P A R A N O R M A L

Chapter 3:

Welcome to the First Day

Of the Rest of Your Life

Silence reigned as Brave and Bon Bon sat at the kitchen table again. The mare took another healthy sip of her coffee as the stallion glared at the pony who just tried to stab him only minutes earlier.

“So,” she finally spoke up, opening her eyes to look at the young stallion, “I take it you have some questions?”

“Uh, yeah,” he said bitterly. “Let’s start with, ‘why in tartarus did you try to kill me’‽ Because I’m pretty sure that ranks pretty high on the list of ‘what the buckery’ is going on in my life right now!”

Bon Bon didn’t seemed phased in slightest by his outburst; or if she was, she did a good job of hiding it. “It was a test.”

“A test? A test‽ You call trying to kill me a test‽ What is wrong with you, mare‽”

“Nothing; and everything.” Brave groaned as she smirked at him. “Okay, listen, what I’m about to tell you is never to be repeated to another pony. No matter who they are or what they mean to you, you can never repeated what I’m about to tell you. And you have to promise it to me.”

“After you just tried to finish the monster’s job, I’m supposed to just suddenly make an oath or some crap to you? What kind of game are you playing here?”

Bon Bon’s gaze hardened at him, getting a slight shiver out of the stallion. “A dangerous one that has the lives of every pony you know and don’t at risk.”

Bravely blinked at her before his eyes widened. “Holy Luna, you’re not joking around.”

“No, I’m not. Now swear upon the River Styx you will never reveal what I’m about to tell you unless instructed otherwise.”

He gulped. Swearing on the River Styx was the only thing more powerful than a Pinkie Promise in Ponyville. The legendary river of the damned that ran through Tartarus itself and carried the souls of the living to the land of the dead; an oath on such ancient power carried a weight unlike any other. Swearing to the river was, in the most literal sense, betting your life on your ability to keep a secret.

With a shuddered breath, he rose his left hoof. “I swear...on the River Styx, that I shall never repeat what you will tell me to another pony.”

Bon Bon nodded, accepting his oath. She took another sip of her coffee as she laid back in her chair. “This isn’t going to be easy for you to understand, but bear with me here. Are you aware of particular urban legends?”

“You mean like ghost stories or creepypastas? What about them?”

Bon Bon looked to the ceiling as she spoke her next words. “They’re far more than stories. Each and every one of those legends are true; to some extent anyway.”

Brave blinked. Then blinked again. Then rubbed his eyes and ears. “I’m sorry, what? You’re telling me that the stories I’ve heard around the bonfire since I was foal… they’re all true? What kind of rotten candy are you trying to sell me here?”

“All stories have a basis in reality, Bravely. Even the ones that keep you up at night or make you fear what lies in the dark. That creature you experienced last night? That was one of them.”

“Wait, what‽ That thing was one of those ghost stories‽”

Bon Bon nodded, looking directly at him. “And you should be praying to the princesses that you’re even alive. That thing you killed? That was the Rake.”

“The Rake? Wait, hold up! I killed‽” Brave nearly shouted, the very idea sounding ridiculous.

“And just how else would that creature’s neck have been broken, hm? You were the only one else in that house.”

“W-well, uh, there could have been… no, um… uh…” He continued to try and think of something, anything that could fill in the blank better before he slumped back in his chair. “I killed it…”

“That you did, kid,” Bon Bon affirmed, taking another sip. “And it’s an amazing feat you did. The Rake is a creature even I never thought could be taken down. Yet, you did.”

“How do you know that’s what that was?”

“Simple, once you were asleep, I paid a little visit over to the police morgue and confirmed it myself. What’s odd, however, is that the Rake usually doesn’t attack out of the blue. There’s usually a lot of stalking before it goes after it’s prey.”

“Stalking? I never felt followed.”

“Oh, no,” Bon Bon waved off, chuckling a bit. “The Rake doesn’t stalk like a normal predator. No, they go far worse and haunt your dreams before finally revealing itself and, well, I can assume you know what happens.”

A lump formed in Brave’s through. “H-haunt my dreams?”

Bon Bon’s brow quirked up slightly. “Something you need to tell me?”

