//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: The Unexpected Companion 
// Story: Out of Sight, Not Out of Mind 
// by theintrovertowl 
//------------------------------//



My version of Kate Milens, the protagonist from Slender: The Eight Pages, later the secondary antagonist in Slender: The Arrival (aka Kate The Chaser)


It had almost been one hour since the last encounter with Slender Man. Meanwhile, Mane 6 finally reunited, and it was quiet and peaceful in the woods of terror, for now…
The girls could finally catch their breath and get some rest until the next attack. Not even Rarity cared, the dirt felt like the best place to sit on; anything is better than Slender Man after your tail. On the other hand, Twilight was still asleep, and Applejack sat by her side, with a worried expression on her freckled face.
“How come she isn’t awake yet?” Rainbow Dash asked while approaching her elder friend.
“It ain’t the first time she behaved weirdly tonight. Before we even got into this cursed forest, she was almost paralyzed, if ya remember…And this time, it was a nosebleed and a fainting spell! What’s next?”
Applejack didn’t even get to finish expressing her worries, because Twilight suddenly woke up, feeling a lump in her throat. The other girls were looking at her with wide eyes, totally startled by this abrupt awakening. Even if she was still weak, the petite girl rose up to her feet and went to the nearest bush to throw up out of nowhere.
“Sweet Celestia, sugarcube, are ya alright?” Applejack exclaimed, extremely concerned about her friend’s illness.
As if it wasn’t enough, there was a noise coming from the other side of the landmark. It was accompanied by a few light steps. The panic reinstalled among Mane 6.
“He’s back!” Fluttershy muttered, scared to the bones.
“Fetch me a stick! This is gonna turn out reaaallly bad!” Pinkie Pie requested, determined to defend her beloved friends. They didn’t take her seriously, so the energetic teenager grabbed a stick from the ground and approached the area.
“Pinkie, are you crazy???” Rainbow Dash exclaimed at the top of her lungs.
But the pink-haired girl didn’t listen. Without any hesitation, she was ready to hit the intruder in the head, while suddenly:
“WAIT, DON’T HIT ME!”
When she heard these words, Pinkie Pie stumbled into the stranger, causing both of them to fall on the ground. When she looked closer, it was actually a young girl, just like them, but still different. The youngster had long and dark hair complimented by icy blue eyes, a very thin body, and an extremely tired expression.
“Would you please get off me? I assure you that I’m not who you think I am,” the girl asked, almost begging to be released from Pinkie’s “paranoia trap”.
“Oh, sure thing! I’m sorry!” Pinkie giggled, rising back on her feet. “I honestly thought, you were, um…Slender Man! You would not believe…”
“…How horrible this monster is? Yes, I do, because I have to confront him almost every night,” the newcomer complained. “And, by the way, who are you and what are you doing here at this hour?”
“Oh, I’m with my friends over there. We were trying to find Slender and see if he’s real, but apparently, he found us and…”
“I KNOW. Everybody is coming here like they’re doing a funny ghost hunt on Halloween, but it’s more than that, I tell you! It’s a true nightmare!” The girl confessed in desperation, while tightly gripping Pinkie’s shoulders.
“Oooookayyy…I’m Penny Pie, by the way! But you can also call me Pinkie! What about you?”
“I’m Kate. Kate Milens. And I have a feeling I’m going to die tonight…”
“Oh, don’t be so silly! We’ll get out of here soon! Come, let me show you to my friends!”

Kate seemed hesitant at the beginning, but she had no choice. Any human seemed like a better alternative than the faceless eldritch monster, who had been haunting her since childhood.
“Hey, everybody, look who I found!” Pinkie exclaimed in utter happiness.
“Shh, the freak might hear you!” Rainbow Dash aggressively whispered, while scowling at the friend in front of her.
“Anyway, as I was saying…” Pinkie continued, quite annoyed by the obvious remark. “This is Kate Milens! It seems that our ol’ friend Slendy is after her as well. Kate, these are my best friends of all time: Rachael, Rebecca, Anne-Jay, Florence and Tara” she presented as she pointed to each of her companions.
“Hello, Kate!” the others greeted the new one simultaneously.
“Nice to meet you all! Glad I can finally meet someone who’s a human around here…and alive,” Kate replied with a faint voice.
Meanwhile, she glanced at Twilight, who clearly felt ill. Her face was paler than usual, dark circles started appearing under her eyes, her expression signaled fatigue, and her vest was stained with remnants of her vomit. Kate knew what the problem was, since she experienced the same symptoms anytime she encountered Slender Man.
“I see you’re also suffering from the Slender Sickness. Don’t worry, it’ll pass once we’re out of here”
“Slender Sickness? Wow, I should have known it’s his fault for all of this” Twilight stated with deep worry in her tone. “We just want to go home, Kate. Do you know the way?”
“Yes, I know every inch of this forest since I was little. Come on, pack your things and follow me, we don’t have much time left to stand still…”
“Say no more!” Rainbow replied with excitement.


