The Rapture of Decretum
Chapter One: The Rapture Of Decretum
~BlackRoseRaven
The young colt smiled nervously up at her, bouncing a little on his hooves as Hecate only scowled. She studied him intently, her eyes roving slowly over the young pony: with his sapphire-blue coat, and shaggy silver-white mane, it was easy to see his mother and father in him. He had dark, almost-black eyes, and a ring jangled around his horn, still a little too big for him to wear properly: a simple silver band with a light blue stone that had been inscribed with a simple rune. An unassuming piece of jewelry, not magical in and of itself... but that symbol wasn't just decorative flair.
Hecate frowned deeper, and the colt awkwardly dropped to a halt on his rump, smiling lamely up at the mare. He shifted in front of her, unsure, and Hecate sighed before she reached up and rubbed slowly at her forehead with one mechanical hand, muttering: “This isn't going to work.”
The pony returned her glower to the colt after a moment, but... well, what was she supposed to do otherwise? It wasn't like she could just pass this duty off to a Dogmatist: Clockwork Ponies weren't exactly designed for dealing with foals, after all.
She sighed tiredly, then finally gestured out at the empty room, saying finally: “This will be your room. I expect you to spend most of your time here, entertaining yourself. I am very busy and Decretum is currently being repaired.”
“It looks like the whole world is being fixed up.” Thorn said with a smile, gazing up at Hecate... innocently, radiantly. She grimaced: she never got along very well with ponies who had particularly happy dispositions. “And um... this is really my room?”
Thorn looked over his shoulder, and what annoyed Hecate was that he seemed curious, not disappointed, at the fact said room was nothing but one large, gaping space with a metal floor, metal walls, and a metal ceiling. “It's pretty big.”
Hecate grunted, then looked down at the colt before sighing and saying finally: “I will have this furnished in the future. For now, I will have a bedroll and some blankets brought here for you. Food is available in this building's cafeteria at all times. I expect you to feed yourself and stay out of the way of my workers and the Orphans. We have enough to deal with as it is, after all.”
Thorn nodded hurriedly, looking respectfully up at Hecate, and Hecate scowled down at him for a few moments before she snapped: “What?”
“N-Nothing! I mean, thank you, Miss Hecate!” Thorn blurted out, nodding vehemently and making the ring around his horn jingle, and Hecate sighed tiredly and reached up to slowly rub at her forehead. At least her exasperation did a good job of hiding the awkward embarrassment she felt... and why the hell should she feel embarrassed, anyway?
She scowled again, then crossed her steel arms over her masculine, mechanical breast... before her eyes narrowed dangerously as Thorn held up a hoof, staring at her like he was a schoolcolt with a question for his teacher.
There was silence for a few moments, and Hecate had to resist the urge to drop her face in a hand before she said moodily: “Just ask. Don't waste my time.”
Thorn blushed and dropped his head nervously, and then he cleared his throat before asking hesitantly: “Um... Miss Hecate... what about the bathroom?”
Hecate sighed at this, and then she looked around the room before saying finally: “There are bathrooms and showers available near the barracks, halfway between here and the cafeteria.”
Thorn winced a little at this, shrinking his head, and Hecate glowered at him before asking distastefully: “What? Is that not good enough for you, 'young prince?'”
“N-No, no no no!” blurted Thorn, shaking his head rapidly before he smiled awkwardly up at Hecate, even as his cheeks glowed red in embarrassment. “I... I just don't know where-”
“I am not your mother. I am not here to mollycoddle you. As far as I am concerned, you are nothing more than a refugee that I have granted asylum here, and who is currently proving to be nothing but an annoyance, a distraction, and a drain on my resources.” Hecate said coldly, stepping forwards and pointing at him angrily, and Thorn trembled a little, staring up at her as he slowly lowered his head between his shoulders, biting his lip and looking as if he was about to cry.
