The Grey Path of Arcane Gears

Chapters

Chapter 1: A series of rude awakenings
Chapter 2: An Important Lesson
Chapter 3: Grave Robbing
Chapter 4: Scars Inside and Out
Chapter 5: Love and Hate In Her Majesty’s service
Chapter 6: White Rose
Chapter 7: Equestria’s Thoughtful Reply
Chapter 8: Roses in Bloom
Chapter 9: Wax Wings in the Sunlight
Chapter 10: Spread Thin
Chapter 11: White Ash
Chapter 12: Happily Ever After, and After that

Chapter 1: A series of rude awakenings

Age 13

Arcane’s eyes opened as her hand shot up to cup her mouth and force back a bitter taste. Vertigo and nausea made her world teeter and sway as a familiar nightmare began to fade into the morning haze. Her legs cramped and muscles tugged at their own tendons. Her guts fluttered. Her pupils dilated, flooding her eyes with a blinding light.

She rose slowly and carefully. Both hands held yesterday’s edamame salad down as her limbs jerked painfully. The seven paces from bed to bathroom may as well have been a mile with how small a step she could manage without toppling over into a puke covered mess.

Arcane gripped the edge of her toilet as she stood bent in half. She hovered there waiting for her guts to calm down. Legs twitched randomly yet not quite as rapidly. She just stayed in position and let the aftershocks play themselves out. She closed her eyes and felt out every fiber that made her calves and back. She imagined the microscopic velcro-like strands releasing. Energy pumping into the muscle to release, opening channels.

“Open flow. Breathe. Feel the warmth.”

She muttered a mantra her physical therapist taught her. She repeated it between deep breaths. Heat slowly began to run through the veins and arteries in her limbs. The quivers began to settle as she regained control.

A weary feeling replaced the anxiety and pain just moments before. The aching aftermath was welcome in comparison, oddly relieving. When she felt good enough to stand straight she moved to face her bathroom mirror. A white mare with wavy pink hair gazed back at her. Her blue eyes were sunken and puffy, but she otherwise looked cute. If she could get a good night's rest she would get more attention from stallions and mares. Eh. She preferred insomnia over that.

Arc lacked interest for romance in spite of the chemical and mental assault that was puberty. She was the rare thirteen year old that held no desire to skip ahead five years and be considered an adult. Her body was taking on the demands of a mare and a stallion, yet this was not the worst of it. To Arc, puberty took a back seat to “The Marks”.

They went by several names. Cukze, Cutie, or even the mystical sounding ‘Fate Sign’. Call them what you will, but their significance is always the same. Whatever magic was, it read your story and wanted to give you a little spoiler. Her marks began a year ago as vague blotches along the knuckle-side of her forearm, calves, and thigh. The first four were still little more than light grey blobs that barely contrasted her white fur, but the ones on her hips had spots of purple and orange.

Arc looked down at her wrist and noted how the huff of her pink pajamas was well below her wrist. Her body was growing rapidly and soon her old clothes had to be thrown out. Peeking from the cuff was a shape clear enough to easily make out. With a tug on her sleeve more of her forearm came into view. In light grey fur was the image of eight gears of varied types and sizes assembled into a diamond shaped cluster.

“Okay, that's not a huge surprise.”

She thumbed the waistband of her bottoms to look at her thigh. It was still out of focus yet she could make it out. A hollow gear with sixteen teeth along the inner edge and eight out. Within the hollow gear were two smaller ones. One bore the red-yellow Sun of Dusk, the other was the Purple and white Morning Star. They also happen to be the marks of her nation’s two princesses in line for the throne.

“…Fuck…”

“Maybe I’m going to be a royal mechanic? Do Queens even need one?”

Arc thought out loud as she tended to her hygiene before returning to her room to dress. To her left were bookshelves spanning that entire wall. One section was filled with leather bound tomes written by her mother and her mother’s mentors. Another section contained spy and sci-fi novels with Pegasus Protagonists.

She turned to regard her collection. Among the books were her dad's creations. A miniature grandfather clock, several horizontal Pendulum clocks, some miniature automatons, and even just a few bare gears she helped cast. The centerpiece of her gadgets was her “flashlight”. When she was seven she observed how passing a particular kind of crystal over the other let out a tiny arcane spark. She then crafted a mechanical gyro onto a handle, a series of small rings that rotated around a central point. She put the larger of the two crystals in the center and the smaller one in the center ring. When it turned on, the smaller stone flew around the other in wild random paths. The result was a blinding light that singed her fur. Her father gracefully let her take off school for a month while her fur and hair grew back. In the meantime she tweaked the rotation of the gyro so the energy output went in one direction. She now uses it as a welding torch, but perhaps it could be a saber of some sort if the need arises.

“Royal Mechanic.”, she said with just a little more certainty.

She stepped into the upstairs hallway now fully prepared for another day of school. A white blouse, pleated black skirt past her knees, black female necktie, and leather book bag. Yes, it was a frumpy uniform fitting for the most conservative of private schools, but at least it hid away all her marks from prying eyes. Fate gave her frikkin royal symbols on her hip. Other kids would think she’s a snob or worse.

She let out a tiny sigh as she made her way to the stairs upper landing, the red runner carpet on dark stained wooden floors keeping her hoof-falls silent. Once at the landing she could see out into the living room. It was cozy but the ceiling was tall with a dome made of stained glass. The morning sunlight gave life to the display of crystalline stars in a dark indigo sky.

Near the living room was a curved nook with bookshelves carved onto the thick walls. Her mother labored away at her desk within that nook. Several old books levitated nearby, all bathed in the soft lavender light of mom’s magic. From the starburst shaped mark on mom’s forehead a transparent horn stood proud with etched spirals. Even now Arc wondered how a Unicorn and a Pegasus could give birth to an unremarkable filly like herself. Magic and flight giving birth to ‘mud’.

She made her way downstairs quietly. Arc carefully moved around her fathers favorite ottoman and the carved oak coffee table. Mom remained obliviously at work writing on plant-based vellum pages that would eventually be bound into a future Unicorn’s spellbook. Arc looked on in wonder with a tiny smile on her pink lips. It was both awe and jealousy. How would it be to command magic like that? What sort of respect could she get? Legendary mage? Well… she supposed being the Queen’s grease monkey would have to do, assuming she was right.

She grew close enough to touch her mother’s shoulder when something caught her attention. That ghostly lavender horn danced with some odd distortion. Lines of faded lavender just a shade darker etched themselves around her horn in an ascending spiral, only to fade away and be etched again. They were angular symbols like runes, but unlike any runes Arc had seen before. Their patterns were nothing special and yet wholly strange, like a shape she never considered before seeing it with her own eyes.

There was something about these symbols that bothered her. Imagine glancing at a sentence written on a wall. The moment you read “Ben was Here” your inner voice says the words. It’s almost like the letters themselves force your mind to make that sound. These symbols didn’t force Arc’s mind to make sound, it forced her to envision a pocket of space folding, a three dimensional dimple in space desperate to be filled. She imagined making smaller dimples in space to manipulate an object. Holding a book, turning the page.

“Oh Goddess! Arcane! Arcane, look into my eyes. Honey, can you hear me?”

Arc’s mother was shaking her by the shoulders. Those books were messily sprawled on her desk and that horn was gone. She had no idea if it had been minutes or hours. One moment she was ready to get her mother’s attention and the next the older mare was standing before her.

She looked about in a daze. Her mother’s chair was on it’s back and a knocked over inkwell dripped black onto the wooden floor. It was only then Arc realized how bright everything was. Her eyes were fully dilated and now finally relaxing.

“I’m going to call the Doctor.”

Her mother began to turn before Arc reached out to touch her shoulder.

“No, no mom. I just need to sit down. I wasn’t having an episode, I just saw… something in your horn. It was so strange I couldn’t look away. Dimples in space?. Something more.”

Arc stepped away and fell back into the old overstuffed sofa in her living room, her body oddly drained now. She tilted her head up to shift a sinus pressure into the back of her throat, the space between her eyes throbbed and teetered dangerously close to a migraine.

“Dimples? Gravity wells used to manipulate objects? As in basic telepathy techniques?”

Arc’s mother spoke as she hovered over her foal with concern. Her eyes moved from Arc’s pupils to her limbs, searching for any sort or temor.

“Maybe for you. Most Unicorns use the energy envelope approach these days.”

Mom scoffed as she took a seat, falling heavily backwards next to her daughter. “The Envelope method lacks any strength. Did you know your mom once crushed the tread of a tank? In fact, that’s how I met your d-“

“I’ve heard that one, like, fifteen times. Also, I think you answered the question of why they don’t teach the gravity method.”

Arc Laughed and Mom joined. All sense of worry had left them both at this point, but her Mother remained close. When Arc lifted her head and met the older mare’s eyes she knew a few questions remained.

“Your marks have developed.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yeah! Take a look.”, Arc leaned up in her seat, deflecting the serious tone her mother used. With a tug she exposed her hip and the bicycle shorts under them. The leg of her shorts hid two thirds of the gear symbol, but it was enough to show off the Sunset and Twilight insignias. “Dad’s going to flip when she sees this. Imagine me as the mechanic to royalty!”

Mom didn’t share the same enthusiasm. A moment of silence grew thick between them as Arc’s excited smile melted onto matching concern.

“Dear, those symbols are older than Twilight or Sunset.”

“Well yeah, I read all your books, and some of your competition's.”

“And so you know what they mean, miss smart plot?”

“The Star represents beginnings, the Sunset represents resolutions. They’re also the fundamental forces of fate, the ones that turn the wheels of creation. The grand transitions. Etcetera, etcetera.”

Mom gave a little nod but didn’t respond. The look in her eyes and the silence was her way of encouraging a deeper answer. Arc’s brow furrowed before raising her left eyebrow.

“Mom… no. That’s ridiculous, and it’s actually a little narcissistic. I’m supposed to be some goddess? Alpha and Omega?”

Mom scoffed and gently hit Arc’s shoulder, “No, No. Arcane, remember when you showed me that spark between the stones? The one that led to you inventing your ‘flashlight’? Arcane… crystals don’t make sparks. At least, nobody has ever seen that but you.”

Arc gave a small laugh and shook her head. She looked off to the side at nothing in particular.

“No. Mom, you know what I am. That’s ridiculous.”

Her mother tilted her head curiously.

“And what is that?”

Arc unbuttoned one cuff of her blouse and slid it down along the back of her forearm so the light grey mark could be seen. Her eyes grew that dim white shade. She wasn’t quite on the verge of tears, but the heat behind her eyes began to sting.

“Limb marks, mom. I’m an Earth type. I can’t use magic. I may as well be the most talented armless violin player in all of Equestria.”

“That’s not entirely true. Every pony has some telepathy.”

“Turning a door knob and flipping the page of a book isn’t really that impressive, mom. If I had finger pads instead of these hoof caps then it wouldn’t be necessary.”, showing off the polished and buffed last five centimeters of finger.

“It’s a far cry from ‘bending a tank tread’.”

Arcane tried so hard to sound upbeat, but the longer the subject lingered the more bitter she felt.

Her mother let out a little sigh of frustration. Sometimes her daughter could be so bull-headed. Definitely from her side of the family.

“You saw something just a few minutes ago, didn’t you?”

“Maybe…”

“And what about the beach? You saw something then, too. Sure, you can’t cast magic like your mom, but the level of insight you have can lead to amazing discoveries. Most of what I do is just heavily educated guesswork. I’d arm wrestle a Taurus for that kind of power.

Arcane, imagine what you could contribu-“

The young mare stood up and buttoned her cuff.

“Well, fuck me sideways. Look at the time!”, moving to the door with her best attempt at a forced smile. Remember, it's my turn to make dinner!

“Arcane Gears, we are not done!”

Arcane slipped out of the front door without another word. Her body quivered with rage. The feeling was so ugly, so cold. She didn’t want to think about screaming in her mother’s face but that’s what she wanted to do. The idea of being some Unicorn’s walking dictionary made her feel more like a thing than a living creature.

More importantly, she wanted to feel it all herself. Watching magic was like being able to smell a delicious meal, maybe even help cook it. Then, while your stomach is growling, you’re expected to stand by as someone else eats.

Age 3

She leaned forward on her knees digging into the damp sand, hands scooping large mounds of beach into hills. With smooth tipped fingers she carefully etched the shape into turrets and conical roofs, a courtyard, and arches. After watching sand castle competitions on tv Arcane obsessed with the pastime. Her little finger tips ran over rounded walls carefully adding spaces between bricks, even adding subtle crags with her finer hoof control.

On occasion she focused on the fingertips themselves. Tiny dots of pink light would surface in no more than two columns of three, often a random number of dots missing. When she described it to mom she said that was a language for blind creatures called Braille. She said the language was read by feel. That made a lot of sense because the words weren’t like normal words. Instead of making sounds they made feelings, and not like happy or sad. Actual feelings like ‘hard’ or ‘hot’.

She began to play with the dots and discover more ‘words’. She touched a butter knife and learned the word for ‘edge’. She pushed a door open to learn the word for ‘push’. She accidentally burned her hand on a stove and learned ‘hot, but she wasn’t able to make her hand as hot as the stove without it hurting a whole lot. Earth Pony magic wasn’t like mom’s magic. She could make fire without getting burned, which must be why no other earth pony played with the dots like she did.

She fell back onto her bottom to admire her perfect recreation of Queen Luna’s castle. Never mind it had only two turrets and a large dog house for a dragon on the other side. She believed the Queen of Night would still love it.

From the corner of her eye she could see her mother reading another of her musty books. This one read “The Dangers of Artificial Ascension: A confession from Lady Sunset Shimmer”. She huffed and rolled her eyes.

“I break a vase and get a spanking, she breaks a Castle and gets to be a squire.”, muttering to herself sourly.

Arcane turned her head fully when her mother was eclipsed by a shirtless stallion running past. Her eyes locked on the male and the comet shaped marks over his shoulder blades. Of course she didn’t care for boys, but this one had some weird squiggly lines dancing over his marks. They looked like some kind of cursive, but nothing she had seen before.

She was on her hooves before she knew it. It was those lines. Like the Dots, they made her mind do things she didn’t intend. The Dots made her sense things like the texture of wood or the smell of ripe apples, but these lines made her heart beat faster. Looking into them made her feel a mixture of fear and joy she only felt when going as high as she could on the playground swing.

She took off running in her little pink swimsuit, her bare hooves kicking up sand as she fought to keep up. She imagined the series of dots that felt like “Push” and put it in her feet. Her body shot forward making every stride worth one and a half, but even this allowed her to barely keep up.

“Arcane!”, her mother’s voice was faint but she could hear it. Still, that amazing feeling. It was more than just emotion, it was a clear and casual reaction to everything around her. This stallion ahead of her reacted to bumps and dips along the trail as it came to an incline. Grass was gradually replacing sand.

“Arcane Gears! Stop!”, mother’s voice was right next to her for a few minutes, then faint again. She couldn’t stop herself. She could barely think of stopping or listening. Her entire world was the stallion’s exhilaration and she wanted more.

She didn’t see the end before it was too late. The stallion took a running leap off a high cliff as light burst out of his marks. Two wings of cyan spread out and carried him off into the distance. Arcane, unfortunately, didn’t. She flailed in the air as jagged rocks below grew rapidly close. Her eyes shut tight as she screamed. Arms wrapped around her and she crashed into the… sand?

Her eyes opened and darted around to see the beach again, her mother’s toppled umbrella and towel not far. It was good to have a Unicorn Mother who was an expert with teleportation spells.

Arcane Quill squeezed her foal tight before leaning back and checking little Gears. No scratches, no bruises. Mother let out a heavy sigh and thanked the Goddesses a moment too soon. Her daughter’s blue eyes were huge. Arcane Gears stared up at her mother’s transparent horn with a quiver that grew into spassims.

