Chapter 1: It Begins With a Letter
Ponyville in summer is a Ponyville at its most picturesque. From my house at Sunset Springs the view is especially spectacular; the entire valley is laid out before you in a patchwork of green and blue, with the walls of Canterlot gleaming in the distance. Happy birdsong fills the air and the wind carries the faint, sweet scent of ripening apples up from the orchards of Sweet Apple Acres.
However, I make it a habit to finish my morning routine before enjoying the view.
My name is Patrick Vornskyr, or Lanternlight if you prefer. I am the Guardian of the village of Ponyville, a pioneer of the no longer fictional art of firebending, and an amateur magician. In the nine months since my arrival in Equestria during the first stages of the Return, and since then I've had my own fair share of adventure and excitement in this world of magic and surprises. From early fall to the beginning of summer, I was somehow able to settle into life here in the middle of all that craziness.
An important part of that is my training routine. Every morning at sunrise and every evening at sunset, I practice in the field by my house. This morning is no exception. Yellow and red-gold flames dance in the air as I work through the forms, flowing through each set of movements and meditating on a focus aiding mantra I invented.
Fire is life, life is energy. Energy pours from the Sun to the Earth. Magic Springs from the Earth and flows across the land. From the land it flows into me, and I create the fire. Energy is magic, magic is life, life is fire. Fire is life, life is ener-
"Have I ever told you that you have a great view up here?"
The voice breaks my concentration, causing a noticeable hiccup in my routine. There is nothing I can do but stop, take a deep breath to refocus, and start the last form over again.
"Repeatedly," I answer the woman that walks out my kitchen door. "Usually when I'm in the middle of practice, and, coincidentally, shirtless."
A leaping snap kick followed by a bow to the rising sun ends my routine. I turn towards the smiling face of Karol Anners, who has become better known to Equestria at large as Uplift. We began seeing each other over the winter, and ever since then we've spent every moment we can together.
We are an excellent example of a case of opposites attracting each other. I am six feet tall with shoulder length red hair, golden eyes, and a physique cultivated by two years of martial arts training. She is five foot and half an inch with silver hair, blue eyes, and the build of a vaguely feminine willow branch. I have an almost stereotypical martial artist's personality; calm, friendly, and quietly philosophical. Karol is a loud and boisterous musician who follows her impulses without reservation.
It doesn't surprise me at all when she runs up and throws herself into a hug, throwing her arms around my neck. She's wearing a t-shirt and her pajama shorts, and all I have on is my pair of work out pants. In a romantic cliche she's wearing one of my shirts. It makes her look like the mast of a sailing ship.
"So what could you possibly have planned on a gorgeous day like today?" she asks.
I hum thoughtfully, playing along. "Well, I'm patrolling around the southern side of town today. Fluttershy has asked me to escort her into the Whitetail Woods sometime this week so she can check up on the wolf pack. Oh, and I finally have enough bits saved up to start building that dojo I've been designing." I squeeze her a little bit. "But first, I think I'll convince my girlfriend to practice her airbending for me."
The girlfriend in question gives me an impressive pout. "Come on Patrick, I have enough people riding my ass about working on my days off." Karol had spent the past month or so on a concert tour around the country, exposing herself as a musician to Equestria's music scene. "My agent wants me to write some songs, the Weather Authority's been pestering me about reporting to them for training, and Jetstream works me to the bone whenever he can get his hands on me for lessons. Can't I just slack off for today? Please?"
"Your sifu asked me to keep you from doing just that," I say seriously, "and I gave him my word that I would make sure you practice three times a week like you're supposed to."
Determined to make me cave, she snuggles herself into my chest and looks up at me. "Pretty please?"
I roll my eyes and start dragging the whining airbender towards the practice field I just vacated. "Nice try. I want to see your progress, and I know how much you like to show off."
"Oh fine," Karol huffs and pushes herself out of my grip after I pull her onto the soft grass. "Just let me find a rhythm."
