//------------------------------// // SlenderGrif Bakes Cupcakes (81) // Story: Griffin the Griffin // by BlackWing //------------------------------// SlenderGrif Bakes Cupcakes =Starlight Wisp= Two days have already passed, and so far, nothing scary of any kind has happened. There were a couple surprises, cats and griffins jumping out to say 'boo', but other than that, it was actually kind of a let down. After the speech in class, I was expecting something a little more..... horrific, from the captain, but he's done nothing at all. He just goes about his daily routine. It's really strange. I was expecting him to try and use some kind of magic to scare us. Surprise has done more to shock us, and that consisted of blowing streamers in our faces. "Gotta get ready. Mane brushed? Check. I really ought to dye it. Algae green isn't the most flattering.... and it doesn't match my blue coat at all. Sometimes I wish I was good at invisibility or chameleon magic instead of walking through walls. Uggh..... maybe I'll learn something that can deal with grooming in class today. Yeah.... that would be nice, just cast a spell and suddenly you have the perfect mane...." Walking to magic class again, I saw a notice on the door that everypony else was standing around, staring at. "Class is cancelled because the captain has gone missing? Where could he have gone, we're on a ship! Somepony would have seen him leaving if he flew off, and he would have told somepony." My thoughts exactly. "I don't know, but I've been hearing straaaaaaange noises coming from the kitchen at night....." The white pegasus popped up behind me with her usual cheer. "Oh, Surprise. There you are, I was starting to worry you had gone missing too. And what do you mean strange noises?" "Oh.... grumbles, moaning. The captain DID welcome us to 'the haunted house of horrors'. Do you think the ship is haunted? I bet it is! I bet there's a ghoulish ghosty on board! And I'm gonna catch it!" "Oh please. That's just silly. There's no such thing as ghosts." "There totally is! I'm gonna stake out the kitchen tonight...... um.... come with me?" She drooped slightly, showing she was at least a slight bit afraid to be skulking around the ship at night. "What? No! Why?" I'm not about to just stay up all night looking for something that isn't there. "Because what if there IS a ghost? Then I'd be all alone with a scary monster!" She gave me begging, puppy dog eyes. "There's no such thing...." "Then you can come with me and prove it. Unless..... you're scared." Her face turned devious. "Fine......." I huffed in defeat. __________________________________________________________ "I don't know why I let you talk me into this...." I asked Surprise as we crept into the mess hall. How DID she talk me into it? All she did was call me a scaredy cat, and suddenly I'm involved in this massive time waster. I should be sleeping right now! "Because you're a silly filly!" "Don't remind me, and be quiet. If there really is something here, like you say there is, how are we supposed to sneak up on it if you keep talking?" *Uuuuuunnnnnnnnn* "What was that?!?" I asked a little too loudly. "See! I told you! Now shh.... let's sneak up on it." After I just finished telling you we needed to be quiet? "Oh geez...." When we entered the kitchen and turned the lights on, the gem lamps drawing from the power grid and bringing a pale light. We found nothing out of the ordinary as we searched. Just the regular stainless steel appliances, marble counter tops, a sink with suds from the earlier dishes, and empty food trays stacked neatly for breakfast in the morning.. We made several passes, each resulting in nothing abnormal. "See? There's nothing here. We should just....." *Unnnnnnnnnggggg* "There it is again! It sounds like it's coming from the pantry!" The pegasus lead the way in a blur of pure speed to the storage area for canned food, and when we opened the door............ "Oh sweet Celestia." There hung the captain from large hooks, covered in red. His head hung as he let out sounds of anguish, his wings, chest, and stomach covered in thick red goop. "Blood?" "Uhhhhhh....." He moaned in pain. Well......... time to scream now. I let out the most bloodcurdling shriek possible. Awakened by my cries of terror, Griffin's eyes shot open and locked on me with an intensity that should not be present in one so injured. Strangely, Surprise hadn't made any sound at all. "Star.................. run........" He said in a begging whisper. I turned to find my companion glaring at me evilly. Her mane had gone flat, and she wore a demented smile as she held up a tray of cupcakes with red frosting, her hoof covered in red as well "Star... try one. They're... 