A month has passed since we last saw Merry and his adopted daughter Scootaloo. Things have been going quite well for them. Scootaloo had been getting private lessons from her idol Rainbow Dash, Merry got another job at the local blacksmith. The pay was much better then what Fluttershy had offered him, but he still feeds the animals in the early morning purely out of habit, and the fact he really doesn’t need to sleep anyway. He would even join Rarity and Spike when they went out for gems to make some extra cash on the side. Merry had saved up a large sum of bits. Because he was never sure when he would need bits. Merry had decided to wait in front of the school that day to pick up Scoots.

“I’ll see you tomorrow class!” Ms. Cheerilee had just dismissed the class and waved goodbye to everyone. Scootaloo was hopping out the door, half flying and half walking. Ever sense her wings started to get a bit bigger she was able to fly short distances.

“Hey dad! You came to pick me up again?!” Merry just laughed as Scootaloo fluttered up into his arms.

“Yes, yes I’m here to pick you up and you know what?” Merry just hugged her then set her down

“What dad?” Scootaloo flew upward to be face to face with Merry

“I just remembered I never asked when your birthday was!” Scootaloo facehoofed

“Jeez, you really are a dunce sometimes aren’t you?”

“Yes, yes I am, but in my defense you never told me.”

“Well you never asked.” Merry was about to argue back but stopped.

“Indeed I never did ask. You got me there, But I’m asking you now.” Merry just tapped his foot.

“Its in two months on the 15th! And you know what I want?” Merry raised an eyebrow

“You already know what you want huh? And what would that be?”

“I want a real Greatsword! And maybe a real armor set.” Merry tilted his head.

“That sounds kind of dangerous...” Scootaloo interrupted him mid sentence

“But just think about it! If I wore real armor and a real Greatsword while flying, I’ll get stronger faster!” Merry just sighed.

“I’ll see what I can do.” Scootaloo just cheered

“Alright! And can it be made of Mithral?” Merry raised both eyebrows at her.

“You guys have Mithral?” Scootaloo just nodded her head vigorously.

“Yeah! Mithral is what all the Pegasus ponies wear when they go into combat, It helps them be Agile fighters and allows them to travel longer distances without getting tired as fast.” Merry just raised an eyebrow at her

“You seem to know an awful lot about this stuff.” Without missing a beat Scootaloo continues

“Well yeah, if I’m gonna be a real crusader knight I need to know this kinda stuff. Like how Earth ponies are outfitted with Adamantine and unicorns wear ether adamantine or mithral. I even read that somepony found a way to mix both of those metals to create some kind of super metal. But it can only be crafted with magic.” Merry just looked at Scoots with new found respect

‘She’s taking being a knight serious... Awesome.’ “Alright, I’ll see what I can do Scoots. I have 2 months to figure this out it seems.” Merry just smiled down to Scoots “Now you wanna walk with me to work? Or you just gonna go off with your friends again?” Scootaloo looked down to the ground then back up to Merry with a smile.

“I’m gonna go play with my friends before I go to see Rainbow Dash for another flying lesson!” Merry just laughed

“I thought as much. Alright then, I’ll see you at the house later today.” Merry just waved Scootaloo off as he walked to Hammers shop. A blacksmith named Smith Hammer. What an odd world this was. He had picked up a few tricks of the trade from Hammer, But they mostly just worked on tools and farm equipment. Along with the occasional horse shoe that needed some re-forging to get rid of any rust. Merry arrived at Hammers shop after a 20 minute walk and walked inside.

“Hey Hammer, I’m back for some work.”

“I thought you went to go get your kid?”

“Yeah I did, but she had other plans, So I’m back from lunch a bit early.”

“Well alright then, The Apple family dropped their plow off while you were gone. The blade needs to be reworked to make it easier to pull through the ground.” Merry just nodded and headed over to the plow and looked it over.

“How do they manage to crack this blade all the time? You’d think they were using it to till a concrete path instead of dirt.” Merry just sighed and he went over to the counter to grab some tools to take the blade off.

“I know that look, what’s on your mind lad?” Merry just sighed again as he walked back over to the plow and began to get the blade off.

“Its Scoots, her birthday is coming up and she wants a real Greatsword and armor set made of mithral. And I have no idea where to get that stuff.” Hammer just laughed

“You work for a blacksmith and you don’t know where you can find a real greatsword and armor? However the mithral bit does complicate things.”

“What do you mean?” Hammer just sighed

“Well, not only is Mithral delicate to work with, its also expensive, it averages around 500 bits a pound. And my rough guesstimate for you would be at lest in the 4,500 bits range to get all the metal you would need.” Merry just sighed

‘There goes all my saving and next months pay.’ “Guess its my luck she’s not a fully grown Pegasus yet huh?” Hammer just laughed again

“True that, I remember working on some of the 1st mithral armor sets for her majesty the princess.”

“Wait, You actually made that kind of armor?”

“That I did laddie, but that’s all in the past now, I’m just a humble blacksmith that fixes household items and farm tools now.” Hammer just sighed “A full set of armor for one of them would cost a total of 7,500 bits. But since yer girls still just a lass, I think I can make do with only 9 pounds of mithral.” Merry got a huge smile on his face

“Truely?! You could make her the armor set and weapon for me?!”

“Aye, I’ll need you to pay for the materials though laddie, and I’ll even teach you how to forge the mithral, Never know when it could come in handy, and besides I gotta teach you more then just how to sharpen a kitchen knife.”

“Thanks Hammer, you’re a real life saver, You know that?”

“Now don’t go thanking me yet Laddie, You still have ta gather a large sum of money to pay for it.” Merry just smiled

“I should have all the money soon, I’m gonna help Rarity gather more gems this weekend. She has a huge project coming up and needs all the gems she can get. I usually get a cut when were done.”

“Well it sounds like you have everything covered then, I’ll look into ordering some for you.”

“Thanks a lot Hammer, you’re a true friend.” Hammer just rubbed his head with a hoof

“Now don’t go getting soft on me laddie, lets get back to work here.” Merry just saluted and got to work on the plow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A week an a half later the mithral they ordered was about to arrive at the shop. Merry was waiting outside the shop waiting for the mail pony to arrive with the package. An hour before lunch Ditzy showed up at the front door carrying a small wooden crate.

“Well hey Merry! I’ve got this package here for your boss Smith Hammer.”

“Just on time, I’ll take that from you darling, Tell Dinky I said hello.”

“Can do Merry” Ditzy waved goodbye to Merry as she flew back into the air to the Mail cart. Merry brought the wooden crate inside and set it down on the floor near the forge.

“Hey Hammer, I think the mithral is finaly here.”

“Well about blasted time, Now I can show you how a real blacksmith works.” Merry just used a crowbar to rip the top of the crate open. Inside was 24 lumps of silvery ore of different sizes. Merry picked up a few of them.

“Wow they’re so light, it feels like it may be hollow.” Hammer just laughed

“That’s the magic of mithral for you, Strong as steel but light as a feather. It’s the reason why its so costly, you can imagination the need of it for all the races that can fly. Now on to Blacksmith talk, How do you think mithral is worked?” Merry just paused for a moment

“Um, carefuly?”

“Nope, you work it as you would steel, but the flame just needs to be a bit hotter as opposed to steel, it’s a trick I learned after working with it so much.” Merry just nodded

“Alright when can we start?”

“As soon as I teach you how to work steel into a decent blade, then we can move up to the mithral, no point in working on it and failing. You’ll need some practice anyway.” Merry just nodded as Hammer placed the crate with the mithal into the corner and brought out some steel rods. He placed them into the fire and let them sit in the hot coals.

“Now we wait for the steel to become red hot, this takes a few minutes, after words we take it...you know what just copy what I do, if you have any questions, just ask.” Merry nodded

“Good, I always learned better with hands on experience.” Merry just stood next to Hammer tongs at the ready. They both even had on protective goggles, Shaded an extremely dark color so almost no light could get through. They helped when you stared into hot coals all day.

After a few minutes the steel rods began to glow a hot red and orange color. Hammer used the tongs to grab one end of the steel rod and brought it over to the anvil. He placed it atop the anvil and began to hammer away, flattening out the metal. Merry did the same with the other steel rod. Carefully mimicking Hammers movements. One strike on the steel, another strike on the anvil, Then back to the steel. After about 20 swings the Steel rod was placed back into the fire to keep it hot and moldable.

“Hey hammer, why do you alternate between striking the steel and the anvil?”

“Just something I picked up over the years, it helps keep the hammer cool, so you don’t end up deforming the hammer or cause it to heat up so much it sticks to what you're hammering.”

“Well that makes sense.” Merry continued to copy Smith Hammer as they shaped the blade’s of the sword. Working 6 inches of it at a time. After about 2 hours of this repeated process Hammer takes out the rough shape of the sword and places it upon the anvil and just lets it sit there.

“What are we doing now?”

“Now we are at a process called Annealing, the shape is complete, so now we let the steel cool slowly to keep the metal soft enough to be sharpened and engraved. The cooling will take about a day, so we can move on to making the armor now.”

“Alright, I don’t know Scootaloo’s size though...”

“Nonsense we're gonna just going to make a general armor, we can get her size later. Now...” Hammer brought out a large sheet of metal and began to heat it in the forge. “Just watch me this time around, I don’t have a second table vice for you to use anyway.” After the metal sat in the flames for about a minute Hammer brought it out and set on top of the steel table in the vice. He used a pair of tongs and a hammer to shape the metal into the front half of the breast plate. After he got its basic shape done he took it out of the vice and laid it on the table. He grabbed another pair of tongs and began to turn the edges of the metal inward. When he was finished he set it aside to let it cool.

