Starlight stood in the Crystal Castle's library, a cup of coffee steaming in her magic grip. She took a sip of it, slightly burning her tongue in the process.

She didn't mind.

She was far too busy blankly staring at the frantic chaos that was unfolding before her. It was only a few minutes ago that the map table had shown all six symbols of the elements of harmony somewhere in the middle of the Everfree and now, Twilight was trying to cram every single piece of scientific equipment she could carry into her - enchanted, granted, but still way too small - saddlebags.

She took another sip.

"And... you're sure you don't need any help?" Starlight asked, wincing when Twilight finally forcefully shoved her saddlebags shut. She could've sworn, she heard glass crack just now.

"Don't worry, Starlight." Twilight huffed, slightly exhausted from packing - and cramming - so fast. "The map always shows everypony who will be needed to make everything work. Besides, I need you to look after Spike and the library." She added as an afterthought.

Starlight took another sip to drown the "yeah sure" that she felt coming, before it could slip out. It hadn't been all-too long since she'd been reformed, granted, but even in what little time she spent here, it had become rather obvious to her that Twilight regularly underestimated Spike, just because he was technically still a baby. Starlight was quite certain that if this were a corporation, Spike would probably be regional manager by now. Seriously, he was so competent that it was genuinely scary to her, at times. Especially if you considered his age.

"And... why do you need all this science-equipment for a friendship problem?" Starlight asked and Twilight smiled sheepishly in response.

"Uhh, you know... since we're going there anyways, I thought I could run a few experiments..."

Starlight took another sip of coffee, while giving he friend and mentor a blank look. To say she was surprised would be an overstatement. In hindsight, she was actually surprised at the miniscule amount of surprise she felt at all.

"Right..." She replied.

At that moment, she heard a few knocks on the door, but before she could even move to open them, Twilight had already shot past her and done so herself.

"Hi, girls!" She greeted happily. "Everypony ready to go into the Everfree?"

The others, to their credit, seemed very eager to help, no matter the circumstances, at first. However, once the Everfree was mentioned, their enthusiasm visibly dropped.

"Not really, no." Rainbow Dash told her.

"I'd honestly rather stay away fom this mud and filth, but it can't be helped." Rarity added.

"An' ya sure the map's pointin' us in there? Couldn't it jus' be.. ya know, somewhere near the Everfree or somethin'?" Applejack asked.

Twilight shook her head. "Nope. I double and triple checked that. It's definitely in the Everfree."

It was almost unnerving, with how much glee she said that.

"...Okay..." Applejack said hesitantly. "Ah jus' hope, ya don' lose yerself in yer research an' ferget ta solve th' problem with us."

"Oh please, when did that ever happen?" Twilight waved her off. Rainbow seemed like she was gonna list off a bunch of times, where exactly that had happened, but Twilight quickly shot her down, before she could say anything.

"Don't say it, I know." She sighed. "I promise, this time I will focus on the problem first, and do my research afterwards."

"Do you Pinkie promise?" Pinkie Pie interjected.

Twilight nodded. "Yes, I Pinkie promise."

The group gave Twilight - and her bags, in particular - a scrutinizing look, under which she couldn't help but fidget slightly. A few tense seconds passed, before the girls finally relented and Applejack nodded.

"Alright, if ya Pinkie promise, Ah suppose yer gonna hold yer word." She said. "Now c'mon. 'sooner we go in, th' sooner we can leave again."

Twilight nodded her agreement, and she and the group went on their way towards the Everfree. The forest's edge loomed in the distance, almost as if it was taunting them, daring them to come closer. It felt chilling, somehow - for Applejack and Rarity, at least. Twilight was too occupied with her thoughts to notice, Rainbow was arrogant to care and Fluttershy was too used to it to be affected.

Pinkie was just Pinkie.

"Maybe we should make a short stop at Zecora's place? She could know something." Fluttershy thought out loud.

"Maybe. Honestly, I'm half expecting her to be part of the friendship-problem." Twilight answered.

"Why?" Applejack interjected. "There anythin' wrong with Zecora?"

