Attack of the Equine Empire

"Greetings, brave soldiers! Hail Princess Cornaria, may her peaceful reign over the fair nation of Mustangia last a thousand years and beyond," said the old pony standing at the toll booth.

"Hail to you too, good sir," Quick Star said with thinly veiled discontent. The elderly stallion said nothing and continued to smile at Quick. He had recited the words, as it was customary for anypony entering the borders of Mustangia. It wasn't required, it was just a nice little gesture that ponies thought was customary for some reason. Quick Star heard those exact words so many times that he told himself if he heard them once more, he would blow away the next pony who spoke them. He told himself that every time.

The night was cold and humid. Every so often it would start pouring for a few minutes, then stop, then start again fifteen minutes later. Quick's armor was starting to rust, his mane refused to dry, and for every step he took there was a puddle waiting to be stepped in. Sometimes Quick Star really hated that Princess Cornaria preferred natural weather systems. Sometimes he just wished they'd have the pegasi manage all the weather like every other country but oh no, the ecosystem benefits much more from it's own weather schedule. Who were they to change it? We're the ponies soaked head to hoof and freezing, that's who! Quick Star thought.

"Okay, let's see your passport," he said to the old stallion. The unicorn used his magic to remove a piece of paper from his saddle bag and he gave it to Quick Star. The young guard walked over to Cherry Bomb, his partner sitting in the booth, and  they looked it over together.

"Looks okay to me," Cherry said as he leaned out the booth's window. Every hour they switched who got to stay in the booth with the blanket and who had to walk around outside. For some reason, Quick always felt like Cherry got more time in it than he did.

"Same here," Quick concurred, and he gave the passport back to the stallion. "Okay, you're good to go, sir. That'll be twenty bits for passage. Enjoy your stay in Mustangia." The pony bowed and tossed Quick a small bag of bits. After counting that it was the right amount he signaled Cherry to open the gate and let the pony pass. The dirt road was very narrow with tall trees towering over each side. Most of Mustangia's borders very covered in thick forests. The country's southwestern border that it shared with Equestria was mostly snowy tundras, though, and mountains with some dotted trees here and there. The further north and east a pony goes, the greener and warmer the country becomes. The toll station that Quick Star and Cherry Bomb worked at, however, was the northeastern most border. A border shared with the Equine Empire.

Long after the stallion was gone Quick walked over to Cherry's booth, only to find him asleep. "Hey, Cherry, wake up. No sleeping while on duty."

He refused to open his eyes and merely turned away from him. "Quick, it's the middle of the night. That's usually when ponies sleep."

"Not us. While on duty we are strictly forbidden to eat, sleep, be comfortable, or have a generally optimistic outlook on life." That made Cherry laugh. He seemed to think it was still not worth opening his eyes, though.

"Yeah, if we aren't at our most miserable then we can't effectively kill anypony who forgets their passport. Hell, we won't even be able to stop the Equine Empire invasion when it finally comes." He half-heartedly wave his hoof in the direction of the Empire.

"Considering that is literally ninety percent of our job, I'd say that would be unfortunate."

"Technically though, we don't have to stop it. We just have to signal Command if we see an army coming towards us. Then we just wait here until help arrives. Provided we don't get slaughtered first." Quick laughed and turned to make his rounds again.

"Of course," he said back to Cherry.

"You know what?" He opened his eyes and sat up in the chair. "If the Equine Empire came here tonight, offered me a warmer blanket than this soggy piece of crap, a full night's sleep, and a more manageable weather system, I'd let them in. No questions asked."

"That's treason, you know? Although, on a night like this, I'd probably do it too." Who am I kidding, he thought, on a night like this...I'd do it a thousand times over. Besides, they won't ever attack anyway. They haven't for a hundred years since they became a country and started making their threats, and they won't now.

"Hey, Quick! Look alive! We've got somepony coming," Cherry said from the booth. Quick Star turned to see a young stallion with a bright teal coat pulling a dusty cart that creaked along as it moved. Each rock it went over seemed to bend the wood more and more. The young pony stopped in front of the gate and smiled at the two guards. "Greetings, brave soldiers. Hail Princess Cornaria, may her peaceful reig-"

"Reign last a long time, yadda yadda yadda, just tell us the purpose of your visit and you can be on your way," Quick Star said.

"Oh, of course," said the pony. The smile on his face appeared as if it was trying to out-do all the smiles of every other pony who came to the booth, wishing to enter the "great" Mustangia.  "Well, I'm on my way to visit my family and sell my wares in the wonderful nation of Mustangia," he said.

"Very well. You can go in as soon as we see your passport and take a look at what's in your cart." Quick pointed at the old thing. He was about to walk over to it, but the young pony intervened before he could even lift his hoof.

"Oh I don't think that'll be necessary, good sirs. My family members are already citizens of Mustangia."