“Now, grab another piece of sheet metal and do what I did.” Merry nodded and grabbed another sheet of metal and placed it in the fire. After about a minute he took it out with the tongs and placed it into the vice on the table and attempted to shape the metal into a breastplate as well. It was a lot harder then Hammer made it look. Merry was struggling to bend the metal and not burn himself. He eventually had to toss it back into the fire to make it malleable again so he could finish.

“Alright I think I got it.” Merry placed his next to Hammers and sighed “mine looks like shit compared to yours.” Hammer just laughed.

“And that’s why were using steel 1st. You’ll get better don’t worry, I’ve been doing this for over 30 years now, I’m versed in all the steps.” Merry just looked over to him

“So why did you stop?” Hammer just sighed

“I didn’t want to stop, I had to. I was getting old and I couldn’t keep up with everything they needed. So I passed on what I knew and retired to this little town.” Merry just stood silently for a bit.

“What do you mean old? I thought you were in your 30s.” Hammer just laughed

“Thanks for the compliment, but I’m pushing 50 right now.” He just sighed “I may be old, but I’m still just as good as ever. Now that the basics have been set up. Come back tomorrow when everything has cooled, and I’ll show you how to sharpen the blades and we can finish molding the armor.”

“Sounds good Chief, I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Merry took off his goggles along with his apron and hung them up on a coat rack by the door as he left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Merry got home he found the Crusaders playing another mock war in his living room. Scootaloo had made it a habit of flying every chance she got. The others had taken to using the bows to try and take her down. She was actually getting really good at aerial combat it would seem. The high protein diet Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash suggested really helped her in flying. Merry stood in the door way watching them play. Dinky had teamed up with Sweetie Belle while Apple Bloom teamed up with Scootaloo. After watching for a bit Merry had figured out that the kingdom was split because there were only 2 cookies left, and the winners got them. Seeing no end to the battle soon Merry walked to the plate that sat in the middle of the room and shoved both cookies into his mouth.

“DAD WHY?!” All the young ponies stopped what they were doing and just watched as Merry ate the cookies with the biggest grin on his face possible.

“Oh I’m sorry, were you guys saving those? I wasn’t really paying attention.” Merry just licked his fingers as if they were covered in something tasty after handling the cookies. “Anyway, I think its time you girls went home, if you didn’t notice it’s getting dark outside, its almost dinner time if I’m not mistaken.” Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom groaned.

“Do we have ta go home?” Merry just nodded then put his hand to his chin

“Well, if you get permission you can stay the night I guess. Just try and get back before its dark. Or just get dropped off.” All the fillies just looked at each other then shouted in unison

“SLEEP OVER!” Merry just laughed out loud and slapped his knee.

“Alright hurry on now, We’ll be waiting.” The 4 fillies just cheered and 3 of them ran to the door to their respective homes to no doubt ask and be brought back for the sleep over. After they left Merry turned to Scootaloo who was taking off her armor.

“So how was your day Scoots?” Scootaloo just looked up to Merry with a huge grin on her face.

“It was great! Niji taught me an exercise I can do to help strengthen my wings even when I’m not flying. Watch!” She extended her wings out fully, and began to wave them around similar to how she would if she was flying. But much slower. “I just do the standard motion, but I keep the muscles flexed as I move them. Niji told me its what she did when she was younger.”

“Huh, that’s pretty cool, I bet she’s teaching you all the best moves. Seeing as how’s she’s the fastest flyer in Equestria.” Scootaloo just nodded in agreement.

“Don’t I know it, Hey I’ve been wondering...”

“Hm? What’s that Scoots?”

“Well I was just wondering how you convinced her to teach me how to fly everyday? Before she would do it maybe once a month or nap through the usual time, How did you convince her to do it Every day? Its like a dream come true.” Merry thought for a moment and got a smirk on his face.

“Lets just say your dad can be very persuasive with his magic hands.” Merry just put up both hands and began to wiggle his fingers around. Causing Scootaloo to gasp.

“You didn’t!” Merry just sighed

“Your right maybe I didn’t.” Scootaloo just got a confused look

“But then maybe I did, you never know. Maybe you should just ask her yourself?” Scootaloo just shook her head.

“I could never ask her something that!”

“And why not?”

“Well come on, its odd to just go up to my idol and be all like, hey is it true you, The most awesome pony in Equestria, is sleeping with my dad?” Merry just laughed out loud again at the statement.

“I suppose it does sound a bit odd. But wouldn’t you like to know? Cause you ain’t gonna find out from me.” Scootaloo just pouted for a bit, contemplating how she would try and work it out. A knock on the door interrupted them both. Merry went over to the door and opened it. It was Dinky and Ditzy. They had a bunch of stuffed animals, pillows, and blankets with them.

