//------------------------------// // ARTICLE 2 Part X // Story: ARTICLE 2 // by Muppetz //------------------------------// ARTICLE 2 Part X By: Muppetz ~~~~~ Shane took a knee so that the young mares could have a better view. The girls all nudged closer, careful to make sure they didn’t crowd the human. Shane pulled out the device Twilight helped him fix earlier. He adjusted the shoulder plate on his body armor. The curved ballistic plate reached over his shoulder; connecting to the long high-ballistic yoke that protected his neck. He hooked a finger under the Kevlar shoulder plate, snagging the end of a small braided wire ending with a small golden tip. He pulled the slack of the cord from under the shoulder plate, plugging the golden tip into a small port on the back side of the yoke. Twilight watching fascinated as the human worked together the internal wiring of the armor. He grabbed the circular plastic device popping a small latch on the side, causing the device to open like a pair of hoofcuffs. The Kevlar shoulder plate had a small groove that allowed the device to clamp around the curved plate. Shane clipped it into place, fitting it securely around his upper arm. He shifted, giving the girls a better look at the device’s small display screen. He flicked a tiny switch on the side, and the screen flickered to life, eliciting a soft ‘ooooh’ from Pinkie Pie, who leaned in closer. Please Wait… flashed in small white letters across the display. Soon the screen changed, the backlight shifted to a soft green. A black readout was displayed across the screen in three rows. 95 mm/Hg 85 - bpm.     ---/\---/\----/\-- 97.6 f                 “Is that you?” Twilight asked. “Yep,” he smiled, interestingly enough. He usually didn’t make such a gesture flippantly. Maybe his mood was improving. “Sensor pads on the inside of these plates take readings of my vital signs.” “Why?” Dash asked. “If I get hit a corpsman won’t waste time having to manually check vitals; makes it a bit easier for them to figure out if I’m even salvageable or if I’m already dead. Plus, it eliminates the need to remove the casualty’s armor in the middle of a killzone. That’s all less time they have to spend in danger areas. The less time you spend in a firefight, the less shot you will get. Even after he’s stable you can use it to monitor the victim for shock or whatever. It’s actually pretty handy.” “Are you expecting somepony to shoot you?” Twilight asked with a slight tease in her voice, as she poked the flak experimentally with a hoof. “At the very least, I am concerned about the possibility,” he retorted, brushing away her hoof. “I don’t think you need to worry,” she started with a laugh. “Equestria is a pretty safe place.” The room suddenly exploded with the sound of firecrackers, as one of the white tents lit up with rattle of automatic gunfire. The air shattered with a sonic crack as a bullet tore through the space just above their heads. “GE’DOWN!” Shane screamed above the noise.  Before Twilight could even wonder what was happening, Shane shoved her to the ground before grabbing Rainbow Dash by the tail, yanking her out of the air and dragging her down to the deck as he dove for it himself. Applejack Fluttershy and Rarity had the common sense to duck behind a few shipping containers, Pinkie Pie continued to stand there like a blissfully confused owl as rounds continued to rip randomly through the air. Swearing loudly, Shane reached over and snagged a fistful of fluffy, pink mane and yanked the bubblegum mare off her hooves and down into a protective embrace, the object of which Pinkie soundly missed, returning the “hug” with unbridled enthusiasm. As suddenly as the uproar started, it ended. There was nothing but silence for several painstaking seconds. Shane popped his head up, with a look of absolute fury. He struggled for a moment to pry Pinkie off and jumped to his feet. Sprinting to the tent from which the spray of gunfire had erupted, shouting some of the most creatively vulgar strings of swear words Twilight had ever heard. “That was just bad timing. Equestria is usually very safe!” Twilight shouted after him. ~~~~~ Once Bolt was through, Luna closed the plated door, sliding a thin metal latch into place to keep it shut. She turned back to her elder sister, who was staring off at nothing in particular. Luna sighed tiredly. “It seems we have yet another bushel of thorns to untangle.” “Indeed,” Celestia remarked, distractedly brushing a wing over one of the pitch black rifles. “How are we going to handle this?” Luna prodded, hoping for something a bit more contributive from her sister. “We can’t ignore something like this.” “No,” Celestia replied quietly, “but I shudder to think of what it could mean for Equestria.” “You mean suddenly being thrust hundreds of years forward in military technologies? Yes, I imagine it would come as quite the shock, but can we afford to let an opportunity like this slip by?” “I am more concerned by the implications of exploiting it. The safe thing to do would be to bury all of this.” “Bury an opportunity to ensure Equestria’s protection? Celestia how can you be so irresponsible? This could guarantee peace for Equestria. Even just a small arsenal of these and no government or army would dare threaten our borders!” “Peace is not as difficult to achieve as it once was, sister. The world has changed. One thousand years our subjects have not had to endure the terrors of war. We are at peace now. The last thing we need to be doing is starting an arms race!” “And what will happen when history repeats itself? You