Throughout the train ride, the grizzled General, Full Guard, shared war stories with the equally grizzled Monster hunter and his companions, Ian was surprised at how much combat there was in such a seemingly safe place, the old guard had faced enemies ranging from the bipedal mongrels, Diamond Dogs, to massive Dragons and survived every encounter, Ian was impressed, it was a list of foes as large as his own, and all done by a quadrupedal creature.
The train ride was calming to the warrior, but he couldn't help think about what other species of monster had arrived alongside the Jaggi cousins, he was dreading what would happen if one of the more dangerous species such as a Raging Deviljho or an Abyssal Lagiacrus, he feared what would happen if a pony stumbled upon either of them.
"Whats on yer mind kiddo? worried a namby pamby pony has beaten yer record?" the old pony snarked after a while, a wide grin on his face, Ian looked over to the general and grimaced once more before speaking.
"Fearing what would happen if some of the most dangerous creatures i have faced have made their way to equestria, some are so powerful the guild has needed more than the normal four hunters to hunt down, especially if they are lurking in packs of two or more like the Wroggi and its brethren" the hunter said.
Twilight, her friends, Spike and the CMC all gasped at this revelation, they had all, if they did not witness it themselves, heard the story of how the hunter killed four of the raptors single-handedly with an axe that morphed into a large sword, but to find out that there were creatures powerful enough to warrant more than four warriors of Ian's caliber to defeat.
The grizzled general nodded his sympathy to the hunter's worries before speaking up once more.
"I have had similar worries in the past, worrying what would happen if the dragons i was fighting defeated us and swept down onto Canterlot itself, i personally have found no way to prevent such worrying thoughts other than doing something else to take your mind off of it, 'scuse me for being so vulgar around the young ones, but a good roll in th' hay is a great mind wiper" Full Guard said, a lecherous grin upon his face.
Upon mention of the adult action, many ears and cheeks upon the train cart reddened(Ian was surprised to see how much redder Bic Mac's face could get, he never knew there was such a dark shade of the color), not even the guards were safe, Ian noted(Ian thought it was funny to see a pair of the guards look at each-other and blush even worse upon catching each-others eyes), regardless to say, the foals, the dragonling and even Pinkie Pie herself were oblivious(although Ian noticed that Pinkie's cheeks were a shade darker nonetheless and that the was more than likely feigning innocence).
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The rest of the train ride was in a much lighter mood after the adult joke that Full Guard dropped, jokes of many types were spoken along the course of the locomotive's journey, from simple knock knocks to brainteasers(most of which were from Twilight and baffled everyone except Ian, who got them right every time), eventually all the ponies told Ian to watch the windows, and he did, his mouth dropping in awe at the white city resting upon the side of a mountain.
Throughout his entire life, Ian had only seen two cities of similar caliber, the sprawling desert city of Loc Lac, and the coastal trading city of Port Tanzia, but neither had the beauty of this marble city on a mountain, as the train pulled off onto a side track leading directly to the castle Full Guard spoke up once more, a grin on his grizzled face.
"How ya likin' Canterlot so far Hunter?" Ian slowly looked at the general, the awestruck look still on his face.
"I have never seen such a serene looking city in all my life, instead of the hustle and bustle of traders and fully armed hunters, there is only the calm of a city that has not seen the horror of war in more than a generation" the hunter said solemnly, the general nodded slowly.
"Aye, the closest Canterlot has been to all out war was the Changeling invasion a while ago, they snuck in to take over during Cap'n Armor's wedding a few months back, almost succeeded, until their Queen did the silly thing of letting the strongest Shieldmancer in a generation and the post powerful Love Sage of all time, whom were also the bride and groom, get close enough to combine their magics, blasted the whole hive of the shape-shifting bugs throughout Equestria with a giant Love powered Bubble Shield" Full Guard said, gaining a sheepish smile and small blush from said Groom, Ian looked over at the Guard Captain with new-found admiration, not only could the unicorn create the strongest Shield spell this generation, but his wife was able to use love to overpower his abilities.
The train finished pulling up to a station alongside the Castle of Canterlot, from what Ian could tell, this was the barracks station, where all the Canterlot army could arm themselves and pile onto a train headed almost anywhere, but the thing that caught his eye most of all, was the congregation waiting to greet the hunter and his quadrupedal compatriots.
Along the sides of a wide red carpet stood Guards and Soldiers of all races and gender, all stood at attention, the guards were obvious, their pristine white coats shining in the sun, and their equally brilliant golden armor shone with the beauty of the giant ball of gasses itself.
