A Tale of Clockwork

by daking457

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Alternate Universe
Length: 11874

We all know the events of the famous hearth's warming tale-The pony tribes at war, the windigoes, the great migration to equestria. But what about the land they left behind?

We all know the events of the famous hearth's warming tale-The pony tribes at war, the windigoes, the great migration to Equestria. But what about the land they left behind? Five years after the events of "Rarity Takes Manehattan", Princess Luna had finally tired of not knowing. She commissioned an expedition to the north, far beyond the crystal empire, to the Quartz Bluff mountain range, a place mentioned as the seat of power of the unicorn tribe before the reformations under Princess Platinum. Now, as the expedition nears their goal, a new age of rediscovery awaits.
EDIT: After realizing just how awful my initial chapters were, I've decided to rewrite them, cause a wee delay in chapter releases, sorry for the delay, peoples)

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-05-03 19:18:06 UTC

Chapter one (rewritten)

------------------“A Tale of Clockwork”, by Daking457---------------------

-Chapter one-

Far to the north-east of the Crystal Empire, Deep within the Quartz Bluff mountain range, a group of figures stood in the falling snow, surveying the sheer cliff that stood in their way.

"Well, this sure is interesting" Muttered Clambering Ace, stroking his giant yellow moustache. "Granite Dancer," He said, turning to a black and red mare covered in ropes and grapples. "Go set a winch point at the top of the face. Take Pumice with you. No mistakes. We're too far from help if somepony falls."

The two pegasi nodded and trotted up to the east half of the cliff to make their ascent. Ace turned and walked back to the rest of the party, observing their fatigued looks and general haggardness. Need to get them under cover soon, he thought, clearing his lungs before addressing the group.------------------“A Tale of Clockwork”, by Daking457---------------------

-Chapter one-

Far to the north-east of the Crystal Empire, Deep within the Quartz Bluff mountain range, a group of figures stood in the falling snow, surveying the sheer cliff that stood in their way.

"Well, this sure is interesting" Muttered Clambering Ace, stroking his giant yellow moustache. "Granite Dancer," He said, turning to a black and red mare covered in ropes and grapples. "Go set a winch point at the top of the face. Take Pumice with you. No mistakes. We're too far from help if somepony falls."

The two pegasi nodded and trotted up to the east half of the cliff to make their ascent. Ace turned and walked back to the rest of the party, observing their fatigued looks and general haggardness. Need to get them under cover soon, he thought, clearing his lungs before addressing the group.

"Alright! We got ourselves a route, where we can whack up a basket, so no climbing involved!" Cheers rose from the crowd at that point. "However, we're going to have to haul the engine parts up there first" A few groans were to be heard, originating entirely from the winged population. "Yes, I'm sorry, but we're going to have to fly the stuff up. Now pegasi, grab your lifting partners and get ready for the flight."

After a few minutes, the general commotion had died down, leaving seven pairs, each with a part of the lifter mechanism, leaving Ace and Pumice with the gearbox. "Right everypony; follow us up to the ledge. Same deal as always, people. Now, Pumice, get here and give me a hoof" Ace began strapping himself into his half of the support harness and stopped. "Pumice! Get your plot here now! I swear if you’re off getting stoned again-" his angry tirade stopped as he realized he had sent Pumice off with Granite Dancer, and they were probably halfway up the cliff face by now.

"Aw, Hay" Ace muttered as he looked over the remaining engineers, scientists and interns, who were starting to shuffle in the increasing cold wind "Any of you got wings?" he asked, expecting the worst.

"AH DO!" A sandy Manehattan voice proclaimed, followed by a small wave of disruption moving through the crowd towards him, accompanied by apologies whenever somepony voiced their complaint at the movement. As the commotion neared him, Ace could just about make out a rust brown form moving towards him. Shortly thereafter, a young Thestrial stallion emerged from the crowd, shuffling his bat-like wings in the cold. Ace bit back his laughter, eyeing up the skinny colt and said, "I love the spirit kid, but I'm gunna need a heavy-weight to help me with this."

The colt looked at him nonplussed and replied, "Wha? Need a grunt ta lift that? Nah. Ah could do that wid only one wing."

Ace rolled his eyes at the colts boasting with a good natured grin. "Look, kiddo, I know you may think you have to look tough, but we both know there's no way you could possibly-" His speech was cut short as the Thestrial grabbed the hoof-holds on the gearbox shroud and took flight and turned, hovering, to look him in the eyes with a pair of slitted yellow orbs, displaying considerable irritation.

"Know whatcha wanna, gramps, but ah can lift it. Now, where to?” Climbing Ace shut his hanging jaw and gathered his wits, looking at the flight teams, all of which had looks of varying amazement at the colt's strength.

"Right, fliers, with me. Everypony else, move the equipment and supplies to the base of the cliff over there, just next to that spire." He indicated the formation in question with a hoof. After a nod from the team lead, Ace took flight, with the small airborne convoy following his wake. He flapped toward the plateau, riding the meagre thermals to the heights. As he crested the ridge, he spotted a convenient flat area that was shielded from the prevailing winds by a small rocky outcrop. Brilliant, he thought as he began his decent towards Pumice and Granite Dancer, each waving a pair of green glow sticks.

He alighted upon the frosted rocks and directed the rest of the lifters to land near him on the flat, not noticing Pumice trotting lazily up to stand next to him.

"Right, boss." Ace jerked in surprise, looking at his friend, who was wearing a smug grin for his triumph, small as it was. "We got the pulleys set up just o'er there, by the limestone formation. The stone looks kinda manky, but it should be fine, if lady fortune smiles upon us." Ace nodded his approval and turned to face the others, who having unloaded the machine parts, were milling in conversation.

"Good job. Kindly grab that lot and get them to pitch camp in the crater just over there."

Pumice rolled his eyes, rueing the job ahead. Scientists. Completely useless. "Sure thing, boss. Pretty shielded bit o' ground there. I'll go take 'em."

Pumice set off towards the pegasi and began delivering orders, leaving Ace with the task of assembling the traction engine. He looked over the various gears and parts strewn in front of him. "Well, I suppose I really should have taken that adult correspondence course. Hay, maybe I'd even know algebra too." he muttered to himself before sighing. This was futile. These forms meant nothing to him. They did have an engineer with them, but the problem was, Grinding Gears was an earth pony, and thus was on the valley floor, nearly a kilometre below.

"Whatsa problem?" Ace jumped for the second time in five minutes, looking to see the Thestrial looking at him, stood a few feet away.

"Shouldn't you be helping shift the camp parts up here?" he asked the teen, raising an eyebrow.

"Nah, Ah was told to stay up here, while the professionals do the work. Hmph."

Ace smiled at the colt's attitude. "There's no problem, I just can't remember how to put this thing together."

"Welp, that's easy. Whatcha gotta do is connect the burner to the steam generator, through the Watt pattern limiter into the type 3-7-2 Steam to torsion converter and inta the gearbox. From there, ya merely bolt it down and attach the winch."

As he was speaking, the colt started tinkering with and connecting the parts, in a manner which Ace could only assume was related to the gibberish he just said. After about ten minutes of thus, the now grease-smeared Thestrial stepped back, admiring his handiwork.

"Right. Looks good. Ah'm gunna start it up now. You may wanna stand clear of the exhaust pipe, though." After the old stallion was well clear of the black exhaust pipe, Brass grabbed the pull lead in his teeth and violently whipped his head to the side, starting up the motor, making the cold machinery come to life. As it spluttered and groaned, Brass tactically administered oil mixed with anti-freeze to the moving parts.

