//------------------------------//
// Chapter Three: Bloody Marey 
// Story: Everypony's Looking 
// by lethalogica 
//------------------------------//

	"Ooh, spooky. Name a town after a some ghost flick that was hot in the box office, how interesting," Rainbow mocked.

Mac shushed her, explaining, "Ya' don't know if somepony might hear you an' kick us out for that; we need to get you help for your wing!"

She scoffed lightly, pretending to hold up her hoof to study it. "That is so possible because this town is just the life of the party!" she screamed in an almost deafening volume. Her words echoed throughout the dirty roads, despite the fact that it broke the laws of sound. "Right. Somepony will hear us. Somepony who's probably already in the dirt and dead," the annoyed pegasus added.

"Rainbow..." he said strictly.

"Ugh," she wailed, "fine. I'm sooo sorry to any and everypony that had the misfortune of hearing me tell the truth!"

He sighed with distraught. This is the Hell Ah'll have to deal with for Celestia knows how long! Buck.

"Now, if I were a hospital, were would Ah be?" he asked aloud.

"Well," she began, inciting Big Mac to give an inaudible mutter, "if I were a hospital, I'd be near the entrance, maybe within a half a mile, so newcomers could reach it easily since most establishments are located near the front of the town, for the matter of tourism, plus any actual residents would already know the best ways to get there."

"That's... That's actually mighty clever," Macintosh uttered in slight disbelief.

"Heh, what? Didja' think I'm all fly and no brains?" She cast a playful look at him as she began trotting into the town.

"Eeyup," he smiled nonchalantly.

Rainbow kicked up dust in the air towards the farmer and left him behind with a, "Ha-ha, you're such a bucktard, Mac."

Veering towards the right, they walked, passing by abandoned stores full of tchotchkes and knick knacks, restaurants with posts claiming the title of best pie in Equestria, or, even more confidently, the most savory mushroom pot pie in the entire hemisphere. As they got farther and farther from the entrance, the quality of the shops and homes became increasingly bad. The paint of some buildings were but a faded shell of their previous colours, the wood on old-fashioned houses cracked, rotted, falling apart at the nails. One former pet shop simply said, on a hastily cut-out cardboard sign dangling from inside, "Fresh Meats".

After walking through a real estate agent's worst nightmare, they arrived at a dusty grey complex, with crude, almost unintelligible writing proclaiming it to be a "CLINIC".

Kicking the doors open, Rainbow Dash yelled, "Alright, where's the doctor? We have a broken wing over here!"

From the dimly lit lobby, she could make out a figure stroll across a hallway, so she ran after him, hollering, "Hey, Mister," and ignoring the random splatters of a deep ruby liquid, not yet dry, on the floor. She slipped and tried regaining her stability, only to slide backward and into the red stallion who stopped her capricious path.

"Rainbow! What was that?"

"You saw him, right? There doesn't seem to be anyone else here, so I took a chance and went after him!"

Scrubbing what she could off onto a fumbled pile of dirty towels by the side, she got back on her hooves, and Big Mac inspected the substance. He sniffed it, and smelled something he could recognize easily from his times of nursing both AJ and himself. "You know what you tripped on? Blood, for Celestia's sake! That mighta' been a serial killer!"

With a shrew scoff, Dash dismissed it, saying, "Yeah, blood, Mac. We're in a hospital, remember? There's a lot of blood in a hospital. And I doubt a murderer would be lurking around here of all places! I mean, look at this dump! He'd hardly get any victims!"

"But we could be his new ones," Macintosh glared at her with stony, serious eyes.

She smirked. "No, Mac. Just- no. Don't worry, if you get scared, you can hold on to me, I won't mind."

There was a gigantic crash from inside one of the dark hallways, surprising the pegasus into scrambling towards her acquaintance, to which he remarked, "You were sayin'?"

After an angry swish from her tail and a flicker of annoyance in her eyes, she sighed, "Just come with me, Mac. I've watched enough horror movies to know that the pony who's always saying there's nothing is the one who dies first."

He nodded agreeably, and began into the hallway she said her mystery man was passing through with her.

The hall became darker with each step, the dying light bulbs hanging aimlessly from the ceiling. The plaster was getting a dingy dirt look, while the tiled floors were separating and breaking to expose a moldy brown layer.

Upon arriving at the end of the corridor, she searched for anypony else, but to her dismay she was only met with further silence. "No! He was here! I saw him- and- and everything! I can't be hallucinating!"

