> Slender: Equestria > by MarcusFirehaven > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Games we play > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I wake up. It is the middle of the night. There are no stars in the sky, the moon is new and providing no light to see by. I have my flashlight with a dying battery and only one thought in my head. Collect the pages. Simple enough a task. I begin to walk around a bit and acquire my first page, attached to a tree without tape or glue or a nail or anything, and then I hear a pounding in my head. I turn around and nothing is there. I continue upon my way and come across an odd rock formation. I find a page attached to a rock and take it. The pounding gets stronger, faster. I turn around to leave and I see him. He is tall, wears a fancy suit, is pale beyond just never seeing the sun, inexplicably thin, and has no facial features. Slendy. The Operator. The Slender Man. Whatever you call him, he is trouble. We have our game. I wake up in the middle of the woods, Slenderman hides the pages, he catches me, we have to restart. This time, I am going to win. This time, I am going to go home. I find the other pages scattered around by a fuel truck, inside the building, on the fuel tanks by the building, in the giant pipe tunnel thing, and other places. I have begun to suspect that Slendy made this place. The trees are all the same height in one area, the entire place is fenced in and I can't seem to climb the chains, and it feels like people just vanished rather than actually left. I have also begun to suspect that Slendy cheats, since I lost the last game inches from the final paper. This time is nearly the same. I saw the last paper. It was stuck to the shed. I made a bee line when the already huge pounding began to increase. I was feet away. I turned back and Slendy was just behind me. If I look away, he'll just grab me and I have to try again. If I keep staring he grabs me and I lose. Luckily for me, I backed into the shed. I tear my attention away from Slendy long enough to grab the page, and things begin to shake. I can see the static again. The world is shaking, but I won. I am free. --- Twilight Sparkle is walking through the Everfree Forest to visit Zecora for a nice cup of tea. Some would say that she is crazy or that the two are a bit closer than just friends for Twilight to brave the Everfree, but in all actuality, the forest is only dangerous if you go off of the paths or provoke the wildlife. She is also bringing Zecora a few things she couldn't find that Twilight has and is willing to give for a special brew that fixes a nasty cough that was going on around Ponyville. "What... no... but I won... he- he can't just... I... I beat his game, I beat him!" Twilight thought she heard somepony, it sounds like... a little filly? "Hello?" She asks. She did not expect there to be anypony here, let alone a filly. Even the Cutie Mark Crusaders usually have enough sense to not be here. "H-hello?" The voice calls back. It is definitely a filly. Twilight knows that the forest is dangerous, but she is not going to leave a filly in it while she left for help, the only way she can doom a lost filly even more is if she just ignored her. Twilight heads off the beaten path and walked through around fifty feet of the imposing foliage before coming across a small opening. She sees the filly sitting there with a small object Twilight identified as a flashlight. The filly seems about Applebloom's age, same coat color, but a straight, long brown mane, and has a bright red jacket on. She has brown eyes and looks like she has no clue where she even is. The filly's eyes also show fear, and Twilight doesn't blame her, she knows some of the things that live in the forest. "Hello? Do you know how you got here?" Twilight asks, the filly just shook her head. "Can you tell me your name?" "Jaime" The filly says. "My name is Twilight Sparkle. Are you lost?" Twilight knew the answer is going to be yes, but thought she might as well have asked. "I don't even know where I was before now, I didn't even have company other than him." The filly replied. "Who is this 'him'? Is he a friend?" "No." "Well, we should get you out of here and over to Ponyville." "That would be appreciated." The filly gets up and takes a step, then falls over like a puppet with it's strings cut. "Ow!" "Are you alright?" Twilight is feeling a bit concerned, maybe the filly touched some poison joke? Twilight levitated the filly, which confused her for a moment, and set the lost pony on her back, then levitated the flashlight over as well. "I don't really know, but things are at least better now," Jaime says. Twilight smiles at the filly, then turns around and sees something. It looks like a tall pony in a fancy suit, but something is off about it. She blinks and it is gone. She is about to ask Jaime if she saw it, but the filly in question is asleep, apparently having a tiring day. She continued on her way to Zecora's to drop the ingredients off at the zebra's door, then head back to the library. > The new place > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight thought it was odd. Nopony was in the streets, so Twilight was not seen holding the little filly while she was heading to the library, but that was not the thing Twilight found odd. She knows she saw something in the forest, and she could only describe it as odd. She found a filly in the forest, then a tall pony in a fancy suit just appeared then vanished into thin air. She did not get a good look at it, but she thought it had no face. That would be silly! What kind of pony lacks a face? Though with