Midnight Rising/Feathered Hearts update + Feathered Hearts unused scene · 4:24pm Aug 30th, 2023
I have two releases targeted for September. One is a second chapter of Midnight Rising. The other, Feathered Hearts fans will be happy to know, is a fresh chapter of Continuation and Chronicles. Feels about time to write it.
Midnight Rising
I’ll touch on Midnight Rising first. I miss the halcyon days on its initial late 2015 release when a new chapter would get 400 overnight reads and tons of comments. It was the heyday of Equestria Girls and anything regarding them was super popular. In some ways, my first version of the story was also much more able to attract a wider audience, with generally quick chapters more focused on sex than story.
Not so much my newer version, which I’ve noticed is getting progressively less interest and reads. That’s probably on me, because I’ve gotten a bit away from punishing the Shadowbolt girls and dragged out the middle arc of the story with the griffons. But damned if I haven’t enjoyed it. And honestly, weaving in some lessons on black holes in the process while also making them an integral part of the story.
It might have been a better idea to make the whole griffon arc a side story, but it’s too late. I can’t break it out into its own story now, because the fact that it’s already published means it would be against site rules. Nevertheless, I’m going to finish it, and what I said before remains true: the griffon arc helps set up the climax of Nightmare Night. You’ve seen some of that already, and you’ll see even more of it in the upcoming chapter, which is at 5100 words and climbing.
So to everyone who’s stuck with the story this long, thanks for indulging me and putting up with my flights of fancy regarding the griffons. My interest in writing it is very much tied in to Feathered Hearts, which gets more than a few references in there. Might those references go the other way? In a word, yes, as you’ll see in its upcoming chapter.
Continuation and Chronicles
There is already around 7300 words written of a new chapter, left over from when I was writing the last two. Expect another M-rated entry, with Queen Lepidoptes getting strangely (but quite sensually) philosophical even as she deals with Cipio, detailing Changeling beliefs and attitudes towards sex and love for her audience. It’s supposed to be worldbuilding as much as adult action, and you might be surprised at what she says along with the abilities she demonstrates. And for those of you who don’t like clop, don’t worry; there’ll be enough of the non-sex stuff to fill a T-rated chapter with.
There were some reader concerns voiced in the comments about the last chapter, and as a result, I admit I’m considering changing the ending slightly so Gilda and company initially aren’t going to stay, and the Queen can deal with Cipio privately. But that would then change when she learns that Karin Kazal spilled the beans, reasoning that if the Tribune is to know of Gilda’s indiscretions, it’s only fair that Gilda knows of his. The idea being that he can’t damn Gilda in that instance without damning himself, as it were.
I’ll think about it a bit more. In the meantime, since you’ve gone some months without new content, I’d like to offer up something special—not a teaser, but a dropped scene. I’d originally intended to include Fortrakt in the memory playbacks and even wrote two thousand words of it before I decided the chapter was getting way too long and cluttered and a smaller number of participants made more sense anyway. So I present those 2000 words now. This is only loosely edited, so apologies in advance for any typos or grammatical mistakes.
Consider it to be a cut scene I’m planning to include on the eventual Feathered Hearts: 4K Special Edition DVD. 
Just like Giraldi’s had, Fortrakt’s point of view began on the field beside the human encampment, under a hazy, increasingly smoke-filled sky.
As she once again observed and heard herself from the perspective of another as she gave him orders after an exchange of teasing, Gilda realized that how Giraldi heard her wasn’t a defect in his hearing—her voice really was deeper than she thought!
It is indeed an interesting effect, Queen Lepidoptes agreed, her voice sounding in their minds in what Gilda sensed was an attempt to keep heads calm following the explosion of temper that the Tribune had been about to unleash on them all. Our self-perspectives are often false. That our true voices can only be heard outside of our own heads is just a minor example of it. Now keep your minds quiet and open as the Decurion’s memories replay…
Gilda did her best to obey, watching as her former partner went through his paces and did his best to carry out her orders. She found herself touched when she realized from his thoughts how concerned he was for her over Marco and how much he truly respected, liked and even cared for her, leaving her suddenly wondering who the older sibling was in their relationship despite him being several years younger.
His affectionate feelings weren’t limited to her, though. Gilda felt how crestfallen he was at learning that Chris was leaving, and how suddenly and quite sorely he regretted declining the chance to be with him and Tara. She also realized that in fact, he was at least slightly jealous of her and Marco, like she’d teased him repeatedly. But to his credit, he refused to hold it against her and silently vowed to help them however he could.
