//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: The Voyage // Story: A New Era // by Shadowmane PX-41 //------------------------------// At the docks of Maretime, a large ship with white walls and multiple decks stood proud against the marine breeze. With multiple balconies and windows on each side, it was capable of accomodating a large group of ponies. There were multiple flags on the top deck with colossal fins near them. The Main Six, Starlight Glimmer, and Spike all carried their things towards the boarding ramp, where there was already a lengthy queue of ponies waiting to get on. They all went through a single file check and met with ponies dressed in white and black uniforms with sailor's hats on each staff member's heads. Bags were being checked on a table, and unicorns walked through a machine that scanned their magic and coated the ponies in white auras that faded away shortly afterward. "Geez, for such a small place, a lot of ponies want to go there." Spike climbed on Twilight's head and looked out at the line of ponies going through security. "Whatever this White Wings kingdom's like, I bet it must be really popular with the tourists." "Well, according to this magazine I pulled from the stand, White Wings is one of the most popular travel destinations in the whole planet." Rarity showed her friends the magazine. "The kingdom itself is home to over a thousand ponies, with various different schools in unicorn magic, pegasus flight, earth pony horticulture, and many more." "I haven't really had much time as I've liked to have had to study, but I did pull some important facts from the books that I've been reading." Twilight moved up, as the queue proceeded to let ponies on board. "The five ponies that saved the kingdom multiple times were said to have been hailed as champions, with many others writing stories, poems, and songs about them. No-one outside of White Wings is allowed to say their names, however, as it is said to be blasphemy to use their names to strange ponies." "So, who are they?" Applejack asked. "I wish I knew." Twilight shook her head. "White Wings is incredibly secretive. The only way you'd be able to get some stuff from them is if you imported it overseas. And even then, the price is just highway robbery." "Well if they're heroes, then I'm sure they'll recognise us once we tell them the awesome tales of how we saved Equestria, right?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Yeah! Given that we stopped a super-freaky night-bringing princess, beat a chaos-wielding draconequus, and a magic-hungry centaur, I bet the ponies of White Wings would throw us all a party in a snap!" Pinkie smashed her hooves together. "Don't get too ahead of yourself, Pinkie Pie." Starlight Glimmer gave Pinkie a gentle back massage. "The ponies of White Wings have probably seen some deeds better than what Twilight and her friends have done. They might think that we're all average compared to them." "Whatever they think of us, we should try our best to act polite and accepting of them." Twilight nodded as she walked towards the scanner. "If we're going to try and make friends, then we should be on our best behaviour." "Oh! Hang on, Princess Twilight." The guards stood aside. "You can go ahead. No need to restrict an Equestrian Princess." "Thank you." Twilight gave the stallions smiles and walked onto the boat. "We're still gonna have to check your friends, though. Are you alright with that?" The other one asked. "Of course." Twilight gave them nods. "Check them as much as you want, and make sure that they're back to normal once we get to White Wings." "Will do, your highness!" Another security pony bowed quickly. Everyone else in the line walked through the security check at a relatively smooth pace. There were no hold-ups or issues for any pony and within a few minutes, everyone was admitted onto the boat as the ramp was pulled from the docks and back onto the vessel. With a loud blast from the ship's horns, the boat slowly began to depart from the docks and across the seas. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were up on the top deck, where there was a bar serving drinks, a pool with ponies relaxing alongside it, and various other passengers looking out onto the endless stretch of ocean. Everyone around was smiling, enjoying their time on the ship as they struck up multiple different conversations. "Y'know, I still don't get many things about this whole White Wings place." Rainbow Dash looked at the pamphlet of White Wings that she had been assigned when she got on the boat. It showed off all of the major parts of the city, as well as a tidbit of history about each place. "It says that there's some ace team of pegasi that are so good that they make every other pegasus team look like crud." She slammed the paper shut and threw it down. "How could anypony possibly be better than the Wonderbolts?" "White Wings are incredibly secretive." Fluttershy softly raised her hoof and picked up what Dash threw away. "I would be too if somepony else came from somewhere I'd never heard of." "I mean, if someone wants to challenge the Wonderbolts, I'm game for that. There's nothing that could beat us when it comes to flying." Rainbow shook her head and looked out at the ocean. "See, that's not what really bugs me. What does bug me, though, is that every pegasus on their squad can do a Sonic Rainboom! I patented that trick! It's a Rainbow Dash exclusive!" She threw down her hooves and stomped on the deck. "Nopony else can even pull it off! It's like, one of the hardest tricks ever!" "Don't worry about it, Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy walked up to her friend and massaged her shoulders. "Nopony in Equestria knows about White Wings or their pegasus squad. You've got nothing to worry about." "I do too have something to worry about!" Rainbow snapped her head around. "What if they actually are better than the Wonderbolts? How am