That night was one of bizarre dreams. Blackness, not darkness, but blackness would enter Slendy's mind before leaving as quickly as it came. Thinking about it later, Slendy would think that the blackness was the things, those horrible things, that were being repulsed by the spells he had enacted upon his room. Once, he felt a great white attempt to enter his dreams, yet that too was pushed away, this time gently.
Upon days break, Slendy found himself sitting up in his bed, feeling returning to his body. IT had been a while since the feeling of sleep had held him in it's embrace.
A knock upon the door focused him. He could hear, barely, a muffled, "Sir! My apologizes to awaken you this early, but you need to awake, sir. Your schedule i-"
The LT. was cut off by Slendy's appearance next to him. The Lt. did not jump but started only slightly. Slendy felt pleased at this; it meant he was getting used to him.
"Sir, my apologizes for awaking you, but the Princesses thought it would be suitable and beneficial for you to observe the troops that they have lined up for you. They are in the courtyard, sir, awaiting your arrival."
Slendy nodded. "Thank you, Lt. Will you accompany me? I could use your eye for skill."
The Lt. affirmed. "Aye, sir. Shall I meet you there?"
Slendy again nodded. "Yes. I would teleport you, but at the moment I do not feel that it is safe without further testing of it's affects." Slendy thought to the effects that a brief sparring that had exposed Shining Armor to his magic had done to the poor unicorn.
The Lt. nodded and took off down the stairs, his armor not weighing him down, his wing beats fading into the distance. Slendy sighed before letting the darkness overtake him.
He searched for the courtyard, and found it filled with the souls of many ponies. All were lined up in military fashion, and seemed to be facing towards the castle, where two ponies seemed to be speaking with Celestia. He allowed a piece of his consciousness to drift into her awareness, and she immediately attempted to isolate it with her magic. He allowed her to touch him with her magic, and established a mental connection.
"Celestia. I am here. Where do you want me?"
Celestia, to her credit, adapted to the new spell quickly.
"Hello, Slenderman. I will send these two back to the formation. Appear in behind me, and give them some fear. These are Equestria's finest warriors, and some think that they have seen everything. Prove they have not."
Slendy nodded, before realizing she could not see him. "Yes, Princess. I will wait for them to return to their positions."
Celestia broke the connection, and Slendy watched the two souls move to a equal distance in front of the large group of soldiers. Celestia moved back, and he took that as his cue to appear. He did so, and with gusto.
He summoned some of the darkness, and allowed it to form into tendrils stemming from his hoofs. He had them twirl around himself, then created a cloud of darkness laced with slight shadow creatures. Deciding that was enough, he allowed himself to explode into the courtyard, slightly in front of Celestia.
The darkness dispersed from him, and he let the shadow creatures run through the gathered formation. He sensed their fear and panic, but to his satisfaction saw none of them run or physically panic. Quickly dispersing the darkness, he waited for the soldiers to look back up at where he was standing, the tendrils whirling around him with what seemed to be a mind of their own.
The soldiers stared for a second, before he let the tendrils sink into the ground and fade away into nothing.
The soldiers all looked up at him, staring without any sign of major emotion. Then, one of the leaders that had been speaking with Celestia shouted, "Atten-Tion!"
As one, the entire contingent of gathered ponies saluted at Slenderman. They held this for a moment, before Slendy told them, "At Ease."
With a noise like a thunderclap, their hoofs returned to the ground, and silence reigned.
Slendy sensed the Lt. Stormcatcher flying towards them from inside the castle, and waited for him to arrive before speaking. Motioning to the Lt. to take place at his side, Slendy began to speak.
"Mares and Gentlecolts of Equestria's Special Forces, I am Slenderman. I am the Head of Magical Security for the Sovereign Nation of Equestria. I am here looking for the best, the smartest, the quickest, the most dangerous. If accepted into the Office of Magical Security, you will work for me and my officers. You will conduct missions to places far and near, dangerous and old, horrible and wondrous. You will fight, and learn, and work. You will be the military backbone of the Office, and your positions will bring you both prestige and tremendous responsibility."
He allowed for his words to sink in.
"Today will be a day of testing. I will personally be overseeing the academic testing in the afternoon. Lt. Stormcather and Princess Celestia will oversee the combat portion of testing. They will explain further. Lt, please come with me."
Slendy turned and walked into the castle, the Lt. on his tail.
"Sir?"
Slendy turned to look at the Lt. "Lt., you are to report to me the best 30 fighters. Personally fight them if necessary, or ask the Princess to do so. I will not return until later this day. Do you understand?"
The Lt. nodded. "Yes sir. I understand."
Slendy nodded, and let himself fall into the shadows.