Not that Hecate cared: she only continued to glower at the young colt before he lowered his head and whispered: “I... I'm sorry... I just... I mean, I don't... I mean...”
He stopped and looked down, shifting in embarrassment before he said meekly: “I... I don't want to be a nuisance, Miss Hecate. I promise I won't be. I'll stay quiet.”
“Good.” Hecate said irritably, and then she turned around and hammered the button by the door, which clanked before sliding open with a beep. Yet she hesitated all the same, shifting slowly on her hooves before she sighed a little and said grudgingly: “Come with me. I'll walk you to the cafeteria. Pay attention, because this is the only time I will do this.”
“Yes, Miss Hecate!” Thorn said hurriedly, nodding rapidly and wiping quickly at his eyes as he immediately brightened, scrambling after her. Hecate rolled her eyes as she stepped through the door, grumpily striding down the hall and doing her best to ignore the young colt almost hopping along at her side, hurrying to keep up with the enormous mechanical mare.
Hecate scowled a little at the colt hurrying along at her side: the young colt was looking up at her, with that 'trying to be brave' face she recognized from her own...
No, that wasn't a place she wanted to go. Her features hardened and she quickly turned her gaze forwards down the sterile, empty hall, saying coldly: “I want you to keep in mind at all times that this is to be considered a military facility, and you are now a civilian resident. You are to stay out of the way of both the Dogmatists and the other residents that are being brought here for training, the Enlisted Outworlders.”
The colt looked dumbly up at Hecate, who mentally rolled her eyes before she said irritably: “The Clockwork Ponies and the other guests, like you. Is that easier to understand?”
Thorn smiled lamely up at her, nodding hurriedly a few times, and the mechanical mare sighed tiredly and shook her head in distaste, almost ignoring the colt even as he promised: “I'm not going to get in anyone's way, I promise.”
“I hope not. You've come at a very aggravating time for me, colt.” Hecate said moodily, scowling down towards the end of the hallway. She hoped that one day very soon, these hallways would become busy with civilians and military personnel, all part of the grand empire she was building... but for now, well...
These halls, and most of these buildings, were still relatively empty, with only a skeleton crew of Worker Drones maintaining the machinery and dealing with the remaining concerns, such as detailing, carpeting, and furnishing these buildings. Most of her Dogmatists were in other places around Decretum, repairing ancient machinery, rebuilding cities, replacing and redesigning the massive pipelines that pumped fuel and chemicals throughout this entire world.
When she had first arrived here, she had discovered that Decretum, this wasteland planet, had not only rotted after more than a thousand years of disuse, the idiotic Clockwork King program that had been meant to maintain this world had instead been trying to run its own nonsensical experiments, and had eventually triggered some kind of self-destruct protocol. She assumed the world had been in shambles even before the maintenance program had decided to blow up most of the pipelines, power stations, and computer servers across the face of the planet... not to mention the entire control center for Decretum, the Cortex facility.
All that was left was rubble and ruin, which had been further scavenged by Valhalla and other former enemies of Valthrudnir. Hecate had to do more than just fit a bunch of broken puzzle pieces together: she would have to rebuild, recut, and repaint most of this puzzle herself.
Then the mechanical mare scowled down at Thorn as he tripped over his own hooves and stumbled into her steel leg. Immediately, he leapt away from her, staring ahead with a deep blush and trying to make himself look as serious as possible as he strode hurriedly beside her.
Hecate rolled her eyes, and then, without stopping, she pointed at a large door marked with a triangular symbol. “That is a shower area. The bathroom is in-”
Thorn immediately zipped over to the door and banged through it, and Hecate came to a halt and stared after the colt before she ground her teeth together and slapped her forehead with a groan, eyes clenching tightly shut. Oh, she didn't have time for this today. She'd forgotten how stupid young colts could be.
