Sierra Falls Horizons
Series Metadata
Listing Series
-
A Season Kept Secret (A Sierra Falls Horizons Hockey Romance) by koalathebear
Fandoms: Original Work
08 Jan 2026
Tags
Summary
My unhinged, ridiculous and entirely unfounded in reality take on a hockey romance. I love and hate hockey romances. I hate the way the characters are often written, so this is my own take on one that I find fun.
Please see my blurb about real versus fantastical hockey players.
You've seen my take a rock star romance in my Do Not Fall In Love With A Rock Star series, this is the ice hockey version. Although Aesthetic Ruin do very much appear in this universe. I love linkages :D
Series
- Part 11 of Koala's Fairy Tales
- Part 1 of Sierra Falls Horizons
-
The Long Season (A Sierra Falls Horizons Hockey Romance) by koalathebear
Fandoms: Original Work
01 Dec 2025
Tags
Summary
A continuation of my unhinged, ridiculous and entirely unfounded in reality take on a hockey romance A Season Kept Secret. I wrote it because I didn't want to say goodbye to Winter and Dominic yet.
People always claim they're writing what they want to read but secretly they're writing for other people. I love and hate hockey romances. I hate the way the characters are often written, so this is my take on what I want to read in a hockey romance.
Please see my blurb about real versus fantastical hockey players.
You've seen my take a rock star romance in my Do Not Fall In Love With A Rock Star series, this is the ice hockey version. Although Aesthetic Ruin do very much appear in this universe. I love linkages :D
This story will make absolutely no sense unless you've read the first story, sorry.
Series
- Part 2 of Sierra Falls Horizons
- Part 12 of Koala's Fairy Tales
-
Tags
Summary
My inevitable Vignettes for my Sierra Falls Horizons hockey romance series.
At the time I finished The Long Season, it was still really early in the 2025-2026 NHL season. I knew that it was extremely likely that I would be inspired by antics during the season to write more. In some instances, I might be able to add new chapters to The Long Season, in other instances, it might make sense to just to have some discrete, standalone Vignettes. These will make no sense to anyone who hasn't read the stories so I honestly wouldn't bother reading this story unless you're already along for the journey :)
These were originally only going to be Winter and Dominic vignettes but I've increased it to include Michael and Claire from The Long Way Back just because ...
Series
- Part 3 of Sierra Falls Horizons
- Part 13 of Koala's Fairy Tales
-
The Long Way Back (A Sierra Falls Horizons Hockey Romance) by koalathebear
Fandoms: Original Work
01 May 2026
Tags
Summary
I hadn't intended to ever post this story but the lovely kkaarlyy who is one of the tiny cohort of readers making their way through my original fic who actually comments (wow!) and she mentioned that she wanted to know more about Michael & Claire.
Although their story was in my head before any of the other stories in the Sierra Falls Horizons series, I wrote about them when I knew nothing about hockey except what I'd read in hockey romances (i.e. not much!) and long before I'd even thought of the Horizons. When I started writing the Horizons, I reached back and pulled Michael and Claire in.
Even after I made the decision to post, I was still intending to hold back the majority of chapters because:
1. I intended to make a lot of edits to make to make it ok for sharing/posting and also to better reflect this story's place in the wider Horizons universe; and
2. I have a few other stories in the series to finish first haha.It turned out I didn't need to make quite as many changes as I thought and probably just needed to include the appropriate tagging which I have done.
Series
- Part 4 of Sierra Falls Horizons
- Part 14 of Koala's Fairy Tales
-
A Different Kind of Leadership (A Sierra Falls Horizons Vignette) by koalathebear
Fandoms: Original Work
25 Feb 2026
Tags
Summary
I’m writing a Winter Olympics 2026 arc for Oliver Fitzwilliam & the Lakefall Mariners, and that storyline was simply meant to explore the Games themselves. Then the real-world fallout after the gold medal game happened and I couldn’t leave it alone. It felt like something my characters would have opinions about. It also felt better examined through Winter and Dominic’s lens than Oliver’s. It's also longish which is how it became a standalone Sierra Falls piece rather than part of the usual Vignettes collection.
This isn’t meant to be a political manifesto. My discomfort wasn’t primarily about who was in the locker room or who made the call. Elite athletes are human; adrenaline and celebration don’t always produce perfectly judged moments. What grated with me was what came afterwards. The doubling down and the inability or unwillingness to acknowledge why some people might reasonably have felt unsettled. This fic was me exploring how how a single moment could have been handled differently in a way that the headlines might have stayed where they belonged — on the gold medal.Series
- Part 5 of Sierra Falls Horizons
- Part 15 of Koala's Fairy Tales
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 7,654
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Hits:
- 19
-
Sierra Falls Horizons: In World Artefacts and Documents by koalathebear
Fandoms: Original Work
23 Nov 2025
Tags
Summary
To try to debloat the stories (haha, too late!), I'm putting a few in-world documents/artefacts that have relevance across the various stories in the Sierra Falls Horizons series into this document.
Be warned. These documents will make zero sense unless you've been reading the underlying stories.
Series
- Part 6 of Sierra Falls Horizons
- Part 16 of Koala's Fairy Tales
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 22,962
- Chapters:
- 15/?
