The place I call home, it's been ransacked by bandits any times. My friends, slowly, one by one became slaves to different bandit leaders, and I couldn't stop that. Now, my brother has been taken away as well... I won't lose another loved on to slavery, not anymore.
Twilight Sparkle, a lavender unicorn mare with a dark purple, pink stripped mane and tail, has lived in the town of Ponyville for six years of her life. The first three were peaceful, despite the banished Princess, Nightmare Moon, who came back for revenge on her first day of living in Ponyville to cause eternal night, nd the embodiment of chaos, Discord, trying to turn the town into the chaos capital of the world, her life was peaceful none the less. However, the past three years have been horrible for Twilight. Her town, the place she called home, was attacked by bandits who returned from the badlands, from far away camps they made, and killed many ponies there.
Despite her best efforts, she wasn't able to stop the bandits from taking her friends away from the town. Her friends were slowly taken away, raid after aid, to become slaves to bandit leaders. Most recently, Twilight has lost her brother Spike, a purple and green dragon, now a teenager, to slavery as well. Twilight's become fed up with the loss of loved ones, and has decided to find a gun for hire to help her.
~Twilight's home~
Twilight woke up in her bed, looking up at the wooden ceiling above her. "Yep. Still not a nightmare..." Twilight thought to herself, as she hoped every night, that the next day she would wake up, and find out that the days before the next were all a horrible nightmare. This was, sadly, not the case, as she woke up everyday, in the same battle torn town.
Twilight reviewed what she'd do that day, for ten minutes straight. After that, Twilight got out of her bed, ad went to her dresser to brush her mane, and put some clothes on. After finishing brushing her bed head, Twilight got her clothes out. Twilight got out underwear, and a bra, then put those on, clipping the back clip bra with her magic. Twilight then opened another drawer, and pulled out black shorts, which had a couple holes in them, but Twilight didn't care. Twilight then put a white tank top on over her medium sized breasts and bra, pulling it down completely. Twilight picked up a pair of pilot's shades, then went downstairs to the front door, towards a coat rack, and picked up a leather jacket, one that she took from a dead bandit after a raid.
In the last bandit raid, the battle was heated between the bandits, and some rangers that stationed themselves there. The rangers were a group of ponies, mares and stallions that trained themselves to be a proficient user of weaponry and survival skills. They were a great group, with a huge number of fifty members. Now, they've lost members to death, and are now at twelve members.
Twilight put on her shades, then put on her jacket, and left her library home, hoping to come back with the answer she wanted.
~Ponyville~
While walking through town, after she was out of her home, Twilight took note of the regular scenery, as her hands were in her pockets and her hooves tapped the ground as she walked. She passed the same scene for three years every time she left her home. She soon began to pass destroyed buildings, sick and homeless ponies, and piles of burnt or burning bodies. The once cheerful town, was now destroyed and turned into a town of sorrow and death, which sickened Twilight to her core.
Twilight continued her walk through town, until she reached her destination. She found herself in front of a cantina, which had a sign reading "Last call cantina" on the front door. Twilight made a fist, and then proceeded to knock on he door, and awaited a reply. After three minutes, a slot cover slid open, with a pair eyes behind the door, and the pony behind it said "We require a password Madame." in a sultry voice.
Twilight took a minute to respond, then finally said to the guard pony behind the door "Silencer." The guard pony was amazed, not many ponies knew the password, and decided to let Twilight in immediately.
~Last call cantina~
Twilight walked into the cantina, her hooves moving across the cold metal floor, while she kept her hands in the pockets of her jack. Twilight went to the bar, and sat on one of the bar stools and asked the bar tender "I'm looking for Ranger Steel Plate, I heard he's familiar with the badlands, or the wastelands of Equestria."
The bar tender heard Twilight's question, and said "Give me a minute to remember..."
Whilst all that was happening, a dark grey stallion wit a Mohawk walked up to Twilight, and said "Hey baby, wanna come back to my place to make some foals?" and placed a hand on Twilight's right thigh.
Twilight heard the question, and chose to ignore it, but when she felt a hand touch and rub her thigh, she quickly spun around to face the stallion and slapped his hand away. "Not interested." She replied, realizing Thunderlane was the stallion who wanted to have sex with her "Why don't you go find Cloudchaser of Flitter Thunderlane? I'm sure they'd be happy to have sex with you, but I'm not interested."
