//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Slendermane: Horror of the Everfree // by Strumfreak //------------------------------// Fluttershy cautiously continued to walk towards the building with Scootaloo on her back, while Twilight kept surveying the area, backing up behind the pair. The building was in moonlit well open area, with three pathways diverting from it, and most of the trees surrounding the circular opening stood tall, barren of leaves, and were completely jet black, with arms shooting off in unnatural directions. Scootaloo was starting to feel very sick, and started to groan as they got closer to the building. “Ugh, Flu... Fluttershy... I think... I ugh,” Scootaloo couldn’t keep talking. She could feel bodily fluids rising through her throat from her stomach, burning as they ascended. Scootaloo quickly threw herself off Fluttershy, and vomited the disgusting mess of bile into a small patch of grass, and felt tears come to her eyes from the sting of the burning, repulsive taste that had forced its way up her throat. She convulsed at the horrible feeling that she’d just experienced, but didn’t have any time to recover before another load of sick flooded her mouth, bringing a stench to her sinuses and more tears to her eyes. She was quick to get the contents out of her mouth, but almost felt like she was choking from the acidic mess burning her throat. She rolled over shaking and groaning; wanting nothing more than for everything around her to just stop and go back to normal, but Fluttershy and Twilight were quick to come to her aid. “Scootaloo! Are you ok?” Fluttershy asked while she spat out the second load of sick. “I... gah,” Scootaloo tried to start, but stopped clutching her stomach feeling a sting of pain, almost like a needle was being carelessly jabbed into her. “I feel really bad... ugh” Scootaloo felt another wave of sick forcing its way up her throat, and rolled over quickly to avoid vomiting all over herself. She started to cry out of full pain now. Her stomach no longer had any food or content to douse the burning the vomit was causing in her throat, resulting in a strong acidy fluid emerging instead, leaving her whole throat with a terrible burning sensation worse than that of before. “Fluttershy, we have to get her out of the forest and to the Ponyville hospital now. Stay with her, and watch the forest carefully, I’m going to get the others.” Twilight told her, receiving a nod back. Fluttershy sat down next to Scootaloo and starting rubbing her back to be as comforting as she possibly could. “Scootaloo, don’t worry, we’re getting you home soon ok? You and the others. Everything’s going to be fine.” Fluttershy assured her, feeling tears come to her own eyes as she surveyed the fillies worsening condition. “You, ugh, you promise?” Scootaloo said. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Fluttershy Pinkie promised continuing to rub the fillies back feeling her wrench her body trying to hold back any further involuntary convulsions. Twilight was burning with the worst combination of emotions as she approached the door to the large blue building. She was filled with so many different fears, for Scootaloo and if they’d get her out of the forest, Fluttershy, the fillies and colts that she was hoping more than ever would be safe behind the wall she was approaching, the fate of the other ponies in Ponyville that might become victims to the Slendermane if they were unable to warn the outside world, and the rest of her friends, hoping for Equestria’s sake that they wouldn’t come looking for her; Even the Slendermane wasn’t bringing her as much negativity as those she was thinking about. She then felt hate, all directed at the Slendermane, and what it had done to all the ponies it had abducted, only trying to continue the torturous unimaginable crime with no care or mercy to those it inflicted pain upon. The sadness that followed these emotions made her feel even worse, as if all the emotions she was feeling were all ingredients in an alchemy experiment gone wrong. She studied the small building turning her to look around it, but not being able to see much on the long front of it apart from an out of sight dip in the middle of the building. On the side she was approaching there were two entrances, one on the left corner and one on the right. Twilight was proceeding to the one on the right. She made sure to listen out for Fluttershy, just in case something happened outside. As she did so, she carefully entered the open doorway. She felt a cold presence embrace her as she entered the dark tiled building, and shivered as chills creeped through her coat. Straight away to Twilight’s immediate left upon entering the door way, there was another open doorway, leading into an open tiled room, Twilight peered inside, but didn’t even get a good look at the rooms contents before she whipped her head out putting her arm over her nose. The room reeked of rotting meat and dead swamp plantation. Twilight was reminded solely of the time she stumbled upon a manticore den on her way home from Zecora’s, long before the abductions began, and the mould and insect ridden, decomposing half corpse of a stallion that she’d regrettably discovered while trying to find a way around it. But upon peering her head inside, she was easily able to identify some of the bodies lying in the room, unlike the half body which was never identified, with no sign of a cutie mark or obvious fur colour. Twilight left her arm around her nose to block out as much of the stench of the room as possible. Looking inside the room brought tears to her eyes, but the strength of the smell wasn’t what was causing it. The sight of some of the lifeless bodies that were in the room was devastating; some of them being her friends that had gone missing, some of them being parents, some of them unrecognisable piles of