After a few minutes, the engine was happily humming away, anchored to the rock with four large spikes. Brass wiped his oily bangs out of his face with an equally grubby hoof before turning to face the Pegasus. "Welp, it’s a-workin'. Have ya got a winch an' cable for me to attach to it?"

Ace was stood staring at the traction engine as if it was some kind of monster that was just about to pounce on and devour him. "Ya hoo, any pony in there?" Brass said, waving a hoof in front of Ace's face. The Stallion jerked out of his revelry and stared at Brass, looking very much like he needed a strong cup of coffee. "Do ya have a winch an' cable?" Brass repeated, nodding towards the running motor.

"Yes. Pumice has it. I'll just go and get it off him for you" The stallion said as he turned and trotted off towards the bossy grey pegasus, who was currently shouting at the group who were trying to raise the communal mess tent.

Come to think of it, Brass needed some coffee too. He turned back to the motor, resuming the task of giving the machine a much needed oiling. "Ya poor thing. Looks like nopony among this lot cares about ya enough ta oil ya properly. Probably afraid of getting dirty. Hmph. They would run ya inta the ground an' wonder why ya broke."

Brass carefully pushed a glob of grease from the pot onto his hoof, and reached under the cowling, rubbing the gel onto the main cam shaft, letting the spinning metal carry the lubricant around and into the gears. "Don't'cha worry, Ah'll look after ya. An' when Ah find out which clopper ain't been looking after ya properly, Ah'll beat the fear of Celestia inta them. So don't fret, just run like a good li'l mota."

Brass, so totally absorbed in his care for the whirring machine, never noticed Granite Dancer’s shadow until the older pony spoke. “Hay, Brass, the boss told me to get you the rope so you can hitch the basket up.”

Brass jerked at the surprise, scarcely avoiding the unprotected gears with his hoof. He turned, glaring into the massive grin the older pony wore. “Oh, yeah,-” He snatched the top anchor for the rope and bolted it onto the motors fly-wheel”-laugh it up. Now, where’s that basket?”

Granite pointed at the grubby travel lift basket, stood between the motor and the formidable drop to the glacier below. “A’right, Cool. Now, do us a favour an’ clip it onto the basket hook.”

The mare obliged him with a small smile, enjoying her friend’s more relaxed attitude compared to that of Grinding Gears. Oh, yes. That grumpy old earth pony ground her gears just as much as the machinery’s.

She was not looking forward to the immediate future, however, as the caustic yellow engineer would no doubt be with the first group up, to make sure that the –quote- “feather-brained idiots have built that rust bucket proper-like” oh, that will be fun. Especially when Grinding Gears finds out that a fresh post-grad mechanic built the machine. Oh yes, even Discord himself couldn’t make a situation more chaotic than that old stallion.

While Granite’s mind was in full damage prediction mode, the colt in question was whistling idly as he wound the long cable around the cable, mentally counting off the marks on the rope as he worked.

One hundred-fifty, One hundred-fifty one, One hundred-fifty two. Damn, this is boring. Why can’t there a Unicorn with a spell or something? There seemed to be a spell for everything, even things you didn’t want a spell for. Like making stuff float. What’s the point in that? You could just pick it up with your mouth or hooves. That’s what he does, and he’s no worse for wear. Maybe the Unicorns are just sissy or something?

Brass frowned as he remembered a dirt-a-phobic white unicorn he saw a while at university in Manehattan. She was a really weird one. Kept dancing about and singing about being generous or something.

“Hay, kid, you done with your deep ruminations on the meaning of life?” Brass pulled himself from his thoughts, glancing to see Granite looking at him with a found smile.

“Ah dunno. Might just continue on for a moment or two,” -That earned him a snigger- “a’right. Let’s get this show a-rollin’, eh? You got the wheel set up right? Cool. Now, we just twist the regulator, pop in the clutch, yank back the throttle, an’ we’re set. Now, kindly give that cage a kick off the edge-” he turned to address the putting winch assembly “-come on, gal. Give us some action. Aye, that’s it. Keep it up for me now, ya hear?”

As Brass fiddled around with the machinery, talking to it all the while, Granite trotted back over to the cage shaking her head, and pushed the basket off the edge, letting it drop until the rope caught, catching the metal platform with a clatter. Nodding to herself, she reached to her wing and pulled out one of the loose feathers with a sharp tug and a wince, before spitting it over the edge.

Her eyes followed the red and black speckled feather as it gently tumbled past the descending cage towards the earth. No cross wind. Excellent. That will make life a lot easier when they lift the twenty remaining personal and the equipment. Hmm. Yeah, right. Life is never this easy. Something is going to go wrong soon, and nopony will be able to do a damn thing.

Granite Dancer sighed, shaking her head. Damn it, she’s starting to become a pessimist. “I’m getting old. I’ll end up like old man Ace before long.”

“Well, I didn’t quite think I was that bad.”

Granite turned to her boss with a smile. “Don’t worry. You’re not quite that bad. Yet. The awesome ‘tash offsets the grumpy cynic beneath.”

She quickly cleared her throat at the developing ‘unamused old man’ look developing on Ace’s face. “Erhm. Anyway. The cage is on the way down, and we’ve got no side wind to worry about. Should an easy assent.”

“Only should?” Ace questions, pulling his wise-elder-stallion image on maximum, with great success.

“Well, boss, it’s the... environ. It’s not right.”

“How so?” Ace replied with a frown. To him, the area seemed fine, but Granite seemed to have a sixth sense. One that had proven disturbingly accurate over the month and a half they had been working together. If Granite was on edge, Ace had good reason to worry.

“I dunno boss, it just seems to be… hostile. Like this plateau wants us off and away from here.” Granite frowned, feeling troubled, unable to interpret why this dead, rocky plateau wanted them gone. Ah, well. I’m just being paranoid, this place is exactly like the one before it, and the one before that. Right?

"Alright! We got ourselves a route, where we can whack up a basket, so no climbing involved!" Cheers rose from the crowd at that point. "However, we're going to have to haul the engine parts up there first." A few groans were to be heard, originating entirely from the winged population. "Yes, I'm sorry, but we're going to have to fly the stuff up. Now pegasi, grab your lifting partners and get ready for the flight."

After a few minutes, the general commotion had died down, leaving seven pairs, each with a part of the lifter mechanism, leaving Ace and Pumice with the gearbox. "Right everypony; follow us up to the ledge. Same deal as always, people. Now, Pumice, get here and give me a hoof." Ace began strapping himself into his half of the support harness and stopped. "Pumice! Get your plot here now! I swear if you’re off getting stoned again-" his angry tirade stopped as he realized he had sent Pumice off with Granite Dancer, and they were probably halfway up the cliff face by now.

"Aw, Hay" Ace muttered as he looked over the remaining scientists and interns, who were starting to shuffle in the increasing cold wind "Any of you got wings?" he asked, expecting the worst.

"AH DO!" A sandy Manehattan voice proclaimed, followed by a small wave of disruption moving through the crowd towards him, accompanied by apologies whenever somepony voiced their complaint at the movement. As the commotion neared him, Ace could just about make out a rust brown form moving towards him. Shortly thereafter, a young Thestrial stallion emerged from the crowd, shuffling his bat-like wings in the cold. Ace bit back his laughter, instead kneeling in front of the colt and said,

"I love the spirit kid, but I'm gunna need a grown-up to help me with this."

The colt looked at him nonplussed and replied, "Wha? Need two adults ta lift that? Nah. Ah could do that wid only one wing."

Ace rolled his eyes at the colts boasting with a good natured grin.

"Look, kiddo, I know you may think you have to look tough, but we both know there's no way you could possibly-" His speech was cut short as the Thestrial grabbed the hoof-holds on the gearbox shroud and took flight and turned, hovering, to look him in the eyes with a pair of slitted yellow orbs, displaying considerable irritation.

