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    • Chapter 6.3: Prices Cover
      by Starscribe — “How?” It was the first word Twilight had managed. She felt herself shaking—her bubble of silence sparked, then went out. They were plunged into the dim candlelight of the evening, with the moon shining in from above. “How can you…”“You know,” Celestia said. “The night I sent you to the graveyard. When I raise the sun a few hours from now, her pain will be over. Theirs will never end.”Someone knocked on the front door—then a familiar voice spoke. “Hello?” Rainbow pushed it open…
    • Chapter 6.2: Rebirth Cover
      by Starscribe — There were no venues in Ponyville large enough for the event that had been gradually constructed for Sweetie Belle. So it was that they borrowed Sweet Apple Acres, along with all the land around it.Twilight wasn’t surprised to find that Pinkie had already made arrangements for a much larger space, to her usual standards of quality and coordination. Hundreds of meters of ribbons and streamers coated the trees, with firefly lanterns so bright that nopony would long for the electricity that the farm…
    • Chapter 6.1: Life Cover
      by Starscribe — A few months passed. Twilight got her crown, but in general her months were quiet. Twilight still hadn’t been given anything like royal responsibilities.Twilight had to call in several favors to make the potion happen—brought in Zecora to supervise during several sections, brought in laboratory equipment and pressure vessels from the university, even borrowed a linguist from the historical department to clarify the wording of the recipe so there were no mistakes. She wasn’t willing to permit a…
    • 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 6: Verisimilitude Cover
      by Starscribe — Nathan wasn’t sure how long he’d been asleep. He rolled onto his back and found he was looking up at the shiny plastic ceiling of his tent. He felt a little like he’d just lost a fistfight with several angry honey-badgers, and smelled worse.For a few, blissful seconds, he didn’t remember what had just happened. He thought that Brooke would be outside, maybe warming up breakfast or something. They would complete their trip to his shelter today, and the investment of a lifetime would finally pay…
    • Chapter 6: Transit Cover
      by Starscribe — Beyond the door Twilight found more powerful spells, along with traps at regular intervals.“Remember,” Rarity called from behind her, voice faint. “Don’t step on the—”“The round panels. I know.” They hopped and weaved their way around the dangerous traps, and Twilight found herself wondering how long it would take an escaping creature to figure that out. Guess they have to hope that the first one is lethal. But that didn’t make sense either, did it? The ones locked here had been given…
    • Chapter 6: To a Snowy Door Cover
      by Starscribe — The stairway into nothing was waiting for them exactly where Theo remembered it. Yet despite how little time had passed, as they approached it from the sled, she saw it with new eyes. When she’d stumbled out of the gateway in a body that wasn’t hers and nothing making sense, she’d taken the structure for something out of The Lion King. Yet now that she saw it from the ground, that clearly wasn’t the case. Snow and ice covered it, but from the ground there were plenty of sections where wind or…
    • Chapter 6: Thief Cover
      by Starscribe — The request sounded simple on its face: find herself a name to steal. But what did that even mean? With everything else she’d done during the invasion, H had been able to rely on either instinct or imitation to get her through. She knew that food was good, and she knew that the bigger changelings would help her get more of it. She knew she wanted to be like them, not like the thousands and thousands of other drones who didn’t even have a single letter to their name.But as she slipped into the pony…
    • Chapter 6: Sanctum Profane Cover
      by Starscribe — It took longer than the party—long enough that the station on the Ouroboros shard became its own prominent tourist destination.For those of the proper disposition, it was possible to visit the simulated world beneath, using it to form a shard all your own. Arcane had no doubt her work was twisted an infinity of different ways by visiting ponies. Some would make themselves saviors, others tyrants, or worse.But none of those would remain faithful to the project she organized. There would be no true…
    • Chapter 6: Ruby Cover
      by Starscribe — It was everything Bit had hoped to achieve. The tower was lit, its systems each returned to life. She even had the voice of Crimson, recreated from ancient recordings. Even the shock of seeing an old enemy recreated in those same systems was worth it if only to hear him again.But she hadn't brought the power back to listen to old recordings, she deserved the real thing. Bit searched through the tower, combing every room for signs of other visitors who had disturbed the interior. Obviously Crimson's return…
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