Jagged lines. A weird writing that danced over mom’s horn. This wasn't a sensation nor an emotion. It filled her little mind with things she couldn’t possibly know yet. Quantum tunneling, passing through empty space only to appear elsewhere. It was logic, knowledge, concrete thought. Inside her young mind neurons fired and rapidly formed the patterns of would-be memories copied down from her mother’s magic, though most of this would blur and twist. Like an overburdened machine something had to give.

Arcane Gears’ eyes rolled back into their sockets as foam filled her mouth and ran down her neck. Everything went black. The last thing she could remember was her mother’s scream.

Chapter 2: An Important Lesson

Age 13

The sound of a motor snapped Arc out of her memory. A black bus with the words “Lady Cadence’ School for Girls” in bold white lettering zoomed into the distance.

“Horse Apples!”

Arc leaned forward and fell into a sprint. If she was lucky she could get to the next stop. The bus was going down a residential street, so perhaps 20 kilometers per hour? Her best speed was 23, which was not impressive for Earth Pony standards.

She was a white blur that whipped past neighbors waving and tending their gardens. Somehow she managed to shout out the occasional polite response to Good Mornings and Hellos.

The black bus was a small dot slowly getting bigger in her vision one moment then pushing ahead the next. Her young calves were already burning and lungs began to sting despite the soft ocean breeze. As she ran, her mind wandered back to that time. It all came back to her in pieces, mostly delivered through the nightmares she suffered from age eleven.

She began to wonder if it were all just a part of her active imagination. Around that age she would have tea parties with ‘Celestia and Luna’. She had a vivid memory of riding on top of an Ursa Major and running through the Everfree Forest on the back of a Timber Wolf. More importantly, the ‘dots’ hadn't worked for her since her seizure. After that terrible day she didn’t see any more weird writing, excluding today.

Arcane brought her index finger up to her eye and gazed into the black surface. She imagined the feel of a hand pressing her back and pushing her on. She imagined the resistance of a coiled spring. A constellation made from four clusters of small pink dots surfaced on the black tip.

.. . . .
. . ..
. .. ..

Push.

She felt a force burst from her hooves. She yelped once as she went flying two meters ahead yet gained her balance with the next. Arcane leaned her body forward and slammed her hoof down on the sidewalk before another push. She could feel the air parting around her muzzle, her wavy hair whipping against her neck and back.

She let up on her strides when the bus was right next to her. Stunned mares looked out the windows, Earth ponies looked at their hands wondering what they could do as well. Arcane’s hooves made a flash of pink as if she were commanding magic, her race’s very own magic.

Arcane found herself in a very uncomfortable situation after catching the bus, even after getting off and making her way across school grounds. Random mares commented on her sprint,slapped her on the back, or touched her shoulders. A handsome earth mare slapped her on the ass and commented.

“See you on the track, Gears”

Most of it was questions. Her nerdy self loved answering questions, just not an onslaught of questions. Practically every Earth mare in her school buzzed around her like a hive. It was enough to make her heart slam inside her ribs from sheer anxiety.

“… no no.. I’m not ‘part unicorn’. It’s really not that special, I guess my hooves flashed because I was forcing the magic? SeaBreeze is still faster than me, I’m absolutely sure.”

“Every pony has magic, it just works with different ‘sense’. Unicorns use a sense of logic. Pegasi use a sense of emotion. Earth ponies use physical senses.”

“… No! RedClay, stop! I already tried fire magic. Our power is purely physical. Don’t try to make lightning… oh hell. Is he breathing? Alright, can you two carry him to the nurse? When he wakes up, tell him I thought that was impressive, but try a safer element next time.”

Her salvation was found down the gravel path between sparse trees and manicured grass. A pair of adult mares walked side by side towards the double doors of her school. Each was dressed similarly, dark pine green suit jackets and sleek dress pants. On their heads were barrets and along their right arms was the white and gold sash of ‘Her Royal Majesty's Royal Defence Force’.

It was odd, but the symbol finely embroidered on the taller mare’s back was unmistakable. A six toothed gear split in half with a sword in the center. Arcane ran up to the intimidating figure and threw arms around her.

“Dad?! What are you doing here?”

The tall mare froze in place as grey eyes turned down with surprise. Once a look of recognition came over her face the tall figure placed a hand on top of Arcane’s head and tousled her pink wavy hair. One arm curled around Arcane’s backside and hoisted her up without effort.

“Dad… I’m a bit old for this.”

Ivar Gears rolled her eyes, “Gremlin, if anyone complains, tell them to grow up.”

“Why are you here? I thought you were retired?”

She gave that a half nod, “Retired from active service, but you never really leave the military. It’s like how you may one day move out, but you’ll still be family. As for what we are doing? Just a little talent scouting with the senior class. Time to replenish the ranks.”

Arcane perked at the mention of talent and began to speak. She didn’t get a word out before the sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted. The distinctly male sound made all three turn to a figure standing before them.

“Am I interrupting something?”

The black stallion had the voice of a smoker, old and gravely despite his apparent youth. What parts of him didn’t have a scar looked no older than early middle age, but the long-healed raw lines across his neck and face made him look ancient.

Dad and the other soldier saluted and stood at attention. He put one one hand in a silent gesture to be at ease.

“I heard you would be here for recruitment, Sergeant Gears. I won’t waste too much of your time, but we need to talk.” He paused to look over at Arcane and back to Dad. “In private.”

Ivar took on a tired and annoyed look before shaking her head.

“Answer is still no. I have a family. Also, the next time you follow me to my daughter’s school to harass me, I’ll punch you in your good eye. Rank be damned, Raven.”

“Sear-“, the black stallion wasn’t pleading. The male looked like he was incapable of begging, but something in his low voice was urgent. “Ivar, The Fireflies found a door.”

The nonsense phrase must have made sense to dad. Her eyes grew wide for a moment before grumbling something to herself.

“I’ll train a team. Good enough for you?”

The Stallion and Dad spoke for a few more minutes about details, all the while using weird phrases like ‘We will need a glass cutter’ and other things that obviously meant something entirely different. This left Arcane just looking on in her dad’s embrace. The black stallion had an eyepatch over his left eye and a scar that traveled from forehead to cheek. That raw skin split apart what must have been a feather-shaped marking on his forehead.

A dizzy feeling came over Arcane as colors all around her became brighter by a degree. It was subtle but everywhere. It was then she saw something so absolutely strange. The Black Stallion’s horn was out, but it was ‘wrong’. It weakly flickered in and out of existence like a projected image, but the projector’s bulb was close to burning out and the lense was filthy.. She looked about and saw Dad’s grey wings and the other mare’s blue wings, but they were pale.

She looked around more as Ivar stopped talking mid sentence.

“Lil Gremlin, what’s the matter?”

Arcane didn’t respond. She kept looking around, her heart starting to beat faster. She could see the words all over now. Runes, swirling text, Braille. It was in the sky and along the trees. Every blade of grass and even the wind. Knowledge, emotions, raw sensations all assaulting her mind without end.

“D.. ddd… a… a…”

She began to jerk and spasm wildly as the world finally began to dim. She was moving, Dad was running.

—

Arcane woke in darkness. The smell of herbs and the light ting of wind chimes immediately letting her know she was in the nurse's office of her school. She should be in a hospital, but here she was.

It took her a moment laying in haze to feel the sleep mask strapped around her head. She called out weakly as her hand rose to take off the mask. Another hand came to rest on her shoulder before she could.

“Keep it on for now, Miss Gears. I’m told you gave your mother and the staff quite a scare.”

“She’s my father.” Arcane corrected.

“Apologies, Miss Gears. My name is Silent Brook. I specialize in helping young mares and stallions with difficult talents. I’m told this isn’t your only episode.”

Arcane’s throat went dry. She hated talking about it. It was bad enough her nightmares gave her unwelcomed flashes of memory. Talking about it just made it worse.

“Once, when I was three. I saw my mom’s teleportation spell. It felt like the worst migraine you could ever have, then next thing I know I’m convulsing all the way to the ER. For the longest I thought it was just a very bad dream, at least I wanted to think that. I didn’t doubt the seizure, it was the rest. That was… too much.”

The older mare nodded. Somehow Arcane could tell. She began to speak and that voice had a gentle smile to it. Odd how sound could be seen if you pay enough attention.

“When I was four my talent appeared. It scared me so much that I couldn’t move a muscle. One morning my mother came into my bedroom after I didn’t come down to breakfast. It was Saturday and she simply thought I was sleeping, so it wasn’t for a couple of hours. When she did, she found me ublinking with every muscle in my body aching to remain still. My clothes were soiled, and even as she tried to comfort me I refused to do a single thing.”

“That’s horrible, but, why couldn’t you move?”

Silent Brook gave a tiny laugh. Arcane could see Silent Brook’s head tilting up towards an open window to feel the sun on her face. Well, not ‘see’ in the literal sense.. She was feeling the motions of this other mare, but how?

“Well, why don’t you tell me, Arcane Gears? But first, take a deep breath and ask yourself what you want to see. It doesn’t have to be the world. Just look for that one answer.”

Arcane slowly sat up to face the other mare. She was sitting in a wooden chair. Dad was just beyond the door pacing nervously. Her wings were out like a frightened mother bird, but those wings were still pale, invisible, and intangible to everyone but her.

“H… how can I see…e…even without my eyes?”

Silent brook gave a smirk and leaned a little closer.

“Because you’re an Earth Pony. Now, don’t take that mask off just yet. Focus on my eyes, let what’s past that door go. Deep, slow breaths.”

She did as she was told. The invisible world she could feel began to grow smaller as she slowly breathed in. Her focus was on her lungs and the current of air filling every space under her ribs. She lost sight of her dad, then the mare in front of her began to fade.

It grew harder as her focus sharpened. The beating of Silent Brook’s heart grew louder in her own ears, but it was slow and calm. She took a moment to focus on this, timing her own heart beat to that controlled rhythm. Eventually her awareness centered on the other mare’s face.

She was barely raising her hands when Silent Brook leaned over and gently took off the mask. Somehow this odd mare knew the moment Arcane was ready to see the world with her own eyes again. Brook’s face was an inch from her own.

Arcane’s face glowed hot pink with a blush as those milky blue orbs made up most of her world. The mare was middle aged but had a youthful round face. The breath brushing Arcane’s cheek was minty, not ‘mouthwash’ minty. Only after all these distractions did she realize those pale eyes were blind.

“Miss Br…”

Arcane was about to bashfully back away as the sparkles in Brook’s eyes caught her attention. There was a pattern there. Small dots in a particular order. It made her feel so strange. If ‘maybe’ had a sensation then this would be it.

“Wait… what?”, Arcane muttered to herself as those irises blurred, doubled. Even small motions began to have hundreds of tiny after images. Arcane leaned back and began to see the world burst into a kaleidoscope. A leaf fell from a potted plant in the corner and Arcane saw hundreds of paths to the ground it would potentially take, and it took all of them at once.

A pair of hands grasped her shoulder.

“Arcane! Focus. Stop trying to be everything, know everything. I know that fear. Be here, just be right here. It’s good enough.”

The images collapsed into a single reality, a single form. Arcane focused on Silent Brook’s unseeing eyes, still quivering.

“Y-you can see paths. Can you see mine?”

Silent Brook formed a sad smile, “I’ve seen a few. What I can’t do is choose one for you.” Brook reached out and touched Arcane’s left cheek. Her fingers lingered as if she was thinking of something to say. With a quiet sigh she stood up and opened the door. The mare stepped aside just in time to dodge a very concerned father rushing in to hug her little pony.

Chapter 3: Grave Robbing

Age 18

The night was just like the last night, just like the night before that, and every single one for the last fourteen years. Silver Badge once had dreams of being a detective or at least a beat cop, but sometimes fate gives you the short straw and plops you right into the grave.

Well, around the graves at least.

Crickets chirped as the gentle spectrum of purples and deep indigo slowly swayed behind a canopy of brilliant stars above his head. The only other sound being the light click of slate under his hooves as he made his way down cobbled pathways between angelic statues, stone stars, and squat name plates all marking the final resting place of those long gone. True, it wasn’t glamorous, but it was pretty darn peaceful once you got used to the creep factor.

With every third or fourth step Silver Badge swayed the torchlight in his hand to run its beam over the headstones. Over the years he grew used to the effect of shadows crawling over tall objects. He knew every statue and grew familiar with the almost-living silhouettes that stretched as the light’s angle shifted. An angel reaching up to the sky could become a shadowy demon about to grab your ankles if you didn’t know any better.

A low wall of marble and silver inlay marked the transition from middle-tier graves to the obscenely rich. These statues carried an absolutely eerie realism down to fur texture and hoof detail. The graves were made of rare crystals and letters made with gold and other precious metals. Further in we’re the mausoleums of very wealthy and very old families such as the oddly named ‘Pudding Head’ clan. The large stone structures housed catacombs of the oldest families known to Equestrian history.

Silver Badge didn’t worry about grave robbers, however. What he couldn’t see, but knew, was the shimmering magenta bubble of magic that those expensive walls gave off. The entire wealthy section had wards that blocked attempts to teleport in. The statues were not just decoration. Once in a while Silver would feel his heart skip a beat as a stray sparkle of magic would make those marble golems shift. Most of the time it was just a turn of the head or the bending of a finger. That didn’t make watching stone come alive any less terrifying.

A very quiet sound made Silver pause mid step. Stone rubbing stone. He turned his flashlight trying to find which of those creepy sentries had come to life and why, but no angel or armored soldier was moving around in blasphemous animation. He couldn’t see, nor would find the figure behind the marble wall carefully dismantling the cemetery’s defenses.

Anyone watching would have seen the most ineffective graffiti artist crouching behind a low marble wall. Hidden in shadow a hooded figure gently stroked her silver stylus against the stone, a clear crystal no bigger than a grain of rice at the tip not even making a scratch.

Through her eyes was a white canvas dancing with odd shapes and colors. Entire sentences written from right to left in runes floated freely until her stylus tip trapped and pulled it closer. With a sweep of her little pen a single rune burst into flecks of starlight as she hastily stroked a new symbol in its place. With every minor edit she could see the bubble of magic quiver and shift from magenta to rose, so dangerously close to a fully active red. Slowly, carefully, she reassigned mastery of this ward from its author to the holder of her tool. Of course she wasn’t stupid enough to write her own name there. Her eyes were gifted, but there were ways for talented mages to do the very same thing.

She stood once the edit was finished. A few rows of headstones ahead she could see the beam of a flashlight. Now or never. She brought the stylus tip to her lips like a tiny microphone.

“Phimao”

She uttered the old word for “to muzzle”. In that instant the bubble shifted to a green hue. Hoping this meant the alarms were silenced she stepped inside.

She let out a sigh as the statues remained still. With another command that was remedied. The dull clink of marble hooves came out of the shadows and stood at attention. Two muscular stallions in Roman armor held a silver gladiolus and shield in their hands.

“Good Goddess, put those down. Do you seriously try to use those on trespassers?”

The statues looked at each other before answering her with shrugs.

“Oookay… put them down. Get the guard, be gentle.”

The metal clang made Silver Badge leap in the direction he just came from, his beam landing on two stone soldiers walking shoulder to shoulder. Behind them was a figure, but her hoodie and the statues in front of her made it impossible to make out. Without warning the statues grasped his wrists and cupped his shoulder. There was no hope in wiggling free, not in a grip of solid stone. As his panic set in he had a mind to shout for help, but nobody would be around in the dead of night.

“Don’t worry. Nobody is going to know this happened. Not even you.”

