The Eight Pages of Slendermane

“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.