Slender Mane

by 2tailedpony

Chapter 3: Lost Time

Chapter 3: Lost Time

The door of the library creaked quietly as Twilight pushed it open. Without bothering to close it again, she dropped the totem just inside and fell to the floor. She felt awful. She momentarily considered falling asleep right there, but her soft bed called to her, and she forced herself to get back to her feet. She turned toward the staircase leading to her room and began walking toward it, but yelped in surprise as she accidentally kicked something. She felt a sharp pain as a jagged edge of the object caught the skin of her leg, tearing it open. She took a quick step back, only then realizing that she had forgotten the totem pole lying on the ground next to her.
Twilight lifted her front leg to her face to inspect the cut. It wasn't serious, but it wasn't a clean cut either. It would take a long time to heal, and even then it would probably leave a scar. She glared at the totem pole angrily. That was the second time it had hurt her today. If she didn't know better she would say it was cursed.
Twilight walked back over to the totem pole and stood it up to see what part of it had cut her. She used her horn to provide herself some light in the darkness. Almost immediately it became apparent what had caused the injury. As the light of her horn passed over the strange pony, she noticed a thin line of blood where the tree had splintered it earlier. Twilight noticed with little amusement that it made the pony look somewhat like it was wearing a red tie. She also realized that this probably could have been avoided had she placed it in the ground outside her house like Zecora had told her. It was too late for that now though.
In a very uncaring manner, Twilight tossed the heavy totem pole onto a nearby table and headed for the stairs. She didn't even look back when she heard it roll off and fall back to the ground, although the continued sound of it rolling caused her mind to summon images of other things that could be making that noise. She ignored them though. The sooner she was in her bed and asleep, the sooner she would be able to forget all of this.
When Twilight entered her bedroom she saw spike asleep at the foot of her bed. This made her feel a little better. At least somepony was acting normal. As quietly as she could, she tip-toed past him and crawled into her blankets. She quickly closed her eyes and covered her head with a pillow. After a few minutes she started to relax. A feeling that was almost foreign to her at this point. With each minute that passed she became less and less alert, her breathing calmer and calmer, and soon she had fallen asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight's eyes shot open. Something had woken her up, but she didn't know what it was. She had the feeling somepony was there. She didn't dare move. As her eyes scanned the room, she noticed a strange shadow stretching across her floor. The moonlight coming through the one window in her room showed that whatever was casting the shadow was behind her. Its shape looked similar to a pony, but it couldn't be. Twilight just lay there, hoping that it would go away, but it didn't. She had to stifle a yelp of surprise as it moved.
Twilight closed her eyes and very slowly began to roll over. Whatever was there wasn't real. It must just be a hallucination. If she could disprove its existence then she wouldn't have to be afraid of it anymore, and everything would be fine. Time seemed to stretch out as she oriented herself toward the window. Her instincts were telling her to run, but she fought them off. Soon she had completed her roll. She hugged her pillow tightly, and in one quick motion snapped her eyes open as she sat up in her bed. What she saw caused a chill of terror to run down her spine.
Silhouetted in the light from her window stood a pony she recognized. Although his head and body were the size of a normal pony, he stood as tall as Celestia, if not taller, due to his unnaturally long and slender legs. His fur was even darker than the shadows around it. His head seemed to be completely hairless. The light surrounding his silhouette revealed his skin to be cadaverously pale. It was the same pony from the totem pole. It was Slender Mane. Twilight couldn't make out any of his facial features.
Twilight sat motionless as the gaunt figure loomed over her. What she was seeing now couldn't exist. She had to prove it to herself. Fighting every urge she had, she slowly reached a hoof out toward it. She would place her hoof on it, and feel nothing, because it wasn't really there. Then it would disappear, and she would go back to sleep, and everything would be fine. As her hoof inched closer, Slender Mane raised his hoof as well, reaching out toward her. It was extremely unsettling. When their hooves were less than an inch apart a ringing started in Twilight's ears, then they touched.
A lifetime of terror flashed through Twilight's mind. She saw her mother hanging by chains from the ceiling of her room when she was little. She saw her friends lying motionless in the crowded streets of Ponyville, worms wriggling through their flesh. She saw Celestia begging for mercy between two slabs of stone as they slowly began to rotate in opposite directions, and so much more. It was only at this point that Twilight realized she was screaming. She jumped back off her bed, but as she did Slender Mane scrambled forward, his ragged hooves desperately trying to grab hold of her again. His skin had been clammy and deathly cold. Twilight needed to escape.