Twilight hesitated a bit. "Uhhh... Well, you could say that..."

"Listen, Zecora: Wouldn't it be better if we talked before we tried to kill each other?" Straßenbauer tried to placate the VERY angry Zebra that had stumbled upon their camp, that morning.

Eisenhans gave Straßenbauer a rather questioning look, before trying his luck, himself: "Vat mai frend is traying tu sey ist zat... uhhh" He fumbled for a moment, trying to find the right word. "... Zat, uhh... meybe ve kuld tolk änd trei to resolv ar probläms?"

(What my friend is trying to say is that... uhh... that, uhhh... maybe we could talk and try to resolve our problems?)

A few moments of silence followed, during which Straßenbauer blinked at his friend.

"Junge, hast du 'nen Akzent." (Boy, do you have an accent.) He said.

"Ich hab' halt in Englisch gepennt, okay? Fremdsprachen liegen mir nicht." (I slept in english class, okay? I'm not good at foreign languages.) Eisenhans defended.

"Merkt man." (Noticeable.) Straßenbauer jabbed.

"You really are just vile abominations!" Zecora spat, regaining the attention of the two foreign entities in front of her. "First, you take my most prized possession and now you're having a chat while being confronted with what you did!"

Zecora huffed and scraped her right forehoof on the ground. She really seemed like she had abandoned all reason and was now purely out for revenge.

"You shall pay for this insolence in blood! HAVE AT THEE!" She shouted and suddenly came running towards Straßenbauer, stopping just in front of him and whirling around to kick him with her hind hooves.

Straßenbauer saw that one coming - literally - and so easily side-stepped her kick and gave her a light smack to the back of her head while he was at it.

"And here I thought, you shamans would know that blindly rushing into things will get you nowhere." He taunted, earning him a facepalm from his friend.

Zecora quickly recovered from her failed attempt and snarled at Straßenbauer.
"How very little you really know, this fight of ours soon will show!"

The moment these words had left her lips, Zecora's demeanor changed. At first, she just stood there, stunned. Then, she slowly raised a hoof to her muzzle, much like she did, when she noticed that her rhyme was gone. Her lips quivered slightly and her eyes welled up just barely enough to not spill just yet.

Then she looked over to Straßenbauer and Eisenhans, who were now looking at her with a mix of expectation and confusion. Who - or rather, what - were these beings? She had no answer to this. She only knew that, apparently, they were powerful enough to freely command over her rhyme and that is something that even the most advanced mages only barely accomplished.

She threw herself onto the ground before them and said - nay, prayed - to them: "Oh, you gods, forgive the ignorance in my blood. Please allow me to atone, by throwing my muzzle into the mud."

Straßenbauer and Eisenhans just stood there, stunned.

"Gods?" Eisenhans questioned.

However, as if she hadn't heard, Zecora just continued with her prayer.
"Please, oh gods who have descended, allow my sins to be amended. I shall devote my life to thee, so please, dispense your grace upon me."

Seeing that Zecora was apparently completely out of it, Straßenbauer decided to attempt a different approach he had learned during his time as a caregiver.

"Very well, my child." He told her in as almighty and godly a tone, as he could muster. "It really speaks for you that you were able to discern our true nature so quickly. You shall have our blessing - use it well. However, you may not speak of our nature to any of your peers. Is that understood?"

Zecora lifted her muzzle momentarily, before smiling and quickly burying it into the ground again. "Your secret, I swear on my own grave, I will forever keep safe!"

Straßenbauer nodded. "Very good. You may go then, my child. Live your life as pious and righteous as you can and you may prosper from the many graces you will surely earn."

Zecora quickly babbled a few further prayers and thanks, while retreating, though she spoke them so fast that neither Straßenbauer, nor Eisenhans could make out what she actually said. After she had gained a bit of distance on them, she then turned around and quickly galloped into the woods, grinning from ear to ear.

"[...I think I broke her.]" Straßenbauer said after a few seconds.

"Well no shit, Sherlock." Eisenhans sassed back. "[Any idea what we should do now?]"

