Inside a warehouse near an abandoned mine, a camcorder was lying on the dirt covered floor, slightly damaged with scuff marks and a cracked screen, and partially covered with blood.
It was the most advanced technology prototype that was created in Equestria and was soon planned to be released to the general public when the finished product was completed, but strangely out of all the places the prototype could be, it somehow ended up in a forest inside a faraway warehouse where no one would find it. The reason for that was unknown until it was finally found by a park ranger who had to cover his overtime by patrolling around in that creepy area.
Whatever happened to and with it, it must've been terrible, dreadful business. Whoever had this must've had a very good reason to borrow this thing and made his or her way to somewhere secluded and where it was considered 'trespassing' and it was a place nopony should be hanging around. Unfortunately for the investigation team, not a lot of ponies can get their hoofs on something like a camcorder, as it was at that moment one-of-a-kind. But luckily some had a few names in their mind that had the right to possess a rare gadget, like the inventors who made it, the inspectors or the least likely but not impossible ponies who could've had it, the princesses.
Some would say that as a joke or a lie at first, but ever since one of their princesses, Princess Celestia had gone missing for a long time without any explanation whatsoever, it did seem conceivable she would've had it with her because at the same time at the beginning of her absence the inventors reported the camcorder had been missing as well. They set up a team of investigators to find out the last pony who had it with them, questions were asked repeatedly to every individual pony they could talk to, yet all of the questions were always responded with a no and soon the team gave up as this would not bore any fruit if this continues.
The case remained unclosed ever since these turning events happened. The news changed the everypony hard, but more forceful towards the missing princess's sister, Princess Luna who spent hours stressing and mentioning about it to herself ever since her sister was involved in this; and Celestia's favourite student, Twilight Sparkle who had to be a provisional replacement for her and trying hard to comfort Luna.With Celestia gone, both temporarily had to take over her task of raising the sun and it was definitely putting weight on both of their shoulders as the task itself was definitely not simple and often tiring. For months she didn't come home as expected, and it starting to fill anxiety in their minds.
Their will was pushed on and on while they urged and encouraged themselves to keep on going with their lives and remained patient. But if this were to keep going at this rate, they both know they will lose hope on trying to believe Celestia would return. They would then had to declare this that Celestia would not be coming back and that would result in anarchy and sorrow to the country, with the Princesses struggling to keep the citizens and the situation in order.
However with the help of Twilight's friends and the public aware of this situation, they agreed they would not rest until the Princess is finally found.
*sigh* Where are you, dear sister?she often pondered when she was on her balcony staring at the moonlight.
The stress and worry was starting to affect herself. She sometimes didn't sleep well and was often gloomy for most of the day. The loyal and sympathetic guards were quick to notice and tried all they can to comfort her and she accepted it gladly, but to no avail inside she was still worried as ever and like it or not she couldn't get rid of it.
Three Months Earlier...
Celestia was just sitting on her room writing something on a piece of paper , she was quiet, nothing odd about that but her expression already said it all she was dead serious and interested and anxious about it ever since a report of fillies going missing was sent to her.
The day before she received news that fillies were beginning to disappear near the Eerie Oak Forest, not far from Ponyville yet mostly unheard of until then. The forest was just like any other forest it could have been. Just the usual oak trees and wildlife for all the ponies know, but after the events of the fillies vanishing in there the public was quite concerned about the forest and many speculations were starting to rise.
The news at first piqued her interested bit by bit when the number of fillies vanished near the Eerie Oak Forest began to grew. The news grew more intriguing and bafflingwhen it was also told that nopony knew how these fillies were lost and never came back out. Not even Princess Celestia's top investigators could even understand this type of mystery.
The news had finally tempted her to send out a search party consisting volunteers who wanted to help into the forest and report back to her of what they could get, but oddly enough after a few months of waiting for them to come back they haven't been out of the woods either. It made her more worried and decided to take the case by herself. She did a lot researching, getting information from the poor parents whom their children were victims of the case. She tried to get all the details she could get her hooves on, and slowly she got more information than anypony else had.
