From a Dying World to New Lands

by Electrician

Chapter 12: Compromise

Chapter 12: Compromise

Perspective: Edgar Worthington
Location: Town Square, Ponyville, Equestria
Date: October 31, 2025

“Were the images real?” Luna almost demanded more so than asked. At her full height, though not as tall as Celestia, she stood at least 6’ 5”. When you’re only 5’8”, that’s pretty intimidating. ‘Damn you Eddy for getting me into this!’ I had to find a way to fix this, and quickly. Luna’s no fool; it’ll be hard to deceive her.

“No, they weren’t,” I continued to deny as I thought of some way to get out of this. “The situation you saw never happened.”

“Then why were they in his memories?” Luna continued to pry.

“Some of the stuff was real. For example, the humans were real. The weapons, as well as their capabilities were real, and the location was real. But the situation was definitely imagined. Are you sure all of it came from his memories?”

This got Luna thinking. ‘Yes, a crack in her logic! If I do this right, I can blame this on her mistake.’

“I am fairly certain-”

“I didn’t ask for fairly certain, I said are you sure?”

“…”

“Well?”

“…I cannot be one hundred percent sure,” she finally admitted.

“Well then that explains it. The parts of that story that were real probably came from his memories, and you assumed the rest of it did too because of that,” I bullshitted. I had no idea what I was talking about, but I hoped it sounded convincing enough for her to buy it. Normally, my ability to bullshit has been, shall we say, lackluster at best. Thankfully, Pinkie bought the ‘counter surprise’ excuse. Judging from the thoughtful expression on Luna’s face, I was hoping that inking of deception skill I apparently possessed would manifest itself again.

Luna’s brow was knitted together, as if she was concentrating hard on something. “We…ahem, I believe I can accept that,” she relented, much to my relief. The air in my lungs rushed out in the mother of all sighs. Her stance visibly tensed however, and a look of suspicion overcame her features once again. “However, you said the weapons were real? Neither my sister nor I were aware your weaponry level was so advanced. Why was that hidden from us?”

‘Out of the frying pan and into the fire.’ “Well, we thought it would be unwise to reveal that during peace talks,” I countered.

“For what? So you could take our country by surprise, to lay siege to our lands unhindered? You seem more than capable of causing our subjects harm should you wish it!”

“Wha-no! Of course not! Why would you even think that?”

“Let’s just say we’ve had…experience, with ponies not being who they claim to be, and invasions resulting from that.”

“*Sigh* Princess, I really don’t want to fight about this. We’re not here to cause trouble. We didn’t even choose to come here in the first place! I think we’ve been very tolerant thus far…well, most of us anyways…but still.”

“If you wish to show good will, then surrender all weapons until the time of your departure.”

“Absolutely not! If it’ll help, I’m willing to open discussions again as to what to do regarding the weapons, but we will not surrender them.” I noticed that we had started to draw a small crowd. Not that I blame them; Luna can get quite vociferous when arguing. As a Princess, I’m not exactly sure she’s ever had to argue with anyone to get them to do something she demands. But as much as I like these ponies, I wasn’t about to give them our guns. I know it’s an illogical fear, and I know this’ll kind of sound like Eddy, but a small part of me thinks they’ll use our firearms to keep us here. Celestia didn’t seem to be too pleased with the idea that we were heading home. Twilight probably doesn’t want us to go either (well, I’m not so sure that’s still true anymore, thanks to certain people).

Luna seemed to notice the crowds of ponies as well. “Not here,” she said. “Gather the humans; my sister and I will discuss this further with everypony at your residence.” With that she charged her horn, the glow getting brighter until a *pop* was heard. The light disappeared instantly, along with the Princess of the Night. ‘Great…’

How were we getting out of this one? We had just formed a peaceful…well, not alliance, but a mutual benefit relation. Now, the whole thing’s in jeopardy because Eddy decided to be a dumbfuck and screw it all up! Not good. Not good at all.

I walked lethargically back. The surprisingly-well-maintained dirt road kicked up a minimal amount of dust as I trudged along. I wasn’t in any hurry to get back; I was still thinking about how I was going to explain this to the others. Unfortunately, like all good things, the silence and loneliness came to an end. Mike and Jonathon were standing by a small group of ponies. Thankfully, it seems they were conversing. As I approached, the conversation could be heard.

