In the depths of the ever mysterious forest that is the Everfree, there lay a singular path that is unhindered by the inhabitants of nature. Though, actually finding that path spelt quite the trouble if you didn't know where to look.
"Good. We shouldn't be found for now." A feminine sounding voice spoke out in the darkness.
She wore a simple brown robe and had a large bump on her back. Her mane was caked with dirt and mud whilst her breathing was heavy as if she had just finished a workout. Her eyes shone a dim brown as her mane boasted a much darker colour. Most importantly, her horn was cracked in several places, even missing some parts here and there.
Using her as support was a stallion with a pained expression on his face. His fur was a glossy grey, and his mane was a dirtied black with a white stripe going through it. On his back was a black scythe, almost twice his height with a giant blade that heavily resembled a crescent moon. He wore a similar robe, colored pitch black.
He groaned as they kept on walking, holding his gut area with a hoof. Heavily panting from their recent escape.
"Gears." He spoke softly as his pure black eyes seemed to somehow lose more colour.
"What is it?" Gears asked back with irritation.
"I need you to leave me and complete our goal." He spoke with conviction.
"Unacceptable, Ash. Many of us may have already fallen, I can't leave you to die in this damned tunnel." She replied with an annoyed frown.
Ash stopped walking, earning a glare from Gears as he stared back with a frown of his own.
"I don't have much of a chance to live through this, Gears. I'll only be a burden to you from this point on."
"Fuck. No." She said with a darker tone. "Just walk it off pussy." She gave a weak insult and tried to move again.
Only to slump slightly as she felt her partner's hoof leave her side. With a sigh, she turned around and faced him.
"Fine. You're injured, but you're gonna at least let me try to patch you up." She held a firm gaze.
Ash opened his mouth to refuse, but found himself silent as he stared at his partner. After several seconds of a silent debate in his head, he finally relented with a sigh.
"Alright, but we can't spend more than half an hour on me, else you won't have enough time to reach our goal." He said with a tone that allowed no arguments.
"We, you prick. You're not dying here." Gears replied back and took the scythe off his back.
With slow movements, Ash laid his body against a wall with a grunt. The walls dirtied his fur, but his attention was focused on the gash on his side.
Gears, now relieved that his partner wasn't planning to die here, or at least, allow her to change that, had a small smile and took off her coat.
"What even is that?" Ash asked with a suspicious frown.
"It's a backpack." Gears answered with a flat expression.
"Right." Ash stared at the technological contraption made of metal on her back.
There were plenty of dim lights in certain places, becoming a pattern of blue. Gears placed it on the ground and pressed a button the top.
With a clicking sound, the contraption opened up tk reveal a rather large compartment.
"Drink this." She said and handed Ash a bottle of yellowish liquid.
"Hell is this?" He asked as he looked at the liquid, suspicious of its contents.
"If I call it whiskey, can you just drink it?" Gears responded, annoyed as she brought out some more random supplies.
Ash looked at the bottle, then at Gears, and back at the bottle again with a contemplating face. After thinking for a while, he finally relented with a shrug and took a swig.
After a small coughing fit, he held the bottle away from his face as he stared at it with a fearful expression.
"This shit tastes like piss!" He complained to Gears who suddenly stomped down on her backpack.
With a grunt, she pulled a piece off. "It's got alcohol in it at least, so it's your choice." Gears started to take the inner parts off.
"What're you doing?" Ash asked.
"Can't make fire with the stuff I had. I'll have to make an electrical fire." She answered as she finally got her desired parts.
Ash simply stared, a bit dumbfounded on how she can and can't make fire at the same time. "Ok"
She put some exposed wires together and covered it by ripping a piece of her cloak.
"You can wait until fucking water boils right?" She asked with a bit of joking tone and held up a plastic bottle with the clear liquid inside.
She placed a metal scrap, barely shaped like a bowl on top of the cloth covered wires and poured some water on it.
"How much of the metal wire do we need?" She asked Ash.
"Only about a hoof worth." He responded and took another swig of the 'whiskey'.
She nodded her head brought out a sewing needle.
