Thunderclaps sound above me, the rain coming down in lumps, as I walk the partially flooded cobblestone paths of the Griffon capital city. A hot and humid place, populated by more hardy people. Due to this, I forgo the armour weave cape and fur neck that I usually have adorning my apparel, leaving me with my beskar and my armour weave fabric undersuit. Not that it's going to be of any detriment to me.

Coming to a stop, I look to a building to my left across the street and look to the sign. The Secret Tankard Outpost. A rather popular local bar, if what I'm told is to be believed. Steeling my resolve, I cross the street towards the pub. As I get closer, I can hear sounds of commotion coming from inside. Opening the doors, anything that might have been happening stopped, as all the patrons turn their heads to see the new arrival.
A few gasps sound out and quiet murmuring breaks lose. If there's one place that my reputation is at its highest, it's in the Griffon Empire, having done more than enough jobs to garner the attention of its people. Briefly looking around, my eyes land on what was causing the ruckus. Near the back and not too far from the bar counter, a trio of what look to be mercenaries appear to have been harassing a young-looking hippogriff. And of course, it just had to be the bounty I was after.

Looking closer, I saw that the three comprised of two stallions of average size, with one being slightly larger and a very large and very hairy minotaur, who they more than likely use as the muscle and intimidation factor of the group. And I think they knew why I was here. Because they did not look pleased to see me here. Not in the least.

"khren ty smotrish' na?"

Taking my eyes off of the scene before me, I walk towards the bar, all eyes either being on me or the three.

"ty prolil moy napitok."

Not saying a word, I continue to the bar. Once there, I place my hands on the counter, letting my weight rest on my arms.

"Privet! Mando!"

Disregarding the dirty insult, I simply let a sigh escape my lips. This did not sit well with the bigger stallion next to me, who I assume to be the leader, lets out an irritated groan. Coming towards my right, he comes close to my personal space. An intimidation act. It always is with mercenaries.

"ya skazal, ty prolil, moy napitok." The leader said, getting in my ear. My lack of a response was clearly getting on the guy's nerves.

"He said you spilt his drink." The bartender said. Of course, I knew what he said, I was just looking to get a reaction out of him, other than idle threats.

Looking over to his lackeys, he jerks his head slightly. The minotaur lets go of the hippogriff letting him bounce slightly off the table and onto the floor as he and the other stallion make their way towards me.

"It's ok, it's on the house." The barkeep said as he turns away, getting another tankard. The leader reaches to his thigh and grabs a knife out of its sheathe.

"tak eto beskar to?" He said as he scraped his dagger across my chest, no mark being left behind and a small amount of spark being made. The minotaur bumps into me from the left, letting out a slow growl and the stallion stopping just beside him.

"Here." I look over to the bartender, who has a new tankard in his hand. Sliding it across, the leader puts his hand out to catch it. That's when I act.

Putting my hand out, I grab the cup. Placing my boot on the front of the bar, using all the momentum I can gather, I push the mercenaries off of me. Ramming the metal tankard into the skull of the stallion to my left, he crumbles easily as he was knocked out cold. Dropping the tankard, I grab the beard of the minotaur and slam his head into the edge of the bar counter, he too falls to the ground with a thud.

The leader, clearly not happy, tries to stab my throat. Catching his arm, I spin round slightly, quickly positioning it over my shoulder and bring it down with a resounding snap. Twisting around, I topped it off with punch a square in his chest, knocking the wind out off him. He flies back a few, landing in a heap on his back, clutching his newly broken arm, wheezing as he does. Hearing shuffling behind me, I twist on my heel and spot the minotaur crawling away.
Throwing out both my arms, a wire coming out of each vambrace, locking themselves around the minotaur's waist and neck. Using all the strength I have, I heave him towards me, his face displaying his clear fear. When in range, I step to my left slightly and fling my right arm out, close lining the poor bastard to the floor.

Looking back to the hippogriff, who was just now picking himself off the floor, I walk towards him. He had clearly taken a bit of a beating before my arrival. He had a cut above his left eye, a few of his feathers were ruffled and a small crack could be seen on the tip of his beak. But he was still very much alive.

"You...you really did me a favour there friend, thank you." He said, pulling himself up, rubbing his head as I stand before him. Either he's clueless I'm here for him or he's the literal definition of a feather brain.

Reaching down to my belt, I pull out a small disc which I place on the table. Pressing down lightly on the centre, a holographic image and number underneath is projected from the small disc. The hippogriff looks from it to me to the disc and back again.

"Is...is that me?" He said with a slight chuckle. I had gathered he wasn't the smartest, but this was taking the piss. "L...look. I...I can get more credits-"

"You have two options here," I said, cutting the hippogriff off from trying to bribe me.
"I can bring you in warm-" I reach down to the pistol holstered on my thigh and unclip it. "-or I can bring you in cold. Your choice."

