The Faustralian Backtrack

Chrome Blade felt the rocking of the ship as it docked on the edge of the Faustralian Outtrack. He had the same strive as many before him- a fresh start. Some ponies came there to explore, too, or "end with a bang," but Chrome was there to find a good camptown, and set up a blacksmithing shop. Here in the Backtrack, with its rich minerals, and hazardous creatures in a treacherous, diverse biome, Chrome was sure that many a pony would want some of his armor or weapons.

He began to imagine the wonders he would see in the Backtrack, if all the rumors were true. Dragons, dinosaurs, zombie ponies, ancient tombs, volcanoes...

He might even find his cutie mark.

As Chrome Blade put on his hat that he had had since he grew up in the Mild West, he noticed other ponies had taken the voyage/pilgrimage to the Backtrack, as well. His curiosity sparked for a split second- who were they? What did they feel that the Outback offered them?

Then his curiosity was gone.

(No point in loitering around here.)

Chrome stepped off the boat, and onto the dock. He found it interesting how the intense heat caused a slight boiling effect on the water that splashed upon the dock from time to time.

May stepped lightly off the boat, strolling away from the dock and towards the town. As she approached the beginnings of the buildings, she checked her cloak, making sure all her weapons were still there.

Daggers, check. Throwing stars, check. Hoof arrows, check. Shurikens, check. Sais, check. she finished, glancing around to make sure nopony was staring at her. She reached into her cloak's side pocket and pulled out her favorite dagger, throwing it up and catching it by the hilt.

Sandy jumped off the boat, grinning with excitement. He checked his saddle bag- compass, map, rations , journal and of course, his goblet. So this was Faustrailia! He couldn't wait to find all the treasure here! He'd be the greatest treasure hunter ever, as was his dream. He had already found an ancient temple, so it was only a matter of time until he came across something else.

As he walked along the dock, he noticed the water bubbling. This already seemed adventurous! He'd find lava pits like this, and after a long and fulfilling journey he'd go home. His parents had let him go on his own- he was 16 after all, he could handle himself. He saw another pony looking into the water, a stallion who looked about his age. This guy looked cool. Sandy was pretty outgoing, so he had little difficulty approaching him.

"The water looks pretty hot, huh? To be honest I find it encouraging- I'm going to be an explorer after all. This reminds of all that I'm going to see! Sorry if this seems out if the blue, but what are you here for Buddy? This place has lots of stuff for lots of different ponies."

(Note: Sandy is only 8 in canon, but I feel it'd be best to have him older for the AU. I can't have family restricting him but I equally need a plausible reason for him being here alone.)

Out of the corner of his eye, and using his odd ability to focus on objects not in the center of his vision, Chrome spotted a mare with a knife.
(Hmm, just an arrogant pony with a lust for dangerous activities. Motive for being here- pretty obvious. I'll have to keep a peripheral eye on her to make sure there're less than a sparse quantity of any negative future consequences.)

"The water looks pretty hot, huh? To be honest I find it encouraging- I'm going to be an explorer after all. This reminds of all that I'm going to see! Sorry if this seems out if the blue, but what are you here for Buddy? This place has lots of stuff for lots of different ponies."

Chrome Blade acknowledged the pony that had enough courage to talk to him.

"Me? Ah'm here to start up my blacksmithing business in a place that everypony needs it. Name your tool and I'll geter work on it, bub. For a fee, o'course."

Chrome started walking, assuming that this pony would follow. In a place like this, allies were always useful.

"I believe I didn't catch your name, bub."

Chrome saw potential in this pony. He could be a powerful asset if Chrome played his cards right, and if this newcomer had good cards to play as well.

(This one...hm. His height, gait, and demeanor display the qualities of ecstatic action, curiosity, and young age. I'd wager that he has around 7, maybe 8 years of life. It'll put me to permanent unrest if I let a colt like this to become unable to live more years than that.)

(To avoid a confusion suicide and retcon argument, along with completely messing with time malarkey, Sandy's an 8 year old colt again.)

Sandy trotted beside the new pony. Wow, he'd only been here a couple of minutes and he'd already made a friend.

"My name's Sandy Hooves. What's yours?"

This new pony was cool alright. The accent was pretty fun to listen to, and a blacksmith is certainly useful for an explorer. Plus, Sandy felt that he'd need somepony to help him if he got in trouble. He followed him down the dock out of a lack of knowledge of what to do. He saw a scary looking pony walking away with a pointy stick. He made a mental note to avoid her.

As they walked, Sandy noted down in his journal what had happened so far. The trip, the new pony and the scary mare. He turned to the stallion.

"So, if you're gonna set up a shop here where are you gonna get a place to set up?"

((OI! Mc! You skipped me! :p))

May glanced about and saw two ponies conversing openly. She smirked at the terrified expression of the little one. The two were a funny pair, and May swore she heard the older one was a blacksmith. A blacksmith could be useful, she might lose a weapon and new a new one, or need her current ones sharpened. She twirled the knife, sticking it back in her cloak.

