“Please tell me you have something!” Jane’s voice was panicked and clearly terrified, as any would be in her situation. She spoke to the two figures crouched over a strange wooden box, one was a boy of her own age while the other was older, somewhere in his late twenties.
The teenaged boy nodded.
“Yeah, we’ve got something. What exactly is a better question; are you sure that this is what this thing’s even for?” The teenager responded, directing his question toward the older man, who nodded solemnly.
“I saw them use this when that thing first arrived; trust me, if this plan of yours has any chance, this is it.” The man narrowed his eyes at the boy, who had once again begun fiddling with the latches on the box. “I still think this is wrong.”
The boy sighed in exasperation.
“Well whoop de do, if you come up with a better idea you tell me, anytime we do something sensible we end up dying or getting taken, time for something a little outside the box.”
“And yet your plan is to go inside the box.”
The boy couldn’t help but grin at that but still carried on working.
Jane glanced back to the boarded up window she had been glancing through; from what little she could see through the boards they had time left.
But did they? Anytime they appeared to be safe, either Its minions or the beast Itself would find them.
She jumped as she heard a loud clicking, followed by a swirling, unnatural noise that filled her ears; its sound was impossible to describe but felt vaguely similar to the crackling they all felt whenever The Beast was nearby.
She looked uneasily at the now open box; the older man, Aaron, was already having second thoughts while the teenage boy, Michael, had already scrambled to open his rucksack and was rummaging for what he would need.
“Michael, a-are you sure this is a good idea?” Aarons’ question chilled them both; they had never heard him stutter before, not even when facing down The Beast.
Michael ignored it and finally pulled a small object from his rucksack, which he then began strapping to his back.
“I think Aarons right Michael, this looks more likely to kill you than actually help at all-“
“Shut up.”
Both Aaron and Jane looked up, shocked at Michael’s blunt answer.
“Shut up,” he repeated, “just shut up! You don’t know it won’t work, and if it even has a chance I might as well because hell, look around you guys! This thing could teleport me right into Hell and it probably would be an improvement!”
“Michael, quiet!” Aaron shushed, but it was too late.
From outside the three of them heard the all too familiar scrapes and crashes of hands and weapons against boarded windows and blocked doors; already they had heard the glass go and every few seconds another board hit the floor.
Aaron sprang to his feet, cocking his rifle.
“No time for debate anymore, Michael, GO!” He yelled as he aimed a shot at the nearest window; a silhouetted figure yelled and fell out of site but another soon arrived, bashing away at the boards with what looked like a tire iron.
Jane nodded to Michael with a determined look, loading her own pistol and arming herself with a dagger in the other. She aimed a volley of shots toward the boarded front door, the bullets punching through and hopefully striking the various figures they could hear throwing themselves against it.
She sighed as she saw Michael hadn’t moved.
“MICHAEL, NOW!”
Michael stood rooted to the spot as he watched the onslaught but the yells from Jane and Aaron snapped him out of it; he quickly threw the small object he had gathered into the box. As he expected it burst into flames almost immediately, the flames promptly turned a horrific black, like solid shadows and spiralled out of the box, consuming him in moments. When it finally cleared there was no sign he had ever been there.
Aaron and Jane barely glanced as the shadowy inferno engulfed their friend and continued their defence; they knew that death or perhaps even worse was mere minutes away for them but they would take as many foes with them as they could.
Who knows, Aaron wondered as he casually sent a bullet through the eye of a hooded figure crawling through a now destroyed window, maybe this plan might even save everyone else.
****
The feeling as Michael was pulled through the darkness was indescribable; the unknown forces surrounding him permeated through his very being and the sensation changed every second, often before he had even registered it, splitting pain followed in a nanosecond by content.
It didn’t last long before he was thrown into a world of solid matter again.
He grunted as something landed on his head with a painful bump, as it fell off he could see that the odd box had been brought along with him. On the inside there were no traces of the tribute, assumedly it had been burnt to cinders when the portal opened.