"Think this'll work?" She asked nervously and threaded the needle.
"Not much of a choice"
"Guess so." She put the needle in her mouth as she navigated her way through the broken contraption and exposed more wires.
Holding a few of them together, she pressed a button. A few sparks rang out and the cloth covering the exposed wires caught fire.
Gears hissed in pain as she let go of the wires.
"You good?" Ash asked with a worried face.
"I'm fine, just a small shock." She responded and turned to Ash while holding the water bottle. "Now, hold tight." She commanded and stepped closer.
Ash breathed deep, steeling his mind before giving a single nod. Gears nodded back, and with a hoof, she took off half his robe and exposed his wound.
She was a bit mortified at the deep wound, with blood practically overflowing from it. Before long, she poured water on it.
Ash gritted his teeth, an audible groan leaving him as his body tensed up. He slammed his hoof on the floor to distract himself from the pain.
A few seconds pass as he loosens up with a tired sigh. With another grunt, he repositioned himself.
"Guh. Fuck. Gears, I need you to check my shoulder." He spoke up.
"What!" Gears grew a frown as she pulled his cloak off entirely.
"How bad is it?" He asked.
"Well, it's not that bad." She said as she examined the injury. "The cut isn't too deep. Think we cauterize it." She stated and reached into an inner pocket of Ash's robe.
"No. Not that one." Ash refused as his vision started to become blurry.
"Fuck off. You said we were gonna heat this up anyway." Gears said and brought out a sheathed knife.
The sheathed was made of pure crystals and was decorated with different kinds of jewels of blue or blueish colors. The knife handle alone looked to be worth a fortune as it was made of pure gold with diamonds encrusted on the pommel.
"You'll be punished if you do this." Ash said in a worried voice.
Gears ignored him as she unsheated the knife, revealing a blade made of silver. Not a single imperfection was visible in the blade as it radiated a ghastly aura.
Ash could watch with a hopeless and intoxicated expression as he watched her hold the blade next to the fire. The blade turned red, heating up as it seemed to glow at its edge.
"Come on. She'll forgive." Gears said in a somewhat reassuring tone as she held the hot blade close to his shoulder. "Give me a count"
"Three." She held it more comfortably. "Two." Her attention was completely focused on the wound. "ONE!" A loud sizzling sound rang through the tunnel.
Ash gritted his teeth hard, almost cracking them as veins were visible on his neck. Hissing came from the wound as Gears held it down.
"COME ON, ASH! JUST A BIT MORE!" She encouraged as she held the knife tighter.
A few seconds of agony as Ash slowly lost more and more strength.
"DONE!" Gears shouted out as she took the blade away.
She found herself relieved as she looked the blade over, finding no flesh stuck to it whatsoever.
"Looks good." She commented with a small smile as she looked over the cauterized wound.
Quickly pouring some more water on it, she tore into her coat more and bandaged it up.
Ash's face became contorted in pain as he held his screams in. In the end, he let out a sharp breath as his body slumped down, panting heavily.
"Alright, onto the stitches." Gears spoke up and held the needle and thread over the now boiling water.
With a deep breath, Gears silently started to use her magic.
"Careful. Don't push yourself." Ash managed to let those words out.
Electricity started to spark around her horn, visually hurting her as her face was full of pained concentration. The needle and thread was dropped into the boiling water.
Heavily panting, Gears brought it back up with magic and finally let it drop to her hoof. She turned and looked at Ash with a determined look.
"Finish the bottle." She said as she stepped closer to him.
Ash simply nodded and drank the rest of the alcohol. With a tiny burp, she placed the bottle on the floor as Gears started her job.
"Ready?"
"Yeah."
With that, she carefully pushed the needle into his skin.
"GAH!" He yelled out in pain as his body convulsed.
"STAY STILL DIMWIT! YOU'RE GONNA BREAK THE DAMN NEEDLE!" Gears yelled back as she tried to hold him down.
Ash started pounding the wall with a single hoof as he looked upwards. His breathing became rougher as he choked a bit on his spit.
"Fuck." He cursed out silently as he struggled to stay calm.
