In the not very distant future, an intuitive young mind the idea to create a light bulb, and thus made the airship a much more powerful machine. This technical advancement, along with Manny others, eventually creates an ignorance of what magic really is as everyone becomes lazy and those who are not, resign to the fact that they can't remember what magic was used for. The ones who fall into superstition migrate away from the lands of Equestria, among those, the biggest splinter of Equestrians go up north beyond the Crystal Mountains. As the colonialists try to settle in in the mountains, hoping to survive the winter in order to continue down the Montanan range to see what lies beyond. The nomads finally settle into the mountain, carving towns and eventually small cities out of the rock. The ponies and pegisi that forge their new home now find that farming is a grim prospect up in the north, and on such steep terrain, dangerous. In a violent, but not unprecedented turn of events, the Frozen North Colonials have turn violent towards the Equestrian frontier as they raid and pillage all that they can find. Celestia's agents place the erratic colonial behavior as being instigated by a strange criminal. In an unprecedented move by the Equestrian Naval Admiralty, two retired war colts are called back into service for the Nation they love. They are, however, slow, and tired, and somewhat unprepared for they task at hand. They are tasked the duty of arresting the pirate, and bringing him to Canterlot to stand trial.
On their own.
Somepony didn't want trade negotiations to take place between the colonials and Canterlot. The Admiralty smell a conspiracy, and Admiral NorthernHaste and Captain Slighthoof are flying blind.