Of Ponies and Papers

by The card holder

Day Two: Diplomacy

November 4, 1983

Another day, another paycheck. You enter your booth like usual, and sitting on your desk again is the standard print-out from the MOA. As you expected, there were a few new regulations regarding Equestrians:

Equestrian diplomats are now approved for entry. A page has been added to the rule book for Equestria. All other Equestrians must continue to be denied.

Glory to Arstotzka.

You flip to today's list of wanted criminals and put it within view, then bring out your rule book and flip to the new page. Sure enough, there's now a page concerning the country full of ponies. You can't help but scoff at the names of the issuing cities. "Canterlot"? "Manehattan"? If they weren't in the book, you'd detain anyone with those cities on their passports. You never did like puns.

Once everything is ready, you press the button for the intercom.

"Next!"

In walks a purple pony, who is the same one that was first in line yesterday, you realize.

"First in line again?" you ask.

Twilight blushes. "Well, I like to be punctual." She magics her papers to you, and this time you take them without hesitation. You check her passport info, and everything checks out there. Next was her diplomatic authorization, and it did have the proper Equestrian seal and was allowed to enter Arstotzka. You feel like you're forgetting something as you stamp approval onto the passport, but then you remember that the whole polio scare died down, and disease charts were no longer needed.

You place her papers back on the counter, and the pony takes them up in her magic, a smile on her face. "Thank you!" She goes on, a spring in her step.

"Next!"

Another pony walks in, this one blue with a rainbow-colored mane and tail.

"Papers, please."

She just continues staring at nothing in particular.

"Your papers?" you ask, raising your voice slightly.

The pony seems to snap out of it. "Oh, sorry, I'm just dead tired, is all." She takes her papers out of her saddle bags with her wings, and you take them. Immediately you notice that she doesn't have any diplomatic authority. You quickly stamp the passport with the red and blue stamps and hand everything back to her. "Only diplomatic entry from Equestria."

Now the pony is fully awake. "What?! Do you know who the hay I am? Only one of Equestria's greatest heroes!"

Your finger hovers above the button to call the guards. "Hero or not, diplomatic papers are needed for entry from Equestria. Now please leave, you're holding up the line."

She sputters for a bit, before admitting defeat and walking back out. While you're not the kind of person to go mad with power, you still get a small bit of satisfaction from denying people who think they deserve to get in.

"Next!"

The next several immigrants pass with little issue. You detain one of today's wanted criminals, and Jorji stops by again to give his input on the ponies ("They are strange, but I think I like them. I go to Equestria for vacation, maybe!"). You fall into the usual flow of things, basically running on autopilot while managing to keep an eye out for any discrepancies in their documents.

"Next!"

That monotony is broken when another pony walks in. This one was large enough that you could probably call it a horse, and her mane seemed to blow in a breeze that wasn't there. "Papers, please."

She gives you a warm smile. "Of course." She gives you her documents with her magic, and you notice that she is another diplomat, so no automatic denial there. Issuing city checks out, and... what?

"The date of birth says you are thousands of years old," you say, unimpressed.

"That is correct."

You pause. How does that even... what? You are honestly at a loss for what to do. You could probably deny or even detain her for having a fraudulent passport, but at the same time it could actually be correct, with how they have magic and everything.

Eh, to hell with it. You approve her visa and give everything back, once you make sure there's no other issues. "Cause no trouble."

"I would hope not to." The whole time, her smile never left, even up to when she walked out. Freaking ponies, man.

"Next!"

Following the winged unicorn (there has to be a more technical term for that, you're sure) was another one, this one almost entirely dark blue, with what looked like stars in her mane. "Papers, please."

She wordlessly gives you her documents, and you began checking them. Like the pony before her, this one was listed as being thousands of years old. You didn't bring up the issue again, however.

But you did spot another issue to bring up. "This passport is expired."

The pony's eyes widen. "W-What? How could that be?"

You shrug as you apply the denial and reason stamps before giving them back to her. She hesitates a bit before picking them up and walking back out of the booth.

"Next!"

A third winged unicorn enters, this one pink. "Papers, please."

She gives you her papers, and you notice that this one had a much more reasonable age. Everything checked out okay, so you approve her passport and hand everything back. "Cause no trouble."

She nods and walks out.

"Next!"

A young man enters the booth. At least it wasn't another pony. "Papers, please."

He gives you an Arstotzkan passport with his papers, and you start checking everything to make sure it's all good. Height and weight match, issuing city is correct, the district listed exists-

Suddenly, the alarm sounds, the shutters slamming down automatically. You look out the window and see a man climbing over the wall, heading for the pony you just admitted. She stopped in place when the alarm started, and now she was looking at the man curiously. You curse to yourself as you unlock the tranquilizer gun and take aim. You fire, and the man immediately drops, a dart stuck in his neck. You see something fall out of his hand, and it rolls to a stop in front of the pony. You recognize the grenade and get down.

An explosion is heard above the sounds of people screaming and running, and you look up to see a cloud of dust where the pony was. Once the dust clears, you see her still standing there, a light pink bubble surrounding her. The bubble dissipates, and she looks around. The man was caught in the blast, and what was left of him was right in front of her. As guards move in to make sure she isn't hurt, you go ahead and pack up for the day.

---

The day was cut short by a terrorist attack.

Comments

[Bronze Statue]

Ah, yes. The age-old border breach.

[The Puzzler]

Your passport is expired. Since a thousand years!

[Seether00]

Damn Koletchians

[Bronze Statue]

3252744*scanner turns up a foal hidden in jacket*

[delet this]

Fucking Kolechia, I thought they made peace with Glorious Arstotzka.

[Tenebris Caeruleus]

Ha! That was good.

[96javo53]

3309928
The Kolechians obviously tried to trick Arstotzka. They can not be trusted.
Glory to Arstotzka.

[delet this]

3309984 Yes Indeed, Kolchians are not to be trusted.
Glory to Arstotzka

[The Grey Pegasus]

So does Cadence have dual-citizenship or something? Or just not from the Crystal Empire?

Glory to Arstotzka.

[Kiro0613]

This story brings glory to Arstotzka.

Glory to Arstotzka

[Cunt_Crusader]

Glory to Arstotzka.

[Deactivated 001]

Such is life in glorious Arstotzka.

Glory to Arstotzka.

[kyle131996]

Kolchians are the devil
Glory to Arstotzka

[mojaramask]

I, for one, accept our new Kolechian overlords.

[Volkenstein]

Glorious Arstotzka shall punish the dirty Kolechs soon.

As for Equestria, they will soon see the glory of Astotzka!

[Deactivated 001]

3317451 *checks scans* You made a mistake coming here. *calls guards*

[RealClassixX]

Keep writing, please. I need more.
Glory to Arstotzka.

[GIULIO]

Hello.

So.

You are the writer here.

That makes you responsible for this story.

It seems that you haven't been writing on this for a while.

Perhaps this will encourage you.

images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130809183115/papersplease/images/b/b9/Recognition1.jpg

Do not let me down.

Glory to Arstotzka.

[The Gardenhead]

3317451 I spit on you, Kolechian scum!

[Wing Dancer]

Ffffff I can't even word how awesome this feels. You mix and match everything perfect! AHFHADSFHSDHGFJ

[ThatClosetBrony]

Of course she has a passive personal shield. I expected that of Luna, maybe Celestia, but I didn't think Cadence would have been smart enough to maintain one. Damn.

[Peliik fin dovah]

6072786 Shining armour... I think he would not let her out of his sight without knowing nothing would happen to her.