Chapter 22 - Going Golem
“Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy….” I repeated over and over again while waiting in the Lobby of the Treebrary.
It was a few days after we had returned from the Gala, and everything had returned to pretty much normal (except I was trying to be less of a dick to everyone…the optimal word would be ‘trying’). I had also received a summons to meet Twilight and Trixie at the Library. Ok, when I mean summons I really mean Trixie showing up at Lyra’s front door yelling something about ‘it being finished’, and to ‘get my ghostly self to the library before she performs the summoning ritual on my ghostly butt.’
So here I was, right in front of the door to Twilight’s Evil Scientist Basement acting like a little boy on Christmas Morning. I didn’t even know what they had concocted down there.
“TRRRIIIIXXXXIIIEEE! LET ME IIIIIINNNNNN!” I whined.
Trixies muffled voice came through the door, “Hold on, we are making everything perfect.”
I groan in exasperation and just try to calmly wait, which didn’t last too long. It devolved into me banging my head against the enchanted door over and over again.
Before too long the door was opened by an annoyed looking Trixie wearing a white lab coat which clashed horribly with her hat.
“What’s with the coat Trixie-stick?”
Trixie lets out an irritated sigh. “Sparkle insists upon Trixie wearing the coat while we were working. It’s a miracle that Trixie has not attacked Twilight Sparkle during this whole ordeal and she should thank her lucky stars that the Great and Powerful Trixe has the patience of a saint.” She says while whipping her mane back behind her shoulder and sticking her muzzle up in the air.
I snort and try and keep a chuckle from escaping and Trixie shifts her irritated glare to me. “Hmmph, everypony’s a critic. Come Spooky, Sparkle and Trixie have finally finished your surprise.”
I squealed like a schoolgirl before descending into the basement. The first thing I noticed as we descended the stairs was the smell. It definitely had that musty smell that all basements share, but there were a few other odors mixed in. There was definitely the distinct scent of motor oil, which was only slightly covered by the stench of decaying plant matter. There was also the pungent aroma of earth which I expected since the basement was carved directly into the surrounding soil, but I could also detect the slightest hint of copper.
Spaced around the room are a few different workstations. The one closest to the stairs was cleared off, a trash can next to it is filled with what appears to be compost. The workstation next to it is covered with small gears and other metal parts and appears to be stained with oil. There is also a large scorch mark covering the wall behind the bench that’s holding up the various mechanical bric-a-brac. Beyond that is another worktable which is covered with a cloth. There is a strange lump in the middle of the table which has left a mysterious reddish brown stain in the once white cloth; I try not to think about what could have left those stains. The final workstation has various ceramic jars covering it with a few books opened on its surface. Next to that bench is something covered with another piece of cloth (thankfully not stained this time).
Twilight stood in front of the final workbench, wearing a coat identical to Trixies. She’s levitating a clipboard in front of her while muttering to herself. The sound of Trixie descending the stairs doesn’t distract Twilight at all from her scribbling, going over what is no doubt a checklist.
I glance around the basement as Trixie trots up next to Twilight and taps her on the shoulder. Twilight jumps at the sudden contact and almost drops her quill and checklist. “Oh, Trixie…I see that you brought Spooky and I believe that we are one hundred percent ready to go.” She says before she turns to me. “Spooky, first of all I just want to say what a great friend you have been to not only me but to the rest of the girls as well. You’ve put up with a lot of our shenanigans and I wanted to do something for you.”
“Twilight, you know that you don’t have to do anything for me…wait you do know that, are you just trying to butter me up for something? It’s not more tests is it?” I say with my face scrunched up in accusation.
“Wha-what? No, I wouldn’t do that to you!” Twilight begins stammering, glancing over to Trixie who just has a grin on her face.
My own face splits into a grin as Twilight turns back to face me. “Relax Twi, I’m just messing with you.”
“Well, that’s not very nice. Here I am trying to do something considerate for you and you’re making fun of me.” She says as she sits on her rump with her fore hooves crossed.
“Oh take a chill pill Sparkle; you expect anything else from Spooky? It’s who he is, now just get on with it will you.” Trixie says while poking Twilight with a hoof.
“Humpf…Fine. Well as I was saying before I was so RUDELY interrupted.” Twilight says while throwing a glare my way which I returned with a teeth filled grin. “I wanted to do something for you, and after talking with Trixie we came up with something we thought you would really like. We decided to make you a body!” She says, her voice reaching a high octave as she gets very excited.
I just float there for a few seconds, “Wait…What?”
“Yes, Trixie said that you had mentioned something about missing being alive. With her expertise we have been working on making sure you can enjoy some of those things again. Unfortunately, our first few attempts did not turn out nearly as well as we were hoping. The homunculi were particularly disastrous.” She says while motioning to the other workstations in the room. “But, I’m certain that I have finally gotten all of the bugs worked out, and I couldn’t have done it without Trixie.”
Trixie blushes softly, “Oh hush Sparkle, it was the least that the Great and Powerful Trixie could have done. Now get on with it.”
“Yes of course. So without further ado I present you with your new body!” Twilight announces while whipping the cloth off of the object in front of her.
I float there a few seconds, trying to figure out what I was looking at. It was about half a head shorter than Big Mac and roughly pony shaped, if ponies were made out of clay and didn’t have any facial features. “Uhhh, what exactly am I looking at here Twilight?” I ask, slightly confused.
