creature's fear aura for but a few seconds, and look what its effects have done to me! Most of our ponies are not even half as brave as I am! And I think he'll let others experience his aura for much longer than a few seconds," Luna told me while sounding extremely worried and agitated, "I can tell that he's watching me, Tia. He has no eyes, but always watches. He never stops. There is no escape! He might be here right now, Tia! Oh God, what if he's here now? Nonononono! I don't want to see him again!"
"Calm down, sister. The Slender Man's just in the dream realm. He can't get you out here," I tried to comfort my crying sister while wrapping a wing around her to pull her into a hug, 'What manner of monster could do this to my sister? To cause her to act like this? She's never been this afraid of anything in her life. Even when it's not here, it still influences my sister. It might as well be here. It might as well show up right at our doorstep.'
Just then, there was a knock on my bedroom door, despite me requesting complete privacy from my guards. 'Whoever interrupted this sisterly moment better have a good reason for doing so,' Celestia thought as she moved towards her bedroom door.
Author's Note
Luna's getting infected with the Slender sickness! Ooh, scaaa~ry!
As usual, all I look forward to all criticism and encourage it. Would love to hear what you guys think.
View Online
My new faceless, soul sucking life
Announcing the arrival of Sir Makael Slan Darmann!
Dear Mr and Mrs hopper,
This report that I have given you details the mental state of my patient, and your son, Makael Arthur Hopper.
What goes on through Makael’s mind in regards to his care towards others? Does he feel emotion? Does he feel bad for doing something wrong? How does he feel about hurting others? Well, to answer these questions, we need to take a look at two forms of personality disorder. The first of these being sociopathy, of course. And the second being something called histrionic personality disorder.
What’s the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath? Well, sociopathy is like a milder version of psychopathy. Both of these share a number of common traits, such as: a poor sense of right and wrong, the inability to understand and share what others feel (lack of empathy), and a general lack of care for others.
Psychopaths however are extremely cold and lack almost any emotional capacity, while sociopaths have a higher emotional capacity. Psychopaths are completely unable to form genuine emotional attachments. Sociopaths, however, are able to form emotional attachments, although they find it more difficult to do so than most people. Psychopaths display purely cold hearted behaviour while sociopaths behave in a hot-headed and impulsive manner and are prone to fits of rage.
Another defining factor between sociopaths and psychopaths is the presence of a conscience. The voice in your head that tells you if something you're doing is wrong. Psychopaths completely lack a conscience, meaning they wouldn't even know if something they did was wrong. Sociopaths, however, do have a conscience and they have the ability to tell right from wrong; but while recognising what they are doing, they still rationalise their behavior. The best way to describe this difference would be with this phrase: If a psychopath were to lie to you in order to steal your money, they wouldn't feel anything. If a sociopath were to lie to you in order to steal your money, they might feel guilt and remorse, but they would still do it anyway.
You may do your own research on other symptoms that he may exhibit if you wish. They are too detailed and too numerous for all of them to be listed here. I hope this gives you a brief understanding of your son's condition.
The second form of personality disorder we'll need to understand is histrionic personality disorder. Despite being a sociopath, his histrionic personality disorder has gifted Makael with good social skills. Although people with this disorder usually tend to use these skills to manipulate others so that he can be the centre of attention.
As a result of this personality disorder, Makael is usually extremely uncomfortable if he is not at the center of attention. Suffers of this condition might dress provocatively or with flashy attire and sharp suits and exhibit inappropriately seductive and flirtatious behaviour. Expect to see him undergo rapid emotional shifts such as going from angry to happy to sad all in one minute. Your son may act very dramatically, with exaggerated actions and emotions, as though he was performing before an audience. He will definitely be overly concerned with his physical appearance and seek constant approval from others, and he may be extremely sensitive to disapproval. He might have a low tolerance to frustration and break down if he gets too overwhelmed. Lastly, he will get bored very easily and attempt to do all sorts of things may it be helpful or dangerous to quell tidy boredom.
Experiencing both of these mental conditions at once is nearly unheard of and extremely rare. Your son is the first patient I've met like this. He doesn't have any feelings or care towards others, but he seeks their approval. Now, due to both of these conditions 'cancelling each other out,' he may experience or not experience symptoms of both conditions; however, with that being said, I highly encourage you to prepare to deal with both of these in full force.
This report has only detailed some of his symptoms and given you a basic understanding of his sicknesses. My next letter to you will deal with how you should go about this in your home.
Yours sincerely, Dr. Linda Martin
Everfree forest (Roughly 8 a.m.)
Slenderman P.O.V.
'Alrighty, time to write that letter,' I thought, 'Now all I need is paper,' I looked around. 'Where on Equus am I even gonna find paper?' I looked around, going through possible paper locations in my mind. 'Alright, there's Twilight's library, Canterlot Castle, there's… those are literally the only two locations I know to get paper, and I don't want to do the same thing I did to Luna to anybody else by accident. I'll do my best to make sure the Luna incident is a one off thing.'
'Maybe I could teleport in at night when she goes to sleep,' I thought to myself, 'No, that won't work. I'll have to kill some random wireless worthless background pony by tonight if the princesses are unable to fix my condition.'
'I would rather avoid having to kill a sentient creature if possible. I mean, I love ponies. From what I've seen, the worst pony is probably better than the best human,' I thought, 'definitely no exaggeration there.'
I started pacing back and forth trying to think of something, 'I mean if it was a regular person I might go through with it but these are ponies! And griffins! And dragons! I might not be the best of people but even Stalin wouldn't kill a creature from Equus.'
I tried desperately to come up with a possible solution to help my cause. 'I mean, if I had to kill a pony, I would, but it would probably leave a bad taste and would definitely be unpleasant.' I continued walking in circles while pondering as to a possible solution to my dilemma, 'And killing a pony would definitely not be in my best interests. I want to get in the good graces of the locals. I want to be welcomed! I want to be loved! But if I kill even a single sentient creature, I'll probably be ten times worse than the most evil creature to ever live. I mean, killing is completely unheard of. It's considered so terrible in fact that none of the main characters even feared getting killed by their enemies. Imprisoned maybe. Enslaved at worst. But they never feared being murdered. Even the villains of the show never even so much as thought about murder. It wasn't an option even in the books of the worst of the worst.'
