Ian had been granted a bed in Twilight's library for the night, the reply Twilight had received from the Princess stated that due to the late hour of the day(the sun was setting once the letter had been sent, after at least three checks for mistakes), it would be best to head for the capital city of Canterlot on the morrow, Twilight assured that Princess Celestia would send a train with an armored cell for the Wroggi as well as a few guards for extra protection.
After Twilight had moved the sleeping raptor into her basement(which was armored due to the volatile nature of some of her experiments, Ian later wondered why she did not test the spell that had summoned him in there rather than the main room), Ian decided to clean his Armour of the blood in Twilight's bathroom(Spike would later complain that he could not take a bath as the bathtub was stained red due to the blood) and afterwards had settled in for the night.
--------------------------
Ian awoke in the morning to the sound of birds chirping, the smell of pancakes being cooked, and loud music being blasted by one of Twilight's neighbors, needless to say, Ian was unsure what kind of mood to be in, due to the mixed feelings he gained from his various senses.
He replaced his armor upon his form and walked down the stairs of the living library(needless to say, Ian was astounded when he was told that the library was still growing, and would eventually create more rooms once it was larger) and followed his nose, which led him straight to the kitchen table, where he encountered a sleepy Twilight guzzling coffee down and Spike preparing the mouthwatering breakfast delight that Ian rarely had the pleasure of tasting.
"Good morning Twilight, Spike" Ian said politely as he sat on a short and sturdy stool made of a tree stump Twilight had retrieved from the basement for him(hilarity ensued the night before as the sheer weight of his armor caused a chair to crumble underneath him), the lavender unicorn cordially nodded in his direction, still nursing the quite large mug she was guzzling from(it was a humongous thing, as thick as spike's head and as tall as spike himself, from his frill to his toes and mare completely from apple wood, a barrel for all intents and purposes).
"Morning Ian, breakfast is almost ready" Spike said, sparing a small glance towards the warrior as he flipped the latest fluffy disc a second time before putting it on a nearby plate with a few pancakes already on it, Ian noticed a second plate upon the table, the remains of a small stack of pancakes sat upon it, waiting to be cleaned off.
Spike quickly finished off another pancake and placed it on top of the waiting stack, before pouring an orange syrup on top and garnishing with a small pat of butter, he placed the plate as well as a knife and fork in front of Ian before returning to the stove top, crushing a red gemstone and placing the shards into the remaining pancake mixture(Ian was again astounded when he first was told that Spike ate gemstones, and that they were uncannily common enough to be a staple of fashion for the ponies), the young drake then continued to make himself a plate of gemstone pancakes.
Needless to say, Ian dug into the stack of syrupy pancakes with little restraint, as the life of a monster hunter rarely gave one time to slowly enjoy their food, whether in town or in the field, one never knew when they would be called up for a mission or if a monster was nearby, Spike looked back as he finished cooking his second gemcake to see the hunter almost slam his cutlery on the table before giving a belch.
"Looks like someone enjoyed their breakfast" the dragonling quipped with a raised eyebrow as he watched Ian pat his stomach, a content look on his face, he then smirked at the purple dragon.
"I rarely get the chance to indulge myself like that, t'was great my good drake, i bet you could give the cooks in Loc Lac a run for their money" the warrior said, scratching at his chin, the drake in question looked away bashfully and returned to cooking his own breakfast, he looked over to Twilight before speaking again, "so what time do we depart for Canterlot?" the warrior asked.
"Not too long, the girls should be here soon, and then the eight of us will get on the train, a unicorn i am giving special lessons to will look after the library while we are gone" Ian took all this in as he stood from the table once more before heading upstairs to retrieve his gear from beside the guest bed.
Once he had attached his World's Demise to his back and the accompanying shield to his gauntlet he picked up his helmet before heading downstairs once more, once he reached the foyer the five mares had already arrived, but with a few extra ponies.
"I'm sorry Darling, but i couldn't just leave Sweetie Belle all alone, our parents are still on their latest vacation, one thing led to another, and before we knew it, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Big Macintosh were also coming" Rarity explained, Twilight sighed slightly as she looked over the four extra ponies that would be going to Canterlot with them.
"It's alright, it's not as if anything bad will happen in Canterlot, but having the Crusaders come with us increases the chances of trouble" Twilight replied, the three younger ponies smiling angelically, Ian could almost envision halos appearing above their heads, the larger red pony nodded stoically at the warrior, whom nodded back(the two seemed to had grown a comradery of sorts after the battle before introducing themselves to each other, the stallion also later stated that he had come along to keep his younger sisters out of trouble).
