Slendy- Just Another Ancient Creature

by Dragonfeith

Chapter 7

As night fell over the castle Slendy read, or more accurately, absorbed. He repeated the spell he had done with Shining Armor inside of the Canterlot Royal Library after making sure nopony was around to be hurt. He did not want to scare anypony more than he already had.

In truth, Slendy learned very little. He found more vague legends, nothing concrete, like tendrils of mist collecting around a solid surface— the truth. The hard part was getting past the mist.

After all of the books in the Canterlot Royal Library were absorbed, Slendy teleported to the Crystal Caves that Twilight had spoke to him about. He had a couple of ideas on the caves origins, but wanted to scout out the area before he brought anypony else down there.

The caves themselves were dreary and largely uninhabited. There were old mine tracks scattered throughout the caves, along with various mining equipment. Slendy could tell that caves were massive, and stretched for miles underneath the surface, twisting and turning without pattern or meaning. So instead of exploring the caves, Slendy let himself fall into the darkness and searched with his powers the entire extent of the caves. Within ten minutes, the entire cave system had been mapped by Slendy.

There were very few things of interest it seemed. Scattered throughout the cave system were carved out rooms filled with various tools; Slendy had not taken the time to search each and every one, instead opting to mark it in his head as a place to explore in person later on. There were two circles that vibrated with magic, and seemed to be portals of some sort. Slendy did the same to them as with the rooms containing the tools.

The one very interesting thing that Slendy had found was a large square door made of peculiar metal with the same strange markings as on the piece of paper he kept, the one that spoke of "Nuke in San Francisco, UN Calls For..." whatever that meant. When Slendy had tried to phase through the door, he had found himself unable to. Whatever lay beyond the door, Slendy did not know. That worried him.

Before returning to his room, Slendy appeared outside of Shining Armor's hospital room, much to the shock of the nurse attending him.

After she had finished her short yelp of fear, Slendy spoke. "Is Mr. Armor awake?" The nurse soundlessly nodded, still scared out of her mind.

Slendy thanked her softly, and walked into the room. Shining Armor lay on the hospital bed, reading a book of legends. He did not look up from the book until Slendy cleared his throat.

Shining Armor jumped, but did not completely lose control. He was getting used to Slendy, wither he liked it or not.

"Mr. Armor, I just wanted to apologize for today; I understand that I can put many ponies off. I had no idea that my absorption of knowledge would affect you so much. It will not happen again. Your help is appreciated, but I believe that it is unnecessary in terms of combat and history. These are things I understand well. My problems arise, however, when I must face the aspect of constructing a team, and in terms or understanding all the depth of politics, especially the... personal aspect of politics." Slendy stuttered in his apology, leaving Shining armor slightly confused.

Shining Armor smiled, which surprised Slendy. "Mr. Slenderman, I must say that you terrify me. But I can tell you mean no harm to me, my charges, or Equestria. I don't understand you, and that also scares me, but I can manage. What happened today was an accident; I understand accidents. I trust you that it will not happen again. I think that your magic touched me, and I think it made me understand you a little better than before. Of course I will help you take a seat. I think this is going to take a while."

Slendy nodded, happily surprised at the turn of events. Shining Armor's horn glowed, and an large notpad appeared in front of him. Looking up from the notepad, Shining Armor asked, "Shall we begin?"

Four hours later, Shining Armor began to yawn. Four hours after that, he looked half asleep. Slendy asked him if he would like to get rest, but Shining Armor insisted he did not need any. Slendy was happy when Shining Armor finally said, "Well, that's all that I know. I hope it will help, but I don't know if it will. Any questions?"

Slendy nodded. "Yes, The Crystal Caverns below Canterlot. Are they patrolled? And who is most interested in them, politically?"

Shining Armor thought for a moment, then flipped through his notebook. "Well, I don't think anypony is. The caverns were primary used for Sythax crystal mining, but with the advent of new technologies, the Sythax crystals use as a power source became obsolete, and the mines were shut down. The family that controlled the mines, the Mardiens, were the first to jump on the new technologies, so I doubt they would still be interested in the mines. The only reason anypony would go down there would be if they were exceedingly poor and needed power.” Shining Armor paused.

“Although, now that I think about it, we did have problems about 20 years back with a group of unicorns that believed that the crystals held more than just magical power, but could absorb spirits as well. They were violent, not to mention hard to remove from the Caverns. Eventually, the guard cleared the caves with the help of Celestia and then sealed, at least until the trouble with Chrysalis. I think that their rooms are still down there. This was all before my time as head of the guard, so I'm not completely sure the specifics."

Slendy nodded. "Thank you, Mr. Armor, I will go ask the leader of the Unicorn magicians in prison, if that is alright with you."

Shining Armor nodded. "Just let them know that Shining Armor said it was okay."

Slendy nodded again. "Thank you, again, Mr. Armor." Then suddenly he disappeared into the darkness.

Slendy thought about what Shining Armor had said. If the group of unicorn magicians were interested in soul capturing, then the mysterious underground circles that vibrated with magic must have been binding circles. The rooms would have been used by the unicorns to sleep, eat, and research; but that still left questions about the metal door.

