Repairs
The next day started out slow. Isaac sat at his kitchen table with a pop tart on his plate and the Equestria Daily Newspaper in his hands. His ears perked up as he heard a slight buzzing noise. He shrugged and went back to his paper. Over the next ten minutes the buzzing continued and seemed to rise in volume.
The man started searching his home in search of the noise. The sound seemed to originate in his closet. When he opened the door, hell broke loose. Hundreds of small tennis ball sized bugs came pouring out of his closet and onto the floor. The mass made the human jump and land on his back. Isaac grunted as he sat up and looked in horror as the bug started flying and devouring his sheets and clothing.
The man quickly raced downstairs and grabbed an empty jar. He ran back to his room and trapped one of the creatures in the jar before locking the door and high tailing it towards the library.
The lavender mare was sitting on her bed with a quill in her hand and was writing a report for the Princess. The sound of her door slamming open and a familiar scream caused the mare's quill to break. Twilight gritted her teeth and sighed. The door to her room then had several loud knocks on it accompanied by the voice.
"Twilight! Open up! Its an emergency!" Isaac yelled. Twilight grunted and opened the door for the human.
"What? I'm in the middle of something." She said as he stormed in to her room.
"Did any of you put some kind of bug in my house for revenge?" He said in an accusing tone.
"No, why?"
"Because I just saw about a hundred giant bugs starting to devour my wardrobe!" He said as he held out the jar that now had two of the creatures inside. "What? There was only one a minute ago!" Twilight gasped as she saw the insects.
"Gah! Where did you get those things?"
"Like I said, they were in my closet munching on my stuff." He yelled as Pinkie appeared out of nowhere. She saw the jar and screamed.
"Parisprite!" She shrieked.
"What?" Isaac asked.
"Thats what these things are." Twilight said as she levitated the jar. "They're pests that devour food and multiply."
"Well, these seem to have developed a taste for cotton."
"Must be some left over from our fiasco." Twilight said.
"Well, can you kill them?"
"Yeah but-"
"That's all I needed to know. Time to get my blow torch." He said before running back towards his house with the mares in hot pursuit. "So you've tangled with these things before?"
"Yeah, that was nightmare." Twilight shivered.
"So why are they eating my stuff?"
"Twilight charmed them so that they found food gross and they started eating things that you couldn't eat." Isaac looked at the lavender mare who had an embarrassed look on her face.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time." She sheepishly grinned.
"Here's my idea when it comes to pests: Kill it with fire!" He said as he got to his front door. The two mares looked his living room around and saw nothing.
"Where are they?" Pinkie asked.
"Probably halfway through my mattress." He said as he raced up the stairs and stopped in front of his room. "Know any fire spells Twilight?"
"I have a better plan." She said in a flat tone. "I can just teleport them somewhere else."
"I still like my idea better." He said as he duck taped a zippo lighter to a hairspray can. Twilight rolled her eyes and opened the door to see a wall of the small creatures. The mare's horn glowed and the bugs vanished in flash of purple light. "Killjoy." He said as he closed the lighter smothering the flame. "Oh well, time to assess the damage." He said as he walked into his room.
His bed and most of his furniture were still in one piece. The little bugs from hell only destroyed a few pairs of shirts and pants.
"How's the damage?" Twilight asked as she looked through the human's room.
"Not too bad." He said as he looked through the racks of clothes. "Wait a second." He said as he went to the back. "Gah! Sons of bitches! I'll kill them all!"
"What's wrong?" Pinkie asked. Isaac came out holding a heavily torn dress uniform. The fabric still had some of the insects' saliva on it around the bite marks. The human was literally fuming with rage. Twilight noticed that several objects around his room started to levitate.
"My uniform! Its trashed!"
"Isaac calm down." Twilight said. "Your emotions are making your magic act out." The human took a deep breath and calmed himself down. The objects went back in their spots and the lavender mare sighed in relief.
"You could take that to Rarity." Pinkie chimed. The human grumbled at the name.
"Are there any other tailors around here?" He asked.
"Nope, aside from the ones Manehattan anyway." Twilight said. Isaac groaned and wrapped the uniform in a bag.
