Der Metzger Herr Messer

I pulled my mask on and snapped a second pare of longer gloves over my arms. I looked over to the griffon. I nudged her a few times and pointed to the human leg. "Uh, what?"

I pointed to the meat again and shrugged.

"I don't get it."

I rubbed my chin on my shoulder. I stretched my neck. I pointed to the meat again and shrugged, teetering my hand left and right before us. I held my hands up, completely unable to ask the burning question. I made a fist and held it flat. I slowly moved it forward, abruptly slamming it forward into my other hand, then pointed back to the leg.

"Oooh! Heart attack, not crash."

I leaned my head back away from the meat. I swung my head left and right, a donor was a donor, meat was meat. Now I couldn't help but feel a bit betrayed by the means. Not that my qualms were moral, simply fat based. I'd got a card with his age, consent, everything needed save the cause of death.

I hopped up and down a few times and flexed my fingers. I pointed to the door, the griffon leaving me to the windowful of carnivors watching me carve my fellow man. The pony who'd bought the meat was sitting with his ears back. It was obvious he wasn't at all comfortable, if either by the hoard of bat ponies or the smell of blood. But he'd payed, and he'd made it abundantly clear it wasn't for him.

I pulled in a deep breath and huffed. I grabbed my knife and got to work. The first slash felt horrible, watching what was once a footless leg become so much ham. The second was simpler, the long dead skin torn away, the smells and bits filtered through my mask. The next turned the leg into slices, reducing it from a human leg to simple steaks.

It grew easier, the slices kind and easy. The bats sitting around just watched, not with slobbering maws but with simple appreciative smiles. I focused on the cuts, the meat just that, meat. I hummed raspily as I finished up and looked back to the window. The herd of ponies had parted for Aryanne, sitting and glaring at me with a pink bow tie around her neck.

I felt my brow grow heavy  as I wrapped up the leg meat. "You proud?" She asked, half muffled by the glass. I finished up and stepped back towards the front. Aryanne followed me across the counter and over to the scale. "Well? You've killed your kind and sold them, are you proud of--"

"Cxeseu em." The pony couriering the package bumped his way over. He sat there nervously tapping his hooves on the ground as I finished up. "Orf my wfei.... Radgno." He laughed nervously, a few ponies taking a collective step back.

I looked over to the blue griffon. She looked up at me. "Dragon wife."

I grew a sudden wide smile and snorted. I pulled it back with a huff and bagged the meat. I nodded at the nervous pony and watched him run outside. Aryanne glared as the young stallion bolted away. "You're corrupting them! Animal, interspecies promoting--"

I watched, ignoring her speech. She reared up and pressed her hooves against the counter. She started growing pink around the cheeks as she shouted at me. I stared at the bright pink bow on her chest. It stuck out like a sore thumb, bright pink just like her mark. My mind shot back to my own tattoo. I checked to make sure my sleeves were down.

"--And you feed these beasts! Flying--" I reached out and poked her tie. Aryanne jumped back and clambered away. "Do not touch me with your filthy hands!"

I shrugged and pointed to the door. Aryanne looked over then snapped back to me with a grimace. "I knew your kindness was false, f--"

I pointed over to a chair I'd pulled down from my upstairs loft. Aryanne whipped around. She stared at it, her tail lowering down from its aggressive bumped up state. "I don't need you or your filthy chair!"

I looked down at my hands, gloves removed they reeked of high grade soap. I stretched out my arm as a few ponies came up with bags of jerky or cheese. I did my best to pay attention to them, but little by little I watched Aryanne wander over to the chair. She sat neatly, forelegs cross and pressed against the chair. She looked like a statue, watching me in my dealings with the carnivores.

I worked the counter, the machine showing numbers acting as all the speech I needed. I looked over and spotted the griffon chopping apart ribs in the prep room. I flexed my fingers as I watched her bare talons wrap around the handle of my cleaver. I left her to her work and ran another bag over my scanner. I went to put it in the bag and stopped dead.

Horse meat

I shook my head and pulled the bits back out of the till. The bat pony sitting before me grew a heavy frown. "Waht's up?"

I sighed deeply and took the meat away. I passed the bits back over and shook my head. I pointed to the meat then back at the pony. She looked around and put a hoof to her chest. I nodded my confirmation. "Oh! Oh.... I ese." She smiled hard, her eyes betraying her nerves. She looked around the counter top and pointed at a bag on a rack. "Htat?"

I looked over at the bag she was pointing to. Venison.

I scratched my head. They could eat bovine, bat, chicken, venison I wasn't sure. I held one finger up and hurried over to the prep room. I bumped into the griffon, her hands full of fresh ribs. "Oh! Yes?" I pointed to the bag of jerky, then down to the bat pony. "Yes."

I nodded twice and hurried back. Half the reason the blue feathered girl was hired was because she knew these things, a holdover from work in her home land, serving a few minorities and griffons. Or, that's what her resume said. I had to have a translator read it to me while working to get the permits.

I finished up with the basic clients, emptying the shop to a manageable level for such a late time. We still operated during daylight hours, closing up at about midday for the bats. I stretched my neck and let out a long yawn. I tapped the griffon on her shoulder and made a scrubbing motion.

She looked up at me, eyes a bit red. "Yes. Tired, but yes."

I nodded and squeezed her shoulder. I Stretched my neck and pointed to the doorpony. He yawned roughly and turned to the outside world. Only one more part needed to be taken care of. The little nazi sitting in the corner of my shop, glaring at passersby.

I snapped my fingers, satisfyingly crisp in the noise. She whirled around to face me. "You know, earth dwelling ponies could work together, we could. But you insist on surrounding yourself with these *birds*!" She shouted at the window, startling a pegasus outside. Flared wings threw a feather at the window as the pegasus sidestepped away.

I shook my head and pointed to the door.

Aryanne looked over to the counter. "You taught your bird how to speak?"

I shrugged and shook my head.

Aryanne huffed softly. "You could still be saved. You walk, you don't dable in black arts, you could--" I reached down and tucked my finger under her bow tie. She glared down at my hand. "Remove yourself."

I shook my head and stepped back. We stood off, staring at one another yet again. Somewhere in the back of my head I felt futility drip into my brain. Black hair and brown eyes had been my curse, yet here sat spouting earth pony rhetoric, a perfect Aryan being. Perhaps proof of the idiocy I had ascribed to in the past, now outdone by a horse.

I pointed to the door again, softly, barely lifting my arm. Aryanne sighed loudly. "This is pointless, speaking to a brick." She hopped down from the chair and started off towards the door. I followed her over and held the door open for her. She glared at my hand. "Again, fake kindness--" I shoved her outside with the side of my foot.

I walked out after flipping the open sign to closed. Aryanne huffed and slapped my leg with her tail. "You need to learn respect!"

I rolled my eyes and looked up to the stairs into my loft. Living right above my shop was a bit odd, but the space was decent. I stepped up and looked back to Aryanne. She narrowed her eyes at me. "What? You want me to follow? So you can chop me up and--" The overwhelming urge to tell her to cut the shit started to dig into my skin.

I shook my head slowly and started up the stairs. She lingered a bit at the bottom, eventually lifting a hoof towards me. As nice as it would have been to have any sort of company, she turned away and left me to eat alone for another night. But she did hesitate, and perhaps that was the most I could have asked for.