The Eight Pages of Slendermane

Chapters

An Ancient Evil Awakens
Somepony's Watching Me
In the Dark of Nightmare Night
DON'T BLINK!
Can You Hear The Drums?
Giggle at the Ghosties…..Doesn’t Work

An Ancient Evil Awakens

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear.” - H.P. Lovecraft

Chapter 1: An Ancient Evil Awakens

“Explain to me again why were doing this,” said Apple Bloom as she and the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders were walking along the winding path through the thick Everfree Forest, the setting sun peeking through the leaves and casting red-orange shadows of the three timid travelers"?

Scootaloo replied, “Because if we camp in the Everfree Forest we might get our cutie marks in camping.”

“But why couldn’t we camp somewhere else?”

“If we camp in here than that means we can camp anywhere which will makes us master campers.”

“But what if we run into something dangerous like last time?”

“If we see something will just hightail it out of here and try again another time.”

“I still think this is a bad idea,” said Apple Bloom still not convinced in Scootaloo’s idea.

“Ah what’s the matter? Chicken?” said Scootaloo taunting Apple Bloom.

“Ah’m not a chicken, you’re the chicken.”

Nopony calls me chicken,” Scootaloo said as she was getting angry.

They both kept on arguing until Sweetie Belle said, “Enough, for the last time our special talent is not arguing.”

“Well, it was worth a shot,” said Scootaloo as she was checking her flank only to see it blank.”

They eventually found a good place to set up camp by the time the sun had set, and soon were roasting marshmallows on an open fire.

“How much longer is it gonna take before our cutie marks show up,” Apple Bloom was constantly checking her flank for her cutie mark to appear and was getting impatient.

Scootaloo replied, “I think we have to camp through the rest of the night.”

“But ah want it now,” she said sitting there feeling sad. After sometime watching the fire she said, “What do we do now?”

Sweetie Bell said, “I know, why don’t we tell some scary stories to pass the time.”

“That’s a great idea Sweetie Belle,” said Scootaloo as she was enjoying her roasted marshmallow. “Why don’t you go first?”

Sweetie Belle opened her backpack and pulled out a book. “I asked Twilight if she had any books on scary stories and she gave me this one.”

Sweetie Belle opened the book and started going through the pages, looking for a good story to tell. After skimming through some pages, she found a story that seemed interesting. “I found one.”

“Is it a real scary one? What’s it called?” Scootaloo asked.

“It’s called The Slendermane.”

“Ah’ve never heard of that, what’s it about?” said Apple Bloom.

“It’s about a creature, that kidnaps little filly’s and colts. He is described as a very tall white stallion that he might even be taller than Princess Celestia. He wears a black suit and a red tie. He has no mane or tail and his cutie mark is a circle with an X right through it.”

“Wow a bald guy that’s dressed up in a real nice suit, that’s real scary,” Scootaloo said sarcastically. “Maybe we can set him up with Rarity.”

“How about this for scary,” said Sweetie Belle. “He has no eyes or mouth. Even though he is described as an earth pony, he has powers. He can teleport, he can create tentacles that come out from his shoulders and back. It’s said that he can also create fire and manipulate it. He can also be invisible to ponies except for his prey. One of his main powers is getting inside ponies heads and makes them see things, if you stare at his face it will make you go insane and he can even use mind control. Even though he has no mouth, he can also disguise himself and manipulate his voice to lure unsuspecting little ponies to their doom.”

“That is scary,” Apple Bloom said as she was starting to shake.

“Yeah I got to admit that is a bit scary,” Scootaloo said trying to act brave. “What else does it say?” she asked.

“Let’s see,” she said as she was getting nervous and wanted to stop. “He lives in forests and uses the trees to hide and stalk his prey. His prey can be ponies of all ages and types, but his favorites are fillies and colts. He can sometimes stalk his prey for years to torture them, makes them paranoid and waits until they’ve gone insane before he takes them. It is unknown what he does to his prey since their never seen again. It is also unknown what his weaknesses are or if he has any. So once he picks his prey they’re marked for life and nothing can save them. They’re doomed to live out their lives in fear until the day he takes them away.”

By the time Sweetie Belle finished the story all three of them sat there in silence and were shaking uncontrollably. They continued sitting in silence until Apple Bloom noticed that the camp fire was dying out. “The fire is going out, we need to get more.”

“Who’s going to get the fire wood?” Scootaloo asked.

“Ah’m not going,” said Apple Bloom. “How bout you Sweetie Belle?”

“I’m not going out there alone.” she said.

“Fine then, how about we all go together?” Scootaloo said.

“That’s a great idea,” said Sweetie Belle as she put the book in her backpack and put it on. “Don’t you think so Apple Bloom?”

“I don’t know, I feel like we should just go home and try something else to get out cutie marks.”

“Chicken,” said Scootaloo once again taunting Apple Bloom.

Apple Blooms fear went away from Scootaloo’s comment “Ah am not afraid, let’s go.”

After some time of walking gathering fire wood, the Cutie Mark Crusaders came across a clearing in the forest where they saw a big tree with a lot of broken branches all around it.

“This is perfect, this should be enough branches to keep the fire going for the rest of the night,” Sweetie Belle said as they started collecting branches.

Scootaloo was staring at the tree and noticed something and said, “Hey guys is it me or is there something off about this tree?”

The others looked at the tree for the first time. It was a big tall tree with very long branches and had no leaves. The branches were twisted in ways that normal trees weren’t.

Apple Bloom walked around the tree and said, “Uh girls, can ya come over here and take a look at this?”

The girls walked to where Apple Bloom was standing and saw her pointing to something on the tree. The thing that she was pointing was an old piece of paper pinned to the tree.

All three of them looked at the picture with a sense of fear. Scootaloo wanted to get a good look at the picture and took it down. “What does it mean?” she asked.

Scootaloo passed the note to Sweetie Belle so she could examine it. “I don’t know. It looks like a pony.” She then passed the note to Apple Bloom.

“It can’t be, this pony is as tall as that tree,” she said.

The three of them continued looking at the picture until a big gush of wind appeared out of nowhere and as quickly as it came it stopped. Then came the sound of drums.

Deep in the darkest part of the Everfree Forest, a being is resting. It has been in a deep slumber for hundreds of years. It was sleeping peacefully until it was awakened by the sound of paper flapping in the wind. The being knew what that means. Something has touched one of the pages. He started rising as he began to sense the location of his prey. Once he had found the location of the disturbed page, he started moving towards his prey. As he was getting closer he could hear their voices.

“Do you guys hear that?” said Sweetie Belle as she heard the drums.

boom…….boom

“I hear it, it sounds like drums,” said Scootaloo looking around for the source of the drums.

boom….boom

“Ah don’t know, its sounds more like footsteps,” said Apple Bloom as the sounds was going faster and louder.

Boom…Boom

“It sounds like that to me too,” said Sweetie Belle as the sound kept getting faster and louder

BOOM.BOOM

“Now it’s starting to sound like a heartbeat” Scootaloo said. The sound was starting to scare her. “Maybe we should get back to camp.”

BOOM BOOM

“Yeah let’s get out of here,” said Sweetie Belle as she started walking the direction towards camp.

BOOM BOOM

“Ah’m wit you,” said Apple Bloom. She dropped the page as she started walking at a quicker pace towards camp.

They kept walking hoping that the sound would go away, but to their misfortune, the drums didn’t go away; if anything they were getting louder.

They were halfway towards camp when a new noise joined the drums. It was the sound of static.

Sweetie Bell said, “What’s going on.” Her voice showed that she was scared.

“Let’s pick up the pace,” said Scootaloo as she started going at a faster pace.

Soon all three of them were running towards camp. The drums and static were still in their ears.

As soon as they arrived at their camping spot their vision started getting blurry.

“Our eyes, what’s happening to our eyes?” said Apple Bloom as she started panicking.

“What do we do? What do we do?” said Scootaloo.

“I don’t know, I just don’t know,” replied Sweetie Belle.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders were now in full panic mode. The combine sounds of the drums and static with their blurry vision were causing them great fear. They were running around in a panic until the sound of a twig snapped causing them to all turned to the source of the sound and saw a being that caused them all to scream.

They saw a pony that was as tall as Princess Celestia, his coat was white and he had no mane or tail. He wore a black suit and a red tie, his cutie mark was a circle with a X right through it. What really scared the girls was the fact that he had no eyes or mouth.

Their fear kept them frozen until Sweetie Belle yelled, “IT’S SLENDERMANE, RUN!”

They all screamed as they were running away hoping that Slendermane wouldn’t follow. They kept running until they stopped when they saw that Slendermane appeared right in front of them with his tentacles coming right at them. They screamed and started running towards a different direction, but no matter where they ran Slendermane always appeared in front of them.

As they ran Scootaloo said, “Look it’s the entrance to the forest. Hurry up!” they kept going as fast as their little legs could.

“I’m trying,” said Sweet Belle as she was trying to go faster.

Apple Bloom didn’t say anything due to that she was having difficulty breathing.

Soon they were out of the forest, but they didn’t stop. They kept on running, neither of them turned to see if Slendermane was still following.

They didn’t know that he stopped chasing them at the entrance and stood there watching the three fillies run away screaming until they were out of sight and sound. Slendermane let them get away, knowing that it won’t do them any good. Once they’ve been marked, there is nowhere they can run or hide. He will stalk them until their minds are broken.

It would only be a matter of time before they're all MINE!

Somepony's Watching Me

“There are two kinds of fears: rational and irrational- or in simpler terms, fears that make sense and fears that don't.”- Lemony Snicket

Chapter 2: Somepony’s Watching Me

For Twilight Sparkle it was a beautiful night in the library for a slumber party. All her friends were there engaged in conversations, while Spike was busy in the kitchen making snacks for everypony. Nightmare Night was only a couple of weeks away and they were all talking about what they were going to be this year.

Pinkie Pie said, I’m going to be an anteater. That way I can use my tongue to grab candy.

Rarity wearing a mud mask said, “Pinkie, that is absolutely disgusting and not very lady like. As for me I’m going to be a beautiful princess. What about you Rainbow Dash?”

“Well since I can’t go around pranking everypony like last year, I’m going as Daring Do. How about you A.J.?”

“Ah shucks, I don’t need a new costume. I’m perfectly fine with the one I wore last year. And you Fluttershy, what are ya gonna be?

Fluttershy responded, Oh… I’m not going to be as anything. I’m afraid of Nightmare Night. Trying to steer the conversation away from her she asked Twilight, “So Twilight… what are you going to be this year?”

“Well since nopony got my costume last year, I decided to go as something simple. I’m going as a book.”

Rainbow Dash started laughing, “You’re more of a bookworm than a book.”

“Why Rainbow Dash that sounds like a wonderful idea,” said Pinkie Pie. “We get Twilight to wear a green mask over her head and some really big glasses and she’ll look like bookworm eating through a book.”

