The Beginning

My name is Berk, and I think I'm losing my mind.

My life had been pretty normal up to this point. I had a job as an investigative reporter for The Manehatten Daily, I had a marefriend whom I loved, I had no unusual concerns.

Until that day in the park.

The two of us were enjoying a picnic the day after my birthday, not a care in the world, when all of a sudden something strange caught my eye. We were idly chatting when I happened to look up at a mare that was passing with her own basket. I'd seen her around town before, but we'd never spoken. She looked over at us and smiled as she trotted past...then her face just...changed. Instead of her rather cute face, I was seeing a rotted mask, with dark holes where her eyes should be, and decaying teeth. It only lasted for a moment, just long enough for me to think I was simply imagining it, when she locked eyes with me, stood stock still for a second, dropped her basket, and ran. Chloe must have heard the basket fall, for she turned around just in time to see the mare sprinting off.

"Why'd she do that?" she asked me.

"I...I'm not sure." And even though it was a warm summer's day, I felt a chill go up my spine.

It happened again as I was walking Chloe home.

As we were going up the steps to her apartment, something made me turn my head to the right. I saw an older stallion sitting on one of the benches, watching the other ponies walk by. When a little filly wearing a red cape skipped past him, his face became wolf-like: his eyes burned red and fangs jutted out of his jaws. I must have stopped and was staring when my marefriend said, "Berk? Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost."

I shook myself and tore my eyes away from the stallion, whose face had changed back to normal. "What? Oh, no, it's nothing. Thought I saw something weird." She looked around herself.

"What did you see?"

I managed a smile for her. "Nothing at all." I hefted the mostly empty picnic basket to my other shoulder and added, "Let's get you settled in; I need to get home." At these words, she blushed and turned to me.

"You...you don't have to rush off." She shuffled her hooves and then looked at me again with face bright red. "You...could stay the night..."

I stared at her, my emotions conflicting. If she'd asked me before I'd seen those...things...I might have done so. But I needed answers that couldn't wait. So I slowly gave her a kiss and whispered, "I want to. But I have some work I need to get done before morning. I'll be back." She smiled and nodded.

"I'll be waiting."

I kept my eyes on the sidewalk as I trotted home. I was shaken to my core. What was I seeing? What did it all mean? Were all the friendly faces I knew a lie? Was there some evil plot afoot, maybe involving changelings? I'd heard about the Canterlot Wedding and all the trouble that had transpired, but none of the descriptions of changelings matched up to what I'd seen. Of course, they could all be trying new tactics, but why was I the only one who saw them? My marefriend had seen nothing out of the ordinary, and other ponies walking past hadn't reacted either. So what was going on?

I reached my apartment, unlocked the door, and shut it behind me, locking it again. I then made my way over to the coffee pot and started brewing some coffee, then thought better of it and took out the lone bottle of scotch I possessed. I needed something stronger than coffee!

I started to go to the window to look out my second-story apartment, then ruled that out as well. What if I saw more of those things? Then I squared my jaw and went to my computer. I was determined to find answers, even if the answer was I'm nuts. I pulled up all the pages I could find on weird sightings, hoaxes, fairy tale creatures. Being in Equestria meant there was no shortage of magic or magical beings, but nothing I'd found in the three hours I'd spent perusing the Web mentioned anything like what I'd been seeing. I wasn't going to find any answers on the Normal Web. So I pulled up my seldom-used server and started reading the Dark Web.

It was worse than I'd imagined.

Thee, among the conspiracy theories and stories of aliens abducting ponies, I found an obscure reference to what I'd been looking for. Apparently, the stories had gone back for centuries, tales of creatures seen only out of the corner of the eye, that could disappear at will. That certainly sounded close to what I'd been seeing, so I read further. Somepony had made quite the history of recording strange sightings like the ones I'd seen; they'd even included an address and blog for others to interact with the website. I jotted down the information and decided to contact them further, but then my stomach rumbled. I looked at the clock...almost midnight. One good thing about living in Manehatten was the restaurants all kept night owl hours; you could get practically any food you wanted at any weird hour. I didn't feel like eating anything exotic, so I decided on some deep-dish pizza. After phoning in my order and giving my address, I went back to studying.

