//------------------------------//
// Part 1: The End of the Beginning 
// Story: The Slender: Harmony and Darkness 
// by Lance Skyes 
//------------------------------//

	I held Applebloom close to me, and I could literally feel her slip away into the darkness. The darkness Slenderman had brought upon her. “For you, Applebloom,” I said, “I’ll make sure your sacrifice won’t be for nothing.” I closed Applebloom’s eyelids with my hoof and whispered two final words to her:
“I promise.”

[BIG MACINTOSH]
I sat in my room, doing my best not to cry after what I had just heard. Slenderman had finally killed my younger sister, Applebloom, as well as her friends. How did I know? The curse Slenderman put on me when I was just a colt. It keeps him in my head for as long as I live. I can hear everything of him. His static, his kills... the screams of his victims... I was still thinking about this when I heard a knock on my door. “Come in,” I called.
Applejack walked in, looking worried. “Are you alright, Big Macintosh?” she asked me. “You haven’t come out of here for days. And have you seen Applebloom around, lately?”
I reacted a little on the inside when she mentioned Applebloom, but I didn’t show it. “I’m fine. I just wanted to be alone, that’s all.”
“Okay, but what about Applebloom?”
I wondered what I should tell her for a moment. Should I tell her about the curse? Would she even believe me? “When I saw her last, she said something about getting her cutie mark as an explorer. She and the others said something about the area to the West of Ponyville, but I don’t really know anything beyond that, except...” I trailed off on purpose, hoping I wouldn’t have to say anything else.
“Except what?”
“Except... I think something happened to them. Something bad.” I started tearing up, but I did my best to hide it from Applejack.
“Well, how would you know that?” she asked. I was hoping she wouldn’t ask that question in particular.
“I... I can’t tell you. You wouldn’t understand. Nopony would.”
Applejack was silent for a moment before I turned around to look at her for the first time since she walked in. (For the first time in days, in fact.) She had a worried expression on her face, but it had some confusion mixed in, as well. “Well why can’t you tell me?” she asked. “Why wouldn’t anypony understand?”
I just looked away from her and back down to the floor. “I just... don’t want to talk about it. That’s all there is to it.”
She didn’t say anything, but I heard her hoofsteps as she left the room. “Well, come on back out when you feel like it. You’re pretty behind on your chores and I can’t fill in for you forever.” I just sat there and listened as she closed the door and trotted down the hall.
“Chores,” I said to myself. “What good would that do, anymore?”

[SILPH]
I made my way out of the Forest, the image of Applebloom dying in my hooves still fresh in my mind. The image of Slenderman killing her.
The images and screams of all of the victims of the other Slender.
I did my best to push these thoughts out of my mind as I finally reached the edge of the Forest, finding the magic fence that formed the border between the Forest and the outside world that I’ve heard be called “Equestria”. I could use almost no magic, but I was still somehow able to pass through the barrier when other Slender and Equestrians couldn’t. I was sure it had something to do with my father, but I never really knew. I stepped out from the other side of the barrier and found myself in a world far unlike the Forest. The grass was green. There was grass. The trees were better spread apart so they didn’t form the dark canopy the Forest had. And the sky, it was a dark shade of blue with a little orange-ish and pink behind me over the Forest. I heard from the memories of those passed in the Forest that this was called a sunset. It marked the end of the day in Equestria, and it was usually beautiful. I couldn’t see it from behind the Forest, though, so I couldn’t see any truth behind that in particular. I looked around and tried to remember where Applebloom lived. I seemed to remember that it had something to do with her own name, but I couldn’t quite place my hoof on what it was, exactly. After a while, I saw something in the distance. It looked like a bunch of apple trees. I figured that was a good place to start, so I started flying towards that place, rising into the clouds so that I wouldn’t be seen by any of the Equestrians. I suppose I didn’t need to hide, though, since Equestrians slept at night.
After a while, I was laying on a cloud right above the orchard. I looked down to find an orange earth pony and a dog walking into what I guessed was their house. “Come on, Winona,” the pony called to the dog. However, Winona was still standing a little ways away from the pony, looking up at me.
“Stranger! Stranger!” Winona barked. “Stranger on the cloud, Applejack! Applebloom in danger!”
Oh no, I’ve been exposed before I could even start my mission. However, I noticed that the pony wasn’t paying any real attention to what Winnona was saying. “What are you barking at, you crazy dog?” I heard the pony ask.
“Applejack, stranger! Applebloom in danger!”
After a while, I realized that the pony couldn’t understand Winona. I was the only one who could. “Come on, Winnona,” the pony said, picking her dog up off the ground. “Let’s get inside.”
The pony walked inside with Winona on her back, Winona still barking “Stranger! Applejack? Stranger?”
Once the pony and Winnona were inside, I flew down to the ground and looked up at the building.
And that’s when one of the windows lit up, and a familiar-looking stallion looked right at me in horror.

[BIG MACINTOSH]
Applejack and Winona were on their way inside, Winona barking at something. I figured it was time to go to bed, so I just rotated a little in my bed and pulled up my covers. I closed my eyes, still hearing the Static that I could always hear every moment of the day. I wasn’t asleep for long before I heard some kind of shift in the Static. I knew what had happened, but I couldn’t believe it. The shift in the Static almost felt solid, and that could only mean one thing. There was a Slender nearby. I turned on the lights and ran to the window. That’s when I saw him.
The last thing Applebloom saw before she passed.