They all started picturing what Twilight would like and they all started laughing. They kept laughing until the front door slammed open and three fillies ran in screaming.

“Help us,” said Sweetie Belle as she ran up to her sister. “He’s gonna get us.”

Scootaloo ran up to Rainbow Dash and said, “Yeah come on Rainbow Dash, you can take him.

Apple Bloom tried dragging her sister to the front door. “Hurry up, he’s right behind us.”

“Who’s right behind you?” asked Applejack as she walks to the front door and looked outside. “There’s nopony out there,” she then closed the door.

Scootaloo said, “That’s what he wants you to think. Make you feel like he’s gone only to show up right behind you.” She then turned around to see if anyone was behind her. She let out a sigh when she saw that nopony was behind her except Rainbow Dash.

“Who’s he?” Rainbow asked.

“Slendermane.”

“Slenderwho?” said Applejack.

“Slendermane, big sis,” replied Apple Bloom.

Twilight curious that the name sounded familiar asked, “Why does that name sound familiar?”

Sweetie Belle opened her backpack and took out the book that she got from Twilight; she then opened it to the story of Slendermane and handed it to her.

Twilight took a quick look and said, “Sweetie, Slendermane doesn’t exist. He’s just an old pony tale to get little filly’s and colts to behave.

“But we saw him.” Sweetie Belle protested.

“We really did,” said Scootaloo.

“It’s the truth. Honest,” said Apple Bloom.

“All right then, tell us what happened,” Applejack said to her sister and the rest.

Apple Bloom started telling the story, “Well first we were camping in the Everfree Forest.”

“I thought I told you not to camp in the Everfree Forest.” Applejack said disappointed at her sister.

Rarity said to Sweetie Belle. “You should know better than to go the Everfree Forest. I told you many times that it’s dangerous.”

“We know and were very sorry,” she said looking at the ground ashamed that she disobeyed her sister.

Twilight decided to get back on topic and said, “Okay, so what happened next?”

Scootaloo then continued the story where they were sitting by the camp fire roasting marshmallows, then where Sweetie Belle told the story of Slendermane.

Then Sweetie Belle mentioned about after the story the needed to gather firewood and how they came across the clearing with the strange big tree. And where they also found the piece of paper pinned to the tree.

Apple Bloom then finished the story where they heard the drums, causing them to head back towards camp where they encountered Slendermane and how they tried to run away but he was always there. She finished when they were able to get out the Everfree Forest and ran to the library knowing that they would be here.

After they finished Twilight said, “Well it seems I know what happened. You girls were scared of the story that you three began to imagine Slendermane. The forest played tricks on your fears, that’s all there is to it.”

Apple Bloom said, “But we didn’t imagine him, he was real.”

“All right, that’s enough of this imaginary Slenderpony,” said Applejack. Come on Apple Bloom let’s get you home.” They both started leaving.

Rarity said, “I agree, come along Sweetie Belle. It’s way past your bedtime.” They followed Applejack and Apple Bloom out the door.

“Come on Scoots, I’ll walk you home. Not gonna let some boogie pony take away my number one fan,” said Rainbow Dash as she headed towards the door. Scootaloo got excited that Rainbow Dash would be walking her home and quickly walked beside her out the door.

Seeing three of her friends going home Twilight decided to postpone the slumber party for another time. With that Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy went on their way to their homes while Twilight decided to get to bed as this whole fiasco really took a lot out of her. In just a few moments Twilight and Spike were fast asleep in their beds.

Sweetie Belle was having trouble sleeping on account of the events that happened earlier tonight. She was thinking what Twilight said about how it’s was all their imagination and they had nothing to fear. Maybe Twilight was right, it just the forest playing tricks on us. There is no such thing as Slendermane.

With that in mind Sweetie Belle started falling asleep. She was about to close her eyes but something caught her attention, she wasn’t alone. In the far left corner of her room, Slenderman stood there staring at Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle closed her eyes and said to herself, "he isn’t real, he’s just make believe. When I open my eyes he won’t be there."

Sweetie Belle opened her eyes only to see Slendermane was standing at the foot of her bed. She quickly covered her head with her blankets. Some time had passed before she came out of her cover and saw that Slendermane was gone. She started sobbing as she was frightened not knowing what to do. Eventually her sobs stop when she finally fell asleep. She wasn't sleeping peacefully and to make matters worse she could hear the sound of a little filly singing.

Days have passed since the incident in the Everfree Forest and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were still in a state of fear. They had a hard time sleeping at night which caused them to constantly fall asleep during class. During recess when all the little fillies and colts would play, the three crusaders would be sitting together talking about their recent encounters with Slendermane.

“He’s always in my room staring at me while I’m trying to sleep,” said Sweetie Belle constantly watching behind her to see if Slendermane was close by. “Every once in awhile he gets closer to the bed and then he just disappears, only to be standing in the same corner.”

Scootaloo said, “I know what you mean, I see him outside my window, He’s always standing under this street lamp that’s in front of my house. All he does is just stand there not moving. Sometimes when I’m looking at him he turns his head and looks up at me, as soon as he does that I run back to bed and hide under the covers. Isn’t that scary?”

Apple Bloom responded, “That’s nuthin, at night he’s standing right outside my window even though my room is on the second floor. When he’s not outside my window, he’s in the house. I hear the floors creak as he walks around. He then walks up to my room and scratches on the door. Ya think that were safe during the day, but were not.”

I know,” said Sweetie Belle. “Every time we walk home together, he’s always standing around in dark alley ways or under trees or in the bushes. What’s worse is that nopony else see’s him but us.”

“I hear that,” said Scootaloo as she checks the nearest trees and bushes to see if he was, she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw nothing. You think ponies would notice a tall bald white stallion with no face, wearing a black suit and red tie.”

Sweetie Belle said, “That’s because he’s invisible to anypony, unless he chooses to be seen. What’s worse is that we can’t do anything about it. If we tell anypony they’ll think were just imagining things.

The school bell ringed let everpony know that recess is over and it was time to go back to class. All three started the slow walk back when Apple Bloom said, “Face it girls, were doomed. It’s only a matter of time before he decides to end our suffering.”

They kept walking back to class; unbeknownst to them that somepony was watching them the entire time, listening to their conversation.

In the Dark of Nightmare Night

“If you want to control someone, all you have to do is to make them feel afraid.”-Paulo Coelho

Chapter 3: In the Dark of Nightmare Night

It’s been two weeks since the Cutie Mark Crusaders went into the Everfree Forest. Two weeks since their actions caused the awakening of Slendermane. Tonight is Nightmare Night and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were having a great time, without a care in the world.

For the last few days Slendermane hasn’t been seen, at first they thought that he was messing with them trying to lead them into a sense of false security. But after a week without even so much as one sighting, they started believing that maybe he was just a figment of their imagination like Twilight said. The three crusaders felt that the worse was over and they could enjoy life without fear and what better way to enjoy life, by enjoying Nightmare Night. A night where fillies and colts are dressed in costumes, stay up late, and more importantly-

“FREE CANDY IS THE BEST THING IN EQUESTRIA,” yelled Apple Bloom after they hit their first house. Her costume consisted of a black cape with wings and a Jack-O-Lantern on her head.

“Your right about that Apple Bloom,” said Scootaloo. She was wearing a ninja costume.”

“Wouldn’t it be great if every night was Nightmare Night?” asked Sweetie Belle. Her costume was a simple ghost costume with eye holes.

“It sure would be. Let’s go to Rarity’s next,” as Apple Bloom was already walking towards Carousel Boutique.

They all walked up to the door and knocked. A few seconds later the door opened and all three said the Nightmare Night greeting, “Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give us something sweet to bite!”

“Don’t you three look so darling in your costumes,” as Rarity was using her magic to give each of them a piece of candy. Her costume was of a princess. The color was a combination of purple and pink with gold outlines and her hat was pointed with a handkerchief at the top and she wore purple slippers.

Once they got their candy the three moved on to the next house. As they were walking Sweetie Belle said to her sister, “Bye Rarity, I’ll see you later.” She waved her hoof and soon they were on to the next house.

As they walked Apple Bloom asked, “How come Rarity didn’t make you a costume like hers? That costume was very pretty.”

“She did, but I don’t like dressing up all prissy like. Makes me think she’s using me as a doll to play dress up.”

“I hear that sister.” Scootaloo never did like dressing all girly too.

“Good thing she didn’t have time to argue about it since she was preoccupied.”

Apple Bloom asked, “That reminds me, did your sister ever find that missing poniquin?

“Nope, she never did.”

“What missing ponequin?” Scootaloo asked.

“A few days ago, one of my sister’s ponequins went missing. At first she thought she might have misplaced it, so she looked all over for it, but she never found it. She then thought that I moved it somewhere else because when I clean her rooms I sometimes put things in other places. Of course I told her that I hadn’t moved anything, so we both searched for it, but in the end we never found it. She already ordered another one; it didn’t bother her that much since the missing ponequin didn’t have any clothes on it.

“That’s strange; you think it be hard to lose something big like that.”

“I know, I asked her if maybe she miscounted how many she had, but she assured me that she didn’t miscount them.

Apple Bloom said, “Oh well enough of that, let’s go get some more candy. After all, the night is young.

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADER CANDY COLLECTORS, YAY.” And so with that the three crusaders charged into the night with the mission of collecting more candy than anypony in Ponyville.

After some time they collected plenty of candy that they couldn’t carry it around. If they wanted to get more candy they had to lighten the load, which only meant one thing, it was time for the Nightmare Moon Tribute.

Where fillies and colts were to go to the Everfree Forest to the statue of Nightmare Moon and give up their candy as tribute to Nightmare Moon, so she would spare their lives for another year. Of course the crusaders were still frightened from their last experience in the Everfree Forest, but if they ever want more candy they will have to be brave. After all they didn’t want to be eaten by Nightmare Moon and they wouldn’t be alone. There will be other kids with them as well as Zecora to lead them there safely. So with that the brave crusaders started heading towards Zecoras location so they can quickly pay their tribute and be able to collect more candy.

“Glad that’s over with,” said Scootaloo as the Cutie Mark Crusaders returned from the Everfree Forest and were now back in Ponyville safe and sound collecting more candy.

At first they were still a little frightened when they were walking in the Everfree Forest, even though they were surrounded with other children and Zecora safely guiding them through the forest. Every once in a while as they were walking, they would look around expecting to see Slendermane next to the trees. Whenever a twig snapped or a bush rustled they expected to see him, but through the whole trip and back they didn’t see anything at all.

“Me too, but it’s a shame that we had to give up all our candy,” said Apple Bloom.

“I agree,” said Sweetie Belle, “But if we didn’t then Nightmare Moon would eat us.”

“Yeah, the last thing we need are two evil ponies following us around waiting for the opportunity to snatch us.” Scootaloo said jokingly.

