Watercolor traditional pic by  VickyWyman. Story is by me.

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Hazard walked hastily to the front door at the sound of the doorbell. Looking through the window he could see that it was Belatrix carrying a bucket of tools. Opening the door, he greeted the stout Clydesdale unicorn. "Hey Belatrix", he said, "how is the day going."

"Just fine," Belatrix replied, "I've got my tools and everything right here so if you're ready we can just head to the back yard and get started."

"Works for me", replied Hazard in an excited voice, "I can grab my laptop on the way out," Hazard turned and started walking back through the house.

"Don't bother," Interrupted Belatrix as she following him in, her shooed hooves clopping loudly on the floor despite her best efforts, "I brought something better."

"Oh really?" Hazard's ears and wings perking upward in interest as he stopped and turned towards B Belatrix. "You bring your tablet or something?"

"Yup", replied Belatrix, "It will be much more convenient for you to hold while I'm working on you than your laptop."

"It seemed straightforward to use when you let me dink around with it at the hanger, answered Hazard. Lets give it a shot."

Hazard stopped by the kitchen where Toulia was busily working on dinner. As they walked in, the pink gryphon greeted Belatrix with a loud chirp and said, "Hey there, glad you could stay for dinner. It's a real treat and a challenge cooking for a carnivore and an herbivore at the same time, such wonderful smells." Toulia, with her large beak, didn't chew her food and as a result doesn't get much from it as far as taste. She enjoyed her food primarily through smell and reveled at being in the kitchen cooking.

"Sounds interesting," said Belatrix, "I've got nothing against meat, but by stomach sure does if I eat more than a little."

"I'm trying something new. It's one dish that gets cooked together, but has separate parts that you both should be able to eat," replied Toulia, "Though I have a backup plan in case it doesn't work."

"Well we both appreciate your efforts," said Hazard, giving Toulia's large beak a kiss and nuzzle, careful to avoid the sharp edges. "I can't wait to try it."

Heading out the back door, Hazard grabbed a folding chair and Belatrix followed close behind. Unfolding the chair, Hazard sat down in the middle of the yard, poking his long tail through the middle of the chair and draping his wings over the back. Setting her bucket of tools down, Belatrix got her tablet out of the case and handed it to Hazard.

"Well I'll let you play around with that, I put on a different screen protector that should be proofed against your claws. I know you were concerned about that last time. Also, for the trim, same as last time?" asked Belatrix.

"Oh you know me", replied Hazard, "as long as you get them close I'm fine with it, they'll grow back after all."

"Sounds good", said Belatrix. She reached into her bucket of tools and took out tape measure, a marker, and a roll of tape. Measuring from the base of the dragons horns she made a mark along the top. Taking the roll of tape she taped off a guide for her to follow when making the cut so she gave the horn the undercut tip that Hazard liked.

As Hazard browsed the internet on her table, Belatrix reached down and grabbed her saw from the bucket of tools. Tapping on his horns, Hazard tensed up his neck muscles and held his head rigid. Taking a firm hold of his horn, Belatrix slowly began cutting through the horn, careful to follow the edge of the tape.

Hazard was enjoying being able to play with Belatrix's tablet, the screen protector was doing its job and not being scratched by his claws. Hazard felt the vibrations from Belatrix starting to cut into his horn reverberate loudly through his skull. The slow strokes of the saw back and forth, though incredibly loud from his perspective, was actually quite relaxing and not annoying like the reciprocating electric saws professional horn trimmers always want to use. "You know," said Hazard, "You really should look at doing this professionally."

Belatrix smiled, let out a a playful snort, and said. "You say that every time I trim your horns and I tell you the same thing every time. I do this for fun and relaxation. Working on airplanes every day I do things by the manual. With trimming horns and hooves I get to be artistic and do things the way I want to. Sure with hooves I need to make sure people can still walk and with horns I need to make sure the end result looks the way they want it to, but otherwise I get to do things my way and at my pace. You know how long I take to trim your horns, you think your average person is gonna want to wait that long? Not to mention how much I'd have to charge for it. I also hate working indoors for any length of time, I like being outside."

"I still think it's kinda weird how you trim your own hooves", said Hazard, "Isn't it kind of awkward?"

"Eh, you just have to learn how to do it," shrugged Belatrix "I like alternating between wearing shoes and going barehoof, but most farriers seem to hate that and would want to bill me for two full visits, so I just learned how to do it myself. Sure it was a little weird at first, but eventually you figure it out."

"Interesting how hobbies like that get started" replied Hazard, going back to playing with the tablet.

Belatrix finished the cut, then set the saw and horn fragment back into the bucket and picked up the file. Belatrix then worked over the cut with the file, taking her time to round off the sharp edges smooth so one wouldn't even suspect that the horn had been recently cut. After about 15 minutes of careful filing, she inquired, "How does that work for you?"

Hazard reached up with his hand and felt the cut. After a moment he replied, "That feels great. Not too short that my head is front-heavy, but short enough that I won't have to have to get it cut again too soon.

"Sounds great," said Belatrix, "I'll cut the other one the same way, then we can go back inside and see what Toulia has cooked up for us. Gonna be interesting for me to eat a whole meal that's been cooked along with meat.

"And it's gonna be interesting for me to eat a meal that's been cooked with a whole bunch of grains and vegetables," responded Hazard.

"Who knows, you might actually like nibbling on apples and carrots for a meal." quipped Belatrix.

"Yea, about as well as you handle meatloaf," retorted Hazard

"Bleh, OK yea, lets stop trying to get each other to do something our bodes were never built to do," conceded Belatrix with a disgusted look on her face.

"Sorry to gross you out," said Hazard apologetically.

"It's fine," answered Belatrix, putting the file away and getting the saw back out, "Now lets finish up this friendly trim."