That Fateful Day

by Raidah

Chapter 2

AJ and I headed for the local gun store, couldn't help it with my itchy trigger finger and all. I needed to shoot something. So we kept on walking. Eventually we came across the small rectangular building that served as Ponyville's weapons dealer. It was only a single story building with sliding glass doors and big windows on either side of them.

We walked in and saw the main counter to the left of the entrance and the wall of guns behind it. There were assault rifles, submachine guns, LMG's, you name it. The place had lots of stock. But I brought my own personalized weapon, as did she. Sure she lived on a farm, but she still has to protect the place. So she brought a double barreled shotgun with her. The thing was old, very old. She says it was passed from her grandfather to her father, her father to her brother, and then to her. Either way, the thing was an old work of art which was kept in pristine condition. Though the colour of the wood was faded a bit.

We approached the counter and she laid her shotgun on the table. I then hefted up the case holding my sniper rifle and placed it beside her gun. I popped open both of the locks and opened the case up, revealing it to the shop owner.

"We'd like to use the range," I said.

"How long?" The man asked. He was a bit older than myself, probably in his late thirties, and had a deep black moustache above his lips. Short cut black hair on his head and a pair of glasses on his nose in front of serious brown eyes.

"An hour, I'd say," I said.

"Twenty." He said, popping open the cash register.

Ouch. I took my wallet from my left pocket, a brown leather thing, and pulled a twenty from inside it. I placed the bill on the counter and he took it and put it in the register. He then gestured to the right, showing us the door which led to the range. I nodded and walked towards it, nudging a distracted Applejack as I passed her. She turned to follow me and we entered the shooting range.

It was just like any typical firing range, several areas for shooters to set up their targets which would be hooked on to moving rails suspended from the ceiling. It was fairly empty, only about two or three stalls were taken, so Ashley and I headed to the third one down from the door. I propped the large black suitcase on the ledge provided by the stall and popped open the clasps. I opened the case to reveal my special rifle. It was a customized Remington 700 sniper rifle. It was completely deep black, with an adjustable stock and a scope with toggle night vision. Bright cyan lines ran all over its body in a design resembling a circuit board, but they weren't just painted on. They were all LED lights, which were turned off at the moment, but they still left the impression of being there.

I pulled the rifle from its case and ran my hand along the smooth fiberglass frame, it felt good to have it in-hand again after so long. I propped down the attached bi-pod's legs and propped it on the ledge, swinging the bolt upwards and pulling it back to allow me to put the five rounds in.

I then pulled a folded up cardboard target from the back-pack, a normal circular one with different coloured rings surrounding the yellow circle in the centre, and clipped it on to the rail above me. I then pressed the button on the right wall of the stall and watched as the target moved along the rail until I released the button. It was a small range, but it had maybe fifty meters of space between the stalls and the back wall, so it wasn't too bad.

I placed five bullets inside the rifle's compartment and slid the bolt back into place, locking it into place as I pushed it down. I then looked into the stall to my right and saw AJ with her double barreled shotgun. The same gun I found myself faced with when I accidentally stumbled into her orchard about ten years ago...

***

It was hot. Or, at least, by that year's standards it was. I was running around the town with a pair of friends whom I haven't seen since I graduated from high school. I guess I got sidetracked since I found myself separated from my friends and in the middle of a forest.

I looked this way and that, completely surrounded by trees for miles. I started to panic, wondering if I was lost in the Everfree, never to be seen or heard from again... Then I took a closer look at the trees and realized something; they were apple trees. I breathed a sigh of relief upon realizing that I wasn't in any danger, just lost in the local apple orchard known as Sweet Apple Acres, which supplied Ponyville with any and all apple related products.

I took another look around, trying to see if the telltale red farmhouse was in view, and then the twig snapped. Right behind me. I slowly turned around and saw her. Around my height and the same blonde hair that she still has today, but smaller. I wasn't overly scared of her, or at least I wouldn't be if she wasn't pointing a gun at my face.

I raised my hands slowly to show that I meant no harm, and backed away slightly.

"What're ya doin' in mah orchard?" She asked me viciously.

"I... Nothing. I'm not doing anything. I just got lost," I explained, cold sweat pouring from my forehead.

Her face softened a bit, but she didn't drop the gun. "D'you know who ah am?" She asked me.

"No, well, I know your family," I said shakily.

She lowered the shotgun and nodded slightly. "Okay," she said.

"Okay?" I asked, still not sure what to do.

