Ever Watching

by Redback Spino

ConfronTaTIon

Twilight panted with exertion as she strained to keep Talisman in view. Through the darkness of the trees, she could only just make him out as he galloped ahead, after the masked pony.
In her mind, Twilight cursed herself for eating so many sweets when at Talisman’s house. The sugar boost gave her plenty of stamina, but the bloat in her stomach was making her nauseous. It was only growing worse as she ran. Her limbs began to ache with exhaustion as she tried desperately to keep up with Talisman.
But being an earth-pony, he was naturally better built for long distance running. Slowly, slowly, his silhouette grew smaller ahead, until he vanished into the trees.

“Tally! Wait, slow down!” Twilight shouted, her breath ragged. But it was no good. Her limbs were burning from the strain, and she could run no further. Slowing to a trot, she staggered a few feet, leaning against a tree to catch her breath.

Looking around, she audibly gulped. She still remembered all the horror stories the others had told her about the Everfree Forest. Where, by some natural anomaly, the forest was completely autonomous, requiring no assistance from the outside world to grow and change over the seasons. She had ventured into the trees several times before, but only once alone. She didn’t like to talk about that incident much. Being transformed into stone by a cockatrice had been one of the most terrifying and painful experiences of her life. At least, until the evening when the Slendermane came for her outside the fringe of the forest.

She looked around at the dark trees that surrounded her and gave an almost silent whimper. Who knows what could be hiding in the trees this time? Stuck all alone,she thought, in the middle of the Everfree Forest, my legs feel like they’re gonna fall off any moment, I’ve lost Talisman…can anything make this any worse?!
As if in answer to her silent question, there came a rustling in the trees a few yards away, punctuated by a low growl. She gave a small squeak of fright and trotted doggedly in the direction her friend had run.

“Tally! Where are you?!” she half shouted, half whispered.She did not even careabout the masked pony anymore. She just wanted to find Talisman and get out of the forest as soon as she could before something found her. Something...Another beast, worse than a manticore or a cockatrice, perhaps? Or even...she gulped at the thought. The forest was His home after all.
Her mind was in conflict: half wanting to find Talisman as quickly as possible, the other was desperate to not draw unwanted attention from any of the strange creatures prowling about in the forest. “Talisman Tome! Where are you?!”

There then came a rustling from the dark undergrowth ahead. Twilight’s whole body froze as she heard it. The distinct sound of some creature moving about in the brush. Turning her ears towards the sound, she focused and strained to hear more movement.
There it was again! The rustle of a bush or shrub being moved against. And mingled in, almost inaudible under it, the clomph, clomph, clomph of equine hooves against the soft earth.

Unsure whether to be relieved or even more scared to hear another pony moving about, Twilight nervously tip-hoofed towards the source of the sound. In the near pitch-blackness, she felt the scratch of branches and thorns against her sides, as she pushed past a particularly dense bush.
As she pushed past, she stumbled against a protruding root on the ground and fell flat on her face.

In reply, there came from nearby a nervous “Sssh!”

Twilight looked up, spitting out a clump of dirt, and breathed a sigh of relief as her whole body relaxed. There he was. Talisman stood on the other side of the small clearing Twilight had stumbled into. But before she could offer praises to the heavens for this small token of good fortune, he had raised a hoof to his lips, gesturing for Twilight to be quiet.

She nodded, getting back to her hooves as quietly as she could. She crept to huddle by the colt’s side. He pointed with the other forehoof, at a large bush just off to his left. Twilight glanced, blankly, at the bush, unsure why Talisman was focusing on it. She jumped back a bit as the shrub suddenly quivered, as if a hidden creature had stirred inside it.
Pointing again at the bush, Talisman drew his hoof swiftly back towards himself, then pointed at Twilight. He then formed a ring with his forelegs, as if grabbing some invisible object.
But Twilight merely cocked an ear in confusion. Rolling his eyes, Talisman silently mouthed to her, accentuating every syllable:

“He…comes out…at me…you…grab him.”

Twilight nodded n understanding, quietly moving to stand just in front of the bush, just off to the left, as the colt picked up a long stick in his mouth. Awkwardly tilting his head, he pointed the top of the branch towards the bush. He gave the shrub a small poke.

It remained still.

He jabbed again, a little harder.

