Returning Survivor

by Itchy

Meet The Crusaders

Mecha sighed, before walking up to the school building. His punishment for spying on Big Macintosh and Fluttershy was to help out at the school for a month, on and off of course, as he didn't have anypony to watch the shop during the hours he'd be spending at the school. Entering through the door, Mecha walked up to Cheerilee, and said, “Mecha reporting for duty ma'am.”

Cheerilee turned to face Mecha, and said, “Oh, you're here! Twilight Sparkle told me you'd be helping for a while, I just didn't expect you to start so soon.”

Mecha chuckled, having expected Twilight to leave out the fact that this was a punishment when letting Cheerilee know he'd be helping. “Well,” he said, “I'm here, so what's the plan for today?”

Cheerilee smiled, before double checking her planner, saying, “I believe Cutie Marks* are being covered today... yep, here they are on the schedule.”

Mecha thought for a moment about Cutie Marks. Given to everypony, unique talent, and... Mecha blinked, before voicing the last fact he remembered to Cheerilee, “You know, I've actually seen a pony's Cutie Mark change once.”

Cheerilee was speechless when she heard this. A Cutie Mark? Change? It wasn't supposed to be possible, yet here Mecha was, claiming to have seen it happen! “Care to explain it?” she asked, genuinely curious.

“Well,” Mecha said, “I could, but wouldn't it be easier to explain it to you, and the waiting class?”

Caught off guard, Cheerilee wondered what he meant by waiting class, until she noticed that class should've started five minutes ago. “Yes,” she replied, “that would be a good idea. I'll go ahead and give the normal lecture first, and then you can cover the changing Cutie Mark.”

Mecha shrugged, and sat down to wait.

LINEBREAKER

“And finally class, there has been a recent phenomenon involving somepony's Cutie Mark changing,” Cheerilee finished. “And here to talk about it is Mecha, who observed the change!”

The class clapped politely, heavily confused about the situation. Well, the part of the class that wasn't either Snips or Snails, who were clapping rapidly for their boss. The rest were just wondering what his claim was, as it went against almost everything they'd been taught about Cutie Marks.

Stepping up to the front of the classroom, Mecha started with, “Thank you for the applause, it's good to be speaking to you fine colts and fillies once more. To start of with, I should explain that the fellow whose Cutie Mark changed didn't quite change, but rather... expanded. No, even that doesn't give it justice... evolved, there we go. His Cutie Mark evolved, and it was quite a sight to behold. To start with, let's give you an idea of this guy.”

Glancing around, Mecha saw he held total attention, and smiled before continuing, “He was an Earth Pony in the scouting division, with a Cutie Mark of a shield on his flank. When I talked to him, I got the feeling that he'd do anything to protect his friends and family, most likely the reason behind his shield. However, that didn't mean that he couldn't pick up a sword and fight like the rest of us, he just preferred not to.”

The entire class got a dream like look to them, obviously trying to imagine the pony Mecha was describing. Mecha chuckled a little, getting their attention back, before saying, “At this point, we'd been in a combat zone for a couple of weeks.” Mecha was clearly trying to down play his time in Hell as these were young foals after all, before continuing, “And he'd been complaining about an eerie feeling he'd been having for the past couple of days. We brushed it of, claiming it was just stress from where we were at the time, but he maintained it wasn't.”

Here, it was Mecha's turn to get a dreamy look about him, before breaking out of it in a shiver. “Well,” Mecha started, “we were attacked the next day, and I ended up fighting next to him. As we fought, his best friend fell, and was about to be impaled, when he shouted “NO!” and charged the foe about to strike his friend down. At this point, I turned to face him, and noticed his Cutie Mark shining. His Cutie Mark went from just a shield, to a shield blocking a sword, whilst another sword struck from behind it.”

The class mumbled, intrigued by the story. “We later figured,” Mecha said, “that it was meant to show that not only would he defend his friends, but would also attack those who'd wish to harm them. Our doc took a look at his Cutie Mark while we were talking, and had confirmed that it was in fact a permanent change. So, any questions?”

The class mostly mumbled to itself, until Diamond Tiara spoke up, saying, “Yeah, where's your proof that you aren't making this up!”

Cheerilee was about to scold her for being rude, when Mecha put his mechanical leg onto Cheerilee's desk. Opening a compartment, Mecha pulled out two pictures, and put them onto Diamond Tiara's desk. “The first picture,” Mecha said, “has me on the left, my friend with the changing Cutie Mark on the right, and his best friend in the middle.”