The trip back to my ship was uneventful. Thankfully, the hippogriff wasn't as dumb as I had thought and decided came with me peacefully. Possibly knew I was his best option at actually staying alive past his current age. There are those out there more ruthless and uncaring than me when it came to bounties. Thankfully the city guards didn't give me any trouble as well. As I mentioned before, my reputation within the Griffon Empire is rather high and because of this, I had quite a bit of respect from any who lived within Griffon territory. More than that, I had also had their fear. I didn't use it often, only when I needed to.

Coming up to my ship, I press a set sequence of buttons on my vambrace, the hatch door of my ship opens with a slight burst of steam. The hippogriff hesitated slightly, possibly because he's never actually seen anything like this, only heard the stories. Grabbing his cuffs I pushed him up the ramp and into the lower section of the ship. Directing him towards a padded indent in the side of the wall, I pushed him. He looked at the rim of the indent and saw some small circular openings evenly spaced from each other.

"What are you gonna do to me?" He asked while I strapped him in place. I do this to avoid any complications.

"You'll find out soon enough," I said ominously, looking the clearly nervous hippogriff in the eye.

Pressing a series of buttons on the control pad on the rim, I step back as pressurised steam made of liquid carbonite is shot out of the openings onto the man in front of me. What was left behind could only be described as an expertly crafted artistic representation of a hippogriff made of a strong metal alloy. Taking him out of the small chamber, I put him on his back as he gently floats a few feet of the floor. Bringing him over to a rack on the ceiling, I lift him up and into a small, magnetised section of the ceiling, letting him hang loosely.
Taking a step back, I overlook my day's work, softly counting under my breath. One, two three, four, five. Looking to my wrist, I score off the final bounty on my list. Five in one day. Not my best record, but still commendable none the less.

Walking off and up a ladder leading to the upper section, I press a button on another control pad, a door opens directly to the cockpit. Taking my seat, I punch the start-up sequence and set the coordinates I need to go to. Looking to the estimated time it'll take for me to get back, I let out a sigh through my nose.
This is going to be a long trip. Good thing I have music.

Looking to the horizon, I finally see my destination come into view. Switching my music off, I slow my craft down and release the landing gear. Quickly making my way towards my landing zone, I lower my ship to the ground as softly as I could. As I did, I could see an assortment of different species come over to do their jobs, but keeping a safe distance away.

Finally, as I land, I switch off my ship ad make my way down to the lower section to unload. Opening the hatch door, I unhinge the bounties I collected, lightly floating down the ramp and into the hand of the ponies below, taking them to a nearby blast furnace to remove the beings within. Unlike regular carbonite, this more portable version doesn't have a release code and can be evaporated with a sufficient enough heat source and still leave the inhabitants relatively unharmed, maybe a bit hot and shaken from the experience, but otherwise safe and sound.
Walking down the ramp, I stride towards Hard Strike, closing the ramp behind me as I do.

"Well, you made short work of them. Fine work as always. Here. Catch!" She said as she threw a sizable bag towards me.

"Any more jobs?" I said as I catch the bag.

"You know, I thought you said you'd take some time off? It's only been a few days. You need some time off. Real, proper time off. Not this half-assed excuse of an attempt at taking a break. You need to take it easy once in a while."

I couldn't help but chuckle at that. It's been a couple of days since the fiasco with the Manticore and in that time I had tried to spend some time off, but I just couldn't. I tried, but I just can't. I've been doing this for too damn long, I guess I just never got used to the idea of just stopping.

"Do you have any more jobs?" I repeat, only to get an eye roll from the mare.

"Actually, Twilight wanted you for something. Not sure what, but it seemed important. She was in a bit of a rush. Said she wanted you sent to the library as soon as you got back." She said adjusting the satchel over her shoulder. "Well. If that's all, I'll be off."

Nodding to the waving mare, I look towards the large oak tree at the centre of town. What could be so important that Twilight Sparkle would so urgently need me. Taking a stride to the library, I walked as quickly as I could. I knew this had to be important. Soon enough I arrived at the library, I could already hear voices inside. Sounds like the rest of her friends were here as well.

Without knocking, I walk inside, startling the ponies and dragon present. Looking to Twilight, I see a look of urgency, slight panic perhaps? It looked more like she had just come down from a large rant and knowing Twilight, she probably did. I could tell they had been waiting for some time. As when they saw it was me, they visibly relaxed. That or they were worried something had happened. Unlikely.

"Alright, I'm here. What is it you need me for?" I said coming to a stop before the group.

"Princess Celestia has issued me another test but is also requesting you to be present as well. I'm not sure as to why, but I'm sure she has her reasons."

"It must be important then. Just let me get my gear together and we can be off."

