The Hunt Of The Slenderman

by Writer12577

Rating: teen
Tags: Dark, Lyra, Carrot Top, Bon-Bon, Adventure, Derpy Hooves, Crossover, Gore, Princess Celestia, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 12879

The main six are lost. Another rescue group is sent to look for them.

The main six were lost on the first rescue mission. Princess Celestia has received the information and decides to form up another group of volunteers.

The group goes to look for the main six, but things get just as complicated, if not more.

This is a sequel to The Tale Of The Slenderman.

Published 2012-09-24 00:24:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-09-24 00:24:01 UTC

Chapter One: The Hunt

It had been two days since the letter when the Princess had received the information. The elements had gone missing, three little fillies with them.

Celestia felt a sudden wave of guilt navigate its way through her body. The letter had been true.

She walked to the window. Ponyville could be seen from there. And just next to the peaceful city was the forest. Whatever was lurking in that forest had to be destroyed before it would take more lives.

Celestia left a note on the table for Luna, woke her magic up and just vanished.

----»«----

The residents of Ponyville are not used to a Princess teleporting right to the middle of the town square. So, it’s completely understandable that a little panic got formed up.

But when they realized who just had arrived, the panic suddenly died down and got replaced with pure silence.

But soon the silence was broken. Celestia didn’t want to waste any time.

“I need volunteers for a dangerous mission.”

She looked at her audience with a hopeful look on her face, but no-one was showing any signs of agreeing to help.

Celestia lowered her head. She would have to go alone.

“I’ll come!” came a voice from the crowd.

Celestia quickly raised her head, eager to see who this brave one was.

And the one, who started, or at least tried to stare, back got her slightly surprised.

“Thank you for your bravery,” she said to the grey Pegasus, trying to get complete eye-contact but failing horribly.

“You’re welcome!” answered the Pegasus in a happy tone.

Her arrival to the side of the Princess triggered an unexpected reaction in the crowd.

“If Derpy is going, I’m going too!” shouted a certain mint-colored unicorn.

“Lyra, what are you doing? It’s dangerous to go there!” shouted the mare next to her.

“Bon, I gotta go. Derpy and the Princess are going to save the whole Equestria! I can’t miss this!” Lyra answered, walking towards the place where Celestia was standing on.

“Then I’ll come with you. Equestria will get destroyed if I let my eyes off of you.”

So the numbers of the desperate rescue-group grew by two.

Suddenly another pony made her way through the crowd, joining the group. She received asking gazes from the other members.

“What? I couldn’t leave you three!” answered Carrot Top.

“I can’t imagine the amount of destruction you two will cause if I and Bon would let you go on your own.” She added, pointing towards the two others.

Lyra tried to form up an offended look, while Derpy just happily smiled at her friend.

“Uh, I think we should get going,” said the Princess, a slightly amused look on her face. The mission might be scary, but the company was going to be good.

She received agreeing responses from the four.

And so the rescue-group started their desperate quest, completely unaware of the tall figure that was in the forest, waiting for them.

----»«----

The forest seemed to be darker and scarier this night, and the chilling evening breeze wasn’t making it any better, nor was the fog that was floating around them, cloaking most of the forest.

Whatever had taken the others, it had the advance now. It knew where they were, but they didn’t know where it was.

“Okay, let’s go,” ordered Celestia.

And they took the biggest path that was supposed to head to the center of the forest.

----»«----

After Rainbow Dash had gone missing, the weather of Ponyville had gotten wild. The other pegasi needed a leader, and there was no leader like Rainbow.

So the weather was completely random. It might rain on days that were scheduled to be sunny. Clouds may cover the sky when it was supposed to be a clear night.

And that’s just what happened. Several dark clouds blocked the way of the moonlight, causing the forest to go dark.

But it didn’t take long for Celestia to react. She lit her horn and magical light filled a small area, allowing the five to see again.

And just in front of them was Fluttershy.

Celestia immediately dashed towards the yellow Pegasus. If she was alive, the others would be too.

But when she got closer, she noticed that things were wrong in a horrible way.

First off, Fluttershy was floating in the air, but she wasn’t flapping her wings.

Secondly, she wasn’t moving, speaking, nor breathing.

And thirdly, a huge branch had penetrated her back and stomach, sticking through her in a sickly way.

The horrifying sight managed to cause some panic in the group.

Bon Bon fainted. The loud thud of her hitting the ground told Celestia that Lyra was just as shocked. Carrot Top was staring the ground, muttering something to herself.

Derpy was just observing the sight, both eyes scanning the mare from different directions.

And Celestia was just looking. She couldn’t think of a creature that would do things like this.

She slowly walked over to the yellow Pegasus and began trying to get the branch out of her. But it wasn’t easy. Forcing her out would possibly tear her weak body apart. So Celestia had to do it carefully and without magic.

But as she touched the fur of the mare, an overwhelming coldness took her hoof over. It was freezing her hoof from inside.

She quickly pulled her hoof away from Fluttershy and the warmth came back immediately.

Celestia looked at the spot she had touched in order to see what could cause such a feeling.

The sight was not pleasant.

There was a huge circle-like carving on Fluttershy’s back. The circle had two lines going through it from the middle.

For some strange reason even looking at the carving made Celestia feel uneasy.

Celestia slowly put her hooves to spots that were free of carvings and began pulling carefully. The small body was slowly being released from the grip of the branch.

And when it finally came loose, Celestia lowered it to the ground, positioned it to lean to the tree, saluted it and began walking towards the rest of the group.

When Celestia came back, the others had already gotten Bon Bon back up. But the mare was still pretty shocked.

“I’m not going to change my mind. I’m leaving!” She exclaimed.

The others gave a begging look to Celestia. And Celestia knew what they meant.

“I know that you’re afraid. I am too. But if we just leave and do nothing, innocent ponies will die. That thing can come out of the forest. And imagine if it decides to come to Ponyville? We must destroy it now in order to save as many lives as possible.”

Bon Bon just looked at the Princess.

“C-can the thing come out?”

“I’m afraid it can. And to be honest with you, it already has. It took Twilight Sparkle from the library,” answered Celestia.

Bon Bon had a worried look on her face. The thing could come to Ponyville and take her anytime.

“Okay. I’ll stay.”

“Great,” was the simple answer from Celestia. “We should keep going. The longer we stay in one spot, the likelier it will be for that creature to surprise us.”

The others agreed, and so they kept on going towards the awaiting doom.

----»«----

Celestia was starting to grow worried. There had been nothing except trees and bushes for the past ten minutes. That couldn’t be good.

As on cue, she heard Bon Bon scream.

She turned around, and saw Bon Bon pointing to the bushes, clearly shocked by the sight. The others were there already, having a hint of disgust on their faces.

Celestia quickly trotted over to see what it was. And the sight was no prettier than what Fluttershy had been.

Three fillies. Horribly mutilated.

Celestia quickly jumped back, feeling a bad taste come up her throat.

Swallowing it, she turned to the others and started to speak.

“Those three died for nothing. I have never even heard of a creature that would do such thing. Now we know that we have a completely unordinary, disgusting creature against us. And now we have even more reasons to destroy that horrible thing.”

And just as she finished, she noticed the slight blur of lavender in the corner of her eye.

“No…” she said while trotting towards the blur at full speed.

“No… It can’t be…”

Yet there she was. Her faithful student. Lying on the ground, a horrified look on her face.

It was too much for Celestia. This had just gotten personal.

She cursed the creature in her mind. That thing would suffer the most horrifying death.

Just as Celestia was about to join the others, she saw the book next to Twilight.

She picked the book up. It had the same symbol on the cover that Fluttershy had had in her back.

