Equestrian Nightmare

Twilight was still shaking. She was truly terrified. A vicious serial killer had known her exact location. Her mind and her heart raced. What was she going to do? If she stayed in the library for the night, she, spike and Owlicious would not survive.

“Fuck.” Said Rainbow. “What are we going to do, now?”

“I-I don’t know.” Replied Twilight with a stutter. He, or it knows where I live, what am I going to do?”

Applejack spoke “I think we should stay here and be with Twilight for the night. If there’s more of us, we can make sure Twilight and Spike are safe.”

“Are you alright with that, Twi?” The unicorn nodded. “Thank you, girls.” Her friends accepted her gratitude. Rainbow walked to Twilight and held her close. “If it will help you stay safe, I’ll stay as long as you need me to.” Rainbow said with a kiss on her marefriend’s forehead.

“It’s getting pretty late. We should try to get some rest.” Said Fluttershy.

“You’re right” Replied Applejack. “Tomorrow, Rarity and I will go and try to look around town and see if we can find anything related to Sweetie Belle or whoever that was on the radio. Rarity nodded to show her agreement.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Asked Pinkie Pie. “If he knows where Twilight lives, he’ll surely know where you are.”

“My marefriend’s sister is missing, and she and I care about her too much. If being in danger means keeping Rarity and her family alive, it’s a risk I’m willing to take.” Rarity smiled, knowing Applejacks dedication to her.

“Let’s just get some rest.” Said Rainbow, still holding Twilight. The six friends went to Twilight’s bedroom.

They all settled into the room. Dash was lying next to Twilight, holding her. Pinkie and Fluttershy volunteered to sleep on the floor. Rarity and Applejack were sleeping on the bed on the opposite side as Twilight’s.

The lavender mare almost immediately fell asleep despite her fear.

Twilight walked along a narrow dirt path. She could only see inches in front of her. With her magic and  the moonlight illuminating the air around her. As she walked along the dirt ground, she found a white piece of paper, lying feet in front of her. She couldn’t help but notice it looked really crisp, like it had been gently placed there, just so she could see it.

Twilight picked up the paper. She cringed when she saw what the text said.

YOU CANNOT SAVE THEM. YOU CANNOT SAVE THEM. YOU CANNOT SAVE THEM. YOU CANNOT SAVE THEM. DEATH IS COMING. YOU CANNOT SAVE THEM.

YOU CANNOT SAVE HER..

Twilight dropped the letter, in fear and confusion. What did the letter mean when it said ‘You can’t save them, or death is coming? Was she going to die? Were any of her friends? But then, her thoughts traced back to that last sentence.

You cannot save her.

That sentence made her think the unthinkable. Rainbow Dash could die. And she couldn’t do anything about it. She blinked, and her eyes opened, to see a tall, faceless creature, wearing a black suit. Twilight’s eyes widened and she backed away. Even though, moving away from the entity, it continued to stare at her. It slowly started to walk after her. The lavender mare had backed into a tree.

The creature rose one of its hooves, and revealed Rainbow Dash, with fear in her eyes. Several tentacles emerged from the creature’s back . One of them started to straighten. The appendage eventually sharpened into that of a black, slim blade.

It whispered to Twilight “You cannot save her.”  Before preparing the blade-appendage, and quickly stabbing Rainbow in the heart.

“NO!!” Twilight screamed. Rainbow Dash screamed in pain, blood starting to pour from her mouth. The creature dropped Dash to the ground. She had died nearly immediately. Twilight yelled at SlenderMane.  “YOU MONSTER!!”

Her horn glowed, and she blasted at the creature with her magic. The shot was unsuccessful, as the entity merely faded away, before it had a chance to hit.

Twilight had awoken in a cold sweat. She sat up and looked around to assure where she was.

The library, and Rainbow Dash was right next to her. She let out a sigh of relief, knowing it was just a bad dream. She wasn’t going to try to go back to sleep, not right now. She need something to clear her mind, badly. She slowly got up out of her bed, a cup of tea on her mind. As she was walking, she heard a faint scratching at the bedroom door, along with panting. How could she hear that? There wasn’t a dog in the building, was there? Twilight stepped slowly toward the door.

Arriving at the door, Twilight opened it quickly. What she found, however, was a quiet, untouched library. At this, Twilight was confused. The mare looked at the door. It had several scratch marks on it. This wasn’t normal. But Twilight decided to just dismiss it for now. She wasn’t ready for more fear or stress.

She walked down the steps into the kitchen. She had a small pitcher of tea in the refrigerator, so whenever she had been in situations like this, she could drink tea without making much noise. She poured it into a cup. As she drank, she tried to recollect what happened in that dream.

She could only remember slight flashes. The rest was a blur. But there was one part that was etched into her memory, and she hated it. Twilight looked out the window, seeing that the sun was rising. Knowing her friends would probably be waking up soon, especially Rarity and Applejack, she placed the cup into the sink and walked back upstairs.

As she silently entered, she saw Rainbow Dash’s arm search for her, trying to hold her. Dash opened her eyes to look for her marefriend. She saw Twilight, standing at the foot of the bed, smiling.