the Everfree it can never be known for sure about what secrets lie within... Spike was out helping Rarity collect gems for her 'Greatest ensemble to ever be brought upon the world', so Twilight decided that he wouldn't mind if the filly borrowed his bed, since her own was full of scrolls and books of various topics from psychology to farm work, she was in one of those moods where she just had to read anything she could get her hooves on. Twilight thought she had read something about a tall pony without a face, but it was just an old mare's tale about a creature that stole faces, and it wouldn't have disappeared like that if they were the same creartures. Another thing that bugged her was Jaime's name. It was more of a Griffin name than a pony name. Twilight's mind went back to the tall pony. She knows it was there, she saw it, and the Everfree has many creatures in it that have never been seen before, it could very well be benign or have followed her out for all she knows. She levitated various books over regarding mythology, creatures, and a book of information on eldritch monsters. She was going to go through that last book last since the knowledge of some creatures tends to draw them to the poor pony who dared to read it. Twilight was halfway through the third book when she heard Jaime begin to awake. --- Jaime crawled out of the small bed, more tired than when she fell asleep. She attempted to take a few steps, but just fell down. She noticed the staircase, but decided she should get some practice actually moving before falling down the stairs. Before she could do much to figure out how to move, Twilight came in. "Good morning, Jaime!" the purple unicorn said. "Would you like something to eat?" Jaime's stomach growled, letting her know that she hadn't eaten before her games with Slendy, and that he was keeping her from getting hungry so that their games never end. "Yes, please." "Okay, you want to come down or would you like me to bring some food up to you?" Twilighr asked, remembering how Jaime didn't take one step before falling on her face. "Up, please." Jaime replied. She was not planning on falling down stairs. "Okay." Twilight said, then went to the kitchen to make some daffodil sandwiches. Jaime took this oppurtunity to try walking some more. She started slo, and was pretty clumsy, but after a minute she got a bit less clumsy. Before she got the confidence to even try going down the stairs, Twilight came back with the sandwiches. She levitated a small plate with the sandwich up to Jaime, then said "If you need anything, just call down. There are some stories up there to read if you get bored, and if you want, I know some fillies who might come over to play." Jaime thought for a monent, then decided that she would like another child to play with her, and she at least wants to know somebody around her age, since she doubts that she is going to be here just shortly. "I would like some friends to come over." "Okay, I'll go see if they are around, off trying to get their cutie marks in something like extreme sports." Twilight said. Coincidently, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo entered the library as Twilight left her room. "Twilight!" Applebloom shouted, "We need a book on being ninjas!" "Sorry girls, I don't have books on being a ninja, Spike tried, he found none." Twilight told the trio. "But I found a filly in the Everfree forest, and she woud like to meet you girls, and she doesn't have a cutie mark, so she can go crusading wi-" "WHAT!?!" The three fillies yelled. "She was in the forest?" Applebloom asked. "She doesn't have her cutie mark?" Sweetie Belle asked. "She came here willingly?" Scootaloo asked. "Yes, yes, and I am not even going to answer that last one. She's upstairs, and-" Twilight said before the trio zoomed past her up to her room. The trio crashed through the door to find Jaime halfway done with her sandwich. "Hi! I'm Applebloom, this is Sweetie Belle, and this is Scootaloo!" Applebloom said, introducing the group. "What's your name?" "We heard Twilight found you in the Everfree forest! Is this true?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Where did you get that jacket?" Scootaloo asked. "My name is Jaime." She said, "I was found in the forest, and... I don't know. It was a present." "Who gives clothes as a present?" Scootaloo asked. She found it absurd that anypony would give clothing as a present. "So, uh, we heard you don't have a cutie mark, do you wanna join our club?" Sweetie Belle asked. "What's a cutie mark?" Jaime asked. The three just laughed, until they saw Jaime's face pretty much said that she really didn't know what a cutie mark is. "Seriously?" Applebloom asked, then explained "It is a special mark that appears on your flank that tells you your special talent!" "So Twilight's talent is sparkles? Why does she live in a library instead of an arts and crafts store?" Jaime asked. "Her talent is magic, not sparkles." Sweetie Belle explained. "I'm gettin' an odd sense of deja vu here, have you ever heard of a place called Sunny Town?" Applebloom asked. "Where?" Jaime asked. "Do you know anything?" Scootaloo asked. "Scootaloo! That wasn't a nice thing to say!" Sweetie Belle told her friend. "Not... really." Jaime said, which got her odd looks from the young trio. "What do you mean by that?" Applebloom asked. "I mean... I'm not quite from around here." "Then where are you from? Another universe?" Scootaloo asked jokingly. "Yep. Jaime repkied. The three crusaders' jaws dropped simultaniously. "What?" > With friends like these... > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Crusaders