//------------------------------//
// Ch-1 Chilling Discovery 
// Story: Ice and Fire 
// by CCpone 
//------------------------------//


Arc I - Defrosted






Date: November 23ed,1943
Location: Over the Atlantic Ocean
Operation: Cold Steel
Time: 10:00

Nothing sounds better than the sound of a Roll-Royce engine, specifically the new Merlin 45 model. As if that wasn't enough this baby is a supercharged V12 capable of producing 1'470 horse power. Now that's what I call a ride!

Looking over your shoulder to the right you lay eyes on your squad leader. Berstin is his name, a good fellow always looking for a fight. Some people speculate that he ejected from his spitfire in battle when his guns jammed, just to kill a German Messerschmitt bf 109. People all over camp claimed that his unoccupied spitfire hit its target. Nevertheless he earned his nick name that day, Buster, Buster Berstin.

Beside him is your friend Isan, now you don't want to mess with him. He earned your respect when he took on a full squad with his cannons jammed. Some people say that he's crazy and jumps to attack to early, but he's your friend and you're dame lucky he's on your side.

Flying with Isan is Rob. You know when they say that not everyone is military material, well that's Rob for you. Robs a nice dude in all but he can't aim for shit, not only that he's the most disobedient person to have roamed the earth. You tell him to go right he goes down, what happens in his mind is a mystery that no one wants to solve.

To your left is Jackson.  Now Jackson is like a wild card, he can either be really good in a fight or he can be absolute shit. It's quite weird when you think about it, the only time you'll know if he's going to be amazing or not is during the first two minutes of battle.

Turning your attention forward you're greeted by the snowy coast of Greenland. "You know what I never got about geography guys?" You ask over the radio. 

"What?" Berstin replies sounding slightly annoyed. Berstin was never the one for small talk, but at least he made an effort to give a fuck.

"Why do they call Greenland, Greenland and Iceland, Iceland. You know because Iceland has like no snow while Greenland has shit tones of the stuff?" You can hear sighs from all ends of the radio. 

"I have no idea Anon. Even if I did I wouldn't care enough to answer." Berstin answers truthfully, a feat that you'll always admire him for. "We're coming up to enemy airspace, stay on your toes." Berstin states as we fly over the coast of Greenland. It is quite the beautiful sight to see as the ice glistened in the daylight. Now that you think about it the word 'beautiful' would be an understatement, it was down right gorgeous you've never seen anything quite so invigorating in your life.

You've flown in Great Britain last year in 1942, but you think that Greenland is a much nicer place. Something about it just made your mind at ease, you assume it's because the landscape seems to be untouched by war. Sadly you're taken away from your sightseeing when your flight leader speaks up. 

"OK we're only a couple meters out from our destination. You all remember the briefing right?" Berstin asks gaining some altitude. Who could forget briefing. You commented to yourself. Two days of planing on chalkboards and another two prepping your planes, making sure everything is in tip-top shape. Nonetheless you and the rest of the flight follow Berstin without any arguments, you all know that gaining the height advantage is a large advantage. When you have gravity on your side the damage you can do in the first run is absolutely outstanding. Not to mention the speed you'll have after the run, one of which you can use freely.

We all repeat our "OK's" over the radio to tell Berstin that we're ready for the fight. 

Once again you're taken by the landscape. A couple of seconds ago it was all snowy white plains, now it's all grey mountains. As for the weather it couldn't be any better clear skies is all you can see. 

"Got a contact to north-east." Isan states over the radio. Sure enough when you turn your head slightly to the right you can see the squad of bf 109's. "Three contacts." Isan continues to relay the information as he continues to look at the squad heading straight into your path. 

"Looks like they don't know we're here." You say into the microphone. The opportunity to attack them and have the advantage is present, however you get the slight feeling that this is to easy. Paranoia always gets the best of you, so you do what you always do and shake it off.

"This should be an easy kill." Berstin states. "Anon and Jackson you go for the one on the right. Isan and Rob you go for the guy on the left. I however will go for the one in the middle." Beratin commands in a confident tone.

