Returning Survivor

by Itchy


First Spring Activities

Mecha walked towards his store, happy that spring was on time. After the whole series of disasters, he was sure he'd be stuck cleaning up the fields for three days straight. However, that didn't happen, so he was happy.

Unlocking the door, Mecha took a look around, and sighed, losing a good deal of his joy. His inventory was still at a bare minimum to stay open, not to due laziness, but rather lack of materials. Thankfully, he was able to order some more materials that should arrive today, as well as the fact that a lot of ponies needed their heaters fixed over winter. Walking up to the counter, Mecha sat down, and pulled out a rag to start polishing his leg, when the door opened.

Mecha was slightly stunned that somepony was here so early, but it was explained when he saw that it was Twilight Sparkle. “How's it going?” he asked her, getting back to polishing his leg.

“It's going well,” she replied, stopping to look at one of the remaining items.

“That's good to hear,” Mecha said, getting into a rhythm, “How are Snips and Snails doing with their magic?”

Changing her focus from the object to Mecha, Twilight responded with, “Great. Actually, that's why I'm here. They've gotten to the point in the two spells that I don't need to teach them anymore, they just need to practice. Although, that globe looks interesting...”

Mecha regained most of the joy he'd had that morning, and it showed with the grin on his face. “Then here's your payment,” he said, pulling out a bag of bits, and tossing them to Twilight.

“Thanks,” she said, “but you really didn't need to pay. I would've done it either way.”

“Yes,” Mecha said, “but that would be taking advantage of a friend. And I don't do that.”

Twilight nodded her head, before asking, “How much for this globe?”

Taking a glance at it, Mecha told her, “45 bits.”

Inspecting the globe one last time, Twilight nodded to herself, before pulling the bits out of the bag that Mecha had just tossed her, saying, “Well worth it for such a high quality globe. What metal is this made out of, iron?”

Double checking that she'd handed him the right amount, Mecha replied, “Yeah, it is. Figured it would be interesting for all the little cracks to fill with a little rust, give it a more earth like feel. Coated it with an anti-rust agent afterwords so that it didn't spread beyond it's intended area. Oceans are coated with an oxidized titanium to get that blue look. Took a while to figure out how to do it, but was definitely worth it.”

“What,” Twilight Sparkle interrupted, “you're saying that's not painted blue?”

“No,” Mecha said, shaking his head. “It's been oxidized it a specific manner, in order to get that color. Scratch it though, and it'll get back to the titanium, and be silvery.”

Twilight's eyes went wide, thoughts rushing through her head. Finally, she stopped on one, and asked, “Would it be possible to make a full suit of armor in blue then?”

Mecha blinked, confused as to why she'd ask that, but replied, “I suppose so... but it'd take forever and would cost a small fortune... why?”

Twilight thought things over once more, before deciding that she wanted to commit to her decision, saying, “Shining Armor's birthday is coming up, and I wanted to get him something he'd love. This sounds like something he'd absolutely enjoy. So, how much and how long for it?”

It was Mecha's turn to think over details. After a minute, he pulled out an abacus, muttering, “Really need to spend less time with Luna,” before using it to quickly calculate everything in his head. After two minutes of calculations, Mecha nodded, and said, “The cost comes to 7000 bits and time two months. However, since you're a friend, and this is a gift to another friend, I'll only charge you 6000 bits, and work on it whenever I can, which should get it done in a month and a half. That work for you?”

The pupils in Twilight's eyes shrank, as she listened to the numbers being spoken. Even with him reducing cost by 1000 bits, that was still a lot of money. Doing mental math, Twilight came to one conclusion: she'd need to do some extra work if she'd wanted to get this for her brother. Fortunately, after Snips and Snails had done so well with their tutoring in magic, she'd gotten several other offers for tutoring jobs. So, course set, Twilight replied, “Yes. However, can we space out the payments? I don't exactly have 6000 bits on me at the moment.”

Mecha chuckled, saying, “Of course! I also offer payment plans on anything over 1000 bits, so it's not a problem. How does a weekly payment of 500 bits minimum sound to you?”

Thinking over the offer, Twilight compared it to her current pay as librarian, and then added in tutoring income should she pursue it. Her conclusion was that at that rate, she'd easily be able to pay for the gift, and maintain her current life style debt free. “Deal,” she responded, as Shining Armor's birthday was little over two month's from now, meaning she'd have the gift in time.

Nodding his head, Mecha pulled out the paperwork that comes with this kind of transaction, quickly filling it out, before turning it over to Twilight to sign, who read over it before doing so.