“How come you’re awake so early?” Rainbow said with a small chuckle. “I’ll tell you about it later, Dash.” She replied, stepping back into the bed.

“Are you alright, Twi? If there’s something wrong, you can tell me.” She said with slight concern.

“No, no, I’m okay.” She answered. “I just couldn’t sleep.” Rainbow didn’t believe her. Twilight was never up this late, except for when she would be studying. But she knew that wasn’t the case. Something was wrong. She was sure of it. Her voice sounded shaky, like she was looking for an excuse.

“Twilight, seriously, what’s wrong? You aren’t fooling me.”

The unicorn’s smile slowly faded and she looked down and sighed. “Come downstairs, I’ll tell you.” She said, reluctantly.

“Oh my God.” Rainbow said with a slight gasp. After hearing what Twilight could remember from her dream, she was heartbroken by seeing her marefriend start to cry. She wrapped a hoof around Twilight’s shoulders and held her.

Rainbow knew what monster Twilight was describing in her dream. SlenderMane. The same thing she met and fought in the forest.

With this, Dash was confused, thoughts flashed in her head. Should she tell Twilight? Should she keep it to herself? What should she do? After a short time of thinking, she decided it would be best to tell Twilight about her encounter.

“Twilight?” she asked

“Yes?” replied Twilight, calming down from her sadness.

“There’s something that I really need to tell you.” She said as her marefriend lifted her head.

“What is it?”

“That creature, the one you described, I’ve seen it before.” Twilight cringed after hearing this. “No, that’s impossible, there’s no way that thing could be real.” She replied.

“It is, Twi. I saw it in the Everfree forest. I was doing Weather Patrol and I heard a scream from below. I entered the forest. I was looking for the source of the scream. While I was looking, I saw a foal, or her body..”

Twilight couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Rainbow had to be joking or at least pretending to tell the truth to make her feel more comfortable. But something in her mind knew, Rainbow was telling the truth.

“It came to me, and we ended up getting into a fight. I-“

“Wait, you said you fought that thing?” Asked Twilight, shocked at what Dash had just said.

“Yeah, but I-“

“What were you thinking, Dash?”

“Twi, that thing struck at me first, it was going to kill me. I needed to fight back, really I did.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Dash. I just thought of my dream and thought that could have happened to you.” She answered, feeling slightly guilty.

“It could have Twilight, but that’s why we have to be careful. “

“What should we do now?” she asked Rainbow. “We need to try to find something about this thing. I think you should go into town, and see what you can find. Ask ponies about it. Maybe we can find out if it had anything to do with Sweetie Belle.” Twilight thought for a second, then obliged. After all, Rainbow did have some good points. If she knew more about it, she could maybe know how to stop it, somehow, if it was possible.

Twilight spoke “I have to get something, I’ll be right back.” She went to the main room and lifted a book from the bookshelf. She read the cover to assure it was the right book.

Paranormal Creatures and Demonic Entities

She brought the book over to the kitchen table where she and Rainbow were sitting. Twilight lipped through the pages and realized something. Page 77, the page about the photo of the grinning dog, was missing. Torn clean out of the book.

“Hm?” Twilight mumbled. Rainbow saw the cause of her concern.

“Oh, who do you think did this?” She asked.

“I don’t know.” She answered. Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of footsteps. The noise came from Applejack and Rarity. “Hey, girls.” Said AJ. “We’re gonna head out and see what we can find about Sweetie Belle. We’ll be back again later, and we’ll tell y’all if we find anything.”

“Okay, Applejack, you two stay safe, alright?” Rainbow gestured

“We will.”

Applejack allowed Rarity to step out first, and closed the door behind her. Twilight was still looking at the missing page, shocked. Who tore the page out of the book? She knew her friends wouldn’t be disrespectful like that. So who could have done it? Could it mean..

No. She knew that wasn’t possible. She saw that picture burn in the fire. It wasn’t possible that the photo could be back and removed itself from the book. It couldn’t be that. She turned the pages again, but she found nothing about SlenderMane. And page 77 was the only page that spoke of Smile Dog.

“Great, this makes our search even harder.” Said Rainbow.

“I’m going to go out and see what I can find.”

“Okay, well, be safe, Twi.”   Rainbow gave Twilight a kiss on the lips.

“Thanks, baby.” She replied, returning the kiss. “I will.”

Twilight stood up and walked out the door.

As Twilight walked down the dirt path, she thought back to what had happened earlier. What was scratching her door, and why was that page missing? And that dream made it even worse. Was there something out to kill her? Were they toying with her?

How could so much happen in one night? Was that dog real? Her thoughts were interrupted by a single voice.

“Hey Twilight!” the mare looked to where the noise came from. It was Silver Shade. Twilight walked up to him.

“Hi Silver.” She answered. “How have you been?” Silver shrugged.

“It’s been good. But, what about you? You don’t look so well.” Twilight had a clear expression of stress.

“Well, Rarity’s little sister, Sweetie Belle went missing last night. We don’t know what or who could have taken her.” She gestured for him to follow her. “Other than that, other things happened that night that just made it worse. We heard a disturbing message on the radio. It was somepony, or something, saying they knew the location of everyone in Ponyville. After we heard that, the girls decided to stay at the library with me for the night.”