"Know whatcha wanna, gramps, but ah can lift it. Now, where to?” Climbing Ace shut his hanging jaw and gathered his wits, looking at the flight teams, all of which had looks of varying amazement at the colt's strength.

"Right, fliers, with me. Everypony else, move the equipment and supplies to the base of the cliff over there, just next to that spire." He indicated the formation in question with a hoof. After a nod from the team leaders, Ace took flight, with the small airborne convoy following his wake. He flapped toward the plateau, riding the meagre thermals to the heights. As he crested the ridge, he spotted a convenient flat area that was shielded from the prevailing winds by a small rocky outcrop. Brilliant, he thought as he began his decent towards Pumice and Granite Dancer, each waving a pair of yellow glow sticks.

He alighted upon the frosted rocks and directed the rest of the lifters to land near him on the flat, not noticing Pumice trotting lazily up to stand next to him.

"Right, boss." Ace jerked in surprise, looking at his friend, who was wearing a smug grin for his triumph, small as it was. "We got the pulleys set up just o'er there, by the limestone formation. The stone looks kinda manky, but it should be fine, if lady fortune smiles upon us." Ace nodded his approval and turned to face the others, who having unloaded the machine parts, were milling in conversation.

"Good job. Kindly grab that lot and get them to pitch camp in the crater just over there."

Pumice rolled his eyes, rueing the job ahead. Scientists. Completely useless.

"Sure thing, boss. Pretty shielded bit o' ground there. I'll go take 'em."

Pumice set off towards the pegasi and began delivering orders, leaving Ace with the task of assembling the traction engine. He looked over the various gears and parts strewn in front of him.

"Well, I suppose I really should have taken that adult correspondence course. Hay, maybe I'd even know algebra too." he muttered to himself before sighing. This was futile. These forms meant nothing to him. They did have an engineer with them, but the problem was, Grinding Gears was an earth pony, and thus was on the valley floor, nearly a kilometre below.

"Whatsa problem?" Ace jumped for the second time in five minutes, looking to see the Thestrial looking at him, stood a few feet away.

"Shouldn't you be helping shift the camp parts up here?" he asked the teen, raising an eyebrow.

"Nah, Ah was told to stay up here, while the adults do the work. Hmph."

Ace smiled at the colt's attitude.

"There's no problem, I just can't remember how to put this thing together."

"Welp, that's easy. Whatcha gotta do is connect the burner to the steam generator, through the Watt pattern limiter into the type 3-7-2 Steam to torsion converter and inta the gearbox. From there, ya merely bolt it down and attach the winch."

As he was speaking, the colt started tinkering with and connecting the parts, in a manner which Ace could only assume was related to the gibberish he just said. After about ten minutes of thus, the now grease-smeared Thestrial stepped back, admiring his handiwork.

"Right. Looks good. Ah'm gunna start it up now. You may wanna stand clear of the exhaust pipe, though." After the old stallion was well clear of the black exhaust pipe, Brass grabbed the pull lead in his teeth and violently whipped his head to the side, starting up the motor, making the cold machinery come to life. As it spluttered and groaned, Brass tactically administered oil mixed with anti-freeze to the moving parts.

After a few minutes, the engine was happily humming away, anchored to the rock with four large spikes. Brass wiped his oily bangs out of his face with an equally grubby hoof before turning to face the Pegasus. "Welp, it’s a-workin'. Have ya got a winch an' cable for me to attach to it?"

Ace was stood staring at the traction engine as if it was some kind of monster that was just about to pounce on and devour him. "Ya hoo, any pony in there?" Brass said, waving a hoof in front of Ace's face. The Stallion jerked out of his revelry and stared at Brass, looking very much like he needed a strong cup of coffee. "Do ya have a winch an' cable?" Brass repeated, nodding towards the running motor.

"Yes. Pumice has it. I'll just go and get it off him for you" The stallion said as he turned and trotted off towards the bossy grey pegasus, who was currently shouting at the group who were trying to raise the big communal mess tent.

Come to think of it, Brass needed some coffee too. He turned back to the motor, resuming the task of giving the machine a much needed oiling.

"Ya poor thing. Looks like nopony among this lot cares about ya enough ta oil ya properly. Probably afraid of getting dirty. Hmph. They would run ya inta the ground an' wonder why ya broke."

Brass carefully pushed a glob of grease from the pot onto his hoof, and reached under the cowling, rubbing the gel onto the main cam shaft, letting the spinning metal carry the lubricant around and into the gears. "Don't'cha worry, Ah'll look after ya. An' when Ah find out which clopper ain't been looking after ya properly, Ah'll beat the fear of Celestia inta them. So don't fret, just run like a good li'l mota."

Brass, so totally absorbed in his care for the whirring machine, never noticed Granite Dancer’s shadow until the older pony spoke.

“Hey, kid, the boss told me to get you the rope so you can hitch the basket up.”

Brass jerked at the surprise, scarcely avoiding the unprotected gears with his hoof. He turned, glaring into the massive grin the older mare wore.

“Oh, yeah,-” He snatched the top anchor for the rope and bolted it onto the motors fly-wheel”-laugh it up. Now, where’s that basket?”

Granite pointed at the grubby travel lift basket, stood between the motor and the formidable drop to the glacier below. “A’right, Cool. Now, do us a favour an’ clip it onto the basket hook.”

The mare obliged him with a small smile, enjoying her friends more relaxed attitude compared to that of Grinding Gears. Oh, yes. That grumpy old earth pony ground her gears just as much as the machinery's.

She was not looking forward to the immediate future, however, as the caustic yellow engineer would no doubt be with the first group up, to make sure that the –quote- “feather-brained idiots have built that rust bucket proper-like” oh, that will be fun. Especially when Grinding Gears finds out that a Blank-flank, bat-winged undergraduate built the machine. Oh yes, even Discord himself couldn’t make a situation more chaotic than that old stallion.

While Granite’s mind was in full damage prediction mode, the colt in question was whistling idly as he wound the long cable around the cable, mentally counting off the marks on the rope as he worked.

One hundred-fifty, One hundred-fifty one, One hundred-fifty two. Damn, this is boring. Why can’t there be a Unicorn with a spell or something? There seemed to be a spell for everything, even things you didn’t want a spell for. Like making stuff float. What’s the point in that? You could just pick it up with your mouth or hooves. That’s what he does, and he’s no worse for wear. Maybe the Unicorns are just sissy or something?

Brass frowned as he remembered a dirt-a-phobic white unicorn he saw a while back in Manehattan. She was a really weird one. Kept dancing about and singing about being generous or something.

“Hay, kid, you done with your deep ruminations on the meaning of life?” Brass pulled himself from his thoughts, glancing to see Granite looking at him with a found smile.

“Ah dunno. Might just continue on for a moment,” -That earned him a snigger- “a’right. Let’s get this show a-rollin’, eh? You got the wheel set up right? Cool. Now, we just twist the regulator, pop in the clutch, yank back the throttle, an’ we’re set. Now, kindly give that cage a kick off the edge-” he turned to address the putting winch assembly, “-come on, gal. Give us some action. Aye, that’s it. Keep it up for me now, ya hear?”

As the colt fiddled around with the machinery, talking to it all the while, Granite trotted back over to the cage shaking her head all the while, and pushed the basket off the edge, letting it drop until the rope caught, catching the metal platform with a clatter. Nodding to herself, she reached to her wing and pulled out one of the loose feathers with a sharp tug and a wince, before spitting it over the edge.

