Damned Are the Guilty

It looked right out of a Saturday morning cartoon. Dozens of ponies walked through the streets while houses that looked like something Frank would see in a fantasy. From the station he could spy a house made of gingerbread, a post office and some other strange buildings. A castle composed of numerous crystals towered over the small village at the edge of his vision, a castle that he figured belonged to Twilight. But what drew his full attention was a feeling of...peace that washed over the village. A peace he hadn't felt in so long.

"Nothing special," he muttered aloud so that Twilight could hear. He ignored the look that he was certain the princess was giving him as he glanced down at himself, feeling naked without his weapons or body armor. Twilight had refused to give back any of his weapons or his armor, leaving him almost without any of his gear. And then there was the collar of magic, which he had never bothered to try and remove. It wouldn't come off easy.

"Figured you say something along those lines," Twilight shot back before she started to look around. Frank looked around as well, noting that the ponies on the platform didn't know what to make of him. There wasn't fear in their eyes, just uncertainty. He didn't know if he should be amused or insulted by their lack of fear.

Twilight waved to a group of ponies at the edge of the platform and instantly Frank could tell that they were her friends. Not from how happy she was to see them or how they all gave him the same look Twilight had given him, but their eyes. Eyes that held within them a hidden power, one that Frank didn't want turned against him.

"Sure you want to introduce me to your friends? Might accidentally hurt one of them," Frank warned Twilight.

"You still got the collar on? Then we're all good," Twilight replied as she walked forward, while Punisher calculated the distance he could get if he kicked her in the back of her head. The moment he did so, the collar flared to life and blazed through his body with magic. The collar's magic hurt like hell, but Frank remained rooted in place. He hadn't budged when the greatest heroes and villains of his world had tried to move him. Here wouldn't be any different. It was only when his skin started to burn that Twilight herself ceased the spell and gave him a look.

"Howdy Twilight. This the "problem" you told us about in yer letter?" the orange pony said as she and the others approached.

'Applejack,' Frank noted instantly, having been informed of Twilight's friends by the princess herself. Of course, she had only told him about all the "impossible" challenges that they had overcome in an attempt to try to get him not to mess with them. He wasn't intimidated in the least.

Applejack looked strong, but that was it. Rarity smelled like perfume and had a build that told Frank she would break if she tried to fight him. Rainbow Dash supposedly could fly so fast she could create sonic booms. Trouble, but not unbeatable. Pinkie had a large and beaming smile on her face, as if she could never stop smiling. They wouldn't get along. And Fluttershy wouldn't even look him in the eyes. She was no threat.

"Yes, this is Frank Castle A.K.A the Punisher," Twilight introduced. They all looked up at him, besides Fluttershy, and Frank replied with a cold stare devoid of any emotion. Pinkie was the only one that wasn't visibly affected by the look.

"Punisher? That's quite the funny nickname you got there," Rainbow Dash said with a laugh, trying to look brave. But she was only trying. She was scared. Frank had heard that same tone so many times from criminals that genuine bravery from any that approached him surprised him. "Why do they call you that? Do you make people sit in the corner when they do something bad?"

"No. I'm called that because by the time local law enforcement finds the corpses of the criminals I've punished, the amount of torture that I put them through before I executed them would make having a person ripped apart by horses look like a mercy in comparison."

Twilight let out a small sigh as she watched the horror spread across the faces of her friends, mostly on Applejack's. The others didn't know what to think of what Frank had just said. Applejack, with honesty being her core virtue, could tell that every word Frank said was the truth. And it horrified her.

"S-so, tough guy, huh?" Rainbow Dash stammered out after a moment, trying to put her brave face back on as she took a small step towards Frank. "I heard about what you do from Twilight. Punish the guilty, huh? Well then, you think that you'd be good enough to beat a pony that can move faster than sound?"

"If the day ever came when you found yourself in my crosshairs...pray that you never do...then I would slit your throat in your sleep and leave you to drown in a pool of your own blood," Frank replied as he glared into Rainbow's eyes with the eyes of a murderer. Rainbow Dash backed away from Frank as he said this, all her bravado gone. "And by the next morning I would forget that you ever existed. You'd just be another corpse to add to the pile."

Frank watched with a thin smirk as Rainbow Dash began to sweat, but he wasn't just watching her face. All of Twilight's friends were now looking at him with absolute horror on their faces, except for Fluttershy, who looked to be on the verge of passing out. He then slowly turned to look at the other civilians that had been listening in on the conversation, the same horror in their eyes as well.