and I have lived too long to pretend that it won’t. How many ponies are you willing to let die because you let rosy idealism cloud your judgment? When war finally does come, and it will, how will you justify spilling the blood of our subjects, knowing you had the opportunity to prevent it?!” “Preparing for war on such a massive scale serves only to invite it to our doorstep! You speak of our defense, but no sword will ever act as a shield! I refuse to sacrifice our souls in the name of safety. That leads only to an ever increasingly slippery slope. You want to turn Equestria into some sole military superpower? I admit, you would secure peace, but only for a time, but deterrence is not the same as peace, Luna. What may seem like our salvation now, will be our downfall later.” Luna sighed, annoyed. “I understand the danger, sister, but if we shut our eyes and bury our heads in the sand every time some frightening new development was achieved, there would be no progress. These weapons could protect us, Celestia. And no, I do not wish to see Equestria transformed into some military industrialist. It would break my heart to see our peaceful nation corrupted by violence, and if that is what it takes to keep them safe; is it not worth it? It is better to be prepared for war than to sit praying it never comes.” Celestia sat on her haunches and massaged her temple with a golden shod hoof. “Neither option appeals to me. I do not wish to leave us defenseless, nor do I want to see Equestria arming itself after so many years of advocating peace. It would be seen as a threat and make us a target.” Luna sighed deeply, approaching the belt fed weapon Bolt had left on the table. She scrutinized it; an unreadable expression in her face. “Whatever we choose, we need to act soon. This is not something that is best left idle. Too many ponies have seen these weapons as it is. If we wait too much longer, covering this up won’t be an option. It may already be too late.” Her horn began to glow as she lifted the steel black machine off the table, the belt of ammunition trailing out like a brass waterfall. “Be careful with that, Luna. You don’t know what you’re doing,” Celestia warned. “Relax. I’m just looking, it’s not-” The weapon fired with ear shattering report. Luna immediately severed the magic, allowing the machine gun to fall to the table as it continued to bounce around wildly, spraying bullets in every direction, the armor piercing rounds shredding through the tent’s protective plates with ease. The two princesses immediately dove under the table, seeking the slight protection it offered. Celestia quickly severed the belt of ammunition with a spell, and a few painful seconds later, the machine clattered back to the table. Luna cautiously poked her head over the table. She peered at the smoking machine gun lying motionless on the steel table. “…Interesting.” The thin metal latch on the door cracked off with a sharp ping as the plated door slammed open. An enraged-looking Shane stepped through the portal, now wearing some sort of strange looking armored vest. He strode right past Luna and Celestia and snatched the machine gun off the table and racked the charging handle. He popped open the feed cover before slamming it shut. Weapon still in hand he turned his attention to the princesses. He didn’t look happy.   “Have you lost YOUR FUCKING MINDS?!?! Do you even have any FUCKING idea what you’re doing?!” He demanded furiously. “JESUS, I thought you people were capable of displaying a shred of rational thought! Do I REALLY have to fucking babysit you two?!” Celestia had to admit she was still a bit shaken from the rogue killing machine that had nearly turned them all into swiss cheese, but part of her could only be amused by the human’s tirade. Being an immensely powerful alicorn princess, she didn’t exactly get chewed out very often. It was a somewhat novel experience. “I mean… Christ! You could’ve killed somebody! OR WORSE!” he added in a terrible voice, “…you could have fucked up one of my guns.” “PRINCESS!?” Bolt slammed to the ground outside the door, “Is everypony alright?!?!” “Fine Director, thank you. Was anypony hurt?” “No, thankfully. What happened?” “Luna.” Celestia said plainly, as if that summed it up, earning an irritated glare from the younger alicorn. Shane turned back to the two alicorns. “We’ll finish this conversation later,” he menaced through gritted teeth. He stepped passed the princesses, practically throwing the large machine gun back down onto the steel table, and approaching one of the long racks of assault rifles. Celestia trotted up next to him. She knew he probably wouldn’t care for her proximity, but she wished to speak in some relative privacy. He reached below the racks of assault rifles, pulling open a wide drawer in the steel rack. On which lay several replicas of his handgun which was still safely resting in the vault in Celestia’s office. He reached for one, and Celestia pinned his hand down with a golden shod hoof. He shot her one of the most poisonous looks she had ever seen from another living creature. She returned his look, pouring all her uneasiness with the situation into the stare, saying more with her eyes than she ever could with her words. He rolled his eyes, but must have gotten the message because his expression softened considerably. He inhaled, “Princess,” he started very quietly, “I know you’re afraid, and I understand that all this is probably very unnerving for you. We haven’t exactly built a stellar track record thus far and I’m willing to take a very small portion of the