"Alright, one more." Gears told him and pushed the needle through another part of the skin, letting it out.
"FUCK!" Ash yelled out in pain.
"Alright. That's one stitch. Just a few more to go." Gears said in a reassuring tone. "Just hang on a bit, okay?"
Ash groaned in more pain as his screams spread through the tunnel. His body tried to curl into a ball without his control, but Gears held him back as she struggled to both keep him calm and patch up his wound.
"COME ON, ASH! IT'S JUST ONE MORE STITCH! DON'T GIVE UP NOW!" Gears shouted at him, almost waking him up from his pain induced stupor.
Ash, however, continued to struggle as he could barely handle the pain anymore. Frustrated, Gears looked around her, hoping to find something that she could use to at least hold him down.
And she found it.
She stared at the scythe with a thoughtful expression. Then she poked at the wall, finding it to be solid enough for her.
With a grin, she grabbed the scythe as she positioned herself correctly. And with a swing, she embedded the scythe into the wall, holding Ash to it.
With a weak stomp, she held Ash's hind legs down as she held the bloodied needle and thread once more.
Determined more than ever, she pushed it into his skin once more. Ignoring his screams of pain, she pierced through one last time and completed the stitches.
"IT'S DONE, it's done. You can relax now." She told him and cut the thread off with the knife.
Ash was heavily panting as his eyes had a cloudy look to it. Gears quickly brought the bottle of water over and put it over his mouth. Ash drank in large gulps as his throat had been parched from nonstop screaming.
Gears took it away before he finished it so she could pour some over his newly stitched wound. It looked more like someone had stitched up a tear in a toy rather than fixing up a pony.
As the water was slowly poured over the wound, Ash stopped Gears with a hoof.
"You. Drunk some yourself." Ash said in a tired tone.
Gears only nodded and took a sip, only to quickly finish it once she realized how thirsty she was. Operating like that had taken a toll on her.
After she finished the water, she threw the bottle away and tore into the cloak. Tying some loose ends together, she managed to fully bandage the wound on Ash's side.
With a sigh, she laid against the wall next to Ash, comfortably laying right below there the scythe was.
"You owe me for this." She said with an exhausted voice.
"I'll pay it back if we come out alive." He responded with an equally tired voice as they laid there.
A few seconds of silence pass as they collect themselves, waking up from their tired minds.
"Come on. We need to move." Ash spoke up with a firm voice.
"Alright." Gears replied and stood up with shaky legs.
"When the time comes, I want you to make a run for it. If you request it from her nicely, she will likely grant it." Ash spoke up.
They'd finally walked out of the tunnel, emerging to the fresh air of the Everfree.
"I WON'T-"
"Don't. Please. If we get caught, it's over. She, is our only shot at a happy life." Ash spoke seriously.
Gears wanted to refute, but the logical part of her brain understood what he meant. The lightest sentence they'd recieve would be enough to destroy their lives.
"ASHEN GROUNDS AND OILED GEARS! YOU TWO ARE UNDER ARREST FOR TREASON! SURRENDER! WE WANT TO END THIS PEACEFULLY!" The two stared at the squad of ponies that emerged from different bushes.
Gears was slightly frightened as her eyes travelled to each guard. Ash seemed to be more annoyed than scared as he held the scythe.
"Guess we took longer than I thought." He commented calmly as he weighed his options.
"PLEASE, DO NOT STRUGGLE. YOU WILL FACE A MUCH LIGHTER SENTENCE IF YOU DO NOT RESIST ARREST!" Ash was becoming increasingly annoyed with the stallion that kept shouting at him.
As seconds pass, Ash sighed wearily. Suddenly, he threw the scythe towards Gears, who caught it and instantly ran through some bushes.
"OWL TEAM! AFTER HER!" The captain commanded.
As some tried to chase after Gears, Ash simply stood in their way with fearsome glare.
"Please. You're injured. You may die if we fight now." The captain spoke with a softer voice.
Ash simply stomped down, bringing up a dust cloud as the ground cracks under him.
