“Ooh, you can see it!” The unicorn gestured forward, leaning perilously over the deck of the airship. She took a deep breath from the flexible plastic mask over her muzzle, connected to a tank of oxygen strapped to her back.
“Yes, I think that’s it!” Behind her, at the captain’s wheel, an earth pony with similar equipment pulled levers to angle the airship down.
Before them stretched out a vast, flat desert. Rocks and a smattering of sand for as far as the eye could see, up to the rim of mountains surrounding it on all sides. It was slightly before noon as they began their descent over the vast Adeska Altiplano.
“Down below you can see where the railroad tracks used to be, just like your dad’s map Sunny!” Izzy held up a map in her magic – her actual magic, that she was still so excited to have. It was like a sense or limb or both that she’d never known was missing until it’d been reattached.
Sunny locked the controls and trotted up to the edge to take a look. Below on the vast flat rocky plains she could see a long, winding pale scar going across the ground up towards their target.
“Dad said the locals had scavenged the rails for steel, but wouldn’t go in the ‘temple’ as they called it.” Sunny looked at the distant, monolithic structure, surrounded by a curious field of craters encircling it. It seemed almost like a solid pyramid of dull sandy-brown stone, but she could discern, even at this distance, a large entrance and traces of worn-away features on the sides. Had her vision always been this sharp?
Izzy excitedly paced the deck of the ship as Sunny returned to refine their approach. After about an hour, they chugged to a halt and dropped anchor in a cleft next to the “temple” grounds.
“We’re now back below the ‘death zone’ so we can take the masks off.” Sunny carefully removed her mask and tank, then stowed them in a compartment next to the wheel. Izzy tossed her hers, forcing Sunny to catch it before stowing it in the same place.
“Can you believe it never rains here? Never ever! Although now that pegasuses have magic, maybe they’ll be able to make it rain?” Izzy took in the panorama around her. No grass, no trees, no shrubs. Nothing but rock and sand as far as she could see other than themselves. A tiny trace of white at the tops of the mountains ringing the plateau, but the only colors were those they brought with them.
Well, those they brought with them and the temple’s massive door. Unlike the seeming local stone of the temple’s walls, the door was an odd deep bluish metal neither of them had ever seen before. None of the tools Sunny had brought with her were able to make a scratch on it, even the diamond-tipped drill. Izzy’s new magic likewise seemed to want nothing to do with it, flowing away from it like waves receding on a shoreline.
“Well, I’m out of ideas for the moment.” Sunny went back to the airship to look for another tool to try, but Izzy kept looking at it. It had a single distinguishing feature on it, the six-pointed star used on the Equestrian flag in the era of Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight Sparkle. Sunny says she’s a pony who’s all three kinds of pony at the same time. “Hey Sunny, try doing the thing!”
“Oh, you mean the magical glowing body parts?” Sunny trotted back up to the door, then concentrated deeply. Glowing energy emerged from her back and forehead, forming phantom wings and a horn. She stared up at the door with glowing eyes, then suddenly she began to lift in the air. Her frantic kicking and scrabbling immediately indicated to Izzy that it wasn’t her idea to do so.
Izzy lunged and grabbed for her friend with her hooves, but wasn’t able to reach her, flipping over in midair and landing on her back with an “oof” of failure. She rolled to her hooves and grabbed again with her magic, remembering that she in fact had it.
This succeeded, but not quite as she’d intended. Rather than pull Sunny to her, she was pulled to Sunny, finding herself with her friend in a bubble of magic at the end of a tendril extending from the door.
Two of the points on the door’s star began to glow. Then two more. It didn’t take Izzy long to realize what it meant, she’d heard the same stories Sunny had – or rather, Sunny had told her all of her stories. “Sunny! Do a pegasus thing!”
Sunny, eyes still glowing blankly, nodded, then flapped her wings of energy. Two more points glowed, then the bubble slowly lowered her to the ground. The door itself began to sink down into the ground, opening a vast entrance big enough for their airship to sail through.
The two of them trotted inside, looking around at the cavernous area dimly lit by their horns. It seemed like the entire inside of the pyramid was open, divided by low (in comparison to its height, objectively multi-story) stone walls. At the edges of the walls were walkways made from the odd blue metal, but the space in between them seemed entirely filled with an odd sand. At corners of the walls there would be gaps for the walkways to pass through into the next chamber, but those gaps also contained odd platforms that the walkways bent around. They consisted of a single, low circular platform, on which sat six smaller platforms and one pedestal.
Sunny ran up to the pedestal nearest where she’d entered, looking over it. “There’s something written on it, but I can’t read it! It’s not ancient Equestrian.”
