Mom,

I know it’s kind of early, but I’m about to head out on a job that’s going to take a while. I don’t know if I’ll get back in time for you to receive this when you should, so, yeah, that’s why I’m sending this out when I am. Yes, I know what day is coming up next Sunday, and I’ll bring your present with me when I stop by.

Take care, see you next Sunday

-Gearing

Gearing’s mother carefully folds up the letter and replaces it back into it’s envelope before she sets it on their small kitchen table. She may be a full grown mare, and a mother at that, but she can’t help but feel foalishly giddy at the thought of it. He’s been so busy, and practically a ghost lately. Nearly impossible to get a hold of even.

But her little buck is coming home. Today. Just to see her.

Knowing he hasn’t forgotten her has helped ease the pain of him abandoning the nest so quickly. Eased it, but not erased it entirely. Why he’d want to jump into the workforce so quickly is beyond her. But, she’s come to terms with it. It was an opportunity he just couldn’t miss.

And then there’s the grudgingly acknowledged reality that big companies like that don’t knock with opportunity on just anypony’s door. And a second knock is unheard of. They won’t waste their time on those who don’t act the first time.

She sits at their humble kitchen table for a bit, with a smile on her face, as she fidgets with the envelope on the table by turning it this way and that with one of her crystalline wingtips. He didn’t say when he’d be here, and it’s already mid day. But, that’s normal. She didn’t expect him to show up at dawn’s early light.

Although she was certainly hoping that to be the case so they could have the entire day to be together.

Her eyes get directed to the window nearby, as she watches the clear skies through the gap of their cloud home, and the wild clouds beyond going about their own business of being adorable fluffy cotton balls. Her mind wanders around, like the clouds, aimlessly, as she tries to figure out what she should be doing at the moment.

Other mothers in her situation would probably be baking and cooking up a storm. To have a huge table of sweets and food ready for when he gets home. If nothing else to help pass the time. But the appreciation such work would bring also brings out a bit of happiness. There’s just one problem with that…

Gearing’s pragmatic shiny ass doesn’t eat. At all, and would ask why we’re wasting things. She thinks with a frown as she stares out at nothing in particular.

She gets up and starts walking circles around the table as her mind hops from one mental thought cloud to the next as she’s trying to brainstorm out an idea. It’s a good thing their floor is solid cloud, as well, otherwise her metallic hooves would quickly wear a hole in any other material. She needs something to pass the time until he gets here, and she just doesn’t have the heart to pull out any actual work. There’s plenty of fabric to work on, and commissions to finish.

But this is supposed to be her day, Gearing said so, Gearing’s planned on it, he’s actually taking off to be here. So she’s not going to throw dirt in the face of his intentions by doing something like that.

Besides, she wouldn’t be able to focus on it with the knowledge he could be trotting through the front door at any moment.

She slowly trails her focus around the room, until her eyes settle on a picture frame hanging on the wall near the cabinets where she stores her craft supplies. Ever so slowly a warm smile forms across her glistening silver muzzle. She walks over to the picture frame and gently rubs a hoof over the glass as she drinks in the sight and it triggers a swarm of memories for her. She tilts her head, and rests her cheek on one of her hoofs as she mindlessly plays with her golden mane with one of her silvery yellow wingtips.

She mutters along quietly to herself as she reads the document that started this entire whirlwind for her, “Dear Mister Gearing Green Wing… It is our pleasure to inform you that your application to Stable-Tec University has been approved for the upcoming semester…” She lets out a sigh of contentment as she remembers when the packet came with the letter in it. She’d thought he was simply making things up to try and get out of trouble for going off to do whatever it is young foalish bucks do these days in the middle of the night.

But, no, the entire thing was pretty clear. And then there was the hurricane of activity afterwards and, just like any powerful storm, their lives have never been the same since then.

Not in a bad way. Not necessarily. But still irrevocably changed nonetheless.

She’s proud of him. Truly. He’d always been bookish and smart. But now he’s practically being treated as the next Twilight Sparkle of technology. She’s well known for her prodigal knowledge and talents with magic. And, apparently, he’s being recognized as a prodigy for technology. Being able to learn and master nearly any mechanical device and repair it in short order, with little to no exposure to the item previously. They’ve been throwing him at one task after another, traveling all over to learn more and, apparently, try to find his limits.

Only to fail at that task, or, and she can’t help but hope as a mother, only to find that he has no limits in that regard.

That’s the route she chooses to take. And the stance she has. But, then again, she’s his mother, and she knows that comes with at least a bit of bias.

But it’s so hard not to be proud and so excited for him, when he’s getting so many opportunities. So far she’s heard of him working not only for Stable-Tec, but several government agencies as well. Ministries included.

And it was hardly a surprise to her when the Ministry of Technology was brought up, given his talents, and the ministry mare’s familial ties with Stable-Tec.