LINEBREAKER

Mecha was in his backyard, standing next to his inactive forge. Standing in front of him was Snips and Snails, both paying attention to what he was doing. Mecha gave each a firm look, before starting, “This, is my forge, and this, is where we'll be working from until you either get your own forges, or finish your apprenticeship. The rules are simple, if you don't know what something is or does, don't touch it. If the smelter is on, don't go near it unless I give you the okay. And finally, listen to what I say, and follow it exactly. Do you understand?”

“Yes sir boss!” the two replied, saluting.

“Good,” Mecha said, turning to walk into the forge. “One day, those rules will not apply to you two. However, that is a long ways off, and until then, follow them as if your life depends on it. Anyways, you two are probably wondering why I'd had you take lessons from Twilight Sparkle, correct?” Seeing them nod their heads, Mecha pulled out two hammers, and two thick bars of iron. “The reason,” he said, “is because you're going to need that particular set of magic to work with the materials here. I want you two to try and pick up a hammer without magic real quick.”

Giving each other a funny look, the two shrugged before trying to lift the hammers. They failed. Miserably. In fact, the only thing they managed to do was slide them across the floors.

“Okay, stop,” Mecha said, having made his point clear. “As you can see, you currently can't lift the hammers, which happen to be the most crucial part of forging and metal craft. Now try again with magic.”

At this, the horns on the pair of friends lit up, a pale blue glow around Snips and a bright yellow around Snails. After a moment, the glows were also radiating off the hammers in front of them, before the lifted up. Mecha then noticed that while both were doing this the the same amount of effort, Snails' hammer was moving slower than Snips' hammer. After seeing them hold the hammers in place for three minutes without any sign of stress, Mecha went ahead and let them lower the hammers. “So, does that make more sense as to why I had Twilight teach you that?”

Nodding their head, the two didn't say a thing, for they wanted to make sure they could hear everything Mecha had to say, as this was extremely important to them. “Now, the other spell I had her teach you is crucial, in it will make things much easy for you two should you choose to make this a career. After all, if you can heat up metal without a furnace, and keep it heated, you save a ridiculous amount of time, and time is money. So, I want you two to heat up these iron bars until they're white hot, and keep it there until I say stop. Understood?”

Nodding their heads again, their horns glowed once more, as well as the iron bars. Mecha stood next to the buckets of water in case something happened and observed the metal. Right off the bat, he noticed that once again, Snips was faster in doing the set task, but in this case, he did it a little to fast. Metal could only take so much stress from rapid heating before it shatters, after all. Snails on the other hoof, was able to heat it at the perfect rate, as in literally perfect! At this point, the two had gotten the metal to the temperature that Mecha had told them to, and were trying to hold it there. Snips appeared to have a hard time, the color of the metal juggling between white and red hot, whilst Snails seemed to have no trouble with holding the temperature at the right point.

“Okay, I've seen enough,” Mecha said after watching the two for five minutes. Taking a pair of tongs, Mecha put the iron into the barrels of water, before turning to the two. “You've both made an incredible amount of progress with your magic, if I understand what Twilight said correctly. That means that we can move onto the next phase, but first, let me tell you your positions in the forge. Snail, your magic appears to move at a slower rate than most unicorns, which means that you'd have a hard time striking the metal whiles it's still at the right temperature. However, on the plus side, this means you have near perfect control, letting you keep the metal at that temperature longer. Snips, you seem to have the reverse of Snails situation, your magic moves faster. This means you get more hits in, but have to constantly re-heat the metal. Together though, you two make a perfect combination, Snails keeping the metal at the right temperature, Snips hammering it into shape. Make sense?”

Snips' and Snails' eyes went wide as they heard the news. Perfect combination at forging? This was great! They were best friends already, this just strengthened it.

“So here's the plan,” Mecha told them, “ You two are going to maintain your current work hours at the shop. On Mondays and Wednesdays though, you're going to report to Big Macintosh at Sweet Apple Acres after work, where he is going to work on your strength, so that you can get to the point where you can lift those hammers without magic. Don't worry, I've already cleared it with him and your parents. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, you two will come here for your lessons in forging. On Fridays, you get the days off, and Saturdays and Sundays you'll stay at/come to the store, for lessons in blueprint designs. Got all that?”

Snips and Snails saluted once more, saying, “Aye aye boss!”

Mecha smiled, and replied, “You two are dismissed then. I've got a friend to spy... I mean, observe today.”