"Fine." He grunted as he made his way out of his house with the two mares following close behind. "Sorry about the poison joke yesterday."
"Oh its no big deal. We did kinda had it coming." Pinkie giggled.
"Plus we already got payback." Twilight smirked.
"Remember, we all agreed never talk about it." He said with an embarrassed blush on his face.
"We know. We all pinkie promised and no pony breaks a pinkie promise." Pinkie said with a smile. "Well, I'll catch you later. I need to help the cakes pack for their family reunion." The pink mare said before happily skipping away.
"I have to finish up that report for the Princess." Twilight said. The human trudged through the town with the bag in tow and found himself on the door step of the boutique. He groaned and swallowed what little pride he had left and entered the shop. The familiar scent of perfume hit his nostrils.
"Coming~" The mare's voice echoed through the building. "Welcome to Carousel Boutique where everything-" The mare's expression went from happy to annoyed in ten second's flat. "oh its you."
"Look Rarity, its too early in the morning for an argument." He grumbled. "I'm here on business. Thats it."
"Fine. What do you want?" She said as she crossed her arms under her chest.
"My uniform needs to be repaired after a parisprite encounter." The mare gasped in surprise. "Didn't know you cared."
"Well, of course I care!" She said as she adjusted her horn rimmed glasses on her nose. "I designed some of your shirts." The man snarled.
"None of your stuff got eaten."
"Oh. So what abomination have you-" The mare was cut off as he laid out the damaged blue uniform. Rarity's jaw hit the floor as she saw the midnight blue coat with several pins and medals on either side of the chest. The pants were of the same color with a red stripe going down the sides of the pants. A white hat was also in attendance that matched the white belt.
"Rarity, I don't care if you are a girl." Isaac said as his eyes became daggers. "Insult this uniform and so help me I will slap you into last Tuesday." He said in a serious tone.
"Oh I wouldn't dare insult such a marvelous ensemble!" She said as she looked over the piece. "Where did you get this?"
"Through blood, bullets and broken bones." He said as he crossed his arms. "Its my dress Uniform from when I was in the Marines." He said as he pulled out an old picture of himself in the uniform. "This is what it use to look like." Rarity looked at the picture and back at the uniform. "Think you can repair it?"
"In my sleep." She smiled.
"Fine. Just don't experiment with it. It has to be by the book."
"I may find you irritating, but I don't joke around when it comes to fashion." She said as she narrowed her eyes.
"Thank you." He said with a sigh. "I'll pay you when you're done then."
"Of course. I'll call you when its finished." She said as she levitated it over to her work bench.
"Thanks." He said as he walked out of the boutique. Rarity huffed and started to work on the uniform. The human groaned as he made his way through the street. He looked around and spied Lyra sitting across from a cream colored mare with a pink and dark blue mane.
Lyra smiled and waved him over. "Morning Lyra." He said with a nod. He looked at the other mare who started to frown. "Your name is Bon-bon right?"
"Yeah. It is." She said as she sipped her drink.
Sheesh, what's her deal?
"So whats up?" Lyra asked.
"Oh right, just letting you know that Cherilee has me signed on to teach some of the kids about human history next week. Thought that you'd be interested." If Lyra's grin grew any wider the human would be certain that it would split skin.
"I am so there!"
"Figured. Just clear it with Cherilee first."
"Awesome! When is it?"
"Monday." The mare quickly pulled out a note pad and
"Alright see ya then!" She said as the human walked away. Isaac spied that Bob-bon was shooting him a stare that could make a rhino shit bricks. The man shrugged it off and continued to make his way through town. He put his arms over his head and stared up at the sky.
Not a single fuck shall be given this day. He thought as he went into the park and leaned against a tree. The man dozed off and found himself standing across from a familiar dark Alicorn mare.
"Hello Isaac."
"Princess." He spat out. Luna raised an eyebrow at the man.
"Is something wrong?"
"Yeah! Yesterday, that's whats wrong."
"We beat you. Are you backing out?" She asked as she got in his face.
"I don't care that you beat me. I care about how you beat me." Luna's face blushed as she remembered the strategy she had used. "It was supposed to be a match that determined skill. Not sex appeal!" He bellowed in frustration. "Honestly, I thought a Princess of Equestria would understand something about honor. Guess I was wrong."
