//------------------------------// // Chapter 13 (Keep It Pointed Down Range) // Story: Moving Day // by Timothy48 //------------------------------// Chapter 13 The morning sun was barely up and already Allen was up and working. He was still confined to the farm and would be for another few days. As such, he decided that since he couldn’t go anywhere, he’d best take this opportunity to get as much prep work for getting his farm repaired as he could while things were still relatively calm. The first step was making a list. Having finished his daily morning chores a few minutes ago, Allen found himself sitting at the kitchen island with a notebook, pen and coffee mug full of his limited supply of instant coffee. God, I hope they have coffee here or things are gonna suck when I run out. The sound of a hoof knocking on Allen’s front door caused him to pause in his ruminations and list making. Leaning back in his chair at the kitchen’s island, he looked down the hallway towards the front door. Unfortunately, whoever was at the door wasn’t visible. So, sighing to himself, he pushed himself out of his seat and headed for the door. Another round of loud knocks rang out before he made it even a few steps. “I’m coming, I’m coming, geez!” called out Allen irritably. Closing the last few steps, he opened the door and looked down to see who this mornings visitor would be. “Good morning, Mr. Ross!” said a peppy sounding Red Tape. “I thought you were done here,” said Allen, confused as to the beige unicorns sudden return. Red Tape gave a sheepish smile. “I thought so too, but my boss informed me last night when I got back that we never got around to cataloging your weapons and armor.” “Oh,” replied Allen sullenly. “I understand that you are not happy with this, Mr. Ross,” said Red Tape, a sympathetic look on his face, “but I’m afraid the law is very clear about this, all weapons, armor and magical artifacts are to be cataloged and if considered dangerous to the public, to be confiscated. Of course, that is unless the individual is a public servant of the crown or a private individual with a compelling need and is in good standing with the law.” “I thought that you guys were going to give me a special dispensation?” replied Allen testily, his arms crossed belligerently over his chest. Red Tape pulled a small envelope from his saddlebags and floated it to Allen. Grabbing the envelope, he glanced at it. It had a red wax seal, with what appeared to be some kind of coat of arms on it, though Allen couldn’t really make it out very well. Other than that, it was blank on the outside. Looking at Red Tape, he asked, “What’s this?” “That is your dispensation from His Grace,” was his curt response. Nodding, Allen opened it and glanced through it. Sure enough, it was the special dispensation granted to him by Prince Blueblood and co-signed by both Princess Celestia and Luna which allowed him to keep his weapons. Folding the letter up, he slipped it back inside and said, “Okay, well, thanks for getting this to me, makes me feel a bit better.” “You’re welcome,” replied Red Tape, a happy smile on his face. “But,” said Allen, a serious look on his face, “I still don’t want to join your Royal Guard or whatever it is called.” Red Tape couldn’t quite hide the look of disappointment on his face. “I was afraid you would say that.” “And can you blame me? I mean, it wasn’t like I was just kidnapped and brought to this world against my will or anything, losing everything and everyone I’d ever known, and being told that I have an almost zero chance of being able to go back. So I don’t really think you should be all that shocked that I’m not super gung-ho about this whole guard thing.” “Well, first of all, I wasn’t shocked or surprised that you said no, just that I was disappointed. Secondly, we never mentioned about you joining the Royal Guard, just the local Ponyville guard,” replied Red Tape. “Say what?” said Allen, a confused look on his face. “But the pamphlet that you guys gave me was about-” “Was about the Royal Guard yes, I know,” cut in Red Tape, “But if you had read the entire thing, you would have found a section talking about enlistment opportunities for your local guard forces. As well as for the navy, the Wonderbolts, the civil air patrol, weather patrol, rangers, and all of the various military/civil defense groups in our nation. We combined all of their literature together into a single pamphlet to make it cheaper and easier to distribute, as well as giving all groups an equal chance of being looked at by ponies wanting information. You would probably have known this if you had read the entire thing, but judging by the way you are going on about the Royal Guard, you didn’t, did you?” asked Red Tape with an eyebrow arched upwards in judgment. Allen rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and looked around at anything other than Red Tape for a moment. “Well, no, I didn’t.” Red Tape, his mouth a thin line of understanding, gave a single nod, and said, “Well, I suppose I can’t really blame you, we did throw a lot of information and pamphlets at you. In addition, I don’t think that either myself or His Grace did an adequate job of describing what responsibilities and benefits that the local guard units have.” “Ah, not really, no, but I guess I never really asked for clarification either,” replied Allen as he continued to rub the back of his neck sheepishly. “True, but at the same time, I suppose I never really thought to put myself in your metaphorical shoes as it were. Here you are, a single individual, torn from everything he knows and loves, and