She moodily tapped one steel hoof against the ground as her arms crossed, her eyes glaring holes in the door as she waited... and waited... and waited. Minutes passed, and Hecate narrowed her eyes even further, her mane crackling with enough static energy to even make the cables that hung from her head dance and writhe.
Finally, Thorn poked his head almost meekly out of the door, smiling nervously up at Hecate, and she asked icily: “Acquainted yourself, colt?”
“S-Sorry, Miss Hecate, I... I just really had to go...” Thorn almost whimpered, lowering his head and looking up at her as he trembled a bit. “I'm... I'm ready to-”
“Enough whining. I should be overseeing the core's reconstruction right now, not pampering a colt with a dietary problem.” Hecate said irritably, and Thorn dropped his head in humiliation, blushing bright red. “But if you are finished, Thorn, let's continue your guided tour.”
“Sorry.” Thorn whispered again, dropping his head low and trembling a bit. Hecate only continued to scowl at him, then she snorted and turned her eyes forwards, and Thorn dropped his head as he stumbled quickly along at her side.
He was shaking a little, and Hecate had to resist taking another look at the colt as she led the way through the empty halls. And even when they reached the cafeteria, she didn't look down at him, simply gesturing towards the double doors and saying bluntly: “This is where you eat. I hope you memorized the route, because I am going to work now.”
Thorn only dropped his head and nodded meekly, and Hecate finally looked down at the little colt before she gave a tired sigh as she felt something give a double-thunk inside her, like a stripped gear failing to catch. She hesitated... and she hated that she hesitated. When it came to anything else, she was cold, cruel, merciless: she had tyrannized the realms, killed hundreds to save millions and brought ruin to entire civilizations to protect a single life. She was logical, precise, calculating and cunning. She was Queen, Empress, and Goddess.
And here she was, hesitating like a lesser creature over some stupid little colt she barely knew. Not just because of his parents, but because every time she looked at this meek little boy...
Thesis had always been braver. But back then...
Hecate closed her eyes and took a slow breath. She willed the world away for a moment, masking the pain of memory with frustration before she said moodily: “Fine. I will walk you back to your room.”
Thorn looked up at her, swallowing a little and nodding a bit as he did his best to smile... and Hecate sighed tiredly as she shook her head slowly before turning on one steel hoof and striding quickly down the hall, muttering: “This is a waste of time.”
The colt ducked his head meekly, but all the same he seemed to have a little bit of hope in his eyes, a bit of bounce in his step even as he tried to blink unshed tears out of his eyes. “I'm sorry.”
“Stop apologizing. Apologies are pointless.” Hecate grumbled, looking ahead, and then she scowled as Thorn mumbled what was undoubtedly another apology. “Somehow I'm not surprised that you failed to understand what I just said. You're just like your parents.”
“I love my parents.” Thorn murmured, and Hecate... didn't honestly know how to respond to this, her eyes flicking towards Thorn and studying him intently for a moment as the colt dropped his head and whispered: “I wish... I wish they didn't have to go.”
Hecate continued to remain silent, simply leading the way back down the corridor as she kept her focus forwards. But Thorn was so... so quiet. It felt unnatural to her, as she thought again of...
Stop it. He is nothing like Thesis.
No, he wasn't... and Hecate grimaced ever so slightly as she struggled not to look at the little colt beside her. And yet...
Her eyes drifted back to him as she bit her tongue, doing her best to keep her features impassive as she looked at the little colt... and before she even realized she was framing the question, she asked suddenly: “Where did you get that ring?”
Thorn looked up at her in surprise, and then he smiled after a moment, blushing a bit as his eyes flicked up to the ring around his horn. He answered her with happiness, maybe even excitement: like he thought they were about to magically become 'friends' or some nonsense like that, just because she had asked him a simple question to break the awkward tension... “Nan... I mean, Queen Hel gave it to me!”