She looked at me, a weird look in her eye, and rolled her eyes. "Quit shakin', will ya?"

I hadn't even noticed I was. I shook off the panic and followed her as she started walking off towards where I assumed the farmhouse was. We were walking for some minutes before I had to ask; "So, what's your name?"

"Applejack," she said, "yours?"

"Sharp."

"Well, Sharp," she said, "how'd ya end up in th' middle of mah orchard?"

"I was playing with my friends, infection, I ended up running in here and never noticed," I said, lowering my head in shame.

I could hear her stifling a laugh. "How in th' heck did ya not notice running into a forest? Let alone an apple orchard?"

"I don't know, adrenaline rush, I guess," I said.

***

I don't think I could ever forget that day. The day that drew us together.

"You still have that old thing?" I joked with her.

"O'course Ah do, Sharp. It means a lot t' me," she said.

"I guess it does," I said, looking at my own weapon of choice. I picked it up and shouldered it, reveling in the feeling of having the stock pressed against my shoulder after so long.

I set it up in the stall again and peered through the scope, sighting my target. I placed my finger on the trigger, and squeezed it. The kick of my rifle pushed against my shoulder, but I managed to keep it straight and true. The bullet tore through the centre of the target, leaving a ripped hole in the cardboard right through the bulls eye.

"Jesus, Sharp!" I heard Applejack yell at me. "A little warning next time?"

"Sorry," I said. I was so used to the sound even in confined spaces like this that I hadn't even noticed how loud it was. Of course, that would happen with my profession.

***

An hour later I was packing up, as was AJ, and we were heading for the door. We stepped out into the heat and turned left, heading to my place of residence. We walked in relative silence, the occasional comment or friendly insult coming out every so often when we reached it.

It was only a small, one story complex, but it was home. We walked up to the dark red door and I pulled the key chain out of my pocket. I flipped through them until I came to the house key and inserted it into the dull gold doorknob. It took a couple of tries, but the stiff lock eventually yielded and I was able to open the old, creaky door.

Inside was nothing special, standard living room with a fairly new flat screen TV on top of an old wooden stand with two shelves under it. On one was an original Xbox with it's successor the 360, and on the bottom were about ten or fifteen games for said consoles each. I gestured for AJ to sit on the brown sofa that sat across from the TV, against the wall.

I turned into the hall that led to my room, the brown wooden door greeting me blankly as I arrived. I turned the knob and entered, seeing that nothing has changed much since my last visit. Posters from various bands, TV shows, etc. still hung on the wall from the thumbtacks that were pressed through the thin paper and into the drywall. I leaned the rifle case on my dresser and sat down on my bed, staring blankly at a small wooden box at the foot of it. I picked the box up and slid the cover off, revealing the contents.

Inside the box was an old picture of my parents from their wedding day. Their smiling faces, my father's tuxedo and bow tie and my mother's brilliant white dress. I missed my parents dearly, for they passed away about two years ago. Still, keeping that which reminded me of them most in a small box helped to keep them close. The rest of the objects in the box consisted of a bullet casing, the first I ever fired under direction from my father, a small envelope, their wedding rings, and another photo, this one framed. It was of the three of us, the day I passed from the military academy, wearing my military uniform and them in their nicest clothes. My dad in a dark blue suit with a matching tie and my mother in a floral dress. Their proud faces smiling right back at me in the present as I looked at the picture, a nostalgic grin on my face.

I could feel the tears coming before the first one left my eye, and i quickly put the pictures back and slid the cover back on the box before any more could come. I rubbed my eyes with my fists, and stood up. It seemed like hours had passed when it had only been five minutes. I entered the living room and sat on the couch next to Applejack and hung my head, deep in thought. She grabbed the remote and flipped on the TV and we sat there watching it until it was time to go to the bar and waste the night away.

Author's Note:

Hmm... Was planning to have the bar scene in this chapter, too, but figured it'd be better as its own thing. Hope you enjoyed this!

Comments

[Raidah]

4968645 up

[DJ-Pon63]

This is a great story but i think you could use more sexual preferations, to say that people in ponyville are either straight or gay seems a little bit unrealistic.
I'm not some bigot or want you to be mad at me it's just something that caught my eye.

[schmitthappens21]

Hey! I want to see the bar scene!
Promise you'll at least write that?
Please.
PLEASE.

[Raidah]

5713285 In progress/hiatus. Haven't been on Wattpad for a while.

[Raidah]

6148611 oh just wait.