Chapters
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Silver wobbled on his hooves, momentarily overwhelmed by the magical strain of the jump. Even charging the return portal over a few days, the passage between still felt like it was going to suck all the heat out of his body and leave him to freeze. Considering his immunity to freezing, it was the coldest he’d ever felt.Then the world came back into focus, showing him basically what he expected. The guild’s empty hall had been fortified with pickets, sandbags, and a single mounted rotary gun, all aimed…-
231.4 K •
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Silver Star kept his word, and stood watch over Magpie’s body. It didn’t matter to him that he had to do it in the company of a potentially hostile spirit. It didn’t matter that he had no food or water, he’d gone without food for weeks at a time without real issue.At least he didn’t have to look directly into the terrible consequences he had invoked for Magpie, since she was soon completely encased in crystal. At first he could make out the faint shape of her cloth cloak within, a dark patch in…
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231.4 K •
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Silver Star walked away from Magpie, knowing that at any moment the Polestar might decide to kill her. There was nothing he could do—nothing beyond the threats he had already made. And I still don’t know why it wants me working for it. He wasn’t surprised the Polestar hadn’t volunteered. The less he knew about its desires, the less pressure he could put on it.If it keeps its word and doesn’t hurt her, I don’t care. He approached the shimmering field, the shield more powerful than anything…
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231.4 K •
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Silver was frozen in place—not by any power of the Polestar, but with absolute horror at what he saw. All the time she warned me this would happen, I thought she was just being paranoid. Why didn’t I listen?A few excuses flashed briefly through his mind, before being swallowed just as swiftly. “No,” he said, stepping directly between the gemstone and Magpie. The light blasted through him, penetrating the suit and even his closed eyelids. The helmet was still polarized, but now even that didn’t…
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231.4 K •
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The Alicorn air-armor changed everything for exploring their city.Silver could use the bubble spell just fine, but using it limited their time out to his endurance. The longer they stayed in a bubble, the more stale that air would become. It was why his ancestors had been forced to restrict themselves to short trips, so the air within could be refreshed. The armor required none of that, though it did have a dial of “filter entropy” that dropped whenever he was outside and rose again when he left the…
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231.4 K •
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Just because Silver wanted desperately to be out in the city didn't mean his magical recovery was going any faster. He could cast the spell just as easily as last time—easier, really, since he hadn't been teleporting around. But almost the instant he'd finished performing the spell, he could feel the pressure of it against his brain. It was like working his legs again after a difficult day digging. They moved the way he wanted, but they didn't want to. All he had to do was push a little too hard and his…
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231.4 K •
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Silver awoke in the library.It was like nothing he'd ever imagined, a place he'd heard stories of as a child, but knew he would never reach. The Sacred City, where no creature was allowed to visit. The graveyard of the ancient Alicorns. There were no bodies in the library anymore, or anywhere else in the city for that matter.This time Silver had a proper meal, not just drinking down the water saved at the bottom of the cans they'd stolen. Magpie wasn't sitting vigil over him, though he suspected she would…
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"We don't belong here we don't belong here we need to leave this isn't safe please let me go we need to leave..."Magpie had stopped fighting, but she hadn't stopped muttering. Silver probably would've felt genuinely awful for her, if it wasn't for the urgency of their situation. There was nowhere else for them to go—no way to flee back to Moonrise without wandering right into the waiting hooves of the army. There was no way to go but forward."We can't stop," he urged, as gently as he could. "Please,…
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231.4 K •
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Silver was frozen in indecision, staring into the face of death. An unseen soldier shouted for him to come forward, and he had a good idea where that path would lead. Probably he'd be marched out to join the ones being executed at that moment. It was an obvious, inglorious end.I'm better than that. I can't change things if I'm dead.Silver closed his eyes, building concentration as he prepared to teleport. It was always about familiarity, and there was one place he knew better than any other. The world…
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Silver Star wandered through the alleys of Moonrise, as though drawn by an invisible thread. He looked for Dusty in his usual corner shelter of crates and old blankets, but found no light glowing from inside. A little further he slowed for the Primrose twins, to rehearse his usual ritual of denying interest in their entirely legitimate establishment. But they too were nowhere to be seen. He sped up, eyes growing more furtive as he passed from the stone district into market district. He dodged a few leaks…
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