“And you were raised in Helheim?” Why was she asking questions? Okay, sure, maybe it was interesting on a few different levels: this was a mortal colt who had all the same grown up in the Underworld, the realm of demons and punishment, and he seemed as if he hadn't been affected in the slightest by the malignant energies of Hell or the... peculiar culture, to put it lightly.
But Thorn looked up at her with a bright smile, apparently eager to talk as he began to bounce a little at her side, nodding enthusiastically. “Yeah, I was! But I stayed inside the mansion grounds a lot, and I was always escorted everywhere by my parents and often a whole bunch of demons, too.”
“Well, don't expect that treatment here, Thorn. Here, you will get no special privilege just because you happen to be a colt in an adult's world.” Hecate snapped, and Thorn wilted and almost fell over as he shrank down under her words, and... for a moment, even Hecate questioned why she was being so... inhospitable. “You are not exotic to this realm, no matter how unique a specimen you are. There are no other foals in Decretum for good reason.”
“Oh.” Thorn whispered, shrinking his head down, and Hecate did her best not to look at him as they walked onward, down the sterile, cold metal halls.
They were silent until they reached Thorn's room, and the only sound that broke the stillness was a grunt and the click of machinery as Hecate opened the door and pointed. Thorn walked into his empty room with his head low, and Hecate glowered after him, reminding herself that he was just a nuisance, just another thing for her to worry about when she already had a schedule to keep and important work to do.
He wasn't Thesis.
A mare's eyes open in the darkness of the past, and after a moment, she smiles. She smiles, because everything is good, everything is right, and she is happy.
Princess Celestia slowly climbed out of her bed, sighing and tossing her ephemeral, flowing mane, its multitude of colors twinkling in the darkness of her bedroom. She shook herself out briskly, then cracked her back and turned her eyes with a smile to gaze through the glass doors that led out to the balcony, watching with a fascination that never left her... as the sun rose.
She pushed her way out onto the balcony and strode to the marble railing, leaning over it and gazing with warmth at the beauty of the sunrise. And the sunrise was beautiful, she thought... but she had never really been able to appreciate it over all the years she had been raising and lowering the sun herself. To her, it had always just been a job, maintaining part of Equestria's flow and order; sure, she had perhaps been able to feel the satisfaction of a job well done, but all the same...
She chuckled softly and shook her head briefly, and then she turned her eyes back up to the rising sun, smiling warmly. The dragon had brought so much good to this world: his magical machines had done so much for their nation. Sure, he was a little arrogant, and a little rude... but she had faith in him. She believed in him. She... cared for him.
And he had given her more than freedom from the daily drain of having to rise and set the sun. He had given her something even better... something that maybe couldn't completely fill the hole in her heart from having been forced to exile her own little sister, but that did make her happy. That did give her a reason to... to do everything she could to keep herself moving forwards with her life. Something even more valuable to her than the entire nation she ruled...
Celestia smiled softly, then she gazed to the right as there was a loud bang, and she smiled as a small colt leapt out onto a balcony next to hers, hopping quickly up onto a stool and leaning over the railing to gaze happily out at the rising sun. His coat was a rich ebony and a mane that was a pretty silver white. He was big for his age, but he didn't have a cutie mark yet: as a matter of fact, Celestia didn't know if he'd ever earn one. Not that it mattered to her.
He smiled over at her brightly, then he rose a hoof and waved quickly, saying brightly: “Good morning, Mom! Are we going out today?”
“Good morning, son.” Celestia replied softly with a warm smile in return, and then she nodded, her eyes focused on her child with love and adoration. “Of course. I've been looking forwards to just having a nice day off with you all week.”
“Me too.” Thesis gazed at her with happiness: he was such a perfect little colt. She could never thank the dragon enough for giving her this child... the son she'd never thought she'd have. Not just because it seemed like every suitor was only interested in her either because she was Princess of Equestria, or because of the perfect mask she wore in and out every day... but because even if she was some perfect, statuesque mare... she was as barren as the marble the ponies thought she had been crafted from.
