Blueprints
"Are you absolutely sure about this?" Sunny Starscout asked Mystic Cinnamon, owner and fellow curator of Maretime Bay's Museum of Equestrian History, as they stood outside the entrance of the building.
"Honestly, were you expecting me to say no?" Mystic asked as he turned to lock the front doors.
"Well, no, but I honestly wasn't expecting you to give me that kind of funding for the expedition, either," Sunny told him.
"Why not? Miss Starscout, not only is the reunification of our nation happening because of you, but that wing of the museum looks spectacular, because of you. The museum has been having record turnouts for two months now. You have the heart and the drive to safely and responsibly uncover Equestria's ancient history. I cannot think of anyone better. And this funding isn't just coming from me, but from museums from Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood as well, so don't think you're going to bankrupt me by asking CanterLogic to design something bigger than those gem display cases. Besides, I don't think you'll be going anywhere quite so suddenly. You still need a safe way to not only get there, but get back as well, so you don't want to be late for your appointment at CanterLogic. Have a pleasant evening, Miss Starscout, and I'll see you in the morning."
Sunny gave the elder pony a smile and nod, and turned to trot down towards the CanterLogic factory. The second shift would be ending within the hour, so she wanted to get there before owner Phyllis Cloverleaf went home for the evening.
Even now, nearly three months after magic had returned to Equestria and reunification had begun, Sunny still felt swelling pride when she walked the streets of her hometown and saw unicorns and pegasi visiting locations all over town. She had even heard talks of CanterLogic expanding and offering to help build neighborhoods further inland to help accommodate any population increases.
Making it clear that she was welcome absolutely any time, Phyllis had provided Sunny with an access badge, to avoid the hassle of filling out a form for a visitor pass. So she came to the main gate, dug said pass out of her saddlebags, and put it up to the scanner. The indicator light blinked green, and the turnstile let her proceed up the main concourse. Once inside the factory proper, she began making her way towards Phyllis' office, and didn't get fifty feet down the corridor before running into Toots, the stout director of CanterLogic's Research and Development.
"Evening Sunny. Phyllis mentioned having a quick appointment with you before she headed out. On your way there now?"
"Yup," Sunny answered, nodding. "Actually, do you have a few minutes as well? This actually involves R&D."
"In that case, let's not waste any time," Toots said, turning and walking alongside her as they made their way to CanterLogic's main production floor.
"How have things been the past couple months?" Sunny asked as they made their way to production.
"Couldn't be more exciting. We've got more unicorns and pegasi working here now, and we've even got ongoing talks about contracts for starting trade with Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood. Our construction wing is even talking about getting some of the ancient roadways repaired and maintained," Toots told her.
"What about ancient railways? According to one of my dad's maps, they were spread out across the entire continent," Sunny asked.
"That, I wouldn't be as hopeful on finding." Toots answered, remembering his trip to the museum, seeing the images of tracks and passenger trains. "Those railroad tracks were made out of wood and iron. They would certainly have to be maintained and replaced every few years. Left abandoned, the wood would certainly rot away after a few decades, and I can only assume that if any of the iron remains, it has almost certainly been overgrown by the surrounding ground."
Toots let Sunny ascend the steel steps to Phyllis' office first, and was right behind her as they turned 90 degrees to the left halfway up at the corner, up to the door, where she knocked.
"Come in, please!" Immediately came the reply from CanterLogic's owner. Sunny turned the door handle, and opened the door to to the second floor office, revealing Phyllis Cloverleaf, owner of CanterLogic, and at a smaller desk adjacent to hers, her son Sprout.
"Good afternoon, Sunny," Phyllis greeted.
"Afternoon, Phyllis, Sprout," Sunny replied, acknowledging the younger stallion, who had taken a part time job here at CanterLogic for some extra bits when he wasn't re-training as Hitch's deputy.
"What can we do for you today? Whenever Sunny Starscout visits, I know R&D is about to get exciting," Phyllis said, getting an immediate nod of agreement from Toots.
Sunny sat in one of the visitor's chairs on the other side of Phyllis' desk, with Toots taking the one next to her, and she dug into her saddlebag, coming out with a laminated piece of parchment, which she laid down on the desk.
"The museums have secured funding to make the trek to the northern arctic region to search for any remains of the Crystal Empire," Sunny announced, tapping a hoof on the top of the ancient map. Both Phyllis and Toots leaned forward to get a closer look at the document. "Because of the distance and climate, I'm hoping CanterLogic can provide a means of transportation to get there and back safely."
"That's... Quite the distance. I don't know if anypony has been up there in ages," Phyllis replied, looking at the map.
"Yep, that's the exciting part. I'm also hoping the climate will have helped the preservation of artifacts. Queen Haven has a long-range topography team attempting to get as far north as they can to update this map. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I think a good foundation would be... Sprout's vehicle," Sunny told her.
Sprout, who had been sipping at a glass of water, went into a coughing fit as the last swallow went down the wrong tube upon hearing that.
