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Prologue737 words
Chapter I688 words
Chapter: II1,009 words
Chapter III625 words
Chapter IV1,645 words
Chapter V1,433 words
Chapter VI1,115 words
Chapter VII1,360 words
Chapter VIII1,070 words
Chapter IX1,561 words
Chapter X1,407 words
Chapter XI1,857 words
Chapter XII1,187 words

Chapter X

"This, is an M1 Garand" began Arroyo, "it's a semi automatic, .30-06 caliber rifle. With one pull of the trigger, one bullet fires out. Effective range 500 yards, gas operated, loads in via en bloc clip holding eight rounds." Twilight examined the rifle and took down notes in her note pad, like the student she was back in Equestria. "You load the weapon by inserting the clip inside the weapon from the upper receiver, push it down until you hear it click, push the bolt forward, and you're ready to rock." Arroyo aimed down the sights and fired the eight rounds in quick succession. The rifle ejected the clip and made the iconic, yet unforgiving ping that was one of the Garand's characteristics.

"That ping at the end means you're out of bullets, and the Krauts know that. So be sure to keep your head down when reloading," said Kearney.

"But how am I going to fire the weapon?" she asked.

"I got that covered Twilight," said James. He pulled out two sets of metal objects that seemed like torture devices. "Millar made them. Use one to hold the weapon easier and handle the recoil, the other one, you use to fire." Twilight picked up the first object, nothing special, just a clamp that holds the rifle in place. The other one looked as if it were a pirate hook, except less curved. Twilight picked up the rifle, she fumbled it the first time, but then learned to use more muscle to keep the weapon in place.

"Make sure the front sight lines up with the rear one, so look through the little peep hole and line it up with the line at the end of the weapon," said James. Twilight adjusted her positioning and pulled the trigger on the weapon, nothing came out. She tried it again, nothing.

"Why isn't this working?" she asked.

"It isn't loaded," said Kearney. Twilight looked down and blushed a little, she tried to grab the clip with her mouth, but was stopped by James.

"Maybe it's okay to use your magic to load the weapon," he said. Twilight nodded and used her horn to load the rifle. She pushed the bolt forward and aimed in once more. She pulled her hoof back and fired it. The Garand screamed like a cat having it's tail pulled and spat a round out down the target range. Twilight smiled a bit.

"I did it," she said, turning around. The men looked at her and smiled.

"There you go Twi!" said James encouragingly.

"Woo hoo!" she said, as she jumped, the Garand spat out another round accidentally and it smacked against the ground. Twilight jumped in fear and the rifle fell of her hooves. The three men jumped back in surprise and they all looked at one another.

"Maybe you'd outta use your magic to fire the weapon too, I'll get Millar to make something to help you hold the rifle though," said James.

"Um, is there another one I could use?" asked Twilight, "Perhaps something with less backwards force?"

"You mean recoil?" asked Arroyo.

"Yeah, that."

"Alright, I got something." Arroyo went to the table and picked up another weapon. "This is an M1A1 Carbine. It's semi automatic, but fires a smaller cartridge, the .30 carbine. Not that effective at range, but it's compact, fitted with a folding stock, and very controllable. It has an external magazine that holds 15 rounds. You load it inside the magazine well, make sure it's locked in, pull the bolt back to chamber a round and fire." Arroyo then fired 8 rounds out of the small rifle. It had an irritating and some what metallic sound to it, something Twilight cringed too.

"Um, how about something with a less annoying sound?" she asked. Arroyo gave her a dirty look, and she just smiled back at him. He turned around and picked up another weapon, this one looked very different from the previous two. "This is a Trench Gun. Also known as the Winchester Model 1897. It's a pump action shotgun, that holds six shells of 2 and 3/4 buckshot. Shotguns are good a close range, but not that good at longer ranges. It comes with a knife holder, or bayonet lug, in the front, and a heat shield on the barrel to help deal with the weapon overheating..."

"Uh, Arroyo, are you sure it's okay to give her a shotgun? I mean, she could barely handle the Garand recoil," said Kearney.

"You know what, fuck it," he said in an antagonized tone, "Twilight, come up here and pick a weapon." Twilight trotted up and examined the arsenal of weapons on the table. She trotted up the table, each one with a different name labeled on it. At the very end, she saw a weapon with a menacing look to it.

"What's this one?" she asked. The two men looked in shock at each other, but, Arroyo stilled answered her.

"Thats, uh, an Thompson submachine gun, M1A1. It fires a .45 ACP bullet at a rate of 600 rounds per minute. It's a blowback, fully automatic weapon, meaning you can hold the trigger down and the weapon will still fire. It has a 30 round box magazine and an effective range of 50 yards. It's a close quarters weapon, meaning it's not the best at range. The recoil is pretty heavy with the weapon while firing full auto. You load it by inserting the magazine in into the mag holder, make sure it's all the way up, pull the bolt back and fire." Twilight picked up the weapon and held it in her hooves. She aimed down the sheet metal iron sights and fired. The weapon fired three rounds in quick succession with one pull of the trigger.

"Oohh," said a delighted Twilight. She then smiled a bit and decided to hold down the trigger. She felt the power of the weapon as she fired it. As if the world was in slow motion, she had a good feel with the gun. She could control it with relative easy, it looked like it deals a lot of damage, and it had a menacing look to it. She had never felt this much power in her life. Once the weapon was empty, she had a bright smile on her face. "I want this one," she said in a very upbeat tone. Arroyo and Kearney looked at each other in a surprised look. Neither of them had ever seen someone have kind of accuracy with the Thompson than Twilight did. They remained silent as they just stared at her. James walked back with the new metal clamp for Twilight's hoof.

"What's going on guys? How's Twilight's shooting?" he asked. The two paratroopers turned to James and just motioned their head to Twilight wielding the deadly submachine gun. To their surprise, James didn't seem that surprised. "Here's those clamps to help hold the weapon. You adjust the clamps to hold the weapon in place tightly so you can aim and shoot properly."

"Thanks James," she replied, putting on her new clamps and aimed her new weapon. She fired the weapon on full auto and emptied the entire magazine, with near perfect accuracy. Kelly soon walked over to see Twilight's progress. When she finished loading the weapon, he walked over to her.

"Now listen Twilight," he began, "you're gonna have to kill people, can you handle that?" Twilight nodded with great confidence.

"I'm ready to do my part sir," she said proudly.

"That's good. One tip though, try to conserve your ammo, fire in bursts to have even better control of the weapon."

"Yes sir, thank you sir." Kelly got up and turned to the men by the range.

"Get ready to move out soon," he said, "we're taking Carentan."

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