"SPIIIIIIIIKE! SPIIIIIIIKE!" she hollered as she backed away from the horrifying monstrosity. In her haste to get away she hadn't looked where she was going though, and backed off of the ledge behind her. Her muscles tensed in preparation for the impact, and she screamed again as she landed partially on a table below her, the corner of which dug directly into her already bruised back.
"Wha- Twilight?!" yelled Spike, suddenly jumping up from his bed, "what's wrong?"
"Turn on the light Spike!" Twilight yelled in both pain and fear. Spike obeyed immediately, expertly shooting a small stream of flame at the lantern hanging from the wall. As the room filled with light, Twilight caught her first clear glimpse of Slender Mane.
His skin wasn't just pale, but sickly as well. It seemed unhealthily loose, and had the same foul yellow tint as the juice of the scari berry. The reason that Twilight couldn't make out his face in the dark was that he had no face. Any sign that he had once had eyes or a mouth were gone. Now there was only a smooth layer of skin hanging over his bones. The fur on his chest was splattered with dark red blood in a grisly imitation of his form on the totem pole. He was no longer scrambling toward her however. Now he once again stood silently by her bed, looking down at a panicked and worried spike.
"What happened to you Twilight? Where have you been? What's going on?"
"Look out behind you Spike!" yelled Twilight, still in too much pain to get to her feet, "don't let him touch you!"
Spike spun around and looked directly toward Slender Mane, then turned back toward her, looking more confused than before, "Don't let who touch me? Please Twilight, tell me what's going on!"
"You don't... you don't see him?"
"See who?!"
"You don't... but I thought..." Twilight stuttered. Spike ran down the stairs and was soon standing by her side helping her up.
"Where did all these bandages come from?" he asked, "is your eye OK?"
"It's... it happened at Zecora's," Twilight continued to mutter, her gaze locked onto the frightful figure near her bed.
"Zecora did this to you?" said Spike in surprise.
"No! No, she helped me. It happened... before."
Spike gave her another confused look, "Well I'm glad you're OK, but I think you should definitely get some rest. You're acting crazy."
Twilight attempted to resist Spike as he pushed her back up the stairs, but he was abnormally strong for being so small. As she was forced closer and closer to Slender Mane, the things she had seen in her mind became clearer. The ringing began again. Soon there was only one small bed between the two of them.
"There you go Twilight! Now get some rest and tomorr- whoa, hey, are you crying?" Twilight was. She couldn't help it. When she was younger she was afraid of the dark. Her mother would always come in the room and tell her it was alright. On nights like that if she woke up again, her mother would always be in the corner of the room, still watching over her. Now that memory was tainted by the one given to her by him. The comfort replaced by fear. Everything she saw had been so personal. So real. She could never have imagined such terrible things on her own.
"No no no. You don't understand Spike. I can't go to sleep. Please, don't-" Twilight squeaked.
"You need rest Twilight!" Spike insisted again, giving her a hard shove into her bed.
"No!" she exclaimed, expecting Slender Mane to latch on to her again, but he didn't. He just continued to stand there. Every now and then he would shift his weight slightly.
Spike let out nervous laugh, "You're not going to convince me to change my mind Twilight. I can be just as bossy as you, ya know. You always get emotional when you're tired. You just need some sleep, that's all. Just lay down, and if you really can't sleep I'll... go make you some cocoa or something. Whatever's wrong, we can work on it tomorrow, OK?" Spike walked over and snuffed out the lantern. Once it was dark he walked back over to his bed, pulling it slightly closer to Twilight before hopping in.
"You are gonna be OK Twilight... right?" Spike asked, but she didn't reply.
In the darkness, Twilight looked up at Slender Mane once again. His head was turned towards her. Even though he had no eyes, she could feel him watching her closely. He didn't move. Not knowing what to believe, she shakily crawled under her covers. Her heart was pounding so hard she thought it might break her ribs.
Twilight lay awake in her bed for hours. The only movements she made were those of her shaking in fear. The only noises she made were those of uncontrolled sobbing. She had never cried so hard in her life. There was nothing to comfort her. Only horrible images filling the dark places of her mind. As the moon got lower in the sky the shadow of Slender Mane stretched out even more, causing it to seem like he was towering ever higher over her. Only when Twilight's body was completely exhausted, and the moon had drifted out of view, did she finally fall asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight opened her eyes. The sun was barely above the horizon. Despite her exhaustion she must not have slept long. One of the first things she noticed was that Slender Mane's shadow was gone, but it gave her little comfort. As she got up from bed, she noticed that Spike was gone too. He must have gotten up early for once.