But the dragon had been able to give her a child, a son. And although the process had been... difficult, and a hazy mix of pain and pleasure and passion... all the same, the foal had taken root inside her. The dragon had been a little cruel when her babe had first been born, calling him words like homunculus, and golem... but no. It didn't matter that Thesis was different. It didn't matter that Thesis had taken more than a stallion's love to be forged in her womb. Thesis was a wonderful and perfect little colt, no matter what some ponies thought.
She didn't entirely know if the dragon accepted the child. But she thought that he had some strange affection for him, whether he would admit it or not. After all, in more than one way, the dragon was Thesis' father: and sure, he was aloof, he was distant, he was a little cold... but he tried, in his own strange way. He and Thesis would bump into each other in the halls, or he would show up every so often in the evenings, or he would chase away Thesis' tutors and instead give the colt a lesson in philosophy or military history.
So what if Thesis was different? So what if his 'father' was a dragon? So what if her colt could never have a cutie mark? He was still a real pony to her, and the son she'd never thought she could have. And she thought that one day, Thesis would have the wisdom and compassion to govern the nation under her watch... perhaps even become the Prince of his own colony.
Celestia turned around, heading inside, and Thesis bounced happily off his stool to dart quickly back into his own room. And just as Celestia stepped out into the hall from her bedroom, Thesis banged through the doors of his, hooves kicking and skidding against the floor before he threw himself towards his mother.
The mare caught her son with a quiet laugh, gazing down at him with warm radiance in her eyes before she hugged him impulsively up against her body, and Thesis giggled as he rubbed his head against her breast, closing his eyes and curling up instinctively in the safety of her embrace.
Celestia gazed tenderly down at Thesis, then she set him down and watched as Thesis turned and scrambled away down the hall, laughing before he slipped quickly through the ajar doors at the end of the hall. And the Princess of the Sun smiled warmly as she followed after him, before pushing the doors open-
White light washed over her, the mare frowning and tilting her head to the side before her eyes widened as not a colt, but an adult Thesis turned towards her, his gaze cold, his mane cropped to a short brush cut and his tail docked. He was tall, powerful, muscular, and somehow perfect even in spite of the terrible machinery that stood out of his back, the pistons that pumped poison through his system, the whirring exoskeleton over his spine that kept him strong and mobile and alive...
He looked at her with eyes like glass prisons: his gaze was hard and emotionless, but all the same, beyond his stained pupils, there was something deep and miserable and alone, crying out to her, frightened and trapped even as he said quietly: “The chemicals have long settled between us. My care for you is nothing but a flaw of oxytocin and vasopressin: our biological bonds mean nothing to me. Mother... is only the word for the descent of the X chromosome. That is all.”
Thesis turned away from her, machines pumping over his back, and Celestia trembled before she looked down, silently raising a hoof that was now cloaked in steel, to hide the deformities of her body. That hid the hideousness of the Empress of Equestria, as her body began to burn itself away from the endless experimentation, the rejection and acceptance of mechanical parts and grafted genes, the evolution being force-fed to her by the dragon, the cunning, cruel, and cowardly dragon...
Celestia closed her eyes... and Hecate opened them, awakening from memories as she breathed quietly in and out. She stared silently at her mechanical body, where it rested in silent dormancy against the far wall of her room: a bipedal, powerful body of steel... and she knew there was no small irony in the fact that its masculine frame was modeled so clearly after the body of the dragon she had once known every inch of...
She closed her eyes, then forced herself to take another breath as she rolled her head slowly, then cracked her neck with a grimace. Her eyes blinked a few times as she cleared them of the haze of memories before she muttered: “I shouldn't have let myself fall asleep. What a waste of time.”
Hecate grimaced, then she whistled sharply. Immediately, her mechanical suit straightened to attention, and after a moment, it strode quickly forwards and reached down to gently grasp either side of Hecate's face.