Half an hour later, there was a knock on my door. Cool, they'd arrived as advertised. When I opened my door, there stood a teenage colt holding my pizza and staring down at a slip of paper. In a bored voice, he said, "You the guy that ordered? That'll be $12.50." He then raised his eyes to mine...and froze. His pupils grew wide, and he dropped the pizza and backed away. "No...no...don't kill me!" Before I could answer, his face morphed into something mouselike, with twitching nose, long whiskers, and round ears. "Please," he begged, "I've never seen a Grimm before, never given you bastards any reason to come after me, leave me alone!" With that, he turned and bolted down the hallway, down the stairs, and was gone.

I stared after him, stunned by what I'd seen and by what he'd said. He'd called me a..."Grimm?" What the hell was that? Whatever it was, he'd been clearly terrified, just like that mare from the day before. I picked up my pizza and closed my door, settling on the couch, but I was too worked up to eat. After a few minutes, I got up, went to the bathroom, and stared at myself in the mirror. I could see nothing that would have scared him or any other pony, just my overlong brown mane, blue eyes, and normal expression. As Earth ponies went, I was a bit undersized, having chosen a profession that didn't include any back-breaking work, so I didn't get a lot of opportunities to exert myself physically. Still, there must be something that had freaked them out. My thoughts were going a mile a minute, so I needed to clear my head.

Even with the prospect of seeing more of those...things...I decided to take a walk. I knew to avoid any alleyways, as Manehatten has more than its share of the criminal element, but I reasoned if I kept my common sense about me I should be alright. Besides, I wouldn't be out that long.

This is the city that never sleeps, so I wasn't alone in my wanderings. I kept my eyes down on the sidewalk, avoiding eye contact and keeping to myself. I have cousins back in Ponyville that would have found it rude not to speak to everypony and anypony that passed, but this wasn't Ponyville. Saying 'hello' to a stranger here would have earned you a sullen look at best or even an insult at worst.

I'd turned the corner and was making my way back to my apartment when I heard a scream, quickly cut off. My heart started racing. My job was to report the news, not make it. But something compelled me to rush to whomever it was to see if I could help. Of course, the sound came from an alley. As I ran in, I saw a mare on the ground, and looming over her...was something I'd never even seen in my nightmares. It turned and stared at me, and I saw myself reflected in its red eyes. Then it leered and spoke.

"A GRIMM! I've always wanted to kill one of you!" It then lunged at me.

My limbs and body moved on their own. I ducked under the first swipe of its claws, then dove inside and smashed it in the ribs with a hoof. I have no idea how I moved so fast! It let out a screech of agony, then leaped over me, running as fast as it could out the alley and was gone. I turned to the mare, who was still lying where she'd been, and was staring up at me.

"Are you alright?" I offered her a hoof. She took my hoof and slowly got up.

"Thank...thank you. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't shown up." Her knees were still a bit shaky, so she sat back down.

"What was that thing?" I asked.

She looked up at me with a quizzical expression. "What do you mean? It was just some jerk who wanted more than he was willing to pay for."

I stared at her. "He didn't look..weird to you?"

She smiled. "No weirder than any of you stallions looking for my...services. No offense."

My addled mind then took in her attire. She was dressed somewhat provocatively, which made the wheels click in place as to her ...ahem...profession. Her next words confirmed my suspicion.

"Say," she said while batting her eyes, "You deserve a reward for saving me. How about we go back to your place?" She smiled her sweetest as she spoke. There was a time not too long ago I would have taken her up on her offer. But now, with my adrenaline still pumping after what had been a life-or-death situation, I was in no mood.

Placing a hoof behind my head, I stammered, "That...that's nice of you, but I'm still a bit shaken up."

She nodded and smiled again. "That's cool, I understand." She got to her hooves, stepped forward, and gave me a peck on the cheek. "My name's Melody, whenever you change your mind." With that, she sauntered off. I watched to see which direction she picked, and luckily it was opposite my direction, so I quickly made my way home. I noticed my answering machine was blinking, so I clicked the button for the messages. There was only one on there.

"Son, this is your Dad. By now, you've been seeing some strange things you can't explain. I should have had this talk with you years ago, but I was hoping the condition had passed you by. I'll explain it all when I see you tomorrow."

263 views