Actually milking the manticore
Spike and Apple Bloom, having emerged from the tunnels in such a spectacular fashion, that even the great and powerful Trixie would have deemed it showy, now found themselves standing in the middle of the manticore’s caves.
“Well, now what?” Spike asked.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “Zecora hasn’t talked to me since we left the hut.”
“I wasn’t talking to you, I was talking to the voices in my head.”
“Look kid, what I did I tell you about using your inner voice?”
“Umm... To use it?” Spike said, and if it wouldn’t have been for the thick coat of manticore repellent he would have turned red from embarrassment.
“And?”
“Better?” Spike said, this time using his inner voice.
“Better. Now here is how you are going to milk a manticore...”
“Milk a manticore?”
“Well yeah, what did you expect to do here?”
“Milk a manticore?” Apple Bloom repeated his question as her brain tried to figure out how manticore milk fit in the remedy for hers and Zecora’s condition.
“You said we needed manticore venom,” Spike told Apple Bloom.
“No I didn’t,” the pony replied looking confused at Spikes.
“Yes you did. You said we need manticore venom and ursa tears.”
“Ursa tears? Manticore venom? What for?” Apple Bloom asked even more confused than before.
“Um, voice? What going on with Apple Bloom?”
“I think there are some problems with their memories.”
“What kind of problems?”
“I think Zecora’s memories are starting to replace some of hers.”
“Will they return when we cure them?”
“Maybe.”
“Spike who are you talking to?”
“Umm.. I am talking to...”
He was interrupted before he could tell her about the voices in his head.
“Just tell her you are in a psychic link with another creature.”
“Psy...kick link?”
“You are talking to someone using your brain.”
“Oh, Apple Bloom I am talking with someone using my brain, and sometimes I say the words, I’m supposed to think, out loud.”
“Oh, okay then.” She said with a smile on her face, as if that was a normal thing to do. “So why are we in the manticore pit and covered in... in this?” She asked pointing towards herself.
“It’s a long story, we just need to get some manticore milk and we can get out of here.”
“Milk? You need manticore venom, not milk,” the voice told Spike.
“Then why are we going to milk it?”Spike asked, confused by the voices correction.
“Milking is the term used to get venom out of snakes, or spiders, or, in your case a manticore.”
“So how are we going to get the venom out?”
“Well first you need to find a manticore capable of producing venom.”
“Huh? Don’t all manticore have a stinger?” Spike asked.
“They do, but only male manticores have venom,” the voice clarified.
“So we have to milk a male?”
“Yes,” the voice replied bluntly.
“That’s sounds wrong.” Spike let out a shiver as the thought pass through his mind.
“What’s wrong?” Apple Bloom asked when she saw his reaction.
“Nothing the voice was just telling me how we are going to get the venom.”
“Listen kid, it’s actually really simple you just have to...”
Spike froze in place, as the voice explained the ‘right’ way to milk a manticore.
“ARE YOU INSANE?! HOW DO YOU EXPECT US TO DO THAT!?”
“Wow, I am impressed. You actually manage to use your inner voice for once.”
“NEVER MIND THAT. WE ARE GOING TO GET KILLED IF WE DO THAT!”
“No, you aren’t. It’s way easier than it sounds. I used to do it all the time when I was a recruit.”
“Recruit? Were you a soldier?”
“Still am... But, we don’t have time for that now. Just do what I told you and you will be fine.”
“Fine... Apple Bloom the voice has explained to me how we are going to get the venom from the manticore... And you are not going to like it.”
“How bad can it be?”
For a moment Spike thought the voice in his head was laughing at the fillies question, but he was not sure if it actually was the voice or himself. Hearing voices talk to you using your own voice can be complicated at time.
“Well... First we need to find the right manticore... Actually any male one will do but, we want to get out of here alive...”
Spike explain the plan to Apple Bloom, and with each passing word the fillies confidence shattered and she began noticing the insanity of the whole thing.
“... and then we run,” Spike finished explaining the plan.
Both of them knew that any plan that ended in “then we run” was not going to be a good plan.
“I... I don’t even... This is... Really? That’s the plan?” Apple Bloom asked, her brain refusing to work, faced with the sheer insanity of the plan.
