Der Metzger Herr Messer

I let out a long huff as my employee talked to a few bat ponies who'd found their way in. "So ouy avhe ti." I couldn't understand a word they were saying. I couldn't speak English, Equestria, whatever the ponies or griffons or anyone else wanted to call it, I couldn't speak it. I couldn't understand it past hello.

The griffon I'd hired tapped me on the shoulder as I leaned back against the wall behind the counter. "We...need-" she held up three bird fingers, "-kilogram. Pork cuts."

I looked down at the blue feathered griffon and nodded. She was doing her best, and her best would have to do considering German was apparently a dead language in Equestria. I looked over at the huddle of ponies watching me. I shook my head and adjusted my sweater around my throat. The wide eyed creatures refused to leave me to work.

They just watched. They watched as I walked back to the end of my shop to grab paper and meat. My gloved hands felt wet as I charged through the meat locker. I kept most of it half cut and hug to keep, with only a few prepackaged parts in the front. I grabbed a few sizable hunks of pork and hurried into the prep room.

The room was rather small, with a few saws and a massive set of knives on the wall. The wall leading towards the main shop had a large glass window, a holdover from the previous owner. The bat ponies were all gathered around, watching me as I moved the chunks to a table. They acted like they were starving, fidgeting and hopping up and down to try and watch me cut.

I rolled my eyes and focused on the meat. Skilled movements tore into the fresh slaughter, cut after cut was pulled away and set aside, delighting the herd of pseudo horses watching me work. I couldn't get the image of horses back home suddenly getting a taste for blood and going on a murderous stampede across Europe. My skin creeped as I went back to cutting, the slicing and paring keeping me focused on the cuts.

One of the bats pressed their hooves against the window, watching me close with two massive red eyes. I stopped cutting and slowly turned to face the strange nocturnal pony. He just smiled at me. "Hi!" His voice was muffled by the glass between us, but I knew enough to know what he was saying. It seemed that hello was universal through German tinted languages.

I raised my knife and slammed it down into the chopping table. The ponies jumped in place, laughing amongst themselves and pulling together into a tight huddle. I looked off to the meat and shook my head. I could have done without the peanut gallery, but seeing them so happy did set a small fire in my heart. I sighed raspily and finished up, leaving the cuts to stack up on my scale. I'd gone slightly over, but I didn't mind rounding down for my first official customers.

I slammed the blade into the table and wrapped up the cuts as quick as I could. It felt like a rather large order, but looking at the five or so ponies just watching me, it didn't seem to out of the ordinary. I noticed something odd wander in amongst a rush of bat ponies. The shop was filling up with the night dwellers, humans, and griffons. But now, now something odd wandered in. A white earth pony.

I shook my head and grabbed the meat the first herd had ordered. I walked slowly back into the bustling front of the shop, ponies swarming about, all under guard by my employee watching the door, a young bat pony with a shaved head. It was hard to think of any of the ponies as threatening, giant that I am, but he certainly came the closest. Sunken eyes, slender but not skinny, and with fangs that came down to his chin. No truer monster had there ever been.

I hurried over to my griffon and passed off the meat. The pony herd split in two, some sitting before me like hungry dogs, others paying for the meat and asking questions to prolong the unintelligible garble I had to deal with. I stood at my counter, staring back at the wide eye'd ponies. It felt odd, like a Mexican standoff with absolutely no stakes. Someone would blink, and nothing would happen. Artificial and pointless tension building for absolutely no reason.

A talon dug into my shoulder. "Beef-" six fingers, "-ground."

I nodded and turned back to where the ponies were sitting. I'd expected them to be gone, but they were still sitting, watching me with thick smiles. I kept my expression flat and went back into the storeroom. A few chunks of beef later and I was face to face with an Aryan pony glaring at me. Blue eyes forced into something angry and ugly. A bitter expression puffed out across her cheeks as she watched me lower chuck into the grinder on the table.

I did my best to ignore her. The mare tapped the glass, drawing my attention back to her. She hadn't moved, she hadn't changed her expression. I was being mad-dogged by a tiny white mare with blonde hair. "Monster." Her voice was sweet, her words clear Hessian German, but turned bitter by her tone.

I slowly turned back to face her. I cocked my head ever so slightly as a few bat ponies tried to close in and watch. The aryan mare shoved them all away and sat dead center in my window to the shop. I rubbed the scar on my throat, wishing I could make a retort as quick and stern as my next action was. I yanked my clever from the table and wielded it over my head at the window.

The mare just sat there as a few bat ponies dodged away from her. "Animal." Her voice turned cold, her glare narrowing down. "Beast, serving your own for money, serving ponies for profit!" She reared up and pressed her hooves against the window. My eyes were drawn to something black on her ass. A bright pink heart with a swastika buried in the center sat heavy on the beauty's ass.

I felt my brow grow heavy as I looked up at the mare. So far had I come to escape that symbol, yet here it was, staring me in the face yet again. Even better, it was attached to a pony that would have made Hitler shit himself with glee. I finished up the grinding with a heavy expression dragging my face into a scowl. The already deep lines in my face grew deeper as I hurried back into the front of the salty smelling shop. A sea of ponies had infested my shop, filling it snugly and swarming around the counter as the griffon tried to dish out the meats.

The griffon looked up at me, eyes pleading and stuffed with panic. "Mr. Messer, help!"