'That means I'm gonna have to go to Canterlot Castle, and fast. It has to be today,' I thought, 'Or instead of facing two angry ponies I'll be facing an entire planet that'll want my head for committing the single most evil crime in existence.'
'But I can't go to Canterlot looking like this. My appearance alone will drive the entire country to chaos,' I thought. 'I'll need to shapeshift into a pony. And I can't use anypony else as a template this time. It'll have to be my own personalised OC. Something that will draw the eyes of the crowds. Something that will turn heads. Something that will make me the sole, undisputed focus of attention when I walk along the streets of the city,' Isavouredthe thoughts of being the most attention hoarding stallion and decided on an appearance in my mind.
I took up a sleek, skinny build but made sure I was tall enough so I didn't look weak, and had a sharp looking black suit over my two front hooves. The lower part extended up to my abdomen and the upper part extended right up to my haunches, covering most of my back. I then started working on the face. I took a mix of mostly Blueblood and Shining Armour and combined them into one. I threw in a bit of Fancy Pants' face as well to add class. Without the moustache of course. I then decided upon adding both a white coloured mane over a white coloured coat to go with my natural white skin that contrasted perfectly with my pitch black suit and red tie. I was now an intimidating earth pony that was around as tall as princess Cellestia and slightly slimmer.
I looked into the water of a small lake nearby me and thought as I saw my reflection, 'Classy, handsome, charming. It's perfect. I literally radiate class. No mare would be able to resist this gorgeous chiseled face.' But something was missing. I couldn't meet Celestia like this. I had to make an impression in case she decided to be hostile. I needed something that would be able to intimidate her without reducing her to a jibbering, quivering mess with my fear aura. I needed a new, terrifying body.
So I crafted myself a new body. This new body was thin and lanky. My legs were stretched way out of proportion and my neck was much too long for my body. I stretched my body slightly but not too much so I could maintain my disturbingly disproportionate figure but not look silly at the same time. In this figure, I was around two feet taller than Celestia. I got rid of my fur and replaced it with pale, completely colorless skin and stretched that skin out so that it clung so tightly that it developed wrinkles in certain areas. I then removed my mane completely so I was now bald. My figure now looked like that of a sphinx cat; and seeing the similarities, I decided to adopt a similar hairless tail that was just long enough so it didn't touch the floor.
Lastly, it was time to work on my face. I just removed it completely. I looked like a much creepier version of the common depictions of the Slender Mane. Although not nearly as horrifying as my original look, I assumed it taking their form and slenderifying it would have a similar effect to what the Slenderman had on humans seeing as its something of the same species. They would probably view my ponified form just as how regular people view the Slender Man.
'Now I have a transformation that I can use if somepony makes me mad, without having to revert to my true form and scare the life out of everyone present with my fear aura,' I moved towards the edge of the lake to see what I looked like now that I was done. "Oh God! It's terrifying! It's grotesque! A twisted image of a pony! It's… it's… beautiful !"
"Well, it's time to head to the big city!" I retook my original pony form and vanished from my position in the Everfree Forest, then reappeared seconds later at the doorstep of the castle.
'I'm gonna have so much fun with my new powers'
Canterlot Castle
Celestia P.O.V.
I walked towards my bedroom door and opened it, to find my personal assistant standing in the hallway.
"Hello, Mildly Important, how may I be of service?" I asked my assistant, my warm voice hiding my irritation at being interrupted.
"Hello your highness," she told me as she bowed, "It's just that Sir Makael requested an audience with your highness. He said it's important."
Now I was confused. I didn't know a Sir Makael. "Who?" I asked while raising an eyebrow.
"Sir Makael," she repeated herself.
"Sir Makael?" I asked again, my confusion growing with each passing second.
"Yes, Sir Makael. He's waiting for you in the throne room. He said it's urgent," she replied.
"Who is Sir Makael? I don't know a Sir Maka," I told my assistant.
"What do you mean, princess? Of course you do! He's one of your most trusted nobles. You know his family and have known him ever since he was a baby! You told me how you used to take him on walks through the Canterlot gardens when his parents were busy and left him with you, remember? Are you tryna pull some kind of prank on me princess?" she asked while grinning.
That left me completely dumbfounded. I've never babysitted a single pony before. I've always been too busy. And I certainly haven't known a colt that I've apparently taken for walks since he was little, "Tell me his name again, please."
"Sir Makael, princess," she replied, rolling her eyes, "Sir Makael Slan Darmann!"
"What?" I questioned my assistant, wondering if she had just gone mad.
"Sir. Maka. El. Slan. Darmann," she replied, pronouncing each word carefully, "With all due respect your highness, if you could please hurry, His Superior Handsomeness Slan Darmann is waiting for you."
"What?!" I asked.
"His superior handsomeness is waiting for you in the throne room," she replied.
'Okay, something is clearly going on here. This is either mind magic or my staff's idea of a prank. I do hope that the latter is the case though. I thought.
''Makael Slan Darmann. Makael. Slan. Darmann.' I pondered, trying to see if the name sounded familiar, 'Sir Makael… Sir Slan Darmann. Sir… Slan… Darmann. Sir Slan Darmann? Sir Slan Darmann! Sir Slan Darmann! Sir Slenderman!' my eyes widened in fear and realisation.
In that moment, she did what any normal demigod princess (with near limitless magic potential) that wanted to protect her subjects, and more importantly her sister, from an interdimensional alien demon thing with unknown levels of power would do. She wrote a letter. To Twilight Sparkle.
Dear Twiligh Sparle,
Come to Caterlot Castle immediately. Bring the elments.
I didn't even bother to sign the letter that was written in frantic scribbles before I sent it to Twilight. The Slenderman was real. And he was here, 'When I thought he may as well show up at my doorstep, I didn't really mean it!'
"What's wrong, sister?" came a voice from behind me.
"Not to worry sister, just a minor mishap in the throne room. One of the chandeliers fell from the ceiling. Don't worry, I'll deal with it. You should get some rest. You really seem like you need it," I told my sister as she started coughing mildly and hoped she would buy it. I don't need her finding out the Slender Man is real after how she acted, let alone meeting him again.
She raised an eyebrow but soon gave in, "Very well Tia, I'll get to my bedchambers and get some rest," she said before disappearing in a flash of light.