He tucked it under his arm, careful to not put his hands anywhere near the inside of the box and took measure of his surroundings; it was a slight shock to his eyes to see a bright sky again but he wasn’t about to complain about feeling the sun on his skin for a change. Grass was lush and green in the field he had ended up in and he could see Apple Trees of in the distance.
That made his heart leap; he still wasn’t about to build his hopes up so soon but it was a good sign and the best place to start would be finding out if those trees meant what he hoped they did.
So he started on his way to the apple trees, his rucksack was a weight on his back but he appreciated it, every feeling, pleasant or not, was a reminder that he was still alive and his mind was still his own.
“Hey, who are you?”
Even though he visibly jumped out of instinct, he felt a sliver of happiness run through him as he recognised the cheerful, slightly squeaky voice.
Sure enough when he turned around he was greeted by three young fillies, all looking at him with a mixture of apprehension and curiosity, the little Pegasus Scootaloo even had what looked distinctly like a plunger gun aimed at him half-heartedly.
He had seen enough of their antics to know not to question why they had it.
The speaker, the alabaster Sweetie Belle was still waiting for an answer with a friendly smile.
“Hi girls, my name’s Michael, I’m a friend of Applejack.” He lied; if he could get to the Princesses without describing his situation to children, he’d rather do it.
Applebloom was surveying him with a suspicious look but as she combed his figure she gasped and pulled her fellow crusaders back, her eyes locked on his belt.
Michael cursed and looked down; he had forgotten about the large machete hooked to his belt and, sure enough, what little of it could be seen out of the holster had visible dried blood on it.
Before he’d even looked back up he heard the click of a trigger, and felt the dull impact of the plunger attaching itself to the side of his head, sticking in place and covering his left eye.
He grunted in annoyance and began pulling at the plunger, not caring as the Cutie Mark Crusaders galloped for the farmhouse; it took many pulls but finally the plunger came lose and he chucked it away in frustration.
“Great, real subtle entrance.” He grumbled to himself as he began unclipping the machete from his belt to hide in his rucksack. Just as he packed it away he heard the tell-tale galloping of the crusaders returning, accompanied by clearly adult hooves.
He just waited; he had wanted to find the Elements of Harmony, even if Applejack planned to assault him, at least he’d found her. It was something of a surprise to see Big Macintosh with Applejack but far more surprisingly was to see the normally stoic stallion glaring furiously.
“Stranger, care to tell us exactly what the hay you’re doing on our land with a weapon and no invite?” Applejack demanded, advancing and forcing Michael to back up.
Michael raised his hands in surrender as he backed up.
“Easy Applejack, I can explain-“
“And how do you know mah name?” He kicked himself for that one.
“Look, I can explain everything but right now, I need to talk to Princess Luna as quickly as possible, this is important!” His voice rose as Applejack had backed him into a tree.
Applejack glared into his face as he willed her to just accept what he was saying. After a few moments she sighed, turning to Big Mac.
“Ah reckon he’s telling the truth; Big Mac, could you go round up everypony else?”
“Eeyup.” The scarlet stallion sprinted off towards Ponyville.
“Applebloom, y’all get to the house and stay there, tell Granny Smith what’s going on; ah reckon there’s trouble a’ brewin’.” Applebloom looked for a moment like she might object but she and the other crusaders took off toward the farmhouse, Scootaloo pausing for a moment to sheepishly retrieve the plunger.
“Now stranger, ah reckon that you’ve got some explainin’ to do.”
Michael nodded. He could only hope they’d actually believe him.
****
“So why can’t he just tell us now, huh? I say we don’t let him go anywhere until he tells us what’s going on.”
“R-Rainbow, maybe we s-should listen…”
“I’m gonna throw such a great party for you, I’ve never thrown a human in Equestria party before, oh this is gonna be-“
“Girls!” Twilights voice cut through the onslaught of clashing voices. “He told us that we had to wait for the Princesses, we’ll know when they get here, just be patient.”
