Survival of the Fittest

Chapter 3

POV: NICK

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As I regained consciousness, I felt unbelievably nauseous, to the point of the MRE I ate earlier almost making itself known to the world around me. Greg soon awoke, and groaned rather loudly.

"I think I'm gonna-" he croaked before painting the grass a sickly tan with vomit.

"Nice artwork," I joked. "Take a moment, just breathe."

"What happened?"

"How the fuck should I know?!"

"You're the one that blew our 'cover' back there!"

"How does that change anything?!"

"You got us into this situation, now you have to get us out of it."

"But I don't know what to do!"

"Use the force, Nick."

"Now's not the time, Greg."

Our argument was cut short by the sound of... Hooves? And... Metal? As if this couldn't get any stranger, about three dozen armored horses came over the hill, and set up a phalanx position less than fifty meters away from our current location. We sprinted back to the truck, snatched up our weapons, with me vaulting over the hood, and Greg climbing into the gunner's seat. We trained our guns on the mass of horses, and watched one of them walk out from the group. He was white, and was wearing silver plate armor, in contrast to the rest of the group's golden plates. He looked more 'expensive' than the others, despite him wearing what looked like steel, rather than gold.

I ducked under the hood, and began to rifle through my equipment, looking for the bag that housed my gas mask. Finding it, I slipped the rubber mask over my face, and popped back over the hood to look at the advancing horse. I flicked the safety off, which made the horse tense up from the loud *CLICK*. Peering through my scope, I aimed at its' head. I then began to examine it, as well as the other horses. The approaching one was equipped a matchlock rifle, which was small enough to be considered a carbine, and a short-sword. The rest had full sized rifles, and similar short swords. The horse then spoke, in a masculine, commanding tone, in perfect English no less.

"By order of the princesses, you are to lay down your weapons," It said. "Failure to do so will be seen as an act of aggression, and will be treated as such."

"Oh really," I said, my voice muffled by the mask. "Try me, bitch."

Unslinging his rifle, he pointed it at me and shouted, "It would be wise to not disobey, boy!"

"BITCH YOU DID NOT JUST CALL ME THAT!" I practically screamed, slinging my rifle over my shoulder, drawing my pistol, and aiming at his head.

"Way to make a good first impression, Nick," Greg muttered, obviously annoyed. "I'm sorry about my friend here. He's just a little stressed right now."

"Now, I will ask you again, lay down your arms," He commanded. "Or we will make you."

"I hate to break it to you, but you're outgunned here," I said. "We have machine guns, you know. Much better than those muskets. They probably don't have rifling, do they?"

"No," He replied. "Theirs don't, but mine does."

"Look, I'm sorry for acting like a dick," I apologized. "But we won't put down our guns. We won't fire them, but we still won't lay them down."

He contemplated this, wondering if it was a good decision to let two heavily armed aliens stroll about Canterlot. "You may keep your weapons," He sighed. "But I swear to the goddesses, if you try anything..." He trailed off, in an attempt to intimidate us into submission.

"Whatever," We both said, unimpressed. "We won't if you won't. By the way, I'm Nick, and He's Greg."

"Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard," He declared proudly. "At your service."

"Pleasure to meet you," I said. "What happens now?"

"You will be escorted to the castle," He explained. "You will have to leave your vehicle in the carriage service bay. It will be kept under close watch."

With that, he began to walk back to the group of horses, and signal us to drive in front of them. We followed the order, with Greg in the driver's seat, and me in the gunner's, like before. The large wooden gates swung open, and we drove inside. We heard some gasps, screams, and complete chaos erupting in the streets, due to the sudden appearance of a large tan vehicle, piloted by aliens.

"Ah, buck," We heard Shining Armor shout. "We forgot to warn the townsponies!" He ran out into the street, in an effort to calm these 'ponies'.

"Well 'hello' to you too..." I grumbled.

Finally calming the ponies, we began to drive toward the castle. It was a pretty boring drive, with the occasional gasp, and "What the hay is that?!", but they were soon relieved to see the Royal Guard behind them, meaning this object was safe. We finally reached the castle, and saw two tall ponies, a white, and midnight blue one, both had wings and a horn. There were two more similar ones, one pink, and one purple. There were also five more ponies in addition to these. Shining joined the group, and kissed the pink one, and hugged the purple one. I released a loud 'D'aaaaaaaaaaaw!' which was muffled by my gas mask. The ponies blushed, but then gasped upon seeing me and my gas mask, which I took off shortly afterward.

"Hi?" I said, uncertainty evident in my voice.

"Greetings, I am Princess Celestia," The tall white one began. "This is Luna, Cadence, Twilight, and her friends." She explained, pointing to each one, as she said their names.

"You sound... Familiar..." I said. "I have heard your voice before, Princess... Wait... Holy shit... You're the one we heard before we came here!"