"Miss Dash, relax, it's alright," the farmer comforted, draping a hoof over her shoulder before his eyes spotted something that would burn them for Celestia knows how long.

In one of the open rooms, there was something lying in there. Limp. A carcass. Maggots were wriggling in and out in a frenzy, as blood-stained bones being tackled by insipid rats gnawing about. The head was hardly identifiable, one eye socket empty, revealing blackened flesh, and the other with a glassy eyeball, just only hanging in. It was then ruined by the sudden pop of a worm munching its way through, a viscous trail of grey gunk making a soft plop on the floor. As for its body, the hundreds upon hundreds of larvae laid had already declared siege and ravaged it, leaving the body eviscerated and gutted in such a way no equine could ever have done. The belly was sloppy; intestines flopped around while the burrowing and feeding insects made tiny, insidious noises of arcane hunger. Even more horrid was the stench, as it reached Rainbow Dash's snout.

"What the bu- bu- oh, Celestia- Big Mac, what the buck is that!" she screamed as her line of vision made its way to the source of the rancid stink. She instinctively grouped closer to Mac, as he stepped forward and courageously nudged the door from ajar to wide open.

Hidden from plain view were dozens of amateur drawings, all created with what seemed was a make-shift brush of green hairs and a piece of wood, mostly fashioned by the corpse before she or he died. They depicted strange wordings and geometric shapes, like the phrase that was repeated most, "Don't look behind you," or a plain circle with an extending X being driven from the middle. But the most painstakingly detailed piece was on the left most wall, taking up the entire space- the effigy of a pony. But not just any pony. A stallion dressed in a suit, but with no face nor hair, and long, spindly legs.

Backing away in a hushed, low tone, Rainbow gulped, "No. This can't be. It was just an internet hoax! Slendermane isn't real!"

"Ah- Ah don't know what you're talking about, but we- we got to get outta here," the Apple rushed as he took her by the hoof and start to go go back where they came from.

Clip, clop.

The sound echoed in their ears especially, because they both knew that neither the other nor themself made it.

Clip, clop.

They both began to run, hormones kicking up their respective rates. Adrenaline was surging throughout Rainbow's body, taking a quick hold, so quick, in fact, that she did not notice a depression in the floor and stepped into it, tumbling foward.

Clip, clop. Clip, clop.

It was getting louder and faster as she lay on the floor, petrified by shock. Buck! This damn clopping is getting into my head, like- like- like the drumming in the Master's head, from Doctor Whooves! ... Wow. I'm making a TV reference at a time like this... I'm impressed.

On the outside, however, she was distressed, just trying to keep her magenta eyes straight as to at least be able to savour her last moments alive. "Go on without me, Mac! I'm done for," she cried out theatrically.

He stopped in his tracks, and with a heavy sigh, ran back to her, keeping his eyes on the ground until a familiar blue coat entered his vision. Wrapping her body around his neck as he would with his yoke, he continued running, as Rainbow scolded, "You bucktard, now we'll both die! I told you to keep going!"

It was near, so near, freedom, the hot, desert sun shining through the rusted frame.

Clip, clop.

One heavy thump from the creature, perpetrator, whatever, that was following them was all it took to shut the metal doors.

"No!" a panicked Rainbow shrieked.

It only gave the stallion more reason to find a way out. He ran faster, an idea presenting itself at the last minute.

"Big Mac! What are you doing? Stop!"

Faster.

"You can't open that just by ramming into it! That's not possible!"

He ignored her heeds and kept going. Some moments before making contact with it, he yelled, "Rainbow, shut your eyes," and shut his own. After a sharp stop he turned around and bucked it, with the monstrous apple-bucking strength that had gotten the colt so known before.

They split open, and he turned frontwards again, running back into open streets until he felt that they were safe. Dropping Rainbow gently on the side, Big Mac collapsed into a puddle of his own tired muscles and sweat.

She panted and attempted regaining composure, taking a deep inhale and exhale before finding Big Mac's forest eyes to start, "That was- that was so bad-ass! I'd hate to say it, but, damn, Big Mac! Talk about awesome! I didn't you had it in ya'!"

"Heh, uh, thanks," he muttered with long spaces, still in the process of getting his breath back. "Do you think that thing will still be after us?"

She stopped and took her chin into her hooves, glancing down. "I'm not sure. I only know the basic lore about Slendermane- like how, if you see him, you'll start to go crazy, and when you take your eyes off of him, he'll be nearer. And nearer. Until he gets you! But I've never heard anything about him making a clip-clop sound when he's coming for somepony..."