'Time to deal with this demon, once and for all!' I thought as I teleported to the middle of the throne room in a flash of white light.
Canterlot Castle
Slenderman P.O.V.
I walked through the castle doors like I owned the place, and was immediately greeted by a swarm of, give or take, twenty Royal guards.
"It's showtime," I said, 'time to test out my telepathy.'
"Hey, you guys know I have an appointment with Sunbutt, right?" I asked them.
"You will not refer to the princess by any other name than Her Royal Highness, Princess Celestia!" one of the guards barked at me before they all started inching closer towards me.
"Individuals with appointments with the princess are always accompanied by guards that are able to validate their claims. The only exception to this rule are members of royalty, nobility, and the elements. If you seek an audience, you will have to meet with her during court like everypony else," the guard that looked like he was in charge told me.
"No, if you recall, her official title is Her Royal Fatarse, Princess Sunbutt the Heavy," I told them, "And besides, I'm Sir Makael Slen Darmann! You all do remember me, don't you? Princess Sunbutt has known me ever since I was a baby, and I've been one of her most trusted nobles ever since I turned eighteen. You remember that announcement she made saying that my authority came just under hers, don't you? When I issue orders, It's to be taken as if it came directly from the princess herself! And you dare deny me entry?!" I told them while manipulating all their memories simultaneously so that they believed every word of what I was saying, and while I did so, added some… extra bits.
"Of course not, my lord, I have no idea what came over me!" he said while bowing, "Please forgive me oh handsome and superior one!"
"You should be punished for your most heinous crime against all of pony kind for disrespecting your extremely physically attractive overlord!" I told him and I noticed all the other guards sighing and shaking their heads in disapproval, "But, I shall let it slide this one time. Do not let this happen again. Now move aside and escort me to the throne room."
As we were heading towards the throne room, I just couldn't myself. I had to mess with all the palace staff I came across. I of course made them all believe Princess Celestia, was instead, Her Royal Fatarse, Princess Sunbutt the Heavy, but I threw in some extra bits for a few of them. A majority of the castle staff now believed that the earth was flat. Or rather, that Equus was flat, and that the government was trying to cover it up. A few of them now believed that Celestia was their lover, some believed that Trixie Lulamoon was the most powerful creature in existence, some of them started to believe Derpy was their Lord and saviour, and a select few believed that Discord was their father. I was just having way too much fun.
Ponyville
Discord P.O.V.
I was in the middle of an early morning tea party with fluttershy and just couldn't help but feel like someone out there was causing a delicious amount of chaos and that he wasn't invited.
For a few minutes, the chaos scales tipped and I sensed it, however before I could find out what was causing it, it was gone.
"Discord?" fluttershy asked, "Are you okay? You're just staring blankly into the distance."
Fluttershy snapped me out of my trance when she spoke and I realised I must have looked really silly in that moment.
"No problem at all, just sensed a disturbance in the force is all," I replied
'Oh that was a good amount of chaos,'
Canterlot Castle
Slenderman P.O.V.
The guards walked ahead and pushed open the throne room doors and upon entering the throne room, I was greeted by a beautiful sight. The throne room looked just as large as it did in the show, if not more so. A long red carpet led all the way from the entrance of the throne room right up to the thrones of the solar and lunar diarchs which had to be located over fifty metres apart from the entrance, making the room more long than it was wide. Massive pillars lined either side of the room that transitioned from pillars to curved support beams that snaked across the ceiling and joined up with the pillar opposite them at a point in the middle of the roof creating a sort of semi circular ring with a pointed top. In between the pillars laid ornately crafted stained glass mosaics deprecating several events and displaying several decorative patterns. Two evenly spaced small canals of water flowed on opposite sides of the red carpet, going about half the length of the throne room. The canals themselves were emitted from two small three layered fountains that were beside a ramp that led up to an elevated platform which I assumed functioned as a sort of 'balcony' for the massive, two layered raised platform upon which at the top layer rested two thrones with extremely tall backrests, one slightly shorter the other. The thrones themselves were not that overly excessive in their design. The on the right consisted only of a golden lined throne sat on the right side of the raised platform with a small frilly pattern that lined slightly less than half of the throne, starting from the bottom and fading gradually. At the very top of the throne sat a small sun, identifying it as Celestia's throne. The other throne that was located an even space away, was lined with a light shade of metallic purple instead of gold and had a crescent moon resting on top of it instead of the sun, signifying that this was Luna's throne.
While I was looking around and marvelling at the ancient mediaeval-esque architecture, a mare approached me from behind and snapped me out of my trance.
"Excuse me sir?" a girl's voice came from behind me, and I turned around to find a young mare probably in her early twenties standing before me. She had an amethyst coat and a lavender mane which was neatly done and looked slightly like fluttershy's hair but combed to one side, and had a cutie mark of a notepad with a quill writing something unreadable on it. "Who are you and why are you here?"
"Oh, I have an appointment with Princess Celestia," I entered her mind and warped her memories so that she believed I was a long time friend of Princess Celestia while adding similar memories to that of the guards I had manipulated. "Would you be a dear and tell her that one of her most trusted nobles, Sir Makael Slan Darman is here to see her?"
"Well, you see, your sexiness, the princess said that she was busy and emphasised that she did not wish to be disturbed. Would you mind coming back some other time?" the mare asked me.
"Excuse me?! This is a matter of utmost importance and urgency. Tell the princess I have to meet with her at once. Now go," I replied, feigning annoyance.
"I'm sorry, oh most sexually attractive one, but the princess expressly stated, that she was not to be disturbed unless, and I quote, 'Unless Grogar himself starts rampaging through Canterlot' so I think right now is a really bad time." she told me
"That can be arranged, actually," I grinned as I thought about using hallucinations against Celestia for the fun of it. "But don't worry. Just tell her my name and refer to me by my title and she'll be here in a flash."
She sighed in defeat as she realised I wasn't gonna leave "Very well, sir. I can't promise she won't be mad though," she said as she left the throne room.