The mare was used to this by now, as she looked moodily forwards even as the claws gently spun her around once, twice, thrice, then pulled up... and with a click, Hecate's head was lifted into the air as it popped free from the pillar it had been resting on, the collar at the end of her stump of neck gleaming as a twist of electricity sparked around the large, square plug on the bottom of it.
Hecate sighed as her body guided her head back onto her shoulders, spinning it absently once to screw it quickly back into place before several large plates slid upwards over the steel cap around her neck, ensuring her head was anchored into place. Electricity sparked along her mechanical body as she flexed absently, and then she rolled her shoulders easily, closing her eyes as she listened to the whir of gears inside her steel breast.
Yes, everything was working fine. She opened her eyes, looking moodily down at the control pillar in front of her before she reached down and grasped it, electricity sparking over the steel column as she interfaced briefly with the artificial intelligence and processing systems that helped keep Decretum running.
Everything was working as expected... which wasn't saying much at this point in time. Basic services were all up and running, but only in Canterlot...
No, not Canterlot. Genesis, that was what this castle was known as now. She was being stupid, letting old memories interfere when she should have erased them long ago: they weren't any use to her now. They didn't have any meaning for her now.
Thesis was dead. Better he stayed that way, and better that she just forgot about him.
Hecate turned around, striding quickly towards the door: it opened with just a gesture from her, and Hecate stepped out into the hall to scowl as she saw several Worker Drones in the process of repairing a pipe that had ruptured just down the hall. They were slow, but silent and tireless: they were shaped like ponies, but no matter what they had once been, now they were just rubber hide over metal skeletons, mindlessly performing whatever simple, menial task they were given.
The Empress of Decretum surveyed these pawns moodily, then she sighed and approached them, raising a hand moodily towards them as she ordered curtly: “Operating status.”
A holographic screen appeared above her arm, half-generated by magic and half-generated by the technology of her mechanical body. Runes spread over it, along with bar graphs and other statistics: it all fed together to give her an overview of not just the current productivity of these workers in front of her, but all of Decretum's current operational status.
Hecate reviewed the information moodily, then scowled a little: productivity had dropped more than a centigrade on her operations graph. She shook her head shortly, then dismissed the floating screen and turned, striding moodily onward.
She had no doubt this wasn't just because of setbacks with the reconstruction of Decretum, but because she had to rely on Outworld workers as well as Drones and Dogmatists. The Clockwork Ponies might be slow and often could only perform certain jobs, but they were at least reliable. But the ponies and supernaturals and other creatures taken in from other worlds to help fill out the ranks of Decretum loved to gossip, and she had no doubt that they were all wasting their time talking about Thorn instead of doing their work.
Hecate scowled: she never should have agreed to this. Thorn was going to be nothing but a drain on resources. A colt was a liability: he would be a distraction, he would use up and waste their resources, and he would require attention from her. And she was a commander and a figurehead: she didn't have the time to waste on little colts and their 'problems;' she had an entire world to think about, and what her entire world was supposed to represent and protect.
The mechanical mare continued on her way, steel hooves echoing through the empty hallway as she lowered her head silently, glowering resolutely ahead. Her face remained unchanging, and yet her eyes glowed slightly, images flickering through her mind and in front of her vision, giving her updates on the progress the workers had made so far throughout Decretum.
She kept mentally checking the time, aware of every ticking second, every tocking minute. She kept coming back again and again to note how long it had been since they had begun rebuilding the Vena Cava rail system, and how long since workers had begun bringing the Atrium's most basic systems back online, and how many hours had passed since the last import of materials from Looking Glass World and how long it had been since she had her conversation with Thorn-
Seven hours, thirty-eight minutes, twenty-three seconds.
Hecate scowled, stomping onward. It had also been almost a day since the last unit of Worker Drones had been shipped in from Endworld.
Seven hours, thirty eight minutes, fifty-two seconds.
