My team and I exited the train after arriving in Ponyville. Looking back at the train, I still couldn't get over how ridiculous it looked. I preferred the trains that ran elsewhere in the country.
Leaving the platform, we got a lot of curious looks from the locals as we headed towards the large oak in the center of town.
The thirteen of us were wearing dark blue trousers made of a durable material similar to denim, black button up shirts, brown dusters, and black stetsons. We were probably quite the sight, moving with precision in a loose formation, our eyes roving over the town.
A few ponies waved as we passed, which we returned with a smile as we passed.
"Seems like a nice, quiet town." Shadow Mark said.
"At the moment. This place is by the Everfree, so who knows what we will have to deal with." I replied to the saberhorn stallion.
Soon enough we had reach the giant tree turned library.
Magic can be amazing sometimes.
Opening the door we stepped inside.
There we found six mares and a young drake.
"Afternoon." I greeted. "How is everybody doing?" I asked.
"Hello, we are doing fine." A lavender furred unicorn mare replied. "I am Twilight Sparkle. Ranger General Stryke I presume?" She asked.
I nodded. "In situations like this, call me Talisman." I said, holding out my hand.
"Then call me Twilight." She replied shaking my hand.
"So I am right in assuming these are your friends?" I asked gesturing to the group.
"Yes. These are Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Spike." She said, gesturing to each in turn.
I nodded to all of them.
"Okay, this is one of the situations where the Ranger General hat goes on." I said. "The overall purpose of the Equestrian Rangers is as a Quick Reaction Force to deal with any and all threats to the security of Equestria. Our response will be proportional to the threat. If it is something we can sort out by talking it out, then we will. But if the situation escalates, or if the threat comes at us with lethal intent, we WILL respond in kind. Our secondary mission is a security detail for all of you. Now, before anyone complains, we will do our best to keep out of your day to day lives. But if something happens, at least two of us will be glued to you at all times with the exception of Twilight. She is a trained battlemage. I know she has the skill set to hold her own." I said before turning to Twilight. "The Princesses are going to have a warded training ground built. Once that is done, I will be working with you so that you will hopefully react instead of freeze when things hit the fan."
"You expectin' trouble Ranger?" Applejack asked.
"Plan for the worst, hope for the best." I replied seriously. "As long as you have a plan for how to react when things go south, you can get through just about anything." I said, my Rangers nodding in agreement.
"Now as far as the Rangers that are assigned to you, I did my best to find somepony who I hope will be a good fit, personality wise. You can ask for assistance on your day to day work, but keep in mind we will be performing regular patrols around town as we will be doubling as the local law enforcement." I said.
"That's good. The last officer we had retired a few months ago." Rarity said. "We generally don't have much trouble here in Ponyville though."
I nodded. "That is my understanding. I expect the worst we might have to deal with from the locals is the occasional pony that gets a little ti deep in their cups and has to sleep it off in a cell." I said.
"So where are you staying?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I was given a house on the edge of town that the ownership reverted to the Crown when the owner passed and had no heirs. A barracks was built on the property for the rest of the Rangers." I said.
"Ya mean Sunflare's place?" Applejack asked.
"I believe so. I have the paperwork, but other than a cursory glance at it, I didn't read up on the previous owner. Had a bit too much going at the time." I replied with a shrug.
"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked timidly.
"I inadvertently kicked a hornet's nest when it came to my attention that the Wonderbolts had bad leadership. I personally dealt with Spitfire and during the process uncovered a massive amount of corruption in the upper echelons of command that the Captain of the Guard and the Princesses were unaware of. Needless to say, Celestia is not happy with me." I replied, rubbing the back of my neck.
"WHAT!? That was you that got the Wonderbolts shutdown?" Rainbow Dash shouted.
"Yes I did. I personally rescued Soarin, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Corporal Blossom from the Don of Las Pegasus. While Soarin was recuperating I visited and talked with him. Something that not even his teammates did. He told me about a lot of the things that happened at the academy. I asked him why things were done that way and he told me it was just how things were done. He had tried to raise the fact that it wasn't right with his superior, but Spitfire just said she would take it under advisement. When we searched her office we found complaint forms that date back over forty years about the way things were done. After checking the records, we found that all of the recruits that submitted formal complaints wound up washing out shortly afterwards and wound up stuck in menial, dead end jobs. This was done with the blessing of the high command and without Princess Celestia's knowledge. She went with Captain Armor and I to address the situation. Once the house cleaning is done, there will be no notice inspections of every unit conducted randomly by the Princesses and the Captain of the Guard. No more nepotism and no more favorites. You earn your place or you're out." I explained.
