Twas the night before Nightmare Night, and all through the town, not a creature was stirring... Not even a parasprite. Great effigies stood, honoring and mocking the Princess of the Night, and spider-webs hung in doorways and off trees and in the streets as a small precursor to the madness that was to come the next night.
But we aren’t here to talk about that little town, or in fact, anyone living in that little town. We’re here to talk about two friends, standing outside a dark, dank cave in the middle of a forest lit only by the moon’s light, and the light of one of their horns. One rather... “Special” in her own little way, the other rather loud and easily irritated... And rather quick to judge too.
This is a story about the adventure that these two friends undertake, which will surely never be forgotten by at least one of them.
Enjoy
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“You’re an idiot.” Tick declared after his friend had explained his amazing and brilliant plan. The unicorn looked back at him with a deadpan that betrayed his complete and utter contempt for his very existence. Fortunately for their friendship, Shade was completely oblivious to her friend’s animosity towards her, shrugging it off as a “unicorn thing”.
“That may be true, but it is a good plan.” Shade replied. The unicorn promptly thwacked her on the head. “Ow!”
“No, it isn’t. It’s the worst bucking plan I’ve ever heard, and it’s based off a story that Luna damned hobo told you! Haven’t I told you to stop listening to him?!”
“Hey, he’s a doctor you know!” Said Shade, trying to defend the good Doctor’s reputation, only to receive another slap to the forehead. “Would you quit that?!”
“No.” The Tick answered with a sigh. “We’re getting the hell out of here.”
“But what abou-“
“No. There is no candy, nor gold down in that cave.” The Tick Tock stated matter-of-factly, already walking away.
“What about gold cand-… Y’know what? I think you’re trying to trick me!” Shade said, giving the unicorn an accusing glare.
“… What?” Tick Tock said, entirely confused by this statement as he stopped and turned to stare blankly at his friend.
“...You want all the gold and candy for yourself don't you?!" Shade growled, now hit with the sudden realization that her 'friend' might be tricking her. "Well you can try again, I won't be teetered by you, screw your bloody logic!"
“I’m telling you right now, if you get lost down there, I won’t-“
“ADVENTURE!” With that last word, the unicorn’s less than intelligent friend flew straight inside the cave, leaving a very faint trail and a layer of dust behind her.
“… I hate everything…”
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“… She’s not coming out, is she?” Tick sighed as he stopped tapping his hoof impatiently and stared at the gaping abyss.
“She should’ve given up and turned back by now...” Tick looked back at the cave. "I suppose I should just leave her there... No point in risking two lives after all..." He started to walk away, but the thoughts of her getting hurt began to plague his mind. "...Her parents might try to sue me again..." He let out a quick sigh, "Celestia damnit Shade..."
Feeding more magic into the light spell, Tick began to venture forth, slowly disappearing into the void that surrounded him.
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"Shade!" Tick called out into the seemingly dark abyss known as a cave. He received nothing in return but the faint echo of his own voice. "Equestria to Night Shade! Come in Night Shade, we’ve got a twenty-two-one on base twelve!"
Still no response.
"...Dammit Shade, I had plans tonight... Important plans!" Tick growled angrily into the cave, annoyed that his usual appointment with his computer would be interrupted due to his bumbling stumbling pegesus of a friend.
"...Maybe she’s hiding." He thought to himself, feeling annoyed at the thought, but was then hit with a sudden realization. "...Shade I swear if you're doing this on purpose I'm gonna!... You're just trying to scare me, either that or waste my bloody time." He was quickly losing his temper. "Well it's not funny Shade!"
"Well I've got your little game figured out already Shade." A deviously wicked grin fell across his face. "Yes... and I know JUST how to draw you out..." His horn started to glow, increasing in brightness with each second before abruptly subsiding. With a simple teleportation spell a foal's doll had been dropped onto the unforgiving dusty floor at the mouth of the cave.
“See what I’ve got here, Shade!” Tick yelled out into the cave with the slightest hint of evil anticipation in his voice. “Selly’s here to play! It’d be such a shame if she had an… accident.”