“So all of it was fake?” a mare asked. Mike chuckled.

“Of course!” he responded. “Eddy’s had some traumatic experiences, so he’s able to imagine some pretty disturbing stuff.” ‘There’s that gifted ability of Mike’s at work again!’

“I’ll say!” added a stallion in the group. “That was the most bucked up thing I’ve ever seen!”

“Mike, Jon, a word?” I called out. They excused themselves from the group.

“What’s up?” Jon asked.

“Get Eddy here first. I don’t want to repeat myself twice.”

“O-k then,” Mike said slowly. He turned around and started to head off, only to immediately stop. “Or not. Speak of the devil.”

“Guys,” said Eddy as he walked up. “You have to try this pie. It’s freakin delicious!” Sure enough, he was carrying an entire pie, eating it a slice at a time.

“Eddy, this is serious!” I cried out.

“Alright, alright. No need to get touchy. What happened?”

“What happened!? You happened! Thanks to that stunt you pulled off, Luna found out that the guns in that ‘imagined scenario’ are real. She is, shall we say, less than pleased.” The ground was suddenly blessed with pastry crumbs, the gooey apple filling spilling out onto the dirt.

“Shit man! Did you tell her?”

“No I didn’t tell her, she figured it out! She was reading your mind dude; she’s able to tell where the images you’re giving her are coming from. I somehow managed spew enough bullshit to mislead her into thinking the scenario wasn’t real-

*Snicker*

-Shut up Mike, I know what happened the last time I bullshitted, so you can just shut it! *Sigh* Well I misled her, but in order to do that, I had to admit that some parts of it were real, like the firearms. Now Celestia and Luna would like to have a ‘talk’ with us-” I started walking back the truck. “-at our house.” I reached the white Ford, only to find the others were still where I left them. “Right now.” No further questions or comments were made as everyone piled in.

Whatever it is the Princesses wanted, we were going to hear in about 10 minutes.

---

Perspective: Jonathon Burley
Location: Ponyville Outskirts, Equestria
Date: October 31, 2025

“You’re not happy!?” I yelled at Eddy from the front seat. “We’re not happy! We’re the ones getting in trouble for your actions. That little show up there was your doing.”

“I still don’t understand why everyone’s so butt-hurt about this,” Eddy responded. “They asked for a story? They got one. They wanted scary? They got scary! I don’t see the problem here.”

“Eddy, that was too much for them; you knew it would be too,” Mike added, siding with me. At this point it was pretty much Eddy vs. everyone, but the guy was still arguing back, like he’d done nothing wrong. “Don’t act innocent, you exposed a lot of secrets back there, not to mention all the nightmare fuel you gave those ponies and foals. They’ll probably have night terrors about that for years! And don’t get me started on how much of an ass thing to do that was, making us relive one of the worst days of our lives like that. Did you know Edgar waited outside the hospital room, a grown man bawling like a child because he ‘failed to save you’? Why on Earth would you ever make him go through that again!?”

Eddy, for once, shut his mouth. There was nothing he could say to counter that; he knew he fucked up. The remainder of the car ride was ridden in silence. As we pulled up to the house, I could make out two sets of four ponies, along with two chariots. One was white with intricate gold trimming. A sun emblem, made of gold, adorned each side. The chariot was pulled by four white-coated pegasi. The other carriage was almost a mirror image, only it was clad in varying shades of blue, and a moon replaced the sun. Four black-coated bats pulled it…wait. Looking at them, they actually looked like a cross between a bat and a pony. Weird, but kinda cool.

Up on the porch, waiting by the door, were the two all-powerful rulers of Equestria; two ponies that, in any other circumstance, would be very pleasant company. This time however, I wasn’t looking forward to having a conversation with them. It didn’t help that Luna was fully decked out in armor, looking like she was ready to scream bloody murder and charge us at any moment. Celestia (thankfully) was in her normal white, gemstone-and-gold-trimmed dress. She didn’t look angry or upset in the slightest, but because she’s been alive for as long as she has, I can assume her current expression was just her hell of a poker face. She’s probably had centuries to work on it after all.

