//------------------------------// // Shocking News // Story: Returning Survivor // by Itchy //------------------------------// Mecha was eating lunch with Cheerilee at the normal cafe, chatting. “So wait,” Mecha started, setting down his cup of tea, “You just left them alone to figure out a paper?” “Well, it is a student run paper,” Cheerilee replied, taking a sip from her own cup. “Besides, I'm leaving town today and figured that they should go ahead and start working on their own. It's not as if they don't know how to use the printing press!” Sighing, Mecha said, “Well, I suppose it could be worse,” as he grabbed a couple of bits to pay for the meal. “Just how long are you going to be out of town anyways?” “For two and a half weeks, give or take a couple days,” Cheerilee answered. “My mother insisted I stick around after my cousin's wedding.” Chuckling, Mecha said, “What are the odds that your cousin's wedding is so close to Shining Armor's wedding?” Giving a quick chuckle as well, Cheerilee replied, “Fairly good apparently. But I need to start packing, see you before I leave?” “Most certainly,” Mecha told her, before giving her a quick kiss good-bye. LINEBREAKER Mecha had just seen Cheerilee off at the train station, and was walking home when he stopped when he saw Snips and Snails trying to walk down the street, covered in gum. Sighing, he walked over, and told them, “If you wait here for about five minutes, I can take care of that gum.” Smiling, Snips replied, “That'd be great boss!” Shaking his head, Mecha quickly ran over to his store and grabbed some scissors, and walked back. “Alright you two, hold still,” he said, as he began to trim the gum out of their coats. “How did you even get gum in your coats?” he asked, throwing a glob of hair and gum into a nearby trash bin. “It's... a long story,” Snails replied. “I think it started with us showing Ruby and Sapphire around the school...” “Stop right there,” Mecha replied, “I've suddenly lost interest. Just know this, next time I'll resort to powdered hydra scale to get it out, got it?” Gulping, Snips and Snails both replied, “G-got it!” Smirking, Mecha didn't mention to the two that powdered hydra scale had a knack for absorbing moisture from substances and making them brittle. Let them think he'd blow them up- after all it'll probably keep them from doing this again! Cutting the last of the gum out, Mecha sent them back on their way before once more making his way home, only to be stopped again by his aunt, who held a panicked look, saying, “Mecha, come quick- it's an emergency!” Shaking his head, Mecha quickly took off with his aunt, running out of town a short distance. When they came to a stop, Mecha's eyes went wide, before he sighed. “Yeah,” he started, “that's an emergency all right.” For right in front of them, blocking the road was a large number of Sphinxes. Turning to face his aunt, he told her, “Get Twilight Sparkle, and have her send a letter to Celestia. As much as I hate to admit it, I'll probably need the help of a few court magistrates to clear out a Collective* this large.” “Got it!” Mayor Mare replied, turning back and running back to town. Walking up to the first Spinx, Mecha sighed, before asking himself, “Why is a Collective this large here?” Hearing him, the Sphinx replied, “I am the beginning of the end, the end of time and space. I am essential to creation, and I surround everyplace. What am I?” “The letter E,” Mecha said, shooting a deadpan look at the Sphinx. “We're here for a family reunion,” the Sphinx said. Blinking, Mecha said, “Did you really just ask me a riddle in order to get an answer to my question?” “What always runs but never talks, often murmurs but doesn't talk, has a bed but doesn't sleep, has a mouth but never eats?” was the Sphinx's response. “A river,” Mecha answered. “Yes, as the rule of Sphinxes is that for any request we must supply a riddle to be answered first. If solved correctly, then we grant the request, if incorrectly we feast,” said the Sphinx. Sighing, Mecha asked, “What's your name?” “I never was, am always to be. No one ever saw me, nor ever will. And yet, I am the confidence of all, To live and breath on this terrestrial ball. What am I?” came the Sphinx's riddle. “Tomorrow or the future, take your pick,” Mecha replied. “We Sphinx's have no names, but if you wish to, you can call me Bob,” was the newly minted Bob's reply. “And now if I may, what is your name?” Staring Bob straight in the eyes, Mecha thought it over, before saying, “At night they come without be fetched. By day they are lost without being stolen. What are they?” “The stars,” was Bob's answer. “The name is Mecha,” Mecha said, taking a quick bow. Straightening out, he asked, “Why did you pick this road for your family reunion?” “What is in seasons, seconds, minutes, and centuries, but not in days, decades or years?” Bob said. “The