Before the Princess could retort Isaac felt a numbing pain in his leg and he was snapped out of the dream. The man looked up and saw the familiar orange farmer smiling.
"Morning sunshine." She chimed.
"Hey AJ whats up?" He said as he stood up.
"Not much. You?"
"Just dealt with some parisprites and now I'm bored." He said with a yawn.
"Well, Mac and I could use your help down at the farm." Isaac winced.
"He isn't gonna try to kill me right?"
"Nah, ah think he's calmed down."
"Alright, I could use some cash so lets go." The two then started to walk down the road headed towards the farm. "So what needs to get done?"
"Mac needs help with removing a dead tree." The man thought for a moment. "Then we gotta chop it up and stack the wood. The stump we can handle later."
"I think I got just the thing you need to get it done without breaking a sweat."
"Huh?"
"C'mon I gotta grab something from my house." The mare waited outside as Isaac went back inside his home. The farmer heard a thunderous roar and the garage door opening. The mare's jaw dropped as she saw a gun metal grey object on four wheels. The window rolled down and showed the man's face. "Get in."
"What in tarnation is that thing?"
"This, my friend is a 2012 quad cab Dodge RAM truck complete with a winch, a plow hook up and just for the hell of it, a badass sound system." He said as the speakers boomed to life.
"Okay. So what's it do?" She asked as she looked at the machine.
"Get in and you'll find out." The mare shrugged and got in next to the man. "Okay now strap the belt around you." He said as he pointed to the safety belt. The mare put it across her chest and clicked it. Isaac hit the gas pedal and the two headed towards the farm.
"So where did you get this thing anyway?"
"Bought it when I got back from my tour overseas."
"What about that bike thing?"
"The motorcycle. That was my old man's. I got it in his will like the house."
"Oh....sorry for asking." The mare said as she hung her head.
"Don't worry about it." He said with a shrug. "They died a while ago."
"Are you okay? After finding out that they adopted ya ah mean."
"I'm still a little ticked off that they didn't tell me, but I suppose they had their reasons." He said as he pulled into the farmer's driveway. "They still raised me as their son even though I wasn't theirs. So it works out in a way." The two pulled up to where the red farmer had dug around the tree.
Mac's jaw dropped when he saw his sister get out of the weird machine. His eyes then narrowed when he saw Isaac.
"Howdy Mac." She said with a smile.
"What's he doing here?" He asked as he bit on the piece of hay in his mouth. Applejack glared at the farmer.
"Ah won't hear none of that. Isaac is gonna help us out with this here tree."
"Ah don't need no help." He said as he cracked his back.
"You'll never get it out that way." Isaac said as he grabbed the winch. "That thing has probably got roots that go at least a few meters down. It'd be impossible to get them all out by digging." Mac frowned at the man. "With this we'll be able to get it out in no time."
The man grabbed the hook and wrapped it around the trunk of the dead tree. "You two stand back. I don't want the cable to snap." He said as he got into the vehicle. The two farmers ducked behind a tree and heard the truck roar to life. The vehicle started to move back and the cable became taught.
The dead tree started to crack and lean. Soon the tree uprooted and was dragged out of its hole. The man cut the engine and walked out as the farmers examined the work.
"Woo doggy!" AJ yelled. "That there is a nifty gizmo ya got there."
"It comes in handy." He said as he unhooked the cable from the trunk.
"Now we gotta chop it up." Isaac walked back to the car and pulled out another odd device. It was bulky near the handle while the other end was smooth and seemed to have a chain with jagged edges running over and under it. "What in the hay is that thing?"
"Chainsaw." He said as he pulled out three pairs of earmuffs. "Hopefully these will cover your ears." The two siblings looked at one another and put them on. Their ears fit uncomfortably inside the padded objects. The human set it on the ground and pulled the cord. The machine roared to life and the chain moved rapidly.
Isaac walked over to one of the branches and the saw cut through it like butter. The farmers blinked as the human continued the action.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Across town the seamstress was hard at work assessing the damage to the man's uniform. Several bite marks were over the fabric surface. The mare heard the door open and saw the lavender mare.
