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The Unknown

The unknown

A certain princess Celestia was gazing out her window, the sky was a brilliant one this evening. Luna had certainly outdone herself with this one, as the moon shone brilliantly. The day had exhausted her, despite being over a thousand years old, the day to day managing of the kingdom still took their toll. Not only that but her student, twilight Sparkle, hadn't updated her on her studies in over three months! Three months...that's the longest she had been without talking to her devoted student, even through letters. Now that she finally had some time to think, she realized how much she missed the purple unicorn.

The night drew on as Celestia mulled over her thoughts, eventually, the call to sleep became too much as she settled into her bed. Yet, something didn't feel quite right. She waved it off to the back of her mind, it could wait until later. It was at this moment that a blinding flash of purple light filled the room, leaving behind a single scroll. Celestia was rather shocked to say the least, as only Spike and Twilight Sparkle had been granted the right to send her reports directly. As her shock subsided, she became concerned, normally Spike sent the letters, appearing in a burst of green flame, Celestia slowly climbed out of bed, curious as to what reason Twilight sent the scroll herself.

As the scroll was picked up by her magic and reached the princess, she noticed a few things odd about it, the paper itself was crinkled and torn in places, there wasn't a seal on it at all, and most intriguing out of all this, was the symbol scratched haphazardly on the outside of it, a simple circle with a cross going through it. The rather disheveled look of the scroll made Celestia hesitant to open it, even if it was from Twilight. After deliberating on it for a couple minutes, she finally decided to take a look, this could be an emergency after all.

What was written upon the pages made the blood drain from her face. The absolute terror that her student had gone through, and the fact that she had done nothing at all...it caused her to burst into tears. She wiped them away and regained her composure, as princess it was her duty to protect her subjects. She notified her guards, telling them to send a courier to Pony-ville, she would be arriving there the next day. But first, she needed to research exactly what this slender creature was.

She canceled all of her engagements for the following day, and locked herself in the castles library. The information she needed was more then likely located in the bowels of the restricted section. Here was all the knowledge that had been forbidden to pony-kind over the years, history books on war, lethal spells, all types of things that not only had been outlawed, but completely buried and hidden.

She focused on the only description that her student had given her. “Slender...slender...slender...” She spoke the word aloud, as if it would help her search. Whatever Slender was...it definitely had a horrible effect upon Twilight. Perhaps her erratic writing style and psychosis where symptoms from the creature as well...she now began scanning through the books, looking for anything that would give her a starting point.

The hours flew by as Celestia found nothing at all to help her. She became so lost within her studies she nearly forgot to raise the sun. Shaking the sleep from her system she made her way to the balcony, where her sister was already waiting.

“Well...your quite late aren't you?” Luna inquired of her sister. “By about two minutes I should say.” Celestia Ignored her sister's chiding remark as she concentrated on the raising of the sun. Celestia finished her task and waited for Luna to finish hers, as she wanted to ask Luna about the creature.

“Luna...I received a letter from twilight today.” She began nonchalantly, she didn't want to worry Luna straight away. “She hasn't written you in quite some time has she not?” Luna asked...she was also quite worried about the purple filly.

Celestia lowered her head “No...she hasn't...and I fear...this letter bears some terrible news.” a tear slowly made its way down her cheek. “Does...Does the word slender mean anything important to you Luna?” The princess of the night's eyes widened as Celestia mentioned the word Slender. “Umm...no...Slender...don't be ridiculous Tia, what meaning would such a common word have to me?” Luna's voice shook slightly as she spoke, the nervousness in her speech became more and more pronounced. Amazingly, Celestia was so caught up in her own ideas that she was completely oblivious to Luna's body signals.

Much to Luna's surprise Celestia suddenly burst into tears and pulled her into a hug. “W-whatever is the matter my dear sister?” Luna stammered out, she had never seen her display such raw emotion, not for millennium. The alicorn threw her hooves around her sister in a reassuring hug, feeling tears starting to dampen her shoulder.

“L-luna...I think its better if you read the letter I received...it would explain the situation better then I.”Celestia choked out these words as if they physically hurt her to speak them. She released her sister and led her to the library where she had left the accursed paper. Upon entering the royal library Luna noticed it was in a state of dishevel, from the newest text books to their most ancient and valuable scrolls strewn about carelessly. “Tia...what is going on?” she asked, now quite afraid to get an answer.

“Here...just read, we'll discuss this when your done.” Celestia gave the scroll to her, immediately she began to read. As she read a dread fear began to creep from the dark recesses of her mind, there was a reason this particular creature had been left out of all the texts Celestia had read. This was the one thing Luna had been tasked with when she had been named princes. Luna finished up the scroll and immediately destroyed it. “Luna!” Celestia began to protest at her actions. “Tia...it's for the best that I do this, not just for you and I, but for the whole of Equestria...” Her voice began to shake as she spoke, knowing full well what the appearance of such a creature entailed.