Straßenbauer thought for a moment and then looked at the sun.
"[Get a move on, I presume? We can deal with Zecora another time. For now, we should just focus on taking one step after the other.]"

Eisenhans blinked a few times, not having expected a serious answer from his friend.

"[Have I ever told you about your tendency to swing from being a hyperactive meme lord to being an ice-cold and serious pragmatist who would make Spock seem emotional?]" He asked rethorically.

"[I get what you were trying to say, but that comparison isn't quite fitting: There are multiple occasions throughout the original series, where Spock is shown to actually be very emotional.]" Straßenbauer corrected him.

"[If you say so, mister super-trekkie.]" Eisenhans snarked. "[Let's just get going. We're wasting time.]"

And so, they went on marching towards Ponyville, to hopefully leave a decent first impression.

A few hours later, Twilight and her friends were deep inside the Everfree Forest, fighting through the thick underbrush that was blocking their path. They should've reached the place where the problem lay long ago, yet hadn't seen anything that would even just hint at what they were meant to be doing here. It was strange, really. Normally, the Map would point them precisely to where they would encounter the problem... or, well, at least as precise as the scale of the map allowed.

Had they gotten lost? That would've surely taken the cake, getting lost on a friendship quest. Sometimes she really wished there was some sort of a mobile version of the Friendship Map that she could just carry in her saddle bags and have a look at, whenever she needed directions.

That was definitely something she should look into later.

She should probably also look into who that weird pony was, who was currently blocking their path. She didn't know anypony else, who would just wander into the Everfree like they did... well, except for Zecora. Unfortunately, the mare wasn't at home, when they dropped by for a visit, earlier that day, so they had to find their way through the forest on their own. Maybe they had gotten lost so badly that they had arrived back in Equestria proper?

"Greetings, my dear princess." The pony - an earth pony stallion with a black and white coat that made it look like he was constantly wearing a tuxedo, a grey-brown striped mane and a small brown moustache - greeted her. "It seems you and your entourage have gotten lost in quite a hostile environment. Please, allow me and my friends to escort you to safety."

On their cue, two groups of three gryphons each leapt out of the nearby bushes. One group placed itself directly between them and the pony, while the other group cut off their retreat.

Great. Just great.

First contact, that was the plan. Originally, Eisenhans and Straßenbauer wanted to go directly to Twilight's castle, introduce themselves and then have her handle further introductions. Eisenhans came up with this plan, as Straßenbauer brought up that ponies apparently tended to be a tad shy around strangers. Though, in all honesty, he would've proposed this strategy anyway, seeing as being introduced by an "inside man", so to speak, tended to be more effective than introducing yourself.

Now, the reason why they hadn't seen this plan to the end was that on their trek through the forest, they found Twilight and her gang going into the forest. Eisenhans had seen it as a stroke of luck at first, seeing as they could make first contact without having to expose themselves to the eyes of Ponyvillians. However, then Straßenbauer pointed out that they might be on a story-relevant quest and their interference might have detrimental consequences.

Thus, they decided to follow them discreetly, to get a vague idea of the situation they were dropped into. After all, while both men lacked in-depth knowledge of the series, Straßenbauer had at least a vague understanding of the overarching plot and main developments.

Needless to say, both were quite surprised, when the kids show suddenly included an armed robbery.

Eisenhans and Straßenbauer had hidden themselves in the shrubbery with some distance to the six mares. From their vantage point, they watched as some weird, mafia-looking dude and a gang of gryphons surrounded the group.

Now that they thought about it, it looked more and more like a kidnapping and not a robbery, seeing as no one had made an attempt to, well, rob them, thus far.

"[Perfect.]" Straßenbauer mused aloud. "[We couldn't have asked for a better chance to make a good impression.]"

"[Come again?]" Eisenhans asked, blinking at his friend.

"[What I mean is that, in order to get as positive a start, as possible, we should go for a situation that positions us as their allies.]" Straßenbauer clarified.