“It’s a golem!” She chirps happily.
“Really?” I ask with a raised eyebrow. I lean forward to get a closer look and I notice some strange markings on the ceramic figure right were the cutie mark would be on other ponies.
“Yep, it’s made from clay. According to Trixie’s books we should have done all the rituals correctly, and hopefully it won’t blow up like the other one.” I try to ignore the last bit of her sentence that she tried to mumble under her breath.
“Well…that’s pretty cool actually. So, how do I go about using it?”
“Oh, that’s simple. Just try to take over the golem as if you were possessing somepony else.” She says matter of factly.
“Oh…I’ve really only done that to someone that was unconscious before, will it work on this thing?”
“It should…hopefully.” She says with a nervous grin.
“All right…here goes nothing.” I dive forward towards the Golem as if I was going to make one of my patented meat puppets. For a few seconds nothing seems to happen until darkness overtakes my vision and I feel a familiar sucking sensation. The first thing I notice is the horrible taste of mud in my mouth and I try to spit.
“Eww, gross.” I hear Trixie say as I realize I’m standing on all fours and I actually spit something out. I slowly open my eyes to see an excited looking Twilight and a disgusted Trixie wiping something off her lab coat. I slowly lower my head feeling pops and crackles running down my neck. A pair of hooves come into view; they’re covered in a grayish white fur and end with black hooves. I slowly step forward with the right one and I feel cracks and pops run up the limb as well. I stretch my shoulders and my back, cracking every joint I could find before I take a step forward.
As I slowly trot towards Twilight her grin widens. “How do you feel Spooky? Is everything moving the way it should?” She asks.
I open my mouth to respond and I cough up a small cloud of dirt. “Pretty good, it feels like I’ve overshadowed someone without the voices in my head.” I say with a raspy voice once my coughing fit dies down. I shake my head and I notice my mane waving around in front of my face. It’s a bright neon green color and seems to be moving similarly to my tendrils. I concentrate and I find I can move them around and after a moment of focus I get my hair to settle down and stop waving around. I turn my head to look behind me and I see my tail waving around in a similar manner. As I get my tail to behave, I notice a familiar looking cartoon ghost on my hip where the symbols were before.
I turn back to Twilight and Trixie who both look at me nervously. “Sooo? Has Sparkle and the Great and Powerful Trixie done it? Have we successfully messed with that which ponies were not supposed to mess with?” Trixie asks.
“I think so.”
“Squee! Oh this is so exciting.” Twilight says while clapping her hooves together excitedly. “Now you should be able to take in nourishment while in the golem, buuuut I’m not entirely sure if you will have to use…the facilities or not. So I guess that will be up to trial and error. Is everything ok with the new body? Any irregularities?” She asks.
“Let me check two things.” I say. I raise a hoof up to my chin and much to my delight I find that I still have my beard. “Good, good. Now the true test.” I say as I turn away from the girls and plop down onto my rump. I look down to my crotch and my grin threatened to split my face in twain. “Hello boys, long time no see. We’re going to have the greatest of times.”
I leap to my hooves and twirl to face the girls. “This is fantastic!” I shout before I lean forward and plant two wet ones onto their lips. “I love you *Smooch* and I love you *Smooch*”
As the girls stand there looking dumbfounded I turn to face the stairs and shout with glee “ONWARD! TO WAFFLES!” I then rush up the first few steps. With only a few stairs behind me I suddenly find myself rushing forward and find my face meeting the steps in front of me. There’s a sickening crack and a blinding white pain shoots up my foreleg. I slowly slide down the steps until I’m lying in a heap at the bottom of the stairs.
“Oh my gosh! Spooky, are you alright?” Twilight shouts as she runs up to me.
“Help…I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.” I mumble.
Twilight grabs my leg with her magic and carefully lifts it up as I hear Trixie begin to walk forward. She smacks her lips a few times, “Was it just Trixie or did that taste like making out with a ceramic jar?”
“Hush Trixie, can’t you see Spooky might have hurt himself!” She lifts my leg up a little higher. “Does that hurt Spooky?”
“It burns with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns. It aches with the soul tearing pain a thousand unrequited teenage loves. It shames with the embarrassment of a thousand schoolyard wedgies!
“I…I can’t tell if you’re joking or not.”
“Yes! Oh dear sweet baby Jeebus it hurts!” I shout as I finally look up at her. I glance from her worried face to my arm which has what looks like a large crack running around it with some sort of grayish fluid leaking from it.
“It looks like you cracked your leg pretty good, and you’re leaking ectoplasm.” As she’s looking at my arm her horn lights up with a second layer of magic as she grips one of the books on the worktable. She flips halfway through the book and scans the page.
“Alright, this shouldn’t be too difficult to fix…now just hold still…and try not to bite your tongue off.” She says as her eyes narrow in concentration. A tingling sensation runs up my arm as the lavender aura grows brighter. The tingling quickly morphs into something akin to a thousand fire ants biting at once. I clamp my mouth shut with a whimper, trying not to cry in front of them. There’s another sickening crack as the pain reaches a crescendo before disappearing.