"I mean, not exactly like that, but the base concept is the same; a cockpit that is protected from the elements, wheels that can handle rough terrain, fuel efficient, cargo space for consumables, and in case of emergencies, a way to signal for help," Sunny described the basic needs for the project.
"Hm. I can see where you're coming from. Sugar cube, did you put the blueprints for your... Whatever it was called, in the archives?" Phyllis asked.
"Uh... The, uh... Sprouticus Maximus? That, that really didn't have any blueprints," Sprout answered nervously, clearly a little perturbed at the memory.
Phyllis' expression became dumbfounded as she turned to Toots.
"Seriously?" She asked her R&D director.
"It was actually kinda freaky how well it all came together," Toots admitted. "We got that thing bolted together and working in two and a half days just on his descriptions."
"Well, clearly, I have some engineers who need raises. Sunny, no worries. We'll get to work on what you need the right way. I can't get you a specific time table just yet, but I'll do so as soon as possible."
Sunny Starscout gave the factory owner a smile.
"No rush, Phyllis. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited, but I don't think the arctic region is going anywhere."
A Long Time Ago...
The light magenta alicorn shot up in her bed, bolting awake in a sweat.
With a few gasps, Princess Flurry Heart caught her breath, and threw off the multiple wool blankets that had been warding off the cold. Swinging her hooves over and getting up out of bed, she walked over to the silk curtains billowing in the frigid breeze. The windows had been blown open by a gust of icy air, again.
She glanced out of the fourth story window, not able to even make out the Crystal Mountains through the blowing snow and darkness.
Taking another deep breath, she closed the windows, and walked over to her closet, throwing on a simple fleece robe. After taking a few gulps of water from her bedside glass, she went to the door and left her personal quarters out into the halls of the Crystal Castle.
To hell with looking regal at two in the morning.
She barely acknowledged the patrolling guards she passed on her way downstairs. Going down another flight of stairs, passed through the double doors to the castle foyer on the ground floor, which was ironically dozens of meters above the actual ground.
The giant curtains to the balcony flapped wildly against the blizzard outside. Slowly, she stepped up to the foyer's centerpiece; the two inverting diamond pedestals, between which the Empire's most sacred treasure floated, glowing faintly in the dim ambience of the foyer.
She looked back at her left flank, lifting her robe to reveal her cutie mark, a perfect rendition of the Heart, surrounded by whirling wisps of wind.
She turned back to the Crystal Heart, looked at her reflection in the facets of the gem, watching her lips tremble in uncertainty.
"Please help me. Show me how I can stop this. Tell me what to do. Please."
Aaand we're off!
I was going to wait until my commissioned cover art by the incredible Litle Tigress was complete, but on the other hand, I would have driven myself nuts letting this opening chapter sit here when comments and feedback have always been my greatest motivators.
So to all of you coming along for the ride, thank you very much for reading! Please let me know what you think!
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EEEEEEEEEEEEE!
This is legitimately amazing and I cannot wait to read more!!!
I am SO intrigued!
So, Flurry Heart ended causing the magical apocalypse. Color me surprised.
11012790
You say that like she's not going to have help with said apocalypse.
Whoa this is a pretty interested start here so it looks like Sunny wants to explore the Equestria again to find any ancient items and this time he she is going to the Crystal Empire but they need a vehicle to get through the snow first and it looks like we got a flashback apparently flurry heart now all grown up is worried about something and I wonder what could it be guess we'll find out next time
It could be that she wanted to stop the magic going away - and that she's having prophetic dreams like Celestia does.
That said, I am interested to know what Flurry's special talent is.
Seeing as she was easily able to shatter said heart whose picture now rests on her butt, as well as chunks of the crystal castle (and chunks of her parents' sanity) when she was only a foal, I wonder if has something to do with magical artifacts in general.
Also, nice picture, but I wonder if she still has the proportionally oversized wings she had as a baby.
Oh wow, that is a very pretty Flurry Heart :3
y'all write too fast for realzies :izzydizzy:
Interesting start. The repurposing of the titular "blueprints" was a nice touch, the flashback at the end made for a neat little cliffhanger, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't enthralled by those Spike and Luna tags waiting in the wings. Keep up the good work!
11012790
Not sure how you came to that conclusion, if I'm being honest. As far as I could tell, the story hasn't said anything about Flurry causing the magic apocalypse; only that she didn't know how to stop it.
11012825
Which reminds me: I wonder if/when we'll get G5 emotes. (Hell if I know, TBH.)
Faved, liked, and tracking
Interesting.
please, please, please let the demon daughter still be alive
I am so ready for this ride.
On a related note, I’m hoping that Sprout can tag along with the gang. I mean, who else is going to be able to operate the vehicle? Also seeing some redemption is what FIM is all about.
Also Flurry! Yay!
Looking forward to more.
11012790
What happened princess?
I sneezed.
wut…
/sigh I dropped the pepper mill and sneezed all the magic away.
Really?
Nope! Now are gonna help or what?