I grin and seat myself on the edge of the field, where I watch her start practicing. She begins by standing still, eyes closed, as her head slowly starts to bob to the beat of a silent song. Eventually she drops to a low crouch, stepping back and forth before exploding into the bouncing, springing movements of Capoeira. Her kicks and flips are accompanied by gusts of wind as the air around her reacts to her movements. This style's strong circular movements, acrobatic flair, and emphasis on evading attacks makes it a perfect alternative style of airbending to the Ba Gua derived style in the show. It is also a great match for Karol's personality.
Karol proves this point by ending her routine with an impressive twenty foot leap. She flips upside down and fires off a spinning kick, creating an arc of wind that lifts skyward, before performing a perfect gymnast's landing. She flings her arms up as if expecting a crowd to burst into applause. I oblige her by clapping. "That was great! You've definitely improved since the last time you where in Ponyville."
She falls back onto the grass with a tired sigh. "Not surprising considering how hard Jet's been pushing me." Her silver curled head peeks over her feet at me, "You wanna know what he said to me after our last lesson? He told me that he thinks I'm ready to move on to the next level of training if I wanted to."
"Do you want to?"
"Ask me later," Karol grunts, throwing an arm over her eyes. Seeing that she's not planning on going anywhere anytime soon, I step around her and take up a position near the cliff bordering my home's eastern edge. As I exhale I plant my feet shoulder-width apart, pulling my elbows in next to my hips with my fists clenched. "What's up?" the exhausted airbender behind me asks from her bed of grass.
"Something new." I inhale, focusing on the warmth of the sun, on the warmth of the magic flowing through me. When I exhale, I act. Externally, my arms and hands move in precise, circular motions. Internally, I reach deep inside myself and separate my internal magic into its positive and negative elements. As the final moment of the technique approaches, I can feel the opposing charges straining to reunite and restore my internal balance. When the moment is right I release the energies, allowing them to reunite as I thrust my right arm forwards, hand and fingers extended straight ahead.
Something goes wrong in that moment. The reuniting energies clash off-kilter just as I try to release the effect. A spark ignites off my fingertips. The air explodes.
Heat scorches my face and smoke blinds me. A wave of expanding air knocks me off my feet, but a cushion of whirling air catches me before I hit the ground. I use the extra time to flip myself over and allow momentum to bring me up to my feet. A wave of dizziness suddenly knocks me onto my ass, probably brought on by a combination of the botched technique and the concussive force of the blast.
Karol runs up and grabs a hand, pulling me up to my feet. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"Good." She slugs me in the arm, hard. "What the hell are you trying to do? Did you just wake up and think, 'Hey, today I feel like blowing myself up'?"
Trying to cut her off before she can build up into a rant, I raise a hand and say, "Look, I was trying out a very advanced firebending technique and it proved to be a little more difficult than I thought. That's all."
She tilts her head incredulously. "Excuse me? A little more difficult means you almost blow your head off?"
"It's not that bad," I begin weakly. Luckily for me, I get cut off by a purple bolt from on high landing between me and the furious Karol.
"Lanternlight, Uplift!" Her Majesty Princess Twilight Sparkle looks up at us with desperation in her eyes. "You have to hide me, quick!"
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A little while later, I walk out of my house fully dressed to the sight of an annoyed blue pegasus pony hovering above my property. Hooves crossed in front of her chest, she simply says, "Where is she?"
"Good morning to you too, Rainbow Dash."
"Yeah, sorry," she drops altitude until we're eye to eye. "Twilight ran off while I was getting the practice course ready for her flying lesson today. I know she flew off this way, so could you just tell me where you hid her?"
"Why'd she run?" It's drastically out of character for the purple pony to flee from anything remotely resembling any form of education. My question causes Rainbow to land and look down sheepishly.
"I may have kinda sorta implied that today is more a test than an actual lesson." Ah, one of Twilight's trigger words. That'll do it.
"Implied?!" Twilight's head pops out of the bush she had been using as a hiding spot. "You said that you would be testing me on what I've learned so far!"
"I never said that word! I said 'I'm going to see what you can do.'" Rainbow argues.
