This story is a sequel to When Magic Returns
The return of magic has some unexpected consequences. So Sunny and her friends set out on a new quest: to find the fabled city of Canterlot...
Chapters (3)
- Member Since 26th Jun, 2018
- offline last seen 10 hours ago
Lets Do This
We're going to build an exact copy of Ponyville... right over there! We've got less than a minute!
Lets Do This
Joined 26th Jun, 2018 ·
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I still think it's kind of like temporarily until she activates them I'm not sure but just saying
This is a pretty interesting start of a story so it looks like sunny and the others are basically hanging out and it looks like they finished the house after the damage and she is pretty happy to see all kinds of ponies are living together it's still coming slowly but surely ponies will get used to it somehow but something it looks like the map has extended the land of Equestria and it's pointed to Canterlot they all have little mixed feelings that if it's still there but things got even weirder that the Sun and the Moon is not even moving so it looks like Sunny has to move the Sun and the Moon in a 24 hours straight but she doesn't have that kind of a power yet that she needs to know it's soon so it looks like they're going to head for Canterlot knows what's going on again this is a pretty interesting so far
I'm guessing the magic of the leyline in canterlot pushed Sunny from half-baked Alicorn to full with permanent horn and wings.
I still think he is like a distance related with Fluttershy since he has that kind of ability as well
Oh wow thats where are the pillars have to trap the shadow of pony in limbo and then Twilight and the others free them both and then the shadow of pony destroyed it wow some of the robbers is still there after thousands of years
Princess of war? Ohai Tempest.
Convenient train conductor pony and maybe the Vendor pony... Discord?
11008509
Makes sense of the stomps-hooves bit, anyway.
11008525
And selling concessions during a borderline-riot.
11008526
I was referring to the Tempest as War Princess guess, actually.
Oh wow that was pretty insane so it looks like Sunny and the others are continuing on their Journey and we get to contribute to their Journey I do like the part of how hitch talk to the bear and of course somehow he really does have a little same ability as Fluttershy and pipp does have a pretty good voice but once they made it out they made it to the forest and it looks like they encounter a ruined and it's the same place that the pillars trap the pony of shadow and they said they have to Camp here for now but it looks like something dark Forces with surrounding sunny and whoever this unknown Pony of Shadow is pretty threatening and it looks like whatever that was try to attack the others so once again whatever was trapped here was also been released talk about deja vu and Sunny felt ashamed even releasing it whatever that unknown villain is that's not the last time we will see that they again
Just a fun little factoid for Izzy:
The phrase "Here there be Dragons" and innumerable variations is actually an anachronism, only two known examples of genuine medieval maps had a latin phrase that roughly translated to this phrase. Many maps would have dragons and other mystical creatures as decorative embellishments but not that particular.
Is the dark pony linked with the alicorn amulet?
An old friend could that be fizzlepop berrytwist AKA Tempest shadow
Ok wow that was pretty something so after getting out the forest they took a train ride to Canterlot but when they got there it looks really in bad shape once they got there there was a crowd of ponies arguing at each other and with all the hesitation and panics and everything they ran inside the castle any meet up with an old unicorn name lady da so after they explained to her and she talked about how are used to be they checked out the castle and they found a door and apparently it only can open by somebody who believes which Sunny did open the door once they got inside this place was a mess before they were about to head back home everybody in Canterlot who open the door and pipp explain that Sunny open the door the other Ponies did not believe that so they had to show them how Sunny activate her magic to move the Sun but then she explained that no matter how hard life can be they can pull through together and it looks like her magic increase and she can move the Sun and the Moon witch that was pretty cool everybody was pretty surprised so it looks like things are going to be very different for her and it looks like Twilight showed herself to Sunny again and it looks like she has a lot of work to do this was a pretty interesting story and it feels like this is going to be a series by the way this was good keep up the good work
Of course, what did I expect. The very exclusive doors opened after who knows how long and it’s definitely the pony that’s been there for the entire time you knew the place.
I’m guessing there’s more coming?