“No offense Twi, but that varmint just showed up on mah lands armed to the death and refusing to tell me why he’s there, Ah’m feeling a might like I deserve an explanation and fast.” Applejack glared at the human, sat with Rarity twenty feet away. The snow white mare seemed to be trying to make the best of the humans scruffy looks but it was a futile effort if ever Applejack had seen one, his hair was caked in dirt and his clothes, a hooded sweatshirt and a pair of jeans over black boots, were hopelessly worn and in some places ripped.
It didn’t seem to deter the fashionista though, who was constantly fussing with one thing or another and the human didn’t seem to mind.
“I agree with Applejack, if he wasn’t shifty why won’t he at least tell us why he’s armed? I reckon he’s-“
“Don’t you even start bringing up spies again sugar cube.”
Rainbow actually looked slightly put out at not being able to accuse him of spying. A twinkle came into her eyes as she opened her mouth again.
“And no, I’m fairly certain he ain’t a ninja neither.”
“Aww.”
Twilight had buried herself in a book as per usual while the Pegasus and the farm pony argued; her number one assistant had taken the opportunity to drift towards Rarity. Applejack smirked as Spike practically glowed with envy as Rarity tried to fix Michaels sweatshirt and he seemed to be telling a story, though she couldn’t hear him.
“Anythin’ in that book Twi?” Applejack tilted her head then gave Twilight an odd look.
“Uh, Twi?”
“MmmHmm?” Twilight didn’t even glance from the book.
“No offense but, ain’t that book meant for little fillies?” Applejack could distinctly remember Applebloom being read a copy of The Little Humans when she was still a baby.
Twilight groaned in annoyance.
“I know, I know, but there is nothing else in the library, he doesn’t make any sense, he’s something from a book that isn’t real. Humans don’t exist in anything factual, they were just a story made up for foals, how can he be here?” Twilight was clearly stressed, failing to find information in her books was not something the librarian accepted well.
“Twi, calm down, Ah’m sure the Princesses will-“
“Hey, incoming!” Rainbow Dash jumped down from her cloud perch to hover beside them as two shining chariots descended, one in bright shining gold, the other of a gleaming black metal. In each carriage rode a Princess, Celestia and Luna, both looking worried.
The two carriages touched down, the Alicorns quickly jumping out; Celestia greeted the Elements warmly and nuzzled Twilight for a moment but Luna gave them all a nod before moving right past to speak with Michael.
“Princess, oh please tell me you know more about this, I’m so sorry but I couldn’t find anything in my books and-“ Twilights apology was cut off by Celestia laying a wing over her gently.
“Twilight, you have no need to apologise to me; this has been a very sudden development for everypony.”
“And a most troubling one.” Luna marched up the group, Michael coming up just behind her; Luna looked troubled, almost angry, while Michael seemed apprehensive.
“Luna, what do you mean?” Celestia asked, her sister was not one to be riled easily.
“It would seem that he is not lying; he is no changeling or mischievous unicorn, he is indeed a human.” Luna shared a glance with her sister before turning her attention back to Michael, who seemed to be in awe of the two Alicorns.
Celestia looked the human over, who only looked vaguely better even after Rarity’s best efforts.
“Greetings, I am-“
“Princess Celestia, and this is Princess Luna your younger sister and these are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony.” He finished for her. The ponies gasped in shock but he simply shrugged.
“How is it you come to know so much of our world human?” Luna demanded.
He sighed, took a deep breath and began to explain.
“My name is Michael; I’m from a place called Earth where humans like me live. We know about Equestria and everyone in it because of a show on television-“
“Television?” Luna inquired.
“It’s a bit like something that you can use to watch plays from home. Anyway, we knew about Equestria and it was our idea of, well, entertainment because our world isn’t as nice as Equestria and there’s no magic so-“ He interrupted himself to hold back a slight snicker at the horrified expression on Twilights face. “So anyway, a few years ago something came to our world that… wasn’t right. It didn’t belong, and it started doing serious damage to our world, it started hurting people, changing them and making them hurt other people. It got worse the longer it went on, we couldn’t trust anyone because they could be one of them and we’d never know.”