just continued to stare at Jaime. "What?" she asked. "You're from another universe?!" Applebloom half asked, half stated. "Yeah. Please don't tell Twilight, I didn't tell her." "What is your world like?" Sweetie Belle asked. "I think it is kind of like here, except..." Jaime said, then stood up and balanced on her back hooves. "I used to walk on two legs," she fell over, then got back up. "There are different books, we have vehicles that move themselves, and some even get power from being in sunlight!" "Ooooooh!" The trio said in unison. "And, uh, we have vehicles that can fly many passengers across the ocean!" "Ooooh!" "And we aren't ponies, and we don't have cutie marks." "What?!" Scootaloo asked, "how do you know what your special talent is!?" "We don't, we just find what we like doing, then we practice it to get better if we aren't good at it until we are, or just find what we are good at doing." Jaime explained to them. "Woah! Maybe that's what we have to do! Find something we can find something we are really good at, and practice until we get our cutie marks!" Applebloom stated. "What have you guys done so far to try and get your cutie marks?" Jaime asked. "Far too many things to count." Sweetie said. "Have you asked any adult ponies how they got their cutie marks?" "Yes, and I had to sit through some songs! SONGS!" Scootaloo said, which gained a confused look from the former human. "We tried it and our friend Fluttershy broke out into song during it, and... I have no idea where the music came from." "Interesting..." "Ponies don't usually break out into song." Applebloom told Jaime. "Okay." Jaimee said with a nod. "Can we go outside and play? I kind of want to see more than what is outside the window." "Sure! We can take you to our clubhouse!" Applebloom said with a grin. "Before we go, can I finish my sandwich?" --- After telling Twilight where they were going, the quartet of fillies began to walk to Sweet Apple Acres. They were moving at a fairly slow pace, as Jaime didn't really have much practice moving before leaving, but along the way, she got better and was moving about the average speed a filly her age should be walking. Jaime had a feeling that the trio was showing her around a bit, but didn't seem to be straying from a straight path in one direction too far. They were passing a building that is clearly supposed to be a schoolhouse when something happened. And by something, I mean Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. "Hey Silver Spoon, it's those lame Cutie Mark Crusadrrs!" Diamond Tiara said to her friend loud enough that it was a clear insult to the trio she mentioned, "So who's your new friend? Another Blank Flank?" "Leave us alone, Diamond Tiara, we don't want any trouble." Applebloom said. "What trouble?" Silver Spoon asked, "We just want to know who your friend is." "My name's Jaime, I'm new here." Jaime said. "Why are you hanging out with these lame Blank Flanks?" Diamond asked her, "Why not hang out with somepony cooler?" "They're my friends." "Who wants to be friends with them?" Silver Spoon asked, eliciting a glare from the trio. "They always break something when they are together, and sometimes when they are apart as well!" "Well I just got here, and they seem nicer than you, so I think I'll go with them." Jaime told her. "Why are you even picking on them? Why does it matter if they have cutie marks or not?" "Because they are Blank Flanks! There isn't anything special about them!" Diamond Tiara said. "Yeah, if they were special, wouldn't you think they would have gotten their cutie marks?" Silver Spoon said. "How are they not special? They are some of the first ponies I have met so far, and among my first friends. That makes them special to me. I don't have a cutie mark, but you aren't picking on me? Plus what your saying isn't true!" Jaime said to the duo. "They are special in their own ways, and don't need a picture on their sides to tell them that. And what are you going to do when they actually get their cutie marks? What could you tease them for then? What reason do you have to tease them now? They didn't bug you, so why do you bug them?" After a moment, Duamond Tiara responded "How can they be special without their cutie marks?" "Are there more ponies without cutie marks than there are with them? I guess that makes them special in one way." Jaime said, "come on, I want to see the clubhouse, I don't like bullies." The trio began to go on their way while Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were left to think. "Why didn't we think of doing that?" Scootaloo wondered aloud, "Telling them off like that." "They seemed like the kind of pony that irritates you guys too much for you to think about doing that." Jaime said. "So how much further is it to the clubhouse?" "About 15 minutes if we hurry, let's go!" Applebloom said, then the trio began to run towards the clubhouse. Jaime attempted to run to catch up, but quickly tripped. Her flashlight fell out of a pocket in her jacket and rolled away slightly, she forgot she even grabbed it, and she picked it up again using her mouth and put it in her jacket's pocket again. When she looked up, shw saw something in the woods. Watching her. It was tall, thin, white, wore a fancy suit, and had no facial features. Even though this is the first time she has seen him in pony form, she knew who it was. Slendy wants to play. Her vision began to blur with that odd static again, and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't look away. She knew that she was going to be caught, be taken once more, stolen and brought back to that frifhtening forest, but she