//------------------------------// // Chapter 21: Finding Firearms // Story: Brother Against Sister // by CartsBeforeHorses //------------------------------// Appleloosa, March 2024 On the outskirts of Appleloosa, smoke and flashes rose from a long, flat shooting range. Dozens of ponies stood with hunting rifles, shotguns, and six-shooter revolvers. Paper cutouts of King Blueblood hung about fifty meters away from where the ponies stood. Bullet holes peppered the many copies of his face and horn, and spent shell casings littered the ground around to the shooters. The Appleloosan Self Defense Forces had spent the past month doing physical training, obstacle courses, and weight lifting. Today was the first day that they had practiced with guns. Sheriff Silverstar walked around to the ponies, giving them advice here and there when he saw that they needed it. “Careful about that recoil, Dusty Trails, it’ll knock you on yer flank!” he advised a mare. “Remember to aim down them ironsights and hold your breath to keep it still, Bronco Billy,” he told a stallion. Pound and Pumpkin Cake stood next to each other near the end of the range. Pumpkin levitated a revolver in her magic, while Pound held a shotgun in his hooves. He steadied it and aimed down the center at a large, comical picture of a smiling King Blueblood wearing a crown and holding a rose in his teeth. He wrapped his hoof around the trigger which was specifically designed for earth pony hooves as he gazed down the sights. A loud blast boomed through the air. “Hah! Got him right in his stupid face!” Pound exclaimed. Six shots rang out next to him as Pumpkin fired at her own target, levitating the gun in her magic. She glanced at the target and saw that two of the shots hit the white paper surrounding blueblood, though not the King’s face itself. The rest flew off into the sky. “Drat,” she said, frowning. “Well, hey, you didn’t hit him, but you would have at least scared him off, I guess,” said Pound, shrugging. “True,” said Pumpkin as she levitated six more bullets into the revolver, “though I still would have liked to hit the target.” Pound glanced at Pumpkin as she loaded the gun. “Well, you’ve got the reloading advantage as a unicorn. Do you have any idea what a pain it is to reload that thing if you’re a Pegasus or an earth pony?” Pumpkin chuckled. “That’s why you let me shoot the revolver and you took the shotgun, if I recall.” Pound nodded. “How y’all two comin’ along?” The twins gazed behind themselves to see Sheriff Silverstar. The sheriff gazed off at the targets at the end of the range. Then, he gazed at Pound, who was reloading both of the barrels of his shotgun. “Good job there, Pound. Though I’d work on reloading technique. In the middle of a fight, you ain’t gonna have enough time to just stand there and carefully put the shells in. Load quicker.” “Yeah,” said Pound. “These shells are just a pain to grapple with when you only have hooves to work with.” The sheriff spat some brown tobacco juice off to the side and chuckled. “Y’all think that’s bad? Try assemblin’ one of them things. Our local gunsmith’s an earth pony.” Pumpkin blinked. “I don’t know how you guys do it.” “Well, with lots of practice, and then without thinkin’ about it,” said the Sheriff. “I don’t know nothin’ about flyin’, Pound Cake, but I’d imagine that it took a while to get good at it, and then you don’t think about it no more.” Pound nodded. “It’s like riding a bike. You never forget. Unless you get, like, amnesia or something. But generally you don’t forget, I guess.” The sheriff smiled. “It also helps when you hold the shells in your teeth instead of grapplin’ around with your hooves all day.” Pound looked at the sheriff sideways, and then a look of realization dawned on his face. He reached down with his mouth, grabbed two shells in his teeth, and used his tongue to orient them in his mouth. Then, he placed them into the barrels and loaded the shotgun. “Attaboy,” said the sheriff. Then, he turned to Pumpkin. “And I see you’re havin’ some trouble hittin’ the target.” “Yeah,” said Pumpkin. “I mean, I can reload the revolver in about a second—“ “That’s a lot better than I can do,” said the sheriff, nodding encouragingly. “—which almost makes up for the fact that I can’t actually, you know, hit the target,” Pumpkin groaned, gesturing with her hoof towards the cutout of Blueblood. The sheriff peered over at the target, examining the bullet holes which seemed to be everywhere but on Blueblood’s face. He turned back to Pumpkin. “Do me a favor and fire off three shots at the target.” Pumpkin nodded, turned to face the target, levitated her gun in the air in front of her, and fired off three shots in quick succession. The first two the white area around Blueblood’s outline, while the other zipped right by, into the air