- Hits:
- 81
-
Tags
Summary
This was supposed to be a short story, perhaps 12,000 words or so but then I started going down the rabbit hole of women's college hockey and lack of parity with the men's college hockey and then 12,000 words became a lot more .. :P
My husband can't understand why I keep writing so many stories that pretty much no one reads except me. Correction - he knows exactly why I do it - I'm so hopeless :D
It's part of my Sierra Falls Horizons hockey romance series. Reading order is:
1. A Season Kept Secret (Dominic Kane and Winter Xu)
2. The Long Season (Dominic Kane and Winter Xu)
3. CheckedCarter is a minor character in A Season Kept Secret and also The Long Season. He's also mentioned The Fiction Alcove: A Bookshop Romance. At least I managed to keep that story short :)
Series
- Part 7 of Sierra Falls Horizons
- Part 18 of Koala's Fairy Tales
-
Pit Stop (A Sierra Falls Horizons Hockey Romance) by koalathebear
Fandoms: Original Work
21 Feb 2026
Tags
Summary
Part of my Sierra Falls Horizons hockey romance series. I'm determined to make this a short-ish story. I need to stop writing such long stories!
Series
- Part 8 of Sierra Falls Horizons
- Part 19 of Koala's Fairy Tales
-
Between Leagues - A Second Season (A Sierra Falls Horizons Hockey Romance) by koalathebear
Fandoms: Original Work
12 Nov 2025
Tags
Summary
A short story that is part of my Sierra Falls Horizons hockey romance series. These characters are referenced in The Long Season. Leighton and Dominic are in the same rookie cohort, albeit on different teams and whose lives ended up following different paths.
Written because the more I learned about the American Hockey League and all those hopeful players who were so desperate for their shot in the NHL, I found it very poignant and almost tragic. They grind away and damage their bodies to the same extent the NHL players do - but for a fraction of the pay and recognition. Dominic and Winter talk about the odds a lot in The Long Season, about how hard it is to make it big. There's also the chapter The Long Odds of Making and Staying in the NHL (North American Skaters Only) and I decided to explore someone who made it and then fell.
Series
- Part 9 of Sierra Falls Horizons
- Part 20 of Koala's Fairy Tales
-
Lakefall: The Turn (A Sierra Falls-adjacent Hockey Romance) by koalathebear
Fandoms: Original Work
22 Jan 2026
Tags
Summary
I've been following the startling run of the Buffalo Sabres this 2025-26 NHL Season. They haven't made a playoffs in 14 consecutive seasons and are consistently a source of mockery in the league.
So this story was inspired by them plus the difference that Bedard has made to the Blackhawks and Celebrini has made to the Sharks. Defnitely not inspired by the players themselves, but rather the impact that they've been able to have on struggling teams. I was thinking about what it must be like for these talented, brilliant first round picks to be sent to the worst teams. How hard must it be? Also - how hard must it be to be on a team that's always losing? It has to be soul-destroying.
Not part of my Sierra Falls Horizons hockey romance series, but it is inter-related and it takes place in the same universe. It also of course exists in the same universe as my Do Not Fall In Love With A Rock Star series.
Series
- Part 21 of Koala's Fairy Tales
- Part 10 of Sierra Falls Horizons
-
A Season On Pause (A Sierra Falls-adjacent Hockey Romance) by koalathebear
Fandoms: Original Work
21 May 2026
Tags
Summary
This hopefully shortish story is not part of my Sierra Falls Horizons hockey romance series, but it is inter-related and it takes place in the same universe. It also of course exists in the same universe as my Do Not Fall In Love With A Rock Star series.
I've always wanted to set a love story during the Pandemic lockdown but while I played with a few ideas, they never really landed. Exploring lockdown through the eyes of an NHL player seemed interesting so here goes. I dislike the Tampa Bay Lightning intensely but I've used that team just for the purposes of scheduling given that they won the 2020 Stanley Cup during the COVID-19 global pandemic. So the fictional Armada based in the fictional Halcyon Bay, Florida follow the game schedule of the Lightning - but have nothing else in common with them.
Series
- Part 22 of Koala's Fairy Tales
- Part 11 of Sierra Falls Horizons
-
An Empty Seat (A Sierra Falls-adjacent Short Story) by koalathebear
Fandoms: Original Work
13 Mar 2026
Tags
Summary
Returning to Halcyon Bay before training camp, Armada defenceman Gabe Seneca offers the spare seat beside him in first class to a stranger stuck between a bickering couple in coach.
The stranger turns out to be Harrison “Harry” Li, a linguistics PhD student who is immediately fascinated by the language of professional hockey.
One spare seat on a plane turns into an unexpected conversation at thirty thousand feet that neither of them planned.
*
For once, this is actually a short story (around 10,000 words!) and not one of my rambling, never-ending stories ...!
Series
- Part 23 of Koala's Fairy Tales
- Part 12 of Sierra Falls Horizons
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 10,047
- Chapters:
- 10/10
- Hits:
- 25
-
Outside the Scope (A Sierra Falls-adjacent Hockey Romance) by koalathebear
Fandoms: Original Work
24 May 2026
Tags
Summary
I have no idea why I am writing this but I saw so many interviews where the players just deflect and go: "I haven't thought about that, I'll leave that to my agent" or "I haven't thought about that - will have to talk to my agent about it."
So I started thinking: "What if the agent was his wife?" :D
If you have read my stories before, this will be very on brand for me and you'll know the sort of story I write and what I include - hopefully you'll like this one, too.
If you haven't read my stuff before and think this will be a normal hockey romance that just has pretty people and smut - you definitely will not like this story :)
Series
- Part 27 of Koala's Fairy Tales
- Part 13 of Sierra Falls Horizons
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 43,558
- Chapters:
- 22/?
- Hits:
- 123