The Soldiers however, had a different garb, instead of small, exquisitely polished golden plates, the Army of Equestria wore armor fitting a force that was regularly sent out to protect Equestria, their large and bulky plate-mail was dinged and scratched, obvious signs of participation in combat, rank was easily noticeable as those of higher ranks had personalized their armor, and those of lower rank wore the standard plate.
At the end of the pair of columns stood four figures, one of which wore the battle scarred armor of the Soldiers, and as Full Guard settled beside her, she gave the grizzled veteran a respectful nod and a loving smile, her coat was a deep blood red and her eyes a striking pale violet, a pointed horn rose through her helm and the mark on her flank was a blazing sword crossed with a sparking spear.
On the opposite side of the two Soldiers, stood Shining Armor, giving a short salute to the younger stallion beside him, the younger stallion held his salute for longer, showing that he was Shining's second in command, this stallion had a striking orange coat, contrasted by his bright blue mane, his mark was a lightning bolt over a blue shield.
Finally, behind the leaders of the two protecting forces of Equestria stood a pair of taller ponies, each was a contrast of the other, the shorter of the two was a deep midnight blue, her mane was a swirling cosmos of stars, she wore dark regalia and upon her flank was a crescent moon over a black blotch, rising from her forehead was a horn and resting upon her sides were a pair of wings, her beautiful cyan eyes warily watched the otherworldly visitor.
Beside her was easily the elder of the royal sisters, her coat was a very pale pink, almost white and her mane was a swirling miasma of pink, green and blue, settled upon her flank was a stylized image of the sun, her magenta eyes seemed to shine with glee when they settled upon Twilight before they flicked towards Ian himself, the large regal alicorn respectfully inclined her head to the Monster Hunter, at this, Ian stepped forwards, striding up to the regal sisters, he removed his helm(which he had replaced upon his head as they pulled up to the station, he wanted his first impression to be of a fearsome warrior) and bowed deeply to the regal alicorn sisters.
"Greetings immortal alicorn diarchs of Equestria, I am Ian, master rank monster hunter of Loc Lac and Port Tanzia, you humble me with your presence" the alicorns looked surprised at Ian's introduction, he was very much like Twilight had mentioned in her letter, in contrast to how he seemed after he stepped off the train, but their demeanours fixed themselves as they regarded the prostrate form of the hunter before them.
"Rise, humble warrior, we are Princesses Celestia and Luna Evermore, and we are humbled in the presence of a warrior that has felled many beasts rivaling, if not dwarfing the creatures we ourselves have faced liberating this land" spoke Celestia, her matronly voice calming the warrior, like a warm blanket of light upon his ears.
"We are sure thou hast acquainted thyself with Captain Shining Armor and General Full Guard, We would like to introduce thou to Leftenant Flash Sentry of the Royal Canterlot Guard and Leftenant General Ruby Aegis of the Royal Equestrian Army" said Luna, her beautiful voice as serene as the night.
"An honor, I'm sure" sarcastically stated Flash Sentry, which gained him a glare from his superior officers(all three of them) and his diarchs, a scowling Ruby Aegis spoke up next.
"Ignore th' lit'l prick, grew up in th' lap o' luxury 'e did, Royal Guard training didn' beat some manners inta 'im, ah still think the piglet should take a year in Army boot camp before 'e can be prop'ly considered secon' in command o' th' Guard, but still, nice ta meetcha Hunter, good to meet a foreigner who's seen as much combat as Full an' I have" said Ruby Aegis, her cockney accent oddly pleasing to the ear.
"A pleasure, Lieutenant General, I am humbled by such a greeting by both the Royal Army and the Royal Guard, now, i must tell you of precautions to make about the creature we have captive" Ian stated, giving a respectful nod to the Lieutenant General before looking to the princesses.
"Of course Master Hunter, come, may We see thy beastie? We are verily curious as to what kind of creature 'tis, to say We are excited 'twould be an understatement!" Princess Luna exclaimed with childish joy, almost clopping her hooves together in giddy anticipation, Princess Celestia smiled at her sister and shaking her head before speaking to the hunter.
"Please forgive my sister, she is stuck in the past and can be quite foalish at the best of times" celestia said, smiling serenely, Ian simply grinned at the diarch cheekily.
"'Twould not be fun getting older if you had to completely grow up, and sometimes, making no sense at all can brighten up even the darkest of days doing my profession" the hunter said, grinning all the while, Ruby and Full barked laughs of approval to the way of life, while Celestia shook her head slowly.
"You would have gotten on famously with an old friend of mine and his son, it is too bad that he died a long time ago and his son grew insane with the weight of his chaotic powers upon his psyche" the serene matron said, frowning sadly, Ian went to open the siding to the cage holding the Wroggi when he heard a screeching noise off in the distance, a noise Ian recognized all to well.
The screeches of a Qurupeco.