couldn't wrench her eyes away ftom him. Her vision was nearly flooded with the static when she heard her friends calling back to her. She managed to turn away to see the Crusaders coming back. She turned back to see that Slendy has disappeared. Slendy may not be coming for her directly now, but he has a new trick up his sleeve. And this trick means she can't be alone. Good thing she has her friends now BuT fOr HoW lOnG? hOw LoNg ArE yOu GoInG tO aVoId My GaMeS, jAiMe? HoW lOnG aRe YoU sAfE fRoM mE? > ...who needs enemies? > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Crusaders and Jaime were nearing the clubhouse, and Jaime seemed a bit nervous. Sweetie Belle seemed to be the only pony to notice her being nervous. "What's wrong? Are you nervous? Don't worry, the Cutie Mark Crusaders are open to everypony who doesn't have their cutie mark!" "That's good, but not quite what I am freking out about." Jaime said, looking around herself, surrounded by trees. "Well what is it then?" Sweetie asked. "I just don't like being around so many trees..." "Did you get lost in some woods before? Or is it an irrational fear, like a fear of blinking?" "I have my reasons, but I want to keep them to myself. It's a.... scary story." Jaime did not want to tell them, Slendy was going to haunt her nightmares forever, if he didn't just cut out the middle...pony and just haunt her forever. "Guess we don't need to hear it then!" Scootaloo said, she remembered the last time she heard scary stories, and she ended up going over a waterfall. "Oh come on, don't be a chicken!" Applebloom said to Scootaloo. "I am not a chicken!" Scootaloo said defensively. "Bu-caw!" "I don't want to tell you because, unlike some scary campfire stories, this one is real." Jaime said. "very real. In fact, I'm pretty sure knowing it is how it even happened and how it got me here in the first place." "Then you have to tell us!" Applebloom said. "Did you miss the part about knowing it causing it to happen? I don't want to get you guys in danger!" The group entered the clubhouse "We get in danger every day!" Scootaloo said, "And Applebloom claims to have found some sort of town in the Everfree forest that-" "That really happened!" Applebloom told her friend. "You believed that there was such thing as the headless horse, what makes you not believe what I said really happened?" "The place was called 'Sunny Town', who would believe a place like that is scary?" "Have you been there?" Applebloom asked, "That place was all nice and sunny, then I found the bones of a filly who got killed just because she had her cutie mark, then everypony was a zombie and the place was broken! The place was cursed!" "Wow! I can't believe that happened! Mine is scarier though, there was no nice parts before the scary. None at all..." Jaime said. "Why don't you tell us?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Because you guys will be in danger too! I don't think it ever left me, that's why I was stopped until you came back for me after we left Diamond Tiara!. I would have been taken back to that forest, or even worse, I could have just been no more if you hadn't come back! You never saw it, which is good because you probably would have been affected too, now I am leaving this at that because I dob't want you to get curious and get in trouble too. I would never forgive myself if you guys got hurt or worse because of me, you are my only frends other than Twilight." "Oh, okay." Scootaloo said. "We didn't think this would be that personal." Sweetie Belle said. "Sorry we pestered you about it." Applebloom said. "There is no need to apologize, I shouldn't hsve really said all of that, but really, I only know a grand total of six ponies, two of which are bullies, and I don't want to lose half of them because of me." Jaime told the group. "So, um, what are we going to do?" She then thought for a second, "And it isn't so much personal as it is I have repeatedly told you no for your own good and you aren't listening." "We are going to try to earn our curie marks in base jumping!" Scootaloo and Applebloom said together. "What!? I was never told that!" Sweetie Belle said to the duo. "I'm with Sweetie Belle, I'm for keeping my limbs." Jaime said. "Do you guys even have parachutes to use?" Sweetie Belle asked. "We had some when we tried sky diving, but I think they fell in the stream." Applebloom said. "Well that sucks." Scootaloo said, "I was really hoping to base jump." "Why don't we try something fun, like going on a hike?" Sweetie suggested. "That sounds fun! And it could help me get more used to moving in this body and maybe be able to un to keep up if you guys decide to just run like you did earlier." Jaime said. "Oh yeah! I forgot that whole 'was originally bipedal' thing!" Scootloo said. "We walk a lot, if our cutie mark was that then we'd have it already!" Aplebloom said. "Maybe we could let her ride your scooter?" Sweetie suggested. "I left it at home." Scootaloo said. "I thought you were an orphan, I've never seen you with them, or even where you live." Applebloom said. "Seriously? You thought I was an orphan?" Scootaloo asked, shocked. "My parents are just embarrassing! I live about a block south of Sugarcube Corner. Where are your parents, anyways?" "Their dead," Applebloom said. "I was a little baby when they got in an accident." "Wait, Jaime, aren't your parents still in your world? Won't they miss you?" Sweetie asked. "Um... I'm an orphan." Jaime said. "Nobody would miss me." "That ain't true! Somepony would miss you!" Applebloom said. "You had to have had friends, or maybe a caretaker of some kind!" Sweetie said. "I actually kept to myself, I was bullied when I went to school because I had no friends to protect me, but I never let them get to me. I think they kind of led me to find out about the thing that lead to me ending up here." Jaime told the trio. "That sucks." Scootaloo said, eliciting a glare from the other two Crusaders. "What? It does!" "Yeah, Scootaloo is right, but I have Twilight at the moment to live with for now and I have you guys as friends, so I have it better now." Jaime said. "So since we are trying to get cutiearks, why not try something like baking a cake?" "That sounds awesome! Let's do that!" Applebloom said. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADER BAKERS YAY!" The trio yelled, which caused Jaime to cover her ears to keep from becoming deaf due to her close proximity. The group began to run towqrd the bakery, then stopped when they remembered that Jaime doesn't know how to run. Sweetie thought that she saww something out of the corner of her eye watching them, but when she looked, nothing was there. > Party Tricks > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As the Crusaders approached the bakery, they noticed that the town seemed emptier.than it was before. "Anypony else notice how it is even emptier than it was earkier?" Scootaloo asked her friends. "Yeah, odd." Jaime said. "Maybe they are just inside?" Sweetie Belle suggested. "hmmm... Maybe Pinkie saw Jaime earlier and decided to throw her a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party?" Applebloom suggested. "Maybe." Sweetie said. They opened the door to the bakery and were greeted by the sight of a certain pink pony who worked there, setting up streamers and such. With a cannon. "FIRE!" Pinkie shouted as she pulled the cord to fire the party cannon, and suddenly the room was filled with various streamers and a banner that says 'Welcome to Ponyville!'. Pinkie turned around and saw the four fillies come in. "Shoot! The party was supposed to be a surprise!" Pinnkie said. "So who's your friend?" "I'm Jaime." Jaime said. "Oh, that sounds more like a Hriffin name than a pony name, anyways, I'm Pinkie Pe! So what brings you girls to Sugarcube Corner?" "We're going to earn cutie marks in cake baking!" Sweetie said, "The bakery seemed like the logical place to go to try and earn it." "Sounds about right to me!" Pinkie said, then lead them to the kitchen. "Now, before we start, I have a few rules tso that you don't break the kitchen. Follow the recipe exactly so that it turns out right, cean up as you go so you have more counter space and to make clean-up once you are done easier, and no touching the knives. I have to go give out invitations to your not-so-much-a-surprise party. Good luck!" And with that, she left the room to take invitations to everypony. "Okay, let's find the cookbook!" Scootaloo said, thenvturned her head slightly to a book that could only be a recipe book. "oh." She opened the book and out fell a note, it landed face up and read 'Dear Cutie Mark Crusaders, if you are trying to bake a cake, please use box instructions. We understand you are trying to get your cutie marks, but we don't want you to get it too dirty, we just got new things. Signed, The Cakes. P.S. Yes, we knew you were going to try this eventually, we put the note here probably a few months ago. The boxes are in the cupboard.' "Okay, I think the reason everypony is inside is because you guys are a force of destruction together, and you just got what could be a permanent fourth." Jaime said. Sweetie was reaching for the box. After a few seconds of precarious balancing on a chair, Sweetie grabbed the box and brought it down safely. Sweetie was put in charge of tlling the directions. "'Put mix in a large bowl'." Sweetie said, then poured the box's contents into the bowl. "'Add two eggs'." Applebloom opened the fridge and got two eggs out, then cracked them open and poured the eggs into the bowl. "'Add 2 cups of milk'." Scootaloo went and grabbed a plastic cup used for drinking. "I think it means a measuring cup." "Oh, that makes more sense." Scootaloo then grabbed a dry measuring cup, and began to tip the milk carton. "Wait!" Jaime shouted to Scootaloo, since she was across the room throwing away the eggshells. "There is a difference between solid ounces and liquid ounces, so there is a difference between solid cups and liquid cups. I took a cooking class in my old school, that's one of the thngs I learned before ending up here. Let's find a proper one." Jaime opened the cupboard that Scootaloo got her measuring cup and carefully grabbed a glass one. She brought it over to the counter and Scootaloo poured out two cups of milk into the measuring cup (it was fairly large, it could hold 3 cups if it was filled to the top). and poured that into the bowl. Since the mix seemed to have everything else that was needed, they mixed it and poured it into a cake pan and put it in the oven thst was already preheated. "There, now we just cook for half an hour at 350 and we have our cake baking cutie marks for sure!" Sweetie said. After about fifteen seconds, Scootaloo waa tired of waiting. "This is taking forever!" Scootaloo said, then put her hoof to her chin as she thought for a moment. "If it takes half an hour at 350, it should only take only 3 minutes at 3,500!" She then turned the temperature knob up to 3,500 degrees... ...and Jaime calmy turned it back. "I saw it in a cartoon once, I do not want an oven exploding in my face, or at all... And why does an oven need a setting for over 3,000 degrees?" "I don't... know..." Applebloom said, the trio was actually curious about that. "I'm guessing