From her comment they all stayed quiet for a moment, and then they started laughing. Joking about something that once caused them great terror made them feel happy. Happy that their no longer in a state of fear, happy that everything is going to be alright. Their happiness would have lasted throughout the night, until a certain filly ruined the moment.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the Cutie Mark Crybabies,” said a voice from behind them.

The crusaders turned around knowing whose voice it was, and sure enough it was none other than Diamond Tiara.

“Hey Diamond Tiara,” they said in monotonous tone. At the moment they rather be dealing with Nightmare Moon than with her.

Sweetie Belle noticed her costume and said, “Hey, that’s the costume Rarity made for me. Why do you have it?”

“You like it? I think it suits me just fine.” The costume was similar to Rarity’s dress, except the colors were the opposite. Even with the pointed hat, Diamond Tiara was still wearing her favorite tiara on her head. “I was at your sister’s boutique the other day and when I saw this dress I had to get it. At first she said that she made it for you and that it wasn’t for sale, but after I begged daddy to buy it he was able to buy it at a price that Rarity couldn’t refuse. I got to say that I think your costumes go nicely with you three.”

“What do ya mean?” asked Apple Bloom.

“First off it covers your blank flanks, second since you’re already nopony’s it’s like you’re never here. I mean if I was blank flank loser, I would be so embarrassed and humiliated that I wish I could be invisible so nopony can see my shame. The thought of it makes me want to die again and again from embarrassment.”

After she finished speaking Diamond Tiara started laughing. The crusaders were infuriated from Diamond Tiara’s insults, especially Scootaloo.

“You better take that back or-”

“Or you’ll what? Go home and cry to mommy like the little foals you are?” She once again started laughing.

The three looked down trying to hide their anger. Right now they wished that Nightmare Moon would show up and gobbled Diamond Tiara up. When they lifted their heads their looks of anger were replaced by looks of fear. Standing right behind Diamond Tiara was Slendermane.

Diamond Tiara saw their faces and turned around, when she saw Slendermane behind her all four of them screamed.

“RUN,” yelled Apple Bloom as the three crusaders ran off to get away from him. As they were running they turned to see that Diamond Tiara was still standing there almost like she was frozen in fear. They kept running knowing what would happen if they stopped and went back for Diamond Tiara. They headed towards town square searching for anypony that could help them.

“Yeehaw! Ya got the spider right on the center,” said Applejack as she congratulated the little filly who won. Every year Applejack is in charge of the games, making sure that everypony was having a good time. Applejack was also enjoying herself, until she heard the sound of screams. She turned to see the three fillies, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and her sister Apple Bloom running towards her.

Apple Bloom was the first to reach her sister, after some panting she said, “Help us Applejack, its Slendermane. He’s back to take us away. You got to stop him.”

“What in tarnation are you talking about? I thought we told you that he’s make believe.”

“Were not making it up, he really exists.”

Sweetie Belle caught up to Apple Bloom and yelled at Applejack, “HE’LL EAT US, HE’LL EAT US!”

“RUN,” yelled Scootaloo as she got closer to the group. Their yelling was catching the attention from all the nearby ponies.

“Ya three need to stop this nonsense. You’re all making a ruckus.” Applejack was trying to defuse the situation before it goes out of hoof.

“But it’s not nonsense big sis, he already took Diamond Tiara.”

“He what?”

Sweetie Belle replied, “He took her, we all saw it, and now he’s coming for us.”

“There he is,” said Scootaloo as she pointed from where they were running from.

All the ponies looked as a tall white stallion in a black suit and red tie with no face walked right by them as he headed towards the Cutie Mark Crusaders, while they were at the moment hiding behind Applejack. He kept walking until he stopped a few feet in front of Applejack and just stood there. Everypony including Applejack stood there silently waiting to see what this strange pony was going do. Their attention was thrown off when a little filly walked by them towards Slendermane.

The little filly kept walking and then stopped as she was standing right beside Slendermane. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo stick their heads out from their hiding spot to see who this filly was; their faces were in complete surprise when they saw that the filly who was standing beside Slendermane was none other than Diamond Tiara, who was at the moment was laughing.

The crusaders were confused; wondering how Diamond Tiara was safe, why she was standing next to Slendermane, and why was she laughing.

Sweetie Belle decided to find out and said, “What’s going on? Why are you standing next to him and why are you laughing?”

She stopped laughing and said, “I’m laughing because of the looks on your faces as you ran like little foals, it was priceless. I can’t believe you three fell for that.”

“Fell for what exactly?” asked Apple Bloom.

“You three actually believed that this was the real thing?” She walked closer to Slendermane and pulled his suit off, only to reveal that underneath the suit was the filly Silver Spoon.

Silver Spoon was on stills and she had the Slendermane head on top of her own. She had smug smirk on her face.

Sweetie Belle look at the stills and head, that’s when she noticed something and said, “That’s Rarity’s missing poniquin. So you were the ones responsible for it disappearance.”

“Why would two do something like this?” asked Scootaloo.

“Simple, we wanted to give you three a good scare.”

“But how did you know about Slendermane?” asked Apple Bloom.

“That was easy. We were eavesdropping on you three during recess one day. We heard you mentioning this Slendermane as you call it and how frightened you were, saying how he was stalking you and was gonna take you away. We heard how you described him and decided to make this costume to scare you. We went to Rarity’s place to get the poniquin since you three described him faceless. So when I bought this princess outfit I had Silver Spoon sneak it out of the store. We cut the legs and head off and then used one of my daddy’s suits to cover Silver Spoon.”

“The looks on your faces when I walked up were so priceless, it was even better when you ran crying like little foals.”

“Yeah we really got you three good. I mean come on, only fools like you three would think that this thing is scary.

“This thing isn’t even scary enough to make a foal cry.”

“Yeah the only reason I would run away from this is because it’s so ugly.” Both of them started laughing.

The crusaders were feeling a lot of things. Shame for falling for that trick, embarrassed the way they reacted and causing a scene, and finally anger for how cruel Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were treating them. They stared at them with hateful eyes, wishing that they would burst into flames.

In an instant those eyes of fiery hatred were replaced with eyes of terror as everypony including Applejack saw appearing out of nowhere behind Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon was the REAL Slendermane.

The truth was Slendermane never left the crusaders alone. He had been sleeping for hundreds of years and he didn’t want to go back to sleep right away. He wanted to enjoy the moment so he decided to be invisible to the crusaders. As he sometimes did, he would terrorize his victims for awhile then stop and after sometime he would start again. His victims would get paranoid from the lack of his presence, expecting him to show up out of nowhere was always on their mind. Then after sometime they would go back to a sense of normalcy, not aware that he was always right next to them. It would be weeks, months, or even years before he decides to reveal himself to his victims, thus starting the process of breaking their minds all over again. He always took pleasure from their suffering, apparently he heard that there was a germane word for that; Schadenfreude.

Over the week he watched as the crusaders minds were going from paranoia to normal. During their walk to through the Everfree Forest he would tease them a bit, things such as snapping twigs, rustling bushes. He watched as the crusaders turned towards the noises and seeing nothing, without knowing that he was there. He decided that he would wait a few weeks before appearing to them again, but things changed after what happened. He watched as the crusaders were running scared from some imposter, then he watched as this prank was orchestrated by two fillies. He then heard how they insulted them and how they insulted him. He felt anger, not only they didn’t fear him but they were disrespecting him. Everypony feared him, especially the children and no one, not stallions, mares, or even Princess Celestia disrespected him.

That’s why he appeared in front of everyone, it’s time to remind them why I’m to be feared. Starting with those two insulting fillies that think I’m a joke.

The crusaders knew that this one was the real thing. Every time they tried looking at him their sight would get blurry. They had to avoid looking at his face to see what was going on. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon sensed the change in atmosphere and saw the looks of terror of everypony around them.

“Okay, why is everyone looking at us like that?” Diamond Tiara looked at the crusaders as they pointed behind her while avoiding looking at them. They turned around and saw a tall white stallion wearing a black suit standing right in front of them.

“Can you believe this Silver Spoon? This guy is copying us. Hey loser didn’t you hear us; we aren’t scared of this losermane. Go find somepony else that might think your scary. Although I doubt that’s ever gonna happen.”

The stallion didn’t say anything and continued standing in his place.

“I don’t think he heard you Diamond Tiara.”

“He must be ugly and deaf; I mean why else would he wear that mask to cover his face. I bet his face is scarier that the costume itself. HEY UGLY FACE, I SAID BEAT IT!”

The crusaders were shocked that Diamond Tiara was talking to Slendermane like that. They knew how dangerous he is.

Sweetie Belle tried to reason with Diamond Tiara. “Diamond Tiara that’s not a fake, It’s really him.”

“You’re still going on with that?”

Apple Bloom said, “It’s true, were not lying. That’s the real Slendermane.”

“You got to believe us. Don’t make him angry or you’ll be sorry,” said Scootaloo.

“Get it through your thick heads. Slendermane doesn’t exist, he just a stupid story that stupid adults told their stupid kids so they would behave. This thing over here was probably one of those kids, he was so stupid that he believed he was real and became scared of him.”

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon felt a rush of wind behind them; they turned to see the stallion was glowing red.

Diamond Tiara not feeling impressed said, “Is that suppose to scare us? Just because you’re glowing doesn’t mean that were going to be frightened. You really think that light show is going to intimidate us? You must be bigger idiot than we thoug-”

A tentacle sprouted from Slendermanes suit and grab Diamond Tiara by the neck. The tentacle was choking Diamond Tiara so hard she could barely breathe; he lifted her slowly towards his face.

You talk too much; I’ve had enough of your insults.

Silver Spoon tried to run away, but another tentacle snatched her up. The onlookers kept watching in terror. Applejack tried to charge in to save them, but for some reason she couldn’t move. She felt paralyzed; it was as if some force was holding her in place.

Slendermane had the two fillies a few inches from his face. He looked at their faces of pure fear in a sense of pure delight. As they struggled to escape his tentacles, tears were running down their faces.

So now you’re afraid of me, well too late. Now suffer for your fate!

He brought them right to his face and unleashed his power. They looked at his faceless face as they were losing their sanity. It is unknown what was going through their minds, but whatever was going on was ripping their minds apart. They both screamed as the last bit of sanity left their minds, leaving a broken shell of the two fillies Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

With his deed complete Slendermane dropped the two fillies. Everypony looked at Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, only to see the fillies faces frozen in pure terror, their eyes were soulless. Somepony screamed and soon panic swept through Ponyville. Ponies were running away in terror, some were too frightened to move, a few mares fainted. Slendermane watched all this, their screams of fear and suffering was music to his ears. He hasn’t felt this good in centuries; he then turned to the three fillies and saw them take off as soon as he looked at them, leaving behind an orange mare that was too scared to move. He ignored the mare as he teleported away, his targets were getting away.

The crusaders ran and ran without any destination in mind. They just knew that they had to get away from that place, away from him. They kept running until they stopped dead in their tracks as Slendermane appeared in front of them like before. All three cowered before him with faces of fear and sadness. He kept getting closer until he was just inches away from them. He lowered his head until he was just above their heads. He could hear their cries of fear, the terrified looks of their faces, the tears running down their eyes. This all gave him great pleasure; he raised his head as he enjoyed the moment.