He carried out his orders obediently, doing his best to lighten the mood by joking with Gilda and Giraldi before departure. Just as before, they took off for Catlais on schedule while Fortrakt himself flew well in front as a scout. The long flight and solitude gave him time to reflect on all that had happened since the humans had arrived, from stopping Gilda’s first-night attack on Marco to the spiked cider poisoning; from his first-ever mating round to the events of the past few days.
The latter included his near-sex experience with Tara and Chris. Though he started mentally berating himself over them, his reverie was broken when he suddenly scented something in the thickening smoke that shouldn’t have been there—sulfur. Knowing that there weren’t any volcanoes within three hundred leagues of their location, he immediately began looking around and internally froze at what he could just see in the far distance ahead—hazy outlines of not one but three adult dragons, flying in a spread-out pattern while approaching their flight path at a slightly oblique angle.
His mind racing as all thoughts of mating with humans and griffons alike evaporated instantly—what were they doing here? Were they the source of the smoke? And if so, were they attacking the Kingdom? —he fumbled for and nearly dropped his communication crystal as he came to a stop in midair, his wide eyes fixed straight ahead on the middle and largest of the beasts, activating the gem and waiting for Gilda’s response.
The conversation between them then unfolded just as Gilda remembered. It gave her fresh appreciation of how well Fortrakt had kept his head despite his suddenly strong fears, reminding her that dragons could see heat and to not chance going into Tierra at lower altitude. To Gilda’s annoyance, she again heard Tribune Cipio mentally call her an idiot in response, saying she was fortunate that smarter officers than her were present.
He earned a sharp mental rebuke from Queen Lepidoptes, who admonished him to simply watch as Fortrakt heard Gilda order the convoy to break course and head for ground, directing Fortrakt to return and be careful not to be seen. Relieved, he started heading back, flapping hard for the convoy to try to outpace the dragons, only to feel a magical field activate from afar and then watch in horror as the Paladins and carriages were bombarded by a massive barrage of enchanted lightning.
Surprised and fearful—why hadn’t he triggered it? he instinctively dove for lower altitude to get under the field, gaining speed as he did so. He held his breath, fearful of being struck down himself, but nothing happened as he nearly reached treetop level at dangerously high speed before arcing up into the air. It was then he spotted a stunned and plummeting Gilda, who witnessed herself spiraling downward through Fortrakt’s eyes. Though momentarily uncertain whether he should rescue her or try to arrest the fall of the air carriage first, he quickly realized that he couldn’t do the latter alone.
She didn’t envy him the choice of who to save, but quickly understanding that it would take a minimum of four sky griffons to even have a chance of saving the carriage, he went for her first, slapping her with a wing as he passed before stalling his flight and diving after her, tucking his wings to increase speed enough to catch her. Mentally begging her to awaken, he finally succeeded in rousing her, and they set about trying to catch the air coach, whose fall was only somewhat slowed by the two remaining sky griffons, who were straining with all their might even as they were dragged downwards.
Just as Gilda had felt all of Giraldi’s pain and pleasure, the same process repeated itself with Fortrakt. She felt the intense agony of feeling his wings being severely wrenched by trying to arrest the air coach’s descent followed by hitting the ground hard enough to crack his ribcage and bounce high into the air, the joints of his extremities damaged with what felt like torn internal structures in both forelegs.
Staring off to the side dizzy and dazed and in considerable pain after he finally came to a stop in a pile of brambles, his heart pounding in his head and gasping for air much as she had, it gave Gilda new appreciation and even affection for how hard he had tried and how much agony he had endured to save their human friends—doubly so since the thought had flashed through his mind while they were falling was that he had to save Marco for her sake as much as his.
Oh, you dear dweeby cub, you did it for ME? By the crows, you’re too loyal and honorable for your own good, Fortrakt! she told him affectionately to a strong sense of approval from Giraldi and even grudging agreement from the Tribune.
He will likely not recall your words after replaying his memories, Grizelda Behertz, Queen Lepidoptes informed her, so be certain to tell him this later. In the meantime, I again ask you to please silence your thoughts. Too many can clutter the memory-sharing magic.
She instantly felt the mental chatter fall silent at the Queen’s request. To his credit, Giraldi was able to settle his mind quickly while Optio Virgo proved far less able, her mind lingering on the incredible show of honor from Fortrakt and from what Gilda could tell was the double blow of seeing the immense power of human weapons coupled with feeling Giraldi’s overwhelming arousal at wielding it.
But her thoughts did not intrude except for an intense desire to see more of both, leaving Gilda wondering if the other eagless was in fact sexually inexperienced—very odd for her age—to which an embarrassed air told her that she was. If it was Fortrakt, she would have teased him for it, but she let it go, finding herself wanting to see more of the events through her former junior partner’s eyes.
