Secrets

by bahatumay

Dangerous Warehouses

Lyra and Bon Bon, both wearing their sunglasses, meandered along, carrying a few gardening tools Bon Bon had ‘borrowed’ from the hotel shed over their shoulders as a disguise. They followed them from a safe distance, a fairly easy feat as they were loud and seemingly not paying attention to anything else.

After what felt like much longer than it probably was, they arrived at yet another set of old warehouses. They watched from the shadows as the ponies entered a dilapidated old factory, with a faded, hoof-painted sign that read ‘King Chemicals’ peeling off a nearby wall.

“What is it with old, run-down buildings?” Lyra asked, adjusting her sunglasses.

“Security,” Bon Bon answered. “I mean, would you go in there, intentionally?”

“Not without you,” Lyra answered cheekily.

Bon Bon cracked a smile. “That's the right answer.”

Lyra made to put her tools down, but Bon Bon stopped her. “We’re holding on to these,” she said. “These hoes are our best bet.” She spun hers around her hoof. “They’ve got length and a sharp end: push, pull, and decapitate. Here, try this.” She showed Lyra a couple moves to try, and she did her best to copy Bon Bon.

They stayed, watching for a while, but Lyra couldn’t see any signs of movement or hear anything from the inside.

Apparently, Bon Bon couldn't, either, and this unsettled her. “It's too quiet,” Bon Bon mused. “They should have left by now, they only came to get paid, right?”

“Maybe there's a secret exit? Or something around back?” Lyra suggested.

“Maybe. But we’ve been here too long. The longer we sit in one spot, the more likely it is we'll get caught.” She picked up her hoe and adjusted her sunglasses again. “Let's check it out.”

They crept forward, and Bon Bon silently slid open the door. The smell of dust and various acrid chemicals hit them like a truck.

Lyra’s eyes adjusted to the low light, and she gasped.

Ponies lay on the ground, limbs splayed out, eyes wide in horror, frozen in death.

“The basilisk,” Bon Bon hissed, prodding one with the butt of her hoe. “That venom is fast. Stay sharp. If it's around…” She didn't need to finish the sentence.

They continued exploring, avoiding puddles of rank chemicals, dried paint, and other ancient spills. This had been her hideout, they found a few takeout trays and other signs of life.

And then Lyra froze. Off to the side, in an abandoned office, there was a darkened glass terrarium, with what looked like a small snake inside. She got Bon Bon’s attention. “Is that it?” Lyra whispered.

“Looks like,” Bon Bon said grimly.

“It's little,” Lyra observed.

“It's young. That’s good, easier to kill. These guys don’t ever stop growing. Keep your glasses on. It’s probably too small to kill you just yet, but I don’t need you passing out or anything.”

They neared, slowly, carefully, but the snake still lay on its back, unmoving. As they came around and could get a better look, it became obvious why.

“It’s… it’s dead,” Bon Bon said, confused, lowering her weapon.

Lyra let out a small, relieved giggle. “Well, that was a little anticlimactic,” she said.

“Yeah,” Bon Bon chuckled weakly. “It was probably an accident. Maybe she was keeping a rooster nearby as a failsafe and it got too close.” She crouched, examining it closer. She reached up with her pole and lifted the lid. Her ears pricked. “No. Look,” she said slowly. “This box is mirrored on the inside, one-way glass. This was intentional. She killed it.”

“Why would she kill the basilisk?” Lyra asked. “I thought she was going to use it as a weapon.”

“I’m not sure,” Bon Bon said, also at a loss as to what her motive could be. “Maybe she just wanted to extract the venom? That’s nasty stuff. Keeps its potency, gets noticeably stronger over time. Not many poisons do that.” She gritted her teeth. “Kept long enough, I bet it could even affect an alicorn.” She paused as something occurred to her. “But a snake this young can’t possibly have reached full potency yet.” Her eyes flicked back to where the ponies at the entrance were. “And even if it had, it's small enough that you're not going to get much out of it.” She shook her head. “Something’s not right here.”

Lyra frowned. “If she’s patient enough to wait this long for revenge, she’d be patient enough to wait a little longer for it to grow, right?”

“You’d think so,” Bon Bon murmured. “And if you kill the snake, you're not getting any more venom anytime soon. Insane or not, I just can't see her using something that precious that flippantly.”

“Maybe she's got more,” Lyra whispered, horrified.

“Not likely. Basilisks hate each other. They actively seek out and kill other snakes, that’s how we could tell when one was around. And babysitting the toad into sitting on the egg is practically a full-time job.”