I take a peek at my arm and the unsightly crack has vanished leaving behind some of the gray liquid, which is quickly removed with a cloth in Twilights aura. “There, that should fix you right up. Now you need to be careful, we’re not entirely sure how fragile you’re going to be.”
“Thanks Twi.” I say before jumping to my hooves and rushing up the stairs and out the door.
“Wait! We need to talk about…” I hear Twilight shout from behind me before I rush out the door.
“FREEDOM!” I shout enthusiastically to the world as I exit the Treebrary. I receive a few confused stares from some passing ponyfolk as I bounce down the street in a random direction. I just decide to smile and wave at anyone I pass. I get a few unsure smiles back and one enthusiastic wave from a certain gray mailmare.
“Ohhhh, what a beautiful mooooorning, oh what a beautiful day! I’ve got a beautiful feeeeeling that everything’s going my way!” I sing as a gleefully skip towards Sugarcube Corner.
The jingling of the bell above the door alerts Mrs. Cake to my entrance. “Oh, good afternoon deary, how can I help you?” She asks as I trot up to the counter.
“Hello, Mrs. Cake. How are you today?” I ask.
“I’m doing just dandy…I’m sorry dear, do I know you?” She asks, her head tilted slightly to the side.
“Oh, how rude of me. Allow me to introduce myself; I am Sir Spooky, at your service.” I say with a bow before I take her forehoof in my own and gently kissing it.
“Oh my, well it’s very nice meeting you Sir Spooky, what brings you here today?” She says with a blush.
“Is Pinkie in today?” I ask as I begin bouncing up and down excitedly.
“She’s in the back. Would you like me to get her for you?”
“Would it be okay if I went back to see her?” I ask, trying to give her the biggest puppy dog eyes I could, praying that it worked better now that I looked like a pony.
“Well I suppose that would be alright deary, go on back.” She says while pointing towards the door to the kitchen.
“Thanks Mrs. Cake.” I say as I carefully open the door and slip into the kitchen.
I spot Pinkie standing at a counter, happily mixing a large bowl of batter between her hooves. She’s humming contentedly to herself, and she doesn’t seem to have noticed me yet. I crouch close to the ground as I slowly start to sneak up behind. “Here we see the majestic Spooky as he stalks his prey, the Pinkus Pieus.” I whisper softly to myself. “When the mighty Spooky has begun his hunt, there is little that can be done to stop the ensuing slaughter….let’s watch.” I crawl quietly up right behind her as she sets down the mixing bowl and grabs a baking sheet.
I crouch low, my forearms held wide before I spring at her yelling, “Spooky uses Glomp Attack!” There’s a flash of pink and I’m suddenly on the floor with my mouth filled with something sugary.
I look the side where Pinkie is standing proudly with an empty wrapper in her hoof. “Pinkie countered with cupcake!” She chirps happily.
I chew before swallowing with a satisfied hum. “It’s super-effective! And super-delicious!” I say as I hop to my hooves. “But how did you know I was there Pinkie?”
Pinkie reaches behind her and pulls out a turban that she plops onto her head. “Madame Pinkie sees all and knows all.” She says while waving her forehooves around.
“But, but, but ghosts are supposed to be super-effective against psychics!” I say with a pouty lower lip.
Pinkie lunges forward and wraps me up into a bone crushing hug as she swings me back and forth. “Oh, Spooky! I’m sooooooo glad that you finally got your body that Twilight and Trixie said they were making for you. I wanted to tell you sooooooo much but I had Pinkie Promised not to so it would be a surprise. Nopony breaks a Pinkie Promise, not even me. But they were taking sooooooo long, and it was getting really hard to keep it a secret. But now you have your body and I can make you cupcakes, and cookies, and muffins, and crumbles, and éclairs, and soufflés, and…”
“Pinkie.” I gasp as her grasp becomes steadily tighter.
“…chocolates, and cheesecakes, and…”
“Pinkie, you’re going to break me.” I squeak as I hear something starting to crack.
“…and pies, and bacon…”
“PINKIE!” I shout with the last bit of air in my artificial lungs.
“Oops, sorry Spooky.” She says as she sets me down while giving me a sheepish grin.
“Wait, what was that last one?”
“Pies?” She asks.
“No I mean….nope, never mind, not going to go there. Thanks for the thought Pinkie, but I don’t have any money.”
“Oh silly willy Spooky, you don’t need any money for Chez Pinkie. Tell you what, you help me whip up some goodies for Mrs. Cake and we can eat all of the leftovers.”
“That sounds like a tasty plan Pinkie.” I say as I move over to the counter. “Ok, what are we making first?”
“Cupcakes of course!” Pinkie says while flipping down a cupcake pan. “Here, why don’t you put the wrappers in the pan while I get the batter ready.”
“Alrighty then.” I say as I grab a stack of cupcake wrappers with the crock of my hoof. I then proceed to get extremely frustrated as I can’t get them apart with nothing but my hooves to grip them. “Dagnabbit, son of a monkey spank…” I mutter angrily as I wrestle with my newest foe. Finally I give up and toss them onto the counter as growl in anger. “You have made a new enemy today paper wrappers.”
“Wow Spooky, how are you doing that?” Pinkie says excitedly as she looks up from her mixing bowl.
“Huh? Doing what?”