"Roger!" You and the rest of the flight reply in unison.

You bank to the left with Jackson while Isan and Rob bank to the right. Coming from both sides you should have the advantage. "Jackson switch to cannons I want to kill these fuckers quickly." You state switching to cannons yourself.

"Roger that Anon switching to cannons." Jackson states as you close onto your target. 

As you move closer and closer to your target you can hear the wind whistling as it grazes the canopy of your spitfire. You can start to see the glass freezing up on the edges, but it shouldn't be a problem as you don't plan to stay here much longer.

It seems like such a crime to destroy this peaceful and pure place with gun fire and plane debris, but what has to be done, has to be done. It's quite ironic now that you think of it, a spitfire fighting in the arctic. I guess opposites do attract. 

"Anon are we going to fire yet?" You hear Jackson's voice over the radio snapping you out of your thoughts. You look forward to see the bf 109's a few hundred meters out. Oh fuck. You say to yourself as you line up for the first shot.

"ENGAGE!" You yell as you press the trigger and watch as your red hot 20mm wiz by the enemy planes. This is way too easy and you know it Anon. A voice comes from within you. You know the voice is right but there can always be a possibility that these pilots are retarded.

Looking around above and beside, you can't see any other fighters that could be used as an ambush. Why would these planes just let us engage them. Continuing to fire you finally land a shot tearing the wing off of your target. "Target down. Moving in to help Berstin." You say over the radio.

With Berstin's approval you bank right and times seems to slow down. You turn your head to the right looking at the ground. With the luck of the wind you see a white tarp get pulled off to reveal AA guns.

"WE GOT FLAK INCOMING!" You yell into the microphone as you start to see bullets rise from the ground attempting to shoot you and Jackson down. Leveling off you WEP(War Emergency Power) your engine and bolt it towards Berstin. The bullets from the AA turrets burst into flames around you leaving only black soot in their wake. Each time one went off your plane shook violently.

"How the hell did we miss those guys?" Berstin questions as the AA guns bellow spray sporadically in the general direction of your squad. Berstin lets out a small burst of 20mm straight onto his target earning him the kill. "Target down, how're you doing on your target Isan? We are getting pummeled by AA out here!"

"We're on his six shouldn't be long." Isan replies. "If you guys want to help that would be most welcomed." You don't have to ask me twice. You state in your mind as you bank towards Isan's direction. 

As you finish aligning to Isan's target you put your finger on the trigger, however a burst of flack catches you off guard. Keeping your current heading you fly straight through the black cloud, emerging from the other side seconds later. The heat from the explosion melted the ice forming on the canopy as well as spraying some soot into it. This caused your vision to be momentarily hindered as the wind blew the water away. Regaining your lost vision you come to see the target right in front of you Easy kill I'm already on his six. You say mentally as you put the cross hairs on spot. "Where're you Isan I thought you said you were on his six?" you say into the microphone when you realize that you don't see Isan anywhere.

"I am on his six Anon." Isan replies. His words starting to inject worry into you a bit.

"Isan gain two meters in altitude." You state as you watch the bf 109 in front of you.

"Roger." Isan replies and follows your orders.

To your surprise Isan raises from behind the bf 109. Wait behind?! Glancing back down towards the target you're greeted by a spray of 20 and 13 millimeter rounds. Oh fuck man here we go! Pressing your own trigger you both accelerate towards each other in a aerial game of chicken.

You can hear multiple shots hit your plane and also shatter parts of your cockpit, but on the other hand you can also see multiple bullets of your own hit your target in front of you. With a satisfying explosion the bf 109 goes down first. What was left of the plane was sent spiraling downwards. Letting out a sigh of relief that you're still a live you take a look over your plane. What you find is that your right wing is shot to shits.

"Berstin I'm hit, my right wing has a hole in it!" You yell out over the radio, not lying as the hole in your wing is quite huge. "I have no idea how long it's gonna ho-" You're cut off as your right wing gives in and snaps off putting you into a downwards spiral.