minced chunks and red puddles. Berry Punch, Mrs Cake, Colgate, Carrot Top, and Moon Dancer who’d just visited Ponyville for a few days, were all among the still and barely recognisable bodies lying lifeless on the tiled floor. Twilight felt a sickly lump forcing its way through her throat, but swallowed it back down flinging her head out of the room. Everything she was already feeling was just getting worse. Feeling tears streaming down her face she went followed the tiled hallway away from the room, making a left turn at the corner of the building, Twilight was speechless as she looked at the hallway in front of her. What was she going to tell everypony back in Ponyville, or who would have to tell them what happened if she didn’t make it? Twilight was faced with a hallway branching of to the right, and another left turn facing up ahead. She followed the hallway first, making the left turn, and finding that it was basically symmetrical to the one she’d entered, with an exit leading back outside. She moved over to the outside door before peering outside; she felt some relief when she saw that Fluttershy and Scootaloo were still ok, but was very reluctant to look inside the room to her left. Struggling to bring herself to do so, she peered inside the room, and felt her heart hit rock bottom, sinking in her chest like a rock. The missing fillies and colts were in the room, all in a much better condition than those in the first room she’d peered in, but they were just as lifeless. Twilight felt what had only been tears, progress to absolute misery. “It... It killed them... No... It couldn’t ha... No... I was too late...” Twilight mumbled, collapsing to her knees, and then onto her stomach unable to control how she felt. Any flickering flames of hope had been extinguished by Twilight’s tears. She felt a hoof on her shoulder and looked up to see Scootaloo had come over to her. “Twi... ugh, Twilight, what’s wrong? Where are the others?” she asked before looking into the room herself. “Are... are they.... No they can’t be, A... Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo cried out looking in the room immediately spotting her friends. She didn’t break down and cry at the sight of her friends and peers though; she didn’t trust her eyes in their condition and had to be sure what she was seeing was real. She ran over to the other members of the CMC and grabbed their shoulders, while Fluttershy sat with Twilight trying to comfort her without breaking down into a mess herself. “Apple Bloom?! Sweetie Belle. Wake up.” Scootaloo cried, desperately shaking her friends. Scootaloo’s horrible night was brightened up in almost an instant though, seeing the smallest flicker of movement from Sweetie Belle’s eyelids, then Apple Bloom’s. She shook them harder. “Apple Bloom! Sweetie Belle! Wake up, it’s Scootaloo, I came back!” She joyfully announced as her friends started to stir into consciousness. Twilight had trouble identifying the nature of Scootaloo’s cries, but looked up as soon as Fluttershy started trying to get her attention. “Twilight... Twilight! Look! Their ok!” She cried happily looking into the room. Twilight lifted her head and felt sanctity return to her body. Many of the fillies and colts in the room had reacted to Scootaloo’s voice and were stirring, and rolling around weakly. Twilight got up quickly, feeling the warmth of the hope she’d longed to preserve return to her. The last wells of tears in her eyes, dribbled out and dried into the dry patches of fur on her face. “Scoo... Scoo...oww. Ah mah head.” Apple Bloom mumbled still stirring between consciousness and sleep. “Scootaloo... you really came back... ah thought it got you.” Apple Bloom mumbled before groaning and clutching her stomach. “Ugh ah haven’t eaten properly in days.” “Don’t worry, Twilight and Fluttershy are here, we’ll get you all out of here.” Scootaloo told her slowly recovering friend. She looked at Sweetie Belle, but she was recovering even slower and hadn’t quite found herself able to speak. “Twi and Fluttershy?” Apple Bloom asked, slightly craning her neck to find the two mares standing at the door. She looked back at Scootaloo, letting her vision adjust to the night level light conditions before she could actually identify the many injuries and bruised sites of her friend’s body; not to mention the rancid smell of vomit that lingered in her breath. “Sweet Celestia Scootaloo. Wha...” Apple Bloom stopped choking on her saliva and coughing it back into her throat. “What the hay happened to you?” Apple Bloom asked seeing her blazing red eyes and purple eye lids, and filthy, ruffled coat on her belly and legs. “What did that monster do to you?” Sweetie Belle’s voice said almost out of nowhere. The pair looked over and noticed that Berry Pinch was giving her a helping hoof to get up, but shortly noticing after that she only had three, causing each of the girls to give a light squeal. “Forget what happened to me! Where’s your other hoof?” Scootaloo asked looking at the stump on her back right leg. Berry Pinch was only crying and didn’t say anything though. Instead she only pointed at her throat, and made a movement across it, as if she was mimicking something slicing through it. The girls thought for a moment, but eventually figured out that she wasn’t able to speak. Understanding that they’d figured out her predicament, she shifted a couple of uncomfortable, uneasy steps over to the wall and leaned against it for support. Over on the opposite side of the room, Twilight walked in, and knowing that every filly and colt here had a chance... Or almost all of them. They had obviously been deprived of food and liquid for quite some time, and had probably only been able to eat any grass that they could find outside, if they were lucky enough to make it outside. She looked over at a few of the still lifeless bodies lying on the tiled