Chapters
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As it turned out, Whispering Willow Academy did have variations on its uniform policies, once there was a reason for it. For Firefly, that reason was membership in the "Willowbrook Junior Weather Management Brigade." They also didn't give her a choice—the town had so few pegasus ponies “of satisfactory breeding” that she wasn't so much invited to join after her second year as given a new uniform and a new class schedule to match.Whispering Willow, or maybe Equestria as a whole, maintained no…-
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Charlie would never admit there was any part of her education she actually enjoyed. Even when she still had two legs in the world without fur or feathers, she would've been hesitant. There was a reason she'd never pursued higher education, after all.But ponies understood what few in that world seemed to. She didn't care about the abstract. But whenever there was an obvious practical use for what she was learning, she had ample reason to pay attention.The school had lots of problems—it was steeped in…
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"She's gone, right?"Derek shifted in her seat, lowering the curtains back over the window. Risk watched her from across the carriage, though she couldn't quite read his expression. Not anger, exactly. Annoyance. The way he usually looked whenever Charlie was around."Yes. Hopefully she doesn't report back. If the Lightless Star is still using the mine, it's going to make this process a lot harder than it needs to be."She settled back into her carriage-seat, getting comfortable again. Derek had a proper…
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The deep was a strange place, even Derek could admit that. Deep underground, she could feel the gentle pressure of attention on her at all times, as though creatures just out of sight were watching her.In Equestria, perhaps they might be. Even after years of time to grow up here, learning as much as she could about the natural magic of the place and its residents, Derek did not feel as though she had any real confidence. It felt as though every new lesson with Iris might add new information that completely…
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For a timeless eternity, Derek Ashsen drifted. She knew, on some level at least, that she was in a scrying spell. She floated without sensation, a passenger in an endless river, tossed in every current and eddie. She couldn't scream, couldn't paddle, only get hopelessly carried along towards parts unknown.But they weren't unknown to her memory. She saw trees, somehow dull and washed out despite the healthy green of the pines and bright yellows of the wildflowers. This was the Nocturne Forest preserve,…
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A demon Lilac had called from beyond the bounds of time and the depths of space pounded on its steel door, clawing to get inside. Its shouts were agony in her ears, not because of any magic, but because she was beginning to understand what it said.If it caught them here, it would do worse than kill them. Her friends would die, and it would be her fault. Worst of all, she knew it would attack her last. She wouldn't even have the sweet release of death to take away the pain of guilt. It would want her to…
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Charlie wasn't going to be the one to urge her friend to hurry up, not when she had just suffered through so much. It might be true that Lilac had been the one to cast the spells that put them in danger in the first place—but she'd also been the one to get them out again. That made them about even.Besides—Lilac Empathy's spells were the only way they would ever see their home again. The Lightless Star thought they were magical Alicorns from another time, eager to come back and change the world in their…
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Iris Vale had received rude visits from the Lightless Star before. They were the only group of ponies that considered themselves above the law in Equestria. Technically, maybe they were. They represented the True Gods after all, instead of the shallow court of traitors who had replaced them in dominion over Equestria. One day the modern government would be dismantled, and only those who had remained loyal to the world's real rulers would remain.The cult did not care to wait that long to inherit its power,…
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Lilac was alone in her cell.Some part of her had hoped, however distantly, that she would at least get to stay with Charlie. But doing that would also mean spreading more of the responsibility around. There was no need for Charlie to be locked up when she hadn't been the one to fail.Let the cult believe she was the one responsible for everything, and maybe she could keep suspicion off her friend. One day they would have to cast that spell again, but far more powerfully. There was a vast gulf to cross, one…
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They let her out the next day.Firefly searched the school for any sign of Lilac, galloping to the library, that hidden spot under the bleachers—and everywhere else she thought her friend might be hiding. But she didn't find her, and her panic grew with every second she spent running. On the edge of desperation, she finally found someone who might actually be able to help: Risk.He looked particularly solemn and boring today, walking alone from the library with his head down and a saddlebag full of books.…
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