blame for that.” Celestia resisted the urge to smirk, “But this is something I take very, very seriously. Up until now, I’ve been relatively content to let you handle this cluster-fuck as you saw fit, but not this. This is one thing that we are handling my way and my way only.” Celestia barely began to open her mouth when he cut her off. “This is not a negotiation. This is not a request. This is not a threat. This is me simply stating the facts of the situation. I am aware you are unfamiliar with our SOPs. So I’ll just say that ordinarily the seizure of another government’s munitions is seen by my kind as an exceedingly hostile gesture. I would be well within my rights to use whatever means necessary to make sure these weapons do not fall into the hands of …let’s face it, a potential enemy.” “I assure you, we had no intention of inciting aggression,” Celestia quickly renounced, “We were merely trying to-” “Calm down,” Shane cut her off, “I’m not accusing you of anything. I know you didn’t know any better. But regardless, as of right now I am re-appropriating these weapons, and any and all materials I think might prove dangerous to you, myself, or others. I don’t care how shiny and advanced they seem to you. I don’t care what you think you’ll benefit by studying them. If I flag it, it goes. No questions, no ‘buts.’ I’m doing this to protect you. This is not something you as a species are ready for yet, so I am removing the temptation.” Celestia stared into his hard blue eyes. He was being deathly serious.  “I need you to be on board with me here, Celestia, because one way or another, I’m confiscating these weapons from you. We can work together and do this the easy way, OR…you can be difficult about it, and we’ll do this the really easy way.” His warning made Celestia’s spine tingle. He left zero room to maneuver, and she preferred not to think of what ‘the really easy way’ entailed. She wasn’t thrilled with the circumstances but she found herself oddly relieved. Celestia wasn’t sure if he was doing it on purpose or not but he had, in effect, given her a way out. He made the decision that she and Luna seemed unable to, and while she was never one to shy away from responsibilities, it was strangely liberating to have someone else be at the proverbial reins. “Very well, Major. You will have my support. I feel no shame in admitting that this is hardly my field of expertise. Handle this as you will, and you shall suffer no interference from me.” Shane gave her a satisfied grin, and tried to pull his hand out from under her golden hoof, but she kept it pinned firmly in place. “But be warned, Major. I am putting an enormous amount of trust in you. Betray that trust, and the consequences will be…unpleasant.” She tried her best to sound intimidating, but the amused smile that spread across the human’s lips somehow gave her the impression that the remark may not have had the desired effect. He chuckled softly, “I’d be disappointed if they weren’t.” And in a deceptively cheerful tone he added, “Now please remove your hoof or I will remove it for you.” He smiled happily. Celestia released his hand, giving him an unamused glare. “See? We can work together.” He wrapped his fingers around the grip of one of the pistols. “And relax,” he soothed, still smiling, “I do this for a living.” He slammed a magazine into the handle, racking the slide with a satisfying ring. Celestia watched, still not entirely convinced, as he slipped the pistol into the molded holster on his thigh. Bolt’s voice caught their attention as he let out an exasperated groan when he nudged one of the spent brass shells on the floor. “Were those the tungsten rounds?” His head drooped a bit. “I wanted to shoot those.” He murmured, depressed. Celestia and Luna, both gave him a curious glance. “What? It’s fun,” he defended. “I hate to burst your bubble, brother, but no one’s shooting anything anymore….Except maybe me, should the occasion call for it.” “Which it won’t.” Celestia reminded warningly. “What do you mean?” Bolt asked, confused. “Standard operating procedure dictates that it is my joyous duty to relieve you of all arms and ammunition illegally acquired from the site of a downed Naval vessel,” he recited in a bored monotone. “Seeing as I still find myself unable to provide sufficient security for remanded materials, all unexploded ordinance is to be destroyed under my supervision, along with any and all weapons platforms I deem necessary. Please be advised, non-compliance will be met with the use of deadly force. Thank you for your cooperation.” Celestia got the feeling this wasn’t the first time he had recited the speech. “Waitwaitwaitwait…You’re going to destroy all of this?!” Bolt sounded horrified. “Yuuup.” He selected an assault rifle off the rack, slipping his head and left arm through the loop in a complicated looking sling, before sliding it so the rifle was slung across his back. “Y-You…but…you can’t just…I mean think of everything we could…you can’t be serious!” He stammered. “OH but I can.” Shane deadpanned. “No no no no,” Bolt sprinted over to a rack of rifles, grabbing an armful of assorted weapons, shielding them as a father would his foals. “This research…it’s too important! I can’t let that happen.” Shane stuck the stallion with a shadowy gaze. “Put em’ down.” “No!” Shane pulled the pistol from its holster, letting it hang menacingly at his side. Celestia immediately stepped in between the two, heart racing at the sudden escalation. “Both of you stop it right now!” She commanded. “Shane, let me handle this.” “Then handle it. Or I will,” he