Act 2: Snow and Sand
June 12, 1000
Canterlot
Just a century ago, who would have thought that ponies could fly into the stratosphere? And how do we tell those dreamers that we now use their dreams for war?
Lieutenant Rainbow Gallop leaned against the side of his olive-grab airplane, musing over the great ironies of warfare. His mind was in a daze. His eyes pointed absent-mindedly at the summer sky and watched as a flock of geese flew past. He took another puff from his cigarette and nonchalantly crushed it underneath his hooves. War. War never changes. It never did for the Ancients, and it never did for the Equestrians. He looked over at the runway-there were still scorch marks and small craters from yesterday. Luckily the engineers were able to get it back into usable condition.
“Lieutenant Gallop, sir?” A voice called out from behind him, “The messages are packed and ready to go.”
Rainbow Gallop turned around and saw a gray unicorn mare approaching, levitating a large paper envelope. “Here ya go,” she chirped, “Sign here.” She telekinetically placed the envelope on the plane’s engine cowling and took out a clipboard and pen.
Gallop yeaned, grabbed the pen in his mouth, and scribbled down his name. “Secret documents?” He asked, noting the label on the envelope. The gray mare nodded and walked away.
The lieutenant grabbed the envelope and tossed it into the cabin of the airplane. He hopped onboard and strapped himself into the pilot seat.
The plane was a Piper L-4 “Grasshopper”—a marvel of Ancient engineering. Perhaps “marvel” was not the appropriate term; the plane could be better described as “ingeniously simple”. Some planes, like the Grummane F6F Hellcat, had more a dozen gauges; the Grasshopper only had five. The plane itself was largely just fabric covering a tubular steel frame attached to a pair of wooden wings. The aircraft was powered by a Continental O-170-3 engine producing a mere 65 horsepower; some motorcycles had bigger engines. The plane had no flaps, no retractable landing gear, and no frills. It was a rugged, reliable, and practical plane—a true spartan machine.
Rainbow Gallop closed the door of the aircraft and put on his headset. “Canterlot Tower, this is Raven one, requesting permission for takeoff. Runway four.”
“Raven one, you are cleared for takeoff. Runway four. Have a nice flight.”
Rainbow Gallop reached behind him and turned the magneto starter switch. The engine spluttered and then roared to life. He released the brakes and gently pushed the throttle forward. The plane eagerly cruised forward along the taxiway. When he reached the runway, he stopped briefly, lined up his aircraft, and gunned the engine. The airplane accelerated and lifted off the ground.
Gallop climbed to 1500 feet and then eased the throttle back to a leisurely 75 mph. Down below, he could still clearly see Canterlot Castle, shining like a jewel in the sunset. Flying a Grasshopper wasn’t as flashy or exciting as flying a Mustang or Spitfire, but its pilots always enjoyed the best views.
The pilot took out his map. His destination was Ponymunde, an Equestrian outpost near the arctic sea. It was his first time flying there, and it was getting dark. Fortunately, it was summer, and the sun rarely sets that far north in the summer.
Gradually, grassy plains gave way to icy forests and tundra. The lieutenant didn’t mind; the Plexiglas canopy served as a nice greenhouse, keeping him warm. Normally, pegasi pony messengers would be used for simple message delivery, but they couldn’t fly that far north. Ponymunde relied solely on bush pilots like himself to deliver messages and supplies.
The flight was boring and uneventful. Rainbow Gallop considered reading the messages for their entertainment value but decided against it. He made it to Ponymunde without any difficulties. He circled the outpost once and then landed on a short, unpaved airstrip. He left the engine running to prevent the values from freezing.
The cold was biting, and the pilot uniform hardly gave any insulation. Rainbow Gallop wanted to make the delivery as quick and painless as possible. He bit into the corner of the envelope and galloped to the command center. He dropped off the messages to a secretary and flew home.
-----
Not far away from where Rainbow Gallop was, there was a commotion inside the base. A male pegasus was chasing after a female changeling.
"There is no escape, changeling!" Steel Lance yelled, pointing his dueling sword at the changeling. He had his opponent cornered at the end of a corridor with a locked door. The changeling's blue eyes looked at the tank commander in pure terror. Out of desperation, she pulled out her only weapon-a dueling sword not unlike Steel Lance's.
She screamed and charged at him, attempting to bring the sword down on his head. He easily blocked the attack. He then shoved his opponent back, throwing her off balance. She awkwardly regained balance-flying was not her forte. Steel Lance took advantage of the opening his opponent had just provided him-he attacked with slashes and jabs, which the changeling only barely managed to block or dodge.
