//------------------------------//
// Young Girls, Big Guns 
// Story: The Final Crusade 
// by Enfield 
//------------------------------//

The gun shop parking lot was quieter than usual, but Dave parked in the space furthest away from the door anyway.
“Dad, most of the cars here won’t be moving anyway, why did you park so far away?” James asked.
“You never know if someone will park next to you and scratch the paint,” his father replied. As James retrieved the cases containing the pistols, his mother carried the bag with the ear protectors and safety glasses and his dad carried a plastic binder that was full of papers. As James struggled with a rather large case that contained his dad’s Desert Eagle, Sweetie Bell noticed this and took the two smaller cases that he was carrying in one hand. 
“I see you’ve started to keep to your word,” said James adjusting the large case so he could carry it with ease. 
“I said I would help you,” said Sweetie Bell. 
They got to the front door of the store, Dave held it open and James stumbled inside followed by Sweetie Bell, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Katherine, and finally Dave. Joel, the burly and friendly African American gun mechanic was the first to notice them.
“How’s it going?” he asked James.
“Going good, going good,” said James shaking Joel’s hand, “Finally get to test the Bond Arms pistol we got.” 
“You got that a week ago didn’t you?” Joel said to Dave who had just walked over. 
“Yes, and we’ve been wanting to see if it really can shoot shotgun shells,” replied Dave.
“Where is it?” said James looking though the cases, “It should have been in the small case with the star on it.
“I have it here,” said Sweetie Bell placing the case on the counter with the rest of the cases, Joel noticed Sweetie Bell, then Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.
“Who are these three?” asked Joel.
“These are the girls I saved,” said James.
“Saved?” asked Joel.
“Long story that I’ll tell later,” said James putting his hand on Sweetie Bell’s head, “This here is Samantha.” 
“Hello,” said Sweetie Bell, James then pointed to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.
“The one on the left is Abigail and the one on the right is Susie,” said James, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo waved and continued looking at the assault rifles.
“Are they here to shoot as well?” Joel asked.
“Why do you think I brought the .22?” replied James.
“I see,” said Joel, “Looks like you’ll need a few extra sets of head gear.”
“You unpack the guns,” James' dad said to James, “We’ve got a few things to take care of.”
“Sure thing,” replied James taking the ear protectors and safety glasses that Joel gave him, “Follow me girls.”

James led the way to a back area of the store, the pistol range was barely occupied and the sound of a 9mm was coming from behind the windows. James unlocked the cases and opened up the one containing his dad’s Desert Eagle, James pulled the gun free of the foam container and pulled back the slide.
“Everything is working,” said James. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo stared at the silver weapon. 
“That’s really big,” said Scootaloo.
“That’s because it’s a .50AE pistol,” said James releasing the slide catch and putting the gun back into the case.
“What’s AE stand for?” Sweetie Bell asked.
“Action Express,” James replied opening a case which contained a .22 Sig Sauer, “It basically means that it will get the job done in one shot.”
“What kind of job do you mean?” Apple Bloom asked.
“You’ve never stopped asking questions,” said James, “You’ll learn everything soon enough.”

After James had checked all the guns and told the girls to put on their safety gear, his parents joined him and the Crusaders. Dave was carrying a weapon that James recognized.
“You got the Vector?” James asked.
“All here with the ammo we need,” replied James' dad. 
“Well let’s get going,” said James taking the larger cases, Sweetie Bell took the gun case that contained a Ruger .357 magnum, Apple Bloom carried the headgear bag and Scootaloo took the ammo for the 1911 and Vector. As they opened the door to the range, the smell of gunpowder and burned paper greeted them, every few seconds a gunshot was heard from the other end of the range. There were a few people here, those who had come to test out their new guns or see if the old ones worked. 
“Where are we at?” James asked placing the gun cases on the table behind him.
“Wherever there’s a free spot,” said his mother.
“Choices, choices, choices,” James said sarcastically as he carried the guns to one booth and laid them out in front of him. The collection was set up by size, the Desert Eagle sat on one end and the new Bond Arms multi caliber pistol sat on the other end, James loaded a magazine for his 1911, set up a target and took aim.
“What’s going on?” asked Apple Bloom. 
“Seeing if I can improve my aim,” said James.
“Do we watch?” asked Scootaloo.
“You may want to step back,” said James, and with that he fired the first shot and hit the target directly in the chest. Scootaloo jumped back from the shock.
“What was that?” Sweetie Bell said. James turned his head to look at them.
“This is what we do for fun sometimes,” he said, “Nothing like shooting holes in a paper target that can make your day that much better.” 
James fired a few more shot and looked back at his parents.
“Are you loading magazines or are you going to stand there watching?” he said.
“We’re making sure that the girls know what’s going on,” Katherine replied.
“Alright then,” said James turning back to the target and emptying the magazine within a few seconds. James took his 1911 magazine to the pile of ammo on the table behind Apple Bloom and loaded more bullets, Dave took a fully loaded magazine for the Desert Eagle and walked past James without his noticing. 

“So you load that part up with these?” Apple Bloom asked James as she held up a .45 bullet.
“Sure do,” said James taking the bullet from Apple Bloom and putting it in the magazine.
“Do we get to try this out?” Sweetie Bell asked.
“You will soon enough,” said James, “But I will warn you, this is no joke and these are no toys. One wrong move and you’re dead, but with me around you won’t need to worry about death or personal injury.” 