above the target. The sheriff chuckled. “Well, you’re usin’ your magic, so you don’t actually have to hold it. On the plus side, that means the gun won’t kick back on you. Normally, a filly your size would be knocked right on her flank by a gun like that. But on the minus side, that means that the barrel will tilt up on each shot, and you wouldn’t even know it, ‘cause you don’t get no feedback from it.” Pumpkin nodded. “So what should I do?” “Well,” said the sheriff. “You’re firin’ too fast, for one. Take your time and line up each individual shot instead of emptyin’ all six barrels at once. And, uh, I’m not too sure about how that fancy magic of yours works, but can you press down on the barrel with your magic while firing it, to keep it steady?” “Yes,” said Pumpkin. “Good, then do that.” Pumpkin gazed down the barrel, taking careful aim at the target, while keeping a force applied at the top of the gun. She pulled the trigger and the gun went off with a bang, leaving a hole in the white paper closer to Blueblood, but still not hitting him. This time, though, the gun didn’t recoil as much. Then, taking her time, she compensated by aiming the gun ever so slightly further to the right, and then let off another shot. It hit Blueblood right in his eye. “Yeah!” she exclaimed. The sheriff smiled. “Good job.” The sun had gone down, and the ponies from the ASDF were all sitting inside the Sheriff’s office, where they ate some apples provided by Applejack. The sheriff stood in front of his desk and spoke to the crowd. “Good job today, gang. We’ll keep shootin’ at the range every day, and when the Second Kingdom arrives, we’ll sure give ‘em a heck of a time!” They all hooted and hollered. Applejack and Big Macintosh sat next to Pound and Pumpkin Cake as they ate some apples. The Sheriff didn’t have enough desks or chairs in his office, so they all sat down on the floor. “So, how’d y’all do?” asked Applejack. “We hit the targets a lot. Pumpkin didn’t at first until she got her technique right,” said Pound, taking a bite out of a golden delicious. “Well, keep practicing,” said Applejack. “I’ve been shootin’ for years, and it’s the only way you get better. When you can hit a tin can off a post from a hundred yards away, and you can do it every time, then you know you’re an expert marskpony. I’m not quite there yet, but Big Macintosh here sure is.” Big Macintosh nodded. “Eeyup.” “If only we had some better guns,” said Pound Cake. “A bunch of double-barrel shotguns? Revolvers? Hunting rifles? The Second Kingdom has all sorts of machine guns and sniper rifles.” Pumpkin nodded. “They have rocket launchers and mortars, too.” “Woah nelly,” said Applejack, shaking her head. “If only we had some guns like that here.” “Maybe if we write a letter to Twilight, she can send us some arms,” suggested Pound. “No, she won’t.” The four ponies glanced up to see Sheriff Silverstar standing over them. “Oh, howdy, sheriff,” said Big Macintosh. “Howdy, big Macintosh,” said the sheriff. “Yes, we tried askin’ Princess Twilight to send us some o’ the good stuff. But she refused and said that the regular army is low enough on weapons as it is. Lots of the armories were in Cloudsdale, and when they seceded, they took the whole kit and caboodle with ‘em. And the ASDF—the labor union, that is—had been strikin’, as well. So there’s a shortage. Plus, she also mentioned that she’s concerned that since we ain’t the regular army, we won’t know how to handle ourselves and somepony might get hurt.” “What?” asked Big Macintosh with an irritated tone. “I agree!” Applejack exclaimed. “How old are some of them recruits in the Equestrian army? Seventeen? Fifteen? She trusts them to be given an assault rifle and a rocket launcher, but meanwhile I been firin’ guns my whole life and I still gotta use an old huntin’ rifle to fend off dozens of unicorns?” “You’re probably qualified for a machine gun,” said the sheriff. “But I don’t know if I’d trust Pound and Pumpkin here with more advanced weapons yet.” “Hey!” Pound exclaimed. “I’m a great shot! I mean sure, Pumpkin’s a bit trigger happy, but I’m fantastic!” Pumpkin frowned and gave Pound a smack with her hoof. “Cut it out!” Pound said, jumping up to tackle Pumpkin. As he made his way down, she turned intangible and he fell flat on his face. “My point has proven itself,” said the sheriff, shaking his head at the twins as Pound returned to where he was sitting. “Quit horsin’ around! Why I let y’all young bucks join the militia, I’ll never know.” “Because you need us,” said Pumpkin. “Y’all haven’t exactly proven yourself,” said the sheriff. “I’ll admit that your magic and flyin’ skills are impressive, but that’s probably just because most of us in this town ain’t never seen a unicorn use magic or a pegasus fly around like that. Big fish, small pond.” “I’m