Excellent! Excited to see this ride continuing. Off to a great start.
Ooh!!! Can't wait for more!
Looking forward to seeing where this goes.
Time to meet the yaks, too.
I'm so excited to see more!
It's simple, just wait for uncle Sombrero to show up again, and get him to trade you his time-stop spell for a lifetime supply of crystals.
Excellent work on the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up in all the right places. Loved the looks at both the present AND the past. In the present, Sunny going to Canterlogic for help in building a vehicle that can handle the elements of the Crystal Empire as well as long distance travel and still carry a healthy amount of supplies makes a lot of sense. And, yeah, have to wonder what had Flurry Heart so darn worried. And, yeah, I get the feeling that she, in her attempts to help deal with whatever had her so worried, she might end up doing at least half by accident what Sombra did on purpose. Of course, it being at least half-accidental AND well-intentioned would probably still qualify her as a Good Counterpart to Sombra. But I digress. I'm also looking forward to seeing how Spike and Luna end up factoring into this.
VERY much looking forward to more of this.
The empire is in danger once again. Ponies! TO THE NORTHLANDS!!
The raised beds are usually around for a LONG time after
If you want more impressive go for napkin sketches, those can be traumatizing.
Ooh a bit of a mystery with that bit at the end with Flurry Heart. I might actually enjoy this more than the first story.
Don't get me wrong, the first story was good, but I kinda felt that it was a little choppy in places, like there was a checklist of places or scenes. Sunny goes into forest, finds Castle of Friendship, Finds throne room, and so forth. the parts that really shined were the Discord wall, meeting Sprout, and a couple of others that in my mind took the time to paint a vivid image in my head.
This one feels like it's going to take time to develop instead of skipping right to the juicy bits. Things might happen in this story, and not all of them will be good.
11012831
Man, we pushed for ages to get more G4 emotes. We never even got Starlight... despite the perfect memeface that was her shouting Twi down.
I love this already.
On one hand I imagine this will be another melancholy appreciation of G4 in a light hearted and interesting archeology story like the last.
But I would also love if this is something more grand and will involve bringing back the crystal empire and Flurry heart.
However I would also just love if this turns into a remake of The Mummy with Sombra returning once again from sheer force of will and wild magic.
Wow! I can't wait for more! I was even just about to re-read the first story as well.
Flurry might have used the last of the Heart's magic to put The Crystal Empire into stasis of some kind. Would give Flurry am chance to be ya know a character, and give a even more significant look into the past. Though that would lead us to ask was Flurry hundreds of years old when she did it, so it wouldn't exactly be like walking into era of the Elements, but the era right before magic faded. Still Sunny would get a ever more intimate view as to what the Elements where like, and Flurry's recalling how things where when she was a child would help reunification along with "Look everyone! We where so united a Pony like her was born, a every kind pony!"
This is gonna be great!
Faved & skimmed this fine work, gotta say i love it & will read it again to tell you my feelings about this more.
11012816
I think she's actually talking about the return of Wendigoes. The raging storm and blizzard outside very much allude to such, and neatly answers the question that kept running through my mind while reading the first story post Discord's final message: What happened to make Twilight decide on sealing herself and all the world's magic away just to take the Wendigoes with her?
Because obviously she didn't wake up one day and decide to just upend the pony civilization, perhaps all of the civilizations of the world and disable a fundamental force of their planet on a whim.
It's not a theoretical return of Wendigoes that would prompt Twilight to such a world-shattering decision. It would have to be a very real, very in-progress return of Wendigoes that they lacked any other immediate means of combating. Something must have happened that rendered Wendigoes immune/resistant to the Elements/Crystal Heart/Alicorns, even Discord, this time around ... like the spirit of Harmony said, while the good side evolved, so did the forces trying to tear them apart.
Well, clearly Wendigoes had found a way around the forces that beat them back the last time and were in the process of returning. And given they almost wiped out ponykind (and post that, probably the whole world had they kept going) the last time, and lacking any other obvious means to combat them/lacking the time to devise them if the land was already starting to freeze over ... I could see pulling the magic plug on the world being Twilight's last resort.
The real question is ... with the magic now returning, could the Wendigoes resurface as well?
… wait, did flurry pull a king sombra
Please tell me Flurry Heart is actually still alive and Spike is with her.. saw that he was in tags
11013455
I had a short conversation about this with Xaq, apparently Knighty found the existing pony emoji as a bundle and added it here - but had no idea about expanding or updating it. I wanted to add a Luna :huzzah: so...
Arctic Region: takes tropical vacation
Interesting.
Good thinking. A perfect way to open up more opportunities for transportation in present day Equestria.
Crap, why didn't I think of that.
Yeah, something is most definitely wrong.
Actually, now that I think about it, there might still be some evidence left behind. Cuttings, embankments, and especially the tunnels would likely still be identifiable. Trains can’t exactly climb hills very well, so those are very necessary. The bridges and viaducts might still be there as well, if only in the same sort of condition as the bridge from the movie, on the road between Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood.