//------------------------------//
// Diabetes 
// Story: Running from Slender 
// by Undead_Non-Brony 
//------------------------------//

Slender Man walked back to a cave where he decided to stay until he got back to his realm. He was wounded, but it might have been worth it. When the human had thrown his blade at Slender Man, it was absorbed into his body and it made a pronounced difference on his tentacles. They had developed a knife edge and had done quite a number on the human. He would've killed him and been done with it already, except that goddess had shown up and burned him with light. Slender beings have few weakness', but light is one of them. It seems that he was going to need all the help he could get if the human had a god on his side, along with being half Slender. 

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I could feel a warmth against my chest and my side. When I opened my eyes, I was estatic and worried at the same time. On my chest, was Colmillo, sleeping peacefully and OH MY GOD THE DIABETES!!!! Now, as to why I was worried. The warmth next to me, was of course, Celestia. She had her muzzle snuggled into the crook of my neck, and her warm breath tickled the hairs on my neck. I'm gonna' be honest, it was physically comfortable, but mentally uncomfortable. I tried wiggling my way out, but Celestia's arm layed over my chest and gripped me. She sighed contentedly, and nuzzled me. I was starting to get REALLY uncomfortable. Thank God my clothes hadn't burned off like last time, or this would've been way worse.

Then, Colmillo came to my rescue. He woke up, saw me awake, and went batshit crazy. He started barking happliy and whining and licking my face. The commotion he made woke Celestia, and when she saw the position she was in, she jumped out of the bed as gracefully as she could.

"Michael! You're awake! I.. Umm... What I mean to say is... I didn't want to leave you here in your condition, and so I decided to stay, but..."

"It's fine Celestia. You were just tired and got into the bed with good intentions, right?" I asked with an encouraging smile.

"O-of course. That's it." The obvious disappointment in her voice made me cringe. I didn't have any feelings for her like that, but I didn't want to flat out friend-zone her. Colmillo whined, and I turned my attention to him. He jumped off of me, trotted to the door, and scratched at it. I threw the covers off of me, and walked over to the door. Before I reached it, though, Celestia gasped.

"Michael! Your arms! What happened to them?! They're all marked up!"

I looked down and saw she was right. There seemed to be ritualistic markings up and down the length of my arms. They were emanating heat and pulsating between black and grey. I reached down and stroked them, but didn't feel anything. I couldn't remember if I had them when I woke up to fight Slender Man, and I know they couldn't have happened when I was sleeping, because Colmillo or Celestia would've woken up and absolutley destroyed the artist.

'i made those. after the battle with slender man, i realized that we would not be able to beat him as we were, so i made these on your body. they will make your shadow abilities stronger whilst i leave to practice my own power. i shall see you soon, michael.' said the oh-so specific voice in my head.

"Wait! What do you mean you're going to practice? Slender Mane? Hello-o?"

Celestia asked "Umm... who are you talking to?"

"Slender Mane. He made these marks to strengthen my abilities with shadows while he goes off and does... Whatever he does."

"Oh." I returned my attention to Colmillo, who was waiting impatiently at the door. He yapped and pawed at the door.

"All right, chill. I'm coming." I walked up to the door, opened it up, and he bolted down stairs. I walked out of the room. I looked behind me, and Celestia was standing like a statue staring at the floor.

"Uh, Celestia? You comin with?"

"Hmm? Oh yes, I'll be there in a minute." She sighed mournfully and sat on the bed. I groaned inwardly. Closing the door, I set off after Colmillo down the stairs to the main living room of Applejacks home. Upon reaching said room, I saw Twilight and her friends sitting around with their attention on my dog as he playfully romped with a smaller dog that was brown and white. It looked like a border collie, but I could've been wrong. For such a small dog, it could really hold its own against my german shorthair.

"So, I see you've found Colmillo someone to spar with. This shall be interesting."

Six heads snapped in my direction and six bodies tackled me to the ground with the exclamation yell of "MICHAEL!!!!!" They held me down while they laughed, scolded and cried at the same time.

"All right, all right, get off me. But you do know that I saved all of YOUR," I thrust a finger in Applejacks direction "family from certain death right?" She looked at me gratefully.

"You saved my life,along with five others, at the risk of your health and life. Thank you."

She hugged me tight. I gingerly hugged her back, not wanting any other ponies to get ideas in their head. She let go of me, backed up, and walked to the stairs leading up.

"All right everypony, you can come down and meet him, he's up!"

Then I heard hooves clop along the floorboards, and three little bodies zoomed down and stopped just short of me. There was a orange-ish one with a purple mane, a yellow one with a red mane and pink bow, and a white one with a grey-purple and pink mane.