it made sense at the time?" Sweetie suggested. "What are we gonna do for half an hour?" Scootaloo asked. "We can't leave or else we may miss the timer and burn the cake." "That's a smart idea! I saw intelligence there! I am positive of it!" Jaime said, then laughed, letting the others know that that was a joke. The other Crusaders didn't laugh. "My wit that dry?" "We could draw, but we don't have anything to draw with." Applebloom said. "We could play with the twins!" Scootaloo suggested. "Pinkie wouldn't leave if they were here, and I think the Cakes took them with them on their trip to the baking contest in Canterlot." Sweetie said. "We could teach me more things about Ponyville and... wherever I am, I only know some things about Ponyville, Canterlot's name, 5 ponies and then the bullies, and how to walk. I can't even run. I can trot, which is about the equivalent of jogging where I'm from. I would have read books on this place, but I got pulled out. I expected Twilight to take longer to get you, how did she get you so fast?" Jaime asked. "We burst into the library to get books on how to be a ninja. It had none." Applebloom said. "Maybe we can sneak one of the cupcakes?" Applebloom suggested. "Sure, the cake still has 25 minutes." Jaime said. "And I kind of want a snack, I'm sure she won't mind us taking a cupcake each, considering we just made a cake." The four Crusaders exited to be greeted to just about all of the ponies in ponyville shouting "SURPRISE!". > Sweet Dreams > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jaime was tired. Who could blame her? She walked around town with the Crusaders, learned a lot of things about the town, and was in a party where she met everypony- and Spike- in town, and avoided eye contact with Slendy. She arrived at the library and was going to pretty much just drop and sleep where she currenty was if it weren't for the fact that Spike said she could just take Twilight's bed since she was too busy studying to sleep. Jaime just waled up the stairs, into Twilight's room, and then up zome more stairs to the bed, climbed on top of it, and pretty much just blacked out. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jaime was on the ground, her head hurt for some reason so she put her hand to her head, despite the fact that it doesn't do anything, then relized something. "Hey, I'm not a pony anymore! I have pants again!" She began to look around for her flashight and camera, when she remembered that her flashlight was in he jacket pocket. For the camera... "Hey, this isn't my camera!" She picked up one that was dsfrnitdly more state-of-the-art than hers, and noticed it had about forty minutes of video recorded. "Might as well see what's on it." She pressed play and nwarly the entire thing uploaded itself into her mind in bits and pieces of the last person to possess it. Running around at night in the woods. Grabbing one of Slendy's pictures. Running from Slendy with the video distorting in an odd say that was very much not the static she was used to. Waking up in the morning in the woods and heading towards an abandoned mine. Activating a generator. Shining his flashlight in high power to blind some woman for a moment. activating another generator to turn to see that woman jumping on to him and mauling him before disappearing somewhere. Running through a forsst fire. And death. Jaime clutched her head as now her vision was distorted like the video was and it just made her dizzy. She immediately realized she was going to have an issue. There was also a note under where she got the camera. It was written 'Hello, if you find this, then I am gone. If my body is not here, then either the camera or my body was moved. I found out that the Operator is slightly less active if you have a camera, since it can not blink and has the odd effect of slowing his capture of you, however, the older your camera, the less effective it is, to the point that you might as well just be looking directly at him. Should you find this, you can have it. Should your camera be batter than mine, leave this. Don't even watch the footage. Delete it. Please heed my words as I have made a terrible mistake in watching this. I wish you well if you already encountered him. Goodbye.' The note appeared to have red stains on it, and Jaime quickly put together the connection between the goodbye and the stains, and dropped the note while making a pose that can only be described as 'Squick reaction'. She decided to look at her flashlight closer, since if she is getting a camera upgrade, she might have gotten a flashlight upgrade as well. She did, It's the same one the man in the video was using. She yested out the wide low power and narrow high power point-at-creepy-girl modes, then realisedwhat she was doing. She was in the same place the man in the video was. She had to find more pages. She noticed that there were two paths to take, and chose to go right. She came across a canoe and saw a porta-potty and looked around it and found one of Slendy's pictures. She took it down, then face-palmed as she realized what she did. "Stupid! I should have searched for them all and then started getting grabby!" She began to look around and went back to the path and came across a hunting tower. There was another page there which she grabbed. She turned around and saw Slendy, which caused her camera and apparently her vision to do that odd bouncy distortion. She quickly turned around and began running, barly able to see what she is doing and thankful she isn't tripping over her own feet in herhaste. She comes aross a building after winding herself ou and dreads her poor