//------------------------------//
// Chapter 17 
// Story: The Slender Pony 
// by The Poet of Silence 
//------------------------------//

Numbness crept upon Fluttershy. She sat curled up, oblivious to the world. She did not stir, not even when she heard the flapping of multiple sets of wings. She heard the ground stir as Luna and her guards landed. There was faint murmuring. She heard a pony walk towards her, and Luna leaned down to talk to Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, I must ask you what happened here, and who summoned me here,” the princess said. Fluttershy clenched her eyes shut and didn’t answer. “Fluttershy,” Luna coerced, “We can’t help if we don’t know what happened.” Fluttershy, her eyes still clenched shut, replied, “Apple Bloom needs help.”

“Apple Bloom?” Luna asked. Fluttershy nodded vigorously. Luna looked to her guards. “Find the filly named Apple Bloom inside the house and see to it that she gets medical attention,” Luna ordered. “Right away, princess,” the guards said as they moved into the smoldering house. 

“Alright, Fluttershy. Apple Bloom is going to be taken care of, but I need you to work with me here. What happened?” Luna said gently, lying down next to Fluttershy. Fluttershy did not even know where to begin. She felt cold, empty. The mere moments where her mind and the Slenderpony’s mind had met had scared her more than any dragon could. She had felt the emotions of the Slenderpony. She had felt its cruelty, and its insatiable desire to kill. She had experienced an evil that could not be described with words.

“Alright, how about this: I’ll ask you yes or no questions, and you respond accordingly. Okay?” asked Luna. Fluttershy nodded. It was a start to explaining what had happened. “Was the Slenderpony involved?” Luna began. Fluttershy nodded so hard that she thought that her neck would snap from the effort. “Alright. Was it the Slenderpony that killed Big Mac?” Luna continued. Fluttershy nodded, more slowly this time. She resisted to urge to vomit as the images of Big Mac’s bisected body entered her mind.

“Was it the Slenderpony that caused the explosion?”

Fluttershy looked up at Luna. “I-I-I don’t know what it was,” she said, her voice soft, “It looked into my mind, and the next thing I knew, I was all the way across the room.” Luna was taken aback by this. “Do you know what that was?” Fluttershy asked. Luna shook her head. “My sister will be arriving shortly. She will know,” the princess replied. Fluttershy saw the guards carrying the pale form of Apple Bloom into a chariot, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle following behind. “Poor Apple Bloom,” said Luna to no one in particular, “I doubt that she will ever forget what she saw tonight.”

Fluttershy placed her head on her forelegs. Her mind was still reeling, and it felt like her stomach was caught up in a hurricane. She closed her eyes and stayed very still. She was still unmoving when Celestia arrived an hour later. The majestic white alicorn descended from the sky and looked around at the devastated house. Without saying a word, she walked into the wreckage. She saw Big Mac’s body, the two halves blown away by the explosion. She surveyed the small crater where Fluttershy had taken her stand against the Slenderpony, where their minds had met for a moment.

Satisfied with looking at the wreckage, Celestia strode over to where Fluttershy was laying. If the yellow mare knew that Celestia was nearby, she did not acknowledge the princess. “Thank you, Luna,” Celestia spoke softly, “You can return to Canterlot now. I will take it from here.” Luna nodded and took flight.

For a moment, Celestia stood in silence next to Fluttershy. The night was chilly, though not as chilly as it had been in the past. Crickets chirped loudly as Celestia watched Fluttershy for a time. “Fluttershy,” Celestia began, “I know that you told Luna as much as you could, but there are details that I need to know.” 

“Like what?” Fluttershy asked. “Like how the Slenderpony got in. How it managed to subdue Big Mac, a strong, full grown stallion, and how the explosion happened,” Celestia replied. Fluttershy took a deep breath, gathered up as much strength as she could, and recounted the events of the night to Celestia.

