Horse-Based Economy

by David Silver

6 - Your Repair Skill Increased by One

Fluttershy took them to her home, a quaint little structure done up like a little homey cottage. A shame the inside was nothing like the outside. Mechanical parts littered almost every available space, and little automatons wandered about with no obvious visible intent behind each one. "Don't mind them," she called as she nuzzled a few on the way past. "They come to me for repairs when they need them. They know I'll take good care of them." She took one up into her arms and hugged their blinking body close. "Precious things."

Stan gave out a huh at the curious sight as he picked his way forward over and around the mechanical obstructions. "You really like robots, huh?"

"Oh, my, yes." She put that robot back down and fluttered over to a cabinet. Throwing it open, she revealed rows of tools both simple and beyond any ability of theirs to understand the purpose of. She let out a little hiss, calling Giddyup closer. None of the other robots reacted, for she did not call them. The language of robots was very precise like that.

Giddyup approached as directed, standing just in front of Fluttershy. "Ready to initiate repair procedures. I am fully programmed in English, Spanish, and Canadian."

Stan stopped. "Wait... Canadian ain't a language, bud."

Giddyup processed that a moment as Fluttershy started her work with clangs and spurts of hot torch touches. "My mistake. I meant the foreign language from Canada. This language is French. I do not know why it is called that. It is spoken by Canadians. Why is it not Canadian?"

"Ya got me." Stan shrugged and looked to Applejack.

She threw up her hooves. "Hey! Ah wasn't even a dream when the bombs came down. Don't ask me 'bout no ancient history like that. Fluttershy?" The pegasus looked up from her work. "How's it lookin'?"

"It's not too bad." She pushed up her visor and paused in her welding. "But it would have been in the way, but I can see so many other things. Poor thing." She hugged Giddyup firmly around his barrel. "Oh, how rude of me. We never finished a handshake. No wonder I'm off. I speak English, German, binary, and Japanese."

"We will speak English," decided Giddyup.

"We will speak English," agreed Fluttershy. "Now, as I was saying, there are countless little things, you poor creature. You haven't been properly upkept in... Forever..." She rapped a hoof on Giddyup's back. "May I?"

Giddyup swung his head towards Stan.

Stan chuckled softly. "Ah'm his kid, and the adult. It's complicated, but it works fer us. He's askin' if ah give permission fer him to be worked on."

Fluttershy flew up, clapping with amazement. "How did you understand that? He barely said anything! Does he have another way of speaking? Giddyup, what languages do you know?"

Giddyup considered a moment. "I have already listed my languages. English, French, and Spanish. Oh. I speak binary as well. Apologies for not listing it before."

Stan snorted at the exchange. "That was the language of bein' buds. You learn someone long 'nough, a look can say a lot. Ah know him, an' he knows me, even if he ignores what he knows sometimes and insists ah eat when ah ain't hungry!"

"It is for your health. You want to grow tall and well, do you not?"

"That... ain't happening." Stan sighed as he turned, waving it off. "Go ahead, Miss Shy. Did you want somethin' fer this?"

"Hm?" She dove in to get right back to work, wriggling inside Buttercup to start on his internals. "Oh, do you mean caps? I should be paying you for letting me get a good look at this handsome Buttercup you've brought to me. I want him to be at his best!"

Applejack tipped her hat. "That's right neighborly of ya. Do ya need us 'round or are we gettin' in the way now."

"Since you mention it." She poked her head free from the side of Giddyup. "This will take a while, um... and some robots find being so exposed to be... embarrassing. So you'd probably be better off going and--"

"I am not embarrassed of my child."

Fluttershy pat the metal surface she was on. "That's very brave of you, but you don't want them to be bored, do you?"

Giddyup gave that due consideration. "Plan alteration: Stan, are you hungry?"

Stan laughed at that. "At least you asked fer a change. Knowin' yer in good ha...hooves... yeah, let's get that food sorted out. AJ?"

"Right with ya! We'll be back after lunch, Miss Shy." They headed out, with barely a murmur from Fluttershy, quite busy working on Giddyup as she was.

Applejack walked along with Stan. "Y'aint worried, 'least a little? What if she tries to steal Giddyup or somethin'?"

Stan hiked a brow. "Did ya miss it? He got a mind of his own. She tried to lay claim on him, he'd sooner slap her aside than go alon' with that."

"Huh... Got a point, but what if she got all in his head." She tapped at the side of her head. "She looked like she might be able to do that."

"AJ." He veered off towards what would have been a fine Italian place, in another universe. "When did you get so suspicious of other ponies?"

"Ah'm jus' lookin' out!" She huffed in an equine snort as she went up to a table. "Now... where'd ya bring us to?" She climbed up into a chair and sank on her haunches. It was big enough to let her do that comfortably. Made by ponies, for ponies. "Smells nice." The gentle teasing scents of tomatoes, beef, and touches of spices like oregano teased at her. "Didn't expect one of those, but the others are nice."

"Ah haven't had a good plate of this stuff in forever." Stan sat across from her. "And ah ain't passin' up the chance the one time it comes along." He spotted menus and passed one to AJ, flipping the other for himself. "There we go. Big ole plate of noodles." He slammed a finger down on it, clearly ready for it.

Applejack waved the one waiter down. "'scuse me. Ah ain't from 'round these parts... Is that meat ah smell?"

"We keep a little going." The male waiter nodded as he pulled out another, smaller, menu. "Would you like a drink?"

Applejack blinked at the drink menu. "Ya got fancy drinks?! Huh... Well, ya got it... how do ah say no to tryin' it? What's an 'Applejack' like? Ah'll try one."

"Of course, ma'am." He scribbled a note with a pencil in his mouth. "As for your question, ma'am, we do get guests, and they like the option. Some locals like it once in a while. Delicate balancing act, but I think it paid off today." He looked to the near salivating Stan. "You two know what you want, or should I come back?"

