//------------------------------//
// Part 7: Passage to Canterlot 
// Story: The Slender: Harmony and Darkness 
// by Lance Skyes 
//------------------------------//

	I wanted to go home. I wasn’t sure how long I had been trapped in this forest, but all I knew was that I had to keep running. Keep looking for these stupid pages. Keep hoping Granny Smith and Applejack could manage without me. I really missed my little sister, but I didn’t have much time to miss her before I had to start galloping again when I heard the Static.

[SILPH]
The train was well on its way to the royal city of Canterlot, where my mother, Princess Celestia, was. Originally, these three ponies (Could I call them my friends, yet?) and myself were on our way there to talk to her about the Slender Forest and keeping the Equestrians out so that no more of them get killed by the other Slender. Now, however, I was on a personal quest. I already met my father after all these years, so I had to meet my mother now, as well. I looked out the window of the moving train, where I had a decent view of Canterlot. It was more magnificent than anything I could have ever imagined. I honestly couldn’t believe I was on my way there right now. I was so busy staring at it, I jumped a little when Lyra came up behind me.
“Hey, Silph,” she said to me.
“Hey,” I said back, turning around. “What’s up?”
“Well, I just wanted to let you know that this train isn’t going to get to Canterlot until tomorrow morning, so I wanted to let you know that you have to find your bed in the Sleeper Car.”
“You used the term ‘wanted to let you know’ twice,” I said, “but thanks.” Lyra gave a little smile and walked off to the next train car. I turned back around to look back out the window. I could still see Canterlot, but I could also see something else. A sunset. I had never seen one before. Of course, there was the evening when I left the Forest, but I couldn’t really see the sunset, then. This time, I could see all the colors the sun created. The sun itself was a brilliant orange, and the colors around it radiated from a similar orange to a lovely purple with very few clouds around it. “It’s beautiful, mom,” I said to myself. “Thank you.” I noticed that all the ponies had cleared the train car I was in, so I decided it was time for me to clear out and get to bed, as well. I never slept before and I never needed to. Being half-Slender had some perks, I guess. Still, I didn’t want to draw attention to myself, so I figured I’d just climb into the bed and just lay there for the night. I wasn’t sleepy, but I certainly was tired. After all, I had a pretty eventful past couple of days, so a little rest wasn’t the worst idea. I got up and walked to the train car where Lyra went.

[TIME TURNER]
I yawned loudly and climbed into my bed. It was very comfortable. I could have fallen asleep in an instant if I didn’t notice Lyra walk into the train car. “Hey, Lyra,” I said. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” she replied. “Just talking to Silph.”
“Oh. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about something.”
Lyra jumped into her bed on the other side of the car from me. “Come on, Doctor,” (It was the first time anypony here had called me Doctor, but she said it with a teasing, almost mocking tone. Still, did she actually call me ‘Doctor’?) “it’s getting late. Let a pony get some sleep. We can talk in the morning.”
“But you don’t understand. The Cube could be-”
“Good night, Doctor,” Lyra interrupted, rolling over and pretending to go to sleep.
“What’s this about a ‘Cube’?” Big Mac asked from the bunk above me.
“Absolutely nothing,” I replied. “Go to sleep.” Big Mac gave me a skeptical look, but got back in his bed and went to sleep anyway. After that, I figured I’d get some sleep, too. I had just laid down when I heard Silph walk in. “Ah, Silph. There you are.”
“Hey, Time Turner,” Silph said. “Can you tell me where my bed is? I don’t really sleep, but I figured I’d rest my hooves, anyway.”
“Ah, it’s the same thing with me. You’re right over there next to Lyra.” I pointed to the bed behind Lyra’s. He was about to walk over, but I stopped him. “Silph...”
He turned around. “Yes, Time Turner?” he asked.
I was about to ask him if he knew anything about the Cube, but at the last moment, I decided that it was best to wait until I had more information on it before I went around telling everypony about this long-shot idea. “What’s it like? I mean, meeting your father after fifteen centuries?”
“It’s... strange, actually,” Silph replied. “I mean, for so long, I thought the Slender were the closest thing to a family I’d ever have and I accepted it. Now that I know who my real parents are...” he paused and looked down at his hooves, again. “I’m not even sure I know who I am, anymore.” He turned and got in his bed, but then turned back to me. “Why do you ask?”
“No reason,” I replied. “Just go to bed.” I rolled over and tried to get to sleep. I could hear Silph get in his bed and lay down, but I knew he was just as restless as I was. I couldn’t stop thinking about how I survived the Forest. There was something familiar in the air right at the moment when the Slenderwolf was about to pounce. Something I just couldn’t put my hoof on. There was honestly no real way to explain it. It was almost as though... an angel had saved me. Just then, I shot straight up in my bed with a sudden, horrific realization.
It really was an Angel that saved me.