I decided that I would test out the princesses' thrones while waiting. I moved towards Celestia's larger throne and took a seat. The comfort of the chair was divine and I melted into the seat. 'Oh lord, this is the most amazing thing I've ever felt! There's probably some enchantment or something on this. There's no way this is natural!' I slunk black into the throne room in bliss. The comfort of the throne was similar to how one would feel before having to wake up from a great sleep. I wanted to lie there forever. I didn't want to get up because of the comfort. But I still wanted to try Luna's throne.
I was about to get off Celestia's throne in anticipation to see what Luna's throne felt like but before I could, there was a sudden blinding, white flash of light right in front of me. The flash of light made my eyesight go blurry for a few seconds and once my eyes were able to focus, I saw Celestia standing right before me, back facing towards me and looking down at the several castle staff present in the throne room which included the twenty royal guards that escorted me here.
"Where is the Slenderman?!" Celestia's voice boomed across the throne room.
"He's behind you, Princess Sunbutt," came one of the guards.
"Behind you, your fatarseness," came another voice.
"You're right in front of him, your royal fattiness," came one of the staff.
"Right behind you, oh Great and Obnoxiously Obese One Who's Weight Rivals that of the Planet Itself," came the one in charge.
"Behind you oh Great and Obese One Who's Ass is so Massive that it Generates a Gravitational Pull so Strong that Not Even Light Can Escape it's Event Horizon, and is So Large That it Warps the Very Fabric of Reality Itself," came another voice.
I had to stifle a laugh at their ways of addressing here so I wouldn't blow my cover and the show would go on. 'And now I revert the changes and make a few changes to the last thirty minutes of their memories,' I thought as I grinned.
"What?! How dare you?! How dare all of you?! Has the Slenderman warped your minds as well? And to force you all to speak so disrespectfully to your Princess! My name is Celestia, not Sunbutt! And my plot is perfectly proportionate in comparison to the rest of my body!" she fumed and turned around to look at me. "Who are you and why are you in my throne? You're not the Slenderman based on what Luna's description of him entailed," she turned around to face her guards again, "This is not the Slenderman! The Slender Man is an extremely tall bipedal entity with no visible facial features that wears a dark suit, so where is he?!"
"Umm, your highness, are you feeling alright? We just arrived, your majesty. And I'm certain none of us called you 'Subutt," he said, bringing his hooves up to form air quotes, "And I'm utterly confused as to why you believe any of us doubted as to the proportionality of your plot in comparison to the rest of your body. With all due respect your highness, this line of conversation is getting inappropriate and is probably making most of us extremely uncomfortable. And none of us know who this Slenderman charter is, and since we haven't seen anything resembling that description, we couldn't have had our minds warped either. Are you sure you're doing okay princess?"
It was at this point that I could no longer hold it in and burst out laughing. I was laughing so hard that I fell off Celestia's throne and started rolling on the floor. The rest of the guards just stared at me in shock while Celestia only gave me a cold glare in response.
"What is it that you find so humorous?" Celestia asked me with venom clear in her voice.
"Well… hahaha… the fact that… hehehe… I know where the Slenderman is… hahaha… and the fact that I know him personally," I replied in between laughs and giggles.
"You know him personally?" Celestia asked with a raised eyebrow.
I answered her through giggles once I got my laughter under better control, "Of course I know him, he's me."
"Stop playing games with me! This creature is extremely dangerous! Even more so now that I've discovered he has a physical form! So tell me the truth. Where is the Slenderman?" she said.
"He's in front of you!" I told her. "If you still don't believe me, then let me convince you."
I then used hallucination on her to make her see a quick, millisecond flash of what I really look like without having to shapeshift back to her normal appearance. It was just there for a fraction of a second but it was enough to provoke her into lighting her horn and taking up a fighting stance.
"How were you able to enter the dream realm?! How were you able to scare my sister like that?! And why did you take on that horrible visage?!" she demanded.
"You see, I didn't take that appearance. That was actually my - " I was interrupted by a blast of magic to the chest. Followed by one to my neck, then another one to my chest. The magic blasts were powerful, and I could feel their power, but they still hardly did any damage to me. All they did was push me back slightly and deliver a slight sting, less than the sting of an ant bite, while leaving extremely light, almost unnoticeable scorch marks on my skin which were healed in a split second. More of an annoyance than anything else. With every hit, however, my Slenderman appearance flashed for a fraction of a second before disappearing. It wasn't that my appearance was physically reverting back, it was more like the magic was striking at the core of my being, my soul. So I was both the Slenderman and my shapeshifted form at the same time throughout the duration of the pure magical energy making contact with me. I physically was the pony, but the magic was striking directly at the Slenderman, avoiding any forms of additional protection I may have gained from my shapeshifted form and attacking my very soul rather than my physical body. But the fact that her attacks barely phased me did not excuse the fact that had I been a normal pony, I would have three holes going right through my body.
'That's it! Luna only attacked me in a virtual plane where she knew I couldn't be harmed! Celestia's attacking me in the physical plans with full intent to harm me! Even one of those blasts could've killed me had I been a regular pony! If I didn't need her, I'd revert back to my original form right here, right now! But since I do, I can't reduce her to a quivering mess like I did with Luna! I would eat her soul if she wasn't a beloved princess of the race that occupies a large portion of the planet!' I thought in frustration while shapeshifting into the ponified Slenderman.
Once the smoke cleared and I was able to regain my line of sight to the princess, I let four of my tentacles out of my back and sent them sailing towards the Princess of the Sun. 'I can't kill her but that doesn't mean I can't beat the ever loving fuck out of her.'
As the tentacles sliced through the air, going at her one by one, she was able to dodge past all of them and blast at any that got too close, which would stun them for a second or hit them back just in time so that they didn't hit her. She would even shoot a magic blast at my face occasionally that would blind me and throw off my concentration, allowing her to get out of sticky situations.
I sent a tentacle at her from her right, and she barrel rolled past it, and blasted another that I had sent towards her head right after She followed up by taking a sharp dive down to avoid one that came from her left and stopping abruptly to avoid the one that I timed to crash into her as she fell, then looked up and blasted the one that was tracing her. She then quickly dashed backwards with a flap of both her wings (which were powerful enough that I could feel a strong gust of wind from twenty meters away) in order to avoid a combination of the all three other tentacles that had circled back towards her, and went at where she once was a moment ago.