Edgar decided not to even bother parking the car where it usually goes, and instead pulled up to the chariots and shut the engine off. There were no friendly waves or gestures. There were no smiles. The tension in the air was so thick you could choke on it. Silently, the humans disembarked from the Ford and walked up to the Princesses. A curt nod was all that was exchanged before Edgar pulled out the key and unlocked the door, the well-oiled hinges offering no noise to break the silence. Celestia and Luna’s horns lit up to light the way into the living room; well, at least until I hit the lights. All non-human gazes shot up at the plastic glowing spheres, captivated for a moment by the very bright, electricity-fueled LED lights. Both alicorns powered down their horns.

“Guess these will no longer be required,” said Luna as the last of the glow fizzled out. I was having a bit of a Déjà vu moment. The princesses, as well as the guards, took up the exact same positions they took the first time they visited. Hell, even we were in the same seats!

Celestia cast her neutral gaze over each of us, slowly panning from right to left, until she landed on Eddy.

“My sister has shared with me the images of the ‘story’ you made up,” Celestia began. “I was informed, after watching the story, that the situation was fiction. But the weapons, along with their devastating abilities, were fact. Does this household contain any of these weapons?”

“The house is packed full of ‘em,” replied Eddy. The guards tensed. Eyes began scanning the room. “Heck, I’ve got one on me right now.” The guards leapt up, raising their spears.

“Stand down,” Celestia commanded. It was amazing to see the level of commitment and respect these guards had for their princess. Celestia hadn’t even raised her voice, yet the guards swiftly complied. “Eddy, if I may ask, would you mind placing the weapon in plain sight?”

“Eddy wouldn’t mind at all, right Eddy?” I said. Eddy looked at me for only a moment.

“Yea, sure…” he replied dejectedly, offering no resistance for once as he slowly withdrew the 910, setting it down on the wooden table with a small *thump*. It wasn’t down for two seconds before a golden yellow glow encased the pistol. It levitated up into the air, the handgun majestically floating to eye level with the Solar Princess. The pistol twirled around in the air as Celestia examined it. The reason why she didn’t just grab it with her hands eludes me.

The pistol jerked abruptly as half the glow switched to a deep blue. “Put that thing down sister!” Luna protested. “It’s dangerous!”

“Luna, let go!”

“No, put it down!” The pistol waved around wildly in the air, scaring the ever-living shit out of me, and probably the others too. The loaded weapon spun around, barrel unsafely pointing in all directions as the two struggled with it.

*BANG!* *Ping!*

The cacophony echoed around the living, irritating my ears from lack of hearing protection. The bullet seemed to have found its mark on Celestia’s crown, as the purple-gemmed golden tiara was violently ripped off Celestia’s head. The impromptu projectile crown went sailing into the wall at the opposite end of the room, bouncing off it and hitting the floor with a loud *clank!*. Both colored glows dimmed significantly on the pistol, the weapon ceasing its wild spin in favor of floating absolutely still.

“And that’s why we keep these toys away from children,” Eddy insulted as he yanked the pistol free from both princess’s magical grip. No one even cared or noticed that he just called royalty ‘children’. Dropping the magazine, he racked the slide back to eject the chambered round, before engaging the safety and setting the pistol down again. “Next time, let me know if you’re going to levitate it so I can disarm it first. It’s obvious you have no respect for or knowledge of the firearm, even after seeing what it can do.” He motioned towards the handgun. “Now you can pick it up.”

Celestia hesitated before lifting the weapon once again, this time in her hands. She took care this time not to point the damn thing at anyone. Luna offered no resistance. “Most interesting,” Celestia commented. “If I may ask, how reliable is it?”

“Quite reliable actually,” Mike answered. “Despite many moving parts, a well-maintained gun works great.”

“I see,” Celestia said, placing the handgun on the table. “Now the question arises; what do we do with them?”

“They could surrender them to us,” Luna added hopefully, only to wither from Celestia’s reprimanding gaze.

