Mecana and her family were known for their skill at being blacksmiths. To take metal and shape it into a variety of tools, parts and decorations. It was the pride of the Ironhooves family to have kept their reputation as the most reliable and largest blacksmith operation in Canterlot. However Mecana's personal pride wasn't just in her family's traditional skills but in her hobby as well. She liked to tinker with all sorts of devices. If it was mechanical she wanted to know what made it work and how to take it apart and put it together again. This even lead her to help not just create a few mechanical devices of her own but improve or strengthen any she'd come across before. Unfortunately Earth Pony hooves and teeth were not always the most adequate when it came to careful assembly.
Mecana had been working on a sewing machine for her friend Rarity for some time now after she'd finish work for the day. Coming home she'd use some of her free time to assemble the larger and more powerful machine for Rarity to be able to sew through stronger fabrics than what her current machine allowed for. Rarity had even gone as far as to pay Mecana in advance for the parts and the labor. Despite giving her friend a discount on her normal rate the fact she put so much faith in her skills made her want to not only build the machine perfectly but get it done as soon as possible. However now that she had all of the parts created putting them together was proving to be a challenge. One that would had been easier if she hadn't left her tools back in her office on her desk at the forge.
"This is hopeless." Mecana said with a sigh as she put down the metal bar she'd been holding between her hooves. There were so many intricate parts that had to be assembled just right that there was no way she could do this without some tools to handle them carefully for her. She had tweezers, grips and other tools meant to allow her to work with fine and small items. Without them she'd never be able to finish. Looking down at the sheet of paper she was using to guide her along on putting the sewing machine together she resigned herself to her only option. "Guess I can't stay indoors like I wanted to tonight. Better get back to the office before it gets too late."
Getting her saddle bag on Mecana stepped outside her home and locked the door behind her. She could have waited for the train but Mecana wanted to get this over with as fast as possible and it was a nice night for a walk. Trotting at a quick pace it wasn't long until she made her way out of town and down the road to where she could see the forge in the distance where her and many other ponies worked every day. There were two large doors at the front to allow carts to carry in raw materials and remove large collections of the products they made. Thankfully she wouldn't have to bother with the great big metal doors as she went around the side of the building and used an employee entrance to get in.
Even with the forge closed the inside of the building was still warm from the heat of the chemicals they used to melt the raw materials and furnaces that were lit previously in the day. Thankfully Mecana was more than used to the heat so it didn't bother her in the slightest as she climbed the metal stairs that lead to a catwalk to take her to her office. The only thing that did bother her was how quiet the forge was at night. Without all the workers moving around metal and machinery the large chamber was eerily silent aside from the very light tapping of her hooves as she walked. Getting to her office Mecana unlocked the door and proceeded inside to find her tools still on her desk.
"There you are my pretty little assistants." Mecana said happily as she collected her personal tools into her saddle bag. She usually kept them here when she had to work on a private commission and it wasn't often she took her work home with her like she did tonight. After all it would be even worse forgetting them at home and having to leave on the clock to collect them again. As Mecana put her tools away safely she started to notice that the forge wasn't as quiet as she originally suspected. Somewhere there was a sound echoing in the distance.
Slowly sticking her head out the door of her office Mecana could hear what sounded like crunching. As if someone was grinding something to pieces somewhere in the forge. She didn't know what it could be but she also knew she couldn't leave it alone. If something was breaking or falling apart it was her responsibility to keep things safe. Worse yet if some sort of burglar had broken into their work while everyone was away she had to stop them or risk losing some of their precious resources. Not that she was eager to confront a robber. Even if she was a bigger and stronger pony than most mares her age she didn't like the idea of having to fight.
Looking around the room for something to protect herself with Mecana was only able to find a tiny hammer she used for setting small gem stones into decorative pieces she built. Deciding it was better than nothing Mecana took the tiny hammer into her teeth and proceeded along the catwalk and down the stairs to the main floor of the forge. Walking deeper into the building she could hear the crunching even more clearly now. It was in random intervals and sounded like someone must have been making the noise instead of something like a broken machine. Proceeding slowly Mecana got closer to where they stored many of their supplies. Notably the gem stones and raw metals they used in some of their more expensive or fancy creations.
"Trying to steal our gems, are you?" Mecana whispered to herself around the small hammer in her teeth. "Not if I have anything to say about it." Walking along slowly Mecana could hear the noise getting louder and was looking to sneak up on the would be thief. But suddenly the crunching stopped short and the sound of Mecana's hoof hitting the concrete floor echoed through the building just loud enough to be heard in the silence. She stood completely still and listened but there were no more sounds. The crunching noises had ceased.