“W-well… for about the past week, I’ve been waking up in a cold sweat in the dead of the night. B-but not once could I remember what it was that kept waking me.”

Rubbing a hoof on her chin, Bon Bon hummed in thought. “Now that’s peculiar. The Rake always makes sure the prey know it exists before going for it. Never an exception.”

Brave wasn’t sure what to say to that, fiddling with his hooves a bit as Bon Bon got lost in thought. His own brain was running a kilometer a second, trying wrap his mind around what had occurred in less than twenty four hours. At least he could finally understand why Queen had told him to run; she recognized the creature. She’d always been one of those weirdos (at least to him) that enjoyed scaring themselves with urban legends and internet lores. Now, he was kicking himself for not paying her much mind when she went off on the newest creepypasta she found.

“I’ll have to report this to the higher ups,” Bon Bon said, bringing Brave out of his own musings.

“Higher ups?” he asked with a tilt of his head.

She nodded, swirling the remains of her coffee. “I mentioned an agency, no?” She didn’t wait for him to answer. “I’m a part of an organization that finds and eliminates these ‘creepypastas’ before they can harm too many innocent lives. And you have just been initiated.”

“Wait, what‽” He quickly figured that he’d be saying that a lot that day.

“That little test shows that you have the abilities needed to be in the agency. You were able to predict and counter my attack without even knowing I was going to attack. What do you remember?”

Brave blinked, thinking back to that moment. He’d been chatting with his friends, having let them know he was fine and that the creature was dead. Queen had been trying to grill him for what information he could recall when he felt a chill through the air. His senses suddenly told him to move or he’d be dead. The rest was all a blur until he was on the floor, out of breath and staring at his occasional employer holding a knife with a look of death. He recalled all this to Bon Bon who nodded in satisfaction.

“That blur you experienced? That was Hunter’s Instinct.”

“Hunter’s Instinct?”

“Mhm,” she said with a nod. “Hunter’s Instinct is a heightened form of your flight-or-fight response that allows your body to enter a state where it can respond and react to the danger at hoof. In both instances with the Rake and myself, you not only defended but also countered. You were able to knock away not only my knife but my strikes and it led to you doing the impossible in killing the Rake. I was actually quite impressed with the skill your beginner instincts allotted you.”

“Beginner?”

Bon Bon snorted, shaking her head. “Look kid, if I explain everything now, then it’s gonna be less impressive when I take you to HQ.”

“Oh… wait, what‽”

“You still have to learn the ropes, Bravely. Killing the Rake makes for a good resumé, but it’s not going to let you skip the training process.”

“Training?” he said, swallowing hard.

“Yup, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg-” Bon Bon stopped as her ear perked up. She heard the familiar sound of her front door downstairs opening. “Looks like Lyra is coming back. Remember your oath, kid.”

Bravely nodded feverishly and, just as Bon Bon said, Lyra came in through the apartment door, carrying a shopping bag in her magic. “I’m home~,” she singsonged again.

“Welcome back,” Bon Bon said with a smile, watching as Brave was looking fairly stoic now. She hid a smirk of approval. “Find everything you need?”

“Yeah, though sorry I was gone longer than I’d hoped,” Lyra said, putting away the groceries in the fridge. “The market was bustling today.”

“It’s buckball day,” Brave spoke up, getting both mares to look at him funny. “Ponyville’s buckball team is playing Manehattan today.”

“How do you know that?” Lyra asked.

“Just because I’m gaming nerd doesn’t mean I don’t keep up with sports. I like buckball just as much as the next gal.”

“Uh huh,” Lyra said sarcastically.

“It’s true!”

Bon Bon chuckled at the back-and-forth between the two, figuring she should stop it before it got too far. “Alright you two, that’s enough. Lyra, I’m going to be taking Bravely out for a bit.”

“Oooh, got a hot date,” she giggled while wiggling her eyebrows. “Didn’t know you were into the younger stallions.”

Both Bravely and Bon Bon’s faces turned a deep shade of red. “That’s is not what I meant in the slightest!” she screeched at Lyra who fell to the floor in a laughing fit. Bon Bon groaned as her roommate laughed herself silly, calming her own embarrassment. “As I was saying, we’re going down to the police station to see if there’s any new information on the attack last night.”