“Luna, we have already gone over this,” the eldest royal sister said. “The humans have done nothing to earn our distrust in the past couple of days, despite having quite the armory. If they had wanted to try something, they would have already done so. Since they have nothing malicious planned, we will not be taking away these ‘fire arms’, as the humans call them.” She directed her gaze at us. “That said however, I think that for the peace of mind of my sister and I, an agreement should be reached. My personal student visits this house every day, and while I have trust in all of you, her curiosity might get the better of her. I fear for her safety.”

“Well, up until now we’ve simply made the room they’re stored in off-limits. Can’t we just continue to do that?” Mike suggested. Luna shook her head.

“She was unaware before,” she countered. “Now, one of two situations might play out. Either she gets too curious for her own good, or she becomes too frightened to return without some guarantee of her safety. Her dreams tonight should provide insight as to which of these she sides with.”

“No need princess. Seeing how she reacted to Eddy, my guess is, unfortunately, the latter,” I concluded. “We can promise you now princess, we won’t hurt her in any way. However, seeing as some agreement here is preferred over our word, we’re willing to listen to ideas.” For the next twenty minutes, ideas were thrown about and shot down as we all, ponies and humans alike, tried to figure out something that works.

“We could make the fire arms inert until your departure.” (“That would be the same as taking them away. I’m afraid we can’t work with that.”)

“We could show you their inner workings.” (“Equestria has not had a war for a very long time. This technology would only do more harm than good.”)

“We could teach Twilight to shoot.”

This one earned quite some consideration, especially after Mike explained the reasoning. “This way, Twilight will know what they do and how to use one, so she’ll handle them safely if she ever needs to, for reasons beyond me. This’ll satisfy any curiosity, while hopefully dampening her fear of them. She’s currently unfamiliar with them, and you know what they say about fear of the unknown. Finally, we don’t have to show Twilight how the weapon works, only how to operate it, so the exact inner workings remain a secret, like you wanted them to. It’s a win-win: Twilight loses her fear AND sates her curiosity, and we get to keep our guns.”

The royal sisters really thought about this one. It was, in some way, the best idea suggested so far. It might not be the ‘best’ solution for this problem, but it’ll work, and satisfy all the necessary requirements to keep everyone happy. After a little discussing in private (which could apparently be done telepathically for alicorns, as they just looked at each other for a while), Celestia returned her attention to the humans. “And you’re sure Twilight will not be hurt?” she asked.

“The only way she’ll hurt herself is if she doesn’t follow directions,” I assured. “And knowing Twilight, she’s not one to just blow off directions. She’ll be just fine.”

“And the projectiles fired, they will not harm any of our little ponies?” Luna inquired.

“They won’t. The shots will be fired into the forest outside this house, where nothing lives.” Celestia and Luna smiled.

“Very well,” said Luna. “We find these terms acceptable.”

“Excellent,” said Edgar. “Now we just have to discuss who’s going to teach her,” he stated, looking at Mike. It was the obvious choice. I was going to agree with him, but a much better plan popped into my head. I toyed with it for a little bit, weighing options, pros vs. cons, etc. I concluded that it could work, and decided ‘why not’? After all, he did ask for this.

“Hold up a minute Edgar,” I intervened before he could make his choice. “Now I know the obvious choice here is our resident weapons expert Mike, but here me out. Since we’re not teaching Twilight about the guns, only how to shoot, then any one of us can show her just as effectively as Mike can. With that in mind, we need to pick someone she connects with, as she’ll be spending a lot of time with them. She’ll need someone she enjoys being with, the person who’s spent the most time with her thus far.

“Under those criteria, who could be better than the man responsible for this mess in the first place, right Eddy?” Three sets of eyes widened in realization: Mike and Edgar’s in realization of that dastardly fact, while Eddy’s in realization that he was on the chopping block, so to speak.

“Oooh no,” Eddy protested. “Nonono! Definitely not!

“Oh I think it’s a wonderful idea,” agreed Mike with a knowing grin. Eddy looked to Edgar for help, but that hope was dashed quickly when he beheld Edgar’s almost malicious-looking smile.

“Yea, I actually like that one,” he added, bringing the final tally to 3 for and 1 against. ‘Have fun Eddy!’