"Well, we don't really have much time to complain about what could happen, the train should be arriving in the station soon, we should collect that Wroggi thing from the basement and start heading there now" Spike said, Twilight nodded as she went downstairs to retrieve the raptor.
-----------------------
It didn't take long before the group of ten ponies, a baby dragon, a sleeping Great Wroggi and a monster hunter were on their way to the train station, oddly enough, Ian noticed the three fillies(Ian's ears still hurt after their collective introduction as the 'Cutie Mark Crusaders') all walked very closely to Spike, whom didn't seem to notice the attention he was getting by three girls his own age.
During their trek to the train station the large group had encountered many friends and the like, from the young unicorn Amethyst Star and her younger sister Dinky Hooves telling Twilight that they were heading to the library to Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom and Applejack's cousin Caramel Apple(whom tried to hide tripping as he walked up to the group) heading off to the apple orchard to do some work while the apple siblings were out of town for the day.
During the walk, Ian took notice that two of the large group were not talking all that much, Fluttershy was the acceptable of the two, as Twilight had mentioned that the shy pegasus rarely talked in such large groups, and when she did she was barely heard at all, the other however, was making even her close friend Rainbow Dash nervous, as the eccentric pink mare Pinkie Pie had not spoken a word and was deep in thought(oddly enough, Ian thought he could feel her gaze linger upon him in her thoughtful phase).
-------------------------
Once they reached the train station, the train was already pulling up to the platform, it seemed to be a military transport with a large cell attached to the back before the caboose, a small group of guards came out of the train to address the group, each had pure white coats, blue manes and golden armor, half of them were also mares, there were two representatives of each race in the squad, a fourth stallion came out of the train, this one also had a pure white coat, but his mane and tail were two toned blue, and his armor was accented by a pink star burst upon the lapel, upon his flank, unlike the other guards, was a blue shield behind a pink star burst much like Twilight's.
"Shiny!" Twilight exclaimed once she saw the fourth stallion, whom smiled at the sight of the lavender mare.
"Twiley!" he replied as Twilight ran up to him to give him a hug, the Great Wroggi still floating in the air behind her.
"What are you doing here BBBFF? i thought you were still in the crystal empire with Cadance?" the unicorn mare asked, Ian looked quizzical at the abbreviation, but he quickly deduced that this stallion was Twilight's elder brother whom was married to a princess.
"Princess Celestia said we had a beast and a VIP to transport, so i thought, 'why not? gotta keep Twiley safe'" 'Shiny' said with a smile to his little sister, Twilight was not amused with her elder brother.
"I can take care of myself for your information, Shining Armour" the lavender unicorn said, a hint of agitation in her voice, then she smiled once more giving him a familial nuzzle, "but it is good to see you nonetheless" she said, Shining Armour looked to the floating Wroggi.
"I'm guessing the raptor thing goes in the cell?" he asked, Ian took this as his chance to give the stallion a warning as he stepped forwards.
"Yes, but be careful when it wakes up, it can and will spit clouds of poisonous gas at you" the warrior said, making his presence known to the six guards and the ex-guard prince, whom raised an eyebrow at the unusually armored biped.
"And you must be this 'monster hunter' we are escorting, your armor and weapon look impressive, if unwieldy" came another voice from the train, out from the train stepped an older looking pegasus guard, his stature matching, if not exceeding Big Macintosh's, his grizzled and scarred muzzle gave him the air of someone you would not want to mess with, his coat was a dark burgundy and his armor looked much more protective than the golden armor of the identical guards, with full plates all along his back and sides, the armor was as equally marred as the stallion's face, it looked as though it had seen as much, if not more battle than the stallion himself, painted onto the plates over his flank was his cutie mark, a full helmet with a pair of spears crossed behind it.
"Name's Full Guard, I've heard much about you from what the princess told me her student put in her letter" the grizzled pegasus said, looking up at Ian, despite most ponies barely reaching his waist, Ian was surprised when the large stallion's head reached his chest, even the stallion's voice was about as booming as the man that taught the hunter all he knew.
"I admire a stallion who can kill a foe and not have nightmares, and from what the letter mentioned, you have seen enough to give even the most grizzled guard in all of history nightmares" the large stallion said, a large amount of admiration in the voice, "now come, tell me stories of your conquests on the train ride" he stated before marching back onto the train, needless to say, Ian was intrigued that there was enough battle to create such a grizzled warrior and followed the large stallion into the grossly undersized train car.