//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Reawakening (ENDING) // Story: Out of Sight, Not Out of Mind // by theintrovertowl //------------------------------// It was a gruesome night for the girls… Slender Man decided not to show any mercy anymore towards his intruders. They were too many this time, and all of them had to die by his hands. Except for one of them. Kate. Even if she stood in front of him, quite close, he didn’t touch a strand of her hair. Absolutely none. They stared at each other for a long time, and Kate knew what was going on. He was trying to communicate with her. “I have plans for you, Kate…” the faceless monster told her in her head, with a deep and terrifying voice. Kate couldn’t stand the pain. Every word that he said felt like a migraine. “Thenwhy are you hurting them instead? LEAVE THEM ALONE! I’M SICK OF YOUR SHIT!” Kate screames, still unable to stand on her feet. “Human pest. They’re all standing in my way…” Slender Man telepathically replied to the human hostage. Kate was in even more pain. She almost curled up into a ball, and yelled among the other ones in danger. “SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Meanwhile, Twilight was watching the entire scene, and quickly realised that all of this was a distraction. She couldn’t bear the prolonged bloodcurdling screams of her friends, who were slowly strangled by the appendages of the tall monster. But she had no choice, the ‘game’ had to stop; the last page might be the only escape. So she sprinted as hard as she could to the last landmark, while avoiding Slender’s direct attacks. Twilight might not have been the athlete of the group, but she was small, and it definitely gave her an advantage against Slender Man. The captured ones couldn’t resist for much longer; the tendrils were strong enough to break a human’s bones, but they were suffocating them instead. Slender Man preferred to give a slow and painful death to his victims. On the other side, Twilight reached the final destination: the big and leafless tree. The last page was placed on its trunk and the message was “DON’T LOOK, OR IT TAKES YOU”, written in the same style as the others, also containing a small doodle of Slender Man in the down right corner and an X in the upper right corner. Before she could even grab the paper, she felt a sudden stab of pain in her back. She gasped, and looked down. A tentacle pierced her right through the spine, bleeding all over the grass. The pain was unreal, the vision blurred,and death was on its way. “I’m…sorry…” The other girls, including Kate, witnessed Twilight’s last breaths in utter shock. “NOOOOOOOOO!” Pinkie screamed with tears in her eyes, sobbing loudly. But her cries made Slender Man even madder, and Pinkie was about to have the same fate as Twilight. He impaled her without any remorse, crimson blood oozing from the hole in her body. The creature quickly retracted his tentacle from Pinkie’s corpse and dropped her as if she was a ragdoll. This time, the others didn’t dare to make a sound. The fear was getting stronger and their breaths were getting louder. Each one of them was panting intensely, internally mourning the loss of their friends. Even Kate didn’t make a single move; the headache from before was too traumatising to handle. Slender Man was glaring at all of them, and all of them looked at him in fear, when suddenly, Rainbow Dash’s adrenaline bursted out. “LET US GO! UGH!” she snapped. “Rainbow, don’t!” Kate warned. But it was too late; Slender Man’s tentacles already gripped her neck and strangled it with brutal force. The athletic girl tried opposing resistance, but it was futile; the faceless one was way more powerful. The rest of the girls that were left were watching in pure horror as their dear friend died under the tentacles’ pressure. They were aware it was their turn. There was no escape. Thus, Slender Man started torturing all of them at once. Applejack and Rarity were also strangled to death,while Fluttershy was impaled, spitting blood from her mouth. It was a grisly sight for Kate. She was helpless and too weak to stand a chance. Soon enough, Mane 6 collapsed on the ground, limp and lifeless. But there was more; Kate might have been alive, but she was still trapped. She started running in the other direction and look for an alternate escape. But it was no use, because Slender used his tendrils to catch her and lift her up to his level, just like he did before. The girl was petrified; she just couldn’t say anything to confront the monster. It was all over… (X) Out of nowhere, the other side of the forest was glowing with orange lights. These light beams weren’t ordinary, they were accompanied by several unknown voices. Just like they were alive… On the landmarks, something unusual happened as well. The Cutie Marks of the Equestrian Girls were magically carved into most of these landmarks, with neon-like traces. The rocks were marked with Rarity’s symbol, the walls with Fluttershy’s, the restroom with Applejack’s, the tanks with Rainbow Dash’s, the tunnel with Pinkie’s, and finally, the tree with Twilight’s. The orange lights spreaded across the forest until they reached the corpses of Mane 6. The bright strange lights surrounded the lifeless bodies, lifting them up in the air. Slender Man paused, and Kate was completely stunned. Not only that, the bizarre beams started healing and reviving the girls, while they also formed the everlasting Elements of Harmony: Generosity, Kindness, Honesty, Loyalty, Laughter and Magic. “What is happening?” Kate muttered, feeling like she was dreaming. Meanwhile, the girls woke up, glancing at their surroundings. “No way!” Twilight exclaimed, completely puzzled. Suddenly, the magic around Mane 6 grabbed Kate from Slender Man’s grasp. The creature tried to get her again, but Twilight involuntarily formed a magic shield that rejected the tentacles. “Tara, is that you?” Kate wondered, believing