Again, nothing returned from the cave, save Tick Tock's own voice.
"...Alright, fine. I see how it is Night Shade." Tick sighed as he teleported the doll back to his usual hiding spot, it would prove useful for the future. "Just know this you scourge of a pegasi, when I find you.... oh yes, when I find you...He...hehehe..." Tick chuckled out, almost as if he were losing his mind to the sheer stupidity of the situation, "I'm going to make you regret ever talking to that damn hobo!" Tick raged as he charged right into the mouth of the cave, only to find himself running face-first into a stalagmite. He groaned in pain as his light spell flickered away for a moment.
He pulled himself away from the stalagmite, his lip starting to feel as if it were swelling already, "Y-you're only making this worse… for… yourself...?" Tick Tock's rage was then halted as he stared at the large rock he ran into. The wall, seemingly blank before, now was decorated with a crude, fresh carving which seemed to have been etched into the stone with a sharpened rock. The carving described a towering figure, its details appeared scratched out as it stood over a group of three whom clearly were equine in nature.
Tick scanned over the picture, "...What in Equestria is this thing..." He shook his head, trying to make it clear to himself what the creature could possibly be. He then stopped shaking his head and looked up once more. "...There's no way that was there a second ago... Ah buck, Shade must be on Moon Sugar again." He sighed.
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Tick Tock continued to trudge through the cave. On his journey he began to lose all sense of direction and also the track of time, which bothered him the most. He continued to wander aimlessly as he searched through the large cave for Night Shade, eventually giving up on even attempting to call out for his idiotic friend. He began to think about how even a moron could actually notice its own name and would come stumbling towards him. If she could actually hear him, she would have come out long ago... that or she was just being both determined and high as a kite again.
Tick finally stopped walking. "Let's see... judging by the trajectory of that stalagmite, added to the steps I've taken both north and west... I would say that I'm bucking lost." He let out a long and un-restrained sigh, which felt like the millionth time he had done so that night. "Shade... they'll write stories about what happens after I find you and tell them to their children as a warning to not be so bucking stupi-" His session of ranting was once again interrupted as he found another engraving in the cave wall, giving it a quick glance, hoping for a clue to his friend’s whereabouts. But, luckily for him, it was yet another worthless contexture of the featureless figure standing above a small group of ponies. After a quick inspection he actually noticed that there were some differences from this picture than that of the past.
The figure now held in, what looked like its claws, a dagger of some sort that had its own features scratched completely beyond recognition. One of the ponies had appeared to have fallen over, a scar across its back, in which, under closer inspection, appeared to actually be a tiny message etched into the pony itself. With its jagged font and clouded by smears, it was hard to read, but barely legible it said:
Turn back.
Tick, however, was more pre-occupied with the picture. He squinted at the figures hand, "I...is that thing flipping me off? Or whatever that gryphon thing is that they do."
He scowled, then shook his head once more. “Not scary, Shade. Not even a little bit.”
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"Huh... Is this cave getting darker?" Tick thought out loud as he continued his walk through the cave. He glared to himself in the darkness, now concentrating a higher potency of his magic into the luminescent little ball which lighted his way. His effort was only met by the cave's stubbornness to light up.
"...I...I'm probably just getting tired... yeah that's it." He told himself, looking to reassure himself that there was no reason to panic. Although, the fact he was failing such a simple kindergarten spell only ate at his conscious. "And this cave is too damn big." He stopped and looked down below, a rock in front of his hoof. He gradually kicked the rock over, which after he did so, saw that it concealed another one of the poorly drawn pictures. His eye twitched at seeing yet another annoyance possibly left by his friend and contemplated just walking onwards. Tick exhaled, "Well... don't think I'll have anything else to do for awhile... at least these things add some variety to trotting along endlessly into oblivion."
