Chapters
-
Elliot drove to the diner.He felt a lot better with a heroic dose of cold medicine in his system, reducing his temperature and banishing the sniffles and occasional coughs. He left a brief note to Ruby, explaining that she might have to wait until the end of his shift if she wanted the car.He felt better, but not so much better that he could endure the significant physical strain of a bike across town.Driving through Aurora felt... different, somehow. A strange dread followed him, like knowing he had left…-
132.5 K •
-
-
The next few hours passed about how Elliot expected. After heat-treatment in the sacrificial toaster-oven, he went out to make purchases of supplies around town, always getting the maximum possible change for each transaction. If he had to spend some of the money anyway, he went shopping as though he was about to go on a long camping trip. Plenty of cans and non-perishables, a new camp stove, some fuel.Incidentally, many of the same things he might need if they were about to disappear into the Rockies for…
-
132.5 K •
-
-
Tell Her Everything (56%)Elliot shook his head once. "Listen, I know you've got important studying to do. But I have something here I think you should see. Got a minute?""A minute," she repeated, holding the notebook up in one hand. She squinted down at the writing on the front page. "Dr. Zalenka, huh? Didn't know you by that name."Elliot snatched the notebook out of her fingers, twisting around her to lean against the wall. "Before you look, you need to know how I got it. Then maybe you can make more…
-
132.5 K •
-
-
Elliot glanced nervously in both directions, just to be sure there was no one watching. There were a handful of small cars on the road now, and there would be more with every minute. As Aurora woke, so too did its residents. Within the hour, there would be dozens of people moving in either direction, making anything even remotely like stealth completely impossible.The best place to read would be home, obviously. But if he didn't know what was inside, he couldn't bring it back to Ruby's apartment! His…
-
132.5 K •
-
-
It was another late shift.Many of Elliot's coworkers loathed the overnight, with its long stretches of nothing broken only rarely by the occasional trucker or weirdo. Far from avoiding it, Elliot often volunteered.There was something honest about only a few tables at a time, delivering bizarre orders to those customers who rolled in when honest folk were asleep. Overnights were the shift for long conversations, for wild tangents and getting on a first-name basis with the regulars.Ruby wasn't as fond of…
-
132.5 K •
-
-
Lotus rarely visited Canterlot anymore—less often than in her first year in Equestria. She could only sit for so many interviews and appear in so many elaborate public ceremonies before they all turned exhausting. Besides, she had a family to think about. Nothing could beat the peaceful, rural quiet of Hono.Until the village burned to ashes.Even so, there was something particularly impressive about arriving in Canterlot by train. Almost an hour weaving slowly up switchbacks up the mountains, until…-
133.2 K •
-
-
The flames burned high over Hono that night. Hono wasn't just a village built on discipline, friendship, and cooperation—it depended on those things to continue to exist. It took only one soul to lose control of their anger, just once. If the residents couldn't get things under control almost instantly, they probably never would.That night, they didn't. Blue flames turned orange as the town's largest structures caught fire, and its ancient trees burned. Hono survived a war, survived the return of the…
-
133.2 K •
-
-
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…
-
133.2 K •
-
-
The Gungnir rocked violently to one side, then the other. Even with no windows, Lotus felt the temperature begin to rise, as though the huge ship had been sitting in baking summer sun without opening a window. Her magical senses felt the impact very differently—like a great ship plunging directly into a massive wave. Its supernatural walls held firm, but there was no telling how many such impacts they would survive.Something shook her by the shoulder, drawing Lotus sharply back to reality. Princess…
-
133.2 K •
-
-
Thanks to her otherworldly origin, Lotus had been in more than her fair share of powerful spells.It took considerable magical might to warp between worlds, transform humans into griffons, and theoretically find a way to change back. Even if some of those drives no longer remained, the experience she had gained would follow her, elevating her competence far beyond where it should've naturally stood.Even so, casting a spell with Twilight Sparkle felt a bit like walking into the wrong classroom, one teaching…
-
133.2 K •
-
- Previous 1 … 5 6 7 … 136 Next