floor, that wouldn’t respond in any way to their friends please and cries. Snips for one had gotten up and found snails lying a few feet away. Twilight trying to take in everything happening around her, seemed to block out any noise, but the scene made everything the more depressing. She couldn’t hear Snips words, but the emotion she could see on his face, while he tried ineffectively to wake up his sleeping friend, was just one of the few sights that contributed to the heartbreaking gloom the room was emanating with. “Fluttershy, we have to get them out of here now. We can’t let them stay here, it’s going to be too much for them to cope with while the Slendermane’s still out there.” Twilight said wiping her eyes, and turning to her friend. Fluttershy was also silently crying, the fact that few of these ponies had been so badly injured or killed almost unbearable for her to think about, but she nodded in agreement with Twilight. “Can you help get them outside? I need to make sure that there aren’t any more ponies that we can still save. Take.... Remember who isn’t coming back... We,” Twilight stopped and sniffed again trying to oppress the onslaught of tears that were trying to force their way from her tear ducts. “We have to.... we have to make sure...” Twilight went to finish her sentence, but Fluttershy just put her hoof on her shoulder and nodded. On that note Twilight exited the room, and turned right following the hallway, back to the right turn corner, but instead of following it to the end, made a left turn into the hallway that branched off the middle of the building. It had a doorway leading to the forest outside on the wall to the left of her, and at the end of the hallway, there was a path to the left. Following the hallway, making the left turn, Twilight came to another right turn leading to one smaller hallway, which faded to pitch black darkness. Twilight ignited her horn with a light, which gleamed of the tiles filling the room with magenta and refracting off the hallway filling the ones behind her. The hallway was a dead end, but a large square ahead at the end of the floor was missing, and on approaching it, Twilight found that it was actually a small pit, but even her light wasn’t enough to see a bottom. *** Back in the room, Fluttershy was struggling with the emotional task of getting all the injured fillies and colts, to separate with their departed peers. It was almost painful to hold back her own overpowering sadness, while trying to get them to part with theirs and leave for their own safety. 12 of the ponies now outside, left only the CMC and the bodies of the 5 lifeless bodies of the little ponies who hadn’t made it. Unable to hold back the heartrending emotion that had been raging behind her depressed expression, Fluttershy burst into tears, before taking note of those who wouldn’t be leaving with them, and ushered the CMC to leave with her. On her way out of the room, Apple Bloom paused when she saw her curly maned friend Twist, without her glasses, lying among the ones who hadn’t got up. Knowing she wasn’t as close with her old friend as she used to be ever since she met Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, she was quick to go make sure she was ok. “Twist? Twist?” She asked shaking her friends limp body around. “Twist, it’s time to go... Twist?” The hard truth didn’t hit Apple Bloom for a few seconds, but when she finally realised Twist wouldn’t be leaving with them, she felt her heart sink into her stomach, and didn’t even attempt to refrain herself from letting tears stream out of both eyes. She didn’t want to leave her friend here, even if she was gone, and weakly collapsed onto the floor in front of her, before long, lying in a small puddle of her own tears. *** Twilight now right in front of the pit stared down as far as her horn would allow, but she saw no bottom, nor any sign that there even was one. Momentarily she diverted her attention to the hallway behind her, as the strange feeling that she was being watched made the fur on the back of her neck crane up ever so slightly, but there was nothing there. She looked back down the hole in front of her and increased the power she was putting into the magical light, but still saw no further down the hole than before. The feeling of abnormal presence around herself started to slowly creep into her head again, Twilight started to breathe faster as anxiety caused her heartbeat to accelerate. She shot another look behind herself, but still nothing was there. Twilight started to break into a sweat. She started to consider just leaving the building then and there, but she had to be sure there was nopony in the bottom of the pit that needed saving. Twilight diverted all of the light that was bouncing of the room around her into an extremely focused beam of light, and directed it directly down the pit, through with wasting time with magic that wasn’t working. She peered carefully down the pit to see what was down there, but what was down there was making the light illuminating the pit made the glow a light red colour rather than its natural magenta. Twilight looked closely at what was causing the tint in her magical colour, and threw her head out of the tunnel in disgust. Dismembered limbs and minced torsos, with what looked like chunks of bones, scraps of muscle and ligament, and badly misshaped organs lay in a pool of red in the bottom of the pit. It filled the whole pit diameter so there was no telling how deep it was. But Twilight had seen enough in medical books to recognise the remnants of what were probably bodies of other victims, even in the unrecognisable state. Twilight wasn’t sure anymore if she was seeing what she was seeing, or seeing what the Slendermane wanted her to see. The fear in her mind started to become stronger and Twilight was almost certain that the Slendermane was behind