> Haunted: The Story of Slen
>  by Lance Skyes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Part 1: The Train
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The young unicorn colt sat in the train, dozing off in his seat as the moon rose and Princess Luna’s night slowly fell upon Equestria. The colt had a grey coat, green eyes, and a green mane and tail. His cutie mark was the one thing he wished he never had to see in his life, but there it was. The Eye of Slender, a red circle with two lines going through it, creating an X shape. Life would have been so much easier for Slen, the colt, if it didn’t even exist, but there it was, permanently marking him as a target for the faceless demon... Slendermane.
The poor colt had been running all his life from Slendermane, but the demon always chased him, always found him, always burned everything around him. No matter where Slen had hidden, Slendermane would just burn everything around the colt. Not a single thing would survive if Slen tried to hide, and Slendermane made sure of it. He made sure Slen suffered as long as the colt lived, but nothing would stop Slen. He was determined to find some way to stop Slendermane without giving into his dark secret...
Slen was just dozing off when a noise woke him up. He looked around the train car, but it was suddenly deserted. “Hello?” Slen called. “Is anypony there?” Just then, he heard a faint noise from outside the train, but it was getting closer. Was that... hoofsteps? And were they at the pace of a gallop? And how could he hear them over the sound of the train? Slen quickly turned to the window and looked at the landscape rushing by. He looked as carefully as he could, but couldn’t find the source of the noise in the dark of night. Just then, he heard four hooves impact onto the roof of the train car.
“Slen...” a voice whispered. The voice sounded so close, even though the hoofsteps were slowly making their way to the other end of the train car. “You can’t hide, Slen...”
“Maybe not, but I can still run,” Slen shouted back, not really focusing what he said on anypony or anything. Just then, there was a clanging on the far door of the train car. The one the hoofsteps on the roof were headed towards.
“Nopony can run forever, Slen...” The clanging on the door got louder and louder over time. “I will find you...” Just then, several black tendrils bursted through the wall around the door, grabbed the door, and yanked it right out of the wall. Standing against the backdrop of a black void in the opening created by the absence of the door was the very demon Slen was running from. Slendermane. He was a tall, skinny (literally slender) pony in a black suit and red tie. His head was white and faceless. He had several shadowy black tendrils extending from his back, and his cutie mark was similar to Slen’s, except Slendermane’s was white rather than red.
“No!” Slen shouted, doing his best to back away from Slendermane. (Somehow, he had fallen out of his seat and was standing in the middle of the aisle. Probably through Slendermane’s magic.) “You can’t have found me already!”
“On the contrary...” Slendermane replied, advancing upon Slen. “You’re the one who has found me, this time.”
“I... I don’t understand...” Slen said, hitting the door on the other end of the train car. Thinking quickly, Slen opened the door and got ready to gallop for his life. However, on the other side of the door was a dark void at the bottom of which was an endless sea of fire. Before Slen could even question what was going on, the train car around him crumbled and fell into the fire, leaving only the center aisle, himself, and Slendermane. “This isn’t happening! It’s more of your magic!”
“Guilty as charged,” Slendermane said, holding one of his hooves in the air. “I just figured I’d lay down the welcome mat for you since you’re headed straight towards me for once.”
“Heading towards you?”
“Isn’t it obvious? The town you’re headed for has a dark forest next to it, and it just so happens that that is the very forest I call home.”
“But how could you have known where I was at all?” At this point, Slen was doing his best to stay as far away from Slendermane as possible, but he was completely out of floor and Slendermane continued to advance.
“I’ve gotten very good at tracking you down, Slen,” Slendermane replied. “And I won’t stop until you are in my hooves.” Slen looked down at the eternal fire below. “It’s no use running, Slen. I won’t stop until I have you. You will fulfill your true destiny by my side!”
“You’re going to keep chasing me until you have me, huh, Slendermane?” Slen stood up tall with a serious expression on his face. “Then I hope you’re ready for a real chase.” Slen then jumped backwards and fell to the eternal fire below. He closed his eyes so he didn’t have to see the fall, as well as to shield his eyes from the light of the fire. He felt the heat intensify slowly, but never felt any impact. He opened his eyes quickly to find that he hadn’t fallen at all. He was barely a foot away from where he had jumped from. He turned around to find that Slendermane had used one of his tendrils to grab Slen’s left rear hoof before the colt could fall.
“Don’t think I’m letting you go that easily,” Slendermane said, slowly reeling Slen in. The colt struggled to break free, but was entirely unsuccessful. After a while, he found himself staring right at Slendermane’s faceless head. “I’ll be waiting for you...” Slendermane then dropped Slen, allowing the colt to fall into the eternal flames below and burn.

