Chapters
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Ocellus deposited the injured Marie along the only flat part of cave she could find, laying her down as close to all at once as she could manage. She might not be a doctor, and she didn’t know any healing spells, but she could still remember the basics she’d learned in Twilight’s school. But as engaging as it had been to hear Meadowbrook lecture on the subject, she couldn’t absorb enough to save lives in a few hours.The others weren’t far behind her—Sandbar carrying the filly named Helen, and…-
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Marie felt herself growing increasingly smug as the seconds passed. She had known—and maybe David had too, it was hard not to give him credit—that they would see nothing to suggest that their vision had been tampered with, or that they’d been drugged, or hypnotized, or any of Helen’s other silly ideas.They watched the whole conversation once through, starting from the moment they’d found the unicorn hiding in the cave and she’d emerged to speak with them. Never once had there been any sign of a…
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Marie could hardly walk straight. As they made their way out of the forest, she found herself almost tripping over little rocks and roots. It didn’t matter that the sky was getting grayer, and that angry clouds were rolling in. It was like the whole world was colored rose—the trees themselves seemed to glow, and the little forest creatures had a whole new life. Marie’s entire world was shattered.Mum’s always telling me to get my head out of the clouds, but she was the one who was wrong. Magic is…
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Ocellus couldn’t help but feel cornered by the strange alien creatures. She’d been with many creatures before, and for a changeling such trips were often something to be enjoyed. A new creature was a new possibility, something with abilities she could learn.But where she might learn to copy most animals in a few minutes and complex creatures like ponies in a few hours, these humans were proving difficult so far. She watched the way they moved, tried to judge how their limbs connected, but wasn’t…
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Marie stopped dead in the flooded cave, staring stupidly into the darkness. She no longer cared that water was pouring into her boots, or that she’d scraped one of her arms bloody on the cave walls. None of that mattered, because she could hear a voice in the darkness. An impossible, out-of-location voice.She had expected many possibilities down here in the dark. Most likely, some frightening reptile noises in the gloom. They would take a few snapshots, then run like hell. David was a fast runner, and…
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“We’re on the right track,” Marie announced, for perhaps the third time in an hour. Of course there was no evidence that they were going the right direction. Nothing suggested they were going wrong either. “Sure we are,” Helen said. “An’ maybe we’re not just wastin’ our time here tryin’ to find something that doesn’t exist. It’s just marketing, Marie. I don’t know how to tell you. But if there was really somethin’ goin’ on, the whole bloody army would be here. There ain’t no…
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Ocellus didn’t want to think about her friends’ odds if they’d been in this same situation without her. Most other creatures, and certainly ponies, just weren’t exposed to enough danger in their lives to appreciate the need to hide sometimes.The creatures that they were running from were determined hunters, more so than most Ocellus had ever heard of. They weren’t distracted by Smolder’s little demonstration for long.But they had a head start, and a thick enough forest to hide in that they…
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Marie’s eyes were glued to the television as they never had been before in her entire life.What she was seeing was impossible. But as she watched, there was no announcement that this was really just the trailer from some upcoming movie. There was no “April fools.” If the BBC was playing a prank on people, this was far more incredible than any spaghetti trees.“Authorities say the creature was spotted near Brighton pier at about six in the morning today,” said the bland presenter, looking as…
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Ocellus kept in the air another moment longer, hoping that her friends would understand. This disguise had passed an initial test—this was the phase of any operation where she could make observations of the culture she was about to infiltrate, learning everything she needed about their customs. Well that was what her mother probably would’ve suggested. She didn’t think they’d be here long enough for that—and she wasn’t leading a changeling expedition. But she circled up and over the boardwalk,…
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The world returned to Ocellus with a crash. Water smacked up against the side of the Solidarity, and yet it wasn’t moved at all. There was no more bobbing, no floating. She jerked suddenly awake, horn coming alight with green magic to light her way.She was below deck, in the single large space that was their sleeping area. Blankets, hammocks, and clothing had gone everywhere, covering the ground with a thick layer of cloth. Instead of being behind her, the stairs were on the wall, and gray light came…
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