However she knew the amount of data she had wasn't enough to solve the mystery. Luckily for her there was a witness who actually lived to tell the tale, and it gave her the chance to extract more intelligence from her. The witness wrote it all down on a parchment considering she couldn't say what she just saw, it was clear from the looks of her and her handwriting she was traumatized and somehow unable her to speak. But she was willingly enough to cooperate and did what she could give and tell and it was proof enough something happened in there.
When I was taking a picture of my wife near the forest, we were on holiday that time, I saw something lurking in the shadows. I couldn't see much of it since the darkness has made it unidentifiable. I then made the biggest mistake ever of losing my wife by shrugging it off and took the picture anyway. But until the picture was taken my wife suddenly disappeared. I tried looking around me to see if my mind was playing tricks on me and she was somewhere else but nopony else but me is there. I tried checking the picture I took earlier to see if it caught anything else I didn't manage to see and when I took a closer look on it, the flash of the camera was able to capture the creature.
The creature was a tall, thin, white, pony-like creature with tendrils wriggling on his back. And it look like it was pulling my wife towards the forest. Despite the smile she had made it made me mad. But if that wasn't scary enough, that thing had no face, nothing on his face at all. I panicked and ended up going home after that, with the picture still with me. You can have it now if you need it, it's the best I could do to contribute on figuring out what the hay I just witnessed. And hopefully getting my wife back as soon as possible.
His explanation made Celestia more intrigued about it than ever before. She barely noticed anything around her ever since that conversation has been made.She decided to delve into this secret deeper so she went to her old castle for any clues to prove his existence. She began by searching books, And sure enough, it was.
Evidence was present around the moment like a surviving image germane woodcut from 16th century named der ritter as translated 'the knight' from Germane. The woodcut features a pony-like creature with additional limbs as he stabs a knight. Another evidence included like a two black and white photographs featuring several fillies in the park with Slendermane behind them. A description was written in the back of both photos saying,
" We didn't want to go, we didn't want to kill them, but his persistent silence and outstretched hoofs horrified and comforted us at the same time." It was took in 1983, photographer unknown, mostly presumed dead.
Before this, Slendermane is just a mythical creature told by parents to their misbehaved kids to behave themselves. Somepony even wrote a song about him.
" Slendermane, slendermane,
All the fillies try to run,
Slendermane, slendermane,
To him it's part of the fun,
Slendermane, slendermane,
Dressed in darkest suit and tie,
Slendermane, Slendermane,
You'll most certainely will die,
(pause)
Slendermane, slendermane,
his branching hoofs are for collecting,
Slendermane, slendermane,
his faceless features are expressing,
Slendermane, slendermane,
he won't let you say goodbye,
Slendermane, slendermane,
You'll most certainly will die." This song really send chills down to your spines.
But as more it was told, the more disappearance of fillies happening. Most witnessed the fillies are trying to find Slendermane to know whether it's true or false the creature existed or is just a scheme for parents to sing to their children to behave. After a group of fillies dissipated, the rumor and the song has turned into a true story.
She went to the a forest were most ponies disappeared there to investigate. She decided to end this once and for all to face Slendermane. Before she left, she waved goodbye to her sister and lying she`s off to vacation alone and also told her to take care of the kingdom when she's gone. Because she didn't want her to interrupt her search or at least, get involved and DIE. So, Celestia faked it up to protect her.
" I need you, Luna!" Tia pleaded but her voice is still elegant.
" But I don't kno-"
" No buts, just take care of it and I'll be back as soon as possible," and then galloped away through the giant, gold-plated door.
" Princess, we found the camcorder that your sister is using while searching in the warehouse!" the guard reported quickly. Luna took it quickly from the guards magic with no hesitation.
" Umm.. your welcome?" he replied still giving a puzzled look.
She went into her room quickly and locked the door behind her, she dimmed the lights for better video view. Another advanced prototype lies on her writing desk. It is a computer. She plugged in the USB to the camcorder as she imported the videos to her computer. The camcorder might be proof of what she was searching the whole time. She now sees three clips in front of her screen and started clicking the first one to see what she was searching.
" Alright sister, let`s see what you are searching for." she said while holding her tears as she sniffs. The three important videos will explain the whole disappearance of her sister.