“Well, now that the matter is settled, I believe this meeting is over,” Celestia said, standing up as she did so. “Thank you all very much for being so understanding.”

“Trust me,” I snickered, looking at Eddy out of the corner of my eye. “The pleasure’s all ours.” ‘Yea, everyone’s except for Eddy. HAHA, serves you right buddy!’

“When would be a reasonable time for Twilight to visit?” Celestia asked as Mike and I escorted our guests to the door.

“Have her here by 9 o’clock tomorrow,” I answered. “We’ll be ready for her then.” We were at the door, the princesses about to leave. For reasons unknown to me though, Mike pulls Celestia over.

“Listen your highness,” he began. “Twilight seems to be…a little shaken up by tonight’s events. If it’s not too much trouble, would you consider stopping by her house tonight and talking with her? Try to calm her down a little.”

“It would be no trouble at all,” she replied. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention.” With that, Mike thanked her and let her go. The royal sisters mounted their respective chariots. “Have a good night.” Celestia said from the chariot.

“You too your highnesses!” Mike called out as they took off.

I was standing by the doorway, enjoying the cool night air that gently blew against my skin. I watched the princesses go until their dots in the sky were no longer visible. The situation turned out alright after all, and there was no need to worry anymore. I turned around and addressed the others down the entryway.

“Alright guys, let’s hit the sack, especially you Eddy. You have a busy day tomorrow.”

---

Perspective: Eddy Culivin
Location: Ponyville Outskirts, Equestria
Date: November 1, 2025
8:30a.m.

“You guys heading out now?” I asked the boys as they loaded into Edgar’s pickup. You see yesterday, Princess Celestia shot her crown off because her little sister threw a hissy fit and tried to take the gun out of her grasp. After they left, Mike found it on the ground and retrieved it. The metal was folded in slightly where the 9mm round hit. A gaping hole adorned the center of the fold, small jagged edges lining the hole on the other side. It wasn’t really wearable in its current condition, but the guys thought it’d be a good idea to return it anyway. ‘Canterlot’ (fucking horse puns…), as they called it, was the capital city where the castle resided about 30 miles from Ponyville. Edgar and the others are going to drive all the way there, just to return it and drive all the way back.

“Yea, we’re ready to go,” Jon responded as he climbed in. Mike soon followed Jonathon in. Before Edgar got to the truck though, I put my hand on his shoulder.

“Listen Edgar,” I began. I drew in a deep breath, and continued. “I wanted to apologize for what I did yesterday.” I quickly held up a hand. “Now before you say anything, I’m not saying this just to get out of any punishment, I really am sorry. I wasn’t thinking, and scaring the shit out of the ponies seemed like a good idea at the time. I didn’t foresee the consequences.”

Edgar looked me dead in the eye, as if searching my soul for a hint of dishonesty. He sighed. “You know what’s really ticked all of us, not just me, off this past week?” he asked rhetorically. “You just can’t bring yourself to relax, even for a little bit. We find a peaceful land whose inhabitants have been really kind to us, and you think they’re all wielding knives behind their backs! Look…you really want to show everyone you’re sorry?”

“Of course! Name it and it’s done.”

“Then take this assignment seriously. Don’t push Twilight away; teach her, and maybe try actually talking to her. I’m sure you’ll find out she’s a really nice girl once you get to know her.”

‘Yea, I saw that condition coming a mile away…but for my friends…’ “Ok Edgar, I’ll do it.”

I felt his hand pat my back. “That’s the spirit! I know you’ll do great Eddy, just make sure to think before you act and you should be ok.”

“Heh, almost sounds like you’re disciplining Jon instead of me.”

“Hahaha! Yea, he’s usually the one to do that. But seriously, do this right ok?”

“You got it boss,” I mock-saluted, before dropping the stance. Edgar climbed into the driver’s seat of the Ford, and started it up. The others had rolled down their windows. “Take care you guys, I’ll see you in a couple of hours.” They nodded in reply, before driving away.

Mike stuck his head out the window. “Try not to let her shoot anybody!” he called out as a final friendly mock. I just chuckled and waved, watching the small dust cloud they kicked up dissipate as they drove off. I checked my watch. ‘8:40 huh? Might as well get everything ready; Twilight’s always punctual.’