Instead of moving to his room, or to observe the training from the shadows as one might expect, Slendy moved towards the city. He moved towards the University, and passed it by without pause. He moved swiftly to the center of Canterlot, and appeared outside the Canterlot Main Guard Station.
A few ponies jumped at his appearance, but seemed to not be curious enough to ask him, and, eyeing him, quickly moved on with their day.
The station was full of guards in their standard uniform. As he walked in, two guards dragged in a large earth pony that smelled of cider. The pony seemed to be singing a old Equestrian tune about Discord's many wives. Slendy thought he should ask Discord about it next time he saw him.
The station was simply designed, and was staffed by many guard ponies. A hallway seemed to lead back to where Slendy could see some cells full of ponies in various states of confusion, anger, and depression.
Turning his attention to the main desk, Slendy walked up to the receptionist guard pony and, seeing as she was distracted by a file, rang the bell. Without looking up, she spoke.
"One moment please. I will be with you in just a momen-" She glanced up, and did a double take.
"Oh my Celestia..." She whispered. Slendy cleared his throat awkwardly.
She shook her head. "Er, my apologizes sir. What can I help you with, Mr....?"
"Slenderman. I am the Head of Magical Security for Equestria. I sent a request to do a fly-along with the City Guard yesterday. It was accepted, and I was told to report here at this time for assignment to my Guard."
The mare looked at him for a second longer, before turning quickly to her folders and rummaging through them nervously. Well she did so, Slendy realized that the station had gone much quieter than when he had walked in. Looking up, he found many of the ponies looking at him. Before he could say anything, somepony cleared their throat.
"Ponies, we have stuff to be doing. Stop staring and get back to work!"
Slendy looked at the pony that had spoken, and found himself looking at a old Earth Stallion. His cutie mark was that of a Sherriff's star.
The receptionist looked up at the pony, and excitedly spoke.
"Chief, this is...Slenderman. He is the Head of Magical Security for the sisters. He signed up fo-" She was cut off by the Chief.
"Thank you, Ms. Senoda. I can take it from here." Looking up at Slendy, he spoke. "Mr. Slenderman, if I could see you in my office?"
Slendy nodded. "Of course." The instant they walked in, Slendy spoke. "My apologizes, I hope my presence did not cause a intrutio-" The chief laughed.
"No intrusion at all, Mr. Slenderman. I was alerted by Luna to your coming." Slendy briefly wondered how she knew he was coming. "I have already found two guard ponies for you to conduct your fly-along with Sergeant Willkin and Private Willow. They both work in Eastern Canterlot, a relatively high crime area of the city. I think that you would gain most if you were to fly with them today." Slendy nodded.
"Alright. Thank you, Mr...?" The chief laughed. "Just call me Chief."
He opened the door to his office, and called over two ponies, one a older Pegasus, the other a younger looking unicorn. "Sarge, Private, this is Slenderman. He will be your fly-along for the day."
The pair looked at him with a combination of surprise, confusion, and curiosity. Slendy was glad not to sense fear in either of them.
"Hello. I am Slenderman. I am pleased to be flying with you both today."
The two stared, then the Sergeant spoke. "Likewise, sir. I heard of you, sir. We are glad to have you. Today will be a quick morning patrol in the East side."
Slendy nodded. "Lead the way, please."
The two nodded and walked towards a door on the side of the room. It lead to a armory. When offered a ceremonial spear, Slendy refused. The two shrugged, and continued to load up, this time with a pistol, baton, and hoofcuffs, as well as a radio. Slendy looked at the devices with curiosity, he had assumed that Celestia would keep to her ways of tradition, not having the guards carrying modern weapons.
The Private saw him examining the weapons. "They were added after the Changling attack. We had been petitioning for them anyways, but the attack really showed how much they were needed. Now they're standard not just to the military but to us as well. Tradition must suffer for the good of the people, sometimes." The private smiled, and Slendy found himself liking her demeanor.
The Sarge chuckled. "You're lucky, private. When I started out, all we got were spears, and swords when there was something serious going on."
Slendy looked at the two as they continued to banter playful well getting geared up. Finally, the Sarge gave up the fight with a laugh. "Ah, your young foolishness will get to ya one day. For now, your too stubborn to argue with."
Turning to Slendy, he asked, "You ready, mate?" Slendy nodded. "Good to hear. In that case, lets go."
The trio walked out into the city. Slendy attracted some curious glances, and he realized that both of the guards were too polite to ask him to cover his form. He thought for a moment, then allowed the darkness to transform into a dark grey, black maned unicorn wearing a guard uniform. Both the guards looked surprised for a second, then nodded. "Thanks, sir. It would be hard to patrol if everypony was curious about you." Slendy nodded again.