one of the best flyers that there is!” Pound exclaimed. “I’m literally the only pony that Twilight has ever seen who could use an intangibility spell,” said Pumpkin. The sheriff snickered. “Well then, if y’all are such hot stuff, why not do somethin’ useful with your special talents instead of just braggin’ and boastin’ about ‘em?” “We will!” Pound exclaimed. “What if Pumpkin and I could go and get you some real weapons? Rocket launchers, flame throwers, machine guns, sniper rifles, chain guns, and all the ammo to go with it? Enough for everypony in the militia?” Pumpkin blinked. The sheriff chuckled and responded, “Then I would eat my hat, young stallion.” “Deal!” exclaimed Pound, jumping up and extending a hoof towards the sheriff. Pumpkin shook her head. “Pound, how are we going to—“ “Shut up, sis. I got a plan.” The air whipped at Pumpkin’s mane as Pound soared through the air. Rather than Pound carrying Pumpkin like he normally did, Pumpkin stood inside of a wooden cart attached by a harness to Pound, which he pulled through the air. She wore a revolver in a holster around her waist, and Pound’s shotgun was slung over his back. “So what’s your brilliant plan, exactly?” asked Pumpkin. “You still haven’t told me.” “You couldn’t…” Pound panted, “…have asked me about that… before you got in the cart?” “Well, you were so busy rambling about all the neat types of guns that we would get that I couldn’t get a word in edgewise, and you forgot to mention, oh, that’s right, how we would actually get them?” “Oh… that’s simple… We raid an armory.” Pumpkin’s heart leapt in her chest. Her horn powered up and suddenly, Pound found himself skidding across the dirt of the desert below, where he came to a stop. “Hey! What’d you do that for?” he asked, unhitching himself from the harness. “Raid an ARMORY? Are you CRAZY!” Pound backed off and said, “Hey, I think it’s a good—“ “We could be KILLED!” Pumpkin exclaimed, walking over to her brother as he slowly stepped back. Pound threw his hooves in the air. “Yeah, except you have, oh, that’s right, a freakin’ intangibility spell! So I’ll just fly us in there like a couple of ghosts and we can take all the weapons that we want.” “It’s not that simple,” said Pumpkin, stopping in her tracks. “It’s not an easy spell, and I can only use it for a very brief period of time, like a few minutes, maybe. I certainly can’t use it while loading up on a bunch of guns, either. Not only would it take way too much energy, but you’re forgetting that intangibility is a two-edged sword. Yes, it means that we can’t be shot at, but I also can’t interact with anything else, either. So no picking up guns.” “Then you’ll just turn it on and off as we need it,” said Pound. “How hard is that? It’s not like we’re going to be shot at constantly during the raid.” Pumpkin shrugged. “Point taken. I guess it’s not as big of a problem as it might seem, if we plan it right. But do you even know where this armory is, if it even exists?” Pound put his hoof on his forehead as Pumpkin turned her head sideways at him. “Uh… well, I guess I was just sorta thinking that we’d figure that out as we go along.” Pumpkin shook her head. “We need a plan. We need to find out where the armory is, and then we need to case it and find out where the weapons are, what the security looks like, how to get in undetected. Then, and only then, will we steal the weapons. Otherwise, we’re just going into this blind.” Pound nodded. “Alright, you do have a point.” Pumpkin smiled. “Good, we agree, then. So let’s find out where the armory is, and then we can raid it.” “But sis… how do we find out where the armory is?” Pumpkin shrugged. “I don’t know. But the Second Kingdom has to get their weapons from somewhere.” “Could we check in Ponyville, maybe?” said Pound. Pumpkin nodded. “Sounds like our best bet.” Pound landed the cart in the Everfree Forest, where it was concealed by some bushes. Since Pumpkin knew the area rather well, they could come back and find the cart whenever they found out where the armory was and were ready to load the cart up with the guns. They walked down the trail in between the trees as they headed off towards Ponyville. “So, where should we start?” asked Pumpkin. “I could run some recon in the air and observe their supply lines for a few hours.” Pumpkin nodded. “I’ll just stay here and walk around, then. Catch up on the scenery. There’s some berries in the Everfree that are to die for. Literally, they’ll kill you. But the ones next to those are safe to eat, though, and they’re delicious, and I haven’t had any in ages.” “Cool, pick me some,” said Pound. Pumpkin said, “You can meet me back at Zecora’s hut. You know how to find it, right?” Pound nodded. “I’ve been to it before, and I’m good with navigation and remembering how to get places. I’ll be back