Chapters
-
For the months leading up to the first battle in Icefalls, Hayden had imagined what it might be like on the day the Grand Fleet arrived at her gates. Somewhere subconsciously she had been imagining her own experience in war—a few dozen insurgents at a time, never clearly seen. They would man some defenses, hide behind some sandbags and occasionally return mortar fire.This wasn’t Icefalls, but even so it wasn’t anything close to what she had pictured. Glancing at long-distance radar images could not…-
141.3 K •
-
-
They had been underway for nearly an hour before Hayden heard something she hadn’t before—a voice from the ship, speaking in clinical English. “We are receiving an incoming message from the HMS Neptune.”Guards and ponies all over immediately stopped what they were doing, staring off in all directions for the speaker. Except Skylark, who looked to Hayden instead.“What’s that? Is that… bad?”“No.” Hayden reached out, pressing the “message accept” icon that had just lit up.She was…
-
141.3 K •
-
-
“This is a bad idea,” Nightbreeze spoke from behind her, her voice distant and annoyed. “I guess we’ve had lots of bad ideas lately.”Hayden did her best to ignore the bat, focusing all her attention on what she was watching below. Hovering like this took a little more concentration than simple flying, which meant riding the balance between deciding what to do and relying on her instincts. Well, relying on Luna’s instincts, since Hayden didn’t know the first thing about this.The world below…
-
141.3 K •
-
-
Students scattered from around the empty classroom, leaving the artifacts of their new day of study littering the ground like leaves. Star Swirl hadn’t had to tell any of them to flee, but Hayden could see the emotion on his face. His horn glowed faintly for a few seconds, as though examining several different spells before ultimately rejecting them all.“That’s it, then,” he finally said, the chalk that had been levitating beside him snapping into little pieces and raining down like powder.…
-
141.3 K •
-
-
Hayden realized the north was changing the moment she saw weather-ponies lounging around the square by noon, instead of their distant specks in a desperate battle against the clouds. Layers of ice sloughed off rooftops, and the streets began to clear. A day or two later, the great waterfall after which the city was named began to roar with life, creating a background hum that never quite went away.Most important of all, though, was that the city was still there. Icefalls had not devoured itself with…
-
141.3 K •
-
-
Hayden met the princess on the castle ramparts. Princess Luna did not attempt to return to her disguise—considering the display she had just put on for every citizen in Icefalls, there probably wasn’t much of a point. She had acquired her sword, Achelois, probably through the same means Hayden had the last time she used it. I wonder what would happen if I was carrying it when she tried to summon it.Hayden landed behind her, the only pony who had dared approach her up here. There were a few guards on…
-
141.3 K •
-
-
Hayden was in a daze. She listened to the drums—that beat meant a sighting from two stations down along the wall. That particular beat signaled at least one airship. She could tell no more from merely listening.“Sargent, get East Wind back to the keep!” she ordered, turning to take off. She didn’t even wait for a response from the pony, just beat her wings and leapt off the side of the wall. She caught herself in a smooth parabola that took her up above the edge, where she could get a good look…
-
141.3 K •
-
-
“She’s been waiting in there for an hour,” Honed Edge whispered, peeking into the open doorway again. Evening Star followed his eyes, taking in the scene as quickly as she could. A representative from the Crown, come all the way from Harmony to inspect Hayden and her work in protecting Equestria.They hadn’t received any letters from the capital—or from anywhere else, for that matter. Aside from the messengers they sent (instructed to lie about their origin), they had been completely isolated from…
-
141.3 K •
-
-
Hayden stared down at Fort Polestar from the bridge of her army’s only airship, frowning slightly to herself at the distinct lack of battle damage. The Sirius had once been Lord Snow Storm’s pleasure yacht, before they got their hooves on it. Needless to say, the ship had changed a little in the last few months.Her eyes narrowed as she looked down, searching for what should have been obvious signs of battle. Burned buildings, chunks of the wall torn away, something.But she couldn’t see anything like…
-
141.3 K •
-
-
“There’s probably somewhere more important for you to be,” Honed Edge said behind her, a little reproving. “Big important generals should be doing big important things.”Hayden wore a stiff uniform coat against the chill, which always seemed to find a way to leak into Icefalls these days. Their weather team just didn’t have enough pegasi to keep the farms and the city warm, and so they focused on the farms. “And what should I be doing, Edge?”The carriage rolled swiftly out of the city, its…
-
141.3 K •
-
- Previous 1 … 177 178 179 … 222 Next