Out of curiosity, she opened the book.

The first page was soaked in blood. And in the center of the page, the same symbol could be seen again, in pure white.

The next page was different. It had the word “no” written to it twelve times. Celestia found this extremely disturbing.

A quick scroll through the book revealed more pages written in the same manner. Some had warnings, some pleas of help.

The final pages were stuck together. Celestia was curious to know what was in the final one, but she didn’t want to damage the book. She’d give it to one of the librarians when she would get back in Canterlot.

She magically sent the book to her desk, and trotted back to the rest of the group.

----»«----

“Let’s go find that thing. For all the lost ones,” Celestia said, trying to get the remaining four get up and join her.

But it had been hard for them. Seeing the fillies in the horrifying condition the thing had left them. They just couldn’t find the powers to get up and go fight against a thing that would do something like this.

Celestia knew this very well. But she couldn’t go alone. So she had to do desperate things.

“Well, I’ll be going then,” she said and turned around in order to go deeper into the dark and cold forest.

The others knew that they had no chance of surviving without the immortal Alicorn. So they slowly got up and began walking after their Princess.

As Celestia noticed this, she knew her plan had worked. She smiled ever so slightly and waited for the others to catch her up.

----»«----

Rainbow had been dead for what felt like days by now. Yet she still could breathe. That meant she wasn’t physically dead. But she couldn’t shake off the feeling of being dead in some level.

The thing had brought her here. “Here” seemed to be a dark cave of some kind. But if it was a cave, the entrance was nowhere to be seen. Nor was the natural light. So she was pretty much stuck.

But the creature had failed to kill her. She was too tough for it. Rainbow found some help from that fact. The creature couldn’t kill her that easily.

But she had to get out of here. The creature was coming back. It wouldn’t just leave its victim lying on a cave.

Rainbow concentrated as hardly as she could, and tried to move her wings. Lefty was doing well, but Righty was not responding. It was sending waves of pain through her body instead.

That usually could mean only one thing. Her wing was broken. Or at least really badly sprained.

But Lefty had always been her stronger wing.

So she flapped it. Slowly but surely, speeding up as fast as she could. And soon enough she was starting to rise from the ground.

She tried supporting with her hooves. Great idea. All of a sudden she was up and standing, hooves holding her weight perfectly. It seemed like her hooves had made a miracle recovery.

But Lefty was still flapping. It kept trying to lift her up to the top of the cave. But that would be no use. So Rainbow halted her wing, causing it to stop immediately.

She then slowly furled it up and pressed it tightly against her body. It had done a great job.

And now was the time for the hardest part. Getting out.

Rainbow had never been a night-liver. Whenever she could, she’d go to her amazingly soft and cozy bed to sleep as soon as possible. And not to forget naptimes.

But now that was starting to redound. Her eyes weren’t used to the darkness. So she was technically blind.

But she had a wing to help her. So she slowly made her way to the left side of the cave, stretched Lefty out yet again and began exploring the wall the cave with her wing.

And for her slight surprise, she was making progress. Lefty was guiding her hooves as she slowly walked on, hopefully towards a possible exit.

Thoughts were raging in her head. Were her friends okay? What happened to Pinkie? Was she still in the Everfree? Where was the thing that took her?

But this was a somewhat nice way to make time pass faster. So she let her thoughts wander instead of just simply pushing them back.

She was so deep in her thoughts that she almost missed the small beam of light that was coming from the tunnel to the left of her.

She was close. She could feel it. The smell of the Everfree was present.

The beam was growing larger and larger. Rainbow was getting excited. She furled Lefty as she could see again. And the sight was beautiful.

The forest was bathing in the glow of the dim moonlight. For some reason Rainbow felt safe under the full moon of Luna.

But immediately as she stepped out, a nasty cloud covered the moon.

And when the lights go out, the monsters appear.

And when the monsters appear, all you can do is to scream as hard as you can.

----»«----

Celestia heard a scream. And the scream came from a pony. There was hope. The others could still be alive.

Without a warning she began trotting towards the estimated location of the source of the sound. The others were slightly surprised, of course. But they followed as soon as they noticed that they had been left alone again.

Swiftly dodging trees and bushed in the dark, Celestia kept going at incredible speed. A subject of her was in danger and it was her duty to go save the endangered one.

The others weren’t too swift in their movements, tripping to the branches or rocks a little too often. Soon they had lost Celestia into the depths of the dense forest.

A slight panic was already starting to take over. They had no-one to protect them from the thing that was lurking in this very forest.

And the panic just grew as the cold wind started to brush the coats of the ponies, causing freezing chills to navigate through their bodies.

And when a dark figure appeared out of nowhere, the panic became overwhelming.

Three of the ponies screamed. But one was deadly silent.

Derpy just stared at the figure, trying to understand why the others were screaming. A tree couldn’t be that scary.

But when the screaming started to hurt her ears, she just walked to the tree and bucked hard.

And just when the dry tree split in two, the three stopped screaming.

“Derpy, how did you know it was a tree?” asked Lyra, wearing an amazed look.

“Well, it was pretty obvious. It became visible when the moonlight hit it in the right angle. And seeing things like that in a scary forest in the early hours of the morning have been proved to cause a certain defensive reaction in the brains. But if you can just control yourself, the reaction won’t take over and your brains are able to process what the thing really is.”

Her friends stared at her even more surprised. Derpy had just made sense. And her eyes were actually perfectly in spot, both concentrated to the other three.

And all of a sudden the right one started to wander.

And as it did so, Derpy looked around, a confused look on her face.

“Eek! A tree!” she shouted, and quickly ducked to the ground.

This caused the others to giggle a bit, setting the mood a bit higher.

“We should probably get out of this forest,” Carrot Top suggested. “We won’t be able to find Celestia in the dark.”

The others agreed. But there was a single problem: Which way was home?

“I’d say we go this way,” Bon Bon said and the others followed her as she started walking down the narrow path that hopefully led home.

----»«----

Celestia was getting close. She could feel the coldness trying to devour her.

But that was just a good sign. The thing was radiating coldness into the nearby living creatures.

Suddenly another scream filled the air, louder than the earlier one. The source of the scream was only about a few hundred feet away.

Celestia started to slow down. She wanted to keep the advantage of a surprise.

And then she saw it. The thing was just across the small path, standing next to a tree.

Luckily for her, it was facing to the very opposite direction, as if it was doing something with the tree.

And then Celestia saw a familiar six-color mane that swiped through the air.

She immediately charged towards the thing. Rainbow still had a slight chance of surviving, but only if Celestia would act quickly.

So she lowered her head and aimed for the chest of the thing. It would take a jump, but she was quite sure she could do that.

----»«----

The horn of a unicorn is a deadly weapon when used in a correct manner.

And the horn of an Alicorn is even deadlier. It’s sharper and longer, with the ability to penetrate almost anything with ease.

If an Alicorn manages to hit your chest with its horn, you’ll die immediately thanks to the magic of the horn, which automatically releases a wave of pure energy into your body, effectively destroying everything the horn manages to hit.

----»«----

Celestia was preparing for the jump. The thing was tall, but she still was sure she would reach such altitude with the aid of her wings.

So she unfurled her swan-like wings.

But unluckily for her, the feathers of the wings rustled against each other, causing a nasty sound.

As soon as the sound could be heard, the thing turned and launched one of its deadly tentacles towards Celestia.

It came towards her so fast she stood no chance of dodging it. So she just stared in awe as the weapon of the slender predator impaled her chest, missing her heart by just a few inches.

----»«----

Alicorns are immortal creatures. They cannot die in any known way.