surrounded by a people that you don’t know anything about. For all you know, they are out to take whatever you have left from you, and might just be toying with you for their entertainment. So I can understand your reluctance to part with anything that you could use to protect yourself with, especially when you find out that magic is real and that these people can use it.” “I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that you guys can use magic and fly. Back home, unicorns and pegasi are just myths, same with griffons, and dragons.” Red Tape gave a soft chuckle. “And we thought that humans were a myth too,” a thoughtful look suddenly came over Red Tape. “You know, now that I think about it, you said that we were myths in your world and you are a myth in ours, I wonder if...” “It could be related somehow?” finished Allen, when Red Tape trailed off. “Yeah,” he said, nodding, “it’s an interesting theory at any rate. The idea that our peoples at one time or another interacted with each other isn’t outside the realm of possibility. I mean, you are a prime example, a human in Equestria, for the first time in who knows how many years. If you could be brought here, who is to say that others haven’t been here as well?” Allen shrugged. “Who knows, all I know is that I’m here now, and I’ve got to figure out what I’m going to do with the rest of my life.” “As are the rest of us I suppose,” replied Red Tape, a thoughtful and distant look coming over him. However, he gave his head a quick shake and continued, “Sorry, but we got off topic there. We were talking about the local guard weren’t we.” “I guess,” shrugged Allen, “still not all that thrilled with being pressured to sign up for them when I don’t really see the need to. I mean, hell, I’m not even an official citizen of this country yet, so I don’t really have any strong ties to bind me to you guys yet.” “That is true, being a loyal public servant to a country you are not really attached to is sort of difficult. Especially when that country hasn’t really given you a strong reason to be loyal to it, at least in the long term.” “Yeah, just cause you signed some papers that say you're allowed to be a citizen and live in a country, doesn’t automatically make you a patriot who is willing to put their life on the line to defend it,” agreed Allen. Red Tape sighed and gave Allen a tired looking smile. “You are right, Mr. Ross. Looking back, I believe that it was inappropriate of His Grace and I to pressure you into joining up, even if it was just with the local guard force. In addition, it was also inappropriate of us to make you feel as though you had to join the guard in order to be fully accepted into the community. I’m afraid we were not at our best at that time,” he paused, and squaring his shoulders, he looked Allen in the eyes and asked, “Mr. Ross, would you accept my humble apology for the way we treated you that day? In our effort to save ourselves a little extra work, we didn’t think how this request was unfair to you and how selfish we were being, asking you to do something you were not comfortable with.” He finished by bending one knee and bowing his head in contrition to Allen. Allen stood there, stunned by the sudden apology and the fact that someone was bowing to him. No one had ever done something like that before. Feeling uncomfortable at the sudden turn of events, Allen kneeled down and lifted Red Tape’s head back up so that they were eye to eye. “Red Tape,” he began, a serious look on his face, “I accept your apology, and thank you for it. But, you don’t need to bow to me when you apologize, it makes me uncomfortable.” Red Tape straightened up, and sporting a relieved smile, replied, “Thank you for accepting my apology, I’m sure if His Grace were here, he’d be offering you one as well.” “I’ll take your word for it, though it would mean just a bit more if he actually did come out here and apologize in person, even a letter would be nice,” said Allen. “I’ll be sure to pass that bit along, but he is pretty busy at the moment, so don’t be surprised if he doesn’t respond quickly,” cautioned Red Tape. Allen shrugged. “I’m used to political figures not really caring about those they are supposed to serve, and I’m really used to them either giving a half-hearted apology or none at all, so if he doesn’t, he doesn’t, and I’m not going to worry about it.” Glancing up from Red Tape, Allen looked down his driveway and saw three ponies headed their way. “Who’s that?” he asked, pointing. Turning around, Red Tape replied, “Ah, that would be Lt. Palisade and two of the local townsponies. I believe one of them is a certified locksmith, and the other is a member of the local guard. They’re here to help me inspect your weapons and armor, and certify that it is safe for you to keep it under the special dispensation rules.” “I see,” was Allen’s reply, his face an unreadable mask. As the trio of ponies trotted closer, Allen took a moment to look them over. Both Lt. Palisade and the local guard member were pegasi, and judging by their builds, Allen guessed that the local guard was a female. The lieutenant seemed to share the standard palette of all the other guards that Allen had seen so far, white coat, blue mane, and light blue colored eyes. Allen still hadn’t figured out why they all looked that way or how they managed it. Probably either a lot of dyes, or magic. He thought to himself. He wore gold colored armor, styled to look like that of a Roman legionary, which incidentally also covered his cutie mark, and his helmet came complete with a blue colored crest of hair on top. The female pegasus, on