D'awwww
11008617
That'd be cool
The day-night cycle was pretty much normal before magic came back. I am picturing the sun and moon deciding to make others move them now that magic is back. After all, why walk when you have a taxi available?
It is noted that overall society is much more urbanized, meaning that less Earth ponies are willing to work in the fields due living it up in a house with modern conveniences.
Well, that escalated quickly. Sunny better know how to navigate politics and red tape quickly or everything would come crashing down in a week.
The whole “farm boy becoming king” trope always overlooks the fact that said farm boy has no idea how to actually rule until he gets chewed up by the jaws of bureaucracy. This is something even Twilight in canon suffered from.
This is pretty much a King Arthur selection story, except the courtroom doors replaced a sword in the stone.
11008969
The thing about the Arthurian mythos is that it's based on tragedy: the Sword in the Stone "miracle" merely obliges everyone to publicly hail Arthur as King, but by itself doesn't really do the job of convincing the populace to accept Arthur in their hearts. Hence the need for Arthur to use force to try to unite the country, which leads to the Round Table as a "diversion" for the competitive instincts of his Knights, and then ultimately to the tragedies that follow.
Sunny and her friends learn that fully persuading a populace to take Sunny to their hearts as their new Princess requires a much harder balancing act, of apparent miracles (the doors, plus Sunny's initially limited powers), along with some carefully-timed persuasion. Plus acceptable role-models for belief, like Sunny's friends, and Lady Da. What we now call influencing, which is Pipp's strength here. Sunny's alicorn-level power, and hence her legitimacy as ruler, is directly fueled by the acceptance of her subjects. She has to convince them to follow her, instead of their following their own interests. This is what many "just wait until she sees the tax-code" parodies seem to miss: such problems exist when you haven't really persuaded others to help you solve them.
Even in G5, it seems, willing friendship (or at least adoration to start with) is the power that works to unite the pony world. And that positive message is one reason so many of us got sucked into this fantasy mythos in the first place -- it's nice seeing comedy "win out" over tragedy, as a driving narrative force.
Interesting little story would of been cool if Luna showed up with twilight
11009139
What do you think the Princess of War is for? Celestia, Princess of the Sun, had Luna, Princess of the Moon, as a kind of counterposing force and reality-check. And the Princess of Friendship has her own version.
11009101
true. let's hope she can find good delegates to handle all the other political stuff and decide which areas she herself are good at. That's is how she gets a functioning court.
Also, this is my 1500th faved story on Fimfiction. Congrats.
ya know alot of ponies, myself included, though zepyhr hights was formerly canterlot but that would make argile's map there very inacurate if thats the case...unless the entire southern half of equiss snaped off of equestria just past where ponyville was...cause the nearest southern ocean to canterlot in twilights time was several 'weeks' travel thru the badlands to mount aris and the kingdom of the sea ponies.
11009151
No, you're not wrong, there is plenty of evidence to suggest Zephyr Heights is, was, or on the same mountain as, Canterlot was, and there is increasingly more evidence popping up from behind the scenes to suggest this was, indeed, the intent of the G5 production team. In fact, there's enough evidence now corresponding with G4 era landmarks that I can just about plot the Mane 5's path they took, going pretty much right through what we would think of as Central Equestria.
Admittedly, from the moment I first saw this story pop up, I've been resisting the urge to point this all out, knowing full well that in so doing...it'd probably mess up the entirely plot the author has put together all for the sake of a quibble.
So I won't blame them if they choose to ignore these details altogether for the sake of their story. But...for the record...
11009216
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2017/08/map-of-equestria-updated-for-movie.html yeah about that...
edit: this is a map of equestria as of the movie, and its suronding kingdoms...notice how far away from the ocean canterlot is...as i said though it could simply be that argiles map is very inacurate and only provides the most basic of directions and the distances are much further then indicated, im asuming brindlewood is what used to be the white tail woods, horse shoe bay though...its positioning is too far south and west for it to have been manehaten or vanhooover so it may have been seteled after whatever happend...perhaps even its the home of the former earth pony residents of ponyvile?
also sorry if my wording comes off as snarky, not intended more just trying to be consise and to the point.
