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    When everything seems dark, don't be.

    Chapters

    • Chapter 18: Apus Cover
      by Starscribe How could Star learn the secrets of Stygian’s Gate without making it obvious that she was here to get all of them hanged?It was going to be an awkward conversation when she finally met back up with Ginny, and had to admit that she was right. Ponies could be incredibly stupid about their relationships. She’d never imagined she would wield a power like that over somepony, let alone actually use it. But how could she say no when the opportunity was given to her so plainly? Certainly it had nothing to do…
    • G5.01: Cost of Employment Cover
      by Starscribe James huddled against a canvas sack more than twice her size, trying very hard to think of nothing at all.Her first visit to the ground had started so wonderfully! Take away all the terrible bits, and the visit had been great. She'd learned much more about the native technology and culture, learned things that living in the clouds had failed to teach her. She'd learned the natives had coal mining, blacksmithing, mass production of steel, and probably the telegraph as well. She'd learned that all the food…
    • Chapter 5: Merced Cover
      by Starscribe Ashton showed off the castle, taking them through every room and corridor of the castle. Space itself seemed a fickle mistress here, where hallways spiraled in on themselves and doors went to different places if you walked through them another way. They passed through a basement door, which Arcane explained was the ‘retail space’, without elaborating.But there was plenty he did explain. A pool that stretched out past one of the walls to overlook the city, a garden of standing stones, several laboratory…
    • Chapter 13: Ecosystem Cover
      by Starscribe “You won’t like it,” Clay answered, prying her arm free. He moved over to his equipment, and began opening the massive metal case holding his speargun. Except—what was in there wasn’t a speargun. It was smaller, more compact than she’d imagined—but there was no missing a rocket launcher when she saw one. The weapon itself was little more than a plastic tube with a sight and a sensor package—the rocket emerging from within was almost as large.“Holy shit I don’t like it.” She stumbled…
    • Chapter 6: Crown Cover
      by Starscribe Dakota still couldn’t quite believe just how different the space in her own apartment could look—but there was no denying what she was seeing. A maze of shelves that rose into the ceiling. My past self was way more creative than I feel. It was hard to imagine taking the time to put up paper-thin rice walls on the sides of the room, with the outlines of even more books standing there.But Cinnabar had already gathered the materials they would need for a first reading, piled around a desk she was fairly…
    • Chapter 31: Antlia Cover
      by Starscribe Jamie knew she would have to make her time in the royal castle productive. With no creature coming to rescue her and no skills to escape, her only hope of survival transformed to simple cleverness. Maybe there was some fact she could use as blackmail hidden away, or some weakness of the princess’s defenses.And maybe there was, but if that was the case, Jamie just couldn’t figure out what it might be. The dictator hadn’t left her any human books either, so she wouldn’t even be able to learn the…
    • Chapter 25: Crater Cover
      by Starscribe Star Orchid could hear the echoing gunfire overhead, the pounding of hooves on stone, the distant shouts. Yet those weren’t the shouts of royal guardsponies giving orders, but the screams of anypony getting in their way. At least she hadn’t heard more orders echoing down the halls behind, perhaps warning that soldiers had found another entrance and would be flooding the Undercastle. The rebel ponies had weapons of their own, didn’t they? How long could they last down here?Windbrisk’s sledgehammer…
    • Chapter 21: And Did Something Else Cover
      by Starscribe Theo didn’t get to go on the expedition to retrieve the airship. It wasn’t anything personal—even Sharp Edge wasn’t able to go. The team the blue pegasus brought wasn’t so much a group of trained experts as a dozen pegasus ponies from halfway across Equestria.If it was Theo’s airship, she probably would’ve told the pegasus “no thanks” at that point. But Sharp seemed to recognize some of them, and the knowledge made him more willing to let them make the trip.There was no more work to do…
    • Chapter 41: Pictor Cover
      by Starscribe Star Orchid hadn’t known what to expect when she found her way into the Immortal City. She had imagined a city full of the greatest ponies of her world, filling the sacred realm with their hymns of eternal praise. Maybe Harmony itself would be here, its presence unseen and unknowable, but incredibly powerful. She had not expected to find a unicorn tied up in her bedroom, banging desperately for escape. Now that unicorn finally rose onto her hooves, massaging aching limbs and occasionally looking up…
    • Prologue: Goetia Cover
      by Starscribe Princess Luna approached the door to Star Swirl's lab like a nervous filly who had just gotten herself into trouble. On paper, there was no reason for her to be afraid—this castle "belonged" to Celestia and herself, in a country they ruled. Everypony within who was not one of their servants was at least one of their subjects, Star Swirl included.But while everypony in the Castle of the Two Sisters knew Celestia by name, sight and cutie mark, some significant majority of their subjects didn't even realize…
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