The bush shook as something burst forth from its hiding place inside. Twilight pounced and grabbed the pale figure. As she felt it collapse to the ground under her hooves, she gave a triumphant “Gotcha!”

“Gotcha!”

Her ears perked. That was a new voice. Only one pony she knew had a voice that gentle and demure, even when shouting.
Her next thoughts shot out of her at the same time as any breath in her lungs as something landed on her back, winding her. This brought up again that familiar nausea that had come from her running on a full stomach.

“Get off her! Yaaagh!” shouted Talisman’s voice. Twilight felt her eyeballs bulge as a further weight piled ontop of her back.

For a moment, there was silence. Then, there came that sweet, gentle voice again:

“Oh! T-Twilight! Talisman! I-I’m so sorry…I didn’t mean to…I was just running after Angel and, well, the next thing I know, I was in the Forest and…”

Twilight gasped for air as part of the weight piled on her back subsided “Oohh…F-Fluttershy…?”

Opening her eyes, she saw that familiar butter-yellow pony, her pink mane now dishevelled and frazzled. Dusting herself off, she continued to mutter timid apologies.

“I’m really sorry! I thought I saw Angel running through the bushes and I tried to catch him. A-and I guess I didn’t see you and…Um, Mr. Talisman?”

There came a grunt from above Twilight’s head.

“Erm…If you could, you might want to get off of Twilight. It’s just, I don’t think she can breath with so much weight ontop of her…”

The purple unicorn looked up and saw that familiar messy brunette mane, tickling her snout. Talisman’s chin was resting just below her horn. She felt his jaw moving as he muttered some response, sliding off of Twilight’s back to lie, prone, beside her, his dazed eyes looking into hers. Twilight suddenly felt a strange flush of warmth to her cheeks. Why was she blushing?

Fluttershy watched the sight with a nervous curiosity, before she started as she felt a familiar tapping upon her hoof. Looking down, she saw with a sigh of relief, that familiar white bunny, scowling up at her.

Lowering her head to nuzzle the tiny terror, she said “Oh Angel! I was so worried! You know, you really shouldn’t run off like that.”

“Wait a sec.” Twilight said, raising her head “If Angel’s over there with you…then who’s trapped under my hooves?”

All eyes turned to the pale form that lay, unconscious under her. She got up and looked down, her eyes, dazed by the pileup, came back into focus. She smiled with grim satisfaction and triumph as she saw the familiar white mask.
“Got him!” Talisman muttered, as he got back to his hooves. “Good going!”

The pale stallion lay on his side, knocked out by the ambush His brown mane fell over the dark eyeholes of his strange mask, featureless ad white, save for black shadows around the eyes and lips, and small curved eyebrows above the eyeholes, also done in black ink.

Fluttershy gave a squeak of fright at the sight of the masked colt, jumping behind a tree. Twilight rolled her eyes at the sight of he tip of Fluttershy’s tail peeking out from behind the tree trunk. Clearing her throat loudly, she gave her a gentle nudge until she got the hint and emerged from her hiding place. But she stayed huddled close to Twilight, her eyes rooted on the masked figure

“Who...who is that?”

Twilight knelt by him “He’s one of the ponies that has been watching Talisman and I. He’s working with that monster that attacked me, the Slendermane. And he’s gonna tell us exactly what is going on.”

Talisman tried to suppress a grin as he muttered “Not like this, he won’t.”

Twilight glared at him a moment, before turning back to the unconscious pony before her “Not to worry. I know a spell that should help. But first, Talisman, I need you to hold him down, so he doesn’t run for it when he wakes up.”

He nodded grimly and firmly places his forehooves on the pony’s back, pinning him to the ground. Twilight then leaned close to his face, her horn beginning to glow. Touching it to his pale masked head, there was a quick flash, and she raised her head back up again.

The pale stallion twitched an ear as he began to come around. Stirring, he gave a quiet groan and tried to raise his limbs. When he felt Talisman’s hooves holding him down, he gave a sudden buck wriggled about, desperate to get free. But the brown colt only redoubled his efforts in response, holding him down with even more force.

“Stop struggling.” Twilight said in a commanding tone “We’re not gonna hurt you. We just want to talk to you.”

But the masked pony continued to struggle, bucking and heaving with all his might. Twilight groaned and turned to Fluttershy, who observed the exchange in timid silence. “Fluttershy, can you do something about this?”

