Slendermane
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This short story is based off of "Slender", a game on the computer. If you don't know about it, then you'll probably be confused by this story. Please play the game first. :)
______________________________
____
LOG
Name: Brightly Shining
Location: Ponyville
Time: 17:24
Subject: The Slendermane
Tonight I'm going on a sort of adventure, if you'll call it that. I'm gonna set out and attempt to find the Slendermane, a mythological creature of sorts. It is said that it wears a black suit, has a cutie mark that looks like death, has tentacles coming out of it's back, and has no face. The last one is the one I don't believe. How can anypony not have a face and still live? It needs to see, to hear, to smell. But I guess not.
If I don't return, this'll be the last anypony reads of Brightly Shining. By Celestia, I will find this Slendermane and prove its existence to everypony.
END LOG
____
Brightly Shining leaned back as her computer powered down. She really needed to pack, but she was too tired. "Maybe I shouldn't go. I'm too tired. I'll fall asleep in the forest." Brightly thought aloud. But she decided to go anyway. She groaned as she raised herself from her seat in front of her brown computer desk. Her spine cracked the whole way up, and by the time she was in a standing position, every vertebrate in her back had popped. She moaned aloud in exhaustion. "Ahhhh..."
She trotted out of her study and into her bedroom. Just as she was about to lift her saddle bag onto her back, the doorbell struck. She practically blew a hole in the roof she jumped so high. The moment of surprise passed, and she trotted over to the door. She unlocked it with magic and swung it open.
"Hey'a Brightly." Applejack smiled. "How ya' doin' this fine day?"
"Oh, good. Thanks!" Brightly smiled back.
"Well, don' get too comfortable there. Remember tha' promise you made me?"
Brightly gasped in surprise. She had promised to help AJ buck apples this evening. "Oh...goodness!! I'm sorry, AJ. I forgot! And I even scheduled an important business trip for tonight over you! I was just about to leave, but then you showed up!" Brightly was panting hard now.
"Oh, that's perfectly fine, sugarcube. Ah' can do it by myself." AJ smiled again.
"Yeah...but...whatever. Thanks, AJ." Brightly forced a weak smile.
"Anytime, sugar." AJ concluded. She turned around and trotted into the sunset.
"But what are friends for?" Brightly said to herself as she closed the door behind AJ.
______________________________
Brightly ran back to her room and levitated the saddle bag onto her back. She had weighed it down with all sorts of supplies: Food, Water, her laptop, a map and compass, her camera, and a flashlight. She checked to make sure she had everything, then slipped out of her house and into the shadows of the alley beside it.
She trotted through Ponyville, Everypony closing up shop for the night. The sun was setting, casting a shadow over the eastern side of Ponyville. Brightly stuck to these shadows, trying her best to keep herself out of sight. She was dead afraid sometimes that somepony had spotted her, but all were false alarms.
After 10 minutes of this, Brightly finally reached the Everfree Forest. Her research had concluded that the Slendermane would be here tonight, which was the perfect opportunity for Brightly to catch it. She smiled inwardly as she trotted next to a patch of Poison Joke. "Maybe I should bring some and throw it at the Slendermane and see what happens." She thought aloud again. She immediately regretted it. She needed to stay silent, prowling through the underbrush and spying on wildlife. The sun was completely set now, a dark overcast looming just above the treeline. Just thinking about it made Brightly feel claustrophobic.
She needed to focus on the task at hand. She got out her map and compass, turned on her flashlight, powered her laptop, and began making calculations. "Lets see...no...not there..." she muttered to herself as she studied. The notes seemed far away; It felt as if her mind was disconnected from her body. She couldn't focus. Random thoughts were going through her head. "The Slendermane is rumored to have no face." said a voice. Brightly snapped up, looking around frantically for any signs of movement. But nopony was there. Brightly shook herself down and got back to work.
______________________________
After what seemed like an hour, Brightly came to a conclusion. "It should be camped over...there." she muttered again. She pointed a hoof southward. She got up, packed her things, levitated an apple out of her bag, and started walking south while chomping on the apple.
As she walked, Brightly suddenly tightened up, shuddering. After a moment, she calmed herself. "I really should've worn a coat." she said to herself. She shuddered again, this time not from the cold. Brightly realized that she was afraid. "No, Brightly. Do not turn back. You have to do this! For everypony! For Equestria!!!" She realized that she was yelling again, and again regretted it the instant it happened. She checked her compass again. "It should be around here somewhere..." She trailed off. She levitated her camera up and powered up the device. As soon as the light came on, she noticed tracks on the ground.
Brightly immediately snapped down to the ground to study the tracks. As she scrutinized the marks, she felt a looming, pressing force coming in from all sides. It was like the air around her body was compressing and crushing her. After a moment, the pressure became too great for her body to bear. She fell onto the ground writhing, her hooves jammed into her temples. She started screaming. The pressure continued to increase, eventually so much that she couldn't move. Her head was jammed onto the ground, and her body felt like it was being squished from all sides at the same time.
A figure appeared out of the darkness. As it got closer, Brightly saw tentacles coming out of its back. "No!" she screamed. "Nooo!!!!!!!" But it was no use. The Slendermane trotted up to the writhing yellow unicorn and stopped. Brightly managed to get a good long look at its face.
It...had no face.
"What!? But...no!!!" Brightly kept screaming. The Slendermane reared back on its hind legs, aiming for the kill. Brightly closed her eyes tight, readying for the pain and terror of death.
It came. She screamed so loud that she thought that she might've burst her lungs. But she no longer had lungs. In fact, she was floating above the scene watching as her body was consumed by the Slendermane. She watched as her laptop was crushed, all of her research and notes gone in the blink of an eye. She was crying as a spirit now, her tears falling away into nothingness.
"Goodbye, Equestria. I'll sure miss you..." She trailed off and then disappeared.