//------------------------------// // Returning... Again // Story: Returning Survivor // by Itchy //------------------------------// Mecha slowly walked into Ponyville, staring at the remains of his house. Basically, all that was left was the basement. “Well,” he said to himself, coming to a stop at the entrance to his property. “At least I don't have to remodel a room for Sugary Spice any more... And my forge is intact!” “DADDY!” shouted Sugary Spice from behind, causing Mecha to turn to face her... and to be knocked over by her flying tackle hug. “I missed you so much! Please tell me you're going to stay!” Grunting, Mecha replied, “Yeah, I'm staying... although it might be in the hospital if you stay on my ribs.” Blinking, Sugary Spice looked down to see Mecha's bandaged chest, before widening her eyes and jumping off. “Sorry,” she told him, looking down and blushing. “I was just so happy to see you again.” Shaking his head, Mecha got back up and said, “It's all right. So how was it at Fluttershy's while I was gone?” Smiling, the young filly said, “It was great! I got to learn all about the animals she takes care of, as well as watch as she dressed up and acted as Mare-Do-Well!” Eyebrow raised, Mecha wondered what his daughter meant by Mare-Do-Well, before shaking his head. He'd probably find out later, from either Doctor Whooves or Big Macintosh. Turning back to the remains of his house, he sighed. “Would you be up for staying at Sweet Apple Acres while our home is rebuilt?” he asked. Jumping up and down in excitement, Sugary Spice replied, “Oh would I! An extended sleepover with Apple Bloom, I can't wait!” Chuckling, Mecha told her, “Wait until we get the okay to stay. Who knows, they may not have room for us.” LINEBREAKER Turned out that the Apple family had one room available... for Sugary Spice. Meaning that Mecha had to sleep in a pile of hay in the barn with Wolfgang, when he had to sleep that is. However, that didn't matter at the moment, as Mecha stood next to his forge, Snips and Snails looking at him. Giving them a glance, Mecha turned to look at the pile of Nightmare metal weapons that were confiscated after the raid on the Nightmare clan. They'd been given to him as a 'Thank you for helping capture the cult' gift, and he intended to use the metal for his commissioned project, minus the mace/flail which was to be hung over his fireplace... when he had one again. Turning to face his apprentices, Mecha gave them a good look over. No longer were they lanky or pudgy, but rather lean and built with light muscles, the workouts at Sweet Apple Acres having clearly paid off. And not a moment to soon, as this would put their training to the test, as Nightmare metal was ridiculously hard to work with, as he would explain to them. “I'll start with this,” Mecha said, looking both young colts in the eyes. “I'm proud to call you two my apprentices. You've come far in a very short time, and if it wasn't for the fact that I can see your Cutie Marks from here, I'd say that your talents laid in forging. But this will be on an entirely different level- beyond what I should be letting you do. To start with, try and cast some magic on a piece of Nightmare metal, anything will do.” Raising an eyebrow each at Mecha's directions, the two friends shrugged their shoulders, before their horns glowed. Concentrating, they both began to sweet as they tried to do something, anything with their magic to the metal. After about two minutes, Mecha held up his hoof to have them stop, before saying, “That's one of the issues. Direct magic is absorbed by the metal, meaning we'll have to do this by hoof. I was fortunate when fighting to catch the titanium handle, although I don't think getting hit with it afterwords would be considered terribly lucky.” Walking over to the pile of weapons, Mecha started to remove any and all non-Nightmare metal components from the weapons, throwing them into a small stack next to him. Signaling for Snips and Snails to do the same, he continued, “Another unique property of Nightmare metal is that working with it for excessive amounts of time causes, well... nightmares. So I'm going to give you a choice, do you wish to help me with the main portion of the statue, or just work on the silver and titanium part.” Snips and Snails looked into each other's eyes, holding a silent conversation whilst continuing to work on separating the weapons into pieces. After three or four minutes, they nodded their heads, before Snips said, “We'll help with the Nightmare metal part boss!” “Yeah,” Snails added, nodding