A Slender Tale
She had heard all of the rumors of course, being the gossip she was, but still Rarity found most of them hard to believe.
A stallion in a black suit, with no face, who came and took ponies away.
Preposterous. Impossible.
And even if he was real, she and her friends had defeated a reality-warping near-god just by being friends. What could she have to fear?
Those rumors were nothing more than just that, rumors.
Still though… She’d been having that ever-present feeling of paranoia. It didn’t help that Sweetie Belle was over for the week. For some reason, Rarity couldn’t help but jump at every single sound.
Saying goodbye to Fluttershy after their weekly spa treatment, she began to trot down the road back to Ponyville.
Then she caught a glance of the Everfree, and she froze, letting out a quiet gasp of terror.
There he was, standing amidst the thick trees. Black suit, red tie, white face devoid of all features… the only conclusion was that the rumors were true.
She blinked, and he was gone.
Her first and only thought was of Sweetie Belle.
In a state of pure panic, she galloped towards the Carousel Boutique.
Several times in her rapid charge, she caught glimpses of him standing in the distance. Even when right next to them, even though it was high noon, nopony seemed to notice him.
Rarity tripped on a loose stone, and was sent tumbling down the paved road. Her mane became disheveled. For once, she didn’t care.
When she stood, she saw him.
He was simply standing there, in the middle of the road, but the sense of dread the sight of the faceless thing filled her with was overwhelming.
With a scream, she continued galloping towards her home, tears streaming down her face.
She burst through the door of the Boutique, and stuck a chair beneath the doorknob, hoping to keep the creature at bay for as long as possible.
Turning around, she jumped at the sight of a naked ponequinn.
“Sweetie Belle?” She called out, putting a hoof over her pounding heart.
There was a crash from the storage room, and Rarity charged through her home, encasing her horn in a bright glow, and taking a desperate fighting stance.
“I’m sorry Rarity, I tried to put them back up, but they just kept falling over!” Cried her sister from the pile of destroyed ponequinns.
Rarity rushed up and hugged her sister with a relieved sob.
“Uh… Nice to see you too?”
“Sweetie Belle, darling, we need to hide. Now.” Rarity’s voice was shaking heavily. She’d foregone all pretenses of being ‘lady-like’ for being ‘absolutely terrified’.
Sweetie Belle, being somewhat slow and oblivious to a sizeable number of things, responded with, “Awww, but I was going to try and get a cutie mark for dressing ponequinns…”
Rarity didn’t reply, instead, she simply shepherded her sister towards the door to the housing portion of the building. She enveloped the doorknob with her magic and gave a hard, telekinetic shove.
The door didn’t budge.
She panicked, and immediately started throwing her whole body weight against it, silently begging it to open.
“Hey Rarity? When did you get that one over there? It’s really creepy-looking,” her oblivious little sister said.
Rarity’s heart stopped.
Ever so slowly, she turned.
He was standing at the other end of the hallway.
Rarity moved Sweetie Belle behind her, desperately hoping she could keep this monstrosity away from her beloved sibling.
“R-Rarity? What’s going on?”
It took a step towards her, and her heart skipped a beat.
Dozens of tendrils stretched out from the thing’s back, slowly reaching towards her.
She blinked.
Suddenly, it was right in front of her, its extra appendages very close to touching her skin. It’s face right next to her.
She opened her mouth to scream and-
“Hello~” Called a sing-song voice from the entryway. “Anyone in here?”
If the monster had eyes, Rarity had the distinct impression that they would be twitching.
Something else entered the hallway. Like the first, this one had no facial features to speak of, but instead of a black suit, it wore a brown sweater on top of a white shirt.
Everything was still for a moment.
And another.
And another.
“Slendy… are you being creepy again?” Asked the second.
And thus it was that Rarity, fashion designer and bearer of the Element of Generosity, became the first living pony to bear witness to a full-blown face-tendril.
“You are, aren’t you?” The second shook his head. “Ugh, Slendy you are such a weirdo.”
The creature known as Slendermane turned, and began to bang his head on the closest wall.
“Well don’t blame me if you’re doing your creepy-thing in a clothing store. You know I love these places.”
The response came in the form of more head-banging.