“Your mane, how are you doing that?” She asks while pointing at my head.
My eyes nearly roll back into my head as I try to look up at my own hair and I see that my mane is waving around again. “Oh, my hair just does that when I stop trying to control it.”
“Oh, your hair changes too? That’s soooo cool, it’s just like mine. We could be barber buddies, or better yet we could be follicle friends!” She says excitedly as she hops around the kitchen.
As Pinkie occupies herself with coming up with increasingly more ridiculous titles for a hair based friendship my waving hair gives me an idea. I concentrate on the feeling of my hair waving around, after a few seconds my hair stops waving and clumps together like my tendrils usually do. With a few more moments of focusing on my hair two of the tendrils pick up the stack of cupcake wrappers and I can easily separate them. With a grin I quickly fill up the pan.
“Excellent, I think we are in business Pinkie.”
Pinkie stops hopping around. “Great…what are we selling?” She asks.
“I think the question should be what are you smoking, but I mean that I think I can definitely give you a hand in the kitchen. Shall we get back to it?”
“Yepperonie!” And with that Pinkie and I begin baking.
About half an hour later Pinkie and I are lying on the floor of the kitchen, both of us with distended stomachs. Numerous cupcake wrappers and various discarded candy wrappers spread around us.
“Uhhhhh, that was… *urp*…fantastic.” I groan while holding onto my stomach. I slowly roll over and get to wobbly hooves. “Well, I think I have an answer to one of Twilights questions.” I say as I rub my stomach.
“Huh, what’s that Spooky?” Pinkie asks while peeking over her inflated gut.
I bounce back and forth on my back hooves. “Where’s the bathroom Pinkie?”
Pinkie waves to one of the doors to the side of the kitchen that I rush into.
A few minutes later and a few pounds lighter, I exit the bathroom to find Pinkie bouncing around the kitchen again without any sign of her ever eating the four dozen cupcakes that she had before I went in.
“That was great Spooky! We should do it again sometime.”
“Yeah, that was fun Pinkie, but I think I’m going to go for a walk around town.”
“Okie-dokie-Lokie Spooky, I’ll see you later.” Pinkie says after giving me another bone crushing hug.
Waving goodbye to Mrs. Cake I exit onto the street where I greet a few random passersby with a grin and nod. Picking a direction at random I start trotting down the street, just enjoying the day and wondering if the pain in my abdomen would go away.
After a few minutes of walking I hear the ringing of the school bell off to my left and I realize that I almost walked right past the school house. I stop for a second as I watch the numerous foals stampede out of the building and onto the playground. A trio of familiar fillies scrambles out of the doorway and heads towards a picnic table set under one of the oak trees at the edge of the playground. They immediately sit down and Sweetie lays down a sheet of paper on the table.
As the girls start arguing about whatever is on the paper, I hop the fence and as quietly as possible sneak up behind them.
“I’m tellin’ ya girls, we need ta try different things if we eva’ want ta get our cutie marks.” Applebloom says as I make my way behind the tree.
“You mean we should try to diversify our crusading?” Sweetie Belle asks.
I pop up behind Scootaloo and say, “Hey Girls, brainstorming about your cutie marks?”
Scootaloo lets out a squeak and pops up into the air with her little wings buzzing, actually lifting her off the ground for a couple of seconds.
“Wha, huh, who?” Scootaloo asks as she lands on the table.
“Whoa, not ta be rude mista, but we don’ know ya.” Applebloom says as she eyes me warily.
“Yeah, Rarity says not to talk to strangers.” Sweetie says with a decisive nod of her head.
“Girls, you wound me. How can you not recognize your favorite ghost?” I ask, holding a hoof over my heart.
“Huh? What’cha talkin’ about?” Applebloom asks.
Sweetie Belle’s eyes grow large as she stares at me, she quickly looks at my rump before looking back at me. “Spooky?” She asks, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Ding-ding-ding, and Sweetie has guessed the million dollar question.” I say with a grin.
“Huh?” Scootaloo asks, finally having calmed down enough to get a word in.
“Girls, I think this is Spooky!” Sweetie says.
“Yeah, I guess he looks a little spooky especially with that Cutie-mark.” Says Scootaloo.
“No Scootaloo, I mean I think this is our ghost friend Spooky.”
“Can’t pull the wool over your eyes now can we Sweets?” I say as I pull her into a one armed hug and ruffle her mane.
“Wha’?” Applebloom asks. She examines me closely and I give her a wide grin. “Are….are ya’ll really Spooky?”
“Indeed I am little miss.”
“But how is tha’ possible?” She asks, looking perplexed.
“Twilight and Trixie decided to play mad scientist and made me a body.”
“Wow.” Apllebloom says, sitting back in her seat.
“This is so AWESOME!” Shouts Scoots as she hops down from the tabletop. “Now he can really come crusading with us…except you already got your cutie mark.” She says as her excitement drains. “That’s not fair. You’ve been a pony for all of one day and you already got your cutie mark.” She humphs as she crosses her arms in frustration.
“God you are adorable.” I say as I pick her up into a hug.
“Hey! Let me go, I am not adorable.” She squeaks in protest.
“The more you protest the more adorable you are.” I say in a singsong voice.
“Wait, are you saying that if I admit that I’m adorable then I won’t be adorable?” She asks, stopping her struggles. I nod vigorously down at her.