Soon

Then in an instant he vanished.

They all saw him as he disappeared. They should feel relief, but instead they felt dread. They stood there in silence for a few moments, until Sweetie Belle said, “He’s never going to stop. We were fools to think that he left us alone.”

Apple Bloom said, “He’ll keep torturing us like this until were as old as Granny Smith.”

“Looks like you were right Apple Bloom,” said Scootaloo. “We are doomed.”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders stared at the moon in silence with tears in their eyes. The only sounds they heard were the screams of panic that were going on all over Ponyville.

DON'T BLINK!

"There is no passion so contagious as that of fear."- Michel de Montaigne

“If you try to get rid of fear and anger without knowing their meaning, they will grow stronger and return.”- Deepak Chopra

Chapter 4: DON’T BLINK

Ponyville, a happy place filled with friendly ponies that love to laugh, play, sing, work, and have a great time. Now the once peaceful town was now in a state of terror. The streets were abandoned, the stores were closed, houses were boarded up, and the crops left unattended. Ponyville was now a ghost town with an evil monstrosity taking residence.

A week has passed since the horrible incident during Nightmare Night. A week since the being known as Slendermane, had made his existence known throughout the small town of Ponyville. After his attack on Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon all the residents were in a state of panic.

The residents did their best to board up their houses, thinking that would keep Slendermane out…. they were wrong. Every night, ponies reported that Slendermane was in their houses stalking them.

There were a lot of reported sightings of him wandering the schools playground. Because of that the school was closed down. So far nopony has been reported missing. Although there was an incident where he almost took a little filly that was wandering outside one night.

Little Dinky Hooves, was hurrying back home from a friend’s house. She was standing outside her door about to enter, when she felt that she was being watched. She turned around to see Slendermane standing under a nearby street light. She tried to get inside, but felt paralyzed. Slendermane sprouted a tentacle making a ‘come here’ wave. For some reason she started walking towards him, the fear she was a feeling moments ago was gone. Now it was replaced with a sense of trust for the tall entity, as he kept waving for her to come closer and closer. Once she was just standing a few feet from him, Slendermane used his tentacle and grabbed Dinky.

He lifted her so that was face to face with him, but before he was ready to leave with his prize, somepony snatched Dinky from his tentacle grasp. He looked down to see a pegasus mare, she had a gray coat, blonde mane, and yellow cross eyes. She looked at Slendermane with an angry look with one eye on him and the other staring nowhere in particular and shouted, “STAY AWAY FROM MY MUFFIN!” Slendermane lowered his head, so that he was inches away from Derpy’s face. He looked at her waiting for his powers to take effect on her, but for some reason Derpy was not affected by his stare. She then took flight taking Dinky with her. Slendermane was surprised by the events that he decided not to pursue her… for now.

Soon the residents started getting sick. Ponies would start coming down with fever, their noses would start bleeding, followed by vomiting, feelings of nausea, exhaustion, and some would feel pain and aches.

Some ponies tried to leave Ponyville, only to be stopped by Slendermane. The ones that didn’t run back to town upon seeing him would wake up back in their homes without remembering what happened. Others were walking in a daze not knowing how they arrived there. Few pegasi tried flying away thinking that they would be safe in the skies, only to be stopped by a giant Slendermane. Some thought that if a lot were to leave in multiple directions, the chances of escape would be possible. That plan was shot down when some tried the idea, only to be stopped by a ring of fire surrounding the town with Slendermane standing in the flames.

There were a group of stallions that decided to fight back and confronted Slendermane and attacked him… those were the unfortunate ones. The stallions were sent to the emergency room at Ponyville Hospital.

For Twilight Sparkle, she researched everything she could to find out about Slendermane. She read all her books that mentioned him, but most of the books contradicted others, and neither of them ever mentioned a weakness. She interviewed countless ponies that have encountered him. All of them stated that they had the same experiences. She then went to Ponyville Hospital to speak to the ones that were coming down with what everypony refer to as ‘The Sickness.’ She learned that the more encounters the victims had with Slendermane, their conditions had worsened.

She then tried to interview the stallions that attacked Slendermane. She found out that the stallions were under a stronger strain of ‘The Sickness.’ There conditions were, coughing up blood, vomiting blood, painful breathing, difficulty in swallowing, violent convulsions, and major amnesia. Some of the stallions that were able to talk mentioned that he had control over fire and used it on them. A few even showed Twilight the burns to prove their statements. Twilight concluded that Slendermane had the power of pyrokinesis. The rest of the Stallions were in a catatonic state, which prevented them from speaking to Twilight, the result of their condition was caused by staring at Slendermane’s face for too long, just liked with what happened to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

Speaking of which, Twilight headed to the psych ward of Ponyville Hospital to see Slendermane’s first victims. At first everypony thought that Slendermane killed them, only to find out that they were still alive. Their conditions were severe, Filthy Rich wasted no time or money to help his daughter and her friend. He got them the best doctor’s and care money could buy. Twilight visited them everyday to see if their conditions were improving. Their signs showed no improvement, their conditions were temporary catatonic states, unexpected screaming, and sometimes she would see them curled up in a corner sobbing.

After all the research Twilight did, she still hasn’t learned anything that could help her in defeating Slendermane. She then decided to write a letter to Princess Celestia, hoping that she would have an idea of what to do. After sending the letter, Twilight started waiting for her response I hope she isn’t too busy to read the letter, the quicker she responds the quicker we can put a stop of all this madness. Suddenly Twilight was surrounded by a bright light causing her to close her eyes. When she opened them, she realized that she was no longer in the library, but in Canterlot. More specifically, she was in the castle throne room. Standing in front of her was none other than Princess Celestia.

Twilight quickly bowed before her mentor, “Princess Celestia, it’s great to see you again.”

“It’s good to see you too, Twilight.”

Twilight got back up, “Why did you bring me here, Princess?”

“I got your letter,” she said, “and after reading it, I had to bring you here immediately.” Princess Celestia started walking out of the throne room, “Follow me.”

Twilight quickly followed her as they stood side by side walking through the halls of the castle.

“Tell me, Twilight,” said Princess Celestia, “how did this happen?”

Twilight told her about the CMCs camping trip in the Everfree Forest, where they found a piece of paper on a tree, that when they touched it they were attacked by Slendermane. She told her everything that happened afterwards.

Princess Celestia listened to her story as they were walking, once Twilight finished her story, Celestia responded, “It’s as I feared. He has finally returned after so many years.”

“What do you mean, Princess?” Twilight asked, “Do you know something about this? Because I find it hard to believe, that something that came out of a ghost story is terrorizing Ponyville.”

“If you recall, Twilight, everypony thought that Nightmare Moon was just an old mares tale. Make no mistake, the Slendermane is very real!”

“How do you know about this, Princess?”

“Because my faithful student, I’ve faced Slendermane myself.”

Twilights eyes were wide open from her response, “You fought him before?”

“Yes I have. It was years after Luna’s banishment and the Everfree Forest had taken over the land that my home used to reside. As you know my student, the Everfree Forest is a mysterious place filled with dangerous creatures and the land isn’t run the same way as any other land in all of Equestria. Because of that, nopony dares to enter the forest. But there are at times were some individuals ignore the warnings and explored the forest. A lot of these individuals were archeologist who wanted to find my old home and look for its treasures. Some did it for money, others did for knowledge, and some did it for fame and reputation. Unfortunately none of them ever made it that far without something killing them. Whether it was from the result of manticores, timberwolves, cockatrices, or even dragons, they all fell. It pains me to say this, but they were the lucky ones. Only a few made it out of the forest, but something else followed them back. They reported the same thing, a tall pony wearing a suit that had no face. They were absolutely terrified of this creature. The creature constantly stalked them, torturing their minds in the process. Nopony believed them, thinking that it was nothing but their imaginations. Soon reports of them going missing were posted all over towns. A few eyewitnesses say that they saw some of these ponies enter the forest, only to never come out.

Soon more and more reports of missing ponies were spreading out, that I had no choice but to investigate. I went alone, because I couldn’t risk any of my guards sharing the same fate as the others. I returned to the place I once called home, seeing that it was nothing the way I remembered it. The home I knew was now home to something evil. I traveled through the forest without anything attacking me. I tried finding these lost ponies, but no matter where I looked there was no sign of them. It was as if they disappeared in thin air, I couldn’t even find any tracks, it was like the Everfree Forest had claimed them and erased any signs of their presence. I was about to abandon my investigation when I uncovered something. It was a piece of paper, upon looking at it I saw the words ‘ALWAYS WATCHES, NO EYES’. In the middle of the paper was a picture of a pony’s head, it had X’s where its eyes would be.

After seeing this I had to investigate further, but this time I felt that something was watching me. I don’t know how much time I was in that forest since I couldn’t see my precious sun. It could have been hours or even days before I found another page, this time it said, ‘HELP ME’. After reading this I could have sworn I heard a scream. I ran towards the direction the scream came from. I ran and ran until I came to across a clearing in the forest. I looked up to see Luna’s moon high in the sky. Then I looked across the center where I saw a lone tree in the middle. When I looked around, I found another page. This time it was a drawing of a tall pony with no face, it was wearing a suit and was standing next to a tree that was the same height the figure was. The words ‘FOLLOWS’ was written next to this faceless figure.

“That sounds like the same piece of paper that the Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo found on their camping trip!” said Twilight as she interrupted Princess Celestias story. “They found it on a dead tree that was in the middle of a clearing too.”

“Yes, it does seem that they found one of the eight pages.”

“Eight pages?”

“Yes, that was how many pages I found while investigating. Over time I found others. Each one I found made me feel strange. I felt myself getting sick, I had feelings of nausea, terrible headaches, there were times when my nose started bleeding, and I kept hearing hoofsteps coming from behind me. The feeling of being watched increased everytime I found a page. Once I found the eighth page, everything stopped, the pounding in my head, the dizziness, and the hoofsteps. In fact I didn’t hear any noises, as if silence had fallen throughout the entire Everfree Forest.”

“I won’t lie to you Twilight, being in that forest in complete silence scared me. Feeling uneasy I turned around to continue investigating, when all of sudden HE was there. In that instant I lost consciousness, the last thing I saw what that faceless head he had. I don’t know how long I was unconscious, but when I finally woke up I noticed that I wasn’t in the same place, but somewhere else. I knew that I was still in the Everfree Forest but this part was different. All the trees were all taller than the ones I saw during my investigation, and they were all dead. It was as if they was a fire in this part of the forest. Another thing I noticed was that it was completely silent, as if there wasn’t a single living thing there. I quickly got up and started looking around, trying to figure out my location. I tried flying, but for some reason I couldn’t. I noticed that I still had the pages that I collected, so I gathered them up. I walked for who knows how long until I came across something. I found all these items, saddlebags, backpacks, torn clothes, hats that were in children’s sizes. From the looks of it I had found the belongings of the missing ponies, I looked around to see if I could find anyone. I even called out to see if anyone was around to hear me, but in the end nopony responded. Then I started smelling something foul in air. I walked toward the direction of where the stench was coming from. It didn’t take long before I had arrived from where the smell was at its greatest. I looked around, but I didn’t see anything that was the cause of the stench….until I looked up…. and to this day I regretted that decision.

