Lost in a Terrifying World

by Erisn

Part 3: Contact

Slender Man was…disappointed. This was the best word to describe a higher-emotional spectrum and cognitive awareness in a being by way of a simple language. It would be more accurate to say Slender’s hopes had been raised and then compromised, leading to a frisson of indifference which later transpired to once again renew his interest in a new and unexpected way, while still maintaining a certain level of pessimism but also a core dedication to getting the job done.

To put it another way, Slender had really been looking forward to seeing what species inhabited this sphere of existence. If it wasn’t humans, it could be something really interesting, like a demi plane of elemental spirits, or a thriving civilization of the fae, or even a multi-species hub of life, at the height of technological advancement as races from across the universe congregated in harmony. Nope. Instead, he got ponies. Ponies. Ponies were boring. He’d killed enough horses, donkeys, mules, and even the occasional sheep to know they were all alike. They were boring, simplistic animals whose only instinct was to cower in fear. At least some humans tried to run.

The Slender Man had been so disappointed by the turn of events that he had even let the first three small ponies escape him. He’d followed them around, but hadn’t even bothered to seal off the area in another dimension, as was customary to the game. Tradition dictated that individuals or groups should attempt to find all eight of his pages in a certain area of space, unable to leave until dead or having collected said pages.

This was the most immediate and direct of Slender’s games, but he could also follow them at a distance, allowing them to slowly drive themselves insane as he stalked them over the course of months or even years to their ultimate demise. He preferred this when in urban areas, not so much because he disliked playing the game in cities, but because of the amusing way his victims cracked, slowly driving friends and family away as they drew deeper into paranoia and madness. Occasionally, he’d even turn one of them into a proxy, a twisted mockery of their former selves, and send them against their former loved ones. But what was the point of such a complex devolution of the psyche when all he had to work with was ponies?

Slender Man was annoyed. (Insofar as any primitive verbal descriptor could apply to an eldritch being.) He still didn’t know why he had been attracted to this reality, but he was sure that playing the game here wasn’t going to be interesting. He would kill the three who had originally seen him, and then wipe out the nearby settlement of ponies and go to another more interesting reality at once.

Slender had reached the edge of the forest when he had sensed the second group of ponies joining the first. This group had attracted his attention, and even piqued his interest slightly, so that he did not immediately initiate the game, and instead watched them for a while.

In his initial observation of the first three ponies, Slender had been so let down by the realization that they were ponies that he had failed to notice the distinguishing features of the three Cutie Mark Crusaders. One was a pony sure enough, but as Twilight’s group joined the Crusaders it became clear to Slender that there were in fact, two other types of equine races. Unicorns, pegasus and horses. Oh my. This might be interesting after all.

Horses were stupid. Ponies likewise. Slender had seen thousands of horses, mostly in the less technologically-advanced human realities, and they were all stupid. But unicorns and pegusus? Another matter entirely. The magic that gave these beings the powers of flight and healing made them far more enjoyable to hunt. They weren’t as intelligent as humans on the whole, but it was far preferable to killing off a bunch of ponies would just freeze in terror.

Slender waited patiently as the group approached. There was a unicorn apparently leading them – purple (not that Slender really took notice of color), with a strong aura of magic about her. She looked like she was directing her herd, but that was simply impossible. Slender knew ponies couldn’t talk, just as much as humans couldn’t. He had laid waste to countless realities and ended the lives of untold numbers of humans, animals, and other beings and not once had he heard them speak. Oh, they constantly emitted sonic (and sometimes ultrasonic) vibrations when he was near, which he assumed to be some kind of warning mechanism, but they never talked to him. Not a ripple in the ethereal vortex, or even so much as a shiver in the firmamental drift. He had over a hundred thousand senses attuned to the transmundane, and all they managed to do was vibrate the air. Primitive. But entertaining.

And now they had spotted him. They froze of course. They always did. It was always the same, as first the small trio of ponies stood petrified, and then the other six colored ponies turned and stared at him. They were all different colors Slender noticed with some surprise.

Trichromacy was not one of Slender’s preferred senses, but he still took note of the oddity. Most humans varied among only a few shades of color, but these ponies seemed to be colored from the entire basic color spectrum. Slender wondered whether they were all different colors on the inside as well.

