This story is a sequel to Marking the Generations – Part Four
Set in the same alternative universe as my previous four-part story, Marking the Generations. Reading it isn’t a requirement but some changes to characters and setting have taken place. Notes have been added to the chapters to make understanding these easier.
Following the defeat of Opaline and the return of Sunset Shimmer and Starlight Glimmer to their own time. The only thing that Sunny Starscout has been looking forward to is the opening of the new Maretime Bay Museum of Equestrian History.
However, no sooner has the Museum opened, a new problem becomes apparent. Earth Ponies are mysteriously vanishing from a park in Zephyr Heights and a remote CanterBlocks construction site. Anti-unity activists are presumed to be the culprits. Wishing to strike fear into the fledgling Earth Pony population in Zephyr Heights.
In what she thinks is a spark of genius, Sunny offers herself up as bait for the activists. Reasoning that she will be fine with her powers. However, Hitch and Zipp aren’t so sure, they want to investigate more before jumping into a sting operation. Despite this, Sunny’s enthusiasm is infectious, leading Pipp and Izzy to create a convincing disguise for her. Meanwhile, Misty finds spells that will surely help Sunny succeed.
However, Sunny’s plan backfires as she finds herself in over her head. The disappearances aren’t due to disgruntled Pegasi. Instead, she finds herself transported to the massive Arora Ridge Quarry.
Watched over by Allura, a winged Snow Leopard with a strange and potent power to control others. Sunny is made to work in the quarry alongside many other creatures which are also being held against their will.
Will Sunny’s friends be able to find the Quarry? Will they rescue Sunny and the missing Earth Ponies? What of the other creatures, will they be rescued too? Will Sunny overcome Allura’s powers? Read on to find out…
Whoa. Really emotional prologue. Definitely appreciated the look at things from Sugar's point of view as we see her frustration on her luck going from bad to worse.
Anyway, the dialogue, characterizations and future chapter set-up are wonderfully done and I'm now going to read the next chapter.
Another really good job on the dialogue, characterizations and future chapter set-up. Definitely liked Sunny's chats with Kendi and Hitch (the latter after dropping off Sparky with the other dragons) as they looked over the new museum before Phyllis arrived.
On to the next chapter.
Another well done chapter, with excellent dialogue, characterizations, action and future chapter set-up. Liked the chats Alphabittle had with both Misty and Strawberry (the latter involving the eagerness to teach too much too fast and a good demonstration of the dangers of that. Misty demonstrating that invisibility spell (obviously, the "eyes still being visible" are so that the user can still see WHILE mostly invisible) and then that combat magic in dealing with that giant killer plant Strawberry produced in her overeagerness. I just hope that Strawberry doesn't end up developing the kind of issues with Misty that Lex Luthor has with Superman. That could go REALLY badly. And the author's notes on which Luna was being referred to makes a great deal of sense to avoid unnecessary confusion (though I wouldn't be surprised if Misty's mother was NAMED AFTER Princess Luna).
Again, on to the next chapter.
Again, great work on the dialogue, characterizations and future chapter set-up. Definitely liked Pipp and Misty's discussion concerning recent events and Pipp trying to inspire Misty before the stuff on the news and the discussion of that Anti-Earth Pony protestor (including the inversion of the reasons between her protests and Sunny's) before Phyllis explained about all the disappearances (including Sprout when HE tried to investigate). And the discussion of the plan involving the disguise and a communication spell in order to investigate the disappearances makes a lot of sense for the information that they have.
Most assuredly looking forward to more of this. (including and especially this universe's spin on the first encounter with Allura).
11912368
Thank you for the continued comments on each chapter, I always looked forward to them through Marking the Generations and I hope you enjoy what is to come here.
There is most certainly more coming very soon.
11912370
You're quite welcome and thanks. In that order.
(Gasp) There's a School of Magic in Bridlewood?! (Squeal with excitement) This is so amazing! And Misty is doing a great job with her spells. I'll be willing to see what other spells she'll be working on.
Magic is believing in yourself if you can do that you can make anything happen.
Great job on your three chapters they're amazing! And the grand opening of the Maretime Bay Museum was a smash hit.
I can't wait to see if they'll come up with a plan to stop the protests.
Along with Misty doing her first live-streaming in CanterLove was incredible!
Hey! My brain just gave me an idea!
You know what Maretime Bay must need a talk show and a late show, too. Talk to the Mane 6 and do some games and quizzes to make ponies happy also, supporting and funding donation money for the needy as well.
My brain just gave me another idea!
Maretime Bay should have an Opera house, with musical and needs to have an orchestra, and some audition tryout for the ponies in Maretime Bay to entertain for the play.
Oh no! Sunny has been captured!
Whoever this mysterious creature is needs to be stopped once and for all. I hope Sunny's friends will find her and all the earth ponies, too.
11913133
Yeah, things backfired for Sunny here, should have listened to Zipp and Hitch.
