//------------------------------//
// Gunsmith 
// Story: Sunset Heritage 
// by luckyboys121 
//------------------------------//

As Sunset got out of the van she looked at that small building before her and read the sign saying, ".45 Caliber Art Warks? What the heck is a warks?"

Applejack chuckled as she said, "That's a bit of a funny story, apparently Nico's grandmother spelled it wrong when she opened her first shop and it's been a family tradition to spell it that way ever since."

"Who's Nico?" asked Flutteshy as she got out and followed the two into the building.

Applejack simply smiled as she opened the door saying, "Only the best damn gunsmith this side a the world."

Sunset looked over to see a woman in glasses and wearing a belly cut yellow shirt and jean shorts suddenly look with a smile saying, "Don't you mean best damn gunsmith in the world," before letting out a chuckle as she said, "What's going on AJ, didn't expect to see you in here until hunting season."

"I'm good, I'm actually here to help out a friend here, you see it's a bit of a long story but my friend here found an old pistol and any information you could give her about it would be great," said Applejack as she gestured for Sunset to step forward.

She did so as Nico said, "Nice to meet you hon, the names Nico Goldstein, and might I say I like your look there."

Sunset briefly blushed as she began to feel somewhat shelf conscious about wearing this cloak out in public thinking, "Extra glad I tucked the necklace in my shirt, otherwise she'd probably think I was some kind of cosplayer... then again she's not exactly dressed sensibly either so that might not have been sarcasm... whatever." She then shook her head clear as she said, "Hi, I'm Sunset Shimmer," before pulling out the pistol as she said, "Anything you can tell me about this would be a big help."

Nico took the gun in her hand as she straitened her glasses saying, "Let's have a look see here." Upon seeing the basic shape of the gun and feeling it's odd weight distribution she thought, "Hmm, it almost looks like..." She then looked towards Sunset as she said, "You wouldn't happen to know a feller by the name of Tony Redgrave would you?"

Sunset cocked her head to the side as she said, "Not that I can remember though... why?"

She simply shrugged saying, "No real reason, just making conversation." Nico then looked the pistol over as she felt some slight notched and imperfections before let out a groan thinking, "No way in hell my granny could have made such a crappy thing, I knew it was only a matter of time before someone caught sight of a red cloaked gunslinger and made a knock off... or a toy?" she thought as she attempted to pull the clip out of the handle only to have nothing come out at all. 

She then pointed the gun at a nearby wall as Fluttershy became startled saying, "No wait!"

But Nico quickly pulled the trigger to absolutely no result, she then sighed as she turned the gun back to Sunset saying, "Sorry hon but it looks like you've been bamboozled."

"What do you mean?" asked Sunset as she put it back in her bag.

"Well, taint no way it can be real. Not only does it have no clip, it doesn't seem like it even has any mechanism inside of it, that's why there wasn't even a click when I pulled the trigger... even if it was real though I wouldn't trust it, doesn't seem like whoever made it didn't much now what they where doing, probably some idiot saw a fancy looking gun and figured he could make a copy," said Nico.

"Oh, that makes sense," said Sunset as she moved towards the door, "In that case I'll be going then."

Fluttershy soon followed after as Applejack briefly said, "Good seeing ya Nico and sorry wasting your time."

Nico simply shrugged as she said, "No trouble at all, and tell that Sunset girl if she ever wants to pack some real heat I'd be happy to help."

"Will do," said Applejack with a nod as she followed the girls out.

Nico then went back to working on some paper work as she mumbled, "Great, now I gotta worry about poor copies of my granny's master pieces coming through here. Still though that girl seemed nice enough and didn't mean any harm, walking in her with that poor imitation of Ebony and Ivory and her red cloak..." Nico trailed off at that before shrugging saying, "Nah, gotta be coincidence, after all no ones seen hide nor white hair of him in years," as she brushed the interaction to the side and went back to work.


Meanwhile the three where piling back in the van as Sunset said, "Um, AJ... you do realize this is probably a magic gun right? I don't think any Earth gunsmith would be able to tell us about it."

Applejack shrugged as she said, "I know, but I figured it was worth a shot... speaking of shots though, I do have another stop for that though."



As Sonata curled up in the King sized bed she yawned saying, "Thanks girls, I just felt tired all of a sudden."

"No problem, it was probably from sleeping on that couch all night," said Adagio.

Sonata yawned as she said, "Maybe," before quickly drifting off to a nap.

Adagio then exited the bedroom as she was greeted to Aria sitting on the couch saying, "How's she doing?"

"She doesn't seem to remember what she did or exactly where she got that power, and I doubt we'll be able to get any info retracing our steps... especially since it was so dark out and I don't fully remember what street we took," said Adagio as she sat on the couch next to her in thought.