Izzy looked at, having followed her friend at a more sedate pace. “It’s so squiggly. Do you think it’s written by something with hands?”
“Hmm.” Sunny leaned back, to examine it from a different perspective. “It’s got to be something related to Equestria, they put their logo on the door, and you need all three kinds of pony to get in. Wait a second!”
Sunny shook her head. “They had two different systems of writing back then! The standard one, and then a special unicorn one. This is the second one! Izzy, I don’t suppose you can?”
The unicorn approached and peered closely at the writing. “Some of it is a little familiar, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen half of these.” She shook her head. “Sorry Sunny.”
“It’s all right.” Sunny patted her friend on the shoulder with her forehoof. “Let’s split up and see if we see anything clearer.”
“Split up? What if there are dangerous traps!” Izzy looked wildly from side to side. “This is an ancient temple, after all.”
“No, I don’t think it is. They didn’t worship sand. There’s no sun or moon iconography here.”
Izzy peered over the railing. “What if the sand is like, mirror sand, and it reflects the light weird? And one day every thousand years…”
“No. Just, no.” Sunny facehooved as she pushed her friend away from the railing with her other shoulder. “The ancient Equestrians weren’t the type to leave boobytraps anyway.”
Izzy trotted along, humming to herself as she shone her hornlight up along the walls. Every so often she’d come across some art on them, although she couldn’t make sense of them. They looked important, so she took out the phone Zipp and Pipp had issued her for this mission to take pictures of them.
The first set she’d found had shown several ponies that had horns and wings, but she doubted even Sunny would know who they all were. There were like a dozen of them, and they all seemed important. They all had their marks painted next to them, so they were definitely real ponies.
The second set had shown the skyline of a massive city, bigger than she’d ever thought about before. It then had a second scene of the city burning while giant robots like Sprout’s, but even meaner looking, trampled the wreckage.
The third set had been more of the mean looking robots, showing them fighting just everywhere. Even the moon and the night sky, although she didn’t think those were places you could go and have a fight. What was even worth all that fighting anyway.
The fourth set was more interesting. It had a little corner where the fighting was, but the rest of it was some of those horned and winged ponies looking sad and crying, followed by the temple being built and a mural being painted. What if the mural being painted was THIS mural? Muralception!
The fifth set was really interesting, like a puzzle. It showed six ponies standing on one of the sets of platforms, then an arrow pointing up, then some weird diagram showing how fast balls spin and how far something was from a bunch of different spinning balls. A puzzle? Alphabittle would love this, I’ll have to send it to him.
The sixth, though, seemed like it was addressed directly to her. The fact that its start was, rather than painted, a panel of odd glass that reflected her no matter what angle she stood at to it, made it feel really personal even though she knew they’d never have known she’d see it. Or maybe they could? Was there prophecy magic? Future looking magic? Time travel magic?
The second symbol was an exclamation point in a triangle. Had that always meant warning? Izzy continued onward. Next was a triangle formed of a unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony yelling at one another. She admired the artistic design for a bit, then moved on to the next image, which was a snowflake with skulls in its pattern. It did a great job of conveying sinister and cold to her, and she resolved to remember it in her future artistic endeavors, even if it wasn’t remotely her style. It was followed by the image of what seemed like a ghost pony raining snowflakes.
This set of murals had more parts than any of the previous ones, and took up the whole of a wall segment. The next part were three more ponies, again unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony, all making warding gestures. Beyond that, were instructions on holding a party.
And what a party! It looked like the winter solstice parties she’d been to, but with far more things. Earth ponies! Pegasuses! Little dolls placed on the fireplace! Giant candy canes!
And most importantly, at least judging by the amount of embellishment on it, a weird fiery heart thing.
She considered it. If the ancient ponies who built this place thought that it was super-important to preserve the knowledge of how to throw a good party, then that’s just what she would do!
It took a while, she wasn’t quite sure how much, but she memorized all the party stuff they’d painted on the wall. She’d taken pictures, of course, but she wanted her memories to be her guide. As she turned to leave, she began to sway happily and bumped a pedestal with her cutie mark.
She didn’t notice that some of the writing on it had begun to glow.
It’d be nice to see the others. They’d split up into two groups to investigate what Sunny had considered likely sites, and she’d been glad to be paired with Sunny. Maretime Bay had built an airship hangar inland from the town, and as it was getting on into the depths of winter, the brown fields around it were rather desolate.
There was enough interest in expeditions to recover possible other artifacts for sponsorship by the Canterlogic company, and a second hangar had just been built to construct new airships.
The equipment to build them, however, wasn’t ready for installation due to somepony making the heavy industrial portion of Canterlogic skip its normal safety and maintenance protocols.