But the yellow pegasus stood rooted to the spot, too scared of this newcomer to move.”Oh, I don’t know...”

“C’mon Fluttershy! You’re great at this sort of thing! Just try and get him to calm down.”

Fluttershy looked to the struggling pony in the scary mask on the ground before her, then back to Twilight’s imploring face. It was true, her voice could soothe even the most furious of creatures. It even worked on fellow ponies to a certain degree.

Hesitating a moment, she slowly leaned in towards the bucking, writhing colt. She started back as his struggles redoubled in effort, but steeled herself and leaned down, until her head was right by his ear.
“Um...P-please...if you could stop struggling and c-calm down a bit...” she said, trying in vain to control the quiver in her voice . “We...we just wannatalkandIpromisewewon’thurtyou!” she finished hastily, her nerves failing. She backed away as fast as her shaking hooves would carry her and returned to her spot behind Twilight.

Twilight was not surprised as the struggling slowly subsided, and the pony became calm. Fluttershy’s voice was renowned for is soothing, calming qualities.

“Thanks, Fluttershy. Now listen up you,” She said in a calm, but stern voice “You’re in no position to fight us. You’re pinned down and outnumbered three to one. Four to one, if you count bunnies.” she added, nodding to Angel.
Looking straight into the eyeholes of the mask, she continued “Now, tell us just what you and your friends are planning, and why you are helping the Slendermane.”

A slightly muffled, reedy voice came from the blackened mouth hole “Slendermane… A nickname devised for our Master by unenlightened fools…What an insult!”

Twilight rolled her eyes “Alright then…what is his real name, then?”

“No idea. It’s impossible to pronounce with our vocal chords. The Mighty is from a world nothing like ours. The only link is the Vita Energy that flows through living things of both worlds.” He replied. “He promised us power beyond our wildest dreams, and all we had to do was help him regain his strength.”

“We know.” Twilight said “We read your little book.”

The colt suddenly began his struggling anew, nearly throwing Talisman off “So it was you! Give it back! That book belongs to us!”

Twilight stepped back, shouting to be heard over the pony’s cries “I don’t have it with me. And even if I did, I’m not gonna give it back to you, not after finding out what you plan to do with it!”

“Purifying the world,” he replied “Is the only way! This world is rotten, and only by ridding it of those who are making it rot, can we return Equestria to glory!”

“But what’s the point of purity if you’ve got nothing impure to compare it against?!”

“Erm…T-Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, speaking up for the first time in a while “…Er…what is this all about? What do you mean, purifying? “

Twilight placed a reassuring hoof on her shoulder “It’s nothing for you to worry about, Fluttershy. Besides, me and Talisman are gonna find some way to stop all this from happening.”

Suddenly, the masked pony did something unexpected. He stopped his struggling for the briefest of moments, and then doubled over in uncontrollable laughter. Twilight stepped back, an expresion of shock and slight disgust on her face. Shrieking with mirth, he leered straight at the unicorn. “Ohohohohahaheeheeheehee!…oh…oh…You, you honestly think..Hahah…that you can do anything to stop us? Ohohoho, you poor, deluded fools!”

Twilight stepped closer, muttering “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He craned his neck forwards, his snout almost touching hers “It means that you’re too late to do anything, my pretty. The rite’s almost complete, and nothing can stop it now…there’s just one more bit we need to check off, and our Master will come to this world in his true form.”

“A-and…what is this last bit?” Twilight asked, dreading the answer.

A thin, pink tongue suddenly extended from within the mouth hole of the mask, running a sudden, swift lick up Twilight’s muzzle. “You, my pretty. You’ll be all ripe and ready real soon! Heeheehee!”

Fluttershy whimpered at the sight, cowering as low a she could behind Twilight. The unicorn drew her head back in disgust. Wiping a hoof against her face, she watched in outrage as the masked pony before her giggled uncontrollably. He tilted his head up, to look Talisman in the face.

“Just like that dopey unicorn we harvested last time! Thanks for him by the way, kid, you gave us a real head start! Hahahahaahaahaahaaa…!”
Talisman suddenly let go of the pony, who proceeded to curl up in mirth, and wordlessly walked over to a small rocky outcrop. Picking up a small rock in his mouth, he returned to stand above him, his eyes cold and unyielding.