letter N,” Mecha replied. “We're actually just gathering up here before heading up to the mountains. Is that an issue?” Bob inquired. “The person who makes it, sells it. The person who buys it, never uses it. The person who uses it, is never aware of it. What is it?” Mecha asked. “A coffin,” Bob supplied. “Yeah, because that's where a lot of ponies camp this time of year,” Mecha replied. “I'm going to have to request that you pick another location to hold your reunion, preferably outside of Equestria.” Bob nodded his head, before gathering up a few members of the Collective. Stepping forward, he told Mecha, “Since we all lack the time to deal with you trading riddles with all of us, you shall only have to answer the riddles of our best riddlers. Are you willing to do so?” Quirking an eyebrow, Mecha asked, “The more you have of it, the less you see. What is it?” “Darkness,” Bob stated. “Yeah, let's get this show on the road,” Mecha said, taking a seat on a nearby boulder. The youngest of the group stepped forward, and said, “What's black when you get it, red when you use is, and white when you're done with it?” “Charcoal,” Mecha said, “NEXT!” An older Sphinx stepped forward, and said his riddle, “I am always hungry, I must always be fed, the finger I touch, will soon turn red.” “Fire,” Mecha said, “and I have hooves, not fingers.” The next Spinx approached, and asked, “Ripped from my mother's womb, Beaten and burned, I become a blood thirsty killer. What am I?” “Iron ore,” Mecha said, “And I'd work on the wording on that one.” The eldest stepped forward, and spoke, “Sherlock Hooves was sitting by his fireplace when a snowball broke through his window. Hooves got up and looked out the window in time to see three brothers run around the corner. Their names where John Crimson, Mark Crimson, and Paul Crimson. The next day, Hooves found a not on his door that read, '? Crimson, he broke your window.' Which of the Crimson brothers should Hooves question about the incident.” “Mark,” Mecha replied. Bob smiled, before stepping forward. “Not many can answer a Sphinx's riddle, let alone as many as we've asked you,” he started. “Thank you,” Mecha replied, keeping his eyes on Bob. “There's just one last riddle before we go,” Bob said, “And here it is. Pronounced differently, but spelled the same, I have many meanings from obscure to mundane. In a trip across water I get there before you. In precipitation amazing, a marvel to awe you. One naming of me means to acknowledge the praise, I move fastest in music as the violin maestro plays. Taught to children of all ages, or trip up they would. I was also much favored by a notorious Hood. What am I?” Laughing, Mecha answered, “Work on that children line, it's not consistent with most species in Equestria. But the answer is...**” LINEBREAKER Mecha walked back into Ponyville, whistling. After having dealt with the Sphinxes, he was in a happy mood, although he couldn't help but feel like he'd forgotten something... “Right, so then the Sphinxes are down the main road?” came a familiar voice. “Yes your majesty!” replied another familiar voice. “I've already sent my nephew towards them, but with the sheer number of them...” Blinking, Mecha face-hoofed. He forget to tell his aunt not to send for the help! “They decided that a council of their best would be the quickest way to deal with it,” he interrupted. “They're already on their way to Dream Valley now.” Luna, Mayor Mare, and the various ponies that had been brought in to deal with the Sphinxes turned and blinked, before Luna asked, “And you did this by yourself...?” “Eeyup,” Mecha replied, nodding his head. “You'd be surprised at how cooperative Sphinxes can be when you're able to answer their riddles and get them thinking with your own.” “You traded riddles... with a Sphinx?!?” Mayor Mare yelled, going wide eyed. Seeing Mecha nod his head, she sighed, before saying, “Your parents never find out about this, got it?” “Got it,” Mecha started, “it'll go right under my list of things they never know right under my criminal record.” Raising an eyebrow, Mayor Mare asked, “Don't they already know about it?” Laughing, Mecha replied, “As far as you know, yes.” Chuckling, Luna said, “As much fun as this is, we should probably head back to Canterlot now...” “Hey, no need to go so fast!” Mecha said. “Why not come over and have a cup of tea? It's not like you have anything to do until dusk anyways, right?” Stopping for a minute, Luna nodded her head, before turning to the magistrates she'd brought with her, saying, “Keynes, Hayek, you two make sure you guys get back safely and on time, got it?” Saluting, the two replied, “Yes ma'am!” before facing Mecha and saying, “We'll see you at Shining Armor's wedding Mecha!” as they left. Chuckling, Mecha started walking towards his home with Luna, asking, “This isn't going to make me a Duke, is it?” Letting