Her eyes followed the red and black speckled feather as it gently tumbled past the descending cage towards the earth. No cross wind. Excellent. That will make life a lot easier when they lift the twenty remaining personal and the equipment. Hmm. Yeah, right. Life is never this easy. Something is going to go wrong soon, and nopony will be able to do a damn thing.

Granite Dancer sighed, shaking her head. Damn it, she’s starting to become a pessimist. “I’m getting old. I’ll end up like old man Ace before long.”

“Well, I didn’t quite think I was that bad.”

Granite turned to her boss with a smile.

“Don’t worry. You’re not quite that bad. Yet. The awesome ‘tash offsets the grumpy cynic beneath.”

She quickly cleared her throat at the developing ‘unamused old man’ look developing on Ace’s face. “Erhm. Anyway. The cage is on the way down, and we’ve got no side wind to worry about. Should an easy assent.”

“Only should?” Ace questions, pulling his wise-elder-stallion image on maximum, with great success.

“Well, boss, it’s the... environ. It’s not right.”

“How so?” Ace replied with a frown. To him, the area seemed fine, but Granite seemed to have a sixth sense. One that had proven disturbingly accurate over the month and a half they had been working together. If Granite was on edge, Ace had good reason to worry.

“I dunno boss, it just seems to be… hostile. Like this plateau wants us off and away from here.” Granite frowned, feeling troubled, unable to interpret why this dead, rocky plateau wanted them gone. Ah, well. I’m just being paranoid, this place is exactly like the one before it, and the one before that. Right?

Chapter two (rewritten)

Chapter two

As the sun crested the plateau, Brass ambled down the outer path that connected the male accommodation with the main five tents.

Last night, the lone mess tent had gained several neighbours, twenty three, to be exact. Nineteen accommodation tents, along with three research and storage tents, and of course, the obligatory command pavilion.

While trotting along, he marvelled at the giant rocky bastion that stood to the east. It might just be him, but did that look like a really old statue? Brass stopped to contemplate the idea, his head bobbing subconsciously with the music blasting through his headphones.

Hmm. It really did look like a weathered statue. Yeah. There at the base, three hooves, legs and a… throne? A bit further up, there was a section which could be a body, covered in a cloak, or perhaps wings. But… no recognisable head, just an oblong shape jutting out of the top, with three little raises, two at the back and one a little farther forward. An Alicorn? Nah. No way even Princess Celestia’s that old. That thing would have to be like, ancient to have worn down that much.

Shaking his head at his foalish imaginings, Brass turned to continue down the path towards his goal. As he started walking, he felt a hoof on his back. He doffed his headphones, twisting to look at Granite Dancer with a smile.

“Hey, kiddo. You ready to meet the boss?”

“Clambering Ace? Already met ‘im.”Chapter two

As the sun crested the plateau, Brass ambled down the outer path that connected the male accommodation with the main five tents.

Last night, the lone mess tent had gained several neighbours, twenty three, to be exact. Nineteen accommodation tents, along with three research and storage tents, and of course, the obligatory command pavilion.

While trotting along, he marvelled at the giant rocky bastion that stood to the east. It might just be him, but did that look like a really old statue? Brass stopped to contemplate the idea, his head bobbing subconsciously with the music blasting through his headphones.

Hmm. It really did look like a weathered statue. Yeah. There at the base, three hooves, legs and a… throne? A bit further up, there was a section which could be a body, covered in a cloak, or perhaps wings. But… no recognisable head, just an oblong shape jutting out of the top, with three little raises, two at the back and one a little farther forward. An Alicorn? Nah. No way even Princess Celestia’s that old. That thing would have to be like, ancient to have worn down that much.

Shaking his head at his foalish imaginings, Brass turned to continue down the path towards his goal. As he started walking, he felt a hoof on his back. He doffed his headphones, twisting to look at Granite Dancer with a smile.

“Hey, kiddo. You ready to meet the boss?”

“Clambering Ace? Already met ‘im.”

“No, Brass, not old man Ace, the real boss-” Granite sipped her coffee, “-the one that even Ace answers to. She paid for this whole expedition, and is the reason I and by extension, you, are actually employed, so, I’d appreciate it if you could be good today.”

“Woah, somepony real important then. Ya don’t have ta worry. I’ll be on mah best today. Just for you.” He flashed a winning smile at Granite, at lease, what he hoped was a winning smile. Granite’s frown said otherwise, however.

“Are you hitting on me?” Granite replies, raising her eyebrows, “don’t you think you’re a bit young for that?”

“Ahm twenty-three!” Brass exclaims angrily, “and ah’ve got mah bloody degree, for buck’s sake!” Brass tried in vain to cover the light blush that graced his cheeks, “And no, Ah’m not hitting on ya!”

“Woah, woah, cool it, Brass. You know I’m just joking.” Replied Granite Dancer with a knowing smile, “That’s what friends do, you know,-” she handed Brass her half-finished coffee. “-So just drink some coffee and calm down before we meet the boss.”

Brass drank from the coffee gratefully, feeling his blood pressure fall with every mouthful.

“Sorry, Dancer, I’m just feeling tired, is all.” He muttered, feeling really quite embarrassed about his outburst. “Ah didn’t mean to yell at ya.”

“Don’t worry about it,” -Granite draped a wing over her friend’s back- “I know what you’re like when you have too much blood in your caffeine stream.” The well-versed comment earned a smile from the sleepy colt. Granite looked forwards, noting their location with a small sigh. “Anyway, looks like we’re here.” She folded her wing back to its natural position, ending the impromptu wing-hug. “So, you cool?-” Brass nodded, downing the rest of the coffee “-Awesome. Now, let’s get this over with, eh?”

Brass followed Granite into the command tent, pushing the wind breaker out of its peg hook, allowing the sheet to flap madly in the cross-wind.

“Bloody hay!” Brass growled as he struggled with the flap, with more colourful curses appearing after an increasing time period. After a few minutes, he managed to anchor the unruly sheet down, driving a two hoof-long spike through the retention ring into the hard ice below. “There. Now stay there, will ya?” he snapped at the offending length of canvas, before turning around to find four pairs of eyes on him. The speckled grey and red pair belonged to granite. The yellow, Clambering Ace, the brown, Pumice. The cyan….

“P-p-princess L-Luna! I-I-ah, hey. How’s ya d-day going?” great job, Brass. Just met royalty- Buck it right in the face, why don’t you? Brass quickly knelt before the princess, in an action that turned into face-planting rather than the suave action he had tried to imitate.

“Well, this is Brass Cog, the resident foul-mouthed mechanic we have heard so much about?” Princess Luna asked Granite with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes, Princess, that’s him” Granite replied stiffly, wishing she could hit Brass with the table she was leaning on. A metal table. Not as heavy as an oak table, but hard none the less.

“Well, from what we hath heard from Granite Dancer, thou art a diligent worker, when not cursing or sleeping. So, pray tell, hast thou been working diligently for our endeavour?” Luna asked the uncomfortable colt with a private smile.

“Um, y-yeah. I uh, haven’t been fired or anything?” He wished he could have undone the sentence even as it left his mouth. “N-not that I shouldn’t be fired, but… I’m gunna shut up now.”

“Well, we would release a palace servant if they possessed such a lack of etiquette as thou doth,-” a small groan slipped from Brass’s throat as he imagined having to fly all the way back to Manehattan and explain to his ma just why he had gotten fired from his first job, by the princess of the moon, no less “- however, as thou art a long-time friend of Granite Dancer, we art willing to grant thou a second chance. Alas, finding another competent mechanical engineer on such short notice would prove a chore even for royalty. Now, could thou kindly remove thy face from the floor cover, stand up and introduce thyself to us properly, mayhaps?”