Her eyes narrowed, dismissing both her thoughts as well as the images that had been scrawling over the glass lenses implanted over her irises. It had almost been a day since the last systems check: she needed to run an operating scan.
7:39:20. 7:39:21. 7:39:22.
Hecate spun suddenly to the side on one steel hoof, striding quickly down a side hallway as she swore under her breath.
7:41:02. 7:41:03. 7:41:04.
The mechanical mare almost punched her way into an elevator and hammered the button to go down, impatiently tapping her hoof until the doors began to slide open. She narrowed her eyes as there was a power fluctuation and the doors stuttered before she impatiently reached one hand forwards and grabbed the side of one door, yanking it firmly ajar with a screech of metal and a shower of sparks she passed carelessly under.
7:45:42. 7:45:43. 7:45:44.
Hecate strode through the twisting and turning halls, crankily booting a mechanical cleaning unit out of the way as she walked and sending it skittering into the wall with a squeal of protest, beeping wildly as the little cone-shaped droid spun wildly in circles for a moment before darting away. But for all her impatience, when she reached her destination, she stopped.
7:49:10. 7:49:11. 7:49:12.
This was a waste of time. She was wasting time. There was no point to this.
7:51:52. 7:51:53. 7:51:54.
She was better than this. She had work to do. Work that was far more important than coddling some toddler.
7:57:37. 7:57:38. 7:57:39.
So why the hell was she hesitating?
7:59:58. 7:59:59. 8:00:00.
Hecate groaned mentally and hammered a fist into the button beside the electronic door, and it whirred loudly open. She simply scowled from the doorway as Thorn looked up in surprise from where he was curled up on the steel floor of the empty room... and Hecate frowned after a moment before she asked: “Where are your things? I had a bedroll and a blanket requested for you.”
Thorn only shrugged a little, picking himself up, and Hecate began to scowl... before her eyes narrowed slightly as she realized the little colt had been sleeping... and likely crying, from how puffy his eyes were, as he murmured: “I... I dunno, I didn't think...”
Hecate opened her mouth to ask what the colt 'didn't think,' but then she stopped herself and only scowled instead. For a few moments, there was an uncomfortable silence as the two surveyed each other, and then she finally sighed tiredly before gesturing at him moodily. “Very well. Come with me. I'll rectify this oversight myself.”
Thorn looked at her nervously, and Hecate... didn't take any pleasure in that, strangely enough. She only scowled a little at the colt before shaking her head and saying moodily: “I'm not going to hurt you. For some idiotic reason, your parents have enlisted me as your caretaker. Jeopardizing your health might amuse me, but would be contrary to my objective.”
Thorn looked at her with confusion, and Hecate sighed before she simply repeated in a tired voice: “Just come with me.”
The colt nodded awkwardly, hurrying towards her before he tripped and fell on his face with a thunk, and Hecate slowly closed her eyes and rubbed at her face moodily with one mechanical claw. Then she looked up grouchily as Thorn scrambled to his hooves, blushing and whimpering a little, but all the same quickly coming towards her.
They looked at each other for a few moments, and then Hecate stepped backwards and gestured distastefully for the colt to step out of his room. Thorn nervously did so, staying close to Hecate, and the mechanical mare looked down at him distastefully before she asked: “I suppose we should stop by the bathroom on the way up, correct?”
Thorn blushed and lowered his head, nodding meekly, and the mechanical mare sighed in exasperation... but five minutes later, she was leaning outside the bathroom, arms crossed and slowly tapping a mechanical claw against one bicep, her mane of lightning sizzling and crackling quietly around her head as she looked grouchily up at the ceiling.
Thesis had never been like this. Unable to take care of himself, sensitive, whiny, or clumsy. How was it that such exceptional ponies had given birth to such a... a dumb colt? As a matter of fact...
Hecate glanced to the side as the door opened, Thorn stepping out and glancing up at her sheepishly... and then he flinched when Hecate turned towards him, her horn glowing as several screens appeared around her and she said shortly: “Stay still.”