I gonna compare with a group of ponies I've never met before?" Her forehead muscles twitched as she darted her eyes around the ship. "I might get totally humiliated!" "Oh, I'm sure that they would never mean to hurt you." Fluttershy watched Rainbow's lower lip quiver and gave her a gentle rub on the back. "As long as we're your friends, it doesn't matter whatever they may say or do. We'll always be able to help you get over it." "You say that now, Fluttershy, but I'm still not so sure." Rainbow Dash merely looked out at the ocean and pondered about the future as Fluttershy petted her. On the other side of the ship, Twilight and Spike were looking out at the ocean, staring at the waves that rolled beneath them. The both of them had a lot of thoughts running through their minds as they travelled across the water, mostly on why Celestia would send them somewhere they'd never heard of before. "So, this whole White Wings place. What's so good about it?" Spike shrugged and picked up a drink. He took an idle sip of it and looked over to Twilight. "White Wings supposedly has zero crime rates but many reports of monsters attacking." Twilight turned her head to Spike and unfurled her own pamphlet. "It says here that the city's kept safe by five ponies who prefer to keep their names secret. They use some of the highest level magic and most complex pegasus flight techniques to vanquish anything that tries to destroy the kingdom." She levitated it over to Spike and laid it down by his side. "I've personally never been, so I've yet to see if they're just bragging to attract tourists." "Well, are there any leads or clues as to who those ponies might be?" Spike pulled some sunglasses off of his face and lifted one of his brows at Twilight and Starlight. "I don't wanna have to look around the whole place to find these ponies." "Spike, I think you should know by now that White Wings itself is a very quiet and off-radar place." Starlight Glimmer looked out at the ocean. "Heck, my family were lucky just to get the stuff through customs! What makes you think that they'd explain who we're supposed to be looking for?" "I dunno. Wild hunch, I guess." Spike shrugged and took another sip of his drink and leaned back into the deckchair. "Whenever we go out on these big adventures together, we always seem to find who we're looking for straight away." "No-one else in Equestria's heard of this place before, Spike." Twilight stood up and leaned herself over Spike's body. "If Celestia and Luna gave us this task, then it must be important in some way—even if it is just a little tiny problem." "Yeah? Well I still think that you're just doing Celestia's work again." Spike tilted his head and looked into Twilight's eyes. "How many times has she asked you to do the heavy lifting? How many times has she just sat back and let you do the work when she could've done it herself?" He sighed and shook his head, getting up from the chair. "Sometimes, I just feel like you should be the ruler of Equestria instead of her." "Spike, Celestia tries her hardest to look after her subjects. And she certainly wouldn't have sent us if she didn't think that we could pull it off." Twilight stood proudly and puffed out her chest. "I might be royalty like she is now, but she has the final say in everything in Equestria." A devious smirk crossed her face. "In fact, if she hadn't given us this mission, we'd be back in Ponyville sorting books and dusting the castle from top to bottom. Doesn't it feel better to get out and get some fresh air?" "Oh, definitely." Spike nodded and laid his arm against the rails of the ship. "That castle's much harder to clean than it seems these days." "Trust me, Spike. Once we get to White Wings, everything'll be just fine." Twilight stroked Spike's back and led him towards the front of the ship. "I'm sure that there'll be some ponies there that can enlighten us." "You sure about that?" Spike coiled his claws as he walked towards the bow. "I'm positive about that." Twilight gently bobbed her head up and down as she took strides towards the ship's front. "If they're so highly-praised, then it shouldn't be hard to find them, right?" In a dimly lit room littered with candles, a lone hooded unicorn levitated multiple books at once, hastily flipping through the pages and snapping the books shut once they had found what they needed. The aura wrapped around all of the books was a dull shade of purple and hastily vanished as the read books slid back into a vastly expansive bookcase, which stood tall above the pony. The door creaked open, bringing a blinding flash of light into the room as a pale blue earth pony ran into the room. She had a purple bowl-cut hairstyle with a golden sun-shaped hair clip sitting gently above her ear. Her Cutie Mark bore the symbol of a purple-tinted cloud pouring rain. The new pony walked up to the one in the cloak and gave her a gentle poke on the back. "Excuse me, Sugarcoat? Can I ask a moment of your time?" She asked in a refined and lady-like voice. "Had you come at the optimal time, I would've said yes, Sunny Flare." The mare in the cloak looked through more books. "I'm trying to refine my spellcasting and push my limits even further. These attacks are coming one after another and if I don't prepare, I might falter and let the entire kingdom down." "Well, even if it's a good time or not, I have to inform you that there is a ship approaching the docks, bringing some emissaries from some place called Equestria." Sunny Flare stood adamantly and continued to watch Sugarcoat shuffle through her books and identify the spells she needed. "Apparently, their ruler has sent some dignitaries to try and forge an alliance with White Wings." "Order the ship away from the docks. White Wings is strictly off-limits until the rebellion dies down." Sugarcoat waved a single hoof in the air, not fazed by Sunny's words at all. "See, Sugar, you spend too much time in your books." Sunny Flare