As the battle raged on, although it was more of just a game for fun and entertainment for me, I decided I would add two more appendages to the onslaught to see if she could keep up. Celestia noticed this and started moving faster, making sharp angles and turns coupled with abrupt stops so she was more unpredictable, and blasting even harder than she was before.
'Even with the increased effort you seem to have put into dodging my attacks, six of my tentacles will still prove to be too much for you when you were barely making it past four' I thought, confident in my victory.
Canterlot Castle
Celestia P.O.V.
I was afraid. Well and truly scared. Just a few seconds ago, I was talking to a pony. Now, I was battling against an abomination, more horrifying than the worst demon from the depths of tartarus. The creature's calm and still nature didn't help with my fears at all. It looked like while I was fighting desperately against its tentacles, and the creature was directing it's four additional limbs towards me, the creature itself had yet to move. And every time I would hit it with a blast of magic, the creature's true, horrible form would appear for just a moment.
The creature didn't shift forms whenever it was struck. It was horrifying, and it was interchangeable with the being in front of me. They were the same form. Even seeing it firsthand, it's hard to even picture it, but I saw them both at the same time. They stood at the same spot in the room, but it was like staring at two different planes of existence. When I saw the pony, I saw the Slenderman, and when I saw the Slenderman, I saw the pony. And I thanked whatever higher power that I only got glimpses of the creature's true visage, as it was utterly terrifying. The creature in front of me also made my blood run cold, but it was nothing compared to that other… thing. And despite me being completely and utterly terrified of the creature in front of me, I couldn't help but feel a slight amount of relief that he chose to take this form and not the other.
I dodged, ducked, dived, blasted and rolled past the constant wave of the four relentless appendages that were coming at me from all angles. I was pushing my alicorn body to its limits and I couldn't keep this up for much longer. But I wasn't going to fall to that twisted abomination of a pony. I wasn't going to let that demon get anywhere near my sister for as long as I could still stand and fight. I was the last line of defense between this creature and the rest of pony kind. And won't let this creature hurt any of my little ponies as long as I live! With newfound vigour, and desperation, I was able to push my body past its breaking point and continue to keep up with the constant assault of the four long limbs. That determination only increased as I saw two additional extremities protruding from the creature's back and soar towards me.
I noticed that while having two additional limbs out, the Slenderman's assault was starting to weaken. It looked like my attacks were starting to cause real damage to the creature. The creature was starting to get more weary to come near me and every time it sent a tendril after me, it did so cautiously, trying to avoid any more blasts of pure magical light. I noticed him flinch slightly every time a part of him was hit by one of my bolts.
'So I can hurt this thing…' I thought, my newfound knowledge boosting my confidence severely, 'I might be able to defeat this thing after all.' With every hit I made, my confidence grew and my fear lessened. And each hit did more damage than the last, which in turn boosted my confidence even more and caused me to do even more damage to the creature. My guess was that my confidence boost allowed my magic to grow as a result of the positive emotion and my determination to protect my subjects, working in the same way as love powered magic like that of Shining Armour and Cadence and friendship based magic like the elements.
I grew less and less afraid until my fear completely left me and was replaced with sheer determination. My attacks were now devastating to the creature and whenever I blasted one of its tendrils, my magic either cut completely through or took off a large chunk of it. I held my ground against the assault, and stopped running and started fighting back against it. The creature soon switched strategies and started using its tentacles by whipping them at me and quickly pulling them back so I would have a harder time firing at them. The creature even let out two additional tentacles to fight me but I was able to keep them at bay by firing away at them. The problem was that while I was occupied with the constant onslaught of the writhing mass of tendrils, I couldn't find any openings to fire at the Slenderman himself without leaving myself vulnerable to attack. My guess was that the creature was no longer attacking me to harm me, but to keep me preoccupied so I couldn't focus my attention on him.
So I switched up my strategy. I decided on channeling my energy into a powerful blast of magic rather than firing quick blasts of magic constantly; so I started flying away and continued my dodging rather than holding my ground. I was constantly evading the now cautious tentacles of the faceless creature while still being able to charge my horn. I made sure to cancel the magic glow of my horn so that the creature wouldn't be able to deduce my strategy. I was constantly evading and weaving past tentacles for about two minutes before they stopped. I thought the creature was trying to trick me, so I turned around to find the tendrils had returned to the creature and were now flowing freely around it in a non-existent wind. The creature had stopped his attack on me, so I took this opportunity to both finally get a break and divert my focus to my magic. My muscles were aching and my wings were burning from the strain I had put them through.
I diverted my attention to the Slender Man and saw he was just standing there. Watching me, staring at me. It was creepy and made me feel extremely uncomfortable but I was relieved that he had finally stopped. But it wasn't just looking at me. No, he was analysing me, reevaluating his strategy. He had no facial expressions and wasn't making any body gestures but I could somehow read him more easily and far more accurately than somepony with a face to read. He was now radiating pure hatred towards me… and restraint?
'We don't have time for this. We've been at this for over an hour and time is running out. Now calm down and stop trying to fight me. We have a more pressing matter to deal with. I told you that I didn't seek you harm, and I meant that. But if you continue fighting me, I will have no choice but to respond with the totality of my strength! I would have already killed you if I didn’t need you. But you’re lucky I do need you. And trust me when I say, you helping me will work in both our best interests. Now stand down, and I won't crack a few of your bones and beat the shit out of you.’ I heard a voice in my head. It actually wasn’t so much a voice rather than seeing the words in my head. There was no definite volume, rather it was as if I myself imagined the words. But I instantly knew that it came from the Slenderman. The voice, or rather message, didn’t explicitly state that it originated from him, but I somehow knew. I had no idea how he spoke to me in my head, and how he managed to do it in such a manner, but it didn’t matter. I was not convinced of his apparently benevolent intentions. If he really did want peace, he wouldn’t have attacked my sister in the first place. And seeing as my magic didn’t even phase him at first, he would have tried to de-escalate the situation rather than attacking me. Not only that, he said he would have killed me if he didn’t need me. While I was sure that he wouldn’t have actually tried something like murder, that didn’t change the fact that he would even go as fas as to suggest something as evil as that.
"No.” I simply told him.