Because when I looked up I saw the remains of the missing ponies hanging up high in the trees. It seemed that they were nailed to the tree and they all had the same injury. Their eyes were gouged open and their stomachs were sliced open that caused their organs to dangle out. The sight of that made me incredibly sick to my stomach, especially when I saw that the majority of them were children. It took me time to regain my senses and when I did I was furious. What kind of monster could do this to so many innocent ponies. I counted them and saw that there weren’t that many compared to the amount of missing reports. Then I felt a presence coming from behind me, I turned around preparing to attack my confronter. That was when I had a look at my enemy. He looked exactly like the missing ponies described him before they went missing.

A tall slender stallion, his coat was as white as my own, he wore a suit with a red tie, he had no mane or tail, and the most disturbing was that he had no face. When I looked at this strange stallion I knew that he was the one responsible for all this. My anger had grown that I immediately attack him. I let out a huge beam that consumed him in its blinding light. After I cut off my beam I was shocked to see that he was still standing there unscathed, not even as much as a tear or burn of his suit. I let out multiple beams at him, only for them to be uneffective to him. I flew up and I called on the power of the sun to help me as I channeled its raw power as a giant fireball manifested above my horn.

Once I had channeled enough of the suns power, I threw at him. Being hit with its power would burn anything it touches into ash. Then after so much time standing still, he finally retaliated. He sprouted tentacles that seem to have originated from his suit. All it took was one tentacle to grab the fireball and throw it back at me. I was left stunned to see how impossible he did that, but I quickly regained my senses and moved out of the way before the fireball could hit me. It hit the trees behind me causing the forest to catch on fire. Soon I was under attack by fireballs, I turned to see the monster grabbing the fire from around him with his tentacles and threw them at me. I quickly dodge them but I couldn’t keep up. The heat from the fire was getting to me and the smoke was making it difficult to see and breathe. I could only dodged the fireballs as they were coming to me, by then the smoke had covered my attacker that I couldn’t retaliate. Then all of a sudden tentacles came out from the smoke and grabbed me. By then I was too weak to escape as they pulled down to the ground. I was lying on the ground and saw my attacker standing still, looking at me. The smoke made my eyes burn that I closed them for a second. As soon as I opened them I saw that he was standing closer than he was before. I blinked and saw he was even closer. The distance from that one second couldn’t have come from walking. Every time I blinked he was getting closer and the symptoms that I felt earlier returned and worsened. Soon he was standing right in front of me, one of his tentacles lifted my head so that I was staring at his face.

As I stared at his faceless face, my mind felt like it was burning as staring at him was turning me insane. His body started changing in front of me. He sprouted black wings that had red fire as his feathers, and then a black horn started growing out of his head. The longer I stared at him the worse the pain in my head was.

I closed my eyes in attempts to stop whatever spell he was doing. I felt his tentacles sliding around my face as they try to force my eyes open. I kept my eyes shut as much as I could, but I knew I was losing that battle. If I didn’t do something right there, I knew that I was going to die. So I used my magic to blast him point blank in his face. The force of the blast was able to knock him back, allowing me to escape his grasp. I stood up and quickly created a shield around me before his tentacles could attack me again. It seemed that my magic wasn’t powerful enough to destroy him, so I had only one option left. I tapped into whatever magic I had left and I cast a powerful sleep spell on him. It seemed to have worked on him as it fell to the ground. As an added precaution I used the eight pages that I found as a seal to weaken his power and keep him imprisoned in his endless slumber, by spreading them throughout the Everfree Forest. Once the pages were scattered, the monster vanished and was never heard from again.

After I gave the creatures victims a proper burial, I returned to Canterlot and informed all my citizens that the monster that was responsible for all the disappearances had finally been defeated. I knew that my spell wasn’t going to last forever, so I warned that nopony should ever enter the Everfree Forest again or else the monster that I have named Slendermane would return. I knew that as long as nopony entered the forest and found the pages that would break the seal, then he would stay in his eternal slumber.”

Once Princess Celestia finished her story she stopped walking. Twilight stopped and noticed that they were in Canterlot Tower. Twilight recognized the stained glass windows from the last time she was here with her friends. See looked to see Princess Celestia standing in front of a huge door. Twilight knew that what on the other side of the door was where the Elements of Harmony were kept.

“Soon the story of Slendermane was forgotten and was thought of nothing more than an urban legend. Now after centuries the seal has been broken releasing him from his prison. This is a dark time, Twilight. If Slendermane isn’t defeated then all of Equestria is in danger. I once again ask of you and your friends to finish what I couldn’t so long ago.” She inserted her horn into the keyhole and opened the door. Using her magic she levitated a small jewel encrusted chest from its podium. She brought the chest over to Twilight and opened it, revealing the Elements of Harmony.

“With Luna imprisoned on the moon, I could no longer wield the elements. If I was able to back then, then maybe none of this would be happening again.”

“It’s not your fault Princess Celestia, there was no other way. If you didn’t stop him all those years ago then who knows how many more innocent ponies would have suffered that horrible fate.”

“Thank you, Twilight. This mission I give you and your friends is the most dangerous I have ever given you. I need all of you to enter the Everfree Forest, collect the eight pages and use you’re the Elements of Harmony on them, for they are the key to stopping Slendermane.”

“You got it Princess,” said Twilight standing proud to show her determination.

“A word of caution, Twilight,” said Princess Celestia as Twilight took the case from Celestias magic grip, “No doubt that Slendermane will know that you’re trying to stop him and he will do anything to make sure that doesn’t happen. He will stalk you, make you give into your fears. It’s like a game to him watching his victims slowly lose their minds. Once you take the first page, the game begins. The pages will let you know when he is near, so keep your eyes and ears open.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“The more pages you collect the bigger a target you’ll become, that is why when you find the pages, you should spilt them up with your friends to minimize attracting his attention.”

“Yes Princess, anything else?”

“Should you ever comes across him, DON’T stare at his face, if you stare he’ll be able to get inside your mind and torture you from the inside out. And one last word of advice Twilight.”

“Yes, Princess Celestia?”

“If you do see him and he sees you, whatever you do…” Princess Celestia horn started glowing and Twilight was covered by her golden aura. She could feel the effects as she knew that Princess Celestia was teleporting her back to Ponyville. Before Twilight was teleported, Princess Celestia finished her warning, “Don’t blink. Blink and you're dead. Don't turn your back. Don't look away. And DON'T BLINK!”

Twilight was covered by a bright flash of light and vanished. Princess Celestia was now all by herself in the now empty tower.

“Good luck.”

Author's Note

Finally after so many months, the next chapter has finally been released. I would like to apologize for taking so long to continue this. It was really hard to get the inspiration to continue this story until now.

Can You Hear The Drums?

“We promise according to our hopes and perform according to our fears.”- François de La Rochefoucauld

“Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil.”- Aristotle

Chapter 5: Can You Hear The Drums?

Inside the Golden Oaks Library was the ever diligent Spike. He was putting every book in their rightful place. Since he was always helping Twilight with her studies, Spike knew exactly which book goes where. He had memorized where they belong and during reshelving day, he rememorized each books new place. Earlier he was at Rartiy’s place, helping her in anyway he could. Of course because of the recent events, Rarity’s business has been extremely slow.

Who can think of dresses when there’s a monster terrorizing Ponyville?

So Spike merely helped Rarity clean up her home as well as watching over her little sister, Sweetie Belle. Since the event during Nightmare Night, she and her two friends, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo have been under a state of extreme terror. So he did the best he could do by keeping her company and telling her that he and her sister would protect her. Sweetie Belle did feel safe from their comforting words, but it wasn’t enough to keep her paranoia away. Since the incident, Sweetie Belle was too scared to be alone. So she always stayed close to Rarity or Spike, never leaving them out of her site. Everytime she heard or thought of seeing something, she would quickly cling on to whoever was the closest. With her parents gone on vacation leaving before Nightmare Night, Sweetie Belle stayed in her sister’s house and hasn’t left it after what happened. She was scared that the monster Slendermane would get her if she left the house since now everypony is saying that they saw him walking through town.

Seeing Sweetie Belle under so much stress hurt Rarity, since nothing she could do would help her sister. And seeing Rarity hurt also hurt Spike since he couldn’t help Sweetie Belle or the mare he loves. He knew that Twilight was doing everything in her power to find a solution to this disaster. He did everything he could do to help Twilight in her research since there wasn’t anything else he could do.

So here he was now cleaning up the library while Twilight was out doing everything she could do.

I wish I could do more to help. Its times like this, I feel so useless.

Usually when something big happens, Spike was always out of the action for whatever reason.

I wonder where Twilight could be, As he finished putting the last book in its proper place. As if on cue a bright flash came from the center of the room and once it did, Spike saw Twilight standing where the light was and was carrying a small jewel covered case. Seeing the case made Spike drool a little bit, but he quickly snapped out of it as he welcomed Twilight back from wherever she came from.

“Welcome home, Twilight. Where’ve you’ve been?”

“I was in Canterlot with Princess Celestia as I brought her up to speed about our problem.”

“You were in Canterlot?” Spike was a bit dumbfounded, “How’d you get there? I thought that Slendermane kept everypony from leaving Ponyville. That’s why he tore the train tracks to keep everypony here.”

“Princess Celestia teleported me there so she could give me these,” she opened the case, revealing the Elements of Harmony.

“So what happens now?” he asked.

“Gather everypony here and I’ll explain what we have to do.”

“You got it,” he gave her a salute and was quickly out the door.

By the time the sun had set, the rest of the Elements of Harmony bearers and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were sitting in the library as Twilight explained her plan.

“So all we got to do is use our Elements on these eight pages and everythin will be back to normal?” asked Applejack.

“That’s exactly correct, Applejack.”

“Well what are we waiting for!” shouted Rainbow Dash, “let hup two it to the Everfree Forest.”

“This is gonna be fun,” said Pinkie Pie, “It’s like going on a scavenger hunt and I LOVE a good scavenger hunt.”

“How can you think any of this is fun,” said Rarity, “Didn’t you hear Twilight? This is going to be extremely dangerous.”

“I…. agree,” whispered Fluttershy.

“Yes, it is very dangerous,” said Twilight, “but it’s the only thing we can do to save not only Ponyville but all of Equestria.”

“Then let’s go everypony,” said Applejack as she was heading to the door.

“I’m coming too,” said Spike.

“No you’re not Spike,” said Twilight.