He squinted down at the picture and immediately noticed that this time the picture seemed to have much more detail taken into it, regardless of its small size. All of the equines seemed to have fallen over, now covered with various cuts and slices and also what appeared to be some strange crystal dust mimicking the nature of blood over the three ponies. The unknown creature stood once again taller, still holding the dagger which now seemed to have some of the crystal-like aura falling from the tip of the blade. The weapon was no longer scratched out; it was a long and jagged blade, now possibly seeming a bit larger than a dagger, maybe one of those old ritual knives. Another inscription could be found within the drawing, but the font was larger and much more legible than its previous ancestors.
Turn back now. This is your last chance.
Tick Tock squinted at the picture, pointing a hoof down at it while he raised an eyebrow. "Alrighty... So it's probably not flipping me off." He said as he looked at the picture below him. "And... this probably isn't Nightshade's hoof-work." He tried once again to look around in the darkness, not able to see more than five feet in front of himself at this point. "P-probably just the work of some school foals. The little twats have too much time on their hooves, always trying to-"
A screech suddenly filled the air, a screech of the highest pitch so vile and demented in nature that it could shatter glass, even at the lowest point of its frequency. Tick yelled out in paid as he tried in vain hope to cover his ears from the paralyzing yell. He fell to the floor as if trying to curl up into a ball to attempt to escape the agonizing, soul wrenching noise. As he fell to the ground, his focus on his spell flickered out completely, leaving him surrounded in darkness as the screech echoed on, just as strong as it had been put into action.
The noise abruptly stopped, and his eyes shot open, bloodshot from the pain. "W-was that…?" For once this night, he truly panicked. He was alone in the darkness, nothing more than a candle, dimly lit in a stallion's shelter. He couldn't recall the exit to this damned place in which he could almost swear is the equivalent to hell. He was hit with the sudden idea that he should've brought a weapon of some sort, one to possibly give him the comfort of defense in a place which felt like none.
"G-get a hold of yourself Tick Tock..." He said to himself, shaking slightly, "I-it's just Shade trying to scare you...Yeah that's it. And it won't work!" He assured himself, his horrified demeanor, now slowly and weakly being replaced by both neutrality and slight confidence.
His confidence marginally restored, Tick Tock continued onwards into the darkness.
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It cut me. I’m running for my life.
"Yeah nice logic Shade, but if someone were really cut they wouldn't waste time writing about it." Tick tock sighed, it became even more and more like a joke. The inscription seemed to be short and hastily carved into the wall. The hoof-writing seemed to be different than the others, and this time it lacked a picture.
“I swear I’ve seen this before…” Tick shrugged. “Regardless, this is getting old, Night Shade…” He continued on, barely phased by the rather disturbing message and unconcerned for the wellbeing of whoever might have left the message. “Just wish something else was happening other than walking and monol-“
Before he could continue his rant, he heard a soft click in the distance, followed by the ground beneath his hooves suddenly disappearing and he began to plummet into the dark abyss, "Holy shi-" His voice trailed off as he traveled downwards.
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After a whole minute of screaming his lungs out like a little filly, he finally hit the rock hard ground in the bottom of the abyss with a solid 'thump'
Tick weakly propped himself up with his hooves, "Sh-shade... I'm...I'm going to destroy you for this..."
"Hey! That's not nice at all!" A voice called back through the darkness, it's bubbly but annoying tone creating its own echo in the darkness.
Tick raised an eyebrow and looked in the direction in which the voice came from. "H-hello?" He couldn't believe it. "Is someone real-
"Of course somepony is here silly!" A bright light suddenly came to light in front of Tick Tock, forcing him to cover his eyes. He took a moment to rub his eyes, and then opened them slowly to adjust to the new light. When he regained his sight, a pink earthpony with a poofy tail and a mining helmet that covered her even poofier mane came to focus.
Tick looked up at the mare. "Who the bloody hell are y-"
"I'm Pinkie Pie and this is my super duper secret lair!" The pink pony ran in place quickly. "Welcome!" She stood up on her hind legs and struck a pose. "Tada!" She yelled as confetti magically exploded all around her.