It has left her a bit adrift though. With her son stampeding across Equestria fixing one thing or another, and learning how to tackle the next problem. She doesn’t have to worry about his diet or exercise, like other parents might, but she can’t help worrying if he’s getting enough sleep. He hasn’t learned that part yet, she’s sure, especially with his tendency to throw himself at everything he tries. Completely.

She mindlessly turns and walks away from the picture frame as she heads over to another room. Moving entirely on autopilot as her mind plays one picture after another before her mind’s eye. She pauses, right at the threshold of where he had his little workshop and room, and takes in the sights.

She’d left his room just the way he’d left it. Nothing’s been moved. So, if he ever wants to come back, he knows he’s welcome. And there’s plenty of room for him. A model hanging from the ceiling catches her eye and draws a smile from her lips as she quickly places it.

It was some kind of gadget that Gearing had been wanting to work on. A model of a water turbine. But this one isn’t designed for water. It’s designed for air and clouds. And it’s a scale model of an electrical generator. Made from scrap parts and trash that he’d got from some junkyard. It’s not very powerful, and has no real applications for a variety of reasons. But she can clearly remember his beaming smile when he showed her. How he could get it to turn by blowing on it. And, once they went outside, he held it up proudly as the blades inside spun and, after a little while, the small light bulb next to it began to glow. It was a weak light. That much even he admitted. But it was a start.

But neither of them could have figured out the start of what. Nor how far it would take them.

From each other.

She turns around and opens up a cabinet door under where she normally keeps her crafting supplies, and quickly pulls out a thick photo album.

Right on the cover is a delicately embroidered picture of a golden gear with a pair of green wings daintily fluttering up and at an angle from it.

She opens it and, right there dead center, is the earliest picture she’d managed of Gearing. His oversized brassy head, and ridiculously large brushed copper eyes, looking up at her with a smile that just melted her heart. She’d managed to catch a picture just in time to catch him trying to flutter his wings. At the time they were so small and fragile looking, that it appeared someone had made fake wings of some yellowish fabric, and then they went crazy with green and blue sequins all over it. His wings have always been of the glittery variety. He’s always shined, from the very first day of his birth.

She turns the page and sees a picture of her holding her precious infantile Gearing in her forehooves as she nuzzles him and holds him to her chest. He still has that massive smile on his face, and nuzzles her back enthusiastically. Though, now she can’t remember who took the picture. Maybe it was one of the nurses from the hospital. Or a friend. She doesn’t recall. All she remembers, is like this picture. Because in this moment, the rest of the world simply didn’t matter. She had her little buck in her limbs, and that’s all that mattered.

All she ever wanted was to be a mother. Others couldn’t understand. They probably never would. Lives aren’t based on such a ‘small’ part of their life. But, given how she’d been so thoroughly denied such a thing. A thing that others take for granted. It meant a lot to her. She turns her head and lifts her wing, looking at her cutie mark and smiling even more as she sees the mark on her rear that almost carbon copies the scene of her holding Gearing in this photo. As corny and cliché as it sounds, she didn’t truly feel like a complete pony until she had Gearing. Like she wasn’t truly a mare. That the curse had robbed her of even the most basic fundamentals of equinity.

Gearing gave it all back to her, in spades, by simply existing. And, as such, he’ll always be her greatest treasure.

She trails her eyes up and to the window after going through several more pictures and trailing down memory lane. It doesn’t happen often, not for a clockwork, but she’s blissfully lost track of time. And it’s getting quite dark outside. By this point it’s Luna’s time, and Celestia has already bedded down. As with the majority of the rest of Equestria.

But she frowns as she realizes, losing track of time may have skipped her ahead, but it didn’t do what she truly yearned for.

Her baby buck still hasn’t arrived home.

She goes back to the picture album and continues going through one picture after another. But, unlike before, she doesn’t allow herself to delve in too much. A nagging in the back of her head keeps rearing its ugly head to remind her that he’s still not here. That she’s left here, alone, and her one and only foal is nowhere in sight.

Despite the photo album being almost entirely of Gearing, and Gearing related memorabilia, it’s quite thick, even though it doesn’t cover a large segment of chronology. He’s not exactly a full grown stallion. But, still, there have been many great memories for her to cherish with her little buck.

And one by one, she trots down memory lane as time continues to tick by.

Late in the night she finally closes the book, and stares at the cover, having gone through each and every single photo and scrap in it. Each one conjuring up a memory. Something to hold onto. Something to smile about.

But it still hasn’t conjured up Gearing.

She gets up and quietly turns around as she puts the photo album in its cabinet. She sits there staring at it in it’s cubbyhole before she lets out a biologically unnecessary sigh. She closes the cabinet door as she simultaneously looks over out the window, and sees nothing but the vast darkness of the deep night, with stars twinkling here and there in the vastness beyond. But, as beautiful as that is, it’s not the sight she wants. What she yearns for.