luck. Shs is going to have to go in there and risk getting cornered by Slendy. She walks in and immediately starts peeking into various rooms. It is a lot less creepy than the showerless shower rooms back in her old game with Slendy, but being that she is still being hunted by Slendy for his game and maybe that creepy girl. She finds the picture but Slendy is blocking her only way out. She does the smart thing and just climbs out the window. She swore she heard a chuckle, but it was distorted too much to be surd it even happened. She thinks Slendy found that amusing. She was lucky this time, coming across some shipping crates and immediately seeing the page. That makes four on he first run. She was hoping she would find all of the pages on her first run, but whate are the odds that that will happen? She continues on and comes across an information board, and there is another page. Slendy cheated and put it behind the glass. Jaine grabbed a rock and smashed the glass, then grabs the paper before turning to Slendy in her face. Her vision disorted and she quickly lost the game. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jaime woke up. It was the middle of the night, and her vision was distorted and bouncing like on the camera. She started to get up but fell down as she realized that she was a pony again. She began to wonder how she was going to see when she noticed her flashlight now is one that she can clip on to her jacket. The only reason she knew it wad there was because it was on. She quickly figures out that she is where she was when she first got to Equestria. Then something hit her. "If I'm here, then that means Slendy can catch me in my dreams. What happened to me in the library?" ----- Twilight yawned loudly then looked at the clock on the wall. 1 AM. She read over 15 books on mythology and urban legends, and found nothimg on the tall pony. She went to the kitchen to see Spike eating ice cream. After reprimanding him for eating ice cream at this time, she asked him if he knew where Jaime was. "She's in your bed, sleeping." Spike told her. She went upstairs and to her room, then upstairs again to her bed. And Jaime wasn't there. > Lost > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight was concerned. There are only two exits from her room and one of them isn't feasible if you dom't have wimgs or can't teleport if you are a unicorn. If Jaime attempted to climb down, she would have fallen and broken a leg... or her neck. She couldn't have gone past them, though, they would have heard her since the door basically slams itself when it closes. Jaime was either impossibly quiet or was taken, and Twilight really hoped it wasn't the latter. "I- I need to get help!" Twilight said to herself, "She couldn't have gotten too far, she's young and would probably get tired, and fairly quickly since it is the middle of the night! Spike came up and told Twilight "The Crusaders are here, they say they want to know if Jaime wants to have a sleepover." "Spike, Jaime isn't here!" Twilight said to Spike. "WHAT?!" The Crusaders yelled in unison, having followed Spike upstairs. "Girls! I need to know, do you know where Jaime could have gone?" Twilight asked the three fillies. "Well..." Sweetie said, "She said that she knows about this thing that comes after you when you know about it too much... And that she was from another world..." "Okay, this is worse than I thought, actually, that thing I saw in the forest might have been the thing she was talking about, and I found her in the forest, so maybe that is where it took her! Spike, take the girls to Rarity's house. I'm going to get Fluttershy and Pinkie to help me find Jaime." "Will do!" Spike said. "Why can't we help?" Applebloom asked. "Because this is far too damgerous to bring you along. Remember when the cockatrice turned me into stone? You are staying in town." Twilight told the girls, then left them to find Jaime. In the Everfree Forest... Jaime was curious. Those blue flowers looked pretty, and they smelled nice, but she didn't know if they were poisonous to touch or anything,so she kept a small distance away. Then she saw the first page on a tree in the middle of a patch of the blue flowers, knowing yhat Slendy wouldn't kill her with a flower, but not thinking too hard for some reason, she walkedthrough the flowers and grabbed the paper, then face hoofed when she realized what she did. She head off in one direction until she saw what appeared to be a natural path, which the word "path" being used to mean "at least she isn't walking through trees anymore". She saw a castle of some kind in the distance, and a page on a tree telling her that she probably is heading the right direction. After a few minutes, she reaches the castle and finds yet another page on a pole holding the bridge. That makes a third page. She slowly makes her way over the old bridge, and turns around to check if Slendy was following her yet. He was, and he was halfway to her on the bridge. She panics and begins to run across. Once on the other side, she turns and sees slendy is halfway to the bridge. Her vision bounced as she looked, but she did look so he stayed still while she removed the ropes from the bridge to drop him down it. He stayed in the air. "Crud!" Jaime said, then nearly threw up from how dizzy she was getting due to her vision bouncing so much, but got herself under control fast and bolted in the general direction of the castle. ... When she arrived, she fell down a hole in the crumbling structure and was in the basement area, or some dungeon. Inside the cell Jaime landed in front of, there was a page. Jaime pushed