'Griffin-tastic' Teehee!" That's not frosting..... it's MEAT! Griffin meat! She cut up the captain and turned him into cupcakes, while he's still alive! I backed away and bumped into the hanging griffin, who then fell from his restraints to the floor with a thud. "Help me! Heeeeeelp me...." He reached out with a red covered claw and grasped at me in desperation. I backpedaled right into Surprise's waiting hooves, the pegasus then pinning me against the floor. She licked up the side of my cheek and whispered in my ear as she nibbled on it. 'She's psychotic! She turns ponies into pastries! I need to get out of here and tell somepony! I knew that nopony that energetic was right in the head!' "Delicious..... I think you'll make a fantastic pie, now hold still...." She drew a kitchen knife and held it in her mouth. In her moment of distraction I threw her off me and ran out of there as fast as I could, screaming the entire time. I slammed the door behind me and held it closed with my body, only for it to suddenly fall out of the way. 'The doors swing both ways.......... THE DOOR SWINGS BOTH WAYS!' I saw the blood covered captain standing above, glaring down at me. "Well, I guess you failed that test. Time to get this ketchup washed off." He said with the utmost calm. EeeeeeeehhhHH??!?!!? "Wait.................... That was........" Suddenly, it clicked. This was all an elaborate method to scare me, and it worked! Now I was fuming mad. I glared as he calmly dumped a bucket of water on himself, then turned back to me with the biggest grin I'd ever seen. "Starlight Wisp.... you seem tense.... is something the matter?" "Is... something............" I felt my eye twitch. "How COULD YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT! I WAS SCARED FOR MY LIFE." "I helped!" Surprise said gleefully as she bounced around the room, her mane back to it's normal, poofy self. "It's good that you were scared. Surprise may not be a monster, but in this business, we fight monsters. Dragons, some diamond dogs, and any other manner of creatures will eat a pony if they get the chance. If she had been one of them, you'd be dead. I may not have been hurt, but you thought I was. I've seen things a lot more gruesome than that, and you need to be prepared for what you'll see. You saw something scary, and froze up. What you should have done is immediately get someone else, then defended yourself with the protect spell, and prepared an offense. Now you see the reason behind it... right?" I felt like throwing up. All that, and it was just a cruel joke? Although, he did give fair warning. Is this what he was talking about? Is this what he sees everyday, if not by the scene around him, then by his mind? Is this what he's preparing us for? The horrors of the real world, outside the realm of Celestia? "It's still not very nice...." "Well, I'm not a very nice person. Besides, it's much more fun on the giving end than the receiving. So, what do you say to freaking the rest of the crew out? I have an idea I can only pull off with your help...." =Dusty Trails= "Class cancelled again? Just practice on our own? What kind of ship is he running, setting up classes then not showing up to teach three days in a row?" The nerdy unicorn next to me whined as he came back to the common room. I checked myself over to make sure I was presentable. Dark earth coat with a hint of moss green, and a mane with bangs that went to either side of my face, just outside of my field of vision, framing my mug, but hiding the small scar on the side of my head. Hey, I'm on a ship full of mares, many of them from Canterlot, and I haven't seen any action for years. If I could hook up with one of those rich nobles....... well, they'll be more impressed with my skills in the field, but have to look my best anyways. "Ah, come on. If he ain't here, he ain't here. We just keep up with what we were doin before. Say....... anypony seen Surprise lately? She's normally bouncin around, and I haven't seen her since the day after the captain disappeared." "I........" I turned around to find the unicorn from before, looking terrified and miserable. "Whoa.... hey. What's the matter Wisp?" "Him." "What?" "He's always watching......" "What are you talking about?" "L...l....last night...... She.... she heard noises coming from the kitchen...... She wanted me to come with, so we could keep each other safe while we checked it out..... and that's when I saw......him." "Saw who?" "I......... can't speak his name. He's thin... and he wears a black suit and tie.......... He has no face, and he's made of darkness itself...... He was so... slender...... and, the darkness came...... and it grabbed her... and she screamed my name as she was pulled into it....... I... I think that's what happened to the captain." "Ha. Very funny. You're just trying to scare me, right? I thought the point was to scare his crew, not ourselves." At which point, she grabbed me by the