Gearing, still isn’t back.

She walks over to the doorway of his room as she runs things through her mind. He’s been busy. She knows this. He was so busy he’d sent the letter nearly two weeks in advance because he wasn’t sure he’d be back in time for her to get it. Meaning, he wasn’t even sure he’d be able to send a simple letter in those two weeks. She spins around, grabs the letter, envelope and all, and walks into his room as she reads over it again. She holds it up to her nose and takes in a slow steady sniff as she tries to find some trace of her little buck.

She lets out a soft click as her shoulders sag and she stares at the letter. A few more follow shortly after before she says quietly, “He’s… not coming…” She snorts a few times softly, with interrupting ticks and clicks as she trails her drooping eyes over to his bed. It’s still there. Unused. And abandoned.

Like her.

She walks over to the bed slowly, holding the letter to herself, and climbs up into the small bed built and designed for her little buck in mind. She curls up on the bed, on her side, and holds the letter to her chest as she curls up on the cloud bed and ticks and clicks a few times. “He’s… he’s not coming… is he?” She holds the paper up to her face, and presses it over her muzzle, smashing it into her face, as she ticks and clicks and tries in vain to keep her disappointment and emotions in check.

* * *

A vertibuck zips across the night sky over Equestria, tunneling through the cloud layer and staying hidden within it, as the pilots fly as quickly as they can to their destination.

“Gearing, we should really be stopping by the green ward, not flying off to the middle of nowhere!” Jitterbug yells over her headset to the passengers in the transport section of the craft.

“I’ll be fine! I don’t have time for this shit!” Gearing bellows as he grabs hold of a set of brackets with his forehooves and buries his face in the bulkhead.

“But-“ Jitterbug’s voice replies, but gets cut off by Gearing’s pained scream.

“It’s my fucking choice! So just get there!” He looks over at Cross and asks, “Right?!”

Cross nods as she looks him over and sighs. “Yeah, Nitro… it’s your call… I promised I’d help get you there.”

Gearing nods his head and bangs it on the bulkhead a few more times. “Good! Now hurry up and get that fucking thing out of me!”

Cross steps closer as her horn glows and a couple medical tools float in between them. “Gearing, really, I’m not that good at this kind of thing. We’d be better off with an actual surgical pony taking a look at-“

“Get it the fuck out!” Gearing bellows.

“Well what the fuck do you want me to do?! This is going to hurt!” Cross spits back as she stares at his back near where his wings connect to his sides. And, more specifically, where it looks like several gears have been fused together.

“It already hurts! Just break the one off, and shove some potions down my throat, that’ll do me good enough for now.”

“Whoa! You want me to what?!” Cross asks as she actually takes a step back from him.

Gearing waves at his back with a forehoof. “I’ll heal it back. But if she sees this, I’m going to have a sibling because she’s going to have a fucking cow! So just do it!” He looks at Cross over his shoulder as he asks through pants, “Please, Cross… I can’t let her see this…”

Cross nods as she glances over at the maintenance stowage compartment and quickly opens it up. Several tools float out and she looks them over as she asks, “Just as quick as possible, right?”

“Yeah…” Gearing grunts as he turns sideways. “Faster is better… like ripping off a bandaid.”

“Okay, here goes,” Cross says with a wince of her own as she places the tip of a screwdriver at the offending fused point and readies a mini sledge hammer.

Gearing tenses up and holds onto the rails of the bulkhead as he closes his eyes and growls through his gritted teeth, “Fucking enchanted bullets…”

The sledge swings down and the clank of the metal snapping away is quickly drowned out by the shrill cry that escapes Gearing’s lips as a part of his anatomy is violently broken off from himself.

“Touch down in two,” Jitterbug announces dryly through the overhead.

Cross bends over and uses her horn to start administering direct magical healing aid to his wound, that’s now freely seeping that strange oily lubricant substance that she’s been made aware is, for all intents and purposes, Gearing’s blood. At the same time she floats potion after potion from both her satchel and the emergency medical kit inside of the vertibuck and starts pouring them down Gearing’s throat.

“At target location,” Jitterbug announces as the door opens to the outside.

Cross quickly casts a spell on herself, making her hooves tingle, before she jumps out of the vertibuck, and starts walking on the cloud’s surface.

Gearing climbs out, and starts walking away, as the vertibuck hovers there.

Jitterbug announces through the loudspeaker, “Cross, what are you doing? We gotta go?”

“Go ahead and hide in the next cloud over, I’m going to help him get there. I’ll teleport back and call for you when I’m ready for pickup.”

“You’re the boss,” Jitterbug replies as the vertibuck turns and quickly disappears into another cloud bank not far away.

Gearing limps towards the house in the distance as he asks, “Why’d you stick behind?”