"Ah ha!" Mecana shouted as she rounded a corner to where the bins of gems were kept. But when she got there no one was around. Searching the area Mecana wasn't able to spot anyone, taking the hammer out of her mouth and into her hoof, she put it in her saddle bag and kept an eye out in the dim light of the building. "Where are you hiding you dirty rotten thief?" She took a few more steps and stopped when she heard another noise. It sounded like something scurrying along the floor on sharp nails, like a dog running quickly on all fours against a stone street. Whipping herself around she ran back and tried looking behind the storage bins that held various metals where she'd heard the sound but it went quiet again.
All of the bins were open at the top, making it easy to see what was inside and grab out if you desired. Thankfully that meant it would have been hard for her thief to hide inside any one of them. Which left her to searching around the bins to see if they were keeping their head down and out of her sight. She'd take a few steps forward and stop whenever she heard the noise of the scurrying nails again. She didn't know what that meant but something was clearly in her forge and she wanted it out. Deciding whoever the thief was was only moving when she did, Mecana walked in place to make the sounds of her hoof steps echo like she was moving forward. Instead she stayed in place until she saw something run past her on the opposite side of the bins. "Gotcha!"
Running herself now Mecana rounded the corner of the bin she'd been standing near and gave chase to the thief. It moved surprisingly fast and was hard to make out in the dim light. Though after a while it took a sharp turn again and disappeared around another bin. When Mecana stopped to look around that corner she saw that the figure was gone again, hiding out. "Darn it! Where'd you go you little-" Her words were cut short as the sound of something behind her scurrying along and then slamming into something else surprised her. She turned around to hear a voice shout in surprise. "Got you now!"
Moving the opposite direction of where she'd came from Mecana found a metal grate laying on the floor. Confused she looked up to see something sticking out of one of the many air vents they used to let out the air pressure of the forge when it was in use. There were two feet and a tail dangling from the opening of the vent and Mecana's first thought was whoever this pony was he had an odd looking butt. As she looked down the wall directly underneath the thief she saw claw marks on the stone as if he'd used something sharp to climb up to the vent and get himself stuck there. The thief had been kicking his legs to try and pull himself into the vent but when it was obvious that wasn't working he eventually just stopped and let his legs dangle. "Say uh... do you think you could help me?" A voice came from the vents.
"Help you!?" Mecana asked offended. "What are you even doing inside of here!?"
"Look I'm sorry, I didn't think anyone was here this late at night. But I'm kind of stuck right now and if you could pull on my tail that would be great."
"But if I did that then you wouldn't be here when I go to get the city guards to arrest you." Mecana said, feeling pretty proud of herself for catching the thief all on her own.
"Wait! Please, I wasn't stealing anything! I swear!" The voice cried out in panic.
"Oh yeah? So you were just hanging out by our bins full of gem stones for the fun of it?"
"Well... no, I wasn't. But I wasn't stealing your gems! I was just hungry." The voice explained which confused Mecana even more.
"Hungry? So you were going to sell them to eat?"
"Not exactly... I think it'll make more sense if you can get me out of here." The voice said and Mecana thought about it for a while before making her decision.
"Alright... but if you try to run I'll clobber you with my hammer! Understand?" The voice in the vents agreed that it wouldn't try to run and Mecana agreed to help. Propping up on her back legs she grabbed the thief by the tail with her teeth and pulled with all of her might. Eventually with enough tugging she was able to dislodge the figure from the vent and sent them both toppling onto the ground. When Mecana righted herself onto her hooves again she saw two green eyes looking up at her. "What the... you're a dragon!"
"Uh... yeah. Yeah I am." The little red dragon with the black fin on his head and spikes on his back said with an embarrassed smile. "Sorry about this."
Several apologies and a long walk later Mecana and the thief that had her running around her forge in the middle of the night found themselves inside a late night hay burger restaurant. Mecana had worked up an appetite chasing the little dragon down and she was starving for something to eat. Despite their odd meeting Mecana decided to buy some food for the dragon as well, though honestly he looked like he'd had plenty. As far as she could tell the dragon was about the same size and height as Princess Twilight Sparkle's dragon assistant Spike, maybe they were even the same age. But the little red dragon had some more weight on him compared to Spike. His stomach and face more chubby than any dragon she'd seen in the past. The little dragon was happily eating up his hay burger with extra toppings as Mecana slowly ate hers and kept an eye on him.
"So I think you owe me an explanation now that we've had a chance to settle down and talk." Mecana said setting her food down. "Why were you in my forge again?"
"Oh. Yeah, that." The dragon said as if he'd hoped she'd have forgotten about it. "Well you see I was kind of... living there."