his head, “Although we'd like to know more about those nightmares...” Nodding his head, Mecha took the first of the pieces of metal and threw them into the smelter, before saying, “At best, they'll be minor annoyances that will wake you up once, maybe twice a week. You'd be a bit tired, but nothing to bad. At worse, you end up like me, only to a lesser degree due to less exposure. I'll talk to Cheerilee about it, so don't worry to much about your grades.” Getting a nod from both in response, Mecha grabbed his hammer, and got to work. LINEBREAKER Mecha was in the town park, talking with Synge while he waited for Cheerilee. After all, Synge needed practice with her Equestrian, and he had nothing better to do. “So this Limbs fellow is still here?” she asked him, having been brought up to date on recent events. “Yeah, and he's pretty nice for a deer,” Mecha replied. Raising an eyebrow, Synge asked, “For a deer? If I didn't know better, I'd say you were racist against deer.” Snorting, Mecha said, “Look at it from my point of view- The first deer I met arrested me for saving a town, although he was only acting upon orders. Then, I meet the king, who threw me into an arena to fight until I died, for the entertainment of his people, most of whom wanted to see me get ripped to pieces. Then, they cheer for my survival, only to try and kill me for a bounty placed on my head by the king himself. Finally, the king removes the bounty, only to be replaced after he got tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala, meaning he broke his word. Yeah, not a very good impression of the deer people, is it?” Shaking her head, Synge replied, “No, it is not. Although, this sounds nothing like the deer people I met from along the coast.” “You probably meet some red deer then,” Mecha told her. “Much more polite and less brutal about everything.” “Not to mention, red deer are possibly the only deer whose culture would allow them to learn Siren Speech,” came a voice from behind Mecha. Smiling, Mecha said, “Synge, I'd like you to meet my marefriend Cheerilee. Cheerilee, this is Synge,” as he turned to embrace Cheerilee. “Pleasure to meet you,” Synge said to Cheerilee, after Mecha ended their embrace. “And you as well,” Cheerilee replied, nodding her head. Turning to Mecha, she said, “You wanted to speak to me?” Nodding his head, Mecha gave a wave to Synge as she swam away to give them some privacy, before replying, “Yeah, it's about Snips and Snails. The two of them are going to be working with me with Nightmare metal, so...” “You wanted to give me a heads up in case it effects their work, right?” Cheerilee finished for him. “Yeah,” Mecha said. “Hopefully, it won't escalate to that point, but you never know with this kind of thing.” Sighing, Cheerilee gave Mecha a sad look, and said, “Just please try to keep contact to a minimum. For you and them, you barley sleep as it is!” Letting out a sigh of his own, Mecha told her, “I'll try, but I need this statue down quickly if I want to afford to rebuild my home. Not to mention, this could be the best chance I get to test if Snips and Snails are done with their training.” Eyes widening, Cheerilee asked, “Have they really progressed that far?” Nodding his head, Mecha replied, “It's shocking how quickly they picked it up. Who knows, maybe we'll have another evolving Cutie Mark or two?” LINEBREAKER It was close to midnight, and Mecha was working on the next piece of Nightmare metal, when the door to his forge suddenly opened. Turning quickly, Mecha had readied to throw his hammer, until he saw that it was Snips and Snails who'd walked in, both looking tired yet alert. “Nightmares starting to hit?” he asked them. “Yeah,” they replied, nodding their heads. “Parents know you're here?” he asked, turning to get back to work. “Left them a note for when they wake up,” Snips said. “Alright then,” Mecha said, hammering out the metal into shape. “If you want to work, use the silver for now.” Nodding their heads, the two tired foals grabbed their hammers with magic, as well as several silver bars, and got to work. Clang.... Clang... Clang... this was the sound of them working under Luna's moon, each slowly making progress with the commissioned piece. When morning finally came, the trio kept working, with Snips and Snails wrapping up their silver work to help Mecha with the Nightmare metal, when sounds of panic started to come from Ponyville. Seeing his apprentices look towards the town, Mecha said, “Don't stop unless it's for breakfast, this is one of the few days you have off from