“Hey Merry! I just came by to drop off Dinky with all her stuff.” Ditzy flew in and set all the stuff she had on the sofa. Then then flew back over to Ditzy and kissed her on the forehead.

“I’ll see you later my little muffin. Have fun and be good for Merry.”

“Yes mom” Dinky squealed in excitement as she ran over to Scootaloo “This is gonna be my 1st sleep over!” Ditzy just smiled as went over to Merry.

“Now we haven’t had dinner yet, so I’m hoping you could feed her. And she needs Mr. Bunny to help her sleep. She should have him and...” Merry just put a hand up.

“Don’t worry Ditzy, I’ll treat her as if she was my own, you have my word on that.” Ditzy just sighed in relief

“Thanks Merry, I know you will. I’ve seen how you are with Scoots, I expect nothing else but kindness from you.” Ditzy flew up and kissed Merry on the cheek “take good care of my little filly Merry.” Merry just smiled and waved bye to Ditzy as she went out the door. When he turned around he saw Scoots and Dinky just watching him with big grins. They then looked at each other

“Does this mean were gonna be sisters now?”

“I don’t know, I wouldn’t mind having Merry as my dad. And an older sister would be cool as well” Merry just closed his eyes and tilted his head to the point that his ear was resting on his shoulder.

“And just what are you girls talking about? Nothing is gonna happen. Not unless she starts it first anyway.” Dinky just giggled with Scootaloo. Merry shook his head and sighed as he walked into the kitchen.

“I’m sure you girls are hungry, so what did you want me to make for you?” The 2 fillies looked to each other then nodded.

“We want some of your stir fry!”

“Really? Again? Aren’t you tired of it yet?” They shook their heads.

“You always use different vegetables, so its never exactly the same, and the spices are also never the same.” Merry just sighed

“That’s because it’s the only thing you ask me for, so I have to mix it up, otherwise I’d get bored of cooking it. I’m gonna stop asking you what you want and just make something else next time.”

‘I guess it’s a good thing I drastically reduced the amount of oil and even changed the type of oil I use for this dish. Cant give these kids too much Cholesterol in their diets.’

Merry got to work in the kitchen setting up for the Stir fry. Before he could start cooking another knock came upon the door.

“Scoots can you get that for me?!” Merry shouted out. He heard Scoots run up to the door and shout back

“Ok I got it!” followed by “Oh Hey Rarity and Sweetie Belle!” Merry shouted back at them from the kitchen.

“Hey come on in, I just starting to make dinner!” Rarity walked into the kitchen so she wouldnt have to shout as well.

“Oh thanks for the offer dear, but I only came to drop Sweetie off and get back to my shop, as you know I have a big order I’m still finishing up. You watching over her tonight will really let me concentrate on my work.” Merry just spun around and raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah sure no problem, don’t worry about it. I’m always happy to help.” Rarity just batted her eyelashes and stood on her hind legs to kiss Merry on the cheek. Merry was a bit confused at first but shrugged it off.

“You’re such a dear Merry, I brought a few of Sweetie Belles things along, the bags are in the living room.” Merry just nodded

‘Bags?’ “Alright well, you can lay em anywhere. I’ll sort through the stuff when I finish cooking here.” Rarity just brushed her tail against Merry as she turned around to leave, and Merry just shook his head. After the front door closed he heard Sweetie Belle sqee behind him.

“Are you gonna be my brother in law?” After her question she gasped “That would make Scootaloo and me sisters!” Dinky huffed and spoke up

“Hey! He’s gonna be my dad and Scootaloo’s gonna be my sister!” Merry groaned and shook his head

“Hey hey, calm down, none of that’s gonna happen. Were all just good friends.” Scootaloo just looked at Merry with her eyes squinting

“Good friends that involve your magic hands?” Merry just face palmed.

“I never should of told you that.” The 3 fillies just gasped like they discovered some huge secret. The conversation was interrupted by another knock on the door. Merry looked up and sighed in relief

“I’ll get it...” Merry went over to the door and opened it up. “Oh hey Applejack, I’m guessing you’re hear to drop off Apple Bloom?” Applejack just chuckled

“Yup, she came home a sprinting like I’ve never seen before and the 1st thing out of her mouth was that you were having a sleep over that she had to get ready for.” Merry just laughed and face palmed.

“So I’m guessing she didn’t really ask and kinda just forced it upon you that she was going?”

“Yeah, pretty much, Ah just came ta make sure it was ok with you and to make sure she made it by safe and sound.”

“Yeah its fine with me, I was just about to make dinner. Yer welcome to join us if you want.” Applejack mulled it over in thought for a bit then smiled

“Yeah sure, Ah cant pass up your cooking, if there’s one thing Ah learned about you. It’s that you’re a damn good cook.” Applejack walked inside followed by Apple Bloom who had a pillow on her back and a stuffed yellow bear in her mouth. Merry just had a smug grin on his face. For some reason all the ponies that have had his cooking loved it. He had no idea why, But he noticed the only thing they really cooked around here was hay, which is rather tasteless. He had tried it a few days before, it wasn’t his thing.

