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    • Chapter 4: Free Cover
      by Starscribe — Maybe it was wrong of Richard to expect Celestia to react the way he would have, had his commands been disobeyed. She landed beside him, body tense as she watched the opening for the return of their enemy. But she did not repeat herself or chastise. Perhaps she understood as he did that one ruler need respect another. "That is a very fine sword," she said, with one gentle inclination of her head. How she could be so fierce one moment and so calm the next baffled Richard. Despite all his focus, all his…
    • Chapter 5: Shots Cover
      by Starscribe — "A moment." There was no way to deny the instructions of a king, though Charles had no reason to want to. They had just finished an intense briefing, and he had just learned of the mission that would begin by the time evening came around. This information made him excited to get started. No doubt King Richard was taking him aside to explain some secret aspect of the assignment, some particulars he was supposed to keep in mind during the task. Yet he had no need to do that, not when they had a secure radio…
    • Chapter 6: Warfare Cover
      by Starscribe — Not many ponies in Equestria had the opportunity to ask for personal help from one of its monarchs. Anypony could submit a petition to the Solar or Lunar Court, but such petitions were much more likely to be answered by any of the countless lesser nobles that orbited around the ruling monarchs the way planets in other star systems orbited their stars. Only those issues that were politically significant or complicated in some way actually made it to the rulers.Unless you happened to know them somehow. Amber…
    • Chapter 7: Rescue Cover
      by Starscribe — Four fillies and one dragon proved to be very poor nurses. Of the lot of them only Chance had any formal medical training, and that was with two-legged primates using a medical science centuries ahead of anything in Equestria. Their patients in many cases had received no treatment at all, as many had only been injured moments before the Fury landed. Were it not for the supplies they kept aboard, Chance had no doubt that half would have been dead before they reached the hospital."I thought Celestia had…
    • Chapter 8: Landfall Cover
      by Starscribe — There was no time for rest, and so much information to absorb that from the moment she woke up Chance was practically assaulted with news. Some of it was good. There had been an unexpected miracle at the Ponyville General Hospital. Despite the awful condition the bombing victims had been in when they arrived, not a single one had died in the night and all were now stable. None had lost any limbs or apparently suffered any of the mental degradation associated with severe cranial injuries. They would all…
    • Chapter 9: Eclipse Cover
      by Starscribe — Celestia was not a pony easy to get in to see. During wartime the affairs of the Solar Court were handled entirely by lesser nobles, so Celestia's time was completely free for matters that actually mattered. Only high officers from the various branches were permitted free access, and even then only during specific hours of the day.She was in the right place to receive an audience, the "war room" on one of the higher floors of the castle. There was an enormous map of Equestria on a table, with a large open…
    • Chapter 10: Meetings Cover
      by Starscribe — Second Chance was more nervous now than she had been approaching a Griffon dreadnaught in an unfinished airship. She felt none of the sun on her back this bright morning, and dragged her hooves a little as she made her way through Ponyville towards the place ponies were calling the "human wall." Most of her traveling supplies had already been loaded onto the Fury, so all she brought was her tablet computer in a sling over her shoulder. Just one awful meeting to sit through, and she would be off. Her…
    • Chapter 11: Wings Cover
      by Starscribe — "For your benefit-" Alexi looked across the table to King Richard, and nodded very slightly. Her tone was measured, careful not to imply anything about what she said. "And so we might communicate more effectively. We are going to be your allies; and so provide this information freely. Seven years ago, we received the first radio transmissions through the opening designated HR-19-G, and over the course of that year negotiated the 'Unified Resistance Pact.'" She turned back to Luna, and seemed to be doing…
    • Chapter 12: Lies Cover
      by Starscribe — The ponies stationed inside Normandy all lived in one little building, which like everything there had been very hastily constructed. The single-story military-style barracks might not have all the technological amenities of the human structures, but it had been built with old-fashioned earth pony sturdiness and rustic charm. After living in pony-built structures her whole life, Amber would've felt quite uncomfortable in any of the human structures all around her. To say nothing of when she dreamed of…
    • Chapter 13: Takeoff Cover
      by Starscribe — "This message is important, Chance. It's about our new mission-"Chance's quarters were not large. Like all three of the little bedrooms on the ship, it was scarcely as wide as her body, with a bunk and a trunk that fit underneath. As a result she spent most of her time working from the bunk, stylus and tablet hovering in the grip of her magic as she went about solving some difficult technical problem. It was the same one every time, the one essential to the survival of her species and quite possibly to…
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