New Midnight Rising and Firefly chapters delayed - Firefly teaser available · 8:19pm Mar 9th, 2022
I apologize, folks, but you’re going to have to wait a bit for new content. The reason is that there’s been a lot of not-entirely-pleasant stuff happening to me of late, including a long road trip and a minor medical procedure that took up two days of my time—one that required first fasting and ingesting half a gallon of a very unpleasant substance followed by a lot of sitting. 
Work has picked up as well, and as a result, I’ve had neither much time nor emotional energy to write over the past week.
I’ve done some, but not a lot. The new MR chapter is 90% done with 7400 words written, and the new Firefly chapter is half-done at 5200 words. The former should be ready to launch this weekend; the latter should follow in a few more days. I can at least report the first half of the Firefly chapter was received well by prereaders.
I may have to wait for the weekend before my schedule relents again, but we’ll see. Sorry to keep you waiting. 
Maybe a Firefly teaser will help tide you over for a bit? This next chapter will open with the fate of Fell Flight and Firefly described following their rage-induced duel, told through the eyes of the latter.
EAS Loyalty
Topmost Observation Deck, in front of Mainmast
Cloudsdale Central District Airship Anchorage
September 5th, 1139 AC
1555 hours
“Attention on deck!” the call was made as Fell Flight and I were half-pulled, half-dragged before an audience that include a third of the ship’s crew and half the Corps contingent assigned to it. Also in attendance were Nightborne of the Lunar Council, who looked less than happy about being up at that hour when they were normally asleep during the day. They grumbled amongst themselves at our poor discipline; my ears picked up the General of their self-described Army of the Night saying that if we were his soldiers, we would already have been stripped of our ranks and station and then received a series of lashes to the wings.
I could only imagine how painful they would find tears in their membrane wings, and wondered what punishments the Royal Navy retained from Luna’s rule. We had been advised of what was to come by the Mare-at-Arms, who had made it a point to display a whip she said ‘twas used for extreme breaches of discipline amongst the crew. She was also very good at using it; she demonstrated by lashing the opposite wall, pulling the paint and even some splinters of wood right off it.
We were still hurting badly from the damage we’d inflicted on each other. Worse, our wounds had only barely been treated and we were in manacles, our limbs so stiff and sore we could barely move even without them. Methinks I can hardly blame them for that, the guards we had roughed up who’d only been trying to prevent a bloody battle in sickbay were less than happy with us, as were the sickbay healers themselves, who methinks had more than had their fill of us over the past day.
“Bring forth the accused,” The Mare-At-Arms directed, and we were half-shoved, half-dragged forward to face Captain Shady, who was standing on a small platform that surrounded the mainmast, surrounded by unsmiling sentries.
Father then walked before us and unfurled a scroll from which he read what I later knew to be the standard boilerplate for such proceedings. He wouldn’t even look at me, instead directing his attention to the assembled audience.
“Master Sergeant Fell Flight of the Equestrian Aerial Corps! Master Sergeant Firefly of the Royal Guard! You both stand accused of gross dereliction of duty, conduct unbecoming a soldier, fighting an unapproved duel and multiple assaults on the Naval sentries who attempted to stop you. These charges are serious, and as they occurred on board a Royal Navy Airship you were assigned as crew to, they will be adjudicated under the Royal Navy’s Code of Conduct, as laid out by Princess Luna at the birth of the Navy as a service,” he began ominously.
I admit I could not help but swallow, for even before her fall into the thrall of The Nightmare, Luna’s reputation had been as a harsh mistress who did not brook any disobedience amongst the soldiers of her service.
“But before we proceed, ‘tis my duty to inform you this is not a court-martial, and any determination of misconduct ‘tis not recorded as a conviction. But this also means that the formal rules of evidence and deliberation used in legal proceedings do not apply. If you wish a formal court-martial with legal representation by Royal Navy barristers, ‘tis your right to request it, but the punishments that result may be even more severe and will be recorded as permanent marks on your military record,” he informed us both.
“If you waive that right, the Captain will hear the evidence and make her judgment, imposing whatever punishment she deems fit in accordance with the Royal Navy’s General Orders and Princess Luna’s Code of Conduct. Do you understand these terms as I have described them?”
“Yes, sir,” we said quietly; with Captain Typhoon glowering at me from off to the side, methinks I was certain my meteoric rise through the ranks was at an end.
“Then do you waive your right to legal representation and court-martial, and accept the judgment of Captain Shady if she deems you guilty of your transgressions?” he next prompted.
“Yes, sir,” we said again, not looking at each other. I’d barely glanced at her since the trial, but ‘twas certain she was just as beat up as me, her Corps uniform torn to shreds just like I had many divots and outright gashes in my enchanted armor through which my wounds from wingblade slashes still slowly oozed blood.
She’d not held back, and neither had I. In hindsight, ‘tis a wonder that neither of us were permanently wounded or worse. She had proven herself correct in her claim that she could go blade to blade with me now, even going so far as to exchange a helmet to helmet headbutt that left us both reeling after.
“Then this Captain’s Mast will proceed, and we will call upon our first witness. Senior Starpony Nightingale? Step forth,” he summoned the head of sickbay forward first; she moved in front of us and saluted crispy, then stood to attention before him.
“Senior Starpony! By direction of the Captain, please explain what happened in sickbay, and what you saw.”
“Gladly,” she said in great ire, and then proceeded to give her statement.
I will aim to at least release Midnight Rising this weekend, with Firefly likely following a few days after that. The plan remains to work on Harmonic Resonance after, but I’ve also decided I’ll do a new Feathered Hearts: Continuation & Chronicles chapter following that before shifting back to Firefly. Don’t want to lose too much momentum on C&C, after all!
Normally I'd say something about the material but I don't want to spoil it. I want people to go in raw to this one. All I can say is bravo. You wrote that scene straight.
Get well soon! I'm using the time to read through the story.
Get well soon and we look forward to reading whatever comes our way!
I'm looking forward to the new chapters mostly Firefly but also Midnight Rising. Also I read something that should be corrected.
I would change the sentence a bit to make it more clear that Firefly is referring to Fell Flight here since the way it is written you could assume she's referring to captain Shady since Shady was mentioned in the sentence before this one.
5642624
Indeed I did. Appreciated, sir. I admit I was a bit worried about it until I got your reaction.
5642625
I’ve been seeing your comments! Glad to know you’ve been enjoying it. I’m always very happy to pick up a new reader on Firefly.
5642711
Thanks. I’ll try and check in with you tonight.
5642731
Good point. I’ll make the change.