LINEBREAKER

Mecha was currently hiding in a bush, with a pair of binoculars up to his eyes, watching Big Macintosh wait at the local cafe. After another two minutes, Fluttershy ran up, quickly saying what appeared to be an apology if Mecha's lip reading skills were still any good. Furthermore, it appeared she'd had trouble with something involving an angel and a bunny... oh! That's right, she had a pet bunny named Angel.

After a quick discussion about how it was alright, the two walked into the cafe. Mecha was happy he brought along his experimental binoculars with him, as he quickly adjusted the settings when he was startled by Pinkie Pie suddenly showing up next to him, asking, “Whatcha' doooin'?”

Mecha responded by leaping at least ten feet into the air, yelling, before landing back where he started. Putting his hoof to Pinkie's mouth, he said, “Shush! Do you want to give my location away?” while looking around to see if he was spotted. Thankfully, no one had acknowledged what had happened, as it was normal Pinkie Pie behavior.

“Oh oh! Are you playing hide and seek?! I love hide and seek! Who's seeking? And who else is hiding? Oh I just love hide and seek, can I join in?!? CanIcanIcanIcanIcanI?!?” Pinkie asked/rambled.

Sighing, Mecha readjusted his binoculars, before replying, “I'm not playing hide and seek, I'm... observing Big Macintosh on his date with Fluttershy.”

Pinkie settled down, eyes widening, while mouthing, “Ohhhhh...” before she looked over at Mecha and asked, “Can I join you? Huh, canIcanIcanIcanIcanI?!?”

Once again sighing, Mecha pulled out a second set of experimental binoculars and handed them to Pinky Pie, intent of focusing on his friend, before asking, “Why do you want to watch them?”

Pinkie brought her binoculars up to her eyes before saying, “Well, cause Fluttershy is my friend! And, this is her first date, and with a stallion like Big Mac, I want to make sure nothing bad happens!”

Mecha twitched a little, before saying, “Two things. One, please don't call Big Macintosh Big Mac again, and two, what in Luna's name do you mean by a stallion like Big Macintosh? After all, he is a complete gentlecolt, and wouldn't dare harm anypony.”

Pinkie shook her head slightly, saying, “Nononono! What I mean is a big muscular handsome stallion! You know how shy Fluttershy is, and Big Macintosh's good looks only make that harder for her! After all, he is the most coveted stallion in all of Ponyville. And why don't you want me calling him Big Mac?”

Mecha relaxed a little, having been upset at the implied insults towards his friend, and responded, “Big Mac is my dad's name. And what you said makes sense to me for once... hold on, what's going on?”

Mecha was referring to inside the cafe, where thanks to his x-ray (genuine, not only clothes and walls) setting, he could see what he assumed to be Big Macintosh arguing with the waiter. Pinkie Pie focused in on the activity too, hoping that her friends big date didn't turn out a disaster. After another five minutes of arguing, the waiter walked out, before returning... with a replacement for Fluttershy's meal.

“Okay... it seems that the waiter merely screwed up Fluttershy's order or something was wrong with it and Big Macintosh decided to deal with it,” Mecha said.

“That makes sense,” said Rainbow Dash, who'd suddenly appeared out of no-where.

“Yeah, after all, Fluttershy is very passive,” replied Pinkie, not even caring that her friend had found them.

Mecha merely glanced at Rainbow Dash, before telling her, “You'll have to share with Pinkie Pie, I only brought the two pair with x-ray vision.”

Nodding her head, Rainbow sat next to Pinkie, before pulling the binoculars over so she could see through one of the lens.”

LINEBREAKER

It was about an hour latter, and Big Macintosh and Fluttershy were taking a walk through the park, oblivious to their increasing amount of followers. After they'd left the restaurant, Applejack had come across the three and had joined them, when they came across Rarity in another bush. Spike had seen Rarity, and had decided to follow along to, bringing the number up to six.

“Anypony have an idea of what the two are saying?” Applejack asked.

“I think...” Mecha said, “that their talking about the various animals on your farm. Oh wait, they're changing subjects to... ah, Lust's panties dipped in Gluttony's deep fryer. They know we're her.”

Hearing this, everypony bolted, running in their own direction, before the couple could get to their hiding spot. Mecha just sighed, put his equipment away, and stood up. “Have a nice rest of your date,” he said to the scowling Big Macintosh and blushing Fluttershy. “I'm going to start hiding from Twilight's inevitable rage now, so when you find my body you'll know that I didn't hide well enough,” he added, before walking away.