her, throwing another look behind herself only to find that she was wrong. Wanting only to know that there was nopony that she needed to retrieve from the pit, Twilight dared one more look into the pit in order to confirm that she wasn’t being tricked. As she shone the beam of light into the pit once more, the light bounced back off the surface of the pool below in the tinted red colour, but as Twilight further craned her vision over the pit, another shape started to form into the light. Above the messy pool below, two spaced pointy objects came into silhouetted vision, then a curve between them, and then the top of what looked like a head. But as the shape came to colour, and revealed a flat pale white surface, Twilight instantly realising her mistake in revealing the shape below, Twilight screamed and jumped back from the pit. “No!” She yelled breaking her concentration on the light, blacking out the hallway. Twilight brought up a smaller light in the matter of a second and turned around to run out of the building and waste no time in escaping with everypony else. But upon turning around she came directly face to face with the entity that had just one second ago been in the pit. Letting out a scream of shock and fright, Twilight jumped away from the Slendermane, realising her second mistake of doing so in front of the pit. She screamed all the way on her descent down, with only a featureless face in her vision watching her fall. She came to an abrupt stop, splashing into the pool of gore. In a sudden attempt to remain above it, Twilight flailed her arms around hopelessly, only flicking more of the thick mix of muscle and entrails above her. She kicked her legs but found it almost impossible to do so, finding the pool to be thicker with bloody mess, than liquid with blood. Twilight couldn’t even scream, feeling the cold rush of the blood in the pool run into her throat. She shut her mouth out of pure disgust and displeasure, but could not against any effort block the reeking stench of the mess from her nose. To make matters worse the smell and environment had taken less than seconds to push Twilight beyond the point of disgust, and she felt vomit coursing its way up her throat. Beginning to sink deeper into the mess Twilight did the only thing she had a chance to try and do, while it was still in her vision, which was about to become blurred by red. Kicking away as much of the bone and mess as she could, unable to hold back the bile in her throat any longer, Twilight lit her horn up with a spell she hadn’t been able to perform since she entered the forest. As the tip of her horn glowed with magenta, she looked directly at the hallway at the top of the pit, and blotted out the Slendermane. Twilight closed her eyes as they passed under the gore with only her snout and horn still above it. Twilight kept the vision of the hallway in her head, and felt warmth surround her body through all the cold blood around her. Focussing hard on the spell she was about to perform, she took in one last breath of the gore polluted air of the pit before descending below it. Her spell surrounded her in a ball of white energy, and before she knew it, Twilight moved herself out of the messy pool, and found herself lying in the hallway before the pit. She opened her eyes, and took in a few large panicked breaths, trying to come to terms with the previous event. She found the air was much cleaner now, but could still taste the bitter disturbing flavour of blood on her tongue. Her sinuses were swarming with the displeasuring smell of gore, and her coat was dyed red by blood that remained stained and flushed through it. Very disturbed mentally and physically, Twilight was unable to stop herself from shaking out of fear and disgust, but all it took to trigger the inevitable sickly aftermath was the splosh of what appeared to be a spleen sliding off her flank and onto the floor. Twilight looked at it, and her blood covered body, and could no longer repress the horrible smell and taste, finding her mouth quickly becoming filled with vomit. Twilight didn’t aim it anywhere in particular, and just let it all out on the floor in front of her. All the warmth in her body fled with each mouthful of sick, and the cold slime of the blood and thick mess staining her coat was starting to make everything even chillier. Twilight felt tears streaming out her eyes with the burning sensation that followed each one. Twilight didn’t care though; she needed to get it out of her system. Even the taste of vomit was more appealing to her than the lingering taste of somepony else’s bloody remains, but even thinking about it like that made it worse. She didn’t even care enough to aim away from her hooves which were now positioned in the pooling puddles of bodily fluid. Twilight felt like more of a mess than ever. She moved out of the puddle of sick, and shook as much of the horrible fluids and organs off her body as possible, cringing at all the elements in the gore as she did so. She still felt cold and disgusting, and her coat was still glazed with sticky sludge like red blood, but Twilight had enough to regret already, and didn’t want to add checking out the other side of the building to her list of mistakes. Twilight lit up her horn again, and after a quick unsteady scan of the hallway, thankfully, she was alone; she had no intention of looking down or going near the pit again, but it took her a few moments to realise the success in her mistake. She was able to perform her teleportation spell, without interruption, even though the Slendermane was watching her whole descent into the cold gore. Static didn’t even fill her head. But after realising her feat, the one shining moment in the whole mess of mortifying events was quickly forgotten, as Twilight sprung into action out of sudden shock. The Slendermane had emerged from the pit with no warning, and