Slendy- Just Another Ancient Creature

by Dragonfeith

Chapter 11

After the meeting adorned, and the next meeting was decided upon for the next day, Slendy left the palace to wander Canterlot. He stuck to the shadows, keeping quiet and not allowing himself to be seen. Stumbling with grace through open air markets, he observed ponies living, ignorant, perhaps purposefully so, of the events that were occurring all over the universe, some of them wonderful and things of great beauty, other of horror and destruction. It would be so much easier to not think of those things, the wondrous and terrifically horrible things that existed, even on the planet of Earth, although perhaps not in Equestria itself.

Slendy passed two vendors bartering their wares to each other well a prospective customer watched with amusement as the two vendors attempted to trade their fruits futilely, completely ignoring the customer. Slendy passed a young filly, left crying alone in the middle of the market. Across the way, he could sense a distraught mother frantically searching for the young filly. Gently, he guided her towards her mother until the two met, and moved on before he could observe the reunion.

He found himself next passing through a hostel-turned-orphanage for the lost souls of Canterlot, whom wandered without direction or substance, towards a goal of only loss. They flocked towers this place, and lived there in communion, in their little isle of sanctity and loneliness adrift in the waters of society, living together. Slendy saw the owner of the place, a large, powerful looking mare making soup, the ponies present for lunch waiting at the dinner table or helping the mare in the kitchen, cutting food. The emotions that Slendy sensed were not those of suffering and anger, but of contentment and safety. He thought to himself, lost in his thoughts, that perhaps those souls that wandered were drawn together, so that they could wander together in a uncaring or blind world.

Slendy wandered like this through the city for a long while, observing various groups of ponies living their lives in peace or contentment. He found himself transfixed by their simple existence, and jealous of it in ways he could not comprehend.

Finally, Slendy floated into the shadows of the Canterlot University, and ultimately, a lecture hall. His peaceful floating was cut short by a striking voice, lecturing.

"We Are All Going To Die Very Soon."

Slendy turned his attention to the speaking professor, remaining in the shadows.

The professor was a older stallion, with a scar on his right hoof and on his left hindquarters. He had a long, brown coat with dark red hair. His eye seemed to glow amber in the light from the setting sun that was filtering in through the lecture hall's windows.

"Yet, we are all very much alive. But why? Why are we alive? What are our decisions, our goals, ambitions? To gain the job, advance ourselves, win the lover? Or is there something more deep than that to gain in life? A sense of fulfillment, a way to live and learn? Perhaps not, perhaps so. But it is something that, as mortal creatures able of cognitive thought, we have a responsibility to consider. That is what his class will be about, the goal of life, or, in general terms, Philosophy 101."

The old stallion stared into the listening students faces, taking a long time to consider each and every one of them before continuing. Slendy was stuck by the fact that there were less than a dozen students in the room, which easily could have held a hundred ponies. The stallion did not seem affected in the slighted by this fact, and continued unhindered.

"Mares and Gentle coats, I am Professor Jinxs, or, as you will probably call me, Ol' Jinkie. I have served in the military, Her Majesties Diplomatic Service, and as a service pony, wildlife ranger, security guard, scientist, librarian, historian, and sailor. But, I have never felt so important or as content as when I am teaching the likes of you, attempting to enlighten you not with my views, but with your own ability to consider, think, and enlighten yourself."

He paused again, and looked right at the shadow where Slendy was. Slendy almost felt as if the old stallion could see him and was looking right into his eyes, despite the fact that such a thing was impossible.

The professor suddenly broke the contact that could not have existed, and continued.

"Now, first off, I give you a pop quiz. you are to write down your answer and turn it into me within ten minutes. The only question: Why?"

The old stallion magically levitated papers in front of the students, whom hastily started writing. Slendy quietly watched the students work, before noticing one of the students had put the paper down and was turning it into the professor. The other students looked up in shock, and the student walked back to her desk without a second glance at anypony else, before putting her headphones in and turning on music. The professor looked up at the paper that had been placed on his desk, read the answer, scoffed, and continued writing.

Ten minutes later, the professor stood and teleported the papers to his desk.

"Time is up. I will now read your answers."

The professor took the first paper, and began to read: Why? Due to the biologic capabilities that have evolved over centuries....."

The papers continued, some diving into philosophy and religion. For each one, the professor gave a grade out loud, ranging from a B to a A-. Finally, he got to the last paper, the first one placed on the desk by the first student, and read:

"The question was why. The answer wrote on this paper?"

The Professor looked at the student that had written the paper and slowly read out, pronouncing each syllable with a hard tongue, "Because."

Silence rang out in the room, the students all turning to face the student that had written the paper. She looked down at her desk, seeming to ignore the glances from her fellow students.

The Professor suddenly burst out laughing. "Yes, my dear, I do believe this is the most intelligent answer I have ever received. A+."

He continued chuckling as he walked behind his desk, and levitated a stack of paper out in front of him. He then took a moment to calm himself, then spoke.

"Because. The reason I love this answer is simple: Nopony can ever say with absolute certainly Why we exist, Why we are what we are, Why everything is as it is. The scientist would explain as much as possible in terms of science, the Religious in terms of religion. Me? I do not wish to explain it at all, just to observe the Whys of the universe at large. And you, my class, are going you help me do so."

The class all stared on.

