The walk back was certainly the most horrible thing that's happened since the landing. I mean, getting attacked by these so called 'Timberwolves', as what the guards called them, was pretty bad. But that gave me shooting for entertainment. The walk back was spent in complete quiet. Any time I tried to speak, she'd avoid the question or put it off. It was worse than silent treatment, because I didn't know why the hell this was happening! It had been an AT LEAST an hour, but it felt like months...

"So, uh. What's the name of this planet?" I ask Twilight.

"You'll learn more about it later..." She trails off.

Some time passes.

"So are the forests always this dangerous?" I again ask, hoping to spark some sign of life.

"Usually..." Is all she responds.

If she puts me off one more time I swear humans will be EXILED...

"So, hopefully that proved that you can trust us? Not that we felt antagonized before, of course." Elliot pitches in, clearly trying to stop me getting more pissed off than I already was. It didn't bother me that he was trying this, because I WAS pissed! Very much so! Glad SOMEONE seems to notice anything! What bothered me about it, is how nice he was trying to be. Even though that last part was totally false. We felt very antagonized, and still do.

"Not exactly." Twilight responds, looking to the guards. She clearly made some sort of facial gesture, but from our angle to her right, it was not visible to us.

My turn, I guess...

"So, what does that mean? You mean there's like, a test? Or have we just not done enough yet, to your standards?" These little bastards are really distrusting, I'll say. If we need to like, protect them from any more weird, mythical bullshit, I'm going to hit something! Probably Elliot...

"You'll get more information later..."

HOLY SHIT! She did NOT just do that again! All of my D.I.s combined weren't this annoying... All of them with three CLONES of themselves wouldn't bother me this much. But getting put off, ignored, and rejected of any socialization, especially in a situation like THIS! THAT is what is getting to my head. As if that isn't bad, Elliot has been getting more and more nervous, like we switched roles or something. When I stopped fearing these locals, he started! He's been whining whenever we get far enough apart from them about how they "aren't giving him a good vibe." Weird superstitious crap like that.

I am reeeally pissed off now, so badly I can't even form a sentence to describe this mixture of hate, annoyance, and.... Something else, fear? I think it's fear, feels like fear. I haven't really felt fear for anything in a long time. It's usually guaranteed that we'll be safe, as long as we follow orders properly. But in this environment, so far from home, it's downright confusing. I start to feel my fight or flight reflex kick in. At the time, capping the group wouldn't sound too bad. My secondary has enough ammo for them, and a few extra. I could save us from whatever they might have in mind. Which, by the way they are acting, isn't wonderful. At least, it doesn't seem like it. You typically aren't ignored and shunned on the road to Disneyland, that is.

I try to calm down with shooting methods. I slow my breaths, relax my heartbeat, and look directly forward. Ignoring any distractions, in this case, the locals. Which I will continue calling them because I think pony sounds cheesy. What do you expect? It's not like I NEED to call them by species. Or that they earned it. I don't want to be called "human" all the time. Oh wait, if I make it to the town without killing something, that could actually happen...

I reach for my side and turn my pistol's safety off. If wherever we are going goes hostile, I want to be ready to shoot ASAP. Safeties can give the locals time to use that weird energy stuff to yank the gun away or something of the nature. I still find it hard to believe I saw it with my own eyes, those locals in uniform were shooting things and manipulating objects without touching them. It's a VERY strange thing to watch.

OH GOD FINALLY! The village. Looks like mucking around in my head passed some time. Looking closely, I see that the courtyard is cleared of most of the locals from earlier, and is filled with new ones. Suddenly, I hit something with my leg. Looking down, I make eye contact with one of the armored locals. Who I, presumably, just walked into.

"Why'd we stop?" Elliot asks the Purple she-demon.

"I don't want to do this, but, it's necessary by law. Guard, at ease. You, name?" She responds, pointing to one of the guards.

Guard, that's what they were called, right.

The guard shows a hint of surprise, before regaining military bearing, managing to at least SOUND confident.

