//------------------------------// // Human superiority // Story: The Wayfaring Strangers // by BiasedAmerican //------------------------------// As Alex walked down the stairs, he saw Tankery awake. Tankery got up and dressed in a Bosnian combat uniform from '92, and grabbed an AK-47 from the couch and walked towards Alex. Tankery tripped. And Alex laughed as Tankery quickly got up on his feet. The loud noise woke up Fluttershy ash she jumped up from bed, her hair messy, and rushed towards the stairs. As she arrived and saw the two clad in weird armor, she was confused at first, but remembered what happened last night. She thought to herself, 'Maybe Twilight knows what these two are, I don't know if they're dangerous or not.." She gulped, and said to the two, "I- I need to introduce you to Twilight, she might know what.. you are." She said as she tried to keep a smile. The duo nodded and as Fluttershy cautiously walked down the staircase as she finally reached the door, she opened it and talked to the duo, "Come on, let's go, we're going to Ponyville to know how you got lost." She said hopefully while still keeping the smile. The two walked out of the door and Soviet and Tankery both covered their eyes as the sunlight was brighter than they were used to. The three began walking through a path that Alex started to notice, "Hold on, did we not see this earlier?" Alex whispered to Tankery. Tankery shrugged and quickly slapped the back of his helmet, Fluttershy heard the slap and looked back. Alex put his arms behind his back and acted like nothing was happening and started to whistle as he looked elsewhere. Alex then changed into a US Army's GI uniform with a gas mask from the 1970s. [Alex's uniform] Fluttershy was confused and decided to not bother and continued walking through the path to Ponyville. As they got out of the treeline, the three saw shaped of medieval era buildings. As they saw the main opening of the town, Fluttershy stopped in panic as she saw Twilight, Starlight, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Fash, and over a dozen of the Equestrian Royal Guard approaching quickly towards them. Squads of the Royal Guard we're forming into a defensive line, with Twilight and her group behind them. The guards aimed their spears directly at the duo. Fluttershy thought to herself that they were there to protect them from Timberwolves, so she ran quickly behind the guards. But behind her, the two were talking silently. Tankery annoyingly looked at Soviet and asked him, "Okay, what the hell did you do and why do they have golden armor?" Alex shrugged and said, "I don't know?" He replied. The Guard's Sergeant yelled out, "By order of Celestia, we are to arrest you on account of partaking in the alliance of hostile nations!" "Makes sense, but what do they mean hostile nations?" Tankery asked. "I'm guessing the idiots that summoned us to this world, but I think Equestria and the other nations are at the brink of war. But hey, at least they can't harm us" Alex shrugged. As the two talked to each other, the Guards were surprised to see these creatures. The squads were talking to each other on what these creatures are, and where they came from. The best they got was "They're from another world, and the Changelings summoned them!" Twilight was trying to identify them from a distance, she didn't know what they were or what they were wearing. As Fluttershy arrived behind the Guard blockade, Applejack ran towards her and asked, "What are you doing?! These creatures or whatever they are, they're dangerous!" Fluttershy responded, trying to calm them down. "No they aren't, I walked through the forest with them and they haven't hurt me.They would've hurt me if they were trying to. They were lost and I let them sleep on my couch. If they were harmful, then why didn't they hurt me?" She replied. She was starting to warm up to the two, even though she didn't know who or what they were. Twilight was confused that they didn't hurt or harm her when she was asleep. Rarity was also confused, she walked up to Fluttershy and told her. "Fluttershy, they came from the Changelings and Griffons! My dear, they might be trying to trick you to trust them, so they can cause more harm." Fluttershy was getting more confused. She was scared at first, but now that the Royal Guard was here to protect them, with what she just walked to town with. She felt guilty and didn't know what side to choose. So she walked backwards into town to find Pinkie Pie, as she didn't know what to do. "Poor thing." Applejack said as she watched Fluttershy walk away. Twilight also felt guilty, but the letter from Canterlot came back into her mind and she immediately came back into focus. Soviet and Tankery were still discussing on what was going on. Alex pointed out, "Maybe the army we encountered before at the castle was one of their units about to invade Equestria! That does explain why they summoned us in the first place." Tankery replied, "Agreed, but I'm guessing we're supposed to be working with these guys. So lets show that we're friendly." Alex then said, "I kind of... injured on of their princesses in my dream when she entered it. Because she's been stalking us in our dreams and I'm pretty sure