The door to the workshop slowly opened, and a man with a strange sphere in his hands walked in. The owner of the facility was aware of his presence, and yet, he didn't bother turning around to greet him.

"Ye'd better not be planning on asking me to fix something for ya." The mechanic turned around to face the customer, right before spitting into a bucket next to him. He kept polishing the wrench in his hands as though unaware that he had a customer. "Closing time's almost here, so I'd advise ya to come back another day," he explained in a not-so-welcoming tone.

"That voice..." Twilight spoke up. "That's him! That's the human that gave the sphere to the young one!"

Inhio took a few steps closer to the mechanic. Leaving was the last thing on his mind right now.

The mechanic finally looked at the other person in his workshop, paying extra attention to the object in his hands. "Or better yet, not come back at all if ya plan on bringing me garbage like that." He stopped polishing his wrench and directed his full attention to Inhio. "Man, what do I look like? I'm a mechanic, not a jeweler!"

Inhio just kept walking towards the other man.

The mechanic gave another close look at the object in Inhio's hands. "Say...ain't you the same guy that left a ball like that here earlier today?"

Without much thinking, Inhio nodded. His honesty had already complicated things for him twice that day, so he decided to lie this time to save him from some needless explanations.

"It's the same one," Inhio replied.

"Same one..." the mechanic whispered to himself. "Wait, y'all didn't steal it away from lil Billy Junior, did ya?" he said in an unfriendly tone and started rolling up his sleeves.

"No...I bought it from him," Inhio replied.

"Bought it?" the mechanic asked. "You left it here just to buy it back later?"

Inhio nodded. "I left it here by mistake." He shifted his eyes to a table behind the mechanic and noticed something resembling the pedestal he was looking for. "And I'd want that pedestal back, as well," Inhio said and pointed at the object that was holding some of the mechanic's tools.

"Say what, now?" the mechanic asked and looked towards whatever Inhio was pointing at. "That there ain't no pedestrian! That's my toolbox!" he retorted.

Rainbow Dash doubled over laughing. Pinkie Pie also giggled.

Inhio simply ignored the man's silly remark, as well as the laughing sound that only he could hear. "May I have it back, please?" he asked with composure.

"Well, I suppose so," the mechanic replied.

Inhio waled closer to the table with the pedestal on it.

"Under one condition," the mechanic slyly added just as Inhio began to reach for the thing he came here for.

With one finger already on the pedestal, Inhio froze up. He had a feeling he would regret his next words dearly, but, unfortunately, he didn't have a choice.

"Name it," Inhio said without looking away from the pedestal. He turned around after a short moment, only to see the mechanic stretching out his hand with a string of peculiar-looking beads hanging on his fingers.

"Do a reading for these here beads for me, will ya?"

"What kind of beads are these, anyways?" Inhio asked as he took them in his hands.

"Uuh, it's one of them...ya know...ritual beads," the mechanic gave a very unconvincing reply as his sight kept darting from Inhio to the wrench in his hands. "Like the ones that they use to pray to that god, Shima!" Convinced that he had given a very solid answer, the mechanic turned back to polishing his wrench.

Shiva Inhio thought to himself. As if I didn't have a bad enough feeling about this, already...

Inhio held the beads by the string as he focused his mind on them. "Right, then...Odd...I don't seem to see you using them to pray," Inhio said, trying to maintain a polite tone. Why am I not surprised?

"Keep reading," the mechanic instructed.

"They've spent the entire work week just sitting in a corner, but on holidays you would take them home, where you..." Inhio stopped talking and turned his face away from the beads, also making a very disgusted expression. "I freaking knew it."

The mechanic started laughing hysterically.

Inhio dropped the beads and reached for the pedestal on the table.

"Hey! What did you do that for? Now they'll get all greasy n stuff, how am I supposed to..."

Inhio didn't pay attention to the man's ranting, he just grabbed the pedestal and walked away, dropping the tools on the table.

"Don't throw them like that!" the mechanic shouted. "Those ain't no toys!"

"Inhio?..." Twilight asked slowly. "What was..."

"Don't ask."

"Fine, then! Get outta here!" the angry mechanic yelled and went back to polishing the wrench. "And you can forget about me fixing whatever ya needed me to fix!"

Author's Notes:

Inhio forgot to wash his hands...