(X)


“You said you’ve been coming to this forest since you were a child. What were you doing here at that age?” Fluttershy asked Kate all of a sudden, while they were heading to the next landmark.
“He always called me. Almost every night. At the beginning, I didn’t even know where that voice was coming from, so I blindly followed what it said. I was too scared to ask questions, to be honest. But despite all of this fuss, he always let me live, I don’t know why.”
“Wait, Slender Man CAN TALK??? That’s it, we’re doomed,” Rainbow intervened in the conversation, this detail being the only one that she picked up from Kate’s confession.
“I’m sorry for everything that’s happening to you, darling,” Rarity comforted the genuine human among the group. “I hope you’ll find your peace away from this horrible creature soon”
“Me too, Rachael. Me too…”
Suddenly, the wind started getting louder, along with the low droning sound from the beginning.
“Oh, no, he’s back! The page must be in that tunnel. We have to be quick!” Kate warned with panic.
“I’ll go first this time! Fetch me the stick!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed while grabbing another thick wooden branch from the ground. “Be right back! Slendy won’t stand a chance against me and my new friend, Tim! Come after me if I scream, by the way!” she boasted with excitement, then ran away to the tunnel.
“Damn, I swear she’s so crazy sometimes…She even named that stick ‘Tim’??? What the heck? Please excuse us, Kate, we’re a special group here,” Rainbow Dash apologized in her utter disappointment.
“Truth be told, I actually admire her enthusiasm and bravery…but for how long will it last?” Kate admitted, gulping in distress.


(X)


Before entering the eerie tunnel, Pinkie Pie looked all over the surroundings for anyhting out of order.
“Ha! Easy peasy! Though Slendy’s middle name is ‘unpleasant surprise’, if you ask me…Am I right, Tim?” Pinkie asked her imaginary wooden friend, then made it ‘nod’ by swinging her wrists. Still, she held her new weapon tight, because it was time to enter the dark enclosed area. The girl started shivering out of nowhere: it was the Pinkie Sense.
“Didn’t know I’d still have this as a skill here…” she muttered to herself.
In order to calm herself down, Pinkie started humming “Giggle at the ghosties”, the song that confirmed she’s the Element of Laughter, in almost the same circumstances.
“When I was a little filly and the sun was going dooown…”
Suddenly, something slimy grabbed her ankle. Uh-oh…” she thought to herself. The feeling of it made her startle in an instant.
“The darkness and the shadows, they would always make me frown...” she continued singing, this time trembling.
But Pinkie stopped before she could finish her cheerful song. Her heart was racing faster than ever, and cold sweat was dripping down her round face.
“I shouldn’t have come by myself, that’s for sure…”

*Meanwhile, outside the tunnel*

“It’s been a while…shouldn’t we call after her?” Kate asked with a frightened expression.
“PINKIE PIE!” Twilight screamed.
“PIIIIIIINKIIIIIEEEE PIEEEEE!” the others screamed as well in unison.
They realized it was no fun game with Slenderman, so headed straight to the tunnel.

*Back in the tunnel*

“You know what’s weird, Tim? I’m pointing my flashlight everywhere, but no sight of him. It’s like he’s a shadow…”
But at last, she found the page; it was at the end of the tunnel. This time, the message was ‘LEAVE ME ALONE’, scribbled in the same manner.
“Gotcha! And oh yes, I can totally relate to this one…”
It also didn’t take long for Slender Man to appear right in front of her, with the same unmoving, but menacing posture he had got in front of his victims. Pinkie Pie didn’t hesitate at all to let out a piercing scream, and due to the adrenaline, she reacted by throwing ‘Tim’ right at the eldritch horror. Right after a few blinks, the creature disappeared, and right on time, because the other girls arrived.
“Pinkie, are you ok?” Twilight asked with concern.
“How can I be okay when I just saw him in front of me?” she replied with panic in her tone, and it didn’t take long for her to burst in tears, and hug Applejack in search of protection.
“Easy, sugarcube…he’s gone, we’re here now…” Applejack comforted Pinkie while hugging her tightly.
“You should have learned this lesson by now!” Kate started scolding the group. “If we’re together, he gets discouraged and attacks less. I learned that when I was with another friend…NEVER go alone into his woods, I’m telling you!”
“You’re right, we’ll have to stay together from now on…” Twilight agreed. “And that means no heroic acts, okay? We have no power to do something here.”
The others also agreed in unison.
“Let’s go, we have no time to lose!” Kate concluded.
The next landmark was an abandoned truck with a tank. The girls looked around the vehicle, but there was no page.
“Have you found anyhting? Because he’s right behind us!” Rainbow screamed in fear. “Go, go, GO!”
Without any hesitation, the girls ran away as fast as they could, even if their stamina was decreasing dramatically with each step.
“I can run faster than this, what’s going on?” Rainbow asked, while panting all the way to the next stop.
“This is also Slenderman’s fault…” Kate replied.
“AH! WONDERFUL!” the other screamed in pure annoyance.
The following landmark was a portable cabin made of metal. The door was locked, so the only way they could find the page was on the exterior of the building. Kate was vigilant this time.
“Found the page! One more left!”

This time, the paper only contained doodles of trees and a simplified sketch of Slender Man in the middle. But that was the least thing to be concerned about. After taking the page, Kate could feel it in her bones: an unnerving beeping sound, that started getting louder and louder. The Equestrian girls were also affected, and they couldn’t move their limbs because of the sound’s high-pitched frequency.
“WHAT IS GOING ON???” Rainbow screamed again.
“This is the last stand, it’s now or never!” Kate replied ambigously. “No victim has ever reached this stage by far!”

But it was too late to contemplate about anything anymore. This time, Slender Man’s appearance was by far more terrifying than the others. The moment he appeared, several thick black tentacles sprouted from his back. It was clear that he was enraged by the girls’ presence at this point. As much as he enjoyed a good ‘challenge’, humans always drove him crazy when they were alive on his territory for too long. Thus, he went berserk in a short time and started coiling his tentacles around the girls’ waists and necks, lifting them up to his level. Suddenly, the whole forest was filled with bloodcurdling screams. It was a frightening sight for Twilight, the only one that wasn’t ensnared in the faceless being’s tendrils; she was right behind the cabin, too afraid to make any move.

“The end is near…” she mumbled to herself, a tear falling down her cheek.