replied coldly. Bolt merely hugged the rifles tighter, a look of righteous defiance across his muzzle. Celestia turned to the ash grey stallion. “Director, listen to me. Give the human back his weapons.” “Princess, please, you can’t do this. Think about what we could do with these. We could-” “I have thought about it, Director,” Celestia interrupted sternly. “We’re toying with something we can not hope to control, nor do I wish to. I understand your intentions are well placed. However, this path will only end in violence, and I will not allow it. No peace achieved through force can last. Besides, these do not belong to us. They belong to the human, and I have chosen to heed his council on the matter.” Bolt just looked back at her, heartbroken. “Please, do as he says, Bolt. If not for him, then for me.” Bolt was clearly fighting some invisible moral battle. With a final grunt and a muttered swear word, he released the weapons, allowing them to fall to the deck with a clatter. He crossed his arms and studiously avoided eye contact. Celestia turned back to Shane. He returned the sidearm to its proper place on his thigh. She was slightly puzzled when she saw the look on the human’s face. He almost looked sad, maybe guilty, she couldn’t quite place it. The human took a few steps toward the sullen engineer. He nudged the ash colored pegasus with the tip of his boot. “Cheer up some, brother.” “Why? Your about to destroy a week’s worth of painstaking research.” His tone was hardly friendly. “True. But you can always send it off with a bang.” “What do you mean?” His curiosity winning over his anger. “Well, I got all this ammo to piss away, and, if you’ll notice, I was rather mute as to how we had to destroy it.” He grinned wolfishly. “Maybe one round at a time?” Bolt grew a twisted grin of his own as he realized what Shane was implying. ~~~~~ The rattle of automatic gunfire echoed off the walls of the hangar, setting all the scientists on edge. At least, that coupled with the maniacal laughter of a certain ash colored engineer probably added to the effect. Shane just watched the stallion with a proud smile. On the edge of the hangar doors the pegasus sat, squarely behind a belt fed human machine gun, spraying tracer rounds into the night sky. The glowing phosphorous rounds soared across the empty valley, showering the far side of the canyon in a fanciful display of red streaks. Luna chuckled at the smirk on the human’s face. “What?” Shane asked, still somewhat smiling. “You boys and your toys,” she chided teasingly. “Kid knows his shit.”  Shane said again, nodding toward the stallion still happily burning through his own case of ammunition. Shane sighed nostalgically, “He reminds me of me.” Luna rolled her eyes. Shane and the director had spent what seemed like hours jabbering about the various human rifles. Apparently, both of them shared quite the affinity for the machines. It was funny in a rather unusual way; weapons of war sparking friendships. Luna soaked in much of the information as the result of sheer proximity. Each different style of rifle had its own name and tactical advantage. The assault rifle strapped across his back for example, was called an XM24, or ‘Barracuda’ as he kept calling it. When Luna asked why they had named a weapon after a fish, he merely shrugged and said, “It sounds cool.” Shane seemed disturbingly attached to a certain weapon, with a large tubular barrel. Its name was SX-12, but he just kept calling it a shotgun. That is, if he wasn’t busy cooing pet names to the weapon like it was his marefriend. Luna didn’t know what made it special, from what she could tell it was an exact replica of its brother’s. Celestia magically lowered another box of ammunition in an organized stack. She and Luna had been helping Shane pack away the human arsenal into one of the empty alien shipping containers. Twilight kept careful record of exactly how many cases of various calibers and types were loaded, along with the exact numbers of weapons. She asked him why they bothered since he was going to destroy it all anyway. “Gear accountability is paramount,” was the only response she got, and he refused to elaborate further. She was beginning to suspect he didn’t quite know himself. Suddenly there was a curious absence of gunfire. Shane didn’t bother looking up from the data pad he was tapping away on. “What the problem, chief?” he shouted in Bolt’s general direction. “Uh…I think I melted the barrel.” He shouted back uncertainly. The tube at the front of the machine gun was indeed glowing cherry red. “That’s… actually impressive,” Shane commented to Celestia absentmindedly. “That was Mil-PRF. You really gotta ride those things to melt the barrel.” He leaned over and shouted back to Bolt, “Just come swap it for another one.” “Really?” “Yeah, I’m gonna blow em’ up anyway. I don’t give a fuck,” he droned in reply. Celestia resisted the urge to comment on his sudden change in attitude. He seemed much more… calm. Perhaps she should have given him a gun a long time ago. Which actually led her to her next thought. She noticed a few weapons had found their way off to the side, resting in a neat little stack by Shane’s bags. “Major, what are you planning to do with those?” She pointed a golden hoof at the stack. “Those stay with me,” he answered matter-of-factly. “I thought you said you were going to destroy them,” she said, slightly annoyed. “I’m not destroying all of them,” he replied with a small laugh. “I’m keeping those.” “Why? I thought you said they were dangerous.” “You know why parents don’t let their children