Ten minutes later, the trio entered the East side. Slendy began to see the buildings transform from the high-end structures of Upper Canterlot into rundown, sometimes abandoned buildings of past design. Ponies began to look less and less clean, until finally the Castle faded behind dirty, dark, grungy buildings.
The first call came over the radio only a few moments later.
"Squad fourteen, Squad Fourteen, respond to a drunk and disorderly at 1105 Bakers Street."
The Sarge responded over the radio. "Copy, Fourteen in route."
He turned and grinned at Slendy. "A drunk, eh? This will be interesting." Willow gave him a odd look. "No, it really won't, she said, looking at the Sarge. "Just another sad, lonely pony trying to drink their sorrows into nothingness." The Sarge gave her a look, and told she was ruining Slendy's excitement. She shook her head, saying, "Silly old stallion." Sarge raised an eyebrow. "Hey, who you calling OLD?"
Their banter continued until they came to the house, if it could be called that. Windows were broken, the weeds growing up the exterior walls, the front garden completely nonexistent. On the steps of the house was a old mare, looking as if she was going to pass out. The sarge motioned for him to stay there, and him and Willow approached the mare.
"Ma'am, I'm with the Guard. How ya doing today?" She looked up at him, and mumbled something intelligible.
"Sorry, ma';am, say again? We can't quite hear you."
She looked up at him again. "Ah..Ah said dat I-I'm fine." She attempted to wave him off, but ended up looking like she was trying to swat a fly.
"Alright. And what's your name, ma'am? Butterscotch? Alright, Ms. Butterstotch, I'm Sargent Willken, and this is my partner, Private Willow. Have you had anything alcoholic today, Butterscotch?"
The mare shook her head. "No- Ah-ah dont drink no more. I used' to, thah. No more, Mr. Gaurdspony sir." She started laughing.
The sarge sighed. "Alright, ma'am, I'm not going to take you in for drunk in public. I would like to ask you to go inside. Is this your house?" The mare nodded. "Alright, Butterscotch, can you go inside? I can come in if you need me to."
The mare shook her head violently. "No-No coming in mah house. It's MAH hous, ain't no gaurdsponies coming inside." Mumbling, the mare stood and unsteadily trotted inside before slamming the door behind her.
The sarge sighed again. "Well then. First call of the day, eh?"
Willow nodded. "Yes, sir. It's sad, isn't it? This whole place has jus gone to shambles..." She turned, and as if remembering Slendy was there, lit up her face with a smile. "It used to be as nice as West Side Canterlot. Now, though, it;s just too old and rundown for anypony to do anything. The sisters have been distracted, but still...they need somepony to come and clean this place up."
The three continued to patrol until the next call came in about a hour later. "Squad Fourteen, Squad Fourteen, you have a Domestic Dispute at 563 Little Drive. Reports of screaming and banging, as well as the sounds of a young filly, have come in."
The Sarge reached for his radio. "Copy, Squad fourteen enroute." This time, he did not crack a joke and there was no bantering. As they neared the street, he told Willow without looking at her that he was going to take a look from above. Without waiting for a response, he took off. Willow grimly began to walk up the street, where the sounds of a argument could be heard. Slendy looked at her, and was surprised to find her so-far excited, life full face taunt and serious. A loud clang and some yells broke his concentration.
"No, NO! I told you we have no money!" A male voice yelled. A female one responded in kind. "Oh? WHAT ABOUT FOR YOUR BOOZE?!" A smaller voice cried out, "Momm-Mommy, Daddy, stop yelling, you're scaring me." The voice trailed off to a sob. The male voice yelled again. "Shut up, you little brat! You do nothing for this family! I should just throw you out, and beat your little ass!" A large slap was heard, and then more wails.
Willow levitated her radio and her gun at the same time. "Dispatch, this is Squad Fourteen, we might need backup at our location. Sounds like a violent domestic dispute, fillies involved. Go ahead and send paramedics as well."
The response came almost immediately. "Copy, Squad fourteen. ETA is around two minutes."
The sarge suddenly landed next to her. "Alright. The backyard is fenced in, no gates. Lets move in, nice and simple. No knocking." He looked at Slendy. "If you were anypony else, I think I'd have you stay outside. However, my guess is you aren't anypony else."
Turning his attention to the house, he told them both. "On me."
He then accelerated to a heavy trot. The yelling continued until they came to the door, where the Sarge counted down. "Three...Two....One...THIS IS THE GAURD! THIS IS THE GAURD! DOWN ON THE GROUND, NOW!"
The two guards ponies entered the house and found two adults ponies in the middle of a fight, a little filly in between them, sobbing uncontrollably, a large hoofmark on her face.
The sarge holstered his gun and ran forward, Willow right behind him. They both easily pulled the two adult ponies apart, and with practiced ease hoofcuffed them. Slendy moved to the filly levitated her, and looked up at the Sarge.