“That’s really kind of them, you really do have good friends, Twilight.” He replied.

“That’s not all.” This time, Twilight wasn’t going to tell what happened in her dream. “Do you remember that picture that you found with that grinning dog?” Silver nodded “Yes, why do you ask?”

“I think it came back.” She said flatly. Silver cringed at this. “No, that’s impossible, it was destroyed. An object can’t regenerate itself after being burnt.”

“Then, why are there scratch marks on my door? And why is the page regarding that photo missing in my book?”  She asked

“Wait, what?” he inquired, confused by this.

“I looked in the book to see if it had any more information on that photo. It was torn from the book. The entire page is missing.” Silver pondered for a moment. “Do you think someone could have broken in?”

“Who would enter the library in the middle of the night, take a page from a book and scratch a door?” She did have a good point. Having that idea shot down, he had no further ideas.

“Hey Twilight, I have to go get something from my house, I’ll be back out later.”

“Okay, I need to be alone for a little while, I have to think. If this photo starts to become a detriment to us, or the rest of Ponyville, were going to have a major problem. We need to try to find a way to get rid of it for good.” Silver agreed with her. He left after their conversation ended.

As Twilight continued to walk, she tried to think of logic in this situation. But there wasn’t any! She could try her hardest to explain it even to herself, but she couldn’t. How can a physical object regenerate or reappear like that page did. How could there actually be a creature that could come to life after only being on paper. At least, what creature could without aid from a spell? How was that entity in her dream a physical being?

The hours seemed to fly like a bird. She asked many other folks in the village, but seldom any could describe the same phenomena that Twilight inquired of. One pony even asked Twilight if she had taken any medication. She was living with a clean mind. She was completely sane, and she knew that, and so did her friends.

The day was unsuccessful. She gained no information about the missing page, or Slendermane. She couldn’t find anything. After realizing this, she thought it would be best if she just went home. Rainbow Dash would be there or at least some of her friends. Her thoughts were interrupted by a hoof tapping her shoulder . She let out a small scream and swung her arm back.

“OUCH!” She turned around and Silver Shade was holding his nose. Apparently, she had hit him really hard.

“Fuck. Silver, don’t scare me like that. Now is not the time!”

“Sorry, Twilight, I just wanted to mess with you. I Didn’t think that I’d get smacked in the face like that.”

“I’ve just been paranoid, so in a way it’s both of our faults.” They continued to walk “I haven’t found anything at all. I don’t think I will either.” She stepped up to a building that had caught her attention. It was a store that sold picture frames and portraits. She looked across the small variety of frames and photos until she saw something that made her blood go cold. It was a photo of a smiling husky. The eyes stared into her soul. The feature she recognized the most was a large grin across the dog’s face.

The sound of static developed in Twilight’s ears. She turned to her right to see Slendermane behind Silver Shade.

“Oh my God. SILVER SHADE!! RUN!!” he turned around and saw the entity behind him. “OH SHIT!”

“FOLLOW ME, SILVER!!” she exclaimed as she ran. Shade followed. The two saw the library in the distance. Twilight looked backed and saw Slendermane following them in a quick walk. She looked ahead and as she turned her head, she heard the sound of a dog barking at them.

Twilight and Silver Shade felt relief as they saw the entrance of the library. Twilight used her magic to open the door. She ran in, let Silver enter and slammed the door.

“Twilight? Is that you? Are you alright?” Twilight jumped at the sound, only to sigh in relief at seeing that it was Rarity walking down the stairs.

“No, we are not. We were chased all the way back here.” She replied in between breaths. Applejack and the others stepped down the stairs. Rainbow Dash hurried to her marefriend and tried to comfort her somehow.

“I’m okay now. I just need to clear my mind.” The unicorn walked into the kitchen and poured a glass of tea. Twilight stopped drinking as she heard a feint sound of interference coming from the radio on the table. “Girls? Has the radio been on all day?” she asked

Dash replied “Yeah, we kept it on to see if there was anything else to know about what’s been going on. Why?” Twilight pointed at the radio, making the same noise. The static-like noise stopped for a brief second before a familiar voice played on the speaker.

“Hello Twilight. I guess my friends gave you and your buddy quite the scare, didn’t they? Well, if you thought that was bad, then you’ve barely scraped the surface of what they can unleash. And that reminds me that I have someone keeping me company. Someone you might know very well, or at least, your friend, Rarity, might know.

A muffled voice resembled one being bound so they couldn’t speak. They voice cleared for a moment.

“TWILIGHT RARITY! HELP M-“ the voice was muffled once again. The speaker chuckled. “You know, this reminds me that I have a VERY special surprise for you and your friends if you come to the Everfree Forest.”

“Be there soon. Don’t keep me waiting.”

The message ended with static. Twilight stood up and spoke “Silver, and the rest, pack whatever you need, because we’re leaving tonight.”

“Where are we going?”  asked Rainbow.

Twilight turned around and flatly answered “The Everfree Forest.”