"Living there?" Mecana asked amazed. "How could you be living there?"
"It was pretty easy actually." The little dragon explained sounding almost proud of himself. "I found a spot behind the empty bins you guys don't use to hide out during the day. Then when everyone goes home at night I'd come out."
"To eat our gem stones?" Mecana asked accusingly.
"Well... yeah, I kinda was doing that." The red dragon said sounding ashamed. "I was just so hungry. And your forge is so warm and safe, it felt great in there. I figured as long as no one got hurt you wouldn't miss a few gems here and there."
"So in the end you were stealing from us." Mecana said sounding annoyed. "I probably should have turned you over to the royal guards anyway."
"I tried to earn it!" The dragon exclaimed. "I mean when no one was around I'd sweep up the floors and sort through the bins any time you guys mixed up gems and rocks and things like that. Plus it gave me something to do so I wasn't bored all night. You need different magazines in your lunch room by the way. I've read them all at least twice."
"You're not supposed to be in the lunch room in the first place!" Mecana said sounding agitated. "Argh. Forget it, whatever. Just... look I can't have you eating our supplies. Even if you've been acting as our secret janitor." She couldn't believe she hadn't noticed all of this. Somehow this little pudgy dragon had managed to hide away from them all. Who knew how long he'd been doing it.
"I understand." The little dragon said sounding disappointed. "I know what I did was wrong and I'm sorry. I don't really have any way to repay my debt."
"It's fine. Just don't do it anymore okay?" Mecana said letting out a sigh. "Shouldn't you be home with your parents anyway? Why are you hiding out in a forge in the first place?"
"I don't have a home." The dragon admitted. "I don't know who my parents were either."
"You're an orphan?"
"I guess." The little dragon shrugged. "I kind of remember my mom, but that was a long time ago. For about as long as I can remember I've been on my own. When I got older the other dragons started to treat me like I was a nuisance. No one would share their food or caves with me to stay in. So I came into Equestria because... I guess because I didn't have a choice." He sighed and hopped off the chair he'd been sitting in onto the floor. "Sorry I caused you so much trouble. Thank you for the food and for not telling the guards about me. I don't think I'd like a dungeon, even if it wasn't that different from a cave." With that the little dragon began to walk off, Mecana watching him go out the door.
"Wait a second!" Mecana said as she rushed out the door after the little dragon. "Hold on now! Where do you think you're going?" Looking up at her the dragon shrugged. "You're just going out into the night without a plan."
"I told you I don't have a home." The dragon explained and Mecana shook her head.
"I can't just leave you like this. Alright, listen to me. You can stay at my home tonight."
"What!? But... I can't just impose on you like that!"
"You broke into my forge and were eating my gems, but staying in my home is imposing?" Mecana asked amused at his logic.
"Well that was fine because no one knew I was there!" The dragon said in response and Mecana shook her head.
"That doesn't make it better. Look just come home with me for tonight. In the morning if you don't want to stay you don't have to. But I'm not leaving you out in the cold like this." Mecana explained but the little red dragon still looked hesitant. "Or I can just call the guards right now?"
"Okay okay, I'll stay at your place!" The dragon exclaimed in fright and Mecana smiled happily.
"Glad you see it my way." Mecana said as she began waking home with the little dragon walking beside her.
"Are you sure your husband won't get mad with you bringing home a stranger like this?"
"Oh I'm not married." Mecana answered.
"Oh. Your special somepony then?"
"Don't have one of those either." Mecana answered.
"Really!?" The dragon asked completely surprised.
"Why are you so shocked about that?"
"It's just... I mean..." The dragon looked away embarrassed. "You're just really pretty and nice is all. I figured you must have been with someone."
"Well don't you know how to sweet talk a lady when you want to." Mecana said happily.
"It's true though. You've got that pretty blonde mane and you're in really good shape. Better than most ponies I've seen."
"If you think I'm something I have a friend in Ponyville named Apple Jack that would make your jaw drop." Mecana said amused as she stopped in front of her home. "We're here." Taking out her key Mecana opened the door and let the little dragon inside. He walked in slowly, almost like he was afraid to be in her home. She gave him some time to work his way in and be comfortable, closing the door after it seemed like he wasn't going to run away. "Like it?"
"It's amazing." The little dragon said looking around the living room. "I've never been in a real pony's home before."
"Well make yourself comfortable. I have a couch you can sleep on and there's some food in the fridge. Just don't eat me out of house and home, I have to have breakfast in the morning after all."
"I don't eat that much." The dragon said, crossing his arms over his belly with a scowl. Mecana giggled at him as he tried to make a stern face at her.
"That a fact? Oh I just realized! I never asked you your name."
