//------------------------------// // A New Day // Story: Broken Arrow // by Army Brony //------------------------------// Ponyville 0800 Wha- why is my alarm clock going off? Wait, my alarm was never this loud- AAH! “What the hell is that??!” I exclaimed, rudely awakened from my slumber. “VINYL! SHUT THAT BLOODY ALARM OF YOURS OFF!!!” I heard a British-accented female voice exclaim. Vinyl? Wait, no- THE Vinyl Scratch?! “I'm tryin' Octy! Just gimme a sec,” a tomboyish voice responded. “There! It's off!” Ugh... Well I'm awake. I guess I might as well go see if Twilight's up. I could really use something to eat... my stomach growled as if to emphasize the thought. I rolled off the bed and got to my hooves. I turned to the door, only to find a floating platter of food in front of my face. “GAH! WHAT THE HELL?!!” I yelled falling backwards, startled by the ghostly platter of food invading the room. “Oh! Did I scare you? I'm so sorry!” Twilight apologized. Oh yeah. Equestria, unicorns, magic, I thought. Getting used to this place is gonna be harder than I thought. “Don't worry about it, I'm quite alright.” Twilight wasn't paying me any attention. Instead she was looking at something metal floating in mid-air behind me, pointing at her. I looked to see what had caught her attention. What I saw amazed me to say the least. Floating above the ground and surrounded in a green aura was my M4 carbine. The selector switch was set to semi. “When did you learn to use magic?” Twilight asked. “I didn't.” I said as I concentrated on switching the selector to safe; slowly lowering it to the ground. “You... didn't?” “No.” “Okaaay... well... I brought you some breakfast.” Twilight said. “Thank you so much. God, I'm starved.” I said as she lowered the platter to the ground. On it was a bowl of oatmeal, two pieces of toast, an apple and some orange juice. Heh, all that's missing are the eggs and bacon. It's gonna take some time getting used to eating nothing but vegetables and grains. I thought as I started to dig in. Within a minute I was finished with the oatmeal and had moved on to the toast. “Wow. I didn't think you were that hungry.” Twilight said, clearly perplexed at just how quickly I had finished the oatmeal. Great. Now she thinks I'm a pig. I slowed my eating. “There's an old saying in the army, that is 'eat now, taste later'. In a combat situation, you don't really have the luxury of taking your time to enjoy the food. Not that you would ever want to. The rations the army gives you are... interesting to say the least.” I concluded, shuddering as I remembered the horror of menu 4; Omelet and Ham MRE. “Oh.” There was an extended silence while I finished the meal in front of me. Once finished, Twilight broke the silence. “I've been meaning to ask you, what is that... thing?” Twilight asked, pointing towards my M4. Great, what the hell do I say? Do I stick with the truth, and tell her that it's a weapon that can take a life in an instant? I thought. Then again I could omit some of the details... “Ackerman?” “Huh? Oh yeah. That.” I started. “This is the single most important tool of war humanity has ever created.” at this, Twilight's eyes grew wide. Not from fear but from... intrigue? “Wow,” Twilight stated as she looked upon my weapon in awe. “What does it do?” Great, now I have to tell her. I proceeded to concentrate on levitating the weapon, and soon found it surrounded by that green aura once again. Once in the air, I removed the magazine and started to disassemble the weapon. Once disassembled, I levitated a single 5.56mm NATO round. “This is a five-point-five-six millimeter standard NATO cartridge.” “NATO?” “North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A bunch of countries from my planet, The United States included, formed this alliance in 1949 in the mutual goal of peace-keeping. The alliance is, in most respects, a military one. In 1977 NATO chose this cartridge as its primary round. That way the armies of NATO could easily exchange rounds between each other, should the need ever arise.” “Okay.” I rotated the round so the blast cap faced Twilight. “See this small circle right here?” Twilight nodded. “When that circle is struck, it causes a chain reaction inside of the cartridge. This chain reaction causes a small explosion which, in turn, propels this bullet at very high speeds at the target it is aimed at.” “What is used to strike it? It looks far too small to be struck by anything larger than a pin...” God damn, she's smart. “This,” I said, inserting the round back into the magazine and bringing up a long silver piece of metal. “is the firing pin. It is held in the bolt carrier here,” I said, putting the weapon together, explaining each piece I assembled. “The extractor goes into the bolt carrier, the bolt carrier gets inserted into the upper receiver, underneath the charging handle. The upper and lower receivers are then assembled back together; and there you have it. The M4A1 Carbine.” “What about this?” Twilight asked levitating the magazine. “That goes into the magazine well here.” I stated, pointing to the empty slot under the weapon. Twilight inserted the magazine. “Can you show me how it works now?” Twilight asked. “Yes. Do you have any ear-muffs? Cuz this is gonna be pretty loud.” “No, but I can always cover my ears.” “Okay. But don't say I didn't warn you. One more thing, do you have anything that you don't mind being damaged?” “Here, you can use this extra pillow” Twilight said as she levitated it off to the other side of the room. “Alright, here goes nothing.” I raised my weapon, trying to get the best sight-picture I could by just levitating it. I decided to give up on the sights and turned on the laser. I focused on first locking the bolt to the rear and then releasing it, chambering a round. I then focused on moving the selector switch to semi. And finally pulling the trigger. The hammer fell, prompting the firing pin to strike the cap. The powder exploded, and with a loud 'bang', propelled the round out of the barrel at a velocity of 2970 ft/sec. The gasses expelled by the round traveled through the gas tube towards the bolt carrier, pushing back the bolt carrier through sheer force. The extractor pushed out the expended cartridge, while the bolt carrier, reaching its maximum rear limit, graciously received another round from the magazine below. The bolt carrier returned, new round and all, to its original position, ready to fire another shot. The round struck the pillow and exited the other side, embedding itself in the wooden wall behind the pillow, which was now nothing but a mess of feathers, shredded cloth and stuffing. “Wow,” was