"Hey Rarity." Twilight said with a smile.
"Hello Twilight." Rarity smiled. "How can I help you?"
"I just wanted to see how you were doing on Isaac's suit." The white mare sighed.
"Nothing I can't fix. Although those pests certainly did a number on it." She said as they walked over to the table that housed the uniform. The mare reached inside the pocket and put her slender finger through one of the holes the bugs had made. "I mean honestly, look at the damage."
As the mare removed her finger she felt something hard inside the pocket. The mare reached back inside and felt something hard and circular. The mare pulled it out and looked at it. Twilight had the same confused look on her face.
"Is that ring?" Twilight asked. The small band was polished silver and had a bright red ruby in the center. The white mare gave a nod and levitated it over to a table with a table mounted magnifying glass. She looked it over and something caught her eye.
"There's something written on the back of the band." Rarity said as she focused.
You are the Scarlet flame that lights my way through the darkness.
Twilight perked up at the words. "Doesn't that sound familiar to you?" Rarity asked.
"Yeah. I think he mentioned it while we were in the ruins." Twilight said as she put a finger to her chin. "Somethings not right."
"Should we ask him?" Rarity asked.
"No, he'd probably just stone wall us." Twilight said. "Let's just keep this between us for now and we'll decide what to do about it later." The mare nodded as she put the ring back in the suit's pocket and closed the hole with a thread. "So are you two okay?"
"Frankly I don't know." Rarity said with a sigh. "I've thought about it and I realize that it was wrong of me to do that why he was in such a...delicate state." She said as her hears flopped down. "It also wasn't fair to Spike." Twilight gave a nod. "I just need to think." The lavender mare put a hand on her shoulder before leaving the mare to her work.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The three workers braked for lunch and were each eating a sandwich. AJ and Isaac were sitting on the porch next to each other while Mac sat underneath a tree.
"So why can't you use that gizmo of yours too often?" AJ asked after sipping some cider.
"I have to conserve gasoline. I can't just go down to the local gas station and refill it." He said as he ate his sandwich.
"And that gas stuff is what makes your car go right?"
"Yeah, its like," He thought for a moment. "the gasoline and oil is like the blood for the machine. It needs to be changed and refilled from time to time. Since I can't just go buy more, I need to conserve it."
"Ah get it." The man still had a blank look on his face. "Something on yer mind?"
"Sorta. I dropped my uniform off at Rarity's after being chomped on by parasprites." He said as he sipped his water. "Just worried that she might do something to it."
"Ah doubt Rarity would do something like that." The farmer said. "Look, Rarity gets on my nerves at times too, but she's an okay gal." The man sighed. "Don't tell me your still hung up on what happened with Spike."
"I don't know. I'm just angry at myself."
"How come?"
"I was in Spike's situation one time and it felt like shit. I promised myself that I'd never do that to someone and look what happened." AJ put a hand on his shoulder. "What's bugging me even more is why you and Dash haven't kicked the crap out of me yet." The mare raised an eyebrow at the man.
"Why would we do a thing like that?" The man looked at her in confusion.
"Okay, lets recap." He said as he faced the mare. "Since you and Dash made this 'deal' with me I've slept with Vinyl, Spitfire, Fluttershy and Rarity." He said as he stuck out a finger for each. "That's four times I've cheated on you and you two haven't done anything to get back at me. What gives?" The mare chuckled. "Care to share the joke?"
"Oh darlin, you gotta catch up on how things run around here." She laughed. "It's far from uncommon for a stallion to see more than one mare."
"Yeah I got that part."
"So, why are you complaining about expanding your herd." The man looked at the mare in surprise.
"My what?" He yelled as the farmer face palmed.
"A herd is when several mares take an interest in one stallion. That group can be expanded pending on the stallion." Isaac processed the information.
"So what you're saying is that I can have sex with any mare and you all won't kick my ass?"
"Ah wouldn't say that." She said as she narrowed her eyes.
"So I'd have to get the other group members say so if I wanted to expand this herd thing?"