“And are you still wearing that tacky thing? Sheesh Slendy, people might start to think you work in a morgue.”
Slendermane spoke. His voice was dark and grating, and sent chills down Rarity’s spine. “I’m not trying to be fashionable you moron! I scare mortals to death for a living, why in Tartarus would I care how I look?”
Rarity somehow managed to find her voice. “C-can I h-help you… gentlec-colts?”
The second figure jumped, as if he’d forgotten that the white mare was there. “Oh my gosh, I am so sorry. That was incredibly rude of me.”
Rarity blinked, and the brown-sweatered thing was right in front of her, shaking her hoof.
“Hi there, my name’s Trendermane.” He said cheerfully. Then he pointed to Slendermane. “That’s my creepy little brother, Slendy.”
“For land’s sake, will you stop calling me that!”
“Cool! You guys are some kind of monster ponies!” Called Sweetie Belle from behind her older sister.
Trendermane was silent for a moment. Slendermane resumed banging his head against the wall.
“Yes… I guess you could say that…”
“Darling… d-don’t be rude to these nice g-gentlecolts.” Rarity hissed, still too scared to take her eyes off either of the… people… in front of her.
“I’m so sorry about my brother. I don’t know what is wrong with him.”
“Um… It’s quite… alright…” Rarity said, as she slowly began to regain her composure.
“How can you guys talk without a mouth?” Asked Rarity’s clueless sister.
Both of the faceless beings stopped for a moment, and turned to each other. Slendermane shrugged. “I dunno.”
Rarity cleared her throat, and magically smoothed out her mane. “Well then… Hello and welcome to Carousel Boutique. My name is Rarity.”
Trendermane gasped. “You’re the Rarity?”
“Um… Yes?”
“Oh. My. Gosh. I am such a fan of your work…” The faceless colt said. “I especially loved your su…mer…”
He trailed off for a brief moment.
“That mane… That tail…” He gasped. “You’re the pony who saved Steven’s moustache?”
“I… don’t recall knowing anypo- anyone named ‘Steven’…”
“Steven Magnet? Big purple sea serpent?”
Rarity blinked. “Oh, yes. I remember now. How is he?”
“Oh, being a drama queen, as usual.”
Slendermane threw his front hooves and a sizeable portion of his tendrils in the air. “That’s it! I’m out. Where in Tartarus is Splendor?”
---
MEANWHILE, AT SUGRACUBE CORNER:
“WOOOO!” Pinkie Pie shouted. “Party-time!”
She danced through the bakery, accompanied by a tall being with pitch black eyes and an eerie black smile, wearing a red bow-tie and top hat and covered in multi-colored polka dots. Needless to say, his appearance would have terrified Rarity even more than that of Slendermane.
“RAINBOWS AND BUNNIES!” He screamed. “ALL SHALL FEEL THE WRATH OF MY FUN-HAVING!”
The two had covered the entire interior of the building in frosting, disco balls, and confetti.
The Cakes could do nothing more than cower in the corner, holding each other and sobbing.
“I’m scared.” Said Mrs. Cake.
“I know dear. It’ll be over soon.”
-----
“Wherever he is, I’m sure he’s enjoying himself.” Said Trendermane.
He moved next to Rarity, and whispered conspiratorially in her ear. “Splendor makes Slendy look normal.”
“Uh… yes…” Rarity let out a nervous laugh. “I’m terribly sorry, but could you give me a moment to… eh… fix my mane?”
Trendermane nodded. “Oh, of course. I was actually about to get going myself.”
“Oh, is that so?” The white mare grinned nervously.
“Awww. Are you going already?” Sweetie Belle whined.
“’Fraid so. I have to make sure Slendy doesn’t do something… uncouth.” Trendermane turned to leave. “Ta-ta!”
Rarity blinked, and both monstrosities were gone.
“That was cool.” Sweetie Belle mused.
Rarity considered for a few moments whether she should go through the effort of bringing out her fainting couch. After about five seconds of thought, she decided that the floor looked nice at that particular moment.
And thus, with a dramatic sigh, Rarity collapsed onto the floor, leaving her younger sister surprised and confused.
-(Author's Note)
A quick little thing I wrote in about two hours.
This is how bored I was.