“But-”

“No buts, I can’t risk your safety.”

“But you said it yourself, It’s too dangerous and you’ll need all the help you can get. It might be quicker finding these pages with the extra help.”

“But-”

“No buts,” now the horseshoe was on the other hoof as Spike stopped Twilight from continuing.

“I can’t be watching my back and yours at the same time. That’s why I need you to stay here where it’s safe.”

“I can take care of myself Twilight. In case you haven’t noticed I’m a dragon!”

“A BABY dragon to be exact.”

“You always do this,” he raised his claws up and folded them across his chest. “Everytime something like this happens, I always have to be the one who gets left behind. Don’t you think it makes me feel good knowing that you six are on some adventure, some of them are dangerous and I can’t do anything to help out?"

“You help out plenty, Spike.”

“Name one time I help you girls out on something.”

“Umm….” Twilight try thinking of something, but as it turned out, everytime something happened, Spike was always left behind.

When Twilight didn’t respond, Spike pointed a claw at her, “Ah ha! You see, you can’t think of one thing can you?”

“No I can’t, I guess I didn’t realized it until now.”

“Do you know how I feel when I get left behind every time you do this? Completely USELESS! You talk about how you’re doing this to protect me, but don’t you think that at the same time I want to protect you!” at this point Spike was starting to tear up, “you don’t know how it feels every time when I see you leave on some mission, hoping that this won’t be the last time I see you. That when you step out that door and it won’t be the time where you don’t return and I’m left here all alone.”

Spike words hit hard on Twilight. I never thought he would be thinking about this every time I leave. She could see the sad look on his face and it tore her heart. She never knew how much pain she was causing to Spike. She immediately wrapped her hooves around Spike in a warm embracing hug.

“I’m so sorry, Spike. I didn’t mean to make you feel like this. From now on I’m going to do a better job about being more supportive to you.”

Spike sniffed while he was hugging Twilight, “Does that mean I can come with you?”

Twilight thought about this before coming to a conclusion, “If that’s what you really want, then I can’t say no.”

“Thanks, Twilight.”

Everypony could feel the love between Twilight and Spike as they stood silent the entire time. Unfortunately the moment was cut by Rainbow Dash, who was getting impatient and couldn’t take anymore of all the touchy feelings, “Alright enough with all the sappy stuff, let get going already!”

“Your right Rainbow Dash,” said Twilight finally pulling out of her hug, “Alright everypony….and Spike, lets head on out.”

As soon as everyone approached the door, a loud voice spoke out, “WAIT!”

Everyone turned to see who shouted and saw it was Apple Bloom.

“What about us? You’re not going to leave us all alone, are ya?

“Yeah,” said Scootaloo, “If you guys leave us alone, he might get us.”

“Well yur not comin wit us that’s for sure,” said Applejack.

“Who said we wanted to go with ya?” said her sister, “we go in there and he’ll get us for sure.”

“Don’t worry, I got it all under control,” said Twilight, “once we leave I’ll put a barrier around the library.”

“Will it be enough?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“Of course, I got my brother, Shining Armor to teach me this spell and he specializes in barrier spells.

The three crusaders let out a sigh of relief, “Okay, but hurry back sis,” said Apple Bloom as she walked up to her sister and they shared a nice sisterly hug.

“Same here, Rarity,” as Sweetie Belle, also walked up to her sister and they gave each other a hug.

“I’m not worried. I know you’ll take care of it,” said Scootaloo as she tried to put on a brave face to hid her concern. Rainbow Dash could see it and before Scootaloo knew what happened, she was wrapped up in Rainbow Dash’s hooves.

“Don’t worry about a thing squirt, your friendly neighborhood Rainbow Dash is on it!”

“Thanks, Dash. You really are the greatest.”

All six of them hugged for a few moments before they broke it off.

“Alright, is everypony ready?” asked Twilight.

Everypony nodded.

“Ok, I think the first place to start is where the first page was last seen,” she turned to the CMC, “We need you three to tell us where you found the page.”

All three nodded and told Twilight where they set up camped and where they could find the clearing where the tree with the first page was.

“Thanks for the info girls.”

“You’re welcome,” they said.

“Now you three just stay here and wait until we come back. Don’t step a hoof out of this library.”

They all nodded.

Twilight opened the door, “Let’s go everypony, we have a world to save.” She then handed the elements to their rightful bearers.

All six bearers and Spike ran out the door, leaving the CMC by themselves. Once outside, Twilight cast her barrier spell and the library was covered by lavender dome. With the CMC now safe all seven of them marched to the Everfree Forest to begin their quest to save Equestria once again.

“How much farther is it?” cried Rainbow Dash as she was hovering above her friends. She was getting restless after it seemed like hours since they entered the Everfree Forest.

“Ah’m surprised they made it this far all on their own,” said Applejack.

“It’s starting to get really d-d-dark,” whimpered Fluttershy, “M-M-Maybe we should come back when the sun is up.”

“We can’t,” replied Rarity, “I know you’re scared, were all a bit scared as well. But we can’t turn back now, Sweetie Belle and the others need us and we can’t let them down.”

“O-Okay.”

“It can’t be far now,” said Twilight as she used her horn to light the path in front of them while Spike was on top of her looking around.

“Over there!” he pointed, “I think I see something.”

They started heading towards where Spike was pointing, ducking under the low branches. They were deep in the forest that moving around was getting difficult. With the lack of space, Rainbow Dash had to continue on hoof.

After a short trot they finally came across to what seemed like a campsite.

“This must be where the girls set up camp,” said Twilight. All their equipment looked all rundown and dirty.

“Hey look,” said Pinkie Pie looking at ground, “hoofprints, iddy biddy hoofprints.”

“That’s great Pinkie,” said Twilight, “now all we have to do is follow these hoofprints and they’ll lead us to the clearing.”

“Okie- Dokie, follow me everypony,” said Pinkie as she glued her eyes to the ground and started following where the hoofprints went. Soon everyone was following Pinkie through the ever thickening part of the Everfree Forest.

After a little bit of walking they finally came across a big clearing. Once they step out of the trees, Rainbow Dash immediately took flight.

“Aw man, it feels so good to be up in the air and not in the crowed forest anymore.”

“And look, there’s the tree right there.” said Applejack as she pointed to the only tree in the middle of the clearing.

Everypony rushed towards it. Once they arrived, they saw how different the tree was compared to the others. They saw how big and tall it was, as well as how the branches were all twisted around. This dead tree in the middle of the clearing gave a strange vibe as everyone stared at it.

“Alright,” said Twilight as she finally stopped staring at the tree and started looking at the ground, “everypony look around, that page has to be around here somewhere.”

Everyone looked at the ground around the tree where Apple Bloom said where she dropped the page.

“Found it!” said Pinkie Pie bouncing, “I found it, I found it.”

“Where?” asked Twilight.

“Right here, on the tree duh,” she pointed at the tree where the page was placed. “This was real easy, finding the others will be a piece of cake.” Thinking of cake, Pinkie hummed, “mmmh, cake,” she led out a moan with her tongue hanging out, “I should have brought some cake, now I’m hungry.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and started inspecting the page. “The page is exactly what the girls and Princess Celestia said looked like.”

“Okay, so now that we found it, what do we do now?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Now that we found the first page, we can start looking for the others,” responded Twilight as she pulled out an envelope from her saddlebag.

“Doesn’t the Princess know where the rest of them are?” asked Rainbow Dash, “I mean she was the one placed them after all.”

“The forest has grown so much since the last time Princess Celestia was here. Everything’s different, we were lucky that the girls found this one.”

“Well then let’s hurry up, we don’t have all night!”

“Why don’t we split up? It would be faster,” asked Spike.

“NO!” screamed Fluttershy. When everyone looked at her, she started feeling embarrassed, “I mean…no, if that’s okay?”

“It’s quite alright darling,” said Rarity as she comforted Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy’s right, it’s too dangerous to split up,” said Twilight, “That’s why we’re going to find the rest of the pages together.”

“Twi’s right everypony,” said Applejack, “were strongest when were all together.”

“Fine,” sighed Rainbow Dash, “but can we get a move on?”

“Just let me grab the page and put it in my envelope,” said Twilight.

“Ooh, let me get it Twilight,” said Pinkie.

“NO, WAIT!” but it was too late, Pinkie grabbed the page and yanked it off the tree.

“Here you go,” she said.

“Pinkie why did you do that? I was gonna use my magic so we didn’t have to touch it. Now he’ll know were here.”

“Oops, I’m sorry about that, Twilight.”

She let out a sigh, “It’s okay, you didn’t know,” she grabbed the page from Pinkies hooves and put the page in the envelope, then placed the envelope in her saddlebag.

“One down, seven to go.”

“H-How long d-d-do you think h-he’ll be here?” asked Fluttershy.

“Don’t worry,” said Rainbow Dash, “I bet he doesn’t even know were here.”

WHOOSH

A big gust of wind came out of nowhere and then quickly disappeared.

“Hey, do you girls hear it?” asked Pinkie Pie.

“We all heard it,” said Rarity, “that wind was pretty loud.”

“Not the wind, Rarity. I’m talking about the drums.”

“Does anypony hear that?” asked Apple Bloom.

“I didn’t hear anything,” said Sweetie Belle.

“Ah thought ah heard sumthin outside the library,” Apple Bloom walked up to the window to see. She looked and saw nothing.

“You’re probably just imagining it,” said Scootaloo, “you know that nopony goes out at night anymore.”

“Now come on, just forget about it and come sit with us,” said Sweetie Belle.

“Fine,” Apple Bloom sighed, “ah could have sworn that ah heard something. Ah’m feeling all nervous now, ya know being all alone in here.”

“Where’s Big Mac?” asked Sweetie Belle, “he could be here protecting and keep us company.”

“He’s still in the hospital, remember?” responded Scootaloo.

Sweetie Belle forgot that Big Mac was part of the group of stallions that tried to fight Slendermane.

“Oh yeah, How he doing?” she asked.

“He’s doing better,” said Apple Bloom, “They say he might be out by the end of the week.”

“I still can’t believe that Big Mac got his flank kicked around like that. He’s like the strongest stallion in Ponyville,” said Scootaloo.

SNAP

All three heard something coming from outside the library.

“Ah knew ah heard sumthin,” Apple Bloom rushed back to the window to investigate. Once she looked outside she started shaking and stood there as if she was frozen.

The other crusaders were feeling nervous from Apple Blooms reaction.

“What is it?” asked Scootaloo.

“What’s out there?” asked Sweetie Belle who was starting to shake.

Without turning her head, Apple Bloom responded, “It’s him.”

Upon hearing Apple Blooms response, they immediately ran to the window and looked outside. There enough was the monster Slendermane, standing right outside the dome shield.

“What do we do?” squeaked Sweetie Belle.

“We got to get out of here!” shouted Scootaloo as she rushed to the door, but Apple Bloom stopped her before she reached to touch the doorknob.