“Well then I guess I’m…adorable.”
“What was that? I couldn’t hear you?”
“I’m adorable! Are you happy?” She shouts angrily.
“Yes, I’m very happy I got you to admit that, I can’t wait to tell Rainbow Dash.” I say with a chuckle.
“NO! YOU CAN’T!” She shouts while finally squirming out of my grasp. Applebloom and Sweetie try the hardest not to laugh at her but she turns to face them with a growl. “WHAT’S SO FUNNY?”
They both clamp their mouths shut to stifle the giggles. Applebloom seems to recover first, “Nothing…we’re laughing at nothing Scoots.”
“Hiya girlths, whoths your friend?” Says a voice from behind me. I turn and identify the voice as Twist who is trotting up to the bench with a small herd of foals behind her.
“Oh, um, this is our friend Spooky?” Applebloom says as the group of kids join us at the table. I count roughly a dozen of them, some of which I can identify, like Snips and Snails, but the rest are unknown to me.
“Why hello children, how are you all doing this fine day?” I ask, as the kids crowd around. I hear several muttered ‘good’ and ‘fine’ come from the rather shy group.
“Hello Misthta. My nameths Twithst, itths very nithe to meet you.” Says twist as she takes a seat next to Applebloom.
“Nice to meet you too little lady. So are you all just getting out of school or is this just recess?”
“We just got out; we were planning on doing some crusading before heading home tonight.” Applebloom says while indicating the sheet of paper in front of her.
“Oh thpeaking of cutie markths, what doeths yours mean Thpooky?” Asks Twist as she looks at my hindquarters.
“Oh, um, it, um.” I stumble, trying to think of something, settling on the first thing to come to mind. “Well, it means that I’m really good at telling spooky stories, yep that’s why they call me Spooky you see.” I say with a rather forced grin.
“Really?” Sweetie asks. “Could you tell us one?”
“Oh, um, I don’t know if I should…”
“Please?” Sweetie asks, hitting me with both puppy dog eyes and a pouting lip…I never had a chance. The rest of the foals start yammering for a story as well as getting rather excited, all except Scoots who doesn’t look too sure about it.
“Well…I suppose one story couldn’t hurt.”
“YAY!” The resounding shout of the gathered foals echo around the yard.
“Okay, gather round little ones, Uncle Spooky’s going to tell you a story.” The excited chattering immediately stops and a dozen little rumps hit the ground as I get their full attention.
“Once upon a midnight dreary, deep within a dark and dangerous forest, wandered a young filly. Now this filly was not particularly brave, just foolish enough to wander the woods after dark.
“Alone, she wandered between the trees, the noises of the forest driving her deeper in. With the worry of wolves and other monstrous things stalking the night she was in desperate need of shelter. As if by a miracle she spotted a small cabin nestled amongst the trees, and she rushed inside without a second thought.
“Her jubilation was cut short as the dim moonlight revealed the inside of the cabin. The cabin walls were covered with paintings. Wherever she looked there was a painting of a pony, each one glaring down at her. She slowly closed the door behind her and crept into the room.
“As she made her way into the cabin she could swear that each of the paintings was watching her. No matter where she looked there was a painting of a pony, an angry, staring pony, looking down at her as if she had done something wrong. No matter how scary the cabin was though, outside was even more terrifying so she settled down into a corner to try to sleep.
“However sleep came slowly to her since every time she tried to drift off she would look up and see the paintings watching her…always watching. Finally, slumber took her and she slept through to the morning.
“She awoke to the soft dawn light peeking into the cabin. Her sigh of relief at making it through the night turned into a horrified gasp as she got a clear look at the inside of the cabin. For you see, there were no paintings…only windows.”
I stop my story and look up to see a group of shivering wide eyed foals sitting around me. A few of those wide eyes even looked to be watering up a little bit.
“Wow...tha’…was…awesome!” Applebloom says with a grin.
“But really scary!” Sweetie Belle says with her face between her hooves. A few mumbled agreements come from the rest of the group.
“Well that’s no surprise; the blank flanks are all scared of a little story.” I hear the obnoxious voice of Diamond Tiara say from behind me. I look over my shoulder and try not to growl in frustration as Diamond and Silver Spoon walk up on the group.
“Yeah, that story wasn’t even scary; I mean who would even be afraid of some windows, only babies.” Silver Spoon sneers.
“Girls, you really shouldn’t make fun of somepony just because they’re afraid of something.” I say as calmly as I can.
“Oh and who are you supposed to be? You can’t be in the blank flank brigade because you have a cutie mark, but you might as well be if you’re as bad at your talent as that story was.” Diamond scoffs.
“Hey, you leave Spooky alone, he’s almost as awesome as Rainbow Dash and his story was definitely scary!” Scootaloo says as she stomps her hooves down to emphasize her point.
“Of course a big chicken like you would be afraid of a lame story like that.” Silver Spoon says with a snicker.
I place my hoof in front of Scoots as she jumps at the duo to keep her from doing something she might regret. “Hey, don’t listen to them Scoots, they probably won’t be around much longer to bother you anyway.”
“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?” Diamond asks.
“Oh, you don’t know?” I ask with as much mock concern as I can muster up.