"Normally no, but ah'd like to get a heads up about it." She scrunched her nose. "Ah got no problems with Shy, Dash or Rarity. Vinyl seems like an okay gal, even though ah don't know her that well." She said as she scratched her chin. "That Wonderbolt on the other hand-"
"That I'm pretty sure was a one time thing." Isaac clarified. The mare sighed. "I'm sorry about all of these.....awkward questions. I'm still getting used to this world's rules and traditions."
"Don't fret sugar cube. You'll get used to it." She said as she gave him a hard slap on the back.
"Thanks. Just one more thing." The mare looked at him in anticipation. "You remember the last time that you, Dash and I....you know." He said with a blush.
"Yeah, how could ah forget that?" She said with a sly grin.
"I think Dash said, 'just like old times.' What was that about?" The farmer's face flushed a deep red at the words.
"Um...nothing. Just pillow talk." She tried to lie.
"AJ I know you're lying." He said as he looked at her face. "What aren't you telling me?" The mare sighed and swallowed her pride.
"Promise not to judge me?"
"Pinkie promise." He said as he stuck out his pinkie finger.
"What the hay are you doing?"
"This is a pinkie promise from where I'm from." He said as he looked at his hand. "Just wrap yours around mine." The mare shrugged and complied.
"Mighty weird way of doing things."
"Weirder then doing a rhyme and an assortment of hand gestures?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Fair enough." She said as she let go. "You know about heat right?"
"You mean when your sexual desires go into overdrive right?"
"Yeah, well before you showed up, Dash and I would....'help each other out' if ya catch my drift." The man's jaw dropped at the thought.
"You mean that you two would-"
"Ya don't have to say it." She said as she crossed her arms and a blush appeared on her face. "We were hormonal."
"I'm not judging AJ. Granted I'm a little surprised, but not disgusted." He said.
"There aren't that many good stallions around so we made due with what we had."
"What about the others?" He asked in a hesitant tone. "Have you-" He was cut off as AJ punched him in the crotch. "Ow!" He said in a high pitched tone.
"No! No pony knows about it ya here and if your smart then it'll stay that way." She said as she glared at him.
"No problem." He said as he stood up and started walking the pain off. "Fuck that hurt."
"Sorry sugar cube." She said as she stood up.
"I've taken worst hits." He groaned. "So now what?"
"Mac and I can handle the rest. Ya can take the rest of the day off."
"You sure?" The mare nodded and handed him a small bag of bits. "Cool see ya later." The man put the small bag in his pocket and made his way back towards his truck. As he packed the chainsaw in the back Mac approached him. "Hey Mac."
"Listen," The man said as he rubbed the back of his head. "ah've been treat'n ya unfairly and ah'm mighty sorry about that." Isaac let his guard down. "Ya don't seem like a bad guy and AJ seems to trust ya so ah guess ah can to."
"No problem Mac." The stallion then sharpened his gaze.
"But, if you hurt mah sis then I'll snap ya over mah knee like a dry twig." Isaac gulped as he looked at the hulking stallion. "Are we clear?"
"C-crystal." Isaac said as he forced a smile.
"Good." The stallion said as he smiled and gave him a hard slap on the back. Isaac groaned as he felt the bruise forming. The man got in his truck and started to drive back down the road. Out of the corner of his eye he saw two blurs run towards the road and out in front of the man's vehicle.
Isaac slammed on the brakes and the machine came to a stop. He quickly got out and saw that the bumper was two inches away from the orange Pegasus filly and yellow farmer.
"Are you two okay?" Isaac said with worry. "I didn't hit you did I?"
"No, but we need your help!" Applebloom yelled.
"What's up?"
"We were on our way back from the club house," The Pegasus started. "then a manticore came out of nowhere and started to chase us!" Isaac gulped at the words.
"Sweetie Belle got separated from us and ran into the Everfree forest. We ran here to get help." Isaac's mind quickly thought of something.
"Scootaloo, go tell Mac and AJ what happened."
"On it!" The filly said as she ran down the orchard path.
"Applebloom get in!" The filly nodded and hoped into the passenger seat. "Where did you guys run out from?" He said as he pressed the gas pedal and rocketed forwards.
"Near the club house." The man shifted gears and the two shot down the road and made it to the small club house. The man quickly got out and opened the back door. He lifted the entire back seat forwards and pulled out a large black plastic box. "What's that?"