the other hand, wasn’t wearing anything at all, save for a pair of saddlebags, though these didn’t hide her cutie mark, which looked like a sun peeking out from behind a white cloud. She was a pale, purplish indigo, and her mane was a light amber with bright yellow streaks running through it, and her eyes were a light fuchsia. She was talking with Lt. Palisade and judging by the way the guy was blushing, and how she was constantly bumping his side and flicking him with her tail, it was probably safe to say she was a shameless flirt. The final member of their group was a middle-aged unicorn stallion, he carried a pair of saddlebags bulging with tools, and his gray coat was matted in a few places as if he’d just gotten up and hadn’t been given time to brush himself. His light blue mane carried several streaks of gray in it and was also a mess, and he sported dark bags under his cobalt blue eyes. Geez, that guy looks like he’s about to fall asleep on his hooves. When the group had drawn closer, Red Tape lifted a hoof and waved. “Good morning, Lt. Palisade! Thank you for coming so early, who are your companions may I ask?” called Red Tape cheerfully to the group. Palisade, seeing an opportunity to escape the flirtatious mare next to him, quickly trotted ahead. Coming to stop at the foot of the steps, he snapped off a quick salute and replied, “Mr. Red Tape, it is good to see you again,” turning to Allen he inclined his head in greeting, “and to you as well, Mr. Ross.” Allen waved back in response. Turning his attention back to Red Tape, Palisade said, “I’d like to introduce my... companions, this,” he said, turning to the tired unicorn, “is Mr. Lock Box, he’s the towns resident locksmith, and this is the 2nd Lt. Cloud Kicker, second in command of the local Ponville guard. I’m afraid 1st Lt. Willow is in Canterlot visiting family and so she couldn’t be here today, thus Lt. Kicker's presence.” Cloud Kicker came forward and shook Red Tape’s outstretched hoof, though she leaned in close to him and whispered something in his ear that caused him to suddenly go ridged and blush. Pulling away from the flustered stallion, a sly, flirtatious smirk on her face, she looked up at Allen and with a seductive wink said in a playful tone, “And good morning to you too, big guy.” Ladies and Gentlemen, the town flirt. Thought Allen dryly to himself. Rolling his eyes, he gave a small wave. “Good morning, Lt. Kicker.” Allen’s lack of a flustered response threw the mare for a moment, a surprised look flashing across her features. However, it was gone as quickly as it came and she eased back into a more seductive and relaxed pose, a look of determination settling on her face as she opened her mouth to say something more. However, the third member of the group cut her off as he came forward and grumpily said, “I didn’t come all the way out here to listen to you make passes at anything with a pulse, miss. So if we could kindly move this along, I’d like to go back to my bed sometime this morning, please.” Shooting the unicorn an unhappy pout at having her fun ruined, Cloud Kicker stepped back and proceeded to sulk. Everyone else meanwhile released a silent sigh of relief. Palisade, sensing an opportunity to move things along, said, “Well, now that introductions are out of the way, would you be willing to let, Mr. Lock Box have a look at your safe, Mr. Ross?” “Sure, it’s downstairs, follow me,” he said, waving the group inside. A few minutes later found everyone standing in Allen’s basement. His parents had never finished it, so the floor was just bare concrete and the walls and ceiling had exposed insulation, wires, and pipes running everywhere. The basement also suffered from the same fate as the garage, namely that it was full of his dad’s junk. Boxes were everywhere, and Allen could only guess as to what was inside any of them, but the one box they were interested in wasn’t made of cardboard, but steel and this one came equipped with a lock. It was an old safe, one that his dad had found at an estate sale years ago. There wasn’t any branding on it, and it had plenty of dings and dents, but it did the job of keeping him and his little sister from getting inside, which was what his dad had bought it for all those years ago. Pointing to it, Allen said, “Well, here it is, knock yourself out.” Lock Box set his saddlebags down, gave his neck a crack, and set to work. The first thing he did was try to open it with his magic by turning the large wheel on the front of the safe. When it didn’t budge, he began his inspection. The safe had both a key and combination lock and required either one or the other to open the safe. Since Allen didn’t know the combination and couldn’t find the key, he had, of course, been unable to open it earlier. Giving the dial a few spins, Lock Box carefully listened and apparently, not hearing what he wanted, stepped away and began digging through his saddlebags for some tools. After a few moments of rummaging around, he pulled out a small L shaped piece of metal, and a lock pick and set to work. He carefully inserted his tools into the key slot and applying pressure in a clockwise motion, began caressing the pins inside the lock. After several minutes, the lock suddenly gave, and giving the large wheel a spin, he opened the safe, a satisfied smile on his face. Turning to the others he said, “Normally, this is the point where I would be giving you your bill, but your costs have been covered by Mr. Red Tape there,” he indicated the aforementioned stallion with a nod of his head, “as such, I’ll just go ahead and take my leave.” “Alright, and thanks