Night Stalkers
All that they could see was the intimidating darkness. Twilight and her friends had lost their way inside of the Everfree Forest. They had decided to stick together, nopony was getting out of sight. The branches were like claws, ready to grab them and choke them to death with their dark leaves and leave them hanging there, lifeless.
“I told you guys it was not a good idea to do this!” Rainbow Dash said, exasperated. The group had decided to explore the forest, just for the thought of adventuring through a place unknown to them. The others replied with thoughts of their own, all except Fluttershy, who remained as quiet as the wind that blew through the leafy branches.
There was a mutual feeling within them, however. The eeriness of the woods sent chills running through their spine. It was as if something was watching them. Something sinister, something that would silently follow them as they made their desperate trek through the darkness. There would be no light for them. Nothing to guide them through the winding path that they were uncovering. It was the path that might lead to their end. A path of darkness and despair.
Something caught Pinkie Pie's eye. She had been quiet throughout the entire trek. Her usual cheerful demeanor had become one of worry and fear. What had caught her eye, however, was not anything hopeful. It was the simple rustling of the tall grass that grew on one side of the woods. She had thought of it as a simple creature that wandered around, looking for shelter and food. A cruel symbolism of their condition. They were tired and weary of the travel, the sun was already setting on the horizon. It would not be long before true darkness would blot out the warm rays of the sun.
As they trudged on, the rustling quickened. Whatever was making the noises was apparently following them. The others had seen and heard it too. They quickened their steps, intent on losing the following thing. Then the rustling stopped, the ponies stopped along with it. The sound of whatever was following them was fading away, deeper into the woods. It was as if something had scared it. The ponies continued on, shaking off the eerie feeling that still clung to them like mosquitoes intent on stealing the warmth of the blood that flowed through their veins.
“Everypony, relax. I think we're nearly there.” Twilight assured, though she was doubtful of what she had just said.
Then something caught their attention. The darkness seemed to surround them in an unnatural way. It gave them the feeling that something was close. The darkness then changed into things that would haunt their minds throughout their entire lives, if they would last in this dark place. The darkness changed into tentacles that writhed and surrounded them. The tentacles seemed to stretch on forever in front of them. They were terrified of what might be at the center of the writhing mass. Slowly, the tentacles shortened. At first, they were relieved, thinking that whatever was surrounding them had disappeared. Then a horrible thought occurred to them, from how the tentacles were shortening, it appeared as if it was forming something right BEHIND them. A small note fell, landing where they could see what it said.
The message read: RUN. DO NOT LOOK BACK.
They did exactly as the message told them, they ran. The trees became nothing but a blur as they sped off, trying to escape whatever was behind them. Yet, they were not making any useful progress. The entity was gaining on them, covering ground faster than anything they had ever encountered. Their marathon, however, was stopped short by what appeared behind them. The creature stood on its hind legs. It was unusually elongated, its limbs stretching at an impossible length. It was wearing a suit of sorts. The fabric seemed to create the darkness that surrounded everything within its range. But the strangest and – interestingly – terrifying part of the creature was its head. It was pale and faceless. Yet its intentions were clear.
The friends screamed in terror, even Rainbow Dash, who was fearless towards anything that threatened her. This time, however, it was different. The creature had started advancing, its tentacles forming behind it, writhing like snakes. It was about to consume them, when they ran once more.
They kept on running, losing the entity in the darkness and leaving it in the distance. Once they were sure that they had lost it, they stopped to rest. Until they heard it. It was a strange sound, a mix of crying and laughing in a playful manner. The ever curious ponies decided to investigate. What they found was an unusually sickly figure, in a fetal position, crying and laughing at the same time. They watched it from a safe distance.
“Hush. Go to sleep...” it said, surprising the ponies.
The figure stood up, sensing the presence of the ponies. Slowly, it turned around. Rarity noticed something strange, a metallic glint. The figure slowly revealed its appearance. Terrifying the ponies and sending them running with the figure in pursuit.
Like the last creature they had encountered, it stood on its hind legs. This one wore pure black clothing. And again, the most horrifying part was its face. Long and messy hair nearly covered its face. Its eyes were nothing but small black dots surrounded in dark circles. They were full of malice. Its eyelids had been burned off. But the most disturbing part was its grin. The maniacal smile was unusually large. It was grinning from ear to ear – literally. Its teeth were stained with blood, giving the true appearance of a mad killer. As it ran after them, it wielded a blood-stained knife.
They ponies stopped. They had reached a dead-end. They turned to face their pursuer. Its grin widened impossibly.
“Hush....go to sleep...” it whispered huskily as it approached, holding the knife and raising it up high. The blade glinted in the moonlight.
Then it stopped, the knife falling to the ground. A tentacle had gone right through it, spilling its own blood and dripping with gore. Right behind it, the faceless creature stood silently. The tentacle lifted the killer up, and threw him right through the trees. The killer howled in pain as it went through a tree trunk. The faceless creature's tentacle dove for it, tearing the killer apart, and feeding on it. Blood and gore spilled everywhere. When the faceless one had finished consuming – cleaning everything up literally – it looked for its victims, but once again, they had fled.
They had reached the edge of the forest. They did not stop running until they reached the safety of Ponyville. Luck had been with them. They did not lose anypony. Their startled looks and messy coats had caught the attention of some strollers. But they were left alone.
Within the darkness, the faceless creature watched the quiet town. It silently watched the citizens go about in their nightly stroll.
Then it stalked back into the darkness of the Everfree...
Author's Note: Hey guys. Here's a little random thing that I came up with. I'm not looking for any big reviews or anything, I just wanted to post this, but if you want to give it some reviews and criticism, go right ahead.