11009216
11009248
Myself, I still think there's enough left unstated yet, that the series (and fanfiction) could go lots of ways. This story is just one such option. And I freely admit I could be wrong -- it's up to the production team to decide what's canon. (But always remember confirmation bias, too: it's easy to see confirming "evidence" for an initial idea or preference.)
11009141
Well if your implying that Luna is also the princess of war then that's great!
But if your not then I will probably figure out in the future
11008509
Eh, the one consistent thing about Miss Princess of War is her "flame-orange eyes," but Tempest's eyes are very blue.
11008614
I assumed it was the Pony of Shadows, it mentioned a door it stepped though,the door to limbo perhaps?
11009367
if you take Twilight's"flame rage" state from the episode "Feeling Pinkie Keen" s something that really happened as not just a visual gag Magic can make eye colors change based on mood. Of Tempest became a Alicorn somehow glowing red eyes could just indicate she is mad.
11009437
But why would you not take an obvious visual gag (complete with abstract, non-diagetic background) as not a visual gag?
11009506
Because it's a cartoon set in a universe where the warping of reality in that manner is totally normal possibility and not outrageous. It's a universe where spontaneous musical numbers just happen and everyone accepts it as the norm.
A cute story, the last bit with Twilight was in my opinion the best part. The journey to Canterlot felt kinda rushed if I am going to be honest, like you could have had rich details on the land and lore, the ups and downs of a long adventure not just cave henge city yay. This is again just my opinion and I really do hope there'll be more to come.
11009557
Many thanks! Yes, there's certainly scope here for a much longer "there and back again" story, with many more adventures while Sunny and her friends are roaming in the returned Equestria. I was deliberately keeping it novella length, though, so it was readable in one sitting, and to focus on the key point here: namely Sunny needing to embrace her role as the "High Princess" of Equestria, in order to properly and responsibly deal with the return of magic.
And the thought is that if this story does well (as it definitely seems to have -- thanks, gang!) other stories could go into detail on the returned Canterlot, as well as the other lands and characters that carry over to the new series.
11008509
Actually, the vendor pony is a backhanded Terry Pratchett reference: specifically Dibbler, the inveterate sausage salesman, who's always looking to sell something during any kind of gathering, no matter how serious. I was really tempted to have him say "Can I press anypony to a candied apple... onna stick?" But I thought that would be pushing it.
11009545
In an episode where the character in question disbelieved in the possibility of "warping reality in that manner" and where every other character ascribed the ability to do so to one [different] unique character. Nope, not buying it.
11009248
A counterpoint, then--here's an image of an officially released poster:
static.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/0/0f/MLP_G5_%27Follow_Your_Heart%27_poster_by_Trends_International.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20210808233127
Note the map background--essentially the same as the G4 map (clipped though it is)...except with Zephyr Heights named in Canterlot's location. Likewise, Bridlewood seems to be somewhere near either White Tail Woods (as you suggested) or closer to Vanhoover, and Maretime Bay around G4's Baltimare (if not the same city just evolved into Maretime Bay).
You may already know this, but I also know the Mane 5 go right through what was once the Ponyville area, because they pass right by what's confirmed to be the Tree of Harmony not long after leaving Zephyr Heights, and I can confirm from the surrounding terrain during that scene that it matches the right location for where we last knew the Tree to be in G4 (though Everfree seems to be gone, interestingly enough).
That suggests that the Mane 5's path from Maretime to Bridlewood took them largely right through what would have been central Equestria. On hoof, it took them about two to three days (not counting the day spent in Zephyr Heights) to make the whole trip to Bridlewood. Considering that G4 could make that same voyage by train in under a day, this does seem fairly accurate (especially when you consider that the G4 ponies often traveled from one side of their country to the other within a day or less on a regular basis) to the distances as shown in G4, when adjusted accordingly for travel by hoof.