“U-um, yeah.” Brass scrabbled to his hooves, facing the Princess, but never quite meeting her eyes. “I-I’m Brass Cog, your majesty”- that earned a poorly suppressed snigger from Granite, a frown from Pumice and a small smile from Luna.-“It’s an honour to make your acquaintance” Brass mumbled as he hashed out a rough approximation of a bow.

“Tis a pleasure, mister Cog. We hope that thou shalt aid our expedition to the best of thine abilities. While we are… grateful that thou would label us ‘Majesty’, we are a princess, not a queen. Our sister would not be best pleased if she thought I was usurping her highly esteemed title as the solar diarch of Equestria.”

“I uh, sorry?” Brass replied, scratching his head, “well, Ah’ll try mah best to be useful. Thank you for giving me another chance,” – a completely obvious snicker, not from Granite, but Pumice this time – “but Ah’m sorta wondering why ya wanted ta see me”

“We shalt enlighten thou in due time, but alas, we hath digressed from our original objective -” The princess turned to Clambering Ace, who was still wearing a grumpy-but-amused look, no doubt trying to look displeased with Brass yet failing, “- As we hath come for a progress report from thou, Master Ace. So pray enlighten us, how fares our little expedition?”

“Well, princess, we have are currently camped on top of the black mane cliff, the last observable rock formation from the Crystal Palace’s main spire, some five weeks walk out from the Crystal Empire proper. So, by the accounts made in Clover the Clever’s journal, we should be near the first marker – the southern avenues gatehouse, adorned with a sixty hoof-tall statue of queen Silver Ring. I was going to send up some Pegasi to scout about, to try and see if there is anything unnatural nearby.” The Princess nodded, as if contemplating the proposed action. After a few moments, she spoke,

“Hmm, yes. We believe that this is a sound approach to the problem at hoof. We would suggest, however, that thou pair up the pegasi into teams that can work efficiently, and have worked together in the past. As such, I believe that Granite Dancer should take Brass Cog as her ranging technician.”

Ace nodded, eyeing the colt in question, who looked like he was asleep standing up.

“I’ll allow it if the kid can use the crystal array and gets some actual sleep first.”

“And thou? Dost this agreement appeal, master Cog?” Luna said, turning to face him.

Brass, who had been completely occupied with thoughts of cookies and a nice, warm bed, took a few moments to realise the metaphorical ball was in his court.

“Huh? Oh yeah! That’s cool. Ah can work with Granite plenty well-” he turned to face Granite, huge grin splitting his face “-just like that time at flight camp, eh?”

Granite’s face scrunched up as she remembered “that time”. That was not a good example of teamwork there. It was just after they met, actually. Quite ironic that. Long story short, they were teamed up to form a miniature storm system for the final team-based weather manipulation exams. Needless to say, Brass botched the logistics, getting not the little Grade 2 storm clouds, but the much more active and violent Grade 1s. Sure, they made a storm system, got full marks on teamwork and coordination. But when Brass bucked the stratus, they unleased a typhoon-strength lightning storm on the academy training grounds. The principle was not amused. It was only due to the stand-in examiner that they didn’t get flunked then and there. The rainbow-maned mare in question, a Rainbow… Dash? -What a name- was doing backflips, squealing about the team’s “awesome”, “radical” and “cool” routine. So, they had passed with an A for awesome –no joke, it was written on their grading sheets- and have a standing guarantee of jobs should they move to a place called Ponyville.

“Ya hoo!” Brass exclaimed, snapping Granite back to the here and now. “Ya with us Granite?”

“Brass. You don’t interrupt someone’s thought trains” Granite murmured, covering her face with a hoof, “Man, I phased out, didn’t I?” she added with a sigh.

Brass grinned. He know very well what Granite had been thinking about. He actually had his test report mounted at home -not that anyone else knew about it, of course- and he had been looking at cloud prices in the Ponyville area for a while, the promise of a steady job and thus, money, having caught him hook, line and sinker.

“I, uh, sorry. Just had a really… interesting memory” The only reply was a purple eyebrow raising nearly an inch. “It’s nothing, Brass and I can work together perfectly well, in fact, it’s been a while since I’ve done some proper wing-work.”

“Good. Then it is agreed” Luna’s head bobbed in satisfaction “now, master Brass, thou art dismissed. Go and rest. Thou shalt receive thy orders on the morrow.”

Brass nodded with a bow, before turning on hoof and retreating though the tent flap into the cold air beyond.

“Do you have any further need of me, princess?” Granite inquired politely. Luna turned to her with a secretive look.

“Pray tell, Granite Dancer, what is Brass Cog’s major fault?”

“Excuse me, ma’am?” Granite asks, reverting to her old manner of addressing the princess in her surprise.

“His fault. When thou submitted his file to my consideration, you mentioned the fact that he was, quote ‘a major asset to any enterprise, if one ignores his major fault”

“Oh. He… uh, struggles with certain things-” Luna left brow rose yet again, an action that was becoming the Princess of the Moon’s trademark “-like… reading. And common sense. And money. It burns holes through his saddle-bags.”

“See, I told you he wasn’t good for even counting tacks,” Pumice snickered, “the foal’s little more than a monkey with wings. Hay, I wonder if he can even count to-” Pumice never finished his sentence, as a speckled hoof whipped out and connected with his temple, accompanied with a loud smack. Pumice stumbled, tripping over the tarpaulin floor to land on his rump, staring at the towering form of Granite Dancer, the fires of Tartarus burning in her eyes.

“If you think Brass is stupid, then you are the foal here. He has a degree in mechanical engineering at the age of twenty three. You, at the age of thirty, have nothing. Oh, wait. You have a two year course in mountaineering. Such an amazing education you’ve got there. You think you’re better than him because you’re older. You’re wrong. Hay, if I wasn’t a better mare than that, I would beat the fear of the nightmare into you. Why, I think I might just do that anyway.” Granite raised her left fore-hoof, only to have it locked in a purple magic field, as the princess intervened.

“But, as thou hast just attested, thou art a better mare then that-” Luna      looked at Pumice, still sat on the floor, with a healthy black eye forming, “Master Pumice, pray excuse us.” Pumice, scrabbled to his hooves, leaving the tent faster than a Sonic Rainboom. Luna turned to face Granite, with a pinched “I’m not angry, just very disappointed” look. Granite slowly wilted under the royal glare, hanging from her suspended forelimb. Luna sighed, rubbing her muzzle.

“Granite. Thou dost know not to strike, even in anger. Thou hast trained with and served as a member of the royal guard, a member of our personal bodyguard, no less. Thou should be able to control thine impulses better than thus.”

“I- I’m sorry, ma’am. I just-”

“Neigh, no excuses. Thou art aware of our attitude to those who try to dodge punishment-” Granite nodded, expecting the worst, “-however, as we art feeling lenient today, thou shalt only receive a caution from us. Alas, thou must be on thy best parole for the next duration. Now,”-Luna released the magic holding Granite’s hoof stationary-“Captain, thou art dismissed, go and prepare thyself for deployment tomorrow”

Luna watched Granite leave, waiting for the flap to still before turning to face Climbing Ace, who wore a troubled frown. “Now, Master Ace, pray enlighten us to the qualm those two have”

“No, Brass, not old man Ace, the real boss-” Granite sipped her coffee, “-the one that even Ace answers to. She paid for this whole expedition, and is the reason I and by extension, you are actually employed, so, I’d appreciate it if you could be good today.”

“Woah, somepony real important then. Ya don’t have ta worry. I’ll be on mah best today. Just for you.” He flashed a winning smile at Granite, at lease, what he hoped was a winning smile. Granite’s frown said otherwise, however.

“Are you hitting on me?” Granite replies, raising her eyebrows, “don’t you think you’re a bit young for that?”

