This story is a sequel to One Wish For Nothing
She was once known as Princess Celestia; now, all call her Hecate, Empress of Clockwork World. Her machines soldier endlessly on, rebuilding a mechanical world for her subjects of steel.
But when a young pony colt is brought to her, to be taken in and hidden from the rest of the world, she finds herself struggling between ancient maternal instincts... and bitter memories of what happened to the last child she dared to care for.
Fourth story in the Songs of Lost Children series.
Chapters (10)
First error has been located.
That colon should be a semicolon.
"She's a cyborg with a heart of gold (and various other alloys probably) and he's a sheltered little colt; but what happens when one is to adopt the other?
Hecate and Thorn in, "Like Clockwork," Coming soon to a theater near you!
5239722
In my defense I'm pretty much still half asleep.
On the other hoof, I'm sure there's a billion other errors that I'll miss and will have to be pointed out to me.
Thanks very much, though.
THIS LOOKS EPIC.
5239794
Your story sounds awesome, but I am very leery of starting anything really long. It's difficult for me to dedicate time to reading stories. 
It's fun spotting the little tiny silly error in the first sentence.
5239836
Thank you. This story is totally shorter than my usual stories, actually.
Not. That that is all that reassuring, I know.
I mean, ~65K words may be out of your comfort range then, I dunno. About eight chapters. Much shorter than my usual output.
5239781
That pretty much sums it up. But this is like. Waaay different from my usual in a lot of ways.
I don't think there's one scene where ponies beat each other up, for example.
Thank you kindly for favin' it, too.
5239874
Maybe I'll get into this one. In about 2 months. 
That is certainly much shorter than usual.
5239805
Thank you kindly. I do hope it ends up proving a good weird. Using a lot of old characters of mine, but a little different from the genre I usually write in.
5239874
Only 65k instead of the usual 650k, eh? I'll just have to find some way to cope XD.
Will start on this as soon as it's finished, cant wait to read it!
been reading the 99 worlds saga again so great to see something new in that universe!
5239992
Hey, never know. My crazy might be easier to take in smaller doses.
5240600
Thank you kindly, and I much appreciate the fave in anticipation, too. It'll probably take about a week to get the whole thing up from here, since it's a pretty short story, and it touches on some different themes than I usually do. So I hope it proves enjoyable.
5241644
I am glad you approve.
Thank you kindly for favin' it, too. I hope you uh. Continue to enjoy.
5241644
funny enough but there was this video in the "similar" column on youtube
it may be just enough to help me cope with the psychologic trauma i got
The description to this story somehow reminds me to that of The Angel of The Sun, which is, by the way, the only story written by you that I plan to never read. Nope nope nope. I'm not saying that I'll never will, I just hope that I won't do it. Because reasons.
NIce to know that there will be snippets of Thesis' life. Sure, he may be narcistic asshole, but even he is way better than his father, to think of it.
5244213
I can understand that. Angel of the Sun is uh...
Very yes.
This won't be, you know, completely a nice story, but it will be... warm, I think. There will still be the usual horrors but... it ends up pretty nice, I think. At least, compared to my other stories.
I know that's not saying much.
So how far along in the timeline are we now? Cause last I read, the three stooges were on the run from hellheim, and now they have another kid who was working as hel's librarian. That's a bit of a jump-not that I'm complaining, just curious.
5246741
That's tricky to answer, because of the whole time-difference thing. They were on the run for at least a few years before, well, things happened, and they were forced to cut a deal with Hel. But then, thanks to the time difference between Helheim and Midgard, it's been... maybe another year added on to that. So let's say... around five years? Maybe a little longer.
Thank you kindly for favin' this as well. I hope it proves an enjoyable read.
5250067
Thanks for the explanation. I seem to have a pathological need to understand everything, so it helps. Also, the story is amazing so far, Hecate was always one of my favourites, so it's nice to see some more of her.
What's your deal with adding a new mother figure about as often as you add a new child to the stooge's kiddy menagerie?
I can't wait to see whom you give mother status to when Alicorn Mc. Mary Suemeister is borm...
So this is twilight and scriverblooms child? Yes?
This makes him the fourth child of the luna, scrivy, & twilight trio.
Right?
I haven't read your stories lately so I'm a little rusty on the details.
Too busy cumming!
5257372 I was trying to make a joke, sorry if it didn't come across.
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Although amusingly enough, Hecate is going to say something pretty similar next chapter anyway.
5257438
Third child, and the hint is in his coat colors who his mother is, since... I realized that I don't really specify until later on, and only if you're reading closely. But well. Fourth if you're thinking of Midnight Hour from the alternate timeline, that might be what's throwing you off.
No worries, though, I mean. The stories are a lot to read and remember. And I just hope your computer has faired better than his TV then. Sponges may help as well. I'm just glad that it's been so... welcomingly received.
5259676
The trios first was the Blood See(er) Scarlet Sage. (Adopted)
Then Antarus Mirus.
Then Innocence.
Now Thorn.
I thought only children of Twilight and Scrivy referred to Luna as mover (I don't have those keys on my keyboard)
Or is mover the same as"mutt" in that language?
