Mecha opened his eyes, and yawned. Blinking, he looked over towards his clock, reading 3:23 am. Sighing, he got out of is seldom used bed, and walked towards his bathroom. “Another one hour sleep...” he said, staring at himself in the mirror. Giving another sigh, he muttered, “Par for the course.”
After cleaning himself up, he walked out to his forge, and quickly lighting it up. While waiting for it to heat up to the point he could use it, Mecha looked at his most recent project, a suit of armor that would fit on any pony. Well, almost any pony, Big Macintosh would probably get stuck in it if he tried to put it on. Chuckling at the image, Mecha got to work, putting some metal into the furnace, allowing it to heat up while he pulled out his tools. When it was glowing red, he put another piece of metal in, while using tongs to pull out the red hot metal out, and started hammering it, slowly losing himself to the rhythmic clang... clang... clang...
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Two hours later, Mecha was in front of his store, tapping his hoof while he waited for Snips and Snails. Normally, he wouldn't open for another couple hours, but due the fact that Snips and Snails were both in school, he needed them to come in so that he could train them in running the shop so that they could get right to work after school got out for the day, and he could take the time to finish the armor. Taking another glance around, Mecha spotted them walking up the street, their parents walking up with them. Taking a glance at how tired the parents were, he told them, “I'll take them to school when it's time to, go ahead and get back to sleep.”
Just nodding, the parents just said something along the lines of, “Behave, okay?” to the two colts, before turning around and walking home.
Glancing at the two trouble makers, Mecha told them, “Listen up. Normally, I open shop at seven, and close at five. Today is unusual, in that we're starting now instead, so you two can learn what you need to do. Got it so far?” Seeing the two nod their heads, Mecha continued while unlocking the door and walking in, “Good. Now, on school days, you two are going to show up at three, and work until five. On the weekends, you'll be working from eleven to three, but you'll have from twelve to twelve thirty off. So, what you'll be doing is...”
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It was approaching seven, and Mecha was walking towards the school with Snips and Snails walking behind him, when he heard Twilight Sparkle say, “It's coming from a dragon.” Confused as to what she meant, Mecha looked around, until he saw everypony looking up, leading him to see what had put everypony in a panic. Smoke, coming from a mountain, and covering the sky. Looking back at Twilight, Mecha saw that she was gathering her friends, most likely to deal with the dragon. “Huh,” Mecha said, “A dragon. Oh well, not my problem.” Turning to the young foals behind him, both looking at the sky, and said, “Keep moving, unless you want to be late,” and kept walking.
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Approaching the school, Mecha saw Cheerilee, and after making sure that Snips and Snails were inside, walked over to talk to her, asking, “How's your day going?”
Slightly startled, she looked away from the students running into the building, replying, “Alright all things considered. How about you?”
Shrugging, Mecha told her, “Alright. I mean, I've gotten some work on my next project done, and Snips and Snails know what to do now for when they get to work. What's the lesson plan for today?”
Turning back to view the last of the colts and fillies entering her class, she said, “Not much, just going over the military of Equestria.” Suddenly, her eyes brightened up, and she turned towards Mecha.
Slightly uncomfortable with the stare, Mecha asked, “Um... why are you staring at me?”
With a widening smile, Cheerilee said, “Because you can give the lesson! You were in the military, so you're better suited to give this lesson! I've always dreaded giving this lesson, since I don't know much about it, so this is perfect!”
Seeing the look on her face, Mecha knew one thing, and that was this. Mares were evil when they gave you what he then dubbed, The Look.
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“Okay class,” Cheerilee said, having gone through attendance. “As you know, today we'll be going over the military of Equestria. What you don't know is that in addition to that, we also are having a guest speaker about it. So be on your best behavior for our guest, former Corporal Mecha!”