pulled the cloak clean off, revealing a grey mare with long silver hair tied up in elongated pigtails. "If I was to send them away, I would need the queen's permission to do it. She doesn't seem bothered by the news, unlike you." "Well, maybe that's because we don't need anymore casualties." Sugarcoat gruffly took the cloak and covered herself back up with it. "I am one of the most powerful unicorns in this kingdom and I'll be damned if I let some foreigners die on a trip from some country that pales in comparison to ours." "Ouch. Brutal honesty, much?" Sunny Flare winced at Sugarcoat's mini-rant. "Lies only spread when uttered. They root deep within your system and plague what was once an already perfect mind." Sugarcoat brushed some of her hair back and resumed scanning the books. "I abstain from all forms of lying, be they little and white or big and anarchist. Lies are a disease and I am the cure. A cure that has kept White Wings in a utopian state for the time being." She lightly inhaled some air through her nostrils. "Tell me, Sunny. Would you rather lie to save your friend's life and take a massive punishment, or be brutally honest and take a fraction of the penalty instead?" "Why, you..." Sunny began to choke on her own words as she brought her hooves to her face and shook them. With a groan, she slid them across her face and turned towards the door. "You know what? I'm ignoring you. These ponies should come and see White Wings for what it really is!" With a bolt of magic, Sugarcoat slammed the doors shut. "No. There is to be no more chaos. These Equestria ponies should just take my advice and leave immediately. There is no place for them here at White Wings." "Sugarcoat, why are you being so hard on me? We're friends, right?" Sunny Flare turned back towards Sugarcoat, not even noticing that the candles were beginning to fizzle out in the darkness. Sugarcoat took a deep sigh and dropped the books. "You're banking on something we don't know on. These ponies might be disruptive of our peace and goodwill. I don't want to see anyone suffer. Trust me when I say that what I'm doing is for the good of all of White Wings." Suddenly, the doors were pried open by some more unicorn magic. It was wrapped in the same purple aura as Sugarcoat's magic, but it came from a unicorn with purple and green hair and a yellow coat. She had freckles on her cheeks and her mane was styled into the shape of a ponytail. Her Cutie Mark was a heart with a transparent diamond on top of it. "Sugarcoat, Sunny. It's past nine-thirty!" The mare shouted from the door much like a drill instructor, but then used her horn to light up the room as her face melted into a smile. "It's time for bed. The queen's expecting us up early tomorrow to set up the festival. You don't want to look like you've pulled another all-nighter, Sugar." "We'll continue this discussion tomorrow, Sunny Flare." Sugarcoat put all of the books back into the bookcase and trotted towards the mare at the door. "But I still think that it's suicide to welcome these new ponies in, given the state of the kingdom right now." "Give them a chance, Sugarcoat. They're just tourists." Sunny Flare walked out of the room and shut the doors behind her. "Why not let them get settled in before breaking the news?" "Because I find it a waste of time," Sugarcoat deadpanned. "And you should too. I already made it clear the position White Wings is in, didn't I?" Sunny Flare sighed and hung her head as she walked through the corridors with the two unicorns. Whoever these new ponies are, I just hope that they can shed some light on us. We're not what we used to be anymore... The next morning, Twilight and her friends all stood on the ship's bow and looked out at the incoming landmass ahead. There was a tall castle that loomed over the rest of the kingdom with a massive pair of wings sprouting out of the sides. The town itself had a variety of different houses all surrounding the colossal stronghold of a castle. The ponies could just make out what looked like a market beyond the pier, with many different stalls of all shapes and sizes being perused by the kingdom's subjects. "Whoa... So this is White Wings?" Rainbow Dash looked at the kingdom and squinted her eyes at the castle. "It's huge!" "I bet the ponies here would really love it if I threw them a We're-Here-On-a-Vacation-and-To-Save-the-World party!" Pinkie Pie pulled out her Party Cannon and launched a volley of confetti and streamers into the sky. "I myself do have to wonder what kind of fashion these ponies have." Rarity poised herself against the front of the ship, feeling the wind blow against her mane. "For such a gorgeous place like this, I would assume that their style would be nothing short of heavenly!" "Girls, girls, girls." Twilight chuckled and pushed her friends' hooves down. "We only just got here. Remember that we're on a mission to form an alliance with these ponies, so I want you all to be on your best behaviour." "White Wings does have some very strict laws from what I remember..." Starlight Glimmer took a brief glance at the castle before turning back to her friends. "I don't want to get into much detail, as some of the punishments are very cruel and unusual here." "Well, whatever happens, we need to get on these ponies' good sides before we do anything." Twilight nodded to Starlight and eyed up her friends. "So, for the time being, no showing off, no weird stuff, and no questioning these ponies' ethics and traditions. We're just tourists after all." "Yeah, but we're tourists here on a super-awesome mission, right?" Rainbow Dash fluttered up to Twilight. "I bet'cha that once we get the ball rolling, it's gonna be a great adventure!" "Well, there's only one way to find out, isn't there?" Twilight saw the ship approach the docks and slide gently in between the wooden platforms. "Gather all of your stuff and let's get going. No need to keep the ponies of White Wings waiting..."