"I AM MORE THAN CAPABLE TO TAKE CARE OF THE LIKE OF YOU!" He shouted as his very presence seemed to become much more than preciously.
A few of the guards almost fell to the ground in fear, almost collapsing from the immense pressure alone.
Panting lightly, Gears pushed through more and more bushes as she finally found her destination.
"Hang in there Ash." She muttered as she stepped closer to a door.
A singular door made of wood, standing alone in the woods with runes upon runes inscribed onto it. Gears held her horn tip to the door, forcing magic to run through it as the runes began to glow.
Gears was suddenly blown away from the door as it let out a wave of magic. She quickly pulled out the metal thread and tied it into a shape of a rune symbol.
With a grunt, she got up and got to the door. The held the rune right in the middle, where an empty spot lay, and slammed the rune into the door.
The door seemingly broke open, with only the frame standing tall. Gears quickly stepped inside.
"What the fuck?" She asked out loud as she appeared at a field.
She heard a sudden slam behind her. Turning around, she found that the door had disappeared.
With a bit of apprehension, she walked forwards in the field, hoping to find something that could help her.
"Oh. Right." She muttered and brought out the knife.
With a hiss of pain, she ran it along one of her hooves. Blood poured our of the wound as it fell to the ground.
Gears slowly walked in a perfect circle, creating a symbol on the ground using her own blood.
"It's good enough, right?" She asked none in particular.
The ground then trembled.
"Woah!" She was surprised as she almost fell down.
Shakily balancing herself, she took a few steps back in caution.
The circle she had drawn started to emit a light blue color as an altar slowly rose from the ground. Gears looked on with slight confusion and interest as she carefully stepped into the circle. Her injured hoof closed back up with a tingling sensation.
The knife she held started to glow too, emitting the same blue light. She confidently strode on forward with the blade in her mouth. As she approached, the stars themselves seemed to align together, creating the perfect harmony. The moon seemed to grow, ever closer, until it seemed to be large enough to fully block the sun.
On the altar, she saw a slot that emitted the same light from everything else. With a sharp breath, she held the knife in her hooves as she stared at the slot. With a short shout, she drove the blade into the slot.
A massive wave of magic almost blew her away as she only held on due to the knife. Teeth gritted as her eyes were forcefully closed from a blinding light. Slowly, her hold on the blade seemed to loosen. Bit by bit, her hoof was letting go of the handle.
And she was thrown away with one final burst of magic.
An aura, glowing a beautiful light blue, rose to the skies as a wicked black quickly overtook it. The pattern on the moon disappeared as a laughter filled with a savage and mocking nature rang through the field.
"FINALLY!" Nightmare Moon shouted towards the sky.
Gears looked at her with fear at first, but quickly turned to relief and happiness as she stared at her savior.
"Your Majesty!" She shouted in relief.
Nightmare Moon stopped laughing as she stared at Gears, who had bent her head down to the ground in a bow. A frown overtook her face as she kept on staring.
"WHO ART THOU!? AND PRAY TELL, JUST WHY IS THINE HORN BROKEN?!" She asked with an obvious sneer to her face.
"It-It's because, me and my partner were attacked while on our way to complete the ritual. I-I apologize for o-our mistake, your majesty." Gears stuttered out as she began to have a thought.
She was, not as nice as Gears had heard about.
Nightmare Moon clicked her tongue, scaring Gears even more as she started to realize just what kind of mistake she may have made.
"WHERE IS MINE WEAPON?! SURELY, THEE HAST DONE THINE RESEARCH BEFORE THIS RITUAL?!" Gears quickly took the scythe off her back and approached Nightmare Moon with careful steps.
"Here you go, your majesty. It has been kept in pristine conditions in the church of the night, ever since your, disappearance." Gears calmly explained as she kept her head low.
"Hmm." Nightmare let out a satisfied sound as she inspected scythe from different angles. "THEN THOU ART NO LONGER NEEDED!" She stated and swung upwards with the scythe.
To say Gears was surprised, would be an understatement. She stared with wide eyes at the blade that pierced through her underside. She could feel the blade close to her inside her as she could barely even utter a single word.