But that doesn’t mean that they can’t feel any pain. Thanks to their big size, they actually feel more pain than any regular pony can.

When an Alicorn gets hurt, yet another reflex-like reaction happens. This reaction is the most powerful known to exist.

The brains of an Alicorn trigger the magic on. But the magic is completely controllable by the Alicorn, in the case she is still conscious.

The magic starts healing the Alicorn, and if necessary, waking her up. The healing is not fast, but it can close open wounds in around two hours.

But if there for some reason is an unidentified object inside the Alicorn, the process will stop, because closing the wounds around the object could cause more damage than the object itself.

----»«----

Celestia screamed. She had tried to control the healing magic, but it was not there. The system had failed.

But an Alicorn couldn’t die. She could live without a working heart for approximately a century. Her sister had survived a thousand years in the moon with no oxygen.

So Celestia just had to take the pain and fight.

But the pain had done its job. Celestia couldn’t move. She just hung limply while the thing observed her. All she could do was to look around for anything that could aid her.

But all she could see another limp body with a blue coat and a rainbow mane. But this body was on ground. And it had no hole on its chest.

But that wouldn’t be for long. Soon the creature would bore of observing the bigger one and concentrate on the smaller one instead.

Celestia had to think of something. And the only thing that was able to wake Rainbow up and wouldn’t make the creature suspicious was to scream.

So she screamed as hard as she could.

And she was making progress. Rainbow slowly opened her eyes, still having a bit dizzy look in them.

But the dizziness was soon replaced by pure fear. The thing that had killed her friends. The thing that had tried to kill her. That thing was right in front of her, trying to kill the Princess.

The first thought to pop up in her head was to save the princess. But when she saw that the Princess was looking at her, trying to hint her to run, she changed her mind.

And as silently as possible, she snuck away, leaving her Princess to the tentacles of the thing.

----»«----

Bon Bon had no idea what she was doing, but she still tried not to show that to the others. They were just as scared as she was.

Derpy had started to occasionally creep them out by starting to speak all fancy-stuff. But it usually was just for a few minutes and then she was back to her normal self.

But on the other hoof, Derpy had managed to keep the spirit as high as it could be kept. She always knew how to make the others laugh.

All in all, the little trip had not been totally horrible. They were still alive. Sure there were those three dead fillies and that one dead mare and it was somewhat horrible, but nothing else had happened. Maybe the thing was gone.

But the only tiny bit that was worrying her was Celestia. Sure, she might be the ruler of the whole Equestria and stuff but there was no living being that couldn’t feel fear. And running alone in a dark forest was one of the scariest things Bon Bon knew.

She turned her head towards the rest of the small group and saw Lyra giggling loudly while Derpy was doing one of her eye-tricks. Carrot Top was walking on the other side of Derpy, a slightly amused look on her face. But the look contained something more. Something deeper…

But Bon Bon didn’t want to speculate on the feelings of her friends. And after all, if those two had a thing, she and Lyra would be there to support them. It had been hard for them to show up on public even weeks after the rumor had started to spread.

The little walk was going well, the group was having fun and Ponyville was hopefully somewhere near. Things were looking just as good as they could look in a situation like this. Even the cold air was starting to warm up, reducing the amount of chills.

Bon Bon shifted her eyes up to the beautiful night sky and let out a small sigh.

----»«----

The thing just wouldn’t get bored. It was still holding Celestia, apparently trying to either break her or let her die slowly.

But Celestia wouldn’t die to this. The thing could hold her there for a century, but she still would be breathing.

Rainbow had probably gotten far by now. So Celestia decided that it was time to actually do something.

She slowly began shifting her eyes up, trying to lock the gaze of the thing.

But she was shocked by the sight.

The thing had no eyes. Its face was just blank and white.

Suddenly Celestia saw a small blur in the corner of her eye. She ignored it and kept on starting into the blank face, trying to perform a small magic trick to slightly disturb the thing. This would hopefully lead to a chance of making a way out of the deadly grip of the tentacle.

Then the battle would be fair.

But she couldn’t concentrate due to the blur. But she knew this was her chance. Her magic was still keeping the healing-process up and running, despite the fact that the tentacle was still inside her, and it was consuming her energy. And concentrating to a spell without any energy was hard. Even for her.

So she kept the contact. Her eyes hurt, but she couldn’t even blink or her chances would be gone.

All of a sudden she felt sick. She couldn’t see anything, save for a strange symbol that was in the center of her vision.

She felt her will to live start to fade out. But she just couldn’t get her eyes off the spot where she thought the eyes of the thing were. Not even if she tried.

Slowly but surely she was dying inside, losing her energy and surrendering to the horrifying fate.

And then the moment came. Celestia felt the tentacle move slightly inside her, hitting her heart and ripping it to pieces, causing her weakened body to give up.

The number of Princesses had dropped to two.

----»«----

Rainbow was half-running, half-flying. Lefty was flapping insanely on her side, trying it’s best to speed her up. But Righty remained stubborn, unwilling to help its friend.

But her hooves worked extra, trying to make up the loss of Righty.

Rainbow knew that she could never run fast enough to avoid the destiny. The only thing she had to do was to warn the others. Then she would be ready to meet the destiny face-to-face. Again.

Suddenly she heard a sound come from her left. A quick look revealed a familiar figure observing her from distance.

Rainbow just dashed forward, towards home. She knew where home was. She had always had the special ability of navigation.

But the thing just kept appearing. But for some reason it kept a certain distance. It was like it was just observing her before attacking.

And the only way to avoid the attack was to run faster.

And so she ran.

----»«----

“Wait. Do you hear that?” asked Carrot Top.

The others turned to face her.

“Listen closely… Are those hoofsteps?”

“I guess they are…” answered Lyra. “But who could it be? Celestia?”

“I don’t know but they’re heading here!” shouted Bon Bon and ducked to the ground. The others followed her example.

And the very next second a blue-coated Pegasus appeared from the shadows.

She gazed nervously around, a terrified look on her face.

Derpy immediately recognized her.

“Rainbow?” she asked while jumping up from the ground.

“Derpy? Is that really you? Oh praise Celestia! No, wait, praise Luna. She’s the ruler now. Anyways, you got to help me! It’s right behind me!”

Derpy just stared at her, a confused look on her face. Something was after Rainbow.

Derpy decided to go see what it was. Maybe she could scare it away.

But there was nothing. The small path Rainbow had cleared was empty, and so was the forest around it.

“Well, seems like it’s gone,” Derpy announced happily.

She turned towards Rainbow, who was lying on the ground, shaking violently.

“No it isn’t. It follows. Always watches. No Eyes. Just a blank face. Staring at you from the shadows. Observing your every move. Driving you to insanity. It’s still there. You just can’t see it.”

Rainbow had a somewhat insane look on her face. She was looking past Derpy while she said those words.

Derpy just had to know what was so interesting.

She turned around and saw another scary tree. She thought that Rainbow would get better if the tree would stop bullying her.

Derpy began walking towards the tree while the others were busy quizzing Rainbow.

Derpy knew that imagination can make things go creepy. She had experienced such things since her fillyhood. And the dark and cold forest around them was not helping.

When Derpy arrived at the tree, she noticed that it had some weird-looking branches on its backside. But that was just caused by the Everfree.

The tree also had a round white top. That was unique. Maybe this was an entirely new type of a tree.

But it scared Rainbow. So it had to go.

Derpy turned around, pressed her forehooves tightly to the ground, rose her hind hooves up and bucked as hard as she could.

But the tree was hard like a stone. It didn’t break in two like Derpy had expected. It just stood there like nothing had happened.

But it had managed to hurt Derpy. Her both hind hooves were burning from the pain and freezing from the inside at the same time.