"And when I asked if it was like a test," the alicorn counters, "you said, 'Yeah, kinda.'"
Rainbow groans and plants her hoof firmly on her forehead. Before I could get involved in the argument the sound of the front door of my house door slamming draws my attention to Karol marching towards the exit of the little valley that the Springs is nestled in. Knowing that she'd just stew if I let her leave angry, I rush to catch up to her.
She's dressed in her casual clothes now; a blue chest-length shawl/cape thing designed to catch the wind over a tight black t-shirt and a pair of cargo shorts, all courtesy of Rarity. Just as I reach her she leaps up to a low hanging cloud she parked near my place last night. She's been using small clouds as transportation since she learned that she could push them around by airbending, and apparently the practice had caught on with airbenders she met while on tour.
"Karol!" I shout, trying to get her attention before she zips off. "I'm sorry I worried you, but that technique is something I have to master to do my job."
"I don't like it when you get hurt, Patrick." She's talking to me, at least. From ten feet above the ground, but I'll take whatever progress I can get.
"I'm a Guardian, honey. Sooner or later I'm going to get hurt, but the more I know how to do the less serious it'll be. Please, Karol, don't leave." I regret my words when ninety pounds of angry woman jumps on me and hugs me hard enough to make my ribs creak.
"I'm not leaving you." She squeezes me harder than I thought a girl her size and build ever could. "I'm just scared."
I hug her back, letting my mind run on what came out today. The danger inherent in my occupation has been a shadow hanging over our relationship ever since we started getting serious. She's never really expressed how scared she is until now, she's never really been good at admitting when something's bothering her, but I've been able to sense it. If she's in town and I'm patrolling she hardy lets me out of her line of sight for more than ten minutes. I once overheard her talking to Nurse Redheart about a First Aid seminar the earth pony medic would speak at. Little clues like that have been popping up over the last few months.
It's not like I wouldn't understand, but part of what makes Karol the person that she is is her determination to deal with her own emotional baggage herself.
My mind turns towards my failed attempt at generating lightning. The technique requires absolute peace of mind, something that I think I have in abundance right now. Ponyville's crises have either been easily manageable or resolved themselves without me getting involved. What could possibly be holding me back?
Karol derails my train of thought by pointing at something in the air. "What's he doing here?"
He is a golden armored pegasus from Canterlot's Royal Guard. Wings beating hard, he comes in for a quick landing in front of Rainbow and Twilight, who's argument had long ago faded into an easy conversation. The guard bows and pulls a scroll out of his saddlebag with a wing, presenting it to Twilight. "Princess, I bring urgent news from northwest Equestria." No sooner does Twilight lift the message from him does the soldier salute and take off again.
Curious, Twilight unrolls the scroll and begins reading it as rapidly as she can. Her eyes widen in astonishment and she quickly rereads the entire thing. Her reaction draws the rest of us to her. Rainbow steps next to her friend and tries to get a look at the messages contents. "What is it," the nosey pegasus asks, "is Tall Tail Tale being attacked by a dragon or something?"
"No. This is a lot more serious than that." The princess's voice is much more grave than I'm comfortable with.
"Twilight, what's wrong?" She doesn't even acknowledge me, letting the scroll roll back up and looking past the horizon. I swear I can hear the gears in her head turning as she formulates a plan for whatever that message warned her about.
"Rainbow, I need you to go tell everypony to meet me in the library in one hour. Tell them it's an emergency if you have to."
The commanding tone in the princess's voice causes the Wonderbolt cadet to stand at attention. "Right away," she affirms before rocketing away towards Sweet Apple Acres.
"Lanternlight, Uplift, you should come too." Twilight floats the scroll towards us. As soon as Karol snatches the scroll from midair the alicorn vanishes in a flash of light.
Karol and I share a confused look before she opens the scroll and we begin to read.
FROM WILDLAND WEATHER PATROL TTT 15 TO CLOUDSDALE CENTRAL; FWD CANTERLOT CASTLE, FWD CRYSTAL PALACE, FWD PRINCESS TWILIGHT SPARKLE ASAP. ROYAL EMERGENCY.