Her gloved right hand slid out of the pocket of her jumper. The fingerless glove was oddly decorated with delicate lines of gold running up the fingers and below knuckles. Across the back of her hand was something that looked like a compass, but inside was seven concentric hollow gears around a central stone. Each gear had a tiny crystal mounted along their edge. With bends of her fingers and pivots of her wrist the rings turned clockwise and counterclockwise. It looked like planets orbiting a tiny sun, and as every orbit paused a spark traveled from the outer stone to the center. Every spark formed a unique pattern, or glyph.

Just below her knuckles were four oblong stones mounted in gold. The one under her pinkie knuckle began to glow softly at first, but with every completed glyph a sickly green color grew brighter.

Her hand stopped gesturing as she held it up, her eyes locked with the terrified guard. Thumb and index finger pressed, and with a snap of her fingers that green gem burst like a spent fuse. She hissed in the air and cradled her hand. She knew it would hurt but was a little surprised at how much. Still, it worked.

The Guard’s eyes began to glow that sticky green hue, lavender fog swimming in the eerie magic.

“You fell asleep in your break room and had one very weird nightmare. It’s okay, In Two hours you’ll wake up and nobody will be the wiser.”

“Sleep… none the wiser.”

Silver mumbled the words back to her, most of them impossible to make out.

“Okay, boys. Carry him to his office and make sure he’s comfortable. After that, grab your weapons and get back into position.”

The two statues carried the guard off leaving her alone amongst the opulent graves. Still cradling her hand she made her way down cobbled pathways. For ten minutes she took in the silence and did her best not to look past the low walls. Beyond them was a tall and wild tree line, and peering between the trees were glowing eyes. Despite the manicured lawn and architecture she couldn’t forget she was deep into the Everfree. A place so wild no pony or civil creature would dare call it home.

Ten minutes crawled by as flawless new statues transitioned into ones more faded by time and weather. Vines could be seen curling around statues and headstones. The deeper she walked more layers of brown and dead vines could be seen overlapping their more vibrant replacements.

She stopped in a place that looked decrepit yet somehow still regal. Tall statues celebrated heroes that died thousands of years ago, and tallest of all was a cathedral that still glimmered under all the dinge and dirt.

It looked like a small mansion made of stone with two tall steeples and stained glass windows depicting a closed fist clenching a hand scythe. Past the stone double doors was the family resting place of the Pudding Head clan. Despite the silly name, their history was peppered with amazing deeds and betrayals. They saved the world from famine and negotiated a peace between Unicorn and Pegasi. Later, the Unicorn families that caused that war twisted laws and stripped the Earth Clan out of their rights. Things didn’t get any better until Celestia’s father fell sick.

The stone double doors before her were solid marble, but runes along the edges suggested a way to make them open. Unfortunately, she didn’t have time to decode this one.

“Well shit. I was really hoping to avoid this…”

Her hand moved in a series of practiced motions as she sized up the door and estimated the thickness. In the past she saw unicorns that screwed up their calculations and found themselves half way into a wall or, worse yet, the same intended distance directly into the ground.

The second gem slowly began to glow a violet hue with every completed glyph, though this one seemed twice as long as the mind control spell used minutes before. Naturally, this one was far more complex, which made it far more likely to backfire.

She sighed wearily as her hand lifted and hooves began to step toward the solid marble likeness of a door. With a silent prayer to the moons she snapped her fingers. The Violet stone popped with sparks as her body flickered out of existence.

Her stomach lurched as the world flickered in a split second. For that first instant it felt as if her body and the very rotation of the planet had to reacquaint themselves. Even as that adjustment was made a lingering nausea persisted.

The musty stale air served as a decent distraction. She was in a moderately sized room with a giant stone plaque above a downward staircase. She didn’t bother reading the plaque and made her way down a passage that twisted left before finally ending in an underground hallway. The high domed ceiling extended north and south quite a ways, but pale blue illusionary fires in silvery braziers let her see the dead end in the south. North it was.

Her foot clips rang full and hollow on the marble floor, her path lazily zigging and zagging as dim runes appeared in her vision to warn her of traps and alarms. Along the walls were paintings of mares and stallions wearing garb from the 1970’s, puffy Afros and polyester. Minutes down the hallway the styles grew more and more antiquated. The relaxed 60’s. The pragmatic 40’s. The dazzling 20’s. The old-world 00’. Eventually it was puffy collars and knights garb.

She paused for a moment at a wide painting. In the center was a lavender Alicorn dressed in a simple robe and long curly hair decorated with an olive leaf laurel. Behind her was a pristine version of the Everfree when it was known as Canterlot, or should one say ‘Old Canterlot’. It was so beautiful before the land reclaimed what was her’s.

Near the lavender Alicorn was the adolescent form of Queen Celestia herself. On the other side was an Earth Pony wearing golden bracers, the mark of a royal slave. Her eyes were Milky blue with white sightless pupils.

“Silent- no. Ancestor, maybe.”

Arcane shook the notion out of her head. It was a weird coincidence and nothing more. The eerie atmosphere was getting to her.

It was another eight minutes of walking down the dusty hall before the space opened up into a large domed room. Above was a large chandelier with tiny braziers and that ghostly blue light. Looking around, Arcane realized three tall arches led to corridors in every cardinal direction including hers.

“Well, that makes things a little easier.”

The four catacombs of Earth, Unicorn, Pegasus, and Alicorn shared this space as a junction point. Of course they would be right here in the center of it all. Five statues stood in the center, and at each of their backs the sarcophagus holding the represented corpse.

The fur on the back of her neck began to rise as she felt the sensation of eyes. The Statue of Pudding Head had her back to Arcane, but looking past the earth pony statue was the blank marble eyes of Celestia’s father, King Astra. She could swear he was judging her from beyond the grave. He would be right to do so.

“Lord Astra, Lady MorningFall, Chancellors. I’m not sure if you can hear me…”

She made her way closer and gently touched the lid of Pudding Head’s sarcophagus.

“But if you can, then I’m sorry. If this makes me the villain then I’m willing to accept that, but-“

She couldn’t shake the idea they were listening. She could sense something was there, like a sort of conscious magic.

“A few years back one of my dad’s fellow soldiers said the phrase ‘The fireflies have a door’. I didn’t give it much thought for two years. Later, I learned the fireflies were dragons, and the door was a portal like the one locked up in Celestia’s castle. I don’t think I have to tell you more than that. Dragons can barely keep a leader for more than a year without a violent coup. I don’t want to imagine what they would do with access to unlimited alternate realities.

So we tried to destroy it. My dad told me after it all went wrong. The team she trained to secretly steal or sabotage the mirror was caught. It devolved into war, and since then we’ve been at it.

So, I bet you’re wondering what that has to do with a strange earth pony trespassing at your final rest. Well, the dragons are not killing their captors. They send them back with very specific wounds, ones that do more damage than any scar normally should…”

Arcane’s voice became weak as the memory came flooding back. No matter how hard she tried, all those same terrible feelings managed to return as fresh as the day they were made.

Chapter 4: Scars Inside and Out

Two Years Before

Age 16

Arcane busied herself with setting out plates and arranging silverware. Her eyes ran over everything on the long dining room table vigilantly looking for anything that made this experience anything shy of perfect. On the table was a big chocolate cake she iced herself. Taking off the original message was difficult, but well worth it.

Welcome Home, Mom!

Dad came in from the side door which linked the kitchen to the back garden, hands covered in machine grease. Before Arcane could let out a protest, Ivar Gears raised her hands in surrender with her trademark smirk and made for the kitchen sink.

“Gremlin, you know this day was meant for you, right?”

Dad did her best to sound upbeat about this whole thing, but the air was thick with fear and anxiety. Arcane gave a tiny nod, her eyes flicking from the cake to the carrot-cheese cake, to the rosemary seared mushroom steaks. Everything had to be perfect, everything she loves. Everything that meant home.

She jumped when the table was nudged. A plate of cupcakes slid in place but, Thank Celestia, that was the only change. Arcane looked up with wild eyes, the lines under them deeper than ever before.

Ivar didn’t acknowledge her hip bumping into the table’s edge. Her only thought was curling arms around her foal and holding tight. Arcane returned the squeeze but held her tears in. She trembled instead.

“Will you look at that? My little Gremlin has grown up to my collar bone. Are you sure you’re not a Changeling?”

“It’s okay, Dad. My birthday, that is. I couldn’t imagine a better sweet sixteen.”

Ivar tilted her head. “So, not a changeling?”

Arcane gently slapped dad’s shoulder and pulled away. “Ha, if I were a changeling I’d be too busy impersonating the Queen or something. Anyway, what’s mom’s eta?”

“I’ll call the base.”

Ivar turned and walked towards the wide archway that divided the kitchen from the living room. Another heavy thud shook pictures as her shoulder careened hard with the separating wall. In a matter of seconds Ivar sucked in air and tensed. Her arm shot back before freezing. Her fist stopped just before she could plow a decent hole onto the plaster out of a sudden pain-born rage. Her body went slack. She patted the unharmed section of wall and continued towards the phone.

Dad tried to hide the damage but Arcane’s eyes saw it past her sweaters. Ivar’s wings flickered in ghostly form behind them, chunks of them missing. The team she trained came back scared, so she took it on herself to finish the mission. She came back like this. Flightless and instincts dulled.

The doorbell rang before Ivar could get to the phone. She rushed over and opened the front door. It was such a blur, but Mom was inside and embracing her Wife. It was so painful seeing Arcane Quill, her normally stoic mother blubbering and sobbing uncontrollably as they kissed.

“I thought they were going to kill us, Ivar.”, was the most cogent of her words.

Arcane felt a stabbing pain in her chest, sadness, rage. Mom’s beautiful horn was reduced to flickering bits where a horn should be. Her head was wrapped around in bandages, but Arcane already knew there was a raw scar drawn deep across her mark.

Later that night she talked to her mother. She had to repeat the same sentence three times. Quill’s focus was damaged along with her horn. It was a relief when both her parents retired to the bedroom.

It was two in the morning when Arcane was alone, but her decision couldn’t wait. She dialed a number she saw her dad dial several times in the past. It took four attempts, but he finally answered. That gravely smoker’s voice was made worse with fatigue.

“Who the buck is calling me… Ivar? Is that you?”

“I’m sorry, Commander. It’s her daughter, Arcane. I need to talk to you. It’s two years too soon, but I want to sign up.”

“Listen, I know you want revenge-“

Arcane drew in a breath to calm herself. Her heart was beating like a drum. Yes, she wanted to kill every dragon she saw right now, but something disturbingly calm in the back of her mind guided her in this moment. She had a tool the army needed, and she needed the army. Not once she was legally an adult, this had to begin now.

“Yes, but…. We have more important things to do first.”

Present

Age 18

“So, that’s why I’m here. We can heal the flesh, but not the marks. We don’t understand the connection between biology and magic, at least not fully. We know that magic grows in crystal form underground, and we know that odd mineral is abundant in our drinking water and every plant we eat. We know that it was far more abundant when you were alive. If I have any chance of isolating that factor, it’s with you.”

In her heart she knew that wasn’t the only reason. Her brow furrowed as the thoughts invaded the back of her mind. She wanted those bastards to pay for what they did, and she wanted the power to do it with her bare hands. They were terrible motivations, but she couldn’t tell which was stronger.

“Please forgive me.”

Arcane turned to Pudding Head’s sarcophagus and froze. She didn’t notice the arrow before. It was so thin but so bright. Leaning closer she realized it was made with magic like the runes of a spell.

“Hello there.”

The arrow pointed toward her. She looked past herself then looked down to see another. This arrow pointed her in the center of the room, between the five statues.

“Arrows only I can see…”

She walked between a frozen scene of the three chancellors, The old King, and the deceased Queen discussing some historical matter. From each of their feet extended an arrow. Each pointed to the exact center of the chamber floor. Below Arcane was a pattern of curved bricks forming concentric rings around a stone disk the size of a dinner plate.

Until now she could write this all off as coincidence, but what she saw next ended that. Drawn in that soft white light was a hollow gear with eight outer teeth and sixteen inner teeth. Her mouth fell open as she knelt down to touch that all-too familiar symbol and the stone disk it encircled. The moment her finger caps came in contact two smaller eight-toothed gears appeared and began to spin. The hollow gear made a full rotation before breaking apart in flecks of light, and in the same moment that disk popped out of place.

Her mind swam with questions as she pulled the disk aside to expose a hidden compartment. A basket caked in dust rested inside. After brushing the top clean she opened the frail wicker container to discover four clay jars. Between them was a folded sheet of rather tough vellum. Arcane felt a little sick when she recognized the skin sheet once belonged to a dragon. Nevertheless, this message was obviously for her.

“Hello, Arcane.

First off, don’t ask. It’s not time for this to make sense. Sometimes the answer isn’t worth the act needed to discover. I hope you realize that, but something tells me you will follow your path no matter where it leads.

In the four jars are hoof shavings from the chancellors and the Queen. I should know. The Queen is secretly a slob with terrible feet. Anyway, I ask you not to disturb their rest. You don’t want to know *that* path. Trust me.

The ‘me’ you know has returned to where she belongs, so don’t waste time trying to get that particular answer. Focus on your parents. I’ve seen your heart, Arcane, and I know it tugs you in two dangerous ways. Choose a new path. Ivar and Quill will need their daughter.

-Silent Brook”

She felt a little numb with shock after reading a letter that had been waiting for her for thousands of years, all because an Earth Pony she met once in her life knew where she would be at this very moment.

“You’re right. No time to waste.”

Chapter 5: Love and Hate In Her Majesty’s service

Two Years Later

Age 20

“Alright, EarthWorms. No time for tea and cookies! Dragon slayer drill then we hit the showers! Keep pace or you all will run the base five times before your sweaty butts hit the sack!”

Her lungs were burning and muscles screamed at her to stop, but it wasn’t up to Arcane. A broad shouldered earth stallion with a thousand mile stare led her and thirty other earth ponies down a heavily trodden path along an otherwise emerald field of rising and falling hills. The ‘Dragon Slayer Drill’ was ten meters away and roughly ten meters uphill.

The structure itself was made of two parallel walls two meters apart. One measured 15 meters tall, the other only 14 meters. Above this was a sort of halo on posts. Said halo was a rail track with stuffed dummies in the shape of bipedal dragons posed in mid flight.

The idea was relatively simple. Keep pace with the others while you wall jump to the top. Once high enough you take aim and leap on one of the moving dragon’s backs with a three point landing, one hoof on their spine and hands gripping wings about the elbow joint. Your remaining foot rears up and thumps the dragon unconscious… or dead if you do it wrong. Then dismount with a graceful landing, of course.

She wasn’t the most athletic earth pony. She could beat any unicorn in a fair hoof race, but keeping pace with these absolute units was a daily struggle. She saw a buff black mare make it to the top and begin the leap. A green light bloomed under her left hoof and up the dark mare went. Her time came. She pooled the magic inside her and sent it to her own left hoof. A pink flash and she was shooting towards the first wall as she readied her right hoof.

She jumped in right as the dark mare continued to climb. For Arcane, the Earth Pony magic came easily, but her slender body just couldn’t pack on the dense muscles like the Amazon over her head.

Just a little more magic…

The black mare flew from the apex. Arcane readied herself for the final leap and eased just a little more force into her hoof.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck….!”

Arcane cursed like a sailor as the magical push sent her arching well past the ring of fake dragons. Her stomach felt like it was rolling upside down as the green lawn came to meet her. Her eyes screwed closed as she put every ounce of her power into her hooves.

A hearty laugh was the first thing she noticed, the next was a hard slap on her back that left a stinging palm print.

“Well damn, Arcane. You can’t take a dragon down for shit, but that’s one hell of a landing.”

The brown stallion that served as her drill Sergeant looked up at Arcane with a smirk. “Okay, stop that before you pass out and/or make the Pegasus jealous.

Arcane looked down. Her hooves were glowing and the force they put out was providing thrust. She was hovering!”