“Know what?” Diamond asks as she gives me a wary look.
“Know about the Slender Mane, about how he comes to get mean little fillies and colts and nopony ever sees them again.” I look away from the two, peering around the schoolyard. “Oh good, he hasn’t shown up yet. We would all be in trouble if he had.”
“I…what are you talking about?” Asks Silver Spoon sounding slightly nervous.
“Don’t tell me nopony has ever warned you about the Slender Mane.” I ask looking down at her, and she just shakes her head slowly. “Oh my, well it is my duty to warn you.”
I turn to face both Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara head on. “Well, the Slender Mane is an ancient creature; cursed to forever wander the world in search of naughty children.”
“Now you might not realize if the Slender Mane has targeted you until it is too late as he looks remarkably similar to a pony, if that pony was impossible tall, and dressed in a black business suit.”
“Pfft, that doesn’t sound scary at all.” Diamond says while waving a hoof dismissively.
“Oh I know at first glance he doesn’t look terribly frightening, but once you get a closer look you see the truth. You see his bone white body is completely featureless, including his face, no eyes, no nose, and no mouth. But he can peer into your very soul, smell your fear and whisper your darkest secrets.”
Silver Spoon looks rather nervous as she sits there shaking slightly and Diamond has lost her confidence as she glances at Silver.
“That’s not even the worst part, once he knows that you have seen him, he reveals the tendrils that come out of his back. The very same ones that will snatch you away to never be seen from again.”
“H-he s-still doesn’t s-sound s-scary!” Diamond professes.
“Oh…Really?” I ask, before I take a step forward and circle them before I start singing.
“Slender Mane, Slender Mane, all the foals will try to run. Slender Mane Slender Mane, to him its part of the fun. Slender Mane, Slender Mane, dressed in darkest suit and tie. Slender Mane, Slender Mane, you most certainly will die.” I continue walking around the two, prowling as I slowly chant the song.
“Slender Mane, Slender Mane, his branching limbs are for collecting. Slender Mane, Slender Mane, his face is empty of expressing. Slender Mane, Slender Mane, he won’t let you say goodbye. Slender Mane, Slender Mane, you most certainly will die.” I laugh and chortle as I continue circling them, my voice growing deeper and more distorted. A frost begins covering the grass at my hooves and the two girls are shivering uncontrollably now.
“Slender Mane, Slender Mane, sometimes hums a lowly drone. Slender Mane, Slender Mane, he will wander ‘round your home. Slender Mane, Slender Mane, blends in well within the trees. Slender Mane, Slender Mane, in the fog he’s hard to see. Slender Mane, Slender Mane, dressed in darkest suit and tie. Slender Mane, Slender Mane, you most certainly will die.”
As I was singing I felt my hair begin to snap and curl around the edges. As I finish the last verse I stop in front of the two girls and lean in close. The world seems to take on a grey tinge as my hair splits into two tendrils and sneaks around behind the girls. I reach out and tap the girls on their withers as I whisper, “Boo.”
The girls let out a high pitched shriek as they jump into the air. They immediately run off in the opposite direction when their hooves hit the ground. I can just barely make out Diamond Tiara yell between sobs. “I-I’m going t-to *sob* tell my da-da-daddy on you!”
With a grin I turn around expecting to see the rest of the foals. Much to my surprise there is only the sheet of paper slowly floating to the ground and slowly vanishing dust cloud down the road. “Oh…um, oops?”
Shrugging my shoulders I just turn around and head back towards town. After wandering around for a while I eventually make it back to Lyra and Bon Bon’s cottage. I trot up to the door and knock a few times.
“Coming.” A muffled reply comes through the door.
A few seconds later the door is opened by Lyra, “Oh, hello, can I help you?”
“Why yes you can ma’am. You see I am from the Church of Latter Day Saints, have you heard the good news about Princess Luna?” I say with a big grin.
“Oh I’m sorry we don’t…wait a minute…Spooky?” She says as she’s about to close the door.
“Why howdy there Lyra, how ya’ll doin’ this fine day?”
She lunges through the door grabbing me around the neck and dragging me into the house.
“Spooky you idiot! Twilight and Trixie have been looking all over town for you.” She says as she smacks me upside the head.
“Ouch…and here I thought you would be happy to see me with a body.” I say as I rub my head.
“Well I am happy Spooky, but Twilight and Trixie worked really hard to give you that body and they’re just worried about you.” She says with a sigh. “That and Twilight wants to test a few things before you as she said ‘go gallivanting all over town.’”
“That liar, she said no more tests. Oh you’ve got to hide me from the evil mad scientists Lyra! They’re going to do horrible things to me!” I say as I throw a hoof to my head and wave the other one around dramatically.
“*Snort* Well I see getting a body hasn’t changed you very much. Well, we might as well wait here until they get back.” She says as she trots over to the couch and sits down. “So how has it been, wandering around all day and being able to interact with everypony?”
“Fantastic, I had cupcakes!”
“Of course, the first thing you do is go get cupcakes.” She says as she shakes her head in exasperation.
“Of course, what do you think I would…” I begin before I’m interrupted by a heavy pounding on the front door.