play with matches? Because they’ll get burned.” He gestured to Celestia, “Children,” he then picked up and assault rifle from the deck, “Matches. Get it? They’re dangerous for you. Not me.” “You said ‘to myself or others’.” “Well, when I’m the one holding it, it’s not dangerous to me, and it’s only going to be dangerous to others if they are a threat. I like to believe I have the right to protect myself.” “I don’t want these things in my country at all, Major. I agreed to this because I thought you were going to get rid of them. I’m uncomfortable with you toting weapons around my peaceful nation.” He smiled, and set aside the data pad, apparently ready to argue in earnest. “Is your discomfort stemming from the weapons… or me?” “The combination,” she replied dryly. He chuckled. “I think you’re uncomfortable that the playing field is getting just a tad more level,” he accused. “You have numbers, you have magic, you have resources, and you have soldiers. I have my gun. I think this is a fair arrangement.” Celestia was about to counter when he cut her off. “And before you argue, let me tell you what makes me uncomfortable.” He took a step closer to the snow white alicorn. “I’m uncomfortable that at any moment any one of you fuckers can whisper a spell and toss me into a fucking tree. I’m uncomfortable with the fact that you’ve been keeping me on a leash. You are afraid of me. You think I’m unpredictable. So you compensate by trying to keep me under your thumb. I’ve tolerated it so far because it served my interests, but soon we’re both going to have to make a choice. We can’t both just sitting around waiting for the other to make a move. It’s something neither of us can afford. I need your help, you need mine. I want to trust you. I really do. But how can I? This isn’t my world. I don’t know the rules here. I don’t really know you or anyone else here. My heart says trust you, but then my brain reminds my heart of how often that’s almost gotten me killed. So here I am…stuck.” “I do not know what to tell you, Shane. I find myself in an eerily similar situation. I wish to trust you, but, intentionally or not, you are a threat to my nation and her citizens.” Shane sighed deeply, his cold unblinking blue eyes fixated on the alicorn’s glittering pink irises, as if staring long enough might somehow convey all that he could never understand of the snowy alicorn. “Alright, Princess. We do this here and now. I’m giving you my word that you have nothing to fear from me. If you show me that you trust me by letting me keep my guns, you will have earned my trust in return. In addition to the aid and services already rendered by your government, I am willing to extend a metaphorical olive branch. To consider you an allied nation, under the full protection of the United States Marine Corps …which unfortunately is just me at the moment, but I digress. I want us to be friends, Princess, and I promise you don’t want us to be enemies. So here I am. I wish I had more than my word to give you, but I don’t. So what do you say, Celestia. Are we friends?” Shane held an open hand to Celestia. She scoured his eyes for traces of trickery, but could find none. He was being serious. She smiled slightly, “Do you really have the authority to authorize such a thing, Major?” “I’m the highest ranking officer on the planet.” He reminded her with a grim smirk. She delicately stepped out of her sparkling golden shoe, placing her pristine white hoof into the human’s callused hand. The corner of her lips raised in a smile, amused with the informality of the event. A simple hoofshake hardly seemed the appropriate gesture for such a weighty event. Perhaps the action held more significance in human society than in pony culture. She found herself suddenly eager to see what other surprises this odd creature would hold.   The Marine gripped Celestia’s hoof, giving it an imperative shake. He smiled back at the princess. “We have a deal then?” he asked arching an eyebrow. “Yes, Major. I would be honored to count you among my allies.” He smiled back at the alicorn. “Although I must admit, I find myself curious of what manner of friend I’ve gained.” His smile only widened, revealing a few white teeth. “None better, Highness.” He slapped her on the shoulder with his free hand and released Celestia’s hoof. Celestia watched him stride back to his small pile of belongings. He plucked a few strange canisters from a pelican crate, stuffing them inside the assault pack which was quickly becoming swollen with whatever random pieces of gear the human decided were important. Luna trotted up to her sister, with a smile. “Did I miss something? What was that all about?” Celestia did her best to recap the conversation, trying to convey the strange shift in the human’s behavior. She threw in her own opinions about possible motives, but Luna seemed only to be growing upset from the story. “Why do I always miss all the important moments?!” she complained. “Because you’re always wandering off and finding some form of trouble to get into,” Celestia explained with a grin. “I call the next one,” Luna declared, childishly. Celestia wouldn’t be surprised if she were serious. ~~~~~ “What are all these gizmos for again?” Pinkie asked, expertly balancing the barrel of a large rifle on her nose. Twilight immediately snatched it away. “Don’t play with those Pinkie. Humans use them to kill each other,” Twilight explained, setting the rifle in the rack with all the others inside the shipping container. “That’s silly,” Pinkie declared, “Humans are silly.” “Silly.” Twilight mused, with a poorly