I almost just killed her last night." Tankery's eyes opened wide, and he grabbed Soviet by the shoulders and yelled. "YOU WHAT?!" He began rocking Alex back and forward as he was yelling, "What were you thinking?! We just made ourselves look more like the enemy! We're supposed to be helping them you dumbass!" The Sergeant was confused on what the two creatures were doing. "Are... they arguing?" A guard asked the Sergeant. "I guess they are, lets try and capture them." She ordered. As the guards were running towards the arguing duo, the screaming immediately stopped as the two crouched and aimed 'iron spears' at the oncoming guards. The guards immediately stopped, they didn't know what those were. But Soviet pulled out a M4, and Tankery pulled out a AKM. "I'd stay back if I were you." Tankery yelled at the guards. Alex stayed still, training his sights on the guards. "We don't want to cause a ruckus, but we're not going to be arrested, and we're here to help you!" Alex yelled. The guards still had their minds stuck on arresting the two, so they kept creeping towards the two slowly. But as they were approaching, Alex pulled out a Thermal Sight attachment, and he tried a desperate plan. Tankery asked, "What're you doing?" "It's desperate, I know. But I know that there must be a Changeling spy, they're bugs, so they must have lower body heat." Alex replied. Tankery couldn't think of anything else so he went with the plan. And just out of luck, Alex saw a pony with low body heat watching in the background. He trained his sights on it and pulled the trigger. Twilight flinched as she heard a loud bang. The shot was heard throughout the town, and the incoming guards stopped. Everyone looked around to see what caused the sound, many of them murmured on what it was. Tankery looked at Alex to see where he aimed and shot. He did fire a shot on what he thought was a changeling spy. He saw the suspected spy shocked still, it was shaking. He was scared as shit, the loud noise scared him and at the exact moment, something hit the wall next to him. The "dangerous creature" aimed it's "Iron rod" at him, it was no mistake, it was aiming for him. He didn't know if the innacuracy was on purpose or not. Tankery asked Alex, "Did you miss on purpose or are we going to torture the poor bastard?" Soviet replied, "Torture, we're going to need info from him soon." Tankery chuckled a little. "What was that?!" "Was that the guards?!" "It was those things!" The ponies all yelled, even the Mane 6. Everyone was panicking, but Twilight knew who it was. "So, do we want to escalate things or do you want to work this out peacefully?" Alex yelled, still using the voice changer. As things were escalating, there was fast movement coming from the woods. Everyone was too focused on the two, they didn't notice a Griffon appear out of the woods. It didn't look military, since it had no armor or equipment, but nonetheless it ran in between the two opposing forces. "Stop!" She yelled. It made everyone stop. "It's a Griffon! Squad, prepare spears!" The Pony Sergeant yelled. "You ponies are discriminating against these creatures! What have they done to you?! You're about to kill foreigners that may have escaped war! And YOU!" She yelled in a venomous voice, "So called 'Princess of Friendship', you're letting two possibly innocent creatures get slaughtered!" The ponies gave fearful and insulted faces towards the Griffon. "This was... unexpected." Tankery told to Soviet. "You think?!" He replied. Twilight had to rethink, she didn't want to antagonize the Royal Guard, let alone herself and her friends. She thought to herself, "If they get killed, then we'll look like the aggressors, but we don't truly know if these are the creatures the Princess described from her letter. Ugh. fine! I'll let them through, I need to gain their trust so we know who they truly are, and if they aren't the creatures from the letter, then we can use them to help us defeat them!" Twilight finally gave in. As Twilight was thinking to herself, Tankery and Soviet discussed to each other. "Think we can use her as a bargaining tool?" Asked Tankery. "Yeah, sure. It'll antagonize the ponies." Alex replied. The duo quickly ran over to the Griffon defending them. As they arrived, on both of her sides, they both crouched and aimed their weapons towards the guards. Tankery got a good look at the Griffon, "Weird." he thought to himself. The guards continued foward, but Twilight walked up to the Sergeant and whispered. "Stand down, we don't know if they really want to hurt us." The Sergeant relunctantly followed the Princesses's order and yelled to her men. "Stop! Let them talk to Princess Twilight!" The guards marched back to the Sergeant. "You can't be serious, Twi." Applejack spoke to Twilight. "They could be helpful, they don't have any enemy escorts with them, they might've escaped from them." She pointed out. "Fine. But one move they pull, I'll take them down myself!" Applejack responded. "I hope you're right Twi." Applejack added. Twilight was following her gut on this, but her consciousness said otherwise. Alex and Tankery got up and lowered their weapons. "Can't believed that worked!" Tankery laughed. "Neither did I!" The Griffon