for your help, Mr. Lock Box,” replied Allen gratefully. Lock Box returned Allen’s thanks with a smile. “Piece of cake. Though, word of advice, I’d invest in a better safe if I were you. I had that sucker open in only a couple of minutes, not a single damn ward on that hunk of junk and no anti-pick spells to be found either. A foal could get into that thing. Here,” he reached into his saddlebags and pulled out a slightly crinkled business card, “give me a holler when you want to get a real safe. I’m quite proud to say that my safes come with the very best security spells on the market, and for the right price, I can put a few on that aren’t widely available on the market.” Allen took the card. “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.” “As I said, just give me a holler, I’d hate to see you get robbed because your house wasn’t properly warded against a home invasion. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back home, today is supposed to be my day off, and I have a bed that is calling my name.” And with that, he left. Looking down the card he was given, Allen read the simple text. Lock Box’s Safes and Warding Inc. We keep you and your goods safe! Interesting, might have to look into this at a later date. I would guess that magic can make it easier to get into places your not supposed to get into. Damn, that’s probably gonna be expensive as hell to get my locks upgraded. Thought Allen unhappily to himself. Giving himself a shake, he tucked the business card into his pocket and turned back to the remaining ponies, all of whom had gathered around the now open safe and were carefully looking at the contents inside. Striding forward, Allen looked inside, and promptly facepalmed. Figures that dad would leave the damn keys in the safe by accident. Sighing to himself he turned to Red Tape and asked aloud, “Alright, what’s next?” “Well, now that we can get to them, we need to catalog them. Though I don’t really recognize any of them, do you Lt. Palisade, Lt. Cloud Kicker?” he asked. The two pegasi leaned in to get a better look inside the safe. Allen noticed that Cloud Kicker had dropped her previous flirtatious attitude and adopted a more serious expression. Palisade, on the other hand, looked openly curious. Reaching a hoof out, he made to grab one of the strange looking weapons when Allen said, “Hold it!” His hoof froze just inches from one of the weapons. It was made of wood and steel and had a long, thick tube coming out of one end. Looking back over his withers, he gave Allen a confused, and slightly concerned look. Returning his look with an apologetic one, Allen strode forward and after letting the two pegasi step aside for him, reached in and grabbed the weapon, making sure to keep the end of the tube pointed upwards as he did so. Turning around, he turned it so that it’s left side was facing downward, he pulled his left hand back towards him. This caused the weapon to make a loud *ka-chick* sound, which made the ponies flinch. Ignoring them, Allen looked inside a hole that had just opened up on the right side of the weapon, and then after looking down the tube from the rear of the weapon, gave a satisfied nod that the weapon was safe. Turning his attention back to the ponies, he let tube of the weapon rest in the crook of his left elbow and made sure to keep it pointed up and away from anyone. Giving the group an apologetic smile, he said, “Sorry about that, didn’t mean to scare you but, I had to make sure the gun was unloaded and safe to handle. Wouldn’t want it going off by accident and hurting somebody because they didn’t know it was loaded.” Adjusting his glasses, Red Tape replied somewhat hesitantly, “R-right, of course, no one would want that, uh what did you call it?” “A gun, or more specifically, a shotgun, 12 gauge to be specific.” “Ah, yes, a uh, shotgun, yes we wouldn’t want it to go off accidentally and hurt someone. Uh, does that happen often with these types of weapons?” he asked nervously as if the slightest movement would set it off. Allen grinned and replied, “Naw, not if you’re careful and treat it with respect. We, humans, have developed a few rules on safe firearm handling procedures. First,” he held up his thumb, “always treat the weapon as if it is loaded, two,” his pointer went up, “never point the gun at something you don’t intend to destroy or kill, three,” middle finger now, “finger off the trigger until ready to fire, and fourth,” ring finger this time, “always be aware of what is behind your target. There are more rules, but those are the basics. Follow those and you’ll greatly reduce the likelihood that you’ll hurt yourself or someone else that you didn’t mean to.” “I see, thank you for clarifying that for us,” replied Red Tape. Though he still seemed a bit nervous. Cloud Kicker, on the other hand, had a very interested look on her face and came closer to get a better look at the shotgun in Allen’s arms. Glancing up at Allen, she asked, “So how does it work?” Reaching behind him into the safe, Allen pulled out a small plastic tube, with a brass cap on one end. Holding it down closer so that the ponies could see better, Allen explained, “This is a shotgun shell, inside are a bunch of little lead balls. This,” he flipped the cartridge around till its brass section was pointing at Cloud Kicker. She noticed that there appeared to be a small button in the center of the cartridge, “that” said Allen, pointing to the button with a finger, “is what’s called the primer. Inside the gun is a small metal rod that is under tension when the gun is cocked. When released, it strikes this button