hidden smile. The culmination of Celestia knows how many years of war and bloodshed, was silly. Pinkie was either being incredibly naíve, or she was stating something infinitely profound. Twilight couldn’t tell. She learned to stop trying to understand the reflections of her young pink friend. Shane stepped into the container, followed by Rarity. “Really?” Rarity cooed as she followed the human into the container. “Hands down, the sexiest uniform you have ever laid eyes on,” he promised the starry eyed fashionista. “I’ll show you some day. You will flip your shit. I think I have an old copy of ‘Leatherneck’ in my bag somewhere. There’s bound to be a few pictures in there because I can’t draw worth a damn.” “I shall hold you to that, Major.” “Please do,” he added, sounding genuine. “What’s my count, Sparkle?” he asked, somewhat surprising Twilight. “Oh, um, well everything is loaded, but I’m afraid I’m still missing a few things,” she said, unhappy with the stubborn figures. “You’re short two M45’s, one XM24, one Mk-7, one R-686, my SX-12, and a few cases of assorted ammunition, correct?” he asked poking away on his data pad. “That’s right,” she was surprised he remembered it all. “Good, we’re up.” He declared, reaching over and plucked a small canister from a crate. He smacked the top on an ammo crate, popping off the plastic lid. It looked strangely similar to a can of shaving cream. Shane walked over to the first rack of weapons, aiming the nozzle of the canister squarely in the magazine well. He depressed the nozzle with his index finger, sending a stream of lime green foam into the weapon. The foam expanded rapidly, quickly oozing out any hole in the machine it could find. The foam dried considerably fast, hardening into a solid almost instantly. He never released the button as he moved to the next rifle, leaving a rapidly hardening bridge of foam between the two. Twilight watched, fascinated as he moved down the line dousing each rifle in the strange lime-green foam. It seemed a slightly anticlimactic way to destroy the weapons, but she wasn’t complaining. A few minutes and about half a dozen cans later, the inside of the container was a spider web of green. He even sprayed the insides of the ammunition crates with the expansive substance. Shane discarded what was left of a canister, tossing it into the crate. He produced a handful of tiny silver pins, pushing the strange little silver thumb tacks into the hardened foam at what seemed like random points. He turned and dug through his pack for a few seconds. He produced a small hand-held device. It was nothing more than a handgrip, housing a small button trigger and a thin black antenna. Shane flipped a cap on the device in his hand, exposing a small switch, making sure to keep his index finger off the trigger. The primed thumb tacks glowed soft red. It was almost like a nightmarish, foamy version of Hearth’s Warming lights. Shane closed the cap, and the lights flickered out. “What’s all that…gooey stuff?” Rainbow asked, hovering next to Shane’s head and peering into the crate. “An oxygen-reactive foaming, semi-solid adhesive det resin.” “Oh…..what’s that mean?” “I have no idea. I just make it go boom,” he admitted.  “…boom?” Twilight confirmed. Shane sighed, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms. “Yeah, it’s some kinda RDX variant. Someone much smarter than myself figured out how to…like…make it all foamy and put it in a can. Its actually technically a liquid when its in the can, it reacts with air and hardens. Much more convenient than carrying around bricks of C4.” “RDX?” Twilight continued to prod, growing nervous. “Or ‘C-7,’ depending on who you ask. Its chemical name is like…cyclotrimethawabablabberry or something equally frustrating to pronounce,” he panned. Twilight frowned. “Is it…stable?” Shane smiled. “It is right now.” Twilight had heard enough. “Priiincess! Shane made a giant bomb!” “…wow you would tattle.” Shane panned, sealing the container doors shut. “What’s the matter, Twilight?” Celestia sighed on her approach, well aware of her student’s penchant for over exaggeration. “Shane’s going to blow up the container.” She told the approaching alicorn. “I am well aware of the Major’s intentions, Twilight,” Celestia soothed. “What? Did you think I was just going to wish them away?” Shane mocked. “There has to be a less…extreme way to do it,” she reasoned. “Not as fun though,” the human mumbled. “I’ve offered,” Celestia continued. “Major Doran, declined. I have given him permission to do as he wishes with them. Although I would have preferred you not do it here.” “I’m not setting it off in here,” he noted with a hint of annoyance. “Where do you intend to set it off then?” “You guys, are going to use your magnets, and we’re gonna chuck it out the front door,” he beamed. “Magic. Is. Not. Magnets.” Twilight corrected, infinitely irritated by the prospect. Shane ruffled her mane, chuckling. He sighed happily. “Yes it is.” She pushed away his hand. Already formatting the grand magic lecture she was going to blast him with the moment events allowed. “Whoops. Almost forgot.” Shane stuck two fingers in his mouth, whistling loud enough to hurt Twilight’s ears. The rattle of the machine gun fire ceased momentarily as the Director turned to identify the source of the whistle. Shane waved him down with some sort of sweeping arm gesture that Celestia could only assume meant “knock it off”. Bolt stood up, grabbing the still smoking Mk-7 by the carrying handle. He flapped into the air, straining only slightly with the heavy weapon. He landed