“Are ya crazy? Remember what Twilight said. As long as we stay right here under the dome, he can’t get us.”

“Oh yeah, sorry about that.”

Both of them returned to the window where Sweetie Belle was still watching him.

“He’s just standing there,” said Sweetie Belle, “it’s a bit creepy.”

“Ah know what ya mean. It’s like he waiting for something.”

“Maybe, he realizes that he can’t get through and all he can do is just watch us all safe and sound,” said Scootaloo. Feeling a bit cocky she started taunting him, “Ha ha, you can’t get us, and there isn’t anything you can do,” she stuck out her tongue at him.

“Don’t do that!” shouted Sweetie Belle as she tackled Scootaloo to the ground.

“What did you do that for?”

“Don’t you remember what happened to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon? Do you want to end up like them?”

Once Sweetie Belle said those two names, all three of them felt a wave of sadness.

“Ah know that those two were always mean to us, but what happened to them, Ah would have never wished anything that horrible to them.”

“Yeah, I agree,” said Scootaloo.

“Me too,” said Sweetie Belle, “do you think they’ll ever recover from that incident?”

“Ah hope so, even if they went back to their horrible selves, ah would rather have them that way than how they are now.”

“Maybe we can be their friends, that might help them out,” said Scootaloo.

“That’s a great idea,” said Sweetie Belle, “we become their friends and with our help we might help them recover and who knows, with us spending time with them, they might treat us nice instead of being mean.”

“Ah agree, let’s do it.”

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS BEST FRIEND MAKERS AND HELPERS, YAY!” all three shouted.

“So that settles it, when those two get out of the hospital we will do everything it takes to help them on the road to recovering,” said Applebloom as she stared out the window.

“Any idea what will do first?” asked Scootaloo.

“Ooh! We could throw them a party. Party’s always makes ponies happy,” replied Sweetie Belle.

“I like it, said Scootaloo, “what do you think Apple Bloom?”

Apple Bloom didn’t respond.

“Helloooo, Apple Bloom didn’t you hear what I said?” asked Scootaloo.

Once again, Apple Bloom didn’t say anything.

Scootaloo walked up to her and poked her, “Why won’t you say something?”

At this point Scootaloo noticed that Apple Blooms eyes were wide open as she stared out the window, and it seemed that she lost color in her face.

Scootaloo looked out the window and her eyes went wide open as well.

Sweetie Belle was starting to get nervous as she looked at her two friends, “What’s wrong?”

Scootaloo gulped and said, “Maybe you should see for yourself.”

Sweetie Belle walked towards her friends and looked out the window. Once she saw what made her friends like this, she understood why.

Because what they saw was Slendermane……..standing inside the force field instead of outside.

Sweetie Belle started feeling nauseous as soon as she was staring at Slendermane. “COVER YOUR EYES! DON’T LOOK AT HIS FACE!” she shouted as she covered her eyes. “Remember what Twilight said, don’t look at his face or you’ll end up like Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

Scootaloo did the same, “That’s right, thanks Sweetie Belle.” She turned to see that Apple Bloom was still staring at Slendermane. “Apple Bloom, cover your eyes!”

But Apple Bloom did nothing and continued staring. Scootaloo had to act fast, so she tackled Apple Bloom to the ground and started shaking her.

“SNAP OUT OF IT!”

Scootaloo’s combination of shaking and shouting snapped Apple Bloom out of her trance.

“W-What happened?”

“You looked at Slendermane too long and fell under a trance.”

Suddenly she remembered what she saw before she went in her trance, “HE'S INSIDE THE FORCE FIELD!

“We know,” said Sweetie Belle with her eyes still covered.

“Well what do we do?” asked Apple Bloom.

“I don’t know,” said Scootaloo, “We got nowhere to go,” upon hearing her words set in, Scootaloo started shaking.

“Wait a second,” said Apple Bloom, “if ah’m here looking at you, you’re looking at me, and Sweetie Belle has her eyes covered. Who’s watching the window?”

Once she said that, all three crusaders turned to the window……and saw Slendermane standing outside the window.

All three of them screamed and started backing away from the window.

“What do we do?!” asked Sweetie Belle.

“We got to get away,” said Scootaloo, “hurry, up the stairs!”

All three turned to run to the stairs. Only to be stopped by Slendermane inside the house, who was standing in front of the stairs.

They turned around again, this time heading to the door. But Slendermane was once again standing in front of them, closer this time. All three cowered in together as they realized they had nowhere to go.

Slendermane started sprouting tentacles from his back and they slowly started heading towards the three scared fillies. Seeing the end is here, all three of them hugged each other one last time. They shut their eyes with tears running down their cheeks, Thinking that they’ll never see their loved ones again as they waited for the end.

Slendermane was enjoying itself as his tentacles kept creeping up to the three frightened fillies. They hugged each other tightly as they waited for whatever he had planned for them. His tentacles were getting closer and closer, soon they were just inches from their faces. Just as he was about to grab him, something stopped him. It was the familiar sound a paper flapping in the wind.

Another has touched one of the pages.

It was able to sense that it was the same page that the three fillies touched. Now Slendermane had a choice, finish were he left off with the three fillies or confront his newest prey?

After a couple of seconds, he came to a decision and vanished from the library.

After seconds of waiting, Apple Bloom opened her eyes and saw that the monster had disappeared.

“He’s gone.”

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo opened their eyes and saw that Apple Bloom was telling the truth.

“What happened? Where he’d go?” asked Scootaloo.

“Ah don’t know, it seems he’s vanished out of thin air.”

“Y-You think he’ll come back?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“Not sure, ah’m curious as to why he left? He had us right where he wanted and now he’s gone.”

“Thank Celestia, let’s hope he doesn’t come back,” said Scootaloo.

“Me too,” said Sweetie Belle.

“We can only hope that Twilight and the rest can find a way to stop him,” said Apple Bloom.

All three crusaders stayed silent while they were still wrapped up in their hug, thinking about the six mares and dragon that hold their lives in their hooves and claws.

“I don’t hear anything,” said Rarity.

“What do you mean you can’t hear it?” asked Pinkie Pie, “I can hear it as plain as day. How can you not hear it? The drumming. Can't you hear it? The constant drumming, Just listen.”

Everypony listened, but none of them heard anything.

“You hear it? It’s going, boom…….boom.”

“Pinkie, I don’t hear anything, it’s just in your head,” said Twilight.

“No its not,” she said, “It's everywhere. Listen, listen, listen.”

“Boom…..Boom, Boom…Boom.”

“The drums are coming closer……and closer.”

Everypony was feeling a bit worried about Pinkie Pie. Until Twilight remembered what Princess Celestia told her earlier.

“Once you take the first page, the game begins. The pages will let you know when he is near, so keep your eyes and ears open.”

“It’s the page!” she shouted, “Princess Celestia told me that the pages will let us know when HE’S near. Since Pinkie was the only one to touch the page, she’s the only one that can hear the drums.”

“Oh goodie, for a second there I thought I was going crazy.”

“S-So what does that mean?” asked Fluttershy.

“It means Fluttershy….” Twilight stopped talking as she figured out what she was about to say. “It means that HE’S COMING!”

Everypony started panicking, as they started running around trying to figure out what to do. Twilight tried to establish order, “EVERPONY STOP!”

Everyone stopped and turned to Twilight, “We need to stick together, everyone gather in a circle back to back.”

Everyone did as Twilight ordered and soon all seven of them were in a small huddle facing out.

“Now carefully, we need to get out of here and look for the second page. Now everyone follow me and keep your eyes open, he might already be here.”

All at once, everyone started walking in the same direction as they kept their eyes opened for anything suspicious.

Fluttershy was the first to respond, “There he is!”

Everyone turned to Fluttershy’s direction and all saw the monster Slendermane standing outside of the clearing.

“W-W-What do we do?” Fluttershy asked.

“Why don’t we just hit him with the elements?” said Rainbow Dash, “He’s right there, we don’t have to go looking for the other pages. We can end it all right now.”

As soon as she said that, Slendermane vanished.

“Where in tarnation did he go?” asked Applejack.

“Stay focused everypony!” said Twilight, “we need to keep moving, otherwise were sitting ducks.”

They all followed Twlights advice and continued walking in a huddle away from where Slendermane was at a moment ago.

A few seconds later, Rarity shouted, “There he is!”

They all looked and saw him standing like last time….only he was standing closer to the group than he was earlier. With everyone looking at him, they started feeling nauseous.

“Everyone stop looking at his face!” Twilight shouted. All of them looked down, “Remember, if you look at his face for too long, it will start affecting you.”

Rarity looked up and saw that he vanished once again, “How are going to do this Twilight? How can we use our elements if we can’t see him?”

“Princess Celestia said that the pages are the key to stopping him. That’s why we have to find the other pages and fast!”

All seven of them continued walking, as they were almost to the edge of the clearing. Every once and awhile, Slendermane would appear in front of one of them, and then quickly disappeared. He would repeat this over and over, each time he would be standing closer and closer to the group. Then once they made it to the edge of the clearing, he vanished.

Now that they made it, the group broke the huddle since the forest was too thick for them stay in a group. “Alright, single file everyone and keep your eyes open,” said Twilight.

Once everpony was in line, Twilight lead her friends onto finding the second page. They walked and walked without any problems. Twilight was getting nervous about the other creatures in the forest besides Slendermane. She still remembered when she entered the Everfree Forest by herself and was turned to stone by a cockatrice. As she lighted the way infront of her, she called out to Fluttershy, who was at the back of the line, “Fluttershy, is there anything that you could tell us about how we can avoid running into any other creatures here?”

Fluttershy didn’t respond.

“Fluttershy, did you hear me?”

No response.

Twilight turned her head, “Fluttershy?” the light from her horn illuminated her friends, and Twilight saw that Fluttershy was nowhere in sight.

“She's gone!”

Everypony turned and saw that Fluttershy had disappeared.

“Where’d she go?” asked Applejack.

“Maybe she playing hide and seek,” responded Pinkie Pie.

“This isn’t the time for games!” said Rainbow Dash.

“Or maybe she needed to go to the little fillies room,” said Pinkie.

“She would have told me Pinkie,” said Rarity, “I was in front of her, so I would have heard her.”

Everypony started calling out to Fluttershy as they retraced their steps. For some reason the forest was getting darker by the second, “Rarity, can you help me in getting more light for us to see?” asked Twilight.

No response.

“Rarity?!” she used her horn to look around, she saw her friends, but not Rarity.

“Now Rarity’s gone too!” she said.

Spike started panicking as he jumped off Twilights back, “RARITY, WHERE ARE YOU?!”

He frantically searched around, shouting her name. But no matter how hard he looked or shouted Rarity was nowhere to be found.

“What do we do Twilight?! What if HE got her?!” he asked.

“Spike calm down! Will find her, I promise. Now come on, we have to keep looking.”

Spike jumped on her back as they continued to search for their two missing friends. Everypony was calling out their names as they searched and searched, hoping to find them safe and sound.