‘So, you have chosen… getting the crap beaten out of you,’ he told me in my mind, ‘I was hoping you’d choose that option,’
We both started getting ready for battle. The slenderman’s tendrils started flailing violently as he tried intimidating me with a display of power, but I wasn’t intimidated in the least. I focused on the charging of my horn and prepared to discharge as soon as he made a move. We stood in silence, staring each other down for about thirty seconds, before he decided to make the opening move. All eight of his tentacles started wrapping around each other, forming a repetitive spiral from the beginning of his back, all the way to the ends of each tentacle, which were all pointed towards the same point, marking the tip of the spear of dark tendrils.
He sent all the eight tendrils sailing towards me, and I released the charge of magic I was building up in a bright beam of pure magic aimed directly at the center tip of the dark mass. I was not afraid. In fact, I was the opposite of afraid. I knew this was going to work, and that increased my courage to face the Slenderman. My magical beam of light completely cut through the tentacles and disintegrated them all, continuously cutting through the dark mass all the way through until, eventually, it made contact with the Slenderman in a grand explosion and a shower of blinding light.
When the dust cleared and my eyes refocused, I searched for the Slenderman. There he was, under a collapsed pillar that the blast sent him into. He had a hole all the way through his chest, with burnt edges around it.
When I saw the creature unmoving I felt relief wash over me instantly. I had done it! I had defeated the Slenderman! I looked back towards him and when he didn't move, my joy quickly faded. I had done it. I had murdered somepony.
I stared on, in hope that the Slenderman was still alive, and I wasn't a murder, but I didn't spot even a single twitch. I was a monster. I had just murdered a living, breathing, thinking being. I fell to my knees and started sobbing, turning my back towards my latest murder victim. I was crying, weeping for the creature that had traumatised my sister, and a creature that said he wanted to kill me. But it was alive nonetheless. Alive until I ended it. I was in so much sorrow that I didn't even notice my sister coming in.
"Tia, what happened? Are you okay? Why are you crying? Who is the cause of your sorrow? Tell me and I shall - " she stopped talking once she spotted the dead body of the creature that had once caused the guardian of dreams nightmares. She eyed the dead body before turning towards me, an expression of both shock and horror stricken on her face, before kneeling down next to me and wrapping her wing around me.
We sat there in silence for what felt like an eternity, but was probably just a few minutes. That was until we were interrupted by a sound that sent a chill down my spine and caused my sister to start quivering. From behind us, we heard the shifting of rubble.
Author's Note
This chapter is longer than ask the rest so that's why it probably took longer th than expected for the release. I think the wait was worth it though, and I hope you enjoy it!
Now, onto the next thing. I need the readers' opinions on two things and have decided to make a polling system that will determine how I move forward with my story. The way I will do this is by posting comments, and you guys will have to like or dislike my comment depending on the option you choose:
Should I post longer chapters with slightly longer waits in between them; 6k - 7k word chapters every 3 - 4 days... Or shorter chapters; 2k -3k words every 1 - 2 days (Like for longer chapters and dislike for shorter chapters)
Should I add elements of heavy to medium gore to the story, including but not limited to, torture scenes (Not on any of the Main cast and if i do they'll be fake hallucinations), brutal deaths, epic bloody massacres etc? (Like for yes and dislike for no)
My new faceless, soul sucking life
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.
'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.... (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.
"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.
"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.
"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!
My new faceless, soul sucking life
Thrill of the hunt (part 1)
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.
My new faceless, soul sucking life
Thrill of the hunt (part 1-b)
Unknown location
Ms. Rory Mercury P.O.V.
I awoke to a sound of the snapping of fingers, along with various loud mechanical sounds and banging emanating from around the area. I slowly forced my eyes open, feeling my consciousness gradually returning to me.
"Ugh…" I moaned, "What happened…" I tried lifting my hand up to rub a spot on my head, but found I was unable to. I struggled harder but found that my hands and legs were bound tightly, with my hands being bound behind the backrest of the metal chair, and my legs being bound to both of the front legs of the chair.
"Wha- where am I?" I asked to no one in particular. Then I lifted my head up and focused my eyes, to find a tall man dressed in a dark suit, looking down on me.
"Who are you? Where am I?" I asked, still groggy from when I was unconscious. Then, I began to panic, "What did you do to me?! What do you want?! Let me go!". The man merely smiled in response, then I heard a sharp scraping noise and saw that he was dragging another metal chair towards me, holding onto the backrest while its two back legs scraped across the floor. He spun the chair around on one of its back legs, and the front part of the chair faced my, then finally, he let the other three legs of the chair drop with a loud clang as the metal legs came into contact with the floor, followed by sitting in the chair.
Basement car park (an indeterminate amount of time ago)
Then, it all came flooding back to me. I had just parked my car in the basement, and was heading for the lift, before I was snatched away by an extremely large figure, who held his hand over my mouth while I attempted to scream, muffling my cries for help.
I attempted to resist his attempts, kicking and wiggling about to break his hold, but he held on firm, my attempts not even bothering him in the slightest. That was when I got another idea and reached into my handbag, which was still hanging onto my shoulder, and brought out my pepper spray. I aimed the spray backwards, to where I assumed his head was, and clamped down on the button, which let loose a torrent of liquid that flew at him in a straight line.
It had affected him, although not as much as I would've liked. He loosened his grip just enough from me to slip through, while letting out an 'Agh' that sounded more like he was annoyed, rather than in pain. But he should have been in pain, it was pepper spray. I thought that maybe I hadn't sprayed enough, and turned around and continued to spray some more, just so I could escape without him recovering in time to pursue me.
That was my mistake. I should've ran when I had the chance, but I went on the offense instead. He grabbed the hand that was holding the pepper spray, ripping the weapon out of my grip and tossing it away. His other hand came up to my throat, choking me, even managing to lift my entire body off the ground with one hand. I held onto his arm and ripped and clawed at it, trying to get him to let go, but to no avail. Then, he seemed to grow frustrated, and with only one arm, threw me several meters back, where I came into contact with one of the concrete walls of the car park, and fell to the ground with a thud.
The last thing I saw was a tall man walking towards me, dressed in a black suit. Then, my vision went dark and I woke up here.
Present time
I began to scream, the loudest, most high pitch scream that I could emit. The man responded by bringing his hand up to my cheek, and stroking it. Then, he slapped me, hard.