here, which has a sensitive chemical compound inside that when hit, creates a spark. That spark ignites the gunpowder inside, which is highly flammable, and as it burns it creates gases that create pressure that has only one way to go, down the barrel here,” he tapped the end of the shotgun’s barrel with the cartridge, “and as a consequence, the gas pushes whatever is in front of it down the barrel very quickly, which in this case is the lead balls, and sends it downrange to its target. That’s the dumbed down version,” he said, giving a shrug as he did so. “So it’s kind of like how a firework launcher works?” she asked. Allen shrugged. “Sort of, with a firework launcher you load everything from the muzzle, here I can load it from the breach,” he tapped the open port at the other end of the gun, “but the principle is the same. I’m not sure what kind of powder you use for your fireworks, but this powder is designed to burn slower so as to create less smoke and residue when fired.” “Interesting,” she replied, a thoughtful expression on her face. “Do you think you could demonstrate this for us?” “Sure,” replied Allen easily. “I’ve got several different types of weapons here, did you want me to show you all of them or just a few?” “They all look the same to me,” interjected Red Tape. “To someone who’s never seen a firearm before that might seem true, but each of these weapons is different from the other. Some, like this shotgun, can shoot multiple projectiles at the same time, but they don’t have good accuracy over a long distance and are only really effective at closer ranges. Others can only shoot one projectile at a time, but they are able to send it farther and more accurately. You have different caliber sizes and powder loads, different types of projectiles, as well as reload speed of the weapon and so on. The basic premises is the same, but they all have different things they are good at doing. Take, for example, you wouldn’t use a longsword in a tight space, nor would you want to use a dagger against a heavily armed opponent out in the open.” “I... suppose so, weapons have never really been something that I was interested in learning, so I wouldn’t really know. I’m only here to record what you have and relay the information to the proper ponies. Anything technical would be taken care of by Lt. Palisade, and Lt. Kicker. I just record what they tell me to in regards to the technical side of things.” Allen shrugged. “That’s fair, I wouldn’t know the first thing about how to navigate my way through government bureaucracy. I would just stumble along and do what other people tell me. So, to each their own I suppose.” “Quite,” replied Red Tape simply. Turning to the two pegasi he asked, “How many of Mr. Ross’s weapons do you feel you need to see in order to get a good understanding?” Lt. Palisade thoughtfully chewed the inside of one of his cheeks while looking into Allen’s gun safe. After several moments of silent contemplation, he replied, “Obviously we’ll need to see the one you just pulled out, that uh, shotgun, I believe you called it,” Allen nodded in understanding and leaned the gun against a nearby wall, in preparation for retrieving more guns from the safe. Pointing at a few random guns, Palisade said, “Those three, I think we should have a decent idea what these weapons can do after you show them to us in action.” Pulling the three weapons out of the gun safe, he made sure that they were unloaded and safe to handle. Setting them aside, he pulled out the necessary ammo for each gun. Better take only a few rounds, I doubt I’m gonna be able to get any more for a long time, if ever. With the ammunition collected, Allen grabbed the four guns and carefully cradled them in his arms, though thankfully, Palisade had also selected a pistol, so Allen simply stuck that one in his waistband... after double checking to make sure it was unloaded. With guns and ammunition selected, he, and the ponies headed upstairs and outside. Looking around for a moment, Allen tried to figure out where would be the best place to shoot at. Now that he was in Equestria, all of the previously safe places that he used to shoot were now unknown in regards to what was beyond the range, and the last thing that he wanted was for a stray bullet to go flying off into a populated area. Turning to look at Cloud Kicker he asked, “Any place around here that doesn’t have anyone close by. Maybe a large hill that I can shoot into perhaps?” Cloud Kicker thoughtfully tapped her chin and replied, “Well, the Everfree Forest is just to the south of us, in fact, if I remember right from the flight over, your property borders it, we could head over that way for the demonstration. There is a small river that runs along the edge of the forest in this area and the only things that live out there are monsters and wild animals. Well, Zecora lives in the Everfree too, but I think her hut is further east, on the other side of Ponyville, and it’s pretty deep in the forest, so there shouldn’t be any issues there.” Allen nodded. “Alright, and did you guys have anything that you planned to use to test my weapons on?” “Test?” she asked. “Well, I just figured you guys would like to see what effect my weapons have on various targets, you know, maybe shoot a watermelon or a piece of thick timber, that sort of thing. Be kind of pointless for me to just shoot the bullets off at nothing in particular,” replied Allen. “You do have a point there,” said Palisade with a nod. Turning to Cloud Kicker he said, “Lt. Kicker, why don’t you go and collect some watermelons and I’ll go and see what I can find back