“Ahm twenty-three!” Brass exclaims angrily, “and ah’ve got mah bloody degree, for buck’s sake!” Brass tried in vain to cover the light blush that graced his cheeks, “And no, Ah’m not hitting on ya!”

“Woah, woah, cool it, Brass. You know I’m just joking.” Replied Granite Dancer with a knowing smile, “That’s what friends do, you know,-” she handed Brass her half-finished coffee. “-So just drink some coffee and calm down before we meet the bosses.”

Brass drank from the coffee gratefully, feeling his blood pressure fall with every mouthful.

“Sorry, Dancer, I’m just feeling tired, is all.” He muttered, feeling really quite embarrassed about his outburst. “Ah didn’t mean to yell at ya.”

“Don’t worry about it,” -Granite draped a wing over her friend’s back- “I know what you’re like when you have too much blood in your caffeine stream.” The well-versed comment earned a smile from the sleepy colt. Granite looked forwards, noting their location with a small sigh. “Anyway, looks like we’re here.” She folded her wing back to its natural position, ending the impromptu wing-hug. “So, you cool?-” Brass nodded, downing the rest of the coffee “-Awesome. Now, let’s get this over with, eh?”

Brass followed Granite into the command tent, pushing the wind breaker out of its peg hook, allowing the sheet to flap madly in the cross-wind.

“Bloody hay!” Brass growled as he struggled with the flap, with more colourful curses appearing after an increasing time period. After a few minutes, he managed to anchor the unruly sheet down, driving a two hoof-long spike through the retention ring into the hard ice below. “There. Now stay there, will ya?” he snapped at the offending length of canvas, before turning around to find four pairs of eyes on him. The speckled grey and red pair belonged to granite. The yellow, Clambering Ace, the brown, Pumice. The cyan….

“P-p-princess L-Luna! I-I-ah, hey. How’s ya d-day going?” great job, Brass. Just met royalty- Buck it right in the face, why don’t you? Brass quickly knelt before the princess, in an action that turned into face-planting rather than the suave action he had tried to imitate.

“Well, this is Brass Cog, the resident foul-mouthed mechanic we have heard so much about?” Princess Luna asked Granite with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes, Princess, that’s him” Granite replied stiffly, wishing she could hit Brass with the table she was leaning on. A metal table. Not as heavy as an oak table, but hard none the less.

“Well, from what we hath heard from Granite Dancer, thou art a diligent worker, when not cursing or sleeping. So, pray tell, hast thou been working diligently for our endeavor?” Luna asked the uncomfortable colt with a private smile.

“Um, y-yeah. I uh, haven’t been fired or anything?” He wished he could have undone the sentence even as it left his mouth. “N-not that I shouldn’t be fired, but… I’m gunna shut up now.”

“Well, we would release a palace servant if they possessed such a lack of etiquette as thou doth,-” a small whimper slipped from Brasses throat as he imagined having to fly all the way back to Manehattan and explain to his ma just why he had gotten fired, by the princess of the moon, no less “- however, as thou art a long-time friend of Granite Dancer, we art willing to grant thou a second chance. Alas, finding another competent mechanical engineer on such short notice would prove a chore even for royalty. Now, could thou kindly remove thy face from the floor cover, stand up and introduce thyself to us properly, mayhaps?”

“U-um, yeah.” Brass scrabbled to his hooves, facing the Princess, but never quite meeting her eyes. “I-I’m Brass Cog, your majesty”- that earned a poorly suppressed snigger from Granite, a frown from Pumice and a small smile from Luna.-“It’s an honor to make your acquaintance” Brass mumbled as he hashed out a rough approximation of a bow.

“Tis a pleasure, mister Cog. We hope that thou shalt aid our expedition to the best of thine abilities. While we are… grateful that thou would label us ‘Majesty’, we are a princess, not a queen. Our sister would not be best pleased if she thought I was usurping her highly esteemed title as the solar diarchal ruler of Equestria.”

“I uh, sorry?” Brass replied, scratching his head, “well, Ah’ll try mah best to be useful. Thank you for giving me another chance,” – a completely obvious snicker, not from Granite, but Pumice this time – “but Ah’m sorta wondering why ya wanted ta see me?”

“We shalt enlighten thou in due time, but alas, we hath digressed from our original objective -” The princess turned to Clambering Ace, who was still wearing a grumpy-old-man look, no doubt trying to look displeased with Brass yet failing, “- As we hath come for a progress report from thou, Master Ace. So pray enlighten us, how fares our little expedition?”

“Well, princess, we have are currently camped on top of the black mane cliff, the last observable rock formation from the Crystal Palace’s main spire, some five weeks walk out from the Crystal Empire proper. So, by the accounts made in Clover the Clever’s journal, we should be near the first marker – the southern avenue's gatehouse, adorned with a sixty hoof-tall statue of queen Silver Ring. I was going to send up some Pegasi to scout about, to try and see if there is anything unnatural nearby.” The Princess nodded, as if contemplating the proposed action. After a few moments, she spoke,

“Hmm, yes. We believe that this is a sound approach to the problem at hoof. We would suggest, however, that thou pair up the pegasi into teams that can work efficiently, and have worked together in the past. As such, I believe that Granite Dancer should take Brass Cog as her ranging technician.”

Ace nodded, eying the colt in question, who looked like he was asleep standing up.

“I’ll allow it if the kid can use the crystal array and gets some actual sleep first.”

“And thou? Dost this agreement appeal, master Cog?” Luna said, turning to face him.

Brass, who had been completely occupied with thoughts of cookies and the unusual rock formation to the east, took a few moments to realise the metaphorical ball was in his court.

“Huh? Oh yeah! That’s cool. Ah can work with Granite plenty well-” he turned to face Granite, huge grin splitting his face “-just like that time at flight camp, eh?”

Granite’s face scrunched up as she remembered “that time”. That was not a good example of teamwork there. It was just after they met, actually. Quite ironic that. Long story short, they were teamed up to form a miniature storm system for the final team-based weather manipulation exams. Needless to say, Brass botched the logistics, getting not the little Grade 2 storm clouds, but the much more active and violent Grade 1s. Sure, they made a storm system, got full marks on teamwork and coordination. But when Brass bucked the stratus, they unleashed a typhoon-strength lightning storm on the academy training grounds. The principle was not amused. It was only due to the stand-in examiner that they didn’t get failed then and there. The rainbow-maned mare in question, a Rainbow… Dash? -What a name- was doing back-flips, squealing about the team’s “awesome”, “radical” and “cool” routine. So, they had passed with an A for awesome –no joke, it was written on their grading sheets- and have a standing guarantee of jobs should they move to a place called Ponyville.

“Ya hoo!” Brass exclaimed, snapping Granite back to the here and now. “Ya with us Granite?”

“Brass. You don’t interrupt someone’s thought trains” Granite murmured, covering her face with a hoof, “Man, I phased out, didn’t I?” she added with a sigh.

Brass grinned. He know very well what Granite had been thinking about. He actually had his test report mounted at home -not that anyone else knew about it, of course- plus, he had actually been looking at cloud prices in the Ponyville area for a while, the promise of a steady job and thus, money, having caught him hook, line and sinker.

“I, uh, sorry. Just had a really… interesting memory” The only reply was a purple eyebrow raising nearly an inch. “It’s nothing, Brass and I can work together perfectly well, in fact, it’s been a while since I’ve done some proper wing-work.”

“Good. Then it is agreed” Luna’s head bobbed in satisfaction “now, master Brass, thou art dismissed. Go and rest. Thou shalt receive thy orders on the morrow.”

Brass nodded with a bow, before turning on hoof and retreating though the tent flap into the cold air beyond.