"Willkin, I'm going to take her outside, alright? She doesn't need to see anymore of this." The Sarge nodded, then turned to the two ponies and began asking them questions.
Outside, Slendy gently set down the filly. She continued to cry. He turned to her. "Erm...Hello. I'm Slenderman. I'm here to help. Where are you hurt?" The filly just continued to cry. Slendy repeated his statement, feeling woefully useless. Willow rapidly left the house, and went up the filly.
"Hey there, little one. I'm Willow. How are you doing today? No need to answer, just listen to me and nod when you can talk."
Without waiting for a response, she continued to talk.
"You know, I was like you once. I grew up down here, went to school at Garden School for Ponies of All Ages. do you go there? I bet you do, with how close you live to it. I remember loving to play on the playground there. It was new when I went there, I remember. It was a very exciting thing."
Slendy watched as she continued to do this, talking to the little filly. He felt as if he was in the presence of a goddess of sorts. She was able to distract the filly and calm her down quickly and simply by talking to her about non-important things that mattered to nopony, yet in this moment were possibly the most important things the little filly had ever heard.
Finally, the little Filly nodded. Willow smiled. "Good, I'm glad to see your ready to talk. Now, do you have any close friends or family?" The little filly shook her head. "No- No, Miss. I have some family in Ponyville, but nopony else but my parents." Willow nodded. "Alright. And do you know their names?" Willow continued to talk to the little filly. Slendy watched for a moment, then walked inside to check on the Sarge.
Whom was angry.
"You hit your filly, for Celestia's sake. Now, You are going to tell me what happened or I am going to make sure, personally, that your in prison for a very, VERY long time."
The stallion spat on the Sarge. Slendy was able to smell the assorted alcohol and other substances on his breath. The sarge looked at the stallion in disgust before turning to the female.
"You. You let him hit the filly? Or not? How about you explain what happened."
The mare burst into tears. The Sarge sighed, and looked up at Slendy. "Welcome to the life of a gaurds pony." he said bitterly, and shook his head.
A half an hour later, the trio watched as the mare and stallion were taken away in the bake of a prison cart. The filly had been picked up by a agent from Celestia's Home for the Young, where she would wait until her family from Ponyville could come and get her.
The trio were quiet for a moment, before Slendy spoke quietly. "That is...something normal?"
Willow nodded, and the Sarge said, "Sadly, it is. More and more ponies move here, and more and more realize too late that few make it in Canterlot. Many end up taking it out on each other, like those two, or even worse, their young. Luckily, the reforms in the courts are doing good things for the young, and making it easier for those two to be effectively jailed and proven guilty through the use of magical means which were outlawed for years due to their "unpredictability." He laughed. "In reality, the Lawyers managed to lobby the Council enough to outlaw magical practices so they could keep their jobs. Finally, Celestia signed a executive order to allow it, much to the anger of the Lawyers."
Slendy nodded thoughtfully. He had not thought much about the executive or judicial areas of Equestrian ways of life.
"Now, shall we go get lunch?" Willow asked, back to her cheerful self.
They ate at a small sandwich shop. The food looked good, but Slendy did not have any. He had trouble tasting food.
As the other two ate, Slendy cleared his throat.
"Thank you both. I must be on my way, but this has helped give me a more in depth look at Equestrian life that I guess cannot be gleamed from the Castle. I would like to invite both of you to join the Office of Magical Security, although I somehow doubt that you will accept."
The pair smiled. "We have a job here, sir. We need to be here, and do what we have been trained to do. As much as your offer is enticing, we have a responsibility to the people here, and we will not abandon them." Willow finished with a smile.
Slendy nodded. "I thought so. I hope to meet you both again. Until then." He stodd, bowed lightly, and allowed himself to fall into the darkness.
He appeared in the Coutryard, where the Lt. still stood, watching those training below. He started slightly at Slendys appearance, but did not respond any other way until Slendy spoke.
"Lt, how does it go?"
The Lt. responded. "Well, sir, these are all excellent fighters. However, I do have a list of 25 extraordinary members of this group. The others are wonderful, but not up to par with what we need at the Office." Slendy nodded.
"Alright. If you think we are ready, we can begin the edcucati-"
The Lt. cut him off.
"Actually, sir, Twilight came down and conducted the academic test, with my permission. That is how we found these 25 candidates. I hope that this does not bother you, sir."
Slendy didn't say anything, feeling relief wash over him. After the first part of his day, he was not looking forward to the academic testing. "Yes, Lt. That is fine. Assemble them, and tell them who is accepted. I will conduct them personally when I get the list."
The Lt. smiled. "Yes, sir. If I may, sir, where are you going?"
Slendy turned. "I'm going to talk to Celestia."