All of the Bearers were stunned at this.
"You know my brother?" Twilight asked.
I nodded. "I do and he said to say that he sends his love and is happy that you finally found some friends." I said with a smile.
Twilight smiled, a blush dusting her cheeks.
"So, now that the overview of our mission has been given. Time for some introductions from the team." I said.
I took a deep breath before starting. "As I said my name is Talisman Stryke, and as I'm sure you have noticed, I'm not exactly from around here. I showed up here almost a year ago now outside of Stalliongrad. The ponies there helped me get on my feet and I returned the favor by assisting with odd jobs around the village over the winter. Once the train started running again, I made my way to Las Pegasus, figuring that I could start doing work as a bounty hunter. Wasn't even in town for six hours when I rescued a colt from his parents' burning restuarant / house. That is when I found out about the Don. I talked to the sheriff and found out the Soarin was Missing In Action and most likely captured by the Don's group. I had asked if the Wonderbolts or the local Guard detachment were going in to get him. I was told that the two Wonderbolts had already left town, not wanting to upset their schedule and the commander of the garrison didn't want to send his men up against a four hundred plus year old dragon and his group. I said I would handle it and asked for transport. When I arrived at the caverns that were the Don's base of operations, I saw a military transport and seven ponies, six in Guard armor and one alicorn. The five stallions were quickly killed and the one female Guard was wounded. Both the guard and the princess were captured and dragged inside. I then spent the next hour or so making my way through the caverns eliminating any hostiles using suppressed weapons and my combat knife. I found the Don in the central chamber, eliminated the six henchmen, tried to talk the Don down, and wound up sending a tungsten pellet through his skull. I released the three prisoners, we exfiltrated the caves and after loading the fallen Guards into the transport and headed back to the town and to the hospital. Corporal Blossom wound up losing her leg just above the knee and Soarin is on flight restriction to let his wing heal. Princess Cadenza had to, and is still seeing counselors to help her deal with the ramifications of going off half cocked like she did. After being summoned to Canterlot, Princess Luna is most impressed with me and Princess Celestia is not happy with the hornet's nest I stirred up." I said.
"How did you use a piece of tungsten to take down a dragon?" Twilight asked. "Adult dragon's are supposed to have nearly impenetrable hides."
"Normally they do. But I am a Materia Master." I said, channeling energy into my Lightning Materia, causing my arm to be enveloped in blue-white lightning. "I used the Gaussian principles to accelerate the piece of tungsten to hypersonic velocities and fired it into his open mouth." I explained.
"So basically you used this Materia to create a linear induction coil?" Twilight asked.
I nodded. "Full marks Twilight. I basically turned my arm and hand into a railgun." I replied, getting a smile out of the mare.
"Did you have to kill them?" Fluttershy asked quietly.
I sighed. "If there was a chance to resolve the situation peacefully, I would have taken it. But the thing you have to understand is that the Don and his organization were some of the worst individuals out there. Extortion, kidnapping, and murder were standard operating procedure for them. Every single one of them had bounty on their heads, dead or alive. I collected over eighty bounties in less than an hour and got twenty more over the next month when I mopped up what was left of the group. Las Pegasus is finally free of the threat posed by the Don and his organization." I replied. "Something you have to understand about me is that I was a professional soldier for over a decade on my world. My job was to go and kill the people that were a threat to my nation and the rest of the world."
"How many have you killed?" Applejack asked.
I shrugged. "Never kept a tally of confirmed kills when I was in. But with the ones in Las Pegasus, I would estimate my kill count is nearing two hundred. My unit was in some of the worst fighting in the early days of the wars we fought and we had a lot of people trying to kill us." I replied honestly.
"Why did you go to war?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"About sixteen years ago, a terrorist attack resulted in the deaths of over three thousand civilians in less than a couple of hours. Two of the tallest buildings in the world fell and the nerve center of my nation's military was heavily damaged. Two days later Operation Enduring Freedom started and we took the fight to the terrorist group and the nation that supported them. When the bombs fell and my world burned, we were still fighting them." I explained, getting horrified gasps from everyone else in the room at the casualty numbers.
"I fight for freedom and to protect those that can't protect themselves. Those of us who wore the uniform call ourselves Sheepdogs. We fight in the hope that one day our children won't have to." I added.
"Now I believe the rest of my team needs to introduce themselves." I said, turning the floor over to my squad.