was now moving directly towards Twilight. Twilight went to run but tripped landing on her chin. Unlike previous encounters where the Slendermane hadn’t moved, it was now showing no signs of letting Twilight get away this time. Looking back at it Twilight found that her hind legs were bound by the Slendermane’s tentacle appendages that had sprung from its back and wrapped themselves tightly around her limbs. It slowly started to retract the tentacles, pulling Twilight towards the creature. Panicking and hyperventilating, trying desperately to dig into the tiles with her fore-hooves to crawl away from the horror, but only slipping hopelessly on the vomit that coated the base of her hooves. The blood from the pit that remained on her stomach created a trail as she neared ever closer to the Slendermane, almost mirroring a scene from a horror movie. Without much time to think, Twilight acted out of pure desperation, and flared her horn with brilliant energy and focused as best as she could through the fear and lethality of the situation. Without a second to spare, Twilight instantly focussed deftly on the end of the hallway, and to her surprise and glee, she found herself teleported there in a ball of energy. Recovering very quickly, Twilight watched the Slendermane, as its tentacles withered back into its body, and it craned its neck, looking at her, almost as if it was confused. But what Twilight saw on caught on part of its leg restored every bit of hope she had lost through the terrifying night. A few small blue petals were struck to the suit of the Slendermane’s body. “I did time it right!” She realised and acclaimed out loud. The tentacle appendages flew from the flat back of the Slendermane’s suit, heading straight for Twilight, but she was ready now. She used her magic to conjure a force field between her and the Slendermane, stopping the appendages which crashed against it, distorting the area of the force field. “Not so nice to be stuck behind a force field is it?!” Twilight asked defiantly and angrily. “You don’t scare me now.” She claimed denying the radiance of fear the Slendermane was emitting access to her sanity. The creature was obviously displeased, or even angry, with or without an expression, as it retracted its tentacles to its body, and violently shot them out at the force field, shattering it, only crashing into another one not even a meter in front of the first. “You can’t stop me from using my magic anymore!” Twilight said feeling the warm feeling of strength join the hope she had recovered. Now clearly enraged by the display of its actions, the Slendermane threw the tentacles repeatedly against the force field, shattering it, before launching them yet again at Twilight, but she grinned and leapt out of the way into the next hallway. She turned her head and trotted forward a few feet, but felt her heart skip a beat, as the Slendermane teleported right in front of her. But instead of letting the fear get to her, Twilight instead dived outside the large doorway to her right, landing outside and avoiding a large flurry of tentacles launched straight at her. Without looking back, Twilight ran back to the side of the building that Fluttershy was on with the little ponies. “Fluttershy we have to go, now. The Slendermane is coming, but I can fight it now! I can hold it back. Take them around that path. And wait for me at the split roads; it looks like a snake tongue, Hurry!” Twilight instructed pointing to the path Scootaloo had earlier indicated she’d escaped on. “Twilight we can’t leave. Apple Bloom’s trapped in there!” Fluttershy said pointing at the room the fillies and colts were locked in before, and processed the screams of Apple Bloom, bashing against an invisible barrier inside the door barrier. Twilight thought of an option instantly and in a swift motion, conjured an explosive blast of magic, and launched it at the wall of the building. Apple Bloom saw the building about to collapse on her, and covered her head in fear. But only the one wall collapsed inwards, and instead of squashing Apple Bloom, Fell around her. She looked up to find Twilight had conjured a barrier over her to protect her. “C’mon Apple Bloom!” Scootaloo yelled to her friend, who looked gratefully towards Twilight while, running over to her friends. “Ok Fluttershy, go while you still have ti... Wait a minute, aren’t you curious about all the blood on me?” Twilight asked looking at the now dried red muck that had filtered its way through her coat. “What Blood?” Fluttershy asked, looking confusedly at Twilight. She looked the same as before. “I’ve already seen the cuts on your legs.” Fluttershy told her wondering if that’s what she meant. Twilight was dumbfounded. How could she not see that she was covered horn to hoof with large and small dry patches of blood? She didn’t dwell on it though, knowing that the Slendermane was obviously attempting to mess with their sanity. “Don’t worry just...” Twilight was about to instruct her to go, before she heard a large thud from behind the large group of fillies and colts. Twilight turned around to see the Slendermane looming over them all, tentacles hovering behind its back like a pegasus flexing its wings, but as it went to lower its tentacles on the little ponies, who were speechless and completely paralysed with fear, it came into contact with a large round force field covering the whole group of ponies. Twilight’s horn was flaring with energy, and she was struggling to hold it against the pressure that the Slendermane was putting. “Fluttershy, you have to take them now! I can hold him off!” Twilight instructed. “I can’t leave you with that thing!” Fluttershy objected, instantly receiving a response from Twilight. “You have to get the fillies and colts out of here now! I’ll be fine! I’ll find you all at the snake tongue split in the roads. Just keep following the