school!” as he hammered the metal a little louder to get their attention. Shaking their heads, they got back to work, as Mecha listened to the cries coming from Ponyville. Something involving a giant... wolf? Although he wasn't eating anypony, and was on his way... “Lust's panties dipped in Gluttony's deep fryer,” Mecha said/sighed, putting down his tools. Seeing the look on Snips and Snails faces, he explained, “I know what's causing the ruckus, as well as where he's going. Just stay here while I talk to the overgrown puppy.” Getting nods in response, Mecha turned towards his gate, whistling for Wolfgang. The timberwolf cub ran straight to Mecha from the other side of the gate, and hopped onto Mecha's head. Shaking his head lightly, Mecha made his way towards the streets, where he hollered out, “Get over here Sköll!*” After waiting for a few seconds, Mecha saw a giant white wolf walk towards him, wide grin upon his face. Although, that might be him snarling at Mecha... he couldn't really tell with Sköll. “What do you need you giant fleabag?” Mecha asked, staring him straight into the eyes. “Aw... can't a fellow visit the pony responsible for his escape?” Sköll replied, putting a paw over his heart. “Not when you were imprisoned for trying to eat Celestia. And where's Hati?* Trying to eat Luna?” Mecha asked. Shaking his head, Sköll said, “My brother is currently asleep in a nearby cave. We figured you'd be the best pony to talk to in order to explain our situation.” “You mean I'm the best pony to kidnap in order to get the princesses's attention, don't you?” Mecha said. “No, I mean you're the best one to talk to,” Sköll said. “We want to leave the country so Celestia doesn't try and send the two of us back to Tartarus.” Raising an eyebrow, Mecha said, “Fair punishment for trying to eat her and her sister.” “Would you get off that already!” Sköll yelled, throwing his front paws up into the air. “We just want to leave, got it! No tricks, no traps, and we won't eat anything until we get out of here, okay?!” Nodding his head, Mecha replied, “Sure. After all, once I pulled that lever, you two became my responsibility. Although I still question why Sloth had that lever...” Shrugging, Sköll said, “Pops wasn't quite sure about that either, although he did mention something about a bet.” “Ah...” Mecha said, sagely nodding his head, “A bet answers everything. Anyways, head west for around a hundred miles, you should come across a country of deer. The kind is a jerk, so go ahead and scare him, but ask a guard named Tutela for directions, tell him I sent you to reclaim a favor he owes me.” Nodding his head, Sköll said, “Thank you Mecha. I realize that my and my brother's escape was not your intentions when you released us, but we are thankful nonetheless. To show you our thanks, I'll bless the cub that is resting on your head.” Stunned, Mecha did nothing as Sköll reached forward, and tapped Wolfgang on the forehead. Rubbing the spot where he was tapped, Wolfgang said, “What in Fenrir's** name was that for!” Mecha blinked. Did he hear that right? Did Wolfgang actually speak? “I mean, why would you just poke my forehead? Didn't your Fenrir forsaken parents teach you any manners?” Wolf gang continued, confirming what Mecha heard. Sköll just let out a large grin, or snarl, and replied, “Considering that Fenrir is one of my parents... no.” Blinking, Wolfgang looked at Mecha, then Sköll, then back at Mecha, before saying, “How is it that you manage to befriend so much royalty?” Sighing, Mecha turned back to his forge, deciding to just accept the fact that Wolfgang could speak now. “I'm just in the right place at the right time. Or wrong place in the wrong time when it came to Astrum. In fact, both these friendships have something to do with Hell... what are the odds?” Wolfgang blinked, before hopping in front of Mecha, turning to face him and point a paw in his direction, saying, “Hah! You can understand me! Why have you been ignoring what I've been saying?” Eye twitching, Mecha walked past him to enter his forge, saying, “Cause you've only started to speak a language I know, since Sköll apparently likes us,” before he picked up his hammer, and got to work on the Nightmare metal, ignoring the looks Snips and Snails shoot him when he'd walked in with a talking Wolfgang. “Oh...” Wolfgang replied, sagging a little. “That makes sense...” *Sköll and Hati- Sons of Fenrir, Sköll is said to chase the sun in an attempt to eat it, as well as Hati for the moon, both will succeed come Ragnarok **Of course wolves would swear by Fenrir