Scootaloo had been shaking since Twilight caught her. It wasn’t the first of scares she had received from entering the forest, it wasn’t even the biggest, but it was just an unwanted addition to the previous ones. As the two were beginning to calm down, Scootaloo felt the pace of her shivering calm to just a light trembling, as her heartbeat also relaxed to a steady pace. Twilight didn’t fare as well. She was stinging and aching all over. The pain that had retreated her body ever so slowly before Scootaloo appeared, had now returned twice fold from the sudden accumulation of weight on her back and legs which in their state failed to support the change. The blood that remained dried on a few of her wounds had split back open, ripped outwards by sudden the bending of her legs, which began to lightly trickle blood again. Scootaloo’s vision had apparently been affected by the force field, and had just started to adjust to the threatening darkness again. She looked at Twilight and noticed the cuts and wounds on her legs, and exaggerated a gasp as she leapt off of Twilight, wondering if she had caused them. Twilight felt relief when Scootaloo shifted her weight off of her back, and was able to withdraw some decent sized breaths.
“Twilight! Are you ok?! What the hay happened to you?!” Scootaloo asked, scared for her condition.
Twilight slowed her breathing down with bigger more spaced breaths, trying to relax the stinging, and reduce her heartbeat in order to slow the blood flow through her body.
“Don’t worry Scootaloo... I’m alright.” Twilight said trying to reassure her.
“You don’t have to lie Twilight; did I do that when you caught me?” Scootaloo asked.
“No. That same force field that threw you did this. You just gave me a scare is all.” Twilight said.
“Oh... I’m sorry Twilight, I should have known better... me and the others ran into that force field when we woke up in the forest...” Scootaloo said, remembering the terrifying experience with her two best friends.
Twilight let out a breathe of light pain, before dragging her fore-legs to her chest, and lightly pushing herself up, without trying to cause the cuts on her knees to move outwards with the movement, knowing that would only push more blood out of them, instead of allowing the fluid already there to dry and seal the wound again. Scootaloo could see Twilight struggling and knew a way she could help her. She quickly squeezed under Twilights forelegs squatting to get into the small space, and pushed herself up, which allowed Twilight to get up with almost no effort in her legs. Scootaloo was in a good condition and didn’t struggle under Twilight’s weight, which wasn’t even very much anyway. Twilight kicked her back legs up on her own; as there weren’t too many bad cuts on them she had to worry about.
“Thank you Scootaloo.” Twilight said grateful for the assistance.
“No Problem Twilight.” Scootaloo said happy to offer her help, still convinced she had something to do with the wounds.
“So, if you’ve been here before, do you remember anything about the area, or what happened while you were here?” Twilight asked trying to shake the worry from Scootaloo’s mind.
Scootaloo thought about the area around her, and could slightly remember some outstanding features, but she couldn’t put her hoof on where they were. She tried to focus on the events of a few days back, and told Twilight what she could, even though it upset her to think about the events.
“There are a lot of strange things in here Twilight. This whole area has lots of objects that shouldn’t be here. Even a couple of buildings... but... they’re so unnatural. When me and the crusaders were lost with other friends of ours, they started going missing... one by... one. All of us that were left, knew that the... the... uh... Slendermane might get us too... Apple Bloom’s friend Twist had some pencils and small pieces of paper in her saddlebag... It was dark... darker than this... but when we saw it... we looked only as long as we needed too... before somepony else distracted it... We drew pictures of it and wrote notes... they weren’t works of art, but they were our way... for telling others to stay away so that the Slendermane didn’t catch them too. We tried running deeper into the forest... to see if we could escape to the outside... of the other end... but the trees were too thick... It didn’t take long for the few of us still left... to figure out that this thing had trapped us... and was slowly pushing us into the middle... but... but it...” Scootaloo choked again, and few tears of pure fear dripped from her eyes. “It just appeared behind all of us... and... and... those tentacles!” She exclaimed as her body started to feel limp. Twilight noticed how bothered she was getting by having to recall the events.
“Scootaloo... you don’t have to go through all this if you don’t want to.” She told her. Scootaloo wiped her eyes and sniffed.