Nightmare Moon simply took her scythe back, allowing Gears to drop to the ground before walking away with a vicious grin, already sure of her victory.
Gears was panting. She could barely even register a thought as her vision began to darken. Her senses started to become numb. Her hearing was becoming dull.
She felt it.
She was dying.
She only heard her own heartbeat in pure darkness as her breathing was becoming ever so shallower.
As she slowly lost consciousness, she heard a single, loud thump.
Several years later.
"For homework, I want you all to try making this at your home. Make sure you have somepony older to do it with you!" A mare dressed in a pretty dress spoke out loud to a class full of foals. "Make it with them, not just let them do it for you. I'll be questioning you on how you made them." She spoke with a calm smile. "Understood?"
"Yes, Miss Parts!" The class replied back with smiles and enthusiasm.
The teacher smiled in happiness as she walked out of the classroom.
"Good afternoon, Miss Parts." An elderly stallion with a balding head and yellowish brown fur greeted.
"Ah, Mister Tales. Good afternoon." She greeted back with a smile. "And please, I told you to call me Silver." She finished calmly.
"And I told you to drop the 'Mister'." He said back in a joking tone.
They shared a laugh between them as the bell rang.
"Ah! I must be going, have a great weekend. Your husband seemed to be waiting for you at the entrance by the way." He quickly said and entered the classroom.
Silver gave a small chuckle before moving to the teacher's lounge to grab her stuff.
"Have good weekend!"
"See you Monday!"
"Bye! Get home safe!"
Plenty of other teachers gave their byes as she grabbed a coat and walked out.
She finally left the building. The sun was starting to set as a beautiful orange was cast on the sky. She let out a breath and watched it turn to mist.
"Winter is coming, I should bring out the winter clothes." She muttered to herself.
Suddenly, her ear itched as she felt a sudden burst of cold air on it.
"EEP!" Her body slightly jumped as she quickly turned around to see a figure wearing a hoodie. "Ash!" She yelled before quickly covering her mouth.
Ash let out chortles of laughter as he took off his hood, revealing his black mane and eyes. A single ring pierced through his right ear. "It's fine Gears, nopony's around here, are there?" He asked with a laid back attitude as he waved his hoof over the empty front yard of the school.
"We should still use our fake names, Grayed Earth." She responded with a slight frown. "Where's Steps?" She asked as she looked around.
"Right here." Ash responded and stepped to the side, revealing a foal sleeping on him. He was a colt, surprisingly, a pegasus with dark brown fur and deep black eyes with a light brown mane.
"He's tuckered out after spending the day with his friends, Snow Aurora, the male one, and the pegasus one." He said, trying to remember the names.
"Golden Dirt and Cloud Shaper. Steps is gonna be mad at you at some point if you forget, you know that right?" She finished with a slightly smug smile.
"Eh, he only ever talks about Snow." Ash responded with a nonchalant attitude.
"He still talks about the other two. Just, significantly less." Gears said with a slight laugh to her voice.
"Hey! Don't get the wrong idea!" An immature voice suddenly broke the two out of their talk.
"When did you even get up there!" Gears asked out, surprised to find her foal already on her back without her knowledge.
Ash only laughed out loud as Gears tried to catch her foal.
"Silent Step! You better get down from there! Or no desserts after dinner!" She threatened, successfully stopping the foal as his whole body freezes mid air.
"Ok." He calmly responded and stepped down to the ground.
"Sheesh, you've become quite scary after becoming a mother." Ash joked.
"Oh, please. I became like this when I first became your wife." She joked back and lifted her mane slightly, revealing a ring at the base of her broken horn.
Ash gave a few chuckles. "Indeed." He replied as he ran his hoof over the ring in his ear.
"Ugh, are you two done flirting? I wanna try today's specials at The Tasty Treat!" He complained with a small frown.
"Easy, Steps. They're not closing any time soon." Ash said calmly as he picked up Steps and put him on his back.
"Aren't the specials the same as last week's?" Gears asked out loud as they started to move away from the school.
"Yes! And they're as tasty as always!" He yelled to the sky.