By now the Princesses and the Elements were clearly worried but Michael carried on.
“Like I said, we don’t have any magic of our own, but this creature did; it could corrupt us, find us even when we hid and we couldn’t do anything to stop it. It only took a few years before practically our whole world was either dead or overrun.” He visibly shuddered as he recalled the memories but pressed on.
“That’s when this came into the picture.” He prodded his foot against the small wooden chest he had kept with him since he arrived.
“And what precisely is that?” Celestia asked, looking at the chest with a mixture of curiosity and fear.
Michael shrugged.
“To tell you the truth, I don’t have any idea how this thing actually came to be; all I know is that the people who serve the monster use it to send themselves to other worlds and infest them. I decided to use this stolen one to call for help and, well, I didn’t really have many other worlds to think of.”
“How do you mean?” Rarity piped up.
“This thing needs some kind of connection to the world you want to go to, it can be a memento, something actually from that world or just something that reminds you of it; it destroys the item in exchange for making a portal to that world.”
“And how exactly did you have a memento of this world?” Luna asked, suspicious.
Michael surprised them with a warm smile before he reached into his rucksack and pulled out four small, brightly coloured toys. Rarity gave a small squee as she saw her own representation in his hands, along with three others that they could recognise from around Ponyville.
“You might not realise it but you mean a lot to a lot of people back where I’m from.” The change in tone was remarkable; the same voice that had been filled with fear and sadness as it recalled years of fear and loss was now filled with warmth and nostalgia as it looked from the toys in his hand to the ponies now examining them.
“If you would, what exactly IS this creature you claim to be fleeing from?” Luna had not changed her tone at all.
There was a pause, followed by a shared gasp, and a yelp from Fluttershy, from the ponies as Michaels eyes bulged and he fell to his knees, his breath suddenly ragged as he mumbled incoherently, staring in pure terror at something that wasn’t there.
“Princess, what’s wrong with him!?” Twilight cried as she watched the human ramble on.
Celestia shook her head, utterly perplexed; she had seen madness and hallucinations many times but never had the transition been so sudden. They all began their own attempts to help, Celestia illuminated her horn and enveloped Michael in a warm, soft glow while Fluttershy fought her own fear as best she could to whisper soothingly to him.
It did no good seemingly, as Michael lashed at Fluttershy, striking her across the muzzle. Even as Rainbow Dash looked ready to lay into the human, a loud crackle and a flash of light from beside them made the others whirl around, only to see that Luna had vanished.
“What in the world?” Twilight barely had time to finish her question before Michael stiffened, his kneeling position maintained as if he had suddenly frozen; his eyes were distant and unseeing, the colours muted almost to the point of turning grey.
Luna, Celestia thought as the Elements looked around in confusion, please tell me you can let your hatred go. This human is different.
****
“What madness is this?” Princess Luna was no stranger to the realm of dreams and sadly nor was she unfamiliar with nightmares, but this was beyond any such nightmare she had encountered.
The forest she stood in seemed normal initially but anything more than an eye glance told her something was wrong; the celestial bodies were unnatural, arranging themselves into bizarre symbols that seemed meaningless even to one such as her who shaped the constellations as any artist shaped their work.
The forest itself was unnaturally dark; even with her horn illuminated and a clear full moon showing in the sky, Luna could see little more than ten feet, no gradual drop in the light level or vague shapes that she could not detail in the darkness, just a blanket of the purest darkness beyond her magical glow.
“What?”
She didn’t jump; she had been aware of the figures presence since he had so foolishly stepped from the veil of shadows that shielded him. She turned herself to face him, almost jumping at being greeted not by a human face but by a mask of what looked like porcelain of purest white, the eyes had markings similar to the strange constellations decorating the rims and red paint clearly meant to symbolise blood ran in tracks down its face.