“Well I hope your ready for something new, its just something from my world that I’m surprised you haven’t done before.” Merry went into the kitchen while the others stayed out in the living room, and talked about things. Merry wasn’t sure because they were keeping their voices low. But it didn’t matter, he had some french fry’s to make. He had filled a pan with a layer of oil deep enough to submerge the slices of potatoes. After cooking for 5 minutes Applejack came into the kitchen.

“Need any help Merry?” Merry paused for a moment in thought.

“No I think I got everything under control here.” He continued to cook as Applejack rubbed up against him.

“You sure about that sugercube?” Merry just raised an eyebrow

“Yeah I’m sure about that. I’m a perfectly capable adult of cooking dinner for some fillies and a mare.” Merry patted Applejack on her back and she raised her hind quarters in response.

‘What is she a cat?’ Merry turned to see Scootaloo gasp along with the other 3 fillies.

“You do have magic hands!” Apple Bloom stepped forward in front of Scoots

“Ah knew my was sis was acting funny today. She’s in her heat cycle again.” Merry just looked at Apple Bloom with a dumbfounded look with his hand still on Applejack’s backside. She kept moving her backside into his hand. After a moment Merry’s brain finished restarting after hearing what she said and promptly moved his hand away.

“Come on Sugercube, after dinner we can go upstairs to talk while the kids play down here.” Merry just face palmed.

‘Nope, nope, nope, not happening, this cant be real. Everything was going so smoothly. I did notice they are acting kinda like how Twilight did after that strawberry shake. But this, this is stupid, I guess they are still animals after all.’ Merry gently pushed Applejack away

“Yeah, I’ll think about it, but for now let me finish making dinner.” Merry ushered everyone out of the kitchen so he could finish cooking in peace. After another 10 minutes he had finished what he wanted. The stir fry, filled with Alfalfa and the french fried tatoes as a side. A little crude, but they were crispy so they had the desired effect. “Alright foods done. Come and get it girls.”

They all walked into the kitchen and sat at the table that Merry had set up with plates and silverware. Merry sat next to Scootaloo and Applejack pushed aside Apple Bloom so she could sit next to Merry.

“Hey! What was that for sis?”

“Oh sorry Bloom, didn’t see you sitting next to Merry...”

“But you just pushed her out of the way to sit next to me...”

“Hmm, I don’t remember such a thing.” Applejack’s lips had tightly pressed together as she looked side to side. Merry just face palmed again. “Just, let it go Bloom, I’m sure she didnt mean it.”

“Yeah I know what you mean, she gets like this. Every other month...” Merry just shook his head as he filled up the plates for the kids and Applejack, then himself.

“Anyway, tell me what you guys think of the french fried taters, I noticed ponies never thought of frying up some potatoes, pretty odd to me.” Scootaloo was the 1st to try it and she got a smile on her face.

“This is delicious! It's waaaay better then hay fries.” Scootaloo began to eat the rest of the fries on her plate followed by the other 3 fillies and Applejack.

“I told you I like a stallion that can cook right?” Mery just raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah you told me before a few times when we’ve gone out drinking. And I’ve told you before, I’m not a stallion I’m a man. Biig difference, in more ways then one.” Merry just ate his food along with the fillies while Applejack was more just playing with her food as she watched Merry eat. Apple Bloom suddenly looked up and spoke

“Hey Scoots, if my sis and yer dad get hitched, wouldn’t that make us sisters?” Merry coughed a bit, Dinky looked up with her mouth full of food and swallowed hard.

“No way! He’s gonna get with my mom and be my dad while Scootaloo is gonna be my sis!” Merry just face palmed again for like, the 6th time that night.

“Nuh uh! He’s gonna be my brother in law when he and Rarity get married!”

‘Alright, I’ve had enough of this.’ “Girls, I’m not going to hook up with anyone, alright?” all the girls moaned.

“Why not?!” said the three fillies

“Yeah what’s wrong with me, huh Merry?” Applejack got a pouty look on her face

“Its not you, its me. I don’t think I could choose between all of you fine mares, so I’d rather stay single.” Applejack just sighed and smiled.

“If that’s all it is, its not a big deal. I’ll have you know a stallion having a few wives isn’t unheard of around here. Sense the male to female ratio is 1-8. My cousin Braeburn in Appleloosa has 2 wives already.” Merry just rubbed his forehead with his left hand in frustration.