It was time. They had seen him, and he had given them time to run or hide. Now it was his turn.

Let the game begin.

----

Twilight wasn’t sure what it was. It looked human, but Twilight was sure, absolutely sure that this…thing wasn’t human at all. It was too distorted. A human could never look that way. Even a bald, anorexic albino with Mafan syndrome couldn’t have achieved the wrongness this figure exerted. And the more Twilight watched the figure, the more uneasy she became.

Twilight was smart. Everypony knew that; it was what had made her Celestia’s star student. As of such, Twilight possessed extreme analytical abilities and the ability to think quite quickly when the need arose. And she was sure that this thin man-figure was not anything she or her friends had encountered before. Within the period of four seconds, Twilight had established the uniqueness of this apparition through three easy observations:

1). This creature appears to be modelled in some twisted fashion after the human figure. The only beings that know of humans would be Princess Celestia, Twilight, Sunshine Shimmer, and maybe Discord (because with him, who knows?).

2). The mirror was not due to open for another 14 moons, and was under guard now in any case, precluding the chance that this was some illusion caused by Sunset Shimmer. Besides which, Twilight would eat her mane if Sunset could have pulled this kind of illusory magic off.

3). Given that nopony knew about humans besides Princess Celestria, Twilight, and possibly Discord, this was not a changeling. Changlings could not copy what doesn’t exist in any case. And since Celestria would never pull any pranks and because this figure hadn’t exploded, turned into balloons, or broken into a dance number by now, this was not Discord.

The next logical step would be to attempt to make contact, preferably with caution and care, but Twilight was wary about getting closer to this strange thing. It wasn’t just that it looked weird and scary – it was doing something to her eyes as well. Twilight found her eyes sliding away almost involuntary the longer she tried to remain focuses on the distant figure. Even more disconcerting was a burning feeling that began to itch and sting both eyeballs, as if Twilight was engaged in a staring contest. But blink as Twilight might, she couldn’t get the pain to go away. Reluctantly, Twilight turned her head, and saw her friends doing the same. Beside her, Rainbow Dash shook her head, her eyes tightly shut, as if to rid herself of some nagging sensation.

Twilight closed her eyes for a moment, and then looked back at the shape in the forest, determined this time to call out, or attempt to make contact in some way.

It wasn’t there.

Twilight felt the hair of her main begin to rise slowly, and she took one slow step back. It wasn’t there. Nothing could have moved that fast, but the figure was nowhere in sight. Where had it gone?

----

The Slender Man felt their eyes leave him. It was time. Despite the presence of the more intelligent kinds of horses, he decided to make it quick. He would finish the game in minutes, and then leave for better sport. He did not move in any sense of the word, but let space bend around him, entering his own shadowy plane of existence before reemerging in the current dimension, in the center of the group of ponies. He let his unearthly presence expand, and waited.

----

Twilight was just conscious of a sudden emptiness where the figure had stood when suddenly pressure beat down upon her like a living thing. She was suddenly, terribly aware of something a few feet behind her and her friends. She turned to look, and saw it.

Not a human, but a pale mockery of one. Tall, far taller than any pony or human. Seven, no, eight feet tall, with unnaturally long arms and legs that seemed out of proportion with the rest of the body. And it had no eyes. That was what Twilight saw, before blinding pain numbed every part of her brain and a pressure seemed to engulf her entire body, squeezing it until she was out of air. What was happening? What was it doing?

---

Slender watched as the purple unicorn stared at him, and then faltered. It slowly sunk down onto one foreleg as its head lowered, unable to gaze upon him any longer. The rest of the ponies turned to look, and suffered the same fate, staggering, falling. The yellow and pink one even started expelling the contents of her stomach. It was probably the weakest-willed. All would share her fate soon enough, however.

When a mortal gazed upon a god, they risked blindness. When a lesser being heard the tongue of the immortals, the weak-willed might be struck deaf. And for any being born of reality to stare at that which existed outside of it…death was the inevitable result. The mind can attempt to simplify or ignore such beings. It creates shapes that make sense to it, while with each passing moment the presence of the unknown slowly erodes even the greatest will.