path! You’ll find it! Gah!” Twilight felt a sudden pain in her horn. She was pushing herself beyond her normal limit. “What if you don’t turn up?!” Fluttershy asked taking notice of her friends struggling. She saw a crack start to form in the force field. “I will! I promise! Just go!” She instructed again. Fluttershy was hesitant to leave her friend to fight the Slendermane, especially on her own, but Twilight was more than trustworthy. “For Equestria’s sake Twilight, you better show up! Everypony, follow me! Help each other if you need to! Were getting you home!” Fluttershy announced to the ponies in a surprisingly loud voice. The ponies were slow to respond, and hesitant to move, but finding their weak links, those who weren’t injured, found another pony who was, and supported them in any way possible. Fluttershy had to run over and pick up Scootaloo herself, who was lying on the ground, muttering unintelligible sputters of words, and lightly drooling, she was obviously becoming sicker than before. Twilight saw the Slendermane bash a larger crack into the field, as she struggled to hold it. It was near breaking point. “Hurry!” Twilight instructed putting more flare and power into her spell. “Come on everypony!” Fluttershy instructed to the scared little ponies. She momentarily looked at Twilight, wanting to say something, but only feeling tears come to her eyes. She figured out something to say for now. “Good luck Twilight. Don’t let it get the better of you.” Fluttershy said before running off to the darkened pathway, with the fillies and colts trailing closely behind her. *** Twilight felt some relief as she dropped the force field, and started angrily at the Slendermane. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to hold it off for ever and that even if it could stop her magic or not it would still be able to handle whatever she could throw it. She stared it down for as long as it did her, almost as if it was trying to inflict some sort of pain on here, or create the static interference in her head. she figured the poison joke must have something to do with its inability to perform these actions. The Slendermane made the first advance, swing a tentacle at Twilight, with enough power to drive the unicorn to the other side of the forest. Twilight thinking fast, conjured an explosive bolt of energy, and launched it at the base of the appendage, severing it from the Slendermane’s body, as it flew through the air with the momentum of the original swing, contorting and shrinking in size, to the size of an average snake. The Slendermane’s head turned and looked at the base of its back where the limb had been severed, and a new one sprung in its place. Twilight noticed the other limb spring up and gulped down the fear rising into her throat, knowing this wasn’t going to be easy. Twilight launched a small flurry of the same projectile as before at the Slendermane, but even after directly impacting it, the Slendermane just seemed to shrug it off. Before Twilight’s eyes, it popped from existence again, teleporting behind her. She anticipated what would happen next, and teleported out of the way, perfectly predicting the oncoming flurry of tentacles. It seemed that they were the only weapon the Slendermane had against her. Twilight reappeared next to the building, and noticed a large change. The building was missing the other side that would have been the hallway she was in before. It was no longer there, nor the door that led her back outside. All that remained was the two rooms all the bodies were lying in. “Trying to mess with my head?! Then let’s play nasty!” Twilight angrily yelled teleporting out existence in a purple explosion, and reappearing near the tree line, next to the path filled with the odd green plant, and poison joke patches. Lighting up her horn, Twilight uprooted a tree, and seeing the Slendermane flinging another tentacle, swung the tree into the rapidly approaching appendage, stopping it in its tracks. Twilight turned her attention to the plantation on the pathway before her, and using her magic, uprooted as much of it as she could focus on. Lifting the massive pile of flora, Twilight threw it threw the air towards the Slendermane, and caught the next lot of tentacles it was about to assault her with, and entangling them in the roots and twisting stems of the plants. Twilight used her magic to further tangle the Slendermane in the twisting plants, wrapping it around the Slendermane. Knowing it could easily break out of the plants, Twilight performed the next part of her plan, and ignited her horn with magenta flames, blazing hot off the tip of Twilights horn. Planning her next move precisely, Twilight launched a group of burning hot fireballs at the creature, lighting to the plants entangling it, and quickly catching all over, surrounding the Slendermane in a large ball of fire. It didn’t seem to flail around, or panic, but it was definitely distracted. Twilight seized the opportunity to run now and get to Fluttershy. For good measure Twilight looked back down the path, and uprooted more of the mushy green plant and launching it at the Slendermane, further feeding the raging flames, and entangling the creature. Twilight didn’t spare a second glance at the burning monster, knowing that eventually the flames would burn through the plant and release the Slendermane. She turned to the path Fluttershy had run down with the others, and galloped for it herself. Though running was less uncomfortable than before when her legs were causing the most pain, the only irritation now was the sticky blood in her coat. It still confounded her that Fluttershy couldn’t see it. None of the fillies or colts showed any special reaction to her either, but that may have been because they were scared out of their wits. Fluttershy had approached a fork in the road, with the one path behind them, and