‘God dammit. These ponies, these confound ponies. Why must they taunt me so?’ “Look tonight’s no good Applejack, just some other time alright? I’m not in the mood with all the girls here anyway.” Applejack just huffed

“Fine then, I’ll be on my way then. Take care of my sis.” Applejack began to walk to the door, but stopped to turn around and look at Merry. “Twilight told me about your magic hand’s, I’ve been hankering to try em out for myself.” Merry just saluted and closed the door behind her when she left. The 4 fillies just stared at Merry.

“I knew it! The Magic hands are real!” Merry ignored Scootaloo’s comment and just carried on like nothing happened.

“Well, now that the crazy mare has left the building, you 4 can get started on what ever it is little girls do at slumber party’s. I on the other hand will go clean up from dinner.” Merry walked into the kitchen and began to clean up the plates of food when he heard them start to talk about all being sisters. Then about what colts in school were cute. Apparently a colt named Featherweight and Rumble were the top 2. Sweetie Belle mentioned Snail’s as a 3rd runner up, but apparently his slow personalty left much to be desired, as the other girls simply called him a trophy Stallion. After he finished cleaning up he walked back out into the living room and saw them all laying around on some blankets in a circle in the middle of the room, at some point they moved all the furniture out of the way to make room for their little camp.

“Alright girl’s, I’m going over to Twilight’s house for a bit, I’ll be back soon.”

“Why do you go to Twilight’s house at lest once a week at night dad?”

“Uhhh...” ‘Shit! Gotta to think fast...'

“Is she the real reason why ya turned down my sis?” ‘Huh?’ Merry just stood there with his mouth hung open

“No! Nonsense, I just go to visit her once a week so she can keep my iPod still going. I cant keep it charged any other way.” ‘Well that’s only half the reason but that should do it.’

“It takes you an hour to make a 10 minute round trip? I’ve seen her do that spell dad, it only takes like a minute.” Merry just gasped in shock

“Why are you trying to burn me out? I like to walk around in the cool night air, jeez. Anyway I’ll be back soon alright? Just don’t blow up the house while I’m gone.” Scootaloo just glared at Merry then smiled.

“Jeez dad, were not that reckless. Also keep your magic hand’s to your self. Only Niji should get them.” Merry rubbed his temples again.

“I never shoulda told them and you I had magic hands. This is getting outta hand.” Merry just sighed “I’m off, I’ll be back soon, I wont take a nice walk around in the cool night air this time.” Merry just walked out the door as the 4 fillies had big smiles on their faces and somehow a golden halo was above their heads. As soon as Merry closed the door he heard them shout

“Operation Sister’s is a go!” Merry ignored it and kept walking toward the town Library.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“TWILIGHT!!!” Shouted Spike as he ran up the stairs to Twilights study.

“What is it Spike? Im very busy right now.” Twilight didn’t even bother to turn around and kept reading her book.

“This letter just came from Celestia and its wrapped in the urgent red ribbon.” Twilight spun around

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?!” Spike just face clawed and handed her the letter which she opened immediately.

My faithful student Twilight Sparkle,

It has come to my attention that a large number of Bounty Hunters from across the globe have come in search of an alien. Upon further investigation I learned that after my report to the griffin kingdoms about the demise of their royalty, they set to work on getting the best of the best to hunt him down. After a few failed attempts of locating him in the direction I sent them in. They raised the bounty upon the aliens head to over 1 million bits. And to 5 million if captured alive. Every bounty hunter got wind of this outrageous sum of money and headed to Equestria. I fear the worst and would suggest that Merry take into hiding for the time being. I’m not sure how long my description of him will be able to fool them. If they are smart they will realize Merry is a one of a kind creature and the most likely culprit that fits the description of alien.

Take care

Princess Celestia

P.S. Luna has sent a small scrying stone. If trouble should arise just crush it and we will be alerted and arrive as soon as possible.

Twilight set the letter down and just sat there unsure of what to do.

“Twilight what did the letter say?” Twilight just looked down at Spike and the little stone taped to the bottom of the letter.

“Nothing you need to worry about Spike, But I need to go see Merry for a bit.” Spike just raised an eyebrow

“Well alright, and for the record, you’re really loud Twi.” Twilight just got a blush on her face as a knock came upon the door.

“Well speak of the devil, I bet its Merry again, he usually comes over shortly after dinner.” Spike went downstairs to answer the door and Twilight decided to follow him. When they got downstairs Spike opened the door with Twilight behind him

“Hey Spike and Twilight, how’s it going?” Spike just shrugged

“Oh you know the usual, I’ll just hang out downstairs and make something to eat, maybe read that book you wrote for me all about dragons.” Merry just smiled

“Glad you enjoy it, I wrote down everything I knew about dragons from my world. You guys seem to be similar in workings.” Twilight just cleared her throat.

“Lets head upstairs Merry, I want to talk to you about something.” Merry raised an eyebrow

“Jeez Twi, can’t I speak to Merry for a bit before you drag him up to your room?” Twilight just huffed while Merry laughed. “Well whatever, just try N’ keep it down this time.” Spike walked into the kitchen as Merry tilted his head up in thought.