Before I could fully turn around, I noticed Twilight wore a rather sheepish look. Looking around the group, everyone else had the same or a similar look.

"What."

"W...Well, Princess Luna took the liberty of gathering what you would need from your home. So there won't be any need to leave." She said in a rather bashful tone.

'What I would need'? What are the princesses planning? What is could be so important that they would need my presence, fully kitted out? My interest was now piqued.

"Alright then. Shall we?"

Giving a nod, we gathered beside each other, putting a hand on the shoulder of the person next to us. And with that, we vanished.

I have experienced teleportation a broad number of times before, but I could never string together the words to fully describe what the sensation feels like, but I can at least try. It starts with the initial burst, the feeling of weightlessness, your muscles tighten up and an unseen pressure is forced on every inch of your body. After that, the feeling of pins and needles replace the pressure as your muscles relax and you feel like your falling.
During this, you're placed in what I can only describe as a plain black, space, your head feels like its doing loops as your pulled towards a purple, oval opening. And in a matter of seconds, your feet land on a solid surface as you pop back into existence at your desired destination.

As we appear in Canterlot castle's courtroom, I take a moment to let my mind catch up to my body, as it were. I could never get used to the feeling of being teleported somewhere.

"Princess, It's good to see you." I could hear Twilight say, probably bowing along with the rest of the group. "I'm ready for the test."

As I shook off the last of my dizziness, I saw Celestia standing from her throne as did Luna and walked down the steps towards us with Luna coming towards me with what I presume she had gotten from my home in her hands. My suspicions were confirmed as she got closer.

"This is going to be a different kind of test, my faithful student." She said as she stopped in front of the group "Tell me. Have any of heard of the crystal empire?" She continued as Luna handed me my equipment with a smile.

Thanking her I walk over to one of the many pillars and take a seat on the floor. It was at this point I completely zoned the conversation out as I equipped myself with what Luna had got together. It was a quick thing to do, seeing as it was just muscle memory and I went into autopilot, not really thinking about what I was doing. It didn't take long, however, for me to be taken out of the back of my mind as I was directly spoken to.

"-and that's where you come in Fendral." Celestia addressed me as I quickly looked at her.

"My apologies, I zoned out for a while there, I wasn't really paying attention," I said as the group of seven rolled their eyes. except for Pinkie, she was just happy to be there.

"Well, I may as well start from the beginning. An empire in the frozen north went missing a few hundred years ago due to the one who ruled it at the time. A unicorn by the name of 'Sombra' went mad with power, overthrow the existing ruler at the time and enslaved the citizens, taking a great amount of joy out of their misery. My sister and I went to stop him, but he had a failsafe planned. When defeated, he cast a powerful spell that that made the empire go into a magic-induced suspended animation, freezing everyone in place, along with pulling the empire into the Icey depths below.

Now, it has returned, but with me and Luna unable to wield the elements, the only thing capable of destroying the corruption that took over the city, and having a kingdom to oversee, we see no other alternative than to send in the current element holders. And as I said before, that is where you come in."

Taking time to process the information, I finally understood why they called for my person. They wanted me to protect them.

"And you want me to make sure they come back alive."

The bluntness of my statement seemed to impact the six ponies and dragon present the most. They probably assumed the princesses wouldn't send them in if they didn't have full faith in them. But I know otherwise.

"Unfortunately, that is the case. The element bearers are free to do anything they can to free the ponies from their misery, but seeing as they have no formal combat training and you're the most well-trained person we know, we need you to go along with them, just in case Sombra gets any idea's to harm them." Luna interjected before Celestia could give them any false realities.

That's one problem I have with the Solar Matriarch. She sugar coats everything. Don't get me wrong, she's a fantastic ruler and she's not one to mess with, but she doesn't always give the full truth.
Much like Luna, we go back. Luna introducing us shortly after we met. It was a very rocky start but soon became good friends, thankfully. She knows what I think of her and I know what she thinks of me.

"So is this an informal job or are you giving me a full contract?" I asked, making sure that all my equipment was ready for the task ahead.

"It'll be informal and you'll receive your payment once the task is complete," Celestia said with a slight smile. She always poked fun at my seriousness, always finding it amusing for one reason or another.

"Good. Anything else we should know?"

I could see Celestia hesitate briefly before sighing.

"I sent Shining Armour and Cadence to investigate about four days ago. We haven't gotten word from them since. But I can feel their safe for the time being, however." She said, getting in the last bit quick enough to prevent Twilight from having a panic attack.

Deciding to ignore the obvious lapse in judgement, I didn't want to delay this any longer than it needed to be.

"If that's all, then let's get this show on the road."

"Don't worry princess we won't let you down!" Twilight said, her statement being reciprocated by the group with a mass agreement.

