Author: Commander Iron Hide of the Equestrian Royal Guard.
Recipient: Enforcer Shield Heart, code number 42.
Subject: Mission Briefing.
Date: 21st of May 1002 P.N.M.
Location: Mount Horseshoe, fifty kilometers from Canterlot.
Mission Details: The Equestrian Royal Guard has formally issued you a request to help retrieve several important artifacts left inside the mines.
Your primary objective will be the Lunar Medallion, taken from the Ruins south of the capital by a fanatic group during the Post-Banishment Turmoil.
Other artifacts include financial records of the mining operations and maps of the mountain proper recuesten by the previos owners of the mine, the Precious Family.
Due to the severe presence of several goblin clans, including the Fire Breathing clan, infamous for its arsonist tendencies, the threat level has been increased to number three and you have been given access to level 2 equipment.
The office has requisitioned the following items for your mission:
One customized Mana Musket.
One sawed-off Mana-Powered Canister Cannon.
One Silver-Steel claymore.
One steel cutlass.
Two customized Mana Pistols.
Five Magic Grenades.
Ten Smoke Canister.
Ten Explosive Canisters.
Twelve MRE rations.
The records are presumed to be located inside the archives in the administrative offices. The whereabouts of the medallion are unknown, but it is speculated that it has been taken deep inside goblin territory.
As it is custom the Guard asks that you keep diplomacy a priority but because of past records of Goblin dealings reveal the contrary, so exercise caution.
Addendum 1: The Mountain Halls
It is known that several caves and tunnels are highly unstable. Various years of tunneling and explosions have made them fragile, and any disturbance will most likely result in a cave-in. It is advised to review the layouts to find the Goblin Territory.
Addendum 2: Ponyville
About twenty five kilometers from the main enhance lies the town of Ponyville, it is implored that extreme caution regarding explosions and the use of wild creatures. Several V.I.Ps live in that town, and the Guard would be most grateful if you avoided any harm toward that village. Your extraction will take place there.
Shield Heart read through the note one more time. He wanted to remember the details, not that he would need them. The Goblin clans were very mysterious, no one has been able to live to talk about their customs.
"Requisition, ha! More like returning. Most of this shit was already mine to begin with!" He said as the train stopped in the middle of nowhere. He went for the chest at the back of his car and opened it. He didn't have much time, the stop was on the records as unexpected. He picked up his ebony Mana Musket, his finest tool of work and examined it. He had five minutes to gear up before the train started once again.
The musket had a special power core which used magic as its primary form of ammunition. Each core had about three hundred shots before complete depletion, and in that case the user could pass some of his own magic to the weapon in case he were a Mage.
"Hello Maggie, did you miss me?" He said to his rifle as he set it on he floor
The pistols had the same ammunition type, but they were intended for short range fighting. Also, they had extended magazines, capable of firing five hundred rounds before a reload. The customization was mostly aesthetics, one was called Silver, the other Crimson. Each represented their outer color. They had three levels of lethality, one was harmless, two was stunner, and three was the real deal. This system was very common among magicarms, since it helped avoid unesesary deaths when someone went a little too trigger happy.
The claymore was the regular two handed sword, with a silver winged cross guard, and effective blade. Because of the amount of trouble he had caused with it he had nicknamed it Riot.
His symbol of office was his cutlass, with a golden grip and polished blade. He rarely used it, but it had saved his life more than once when Riot decided to fly off. He had called it Arby.
Blasto was his most peculiar weapon. The cannon was equipped with one-canister capacity, which was reloaded through a break-action mechanism. The weapon allowed for both the use of canisters and spells, meaning that if he ran out of ammo he still has his repertoire to use.
He put on both canister belts crossing over his crimson duster, along with the pistol holsters that let Crimson and Silver rest in his ribs, Blasto had a special holster, resting horizontally above his backside. He put on his leather backpack, where he had all his living supplies and spare clothes. On the right side of the pack was his musket, while Riot rested under it.
Shield opened the back door and jumped off. Three minutes later he heard the horn signaling that the train was heading to Smokey Mountain.
Shield Heart was from Canterlot, he was born amongst the royalty, and his looks marked it. His average build, ice blue eyes covered by steel-framed glasses, golden hair with silver streaks his tall size and fair face marked him as one of the pampered. But he wasn't like the rest, he had decided to do something, like protecting people. That's why he signed up to become a commissioner, they were the right hand of Celestia and Luna. They had little limitations and light morals.
He kept thinking of his extraction location.
