Muffin, the daughter of Derpy Hooves was last seen on the outskirts of The Everfree Forest. An eyewitness to the last known appearance of the young filly, Apple Bloom, reported that she had been acting strangely and said that 'the forest was calling.' She walked in and never came out.
It wasn't three days later that the townsfolk realized that Derpy Hooves had disappeared.
Nopony knew what had happened. The grey coated blonde pegasus had just vanished, she hadn't been seen for those three days. Cloudsdale had been searched, along with Ponyville and the outskirts of the town. But it was no use, the wall eyed mare was no where to be found.
After the entire country was searched, Equestria declared her dead.
Or was she?
~~~
The crunch of twigs echoed eerily in the darkness. It was the middle of the day, but the branches and thick foliage obscured the warmth, leaving the forest cold and dark. A flash of grey fur, the swish of a blonde tail and the slight glow of unfocused golden irises were the only hint of a pony in the gloomy atmosphere.
Derpy stepped into a small clearing where a few strands of sunlight lit up the gloom. It caught her and sent a flicker of warmth through her shivering body. Her right wing had a large bruise formed under the feathers and it clung to her side like a cobweb. She had fallen into a ditch and rammed up against a rock. Many tiny cuts were opened on her legs, sending a few lazy drops down the limbs. Her mane was tattered and torn like old fabric and her tail wasn't much better. Her panting split the silence and she looked behind her slowly.
It just stood there.
Derpy screamed and ran again. A note was ripped from a tree as she flashed past and it hit the ground before being crushed by a thin black hoof. The ruined writing was barely visible, but the etched mouthwriting read in bolded words a message, a message for those who came snout to note with it.
CAN'T RUN
Derpy heard the hoofsteps go quiet behind her and she looked behind her to see that the creature had stopped somewhere out of her field of sight. She turned back and saw a fallen tree. She took a flying leap over it, sailing through the air. She turned her head back and saw nothing. She looked back ahead of her and crashed into a tree. She hit a tree branch and hung limply, unconscious.
~~~
The thing sat and watched from the distance. Slick black tentacles extended from behind its shoulder blades, straight from the black coat. The figure was cloaked by shadows and thick undergrowth, the only sign of it was the white head. But a closer look upon its face revealed the horror of the thing.
No eyes.
No nose.
No mouth.
Just blank flesh and bleach fur and a pair of ears. Not even a mane.
Only the head was white. The rest of the body was tall, slender and the color of King Sombre's hide. No tail, just the elasticated tentacles extending from his back. The shape and build of the creature showed that it was a stallion.
The creature just sat and watched. He made no moves as he regarded the unconscious pegasus. Some moments his tentacles would touch her form and he had to resist the urge to crush her. He slid into a deeper section of shadows and watched, unmoving.
~~~
Derpy stirred.
She raised a hoof and rubbed her head. "Owowowow..." She groaned as a dull thump shuddered through her body from her temples. The thoughts raced in her head and she tried to get up before realizing where she was. She fell from the branch and hit a thick pile of rotten leaves with a loud grunt.
The wall eyed mare managed to get to her hooves and looked around. Whatever had been chasing her was gone, she wasn't even sure what it had been. She sat down on her rump and chuckled to herself, it had probably been some sort of forest animal that she had spooked. She looked around. "Muffin? Are you here?" She called as loudly as possible.
Something grabbed her around the middle.
Derpy took a moment to realize what was happening before she screamed. Whatever it was dragged her into the thick foliage and her shrill shrieks shattering the past silence. Her hooves dug ruts into the dirt and she held on, screaming and crying in fear. She felt something slightly damp and thin wrap around her hindlegs and she was yanked from her current position, into the deeper parts of the forest.
The pegasus fell to the ground and curled into a ball, whimpering. She lifted her head, managing to focus her golden irises and stared the faceless stallion before her. She stopped crying and sat up, just looking at him. She blinked a few times. "What happened to you? No offence but it looks like you had a really bad accident." She asked, oblivious to the lurking danger.
The thing sat down, greatly confused. Most ponies screamed in fear and ran away before he... very reluctantly caught them. This mare was actually asking about him. He cocked his head to one side. He gestured a hoof to his face, pointing at his blank fur.
Derpy gave him a sympathetic look. "You don't have a mouth! Sorry, I should've noticed. I'm out here to look for my daughter, Muffin. Have you seen her? Nod for yes and shake your head for no." She asked, looking at him with hopeful eyes.
The stallion nodded. He gestured with a hoof in one direction. His own actions confused him. He was supposed to kill! But this mare was being so nice, maybe she wasn't like those others. Those others who had betrayed him and put the spell on him, changing him from a normal Alicorn to this hideous beasts. A red haze clouded his vision and the appendages on his back tensed as fury made his limbs tremble.
Derpy waved a hoof at him. "Thanks!" She trotted in the direction he had pointed and looked around in the trees. "Muffin! Muffin this isn't funny come home!" She cried. The yawning blackness offered no response and she started to tremble. "Muffin please come! Please don't leave!" She begged. Tears started falling from her eyes and she crumpled like a withered leaf. She collapsed and sobbed into her hooves, repeating her daughter's name over and over again.
The being watched her, if he had eyes they would've been wide. He cautiously stepped over to her and kneeled down next to her, placing a tentacle on her back in a way of comfort. His rage was swallowed by pity for this kind mare. He had indeed seen a small filly, but he had killed her and he hadn't the heart, literally, to show her. The fury had possessed him and he had ripped her apart with the slick appendages extending from his spine and felt the blood on his hooves.
Too late he had regretted it.
Derpy felt the appendage on her back and reduced her crying to a whimper. She sat up and looked back at him. "Slendy... I'll call you that, I'll call you Slendy. You must be sad. So many ponies must be so scared of you. But you're not that bad, you're heart is in the wrong place. You seem like a nice stallion. But whoever did this to you was an awful pony and I hope they regret it. Others might think of you as horrible but I don't. We'll be sad together alright?" Tears were fallign thicker as she spoke and she looked at him. "And don't bother trying to deny it I can see the tears." She said in a nasal voice and she started sobbing again, sorrow for her lost daughter ringing with every heartbeat.
Slendy stared in shock and realized that there were indeed tears. They weren't normal, they were the color of oil and thicker than water. They ran down his empty face and hit the ground at his hooves. Is this what sadness felt like? Is this what crying was? He had seen his victims cry, but he had never cried. The curse prevented that. But now here she was, a mare who was willing to accept him and she was crying over her murdered daughter, not because she was scared of him. He didn't just feel the pain in his empty chest, he felt something he hadn't felt in thousands of years.
He felt loved.
Derpy flung herself at Slendy. Her hooves were outstretched and she wrapped them around him. She started crying into his black coat with her forelegs wrapped around his lower neck, just above his chest.
The stallion froze in shock. He looked at the crying mare clinging to him and relaxed. He wrapped his forelegs around her and sat down on his haunches, his tentacles encasing her in a firm position. He felt a head rest on his shoulder and the tears pearling on the tips of his black fur, but he didn't mind. For the first time in thousands of years, he felt good. He didn't want to kill. He wanted to be happy. If he had a mouth he would've smiled.
All it took was a hug.