Slen woke with a start, jumping right out of his seat on the train and falling muzzle-first on the floor. He got up quickly to find that he was back in the train car from before the dream. Yes, that’s all it was. A dream. There was no way Slendermane could have actually lived near where Slen was going this time, and the demon sure as hay couldn’t tell if Slen was headed that way.
Could he?
Slen was thinking about this for a while when he finally looked around and realized that he was the only pony in the train car. When he looked out the window, he could see the sun just beginning to rise. “I stayed in here the entire night?” Slen asked himself. He rubbed his eyes drowsily. “Guess that uncomfortable seat explains the dream.” Slen got back in his seat and just stared out the window as the sun rose for the rest of the train ride, which only lasted about another hour.
After a while, the train came to a stop and the train whistle blew, signifying that the train had came to a stop. However, Slen just continued to sit there, staring at the train station and all the ponies passing through while at the same time thinking about the dream he had the previous night. After a few minutes, the conductor walked over and nudged Slen. “Hay, kid,” he said. “You need to get off the train.”
“Oh, right,” Slen said, shaking his head, jumping off his seat, and galloping off the train car and onto the platform. He took a deep breath and smelled the peaceful air. He was in a new place with a new air of peace and calm. He still remembered what Slendermane had said in his dream, but he was able to ignore that for a while to enjoy the fact that he was in a new town...
Ponyville.

> Part 2: A Friend in the Darkness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Slen stood on the platform of the Ponyville Train Station, just looking around at all the ponies going by. At the same time, he couldn’t help but think about the dream he had last night. Was he really standing right at Slendermane’s front door?
“Slen!” a voice called form somewhere on the platform, snapping the colt back to reality. “Slen, are you there?” Slen couldn’t recognize the voice, but he was relieved that he didn’t recognize it as Slendermane’s voice. Still, who could possibly know his name? Slen looked all around before he found the source of the voice. It was a green pegasus colt about his age with gold eyes and a green mane and tail (a little darker than Slen’s) with a gold stripe running through both. The most peculiar part of the pegasus, however, was his cutie mark. Slen thought he recognized it from somewhere, but couldn’t quite place his hoof on where. “Slen, is that you?”
“Uh... yeah,” Slen replied, trotting over to the pegasus. “How do you know my name?”
“You mean you don’t recognize me? It’s me, Rei.”
Rei. The strange name of Slen’s pen pal since the young unicorn was eight. With the dream last night, Slen totally forgot the conversation the two had over MagiComm (some new real-time communication system created by an alicorn named Twilight Sparkle) only days before. It went something like this...

”Hay, Slen,” Rei said. “Haven’t heard from you in almost a month. How have you been?”
“Oh, I’ve been fine,” Slen lied. “You know me. Traveling, seeing what there is to be seen in Equestria. Nothing spectacular. How about you?”
“I’ve been great. I recently moved to this nice little town called Ponyville. Have you ever been there before?”
“No, I don’t think I have.” (You can tell because foals haven’t been abducted and the place hasn’t been burned to the ground.)
“Oh, you should come for a visit.”
“I really don’t think-”
“It’s a really nice town. Everypony’s nice.”
“Rei, please-”
“Every day is pretty eventful.”
“Rei-”
“And the six ponies who wield the Elements of Harmony live here.”
“Wait. What did you say?”
“The Elements of Harmony live here. Why?”
(This could be exactly what I need to get rid of him.) “You know what? I think I will drop by Ponyville for a visit.”
“That’s great! I’ll arrange for you to stay with me here at my house. It won’t be so hard, given the fact that my foster parents are almost never around. I pretty much have the house to myself all the time.”
“Okay. I’ll see you in a couple weeks, probably.”
“See ya, Slen.” It sounded like Rei backed up a little and was no longer talking to Slen after that line. “Thanks, Rarity. How much do I owe you?”

“So how was the train ride?” Rei asked.
“Oh...” Slen started. “It was, um... Let’s just say that I fell asleep in one of those uncomfortable seats and had a crazy dream.”
“Really? Did you see Princess Luna in the dream?”
“No, I actually didn’t. Look, I really don’t feel like talking about it right now. Can we just get going?”
“Yeah, sure. Come on.” Rei then began trotting into the town, Slen following closely.