However, given enough time even the strongest mind melts. The spirit decays. And when Slender Man unleashed his full presence upon this plane, the effects were immediate. A medium such as a video camera could withstand the paradox better than a brain, allowing quick-witted individuals to use that as a pair of ‘eyes’, but even technology soon failed in Slender Man’s presence. And there was nothing between these ponies and him but air.

He watched dispassionately as the purple pony writhed in front of him. This wouldn’t be fast enough. He could stand there and wait, but they would run. But he could speed up the process. Slender stepped again into the alternate dimension.

----

Twilight felt the presence vanish, and felt a moment of relief. It lasted for a heartbeat. And then the invisible feeling crushed her again, sending lightning made of pure pain lancing through her skull. And with it, the sound of a filly screaming.

----

Slender had reemerged, a few feet away behind one of the smaller ponies. It was yellow, with something red on its head. It too was lying nearly prostrate, but it still breathed. He would correct that.

The Slender Man did not lift a hand, but let a part of his being touch the pony on the back. It might be described as a tentacle to a mortal being, but it was simply another aspect of Slender that could not be seen with the eye. And its effect on Applebloom was immediate.

To gaze upon an ancient one is agony. To feel their touch is to feel oblivion. The second Slender touched her, Apple Bloom froze. Parts of her body simply shut down upon contact; skin and organs rejecting what could not be. The Slender Man was a foreign being to reality’s laws. His very presence converted the area around him into something else entirely. His touch converted any material he touched to match his nature. Apple Bloom’s entire body was slowly changing; warping to obey laws from Slender’s reality. Her body couldn’t process what was happening fully, but it transmitted the information to Apple Bloom’s brain as pure pain. She could not move. She could not think. All she could do was scream.

----

Twilight saw Apple Bloom’s body as the filly was lifted off of the ground by some…thing. Like a ribbon, or a tentacle, or a shaft of darkness that bent and twisted, ensnaring the young pony’s body. Where it touched her, Apple Bloom’s skin looked pale, as if color were being drained from it. Black webs roiled under her coat from where flesh met tentacle, and the skin twitched like it was alive.

The being still stood there, in the same upright posture as Apple Bloom writhed in unimaginable agony. Twilight felt almost paralyzed with shock, but instinct and Apple Bloom’s continued screams drove her to act. She felt magic build up around her horn as she concentrated on a destructive spell, but somepony else moved even faster. Spurred to action by her sister’s screams, Applejack jumped forwards, landing in from of the strange being. She spun, her front hooves planted into the ground as her hindquarters rose level with the strange thing’s shins. She kicked.

----

Slender felt surprise, or as much as he had ever felt when the orange pony landed in front of him. But what truly shocked him was when he felt both hooves touch what might be called his ‘legs’. Nothing had ever tried to touch him before. Not of its own free will. He wondered whether it was an attack of some kind. But physical violence was meaningless to him. It wasn’t that he had tough skin; it was that such things could not affect him. He watched in interest, as all of the force behind Applejacks’ kick met an object that would not yield, bend, or break.

---

Applejack was a champion tree-bucker, able to kick a tree hard enough to send all the apples falling to the ground. But this was worse than kicking a tree. Even a brick wall might shatter and absorb some of the force. But this…thing was stronger than even stone. No; it was almost as if it couldn’t be harmed by physics. And with nowhere to go, all the force of Applejack’s kick went straight back through her legs.

There was a snap. A crack that split the air in two. Both of Applejack’s legs twisted downwards from the impact, as if possessed by an unnatural force. Twilight watched in horror as both legs bent at near 90 degree angles, before with a terrible ripping crackling tearing, her legs simply bowed inwards, skin breaking as yellowed bone emerged. There was dead silence as Applejack’s body, still raised in the air, began to fall. Both hooves dangled uselessly as Applejack fell to the ground. Mercifully, her friend had fainted instantly with the pain.

She lay there, like a broken object. Her legs…the ankles of both back legs had snapped, and lay dangling from her stumps, connected only by bits of flesh. Everypony stared at their fallen friend. Even Apple Bloom stopped screaming to stare in horror at her older sister. And still, that thing hadn’t moved. It hadn’t even twitched at Applejack had kicked it hard enough to shatter stone. And it still held Apple Bloom.