As they were talking, the door opened again, much louder than before. It sounded like many ponies coming into the warehouse.

Bon Bon poked her head out. She looked away from the voices resignedly, as there was only a cinderblock wall there. “We’re not gonna get through that,” she said softly.

“Fight our way out?” Lyra asked nervously.

“Let’s try talking our way out first,” Bon Bon said, surreptitiously shrugging off her saddlebags. “But just in case it does come to that, we’ll need more room to maneuver. Come on. Let’s go.”

They slowly walked out, and came face to face with a sizable group of ponies. None looked particularly friendly. In fact, they looked unfriendly. And none seemed to be too concerned with the ponies laying on the ground.

Lyra gulped.

“There they are,” a stallion said. “Just like she said.”

“Just like who said?” Bon Bon asked, her hackles raised.

“Yellow mare, bandana on one eye. Said you two were paying big bits to go tear down an old shack.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. She scammed you.”

His eyes narrowed. “She said it was your job. ‘There’ll be two mares,’ she said. ‘They'll pay you’.”

Lyra’s heart stopped. It had been a setup!

Bon Bon had realized this, too, but she maintained her calm. “She lied,” she said coolly. “Take it up with her.”

The gathered ponies muttered angrily. Bats, chains, and knives started appearing. Lyra’s ears pinned.

“I think you're just trying to weasel out of paying us.” He swung the baseball bat off his shoulder and pointed it threateningly at her. “Cough up.”

“Buzz off,” Bon Bon returned, shifting her weight and raising the end of her hoe. The time for words was done. It was going to be a fight, and everypony here knew it.

Lyra hefted her pole in her magic, her heart racing. This would only be her second fight, and she’d barely done anything in her first.

Perhaps he sensed her inexperience. Maybe he wanted to take out the weakest link first. Either way, he swung his bat, and Lyra couldn’t stop it in time.

There was a sickening crunch. Her magic fizzled, and the hoe fell to the floor.

Bon Bon had struck before Lyra had hit the ground. She spun and lashed out with her powerful hind legs, and the impact threw his head back with an audible ‘crack!’. He did a flip through the air, hit the ground with a meaty thud, and did not move again.

But she had only gotten started. With an overhead swing, she broke her hoe over another pony’s head, dropping them like a rock. She flipped it around and stabbed another pony with the jagged end. Ignoring the cry of pain, she twisted it quickly and then yanked it out, just in time to drive the butt into another pony’s jaw. Standing over Lyra protectively, she swung her broken pole like a club and knocked out a tooth from another pony, she kicked out with a foreleg and broke a different pony’s collarbone.

Those with shorter melee weapons backed up as pony with longer reaches tried their luck.

Bon Bon needed a larger weapon. She let the first swing of a chain wrap around the pole, then she yanked it forward, dragging the other pony forward and delivered a punishing headbutt. She dropped her broken staff, scooped up Lyra’s hoe, and it began again, now with a spinning wave of pain with a reach longer than most other weapons and a devastating sharp end on one side. Nopony was safe from her wrath. Nopony was safe at all.

Nopony but Lyra.

At Bon Bon’s firm touch, Lyra’s eyes fluttered open. She looked up and saw Bon Bon, blood splattered on her chest, eyes wide, nostrils flaring, chest heaving.

“Bon Bon?” Lyra started, her eyes unfocused. “Wha-?”

“Don’t move, don’t move,” Bon Bon urged. She bent down and scooped her up. “You’ve had a pretty bad head injury. I have to get you to the hospital.”

“I’m…” Lyra started, only to whimper in pain. “My head hurts,” she moaned.

“You’ll be fine, Lyra,” Bon Bon said. “I promise. I've got you. I've got you.”

Comments

[SuperPinkBrony12]

There's no way that was the end game.

[Pseudosapien]

Oh no: Lyras horn got hurt!
I really care about her and want her to be okay. That means you’re doing something right as a writer.

[Narrative Style]

She killed the basilisk? Hmm, I seem to remember something in that monster guide that might be relevant...

[FanOfMostEverything]

The question, of course, is how safe the hospitals are. And what might be done while Bon Bon's distracted...

[I-Am-Unimportant]

It's quiet. To quiet.

The question is. Will they be able to have some semblance of peace? Let's hope so.

[Yoshifan30]

Probably we should have seen the trap thats Sparky put out killing the snake was basically a distraction and the other boys were just collateral damage but Lyra and Bonbon got ambushed and Lyra got hurt in the process but with the skills and her most at bon bon defeated all the bat ponies but now she needs to get Lyra to the hospital and finally stopped that psychopath Pony