Eisenhans nodded, vaguely understanding what his friend was getting at. "[Alright, so we ditch the 'story-relevant event' - theory and ambush the ambush.]"

"[Yes. However, we should be careful not to kill them. I doubt that the ponies would trust us, if we were to just mindlessly shed blood in their presence.]" Straßenbauer explained.

"[Okay.]" Eisenhans acknowledged. "[So, how are we gonna go about this?]"

To this, Straßenbauer gave him a wicked smile and fixed his bayonet. "[You wait here and cover me. I'mma go have some fun.]"

Eisenhans barely supressed a sigh, as he waved his friend off. He really should've seen this one coming. H watched Straßenbauer make a mad dash towards the group, apparently going for the group around the tuxedo-pony. Eisenhans, in turn, took aim at the other three gryphons, waiting for some kind of signal from Straßenbauer.

He, in turn, ran towards the gryphons as fast as he could. Once there, he used his momentum to kick the first one to sleep, before slamming his rifle's grip into the second's face and using the weapon as a lever to slam the third into the ground. With his goons now out of commission, he put the boss in check, thus forcing them to surrender.

At least, that was his plan...

Turns out that his camo wasn't quite enough to mask a 6ft+ human rhino steam roll through the bushes. That combined with the gryphon's inherent eyesight allowed Straßenbauer's target to evade by rearing up onto its hind paws at the last moment. Luckily for him, though, Straßenbauer was a seasoned martial artist and thus had decent control over his momentum. Thus, he let his kick swing out, giving him some rotational momentum which he used to quickly spin and duck under the claw swing by his opponent, followed by a quick bayonet-stab towards the gryphon's left pinky toe.

"[Ow.]" Eisenhans winced, as he saw that. "[Now there's something to add to the geneva convention.]"

Straßenbauer was relieved to see that, apparently, the gryphon's pinky toes were just as sensitive as their human counterparts, as his target cawed in pain and limped back behind his two comrades.

Twilight was rather surprised at the tall, bipedal thing that suddenly came sprinting out of the bushes, but she certainly didn't mind the help.

Wait, a big biped? Wasn't there something that Zecora said?

An angry caw by one of the remaining gryphons quickly reminded her that this was not the time to get lost in thought.

"Heh, good one, big guy. Now, what's the plan?" Rainbow asked, as if she had known Straßenbauer for ages.

"The plan just died. Gimme a moment." Straßenbauer said, while taking position to fend off the advancing gryphons. Twilight and her friends had done the same and were now standing back-to-back between their assailants.

Straßenbauer contemplated a moment. It wasn't that he didn't have a backup plan, but that the gryphons were closer than he would like. Alas, a lunge by one of the gryphons in front of him forced him into a quick decision and his decision was that he trusted Eisenhans.

"UNTERDRÜCKUNGSFEUER!" (Suppressing fire!) Straßenbauer shouted, as he fended off the attacking gryphon and immediately sent a volley of bullets into the ground right in front of his opponents. At the same time, Eisenhans opened up on the rear group, sending bullets buzzing past and scaring gryphon and pony alike.

Straßenbauer took this chance and sent the three gryphons in front of him to the ground. He then sent another volley into the ground right in front of the apparent leader, thus forcing him into a hasty retreat.

Seeing their leader, and thus their payment, flee, made the gryphons very quickly abandon their positions and follow his example.

The silence that followed could only be appreciated by the two germans with ear protection. The ponies now suffered from a tinnitus.

"You could've at least warned us, you know?" Rainbow whined, her ears still sore from the earlier assault.

"And thus also warned the gryphons, thus hampering the effect." Straßenbauer argued.

After Twilight had cast a few healing spells on everypony's ears, she decided that for now, they should return to Ponyville. Eisenhans had revealed himself to the group meanwhile, without causing any further confusion.

Even without knowing this type of weapon, the ponies had already surmised that there was probably somepony else hiding in the bushes.

"Say, aren't you the ones who brought Zecora to my house?" Fluttershy asked timidly, making Straßenbauer cringe slightly.

"Uhh, yeah, about that..."