"My name? Well... the thing is... I don't... I don't have one." Mecana stared at him completely shocked. "If my parents gave me one they weren't around to tell it to me when I grew up."
"You don't have a name? What do you call yourself?"
"Me." The dragon answered.
"Well that won't do. Hmm... well, from the look of you I'd call you... Cheeks!"
"Cheeks?" The dragon asked in confusion. "Why Cheeks?"
"Because you have chubby little dragon cheeks." Mecana said with an amused smile, pressing her front hooves against his face and squishing his cheeks. The little dragon looked bored with the name.
"That's not very manly." He said through his squished face, Mecana pulling her hooves back to herself.
"Well you have a pretty cheeky attitude for someone that breaks into places and eats their gem stones, too." Mecana replied. "So Cheeks it is."
"That's really going to be my name?" The dragon asked.
"Should have picked your own when you had the chance, Cheeks." Mecana said feeling pretty happy with herself in naming him. "I'm going to make some hot cocoa to drink, do you want some?"
"For real!?" The dragon asked excitedly. "Yes please! Thank you so much!"
"Coming up." Mecana said cheerfully as she went into the kitchen and prepared the drinks for the two of them. The little dragon was a bit of a trouble maker but he didn't seem mean or bad. Just down on his luck and trying to get by. Besides it was kind of fun having a little friend around to talk to, he was even cute with those big cheeks of his. After warming up the water and mixing in the chocolate Mecana added some marshmallows to the drink and brought the two cups out on a tray. "Okay, ready for your late night dessert?"
"Oh for sure! It smells great!" The little dragon said, but to Mecana's shock he wasn't sitting on the couch or resting. Instead he was holding one of the many pieces of Rarity's sewing machine in his claws.
"Wait wait wait!" Mecana said as she set the tray down on a near by table and rushed over to him. "What do you think you're doing!?"
"I... I saw you were building this thing here..." Cheeks said pointing to the sewing machine. "I got kind of bored waiting for you to finish so I started putting it together."
"Oh no! No no no! You can't mess with this." Mecana said as she rushed over to the sewing machine to inspect it. "I'm building this for a very important friend of mine! I have to be sure it's-" She stopped though as she looked over the insides of the sewing machine. Glancing at the paper she'd been using as an assembly guide she looked between it and the machine several times. "You've... you've followed the directions perfectly."
"Well yeah. You wrote them down pretty clearly." Cheeks answered.
"I can't believe it. You finished so much of it on your own. You even put the gears and pins in place. How did you do it without any tools?"
"Well it was kind of easy." The dragon answered, holding up one of the gears he was about to place inside with his claws. "I just popped them in where it said to."
"You... you have claws." Mecana said in amazement.
"Yeah, all dragons do." Cheeks answered.
"You have claws!" Mecana said again happily. "Oh my gosh, look at those little clawed fingers! You could put together so many things with those. All without using a single tool. This is amazing!"
"It is?" Cheeks asked confused.
"It is! Cheeks, how would you like to become my personal assistant?"
"What!? But you called me a thief just an hour ago. Now you want me to work for you?"
"Those claws of yours are amazing. Compared to my hooves you can do more precise work on small objects in twice the time it would take me. With you by my side I could finish so many of my side projects that I'd get twice as many done."
"You... you really want to keep me around?" Mecana nodded her head and Cheeks' eyes began to shake with tears.
"Cheeks?"
"You're... you're the first pony, no, the first anyone to say they wanted me around." The little dragon said wiping the tears away from his eyes.
"Aww. Come here little guy." Mecana said and hugged him against her chest, the small dragon using his arms to hug her back. "Life's been pretty rough for you, hasn't it?"
"I guess so." He said against her chest.
"Well things are about to get a lot better. I hope you're ready to work off those gems you got to eat and then some, because I plan to have you help me for a while if it's okay with you."
"It's wonderful!" Cheeks said and hugged her tighter. "But wait... I don't even know your name."
"Oh, silly me. I should have introduced myself. I'm Mecana Ironhooves."
"Mecana, that's a pretty name." The dragon said with a smile. "And I guess I'm Cheeks."
"That's right, Cheeks. My personal assistant from today going forward." Mecana rubbed the top of his head, the little dragon enjoying her touch.
"Say, does that mean I get a paycheck too?" Mecana's hoof stopped rubbing and she looked down at him.
"Cheeky little dragon." She answered. "Your paycheck is free room and board as well as getting free meals. Not to mention me not telling the guards about your previous hiding out in my forge."
"Guess it's a better deal than a dungeon."
"Well a dungeon doesn't have cocoa, even the best ones." Mecana said. "Now drink up, we've got a sewing machine to build together."