Sergeant had a point. After a minute of gawking at her power she felt her body grow anemic and her stomach groan. Keeping this up was expending everything inside her. She relaxed the power and let her hooves meet the ground.

A slow clap could be heard behind her. Arcane turned about to see a green pony with the symbol of a hammer on her forehead, the handle meeting between her eyebrows. She was almost a head shorter than arcane but curvy and athletic.

“Well, that’s a new one on me”, the green unicorn said with a broad smirk.

“Well, that makes two of us.”

Arcane closed the distance with a few steps and wrapped arms around her. The first thing Arcade did was look into her eyes. She loved the color of Alloy’s irises, not just a brown but a warm pale shade like a steaming cup of hot chocolate.

Alloy’s strong arms reached up and hooked around Arcane’s neck. She was pulled down without resistance as they brushed muzzles and gently kissed.

“Shame I don’t have the Pegasus ability to alter buoyancy. Then I’d be jetting across the sky as the first ever flying Earth Mare.”

Alloy rolled her eyes, leaned back, and gave a firm slap to Arcane’s ass.

“Greedy girl. Next thing I know I’ll be dating an Alicorn.”

Alloy curled her hand around Arcane’s waist and pulled the earth mare against her wide hips. They walked together down the hill and onto a paved path that gradually grew shady with overhead oak.

“The brass want a report in an hour, face to face.”, said Alloy with a smile that said ‘you’re going to hate this’.

Arcane let out a groan and shook her head. This followed a sigh. She knew saying ‘no’ to Admirals had dire consequences.

“First it’s Queen Celestia and her photo op. Then it was Queen Luna and her inquisition, staring at me like I was the Dark Lord Sombra reincarnated. Then it’s the Princesses and their Nights….”, Arcane grumbled with ears folding down against her skull.

Alloy let out a snort-laugh, “You had to pry the prototype from Pinke’s head. Twilight looked like she was going to die of embarrassment. Well, don’t fret. It’s just boring old military types. Direct questions, direct answers.”

As they walked in sun dappled shade they began to pass benches where white coated ponies ate lunch or napped on picnic blankets. A few minutes more and the canopy opened up to the manicured front lawn of a tall cylindrical building of glass and steel. Twelve floors of curved crystal panels and open balconies, some populated with others leaning against railings and looking out on a much larger military campus.

Directly ahead the path ended in a pair of rounded steps and rotating door. Above it a placard that read “Canterlot Military R&D”.

“Think I have time for a shower? Our quarters are just around the corner from the lab, and I don’t want to smell like grass and sweat in front of a high ranking officer.”

Arcane spoke with a little smirk, the same smirk she used when she snuck an extra ration from the mess hall for Alloy and her to share.

Alloy fell silent as if in deep thought. She hmm’d and haw’d as if so very unsure. Of course she was sure, but she wanted to tease the taller mare.

“Well, we do have an hour.”

Steam rolled over the thick glass of their shower, walls reinforced after a particular costly accident. Despite past events the two challenged its shatter-proof guarantee.

From the outside all that could be seen were two pairs of hands firmly pressed against the surface, a white pair with pink palms, a green pair with mocha colored palms below.

Arcane looked down at Alloy, her attention split between the solid muscles of her lover's back and adorable panting face looking over a green shoulder. Even if she were not deep inside, that playfully challenging gaze would be enough.

Her hips rolled with a force that could be heard in sharp flat claps against a backside that was bigger than her own gifted curves. A little pain added to the pleasure, her heavy pears clapping with Alloy’s, Arcane twitching inside her lover’s sex. Every flinch, every throb could be her climax yet she hovered just below that peak.

Arcane’s nuzzle pressed into the bend of Alloy’s neck to muffle her moan. A rush of white flooded the wide hips, and for just a moment Arcane wished Alloy was lying about her birth control. A perfect moment like this made her want it for the rest of her life.

Arcane pulled out and fell back on one of the tiled walls of their shower. She panted, regaining her breath and squinting past the steam covered glass to see the wall clock. From her perspective it was just a few vague blotches that could have said anything.

Her attention moved back when a pair of hands cupped behind her knees and lifted her hooves off the ground. Her back remained pressed to the wall as her thighs came to rest around a pair of significant hips.

If Arcane had any notion to see the time it was quickly pushed aside. Alloy’s nuzzle pressed the side of her neck and teeth gently nipped at Arcane’s pelt. Those wide hips rolled under her thighs and in one practiced motion her lover sank into Arcane’s marehood.

Across the room a medicine cabinet swung open. Under repeated hammering all the contents eventually flew onto the floor. Pill bottles and cosmetics piled onto a cracked wall clock as a duet of moans continued.

—

Three very old and now somewhat grumpy figures stood around in a large white room lit up by large led fixtures. Beside that judgemental trio was Ivar Gears dressed in her best green suit jacket and slacks.

“Captain Gears, does your daughter always keep her superiors waiting? I swear if this is for some kind of dramatic effect…”

Ivar put out her hands toward a broad coffee colored stallion with a greying mane under his red general’s cap.

“I’m sure she has her reasons, General Stone Breaker.”, Ivar said in the vain hope of placating a grumpy General of Her Majesty's army.

A grey mare in a green uniform made a smirk, not caring it deepened the wrinkles in the corner of her left eye. “Stone, how are those ears?”

Ivar felt her face glowing like a virgin in a strip club. From down the hall a rhythmic pounding could be heard from the moment they arrived. So far it was five minutes without any clear sign of stopping.

The blue uniformed stallion began a chuckle and slowly grew louder. The growing cackle echoed against a tall stone wall that remained uncluttered, unlike everywhere else.

The airy space looked like some kind of eccentric workshop filled with every sort of work station. On one of the narrow cubicles was a jewelers table complete with a large magnifying glass on a swivel arm and a blue towel holding every sort of tool for detailed work. On another was beakers of multiple colored fluids near a hefty centrifuge. The oddest among them all, however, was a thick glass cube the size of an adult stallion's head. The cube sat on a base with a thin clockwork arm holding a small silver stylus tipped with a clear gem.

Hooves clamoured around a corner and into the room five minutes after the pounding ended. Arcane and Alloy appeared hastily dressed and manes disheveled. Both wore lab coats, uniform pants, and blouses with a few buttons undone or mismatched.

The three elderly figures had their own reactions.

Dressed in a red uniform, General RockBreaker looked with a distant and uninterested gaze. His face didn’t give away surprise, disgust, or even anger. His features remained locked in a slightly pissed expression of impatience.

The white Pegasus dressed in green formed a smile on her lips that nearly met her ears. Her eyes rested casually on the two young lovers as if she were recalling a time she too appeared before her superiors after doing something most wouldn’t want to speak about publicly.

The blue Uniformed stallion simply kept chuckling quietly to himself. His jowls would be jiggling if he had any. The goateed unicorn with a thin nine-pointed star on his forehead seemed more amused than he should. Perhaps old age made the young seem hilarious. Perhaps old age made you unafraid to laugh beyond what seemed appropriate.

Alloy, Arcane, and Ivar stood to attention and saluted. The Earth General gave a short nod as he exhaled, making some in the room wonder if the grumpy stallion was holding his breath.

“At ease, Specialist Gears, Sergeant Alloy. Now, you have some fancy gadget to show us?”

Arcane cleared her throat as she fumbled with her blouse and corrected two misplaced buttons.

“Yes!”

Her voice came out with a less-than professional excitement before clearing her throat again.

“Yes, Generals RockBreaker, SwallowWing, NorthStar. My talent, as you may already know, is the ability to see how magic works, how it operates beyond what we can normally see, and how it interacts with the physical world. While I can see it, that doesn’t mean I can instantly make sense of it. That’s been my life’s work since my powers awakened.

The Dragon’s campaign of scarring our marks shifted my research emphasis.”

Arcane looked over at Alloy with a warm smile before turning her attention back to the Generals.

“I’m just glad not to be alone. A quarter of the scientists that call the R and D tower home are dedicated to this project. Our research has been focused on understanding the connection between our species and magic itself. I can handle the arcane coding needed to make our devices work, but it’s Sergeant Alloy that made it a reality.”

Alloy approached and took over for Arcane. The taller mare took a silent role in pressing areas on the clean flat wall behind them. After a few presses of unseen buttons the enlarged image of a dissected yellow eyeball was displayed.

“Good Morning, General SwallowWing, General NorthStar, Da- General RockBreaker.”

Arcane’s eyes grew wide enough to be nearly circular. She met Alloy’s mom but her father ‘worked late’ every day she visited. She looked over at the Earth Pony General only to see those nearly identical chocolate eyes glaring right back at her.

“What you are seeing here is the eye of a cockatrice. These creatures are known to turn living beings into stone. Now let’s switch to a magnified image.”, Alloy continued, either used to or not acknowledging that glare.

A loud but brief laugh belted out of General NorthStar, but the guffawing was cut short by SwallowWing’s quick hand curling around the old stallion's muzzle and holding it shut. Muffled chuckling continued despite the unbreakable grip.

Arcane let out a quiet sigh of embarrassment and anxiety as she tapped at the wall a few times. The image on screen flicked to a black and white image of cells in long branching chains.

“What we are looking at here is a cluster of neurons. There is no biological advantage to this arrangement, but the pattern it forms is very similar to symbols my Partner has identified with her talent. This is a spell, a spell that slowly evolved into existence.”

Arcane’s face was pink under the fur as her blue eyes did their best to avoid the glare of a protective father and her superior officer.

“As what the love of my life just said, yes, nature adapted magic into biology. Ours is more complex of course. The neurological arrays connect to our minds in various ways, appealing to different forms of sense.”, Arcane added with just a few words bashfully squeaked out.

General NorthStar pulled from the hand that held his mouth shut. Gone was the jovial unicorn as he took on a more somber tone.

“We could conclude all of that by seeing what those dragons did to our soldiers. One hard slash across the forehead and no more magic, hell, most of the injured under my command are falling apart mentally. What exactly can you do about it?”

Alloy took over, matching the tone out of respect.

“I’ve been studying minerals all my life. I’ve looked at hundreds of crystals that grow in our caverns, many that power our best arcane machines and power plants. The minerals that make those crystals, that actively bridge our world to a nexus of reality-defying power, can be found in our water. It can be found in our food, and in our bodies. Those minerals are laced into our nerves, and that’s how our thoughts and intentions become magic.”

Arcane rested a hand on Alloy’s shoulder and stood beside her.

“It took a lot of study, and a lot of searching, but we’ve made a way to stimulate those patterns using carefully grown crystals. With our emulators, a soldier can use their powers again, and in time the neurological arrays will reshape themselves using that stimulus.”

General SwallowWing tilted her head as if trying to decide if she should be excited or worried. Her arms crossed as she locked eyes with Arcane. Those bright yellow eyes were like an eagle’s, and about as frightening if trained on you.

“So, it simulates the patterns until they can grow back on their own. What keeps some highly ambitious mare and/or stallion from putting on all three types to become an Alicorn?”

Arcane felt herself go blank as she thought of some assurance that would never happen. There were no honest words for it. She felt her heart quicken at the possibility. To be so connected to this world and beyond. To be immortal and live a never-ending adventure.

“N-no, General. Evolution slowly changed us from chaotic beings to Alicorns, then into the three races we are now. It was all because that much power eventually breaks the one trying to use it. There are only a very few that can take that burden. I’ll admit, it would be one hell of a way to die, but tragically stupid.”

General Rockbreaker gave the ghost of a nod, his expression still impossible to read in spite of those burning eyes.

“I’m not a scientist, Specialist Gears, nor am I a philosopher. I only agreed to come because I was told there would be a demonstration. So, is this all conjecture or do you have something to show for your significant funding?”

Arcane formed a confused look before turning to Alloy. The green unicorn had a knowing smile on her muzzle. Arcane looked over to Ivar as her dad reached into her jacket and took out a small folded letter sealed with gold wax.

Arcane took on the eyes of a foal on Heart’s Warming day and stepped quickly to her father. She took the letter, her heart thudding as she cracked the wax seal. Once that seal was broken the paper forcefully unfolded and flattened, creases vanishing.

‘By the decree of Queen Celestia, Captain Ivar Gears has been granted use of a prototype A.R.E. Device.

Co-signed responsibility is to be granted by a member of the R.E. Project and the aforementioned recipient.’

Arcane read the short but elegant words on the paper. Below the words was a large blank section with Celestia’s cutie mark depicted in full color. Knowing how to use documents like this, Arcane touched a space beside Celestia’s symbol. A flash of silver spread out from her touch, the living ink scrawling out her own mark in full color.

Arcane extended the page to Ivar. The grown woman and trained soldier smiled with tears held in the corner of her eyes. They fell down her cheeks as she reached out and touched near her Daughter’s symbol. The image of a gear split down the middle formed seconds before the paper went up in emerald flame. Somewhere far off a cleric would be drowsily sorting documents as a neatly folded letter flicks into existence and floats down into a sack of similar papers.

“I’ll be right back!”

Arcane ran off behind the many workstations. The sound of papers and metal objects could be heard spilling onto the floor. Following the clamor was a set of beeps and the hefty metallic thunk of a reinforced safe opening. The same thunk came again before the mare returned with a small clamshell box in her extended right hand, and in her left something that looked like a staple gun.

“Generals, D- I mean Captain Ivar Gears. I present the Abdominal Rehabilitory Emulator, or ARE for short. There are two more, the CRE and the ERE, but they function on the same principle. The CRE is for Unicorns and the ERE is the Earth Variant.”

Ivar took the box and opened it. On a silk pillow lay a single platinum stud earring with an emerald stone mounted on top. The emerald was shaped to look like the bud of a rose, the detail surprising. The gem itself was no bigger than a pea.

“I really wish I had pierced my ears before.” Ivar said nervously.

Arcane pulled the gun’s trigger forward. The device reacted by spreading the jaw and opening two delicate steel mandibles.

“It wouldn’t have mattered. The Emulator needs a bit of your blood to bond with you. The piercing process supplies that, and secures the device to your body. No one can use it after it bonds to you. In fact, it would shatter itself if anyone tried. Consider that a security measure.”

Arcane took the earring out of the box and placed it carefully between the gun’s mandibles. With a forward flick of the trigger the jaws closed with less than a finger’s width between.

“Ready dad?” she said quietly enough for the Generals not to hear. All she received was a smile. It was all she needed. Arcane slid the jaws around Ivar’s ear lobe and pulled the trigger. Ivar Gears winced as a dull click issued from the piercing gun.

She pulled the gun back once the jaws automatically spread. A drop of blood began to leak from the earrings’ backing before being sucked back in and ‘drank’ by the metal itself. The pea sized emerald bud began to glow, then blossomed. A tiny rose spread its petals as Ivar felt a tingle run down her spine and through her back. Only Arcane saw the traces of light running along nerves in her father’s spine. Those faint lines fanned out along Ivar’s shoulder blades into frayed and scared portions of her flesh. They pushed beyond the damaged anatomy to create a complex array of swirling cursive symbols. In so many ways it looked like the page of a letter being written several sentences at a time.

Arcane stepped back as Ivar took a deep breath. The older mare closed her eyes and took a moment to feel an old rush she never stopped to appreciate before.

Everything felt so much easier now. She didn’t have to think about where she would put her feet or move her hands. All her life she just knew when to react and how. The smallest change in pressure spoke volumes to her. It wasn’t that her senses were more keen, she simply could get more out of the smallest of stimulus than any Earth or Unicorn.

An old weight made her nearly break down into tears. They were back. She willed her wings to appear both visible and tangible. A slate grey light spread from her back and rose up until they bumped the ceiling. Her wings rose high and proud, back where they belong.

“Gremlin, you did it!” Ivar rushed her daughter and wrapped arms around her, wings making overhead lights sway and one bulb break. Nobody noticed or cared about the damage above. The Pegasus General put hands over her muzzle, even the stoic Earth General seemed just a little moved.