Again, that was another really well-done chapter with great dialogue, characterizations and future chapter set-up. Good bits with Sunny introducing her undercover identity to Haven, the discussion of what happened to Jazz and Posey and the difficulty in getting the directions of the route right. And, yes, "innocent until proven guilty" is there for a reason (even if old shows like COPS made it seem like 99.9 % of the time, it was insultingly obvious that they were guilty, the cases on COPS were MUCH simpler than stuff like this one) and, indeed, Sunny SHOULD have listened to Hitch and Zipp about waiting before jumping to the undercover stuff (even if, one way or another, this IS going to help them find out the truth). Hopefully, the others will be able to find Sunny RELATIVELY soon.
At any rate, I am definitely looking forward to more of this.
Again, you did a really good job on the dialogue, characterizations and future chapter set-up. I really appreciated the discussions amongst the others after Sunny disappeared as they began their search, weighed the pros and cons of possible action and made their plans. And then the look on Sunny's face when she was observing the other species (including the darker sides of the Kirins unknown to her at this time) and got a better clue about the situation.
I am certainly going to be looking forward to more of this.
I wonder what sort of spell that Misty is trying to do along with these Nirik are taking all those creatures and Sunny as well, I better wait and find out.
Again, you did an excellent job on the dialogue, characterizations and future chapter set-up. REALLY liked the gang trying to reassure each other concerning the combination of their resources to find the missing Earth Ponies (including Sunny) as well as the reactions to Phyllis's statement on the missing Earth Ponies. Also liked Alphabittle, Izzy and Strawberry helping get through to Misty concerning her guilt and frustration (the latter involving the lack of luck in finding the location spell).
I am most assuredly going to be looking forward to more of these.
I hope Misty will trust Strawberry since she's a friend with her mother. Along with Sunny's friend will try to find Sunny, too
REALLY good job on the latest chapter. Definitely appreciate the effort going into the dialogue, characterizations and future chapter set-up. Sunny's reflections on the situation she was currently in was definitely understandable, as was the stuff about the griffon trying to escape and the reaction to the first encounter with Allura. Also liked Sprout sticking up for Sunny when Sugar called her a fool and the reactions both of them had when they found out Sunny was Moondust. The talk with that one would-be escapee concerning the hope/possibility of working together to escape also made sense. And, since neither the Nirik nor Allura are watching, Sunny can finally try to get a message through to Misty and the others. I just hope it gets through and provides the rest of the gang with some clue that they can use to help with the rescue.
I am definitely going to be looking forward to more of this.
I hope Misty will hear Sunny's message through her horn along with trying to come up with a plan to escape the quarry, too.
An excellent job on the dialogue, characterizations, (limited) action and future chapter set-up. REALLY liked Misty getting into contact with Sunny and Sunny sharing as much detail as she was able too, as well as the chats Misty had with Strawberry, the discussion of the plan to capture a Nirik and Sunny finding out that the prisoners have already started work on an escape plan AND that Allura and the Nirik have made no indications of knowing about Earth Pony magic. Sunny showing enough control over her alicorn magic to fire off a precision cutting beam was another beautiful touch, as was Sunny's chat with Sugar at the end of the chapter.
I am REALLY going to be looking forward to more of this.
Misty got Sunny's message and I hope they'll find her along with Sunny getting everybody out of the quarry.
11916445
They'll need to capture a Nirik first and hopefully extract it's secrets.
11916429
That was actually very challenging. First drafts I felt Sugar was out of character. It was too easy to make her warm up to Sunny too quickly.
My take on Sugar here comes from one line Sunny says to her in Ali-conned.
11916447
Okay that works too
Again, you did a really good job on the dialogue, characterizations and future chapter set-up. Yeah, Sunny reflecting on the rough mattress and the lousy food makes a great deal of sense as does the discussion of maintaining the cover because they had to be careful around Nirik. The description of the mine was well done as well as the discussions of the Hippogriffs and Griffons. And, yes, "Moondust" was able to get back in contact with Thymus and Skysurf.
I will definitely be looking forward to more of this.
Not only did Sunny meet a changeling, griffons, Diamond Dogs, yaks, and Nirik, but a hippogriff?!
This... IT IS SO AMAZING!
But I hope Sunny and everyone else will escape the quarry, and Misty and Sunny's friends will come up with a plan to rescue her and the Earth Ponies from Allura.
11920453
Yep, the world has gotten so much bigger for Sunny
More chapters are coming every day this week. You'll have to see how close to finding the quarry Sunny’s friends get.
11920437
It made sense to me that the quarry wouldn't be a holiday park. I think, if she escapes, Sunny will be really happy to see her normal bed!
11920487
If it is getter bigger maybe Sunny will try to get all the creatures to work together, stop Allura and make peace with each other because that's how the magic of friendship grows.
11920488
I think you're right. I mean, she'd probably be happy to see it anyway, but this will make her even more so. And she is also more than likely going to leave the undercover work to the trained professionals in the foreseeable future.
