Iron Eyes

by Dramaro

Chapter 6 - Range

The next morning came rather quickly. All it took was the sound of my alarm going off to wake me off. Slowly getting up, I took in surroundings while the mask was still on my face. The sound of shuffling hoofsteps from the hallways was easily heard, as was the numerous birds flying around their perches. I stretched and yawned before taking the mask off. Finding that I could see, I gave myself a mental note to thank Twilight later.

My morning routine was normal. Shower, brushing and fixing my hair, and putting on my makeup. I stared at my clothes from yesterday, which I had kept out. It was a bit annoying that I didn't have a second set of clothes to change in, but seeing that I had no choice, I put them on. After checking everything, including pistol, I left my room after having some tea and went downstairs to the dining hall. As I did, I noticed more and more ponies, all of them officials of some kind judging by their business attire, moving about.

I heard the sound of a crowd from the foyer and Shining speaking to them. Arriving at the foyer, I had found him finishing an announcement.

"Any questions?" asked Shining.

"How long will Blueblood be detained?" asked a reporter.

"Under Equestrian law, Blueblood will be detained until his trial, which is set for a few days from now. Until then, he is under custody of the Royal Guard."

"Is this a political attack against Blueblood?"

"We don't believe so but it has not been ruled out. Please do not go into crazy speculations. I am heading this investigation and we will find out the truth through proper legal action."

"Captain Shining, I got one more quesiton!"

"You may speak."

"There have been some rumors that a strange creature has been brought to Canterlot just before the murder took place. They believe that this creature is tied with the murder, is that true?"

"I will tell you now that those are baseless fabrications made by fantastical imaginations. There is no strange creature in Canterlot. That will be all for today and I thank you for coming to this meeting!"

The crowd slowly dispersed and Shining quickly came towards me, making sure no one could see me. "I see you handled them quite well."

"True but that last question was really out of left field. Who would have seen you?"

"Hmm... I don't know. The maids are sworn under secrecy, right?"

Shining nodded. "Yes, as are my guards. Nopony outside this castle knows you exist."

It was understandable. A strange new species walking around would easily cause panic. "Can you interview the maid? She's our witness. Just ask here some simple questions and we'll have that as proper evidence."

"Already on it. I sent a guard to pick up a statement from her. Now about that meeting with Blueblood... His lawyer has already arrived."

I sighed in a bit of annoyance. "Let Blueblood consult his attorney. He'll be with Shining during the interview this evening."

The two of us walked a bit more. Right when we turned around a corner, we stopped to see Celestia standing there, complete in her regalia.

"Good Morning Captain Shining and Lt. Roya."

I smiled but raised my hand. "It's only Roya here. My rank doesn't mean anything, technically."

I noticed Celestia smiling and she pulled a small box that was balanced on her back. "Actually... I wanted to see you about that. Considering you're helping with the investigation, I think it would be appropriate if you had some authority to do your job correctly."

Surprised at what Celestia was telling me, I slowly took the box. For a moment, I simply stared at it until Shining and Celestia both motioned me to open in in front of them. Inside was a badge shaped as two triangles joined at the base, forming a sharp silver diamond. Looking at Shining, I noticed a silver four pointed star made of two of these triangles stamped onto the collar of his purple breastplate. Below the narrow diamond shaped insignia in the box was a badge, shaped as a heater shield with the stylized sun in the center and a moon inside as well. The heater shield was flanked by a pair of feathered wings while two crossed horns topped the whole thing. Spread across the top and bottom was "Lieutenant, Royal Guard of the Harmony Crown," in bold lettering.

"You are now an official Lt. of the Royal Guard during this investigation." said Celestia. I was deeply honored by such an action, though curious to how I could switch from a police rank to an actual military rank. "Though normally an officer of the Royal Guard would need to wear a uniform or assigned armor when on duty, I'll make an exception to you."

I nodded in agreement before taking the badge and pinning it to my breast pocket. I still kept my Novimus City Police badge clipped to my waist, even though it was useless currently. "I'm deeply humbled by your actions, Princess Celestia."

"Good. I think the two of you have a job to complete. If anything is needed, I'll be in the throne room. I'm already getting numerous ponies wondering what will happen to Blueblood and his seat in the Upper Nobles. It's sad to hear what happened but I am certain that both of you, together, will bring proper justice."

"Excuse me, Princess, but I just want to know, does Twily know about this investigation in detail?" asked Shining.

Celestia shook her head. "No, for her safety, she knows as much about the investigation as the public media. I don't want her to see the crime." Celestia quickly turned to me after that. "Lt. Roya, about the spell to bring you home. I've found one but it is incomplete. Twilight has volunteered in trying to finish the spell. We expect that it will only take a few days, probably finishing after this whole investigation. I just want to let you know that everything is accounted for and that you need not to worry about getting home."

I nodded before feeling a tear fall down my cheek. "Thank you Princess Celestia. Again, this is a lot more than is necessary but I accept it."

"Now then, I shouldn't be stopping you two. You are both dismissed."

Celestia quickly left after that, leaving Shining alone with me. I turned to him with a question ready. "Shining, where's the morgue, anyways?"

"It's in Canterlot General Hospital. I know you wanted to check any findings so I collected the documents earlier and brought them here. They should be in your room at some point."

"Thank you Captain. Considering Blueblood's interview isn't until later, I guess we have some time."

Shining nodded and quickly looked at my waist for a moment. "That thing you had, what was it?"

I thought for a moment until I remembered my pistol. "Well.... do you have an open secluded area? "

"Yes, there's the hedge maze. We still have it closed, on account of a certain draconequus... Follow me."

The walk was a bit long with a long route but we arrived at the entrance to the maze. There was a nice park built in the front, complete with numerous statues and fountains. One statue caught my attention. Standing on a pedestal was this strange serpent like creature made of a haphazard collection of different creatures. Goat, horse, lizard, bird, lion, they all seemed to have been thrown together like what Dr. Frankenstein would have done. The creature was in a pose of surprise with fear sculpted into its face, as if bracing against some invisible force.

"That's Discord, Spirit of Disharmony," said Shining.

"Wait... Twilight told me about him... That's what happened to him? He was turned to stone?"

"Yup. Princess Celestia has something planned for him but I don't know the details. All I know is that the gardens are closed until we know what to do with him. If any serious amounts of chaos were to occur around him, the spell binding him could falter and he would be free again."

"That sounds a bit dangerous."

"Yeah... Some rumors said all it took was a few fillies getting into an argument, but back then, Discord's spell had weakened considerably, though I doubt it was actually little fillies who almost doomed Equestria."

"Do you have something like an old tree or even a test dummy?" I asked.

Shining thought for a moment. "I can get some, be right back."

I waited a few minutes for Shining and he eventually returned with a few test dummies in his magical grasp. Asking me where I wanted them, I told him to place them at certain distances from a spot I marked by standing over. The first was a simple 10 metres away from me. The next was 30 metres, another at 50 metres, and finally one at that was a good 80 metres away.

After placing the last straw dummy down, Shining quickly went back to where I saw. "So, what are going to do with them anyways?"

Without hesitation, I quickly pulled my pistol out of its holster. It was, what some would consider, an ugly looking pistol but I actually liked it. It had a half octagonal slide and a thumb safety. It followed the specifications given to us in Novimus City, meaning it was chambered to the .45 ACP and was fitted with an under barrel flashlight. Since we have to furnish our own sidearms, the I bought a pistol that had a wide grip, allowing the use of double stacked bullets and giving me a larger round capacity. Looking at Shining, I noticed how curious he was when I quickly removed the magazine before cycling the round out of the chamber. Catching it in mid air, I held it up for Shining to see after making sure there was no round in the left.

"This is a bullet, a piece of metal with packed propellent behind inside the casing. In the back is a primer, a sort of combustible charge."

"Err it's kinda small..."

I nodded a bit. "It's not the size that matters." I placed the magazine away in my pocket for a moment before holding my empty pistol out. "This is a semi-automatic handgun. When I pull the trigger, the hammer, this part in the back, is pulled back before springing back into position. When it does, it hits a firing pin which strikes the back of the round, called the primer."

"Uhuh... What happens next?"

"Well, when the primer sets off, it ignites propellant behind the bullet. After that, gases fill behind the bullet, pushing it out of its casing and shooting out of the barrel at high speed. In this handgun, the recoil, because of Newton's Law of equal and opposite reactions, the slide is pushed back and the spent casing is ejected, allowing a fresh new round to be brought into the chamber, with the hammer cocked back and ready to strike again. It's basically like a gunpowder cannon, only efficient, fast reload, and compact."

I saw a surprised and whimsical look on his face as he stared at my gun. "That's... that's amazing! How did you humans even do it?"

"Well, when you're part of a species in which you're always afraid that your own neighbor might want you dead, it becomes logical to make a better weapon than what they have."

"I can see why Celestia would be scared if she learned what human weapons can do. We use our weapons only as a last resort, it's the policy of Equestria to never use lethal force unless all other options are wasted or it is the only option available."

I nodded in agreement. "Yes, that is something I'd agree with. We only carry our guns with us because, in Novimus City and the rest of the country, all citizens have the right to own firearms themselves, not to mention many criminals have illegal firearms. Other countries I know of, don't have their police carry lethal guns on them, instead the officer has to call a request for a gun or the citizens have numerous red tape and permits to even carry only certain firearms."

"Really? So, can you show me it in action?"

I nodded at Shining. "Yes but... the only issue is that I'm limited on ammo. It's not like I can simply find a store and buy new ammo."

"Maybe I can fix that. Twily showed me an item duplication spell. All I need is something to go by."

I thought a moment. It would be an easily solution but I was a bit weary on giving potentially deadly technology to Shining. What if someone decided to reverse engineer it? If that happened, I would be responsible for a rapid advancement in weapons... and I doubt Equestria understands what that would bring. "I don't know Shining... Can you make me a promise?"