another leading off into the distance. There was no path leading away from the fork though, only more trees, bent abnormally out of shape, and stretched around each other. The fillies and colts needed a rest though; in their conditions Fluttershy couldn’t blame them, and let them lie down momentarily. Fluttershy gently moved Scootaloo off her back and lay her down in a patch of grass nearby. The mumbling had becoming just a quiet chattering of her teeth, and she was now becoming pale. Apple Bloom tried to get Fluttershy’s attention, worried about her friend. “Fluttershy, what’s wrong with her?” she asked observing Scootaloo’s condition and abnormal behaviour. “I don’t know Apple Bloom. I’m sorry. When Twilight gets here we’ll be able to take her to the Ponyville hospital. They’ll fix her up for sure.” Fluttershy told her trying to sound as reassuring as possible. “Well, where’s Twilight?” Sweetie Belle asked. “I’m not sure Sweetie. She’ll be here soon though, I’m sure she will be.” *** Twilight was running as fast as she could down the path, but realised she obviously wasn’t going fast enough when she had just reached the clearing with the shed in it. Out of breath, Twilight decided that resorting to magic would make her task easier. But before she attempted to teleport, she noticed her saddlebag lying next to the shed. “I must have mind blanked... I don’t even remember taking this thing off.” Twilight said walking towards the saddlebag. She looked inside the right pouch, to find that her book was gone, and only a page remained. In the other patch her other page and quill still remained. Twilight figured it would be easier to quickly write a message now than to write one while trying to get the panicking little ponies away from the forest. She read out the note as she wrote it, keeping it short, simple and straight to the point. “Warning. Everfree Forest is not safe! There is a dangerous creature in the deep recesses of the forest called the Slendermane. Do not enter the forest for risk of him catching you. Some ponies have died already, don’t be the next one. Do not enter the forest!” She read as she used her magic to scrawl the word as neatly as possible on the parchment. Holding it and the other piece of paper in her mouth, Twilight performed another teleportation spell, focussing as precisely as she could on the fork in the road she’d first woken up at. Fluttershy rubbed Scootaloo’s mane as she started to drift into sleep. She was still breathing faintly, but she needed the rest if she was going to be able to keep herself going much longer. Suddenly to the right, a small ball of white energy appeared, surrounded with lightning, as a purple ball of magic expanded from the middle of it, before imploding and allowing Twilight to appear before them. “Twilight! Thank Celestia you’re here! Scootaloo’s in bad shape Twilight! We gotta go now. How far until we reach the path out of the forest?” Fluttershy asked. Twilight lay the notes in her mouth on the ground. “This is it here Fluttershy. These trees are blocking it. Just give me a second.” Twilight told her. Preparing herself to use more energy than she’d used all night, she lit her horn lighting ablaze with colour again, for what she hoped was the last time, Twilight started to charge and direct the power into an orb on the tip of her horn. All the little ponies were looking on in awe at the massive ball of electrical energy Twilight was creating, some of the comparing it to the magenta energy blazing from her horn when she levitated the Urca-Minor out of Ponyville, but this spell that one look tiny. “Twilight what spell is this?” Fluttershy asked her friend never having seen this type of magic before. “An idea!” Twilight grunted through gritted teeth. After the ball reached an a spectacularly large size, and Twilight was satisfied with the power behind it, she focussed it and launched a large bolt of magenta lightning into the twisted trees covering the path. The bolt connected from one tree to another like a chain, even spreading further out to trees that weren’t in the way. Feeling a massive headache about to come on Twilight tapped her horn to the ball of energy. Which imploded instantly, feeding all of its energy into the bolt of lightning, which with this surge of incredible focussed energy, started to cook and reduce the trees to ash. As the lightning raged on doing its job Fluttershy spoke up. “What do you mean by idea?” She asked curious. “I envisioned what I wanted the spell to do. And then recreated the effect in my mind...” Twilight stopped clutching her now sore head. “And it appears to have worked pretty well.” Twilight finished. A short few seconds later the majority of tress had burnt down, and the path was clearly visible, making it safe for the fillies and colts to go down. “We’re almost out of the forest Fluttershy! We’re almost home!” Twilight exclaimed. “Let’s not waste any more time then Twilight, let’s go.” Fluttershy said, moving over to Scootaloo and ever so gently shifting her onto her back again “Come on everypony, we’re almost home.” Twilight told all the Fillies and colts, knowing it would be about a ten minute time until they arrived at Ponyville if they ran. Twilight watched each and every pony exit past the location of the force field, before preparing to advance herself. But Twilight hadn’t anticipated that the force field would still be there. Thinking it had disappeared, Twilight walked straight into the white barrier watching as it rippled away from her. “Wha... What?!” Twilight yelled, punching her hooves at the force field. “No... NO! WHAT! That... HOW! NO!” She said bashing her hooves into the force field harder and harder. “Twilight? What’s going on?” Fluttershy asked, confused as to why Twilight wasn’t able walk along the pathway with them. “The... Slendermane.... It... It knew I was going to try and escape... It’s