"MAYDAY! MAYDAY! MAYDAY!" You yell into the microphone as the white ground beneath you comes closer and closer. The fear in your mind increases exponentially and your grip on the joystick tightens. Your mind is yelling at you with all its might to pull up while another part of you yells that this is the end. With little you can do you follow the voice inside your head, however pulling the stick back you do little to raise the nose of your spitfire.

"Anon decrease throttle and pull flaps, the most you can do at the moment is slow your inevitable crash down." With those wise words from Berstin you decrease your throttle and pull your flaps. Incredibly the plane's nose starts to tilt up seconds before you hit the ground and your plane skids along the arctic ice.

As the plane skids you look around for any sign of hostile ground forces. Seeing none you turn your attention back forwards. What you see next is a rather large pile of ice then seconds later black.


Ice and Fire


Four million years later...


"What do you mean we have to go! This isn't even our problem!" You yell at Shining Armor. "If these ponies say they've found something interesting why do they need our help."

Shining Armor sighs. "You're part of the military right?" You nod in agreement. "Well this is a military operation that Celestia herself is running. Now if you want to stay in the military and keep getting funds to pay for your Wonderbolt team. Then I would suggest you follow through on this endeavor."

You're taken back at Shining Armor's tone, but nevertheless you respect him for taking command when it is needed. "Why is Celestia so interested in the Frozen North anyways?" You retort back as you don't like following through on missions that have no meaning.

"To tell you the truth Spitfire I don't even know." Shining Armor states as he turns to leave your office. "But trust in the princess! If she wants something done you better believe it's something important."

"Why send in the Wonderbolts though? What can possibly be up there that needs the Wonderbolts?" You ask in confusion. Shining Armor stops and turns around looking you dead in the eye. This was a new thing, Shining Armor was never this serious about any of the past missions he has sent your team on.

"The Wonderbolts are needed because the excavating team feels that what they've found might not be friendly." Shining Armor replies heading out off your office and slamming the door shut with his magic.

Worry starts to set in as you remember the last time Shining Armor has given you a message like this. It was two years ago when Spike a baby dragon grew into a full blown one overnight. You made it out alive thankfully to Rarity, but if she wasn't there you and the rest of your team would of perished.

As you sit in your office thinking about the mission at hand you hear a slight knocking at your door. "Who is it!" You ask in a tone that states you don't want to be bothered at this very moment. The knocking stops and you assume whoever was knocking is gone now, funny that you have that effect on ponies.

However being the captain of the Wonderbolts is a lonely job, but someponies got to do it. Getting up and out of your office chair you walk around the room looking at records from the past. The good old days.  You think as you look at pictures of you when you were a filly.

You were always filled with excitement and ambition. Your parents always said that you were trying to impress them with a new trick. You pick up one of your pictures off of the shelf, the picture showed your parents. They were both hugging each other while you stood on their backs. Feeling some liquid form at the bottom of your eyes you place the picture back down. Better get ready for the journey. You say in your head heading over to the office doors. Who knows maybe they did find something interesting. You open the door and are greeted with silence. The hallway is simply empty like it always is after hours.

Sighing you walk down the hallways that you grew up seeing. You're not that old as many ponies may thing you are. You are actually quite young only 23 still a young adult. That being said a captain at such a young age makes you feel like you're 50. 

Arriving at your room you open your closet. A smile comes across your face when you look upon your flight suit. Shining Armor never said when he wants you to leave to the Frozen North. With that thought in mind you take your flight suit and begin to suit up. Wonder if the rest of the team wants to go for a night stroll before the mission. You ponder placing your hooves into the correct holes in the suit.

With your flight suit now on you exit your room and head over to Soarin's house. Soarin's always up no doubt he would want fly with me. Landing meters in front of the front door you knock. "Spitfire what the hay are you doing here this late?" Soarin answers the door.

