//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Carving a Path // Story: The Harvesters // by Master_Ovan //------------------------------// Chapter 1 Rarity backed away from the body and Rainbow walked over to inspect him. “Wow, Rarity, you fixed him up good as new!” “Well, it was the least I could do for someone in such bad condition my dear. Why don’t you let me keep him here to rest for awhile. I’m not sure if moving him would be the best way to go about things right now. Oh, and Rainbow, please don’t tell Twilight about this. She would probably be upset if she heard that you took him here instead of to the hospital.” Rarity jested, knowing that Twilight would be furious if she heard that Rarity used some sort of unknown and untested magic on another pony without written permission from Princess Celestia herself. “Yeah, you’re probably right Rarity. You sure you’re gonna be okay keeping this guy here?” “Of course darling, I’ll be perfectly fine.” “Well, see ya later Rarity!” At this time Rainbow dashed out of the house in a puff of rainbow colored smoke. Rarity pulled up a chair and sat beside the handsome stallion waiting for him to come to; she thought it would be only right if she explained to him how she healed him, not knowing weather it would have any side effects or what have you. An hour passed before Rarity fell asleep. ===================================================================== Rarity awoke the next morning and slowly and groggily raised her head off of the wooden table that was still covered in blood from the unicorn stallion that had rested there last night. Her mane and coat were both covered in sticky crimson blood with a metallic smell to it. After realizing this, Rarity began to panic, as being covered in blood was not her usual cup of tea. “AHHHHHHHH! My mane! My coat! My beautiful, beautiful coat! IT’S RUINED!!! Out of all the terrible things that could have happened this is THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!” After this rather dramatic session of whining she noticed something else that was rather important. As it turns out, the unicorn stallion was no longer on the table, or in the house for that matter. Rarity checked every room in the house, including the closets. She even ran upstairs frantically checking every room! The unicorn stallion was nowhere to be found! After flying around in a blind panic for several minutes more she heard a knock at the door. She quickly pulled herself together and went over to answer it. Swinging the door open she greeted her guest with a kind “Hello,” and then looked him in the eye. It was the unicorn from last night, he was tall, white, and handsome. On his flank he had what appeared to be a briefcase for a cutie mark and he had black hooves. “Hello, madam. I presumed you were the one that saved my life last night so I decided I would run out and get us lunch for when you woke up.” the unicorn said kindly. “Thank Celestia you’re back, you gave me quite a scare disappearing like that! Don’t you know it’s unkind to worry a lady?” “My apologies madam, but I didn’t want to wake you, you must have had a long night and you were sleeping so peacefully. Also, I can’t help but notice you have a lot of blood on you, you might want to go clean yourself up.” “Oh my! I completely forgot! Wait down here while I go wash up, and don’t go wandering off, you hear me!” “Anything for you madam.” the unicorn gave a little wink and went to go sit at a table that was set up in the corner of the room. ===================================================================== Rarity came walking down the stairs with elegance, she was now perfectly clean and groomed. As she entered the first floor she saw that the unicorn had cleaned up all the blood on the floor and the table. “Oh you didn’t have to do all that, I would have gotten to it eventually!” Rarity said in a thankful tone. “It was my pleasure madam. Cleaning up a mess such as this is no job for a lady.” “My, you sure know how to talk to a mare.” Rarity replied bashfully. “It’s how I was raised madam.” “Well, your parents raised you well.” “Funny story about that, I actually raised myself.” The unicorn said with a smile on his face. “Oh... Well that must have been nice.” Rarity replied awkwardly. “By the way, just a small question. How do you keep this place running. It’s past 4:00 PM on a Friday and I haven’t seen a single customer come through that door yet today.” “Well you see, the thing is, erm...” Rarity paused for a moment, “I’m about to go out of business, I haven’t sold more than 3 dresses in the past month. I can barely afford to pay my bills with the money I have left in my savings.” “That’s great! Just as I expected!” “Great!? What do you mean by ‘great’?” “Well you see, I have a job offer for you. I’m a... what would you call it... a... a... a business pony! That’s it, I’m a business pony! Last night I had gotten into quite a tussle with one of my clients and he pulled a blade on me. I thought I was done for but that’s when I saw your friend. She came to pick me up and I believe she brought me to you. Of course, I was unconscious by the time I got here, but seeing as how after such a deep gash I’m left with only a scratch I’m presuming you must have used an ‘exceed’ to heal me.” “An ‘exceed?’” “Oh, you don’t know? Lets start with this: normal unicorn magic can do many things, you can teleport, levitate, use telepathy, conjure things, and many other useful tools; however, you can’t do everything. Now, when every unicorn is born, deep inside their DNA is a powerful magic skill called an exceed. I’m guessing what you used to heal me was your exceed. The funny thing about exceeds is that they hardly have anything to do with a unicorn’s special talent.” “An exceed? So that’s what that power was. Do you have an exceed?” “Why of course I do, I discovered mine when I was just a young colt. I can manipulate shadows into physical forms. It comes in handy when I’m in a bind. So, now that you know about your power, back to the job offer.” “Oh right, I almost forgot about that.” “I’m offering you a chance to make a great living for yourself. The pay is incredible, although some people say the work we do is immoral. I disagree completely though. I think what we do is crucial to the well being of all ponies. What is this job you might ask? Well, to put it plain and simple, I run an organ harvesting rig.” “AN ORGAN HARVESTING RIG!?!?” Rarity yelled out, almost afraid of the unicorn. “That is correct. Please quiet down though, it is a secret operation and we can’t have anyone hearing about it. Before you reject, let me just explain to you what we do. We separate the rig into 2 main groups of people, there are the Hunters, and then there are the Harvesters. The Hunters go out and collect ponies from various places all around Equestria and bring them back to the factory for harvesting. Then the harvesters carefully harvest their non vital organs and then sew the ponies back together. Then the Hunters go and put them back where they found them. The victim of course will have no recollection of the encounter. That is the basic idea of what we do, and I want you to be one of my Harvesters! Your exceed would be a great asset to our team.” “Why in the world would I want to help you harvest organs!?” Rarity asked in a shaky tone. “I have read about you. All the books say that your element of harmony is generosity, am I correct?” “Yes...” “Well, think of it this way. We are taking organs from people that are too selfish and greedy to donate them themselves. We get paid by an anonymous middle man who then sells the organs to the hospital for people who need transplants. We are saving lives! We are the essence of generosity! Just recently we made an amazing breakthrough. As it turns out, any pony with an hourglass, pocket watch, or clock on their flank has TWO hearts! Do you know how many more lives we have saved since then!? Just remember, we don’t kill anyone! We only take non vital organs, and we are saving lives. Oh, and you will make more money than you could ever imagine.” Rarity thought about the proposition for a moment; she couldn’t believe what this unicorn was asking her to do but nevertheless she was considering doing it. The logic behind it was good. They were saving lives by taking something from people who were to greedy to give it up themselves. She was the element of generosity, and now she could use that generosity to save lives. “I’m in. When do I start.” Rarity said to the unicorn. “You can start today if you would like, how about you follow me and come see our workplace.” “That would be lovely, oh, one more thing, what’s your name?” “Oh! I completely forgot to tell you my name, pardon my manners, I am Prestige, Prestige Hoofshire. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.” The two unicorns then set off. Rarity was about to make a new life for herself, using her new found magic to carve a path in her life, one that would hopefully lead her to happiness. Everything was changing, and it was time to begin The Harvest.