The New Moon Rises

by Kit Wolfkat

Lesson 7: Proper Gun Safety Procedure

Lesson 7: Proper Gun Safety Procedure.

Twilight Sparkle and Spike stood in front of the stallion hall, a medium-sized building that towered over them at two stories tall. The building was surrounded by a small garden with a few flowers surrounding it, but most of the grass was yellow. The hall looked quite modest from the outside, with an ugly and faded coat of paint and a sign that was peeling off.

Twilight couldn’t help but feel a sense of disappointment.

This was the place where the town watch gathered every week? It looked more like a rundown warehouse than a meeting place for the town watch.

Twilight wrinkled her nose in disgust at the sight.“Seriously, it looks like someone just threw up a bunch of paint all over the walls.”

“Cheer up Twi, never judge a book by its cover!” Spike said as he hopped onto her back, trying to lighten the mood.

Twilight thought for a moment, “Well, alright. Let’s see what they’re doing inside.”

They approached the doors and pushed them open, making a creaking sound. Immediatelyafter opening,there was a surge of laughter and chatter that hit their ears, making them feel a bit uneasy. Twilight took a deep breath to calm her nerves and stepped inside.

The inside of the hall was a stark contrast to the outside. It was clean and well-maintained. A large circular table was in the middle of the roomand a large group of stallions was gathered around it, discussing and laughing heartily. A couple of them were in their 40s while some were around their mid 20s. They each had a set of playing cards on their hooves and some had their cards on the table, facedown.

Seriously? Are they playing cards instead of preparing?

However as soon as they walked in, the entire room went silent. All eyes were on the two visitors who just walked in on their turf.

“Holy molytails! We got a young lassie joining us today!” one of the stallions said out loud, with the rest of the cheering.

Twilight felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment as all the stallions’ eyes turned towards her. She quickly scanned the room, taking in the surprised expressions and curious looks of the stallions.

Well, be professional, Twilight Sparkle.

She stood up straight and tried to be as confident as she could,”Good evening, gentlestallions. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I’m here to discuss an important matter with the Town Watch.” she said in a calm voice.

The stallions looked at each other in a moment of confusion, before looking back at Twilight. One of them, a burly earth pony with a thick southern drawl, spoke up. “Now here, little missy. What’re you asking about?”

“Winters, I need to speak to him for a while,” she said to the group. The stallions looked at each other again, before letting out a laugh in unison.

Twilight and Spike shared confused looks towards each other, “Uh, why is everyone laughing?” Twilight asked, chuckling nervously.

The stallions calmed themselves down after a while and one of them turned to her.“Well little missy, Winters is juuuust in that room over there,” he pointed towards a door at the other end of the room. “But be careful, he ain’t the best at trigger discipline.” He said as he turned back to his comrades, laughing while doing so.

Trigger discipline? I don’t know what that means?

Twilight raised an eyebrow at the stallion’s warning. Nevertheless, she pushed aside her unease and made her way towards the door that the stallion had pointed to with Spike following closely behind her.

Twilight took a deep breath to steady her nerves as she entered the room, and the first thing she sees is her old friend behind a booth, trying to aim a Manelicher Model 985 rifle at a large block of cheese. His furrowed brow and intense concentration were enough to tell her that he was completely absorbed in the task at hoof.

She watched as he tried to aim the rifle at the cheese, adjusting his grip and squinting down the sight.

BANG

Twilight instinctively flinched. But as she looked back at the board, there was no sound nor visual impact of the bullet.

Winters let out a sigh of frustration, muttering to himself in disappointment. “Aww crud. I didn't the hear the impact.”

Twilight scoffed as she rolled her eyes before turning to Spike, signalling him to stay put. Approaching Winters, Twilight cleared her throat to get his attention.

Winters turned around, his face lighting up with recognition as he saw who it was. “Twilight! It’s good to see you again, kinda hoping you didn’t see my bad shooting skills considering I’m a- wait,” he paused, leaning onto the frame of the rifle. “What’re you doing here?”

Twilight let out a silent grumble, “Ugh Winters, your name is on this checklist,” she raised the checklist in her magic. “Meaning I’m here to check on the town watch.”