Magical light shone from her steel-sheathed horn as she quickly evaluated the little colt in front of her... and then she scowled a little, saying moodily: “Just as I thought. You are... ten years and two hundred and fifty eight days old, correct?”
Thorn stared at her blankly, and Hecate sighed before she said sourly: “You're more than ten and a half years old, is that right?”
The colt blushed and nodded hurriedly at this, saying quickly: “That's right! My birthday is-”
“I don't care.” Hecate cut off grouchily, and then she shook her head before saying moodily: “You're underdeveloped for your age. Smaller than average and your weight is below optimal. And of course, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to note you have almost no detectable magic energy. I'd estimate you can generate... what, five bæns of magical energy?”
“What's a bane?” Thorn asked, looking awkwardly up at Hecate, and the mare only looked at him moodily until the colt shrank down and dropped his head. “I'm sorry.”
“What did I tell you about apologizing, Thorn? Apologies are a waste of time.” Hecate said irritably, and then she shook her head shortly before she lowered her hand, the screens disappearing before she ordered: “Focus your magic.”
Thorn blushed a bit, looking almost panicked as he glanced back and forth and babbled: “I... n-no, I really don't think that-”
“I do not repeat myself, Thorn.” Hecate said icily, looming intimidatingly forwards, and Thorn almost fell over as he whimpered a little: Hecate wondered moodily just how much he must have been shielded in Helheim to be so easily frightened. She had a feeling it was cowardice, not intelligence, that was driving his reactions, after all.
There was an uncomfortable silence between the two of them... and then Hecate looked slowly, moodily up as a loud squealing filled the hall, the mechanical mare watching crankily as the cleaning droid she had kicked earlier buzzed towards them, whizzing along the hall with a series of squealing beeps.
Thorn stared at this conical apparition with horror as it whizzed wildly around, it sensors apparently badly damaged from Hecate's earlier mistreatment and its simplistic AI too confused to trigger a shutdown. The mechanical mare took a moment to judge its projected path, and then she simply stepped backwards and out of its way, turning her eyes moodily towards the colt to watch what he would do.
As expected, Thorn simply stood there, jaw dropped slackly until he realized too late that the crazed thing was zigzagging right for him. Far too late, Thorn squeaked and attempted to jump out of the way... and instead, he was plowed over by it, the large, conical droid knocking the young colt sprawling.
Hecate simply looked down at the young pony as he trembled on the ground, whimpering a little, and after a moment, the mare sighed tiredly and rolled her eyes before she said irritably: “Get up. There's no time for crying in Decretum, either.”
Thorn trembled shamefully on the ground, but then he did his best to nod and clamber up to his hooves, before looking up abashedly as Hecate pointed down the hallway, ordering irritably: “Go ahead to the cafeteria and get something to eat. I expect you to manage your food properly, Thorn: every bite you eat is a bite of food you are taking away from a soldier or an employee of mine. Remember that.”
“Yes, Miss Hecate.” Thorn whispered, turning and trudging onward with his head low and his eyes downcast.
The mechanical mare watched moodily as Thorn strode down the hall... and then, without looking over her shoulder, she simply pointed a finger back behind her, a surge of lighting blasting from the extended digit and hammering into the conical droid before it could spin around a corner. Immediately, the cleaning unit spun to a halt, smoldering as gears and circuits popped and exploded inside it like corn before Hecate tilted her head slightly to the side, engaging an audio uplink as she muttered: “Cleanup on level two, near the refreshment area. Have this droid dismantled and replaced immediately. And have all the cleaning droids in this facility refitted with better sensors as well.”
There was a double-beep to indicate her orders had been received, and then Hecate dropped the link, sighing and shaking her head before she followed after the foal, scowling at his slouching back and thinking that this was going to be far more trouble than it was worth.
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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.