at camp. We’ll meet back here in twenty minutes.” Snapping off a quick salute, Cloud Kicker took off, followed shortly by Palisade. This left both Red Tape and Allen alone. Looking down at the unicorn, Allen said, “Well, I guess we should go find a good range spot then. Oh, almost forgot, we’re gonna need a blanket or tarp to lay down when we get there. I know where one is, come on.” Allen quickly set off for the nearby barn, with Red Tape in hot pursuit. As they walked, Red Tape asked, “What is the blanket for?” “Just something that’ll let me put the guns down without getting any dirt or debris on them. That and it’ll help catch the spent shell casings, waste not, want not as they say.” Red Tape nodded in understanding. “I see, uh would you like for me to carry it for you? You seem a little burdened at present.” Reaching the barn, Allen stepped inside and motioned at a nearby pile of tarps. “Sure, thanks. Go ahead and grab that light blue one, should be relatively clean and hole free.” Lighting up his horn, Red Tape grabbed the aforementioned tarp in his magic and with it trailing behind him in his aura, followed Allen back outside. From there they set off towards the southern part of Allen’s farm. After a few minutes of walking, Allen saw a dense wall of trees appear on the horizon. “That it?” he asked, pointing at the tree line with his chin. Red Tape squinted and placed a hoof above his brow to help shield his eyes from the sun so as to get a better look. “I believe so. I’ve never personally seen the Everfree myself, but I would hazard a guess and say that is it.” “Alright, well, I guess here will be fine. At least Discord was kind enough to keep my farm aligned with the four cardinal directions. So at least my south fields are still on the southern side of the farm!” he said with a passing chuckle. Red Tape grinned as he set the tarp down on the ground and smoothed it out so that it lay as flat as it could in the grass. “That’s the spirit, Mr. Ross, always try and look for the positive in life. No matter how dire the situation is, I believe that if we look for the positives, we’ll always be able to work through the bad with a smile on our face!” Allen’s smile faded slightly, and he gazed south into the forest, an unreadable expression settling on his face. “Yeah, but some days it’s hard to find the good in all the crap.” Red Tape nodded solemnly, his previous smile also having faded. “Agreed, some days it can be quite difficult.” They both fell into a contemplative silence as they set up for the return of the two pegasi members of their party. Red Tape, using his magic, unrolled and spread out the tarp on the ground, while Allen set the four weapons of choice down on the tarp, and laid out the ammunition next to each firearm. A few minutes later, the sound of wing beats signaled the return of Cloud Kicker and Palisade. Cloud Kicker had several watermelons wrapped in a sling beneath her. As she slowly touched down, she kind of reminded Allen of one of those heavy cargo helicopters dropping off a load, except there was less dust flying around, and it was quieter. Palisade, by contrast, was pulling a small, covered sled behind him with a pair of short wings sticking out of either side. As such, he had to glide in and landed running so as not to trip and crash, rather than hovering, much like a fixed wing aircraft did. After coming to a stop, and panting slightly, with a light sheen a sweat coating his fur, he said, “I managed to find an old seat of armor that’s due to be retired, and the armorer was kind enough to lend it to me. I also brought a couple of poles to hold the armor up, and a hammer to pound them in.” Allen nodded as he strode forward. “Sounds good, let’s get it set up, and we can get started,” glancing over at the three watermelons that Cloud Kicker had brought, he smiled and said, “Those look perfect, thanks, Lt. Kicker.” She grinned back and replied, “No problem, Mr. Rind was gonna throw them out anyways, apparently they had some worms in them, so he couldn’t sell them, so I didn’t have to pay for em.” “That’s good, I’d hate to have you pay for this on my account,” replied Allen. “Don’t sweat it, I’d just get a reimbursement from the Guard is all,” replied Cloud Kicker nonchalantly. With a final nod, Allen and the group got to work. A few minutes later, the watermelons and armor were set up and they were ready to begin. Turning to the group, Allen cautioned, “I forgot to mention earlier, but firearms tend to be pretty loud, so I’d recommend covering your ears when I shoot.” “Thank you for the warning, Mr. Ross, I’ve got a spell that I can cast that’ll deaden the sound, so it shouldn’t be an issue,” replied Red Tape. Giving an understanding nod, Allen fished out a pair of foam earplugs and inserted them in his ears. Following that, he proceeded to load the first firearm, his father's 12 gauge shotgun. Racking the shell home, he called back over his shoulder, “Alright, the range is live, cover your ears!” Red Tape promptly cast his spell on the three of them and waved that they were ready. Allen gave a nod of understanding and took aim at the first watermelon. They had decided to keep the distance close for two of the watermelon targets, being no farther than thirty feet, while the other two were further away. The third watermelon was set up at the fifty-foot mark, and the old armor set was one hundred feet away. When they had been setting it up, Allen had noticed that this set of armor was different looking than the ones currently worn by the Royal Guard, it being a dull silver color, rather than gold, and a few of the