Chapters
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Meliora was on fire.Jackie could smell the smoke the instant they passed through her dream-gateway. They hadn’t used the Dreamlands of the city, not when she was bringing so many with her. The bats would probably be nervous about a hundred heavily-armored seapony mercenaries.They called themselves the Caeneans—children of Poseidon’s violent whims and gifted by his magic. And judging by the billowing clouds of smoke rising from the city, Jackie felt they’d probably be needed.She took in as much as…-
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Jackie had almost everypony now—everypony in the world who had a prayer of working together to stop Athena. The forces arrayed before them were still incredible, perhaps impossible to overcome. But there was no reason she couldn’t try. It was a little like their last-ditch defenses against Charybdis, in the Final War.Only that war didn’t end up being the end, did it? To create Jackie’s Imperial spell, she needed the Alicorns of every relevant aspect. Eureka to provide their mastery over machines,…
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For a long time the Alicorn only looked at her. Oracle’s knowing glances were always infuriating, the way he always let on that he knew something she didn’t. And more often than not, he did.“You’re constructing an Imperial spell,” he eventually said. He didn’t get up—maybe he couldn’t. The chair itself was made of metal instead of cloud, with a few glowing screens whose purpose she couldn’t guess. But the tubes attached directly to Oracle’s underbelly, at a metallic gasket that…
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No sooner were they through the opening in the air than Liz’s Sorcerer armor began to rumble, and the stallion sat up in bed with a panicked screech. “Eeeh!” He held up his wings over his face. “Mom! There’s…” He stopped, clutching at his chest. “How’d you get in?”“I dunno, but I know how we’re leaving.” Jackie moved past him to the cloudy wall. Night sky waited out there, with at least two little moons circling somewhere vastly far away.She could hear ponies moving somewhere…
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99.8 K •
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Jackie returned to Meliora with necromantic blood still clinging to her body, and a swirling aura of nervous urgency to her every step. For as little time as she had arranged to spend in City Hall over the last few days, her ponies there were getting on remarkably well. She could see no signs of violence, or of violent coup. She had chosen her leaders well. Better than you did, Alex.She landed on the balcony, folding her wings quickly and striding past a few confused guards. “But aren’t you…” Umber…
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Jackie flexed her limbs one at a time, staring up the last few steps of light slumber that would lead to the waking world. All she had to do was climb them and she would be conscious again.“What are you nervous about?” Misty asked from beside her. She was back to her normal size, floating through the air near Jackie’s head. “You’ve fought bigger things than this. You won against Charybdis.”Jackie turned the knife between her hooves, feeling the handle that hadn’t ever worn down, despite being…
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Jackie had to give Misty a little credit—her little figment had taken her command to heart. “Bring everyone,” she had said. And now everyone was here.The leaders of Meliora’s councils, of course. Experts on war, farming, trade, manufacturing, terraculture, logistics, and religion. Queen Avery of the breezies, along with half a dozen of her closest scholars and aids. But there were more—apparently word was going around the Dreamlands that something big was about to happen, and so many other…
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Jackie woke up in her own little dream.In a way that made her very much alike the other bats out there—many who spent any time in dreamcraft would quickly establish sections of the dream to which they would return, linking themselves so completely that they would almost always be drawn there, even in the presence of other pressures.Her little apartment looked as though it was becoming run down—bits of the wallpaper were peeling, the screen was cracked slightly, and water dripped in through the ceiling.…
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The Spirit of Eternity was a relic out of time. As Jackie walked through its halls, she passed many signs of age. Rusting patches of wall that had been hastily filled in with crystal polymer. A maintenance drone polishing the same spot of ground so much it had reached the metal underneath. Windows that had been patched with glue, whole sections of conduit left exposed. It was, effectively, held together with duct tape and string.But it had a crew. Her freakish monstrosity of an escort had already given her…
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Axis Mundi had seen better days.As Jackie made her way down its densely-packed streets, she found herself wishing she could glance over her shoulder and search for stalking attackers with every moment.There was debris in almost every street now, bits of paint were peeling, and plenty of the windows were cracked. Jackie stopped to inspect her reflection in what had once been a fancy shop window. She could barely see herself, or what had been dresses inside. But this place had been looted like several of the…
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