Discreetly, she looked at the two out of the corner of her eye and turned to follow them. Following ponie without them knowing was one of her specialties. She could basically become invisible.

Rusty walked out of the travelling ship in a very enigmatic fashion, and then he proceeded to trip over a bug and tumble down the trotway onto the main dock. Hoping nopony saw him, he stood back up. Actually, when he thought about it, he realized that it didn't make a difference to him whether somepony saw or not.

Ah, so this was Faustralia? The land of rich minerals and....(Ow!) That water was hot!

Well, Rusty couldn't help but want to dig deep into the land and find more ingredients to use for his potions.

"bla bla bla BLACKSMITH"

Blacksmith, eh? Hmmm. (I could trade some armor for a healing potion or increased special talent potio-) This blacksmith didn't have a cutie mark.

Awkward....

Being different, Rusty trotted up to the mare with the shiny shiny, only to be surprised as she pretty much turned invisible, then slowed up to see the blacksmith.

"Oh snapsicles! You're Chrome Blade? THE Chrome Blade??"

Rusty had heard a lot about this pony. Or, at least he thought he had....

A large thud could be heard on the gangplank leading down from the ship as Iced tumbled downwards. Though he had grown up used to most anything, his first time on a boat had been a stomach-turning experience and he grimaced as nausea built up from his stomach.

I think I might be sick at this rate, he thought, quietly groaning as he struggled to get his trembling legs underneath him. If I could make a couple inches forwards towards dry land...

In a show of gargantuan effort, Iced managed to crawl from the gangplank onto the dusty grounds of the Faustralian Backtrack and had to suppress crying tears of joy. Solid land is where I belong, he thought ruefully to himself, now feeling the strength to stand.

After he had composed himself, Iced took a cursory glance at his surroundings and spotted a stallion that looked about a year younger than him conversing with a toughened pony that had the make of a blacksmith. There was also a shimmer in the shadows that Iced could detect from the corner of his eye, but he couldn't see anypony when he looked directly.

Damnation, if it weren't for that old man I'd wouldn't be here in the first place, Iced cursed silently, eyeing the two ponies as they were joined by a third. This had better be worth it. Maybe it would be beneficial to party up for now.

Nodding approvingly at this course of action, Iced slowly but surely made his way over to the group of ponies standing nearby and could just make out the name "Chrome Blade" being said.

Chrome Blade liked it here already. Not even here for 10 minutes, and the peer evaluation was one of approval. That was new for him. As Chrome began to reminisce his past in the Mild West and the few years in Dodge, there wasn't much approval for his blacksmithing.

Then a rust-colored pwny joined the party. From his demeanor at meeting "the Chrome Blade," Chrome assumed that his hat that covered his broken horn shouldn't be taken off.

Then ANOTHER pony joined, being composed and detailed of various reds and blues, to create a "frozen fire" sort of effect. Unicorn, too.

He was about to ask this new pony for his name, but a sudden shake on the dry land they had gotten to had started. He saw a sign that said "Welcome to Gold Oats, Faustralia" be ripped off its post by a sudden gust of wind as the most magnificent and first dragon that Chrome ever did see fly overhead, chasing down a sky ship. Judging by the jolly roger on the mast of said sky ship, it was full of sky pirates that most likely stole something important to this dragon.

Sandy saw two new ponies approach. Yay! New friends! He was about to burst out in excitement but noticed Chrome looking up. Sandy did the same, and saw a dragon chasing a Sky Ship. He bounced up and down excitedly, seeing his first dragon. He quickly pulled out a camera and started snapping pictures of the dragon and the ship, as well as the other ponies. He then stored it in his bag.

"What should we do then? We can't let that dragon hurt more ponies!"

He looked around the other ponies. Chrome was evidently famous if oke of the new the new ponyies' reaction was anything to go by. The pony himself looked nice enough, with an interesting rust coloured coat. He then looked at the other one. He looked a bit like Sandy- a unicorn with two colours of mane. That was pretty cool.

"How'd you get your mane to do that, mister? It's really cool, I'd like to try it!"

May had to suppress a gasp as a dragon flew overhead. The little pony was snapping pictures and the others simply stared. May did too, noting the dragon's colors and size.

It wasn't the first dragon she had seen, and it probably wouldn't be the last. She gazed in awe at its beauty, remembering the details. It had long but elegant snout, and it was a sleek, raven black. The wings were leathery looking, but probably made of a strong substance.

Her searching eyes took up her focus, and she slowly became visible.

Iced stared at the sky ship, narrowing his eyes. The colors of the jolly roger looked familiar, but he couldn't be sure when the ship was so far up in the sky. Seeing the dragon, he was only mildly surprised. Dragons were common in the Canterlot Mountain range if only one were to transcend it's peaks and enter the many cave systems that lay within.

"What's a dragon doing all the way out here?" Iced questions aloud to himself, squinting his eyes to make out any finer details that he could. Cursing to himself, he made a motion as if he was going to chase them on foot before realizing that the other ponies standing around were staring at him. He suppressed a sigh and trotted up to join the rest of them.