all Twilight could say. Her eyes were wide again, but this time they were wide from fear. No, not just fear, dread. She must be thinking if it did that to a pillow, what it would do to something living. My suspicions were confirmed by her next inquiry. “You said this is a tool of... war?” Twilight said, shuddering at the word 'war'. I took a deep breath. “Yes. It is a tool of war, used for-” I almost choked trying to name its purpose. “Its purpose, when the trigger is pulled, and when it is aimed at a living being, is to kill.” At this, Twilight lowered her head. Her next response came as a barely audible whisper. “So... when I came in the room... you-” I could see tears starting to form in her eyes. “No-no-no-no-no. That was an instinctual response. A result of my training. I would never-” I couldn't bring myself to say it. I quickly changed the subject. “That's not its only purpose. There are people called professional shooters who entertain audiences of men, women and children of all ages with their skill behind a rifle, carbine or pistol. They preform all kinds of impossible shots, like shooting a playing card while it is flying through the air. Or shooting the right kind of cards out of a deck to get a royal flush.” “Oh...” Twilight said in a solemn voice. “This weapon has saved lives as well,” I stated matter-of-factly. “It has saved my life on more occasions than I can count. In Afghanistan, if I hadn't fired this weapon to take the life of a suicide-bomber, many more innocent lives would have been lost.” “Suicide-bomber?” Twilight asked; though I had a feeling she knew, based on the tone of voice she used and how she recoiled when she said 'suicide'. Equestria is obviously not a stranger to suicides. What a disappointment. And here I thought that this was such a perfect little world... “Yes. A suicide-bomber is someone who straps themselves with explosives, then walks or drives into a highly populated area before triggering said explosives.” I said, dipping my head in the depressing thought of just how fucked up my world is. Seeing this, Twilight decided to change the subject, if just slightly. “So... basicly... you took one life to save many?” Twilight said as more of a statement than a question. I decided to humor her nonetheless. “Exactly. A famous doctor once said- The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, Though I disagree for the most part. The needs of the many may be immoral, therefor the needs of the few; those whose needs are morally driven towards the good, outweigh the immoral needs of the many. Unfortunately, time and time again, the needs of the 'many' are usually for personal, selfish gain. Not for the well-being of others. Aaand I just went off on another one of my tangents. Good job Ackerman.” I said with a shake of my head. Twilight giggled. “Oh, don't worry. I do it all the time. I find it keeps me-” “Sane?” I interrupted with a raised eyebrow. We both shared a chuckle, which quickly escalated into a full-on fit of rolling laughter and guffaws. As our seemingly endless sea of laughter stilled, Twilight was the first to calm herself enough to speak. “In a sense, yes.” Twilight said, wiping a tear of laughter from her eye. After that little side-track, Twilight decided to show me around the house. She showed me the kitchen, living room, her room, etc. “And this is the main library.” Twilight said with an overt sense of pride. BELCH-FWHOOOMPH! “WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!!?” I exclaimed, my eyes darting to and fro searching for the source of the sound. My eyes came to rest over near the kitchen, where footsteps could be heard running towards our direction. Wait, footsteps? Running? I thought there were no humans here! “Who's there?” I called into the kitchen. No one answered. The footsteps stopped. That can mean only one of two things- either the owner of said footsteps is an intruder and I caught him or her, or my mind is playing tricks on me. The footsteps picked up again. Only this time they were barely audible and much slower. Almost as if the intruder was sneaking. They're getting closer, I thought. It's coming towards us. My heart started to race, cycling the adrenaline throughout my veins. My training started to kick in. “Twilight, get behind me.” I said in a calm but commanding tone. I could start to see a shadow being cast along the floor. Whatever it was, it wasn't human. The shadow that had been cast was a purely menacing sight. Big claws, spines lining its head going all the way down its back, ending at its tail. I got into the best fighting stance I could take in my current form, which looked like a stance a dog might have taken if it were backed up against a wall. Twilight just laughed and walked closer towards the kitchen. What the hell is she doing?!! “Spike, it's alright,” Twilight said in a loving tone. “you can come out.” Spike rounded the corner. He was holding a sealed scroll. “This is the unicorn I wrote to Princess Celestia about.” Twilight regarded the purple dragon. Spike looks at me. “Dude, Twi said you had weird mane, but not that weird!” Spike said “Says the tiny purple dragon.” I shot back. We both shared a laugh. “You're okay dude.” Spike said between chuckles. “Ditto.” “Spike, is that a letter you're holding?” Twilight asked. “Wha- Oh! Yes. I think the princess replied to your prior letter.” Spike said, opening the letter. “Ahem, To my most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, I am glad to hear that you are doing alright after the changeling attack. Your brother sends his regards, and wants you to know that the honeymoon went on without a hitch, so-to-speak. I am also very proud of how well you handled the situation with the unicorn. The fact that you and Rainbow Dash saved a pony that you never met from certain death reminds me once again that the elements of harmony still hold true to their virtues. As for this unicorn, Ackerman, I would very much like to meet him as soon as is possible for you and him. Sincerely your mentor and friend, Princess Celestia” I just sat there with my mouth open. I'm going to meet Celestia herself? This is so AWESOME!!! “Twilight, what does this mean?” I asked, playing dumb and doing my best to hide my elation. “How well are you feeling, Ackerman?” Twilight responded. “Huh? What do you mean?” “Are you well enough to travel?” “Um, I guess. Why?” “Because me and you are going to be taking a little trip,” Twilight said, a smile growing on her face. “to Canterlot.” As for those who aren't military or weren't in around the time the omelet and ham MRE's were around, here's a pic of the horror that was MENU 4