• Published 7th Sep 2013
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Of Ponies and Papers - The card holder



A portal to Equestria opens on Arstotzka's border, and you now have to deal with pony immigrants along with the usual mix.

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Day Six: ...The More They Stay the Same

November 8, 1983

You struggle to remove the sleep from your eyes as you take up your position in the booth once again. The beds here weren't nearly as comfortable as the ones back home.

Still, despite the more strict regulations on immigrants, you find that managing the Arstotzkan boarder isn't really that different from managing the Equestrian border. Sure, several humans seemed to have a problem with you being a pony, but with the exception of a man who stormed out almost immediately, muttering various obscenities the whole time, they didn't give you any trouble.

Of course, the ponies that came through were happy to see you in the booth, and they didn't even try to blame you if there was something wrong with their entry papers.

That being said, you're still getting used to the fact that returning Arstotzkans have special guidelines for entry, even if the same was true for Equestrians back home. Plus, saying "Glory to Arstotzka" every time sounds just a little bit... you're not exactly sure what, but it doesn't seem right.

Still, you were hoof-picked by Celestia for this job, so you were going to perform it as well as you can.

Making sure that the family photo belonging to the previous inspector you found in here yesterday was still safely hidden (as the Arstotzkan director explained, personal items were not allowed in the booth), you levitate everything into their proper place, before placing a hoof on the loudspeaker button.

"Next!"

The first entrant is a young human male, who seems somewhat surprised by your presence.

"Papers, please."

Your voice shakes him out of his stupor, and he sets his documents down on the counter. You levitate them over to your desk, causing him to flinch back slightly. You pay little mind to him, however, as you look over his papers.

"What is your reason for traveling?" you ask, complying with the regulations set for you at this checkpoint.

"I am moving here."

Well, don't need to ask about length of stay, then. Issuing city matches, date of birth, weight, height...

Looks like this one's good to go. You stamp his passport, and send everything back to him. "Cause no trouble."

Wordlessly, he exits the booth.

"Next!"

A mare is the next immigrant, who gives a smile upon seeing you, which you return. "Papers, please."

She levitates her papers to you, which you accept in your own magic. As you look through them, she starts talking.

"I must say, it is a pleasant surprise to see another pony here."

You can't help but roll your eyes slightly. "Some of the humans seem to think otherwise." Right, Equestrians have unique entry permits... Part of you thinks it's discriminatory, but you also realize that there are indeed vast species differences at work here.

"Oh, don't pay them any mind, I'm sure they'll come around."

Putting the green stamp on the passport, you give everything back to her. "Cause no trouble."

"And you do the same!"

With that, she leaves. Nice to have some friendly faces here.

"Next!"

You find yourself falling into a rhythm for the next several entrants. Accept papers, check papers, stamp papers, then they'd leave through one of the booth doors, depending on how you stamped them.

After sending the latest one off, you call in the next one- an old-looking human woman.

"Papers, please."

She says nothing as she gives you her documents.

"What is the purpose of your stay?"

"Visiting family."

"Duration?"

"A week."

Okay, that matches up, and so does everything else in her-

Oh, wait a second.

"The passport says you are male."

"I know nothing of this."

Well, while you were personally happy to let them go on that, as a simple misprint on the document to laugh about, there was still the possibility of a faulty forgery, and as such, it needed to be verified. With this in mind, you press the button to prep the booth's camera, which also causes a curtain to fall around the woman.

"Please face the scanner."

You hear a brief ruffling of clothes, before the camera flashes twice. Clothes ruffle again, and the curtain rises, showing the woman standing there as she was before.

The pictures print out onto your desk, and you notice that, sure enough, that woman was actually a man all along. So nothing wrong-

Oh.

Oooooh.

What was that called, again? The name is on the tip of your tongue... something that the humans were pretty well known for...

Oh right.

That's a gun.

"Please wait here," you tell them, as you press the button to call the guards. The shutters drop and the alarm briefly goes off, while the man seems confused.

"What is this?"

The guards walk up, and call for the person to leave. Reluctantly, they do, and they're escorted towards the gulag.

Just when you're about to call in the next entrant, though, the horn signaling the end of the day goes off, and the line dissipates. Following this, you pack your own stuff up, before heading towards the nearby barracks.

A couple of the guards look your way as you walk, and you can barely overhear them talking about you. Thankfully, it wasn't anything bad, even if they still didn't quite trust you.

Oh well. Part of the reason you were here in the first place was to prove to the humans that ponies could be trusted, and vice versa. For a moment, you idly wonder how your counterpart is doing on the Equestrian border.

Eh, he's probably doing just fine.

Making your way to your bed, you cringe once you lay down on its uncomfortable surface.

Looks like yet another restless night in store for you.