Twilight looked at her friends. Fluttershy was still in shock – the puddle of undigested food trickling around her hooves. Rarity and Pinkie Pie stood transfixed; only Rainbow Dash seemed able to move, and she was clearly caught between a desire to hit the thing or aid her friend. But Applejack, the strongest of them all had broken her legs without leaving a mark on whatever this strange creature was. If she couldn’t do anything, what could Rainbow Dash do?

Twilight knew. When might failed, there was only one recourse left. She felt the magic gather around her horn, and gritted her teeth as she began to overcharge the spell in her mind. “Rainbow Dash,” Twilight muttered through clenched teeth, “get ready to grab Apple Bloom and run.”

“What?” Dash’s rainbow mane swung slightly towards Twilight, but she had neither time not inclination to explain. Seconds had passed, but Apple Bloom’s skin was turning darker; the dark veins spreading across her entire body. Twilight’s horn crackled as the magic levels began to reach a critical point. She normally held back in casting even the most minor offensive spells, but this time she pushed all her magic and the magic in the air surrounding her into the deadliest spell in her arsenal. The blank face of the creature slowly swung towards her as the purple glow of Twilight’s magic began to shine like a beacon.

Twilight felt her eyes squeezed by some unimaginable force, and her mind screamed a duet with Apple Bloom as she forced herself to stare at that blank, empty face.

And then she fired.

Magic given form raced through the air, a blurred trail of purple-white light that glowed even in the unnatural darkness. It sliced through the tendrils holding Apple Bloom and burst across thing’s chest. It didn’t move from the impact, and it didn’t step back. But for once instant, the shape of the tall man wavered, and a high-pitched crackling suddenly reverberated throughout the air.

Apple Bloom dropped to the ground, but Rainbow Dash was there in an instant. She scooped Apple Bloom up before the filly could hit the ground, and in the same motion caught Applejack. The larger earth pony made not a sound as Rainbow Dash pulled her into the air, landing with both behind Twilight. But now the expressionless face was turned towards Twilight, and it stood there. Looking at her.

----

The Slender Man’s emotions were far more complex than that of a three dimensional creature, and were thus incomprehensible in any of our tongues. But if summarized, his thoughts would have gone something like this:

“Ow.”

Magic was not like physics. It defied physics for the same reasons Slender Man did. Magic was a force that existed with reality, but was closer to the source of what made everything run. Even the highest dimensions acknowledge magic, and thus even those from beyond could be influenced by it. Unfortunately, magic was still by no means as effective on Slender as it would have been on a manticore. A blast that could have leveled Fluttershy’s entire cottage merely made Slender’s corporeal form waver slightly.

Still, it had hurt. Like putting a hand down on a needle – a sharp pain quickly dispersed as Slender’s presence on this earth reasserted itself. But that pain had caused Slender to change his mind. He was no longer bored by this game. He was angry. He was going to finish off all the ponies on this entire sphere instead of one village, and he was going to start with the purple one. While she and the others gazed at him, he could not move. Such were the rules the game dictated. But that did not mean he was powerless.

----

Twilight stared in horror. Hundreds of thin tendrils, blacker than darkness emerged from the things’ back, writhing and twitching. They seemed completely random, moving in slow, lazy patterns before darting forwards and then back. And they were coming towards her.

“Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked uncertainly as the tendrils made their erratic way towards the ponies. “What in Tartarus is that?”

“I-I don’t know.” Twilight stepped back, unsure. “I think it’s…part of it somehow. They’re what touched Apple Bloom; no matter what, don’t let them touch you.”

“How do we fight it, then?” Rainbow Dash looked towards the mass of tentacles, which now obscures the thin figure as they moved slowly towards the group.

“Magic seemed to hurt it.” Twilight said, thinking fast. “At least…it make it pause for a second or two. If you distract it—”

“Darling,” this was Rarity, quiet and urgent. “We can’t let Apple Bloom and Applejack stay here. They must get to the hospital at once.”

Twilight took her eyes off of the gathering mass of dark forms to glance behind her. Rarity was right; Applejack and Apple Bloom were both unconscious, but neither Apple looked remotely healthy. Applejack was still unconscious, but where both legs had snapped blood was beginning to ooze in great profusion. Apple Bloom was hardly better; long thin dark cracks seemed to pulsate under her skin, and her breathing was a hoarse rattle in her throat. If neither pony reached a doctor in time, it might be too late.