Sighing you tell him what Shining Armor has told you. "We're being deployed to the Frozen North. He wants us to assist the excavation team in recovering an artifact that Celestia herself wants to see." Soarin's eyes where wide since you said Frozen North.

"The Frozen North!... Wow... Whats out there that Celestia wants?" Soarin asks looking into his house then back at you.

"I have no idea, neither does Shining Armor. That's what I'm most scared about, the captain of the royal guard doesn't even know what the ponies in the north are digging up." You reply. "So I was wondering..." You trail off pulling out the best puppy dog eyes you can muster, "if you would like to join me and the rest of the team for a late night flight?" You ask as a night flight will do miracles to everypony.

"Sorry Spits, but if we are heading for the Frozen North I need all of the sleep I can get." You're right eye twitches at the mention of your nickname before you roll your eyes. Of course. Soarin will look for a excuse to be lazy in any situation. "Plus I have this amazing apple pie I got from Applejack. I ordered it and everything!"

"Well I hope you enjoy your apple pie." You state turning to fly to the next team members house. "Be ready to leave first thing tomorrow morning." And with a gust of wind you're off and soaring in the skies looking around the magnificent city of Canterlot.

Looks like Rapidfire is next. You state in your mind as you arrive at the next house. Once again you knock on the door of the house and await the response of the owner. "HEY! Spits! Whats up!" Rapidfire asks as he opens the door accompanied by Fleetfoot. If I get called by that nickname one more time I'm going to lose it! You comment to yourself as you put on a fake smile.

"Oh hey Rapidfire and Fleetfoot. I'm not interrupting anything am I?" You ask as the situation gets progressively more awkward. "I just came by to tell you guys that we got a new mission from Shining Armor." The moment you mention Shining Armor Fleetfoots eyes go wide.

"Not again! Last time he called on us we almost died from Spike." Rapidfire whines looking over to Fleetfoot. 

"As if! Give me a couple more minutes to regain my bearings and I would of had that green and purple bugger." Rapidfire states in a confident tone obviously trying to impress Fleetfoot.

"Well that's all I came here for." You lie as you don't really want to fly this late at night with these loves birds. "Just make sure to arrive at the academy at first light." You state turning around, getting ready to take off. "So that means no drinking of the cider." You can hear the groans of both Fleetfoot and Rapidfire as you take off back into the night sky.

Well some alone time will surely be good. You say to yourself as you take off towards the academy. Thoughts fill your mind, thoughts of what could the ponies up north find that is so important Celestia herself needs to see. You shake the thoughts out of your mind and focus on your flight path.

The chilling wind grazes your flight suit as you keep increasing your speed. You pull off some little maneuvers then gracefully glide down to the academy runway. The runway always made you happy when you saw it, the only use it was for was chariots and other transports, but something about it made you happy. Maybe it's the smooth feeling of the tarmac on your hooves or the vast open area, either way it looked amazing at this time of day.

Looking around the empty academy you head towards the main building that your room is in. Call it overkill but living at your work has its perks. You're never late because you're always there, your friends come over and not the other way around. Entering the building you unzip your coveralls and place them back in the closet in which you found them.

Closing the closet door you turn around to see your bed. Sighing you jump in and pull over the covers. With the mission being the only thing left to do this week you shut off the lights and succumb to the darkness that soon follows. Better get the most sleep I can. I got a long day ahead of me tomorrow. you state as you lose consciousness.

9 hours later...




You awaken to the sound of your alarm clock. How you dreaded its very existence, however it was the only thing keeping you on time. You may live this time alarm clock, but be wary the day I will not fall for your wretched dinging. You state in your mind proudly as that statement came out quite nice.

Shuffling under the covers you make your way to the edge of the empty bed. As per usual you wipe the sleep crud from your eyes and head off to the bathroom to get ready for the day ahead of you. The morning routine for you was fairly easy, brush, shower, and get your flight suit on.

