Slen was nervously pacing around while Rei had a tissue in his nose to stop the nosebleed. “I don’t see what you’re so worried about,” Rei said. “It’s just a nosebleed. Nothing serious.”
“Nothing serious?” Slen asked. “This is horrible!”
“How exactly is it-” Rei was cut off when Slen rushed up and placed his hoof on the pegasi’s head. “What are you doing?”
“Fever. Just what I was afraid of...” Slen then began trotting back up to the window and looked at the Everfree Forest.
“Slen, what’s going on?”
“Something I was desperately trying to avoid.” Slen then quickly turned around. “What exactly were you making earlier?”
“I... uh...” Rei looked legitimately confused for a moment. “I’m not sure, actually.”
“Celest-dammit. That’s probably the mild amnesia. We need to get you away from the forest. Where’s the library from here?”
“Slen, you’re not explaining anything. I’m not going anywhere until I get an explanation as to what’s going on.”
“I’ll explain everything later.” Slen then began pushing Rei out of the house. “But I don’t want to explain everything here and then have to explain everything again for Twilight Sparkle. You know, you could make this easier by actually moving your hooves.”
After a while, the two colts made it to Golden Oaks Library. “Good,” Slen said. “We’re here.” The unicorn then looked around to see if Slendermane was anywhere nearby, but Rei had no idea what Slen was so paranoid about.
“Slen,” the pegasus said, “are you alright?”
“Not really, but that’s normal. Let’s get inside, fast.” Slen then rushed into the library, using his magic to drag Rei in by the wing. “Princess Twilight Sparkle! Are you here?”
Just then, a lavender alicorn with a dark purple mane that had a pink stripe in it trotted in from upstairs. “Did somepony call for me?” she asked.
“Terribly sorry, Princess,” Slen said, bowing. “But I’m afraid the two of us have a serious problem.”
“What is it?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah, Slen,” Rei added. “What exactly is this ‘problem’ we’re having?”
Slen sighed before trotting up to Twilight. “Princess, I understand that you’re either familiar with many myths and legends.” Slen took a deep breath before continuing. “Do you know of a demon called Slendermane?”
“Slendermane?” Rei asked. “I think I’ve heard of that. Hay, I should tell you about this prank I played on a couple of school bullies a few weeks ago.”
“This is no call for pranks,” Slen said. “Slendermane is a very serious monster who’s caused terror all throughout Equestria for years.”
“Slendermane, huh?” Twilight asked. “I think I’ve read that name in one of my books before...” Twilight then began trotting around the library, pulling out book after book. Slen and Rei were looking as well, but Slen wasn’t entirely sure what he was looking for and Rei was still not entirely sure what the buck was even going on. After a while, Slen thought he saw what he was looking for. It was a pitch black book hidden behind several other books and covered in dust and cobwebs. On the cover of the book was the same design as his cutie mark, except more accurately Slendermane’s cutie mark. (Which was white rather than red.)
“Hay, Twilight,” Slen called, picking up the book with his magic. “I think I found what we’re looking for.” Twilight quickly trotted over and took the book in her own energy field.
“Hmm...” Twilight said to herself, opening the book and reading the first page. “‘The Equestrian Reference Guide to Slendermane and the Surrounding Mythos.’ Now there’s an interesting title.” Twilight then began reading what was on the “Introduction” page.
Slendermane is the name given to a dangerous and powerful equine demon who haunts Equestria. His body is the shape of a pony, but he wears a black suit and red tie, has a white, faceless head, and, as his most noticeable feature, has several tendrils extending from his back. His methods of haunting ponykind include abducting foals, burning towns, and slowly driving ponies insane before he eventually kills them.
“Wow,” Twilight said after reading that.
“Wow, indeed,” Rei added.
“And that’s just the gist of it,” Slen said, taking the book. He then flipped through the pages before he found the chapter he was looking for. “‘Chapter four: The Sickness.’”
The Sickness (also referred to as “Slender Sickness”) is the ailment that befalls some ponies haunted by Slendermane. The Sickness is a slow, painful, and most often fatal ailment for which there is no cure unless Slendermane were to suddenly stop coming after you. There are three stages to The Sickness:
Stage 1: Stalked by Slendermane. Symptoms include nosebleeds, fever like the common cold, and mild amnesia.
Stage 2: First encounter. Nosebleeds, exhaustion, nausea, strong cough, vomiting, amnesia, slight signs of radiation poisoning, aches and pains, slight trauma of the eyes (i.e. bloodshot, vesial popping etc.), and often deja vu.
Stage 3: More than five encounters. Coughing up blood, blood in vomit, many signs of radiation exposure, painful breathing, difficulty in swallowing, violent convulsions and major amnesia.
[Author’s note: The above information was retrieved from the following website: http://theslenderman.wikia.com/wiki/The_Sickness]
Rei was unable to believe what Slen was reading. “What exactly does this have to do with me?” the pegasus asked.
