//------------------------------// // Mission 1: Baltimare // Story: Captain of the Royal guards // by LunarLover //------------------------------// In the strange and magical land of Equestria there were bound to be crazy and eccentric individuals with way too much time on their hands and a knack for magic. Almost every few decades out of all the crazies, one will show true potential in magic whilst many will only be disillusioned into thinking they could do magic. Nevertheless the one was one with great power and often did not see the world like most ponies would and that is never a good thing. Shining Armour hopped off the train onto the dank and deary town of Baltimare. It was a truly eerie town at night, and the thick stench of the salty ocean did not help. All twenty-seven privates, one officer, one lieutenant, and one specialist equipped their backpacks and trudged to the Baltimare outpost on the outskirts of the town. The fog did not help either. It was as if the land had some sort of abhorrence of them and were desperately trying to push them out. Nevertheless they moved on, not in unison but with great speed. The train ride had made most of them fatigued but their senses did not grow dull in fear of whatever that lay in the mist. The walk was creepy but uneventful, Shining Armour looked at his superiors, stopping to stare the specialist, the job of a specialist was a very mysterious one, not all groups had one but he was supposed to have some sort of ability that defines him from the rest. Dressed in a long dark cloak he trudged on whispering things from time to time to the Officer in charge, his bag looked almost empty save for small potions and a spell book sticking out, as if he could read his mind, the specialist levitated his satchel shut and walked on without a word. Creepy A call from the front ran clear to the back. "Battalion halt." The group stopped quickly. Shining Armour at the front could see nothing, not a single soul in the outpost. Until an gut wrenching scream shook the entire battalion to its knees. "Hold your guts maggots, get up and equipped pronto." All soldiers were equipped with a short sword at all times. It was a small about half a legs length and was light and useful for any situation. The instructors called it a machete. Quickly the sound of rasping knives gleamed in the dim moonlight as thirty soldiers stood back to back ready for anything. And then they saw it, from the mist, lumbering soulless creatures emerged. "Hold men, focus and strike together." The soldiers were not trained for this, many held the knives in their mouth or levitated it with telekinesis gripping on the handle tighter and tighter as the lumbering monsters grew close. The wait for the order to kill was tense, every soul marked a victim and aimed for a weak point. "NOW." The officer let out a bellow and slammed into two of them sending them flying, immediately the remaining soldiers slashed in unison, the sound of shouts and solid attacks could be heard. But they still came, unaffected and seemingly faster. The officer in charge looked back at his soldiers, they were scared and about to run. "Hold your ground or I will kill you where you stand." He charged forward. "ARGHHHH!!" Immediately he felt a sharp tug pull him to the ground. Shining formed a force field around the entire group and dropped the officer. "What is the meaning of this private? Do you wish to be flogged. I will ma-" He was cut off by the dark hooded specialist, he pointed to the supposed zombies. With Shining Armours bubble it was easy to see that they were made of sand bags and were simply animated with a bring to life spell. The hooded figure went through his bag muttering something incomprehensible and motioned for Shining to undo the barrier. When it was down he simply took out a small orb and smashed it onto the ground. In an instant the surrounding area of about forty meters in every direction became clear. Confused mutter stirred up among the group as the more soldiers dressed in full armor emerged "Halt stop exercise." Came a shout from the darkness, the entire area lighted up with large orbs of light and a single buff stallion approached the group looking into a clipboard. "No no no, I said NO Magic, why on earth would you disobey such an order, do you want to be flogged.?" The pony was still staring into his clipboard as he approached the specialist. "You boy better shape up or I-" He looked up only to face a dark and ominous shadow inside a hood that would make him sleep at night for the next few days. "Corporal I demand an explanation." The officer was pissed. It had been a tireless train ride and frankly anyone would have been cranky to march through a dark town at 2 A.M. in the morning only to be scared half to death by bags of sand. "Well...er... We were doing, an exercise. It was training and we did not expect you to be here until tomorrow sir." Replied the corporal. "Well it is tomorrow and I want all my soldier's quarters to be ready now, understand?" The corporal feeling small saluted quickly and rushed to the barracks with his troops. "Well then wasn't this a fun way to start a morning." Shining muttered to himself. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next day was a free day to explore the surroundings, they had one day of rest before being assigned into groups of three and made to patrol the entire city, taking over the older patrols, altogether nine groups would make sure the city is safe and secure until relieved in a month or so. The city was bright and busy in the day, a large contrast to the night, the bay chirped with old sailors and merchants from distant lands talking about old tales of sea monsters and prices. The goods on display were also interesting, many different kinds of strange gadgets not sold in Canterlot lay on dirty colorful mats on the ground with a single pony guarding at least two mats to sell to bargain hunters. Shining looked around and found a strange horn like ornament, only it seemed to be magic run and with switch," Picking it up he stared at it, it seemed like such a strange item, its switch was at the bottom and it there were many different shapes. "Ah you want one?" An old mare emerged like a ghost, she had been there the whole time, but the colorful carpets on the wall matched her clothing and she was near invisible save for small movements. "No just erm browsing." The old mare chuckled. "No need for shyness young one, they one you hold in your hoof is cheap. It is good to stop marefriends from cheating on you while you are away." Shining Armour frowned." How does it do-" His words drifted to nothing as he scanned the rest of the store in horror, other than the nicer looking horns there were replica's of horse genitalia on the mat. It was not a toy, well it was not a toy for kids... It vibrated as he accidentally flipped the switch. "Ehh? Want one? I promise it will only need thirty minutes of charge for two hours of fun." She touted. He dropped it and ran, his face red with shame and horror. The old mare grinned a toothy grin. "Ah such a nice young lad." She mused. No wonder they don't sell those in Canterlot. Shining Armour shook the view of all the sex toys and walked towards another shop. It seemed normal enough. "Ah would a young soldier enters my shop, would you like anything?" The shop contained all sorts of weapons, from over-sized axes to strange blades that curved in one angle until it looked broken. "Would the young colt like a nice trinket perhaps, for protection." She showed him a box filled to the brim with different necklaces talismans and other small jewels. "Or perhaps some nice guards?" She pulled out a couple of shiny vambraces, They were beautifully decorated and very stylish. Shining peeled his eyes off them for a second. "Actually I was simply wandering through." The look on the old mares face made him feel guilty. "Sorry." He wandered through the store. He turned a corner to find her standing in front of him. "Actually I think I have something for you." Raising a single small badge it was the shape of a shield. "It is a simple clasp but it very useful when you least expect it." Shining stared at it, although it seemed very simple, it gave off a vibe of some sort of mystical gem. "Er well how much?" He looked up only to find the strange old mare gone. This town is filled with strange old mares. He exited the store to the bustling streets, the stores were still filled with customers, so he went to the bay to see the magnificent ships. "Hey laddie, yer mind helpin an old man such as meself?" A large Scottish sailor approached him. "I got meself these here crates and can't carry em bah maself. Ye mind helpin me out?" Shining nodded and levitated the crates onto his cart while the fat stallion drank yet another mug of cider. There were many boxes and Shining felt the hot salty air blow through his mane as he worked. Soon all the boxes were packed and the large stallion seemed a little more sober. "Ye a strong one eh? Thanks for the help. You ever need a ship just gimme a call ye?" The fisherman trudged on drunkenly away to wherever as Shining watched with awe at the sheer size of said fisher. Shining looked up towards the orange sun, by tomorrow he had to report in to start his patrol of the city and the sun was already setting. "Ah well it was an eventful day." Shining mumbled to himself as he trudged his way back to camp. A single stallion was in that cellar. Although brightly lit it only amplified strange collection of items in his cellar. The single stallion was not any less scary to begin with, he wore a smile that simply said pedophile and his small collection of ominous jars of dust on his wall were not helping, walking to a small lump on the table he focused his magic, it turned into a diamond before shattering into dust. "Good...Very good."