//------------------------------// // Not Just Stories // Story: The Creepypasta Ponies // by Shadowed Rainbow //------------------------------// “Well?” “Well what?" “Any luck?” The first speaker shook her head in exasperation, causing the shimmering colors of her mane and body to shift in waves before they settled into their steady change of color. She glared at the teenage colt beside her, a knife twirling in his hoof and his lidless eyes clearly expressing his impatience. “Jeffrey, stop it,” snapped another iridescent pony, a stallion this time, glaring at the knife-wielding colt. “We can’t know if they’re good enough if we don’t pay attention to them.” “It’s Jeff,” the colt insisted, eyebrows furrowed into a glare. “No one calls me ‘Jeffrey’.” “Point is, we’re your superiors in this matter,” the stallion said firmly, eyes brightening in their multicolored light. “We decide which ones to pull into our world here for the trials. You just help as an accomplice.” Jeff aimed the knife at the two shimmering ponies, but there was no reaction from them. It was an empty threat, and they knew it. Jeff only used his knife when he deemed it necessary, and despite his unsettling appearance and previous actions, they had more power than he did. “I’m just being impatient because I’m bored,” Jeff sighed. If he had possessed eyelids, he would be closing his eyes in an attempt to get control of the boredom swirling in his mind and threatening to spell over into anger. “It’s been month since we’ve seen anypony go through the levels, even if not very many get far.” The iridescent mare looked over at Jeff with a smile. “And that’s why it will be such a refresher to start them up again. We haven’t put ponies through the games for a while, and we want to make the challenges worth observing.” “Good point…” The iridescent ponies turned their attention to the screen in front of them, a trans-dimensional view that allowed them to observe potential participants for their little tormenting games. At the moment, their view was trained on the interior of a library, located in the town of Ponyville. There, a small group was gathered, where they were discussing a subject that was relevant to the interest of their observers… --- With no knowledge of the beings who were quietly watching their every move, Twilight Sparkle and her friends were gathered around in the library, the lights dimmed as the library’s owner read aloud from a book of scary stories. The ponies and dragon in attendance were sitting in a circle, all eyes on the reader. “When I returned to the abandoned house, there was no sign of anypony… except for one thing.” The intrigue felt in the room was almost tangible as the group leaned in closer, both afraid and eager to hear how the rest of the story went. “In the very spot where I had last encountered Slender Pony, there was a note, in my sister’s writing. It wasn’t a plea for help, or gave any hint to where she might be. It was just a circle, with an ‘X’ crossing through it, and the words ‘Always watches. No eyes.” A few of the others visibly trembled, moving closer to each other. “Eventually, my sister and I were reunited, as she mysteriously returned about three days after the incident. She was unharmed physically, but she was psychologically scarred, always wary around dark places and faceless mannequins from then on. Even so, she never mentioned Slender Pony to anypony else besides me. But we both learned one thing in that encounter. You never truly find Slender Pony. He is the one who finds you." As Twilight concluded the tale, she noticed the gaze of all her friends, wide-eyed and looking like they wanted to check over their shoulders just to be safe. She noticed that Fluttershy and Spike looked especially scared, as if afraid that Slender Pony was going to pop up right behind him and steal them away. A sympathetic look came over Twilight’s face as she set the book down. “Guys, it’s okay.” “But… but…” Spike stammered, his eyes wide. “It seems so real…. All those stories about Slender Pony are everywhere…” “And, and if so many ponies have talked about it,” Fluttershy said quietly, “then it has to be true, right?” “Trust me,” the purple unicorn insisted, smiling gently to reassure her friends. “There’s no such thing as Slender Pony or a deadly sleep experiment or anything. Those stories are made up.” “No matter what a certain pony may try to tell to tell you,” Applejack said, shooting a glare at the pony that had been just been trying to sneak up behind them. Rainbow Dash slumped back into a sitting position as her cover was blown, having lost the element of surprise. “Aw come on, Applejack, I was just about to scare him!” Rarity shot a stern glance at the cyan pegasus as she pat Spike on the head. “Rainbow Dash, you have no reason to try to freak us out more than we already feel. Slender Pony is already unnerving enough as it is.” As the reader closed the book, Pinkie Pie craned her neck to get a better look at the title, Slender Pony and Other Creepypastas. “Twilight, why do they call these stories ‘creepypastas’?” The party pony frowned, scratching the top of her head in confusion. “They aren’t made of food, and they don’t seem very tasty to me.” “I think it’s because they’re meant to be a creepy sort of food for the mind, like pasta,” Twilight guessed with a shrug. “But to be honest, I don’t really know.” “I would have called them creepycumbers!” Everypony looked at Pinkie incredulously. “What?” “Creepycumbers!” Pinkie clarified, the discussing lightening her mood from the Slender Pony story. “It’s like creepy and cucumbers put together!” Applejack cracked a smile and arched her brow. “Why in tarnation did you pick cucumbers, of all foods?” Pinkie shrugged. “It just has a nice ring to it!” The atmosphere of the room was considerably brightened as everypony laughed good-naturedly at Pinkie’s reasoning. “Whatever they’re called,” Twilight assured, “those stories about Slender Pony, haunted games, whatever - they’re just urban legends. None of them are true.” “Positive?” Fluttershy said quietly. “Positive.” Twilight affirmed with a nod. ---- With the reading completed and the lavender unicorn's assurance, the inhabitants of the room were surprised at the irony of their topic. “How very wrong you are,” the iridescent mare said quietly, her gaze lingering on Twilight. “And you all will find that out very soon…” the stallion said as a further add-on. The opalescent pair, along with Jeff, looked behind them as they heard hoofsteps. Walking out of the shadows was an extremely tall pony who towered over them. A faceless pony who had a black circle with an ‘X’ crossing through it as a cutie mark. Slender Pony. A chuckle from the female iridescent pony. “It looks like our next batch of participants is ready.” She glanced at the gathered ponies. “Time to bring them in.” Despite a lack of a face, the trio had a feeling that Slender Pony was mentally smiling. The two shifting ponies spoke in unison, voices seeming to rise in volume as their eyes quickly flashed in several different colors. “Open the portal."