Winters looked at the rifle before at Twilight with a soft smile, “Well, if you say so. I’ll get the guys to come here and show off their skills a bit.” he said as she placed the bolt action rifle on a nearby table.

He quickly walked past Spike and Twilight and peered his head outside the room, “GUYS, I NEED ALL OF YOU TO COME HERE RIGHT NOW!”

Spike winced at the sudden loudness of Winters’ voice, rubbing his ears in discomfort while Twilight just gave a look of annoyance at Winters, with him replying with a sheepish grin.

“5 MINUTES WE’RE FINISHING UP ON OUR GAME!” One of the stallions shouted out from the table.

“But guys-”

“SHUT UP!”

Winters flinched for a moment before taking his head back inside and turning to them both, “Well, I’m pretty sure they’ll be here in a while.” he said as he looked at Twilight and Spike. “Anyways, how was the rest of the day working out for you two?”

Twilight sighed as she looked at him with a tired look, “I’m tired already, the first organiser was a country mess, the second was an irresponsible braggart and third, well she was at least decent.” she said.

Winters gave a raised eyebrow, “Really, who were they?”

“Not important, Winters.”

Winters looked at her in mock surprise, “Let me guess, Rainbow Dash is one of them?”

Twilight turned to him with actual surprise, “What, how did you know about that?” she asked him with an intrepid curiosity. WInters merely shrugged and explained, “Small town, word gets ‘round here fast. And I kinda heard she was arrested because of you?”

“I thought she was just gonna get a fine?” Spike said in a mix of surprise.

Winters’ eyes widened at the sentence, “Wait so is true! You guys did cause her to get arrested.” Twilight quickly put her hooves in defence whilst shaking her head.

“No no no no, it was just a small argument, and a bit of littering but nothing more,” she tried to defend herself. “In fact, I only got a small fine, so- you know what, never mind. Let’s forget about Rainbow for a second.” Twilight quickly changed the subject, not wanting to dwell on the incident any longer.

Winters gave her a knowing look, but sighed, deciding to let it go for now. “Alright, fair enough. So what brings you here, Twi? Just checking up on the town watch?”

Twilight nodded, “We’re just making sure that all of them are adequately prepared, you know.”

“I hear ya Twi, these guys however can be a bit uh...” Winters trailed off, searching for the right word.

“Unpredictable?” Twilight suggested, finishing Winters’ sentence.

“Yeah, that’s the word I was looking for.” Winters said with a nod. “But they aren’t bad, they listen well, have good aim and all and all, actually seem to respect me well a bit. And you know me heh, I am not cut out for security. Oddly enough, Mayor Mare still hired me though.”

Spike chimed in, “Name recognition?”

Winters looked back at him, nodding. “Name recognition.”

Twilight looked at Winters as she rolled her eyes, “Well if everything is going well, I guess we should-” Twilight’s words were cut off as a loud door being bucked open, stopping her words short.

Winters and Twilight turned towards the door as it was kicked open, causing them both to flinch at the sudden noise. The group of stallions from earlier barged into the room, their laughter and boisterous jokes filling the air. Each of them had a Manelicher slung around their necks by the strap.

“Took ya guys long enough.” Winters said with a slight smirk.

Twilight, however, was not amused. She had been caught off guard by their sudden entrance, and the noise was making her head throb. She rubbed her temples, trying to ease the pounding pain. The stallions barely acknowledged Winters’ comment as they continued to chat and laugh amongst themselves.

Twilight looked annoyed at Winters, “I thought you said they had discipline?”

Winters let out a sigh, “They do, but they can be a bit rowdy when they’re off-duty.” He turned to the group of stallions, “Hey guys, cut it out okay? We have guests.”

“So what’re we doing here?”

Twilight stepped up and held up a hoof to get their attention. “We’re just here to make sure that everyone is adequately prepared for any potential threats to the town.”

One of them scoffed, “Potential threats on my flank,” he said, with others in agreement.

Twilight narrowed her eyes, “Well, it’s better to be prepared and not need it, than to need it and not be prepared.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me? Are you saying that you don’t take the safety of the town seriously?”

The stallion shrugged, “I’m just saying, Ponyville is darn peaceful, and besides, we can handle ourselves just fine. And you little miss, high off from noble land should calm down a bit.”

Winters spoke up, “Hey now, Twilight’s just doing her job. We’ve got a good thing going here, and we want to keep it that way.” he laughed nervously, glancing at Twilight for a moment. “And also, don’t we have something for her?”

The stallions looked at each other for a moment, nodded and jumped over the firing counter, they walked into the firing range and one of them turned to Twilight. “You’re ‘bout to see the shooters in all of the kingdom, miss!”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at this, “But I’m not here to see a-”

Winters, however, also jumped over the counter with a rifle slung on his neck, “Trust me Twi, I’ve drilled on them for a good while."

"5 DAYS OF SHOOTING AIN'T A DRILL, STEEL!" one of them shouted from behind him.

Winters ignored it and continued to speak enthusiastically at her. "They’re almost professionals, except they’re well… inexperienced!”

Are you kidding me?

“No I’m not kidding, Twi.” Winters added, seemingly reading her mind as he looked at Twilight, who had scepticism written all over her face. Twilight raised her eyebrow, before letting out a small sigh, defeated.

“Fine,” she said, reluctantly. “Where do I sit?” she asked, trying to suppress her irritation.

Winters pointed to a platform near the range. “There, just sit up there so you can see everything we do!” he said, while also giving her two pairs of ear protectors to wear.

Twilight nodded, grabbing Spike with her magic much to his displeasure and walked up the platform. She took a seat and placed Spike on a nearby chair. They wore their ear protectors and watched as Winters' crew reloaded their rifles and proceeded to the booths.

They stood behind the gun barrier and aimed their rifles at the cheese, taking a deep breathe before proceeding fire round after round at the block of cheese. The sound was deafening and she almost was tempted to close her ears, while Spike was mesmerised in awe at the sight of guns firing.

“Alright guys, that’s enough.” Winters said as he removed himself from the booth placing the rifle on a nearby table. The others followed suit, placing the rifles on the table, the muzzles still smoking from the gunfire. The cheese block itself was almost destroyed, leaving only holes and crumbs in it.

“Holy crap, that block of cheese is turned to debrie!” Spike shouted, taking off the ear protectors.

Twilight meanwhile, simply shook her head. “At least you guys know you guys can shoot something,” she said. “Well now that’s settled. I guess we should head off.”

Winters looked at her with a minor disappointment but quickly changed it into a face of understanding, “Yeah, of course!” He said as he turned to the others, “Hey guys, do you mind if you guys clean outside for a while?”

With the stallions nodding and leaving the room, Winters turned to Twilight with a weird look, “Hey, Twi. If you don’t mind, maybe we can hang out for a-”

Twilight turned away from Spike and looked at Winters with an annoyed look, “Winters I told you earlier then, I have no time for hanging out.”

Winters recoiled slightly, taking a step back from Twilight’s sharp tone. “Hey Twi, I’m not asking for the entire day, I’m asking for a few minutes.” Winters looked at her with a minor but otherwise firm plea from his eyes. “Besides, I can help with finding one of the next organisers.”

Twilight looked at him with a bit of scepticism, “Really?” she said to him. “Because the last time I trusted you to help me with something, I ended up getting banned from the royal library.”

Winters rolled his eyes, “Jeez Twi, that was years ago! And besides, you weren’t even banned, the librarian just accompanied you out.”

Twilight looked at Winters with a bit of irritation in her voice, “Meaning for the duration until I was 13, I wasn’t even allowed to read the advanced section of the magical theory!”

Winters snorted and then smirked at her, “Pfttt, Twi you are literally Princess Luna’s esteemed protege. What do you still need to complain about?”

Twilight remained unconvinced, crossing her forelegs in front of her chest. “That’s beside the point, Winters. And also, I need to be prepared for everything.”

“Which is why I can help you, with the celebrations for a moment okay?”

Twilight looked at him in consideration, tapping her chin with her hoof.