Celestia looked questioningly at her sister “There's something you aren't telling me is there?” Luna nodded and spoke “Indeed...do you remember the old foal's poem we listened to so we wouldn't go out at night?” Celestia merely stared at her sister “So...there is absolutely no reference to this...thing in all the library...but there's an entire foals rhyme about it?” Luna merely bobbed her head in agreement “But...its simply a rhyme meant to scare children, like nightmare night!” Luna's head dropped when she said this. “I'm sorry Luna...but...Isn't that what it is...a simple rhyme?”

“The little rhyme mother use to tell us is all but dead in today's Equestria...save for one version that changed the antagonist to nightmare moon.” Luna shivered as she said this, those nights spent upon the moon weren't easily dismissed from her head. “Can you recall the old lyrics as mother told them?”

Celestia shook her head reproachfully “No...but, I do remember the storyline...it talked about how fear itself had gained form...and prowled about on dark nights...looking for bad little foals who stayed out to late to snatch...is that right?” Luna bit upon her own lip, nodding. “Thats...one way to look at it...although...not entirely true, He...it...I should say...isn't a creature like you or I.” She sighed and looked away from her sister before she continued. “ It doesn't hunt...it doesn't see, or smell, or hear...it doesn't have a purpose...it just...follows and...does whatever it does.”

“Before I let you continue, how do you know this much?” Celestia interrupted “I've only heard what mother told me, and even that I thought I grew out of until now, why isn't it in any of the history books, why isn't there so much as a foot note, and you have all this knowledge about something that threatens our subjects?”

Tears glistened in Luna's eyes as her sister said this. Seeing she had fallen silent she spoke in a barely audible whisper. “Because...It's going to kill you.” Luna began to tremble uncontrollably as she uttered the sentence, falling to her knees. “Ever since I came back...I've felt it's terrible grasp on my mind...the unrelenting whispers, instilling the feeling of hopelessness within me even when I was still Nightmare Moon...It won't stop Tia...even now...here where I stand before you...the most powerful being in all of Equestria and all her magic, second only to yourself, I thought I could stop it...I was sure I could stop it...but Tia...when it finds you...” Luna slumped forward. Struggling to raise her head to look at her sister.

Celestia knelt down and helped her sister raise her face to be level with her own. “What do I need to know, anything at all will help...Luna?” Bloodied tears fell from Luna's face, pooling on the library floor. “When it finds you...whatever you do...Don't look at its face...DON'T LOOK AT IT'S FACE, I'D RATHER SPEND ETERNITY ON THAT MOON THAN GAZE UPON ITS VISAGE AGAIN.” Luna's voice shook the library, it's tone flat, and devoid of life yet impossibly loud. “RUN MY SISTER, BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.” The trembling of Luna's body stopped, and she fell to her side, unmoving, yet her eyes stared lifelessly into the distance.

Celestia nudged her sister with a tentative hoof “L-luna...Luna?” The lack of response caused Celestia to fear the worst for her beloved sister, even more disturbing was the fact that her tears were no longer red with blood, as if they never had been to begin with. “Guards...come quickly, we need to get the princess to a hospital!” Celestia shouted to her guards, in no time flat they burst into the library, a runner sent to get a doctor. Celestia followed them the entire way to the hospital, her head held high despite her emotions. 'I can't let the citizens know about this...not yet, I'm sorry Luna...but I have to find out more about this...Slender...even if it does kills me.'

Celestia sat by her sisters hospital bed for a long while. The remaining princess turned away all visitors, wishing for it to be only her sister and herself for a while. She spent hours gathering her thoughts and thinking about the creature that had taken her student and now her sister. All the while a boiling rage filled her mind, thoughts of mindless destruction and harm towards the creature manifested themselves. Growing and feeding off the sorrow she felt for the two closest to her.

Eventually she returned to the castle for the lowering of the sun, and raising of the moon. As the final rays of light disappeared over the horizon she swore she felt the slightest hint of fear, whispering in the darkest crevices of her mind. Poking the tiniest amount of doubt through her thoughts. In the end she found herself too tired to contemplate it. Retiring to her chambers she collapsed atop the sheets, sleep was a welcome escape for her from the days events.

Author's Note:

And so, we finally get to the meat of the story. Will luna ever wake up? will Celestia kick the bucket? what happened to Twilight?

My apologies for taking so long to update. I actually might have wrote the ending to this story after a brainstorming session lasting days. Not only that but I've been kept busy with military work, boring stuff I assure you. but, I appreciate feedback as always, and I bid you all good day or night, as the situation requires.

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