design elements were different as well. He had asked Palisade about it, and Palisade had just said, “It’s an older design that was intended for field use rather than garrison duty. However, nowadays our armor is able to be fitted with specially enchanted gems on the breastplate that can alter the color of the armor so it doesn’t stand out as much. Though we’ve been having some problems getting enough enchanted gems for the new armor, so some ponies don’t have the ability to change their armor’s color right now, but that’s life I suppose. Anyways, this armor has similar protection capabilities but lacks the ability to accept the new enchanted gems, so it’s being retired. There were still a few ponies wearing these older armor sets when Discord got out, but since then they’ve been issued the new ones.” “Ah, makes sense I guess,” replied Allen simply. Now, in the present, Allen got ready to put that armor’s protection capabilities to the test, right after he got done murdering the helpless watermelons in front of it of course. Bringing the shotgun to his shoulder he released the safety, took aim, and fired. The shotgun boomed and sent eight, double aught pellets downrange, which decimated the poor defenseless watermelon, sending fruity pieces flying in all directions, and causing what remained of the watermelon to fall to the ground. It brought a smile of satisfaction to Allen’s face upon seeing the carnage. Ejecting the spent shell from the gun, Allen thumbed the safety on, double checked to make sure it was unloaded and carefully set the shotgun down on the tarp. Turning to the stunned/horrified trio of ponies, he said with a smile, “Well, what did you think? Pretty neat, huh?” Both Red Tape and Palisade stared at the blasted remains of the recently demised fruit, not saying anything. Cloud Kicker meanwhile trotted forward for a better look at the melon, after asking if it was safe to do so, and carefully studied it. Sweet, merciful Celestia, that thing tore it apart. She nudged the largest piece with her hoof and it rolled over, exposing the red, seed-filled insides. She felt her ears fall flat against her head at the thought of what that gun would do to a pony should they be unfortunate enough to be shot by it. Turning to glance back at Allen, she saw that he was giving them all a strange look, as if unsure why they were suddenly so subdued. Giving her head a shake, she turned and trotted back over to him. “Well, you certainly taught that melon a lesson,” she quipped dryly. The smile returned to Allen’s face, and for some reason that made Cloud Kicker shiver as if she had suddenly found herself standing next to a friendly manticore. She wasn’t sure how to feel about that. “Yeah, it did alright,” replied Allen, “though, the farther away you are from the target, the less likely you are to hit them or if you do, you won’t do as much damage, these,” he reached down and picked up a shell, “are just full of small pellets that by themselves won’t do a lot of damage, unless you get unlucky of course. But up close, they’re nasty,” his smile suddenly morphed into a grimace, “real nasty.” An awkward silence fell over the group for a moment, before Allen gave himself a shake, and plastering another friendly smile on his face asked, “Well, shall we continue?” When the rest of the group voiced no objections, they continued. The next two guns Allen used were what he had called a ‘pistol’, and a ‘varmint gun’.  The pistol was an old .38 caliber revolver that had belonged to his grandfather and had been his duty pistol when he was a deputy for their local county back on earth, as Allen had explained when asked. While the varmint gun was just a .22 caliber rifle used to hunt small game, such as rabbits and the like, that his father had given him when he was twelve. Unlike the shotgun, the pistol simply fractured the melon into large pieces that were barely held together in some spots, while the .22 made a few small holes that didn’t seem to do a lot of outward damage. When Palisade commented on this, Allen replied, “Just because there isn’t a lot out external damage, doesn’t mean anything. .22s have been used to kill large animals, such as deer, though it is much more difficult and shot placement is critical. The advantage to a .22 is that it rarely over pens what you shoot, which means that it has a high chance of ricocheting around inside the target and causing more internal damage. Though it’s pure stopping power isn’t anything to write home about, it still pays to respect it.” When Palisade nodded in understanding, Allen set the .22 back down and picked up the next, and final rifle. “What kind of rifle is that?” asked Palisade. Looking at him as he loaded the rifle, Allen replied, “It’s a bolt action rifle, unlike the .22, which is called a semi-auto, and uses the excess gas created by the gunpowder to cycle the next round, this one requires me to do it manually.” He proceeded to demonstrate by opening the bolt and loading several cartridges in the magazine well. He held up one the rifle’s rounds and showed it to the ponies. Unlike the smaller .22, this one was much bigger, almost as big as Allen’s pointer finger, and just as thick. “This is an old military surplus rifle called a Mosin-Nagant, they’re not the best rifles in the world, and definitely not the prettiest, but they get the job done, plus the ammo is stupid cheap, so it’s a fun gun to take to the range and shoot targets with.” Palisade blinked slowly as he digested this new information. A military surplus rifle? What does that even mean? What kind of military would let just anyone have