a few paces away trotting up to the group, careful to keep the barrel pointed in a safe direction. Shane relieved the stallion of the machine gun, resting the bulky weapon over his shoulder with a smile. “Satisfied?” Bolt inhaled, composing himself, clearing his throat. “Yes. Thank you. I must say, I still think it’s a mistake to destroy such elegant machines.” “Heartbreaking,” Shane commented, “I agree. But I can’t loophole my way out of this. Even if I could, I wouldn’t. Last thing I need is CNN doing some piece about how the heartless Marines are arming the shit out of impressionable, underdeveloped nations.” “…underdeveloped?” Luna panned. Shane cracked open the door to the shipping container, taking the Mk-7 off his shoulder and unceremoniously chucking it in. He shut the door, locking it in place. He smacked his hands together rubbing them together voraciously. “Alright, who wants to see a shit load of taxpayer’s money go up in a big fiery ball?!” ~~~~~ The shipping container floated out the enormous hangar doors, gliding silently through the golden haze of Celestia’s magic. It sailed steadily into the night, out into the empty space of the canyon. An ordinary unicorn would have likely passed out from such a feat of magic. The container must have weighed close to a ton, and Celestia hadn’t even broken a sweat. The cliff face dropped away, leaving the container hanging out over a considerable drop of expansive forest. Celestia pushed the large box out further into the canyon. They watched as the softly glowing container sailed into the night air. It must have been almost a mile away before the human spoke up. “That’s good. Set it down.” Celestia nodded, and the crate lowered itself, slowly pushing its way through the upper canopy of trees. Soon only the glow of Celestia’s magic could be seen shining through the leaves. Celestia severed the spell, and the soft golden glow of celestial magic winked out in the distance. Shane pulled out the same hand held antenna device from earlier. It looked like a hand grip and trigger from one of his rifles, minus the rest of the weapon. Grinning like a foal with a present, he began to speak, “I would just like to take a moment to dedicate this detonation to the United States Marine Corps. Proving, once again, that not even the constraints of the physical universe can keep us from blowing something up.” “Poetic,” Luna noted, somewhat sarcastically. Shane ignored her, flicking the safety cap off the trigger. The girls all stared into the darkness expectantly. “Hang on to your horseshoes, ladies.” The trigger clicked sharply. The ground shook slightly as a chunk of forest immediately ceased to exist as it was engulfed in a brilliant display of fire and shrapnel. The shockwave could be seen screaming away from the epicenter in all directions. The shock closed the distance to the hangar in seconds. Twilight felt like someone had slapped her across the face when it finally hit, bringing with it the deafening roar of the explosion. The entire building rocked with the concussion, even knocking dust from the high rafters. Shane put two victorious fists in the air, laughing like he was staring at the fiery manifestation of the funniest joke ever told. “Oooooooh!” Pinkie cooed, amazedly, “Pretty!”   Rarity was all in a tiff as the concussion knocked a few expertly styled curls out of place in her rich purple mane. The conflagration began to fade into a pillar of swirling black smoke, and settling debris. Shane’s enthusiasm settled with it, his laughter dying to a chuckle. “Ah man. That was great.” He let out a contented sigh, “Alright, fun’s over. Back to work.” “Aaaawww,” Pinkie visibly deflated. Shane ruffled her bubblegum colored curls, “I know. Work sucks. But we can’t just dick around all night, we got stuff to do.” Pinkie didn’t seem overly convinced. “Tell you what. If you help me get done sooner, I’ll show you how to make an MRE bomb.” “No!” Twilight started, but it was too late. “Yay!” Pinkie hopped around before leaping up onto his back, wrapping her forelegs around his head, and nearly knocking the both of them over. “Onward!” Pinkie declared proudly as she piggy backed on the human, almost knocking them both over. Twilight’s jaw fell, horrified that her friend had surely just signed her own death warrant. She was just about to magically teleport her pink friend to safety, when a strange noise caught her attention. He was….laughing. He reached up and removed the mare’s forelegs from around his face, shifting them down so they wrapped around his neck, freeing his eyes and mouth. He was indeed chuckling. Twilight had no words. She was absolutely certain that such an action would have been the height of folly for anypony else. Shane laughed out a few words, “I don’t know what the fuck you’re on but it must be some heavy stuff.” “I’m on you, silly!” He shook his head, muttering. “In Soviet Russia, horse…aw fuck it, you guys wouldn’t get the reference anyway.” Shane turned and started back toward his gear. He stopped in the middle of a step, fixing Bolt with a curious stare, “…the fucks wrong with you?” Bolt was struggling to fold his wings back down to his sides. The feathery appendages stuck stubbornly out, refusing to cooperate. “Oh my…” Fluttershy murmured behind a yellow hoof. Rainbow Dash immediately burst into a fit of sparsely controlled laughter. “I like fireworks too but jeez,” “Shut up! It’s not what it looks like,” the grey pegasus defended resolutely, although the slight blush in his face betrayed him. Shane shook his head, apparently deciding the event wasn’t worth the time. He strode back to his pile of gear, still toting his giggling pink charge. He had accumulated a small arsenal of various supplies. Aside from the obvious, none of it looked overly dangerous.   