"So, you're SURE this isn't, y'know, gory or anything?" Twilight asked.
"Nope, it's still supposed to scare the pants off ya though!" Pinkie answered, bouncing up and down with excitement. "Well, you're not wearing pants, though... Now that I think about it, ponies really don't wear pants that often. Why did ponies start sayi-"
"That's enough, sugarcube" Applejack said. "It don' make much sense, but let's talk about the game and not why ponies don' wear clothin'."
At midnight in the library, the study was pitch-black except for the small amount of light coming from the computer screen that illuminated the faces of six ponies. The room was covered in a blanket of darkness as Twilight opened the ominously titled "Slender". Suddenly, the title materialized upon the dark background in a crude, but frighteningly so, font. As swiftly as it had come, the title disappeared, and Twilight found herself in a forest, with a mission to "Collect all 8 pages".
Well, let's do this." Twilight said resolutely, her steps echoing loudly in the small clearing.
"Oh my, this forest is simply FILTHY, those branches on the ground must be scratching your hooves with every step!" Rarity complained.
"Oh, please, will you GET A GRIP?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, looking extremely exasperated.
"Well SOMEPONY has to care about their appearance, because you obviously don't!" Rarity huffed.
"And SOMEPONY ELSE has to STOP caring about their appearance for FIVE SECONDS!" Dash exclaimed.
Twilight ignored her friends' bickering and focused on fining the first page.
"I think the first page is over there!" Pinkie yelled. Everyone whipped their heads around to spot the page.
"Ah see it too!" Applejack blurted out as soon as she spotted it.
"Okay, okay, I see it." Twilight said calmly, lowering her flashlight to sprint towards the first page, stopping to read it. "NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO? That's.... creepy." Twilight shifted uncomfortably.
Suddenly, a loud note made everypony jump as Twilight spotted a tall pony wearing a black suit, with a black tail, no mane, a white head.... and no face.
"IT'S HIM!" Pinkie screamed she shoved Twilight off of the chair and sprinted away before static could consume the screen. "Ohnononononononono!" she vociferated. Finally, when she couldn't dash anymore, she slowly turned around, and saw nopony there. Everypony let out their held breath while Fluttershy and Twilight emerged from under the desk.
"BAHAHAHA!" Dash screamed with laughter as she watched Twilight wipe dust out of her mane. "Too scary Twi'?" the rainbow-maned pony said.
Rarity turned to Dash. "Yes, for you." Facing Twilight, she giggled "You should have seen it, she simply toppled over!" Rarity burst into laughter. Dash simply said "Hmph" and turned back towards the computer.
After another minute or so of walking, the group came to an foreboding brick-walled building in the middle of the dirt path. "I'm pretty sure that there's another page here!" Pinkie exclaimed. "But we have to be careful, he can corner you in here!"
"I suppose you can jus' pop in an' out, right?" AJ asked "There's nothin' stoppin' ya from goin' back out, is there?"
"Nope!" said Pinkie, entering the enigmatic structure. Turning through the dark halls, the flashlight fell suddenly upon a dark shape that made Dash jump into Applejack.
"YIKES!" she screamed, jumping into Applejack
"Uh, tha's just a chair." AJ explained, smirking.
Oh, um- yeah,I TOTALLY knew that, just testing your reflexes." Dash responded.
"And I TOTALLY knew that you just freaked out" Twilight said, trying to hide her laughter. Dash hmph'd again, once again turning to face the computer.
"Hey, I think I've got it!" Pinkie yelled in excitement.
"Hmm..." Rarity said "Can't run? What in Equestria is that supposed to mean?"
"Nose twitch, double nod? That's new..." Pinkie suddenly saw static approach the edges of the screen. "OH NO!" flashlight off, Pinkie ran to the next room, just to see Slenderpony right in front of her. Rarity almost fainted in shock, realizing the meaning of the note, and everypony else was too scared to move, except for one.