“Ow. That wasn’t nice!” Derpy complained. But on second thought she had been trying to destroy the tree. So the tree had every right to defend itself.

“Sorry Mister Tree, for trying to take you down. But you shouldn’t have scared my friend. Try to be a little less scary next time, ok?” Derpy asked.

The tree didn’t answer.

“It’s a deal then!” she said happily and began walking towards her friends that had stopped with the questions and were trying to calm Rainbow down.

“The tree won’t scare you anymore. It promised,” Derpy explained happily, receiving some confused looks.

“What tree?” asked Lyra.

“The one that scared Rainbow. It’s over there,” Derpy answered, pointing towards the spot where the tree was.

“There is no tree there. Just some bushes,” Lyra pointed out.

Derpy turned around to see what her friend was talking about. Trees couldn’t move.

But this one just had. The place where it had been was empty, save for the small bushes Lyra had mentioned.

“Well, maybe it wanted to get a little exercise,” Derpy said, receiving yet another confused look from Lyra.

Derpy replied to the look with a merry smile, causing Lyra to sigh and go back to help the others with Rainbow.

Derpy decided that it was the best to do the same.

As she turned around, she was a familiar figure just behind the others.

“There he is! Hello Mister Tree!” she shouted happily while waving her hoof at the tall figure.

The others slowly turned around and were greeted by a dark figure that was only meters away from them. It was standing on two hooves, reaching altitudes several meters above them. It appeared to have a black skin and a white head.

But the disturbing thing was that its face had nothing but white. No eyes, no mouth, nothing.

Lyra slowly crept towards Rainbow. And while doing so, she ordered the others with small whispers.

“I’ll take Rainbow as I can use magic. Bon and Carrot, you run to Derpy and head out of here. I’ll be right behind you. On my mark.”

The other two nodded slightly, holding as still as they could.

Lyra slowly began focusing on her horn, waking up her magic. It took a grip of Rainbow and slowly began lifting her from the ground.

But a slowly rising Pegasus looks a bit suspicious. Especially if the Pegasus is not flapping her wings.

But Lyra had to take the risk. Raising the weight of a pony was not easy for a normal unicorn like her. If she would yank Rainbow up too fast, her magic would break. And that would be fatal.

As Rainbow finally reached the height that seemed somewhat safe, Lyra began slowly backing up. While doing so, she began silently counting down from ten.

When she had reached three, the distance to the thing was a bit bigger. It seemed like a safe distance to try something. So she slightly raised her voice and began counting down from three.

“Three…”

Carrot Top and Bon Bon realized that this was it and got ready to run.

“Two…”

Lyra slightly bent her knees in order to acquire a faster start.

“One…”

Derpy was standing still, having no idea what the others were doing. Mister Tree just wanted to play.

“Run!”

All three rapidly turned around and dashed towards Derpy. Just as she turned around, Lyra could feel a tentacle swish past her head. The thing knew what they were doing.

But stopping was not an option. They had seen the earlier victims and they sure weren’t going to end up like that.

Bon Bon and Carrot Top had already run past Derpy, but for some reason Derpy was still standing still.

Lyra knew that she couldn’t stop. So she just ran to Derpy and simply shouted:

“Derpy, you need to come now!”

And all she could do was to run and hope that the sometimes simple Pegasus had realized the weight of the situation.

----»«----

Derpy didn’t get the behavior of the others. Mister Tree was standing there like nothing had happened.

The only thing that made even some sense in the head of the Pegasus mare was that Mister Tree had scared her friends.

And that was not a nice thing. First he had scared Rainbow and now the rest of her friends.

So Derpy decided to have a few words with Mister Tree.

“That wasn’t very nice of you,” she said while walking towards him. But Mister Tree wouldn’t move. He just stood there, showing a blank face at Derpy.

“You must stop scaring other ponies. If you’re like that you won’t be able to make any friends. And friends and family are the most important things in the whole Equestria!” Derpy said, but Mister Tree wouldn’t reply. He was just staring at Derpy’s face, causing her vision go blurry.

“That’s not going to work on me,” said Derpy. She had a special little trick.

She let her concentration slowly slide off from her eyes. And as she did so, the right one realized that this was its chance.

So it started exploring the surroundings, leaving the left one all alone. But it was not for long. Soon the left one noticed that it could do the trick too.

So soon enough the eyes of the mare were observing the forest from different points, leaving a tall figure all confused. It couldn’t maintain contact with eyes like those two.

But it could still try. Longer death was worth trying.

And soon the forest had become the arena of a staring contest.

----»«----

The silence had wrapped the area around the two competitors in a tight grip, letting only the coldness of the night get through the invisible barrier.

And the coldness was slowly but surely taking the small mare over. Mister Tree had proven himself to be a worthy enemy.

Derpy slowly forced her eyes to return to the regular formation. It hurt, but it didn’t matter. She couldn’t do anything when they were not concentrating.

She shifted her gaze to Mister Tree in order to congratulate him. But when she saw the face of him, her eyes began to hurt more.

Derpy had no idea what caused this, but she couldn’t get her eyes off the blank face that was in front of her.

And when the pain reached its peak, her vision began to blur.

Her heartbeat was slowly killing the pace, pumping less and less blood into her body.

Her breathing became hard as the coldness struck her now weakened body, yet she still couldn’t break the contact. Her eyes were nailed to the face of Mister Tree.

And slowly but surely she was dying from inside, her heart beating slower and slower and her mind slowly falling towards unconsciousness and awaiting death.

And when it was close, she finally got it.

Mister Tree was no tree at all.

And just at that very second her heart hit its last beat, leaving a limp body lying to the ground in the feet of the slender predator.

----»«----

“Where are we?”

“Well, I’d place my bets on the forest.”

“Really funny, Lyra. But we should have arrived home half an hour ago. Admit it. We’re lost.”

“I ain’t admitting anything yet. Ponyville is just behind the corner. Trust me.”

“Like we trusted you in the last turn?”

“Yeah. Pretty much like that.”

“Well, we’re nowhere near home now.”

“We are! Ponyville is right behind the corner just as I said.”

“And where do you think you can find corners in a forest?”

“I… Uh…”

“Touché.”

“You win this round Bon. But don’t get used to it.”

“So, have you two finally got your little argument finished?”

The two mares shifted their gazes to the third that was keeping an eye on the surroundings and a certain cyan mare.

“Well, I guess so. How about you, Bon?”

“Well, I think that I have to agree this time. But next time I’ll demand much more, Lyra,” Bon Bon said, giving Lyra a questionable look.

“So, why don’t we get going already?  I wouldn’t want to ruin the mood, but we still have a mysterious pony-killing thing after us,” Carrot Top pointed out, causing the two to blush a little.

“Well, finally somepony says something sensible,” Bon Bon said, gazing Lyra with a teasing look on her face.

“Oh I’m so going to win you the next time!” was the answer.

“Well, Bon, I guess you’re the leader now. What way should we go?” Carrot Top asked.

Bon Bon looked around. One of the many paths cleared by the animals years ago was brighter than the others, and she sure wasn’t going back into the dark forest after seeing that thing. They’d come and find Derpy in the morning, with the help of some back-up.

“We’ll go this way,” she said and the other two began following her, one wearing a rather relieved look and the other wearing a somewhat disappointed one.

----»«----

It was Lyra’s turn to carry Rainbow. But she just had done a double-shift. So it was more than reasonable for her to complain.

“I just did your shift, Bon. It’s your turn to take my shift.”

“But my back hurts from all the carrying. Couldn’t you just do this shift? For me?”

