Where was this?

Sunny looked around her but didn't recognize anything. She wasn't sure how she'd gotten here. It was still night, the moon and stars shone brightly above. She was standing in an open, grassy plain covered in mist. There was a small cliff to her left that had a forest on top, but everywhere else was empty. At least, she couldn't see anything through the mist.

She'd been at the sleepover before, right? Then she'd gone to sleep. Then she'd dreamed about visiting Bridlewood with Izzy and Misty. Then a strange door had appeared in the dream, and she'd gone through it… Was this still a dream?

Sunny frowned, glancing around again. This felt different from a dream though… But it was the most logical explanation. How could she tell? She wasn't usually a lucid dreamer, maybe she could affect the dream since she was so aware. If this was a dream.

What was a crazy dream thing she could do? What was something she'd want to dream about?

Squeezing her eyes shut, Sunny tried to summon something from the depths of her thoughts. When she opened them again, there was a castle in the distance that had not been there before. Yeah, a dream then.

The sound of rustling made Sunny spin to look behind her. Tilting her head up to follow the sound to its source, she saw some bushes shaking in the forest. Her eyes widened as a pony stepped through the leaves.

The mare's coat was a dark grey with white splotches on her flank and hooves and white freckles scattered across her face. She was larger than the average pony but what had really caught Sunny off guard was her horn and wings, each tipped in light blue. Those were real wings and a real horn, not just magical phantoms. She was an alicorn, a real alicorn. The alicorn's black mane and tail eventually transformed into a gradient of purples that had sparkles like stars. The stary parts flowed gently despite the lack of wind. Sunny couldn't see her cutie mark from here, but she was pretty sure she knew what it looked like. She'd painted it onto her own flank as part of her Nightmare Night costume once. Was she…?

The alicorn's blue eyes widened as her gaze fell on Sunny, apparently just as surprised to see Sunny as Sunny was to see her. The alicorn began to move her mouth like she was speaking, but Sunny couldn't hear anything. The mist was swelling around them too, making it harder and harder to read her lips.

"What?!" Sunny called out. "I can't hear you!"

But the mist had swallowed everything now. She couldn't even see the cliff, much less the alicorn.

"Wait! Are you still there?!" Sunny shouted, galloping forward. "What were you trying to say?!" Weird, she should have hit the cliff by now, but it was just more grass. Had she gone the wrong way somehow? Had the cliff disappeared?

Sunny slowed to a stop. No answer came. No sound at all. This mist was starting to get creepy. How was she supposed to get out of here?

Sitting down, Sunny glanced around nervously. But it was impossible to see anything. Dang it, what could she-?

A figure suddenly charged at her from the mist.

"Sunny!"

Sunny's eyes flew open to see Izzy bending over her, shaking her eagerly. "Wha…?"

"C'mon, get up, we're making breakfast!" Izzy told her. "Everyone else is already up sleepyhead."

"Oh, um, okay," Sunny nodded, pushing off her blankets and hopping out of bed. She only half listened to Izzy as they made their way towards the kitchen.

Why had she dreamed about Princess Stella? Kind of random. She was a fan of the princess, of course, but she hadn't been thinking about her before going to sleep. And something about the dream had seemed… off.

"Hey, Sunny," Pipp greeted as they entered the room. Misty echoed the greeting.

"Finally up, huh?" Zipp joked, then chuckled. "Trying something new with your mane?" The pegasus was mixing a bowl of batter.

Sunny groaned, realizing she hadn't touched her hair since waking up. It must be a mess.

"Oh come on, Zipp," Pipp scolded, "She just got up, her hair's allowed to be crazy."

"My bedhead is awful," Sunny sighed, using her hooves to do what she could without a brush. "I'll be right back. Izzy, I bought more syrup yesterday, it's on the third shelf." Izzy went through a lot of syrup.

"Okay," Izzy acknowledged, skipping over to the pantry. Grumbling internally, Sunny backtracked to the bathroom.

The dream was already forgotten.

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This chapter is really short so I'm also going to add some worldbuilding stuff here. A lot of it will come up later in the story, some of them might just be name drops. I don't consider any of this spoilers really, but if you want to stay totally blind, don't read any further. I think going 3D for Gen 5 was a huge mistake. It was fine for the movie, but they should have gone 2D for the actual series. 3D takes too long and is too expensive to have lots of new locations and characters in a season.

So to start, I will give my view on the pony tribes and their cities. When magic disappeared, unicorns were left without their main defense. So many of them retreated into forests, where they had cover and were also hidden from any pegasi who might be able to see them from above. This is why most unicorn cities are in forests. Pegasi, on the other hand, were used to having wide and open views from flying. When they were grounded, they moved to either high up areas like hills or mountains or they moved to wide open areas like plains where they could see things coming. Earth ponies were least affected by the loss of magic and are also highly adaptable, they just went wherever they liked and wherever didn't have the other tribes. With those basic concepts out of the way, here are some of the tribes' cities.

Earth Pony Cities

Appleloosa- Pretty self-explanatory if you are familiar with gen4. Just imagine it bigger. It is Equestria's biggest apple supplier.