"Why is Ponyville so familiar?" He asked himself. "Where have I heard of those V.I.Ps before?" He dismissed the thought, if there was anything important to remember he would think of it later. His, main priority now was getting to the offices, without those maps he might as well kill himself. The mountain was a huge cave fest, so without any sort of guidance he might as well starve.
Five minutes of walking took him to the entrance, where a smaller cave adorned with steel pillars and panels marked the offices. Inside there was no danger, as a matter of fact, there was nothing.
No ridiculous stacks of papers, no telephones, no styrofoam ramen cup, no nothing. Everything was gone, as if the place had organized a spring cleaning session and ditched everything. He searched for a couple of minutes for the safe, and he found it. It was hiding beneath one of the ceramic panels in one of the corners, under a particularly heavy plant.
He used his cutlass to weaken the cement and removed the panel. The safe was more of a chest, protected with several anti-theft enchantments and hexes. He dissolved them carefully and took out every scrap of paper he could find.
Most were merly reports on the stuff that was extracted. The kilos of precious metals, gems, fossils and other mindless thing.
He put the records in his backpack and the maps in his various outside pockets in case of future reference.
"Part 1 of this boring mission is now officially complete." He said aloud. "There sure is jack shit going on here."
He took out a quick look at the map, which reported was roughly fifty klicks in diameter. He chuckled for a moment before losing all sense of emotion. "No way I'm doing this ." The entrance of the mine had various posters, most of them motivational posters made to encourage the miners to continue working for the Precious Family. He went to one of his inside pockets and withdrew a black pen.
He searched for the nearest poster bearing the face of Pearl Lance, the family poster boy looking all noble with his brown hair white teeth and shiny armor, the poster was captioned.
Work for a better tomorrow, today!.
He started painting the poster's teeth out and turning the man into a pirate. After having graffitied the poster he was so pleased with his artwork that he decided to take it down and keep it.
He resumed looking, hoping to avoid any more distractions. And to his luck he managed to find a minecart so rusted he could have swore it was made by an ancient civilization.
He jumped onto the cart and tested its movement. Granted it wasn't a luxurious limo or as fast as a sports car, but it was either traveling in a rusted piece of junk or taking a hike.
He started pushing the cart by using Riot as a makeshift paddle, not the best use for a claymore but he needed to get moving. But there was no possible way that sword was going to provide the speed induced could match the imitation of a worm. He needed a craftier method.
He went for Blasto and put it in his lap. He could try to invoke a spell to turn this cannon into a turbine, but he really didn't have much experience doing so. Disregarding any forms of safety he started focusing.
The cannon sputtered before coming alive. But to his surprise he was rocketed out of the cart due to the sheer force. Recovering from the launch he jumped back into the transport and bound the cannon to the back of he cart. He started the spell once again and this time his breath was taken away from him as he glided through the ancient train tracks.
He had to admit his ride was smoother than what one might expect from an ancient mine cart. "And to think the Precious didn't spend a little money on their investments, what a shame."
It then dawned to him that looking at the maps would have been an excellent idea in hindsight. There were thousands of tunnels and he had no idea which one was the one that lead to the objective and which one sent him off a bottomless pit. But with his speed he would be lucky if he made it to safety at all. He went for Blasto and stopped it, he expected to be launched off a cliff, and if so he would need to grapple himself to something if he wanted to get out alive.
As if his powers of clairvoyance had worked, Shield found himself against the end of the line. Fortunately the railroad was left as a ramp, so it would be easier to jump and then grapple onto something. He readied his cannon and let things take their path.
During the jump Shield had to think quickly, the hundred meter wide gap looked to have no end, while the roof didn't offer much rock to use. He fired at a wall, and a red bolt shot out of Blasto. He used the magic rope to swing himself, even if it was sideways, to safety.
He rolled on the gravel as he landed. "Oh yeah baby, I still got it!" he said as he thanked Celestia he had made it unscarred and continued walking. He unholstered Maggie, knowing that danger was bound to strike.
Fifteen minutes of walking through torch-lit caves made him think if he was in the right place at all. He expected to be already under attack, but things were quieter than a graveyard. He loaded his cannon with a smoke canister and holstered it. He started humming a tune, hoping that either time would fly or the goblins would find him.
He decided to take a look at the maps, but it appears that if there was a map about the goblins, it clearly wasn't with him. The last one marked before the ramp, or at least was what he could deduce. He looked for the tracks, but they had disappeared. Kneeling down and using his basic deduction skills he determined that there once were tracks, but someone managed to remove them.