“Hey, I’m used to lifting my own lyre or helping you with baking. My magic can’t handle such weights! And my back hurts too! I had to carry her all the way from the opening, remember?”

“But you’re supposed to be the handy one. I am used to baking things, not carrying anything around!”

“What makes me the handy one?”

Bon Bon gave her friend a certain look that the unicorn seemed to understand immediately.

“Whoa Bon! That’s private stuff. We have audience here!” Lyra pointed towards Carrot Top that was watching the argument with an amused look on her face, and the unconscious Pegasus that was lying on the ground.

“Rainbow is out cold and Carrot already knows everything someone outside our house can possibly know.”

This caused Lyra’s expression to get a slightest bit of shock in it.

“You told her?! I understand that she’s our friend and all but that’s private stuff and should stay as private. What happens in my bedroom stays in my bedroom!”

“It’s my bedroom as well! And Carrot can keep secrets. I’ve known her for such a long time and she has never let me down.”

“Bon, I’ve known Carrot just as long as you have, and I know that she can keep secrets. But still, I demand even a little privacy.”

“But she’s Carrot Top! If I couldn’t tell her, I would end up telling somepony else. And that wouldn’t be good.”

“Well, you do have a point there…”

“So Carrot is trustworthy?”

“Yes, she is. I never even said anything else.”

“And so you will carry Rainbow.”

“What? No I won’t! The fact that Carrot is trustworthy doesn’t mean that I’ll carry Rainbow.”

“No matter how incredibly amusing this is, I’m going to have to stop your little argument. The air is getting colder. And that means “It” is closer, too.”

The two shifted their gazes towards Carrot Top who still had the most amused look on her face.

“So, I’ll offer to carry her,” Carrot Top said.

The two let out a relieved sigh. Anypony could have seen that the argument was going nowhere.

“At least someone is being generous today,” Bon Bon said, causing a certain unicorn to snarl a little.

----»«----

The path was getting brighter and brighter, and it was a good sign. The Everfree was brighter on the edges.

But the path was also narrowing down. It was hard for the four to fit.

And when Lyra saw Bon Bon and Carrot trying to fit, the genius mind of the mint green unicorn realized the huge potential of a payback.

So she slowly snuck closer to Bon Bon, taking away most of the private space from the earth pony.

But Bon Bon couldn’t suspect anything. She took the sudden invasion as a mark of intimacy. And she even returned a soft cuddle to the unicorn.

Lyra felt almost bad for doing this to her friend that had no idea about what was going to happen and had even thought Lyra was just trying to apologize or something like that.

Almost.

She slowly got even closer to Bon Bon, took a bit longer step and let her rump hit Bon Bon’s.

In the narrow path this meant that either one of them would fall to the small nature-made ditch that was going by the path.

And as Lyra had been prepared to the sudden bump, she had already taken the best position to prevent herself from falling.

So it was Bon Bon who fell.

The ditch was not deep. Lyra had made sure that Bon Bon would not get hurt. It was also dry, so she wouldn’t get wet either.

But she hadn’t noticed one thing. There was a single tree on the other side of the ditch. But it couldn’t harm Bon Bon. All the branches were on the backside of the tree, creating strange curves in the air.

But even though nothing could have hurt Bon Bon, she screamed from the top of her lungs.

----»«----

Bon Bon fell to the ditch. She had not been waiting for this, so the landing was a bit rough.

But Lyra had always been a prankster, and Bon Bon couldn’t stay mad at her. You just couldn’t say no to those eyes.

On the other side of the ditch was a tree. It would be a perfect spot to hit in order to stop the fall.

And that’s just where she hit. But just as she hit the tree, a sharp spike of pure coldness hit through her back, causing her to scream.

As she screamed, Lyra got suddenly all serious and jumped down to save her marefriend.

“Bon? What’s wrong?” Lyra asked while dragging Bon Bon up from the ditch.

“The tree… So cold… Back is freezing…”

It didn’t seem good. But Lyra knew the secret recipe that would heal everything in seconds.

She slowly lowered herself down and got closer to Bon Bon.

She took a good hold of her marefriend and embraced her in a warming hug.

And when she finally pulled off, Bon Bon was all calmed down.

“Thanks,” Bon Bon said, giving Lyra a thankful look.

“No problem, Bon. You are my marefriend after all. And at least I didn’t have to use any of the wilder ways in front of all this audience.”

The last sentence managed to form up a cute little blush on the muzzle of Bon Bon.

“Girls…”

Both Lyra and Bon Bon turned to face Carrot Top.

“Don’t look back.”

It didn’t take a genius to know what was going on. Lyra tilted her head towards Carrot Top that was about thirty feet ahead. Bon Bon immediately took the hint and began slowly moving towards Carrot.

After a few seconds Lyra did the same.

“You run. I’ll come after you,” said Carrot Top. Lyra was just about to complain, but when she saw the gazes of the two others she just accepted the plan.

“On my three.”

“One…”

“Two…”

Before Carrot could say three, the creature swung one of its black tentacles to the ground just inches away from her face.

“RUN!” she shouted and the other two began running down the path.

Carrot had no idea what she was doing. She knew she should be running by now. But she just couldn’t. She was frozen still while the thing appeared in front of her.

It was emitting coldness that dug its way deep into the flesh and bones of the poor mare. She felt incredible amounts of pain and heavenly amounts of pleasure at the same time.

But that feeling was not for long. As soon as the thick tentacle of the slender thing penetrated her chest tearing through her flesh, the pain took over.

Carrot Top thought that she had died. But no. The tentacle was keeping her alive, supporting her suffering wreck of a body without a working heart. The feeling would have been fascinating if the pain wouldn’t have been so overwhelming.

Carrot Top was beginning to hope for a fast death and an end to the suffering. But the death would have been too fast if it would just have finished her like that.

This thing was a professional. It had all the time in the world to make its victim’s last minutes were filled with suffer.

And when the fun was almost over, it began slowly moving towards the ditch.

It took some time, but soon Carrot Top noticed that the thing had stopped and was standing in front of a tall tree.

With a quick swing of a tentacle, the thing anchored itself into the middle part of the tree and swung itself up.

Just above the tentacle was a sharp branch waiting for her.

The thing slowly inserted Carrot Top over the branch, trying to find the perfect point to penetrate.

Carrot Top gathered all of her remaining powers and managed to form up a small whisper:

“Don’t. You. Bucking. Dare.”

The creature removed its tentacle from her chest, wrapped it around her waist, swung her back in a swift motion and slammed her chest right to the branch.

Yet the death still took its time. And the only thing Carrot Top could do was to squirm, trying to do as much damage inside her as possible. It was the only way out.

And when the moment finally came, the thing stared at the earth pony that just had sacrificed herself in order to save two friends for a few seconds before vanishing.

----»«----

“Is it safe now?” asked the bush.

“I have no idea.” answered the other one.

“What should we do?”

“I’ll go check.”

“No, Lyra…”

But it was too late. The mint-green unicorn had already hopped out of the temporary hiding-place.

“Hey! There is nothing here. Just trees and stuff.”

“Are you sure?” asked the other bush that obviously held Bon Bon inside.

“I’m completely sure. And I’m also sure about that your rump is pretty visible from here.”

Bon Bon slowly came out of the bush, a very familiar blush on her muzzle.

“Aww... You’re so cute when you blush,” Lyra said, causing her marefriend to blush even more.

“Maybe we should save the romance for some other time. We’re still in the forest being chased by a thing that just killed two of our friends,” Bon Bon pointed out.

“What do you mean ´killed´? They can still be alive!”

“But it’s not too likely. We have to face the truth Lyra. But first off we should be heading home. The thing could be anywhere.”