“What’s the point in stopping now? I’m almost finished. We... we woke up in a tiled room... and there were no doors... The exit to the left led straight outside. The room was in a bad condition, tiles chipped.... B-b-blood on the walls... and it smelled absolutely rotten. Everypony that was there was scared, but didn’t want to run for the door. But then we heard yelling through the... the wall behind us... It scared me and the others, but I knew it could only mean there was another room with survivors... but Diamond Tiara on the other hand made the first stupid decision... she got scared and ran for the door. She made it outside very quickly, and when she got out... the last thing she said was ‘hey, it’s... it’s not out here’... then without even so much as a scream, blood splattered all over the inside wall of the hallway she had walked out of... I’ve never screamed louder or heard as much screaming from the others as that moment... Silver Spoon was terrified and wanted Diamond Tiara to come back... she ran out of the door way and didn’t even look outside... for a second before she started screaming again. She ran the other way through the hallway... and the... then we heard her yelling out no. We couldn’t make out all the words. But we never saw the creature go after her... so I figured there was a doorway on the other side of the building. I ran to the doorway in the hallway on our side and looked outside, and there was nothing there. Silver Spoon was still yelling, and as bad as I felt about it... I told the others that the only chance they were gunna get to escape was now. But when they got to the doorway... they ran into a force field. Just like the one over there,” She said pointing down the trail she’d come from.
“They bashed against it, but nothing happened. They couldn’t get out, and I couldn’t get back in... Before I could ask what was happening though, I looked left down the end of the hallway... and.... and that... that Slendermane... was right at the end of it... watching me... Whether it had eyes or not I knew it was watching me! I shoved myself against the force field and nothing happened. The others told me to run... I kept trying to get back in... but I knew that was my only option. The last thing I said to them was that I’m sorry... and that I’d be back... But I don’t even know if they’re still...” Scootaloo stopped and burst into tears. She dreaded to think of what could have happened to her friends, and flat out refused to allow herself to believe them dead. Twilight could tell this whole recollection would end in tears, and to her own dismay she was right. She Walked over and hugged Scootaloo trying to be as comforting as possible.
“Scootaloo, don’t worry. They’ll be ok. I promise.” Twilight said, hoping she could reassure Scootaloo that nothing would have happened to Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle. She tried to think of a way to change the subject, to help her stop crying; her shoulder was wet with salty tears. “How did you escape?” she said, hoping to push past the moment, it wasn’t the most positive aspect of conversation that she could have used to make her feel better, but it was something. Scootaloo hardly hesitated or stopped crying to tell her.
“That... That’s just it Twilight! The Slendermane didn’t do anything! It stood still and watched! Even when I started running, it stayed in the same place! It’s almost like it wanted me to escape!” She finished. Scootaloo hadn’t realised that she had spat almost every word of her sentence and loudly exclaimed at the spaces of each line. She had stopped crying and only let the water well under her eyes. Anger was boiling in them and any other tears dropped like bombs to the ground.
The anger mixed with her remorse was creating a nightmarish concoction of emotions. She hated the Slendermane for letting her escape, and keeping her friends locked up, but was more afraid of it than anything knowing of its abilities from personal experience and background from Twilight’s book.
“How do you remember everything? When I woke up, I couldn’t recall anything from earlier today.” Twilight said wondering why it took her connecting to the wall to amplify the strength of the memory and make it viewable to her. Scootaloo wiped her eyes and let her rising temper simmer while she tried to recall more events of the day she was abducted.
“Sweetie Belle had the same problem. When that thing pulled us through the barrier, she got knocked out cold. She was lying unconscious for about 10 minutes before we got her to wake up, but when she did, she had no idea why we were in the Everfree forest, or anything that happened during that day actually. She also said that whenever she tried to use a couple of little spells to help us out, she couldn’t... She said that her horn would just spark and fizzle, and that she could hear static whenever she tried to use it.” Scootaloo explained.
“The same thing happened to me... even before I entered the forest.” Twilight said recalling the sudden migraine and static she heard before leaving Fluttershy’s cottage.
“So you believe me then right? I mean you read all the facts to me out loud from the book, and all the stuff that was reported to happen, happened to you.” Scootaloo said, hoping that by now she would have gathered enough evidence to prove that the creature really existed.
“I’m... I’m not sure Scootaloo. I want to... and I certainly don’t want to flat out say that everything that happened to you was imagined, because I don’t believe that... but there has to be a bigger picture here.” Twilight told her giving a sorrowful face feeling bad that she couldn’t help make Scootaloo feel better about something.
“But you did before; you were just as nervous as me! When we got separated I heard you yell out to the Slendermane, telling it bring me back... Oh.... You... You don’t remember do you?” Scootaloo realised.