Further, Zephyr Heights being Canterlot (or at least on the same mountain as it) makes sense because remember that old station (incidentally, it appears it had been for airships, judging from the preponderance of what looks like lifting envelopes left hanging orderly around within) Zipp took them to? It seems it had once been a central traveling location for everywhere else in Equestria, which would make sense for a location that had either been or close to the capital of the nation.
(It's also worth noting that the station also lists all of the G5 towns by name but none of the G4 towns, which suggests the pony tribes drifting apart was a relatively recent event, given it's clear that the ponies were still united when that station was still in service, but that's a point for another day)
This all to say nothing of the fact that the mountain Zephyr Heights sits on just looks a lot like the same mountain Canterlot had always sat on right off the bat, and considering the movie's staff went the extra mile to match up their terrain with G4's in other areas...
Yes, this would all mean Argyle's map is not totally to scale...but that's not totally surprising, because no in-show map ever shown in MLP ever has been by deliberate design (so the show's staff don't have to be precisely accurate about the distances if needed for the plot). The locations, however, might still be loosely accurate, in that if Maretime Bay is indeed around Baltimare, that would put Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood somewhat to the north of it, and Bridlewood farther west than all the others, which is still more or less consistent with Argyle's map (I expect Argyle had to fudge the distances a little because he didn't have enough page space. But he may have taken the time to draw out a more accurate and larger map at home, as there is evidence he was working out the locations for all of these cities, G4 or G5, there).
It's true that none of this is necessarily definite confirmation of this all being the case...but for the moment, the evidence does seem to be leaning heavily in that direction.
Anyway, obviously I've been putting a lot of thought into this as of late, so...I figured I might as well make use of it and put it out there for a change.
11009624
Fair enough, I think part of the problem was that you used fairly generic descriptions and similar wording for most of the journey aside from the 3 or so "stops".
Maybe a bit more variety in the landscape or like weather/moods/etc.
In any case I'll keep my weather eye open for any sequels or side-stories.
11009832
11009248
I hadn't seen this myself, thanks for the pointer! It is suggestive that Zephyr Heights is shown as a city on the side of the mountain, much as Canterlot looked in G4. Though the Zephyr Heights we see in the movie could arguably be said to have a different geometry entirely, and be set in and around a number of peaks, which are not snow-capped, as Canterlot Mountain was (at least, in the map of Equestria -- I'm not finding a good example of it being so in the G4 episodes where the city appears). Of course, we're not seeing Zephyr Heights from a distance, so it's possible it's actually positioned like Canterlot was, or was built higher up the mountain, above the cloud-line. But the poster could also have been promo art, hinting at an association without actually confirming it. So it could be read either way.
I don't think this is well-supported, even given the "confirmation", for one big reason: the tree in the movie is pretty clearly made of wood. (Scroll to about 51:46, where there's a tight close-up.) When last we saw the Treehouse of Harmony, it appeared to be still made of crystal. Of course, in the intervening time it might have pulled a Pinocchio ("I'm a real tree now!") and become living. And the chasm nearby is similar to the one near the Castle of the Two Sisters... but then where's the Castle? I don't see any ruins left. So... I have doubts here.
I gave the destination board at the back of the station hall a close look myself, when booking up for the previous story, and it appears to list both G4 and G5 cities. (Bridlewood, Maretime Bay, Zephyr [Heights], Neighagara, Manehattan, and three others too damaged to read clearly.) But you're right, it does appear to be a hub of some sort. Though this could be because Zephyr Heights took over as the main hub when the pony realm shrank down to just the three settlements.
It is suspiciously tall, though comparing the glimpse we get of it around 25:38 in the movie, with images from G4 of Canterlot Mountain and Canterlot's position on it, plus the surrounding plains, I think a case could reasonably be made either way. That is, we don't really see enough of the summit, or a city on it, to be able to say for certain.
