A Short Tale

Chapter Eleven: Up High

Travian was returning from target practice. He considered himself officially in the zone 'not rusty' in the area of archery. He still came a few millimeters away from his targets at long range, but that was a little bit unnecessary at the moment. It wasn't like the pony's 'glorious' princess actually needed someone dead. Even if she did, just who would it be? Travian himself wouldn't mess with their princess too much just because of the magic he felt around her.

He then saw Fluttershy returning from her animal caring duties. It was his job to say hi every time he saw her. "Hello, Flutterbubble." The most fun part about the job was that he had to make up a new word that followed Flutter every time it happened. What wasn't part of the job description was the Applejack included. "Oh hi Applejack."

"Howdy partner!" She tipped her hat at him. "So uh... Look, Ah'm mighty sorry for not 'cepting your help before... I just wasn' mahself, an' I was real tired."

"I know. So what do ya need?" She looked relieved.

"Well, 'riginally, Ah thought Ah should jus' apologize to ya, but now that I think about it... Can ya climb stuff?"

Travian nodded. "Better than any pony, probably."

"There's this barrel of apples we have 'n our barn. We dunno how it got up there, but somehow it got all the way up and stuck in the rafters. Can ya get it fer us?"

"Sure. My question, though: Why didn't you get Twilight?"

"I jus' thought of it, and ya said you could climb." All those points were valid.

"Very well. Lead the way." She turned around, but not before Fluttershy could stop her.

"Oh, Applejack... Try not to take him through town too much. I really don't want everypony to freak out, or try to hurt him..." Travian was slightly offended. How could she assume he would make everyone freak out? Maybe he would make them swoon. After all, he was just that handsome. Mostly because he actually has hands.

"Oh. Right, Fluttershy. I'll be sure not to get him in town for long." Travian had actually seen two town ponies before he actually did this. One that was mint colored and a silly blonde one. He really didn't see much harm to come from that little village. Applejack led on to Ponyville.

Travian would like to have assumed it would have been smooth sailing. It wasn't. Over five ponies saw him walking through. None of them he had actually recognized. They stared at him, one of those stares were with fear. The others were filled with curiosity. Applejack wanted him to continue, but he wanted to stay for these ponies. He won the silent argument. He put himself in front of them. He crouched down, with his teeth bared and his hands on his knees.

"What? Have you never seen me before?" They all shook their heads. He noticed the one who was terrified was a small pony. He turned his head towards it. "No? Not even at night, where I silently watch you all?" They all got that terrified look. 'Just what I was looking for.' He stood at full height, dwarfing the ponies. "Now... Spread rumors of my existence if you wish to continue in life." He laughed maniacally. Making an entire culture fear you as a boogeyman was possibly one of the most fun things he had ever done. "Go, little ponies! Run!" They all sprinted out of there as he laughed some more. His maniacal laugh turned into genuine laughter. "I tell you Applejack, it's fun doing that."

"Ya didn' have to do that, ya know."

"You don't know how hard it is to resist it though." They continued on the way to the farm.

When they reached the farm, he noticed the intense amount of apples. "Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres!" He looked at Applejack because of the-

"Wait. You named the place Sweet Apple Acres."

"Yeah! It's owned an' operated by the Apple family, which Ah am a part of."

"The Apple family, Applejack. Which owns and operates Sweet Apple Acres which makes apples." He looked at Applejack and thought of something incredibly clever. Surely they didn't have the same type of apples he knew about. "Don't tell me you have a grandmother called 'Granny Smith'."

"How do ya know her?" Applejack said, surprised at what he said.

"Wait. What." He was started to think all these names were joke names.

"Ol' Granny Smith is ma granny. How could ya even know her if I ain't never seen ya 'round here?"

"It was a complete guess!"

"It was a darned good guess, then..." She eyed him suspiciously. It was supposed to be a joke, but somehow he guessed a name. When she and Travian looked forward, they saw a big red pony. "Oh hey Big Mac!" He nodded to Applejack, but looked cautiously towards Travian.

"I swear I didn't do anything to her. You don't need to destroy my soul and everything on the side." The big guy looked at him strangely instead of cautiously, which was a start. "So I heard you guys needed something from your barn."

"Eeyup." Big Mac said. Not much of a talker.

"Applejack right here wanted me to come over and get it." He looked towards Applejack.

"Oh, loosen up, will ya? He ain't here to harm nopony." That got Big Mac to stop being so suspicious of him. "So the barn's over there. Ya just need to get up in to the rafters and get it fer us." Travian shrugged and continued towards the barn.

Once he got to the doors, he pushed them open. He walked inside, seeing some beams he could climb up. He said for Rarity to specifically leave the toe part out of his boots just for such occasions as this. He planted his claws into a beam and slowly climbed his way up. Eventually, he saw the barrel. What was also in the rafters was some sort of pony. This pony, however, looked horribly wrong. It also looked cuter than a lot of other ponies to Travian for some reason.