their old equipment? Aren’t they concerned about it being used against them? These humans are so confusing. He shook his head and felt a headache coming on. Motioning to Allen with a hoof he said aloud, “Alright, I’m not going to pretend I fully understand what you mean by this being a ‘military surplus’ weapon, but go ahead and show us what it can do. That,” he pointed to the old armor sitting downrange, “has a fully charged shield gem inserted inside the breastplate. We use them to help turn aside arrows and low-level spells in combat. Even though it’s an older gem, and not as powerful as the newer ones, it should still give us a basic idea what your rifle is capable of at this range.” Allen nodded in understanding. “Alright, well go ahead and cover your ears, cause the range is going live,” and with that, he brought the rifle to his shoulder and pulled the trigger. A sharp *crack* rang out across the field, and Allen saw sparks fly from the light blue shield that had suddenly appeared just in front of the armor as his bullet bounced off. Glancing back over his shoulder, he saw Palisade with a satisfied smirk on his face, confident in the old armors abilities. Chambering a new round, he felt a sudden determination to wipe that smirk off Palisade’s face, and so he didn’t even hesitate before the next round was sent downrange. Again the bullet bounced off in a cascade of sparks, but this time, the shield didn’t seem as colorful as before. Working the bolt, not even bothering to look back this time, Allen again sent a third bullet downrange. This time the bullet didn’t bounce off. Instead, it caused the shield to disappear in a shower of blue motes of light as the shield failed. Though it still didn’t hit the armor, whether the shield had caused it to ricochet or simply drop to the ground its energy spent, Allen didn’t know. Working the bolt a fourth time, he sent one more bullet down range, and this time, it struck the breast plate just to the right of where a real ponies heart would be, and knocked the armor from its makeshift stand, as if an invisible pony inside it had been actually killed. Opening the bolt and extracting the last live round, Allen made sure the rifle was safe and without glancing back, strode down range. Palisade for his part was left speechless, his mouth hanging open. I can’t believe it! He took down that shield in only three shots! Those shields were rated to take up to fifty arrows before they failed! Looking down at the rifle on the tarp, Palisade felt a cold shiver run down his spine. I better report this immediately. I don’t think even the new gems would stand up to much more than this one did. I’m just glad that Allen isn’t interested in causing trouble, because if he was, he’d probably be able to take a lot of ponies with him before we took him out. Snapping out of his thoughts, Palisade noticed that the rest of the group had trotted off after Allen while he had been lost in thought. Shaking his head, he quickly caught up with them at the downed armor, and the sight that greeted him left a icy ball of worry in the pit of his stomach. The final round that Allen had fired at left a small entrance hole in the front of the chest plate, but there was a much larger one at the back of the armor, and the metal had been punched outwards by the terrific force of the rounds passage so that it looked like the petals of a flower. He suppressed a shiver at the thought of what that round would have done to the pony in between those two points. Picking up the chest plate, Allen stuck a finger in the hole and carefully inspected it. He wore a curious, and unconcerned look on his face as if this were an academic curiosity and nothing more. Leaning down, he showed the results to the others. “Punched right through the front, and then out the back. I bet it kept going for a little more before tumbling to the earth.” Turning to look at them he asked, “So, that answer your questions then?” Palisade licked his suddenly dry lips, and carefully replied, “I believe so, yes. Granted I didn’t think that your weapons would be this... destructive.” Allen shrugged as he let go of the armor in his hand, letting it fall back to the earth with a rattling clang. “What can I say? Humans are good at making tools, and a lot of our tools are good at killing and maiming living beings. I might as well comment about how the sky is blue or the ocean is wet, it is what it is. I can see that you’re upset by this, I hope you’re not planning on reneging on our deal?” Palisade quickly shook his head, as did Cloud Kicker and Red Tape. “Good heavens no! His Grace said that you could keep your weapons, and keep your weapons you shall be allowed to do, unless you bring cause to have them taken away through a criminal or negligent act.” Allen held Palisade’s gaze for several moments, as if gauging the truth of his words. After several tense moments passed, Allen quietly nodded. “Alright, guess we’ve got an understanding then. For what it’s worth, I just want you to know I have zero intention of causing anyone any harm, intentional or otherwise. These guns will remain locked up, unless needed. Besides, I’ve only got so many rounds for them, and once those are gone, these guns just become hunks of wood and metal, no more dangerous than a spear or club.” For some reason, Palisade felt a sense of relief wash over him at Allen’s reply. Maybe it was the conviction in Allen’s voice or the solemn way in which he made his promise, but, Palisade felt that he could trust this human to keep his word. He just hoped that somepony wouldn’t come along and force him to break it.