out a nervous chuckle, Luna rubbed the back of her head, saying, “Well, about that...” LINEBREAKER Eye twitching, Mecha dead-panned, “You're kidding right?” Sitting around his table, cups of steaming tea in front of them, Luna had just broken some news to Mecha. “I'm afraid not,” she started. “According to Equestrian law, anypony granted a title from the Zebra are to immediately be brought up to the status of Duke, in order to avoid offending them.” Groaning, Mecha buried his face in his hooves, groaning out, “Please tell me that's it...” “Afraid not,” Luna said, causing Mecha to let out another groan. “As the first pony to go from no noble status to Duke in under a year, the court decided that you must be honored completely, and it has been declared that you are to be The Lord Great Chamberlain...” “And I can't turn this down, can I?” Mecha asked. “Unfortunatly... no,” Luna replied. “Had there been more than one pony that voted against you, maybe.” “And... I'm guessing that Fancy Smancy was the one to vote against me,” Mecha said. “To quote your friend... eeyup.” Luna said. Sighing, Mecha replied, “That's just great. You know, I bet I'm the only pony who HATES being a noble instead of loving it.” “Actually, you'd be surprised,” Luna said, taking a sip from her cup. “There's a few nobles who hate their colleges so much they wish they could quit.” Snorting, Mecha said, “That's hating your colleges, not hating being a noble. What I mean is that even if most nobles weren't complete and utter arrogant snobs I'd still hate being a noble. Those fellows you listed wouldn't.” Shrugging, Luna replied, “Either way, you're stuck with it, and Celestia and I had nothing to do with it.” Waving his hoof in the air, Mecha said, “I get it, I get it. No retaliation against you, only the nobles that gave me the highest form of nobility. But Lucifer's lake bed I hate them!” Glancing at the clock, Luna finished her tea, before saying, “As pleasant as this has been, I should start heading back to Canterlot,” and stood up. Getting up as well, Mecha replied, “It's been good chatting with you. I'll be seeing you at Shining Armor's wedding?” as he opened the door for her. “That would be great,” Luna said, before taking off and flying towards Canterlot. Walking back inside, Mecha started to clean up, and just missed spotting Featherweight and the Cutie Mark Crusaders running from his window. LINEBREAKER Mecha was working in his forge, when he was startled by Twilight Sparkle yelling, “MECHA! YOU HAVE SOME EXPLAINING TO DO!!!” Eyes widening, Mecha quickly shut down the forge before running out, trying to think of a reason why Twilight would be so pissed at him. Leaping for the entrance into his panic room, he almost made it when he was grabbed by Twilight's magic and slammed against his home. Gulping, Mecha looked into Twilight's eyes, glowing with rage and magic. “I-I-I can explain!” he started, “as soon as you tell me what I did wrong!” Still glaring, Twilight levitated a copy of the school's newspaper in front of him, the headline reading, “Mecha Cheating on Cheerilee?” with a pic of him and Luna drinking tea underneath. “While I have complete faith in Luna, I'd still like to know what in Discord's bearded face is going on here!” Blinking, Mecha quickly read the article, before scowling. “I'm not cheating on Cheerilee!” he yelled, “We were just catching up over tea!” Twilight continued to glare at Mecha, before sighing and dropping him to the ground. “I'm sorry about that,” she started, staring at the ground. “It's just... I finally have a special somepony, and when I saw the paper accusing you and Luna dating... I just... lost it.” Shaking his head, Mecha replied, “I don't blame you one bit- after all, if I'd seen something like this in the paper I'd react in a similar manner... aw, Lucifer's lake-bed!” Mecha started to panic, pacing back and forth. Raising an eyebrow, Twilight asked, “Okay, what's the issue?” “Simple,” Mecha replied, still pacing, “If you, one of the more cool-headed ponies in town, believed in this paper, who else did?!?” standing up on his rear legs, he grabbed his head with his forelegs, screaming. Facing Twilight, he asked, “How wide-spread is that paper now?” Blinking, Twilight cocked her head, before replying, “Um... I think Canterlot started to receive shipments after the Celestia article...” Eyes shrinking, Mecha cursed, saying, “Wrath's bow strung with Lust's panties dipped in Gluttony's chocolate fountain reflected in Pride's mirror under Envy's gaze in Greed's treasure chest under Sloth's hammock on Lucifer's lake-bed! I'm screwed!” Raising an eyebrow, Twilight asked, “Why?” Before he could answer, Mecha had to jump out of the way as a giant fireball impacted the ground where he was just standing, landing in a roll and leaping over a low-flying pegasus. “It's not what it looks like!” he shouted, bending