The Grey Path of Arcane Gears

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.”