Tick Tock ignored the confetti that now covered his nose, and just added it to the long list of reasons of 'why to beat Shade for putting him through all of this’. "Secret lair..?"
"Yupperdoodles!" Pinkie squeed in delight. "I'm planning my extra special Nightmare Night party down here, there'll be cake and and, and... decorations! Ooh and baloons! You can't have a party without balloons and-" She gushed on about her party.
"We're in a cave." Tick Tock said, unamused at the ponies hyperactivity. "A cave, in the middle of a bloody forest."
The pink mare's face suddenly turned to an insane expression. "Oh... you don't know the half of it." The edges of her smile creeped well-above normal average. "So what? Anypony can be a rockstar if they dream and believe hard enough!" The pony showed no reaction as Tick face-hoofed at her response. "Believe it!" Pinkie stated once more, striking a very confident pose.
Tick sighed. "Have you been the one who-"
"Carved all the pretty pictures? nopey-dopey, that was probably just some little foals with too much time on their hands." She just shrugged as if it were nothing.
"Don't you mean hooves?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Pfft, ack, duh! What did you think I said?" Pinkie smiled.
"Look, have you seen my friend around here?" Tick asked, his aggravation reaching its peak. "Stands about yea-high." He put his hoof a little taller than himself, "Pegasus, dark coat?"
"Hmm..." she rubbed her chin as she looked off into oblivion as she thought, "Nopey-dopey!" She smiled, now looking back at him. "It's just been me and my awesome party-planner out here!"
"Wait, who's your party plan-" Before he could finish his question a figure stepped out from the shadows, just barely visible to Pinkie, its white, featureless head illuminated by the light.
Pinkie only smiled, "Yep! We've been planning this party for months! I even made an extra special batch of cupcakes and…”
The words the overly-enthusiastic party pony said were all blocked out to Tick as the figure took another step forward, revealing a black suit, one that stretched all over the figure’s body to the point where it appeared skin-tight.
"With decorations and flowers and Vodka and..." Pinkie was naming off the party supplies while pointing at her hoof.
The light on the earthpony’s helmet flickered. The creature seemed to have suddenly moved from where it was standing, half-shrouded in darkness beside the pony, to right in front of Tick, revealing the suit did extend to the rest of its body, even with its Equine nature. It began to slowly reach out a hoof towards Tick Tock.
Tick tensed up as it put it's hoof towards him, "N-no!" He turned and booked his way out of there, "Mommy!"
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"Hmm... what was his problem?" Pinkie asked her companion as she watched the colt scream off into the darkness, but was stopped shortly by ramming into a wall in panic just meters away and lost consciousness.
Her friend shrugged, "Who knows." She replied as she reached up and removed her pristine white blank mask.
Night Shade chucked to herself and dropped the mask to the ground, "He's always been a little crazy."
“"I be...Hey! I didn't know you could take your head off!" Pinkie smiled madly as she leaned in closer.
"Only for special occasions." Night Shade replied, smiling as she placed another mask on her head. "I'll be back later Pinkie, I'm just going to take Ticky home really quick."
Pinkie nodded. "Okie dokie... ooh, and maybe you should take your first head off first, I think you scared him a teeny tiny bit much."
Shade laughed from the reminder her pink friend presented her with. “Oh, I’m sure he won’t mind… Bye Pinkie” She started to walk towards her friend.
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An hour later they were out of the cave and Night Shade was taking Tick home, "Celestia, you're heavy... no more candy for you mister."
"Ugh...." The unconscious Tick groaned as he was being carried on her back.
Night Shade took him inside his house and tossed him on his bed. Before she left his room she took off her mask and placed it on his nightstand, laughing to herself as she trotted out happily.
Tick slowly regained conscious, "Huh..." He opened his eyes and saw that he was in his room, safe and alone, no Slendermane’s in sight. "W-was that a dream? I-" He was cut off as his eyes locked with the mask on his nightstand.
"...Oh..." His eyes shifted to the back of his head as he fainted with fright onto his bed.
The End