"Staff Sergeant Scarlet Shield, Princess."

"Scarlet, have this team restrain them, and remove their weapons." She orders, trying to sound somewhat polite.

Not that that made me feel any better, I was FLAMING pissed now. Scarlet nods at the team, and they begin approaching us.

I draw my M9 sidearm, and hold it at this Scarlet character, as the tension instantly rises from zero to superhero.

"Hey hey hey! Back it up! Slow it down there!" I bark out, trying to dismiss the idea before I fire a shot or something.

Turning my head, I look to Elliot, who is wearing that stubborn 'I told you so' face, he also has his sidearm aimed at the other two guards, waving it from one to another. He turns back to them.

"Please, it is important that we do this in order to get you through town. We can't risk you hurting anypony if you happen to be dangerous." Twilight speaks from my left.

"I AM dangerous! And I AM about to hurt someone! Call them off, before this gets worse!" I shout. I don't care WHAT title she has, or rank she is, she's under MY order right now. We have the guns here and it's my team, not theirs. I decide what I'm getting Elliot and I into.

"Please just hold still, we won't tie it tightly. We just can't walk right through the marketplace breaking regulation. It makes us look terrible, and the townsponies would get spooked by the weapons you carry. I'm sure you understand. We don't mean any harm, it's not a threat, it's for the sake of our ponies." Scarlet responds.

"Uh, Grayson? I don't know if we have a choice, if we go hot here, we'll be stuck here. There's no way in hell we can get back on our own." Elliot speaks from behind.

"I'll figure it out, but we are not being held prisoner!" I reply, making sure it's directed at everyone, not just Elliot. I turn to Twilight, aggressively speaking through my teeth. "If you won't trust us to WALK near your locals, then we won't trust you to disarm us. You are not only getting on my nerves, but you are confusing the shit out of me, and you are hiding something without shame! You won't even tell us where the sweet hell you are taking us, and now you expect us to go defenseless and bound? It didn't take years of training to know THAT would be crazy. And if you-"

"-Grayson, chill out dude." Elliot speaks, trying to sound calming.

"NO!" I reply, not actually yelling, but sounding alot more whiny and sarcastic then I meant to. "We're about to be paraded through the village like captured animals, BY animals, TO animals, and we don't even know what they intend to do. Don't act like you trust them either! You've been nagging me about that bad feeling the entire way here!" The guards start to back up, either entertained by the arguing, or startled by the weapons being turned on them.

"You're right, I don't trust them, but I think we have a better chance with them then with the forest. We can't craft our own bullets, Grayson. And we need to get food somehow." Elliot reasons, clearly losing faith in resisting.

"We'll be fine, you didn't get on Delta force to die after a few weeks in a forest. Or be taken hostage by crazy locals." I turn to Twilight, trying to stop arguing in front of them when I'm still trying to seem intimidating. "Look, either we walk through like normal people, or we survive back in the forest. It's MY team, and despite Elliot's doubts, we can live without you. It's your choice here, just don't restrain or disarm us. We aren't your prisoners, and we're alot better trained than you've seen yet. Attacking us, or showing hostile actions is not a smart idea. Killing is our job, princess." Wow, that's the first time I've actually called her that.

She seems to think about that for a moment, looking between us and the guards. She has to know attacking is a bad idea, there is no way she could protect all of the guards in the area. Not to mention she has no idea how fast, strong, and defensive we are. On the other hand, she seems like there's alot of worry that we'd do anything stupid in the center of town. There isn't a good option for her, but it isn't my problem.

After about a minute of thinking, she turns back to me, satisfied with her choice.

"Alright, how about we do THIS instead."

Author's Note

Please alert me of any typos, I was REALLY tired. And look! I can write chapters now! Nothing can stop me now!

...Probably something will again, but at least I'm not giving up

Also, no, the ending isn't telling you that she's carrying through with restraining them, it's telling you she knows what she wants to do.