Shane crouched, allowing Pinkie Pie to hop to the ground, which she did somewhat reluctantly. He then immediately went to work sorting through his pile of gear. He loaded various articles into his bags with the precision of one who had done it many times before. He strapped a large Kevlar helmet to the side of his assault pack. On it was a device looking somewhat like futuristic electronic binoculars, along with a set of polarized goggles which were protected by a sleeve of fabric. “Oh wait!” Bolt suddenly exclaimed before disappearing in a small blur of feathers. Shane cocked an eyebrow at Luna, but she merely shrugged, just as confused. Shane shook it off. He reached over his shoulder, grabbing for the pistol grip on the Barracuda, slung across his back. He cradled the weapon as he walked over to the black pelican crate of ammunition. He flipped the two latches, popping open the top. He pulled out a smaller plastic olive drab case, marked with white lettering. ‘6.8x 47mm NATO’. Another latch and the container opened to reveal several shimmering brass rounds, all neatly stacked on ten round stripper clips. Shane detached the magazine from his rifle, retrieving two more from his bag. He plopped himself down on the floor and beginning the tedious looking task of filling the empty magazine with bullets, one round at a time. Luna watched him work, apprehension growing in her stomach. She knew full well that every bullet he pushed into the magazine was another life, potentially cut short. She didn’t like it. But this was the deal. She kept telling herself that it was all in the name of equality. This was the fair solution. They had numbers and magic, He had immediate lethality. She didn’t need to be an expert to know a bullet could be let loose much more quickly and effectively than most spells. But such an action would lead to his inevitable demise, for no matter how fast or effective, he was still just one man. He would never survive if he decided to turn on the Equestrians. He had to know that. Luna could only assume that it was never an issue of winning for him, but rather, how many he was going to take with him. Shane pushed one of the three, now filled, magazines into the well of the rifle giving the bottom a quick smack to ensure it was seated properly. He tucked the other two into long pockets on the front of his body armor, re-slinging the rifle across his back. With a grunt he sat on the pelican crate. He leaned over and picked his shotgun off the deck, resting it across his lap affectionately. He fished around in his assault pack for a few moments. He paused, letting out an irritated groan, and pulling out a pair of sleek sunglasses. One of the polarized lenses was webbed with cracks. “…ffffuck,” Shane muttered. “I liked these.” “Can’t you replace the lens?” Luna suggested. “I don’t have any replacements, and I doubt there’s an Oakley distributor nearby.” He stared at his sunglasses somberly. “Three hundred dollar frames,” he commented bitingly, before tossing them on the ground with a slight plastic clatter. Twilight padded over, lifting the sunglasses with her magic. With hardly any effort at all, the spell sealed the cracks in the lens until its glossy polarized surface shined like new. She levitated them back over to the human, who plucked them from the purple aura with a noticeable grin. He turned the frames over in his fingers, inspecting the sunglasses, and shaking his head slightly, in amused disbelief. “Fuckin’ magnets,” he cooed softly, giving Twilight a thankful smile. A pair of unicorns approached at Bolt’s direction, levitating a heavy green case. “Gently,” he reminded the two. The crate lowered to the deck with a soft thud.  It was almost identical to all the other containers that littered the hangar. But this one lacked the simple metal latches the others had. Instead a small screen and number pad took their place. “What is this?” Celestia asked, confused. “One last thing,” Bolt started, “It has some numerical locking device. We haven’t been able to get it open. I was hoping he might be able to.” “Why didn’t you just cut it open?” Luna asked. “We don’t know what’s inside. I didn’t want to potentially damage something.” Shane stepped forward, eyeing the crate curiously. “What is it?” Celestia asked the human. “I dunno,” he admitted. “I’m not supply.” He kicked the crate experimentally with his boot. He leaned down and tapped a few keys on the number pad. A little red light winked in response. The case remained locked. “I got an idea,” Shane said turning and padding over to his pack. Celestia stepped up to the case, gingerly tapping random numbers on the pad. The red light winked back at her stubbornly. She could easily set up a spell to continuously type possible combinations of numbers into the lock, but it would be impossible to tell how long it would take to work. The sound of a charging handle being racked broke Celestia from her thoughts. “Move,” Shane ordered, leveling the barrel of his shotgun at the lock. A soon as Celestia scurried out of the way, a deafening boom roared through the hangar as Shane blew a sizable chunk out of the locking mechanism. Celestia shot him a furious glare, which he returned with a friendly smile. Shane flipped open the lid with the barrel of his shotgun. The lid fell back exposing the contents for all to see. Shane chuckled happily, “There is a god.”