The figure looked Luna over with a tilt of his head, seemingly vaguely confused, almost as if he could not fully understand what he was seeing. Luna felt both anger and satisfaction at the same time; this abomination had invaded her realm and clearly had no idea who it was dealing with.
“What are you, I command you identify yourself!”
The figure in the mask tilted his head this way and that, as if it couldn’t see her; it took over a minute before a voice was heard again.
“It won’t answer you.” The voice was instantly familiar but sounded ragged. Luna turned and nearly gagged; Michael was strung up against one of the forests many trees, wounds covered his body and his eyes bore an untold amount of pain.
“It can’t understand you; this is my prison, it should be the only one that can get in here. I was hoping you could, ugh, get around that.” He seemed to be struggling to talk and writhed against the tree.
Luna fought back the urge to vomit as she saw someone had nailed him to it through his hands and kneecaps.
She trotted up to Michael and, without warning, yanked the nails and chains away; his screams were bloodcurdling but she knew from experience it would have been worse had she given him time to prepare. She caught him in her magic as he fell and gently lowered him to a sitting position.
“Now what would you have me do?” Luna asked.
Michael was still in great pain but he forced himself to answer.
“That thing is a my own personal torturer; It’s how it kept track of us. You need to kill that or more likely than not find out where I escaped to.” That got Lunas’ attention.
“So what you are telling me is that you were willing to lead this monstrosity to our world?”
Michael glared at her.
“We were desperate! Who do you think has a better chance against it, a handful of humans with no magic or fighting prowess or a whole kingdom ruled by two Goddesses? And it will find you anyway Luna, we aren’t the first world this thing attacked, it won’t stop at us!”
“Enough!” Luna charged her magic and aimed her horn at the masked figure, who did nothing to avoid the blast of blazingly hot moonlight that struck him, vaporising him in a flash of light.
****
The two awoke at the same time, in a bedroom that was familiar to Luna; she was looking up at the ceiling of her own bedroom, decorated with an intricately detailed and lovingly designed mural of the night sky and its constellations. She was on her huge four poster bed and could see that Michael had been laid down on the couch, which was the same midnight blue as most of the room.
“So; is that the end of that?” Luna quickly jumped to her hooves, used to rising from slumber and setting right to work. The human was evidently also accustomed to it, as he stood with no trace of sleep or tiredness in his form.
“It should be, at least for now; It might try to get in my head again but I think it would take a while, Slendys’ little mind games take a while to set- Luna, what’s wrong?” As he had spoke, Luna had frozen in the centre of the room, eyes widened in horror.
“R-Repeat that!”
“Uh, I said Slendy’s little mind-“
“RIGHT THERE! Slendy, who is this “Slendy”?”
Michael just shrugged.
“That’s what we call the beast attacking our world; I don’t know if it has a real name and if it does I sure as hell don’t know it. We call it the Slender Man, because, well, it looks like a really thin and tall human, we’re not very creative I’ll admit. But anyways, this thing has been infesting our world for years, it’s driven our friends and allies insane and turned them into its’ slaves, and its presence alone is killing our world, last time I saw the sun was about a year ago.”
He looked back to Luna, realising he had rambled. She hadn’t moved.
“Luna?”
“We must speak to my sister… IMMEDIATELY!” Michael jumped as the Canterlot Royal Voice emerged and he felt himself being dragged bodily from the room by Luna’s magic. At least now hopefully they would help him, he could only pray that Luna’s word on the matter would be enough.
He allowed himself to be carried along by Luna until they burst through the huge double doors to the Throne Room, shocking everyone present; Michael could see Jet Set looking thoroughly indignant, while the others seemed more shocked at his appearance in general than how sudden it was.
“Luna, oh thank goodness you are awake!” Celestia cried, crushing Luna in a wing hug, which in turn made her drop Michael in a heap on the ground.
“Tia, we need to hurry, there is no time to lose if what the human says is true.”
“The human has a name you know.” Michael muttered but no one heard.