The tasks gets repetitive once you have been doing it for so long, but it is a necessary routine that when followed made you feel like a brand new mare. Once you have completed all of the necessary tasks for the morning you head out into the hallway and down to your kitchen. What cereal this time? I could eat Celesti-o's or I could eat Luna puff's. Ehh buck it.

Grabbing the nearest box which happens to be Luna puffs you pour yourself a bowl. With your still ruffled mane you grab the milk from your fridge and pour it onto the Luna puff's. Buckin' mornings. You say to yourself as you finish off the last off the Luna puff's in the bowl. Never liked them never will.

Putting the dishes away you go back upstairs to do your hair in the normal spiked style that you have grown fond of. Without it you don't think that you would be the same mare. Once your all done up and clean you head outside and onto the cool cloud ground. As per usual ponies were out and about doing their normal practice routine.

"Hey Spits!" You hear a voice come from behind you. Its a different day Spitfire don't lose your cool this early. You tell yourself as you turn around to see Soarin, Fleetfoot, and Rapidfire all in their flight suits. "We going or are we just going to watch the recruits train." Soarin states with a smug expression.

You roll your eyes at the team. "Yes we're leaving. You all got your what you need for a day or two in the Frozen North?" You ask looking over the members seeing a lack of clothing.

"All I need is me and my flight suit." Rapidfire states shooting up into the air. "And if I do get cold I will just do some training to warm me up. It can't be that bad up there now can it. I'm pretty sure its the same temperature there as a couple hundred feet up from here."

"We'll see about that." You state as you walk back to the academy. "Just hold on guys I will be one sec I forgot something." Heading back into your house you grab your white scarf. never know when you might need it. Heading back out you're greeted with some chuckles. "When I'm the one not freezing my flank off will see who laughs then."

"Oh I think I'll be fine. I got Rapidfire here to warm me up." Fleetfoot states as you roll your eyes. 

"That is if he's warm." You state taking off the ground in a hover. "Alright guys come on I don't want to make Shining Armor anymore pissed. I think he wanted us there yesterday."

Without any arguing the rest of the Wonderbolts took off and you headed off North. "Hey Spits what do you think the ponies found up there?" Soarin asks flying next to you. "Because if it's anything like spike when hes pissed then we're in way over our heads."

"Like I said before Soarin I have no idea what we're going to find there." You state speeding up so you're now in front of Soarin.

"I said what do you think it is, not what is it." Soarin retorts in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Well if I have to guess I would say something ancient and magical. That's the only thing that I would see Celestia wanting." You say speeding up as you don't want to be stuck flying for too long. "If it's as dangerous as they say it is, then we all better watch our backs."

6 hours later...




Your wings are starting to get tired as they normally do when you go on long flights like this. What can you say you're a acrobatic pony not a long distance pony. Looking around all you can see is white and grey, the grey being the mountains and the white being the snow that lays above them and below them.

"Holy hayseed this place is far." you can hear Fleetfoot whine in the background. "Did Shining Armor tell you where this place was. All I see is white!"

You keep on flying despite the groans and whines of your team members. It actually surprises you that this long of a flight would have that kind of effect on your team, remember to add long flights to the next training schedule. Once again you look to the ground in hopes of finding this camp that Shining Armor has told you about.

His description was not very detailed, but he did say you'll know when you see it. Passing a mountain you lay eyes on what has to be the camp. Hundreds of tents were set up around a rather large hole that looks to be a quarry. "I think I found the camp." You say back to the rest of the team.

Celebrations were heard as you and the rest of the Wonderbolts make it down to ground level. "Greetings Spitfire." A voice comes from one of the tents. A dark brown coat stallion walks out with a short light brown mane. "It's a pleasure to meet you all. I am Ace Mineral and I'm here on a research project for Celestia, but I'm sure you all knew that last part right." He introduced giving a little bow.

"Great!" You reply a bit awkwardly, you never really had anypony bow to you before. "Do you know where we will be staying." You ask Ace, however you continue before he can answer. "Also do you know what it is that brought us here?" You ask as your curiosity is killing you.