Here, the students applauded, while Mecha walked into the room, stopping in the middle of the front of the classroom. Turning to face the students, Mecha took a quick glance, recognizing a few of them. Taking a deep breath, Mecha started, “Hello there. As you know, my name is Mecha. I used to be a Corporal in the army. And right now, I know what almost all of you are thinking.” Taking another look around, he continued, “And that is, why does Equestria have an army? After all, we've had peace for over a thousand years, right?” At this point, most of the students nodded their heads, showing that was in fact what they were thinking.
Speaking a little louder in order to get their attention back, Mecha said, “And that is a valid question. After all, an army is expensive to maintain, and if it has no use, why waste the bits? The answer is, that while we're at peace, the world outside our borders aren't.”
This shocked the class, as none of them were aware of that. Seeing the rapt attention the class was giving, Mecha took another deep breath, and continued, “Furthermore, those wars happen to be in countries along our borders. Our army is meant to be a preventive measure, something to ensure that none of their conflict crosses over to our borders. But, that is not all the army does, for if it was, our army would only need to be half the size it currently is. The other duty of the army is to enforce the law in larger towns, as well as dealing with internal threats such as bandit camps or diamond dog camps.”
Seeing a hoof in the air, Mecha said, “Questions at the end please.” The filly that had her hoof in the put it down, and Mecha continued, “Now, there are three general branches, each with their own special divisions. First, you have the air force, made up of mostly pegasi, which makes sense, while any unicorn or earth pony that joins work on blimps or hot air balloons. Next, you have the army, made up of a fairly even mix of earth ponies and unicorns, and a small amount of pegasi. Finally, you have the navy, with an even split of the three.”
Seeing that the class was slowly succumbing to boredom, Mecha started on the specialized branches, “Each branch has various sub-branches, but I'll only cover the more interesting ones. In the air force, you have the weather-warriors. Basically, pegasi who've been trained to completely alter the weather in seconds. Enemy got a clear line of sight? Roll in a fog. Foes charging in the rain? Clear the clouds and vision. Sieging a town? Series of thunderstorms to wear out morale. And everything I listed? Completed in under a minute, each and every time.”
This held the class's attention, as after all, chaotic weather was interesting. Chuckling, Mecha told them, “It's more scary to watch than anything else. But anyways, the navy has what's known as sea-ponies to most of us, submariners to them. What they do is simple, with a unicorn spell, they travel underwater and spot enemy formations, hidden traps, and other nasty surprises. They also use the fact that they're hidden to sink enemy ships before they get to close.”
Taking a sip of water from a bottle that Cheerilee had given him, Mecha continued with, “Finally, the army. The army actually has two interesting branches in it, the first being battle mages. To sum them up, imagine giant fire balls, furious tsunamis, and mountains shifting towards you.” Seeing a slight paling of their faces, Mecha chuckled, and said, “Intimidating, right? Well, that's their purpose. To wrap up this lecture, we have the division I was in. The scouting division, responsible for gather intel, and considered one of the more dangerous divisions. This is because while most of the time you have a team to work with, there are times when you have to work alone, and those times are the most dangerous. For example, imagine having to sneak into a palace guarded 24/7 in a hostile nation, with no back-up. Yeah, that's in the job description. So, any questions?”
Looking around, he saw several hooves up in the air, causing him to sigh. Picking one at random, Mecha started to answer their questions.
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Mecha was at the counter, relaxing as he had just dealt with what would likely be his last customer of the day. Spying a couple pegasi clearing out the last of the smoke, Mecha smiled, having had a good day of sales. Taking a glance at the door upon hearing the bell go off, Mecha saw Twilight Sparkle walk in.
“Hey there!” he hollered, catching her attention. “Can I help you with anything?”
Glancing at the various metal items around the room, Twilight said, “Actually, yes. Do you happen to have anything I can use to hold my chemistry equipment?”
Quirking his head to think, Mecha responded, “No, I don't think so. But if you give me a design of what you want, I can make it for you.”
Taking another glance at the room, Twilight walked up and said, “Sure, give me a minute to draw them out.” At which point she used her magic to take out a piece of paper and a quill, which she used to draw out what she wanted.