The prison was a intimidating place. It was made entirely of black rock, at least what could be seen. Situated on a isle in the middle of a river, the prison was built into the sheer side of a black cliff. There was only one entrance, the rest of the island sheer rock. The cliffs eventually met at the top of the island in a sharp point. Slendy knew that Luna had once used it as her castle during her phase as Nightmare Moon, he remembered from the books that he had ‘read’ that she had actually made it, supposedly with the power of the moon.

After appraising the prison from his position floating in the air above it, kept afloat by darkness underneath him, Slendy appeared at the entrance of the prison. The four guards on duty all jumped, and their spears all appeared at Slendy's neck before they knew what they were doing.

"At ease gentleponies. I am Slenderman, I mean no harm. I am the Head of Magical security for the Princesses."
The guards slowly lowered their spears, still looking suspicious of Slendy's intentions.

"Er, Mr. Slenderman, sir, we must speak with our captain before we allow you admittance into the prison. You do understand, yes?"

Slendy nodded. "Of course."

"One moment," The pony that had been speaking disappeared into a guard house that sat next to a massive castle door. The castle was built into the cliff, and the battlements seemed to be part of the rock. Indeed, the entire castle looked as if it had grown out of the rock. Slendy was impressed. He made a note to speak to Luna about her achievement.
The pony came prodding back, following another pony that wore the rank of captain.

"Mr. Slenderman, sir! My apologies for keeping you waiting. All of the guard have yet to learn of your incorporation as Head of Magical Security. Please, right this way, I will take you to see the Warden."

Slendy nodded. "Thank you, Captain."

A few moments later, Slendy was in the castle. The corridors were lit by torches; doors branched off from the corridor and the hall had dark feeling that Slendy couldn’t help but admire. Eventually, they Captain, guard, and Slendy came to a great hall with massive doors leading off from it. It was no different at the end of the hall, with a door extremely similar to the rest except for its position as the only door on that wall. This was the door they entered.

"Warden, sir, I have Mr. Slenderman from Canterlot here." The pony saluted, then turned and walked out, followed by the guard, leaving Slendy with a mare that had a sheriff's star as her cutie mark.

"Mr. Slenderman. I have heard about you." The mare was blue with a white mane. She was a sharp contrast to the rest of the room, which consisted of a desk with a notepad and pens, along with pictures of clouds and Canterlot.

"Ma'am, I am here to speak with a prisoner of yours. The leader of a Unicorn magicians group that had worked in the Crystal Caverns below Canterlot about 20 years ago.” Slendy added as almost a side note, “And, it is a pleasure to meet you."

The warden smiled, but the smile never reached her eyes. "Of course, I believe that that would be prisoner 203, a mister Ginger Mindhorn, or as he calls himself, Utilian. I will have one of my guards take you to him after this meeting."

Slendy raised an eyebrow, which of course this mare could not see. "Ma'am, you do not seem put-off by me at all, if you do not mind me being blunt."

The Mare nodded. "After 40 years of prison duty, not much puts you off. Besides, I've already been warned about how you look and act, as well as the aura that seems to surround you is, if we're being blunt." She smiled, almost mockingly.

Slendy just stared. He was part surprised, part amused, and part annoyed at this mare's confidence.

"Ma'am, you say we are having a meeting?" Slendy changed the topic.

"Yes. I wish to speak with you about your just showing up and assuming command of much of the Royal guard. I mean no disrespect, but not all the guard trust you. Your appearance does not do much to aid you either, I am afraid. Many guards that are not as experienced are put off by your appearance and aura."

Slendy’s annoyed part was beginning to take over. "Well, Ma'am, I am sorry if you or any of the guard feel this way. The thing is that the guard have recently had a very strong difficulty with keeping control of Equestria's problems. As such, Celestia, Luna, and Discord, all of whom are your superior officers, appointed me to the task of doing what you cannot. If you would like to take this up as an issue, then take it up with one of them. But do not attempt to call me in here and intimidate me with idle, mocking talk. I do not like it when beings hid behind shadows of lies, Warden; and let me tell you, Warden, I can see very easily through shadows of any type." Slendy never raised his voice, just kept it at a normal monotone throughout the entire speech. The lights through this entire speech had begun to flicker, and shadows had begun to slowly peel off of Slenderman. Slendy had begun to look taller and leaner, and much more dangerous. Things jumped out of the corners of the rooms, un-namable things that had no place existing, and the Warden felt fear for the first time in a very long while.

Then, everything went back to the way it was before. Slenderman stared at the Warden, allowing her to regain some self control, before asking her. "Now, ma'am, can you have one of your guards escort me to prisoner 204?"

Author's Note:

Moral of the story: Don't sass Slendy. Even if he needs it sometimes.

Comments

[FizzyCascades]

like a boss!

[Izarra Kiania]

"Of course, I believe that that would be prisoner 203, a mister Ginger Mindhorn, or as he calls himself, Utilian. I will have one of my guards take you to him after this meeting."

"Now, ma'am, can you have one of your guards escort me to prisoner 204?"

Oooh, the legendary one-mind-in-two-bodies phenomenon! Or... maybe Slendy just wasn't paying attention?