Soon after the rather quick meeting, we found ourselves on a train to the last known location of the Crystal Empire. How the hell there was still train service to the Icey tundra of the north, I'll never understand. But at least the journey there wasn't boring. There were quite a few games that Pinkie had somehow found in the cart we were situated in.

To kill time, we started and finished several games. Thing's like Two Truths and a Lie, Monopoly, Chess, Dominos and Pictionary. Many laughs were had, everyone had a chance to win and lose. All in all, we greatly enjoyed ourselves.

"So fen. I thought you said that you were going to relax. What happened to that plan of yours?" Dash asked, a curious look taking over her face.

This caught the attention of the rest of the ponies and singular dragon present. While they knew I had given up on my plan to take an extended break, they didn't know the full reason why I stopped.

"Do you want the full answer, or do you me to beat around the bush?"

"I think we should have the full answer. We're all friends here and friends look out for each other." Applejack said, the rest of those present agreeing with her.

Sighing, I nodded my head. These ponies were indeed friends. There is a story for why each of them is friends of mine, but that's for another time.

"Truth be told, I was never really been one to just sit down and take time off. I always had to be doing something. After becoming a Bounty Hunter, this aspect of me was made worse. And now that I've been doing it for so long, the thought of stopping has become...foreign. Unnatural." Sighing again, I lean back into my seat, letting my shoulders slack a small bit. "I suppose doing this for forty years tends to affect someone."

The girls and dragon look at me sympathetically, seemingly unsure how to process the information.

"Well if I knew it would as depressing as that I wouldn't have asked, sorry." Dash apologised, seemingly feeling responsible for the sudden mood shift.

"Bah! Enough of this depression. Why don't we continue with these games, huh?" I said, the once moody atmosphere now gone in a flash. The girls excitedly agreeing with me and pulling out a game of charades with a slight cheer.

Sometime during the rematch games, the grassy plains of equestrian turned into a snowy, frozen landscape. Nothing but white to be seen for miles. with everyone now wrapping themselves up in warm clothing, I decided to double-check my equipment, going over my mental checklist of what I had.

Amban rifle? check. E5M pistol? check. Vibro sword? check. Bowie knife? Check.

While I was doing this, the train came to a sudden stop, lurching all present passengers to one side. The conductor came into our cart with a rather frazzled look. Clearly what had us stop was having putting him into a bit of a state.

"Why did the train stop?" I asked the conductor

"Because this is as far as we can go. The track just...cuts off. Looks like either: we're going back or you're going to have to walk from here."

"Do you know how long it would take to reach these coordinates?" I ask, writing them down on a piece of paper for the conductor to see, having memorised them from when Celestia told me before we left, very possibly for this exact scenario.

He readjusts his glasses to his eyes as he processes the information. He takes a while looking up from the piece of paper to the snow-covered land outside back to the paper.

"I'd say about fifteen-twenty minutes due north-west." He said, pointing just behind us.

"Ok. Thank you. Alright, girls, you heard the man, get everything you need together, let's move out!" I said receiving confirmation from each of the group. I didn't have to wait long and before we knew it, we were out in the bitter cold snow in silence. And like all silence, this one was quickly broken.

"Wait! Look! I see someone!" Pinkie shouted, pointing to a silhouette.

I squinted my eyes to try and better my sight to see into the never-ending storm and soon a figure appears out of swirling ice and snow wearing thick fabric clothing. The figure removes his goggles and scarf around his face to reveal a rather dreary Shining Armour.

"Twily? Is that you?" He shouts over the storm, hope taking over his voice.

"Shining!" Twilight did her best to make it over to him in the shin thick snow. He notices this and meets her halfway in a tight hug, quickly letting her go.

"We should get moving. We do not want to be caught out in the open after dark." He said not attempting to hide the fear in his voice.

"Why?" I ask.

"There are things, unlike anything you've seen." He said. I doubt that.

"What k-kind thi-things?" Fluttershy asked, timidly. Poor girl. She was shaking like a leaf. Whether it was from the cold or it was just her being scared, I don't know.

"Let's just say the empire isn't the only thing that returned."

Just as he finished, a noise could be heard over the sound of the blizzard in the distance. Turning around. I saw nothing. When all of a sudden an enormous, writhing mass of black mist erupted out of the ground before us, with a pair of blood-red eyes oozing strange purple energy baring down at us with malicious intent.

"Sombra. RUN!"

Author's Note

And then there was another
not gonna lie, im not 100% happy with this one, but i cant be bothered to go back and rewrite it, but i hope you enjoyed it at least
please point out any mistakes I may have made
constructive criticism is always appreciated
until next time, TTFN!

and just to be clear, the E5M is my placeholder name for the main sidearm of the Mandalorian from the Mandalorian as i am unaware of the actual name of the weapon

Edit: Some grammatical changes and some other additions to make the story a better read (i hope anyway)