The whole class huddled around the photo, getting glances of the three Earth Ponies in the picture, several surprised to see Mecha with four genuine legs, as opposed to the three and mechanical leg he had now. They also saw the shield Cutie Mark on the pony on the right, as well as a unique jagged scar along his chest.

“The second picture,” Mecha stated, “was taken after the battle, same general order.” Here, the class's attention moved to the other picture, causing several of the students to gasp. In this picture, Mecha was leaning against the middle pony, missing the leg that was now mechanical**, and the pony on the right, with the identifying scar, did in fact have a different Cutie Mark than in the last picture.

After giving the class a few more minutes to look at the photos, Mecha took them back, and put them back into there storage space. “Any more questions?” he asked, turning to see a room full of hooves in the air. Sighing, he amended his statement to, “Any more questions relating to the changing Cutie Mark?”

At this point, all the hooves went back down, leading Mecha to sigh, and let them ask any questions in general after getting the okay from Cheerilee. “You there, red mane and white fur.”

“Twist sir,” she said, introducing herself before asking, “How'd you get that leg?”

Sighing, Mecha said, “I made it. Took forever to get it to work, but I needed it to. Apple Bloom, right? You're next.”

“Ah was wondering,” she started, “where exactly where you guys at the time.”

Blinking, Mecha shot a glance at Cheerilee, who was frantically shaking her head in a sign not to reveal it. “Classified, level Zero,” Mecha replied. “Snips, you're next.”

“What's classified level Zero mean?” he asked.

“It means that as ex-military, I'm not allowed to reveal it, and you'd need to ask an adult who is in the know about it. I'd recommend your parents or guardians. Last question... you, bow and arrow Cutie Mark.”

“Archer,” she said, before continuing with, “I only hear about swords when you mention the army, are there no archers?”

“No,” Mecha replied, “it's merely the fact that they trained separately than sword users, and at the point in the story, we'd run out of ammo for them. In fact, the middle pony was an archer himself.” Glancing around the room, and seeing that many of them had more questions, he sighed and said, “If you still have questions, stick around after school and I'll answer them then.”

LINEBREAKER

Mecha sighed as he sat behind the register. After answering all the questions from the students, he wanted a nice quiet hour or so to himself. Most of the questions had brought up memories from his time in Hell, which were not good memories at all. In fact, one question had caused him to freeze up, flashes of a battle scene going before his eyes.

Anyways, a relaxing hour should be easily obtained, as he gave Snips and Snails the day off as a reword for their progress, when the bell rang. Looking up to see his friend Doctor Whooves, Mecha asked, “Whatcha need, Doc?”

“A place to hide,” he replied, looking around nervously. “Apple Bloom is on a crusade for her Cutie Mark, and I can't walk near the market place without her getting me to buy at least three more apples!”

“You realize,” Mecha started, “That the easy answer is to avoid market square, right?”

Doctor Whooves stopped, blinked, then face hoofed. “No, I didn't,” he replied.

Mecha laughed at his misery, before saying, “Well, you wanna buy anything while you're here?”

Taking a glance around the store, Doctor Whooves was about to reply, when a thought struck him. Taking a secondary glance around the room, his gaze stopped at what amounted to a giant metal box. “What is this?” he asked, walking up to it.

Looking at what caught his friend's interest, Mecha groaned, saying, “Skill demonstration piece. Wished the parasprites had eaten that, but noooooo, they had to eat the display armor! Anyways, just a box of metal based of a phone booth I once saw. The piece was meant to demonstrate my ability to make any piece any color, as there isn't any naturally blue metal, but nopony cared. None. One glance at it, and then they ask if I can fix their heater, or sink or fridge. Thing is a giant waste of store space. Why? You interested?”

Nodding his head, Doctor Whooves replied, “Yeah, I am. It would be perfect for a project of mine. How much you want for it?”

Glancing at the item he'd had in his shop for almost as long as he'd had a shop, Mecha said, “You can have it for 20 bits if you take it out yourself. I want that thing out as quick as possible.”

Smiling at the deal he was getting, Doctor Whooves took out the bits and tossed them at Mecha saying, “Deal! I'll come back later to pick it up.”