The two had only the sound of heavy breathing filling the air around them so when there was a course rumbling, Rainbow jumped up before realizing it was from her.

"You wanna find something to eat?" Big Mac asked her, getting onto his hooves as well. She nodded shamefully, a borborygmus coming to fruition again.

"Well, then, Ah think I saw some restaurants near the front, maybe they still have some good food?"

With growing smile and a fresh look on her face, she exclaimed, "Last one there's a rotten-"

"Don't ya' dare say 'apple'!" the farmer yelled, and getting the gist of it, was running at top speed alongside Rainbow Dash.

They ran, laughing alongside each other with a childlike glee they didn't think was ever possible after their short ordeal, and skidded to a stop when they saw a diner with food that seemed to still be at least somewhat fresh. Rainbow peeked through the browned windows. "Ooh! I see a pecan pie in one of those pie dishes!"

She jiggled the door before taking a good look at the lock and pausing. Sneaking a look at her back, Rainbow realized that she'd dropped her pillowcases of potentially useful objects back at the hospital. She strolled over to Mac, relieved he still had his bags, and took out a long bobby pin. Wonder why Braeburn had this of all things in his luggage. Whatever.

With a sharp crack, the pegasus broke it in two and went back to the door to pick it open. One soft push and the entryway was clear for anypony to come or go. She went in cautiously then made a straight shot for the pie when her companion stepped in her way.

"Yo, Big Mac, what's the deal?" Rainbow asked with a disgruntled sigh.

He held up a hoof to essentially shush her, and took the pie of its pedestal, before taking a complimentary cake knife and taking a slice. It revealed a maze of intricate swells and formations made from a grey matter.

A thick, pungent air whipped from it and invaded Rainbow's olfactory senses. "Ew! What the buck is that?"

"Ah think something bad came through this town, something mighty bad, and turned its folks ravenous." He prodded the slice with a stick, making it convulse in no ordinary manner a piece of pie should. "And this pie might be... Animal."

She gagged and waved him off on the details, saying, "That's disgusting! Meat is so weird! Ugh!"

With a shrug, the farmer placed the pie back along with the slice. "Ah dunno, but I have a feeling there may be some canned goods in the back."

Her eyes making out each little disgusting nook and crevice of the filling, she stuck her tongue out in disgust. "Ack, I'll die first before I eat meat. Let's go."

They entered, and the pegasus cried out in joy when she saw Big Mac's predication was true. Standing as a lonesome mountain were dozens of cans, all new and untouched, a welcome scene of silver and bright labels to the duo.

"Yes! Yes, yes, yes! Food!" And from the corner of her eye, she spied a can of applesauce, further bellowing, "Applesauce! I love applesauce! And it's from Sweet Apple Acres! It's from your farm, Mac! Yes! We are so lucky!"

He chuckled softly, assenting, "Eeyup."



In a cavern deep underground, where ordinary pony could ever survive, was an ebony mare with lengthsome, scarlet locks that curled elegantly at the tips, lying beside a glowing orb upon a short pedestal. On her face was a mix of pride and regret.

"What did you do?" asked a booming voice from behind.

The mare's head swiveled around to see two ponies, one taller than herself, with black hair pulled away from her face and a silver coat, the other shorter, with luxurious platinum curls outlined by her golden fur. All of the three had stark red eyes, almost fire-like, engulfing their irises, and matching sets of wings and horns.

The black mare dipped her snout into her forelegs and shot a look of hostility towards the tall one, before just looking at the orb apologetically. "I couldn't leave them alone," she whimpered, with a muffled, "I'm sorry."

"Who?" the blonde asked, undeniably confused.

The redhead tapped on the sphere. "Braeburn Apple and Rainbow Dash."

The brunette eyed the mare suspiciously. "What did you do?" she repeated, emphasizing the last word strongly.

"I averted the Apple's path, so that the pegasus would instead be with another colt of my own... Preference." The last word came out of her mouth so effortlessly, but it had taken so much work within her to be able to speak it.

"Who?" The metallic pony hissed in careful yet snappish tone, spilling from the seams with a beastly and toxic rage.

"B-Big Macintosh Apple..." she trailed off.

There was an aching and seething fury in the tall pony's glare that sent the mare's formerly steadfast attitude away, instead sending her into a frenzy of fear and wariness. "Doom, what. Did. You. Do."