Before he could stand up the cave started to shake. First a pebble fell down, then another, and then five more, then a fist-sized rock, then five.
"Oh, Luna please no! I'm doing this for your sake! Why would you do this shit!" He started sprinting, but soon realized it wouldn't be enough. If he wanted to avoid being turned into jelly he was going to need magic. Using his entire blood system as a medium, he augmented his speed, making him faster that a hungry cheetah.
He kept running through the collapsing cave, occasionally teleporting (or blinking) forward to avoid a falling rock. He entered a cave that didn't look like collapsing and gave himself a respite.
He felt horrible, using magic on his body didn't happen without a cost. His veins marked themselves, growing so big that he feared they would burst open. The nausea forced him to vomited his last breakfast, a tasty eggs and bacon sandwich, and the bile produced a pungent scent that filled the cave. Recovering himself he noticed that a sharp rock had hit his left shoulder, leaving a bruise that immobilized his entire arm.
"Great." He he said sarcastically as he went for his medkit and removed a small syringe filled with a creamy white substance. Removing the lid he injected it into the bruise. A minute later he felt no pain whatsoever and his arm back to normal. He put his medkit back inside and continued walking. He took out one of his MREs and started chewing. The cold, crunchy and tasteless meal helped him recover from his walk. "They should have given me at least a couple of granola bars."
He heard rumbling again.
"Oh c'mon! Can't I get a break?" He said as he swallowed. This was getting ridiculous, he would never stop running if every single tunnel collapsed.
But he was wrong, as it wasn't a tunnel collapsing. The walls exploded as hundreds of green creatures filled the scenery. Most of them were armed with crude weapons but a couple of them were better armed, using a thin gold breastplate as armory. Others had several red cylinders tied with rope. A small group had bows, with rusted chitin arrows pointed at him.
"Oh goodie." He said without joy. "I don't suppose one of you fine men could point me to your king."
The pale green minions looked at him. One of them stepped forward. The shiny golden sword made him think that this was a leader.
"What business does a Hume have in our realm?" It said with a squeaky voice.
"I came here with a message to your king, I mean no harm." He said, sweat and anxiety pumping his adrenaline. He could take them out in a fight, he was sure, but he would rather not risk it. The paperwork would be worse. "I'm serious. Could you take me to your leader?"
"If you truly have business with the king, then why did you collapse the main tunnel?" The goblin leader said.
"I didn't, I swear! I was in the middle of that tunnel and suddenly there was a large earthquake and rocks were falling down on me!" He responded with an irritated tone. He really wanted to avoid a fight here and it seemed these squishy things were spoiling for one.
Bit he got lucky, for the goblin seemed to believe him, as he nudged with his sword to move toward the light. He obeyed, and soon had the entire army at his back.
The cave where the Goblin King sat was very large. It was at least ten kilometers, if not more, in diameter. The center hall stood in a pillar of chipped rock, and in this unsafe rock stood a giant golden chair atop a pile of skulls. In this chair sat a fat deep green monster wearing a fur coat. His double chin stood out for having several blisters, and his head was covered with an iron circlet.
"Well, well, well. Look what we have here! A human, in these parts!" He spoke with a booming voice. The crude scratched houses surrounded he place, and every single creature was looking at the king. Laughing ensued for no logical reason.
"And what would a human have in my kingdom, I ask." He continued. He looked sternly at Shield Heart.
"I have come on a mission issued by the Princesses of Canterlot." Responded the human.
The king burst with laughter. "Really? And what could those women want? Hmm?"
"They sent me here to retrieve the Lunar Medallion, stolen from the vaults of the castle during a turmoil long ago. I am Shield Heart, Commissioner of Equestria."
"Oh! I believe you mean this medallion?" Said the monarch as he untied something behind his neck.
His objective was hidden behind that mass of a double chin. Stained with fat and sweat, the silver coin was visible to Shield's eyes. His mission was at an end, if he could take it from the Goblin Mass.
"I believe this is what you came for?" Mocked the king.
"Why yes, yes it is. Now if you would be so kind as to return it..." He was interrupted by the booming laugh of the small monsters.
"If you think I will give this to you then I believe that Equestria has sent the dumbest man they could! This is mine, my people took it from that useless child who owned it. Therefore by goblin law it is mine forever!"
"I believe we could come to some sort of an agreement. What can I offer you kind sir in exchange of that medal?"
"How about..." The goblin with the golden sword started muttering to his ear. The king's eyes widened, looked at the Commissioner with fiendish eyes.
"Most interesting." He muttered aloud. "My captain tells me that you are another assassin, sent to exterminate me and my people."
