“What do you believe Twilight?
“That the universe is wonderful and complicated, and unknown. I refuse to believe in a universe where harmony fails. If I did, my friends and I would’ve given up a hundred times before now.” – T. Sparkle, on Immortals and The Afterlife
— “Reflections”, Autobiography by Starlight Glimmer
Risk Taker was in the van. He was fast, lanky and had good endurance. If he paced himself, he could run 5 canters with a heavy rucksack in a bit over an hour. But they were aiming for 50 to 60 canters in a day. 15 minutes a canter. The daylight was not 15 hours long. At this time of year, it was closer to 12.
The locusts had begun to hatch. The noise and feel of them jumping and bumping into everyone were unpleasant, but Risk Taker, the Zebras, and the other Minotaurs in the van left them behind by the end of the first day.
Risk Taker was far in the lead. He had a basket of bright white flags. He would mark boulders and large stones the scrapers needed moved. Periodically he checked the plastic charm, but it never ‘glowed’ as it was supposed to, and he soon forgot about it.
That first day he was paired with two zebra mares Danai and Anatsa. They were young and had both been caravanner mares, so they had good endurance. During their shift they would each pull an equine drawn scraper. Dana was mute but could sign. Anatsa, her sister, could interpret for her. As two of only a few equines with real long-distance experience, they were placed in the lead with the Lieutenant.
The scraper’s purpose was to scrape and level a path for the others to follow, flattening the land enough for the rickshaws and discharging dirt at a uniform depth. In a half canter, they would switch off with another team, catch their breath, eat, drink, and then walk along the newly flattened road to a team farther on, and spell them in turn.
This work would continue around the clock for the 3 teams of eight, moving the 2 scrapers an hour at a time. 48 zebra mares and stallions were dedicated to doing only that in three 8-hour shifts. The next day they would not scrape but merely walk the entire distance to the new van and begin the work anew.
But for now, Danai and Anatsa ran with just water and food and dropped it off every half canter. The load got lighter and lighter until they were done and then they themselves could rest until it was their turn for the scraper.
Risk Taker had no such luck, and had to continue, until he ran out of flags. The last one was the red moon crescent flag of Istanbul. It marked the end of the day, and in the first ten days he did not run out of flags before he ran out of daylight.
He had another important job, Risk Taker had to whistle when the hour was up. The hourglass he carried in a bandoleer had to be turned just at noon. So, he carried a sextant to check it. He counted his paces as well. When he reached a half canter, he signaled to the mares to drop food and water and checked the hourglass. At night he would hoof the responsibility to another, but every morning it went back over his shoulder.
If they found a good fresh stream, in the latter half of the day, they would set off a smoking flare that might be repeated by those behind them. Then everyone in the van could drink and then dump most of their water knowing it would lighten the load till they got to the stream and there they could refill their water.
Far ahead of the working scraper team would be the engineer teams. They would pull the marked rocks and boulders aside so the scraper mares would not hit any obstructions. Not every rock was marked. Smaller ones were just grabbed and heaved aside.
Teams of two to ten would grab the larger obstructions and lever them off the path with large staves. Each day they would scrape 2 canters in half canter increments while walking 50 to 60 the next day carrying nothing to catch up to the new van, then sleep and work again at scraping. One day off, one day on.
When Danai and Anatsa caught up to him the first evening Risky was fast asleep having pitched a tent they could all share. The zebras collapsed, unused to this special form of labor. They had to each get help with their last half canter and their plight was hardly unique.
The land was flat grassland and not at all wooded. There weren't even many rocks. The first day they moved only a few dozen small boulders, but only made two dozen canters. The baggage train took time to sort out. The next day saw more than double that. Diligent work under light of a waning moon the third day saw them complete the first hundred canters.
Captain Syrup, their nominal supervisor said nothing, but Risk Taker and Marshal noted their superior seemed very hoof sore when he straggled in. Two of Major Pane’s staff sergeants had impressed several of the enlisted soldiers into carrying the captain’s gear, and despite his apparent hangover they caroused together late into the night, only knocking off when the Major himself complained of the ruckus.
Only one day behind, when he arrived General Chop Chop was very pleased, and made sure his troops and the baggage train were aware of his pride in their good early start. That morning Marshal led the van, and they made nearly Forty canters.
Risk Taker resolved to beat that, and he and the other Lieutenants turned it into a bit of a competition to see who could trailblaze the most ground on the road to Canterlot.