“I’ll get it!” I say excitedly as I bound towards the front door. When I yank the door open I let out a squeak as I see who’s standing there. Right in front of the door are the three Crusaders all looking rather upset with a teary eyed Diamond Tiara standing next to them. However, it’s not them that terrifies me. It’s the furious looking Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Filthy Rich who are standing behind them.
“Spooky…We need ta have a talk mista’!” Applejack growls.
A big thanks to Brilliant Point for editing.
The Slender Man song was originally written by Zip Zipper with the remix by The Illusory Gentleman
Stats
Page generated in 0.035 seconds
Total duration
1,092 users online
1,793,683 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Wohoo! An update, also he better run since AJ can turn him into powder pretty quick I'm betting!
I love it!
The only critique I have is the accents for Apple Bloom and Applejack sound less western and more like there from the Bronx...
Other than that it was awesome!
I especially like the song!
Keep up the good work
th02.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2012/037/f/f/apple_bloom_derp_by_lilcinnamon-d4ox02k.png
....who?
Heh... Hope you liked your new body, Spooky. Applejack is about to break it.
Applebloom
EDIT: seems like someone beat me to it.
Oh shit :P
yay update!
and he has a member.... a ghost with a working member?
wha?! and he lives with lyra and bon bon.... oh boy....
I knew this was going to happen! spooky has a body... that supposedly tastes like a ceramic jar when he kisses ponies.... and twilight didn't seem to mind?
He's got a body!!!!!!!!! And I don't care that he made DT cry! She deserved it!!!
I found a reference! You sir, are old!
4211888 I doubt she was paying attention. That, or she was kind enough not to mention it.
They're going to kill him. Or they would, if he wasn't already dead! Ghost joke! Yo-ho-ho-ho-ho!
4211942 hmm.. still... twilight is going to need to enchant his body to be more durable. I have a bad feeling he's going to be hurting very soon. Also he's going to need that durability for other things.
Awsome chapter!.......to bad AJ will have his golem ass for scaring the horse shoes of her sister tough.
Poor fillies, couldn't handle the Slender.
Satisfying as it was, I can't help but feel that this is an occasion where bringing out the big guns is a bit too far. At least, that's probably what's about to be beaten into him.
It sucks that I can't favorite stories more than once! I keep pressing it but nothing happens! Why can my like of this story not translate in digital rating?! Oh well, I guess this might do.
Have a pony!
Best chapter yet.
Well that was a quick update!
Great chapter, once again. Looking forward to the next one!
4211854 A lot of people do that... after awhile it gets extremely annoying.
Especially to a southerner.
I can see Rainbow, Applejack, and Rarity (Don't remember seeing her mentioned at the door) being mad, and I can also see Filthy being mad, but in all honesty, Diamond Tiara deserved it. Scary stories are told to kids like that to scare them straight. Now unless AJ/Rainbow/Rarity are completely ignorant of the bullying done to their sisters, I would say they have a right to tell Filthy to piss off, and that his daughter deserved that and so much more.
this was awsome I liked the the song you added cant wait untill next time.
Called it! Called it months ago, oh yeah!
I'm guessing that pain in the belly after gorging on cupcakes was forgotten when he hooked up with the Crusaders?
By the way, does anyone else keep picturing his golem body as a stallion version of Maneiac?
derpicdn.net/img/view/2013/12/22/503574.gif
"You can take the body but my soul will live on."
Don't know what was funnier.
This:
This:
Or this:
which didn’t last to long
appears to be stained with oiled
turned into a horrify gasp as she got
1. Too.
2. Oil.
3. Horrifying.
Seems like Spooky might visit the Gatekeeper sooner than he thought... Now I want her to have a body as well so that she and Spooky can terrorise the town... While having their date
That golem body is rather nicely made, considering that Twilgiht and Trixie didn't have to many chances to test it (Spooky is the only ghost they know). How did they even get a working nervous system in there without testing? It seems like the senses other than seeing and hearing (and smelling, if Spooky can smell stuff in ghost form) would be rather dulled, being made of Clay. He could feel things when they distort his clay body, but otherwise, he's fairly numb. And the tongue shouldn't even do anything. And secondly, how does that going to the bathroom even work? He's made of clay, he must be passing just mushed up Cupcakes, undigested and everything, because his Clay body doesn't need nutrients, nor does his Ghost body need energy from them.
Good chapter, but I can't resist commenting on that body. Seems too good for the first test-run, they would only get that level of detail after lots of work, and feed-back from Spooky on how things feel (for they can't tell if the nervous system is working).
Finally I get to see the final result of that planning.
I don't see what the big deal is. He just had fun giving a well needed PSA. not knowing about Slender Mane. pah. Cheeriliee, you be slipping girl.
4212215
Ehhh he was able to drag an abused pony body that probably should've been unable to move. As for the food issue well he is still "alive" after all. He can enjoy food in other bodies so perhaps he can eat and digest stuff by moving some of his own life force into the golem and molding it into an actual living thing? He could use tentacles and etc after all.
P.S.
Its magic don't question it. They spent a lot of time on that body and the first one exploded.
Loved this chapter! Also, the slender man song was pretty good and I like how you integrated it into the story. I can't wait to see what you have planned for Spooky in his new body!
I wonder if Spooky can leave the golem and go back to it as he pleases? Or would that cause the golem to lose it's function?
