The sun shines onto the clear water surrounding Barneo. No clouds are in sight, just like everyday. Boats are scattered about on the water, carrying ponies in diving gear, ready to collect some seaweed.
On the island itself sits a booming town. Ponies talk, colts play, and fillies dream. Dreams of the mainland, of cutie marks, and of being able to meet their favorite celebrities like Sweetie Belle. The colts play a fun game of Rangers and Traitors.
All except for one unicorn filly, who sits with a copy of ‘Raven’s Guide to Necromancy and Other Rare Magics’. She was lucky nopony else had checked the book out, as this was exceptionally rare, especially on the island. She tries to summon up her mana, but it just won’t listen to her. She sighs, and flips around the book to try another spell. She skips past Solar Magic, not wanting to even think about the magic of the leader of the traitors.
Everything is normal, today is just a regular Tuesday. All the abnormal is still within the realm of the mundane.
Mayor Stormy Skies sits in his office, playing some Trotrus on his terminal. He loses, and decides to play Manesweeper instead. But, whenever he closes the program, he notices something off on his screen. A reflection of the monitor behind him, usually all red, now had a line of green text.
He swivels around to look at the oddity, only to see something not seen for near two centuries.
The Ministry of Voice, Ministry of Production, Ministry of Air, Ministry of Healing, and the Ministry of Death all remain unchanged. They still relay the message to ‘wait for further instuction’. But next to the Ministry of Joy are two words that will change the island’s history.
‘All Clear’.
———
Clear Skies stares at the message with disbelief. He turns to Stormy, “Alright, you’ve gone too far this time. I know you like to piss mom and dad off, but this is too far!”
Stormy holds up his hooves, “I did not mess with it! I was playing Trotrus when this came in! Come on, I swore on Luna’s name that I wouldn’t mess with that Celestia-damned system! Why would I break my oath?!”
Clear looks at him, “Swear to me right now. Swear to me on the Prince’s name!”
Stormy nods, “On Raven’s name, Sombra’s name, Louis’s name, I did not mess with the computer.”
Clear sees the honesty in his eyes, and walks up to wall, banging his hoof on it, “Damn it. You know what this means.”
Stormy shakes his head, “We do not have-“
He is cut off as Clear turns back to him, “Yes we do! We will not be deaf to Raven’s orders this time. He entrusted our family with this. He gave us his trust! Of the hundreds of thousands of ponies that were more important, he trusted us! So we do have to do it!”
Stormy sighs, “I know, I know. It’s just, dear Luna, what about Cleary?”
Clear shakes his head, “She... she’ll come with us. The orders were clear, and she falls under them. Ally will have to come to.”
Stormy gets up, “I’ll tell everypony. You go and get them.”
———
Clear walks into his home, his daughter still trying to summon her magic. He smiles as his wife comes and greets him.
He hugs All Star closely, and she smiles, “What’s this all about? You usually aren’t home this early.” She leans back, “Did Stormy do something again?”
Clear shakes his head, “No, no, he didn’t do anything. All he’s doing now is calling a Gathering.”
Star smiles, “Then how about we go there?”
Clear smiles, “Well, we have something a lot more important to do.”
She looks at him, “What could be more important than a Gathering?”
He trots to the table, “Grab your compass, and pack a bag.”
She gasps, “Really?! No, surely your’re joking. You sure Stormy didn’t mess with it?”
He shakes his head, “It’s the real deal. All that training, it’s going to pay off.”
She laughs joyously, “Well, I’ll start right away!”
His daughter, All Clear, raises her head, “What’s going on? Why’s mommy so excited?”
Clear smiles at his six year old filly, “The mainland gave us the signal we’ve been waiting for. It’s time to meet Luna and Raven and all the other Ministers!”
All Clear smiles, “Really?!” She jumps up, drinking down the rest of her milk, and closing her book, “I’ll help mommy then!”
———
A week has passed with the same message staying.
Clear Skies stands at the wheel of the E.M.S Life Line with his crew rushing on the deck below. He takes one last at Barneo, and smiles as he sees Stormy and the rest of the town waving them off. The entire island is sure to celebrate, and will be awaiting the return of the ship in two years.
So Clear and his family set off on their six month journey to the mainland. Morale is high, and ponies feel right at home.
———
All Clear reads over her text once more, and summons her magic with all her force. She sighs, annoyed both at the failure of magic, and the difficulty of reading ever since they entered the cloud cover.