"Spike?" she called, "I need to talk to you! Where are-" suddenly she stopped. She noticed with a great deal of surprise that here eye patch was missing as well. She looked around to see if it had come off in the night, but it wasn't anywhere to be found. In the process of searching she also saw that the bandages wrapped around her torso had disappeared.
"Wha?" she said to herself. Had Spike removed them while she was sleeping? No, that was silly. There was no way he could have done that without her noticing. She quickly looked over her room. There were no signs of them anywhere. Confused, Twilight hopped out of her bed and headed to her bathroom. As she tried to open the door she found it to be locked.
"Spike?" she called, knocking a few times. There was no answer. She looked behind her as the feeling of being watched began to envelop her again. The house seemed eerily empty. Twilight shook the door and knocked louder, but there was still only silence. Now she was starting to get worried. Her horn started to glow as she attempted to unlock the door from the other side. After a few seconds of feeling around, she was fairly certain that the door was unlocked. She tried to open it again, but it wouldn't move. As a last resort, Twilight spun around and bucked the door as hard as she could. She wasn't as strong as most ponies, but after a few hits she heard the sound of wood breaking and it swung open a small amount.
It was dark inside. Twilight tried to shove the door open more to let some light in, but it wouldn't budge. Something was holding it shut. After some effort she managed to squeeze through the opening and land on the floor inside. As Twilight got up she looked around. One of her stools from downstairs had been wedged into the door to hold it shut. Every towel in her bathroom had been piled up against the far wall. They were smeared with something dark.
Twilight grabbed the stool and slid it out of the way, glad to finally light up the room. A few seconds later she regretted the decision. As light flooded in, the room took on a whole new atmosphere. The substance covering the towels had looked brown in the dim light, but it now appeared red. The mirror had been broken. Several shards of glass covered the counter, and Twilight noticed with a growing uneasiness that there were splatters of red on it as well. There was no way she could have slept through whatever had occurred here, no matter how tired she was. She stepped forward to examine it more closely and screamed in surprise when the spots moved with her. Her eyes widened as it dawned on her that the spots weren't on the mirror, but on her fur.
"Spike?!" Twilight yelled. She ran over to the sink and started trying to wash off the blood.
"Spike!" she yelled again over the noise of the running water. She couldn't gather enough of it in her hooves to get rid of the spots. She needed something better, like a washcloth, or a towel. She turned her head toward the pile in the corner, momentarily contemplating using one of them, but the thought made her queasy, and she turned back to the mirror. As she did, she saw something in the shower behind her move.
Twilight grabbed a shard of glass with her hooves as she spun around, ready to face whoever had done this, but there wasn't anypony there. She peeked over her shoulder at the mirror, but whatever it was couldn't be found there either.
"What's going on?" Twilight asked, slowly lowering the mirror shard.
Suddenly a voice came from downstairs, "Twiliiiight!" it called, "are you here?" the voice belonged to Pinkie Pie. She was so surprised by it that she dropped the shard of glass to the floor, where it broke into several pieces.
"Wake up sleepy head!" came Pinkie's voice again, followed by the sound of hoof-steps on the stairs. Pinkie Pie couldn't be allowed to see this. Cringing, Twilight reached over and grabbed one of the bloody towels from the floor. She soaked it and brought it up to her face, trying not to think about the stains as she vigorously rubbed in on the splatters of blood covering her. Twilight exited the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind her at the exact moment that Pinkie burst through the door of her room.
"Hey there Twilight!" said Pinkie Pie, bouncing up and down.
"Hey Pinkie!" Twilight responded, "I was just...cleaning up. What are you doing here?"
"I have some super exciting news. You know how yesterday you were feeling super mopey?"
"Um... well... yes actually, but how did you know-"
"Well I was trying to think of a way to cheer you up, when I got a super good idea!"
"And what would that be?"
"It's a surprise!" said Pinkie Pie excitedly.
"Is it a party?"
"Maaaaybe...."
"Listen Pinkie, I'm not really feeling up for a party right now. I've got some problems that I need to work out."
"I know!" said Pinkie Pie, "That's why this... surprise is so special!"
"What do you mean special? What do you mean you know? Who told you?" asked Twilight.
"Why, you told me silly! Well not directly, but I guessed, and then I made Spike tell me the rest."
"You know where Spike is?!" asked Twilight, momentarily forgetting her other questions.
"Yup," replied Pinkie Pie.