"So?" Ash asked with a teasing voice.
"So, let's move it! Chop, chop, my stomach is rumbling for some of that curry oat cakes!" He finished with a rub of his belly.
"Alright my little warrior, I'll get you those cakes then." Ash spoke with similar theatrics.
"You mean, I'll get them?" Gears asked sarcastically.
"Hey! You make two hundred bits per lesson. That's a thousand bits a week!" Ash said in tone that accepted no arguments.
Gears playfully rolled her eyes with a small grin.
As they almost left school grounds, they stopped as familiar faces greeted them by the entrance. Gears gulped as she bowed her head towards the two. Ash bowed too, but his body was tense, ready to move if needed.
"Please, rise, my little ponies. We are at a school, a place of learning." Princess Celestia spoke softly with a warm voice.
The two rose, but the tension hadn't left their bodies as they gave fake smiles.
Only Steps stayed still as he stared at the two princesses with awe.
"Silent Step, I believe." Princess Luna spoke up as she stared at the colt. "I remember stopping your nightmare about, having loud steps?"
"Yeah! I had that dream, because I couldn't walk silently on metal!" Steps spoke with clear excitement in his voice.
Princess Luna gave a few chuckles as she stared into the eyes of the parents, not even a hint of recognition in them. Ash and Gears were relieved by this little detail as their bodies became less tense.
"Well, do not let us stop your evening plans. We all have business to do after all, some personal, and some not." Princess Celestia said with a small smile as she started to walk away.
"It was great meeting you your highnesses." Ash commented as he prepared to walk away.
"Ashen Grounds, I believe." Both Ash and Gears froze in their places as they stared back.
Princess Luna, stared with an emotionless gaze as her eyes felt like they were staring straight into their souls. As seconds pass, Ash tensed up as he silently signaled for Gears to run away if something happened. And finally, Princess Luna chuckled.
"A stallion like you would be a great asset to the Royal Guards. Come to the castle on Monday, Mister Grayed Earth." She said it all with a calm smile and moved on.
Silence descended the area as Ash and Gears slumped down, practically drained from all of their energy as Steps just looked with a confused expression.
"Who's Ashen Grounds?" He asked.
"Somepony long gone." Ash spoke up as they started to move.
As they walked, Princess Luna's words rang through Ash's mind repeatedly. His posture slumped as he gave a weary sigh.
"I guess I'll have to get that job after all." He said with a slight complaining tone.
"Just be glad that's all that happened." Gears added in.
"Wait! So, you're going to be a part of the guard? The Royal Guard?" Steps asked excitedly.
"It appears so." Ash replied in a tired tone.
"Cheer up, I'm planning on opening that bottle of whisky tomorrow." Gears hinted at something with her eyes.
Ash's sour mood seemed to instantly disappear. "Oh, alright then." He said in a nervous tone he barely masked with confidence.
"Blegh." Steps faked a vomit. "Stop flirting! It's so gross." He complained with a small frown. "If you're gonna be doing this all weekend, can you drop me off at Rory's?" He asked with a hopeful expression.
"Rory's?" Ash and Gears asked out loud.
"Yeah. Aurora." He stated clearly.
The two shared a look between each other.
"Sure, Steps. As long as you do your homework tonight." Gears gave her deal.
"I'll manage." Steps replied confidently.
Ash chuckled a bit as he glanced at Steps, who had a cloudy expression as he daydreamed about something.
"Just how did this start?" Ash asked in a joking tone.
"Wouldn't it be something like this?" Gears answered as she held his head in her hooves.
Slowly closing in, she gave him a kiss that lasted much longer than it should have. Yet, much shorter than Ash wished it to be. With a single laugh, Gears took the lead as she brushed her tail under Ash's chin with a teasing smile.
"Hey! That's cheating." Ash stated with a flush across his face as he sped up after her.
"You two are so gross." Steps commented as he held on to his father's hair.
Author's Note
Yo! 
This is a little something I wrote while out of town during the weekend, and wanted to finish it. The start was a bit rough since I wrote it on my phone, but I like how it turned out. 
So, thanks for reading. 