shoulders and looked me dead in the eye. "Does it LOOK like I'm joking here! It..... it pointed at me....... It didn't say anything... but.... a voice in my head.....you're next. I........" She whimpered and tears fell from her face, then collapsed in my hooves. "I..... stay with me?" "Oh... alright.... Don't be such a foal." ______________________________________________________________ Night came, and with it, Starlight Wisp began shaking in fear in her bunk, which, considering she was in the one above mine, kept me awake as well. I was about to complain, when it abruptly stopped. I got up to see what was happening, and found that she was out of bed, just, staring at a piece of paper on the wall. It had black scribbles of what looked like a thick stick figured, and letters scratched into it saying 'Run'. "He comes......" She whispered. "Who?" "Slenderman, Slenderman, dressed in darkest suit and tie. Slenderman, Slenderman, you most certainly will..." She turned to look at me with a crazy gleam in her eye. "DIE......" She giggled like a demented foal, then skipped out the door merrily. "Starlight, WAIT!" I shouted as I ran after her. This woke the rest of the room, who started complaining about the noise. I ran out the door after her to see her standing in the hall again, just as she had been in the room. I heard faint whispers in the air, and watched as one after another, the gem lights along the floor went out. Darkness crept along as I watched him come into view. His footsteps went *tap, tap, tap* on the wooden floor as he approached. Tendrils of shadow wiggling around, coming from his back, and a darkness creeping along the ground. Evil whispers hung in the air as a pool darker than the darkest night swirled around Starlight's feet. More tendrils sprang from the pool and wrapped around her as she began to sink into the floor. They were dragging her in! "Dusty, HELP! I don't want to go!" I dove for her, but before I could reach her, she vanished. I pounded on the floor under the darkness, trying to get through and reach the mare that had come to me earlier today, so frightened. I said I'd stay with her, that I'd protect her, and I just let her get taken by this..... thing. I turned to look at 'Slenderman' with hate in my eyes, but he had no expression to return to me. It looked like the captain as a human, but it's face was ghostly white, and had no eyes, ears, nose, or mouth. It pointed at me, more evil whispers, and then I heard a voice in my mind, along with creepy music. "You're next." Then, it sank into the darkness on the floor which Starlight fell into and vanished. The rest of the new recruits had come out after me, and paid witness to the whole event. I heard the sound of trickling water, and felt a puddle at my hooves. "We're bucked." ________________________________________________________ =Griffin= "So, I turned human, put on a mask, and used the umbra spell to wrap myself in shadows which made up both the suit and the tendrils, as well as the pool on the ground. I then used extinguo to put out the gem lamps, and had Starlight let herself fall through the floor and pull me through after. Finally, I used memoria a musica, a spell which allows me to put music directly into someone's mind, rather than the other way around like what we do at concerts, to put the song and the warning in his head. So, by the creative application of practical magic, as well as setting the scene prior, I made ten grown mares and stallions wet themselves. I told you, I'm scary. And now you see the importance of what we're learning. If just myself and one unicorn were capable of that, imagine the horror you could bring to our enemies if we worked together. That, and..... you may just have a few new tricks for next Nightmare Night. At the same time, you also see the importance of keeping your wits about you, and knowing how to deal with this kind of situation. A simple light spell would have gotten rid of the darkness and exposed me. Tomorrow's class, how to use the water spell to prevent blood loss, as well as clean possible contaminants such as bodily fluids without touching them. Dear Princess Celestia, Griffin is bucked in the head. As a child, was he dropped from a great height...... repeatedly? I can appreciate good old fashioned crazy, like with Surprise, but him.... he has something broken inside. Still, his lessons are useful, and I've learned a lot about..... well, everything. I can also appreciate how much effort you put in to keeping Equestria safe, now that I've seen what some parts of the rest of the world are like. I guess things are only taken for granted till you have to go without them. You keep all the horrors of the world at bay so we don't have to face them ourselves, and I don't know how often you hear this but, you have my sincere thanks. Starlight Wisp.