“Good point, Bon. Which way?” Lyra asked, causing Bon Bon to get a slightly surprised look on her face.

“YOU are asking ME which way we should go before losing another silly argument?” Bon Bon asked, her expression gaining a little hint of amusement.

“Well, I guess that’s what I did. So, ideas?”

“Well, first off we probably should head towards the light.”

“Oh. Right.”

“So, just follow me and we’ll be out of this place in no time.”

They began walking towards the brighter and brighter part of the long path.

----»«----

After a while of walking a sudden realization hit Lyra.

“Wait. Where’s Rainbow? I didn’t see her back at the narrow part.”

Bon Bon turned to face her, trying to process what the unicorn just had said.

“You’re right! She wasn’t there! But if she wasn’t there, then where is she? Unconscious ponies don’t walk around unnoticed, at least for what I know.”

“Well, it is possible that she woke up and flew away. But that’s not too likely in her condition…” Lyra said, turning towards Bon Bon and hoping the she would say the final part.

“So the most likely case is that the thing took her before it took Carrot,” Bon Bon said, taking the hint and confirming the obvious.

“Well, it’s down to you and me, Bon. But we’re going to make it out! We’re so close to the border,” Lyra said, trying to cheer her marefriend up.

“Yeah… We’ll get out, tell everypony and make that thing pay!”

“It’s a deal then, Bon,” Lyra said, offering a hoof to her marefriend.

They sealed the deal with a quick hoof-bump and kept on walking towards the light.

----»«----

Rainbow was flying. And it felt amazing. Painful, but amazing.

She had woken up when the thing took Carrot. Immediately when she saw it, Lefty had yanked her up from the ground and ordered her hooves to run.

But as she very well knew, running wasn’t fast enough. So she had to do desperate things.

She had forced Righty open. She knew what that could cause, but she had taken the risk, and it had been worth it.

Now she was flying high in the sky, heading towards Ponyville.

But things weren’t as good as they may have seemed like. Righty should be able to make it out of the forest, but at the edge she would have to land. And landing would make her vulnerable again.

But she would cross that bridge when she had to. Now she just let the chilly morning air flow through her mane, causing it to get all unruly, just the way she liked it.

And for a brief moment she actually felt safe.

----»«----

The wings of a Pegasus are extremely useful, yet very fragile. A simple stretch done wrong can break bones and ground the Pegasus for weeks.

The worst thing you can do to an injured wing is trying to force it to do things. This has a very high chance of making the current injury much worse.

This fact is the reason why you can’t get to the Wonderbolts by just being fast.

Every single one of the Wonderbolts has the perfect control of his or her wings. Whenever the wings are told to move, they move in perfect synchronization.

Achieving such control is a process that takes years. But it’s necessary. Moving your wing to the wrong direction in full speed can simply tear it off from your body, no matter how small the move is.

This is why the fastest Pegasus in the whole Equestria is still waiting for her invitation.

----»«----

“It’s an Alien invader. I bet my next patch of taffy to that.”

“Oh no way Bon, you’re nowhere near right. It’s a mutated human. I bet the income of my next gig to that.”

“But if it’s a human, then it’s an Alien invader too!”

“Nope, it’s just an Alien. It has no plans of invading Equestria.”

“How do you know?”

“Humans aren’t like that. They are friendly and kind creatures who always want to help. They always ´Love and tolerate´ every living thing.”

“Lyra, that’s juts outright weird. And it’s false, too. You saw what that thing did. It has no plans of ´Loving and tolerating´ us.”

“Well, that’s just because it’s not a regular human. It’s a mutated one. Its brains are totally different from the ones that regular humans have.”

“Ugh, I give up. It’s no use to even try to argue with you.”

“Does that mean I win?”

“I guess…”

“Aww yeah! Sweet, sweet victory, spiced up with a fresh batch of taffy. Life’s good for Lyra!”

“Mind keeping it down dear? The thing is still in the forest you know...”

“And so are we. We should be out of here already. Do you know where we are, Bon?”

“I never knew where we were. I was just following the light.”

“And did it get us any closer to home?”

“I guess it didn’t…”

“So, I guess I’m taking the lead, then. First off we’ll turn back. Remember that one place where the paths crossed and I told you to turn but you didn’t?”

“Yeah…”

“We’re going there. It should lead us home.”

“Lead the way then,” Bon Bon ended the long conversation, causing Lyra to turn around immediately.

But as soon as she turned, she saw it. The thing was watching them form a safe distance, blocking the path back.

“Bon? Do you see that?” Lyra asked, pointing her hoof towards the thing.

Bon Bon quickly came over, focusing her gaze to the spot Lyra was pointing at.

She saw it too. Staring at them with a blank expression, eagerly waiting for the moment when it would finally get to make them suffer.

And all of a sudden the thing vanished.

“Where did it go?” Lyra asked, turning to face Bon Bon.

“I don’t know. Maybe it fled?”

“That’s not very likely. We should run and fa…”

Lyra couldn’t finish the sentence before a thick black tentacle made its way through her chest, splattering blood all over Bon Bon.

Lyra screamed in pain and Bon Bon screamed in terror.

Suddenly the thing started moving towards edge of the forest, leaving Bon Bon all alone.

‘One at a time…’ Bon Bon thought. But she would break that rule. She couldn’t live without Lyra.

So she charged. The thing had turned its back to her. A huge mistake by an elite predator.

But Bon Bon forgot about the tentacles. Just when she was about to jump to the back of the thing, one of the tentacles rocketed towards her, crushing all the hope in a blink of an eye.

But this time the kill was different. The tentacle came out clumsily and hit Bon Bon in the forehead making its way into her skull, destroying everything inside and killing her instantly.

The kill was too fast. And you could see it from the behavior of the thing. It seemed almost like it was frustrated, swiping random trees with its tentacles, causing them to fall.

But the other kill would be a perfectly slow and painful one.

But when the thing swung the tentacle that was holding the victim in front of its head, it would have been shocked if it would have had feelings extending past frustration and satisfaction.

The victim was gone. The thing quickly turned back, just to see that it had smashed the victim into a huge branch while it had been releasing some pressure.

And the sight was not pretty. The branch had been too big. So big that it couldn’t even make its way through the victim cleanly.

And now the poor little pony was lying on the ground in two parts, getting the dark grass soaked in bright red blood.

The victim had not been ready for death. The blood was still red and fresh. That made the death even faster and less painful.

The thing just vanished, leaving a huge mess of blood, flesh and organs behind itself.

Even the best of predators have bad days.

----»«----

Righty stopped. All of a sudden. No warnings were given.

This caused Rainbow to fall. But luckily for her, she had been prepared for this, so the fall wasn’t more than ten feet.

The landing was the best she could do with only one working wing.

The forest was behind her. She had made it out, but the thing was there too, looking at her, trying to get her to give up.

But Rainbow would never give up. It was up to her to go tell the Princesses about what had happened. It was the least she could do for her friends.

So all of a sudden she just began running.

Ponyville was not far away. If she could avoid the thing for five more minutes, she would be safe.

But five minutes is a huge amount of time. Anything can happen.

Rainbow swiftly dodged a tentacle that wisped past her head, causing it to hit a tree that was to the left of her.

The tree came down with a loud crack, falling right between her and the thing, landing directly on the tentacle.

But the tentacle just cut through the tree easily, crushing the hope of a few seconds lead for Rainbow.

They were approaching the bridge. After the bridge, the town would officially begin.

But the thing wouldn’t allow its victim get away. It silently vanished behind Rainbow and appeared in front of her, blocking her way.

But Rainbow was sick of this. The thing was just playing its little game with her.