“No dad, My team did it. I’m just one gear in the machine.” Arcane squeaked out as her father lifted her off her hooves with little effort.

A rumble went off in General Rock Breaker’s jacket pocket. Without excusing himself he turned aside and pulled out a black scroll small enough to fit in the palm of his hand. He motioned to drop it yet the scroll hovered in the air instead of succumbing to gravity. It rolled open as squares made of light hovered on either side and assembled into a split keyboard. White ink bled from the black paper in short sentences.

A bell chime came from the Pegasus General’s pocket in time with the Unicorn General’s playing “Fly me To the moon” in a tinny ringtone.

“I hate to cut this celebration short, but I need to go. Arcane, I need you to mass produce these as soon as possible. I’ll have the paperwork tomorrow, but if you can start now then do it. Also, if you can make an Alicorn version of that Gizmo then get on it.”

General Rock Breaker turned and walked out of the room barking out his words without looking back. Concern painted Arcane, Ivar, and Alloy’s faces. They looked at the two generals still in the room. The generals looked at each other as if having a silent conversation. The old Unicorn nodded.

“Specialist Arcane, does that display h- have cable? If it does, turn to channel eight.”

The Unicorn had the attitude of a cocky old man even at the worst of times. This was the first time she ever heard him stutter.

Arcane gave a little nod and moved over to the stone wall still displaying an image of nerves. She tapped it in a few places. Garbled colors played over the surface before resolving into shaky live footage. The sound of a stunned and panicked crowd could be heard as the camera focused high along the marble and gold trimmed castle of Queen Celestia. The highest tower had a large balcony she would speak from during special occasions. Long ago it was to deliver decrees, but these days it was just used in televised press conferences.

Something that looked like Celestia parted the gold curtains of her balcony and walked to the railings, but before anyone could get a good look, the camera panned to the rooftops. Eight figures stood or crouched like gargoyles along the roof. They were bathed in a slow burning flame that gave the outline of feminine curves and flowing hair, all disturbingly familiar. The colors of flame and the style of ‘hair’ mimicked the Royal Seven plus the Secretary of Education, Starlight Glimmer. Within the flame was something horrid. Blackened bones like living dragon fossils moved around with unnatural life. Their eyes were hollow of all but two tiny pin pricks of vile light.

The camera turned back on the first figure. She was very much alive yet ‘wrong’. Her scales were white with a prismatic sheen. Her slit pupils were bright blue. On her head was a crown of nine horns pointed back and sharpened into wicked blades. She must have stood two meters tall and wore nothing but a finely cut loin cloth and chest wrap. Her hip held the sun symbol of the Queen.

“This is so strange. I look out onto this city and see the troublemakers that sent my world into utter chaos. You ponies and your desires made my kingdom suffer, but I can’t put the blame on you. Those were ponies from my world, and now I find myself here. I want to deliver you all from your own follies, help you find a place in this world where you belong. Where all beasts of burden belong.”

The camera panned down from the narrow white muzzle and down along the edge of the balcony. The dragon version of Celestia had something prismatic clenched in her hand. She lifted it up for all to see. Hanging unconscious by her hair was the true queen. She looked dazed and terribly injured. Deep scars bled from her forehead, limbs, and back.

“You will submit willingly or we’ll burn your cities to the ground and scar you by force. I will give you seven days. Princess Luna herself is to come and give me her answer.”

A broad taloned foot mounted the balcony railing and leapt into the sky as she released the Queen and let her form crumble to the balcony floor. White leathery wings spread out and jet up into the air with one hard beat. The ghoulish undead followed with loud shrieking. Their talons shattering roof tiles, sending them sliding off and onto the gathered crowd.

A stunned silence came over Arcane and the others for several moments. It wasn’t broken until the Unicorn General tapped the surface of his Tele-Scroll and belted out orders to whomever was on the other line.

“As soon as those things are out of our airspace I want the Quill array up.” He closed his scroll and looked Arcane dead in the eyes, “You are permitted to give your mom one of those gizmos. It’s her spells that might buy us a little more than a week to get ready. Can you make one for the Queen?”

Arcane felt her mouth go dry. She looked over to Alloy but she could only give a small shrug.

“I’ll do my best. Not really something I planned for, but it shouldn’t be a problem.”

The old Unicorn walked to her and placed a hand on Arcane’s shoulder. His face was a hair’s width away and his voice low enough for only her to hear. “I see a wreckless curiosity in your eyes and I know a lie when I hear one. Frankly I could give two shits if you want to make wax wings and fly into the sun. We need the Queen back on her hooves. Understand?”

“Ivar, you’re officially back on active duty. Come with me.”, the Pegasis General’s voice went flat and serious. It was a tone that would make anyone rather listen and obey than piss her off. Ivar Gears followed with only a glance back at her daughter.

“Good Luck, Gremlin.”

Chapter 6: White Rose

Her eyes were still open. In the gentle indigo light of a clear starry night Arcane’s stare focused on an old brass alarm clock. It read 2am. In spite of her aching body and the warmth of her lover at her back she couldn’t sleep. So many thoughts, far too many to count. Silent Brook’s letter. This other world’s Celestia. The words of General NorthStar just today.

It all felt as if it were leading up to something and she was just a character in their story. In this reality’s story.

She rose and carefully untangled herself from Alloy, accepting the chill of night about to assault her pelt. Shivering, she fetched her housecoat from the closet and covered her nude form. Careful hoof steps followed as she made her way out of her quarters, down the hall, and into their laboratory.

It looked like a factory now. Less than an hour after the Generals left, a decent number of Earth Ponies in red jumpsuits swept up the contents of every work station in the lab, leaving only the most essential things. In total, fourty eight of the fifty desks were set up with an upgraded ‘crystal printer’. The device had a rectangular base with a cube made of thick high-pressure glass and a titanium frame. In the base of the cube was a set of nozzles and a domed lense. To the side was an odd device Arcane had to be trained to use once her clearance level was high enough. These ‘computers’ consisted of a flat glass panel and what looked like a type-writer’s keyboard. Only half a year ago was she told these came from a reality devoid of active magic. One filled with evolved apes called ‘Humans’.

“In one reality we are apes, in another we are dragons. What’s next? Spider ponies?”

Tubes ran in thick bundles along the floor from three giant vats of mineral solution. They split like veins to the various devices now working furiously to mass produce the emulators. Red, blue, or green solutions floated in a clear fluid under immense pressure. It was slowly crushed into a single point as thin lazer light shot from the glass lenses to direct the pressure and guide the crystalline formation.

Arcane sat down in a row of three workstations with a very specific job. All three solutions were shot into the chambers to merge into a single point. The colors shifted wildly from purple to green to brown and all over the spectrum. As the colors changed she typed away at the computer, imputing varied pressures and formulae to stabilize the fusion.

“I don’t care if you put on wax wings and fly into the sun. Get it done”

The Unicorn General’s words repeated in her mind.

Age 14

“Come on! Feathers, foam, clouds… fluffy, light, airy.”

She muttered to herself as she ‘stood’ in her parent’s backyard. Well, not quite standing so much as hovering. Her hooves glowed bright pink as she willed that odd Earth magic to lift her higher, maybe even defy the laws of physics to make her lighter and allow her to take off. She was only a thumble’s height off the ground yet it took everything she had to maintain it. Her stomach was cramped with hunger and her throat burned with a need for water. Her body was withering yet she didn’t care. She’d pass out, eat, and try again. Try a hundred times just to feel that freedom of flight for just another minute.

“Damn it, why can’t I… why..” her eyes burnt as they tried to make tears. There just wasn’t anything left in her to shed. Soon the world tilted and flickered out. She could hear her father cry out.

A little chime came from the far left computer. Arcane snapped back to the present and rolled her chair over. The little ball of solution shifted from black to white and didn’t change color after that. Her eyes went wide as the lasers went to work slowly crafting it into a pea sized rose bud. She swiftly copied that formula into the other two machines.

Arcane made her way back to her bedroom and took her scroll phone from her nightstand before walking back to her lab. She let the scroll open as she typed a message out on its magical qwerty keyboard.

“General Rockbreaker, The two Special R.E. Units will be complete by this afternoon. I hope Queen Celestia is doing well. We will have her on her hooves in no time.”

She closed her phone and went to one of the untouched work spaces. A jewelers bench was set up with several empty mountings of Alloy’s design. She turned on a magnifying lamp and set out tools just as a small chime could be heard a row away.

Chapter 7: Equestria’s Thoughtful Reply

The Celestial forces didn’t need a week to make their decision. Within five days they began a surprise attack on the Dragon’s capital, Cinder. The first wave came in full force. Unicorns teleported Pegasi to scatter defenses and Earth Ponies to hastily erect bases in a wide circle. Insult added to injury when large blue crystals were mounted at every base. A burst of sapphire magic spread from each crystal tower and merged to form a giant dome around the city.

A decree was displayed across the dome for every Cinderite to read. “Send all that came through your portal back and surrender it.”

The response was typical for dragons. Scaled figures of every shape and color took to the skies with no formation or plan. Some struck at the dome with tools, steel weapons, magical trinkets, and even their own heads. One very lucky command post even had the most amusing sight of the entire war. The Dragon Celestia flicked out of space and attempted to teleport past the barrier. Her body painfully reappeared as it crashed into the blue wall. Thin cracks formed yet mended before she could shake off her daze.

“Like my dome, bitch?!”, Arcane Quill looked up with both hands high in the air proudly displaying her middle fingers.

The white dragon bore her fangs and flicked out of sight. Moments later her undead forces launched themselves on skeletal wings and spread out in eight directions. Their mouths opened and jets of unnatural flame assaulted the wall, making it thin and warp.

Black bones bathed in lavender fire replaced the Draconic Celestia. The ghostly straight hair and color marked this one as Dragon Twilight, or perhaps something that once was.

The clank of metal made Quill turn about. Her eyes went round as Celestia’s seven most trusted soldiers appeared. In the lead was a purple figure in silvery armor and short plum colored skirt. The six pointed starburst on her forehead marked her as the Queen’s very own pupil and future heir, Twilight Sparkle. Beside her was one of the newest but highly talented additions. The heavy armor was almost as thick as AppleJacks, but the orange pony with a Sunset on her forehead bore it with ease.

“Spread out and take these fakes down!” Twilight shouted as the seven knights rushed out of the camp and into the barrier. Pinkie Pie in her Candy cobalt armor and AppleJack in Gun Steel grey rushed out at full speed. Fluttery in her robes and Rainbow Dash in her Platinum plate armor took to the sky. Sunset and Rarity in her leather vanished in a flick of light. Twilight was left. She walked, her eyes locked on what passed for eyes in that dead Draconic twin of her’s. If there was anything to redeem inside that burning black husk, it was hidden by a set of deranged pin pricks of light hovering within hollow eyes.

The fight began with a burst of screams and screeches that never settled down. The main conflict hovered high above between the Pegasi and Dragon. Duels were fought with enemies raising up and swooping back down on their targets. Dragon and Equine alike had to dodge their own while taking opportunities to swipe at passers by. Often enemies switched partners mid-attack or were double teamed by surprise.

The Earth forces played support, for the most part. Medics ran along fields that slowly turned into sanguine muck that smelled strong of iron. Wingless dragons spread along the field to attack, but a swift kick in the jaw proved enough to take the lot of them down.

After the R.E. Units were delivered to the various medical stations Arcane had nothing left to do but blend into the horde of medics darting out into the field. Four terrible hours went by, most of it on her hooves. Blades were slung at her. Fists the size of her head came out of a red haze of sand and smoke, nearly ending her story there. Every single time she returned to her camp she gave a silent prayer to the Goddesses she would return, a living soldier in her arms.

Arcane rested on a bench with dust and splashes of other creatures' blood all over her red-desert camo fatigues. A white arm sash bearing a red cross was singed and tattered from repeated swipes and attempted assaults from the air. Holes torn on her back exposing blooded swipes from dragon talons.

Above her head was a smaller form of the Quill Array, this one made so Ponies could come and go while protecting them from the Draconic forces. Around her were tents filled with the groaning and crying wounded. Past her were teams of two hauling the new injured into triage.

Alongside her were other earth ponies, some that looked frighteningly too young to be here. Nervous mares and stallions carried blank stares, some shivered or bounced their knees. Whatever it took to quell the anxiety.

“Specialist Arcane, you’re up.”

Some of her fellow soldiers let out a sigh, others didn’t seem to notice anything at all. Arcane raised onto her hooves and walked to the clean uniformed stallion with a clipboard and messenger bag. The bag was handed to Arcane. She slung the strap over her shoulder out of pure habit.

“Where and what?” Arcane said mechanically.

“Down Unicorn. Head injury. A CRE is in the pack along with standard medical equipment. Victim is platinum.”

The phrase ‘platinum’ was one Arcane hated. It means the patient is so vital that you ignore anyone injured on the field, even if they are inches from death. You go to your target and you report back. Nothing in between.

She paused for a moment. Something seemed off. She opened the bag to find an oblong orange crystal. Normally the thing would be giving off a quiet chime that would grow louder as she grew closer to her target.

“I’m not getting a ping from the stone.” She said not even looking away from the satchel.

“Run west for about a kilometer. It should start reacting by then.”

The hours of running and dodging attempts to kill her drove Arcane’s mind into an automatic state. Everything was muscle memory and training, yet this oddity made her pause and notice something she would otherwise discount. The male was grey from head to toe. Last time she saw this stallion he was nothing more than a foal. He now had a mercury symbol on his forehead, but this could be only one pony. She could still remember the awkward scrawny colt that could find Alloy and her whenever the two hid in Alloy’s Orchard to make out.

“Quicksilver? What happened?!”

“Shh! Be quiet. I’m not even supposed to be on duty right now. Her section was hit hard, but she’s really far on the queue. Too many high priority victims in the south-west zone. I can’t go myself because they would notice. Please Arc-“

She began sprinting before another word was uttered. Once past the barrier she was hit with waves of hot wind and dust. She knew it would soon feel like sandpaper but she could care less. In mid stride she reached into her right hip pocket and slid on goggles. Once they were on she pushed everything into her hooves. A burst of pink light came from her foot and sent her ten meters forward. With every hoof-fall she began to bound ten meters at a time and at a sprint. She had to dash off to the side and dodge soldiers that were barely smudges of color in her vision before picking up speed. Miles above her clashes between Pegasus and Dragon flew by, some with brilliant streaks of light and explosions of elemental magic. Once or twice it was Pinkie Pie riding her dragon counterpart like some undead roller coaster, giggling her mad head off. Another instant she watched Applejack in her black iron armor pile drive her double into a crater of red dry clay.

She did her best to ignore any distraction that could send her crashing into another body at 120 kilometers per hour. Thankfully, the stone in her bag began thrumming and letting out a faint noise. She was in range.

Overhead she saw one of those skeletal dragons. This one had dark lavender and cyan fire dancing around its black bones. She found it so odd. The dragon version of Starlight Glimmer, a retired teacher turned diplomat, would be a knight in another life. Granted, the unicorn knew more magic than the Seven knights combined. The magic savant could cast multiple spells with ease. Some say she was even an active threat to the nation once, but the events leading up to her redemption were literally undone using time magic. Fucking time magic.

Then she saw another undead Starlight Glimmer, followed by a third. Her heart sank as the horizon revealed dozens of these creatures tormenting ground forces and even keeping the Queens Luna and Celestia occupied. Gold and Silver beams of light came from the sisters, but these damned clones simply teleported and dodged every last attack.

The stone went from a whisper to a shrill. She was close. Once she saw a set of four dots ahead Arcane leaned back and slid her hooves into the ground. She left a long trail of drying mud in her wake, but thankfully her calculation was right. She came to a stumbling stop just a few normal paces from her goal. Mercifully, the stone went quiet.