“Do you have any further need of me, princess?” Granite inquired politely. Luna turned to her with a secretive look.

“Pray tell, Granite Dancer, what is Brass Cog’s major fault?”

“Excuse me, ma’am?” Granite asks, reverting to her old manner of addressing the princess in her surprise.

“His fault. When thou submitted his file to my consideration, you mentioned the fact that he was, quote ‘a major asset to any enterprise, if one ignores his faults”

“Oh. He… uh, struggles with certain things-” Luna left brow rose yet again, an action that was becoming the Princess of the Moon’s trademark “-like… reading. And common sense. And money - it burns holes through his saddle-bags.”

“See, I told you he wasn’t good for even counting tacks,” Pumice snickered, “the foals little more than a monkey with wings. Hay, I wonder if he can even count to-”

Pumice never finished his sentence, as a speckled hoof whipped out and connected with his temple, accompanied with a loud smack. Pumice stumbled, tripping over the tarpaulin floor to land on his rump, staring at the towering form of Granite Dancer, the fires of Tartarus burning in her eyes.

“If you think Brass is stupid, then you are the foal here. He has a degree in mechanical engineering at the age of twenty three. You, at the age of thirty, have nothing. Oh, wait. You have a two year course in mountaineering. Such an amazing education you’ve got there. You think you’re better than him because you’re older. You’re wrong. Hay, if I wasn’t a better mare than that, I would beat the fear of the nightmare into you. Why, I think I might just do that anyway.” Granite raised her left fore-hoof, only to have it locked in a purple magic field, as the princess intervened.

“But, as thou hast just attested, thou art a better mare then that-” Luna      looked at Pumice, still sat on the floor, with a healthy black eye forming, “Master Pumice, pray excuse us.” Pumice, scrabbled to his hooves, leaving the tent faster than a Sonic Rainboom. Luna turned to face Granite, with a pinched “I’m not angry, just very disappointed” look. Granite slowly wilted under the royal glare, hanging from her suspended forelimb. Luna sighed, rubbing her muzzle.

“Granite. Thou dost know not to strike, even in anger. Thou hast trained with and served as a member of the royal guard, a member of our personal bodyguard, no less. Thou should be able to control thine impulses better than thus.”

“I- I’m sorry, ma’am. I just-”

“Neigh, no excuses. Thou art aware of our attitude to those who try to dodge punishment-” Granite nodded, expecting the worst, “-however, as we art feeling lenient today, thou shalt only receive a caution from us. Alas, thou must be on thy best parole for the next duration. Now,”-Luna released the magic holding Granite’s hoof stationary-“Captain, thou art dismissed, go and prepare thyself for thine deployment tomorrow”

Luna watched Granite leave, waiting for the flap to still before turning to face Climbing Ace, who wore a troubled frown. “Now, Master Ace, pray enlighten us to the qualm those two have”

chapter three Part one

Chapter three Part one - Brass and Granite.

Brass glided over the frozen land in Granite’s wake, the team’s CSARS –Crystalline Surveying and Ranging System- on his back.

The CSARS was a relatively new invention of Princess Twilight Sparkle. By using magic Maregardum crystals, suddenly common following the reappearance of the Crystal Empire, she was able to imbed a cartographical –map making- spell into a pony-friendly case the size of a large saddle bag. The system was a huge hit with the Royal Equestrian Explorers Guild, seeing Twilight having enough money to literally swim in. The only notable disadvantage of the system was due to the material it was made out of. Crystal is, by its very nature, incredibly dense, so a block easily the size of the crystal heart weighs a fair bit.

And a certain Thestrial was starting to really feel that weight.

“Hey, Granite, can we land soonish? Mah back is killing me” he said ‘over’ the crystal head set he had been given earlier that morning. A soft, crackly sigh alighted on his ears, followed by Granite’s overly patient reply,

“Yes Brass, we’ll put down on that ridge just halfway down the valley wall. We should probably start taking measurements now, anyway”

The duo banked towards the valleys eastern wall, lazily spiralling down to a small outcrop which had a brilliant view of the odd mountain-like formation at the centre of the valley bowl.

As he alighted on the icy rock, Brass wondered what the valley must have looked like before the Hearth’s warming tale – before the Windigoes made the north frozen and lifeless, driving the tribes south, towards what is now Equestria.

At a nod from Granite, Brass undid the straps to his pack, placing the armoured box against the cliff face, before unclipping his saddle bag and removing a sturdy metal tripod. He glanced around, finding a relatively flat section of rock to set up the rangefinder.

He carefully levelled the tripod on the stone floor and pointed the pivot to face vaguely north to south, like the instructions has suggested. As he went to retrieve the main focus crystal, he never noticed Granite re-aligning the matrix using her pocket compass.

Brass hefted out the weighty main crystal, grunting with the effort as his cold wings complained at the strain. “Lucky Pegasi,” he muttered as he flew the lump of stone to its mounting place, “having feathered wings. And they complain about being cold. Hmph”

“Well, at least you don’t have to preen every morning” Granite said, looking up from the camping stove she was lighting, “because if you did, you too would be stuck with the taste of lanolin in your mouth for nearly two hours every day.”

Brass felt his face scrunch up as he imagined having the taste of natural grease in his mouth for hours on end. Yuck. But at least his wings would be warm.

“Yeah, but instead, Ah’m cold mosta the time, and –” he clipped the crystal into place on its stand “-Ah have to worry about frostbite in mah wing membranes”

“Membranes? Why, Brass, did you just say a big word?”

“Ah’m not stupid! Just cause Ah’m from a ‘burb of Manehattan, don’t mean I’m dumb!” Brass scowled at Granite, who was wearing a grin that stretched thrice around her face. “And don’t smile that broad. It looks real creepy” he added, picking up the three attenuator shards that activated the device.

“Yes, boss-” she laughed, sending crystalline echoes down the valley for miles in every direction “-I’ll do my best to kiss your plot and polish your hooves in future, sir”

“Good. Now, ATTEN-CHUN!” To Brass’s glee, Granite’s guard training kicked in, having her on her hooves and at the ready before she knew what hit her. “Captain Dancer, make me some coffee at once!” Brass barked, doing his best impression of a sergeant major he’d seen once at the Canterlot drill grounds “Move it! On the double!”

“Yessir! At once, sir!” Granite barked, leaping to comply, before realising that she was not, in fact, a royal guard on parade. Screeching to a halt, she glared at Brass who, job forgotten, was rolling around in the snow laughing himself hoarse. “Oh, very funny. I bet you’re so proud of yourself for that one” she snapped, embarrassed.

“Oh, mah sides!” Brass gasped between breaths “that was amazing!”

“Yeah, how hilarious. Now. Get that array set up, will you?” She opened her saddle bags, getting out the Globe-Trotter 3000 magic positioning system, powering up the hoof-held device, “There’s no lunch until we’ve got the sweep done for here.”

The half-hearted threat did the trick. Within moments, Brass had finished setting up the rangefinder and was initialising the scanning routine. As his hoof touched the button, a wave of light erupted from the mainframe, passing through him and everything organic, gliding through the air to bounce off the stone walls. As Brass recoiled, the mainframe started beeping and flashing, as it processed the incoming telemetry data, creating a 3d map of the surrounding area.

After a few minutes, Granite’s MPS lit up, displaying a wire-frame model of the surrounding valley from their current location. Naturally, the areas obstructed by any objects were blank, as the light beams were reflected by the surfaces in the way. Unfortunately, this was a rather large amount of the valley.

