After a two-day bout with stomach flu... · 6:44pm Mar 13th, 2019
Or maybe it was food poisoning; take your pick as the result was the same (
)--I'm resuming work on Firefly, with work being done on not one but two chapters. The release of the last one was a roaring success and easily the most popular chapter yet, judging by the number and content of the comments. I'd like to thank everyone who dropped a comment, and welcome new readers to the story as well. Interestingly, the story did NOT feature upon launch of the latest chapter, but still picked up four new likes!
As for things to come... I don't think I have to explain what happens in the next chapter. 
I will say that Leo Archon will be contributing to it, as he's had some scenes in mind for it for some many months. If you are unaware of his works, he contributed a lot to the first book in places, and he specializes in crossover fanfics. You are welcome to check out his fimfiction works, which are quite varied and cover a lot of ground:
https://www.fimfiction.net/user/23238/Leo+Archon
He also has a fanfiction.net account, where he pens non-pony crossovers. His latest is one I've been editing; a Portal/RWBY crossover called "Black Science" where Blake Belladonna is dispatched by White Fang branch leader Adam Taurus (pre-show, obviously) to investigate an old ruin said to hold some interesting technologies:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12878072/1/Black-Science
Want to see what would happen if GLaDOS awoke to find her there? The answer is within! And surprisingly apt so far...
Anyway, after this chapter, the first day of war concludes, and the scene shifts. The question then becomes, how was news of war received outside of Equestria? This I will give a teaser for, even though it's not the next chapter to come:
Night Council Chambers
Hollow Shades
Thestralslovakia
September 2nd, 1139 AL (Anno Lunae)
There were times during these oft-boring meetings of the Thestral Night Council that issues of great import were debated. There were also instances of raised voices and demands to duel. Rarely, however, were the matters discussed so potentially grave as the news that night, and ‘twas all my pen could do to keep up with their debate.
Word had reached us at dusk from our outlying trading posts of the Gryphon invasion of Equestria, and with their initial apparent success and our nearest borders only a few hundred miles away from theirs, we had to decide--quickly--what we were going to do about it.
Unfortunately, consensus amongst the councilbats proved as elusive as ever, at a time ‘twas certain we would need a united front should either side come calling.
“For now, methinks we should do nothing!” insisted Primrose Plum, the Minister of the Agriculture, whose duties included managing both our oft-meager crops--we did our best, but earth ponies we simply were not-- and the cattle trade. “Nothing except see which side gains the upper wing--methinks to commit to either side now would be foalish! We must wait to see who is winning! Then and only then should we consider who to cast our lot with and dine at the victor’s table!”
“That may not be possible, Primrose,” countered Minister of the Treasury Lord Shiraz, whose grape-growing and winemaking family had amassed a considerable fortune. “’Tis certain that before long, both sides will wish to enlist our aid! Perchance you wouldst explain what we should do when both Celestia and the gryphons send emissaries to us, seeking alliance and soldiers?”
“We tell them no! The gryphons are not our enemies, but we owe them nothing! And Celestia can rot in Tartarus for what she did to us after Luna’s fall!” the Interior Minister in charge of land and wild game management all but snarled, baring her pointed teeth.
Viceroy Chardonnay then offered up a more calmly-delivered point, as he so oft did. “The Nightmare. Not Luna,” he corrected softly in the very soft firegem lit-chamber, slitted eyes glowing with their reflected light around the table. “Luna fell to the Nightmare. And then we fell into her thrall, losing everything for it.”
Primrose Plum gave a scoffing sound at that. “Believe what you wish, Viceroy, but it changes nothing! We are under no obligation to join either side! We paid a tribute to stay out of Celestia’s wars. She will manage without us!”
“And suppose they do not take no for an answer?” the Viceroy pointed out patiently. “You presume they would allow us to sit out the war. What if they do not? What if Celestia demands our service? Our agreement keeps us out of offensive actions but Equestria is being attacked! What if the gryphons decide we are just another pony with funny wings and thus an enemy to be fought? These questions must be considered this night, fellow Nightborne,” she reminded us, calling the chamber to fall silent until a new figure finally spoke.