*Beep, Beep Beep. WHIRRRRR CHINK!* I pulled open the heavy safe door and rummaged through its contents. Firearms of many sizes, shapes, and calibers were pushed aside, as the small-caliber weapons were at the back. This was one of Mike’s many gun safes, safes that haven’t been opened in a while because the ammo for most of the weapons inside is non-existent thanks to the Infection. At last, I found what I was looking for, and pulled it out. An old Ruger 10/22 popped out of the safe, completely stock. Checking and confirming the breech was empty, I pulled out two 10-round rotary magazines for it and searched for some ammo. It didn’t take long.

.22lr rounds were super cheap before the Infection, so Mike had a ton of the stuff. He still has a huge stockpile because the round was rather ineffective at dealing enough damage to delay Infected, assuming one missed a vital organ. All .22 rifles and their ammo were put away, for use in dire emergencies only. Or training apparently, because that’s what I was going to do with it. I pulled a box of 500 rounds and took two dummy rounds, then closed everything back up. I checked my watch once again; ‘8:51a.m.’ displayed on the LCD. Better get outside.

9:00a.m.

Overhead, a carriage was on final approach to our house. Pegasi spread their wings wide to slow down their ornate golden cargo as much as possible before touching down, like flaps on an airplane. The wheels came down smoothly, and the carriage was brought to a graceful stop ten feet from the porch.

Riding in the carriage was the most unusual guard I’ve ever seen. Full-body armor leaves almost nothing exposed, while the helmet covered their face, so their identity was unknown. A hole on top of the helmet let a horn poke through. The suit of armor looked rather bulky and incredibly heavy, a suspicion that was confirmed when the two guards had to help the stranger off. He/she moved painfully slow; it was so bad that I met them halfway.

I stared into the visor. I assumed the stranger was also staring at me. Several tense seconds of silence passed. “Uh, can I help you?” I asked uncertainly.

“You said to be here at 9,” the stranger responded. The voice was instantly familiar.

“Twilight?”

“That’s me!” she beamed. She attempted a wave. Took her four whole seconds to raise her arm. “I’m ready to learn about these weapons!”

“Yea, not like that you aren’t,” I replied.

“What do you mean? Why?”

“You can barely move in that thing Twilight, let alone wield a gun! That armor’s way too heavy for you, and you don’t even need it. What part of you thought this was a good idea?”

“I’m dealing with dangerous weapons here, of course I’d want to be covered in case…”

“In case what?”

“…well…”

“Well?”

“…in case you decide to hurt me. Celestia said you promised not to, but…”

Hand, meet face. Face, this is hand. “Twilight, you’re going to be out here with me for a long time. If you can’t trust me, we’ll never get through this. I’m sorry if I scared the shit out of you, but can we move on here?”

‘Don’t push Twilight away; teach her, and maybe try actually talking to her. I’m sure you’ll find out she’s a really nice girl once you get to know her.’ Edgar’s words flashed in my mind for a brief instant, reminding me of what I promised to do. ‘Damnit Edgar…’

“Look, I really am sorry about last night; I shouldn’t have done that. Now, if you follow my directions, I swear to you that you won’t get hurt.”

“…Promise?” she asked meekly.

“Yes, I promise.”

“Pinkie Promise?”

‘What are you, four!?’ “Yea sure, I Pinkie Promise.” Had I known I would have to perform some ridiculous motions while sealing the Pinkie Promise, I probably would have reconsidered. But I already started it, and I did promise to be nice.

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. There, happy?”

“Very!” she replied joyfully.

“Great, now get rid of that. I need you wearing something comfortable because we’re going to be here a while,” I said, gesturing towards my jeans and brown T-shirt. Together with the guards, the trio began pulling off heavy plates of steel. Meanwhile, I rechecked that the chamber on the 10/22 was empty, before checking the functionality. I loaded the two dummy rounds into a mag and inserted it. Racking the bolt revealed that the weapon was still in good shape (it chambered the round) and that the weapon was well maintained (The bolt slid easily, no sticking). A solid *Click* confirmed trigger functionality, and racking the bolt two more times confirmed no feeding or extracting issues. I gathered the successfully-ejected rounds and set them aside.

