The Best Poker Face

by Chemtest

Ponyville

Slender stalks around Ponyville, keeping an eye out for wherever Jeff might be. The sun shines down over the town, and ponies go about their normal lives.

Merchants sell their goods, neighbors patch the cuts in their doors, and two fillies walk in the direction of the Apple farm.

Slender follows a slight trail, with shoe prints showing themselves in the dirt. He comes to the end of the alley, and finds those tracks suddenly disappearing.

He might not seem it on the outside, but Jeff is quite clever. He might have doubled back on his own footsteps and made another trail, though he could have also climbed up onto the rooftops. With how sneaky he is, he could have also walked lightly enough as to not make any tracks, or maybe put bags over his shoes so their tracks wouldn’t show.

Slender looks all around, before doubling back, “So, brief me on this guy. I only barely recognized him because of the newspapers reporting a new killer. Apparently you’ve faced him before, so what should I expect?”

He is very powerful, the strongest of any contender for the title. He can endure many blows, blunt damage is basically useless against him. His skin can be pierced, yet can grow back quickly. If you have to take him down, you have to take out a major organ, with a wound that he cannot heal. Oh, his face is also numb to pain as well, so don’t try to punch there.

Slender shakes his head, and leans down to examine the tracks, “No, no, not that. I don’t plan to kill him, but I need to survive long enough to get through to him. How does he fight?”

Fast, everything about him is fast. He can dodge a lot of blows, and he stabs so quick that it is hard for us to dodge it. He is an expert in using knives in every way. You’ve already seen his knife throwing, quick and always accurate. His stabs are the exact same, always going for a sure hit if not a killing one. He can throw up to ten knives at a time without losing accuracy. However, for some odd reason, he can only ever stab with one knife and never uses two. His skills without a knife are still quite impressive, as he seems to have made an odd martial art. Not as good as us, but still pretty good. He’s a natural fighter.

Slender stops as he hears a new voice speak, “Mister Slender?”

He looks to the side, seeing Apple Bloom standing there. He nods, “Yes?”

Apple Bloom smiles, “Well, after what you’ve done for me, there’s something I want to give you.”

Slender holds up a hand, “I haven’t given you anything that requires something being given back.”

Apple Bloom pouts, “Come on, please?”

Slender looks at her scrunched up eyes, and sighs, “Yeah, sure, what is it?”

Apple Bloom switches right back to smiling, “Follow me, it’s back near the Orchard!”

Slender looks down at the trail, and turns away from it. He follows Apple Bloom, “No, seriously, what is it?”

They begin to move down the path, and Apple Bloom turns to face him, “Well, Scootaloo, Sweetie, and I made this little group, you see. The Cutie Mark Crusaders.”

Slender nods slightly, “Okay?”

Apple Bloom turns off the path suddenly, “Both of them are in the Clubhouse waiting, so you’ll see.”

Slender looks up, and sees a treehouse up in one of the apple trees. A little ramp led it’s way up there. Slender laughs, “What, you going to indoctrinate me?”

Apple Bloom shakes her head as she walks up, “Come on, you are only a few steps away from figuring out.”

Slender walks up the rest of the way, and puts his hand on the door.

He pushes it open, and Apple Bloom shouts from behind him, “Introducing your new Cutie Mark Crusader, Slender!”

She walks forward, only to bump into the back of Slender’s leg. It’s then that she notices that neither Scootaloo nor Sweetie Belle have given a response.

She tries to push forward, but Slender doesn’t budge, “Come on, what’s the issue? You guys playing a prank on me or something?”

Slender shakes his head, “Oh no.” He finally recovers, and rushes in.

First, Apple Bloom hears the sound of his feet splashing in a liquid. Then, she sees what is inside.

Blood coats the clubhouse. It lays in pools all around, and is scattered against the wall in a random pattern.

Slender quickly starts scanning the room, but his eyes see nothing but random blood.

Wait, the wall!

Slender snaps his head back to the wall, still seeing nothing but the random splatters.

Apple Bloom steps in after him, “What happened?!”

I recognize this, just barely. Nezperdian, very, very old. I haven’t seen this sense the Exitium back in Rome. The fact that Jeff knows this is odd, and honestly kinda scary. Give me a second. It says... Town Square, Now.

Slender quickly nods, and scoops Apple Bloom into his hands, and rushes out of the door, “We need to get to Town Square, now!”

Comments

[Spc jacko]

That can't be good.

[jen_lee_hattie]

Looks like jeffys having fun.

[EnderHooves]

Woah! That escalated quickly!