When she was finished, Celestia stood in silence, contemplating what Fluttershy had just said. Celestia’s brow furrowed as she looked off into the distance, at the tree line of the Everfree forest. “It’s getting stronger,” the princess said at last. Fluttershy looked at her. “If the Slenderpony has gained enough strength to manipulate an entire town’s weather, as well as attack a family of ponies without difficulty, then it’s strength is growing by the day,” Celestia said, “I fear that it will soon become strong enough again to challenge Luna and myself.

Celestia lay down beside Fluttershy, her wings folded against her side. “I have heard of your quest to discover information about the creature that calls itself, ‘the Rake’,” Celestia resumed, “It visited you, correct?” Fluttershy nodded. “The Rake has also killed the head of the Guard,” Celestia continued, “Granting it access to Canterlot. I fear that the Rake has allied itself with the Slenderpony. I shudder to think of what else lurks within the Everfree forest that the Slenderpony could call to its aid.”

“P-P-Princess Celestia?” Fluttershy said weakly. “Yes, Fluttershy? What is it?” Celestia replied. “W-What happened in there, when the S-Slenderpony looked into my mind?” Fluttershy asked. Celestia thought for a moment. ‘A very powerful piece of magic,” the princess said, “I assume that when it entered your mind, you entered it’s, correct?” Fluttershy nodded, still shuddering at what she had seen there. “You, Fluttershy, are a sweet, caring, and loving mare,” Celestia said, “And the Slenderpony is a dark, evil, twisted murderer that only exists to kill and devour.”

“Imagine what it would be like, for everything kind and good within you to meet everything that makes the Slenderpony evil, and vice versa. The reaction would be immense, as the energies try to out-do each other. You are lucky that you are so kind, Fluttershy, else the evil within the Slenderpony would have corrupted you,” Celestia finished. “Like what happened to Twilight and Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yes. The Slenderpony was wise enough to strike them when their willpower was low. Rainbow Dash was recovering from a terrible infection from the Wendigo. It used some sort of magical image to shatter Twilight’s mind and enter that way. They were both weakened, but when you took a stand against it, Fluttershy, you showed no weakness for the Slenderpony to exploit. I doubt that it will forget that any time soon.”

Fluttershy smiled weakly. “So, what do we do know, Princess?” she asked. Celestia looked off at the forest again. “We have to go on the offensive. Take the fight to the Slenderpony,” the princess said. “How will we do that, Princess Celestia?” Fluttershy asked. Celestia smiled. “I have an idea,” the princess said.

Back at Canterlot, Celestia and Fluttershy poked through books in the archives. Dozens of piles of books and scrolls littered the floor as the princess and Fluttershy searched. “I know it’s here somewhere!” Celestia muttered, “Its times like this when I need Twilight, but she’s not around.” “Princess, remind me what we’re looking for again,” Fluttershy asked. “A book that contains a spell and ritual combination,” Celestia replied shortly before resuming her search.

The sun was high in the afternoon sky when Celestia and Fluttershy stopped for a rest. “I-it’s got to be here somewhere,” Celestia muttered. Piles of books several feet tall covered the floor of the archives. “Do you remember what the cover looked like?” Fluttershy prodded. “Yes, yes, it was a… a dragon, I believe,” Celestia answered.

“Alright, well, maybe there’s a spell that you can use to find books with dragon covers,” suggested Fluttershy. Celestia sighed. “Worth a shot,” the exhausted princess said as her horn glowed. A stack of books assembled on a nearby table, some barely an inch thick and others rising up to Fluttershy’s knees.

After several hours of going through each book, Celestia cried out, “Aha! I’ve found it!” She held a small bit of paper within her jaws. She levitated it onto the floor. “I knew it was in one of these books!” she exclaimed. “What spell is it?” Fluttershy asked. “A spell that will put an end to the Slenderpony’s rampage,” Celestia answered. Fluttershy looked at the title of the spell and ritual combination. Fluttershy felt a sense of power rise within her as she realized what this spell would do.

As Fluttershy read the recipe for the Binding Spell, she knew that she would defeat the Slenderpony; that she could defeat it. And Fluttershy knew that there wasn’t a force in Equestria that could stop her.