He then attempted to slash her. The changeling was able to block it-just as Steel Lance anticipated. He slid his sword in a circular pattern, slowly twisting the changeling's foreleg. Once he felt that his opponent's foreleg was strained far enough, he slammed his opponent as he made her unable to respond to the attack. This knocked her to the ground. He then pointed his sword at the face of the defeated changeling.
"You lose," he said, "That wasn't the best, but you're improving." Steel Lance sheathed his sword. He then held out his hoof. The changeling took it.
"I'm never going to get the hang of this," she said.
"Hey, even experts were rookies once, Twinkie."
"Says the one who's been doing this since he was a little colt."
"Staff Sergeant Steel Lance, Corporal Twinkle Star," a base guard interrupted, "there's a briefing for your platoon in five minutes." Steel Lance nodded.
"You think it's something important, Lance?" Twinkle Star asked.
"It could be just another patrol mission, we'll see," Steel Lance replied.
-----
First Lieutenant Icy Wind, a blue unicorn with a light blue mane, would always hold briefings in a floorless tent. Inside the tent it usually felt pretty cold due to the tent entrance being left open most of the time and the ground being mostly snow. Icy Wind suggested this setup as to get troops acclimated to the cold weather-as the base was well insulated and heated and thus provided a nice respite from the frigid conditions outside.
The briefing tent had various barrels in it-some holding maps and tools, others serving as improvised tables for radio equipment and lamps. In the middle of the tent was a large table that would have on it documents and maps relevant to the mission at hoof. In addition to being a briefing room, it also had several chairs, a bookcase, and a reading desktop. There was even a bed in one corner where the First Lieutenant would sleep on.
"Evenings, everyone!" Icy Wind greeted enthusiastically. The others in the tent greeted back. Despite her name and her cutie mark-a snowflake with a blue ice covered heart in the middle-she had a very warm personality and usually talked in a cheerful tone.
"Everyone had a good day so far?" Several replied positively. She then pulled out a pointer rod with her magic. "Good! Now, I just gotten some docs from Canterlot-orders are that we investigate this area-" She used the pointer rod to circle a area of considereable distance to the east of Ponymunde. "-right here. Evidently there is an unexplored Ancient ruin located right in this area."
The map didn't give away any discernable features of the area Icy Wind had just talked about. It was just a completely blank space where she pointed at.
"There are also reports of increased activity of bandits and various monsters that roam the area between here and there," Icy Wind continued, "In order to deal with this, two of our allies will also be in on the mission.
"This mission shall be acted out with the help of the Muscovites and House Leonid. Queen Anastasia has been kind to offer us aid from one of her Guards Divisions, the 4th Guards Tank Division, also known as the 'Pride of the Federation'. The 7th Joint Motor Rifle Division will also be participating. House Leonid will be providing us with a detachment of the 8th Royal Rangers.
"You will rendevouz with them here:" Icy pointed at a circle somewhat close to the base. "Hope some of you know a little Northern. Not everyone meeting up with you will be able to speak Equestrian English.
"There's also something else of importance I have to tell you. Canterlot recieved a quite particular letter. It is because of this letter that we are undertaking this mission. Let me read it out loud. A-HEM...
To Whom This May Concern,
There is a ruin about 126 miles to the east of Ponymunde. You may find something useful there. We shall also be waiting there for you. If you want to find out more about the technology you have rediscovered, please seek us out.
-WG"
"Ominous..." Clear Canvas, a brown earth pony with a red mane, commented.
"Yes, well..." Icy Wind continued, "we can't be too sure if this a trap or not. We'll try to estabish contact with whoever they are on a open broadcast when we approach the ruins. Any questions?"
"Our allies aren't just there fer the sake of helping us, right?" Sharp Turn asked. He was a green unicorn with a rather unkempt brown mane and tail.
"You're partially right," Icy Wind replied, "The Muscovites only want whatever is relevant to Russian history, so if its something like a painting or a book or a old tank with the Soviet Star or Federation Tricolor on it we will have to consider hoofing it over to them. House Leonid wants to have a sample of whatever weaponry, battlefield protection, and vehicles that might be there. If there is conflict on who gets what, we're going to have to make some compromises."
"That seems like a fair enough deal," Steel Lance commented.
"Any other questions before we start?" Icy Wind asked. No one responded. "Good. Dismissed, and good luck everyone!"