backwards to avoid another fireball. “Oh really?” came one of the assailant's voice, who walked around the corner to reveal himself to be Solaris. “Because it looks like you were caught cheating on Cheerilee with my mother.” “Yeah!” came the pegasus's voice, revealing himself to be Nimbus. “And you know the rule about cheaters!” “Beaten senseless until they learn the error of their ways, yeah I know,” Mecha replied, contorting in a way that shouldn't be physically possible for an Earth Pony in order to dodge Nimbus once more. “But you don't understand-” “Wait,” Twilight interrupted, “Princess Luna is your mother?” she asked Solaris. “How does that work?” “Adopted,” Solaris replied nonchalantly, firing off another fire ball. Frowning, Twilight asked, “Aren't you a bit old to have been adopted?” Sighing, Solaris said, “Yes, yes I am. Just... don't question it okay? It's a loooooong story... and right now I'm dealing with this cheater.” “Oh, he didn't cheat on Cheerilee,” Twilight replied. “And if he was, you'd have to do the same with Luna.” Blinking, Solaris and Nimbus stopped, with Solaris asking, “Really? Why?” Shrugging, Twilight replied, “Because she and I are dating.” “Okay, that makes... wait, what?” Solaris started, “I thought you were dating Celestia?!” “I am,” Twilight replied, “In fact, I'm meeting up with Luna for a spa day this Friday, before having dinner with her and Celestia, and then ending the night by watching a musical with Celestia.” Shaking his head, Nimbus asked, “So wait, just to make sure I'm clear on this, you're dating both Celestia AND Luna at the same time?” Rolling her eyes, Twilight said, “Yes, what's so hard to believe about that? I mean, the princesses themselves proposed the idea.” Shaking his head, Solaris muttered under his breath, “I sooooo didn't need to know this much about my mother's love life...” before turning to face Mecha and asking, “So, how did Cheerilee react?” Mecha was about to reply that Cheerilee was out of town, when he spotted the clock. Eyes widening, he replied, “I don't know, and if I hurry, I won't have to find out!” before running towards the train station. Staring at where Mecha had just stood, Nimbus asked, “Are we missing something?” Glancing at the clock, Twilight replied, “Cheerilee's train arrived about five minutes ago, and the train station is a good twenty minute run from here.” “Ah,” Solaris replied. “Then he's going to try and prevent her from reading it before explaining things, right?” “Most likely,” Twilight answered. Turning around, Nimbus asked, “Why didn't he use his cannon then?” Taking a look over her shoulder to see said cannon, Twilight said, “Most likely due to his distaste for flight.” Nodding his head, Nimbus said, “Reasonable.” LINEBREAKER Mecha ignored the looks of disgust and loathing from the ponies he ran past, knowing that he could explain things to the town later, he needed to make sure Cheerilee didn't read those lies about him in the paper first! Rushing into the train station, he took a glance around, before he spotted Cheerilee... reading the paper. Running towards her, he yelled out, “CHEERILEE! I CAN-” He was cut off when Cheerilee threw down the paper and... THWACK! Slapped him across his face, bringing him to a halt, a red mark on his cheek throbbing as tears rolled down her face. “How could you?” she whispered, her depression matched by the loathing in her eyes. “I thought we had something meaningful between us...” “Cheerilee, I-” Mecha tried to explain, before Cheerilee started to growl. “Can explain?” she started. “I think I can see it well enough from here,” her voice started to rise, “You've begun to let your titles get to your head, and felt that a common pony like me wasn't worth your time!” At this point Cheerilee was all but yelling at him. “Obviously you felt like somepony of your status needed to have a marefriend of equal status, and the only pony that fit such a description was Luna!” “Listen, it's not-” Mecha started, before Cheerilee cut him off again. “It's not, is it?!” she yelled, ignoring the crowd surrounding them. “How else do you explain what's in the paper?!? I bet you were just waiting for me to get back to tell me that your hooking up with Luna now!” The tears that had been flowing down her face were falling at a near constant stream now. “You know what Mecha?” she asked, suddenly calm. “I don't want to ever see you again,” before grabbing the necklace he'd given her on Heart's and Hooves' day, and ripped it off, throwing it onto the ground, before walking off. Mecha stood, stunned as Cheerilee walked past him, the crowd parting to let her through. His head dropped, tears gracing his face, as the crowd went from staring at him with looks of disgust to looks of confusion. After a few minutes, Mecha took a few deep breaths, before resolving himself. Picking up the paper that had just