"You and your entourage will be staying in separate tents over there." Ace points over to a couple of tents off in the distance. "As for what brings you here, all I can say is it's a relic of some sort. Ponies around here say that it's millions of years old. I for one don't believe all this talk, for if that were true then that would mean it dates back to the hu-."

"Then why are we here?" You bud in not really caring for any of his 'history' hayseeds. "This relic doesn't seem to be dangerous, so why do you need the Wonderbolts." Ace looks at you with a serious expression.

"We have yet to see the relic. We have only gotten glimpses of it through the ice by magic, you know like general shapes and large details such as color and what not. The relic itself seems to be buried pretty deep and our miners are working the hardest they can. If this relic is as powerful as Celestia claimed it to be then by all means you're necessary for the recovery of this ancient relic." Ace states in a dramatic tone waving his hooves around as if acting out his words.

"So you want us to retrieve this relic and bring it up to you?" You ask not liking this idea one bit.

"Yes as soon as we reach it we'll let you deal with it. From the looks of it, the relic is in a underground pocket. Us unicorns and ground ponies can't get down there without falling to our deaths. Having the Wonderbolts here will make recovery of the relic much easier, not to mention much more cost efficient as well." Ace states "So I suggest you get your team ready, because from the looks of it our miners are approaching their destination at an unprecedented rate." After his little information sessions Ace had a smile plastered to his face.

"One last question, after we retrieve this relic our team is free to leave?" You ask not wanting to be in the Frozen North any longer then you have to. "I would hate for Rapidfire here to get a cold." You comment jokingly.

"HAY! I heard that!" Rapidfire quips back from his tent.

Ace chuckles at Rapidfires response. "As far as I know, yes you're free to leave when we have the relic within our hooves." Ace gives his goodbyes and heads back into his tent. With nothing to do in the mean time you walk over to your tent in hopes to catch some rest before the expedition begins.

Arriving at your tent you're amazed to see that its much larger then you thought it would be, well for a tent it was huge. Sighing in relief that the flight's over you lay down on your bed and listen to the sound of the drilling. It wasn't the best sound in the world but at least it's better then the utter silence that you got back in the academy.

As if to piss you off the drilling stops and shouts are heard echoing from the direction of the quarry. "WE MADE IT!" You hear a pony yell. "WE BUCKING MADE IT!" After large amounts of "HURRAYS!" You can hear a hoof steps outside of your tent. "May I come in Spitfire?" You hear the voice of Ace speak out.

Sighing you get up and out of your bed. You really hate how they're giving you no time to rest, however this will get it over with fast; just like getting a needle. "Yes Ace?" You ask "It's about the relic isn't it, you have reached it." You say in a tired tone.

Ace looks at you sheepishly, you caught him red hoofed. "Yes we have finally made it to the level that the cavern begins. Its quite fascinating that over all these years it still seem's t-" You shove a hoof in his face to make him stop talking about his science stuff. This pony really needs to know when to shut-up You comment in your mind.

"You want us to leave now?" You ask Ace with your hoof in his mouth. Ace nods in agreement, "That's all you had to say." You state stepping out of the confinements of your warm tent and into the freezing cold which is the North. "I will meet you down there when I get the rest of my team ready." You say looking towards the other members tents.

"Yes, Miss Spitfire of course, take your time." Ace says as he gallops off towards the quarry. He seems to be an OK stallion, but a bit to up tight on his work.  Says me I know. You laugh at your own hypocriticism. Without wasting any more time you walk over to Fleetfoots tent.

"You in there Fleetfoot?" You ask to the tent not wanting to enter just in case Rapidfire is in there.

"Yeah, what you want Spits?" Fleetfoot replies. That's twice today...

"I want you to get ready and tell the rest to meet me at the bottom of the quarry. We're starting the extraction right now." You can here multiple hoof steps inside the tent. Good thing I didn't jump in there You think to yourself.

"You got it Spitfire we-I will be out in no time." You here Fleetfoot say.

