Chapters
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Arcane woke in a four-poster bigger than some bedrooms, with enough sheets to swim in and a dozen stuffed animals. As Domino stirred, he tore away several layers of blankets, rolling away from her and entangling himself in the sheets. For reasons she couldn’t fathom, he seemed to like this sluggish almost-death called sleep, and so he kept going through the motions even when they were entirely unnecessary.She pulled herself into a sitting position, struggling a little against her reduced mobility. She…-
111.2 K •
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"Why can't you do it?" Jacob asked, glancing worriedly down at the little pot with its sprig of oregano. He had his wand back too, though he was fairly sure it wouldn't do anything."I told you already." Harley nudged him forward. "Just because I can do some magic doesn't mean I can do all of it. I'm not a pony.""But I've seen you teleport!" Jacob set the plant down at one corner of the diagram they had chalked on the concrete, the last of the raw ingredients he would need. The book was still open—one of…-
123.5 K •
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I still can't believe I'm doing this. Lotus stared out the shadowy windows of her old pickup. As insane as this plan was, they'd still made it all the way out here, a short run from the gas station.Now the QuikTrip lights glowed against a foggy night, joined only by the occasional flash of headlights blazing along the highway. Almost no one stopped, and seconds turned into minutes of relatively uninterrupted peace. "The longer we sit here, the more time for somebody to roll up," Gus said. The truck was off…-
133.2 K •
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Danielle always panicked right before casting the Earthbreaker spell.She paced around a patch of bare rock, in the most remote corner of Imperium where the sun rarely shone. Huge sections of Imperium had now been planted and cultivated, and none of those would work.Other ponies knew to stay away, as much because of the constant noise as because of the lumpy craters ripped from the ground and massive piles of rubble everywhere. The broken rock could never be used twice—something about the magic prevented…
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123.5 K •
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Lotus lay still, but not in the endless silence that threatened to swallow her. There was a sound here, repeating every second or two, exactly the same. Other sounds sometimes joined it—distant voices, the sound of shoes on something hard. She could've been there forever, and maybe she would've. Except that something touched her shoulder, and a familiar voice whispered.Iron Feather. "Stay as long as you need. We'll be waiting here when you're ready."She twitched, rolling to one side. Of all the creatures…
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133.2 K •
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“Alright, Alex, I’m here. Why did you want me to drive miles out of town and not tell anyone, exactly?” Moriah leaned closer to the headset, trying to tune out the annoying static coming from Alex’s end.Another few seconds of frustration, and she heard the other pony’s voice. “Because I don’t want our newcomers to see yet. I’ll tell the others about it later.”“You’re going to have to tell the immigrants something, Alex. I only told them you were out on business, but… are you really…-
107.0 K •
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Hayden swayed a little after the teleport, struggling not to fall over. She felt little chunks of ice flake off away from her face, and her breath still clouded the air in front of her for a few seconds. “Damn,” she whispered, shaking her head. “That was awful.”Star Swirl looked far more intact than she did, standing on the edge of a bluff. The air around them had transformed—no longer trying to rip the heat from her chest, but instead pressing down on them, heavy with moisture. The smells and…-
141.3 K •
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But Nightbreeze had been right about the ritual, just as she had been right about a great deal. There was nothing dramatic, at least not to her. Hayden listened to the ponies as Princess Celestia and Luna formally accepted oaths of loyalty from each of the house lords—which thankfully didn’t include her. She was here as a member of Luna’s house, so all she had to do was sit and listen as quietly as possible.She got many stares, whispers, ponies pointing at her, but that was all.When the ceremony was…
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141.3 K •
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Outside the castle, Hayden could hear the sound of war. The steady crack of her own arquebus weapons, answered by volleys of crossbow bolts. Tonight’s rain was not of water, but of blood.But those soldiers weren’t meant to keep princess Luna from entering the castle, not really. At the first sign of serious resistance, the fleet was to retreat to the outpost of Canterlot, leaving Celestia and Hayden behind surrounded by the enemy.Princess Celestia sat by one of the windows near the thrones, watching…
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141.3 K •
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About a month later, and Hayden was shuffling nervously back and forth in her room, fussing over what she’d packed into her saddlebags and wondering how long she would have to wait. She had packed everything she could think off—her old belongings were more than enough for survival in the wilderness when she’d been human, but there was no telling how useful they might be, or how much they would even be needed.We’re not camping, we’re not crossing the wilderness. It’s okay. It’s only a day’s…
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141.3 K •
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