Go to Sleep: A Halloween Story

Canterlot City, 1892

Stygian was having a wonderful night with his daughter. The small girl of nine years was playing outside in the woods for nearly half the day and had to return home before the sun went down. The autumn nights were bitingly cold and the leaves sang as the wind caressed them. It was time for the girl to go to bed as soon as she ate supper with her parents.

As soon as the girl settled into bed, she looked around the room in fear.

"Father, is the Sleeper going to get me?" the small girl asked worriedly.

"No, no. sweet one. The Sleeper is nothing but a make-believe story," Stygian said.

"But what about my friend Sophia? I heard she was found dead in her bed one morning," the girl retorted. "The other kids say it's the Sleeper that got her!"

"I'm sure that whatever happened to your friend wasn't the work of a monster," Stygian said. "Besides, if anyone tries to harm you, you know me and your mother will be here to protect you."

"You promise? You won't let the Sleeper eat me?" the girl asked.

"Of course we won't. You'll be safe as long as we're here," Stygian said.

Stygian walked over to the window and pulled back the curtains. A bright waxing crescent moon waiting to fatten up beamed down its soothing light through the glass. Stygian walked over and blew out the candles lighting the room.

"Don't worry, dear. The moon is smiling down at you and will help watch over you as you sleep," Stygian said. "Goodnight, darling."

"Goodnight, father," the girl said.

Stygian closed the door and walked downstairs to head to bed with his wife Meadowbrook. As they settled into bed, Meadowbrook looked to her husband.

"Honey, are you sure we shouldn't have let her sleep in our room if only just for tonight?" the woman asked.

"Dear, I promise that our little angel will be fine," Stygian replied.

"Are you sure? What about those child killings?" Meadowbrook asked. "A child was killed not too far from where we live."

"I'm a light sleeper, remember? Besides, if I hear anything out of the ordinary, I have my rifle."

Stygian then pointed to the wall to refer to a long rifle hung up on hooks on the wall. If he had to, he wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone who would harm his family. Besides, he wasn't afraid of a legend. Meadowbrook still looked worried.

"Look, if you're that worried, how about this? We let her sleep in her own room tonight, and when we wake up and she's still there, we'll let her sleep in our room tomorrow night?" Stygian suggested.

"Okay, honey. Besides, she's probably asleep by now," Meadowbrook said. "Goodnight, dear."

"Goodnight, love," Stygian said.

As Stygian lay there waiting for sleep to claim him, he somewhat noticed a slightly sweet smell in the air. It was subtle, but it was most certainly there. Stygian didn't think much of it. He thought it was one of his wife's fancy perfumes she got from the city's shopping district. Either way, the sweet smell was making him even more sleepy. He fell into the realm of dreams in a matter of seconds.

*****

The Next Day

Stygian woke up pretty early in the morning to the day being greatly overcast and a large gathering of ravens perched in the trees outside the house. Curiously, they were all looking directly at the house. Having that many ravens looking into the house was somewhat unnerving. Still, he had to focus on other things, like getting his daughter ready for school.

He walked up the stairs to his daughter's room and knocked on the closed door. "Darling! You've got to get ready for school!"

No reply. There was no reply to come from the bedroom at all. Strange, she was usually up and about by now. Even stranger, Stygian began to smell a strangely sweet smell emanating from the room. There was another smell mixed in with the sweet smell, only this one metallic and bitter. Growing worried, Stygian opened the door to his daughter's room, only to stare in shock at what he saw.

The sight before him was a slaughter. Blood stained the floor and walls of the room and the window was smashed open, with glass shards laying on the floor inside the room. However, the worst thing he saw was lying on the bed.

His daughter lay on the bed as a bloodied corpse. Her nightgown was ripped off and her abdomen was ripped open, revealing an empty body cavity. It seemed that whatever did this to her devoured her organs and other bits of soft tissue, with her legs missing entirely. The girl's face was a sickening mask of peace, as if she was killed in her sleep. As Stygian drew closer in shock, he could see something sticking out of the girl's barely-open mouth. Stygian slowly reached out with a shaking hand and pulled out... a wrapped piece of candy. Indeed, the girl's mouth was stuffed full of candy.

It was with this discovery that Stygian finally let out a scream of despair at seeing his daughter dead. He slumped to the ground and continued to scream. He didn't even notice Meadowbrook entering the room and begin to scream herself. As the now-childless couple sat there despairing over their dead daughter, Stygian could here the ravens outside beginning to caw in a way that sound almost exactly like mocking laughter.

*****

Stories like this have been reported throughout the city's history dating all the way back to the city's founding. It all started with people going to sleep like normal, only to wake up and discover that one of their family members have been ripped apart and eaten in their sleep. The "Sleeper" is an enigma of a folkloric creature that has been the subject of much scrutiny over the over 300 years since the first reported sighting of the Sleeper.

Those who claim to have seen the monster all reported seeing a tall figure wearing a black cloak with a hood and large red glowing eyes underneath its hood.

What it is or where it came from has been greatly disputed. Some think it's a demon that came up from hell to punish naughty children. Others think it's some undiscovered species of predatory animal. Others think it's the work of a brutal serial killer. As time went on, and both incidents and sightings have dropped to nearly zero, belief in the Sleeper diminished to being only a scary town legend.

Nowadays, the Sleeper is only the subject of scary bedtime stories or tales to tell around the campfire. But this begs the question: what was responsible for the legend to begin with?