> A New Land
>  by Sawtoothetherium
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> This strange new place
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Star Gazer, a unicorn mare of average height, slim build, sky blue coat, whiteish mane and tail, happy and excited eyes. She bore the cutie mark of the Taurus constellation, due to her expertise in reading the stars. She had on her a satchel with a notebook, quill, inkwell, map with empty space, star chart, and a spyglass. She was a natural explorer, and now she was an official one. She was told she was going on an overseas expedition to explore a new land discovered by a wayward trade ship.

This ship was caught in a storm and thrown off course far to the east, and they had come across a foreign shore. They didn’t come across any natives but they didn’t go very far inland. They showed up three months behind schedule and they announced that a new land had been discovered in the east. This had emmediately brokered investigation by explorer guilds around the known world. They had all begun to fund their own little exploration fleets, the Equestrian Explorers Guild had chosen her as one of the explorers, and she had been honored beyond anything she had ever felt. Her parents were ecstatic when she told them of the expedition, her mother had worried a bit but was happy for her anyway’s.

Star Gazer stood atop the deck of the ship, her eyes wide, excited and searching. The coast of this new land had come into view just a few minutes ago and she hadn’t stopped staring at it since it first appeared. She had practically been skipping around the deck for ten minutes before calming down enough to actually take a good look at the coast they had been approaching.

“You done staring.” Came a voice behind her.

Turning around she found her comrade Compass Rose. She was a mare with a dull red coat and a dark grey mane with a compass rose on her flank. She was the mapper of the group, in charge of mapping the areas they explore. She had much the same equipment that Star Gazer had, except she had a charcoal stencil for correcting any mapping mistakes she made. She was a happy mare with a little less of an excitement factor. She was more calm about what was happening than Star Gazer, she loved it as much as she did, but she wasn’t skipping about the deck in excitement.

“Hardly.” Star Gazer says to her. “You don’t seem to be excited enough. Are you bored by our expedition?”

“No, of course not, but I don’t need to be jumping around like a filly on her birthday.” She jabs. “There are several hours yet before we land, so calm down, save your energy for the hike ahead.”

After a bit of debate Star Gazer finally relented and came belowdecks with her comerades. They passed one stallion with a backpack in front of him with several pieces of equipment in front of it. He had numerous daggers, two swords, several throwing knives, a machete and a crossbow with several hundred bolts. He had two water canteens, a bedroll, a tent, a cloak and broad brimmed felt hat to go with it. He was the muscle of the group, his name was Broadsword, he was part of the royal guard but he had been discharged because his superior officer didn’t like him. He had made a living by working for various clients as a mercenary until the Explorers Guild had offered him a job.

“Hey, Sword.” Compass Rose called to him as they passed. “Are you checking your equipment again?”

“Readiness is a must for survival.” He tells her. “It’s good to see you are confident Rose, I hope it serves you well.”

“It will.” Rose tells him. “I’ve finally gotten Star down here.”

“So you’ve achieved the impossible.” Broadsword exclaims with mock surprise. “Praise be to you, you have tamed the beast.”

“Oh shut up.” Star says to him. “She may have tamed the beast but the beast tamer has an aching need to be tamed.”

This drew a slight blush to Rose’s cheeks and a chuckle from the oblivious Broadsword. It was obvious to everyone else on the ship that Compass Rose had developed an attraction to the ex-soldier, but he remained oblivious to her attraction, much to her relief. Sword was good at fighting and reading intense situations, but not emotions, he had no idea what Star really meant by that phrase and simply thought it was a jab with nonsense.

Broadsword was an attractive young adult stallion only about a year and a half older than Compass Rose, he had a forest green coat coupled with an oaken brown mane and tail. He wore a thick, hardened leather jerkin over a dark green woolen shirt with the sleeves tucked into hardened leather bracers that covered his forearms. He had a similarly colored pair of pants tucked into leather boots. He would also wear a belt and cross belts to hold his weapons and he was very effective with all the weapons he carried. He was built heavily with enormous muscles due to his military training.

So Rose’s blush went unnoticed by the stallion so she was safe for now. They moved on. They passed a mare who was also busy checking and organizing her equipment, only this wasn’t combat and bush clearing equipment, it was medical stuff along with a tent and sleeping bag. She had numerous bandages, slings, neck braces, limb braces and some medications. She was the group medic, she had a dark blue coat and purple mane with a Caduceus on her flank, (The rod with the single serpent). Her name was First Aid.

After her came Cold Ration, the cook for the group. He had a set of kitchen knives, a cutting board, a short folding table, a small spit for holding his pot over the fire, rations and extra cutlery. He was a small but toned stallion with a grey coat and a grayish-blue mane. He had a kitchen knife on his flank as his cutie mark.

Compass Rose and Star Gazer reviewed their own equipment, and soon found themselves hearing the sailing crew announce that they were about to land.