Rainbow had nothing to lose. Her friends were dead. Her wing could be permanently injured. She had lost Pinkie. She had lost everything.

So she charged, knowing that it was no use against this foe.

And the thing bought it. It let her come, tentacles slowly moving behind its back.

When Rainbow was only a few feet away, one of the tentacles was shot towards her.

Just as planned.

When the tentacle rocketed forward, Rainbow quickly unfurled both of her wings and took off. It would have been less painful to just let the tentacle kill her, but she wouldn’t let her friends down.

This managed to confuse the thing just enough for her to get enough altitude. It couldn’t reach her.

Rainbow dashed towards Ponyville, a slight hint of satisfaction on her face. She had fooled the best of predators.

But when she heard a loud snap come from Righty, the look faded off and got replaced by pure fear.

Lefty had been working all day. So it couldn’t hold her weight. She was falling almost free, the solid ground closing up dangerously fast.

The hit was hard. Rainbow could hear bones breaking inside her.

With her remaining powers she lifted her head up from the ground and tried to see if there was anyone nearby. But the only two things she could see were the thing that was watching her from a distance and one of her ribs poking out of her side in a sickly angle.

Rainbow fainted from the pain and the fear, leaving her on a silver plate in front of the unavoidable.

----»«----

“I found the pulse!”

“You did? Quick, get her over here! She still needs some help with breathing.”

“Hook her up.”

“But we can’t! We need permissions and…”

“Just hook her up!”

“Uh, yes ma’am.”

“It’s getting stable. She’s coming back!”

“She won’t wake up in good two hours.”

“What do you mean? She should be waking up as soon as the heartbeat gets stable.”

“She won’t. We’ll give her anesthetic.”

“What!? Why?”

“Look at her side.”

“Oh… Oh dear…”

“Quickly. We can fix that if we’re fast enough.”

“Okay. Anesthetic is on in three… two… one…”

Everything went back to darkness again.

----»«----

Rainbow opened her eyes.

Big mistake. The light saw its chance and struck immediately.

She quickly closed her eyes, but it was already too late.

It took a good few minutes for her to get the pain off, and only then she was able to open her eyes safely.

The room she was in seemed pretty familiar. The green curtains, the adjustable bed and the night-stand on the side of the bed.

She was in the hospital. That meant she was alive.

She would have jumped up from the bed and ran all the way to Canterlot to inform the princesses if the pain on her side wouldn't have stopped her.

But it wasn’t coming from her body. It was Righty.

She could actually feel Righty and its pain. Whatever the doctors had done to her, it had been a success.

And if Righty was a small miracle, then her side was a huge miracle.

It was all patched up, no signs of the rib that had been poking out. It was sensitive, but it didn’t hurt if she wouldn’t touch it.

Her little investigation got cut off when the door opened and a familiar nurse walked in.

“Oh, you’re awake! Let me just quickly get the surgery team and we can discuss about what happened.”

Rainbow tried to protest, but it was too late. The nurse had already dashed out of the door.

And soon enough the room was filled with ponies. Rainbow recognized Nurse Redheart and a certain doctor whose name she just couldn’t remember.

It was Nurse Redheart who spoke first.

“Okay, so, you’re here because you were found lying in the grass just outside of the town. You were badly wounded and you right wing seemed to be badly broken.”

Rainbow nodded as it was the best she could do. She hadn’t drunk anything in the last two days.

“So, would you mind telling us what happened?” asked another nurse.

Rainbow was looking at her with a blank expression. She had just woken up all dry mouthed and now they expected her to speak?

Rainbow made a silly-looking series of hoof-waving and emotions to hint the nurse about the thirst.

After a good few minutes of guessing games the nurse finally got it, with help of that certain doctor. Soon enough Rainbow was pouring cold and refreshing water down her throat, relieving her pain and finally making her able to speak.

And so she told them everything. About the rescue-trip, the thing, the loss of her best friends and the escape.

No matter how confused the audience looked, they believed it. Princess Luna had apparently sent the whole town a message about something that was lurking in the woods.

In the return of her story, the doctors and nurses told her about what they had done in the surgery. All kinds of scientific and medical stuff that made no sense to her. She also got to know that she had been in coma for about two weeks.

Soon after that she was sent home. The side had healed perfectly and Righty wasn’t in so bad condition. Plus she eagerly wanted to get out of the small room.

The final glare around the room and out of the window revealed that she was still not alone.

And she would never be.

----»«----

Days, weeks, months and years passed by. But the pain wouldn't.

Celestia was soon replaced by Luna. She had some trouble doing the job of two but managed to get used to it, with the help of Princess Cadance.

Rainbow’s wing had healed almost perfectly. She could fly, but she couldn’t get to the Wonderbolts. But that didn’t matter anymore. She had survived and was able to do the only thing in the world that still was giving her some pleasure, some hope.

Groups were sent to the forest, trying to find and destroy the thing. But it was no use. The groups found nothing. It was like it had vanished.

There had been a memorial for the lost ones. Total of fourteen ponies died in the hands of that thing.

Rainbow had spoken in the memorial. It had been a horrible experience. The coffins representing her friends had been lowered to the graves in front of the eyes of a huge audience. Some paparazzi had even taken pictures.

Ponyville soon recovered from the events of those horrible days. The town was just as lively as it had been, almost completely unaware of the silent killer that was lurking nearby.

But Rainbow couldn’t get over it. The symbol was still haunting her. The creature had chosen her.

It was watching her non-stop from the edge of the forest, just prolonging her suffer.

Every single day when she visited the memorial statue or the graves of her friends, the thing was there with her. Looking at her from the distance, honoring the fallen with its presence.

Every night when she would finally fall asleep, it would appear next to her bed and just look at her until she woke up. Then it just disappeared, as of it was paying some respect to the brave little mare that had beaten it on the bridge.

But whatever it was doing, it sure wasn’t going to kill her. Whether if it was just prolonging her suffer or respecting a worthy enemy that managed to escape, it just observed her.

Rainbow even returned some of this respect. This creature was a hunter, and it was the best hunter there was in the whole world.

And when the time finally would come, she would be honored to be taken by this intelligent yet so emotionless creature.

Rainbow slowly walked over to the window, just to see a familiar shape in the field, looking at the small house the brave little Pegasus lived in.

Someday it would come and take her, relieving the horrible pain. The death would be fast and painless. Rainbow knew it. If it really was giving her some respect, the thing would make her death fast and painless to honor the only worthy enemy it had found yet.

So she waited, and so did the slender creature.

Someday she would be free.

Someday she would reunite with her friends.

Someday…

Chapter Two: The Journal

Day 0:

I’ll be writing a journal in order to inform others about the horrifying fate. I’ll write whenever I just possibly can. If you’re reading this, you either have the same problem I had or you’re just curious. If you’re just curious and have no idea about the Slender figure, stop right now and put the book down. You don’t want to share my fate.

If you are unlucky enough to know what I’m talking about, keep on reading and maybe you will find the ramblings of an insane, haunted mare even slightly helpful.

And if I may, I’d ask for a favor. Defeat It. Do it for you, for me, for the fallen. But just do it. The thing must be destroyed before the whole Equestria is gone. That’s all I ask.

I got sent home from the hospital today. It was there. Looking at me from the window of the room, following me while I walked home, observing the small cottage where I live when I got inside. It’s always there. You’re never alone.

The night is going to be scary…

______

Day 3:

It won’t leave me alone. Wherever I go, wherever I am, It’s there. Looking at me and me only, ignoring every other living creature around me.

And every other living creature around me ignores It. They can’t see it. It’s there just for me. I’m starting to think it’s just my mind creating flashbacks of the predator.