Mecha watched for a minute in silence, breaking it to ask, “So what did you do to get the dragon to leave?”
Still drawing out what she wanted, Twilight explained to him about each of her friends attempts at getting the dragon to leave, ending with Fluttershy's stern lecture that she gave to the dragon. Finishing her story at the same time she finished drawing, she saw Mecha's face, jaw dropped. “Um... are you okay?”
Nodding his head, Mecha asked, “And he just left like that?”
“Yes,” Twilight said, “But enough of that. Can you make this for me?”
Taking a glance at her drawing, Mecha said, “Sure. Is that all?”
Taking another glance at the items he had on display, Twilight said, “Yeah, that'll be it.”
Putting the drawing into a folder with the rest of the custom orders he'd gotten, Mecha told her, “It should be ready in two days, come back then and I'll giving you the price.”
Nodding her head, Twilight left the shop, right as Snips and Snails walked in. “Heya boss!” Snails said, waving his hoof.
“Ready to work!” Snips said, saluting him.
Mecha just stared at the two, wondering why they were so energetic, before shrugging it off. “Good timing you two,” he said, walking past them. “I trust you both remember what I told you this morning?”
Nodding their heads, Snips said, “Yes sir! We remember everything you told us sir!”
Smiling, Mecha told them, “Then you two should get to work, I've got places to be.”
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“...which means he left his hoard behind, for us to take,” Mecha said to Big Macintosh and Doctor Whooves. “All we'd need is three carts, and we'd be set to go.”
Looking at each other, Doctor Whooves voiced his concerns, “What if he returns while we're there?”
Shaking his head, Mecha said, “Not going to happen. The hoard there was a hibernation hoard, meant to last only long enough to get him through the nap. That means that relatively speaking, it's small. Why go back and risk the ire of Fluttershy for something he doesn't even need?”
Taking another glance at each, Doctor Whooves said, “Alright, I'm in.”
Grinning, Mecha turned to Big Macintosh, and asked, “And you?”
Sighing, Big Macintosh merely said, “Eeyup.”
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Mecha, Doctor Whooves, and Big Macintosh stared at what was in front of them. “Whoa,” Mecha said. “That is a lot of gold.”
“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh said, staring at the hoard in front of them.
“That dragon must've been huge,” Doctor Whooves said.
“Considering the smoke we saw,” Mecha started, “I'd say you're right Doc.”
After standing for a minute in awe, the three got working one transferring one of the smaller piles into the carts they brought with them. After a couple minutes of silence, Mecha finally got tired of it and asked, “So what are you guys planning on doing with your cart?”
Stopping for a minute of thought, Doctor Whooves said, “I'm going to use it to make sure Ditzy and I have the best possible time at the gala. You know, perfect dress for her, nice suit for me, possibly a carriage ride there. You?”
Mecha smiled at his thoughts, voicing them, “I'm melting down most of the gold to work with. Maybe make some ceremonial armor with it and some of the gems. Would definitely be a great showpiece for the shop. What about you Big M?”
Still shoveling, Big Macintosh said, “New hip for Granny Smith. Maybe renovate the barn. Anything left after that? A new plow.”
Chuckling, Mecha said, “Still got your priorities straight. Nice.”
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The trio were almost back to Ponyville, when Doctor Whooves stopped them, saying, “I just realized something. How do we explain all this to everypony?”
Blinking, Mecha shouted, “Wrath's dagger! You're right. Um... let's think her for a minute...”
Looking at both his panicking friends, Big Macintosh said, “Tax returns.”
Stunned, Mecha and Doctor Whooves looked at each other, then Big Macintosh, and then each other again. Shrugging his shoulders, Mecha said, “If they ever got around to actually giving us our tax returns, it would be about the same amount.”
Doctor Whooves replied, “Not to mention, we'd be able to finally stop bugging the bureaucrats with our request for it.”
So, having come to an accord on the plan, the three ponies walked into town, each going to their own home.