Four unicorns crouched around a fifth, each one facing a cardinal direction, ready to cast a spell from horns that burned bright with primed magic. Arcane crawled in between them and opened her bag as she looked over Alloy. She was on her back and groaning, two deep gashes from talons across her forehead.

“Ali-Bear, I’m here. I’ll get you on your hooves in no time.”

Arcane was on the edge of sobs as she rifled through her bag and took out a small spray bottle of Iodine and sterile wrapping. She disinfected the wound as best she could and dressed the gashes with a headband of gauze. Better treatment would come back at a base.

“Ali-Bear?” A pastel blue mare smirked yet didn’t look back. Her focus remained on the thousands of threats above her.

Arcane ignored the tease as she took out a small piercing gun and a tiny box containing a sapphire rosebud earring from her bag.

“Don’t any of you know a teleport spell?!”

Arcane spat as she readied the gun and set the CRE in place.

“Y-yeah. But just myself.”, a white stallion responded.

Arcane sighed, “Well, thanks for keeping her safe.”

She framed the gun’s jaws around Alloy’s left ear lobe and pulled the trigger. Alloy yelped and opened her eyes wide. She let out a series of curses as the little sapphire bud began to bloom.

“Ali- Alloy, can you teleport these foals of yours out of here?”

The green unicorn looked around in a daze before her chocolate eyes landed on her mate. “Arc? What the hell are you doing here?”

“Saving our asses, Ali-Bear”, the blue mare said with a chuckle that caught on to the other three.

Alloy smirked, but thankfully it wasn’t the smirk Arcane knew meant ‘you’re in trouble’. A mint green light came from Alloy’s forehead and twisted into what looked like an angular spiral of cast metal, or an industrial sculpture of a unicorn’s horn. Alloy readied her spell before Arcane put out her hand.

“Wait, Alloy. I need to ask you something. Something I wanted to say a while ago. If I did something absolutely insane, would you still love me?”

“You mean go against orders and run half way across the battlefield to rescue a ‘low priority’ victim?”, she responded with her same smirk.

“More insane than even that.”

Alloy burst into a laugh she quickly regretted. A hand came to her forehead to nurse the aching wound.

“Do you really think I wanted you for your level headed pragmatism? Shit, filly, I’m just as nuts. We are scientists.”

Arcane smiled and felt her eyes burn. She held back tears, the sort of tears that welled up after a deep dread is suddenly wiped clean from one’s mind. Alloy looked her dead in the eye as her horn began to glow bright.

“Just come back alive, okay?”

In a mint green flash of light the five vanished. Arcane stood and looked into the sky as she took a small box out of her left hip pocket.

Chapter 8: Roses in Bloom

In the dead center of Cinder a group of two Pegasi and one black unicorn hid on an ash smothered balcony. The trio breathed silently and moved without sound as they spied between balcony curtains. The Dragon Celestia sat slouched in an ebony throne with a large standing mirror before her. Blue eerie light came from the object, suggesting she was looking at something other than her reflection. Occasionally she would shift and scratch under her embroidered loin cloth, but otherwise not budge from her position.

Ivar gears wanted to sigh. One sound would be her last, so deep inside the frustration went. The object that started this damn war was right there, being protected by the world’s most dangerous couch potato.

—

There’s dreaming of a moment, then there’s facing that moment in real life. Arcane felt her stomach twist with anxiety as she opened the small black box. She delicately took out the white rose earring and loaded it into her gun. With a deep breath she slid the jaws along her left ear lobe and pulled the trigger.

Her hand went limp and the gun, along with her satchel fell with a small plume of dust. She didn’t feel a thing, not for a long and disappointing ten seconds. Then the white rose bloomed.

Her back clenched as her eyebrows practically touched. Every muscle in her body began to seize up as jolts of energy raced through her nerves. Thoughts and memories randomly played in her mind like a million televisions she was forced to view at the same time. Her entire life, every good and terrible memory with emotion and sensation as clear as the day they were made assaulted her conscious.

She recalled moments before she jumped off the cliff. She remembered the momentary joy of flying that was never her’s, the pain of her mind being ripped open by a talent she couldn’t control. Yet, that wasn’t the only moment that made her want to be more, feel more, to be stronger. That desire began with jealousy, but evolved into rage, into hunger. It was a moment she wasn’t proud of, but one she couldn’t will herself to regret. In the absence of that memory the feelings remained. Only now, with every shadowed corner of her mind lit up with an overwhelming force, did she recall that memory.

For most of her life she felt insignificant. Those her age, for the most part, didn’t make her feel it. The elders, however, looked at her with disdain or patronizing flattery. She was Earth, in the ancient reign of Alicorns they were servants, surfs, and slave. Strong, but so were livestock.

Age 11

The bell for school chimed from the tower of Everfieild All-ages School. Up a steep hill it sat, a stone and mortar structure once used as a military hospital. Now its ancient sturdy walls, oaken corridors, and open courtyard serve to educate children all around the tiny town. Large as it was, the school held only two thousand fillies and colts. Some came as far as East bay where fish were caught, and Appleosa which edged dangerously close to the badlands.

Arcane walked with her school bag over her shoulder, as one did those days. Her three close friends hovered about as they made the crest of the hill and walked into the rusted-stuck gates between a long stone archway and the inner courtyard.

The conversation was long forgotten, but she clearly remembered what stopped it. A smaller mare she barely knew was standing in front of a Seventeen year old scrawny colt leaning against the shaded wall with a lit cigarette in his left hand. The image of two crossed swords appeared on his forehead, the proof he was a Unicorn.

“Don’t say that, you can’t say that!”

The small filly had her hands balled into tight fists along her sides, a deep scowl on her face.

“What? Mudmane? That’s what you call each other, right?”

Against her friends' warning Arcane walked up to the unicorn high schooler herself.

“What’s a mudmane?”, she asked as if that word had never been used on her before. Of course it had. No Earth Pony ever went without hearing it in the rural edges of Celestia’s empire.

The Stallion cracked a smile that made Arcane’s skin crawl.

“Mudmanes work the fields, cutie. They do what they were always good for, being nice little farm tools for their betters. In fact, my great great great granddaddy owned thousands, and most of the land around here. Shame that had to change. Those folk saved us all from famine, you know. All because they stood back and listened to those far smarter. Brains and Brawn, perfect harmony.”

Arcane’s eyes glazed over with a cold, emotionless stare.

“Oh, I see.” Inside, she was seething. That lecherous stare, that undeserved cockyness. She was a thing in his eyes. Sexually and otherwise.

She felt power welling up inside as she walked closer. The presupposed feeling of crushing this bug in front of her felt frighteningly realistic. She imagined it was like breaking an egg, just a few layers thick.

Her left fist curled in a tight ball as her blank stare captured his gaze. The pink flash from her fingertips immediately followed a blur of white. One moment she stood and the next her fist was planted an inch from the stallion’s head. The creep could only look on with a dumbstruck stare as his head fell near Arcane’s fist and the shallow crater it formed.

The stallion collapsed like a scarecrow without a pole. The other mares screamed as he lay there with a chip of stone shrapnel lodged into the back of his skull.

She should have been horrified, but no. She wanted to hit him this time, to finish it. It took all her will to hold back that part of her that screamed to be free of any moral ‘high road’.

Less than an hour later the Unicorn was sent to a hospital in the city and eventually recovered, with some lasting nerve damage. Arcane was expelled and given a year of community service for her assault. Her parents moved to WestBay and enrolled her into an all-girls academy. After the incident Arcane never spoke of it, as if it never happened.

Age 20

“Arcane Gears!!”

She felt a pair of hands cup her shoulders. Somehow it made her snapback to the present, but the emotions of desire and fury remained burning in the back of her mind worse than ever before. Her head pivoted down slightly, still rigid from the power coursing in her veins.

The figure standing in front of her was faint. It reminded her of dust on a window, only visible if you look at the right angle and in the best light.

The narrow face and goat-like horns made the figure look Draconic, but those pale sightless eyes were unmistakable.

“Silent Brook…?”

Confusion competed with the other wayward emotions in Arcane’s mind. The confused look on her face made the vague specter smile.

“Yes. It’s me, one born in a world now dead, all to keep a disgraced queen alive.”

“So, your talent isn’t just seeing all possibilities. You can look through their eyes.”

“Well, aren’t you clever”, Silent Brook said in a tease, “Not every reality has a Silent Brook, but if there is one then our memories merge.

I’ve seen you more times than I can count, perhaps because fates are tied in funny ways. I’ve seen you live, I’ve seen you go corrupt. I’ve tried to help and sometimes, just sometimes you make the right decision.”

Arcane forced her quivering lips into a smile. The pain of her muscles seizing made tears come easily, but it was that guide of hers that made them surface.

“What then? I feel like I could crack open this world right now, I can do anything. I’ve read more magic books than any Unicorn I know and now I have all the power in the world to cast those spells. I don’t even have to think that deeply about it. The only problem is knowing where I should stop, but I don’t think I can.”

Silent Brook moved closer and placed hands on the mare’s shoulders. Arcane could feel the lukewarm brush of air, just a consistent whisp instead of solid palms. It barely felt like anything, but it still reminded her of a mother’s touch.

“There is one thing I know for certain. I can’t tell you what that decision is. Spoilers tend to make things worse.

So, you’re afraid of trying to be a hero yet becoming a villain instead? I’m sure that’s what the Dragon Celestia told herself before breaking the Elements in her reality. I’m sure that’s what many said before losing their way.

Maybe it was because they worried about what they wanted to become, and didn’t appreciate who they were. Not the role the world forced on them, or what they were taught to idealize, but their own power. What made them strong.

Who are you, Arcane? Use that incredible power flowing in your body and tell me.”

The mare looked into Silent Brook’s eyes. Who was she? She was curious, dangerously so. She was ambitious, dangerously so. She would break things to see how they work, she would flirt with magic that drove countless others insane.

She was the mare that healed her parents and so many others, but no, that wasn’t quite right. She was a member of a team. She was also the kind that could break rules and rob a graveyard in the name of medicine.

She was no hero, but no villain either.

When Arcane was young and bedridden with the flu her mother would read her favorite book, at the time. ‘Shining Sword and the Knights of the Round Stable’.

The story began with Shining Sword as a colt living as a serf in medieval Canterlot. Though he didn’t know it, Shining Sword was the rightful heir to the throne, and soon he would draw a powerful blade from an ancient stone to prove just that.

One pivotal character in the story was GreyBeard, a hermit of a Unicorn that foresaw a sequence of events that would lead to a fair and kind King. However, to accomplish this he had to seduce King DragonBlood into desiring a peasant mare. The resulting bastard colt would become Royal blood, but be raised among the common folk so his heart would be untainted by greed and privilege.

GreyBeard also crafted a magic sword with the help of Sylphs. The blade would only obey the king's blood, but also test the heart of its wielder. In the heat of battle the sword tested the heart of DragonBlood and brought out his lust and greed for all to see. Before he was struck down, the King drove the magic blade into a stone. Many tried to pull it free and claim power, but only one would.

Ultimately, the Actions of GreyBeard brought the kingdom into a time of peace.

When Arcane was young she didn’t understand why Greybeard didn’t use the sword himself. Now she understood. He wasn’t a hero, a hero wouldn’t of had the gall to do what a perfectly sane mind would dare.

“I’m GreyBeard.”

Silent brook tilted her horned head back in what looked like genuine surprise. So often the now-dragon seemed as if she already knew what the other person was about to say. Perhaps she did. This time she looked lost and hesitated. Only after a fat pause did she speak.

“And so what are you going to do now?”

Arcane closed her eyes and unfocused her mind. Her muscles began to relax as she let out a slow deliberate breath.

“Be the crazy wizard. What else?”

Chapter 9: Wax Wings in the Sunlight

When Arcane opened her eyes the ghostly vision of Silent Brook was gone, but somehow she could feel her smiling from whatever corner of reality she stood on. She knelt down and thought of the runes for ‘fire’, the swirling text for ‘feather’, and the braille for ‘push’ at the very same time. It came so easy to her, yet simultaneously a chaotic flood of emotions stabbed out from memories she wasn’t recalling by choice. What could normally be pushed into the back of her mind was playing itself on loop. Falling, hitting, joy, a broken unicorn at her feet. Falling, hitting, joy, a broken unicorn at her feet. The cliff, mudmane, jealousy, revenge. Jealousy, revenge. Love, hate.

She grit her teeth and jumped into the air. Time ran slow for a few overwhelming moments. Her hooves glowed bright pink as a pocket of heat expanded rapidly between feet and ground. She felt the resistance of gravity weaken as raw force blended with an explosion going off under her. That moment of clarity soon broke as time regained it’s pace. Arcane’s scream echoed through the sky as jets of bubblegum colored flame flowed out from under her brightly glowing hooves.

A moment of panic ran through her when Arcane realized the Alicorn Emulator granted her neither horn nor wings, perhaps because there were never wings or horns there to be healed? Nothing to work with? She strained her thighs to keep hooves in place. It seemed they were the only thing keeping her airborne. Thankfully, the Pegasus magic was present enough to make gravity forget how heavy a full grown mare was. The panic turned into a laugh as she looked at her hands. Her fingertips were practically finger-tip shaped hooves. With arms spread out she curled her fingers and focused the same ‘push’. She pushed harder with her left hand, letting her bank right, then did a full barrel roll.

Arcane was a child for just a few wonderful seconds. She arched her back and watched the world tumble end over end. She dove towards the ground and flew low enough to smell the dust before climbing back up. The moment broke as a purple-cyan blurr raced past her. The Glimmer Dragon was in a steep pivoting dive, her skeletal wings angled and prepared to swoop back up once she met her current target.

A young Unicorn mare had stumbled on a rock without her four squad mates noticing. All of them were too concerned with getting wherever they needed to be, the sound of the wind too loud for her cries for help to reach them.

The dragon screeched out in blind rage as her claws came down towards the mare’s forehead. The demon could have aimed for her throat, but of course they didn’t want dead ponies. They wanted slaves.

Arcane flickered into reality three meters above the mare. Her fist was primed and aimed square at the dragon's jaw. With a raw scream Arcane leaned into her punch and sent the dead thing spinning up into the air. The Unicorn barely recognized what she saw before a white earth pony vanished in a flash of pink.

Arcane reappeared high in the air. She waited for the dragon to regain her balance before shouting out a taunt, calling the dragon an ‘Egg sucker’. The undead creature seemed to understand what that implied and naturally chose Arcane as her next victim.

Glimmer’s wings reared up and violently whipped back to rocket her gaunt frame through the air. Arcane waited, observed. Her left hand began to quiver as fingers strained as if wanting to claw out those hollow eyes of that boney bitch. She wrote it off as nerves, nothing more than an involuntary muscle spasm. Arcane didn’t notice as the fur around her earring went black and the flesh under it shifted into a dark lavender. Spots of dark hues formed and merged slowly down her neck, slower across her left cheek.

Arcane waited seconds before flicking out of space only to reappear fifteen meters behind Glimmer. Her eyes searched the space between for something she suspected to be there. Dead things don’t remain animated without a significant amount of magic provided by something commanding it.

“You tricky bitch!”, Arcane yelled out. Arcane found what she was looking for. It appeared as a pale white chain made of runes. They were similar to unicorn magic, at least enough for her to cobble together some meaning. Every link read, ‘Your life for mine’. She tilted her head and pivoted her hooves to fly towards it.

“Your Lives for mine?”

Shadows closed around Arcane. The dragon had called in all those copies of herself to attack from every angle. She grit her teeth and looked at the runes dancing On Glimmer’s gazelle-like horns.

“Monkey see…”

The mare appeared to the side of one Glimmer, then another, then another. Copies of Arcane reared their hand back once again. In one unified motion the duplicates of Arcane attacked. Their fists flew downward and at an angle that would meet roughly eight meters below, dead center between Glimmer’s eyes. The Glimmers tumbled down and merged into one unmoving figure. Arcane flew to the ground as she melded back, or more to the point, slowed down.

The mare came to a hovering landing as the bag of bones crashed and bounced four times.

“Melding a speed and teleport spell to appear in multiple places. Gotta remember that one.”

Arcane spoke as she walked quickly to that magic chain. Her left hoof rose and slammed down on runic links, though to anyone else looking it would seem she merely stomped on empty space.

A pained moan came from the dragon as it tried to push itself up from the ground only to collapse. Arcane moved forward and watched. The mare’s hand quivered again before it went rigid. Fingers spread and bent so all five points were aimed right at Glimmer.

“What the-“. Arcane looked down at her arm in shock. Her other hand moved to put it down, away, anywhere but directly at another being. She could feel hate well up inside her. It was her, and not her. These bastards hurt her family, hurt her Alloy. They were going to enslave her race so why the hell was she hesitating! They needed to die!

Arcane realized something about ‘corruption’ at that moment. Beings label things as bad when they see it as a threat. If what was inside her wasn’t so full of an absolutely valid rage it would be considered ‘accession’. It was nothing more than her repressed subconscious waking up, practically taking a life of its own.

“Stop!”

Arcane screamed. Tears ran down her face as her fingers glowed pink and arcs of electricity began to dance ever faster over her palm. The creeping black ran past her elbow, past her wrist. The pink glow shifted to lavender once fully consumed.

The fire that made up Glimmer’s form began to flicker and burn out. The light was dimming. By the time Arcane looked up from her hand, Glimmer was on her back with arms propping up her chest. She looked as if trying to crawl away yet frozen in terror. Those hollow eyes stared back with tiny lights quivering in the place of pupils.

Muscle, tendons, flesh, followed by dark purple scales grew on those blackened bones. Eyes wide and wet with tears looked back at a mare with murder in one eye and tears running out of the other.

The lavender arcs of lightning slowed their dance before crackling out of existence, leaving only the faint smell of ozone. Arcane collapsed onto her hands and knees, physically and emotionally drained from fighting her own mind.

A slender hand touched the mare’s shoulder. Arcane felt a warmth flow through her. It was like warm water flowed through her bones and relaxed her muscles. The water became cool and eased her mind. Arcane looked up to see an earnest Draconic face looking back at her.

“Thank you.”

The mare looked in disbelief, able to think of a single thing in response. The eight dragons were not the dead ones, the one in control was.

“Go to command. You’re alright now, but you’ll need fluids and food once that spell has fully worn off. You already know that, I bet.”

Glimmer gave a weak laugh and a little nod.

“Are you going to be alright by yourself?”

Arcane smirked and looked about. Streams of bold colors in the distance, streaks of light were all she could see of Celestia’s knights.

“I’m far from alone. Now go.”

Glimmer gave a small nod before cyan flames spun around her form. In a flash she simply vanished.

Arcane drew in a deep breath as she raised to her hooves. Her body slowly rose above the ground as the corruption crawled up her cheek. It moved faster across her back and down her right thigh. Her right hoof glowed pink then shifted to lavender.

A white scaled form swooped down from the sun’s glare, sapphire from beyond the dome. Three meters from Arcane, a shockwave of hot air and red dirt swept past her thighs. When it parted the Dragon Celestia stood with a scowl etched in her slender maw. Arcane wasn’t surprised to see the dragon Queen looked a little more haggard now. Her eyes were slightly deeper set, her crown of horns not quite as smooth and healthy.

“Where is my Knight?!”

A smirk creeped up the left half of Arcane’s muzzle as the corruption reached the bridge of her nose. She closed her eyes and let out a little sigh as the left eyebrow became violet. That same hue ran down the left half of her hair as the wavy nature of those strands went slack and straight. Her eyes opened. That left eye was now gold, piercing and predatory.

“Why do you care? Are you in a hurry to rescue a dragon that was defeated by a lowly Earth Pony?”

The Draconic Celestia was taken aback. She didn’t seem quite prepared for an answer like that. Her eyes locked onto the blue-gold orbs of this odd floating novelty and stepped closer.

“She was mine. It’s an insult to take what is owned, even worthless things.”, the dragon’s tone came out either as a threat or a flirt. Perhaps in her world it was one in the same.

“Even if a better possession replaced the first?”

Arcane hovered closer and showed no fear, no hesitation to come within Celestia’s reach. Her knees bent and thighs reached to curl around the tall white dragon’s waist. She let her inner thighs touch that smooth stomach.

Celestia perked an eye-ridge and tilted her head.

“Is that a sword?”

Arcane lowered her muzzle to brush the side of a smoothly scaled neck as her white hand rose up to stroke one of those prismatic horns on Celestia’s temples.

“A little blunt for a sword. And a little too thick, don’t you think?”

Celestia began to chuckle as her taloned hands brushed up Arcane’s thighs, one lightly tracing the contrasting line between black and white along the mare’s back.

Arcane could feel something broad and tipped brush under her tail, right along the buttoned slit in the rear of her fatigues.

“My sweet little thing, you’re not the only one in possession of a ‘sword’.”

Chapter 10: Spread Thin

Minutes before

Arcane slowly rose above the ground and thought back on Glimmer’s trick. A speed spell compounded with a teleport spell. Add a dash of powerful focus and you can appear as if in multiple places at once. The trick was moving so fast that nobody noticed you flicking back and forth between one series of actions to the next.

She could feel the corruption slowly getting worse. It worked so much faster along motor neurons and her spine, but the brain itself seemed to take longer. What she was about to do would accelerate that process from hours to minutes. Still, if worse came to worse she knew the Seven Knights would be more than enough to take her down. One villain in exchange for eight? Seemed reasonable.

A figure along the horizon climbed into the sky and began an arch down to where Arcane hovered. It was only a vague dot in the sky with ghostly chains dragging behind it. Arcane took note of each vampiric connection between Queen and slave. At the other end of each was her target.

“Step one, Divide the consciousness into nine parts. Step two, assign locations, Step three, teleport faster than the naked eye can see between those nine locations. Step four, pray this doesn’t drive me insane.”

—

The Knight of Laughter lived up to her name. Pinkie Pie giggled her madd head off as she straddled her Draconic counterpart, hands gripping her enemies' boney wings to steer her about. The dragon was screeching in panic, or perhaps elation, as they banked in mid air and flew into a spin. Pinkie yanked back on both wings as they met the ground only to rise into the air.

Arcane flicked into existence as they climbed into the clouds. Her hand extended for Pinkie’s face as the mare’s finger tips began to glow. The Knight of Laughter gasped as a shimmer ran through her sky blue eyes.

Arcane felt a stressful second go by. Part of her worried the overload of information would send Pinkie Pie into convulsions. Her worries were quickly pushed aside as she yelled out something about ‘all those pretty colors”. Of course. She was one of the chosen knights. Their power held a heavier burden than anyone’s. Well, perhaps Silent Brook.

“Lady Pie, Break the chain!”

—

The Knight of Honesty grit her teeth in rage as she grappled her dragon self under one arm. The black armored Applejack sprinted through the bleak avenues of Cinder’s slum, thankfully abandoned by now. All of her focus locked onto the brick wall of a dead-end alley. The dragon flailed wildly but couldn’t break the grip. Solid ram-like horns were the first thing to burst through the wall, followed by the earth pony herself.. The building collapsed behind them as Applejack looked for the next thing to bash her opponents head into.

“Damn you, ya’ hard-headed goat-lizard!! Why don’t you just pass out already!?”

Arcane tried repeatedly to keep up with the fellow Earth Pony but it was useless, Applejack was a warrior and Arcane had the Earth Pony equivalent of nerd legs. If she couldn’t beat her in a race then she would just have to cheat. She appeared thirty meters ahead of the black Knight with a glowing hand outstretched. Behind Arcane was a wall scoured in letters made of fire.

‘Break the chain!’

—

To the East of Cinder lay the ‘Baths’. Sinkholes made of hardened clay which emitted steam. Many opened into caverns dotted with pools of warm spring water and simmering underground lakes. Both Flutterys found themselves here suspended upside down by emerald cocoons made of a fishy smelling silk. At the edge of a deep pool a giant face made of jagged fangs and eyes too numerous to count deliberated their fate.

Flutter shy and her dragon-self gazed at the horrifying hybrid of eel and spider with eyes glowing pale yellow. Soft, barely audible voices spoke over one another desperately.

“Free me, Mr. Eel-spider.”

“No, Free me. We are sisters.” The dragon Flutter hissed softly.

An audible grunt echoed off the cavern walls shortly before a large six-eyed fish sailed past the mares and over the beast’s head. The creature abandoned them for the easy meal as hoof clips hastily came closer.

Arcane ran a finger down the green cocoon trapping The Knight of Kindness. A sizzle from her finger tip could be heard as the Earth-mare used a fire spell to destroy the strong cocoon. Once free, Arcane caught Fluttershy before the Pegasus could meet the rock below.

Flutter shy let out a soft squeak as she landed in Arcane’s arms. The Earth mare’s cheeks began to glow with a pink and lavender blush as she looked down utterly, dumbstruck. Flutter shy opted for an enchanted robe instead of armor. The silk rested easily on her body, suggesting it was all she wore. It gave little to the imagination and traced out her gifted form far too well for a notoriously shy pony.

Arcane cleared her throat as she lowered the Knight into her hooves. She passed her hand over those aqua green eyes.

“She isn’t what she seems. Break her chain and save her.”

—

The desert froze over, at least where the Knight of Inspiration fought. Rarity’s dragon counterpart did her best to take to the sky. Her talons clinked on thick sheets of ice that spread meters ahead of her, the hard slick surface making her stumble desperately. Her wings clung to her back, every joint cemented together with thick chunks of frozen co2.

Rarity skated on her hooves with hands behind her back and the poise of a model. Her Diamond-like horn glowed like a beautiful ghost over the Diamond mark on her forehead. She hummed to herself, casually firing pale cyan beams of magic to make sure her opponent never regained flight.

Arcane remembered hoof skating when she was a child. She slid beside Rarity and seemingly waved hello with glowing fingers. The white Unicorn raised an eyebrow at the odd mare before tilting her head and looking past her.

“The chain needs to go, don’t you think, Lady Rarity?”

—

“What the hell do I do now?!”

Arcane felt her heart slamming in her chest. She hovered in darkness that sometimes broke with violent blue bolts of lightning. Sometimes they were natural, sometimes they carried the insane whoop and holler belonging to the Knight of Loyalty and her dragon self.

“Damnit, time to go nerdy. AOE attack!”

Arcane screamed out as she raised her hand. The spell spread in a swelling shell all around her. She could feel that rainbow haired speed demon sail through her area of effect spell. Next came a booming voice. A little bit of thunder spell belted out in an echo that churned the storm clouds.

“Break the chain!”

—

Arcane felt sweat mat the fur to her body. Deserts were hot but there was actual magma in puddles around her. She ran past a rock that had been cut in half, the flat edge still glowing and molten.

All she needed to do was follow a trail of devastation to find the Knight of Redemption. Sunset Shimmer looked fierce with the swirling firestorm for a horn over her blazing sun mark. With hands on fire she shot bursts of flame at her dragon counterpart as it dipped and swooped in attempts to claw and scar her enemy.

“Lady Sunset?”

The Knight looked over for only a split second at Arcane. Those emerald eyes went from scornful to welcoming in two seconds, then scornful again as she focused on frying her dragon counterpart.

“In the fur. How can I help you?”

“I… actually I’m here to help you…”

Arcane said meekly. Arcane formed a crush when she was fourteen and Sunset was a squire. Even when Sunset attacked Celestia and momentarily became a demon she was still smitten. Time and wisdom only made her closer to perfect.

“There’s a chain linking the dragon to our main enemy. Chances are your dragon self doesn’t even want to fight. Here, see for yourself.”

Arcane bashfully spoke out those words and waved her glowing fingertips over Sunset’s blue-green eyes.

—

The Knight of Friendship locked eyes with her Dragon self. Both had hands glowing bright with spells and brains working overtime to anticipate the next move. Both hadn’t moved in over an hour. Knees creaked, heads began to droop yet neither of them could see a window of opportunity. Knowing thy enemy was an advantage, but not if the enemy knew exactly as much as you.

Arcane bit her bottom lip as she silently walked up to Princess Twilight herself. She was about to teach her something! Her mouth went dry as she spoke into Twilight's ear. Her hand waved near the true Alicorn’s purple eyes, but didn’t dare break Twilight’s focus.

“I’m lending you my sight. At her back is a chain that connects her to their Celestia. It’s using Dragon Twilight's remaining life force like a battery. Also, she’s leaning heavy on her left foot. Just call it ‘Earth Pony intuition'. Best of luck.”

“Wait, who are you?”

Arcane heard Twilight speak. That filly-like shyness spiked so high that she just couldn’t parse two words together. Now was a better time than ever to just poof.

—

Glass riddled the beautiful marble floor. Wind whipped the shreds of curtain left behind from Dragon Celestia’s dramatic exit just minutes ago. After a short wait the team figured she would be gone and fighting. If they were going to cut off the enemies only escape and/or source of reinforcements then now was the time.

Ivar Gears stood on her knees with the metallic backing of Celestia’s mirror on the ground. Inside the arcane device were hundreds of small gears carved from an eerie green gemstone. The inner workings spun without any obvious power source nor did any of the gears seemed to have a function. All Ivar had to go on was her years of experience and study with magical devices.

“Can you please hurry this up.” General Raven stood with his back to Ivar, his ebony horn out and the blue CRE glowing from his right ear.

“Have you ever heard of the ‘Broken Mirror’ theory?”, Gears said casually as she ran a thin brass stylus ending with a crystalline tip along one gear at a time.

“In middle school, I think. Why?”

“It’s believed our universe and countless others were created when a mirror much like the one I’m working on broke. This caused a rift that smashed two universes together. The fusion resulted in a singularity that formed hybrid universes plus, paradoxically, the two origin realities where the mirror never broke in the first place.

In other words, there’s a chance I’ve screwed up 600,000 times and don’t know it. So, If you want to see a reality where I shut this thing down safely then stop bitching.”

“Dad?”

Raven and Ivar jumped as a third voice spoke up. Ivar dropped her stylus and leaped back into a three point stance. Raven let out a falsetto scream and shot off a beam of black energy that burnt a whole in the ceiling.

Ivar rushed forward without a word and cupped her daughter's face. “Gremlin, what the hell happened to you? What kind of earring is…”

Arcane leaned into a tight hug before pulling back. “I don’t have a lot of time right now so let’s talk about that later.”, Arcane brushed her white hand along her fathers temple. A glimmer ran over the grey orbs.

“You’re the best saboteur the military has, but I need you to be the fastest. I’m distracting her, I think. Anyway, again, beside the point. Shut this thing down. Just trust your eyes.”

Arcane spoke with haste. The part of her mind that stood in the palace wasn’t aware of the others. This version of her didn't ride on a dragon’s back or awkwardly gave Twilight advice. This version wasn’t seducing the Dragon Celestia to buy them time, but a flurry of vague phantom sensations remained. It reminded her of the feeling just after something brushed against her, the traces of heat or cold left over from a previous contact.

One in particular felt disturbingly penile and dangerously close to her tail.

Ivar looked around slightly dazed, her eyes darting from one corner of the room to the other. In her wisdom she closed her eyes before the overload of information became too much. Arcane gave a bitter sweet smile when she realized something. All those times her power overwhelmed her, all she needed to do was close her eyes.

Her father was the Hero of this story. She always was. Arcane hoped to have a heart like that one day.

“I love you, Dad.”

Chapter 11: White Ash

She silently wondered how far this had to go before it was all said and done. Her muzzle dragged gently along white scales and up to the base of Celestia’s crown of horns. Her teeth parted and gently nipped at the border of prismatic ivory and scale. As she did, her eyes focused on those gazelle-like spires.