“Fluttershy!” called out Pinkie Pie, “Rarit-EEP!”

Twilight turned to where she heard Pinkie, the light from her horn showed that Pinkie was no longer there.

“Now Pinkie’s gone!” she shouted.

“Twi-” shouted Rainbow Dash.

She turned and saw that Rainbow Dash had disappeared too.

“Applejack. Pinkie and Rainbow Dash are gone too.”

No response from Applejack.

“APPLEJACK!” she looked all around her and saw that Applejack had vanished.

“Twilight, it’s just us, were the only ones left. Everypony else has been taken,” said Spike as he was holding onto Twilight tightly. “What are we gonna do now?”

Before Twilight could respond they heard a twig SNAP coming from behind them. Twilight quickly turned around and all she saw was a tall figure and then everything went black.

Author's Note

Now this is where the story officially begins. And I change the rating from teen to mature(you've been warned.)

If you haven't figured it out, this story takes place before season 3.

Giggle at the Ghosties…..Doesn’t Work

Chapter 6: Giggle at the Ghosties…..Doesn’t Work

The Everfree Forest is a dangerous place. It’s ever growing, that anypony that walks in can easily get lost. Deep in the forest, a certain unicorn is lying on the ground unconscious. After a few moments, Twilight Sparkle started waking up.

“Oh, my head,” she slowly got up and looked around, only to see darkness at every turn. She then used her magic to light her surroundings.

“Ah, that’s better,” Twilight could see that she was surrounded by trees. Twilight tried to remember what happened before she lost consciousness. First, I was looking around…..what was I searching for? She looked around and noticed her saddlebags on the ground. She then levitated it and placed it on her back. Then she opened the bag and pulled out an envelope. What’s this? She opened the envelope and pulled out a piece of paper.

“What’s this suppose to mean?” she said as she tried to decipher what was drawn on the paper. After staring at it for a few minutes, everything was coming back in her head, “The page! The mission! I have to get all eight pages to stop Slendermane.” as soon as she mentioned his name, Twilight’s head started aching. She slowly remembered what she was doing before she passed out. I was walking then I heard a snap and then I turned around….. THEN I SAW HIM! I looked at his face and then…….nothing.

“I guess staring at his face must have caused me to pass out.”

She started looking around and noticed that she was not in the same place she was before she lost consciousness. “How’d I get here?”

Then she realized that before passing out, she was looking for her friends. She then started calling them out.”

“FLUTTERSHY!”

Nothing.

“RARITY!”

Again nothing.

“PINKIE PIE, RAINBOW DASH, APPLEJACK, SPIKE! CAN ANYPONY HEAR ME?!”

She waited but no one answered her. She tried calling out to them again, but then her head started hurting from all her shouting. To try and dull away the pain, she rubbed her head. After a few rubs she noticed that something was wrong. That’s when she realized, “My element! It’s gone!”

She looked all over the ground, but no matter where she looked, her crown thingy was nowhere in sight.

“What am I going to do? I’m lost, my friends are missing, and my element is gone.”

She started panicking, as she tried to find a solution to her problem. After taking some deep breaths, she started calming down, “This is no time to panic. I have to pull myself together,” she started walking through the forest as she was figuring out what to do.

“First I have to find the rest of my friends, find my element, and then continue finding the rest of the pages. After this, we can defeat Slendermane and save Equestria from this menace once and for all.”

Her horn lighting her way as walked through the darkness as she begins the search for her friends.

“La, la, la, la, la,” singed Pinkie Pie as she bounced her way through the Everfree Forest. After regaining consciousness, Pinkie noticed that she was in a part of the forest that she’s never been and that she was alone. Normally this would cause the average pony to start panicking, but not Pinkie Pie. She simply put a smile on her face and started bouncing searching for her friends. In a way she thought of this as a game, “I get to go on a scavenger hunt and play hide and seek at the same time.”

So off she bounced, searching for her friends and see how many more pages she could find in the process. As she continued bouncing, she noticed that the trees were starting to look menacing. They were bent like some type of towering monstrosity and the branches looked like giant claws, as if they were to snatch up anypony that got too close to them. Most normal ponies would let their fears get the best of them, but of course, Pinkie Pie was far from a normal pony. She kept bouncing with a smile on her face and started humming the song she sang when she and her friends entered the Everfree Forest for the first time.

As Pinkie hummed her song, she saw something in the distance. She bounced faster and after a few moments, she saw what looked like an old wagon.

“Ooohhh,” as she was staring at the old run down wagon, “This would be perfect for camping trips and I can also use it as a storage place for my party supplies as well. It will need some wheels, a few boards, and a good paint job, but it will look better than ever once I’m done with it.” She kept inspecting the cart when she noticed something twinkling coming from the front side of the cart, something shiny. She rushed over there and once she saw what was upfront she had a big grin on her face.

“I found it, I found it,” she bounced in happiness as she found another page. She looked at the picture that was drawn.

“This picture is really cool. The way it’s drawn, makes it look like there’s a giant pony walking around in a forest. Looks like whoever made it didn’t finish it since the pony doesn’t have a face. If I only brought my crayons, I would give a happy face.”

As she continued staring at the page, she once again saw a twinkle coming from under the cart. She looked down and saw what caused the twinkle was her own Element of Laughter.

“So that’s where you were,” she grabbed her necklace on put it back on. Pinkie noticed that her element was missing when she woke up. She figured she would find it as she was searching her friends and the pages. In her head, it was a double scavenger hunt while playing hide and seek. “It’s a good thing I found you, otherwise I would get the mother of all talking to’s from Twilight. I can only imagine how she would react, she would be like, ‘How can you lose your element Pinkie?! They’re very important artifacts that need to be handled with the upmost care. You can’t go all willy nilly with yours and misplace it like it was a pair of socks,’” Pinkie shivered at the thought of angering Twilight, “Twilight really needs to calm down, she acts like she’s my mother. When this is all over, I think Twilight should take a nice loooong relaxing vacation,” she turned her attention back to the page.

She wanted to grab the page and move on, but she remembered what happened when she grabbed the first page. Pinkie knew that as soon as she touched the page she would become a target for Slendermane. “If only Twilight or Rarity we’re with me then they could grab the page with their magic. Maybe I should just the leave the page there and come back when I’ve found one of them.” While it sounded like a good idea in her head, Pinkie felt like that wouldn’t work. She didn’t know how long it would be until she found one of her friends and even if she did, the chances of returning to this spot would be difficult with how easy it is to get lost. If she left now without the page, the chances she’ll find it again would be very low. Plus she knew that it was important to find the pages to save the CMC and everypony else as quickly as possible.

“Looks like I’ve got no choice,” she said as she grabbed the page and put it in her saddlebags.

WHOOSH

And just like last time, she felt a big gush of wind blow by and then she heard the drums again. While Pinkie did feel a little bit frightened, wishing she had her friends with her. She tried looking at the situation another way again. Now she was on a scavenger hunt while playing hide and seek with her friends and now she was playing hide and seek with Slendermane. Pinkie prided herself as an excellent hide and seeker, so she figured that she would be able find her friends quickly and avoid Slendermane. I guess I’ve got to get a move on, these pages aren’t going to find themselves. With that thought, Pinkie started on her journey to find her friends and the rest of the pages.

Pinkie kept walking without slowing or stopping. She looked all over her surroundings for any sign of more pages or her friends. Pinkie thought about calling out for her friends but thought against it. Her shouting could attract Slendermane and she wanted to avoid him at all cost. From her last encounter she figured that the louder the drums in her head were pounding, the closer Slendermane was. So far, the drums were pounding softly in the back of her head, the sounds were causing it hard for her to concentrate. To drown out the noise, she started humming her Giggle at the Ghosties song again.

Without a watch, Pinkie had no idea how much time had passed as she kept walking while humming her song. She noticed that she was running out of walking room as the trees around her were closing in all around her. She had to navigate her way around all the low branches that looked like claws. The wind caused them to wave that would give most ponies the creeps, but Pinkie just waved back at the spooky branches.

SNAP

Pinkie stopped as she heard the sound of twigs breaking. It sounded like it was coming behind her. Pinkie turned her head to see what was behind her, she saw that nothing was behind her. Maybe it was just my imagination she thought. The sound of twigs snapping in front of her caused her to turn back quickly. Once again, she saw nothing, Pinkie Pie was starting to get nervous. It was around that time she noticed that the drums were getting louder. The increase in volume was a warning to her that she wasn’t alone, meaning that Slendermane was nearby.

Time to hide she quickly dived into a nearby bush and laying on the ground. The pounding of the drums were starting to hurt her as the kept getting louder. She started to hear hoofstep walking by. Pinkie held her breath as she waited for Slendermane to pass her by. Eventually the sound of the hoofsteps started fading away, but Pinkie stayed in her hiding place as an extra precaution. After waiting in silence for a few minutes Pinkie felt that she was safe, even the drums had faded back to their original volume.

“Pheww, looks like I gave him the slip. I should probably avoid going in that direction for now,” Pinkie was slightly panting after avoided being spotted by her pursuer. “Okay time to get out of this bush and look for my friends. They must be worried about MEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” before Pinkie was able to get up, she felt something grab her back hooves and started pulling her away. Pinkie was being dragged very fast. She was panicking as she tried to grab whatever she could to stop. She grabbed a nearby trunk, but a quick tug tore her away. Pinkie digged her hooves into the ground to slow down, this caused the dirt to pile up in front of her. But even that didn’t slow down whatever was pulling her, Pinkie was screaming as she tried to escape. Even with her loud screaming, Pinkie could hear the drums getting louder and louder in her head as she was getting closer. She was then lifted off the ground as she was hanging upside down. She looked up and saw the black tentacle that grabbed her hooves. She followed the tentacles down and saw that Slendermane was standing right in front of her. Pinkie started flailing around trying to escape his grasp.

Slendermane turned her right side up and wrapped his tentacles all around her. Pinkie was completely trapped with no way of getting out. She saw that her face was right in front of Slendermane’s face. Remembering Twilight’s warning, she shut her eyes closed. Her actions were futile as Slendermane used his tentacles and forced her eyes open wide. There was nothing Pinkie Pie could do to stop herself from staring at his face. The only thing that she could do was scream. She stared at his face causing her see images of horrifying things that she couldn’t describe if you asked her. The life in her eyes were slowly going out as well as her screaming. Her screaming would suddenly be replaced by her laughter as she started smiling. Her poofy mane started to deflate while her bright pink coat turned slightly grayish. Slendermane now satisfied with his newly turned proxy, he gently lowered Pinkie Pie to the ground and removed his tentacles off her body while giving her a pat on her head. Pinkie’s maniacal laughter kept getting louder and louder with the lost of her mind, ready to serve her master.

Author's Note

Another Halloween, another chapter. I'm curious, how many of you are still interested in this story? I might post another chapter later in the future before next Halloween.