“Yep.” Spike answered, accepting the notion that they would probably not make it out alive.
“Are we going to die?”
“Yep.”
“No, you aren’t. Just do what I said and all will be fine.”
“Sure, I am sure a baby dragon and a filly will be able to pull this off.”
“Well a little simian and a filly zebra could.”
“Simian?” Spike asked, never hearing the word before.
“What’s a simian?” The word was also new to Apple Bloom.
“We can talk about it later, now go.”
“Fine! Let’s go Apple Bloom.”
The two started climbing the steep edges that lead to the manticore’s caves, they went higher and higher until they reached the entrance to the largest and topmost cave.
“The smell...” Apple Bloom said with teary eyes.
“It burns...” The dragon added.
“It’s smells worse than... everything.”
“Focus.”
“Right.” Spike said startled by the return of the voice. “We need to focus...”
“And breath through your mouths.”
“... and breath through our mouths.”
Breathing through their mouths helped, but now they could taste the foul stench that lingered in the air as they walked into the cave. It did not take them long to find what they were looking for; a manticore... THE manticore, the alpha male, father of all, feared by everyone.
Manticores were not the most social of animals, especially the females who were very territorial, but they gathered together from time to time, especially during their the times when the females were in heat, which happened about every two weeks and would last for a couple of days, the largest and strongest males, the alpha and beta, would spend most of the time in their caves waiting for a female to come to them, usually bringing a ‘gift’, the weaker, smaller or younger one would have to search and usually fight for a mate.
As luck would have it, the alpha was in his cave, sleeping, having just finishing his meal.
Spike and Apple Bloom looked at the piles of bones around it. Most of the bones were broken and sucked clean of all marrow, so finding out what creature they came from was difficult, skulls were also rare since they held juicy brains and the creature would crack them open if it could. But a few had only their backs cracked and certain features made the creatures recognisable.
From what little they knew of anatomy they could make out that among the remains were a few cows, probably from a stampede that happened some time ago, some wolf heads, either dire wolfs or canis minors, some skulls they hadn’t seen before, most shockingly however there were plenty of pony skulls, which made the duo lose what little hope they had left.
But they soldiered on.
A manticore was usually a little larger than a fully grown earth pony, some even were taller than Celestia herself, but this one was dwarfed them all. It was so big that it could almost swallow a pony whole, and this was the one the two were after.
With a gulp they went forward. Apple Bloom took out a oddly shaped shell from her saddlebags, before placing her bags behind a pile of bones
First thing was reaching the stinger, she jumped from the ground onto its paw then on its knee before finally, with one last jump landing on its back. Spike climbed holding onto the creatures mane, reaching the back of it’s neck. It did not seem to notice the two as they moved.
The started walking towards each other, when they meet Apple Bloom passed the shell to Spike before continuing on their way. He placed it onto the tip of the manticores tail, the shell fitting perfectly around its stinger.
“Ready.” He said to Apple Bloom in a quiet voice, but he waved his hand making sure she could see him.
“Am I standing where I am supposed to?” She asked taking a stance.
“Well?” He asked the voice.
“Go for it, as hard as she can.”
“DO IT!” He yelled as hard as he could.
The manticore noticed the yell, but before he could get up Apple Bloom bucked him behind the neck knocking it out.
“One...” Spike started counting.
The creature legs started twitching as well as its tail releasing the precios venom into the shell.
“Five...” Apple Bloom jumped of it and headed towards the bone pile where she hid the saddle bags.
“Eleven...” She placed them on her back and tied them tightly.
“Twenty-two...”
“Grab it.”
Spike jumped and pulled the shell from the tip of the manticores tale, as it came loose a jet of venom came out and hit him across the face, he screamed in pain, the manticores ears moved.
“Twenty-nine...” The voice continued counting for Spike.
“Fire. NOW.” It yelled.
Flames came out from the dragons mouth melting the top of the shell and closing it.
“Thirty-five...” It continued counting.
“Spike!” Apple Bloom yelled.
“I’m coming.” He screamed back as he jump, or more like feel of the creatures back.
He landed on his back squashing his tail under him.
“Forty...”
“Spike, we need to hurry!”
“I can’t see!” Spike screamed.