“Luna, calm down. You have had us worried, you should rest first.” Celestias motherly voice was soothing even to those it wasn’t directed at, Michael was finding.
“Tia, he spoke of-“ Luna caught herself as she remembered where they were and whispered in Celestias ear. Michael didn’t need to guess what she was whispering; Luna’s reaction could only mean one thing…
“Phalanx, bring the Elements of harmony from their chamber, Shimmer Strike, please summon Princess Twilight and her friends. Halberd, please escort the nobles from the castle, court is officially closed for today.” The three guards nodded and trotted off to their duties. Celestia moved past Luna to stare intently at Michael.
“It is important Michael that you are honest with me; do you mean what you told Luna? Is it the truth?” For one inexplicable moment Michael was tempted to lie to Celestia but he nodded with a grim look, clearly wishing that he could just say no and that would make it so.
Celestia sighed, a mixture of dread and worry on her normally serene face; Luna nuzzled her sister, who quickly regained her composure.
“Michael, please wait for us in my chambers, Luna will show you the way; your personal effects have been held there for the last few days.”
“Wait!” Michael interrupted. “Few days? How long were we unconscious?”
Celestia gave a curious look.
“You passed out in the fields of Ponyville, screaming and yelling on Friday; it is now Tuesday.” She said in an emotionless tone.
Michael grabbed at his hair and began pacing, muttering under his breath hurriedly; he had already lost so much time…
“Please Michael, control yourself and make your way to my chambers. Luna, please escort him.”
Luna nodded and half pushed, half magically dragged Michael with her through the castle corridors.
Celestias shoulders slumped as soon as they left; if the human was telling the truth, if It had honestly returned. She shook her head furiously.
It didn’t matter; if Slender Mane had truly returned, they would fight it as they fought others. Together they had defeated Discord and even reformed him, banished Nightmare Moon then restored Luna to herself; they would stand against this monster and destroy it.
Never again, Celestia thought to herself, glancing back into the hall; two particular stained glass windows were her focus. To most they simply appeared to be more artistically creative windows depicting scenes of happiness with odd looking ponies, nothing unusual to see in the royal palace.
But Celestia and Luna both knew of their true significance. They could only hope to avoid a repeat of the events the windows truly depicted.
****
In the dark alleys of Manehatten, many dark and unpleasant things hide; thugs, liars and cheats, some hiding even greater darkness behind their facades.
But in the alleyway behind Strikes Bowling Alley, the shadows themselves seemed to flee from the figure cloaked in a dark long coat, with eyes like that of a snake, black slits framed by red irises. The humanoid figure raised its head, as if sniffing at the air.
“Hey, what the buck are you?”
The figure didn’t even react as a group of three rough looking stallions advanced and circled him, trapping him, or at least they thought.
“I asked you a question freak!” The leader seemed under the impression that he could intimidate the humanoid. “What. The. Buck. Are you?”
The figure dropped its eyes to the leader, who recoiled at the sight of its demonic eyes.
“My name is long ago eclipsed; I am a Revenant.”
The stallion regained his composure slightly.
“Oh yeah, and what’s that supposed to be?”
The Revenant looked at him with a tilt of the head before a small smirk appeared on its face.
The stallions two friends yelled and galloped out of the alley; it took the leader one second too long to notice why, his hooves were already held in place.
The Revenants skin seemed to evaporate into slivers of shadow before his eyes, healthy flesh replaced by rotted and dead skin or open muscle
The slivers of shadow which disguised the Revenants skin had not faded away, they attacked themselves to his skin like leeches and, despite the clear lack of teeth, mouths or any kinds of organs, had begun stripping away at the Stallions flesh as a parasprite ate anything it came across.
It was very quick, a few seconds of muffled agony from the stallion before nothing was left; the shadows reattached themselves to the Revenant, who within seconds looked like a normal human once again. Without acknowledging anything that had just happened, the Revenant calmly walked from the alleyway and through the streets of Manehatten, swiping a map from a nearby stall and quickly marking his destination.
Ponyville.
