
Thorn of the Rose
A foal is adopted by an unlikely mother: now, a flesh-and-blood pony must learn to survive in a Clockwork World.
She was once known as Princess Celestia; now, all call her Hecate, Empress of Clockwork World. Her machines soldier endlessly on, rebuilding a mechanical world for her subjects of steel.
But when a young pony colt is brought to her, to be taken in and hidden from the rest of the world, she finds herself struggling between ancient maternal instincts... and bitter memories of what happened to the last child she dared to care for.
Fourth story in the Songs of Lost Children series.



65334 words: Estimated about 5 hours to read
10 Chapters:
- Prologue: Unforeseen Complications 2014-11-07 13:38:32 UTC673
- The Rapture of Decretum 2014-11-07 13:39:27 UTC6431
- User-Unfriendly Interfaces 2014-11-08 17:23:29 UTC7290
- Bring Your Colt To Work Day 2014-11-09 18:42:38 UTC7364
- The Colt Who Tried 2014-11-10 17:27:07 UTC9757
- The Mechanics of Motherhood 2014-11-11 17:06:24 UTC7704
- Hardware Failure 2014-11-12 18:36:43 UTC9431
- Immaterial Things 2014-11-13 18:41:25 UTC8003
- Reprogramming 2014-11-14 21:39:22 UTC7990
- Epilogue: Orphaned, But Not Alone 2014-11-14 21:40:20 UTC691