With the crew now getting ready you head on over to the edge of the quarry. To your amazement the quarry went pretty deep, you could fit the whole city of Canterlot down there and have room to spare. Shaking it off you fly down to the bottom unlike all the workers that were climbing the sloped paths.

Reaching the bottom you are greeted by Ace once again. "So where is this cave you ponies reached?" You ask wanting to see what you gotten yourself into.

"Its right over here." Ace says walking over to a hole in the ground, looking at it you find that it's about the same size as you. "We have yet to see how far down it goes, would you like to do the honors?" Ace states passing you a torch.

"Sure why not." You say taking the stick in your mouth and tossing it down the hole. You watch as the stick keeps falling until you can't see it anymore. With a rather large gulp of air you realize that this might not be such an easy retrieval. Looking over at Ace you can see that he's just as surprised at the depth as you are.

After a moment Ace seems to regain his composure. "So how long do you think it will take to get the relic?" Ace states getting back to business.

"Well if the relic is at the bottom of there it should only take a couple of minutes, however if its not right down there it could take hours." You respond truthfully as you see the rest of the Wonderbolts arrive at the bottom of the snowy quarry. "You guys ready?" You state looking at them then to the hole in the floor.

"Hell yeah!" Soarin states walking over the hole. "How far does it go?" Soarin asks.

"Pretty deep, deep enough to take the full brightness of a torch away." Soarin gulps as you state what happened to the torch when you tossed it down the hole. "And don't worry it's not this narrow all the way down. After a meter or two we enter the main cave. From what I have seen it should give us a lot of space to fly."

You look over to Ace "That reminds me. While we're down there I want you to widen this hole. Who knows how big this relic is." Ace nods and trots off to some earth ponies that looked to be miners. With no time to lose you walk up to the hole and jump in. You chuckle as you hear gasps from above. You had more than enough room to fly down here. The cave was massive the only light you could see was the light from the hole above. After a couple of second the rest of the Wonderbolts joined you in the cave.

"So what now?" Rapidfire asks.

"We go down." You state lowering yourself into the deep dark abyss. "That's if you're not scared." You smile and speed up your descent.

After a couple of minutes you can start to see the faint flicker of the torch you have thrown down here. "We're nearing the bottom stay on your hooves." You state as you scan the pure blackness for something, anything. Once you touch down on the cold rocky bottom of the cave you pick up the torch and start waving it around to find any sign of the relic.

"Do any of you see it?" You ask your team as they to arrive at the bottom of the cave.

"What are we even looking for?" Fleetfoot asks as she tosses a few rocks around. "Is it big or small?"

"It's supposed to be big." You state walking in a random direction with your torch. With the other Wonderbolts having no light they follow in tow. Now that you think about it, it's pretty stupid that you came down here with only one torch. "I have a feeling that we'll know it when we see it." You reply to Fleetfoot.

Seconds turn into minutes and minutes turn into hours as you and the rest of the Wonderbolt team searches for the lost relic. With a hint of luck your eye catches a shine from a piece of metal. "I think I found it!" You yell as you get closer and closer to the metal structure. "What do you think it is?" You ask.

"Looks like a large metal bird to me." Rapidfire states as he examines the rest of the structure. "Looks like it lost its wing." With that statement sparking curiosity in you, you move over next to Rapidfire to see that what he said was true. On the other side of this metal bird it had its wing fully extended here it looks like it's been torn off.

"Well what are we waiting for let's get this thing to the surface!" Fleetfoot announces "It can't be that heavy can it."

You roll your eyes at Fleetfoot, but nevertheless organize the rest of the team to get ready to lift. Might as well try, who knows maybe this thing is lighter than it looks. With every pony in place you count down from three. "Three,Two,One LIFT!" You yell as all four of you attempt to lift the large metal structure.

To your disliking the metal bird is way too heavy for even all four of the Wonderbolts to carry. "There's no use." You say to the team. "We'll just have to go back up and tell Ace that we need ropes and a lot of stallions to pull it up." With respecting nods from everyone on your team you take off to the only light other than your torch. 