Arcane felt a piece of her return from the spell. Memories of awkwardly speaking to Twilight synchronized with the piece that seduced the dragon. It didn’t occur to her until now, but her ability to see magic was diluted along with her focus. The ability to see hidden power returned to her yet remained faded, barely visible at all.

There were nine horns in total, and around all but the center horn was a faint spectral cuff attached to a chain. The one her eyes focused on, the one on the far left, was cracked and lacked its chain. Arcane didn’t dare say the words out loud, but her thoughts were clear.

This bitch has an hp bar.

—

Pinkie Pie flew off her double, her right hand gripping a single wing. The pink dragon joined her mare double in a laugh so high pitched it sounded like screams. Well, maybe one of them was screaming. The pink mare reached back into her puffy hair to rummage around, a glimmer of pink magic around her wrist.

“Guess what time it is!”

She pulled out a blue blunderbuss with a barrel thicker than her thigh.

“Party Cannon time!”

The mare took aim five meters downward where the ghostly chain linked around Dragon-Pie’s ankle. With a grin that could scare a chaos god she pulled the trigger.

—

The orange flames flickered weak as black bones struggled to get onto her feet. Every attempt was a failure. Her world was spinning. Her unnatural sight swayed hazily as a huffing pony with freckles on her cheeks walked over with the remains of a fallen building. A thick length of rebar attached to a block of concrete.

Applejack screamed in blind rage as she swung the makeshift hammer down onto that damned chain.

—

Flutter shy stood two meters from her cocooned counterpart. Her legs shook and bowed as her shoulder hoisted up the magic chain.

“Please hurry!” She squeaked out.

A large head with too many eyes and too many teeth opened its massive mouth. It bore down and growled as the magic links buckled before vanishing in white sparks.

—

Rarity lay on the ground with her Draconic twin fast asleep, head in the mare’s lap. Flesh and scales slowly returned to the Dragon Rarity. Just eight paces from the two was a tall scythe made of ice and a deep gash in the frozen soil.

Rainbow Dash veered away from the multicolored flames of her dragon self. It growled and scanned the horizon, beady eyes twitching left and right. A ring of multicolored light exploded in the distance, but by then it was too late to move. A streak of blue severed her chain before the sonic boom reached her ears.

—

Arcane would never know what Sunset told her dragon self. She only knew the last thing she witnessed before vanishing. Sunset wrapped her arms around the dragon version as the mare stomped her chain. The creature of flames and black bone leaned in with a cry that broke her heart.

—

Twilight relaxed her stance and began to walk. Her destination wasn’t quite towards her purple flamed double, but perhaps one meter away. The dragon cocked her head as it guessed and double guessed this absolutely confusing tactic.

Twilight tapped her temple and cast the very same spell that odd voice cast on her moments ago. The dragon’s hollow eyes glimmered. The creature looked down to what her mare double was picking up. The dragon growled and swung a claw down near her ankle, the magic severed in a bright white spark.

—

Ivar gazed at the emerald gears with a new set of eyes. The sheer potential was there. She could reprogram it to go anywhere. She could rearrange it into a reality finder and go to a world where she was a Goddess.

“Screw that.”

She spoke out loud as she reached up and pulled a small gear off its mounting. The mirror flickered and dimmed into dead glass. For good measure, Ivar kicked it over so the damned thing shattered into a million useless pieces of mundane mirror.

—

Arcane’s sight grew clearer as parts of her mind returned. The memories of what she saw overlapped themselves in a matter of seconds. If she wasn’t technically an Alicorn right now this would have utterly broken her. How Starlight did it with her talent alone was mind boggling.

Celestia fell onto her knees leaving Arcane hovering where she was. The mare floated backwards and landed on her hooves to watch the dragon queen struggle to get legs under her. Every failed attempt left her weaker than the one before. On the third attempt she nearly fell onto her face.

When it became obvious to Celestia all was over, she simply fell back and sat. Her blue eyes were growing pale, her right horn crumbling inward like a brittle hollow shell collapsing under its own weight. Arcane assumed there would be curses, growls, and spitting. No. Celestia looked up at the mare with a serene smile, a faint but happy smile.

The black and white mare had an urge she really couldn’t understand at that moment. Her feet moved almost as if by instinct. She lowered herself and leaned against Celestia’s side. It made no sense, but she didn’t worry when Celestia’s head rested between the mare’s ears.

Arcane could feel moisture in her hair. Tears, perhaps?

“Are you trying to redeem me, pet?”

Arcane laughed softly, quietly.

“Do I look like a Knight of Harmony? No. I think both of us know that was never a possibility.”

Arcane heard the white dragon laugh just as softly. The sound was weak, tired. It told of one who recognizes their own kind. The Dragon Celestia was too eager, too ambitious to ever accept redemption. If she had accepted mercy it would have been a calculated lie. In fact, if she had any strength left in her arms then Arcane would be in mortal danger. They both silently acknowledged it and felt a perverse bond in that reality.

“I was a stubborn fool from the day I was born. I ignored my sister when she was in pain. I banished her to the moon’s shadow because I was too proud to reach her. I was supposed to find champions to do what I could not. I betrayed the spirit of my world and killed it. By then, there was no going back, there was no forgiveness for me. All I had was this path, no matter where it led.

Now, I have nothing left to lose. Pet, promise me something. Please do not become me.”

Arcane’s left eye grew wet, that gold, corrupt eye was crying.

“I promise.”

A pile of ash ran over Arcane’s shoulder. The dry grey powder was all that remained of a fallen queen. The wind took it away, leaving a thin coating in her fur and hair.

She slid the white earring out and looked at the pearlescent gem as it closed into a rosebud. Her fingers squeezed until it cracked, the fragments of stone blowing away like ash.

“‘We’ promise.”

Chapter 12: Happily Ever After, and After that

Two years later

Age 22

The temple was humble in comparison to any one would find in the city. There were no marble pillars or fine statues, just sturdy wood columns and lacquered figures depicting the Goddesses and Chosen of ages past. The long structure only had a Melon-sized bell in a five meter tower, just enough to let the neighbors on the edge of town know it was time for worship.

The pews held a total of three hundred, one hundred and fifty for each side of the narrow aisle. The stained glass windows were old, yet lovingly preserved. Each came to a peak and depicted the many miracles and victories of their people, yet none new enough to tell of their new Queens. The people of Everfeild had other, more fascinating, structures dedicated to Queen Twilight and Queen Sunset.

Two Fillies entered from the double doors at the Temple entrance. The one to the left wore a yellow robe, the one to the right wore silver. They walked slowly down the center where ponies of magic and mechanical talents sat on the left, alchemists and geologists sat on the right. Many cried, though some older stallions did their best to look stoic. One craggy faced chocolate stallion managed to keep his eyes dry until his wife nudged him just so softly. The Five-Star General blubbered decades of pent up tears over the next few hours.

“My little spitfire is all grown up!!”

The Fillies stopped before the priestess and bowed. Before them stood an elderly earth mare with broad red-rimmed glasses and sleek gunmetal grey hair braided down her side. Flowers and sprigs of every color dotted the braids, and at the very end was a gold and silver bell. In the old mare’s hands rested a meter length of red ribbon, across her shoulders a flowing grey silk shawl.

The young ponies turned away from each other and began to walk parallel to the first pews. The gold-adorned filly passed General Ivar Gears as she comforted Arcane Quill. Both were a touch greyer, Ivar with a new scar down her left eye.

The silver-adorned fillie passed Three-Star General RockBreaker. His usual stoic face remained unbroken, but tears ran down his cheek for an uncanny effect. The heavy-set mare beside him pat his face now and again with a handkerchief, reflexes too agile for RockBreaker to snatch it away.

The young ponies acted in unison as they reached for two doors which faced one another. They turned handles and walked backwards to swing them open.

“If you are so brave, take a step”

The old mare spoke before two figures in white dresses stepped out, their heads covered in veils.

“If you will respect, take a step”

Both moved a pace closer.

“If you will honor them as friends, come forward.”

Three more steps left.

“If your bloods mingle, then what is most precious you share an equal duty.”

Two more steps. Arcane could see those brown eyes through their veil.

“To you I swear the truth, to you I give my laughter, to you I pledge my kindness, from you comes inspiration, to you my heart will be loyal.”

They met one pace away. One last step. Arcane and Alloy reached out and laced the fingers of their left hands. Arcane had the length, but Alloy’s was stronger.

The Priestess wrapped the red string around their joined hands before stepping back a pace.

“May the Goddesses bless your union.”

Arcane’s right hand lifted Alloy’s vail as her wife lifted her’s. They took their final step and met lips as the sounds of joy thundered within. From high above a small bell was rung as hard as the old mare’s arms could pull.

Three Months Later

The two mare’s looked at each other as they sat on the living room couch. Eyes stared long and focused as if playing poker.

“You ready?”, Alloy said quietly, nervously.

“No, you?”

Arcane looked down at the tiny oblong tab of plastic in her hand. Her thumb hovered over a small window in that plastic device.

“Oh Goddess, No.”

Alloy said with a shudder in her tone and the same sort of tool under her thumb.

“Okay, on three. One, two…”

They spoke in unison, an odd talent they had picked up since living together.

“Three!”

Each lifted their thumb to expose the little window. Inside the plastic stick was a tab of cotton one had to pee on. Gross, yes, but that’s how pregnancy tests worked.

Both displayed a bold plus sign. That night their foreplay was an exhaustive planning session to build a nursery into the second floor.

Twenty Five years later

Age 47

A loud thump came from the Janitor closet of Crystal Bay Royal Hospital. Mops and brooms spilled out along with two panicked mare’s running hand in hand down the sterile corridor.

Alloy and Arcane turned a corner and nearly knocked a white furred nurse off her hooves.

“Glad I still tinker?”, Arcane said with a laugh. In her right ear were a pair of rosebud earrings, one pink and the other lavender. Only the lavender petals were in bloom, the other responsible for Pegasus magic and offline at the moment.

“Ha! You should have kept the white one.”, Alloy barked out.

“You scare me sometimes.”

Arcane said with a smirk as they began to slow down. To the right of the corridor was a large sign that said ‘Operation Room, be quiet.’

“You know I’m a Unicorn, yeah?”, the Green mare said, reaching back and slapping Arcane’s ass.

“Yes, you could have teleported us here, But I staked out this place beforehand. Your luck, we would have accidentally appeared in the Security Guard break room or something.”

Allow snickered.

“My wife, the professional break-in artist.”

Arcane wanted to quip right back but opted to roll her eyes. They were close now.

The two stepped towards a large window that looked into the room. They squeezed hands as they watched a tall green mare hold the hand of a canary yellow mare.

“Breathe in. Breathe out. You got this, GoldShore.”

The Emerald mare spoke softly as she leaned in carefully. Her own stomach was nearly nine months heavy with an unborn foal, but some pain in her knees and gut wouldn’t keep her from supporting her wife.

The yellow Mare’s thighs were spread as a red stallion in scrubs leaned between them. After a nerve racking and painful eight minutes came the wailing of a newborn. After the umbilical was cut and the child wrapped in a towel she was placed in mother’s arms.

Emerald Gears leaned in to look at her bundle of joy. The little pale blue face stopped crying when their eyes met. Her tiny hands reached and Emerald leaned closer so her daughter could touch her muzzle.

The two watched as their oldest daughter became a father. Arcane became lost in that moment despite a worry that creeped up her spine. She did her best to focus on this and not their reflection in the glass. Alloy had a streak of grey in her mane, more weight in her hips. Twenty five years was good to her wife, but seemed to forget Arcane entirely. She still had the face of a twenty year old.

The best sixty years of her life later.

Age 107

The Temple grounds were quiet in the fading magenta light of sunset. The ancient cobblestone streets of Everfeild cast long shadows as amber street lights came alive with Faye fire.

Arcane looked at the tall ornate statue QuickSilver had carved himself. Alloy stood true to life, as beautiful as the day they met. This would stand for hundreds of years. Some will forget who this pony was, but she never would.

“I just…”

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Her face grimaced and she fought off the need to break down and scream. So many years separated the grown mare from the filly she was, but moments like this wished she were so young. How simple it was in those days to just let out your emotions in their rawest form? To beat your fists into the ground as the tears fell freely.

“I just wanted to say goodbye. I have no idea if you can hear me, or if you’re already reincarnated in some other reality, in some other time. If I could leap into the source and find you then I would without any regrets. I know what I would do, so it’s good I can’t. I suppose the multiverse is safe from yet another determined widow.

Suicide crossed my mind so many times that I lost count. I just know you all too well. You’d kick my ass the moment I crossed over, probably divorce me on the spot.”

She laughed weekly between sniffles, smiling through tears that fell into the dewy grass.

“I want to believe we will meet again one day. Existence is a huge place, and I have no doubt you’re somewhere out there. I won’t give up, not until this damn magic wears off or I get very unlucky. Live or dead, I swear I will find you again.

Until we meet again. Just know how much I love you.”

Arcane leaned in and kissed the stone lips of her statue, brushed her cheek, and turned away.

“Hey Grandma.”

A blue mare stood in a white sundress and broad brimmed hat. She was beginning to show her age, the corners of her eyes sporting wrinkles. Arcane remembered her when she was just a tiny foal curled up in her mother’s lap. Now her granddaughter was a grandmother.

Arcane crouched down and grabbed a book bag from the ground, the many pockets of it bulging with various supplies for her trip. Before she slung it over her shoulder she pulled out a thick book with weathered pages and a thick leather cover.

Silent Brook accepted the book without question, holding it to her chest.

“That’s everything I ever worked on, all the notes that matter. Honestly, some things in there I shouldn’t own. It’s safer with the Queens.”

Brook gave a gentle nod, never moving her sightless eyes from Arcane.

“You have no idea how relieved I am right now.”

Arcane smirked and tilted her head, “Spoilers, remember? Probably not a good idea to let me know, or tease me with a mystery for that matter.

How are the Queen’s, speaking of them?”

Arcane changed the subject, mostly for her own sake.

“They’re a handful, but manageable. Twilight keeps wanting to schedule her own time table. I swear she often forgets why she hired me in the first place. Oh, and they are talking about foals now.”

“Can Alicorns even get pregnant?”

Silent Brook chuckled, “Not the issue. Not every mare has a penis, you know.”

“Ah. Yes. Sometimes I forget that. Well, page five in the potions section will help. Just read dosage carefully and leave the room before it kicks in.”

Arcane formed a nostalgic smile, her mind going back decades.

“There’s a funny story about that. Mutual friends of your grandmother and I, Lyra and Bon-something. They were mares that wanted foals of their own so…

You know what? Find me in a reality where you’re an adult and not blood related to me. That would be far less awkward.”

Silent Brook broke out in a laugh so loud it echoed down the cobblestone streets. A far off window lit up with candlelight. A faint series of curses responding.

Arcane kissed Silent Brook’s forehead before she stepped back.

“Wait, what’s that?”

Silent pointed at the edge of Arcane’s black ear. Along the edge were seven simple rings, one of each color forming a rainbow.

“This? It’s a power regulator. I’m teleporting to a new reality. I’d rather miss my target than use so much magic it pushes me into Alicorn levels of power. Once was enough.”

Arcane paused and looked at her with a flat expression.

“You knew that already. Didn’t you?”

Silent Brook shrugged her shoulders with a cute smile.

“I just like hearing you explain things.”

“Goddess… you are definitely from Alloy’s side of the family.”

She spoke as her right index finger tapped one of two earrings in her right ear. The lavender rose bud bloomed. Arcane flicked out of existence.

The magic that kept Arcane from aging would persist for quite a while. Before she began to finally grow old she would see thousands of different realities, but those are stories for a different time.

The End.