It was a beautiful and bright night throughout all of Equestria, although no pony would notice inside the Everfree Forest.
Inside this forbidden forest there was a lone pegasus mare. Her name was Rising Dawn. She had a pearl coat ,and her mane was bright sunshine gold with snow white streaks running through it. With her she had saddlebags filled with special herbs, roots, fruit, and flowers in order to make special medicines for the hospitals around Equestria.
Rising Dawn was smiling as she walked through the Everfree. Her bright mane would catch and reflect the light of the moon that would occasionally shine through the thick foliage of the trees.
After a few moments she felt a pony watching her. She turned around quickly to see who was following her but saw only trees. It wasn't that she was scared of being followed. It was that she was curious who it could be. Dawn wasn't easily frightened. In fact she finds herself to be fearless. This is why she walked rather than flew home. As she walked, a cold chill ran up her spine as the feeling crept up on her. She turned again only to find nothing in the deep foliage.
This time, however, she walked forward to investigate. She searched the area finding nothing once more. Content with this she continued her trek back home, only to feel , for the third time, the feeling of stares.Dawn ignored it for awhile, making good progress until she just couldn't stop herself. She turned, expecting to find nothing, but this time she turned to see a pony staring at her, far away from behind a tree.
To Dawn this pony seemed very pale, like he was sick. Rather than angry at this pony Dawn grew concerned. She called to him.
"Hello, sir? Are you alright? Do you need any help?"
The stallion did not answer her. He only stared at her from behind the tree.
Dawn moved towards the pony, slowly coming to him to be sure he was ok. As she approached, however, she found a very horrific sight. This 'pony' wasn't staring. He couldn't stare. He had no eyes. He didn't answer her because, again, he couldn't. He didn't have a mouth either! As far as she could tell, this disturbing pony didn't even have a nose on his muzzle. This 'no-face pony' was wearing a luxurious tuxedo over his, newly realized, bone white fur. Getting closer Dawn saw this pony had no mane. He was bare except for his fur and suit.
Dawn stopped advancing and stared at the empty 'face' of the earth pony stallion before her. She couldn't take her eyes off of him. She wouldn't even blink.
"Who are you," Dawn asked. She waited a moment before adding, "What are you?"
The pale stallion just 'looked' at her, unmoving.
She became rather dizzy. Her vision became slightly fuzzy and she lost her focus slightly. Unable to prevent it any longer, Dawn blunk. In the fraction of a second it took her to blink, this... creature moved. it actually moved several feet around the thick trunk of his tree. Now he stood in front, rather than behind, the tree. He was still staring at Dawn.
Dawn was admittedly a bit creeped out by this thing watching her. It was only a few yards from her now. What should she do? Turn and run? Stand and fight? Dawn wasn't a fast runner or a good fighter, but what else could she do? That's it! This thing is an earth pony. it cant fly. But she can.
Dawn spread her pearl wings and flew up to get away. When she looked down, the mysterious pony was standing where she was just a moment before. For the first time she could remember, Dawn was scared. She felt the bitter cold of fear grow in her chest.
Dawn was about to clear the tree canopy and into the moon lit sky, but at the last second something like a black whip appeared beside her. It seemed to be alive. She looked at it, horrified. She could do nothing as it wrapped around one of her wings. It caused her to falter in her flying up, although she was wobbling left and right, she stayed suspended in the air, just a few feet from the beautiful and safe sky. Another whip flew at her and wrapped around her other wing, and a third around her waist. It was here she realized something. The whips were freezing. They felt so cold they burned. It was so painful just touching them, she felt like she was going to scream. And she did.
Dawn screamed at the top of her lungs.She screamed herself hoarse. She was in so much pain. She looked down and was able to muster one more scream.
The creature under her had grabbed her, not with whips, but tentacles! They came from his back, through his suit. He looked up at Dawn with his faceless stare. She watched him. They stared at each other for several minutes. Soon he started to pull Dawn down. All she could do was wimper, because her throat was already damaged from her screaming before. The decent was slow. So very painfully slow. Every time she would blink the pony below got ever closer.
So this was it. This is how she would die. At the hooves of a monster, in a dark forest at least a mile in. No pony would ever find her. Her family would always wonder what happened. This thing would make sure it will never be discovered.
She thought back to just the other day. It was her 25th birthday. Her friends and family threw her a surprise party. At least it was supposed to be a surprise. Her coltfriend is terrible at keeping secrets. She giggled inwardly at the memory before looking down at the thing below her. It hadn't moved at all except for the tentacles dragging her down.
This was it and she was okay with that. She closed her eyes and got one last look at her coltfriend as she awaited the end.
"I love you."
This was it, and she was okay with it. She closed her eyes and got one last look at her coltfriend as she awaited the end.
"I love you," Dawn whispered silently to her coltfriend. It is the last thing she wanted to say, and now she is ready. The creature below her, due to her closed eyes, kept pulling her down to the earth at a steady pace. Yet, even uninterrupted, it went painfully slow.