Maybe it had to do with it's entirely blue eyes that gleamed in the darkness. It might have been it's legs that looked like cheese. Whatever it was, however, it was not being too friendly as soon as it saw him. "Woah. Hey, you need to calm down. I am not gonna hurt you."

Suddenly, it was absorbed by green flames. He was dazzled at them before noticing what came from them. Another Travian was right where it was. "No, you need to leave!" He translated the voice from an ancient alien language he had to learn.

"I am not arguing with myself again. You get your face down right this instant, young lizard!"

"No!"

"I'll count to three, and if you aren't down by then, I will hug you."

"Go ahead. I'll eat your love."

"Ah hah! But you see, I have already won! I have no love!" Travian lifted himself up, noticing the other lunging itself at him. He opened his arms, expecting it to cause him to fall off. Unfortunately, it was really light. The green flames occurred again, revealing the little cutey again. It even had an adorable little fang.

"You... You don't have any love. At all."

"I told you. And you didn't believe me!"

"But... How can you be an emotionless shell?"

"I learned to shut them out long ago." He took a few moments to think of what just happened. He had a shape-shifting bug-like pony who supposedly ate love right in his arms. "Wait... What."

"... What what? There's nothing in here..."

"Did you... Did you move that barrel, expecting someone to come in here so you can steal their love?" It looked at him awkwardly.

"Um..."

"May I remind you that you are in my arms?"

"Um... I may have. But it's only because I was kicked out of my hive! And... I can't speak the pony's language..." Travian did notice that it spoke with a strange language. Travian, being such the caring individual he was, gave it some pity.

"What's your name, little guy?"

"In the hive, I was six thousand and forty seven." He wasn't sure of what to expect. Usually hive civilizations named their individuals after numbers.

"We're going to have to change that. For now, you can be called... Wait are you female or male? Couldn't really tell, what with the whole... Turning into me thing and having a rather monotonous voice."

"Can't you tell? I'm a girl, you know? Worker caste?" They were like ants, in a way.

"I actually couldn't. Now I can though. Your new name will be... Mayella. Why not, eh?"

"Mayella... I like that name. It sounds nice." He loved making cute things happy. It made them turn from cute to adorable. That metamorphosis was his most favored.

"It suits you." Then Mayella looked at Travian very strangely.

"Um... What's your name?"

"You can call me Longshot."

"Um... Longshot... I'm feeling a little bit of love from you... But it's nothing I can take."

"Oh really?" He was genuinely confused. He was emitting love? When did he have any love for anything?

"I can't take it at all, in fact. It's like... You're giving it to me." She looked up at him with her adorable eyes. He had to make this seem good. He didn't want to upset Mayella. He had just given her a name. Also, she seemed to be rather cautious around these ponies. That probably meant she was disliked by them. That means if he made friends with her, he could totally pick sides and piss all of the pony race off! It would be a great day when that could happen. He didn't want to see such a cute bug thing unhappy as well.

"That's because I am." He could grow to regret that.

"Oh... You know, I think you're a very nice thing. You actually fed me even when I didn't ask for it. I tried to attack you, and I told you I would steal your love... And then you just give it to me."

"Yep. I did, I suppose." He would grow to regret that. He then put Mayella down next to him, startling her. "Right, so I'm just gonna go get that barrel." He then jumped over and stuck his claws in one of the beams, causing him to hang.

"Are you just gonna leave me like this?" Mayella pestered him at a moment like this. This woman would get him broken.

"No. I'll be sure to visit." He started clambering over to the rafter with the barrel. He then got within grabbing distance of the barrel. He thrust his feet towards the barrel, latching on to it. He then pulled his feet forth, causing quite the pain in his body. He wasn't used to bending his body in the ways he was. The barrel moved forward, falling down and unlatching from his feet. It landed in a bail of hay. He saw the hay and decided to remove his claws from the beam he was on. He then fell a distance down, and landed in the hay bail.

Despite what everyone said to him, bails of hay do not get rid of the pain from the fall. It caused him to give a little grunt in pain because of the impact. He then heard Mayella say, "Are you okay?"

"Completely fine, I assure you!" He got himself up from the ground. He turned to the barrel and grabbed it. He lifted it over his shoulder. It was decently heavy. He started walking for the barn door and nearly opened it when he heard a voice.

"Can you come back soon?" Travian really had to think. Did he want to try to help this creature that could steal the love from someone? That was something these ponies probably had an abundance of, but still. He feared he would develop feelings for the adorable pony-like creature. He placed his hand on the door.

"Sure. I'll see what I can do." He pushed it forward with a small smile upon his face. It was quite a long time since he had a genuine smile.