We don't know for certain it _is_ Argyle's map, any more than the map of old Equestria (with Twilight's castle on it!) on the wall of his work area. And the journal it's part of has Twilight's mark on it, not Argyle's, which raises questions about where he got it. (He could have made it, and put the star on it himself as a reminder, but we don't know for certain yet.)
Not disputing the conclusion you're drawing (well, maybe a little, but that's okay), just noting that there's room for doubt here. What's cool about all this is, at this stage of the game there's lots of room for interpretation and interpolation like this. What do we consider "canon" and part of the world? And what is an accident of the development of the movie? Text and meta-text, as they say. Much like Argyle himself, we're piecing together what we see of the G5 world and comparing it with the "historical documents" we have of G4 (see what I did there?), and drawing a variety of conclusions.
Reasoned analytical fan debate for the win!
11009898
Canterlot was shown having expanded considerably in The Last Problem, and probably continued to do so for awhile longer afterwards, so my current theory is that Zephyr Heights started out as a pegasus centric housing development and/or neighborhood built higher up the mountain that eventually took dominance and became a city of its own as the years passed by.
But that's speculation on my part.
What's not speculation is the Tree of Harmony bit, because I'm not kidding about that--the movie's staff have legit come forward and confirmed that it IS the actual Tree of Harmony. Not a reference to it, not a little callback, the legit Tree of Harmony.
The current theory as why it's wood now and not crystal is that the disappearance of magic had something to do with it, and the wood form is sort of it's "sleep mode," so to speak. Either that, or the Tree yet again altered its appearance sometime in the intervening years (which would also explain the absence of the treehouse element).
I think what happened to the Castle of the Two Sisters is that it finally just decayed away entirely (or at least enough that the remaining foundations became buried underground), which suggests the extreme time frame that has passed between G4 and G5--we're talking probably thousands--PLURAL--years here. That's part of the reason why I brought up the idea that the station suggests the separation of the tribes happened more recently, because if that is true, then that would suggest Twilight's era of friendship and unity ran on likely uninterrupted for a couple of millennia before the division happened. Seeing no nation can claim anything close to that in the real world, I'd say that's pretty darn good for the G4 group.
Anyway, the Castle of Two Sisters might be gone, but the Tree still appears to be in the same spot as it was regardless, because immediately after passing the Tree, the Mane 5 have to cross a crevasse...much like the one that had always been sitting in front of the Castle of the Two Sisters.
Heck, the tree even sits on a nice little knoll, which, incidentally, the Castle of Two Sisters had always been shown to be sitting on itself, so...
I only referred to it as Argyle's map because Prysmkitsune did, so for consistency's sake. I agree it could just as easily be Sunny's map, or somebody else's entirely. Regardless of its ownership or creator though, the original point about it still stands--it's probably not meant to be taken to be to scale.
Like I said originally though, I don't expect you to change anything in your fic because of this, nor do I blame you for choosing not to, and indeed had hesitated bringing any of this up at all for fear I was just being a Mary Mary Miss Contrary in doing so. The only reason I'm bringing it up now is that the subject got broached, and there seemed to be interest...so I threw in my two-bits on the matter.
11009668
They had diffrent explanations but it still happened,even Twilight came to the conclusion while she could not understand what Pinkie did she accepted it in the end. Regardless a magic pony's eyes glowing red while angry when thier natural color is blue is minor effect in comparison to the magic effects shown off in the show.
Wow that was phenomenal! All the characters were so well written that I could hear their voices easily, great job! With the story and the pacing and everything coming so well together at the end this legit felt like it could be the premiere of the start of the show! Definitely an amazing read
Obligatory reference
she's not wrong about that.
11010041
Thanks so much! I was shooting for more of an actual full-team adventure with this one, and also exercising my ear for the ponies' individual voices, as a way of getting to know them better, so it's a shot in the arm to hear that worked so well for you.
11010394
You did wonderfully! Not only did they all feel different when they spoke it was very easy to put their voice to it and their actions and words flowed with each other very smoothly and naturally. It felt like watching an episode. If they ever need more staff I'd vote for ya lol
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