“Maybe you could explain it to me? It might jog my memory and help me remember.” Twilight suggested.
“Um, ok. Yeah, I’ll tell you what I can remember ok, but it’s a little hazy... something about this area just messes with my head... and I’m pretty sure I know exactly why,” Scootaloo said giving a light shiver.
“Can you remember anything?” Scootaloo asked so she knew what time she had to focus on to recount the events.
“Nothing after the two of us entering the forest,” Twilight said remembering where the memory she had seen abruptly ended.
“Oh ok, well basically we went in and followed your usual path to Zecora’s, but...” Scootaloo stopped feeling a chill run down her spine... something was watching them.
Twilight watched confused as Scootaloo’s expression changed in almost an instant, but Scootaloo didn’t have time to say anything to Twilight though, not even a second after she realised that they were being watched, a loud gust of wind blasted through the trees towards Twilight and Scootaloo, carrying a huge cloud of ghostly white fog. Scootaloo hadn’t seen this happen when she saw the Slendermane, but she was equally terrified that something bad was about to happen, and became paralysed on the spot as if glued to the ground, not even able to speak. She tried to open her mouth but her bottom lip would only tremble and let out mumbled squeals.
Twilight noticed Scootaloo's eyes dart off behind her, and turned around as she heard the massive amount of rustling leaves the wind was causing, but she didn’t know whether the fog barrelling towards them was threatening or not. Not wanting to take the risk that it possessed some kind of magical quality that could knock the pair out or injure them, she attempted to conjure a V-shaped force field in front of her, to divide the fog around them, but upon attempting the spell, Twilight found that she was still unable to perform any acts of magic and that her horn would only sputter with weak sparks. She only watched the cloud approach faster and faster.
“Scootaloo, I can’t stop it! Hold on!” She yelled turning around ready to shield the filly in case the fog indeed posed danger, but upon turning around, she found she was alone. Scootaloo had vanished. Twilight felt her heart race soar as she became stressed. Her eyes darted all over the trees behind her, but there was no sign of the little orange filly.
“Scootaloo?!” She yelled out hoping for response. “Scoota-Ugh!” Twilight was stopped midway through another distressed yell, as the fog hurdled right into her back, with the force of a door slamming against her. But that wasn’t the pain that bothered her; a far worse feeling was raging in her head. Twilight’s horn was shooting sparks all over the place like mad, and all she could hear was incredibly loud static filling her head, surrounded the high pitched squealing of the wind in her ears. She had both hooves on her ears trying to block them, but even while the wind was unable to invade her ears, the squeal continued, and started to increase in frequency.
Very abruptly though, almost out of nowhere, the wind ceased, and the fog it had carried settled in its place, only moving as it wisped along the small currents of breeze that flowed through the forest. It only made the forest look more eerie, and scared Twilight even more than before. She could only keep counting her fears though, Scootaloo was still missing.
Twilight was about to call for her again, but after turning around to give a quick scan of the area, her eyes stopped dead in place, and her heart sunk. She felt her heart beat race even faster than before, but her breathing stopped completely. Her pupils dilated, but then contracted to no bigger than the circumference of the tip of a quill. Standing about 10 feet down the dirt road, double Celestia’s height from the ground, on frail looking thin legs, in a black formal suit with a blood red tie around its neck, and absolutely no facial features what so ever, was the Slendermane.
“No! NO! You... You can’t be real! It’s not... It’s not possible! IT’S NOT POSSIBLE!” Twilight screamed in disbelief. Her heart begun to pound against her chest as she became more terrified by the sight of the creature; every second longer she looked at it, her horn started to buzz. Before long the buzzing sounded like electricity was trying to come out of her horn with sparks and volts emitting from the tip. As the stress built and she started to break out in sweat, Twilight started to feel sick in the stomach, feeling everything in it churn as it was moved around by her other convulsing organs. She gave one more desperate cry “SCOOTALOO!”
She started to hyperventilate, but had a spark of anger also burning inside of her. “WHERE IS SHE?! WHAT DID YOU DO WITH HER?! AHHH!” Twilight screamed at the creature, before the horrible static that she had experienced to many times already, invaded her skull yet again. The whole scenario was ripping and violently tearing at her sanity. She felt like her mind was slowly degrading every second longer the static continued. She shot a look at the Slendermane, but it just kept watching her, as if interested in what its presence was causing her mind to suffer, but right before Twilight’s eyes, it leaned its head to the right, and disappeared, causing all the loud noise in her head to stop.
Twilight was only stinging in her head now. The pain that had been stinging in the areas of her injuries had all been directed and collected into her head. Twilight thought she was about to have a mental breakdown. The most impossible being was real... and she was trapped in its home.
***
“SCOOTALOO?! WHERE ARE YOU?!” Twilight yelled, desperate to find her. They had to escape, she had to find her and get her out. She realised her biggest mistake was not believing her, and she’d just bought her straight back into the danger that she was so lucky to escape. Twilight suddenly became filled with a rushing torrent of rage. She could no longer tell if she was horrified of the Slendermane, or furious that it had taken Scootaloo away in the blink of an eye, and left her alone. She knew what it wanted. It wanted her to enter the dark, foggy, unnatural forest, and try to find her.
Furious, terrified, and knowing she had no other option, but to go through the forest, Twilight turned around and lit her horn ablaze with terrific magenta energy. She let out a loud scream and channelled all the pain in her head into her horn, and threw a flurry of explosive spells at the force field that separated her from the outside world.
One by one the spells crashed into the force field, only to be absorbed into the white rippling wall. Twilight was breathing heavily now with dust being blown from its place on the road by the wind she was gushing from her nostrils. But then Twilight realised what she had just done. She’d used magic, without being interrupted. She shot another blast of uncontrolled energy at the force field, and realised that maybe there was still a chance to defend herself if the Slendermane showed up, and find Scootaloo.
She tried to teleport herself to the end of the road, but her horn only created a weak purple flame that fizzled out. The sting that followed after was enough of a signal to tell her that teleporting was going to be too much of a strain for now. Twilight swallowed and looked down the pathway, terrified that she was now trapped with no way to go but forward. She felt queasy wondering about what it might have done to Scootaloo, but she knew she couldn’t give up on her. She tried to remember everything the filly had told her.
‘We drew pictures of it and wrote notes.... telling others to stay away so that the Slendermane didn’t catch them too... slowly pushing us into the middle.’ The words replayed themselves in her head. She decided that for now she would stick to the pathway first and see if she could find Scootaloo. Finding a new track to Zecora’s was well out of the question now, Twilight would have to rely on her own knowledge and hope that her memory would return. But then she realised; she still had the book with information in it. She levitated it out with her magic.
“Good, I can still use telekinesis.” She said happy that one of her strong points in magic was still available to her. She flipped the pages all the way to the one she had creased the corner of, finding it still in perfect condition much to her relief.
“I can’t delay anymore... it might come back.” She said realising that she had to get going. She gave one more call out to Scootaloo hoping that she could hear her.
“Don’t worry Scootaloo! I’m coming!”
Twilight started to nervously shift down the pathway, kicking dust from the road unable to lift her hooves too high without stinging her legs. They were starting to feel better but she didn’t want to risk ripping the scabs open again. She held the book to the left of her face so she could see the path ahead as she walked, while she read, but as she kept going even seeing was becoming a chore.
She reached the fork in the path and looked to the right, then to the left. It was practically pitch black both ways. Twilight looked at the page she had opened to, but the purple flame emanating from her horn holding the book up still didn’t even seem enough to bring light bright enough to illuminate the page. She tried to conjure a light as well to be able to read part of the first few lines, but it proved to still be a strain to focus on casting one spell, so trying to cast another only caused her to hear static again, and break off the first spell and drop the book.
“Maybe if I just read a few lines now…” She said nervously looking around to make sure the Slendermane wasn’t watching her. She was completely alone. But something was changing about the path she’d just come down. The trees were bending unnaturally out of shape and stretching, closer and closer together. Before long the branches begun to interlock and twist together, shedding small leaves and severing lots of branches. The last bit of low level light that Twilight could see peeking through the closing trees, disappeared as patches of leaves slowly overgrew and covered it. There was no longer a pathway to retreat through. Twilight knew that obviously the Slendermane had no intentions for anypony to leave the forest tonight, but she didn’t lose the sliver of hope that was still holding on in her sanity.
The forest had only become darker now. Without a light Twilight wouldn’t be able to see more than 4 feet in front of herself at most. Starting to feel a nervous tingle creeping up her spine, Twilight used her magic to light up her horn with a bright, shining, white light. She could see through several of the dark tree groups around her now, and scanned them very carefully. If something was watching her, she wanted to know... but she didn’t want to have to see it to know. She breathed in carefully steadying herself as she looked as deep as her vision would allow into the gaps of the large tree trunks, and nothing was there. She wasn’t sure if she should be relieved, or terrified. If the Slendermane wanted to catch her, she would have at least expected it to be keeping an eye on her... if it had eyes though.
Twilight brought the light down and looked at the page, and began to read the text aloud, but as she began, her horn started to glow with red underneath the white light, which began expanding and Twilight felt a cold rush of wind blow straight through her head, making her feel strangely dizzy, but yet still able to read without trouble.
“The Slendermane, Horror of the Everfree...” She began. The words started to reverberate in her head and bounce around in her skull getting louder and louder, before Twilight eyes snapped shut, and images began rolling out in her mind. She was seeing more memories again.
***
It was daytime again and she was walking through the forest with Scootaloo by her side. Apparently the filly had gotten some of her wit back and wasn’t as wobbly as before. Twilight could tell they had entered the forest a fair few minutes ago now, remembering the environment from the path she took instead of her usual one to Zecora’s, which was overgrown with poison joke.
“Twilight, what sort of information’s in that book you bought?” Scootaloo asked.
“It’s sort of a reference guide to the Everfree forest, and the life it contains. It’s full of myths, magic, stories, scientific research, anything you want to know about the forest you can find in here.” Twilight explained. “In fact, I might read a little bit of it now, and see if I can identify any of the things that could explain what you’ve been seeing. Besides we still have a fair way to go yet.” Twilight said, lighting up her horn while she walked. The flap holding her saddlebag opened, and the book floated out surrounded by Twilight’s purple sparkling aura. She flicked the book open and scattered to the page she had creased and begun reading.
“The Slendermane, Horror of the Everfree. The Slendermane is a mystical impossible being that lives within the deepest and darkest parts of wooded areas. While the first and only proved sighting was in the Everfree forest, sightings have been recorded all over Equestria throughout the past few years.” Twilight said reading the first line.
“A few years?! It’s been here for that long?” Scootaloo asked confused.
“Scootaloo this book is at least 3 years old. And beside’s it said all over Equestria. Some ponies will make up anything to get attention.” Twilight said, giving herself more and more reasons to doubt the creature’s existence. Scootaloo could see that she wasn’t getting anywhere on getting Twilight to believe her.
“What else does it say? Read the proved sighting.” She said hoping their might be enough evidence to make Twilight believe her.
“Its right under this paragraph, I’ll read it shortly,” she said before continuing. “The creature is shown to be almost featureless, without even any sign of a face. The only thing standing out from its form is the suit that it wears with a red tie it kept tucked inside of it. It is able to stretch its limbs to impossible lengths, which although thin and frail in appearance, can still support its body weight, although it may not have much weight as it can also stretch it’s body to some extent as well. The creature has been shown to have tentacle like appendages that it can extend from its back, and is able to teleport anywhere it needs to by its own will. It will often abduct fillies and colts that play near or even in the wooded areas in which it resides, and also the parents if they come looking for them. Upon seeing the creature victims are reported to feel sick and dizzy, and in rare cases have been reported to hear static crackling in their heads, rendering unicorns in particular, unable to use magic. Wow this just keeps getting more ridiculous by the minute.” Twilight said dismissing the supernatural abilities as nothing more than folklore and rumours.
“Just keep reading...” Scootaloo said becoming more disappointed that the book wasn’t managing to convince her of anything. She also reflected upon this information, which made a lot of the events from her encounter make a bit more sense.
“First Encounter,” Twilight said beginning the next paragraph.
“The disappearance of Maple Seed, and Daisy Frizzle, two nature reporters, and suppliers of 80% of the information found in this book, went missing during their first trek into the Everfree forest. The pair had travelled through numerous forests, and documented much of the research that has given ponies the knowledge about the delicate lands that we know today, but none of the forests as dangerous and large as the Everfree forest. Unable to shy away from a challenge, and eager to document some more research and map out the area, they were recorded as the first pair to enter the forest, and the only pair to not return.” Twilight continued. Scootaloo was shaking now, the story was bringing out her fears, but also arousing her interests in the subject.