New Dodge City- Emphasis on the new. Again, knowing gen4 will help you here. It is a lot like Appleloosa, but more modern due to the later build date. It is Equestria's biggest cherry supplier.

Maretime Bay- Capitol City of the Earth ponies. It is also the home city of Canterlogic, the Earth ponies' biggest tech company. The Earth pony president lives in Maretime Bay. As well as our main cast, of course.

Seaward Shoals- A costal city and a popular vacation spot. Has the Sun and Moon amusement park. It also has a strong music culture, many singers come from this city. It has changed a lot since its time in gen4.

Pegasus Cities

Rainbow Falls- Pegasi used to harvest the natural rainbow essence to create their rainbows, but until magic returned, pegasi could only dream of doing such things again. Instead, they would use the colors to make their city one of the most colorful in all of Equestria. The art scene is huge in Rainbow Falls, and it is the dream of many artists to have their works displayed in one of its famed art shows. Gen4 familiarity will help you understand this city somewhat.

Somnambula- Again, gen4 familiarity gives you an idea of this city. A very Egypt inspired looking city

Zephyr Heights- The Capitol City of the pegasi. The royal family lives here. This is also the home of the Wonderbolt Stadium, where many sports events are held. There is also a Hollywood-like section of Zephyr Heights were many movies and shows are made.

Mist Rise- A bit of an unusual pegasus city, the area is more often covered in mist than not, meaning visibility isn't great. However, many pegasi like it due to the mist reminding them of clouds. It was as close to the clouds as many pegasi could get until magic returned. It is set among several hills and a lake.

Unicorn Cities (I like the idea of most of them being different types of forests)

Lumina Wood- A forest filled with glowing flowers and other plants.

Bridlewood- The Capitol City of the Unicorns. It is brimming with crystals, which unicorns love and use in much of their lives. The royalty of the unicorns lives here. The Cave of Choosing is also in Bridlewood, the cave which tests and chooses the next unicorn ruler. Unlike the pegasus royal family, the unicorn ruler is not born, but chosen.

Toadstool Haven- Forest full of giant colorful mushrooms. I'm sure most of you can envision what this city looks like.

Diamond Webs- The trees of this forest are a light teal with dark brown wood. This forest is home to the Starsilk Spider. This spider has learned where to make its web so it doesn't get in ponies' way and get destroyed. Their glittering webs attract and catch the dangerous Dread Bug. Starsilk Spiders are loved by the locals and popular with tourists (who don't have a fear of bugs, that is) and their webs are considered beautiful.

Constellation City- This forest is high on a mountaintop. Astronomy and astrology are both huge in this city. Towers can be seen poking out all over the forest. The massive Celestial Observatory draws unicorns from all over Equestria, eager to see if the stars can illuminate their fates. It is also home to the Luna and Stella Museum of History. Both princesses are especially highly revered in this city.

Aromatic Gardens- Many Potion Masters make their homes in this lush forest due to its abundance of potion ingredients. Potion Masters were highly regarded in the time without magic, yet a few unicorns did view them with suspicion (though that might have been because of jealousy). It is unclear how the return of magic will affect their craft and the respect they have long had.

Other Places and Things to Known

The Weird Wood- Previously known as the Everfree Forest. Everfree got its name due to it being able to exist and manage itself without pony magic, 'ever free' from pony interference. However, when magic disappeared and other forests continued to exist seemingly on their own and the ponies lost their power over them, Everfree no longer seemed unique in the way it once was. Now it is just weird. It has grown in size since gen4, and almost nopony dares to enter it.

Cutie Mark Crusaders- A popular scouts-type group that works with young ponies to help them get their cutie marks. There are badges ponies can get to try many different types of things to earn their mark. Even after earning their mark, the kids can keep earning badges and being members. Each tribe has their own branch. Now that the tribes are interacting again, perhaps the different branches can come together to start doing things…

The Autumn Expanse- Legends say the world ended one autumn day. In Northern Equestria, there is a large stretch of land where it is eternally Autumn. Some ponies do live on the edge near the Equestria side of the expanse, but on the other side of the expanse is the deadlands and no pony goes near that. While pretty, very little can truly grow in a time where plants are perpetually dying. As time goes on, the deadlands eat away at the Autumn Expanse, as if the expanse just doesn't have the life left it needs to defend itself. The Autumn Expanse gets smaller every year. It has shrunk to the point grandparents worry for their grandfoals.

The Deadlands- Is that too dark of a name for a children's show.? Maybe, Teen Titans weren't allowed to call Slade Deathstroke which seems pretty tame to me. I guess it could also be called the Darklands, but since I don't have to worry about getting rating approval, I'm calling it the Deadlands. From the Autumn Expanse to the Frozen North there exists a large stretch of land that has died. No plants grow, not an animal can be seen, it never rains, they say that not even the wind blows. It is void of magic and life. All ponies fear it. It has been slowly eating away at the Autumn Expanse for many, many moons. There is a feeling of dread at the thought that one day it will engulf the entire expanse and that it will move on to Equestria. Many had hoped the return of magic would somehow halt its spread, but it moves ever onward still. There is no stopping it, not that anypony has found. It is inevitable.