that her insanity had progressed. “Yes, Kate, it’s us, your friends,” Twilight replied with convincement. At last, Mane 6 made their final move, All of them rose their hands in the air, then pointed them at Slender Man, who was angry that he couldn’t do anything about all of this. His tentacles were still coiling in mid-air, surprisingly showing fear. Out of each girl’s hand burst out a colourful beam of magic. Inover a few seconds, there were six distinctly-coloured beams that hit the faceless monster; suprisingly, they caused him unbearable pain and agony, signaled by his monstrous scream. For the first time in humanity’s history, Slenderman was completely defeated. He melted and disintegrated into oblivion, then he exploded in a luminous rainbow, very similar to the Sonic Rainboom. Everything faded to black in the moment. *next morning* Twilight slowly opened her eyes. The forest never looked so peaceful. It didn’t take a lot for the others to wake up, without any remaining scratch or scar. “Girls, we did it! We finally did it!” Twilight exclaimed in excitement, then touched her tiara, which was a true miracle. The other girls fet their Elements of Harmony around their necks as well. It was, indeed, a miracle. “Um, what the heck happened last night?” Rainbow asked, while rubbing her eyes. “Whatever that was, I’m glad we’re free from him…” Fluttershy admitted. “Girls, can’t you see? Our Elements of Harmony! They’re back!” Twilight exclaimed again. “You owe me an explanation, Tara…” Kate added with a smug expression. “But first, we gotta rest for a while. Don’t you agree?” Mane 6 nodded at Kate’s statement. “Perfect! Let’s hang out at my house, it’s not far from this place. My mom would be glad to meet you!” Rainbow and Applejack felt a bit of distrust, but they had no choice, apparently. Their legs couldn’t walk anymore, so the group went towards Kate’s house. When they arrived, they couldn’t believe what they saw. Kate’s house was really big, placed in the heart of the forest. The sight was beautiful, indeed. Right at the threshold, there was Kate’s mother, Beth Hayes; despite her age, her expression was truly youthful, and her red curly locks complimented her appearance. Still, she had a worried look on her face. “Kate! You’re finally back, my dear!” she ran away to hug her daughter. “Good morning!” Twilight greeted. “Are you Kate’s friends? Come in, I have cookies and I’m gonna prepare smoothies for y’all!” Beth said with an inviting tone, then hurried to the kitchen. Kate shrugged at her mother’s excessive generosity, but she was glad to see her again, after all. Especially after that night. Before making themselves comfortable in the living room, Twilight and Kate had to take all of the Elements of Harmony and hide them in Kate’s room. “Listen, Kate, I would like you to keep all of them in a safe place. As much as I’d prefer having them at disposal, in my apartment, I still think it’s a huge risk, hence anyone can come in and take them without having any idea how powerful they are…” Twilight explained. “What’s the deal with these things, if I may ask? You aren’t from this world, aren’t you?” “No, we aren’t. But you must not tell anyone about this. Not yet. I want you to keep them safe, Kate, because you’re far away from a potential threat. Do you understand?” “I do. When will I hear the entire story, though?” “Soon enough. We’ll come again after we get used to all these ‘human stuff’ and explain you everything. But for now, promise me you’ll keep them out from your mom and any stranger that passes by!” the Equestrian demanded. “Alright, Tara…I promise. And I’ll wait. Just be careful, okay?” “I will…” Twilight promised as well, then hugged her new friend from Earth. Kate felt it like a huge responsibility at some point, but she had to deal with it nonetheless. At least she had a purpose once in a lifetime. Meanwhile, the other Equestrian girls had a wonderful time with Beth Hayes. The mother was permanently cheerful and welcoming to her guests, confessing that it had been a long time since someone came to visit her; not even the relatives bothered to check on her and Kate from time to time. But both of them got used to the situation after all. “This ain’t fair…those people can’t be called ‘family’, ma’am!” Applejack commented. “We’ll make sure to pay you a few visits, miss Hayes. You’re a very delightful company!” Rarity said with compassion in her voice. “If it’s no bother for you and Kate, of course…” “Good Lord, Rachael, I would be very happy to see you again! But I hope not in the same circumstance…” Beth replied with genuine warmth in her statement. “Besides, I’m glad to finally see my daughter having a few friends that truly care about her…” the woman sighed, sobbing and crying for a few moments. Fluttershy rose from the couch and hugged Beth without hesitating. Later on, the others followed her and did the same; the bond was stronger than ever. Finally, Twilight and Kate came downstairs, witnessing the affectionate moment from before. “I see you’re getting along…” Twilight said with a smile on her face. “Come on, let’s get back to the town! We still have school to attend!” “Oh, come on!” Rainbow Dash protested. “Can’t we stay just a few more minutes?” “No. We’ve got a lot to do, trust me!” The others also sighed, then exited the house one by one. “Goodbye, Kate! Goodbye, miss Hayes!” “Wait, sweetie! Let me give you a few cookies. You didn’t eat anything…” Beth insisted, while offering a paper bag filled with chocolate chip cookies to the petite teenager. Twilight had no time, nor energy to protest. “Thank you very much! Have a great day, miss Hayes! Bye, Kate!” she said while going out with the others. Mane 6 simultaneously waved at the two humans from behind, who waved back to them. Finally, they left the yard, then the entire forest, heading towards the town on foot. Towards new experiences as humans… -THE END- (for now)