“You found a base?” The surprised voice of Princess Celestia asked from the arcana-room. Icy, without his helmet, looked at the ethereal form of their princess. Her flowing aurora-colored mane barely visible as her form flickered inside the ring.
The connection between the planet and Equestria was bad and took far longer than Icy wanted. Ending up with seven hours of waiting until the Princess was visible and audible to relay his report. On the positive side it allowed him to get good news from the objects they recovered. Still, being impatient was not a good trait that Icy possessed. Didn’t help that Celestia was late because of nobles constant nagging. It was as if that was what they were meant to do. Having grown up with the society before joining the guard, Icy knew their type to well. And he remembered that his brother hated it.
“Yes, Princess. A bunker covered in snow. We managed to get inside and found out that the inhabitants were mining this planet.” Icy explained, his voice as calm as he could. Even if he was suppressing a yawn. “They were draconic in appearance and, according to Inferno, very advanced. Their weaponry is able to fire metallic projectiles from small cannons at high speeds and their swords seemed to manipulate mana from a close source to enhance sharpness and durability.”
The Princess looked to the ground in contemplation. She stayed like that for a long while before meeting his gaze again.
“And what did they mine?” she asked, slight tint of excitement coating her voice.
“From what we could gather…” Icy’s horn lit up as a note-book levitated to his eye-level. “…they were mining very rare minerals. Iridium, Mananite and a very rich amount of Platinum. The mana-stones are one thing I don’t understand. This planet is too cold to have any creatures that can use these stones for magical purpose, how did they grow here?”
The image of Celestia flickered for a moment but he did catch her in thought. Their world was rich in mana which helped the ponies use their magic. The mana existed in the air but also in the minerals in the earth. It was a highly rare thing for it to exist outside their planet. The question was if they had magic themselves or if they used the stones for something else.
She leveled with him once more, noticing that he was still looking at the notes.
“You mentioned their weaponry? What about their armor?” Celestia asked after a long silence.
Her voice seemed to snap the Commander out of his reverie and made him drop the notes. Giving an agitated sigh he picked up the note, turning to another page. The results were not covered at that sector but gave him info of their material… and that raised his eye-brows.
“Their armor seemed to be attachable to their clothes. The materials of their suits are far beyond what I ever seen. It seemed to link together with their armor despite not having slots.” He explained, getting more and more impressed. “It’s almost as if it’s magnetic. The armor itself is made from…” He grew quiet when he read the mineral. A mineral he never even heard of.
The Princess raised her eye-brows too and tilted her head as to urge him to continue. Seeing his shocked expression she straightened her head.
“What is their armor made of, Commander?” She asked, calm and collected as ever.
Icy slowly raised his head to look at her, mouth agape and eyes wide.
“Unknown, Princess. Whatever their armor is made of it’s at least five times harder than our armor.” He spoke, voice now barely over a whisper.
This changed her appearance from calm to surprise to thoughtful. The silence between them was only filled with the flicker of the arcana showing her image. She blinked in surprise, giving a breath that sounded more like a hiss.
“Five times?” She asked, struck by the sudden news.
Icy nodded stiffly, notes still levitated in close proximity.
“The only thing stronger than it in Equestria is the metal coating the Gates of Tartarus. It’s a very powerful mineral, how did they get it?” He asked as his eyes scanned the reports.
Celestia on the other hoof had her eyes cast to the floor and the clear expression of thought visible on her body-language. The only mineral stronger was in Tartarus. And the other metal was the coating for her guards’ armors. Then, was there a metal stronger than theirs? She almost smiled. The opportunity to study this metal would benefit her ponies greatly: How to coat the armor to make the guards safer, the weapons sharp enough to cut through a dragon’s scale and even kill if push comes to shove.
“Aside from that we found that they made artillery that not only fires faster than our horns but can deal lethal strikes. I think Starlight found that out the hard way.” At Celestia’s worried expression he simply shook his head with a smirk. “Don’t worry, the moron made it. Made a damn mess of his armor.”
Celestia breathed a sigh of relief. Last thing she wanted was one of her ponies to be killed, even if it was by accident.
“Is there a possibility to get some of the minerals here?” Celestia asked while stealing glances to the ponies managing the portal. They each nodded.
“Sure thing. I’ll have the Earth-pony unit take care of that… There was another thing we managed to get information on.” He looked through the notes and frowned. “Princess, do you know anything about a ‘Half-Millennium War’?”
Celestia blinked.
“Half-Millennium War?” she asked, receiving a nod in response.
Her eyes drifted down in contemplation. Something that wasn’t lost on the Commander.
“You know something, Princess?”
Celestia raised her head and nodded.
“Back when I was a filly, there was a war between pony-kind and a group of dragons. I only ever met one of them and he was the only one to ever help us. He visited me and my sister as well as our parents to give us news. If this is the same war then that means…” She grew quiet as she thought back to a particular memory. She shook her head. “As for the war, we never really knew much. We lived to far away to really get any news about it. I only know that I never saw my friend after that.”
Icy looked at her for some time, trying to get a sense of it. A war that lasted so long should have been recorded and remembered. Why was it forgotten?
“Then how come we haven’t heard of it, Princess?” Icy asked, genuinely curious.
Celestia simply shook her head.
“I’m afraid I don’t know, Alistair. But, if it was recorded, then the archives should give us the information we need. Until then, keep in touch if anything should come up.” Celestia requested.
Icy bowed down and then gained a small smile.
“And… How is Twilight and Shining doing?” He asked awkwardly.
Celestia simply smiled.
“Twilight is asleep. She’s been studying and recording things all day. Shining Armor was promoted to First Class by Iron Hide just a few days ago. They really miss their uncle.” She said with a motherly tone that made Icy smile all the wider.
“Tell them I said ‘hi’, would you?” He requested and Celestia simply nodded before their transmission ended.