ROUTINE PATROL SPOTTED GEOGRAPHICAL ANOMALY AT B (116.442) BY C (135.150). CREW CHIEF AND 3 VOLUNTEERS INVESTIGATED. ANOMALY PREVIOUSLY NON-EXSISTANT ISLAND IN THE CENTER OF CRYSTAL CLEAR LAKE. INHABITED. CITY STRUCTURES WITHIN STONE WALL 15M TALL. RESIDENTS HUMAN. RESIDENTS FRIGHTENED BY PATROL MEMBERS BUT NOT HOSTILE. REPRESENTATIVE OF LOCAL AUTHORITY DEMANDED PATROL VACATE AIRSPACE IMMEDIATELY ONCE COMMUNICATION ESTABLISHED. CHIEF COMPLIED AFTER INFORMING REPRESENTATIVE OF DIPLOMATIC CONTACT TO FOLLOW.
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"That's the situation," Twilight says to the assembled group.
We're all sitting around the big round table in Golden Oak Library's main floor. The table is laden with teapots and enough cups for all, along with plates of assorted comfort foods. The alicorn is sitting directly across from me, with both of the elder Apple siblings on her immediate right, followed by Rarity, Fluttershy, myself, Karol, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and lastly Spike on her left. To my relief someone had found cushioned stools for Karol and I to sit on.
"What's yer plan, sugarcube?" Applejack asks, her tea untouched.
Twilight takes a deep breath. "I've spoken with Celestia, Luna, and Cadence, and we've agreed that I should be the one to make contact with the city's leaders. As a princess I have the authority to make promises on behalf of Equestria, but unlike the others I don't have a principality to look after yet. Also, you know," she points to the purple, star-shaped gem topping her crown, "friendship. So my plan needs all of you if I'm going to have even the smallest chance of pulling it off. Will you help?"
Rainbow puffs her chest out proudly, "Like you even need to ask. Just tell us what you need and we'll make sure it gets done."
A chorus of agreement follows the pegasus's statement, but Karol and I share a look. Karol's only experience with the excitement that surrounds the Elements was when she happened to be in town when Pinkie somehow managed to clone herself. She has no idea what she'd be volunteering for. Myself? All I know is that there is no way I'm letting these mares walk into something as dangerous as a city full of freshly Returned humans without me around. "You can count on me."
"Me too," Karol says.
Twilight smiles happily and begins disclosing her plan. "All right. First of all, Rarity. You'll help me during the negotiations with the city's leaders. Your knowledge of etiquette will no doubt help make a good first impression."
Rarity preens her mane proudly. "Oh, but of course."
"More importantly, I'm going to need an expanded wardrobe to better present myself, since human society has a nudity taboo," Twilight continues. Rarity glances at Karol and I out of the corner of her eye before nodding her understanding and taking a dainty sip of tea. "At least ten more outfits." The refined unicorn freezes mid-sip, her cheeks bulging as she holds back what could have been an epic spit-take. "And two more for everypony else, just in case." The dam breaks and Rarity soaks Rainbow's face with a jet of chamomile and jasmine blend.
"Eighteen! I, it, wha..." Rarity sputters, wobbling like she's about to faint. Twilight is grinning sheepishly while an indignant Rainbow dries herself off with a napkin next to a giggling Pinkie Pie. The white unicorn suddenly sits ramrod straight as an idea hits her. "I have to get to my store," she says, and we are treated to the rare sight of the designer frantically galloping off fast enough to leave a white and purple blur in her wake.
"Pinkie." The pony in question snaps her full attention to Twilight. "When we get to to the city I'm going to need you to do what you do best."
"Throw a party!" Pinkie gasps, then hesitates when Twilight smiles but shakes her head. "Bake sweets? Sing a song? Violate the laws of physics so hard they cry in a corner?"
"No Pinkie, I need you to make new friends."
"Oh yeah!. Okey dokey lokey, Twilight." Crisis averted, the party animal dives into the pile of sugary confections on her plate.