“Talisman? What’re you…”

Without any warning, he took the boulder in his forehooves, raising it above his head.

“Tally, what…wait, NO!”

Twilight barely had time to look away before there was a sickening CRACK!, followed by an agonized scream. Here comes that nausea again…

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! MY LEG!” screeched the masked stallion, as he doubled up in pain, cradling his crushed and crippled hind leg, which was twisted and bent at odd angles and bleeding profusely.

“TALISMAN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Twilight screamed. But the stallion did not listen. He raised the boulder up high once again, ready to strike another crushing blow.

“STOP IT!!!!”

Twilight, Talisman and the masked stallion turned to face Fluttershy, who watched the gruesome display from the sidelines. Her eyes were wide with shock, her coat, blanched and pale. A forehoof was raised in front of her face, covering her mouth, as if she had just sworn.

“Fluttershy…I’m sorry…I’m so sorry you had to get mixed up in all this…” Twilight began. But the yellow Pegasus ignored her, striding past her and kneeling at the side of the crippled, sobbing colt.

“Sshh…don’t cry…here, let me take a look at it…” she cooed, reaching out to examine the injury.

But the colt recoiled “Nnnngggh! Gettoff!...Go away, I don’t…need your pity!” he retorted, spitting out that last word like a bad apple.

Fluttershy drew back her hoof quickly, then sighed. She had had to deal with patients like these before. But, enemy or not, she could not stand to see another pony in pain.

“We’re all gonna die anyway…”

The words echoed through the clearing, cutting into everypony present like a knife. There was silence in the forest, save for the choking sobs of the masked pony that lay at their hooves, as he slowly slipped into unconsciousness again. Twilight was the first to speak:

“C’mon, everypony. I think it’s time to head back.” She said, her voice unnervingly level and calm.
She gave Talisman a none-too-gentle nudge and headed in the direction they had come. He followed, nervously, behind her. But before they had even left the clearing, Talisman spoke up.
“Er...aren’t you forgetting something?”

Twilight scowled back “Yeah, what?”

Timidly, the colt pointed back to the curled up colt on the ground. Twilight’s ears drooped bashfully as she remembered: He’s the whole reason we’re out here.

“Oh...right, yeah. I guess we’d better bring him with us. We can keep him at your house so we can talk to him.”

“No way! No no no no no! Not gonna happen!” Talisman snapped “He’s not coming in my house! Nope, not possible!”

Twilight turned to face him, her face set into a snarl “Well we can’t keep him at my house! Spike would lose it if I brought him home with me!”

“Um...Twilight?”

“I don’t care where he’s going! But he’s not gonna stay with me! Get one of your friends to take him...Rarity, yeah that other unicorn!”

“Are you kidding me? The last thing we need is one of her customers finding him and raising a panic!”

“Twilight?”

“How about Pinkie?”

“Knowing Pinkie, that would be a very bad idea. And Rainbow Dash has a cloud home, so she’s out of the question; and I doubt Applejack would be willing to...”

“Excuse me, Twilight?”

She turned to Fluttershy, straining to keep her voice level “Yes, Fluttershy?”

Twilight was astounded to find the yellow pegasus crouched down by the side of their unconscious captive.

The pegasus looked up to her “If...If you need a place for him stay, I could...you know, take him to stay in my house...”

“What?!” Twilight shrieked incredulously “Fluttershy, he’s the one who brought the Slendermane into our world! He’s working to get us all killed!”

As she said this, she failed to notice Talisman shift nervously. But Fluttershy was adamant.

“Well, yes, but...but he’s lost alot of blood, and he needs somepony to fix up his leg.” She said, as she hoisted the unconscious pony onto her back. “I can take care of him for you. I-I promise, he won’t leave the house”

The unicorn was still unsure about this “You sure? I mean, I thought you were afraid of him?”

Fluttershy looked back at the pale mask adorning the unconscious pony on her back. Shuddering at its blank stare, she gulped slightly and replied “Well, sort of...But he really needs help quickly, or he might be hurt for life!”

Talisman leaned in to mutter to Twilight “She has a point. This’ll give us a place to put him and get him well enough to question in one go.”