The professor smiled. "Our first work will be a question, again. Who here is religious?"

A younger looking colt raised his hoof. "I am, sir."

The professor smiled. "Ah, brilliant! And what is your faith?"

The student, looking nervous, answered, "I am an Luthereanolt, sir."

The professor smiled. "And why do you think that way?"

The student coughed. "Well, sir, I was raised as such and I would like to think that my way is correct. Chirstaniddle was too...intense for me, and I did not think that it allowed for me to connect with the divine that I believe exists in a way I see fit."

The professor smiled. "I think you misunderstand the question. I did not ask why you think that way, but WHY you think that way? Why does anypony?"

The student seemed to be sweating, but responded nonetheless. "Sir, I think that anypony whom believes in the divine, besides the obvious of Luna and Celestia, believes in that divine as a way to hold oneself to a higher standard, as well as a way to not feel alone in the universe at large."

The professor smiled. "Good answer. Anypony else have another reason?"

One brave filly raised her hoof. "Yes, sir, I think that it helps us as a civilization not feel alone in the Universe, helps us feel like we are more important that we are. It also gives us an excuse to hurt each other."

The professor smiled again. "Continue?"

The filly did.

"Well, sir, I think that we look for reasons to justify our wars and our ways of thinking. I think that religion is a way of doing that. Before Celestia and Luna came into power, these religions existed. Now, many point to the Princesses as religious idols, yet many do not. Why? They are living, breathing examples of the divine, of the perfect, of the powerful and immortal. Yet, a pony cannot use them as a excuse to attack another because they exist and can say that they do not want any pony to hurt one another. With other religions, with other ways of thinking that do not have living, breathing religious figures, one cannot do this. It is both a excuse and a way to save oneself from oneself."

The professor's smile did not falter, but seemed to reach his ears when another pony responded, this time on the other edge of the room.

"Wait, what it sounds like you are saying is that religion is a excuse to fight with one another. That is not true! On it's most basic, religion is something that is good and holy, yet it is twisted by us, us mortal beings. Those in power use the pure to their own ends, and in doing so corrupt it so that it can never be pure again."

The professor began to speak to this when the other student, the filly with the headphones and the because answer, spoke.

"Well, that would make sense, wouldn't it? That everything we touch is corrupted, be it nature, religion, each other, the world. We build cities on top of the death of nature, we fight one another constantly, even if we are not fighting in this very moment. We fight politically, and corrupt each other through money and magic. So what makes us great, and how can we corrupt something so holy to something that makes one another want to destroy each other?"

The professor look surprised, but before he could say anything, Slendy appeared, and spoke. The students in the room seemed surprised, and shivered, but not as much as normal. Slendy filed it away. Perhaps their minds were elsewhere at the moment, concentrating on the other aspects of life than a strange pony appearing out of nowhere in the middle of a debate concerning the corruption of ponykind.

"Yet, not everything is corrupted. There is great good in this world. Religion has not made a massive impact on this society for many generations, and has not affected the politics of Equestria since before Luna, Celestia's, and even Discords time. But there has been negative things happen to us. We cannot blame Religion or one thing solely for this. It has to be a part of our animalistic self's to want to do harm, to succeed. In a sense, does that not mean that we are creatures of simplicity, as much as we would like to think otherwise?"

The room was quiet for a second, shocked by the appearance of Slendy. The professor was the first to recover, and instead of losing his mind he laughed. "Class, it seems we have another visitor. I do not know who he is, or what he is for that matter, but I think he will add greatly to this discussion." Slendy looked at the professor, and wondered why he had exposed himself. He had planned on just listening to the lecture, then leaving with more on his mind than when he had entered, yet now he was a part of the class. Before he could think more on the subject, he felt the professors' magic nudging him towards a desk. "Take a seat, Mr. Mysterious Guest, and take some notes. There is a test at the end of the semester."

Four hours later, Slendy found himself returning to his tower, thinking of the night. As he floated up the steps, he thought slowly of the things that the professor had discussed, and realized he looked forward to the next class.

Lt. Stormcather looked surprised to see Slendy materialize in front of him.

"Sir, I presumed you were in your room, sir! Are you alright?" The guard asked nervously, eyeing Slendy as if to see if he was injured.

Slendy raised a eyebrow that the guard could not see. "I am fine, Lt. Thank you for your concern, however, it is unwarranted. I was just out for a...walk."

The guard nodded slowly, as if unsure whether to believe his charge. "Alright, sir, if you say so. Next time, please alert me so I can accompany you." Slendy raised another invisible eyebrow, but nodded, and entered his room.

FLuffy lay on the ground, sleeping contentedly. Slendy sighed and patted the great beast before going to his bed and for the first time in a long while, falling into a peaceful sleep.

Author's Note:

So, this will be updated with the corrections from my Pre-Reader the instant I get them- for now, just please deal with the lack of grammar :D

I just wanted to get this out there so y'all know I am not done with this tory- not by a long shot. See ya all soon!

Comments

[Laughing Jack]

Been waiting for this for awhile now, and I just wanna say I ain't disappointed.
Keep up the good work.

[MadNimrod]

I think I like that Professor. I hope he doesn't turn evil.

[BureYaAkili]

Philosophical debate is always an amazing adventure into logic and belief...
I consider myself a philosopher, until someone hands me a burrito

[Grim The Pony Reaper]

3479911 That last part though.