"What? That's ridiculous! Why on earth would Equestria seek to destroy you?" Asked Shield.
"Various people have come after me." Said the king as he picked up a bunch of skulls. "First came a preacher talking about peace." and he placed one skull in a spearhead. "Then came a spelunker, who was supposedly charting the cave." And he placed another skull. "And then a scientist. And after him came an attack!" He spat as he crushed the third skull.
"Fifty guards came, wearing their pearly white armor, and none of them returned! We murdered every single one of them. And now they send a policeman, thinking he could finish the job. Ha! Why should I believe you if you are armed?" He spat.
Shield immediately realized he was doomed to at least a few scars. There was no way in which he could free himself out of this without thinning the population. They were really spoiling for a fight.
"You know what, we are going to kill you, and then we will use your skin as a banner, and tomorrow we teach those monsters what it means to enrage Krenko the Goblin King!" Said the monarch triumphantly. The cave exploded with thunderous cheers as the king looked at Shield. "So farewell Shield Heart, Commissioner of Equestria, your death will be slow and painful so try to enjoy it."
While the king gave his speech, Shield thought of options. He needed to escape with the medallion, but he couldn't think of a way out. Then he thanked the goblin's simplicity as he noticed a sign over a tunnel that was marked: to the forest.
As the monarch ended his speech, Shield blinked in front of the medallion, snatched it from him and blinked once more toward a narrow wooden bridge.
The entire town exploded with shock and rage as they began chasing the poor enforcer. He tied the medallion to his neck and withdrew his pistols.
His storm of crimson bolts helped him get through the bridge. Each hit forced a goblin to drop into the deep chasm below them. He counted at least fifty hits, but it wasn't enough for each downed goblin ten more took its place. One of the arsonist bastards threw a pack of red cylinders, which landed ahead of Shield. The thing was bound to explode any minute.
Using a technique taught to him by an insane soldier, he shielded his boots, jumped and crouched before the explosion. The dynamite exploded, killing at least ten goblins, and launched Shield forward. He was about fifty meters short before the explosion, but now he was just ten short.
With another flash he teleported himself to safety. He landed on his feet, but still skidded off due to the momentum he already acquired. At the moment of the explosion there were at least twenty goblins on it plus the ones caught in the blast, and they all fell down. He was out of the fire, but he was still on the frying pan. Goblins were renowned for their ability to climb, regardless of where gravity would send them.
Shield Heart began his barrage again. Most shots hit the pale green mass, dropping more goblins than a pigeon with diarrhea.
He started running once more, knowing that soon he would be overwhelmed. It was an hour of running that made Shield rethink his life. He holstered his pistols and withdrew Blasto. He ejected the smoke canister and put in an explosive one. He used his magic to delay the explosion. He reloaded and repeated this pattern four times, reducing the timer for each mine he placed.
As soon as the goblins were on him, he changed to Maggie and began taking potshots. He held them off until the canisters exploded. He expelled a smoke canister mutated with mustard gas as soon as the rocks began falling. In seconds, he was staring at a wall of rocks and hearing the screams of agony as the poisonous air.
"Hell yeah! Take that bastards! You never mess with the Shield!" He sang out as he danced around, but ended as soon as he saw the poison seep through the rocks. Ten minutes later, he grabbed another bite from his rations to recovery his strength and looked at the medallion.
It was in horrible condition most of the silver was faded, probably due to the constant rubbing of the skin the moisture and the fat. The chain was rusted so much that it was bound to break in any second. He decided to take it off and put it in one of the inner pockets in his duster. He ventured forward, hoping to see the light of day any second now.
Ten minutes later he came to a fork where the goblin captain, along with forty other monsters, were expecting him.
"What the fuck! How did you guys survivee?!" He asked. The answer was unexpected, as all goblins howled and disappeared behind a tornado of green fire. From the flames emerged forty-one black, not black as in dark brown skin but actually black, men with blank blue eyes and green insect wings. They we clad in goblin armor, and still held the weapons.
"Do you have any idea how long it took us to indoctrinate the entire clan?" Said the captain wielding the golden sword. He was taller than the rest.
"Let me guess, ten minutes?" He mocked. "Goblins are crafty, but are not known for their resistance to magic."
"Fool, it took us two months! We had to kill both the humans and the goblins! It has taken several months of planning, we were already on the final stage!" It screeched.
"And how we're you planning on using photophobic creatures in broad daylight?" He asked smugly.