11920596
Oh yes! I'm certain that Sunny will only go undercover again if Zipp and Hitch TELL her to! I suspect she'll be asking for far more instructions too.
11920582
Oh yes
I'm pretty sure that there will be more friends made before this adventure ends. Not all by Sunny either!
11920619
Thank you for liking my idea.
💡I GOT IT!
They should build the School of Unity and Friendship.
Have the Ponies interact with the creatures to learn the value of friendship. (Star eyes) That will be the most greatest idea ever!
Another really well-done job on the dialogue, characterizations, action and future chapter set-up. I definitely appreciated the discussion on the spell practice between Misty and Strawberry as well as the lampshading on the fact "live bait" always backfires (even if they DID succeed in capturing one of the Niriks, Strawberry got nabbed and can only be messaged - not respond back). At least Sunny managed to get through with another message concerning the progress that was made.
I'll definitely be looking forward to more of this.
11921196
Indeed and honestly it's taken me sometime to work out where to take her. Still open for suggestions:
Personally, thinking the last option. Reason being that the orders from Allura are no Unicorns which rules out the first one.
Second option is ruled out because they've captured the Nirik that caught her.
Also, I think Strawberry will benefit from some thinking time after her failure here.
11921204
Yeah. Definitely thinking the last one, too, for the same reasons you mentioned,
Misty have got Sunny's message, along with her teleportation spell and remove the collar from the Nirik's neck. I hope when it wakes up, it's going to ask a lot of questions.
Also, adding CCTV cameras and Security guards over Maretime Bay is great.
And I picked the last one, she may be Misty's mom's friend but she really needs to stop being a jerk.
11921259
Oh she's a proper arrogant pony when she wants to be.
Somehow, I think she's likely to be eating some humble pie after this though.
11921268
Okay I see what you mean there
Another really well-done job on the dialogue, characterizations and future chapter set-up. Definitely liked the discussions between the backgrounds of assorted prisoners, the descriptions of some of the security protocols as well as Sunny explaining herself to the assembled prisoners who agreed to work together to plan their escape (as well as the discussion of using Earth Pony magic to provide better food for other prisoners helping plan the escape). The report to Misty at the end (which was foreshadowed in the previous chapter) was also a rather good touch.
I am definitely going to be looking forward to more of this.
It's great for Sunny to meet a changeling, griffin and hippogriff. I hope she'll meet the yak and the diamond dogs and those other unicorns which I assuming their auroricorns, I want to see if they ever want to escape too. Along with Sunny sending a message to Misty, I hope she'll get the message back to her about the situation
11921943
Yep, two chapters that occurred at the same time in different locations. So there's two foreshadowings as things merge for a while at the start of the next one.
Having 'fun' with the messages later on. Misty needs to work out how to put them on speaker!
11921959
The next chapter has a little more mention of the Aroracorns.
Some more details of the extent of Allura’s purr power in this AU too.
11921961
Whoa, cool
Excellent work, once again, on the dialogue, characterizations and future chapter set-up. REALLY appreciated the discussion during Sunny's report, as well as the show of how understandably tired Misty is right now. And I can understand that awakened Kirin's frustrations as well as how the Kirins/Niriks got captured and brainwashed (as well as more detail on Allura's siren purr). Feather Breeze's understandable concern for the other Kirins and Auroracorns and description of the situation also helps with set-up for later.
I will definitely be looking forward to more of this later.
Looks like Feather Breeze introduce herself to Sunny's friends and Misty got another message from Sunny. I hope Sunny will meet up with the yaks and the diamonds dogs soon, I want to see she'll have them to team up with her.
Yay! Operation rescue all the creatures and find Sunny!
I hope they'll sneak pass the Niriks, remove the collars, get all the creatures out of the cages, along with freeing Minty Cloudstrike and Strawberry, too.
Another great job on the dialogue, characterizations, action and future chapter set-up. Appreciated Pipp putting in that message to the populace before she and the others began their rescue mission. Also understood the gang emphasizing how important stealth is at this point, which is the only reason Misty didn't jump in when she saw Strawberry getting worked over by Allura's brain-washed minions while she was sneaking around (and, yes, with the possible exception of Zipp, Misty DOES have more experience with stealth than any of the rest of the group, so she would know). Feather Breeze explaining a bit about certain "Situations" makes sense, as does the stuff with Winter Breath and the gang letting Haven know about Strawberry being left in the situation she was in and needing help.
REALLY looking forward to more of this.
11925025
Yep, the mission has begun. First step, follow that airship and don’t get spotted!
I thought that was going to be the slowest part of the story for Sunny’s friends. However, I'm finding there's plenty of character interactions to be had. You'll see that over the coming chapters.
11925026
The 'situations' came to me doing the first draft of a later chapter. Fortunately, I was able to rejigg this one to retrofit them.
Made a lot more sense I think as it simplifies the 'instructions' the Nirik are living by.
More than happy to hear some suggestions for 'situations' that can be added. Both numbers and what they are.
I see them as being a 'Set' of instructions that form an activity BTW.