“The pair entered the forest at early during the day, intending to catch a glimpse on some flora and fauna, possibly document some new species, and capture images, while mapping out the area. Maple Seed tended to strive more in documenting the nature of a forest, while Daisy Frizzle was stronger in the field of documenting the life within it, and creating a map of the area. 2 days after the pair entered the forest, with no sign of them returning, various rescue crews were assembled in hopes of locating the pair, in case they were lost or injured. The crews searched tirelessly for days on end, with no reference guide to go off, but only hope. After no such luck presented itself, one of the crews reported their first find, which was the pairs’ equipment, and research, neatly stacked against a tree, along with their clothing, which was ripped and torn, with dirt and light red stains covering them. After 7 years of being locked away in the Canterlot royal vaults, access was granted for reporters and publishers to view the said research, which led to the writing of many books, and the rise in popularity of the legend of the Slendermane. Photos from the pair’s cameras were also documented and can be found on the next page.” Twilight finished arriving at the bottom of the page.
“Believe me yet Twilight? That wasn’t a fake disappearance either. You of all ponies should know that. Mrs Cheerilee taught Apple Bloom’s class about the pair’s mysterious disappearance a long time ago, but from what Apple Bloom told me she never mentioned the Slendermane.” Scootaloo said wondering if Twilight had read enough yet.
“Let me take a look at some of the pictures first.” Twilight said, lowering the fillies hopes yet again. She flipped the page over, and saw a sequence of sepia photographs, in what was labelled, a presumed order of events. The first picture was a snapshot of the pair standing outside the Everfree forest. The next one was a picture of a shed in the forest, captioned ‘one of the more confusing images, which supports evidence of another pony possibly living in the forest’. The next image was one of a distanced group of trees, but circled were some very thin, oddly shaped stalks growing above the bushes of the others.
The next picture sent a chilling shiver down Twilight’s spine. It was a side on shot of the Slendermane, standing larger than the height of even Celestia. Twilight looked back at the first picture and read the caption that she’d missed before, but upon returning her gaze to the third picture she let out a frightened squeal and broke off the magical spell holding the book up, letting it collapse to the ground facing up on the same page.
“Twilight what’s wrong?” Scootaloo said, startled by Twilight’s sudden yell.
“The picture, it was looking sideways! I took my eyes off it for a second and it was looking at me!” Twilight babbled panicked.
Scootaloo got confused by what she meant. “Which picture?” She asked.
“The third one.” Twilight said looking away from the book. Scootaloo trotted over and looked at the third picture down, but only saw a side on picture of the Slendermane. She shuddered a little at the sight, but turned around to reassure Twilight that she was just imagining things.
“Twilight, it’s a side on picture.” She said. Scootaloo felt bad for the next thing that ran into her mind, but was almost glad that the picture had managed to frighten Twilight. It might be getting Twilight closer to believing her.
Twilight turned around and levitated the book back in front of herself again, quickly looking carefully at the picture, and to her surprise, the picture had returned to its original image of the Slendermane in a side shot. She gave weak laugh feeling silly for perhaps perceiving it to have looked at her and looked at the next picture, but there was no forth picture, or fifth. They had been ripped out, and the captions, burnt out and smudged. Twilight couldn’t help but wonder how that happened considering no one had borrowed this book from her library before, but ignored it and went to the next picture. It sent even more shivers down her spine, and made the fur on her body stand on end, sending unwanted tingles throughout her nerves. It was a picture of the face of the Slendermane. Featureless but still as if it was staring into Twilight’s very soul. It wasn’t the clearest of pictures and had static and black and white grain all over it.
She went to look at the next page but noticed a fold in the middle of the two pages. Using her magic to pull the fold out from the centre of the book, Twilight folded it outwards to reveal a two page map of the Everfree forest that the pair had managed to draw, it had been since enhanced from a rough sketch to a clearer demonstration of a pegasus-eye view of the forest. The whole forest had not been drawn, but they had obviously explored a fairly vast quantity of it. All the words had been scribbled out though, and twenty percent of the top right of the page had been scribbled over very messily.
“Somepony must have been scribbling in my books.” Twilight said irritated looking at the messy corner.
“Is that all that’s there Twilight? No other stories or anything?” Scootaloo asked curious as to if there were any more sightings. Twilight flicked the foldout back in, and looked at the page she had flicked over.
“There’s a couple more pictures and... a poem.” Twilight said looking at some of the supposed sightings of the Slendermane, ranging from curly, thin, distanced trees, distorted mannequins, and many other similar attempts at capturing an image of the creature.
“What’s the poem?” Scootaloo asked.
“It’s just called Slendermane. It doesn’t even have a signed author” Twilight responded.