keeping me here... Fluttershy... I don’t.... I don’t know what to do.... I can’t leave.... nothing I can do will penetrate this force field.” Twilight explained, remembering her encounter with the force field earlier that night. “There has to be something we can do Twilight... I’m not leaving here without you.” Fluttershy told her, again ready to stay by her friends side even in situations she would be hopelessly terrified in. “But don’t you see Fluttershy... That’s just what it wants.... It knows you’re either going to stay with me now, or bring others back to find me.... Fluttershy, take this.” Twilight instructed using her magic to levitate and pass the warning message to Fluttershy. “Get this to the front of the forest, and plant it on a post somewhere where it can stop ponies from entering the forest.” Twilight instructed. “Twilight, you’re talking as if you think I’m actually going to leave you here knowing you can’t leave.” Fluttershy said. “Fluttershy... don’t give the Slendermane what it wants. Get out of here, save the fillies and colts; get them all to the Ponyville hospital. And promise something Fluttershy.” Twilight stopped. “Twilight Sparkle don’t you dare say what I know you’re about to say.” Fluttershy protested. “Promise me you and the other girls won’t come looking for me.” Twilight told her. “I’m not making that promise Twilight! I’m not leaving you right now!” Fluttershy told her. “You have to Fluttershy! If you don’t, our effort in getting the fillies and colts will have been for nothing.” Twilight reminded her. “But Twi...” Fluttershy started, tears streaming from her eyes. “No buts Fluttershy... This...” Twilight wiped tears from her own eyes, suffering the emotional strain of knowing that after Fluttershy left, she was never going to see one of her friends again. “Tell the others...” Twilight started before being interrupted by a screaming filly. Twilight looked behind herself to see at the end of the pathway, the Slendermane, standing still, with several spots of its formal attire burnt out. “Oh Sweet Celestia! I don’t know Fluttershy!” Twilight said, loosing track of all thought. Tears started to pour at double the rate they were just then. “I... I... I’m going to miss you Fluttershy... All of you... tell... tell... tell that to the others... Keep yourselves safe and don’t come back.” Twilight instructed, more serious than she’d ever been before. “But Twilight...” Fluttershy said attempting to deny her request again, only to be ultimately told off again. “Fluttershy, its ok... you’re the only hope for these ponies now. Help them. I’m sorry.” Twilight told her. Fluttershy’s crying had effectively double the rate Twilight was crying at, and unable to think of anything else to say, she grabbed Twilight’s not in her mouth and turned around, running forward on the path, with the other little ponies following her. She turned around for one last glance of her friend. “I’m going to come back for you Twilight; you did the same for me. I don’t care how scary the Slendermane is, I’ll be back to help you!” Fluttershy whispered to herself, before turning around, and leading the ponies out of eyesight. Twilight let her head fall, as tears dribbled from her eyes. She knew the Slendermane was behind her, but she was no longer afraid. She knew there would be no point in trying to fight the creature if she couldn’t escape anyway. Waiting for a movement, out of nowhere, Twilight felt something slam into the side of her body, throwing her off to the side of the path. The second page Twilight had brought with her had blown over to her. In pain she used her magic to hold it up, revealing the poem from the Slendermane chapter. But something was different. The last verse had been changed. Twilight found a seal though, and lifted the flap, revealing a full 3 new verses to the poem. Twilight started to flicker her eyes between the Slendermane and the poem as she read, as memories started to flash back as they had when she slept earlier. A sense of true fear was now growing inside of Twilight now. Worse than any feeling she’d had all night. A looming presence of death grew ever larger, pulling Twilight into its cold embrace. 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. Twilight saw the Slendermane standing at the end of the pathway, and then saw flashbacks of moments when she’d turned around to see the creature watching her from the distance. 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. Twilight watched as the creature started to walk over to her, and memories of the many encounters rolled by again. She thought of before she’d entered the forest, when she saw the strangely contorted trees, and how they’d mysteriously vanished. You can run and hide, But without any light, It will hunt you and catch you, In the darkest of night. Twilight felt herself grow faintly dizzy, as the forest started to darken around her. She was reminded of every dark moment of the night that managed to affect her. Its escaped victims, Never hard to find, For once touched they are bound, By both magic and mind. Twilight thought about the fillies, colts, and Fluttershy as soon as she read that line. Had they truly escaped? Would they make it out of the forest alive? It makes you run, makes you fear, Makes you yell, makes you cry, But in the end its only goal, Is to make sure you die. Twilight could see the Slendermane less than metres away now, but was unable to stop from reading the last paragraph of the poem, while she was reminded of the gore pit the Slendermane had almost drowned her in. The Slendermane was now right above her, its plain featureless face staring straight at her only a short distance away, before the world started to go blurry. 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 laid her head back as her vision faded completely, and felt darkness fully embrace her. *** The End