"It's fine. I know you aren't bad ponies." She assured him.

"Oh really?" Applejack interjected. "How'd ya know that? From what Ah could see, big guy 'ere was smilin' mighty - a - madly back there."

Fluttershy side-eyed her friend for a few moments, before giving a short look over to Straßenbauer's rifle - specifically, the blade attached to its end.

"I think that if he actually enjoyed violence, he could've done way worse than he did." Fluttershy defended.

"Jus' cause he was restrainin' himself some, ain't makin' him a good pony." Applejack grumbled, eliciting a slight chuckle from Straßenbauer.

" 'Some' - Now there's an understatement." He said quietly in amusement.

"Hintin' at yer ability ta destroy, ain't helpin' much." Applejack chided, before turning to Eisenhans. "And what 'bout you? Ya've been completely silent this whole time. Ya mute or somethin'?"

"Applejack, what's your problem, right now? You've been acting very strangely, since we turned back!" Fluttershy shouted - for her standards. For everyone else, it was just barely above a normal talking tone.

"It's fine. I think I have a pretty good guess at what's going on." Straßenbauer interjected, before any more could be said. "I think, her fight-or-flight instincts are still on overdrive from earlier and she appears to be the fighting type. I can respect that." He then looks to Applejack. "As for your question:"

Straßenbauer looks over to Eisenhans and gives him an urging nod.

"Jah, eim not reely gut vif yur länguidge, so ei let Straßenbauer do ze tolking." He said.

"...Alright." Applejack relented. "Still... that smilin' thing ya did really ain't makin' ya look good in mah book."

"I'm pretty sure, there's a good explanation for that as well. Right, Shtra-- Ztra-- Shhdraz--" Twillight's eyes crossed, as she struggled with the name.

"Straßenbauer." Straßenbauer helped her. "And yes, there is. Thing is, at the moment, it would probably only make things worse, so I'll wait until you can judge my character a bit better and put it into the proper context."

He gave Twilight a friendly smile, as he said so, but other wise refused to comment on it.

By the time the Crystal Castle came into sight, the sun was already setting. The group made its way into the castle, where everyone took a short break, before going home.

At least, that was the plan before Twilight made a strange discovery in the map room.

"Huh... strange." She mused aloud, as she looked intently at the map.

"What? Somethin' change?" Rainbow asked, hoping that it was nothing major.

"Well... yes. The markers moved." She answered, gaining the attention of the other elements.

"What, really?" Rarity asked, her couth attitude momentarily slipping. "Where are they now?"

"That's what's so strange: they seem be with us here in the castle." Twilight said, making everypony jog over and look at the map.

"Huh..." Pinkie voiced. "I wonder what that could mean?"

"I don't know, Pinkie... but I think, I can tell where these markers point to..."

Twilight took a very close look at the map and then held a hoof out. "It should be... right over there."

Everypony paused and slowly followed Twilight's hoof to the door, where their two new friends were standing.

Finding all the attention on them and having vaguely heard what they were talking about, Straßenbauer looked at Eisenhans, who shrugged.

"Umm... I think, we should properly introduce ourselves, shouldn't we?" He asked to no one in particular.
"I'm Tom Straßenbauer and this is Felix Eisenhans. We were interdimensionally displaced and need help." He said with a smile.

Everypony gave a silent "Oh." at that, as their cutie marks started blinking.

Twilight really needed some sleep...

Inventory Check
Ammo:
511 rounds 7.62x51

574 rounds 5.56x45

Food Rations:
2 opened MREs (2d left)

4x 1.5l Bottles (empty)

2x Canteen (empty)

Author's Note

Ah fuck it, once a month it is.

Actually, even that might not work out, because exams are coming up. Also, I'll have to spend some more time properly plannign the story, as I noticed in this chapter that I kinda rushed into it a bit too early... oh well, I'll do my best.

Also, little fun fact on the side: Originally I wanted to have Eisenhans have no english skills whatsoever. However, he needs to talk in some of the upcoming chapters, so I went with him just being heavily accented.