I wanted to tell her she asked for help wrong, but between my throat and the swarm, it would have to wait. I slammed the counter hard. The ponies in the building all jumped to attention. I nudged my griffon. She turned to me with her talons together. I cocked an eyebrow and tapped my fingers on the table. "Oh rghit!" The griffon flared her wings out. "Attentions!"

I rubbed my forehead as she butchered the word.

The girl looked down at me, worry across her face. "Ilen up! Snlgei lief!"

On her words the bats slowly shuffled into a few straight lines. Everyone save the aryan pony, who marched right up to the counter and glared at me. "You smell like blood."

I nodded at the pale mare.

She grew a bit more agitated, her tail flicking all over. "You're happy being a monster?"

I nodded and pointed to her ass. The mare lifted her back leg and looked to the swastika. "What? What, you think you are funny?"

I shook my head and slowly walked to the end of the counter. The mare took a few steps back as I pulled off the latex gloves I used for chopping. "Get back!"

I hurried up to the mare and grabbed her under the forelegs. She kicked and squealed as I carried her over the lines of bat ponies and over to the door. Her coat was soft and warm, made all the more painful as I spotted the black cross on her backside. I shoved the door open with my shoulder and ducked down under the door frame. The dusk sky over Canterlot painted everything a bright orange.

I set the mare down on her haunches and dusted off my hands. She spun around and whipped me with her tail. "You're a brute!"

I nodded.

The mare stared up at me, face twisted up into something angry. "You understand me?" Her voice wavered away from angry for just a moment.

I nodded.

The mare licked her lips and looked off towards the distant castle over Canterlot. "Not a complete idiot than, only a monster."

I shrugged and turned back to my shop. I turned at the doorway and pointed to the mare, then straight down the street. The blue eye'd mare stood up and stomped her hoof. "If you understand then tell me why you serve pony! You serve human, pony, you're sick!"

I looked at the mare with a tired set of eyes. She grew a bit nervous under my gaze and stepped back. "Fine, I shall be back! This will not stand in Equestria! And neither will your dirty night creatures!"

I turned back and stepped into the shop. The ponies were slowly chugging through. I would need to hire a few more workers if things kept up like this, but the first day wasn't always telling for repeat business. I forced my way through the crowd, a few ponies following me back to the counter and trying to talk to me.

I settled back in and looked over to the griffon. She looked up at me and nodded. "He dsonet peaks nglishe."

The room bustled slightly with yet more garbled language. I covered my mouth and looked down at my watch. It was going to be a long night. I looked out the window again, the mare was still sitting there, shooting daggers at me. I maintained our standoff and glared right back at her. The junior nazi youth would have to deal with sitting out there.

I shook my head and pointed my griffon towards the prep room. I made a few gestures and patted her on the shoulder. "Oh I can't...write, you language."

I shrugged and hurried on towards the prep room. The bats were all crowded around the window again. Some from the original group seemed to be sitting in for the show alone. Fuzzy monsters that they are, they couldn't distract from the icy blue death stare I was recieving through two sets of glass.

She sat there through the hours, just staring at me. Minutes turned into hours, grams to kilograms, chunks to full carcasses as my shop was swarmed by the night borne. But she just sat there, illuminated by a lantern overhead. As the hulks of meat were dished away I decided to close up. The last few customers were served and I cleaned up in the prep room.

I took a deep breath as the griffon tried to stuff bits into our register. "Herr Messer, problem."

I walked up to her, sidestepping my way along the counter. The register refused to close, stuffed tight with golden coins. I shook my head and pulled a roll of coins out. I held it against the griffon's chest. I nudged my head towards the door. "What? I can't." I looked back at the tray and grabbed another roll. I tossed it over at the security pony. The loud clatter made him jump, but moments later he folded his wings away and took the roll.

He nodded at me. "Hantks Sobs." He looked around the shop and ducked out.

I looked back to the griffon girl. She rolled the bundle of bits around her hand. "Uh, okay." She held it tight and looked to the door. "Bye."

I stood alone in my shop, still painfully aware of the blonde mare sitting outside my window, glaring at me for hours. I shook my head and went to the front door. I peeked my head out, the mare still glaring at me. I walked out next to her and put my hand against her coat. "Don't touch me you pig murder--"

Freezing to the touch. I grabbed the mare under her forelegs. She started shaking violently as I tossed her over my shoulder and carried her into my shop. I set the mare down on the open floor and started taking off my sweater. "Don't touch me--" She stopped dead as I pulled my sweater away from my head. "The mark. Mark of strength."

I looked down at the swastika tattooed on my forearm. A relic from a long time ago I was too ashamed to have removed. I rubbed the spot and straightened out my sweater. I tossed it around the girl, tying the sleeves around her neck loosely. The mare looked up at me with an unusually worried look. "But, you're a monster."

I nodded. I reached out behind the counter and grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil. I hurried and wrote down my message. The mare's hooves rubbed up and down the knot I'd tied in the sweater. She looked up and down at the note. "Herr Messer?"

I nodded. I tucked the note between the sweater and her chest. I pointed to the gnarled scar on my throat.

The pony's eye twitched slightly. "Aryanne."

I nodded and turned back to the counter. I needed to clean, and if she was going to be stalking me and staring at me, better she didn't catch sickness from the cold and risk infecting me.