In ten minutes time the creature pulled Dawn to the ground. She slowly let her eyes open to find herself face to face with the creature. It did not move, and neither did Dawn. The blurry vision and lightheadedness almost instantly returned. She took a step back and fell to the ground. She looked up to find the creature above her with his muzzle directly above her head, staring down at her. Dawn was severely disturbed by this thing. How long has it been? It has seemed like an eternity. Without taking her eyes off this... this demon, Dawn stood back up and slowly began to back away, making sure she didn't trip again.
Dawn was about twenty yards away before she had to blink. In the half second it took her to do so, the monster had closed twelve yards of the set distance. Dawn literally began to cry. She tried to stop her tears but she couldn't. She was going to die here. She knew it. How could she ever get away? This monster was right with her everytime she would lose eye contact with it.
Dawn sighed deeply and started to walk backwards once again. She made it another twenty yards before she blunk again. Once more the monster in front of her moved twelve yards closer. It was farther away now, but it was still closer than she would like it to be.
Dawn continued back with the same results. It went on for a few minutes until there was a twenty yard difference. Once there, Dawn slowly turned away from the creature, and she bolted.
She ran. Dawn tried to escape her assailant. She would turn while she ran, to find the creature plaguing her always a few feet away. She never saw it move. Every time she turned, it was simply standing there, watching her flee without fleeing. How far was she from the tree line of the forest? She had no clue. All she cared about was getting away. All she wanted was to see her coltfriend again. Her sweet and wonderful Nightingale.
For ten minutes, she ran nonstop, fueled by fear ridden adrenaline, and she now saw the edge of this forsaken forest. Tears began to well in her eyes once more as she reached the edge. She was alive! She wasn't going to die in there. She will see Nightingale again. Dawn turned and stepped to look at her chaser. His bone white coat. His featureless face. His black suit. It will always plague her nightmares, but she will never have to be afraid of this thing anymore.
Wait, what if it follows her? What if it will always be there? Waiting for her to turn her back so it can take her? Staring at this simple and silent creature turned her stomach. Maybe she can never get away. No! She won't believe that. She has had to deal with so much in the time she was here. She wasn't going to let this rule her. She is going to walk out of this forest, go home, be with her coltfriend, and go to bed. Everything will be how it was... hopefully.
Dawn stepped back, watching the monster. It didn't move in the slightest. She just kept walking in reverse until she passed the treeline, into the moonlit meadow. Dawn turned quickly and ran. Once on the other side of the meadow she turned again. The monster was watching. Staring from within the trees. It was standing in the exact spot she exited from. For several seconds Dawn stared at her assailant. It did not move, until she blunk. When she did, however, the monster was gone. As if it was never there.
With that final disturbance, Dawn turned and walked back home to Ponyville. She was so very tired. She walked through the desolate night streets of Ponyville, begging to get home so she could finally get some sleep.
When she finally made it home, Dawn paused and simply just looked at the dark and silent building. The full impact of the night finally hit her in that moment. It caused her to stumble forwards with a new wave of tears entering her eyes. These tears, however, were tears of joy. She entered the Everfree, was stalked by a faceless monster, and got away. How many ponies could say that? She walked up the path to her front door. She opened it and walked inside, closing the door behind her. She decided to go to the kitchen and rummaged through the cupboards looking for a snack before bed. She setteled on a slice of sweet apple pie.
While she ate, Dawn heard a noise on the stairs to the second floor. She then heard the sweet, silky voice of Nightingale. "Dawn," he whispered down the stairs to her. "Is that you, sweetheart?"
Dawn swallowed the last of her pie before answering. "Yes dear, its me. I'll be up in a moment"
She heard hoofsteps on the stairs, then on the hard wood floor to the kitchen. When Nightingale entered he gasped. "What happened to your coat?"
Dawn looked back at her coat. Her eyes went wide as she saw her pearl coats affliction. There was a deep black ring going in a perfect circle completely around her waist. it was darker than night itself. Looking closer, her wings had the same rings. It must have been when that creature caught her and pulled her back to the ground.
Dawn looked back to Nightingale. He was well built and tall. He had plenty of muscle but he never showed them off. Most ponies would never notice them. He was a deep black pegasus. Almost as black as the rings. His mane was ash grey. His eyes were a dark amber. In short, he was the exact opposite of Dawn. At this moment his eyes were full of a deep caring worry. He wanted to be sure she was okay.
"I don't know what it is. I was walking in the Everfree and I-," Night put a hoof over her mouth, shushing her. His eyes were wide.He looked so very scared for her.
"D- Did you-," He was stuttering terribly. Dawn was terrified. She knew what was coming. "Did you see the Slendermane?"
Slendermane. That was its name. Dawn stared into Nights eyes. She was mortified right now.
"Dawn. Did you see it?" Night was quaking. Dawn has never seen him like this. It only made her feel worse. She thought it best to just tell him the truth
"Yes, yes I did."