"None of your business monster! We have heard of you, the Great Chimera Toreador, and we will not let you escape! Your body will stay here forever!" He shouted. Five changelings lept forward, hoping to catch him off-guard. But he was more than ready, he took a step forward and withdrew his pistols in an x formation. He fired at the farthest of the group, hitting both their heads. They fell down like ragdolls.
He increased the intensity, knowing that it was either them or him.
The next three perished behind a hail of crimson, their armor pierced by the magic bullets. Another quartet advanced forward within melee distance, but were vastly outmatched. Shield had already changed his right hand to Arby as he threw Silver high in the air. Using his spare hand he tossed Riot high onto the air and caught Silver as it fell.
He slashed forward, the wide arc of steel managed to hit the two on the right. He third one reacted, using his sword to block the arc. The fourth one didn't even get a chance, as his face exploded with a crimson bullet.
He began sparring, blocking a jab and countering with an over-head strike. The sword was blocked, but the sneer from the insect man was silenced as Riot lowered from the sky and decapitated him. The two remaining swordsman recovered from the attack, and went in for more.
The one to the left was decapitated as Shield used his left arm to lift the weapon and spun around like a tornado. The last one managed to back off, propelling itself with its wings. It dashed back to the front against an unprotected man.
The rusted sword pierced through his duster, leaking blood as it went out. Half a second later he was fighting a monster. Shield had sheathed his cutlass and was wielding Riot with both hands. The first block split the sword, and the following strike split him unevenly in two.
"Fire at will!" Shouted the commander as his soldiers produced some weird weapons that looked like assault rifles. Our hero had minutes to react, he produced a magic tower shield and braced himself. The pain made it even harder to focus on his magic. As soon as he felt the barrage stop he went for Blasto. He loaded an explosive shell and fired, but his shot deviated to the right.
The explosion knocked out fifteen soldiers, but the rest had reloaded and restarted their suppressive fire. Shield had to summon his defense once more, but came five bullets too late. They all buried themselves in his stomach, but they only burned his skin.
He lobbed another canister into the air, hoping to hit anyone. He did, five enemies were caught in the blast, but the enemy retaliated. One of the monsters was sporting a larger weapon with green rods. He flew high and fired a green fireball.
The projectile landed in front of the Enforcer, and it sent him flying backwards. As soon as he landed on his feet another one exploded. This time he was ricocheted backwards toward the expanding mustard gas. He crashed against a wall and fell face-first. Holding his breath he managed to recover. He finally had a plan. He needed to conserve his explosive canisters, so he planted Riot in the ground, loaded Blasto with a smoke canister and charged.
He saw his enemy fire another shot, so he braced his feet, jumped just in time and Explosive-Jumped once more. While in the air he threw three flammable smoke canisters toward the crowd. Dropping Blasto, he slashed the changeling's throat with Arby and pulled the pin on one of his grenades. Not many survived the explosion, with the large amount of flammable gas it was impossible to escape.
The commander and two fellow soldiers emerged, patting down the flames on their skin. The agonizing screams of their fellow warriors could not be dismissed, but they were still not free. Their enemy was landing with two pistols in hand.
He dropped from the sky while firing bolts at an astonishing speed. One of them lost his arms, while the other lost a leg. The commander managed to get off the blast and lost only a finger.
Shield landed with Arby in hand. And ready to end his threat. He dashed forward and initiated combat with a froward slash, but his opponent blocked and retaliated by using the pommel as a club.
Shield backed off, regained himself and pushed onwards. His flurry of swings were deflected, but his enemy was getting winded.
In a desperate attempt Shield was blown away by a shockwave produced from the captain's hand. Five seconds later the man with the golden sword realized why this was a bad move. The force had reunited Shield with his claymore. He charged and began the final assault.
The commander had abandoned all hope and decided to retreat. He began flying as fast as possible, hoping he wouldn't get shot.
Infuriated, Shield chased him, recovering Blasto while at it. Using one hand to wield Maggie, he shot the left wing, which evaporated immediately. His opponent fell down in fromt of a cave labeled: frank and family.
"Any last words?" Said Shield.
"You won't get away with this, my death is nothing compared to the coming storm. The invasion on Canterlot is nothing! Nothing compared to what my dear queen has planned for you!" Spat the commander, dark green blood spewing out of his mouth.
Shield then buried Riot in his opponent's chest and used Arby to behead him. He then pushed the body into the cave.
"There, that was easy." He said. But he then heard a low growl, then five more. They were coming from the cave. Shield managed to peer deep into the cave and saw three eyes in a triangular formation.
"Bollocks." He said under his breath.