“I agree with you, Viceroy,” called out Small Talk, our mare Minister of State, who managed our outlying trading outposts and was one of the few thestrals who would go abroad to visit Canterlot when Celestia called, as she typically did once a year. “Your low opinion of the Sun Princess is unfair, Primrose. She has treated me--and us--nothing but honorably. Our weather is managed deftly by their pegasi weather teams and I find their diplomatic liaison nothing short of respectful to say nothing of Celestia herself. We owe Equestria our continued existence, not just as a race but as a nation! Or perchance you have forgot that instead of exiling us entirely, she ceded us these lands and granted us autonomy within them?”
“For a yearly ransom in taxes, yes!” Shiraz brought her hoof down hard. “We pay her tribute and she deigns to leave us some lakewater and a few other scraps to fight with the Lightborne over!” She sneered, speaking in reference to Lake Luna, the large northern lake which Cloudsdale filled every fall, and our less numerous light-furred cousins, the Lightborne thestrals, or ‘Highborne’ as they called themselves. We were not on good terms with the latter and hadn’t been for centuries; there was little love lost between us, methinks, as even going back to Luna’s time we had vied for her favor and been perfectly willing to undermine the other to get it.
“And for it, we are masters of our own affairs,” Small Talk replied as evenly and diplomatically as ever. “It may behoof us to consider what should happen to her favor if we decline to aid her, and then she wins the war anyway. She may see that a betrayal to be punished and order our lands seized for it. And methinks I would be hard pressed to explain why she would not be justified in doing so.”
That only brought about another scoffing sound. “You say that as if we would make that easy for her, or the Equestrian military would be in any shape to fight us after the gryphons,” pointed out General Starry Skies, the leader of the Nightborne Army, also referred to as the Army of the Night in remembrance of its long-ago service to Luna. “If they elect to invade us, they will sorely regret it.”
“Oh? And what of the gryphons?” Small Talk challenged. “What if they come south into our lands?”
“Why would they?” came the dismissive response from the General. “Look at a map, Madam Minister--their most direct route to Canterlot is on the other side of the Foal Mountains, well away from us! And from a purely military point of view, methinks they would not want antagonize a neutral nation on the flank of their advance.”
“And suppose they decide that a potential threat on their flank of their advance cannot be tolerated? Suppose they treat us as just another race of ponies to conquer, Starry Skies?” Viceroy Chardonnay mused aloud. “What then?”
“Then let them come,” Starry Skies stated with surety, baring his teeth in a predatory grin. “If they are so foalish to choose a war with us, then so much the better! They know nothing of us or how we fight; only the Equestrians! They know not the terror they face should they challenge us! We will then defeat their invasion on our own, at which point, we can dictate terms to not only them, but to all Equestria! Having saved her precious ponies, Celestia will have no choice but to give us whatever we want! We can then gain true independence and dominion over all our lands! The Lunar Republic of our great and glorious Queen will be reborn! At long last, the Nightborne destiny will be ours and ours alone!”
And thus are the thestrals heard from for the first time, and some hard choices will follow. The gryphon intentions towards the thestrals remain unknown for now, but suffice it to say, the latter would be wise to plan for all potential eventualities... and the General is probably being a bit overconfident. 
But this remains in the future. Work is underway on the next two chapters, and I'll aim for getting a new one by the end of this month. This last one honestly did take a lot out of me, but believe me, it was worth it for how well it turned out and the reader reaction it garnered! 
Awesome.
Huzzah, I've been waiting for the Thestral enclave to put in their two bits! I'm still holding a slim hope that Fell Flight may be able to establish some sort of report with them, after her rejection so long ago, I'm a sucker for that kind of thing. Glad you're feeling better!
Also, I love Thestralslovakia
Wow the Thestrals sound like... well pretty much everyone right before WWI kicked off.
Hope you feel much better.
Looks incredible, write on