"HI!!! WE'RE THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!!!!"

"HI!!! NEVER YELL AT ME LIKE THAT AGAIN, UNDERSTOOD???"

They shrunk back a bit, but then rebounded and nodded enthusiasticlly, and ran out the door with as much energy as an atom being split. I chuckled, along with the others. Then, a small and shriveled green pony and a large muscly red pony walked down. The green one didn't seem too fazed, but the red ones ears laid back a bit and he smiled sheepishly. The green one said "Well, it's nice to meet the stallion that saved my family and friends! My name is Granny Smith."

"First off, i'm not a stallion, i'm a man. Secondly, you're quite welcome, and it's a pleasure to meet you."

She smiled and gestured to the red one next to her and introduced "This here is Big Macintosh, the actual owner of Sweet Apple Acres!"

He again smiled sheepishly and held out his hoof. I gripped it and said "Oh, we've met. Hopefully this time it'll be under better circumstances."

"Uhh... Yeah, sorry 'bout that mister. But, I ain't never seen somethin' like you b'fore. I was worried about my family. Can you forgive me?"

"Yeah, don't worry about, we're cool."

He sighed gratefully and a visible weight was lifted from his shoulder. Everyone just stood there for a few minutes looking around with absolutely nothing to say. Then I turned to Rarity.

"Hey, how's it coming with my threads?"

She looked at me confusedly, but then a perverbial lightbulb went off, and she reached into a bag I hadn't noticed. She pulled out a medium sized parcel and handed it to me. Hoofed it? Huh...

"Here you are darling! The clothes you asked for for wearing around! I made a couple extras just in case one rips, or if you need to wash one. I should have your suit done in a few days. I just need to wait for the... Leather... To arrive."

All of the assembled ponies looked at me with a look of pure disgust and shock. At the exact same time, "LEATHER!?!?!!? WHAT THE HAY!?!? THAT IS DISGUSTING!!!" Or some variant of that.

"Hey, where I come from, it is socially acceptable to wear leather. Believe me, if you found out a humans eating habits, you'd have an anurism."

They accepted that for an answer, but their faces gained a sickly green tint. You couldn't really tell with Granny Smith, but she had a grimace that said every thing her color couldn't. With package in hand, I asked Applejack where the restroom was.

"It's upstairs, just past the room Celestia put you in. Why?"

"So I can take a massive shit." I pointed to the parcel and said "What do you think?"

She made a face at me and I walked up the stairs to the designated room. Upon opening the door and closing it behind me, I ripped off my tattered and ripped clothes with a laugh of triumph. I opened the package and pulled out a black shirt, black jeans, and some black, red, and white, flat bottomed shoes that looked suspiciously like Vans, and socks. I put them on and looked into a small mirror on the wall.

"Not too shabby." I said to myself. I walked out just in time to see Celestia's tail turn the corner and descend the stairs. I walke after her and and saw her sit down and start talking to Twilight. I couldn't hear them, but apparently they didn't want me to know what they were talking about, because Celestia turned her head and then shushed Twilight.

"Shhh, he's coming!" I heard her whisper. They both turned to me and tried looking as imperceptible as possible. The only problem was that they looked so inconspicous, that they looked conspicous.

"So, conspiring against me, I see? Well i'll have none of it! two weeks in the dungeon!" I swept my hand over the two and they burst into uncontrollable giggles. They *snrked* alot trying to contain themselves, but failed, finally exploding into hysterics as I made a funny face.

"Okay! Stop being funny! I can't breath!" Huffed Celestia, which made me laugh. Twilight had tears coming out of her eyes. I couldn't really see what was so funny, but... To each his own.

After a few minutes, they calmed down enough for me to ask a question so important, that the fate of this world and others depended on me asking it.

"Where can I get some food?"

Twilight put a hoof to her chin and said "Well, there's a cafe in town, but I don't think they'll have anything for you. You could go to Sugarcube Corner where Pinkie works. They serve cupcakes and muffins."

"Why wouldn't the cafe have anything for me?"

"Because they serve vegetarian only, just like every establishment in Equestria. The only places that serve meat are in the gryphon territories."

"Oh, damn. Well, lets go get some sweets." I stood up, pointed at the door, and exclaimed "Ponies, away!" and I ran out the door. Only to be stopped by Celestia popping into existance right in front of me. Unfortunately, I was moving too fast to stop, and I crashed right into Celestia. Ending up with me laying on top of her and giving her an unintentional kiss.