“Ya know, I always wondered if he could, and now I know.” Twilgitht just faced hoofed with a blush on her face

“Just come upstairs, I have to show you something important.” Merry just shrugged and went upstairs after Twilight up to her study instead of her room.

“Well this is new...”

“Hush, I got a letter from Princess Celestia, I think you should read it.” Twilight hoofed Merry the letter.

‘I guess it’s a good thing I decided to take the time to learn this new language, made my life a bit easier that’s for sure.’ Merry lifted up the letter and began to read it. He lost his smile as he detached the small rock from the letter and looked at it.

“Bounty hunters huh?” Merry sighed “I was hoping it wouldn’t come to something like this, but what can you do. Hopefully this peace can last until I finish Scootaloo’s present for her birthday in 2 months. But I might be asking a bit much.” Twilight just stood upright and placed a hoof on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry, We’ll do our best to keep you a secret. Hopefuly news of you being here hasnt spread around much. And if something does happen, Crush that rock and bring the princesses ASAP! You understand?” Twilight just sighed “I don’t know what I’d do if you got hurt worse then you did with those griffins.” Merry just patted her head.

“I know, but I told you before, I’m only here for Scootaloo's sake now. Once shes old enough I’m going to move on, I kind of want to explore this new world, and I no longer hold thoughts of settling down...after that incident with Fluttershy.” Twilight just sighed with a giggle.

“Yes, but now we know of your magic hands.” Merry just rubbed his temple again

“Yes, I’ve been told that a few times tonight. Apparently Applejack’s in heat or something.” Twilight tilted her head up in thought.

“Ah yes, its about that time again, she’s the calmest of us next to Rarity and I.” Merry just sighed

“Yes, the Cutie mark crusaders are already talking about being sisters after I marry their sisters, even Dinky is in on it.” Twilight just exhaled a breath with a hmm.

“I didnt know the CMC’s knew about polygamy.”

“They didn’t, Applejack mentioned it while we were all eating dinner.” Twilight gasped

“Oh my, she sounds worse then useal. I wonder why that is.” Merry just shrugged

“I have no idea, but its pretty annoying. Anyway, you think you can recast that spell on my iPod before I go again?”

“Yeah sure, I even got a new spell. It should stay charged for about a year and a half now. I found out how to combine the ever last spell, ever long spell, and the maintain spell. Increasing its effectiveness by over 9000 percent!”

“Sounds impressive, I didnt know you could combine spells.” Twilight just grinned at Merry.

“Magic is my specialty, Combining spells is no biggie.” Merry just brought out his iPod and placed it on the desk.

“Heh, sounds awesome if you can do stuff like that, well alright lets see you at work then.” Twilights horn began to glow, but instead of a single layer of purple, 3 layers of purple appeared on her horn, and after about a minute, the glows died down on her horn and the iPod. Twilight took a deep breath and exhaled.

“There, that should, do it.” Merry picked up his iPod and turned it on. He smiled and looked to Twilight.

“Nice, your new spell brought it to a full battery. That’s something new. Hm, I wonder if the battery will drain as the year goes by?” Twilight tilted her head up in thought

“Its possible, this is the 1st time I’ve actually used that spell. And it seems like it was a success already.” Merry just bite his lip and looked at Twilight

“You used an untested spell? Well nothing bad happened so I guess its fine.” Merry just sighed as he put his iPod back into his pocket. “Well I’m off, thanks for the warning and the magic rock. I’ll be sure to use it if things get crazy.” Twilight just watched him go down the stairs and sighed. Merry saw Spike downstairs reading the book he had written out for him, with the help of Twilight.

“Hey, you guys done already?” Merry just laughed

“Yeah all done, she super charged my iPod and told me about the letter Princess Celestia sent me. Apparently a bunch of bounty hunters are looking for me now.” Spike just gasped

“Is that what the letter had in it? Twilight wouldn’t tell me.”

“Huh, maybe I shouldn’t of told you then...” Merry shrugged “Oh well. At least you’re in the loop now.” Spike groaned

“About time if you ask me, she leaves me out of everything, I may be young but I’m still a dragon. I can defend my self.”

“Well, I guess she just worries about you a bit much. She seems like the over protective kind of sister to me. Anyway, I’ll be off I'm watching the CMC at my house while they have a sleep over.” Merry paused for a moment “hey you wanna sleep over as well?” Spike just raised an eyebrow

“I’d love to hang out at a girls slumber party, but being the only guy there that’s around their age, It just doesn’t seem right.” Merry just shrugged

“Alright then your loss kiddo.” Spike just huffed and continued to read his book as Merry went out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Ah still don’t get it. Why doesn’t Merry want to be with somemare? Doesn’t he want a very special somepony?” All the fillies sat in a close circle in the middle of the room, in the center was a plate filled with Carrots and Celery. Next to the plate was a bowl filled with what Merry had dubbed his Homemade Granola mix.