yelled. "Anyways, what's your name?" Tankery whispered. "Elta, my name is Elta." Elta replied. "Interesting name." said Tankery. Rarity took this to offense, as they didn't have respect for the Princess, or even her friend, and saying it was pure luck that she let them live. As Tankery and Soviet walked towards Twilight, they saw a shocked population staring at them. Most of them were trying to keep away from them as the others were just stood still in shock. Alex spoke to Tankery as they were walking. "Should we march? It does give us the intimidation part." Tankery replied, "Yeah sure." As Elta didn't know what the two were doing, she just followed behind the two creatures. As the two slowly walked a bit to synchronize their marching patters, Tankery switched his uniform for Soviet's uniform. As they finally synchronized their marching pattern, they both holstered their M16's upwards on their shoulders. He also had the gas mask on. The trio stood infront of the Princess, they towered over her. She was intimidated and gazed upwards at them, except Elta. She gulped to try and gather confidence. She then spoke out, "Let's head to my castle, we- we'll discuss matters there." She then turned around and walked in the direction of her castle, but as she turned, she had a very worried and terrified face, trying to hide it from the trio. Everyone watched as the trio walk to the castle. Applejack and Rarity follow behind them, as Rainbow-Dash and Pinkie Pie tried to calm Fluttershy down. "I don't trust 'em." Applejack muttered. Rarity overheard this and added, "Me either, darling. I just hope that Twilight can keep them under control." Their worries were justified. The news of Luna's injury hasn't arrived to Ponyville yet, so no one has any idea the crime Soviet had committed against their royalty. As the trio reached the two big majestic doors of crystal, Soviet, Tankery, and Elta were amazed by the crystals and the size of the Castle. Twilight couldn't see it, but the two had their mouths wide open. But the duo snapped back into their senses, and to impress the Pony Princess, they went into breaching positions. Twilight and Elta were confused on what they were doing. She opened her mouth and asked, "What are you guys doing-" she was cut off. The two stayed on each door, and they immediately bashed the door open forcefully. They aimed their M16's, scanning the entirety of the grand entrance of Twilight's castle. Twilight was confused, so she tried to calm the two. "It's fine, no one is here to hurt you." She said in a calm tone. "I wonder if she knows I tortured her Princess." Alex thought to himself, he didn't know if she got the news or not. "This is going to be fun." he thought as he imagine what would happen once they would find out. He smiled. "Follow me." Twilight said as she walked past the two gazing at the beauty of the Castle. The two snapped out of it and followed Twilight. The sounds of heavy footsteps from the equipment on the two made Spike curious, he was hanging out with Starlight in the library. Spike put down his comic book and Starlight sat her book down, they both looked to each other in confusion. They both silently walked towards the door, and silently opened it, just enough to peak outside. Soviet and Tankery lowered their weapons and followed Twilight. They were in a gigantic hallway, with 2 rows of several doors on both sides of the hall. Both Spike and Starlight's eyes, opened wide. "Is that them?" Starlight asked. "Who?" Asked Spike. "The 'dangerous creatures' from the letter. And the Griffon?" Starlight answered. "If it's Twilight leading them, I guess they're friendly. But we might be putting her in danger if they find us. And or it might not be even the dangerous creatures, or our enemy." Spike retorted. As Twilight was wondering where to speak to the three that were presumed dangerous. But Alex saw the tiny dragon and a pink pony looking at them through the doorway. He looked at Tankery and gestured to look at the door to the library. Tankery also saw them, but Twilight and Elta didn't know about this yet. Alex walked up to behind the scared purple pony and tapped her back. Twilight gasped and noticed that the creature was pointing at the door to the library room. "Oh, the library?" Alex nodded. "Yeah, sure." said Twilight. Spike and Starlight saw them walking towards the library, Twilight didn't know they were in there. "Hide!" Spike spoke out. They were both panicking to try and find a place to hide. Starlight hid under the table and Spike attempted to hide behind the door. The door opened, and Spike tried to hold his breath as an effort to stay hidden. As Twilight lead the trio into the room, she noticed that there were books that were left as if someone left in a hurry. Soviet and Tankery already picked this up, they looked around to find where they were hiding. But just as they were looking around, Twilight spoke out. "So... let's sit down at the table and discuss our situation." Tankery walked towards the able, Soviet and Elta followed. Soviet and Tankery pulled out the chairs and sat down. Elta stood up as she was still pissed on why the Princess of Friendship discriminated and almost killed the two. Or why they're even this important.