Stan shoved his menu forward, finger still on the item. "I want it drowning."

"Extra sauce, very good." He made a fresh note of the order. "With meat?"

"Yeah." He glanced across at Applejack. "You alright wit' that?"

"'Course ah am." She waved that idea away. "Y'ain't a pony, and y'ain't me. We don't got the same taste. Nothin' wrong with that. Well, since he ordered." She placed her menu down and brought down her hoof with it. "Ah'll take the salad with croutons an' cheese. Sounds right fancy an' good."

"One of my favorites." The waiter collected both the menus. "Sir, would you like a drink?"

"Water'll do fine." He reached for the glass there.

The waiter raised a hoof. "I feel I should warn, Sir, the water isn't free. Would that we lived in a world where that was possible."

"Yeah..." Stan sat back. "Wow. I haven't even thought about that in ferever. Go on." He waved the waiter away. "A long long time 'go, before you, water, clean water, was considered one of the cheapest things around. Places like this didn't charge fer a glass."

"Upset?" Applejack clapped her hooves as a glass of her chosen drink was placed before her. "Wow, an applejack. Ah knew it was a drink, but never had one afore..." She sniffed at the apple juice of a drink, her nose curling. "Wow! That is... not a light drink. Better take this slow."

"Yeah..." Stan sipped his not-free water, feeling sure it wouldn't knock him out. "Enjoy it wit' the food." He rubbed his hands together as his plate approached, with a pony attached. "Jus' what ah was hopin' for."

Applejack let out a "Yee haw!" She clapped with a big smile. "Looks like we both eat good today. Thank ya kindly." She nodded at the waiter as he put hers down in front of her. "Can't even wait." She paused then, aborting her motion to stuff her face in the food. "Whaz this?"

The waiter murmured a laugh at the question.. "Ma'am, that is a fork, for a pony."

"Is it now?" She tapped at the curious device. "How's it work?"

The waiter reared up and helped slide the strange thing over Applejack's hoof, equipping her with an attached fork. "If you shake it left or right, you can get the spoon or knife out, as you need it."

"How... Can ah get one of these fer the road?" She wobbled the curious eating device. "'Cause this is pretty neat."

With a patient smile on his face, he waited for her to finish speaking. "We don't sell those, but if you stop by the blacksmith, I feel certain he'd gladly make you one, ma'am. Enjoy your meal."

"Ah will." She stabbed the new fork into the leafy greens and got to chomping with a happy cheer, resuming her tastes of the applejack. "This is a lunch worth havin'!"

Stan twirled his fork, not attached, to capture a good helping of the pasta and ferry it to his mouth. "Mmm..." The taste spread over his tongue just so. A little hot, but nothing a few puffs didn't fix. The spices, just so, leaving him tingling with just the right amount of heat to it. "Ah'm gonna shut up an' eat, and ah ain't felt that in a while. I suggest you do the same."

"Cheese?" The waiter offered a grinder over Stan's plate.

"Hush my mouth... Yeah! Yeah, hit me." He rolled on the sprinkles of cheese as the shaker moved left and right slowly to get it all over. "Today... Man, when's the other shoe falling?"

"Pardon?" Applejack raised a brow. "Why the sudden sour look?"

Stan held up a hand for the sprinkling to stop. "Nothin', just worried when somethin'll go wrong and keep us from enjoying this." He snickered. "Maybe it'll just be the bill. That'd be fair. Good food comes with a good price."

"That's fair." She took another big bite, grinding it with her powerful equine chompers. "Mmm... Nothin'... It's good." She wasn't very good at speaking at that moment, but then, neither of them were, and they just enjoyed their first quality lunch in a while. In the life of a courier, it is crucial to appreciate the present moment, recognizing that the next may not arrive anytime soon. That was their life.

Stan swigged down the last of his water with a relieved sigh. "Damn good. Can't fit another bit... Want a taste?"

Appplejack looked at the dish with concern. "Um, that's got more meat than ah usually go fer, but..." She reached with her fork and stabbed a pasta that didn't have meat on it, at least that she could see. "Won't kill me." She popped it in her mouth and stopped. She speared a few more, barely having to chew the soft pasta. "Dan'! You didn't tell me it was that good... If there's a next time, goin' fer that, minus the meat."

"Nice to hear you both enjoyed yourselves." The waiter nuzzled under the plates to get them to slide onto his back with some clear practice. "When you're ready." He set down a tray with a paper on it.

"There it is." Stan picked up the paper. "All good things come to an end, but I'll pay this price."

Author's Note:

A very chill chapter, overall. It amuses me to imagine Applejack enjoying an applejack. Finally, her name has meaning!

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Comments

[Booster Spice]

I wonder if Stan an AJ just had a dinner date at The Priceless Cafe?

There are places where nothing has a price. If you need to ask? You cant afford it.

[tsaukpaetra]

Stan: "be careful not to drink yourself under the table!"
Just because there's calm, doesn't mean there's a storm. Elongated respite is surely appreciated.

[Turquoise pony]

Fluttershy took them to her home, a quaint little structure done up like a little homey cottage. A shame the inside was nothing like the outside. Mechanical parts littered almost every available space, and little automatons wandered about with no obvious visible intent behind each one. "Don't mind them," she called as she nuzzled a few on the way past. "They come to me for repairs when they need them. They know I'll take good care of them." She took one up into her arms and hugged their blinking body close. "Precious things."

This was the first thing I thought of is when the character J.F. Sebastian in blade runner brings in the off-worlder replicant into his home.
https://youtu.be/CLPpXNhL9z8

[howard035]

A nice, relaxing chapter. I hope they force a few caps on Fluttershy.