The Grey Path of Arcane Gears

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.