Thunderlane didn't look like he was, but he was actually decently drunk. "Come on Twilight, party a bit fer once!" He said, as he grabbed Twilight's wrist, wearing an expression that showed he wouldn't give up "Come on, right here and now. Let's do it!"
Twilight tried to push Thunderlane back, but he got closer to Twilight's face. Thunderlane was about to kiss Twilight, but both of them took notice of somepony grabbing Thunderlane by his shoulder. Now, a battle of leverage started between the stranger, who turned out to be a mare no less, and Thunderlane, with the mare winning after she threw Thunderlane towards a wall. Thunderlane hit the wall, and was pushed against said wall and head the stranger say to him "The mare said no son. Leave the cantina before this gets ugly, and by 'this' I mean YOU!" who then proceeded to literally throw Thunderlane out of the front door.
The mare walked over to Twilight "You OK ma'am, did Thunderlane try anything else?" The mare asked Twilight, holding out a hand for a handshake.
Twilight stood up from the bar stool, and shook the mare's hand "Yeah, I'm fine." She said, and took notice of the particular kind of armor the mare wore "Ma'am, I noticed that you're wearing a ranger's armor. Are you a ranger, if so can you take me to Ranger Steel Plate?"
The mare, a light green earth pony who wore dark green metal and leather armor, said to Twilight "Yep, I'm a ranger! I'm Ranger Earth Root, and why do you need to see Steel Plate?" Then pulled out a small communication device from her pocket.
"I need a gun-for-hire, and I was told he was one. Can you take me to him?" Twilight asked, taking her pilot's shades off "Is he nearby here?"
"Yeah, follow me." The ranger said, leading Twilight out of the cantina.
Cheerilee's schoolhouse...
The two mares walked towards the old schoolhouse, which was now surrounded by fencing with signs saying "BACK OFF!" though the ranger took Twilight beyond the fencing, closer towards the schoolhouse. Before the two made it about 20 feet from the building, the ranger stopped herself and Twilight, then pulled out a miniaturized megaphone, and said into it "Ex-Ranger Steel Plate, this is Ranger Earth Root. I've brought a mare who wants to speak with you!" towards the schoolhouse.
A stallion, a bit taller then a normal stallion, who also appeared strong but thin, came out of the schoolhouse, holding an fully automatic assault rifle. The stallion wore dark red metal, light weight, armor and said to the ranger before him "Did you find Cheerilee yet?!" as he raised his assault rifle, getting ready to fire at will.
From what Twilight saw of the stallion's physical features, he looked pretty strong, although he also did look lanky. Twilight also took note of the stallion's coat color; an almost dark green, his mane color being steel, or a shade of grey for this case, but it was steel none-the-less. Earth Root, still holding her megaphone in her hand, said to Steel Plate "We can't look for her Steel, it's either too dangerous, or she's probably been killed by bandits from their last raid three months ago!"
"No, we would've found her dead body then!" Steel Plate replied, keeping his assault rifle raised and ready to fire the rifle at any time. "She didn't die, if she did we would've found her before we threw her to the fire pits!"
Twilight stepped forward, keeping calm, given her current situation. Steel Plate's gun was now pointed towards Twilight alone, the barrel pointing towards Twilight's chest, Steel(as previously mentioned many times) was read to fire if he deemed it necessary. Twilight stopped walking the second the rifle's barrel was pointed at her. "My name's Twilight Sparkle." The lavender Unicorn mare said the dark green Earth Pony stallion.
Steel Plate kept his rifle raised, believing in the possibility he was going to be taken out of Ponyville and re-assigned to a new town, because one of his best friends brought Twilight to see him. "Tell me Ms. Sparkle, why are you here, why come looking for me at the old school house?" Steel Plate asked, looking Twilight dead in the eye.
"I came to hire your help." Twilight said to the stallion in the metal armor before her. "I need a gun-for-hire. I'm looking to go rescue my friends from Slavery. I need some one familiar with the wastelands, the badlands, and I was told you could help me."
"Well, Ms. Sparkle, I've got some of my own problems right now..." Steel Plate began, as he also began to lower his assault rifle "What's in it for me?"
Twilight took out some small bags, then tossed them to Steel Plate. Each bag held about two-hundred gold coins. "Six-hundred bits, and the chance to find a friendly dragon!" Twilight called out to Steel Plate. "But now I've a question for you!" She said, watching Steel Plate pick up the money she offered. "Why are you an ex-ranger?"