"Let me make this clear so you all know who you are dealing with. Twilight probably told you that I have a tragic past and she is right. But do not think for a moment that I will not gut all of you at a moments notice and leave what remains of your bodies for the local buzzards," Frank whispered to the five before looking at Twilight, making sure she understood as well. "I am not a good person, no matter how much she wants to believe I am. I'm a monster. And I'm the reason there are far more tombstones in the city cemetery."

The collar activated again and magic tore through Frank's body, but once more he refused to show any sign of pain. He glare down at Twilight until she ceased the spell, leaving the smell of burned flesh and some smoke coming off of his neck. The two glared at the other before Twilight turned back to her friends.

"Twilight, you seriously can't be thinking of bringing that...soulless monster into your home," Rarity asked with her voice practically a whisper.

"Of course I'm not. He well be staying inside my castles dungeon," Twilight said as she glared up at Frank, waiting for the objection that never came. "Yeah, I have one of those. Don't think that because I let you out of your other prison that I'm giving you free reign of my place."

"Why are you even bothering with him? Let him rot in a cell," Applejack snarled as she flashed Frank a nasty look.

"Because Applejack...as horrible as he is, at one point he was a good person," Twilight said with a sigh. "And just like Starlight, just like Discord, I need to see if I can help him become that person once more."

"You have bigger matters to worry about than me," Frank reminded the group of ponies. "Tirek is loose and since you are the group that beat him last time, God only knows how, then he'll most likely be coming for you. You need-"

"Another word out of your mouth and you'll need a hospital," Twilight whispered in a grim tone to Frank, who gave her a look in reply. "You've already said enough. Pinkie, I want you to take Fluttershy home and stay with her. She's going to need some company."

"Okay, Twilight!" Pinkie said with a smile that was as pure as the sun, making Frank raise an eyebrow in surprise. A moment ago she was as disgusted as her friends and then in the next she was fine. The same couldn't be said for Fluttershy, who looked as pale as the criminals Frank had hunted when they realized he was there.

"Splitting up your forces when someone like me is your foe. Not smart," Frank remarked to Twilight, who narrowed her eyes in response before she grabbed hold of him with her magic. Despite his resolve, her overwhelming magical power forced him to his knees, where she moved her lips close to his ear.

"Listen and listen well. These ponies here, my friends, are only here because I asked them to be. I am the only pony in this entire world that give a crap about you. If I deem you a lost cause, then we'll throw you into our deepest, darkest dungeon and forget all about you. You want to avoid that, keep your attitude in check."

"Believe me Twilight, you haven't seen anything yet," Frank whispered back, his tone chilling the air despite the sun shining brightly overhead. He then turned his head, against her magic, to look Twilight dead in the eyes. "But seeing as you are kind enough to house me while I am here, I supposed I will...restrain myself from filling the streets of your home with the blood of criminals. Can't say for how long, though."

Twilight narrowed her eyes before her eyes and horn began to glow, casting out waves of magic that every being within a five mile radius felt. For a moment Frank thought she was going to kill him then and there, but instead he felt his form vanish as he was teleported from the station. A moment later he felt his being reform and he collapsed to his knees, trying to get the world to stop spinning.

With his unbreakable will he managed to regain control of himself, forcing himself to stand back up. He looked around to see that he was in another cell, but this one was far more decorative than the last one. That was because of the numerous crystals that made up the walls and bars of the cell. He walked over to the bars and tested his strength against them. They remained strong.

'Going to take me a while to figure out how to get out of this,' Frank thought as he slammed a shoulder against the bars, only for his shoulder to complain. He then ran a finger across the collar that was still attached to his neck, grimacing as pain flooded across his neck. 'But this is the real problem. I can't take it off, at least not without seriously injuring myself. But Twilight won't willingly take this off. Need to think.'

Before he could begin that train of thought, another flash of magical light went off in his cell and he found the princess of friendship standing before him. She glanced at him before looking around at his cell, nodding to herself when she found nothing of concern. She then laid her eyes upon the human fully before she pulled up a stool, sitting down upon the stool while also using her magic to summon a book.

"That your diary?" Frank asked her with a smirk. To his surprise, Twilight smirked back.

"Nope. It's called "How to be an outstanding citizen in Equestria". Since you're new here, I figured that you should hear this," she replied with a small joy in her voice as she cleared her throat and opened the book. Frank gave her no response, which seemed to disappoint her for a moment. "And after we're done with this, tomorrow we'll start your friendship lessons and trying to help you regain your soul."

"You're welcome to try," Frank replied as he leaned against the cell, half of his brain focusing on what Twilight was saying. But the other half planned and it planned well. All he needed was time. And he would have plenty of that in here. But Tirek was also out there. So he needed to act. And act soon.