//------------------------------// // A Well(ish) Regulated Militia... // Story: Equestria and the Second Amendment // by aegishailstorm //------------------------------// The towering form of Matt's truck rolled it's way through the thick brush of the Everfree forest. Following the multi colored equine known as Twilight's sudden disappearance along with what they assumed were her friends, the 2Aer's had decided that it would be prudent of them to go in after the purple unicorn, rather than wait for her to draw out god knows what out of the near pitch black forest. Which usually would have been lit by just the star's and the moon. But, thanks to their NVG's, they could see better than 'most anything in there. "Hey uh, Mike? You sure we're going the right way?" Garand pushed himself out of the cabin and took a look at the ground speeding by ahead of them. " Yep!" He gave Matt a thumbs up as he climbed back inside and the vehicle continued rolling down the overgrown path. It wasn't long before the trail the team was traveling on widened out, it also panned down into a ravine. Running parallel to a ledge that was far to narrow for the truck to scale. Matt put the truck in park and signaled for the group to dismount. Mike and Brandon peaked over the cliffside into the canyon floor below and spotted the six small equines from before. Who appeared to be in the midst of getting their bearings. It didn't take long for them to discern their reason for being down there, as the collapsed section of cliff face made apparent. "Next course of action?" Scott asked his friends as he took a knee on a nearby outcropping. "Well we can either stay up here and watch 'em from a distance. " Hickock suggested, " Or we can go down there and introduce ourselves properly. It's your call." "Alright then. " Mike clapped his hand's, everyone stack up behind me, we're going down there-" Garand Thumb, alongside the other's watched as Hickock drew a pair of Glock 17's, each with a 33 round magazine and a full auto conversion kit, and began sprinting down to the canyon floor. "Ok then, guess he's first in the stack. Let's go!" He watched as Angry took off after Hickock. With a grin that screamed, " You gonna die today buddy." Plastered across his face. Brandon went next, though at a much calmer pace than the two before him, then Scott, then Donut. Until only Matt and Garand remained at the top of the ridge line. Matt tapped his boot on the truck's matted interior floor and whistled. " Where do we put the truck?" " Eh, leave it here. It's not like anything in this forest can work it anyhow." Matt turned the truck off and reached for his rifle. He and Mike began their decent into the canyon just in time to hear a menacing roar, followed by 2 dozen shot's from Hickock's Glock's, then 4 rifle shot's. Then, to wrap it all up, what sounded like a door slamming in quick succession 3 times. The two easily identified this as a suppressed rifle report. And, a few seconds afterwards they heard the thump of a large animal dropping dead, finally, a distinctly feminine scream of terror rang out. Making them run down the trail faster. At the base of the canyon they found both the thing that had been shot seven times by the other's, it was the manticore from earlier. Lying in a pool of it's own blood. About a dozen yards away, the equines were trying to calm one of their friends, the yellow and pink pegasus known as Fluttershy. Mike looked over at Brandon, who looked back at him and shrugged. "Hey, it was gonna eat them." Brandon reasoned. " Self defense, betchca one of those snowflakes will still find something to get offended over!" Angry cackled, the ponies turned away from Fluttershy and gradually began to notice the half dozen plus armed creatures with strange glass eyes clustering around them. "Hi Twilight!" Donut waved, " It's me, Cody. You know, the the human from before?" "Oh dear, what are you wearing?" Rarity muttered as she dramatically held her hoof up to her mouth. " He's wearing eleven thousand dollars worth of the best kit money can buy. " Brandon responded as he pointed up at his set of amplified hearing protection. Mike sighed and walked over to Fluttershy. "Listen ma'am, you can cry about that monster that was about to eat you all later, you're after Nightmare Moon, right?" He patted her on the head, wiped her tear's, and helped her up to her hooves. He then jogged back to his friends. Donut spoke up. "That was Mike. This here is Brandon, Matt, Scott, Hickock, he also goes by Greg. And me, Cody." Donut turned around and looked back at the humans. " You already know their names, right?" Their heads nodded, and Angry waved the group along. "C'mon! Let's double time it!" Rainbow Dash flew up to him. " What gives you the right to tell us what to do?" "The patch on my uniform missy! Now get moving! Go go go!" He snapped his fingers, and pointed south west down the trail. The pegasus crossed her hooves and took up a position hovering above her friends as they all headed off on the path which they were originally on. The impromptu militia followed close behind, and it wasn't long before they caught up with the group of ponies and began making conversation. Now, any sane person would expect that a group of "reasonably" well armed, freedom loving Americans and a half dozen multi colored talking magical ponies would have