But It can’t be. It’s so real. The tentacles move, It stands, disappears, appears and watches, follows me.

And looking at It makes me feel bad. My eyes still hurt. It’s real, not a dream, not my imagination.

It’s real.

It’s real.

Real.

______

Day 4:

I’m suffering from terrible insomnia. Whenever I’m about to fall asleep, I hear It, I feel It, I see It, It feels me, It watches, It’s there.

The sound takes me over. Small, buzzing sound, almost static. Whenever I open my eyes after the sound, I can’t see. My vision is all bucked-up. And just when I get it working, I see It right behind my window. It disappears and I just look.

I must block the windows.

______

Day 7:

I see my friends. Everywhere. Blood.

They come to me. Try to say something. Try to warn me. Try to help me. Try to save me. Try to take me with them to a better place.

And when I’m about to hear, about to grab the familiar hoof, about to go, It comes.

And It takes them.

And I’m all alone again.

______

Day 9:

Blocking the windows doesn’t work. I block them, go to sleep, hear It, feel It, open my eyes, It’s there, the planks have been torn down, slicing marks on them, It looks, I try to avoid the invisible gaze, It disappears, I hear the screams, I can’t sleep.

There is no way to avoid the unavoidable.

______

Day 13:

Thirteen. Thirteen dead. The filly doesn’t count. She’s not there. She wasn’t killed by It. She was killed by something else. Left to die by the predator and something came and killed her. Doesn’t count. Thirteen.

They all came today. All thirteen. Looking at me. Pleading for justice. Demanding It. I must defeat It. Impossible. Can’t be defeated. Tried. Hooves hurt.

They stood there. I tried to convince them. They wouldn’t listen. Then it came. Their faces. The terror could be seen on them.

They’re just as afraid as I am.

______

Day 14:

It’s coming closer. It’s at my door. It’s trying to come in.

______

Day 17:

It’s hiding. I haven’t seen It in the last two days.

Whatever is going on, I must prepare. This may just be quiet before the storm.

I can think clearly again. I’m scrolling through the earlier entries. Some of them are complete nonsense. But I’m not going to fix them. They shall be a reminder about the effects.

So, if you are having some of those effects, it’s after you.

I was actually able to go out. I bought loads of food as I may be forced to hide for quite long times. I didn’t see It anywhere. Maybe It has left me alone.

And the best part, I actually managed to sleep over night. It was a total of six hours. A huge relief.

Things are getting better. The sun shines, the birds sing and I can finally relax and try to forget.

______

Day 18:

Quiet before the storm.

I woke up in the middle of the night.

I opened my eyes and there It was. It was in my house.

As soon as I saw It, It disappeared.

Now I can’t sleep.

______

Day 20:

Twenty days. Twenty.

I have survived twenty days longer than my friends.

It feels like an eternity.

But It doesn’t respect that. It watches. It doesn’t care.

I’ve lost everything and everyone, yet I’m never alone.

______

Day 25:

Days grow longer. The time between entries gets longer, too.

Not much has happened. Typical watching and occasional noises and contacts.

I’m actually able to write a lot better than before.

Is It losing Its grip or am I just going crazy?

______

Day 26:

I’m going crazy.

______

Day 28:

I can hear It. It’s coming.

I’m going to hide.

______

Day 34:

A long break. I was unable to do anything.

It was everywhere. I just sat on my bed, eyes wide open.

And It was everywhere. Behind my window, at my door, next to my bed, beyond the borders of reality with my friends.

And now It’s gone yet again. There must be a pattern.

I have the key, yet the lock is still missing.

______

Day 36:

I found the lock.

I woke up in the middle of the night yet again. But instead of It, I saw a book.

It was lying on the floor. I picked it up.

The cover had the Symbol.

I opened it.

There were notes. Some including pleas of help, some including great advice. I’m going to list them.

Always watches. No eyes.

Don’t look or it takes you.

Can’t run.

Follows.

Help me.

Leave me alone.

No no no no no no no no no.

And then there’s a picture of It.

I’m not alone with this fate.

______

Day 39:

I can’t stop looking at the Symbol. It’s taking my mind over.

The picture haunts my vision. It merges with the Symbol.

I’m scared.

______

Day 42:

It’s even more aggressive. It awaits me when I come home. It watches me as I sleep.

The book caused this.

______

Day 44:

The effects are fading.

I can think.

Maybe I’ll make it through this. Maybe there’s a small beam of light at the end of the deep dark tunnel.

______

Day 47:

The lights are out.

I’m not sure how long I can take this.

______

Day 50:

Fifty. Half-a-hundred.

A long time.

And I have survived.

I decided to pay a visit at the grave in order to honor the fallen.

When I got there, It was standing next to the memorial statue.

But I didn’t turn. I didn’t feel fear. I just walked towards the statue.

And It let me pass.

It disappeared and I could hear it appearing behind me.

I walked over to the statue.

The memorial text was beautiful.

Here lay the fourteen heroes who died on a mission of rescuing a lost filly.

Even the greatest fall someday. You just happened to pass by a bit earlier than us others.

Your deaths weren’t pointless. The Thing is gone. Your sacrifice shall always be remembered.

Twilight Sparkle

Applejack

Fluttershy

Rarity

Pinkie Pie

Rainbow Dash

Princess Celestia

Bon Bon

Lyra Heartstrings

Carrot Top

Derpy Hooves

Scootaloo

Apple Bloom

Sweetie Belle

My name was on the list because I had been there. I had demanded that they wouldn’t put me on that list. I wasn’t worth it. I was alive while all of my friends were dead.

But it was there. I was immortalized as one of the now fourteen heroes.

I looked at my side, and It was there. It was respecting the fallen with Its presence.

We just stood there, all silent and let the chilling afternoon breeze blow through us.

It may have been seconds. It may have been minutes. It may have been hours. But eventually I spoke up.

“Why?”

It turned Its head towards me.

“They had done nothing. And still you just killed them. Why?”

It didn’t do anything. It just stood there, facing towards me. Even the tentacles were frozen still.

I understood the fact that It was a predator. It was designed to kill.

“I just… Why didn’t you take me? I was lying on the ground, completely defenseless. And you just left me there. Why?”

It slowly moved one of Its tentacles towards me. I didn’t even think of dodging it.

It carefully placed it on my back. But the coldness didn’t come. It was warm.

I looked at It. And if It would have had a mouth, it would have been smiling a respecting smile.

And that’s when I got it.

I had beaten it. I had won it at the bridge. I had surprised the all-seeing predator Itself.

And for that, it was showing me Its respect.

“You… You think I’m a worthy enemy?”

I could feel the tentacle in my back twitch.

“Well, you are just as worthy.”

It looked directly at my face. But it didn’t feel bad. I felt completely normal.

And we just stood there.

And I knew that things would go to a better direction.

______

Day 62:

Nothing too interesting has happened.

It still watches. But it doesn’t watch me, It watches over me.

Either It’s making sure that It will be the one to take me, or It’s making sure that I won’t die too early. And either way, I couldn’t be happier.

Today is a special day. The day of relief.

I’m going to do it. I’m going to ask for a relief.

And I’m sure It will relieve my pain.

I’m going to leave now. This entry will probably be the last proof of my existence. If you really read all of my insane ramblings, thank you. I hope I managed to do at least something good during my short life.

And if I may, I’d like to ask for a one last favor:

Do not kill It.

I owe It so much. Even though It killed all my friends, took everything from me and almost drove me insane. But It still taught me some important things about life.

What are these things? You’ll have to find out by yourself.

And a one last advice:

Don’t be afraid.

Rainbow Dash, one of the fourteen.