"Insurance." The man pulled out a long barreled object and a few small red cylinders. He closed the door and pulled out his keys. "Look Applebloom." He said as he looked at the filly. "If we get separated in anyway, run back here, get in the car and press the center of the steering wheel." He said as pointed to the object. "Its gonna make a lot of noise and hopefully someone will hear it. When they get here, tell them what happened okay?"
"Got it." She said as he gave her the keys. The man inserted a few of the cylinders into the gun and the filly heard a loud cocking noise. The two ventured into the forest with the filly leading the man through the thicket. "Sweetie Belle!" The filly yelled.
"Come out Sweetie!" Isaac yelled as they went deeper into the woods. Applebloom's ears perked up and stopped moving. "Something wrong?"
"Shhh!" The filly said as she closed her eyes and focused her hearing. He left ear turned and she looked in that direction. "There!" The two ran forwards into the thicket. As they got closer the human could hear the cries from the Unicorn filly. The human gasped as he saw the filly halfway up a tree with the manticore circling it.
The large cat jumped and tried to dig its razor sharp nails into the wood in order to get to its prey. Sweetie had tears running from her face as she held on to the main stem of the tree. The human crouched next to the worried yellow filly and whispered.
"Bloom, when I get the manticore away from the tree, lead Sweetie back to my truck and lock the doors. Got it?"
"What about you?" She asked in a worried tone.
"I'll be fine." He said as he stood out of the bushes and aimed the gun at the manticore. He made a high pitched whistle and the manticore turned to see the human. "C'mon, you son of a bitch." He said as he cocked the gun. The human ran away with the beast in hot pursuit. "Bloom run now!"
The filly nodded and ran towards her friend. The Unicorn whimpered as she slowly climbed down the tree and hugged her friend.
"C'mon, we gotta go!" The farmer yelled.
"What about Isaac?" Sweetie said with a sniffle.
"He's gonna be fine. C'mon!" she said as she grabbed her friend by the hand and the two ran back towards the vehicle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As the human ran he could make out the sound of his car horn being honked. The man looked behind him and saw that the manticore was nowhere to be seen. The human stopped running and started panting. He kept his finger on the trigger and looked around. The human heard rustling in the bushes and raised his gun.
"Okay, I know your game." He said as he took a few deep breaths. Silence enveloped the area. The human honed his concentration and slowed his breathing. He heard a rustling in the bushes ahead of him. He tightened the butt of the gun against his shoulder.
Isaac waited for the beast to emerge from the thicket. Something went off in his brain and the man sighed. He tilted his head to the left and looked to see a pair of dark brown eyes looking at him through the bushes. "Clever girl." As he turned the rifle, the beast leapt at him.
Isaac felt the beasts body crash into his own and the beast was bearing down on him. The man shoved the gun into the beasts mouth in an effort to prevent it from biting him. The man's arms were screaming in pain as the beast applied more force. Isaac slammed his knee into the beast's rib cage. The manticore roared in pain and the man rolled out from underneath the beast.
The beast aimed its tail at the man. Isaac dodged the poisoned tip and fired the round at the manticore who dodged the blast. Isaac cocked the gun and aimed it at the monster. As the human pulled the trigger he heard a clicking noise. "Shit!" He said as he rifled through his pockets to find another shell.
The beast took the moment to launch itself at the human. The beast's claws knocked the gun from the man's hands. Isaac quickly scurried away from the beast. The manticore looked at the human and down at the gun a few feet away from him several times. Manticores weren't smart, but weren't dumb either. This one had just figured out that the human was useless without the weapon. The beast growled and looked at the man.
The two locked eyes and each got into a pouncing position. The two moved in a circular formation. The man cracked his knuckles and eyed the gun. The human let out a long held breath and got ready to move. The manticore's eyes were locked onto the man's every movement and adjusted itself accordingly. The two looked at each other one last time before they both launched themselves at each other.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The two fillies sat in the vehicle as the apple farmer pounded on the steering wheel. Sweetie was looking around the vehicle.
"So what is this thing?" Sweetie asked.
"Ah'm not too sure. Isaac said that humans use it to get around."
"Like trains?"