Twilight turns to Rainbow next. "Rainbow, you'll be keeping an eye on the weather. It might have stalled out with the wildland weather ponies avoiding the area. However for the most part I need you to keep Pinkie Pie out of trouble."
Rainbow glances at the pink sugar demon, who is happily stuffing her frosting-coated face with another serving of diabetes inducing snacks. "Sure, give me the hardest assignment in the whole trip."
"Not to worry, you'll have help." Twilight smiles at Applejack. "AJ, you'll be with them. I want you to get a feel for the people, find out what life in the city is like. If all goes well, we might need your help finding viable farmland to help the city become self-sustaining."
"Yah got it, Twi." The earth pony adjusts her hat and casts a cautious eye at the blue and pink duo across the table from her. "Ah'll do my best to keep those two troublemakers in line."
"Good luck." Spike says cheerfully, dutifully taking notes as Twilight speaks
"Uplift, you'll be help them explore the city and deal with the people there. Show them where to go, teach them what to do, what to say when, and most importantly who and what to avoid."
Uplift salutes. "Don't worry Twilight, I'll teach them everything I know." Her grin as she says that sends a chill up my spine. Karol and Pinkie get along pretty well, but their personalities work off each other a little too well. Combine that inevitable randomness with Rainbow's mischievous streak and Applejack will have her hooves full corralling that herd of cats.
"Fluttershy, you'll explore the area around the lake. We need to make sure the ecosystem can support this number of humans without collapsing." The yellow pegasus nods, happy with her assignment. Twilight's next request makes her a little less happy. "I might need your help during the negotiations too. Your empathy might enable you to pick up on something the rest of us might overlook."
"Oh. A-are you sure you want me helping you with something so important?" Fluttershy nervously rubs a hoof against the table, but Twilight's nod seems to give her a measure of confidence. "Okay, I'll do my best."
Finally, Twilight looks my way. "Lanternlight, you'll be with us during the negotiations. You're pretty good at reading other's intentions, and I'm sure your advice will be invaluable." She pauses, fiddling with her teacup with her hooves. "Also, you're the foremost expert on human magic in the nation. If anyone can figure out why a whole city Returned, it's you."
I nod, already planning ways to keep track of everyone when the group is separated. "Got it."
"Okay. Now I know this is sudden, but I want to leave day after tomorrow. We have a day to pack everything we need and make arrangements for our homes and pets." As she speaks, Twilight hovers a piece of paper and a quill to her desk and starts jotting something down.
"What about me," Big Macintosh rumbles. The big stallion has been here the whole time, but hasn't spoken a word. "Ah'd feel right silly if all Ah do is sit 'round while everyone's helpin' out."
An awkward silence stretches across a few seconds before Applejack narrows her eyes at her brother. "Macintosh, ya seem to be under the impression that yer' comin' along this time."
"Eyup."
"Absolutely not!" AJ pushes her face closer to Mac's. "Leavin' the farm to just Granny and Apple Bloom when there's a whole orchard to maintain before applebuck season? Ah didn't now yah could be so irresponsible!"
Mac, normally as calm as one of his family's deep-rooted trees, surprises everyone by literally butting heads with his sister. "Ah'm comin'."
AJ pushes against the red stallion's head. "No ya ain't"
Mac pushes back, almost shouting, "Yes. Ah. Am."
"Holy cow," Spike mutters at the sight of the siblings squaring off, "that escalated fast."
Twilight's horn glows as she grabs each earth pony's tail with her magic and pulls the arguing siblings apart. "Okay, that's enough!" The alicorn fumes at her best friend and coltfriend as they continue to glare at each other, then turns apologetically to the rest of us with her horn still alight. "Sorry guys. Do what you need to do, we'll work this out."
The five of us awkwardly exit the library, unable to help hearing the sound of the argument resuming as soon as Spike closes the door behind us. Fluttershy takes to the air and heads towards Carousel Boutique, muttering something about giving Rarity a hoof. Karol gives me a peck on the cheek then leaps onto her cloud and zips off to find her agent, while Rainbow and Pinkie have already vanished to who knows where.