"Move aside!" Applejack yelled as she pushed Pinkie aside and took control. Static flooding the screen, AJ almost went down, but her quick reflexes found the right keys fast enough and sprinted out of the brick building, glad that they'd never have to return to the dark, enclosed space. "Ah think he's gone..." AJ mumbled.
"eep...." Fluttershy managed to say.
"Well, at least we've got two pages." Twilight muttered. Looking back at the building, the night only getting deeper, Applejack noticed a small white speck in the entrance, and ran away with all the speed the virtual pony could muster.
Now that they had two pages, they glimpsed Slenderpony in between the trees once more, but the mysterious figure was far away at the moment. Rainbow Dash put it well, "This is, like, really boring until you're terrified out of your pants."
"Well, we're not wearing pants, though... Now that I think about it, ponies really don't wear pants that often. Why did ponies start sayi-"
"Now's not the time, Pinkie." Applejack said, a look of intense concentration on her face as she scanned her surroundings for any sign of the menacing figure.
"What's that?" Rarity inquired.
"Uh.. A tree?" Applejack responded, utterly confounded by Rarity pointing out a random tree.
"Don't you see what's on it?" Rarity hissed, her voice becoming a whisper as she pointed out the third page.
"Ah see it now!" AJ realized that there was a small piece of paper stuck to the trunk of the odd-looking tree.
"Don't look or it takes you..." Pinkie read.
"scary..." Fluttershy whispered from behind Twilight.
"Well, no use frettin' about it. It's only a game after all." Applejack reassured her.
"Fine, but it's my turn!" Dash knocked AJ off the chair and sat down, adjusting her grip on the mouse.
Sprinting through the trees, Rainbow noticed the Slenderpony off in the corner of the screen, but paid him no heed, and nopony else noticed him. "Ya think there's anything here?" she asked, pointing out a set of rusted metal containers.
"It doesn't look like it, but I'd check, just in case." Twilight said. Taking her friend's advice, Dash walked around the barrels, looking around.
"Here's one!" Dash quickly ran over and picked up the next note. "Let's take a look at this one... 'Always watches, No eyes?' That isn't even possible!" she snorted in laughter. Turning, she saw the Slenderpony a few barrels away from her... staring with his blank face. "CELESTIA'S MANE!" she shouted, turning and sprinting into the trees. She crashed into tree after tree, losing ground.
"Let a lady handle this." Rarity said, levitating the keyboard to the side and walking up. She dodged through the trees before Dash could even see them, gaining back the ground that Dash had lost, and then some. They were soon far away from the mysterious figure, in the heart of the forest.
"H-How did you..." Dash stammered. "Because I PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL." Rarity swiftly retorted. Calmly wandering through the dense collection of trees, she said, "Now if only I could put on some nice dress shoes... Well, I can always hope for an update, can I not?"
As everypony introduced their hooves to their faces, Pinkie exclaimed "What about pants? Pants would be cool! Maybe they'd be, like, MAGIC PANTS!"
"I honestly do not think that they're planning to add pants to the game, Pinkie." Twilight told her.
"Aww..." Pinkie reacted "I like pants, and I like parties." she suddenly let out such a gasp that she was lifted a few feet off the ground and held herself there for a moment. "A PANTS PARTY! THAT WOULD BE SO MUCH FUN!" she exclaimed. Applejack decided not to say anything at this point.
"My, he seems to be getting quite persistent, doesn't he?" Rarity said, after evading their tall assailant yet again.
"If ya'll wanna put it nicely." Applejack responded. Finally coming upon another landmark, they saw a group of dark rocks jutting up out of the earth. Walking around the side, Rarity came to the next note in the set, that would save them from the Slenderpony. "h-h-He's coming?" Fluttershy read.
"That's weird.. I never heard about that one!" Pinkie continued, "Maybe they, like, randomize or something? That's SO COOL! I wonder how they do that? Maybe it has something to do wit-"
"No, I'm sure it DOES NOT involve pants." Twilight said, predicting what Pinkie was about to say.
"HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT? Can you see into ponies' minds!?" Pinkie yelled in surprise and shock.
"No, it was just obvious." Twilight responded.
"C-can I try, Rarity?" a small voice asked.
"Why, of course!" Rarity replied, moving the keyboard to the chair as Fluttershy slowly climbed in. Shakily placing her hooves on the keyboard and mouse, Fluttershy let the light ambiance calm her, and walked in a new direction that she was sure that they had not gone in before. With the basic map of the forest that she had filled in in her mind as they walked, Fluttershy quickly found the next landmark, without encountering the suited pony once.
"Wow, good job!" Dash said.
Um...thank you." Fluttershy responded in her small, quiet voice.
Wandering around the brick wall, the note was easy to spot near the center, where the walls met, in the back-right corner. Everypony cheered quietly for her, then Twilight read the message scrawled on the old page. "Behind you?" Twilight quickly spun the mouse, but nopony was there. Slowly, all of the ponies' heads turned behind them....
...And there, standing motionless behind them, was THE SLENDERPONY.
In a quick frenzy of action, Applejack ran for the door, Rarity close behind, as Rainbow Dash grabbed Fluttershy and flew around it and out of the window, while Twilight teleported to the front of the library.
And through all of this, the tall pony with no face simply stood there. But as the six ponies fled, he reached upwards... and in a single swift motion, yanked off his head, revealing a benevolent and highly amused face and a flowing rainbow mane.
Princess Celestia walked slowly towards the monitor, opening a document in Minisoft Letter, to write a brief message to her student.
Dear Twilight Sparkle,
I hope that this message finds you in good health. It was slightly disconcerting when you ran away from me, is everything alright? Please reply swiftly, because I had hoped to show you my costume for this year's Nightmare Night celebration, as I am planning to attend the festivities in Ponyville.
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia
And with that, the Princess of the sun leapt out of the window and flew off towards Canterlot.
As she and her friends regrouped in front of the library, Twilight stepped towards the front door. "I'm going in. If this thing is a danger to Equestria, it's my duty to stop it!"
Applejack galloped up to her friend. "Wait up, there. We're all in this, y'know. Right?" she said, looking back at the other four.
"Yeah!" Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing towards Applejack. "I can't let you fight a superduperevilscary monster alone!"
"Yeah, lemme at him!" Rainbow yelled, making boxing motions. "I'll show that faceless monster not to mess with my friends!"
"Well, I suppose we can't do this any other way, can we?" Rarity said, brushing her hair from her face.
Fluttershy walked slowly, but resolutely towards the front door. "I...I can't let him hurt anypony... but I think we should try something other than fighting first."
All six ponies slowly entered the dark, book filled tree, silently climbing the staircase.
"Where IS he!?" Rainbow yelled, triple-checking the room. "It's not like he can.... oh, wait..."
Hmm... I suppose he.... Hey, what's this?" Twilight said, suddenly noticing the message on the computer screen.
"What?" Spike mumbled sleepily, having been woken up to aid in the search.
"Everypony, come over here, I've found some kind of letter!" Twilight exclaimed, thinking that she was finally on to something. They gathered around the bright screen and began to read, their cheeks growing a shade of red deeper with each sentence. As they finished, Twilight turned to her assistant. "Umm... could you take a letter?"
Spike grinned, amused by the thought of Twilight and friends accidentally fleeing from Celestia. "Sure!"
Dear Princess Celestia,
I am doing well, and I hope that you are as well. I believe that there was a misunderstanding tonight. Me and my friends happened to be playing the game that you suggested to us, and we were unprepared for your visit, thus we were not expecting you to come in costume. It would be wonderful if we could arrange a time for you to come to the Nightmare Night celebration this year.
P.S. The costume was very... realistic.
Your student,
Twilight Sparkle