“I don’t know, my dad’s weird like that.” Scootaloo paused for a moment and sighed “Sometimes I feel like he doesn’t sleep at all. I’ll go to bed with the house looking like a mess, and when I wake up its sparkling clean and he’s making breakfast. One time I woke in the middle of the night and I saw him making me lunch for school. But he does sleep sometimes...Or nap I guess.”

“Well maybe he just sleeps when you don’t know it? I know my sister Rarity stays up late to finish things, maybe Merry just does it more often?” Scootaloo just sighed

“You know, for awhile I wondered what having a mom would be like, But Merry seems to fill the role of a mother and father, he does everything for me. I just wanna find some way to help him you know?” Merry had walked in and closed the door behind him announcing his presence.

“I’m back! And I didn’t walk around the town this time.” Merry looked at the food they had in front of them “I see you made your selves at home, that’s good. I’m gonna go relax upstairs, if you need something come get me alright?” Scootaloo and the other’s just nodded with a smile as Merry went upstairs.

Merry walked to his room and closed the door. He brought out the box Pinkie had given him as a house warming gift. Inside was something Merry didn't expect. Somehow she had gotten a picture of all of them together in the library smiling. The caption below the picture was ‘Best friends forever’. And of course it had coupons for free cakes and other baked goods from Sugercube corner. Merry had expected some kind of porno mag, but he was glad she didn’t think of him as a full on pervert.

Merry laid in the bed with the picture in his hands and set his iPod on to play some MGMT - Electric Feel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry spent the next 2 weeks working closely with Hammer to try and get the whole forging thing down. They eventually ran out of steel and had to melt down the already made swords and armor into more raw material to practice with. Merry was astonished that Hammer had the materials needed to smelt down the steel into more raw materials. Hammer simply explained that with the help of gems and unique coal he could melt things down on his own, but on a much smaller scale.

Merry learned that a lot of movies were full of bullshit. Re-forging a broken blade is as easy as one, two, three. Magic or the skill of an Elf smith is not needed. Hammer showed him that you simply needed to flay the broken ends of the metal a bit so they overlap, then just heat both ends till they were a red hot and pound them together. This same process could also be used to add length to a blade.

Hammer had spent all his time teaching Merry how to make Scootaloo’s armor and weapon. Hammer was impressed that Merry seemed to be a quick learner. The only thing’s he needed now was a bit more practice and he would make a capable smith.

“Alright Merry, I think youve practiced enough with Steel, I think its time we moved on to the mithral.”

“You think I’m ready? I don’t feel like I have it down yet.”

“Nonsense, you are already produceing fine blades and armor. With some more practice you will surpass me, you learn fast and you even showed me something new. I never thought of makeing a blade bigger by breaking it and adding more steel to it. And your idea of mixing metals together without actualy mixing them was brillant.”

“Well when Scoots told me about how some pony combined Mithral and adamantine together with magic, I wondered how I could do it without magic. And I just sorta figured it out.”

“Yes well I saw you put it into practice just using steel and I say its brilliant. No one has ever thought to use clay to make a hole through the casting of a blade that you could later pour a different molten metal into and essentially ‘layer’ it.” Merry just laughed

“Its not that smart, I was just trying to figure out a way to get a blade with a mithral core and yet retain the strength of adamantine, it would make a fine weapon for a Pegasus wouldn’t it? The lightness of mithral yet the cutting edge of adamantine...”

“You really do care for her don’t you Merry? Already planning for her future as a crusader knight.” Merry sighed

“What can I say, it started off as just a nice gesture, but now...Now its something more, I think of her as my little girl man. What can I do? But support and love her the way she deserves. Even if she gives up on wanting to be a knight, I’ll find more ways to support what she wants.” Hammer just sighed

“Aye I know that feeling, My little girl works in Cloudsdale right now at the weather factory. Heh, she wanted to be a guard pony so she could wear the armor and weapons I made, but I talked her out of it.” Merry and Hammer just laughed

“Well let me go get the mithral ore, we have to melt it down and prep it, it should take a few days until we can start to work on shaping it. So that gives you time to go figure out the size of her chest and where we need to make room for her wings as well.”

“Well how do I go about that?” Hammer thought for a moment.

“Just bring her by the shop and we can get that all figured out no problem.” Merry just sighed.

“Well I guess the surprise part was already gone when she told me what she wanted eh?” Merry just laughed with hammer again. “I’ll see if I can bring her by tomorrow, it’s the weekend after all.” Hammer nodded

“Good, well lets get to work shall we? There’s a few things I have to point out that make mithral slightly different than plain Steel, but its worked the same for the most part.”

Merry and Hammer worked late into the night smelting the ore into mithral rods and sheets.