He was only able to watch from where he lay as the crashed carriage was finally kicked open from the inside, relieved to see most of the humans safe aside from minor injuries. Finally treated, he was able to move again if somewhat stiffly, ignoring the warning to take it easy while he sought out Chris and Tara. Finding them safe, he hugged them each with his wings before seeking out Giraldi for a new assignment; he was told to arrange air patrols and determine the extent of the magical field above them while also moving outlying air carriages more firmly into their defensive formation.
As always, he carried out his orders obediently, though inside, his stomach churned as his worries grew along with the increasingly nervous sky griffons he commanded. He didn’t know what was happening except for the dragons he’d spotted, which he didn’t tell them about, fearful of their reaction and hoping against hope that they weren’t somehow attacking the Kingdom despite all the sulfuric smoke in the air.
It was very wishful thinking that Gilda might have scolded him for, but in his place, she granted she might do the same thing. Especially given their lack of defenses against them, given their sole remaining Magus would not be able to hold them off.
After that, the March to the crashed cart and subsequent battles occurred just as before, though she finally got to see Fortrakt in action commanding his two decades of sky griffon Auxilias to hold off the aerial onslaught of corrupted flyers and razorbats—in hindsight, the latter were not the real creatures she had initially thought them to be, but their first sighting of pure Cloven forms. He did so surprisingly effectively, with even Fortrakt himself amazed at how readily his forces followed his commands and often acted even before he issued them.
And then, right in the middle of combat, he remembered why.
It had only flashed through his head at the start of the attack when he saw the initial attack begin and realized how badly they were outnumbered, but just as he had said, his life—and in particular, the events of the night of the cider—flashed through his mind; the shock of sudden attack and certainty they were about to die shattering whatever internal barrier had kept him from his memories.
He saw it all in that few shorts moments, including some memories of Gilda herself that brought color to her cheeks and brought instant understanding to her of what he meant when he claimed they had been intimate, but that he hadn’t mounted her.
Just has Tara had taught her, she had mounted him!
She felt the shock and sudden arousal at the memories shared by most of them, especially Optio Virgo at the brief but titillating vision of Tara taking him from above, staring down at him with a seductive smile. But it was quickly lost as combat with the Cloven consumed him and he could spare what happened that night little mind. Like the rest of them, he did issue a mental oath to the Ancestors. But unlike them, he didn’t promise indulgence but to let the others know what he recalled.
Recollections which included that he had somehow acquired an incredible ability that night… to mentally influence others to do whatever he wanted!
Though he still wasn’t sure even that he was just imagined it, he found himself doing it instinctively here, trying to will his soldiers to obey him in battle as they fought the Cloven. Using it, he was able to get them to respond swiftly and effectively with soldiers dodging attacks that he saw coming but they didn’t, when they instantly took the action he knew they needed to save themselves.
Though amazed and still barely able to hope that they would survive as he heard but couldn’t spare much attention to the ground battle raging below, he heard the thunderous fire of human cannons and was shocked to see the field in front of the Marines littered with fallen assailants, with grass lions and hornet bears struck down with equal ease.
His group was still taking casualties as he finally worked out their proper tactics, ordering his survivors to constantly weave in and out of the same circular area to kill each other’s pursuers, using 3-on-1 tactics to take down each enemy soldier in turn. He didn’t even notice when the cannons below fell silent as they were still fighting, but the belated appearance of the Ravens ended the airborne battle in seconds with scimitars and repeaters, leaving him in awe of them anew.
After that, she saw how hard he was trying to comfort Chris and Tara without being overwhelmed by his newly rediscovered memories, which was very difficult given he was smelling and touching them. But to his credit, he did so, barely even noticing as the human medic fixed his steel talon-slashed flank with needles and stitches. In fact, he didn’t even remember getting the wound, not noticing it until the fight was finished.
And now that it was, what was he supposed to do with his newly restored memories and an ability to influence others that he didn’t understand but had somehow gained?
That’s what I wrote of it, and sorry to say that it will not be used. Pieces of it could be borrowed for later, though, as the story progresses. And for those of you who want more battle scenes, be patient as both sides catch their breath and lick their wounds. Because the fortress city of Aricia is now an isolated island in Cloven-controlled territory that is definitely not out of danger.
Magnificent! This reminds me if Starcraft2 Protoss Kala connections between warriors.
I totally have to use that for my Changeling stories
♡
I'm stoked to get C&C back!
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I will be using it for my Changeling stories! They pretty much already do that. So does the Cloven, for that matter, being a far more primitive but boosted version of them. Hive minds have significant advantages, but also some severe drawbacks at times.
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Hopefully everyone else will be, too!