He nodded. "Sure. Just tell me what it is."

"You promise that you, no, no one will ever try to reverse engineer this? That you will destroy any information about this? I can't stress how dangerous this could be if it falls into the wrong hands or hooves or whatever!"

Shining thought for a moment before giving me a simple nod. "I promise, as the Captain of the Royal Guard, I'll make sure that this is not misused nor taken for purposes of creating new weapons."

"Good." I gave the bullet to Shining, who quickly hide it within a pocket that was built into the side strap of his breastplate. Taking the magazine from my pocket, I quickly slapped it into the grip before cycling a round in and keeping my pistol down towards the ground for safety. "Do you have ear protection?

Shining nodded and levitated a few rocks over. I didn't really understand until they popped with a visible blue glow. When the glow dissipated, was was left were two pairs of ear plugs. With a quick flourish, a pair of them landed into my hands. I stared at the pair Shining gave me for a moment "Is this safe? I don't want them to turn back into rocks while shooting."

Shining shook his head. "Relax, the matter morphesis spell will last only a good two hours."

Turning back to the ear plugs, I decided to give them a try. It wasn't a comfortable fit, seeing that human ears were structurally different than pony ears. It took a moment but I was able to get them in.

"Shining!" I yelled. "The area is cleared any everyone, right? I don't want to harm anything."

He was able to hear me over the plugs and gave me a reassuring nod.

"Stand back and watch." Slowly, I brought up my pistol and locked my arms. In a proper stance, I lined my sights before pulling the trigger. The resulting cracking sound caught Shining off guard and the first target, the closet dummy was a hit. Without a moment, I transitioned to each target, going farther and farther after each shot. I went backwards once I reached the farthest dummy until I exhausted the 10 rounds my magazine would hold. Noticing the slide locking back, I pressed the mag release and allowed the magazine to drop onto the ground while I took another magazine, stashed in some of the specialized pockets I had in my jacket, and slamming it into my pistol. I went through a second magazine before calling that enough and flipped the safety back on before returning the pistol to my holster and picking up the empty magazine. Turning to Shining, I saw that he was staring at me with his eyes wide, a little bit surprised at seeing a gun in action. We both took out the ear plugs before walking to the dummies.

Inspecting the dummies, I had landed most of them on target. Only a few in the middle I had missed. At the same time, I kept my eye out hoping that the obvious loud sound of gunshots had not caught anyone's attention. The rounds I used were hollow points, which I explained to Shining meant that they crumpled upon impact. We used them so that we wouldn't risk over-penetration or ricocheting. It also meant that the damage was focused on the area of impact, assuming the target wasn't wearing any armor. He was surprised and a bit troubled at how efficient we humans were at the dark art of killing.

"So that's your weapon of choice... I can say that if you had to, you could deal with any pony without much danger to yourself. Staying at a range keeps you out of enemy's reach."

I nodded. "Yes, that is true. But where I'm from, it's either we shot first or risk being killed ourselves."

"Have you ever... you know, killed somepony before?" I was caught off guard by the question. Truth be told, I did but I had accepted the fact that it was the only choice I had.

I took a deep breath before speaking. "Yes, Shining. I have taken a life before, but only because it was for the greater good and for the safety of others."

"What happened, if you're ok with telling me?"

"A man had been murdered by his, formally, best friend, just because his girlfriend cheated on him. When we about to catch him, he had went into a mental breakdown and had pulled a gun out and taking the girl hostage. I remember standing there, ordering him to just come peacefully. I didn't want anyone to get hurt. Suddenly, that girl... she kicked him in the shin, getting herself a chance to run away to safety. Seeing that as my opportunity, I tried to move in but he brought his weapon to bare at me. At that point, I knew I had no other choice. it was him or me. He died at the hospital due to the gunshot wounds."

Shining simply nodded. "That must have been... hard. It reminded me of... well..."

"What is it?"

"It's nothing... What time is it?"

I quickly pulled my phone out to see that it was about lunch time. "Time to eat."

"That's good. I've been getting kind of hungry."

"If anyone asks, you were trying a new kinetic spell."

"Heh, I already have a cover story just in case."

Comments

[Sky Hooves]

I hope Shining will be Ok.

This Story is really cool and I wait for the next chapter.

[insightguy]

POTENTIAL!

[Charzoid]

Main character isn't a guy,not overly powerful or boasting about being a human,not whining about how their life sucks,not fighting others for no reason,no one in the story is acting OOC in an overly aggressive,idiotic,or sexual way, pony knowledge of technology in MLP is noted, ponies already knowing what death is and understanding its sometimes needed is noted,prince blueblood not being portrayed as some sick villain nut or weak idiot. Hes one of my favorite guys and its annoying to see that in every fanfiction.
I thought I'd never see the day I'd ever type this but this is the probably the first only actually well done HIE fanfiction I've ever read. Please continue.

[Dramaro]

I just want to tell everyone that Finals Week is starting for me here in PA.
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Let's hope I can survive this.