"Yeah, ah guess." Sweetie looked at the radio and pressed a few buttons. "Whatcha doin?"
"I don't know. This looks like a radio." She said as she turned the knobs. The two heard nothing but static. The Unicorn kept turning the dial.
"Applebloom? You here?" The filly stopped honking the horn and got out of the car. The two quickly ran towards the farmer, scholar and seamstress. "Oh thank Celestia." The farmer said as she hugged her sister. The fashionista hugged her sister and looked her over.
"Are you hurt?" She asked in a frantic tone.
"I'm fine." Sweetie smiled.
"Where's Isaac?" Twilight asked.
"He lured the manticore away." Applebloom said. The mares looked at one another and gulped.
"You don't think he got eaten did you?" Rarity asked in a concerned tone.
"C'mon Rarity. Give me some credit." The group looked towards the thicket and saw the man walking out with the gun in hand. The group was about to wrap him in a tight hug when they saw that he was drenched from head to toe in red liquid. "Its gonna take a lot more than some overgrown cat to take me out." He said as he cracked his neck.
"Isaac, what's all that stuff?" Twilight asked as she pointed to the red stains.
"Manticore blood." He said as he brushed himself off.
"What did you do?" AJ asked. He looked at her with an 'are you kidding me' look on his face.
"Um AJ, I'm covered in it's blood. What do you think happened? I killed it." The scholar gulped. "Oh don't give me that. You all should know by now how I deal with pests." He said as he walked back to his vehicle. The man put the gun away and pulled out a plastic bag.
"What's that?" The farmer asked.
"Change of clothes. I always have a spare set. Ya know, for emergencies." He said as he walked to the other side of the vehicle. The human quickly got changed and returned wearing a white cotton T-shirt with a pair of khaki shorts on. "Hope this blood comes out." He said as he put the bag in the back of the car.
"Well, we'd better get going." AJ said.
"You guys need a lift?" He asked as he got in. "This thing holds six people." The mares shrugged and got inside. Rarity was in the passenger seat with Sweetie sitting between her and the man. AJ, Twilight and Applebloom were in the back.
"I must say that these seats are comfortable." Rarity chimed.
"Gotta love mechanical engineering." Isaac said as he pulled up to the farm and dropped the farmers off.
"So this is what humans use to get around?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah. We use these daily." He said with a smile. The human dropped the scholar off and headed towards the boutique. Rarity sighed and tapped her sister on the shoulder as the human stopped the vehicle.
"Sweetie why don't you go inside? There's something I need to talk about with Isaac."
"Okay Rarity." She smiled. "Thanks for saving me Isaac." The man nodded and the girl got out of the car. A silence fell over the two as Rarity tried to find the right words. She was about to speak when the man cut her off.
"I'm sorry." He said with a sigh.
"Pardon?"
"I'm sorry I've been so...difficult with you as of late." Isaac said as he turned to look at the mare. "It's just that," He tried to find the right words. "in the seventh grade, I liked this girl in my algebra class. Blonde hair, blue eyes, really cute laugh." He chuckled. "Anyway, I told one of my friends about her and I was going to ask her out."
"Got cold feet?" Rarity asked.
"Nope. Just before I was going to, I heard that my friend beat me to it after he said that he wouldn't." Isaac grumbled. "Needless to say, I didn't hang around with him much after that. I promised myself that I'd never do that to someone and when we...ya know." He said as he made a few gestures with his hands. "I hated myself for that and I was just trying to put the blame on someone else. Namely you." The mare nodded.
"Well, it was wrong of me to take advantage of you like that after you opened up to me about your parents." She sighed. "I never meant to hurt you or Spike. I truly didn't" She sighed. "I honestly don't blame you for hating me. Especially after what transpired yesterday." She said with a sigh.
"Its fine. I had it coming." He shrugged. The man then got out of the vehicle and opened the passenger door for the mare. Rarity nodded and wrapped him in a hug. The human returned it and smiled as she gave him a small peck on the cheek. "Look Rarity, before anything else happens between us." He said with a blush on his face. "I think that we should both talk to Spike about what happened. Just to clear the air you know?"