“Hmm. Looks like we’ll have to do at least three more readings from the other corners of the valley wall” Granite said, as she turned to face Brass, who was sat with coffee in hoof, warming his bat-like wings with the stove. “Are your wings okay? The air temperature is quite low, even to me”

Brass looked up from his contemplation of various mechanical-thingies, shivering slightly. “Um, yeah. Just gimme a few to get ‘em good an warm before we set off again”

Granite nodded and started disassembling the CSARS, packing each part of the fragile array into the foam packaging with infinite care. “I’ll take the array for this stretch” –she smiled at the grateful sigh from Brass- “so you just need to carry the light stuff. Don’t want to strain your wings while they’re cold, do we?”

Brass frowned, remembering the last time he did that. It had been a painful experience, leading to nearly two months in the flight academy’s medical wing. He had been on cold weather-front manipulation exercises, and had got severe frost bite in his wings, nearly bad enough to warrant amputation. He had learnt his lesson that day, and never let his wings get numb, for fear of a repeat event, but with darker results.

He looked up at the sound of Granite trotting over, packed array on her back. “You good?” she asked, concern plain on her face.

“Yeah. Ah’m ready. Lemme just pack the stuff up an we can get going” He chugged the rest of the coffee, enjoying the sensation of the warm liquid flowing down his gullet. Standing, he folded his now warm wings against his body, and started to pack the camping stove.

When he was finished, he slipped the much smaller saddle-pack onto his back, clipping the flight harness into place. “Right. Ah’m done. Where to now?” He said, as he watched Granite survey the valley.

She stood silent for several moments before answering with an outstretched hoof “Over there, on top of that outcrop on the eastern face of the central formation. Looks nice and flat” at Brasses nod, Granite took to the sky, leaving brass on the outcrop.

After glancing over the site, Brass spread his wings, taking a deep breath before hurling himself off of the edge. He pulled up out of the dive, already feeling the chilly air leaching the heat out of his flight surfaces. Supressing a shiver, he banked to follow Granite, who was over a kilometre ahead, confident that the Thestrial would follow.

Brass flew lazily across the valley floor, letting the wind carry him across towards his destination, all the while looking at the series of regularly spaced, similarly sized mounds that surrounded the base of the mountain. The ruins of houses, maybe? He filed the thought away for later. Realizing he was reaching his destination, he descended in a broad spiral, flaring his wings and landing on the cold stone with a hollow clack next to Granite, who being the productive mare she was, had already started the next scan.

“Nice of you to join me.” She murmured, consumed by her task of re-calibrating the device using her hoof-held… thing.

Brass doffed the pack, trotting over to the larger set of saddlebags. After a little rummage, he pulled out a light-weight padded jacket, which he had been given by Golden Swatch, his housemate during his studies at Manehattan West University. He donned the charcoal garment, slipping his wings into the custom-made wing-sleeves. He glanced up at a quiet shuffle to find Granite watching him, right eyebrow arched. “What? It’s warm, okay?” he sputtered, only to be silenced by an upraised hoof.

Granite walked over and started tightening the straps that held the jacket in place around Brasses mid-section. “Nothing. I was just wondering why you hadn’t put it on earlier” she between straps.

Brass blushed slightly and answered somewhat shakily, “It’s, uh, rather restricting. Makes it harder to fly” Granite just grunted and set about tightening the straps along the inner back thigh, setting the Thestrial into embarrassed twitching fits.

“Hold still. You’re making it difficult” she mumbled around a strap. I’ll eat my helmet if this get up is restricting. Granite had seen Brass out-manoeuvre Wonderbolts in full guard armour. Of course, he hadn’t been able to outrun them, though, but his ability to turn on a dime had certainly earned him their respect, and a subsequent round of Sweet Apple Acres dark cider. Not to mention that autograph from Spitfire. Although he would never admit it, he went over the moon with joy that day.

She finished the lower straps and pulled the front cover around Brass’s neck as he shifted uncomfortably at their proximity.  He probably just thinks he looks silly in it. Once she had finished the last strap, she stepped back to look at Brass, who now looked like a lunar guard, albeit dressed in felts as opposed to plate-mail. “Is that better?” she asked with a small smile, enjoying the sight in front of her.

“Um, yeah. It’s much warmer now. Thanks, Granite”

“No problem”

The bleep of the CSARS pulled Granite away from Brass, who was feeling slightly uncomfortable under her evaluating gaze. He grabbed his pack and clipped it on, adjusting the straps to fit over his now padded form.  He flapped his wings experimentally, feeling no discernable difference in his mobility. Between Golden Swatch’s cunning design and Granite’s armour-dressing experience, the suit felt almost like a part of him. He could even feel the air brushing against his wing membranes, as if there was no fabric coating them at all.

“Right. Onto the next position. Follow me” Granite said, as she finished clipping her pack on. Brass nodded and followed her into the air, wondering at the feeling of the air through the fabric, which he could feel all of, barring the cold of the far north. Yet oddly, he somehow felt that the air was cold, a ghost of a sensation, even though he was completely isolated from the external temperature.

He wondered just how Golden Swatch had managed it. Probably using a spell. That mare was truly a wonder with magic. In fact, if he didn’t know her unique talent was in fabric making, he’d swear her cutie mark was in magic. I gotta get in touch with her when I get back from this job. The last he’d heard, Golden Swatch had started a little business supplying her fabrics to some up-and-coming dress maker in Ponyville. I have to pay her a visit sometime. See how her little shop is doing.

He did a little aileron roll, just because he felt like it. He felt a grin split his face as he broke off from Granite’s wing to perform some stunts in the frigid air. He dipped and dived and twisted and turned in rolls that pulled his gut and set his heart racing. Feeling fully warmed up, he shot up into the sky as fast as his wings would carry him, before letting himself stall and plummet towards the icy ground, twisting in a corkscrew. That had always been his highest scoring physical subject: stunt flying. He wasn’t as good as the best, but he could give the standard pros a run for their bits.

Granite, landed on the next site, assembling and engaging the CSARS. After a few moments, she noticed Brass’s absence. She turned and looked at the sky just in time to see him plummeting from the sky in a semi-controlled dive. She sat and watched the impromptu air show with a smile, task forgotten for the moment. She sat there for nearly an hour, watching her friend let off some steam, pulling off stunts, the nature of which was performed by the Wonderbolts in scheduled events. As the scan finished, Brass pulled off his signature finishing move, a loop-de-loop 720 so small and tight that his tail brushed his nose.

As he landed next to her, still riding the stunt-flyer’s adrenalin rush, she shook her head and added to latest set of data to the MPS tablet. “One day, you’re going to kill yourself, Brass” she said as the data transferred.

Brass turned to face Granite with a smug smile, “Aye, that may be true, but Ah’m gunna die happy if that’s the case”

Granite grinned, and threw the MPS at him. Brass caught it in a wing, and plopped it back into the dedicated pouch in pack he was wearing. “Anyway, stunt ace, it’s your turn to lug the Survey unit for a while” that earned a small groan, as Brass contemplated carrying the heavy load again. “And before you argue, we have to return to base with you carrying it. I’m not meant to use the thing, remember? The uneducated ex-guard?”

They shared a moment of humour, both remembering the scene that Pumice had made, specifically stating that under no circumstances was Granite to handle the CSARS, as she didn’t have the training. On paper, that was true. In practice, however, winged guard-ponies were trained to use all varieties of mapping and recording instruments, so they could perform advanced intelligence collection duties if necessary.

Granite glanced up at the sun, now kissing the horizon. Whoa, dusk already. “Alright. Let’s do this. We’ve only got one more stop to do, and we should have a complete image of the valley, and then we can get back to base and have a nice hot mug of cocoa before midnight.” They quickly switched packs, and took to the skies again, crossing the great expanse of icy dirt again for the fifth, and hopefully last time that day.