After a short and rather quiet walk, the two colts made it to Rei’s house. “Here we are,” Rei said. “It isn’t much, but we’ll be the only two here most of the time.”
“It’s actually not that bad,” Slen said, looking around. “It’s a lot better than any place I’ve stayed in before.”
“Well I’m glad to hear that. By the way, how long were you planning on staying here in Ponyville?”
“Eh, not that long.” Slen turned and looked out a nearby window. Rei’s house was pretty close to the Everfree Forest. The place that Slendermane said he lived. “You live pretty close to that forest over there, don’t you?”
“Yeah. They call it the Everfree Forest. Ponies say very dangerous creatures live in there and warn foals to stay away from it, but I’ve never seen a single one of those dangerous creatures.” Rei chuckled a little before continuing. “Never been in there, either, but what’s the point in going in there? Let the Elements of Harmony save the world while us background ponies stay safe in this little town, ya know?”
Slen wasn’t really paying attention to Rei after he said “dangerous creatures.” He was just thinking about how little Rei knew about what dangerous creatures in particular lived in that forest. “Is there something wrong, Slen?” Rei asked, jerking the young unicorn back to reality.
“Uh, yeah,” Slen said. “I’m fine.” Under his breath, Slen added, “I think.”
“What was that?”
“Nothing. I didn’t say a thing.” Seeking to change the subject before Rei started asking questions Slen didn’t feel like answering, the unicorn brought up something he wanted to get done while he was here in Ponyville. “I hear there’s a library around here. One that has just about every book on magic and myths there is.”
“Yeah,” Rei said. “Golden Oaks Library. It’s run by Princess Twilight Sparkle. Have you heard of her?”
“She’s a princess now?” Slen was legitimately surprised by this fact. “Man, I’m way out of the loop if I didn’t know about the newest princess in Equestria. Anyway, do you mind if I step out and visit that library real quick? I know it’s a bit rude to just walk out after we just got here, but...”
“No, it’s not a problem,” Rei replied. “You go on. I needed some time to fix us something to eat, anyway. Have you ever had a taco?”
“Uh, I can’t say I have. Anyway, I’ll be back in less than an hour.” Slen then quickly trotted out of the house, leaving Rei alone. Before leaving the area, Slen looked back at Rei’s house. “He’ll be safe, Slen,” he said to himself. “There’s nothing to worry about.” Right as Slen said this, he turned to look at the Everfree Forest and just stared with a serious expression. Suddenly, for as little as a split second, he could have sworn he saw Slendermane at the edge of the forest.
“We’ll see about that,” Slen thought he heard Slendermane practically whisper in his ear. The unicorn turned quickly to see that nopony was there. Slen breathed a sigh of relief before he had a sudden realization.
“Rei,” Slen said to himself. He then bucked the door open and galloped back into the house. “Rei, are you still here?” Slen called.
Rei trotted out of the kitchen, completely unharmed and unchanged. “Yeah, I’m fine,” the pegasus replied. “Why would I be gone? You’ve only been out for a minute.”
Slen kind of shook his head for a moment to shake out any paranoia that he might have had. “Sorry. Still thinking about that dream from last night. I guess I was just-” Slen cut himself off when he saw Rei reach for his nose with his hoof. “What’s wrong?” Slen asked as though what Rei was doing was an indication of something dangerous.
“My nose feels funny,” Rei replied, rubbing his nose. When he removed his hoof, there was some blood on it. “That’s strange. It’s a nosebleed.” This only caused Slen to gasp in horror.

> Part 3: The Sick Pegasus
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Slen was nervously pacing around while Rei had a tissue in his nose to stop the nosebleed. “I don’t see what you’re so worried about,” Rei said. “It’s just a nosebleed. Nothing serious.”
“Nothing serious?” Slen asked. “This is horrible!”
“How exactly is it-” Rei was cut off when Slen rushed up and placed his hoof on the pegasi’s head. “What are you doing?”
“Fever. Just what I was afraid of...” Slen then began trotting back up to the window and looked at the Everfree Forest.
“Slen, what’s going on?”
“Something I was desperately trying to avoid.” Slen then quickly turned around. “What exactly were you making earlier?”
“I... uh...” Rei looked legitimately confused for a moment. “I’m not sure, actually.”
“Celest-dammit. That’s probably the mild amnesia. We need to get you away from the forest. Where’s the library from here?”
“Slen, you’re not explaining anything. I’m not going anywhere until I get an explanation as to what’s going on.”
“I’ll explain everything later.” Slen then began pushing Rei out of the house. “But I don’t want to explain everything here and then have to explain everything again for Twilight Sparkle. You know, you could make this easier by actually moving your hooves.”

After a while, the two colts made it to Golden Oaks Library. “Good,” Slen said. “We’re here.” The unicorn then looked around to see if Slendermane was anywhere nearby, but Rei had no idea what Slen was so paranoid about.
“Slen,” the pegasus said, “are you alright?”
“Not really, but that’s normal. Let’s get inside, fast.” Slen then rushed into the library, using his magic to drag Rei in by the wing. “Princess Twilight Sparkle! Are you here?”
Just then, a lavender alicorn with a dark purple mane that had a pink stripe in it trotted in from upstairs. “Did somepony call for me?” she asked.
“Terribly sorry, Princess,” Slen said, bowing. “But I’m afraid the two of us have a serious problem.”
“What is it?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah, Slen,” Rei added. “What exactly is this ‘problem’ we’re having?”
Slen sighed before trotting up to Twilight. “Princess, I understand that you’re either familiar with many myths and legends.” Slen took a deep breath before continuing. “Do you know of a demon called Slendermane?”
“Slendermane?” Rei asked. “I think I’ve heard of that. Hay, I should tell you about this prank I played on a couple of school bullies a few weeks ago.”
“This is no call for pranks,” Slen said. “Slendermane is a very serious monster who’s caused terror all throughout Equestria for years.”
“Slendermane, huh?” Twilight asked. “I think I’ve read that name in one of my books before...” Twilight then began trotting around the library, pulling out book after book. Slen and Rei were looking as well, but Slen wasn’t entirely sure what he was looking for and Rei was still not entirely sure what the buck was even going on. After a while, Slen thought he saw what he was looking for. It was a pitch black book hidden behind several other books and covered in dust and cobwebs. On the cover of the book was the same design as his cutie mark, except more accurately Slendermane’s cutie mark. (Which was white rather than red.)
“Hay, Twilight,” Slen called, picking up the book with his magic. “I think I found what we’re looking for.” Twilight quickly trotted over and took the book in her own energy field.
“Hmm...” Twilight said to herself, opening the book and reading the first page. “‘The Equestrian Reference Guide to Slendermane and the Surrounding Mythos.’ Now there’s an interesting title.” Twilight then began reading what was on the “Introduction” page.

Slendermane is the name given to a dangerous and powerful equine demon who haunts Equestria. His body is the shape of a pony, but he wears a black suit and red tie, has a white, faceless head, and, as his most noticeable feature, has several tendrils extending from his back. His methods of haunting ponykind include abducting foals, burning towns, and slowly driving ponies insane before he eventually kills them.

“Wow,” Twilight said after reading that.
“Wow, indeed,” Rei added.
“And that’s just the gist of it,” Slen said, taking the book. He then flipped through the pages before he found the chapter he was looking for. “‘Chapter four: The Sickness.’”

The Sickness (also referred to as “Slender Sickness”) is the ailment that befalls some ponies haunted by Slendermane. The Sickness is a slow, painful, and most often fatal ailment for which there is no cure unless Slendermane were to suddenly stop coming after you. There are three stages to The Sickness:
Stage 1: Stalked by Slendermane. Symptoms include nosebleeds, fever like the common cold, and mild amnesia.
Stage 2: First encounter. Nosebleeds, exhaustion, nausea, strong cough, vomiting, amnesia, slight signs of radiation poisoning, aches and pains, slight trauma of the eyes (i.e. bloodshot, vesial popping etc.), and often deja vu.
Stage 3: More than five encounters. Coughing up blood, blood in vomit, many signs of radiation exposure, painful breathing, difficulty in swallowing, violent convulsions and major amnesia.
[Author’s note: The above information was retrieved from the following website: http://theslenderman.wikia.com/wiki/The_Sickness]

Rei was unable to believe what Slen was reading. “What exactly does this have to do with me?” the pegasus asked.
“Weren’t you paying attention?” Slen asked. “At the present moment, you’re suffering from stage 1 Slender Sickness. I just finished reading- oh, right, amnesia. Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Rei said.
“No, it isn’t okay at all,” Slen said, using his magic to shove the book back into Twilight’s possession. “Slendermane is after you... and it’s my fault.”
“How would it be your fault?”
Slen couldn’t answer that question without revealing his secret. “I... can’t tell you. It would only make things worse than they already are. All I can say is that Slendermane’s focus is me and he’s using you to get me to surrender to him. But don’t worry. I’ll find a way to stop him before he takes you.”
“And how exactly do you plan to do that?” Rei asked.
“I’m not sure, but I’ll think of something.”
“Could I make a suggestion?” Twilight asked, holding the book open. Slen and Rei quickly ended their discussion and paid attention to Twilight. “I just finished reading about something called ‘The Eight Pages’.”
“Yeah,” Slen said. “They’re the source of Slendermane’s power. What about them?”
“If I could get my hooves on them, I might be able to study them and cook up a spell to cure Rei.”
“Of course! Why didn’t I think of that?” Slen was actually happy for a moment, but then the moment passed as he had a sudden realization. “There’s a pretty significant problem with that plan, actually.”
“What’s that?” Rei asked.
“You, Rei. Slendermane will be coming after you at the first opportunity that presents itself. I can’t leave you here or you’ll be completely vulnerable.”
“So then what if I go with you two to get the Pages?”
“That won’t work, either. If you come with us, you’ll be out in the open. We might as well hand you to him on a silver platter if we go through with that plan. I’ll go get the Pages myself.”
“But you can’t go alone,” Twilight said. “What if he catches you?”
“Don’t worry, Princess. He won’t hurt me.” Quickly, Slen added, “For some odd reason.” Twilight and Rei were looking at Slen skeptically for a moment. “Just trust me on this one. I’ve been running from Slendermane for years. I know how he works. Twilight, you have to stay here and protect Rei. If he shows up, you’ll have to evacuate Ponyville.”
“Evacuate Ponyville?” Twilight asked. “Why?”
Slen took the book in his magic and flipped through the pages for a moment. “It says here that when a pony is stalked by Slendermane, he’ll sometimes burn the town that pony lives in to get to them or to remove any evidence of him being there like witnesses or photographs.” Just then, Slen paused for a moment as a look of despair washed over his face. “Oh no. I had completely forgotten about that...”
“About what?” Rei asked.
Slen turned to Rei, eyes full of tears. “I’m sorry Rei, but the Sickness might not be the end of it.” Slen then used his magic to hand the book over to his sick friend. Rei read what was on the page and quickly gasped in horror.
“There’s no way. His magic can’t be that powerful.”
“What is it?” Twilight asked, taking the book and reading what was on the page.

On some occasions, rather than killing ponies he’s stalking, Slendermane will instead turn them into minions called ‘Proxies’. Proxies are ponies who have fallen victim to Slendermane’s darkness and then had their last shred of life force manipulated to turn them into a hollow shadow of their former selves, completely under Slendermane’s control. Proxies are often taken from the survivors of towns he burns, but he will sometimes take individuals when after a larger purpose.

“Don’t worry, Rei,” Slen quickly said as he noticed how Rei was reacting to what Twilight read. (Not that well.) “Rei, listen to me. I’m going to do everything in my power and then some to make sure that doesn’t happen. You got that? You’re my friend, and I’ll never let anything bad happen to you.”
“I believe you, Slen,” Rei said. “I won’t lie, I’ve never been more scared in my life, and I’m not sure if it’s because of what’s in that book or how bad this fanfiction is, but I have every confidence that you’ll be able to get those Pages.”
“Thanks, Rei. Here I thought I’d have to be the one to give you the much-needed pep talk, but I’m pretty sure it turned out the other way around.” [Author’s Note: Before you read this next line, know that both of these colts are straight. Rei has a crush on Sweetie Belle and Slen will eventually take interest in Diamond Tiara. (Yeah, we’d all like to see how that works out. Spoiler: not that well.)] The two colts then gave each other a hug, both doing their best not to cry. “I’ll be back for you, Rei. I promise.”
“Do one quick thing for me before you go,” Rei said.
“What?”
“Pinkie Promise me that this will turn out ok.”
“Okay. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my- OW! Why do I keep forgetting not to actually jab myself in the eye with my hoof?” Rei and Twilight both laughed a little at Slen’s pain, but the mood quickly turned back to normal as Slen made his way to the door. “I’ll be back soon. Twilight, please make sure he stays safe.”
“I’ll do my best,” Twilight said. “Best of luck to you.”
“Thanks.” Slen then trotted out of the library and towards the Everfree Forest.

