Rising Effort - Prologue: Stars & Embers
**_Around 2000 years ago..._** "Sombra, I truly think you should wait." The group of four was standing beside the main doors of the Crystal Palace, saying their goodbyes. One of their number would soon depart and not return for some...
Chapter Two: Awake Enough To Be Startled (edit 3/27/2015)
Apart from a few brief moments of disturbed sleep, when I was able to be woken, from hospital staff checking in on my roommate and myself, I seemed to have woken somewhere around mid-afternoon the next day. The first thing I can say I noticed was a...
Chapter Eleven: Recovery
Chapter Eleven "You know, I am starting to worry you like landing yourself here, lad." Dr Hoofmeister commented gently as he came in the room, "This time around, you really shouldn't have survived. You've proven incredibly durable but it's still a...
Chapter Ten: Weirdness & Ancient Shadows
Groaning quietly as my capacity to process reality returned, my eyes didn't stop rolling around in my head for several seconds and I felt things I was not expecting. Why exactly I felt like I had a large bar pressed against my stomach as if I were...
Chapter Nine: A Good Match
I grumbled a bit, the knocking just wouldn't stop and I doubted I would be allowed to fall back to sleep until answering whomever was at the blasted door. Twilight gave her own grumble, nudging me to finally just deal with the interruption. Slowly...
Chapter Eight: Of Souls and Secrets (edit 9/16/2015)
As I moved through the motions of one of my simpler kung fu forms, I couldn't stop myself from drifting in thought. I often let my mind wander while I had a spare mental moment, doing what I could to take in everything that had happened since arriving...
Chapter Twenty-Six: The Weight Of Implications
_(Perspective change to 3rd)_ Celestia stared out the window for a long time after Twilight and Vojin left, worry on her mind and a deep frown upon her face. She thought of how much was coming together now, how there were so many things aligning...
Rising Effort - Chapter Four: Those That Serve
**_The previous week..._** "Thank you for coming, Sergeant Major Steel. Please, have a seat." Sergeant Steel dropped his salute and settled into the chair before the desk of the Captain of the Solar Guard, Colonel Dauntless Mountain....
Chapter Twenty-Four: Worries & Beginnings
As the last day of the Royal Summit got underway, I couldn't help but think about what a week this had been. So much had happened on the first day, and despite the contrast being a lot more sedate afterwards, things had carried on for the rest of it...
Chapter Twenty-Two: Oddball Evenings
On the second evening of the Royal Summit, Twilight and I were walking down one of the lavish hallways not long after having dinner with Shining and Cadence, on our way to join our friends for some hangout time and idle relaxing. It's almost funny how...
Chapter Twenty-Five: The Secrets We Hold
Twilight and I followed Celestia and Luna into their lab again not long after we had finished breakfast on this last day in Canterlot. Now that the Royal Summit had ended, we'd be heading back to Ponyville in the afternoon. The girls had a week to make...
Chapter Eighteen: Forward Motion
Fate was toying with me and Twilight. It had to be that. This stuff couldn't possibly happen to us with so much frequency to be normal. At least I hoped our normal wasn't normal. A well and truly flabbergasted Celestia stammered, "B-but...said m-my...