This story is a sequel to Mythic Dawn
It all started with a dream.
Last school semester, Luster Dawn and her new friends stopped a plot by a conspiracy of Equestria's rich and powerful to install a puppet to the throne. That should have been the end of it, the solution to the mystery, but for some reason, Luster Dawn can't shake the feeling they missed something, and that there's truth yet to be uncovered.
What lingering effects did the ritual have? Why aren't ponies willing to tell Luster Dawn what they know? Most importantly, how is she going to find the truth when her mentor and everypony else is hiding it?
Thank you to all my readers and supporters. This year has been particularly difficult for me, and I've been struggling with my health. Don't get Covid, folks! It's real and it's a bad time, take it from me.
I decided to start publishing this before quite finishing it because I haven't put anything up in a while - I've been trying to focus on completing projects before posting them, because of how many incomplete stories I have lying around. Hopefully, as you read this you see that the story is marked complete and I did eventually finish it!
Oooh! More!
Ugh, gonna have to dig all the eggs out of the graveyard again...
Wait, you got Covid? Crap, thank goodness you're okay!
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Also my first experience with pneumonia! I'd never had it before and thought I'd broken a few ribs (I've had a lot of broken bones over the years and the pain was similar).
I love Professor Lightning Dust.
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Holy freaking heck. Im so glad you are okay, and please get better on recovering.
Red magic blasts too powerful for a unicorn of Luster’s ability to block somehow connected to case where cultists were obsessed with alicorns. That doesn’t bring up any familiar associations at all
Just looking at this title makes me hope for nuclear weapons....
Cue ominous music ...
Hmmm ... deliberately stirring up Luster's curiosity and concern and then deliberately trying to lock her out of the loop. Does Twilight not remember that the only reason she has a kingdom is because Luster wouldn't take "it's nothing, forget about it" for an answer?
I know they're (probably) separate continuities, but I think it would be a hoot if Luster and her friends could meet Sunset the Witch.
And it seems Twilight has learned nothing from the previous story.
If they REALLY wanted to avoid rousing suspicion, they should have had Luna POLITELY ask to view that memory instead of just barging in, looking at it, and acting all elusive.
So this is going to be episodic? Chapter one was “episode one,” of a “season,” that won’t be followed up on until later?
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Yep! Don't worry, Luster Dawn would never let a mystery go.
Shockin' beautiful.
Out of curiosity, how does one judge when a people are 'ready' for something?
Glad I skimmed the prequel again before reading this, it's nice to see more of Berlioz and Arteria bouncing off eachother. Also digging the return of the episodic narrative style. My only nitpick so far is that, unlike as shown here, Caballeron retired from villainy in the show.
Of course Arteria will be written as beautiful in the next book! Daring only let her come along so she could steal marketshare from Twilight by having her next adventure prominently feature a forbidden romance between a noble vampony and a were-dog.
Gotta wonder how the Alicorn Amulet never got in there ....
10486298 Usually by when it would be most convenient for the one doing the deciding.
This is so good, I can't stop grinning. If someone had told me that this chapter was going to feature Phantasma playing Warhammer 40k against Flurry Heart with Yu-Gi-Oh trappings while also featuring a great moral I wouldn't have believed them.
I'm kinda impressed Phantasma learned how to do everything in like, 5 minutes? Is it that easy to pick up?
So, an ancient crown recovered and now an ancient Princess has been found (or at least her body) ... these things aren't going to be related at all, nope, not at all
10491909 Not from what I've heard ... Phantasma may have a talent for sneaky tactics and speed reading ...
Oh Flurry, your Uncle Thorax is going to be so disappointed in you for this.
And another macguffin is found!
And Larrikin becomes a minion
I admit, I was not expecting Stick-Twilight to show up. This certainly throws an interesting curve into things.
Larrikin is never getting out of detention. Yes, they were instrumental in a villain taking her first steps into redemption. But, they also went into the Everfree Forest alone with a creature they knew to be evil and manipulative without informing anyone of where they were going and Larrikin didn’t even consider turning back after almost dying horribly the first time when there was no real time pressure forcing them to go on without help. The Friendship School cannot condone its students doing something so reckless and dangerous.
Another novel and fun mini adventure.
"...the magic of friendship meant that no matter how far away you were, you were still together. And able to be bitten. It wasn’t a good friendship lesson."
Presented without context.
--Spade
I really wonder what is going on here. Luster Dawn isn't going to stop until she has all the answers and the more she's being told not to investigate the more motivated she gets. Twilight and her friends are doing this completely wrong or are using reverse psychology, I don't know which one is the better option.
This was a great chapter and I loved all of it. It's nice how the hired help simply changed loyalties when it was clear their bosses weren't going to pay them. On a personal note I didn't think Kindom of the Crystal Skull was so terrible, better than the Temple of Doom but not much more. Also I would think Starlight to prefer books like Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto rather than romance trash like the Twilight Saga.
I really hope that the lesson will stick with Flurry Heart and that she'll be nicer to Phantasma from now on.
I wasn't expecting the Mean Six to show up but at least one of them got something of a happy ending now.
God, this played out in my head like a Yu-Gi-Oh battle with all the dramatic wind and everything. I love the 40k stuff too. Simply marvelous.
I'm kind of shocked nobody commented on the blatant reference to The Enchanted Library.
OH MY GOD THERE’S A SEQUEL?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!!?????!!!!?!!!
AAAAAAAAA I’m SO glad this is baaaaaack!!!
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Even us commies have our guilty pleasures :P
The Pokémon and Steven universe quotes were the icing on the cake
Wooooo! Friendship adventure!!!!
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Someday I’ll read it. What was the reference?
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A ghostly Twilight being called 'Princess Booky'. If it's not a reference it's a heck of a coincidence.
It's not a substantial spoiler for TEL.
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MagnetBolt does seem to love shameless but tasteful references, so it wouldn’t at all surprise me.
A little lacking compared to previous chapters, but the interplay between Ibis, Discord, and Harmony was still fun.
Why is Harmony pulling a Vinyl Scratch? She can talk just fine.
This was a fun chapter and it's totally in character for Discord to somthing this stupid when he's annoyed. Ibis should have realized that trying to use logic on Discord will end badly.
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I agree. Did Ibis really learn much in the way of a lesson?
Still wonderful though.
I love the Spirit so much in this. She was a lot of fun, and Ibis using chaos magic was great as well. Cannot wait to see how the Spirit and Booky interact.
I really don't like cliffhangers. I hope that the next chapter gives an explanation and a solution. Also the Tree of Harmony could interact with others just fine long before Luster was around. The guards are rather stupid and should just lock those teenagers in juvenile detention or something instead of doing nothing.
Hey, at least they're on an actual cliff. All cliffhangers need something to hang off of.
Luster is in Film Noir mode, I see.
Not good.
Huh ... if I remember correctly, the School of Friendship teaches regular courses as well (in this continuity), so what became of Cheerilee and her school?
Nice to see how Fizzlepop is doing! I wonder what happened to her pet hedgehog?
This has been attempted so many times, I feel like in Equestria "overthrow the government" is the equivalent of "jump off the roof into a pool." It's something you do when you're hanging around with a bunch of young people and you want to impress them, and maybe you're not making good decisions.
This is Cozy Glow erasure and I won't stand for it!
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By our standards all dames in Equestria are leggy. They have twice the legs!
I had forgotten about the fire but I remembered it from the previous chapter just at the end. Arteria should have let Starlight call in the royal guard to deal with those assasins but it was a good chapter anyway.
Arteria continues to be a treasure.