Thus, it was available to rent for a surprisingly low fee (although Izzy suspected Sprout’s mom was going easy on them). She’d decorated it according to all the data she’d gotten, with wreaths (which was, according to Sunny, an old earth pony thing), giant candy canes, and tinsel.
The glowing heart had been a bit of a tricky subject. She’d initially thought of something involving gas burners arranged in the shape of a heart, but Sheriff Hitch had informed her of the many, many fire codes it would violate. Instead, she’d managed to get a crystal from Bridlewood cut into a proper shape and poured magic into it to make it glow. She still didn’t have any idea how to make it all flame-looking but she’d run out of time and would have to figure it out for next year.
So far the party seemed to be going well. She’d thrown a few to try to cheer up the unicorns of Bridlewood, but this seemed far more successful than any of those ever had been. Pipp was taking her fans on a tour of the setup, Zipp was trying to fly between the strands of tinsel, and her earth pony friends seemed to be talking with each other. She nosed open an inconspicuous bag she’d placed at a table slightly back from the buffet. She wondered if it was time.
In the temple, wisps of magic began to descend into the sand, which responded by glowing, then swirling upwards onto one of the platforms. Its six smaller platforms lit up as information scrolled across the pedestal in the center of them. The sand swirled tighter and tighter, solidifying into six equine forms.
Each of the forms rippled as suddenly definition and color spread across them like a wave. They looked each other over, then turned to the display pedestal in the center of their group.
Looking at it, then each other, they communicated without speaking, then vanished in a snap of teleportation.
“Nice party you got here!” Zipp hovered upside down above Izzy, taking a sip of juice from a glass that seemed perfectly still. Izzy really admired that level of control, it was better than what she could do with her magic so far. Who would have thought holding things still could be so hard!
“Yeah, it is!” Sunny sipped a smoothie she’d picked up. “I see you’re using my recipe.”
“Oh, look, I think Hitch is gonna ask Pipp out!” Zipp interrupted whatever more Sunny might have said, pointing over to the far side of the party, where Hitch was taking deep breaths, trying to psych himself up to approach an oblivious Pipp.
Izzy cringed in sympathy. “Good luck, I’m cheering him on. Not literally, because I don’t think he’d want that, but in spirit.”
“I have got to go watch this. Zipp turned rightside up, then gained altitude as she flew up into the ceiling scaffolding and began to sneak over.
“Hitch’ll be ok, I’ve known him ever since we were foals.” Sunny took another sip. “So I looked over the pictures you took, this party seems like it might once have had more significance than just a fun time in the cold midwinter.”
“Well, having a good cheer when it’s cold and dark is important and all.”
“Yeah.” Sunny looked around. “But supposedly this used to be deadly serious. There was a kind of frost and hate spirit called a ‘windigo’ that would attack whenever ponies weren’t harmonious enough. And they’re documented enough that they definitely existed at some point.”
Izzy gazed into Sunny’s eyes. She was so lively normally, but whenever she talked about the past she got even more animated than she already was. And really, what were they if not animated? Certainly not inanimate, that’s for sure.
Then she noticed another pony listening to Sunny. He was a unicorn with a mint green coat and a dark gray mane that she’d never seen before. Also, he had a cutie mark on his left side, which was kinda weird. Everypony she knew had it on the right.
Ah, probably not important.
Sunny continued. “I honestly was really surprised when I realized these used to be a real thing. Because, I mean, you were there. If they really existed, why aren’t we all popsicles now?”
“Excellent question.” Sunny and Izzy turned to see a slender blue pegasus mare with impressive eyeshadow had come up behind them. This pony could likely give even the top models of Zephyr Heights competition, but she’d never seen her either. Then again, it’s not like she’d met every pegasus.
“I suppose it’s possible they died off,” the tall mare began to lecture. “Depending on how long this world went without magic, it might be that they couldn’t maintain their existence. Or on the other hand it’s possible that they were able to enter some sort of hibernation, hiding because magicless ponies don’t generate edible hate energy. I suppose the only way to know for certain would be to find a living windigo. They don’t exactly leave fossils behind, after all.”
“You seem quite knowledgeable about this, miss…?” Sunny looked quizzically at the new arrival.
Meanwhile, the unicorn Izzy had noticed earlier had turned around. Apparently he had marks on both his flanks?
“I am Hypercube Lattice Conjecture, mathematician and dabbler in the sciences.” The pegasus curtseyed neatly. “And might I add it is wonderful to be in the presence of a new alicorn here.”
“I, uh, I’m not an alicorn of anything in particular. I’m barely in charge of my own smoothie stand.” Sunny looked away and blushed.
Izzy butted in. “Ooh, you’re really knowledgeable about all this! You’re a pegasus, give her your phone number so you can telephone telegram each other!”
