As Tex, Applejack and Spike turned the corner, they saw O'Malley scrambling to toss a cover over a large, oddly familiar object. As they approached to take a look at it, O'Malley ran in front of them, then sat on the ground and spread his forelegs to his side, trying to block them.
"O'Malley, ya know we're gunna end up seein' it, so ya might as well show us what it is," Applejack sighed. By the tone of her voice, Tex knew that Applejack was accustomed to O'Malley's antics now, and takes them about as seriously as she does.
"No, it's a secret!" O'Malley snapped.
"A secret weapon?" Tex asked with a raised brow.
"Yes! I mean, no! No, it isn't a secret weapon!" he said quickly, eyes going wide. "At the very least, it is a fast travel system."
"Aright, now I know it's a weapon," Tex said, sharing a glance with Applejack. "You go to his right flank, I'll take his left."
"Er, got it," Applejack said with a nod. She then darted to O'Malley's side, turned so her flank was facing him and kicked him on the right side of his rump, causing him to hit the wall of the barn. "Got his right flank."
"Not what I meant, but that works too," the ex-Freelancer said with a smirk.
"Haven't you ever heard of personal space?" O'Malley grumbled sourly as he pulled himself off the ground, angry at the fact that he wouldn't be able to stop them. "If you told me to stay away from your stuff, what do you think I would do?"
"You'd go out of your way to find it and destroy it out of spite and boredom, which is probably what we're going to end up doing," she said, pulling the brown cover off O'Malley's not so well hidden secret. When the object was clear, Tex simply raised a curious brow. "Not what I was expecting."
"Is that one of Pinkie's cannons?" Applejack asked, unsure. Though it looked much like the cannons she had seen Pinkie using multiple times before, this one was different. It appeared to have been painted blood-red, and there were hundreds of spikes surrounding it, giving it a menacing look. "What didja do to it?"
"I modified it," O'Malley said simply.
"Uh-huh. And why would ya go about doin' that? And does Pinkie know that you're usin' it?"
"Of course she isn't aware," he grunted, rolling his eyes. "I tell you, when I rule this world, you will be killed, shot, burned, maimed, then shot again for asking those kind of questions."
"What's in th' barrels?" she asked, beginning to approach the wooden barrels behind the red, spike-covered cannon. "Are ya usin' our cider t' power it or somethin'?"
"Don't be ridiculous. I poured your silly cider out and filled the barrel with gunpowder," he said, then chuckled when Applejack shot him a glare.
"Where the hell did you get gunpowder?" Tex asked, stepping towards him.
"What do you mean where did I get it? I made it," O'Malley scoffed. "Granted, I have not perfected the recipe quite yet, but once I do, my goals will be within my masterful grasp, then nobody will be able to stop me! Muahahaha!"
"Or, ya know, we could stop ya right now by dismantlin' this contraption thingy," Applejack grunted, taking a step towards the cannon to find a way to take it down.
"Hang on, maybe we should let him keep it," Tex said, stopping Applejack by holding up her leg.
"What?" Applejack and O'Malley asked together, both equally as surprised, while Spike simply stared at her curiously.
"Don't worry about it," Tex whispered into Applejack's ear. "His plans are usually so stupid that they'll never work anyways. If we just let him go about this plan, you won't have to keep track of him since you'll know what he's doing. And if worse comes to worst, we'll dismantle it before he can do any real harm to anyone, because right now he's only really harming himself."
"Sounds smart," Applejack said quietly.
"What are you two talking about over there? It better not be anything... good," he said with a shudder.
"I said that when you take over the world, maybe you'll give us small mercies for not stopping your plans," Tex said seriously. "It's going to happen eventually, so we figure that there's no point in trying to stop you."
"Really?" he inquired, then shook his head violently and smiled darkly. "Er, that is, I mean, wise decision! Of course I will be a generous tyrant. And by that I mean I will give you a few one second breaks every year! A few one second breaks from your violent, bloody torture!"
"Sounds completely and utterly fair. But just because we're not going to try to stop you doesn't mean others won't, so you should probably get to work."
"Right-o! Now, where did I put my saw?" O'Malley asked himself in a hushed tone, looking around the grass for his tools.
"Don't know why Ah didn't think of doin' that before," Applejack grumbled, then smiled at Tex. "So what was it y'all wanted t' see me about?"
"Right. First things first, I should probably ask Spike if he's okay with it," Tex said.
"Me? Uh, I guess that depends on what it is," Spike murmured, watching as O'Malley gasped with happiness and took a saw off the ground, then went to the cannon. "And seeing the sort of thing you're okay with happening, I'm not sure if it's going to be all that great for my safety."
"It actually is all about your safety. Twilight decided that she wants me to start training you again. I need to know if you're up for it. Since I guessed you probably would be, I was going to-"
"Last time that didn't go over so well," he interrupted her, scratching the back of his neck innocently. "Don't you think Church will be upset?"
"That's why I haven't told him yet. He overreacts to a lot of things for no good reason."
"I think hitting him in the face with a fireball is a good reason for him to not want you to teach me," he admitted.
"Ah, yes. I remember hearing about that. What a delicious 'boom, headshot' moment," O'Malley chuckled, taking a quick pause from working on his machine. "If I were a dragon, you could expect to see everything lit with my green balls of fire! Nobody would be safe from my fiery temper!"
"Don't mind him," Tex said, making a shooing moment at O'Malley with one of her hooves. "I won't be teaching you to hurt anybody. It would be purely self-defense in case somebody attacks you first. Fire will be off limits for now."
"Boooooriiiiiiing. Call me out when you finally realize that violence solves everything," O'malley yawned, then crawled into the cannon to work on the inside.
"I guess I could give it a shot," Spike said.
"Great," she said with a smile. "And if it goes well with you, I was kind of thinking about starting up a training facility or something for the mares in town. You know, give me something to do, maybe make some money on the side. Maybe pay Twilight and the others back for keeping an eye on things. Especially Applejack. God knows looking after more than one of these idiots would be nothing but annoying."
"Tex, ya don't have t' do that. Ah volunteered t' do it."
"I know I don't have to," Tex said, trying her best to give Applejack her friendliest smile. "I want to."
"That's awfully kind of ya, but what does trainin' Spike have t' do with me?" Applejack asked curiously.
"I was wondering if you had some spare supplies around to make some life-sized dummies to display techniques on. I would ask Grif since he can take more pain than any other living thing that I've seen, but I'm trying to be a better person."
"Sounds like you're off t' a fine start," she chuckled, then nodded towards the farmhouse. "C'mon, let's see what we can rustle up for ya and leave O'Malley t' take over th' world."