Nodding his head, Mecha took out a SOLD sign while Doctor Whooves walked out, and hung it on the giant metal box, when the door opened and rang the bell. Looking over, Mecha immediately said, “I'm not buying any apples right now!” as Apple Bloom walked in.

“Ah not here to sell ya any apples,” she told him.

Letting out a sigh, Mecha relaxed a bit, walking back behind the counter. “Then what can I do for ya?” he asked.

“Ah was wondering,” she started, “If you'd have anything I could do ta try and earn my Cutie Mark?”

Hearing this, Mecha chuckled, saying, “Doc was right, you are on a crusade. Anyways, I've got nothing safe enough for you to try. But tell you what, if you're still looking for it later, come back and I'll explain why I think you should consider yourself blessed for not having a Cutie Mark. Deal?”

Sighing, Apple Bloom responded, “Deal,” before she walked out the door.

LINEBREAKER

Mecha was relaxing behind the counter, having had a calm day since most ponies where at some party with their foals. Suddenly, the door opened, and Mecha looked up to see Apple Bloom with two of what he assumed where her friends. “What can I do ya for?” he asked, not moving from his lounging position. “And who are you're friends?”

“I'm Sweetie Bell,” the one on the left said.

“And I'm Scootaloo!” the one on the right said.

“And we're...” Apple Bloom started.

“THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!” they all shouted at once, nearly knocking Mecha off balance with the sheer volume of their shout.

“Crusaders, eh?” Mecha asked, after regaining his balance.

“Yeah! Ah got the idea for the name based on what you said ta me earlier,” Apple Bloom enthusiastically replied. “And we came here 'cause we wanted ta here why you think we're blessed.

Blinking, Mecha reviewed his memory and recalled that he did in fact promise that. “Okay,” he said, “but give me a minute to get a couple of visuals.” After which he walked into the back, and came back with a tray that had several glasses and two pitchers on it after a few minutes. Setting down the tray, the fillies noticed that the first two glasses were empty, the third had water, the fourth had juice in it, and the fifth had what appeared to be sludge in it. The pitcher on the left had water in it, and the one on the right had a different kind of juice in it.

“Okay,” Mecha started, “let's say that each glass represents a pony, and being filled,” at this point he picked up the pitcher of water, “means that they have their Cutie Mark,” here, he poured water into one of the empty cups, to symbolize the acquisition of a Cutie Mark. “Are you following me so far?”

The three little ponies nodded there heads, signaling him to continue. “Now, each pony is unique, symbolized by the different liquid in each cup. For instance, let's say that water is a talent in sales, the juice a talent in forging, and the sludge a talent in garbage work. Now, looking at these cups, the empty cup would most likely be jealous of the cup filled with juice, but would hate to be the cup filled with sludge, right?”

The newly named Cutie Mark Crusaders nodded their heads, confused as to where this was going. “Go ahead and try the cup of juice,” Mecha said, pushing it forward.

Each of the three fillies tried it, with Apple Bloom saying, “Is that... orange juice?”

“Indeed it is,” Mecha said. “Tastes odd to you, doesn't it?”

“Yeah,” Scootaloo said. “I've never had anything other than apple juice before.”

“That's true of most ponies in Ponyville,” Mecha said. “But that's getting off topic. Now try the juice in the pitcher.”

Here, the trio moved quickly, each getting a quick sip, before their faces brightened up. “This is what ah'm talking about!” Apple Bloom said.

“I have to agree,” Sweetie Bell said, nodding her head. “Certainly much better than the orange juice.”

“And that represents your future talent,” Mecha said. “One day, you will have your cup filled with apple juice, not orange juice, not water, nor sludge, but apple juice. Doesn't it fell good to know that while the other cups are filled with what those people like, your will be filled with what you like best? Isn't it better to wait for the best, rather than get something sub-par immediately?”

“Yeah!” Scootaloo said. “Who cares if they have orange juice! We're getting apple juice!”

At this point, the other two were just as psyched as her, and all three shouted out, “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER APPLE JUICE DRINKERS!” before rushing out the store.

Blinking, Mecha spoke out loud to himself, “I think they missed the point. Oh well, more drinks for me,” before taking a drink from the sludge like filled cup. “Mmmm, good smoothie. Glad I had that food coloring in the back.”

*I assume that something as important as a Cutie Mark to ponies would be capitalized, so I started doing so here.
**While he was the left most pony in the picture, keep in mind the mirroring effect of photos.