Worry eats away at me as I make my way back to Sunset Springs. An entire city Returning en mass? Where on Earth did it come from? Are the people the weather patrollers talked to even still in charge? If they are, will they be willing to negotiate? Will they turn on our little group if they think it will benefit them? There are too many uncertainties, but I'm going to do my best to make sure everyone comes home safe and sound.
God help anyone who gets in my way.
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Miles away and hours later, in a darkened room lit by candlelight, five men sit at a long table.
The table itself has seen many of these late-night meetings. It bears the stacks of papers with quiet dignity, each one bearing a handwritten report. Occasionally one sheet among them has the deep impressions of a mechanical typewriter pressed into service after decades of dusty retirement. A forrest of candlesticks provide enough light for the men to see by, carefully arranged to limit the risk of fire as much as possible. By the force of long-observed habit, a sleek, black, modern conference phone remains unburied by the shifting dunes of paper and wax despite its current uselessness.
"We've been able to restore power to some districts with the emergency generators, but it's spotty at best. Our gasoline reserves can only give us about a month of service before we'll be forced to search for an alternative power supply." The speaker adjusts the glasses on his thin nose, sweat from nerves and the sweltering atmosphere of the room dripping from his chin.
"Good thing our Duchess likes candlelight so much, eh." A jovially overweight man says, laughing at his own jest. His mirth earns him glares from three of the other men seated at the table.
One of them, hardly tall enough to see over the table while seated, stands and slams his hands down on the wooden surface. Paying no mind to the dangerously wobbling candles, he shouts at the last speaker, "How dare you joke at a time like this, and at the Duchess's expense no less! Our city is in crisis, you fool!"
A forth man, his jacket flung casually over the back of his chair and his tie hanging untied around his neck, snorts humorlessly. "Food reserves dwindling, martial law being called out, more than nine tenths of our population missing; this situation isn't just a crisis, it's a disaster. And we still don't know how or why it happened." He glances at the spectacled man accusingly.
"It's only been three days! How can you expect a scientific inquiry to come to a conclusion with so little time and data?"
Before the meeting can devolve into a shouting match, the fifth man, seated at the head of the table, holds up a hand. "Gentlemen please compose yourselves. Fighting will do us no good." The owner of the calm voice is handsome and impeccably dressed, seeming untouched by the heat of the still summer night. "We are each doing our best to see our city through this difficult time. Unfortunately we can only act on what we know."
In the silence of the room, the man folds his hands in front of him. "And what do we know? Very little. Three days ago the central quarter of our city was bathed in a mysterious light, and we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of a lake that wasn't there before. We have been cut off from the rest of the city and its infrastructure, and lost the majority of our population. The weather is static, no rain or wind and the clouds haven't so much as budged an inch in the time since our arrival. Telecommunications are offline or destroyed, and many of our remaining citizens have displayed strange abilities. To put the icing on the proverbial cake, just last evening we were contacted by nothing short of a flock of what appeared to be talking pegasi." A round of disbelieving laughter snakes its way around the table. "The only conclusion that makes sense, once we apply logic, is that we are no longer on Earth. So we must adapt."
A strange wind billows one of the rooms curtains, drawing the men's attention to the windows lining one of the walls. A wisp of green smoke, sparkling and flowing with a will of its own, enters. In stunned silence the men watch as it coils into a spiral above the head of the table. With a flash and a soft pop, a rolled up scroll takes its place and falls directly in front of the well-spoken man leading the meeting.
After a moment's hesitation, the man carefully picks up the scroll. He notes the purple ribbon and the horseshoe and starburst sigil impressed on the wax seal. The other men gasp when he breaks the seal, then wait breathlessly as he reads the message within.
For more than a minute the room is deathly silent. Then the leader stands up and makes his way to the window, looking over the city. "It seems our winged visitors were being honest. A Princess 'Twilight Sparkle' is making her way here to open diplomatic conversations on behalf of her country." He studies his face reflected in the window's glass, his now slate-grey eyes glowing softly as they gaze back at him. "She'll arrive in four days. We'd best make preparations."