Arriving at the surface you're greeted by a larger whole and Ace. "Sorry Ace but the relic down there is way too heavy for us to carry." Ace's expression falls at the sound of the immobile relic. "Don't get your hopes crushed Ace we can bring it up we just need some ropes and all the workers on your site."

Ace's expression lightens up and he immediately runs off to get the workers and equipment. Really looks like Ace is bent on seeing this relic tonight. You say to yourself as you look back towards your team. "Well I guess we wait here till they come." You state walking over to the wall of the quarry and sit down.

With time passing by ever so slowly you watch as the miners and scientists move ropes and pulleys around creating a make shift crane. The sun sets and the contraption seems to be in working order. Getting up you head over to Ace that looks ecstatic. "You done with the crane?" You ask.

"Yes I was just going to get you." Ace says cheerfully walking over the hole in the ground. "We'll give you tree ropes to attach to the structure and when you tug on the rope three times we will pull it up." Ace says with his grin getting larger and larger.

Nodding to the plan you get your team geared up this time every pony has a torch. "Ready?" You ask your team as Ace hoofs you the three ropes.

"As ready as I will ever be." Soarin states.

"Then let's get this done with and be back in Canterlot for breakfast." You state as you jump down the hole knowing the approximate depth. You can hear the sighs of the rest of the team as they follow you down one by one. 

Reaching the bottom of the cave you wait for the others to join you. Rapidfire was the first to reach the ground then the other two came rather slowly. "OK here's the plan Soarin you hook up this rope to the tail of the bird." You state tossing Soarin the rope. "Rapidfire you tie up the beak." You toss Rapidfire a rope. "And Fleetfoot can you provide the light?" You ask and Fleetfoot agrees.

"OK now that we got that settled let's get this bird in the air." You state trotting over the the downed bird. Being as careful as you can you tie up the wing of the bird that was not broken. The metal was cold to the touch and it seemed like such a shame that this bird had to die down here.

"Done!" You yell out when you finish the last loop and hooked it up. Looking over to Soarin you can see that he is done and same with Rapidfire. "OK so when I tug on the rope three times they're going to start to lift. I want us to follow it all the way up no complications." You state getting a nod from all of them. "Good." You say tugging the rope three times.

Within seconds you can see the rope tighten and the metal bird start to raise from its resting place. "Remember follow it I don't want to damage something that we spent a whole day on." You say flying next to the front of the bird.

While the metal bird was rising you notice that there seemed to be some sort of glass on the top off it. Hovering closer you wipe frost and snow off the window. Peaking inside you can see nothing but darkness. You're sure that when it's in the daylight you will be able to see inside, given of course that Ace lets you.

The accent was pretty uneventful as you're just watching a metal bird rise into the sky. That being said when you finally reached the surface you immediately land and stretch. Celestia be my witness flying in one spot for a long time can be tiring! You say to yourself as you see Ace coordinate the bird down onto the quarry floor.

"So what do you plan on doing with this relic Ace." You state watching some unicorns gather in a circle around the bird.

"What Celestia told me to do when I find it." Ace states. "You're going to want to watch this." With Ace's comment striking your curiosity you walk over to the glass part once again and try to look in. Once again the inside is to dark to see due to this snow on it.

"OK BOYS DEFROST HER!" Ace states and the unicorn horns light up. Without any warning the unicorns shoot the bird with their magical beams and watch as the snow and ice melt off the giant metal bird.

After the spell wears off the bird sits there like nothing happened just with less snow and ice. "Well that sure was a cool spell, but I don't think it did anything." You state as you tug on a latch attached to the glass part. With less force then you thought the glass hatch opens.

"DIE! JERRY!" Is all you hear before a creature tackles you to the ground and holds a knife to your throat. With literally all the wind knocked out of you, you black out.








“Nothing burns like the cold.” ― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones