Chapters
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Firefly landed atop the cloud, feet from the unconscious form of a creature she had never seen before.After what she had just suffered through, Firefly was hardly in good shape herself. She felt as though her whole body was covered in unseen burns, leaving patches of feathers and fur gray and colorless. Mentally she wasn't in much better condition, after witnessing the first death of her lifetime, then almost being murdered herself.Her last few hours had been so confusing in fact that she was barely even…-
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Lilac Empathy hadn't exactly known what responsibilities would be waiting for her when she accepted a covenant with the fairies of the mountain grove. What mattered to her was the new source of power, and more importantly—a new source of information. Having responsibilities to earn that privilege was no secret curse they sprung on her, but an expected and reasonable part of the process.It was only because she had spent so long away from the grove that there was so much for her to do. Well that, and a few…
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170.4 K •
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Firefly had never visited Lilac while actually serving in the grove before. Sometimes they traveled together, but those visits were always spent at one uniform size, where there was no need to confuse Firefly’s already crowded mind with the difficulty of breezie existence.Lilac had always meant to find the time to explain it, in the same way she always hoped to really dig into Firefly’s weather magic, and see if there was some cloud-based analogue to runecraft. Unfortunately the time continued to elude…
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170.4 K •
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Firefly led the way from the grove, flying down into the forest below. “I need to find Dusty,” she said. “We’ll catch up to you!” And she was off, leaving Lilac and Risk to make their much slower way back through the muddy trails.They picked a rough day to be leaving. It was still raining, with a constant downpour that soaked into much of the dirt and made the trail a nightmare. Lilac went from smelling like nectar and flowers to dirt and slime in less than a minute.It was always tricky to get…
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170.4 K •
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Iris Vale paced nervously back and forth in the fine glass elevator, as it ascended above the streets of Willowbrook. Of course she could have afforded to remain there herself—House Vale was not instantly impoverished by the destruction of a building. The Lightless Star would never allow her to remain away from them for that long. Iris had been on an increasingly short leash since the moment she defied his will, and insisted the imperfectly-resurrected gods be preserved. With the death of her husband,…
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170.4 K •
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Flying into Canterlot was like something out of a dream. Firefly knew she was somewhere special long before she actually arrived. As they drew closer, the number of other ponies passing in either direction in the sky increased, until a small handful filled to dozens, then hundreds of creatures. They passed entire suburbs of cloud-houses, floating over other mountains. Others passed over the fields all around Canterlot, watering the crops in a continuous circuit.“Those are... like in the maze,…
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170.4 K •
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Firefly followed Septum into the Royal Canterlot Archives. With every step, she found herself increasingly nervous. Were those guards watching them? Had that one whispered something to the other? Was a telegram already going out?There was something incredible about a dangerous mission like this when they had a changeling. There was no need to wander through the city, searching for somepony who might be willing to help get them in. There was no need to break into the building, risking arrest.Granted, what…
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170.4 K •
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Firefly followed Lilac through the doorway into the strange cavern. She kept to the cavern’s edge, staying far from that dark water. There was no telling what would happen to any creature who fell through it, but she knew she didn’t want to find out.“A low place,” she said, her voice echoing strangely in the cavern. “I remember you mentioned something like that before. We need it for... spells that looked back at—”Her friend had said the word not long before, to open the secret passage. Try…
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170.4 K •
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An Alicorn princess stood above Lilac Empathy, her horn already burning with a powerful spell. Lilac couldn’t tell what it was—she lacked the senses to read runeless unicorn magic. But she had no reason to suspect it would not be lethal.Everypony in Willowbrook who knew what she was all said the same thing. If Celestia found them, it would lead to instant, painful death. Lilac reached out, wrapping her foreleg around her best friend, and holding on tight. At least she didn’t have to die alone.She…
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170.4 K •
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The next few hours passed in a blur for Firefly. In many ways, visiting here was a luxury unlike anything she had experienced before. How many ponies would get a chance to visit the royal palace? Of those, how many thought they would spend their lives as fugitives in Equestria, ready to be executed the instant that Celestia discovered them?A lifetime she spent in fear, a lifetime for nothing. Princess Celestia was a harsh ruler, one who probably would have killed them if she thought they were a danger to…
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170.4 K •
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