“Well... You gunna read it?” Scootaloo asked.
“Yeah, ok.” Twilight said flicking her eyes to the first line.
“As thin as a page, and as tall as a tree,
it lives in the dark of the Everfree.
It has no expression, but irradiates fear,
if you’re in its home, it will always be near.
It can stretch its form like it has rubber bones;
its origin will always remain unknown.
Its takes pegasus, unicorns, and Earth ponies alike,
its featureless being, their very last sight.
No eyes, no face, no tail, no mane,
the look of the creature can send you insane.
Trying to run will just bring you more pain,
because nopony escapes the Slendermane.” Twilight finished.
The whole thing seemed so creepy to read, it only made her irrational growing fears worse. It almost felt like the shivers that she kept feeling running down her spine were clawing their way up her back after reading that. Scootaloo fared no better hearing it. She was sweating and her mind was flashing to the worst possible chain of thoughts. She couldn’t say anything, but in her mind she was wondering if she really had escaped at all.
“Let’s pick up the pace a little.” Twilight suggested tired of the fear induced silence. But she didn’t get a reply. When she turned around to see why Scootaloo was being so quiet, she was gone. “Scoo-Scootaloo?” She asked confused, before she heard an deafening scream ahead on the path.
“TWILIGHT!” She heard Scootaloo’s horrified cry.
“SCOOTALOO! WHERE ARE YOU?” Twilight yelled out back, breaking into a gallop down the pathway, chasing after the voice she had heard. “BRING HER BACK SLENDERMANE! BRING HER-Woah!” Twilight yelled but was cut off by an unknown force lifting her from the ground and tossing her through the air. She screamed all the way through scared by the fact that everything was happening so fast that she could hardly process it. The screaming was silenced though by the slam of her body landing on the ground up the path, as her head followed and she fell unconscious as it also made hard contact with the dirt ground.
***
Twilight’s eyes snapped open again and she clutched her head. It was hurting more than before but she was pleased to at least now be able to remember most of the events that had followed earlier during the day, although she wasn’t quite fond of them. She lit up her horn again to bring light to the pitch black surroundings, before looking around again to make sure that the Slendermane hadn’t been approaching her while she had her flashback. It wasn’t anywhere to be seen, but she knew it had to be watching her; she couldn’t deny its existence any more.
She had no idea how long she’d been out replaying the scenario in her head, but she knew she couldn’t delay moving any longer. For Scootaloo’s sake she had to move now. She brought the book to her attention one more time, but everything was blacked out and burnt on the pages. Nothing was visible anymore. She flicked open the map page, to find that the image had also been reduced to the texture and colour of ash. The only thing left was the poem. She read it again, and her nervous reflexes started to tense her up and bring out her strongest discomforts.
‘As thin as a page, and as tall as a tree,
it lives in the dark of the Everfree.
It has no expression, but irradiates fear,
if you’re in its home, it will always be near.
It can stretch its form like it has rubber bones;
its origin will always remain unknown.
Its takes pegasus, unicorns, and Earth ponies alike,
its featureless being, their very last sight.
No eyes, no face, no tail, no mane,
the look of the creature can send you insane.
Trying to run will just bring you more pain,
because nopony escapes the Slendermane.’
The fur on her neck was standing high enough to sting now, her blood was running cold through her veins, and her spine felt like it was being ripped at by sharp claws. She levitated the book into her bag, and conjured up her light again, but shrieked louder than she’d ever done in her life. The Slendermane was right on the path in front of her, facing her head on, but not moving at all.
Twilight was too terrified to look at it though, and turned around letting out one of the most horrified scream she’d ever produced in her life, as she ran down the left dirt pathway as fast as she could. She looked back terrified hoping it wasn’t following her, but when she saw that it handed even inched, she slowed down and turned around to face it. Her horn sparked, but she didn’t look away.
‘What’s it doing?’ Twilight wondered. She was shaking horribly, her legs were hardly holding her up. She looked on at the creature and felt her lip start to quiver. She watched on for a second, but then she realised that it was obviously trying to scare her away from the path she’d come from and push her deeper into the forest. Upon realising this though, in less than a second, it popped from its place as if it had never existed. There was no flash of light or cloud of particles left behind; it was just gone. Twilight swallowed her fear and determined to stay as far away from the edge or middle of the forest as possible, continued following the pathway, searching for a sign of Scootaloo, now more wary than ever, and scared then she'd ever been in her lifetime.