their differences, but this was ridiculous. Being that America, on paper anyway, offer's far more freedom to it's citizens. Equestria is the complete opposite, with Celestia exerting complete control over nearly all facet's of the nation. From it's standing army, to it's economy, and, to at least some degree, education. However, this is offset significantly by the fact that there is far less governmental oversight. And so the citizens of Equestria are, for the most part, left to their own devices. In stark contrast to the American government. Which, most of the time, demands that it poke it's overgrown nose into the business of civilians constantly. Despite what the Constitution and Bill of Right's say. Still, all of this didn't prevent the 2 groups from getting along. Applejack and Rainbow Dash in particular were most willing to listen to what they had to say. "Tell me more about this, 'Constitution,' of yours." Applejack asked Mike as they trekked down the dirt road towards what Twilight had called The Castle of The Two Sisters. "Well, you see, our nation was created a little over 200 years ago. It was the result of a long war with England, and the people who founded it decided that, in order to ensure that they were never subjugated under a tyrannical government, they created the constitution. It's a set of... Rules, if you will, protecting the freedom and right's of the American people. Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world, and so they also created the Second Amendment, the ultimate failsafe-" He held up his hand and motioned for the column to halt. "What is it?" Matt whispered, " There's something in the tree's, about 20 yards southwest. It's closing fast." He hefted his gun to low ready. "Hey Mike!" Hickock called out, "we really don't have time for this, Scott, please grab the thermal." Scott unslung his assault pack and fished out a small scope. He adjusted a couple of dials, raised his NOD's, and put it up to his eye. " Oh, damn. Guy's, I'm looking at something, but I'm not really sure what to call it." "Give it to me." Twilight's voice squeaked from behind them. Scott shrugged and passed it to her. She ignited her horn and peered through the sight. "Oh, those blue wisps? That's Nightmare Moon. How does this thing work?" Scott grabbed it out if the air and stuffed it back into it's cushioned pouch. Brandon blinked beneath is night vision, "Was that magic?" Twilight looked at him weird, " Of course, it was magic. That was a simple levitation spell." He shook his head, " Alright, where did it go?" A cloud of glowing blue mist shot past them. " Oh, of course." Without warning any of the ponies, the group opened up on it. Considering this was at point blank rage, all 30- something rounds struck home. Though none of them seemed to actually effect the mist. Go figure, it's mist. However, it did freeze in place, as it stopped, the wisps materialized into the body of a unicorn- pegasus hybrid with black fur and a shimmering blue mane which seemed to hover in mid air. " Hello there, Twilight Sparkle. I see you have made some new friends." None of the human's opened fire this time. Rather, Mike snapped his finger and pointed at Nightmare. " Ah yes, but here's a question. Why are you doing any of this? Seriously, why? Tell me, why would anyone want eternal night time? And don't you dare go off on some bullshit rant about how it's just for revenge! Tell me. Now." This question seemed to both stump her and anger her. "I've been stuck on the moon for a thousand years, I feel as though it's my right to-" "Ah ah ah!!! That's where you're wrong buckaroo!" Angry walked up to her and stared into her eyes. " Now, I'm no scientist, but I'm damn sure what you're doing is terrorism. You know, what with the whole... ' I'm going to... Dispose of my sister and take over the kingdom. So, tell you what," He slid the FN 17's slide back halfway, revealing the projectile within the chamber. "Either you stop being a pain in the ass and screw off back to that rock in the sky where you came from. Or we kill you right here and now. What's it gonna be? " This took the six by complete surprise, while they were busy cowering behind Matt, the other's were acting without a care in the world. Which meant one of 2 things, either they were ignorant. Or they actually were that dangerous. She decided to lean on side the second one. "How dare you address me in this manner! You'll pay for this, you all will!" Nightmare Moon disappeared in a flash of blue light and a fading laugh. Angry stomped his foot. "Coward, sound's like a 6 year throwing a tantrum. Alright everyone, you saw that. We're oscar mike!" He signaled with his hand for the group to continue moving forward. And at the same time, the trees began to grow faces. Which were met by 7 middle fingers from the humans. "Yeah, nice fuckin' parlor trick." Brandon whispered to one of the tree's. " You know, you look like you'd make an awesome new dinning room table. I'm just saying, I've got a hacksaw in my pack, I could start right now if I wanted." It immediately went back to being a regular tree. "Holy shit that was trippy. Hey, ponies! Is this forest always like this, or is this like a one time thing?" The six were silent. Mostly because they didn't quite know how to respond to that statement. And Mike continued lecturing them about America.