Suddenly the silence was broken by a thundering boom then another and another. James staggered back, his ears were ringing and he was slightly disorientated. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell were both clutching their ear protectors, Scootaloo had recovered and had seen the source of the noise, Dave’s Desert Eagle.
“Sorry,” he said, “Did I scare you?”
“Not to mention deafen and disorientate me and the girls,” said James, “You alright Samantha?” 
“What? Oh right, yeah I’m fine now,” said Sweetie Bell, forgetting she was renamed Samantha. 
“Abigail?” James said to Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom shuddered and looked at him.
“I’m okay,” she said. 

Dave fired off the last few rounds in the gun and took the magazine to the table to reload. The next hour was a new experience for the Crusaders, they had never shot a gun before but after a little lesson from James they were beginning to hit the target. Every now and then James or Dave would take the Vector and shoot with it, every so often it would jam on James and the girls couldn’t resist laughing as James cursed in Russian and German as he tried to fix it. Soon however, they started to run out of bullets, James had finished off the last magazine of his 1911.
“We’re all out now,” said Katherine.
“Aww, but we were having fun,” said Sweetie Bell.
“Are we really done?” Apple Bloom moaned.
“Not so,” said James looking in the ammo box for the .45 bullets, “There’s one left.”
“I kind of hid it,” said Scootaloo.
“Susie,” said James, “Why did you?”
“Because I wanted to try out that caliber,” said Scootaloo.
“You think you can handle it?” James asked loading the bullet into the gun.
“I’ll do my best,” said Scootaloo. 
James handed her the pistol and showed her how to stand properly.
“Deep breaths, keep your grip tight, and lean into it,” James said.
“I can do this,” Scootaloo said.
“It’s the recoil I’m worried about,” said James, “But you seem tough enough to handle it.”

Scootaloo took aim, tightened her grip and fired, the recoil was greater than she had anticipated. She stumbled back and fell over, only to fall right into James who was ready to catch her. Scootaloo looked at the target then looked up at James.
“I told you that the recoil was the worst part,” he said with a grin. Scootaloo then broke into a smile and laughed a little. 
“No kidding,” she replied. James helped her back on her feet and took the gun.
“Do you two want to try next time?” he said to Sweetie Bell and Apple Bloom.
“No thanks,” said Apple Bloom.
“I’ve seen enough,” said Sweetie Bell.
James chuckled and shut his 1911 back into its case. As he led the three out of the range and back into the shop, Bruce, the store owner was standing at the counter talking with James' parents, he then saw the group come up to the counter.

“So how was you’re first shooting experience?” he asked the three girls.
“Fun,” said Apple Bloom.
“Exciting,” said Sweetie Bell.
“It was the best thing I’ve ever done,” said Scootaloo.
“Glad to see that you liked it,” said Bruce, he then looked at James, “How did the Bond Arms pistol test out?”
“Very well,” said James taking off his ear protectors, “I took out an entire chunk of the target.”
“James we’re going to be a while, why don’t you go look at the guns?” his mother said.
“I’m not complaining,” said James walking to the section where all the old historic guns were stored. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo were just about to follow him when Dave stopped them.
“How would you like to really thank James for bringing you back to our house so you could live there?” he said. The girls grinned and nodded.
“Just remember,” Katherine said quietly, “You can’t tell him until tomorrow.”
Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo giggled in anticipation. After twenty minutes the girls went over to where James was. James and Joel were going through all the old military rifles.

“SKS,” said James, “Russian manufactured and has a bayonet.”
“I still can’t translate the writing on the side of the ejection port,” said Joel.
“I can read it,” said James, “It says, ‘For the Motherland’.” 
“I didn’t know you could read Russian,” said Joel.
“He can speak it too,” said Sweetie Bell. 
“I never knew that,” said Joel.
“I didn’t know I could read Russian either,” James said handing the SKS back to Joel.
“What are all these guns?” Apple Bloom asked. 
“Relics,” said James.
“We also carry surplus and used military weapons,” said Joel taking a F2000 off the shelf behind him and handing it to James.
“What a nice feel,” said James caressing the assault rifle in his hands.
“It’s got thermal sights too,” said Joel, “Just flick that switch and look down the scope.”
James flicked the switch and looked through the sights.
“Wow!” he said with surprise, “Susie, you’re lit up like a Christmas tree.”
“What?” Scootaloo said, James let her hold the rifle and pointed to the lens which she was meant to look through. Scootaloo looked at Apple Bloom and saw only a white figure with her shape.
“What am I looking at?” Scootaloo asked James.
“Thermal vision lights up anything with a heat index,” said Joel, “Makes it easier to aim through smoke or in darkness.” 

James and the girls were then looking at each of the different rifles, unfortunately when the time came to go the girls didn’t want to leave but they were coaxed out of their disappointment and soon they were back on the road again. 
“That was fun,” said Apple Bloom.
“Can we go again?” Sweetie Bell said cutely.
“Yeah, can we? Pleeeease?” Scootaloo said.
“Another time,” said Katherine. The girls all moaned in disappointment. 
“It’s alright,” said James, “Since school is almost over we’ll be able to go more frequently.”  
“YAY!” the girls all yelled with joy.