destroyed the most precious thing in his life, he re-read the article, only for a different reason this time. This time, he ignored the content itself, focusing instead upon how it was written, the structure of it, breaking it down. The wording of this article was different than the usual Gabby Gums articles... a bit more... refined for a lack of a better term. And instead of three distinct styles working together, it was easy for Mecha to see that this article had been written by a single pony, and a familiar one at that. Mecha began to shake, his rage building up. He knew who'd written this article, the writing style matching that from a few essays that he'd graded for Cheerilee. Picking up the necklace that Cheerilee had thrown onto the ground, he put it away before turning towards town. Stepping forwards, he began to pick up speed until he was flat out sprinting, and let out a ferocious yell, “I'M GOING TO DESTROY HER!” And he ran, dodging ponies in the street as he made his way towards his goal: Diamond Tiara's home. LINEBREAKER Diamond Tiara grinned as she looked around, taking in the result of her latest work. Originally, she'd planned to run those blank flanks embarrassing stories when they'd refused to write for her, but she'd had a better plan when she saw that picture in the pile that Featherweight had left on her desk. Of course, after their refusal to write, she couldn't trust the blank flanks to write this story, nor did she wish for them to do so. She'd been meaning to get back at Sugary Spice and Lively Spirit for those pranks they'd pulled on her, and turning their adoptive parents against each other was the perfect way to do so. And the best part of this? Nopony could trace this to her. She had to hand it to those blank flanks, coming up with Gabby Gums was a true stroke of genius. Completely anonymous, and with her only writing one of the articles, she could pin it on the blank flanks in a worse case scenario! Yes, this was indeed one of her best plans. LINEBREAKER Mecha had just rounded a corner, when he spotted Diamond Tiara. Slowly down, his rage caused his magic to flare, surrounding him in a black aura, his left eye emitting an ethereal flame as he stood on his rear legs, still walking towards her. At this point, Diamond Tiara had noticed him, and quickly got up to escape, only for Mecha to take his non-mechanical foreleg and slice the air with it, releasing a wave of magic much like he did with his sword. The difference, however, was clearly visible when instead of slicing Diamond Tiara, it merely knocked her down. Walking up to her, Mecha grabbed her and shoved her against a nearby tree, shouting, “DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU'VE DONE?!?” Gulping, Diamond Tiara stuttered, “I-I-I have n-no c-clue as to w-w-what you a-a-are t-talking about...” “LIKE HELL YOU DON'T!!!” Mecha yelled, as he attracted a crowd of ponies to his actions. “That article was written in YOUR style, using words that only YOU use when writing a paper!” “H-h-how would y-you know?” Diamond Tiara asked. “BECAUSE I'VE GRADED YOUR ESSAYS!” Mecha replied, his eyes gaining a hint of madness to them. “YOU are the only pony who uses words such as inchoate and austerity in their writing, both of which showed up in the article! Furthermore, why in the nine layers of Hell would Sweetie Bell, Applebloom, and Scootaloo print such blatant lies!!!” At this, the crowd started to murmur. While they all had been guessing at who Gabby Gums was, Mecha had apparently pegged it down and held the knowledge to himself. “I have no clue what you are talking about!” Diamond Tiara shouted while looking over the crowd. Why hadn't any of them try and stop Mecha yet? “STOP LIEING ALREADY!” Mecha continued to yell, spit beginning to fly from his mouth. “You're the editor-in-chief! You have to know who Gabby Gums is in order to publish it! Not to mention, unlike all the previous articles, this article is based on a photo and speculation, instead of facts! The only story that comes close is the one about Celestia!” The crowd began talking amongst themselves again, mostly nodding and pointing out the accuracy of Mecha's statements. “So I'm going to give you one chance here,” Mecha said, his voice dropping to a whisper, leaning up to her ear. “You tell these ponies the truth, and I'll leave you be. You keep lieing, and well...” a crazy look graced his face, as he finished with, “I've never been quite stable mentally since Hell, so I think you can fill in the blanks...” Diamond Tiara gulped, sweat pouring down her face. She looked through the crowd, hoping that one of them would step forward and help her, but none did. They all just stared and waited, wondering what she was going to do. When Mecha began to apply more pressure to her, she snapped, shouting, “OKAY, I ADMIT IT! I MADE UP THE WHOLE ARTICLE! IT'S NOTHING BUT LIES! Now