“Dash, I need you to get everypony out of here,” Twilight said, coming to an instant decision. “Get them all to safety while I hold this thing off.”

“What?”

“Don’t argue. Applejack’s bleeding and we don’t know what’s wrong with Apple Bloom. You’re the fastest flier in all of Equestria. Only you can get them out of here. Take the Apples first, with the other Crusaders if you can manage it. Then come back for the others.”

“I’m not going to leave you–” Dash protested, just as Rarity cut in with, “you can’t expect us to—”

“Be quiet everypony! Dash is the only one who can do this, so don’t argue. And I’m the only pony who’s trained in combat magic. Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, you’re not fighters.”

“But even if Dash does bring Applejack to the Ponyville Hospital, what can they do about Apple Bloom?” Rarity hissed at Twilight. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Don’t take them to the hospital. Take them to Zecora’s. She’s the only pony in Ponyville who knows anything about magic and healing. All of you go together; maybe Zecora knows what this thing is.” Twilight doubted that highly, but the important thing was to get everypony out of here.

The thin tendrils were getting closer. Twilight took a few steps back, her eyes never leaving the shape almost obscured in the mass of wriggling lines. She felt the pressure building in her eye sockets again, but oddly, the tendrils helped by getting in the way of the figure. Still, the urge to turn her head was overpowering. She didn’t, even though it was an agonizing struggle. She was sure that this being couldn’t move while somepony watched it; eye contact was her only hope of keeping it in one place.

“Dash, if you are my friend, leave now,” Twilight said. She should have felt guilty manipulating her friend’s loyal nature, but right now nothing mattered but getting the others to safety. “Please, Dash.”

Twilight saw Rainbow Dash hesitate only for a moment before hovering over to Applejack and lifting her gently onto one shoulder. “I’ll be back in less than five minutes. Don’t do anything stupid, alright?”

“Sure. No problem. We’ll be here when you get back.” Her words sounded hollow in even Twilight’s ears, but she forced them out. “Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie…”

“We’re staying.” Fluttershy’s voice quivered and nearly cracked, but it was determined. “We’re…we’re not going to run away.”

“That’s right.” Rarity planted herself next to Twilight. “The four of us can certainly keep this oaf occupied while Dash drops off Applejack and Apple Bloom.”

“That won’t work.” Twilight nearly took her eyes off of the thin figure in surprise as Pinkie Pie’s voice cut through the air. It was a tone she had never heard her energetic friend use. It was low and desperate, almost despairing. Coming from the element of laughter that Pinkie Pie represented, it was almost enough to unhinge Twilight entirely. “It’s not going to stop. Not until we collect all the pages.”

“Pages?” Something was burning Twilight’s eyes. It was like a poker being shoved into each eye socket – she felt sweat bead and fall, stinging into her eyes, but it was nothing compared to the pain. “What are you talking about, Pinkie?”

“It’s the game. It’s how he plays it. Collect all eight pages. Or die.”

“What? Pinkie—” The pain was unbearable. Something was squeezing Twilight’s mind, causing dark shadows to form around the corners of her eyes.

“When it disappears, everypony run. Look for pages on trees, walls, anything. Whatever you do, don’t turn around and don’t stop running. Dash can’t leave until all the pages are collected.”

“What are you— Pinkie, what’s—how do you—” Something was happening to Twilight’s eyes. She felt something running down from her eyes, wet and sticky. The darkness engulfed all of her vision, and she felt something begin to thump louder and louder inside her head. Still she watched the shape. It wasn’t even that she was trying to look at the figure now; she could not look away.

“Twilight?” That was Rarity’s voice. Twilight tried to turn her head, but she couldn’t move even her eyes. The darkness was closing in, and she could feel her eyes almost swelling. The liquid falling from her eyes increased. “Twilight!”

Something seemed to burst in Twilight’s head and she was falling, falling into darkness.

Comments

[light snow]

Ya slendy!

[Europa]

just as much as humans couldn’t.

Slender, YOU IDIOT!

[NorrixtheRipper]

Oo

[Doctor REDACTED]

4896953 well, he doesn't hear the same way we do.

[Danksouls]

PONY TENTSCLE HENTAI COMMENCE