"Family relations or not we still have procedures to follow. It'll only take a minute." That time he was able to take a step before being cut off once again.

"Look, my family lives in Stalliongrad, just bring them over and they'll vouch for me." The pony's smile had faded by then.

"Sir, Stalliongrad is literally on the other side of the country."

"Oh, well, um, of course! Silly me! I just forgot." Quick Star and Cherry Bomb exchanged a look. Cherry got up from his seat and shook off his blanket. Quick began inching towards the cart. The pony just continued to stand there, as if expecting them to just drop it.

"Sir," Quick said, "I'm going to have to search your cart. My friend here is going to make sure you don't go anywhere while I do it." Cherry stepped out of the booth as Quick Star went around the cart.

"What ever you say, sirs," the pony whimpered. Cherry's horn started to glow as Quick moved slowly around the cart. Against his own wishes, Quick began to tremble as he took each step.

Quick Star got to the back of the cart, which had a tarp covering the goods inside. He paused for a brief second, and took a deep breath. He ripped off the tarp to reveal the contents underneath. Then he was on the ground. The force of what he thought was a hoof making contact with his face forced him down. Blood trickled from his snout and everything went black. He couldn't see but he could hear Cherry Bomb's scream of pain and then silence. The world went from black to spinning as he crawled on the ground, face first in the mud, rain beating down on his helmet.

When his vision returned he saw the young stallion who had pulled the cart, and he was joined by two others. One was large, old, maneless with a red coat, and with a very hulking physique. The other was lean and young with a short mane and a dark grey coat. "Get the uniforms," the grey one commanded. He walked past the cart, stepped over Cherry's corpse, and entered the booth. He pressed the button and the gate opened wide. "Get rid of the bodies. Remember, the code any of ours will use is daybreak. For any others follow normal procedures."

"Yes sir," the two said in unison. As the grey coated unicorn was hooking himself up to the cart with his magic, Quick Star tried to crawl unnoticed into the nearby wood. He moved as fast as he could, but the world didn't stop spinning, and the mud was so thick and so cold. He felt a hoof press on his back, and it pinned him there. He looked up and saw the teal pony standing over him. "Where do you think you're going, friend?" he asked. Quick saw the pony's horn begin to glow, and he almost felt sick thinking about what would happen next.

"Um... sir! It doesn't fit," the big pony had said from over where Cherry laid.

"What do you mean it doesn't fit?" the grey pony said. He had already begun to leave with the cart when the other had stopped him.

"The uniform's too small, sir." The large pony had Cherry's helmet sitting lopsided on his head, obviously unable to put in on all the way, and he struggled to clasp the chestplate over his torso to no avail.

"Suck in your gut," the grey pony yelled from the cart.

"I tried that sir." He tried it again to show that it wouldn't work.

"Seriously? Okay, what about that one?" He pointed to where Quick Star was pinned down. The pony that was pinning him lifted his hoof slightly so that Quick could respond to his inquiries. "What size uniform are you?"

Quick Star didn't know what to do. His mind was racing from Cherry, to what happened, to the three ponies, to Cornaria, to home, then back to the situation at hand. All he could think to say was an answer to the question. "Uhh... I-I'm a size five."

"I'm a size nine," said the large pony, frowning.

"Nine isn't very far from five," said the young pony standing over Quick Star.

"Are you kidding? It's four whole sizes from five. I can't fit in that."

"Shut up!" yelled the black coated stallion. The two promptly did so. "Just wait here until more of ours pass through and you can switch duties with somepony. We don't have time for stupid things like this. We'd like to have everypony at the capital in a few days time and you're not helping." The two ponies gave a "Yes sir!" in unison.

As the large one dragged away Cherry Bomb the young teal pony looked back down to Quick Star, his hoof pressing harder than ever before. "I know you didn't help much with the whole uniform thing, but thanks anyway." Quick saw the pony's horn glow and a bright light flashed, and he was blind again.

Princess Cornaria woke up screaming. She was breathing heavily, her light blue coat was covered in sweat, and her purple mane had become messy from tossing and turning in bed. The two sentries standing guard outside her door burst in almost instantly. "Princess, are you alright?" one inquired.

"I'm fine... I'm fine," she said as her breathing slowed. The guards relaxed their stances.

"Did you have the nightmares again Princess?"

"Yes. They've been getting worse and worse recently. This last one was about..." Death.Cornaria shuddered at the thought. That one was the worst she had ever known. She felt for that poor pony. It felt too real to her to be anything other than what she believed. The dreams she had were almost always omens, and often bad ones. "Have somepony fetch me a quill and paper. I have to compose a message at once."

"Your majesty, it's very late. Don't you think you should try to rest first?"

"No. I need to write a letter as soon as possible." I can only hope that Celestia will respond to it in time, she thought.