Twilight glared at him, and he shrunk silently back, ears drooped. She returned her gaze to Fluttershy, who looked back at her imploringly. This really seems like a bad idea. Putting this strange, and possibly dangerous, pony with Fluttershy, the most timid and gentle pony in Ponyville just spells trouble, she thought to herself. But there was no denying that they both had good points. Plus, there was just no saying no to the look on Fluttershy’s face. “Ugh…fine. But don’t let him leave your house! We need to find out all we can from him before all this goes down. And if tries anything, tell me right away! Don’t wait, don’t hesitate, just tell me!”

Fluttershy nodded, “Oh, I promise, Twilight. He’ll stay in my house the whole time.” With that, she spread her wings and flew up above the treeline, in the direction of her cottage on the outskirts of Ponyville.

The two ponies followed suit, walking silently through the Forest, each immersed in their own thoughts. Talisman lagged behind, his head bowed as if in shame, his now thoroughly messy hair concealing his eyes. Twilight strode out in front, her anger and frustration mingling with anxiety and fear. In her head, she was already composing a letter to send to Princess Celestia, the moment she returned to Ponyville. She couldn’t wait any longer.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

In the Ponyville library, Spike was lounging on the desk of the main reading room, his chores done for the day. Owlowiscious perched on the lamp by him, dozing contently.
Their naps were disturbed, however, by a loud tapping on the door. Rubbing his head, Spike grumbled and headed to the door, where he found a familiar grey Pegasus hovering before him, holding a small package.
“Urgent delivery from Twilight Sparkle.” Ditzy said, her wobbling eyes staring off in opposite directions “She says not to read it, and to send it off to Canterlot immediately. I guess you’ll have a way, right?”
The dragon nodded and took the small package inside. Closing the door, he looked the package over. It felt like a large wad of sheets of paper, packed into a large envelope, with a small scroll attached to the outside.
“Well, if it’s urgent, it’s urgent.” Spike said with a shrug. Placing it on the ground, he took a deep, deep breath and breathed a plume of green fire over the package, incinerating it in an instant. The ashes floated into the air and out the window, off to Canterlot.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Princess Celestia gave a low sigh. Sure, she was free to relax until dusk, when she would have to take the sun down for Luna, but until then, what was there to do? Luna was asleep, the guards were busy, and she had not had a report from Twilight Sparkle for almost a week now.
She furrowed her brow in anxiety at this thought. Twilight was usually very diligent about her friendship reports. Was she having trouble? Was she working up to something big?

As if on cue, there appeared through a pipe in the wall, a wisp of ash that hovered into the room, and with a small POOF!, transformed into a new letter.

“Ah! Right on cue!” Celestia chuckled as she eagerly looked over the unusually large correspondence from her star student. Telekinetically lifting the scroll from the package, she scanned over it with eager eyes.

Dear Princess Celestia. Today I am writing to you not on a discovery I have made about friendship, but an entirely different discovery altogether. One of the most terrifying discoveries I have ever made. I am still not sure what is going to happen, but rest assured, if left unchecked, it will mean disaster for all of Equestria.
For the past week or so, something has been following me. It has been watching me, and doing things to me. It has hurt me and does not seem to want to stop. I have encountered another young pony who has encountered the same creature, and seemed to be eager to help me. He was very helpful in determining exactly what is going on, but I am no longer sure how much I trust him. After the events of tonight, it is obvious that he is hiding something. I do not know who to look to, but you.
Enclosed is all the information that the two of us have gathered together, concerning this terrifying turn of events. If you could look over them, I would greatly appreciate any help in this matter.
I am scared, Princess. More scared than I have ever been in my entire life.
Help me.

Her eager smile fell. Tentatively opening the envelope, she extracted the first item, a small polaroid photograph. Levitating it before her face, her eyes grew wide as she saw the pale, tall, faceless figure that leered out through unseen eyes at her.

“I...Impossible...no, not...”

Her entire body froze as she was overcome with a mix of fear and terrible, terrible recognition.

“…Him…?”

She turned back to the letter, and read out loud the final line, which was scrawled in hasty, untidy script:

“He’s coming for me.”

Comments

[Captain Grim]

.........Creepy

[Chill Mists(Chilly)]

Dun dun duuuuunnnnnnnnnn! Very creepy. Cannot wait for more!

[Totheark]

Oooo Princess Celestia is even scared of him!
I wonder what his world is like...

[Zelda Spectrum]

So creepy!