on the bars and they snapped like a twig. She walked in and grabbed the page, then quickly left the cell. As she wandered sround to find a way out, she started hearing hoof steps. "Who else would be here? I-" Jaime began saying before she saw what was cining towards her. It was that creepy lady from the camera in her dream, except now she was a pony. Jaime quickly pushed the button on her little flashlight to switch it to high power mode and shined it in the scary lady's face. She shied away from it and put a hoof in fronr of her face, and Jaime ressed the switch back to normal and bolted the ipposite direction, but not before noticing tgat the scary lady's eyes were black as night. Jaime ran as fast as she could. After a few seconds, she could hear the proxy's hoof steps again, and quickly getting louder. Then Jaime found out that the way the proxy came was the way out, and the hoof steps were getting louder and louder. Jaime stood at the dead end and waited for the proxy to get closer, then switched the light to high power to blind her. When the proxy put her hoof up to block the light, Jaime knocked her down and quickly ran off. The proxy showed it's dislike of this by growling loudly while it got back up. Jaime ran as fast as she could and reached the exit, which she immediately burst out of and saw slendy about 15 feet away. This caused her vision to bounce and she just started running. She ended up in a large room with a page on one of the pillars missing its upper half. If she wasn't being chased by Slender...pony... she would have looked around at the ruins of the castle a bit more, but she turned around to see Slendy a bit too close for comfort. She quickly ran towards a doorway and realuzed she just ran into a very large stairway that only goes up. She ran up the staircase and nearly got tangled on some vines on the way up. When she got to the top, she was in a large room with a pedestal of sorts that looked like it held something important at one time, but was now bare from the contents being removed long ago, save for another page, which should make six pages. Then she realized the only way back is the direction Slendy is. "Uh oh." > Blank Flank > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jaime was awake. She was back in the clearing, and it seemed to be starting to become early morning. "Looks like Slendy can't change the time here." Jaime said to herself. She got up, and decided to go look for pages first, then start getting grabby. She walked out of the clearing, and heard a scream. Twilight... Twilight was tired. She had spent all night searching the Everfree for Jaime, and was afraid her searcj was in vain, but kept looking. She was on her way back to the library, when she saw something on the path. It looked like a normal pony, but with exposed bone in some places, body all black, save for red orbs of eyes in it's head. It was filly sized, and had Jaime's jacket. Twikight screamed when she saw this, because she feared that this is what became of Jaime, a creature she heard Applebloom describe after Twilight found her in a clearing one day after visiting Zecora. A blank. The Blank Jaime turned to Twilight, and seemed a bit surprised by the random screaming. "Twilight? Why are you screaming?" the Blank Jaime asked. "Jaime... you..." Twilight said before she passed out from shock Jaime... "Twilight! Are you okay?" Jaime asked before rushing over to Twilight. Jaime reached out to poke Twilight, hoping to get a reaction to make sure Twilight is alright, before retracting her hoof after seeing it. "WHAT THE HECK?!? WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY HOOF?!?" Jaime yelled. She ran over to a puddle to look at her reflection in it and saw she was not a normal little pony anymore. She got changed again into a blank. "I... I became a monster!" Jaime proceed to begin going into hysterics as she stared into her reflection. Twilight... Twilight woke up and saw the Blankified Jaime in hysterics. She then wondered if Jaime had just looked like a Blank instead of becoming one. She looked around and noticed where she was: she was on the path at the ppoint where she saw Jaime, and there was poison joke in that clearing! "Jaime? Do you... are you okay?" Twilight asked the hysterical filly. "Okay? Okay?! Look at me! I'm a monster! How can I be okay!?" Jaime asked. "Did you touch any blue flowers while you were here?" Twilight asked. "Yeah? Why?" "That was Poison Joke." Jaime stared at Twilight for a few seco ds before flatly saying "What?" "It's this plant that plays a cruel joke on you if you touch it." Twilight explained, "It made me and my friends think we were cursed because of it's affects." "So I have a bad magic plant messing with me? I'm going to tell it how I feel aout that! Plants understand what you are saying, I saw the testing!" Jaime said as she walked back into the clearing. Five minuted f angry yelling at plants later and she came out of it. "Better?" Twilight asked. "Slightly. Can we go back to the library? I don't like this... and I want some breakfast." Jaime replied. Twilight and Jaime walked back to Fluttershy's to tell her what happened and see if she had the stuff to gix poison joke, where they saw that the others were waiting for them, or at least for Twilight. "Twilight, Darling, wre you in that forest all night?" Rarity asked. "Yes, and I fohnd Jaime." Twilight said. "But you don't look so happy.' Pinkie said. "Well... Jaime encountered some pouson joke, so... well..." She moved out of the way so thw orhers could see Jaime. Rarity brought a couch in from nowhere as she fainted, and Fluttershy fainted too.