Also, nice reference to Full Metal Alchemist. Glad to see that you put the correct Hebrew in as well (although I'm sure you put it in as an image file). The odd thing is that it translates to "Emit" which is a name of 'God' (Judeo-Christian), which calls into question how the ponies know about it. Did they once have religion akin to our own but it died out? Perhaps when Discord took over and Celestia & Luna saved them? Maybe Celestia & Luna took the place of the old beliefs? I'm not sure if you realized the can of worms you may have inadvertently opened with that...
Well, scary stories are his forte... but it was bad form to go all out doing this in broad daylight with undeserving witnesses.. he should have gone spectral form and stalk her at night to do his Slender impression after he introduced the idea to DT.
One thign i wonder about.. his golem body might have one weakness; is it "open" or "locked"? If any spirit can use it (as opposed to "it" being made for spooky exclusively), its kinda likely another spirit will steal it away and do all sort of things using it.
Also, is the golem flexible to whoever use it? Change form, color, gender to fit the user?
Twi and Trix really went all out for the body, even adding the appropriate reproductive organs for him... better not think too much about the whole RnD of that feature...
Good chapter, woo, he looks like he is in a little bit of trouble.
Funny thing is Slendermane is sort of canon since he was in 'Pinkie Apple Pie'.
4212528 And for some reason, you just gave me the mental image of Trixie and Twily getting into an argument about the 'ideal size and shape' for those parts... and a possible clop story about them conducting "experiments" into the matter...
thanks for the update
4212415
He was able to drag the abused pony body because A) it was still rather intact (living things are tough like that, example, pound for pound, our bones are stronger than steel), and B) ghostly powers imbued strength where was lacking before.
He isn't alive, if he was, he would have starved to death a while ago because of a lack of sustenance. He apparently has some way to produce his own Energy as a Ghost, because he can interact and manipulate objects on the physical plane, without ever absorbing any energy. And that making the golem into a living thing bit, then he wouldn't have cracked his leg the way he did.
I'm a scientist good sir, I question everything. 25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5hbhiTvv51rp9mt7o1_500.jpg I find it good fun trying to work out how magic might work. And they might have spent alot of time on a body, but a fully functional body would take ALOT longer, and require tests that Spooky himself would have to be there for (unless they get another ghost, or somehow seperate their souls from their bodies to give the golem a test drive). It's believable that they made a body that can move, but one that is practically alive? That would require more luck than I'm willing to give them.
This doesn't mean I don't like this story, don't get me wrong. Trying to apply reality to fiction is one of the things I do, and have quite a bit of fun doing. Magic isn't that too far fetched, because "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic", they know secrets of the world that we don't, but there are extents to this. I dislike the "Power Ponies" episode not because of the premise, but because of that Pocket Dimension they got sucked into. If they can make such constructs cheaply enough to sell in Comic Books, why aren't they more commonly used? There are tons of applications, both commercial and recreational, for such places, especially since they appear to have the power to give Super-powers.
hey filthy you cant be mad. your daughter wanted scary so he gave her scary.
4212723 I don't know about you, but the truth can be pretty dang terrifying.
4212571 Can you get me a pic of where Slendermane was mentioned? I don't think I saw him.
Nvm, saw it. Wow, I'll tweet to Lauren Faust and maybe he could be a Season 4 or 5 villain.
4212894 Yes, it can. But you must be willing to face the Truth, and make a bargain. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost.
Quick Spooky, ABANDON BODY! HIDE FOR YOUR SOUL! Oh wait, Trixie can summon you... Welp, you're screwed Spooky. Have fun~
Awwww gawd, i need more of this fic, i laugh so hard
Pleas continue 
4212920 Where? I looked through the whole episode once. Must have missed it.
4213029 Agreed.
Right now, I have the Sllenderman song on a Loop on Youtube!
Applejack, rainbow dash, rarity and filthy rich face when
1-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/vg/image/1347/93/1347932907595.png
i need more of this, could he also get multiple bodies, or change the shape of his current one?
i can imagine him pretending to be an alicorn
4213129 Look at this pic: http://derpicdn.net/img/view/2014/1/13/523302__safe_animated_spoiler-colon-s04e09_pinkie+apple+pie_slenderman_slendermane_slenderpony_slender.gif
Awesomeness. Now, if I was him I'd go all:
Oh, I'm so looking forward to what happens next.
The Slendermane bit completely made the chapter
Keep it up dude. By the way, great hint at the Hebrew golem. Question is, are you going to do the Æmaeth / Maeth bit?
Couldn't have made him a humanoid body could you twilight.
Still a great story.
Does Spooky count as a pony now?
If so he is second best pony.
My reaction to this:
Welp, looks like golems are going to be mentioned.
......
Wait, did he....
....................
HE TOTALLY DID!!!!!
Someone did their reseeeeeaaaaaarch!
Just to let everyone know, since most probably didn't pick up on it, that word there is from the Hebrew language, it says "emet" which translates to truth. In the story of the golem, most notably the one from Prague, it is part of the ritual to bring the golem to life. When the the first letter on the golem's forehead was erased, which is the one on the far right due to Hebrew being read from right to left instead of left to right, it changes to "met" which means death, causing the golem to "die" and crumble into pieces.
It's just nice to see my culture here and there. Again, thank you for that.