He’s gullible, that’s for sure. But he’s at least smart, and a bit reliable? Well it couldn’t hurt to use him a bit.

Twilight sighed as she nodded her head, agreeing at Winters’ offer, “Okay fine..” she said to him. “But just for a few minutes okay? And this is not a friendly hangout, this is purely a professional meetup, alright?”

Winters dismissively nodded and waved his hoof. “Yeah yeah yeah. Whatever, come on! Time’s a wastin!” he said, hurryingly leaving the room and hall altogether outside.

Spike watched the banter between the two. As Winters left the room, Spike turned to Twilight with a smirk, “You know, I always thought you two argued like an old married couple.”

“Do you know that dragons are coldblooded, Spike?”

“Yep, shutting up.”

---

“So…” Winters began, breaking the silence as they walked through the streets. “What exactly do you need help with?”

Twilight turned to Spike and motioned him to give her the checklist, “Two names that I don’t know who,” she said, passing the checklist to Winters.

Winters scanned the list quickly and furrowed his brow, “Hmm, let’s see…” he muttered as he read through the names. He widened his eyes and with a grin, he turned back to Twilight. “I know these two! Pinkie’s a baker at Sugarcube Corner while Fluttershy lives over on the outskirts of the town.”

“Huh. That’s good to know.”

“Yeah.”

…
…
…

The two of them looked at each other awkwardly, realising that they had run out of things to say. Winters shuffled his hooves, looking around at their surroundings while Twilight fidgeted with her checklist. Spike, from behind, just watched the exchange with amusement as they both stood there in silence.

After a moment, Winters cleared his throat. “So, uh, how have you been?” he asked, with a strained smile.

Twilight raised an eyebrow at the sudden question, unsure of how to respond. “I’ve been...fine,” she said, “Just busy with my duties as the princess’ protege, you know how it is.”

“Right, right. Uh may I ask?”Winters paused, hesitating for a moment before continuing. “Why haven’t you uh… sent me some letters, been a few-”

Twilight let out an annoyed sigh, “Winters, I’ve been busy.” she said curtly, cutting him off. “I’ve been studying for Princess Luna for 5 years straight, not only do I have certain obligations to meet, but I absolutely have no time to even care about sending a couple of insignificant letters.”

“Oh,” he replied simply, the earlier nervousness returning to his tone as he looked down on the ground. “I see.”

Spike suddenly climbed and sat on Twilight’s back, waving the checklist in front of her. “Come on Twilight, let’s go! You said it yourself, time is not for wasting.”

Twilight turned her attention to Spike, grateful for the interruption. “Right, sorry Winters, me and Spike really should get back to the preparations,” she said as she began to walk away. “Thanks for the help though.” she said, turning back at Winters.

Winters nodded awkwardly, sporting another nervous smile at her, “Yeah, no problem. Take good care of yourself, Twi.” he said as he turned and walked away, leaving Twilight and Spike to continue on with their preparations.

After Winters had left, Twilight blew out a sign of relief. “Thanks for speeding things up Spike, things were gonna be too awkward there.”

Spike gave a chuckle at her, “Happy to help Twi!” he said as he climbed off of the unicorn’s back. He looked back and forth between Twilight and behind her, “So do you think he’s gonna be okay?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, “Who?”

Rolling his eyes, Spike looked at her with an amused expression, “Winters, of course. He seemed a bit nervous and off.”

“We haven’t really talked that much in the past few years,” Twilight said with a shrug. “But from what I saw today, I’m sure he’s fine. Gullible but fine.”

Spike nodded, “Sounds like him, just wished that you could’ve been a tad bit nicer though.”

Twilight waved it off with her hoof as they continued walking, “Spike, it’s not like I was being mean on purpose. I was explaining the reality, something that he doesn’t seem to get. I swear, he's a bit too hopeful!”

“Right, anyways where are we going next?” Spike asked as he unrolled the checklist.

Twilight took one look at the checklist for the next name. “Looks like we’re heading into the outskirts again.”

Comments

[ARandomLonelyDude]

Twilight is being rather mean but it is fitting considering it is the first episode. looking forward to more chapters