"I couldn't agree more." She said as she led him inside her shop. "Oh that reminds me. I finished repairing your Uniform." The mare levitated the hanging uniform over onto the table the man looked it over and his jaw dropped. "Did I do something wrong?"
"Absolutely not! Looks just like the day I got it." He said with enthusiasm.
"Happy to hear it darling." She chimed. "Although I think it's due for a resizing." She said as she compared the man's body to the suit.
"How about tomorrow?"
"Sorry dear, but I've just gotten a huge order from a client and I have to get it filled post haste."
"Its fine. We can do it when you've got some breathing room. I know you have a business to run." Rarity then remembered the ring she had found. The mare bit her lip as she remembered what she and the scholar talked about. "Something up?"
"Yes, while repairing your outfit I happened to find this." She said as she levitated the small ring into her hand. Isaac looked at the mare's hand. The human's eyes went wide and shrank to the size of pin tips in a flash. His skin went pale and his usually calm blue eyes were filled with anxiety almost like he was afraid of something. "Are you alright dear?"
"Y-yeah. I'm fine." He said s he took the ring and shoved it into his pocket. "Just one of my mom's old rings." He said with a fake smile. "I thought I lost that ages ago." He grinned nervously. "So how much do I owe you for the repairs."
"No charge. Consider it a peace offering in patching things up." She waved him off. The human said his goodbyes and drove back to his home. The human parked his car in the garage and made his way inside.
"Fuck!" He yelled as he slammed his fist into the wall. The human groaned and tossed his uniform on the couch. The human then made his way into the shower to wash any remaining blood off his body. As the man saw the bloody water swirl down the drain his mind flashed back to what had happened.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The human dove towards his gun and ducked as the manticore jumped over him. Isaac grabbed the gun and pointed it at the beast. The large cat dug its hind legs into the ground before pouncing towards the man. The human fumbled with the last shell he had in his hand. In an act of desperation he aimed the gun forwards and pulled the trigger.
What the man saw next would have probably impressed the lunar Princess. A bright silver ball of magic came erupting out of the end of the barrel. The blast hit the manticore and the body suddenly looked as though someone had lit it on fire and a hole the size of a large marble went straight through the animal's chest. As the body fell on the man, Isaac felt the warm blood pouring out of it and onto his body. The man quickly crawled out from underneath the body and panted.
"What the hell was that?" He said as he looked down at his gun. The human then approached the beast and poked its snout with the end of the rifle barrel. No response. The human then slammed the rifle butt into the beast's ribcage. Nothing happened. The man let out a sigh of relief and looked at the beast. The man looked past the beast and his eyes shrank.
The tree that was behind the manticore when it was hit by the blast had been completely decimated. Only half of the tree was still standing and the other half was slowly catching fire. Isaac quickly made his way over and smothered the silver flames. The human was about to head home when he remembered that he was running low on meat. He looked at the manticore and shrugged as he grabbed it by the crook of its neck and started to slowly haul it back to the truck.
When he reached the edged he saw the fillies running out of the truck towards their older sisters. He quickly grabbed some fallen branches and covered the body before making his way out to the mares.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Isaac waited an hour later until the sun started to go down. He grabbed a large amount of tarps and cleared a space in his garage. The man started his Truck and lined the bed with more tarps. The man silently made his way back towards the forest and grabbed a flash light.
The human went back into the thicket where he had hidden the manticore body. Some flies had flown around the body. The man put a bandana over his face in an effort to stifle the smell. And I thought this thing smelt bad on the outside. He groaned as he heaved the body towards the car. He hauled it in the back of his tarp covered truck bed and got inside the cab.
Isaac drove slowly in an effort not to draw attention to himself. The man parked in his garage and quickly hauled the body out of his truck. The human quickly grabbed a smock, paint mask, rubber gloves and an assortment of knives. The man looked at the manticore and cracked his neck. Isaac pulled out a book he had gotten from the library detailing manticore anatomy.
"Okay, show me what you got." He said as he pulled out his knife and started to work on the large beast. The human skinned it and removed the organs. He set them aside and would dispose of them later. Hours later the human walked inside his home with a few plastic bags of meet in them. Isaac set them in the fridge and grabbed a pale of water and mop before heading back to the remains of the beast.