My head jerked to the right from the sheer force of the slap, and a stinging pain began to emit from my left cheek. In fact, the slap was so hard, my eyes began reading and I started groaning softly in pain.
"No one can hear you. We're in the boiler room," he said, "Well, no one except for me, that is. And I find your high pitched screaming extremely irritating. So stop that!"
"Who are you? What do you want? Can you please let me go?!" I asked, afraid.
"Again with the questions!" he said, taking on an amused expression, "Fine, I'll answer them. Ask away."
"Who are you? Why are you-" I was cut off as I received another slap, although this was much softer, probably to make me shut up rather than to cause me pain.
"One question at a time. I can't keep track of a dozen questions at once," he smiled at me, "Now, let's try this again."
"Who are you?" I asked carefully, not wanting to be on the receiving end of another slap.
"My name…" he stood up and gave me a bow "Is Makael." He then sat back down and resumed "Or… was. Tell you what, how about you call me Slendy? It's short for Slenderman."
"But you just said your name is Makael," I said, confused.
"Well, I guess it's the same as how people refer to… God," he said, only causing my confusion to rise.
"What..?" I said softly.
"God does have a name. The Christian God, anyway," he began, "It's Yahweh. But people still call him God, which is what he is; a God, rather than by his actual name. My name is Makael, but I prefer if people refer to me as Slenderman, which is what I am, rather than who I am. You get what I mean?"
"Y- Yes, of course," I agreed with him, not wanting to tell him how stupid he sounded for fear that he might get violent again. "Okay, can I ask my next question now?" I said, cautiously as always, not wanting to sound demanding, or come of as rude, and incur his wrath once again.
"Be my guest," he agreed.
"What do you want?" I asked, already dreading the answer.
"I want to eat your soul," he said and began chuckling.
"No, seriously, what do you want? Why have you kidnapped me? If you want money, I'll give you all I have, just please let me go!" I said and he just laughed in response.
"I don't want your money," he said, eliciting a feeling of dread from me, "I want your life."
"What do you mean?" I asked hesitantly.
"I'm going to kill you!" Makael cheerfully replied.
"What?!" I shouted in horror, "You're lying, aren't you?! A murder hasn't happened in over three hundred years!"
"No I'm not going to murder you!" he said, offended, "I'm going to eat your soul. And coincidentally, eating someone's soul had some… side effects. Side effects include, but are not limited to: death, more death, and possibly not being able to enter the afterlife."
"Can you just tell me why I'm here?!" I begged.
Makael sighed, "Because, I'm going to eat your soul." He got up and began pacing in a circle around me, "You see, I'm not human. I'm the Slenderman. An alien, a monster, a demon, an experiment gone wrong, whatever I am, I am the only member of my species," he put his hands on my shoulders and stared directly into my eyes, "And I need to eat souls to survive. If I don't, I'll experience more pain than you can imagine. If you think hell is bad, what I'll experience if I don't feed is worse."
I began to grow increasingly afraid, and increasingly desperate to find a way to escape, or at the very least, talk my way out of this predicament.
"Then why me?! Out of everyone else, why me?!" I asked, trying to make him think about why exactly he wanted to kill me, and from there, possibly convince him to let me go.
"Wrong place, wrong time," he said shrugging, "I could've been a tornado, a snatch theft gone wrong, or a car accident. You're just unlucky enough to have encountered me."
"So you enjoy hurting people?!" I asked, completely disgusted by his lack of sympathy towards me.
"I don't know, because I've never killed before, but I'm already feeling the excitement of having to track my prey down and kill them," he said, smiling.
"How can you find something like that entertaining?!" I shouted in horror, "Are you crazy?!"
"Yes!" he said laughing, "Yes I am!"
"How can you be so evil?" I asked.
"I'm not evil. I'm a shark. I'm a predator," he then got a predatory glint in his eyes, "I have to hunt to survive, just like a shark. I have to kill, just like a shark. And I do enjoy it, just like how sharks enjoy hunting their prey. Do you think a shark, or a wolf, or a tiger, dislikes hunting down their targets? No, they love it! It's exhilarating! Am I evil for wanting to survive?"
"No, you're evil for enjoying it," I said and his smile only widened.
"I have good news, and I have bad news, which would you like first?" Makael asked.
"Let me guess, the bad news is that you're going to kill me?" I asked, already resigned to my fate.
"Yes, and the good news is that I'm going to kill you quickly," he paused, thinking of what to say next, "The other person I'm after is not going to have such a merciful death if Twilight and her friends get in the way of my plans. You see, the other person I'm targeting is going to be used as a test subject. The one who sent me here also sent me with the knowledge that if the person I'm feeding on is exhibiting fear, they're going to be much more delicious. And since the only power I have now is my extremely diluted but still superhuman strength, and limited access to my tentacles, what better way to elicit fear than by plain and simple torture?"
Outside Canterlot High
Flash Sentry P.O.V.
I headed out of the main entrance of the school. I had hoped to catch the bus, but saw it leaving as I exited through the main doors.
'Ah, crap,' I thought to myself as I watched it drive away, frustrated that I was going to have to walk home that day.
I walked towards the road, preparing to make the long trek to get home. Around me were a few students and a teacher or two loitering around, none of which I paid any attention to. I started walking along the pavement that lined the road, traveling in the direction of my house.
A figure then came into view out of the corner of my eye. Whoever it was was coincidentally walking in the same direction as me, but I paid him no mind. At least, paid him no mind until he spoke to me.
"Mister Flash Sentry," the voice called out, "I see you missed the bus."
I turned around, and immediately recognised the tall man as Mr. Makael, the man who instantly claimed the title of favourite teacher. "Mr. Makael!" I called out, "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing," he pointed down the road where the bus had headed, "Weren't you… supposed to be on that?"
"Yeah, I missed it by a few seconds. Now I'm gonna have to walk all the way back," I said.
"Tell you what. How about I drive you?" he asked, surprising me.
"It's fine sir, you don't have to do that. I'm fine with walking back," I relied, not wanting to inconvenience my teacher.
"Nonsense! You live on Elm Street, don't you? That's quite a distance. And…" he patted me on the shoulder, "I live about ten minutes away from there anyway. It wouldn't take me much longer to simply drop you off."
"Are you sure? I don't wanna inconvenience you like that sir, I really am fine walking," I politely declined.