All Star smiles, “Be patient. The greatest magicians were all late bloomers. Remember that Starswirl flunked out of Magic Kindergarten? And yet he was strong enough to face Sombra. Just try again.”
She tries again, only to fail. She sighs, “It’s all because of this stupid cloud. Aren’t there supposed to be Pe- Pe- winged ponies to take care of it?”
Star shakes her head, “Pegasi, Cleary. No, the Pegasi can’t work on the cover. They are all too busy making sure the effects of the Great War don’t reach us. I’m sure you’ll meet a Pegasus whenever we land. Come on, you might just want some fresh air.”
The two walk out of the ship, and onto the deck. They climb some stairs, and lounge around Clear. All Clear looks at her dad, “Daddy, when will we get to the mainland?”
He smiles, “Soon. Very soon, in fact. Look forward.”
She does. She squints, and sees something in the distance, “Is that land?!”
Clear laughs, “Cleary, say hello to Equestria. The land of our ancestors, and the homeland of ponies. The last of us to step hoof on it was your great-grandfather Grey Skies. He lived in a small town, where Raven lived most of his life.”
She thinks for a second, “Ponyville?”
He nods, “That’s right. Ponyville.”
She looks up at him, “Will we be able to visit there?”
He shrugs, “That all depends on what Luna says.” He then looks down at her, and smiles, “Don’t worry, though, she’s a nice Princess. If she doesn’t, I’m sure Raven will.”
Star smiles, “Maybe you could ask Raven to meet Sweetie Belle. I’m sure the other fillies will be jealous of the special filly who met Sweetie Belle. And a special filly you are. Not every pony gets to meet one Princess, much less two.”
Clear smiles, “Well, Sweetie technically never became a Princess.”
Star looks over to him, “Oh, hush. We all know that she said ‘yes’ right before the end of the Great War. She may not have officially married Raven, but they were basically married.” She looks back at All, “Don’t listen to your dad, Sweetie Belle is a Princess.”
Clear shrugs, “I was just mentioning.” He then squints, “It seems like Luna is excited to meet us. There’s a little greeting party on the shore.”
Star stands up, “Come on, Cleary, let your dad dock in peace. We need to pack.”
He smiles, “You have ten minutes. Full speed ahead!”
———
All stands, with her bag barely packed. Her mom moves in, and helps her pack. She smiles, “Dad will go out to greet them. Here, open the window, we can hear from in here.”
They open the window, and look outside. Clear Skies comes down a rope alone. He stumbles on the still sand, but regains his balance quickly. He trots towards the other ponies.
The other ponies don’t look like how All Clear thought they would. Instead of clean coats and fancy dresses, this group are filthy and all wrapped in ugly armors. They also have a bunch of different stuff wrapped around their body.
Clear doesn’t stop, concluding that the group were probably soldiers. He walks up to them, and speaks loud enough for Star and All to hear, “I am Clear Skies from the island of Barneo. Nice to meet you.”
The leader of the group draws one of the objects from his side, “Nice to meet you to.” He cocks the gun, “Welcome to Tartarus.” He pulls the trigger of his shotgun, blasting Clear’s head into bits. He turns to face the rest of the group, “Kill all onboard, take everything you can.”
The group of five quickly climb up the rope, and bangs start to sound out from the deck.
All Clear stares outside, “Mommy? What happened to daddy?”
Star slams the window shut, and drags Clear to the floor. She hugs her deeply, “Shh, don’t look at it. Please, don’t look at it.”
Clear looks up at her mom, “They aren’t good ponies, are they mommy?”
Star stands up, and looks around the room. She grabs the deadliest looking thing there, “No, Ally, they aren’t. And they aren’t getting to you.”
The banging keeps getting closer and closer, until it sounds like it came from right outside their room. Their door bursts open, and a pony walks in with his pistol grapsed within his hoof. Star brings down the metal coat hanger on the stallion’s head, and knocks him unconscious.
She hears more hoofsteps, and looks up to see the barrel of a shotgun. The trigger is pulled, and another bang sounds out. Star falls on top of the ponies body, and blood pours from her head onto the other pony.
The boss of the ponies smirks, and shoots the head of his own pony as well, “He was a cunt anyway.”
At the second loud bang, All Clear makes a small whimpering noise that attracts the attention of the boss.
He smiles upon sight of her, “Well, hello there.”