Steel Plate(at first) ignored Twilight's question, and placed the strap that held his rifle around and over his left shoulder, placing the rifle on his back. "Well Twilight Sparkle," the dark green earth pony stallion said to the lavender Unicorn mare "Shall we get a move on?" Steel Plate finished asking, walking towards Twilight.
Twilight smiled, then said to Steel Plate in a cheerful tone "Thanks for deciding to help me. How are we gonna find the bandits?"
Steel Plate finished his walk, and said to the ranger nearby "This will be rather private. Could you give us the privacy I require?" And with nothing more to be said, Earth Root just smiled and left for town. Happy to continue on, Steel Plate went back to talking to Twilight. "Walking to find your friends is too slow, and dangerous in the outcast fields. Let's take my M-ATT." Steel Plate explained, then motioned Twilight to follow him to a boulder nearby.
"What's 'M-ATT' stand for, Ranger Steel Plate?" Twilight asked, following Steel Plate towards the huge rock.
"That, my dear Twilight, stands for 'Mega-All Terrain Transport'." Steel Plate explained, opening a hollow rock which held a pair of keys in it. "And it's also cloaked right now, and it's my main mode of long distance transportation." After that last comment, Steel Plate pressed a button on the ignition key that made the boulder turn into a giant, four wheeled metal box, which held two turrets. One of the turrets was set atop the roof, allowing access towards all direction shooting. The second turret was set on the side, the left wall, of the vehicle. "Come on, I'll show you inside." Steel Plate said, walking towards his armored transport.
With that said, Steel Plate climbed on top of the giant vehicle, which stood at the height of an recreational vehicle, though it's length was slightly smaller, and the width of it was slightly larger than a recreational vehicle's. Steel climbed atop the roof of the M-ATT and opened a hatch that led to the inside of the vehicle, and jumped into it. Twilight, outside the M-ATT and on the ground, went atop the vehicle and jumped inside as well, and took notice of the inside.
There were several stations. One of them was the cockpit of the vehicle, where Steel Plate sat and got the M-ATT ready. Another station held a ladder, and a pod door, which both led to one of the two turrets on the vehicle. One station held a big metal box, with a circular screen on it, that station was a radar station. There was also a big storage locker, which held many weapons and survival supplies.
Up at the cockpit, Steel Plate called out to Twilight "Do you need anything before we go?"
Twilight nodded, and walked towards the passenger seat whilst saying "Yes, I need to get some supplies from my place. Can you take me to the library?" After that, Twilight sat down in the seat next to Steel Plate. After sitting down, Twilight noticed the navigational global positioning system installed into the M-ATT. Twilight's eyes grew with excitement as she saw that the navigational system ranged all of Equestria and Saddle Arabia!
While that was happened, Steel Plate drove the M-ATT towards the library, with the monster sized wheels crushing the fencing around the school, and would crush anything that would fall prey to the hulking tires.
Ponyville...
For anypony looking at them, they'd assume Twilight and Steel Plate were bandits considering Steel Plate was driving as fast as a mad man ready to see fresh blood trickle on his tires!
Steel Plate saw the library dead ahead, and slammed on the brakes before they crashed into the library with twelve tons of metal, and destroy the tree home. During their sudden stop, Twilight held onto her chair, as her shade were flung forward due to the momentum of the displacement of the moving vehicle. After they completely stopped, Steel Plate said to the heavily breathing Twilight "Here we are, please go get everything you need for the journey, and then we'll start our search for your friends."
Twilight took a minute to get up and out of Steel Plate's hulking metal death trap, and when she left the vehicle, she went directly to her room to pack clothes and find any extra food she could bring a long, even though she didn't know how long she'd be away from her house, and how long the trip would be. After packing everything, Twilight was heading out, but took notice of a framed picture of her and her friends, all together, close to one another, smiling at the camera. Looking at the picture made Twilight tear up, and one by one tears fell out of her eyes and down her cheeks. "Don't worry girls, I'm coming to rescue you. All of you." Twilight said to the framed picture, then turned to another of her brother, Spike, and said "Stay strong little brother, I'm coming for you too!" and then proceeded to leave the library, but before she could leave she heard gun fire coming from outside!