"I insist! It'll take you over two hours to get back if you walk. It'll only take me ten minutes to stop you off," Mr. Makael said.
"Okay, I guess I'll take you up on that," I agree.
"C'mon, my car's in the basement, let's go," he said and began to lead the way. Little did I know, following him would be the biggest mistake of my life.
Mr. Makael began a conversation with me as we were heading towards his car, "So, Flash… What are your plans for the future?"
"Plans for the future?" I asked, confused.
"Yes, this is your second last year in school, so I'm assuming you have plans," he said, "Like what you're going to study once you have finished with your school year."
"Well sir, I'm not actually sure yet. I'm planning to take a gap year before I go to college," I paused for a moment, "You're not… from around here, are you?"
"Oh, whatever gave that away?" he asked.
"You mean aside from your accent which is the most British accent I've ever heard?" I asked, which elicited a light chuckle from the teacher. "I'm sure that if you were from this town, you'd be quite popular. There's no way you could've been living here without everyone knowing who you are," I told him.
"And why is that?" he asked, once again smiling.
"Well, it's a small town, and we're quite a tight knit community, and in every small town, there are the popular guys that everyone knows. The local baker, the town sheriff, the local ice cream vendor, the local rich guy Mr. Rich," I looked him up and down, "And you'd definitely be one of those people. You're very tall, for starters, and your height alone would get you noticed. Other than that, you're attractive, classy, charismatic, and funny. You'd be the 'town ladies man'."
He chuckled lightly, "Yeah, I suppose so." We entered into the car park and the light from the sun dimmed. "You could say that I'm from an entirely different world," he flashed me another grin, which I had began to associate with him just before he was about to tell a joke, "And you could say that coming here is an otherworldly experience."
I laughed because of how bad the joke was. "That's terrible!" I told him.
"Well, Flash, we're here," he said as we came upon a black salon car, which wasn't anything special. "But I have to get a few things, and I'll need to make two trips, unless you don't mind helping me?" He asked.
"Yes, of course," I said, "It's the least I could do since you're driving me back. Lead the way."
He began walking ahead of me and I followed a few paces behind. After about a minute, we came upon a metal door, and Mr. Makael opened it and held it open for me, "After you," he said and I entered the door, responding with a 'thank you'.
I heard the door close shut behind me, and a few latches, which sounded like locks but I didn't give it much care. The air was suddenly full of loud sounds and the room was lined with metal pipes that went across the walls.
"Are you sure this is the right spot?" I asked, confused.
"Yeah, it's just up ahead. Proceed forward," Mr. Makael said and I began walking ahead.
"Hello?" I heard a woman's voice. "Who's there?" the voice called out and I recognised it as Miss Rory.
"Miss Rory?" I called out. "What are you doing here?" I began to rush forward and came upon a very disturbing sight. My teacher was bound to the chair, year marks running down her eyes which signaled that she had been crying.
"What are you doing here?" I asked in a worried tone, "It's gonna be okay. Let's get you out of here." I looked back and heard Mr. Makael's footsteps echoing down the long hallway that led into the room. "Mr. Makael! Call the police! It seems Miss Rory was down here the whole time!" I called back.
"Wait, he's here?!" she asked, clearly alarmed.
"Yes, it's our new teacher. He told us you were going on a permanent vacation and I thought he meant you were fired, not missing!" I said, "Don't worry, We'll help you. We'll find whoever did this."
"He's the one who did it!" she exclaimed, "Flash, listen to me. You have to run, now. Get help, then come back. He's crazy!"
Then, I connected the dots. My eyes widened in realisation, "Okay, I'll come back for you. Just hang in there." I turned around, prepared to either fight or run. I immediately saw him up in my face, grinning a mad grin, but before I could do anything, he hit me over the head with something. The last thing I saw once I slumped to the ground was Mr. Makael grinning down at me, with Miss Rory screaming in the background, before my vision went dark.
Canterlot Castle
Luna P.O.V.
"And you just let her leave?!" Shining Armour exclaimed angrily.
"She knows the human world better than I do, and I might have rose suspicion," I explained calmly, although quite angry that he had the audacity to raise his voice at me.
"You could have followed her! You could have helped her!" he shouted, "But instead, you left her with Discord?!"
"You will not take that tone with me!" I said in the Royal Canterlot Voice, "One of us had to stay behind to look after Celestia. Did you expect me to just leave her here in this state, unsupervised?!"
Shining sighed, "You're right, your highness. I don't know what came over me. I… I'm just worried about her." He shifted his gaze towards Celestia's bedroom, "How's she doing?"
"The doctors said she was extremely lucky. It was a miracle, they said," I gave Shining a serious look, "She could have died… should have died. That procedure was by all means impossible, but she somehow made it through."
"You see, your highness," he began gesturing wildly, "This is the kind of monster Twilight's up against! She could… she could die, princess."
"And why do you think I called you here, and not Cadence?" I asked.
"Because she's my sister?" Shining replied, putting emphasis on the word 'my'.
"It's because I wanted you to go and make sure she's safe. This mission has gone on too long. They should have been back by now, and we should already have blasted that monster with the elements," I looked at him, concerned, "Something's wrong. And if you don't mind, I would like you to go over there and check to see if everything's going according to plan."
"Of course I would, but I have to ask, why exclude Cadence?" his tone was one of confusion.
"I need you to go there alone, so as to not rouse suspicion," I told him, "And your wife would definitely not allow you to go by yourself. I think three identical twins might raise some concern among the humans."
"I understand, princess," he said, "Lead the way. She could be in danger as we speak."
"Time is of the essence," I got up from my sitting position and walked towards the mirror, Shining Armour following in tow.
Author's Note
Hi, short chapter and very quick release.
You're wondering probably wondering why this is such a quick release, why the chapter is so short, and why it's written like this. Well, it's because this semi-chapter is actually a setup for the second part, hence the title, part 1-B.
Since I've released this chapter that basically puts everything in motion, next chapter is going to be mainly action.
Sorry if the ending seems a bit rushed, I'm writing this at two in the morning, and releasing it at two as well.
Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. No action, just setup, and it's a short break from all the action that's been going on anyway.
As always, leave your thoughts in the comments, as well as any criticism you might have.