Lyra was finally able to calm her laughter and stand, still holding back a few chuckles. “Okay, just don’t stay out too late. I’ll be waiting up~”

Bon Bon grumbled as Lyra’s chortling renewed, Bravely still being the most embarrassed in the room. “Come on, kid. We got work to do.” She stood up with Bravely following out of the house, leaving Lyra to her own devices… and laughter.

Once they exited the house, Bravely noticed that Bon Bon almost immediately turned away from the direction of the police station and walked back behind her shop with him on her metaphorical heels. In back, he saw her go to a locked cellar door, though instead of unlocking it, she pulled on the left side and slid the entire door off and revealing a marble stairwell down into the ground.

“Come on, and pull it shut behind you,” she whispered, trotting on down.

Bravely debated for less than a moment before rushing after her, pulling the faux wood door back into place and hearing it seal shut. He gulped before trotting after Bon Bon, catching up to her rather quickly. In silence they walked down the electrically lighted stairwell, lasting for several moments before finding themselves in a far more peculiar place:

An underground train station.

“What in Equestria‽” he shouted, the sound echoing through the tunnel that extended into darkness.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Bon Bon smirked. Screeching wheels echoed through the tunnel as a small, two mare car rolled into place on the tracks in front of them. Bravely stared at it for a moment as Bon Bon climbed in. “Get in, kid. We’re going for a ride.”

For what felt like the hundredth time that day, Bravely gulped as he got in the seat next to Bon Bon. He noticed a little bar in front of him and noted that Bon Bon had pulled the one in front of her down on her. Shrugging he did the same before it clicked in his brain what this reminded him of.

“Oh crud.”

Those were the only words he could utter as the car took off faster than it had arrived. Bravely screamed as they sped off into unknown darkness, Bon Bon unable to hold in her chuckle at the stallion’s foalish screeching.

The track twisted and turned in the darkness, and Bravely would swear for the rest of his life that there was at least one corkscrew in the track. On and on they sped forward until finally the car began to slow into another, identical station.

Bon Bon looked over and nearly burst into tears at seeing Brave’s main completely pulled back and his face stretched into a look of terror. “Alright newbie, shake it off!” She shoved him out of the car when the bars raised, causing him to land on his face and let her climb out as well. “You gonna get up?”

“Can’t I just stay here and pretend I’m dead?” he nearly pleaded.

“Huh unh. Not a chance.”

“Darn.” He pried his face off the flooring and shook his face to get his mane back in order before following Bon Bon up down yet another staircase. The rest of the walk was marred with silence, neither saying a single word before they came to plain, grey, steel door.

Bon Bon stopped in front of it and looked at Brave. “Here it is, kid.”

“Here’s what?” he asked, looking between her and the door.

She grinned. “The start of the rest of your life,” she opened the door, revealing the innards that blinded Bravely with the sudden light.

* * * * * * * * * *

Deep in the Ponyville Police Department, lay the relatively quiet morgue, run by the equally quiet Mortuary Science. The elder unicorn stallion’s job was rarely in use most days, considering the friendlier nature of Ponyville. Not that he ever enjoyed have to see a pony he no doubt had encountered on the streets of the town being pushed in and on to his autopsy table.

He wasn’t too proud to admit more than once he’d shed a tear over the corpses that had been through his laboratory.

Not on this day, however.

Oh no, not today.

He was ecstatic to be in his profession on a day like this. The officers had wheeled in a creature unlike any ever seen before for ponykind. The autopsy reports of such a being could have made his name known worldwide in the scientific community. Unfortunately, there was always paperwork; always keeping him from the more important aspects of his career.

After all night of tilling the endless stacks of paper, he finally found himself free to examine a new discovery. With a small skip in his middle-aged step, he moved over to the morgue lockers, tracking down which one the officers had placed the body in. He smiled upon finding the number and grabbed the handle to the drawer. With a magical pull, he opened the locker.

Mortuary would regret that decision for last few seconds of his life.