“Weren’t you paying attention?” Slen asked. “At the present moment, you’re suffering from stage 1 Slender Sickness. I just finished reading- oh, right, amnesia. Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Rei said.
“No, it isn’t okay at all,” Slen said, using his magic to shove the book back into Twilight’s possession. “Slendermane is after you... and it’s my fault.”
“How would it be your fault?”
Slen couldn’t answer that question without revealing his secret. “I... can’t tell you. It would only make things worse than they already are. All I can say is that Slendermane’s focus is me and he’s using you to get me to surrender to him. But don’t worry. I’ll find a way to stop him before he takes you.”
“And how exactly do you plan to do that?” Rei asked.
“I’m not sure, but I’ll think of something.”
“Could I make a suggestion?” Twilight asked, holding the book open. Slen and Rei quickly ended their discussion and paid attention to Twilight. “I just finished reading about something called ‘The Eight Pages’.”
“Yeah,” Slen said. “They’re the source of Slendermane’s power. What about them?”
“If I could get my hooves on them, I might be able to study them and cook up a spell to cure Rei.”
“Of course! Why didn’t I think of that?” Slen was actually happy for a moment, but then the moment passed as he had a sudden realization. “There’s a pretty significant problem with that plan, actually.”
“What’s that?” Rei asked.
“You, Rei. Slendermane will be coming after you at the first opportunity that presents itself. I can’t leave you here or you’ll be completely vulnerable.”
“So then what if I go with you two to get the Pages?”
“That won’t work, either. If you come with us, you’ll be out in the open. We might as well hand you to him on a silver platter if we go through with that plan. I’ll go get the Pages myself.”
“But you can’t go alone,” Twilight said. “What if he catches you?”
“Don’t worry, Princess. He won’t hurt me.” Quickly, Slen added, “For some odd reason.” Twilight and Rei were looking at Slen skeptically for a moment. “Just trust me on this one. I’ve been running from Slendermane for years. I know how he works. Twilight, you have to stay here and protect Rei. If he shows up, you’ll have to evacuate Ponyville.”
“Evacuate Ponyville?” Twilight asked. “Why?”
Slen took the book in his magic and flipped through the pages for a moment. “It says here that when a pony is stalked by Slendermane, he’ll sometimes burn the town that pony lives in to get to them or to remove any evidence of him being there like witnesses or photographs.” Just then, Slen paused for a moment as a look of despair washed over his face. “Oh no. I had completely forgotten about that...”
“About what?” Rei asked.
Slen turned to Rei, eyes full of tears. “I’m sorry Rei, but the Sickness might not be the end of it.” Slen then used his magic to hand the book over to his sick friend. Rei read what was on the page and quickly gasped in horror.
“There’s no way. His magic can’t be that powerful.”
“What is it?” Twilight asked, taking the book and reading what was on the page.
On some occasions, rather than killing ponies he’s stalking, Slendermane will instead turn them into minions called ‘Proxies’. Proxies are ponies who have fallen victim to Slendermane’s darkness and then had their last shred of life force manipulated to turn them into a hollow shadow of their former selves, completely under Slendermane’s control. Proxies are often taken from the survivors of towns he burns, but he will sometimes take individuals when after a larger purpose.
“Don’t worry, Rei,” Slen quickly said as he noticed how Rei was reacting to what Twilight read. (Not that well.) “Rei, listen to me. I’m going to do everything in my power and then some to make sure that doesn’t happen. You got that? You’re my friend, and I’ll never let anything bad happen to you.”
“I believe you, Slen,” Rei said. “I won’t lie, I’ve never been more scared in my life, and I’m not sure if it’s because of what’s in that book or how bad this fanfiction is, but I have every confidence that you’ll be able to get those Pages.”
“Thanks, Rei. Here I thought I’d have to be the one to give you the much-needed pep talk, but I’m pretty sure it turned out the other way around.” [Author’s Note: Before you read this next line, know that both of these colts are straight. Rei has a crush on Sweetie Belle and Slen will eventually take interest in Diamond Tiara. (Yeah, we’d all like to see how that works out. Spoiler: not that well.)] The two colts then gave each other a hug, both doing their best not to cry. “I’ll be back for you, Rei. I promise.”
“Do one quick thing for me before you go,” Rei said.
“What?”
“Pinkie Promise me that this will turn out ok.”
“Okay. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my- OW! Why do I keep forgetting not to actually jab myself in the eye with my hoof?” Rei and Twilight both laughed a little at Slen’s pain, but the mood quickly turned back to normal as Slen made his way to the door. “I’ll be back soon. Twilight, please make sure he stays safe.”
“I’ll do my best,” Twilight said. “Best of luck to you.”
“Thanks.” Slen then trotted out of the library and towards the Everfree Forest.