"Where? I need to speak with him urgently!"
"Well, you'll have to come with me if you want to find out... won't you?"
Twilight didn't like the way Pinkie Pie had said that last sentence. She didn't like that she had spoken so slowly and clearly, she didn't like that she had stopped bouncing when she did, and she especially didn't like the fact that she looked straight into her eyes and held her smile the whole time.
"What... what did you do?" asked Twilight.
"It's a surprise."
Suddenly Pinkie was bouncing again, "Come on Twilight!" she said as she hopped out the door. Twilight didn't want to go. Something seemed wrong about this, but she needed to know where Spike was. She wanted to know that he was OK. Against her better judgment, she followed Pinkie out the door and down the stairs. As she exited her room and began walking down to the main section of the library, she realized that something was missing.
"Hey, where did the totem go?" asked Twilight, scanning the floor in case it had rolled under something, but it wasn't there.
"What totem?" asked Pinkie, "I have no idea what you're talking about!"
"It was black. It had carvings of... ponies in it. Zecora gave it to me just yesterday! Where did it go?"
"Come oooon Twilight," Pinkie sang as she hopped out the front door.

~~~~~~~~~

As Twilight followed Pinkie Pie down the streets of Ponyville she started feeling anxious. She thought she saw the pale face of Slender Mane in every dark window and around every corner, but when she would look again it would be gone. It felt unpleasantly hot. The ponies in the streets seemed to crowd around her so that she couldn't move. Twilight jumped as Pinkie Pie started talking again.
"Hey Twilight!" she chimed, "do you remember yesterday when we-"
"No, Pinkie Pie. I don't. I never talked to you yesterday."
"Yes you did silly. You were sad, so we went to get snow cones, then you went to the doctor to have them remove your bandages, then said you had to go see Fluttershy about something and- what's wrong?"
Twilight had stopped walking, "How did you know about my bandages?" she asked, "I came home and went straight to bed. I didn't even see you until this morning. There's no way you could have known, unless... what day is it?"
"It's Friday!" Pinkie Pie cheered, "Now come on. We don't want to be late!"
That wasn't right. It had been Tuesday when she had gone to Zecoras. She had spent the night there, which made it Wednesday when she came home. It should have been Thursday now. Somehow she had lost a day. What happened? Why couldn't she remember anything?
"Um... Pinkie?"
"Yes Twilight?"
"I'm not feeling very well. I need to go home."
"You can't go home! What about your surprise?"
"I don't think I can handle any surprises right now."
"Oh don't be a party pooper! We're almost there!" said Pinkie Pie, pointing out the bakery. She grabbed Twilight's hoof and practically dragged her the rest of the way. As she opened the door Twilight looked inside. It was dark.
"What is this?" asked Twilight.
"Go on in and find out!"
Twilight stepped inside, and Pinkie followed close behind her. As soon as they were both in, Pinkie suddenly slammed the door shut, and the room went pitch black
"Hey!" yelled Twilight in surprise, "What are you doing?"
There was no response.
"Pinkie?" she called again. Still nothing. As Twilight stood there in the dark she could swear she kept seeing movement out of the corner of her eye, but when she would look directly at it, it would stop. Soon she stared hearing sounds, like somepony shuffling around. She couldn't quite tell where it was coming from.
"Pinkie? Could you turn on the lights please?" she shakily asked. No one responded. It was a few seconds later that the familiar ringing started up in her ears.
"Turn on the lights Pinkie!" she said insistently as she backed toward the door. She tried to open it, but it was locked.
"Turn on the lights!" she yelled as she fumbled with the lock. She knew it was him again. She needed to get out. Twilight started shaking the door back and forth in desperation, "Turn on the lights! TURN ON THE LIGHTS!"
Suddenly the lights flashed on and dozens of ponies jumped out of hiding. Twilight screamed and spun around to see Pinkie Pie and the rest of her friends standing among several other familiar faces. A banner hanging above them that read, "We Love You Twi".
"Sorry Twilight!" exclaimed Pinkie, trotting over and handing her a piece of cake, "Some of the ponies weren't quite in place yet, and we had to move them around. I didn't mean to scare you! Welcome to your pity party!"
"After how weird you were acting yesterday we all thought we should try to cheer you up," said Rainbow Dash as she flew over, "I told Pinkie Pie that a surprise party was a bad idea."
"It's a pity party!" she insisted
"Where's Spike?" asked Twilight, still trying to calm down.
"Oh, he's in the kitchen. He helped me make the cake. Do ya like it?"
