Ponyville's main street basked in the balmy glow of the radiant Equestrian sun. Spike, however, was in no mood to relax. Which was unfortunate, since Twilight Sparkle had allowed him a fifteen-minute break from his assistant's duties for that express purpose.
The normally bustling street was deserted, which could only mean that something had spooked the ponies into hiding. Again. Usually it was nothing, but there could just as easily be a real danger. Spike decided to made a beeline for Sugarcube Corner, a common assembly point for the panicked populace, at least so he could find out what the problem, if anything, was.
To help calm his nerves, the young dragon dug his clawed fist into the small hessian bag he was carrying and fished out an assortment of glittering, brightly-coloured jewels. He feasted his gleaming eyes on the jewels for a second before popping the gems into his eager mouth. He hummed in enjoyment as his short but powerful jaws pulverised the hard stones as if they were roasted peanut kernels. The sensation emboldened Spike somewhat; he was rather proud of his race's gemstone-eating ability.
Spike polished off a few more jewels before finding himself at Sugarcube Corner. He peered through a gap in the curtains of the main window; sure enough, a string of nervous-looking ponies was gathered inside. He waddled to the front door and knocked.
Having finished cleaning up the mess in the storeroom, Fluttershy wafted pensively towards the main street, manticore in tow. As she neared the shop front, she caught a glimpse of Spike's scaly purple tail just as he was apparently hustled into the patisserie.
Spike. Now there was a predator who had no trouble adapting to the pony diet, Fluttershy mused. Then again, there seemed to be scarcely anything that the young dragon wouldn't eat. Even ...
Especially ...
Fluttershy looked intently back towards the agitated-looking and increasingly hungry manticore. He was a predator, just as Spike was, and even breathed fire, just as Spike did. Maybe ... well, it couldn't hurt to try.
* * *
"Are you sure you don't mind? I hate to impose."
"Not at all, dear." Rarity trotted elegantly from the tradesponies' entrance of the Carousel Boutique into the delivery bay where Fluttershy and the manticore were waiting. Her horn telekinetically bore a smart display case, which she laid to rest on a trestle table. She then magically opened the case to reveal an array of dazzlingly beautiful gemstones of many varieties, shapes, sizes and colours. The unicorn's innate, distinctive magic enabled her to divine the stones from the deceptively barren outskirts of Ponyville. She typically used them to add an extra touch of glamour to the outfits she designed and sewed, although they also had bartering value.
"Perhaps we'd like to start with a lovely amethyst? I mined them today." Rarity levitated a purple jewel out of the display case and into the manticore's waiting paw. The creature stared bemusedly at the stone for a moment then, with a terse grunt, thrust the jewel under Fluttershy's muzzle. Rarity looked on uneasily. She did not understand the manticore's language but there was no mistaking what he was asking.
Fluttershy's eyes darted back and forth between the amethyst and the manticore's expectant face. Her teeth were unlikely to scratch the surface of the jewel, and she dared not try to swallow it whole. "No, that's okay, really. It-it's not something we ponies eat so much but I'm sure a big, strong, tough fellow like you would be..."
Before she could finish, the big, strong, tough fellow tossed the gem over his shoulder. The stone clattered noisily along the delivery bay floor near Rarity's pet cat, Opalescence, who leapt away with a disapproving yowl.
The manticore, who had not taken his intent eyes off Fluttershy, let out a menacing-sounding snarl, raising his pitch towards the end as if asking a question. Rarity's nervousness increased, only to grow even greater at Fluttershy's reaction. The pegasus had a gift for communicating with animals on different levels and her demeanour with them reflected this. Sometimes she was soothing, sometimes she was stern, but she was always in control. Now she was averting her eyes, shuffling her forehooves and speaking in a timorous, halting murmur. It was precisely the submissive body language that she normally exhibited when dealing with unfamiliar ponies who presented some sort of obstacle to her.
"Um, well, I guess I was, uh, kind of, um, half-expecting that, well, maybe you might, um, possibly consider the possibility of, ahem, eat-eating one of these, um ..." Fluttershy swallowed heavily before hoarsely choking out the pony translation of the word the manticore had used for the jewels: "... rocks".
The manticore greeted this nervous confession with an angry growl. His lips parted just enough to reveal all three rows of his terrible teeth.
"What? No! Of course I don't think you'll eat just any old junk."
"'Junk'? Those are freshly harvested amethysts!" thundered Rarity.
Then came the roar. The same long, loud, low-pitched, petrifying roar that had greeted the ponies during the fight earlier that day. Fluttershy had successfully suppressed the instinctive fear at that time by focusing on the urgent need to help her friends and avert endangerment to anypony else. Now, in her haste to atone for her insulting offer of the jewel, she had let her guard down. Her primal terror overwhelmed her and she collapsed like a spent balloon, leaking courage.
"I know this was all my idea, but..."
The monster cut off her quavering explanation with another roar, even deeper and louder than the last, and lunged so far forward that their noses almost touched.
"Oh please don't be upset. I'm doing the best I can," whimpered Fluttershy. She wanted to ascend into the air and flee but she literally could not move.
The manticore drew back a step, but it was not in retreat. He was preparing for another lunge. Or worse. Fluttershy noticed a long, deep inflation of the furious creature's torso and sensed to her rapidly mounting horror that his next exhalation would be no mere roar of anger. Unable even to close her eyes, the powerless pegasus braced herself and waited for the inevitable conflagration.