soon.” They hugged each other, and Pound took off through the treetop canopy and into the sky above. Pound sat atop a cloud, getting a pegasus’ eye view of the Second Kingdom’s front lines. The unicorn soldiers sat inside of trenches, dug a few kilometers west of the main road connecting Ponyville to the Second Kingdom. It didn’t look like there was much fighting going on. Pound had seen far more soldiers playing hoofball and cards than he had seen them firing guns or mortar rounds. But during the afternoon, the Second Kingdom position came under shelling from Equestrian forces off to the west. Pound observed three aircraft which took off from behind Second Kingdom lines and ran a bombing raid on the Equestrian positions. Of course, he thought. I’ll just follow the airplanes back to where they came from! He got off of his cloud and followed the airplanes, which were headed back towards Canterlot. Pound figured that their hangars were there and, along with their hangars, a warehouse full of bombs and bullets for the airplanes. The armory for the infantry would likely be close by. Suddenly, there was yelling below him. He gazed down and saw several stallions with binoculars standing below him, pointing up in the sky. One of them walked over to a battlefield radio and said something into it. “Dammit!” The three planes immediately turned around and started firing their machine guns at Pound, while some of the stallions on the ground shot at him. He wasn’t too worried about them shooting at him, because he was so far up. The planes were what concerned him. He turned around and zipped away as the slower planes drifted further behind. Pumpkin sat against the back wall of Zecora’s hut, a few dozen wildberries floating in her magic as she plopped one into her mouth, and the tangy-sweet taste burst in her mouth. “I’m back!” She glanced up to see her brother trotting towards her. She raised an eyebrow. “You weren’t followed, were you?” “No! Well, yeah, kind of. But I lost them by flying farther south, then flying through the forest under the canopy. No way they saw me.” “Alright,” said Pumpkin. “You’re the flight expert, not me. So, what sort of intel did you get?” Pound shook his head. “Nada. I tried following some of the planes back to Canterlot, but some of the infantry on the ground found out and radioed the planes, and they turned right back around and started firing at me. I had to high-tail it out of there and lose ‘em, and then I came back here.” Pumpkin ate another berry. “You want some? I promise they’re safe.” “I am kinda starving. Thanks!” said Pound as Pumpkin floated half of the berries towards him. Pumpkin asked, “You said that the planes were headed in the direction of Canterlot. Could that be where they’re resupplying?” Pound shrugged. “It’s possible, but I didn’t get to follow them like I wanted to. Even if I tried it again, I doubt that I could get too close to it without being detected. There’s no pegasi in the Second Kingdom, and they have ponies watching the skies. I stick out like a sore hoof.” “You could go at night.” “Well, then I could at least see where the hangar is, but I wouldn’t be able to see anything else, because it would be dark,” said Pound through a mouthful of berries. “Hmm,” said Pumpkin. “I guess I could go up there and take a look. As a unicorn, I wouldn’t be suspicious. But I can’t fly, so it might take a while for me to get back.” “I can drop you off near the border. The front lines are actually really close to the road to Canterlot. Then, you could teleport over the front lines and onto the road, and you could walk to Canterlot and take a look around. Just meet me back here when you’re done. I’ll wait. If it’s night time before you get back, I’ll just sleep in the clouds, and I’ll be back here before the dawn.” “Sounds like a plan.” Pound carried Pumpkin in his hooves this time, leaving his cart near Zecora’s hut. He had taken a roundabout way to get to the border of Equestrian territory, flying so that he didn’t have to cross any place that the unicorns might glance up and fire at him. “See over there?” he asked, glancing off in the direction of the path between Ponyville and Canterlot. “That’s where you’ll want to go.” “Thanks,” said Pumpkin. Now that she had seen it with her own eyes, teleporting there would be a lot easier for her, since teleportation was a very visual spell. They landed in some trees about half a kilometer away from the trenches where the Second Kingdom soldiers stood. They were out of the soldiers’ view. “Alright, time to scope it out,” said Pumpkin. Pound turned to his sister. “Do they allow guns in the Second Kingdom?” Pumpkin chuckled. “Hah! That’s a good one. No, nothing that would allow anypony to rise up against Blueblood.” “Then you probably should give me that revolver,” said Pound. “Oh,” said