I looked up to see that Twilight was done de-armoring, and had even taken off this under-armor suit she had on. She did have on ‘jeans and a T-shirt’, only her ‘T-shirt’ was a purple striped tank-top, and her ‘jeans’ were denim shorts, only coming like a third of the way down her thighs at most. She looked away, blushing a little as she did so.

“Sorry,” she softly spoke. “If I had sleeves or pant legs, the under-suit would have been much harder to slip on.”

“Uh-huh,” was all I said, before quickly focusing back on the weapon, checking for any rust spots. “Just like a human woman,” I muttered under my breath, ashamed that I made that connection. I mentally berated myself for this, but now that I actually stopped to take a look, the resemblance was uncanny. The shape, the curves of Twilight’s body matched perfectly the curves of a human female’s body, and an attractive one too…

Beating that thought out of my head, I stood up, weapon in hand. “Alright Twilight,” I began, pulling my focus back to the task at hand. “Before handling the weapon, I will teach you the names of the basic parts, so when I give instructions, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Next, I will show you how to handle this thing in a manner that won’t endanger you or anyone else you don’t wish to kill. Finally, I will actually give you ammo, after first passing safety of course, and let you practice your aim. Any questions?”

“None,” she replied.

“Good, now come here so you can see. This weapon right here is called a Ruger 10/22.

3 hours later

“Ok Twilight, what’s the most important rule of gun safety?” I quizzed.

“Always treat the weapon like it’s loaded,” she answered without skipping a beat.

“And because of that you shouldn’t do what?”

“I shouldn’t point the weapon at anything I don’t wish to see killed or destroyed.”

“Where should your trigger finger be?”

“Off the trigger until you’re ready to shoot.”

I couldn’t help a smile. It took Twilight a while to remembers the gun’s parts and their respective functions, but she caught on to the rules pretty quick. “Excellent,” I praised. “Alright, we’re going to run this from the top this time. I’m going to hand you this weapon, show me how you would handle it.”

I handed Twilight the 10/22. She took it, grabbing it correctly with her finger off the trigger, and pulled back the bolt. Confirming that the chamber was empty, she released the bolt and pointed it down and away from others. As a final precaution, she engaged the safety.

“Perfect!” I complemented, much to her delight.

“I’m getting the hang of this!” she exclaimed happily.

“Yes you are. In fact, I think it’s time to hand you some ammo and see how you do. As you practice your shooting, remember that there may be jams, malfunctions, or dud bullets. I will instruct you on what to do in each situation, but under no circumstances should you assume the weapon is safe just because it’s not firing immediately, understand?”

“I understand.”

“Alright! Here are ten rounds and a magazine. Follow my lead.” I grabbed the other mag and another ten rounds and demonstrated how to load the mag. She was a little clumsy at first, but with a little hands-on help, she got it. It’s amazing how soft her fur really is. Thinking about it, this is the first time since I’ve arrived that I’ve actually made any physical contact with a pony, and…‘And I’m getting off track here. Again. Focus brain, focus!’

“Ok, you ready?” I asked. She nodded. “Great. Now point the gun downrange, and go ahead and load in the mag. Good, now cycle the bolt. Take off the safety. You’re ready to shoot. Remember to line up the sight picture with the center of the target. Make sure the rifle is seated comfortably right up against your shoulder, and don’t forget to ‘squeeze’ the trigger, not pull it.” I checked for a final time that she had her ear plugs on (plugs were needed since our over-ears didn’t fit pony ears). “You may fire when ready.” Twilight took a deep breath, let it out slowly, then carefully squeezed the trigger.

*BANG!*

Comments

[shy sad jaded shard]

and with that shot we have one less background pony(poor derpy) great chapter

[Electrician]

3789292

Poor Derpy...wait, didn't Twilight just get a box of 500 rounds?

...

Oh no.

[setablaze53]

Great chapter and can't wait for more.

3789292
HAHAHA! That was a good one... wait, you weren't joking? Oh crap!