IronHawk-R

by THOM LANE [So I have been greatly enjoying all the goblin/ponygirl action I've been finding hereabouts, and thought I'd toss my own words into the mix. Mostly this is inspired by the amazing work of IronHawk-R] It was all Ilena’s own fault, of course. She was stupid, and arrogant, and ill-informed. Hell, she was even warned... None of that made any difference now, or ever could. She’d embarked on the first great adventure of her young life, heading across the mountains to the great Imperial capital, meaning to enlist in the Emperor’s own troop of bodyguards. They were the elite of the elite, and only a few cadets were recruited each year, but she was tall and strong and healthy, fast on her feet, and she could outfight any boy in the small town she came from. Any two boys. Another month’s hard march still lay ahead of her, high passes and steep stony roads, as against the plains she’d left behind her; that would put the final touch to her conditioning, and she was confident