> Part 4: Pages
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Slen stood at the mouth of the Everfree Forest. He knew what was waiting for him within, but he also knew what would happen to his friend if he didn’t get the Eight Pages out of here and to the library. “You’ve got what you wanted,” Slen called out to the forest. “I’m here, but you brought my friend into this, so I’m not going to surrender until he’s safe, got that, Slendermane?” Silence. The only reply Slen was expecting. “I’ve been running from you all my life, but now I know how to beat you, and I’m not going to stop until my friend and all of Equestria are free of your terror!” Motivated by his own words, Slen reared up on his hind legs, let out a confident whinnie (like the noise real horses make) and galloped into the forest, his horn alight so he could see where he was going. Unbeknownst to him, he was being watched.
“Excellent,” Slendermane said to himself. “Gallop straight into my trap, young one.” Slendermane then began walking towards Ponyville.

Slen didn’t know how long he had been walking. All he knew was that the forest was entirely unfamiliar to him and that he was hopelessly lost.  To top it all off, he didn’t even have a single page yet, either. Another thing he knew, however, was that Slendermane wasn’t going to be that aggressive at this point quite yet. He only starts noticeably chasing ponies once they have two or three pages. This actually didn’t help Slen, given the fact that Slendermane wasn’t going to hurt him on account of his secret. Still, though, Slen would have thought that by now, he’d have at least found one-
“Page!” Slen shouted out loud as he noticed a piece of paper stuck to a tree not too far away. He paused for a moment and looked around in a paranoid manner to make sure Slendermane didn’t hear him. Of course he heard you, Slen thought to himself. He hears everything. After shaking his head at how stupid he was, Slen galloped over to where the page was and grabbed it with his hoof. The page came off of the tree with ease, and it read “Always watches. No eyes.” He doesn’t need eyes. With this thought, he used his magic to cause the page to disappear from his hoof in a greenish mist. The colt then turned and continued his search for the rest of the pages, still wondering where Slendermane was.

Back in Ponyville, Twilight and Rei were still reading through the book about Slendermane. “It’s astounding how little ponies actually know about this thing,” Twilight commented.
“I have to agree with you there, Princess,” Rei said. “Look here. It says that Slendermane used to be a regular pony before some kind of curse befell him.” As Rei continued to read, neither pony noticed the faceless figure peering in through the window. “The source of the curse was never discovered. The pony simply disappeared into the night without a trace.”
Just as Rei read this, Twilight heard a noise. A subtle one, but it was enough to cause both ponies to jump. They both slowly turned around to find the tall suited figure standing behind them.

Back in the Everfree, Slen was up to three of the eight Pages, and he still found no sign of Slendermane. “What are you up to?” Slen asked the darkness of the forest as he cantered on. “You don’t do something like this unless you have something big going on in the background.” As Slen said this, he saw a fourth page in the distance, barely visible within the light his horn gave off. Wanting to waste no time, Slen galloped over and grabbed the page, bringing his page count up to four. Just then, he heard a noise behind him. Slen didn’t turn around. He already knew what was behind him. He just took off galloping the second he heard the noise.
“Why do you keep running, Slen?” Slendermane asked. Though Slen was still galloping, it felt as though Slendermane was talking right into his ear. “You know I’m not going to harm you in any physical way.”
“That doesn’t mean I don’t know what you actually are going to do,” Slen replied, still galloping.
“You can’t run from your destiny forever, Slen. And neither can your friend.”
Slen immediately skidded to a stop shen Slendermane said that. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I would have thought it would be more obvious,” Slendermane said, entirely out of Slen’s sight no matter where the colt looked. “You went off on this little adventure and left the young pegasus completely defenseless.”
“He had Princess Twilight Sparkle and the Elements of Harmony to stop you.”
Slendermane did something at that moment that Slen thought he’d never do. Slendermane laughed. “You really think I’m enough of a foal to not know of the Elements of Harmony? You really thought I wouldn’t be ready for Princess Twilight Sparkle’s defense of the young pegasus?”
It didn’t take Slen five seconds to process what Slendermane had said. “No... You couldn’t have...”
“You know me better than anypony else, Slen,” Slendermane replied. “I’m a monster. A monster with great power. And you also know that I’ll do everything in my power to force you to surrender.”
“I’LL NEVER BE LIKE YOU!” Slen shouted. He then turned and began galloping back in the direction of Ponyville. (At least that’s where he hoped he was going.)
“Go on, little one,” Slendermane said to himself. “Keep running, but know that the time for hiding is over.”

Slen was galloping at top speed, but it still felt like it took hours before he finally found the exit to the forest once again. How could I have been so foalish? Slen thought to himself. I should have known Slendermane would be smarter than that. I should have known he’d- Slen’s train of thought was instantly derailed faster than a double rainboom when he got to Ponyville.
Or at least, the fire and devastation that used to be Ponyville.