The Badlands. A Changeling filled desert. A place nopony wants to be. A place where a platoon of the equestrian guard was stationed. One of those guards was known as Alchem Alloy, Or Alchem to most.
Alchem was, naturally, an alchemist. He was one of the few that were in the equestrian guard. His main strength in alchemy was his uncanny ability to transmute nearly anything into weapons or armor. He was the leader of a fireteam of three others. This group consisted of, a zebra known as StarSpear, he was obviously very well trained in the art of spear combat.
The next pony was known as Tanker. Tanker was a pony that was built like, well, a tank. He was much larger than the average pony, and was quite skilled in hoof-to-hoof combat. He was also well trained with a greatsword.
Finally, we have Shining Armor, who after the fall of the crystal empire, lost everything and everyone that he loved. He was the only unicorn of the group, and he was quite skilled with both defensive and offensive spells.
This fireteam, under Alchems command, was going to go on a several week long patrol through the uncharted badlands. They had a basic plan to their route, though it would also require bringing along an extra, so that they may chart the route and the area round it.
As they begin to pack, Alchem began to make weapons and armor for everyone. He decided to make the armor out of chiton, and use mythril for weapons.
“Hey Alchem, mind making me an extra heavy greatsword for combat purposes, the heavier it is, the better it can smash through the changelings exoskeleton.” said Tanker
“Whatever you say, though it would greatly help if you could go and gather some more mythril from the scraps of metal over at the armory.”
“Sure thing” said Tanker as he walked out the door into the blazing hot desert.
“StarSpear, come here for a moment” asked Alchem.
“Whaddaya need?”
“What material would you prefer for a grip, rubber or hide?
“Could you use both? It would be great to have the traction of rubber, but the comfort of leather.”
“Of course”
Shining Armor, as usual stayed silent, only packing extra rations, an extra two medical kits, and as requested by Alchem, an extra thirty-two pounds of mythril. He also packed a picture of his loving wife and daughter. When he finished packing, he began to apply a mask of face paint. This made the enemy fear him, and so it was chosen that he would use his own blood and a small mixture of smooth gloss, sand, and tree sap. He applied this in a manner that would invoke fear into the hearts of those who opposed him. This was the way he wore his face paint on that day. That dreaded day.
“Shining... Shining Armor”
“What, do, you, want”
“We leave in five. Here is your armor.”
Alchem then began to put on his armor. He was at a combat disadvantage due to the fact that he was a pegasus, therefore he had to make his armor thinner and lighter than the rest of his team.
When they departed from camp, they had two extras with them. They had a mapmaker to document the lands so that they could learn of the changeling hive location if it was found, and they had a pony to cook and pull the cart.
They first went along the path that was given to them. There was already a beaten down path from previous patrols, but they were not going to follow it for long. Not long into the path, they had already encountered several piles of changeling corpses, some of which had some survivors, they were crushed to death and made into mulch to try to restore the badlands.
“Why do the changeling have so many numbers and can almost always outnumber us, no matter how many we kill?” asked StarSpear.
“Because they can reproduce in a matter of weeks. They aren't like us. They hatch themselves at a hive, while we have to mate, then wait seven months until were born, then we have to wait eighteen moons before the newly made ponies can join the guard, then they go through weeks of rigorous combat training, and then finally they are deployed. Though sometimes they don't get deployed to the battlefield, so that is also quite a large factor as to why we are almost always outnumbered.” explained Alchem.
“Hmm.”
“We should rest for now, seeing that Princes Celestia's beautiful sun is rising, and we don't want to cook ourselves for the enemy to feast, do we?” commanded Alchem.
They began to make camp, setting up tents, a dining area, and basic defenses.
“Shining armor, heat protection spell please” asked Alchem.
“Whatever you say, sir”
Shining Armor then began to focus his energy. He focused enough energy to last until after sundown, and he put up a thermal barrier, covering the entire campsite with the cool, refreshing dawn air.
“StarSpear, Take these Javelins, and go on watch. I will do it tomorrow. Then Tanker and Shining respectively”
“Of Course sir” responded StarSpear. StarSpear was generally put on watch because he couldn't sleep during the day, and he could be woken up at any time in the night to fight if needed. He also didn't sleep much anyway. So then he grabbed the javelins that Alchem made for him, they were made out of Sandstone, but had a sharp point on them. He stood at attention, awaiting further command.
“Hey Cookie, can we get some grub before it gets too hot out?” Asked Tanker.
“Sure thing sir, Today will be steamed apples and cinnamon, with some non-alcoholic cider.” Replied the cook, who called himself Cookie.
The sun slowly made its way through the sky, and it was taking some time. Alchem had remembered to pack everyone sun goggles, and that allowed them to sleep in what appeared to be complete darkness.
“Chow is ready!!” yelled Cookie. Everyone began to file towards the ‘mess hall’ as they called it, though it was really just a place that they had designated for eating. It consisted of a few benches, a portal leading to the thermal wasteland, though it was looking at a cliff face, so it looked pretty as well as providing a cooling sort of feeling throughout the area. Alchem had also constructed a counter for the cook to work on, and had a small hatch made in the thermal barriers so that he could cook things without the need for fire or any excess heat in the barrier.
After chow was over Alchem yelled “ Alright now everyone get some shuteye, we need to get moving as soon as the sun sets on the horizon.”
Then they all went to bed, Other than StarSpear, Who was still on watch.
Author's Note
This will be continued, Eventually.