“Uh.” The mare seemed lost in thought for a moment. “I think our… phone providers aren’t… compatible. Fortunately you’re pretty famous now so I’ll be able to get back to you once they are.”
Nodding in satisfaction, Izzy turned to see the unicorn stallion staring at Sunny’s left hip. She moved past Sunny to block his line of sight and gave him a slight glare, causing him to flich and pretend he wasn’t looking.
“Your form seems somewhat… unexpected, compared to records of the alicorns of the past.” Hypercube’s gaze drifted over Sunny’s head and back.
“Ackpth!” Sunny’s luminous energy wings and horn suddenly popped into existence, causing her to stutter and stumble for a moment. Izzy quickly caught her with her magic, setting her down on an even keel again after a couple wobbles.
The inhabitants of Maretime Bay, being used to Sunny being a bit excitible, shrugged the outburst off, but the unicorn stallion looked surprised and Hypercube was scrutinizing Sunny in a way Izzy didn’t like.
“So fascinating.” Hypercube leaned down to look at Sunny’s energy horn directly. “Could I trouble you to lift something?”
Sunny, confused, transferred her drink from her hoof to her magic and wobbled it in Hypercube’s face.
“Yes, I see.” Hypercube’s wings fluttered with excitement. “And could you take to the air for me, please?”
“Hold it!” Izzy, face brimming with uncharacteristic outrage, barged in front of her friend, nearly charging the larger pegasus in front of her, forcing her to back up. “I think you’re getting a little too personal. You’re bothering my friend, and if she wants you to leave you will be ejected from the party.”
“Thank you, Izzy, but I don’t think that’ll be necessary.” Sunny took a few calming breaths, then stretched her hoof out and swept it across, as if sweeping her troubles away. Hypercube reacted to this with shock as she stared at the gesture over the head of her unicorn accoster. “I’m sure she’s just interested in more information about what happened to me. I know I am. I’ll be putting up what Pipp calls a ‘vlog’ soon enough covering what I know, and if you can find more information I should have about myself, you know where to send it to. In the meantime, it’d be interesting to hear a little about you.”
“Uh huh.” Hypercube backed off some more, then closed her eyes as if in thought. A moment later a loud buzzing came from her. “Oh dear, it appears I’m needed for a thing. I’ll be off, I’m afraid. Lovely party.” She lowered her head to look Izzy in the eye. “Really lovely. Lifesavingly lovely you might say. Please do another one next year.”
As Hypercube began to leave, Izzy noticed the unicorn stallion with the cutie mark on both flanks follow her out. Was he her date?
Oh well, she thought. I need to get my plan into gear. She stuck her face into the bag she’d hidden once again, and decided it was time.
“Here, Sunny.” She held up a bundle of leaves in her magical grip. “This is called mistletoe…”
Outside, Hypercube and her friend trotted behind the hangar and did a quick scan of the area to see if anyone was watching.
Seeing noone, Hypercube took a deep breath. Then her wings shimmered and retracted into her body, followed by a horn emerging from her head. “Let’s go.”
“Shame we couldn’t stay longer,” the stallion replied.
“I got enough data. It’s interesting, the ways they’re alike.”
Their horns lit up and they vanished with a pair of pops.
Back inside the “temple” the pair waited until the other four showed up.
“Hypercube, sorry we’re late. We got to work on the solar mechanism and you would not believe how much maintenance that needed. If we’d showed up two months later this place would have been in trouble.”
“Maybe they could have fixed it with their new alicorn,” one of the others interjected.
“It’s amazing it lasted as long as it did with nocreature working on it and no ambient magic,” another added.
“Well, she always did overbuild everything she made. I’m just glad nocreature tried messing with it back then. Then we really wouldn’t have anything to come back to.” Hypercube looked around at the mural behind them. “In any case, we’ve confirmed they can throw a decent Hearth’s Warming party, which is just as important a piece of infrastructure in my book.”
“Time to report back I suppose.”
“Yeah.”
Hypercube’s horn lit up as she manipulated the console on the pedestal, then swapped it back for the wings she’d had earlier.
As their corporeal forms began to dissipate back into sand, she proclaimed “I should come back next Hearth’s Warming.”
Author's Note
This is my first attempt at a story with G5, so forgive me if it's a little wobbly.
I was a little inspired by certain sci-fi fics on this site involving the g4-g5 transition, as well as a pair of obscure-ish entries in a long-running anime series that dealt with the restarting of civilization. Maybe you'll be able to guess what I'm talking about. Or maybe not.
The spinning ball puzzle Izzy saw in the temple is actually something like this, but describing where they'd gone rather than come from.
Happy Hearth's Warming everyone.