“I got to make sure you’re patched up completely before you get to the door,” Cross answers as she continuously passes him one potion after another.

“Fair,” Gearing mutters as he keeps sucking down one potion after another. The cost of this is ridiculous. He really needs a dedicated autodoc at minimum. But they’re out of options. And he’s out of time.

As he’s healing he starts running, and she keeps up with him, until they get close to his house. He turns around and looks at her as he asks, “How do I look?” He spins around in a circle, and starts manipulating his wings around so she can see clearly.

“Like you’ve just had a nice long bath, and not like you’ve been fighting for your life for the past week,” Cross says with a smirk.

Gearing nods as he smiles back. “Good, that was the plan!” He turns and starts walking away as he says, “I got a day pass, right?”

“Two, Gearing. You get two…” She smirks as she says, “After what we’ve just got out of, I don’t want to see you back on post for at least twenty-four hours, understood?”

Gearing spins and gives her a quick salute before he says quietly, “Yes, ma’am!” Then he hops in the air and quickly flies the rest of the way to the house.

He lets out a groan as he sees most of the lights have already been turned off, and as he walks in, he sees the time on the clock reading close to midnight.

He walks through the house, listening carefully, as he calls out softly, “Mom? You home? Hey, Mooooom?”

“G-Gearing?” a startled voice calls from the next room over.

He quickly zips over, flying over the furniture, and hops through the door to see where the voice came from.

In bed, in his bed, he finds his mother curled up, with a piece of paper held tightly to her chest. She blinks at him a few times before she asks quietly, “Am… am I dreaming?”

Gearing trots towards her as he rubs a hoof through his mane. “Sorry, Mom. I kinda got held up… pinned down even… Was a real hot mess, I’ll tell ya.” He gives her a wide smile as he says, “But, I made it!” He looks over at the clock next to his bed and gives her a sheepish smile as his ears droop. “T-technically… right?”

“My little buck’s home?” she asks with a click catching at the end of her question.

Gearing walks closer to her, taking in the sight as he nods. “Yeah, Mom, I’m home.” He rears up and puts his forehooves on the cloud bed as he says, “Sorry I’m late… and… I know I said I’d bring a gift, but, you’re so hard to shop for I could only really think of one thing that you’d like…”

She pushes herself up a bit as she looks him over, and watches as he slowly climbs up into bed with her. “W-what’s that, Gearing?”

Gearing looks her in the eyes, and his crooked smile glints at her as he says, “Well… ummm…” They stare at each other for a few moments, before he climbs the rest of the way into bed with her, and snuggles in under her foreleg.

Instantly she wraps him up with her forelegs and wings, curving her head around to even smother him with her neck as she practically squeals, “My little buck’s home!” They nuzzle each other tenderly for a few moments before she ticks and clicks, “Thank you, Gearing…. This is the greatest gift you could have given me. It’s all I’ve wanted all day!”

“So… you don’t think it’s too cheesy?” Gearing asks with a smirk as he tries not to pay attention too much to how she’s scooping him into a very foalish position.

“Mmm mmm… nope!” She leans down and kisses his cheek repeatedly before she rests her head on his and says quietly, “Exactly what I wanted.”

Gearing smiles as he nuzzles her. “Well…. You always said I was your greatest treasure… so… I just thought- URK!” He gets cut off as she squeals with joy and pulls him into her embrace even more.

“MmmHMM! And don’t you ever forget it!” She nuzzles him a few more times as she says, “My baby buck’s home.”

“Awww, Mom…. You’re always so embarrassing…” Gearing objects, weakly, but, at the same time, actually snuggles into her more.

“How long do I get to keep you?” she asks with more than a hint of disappointment in her voice.

“Oh I got-“ Gearing starts, then his eyes go wide as he sees a bit of a glow in the window of his bedroom behind his mother.

Cross smiles at him from outside through the window, then holds up her empty bag of medical supplies, and on the side it has ‘Two days’ emblazoned with glowing letters across its surface.

“A couple days… Two days… at least,” Gearing finishes. “Apparently I’ve earned it.”

Cross nods at him and smiles through the window, before turning and taking off. A moment later there’s a soft wumph with a faint increase of light as she teleports away.

“What was that?” his mother asks as she turns her head towards the window.

“I said I have two days to spend at home before I’m expected back.”

She squeals with joy as she rolls side to side with him in her forelegs. “Ouuu! Best Mother’s Day, ever!”

Gearing gently pats her shoulder as he nuzzles into her neck. “Happy Mother’s Day, Mom.”

Footnote: For all of the mother’s out there, biological, adoptive, and even those that are simply filling the role for those without: thank you for who you are and all you do.

Happy Mother’s day everyone.

Author's Note

For all of the mother’s out there, biological, adoptive, and even those that are simply filling the role for those without: thank you for who you are and all you do.

Happy Mother’s day everyone.