Aria scoffed as she said, "So what? We get a peak at some power even better then Equestrian Magic and you just want to forget about it?"

Adagio scowled as she said, "I'm not saying that, I'm just saying we shouldn't go and charge ahead recklessly."

"So what then?" asked Aria as she rolled her eyes.

Adagio groaned at that before taking a slight calming breath as said, "Look, whatever street we where on was close to the school meaning that someone related to that energy, or even the source of it themselves must go there. So all we have to do is keep our noses peeled and we should get a hint of if."

Aria thought about this for a moment before saying, "I guess that makes sense, after all Sonata was able to do all that after just catching a whiff from the street."

Adagio smiled as she said, "Indeed, just think of what would happen if we could get even more," as she allowed her mind to think about bending this world to its knees, not with just her voice though, actually causing some real damage with her bare hands, and with that thought her smile only grew larger and more menacing.


Sunset stared at the tin cans sitting atop the fence as she said, "Really?"

Applejack simply shrugged as she said, "Well I figured you'd probably want some target practice with that thing to figure out how to use it."

"Yeah, but you heard Nico, it won't fire," said Sunset as she inspected the pistol and felt the Jade etched into the side of it.

"Yeah, but you said yourself that it's probably some kind of magic," said Applejack with a slight smirk.

Sunset winched at having her own words thrown back at her before sighing as she decided to take aim at one of the cans. She let out a cool breath before pulling the trigger, to no avail. She repeatedly tried again and again but nothing seemed to happen. She then looked at the thing as she said, "Maybe this is a toy."

It was then that Fluttershy spoke up saying, "Um, I have an idea?"

"What is it sugarcube?" asked Applejack.

"Well, maybe you should try it with your arm transformed," said Fluttershy.

"Hmm, it's worth a shot," said Sunset as she called up a little anger and made her hand glow, instantly they saw that Fluttershy was onto something as the blue left Sunset's hand and flowed into the bottom of the handle as if it was loading it before a symbol suddenly appeared on the side of it.



The group simply stared for a moment before Sunset smiled saying, "Right again Fluttershy, you're really good at figuring out this stuff."

Fluttershy blushed as she said, "Well I'm just trying to help is all," and nervously brushed her hair to the side.

Sunset nodded at that before turning back to the can as began to take aim. In doing so she noticed a strange turn of events as the world around her seemed to slow down to a crawl. As odd as it was though for some reason it felt right to her as she pulled the trigger and watched what looked like a compressed blue flame sail towards her target, only to burst on impact as the can caught on fire, but so did the fence post it was sitting on. "OH GEEZE!" said Sunset as the world around her returned to normal speed.

"Don't worry, it shouldn't spread," said Applejack in mild panic as she watched the other worldly blaze, honestly unsure of what it would do.

Sunset however simply looked as she tried to think of a way to put it out, before glancing down at Jade as she thought, "If only this could shoot water or something." Then as if on que a darker blue glow flowed from her hand to the clip as the symbol began to change.



Without thinking she fired the gun at the burning post and watched as it let out what appeared to be some kind of glowing shard of ice, that quickly froze over the enter thing. Sunset let out a sigh of relief that was quickly followed by the others.

"Well then, now we know it works," said Applejack with a chuckle.

"How did you do that?" asked Fluttershy.

Sunset stared at the thing as she said, "I just thought about how I wanted something to put the fire out and it just... happened."

"Well that explains the magic... sort of," said Applejack as she scratched for a moment before saying, "But how did you hit the post twice like that? I wouldn't have pegged you as a gunslinger?"

"Actually I've never fired one before I just..." began Sunset before she simple shrugged saying, "Did it... honestly it almost felt like time slowed down as I began to pull the trigger and getting the proper aim was the easiest thing in the world."

The group stood there for a moment before Applejack said, "Well it looks like you don't need any target practice then, at least until I can figure out a special range for you to see what else that thing can shoot."

Sunset let out a chuckle as she put the gun away and turned her arm back saying, "Thanks Aj, that would be great," as the three boarded the van and the soon made it back to the apartment.


Sunset spent the rest of the day studying the papers to no avail and as she laid down in bed for the night she said, "Well another full days of reading and nothing really to show for it... honestly I get more out of talking to my friends about this stuff." She sighed as she curled up slightly feeling the soft cloak against her face, still reluctant to take it off, before pulling up the necklace to take a look at it saying, "These are really nice though, and Jade might be pretty useful, especially if I end up just having the go to other worlds for this and need to defend myself." She thought on that as she took in the slight sparkle of the gem stone before drifting off to sleep.