As Twilight took a bite of the cake Pinkie had brought her, the image of her friend's worm ridden flesh suddenly popped back into her mind. She tried not to portray the sudden urge to vomit as she swallowed the mouthful of moist, sticky bread.
"It's great."
"Well there's plenty more where that came from!" cheered Pinkie Pie as she hopped away.
"Try to loosen up a little Twilight," said Rainbow Dash as she patted her on the back. Twilight flinched. She had patted her right where her bruise was. As Rainbow Dash flew over to the dance floor, Twilight looked around. She noticed that all of her friends were there except for one.
"Where's Fluttershy?" she asked, but no one answered.
"Come dance!" said Pinkie Pie, but Twilight shook her head.
"I think I'll sit this one out," she replied, glancing around suspiciously. The ringing in her ears hadn't stopped yet....
After making sure that Spike was alright, Twilight wandered over to a table in the corner and sat down. As the party continued, all of her friends came over at some point or another and tried to cheer her up. They weren't successful. The longer she stayed the worse she felt. Fluttershy never showed up, and no one had seen her since yesterday. The noise and the crowds had her feeling sociophobic. Eventually it became too much, and she got up to leave. As she walked over to the door a concerned Pinkie Pie intercepted her.
"Are you leaving?" she asked.
"I just... I need to step outside for a bit is all."
"Wow," Pinkie replied, "you really must not be feeling well. What's wrong?"
Twilight didn't want to explain the whole situation at the front door, but she felt like if she didn't tell somepony she was going to go insane. Leaning toward Pinkie, she whispered, "Is there somewhere private we can talk?"
"Well, there's my room upstairs. What do you want to talk about?"
"I'll tell you when we get there," Twilight replied.
"Okie dokie..." said Pinkie Pie, looking confused. Twilight followed her upstairs and into her bedroom. The room was perfectly circular with a few windows placed evenly around it. There was a fireplace on the far side. Twilight walked over to it. Pinkie closed the door behind her once she was inside.
"So what's wrong Twilight?"
"Pinkie..." Twilight began as she turned around, but suddenly stopped. Standing directly behind Pinkie in the dark room was Slender Mane. As Twilight saw him the ringing in her ears doubled and her vision blurred. The images came back to her mind again, filling her with the same sense of fear as before. He took a step toward her.
Twilight looked around frantically for something to hold him back with. Some way to defend herself. As she passed over the fireplace she saw several fire irons standing next to it. She quickly grabbed one and held it out in front of her threateningly. As she did, she had a strange sense of déjà vu.
"T-Twilight?" said Pinkie, taking a step back and almost bumping into the tall pony behind her. Using his long legs, Slender Mane simply stepped over her and continued advancing.
"Stay away from me!" Twilight yelled, "Oh Celestia, don't come any closer!"
"Don't worry!" said Pinkie Pie, a look of distress and confusion covering her face, "I'll get help! Everything will be fine!" she quickly opened the door of her room. As soon as she did, Slender Mane rushed toward her.
"NO!" yelled Twilight, jumping forward and swinging the fire poker at him with all her might. There was a sickening crunch as the spike sank into his haunch. As soon as it made contact more visions rushed into her mind. These were different from the others though. She saw these from a first person view. She was holding a fire poker, but she was somewhere else. It was raised in the air. She watched as she brought it down, then raised it again, causing a line of blood to splatter across the ceiling. She brought it down a second time. As she raised it again, causing another arc of blood to fly from the end of the poker to the ceiling, she noticed that there was a tuft of pink hair stuck to it. She couldn't take it any more as it was brought down a third time, and yanked the poker she was holding from Slender Mane's body. Blood sprayed everywhere, but Pinkie Pie didn't seem to notice.
Slender Mane spun toward her. A feeling of terror passed through her like nothing she had felt before. She dropped the poker to the ground and backed away as quickly as she could, crashing into one of the windows at full speed and knocking it open.
"H-help!" yelled Pinkie as she watched the scene unfold, "Somepony help!" mere seconds later a stampede of hooves could be heard as the rest of her friends crowded the doorway, Applejack in the front of the group.
"What's wrong?" she asked. Pinkie pointed toward Twilight.
"Where's Fluttershy?!" Twilight shrieked. She never received an answer though. As soon as the words had been said, Slender Mane bounded toward her. She screamed in terror as she fell from the open window. The last thing she heard were the alarmed cries of her friends. The last thing she saw was the face of Slender Mane looking down at her. The last thing she felt was her shoulder breaking as she hit the ground.

To be continued….