[LYRA]
“Good night, Doctor,” I said, trying to get Time Turner to shut up. I then rolled over and pretended to go to sleep. I heard Big Mac ask Time Turner something, but I didn’t really pay attention. I just closed my eyes and tried to go to sleep.
I could feel him getting closer. Slendermane was right on my tail. No, wait, he was right in front of me! I turned to the right and began galloping again, but he was there, too. I turned, but Slendermane appeared before I even had a chance to take off. I turned this way and that, desperately searching for a way to escape, but no matter where I turned, there he was. There was about a dozen of them surrounding me. The Static they all produced together was unbearable. I was sure I was about to die just from the sheer volume of the Static.
“You don’t have to fear,” a familiar voice said to me. I looked up to find all the clones of Slendermane gone. Only one of them remained, however. Though it wasn’t Slendermane at all. It was Silph. “You’re safe now, Lyra. You’re safe.”
I woke up suddenly and took a huge gasp of air. It was another Nightmare. I was breathing heavily and sweating enough to flood the whole train. “It was just a dream,” I tried to say to myself. “It was just a dream.”
“It must have been one heck of dream, then,” Silph said to me, causing me to jump and yelp a little. He was standing right next to my bed, just looking at me.
“Silph, you almost gave me a heart attack!”
“Yeah, sorry about that. Anyway, did my spell work?”
I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the question. “What spell?”
“Well, I’ve been trying to practice my magic, and I figured I’d try one of my more complicated spells to help you. Did you see me in your dream?”
“Yes. Yes I did. What were you doing there, anyway?”
“Trying to help you overcome your Nightmares. I understand that I can’t help you completely recover from what the other Slender did to you, but I can at least help you, Big Mac, and Time Turner cope with it.”
“Oh, well... thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Anything for a... friend, I believe the term is.”
“What do you mean? You say that as though you’ve never had a friend before.” I had only just finished the sentence when I realized my mistake. “Oh, right. Fifteen centuries in a dark forest. Sorry.”
“It’s all right,” Silph replied, shaking his head and smiling. “Just go back to sleep. I’ll be here to protect you all night.” He then turned back to his bed, but he stopped for a second and cast a spell on a restless Big Macintosh. At first, Big Mac looked like he was struggling to stay asleep. Though after Silph cast his spell, Big Mac seemed to calm down, almost as though a huge weight was lifted from him. “Getting better at it,” he said to me with a smile. He then turned around and got back in his bed. What was that smile supposed to mean? I figured he hadn’t seen a single mare in the fifteenth centuries he spent in that forest, but he couldn’t have felt that way about me.
Could he have?
It didn’t matter. I just needed to get some sleep. Besides, Time Turner was the real stallion for me. That much, I was sure of. I laid back down in my bed and went to sleep.

I was walking through the Forest, again. I wasn’t sure how I got there, but I could feel the Static all around me. Surrounding me. Enveloping me.
Consuming me.
I was just about to start galloping when the Static suddenly died down. I wasn’t sure how, but Slenderman was moving... away. Away from me. But how? Why?
“Don’t be afraid,” I heard a voice tell me. “You’re safe with me.”
“What?” I asked, turning this way and that. “Who’s there?”
“Go back to sleep, Big Macintosh. You don’t have to return to the Forest.”
Just as I recognized the voice as Silph, the Forest faded away. I was a colt again, back on the farm. Before I could make sense of what was going on, Applejack, also a filly, ran up to me and gave me a hug. “Please don’t leave us again, big brother,” she said to me with tears in her eyes. “We really missed you.”
I just hugged my little sister back, not questioning what was going on. “I missed you too, AJ.” While I was hugging her, I looked up to find Silph standing behind a tree in the middle distance. He gave me a wink and walked away out of my view.