Thorn should lose more limbs, it's easier than working out.
5259939
Oh, derp. Sorry. I took the literal interpretation, I wasn't thinking of their kids but... you know. The foals they physically had. My brain is dumb like that sometimes.
But oh, moder is old norse for "mother," so... that is why Bryn is always moder. They just never had to really deal with that with Antares and Scarlet, that's the big thing there: Twilight was still working things out by the time that Antares had learned to talk well enough to say things like Luna-Mommy and Twilight-Mommy, if I recall correctly. When Innocence was a baby, they needed an easy way for her to indicate which mare she was trying to get the attention of, hence... Mutt and Mama. And from there it kind of stuck, since Antares started calling Luna Mutt too. Although probably for different reasons, yes.
And fantastic as that diet is, Hecate would probably still make Thorn exercise every day. In terrible ways.
5260060
Cool.
Thank you for clearing that up. For awhile there you were putting out stories
not necessarily pertaining to "Blooming Moon/ 99 Worlds Saga" (main) characters.
The last story I read was "Glory Be" which left our hero's riding around hell on a motorcycle or
something causing havoc and mayhem.
What are they doing now that would require them to put their son into Hectate's care?
Was Discombobulation ever released? Will Pinkie Pie ever find love before she dies?
Will I ever stop cumming!?
5260223
I hope so. Otherwise you may output too much zinc and lose some of your sight. Then you couldn't read anymore.
But uh. Remember, they're exiles, on the run. Of course, Luna getting pregnant ruined all that, so they were forced to cut a deal I'll get into in Hecate's Orphanage. And the whole Freya/Celestia thing and Discombobulation will actually be a big part of that story, too, so I don't want to give away too much... and while I'm not so sure about Pinkie Pie, death is often only the beginning in these stories.
Be the Edward Elric. Wear the Automail.
Valthrudnir seemed to have some form of twisted respect for Hecate. How many of the ponies he meddled with had her measure of free will and original personality when he was done with them?
I'm confused? Is Hecate written as the sucessor to Thorn's real parents should they have (let's be honest here) another accident?
Or did she officially write Thorn off as the successive ruler of Decretum should she die?
5264450
He did, strange as it is. There is still one flashback yet that will finally answer a lot of questions about the whole Valthrudnir-Hecate thing.
5267140
A little of everything, really. Although for the most part, it's your general bureaucratic form: who do we contact in the event something happens to you.
I'm the girl in the pink, you're the one in the white; good analogy for this ending.
(warning, spoilers)
Further proof that Hecate is actually GLaDOS. Aaaaand now I'm imagining Valthrudnir with Cave Johnson's voice.
I wanna see Luna's reaction to having produced a "damnable poet".
I really want Hecate to get closure with Valthrudnir. Ginungagap remains accessible to denizens of the Void...
That, and Loki is there to give the main characters reason to go there and perhaps drag Hecate along with them.
The wild Celestia, at some point in it's life, undergoes a metamorphoses. This sometimes includes physical changes ranging from major to minor, and always includes a change of name and acquiring a mirror personality, a harsher reflection of it's previous behavior.
Wow.. so....uplifting
Wow, can't say I expected that from valthruidnir...almost makes me feel sorry for him. Almost.
5271727
Hecate does like putting people through murderous tests. And I'm sure Luna would have her share of complaints. The scary question is what would she do to Thorn's poor mechanical leg. But yes: I think I've only had one or two Celestias who ended up turning out uh... nice, for lack of a better word. Fun Celestia, and maybe Nice Celestia. It seems like the end route for every other one is something a little twisted.
Although those two, well. I could write books on their relationship.
5272137
Thankee.
Although I hope Hecate does not microwave Thorn.
5272149
It admittedly is a side of him we've never really seen before, yes. Even Valthrudnir has pieces of... humanity, for lack of a better word. At least once.
5272209
Fun celestia was best celestia.
Fantastic story, but such a tease XD
So hyped for Hecate's Orphanage!
5313713
Thanks. I'm honestly looking forwards to when I can finally start writing it myself. It should end up being quite a journey once I get going on it.
Finally put this on my to read list...
I'll get to it.
Needs more Slippers tho.
5833258
Every story could do with more Slap.
Interesting piece of work, I love learning more about Hecate, super interesting character. I do hope oneday we get an explanation for Thorn's abandonment, it seems at odds with how you've shown his parents, ponies very dedicated to family. Although overall an enjoyable bit of work, looking forward to reading more stories set in the Orphanage.
7505146
Yeah, Hecate has really grown since her... kind of unexpected introduction to the series. Writing with her has been one of my favorite things about the Orphanage, and her... multi-facetedness.
And yes, we'll talk a lot about Thorn and his birth parents, and from several different points of view. There's a few ponies who feel that he would have been much better off in the world they consider to be his real home, after all.
Thank you kindly for reading, and for all the faves, too. It's all very much appreciated.
7507349 I just realized that in my excitement to get to the next story I was forgetting to favourite them, oneday I'm going to reread everything in there. Got to finish all your stuff first :)