please, put me down!” Glaring at her once more, Mecha dropped her flat onto her flanks, before trotting away. LINEBREAKER Mecha sat, staring into the stream flowing under the bridge he was standing on. In his grasp was Cheerilee's necklace, his hoof being run over it in order to take in every detail. Suddenly, Cheerilee walked up beside him, and stared into the stream with him, an uncomfortable silence filling the air between them. After a while, Cheerilee broke the silence, saying, “Twilight explained everything to me...” Letting out a grunt, Mecha asked softly, “Did she now?” Nodding her head, Cheerilee let a tear flow down her cheek, before saying, “At first, I didn't know what to think...” here, she, picked up a small stone before lightly throwing it into the creek, forming several ripples that spread out to distort their reflections. “Then I thought, who would do such a thing?” A second tear made it's way down her face, another pebble mirroring its path into the creek below. “And then I thought...” a third tear, and a third pebble. “What have I done? Here you are, one of the kindest, most thoughtful stallions I know, and I believed what that article said without talking to you once...” another tear and pebble fell. “You, the stallion that's treated my like a princess whenever given a chance,” she continued, closing her eyes as the tears started to fall at a faster rate. “You, the stallion who fights like a madpony whenever I'm in danger... You, the stallion that... that I love...” Mecha continued to stare in the river, before he took a deep breath and threw a pebble of his own into the creek. “You know... when Twilight first showed me that article, I thought to myself, who would believe this?” Mecha told her, before letting out a chuckle, and throwing another pebble into the river. “And then I realized, the only reason that I wasn't getting pulverized by Twilight for cheating was because she trusted Luna not to cheat on her-long story” he added, seeing Cheerilee's confused look. “At that point, I realized... it was written as if she'd heard a conversation that never occurred,” he continued, throwing another pebble. “She made it sound like she overheard me confessing my undying love or something.” A fourth pebble was thrown, joining the others in the creek. “At that point I knew that I'd be the only one not to believe it, solely because I was there for it,” he stopped throwing pebbles as he looked straight up into the sky, tears un-shed in his eyes. “And then I thought... Cheerilee, if she sees this, is going to feel betrayed, devastated, hurt...” Turning to face her, Mecha looked into her eyes, and continued, “And that hurt me, and caused me to panic, for someone as perfect as you shouldn't be forced to feel a pain like that.” Seeing Cheerilee about to object, Mecha cut her off, saying, “And don't claim you aren't perfect! You deal with me and my oddities on a daily basis, you're kind, loving, and gentle, not to mention that any foal who sits through one of your classes falls in love with you.” Chuckling, Mecha said, “And while I might not be a foal, you can add my list to those who love you.” At this point, the tears Mecha had been holding back burst, and rolled down his face as the two moved forward and grasped the other in a firm hug. Letting each other go, they stepped apart. Glancing back at the creek, Mecha chuckled, before saying, “You know, a while back, I told Shining Armor that I didn't really have a plan to propose to you, expected it to be a spur of the moment thing. He was stunned, and asked why, so I told him about how whenever I planned something, something went terribly wrong proportional to the amount of planning I did.” “You've told me this before,” Cheerilee said, leaning against him. “I know,” Mecha replied. “But I recalled it this morning while I was working on something, but figured that it was worth the risk,” he continued, before opening a hatch on his leg and pulling out a small box. “Who'd have thought that the thing that causes things to go terribly wrong would end up being an article written by one of your students?” Gasping, Cheerilee watched as Mecha opened the box, revealing a silver ring that appeared to be made of several silver threads interwoven together, wrapping around a setting of a 2.78 carat black Melanite*** stone. “Cheerilee, will you make me the happiest stallion in the world, and marry me?” Shaking, Cheerilee couldn't respond at first, before shouting, “YES!” and leapt forward, wrapping her forelegs around Mecha. *Seeing as I couldn't find a name for a group of Sphinxes, I came up with this one for it. **Answer this riddle correctly and earn yourself a place at Shining Armor and Princess Cadence's wedding as a guest! ***Black Melanite- a rare, black garnet. As for the reason that the ring is silver instead of gold... well, I'll explain that in a later chapter.