Pumpkin, blushing slightly as she used her magic to unfasten the holster. “Almost forgot I had it.” They hugged once more. “Make it back in one piece!” Pound urged. “Okay,” said Pumpkin. She powered up her horn and then disappeared in a flash of white light. Pumpkin Cake reappeared on the road to Canterlot, which she could see off in the distance, the lone mountain towering above the landscape. She caught her breath for a moment, the teleport over several kilometers being quite taxing on her magical energy reserves. “Time to start walking,” she said to herself as she walked off in the direction of Canterlot. She would have tried to teleport again to get further along the train, but doing it twice in quick succession would be challenging for any but the highest level unicorns. A few civilians passed her on the road. All of them were unicorns. As she had found out, the non-unicorns within Second Kingdom borders were not allowed to even travel to Canterlot at all, or anywhere except their hometowns, where they were kept in their own districts. All other travel required a pass and a written statement. As racist as Appleloosa is, I guess it could always be worse, she thought. About half an hour later, she heard a low humming sound as she gazed up in the air. She saw a small squadron of five warplanes headed in the direction of Canterlot. They were behind her, but gaining. Picking up her walk to a quick jog, she continued to Canterlot. She didn’t want the planes to beat her there, because then she wouldn’t be able to see where they were landing. The planes’ droning got louder. She looked up and saw that they were right above her. Her heart skipped a beat. They would get away! Pumpkin Cake closed her eyes and focused her magical energy. The base of her horn ached, still recharging from her prior teleport. But she had to do it again, had to push herself. She gritted her teeth as she disappeared in a flash of light, and reappeared further up the trail. The planes were behind her once more, and she determined to keep it that way. This time, she ran up the trail as fast as her legs could carry her. She hadn’t wanted to run before, because she hadn’t wanted to attract the attention of any soldiers who would’ve wonder why she was running. But she had a mission, so she just tried to make it look like she was out running for exercise. On her way on the road, she passed a soldier. He just smiled and nodded as she passed him. What had she been so worried about? Pumpkin wasn’t in the best physical shape, and certainly not as good of shape as her brother. The planes were closing in on her and would overtake her within a few minutes. Her legs ached as the back of her throat became raspy, making her cough. She sighed as she came to a stop, ready to charge another teleport, her horn aching in protest. But she stopped as she realized that the planes were turning and weren’t headed towards Canterlot after all. Rather, they were descending to a location several kilometers away. Pumpkin continued at a jogging pace, past bushes and trees on the path, until she was close enough to see that they were landing at an airstrip on the outskirts of town. Since she had already seen where they were landing, she slowed down to a walking pace and walked the rest of the way there, catching her breath. Pumpkin had never seen an airbase before. Indeed, Equestria didn’t have them, since Equestria had pegasi. The closest to an airbase that she had ever seen was Rainbow Falls, where the Wonderbolt Training Academy was. That, though, was nothing like this. Rainbow Falls was just a few houses, but here, there were dozens of half-cylindrical hangars, dozens of cranes and maintenance vehicles, and hundreds of unicorns scurrying around to different parts of the base. From atop a small hill, she could see that the entire airstrip was surrounded by a fence with barbed wire on it. It was probably there to prevent saboteurs, she figured. It certainly wouldn’t protect against a full-on assault. Though the fence wouldn’t be a challenge for her, she would have to cross it during the evening when nopony could see her. But, like Pound said, that would mean that she wouldn’t get as good of a view of everything, and it would be dark. She descended from the hill and back towards the path to Canterlot. I guess I’ll just wait until sunset to sneak in, she thought. Sunset was still a few hours away, though. Maybe she could go up to Canterlot and walk around. She had never actually seen Canterlot before. A Second Kingdom officer passed by Pumpkin on the path. He had a rifle slung over his back and wore a dark blue uniform which covered his chest, but left his flank exposed, where there was a picture of a shield. The officer was around Pumpkin’s age; he certainly couldn’t have been more than sixteen. Pumpkin wasn’t sure what the stallion’s rank was, but figured that he was a new recruit since he was so young. Suddenly, Pumpkin got an idea. She turned around and jogged past the officer, who didn’t pay her any mind. She reached a bend in the path, and left the path, where there was a tall tree. “Perfect,” she whispered. A blue glow surrounded Pumpkin as she levitated herself up into the tree, hiding among the leaves. She figured that she was well enough concealed. As the officer walked past, Pumpkin’s horn lit up, and the officer’s clothes and rifle phased right off his body. “What the—“ the officer started, glancing up as the clothes floated over to the tree. “Hey!” he cried. He fumbled for his gun but realized that he didn’t have it, either. Pumpkin floated the clothes into the tree and close to her. She quickly put the clothes on, then she charged up her horn and teleported back to the hill where she had been observing the base from. Pumpkin laughed, glancing at her body. She wished she had a mirror. The clothes were a little loose on her, but not too noticeable. Hopefully the Second Kingdom’s uniforms were unisex. The gun was nice too, one of the newer models with select fire capability. “Officer Pumpkin Cake reporting for duty,” she said to no one in particular. Pumpkin Cake trotted down the path towards the airbase. She hoped that the guards at the gate didn’t check for an ID. Thankfully, the two guards at the gate simply waved Pumpkin through. “Go on ahead, cadet.” Now she knew what her rank was, at least. She walked onto the concrete and continued on towards the hangars. Suddenly, she heard a pony yelling behind her. “Guards, you have to let me in! I swear to Blueblood that I’m an officer! My clothes and gun just floated right off my body like they were made of air!” The two guards glanced at each other and laughed. “Get out of here, civvy,” one of them said, shooing him away with a hoof. Pumpkin had to suppress the urge to burst out laughing. Pumpkin Cake walked through the airbase, watching pilots come and go to the planes. Maintenance ponies filled up the engines with oil, and some of them reloaded the chainguns with ammo. They had to be getting the ammo from someplace, she figured. So, she picked out one of the ponies who was refilling the ammunition, and she watched him. After he had reloaded the planes’ guns and bombs, he headed off out of the hangar towards a grey concrete building at the other end of the hangar. Pumpkin followed him, making sure to keep her distance. A single guard stood outside the steel double doors to the building. The maintenance pony’s horn lit up as he reached around his neck and pulled out his identification, showing it to the guards. The guard’s nose scrunched as he scrutinized the ID. Finally, he let the maintenance pony pass. “Shoot,” muttered Pumpkin under her breath. She couldn’t get into the building without an ID. Well, she could, but not without catching their attention. She glanced over to the west as the sun slowly sunk over the horizon, turning the sky red-orange and the clouds purple. Well, she thought, time to wait it out until night. The floodlights came on one by one, casting white light over the airstrips and outside the hangars. A few planes came in for an evening landing, and ponies wearing orange vests waved them in. Of course, there were a few gaps in the light’s coverage. Pumpkin stayed up next to the wall of the grey building. The guard was looking in the opposite direction, so there wasn’t any danger of him spotting her. She glanced out onto the airstrip. Most of the ponies were preoccupied with other things. Now or never, she thought. Her horn lit up as she turned to the wall, and she quickly stuck her head through it, seeing a well-lit hallway. Seeing nopony in the hallway, she stuck her whole body through the wall and into the hallway. Pumpkin walked down the white brick hallway. She reached the end, and rounded a corner, where she saw another officer walking. He saluted. She saluted back, and he continued on his way. As she walked, she saw another maintenance pony walking in her direction. She stood aside as he passed her. She decided to follow him, and he rounded another corner. There was a set of double-doors at the end of this hallway. Unlike the front doors, these didn’t have anypony guarding them. The stallion’s horn lit up as the door swung open. Pumpkin followed him into a large room. Her heart skipped a beat. The room was about ten meters square. Against each of the walls, there stood steel lockers filled with all sorts of machine guns. There were wooden crates stacked near the back wall which had numbers on them for various bullet calibers such as 7.62x39mm and 5.6×15mm. Other crates stood with red letters on them which simply proclaimed, “EXPLOSIVES!” Pumpkin smiled. “Bingo.”